May Day – Josie Jaffrey #BBNYA2021

I took part as a Panelist in the 2021 BBNYA competition, and was lucky enough to read the novel which would go on to win. During the process, I read many excellent excerpts and full novels and so I know how high the standard was last year. I wasn't at all surprised when May Day …

An Elderly Lady Must Not Be Crossed – Helene Tursten

'It was the words "boiler room" that had caught Maud's attention. She tuned out of the couple's conversation, but those two words continued to echo in her mind. The boiler room. The cellar. The coal cellar. The boys in the coal cellar.' 88-year-old Maud continues to be single-minded in her determination to live a quiet …

An Elderly Lady Is Up to No Good – Helene Tursten (Translated by Marlaine Delargy)

I spotted this short story collection (and its sequel) over on @oldbookdreamer's Instagram page and loved the title. When my copy arrived, I was even more delighted by the size – it’s pleasingly small, like books were hundreds of years ago, and it’s a beautiful little hardback. And then there’s 88-year-old Maud, who I can’t …

Wicked Little Deeds – Kat Ellis

I thoroughly enjoyed this gripping YA thriller, so much so that it has set the house move back at least a day. It has all the elements for a compulsive read - an old manor house, ancient family feuds, scores to be settled, and the possibility that Dead-Eyed Sadie is real. And Ellis doesn't skimp …

This Eden – Ed O’Loughlin

I was lucky to get hold of a review copy of O'Loughlin's fast-paced This Eden, which is out today, and I raced through it. From the outset, we know that there is more to Michael's story than meets the eye. We're invited to study the evidence, and reminded that everything today is observed. 'Their first …

Kate Atkinson – Big Sky; a Jackson Brodie novel

Finishing this novel left me with that fizzy feeling, the one which makes you want to buy all the other books in the series and binge-read until May. Quite how I am so late to the Jackson Brodie party, I have no idea. It’s not like I haven’t read loads of Atkinson’s other novels and …

The Searcher – Tana French

Whilst I enjoyed The Wych Elm (I was fascinated with the gothic story behind the title), I preferred The Searcher - the ending feels more plausible, and the whole thing is more tightly structured. Cal Hooper has handed in his Chicago Police Badge and upped sticks to a remote village in the west of Ireland. …

The Diabolical Bones – Bella Ellis #BronteMysteries

'I would speak with your father,' Tabby said, agitated. 'But with his eyes so bad and it being almost Christmas, it hardly seems right. And young Mr Nicholls is a decent enough fellow, but he don't have the grit - he don't have the strength of mind or the stubbornness. Not like you girls.' 'Really, …

The Thursday Murder Club – Richard Osman

I'm half way through my annual self-imposed task of reading the Booker shortlist - but then this appeared and I had to put everything else aside. I have really enjoyed Osman's first foray into fiction - it was the perfect thing for a rainy weekend and confirmed my feeling that Osman is one of those …

Where the Crawdads Sing – Delia Owens

I suspect that I’ll be a tad unpopular after this, and so I’ll get straight to the point. I liked this novel – I didn’t love it. Hear me out… I do see all the things that people have raved about, and it is clear that this is a much-loved novel for  lot of readers. …