2022 50 BOOKS - OR AS MANY AS YOU CAN MANAGE

Book 49 was For Any Other Truth, by Denzil Meyrick, the latest in his series about DCI Daley, set in and around Kintyre. Place names have been changed, but are easily recognisable if you know and love Kintyre.
Book 50 is Killing the Shadows, by Val McDermid.

#33 The Silver Mark Sarah Painter.
The second in The Crow Investigations series about a female private investigator who is also a member of one of the once magical London families. Enjoyable, made me want to continue with the series.
#34 Hide Away Jason Pinter.
One from my virtual pile of free Kindle books. An engrossing thriller by a new (to me) author. I shall look for more in what I hope will be a series.

Books 23 and 24
A Slow Fire Burning-Paula Hawkins
Behind Her Eyes- Sarah Pinborough
Both easy reading, enjoyable, but easily forgotten, the Pinborough book had some strange twists, what I thought was going to be a simple story of infidelity and abuse, was much weirder, interesting read.

Book 25
Katherine of Aragon, The True Queen-Alison Weir
Completely different from the previous two,
Obviously no surprises, but very informative and well written.
Although she was very badly used, she was irritating me by the end, her piety was a bit extreme, and although Henry behaved appallingly, you really felt his need for a male heir, very enjoyable, I’m looking forward to reading the next one.

Still Life by Sarah Winman. I loved this book, set in London and Tuscany prewar and post war.
Mr Cadmus by Peter Ackroyd. A new neighbour appears in a small village living between two women. He has his secrets and reason for coming there to seek revenge for an event that happened in the war. A quick amusing read.
One Night on the Island by Josie Silver. A charming story, chick lit, improbable, but works out well in the end,
The Hidden Thread by Liz Trenow about the silk trade in 18th century London . Fascinating detail about silk and its embroidery.

Black Dress by Deborah Moggach. A page turner about a woman trying to find a new man after her husband leaves her. She buys a black dress in a charity shop and goes to a stranger's funeral once a month, to see if there are any suitable men there. The twist at the end was quite unexpected, and you ended up not liking this woman at all!
The Quiet Side of Passsion by Alexander McCall Smith. One of the Isabel Dalhousie series.

16 The Promise by Damon Galgut. It was well written but mostly such unlikeable people!

Five Days by Douglas Kennedy.
A novel of what ifs and if only.

Reasons to stay alive by Matt Haig.
Matts battle and how he coped with severe depression.

Lyrebird by Cecil's Ahern .
Moving love story.

Killing the Shadows was very good, although quite gruesome in places.
Now on book 51, Spitfire Girl, by Lily Baxter.

#30. Find Them Dead by Peter James.

22 The Maid - Nita Prose A number 1 New York Times best seller soon to be made by Netflix, in spite of all that, didn't like it that much. The Maid of the tile clearly on the spectrum, she is very literal, working in a large swish Canadian hotel, stumbles across dead body whilst cleaning room and gets drawn into some very shady goings on. Could see it might make quite a good drama though.
23 Saturday Requiem Nicci French, I think I thought it was quite good, but can't remember anything about it now. One of the Freda Klein's I haven't read any others in the series.
24 The Heatwave Kate Riordan divorced French woman living in England, returns to family home in Provence with young daughter. Recollections of life there with husband and older disappeared/presumed dead psychologically damaged daughter. Described as a slow burner, it was ok.
25 No I Don't Want To Join A Book Club (audio) Virginia Ironside. Not so much a story rather than a series of musings from the main character who reaching 60 is reflecting on the aches and pains and irritations of old age, although having passed that age eight years ago, she sounded as if she were approaching 80 from some gripes. Becoming a grandparent for the first time and losing a close friend to cancer some of the themes covered. Flashes of humour at times not bad.
26 Under Your Skin - Sabine Durrant ever since I read a blinder of a thriller "Lie With Me" by this author I'm always hoping I'll pick up another by her that is anything like half as good as that one. Alas! have never found it yet. This is one of her earlier ones. Woman out for early morning run discovers dead body young woman in the undergrowth, further down the line she is arrested on suspicion of her murder. A big twist at the end which I didn't see coming.
27 Forever Young - Hayley Mills (autobiography) Saving the best till last, loved Hayley's account of her growing up years and how she became a child actress quite by chance. Her father John Mills had a director visiting family home to discuss the prospective film Tiger Bay they were planning to make, a pivotal role in the film was that to be played by a male child actor, JM pointing out that much would rest on said child's performance and to the director "have you anyone in mind?" Looking over at Hayley playing noisily in the garden he said "yes I've found that person" the rest is history. Soon after that Hayley was auditioned by the Disney Corporation to make half a dozen films. for them. I remember enjoying some of those when I was growing up. She did of course make some grittier films back in England, notably "Whistle Down The Wind" which was written by her mother. The Disney Corporation had complete control over what else she appeared in whilst she was under contract and could veto anything they thought would sully her squeaky clean image. One such role she was offered in her early teens was "Lolita" needless to say........Walt didn't approve!. Hayley however never had a bad word to say about him or pretty much all of the famous names she had worked with during her long career. She really only focuses on the early part of her life. Her earnings as a child star which were I believe considerable, were placed in a Trust Fund which she was able to access at 21, only to find out that the Revenue had taken pretty much all of that at a time when tax was .91p in the pound, shocking! She did win some of it back on appeal, but the Revenue appealed the appeal and took the lot. In retrospect she felt that instead of having financial security at a time when she found herself divorced and a single mother, she had to spend time working apart from her children when she wanted to be around them more in their growing up years. I really enjoyed her memoirs and as much of it was centred around her life in the 1960s , a date with George Harrison for example, an era I love to look back on.
28 River Kings - Cat Jarman non fiction Historical detective work on the part of the author bioarchaeologist following the link between an English Viking settlement and their trading routes and interaction with other cultures most notably those in the Middle East through to the Silk Roads. Although the Roman Empire regarded them as part of the Barbarian hordes it wasn't all slash and raid. Vestiges of a very interesting culture highlighted in this book.

#40 was The Memory Wood by Sam Lloyd, a Richard and Judy recommended choice. It was a gripping, twisty thriller.
#41 was Drops of Reality 2 and #42 was Drops of Reality 3, both by Dr. A. Moss. They offered a fascinating insight into a modern London doctor’s surgery.

Book 52 was The Death of Remembrance, the very latest in the DCI Daley series set in Kintyre, by Denzil Meyrick. Loved it.

#35 Cursed Benedict Jacka.
Urban fantasy about a maverick mage plying his trade and risking his life in a parallel London. There are similarities with the Harry Dresden series but it is not nearly as engaging. Still it was an entertaining read.
#36 The Governess Wendy Holden.
I picked this up thinking it was a biography of Marion Crawford who was the governess of the young Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret. It is not, it is a novel inspired by Crawfie's book about the Princesses and Ms Holden's imagination. If you accept that, it is actually quite a good read.

Now reading book 53, Meet me at the Pier Head, by Ruth Hamilton. I`ve read and liked a few of her books, but this is a bit slow up to now, hope it livens up.

Meet me at the Pier Head turned out to be a very good story.

Now reading book 54, Don`t Look Now, by Richard Montenari.

#31. Left You Dead by Peter James.

#43 was Dark Undertakings by Rebecca Tope, a mildly enjoyable cosy murder mystery.
#44 was An Innocent Baby by Cathy Glass
#45 was Neglected, also by Cathy Glass. These were both interesting and revealing insights into the world of fostering.

#33 Maggie O’Farrell ‘Hamnet’ fully imagined and moving. Enjoyed the focus on herbals given my current gardening phase (the sun is shining).
#34 Stephen Greenblatt ‘Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare’ fascinating, lots of context for Shakespeare’s work, and a thud back to earth after the romanticised Shakespeare of ‘Hamnet’.

I enjoyed Don`t Look Now. Now reading book 55, The Devil`s Punchbowl, by Greg Iles.

17 THE FOUR WINDS by Kristin Hannah, a novel set in the Dust Bowl years of America. She made the agonies people went through just to survive seem very vivid.

#32. Not Dead Enough by Peter James.

#37 Cat And Mouse James Patterson.
Number 4 in the Alex Cross series. A nail biting thriller.
#38 an audiobook Heaven's River Dennis E Taylor narrated by Ray Porter.
Number 4 in the Bobiverse sci-fi series.
I know both these books are a bit Marmite but I thoroughly enjoyed both of them. What can I say I'm
not highbrow ?.

The Devil`s Punchbowl was a great read. Now on book 56, Only One Life, by Sara Blaedel.

#46 was Tell No Secret by Julie Corbin. This thriller was unputdownable for me.
#47 was The Steinway That Wouldn’t Budge by Peter Tryon. This was a very enjoyable and comical memoir of the author’s career as a piano tuner and choir master.
#48 was Dear Mrs. Bird by A. J. Pearce. I loved this slightly quirky feel- good book of a young woman in wartime London, who accidentally falls into a position as a typist for a formidable problem page editor on a failing women’s magazine.

Only One Life was okay, but only okay. It wasn`t unputdownable, and I didn`t rush to get back to it.