Top Ten Tuesday: Most Anticipated Books Releasing in the First Half of 2024

Published on by Margaret15 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. For the rules see her blog.

The topic this week is Most Anticipated Books Releasing in the First Half of 2024. The first three books are proof copies from NetGalley. The rest are books on my Wishlist.

The Hunter by Tana French – 7 March 2024

It’s a blazing summer when two men arrive in the village. They’re coming for gold. What they bring is trouble. Cal Hooper was a Chicago detective, till he moved to the West of Ireland looking for peace. He’s found it, more or less – in his relationship with local woman Lena, and the bond he’s formed with half-wild teenager Trey. So when two men turn up with a money-making scheme to find gold in the townland, Cal gets ready to do whatever it takes to protect Trey. Because one of the men is no stranger: he’s Trey’s father. But Trey doesn’t want protecting. What she wants is revenge.

Nero by Conn Iggulden – 23 May 2024

ANCIENT ROME, AD 37 It begins with a man’s hand curled around another’s throat. Emperor Tiberius first dispatches a traitor. Then his whole family.Next all his friends. It is as if he never existed.

THIS IS ROMAN JUSTICE. Into this fevered forum, a child is born. His mother is Agrippina, granddaughter of Emperor Augustus. But their imperial blood is no protection. The closer you are to the heart of the empire, the closer you are to power, intrigue, and danger. She faces soldiers, senators, rivals, silver-tongued pretenders, each vying for position. One mistake risks exile, incarceration, execution. Or, worst of all, the loss of her infant son. For Agrippina knows that opportunity waits, even in your darkest moments. Her son is everything. She can make this boy, shape him into Rome itself – the one all must kneel before.

Camino Ghosts by John Grisham – 28 May 2024

In this new thriller set on Camino Island, popular bookseller Bruce Cable tells Mercer Mann an irresistible tale that might be her next novel. A giant resort developer is using its political muscle and deep pockets to claim ownership of a deserted island between Florida and Georgia. Only the last living inhabitant of the island, Lovely Jackson, stands in its way. What the developer doesn’t know is that the island has a remarkable history, and locals believe it is cursed . . . and the past is never the past . . .

The Trial by Jo Spain – June 6 2024

2014, Dublin: at St Edmunds, an elite college on the outskirts of the city, twenty-year-old medical student Theo gets up one morning, leaving behind his sleeping girlfriend, Dani, and his studies – never to be seen again. With too many unanswered questions, Dani simply can’t accept Theo’s disappearance and reports him missing, even though no one else seems concerned, including Theo’s father.

Ten years later, Dani returns to the college as a history professor. With her mother suffering from severe dementia, and her past at St Edmunds still haunting her, she’s trying for a new start. But not all is as it seems behind the cloistered college walls – meanwhile, Dani is hiding secrets of her own.

The Wild Swimmers (DS Alexandra Cupidi Book 5): by William Shaw – 23 May 2024

In the latest instalment of the D S Cupidi series low tide reveals a mysterious crime.

The body of a local woman is found washed up on the Folkstone shoreline. Cupidi must find the missing link between a group of wild swimmers, an online dating profile and a slippery killer who feels remarkably close to home.

The Last Word by Elly Griffiths – 39 January 2024

In the latest instalment of the D S Cupidi series low tide reveals a mysterious crime. The body of a local woman is found washed up on the Folkstone shoreline. Cupidi must find the missing link between a group of wild swimmers, an online dating profile and a slippery killer who feels remarkably close to home.

Natalka and Edwin, whom we met in The Postscript Murders, are running a detective agency in Shoreham, Sussex. Despite a steady stream of minor cases, Natalka is frustrated, longing for a big juicy case such as murder to come the agency’s way. Natalka is now living with dreamer, Benedict. But her Ukrainian mother Valentyna has joined them from her war-torn country and three’s a crowd. It’s annoying to have Valentyna in the tiny flat, cooking borscht and cleaning things that are already clean. To add to Natalka’s irritation, Benedict and her mother get on brilliantly.

Then a murder case turns up. Local writer, Melody Chambers, is found dead and her family are convinced it is murder. Edwin, a big fan of the obit pages, thinks there’s a link to the writer of Melody’s obituary who pre-deceased his subject. The trail leads Benedict and Edwin to a slightly sinister writers’ retreat. When another writer is found dead, Edwin thinks that the clue lies in the words. Seeking professional help, the amateur investigators turn to their friend, detective Harbinder Kaur, to find that they have stumbled on a plot that is stranger than fiction.

Close to Death by Anthony Horowitz – 11 April 2924

Richmond Upon Thames is one of the most desirable areas to live in London. And Riverview Close – a quiet, gated community – seems to offer its inhabitants the perfect life.

At least it does until Giles Kenworthy moves in with his wife and noisy children, his four gas-guzzling cars, his loud parties and his plans for a new swimming pool in his garden. His neighbours all have a reason to hate him and are soon up in arms.

When Kenworthy is shot dead with a crossbow bolt through his neck, all of them come under suspicion and his murder opens the door to lies, deception and further death. The police are baffled. Reluctantly, they call in former Detective Daniel Hawthorne. But even he is faced with a seemingly impossible puzzle. How do you solve a murder when everyone has the same motive?

Where Water Lies by Hilary Tailor – 1 June 2024

Eliza has lived two lives – one before she fell into an obsessive teenage friendship with Eric and Maggie, and the one after it was destroyed in a single afternoon. To Eliza, Eric and Maggie were irreplaceable, so she hasn’t. Instead, drifting through life alone, she spends every morning diving into her memories as she swims in Hampstead Ponds, her guilt never far below the surface.

Twenty years might have passed, yet Eliza still can’t help searching for Maggie everywhere. Then one day she spots a woman who looks just like her. Eliza has spent half her life wondering what really happened that afternoon and if Maggie’s back, will it help her finally get answers?

The Wrong Sister by Claire Douglas – 14 March 2024

Tasha and her husband Aaron are having a much-needed week away in Venice. With their two young children being cared for back home by Tasha’s older sister Alice, it’s the perfect opportunity for them to reconnect as a couple. Until they start to feel they’re being followed. Then Tasha receives a phonecall to say Alice and her husband Kyle have been attacked. Alice is in intensive care, and Kyle has died. The twins are, miraculously, safe.They rush home to be with their daughters, to support Alice, and to help with the police investigation.

But in the middle of it all a note arrives, addressed to Tasha: It was supposed to be you. What soon emerges are secrets buried far deeper than any of this family realise. Everyone has a history. But how far would you go to protect those you love?

They Thought I Was Dead by Peter James – 9 May 2024

Her name is Sandy. You might know her as the loving wife of Detective Superintendent Roy Grace. But there’s more to her than meets the eye. A woman with a dubious past, a complicated present and an uncertain future. Then she was gone.

Her disappearance caused a nationwide search. Even the best detective on the force couldn’t find her. They thought she was dead. Where did she go? Why did she run? What would cause a woman to leave her whole life behind and simply vanish?


Spell the Month in Books – January 2024

Published on by Margaret8 Comments

Spell the Month in Books is a linkup hosted by Jana on Reviews From the Stacks on the first Saturday of each month. The goal is to spell the current month with the first letter of book titles, excluding articles such as ‘the’ and ‘a’ as needed. That’s all there is to it! Some months there are optional theme challenges, such as “books with an orange cover” or books of a particular genre, but for the most part, any book you want to use is fair game!

The theme this month is New (interpret as you wish: new releases, recent acquisitions, “new” in the title, etc.) But I just couldn’t come up with any titles on this theme. So, I decided to use a selection of books on my LibraryThing TBRs list.

The links go to the descriptions on Amazon or Goodreads.

J is for The Joys of My Life by Alys Clare

May 1199. Abbess Helewise has been summoned by Queen Eleanor to discuss the building of a chapel at Hawkenlye Abbey. Meanwhile, Sir Josse dAcquin is on the trail of a group of mysterious knights rumoured to be devil worshippers. As Helewise heads for home, Josse follows his quarry to Chartres, where he meets the last person he expects: Joanna. And she has grave problems of her own . . .

A is for After the Crash by Michel Bussi

On the night of 22 December 1980, a plane crashes on the Franco-Swiss border and is engulfed in flames. 168 out of 169 passengers are killed instantly. The miraculous sole survivor is a three-month-old baby girl. Two families, one rich, the other poor, step forward to claim her, sparking an investigation that will last for almost two decades. Is she Lyse-Rose or Emilie?

Eighteen years later, having failed to discover the truth, private detective Credule Grand-Duc plans to take his own life, but not before placing an account of his investigation in the girl’s hands. But, as he sits at his desk about to pull the trigger, he uncovers a secret that changes everything – then is killed before he can breathe a word of it to anyone…

N is for Now is the Time by Melvyn Bragg

In this gripping novel, Melvyn Bragg brings an extraordinary episode in English history to fresh, urgent life.

At the end of May 1381, the fourteen-year-old King of England had reason to be fearful: the plague had returned, the royal coffers were empty and a draconian poll tax was being widely evaded. Yet Richard, bolstered by his powerful, admired mother, felt secure in his God-given right to reign.

Within two weeks, the unthinkable happened: a vast force of common people invaded London, led by a former soldier, Walter Tyler, and the radical preacher John Ball, demanding freedom, equality and the complete uprooting of the Church and state. They believed they were rescuing the King from his corrupt ministers, and that England had to be saved. And for three intense, violent days, it looked as if they would sweep all before them.

Now is the Time depicts the events of the Peasants’ Revolt on both a grand and intimate scale, vividly portraying its central figures and telling an archetypal tale of an epic struggle between the powerful and the apparently powerless.

U is for Unnatural Death by Dorothy L Sayers

The third book in Dorothy L Sayers’ classic Lord Peter Wimsey series,

No sign of foul play,’ says Dr Carr after the post-mortem on Agatha Dawson. The case is closed. But Lord Peter Wimsey is not satisfied… With no clues to work on, he begins his own investigation.

What is going on in the mysterious Mrs Forrest’s Mayfair flat?

A is for Arms and the Women by Reginald Hill

This is the 18th Dalziel and Pascoe mystery in which Ellie, Pascoe’s wife is in danger at a decaying seacoast mansion.

Someone attempts to abduct Ellie Pascoe, and her friend, Daphne Alderman, is assaulted by a man keeping watch on the Pascoe house. Dalziel, Pascoe and Wield feel certain there must be a link here with one of Pascoe’s cases, either current or past. Only DC Shirley Novello wonders whether perhaps these events might have more to do with Ellie than her husband.

While the men concentrate on their individual theories, Ellie, her daughter Rosie, Daphne, and Novello (their official minder) head for the coast to the supposed safety of the Alderman’s holiday home, Cleets Cottage. But their flight proves somewhat futile as Ellie’s would-be abductor continues to send her letters of possibly threatening intent, composed in a strange Elizabethan English.

R is for The Racketeer by John Grisham

Given the importance of what they do, and the controversies that often surround them, and the violent people they sometimes confront, it is remarkable that in the history of the USA only four active federal judges have been murdered.

Judge Raymond Fawcett just became number five.

His body was found in the small basement of a lakeside cabin he had built himself and frequently used on weekends. When he did not show up for a trial on Monday morning, his law clerks panicked, called the FBI, and in due course the agents found the crime scene. There was no forced entry, no struggle, just two dead bodies – Judge Fawcett and his young secretary.

I did not know Judge Fawcett, but I know who killed him, and why.

I am a lawyer, and I am in prison.

Y is for The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood

The sun brightens in the east, reddening the blue-grey haze that marks the distant ocean. The vultures roosting on the hydro poles fan out their wings to dry them. the air smells faintly of burning. The waterless flood – a manmade plague – has ended the world.

But two young women have survived: Ren, a young dancer trapped where she worked, in an upmarket sex club (the cleanest dirty girls in town); and Toby, who watches and waits from her rooftop garden.

Is anyone else out there?

The next link up will be on February 3, 2024 when the theme will be Comfort Reads -escape from reality.

Six Degrees of Separation from Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow to The Hog’s Back Mystery

Published on by Margaret10 Comments

It’s time again for Six Degrees of Separation, a monthly link-up hosted by Kate at Books Are My Favourite and Best. Each month a book is chosen as a starting point and linked to six other books to form a chain. A book doesn’t need to be connected to all the other books on the list, only to the one next to it in the chain.

This month starts with Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin a book I haven’t read. It’s the story of Sam and Sadie, who are both gamers, but according to Amazon this is not a romance but a story about love.

I’ve seen this reviewed in numerous places but never been tempted to read it until I read Kate’s review @ Books are my favourite and best. Like Kate I also thought it was about gaming and so not for me. But she explained that it wasn’t really about gaming but relationships, so maybe it could be.

Anyway, I’m starting my chain with a book with another character called Sadie. It’s The Search Party by Simon Lelic. Sixteen year old Sadie Saunders is missing and five of her friends set out into the woods to find her. At the same time the police’s investigation, led by Detective Inspector Robin Fleet and Detective Sergeant Nicola Collins, is underway.

My second link is to another crime fiction set in woods – In the Woods by Tana French. It’s set in Ireland mainly around an archaeological dig of a site prior to the construction of a motorway. Most of the wood that covered the land had already been cleared, but a small section remains. A little girl’s body is discovered on the site. Is her death connected to the disappearance of two twelve year-olds 20 years earlier? It’s Tana French’s debut novel.

My third link is to another debut novel – The Unquiet Dead by Ausma Zehanat Khan. It’s a harrowing account of the atrocities of Srebrenica in 1995 and the search for justice forms the basis of this novel. Alongside that is the investigation by detectives Esa Khattak and Rachel Getty into the death of Christopher Drayton who fell from the heights of the Scarborough Bluffs, Ontario. Was it suicide, or an accident? Ausma Zehanat Khan is a Canadian author.

As is Sheena Kamal, whose book Eyes Like Mine, was also a debut novel. It’s a dark, compulsively readable psychological suspense novel. The main focus of the book is Nora, a recovering alcoholic, who works for a private investigation firm in Vancouver, and her search for her daughter, Bonnie, now a teenager, who she gave away as a new-born baby.

My fifth link is His and Hers by Alice Feeney, in which there is another recovering alcoholic. The narrative moves between two characters ‘Him’, Jack Harper and ‘Her’, Anna Andrews. Jack is a Detective Chief Inspector, who has recently moved to Blackdown in Surrey to be in charge of the Major Crime Team there. When a woman is murdered in Blackdown village, both Anna and Jack are suspects.

And my final link is another book set in Surrey. It is The Hog’s Back Mystery by Freeman Wills Croft. Hog’s Back is a ridge in the North Downs in the Surrey countryside. It was first published in 1933 during the Golden Age of detective fiction between the two world wars. It’s an Inspector French murder mystery where first one person then others disappear. Have they been murdered?

My chain has taken me from the USA to the UK and Canada, ending back in the UK. There are three debut novels and all six books are crime fiction novels.

Next month (February 6, 2024), we will start with the book you finished on this month (or the last book read).

Top Ten Tuesday: Favourite Books of 2023

Published on by Margaret22 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. For the rules see her blog.

The topic this week is Favourite Books of 2023. The links are to Goodreads or to my review if I wrote one. I’ve recently posted a list of Ten Five Star Books of 2023, so for this post I’m listing ten different five star books I read in 2023.

Virginia Woolf: A Biography vol 1 1882 – 1912 by Quentin Bell, her nephew. It tells of Virginia Stephen’s childhood and that of her sister Vanessa up to her decision to marry Leonard Woolf. The front cover shows the painting of Virginia Woolf by Roger Fry, a painter and designer and a member of the Bloomsbury Group.

Death is Now My Neighbour by Colin Dexter, the penultimate book in the Inspector Morse series Morse is nearing retirement and he is not a well man and his drinking is causing him problems, enough to make him go to the doctor, who diagnoses diabetes. But does Morse follow his doctor’s advice?

The Locked Room by Elly Griffiths, the 14th Ruth Galloway mystery novel. 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?

Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones, a novel that has received both good and bad reviews. I loved it. Set on the island of Bougainville, part of Papua New Guinea in the 1990s during the Bougainville civil war, it’s narrated by Matilda (aged nearly 14). Guided by their teacher Mr Watt, a white man, the children have been reading the story of Pip in Great Expectations, which provides an escape for Matilda from the fear and violence of the horrific events that engulfed the island during the civil war.

The Hairy Bikers Blood, Sweat & Tyres: The Autobiography by Si King and Dave Myers – a fascinating book written in alternate chapters by Si and Dave. It’s funny, informative, sad and happy, revealing the tough times they went through, their health issues, family losses, how they came to work on TV and above all their friendship.

Just Another Missing Person by Gillian McAllister, the fifth book by her that I’ve read and one of the best books I read in 2023. It’s tense, tightly plotted and completely compelling reading, as DCI Julia Day investigates the disappearance of 22 year old Olivia.

A Winter Grave by Peter May. This is cli-fi, about the effects of climate change on human society, set in an independent Scotland in 2051. Addie, a young meteorologist checking a mountain top weather station, discovers the body of a man entombed in ice.

The Vanishing Tide by Hilary Tailor, her debut novel, beautifully written. When Isla inherits the cliffside cottage where she spent her childhood, she must face dark shadows of her past—the mother who rejected her in favour of her art, the aunt whose death haunted them both, and the silence that permeated every room. Digging through the belongings of someone she realises she never really knew, Isla finally has the chance to find answers to the secrets her mother spent a lifetime hiding.

Ultra-Processed People by Chris Van Tulleken, subtitled ‘Why Do We All Eat Stuff That Isn’t Food … And Why Can’t We Stop?’ I kept hearing about ultra processed food, but had little idea what exactly it is, so when I saw this book I thought it would be ideal – and it’s by Chris van Tulleken, who has impressed me on numerous TV programmes on nutrition. It is absolutely fascinating and a real eye opener!

The Sixth Lie by Sarah Ward, the 2nd Mallory Dawson crime thriller. Six lies killed Huw Jones.On New Year’s Eve 2011, Huw Jones disappeared from his bedroom while his father and five friends were downstairs. His body was later discovered on the nearby cliffs at St Non’s. That night, all six friends lied in their statements to the police. Over a decade later, Huw’s mother, Heledd is found dead. Mallory Dawson, a former police police detective, must uncover the lies lurking in the tight-knit community of St Davids. But someone has kept their secrets for years, and they would kill to protect them.

My Life in Books 2023

Published on by Margaret10 Comments

Happy New Year to you all! I’m wishing you all health and happiness for 2024 and lots of good books to read.

With thanks to Annabookbel for the reminder about this annual meme…Using only books you have read this year answer these prompts. Try not to repeat a book title.  (Links in the titles will take you to my reviews where they exist)

Ten Five Star Books of the Year 2023

Published on by Margaret3 Comments

2023 has been a good time for reading books, but not a good time as far as writing reviews goes and I am way behind. I’ll probably never catch up.

These are 10 of the 21 books I rated 5 star reads this year. I’ve listed them in a-z author order, with links to my reviews where they exist.

The Rising Tide by Ann Cleeves – this is the 10th Vera Stanhope mystery novel. I love the Vera books and this one is no exception. Ann Cleeves is a superb storyteller. Her books are deceptively easy to read,  moving swiftly along as the tension rises. They are layered, cleverly plotted and above all convincing. It’s set on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne, a tidal island just off the coast of Northumberland, only accessible across a causeway when the tide is out.

The Road Towards Home by Corinne Demas – I thoroughly enjoyed this book, a complete and welcome change from crime and hisrorical fiction. It’s about the friendship between Cassandra and Noah, two retired people who had first met in their youth. They were reacquainted when they moved to Clarion Court an ‘an independent living community’. Noah invites Cassandra to rough it with him at his Cape Cod cottage, and their relationship unexpectedly blossoms after several ups and downs.

The Dancing Bear by Francis Faviell – a moving memoir of the Occupation. Set in Berlin it covers the years from autumn 1946 to autumn 1949 and is mainly about her friendship with the Altmann family. Frances is horrified by the conditions she found. There were deaths from hunger and cold as the winter approached and queues for bread, milk, cigarettes, cinemas, buses and trams. I was fascinated by it all – the people, their situations, and their morale and attitudes as well as the condition of Berlin in the aftermath of World War Two. The realities of living under occupation are clearly shown, as well as the will to survive despite all the devastation and deprivation.

Underworld by Reginald Hill – the 10th Dalziel and Pascoe novel, set in the small mining town of Burrthorpe (a fictional town) in Yorkshire. The majority of the book is about the miners, their families, their hatred of the bosses, and their distrust and dislike of the police. There are two mysteries facing Dalziel and Pascoe. One is current and the other is a case that had appeared to have been resolved several years earlier, when a young girl disappeared. Dalziel has just a minor role as Pascoe leads the investigation. And it’s left to Dalziel to bring a touch of humour to the book. His down to earth approach to the miners gets more results than Pascoe’s middle class attempts to understand them.

Empire by Conn Iggulden – this is the first book in Conn Iggulden’s Golden Age series set in the 5th century BCE. I thoroughly enjoyed it which surprised me as generally speaking I’m not keen on reading battle scenes and the book starts and ends with battles. But I had no problem with following the action of the battles between the Greeks and the Persians, and was able to visualise what was going on without any difficulty. 

A Sea of Troubles by Donna Leon – the 10th Commissario Guido Brunetti novel. Brunetti is one of my favourite detectives. He is happily married with two children. He doesn’t smoke or drink to excess and often goes home for lunch to his beautiful wife Paolo, who is a wonderful cook. In this book he investigates the deaths of two clam fishermen, father and son, off the island of Pellestrina, south of the Lido on the Venetian lagoon, when their boat had suddenly exploded. He found himself in a web of political intrigue, corruption and secrets. From a slow start the ending is dramatic and action packed with Brunetti and Elletra, his boss’s secretary, in danger of their lives.

A Memoir of My Former Self by Hilary Mantel – a selection of articles and essays including newspaper and periodical articles, film reviews, and her Reith lectures. She wrote about episodes from throughout her life and about a huge variety of topics, including her thoughts on her own historical fiction, explaining how and why she wrote the Wolf Hall trilogy, her love for Jane Austen’s novels, her thoughts on nationalism, and on identity – being European and ‘English’ that I found particularly fascinating and thought-provoking.

I read it totally out of order and want to go back and can read it all again before writing any more about it. If you like Mantel’s work it’s a ‘must read’.

Excellent Women by Barbara Pym – set just after the end of the Second World War, about the everyday life of Mildred Lathbury, an unmarried woman – in other words a spinster – in her early 30s. The daughter of a clergyman she is one of those ‘excellent women’ who could be relied upon to help out at Church jumble sales, garden fêtes, to make tea when required or to make up numbers at social gatherings. Pym is such a keen observer of human nature, giving the little details that bring the characters to life. I found them all totally believable, each with their own eccentricities. She writes so simply but with such depth. It’s a slow-paced book but all the better because of that. 

On the Beach by Nevil Shute – I think this is a terrifying and incredibly sad book, and yet it all seems low key. People go about their everyday lives but set against the background that the world is about to end. It was first published in 1957 and is set sometime in the early 1960s about a group of people living in Melbourne and on the USS submarine, Scorpion, as they await the arrival of deadly radiation spreading towards them from the Northern Hemisphere, following a nuclear war the previous year. 

The Shadows of London by Andrew Taylor – the 6th book in his James Marwood and Cat Lovett Restoration series. I’ve read all of the previous books, set in 17th century England, during the reign of Charles II, and thoroughly enjoyed each one. When a man’s brutally disfigured body is discovered in the ruins of an ancient almshouse it is obvious he has been murdered, and Whitehall secretary James Marwood is ordered to investigate. One of the things that I really enjoyed in this book is the picture it paints of John Evelyn, the writer and diarist, bibliophile and horticulturalist. He was a contemporary of Samuel Pepys. His diary covers the years from 1640 to 1706 when he died. And now I want to find out more about him.