Top Ten Tuesday:Love in Crime Fiction

Published on by Margaret5 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish and now hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl.

This week’s topic is a Love Freebie and I’m featuring Love in Crime Fiction. Some detectives are loners, some are happily married and here are eight of them.

Tommy and Tuppence Beresford who first appeared in Agatha Christie’s The Secret Adversary in 1922, are, by the end of the book in love and get married. My favourite book of theirs is By the Pricking of My Thumbs, which is about the mystery of what had happened in the house by the canal, whose child had died and how, and where was Mrs Lancaster? They also appear in a collection of short stories in Partners in Crime, N or M? , By the Pricking of My Thumbs, and Postern of Fate .

Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane first appear in Dorothy L Sayers Strong Poison, in which Lord Peter Wimsey, the aristocratic amateur detective, and Harriet Vane, a crime fiction writer, first met. Harriet is on trial for the murder of her former lover, Philip Boyes, who died from arsenic poisoning. Wimsey, attending the trial, is convinced she is innocent and sets out to prove it … and falls in love with her. In Gaudy Night she agrees to marry him and they get married in Busman’s Honeymoon.

Another happily married couple is Commissario Guido Brunetti and his beautiful wife Paola. He often goes home for lunch with Paola, who is a wonderful cook. One of my favourite books from the series is A Sea of Troubles, in which she treats him to a delicious apple cake made with lemon and apple juice and ‘enough Grand Marnier to permeate the whole thing and linger on the tongue for ever.’

Georges Simenon’s Inspector Jules Maigret also has a happy marriage and is another policeman who likes to go home for his lunch with Madam Maigret whenever he can. Is it the food or the wife, I wonder? They also like to take walks after dinner and go to the movies. In A Maigret Christmas Maigret has the day off and had planned to spend a quiet morning cocooned in their apartment and are feeling sad at being childless, particularly so at Christmas.

Dr Watson and Mary Morstan in Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes books are also happily married. They met and fell in love in The Sign of Four when she visits Baker Street to ask Sherlock Holmes to investigate a bizarre case involving the disappearance of her father and the sending of a single pearl to her every year for the past six years.

Cold case Detective Chief Inspector Karen Pirie in Val McDermid’s DCI Karen Pirie books is not married, but she was deeply in love with Phil Parhatka, a fellow officer who was killed. McDermid does not write specifically about his death. It occurs in between two books The Skeleton Road and Out of Bounds, in which Karen is grieving for Phil. He was the love of her life, having fallen for him the first week they worked together.

Then there is forensic archaeologist Ruth Galloway and her lover DCI Harry Nelson in the Ruth Galloway Mysteries by Elly Griffiths. They have one child and an on/off relationship throughout the series. In the last book, The Last Remains they finally confront their feelings for each other.

And finally Detective Superintendent Roy Grace and Cleo, a mortuary technician in the Roy Grace series by Peter James. Before the series started Roy’s wife, Sandy disappeared and despite all his efforts he was unable to find out why and what happened to her. When he met Cleo they fell in love and after Sandy was declared to be dead they married. Throughout the series more information about Sandy is revealed and her story is finally told in They Thought I was Dead.

Reading Wales ’26

Published on by Margaret4 Comments

Reading Wales Month, hosted by Booker Talk and Kathryn Eastman from Nut Press will be back for its ninth year in March, giving readers around the world a chance to celebrate literature from this Celtic nation.

To take part in Reading Wales Month all you need to do is read a book written by an author from Wales. It could be any genre — fiction, poetry, essays, travel diaries, drama. Any author with a connection to Wales will count. Then just post your review between March 1 and March 31. If you don’t have a blog, you could post your thoughts onto Goodreads or Instagram.

There will also be the option of joining a buddy read of two books, one fiction and one non fiction:

  • Glass Houses by Francesca Reece was shortlisted for the Wales Book of the Year in 2025. It is her second published work.
  • Sugar and Slate by Charlotte Williams a memoir about a search for identity, belonging and home. It relates her journey from the small town in north Wales where she was born to Guyana, Africa and then back to Wales.

If you’re looking for inspiration on what to read, take a look at

I’m planning to read more of Roald Dahal’s Completely Unexpected Tales. I read some of these for last year’s Short Story September 2025 hosted by Lisa at ANZ LitLovers LitBlog. I also have a few more books to choose from:

  1. The Amorous Nightingale by Edward Marston
  2. The Repentant Rake by Edward Marston
  3. Winter of the World by Ken Follett – 929 pages
  4. Fall of Giants by Ken Follett – 865 pages
  5. World Without End by Ken Follett – 1248 pages
  6. The Beautiful Dead by Belinda Bauer
  7. The Earth Hums in B Flat by Mari Strachan

Ken Follett’s books are too long for me to read for this March but I do intend to read them later.

Classics Club Spin Result

Published on by Margaret9 Comments

The spin number in The Classics Club Spin is number …

which for me is The Complete Parker Pyne Private Eye by Agatha Christie, a collection of all 14 Parker Pyne short stories. The challenge is to read and review it by 29th March, 2026.

A brand new omnibus that features the complete adventures of Agatha Christie’s loveable ‘heart specialist’ Mr Parker Pyne. ‘Are you happy? If not, consult Mr Parker Pyne, 17 Richmond Street. ‘ The above advert has appeared on countless occasions in the the personal column of The Times, courtesy of the hero of Agatha Christie’s numerous, romantically-inclined mysteries. Plump and bald, Christopher Pyne (although he is always referred to as J Parker Pyne) is a retired civil servant. Having worked as a government employee for 35 years, during which time he tirelessly compiled statistics, Pyne decides to set himself up as a ‘heart specialist’. Renting a London office and hiring the ferociously efficient Miss Felicity Lemon (who would go on to work for Mr Hercule Poirot!), Pyne sets about solving marital and romantic problems with the help of some extraordinary role-playing…

Six Degrees of Separation from Flashlight to The Hunter

Published on by Margaret20 Comments

This is a monthly link-up hosted by Kate at Books Are My Favourite and Best. On the first Saturday of every month, a book is chosen as a starting point and linked to six other books to form a chain. Readers and bloggers are invited to join in by creating their own ‘chain’ leading from the selected book.

Books can be linked in obvious ways – for example, books by the same authors, from the same era or genre, or books with similar themes or settings. Or, you may choose to link them in more personal ways: books you read on the same holiday, books given to you by a particular friend, books that remind you of a particular time in your life, or books you read for an online challenge.

A book doesn’t need to be connected to all the other books on the list, only to the ones next to them in the chain.

This month we are starting with Flashlight by Susan Choi, a book that topped lots of 2025 ‘best of’ lists and it was shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2025. I haven’t read, but going off the description from Amazon I think I’d like to.

One evening, ten-year-old Louisa and her father, Serk, take a walk out on the breakwater. They are spending the summer in a coastal Japanese town. Hours later, Louisa wakes on the beach, soaked to the skin. Her father is missing: presumably drowned.

This sudden event shatters their small family. As Louisa and her American mother return to the US, Serk’s disappearance reverberates across time and space, and the mystery of what really happened that night slowly unravels.

For my first link I’ve chosen another Booker Prize nomination, The Secret River by Kate Grenville shortlisted in 2006. It’s historical fiction, a fictional account of the conflict that accompanied the settlement of New South Wales, Australia by exiled British convicts in the 19th century.

My second link is another book set in Australia, Exiles by Jane Harper, Investigator Aaron Falk finds himself drawn into a complex web of tightly held secrets in South Australia’s wine country. It’s the third and final Aaron Falk Mystery book.

My third link The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel is the third and final book in The Wolf Hall Trilogy. The trilogy as a whole traces the rise and fall of Thomas Cromwell in the court of Henry VIII. The books bring 16th century England to life in vivid colour. I became very fond of Cromwell, who rose from humble beginnings to become Earl of Essex and Lord Great Chamberlain in 1539. This third book is about his final years as his enemies plotted against him. He was executed on 28th July 1540.

The next book in my chain is The Cracked Mirror by Chris Brookmyre, a murder mystery, a cross-genre hybrid of Agatha Christie and Michael Connelly. It’s a mash-up of British/American crime fiction/thriller, with plenty of twists and turns, complications and rollercoaster fast action chases, most of it unbelievable. It’s brutal and violent, with quite a bit of dark humour thrown in. It’s also tense and full of suspense.

My fifth link is to another ‘cracked mirror‘ book. It’s The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side by Agatha Christie, set in the village of St Mary Mead. Miss Marple was feeling rather down and a bit weak after an attack of bronchitis. Her doctor prescribes ” a nice juicy murder” for her to unravel and not long after the ideal opportunity arose with the death of Heather Badcock. Heather had gone to a fete at Gossington Hall held by her idol, the glamorous movie star Marina Gregg. 

My final link is also set in a village, but in Ardnakelty, Ireland. It’s The Hunter by Tana French, the second Cal Hooper mystery. Two men arrive with a money-making scheme to fleece the villagers, claiming there is gold on their land. One of the men is Trey’s father, Johnny who has been absent from the village for four years. But Trey is suspicious of her father’s true motives and doesn’t trust him, or the rich Londoner, Cillian Rushborough, Johnny met in London.  

I loved Tana French’s beautiful descriptions of the Irish rural landscape. It’s the sort of book I find so easy to read and lose myself in, able to visualise the landscape and feel as if I’m actually there with the characters, watching what is happening.

My chain is mainly made up of historical and crime fiction this month travelling from Japan through America and England and ending in Ireland. The links are Booker Prize nominations, books set in Australia, the third books in a trilogy, books with mirrors in the title and books set in villages.

I think I can say that the final book links back to the starting book as both concern books about a father and daughter.

Next month (March 7, 2026) we’ll start with a classic (and in celebration of the forthcoming film) – Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

Classics Club Spin

Published on by Margaret11 Comments

Before next Sunday,8th February, 2026 create a post that lists twenty books of your choice that remain on your Classics Club list. On that day the Classics Club will post the winning number. The challenge is to read and review whatever book falls under that number on your Spin List by 29th March, 2026.

Here’s my list:

  1. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
  2. The Complete Parker Pyne by Agatha Christie
  3. The Case of the Gilded Fly by Edmund Crispin
  4. Dombey and Son by Charles Dickens
  5. Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens
  6. The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle
  7. The Time of Angels by Iris Murdoch
  8. I’ll Never be Young Again by Daphne du Maurier
  9. The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth
  10. The Go Between by L P Hartley
  11. The Great Fire by Shirley Hazzard
  12. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
  13. Daisy Miller by Henry James
  14. Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee
  15. Friends and Heroes by Olivia Manning
  16. Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell
  17. Jane and Prudence by Barbara Pym
  18. Maigret’s Doubts by Georges Simenon
  19. Loitering with Intent by Muriel Spark
  20. The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy

 Which one would you like to see win?

Top Ten Tuesday: Book Covers Featuring Cool/Pretty/Unique/etc. Typography

Published on by Margaret21 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish and now hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl.

Book Covers Featuring Cool/Pretty/Unique/etc. Typography (Typography is the art of arranging letters so they look visually appealing and more interesting than, for example, the body text of this blog post you’re reading now.

These are all covers that caught my attention one way or another.Tthey are all books I own some of which I’ve read and some waiting to be read.

The King in the North by Max Adams – I love everything about this cover. I love the combination of the colours and the letters filled with decorative patterns just like an illustrated manuscript – think of the Lindisfarne gospels and the Book of Kells.

Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton – this cover conveys a sense of speed as Catton’s name looks like it’s running uphill over the top of the line of trees bent in the wind as the little drone approaches. It tells a story before you get to the words within the book.

The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel – such a beautiful and colourful image, contrasting the dark and the light reflections.

The Vanishing of Margaret Small by Neil Alexander. This caught my eye because it makes me wonder how and why Margaret Small vanished. I like the background colour, contrasting with the author’s name and the use of the lower case in the title.

Daemon Voices by Philip Pullman – having the title written in a banner in the bird’s mouth amuses me.

West with Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge – another striking cover that immediately made me wonder what the book could be about. I like the tall letters dwarfing the figure of man in between the words, emphasising how tall giraffes are.

Fire from Heaven by Mary Renault – a bold title in upper case letters above the image. You just know this is about ancient warfare.

Aphorisms of Yoga by Bhagwan S. Patanjali – plain and simple with the title slanting diagonally upwards in colour against a white background. Sanskrit philosophy.

Agatha Christie’s Secret Notebooks edited by John Curran – I love the red background against the square black and white photograph and whiteness of the circle emphasising the inclusion of two unpublished Poirot stories and once more the contrasting size and upper and lower case letters in the title.

Sausage Hall by Christina James. What a whimsical title. I thought it sounded a bit gimmicky and it nearly put me off reading it, which would have been a shame – it’s such a good story. The blackness of the cover with its skull and crossbones indicates the darkness of the book. It’s a crime mystery with a sinister undercurrent exploring the murky world of illegal immigrants.