Category: Top Ten Tuesday

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 on My Summer 2024 To-Read List. The first two are NetGalley ARCs (advanced reader copies) and the rest are from my 20 Books of Summer 2024 list.

First the NetGalley books:

Death at the Sign of the Rook by Kate Atkinson, her 6th Jackson Brodie book, will be published 22 August 2024. I’ve read the first four books, and somehow missed the fifth. I’m expecting this to be good in which Ex-detective Jackson Brodie is called to a sleepy Yorkshire town, to investigate the theft of stolen art works, and eventually a murder.

Hemlock Bay by Martin Edwards, the 4th Rachel Savernack Mystery, will be published on 12 September 2024.  I’ve enjoyed lots of his books before, including the first two Savernack books.

Then the books from my 20 Books of Summer 2024:

The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker – historical fiction, retelling the story of the Trojan war from the point of view of the women. 

Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith – a psychological thriller about two men whose lives become entangled after one of them proposes they ‘trade’ murders. I haven’t read any of her books but have heard that this is very good.

Killing the Lawyers by Reginald Hill – the 3rd book in the Joe Sixsmith series about a redundant lathe operator turned private eye from Luton. I’ve read several of his Dalzeil and Pascoe books, but this will be my first Joe Sixsmith.

I’ll Never Be Young Again by Daphne du Maurier – her 2nd novel about a young writer in Paris who is obsessed by his love for a young music student.

Unnatural Death by Dorothy L Sayers – the 3rd book in the Lord Peter Wimsey series in which a wealthy old woman died much sooner than the doctor expected. Did she suddenly succumb to illness–or was it murder?

Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney. I’m keen to read this psychological thriller with a killer ending, because I enjoyed two of her other books. Isolated on their private island in Cornwall, the Darker family have come together for the first time in over a decade. But one of the family is a killer . . .

The Lady of Sorrows by Anne Zouroudi, the fourth book featuring the enigmatic and courteous investigator Hermes Diaktoros. He visits a remote island to see an ancient icon famed for its miraculous powers. He gets involved in a case of forgery, betrayal and superstition, and dealing with the consequences of an all-consuming rage.

Where Water Lies by Hilary Tailor. A novel about Eliza and her friendship with Maggie, who she last met twenty years earlier. One day she spots a woman who looks just like her. Eliza has spent half her life wondering what really happened that afternoon, but memories are like ripples on water, and can be deceptive.

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 Bookish Wishes. List the top 10 books you’d love to own. In no particular order these are the books on my Amazon Wish List:

• Stormbird: The Wars of the Roses (Book 1) by Conn Iggulden
• The Fake Wife: An absolutely gripping psychological thriller with jaw-dropping twists by Sharon Bolton
• The Jewel That Was Ours (Inspector Morse Series Book 9) by Colin Dexter
• Normal Women by Philippa Gregory
• Green for Danger by Christianna Brand
• These Names Make Clues by E C R Lorac (Chief Inspector Macdonald Book 12)
• Voices of the Dead (A Raven and Fisher Mystery Book 4) by Ambrose Parry
• Injury Time by Beryl Bainbridge
• Silent Bones by Val McDermid (Karen Pirie Book 8)
• A Postillion Struck by Lightning by Dirk Bogarde (Autobiography)

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 Authors I’d Love a New Book From (These could be authors that have passed away, who have retired from writing, who have inexplicably gone quiet, or who might jut not be able to keep up with how quickly you read their books!)

These are just some of the authors who immediately came to my mind, and who sadly are no longer with us. Apart from the first and last authors I’m lucky that I don’t have to wish for a new book from them because I still have books of theirs to read.

I’ve listed them as I thought of them:

C J Sansom 1952 – 2024 I love his books and was so sorry to hear he had died recently (27 April). I can’t remember how I heard of his books, but I read his first book, Dissolution in March 2006 (before I’d started writing this blog). It was first published in 2003. Ever since then I’ve read each of his historical mystery novels featuring barrister Matthew Shardlake, set in Tudor England. There are seven in all – he was working on the eighth, Ratcliff when he died. He also wrote two standalone novels, Winter in Madrid and Dominion, which I have also read.

Hilary Mantel 1952 – 1922 The first of her books I read was Beyond Black, which I also read in 2006. Since then I’ve read quite a lot of her books, including the wonderful Wolf Hall trilogy. She wrote seventeen books, including the memoir Giving Up the Ghost, and she was awarded the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction, the Walter Scott Prize, the Costa Book Award, the Hawthornden Prize, and many other accolades. In 2014, Mantel was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire. But there are still more books by her for me to read.

Agatha Christie 1890 – 1976 I have been reading her crime fiction for years – first from the library, as a teenager. Since starting this blog I’ve read all her crime fiction books and her Autobiography. As well as being a record of her life as she remembered it and wanted to relate it, it’s also full of  her thoughts on life and writing. I still have a lot of her short stories to read. She is most probably the author that has given me the most enjoyment over the longest period of time.

Daphne du Maurier 1907 – 1989, another author whose books I began reading as a teenager, thanks to my mother. The first was Rebecca, which I have read many times over the years, followed by Jamaica Inn and Frenchman’s Creek. A prolific author, I haven’t read all of her books.

Elizabeth Jane Howard 1923 – 2014 I can’t remember when I first read her books – but they are definitely pre-blog. I loved her historical fiction novels, the five Cazalet Chronicles, a series of books telling the story of the family from 1937 to 1958. I still have some of her standalone novels to read.

Reginald Hill 1936 – 2012 crime fiction author – Dalziel and Pascoe series, Joe Sixsmith, plus standalone novels and short stories. I’ve watched practically all the Dalziel and Pascoe episodes on TV  before I knew they were based on books and I’ve still got quite a lot of them still to read.

Beryl Bainbridge 1932 – 2010 An Awfully Big Adventure is semi-autobiographical based on her own experience as an assistant stage manager in a Liverpool theatre. She wrote dark novels with an undercurrent of psychological suspense. They are disturbing, unsettling, chilling stories, with flashes of humour and farce. She also wrote historical fiction – my favourite is The Birthday Boys, a novel about Captain Scott’s last Antarctic Expedition. Another prolific author there are plenty of her books I haven’t read.

Ruth Rendell 1930 – 2015 – another crime fiction author I first came across on TV in the Chief Inspector Wexford series and then read the books. She also wrote under the pseudonym Barbara Vine. A most prolific author she wrote numerous books and won many awards, so I still have plenty of her books to read.

Peter Robinson 1950 – 2022 Peter Robinson was a British-born Canadian crime writer who was best known for his crime novels set in Yorkshire featuring Inspector Alan Banks. He also published a number of other novels and short stories, as well as some poems and two articles on writing.   Beginning with Gallows View in 1987, Robinson delivered a novel in the series, or short story collection, almost every year until his death. He won a CWA Dagger in the Library (2002); Anthony Awards 2000; Barry Award 1999. I still have some of his Inspector Banks books left to read.

And last but not least, Jane Austen, 1775 – 1817, one of my longtime favourite authors ever since I read my mother’s copy of Pride and Prejudice   – it’s the brown book shown in the photo. Wouldn’t it be great to have another novel to add to her six completed books and three volumes of juvenile writings in manuscript, the short epistolary novel Lady Susan, and the unfinished novel The Watsons?

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 May Flowers — you can pick your own title for this one to reflect the direction you choose to go with this prompt (books with flowers on the cover, flower names in the title, characters whose names are flower names, stories involving flowers/gardeners).

Although roses are not flowers that bloom in May I’ve chosen to feature books with the word Rose in the title (except for Deadhead, which has roses in each chapter heading). I’ve listed them in A-Z author order. Some are books I’ve read and I’ve linked the titles to my posts. The others I’ve linked to the descriptions in Goodreads or Amazon:

The Last Kashmiri Rose by Barbara Cleverly (not read). It is India, 1922, and the wives of officers in the Bengal Greys have been dying violently, one each year and always in March. The only link between the bizarre but apparently accidental deaths is the bunches of small red roses that appear on the women’s graves. When a fifth wife is found with her wrists cut in a bath of blood, the Governor rejects the verdict of suicide and calls in Joe Sandilands, an ex-soldier and Scotland Yard Detective. It becomes clear to Joe that the deaths are, indeed, a series of murders, and they are have not yet run their course. Who will be the recipient of the next—and last—Kashmiri Roses? As he discovers the shocking truth, Joe must work fast to unmask a killer whose motives are rooted in the dark history of India itself.

White Rose, Black Forest by Eoin Dempsey, a World War Two novel, set in the Black Forest, Germany in 1943, where Franka Gerber is living alone in an isolated cabin, having returned to her home town of Freiburg after serving a prison sentence for anti-Nazi activities. a novel inspired by true events The White Rose movement in Germany was a non-violent intellectual resistance group in Nazi Germany, who conducted an anonymous leaflet and graffiti campaign that called for active opposition to the Nazi regime.

The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco, a fantastic historical crime mystery novel set in a Franciscan monastery in 14th century Italy. William of Baskerville and his assistant Adso are sent to the monastery to investigate a series of murders. I’ve read this book twice.

Red Rose, White Rose by Joanna Hickson – (not read) Told through the eyes of Cicely and her half-brother Cuthbert, this is the story of one of the most powerful women in England during one of its most turbulent periods. Born of Lancaster and married to York, the willowy and wayward Cicely treads a hazardous path through love, loss and imprisonment and between the violent factions of Lancaster and York, as the Wars of the Roses tear England’s ruling families apart. So nearly queen herself, Cicely Neville was the mother, grandmother and great-grandmother of kings – and her descendants still wear the crown.

Deadheads by Reginald Hill – crime fiction, a Dalziel and Pasco murder mystery. Each chapter is named after a particular rose followed by a description of that rose and the first one is called Mischief, a hybrid tea, in which old Mrs Florence Aldermann instructs her great nephew, eleven year old Patrick, how to deadhead roses and explains why it is necessary.  When Patrick inherits the splendid Rosemount House and gardens on the death of his aunt, he is able to indulge his horticultural passions without restraint. But is he a murderer?

The Rose of Sebastopol by Katherine McMahon historical fiction about the Crimean War as seen through the eyes of Mariella Lingwood. Her fiance, Henry is a surgeon who volunteered his services at the battlefields and her cousin Rosa, determined to be a nurse has also gone to the Crimea. There’s a good deal of interesting and somewhat gruesome descriptions of the medical practices and, surprisingly to me at any rate, criticism of Florence Nightingale.

The Last Rose of Shanghai by Weina Dai Randel – historical fiction set in Japanese-occupied Shanghai, this is a World War Two romance, the story of Aiyi Shao, a young heiress and the owner of a glamorous Shanghai nightclub and Ernest Reismann, a penniless Jewish refugee who had fled from Germany. I loved the beginning of this book but the rest of it was not so good – too much ‘telling’ and I’d have liked less focus on the romance, which to me was barely believable.

Where Roses Fade by Andrew Taylor (not read), book 5 in the Lydmouth Crime series. When Mattie Harris’s body is found drowned in the river, everyone in Lydmouth knows something is wrong. Mattie wasn’t a swimmer – it can’t have been a simple accident. She was drunk on the last night of her life – could she have fallen in? Or was she pushed?

Mattie was a waitress, of no importance at all, so when Lydmouth’s most prominent citizens become very anxious to establish that her death was accidental, Jill Francis’s suspicions become roused. In the meantime she is becoming ever closer to Inspector Richard Thornhill, and discovering that the living have as many secrets as the dead…

Black Roses by Jane Thynne, one of my TBRs. Berlin, 1933. Warning bells ring across Europe as Hitler comes to power. Clara Vine is young and ambitious, and determined to succeed as an actress. A chance meeting at a party in London leads her to Berlin, to the famous Ufa studios and, unwittingly, into an uneasy circle of Nazi wives, among them Magda Goebbels. Then Clara meets Leo Quinn who is undercover, working for British intelligence. Leo sees in Clara the perfect recruit to spy on her new acquaintances, using her acting skills to win their confidence. But when Magda Goebbels reveals to Clara a dramatic secret and entrusts her with an extraordinary mission, Clara feels threatened, compromised and desperately caught between duty and love.

The Rose and the Yew Tree by Mary Westmacott (Agatha Christie) (not read) A captivating novel of love and intrigue. Everyone expected Isabella Charteris, beautiful, sheltered and aristocratic, to marry her cousin Rupert when he came back from the War. It would have been such a suitable marriage. How strange then that John Gabriel, an ambitious and ruthless war hero, should appear in her life. For Isabella, the price of love would mean abandoning her dreams of home and happiness forever. For Gabriel, it would destroy his chance of a career and all his ambitions…

Famous for her ingenious crime books and plays, Agatha Christie also wrote about crimes of the heart, six bittersweet and very personal novels, as compelling and memorable as the best of her work.