My thanks to Pushkin Press for a review copy of this book via Edelweiss. Punishment of a Hunter is a dark, gritty and gripping historical mystery which gives the reader an excellent sense of time and place as well as a very satisfying mystery. Written by author, theatre and ballet critic Yulia Yakovleva, the book…
Shelf Control #209: The Birds and Other Stories by Daphne du Maurier
Wednesday, the 21st of December (solstice day!), and time for Shelf Control once again! Shelf Control is a weekly feature hosted by Lisa at Bookshelf Fantasies, and celebrates the books waiting to be read on your TBR piles/mountains. To participate, all you do is pick a book from your TBR pile, and write a post…
Book Review: The Cat Who Caught a Killer by L. T. Shearer
My thanks to Pan Macmillan for a review copy of this book via NetGalley. The Cat Who Caught a Killer is a delightful, heart-warming and fun murder mystery (yes, I realise heart-warming and murder mystery don’t ordinarily go together) which just happens to feature not just a cat but a talking cat (and one who…
Book Review: A Chelsea Concerto by Frances Faviell #DeanStreetDecember
Light-hearted and humorous but also poignant and harrowing, A Chelsea Concerto (1959) is Frances Faviell’s (or Olivia Faviell Lucas’) memoir of the London Blitz. At this time, Faviell, who was an artist (having studied at the Slade School of Art) lived in Chelsea and served as a Red Cross volunteer in various capacities, experiencing both…
Book Review: Chaos at Carnegie Hall by Kelly Oliver
My thanks to Boldwood Books for a widget of this book via NetGalley. Chaos at Carnegie Hall is a comic, cosy historical mystery–thriller which (something I hadn’t realised when I chose to read the book) either continues from author Kelly Oliver’s series featuring Fiona Figg or is perhaps an additional set introducing a new character.…
Book Review: The Foolish Gentlewoman (1948) by Margery Sharp #DeanStreetDecember
A charming piece of fiction, The Foolish Gentlewoman (1948), which falls exactly midway between Margery Sharp’s twenty-five novels for adults (number 13; she also wrote children’s books), unfolds in post-war England. As the book opens, sixty-year-old Simon Brocken, a typical bachelor (with no very high opinion of women, especially their intelligence), arrives at Chipping Hill,…
Book Review: Cat Family Christmas: A Lift the Flap Advent Book by Lucy Brownridge (author) and Eunyoung Seo (illustrator)
My thanks to Frances Lincoln Children’s Books for a review copy of this gorgeous book via Edelweiss. Cat Family Christmas: A Lift the Flap Advent Book, as the name suggests is a picture book that takes readers along as the cat family comprising Mommy and Daddy Cat and kittens Lupin, Bud, Sorrel, and Pip prepare…
Shelf Control #208: The School at Thrush Green and Friends at Thrush Green by Miss Read
Wednesday, the 7th of December, and time for Shelf Control once again! Shelf Control is a weekly feature hosted by Lisa at Bookshelf Fantasies, and celebrates the books waiting to be read on your TBR piles/mountains. To participate, simply pick a book from your TBR pile, and write a post about it--what its about, why…
Book Review: The Dark is Rising (1973) by Susan Cooper #TDiRS22
Second in the Dark is Rising sequence, The Dark is Rising (1973) by Susan Cooper takes us into very different territory from and introduces us to entirely different characters than the first book, and if I found the darkness and danger palpable in that one, in this book it is far more intense and disconcerting.…
Six Degrees of Separation: From The Snow Child to Seizure (December 2022)
Six Degrees of Separation is a monthly meme hosted by Kate at Books are My Favourite and Best. Inspired by the concept of 'six degrees of separation', originally set out in a short story by Frigyes Karinthy, which suggests that any two people in the world are connected through a chain of six or fewer…
Literary Potpourri 