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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=Don BehrendSylvie Cathrall|title=Copernicus! What Have You Done?: ...and Other Interesting QuestionsA Letter to the Luminous Deep|rating=4.5|genre=4.5Science Fiction|summary= Hello! Would this review be okay if I simply said ''I LOVED THIS GLORIOUS LITTLE BOOK AND SO WILL YOU. FIN''?! Because I didThere are few greater joys than a book which lives up to a compelling premise. And you willthis is one of them. |isbn=17890167700356522776}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=19258200250008517061|title=Once, I was LovedDeath in a Lonely Place|author=Belinda LandsberryStig Abell
|rating=4
|genre=For SharingCrime|summary=TockFormer Metropolitan Police detective, Jake Johnson, has settled into his rustic life at Little Sky. There’s perhaps a little uncertainty about the toy rabbitfuture of his life with his vet girlfriend, is Livia and her daughter Diana, as moving in together would mean a box lot of toys going compromise: does Jake give up his off-grid and relaxing life to move in with Livia or does Livia move to the charity shop. He realises that he's Little Sky despite her reservations about whether or not wanted any more, but muses that it wasn't always this way. is the future she wants for herself and her daughter? ''Once'', he says, ''I was loved''. And he tells us of all For the moment they’re enjoying life in the present and putting the children who have loved him over future on the yearsback burner.
}}
{{Frontpage
|authorisbn=1786482126|title= Karina Sainz Borgo and Elizabeth Bryer The Janus Stone (translatorDr Ruth Galloway)|titleauthor= It Would Be Night in CaracasElly Griffiths|rating= 4.5|genre= Literary Fiction Crime|summary= ''It Would Be Night Builders were demolishing an old house in CaracasNorwich - the site was going to hold seventy-five 'luxury' illuminates apartments - when they discovered the everyday horrors bones of modern day Venezuelaa 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. It begins with the death of Adelaida Falcon's mother and chronicles Adelaidadifficult as Ruth knows, but Nelson doesn's coming to terms t, that she is pregnant with her new solitude in this world and her attempts to escape ithis child as a result of the one night they spent together some three months ago. Danger stalks the shadows and Her condition will be obvious before long, in a society where the establishment not least because Ruth is crumbling, who can you turn prone to? |isbn=0062936867sudden bouts of sickness.
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=03494230670008551324|title=The Body on the Train Devil You Know (Kate Shackleton MysteriesD S Max Craigie)|author=Frances BrodyNeil Lancaster
|rating=4.5
|genre=Crime (Historical)|summary=From Christmas to Easter a train ran It's unusual for anyone from Leeds City Station the Hardie family to King’s Cross, arriving before dawn so that approach the forced rhubarb it carried could be taken to Covent Gardenpolice. In early March 1929 one of Neither side likes or has any respect for the porters who was unloading other. But Davie Hardie is struggling in prison and he's prepared to tell the boxes discovered police where the body of a manmissing person is buried and who was responsible for her death. This person, he promises, stripped naked is someone big and with no means of identificationit will be worth the police doing what he wants. Scotland Yard hit a dead end and called on And what he wants is to be transferred to an open prison to serve the services remainder of Kate Shackleton in the hope that her knowledge his sentence and connections in Yorkshire would give them the lead they neededto get an early parole date. Kate immediately found herself hamstrung: Commander Woodhead remembered her as a child Not much to ask, is it? The new Deputy Police Constable doesn't think so and could not come she's even prepared to terms with do the fact other thing that she was now a woman experienced in dealing Hardie demanded - make certain that DS Max Craigie and anyone who works with murder. He was reluctant to give her all the information which the police heldhim is kept well away from what's happening.
}}
{{Frontpage
|authorisbn= Stephen Baxter0008405026|title= World Engines: DestroyerA Stranger in the Family (Maeve Kerrigan 11)|author=Jane Casey|rating= 45|genre= Science FictionCrime|summary= Hundreds of It's sixteen years in since nine-year-old Rosalie Marshall disappeared from her bed one summer night. She was never found and the futureinvestigation ground to a halt. Now, her mother, Helena, on a stagnating and almost empty Earthher father are dead in their bed. Initially, it looks like a space shuttle pilot from straightforward murder/suicide but there's something about the early days positioning of the 21st century bodies that makes DS Maeve Kerrigan and her boss DI Josh Derwent suspicious. What looked as though it was going to be an open-and-shut case is now a complex double murder. Kerrigan is awoken from convinced that the cryogenic sleep he entered after explanation lies in Rosalie's disappearance: others (such as Derwent's boss, Una Burt) are less convinced.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0571379877|title=The Kellerby Code|author=Jonny Sweet|rating=3.5|genre=Crime|summary=Edward Jevons is a working-class young man, obsessed with his upper-class friends, Robert and Stanza. Robert's a devastating accidenttheatre director. As he comes He's also self-obsessed, demanding, handsome and entitled and uses Edward to terms run errands for him. Edward has been in love with this new world, he begins to realise that Stanza since their history does not match what he remembers university days - and that only he may be able to stop the coming catastrophe destined 's drunkenly confided how he feels to destroy the planetRobert. Until Most men in Robert's position would stay away from Stanza or tell Edward that a relationship had begun between them but he meets a young woman who seems 's not like most men: Edward is left to have a drive stumble upon the two of her own, and them kissing in a plan..dark passageway.|isbn=1473223172
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbnauthor=1406389331Jo Callaghan|title=In the Key of Code|author=Aimee LucidoLeave No Trace
|rating=4
|genre=Confident ReadersCrime|summary=Emmy When a man is moving with her parents halfway across Americafound crucified on the top of a hill in Nuneaton, DCS Kat Frank finds herself assigned to follow the case alongside her fathersidekick, the AI detective Lock. It's dreams their first live case together, having previously been very successful with several cold cases. But when there 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 a big break in his music careerunwanted attention to their AI Future Policing project. She leaves behind her friends and her school Will they be able to solve the case in Wisconsintime, or will Kat find herself taken off the case and moves to California, knowing only what she has heard in songspotentially, out of a career?|isbn=139851120X}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1399613073|title=Moral Injuries|author=Christie Watson|rating=4. Her struggle to settle into her new life5|genre=Thrillers|summary=Olivia, make friends Laura and feel happy Anjali met on the first day of medical school and confident againtheir friendship would keep them inseparable for a quarter of a century. Olivia is ruthlessly ambitious, which is agonisingly told in a way we can all relate bonus when you aim tobe a cardiothoracic surgeon. There are many new opportunities Laura is a perfectionist and setbacks, taking a trauma doctor. Anjali is the free spirit of the reader on group and she becomes a GP. When we first meet them they're at a rollercoaster of emotions, but drug and alcohol-fuelled party and it isn's going to end in tragedy. We don't until Emmy joins a coding class using computer language know who suffered the tragedy or the consequences. Twenty-five years later there will be an eerily similar event that she begins 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 feel she might have bring up an image of a chance city banker in your mind, you're unlikely to feel think of someone like she truly belongsGary 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=15294022551035021803|title=A Body in the Bookshop (Kitt Hartley Yorkshire Mysteries)The Antique Hunter's Guide to Murder|author=Helen CoxC L Miller
|rating=3.5
|genre=Crime
|summary= Evie Bowes is very conscious It's twenty years since Freya Lockwood has been back to the English country village where she grew up. She's back now because of the scars on a request for help from her facebeloved aunt, Carole. They were acquired when she was rescued from a car in Freya's former mentor and Carole's close friend, Arthur Crockleford, is dead and the circumstances seem suspicious, to say the River Ouse by Inspector Halloranleast. She’d Arthur was the reason why Freya had not been suspected of back to the murder of her boyfriendvillage: Arthur, Owenshe feels, and let her down badly. Even though they were in business together as antique hunters, she has not felt able to be near the man or pursue the process of clearing her name profession she and her best friend, Kitt Hartley developed a taste for detectionloved. Kitt developed After the split, she worked in a taste for Inspector Halloran Toocafe, but they’re taking it slowly. Wellmet and married James (on the rebound from the love of her life, sort of slowlywho was murdered) and Freya and James have now divorced.
}}
{{Frontpage
|authorisbn= Alexandra ChristoAllTomorrowsFutureCover|title= Into the Crooked PlaceAll Tomorrow's Futures: Fictions that Disrupt|author=Benjamin Greenaway and Stephen Oram (Editors)|rating= 45|genre= TeensScience Fiction|summary= In ''Opening up new ways of thinking about the shape of things to come.'' I've heard it said that 'technology' is what happens after you're eighteen. Well, I must confess that there have been more than a world thriving few decades of technology in my lifetime. I've kept up reasonably well with what's advantageous to me but I'm left with black magicthe feeling that it's all getting away from me. Some of it is - frankly - quite frightening. Of course, four young crooks embark on a quest to take I could research the possibilities and the probabilities and end up down their criminal leader after rabbit holes without really understanding whether I'm reading someone who knows what they discover 're talking about or the plot behind his dangerous new magiclatest conspiracy theorist. I needed people I knew I could trust and who could deliver information in a way I could understand.|isbn=1250318378
}}
{{Frontpage
|author=Kathlaine C Gill and D Clark GillSunny Singh|title=Madness Between Light and DarkHotel Arcadia
|rating=3.5
|genre=FantasyThrillers |summary=It's 1912The 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, and at New Hope Sanatoriumkilling everyone on site, Christine Agnes Tupper there is fast growing up. Abandoned there by parents who were ashamed of her hunchbackSam, she's nevertheless grown up to an intelligent girl with a good heartwartime photographer and Abhi, the hotel manager. Her encounters with As Abhi continues to try to care remotely for the inhabitants of residents who are still alive in the asylum swiftly take her on hotel, he forms a fascinatingbond with Sam who refuses to be cowed by events, thrilling and sometimes terrifying journey keeps on venturing out of self discoveryher room to try to capture what's happened through her photography. Although they only ever talk over the phone, allowing Agnes their friendship grows as Abhi tries to prove that, even with a twisted spine, help her heart is in keep safe and they both wait to see if they will be rescued before they are discovered by the right place!terrorists.|isbn=1641110708086154742X
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=190874572X1529153298|title=Letters from ToveThe List of Suspicious Things|author=Tove Jansson (Author), Boel Westin (Editor), Helen Svensson (Editor), Sarah Death (Translator)Jennie Godfrey
|rating=5
|genre=AutobiographyGeneral Fiction|summary=Back at the beginning of the century It's 1979 and Margaret Thatcher is Prime Minister. (A woman? I went on holiday to Nepalmean, honestly...) She's not what's worrying Miv's family, though. I met a wonderful Finnish woman and we became sort of friends Women have been disappearing. I can Well, they've been murdered, but to have 'disappeared' doesn't remember if it was on sound quite so frightening. Miv's upset because she's overheard that holiday or her father wants to move the family 'Down South'. When you're from Yorkshire, Down South is a later one that Paula told me I really had to read Tove Janssonfrightening, foreign place, best avoided. I do know that it was four years later that I finally acquired an English translation of The Summer BookFor Miv, the move would mean leaving her best friend, Sharon, and she'll do anything to prevent that I eagerly awaited the . She''Sort Of'' translations of s not worried about the rest of Janssondangers or that her Mum's work and devoured them as soon as I could get my hands on themstopped talking - to anyone.
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=17847427831398524085|title=The Benefit of Hindsight (Simon Serrailler)Has Anyone Seen Charlotte Salter?|author=Susan HillNicci French
|rating=5
|genre=Crime
|summary=A superficial look would suggest to you that Simon Serrailer has been lucky Charlotte Salter was expected at her husband's fiftieth birthday party but never turned up. Her children, sons Niall, Paul and Ollie and her daughter, Etty. are all worried but - all things considered strangely - his life her husband, Alec, is as good as it could benot. He's back at work after a long break to recuperate from Shortly afterwards, Etty and Greg, find the violent incident which cost him his arm and almost his life. When hebody of Greg's not at work he's spending his time father, Duncan Ackerley, in the cathedral roof drawing the medieval angels which are being restoredriver. There's talk of It was an exhibition of his drawings. Lafferton seems easy assumption for the police to be quite settled as far as crime is concerned until one night make that Duncan had murdered Charlie and then committed suicide when two local men open their front door to a couple seeking shelter. Ithe couldn's t stand the usual story of a broken-down car, and a phone which won't make a callguilt. The man Salter children are generous and welcoming and have no suspicions that the couple are simply not convinced but there to plan a robbery. It's a serious error of judgement in the course of this investigation which will throw Simon Serrailler's future into doubtlittle else they can do but get on with their lives and wonder about what really happened.
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=140638853X1035906708|title=Somebody Give This Heart a PenDiva|author=Sophia ThakurDaisy Goodwin|rating=4.5|genre=AnthologiesGeneral Fiction|summary=Sophia Thakur's debut anthology is a collection We tend to think of poems that are all uniqueMaria Callas as Greek, whether but she was born to Greek parents in relation to their styleManhattan, length or theme. The collection is split into four sectionsNew York, titled 'grow','wait','break'in December 1923 and only moved to Athens when she was thirteen. Her original surname was Kalogeropoulos but her father changed it to 'grow againCallas', guiding you through a process which is one of to make it more manageable in the foundations States. When she was back in Athens - supposedly so that she could get appropriate training for her voice - she was raised under the anthology is built on. Each section begins with a foregrounded title page containing various small pieces of writing, ranging from a quote Nazi occupation by a Nigerian playwright, to African proverbs. This provides a nice introduction to the section before you are immersed into the beautifully written mother who mercilessly exploited her and eloquent poems that Thakur has clearly put made no secret of her preference for her heart and soul intoelder sister, Jackie.
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbnauthor=1910989460Christopher Edge|title=Flember: The Secret Book|author=Jamie SmartBlack Hole Cinema Club|rating=54
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=A mysterious island. A strange Lucas and mystical power called Flember. A boy-inventor called Devhis friends are all booked in for a movie marathon at their local cinema, who uncovers a long forgotten secretplace that has the nickname of 'The Black Hole'. And a giant All big movie fans, they're looking forward to lots of exciting films, and many, red robot bear?many snacks! The sleepy village of Eden However, as the movie starts, they very quickly realise that something about this new film format is about very different, and they are swept up into an adventure they couldn't even imagine. But as they lurch from one film genre to descend into hilarious chaos - the next, can disastrous Dev save his brand new best friendthey figure out what on earth is going on? Will they ever get back to the cinema, and to their real lives? Find out in this fully illustrated mad-cap adventure.|isbn=1839942738
}}
{{Frontpage
|author=Rachel Greenlaw
|title=Compass and Blade
|rating=3.5
|genre=Teens
|summary=''I can hear the song of the sea. The call of the deep, the answering beat in my heart.''
Rosevear, a remote and partially forgotten island, survives on luring ships into the rocks and plundering the wrecks. Mira, like her mother before her, is one of the seven who swim out to survey the ruins – rescuing any survivors and any treasure that lies within. But when the Council Watch lays a trap to end the wrecking, 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 secret that lies buried deep in the sea. With only nine days to unearth what might save her father, as her journey takes her from the watched streets of foreign islands to the heart 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=0008664730
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbnauthor=0241355222James Sherwood Metts|title=Frostheart|author=Jamie LittlerPlanet Storyland|rating=4.5
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=Way out in Things have been a bit sticky for the furthest part of the known worldEarthlings. AI and automation have been proceeding apace, a tiny stronghold exists all on its own, cut off from the rest of human-kin by monsters often replacing jobs they're paid to do and other tasks that lurk beneath the Snow Seatook time to accomplish. There, a little boy called Ash waits for the return Just as they were beginning to get used to all this technological change and starting to think of his parentsother, singing a forbidden lullaby new ways to remind him of them..spend time, along came an awful pandemic. Life was pretty much shut down and doing his best to avoid his very, VERY grumpy yeti guardianalong with it, Tobuall the many daily social interactions on which they depend so heavily.|isbn=1736128426}}{{Frontpage|author=Matthew Tree|title=We'll Never Know|rating=4. But life is about 5|genre=Literary Fiction|summary= Timothy Wyndham wants nothing more than to get a whole lot more crazy-adventurous for Ash. When a brave rescue attempt reveals he has amazing magical powers, he's whisked aboard the Frostheartbe different from his father, a sleigh packed full drunk and chronic underachiever whose dreams of daring explorers being exceptional at any of his artistic passions all failed miserably and who could use had endless crises of self confidence. So Tim applied himself to his studies, cultivated his abilities rather than his helpdaydreams and set himself high but achievable ambitions. But can they help him find his family?|isbn= B0CVFXPGP8
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbnauthor=1913101037A G Slatter|title=The Extremely Inconvenient Adventures Briar Book of Bronte Mettlestone|author=Jaclyn Moriartythe Dead
|rating=5
|genre=Confident ReadersFantasy|summary=Bronte doesn't miss her parents, and she' There's not particularly sad when she learns a part of me that wants to keep this just to myself for however long I can. This secret magic of their terrible fate my own, all mine, at last. I just want to enjoy it for a while.'' Within a remote mountain pass, far away from the hands world, lies Silverton; a town under the protection of piratesthe Briar's, a family of witches who protect the town and the wider world from the Darklands. And why should Though she has always wished for magic, Ellie Briar is the first non-witch to be? After all, they just dumped born into her on Aunt Isabelle (without even asking if it would be a convenient arrangement family for either party) when generations and as such since she was young, her training as a steward revolved around letters and administration rather than spells and potions. When her grandmother suddenly dies, Ellie's cousin Audra becomes the Briar Witch, the town's leader, and Ellie takes her place beside her. As challenges come her way left, right and centre, Ellie uncovers the rare ability to communicate with the dead, putting her at the heart of a babymaelstrom of chaos. They swanned off Reeling from one family secret to have adventuresanother, Ellie must decide who to trust and never once came back determine what to check if their only child was healthy and happydo as the Briar witches' legacy, everything they have sacrificed to survive, is under threat.|isbn=1803364548
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=14012800481529900360|title=Batman: Nightwalker: The Graphic NovelGhost Orchid|author=Marie Lu, Stuart Moore and Chris WildgooseJonathan Kellerman
|rating=4
|genre=TeensCrime|summary=The young man called Bruce Wayne is a very noticeable one – It hadn't been Lt Milo Sturgis's fault that Alex Delaware had been badly injured but he can hardly go anywhere without people – bystanders, paparazzifelt responsible and even after Alex recovered, Sturgis was reluctant to ask for his help on difficult cases. His assertions that there were only open-and suchlike – reminding him he-shut cases which didn's a billionaire at t need the age help of eighteena psychologist only worked for a while. Feeling rather stuck with the legacy heFinally, it was Robin, Delaware's inherited from his murdered parentspartner, he wants to do charitable deedswho nudged Milo into asking for help again. She knew that the involvement was something that the man she loved needed. But one nightThe next case did look simple, when he speeds off though. Two lovers were murdered in his posh new car in pursuit the swimming pool of a criminal, he goes too far as far as remote property in Bel Air. He was the authorities are concerned, heir to an Italian shoe empire and she is married to an extremely rich man and gets given it's not the most unlikely stretch Italian. But which of community service instead – cleaning them was the primary target?}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1529395224|title=Letting the Cat Out of the Bag: The Secret Life of a Vet|author=Sion Rowlands|rating=3.5|genre=Animals and Wildlife|summary=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 home for violent criminals strain that is Arkham Asylumbeing on-call put on his father's life. There When he was seventeen he learns took the opportunity of some other people doing work experience with a family friend who also allege charitable intent – was a vet and was convinced this was the Nightwalkersjob for him. Before long, he was at Liverpool University. It hadn't - as with so many students - been his dream since he was a gang who steal any ten-figure bank account contents they can, and murder the ownerchild. Can If anything, he get close 'd wanted to one of them and get the truth of their schemes, or will the manipulative Madeleine be a step too far for the young do-gooder?professional footballer.
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=B07W4MNBSG0861541774|title=Be Careful Who You MarryA Nye of Pheasants|author=Lizzy MumfreySteve Burrows
|rating=4
|genre=Crime
|summary=DCI Domenic Jejeune's close friend and former colleague, Danny Maik, has taken a short holiday in Singapore to meet up with an old ally, Guy Trueman. Maik was involved in a street brawl - he would later maintain that he was facing a man armed with a knife - and he killed a Ghurka. Initially, he faced a charge of manslaughter but evidence came to light that suggested that he might have planned to murder the man. Now he could be facing the death penalty. Domenic Jejeune can do nothing to help as any interference from another police force could provoke a diplomatic incident and wouldn't help Danny at all.
}}
{{Frontpage
|author=Alexander McCall Smith
|title=The Perfect Passion Company
|rating=4.5
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=It was coming up The Perfect Passion Company is a dating agency in Edinburgh, run by Ness and operating as an alternative to Halloween all the online apps in 1987 and providing a group of sixth-form schoolgirls wondered what they would be doing when they were fiftymore personal, tailored service. When you're only seventeen that seems positively ancientNess has asked her younger cousin Katie if she could come and look after the business, but Liz was convinced that ''your entire life depends on who you marry''as Ness is planning to take a trip to Canada to get away for a while. The only eligible boys were the Young Farmers and the idea Katie is coming out of living in a farmhouse and having break up with a couple of children called Will bad boyfriend, and Olly appealed so jumps at the chance to Charlotte, or perhaps William and Oliver if you were Elizabeth who was determined come home to marry the rather superior Patrick Shepley-BothamEdinburgh. The place And so begins this new story from Alexander McCall Smith, bringing us to an Edinburgh we already love, thanks to start their search was obviously 44 Scotland Street and the Young Farmers' Halloween disco that weekendIsabel Dalhousie novels, but with some new characters who quickly begin to charm. There was just one problem Katie has no experience in running a business, or in match- making, but Ness has full confidence in her abilities, and there were too many Elizabeths in the class.'s always her very helpful (and rather handsome) neighbour, William, to lend a hand…|isbn=1846976596
}}
{{Frontpage
|authorisbn=Michael J Malone0811771741|title=In The Absence of MiraclesInstaKnits for Baby|author=Melissa Leapman
|rating=4
|genre=ThrillersCrafts|summary=John DochertyMelissa Leapman's mother has been taken into ''InstaKnits for Baby'' gives us a nursing home following a massive strokecollection of knits from toys to blankets. It is thought unlikely that she Some will ever be able quick knits - others are of the 'long, cosy afternoons in front of the fire' variety. The projects are divided by the time they'll take to complete - less than five hours, five to ten hours, ten to live independently againtwenty hours and more than twenty hours. All the projects are attractive, modern and useable. Faced with I perhaps show my age when I wonder about 'social-media-worthy projects' but that's me being picky.}}{{Frontpage|author=Dean Koontz|title=The Bad Weather Friend|rating=4.5|genre=Paranormal|summary=Benny is having a terrifically bad day. He loses his job, he loses his fiancee, and his house gets trashed. Oh, and someone has delivered a really weird, disturbing coffin-sized object to his home, and it's possible that whoever or whatever was inside is the thing that has trashed his house! The thing is, Benny is the very last person to sell deserve all this bad luck. He is a nice person. A really nice person. So fortunately for Benny it turns out that the family home in order delivery to his house is a new friend, a bad weather friend called Spike, who has been sent to pay help him since Benny is clearly under attack from nefarious forces for her nursing being a good person. Spike is going to take careof Benny, and will certainly take care of Benny's enemies, if he, Docherty starts the clear Benny, and Harper (a waitress slash Private Investigator who finds herself roped into Benny's wild adventure) can figure outwho exactly they are. In |isbn=1662500491}}{{Frontpage|author=Adam Stower|title=Murray 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 attic two. But he finds 's a childhood picture of himselfbad magician's cat, holding so his favourite bun has been turned into a toddler – hyperactive sticky rabbit called Bun, and the catflap they both use can chuck them out, not into the regular back garden, but into a toddler he knows nothing aboutworld of frightening adventure and whiffs. He also finds This time round it drops them into a Viking land, where a blood-stained shoe.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=191237479X0008561249
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=0692853545B0C47LV1PC|title=The Things We DoFragility|author=Kay PfaltzMosby Woods
|rating=4
|genre=ThrillersLiterary Fiction|summary=ItCan you make a ''Yo birthing person''s 2015 and Dr Eleanor Hartley joke? And if you could, is the question should you make it? Or is a prison psychologist at the state penitentiary and she knows question if you did, would it land? The catch is that her next patient is not going to the answer for both could well be easy. 'Jane Doe' has been convicted of the murder of two men - one a police officer. She pleaded guilty and since then has been silent: even her identity is in doubt. She was carrying identification as Jane Dunlap when she was arrested, but it's been proved to be false. There seem to be no family or friends who are missing her. Eleanor ''Fragility''s task is to get Jane talkingset as the city of Portland, Oregon, cautiously begins to find out why a seemingly normal young woman would murder two men.emerge from the restrictions imposed during the covid pandemic
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|authorisbn=Patti Smith1529431735|title=Year of the MonkeyThe Winter Visitor|author=James Henry
|rating=4
|genre=BiographyCrime|summary=On the coast of Santa CruzIt's February 1991 and Essex is bitingly cold, Patti Smith enters which made Bruce Hopkins' return all the lunar year of more surprising. He'd been exiled on the monkey - one packed with mischief, sorrow, and unexpected momentsCosta del Sol as a wanted drug smuggler for a decade. In a stranger The return has come about because he's wordshad a letter from his ex-wife, saying that she's ill and hasn'Anything is possible: after all, itt long to live. It's the year of the monkey''. As Smith wanders the coast of Santa Cruz in solitudehard to feel any sympathy when Hopkins is abducted, she reflects on stripped to his underwear and sent to a year that brings huge shifts watery grave in her life - loss and aging are faced head on, as it the shifting political waters in Americaboot of a stolen Ford Sierra. |isbn=1526614758 Is it a warning from a Spanish gang or a problem closer to home?
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|author=Margaret AtwoodAlex Bell and Tim McDonagh|title=The TestamentsGlorious Race of Magical Beasts|rating=4.5|genre=Dystopian FictionConfident Readers|summary= Finally! Almost forty years onEli is a busy lad – by day an apprentice in the wondrous library we start by visiting with him, we have and in the evening a sequel to helper at the dessert cafe his gran owns and runs. [[The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood|The Handmaid's Tale]]. I don't want to tell you Eli lives with his lovely gran, too much about – for there is a generation missing in the plot because it's a novel that is entirely plot drivenfamily. Suffice it to say that ''The Testaments'' takes place fifteen years later, fifteen A few short years after Offred gets into a vanago, not knowing what will happen next. ItEli's told by three narrators: Aunt Lydiaparents were both lost to the titular race, who is secretly writing her memoirs a globe-trotting adventure where all entrants have to navigate the world in Ardua Hall; Agnes, the company of a magical beast. This has made the race anathema to the pair – but when a girl brought up in Gilead with bad incident at the expectation she will marry eatery leads to a commander; Daisyconfession from gran, a rebellious teenage girl in Canada who Eli knows his only hope is to dare to enter what he most hates, with the sole aim the prize of Gilead magic at the end – the only from school lessons and its Pearl Girl missionaries who occasionally call into the store owned by her parents..thing to possibly save his gran.|isbn=17847423250571382231
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