50 Books Challenge - 2nd Thread.

#72 We Solve Murders by Richard Osman
I know there are mixed views on this one. I enjoyed it, but thought it was over complicated with too many characters. 7/10
#73 The Frozen People by Elly Griffiths
I finally got to the front of the list in the library for this one. I don’t normally read anything with a time travel element to the story, but her characters were as wonderful as ever and I enjoyed it. 8/10
#74 The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue I hadn’t read any by this author before, I loved this one.
Set over 3 days in Dublin in a small maternity fever ward during the influenza epidemic 1918, just as the war looked like it was coming to an end. It was intense, sad, happy and engrossing. 9/10
#75 Live Anthony by Lisa Genova
Olivia Donatelli's dream of a 'normal' life was shattered when her son, Anthony, was diagnosed with autism at age three. He didn't speak, hated to be touched, almost never made eye contact. Then, just as Olivia was learning that happiness and autism could coexist after all, Anthony was gone. Not as good as some of her other books. 7/10
#75 The Big Man Upstairs by J.D. Kirk
The next instalment of the D I Logan series, set in Inverness and the Scottish Highlands. Very good. 8/10

82 Silent Bones - Val McDermid

The latest Karen Pirie. Historic cold cases, a body found in a motorway landslide, sounding just like "The Unforgotten" Uncovering shady goings on with powerful people linked to Scottish politics, particularly the Scottish Independence Referendum. The remains belonging to Sam Nimmo, investigative journalist who disappeared after being linked to the murder of his pregnant fiancee. Running parallel is a 2nd case involving the death of a hotel manager, on the surface appearing accidental, but investigations unearth it was also possible murder, again with links to powerful people protecting their sordid secrets. It was Ok, middle ranking, pace a bit slow, particularly as it was bogged down in the tedium of Scottish politics. The ending was a bit of a damp squib imo. I've become a bit disappointed with her writing of late, I always loved her Karen Piries this for me was a bit lacklustre, given I still consider one of her early stand alone books, A Place of Execution, one of the most riveting crime novels I've read in recent years.

73. Cold Blooded Killer, Alex Pine
74. The Killer in the Snow, Alex Pine

These were good choices for the time of year - murder mysteries set at Christmas in Cumbrian villages. I’d like to have read the series in order, but these were the two offered by my library service. I’m sure I’ll catch up with the rest at future Christmases. I found some of the conversations a bit stilted, but the characters are likeable and I still enjoyed the plots.

#95. Blind To The Bones by Stephen Booth.

Calendargirl

#93. A Neighbour’s Guide To Murder by Louise Candlish.

I read that two weeks ago and enjoyed it !

Book 63
48 clues into the disappearance of my sister- Joyce Carol Oates
One of my favourite writers, but not one of my favourites books.
I didn’t even know what had happened, could be me, because it wasn’t really holding my interest, but the ending didn’t resolve anything for me at all.
Unpleasant characters, a story which didn’t really go anywhere, wouldn’t recommend.

131-Blacklight Blue-Peter May
The 3rd in the Enzo Macleod series, a bit complicated, so you have to be wide awake to follow the twists and turns of the plot. Not one to read when you're tired. Set in Strasbourg so some interesting descriptions of the area.

#94. Burial Of Ghosts by Ann Cleeves.

130=Home Fires and Spitfires-Daisy Styles
A most enjoyable story set in a 1940's Lake District Residential Home for unmarried mothers. An example of friendship and unity between women from a variety of backgrounds, each of them having to worry about family members fighting in the war.

#93. A Neighbour’s Guide To Murder by Louise Candlish.

Book 62
Getting Away - Kate Sawyer
A close look at five generations of one family through their breaks and holidays, from Butlins to travelling the world.
Very emotional, a close and loving family, but with big secrets. I raced through it, crying for much of the time.
Enjoyable if you like a book which deals with the intricacies of a family.

Agree Terribull, the Robin/Strike relationship is far more riveting than the somewhat convoluted crimes.

81 The Hallmarked Man Robert Galbraith

I've finally finished it! you know you're getting your money's worth with Galbraith, coming in at just over 900 pages equivalent to 2 books. possibly 3.

What a host of characters! at times they gave me positive brain ache trying to piece them all into the complex jigsaw of the main plot not to mention a couple of sub plots. Some were mentioned earlier in the book and then when they re occurred a bit like a series of meandering maths lessons for the dim witted (me) I'd completely forgotten the first part and just how the various strands juxtaposed to produce the final result. I did get there in the end. This is a book with quite extraordinary detail even for her.

The dark narrative opens with the corpse of the hallmarked man of the piece found in a vault of a silver shop, his body mutilated in a grotesque way to suggest it has been some Masonic ritual murder. Who is he? Strike and Robin are commissioned by a woman who believes the dead person is her missing boyfriend and that is the first strand the plot hinges on before it dives off in multiple directions, introducing umpteen possible victims, missing people, assailants and a myriad of motives.

In the meantime, the dynamics of the complicated relationship between Robin and Strike which is one of simmering longing and undeclared love continues, often with opportunities thwarted, particularly as Robin is at a crucial stage in her relationship with her boyfriend of two years, cop Murphy, not without its problems. In her heart of hearts she knows this could possibly be history repeating itself a doomed relationship just as her brief marriage proved to be.

Although Galbraith cantilevers all the umpteen moving parts of the plot together she still leaves us, the readers, up in the air as to the direction Robin and Strikes relationship will take, which in my op is sometimes more captivating than the criminal investigations at the heart of the book.

Confusing at times but very good. It's a long one!

72. The 19th Christnas, James Patterson

An easy read, gangland mayhem set at Christmas.

TerriBull and Sparklefizz, I quite enjoyed this book, I agree it stretched reality a bit, especially towards the end, but I found it kept me guessing.

Book 61
The Evening and the Morning - Ken Follett
Always a bit daunting to start an 800+ word novel, but as always with Ken Folletts writing, I was soon drawn in.
This one is the prequel to The Pillars of the Earth, set in the dark ages, it follows the fortunes, and misfortunes of three young people
A young and ambitious monk, Aldred, master builder Edgar, and Ragna, a Norman noblewoman who comes to England to marry.
Of course it’s quite predictable in some ways, but it’s a really good story, so much cruelty and violence, and so little justice.
But of course, after many challenges our trio have their well deserved happy ending.
I enjoyed it.

Sparklefizz

#69 No One Home by Tim Weaver
This book sounded good - on Halloween 9 neighbours gather for a dinner party. They live in an isolated group of houses.
By the next morning they have all disappeared without trace - no bodies, no evidence and no clues.

How could they all just vanish overnight? What secrets were the neighbours keeping from each other?

Two years later, the mystery remains and the families of the missing turn to investigator, David Raker, in the hope of getting answers.

This book was ok, well-written, but the storyline was a bit silly in places (in my opinion). I did finish it but by the end I had lost interest in how/why they had all disappeared. The book was described as "a dark thrilling rollercoaster, unputdownable" ..... for me, it was not. 7/10

I remember reading that book Sparklefizz and having the same thoughts about it. Sometimes Tim Weaver's books can be really good though, others not so.

129-A Wedding in the Olive Garden-Leah Fleming
Sara Loveday changes her life by moving to a Greek island to set up a wedding planning business.

#69 No One Home by Tim Weaver
This book sounded good - on Halloween 9 neighbours gather for a dinner party. They live in an isolated group of houses.
By the next morning they have all disappeared without trace - no bodies, no evidence and no clues.

How could they all just vanish overnight? What secrets were the neighbours keeping from each other?

Two years later, the mystery remains and the families of the missing turn to investigator, David Raker, in the hope of getting answers.

This book was ok, well-written, but the storyline was a bit silly in places (in my opinion). I did finish it but by the end I had lost interest in how/why they had all disappeared. The book was described as "a dark thrilling rollercoaster, unputdownable" ..... for me, it was not. 7/10

Book 47: The Winter List by S. G.McLean
Book 48: University Secrets By Jack Sheffield
Book 49: Matilda by Tracy Borman
Book 50:The Cardinal by Alison Weir
Book 51: The Otley Murders by J R Ellis
Book 52: Killer in the New Forest by Carol Cole
Book 53 :The Sun Ascendant by C. F Dunn
Book 54: Degrees of Affinity by C.F. Dunn
Book 55 Anne Bolyn and Elizabeth 1 by Tracey Borman
These books were all good reads but I have only just realised that I hadn't added them to the forum.

#92. One Last Breath by Stephen Booth.

128-A Winter Grave-Peter May
I'm glad I gave PM another try as this book gripped me from the start. I do not usually like science fiction but this was set in 2051 in Scotland. This is set in the Highlands village of Ballachulish ( an area I have explored on several holidays) so I could picture the scene clearly. Having said that , global warming and Scotland's independence have changed the village and the landscape, not for the better.

80 Ripley Under Water Patricia Highsmith (Audible)

I've been following Ripley's murderous career path ever since I watched it on Netflix. Andrew Scott who played him brilliantly with just the right amount of menace in that, has forever in my mind's eye been my Ripley, rather than Matt Damon's portrayal in the film, which I also enjoyed. In this, her final novel in the series, he continues to live a life of calm indulgence with his wife Heloise at their French country estate near Fontainebleau. Into his idyllic existence, the antithesis of the fraught preceding years, where most of his efforts went into covering his trail, Tom merely pootles about his garden tending to his Dahlias. The couple's much loved housekeeper Madame Annette takes good care of any domestic requirements. However, his peace is to be broken by new neighbours, the Pritchards. Pretty soon Tom is to discover these new loud and boorish fellow Americans, are the latest antagonists and are on his case. Intent on finding where the bodies, or at least one of them are buried. Their digging around into his past is about to blight his comfortable life leaving Tom temporarily on edge, but well concealed beneath his usual unruffled, urbane exterior, the side he presents to the world. Highsmith has the unique quality of presenting her protagonist as a deeply flawed and amoral character but somehow effectively getting her readers to root for him. His anxieties, conveyed in his thoughts only as to the multi layered web of murder, appropriation and deceit he has woven over the course of the series. She winds the book up neatly. The fate of his new found nemesis, The Pritchards unwittingly seal their own fate, unusually not by Tom's hand, this book is murder free, although he somewhat manipulates that scenario. So he continues to evade justice. I'm rather sorry that's it! I've enjoyed the journey and the descriptive travelogues of Tom's life through parts of Europe, not only via the programme and film but subsequently in the books.

70. A Christmas Feast, Katie Fforde

Romantic short stories set at Christmas.

I’m already getting fed up of my festive reads and am going back to finish

71. Unruly by David Mitchell

I love David Mitchell and this is a very entertaining romp through 1,000 years of our rulers from Arthur to Elizabeth I. Described in one review as Horrible Histories for grown ups, which sums it up really. I’ve had to read it in chunks to have any chance of taking it in, but it’s been very entertaining and I do feel that I’ve learnt a lot. I’m up to Agincourt, so getting into more familiar territory now.

After that I think I’ll go for a Christmas murder mystery.

Book 68 The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova
Did someone here recommend this book? If so, many thanks. It's something a bit different and really enjoyable for those of us who are art lovers.

Psychiatrist Andrew Marlow has an ordered life, devoted to his profession and the painting hobby he loves. This order is destroyed when renowned artist Robert Oliver attacks a canvas in the National Gallery of Art and becomes his patient.

Marlow is desperate to help his patient who refuses to speak but who is clearly a tormented genius, and begins to delve into his background - the women in his life, his art. There are love stories running through the book.

If you love the Impressionists, then this is the book for you. I worked in an art gallery selling fine art prints decades ago, and have also visited the Musee D'Orsay in Paris and other locations mentioned in the book, plus I paint, so this book appealed to me on many levels.

I would give it 10/10.