Good reads please.

Did you see the following thread? The book seems to have been popular, I certainly loved it!
www.gransnet.com/forums//forums/books_book_club/1229996-Forgotten-title?msgid=25957763

I've ordered lots of these suggestions from the library. They charge 40p per order which I think is brilliant value so that I don't have to scour the shelves. I do hope Anya doesn't live near me and I'm depriving her of library reading matter.

After carrying out a search for your recommendation "the ballroom" Elegran it turns out that I have already read it. Must have some similar tastes in reading matter.

Any other recommendation would be most welcome. I need to have a couple of good books ready for times such as this when sleep just won't come.

Stansgran, you might like a trio of books by Carola Dunn, set in a sleepy seaside village in Cornwall. They feature a lovely, but slightly dotty elderly lady who runs an, I think, antiques shop. They are about murders, but quite lighthearted as well, not heavy at all, and definitely not gruesome. The titles are,
Manna From Hades
A Colourful Death
Valley of the Shadow

Oh no I haven't read that Elegran will have a look for it now. Just about finished the Joanne Harris I am struggling with reading at the moment .

Did you read The Ballroom, Gilly? It was on the Amazon offers too and a bit on the same theme.

Oh I am glad Elegran I thought it was a bit different and enjoyed it a lot.

I am reading that at the moment, Gilly and enjoying it.

I have kindle daily offers and also Bookbub and I spend too much as it is.

A Place called Winter by Patrick Gale is only 99p on kindle today Elegran I read it ages ago in book form (paid full price too grrr) and really enjoyed it although might not suit everyone.

John Grisham. Investigating lawyer books, with soul. No one comes close.

Amazon's cheap Kindle list has new items daily. You do need to look frequently to see what is a bargain today, but I have found some really good new (to me) authors for 99p or a couple of pounds.

Stansgran, that's where I first discovered them too.

What about listening to talking books? I subscribe to audible.com Love listening to people like Timothy West reading to me! Get well soon. Quite a lot of the authors mentioned above are available on Audible. Or your local library may also have a lending section on CD.

Anno I got some of hers on cheap kindle offers. Thanks Elegran for the other ones. I've never heard of either so they are on my list.

Kerry Greenwood's Phryne Fisher series. Naughty but nice! And never vulgar.

I also enjoy the Murray of Letho books for their characters, sense of place and time as well as their plots. The Ruth Galloway books remind me of the years I spent in Norfolk. The main characters have very real personalities.

There was one book that I deleted completely from my Kindle after one chapter, but I couldn't delete the images from my mind for a long time. I wrote a negative review on its Amazon page, and received a reply from some macho t**t lambasting me for "not being able to hack it"

I am not a total shrinking violet, but some things are just not entertainment. I reckon these books should have some kind of X certificate, so that we know what we are getting before we stumble on the gruesome bits.

I have only read four of the Murray of Letho series - finding the link to post here has revealed that there are now nine! and there are now eight Ruth Galloway books! They are queueing up for me to read.

Stansgran I agree with you. I think some books are unnecessarily sadistic and gruesome. I don't find any enjoyment in reading stuff like that and it makes me wonder about the author too.

That should be Lexie Conyngham. The link works OK though.

stansgran You might like the Ruth Galloway series by Elly Griffiths. Female archeologist in East Anglia gets caught up in murders with arcgheological links and contributes to solving them. But start with "The Crossing Places" to get the characters clear in your mind. Otherwise there are later developments that you won't have in context.

Or Conyngham's Murray of Letho series starting with Death in a Scarlet Gown (set in St Andrews in 1802)

I'm really enjoying the Joseph Stark books. Sadly I think there's only the two so far.

I like your description "wholesome murders" Stansgran!

I'm not derailing I hope because some books people suggest may suit Anya but can anyone recommend wholesome murders. I've just been reading some Scandi stuff and there are people paced into cellars or had their eyes and tongues removed and I think they are too sick for me. I started the susanhill serrailler series but again a little boy trapped in a cellar. I really would like clever detective stories. I'm a fan of Ann Cleeves but she doesn't write fast enough for me. I've run out of her books. I like Donna Leon and I've been ordering old stuff by MMKaye. Any suggestions gratefully received.