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<metadesc>Book review siteExpert, with books full book reviews from most walks of literary life; fiction, biographynon-fiction, crime, cookery and children's books & self-published books plus author interviews and & top tens.</metadesc><h1 id="mf-title">The Bookbag</h1>Hello from The Bookbag, a site featuring books from all the many walks of literary life - [[:Category:Fiction|fiction]], [[:Category:Biography|biography]], [[:Category:Crime|crime]], [[:Category:Cookery|cookery]] and anything else that takes our fancy. At Bookbag Towers the bookbag sits at the side of the desk. It's the bag we take to the library, the charity shop and the bookshop. Sometimes it holds the latest releases, but at other times there'll be old favourites, books for the children, books for the home. They're sometimes our own books or books from the local library. They're often books sent to us by publishers and we promise to tell you exactly what we think about them. You might not want to read through a full review, so we'll give you a quick review which summarises what we felt about the book and tells you whether or not we think you should buy or borrow it. There are also lots of [[:Category:Interviews|author interviews]], and all sorts of [[:Category:Lists|top tens]] - all of which you can find on our [[features]] page. If you're stuck for something to read, check out the [[Book Recommendations|recommendations]] page.
Reviews by readers from all the many walks of literary life. With author interviews, features and top tens. You'll be sure to find something you'll want to read here. Dig in! Find us on [[File:facebook.gif|link=https://www.facebook.com/TheBookbagCoUk|alt=Facebook]] [https://www.facebook.com/TheBookbagCoUk '''Facebook'''], [[File:twitter.gif|link=http://twitter.com/TheBookbag|alt=Follow us on Twitter]] [http://twitter.com/TheBookbag '''Twitter'''], [[File:instagram_classic_logo.png|link=https://www.instagram.com/thebookbag.co.uk/|alt=Follow us on Instagram]] [https://www.instagram.com/thebookbag.co.uk/ '''Instagram'''] and [[File:LinkedIn.png|link=https://www.linkedin.com/in/the-bookbag-1b12a264/|alt=LinkedIn]] There are currently '''{{PAGESINCATEGORY:Reviews}}''' [[:Category:Reviews|reviews ]] at TheBookbag.
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==Reviews of the The Best New Books==
'''Read [[:Category:New Reviews|new reviews by category]]. '''<br>
'''Read [[:Category:Features|the latest features]].''' <!-- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE--> '''Read [[Forthcoming Publications|reviews of books about to be published]].
{{Frontpage
|author=Will Dean Sylvie Cathrall|title=Black River A Letter to the Luminous Deep
|rating=5
|genre=Science Fiction
|summary= There are few greater joys than a book which lives up to a compelling premise. And this is one of them.
|isbn= 0356522776
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=0008517061
|title=Death in a Lonely Place
|author=Stig Abell
|rating=4
|genre=Crime
|summary=Tuva Moodyson returns - and this third book in Former Metropolitan Police detective, Jake Johnson, has settled into his rustic life at Little Sky. There’s perhaps a little uncertainty about the Tuva Moodyson mystery series delves deep into her personal future of his lifewith his vet girlfriend, returning Livia and her daughter Diana, as moving in together would mean a lot of compromise: does Jake give up his off-grid and relaxing life to move in with Livia or does Livia move to Little Sky despite her reservations about whether or not this is the isolated town of Gavrik future she wants for herself and into a desperate search for her missing best friend. With daughter? For the moment they’re enjoying life in the Midsommar sun blocked out by present and putting the dark pines of future on the forest, Tuva fights to save her friendback burner. But who’ll be there to save Tuva?|isbn=1786077116
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=17824074801786482126|title=Bird Love: The Family Life of BirdsJanus Stone (Dr Ruth Galloway)|author=Wenfei Tong and Mike WebsterElly Griffiths
|rating=4.5
|genre=Animals and WildlifeCrime|summary=I Builders were demolishing an old house in Norwich - the site was a little perturbed when I looked at the blurb for going to hold seventy-five 'luxury'Bird Love'' on a couple of onapartments -line booksellers: ''exploring when they discovered the sex life bones of birds'' it saida child beneath a doorway. There was no skull. Was this a ritual killing or murder? Inevitably, Dr Ruth Galloway finds herself working with DCI Harry Nelson. I very nearly passed over the bookIt's difficult as Ruth knows, but a closer examination suggested that the book is about the Nelson doesn''family life'' of birdst, which that she is rather different. If the book was confined to the sex life pregnant with his child as a result of birds, you would be missing an opportunity to understand how birds live day-to-day, bring up their families and cope in the wildone night they spent together some three months ago. Not only thatHer condition will be obvious before long, you have missed the treat of so many beautiful illustrations about a wide variety not least because Ruth is prone to sudden bouts of birds which run through this book from the first page to the lastsickness.
}}
{{Frontpage
|authorisbn=Camilla Bruce0008551324|title=The Devil You Let Me InKnow (D S Max Craigie)|author=Neil Lancaster|rating=4.5|genre=General FictionCrime|summary= Eccentric, isolated romance novelist Cassandra Tipp It's unusual for anyone from the Hardie family to approach the police. Neither side likes or has been missing any respect for the other. But Davie Hardie is struggling in prison and he's prepared to tell the police where the body of a year missing person is buried and has been pronounced legally dead by who was responsible for her lawyersdeath. Her This person, he promises, is someone big and it will instructs her niece be worth the police doing what he wants. And what he wants is to be transferred to an open prison to serve the remainder of his sentence and nephew to enter her home get an early parole date. Not much to ask, is it? The new Deputy Police Constable doesn't think so and find the key she's even prepared to their inheritance in an old manuscript left in her office: do the last story sheother thing that Hardie demanded - make certain that DS Max Craigie and anyone who works with him is kept well away from what'll ever tells happening.|isbn=1787633179
}}
{{Frontpage
|authorisbn=Judith Eagle0008405026|title=The Pear AffairA Stranger in the Family (Maeve Kerrigan 11)|author=Jane Casey|rating=4.5|genre=Confident ReadersCrime|summary=Set in the 1960It's, this is a mystery adventure story, all about a little girl called Nell sixteen years since nine-year-old Rosalie Marshall disappeared from her bed one summer night. She was never found and her quest the investigation ground to find her nannya halt. Now, Perrine (Pear) who left her very suddenly and thenmother, after keeping in touch regularly by postHelena, disappeared completely from and her life, leaving Nell bereftfather are dead in their bed. ThereInitially, it looks like a straightforward murder/suicide but there's everything in this story, with underground tunnels as something about the playground positioning of gangs of children, the bodies that makes DS Maeve Kerrigan and her boss DI Josh Derwent suspicious. What looked as though it was going to travel be an open-and detective work, -shut case is now a mystery mould infecting Parisian bakeriescomplex double murder. Kerrigan is convinced that the explanation lies in Rosalie's disappearance: others (such as Derwent's boss, mysterious figures following Nell around, and a set of truly dreadful parents!|isbn=0571346855Una Burt) are less convinced.
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=B083NMCSZX0571379877|title=Little Doubt (D I Kelly Porter)The Kellerby Code|author=Rachel LynchJonny Sweet|rating=43.5
|genre=Crime
|summary=Ella Watson was in the wrong place at the wrong time. She was out running in the park when she was randomly attacked and stabbed to death. Her husband, Thomas, and children, Jordan and Millie were devastated and Detective Superintendent Neil Ormond was outraged that Edward Jevons is a decentworking-class young man, middleobsessed with his upper-class woman should be the victim of knife crimefriends, Robert and Stanza. Despite being a golfing partner of Thomas Jordan he declined to distance himself from the case and told DI Kelly Porter that he would be taking Robert's a great deal of interest in how the case was handledtheatre director. He wasn't anywhere near as interested when a second woman was stabbed s also self-obsessed, demanding, handsome and entitled and uses Edward to death a few hours laterrun errands for him. Keira Bradley lived on the Beacon estate Edward has been in love with Stanza since their university days - and Ormondhe's view seemed drunkenly confided how he feels to be that anyone living there should expect this sort of thing to happenRobert. He could hardly bring himself to mention KeiraMost men in Robert's position would stay away from Stanza or tell Edward that a relationship had begun between them but he's namenot like most men: Edward is left to stumble upon the two of them kissing in a dark passageway.
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbnauthor=0571342353Jo Callaghan|title=Rules for Perfect Murders|author=Peter SwansonLeave No Trace
|rating=4
|genre=Crime
|summary=Malcolm Kershaw was When a man is found crucified on the co-owner and manager top of a hill in Nuneaton, DCS Kat Frank finds herself assigned to the Old Devils Bookstore on Beacon Hill in Boston. The store specialises in crime novelscase alongside her sidekick, but Mal has given up reading crimethe AI detective Lock. His life's been pretty chaotic of late: It's five years since his wife, Claire Mallory, died and he's never really got over it. She was driving whilst inebriatedtheir first live case together, having just previously been to see the man very successful with whom Kershaw suspected she was having an affairseveral cold cases. His interest in crime fiction comes back But when he's approached by Special Agent Gwen Mulveythere is a second body found crucified a few days later, Kat is suddenly struggling with a potential serial killer and a very high profile case that draws a lot of unwanted attention to their AI Future Policing project. She's interested Will they be able to solve the case in time, or will Kat find herself taken off the case and, potentially, out of a blog post he wrote a few years ago: '' My Eight Perfect Murders''.career?|isbn=139851120X
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=17868971481399613073|title=Bobby March Will Live Forever (Harry McCoy)Moral Injuries|author=Alan ParksChristie Watson
|rating=4.5
|genre=Thrillers
|summary=Olivia, Laura and Anjali met on the first day of medical school and their friendship would keep them inseparable for a quarter of a century. Olivia is ruthlessly ambitious, which is a bonus when you aim to be a cardiothoracic surgeon. Laura is a perfectionist and a trauma doctor. Anjali is the free spirit of the group and she becomes a GP. When we first meet them they're at a drug and alcohol-fuelled party and it's going to end in tragedy. We don't know who suffered the tragedy or the consequences. Twenty-five years later there will be an eerily similar event that will impact the three friends. This time, it's their teenage children who are involved.
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=0241636604
|title=The Trading Game: A Confession
|author=Gary Stevenson
|rating=4.5
|genre=Autobiography
|summary=If you were to bring up an image of a city banker in your mind, you're unlikely to think of someone like Gary Stevenson. A hoodie and jeans replaces the pin-stripe suit and his background is the East End, where he was familiar with violence, poverty and injustice. There was no posh public school on his CV - but he had been to the London School of Economics. Stevenson is bright - extremely bright - and he has a facility with numbers which most of us can only envy. He also realised that most rich people expect poor people to be stupid. It was his ability at what was, essentially, a card game which got him an internship with Citibank. Eventually, this turned into permanent employment as a trader.
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=1035021803
|title=The Antique Hunter's Guide to Murder
|author=C L Miller
|rating=3.5
|genre=Crime
|summary=In February 1964 Bobby March was on his way It's twenty years since Freya Lockwood has been back to London with fellow band members Tomthe English country village where she grew up. She's back now because of a request for help from her beloved aunt, Scott, Barry and JamieCarole. HeFreya'd had s former mentor and Carole's close friend, Arthur Crockleford, is dead and the circumstances seem suspicious, to get his father to sign say the contract for The Beatkickers, as Bobby wasn't old enoughleast. And his father Arthur was the reason why Freya had not been reluctant - he'd have preferred Bobby back to get an apprenticeshipthe village: Arthur, for the regular moneyshe feels, let her down badly. By July 1973 Bobby is back Even though they were in Glasgowbusiness together as antique hunters, she has not felt able to be near the man or pursue the profession she loved. The Beatkickers didn't survive After the split, she worked in a cafe, met and March is married James (on his own, but hardly thriving. There's an obvious drug habit. Meanwhile, the police are consumed by rebound from the search for a missing girllove of her life, Alice Kellywho was murdered) and Freya and James have now divorced.
}}
{{Frontpage
|authorisbn=Marie O'Regan and Paul Kane (editors)AllTomorrowsFutureCover|title=CursedAll Tomorrow's Futures: An Anthology of Dark Fairy TalesFictions that Disrupt|author=Benjamin Greenaway and Stephen Oram (Editors)|rating=4.5|genre=FantasyScience Fiction|summary=Curses. They're there throughout tales 'Opening up new ways of thinking about the shape of faery and other fantastical folk – people being cursed things to do this, or not to be able to do come.'' I've heard it said that'technology' is what happens after you're eighteen. Children can be cursed Well, as can princesses on the verge I must confess that there have been more than a few decades of marrying, and older people tootechnology in my lifetime. It seems in a way there I've kept up reasonably well with what's no escaping advantageous to me but I'm left with the feeling that it's all getting away from me. Which is why the theme Some of this book of short stories it is such a standout – we may well think we know all there is to know about this accursed character, that demonised place- frankly - quite frightening. Of course, I could research the possibilities and the probabilities and that other bewitched personend up down rabbit holes without really understanding whether I'm reading someone who knows what they're talking about or the latest conspiracy theorist. We'd be very wrong I needed people I knew I could trust and who could deliver information in a way I could understand.|isbn=1789091500
}}
{{Frontpage
|author=Sara HollandSunny Singh|title=HavenfallHotel Arcadia|rating=43.5|genre=TeensThrillers |summary= Maddie Morrow The Hotel Arcadia is a luxury hotel in an unnamed city that has suddenly been violently taken over by a terrorist group. Hiding from the terrorists who are rampaging through, killing everyone on site, there is supposed to spending Sam, a wartime photographer and Abhi, the summer with her Grandma Ellenhotel manager. But after a visit As Abhi continues to try to her mother care remotely for the residents who are still alive in prisonthe hotel, Maddie wants nothing more than he forms a bond with Sam who refuses to go be cowed by events, and keeps on venturing out of her room to Havenfall try to see capture what's happened through her uncle, Marcusphotography. It's Although they only ever talk over the only place she feels truly at home. Maddie's fatherphone, understandably, is not keen on Maddie spending time with their friendship grows as Abhi tries to help her mother's family - because the crime Maddie's mum is languishing on death row for committing is keep safe and they both wait to see if they will be rescued before they are discovered by the murder of Maddie's brother..terrorists.|isbn=1547603798 086154742X
}}
{{Frontpage
|authorisbn=Baye Hartshorne1529153298|title=Ghosted: The Treason House TrilogyList of Suspicious Things|author=Jennie Godfrey|rating=45|genre=FantasyGeneral Fiction|summary=It's 1979 and Margaret Thatcher is Prime Minister. (A woman? I mean, honestly...) She's not what's worrying Miv'Julia Crawley has lost her job on s family, though. Women have been disappearing. Well, they've been murdered, but to have 'Celebritydisappeared'doesn' magazine and t sound quite so frightening. Miv's upset because she decides to cut 's overheard that her losses and return home father wants to move the village of Monmouth Cove on family 'Down South'. When you're from Yorkshire, Down South is a frightening, foreign place, best avoided. For Miv, the Jersey Shoremove would mean leaving her best friend, hoping to return to her harder hitting journalistic roots via local news. SheSharon, and she'll be staying with her grandmother - a woman always ready do anything to help younger relatives in need of a handprevent that. There She's only one problem with not worried about the dangers or that: creepy Uncle Dex, who doesnher Mum't always keep his hands s stopped talking - to himselfanyone.|isbn= B0829CP5BM}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=06486848061398524085|title=Clara Colby: The International SuffragistHas Anyone Seen Charlotte Salter?|author=John HollidayNicci French|rating=45|genre=BiographyCrime|summary=The path of Clara Dorothy BewickCharlotte Salter was expected at her husband's life was probably determined when her family emigrated to the USAfiftieth birthday party but never turned up. At the time she was just three-years-old but because of some childhood ailmentHer children, sons Niall, she wasn't allowed to sail with Paul and Ollie and her parents and three brothersdaughter, Etty. Instead, she remained with are all worried but - strangely - her grandparentshusband, who doted on her and saw that she received a good educationAlec, both in and out of schoolis not. She was the only child in the household Shortly afterwards, Etty and her childhood was glorious. By contrastGreg, her family had become pioneer farmers in find the mid-west body of the United States and life was hardGreg's father, Duncan Ackerley, as Clara was to find out when she and her grandparents eventually went to join in the familyriver. Clara would only know her mother for a few months: she It was married an easy assumption for fifteen years, the police to make that Duncan had ten pregnancies, seven surviving children murdered Charlie and died in childbirth not long after Clara arrivedthen committed suicide when he couldn't stand the guilt. As the eldest girl, a heavy burden would fall The Salter children are not convinced but there's little else they can do but get on Clara with their lives and Wisconsin was a rude awakeningwonder about what really happened.
}}
{{Frontpage
|authorisbn=Kathleen Boucher and Sara Chadwick1035906708|title=Nine Ways to Empower TweensDiva|author=Daisy Goodwin
|rating=4.5
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=We tend to think of Maria Callas as Greek, but she was born to Greek parents in Manhattan, New York, in December 1923 and only moved to Athens when she was thirteen. Her original surname was Kalogeropoulos but her father changed it to 'Callas' to make it more manageable in the States. When she was back in Athens - supposedly so that she could get appropriate training for her voice - she was raised under the Nazi occupation by a mother who mercilessly exploited her and made no secret of her preference for her elder sister, Jackie.
}}
{{Frontpage
|author=Christopher Edge
|title=Black Hole Cinema Club
|rating=4
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=Lucas and his friends are all booked in for a movie marathon at their local cinema, a place that has the nickname of 'The Black Hole'9 Ways . All big movie fans, they're looking forward to Empower Tweens'' lots of exciting films, and many, many snacks! However, as the movie starts, they very quickly realise that something about this new film format is a self-help book for tweensvery different, setting out to show them vital #lifeskills. Donand they are swept up into an adventure they couldn't groan! I know there is a market glut of such books for we grown-ups and for young adults tooeven imagine. But as they lurch from one film genre to the next, but there can they figure out what on earth is a needful space in an increasingly technological world accessible going on? Will they ever get back to younger the cinema, and younger children for material for tweens too. to their real lives?|isbn= 02288188261839942738
}}
{{Frontpage
|author= Katie FfordeRachel Greenlaw|title= A Springtime AffairCompass and Blade|rating= 43.5|genre= Women's FictionTeens|summary= ''Ican hear the song of the sea. The call of the deep, the answering beat in my heart.''ve wanted to read author Katie Fforde for ages Rosevear, a remote and this was pretty much exactly what I was expecting - a warmpartially forgotten island, cosy read focused survives on romanceluring ships into the rocks and plundering the wrecks. Mira, family like her mother before her, is one of the seven who swim out to survey the ruins – rescuing any survivors and friendshipsany treasure that lies within. This provided two romances for But when the price of oneCouncil Watch lays a trap to end the wrecking, but it was actually they capture the island's leader and Mira's father. Desperate to save him from death, Mira makes a bargain with a wreck survivor who is as charming as he is secretive and with only coordinates to guide her, she sets off in search of a family element secret that lies buried deep in the sea. With only nine days to unearth what might save her father, as opposed her journey takes her from the watched streets of foreign islands to the romance that I really enjoyedheart of the smuggler's territory, Mira must be determined to stop at nothing to save the future of her home and the ones she holds most dear. |isbn=17808975610008664730
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbnauthor=1838593187James Sherwood Metts|title=Guess What I Found in the Playground!|author=Victoria ThompsonPlanet Storyland
|rating=4.5
|genre=For SharingConfident Readers|summary=Tilly is excitedThings have been a bit sticky for the Earthlings. SheAI and automation have been proceeding apace, often replacing jobs they's just come dashing out of the classroom, pigtails flapping behind her re paid to do and a big grin on her faceother tasks that took time to accomplish. Dad's come Just as they were beginning to get used to collect her and her brother all this technological change and he ''has'' starting to try think of other, new ways to guess what she found in the playground todayspend time, although she concedes that he will never guessalong came an awful pandemic. Dad wants to know how school Life was, but ''obviously'' that's not important. Could Tilly have found more collectable things for her scrap box? (Isn't that so pretty much more sensible than a scrap ''book''?) Well, actuallyshut down and, Tilly did find exciting stuff. There are sequinsalong with it, glittered paper and all sorts of other things in her pocket, but that's not what she wants Dad to guessthe many daily social interactions on which they depend so heavily.|isbn=1736128426
}}
{{Frontpage
|author= Becky Albertalli and Aisha SaeedMatthew Tree|title= Yes No Maybe So We'll Never Know|rating= 4.5|genre= TeensLiterary Fiction|summary= ''We might give it our all and crash and burn. But we might win. We might actually change things. And that maybe makes it still worth going for, don't you think?''Jaime has been spending Timothy Wyndham wants nothing more than to be different from his summer helping his cousin with campaigning in time for a special election. When his mother encourages him to go canvassing, he can't think of anything worse. Howeverfather, Jaime has always wanted to be a politician drunk and decides there is no time like the present to conquer chronic underachiever whose dreams of being exceptional at any of his fear of speaking to the public. Maya is a Pakistani-American Muslim girl artistic passions all failed miserably and who is having the worst summer had endless crises of her lifeself confidence. Her parents are going through a separationSo Tim applied himself to his studies, she has zero plans for the summer to help take her mind off things cultivated his abilities rather than his daydreams and her only close friend is permanently busyset himself high but achievable ambitions. To help occupy her, her parents offer to buy her a car if she agrees to go canvassing. The pair could possibly be the worst canvassing duo in history, as neither of them really want to be there, but as the campaign goes on they discover that they care, a lot, about the election - and maybe even about each other?|isbn=1471184668B0CVFXPGP8
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{{Frontpage
|author=Gregg HurwitzA G Slatter|title=Into The FireBriar Book of the Dead
|rating=5
|genre=ThrillersFantasy|summary= Grant Merriweather is '' There's a part of me that wants to keep this just to myself for however long I can. This secret magic of my own, all mine, at last. I just want to enjoy it for a while.'' Within a remote mountain pass, far away from the world, lies Silverton; a town under the protection of the Briar's, a forensic accountantfamily of witches who protect the town and the wider world from the Darklands. Or ratherThough she has always wished for magic, Ellie Briar is the first non-witch to be born into her family for generations and as such since she wasyoung, her training as a steward revolved around letters and administration rather than spells and potions. He was brought into an ER room after an alleged car crashWhen her grandmother suddenly dies, Ellie's cousin Audra becomes the Briar Witch, his friend pleading with the medics to keep him alivetown's leader, and Ellie takes her place beside her. He was needed alive just long enough As challenges come her way left, right and centre, Ellie uncovers the rare ability to give up communicate with the dead, putting her at the heart of a namemaelstrom of chaos. His cousinReeling from one family secret to another, Ellie must decide who to trust and determine what to do as the Briar witches' legacy, everything they have sacrificed to survive, Maxis under threat.|isbn=07181855011803364548
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{{Frontpage
|isbn=15291243951529900360|title=When You See MeThe Ghost Orchid|author=Lisa GardnerJonathan Kellerman
|rating=4
|genre=Crime
|summary=For Janet It hadn't been Lt Milo Sturgis's fault that Alex Delaware had been badly injured but he felt responsible and Chuckeven after Alex recovered, it Sturgis was a hiking break in the Appalachians in Georgia reluctant to ask for his help on difficult cases. His assertions that there were only open-and pure chance that Chuck went off -shut cases which didn't need the beaten track to find help of a psychologist only worked for a stickwhile. What he found Finally, it was a human bone and SSA Kimberley Quincy Robin, Delaware's partner, who nudged Milo into asking for help again. She knew that the involvement was called insomething that the man she loved needed. The next case did look simple, along with Sergeant D D Warrenthough. Both women Two lovers were experienced murdered in this type of rather gruesome work but they also called on the services swimming pool of Keith Edgar, a computer analyst, remote property in Bel Air. He was the heir to an Italian shoe empire and Flora Dane who brought something unique she is married to the table. Flora had been kidnapped an extremely rich man and held for 472 days by it's not the notorious killer, Jacob NessItalian. If Ness had anything to do with But which of them was the current discoveries then what Flora had to say could be invaluable.primary target?
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{{Frontpage
|isbn=15290096771529395224|title=A Window BreaksLetting the Cat Out of the Bag: The Secret Life of a Vet|author=C M EwanSion Rowlands
|rating=3.5
|genre=ThrillersAnimals and Wildlife|summary=Tom Sullivan Siôn Rowlands fell into veterinary science accidentally. His father was a GP and Rowlands didn't want to follow in his footsteps, particularly when he considered the strain that being on-call put on his wife Rachel are having problems. Itfather's not just life. When he was seventeen he took the usual growing apart after more than opportunity of doing work experience with a decade of marriagefamily friend who was a vet and was convinced this was the job for him. Their son, MichaelBefore long, was killed in a car crash some months before: he was driving his father's Audi and at sixteen wasnLiverpool University. It hadn't legally entitled to drive- as with so many students - been his dream since he was a child. Not only did If anything, he kill himself when the car rammed into 'd wanted to be a treeprofessional footballer.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0861541774|title=A Nye of Pheasants|author=Steve Burrows|rating=4|genre=Crime|summary=DCI Domenic Jejeune's close friend and former colleague, but he also killed his girlfriendDanny Maik, fifteen-year-has taken a short holiday in Singapore to meet up with an old Fiona Connorally, Guy Trueman. Tom can't think about Michael without Maik was involved in a street brawl - he would later maintain that he was facing a man armed with a sense of shame knife - and guilthe killed a Ghurka. Rachel is brokenInitially, he faced a charge of manslaughter but she wants evidence came to forgive Michaellight that suggested that he might have planned to murder the man. To give some space, Tom's moved out of Now he could be facing the family home, but stresses death penalty. Domenic Jejeune can do nothing to his thirteen-year-old daughter, Holly, that it is only help as any interference from another police force could provoke a trial separationdiplomatic incident and wouldn't help Danny at all.
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{{Frontpage
|isbnauthor=0241985153Alexander McCall Smith|title=The House on the Lake|author=Nuala EllwoodPerfect Passion Company|rating=34.5|genre=ThrillersGeneral Fiction|summary=We know that something has gone wrong - badly wrong - when The Perfect Passion Company is a dating agency in Edinburgh, run by Ness and operating as an alternative to all the woman who was alone online apps in providing a more personal, tailored service. Ness has asked her younger cousin Katie if she could come and look after the house business, as Ness is taken planning to take a trip to Canada to get away by for a while. Katie is coming out of a break up with a bad boyfriend, and so jumps at the chance to come home to Edinburgh. And so begins this new story from Alexander McCall Smith, bringing us to an Edinburgh we already love, thanks to 44 Scotland Street and the policeIsabel Dalhousie novels, but with some new characters who quickly begin to charm. Katie has no experience in running a business, or in match-making, but itNess has full confidence in her abilities, and there's going always her very helpful (and rather handsome) neighbour, William, to be lend a while before we learn exactly what has happened.hand…|isbn=1846976596
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{{Frontpage
|authorisbn=Struan Murray and Manuel Sumberac (illustrator)0811771741|title=Orphans of the TideInstaKnits for Baby|author=Melissa Leapman|rating=54|genre=Confident ReadersCrafts|summary= In Melissa Leapman's ''InstaKnits for Baby'' gives us a collection of knits from toys to blankets. Some will be quick knits - others are of the last city on Earth'long, anyone can be cosy afternoons in front of the vessel of fire' variety. The Enemy - projects are divided by the god who drowned the world time they'll take to complete - who has come less than five hours, five to wreak havoc on the last of humanity. When a mysterious boy is pulled from the corpse of a whaleten hours, the citizens immediately believe him ten to be twenty hours and more than twenty hours. All the Vessel - all except for young Ellie Lancasterprojects are attractive, a girl inventormodern and useable. As the ruthless Inquisition prepares to execute the boy, Ellie must prove I perhaps show my age when I wonder about 'social-media-worthy projects' but that he is innocent - even if it means revealing her deepest, darkest secrets..'s me being picky.|isbn=0241384435
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{{Frontpage
|isbnauthor=0008297169Dean Koontz|title=The Guest List|author=Lucy FoleyBad Weather Friend
|rating=4.5
|genre=CrimeParanormal|summary=The boat trip out to Inis AmploirBenny is having a terrifically bad day. He loses his job, he loses his fiancee, and his house gets trashed. Oh, off the Irish coastand someone has delivered a really weird, might have been enough disturbing coffin-sized object to put some guests offhis home, but and it 's possible that whoever or whatever was inside is the wedding of thing that has trashed his house! The thing is, Benny is the yearvery last person to deserve all this bad luck. Will Slater (television personality, if not yet He is a celebrity) was nice person. A really nice person. So fortunately for Benny it turns out that the delivery to marry Jules Keeganhis house is a new friend, online magazine publishera bad weather friend called Spike, in the ruined chapel on the islandwho has been sent to help him since Benny is clearly under attack from nefarious forces for being a good person. The brideSpike is going to take care of Benny, and will certainly take care of Benny's sisterenemies, Oliviaif he, Benny, would be her only bridesmaid and the wedding planner and chef Harper (a waitress slash Private Investigator who finds herself roped into Benny's wild adventure) can figure out who exactly they are Aoife and her husband, Freddy. They gave a huge discount to get the couple to the island, but surely it would be worth it for the publicity?|isbn=1662500491
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{{Frontpage
|isbnauthor=B07ZGL6B1BAdam Stower|title=In Plain Sight (D I Clare Mackay)|author=Marion ToddMurray and Bun
|rating=4.5
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=Murray is supposed to be a humble, tidy and friendly cat, one who is able to sleep and eat and eat and sleep and, well, whatever takes his fancy next of the two. But he's a bad magician's cat, so his favourite bun has been turned into a hyperactive sticky rabbit called Bun, and the catflap they both use can chuck them out, not into the regular back garden, but into a world of frightening adventure and whiffs. This time round it drops them into a Viking land, where a troll hunter is expected – well, one much bigger than Murray was, to be honest, but he's turned up and he'll have to do…
|isbn=0008561249
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{{Frontpage
|isbn=B0C47LV1PC
|title=Fragility
|author=Mosby Woods
|rating=4
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary= Can you make a ''Yo birthing person'' joke? And if you could, is the question should you make it? Or is the question if you did, would it land? The catch is that the answer for both could well be.... no.
''Fragility'' is set as the city of Portland, Oregon, cautiously begins to emerge from the restrictions imposed during the covid pandemic
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{{Frontpage
|isbn=1529431735
|title=The Winter Visitor
|author=James Henry
|rating=4
|genre=Crime
|summary=It was a coincidence that Detective Sergeant Chris West 's February 1991 and DI Clare Mackay were at the beach when the baby was stolen. They were there for the fun run and their attention was taken by Essex is bitingly cold, which made Bruce Hopkins' return all the NEFEW protesters who tried to disrupt the racemore surprising. TheyHe're against the planned McIntosh Water bottled water plant to be constructed d been exiled on Priory Marsh and the firm is sponsoring the fun runCosta del Sol as a wanted drug smuggler for a decade. It was Lisa MitchellThe return has come about because he's scream which stopped everything. Her daughter, six-monthhad a letter from his ex-old Abiwife, had been taken from her pram whilst no one was lookingsaying that she's ill and hasn't long to live. It's a major incident hard to feel any sympathy when ''any'' child Hopkins is abducted but Abi needs regular medication because , stripped to his underwear and sent to a watery grave in the boot of a heart stolen Ford Sierra. Is it a warning from a Spanish gang or a problem: without it, she might have only forty-eight hours closer to live.home?
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbnauthor=1471180921Alex Bell and Tim McDonagh|title=Firewatching|author=Russ ThomasThe Glorious Race of Magical Beasts|rating=54|genre=CrimeConfident Readers|summary=Detective Sergeant Adam Tyler Eli is a busy lad – by day an apprentice in the wondrous library we start by visiting with him, and in the Cold Cas Review Unit evening a helper at South Yorkshire Police the dessert cafe his gran owns and runs. Eli lives with his lovely gran, too – for there are those who think that he's lucky to be there, given that he decked is a superior officergeneration missing in the family. HeA few short years ago, Eli's there because Tyler came off worse in parents were both lost to the exchange titular race, a globe- there's a scar on his face trotting adventure where all entrants have to prove it - and navigate the world in the superior officer was forced to take early retirementcompany of a magical beast. There's This has made the race anathema to the pair – but when a suggestion too that Tyler's godmother (she's on bad incident at the force too) has looked after him and that eatery leads to a confession from gran, Eli knows his current boss only hope is keen to have a tame gay dare to put on the town hall steps come Pride. Either way, enter what he's theremost hates, but without anything really interesting with the sole aim the prize of magic at the end – the only thing to get possibly save his teeth intogran.|isbn=0571382231
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