My thanks to Pen &Sword and NetGalley for a review copy of the book. Charles Dickens: Places and Objects of Interest acquaints us with different places and objects associated with Charles Dickens at different points in his life (childhood to his death) from homes he lived in to hotels he stayed at or places where…
Book Review: The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont
My thanks to Pan Macmillan and NetGalley for a review copy of this book. Nina de Gramont weaves a rather interesting and very readable tale in The Christie Affair but while I enjoyed reading it a lot, I had some reservations which have prevented me from rating it as high as I might have otherwise.…
Book Review: The Maid by Nita Prose
My thanks to Harper Collins UK and NetGalley for a review copy of this book. I’ve seen nothing but the highest praise for Nita Prose's The Maid, and having finally read it, I found that all of it was well deserved. It not only lived up to its promise but more. The book was compelling,…
Book Review: A Three Book Problem by Vicki Delaney
My thanks to Crooked Lane books and NetGalley for a review copy of this book. A Three Book Problem is the seventh of a cosy mystery series, the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop Mysteries. The series centres around Gemma Doyle, a British woman who has moved to West London in the United States where she helps her…
Book Review: The Second Person from Porlock by Dennis Hamley
My thanks to NetGalley and Fairlight books for a review copy of this one. The Second Person from Porlock is a novel of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, of his life and relationships, and of his poetry (particularly Kubla Khan, the Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Christabel), and also of two young men who embark on…
Book Review: Nature is Never Silent by Madlen Ziege
My thanks to Scribe UK, and NetGalley for a review copy of this book! In Nature is Never Silent: How Animals and Plants Communicate With Each Other, author Madlen Ziege takes us on a journey through the world of nature to acquaint us with the many fascinating ways in which different beings—from unicellular to complex…
Book Review: An Evening with Claire by Gaito Gazdanov (trans. Bryan Karetnyk)
My thanks to Pushkin Press and NetGalley for a review copy of the book. The first book by Russian émigré writer Gaito Gazdanov, An Evening with Claire (1929), opens in Paris where we are introduced to our narrator and main character, Nikolai Sosedov or Kolya. After ten years, Kolya has been reunited with his first…
Book Review: An Unusual Grief by Yewande Omotoso
My thanks to Cassava Republic Press and NetGalley for a review copy of this book. An Unusual Grief is a story of grief but it is also the story of a woman’s journey to understand herself, and her relationships—one might even say her life so far. Mojisola Owolabi has travelled to Johannesburg to pack up…
Book Review: The Village of Eight Graves by Seishi Yokomizo
My thanks to Pushkin Press and NetGalley for a review copy of this book. While I have read and enjoyed a fair few Japanese titles, despite all good intentions, I hadn’t gotten down to picking up any mystery title yet; this book gave me the chance to remedy that, and I enjoyed it very much…
Book Review: Murder on the Pier by Merryn Allingham
My thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for a review copy of this book. Murder at the Pier is the second in the Flora Steele series of cosy mysteries by Merryn Allingham set in 1950s England, the first of which I’d read and reviewed a few months ago. Twenty-five-year-old Flora Steele lives in the small village…
Literary Potpourri 