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. The topic this week is Books with Animals in the Titles/on the Covers
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 is Books for People Who Liked Author X but I’m changing it a bit to Books for People Who Like Historical Crime Fiction/thrillers. I haven’t included any of the authors I listed in an earlier TTT post on historical fiction.
Death Comes as the End by Agatha Christie, set in 2000 BC Egypt, a novel of anger, jealousy, betrayal and murder in 2000 BC. A young woman, Nofret, is found dead, apparently having fallen from a cliff. More deaths follow.
Night of the Lightbringer by Peter Tremayne – one of the Sister Fidelma mystery series, a medieval murder mystery, set in Ireland in AD 671 on the eve of the pagan feast of Samhain. featuring a Celtic nun who is also an advocate of the ancient Irish law system. (TBR)
The Story Keeper, set on the Isle of Skye in 1857 where Audrey Hart has been employed to collect the folklore and fairy tales of the local community. One by one young girls go missing from their homes and the locals believe they have been taken by the spirits of the unforgiven dead.
An Expert in Murder by Nicola Upson, set in the theatrical world of the 1930s, one of her novels featuring novelist Josephine Tey (Elizabeth Mackintosh 1896-1952).
The Franchise Affair by Josephine Tey, set in a post Second World War England but based on a real case from the 18th century of a girl who went missing and later claimed she had been kidnapped.
Murder on the Eiffel Tower by Claude Izner, the Eiffel Tower opened in 1889. Eugénie Patinot and her nephew and niece sign the visitors’ book, and then Eugénie collapses and dies, apparently from a bee-sting. Victor Legris, a bookseller is determined to find out what had really happened.
The House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz, set in the late 19th century, capturing the spirit and tone of Conan Doyle’s original stories while devising a new mystery for modern readers. Horowitz’s plot is cunning, full of twists and turns, with allusions to Conan Doyle’s stories.
Prophecy by S J Parris – one of the Giordano Bruno series of historical thrillers, set in Elizabethan England. Giordano Bruno was a 16th century heretic philosopher and spy. This book begins in the autumn of 1583, when Elizabeth’s throne is in peril, threatened by Mary Stuart’s supporters scheme to usurp the rightful monarch.
The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton – set in a 1920s English country house, where Evelyn Hardcastle, the young and beautiful daughter of the house, is killed. But Evelyn will not die just once as the day will repeat itself, over and over again. Every time ending with the fateful pistol shot. (a TBR)
The Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin, a murder/mystery book set in Cambridge in 1170 during the reign of Henry II. A child has been murdered and others have disappeared (also found murdered). The Jews are suspected and have been held in the castle for their own safety.
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 is TTT Rewind (Pick a previous topic that you missed or would like to re-do/update) So, I’m updating my post Books On My Spring 2019 TBR, first posted on 19th March 2019.
I read three of them!
Broken Ground by Val McDermid, On the Beach by Nevil Shute, which I read only this year and have yet to write a review, and The Island by Ragnar Jónasson.
This leaves me with seven left to read:
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote – Capote reconstructs the crime and the investigation into the murders of the four members of the Clutter family on November 15, 1959, in the small town of Holcomb, Kansas.
How Green Was My Valley by Richard Llewellyn – a story of life in a mining community in rural South Wales as Huw Morgan is preparing to leave the valley where he had grown up. He tells of life before the First World War.
Iris and Ruby by Rosie Thomas – the story of a teenage girl, Ruby, who runs away from home to live with her grandmother, Iris in Cairo.
Here Be Dragons by Sharon Penman – set in 13th century Wales this is the story of Llewelyn, the Prince of North Wales, and his rise to power and fame and his love for Joanna, the illegitimate daughter of King John.
A Beautiful Corpse by Christi Daugherty – crime reporter Harper McClain unravels a tangled story of obsession and jealousy after a beautiful law student is shot in Savannah, Georgia.
A Snapshot of Murderby Frances Brody – set in Yorkshire in 1928, when amateur detective, Kate Shackleton investigates a crime in Brontë country.
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn – on the day of Nick and Amy’s fifth wedding anniversary, Amy suddenly disappears. The police suspect Nick. Amy’s friends reveal that she was afraid of him, that she kept secrets from him. He swears it isn’t true.
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.
The topic this week is The topic this week is Books on My Spring 2023 To-Read List. These are all from my TBR lists. But this does not mean that I will actually read all these books or even some of them this Spring, as I’ve said before, I am a mood read and when the time comes to choose the next book to read it could be a newly published book that takes my fancy or another book from my TBRs.
I would like to read at least one of them though!
The Hunt for Mount Everest by Craig Storti – the story of how Everest was identified, and named, leading up to June 1921, when two English climbers, George Mallory and Guy Bullock, became the first westerners to set foot on Mount Everest.
Loch Down Abbey by Beth Cowan-Erskine – who killed Lord Inverkillen? Lockdown meets Downton Abbey in this playful, humorous mystery set in 1930s Scotland.
This Nowhere Place by Natasha Bell – a murder mystery set in Dover in 2016, when best friends Cali and Jude meet Mo, a young girl who has recently come to Britain from Syria.
The Agincourt Bride by Joanna Hickson – historical fiction about the queen, Catherine de Valois who married Henry V in 1420, as told through the eyes of her loyal nursemaid.
The Locked Room by Elly Griffiths, the 14th Dr Ruth Galloway mystery – forensic archaeologist Dr Ruth Galloway and DCI Harry Nelson are on the hunt for a murderer when Covid rears its ugly head. But can they find the killer despite lockdown?
Grimm Up North: A Yorkshire Murder Mystery by David J. Gatward – the first book in the DCI Harry Grimm crime thriller series, set in the Yorkshire Dales. A young woman vanishes without a trace. Can an ex-soldier-turned-copper keep a mystery from becoming a tragedy?
Asking for the Moon by Reginald Hill, a collection of Dalziel and Pascoe short stories. Four stories about their partnership from curtain-up to last act; from the mean streets of Mid-Yorkshire to the mountains of the moon.
The Rising Tide by Ann Cleeves, the 10th book in the Vera Stanhope series. Fifty years ago, a group of teenagers spent a weekend on Holy Island, forging a bond that has lasted a lifetime. Now, they still return every five years to celebrate their friendship, and remember the friend they lost to the rising waters of the causeway at the first reunion.
Give Unto Others a Commissario Brunetti Mystery Book 31) by Donna Leon – Brunetti is forced to confront the price of loyalty, to his past and in his work, as a seemingly innocent request leads him into troubling waters.
The Crooked Shore by Martin Edwards – Lake District Cold-Case Mysteries Book 8. Hannah Scarlett is investigating the disappearance of a young woman from Bowness more than twenty years ago.
I haven’t listed them in any order of preference. Would you recommend any of them and which one would you read first?
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.
The topic this week is a Genre Freebie and I’ve chosen the following ten fantasy novels, all of which I’ve read. There are many more I could have included – these are just the ones that came to my mind at the moment, not necessarily the top ten, but ten that I have enjoyed.
Rivers of London – urban fantasy set in the real world of London. It’s a mix of reality and the supernatural, a magical reading experience, and a fast-paced police procedural of a very different kind.
A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire,1) by George R R Martin, an epic fantasy novel set in a grim and violent world full of tragedy, betrayals and battles; a tale of good versus evil in which family, duty, and honour are in conflict.
The Ladies of Grace and Adieu and Other Stories by Susanna Clarke as fantastical as Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, a collection full of fantasy stories of deep dark woods, paths leading to houses that seemingly move locations, ladies who are never what they appear to be, princesses, owls, and above all fairies, including the Raven King.
Northern Lights by Philip Pullman, the first book in his trilogy His Dark Materials, set in a universe similar to ours, but different. It’s all so beautifully described that you are convinced of the reality of this universe.
The Library of the Dead by T L Huchu set in a future or alternative Edinburgh, with a wealth of dark secrets in its underground.
Movalwar by Benjamin Cornelius who is my friend’s great-nephew (aged 11 when he wrote his book). It’s about two eleven year-old boys, Alfie and Ben and their exciting and dangerous journey to save the fate of two worlds.
The Toymakers by Robert Dinsdale, an extraordinary, magical and wonderful book that captivated me, a book set mainly in 1917 whilst the First World War was taking its toll of humanity, leaving despair and tragedy in its wake. It’s a blend of historical fiction and magic realism.
Yesterday by Felicity Yap about a world where memory for everyone over the age of eighteen is limited for 70% of people to just one day (the Monos) whilst the rest (the Duos) have two days of memory. Each day everyone has to write down their actions, thoughts and feelings in their iDiaries and then memorise the ‘facts’. But are these ‘facts’ reliable?
The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley, that blends historical events with flights of fancy to plunge readers into a strange and magical past, where time, destiny, genius ‘and a clockwork octopus’ collide.
The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro. There are ogres, deadly pixies, evil monks who keep a dreadful beast underground, Saxons – Wistan, a warrior and a young boy, and Sir Gawain entrusted by King Arthur to slay Querig, a she-dragon roaming the land, who by her breath has spread the mist of forgetfulness.
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.
The topic this week is The topic this week is Love/Valentine’s Day Freebie. I thought this would be hard for me as I don’t read many love stories or romantic fiction, but here are 10 love stories I have enjoyed. Some of them are books I read in my teens and others are ones I’ve read more recently. I’ve listed them in no particular order of preference and linked the titles either to Amazon or Goodreads.
BooksPlease 
