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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.

==Reviews of the The Best New Books==

'''Read [[:Category:Features|the latest features]].''' <!-- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE-->

|authorisbn= Abi Elphinstone1786482126|title= Jungle Drop The Janus Stone (The Unmapped ChroniclesDr Ruth Galloway)|author=Elly Griffiths|rating= 4.5|genre= Confident ReadersCrime|summary= Abi Elphinstone has said that she connects with her worldBuilders were demolishing an old house in Norwich -building through her characters. In an interview with [Books For Keeps], she described visualising her characters "wearing head torches which gradually reveal the world they are seeing to her and site was going to the reader." Just as the darkness of a mine is cut through by a spear of light so too do quarrelsome Fox and Fibber get their first glimpse of the phantasmagorical glow-inhold seventy-thefive 'luxury' apartments -dark realm of Jungle Drop when they emerge through discovered the mouth bones of a Dragon on the Here and child beneath a doorway. There Expresswas no skull. Was this a ritual killing or murder? Inevitably, Dr Ruth Galloway finds herself working with DCI Harry Nelson. Running from It's difficult as Ruth knows, but Nelson doesn't, that she is pregnant with his child as a result of the opprobrium of their demanding and selfish parentsone night they spent together some three months ago. Her condition will be obvious before long, they must address what not least because Ruth is in their hearts prone to find what they seeksudden bouts of sickness.|isbn= 1471173682

|isbn=B084VNRRD60008551324|title=Killing Mind The Devil You Know (D I Kim StoneS Max Craigie)|author=Angela MarsonsNeil Lancaster|rating=4.5

|summary=It looked very like a suicide, and 's unusual for anyone from the Hardie family to begin with, that was how both DI Kim Stone and Keats, approach the pathologist called itpolice. It was only later that Stone Neither side likes or has any respect for the other. But Davie Hardie is struggling in prison and her team realised that when Samantha Brown cut her throat, hers was not he's prepared to tell the only hand holding police where the knifebody of a missing person is buried and who was responsible for her death. It was murderThis person, he promises, is someone big and it will be worth the police doing what he wants. Sammy's parents. Myles And what he wants is to be transferred to an open prison to serve the remainder of his sentence and Kate were a little bit reluctant to say what their daughter had been doing recentlyget an early parole date. Not much to ask, is it? The property where new Deputy Police Constable doesn't think so and she was found was less homely than most hotel rooms: her mother was about 's even prepared to accuse her husband of saying do the other thing that Hardie demanded - make certain that Sammy was ready... But DS Max Craigie and anyone who works with him is kept well away from what was Sammy ready ''for'' and where was their other daughter, Sophie?s happening.

|authorisbn= Hana Tooke0008405026|title= The UnadoptablesA Stranger in the Family (Maeve Kerrigan 11)|author=Jane Casey|rating= 5|genre= Confident ReadersCrime|summary= In It's sixteen years since nine-year-old Rosalie Marshall disappeared from her bed one summer night. She was never found and the winter of 1880investigation ground to a halt. Now, her mother, Helena, five babies and her father are abandoned at the Little Tulip orphanage dead in Amsterdam, much to the annoyance of matron Gasbeektheir bed. Twelve years later, Milou Initially, it looks like a straightforward murder/suicide but there's something about the last positioning of the five babies to be abandoned back in bodies that winter, struggles to work out the identity of makes DS Maeve Kerrigan and her parents from the clues she boss DI Josh Derwent suspicious. What looked as though it was abandoned with: a small coffin with clawgoing to be an open-marks on the outside, a cat doll made by someone called Bram Poppenmaker and -shut case is now a velvet blanketcomplex double murder. She, along with Kerrigan is convinced that the other four, patiently wait for Milouexplanation lies in Rosalie's disappearance: others (such as Derwent's parents to come back and take her home. Howeverboss, when the five children Una Burt) are sold to the dodgy merchant Meneer Rotman, they know they have to escapeless convinced. And so begins the adventure of a lifetime as the Unadoptables join forces to reunite Milou with her parents, all the time being pursued by the Kinderbureau and Rotman…|isbn=0241417465

|authorisbn= Alison Weir0571379877|title= Six Tudor Queens: Katheryn Howard The Tainted QueenKellerby Code|author=Jonny Sweet|rating= 43.5|genre= Historical FictionCrime|summary= Edward Jevons is a working-class young man, obsessed with his upper-class friends, Robert and Stanza. Robert''Katheryn was seven when her mother died'', thus we are thrust into this tumultuous time in young Katheryns a theatre director. He's lifealso self-obsessed, trying to find a homedemanding, both figuratively handsome and literally, where she can grow entitled and grieveuses Edward to run errands for him. Unfortunately, Katheryn is followed by bad luck Edward has been in love with Stanza since their university days - and she learns an important lesson, she he's drunkenly confided how he feels to Robert. Most men in Robert's position would stay away from Stanza or tell Edward that a relationship had begun between them but he's not like most men: Edward is too young, too poor and too unimportant left to be stumble upon the two of any value to anyone, but she is beautiful and surely, that will count for something them kissing in the end, won't it?|isbn=1472227778a dark passageway.

|isbnauthor=1405946172Jo Callaghan|title=The Glass House|author=Eve ChaseLeave No Trace|rating=4.5|genre=Historical FictionCrime|summary=Rita lost both her parents in When a car crash when she was just six years old: since then she's always craved man is found crucified on the top of a familyhill in Nuneaton, DCS Kat Frank finds herself assigned to the case alongside her sidekick, the AI detective Lock. SheIt'd lived s their first live case together, having previously been very successful with her grandmother in Torquay until she got several cold cases. But when there is a job as second body found crucified a nanny few days later, Kat is suddenly struggling with the Harrington family in Londona potential serial killer and a very high profile case that draws a lot of unwanted attention to their AI Future Policing project. Soon her engagement Will they be able to Fred, a Torquay butcher, fell through and solve the Harringtons became her family. In 1971case in time, after a fire at or will Kat find herself taken off the London house, Jeannie Harringtoncase and, her childrenpotentially, 13-year-old Hera and 6-year-old Teddy, along with Rita went to the family's house in the Forest out of Dean. It wasn't ''quite'' dilapidated, but it certainly wasn't the same standard as the London house had been before the fire.a career?|isbn=139851120X

|isbn=00083861371399613073|title=Just My LuckMoral Injuries|author=Adele ParksChristie Watson

|summary=Elaine Winterdale took Olivia, Laura and Anjali met on the fall first day of medical school and their friendship would keep them inseparable for the landlorda quarter of a century. Aged 37 Olivia is ruthlessly ambitious, she got which is a suspended sentence because bonus when you aim to be a faulty gas boiler had caused cardiothoracic surgeon. Laura is a perfectionist and a trauma doctor. Anjali is the deaths free spirit of 29-yearthe group and she becomes a GP. When we first meet them they're at a drug and alcohol-old Reveka Albu fuelled party and her 2it's going to end in tragedy. We don't know who suffered the tragedy or the consequences. Twenty-year-old son Benkefive years later there will be an eerily similar event that will impact the three friends. Toma Albu, husband and father This time, had found them when he returned homeit's their teenage children who are involved.

|authorisbn=Justine Avery and Ema Tepic 0241636604|title=I Dreamed YouThe Trading Game: A Confession|author=Gary Stevenson

|genre=For SharingAutobiography|summary=It is always If you were to bring up an image of a pleasure city banker in your mind, you're unlikely to review a new book by Justine Avery 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 ''I Dreamed You'' carries injustice. There was no posh public school on his CV - but he had been to the tradition beautifullyLondon School of Economics. This little book Stevenson is the perfect exemplar bright - extremely bright - and he has a facility with numbers which most of our category name, ''For Sharing''us can only envy. He also realised that most rich people expect poor people to be stupid. It is was his ability at what was, essentially, a mother's love letter to her childcard game which got him an internship with Citibank. Eventually, told in rhyme formthis turned into permanent employment as a trader.|isbn=1948124505}}

|authorisbn=Sharon Blackie1035021803|title=If Women Rose RootedThe Antique Hunter's Guide to Murder|author=C L Miller|rating=3.5|genre= BiographyCrime|summary= I normally say that you can tell how much a book means It's twenty years since Freya Lockwood has been back to me by how many pages have corners turned downthe English country village where she grew up. Perhaps an even greater measure She's back now because of impact a request for help from her beloved aunt, Carole. Freya's former mentor and Carole's close friend, Arthur Crockleford, is setting out dead and the circumstances seem suspicious, to say the least. Arthur was the reason why Freya had not been back to buy my own copy before I've finished reading the one I've borrowedvillage: Arthur, she feels, let her down badly. I want Even though they were in business together as antique hunters, she has not felt able to avoid clichés like 'powerful' 'inspiring' 'life-changing' – although it is definitely be near the man or pursue the profession she loved. After the first two split, she worked in a cafe, met and only time will tell about married James (on the rebound from the third – but clichés exist for a reason love of her life, who was murdered) and Freya and I'm not sure I can succinctly put it any betterJames have now divorced.|isbn=1912836017

|authorisbn=Patrick NessAllTomorrowsFutureCover|title=BurnAll Tomorrow's Futures: Fictions that Disrupt|author=Benjamin Greenaway and Stephen Oram (Editors)

|genre=TeensScience Fiction|summary=''On a cold Sunday evening in early 1957 - the very day, in fact, that Dwight David Eisenhower took the oath of office for the second time as President of the United States Opening up new ways of America - Sarah Dewhurst waited with her father in thinking about the parking lot shape of the Chevron gas station for the dragon he'd hired things to help on the farmcome.''

ItI's 1950s America but not as we know ve heard itsaid that 'technology' is what happens after you're eighteen. In this alternate US Well, I must confess that there is still have been more than a Cold War few decades of technology in my lifetime. I've kept up reasonably well with what's advantageous to me but I'm left with the Russians, still a concomitant arms racefeeling that it's all getting away from me. And the stain Some of racism it is just as crushing - something mixedfrankly -race Sarah quite frightening. Of course, I could research the possibilities and her Japanese American friend Jason are only too well aware of. As is the deeply unpleasant town deputy, Kelby. But one thing is probabilities and end up down rabbit holes without really understanding whether I'm reading someone who knows what they'very'' differentre talking about or the latest conspiracy theorist. In this alternate world, there are dragons. The dragons live I needed people I knew I could trust and who could deliver information in an uneasy peace with humans and communication is minimal. But a few of these winged creatures do hire out their labour to human in return for gold - they are dragons, after allway I could understand.Poor Frankie! |isbn= 1406375500

|author= Angela WoolfeSunny Singh|title= Roxy and Jones: The Great Fairytale Cover-UpHotel Arcadia|rating= 43.5|genre= Confident ReadersThrillers |summary= After her father gets married for the umpteenth time, Roxy Humperdinck The Hotel Arcadia is sent to live with her half-sister Gretel a luxury hotel in Rexopolis, the capital an unnamed city of the Kingdom of Illustriathat has suddenly been violently taken over by a terrorist group. Gretel works as a toilet cleaner for Hiding from the Ministry of Soup. Why does a country like Illustria need an entire ministry dedicated to soupterrorists who are rampaging through, killing everyone on site, you ask? Wellthere is Sam, after Roxy finds a secret passage in her bathroom wartime photographer and meets a snarky young woman known only as JonesAbhi, she soon finds out whythe hotel manager. Turns out, fairy tales As Abhi continues to try to care remotely for the residents who are realstill alive in the hotel, and the Ministry’s official job is he forms a bond with Sam who refuses to safeguard all knowledge of them be cowed by events, and monitor the living fairy tales. And, when an evil queen breaks keeps on venturing out of a maximum-security prison and threatens her room to try to reinstate capture what's happened through her reign of terrorphotography. Although they only ever talk over the phone, Roxy their friendship grows as Abhi tries to help her keep safe and Jones hold they both wait to see if they will be rescued before they are discovered by the fate of the world in their young hands…so, no pressure then!terrorists.|isbn=1406391379086154742X

|authorisbn=Kat Dunn1529153298|title=Dangerous RemedyThe List of Suspicious Things|author=Jennie Godfrey|rating=4.5|genre=TeensGeneral Fiction|summary= It's Paris1979 and Margaret Thatcher is Prime Minister. (A woman? I mean, 1794honestly... The Revolution is five years old and the country in the midst of violent political turmoil between the Revolutionaries) She's not what's worrying Miv's family, trying to maintain their control by whatever means necessarythough. Women have been disappearing. Well, and the Royaliststhey've been murdered, still loyal but to monarchy intenthave 'disappeared' doesn't sound quite so frightening. Caught in a no man Miv's upset because she's land between overheard that her father wants to move the two warring factions is the Battalion of the Deadfamily 'Down South'. Led by a disillusioned revolutionary When you's daughterre from Yorkshire, the band of outcasts have made Down South is a name for themselves rescuing innocent citizens from frightening, foreign place, best avoided. For Miv, the violent fallout. But they may have gotten in over their heads with their latest rescuemove would mean leaving her best friend, OlympeSharon, a girl with a disturbing history and powers she'll do anything to prevent that might just make her . She's not worried about the spark dangers or that blows up the powderher Mum's stopped talking -keg of revolutionary Paristo anyone. |isbn=1789543649

|authorisbn=Joanne M Harris1398524085|title=A Pocketful of CrowsHas Anyone Seen Charlotte Salter?|author=Nicci French

|genre= Confident ReadersCrime|summary= I have always been of the mind that once youCharlotte Salter was expected at her husband're above pictures fiftieth birthday party but never turned up. Her children, sons Niall, Paul and Ollie and her daughter, Etty. are all worried but -book level and before you get to graphic sex & violencestrangely - her husband, Alec, there is no difference between books for children and books for adultsnot. There are good books Shortly afterwards, Etty and poor ones. And Joanne Harris does not produce poor ones. ''A Pocketful Greg, find the body of CrowsGreg'' is clearly aimed at the younger readers as witness the use of the middle initial s father, Duncan Ackerley, in the author's name to differentiate from her adult offersriver. Ignore It was an easy assumption for the police to make that if you have loved anything from Duncan had murdered Charlie and then committed suicide when he couldn''Chocolat'' onwards you will know that Harris is mistress of t stand the modern fairy taleguilt. This is no different. It is an utter delightThe Salter children are not convinced but there's little else they can do but get on with their lives and wonder about what really happened.|isbn=1473222184

|authorisbn= Maggie Tokuda-Hall1035906708|title= The Mermaid, the Witch and the SeaDiva|author=Daisy Goodwin|rating= 4.5|genre= TeensGeneral Fiction|summary= On the pirate ship DoveWe tend to think of Maria Callas as Greek, Flora the girl has assumed the identity of Florian the man in an attempt but she was born to fit Greek parents in with the crew. Life is hard as a pirateManhattan, New York, trust in December 1923 and empathy are the first things only moved to be discarded, Athens when she was thirteen. Her original surname was Kalogeropoulos but anything has her father changed it to 'Callas' to be better than starving on make it more manageable in the streetsStates. Meanwhile, the young Lady Evelyn Hasegawa boards the Dove, headed off to be married to a military man When she was back in Athens - supposedly so that she's never met on some farcould get appropriate training for her voice -flung colony of she was raised under the Nipran Empire. Neither Nazi occupation by a mother who mercilessly exploited her and made no secret of them expects to be thrown together by fateher preference for her elder sister, never mind fall in love…|isbn=1536204315Jackie.

|author=Frederic Beigbeder and Frank Wynne (translator)Christopher Edge|title=A Life Without EndBlack Hole Cinema Club

|genre=Literary FictionConfident Readers|summary=I looked Lucas and his friends are all booked in for a movie marathon at the calendar the other weektheir local cinema, and disappointedly realised I have a birthday this year – I know, yet another oneplace that has the nickname of 'The Black Hole'. It wonAll big movie fans, they't be one re looking forward to lots of the major numbersexciting films, and many, many snacks! However, but the time when I have the same number as Heinz varieties looms on the horizon. And then a few of the big 0-numbersmovie starts, they very quickly realise that something about this new film format is very different, and if all goes well, I'll be they are swept up into an OBE. (Which of course stands for Over Bloody Eighty.) Now if that's the extent of my mid-life crisis, I guess I have to be happy. Our author here doesnadventure they couldn't use that exact phrase, but he might be said to be living oneeven imagine. Determined to find out how to prolong life for But as long as he wants – he would like to see 400 – he hops right into bed with the assistant they lurch from one film genre to the first geneticist he interviewsnext, and can they end up with a child, which figure out what on earth is at least a way of continuing the life of his genes, and a motive to keep ongoing. going on? But how can he Will they ever get back to not flick the 'final way out' switchcinema, especially when foie gras tastes so niceand to their real lives?|isbn=16428606701839942738

|author=Holly JacksonRachel Greenlaw|title=Good Girl, Bad BloodCompass and Blade|rating=3.5

|summary=A month on from ''I can hear the song of the explosive conclusion to sea. The call of the Andie Bell mysterydeep, a new normal has settled over Little Kiltonthe answering beat in my heart. Max Hastings' assault trial thunders ' Rosevear, a remote and partially forgotten island, survives onluring ships into the rocks and plundering the wrecks. Mira, Pippa's viral podcast detailing like her mother before her journey , is one of discovering the truth about Andie seven who swim out to survey the ruins – rescuing any survivors and Salany treasure that lies within. But when the Council Watch lays a trap to end the wrecking, they capture the island's deaths has gained massive media attention, Cara leader and her sister Naomi are reeling Mira's father. Desperate to save him from the realisation that their fatherdeath, Elliot Ward, had murdered Sal Singh and kidnapped Mira makes a bargain with a girl wreck survivor who is as charming as he thought was Andie after is secretive and with only coordinates to guide her, she stumbled out sets off in search of his house, bleeding, and disappeared into a family secret that lies buried deep in the nightsea. As the town tries With only nine days to heal againunearth what might save her father, six years on as her journey takes her from the events watched streets of that night, tragedy strikes again. Jamie Reynolds, older brother foreign islands to one the heart of Pippathe smuggler's best friends has gone missing. And soterritory, alongside Mira must be determined to stop at nothing to save the future of her difficult life as a semi-famous eighteen-year-old, home and the ones she is once again taken down a dark, twisted path to discover the truthholds most dear.|isbn=14052977510008664730

|isbnauthor=B084H8F2CFJames Sherwood Metts|title=The Body Under the Bridge|author=Nick LouthPlanet Storyland

|genre=CrimeConfident Readers|summary=DCI Craig Gillard was annoyed to be pulled away from Things have been a bit sticky for the funeral service for a serving police officerEarthlings. AI and automation have been proceeding apace, particularly when he discovered often replacing jobs they're paid to do and other tasks that he was took time to accomplish. Just as they were beginning to get used to all this technological change and starting to take charge think of the enquiry into a missing womanother, new ways to spend time, along came an awful pandemic. Beatrice Ulbricht Life was twenty-five years old pretty much shut down and , along with it, all the many daily social interactions on which they depend so heavily.|isbn=1736128426}}{{Frontpage|author=Matthew Tree|title=We'll Never Know|rating=4.5|genre=Literary Fiction|summary= Timothy Wyndham wants nothing more than to be different from his father, a student drunk and chronic underachiever whose dreams of music being exceptional at the Royal College any of Music. She his artistic passions all failed miserably and who had been due to play with the other members endless crises of the Lysander String Quartet at the Church of St Martin-in-the-Fields but hadn't turned upself confidence. Gillard didn't understand why So Tim applied himself to his immediate involvement was necessary until Chief Constable Alison Rigby explained that Beatrice's father was Karl-Otto Ulbrichtstudies, Germany's Minister of Justicecultivated his abilities rather than his daydreams and set himself high but achievable ambitions.|isbn= B0CVFXPGP8

|author= Linda ScottA G Slatter|title= The Double X EconomyBriar Book of the Dead

|genre= Politics and SocietyFantasy|summary=''Women are economically disadvantaged in every country in the world''. ItThere's a bold statement part of me that wants to keep this just to myself for an opening chapterhowever long I can. This secret magic of my own, but all mine, at last. I just want to enjoy itfor a while.'' Within a remote mountain pass, far away from the world, lies Silverton; a town under the protection of the Briar's far , a family of witches who protect the town and the wider world from hyperbole as the following pages explainDarklands. This book shines a light on what Though she has always wished for magic, Ellie Briar is happening in different placesthe first non-witch to be born into her family for 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 impact on Briar Witch, the local town's leader, and world economyEllie takes her place beside her. What can be learnt from As challenges come her way left, right and centre, Ellie uncovers the great strides in gender-equalising legislation in rare ability to communicate with the west? What can be done about dead, putting her at the selling heart of young women into marriagea maelstrom of chaos. Reeling from one family secret to another, Ellie must decide who to trust and determine what can chimpanzees and bonobos teach us about mothering?to do as the Briar witches' legacy, everything they have sacrificed to survive, is under threat.|isbn=05713536061803364548

|authorisbn=J Paul Henderson1529900360|title=DaisyThe Ghost Orchid|author=Jonathan Kellerman

|genre=General FictionCrime|summary=This is It hadn't been Lt Milo Sturgis's fault that Alex Delaware had been badly injured but he felt 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-shut cases which didn't need the story help of Herod Sa psychologist only worked for a while. Pinkney Finally, a rather unusual (yet somehow charming) it was Robin, Delaware's partner, who nudged Milo into asking for help again. She knew that the involvement was something that the man who is she loved needed. The next case did look simple, though. Two lovers were murdered in search the swimming pool of a woman called Daisy, whom he first sees remote property in an episode of Judge Judy on television and instantly falls in love with her! Bel Air. Rod is writing He was the novel of his quest, guided by heir to an embittered ex-literary agent who Italian shoe empire and she is now clearing glasses in a pub for a living. Determined married to find an extremely rich man and meet Daisy, the book takes us through Rodit's life, introduces us to his friends, and tells us not the Italian. But which of what happens in his quest for love.|isbn=0857303309them was the primary target?

|isbn=15446419231529395224|title=Ambassadors Do It After DinnerLetting the Cat Out of the Bag: The Secret Life of a Vet|author=Sandra AragonaSion Rowlands|rating=43.5|genre=AutobiographyAnimals and Wildlife|summary=ItSiôn Rowlands fell into veterinary science accidentally. His father was a GP and Rowlands didn's tempting t want to think follow in his footsteps, particularly when he considered the strain that being on-call put on his father's life. When he was seventeen he took the diplomatic life is privileged opportunity of doing work experience with a family friend who was a vet and luxuriouswas convinced this was the job for him. It might be privilegedBefore long, but family connections tell me that it is far from luxurioushe was at Liverpool University. Now youIt hadn're not going to get t - as with so many ambassadors telling you what it's really like (it's not ''diplomatic'students - been his dream since he was a child. If anything, he' d wanted to do so, you know), but the diplomatic spouse, the accompanying baggage, well, that's an entirely different matter. She (and it still usually is be a 'she') can tell us exactly what goes onprofessional footballer.

|isbn=18388510110861541774|title=The SidemanA Nye of Pheasants|author=Caro RamsaySteve Burrows

|summary=No one thought that it could happen DCI Domenic Jejeune's close friend and can't ''quite'' believe that it former colleague, Danny Maik, has: Costello has resigned from Police Scotlandtaken a short holiday in Singapore to meet up with an old ally, Guy Trueman. It's all down to her pursuit of George Haggerty whom she believes to be responsible for the murder of Abigail Haggerty (his wife) Maik was involved in a street brawl - he would later maintain that he was facing a man armed with a knife - and Malcolm (her son)he killed a Ghurka. Haggerty has Initially, he faced a water-tight alibi (caught speeding by Police Scotland, no less) and the powers charge of manslaughter but evidence came to light that suggested that be he might have told Costello planned to lay off: she's decided to go her own way rather than be hampered by murder the badgeman. She didn't even bother telling her long-time partner, DCI Colin Anderson, that she was goingNow he could be facing the death penalty. Since then there might have been the occasional text Domenic Jejeune can do nothing to help as any interference from her, but thatanother police force could provoke a diplomatic incident and wouldn's itt help Danny at all.

|isbnauthor=B08774SJYNAlexander McCall Smith|title=The Greenbecker Gambit|author=Ben GraffPerfect Passion Company|rating=4.5

|summary=''I suppose The Perfect Passion Company is a dating agency in Edinburgh, run by Ness and operating as an alternative to all the online apps in providing a more personal, tailored service. Ness has asked her younger cousin Katie if she could come and look after the odd fleeting sense of loneliness business, as Ness is planning to take a price all truly successful people must pay trip to Canada to get away for our giftsa while. Katie is coming out of a break up with a bad boyfriend, and so jumps at the chance to come home to Edinburgh. I tell myself that I do And so willinglybegins this new story from Alexander McCall Smith, bringing us to an Edinburgh we already love, thanks to 44 Scotland Street and the Isabel 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 Ness has full confidence in her abilities, and there''s always her very helpful (and rather handsome) neighbour, William, to lend a hand…|isbn=1846976596}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0811771741|title=InstaKnits for Baby|author=Melissa Leapman|rating=4|genre=CraftsTennessee Greenbecker. Isn|summary=Melissa Leapman's ''InstaKnits for Baby''t that gives us a name collection of knits from toys to conjure with? There blankets. Some will be quick knits - others are hints that it might not have been of the name he was given at birth'long, but many cosy afternoons in front of us have moved onthe fire' variety. The projects are divided by the time they'll take to complete - less than five hours, so far as names gofive to ten hours, from ten to twenty hours and more than twenty hours. All the one we were originally saddled withprojects are attractive, modern and useable. Greenbecker I perhaps show my age when I wonder about 'social-media-worthy projects' but that's life me being picky.}}{{Frontpage|author=Dean Koontz|title=The Bad Weather Friend|rating=4.5|genre=Paranormal|summary=Benny is one of constant reinventionhaving a terrifically bad day. He tells us that loses his job, heloses 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 foremost chess player never thing that has trashed his house! The thing is, Benny is the very last person to have been world champion, and deserve all this bad luck. He is a nice person. A really nice person. So fortunately for Benny it does seem turns out that he the delivery to his house is a new friend, a bad weather friend called Spike, who has some considerable talent as far as chess goesbeen sent to help him since Benny is clearly under attack from nefarious forces for being a good person. He Spike is going to take care of Benny, and will certainly take care of Benny's determined that enemies, if he, Benny, and Harper (a waitress slash Private Investigator who finds herself roped into Benny's going to fulfil what he sees as his destinywild adventure) can figure out who exactly they are.|isbn=1662500491}}{{Frontpage|author=Adam Stower|title=Murray and Bun|rating=4. He just needs to do some study 5|genre=Confident Readers |summary=Murray is supposed to be a humble, tidy and friendly cat, one who is able to beat sleep and eat and eat and sleep and, well, whatever takes his fancy next of the current players ranked at numbers one two. But he's a bad magician's cat, so his favourite bun has been turned into a hyperactive sticky rabbit called Bun, and two in the catflap they both use can chuck them out, not into the regular back garden, but into a worldof frightening adventure and whiffs. Magnus Carlsen 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 Fabiano Caruana will not stand in his way.he'll have to do…|isbn=0008561249

|isbn=0008390169B0C47LV1PC|title=Silent Cry (Gaby Darin Book 1)Fragility|author=Jenny O'BrienMosby Woods|rating=3.54|genre=CrimeLiterary Fiction|summary=Alys Grant was only Can you make a few days old when her father took her out ''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 the first timeboth could well be.... Her mother, Izzy, was tired and fell asleep, but when she woke a couple of hours later there was no sign of Charlie Dawson or Alys. There was a hand-delivered postcard which simply said:

''IFragility've got Alys. Don't try is set as the city of Portland, Oregon, cautiously begins to find us, Charlie''emerge from the restrictions imposed during the covid pandemic

|authorisbn=Holly Jackson1529431735|title=A Good Girl's Guide to MurderThe Winter Visitor|author=James Henry|rating=54|genre=TeensCrime|summary=5 years agoIt's February 1991 and Essex is bitingly cold, which made Bruce Hopkins' return all the more surprising. He'd been exiled on the tiny town of Little Kilton was rocked when beautiful, popular Andie Bell disappeared without Costa del Sol as a wanted drug smuggler for a trace, presumed murdereddecade. Her boyfriend Salil Singh was everyone The return has come about because he's number 1 suspect – especially after Sal sent had a letter from his ex-wife, saying that she'confessions ill and hasn' text t long to his dad and died in an apparent suicide just days after her disappearancelive. His guilt was sealed and the case was closed, so the town and its families tried It's hard to move on. Now Pippa feel any sympathy when Hopkins is determined abducted, stripped to prove that Sal was innocent, with the help of his brother Ravi. What started out as an innocent school project quickly turns into something much more sinister, underwear and Pippa begins sent to unearth the dark truth about a watery grave in the beautiful, innocent queen bee boot of Kilton Grammar School and what really happened all those years agoa stolen Ford Sierra. But the Is it a warning from a Spanish gang or a problem closer she gets, the more dangerous it becomes.|isbn=1405293187to home?

|isbnauthor=1781129312Alex Bell and Tim McDonagh|title=Sequin and Stitch|author=Laura Dockrill and Sara Ogilvie (illustrator)The Glorious Race of Magical Beasts|rating=54|genre=Dyslexia FriendlyConfident Readers|summary=Sequin loved her mum to bitsEli is a busy lad – by day an apprentice in the wondrous library we start by visiting with him, but sometimes she got very cross with herand in the evening a helper at the dessert cafe his gran owns and runs. It wasn't that mum wouldn't go outside their flat - Sequin coped Eli lives with that - it was because she never pushed to get credit his lovely gran, too – for what she did. Mum there is a seamstress and she makes generation missing in the sort of clothes that you see on red carpets or at important weddingsfamily. SheA few short years ago, Eli's not parents were both lost to the designer titular race, a globe- they're trotting adventure where all entrants have to navigate the world in the people who make company of a lot of money from the clothesmagical beast. Mum is This has made the person who actually ''makes'' race anathema to the garments and she's really talented, pair – but when people talk about a bad incident at the dress or eatery leads to a confession from gran, Eli knows his only hope is to dare to enter what he most hates, with the sole aim the prize of magic at the suit, they talk about end – the designer. The seamstress is never mentionedonly thing to possibly save his gran.|isbn=0571382231