Another year coming to a close, and so time once again to reflect on the 365 days that have gone by in different ways; on this page of course, on how my reading went this year, and also how things were on the blog. 2022 has been rather a bumpy year for me, with reading…
Book Review: The Black Cabinet by Patricia Wentworth #DeanStreetDecember
First published in 1925, The Black Cabinet is a standalone mystery/adventure by Patricia Wentworth, fast paced and entertaining as always, and my third entry for this year’s #DeanStreetDecember hosted by Liz at Adventures in Reading, Running and Working from Home. Young and beautiful Chloe Dane works at a dressmaker, Miss Allardyce’s in the small town…
Book Review: Cafe Shira by David Ehrlich and translated by Michael Swirsky
My thanks to Syracuse University Press for a review copy of this book via Edelweiss. It’s amazing what a coffeehouse can be for so many people, what a crossroads, what a meeting place of worlds and ideas. Café Shira (2022) was a book I first noticed on Edelweiss earlier this year, but then when I…
Book Review: Greenwitch by Susan Cooper #TDiRS22
While I’ve given up any pretence of trying to catch up with the readalong of the wonderful Dark is Rising sequence hosted by Annabel at AnnaBookBel, I am of course continuing to read the books, which I am enjoying very much. This will however, be the last of the books I will be able to…
Book Review: Servitude by Costi Gurgu
My thanks to the author Costi Gurgu for a review copy of this book via Booktasters Servitude is a dystopian mystery/thriller set in a future where slavery is legal once again (at least in part of the world), and brings up issues of corporate power, politics, media, and truth. This is, I think a first…
🎄🎄Christmas Read: The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle🎄🎄
Chance has put in our way a most singular and whimsical problem ... With its wonderful Christmas atmosphere, Holmes' classic deduction skills, a unique puzzle, and a good dose of Christmas spirit, 'The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle' by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, first published in 1892, makes for an excellent read for this time…
Book Review: Punishment of a Hunter by Yulia Yakovleva and translated by Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp
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…
Literary Potpourri 