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[[Category:New Reviews|Humour]] __NOTOC__ <!-- Remove -->{{newreview|authorclass-"wikitable" cellpadding= Kieran Crowley"15" <!-- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE-->|title= Shoot|rating= 4<!-- Coulton -->|genre= Crime-|summarystyle= I make something of a habit of being late to discover good writers, in this case getting to Crowley after he is no longer with us"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1473669588. The result is that what is billed as ''an Fjpg|link=http://www.amazon.Xco. Shepherd mystery'' with all the optimism of there being more to come has the poignancy of being, if not the last of a short line, certainly one of a few. F.X. Shepherd – he doesn't like his first name and prefers just uk/dp/1473669588/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="Shepherdvertical-align: top; text-align: left;" is, technically, a columnist. He's been sacked |===[[Falling Short by one New York newspaper and is writing a weekly column for anotherLex Coulton]]=== [[image:4star. I don't know much about journalismjpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]], [[:Category:Humour|Humour]], but I[[:Category:Women'm guessing one column a week doesn't pay much as a rule…which explains why Shepherds Fiction|Women's soap-washed-foul-mouthed editor (read the bookFiction]] Lex Coulton's debut novel is a story about mistakes, you'll see what I mean) expects him to turn in some genuine journalism as well: front pagefailures, seat of your pants stuffand relationships. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1783296518</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Gray Jolliffe|title=The First Ever Christmas: And Who to BlameThe main protagonist, Frances Pilgrim, is a sixth form English teacher who has recently fallen out with her best friend Jackson, a work colleague, and is grappling with the increasingly eccentric behaviour of her mother. This relationship is complicated by the fact that Frances's father disappeared at sea when she was five years old. [[Falling Short by Lex Coulton|rating=5Full Review]]|genre=Humour|summary<!-- van LENTE -->|-| style=If I tell you a secret, will you promise not to tell anyone? Well, I really don't like Christmas"width: 10%; vertical-align: it's my least favourite time of year and whilst some people count down to the day itself, I look forward to that point when I can say that it's all over for another yeartop; text-align: center;"|[[image:1683690346. It's all too commercialised for me, with a coating of faux religionjpg|link=http://www.amazon.co. I've never found it in the least funny uk/dp/1683690346/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag- that is, until I found Gray Jolliffe's ''21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The First Ever ChristmasCon Artist by Fred Van Lente]]=== [[image: And Who's to Blame''4star. Amazingly, I'd never encountered Gray Jolliffe eitherjpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]], but I'm [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] Comic-Cons are a convert to his skills as a cartoonist (if not to the idea place of Christmas) after reading this collection wonder and sanctuary for many people, and when Comic book artist Mike Mason arrives at San Diego Comic-Con, he's looking for both that and sanctuary with other fans and creators, plus the chance of Christmas-themed cartoons from maybe, just maybe reuniting with his archiveex.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1445663503</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Jonathan Pugh|title=Pugh's New Year's Resolutions|rating=4However, when his rival is found dead, Mike is forced to navigate every dark corner of the con in order to clear his name – from cosplay flash mobs and intrusive fans to zombie obstacle courses – Mike must prove his innocence and, in doing so, may just unravel a dark secret behind a legendary industry creator.5[[The Con Artist by Fred Van Lente|Full Review]] <!-- Curran -->|genre=Humour-|summarystyle=If there's one thing that's for certain, it's that the world is changing"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1683690133.jpg|link=http://www.amazon. We're dating online, weco.uk/dp/1683690133/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[My Lady're communicating in ways that make email seem redundant, s Choosing by Kitty Curran and when we're shopping we just tell a website where and when it can be deliveredLarissa Zageris]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|Humour]], and how much leeway they have to swap our wishes for whatever it is they do bring us. But those changes [[:Category:Historical Fiction|Historical Fiction]] You are also supposed to be affecting us – we're supposed to use a smart watch lass of twenty eight. Plucky, penniless and in Regency era London the race is on to tell us if we're moving find a suitable suitor - or not, we have else doom yourself to keep up with the latest fads, and welife as an eternal spinster. Along your journey you're supposed ll be accompanied by Lady Evangeline Youngblood - a fiesty noble eager to prick our ears up save you from a life alone, and take note when the proverbial fired by a rogueish sense for adventure. When it comes to suitors though, you'they' change their minds about what we're supposed ll have to eat.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780722885</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= Luke Rhinehart|title= Invasion|rating= 4make the ultimate decision between witty, pretty and wealthy Sir Benedict Granville, wholesome, rugged and caring Captain Angus MacTaggart, or the mad, bad and terrifyingly sexy Lord Garraway Craven.5|genre= Humour |summary=Super-intelligent furry aliens suddenly appear from another universe. And theyWith orphans, werewolves, long lost lovers and ancient Egyptian artifcats along the way, it's clear this isn've come t going to earth to have funbe an easy decision... Alien Louie follows fisherman Billy Morton home one day, [[My Lady's Choosing by Kitty Curran and he and his family quickly come to love the playful alienLarissa Zageris|Full Review]] <!-- Jester -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Jester_Forever. But when Louie starts using their computer to hack into government and corporate networks, stealing millions from banks to give to others, they realise that Louie and his friends mean troublejpg|left|link=https://www.amazon.co. As Billy and his family begin a roller coaster ride of fame and fortune, as well as uk/gp/product/1510704361?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1510704361]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Forever After: a ranking high on the FBI's most wanted list, the Government soon decides that these aliens are terrorists, and must be eliminated. Whilst the aliens are playing games they hope will help humans to see the insanity of the American political, economic and military systems, they soon come to realise that the Powers that Be don't play gamesdark comedy by David Jester]]=== [[image: they make war4star. jpg|amazonuklink=<amazonuk>1785651757</amazonuk>Category:{{{rating}}}{{newreviewStar Reviews]] [[:Category:Paranormal|author=Rod GreenParanormal]], [[:Category:Horror|title=Only Fools and HorsesHorror]], [[:Category: The Peckham ArchivesFantasy|rating=4Fasntasy]]|genre=Entertainment |summary=We are in Michael Holland is a cocky and brash young man who dies and gets made the world offer of one of the country's most famous and well-loved sitcoms – even if it was sort-of killed off for Christmas 2003his lifetime; immortality. Yes, there have been specials sinceWe follow Michael, a grim reaper and more repeats to clog up his friends Chip (a stoner tooth fairy) and Naff (a stoner in the BBC schedules than is really pukka, but very few people failed records department) as they grapple with their long lives and finding a clean surface to succumb to its charms at one time or anothersit on in their flat. I'm sure there have been books before now celebrating the stony[[Forever After: a dark comedy by David Jester|Full Review]] <!-- Stibbe -->|-faced reception of ''that'' drop through the open bar hatch, and ''that'' chandelier scene, but this is much more meaty| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Stibbe_Xmas.jpg|left|link=https://www.amazon.co. Purporting to be the family archives, found dumped in Nelson Mandela House, the documents here were passed from pillar to post, from one council worker in a department with a clumsy acronym to another, from them to the police – and now here they are being published for their social history worth. Will enough readers find them of worth, as the series quietly celebrates its 35th birthday?uk/gp/product/0241309824?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=0241309824]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"||amazonuk=<amazonuk>1849909245</amazonuk>==[[An Almost Perfect Christmas by Nina Stibbe]]===}}[[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{newreview{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|author= Mara Wilson|title= Where Am I Now?Humour]], [[:Category: True Short Stories of Girlhood and Accidental Fame|rating= 5Short Stories]]|genre= Autobiography|summary= Mara Wilson has always felt a little young and a little out Christmas – the time of place: as the traditional trauma. You only child on a film set full of adults, have to think about the first daughter in turkey for that – once upon a house full of boys, time it was leaving it sat on the sole clinically depressed member of a cheerleading squaddownstairs loo to defrost overnight, a valley girl in New York and a neurotic in California, and an adult if that failed the world still remembers as a little girlhair-dryer shoved inside it treatment was your next best bet. Tackling everything from how she first learned about sex on the set of Nowadays it''Melrose Place,'' to losing her mother at a young age, to getting her first kiss (or was it kisses?) on a celebrity canoe trip, to not being cute enough s all having to make sure it in Hollywood, these essays tell the story of one young woman's journey from accidental fame suitably free-range and organic – but not too organic that you can go and visit it, and get too friendly with it to want to relative obscurityeat it. Christmas, though, but is of course also illuminate a universal struggle: learning to accept yourself, and figuring out who you are time of great boons. It's cash in hand for a lot of plump people who can hire red suits and where beards, it was always a godsend for postmen with all the thank-you letters to aunties you saw twice a decade that your parents made you belong. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>0143128221</amazonuk>}}{{newreviewwrite out in long-hand as a child, and as for the makers of Meltis Newberry Fruits – well, did they even try and sell them any other time of the year? [[An Almost Perfect Christmas by Nina Stibbe|author= Tony StuartFull Review]] <!-- Doescher -->|title= Writing Lines-|ratingstyle= 4"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Doescher_Will.5jpg|genre=Humourleft|summarylink= George Gordon Wentworth (1946-2011) lived a humdrum lifehttps://www. He was a barely adequate teacher in a fairly world renowned independent school in Kent and kept a copious diary of his quotidian existenceamazon. Most of what he recorded was drossco. However, amongst all the utterly uninteresting tailings of his life there were some nuggets and grains to catch uk/gp/product/159474985X?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=159474985X]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[William Shakespeare's the Force Doth Awaken: Star Wars Part the attentionSeventh by Ian Doescher]]=== [[image:4. Author Tony Stuart has created these amusing anecdotes5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Science Fiction|Science Fiction]], [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] A long time ago, panning them out over twenty six episodes which give us the best of Wentworth – comedy gold. From losing all the pupils in his charge on a school trip to being arrested on suspicion of terrorism; from waking up in bed between the married couple the morning after their weddinga galaxy far away, there was a man called William Shakespeare, who was able to destroying create a ski run; from appearing series of dramatic histories full-frontal naked in a sheep-farmers' gazette to triggering an air-sea rescue; Wentworth wasof machinations most foul, blinkered rulers most evil and befuddled, rebellious heroes and heroines most sturdy. You may or may not have noticed the subject – cinematic version of these and so many more unlikely but highly amusing events.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1524634441</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Graham Fulbright|title=Driving Mad: Maniacshis original stage play for ''The Force Doth Awaken'', Morons and but here at last we get the Advanced Motorist's Club|rating=3.5|genre=Humour|summary=I passed my driving test when John F Kennedy was actual script, complete with annoying-in the White House and I've recently had -different-ways-to reapply for my driving licence having achieved a venerable age. When I started driving the roads were kinder-before droids anew, more forgiving places - or put another wayreturning heroes from elsewhere in his oeuvre, and people keeping it in the idiots were fewer and further betweenfamily til it hurts. I And if you need further encouragement, don't know how long Graham Fulbright has been driving, but he certainly knows forget his motoring morons and in ''Driving Mad'' he brings us a fictional sample audience only demanded three parts of their eccentricities. Well, I'm pretty certain that theyHenry VI – here the series is so popular we're fictional - but these days you never know...on to part seven – surely making this over twice as good… [[William Shakespeare's the Force Doth Awaken: Star Wars Part the Seventh by Ian Doescher|Full Review]] |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1783062584</amazonuk!-- Goss -->}}{{newreview|author=Mario Giordano-|titlestyle=Auntie Poldi and the Sicilian Lions"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|rating=4[[image:Goss_600.jpg|genreleft|link=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1785942719?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=Crime1785942719]]  |summarystyle=Poldi had not long been widowed when she decided to move from Bavaria to Sicily with the intention "vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Doctor Who: Now We Are Six Hundred: A Collection of drinking herself to deathTime Lord Verse (Dr Who) by James Goss and Russell T Davies]]=== [[image:4.5star. She couldjpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Children's Rhymes and Verse|Children's Rhymes and Verse]], of course[[:Category:Science Fiction|Science Fiction]], have done this in Germany, but she felt that a sea view was essential[[:Category:Humour|Humour]] Consider the Doctor. Once there, new friends, family already resident on the island Just how many birthday and the corpse of a young manChristmas gifts must he have to hand out each year, his face blown off by were he to keep in touch with even half of his companions? He would certainly need a shotgunfew novelty gifts for some of them, say, for example, whom she found on whimsical books of verse that pithily encapsulate the local beach, intervened to give her life some meaning. For of a while she was a suspect, but Time Lord and that (of some of his friends and her wig) were no obstacle enemies. As luck would have it, he has the space in his TARDIS to stock up in advance, so my advice to him – sorry, her falling for Commissario Vito Montana who was assigned – would be to investigate the case. Assisting him (or having him assist her) came naturally pop along to Poldi his local Earth-based book emporium and before long there was an investigative and personal partnershipget himself ready. At least so far as Poldi was concernedAnd if you're working on a shorter timescale, with a shorter lifespan, and thinking perhaps just one gift season ahead, well my advice is pretty much the same.[[Doctor Who: Now We Are Six Hundred: A Collection of Time Lord Verse (Dr Who) by James Goss and Russell T Davies|Full Review]] |amazonuk=<amazonuk!-- Ingram -->1908524693</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= Grady Hendrix-|titlestyle= My Best Friend's Exorcism"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|rating= 5[[image:Ingram_Kammie.jpg|genre= Horrorleft|summarylink=1988, Charleston, South Carolinahttps://www.amazon. High school sophomores Abby and Gretchen have been best friends since fourth gradeco. But after an evening of skinnyuk/gp/product/1785451995?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1785451995]]  | style="vertical-dipping goes disatrously wrong, Gretchen begins to act...different. She's moody. She's irritable. And bizarre incidents keep happening whenever she's nearby. Abby's investigation leads her to some startling discoveries align: top; text- and by the time their story reaches its terrifying conclusion, the fate of Abby and Gretchen will be determined by a single questionalign: Is their friendship enough to beat the devil?left;"||amazonuk=<amazonuk>1594748624</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= Kevin MacNeil|title=The Brilliant and Forever|rating[[Conversations with Kammie by Annie Ingram]]=== 3.5|genre= Humour[[image:4star.jpg|summarylink= You know sometimes when someone tells a jokeCategory:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Pets|Pets]], everyone else laughs, and you're sat there wondering what was so funny?[[:Category:Humour|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846973376</amazonuk>}}Humour]]{{newreview|author= Christopher Fowler|title= Bryant It was something of a relief when I encountered Annie Ingram and May: Strange Tide|rating= 3her cocker spaniel Kammie.5|genre= Crime|summary= The thirteenth outing You see, Annie knows something which has been self-evident to me for Bryant and May is looking very much like it a long time: dogs are perfectly capable of communicating with humans and not just on a level of food!, walk! or play!. You do require extensive training to become fluent, but most dogs will be perfectly willing to give their last. Arthur Bryant is on compassionate leave whilst tests are continuing, which are likely time to teach you and all you have to confirm that he do is suffering from Alzheimer'slisten. His condition is worsening almost by Annie has studied hard: Kammie has trained her well and the day, memory lapses are morphing into full-scale hallucinationspair have allowed us to share some of their conversations.[[Conversations with Kammie by Annie Ingram|Full Review]] |amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857523422</amazonuk!-- Harris -->}}{{newreview|-|authorstyle=Kevin Smith"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|title=The Voyage of the Dolphin[[image:Harris_Glass.jpg|ratinglink=5http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1908943823/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] |genre=Historical Fiction|summarystyle=Dublin 1916"vertical-align: Among the unrest and antitop; text-British feeling worsened align: left;"|===[[The Breaking of Liam Glass by the threat of conscription into a war seen as nothing to do with the Irish, Trinity College faculty has other distractionsCharles Harris]]=== [[image:3star. They'd like a trophy; the skeleton of an Irish 'giant' to be precise. The only glitch is that the main trophy contender, Bernard MacNeill's skeletonjpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]], [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] Teenager Liam Glass is somewhere difficult to access mugged and all seasoned explorers are otherwise engagedstabbed yards from his Camden flat. There may be hope though. They turn to FitzmauriceAs the boy lies comatose, a student not good enough desperate journalist Jason Worthington scrabbles for the inside scoop, tired police officer Andy Rockham searches for a missing tape, harried politician Jamila Hasan fights for anything else. Fitzmaurice agreesre-election, picking his friends Crozier and Rafferty to go with him. So… ''Gentlemendistraught mother Katrina Glass waits by her son, lace up your strongest boots and pack your warmest underwear – we're all off to gym-owner Royland simply finds himself in the wrong place at the bloody Arctic!'' Whether battle cry or epitaphwrong time. We follow this host of ensemble characters in a bleak, three men and a dog… and an iguana… are going anywaykaleidoscopic satire of modern media.[[The Breaking of Liam Glass by Charles Harris|Full Review]] |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1910124826</amazonuk!-- LENTE -->|amazonus=<amazonus>1910124826</amazonus>}}{{newreview-|authorstyle=Tony Hawks"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Lente_10.jpg|titlelink=Once Upon a Time in the West… Countryhttp://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1683690222/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  |ratingstyle=3"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"||genre=Travel==[[Ten Dead Comedians: A Murder Mystery by Fred Van Lente]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|summarylink=I have often complained in Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] Nine comedians are invited to a jokey voice to my partner about life in remote Caribbean island under the sticksguise of working with Dustin Walker, and a comedic legend. Each fits neatly into one of the way she moved me archetypal comic stereotypes: Steve, the washed-up has-been who has fallen far from an innerhis early days; Zoe, the rising female star with a new stand-city flat up special coming soon; Dante, who went from being a kid on the streets to slumming it the hardest working road comic in the suburbs with fewer bussesbusiness; Oliver, no takeaways within walkingthe child-like prop comic who can't get any respect from his peers; Janet, the insult comic who is past her prime; TJ, the nightly variety show host with a reputation for harassing his female colleagues andguest acts; Ruby, the ultra-keeping-food-hot distance, feminist YouTuber and no 'Polish' shops for Blogger with a can of beer whenever you fancy one. Things are different with Tony Hawkschip on her shoulder; and William, whose redneck character ''Billy the Contractor'' is a far cry from his real personality as here he has purposefully decided to up sticks from London to Somewherea posh millionaire. Of course, Devon – a tiny village where the people who built their own homes decades ago still live in them, where slugs are all nine agree because ''when God almighty walks down on a lot more beam of a problem light and asks for your help, what the wannabe lettuce-grower than they hell else are for the metropolitan commuter, and where village halls have the power to turn you into both a Pol Pot dictator if you get on their committee and into a quivering, bruise-inducing wreck if youyou going to say?''re the wrong gender at a Zumba class…[[Ten Dead Comedians: A Murder Mystery by Fred Van Lente|Full Review]] |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444794809</amazonuk!-- Scott -->}}{{newreview|-|authorstyle=Marian Keyes"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|title=Making It Up As I Go Along[[image:Scott_Eliz.jpg|ratinglink=4http://www.5|genre=Entertainmentamazon.co.uk/dp/1788037006/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|summary===Oh, how the book reviewing gods like to give[[Elizabeth, William... and equally like to take awayMe by S Lynn Scott]]=== [[image:4. Here before me 5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] Ally is an ordinary woman with teenage children, a brand, spanking new collection husband and a job. Then comes the day when ordinariness flies out of journalism by the wonderful Marian Keyes – but itwindow. It's not a proof copy, so therecoincidence that it's no photo of the author. Even if over same day she finds Queen Elizabeth I in the pantry and the years I have stopped reading Bard of Avon in her novelsbath. What's she going to do? Well, I Elizabeth and Will have always turned to the author picture to remind myself such sights exist in this worldtheir own ideas about that! [[Elizabeth, William.. Himself is a lucky man, for sure. But beyond sounding like a letch, what can I say about this – the beauty's third large dose of essays, web columns and other journalism? I can start with agreeing that I am not the target audience, but it's easy enough to see from these pages exactly what the target is. So much like that test you do – you know the one, that formulates decisions about the age and commonality of all things in space to come up with how many billions of planets are likely to have alien life on – you can narrow things down quite readily here, and still come up with a huge numberMe by S Lynn Scott|Full Review]] <!-- Rodford -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Rodford_Surgeon.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/178565005X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"||amazonuk=<amazonuk>0718182529</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= Jean-Yves Ferri|title= Asterix and the Missing Scroll (Album 36)|rating[[The Surgeon's Case: George Kocharyan Mystery 2 by E G Rodford]]=== 5|genre= For Sharing[[image:4star.jpg|summarylink=Asterix is those rarest of book Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]], [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] In the second instalment of this series; one designed for kids which is actually even funnier when you are an adult. I used to love Asterix as a child, but now that I reread them I canPrivate Investigator George Kocharyan has been hired by a well-known local man to track down some missing valuables. Bill Galbraith, a world-famous surgeon at Cambridge's Addenbrooke't help but wonder whys Hospital who hosts a popular medical television programme, because they are so full of hilarious jokes that I definitely wouldn't have understood when I was youngerhas had his briefcase stolen by his live-in domestic servant, Aurora. I laughed loud and hard According to myself twice within Galbraith, this briefcase contains confidential notes concerning an important patient of his at the first two pages of Asterix and hospital. George agrees to look into the Missing Scrolltheft, so Iassuming it will be a relatively easy and straightforward case – little does he know, he'd definitely say that this was s about to enter a hitworld of deceit and dysfunction.[[The Surgeon's Case: George Kocharyan Mystery 2 by E G Rodford|Full Review]] |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1510100458</amazonuk!-- Jordan -->}}{{newreview|author=Spadge Whittaker-|titlestyle=Braver Than Britain, Occasionally|rating=4"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|genre=Humour[[image:Jordan_Tiny.jpg|summarylink=In which Spadge researches Britain's top ten fears and faces them all over the course of a yearhttp://www.amazon. We're quite a fearful society, you knowco. And the things we fear most are, in order: heights (acrophobia), snakes (ophidiophobia), public speaking (glossophobia), spiders (arachnophobia), small spaces (claustrophobia), mice (musophobia), needles (trypanophobia), flying (pteromerhanophobia), crowds (agoraphobia) and clowns (coulrophobia).uk/dp/1760293814/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  |amazonukstyle=<amazonuk>0993429904</amazonuk>"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|}}{{newreview|author= Mike Bullen|title= Trust|rating= 4[[Our Tiny, Useless Hearts by Toni Jordan]]===|genre= General Fiction[[image:5star.jpg|summarylink= Greg and Amanda are happy. UnmarriedCategory:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Women's Fiction|Women's Fiction]], but together thirteen years [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] As predicted by Caroline and with two young daughters, they are very much in love. Dan Janice's mother on Caroline and Sarah arenHenry't so fortunate. Their s wedding day, their marriage is going through the motionsover, albeit 15 years and they're staying together for the sake of their troubled teenage sontwo daughters further along than predicted. Following a business conference away from homeIndeed, one bad decision sends this is definitely not a happy couple into turmoil, and turns an unhappy couple into lovegood weekend for Janice to be babysitting at Caroline's young dreamhouse. As secrets There's the split and betrayals threaten to send both relationships out the awkwardness of control, the girls' schoolteacher being the other woman for a start. Then there's only one thing that can keep everything from falling apart: Trustmistaken identity moment involving the neighbours. At least Janice is well adjusted and over her ex-husband Alec. She still dreams of him, yes, but it's so over! Just as well really… guess who's at the door? [[Our Tiny, Useless Hearts by Toni Jordan|Full Review]] |amazonuk=<amazonuk>0751559253</amazonuk!-- Taylor -->}}{{newreview|-|authorstyle=Dan Rhodes"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|title=When the Professor Got Stuck in the Snow[[image:Taylor_Scilly.jpg|ratinglink=4http://www.amazon.co.5uk/dp/178475515X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  |genrestyle=General Fiction"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"||summary= Two people are on ==[[The Life of a train on their way toScilly Sergeant by Colin Taylor]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Travel|Travel]], of all things, a WI meeting where [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] Meet the ladies Isles of All Bottoms will Scilly. (I know they should be lectured on called that – the author provides a handy guide to the non-existence etiquette of Godtheir name, their nature and location, etc. One ) For our more distant readers, they're several chunks of granite rock out in the two people Atlantic, where Cornwall is Professor Richard Dawkinspointing, rampant atheistwith just 2, hectoring scientist chappie200 permanent residents. They're big on tourism, and all-round devotee of ''Deal or No Deal''. The other is Smee, his mono-named assistant, amanuensis or 'male secretary'. Smee will come to big on growing flowers in the tropical climate the fore when Gulf Stream bequeaths them – although the weather sets in and the train journey has is bad enough to turn any car to be abandoned some way short of its ultimate destination, Upper Bottoma rust bucket within years. Instead the pair fetch up at the isolated yet friendly community of Market HortonThey're so wee, and the only option for accommodation is taken – yesso idyllic-seeming, especially at night, the died-in-the-wool non-believer has to you can be mistaken for thinking there would be housed by no need for a retired vicar and his wifepolice presence. But there is – at least two working at any one time. This clash And one of titanic opinions, peppered with social faux pas aplenty will provide for them in recent years has been Colin Taylor, who has done his official duty – alongside maintaining a particularly English kind of farcical comedywell-known online existence, but one with the legs which has brought to go as far as any other Good Books have reached in life all the past…|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1910709018</amazonuk>}}{{newreviewwhimsical comedy of his work. [[The Life of a Scilly Sergeant by Colin Taylor|author=Rob TempleFull Review]]|title=Very British Problems Abroad|rating=4<!-- Lloyd -->|genre=Humour-|summarystyle=Meet, if you haven't already, the phenomenon of the Very British Problem"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Lloyd_Twas.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co. In this format they're in pithy little comments (of, ooh, about 140 characters in length, for some reason…) and detail uk/dp/1472125118/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[['Twas the minor things in life that we like nothing more than to inflate to a major factor of life. They can involve manners, staring at things until they mend themselves, hitting things ditto, or the fact that nobody apart from you Fight Before Christmas: A Parody by Josie Lloyd and I know how to queue properlyEmlyn Rees]]=== [[image:3. And if the idea hits the world outside our shores, then – well, you certainly have a book full of content regarding our attitude and ineptitude abroad5star.jpg|amazonuklink=<amazonuk>0751558494</amazonuk>Category:{{{rating}}}Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|Humour]]{{newreview|author=Fraser McAlpine|title=Stuff Brits Like|rating=4|genre=Humour|summary= With over 100 chapters on different aspects of Britain It's Christmas Eve and Britishness, this book is both fascinating and hilariousMum has arranged everything. Just looking at All she now has to do is await the list of subjects is enough to produce a sardonic twist arrival of the relatives and the food shopping delivery. Little does Mum know that stiff upper lip: those two elements alone have the chapters cover topics that range from offal potential to curry, from pedantry to banter, from conkers to rugbyruin everything. There may be many chapters but this is no academic tome [['Twas the Fight Before Christmas: A Parody by Josie Lloyd and Emlyn Rees|Full Review]] <!-- each chapter is just two to three pages long, each is written with endearing affection, each is easy and satisfying Phinn - and quirkily funny - to read.>|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1857886348</amazonuk>}}{{newreview-|authorstyle= John Samuel"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|title= What I Tell You in the Dark[[image:Phinn_Virgin.jpg|rating= 3.5left|genrelink= Humourhttp://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1444779400/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] |summarystyle="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|=A man called Will is fighting fiercely against corruption – desperate to expose his company==[[The Virgin Mary's dodgy dealings to the pressGot Nits by Gervase Phinn]]=== [[image:4. Overcome with doubt and fear, he goes to kill himself5star. Butjpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|Humour]], at the exact moment he attaches his noose [[:Category:Anthologies|Anthologies]] Christmas in our house is the time we tend to get on a plane and head to the back of the dooreither sun or snow, he anywhere that is saved. By a curious housemate or a concerned girlfriend? Nofar, by an Angel. Not far away from the white-feathered guardian Angel you may expectmadness at home, but one who wishes last minute dashes to help Will achieve his endsthe shops on Christmas Eve, and so possess food cupboard stockpiles that would imply supermarkets are shutting for a month, nor a mere 36 hours. But I do remember the body feeling of the hapless Will in order to finish what he startedChristmas when I was younger, back when it was magical, and back when you knew exactly what the season would bring with carol concerts and school nativities and Christmas parties. It goes without saying that the Angel This book is hoping things go better than they did with the last guy he possessed – a hapless young man from Galilee called Jesus…an anthology of those moments, and it took me right back to the wonder of Christmas as a child. [[The Virgin Mary's Got Nits by Gervase Phinn|Full Review]] |amazonuk=<amazonuk>0715650505</amazonuk!-- North -->}}|-{{newreview|author| style= John Niven"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|title= The Sunshine Cruise Company[[image:North_Romeo.jpg|ratinglink= 4http://www.amazon.co.5uk/dp/0356508536/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] |genre= Humour|summarystyle= Susan Frobisher "vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Romeo and Julie Wickham live in a small Dorset town/or Juliet by Ryan North]]=== [[image:3.5star. Friends since school, they live fairly uneventful lives – Susan has a lovely house jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] For all those who think tragedy plots are too restricted and a lengthy marriage prescribed, read on. In these pages you too will see that Romeo had lots of options en route to accountant Barryhitting the bottle. Likewise, whereas Julie is doing slightly less well – living in she could have turned away from her predestined path at no end of junctures. And to what result? Well, happy marriage and a council flat and working in an old kid called Ben, because the leads have just banged people's home. When Barry is found dead trussed up in a sex dungeonheads together and stopped the quarrelling, it transpires that he has been leading or Death by Tybalt (him) or a hidden long life for yearsrunning an establishment curing murderous women, such as a Lady M (her). [[Romeo and his expensive fetishes lead to the bank moving to take Susan's home. Struck /or Juliet by both desperation and a sense of injustice, Sue and Julie conspire to rob a bank, taking along their friend Jill – a devout Christian conflicted due to lack of money and a terminally ill grandson, and Ethel – a foul mouthed resident of the nursing home longing for adventure.Ryan North|Full Review]] |amazonuk=<amazonuk>0434023183</amazonuk!-- Crowley -->}}{{newreview|-|authorstyle=Marie Phillips"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|title=The Table Of Less Valued Knights[[image:Crowley_Shoot.jpg|ratinglink=4http://www.5|genre=Fantasyamazon.co.uk/dp/1783296518/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|summary===Sir Humphrey has been demoted from King Arthur's Round Table to the Table of Lesser Valued Knights. The only way to get his comfier seat back is to redeem himself via a quest[[Shoot by Kieran Crowley]]=== [[image:4star. Therefore when damsel Elaine seeks help to find her kidnapped fiancéjpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]], Humphrey and his ward[[:Category:Humour|Humour]] I make something of a habit of being late to discover good writers, the teenage giant Conrad, eagerly set forthin this case getting to Crowley after he is no longer with us. Meanwhile in the kingdom The result is that what is billed as ''an F.X. Shepherd mystery'' with all the optimism of there being more to come has the poignancy of Tuftbeing, new Queen Martha has run away after a disastrous wedding to… a… well… disastrous Prince Edwin. She may if not realise it yetthe last of a short line, but she too will have certainly one of a job for Humphrey!few. [[Shoot by Kieran Crowley|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099555875</amazonuk>Full Review]]}}{{newreview|author=Tim Flannery|title=The Mystery of the Venus Island Fetish|rating=3|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=Meet Archie Meek. He's about to leave the Venus Islands, where he's lived for the last five years, and return to Sydney, where he'll take his office in the museum and fill it with all the cultural artefacts he's found and wildlife he's plucked or pickled. That's not to ignore the fact he'll count as something quite alien himself, with his filled-out frame, nearly all-over suntan and totemic tattoo, in amongst other changes to his body. But what's this? When he gets back, he finds one of the main Venus Islands artefacts that caused him to go there in the first place, a huge, macabre ceremonial fetish mask, purloined as corporate artwork. And some of the curators he wishes to work alongside have vanished. Is the weird society of the museum he's returning to, perchance, even weirder, stranger and more violent than the cannibalistic society he's waving farewell to?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1922079308</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Roman Dirge|title=The Cat with a Really Big Head|rating=3.5|genre=Graphic Novels|summary= How many picture books are there about cats? And how many do you know that you would really NOT prefer your children to see? If the answer to the second question is 'none – yet', scratch that last word. The title piece in this collection is, by the author's own admission, his imagining of the Joseph Merrick (the 'Elephant Man') of the feline world – who struggles to sneak up behind a mouse when the shadow of his head is a total giveaway, and who can hardly even eat with dignity as bending down to his bowl would break his neck. If that's too dark or oddball for you, try the second major piece, which has a most revealing foreword – ''Dedicated to a certain girl… I hope your life is filled with wonderful accomplishments, love and all the magic you desire… - But I hope your death is slow and horrible.''|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1782762876</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Val Hennessy|title=Not Far From Dreamland|rating=4.5|genre=General Fiction|summary=Ronald Tonks has reached that stage in life which I call upper middle age: you've qualified for your pension but not yet got to the free television licence barrier. What Ronald ''has'' got is a roof that leaks (there's good reason why his home is called 'the shack'), a dog who is going bald (in patches) and money that's in very short supply. On the plus side he has friends, mostly platonic and usually in much the same boat as Ronald. But are they downhearted? Well, they are occasionally, but mostly they're generously optimistic and out to make the most of what they've got, usually bought from charity shops and jumble sales. ''Not Far From Dreamland'' is the story of a year (2012) in the life of Ronald Tonks, his friends and relatives.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0704373874</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Harry Harrison|title=Bill, the Galactic Hero|rating=3.5|genre=Science Fiction|summary=Meet Bill. He's a simple farmer – well, he ''is'' taking a correspondence course in being a Technical Fertiliser Operator – but fate has something else in store. And so does the mechanised, technological, industrial military, which needs several billion grunts to fight the Chingers, in mankind's first inter-galactic war. Still, at least he gets medals just for signing up. After that it's all downhill, and the likes of Petty Chief Officer Deathwish Drang can only make that a straight line down. Really, what hope is there?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>147320531X</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Ian Doescher|title=William Shakespeare's The Phantom of Menace|rating=4.5|genre=Humour|summary= Join us, good gentles, for a merry reimagining of `Star Wars Episode 1' as only Shakespeare could have written it. 'Tis a true Shakespearean drama, filled with sword fights, soliloquies and doomed romance…all in glorious iambic pentameter and coupled with gorgeous illustrations. Hold on to your midichlorians: The plays the thing, wherein you'll catch the rise of Anakin!|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1594748063</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Attaboy|title=The Book of Hugs|rating=4|genre=Humour|summary=A hug's a hug, OK? You either do, or you don't. Some people might be a little more enthusiastic about the process whilst others are more elegant in the execution of the hug, but basically you just get on and do it and then forget about it, right?<!-- DO NOT REMOVE ANYTHING BELOW THIS LINE -->|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0867197978</amazonuk>}}