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May 19, 20231 min read
1066. Ian Rankin - A Heart Full Of Headstones
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...
Mar 8, 20231 min read
1050. R. J. Ellory - A Simple Act Of Violence
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,...
Dec 25, 20211 min read
927. Mick Herron - Joe Country
My favourite author in this genre, so unsurprisingly I have read this before. This is the one where Louisa Guy is contacted by the...
Jul 19, 20211 min read
878. Sadie Jones - The Snakes
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...
Sep 19, 20171 min read
525. Louise Penny - Glass Houses
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...
Jun 6, 20171 min read
493. David Mark - Sorrow Bound
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...
Feb 12, 20171 min read
467. G. F. Newman - The Corrupted Part 2
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...
Oct 25, 20161 min read
439. Louise Penny - A Great Reckoning
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...
Sep 28, 20161 min read
433. Chad Kultgen - The Lie
Pretty good and totally different. Full of pretty lurid sex which however becomes just a motif. Quite like an 18th century novel about...
Jul 13, 20161 min read
417b. Joseph Conrad - Nostromo: A Tale Of The Seaboard
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...
May 14, 20161 min read
399. Brian Thompson - Bad To The Bone
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...
Sep 15, 20151 min read
337. Kate Atkinson - Started Early, Took My Dog
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...
Jun 10, 20151 min read
311. Attica Locke - Pleasantville
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...
Sep 25, 20141 min read
249. Nick Davies - Hack Attack
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...
Sep 12, 20141 min read
243. James Ellroy - The Black Dahlia
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...
Aug 17, 20141 min read
235. Joseph Conrad - Nostromo
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...
Aug 12, 20141 min read
234. Ian Rankin - Saints Of The Shadow Bible
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...
Mar 19, 20141 min read
189. Honoré De Balzac - Old Goriot (Père Goriot)
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...
Mar 9, 20141 min read
187. Honoré de Balzac - Eugenie Grandet
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,...
Jul 26, 20131 min read
130. Peter Robinson - Watching The Dark
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...