2026 - 50 Books a Year Challenge

41 What Happened That Night - Nicci French

This is the third book in the writing partnership's series featuring Detective Maud O'Connor. An excellent who done it, slightly in the vein of Agatha Christie where all the suspects of an historical murder are gathered together at the request of the person who was convicted to discuss what may have really happened that night.

30 years ago Tyler Green was convicted of murdering his university friend Leo Bauer. Now, newly released from prison, requesting the company of the former tight knit group of friends as they were then, including his once much loved girlfriend, now married to another of the circle. This is an evening of facing the truth. Their varying fortunes are revealed whilst their darkest secrets initially kept hidden, during the course of the drunken gathering hosted by Beatrice, KC and married to a government minister, are gradually to be exposed. At the end of the evening one of them will be murdered. Tyler believed to have killed before, falls under suspicion, but did he commit this one or the previous one? . Enter Detective O'Connor.

55-Meet Me Under the Ombu Tree-Santa Montefiore
What a delight this was. Set in the Argentine pampa, this family saga has it all; romance, exotic locations, forbidden love, death and rich lifestyles. Spanning the turbulent years from 1947-1997 this story was a real page turner.

Just popping in to say how much I have enjoyed The Names.
Finished it 10 minutes ago. Well written and kept me gripped.
Thank you for the recommendation.

HelterSkelter1

Just popping in to say how much I have enjoyed The Names.
Finished it 10 minutes ago. Well written and kept me gripped.
Thank you for the recommendation.

Glad you enjoyed The Names HelterSkelter1 a definite standout book.

#54. Secrets From The Grave by Jack Cartwright.

After the intensity of Butter, I treated myself to another Freida McFadden:

26. The Housemaid’s Secret, Freida McFadden

The follow up to The Housemaid, which I read recently. I enjoyed it, but I’ll move on to another author now, as I’m getting too used to her style. Even I am starting to spot the twists well in advance.

42 Yesteryear Caro Claire Burke Audible

This is a book that has a lot of buzz around it, soon to be filmed with Ann Hathaway in the leading role of Natalie Heller-Mills the leading protagonist. Natalie is a rather smug social media influencer, promoting traditional gender roles as a sahm on the family farm displaying a superficially idealised and wholesome life as wife and mother. The twist in the plot is when she wakes up one day and finds herself transposed to the mid 19th century where she is far removed from her comfort zone lacking all the accoutrements of modern day life which for her included umpteen hired help in the form of nannies, ranch hands and a social media producer who it's later revealed is having an affair with her husband. Natalie is prone to treat Caleb her hapless husband with a certain amount of derision. Plunged back into the reality of hard graft of the daily grind and a woman's lot from over a 150 years ago so far removed from all she is familiar with. Thereafter the novel is told from two timelines, one from her idealised life before the time switch and how she copes with the reality of what the lot of a mid century, pioneer woman managing a family of multiple children and a farm with livestock meant when she was expected to take on all the onerous tasks, being ill equipped for such a life she relies on the oldest child of the family, Mary who treats her as pretty useless and incapable. No longer the Queen Bee of her life as it was, she imagines she will at some time wake up from what appears to be a really bad dream, however as that doesn't happen she plans her escape.

An unusual premise, I could see it transferring to the big screen well.

#55. When The Night Ends by MJ Lee.

27. The Wedding People, Alison Espa

Lecturer Phoebe turns up at a luxury nineteenth century hotel at the lowest point of her life, having walked out of it on a whim and with just the clothes she stands up in. The hotel has supposedly been booked out for Lila and Gary’s six day wedding and she is very reluctantly dragged into the wedding party. It turns out that everyone at the hotel is just getting through life as best they can, and facing their own demons, despite their wealth and privilege. This is a very good read, full of interesting characters and lots of humour alongside some sad stories.

56-Never Lie-Freida McFadden
Wow! what a page turner this is. I could have read this book in one sitting if I'd started earlier in the day. I was hooked from the first page, when newlyweds are forced to stay overnight in a house they are viewing, due to a snowstorm. The house has been vacant for several years, but why is there fresh bread in the fridge? I thought by page 50 that I'd worked out the ending- but how wrong could I be? Fabulous story.

#56. Do Not Disturb by Freida McFadden.

28. True Crime, Patricia Cornwell

I downloaded this autobiography as an audiobook read by the author. I must say that her very slow delivery and the fact that I found the first half of the book rather meandering and repetitive brought me close to sending it back to the library. That would have been a big mistake, as the pace really picked up once the author started talking about how she researched her Scarpetta books by working with the police, FBI and medical examiners, her liaising with major names in the entertainment world to bring her work to the screen, her research into the Jack the Ripper murders and her very eventful adult life. It picked up even more when I increased the narration speed to 1.7!

In the end I really enjoyed it and feel inspired to read a Scarpetta novel for the first time in many years.