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Hello from The Bookbag<metadesc>Expert, a full book review site, featuring books reviews from all the many most walks of literary life ; fiction, non- [[: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. Itchildren's the bag we take to the library 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 & self-published 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 plus author [[:Category:Interviews|interviews]], and all sorts of [[:Category:Lists|& top tens]] - all of which you can find on our [[Features]] page.</metadesc>

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{{newreview|author=Nigel McCrery|title=Core of Evil|ratingThe Best New Books=4|genre=Crime|summary=Violet Chambers becomes Daisy Wilson through an aromatic cup of tea, flavoured with Christmas roses. ''"There are all kinds of horrible things in the Christmas rose," she said, watching to see whether Daisy could still hear her. "Helleborin and hellebrin are both like digitalis, which I've also used before, but there's saporin and protoanemonin as well. It's a very nasty cocktail."'' And now Daisy has met her rather sticky - and graphically effluent - end, and Violet has become Daisy, Daisy sets her sights on a new town, a new identity and, most importantly, a new victim. Daisy has problems with her memory - the identities go back so far that sometimes she can barely remember who is she is now, let alone all the whos she's been before, and most certainly not the who with whom she began. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847243843</amazonuk>}}

{{newreview|author=John Van der Kiste|title=Jonathan Wild'''Read [[:Category: Conman and Cutpurse|rating=4|genre=HistoryNew Reviews|summary=Born towards the end of the seventeenth century Jonathan Wild was to become the eighteenth century's most famous criminal, plying his trade in a rather curious fashionnew reviews by category]]. He was born in Wolverhampton of parents described as ''mean but honest''. It seems likely that he first travelled to London as the servant of a lawyer where he was eventually to settle, leaving his wife and child to fend for themselves. It was whilst serving a term of imprisonment in Wood Street Compter that he mixed with the cream of London's criminal underclass and learned the rudiments of his trade.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848682190</amazonukbr>}}

'''Read [[Forthcoming Publications|reviews of books about to be published]].{{newreviewFrontpage|author=K M GrantSylvie Cathrall|title=Paradise Red (Perfect Fire Trilogy)A Letter to the Luminous Deep

|genre=TeensScience Fiction|summary=We There are back in the south of France for the third and final time. In one corner, the 'French', with King Louis and his henchmen rampaging through, warring in the name of peace. In another corner, the local people, struggling in the harsh environment and none too pleased few greater joys than a book which lives up to see their corner of the world the location for religious wars, with the Cathar ''heretics'' also presenta compelling premise. The lines are drawn, in a realistically convoluted way, and And this book will see one of our heroes cross is one such line, just as other people make their own momentous decisions. It will take all the narrative skills of the land itself to get the story across to usthem.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1847247075</amazonuk>0356522776

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Camilla Noli0008517061|title=The Mother's TaleDeath in a Lonely Place|author=Stig Abell

|genre=Women's FictionCrime|summary=''It is early eveningFormer Metropolitan Police detective, Jake Johnson, has settled into his rustic life at Little Sky. I am suckling my infant son… We are picture perfect. Madonna and child''.  No doubt There’s perhaps a little uncertainty about it: a new mother totally smitten the future of his life with his vet girlfriend, Livia and her son. Zach is adorable. Quiet. Undemanding. A happydaughter Diana, generally relaxed, child. Gorgeous.  But Zach isn't her firstas moving in together would mean a lot of compromise: does Jake give up his off-born. First there was Cassie. A child who entered the world screaming grid and has since learned exactly what power she can wring relaxing life to move in with such lungs. Not yet two years old, Cassie adores Livia or does Livia move to Little Sky despite her father, but even him reservations about whether or not this is the future she manipulates. wants for herself and her daughter? Her mother she terrorisesFor the moment they’re enjoying life in the present and putting the future on the back burner.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1409101584</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=AQA 633361786482126|title=More Brilliant AnswersThe Janus Stone (Dr Ruth Galloway)|author=Elly Griffiths|rating=4.5|genre=TriviaCrime|summary=If youBuilders were demolishing an old house in Norwich - the site was going to hold seventy-five 've got luxury' apartments - when they discovered the bones of a question you can text those nice people at AQA 63336 and they'll do their best to provide you with child beneath a prompt and accurate answerdoorway. Over the last five years they've answered some twenty million questions and each autumn they publish There was no skull. Was this a book ritual killing or murder? Inevitably, Dr Ruth Galloway finds herself working with the best and most interesting of the year's answersDCI Harry Nelson. ThereIt's difficult as Ruth knows, but Nelson doesn't, that she is pregnant with his child as a result of the one night they spent together some fun three months ago. Her condition will be obvious before long, not least because Ruth is prone to be had in this year's booksudden bouts of sickness.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846683262</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Patrick O'Brien0008551324|title=The Devil You Are The First Kid On MarsKnow (D S Max Craigie)|author=Neil Lancaster

|genre=For SharingCrime|summary=It is a sci-fi future of no danger whatsoever, with no technological breakdown, and no fatal meteor strike, but that of course is only 's unusual for anyone from the Hardie family to be expected for this marketapproach the police. I say it more to highlight how well Neither side likes or has any respect for the book has been illustratedother. Digital airbrush techniques But Davie Hardie is struggling in prison and more have taken he's prepared to tell the antiseptic sheen off police where the whole experience, but have still allowed for body of a great detail in the machinery, missing person is buried and also a lovely warmth in the face of the lad we're empathising with.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0399246347</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Mary Naylus|title=The Dresskeeper|rating=4|genre=Confident Readers|summary=Things are pretty grim who was responsible for Pickyher death. She is thirteen years oldThis person, being bullied at schoolhe promises, is someone big and has it will be worth the police doing what he wants. And what he wants is to be transferred to spend her weekends helping her single, working mum an open prison to take care serve the remainder of her little brother his sentence and her senile grandmother. One evening, at her Gran's house, she goes up into the attic and tries on an old dress that she finds inside to get an old chestearly parole date. The dress turns out Not much to be magicask, and she suddenly finds herself back in 17th Century London, struggling with a strange man who is calling her 'Ameliait? The new Deputy Police Constable doesn' t think so and is trying to kill her. Picky ends up embroiled in Ameliashe's 17th century life as she tries even prepared to find out do the truth of other thing that Hardie demanded - make certain that DS Max Craigie and anyone who works with him is attempting to murder her, at the same time as trying to avoid arousing suspicion with her strange behaviour whenever she returns to the present daykept well away from what's happening.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0956122280</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=John Abbott Nez 0008405026|title=Cromwell Dixon's Sky-Cycle|rating=4|genre=For Sharing|summary=Meet Cromwell Dixon. He's a real tinkerer, forever A Stranger in a barn or somewhere building something manically unusual. Luckily - although his long-suffering mother may disagree with that word - he's around at the birth of powered flight. Will his plans for a pedalled air machine work?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0399250417</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Sue Moorcroft|title=Starting Over|rating=4|genre=Women's Fiction|summary=The story opens when Tess bumps her old reliable car into a breakdown truck. That's rather convenient, since she isn't hurt, and the guy driving it is able to tow her to his garage, and then give her a lift to her new home. Naturally, since this is the 'chick-lit' genre, Tess and the truck-driver, who goes by the unlikely name of Ratty Family (an abbreviation of his surnameMaeve Kerrigan 11) feel mutual antipathy of the sort that's clearly going to lead, sooner or later, to strong attraction.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1906931224</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Mary Beard|title=It's A Don's LifeJane Casey

|genre=LifestyleCrime|summary=Professor Mary BeardIt's sixteen years since nine-year-old Rosalie Marshall disappeared from her bed one summer night. She was never found and the investigation ground to a halt. Now, feisty Cambridge classics donher mother, keeps an eye open for architectural detail wherever she goes. Even on holidayHelena, she notices the changing urban landscape and records interesting parallels with ancient cities her father are dead in her sparky blogtheir bed. She is engaged in writing Initially, it looks like a detailed history of Pompeii and suddenly realises, whilst perambulating straightforward murder/suicide but there's something about the backstreets positioning of the Mexican city of Oaxacan, bodies that this is exactly what Pompeii must have been like. She observes the low rise shops, dirt tracks across dusty streets makes DS Maeve Kerrigan and the close juxtaposition of rich and poorher boss DI Josh Derwent suspicious. Impressive portals of grand residential properties tower above humble workshops, What looked as though it was going to be an open-and this prompts her into imaginative reconstruction-shut case is now a complex double murder. In her blog, from which this intriguing book Kerrigan is culled, she tells us about just how Oaxacan encourages her to ponder again the curious cart ruts of Pompeii. She even finds walls splashed with political slogans convinced that are just like Roman ''dipinti''. Indeed, here in Mexico, the local library displays an edifying message explanation lies in Spanish which originates in CiceroRosalie's disappearance: others (such as Derwent's speech in his Pro Archiaboss, ''Science and letters Una Burt) are the nourishment of youth and the diversion of old ageless convinced.''|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846682517</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Kate Tremayne0571379877|title=The Loveday ConspiracyKellerby Code|author=Jonny Sweet|rating=43.5|genre=Historical FictionCrime|summary=Trevowan Manor has been the home of the Loveday family for generationsEdward Jevons is a working-class young man, obsessed with his upper-class friends, Robert and Stanza. It will still be owned by a Loveday but St John Loveday lost the house on the throw of Robert's a dice before killing himself – and now his cousin Tristan has the housetheatre director. St JohnHe's twinalso self-obsessed, Adamdemanding, vows that he will punish the man responsiblehandsome and entitled and uses Edward to run errands for him. Amelia Edward has been forced from Trevowan and is now living in a cottage love with the other dispossessed womenStanza since their university days - and he's drunkenly confided how he feels to Robert. As if this wasnMost men in Robert't enough of s position would stay away from Stanza or tell Edward that a problem, her son from her first marriage, Richard, has become even more than wayward and Amelia relationship had begun between them but he's not like most men: Edward is forced left to make stumble upon the two of them kissing in a difficult choicedark passageway.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0755347676</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Julian BarnesJo Callaghan|title=Staring at the SunLeave No Trace

|genre=Literary FictionCrime|summary=Jean's first Incident involved Uncle LeslieWhen a man is found crucified on the top of a hill in Nuneaton, DCS Kat Frank finds herself assigned to the case alongside her sidekick, hyacinths and golf teesthe AI detective Lock. It's perhaps best forgottentheir first live case together, but Jean doesn't forgethaving previously been very successful with several cold cases. Uncle Leslie figures large in her life - mostly on the golf course - until the War comes and he runs away to America. He's replaced by Tommy Prosser But when there is a second body found crucified a few days later, Kat is suddenly struggling with a grounded pilot who once saw the sun rise twice in one day potential serial killer and excites as many questions in Jean as he ever answers. Tommy is replaced by Michael, a policeman, whom Jean eventually marries. He doesn't know why minks are excessively tenacious very high profile case that draws a lot of life and he doesn't much careunwanted attention to their AI Future Policing project. But Jean does. She cares much less for Will they be able to solve the Dutch cap that Michael sent her case in time, or will Kat find herself taken off to obtain before the wedding case and much less again for their rather disastrous adventures in the bedroom. , potentially, out of a career?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0099540096</amazonuk>139851120X

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Alexandra Bruce1399613073|title=2012: Science or SuperstitionMoral Injuries|author=Christie Watson|rating=34.5|genre=Popular ScienceThrillers|summary=The fuss about 2012 has not started just recentlyOlivia, Laura and Anjali met on the first day of medical school and their friendship would keep them inseparable for a quarter of a century. The first book Olivia is ruthlessly ambitious, which is a bonus when you aim to feature the story was from be a Yale professor, in 1966cardiothoracic surgeon. We've also had prog rock bands named after Popol Vuh, the Maya creation mythLaura is a perfectionist and a trauma doctor. But as Anjali is the crunch date free spirit of December 21st, 2012 - the winter solstice that year group and she becomes a GP. When we first meet them they're at a drug and alcohol- nears, fuelled party and it's becoming a very big story indeedgoing to end in tragedy. Even though it sounds absurd - We don't know who suffered the end of a 5,125-year long cycle of tragedy or the Maya calendar, which started on August 13th, 3114BCE consequences. Twenty- or was judged to start then, when they came across this concept a couple of thousand five years into later there will be an eerily similar event that periodwill impact the three friends. Surely they couldnThis time, it't predict the future from s their 'primitive' state with such accuracy?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1934708283</amazonuk>teenage children who are involved.

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Jeff Kinney0241636604|title=Diary of a Wimpy KidThe Trading Game: Dog DaysA Confession|author=Gary Stevenson

|genre=Confident ReadersAutobiography|summary=It is If you were to bring up an image of a truth universally acknowledged that school summer holidays are only enjoyable if city banker in your mind, you want 're unlikely to enjoy summerthink of someone like Gary Stevenson. Greg here doesn't want to notice it, A hoodie and jeans replaces the pin-stripe suit and would prefer to spend his days curtains drawnbackground is the East End, face glued to late night TV or a computer gamewhere he was familiar with violence, hand either clicking away at a controller or shovelling in snackspoverty and injustice. The last thing There was no posh public school on his CV - but he needs, then, 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 motherability at what was, essentially, on a ''family togetherness'' tripcard game which got him an internship with Citibank. Eventually, and on this turned into permanent employment as a budget, with bad ideas of what Greg should be doing insteadtrader.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0141327650</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Rick Yancey1035021803|title=The Monstrumologist: The Terror Beneath|rating=4|genre=Confident Readers|summary=In late 19th century America, young Will Henry has been the apprentice of the stern, forbidding Dr Warthrop since the death of his parents, who were also employed by the doctor. The twelve year old boy has seen many things in his service to the monstrumologist - a specialist in monsters - but nothing can prepare him for the fateful day when an elderly grave robber brings the doctor the twin corpses of a young girl and the headless creature with fangs in his chest who had tried to feast on her.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>184738546X</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Stella Whitelaw|title=Midsummer Madness|rating=4|genre=Women's Fiction|summary=You'll like Sophie Gresham. She wanted to be an actress but suffers from paralysing stage fright and when the side effects became too much for her she worked behind the scenes. She's a very good prompt despite the fact that you need to wrap up very warmly to survive in the prompt corner she loves her job and most of the cast in the theatre company. It's a bit of a shock though when she realises that the guest producer from New York is Joe Harrison, the man she helped out when he had nothing to eat and nowhere to sleep. Sophie was a little softer in those days – in the meantime sheAntique Hunter's had Guide to develop a protective shell.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0709089147</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewMurder|author=Bonnie Greer|title=Obama MusicC L Miller|rating=3|genre=History|summary=This is an interesting read, but unless I'm missing something, the focus of the book seems a little difficult to grasp. It's best if I start with the author's intentions as set out in her Prologue. It is a mixture of tales of her own life growing up on the South Side, she writes, interspersed with stories and observations about Obama, linking it with the music, musicians and music scene, past and present, including hip hop, country, classical, and rock'n'roll. All of these, she notes, were heard on the President's Inauguration Day. To them she adds the blues, gospel, soul and jazz of the South Side, when the people began to build the great institutions and great solidarity that enabled him to become the most powerful man on the planet.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1906558248</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=P J Parrish|title=Dead of Winter|rating=45

|summary=Loon LakeIt's twenty years since Freya Lockwood has been back to the English country village where she grew up. She's back now because of a request for help from her beloved aunt, Carole. Freya's former mentor and Carole's close friend, Arthur Crockleford, Michigan is picture-postcard pretty – an idyll that sits serenely dead and snugly in the midst of a pine-peppered winter wonderlandcircumstances seem suspicious, to say the least. Arthur was the reason why Freya had not been back to the village: Arthur, she feels, let her down badly. Louis Kincaid needs a little serenity in his life and on arrival Even though they were in Loon Lake he feels almost business together as if he has come home. Life antique hunters, she has not been easy for Kincaidfelt able to be near the man or pursue the profession she loved. A troubledAfter the split, unhappy child of mixed raceshe worked in a cafe, passed around various institutions met and foster homes, Louis figures that if he is going to put some integrity back into married James (on the rebound from the worldlove of her life, he will need to wear a badge to do itwho was murdered) and Freya and James have now divorced.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847391346</amazonuk>

{{newreview|author=Russell Celyn Jones|title=The Ninth Wave (New Stories from the Mabinogion) |rating=4I've heard it said that 'technology' is what happens after you're eighteen.5|genre=Literary Fiction|summary=Pwyll rules Well, I must confess that there have been more than a medieval-style fiefdom few decades of technology in a post-climate change Walesmy lifetime. Life is different in many ways - there I've kept up reasonably well with what's advantageous to me but I'm left with the feeling that it's a newall getting away from me. Some of it is -butfrankly -old social order built on feudalism quite frightening. Of course, I could research the possibilities and horsepower is the main means of transport. But in many ways itprobabilities and end up down rabbit holes without really understanding whether I'm reading someone who knows what they's much re talking about or the same - latest conspiracy theorist. I needed people still fight one another, towns still have sink estates, rich boys still have too much time on their hands I knew I could trust and precious little meaning who could deliver information in their livesa way I could understand. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1854115146</amazonuk>

 {{newreview|author=Owen Sheers|title=White Ravens (New Stories from the Mabinogion)|rating=4.5|genre=Literary Fiction|summary=In the old tale, Branwen is the sister of Bendigeidfran - the giant King of Britain. She marries the King of Ireland, who doesn't treat her well. She manages to send Bendigeidfran a message via a tamed starling and war and killings ensue. In this new tale, a young girl has just walked away from her brothers who, in the wake of the devastating foot and mouth outbreak, are despoiling their heritage by rustling and illegally slaughtering sheep. She meets an old man who tells her a story involving the superstitions about the ravens in the Tower of London, propaganda work during World War II, and an equally doomed love affair. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1854115030</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Jennifer BohnetSunny Singh|title=Follow Your StarHotel Arcadia

|genre=Women's FictionThrillers |summary=It's three years since Nanette Weston left MonacoThe Hotel Arcadia is a luxury hotel in an unnamed city that has suddenly been violently taken over by a terrorist group. She'd been engaged to Hiding from the terrorists who are rampaging through, killing everyone on site, there is Sam, a Formula 1 racing driver wartime photographer and had lived the life of Abhi, the wealthy but a serious car accident had ended all thathotel manager. The accident could have killed her fiancé and she lost her driving licence because of As Abhi continues to try to care remotely for the residents who are still alive in the alcohol she'd consumed. Her slow recovery was hindered hotel, he forms a bond with Sam who refuses to be cowed by the end events, and keeps on venturing out of her engagement but sheroom to try to capture what's found some contentment in being a nanny to two young childrenhappened through her photography. When Although they only ever talk over the phone, their friendship grows as Abhi tries to help her friend and employer, Vanessa, remarries keep safe and takes an extended honeymoon in the Amazon Nanette is asked they both wait to take see if they will be rescued before they are discovered by the children back to Monaco where their father livesterrorists.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0709089090</amazonuk>086154742X

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=J R Stephenson1529153298|title=Crooked JusticeThe List of Suspicious Things|author=Jennie Godfrey|rating=2.5

|summary=Meet Barry JohnsIt's 1979 and Margaret Thatcher is Prime Minister. (A woman? I mean, honestly... ) YouShe'll see him coming - hes not what's five hundred pounds if heworrying Miv's an ouncefamily, though. Women have been disappearing. Just donWell, they've been murdered, but to have 'disappeared' doesn't ever lend him money - he wonsound quite so frightening. Miv's upset because she's overheard that her father wants to move the family 'Down South't pay it back. A businessman with When you're from Yorkshire, Down South is a share of a nightclub on Cyprusfrightening, foreign place, best avoided. For Miv, the move would mean leaving her best friend, he goes there for a customary breakSharon, and finds his sortshe'll do anything to prevent that. She's not worried about the dangers or that her Mum's stopped talking -of mollto anyone.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1398524085|title=Has Anyone Seen Charlotte Salter?|author=Nicci French|rating=5|genre=Crime|summary=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 -type sortstrangely -of girlfriend has been installed as the bar dancerher husband, Alec, is not. He manages to tread both on Shortly afterwards, Etty and Greg, find the toes body of his local colleague and some Greek rivalsGreg's father, Duncan Ackerley, in the river. And when a rival in London chases him up It was an easy assumption for thousands of pounds owed he decides the police to pack up make that Duncan had murdered Charlie and shut upthen committed suicide when he couldn't stand the guilt. ItThe Salter children are not convinced but there's a big stone that hides him, little else they can do but he leaves a very awkward trail for everyone wanting to upturn it and get on with their revengelives and wonder about what really happened.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0955855713</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Stephen Baker1035906708|title=They've Got Your NumberDiva|author=Daisy Goodwin

|genre=Popular ScienceGeneral Fiction|summary=If you are in the slightest bit paranoid, worry that ''Big Brother'' is always watching or like We tend to believe that you are not a numberthink of Maria Callas as Greek, but a free man (or woman)she was born to Greek parents in Manhattan, then this may not be the book for youNew York, as in December 1923 and only moved to Athens when she was thirteen. Her original surname was Kalogeropoulos but her father changed it will do nothing to dispel any of those worries. If, on the other hand, you think 'Callas' to make it more manageable in the mathematical modelling of humanity' sounds like one of States. When she was back in Athens - supposedly so that she could get appropriate training for her voice - she was raised under the sexiest things ever, Nazi occupation by a mother who mercilessly exploited her and are chomping at the bit to learn more about itmade no secret of her preference for her elder sister, then you might well be interested in what Business Week journalist Baker has to sayJackie.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099507021</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Rebecca TopeChristopher Edge|title=Fear in the CotswoldsBlack Hole Cinema Club

|genre=CrimeConfident Readers|summary=Thea Osborne is Lucas and his friends are all booked in for a house sitter by profession. When people go away she moves into movie marathon at their homes and looks after their animals and local cinema, a place that has the property. This time itnickname of 's winter and sheThe Black Hole's spending a month in the Cotswold village of Hampnett. It wouldnAll big movie fans, they't be a job for all re looking forward to lots of us but Thea delights in getting to know the local people exciting films, and the area. many, many snacks! In the past she's also been involved with However, as the police in solving various cases but it looks as though movie starts, they very quickly realise that might have come to something about this new film format is very different, and they are swept up into an end as the relationship she had with DS Phil Hollis has crumbledadventure they couldn't even imagine. For the first time Thea feels like an outsider – and a foolish But as they lurch from one - when she finds footsteps in film genre to the snow which lead next, can they figure out what on earth is going on? Will they ever get back to a body in a nearby field. When the police finally arrive the body has disappeared cinema, and the police obviously wonder if she's imagined it all.to their real lives?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0749007478</amazonuk>1839942738

{{newreview|author=Tad Tuleja|title=A Dictionary of Foreign Words Rosevear, a remote and Phrases|rating=3|genre=Home partially forgotten island, survives on luring ships into the rocks and Family|summary=Take a look at plundering the cover design wrecks. Mira, like her mother before her, is one of this book, the seven who swim out to survey the ruins – rescuing any survivors and you'd be mistaken for thinking this was a trivia compendium for all those foreign words any treasure that have taken part in our English language since whenever they crossed over from their original homeslies within. But when the title 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 definitely honestas charming as he is secretive and with only coordinates to guide her, for this is she sets off in search of a dictionary book firstfamily secret that lies buried deep in the sea. With only nine days to unearth what might save her father, for referenceas 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 a browser for the trivia buff secondones she holds most dear.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0709089562</amazonuk>0008664730

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Anne RiceJames Sherwood Metts|title=Angel TimePlanet Storyland|rating=24.5|genre=General FictionConfident Readers|summary=Toby O'Dare is an extremely efficient hit man with Things have been a passion bit sticky for musicthe Earthlings. AI and automation have been proceeding apace, history often replacing jobs they're paid to do and playing his beloved luteother tasks that took time to accomplish. He's also something Just as they were beginning to get used to all this technological change and starting to think of a lost soul having turned his back on God many years ago. One day while on a 'job' he is visited by other, new ways to spend time, along came an Angel who offers him a chance at redemptionawful pandemic. Toby agrees to become Life was pretty much shut down and, along with it, all the Angel's human instrument and help save lives rather than take them. He is sent many daily social interactions on an assignment to help a Jewish couple accused of murder in 13th Century Englandwhich they depend so heavily.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0701178140</amazonuk>1736128426

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Ian MortimerMatthew Tree|title=1415: Henry VWe's Year of Gloryll Never Know|rating=4.5|genre=History|summary=The medieval, in fact time-honoured, view of King Henry V as one of England's greatest heroes was propagated though not originated by Shakespeare, and again more recently to some extent by Olivier's portrayal in film. At least one historian has called him ''the greatest man that ever ruled England''.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0224079921</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Deborah Gregory|title=Dancing With The Dead|rating=3

|summary=I wanted Timothy Wyndham wants nothing more than to read ''Dancing with the Dead''be different from his father, because I'm interested in family history. The blurb on the back a drunk and chronic underachiever whose dreams of the book also mentioned Gill – our heroine being exceptional at any of the piece – was moving from Bristol (my current home) to Lincolnshire (where I was born his artistic passions all failed miserably and brought up)who had endless crises of self confidence. I felt with all these linksSo Tim applied himself to his studies, the novel could not fail to interest me – cultivated his abilities rather than his daydreams and set himself high but this was not the caseachievable ambitions.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1904529305</amazonuk>B0CVFXPGP8

{{newreview|author=Miss Read|title=Christmas at Thrush Green|rating=4|genre=WomenWithin a remote mountain pass, far away from the world, lies Silverton; a town under the protection of the Briar's Fiction|summary=Set in , a family of witches who protect the town and the rural village of Thrush Green, this book is wider world from the latest in a series surrounding familiar charactersDarklands. There Though she has always wished for magic, Ellie Briar is the feisty Ella Bembridge, who is finally having first non-witch to admit that old age is creeping up be born into her family for generations and as such since she was young, her eyesight fails. Friends such training as Dimity a steward revolved around letters and administration rather than spells and Charles Henstock are concerned about potions. When hergrandmother suddenly dies, but she refuses to accept any help. Albert Piggott has decided itEllie's cousin Audra becomes the Briar Witch, the town's time to retire now that his wifeleader, Nellyand Ellie takes her place beside her. As challenges come her way left, is a successful cafe owner right and can afford centre, Ellie uncovers the rare ability to take care of him! And relative newcomer Phil Hurst and communicate with the dead, putting her husband are arranging at the local nativity play, despite heart of a number maelstrom of set-backschaos. Will Reeling from one family secret to another, Ellie must decide who to trust and determine what to do as the Briar witches' legacy, everything be in place for Christmas? And will independent Ella make a decision about her future?they have sacrificed to survive, is under threat.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1409101592</amazonuk>1803364548

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Matt and Dave1529900360|title=Yuck's Robotic BottomThe Ghost Orchid|author=Jonathan Kellerman

|genre=Confident ReadersCrime|summary=Ithadn't been Lt Milo Sturgis's concerned me fault that Alex Delaware had been badly injured but he felt responsible and even after Alex recovered, Sturgis was reluctant to ask for a while his help on difficult cases. His assertions that itthere were only open-and-shut cases which didn's relatively easy to pick up early readers t need the help of a psychologist only worked for girls – princessesa while. Finally, magic soft toysit was Robin, mermaids and pets abound – but thereDelaware's a much smaller choice partner, who nudged Milo into asking for boyshelp again. It's important too with early readers She knew that the involvement was something that the content man she loved needed. The next case did look simple, though. Two lovers were murdered in the swimming pool of a remote property in Bel Air. He was the heir to an Italian shoe empire and she is ''interesting'' married to an extremely rich man and reading becomes more than just something which you it''have'' to do at school and moves into being funs not the Italian. Matt and Dave have found But which of them was the answer in Yuck.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847382991</amazonuk>primary target?

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=John E Smelcer1529395224|title=The Great Death|rating=4|genre=General Fiction|summary='As Western Europeans settled Alaska, they brought with them diseases against which Letting the indigenous people had no natural immunity. At the beginning Cat Out of the twentieth century, fully two thirds Bag: The Secret Life of all Alaska natives perished from a pandemic of measles, smallpox, and influenza. No community was spared. In most cases, half of a village's population died within a week. In some cases, there were no survivors. It was the end of an ancient way of life. Natives still refer to the dreadful period as the Great Death.'|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1842709194</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewVet|author=Maxine Barry|title=River DeepSion Rowlands

|genre=Women's FictionAnimals and Wildlife|summary=Two young women both have a love of the ThamesSiôn Rowlands fell into veterinary science accidentally. Melisande RayHis father was a GP and Rowlands didn's beloved hotel, the Ray of Sunshine is on the river bank. It's here that guests come who t want to be pampered and looked after follow in the way that only the best hotels can do wellhis footsteps, but particularly when Wendell James checks in to he considered the hotel itstrain that being on-call put on his father's not pampering life. When he was seventeen he's looking took the opportunity of doing work experience with a family friend who was a vet and was convinced this was the job forhim. He's buying a piece of land not far from the Ray of Sunshine and Before long, he's sussing out the competitionwas at Liverpool University. ThereIt hadn's something personal in there too – if t - as with so many students - been his new hotel means that the Ray of Sunshine goes under then that would be an added bonusdream since he was a child. ThereIf anything, he's just a slight doubt in his mind when d wanted to be a red-haired maid catches his eyeprofessional footballer.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0709088930</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Joe Gores0861541774|title=Spade and ArcherA Nye of Pheasants|author=Steve Burrows

|summary=Sam Spade decides, bravely, to set up his one-man detective agency. ItDCI Domenic Jejeune's the 1920s in San Francisco so we have the prohibition era close friend and all that that entails. Many localsformer colleague, of courseDanny Maik, choose has taken a short holiday in Singapore to disobey the law, stick two fingers meet upwith an old ally, so to speak and as a result there's lots of bootleg liquorGuy Trueman. Straight away, it's evident Maik was involved in a street brawl - he would later maintain that Sam is he was facing a man of few words. He has the mannerisms of armed with a cat knife - stealthy, quick on his feetand he killed a Ghurka. He's also Initially, he faced a compulsive chain-smoker, charge of manslaughter but then again, most people wereevidence came to light that suggested that he might have planned to murder the man. In that era, holding a cigarette was an elegant, almost essential accessoryNow he could be facing the death penalty. How times have changedDomenic 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.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>140911323X</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Michael Morpurgo and Emma Chichester ClarkAlexander McCall Smith|title=The Best of TimesPerfect Passion Company

|genre=Confident ReadersGeneral Fiction|summary=Most children enjoy The Perfect Passion Company is a good traditional tale dating agency in Edinburgh, run by Ness and this lovely book by Michael Morpurgo seems operating as an alternative to have all the right ingredients – online apps in providing a handsome prince more personal, tailored service. Ness has asked her younger cousin Katie if she could come and look after the business, as Ness is planning to take a beautiful princess who fall in lovetrip to Canada to get away for a while. Katie is coming out of a break up with a bad boyfriend, get married and live happily ever afterso jumps at the chance to come home to Edinburgh. Or do they? Sadly And so begins this new story from Alexander McCall Smith, bringing us to an Edinburgh we already love, not long after Prince Frederico marries thanks to 44 Scotland Street and the lovely Princess SerafinaIsabel Dalhousie novels, she becomes very sadbut with some new characters who quickly begin to charm. Nobody knows what Katie has caused such great sadnessno experience in running a business, or in match-making, but poor Prince Frederico is desperate Ness has full confidence in her abilities, and there's always her very helpful (and rather handsome) neighbour, William, to find lend a cure hand…|isbn=1846976596}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0811771741|title=InstaKnits for his wifeBaby|author=Melissa Leapman|rating=4|genre=Crafts|summary=Melissa Leapman's misery''InstaKnits for Baby'' gives us a collection of knits from toys to blankets. He tries everything Some will be quick knits - others are of the 'long, cosy afternoons in his power and eventually decides front of the fire' variety. The projects are divided by the time they'll take to complete - less than five hours, five to offer his kingdom ten hours, ten to anyone who can make her happy again before she dies of a broken hearttwenty hours and more than twenty hours. Lots of people come to All the palace to try projects are attractive, modern and help useable. I perhaps show my age when I wonder about 'social-media-worthy projects' but in the end the solution is a simple one provided by some very kind travellersthat's me being picky.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1405232552</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Shirley JacksonDean Koontz|title=We Have Always Lived In The CastleBad Weather Friend

|genre=Literary FictionParanormal|summary=Mary Katherine BlackwoodBenny is having a terrifically bad day. He loses his job, also known as Merricathe loses his fiancee, is eighteenand his house gets trashed. Oh, and lives with her older sister Constance in the family someone has delivered a really weird, disturbing coffin-sized object to his home where , and it'Blackwoods had always lived'. Merricat quickly draws s possible that whoever or whatever was inside is the reader into her world by a series of matter of fact but bizarre statements – her likes include her sister and death cap mushroomsthing that has trashed his house! The thing is, and everyone else in her family Benny is the very last person to deserve all this bad luck. He is deada nice person. A really nice person. The wealthy Blackwood family has always kept So fortunately for Benny it turns out that the delivery to his house 'steady against the world'is a new friend, shutting out other peoplea bad weather friend called Spike, and they live near who has been sent to help him since Benny is clearly under attack from nefarious forces for being a villagegood person. Merricat believes that 'The people Spike is going to take care of Benny, and will certainly take care of the village have always hated usBenny's enemies, if he, Benny, and tells us that she hates them tooHarper (a waitress slash Private Investigator who finds herself roped into Benny's wild adventure) can figure out who exactly they are.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0141191457</amazonuk>1662500491

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Simon WestonAdam Stower|title=Nelson to the RescueMurray and Bun|rating=4.5|genre=Confident Readers|summary=Nelson used Murray is supposed to pull Mike the Milk's milk float, but he has now retired. He lives in the stable at the back of the dairy along with be a couple of tricky ratshumble, Rhodri tidy and Rhysfriendly cat, a pigeon one who has no sense is able to sleep and eat and eat and sleep and, well, whatever takes his fancy next of direction, a frog who thinks the two. But he's a secret agent spy and an old racehorse who spends most of his time sleeping. Rhodri and Rhys find a mysterious message on Mikebad magician's fridge and the animals believe that Mike cat, so his favourite bun has been invited to Buckingham Palace to receive an MBE. Somehow our heroturned into a hyperactive sticky rabbit called Bun, Nelsonand the catflap they both use can chuck them out, finds himself travelling down to Londonnot into the regular back garden, pulling but into a ceremonial coach for Prince Charles as well as giving a TV interview about his experience.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848510454</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Elizabeth Baines|title=Too Many Magpies|rating=4|genre=Literary Fiction|summary=Becoming a mother brings a whole new world of fear into your life. Suddenly you see the danger in every situation, frightening adventure and fear and trepidation can be become your constant companionswhiffs. In this novellaThis time round it drops them into a Viking land, we meet where a young mother who troll hunter is married expected – well, one much bigger than Murray was, to a logical scientist. They attempt to control their childrenbe honest, but he's futures on a scientific basis, growing their own fruit turned up and vegetables, giving their children nothing sugary, eating no eggs for a whole year until any adverse affects from them were disproved. But after meeting with an enigmatic stranger our young mother begins to struggle as he introduces ideas of freedom into her world. She begins an affair with him, begins 'll have to let things slip at home and with the children, yet finds she is still continuously haunted by the sense of an ever-present danger.do…|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1844717216</amazonuk>0008561249

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Katherine MayB0C47LV1PC|title=Burning OutFragility|author=Mosby Woods

|summary=Violet has it all – Can you make a well-paid job''Yo birthing person'' joke? And if you could, and a luxurious apartment all to herself. Everything is catered for; her meals, her clothesthe question should you make it? Or is the question if you did, and her health are all how she would like them to be. But the life she it land? The catch is leading is beginning to take its toll. On that the verge of snapping, a drained and somewhat out-of-sorts Violet, withdraws back to her home townanswer for both could well be. There, she meets someone familiar, a ghost reminding her of how she used to be ten years earlier – a young carefree girl, full of life. Only this isn't a ghost, but a girl living the life Violet once lived – exactly the same. Haunted by the past Violet realizes history is repeating itself and is convinced events will happen again. Events that will in turn haunt the girlno.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1906727392</amazonuk>}}

{{newreview|author=Amanda Downum|title=The Drowning City|rating=3.5|genre=Fantasy|summary=In a nutshell, you're reading this because you're wondering whether The Drowning City is good, bad or mediocre. You've probably glanced at the rating and guessed the latter. IFragility'm afraid it's not quite that simple. This is a debut that provokes decidedly mixed feelings. I started off convinced that I was going to love this book. The cover art is effortlessly coolset as the city of Portland, the premise intriguingOregon, cautiously begins to emerge from the characters laden with potential for greatness and restrictions imposed during the backdrop is certainly evocative.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1841498149</amazonuk>covid pandemic

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Tove Jansson1529431735|title=The True DeceiverWinter Visitor|author=James Henry|rating=54|genre=Literary FictionCrime|summary=Most people of my age will have come across JanssonIt's work unwittinglyFebruary 1991 and Essex is bitingly cold, via which made Bruce Hopkins' return all the televised renditions of more surprising. He'd been exiled on the Moomin talesCosta del Sol as a wanted drug smuggler for a decade. The readers amongst us would then have been entranced return has come about because he's had a few years ago letter from his ex-wife, saying that she's ill and hasn't long to live. It's hard to discover that at last Thomas Teal had set about the translation into Englishfeel any sympathy when Hopkins is abducted, first of The Summer Book stripped to his underwear and then sent to a watery grave in the boot of a collection of short stories which were published as 'A Winter Book'stolen Ford Sierra. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>0954899571</amazonuk> Is it a warning from a Spanish gang or a problem closer to home?

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Daniel Kehlmann Alex Bell and Tim McDonagh|title=Me and KaminskiThe Glorious Race of Magical Beasts|rating=4.5|genre=Literary FictionConfident Readers|summary=After reviewing several long booksEli is a busy lad – by day an apprentice in the wondrous library we start by visiting with him, it's been refreshing to read such and in the evening a fluent yet pared down story as 'Kaminski helper at the dessert cafe his gran owns and Me'runs. In it Eli lives with his lovely gran, Sebastian Zollnertoo – for there is a generation missing in the family. A few short years ago, Eli's parents were both lost to the obnoxious main charactertitular race, shoves himself forward a globe-trotting adventure where all entrants have to navigate the world in the company of a desperate attempt magical beast. This has made the race anathema to research the pair – but when a best seller which will re-ignite his career as an art critic. Kaminski, bad incident at the proposed subject, was eatery leads to a fashionable painter long agoconfession from gran, but nowEli knows his only hope is to dare to enter what he most hates, ancient and chronically ill, has virtually slid into oblivion. So with the sole aim the prize of magic at the end – the second-rate writer is on a loser unless he can dig up some juicy details only thing to hook the art world and general publicpossibly save his gran.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1847249892</amazonuk>0571382231