Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish and now hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. For the rules see her blog.
This week’s topic: Books On My Summer 2019 TBR. As I’m taking part in the 20 Books of Summer Challenge I’ve included some of the books I’ve identified for that challenge together with a few other books. Some of these books are ones that have been on my TBR list for ages and some are more recent additions from NetGalley.
The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell
I’m really keen to read this one! I’m hoping it’ll be just as good as her last two books that I’ve read recently. In a large house in London’s fashionable Chelsea, a baby is awake in her cot. Well-fed and cared for, she is happily waiting for someone to pick her up. In the kitchen lie three decomposing corpses. Close to them is a hastily scrawled note. They’ve been dead for several days. Who has been looking after the baby? And where did they go?
Blood on the Tracks edited by Martin Edwards, one of the British Library Crime Classics – a collection of short stories of railway mysteries. Short stories are not always my favourites which is one reason I’ve had this selection for a while now, although I have read the first story, The Man with the Watches by Arthur Conan Doyle – not a Sherlock Holmes mystery.
An Advancement of Learning by Reginald Hill, the second Dalziel and Pascoe book. I’ve read some of the later books in the series and am now going back to the early ones that I haven’t yet read. A body is discovered when a statue is moved at a college.
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson – I bought thus book five years ago and started to read it at the time, only to put it to one side and then forgot about it. It follows Ursula Todd as she lives through the turbulent events of the last century again and again.
The Moon Sister by Lucinda Riley – the fifth Seven Sisters book. This is one of my more recent TBRs. It looks very interesting as it moves from the Scottish Highlands and Spain, to South America and New York as Tiggy follows the trail back to her own exotic but complex past.
Becoming Mrs Lewis by Patti Callahan, subtitled The Improbable Love Story of Joy Davidman and C. S. Lewis. I first read C S Lewis’s biography Surprised by Joy many years ago, and since then have read several of his other books and cried watching the film Shadowlands. So I’m very keen to read this book.
Who Killed Ruby? by Camilla Way, a psychological thriller, in which a family is trapped in a nightmare. In the kitchen, a man lies dead on the blood-soaked floor. Soon the police will come, and they’ll want answers. I haven’t read any of Camilla Way’s other books, so I don’t know what to expect.
The Adventures of Maud West, Lady Detective by Susanna Stapleton, a book that blurs the margin between possible truth and impossible invention. ‘Maud West’ was a real lady detective, working in the early 20th century. It is part biography, partly the story of Stapleton’s research and part social history.
The Rose Labyrinth by Tatania Hardie. I can’t remember where I got this book from, but I entered it in my LibraryThing catalogue eight years ago! It doesn’t have sparkling reviews, so I’m hoping I’ll like this story of a quest to solve the riddles set by Elizabethan spy and astrologer John Dee.
The House by the Loch by Kirsty Wark, a family saga, set in the beautiful Scottish countryside, a tale of a family drama and secrets refusing to lie buried in the past. I thoroughly enjoyed her first novel, The Legacy of Elizabeth Pringle. I have high expectations that I’ll enjoy this one too.
I’d love to hear from you if you’ve read any of these books, or are thinking of read them, especially if you have read The Rose Labyrinth.
BooksPlease 
Wow what a great selection you have – I read Life After Life last summer and I adored it! I’ve also read and enjoyed The Adventures of Maud West, Lady Detective and of course you simply can’t go wrong (in my opinion) with Reginald Hill. Have a fantastic reading summer Margaret.
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Thanks, Cleopatra! There are so many books I want to read – I doubt I’ll manage all these this summer.
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Great Selection. I will have to look into a few on your list.
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I had to give up on Life After Life. I found it repetitive sorry.
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As I said I did start this book when I first got it and now I think about it, it was the repetitiveness of it that put me off. But then I read A God In Ruins about Ursula’s brother, Teddy and loved it – so I want to have another go with Life After Life.
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That’s interesting to know – I wonder if it will make any difference that you are reading them in reverse order
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Booker Talk and I agree to disagree over Life After Life, I loved it. However, I would say don’t expect too much of An Advancement of Learning, Hill got much better as the series progressed and the earlier novels aren’t a patch on the later ones.
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This is encouraging about Life After Life!
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Oh, I keep hearing that the Stapleton is very good, Margaret! I hope you’ll enjoy that one. And with Hill and Atkinson on your list, you’ve some very good reading in store, I think. I look forward to your reviews.
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Based on cover appeal alone, many of these books look like ones I’d like to read. Of course, you have Life After Life here and that is one of my all-time favorites! I hope you enjoy it 🙂
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I love reading these even when I’m not participating (I just published another author interview on my blog instead). You might want to take a look – Jane Davis is an amazing author, and from this list, I think you might like her style!
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I’ve had Life After Life on my Kindle for a long time and never gotten to it. Maybe soon. Several of these catch my eye, but I’ve been absorbed in the Arizona setting of Betty Webb’s Lena Jones books. I’m still enjoying them, so I’m going from one to the next. Love it when that happens. Enjoy your reading!
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Margaret, looks like you have a great summer of reading ahead of you! The House on the Loch interests me the most. Loved Kate Atkinson’s books but Life After Life never interested me, I guess I should give it a try. Great covers on these books too!
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Wow, some great looking and new to me books here. Love them!
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These books sound good. I hope you enjoy all of them!
Here is our Top Ten Tuesday.
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Great list of books! The Family Upstairs sounds like its exactly my type of book. I love reading thrillers in summer, which is what most of my TTT list consists of. Good luck with the tbr!
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I’m incredibly curious about The Family Upstairs. Might need to read that one this summer, too.
My TTT.
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I’ve read Blood on the Tracks and thought it was an excellent selection of short stories. The Dorothy L. Sayers was particularly good. Funny, I thought I’d read this one this year but when I checked it was last ‘July’. Going doolally.
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I agree with Café Society that Hill got better as he went along, but I’ve been enjoying re-reading these early ones, and seeing how he and the characters developed. Enjoy! 😀
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Hallo, Hallo,…
I posted my TTT today – talking about why I’m focusing on a readathon (personal) I called #MyYASummer – plus a few other genres I’ll be reading as well! Though I read heaps of Historial Fiction every month of every year, this Summer I wanted to do two things a) erase more of my backlogue of reviews and b) have some fun whilst I do it! 🙂
From your list here — I wanted to make a few notes:
* The Moon Sister – I had the joyful pleasure of reading this for the publisher’s blog tour – you can search for the author or the series on my blog – I have felt so dearly anchoured into this Seven Sisters series, it is hard to even put into words! I had the joy of finding it when another of the books went on a blog tour – where I back-read the first novels to get into the rhythm of the series. I am so thankful I had!! You’ll love the setting…. I felt Tiggy felt at peace in the Highlands as she’s dearly connected to the natural world.
* Blood on the Rails – going to see if I can borrow this from my library — I *love!* short stories & novellas – as I started reading anthologies for these in the Speculative Fiction realms a few years ago? I’m so addicted! lol Trying to remember to read other genres of interest — Cosy Mysteries are a love so this sounded keen! Thanks for the rec!
Hope you have an EPIC Summer of readerly joy!!
PS: I love seeking out Biographical Historical Fiction, too! I sometimes find I’m more drawn into those exploits in Fiction than I am to read the Non-Fic variants! lol
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