Reviews 

Framed, in an opening and final chapter by Rebus, on trial for murder. The middle of the book is a typical Rebus story (he is now...

Have read this before and it is brilliant. Starts with a murder, and then looks for the next 100 or so pages like a police-procedural,...

My favourite author in this genre, so unsurprisingly I have read this before. This is the one where Louisa Guy is contacted by the...

One of P’s. I quite enjoyed this and it was original in that the two central characters Dan and Bea (Dante P suggested?!) are both dead...

I loved this, but she is a much better writer about the complex personal interactions within Three Pines than she is when she tries to...

The 3rd Aector McAvoy novel. On holiday so I didn’t write up book notes every time I finished a book, so I can’t remember much of the...

Not as good as part 1 (464), but he had set the scene then and doesn’t add much to it in Part 2, apart from dropping in various...

This is also very good; rooted in Three Pines (to which Gamache and his wife have now moved), as all her best books are. Gamache has now...

Pretty good and totally different. Full of pretty lurid sex which however becomes just a motif. Quite like an 18th century novel about...

I hate this but after about 160 pages I gave up on this. It was all unmitigated hard work. So I didn’t progress any further. Very...

I can see why I dumped these books in the attic when the bookcases became over-crowded a few years ago; they’re OK but it is doubtful...

The last (I think) of the Brodie books. I found this the least enjoyable. It was somehow too dense and lacked the lightness of touch of...

I wasn’t even aware I had this book – obviously a Radio 4 inspired impulse buy. But very good, even following Ms. Austen. Courtroom drama...

This is the book by the Guardian journalist about the phone hacking at the News of the World. It is also (as part and parcel of the...

Haven’t read this, or any other James Ellroy for years, but heard him on the radio. 'The Black Dahlia' is, I think, the first of a...

Not sure what pointed me in this direction; maybe a surfeit of detective novels. I had read this may years before (bought my copy in...

Our local library is I am sure struggling to survive, so I went in to give it a bit of support. Few decent books though! Anyway another...

Read this in English, but Father Goriot sounds a bit naff. Quite a difficult book to read, as no chapters or other natural breaks in the...

A proper story at last. I hadn’t realised how early in the 19th century Balzac was writing; 1820’s/30’s. So there is lots of classicism,...

Have read this before but didn’t really enjoy it first time round. Better second time round, but not one of his best. A split plot set...