I went shopping today and found these three books in my local secondhand bookshop:

• The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens, his unfinished last novel. I’ve been wanting to read this ever since I read Drood by Dan Simmons. Dickens’s daughter called this a tale of ‘the tragic secrets of the human heart.’
• Dumb Witness by Agatha Christie – Hercule Poirot investigates Emily’s death from falling down the stairs, apparently caused by a rubber ball left there by her dog. I’m slowly reading my way through Christie’s books.
• Elizabeth Gaskell: a Habit of Stories by Jenny Uglow, described in the blurbs as an’absorbing book’, portraying ‘Gaskell’s hectic life  so richly that you feel lost when the story suddenly stops’, ‘a long book you wish longer.’ I like both literary biographies and Elizabeth Gaskell’s books. I have high hopes for this book.

I also went to the library and borrowed:

• The Rough Guide to Crime Fiction by Barry Forshaw. This looks an excellent source of information on the various sub-genres of crime fiction, from the Golden Age of classic mysteries through to Crime in Translation. I may have to buy a copy of this book.
• Family Album by Penelope Lively, her latest novel (the 16th) about the secrets that lie beneath the surface of a seemingly ordinary family. I haven’t read all of her other books, but have greatly enjoyed the ones I have read. I hope this one will be as good.