THE BRAND NEW 2024 50 BOOK CHALLENGE

#36. The Queen Of Poisons by Robert Thorogood.

#18 was The Girl in my House by Lucy Lawrie. I loved it. A young nanny finds a little girl outside the house she grew up in. The child is a selective mute child and Juliet, the nanny, becomes her nanny. As the story unfolds, we find out why the little girl, Kitty, is mute and the reasons for the demons that plague Juliet. A tense, psychological thriller.

18 The Less Dead by Denise Mina who is one of my favourite Tartan Noir crime writers. Set in Glasgow, it is about a woman who finds that her birth mother has been murdered and she then gets involved in trying to find the truth.

32-Death of a Gossip-M.C.Beaton. This is the first of the Hamish Macbeth stories, and as always with this writer, it is a light hearted amusing murder mystery. This one is based round a fly fishing lessons holiday break, so I've learned some of the tricks to catch a salmon!

#37. One Summer In Tuscany by Domenica De Rosa.

#31 was All the Broken Places by John Boyne. This was recommended by so many people here that I bought it. It was an excellent read, thanks to everyone who recommended it.

Parsley3 I read The Less Dead last year and thought it was very good. I really like Denise Mina.

I probably was one who recommended All The Broken Places on this site, I loved it, I'm glad you enjoyed it too AliBeeee.

I loved All the Broken Places after reading about it on this thread.

Book 82, The Black Book, another Rebus story by Ian Rankin.

Books 26 and 27
A Family Game - Catherine Steadman
It was alright, nothing special, and the characters I felt were very two dimensional, that and the fact that it was totally unrealistic makes me think it’s only deserving of a faint hearted review.

Book 27
A Fatal Crossing - Tom Hindle
This one I really enjoyed, an ocean liner is crossing the Atlantic, it is a luxurious vessel, and the first class passengers are wealthy and arrogant, but not necessarily honourable.
An old man meets his death at the bottom of a flight of stairs, foul play is suspected. A Scotland Yard detective, who happens to be on board demands to take control, he is young, tenacious and completely single minded.
The captain insists that if he’s to question passengers he will be accompanied by a ships officer. Very reluctantly, he agrees.
Enter Tim, Tim has his own demons, and is not happy to be babysitting this detective.
It is a crime novel, but for me it was the strange relationship between the two men, both fairly un likeable, but I liked them
The ending I did not see coming, and I found it very sad.
If you enjoy an Agatha Christie, you’ll love this

Book 37 The Heroes' Welcome by Louisa Young

This book starts off in London in 1919 following the end of the First World War. Two young couples are trying to pick up the pieces after the men returned badly damaged from the war, both physically and mentally.

This is a good book but it's quite intense and a bit depressing.

#18 The Reason by Catherine Bennetto, is one of the loveliest books I’ve read for a while, sad, funny, full of insight. I’m part way through and want to romp through it, at the same time as not wanting it to end.

Book 25: The Body in the Dales by J. R. Ellis

#21 Scarlet Genevieve Cogman.
A reinterpretation of The Scarlet Pimpernel story by the author of The Invisible Library series. It features many familiar characters and also new ones, including vampires! I don't know what Baroness Orczy would make of the liberties taken but I really enjoyed it. I understand that it is the first in a series so will definitely look out for the next one.

Book 83, Mortal Causes, yet another Rebus book by Ian Rankin. I see there`s a new TV drama series based on the Rebus books starting next week.

#38. Diana, Her True Story-In Her Own Words by Andrew Morton.

Book 84, Changing Times, by Jack Sheffield. A cosy story of country village life in 1963/4.

Haven’t been on for a while so a few to get down
52 Slipstream by Elizabeth Jane Howard. Autobiography- interesting to read of the real life background she used for the Cazalet Chronicles. She led a rather rackety life, leaving her young daughter behind when she left her first husband and becoming a serial mistress to various married men. She was apparently a bit of a femme fatale. Her last novel, Falling, which I found slightly unbelievable, turned out to be based on her later life experience of falling for a conman!
53 Reading in Bed by Sue Gee - very enjoyable read about two old friends, one a recent widow and one who is starting to think her husband is having an affair, and the worries of their grown up children. Perfect Gransnet novel, though I am starting to fancy something a bit grittier.
54 Everyone on this Train is a Suspect. An amusing whodunnit with lots of references to the rules of writing crime fiction. Great if you’re a crime fiction fan but this is a sequel and I wish I had read the first one first.

Sent that one off too early -
Book 55 Earth by John Boyne. A novella, only 166 pages. It’s written in the first person by Evan Keogh a young Championship League footballer in the dock, accused along with his teammate of vile sex crimes. The book shows in flashbacks how he came to be there and there’s a coda which shows what became of him afterwards. A terrible sadness pervades this book and as usual with John Boyne it’s brilliantly written.

Book 38 Dirt Town by Hayley Scrivenor
This book was un-put-down-able for me. Set in a rural town in Australia, a child disappears on her way home from school, and the town is rife with suspicion and worry.

It is a gripping Aussie crime book and I'll be looking out for the author's next novel.

I should have included Dirt Town in my list too, Spsrklefizz
It was very good indeed.

25 Tom Lake Ann Patchett (Audible)

I have to confess, although she's incredibly popular I haven't been bowled over by the two previous books I've read by this author, which were Commonwealth and State of Wonder, and in spite of being narrated by Meryl Streep no less, this one didn't do a lot for me either. It's quite a nice story, the setting is a cherry orchard in Michigan owned by Joe and Lara, their three grown up daughters have come home to help with the harvest during lock down. Much of the story is Lara reminiscing about her past life, pre marriage when she was briefly an actress playing opposite "Peter Duke" whilst in a repertory theatre company, or whatever the equivalent of that is in the US. This is a time spent at Tom Lake, not a person, but a lake although the origins of that name were revealed somewhere in the story. The aforementioned PD goes on to achieve international stardom and as such is of great interest to the girls, the eldest of which is somewhat convinced he's actually her father, even though the timeline of her mother's romance with him dispel that. At times their continual pumping their mother for every tiny bit of information they could extract from her, became somewhat annoying and reminded me slightly of reading an interview with an exasperated Jane Asher complaining who else has to keep going over a relationship with a past boyfriend! Narrated in a dreamy sometimes sleepy voice by the wonderful MS, it did at times bring on a state of drowsiness when listening that reflected her voice, particularly as so often it appeared to be going over the same old ground how she remembered all the detail from conversations nearly 40 years ago appeared implausible, but probably she resorted to some embellishment. Essentially this is a tale of young love, the unpredictable nature of acting juxtaposed between her life afterwards as wife, mother and co farm owner that encompassed the also unpredictable nature of harvests of their cherry farm. I'm trying to work out whether I'd appreciate it more if I'd read it rather than listening to it. I'll give AP another shot though with The Dutch House, which I hear is wonderful, before I draw a line under the fact that I don't think her books are for me.

26 Noah's Compass - Anne Tyler

The other American Anne now, this wouldn't be a favourite though either. This is about sixty year old Luke Pennywell who has recently been made redundant from his job as a teacher, as such he's reached a bit of a crossroads at his life that lacks any clear direction. On moving into a new apartment he carelessly leaves the back door open and is attacked by an intruder that puts him in hospital with a loss of memory. An ex wife, several daughters whilst ostensibly taking care of him in the aftermath of his discharge from hospital also invade his personal territory, the youngest, still a teenagers, announces, having fallen out with her mother she's going to come and live with him. All the women in his life offer advice even though he doesn't always want it, but he's a mild mannered man so quite often he goes with the flow. An improbable brief romance with a woman 30 years his junior is also part of the story It was ok, but I've read much better stuff by her.

Book 85, Welcome to Weaver Street, by Chrissie Walsh. Set in Liverpool from 1916 to 1920. A young newly wed Irish couple inherit a house in Liverpool.

I think we've reached the end of the line on this thread, so off to start a new one.