Author note

The purpose of this blog is already being fulfilled.  Here I said I should look up Edward Marston - in fact I have already read a book of his, The Vagabond Clown, discovered this as I was looking along the shelves of my local library.

I seem to remember enjoying it, and if I see any more at the local library will probably borrow them.   Can't remember enough to review it or even describe it, but what I do remember is that it contained rich characters and a strong-ish plot.  So I can't rate it really, not officially here.  Maybe I'll take it out again at some point.

4 books out of the library, and I haven't decided which one first, needless to say they are all crime fiction.  However, am reading a bit of non fiction at the moment which I would like to complete and note here.

Graham Phillips - Act of God

Non Fiction - Whilst looking for the tomb of Tutankhamen, a group of archaeologists uncover a tomb with a mummy interred in a bizarre fashion and with no obvious identity.  Who was he, and what was his link to Tut and the presumed heretic Akhenaten?

My rating: 8/10

Hardly surprising really, that a favourite work of non fiction is really a detective story.  I think this book has been in my "library" the third longest (the other two, incidentally, are The Compleet Works of molesworth and Watership Down, discounting a very old King James Bible) - books have come and gone prior to this but this has never hit the bin or Amazon Marketplace.  It's not that I agree with everything that Phillips has to say about the whole Akenaten/Nefertiti/Smenkhare/Tut era, in fact there's bits in there which don't quite gel.  Loads has been written about the era, and in more detail - and I must get hold of Aldred's Akhenhaten at some point which I have only read once -  it's the fact he delivers his theories believably and succinctly, and leaves you room for thought.  If you are interested in the era, give it a go, with an open mind, and you will find it enjoyable.

Next: Library tomorrow, watch this space, cos I really don't know.

Frances Fyfield - Cold To The Touch

Jessica Hurly won't go home to her idyllic-sounding birth town, and her friend Sarah Fortune doesn't know why, although she knows that Jess has a volatile and complicated personality.  Sarah is persuaded to test the waters by moving to her seaside town and find out if everything has been forgiven and forgotten.  Shortly after Sarah moves, there are reported sightings of Jessica in the community, but why did she make no attempt to contact Sarah or Jessica's mother with the news before she somehow ends up in the butcher's chiller?

My rating: 5/10

Hmmm.  I really wanted to like this book.  Full review will be on SHOTS, and as I will write it this weekend it will probably be there next month.  Will update this post when it is but it's best if I leave the full synopsis/review there rather than feeling like I'm repeating myself.  Needless to say, I doubt I'll read anything more by this author.

Update 16.12.09.  Full review is here.

Next: Um.  Nothing from Mr Stotter (to be fair, I only gave him the green light earlier this week)/pending for SHOTS, can't get to the library until Saturday, so will probably be a re-read.  Oh indecision.

Author Note

Have noted one M D Ripley's review on Amazon for George Sims - The Terrible Door.  Must look for it some time but I don't "do" TBR.

Robert B Parker - School Days

Two teenagers go on a shooting spree at their school, killing 7.  The perpetrators have been caught and both have confessed, however the grandmother of one of them believes him innocent.  Spenser isn't one to turn down a challenge.

My rating: 4/10

I've read a few Spenser novels and this isn't a very good example.  It lacks humour and spice, and plods along to it's conclusion which is contained in one short chapter.  A mildly surprising ending, but hardly original.  The absence of his girlfy and his usual 'heavies' also make this book rather dull.  I like the fact that Spenser is hardly hapless, and gets out of danger violently, but Parker does not lay on the gore.  As I have enjoyed 2 or 3 other Spensers, it hasn't put me off.

Next: Frances Fyfield - Cold To The Touch, for SHOTS

Ellis Peters - The Virgin In The Ice

The niece and nephew of a renowned knight of Empress Maud are lost after an attack on Worcester during the civil war in medieval Britain.  Cadfael discovers their tracks after being sent to care for a monk who has been attacked and left for dead, but he also discovers a horrible murder.

My rating: 7/10.

I only recently discovered this gem of a series, I am astonished that it started over 30 years ago.   Yes, it's the old style of detective stories, a jigsaw puzzle gradually put together, but I love them and want to track down all of them, they're great, short reads.  This one isn't quite as good as the other two I've read (chronicles 1 and 2 - this one is chronicle 6), but the ending sure gives you a warm feeling inside as Cadfael also discovers a secret about the eventual saviour of the two children.

Next: Robert B Parker....and darn it I've forgotten what it's called.  Told you my memory was bad.

Author note

Look up Edward Marston at some point.  No, it's not because he's Welsh.

Peter Lovesey - The Circle

Murder mystery involving the Chichester Writing Circle - a series of murders are linked to a group of writers, but none of them have cast-iron alibis, so who is the arsonist?

My rating: 6/10.

Lovesey leaves you with so few options as to who the murderer could be, in the words of Sherlock Holmes (and Spock): "Eliminate all other factors, and the one which remains must be the truth" however incredible.  Good how he unravels it though, albeit rather plodding at times.

First read Lovesey as Peter Lear, Goldengirl, which I quite liked, a sorta modern Frankenstein.  In the same vein, In Suspense (or Spidergirl as it was in the US) - which I didn't like (stretched the imagination just a little too far).  Loved Keystone though, I guess I forgot about Lovesey, as those three were probably the only titles in Sunbury library that I came across.  Will look for more by him in Abergele.

Next: Ellis Peters's The Virgin In The Ice.