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[[Category:New Reviews|Humour]] __NOTOC__ <!-- Remove -->{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Ryan NorthDean Koontz|title=Romeo and/or JulietThe Bad Weather Friend|rating=34.5|genre=HumourParanormal|summary=For all those who think tragedy plots are too restricted Benny is having a terrifically bad day. He loses his job, he loses his fiancee, and prescribed, read onhis house gets trashed. In these pages you too will see Oh, and someone has delivered a really weird, disturbing coffin-sized object to his home, and it's possible that whoever or whatever was inside is the thing that Romeo had lots of options en route has trashed his house! The thing is, Benny is the very last person to hitting the bottledeserve all this bad luck. He is a nice person. A really nice person. LikewiseSo fortunately for Benny it turns out that the delivery to his house is a new friend, she could have turned away a bad weather friend called Spike, who has been sent to help him since Benny is clearly under attack from her predestined path at no end of juncturesnefarious forces for being a good person. And Spike is going to what result? Welltake care of Benny, happy marriage and a kid called Ben, because the leads have just banged peoplewill certainly take care of Benny's heads together enemies, if he, Benny, and stopped the quarrelling, or Death by Tybalt Harper (him) or a long life running an establishment curing murderous women, such as a Lady M (herwaitress slash Private Investigator who finds herself roped into Benny's wild adventure)can figure out who exactly they are. |amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0356508536</amazonuk>1662500491

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Gervase Phinn1529153050|title= The Virgin MaryBritain's Got Nits|rating= 4.5|genre= Humour|summary= Christmas in our house is the time we tend to get on a plane and head to either sun or snow, anywhere that is far, far away from the madness at home, last minute dashes to the shops on Christmas Eve, and food cupboard stockpiles that would imply supermarkets are shutting for a month, nor a mere 36 hours. But I do remember the feeling of Christmas 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. This book is an anthology of those moments, and it took me right back to the wonder of Christmas as a child.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444779400</amazonuk>}}{{newreviewBest Political Cartoons 2022|author= Kieran Crowley|title= ShootTim Benson|rating= 4|genre= Crime|summary= 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. 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 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 "Shepherd" is, technically, a columnist. He's been sacked by one New York newspaper and is writing a weekly column for another. I don't know much about journalism, but I'm guessing one column a week doesn't pay much as a rule…which explains why Shepherd's soap-washed-foul-mouthed editor (read the book, you'll see what I mean) expects him to turn in some genuine journalism as well: front page, seat of your pants stuff. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1783296518</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Gray Jolliffe|title=The First Ever Christmas: And Who to Blame|rating=5

|summary=If I tell you a secret, will you promise not Seeking some light relief from the current political turmoil which is coming to tell anyone? Wellseem more and more like an adrenaline sport, I really donwas nudged towards 't like Christmas: it'Britain's my least favourite time Best Political Cartoons of year and whilst some people count down to the day itself, I look forward to that point when I can say that it2022's all over for another year. It's all too commercialised for me, with a coating of faux religion. ISharp eyes will have noted that we've never found it in re not yet through the least funny - that is, until I found Gray Jolliffe's ''The First Ever Christmasyear: And Who's the cartoons run from 4 September 2021 to Blame''31 August 2022. Amazingly, I'd never encountered Gray Jolliffe either, but I'm a convert to his skills as a cartoonist (if not Who can imagine what there will be to come in the idea of Christmas) after reading this collection of Christmas-themed cartoons from his archive.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1445663503</amazonuk>2023 edition?

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Jonathan Pugh1785633074|title=Pugh's New Year's ResolutionsStaggering Hubris|author=Josh Berry

|summary=If thereMembers of Parliament like us to believe that the country is run by politicians, headed by the Prime minister - the 's one thing 'primus inter pares'' (that's for certain, itthose of you who are Eton and Oxbridge educated) but the reality is that the ''prime''s that movers are the special advisers - the SPADS - who are the driving force behind the world is changinggovernment. We're dating onlineare in the privileged position of having access to the memoirs of Rafe Hubris, we're communicating the man who was behind the skilful control of the Covid crisis which was completely contained by the end of 2020. You might not know the name now but he will certainly be the man to watch.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0571365884|title=My Mess is a Bit of Life: Adventures in ways that make email seem redundantAnxiety|author=Georgia Pritchett|rating=4|genre=Autobiography|summary=Georgia Pritchett has always been anxious, and when we're shopping we just tell even as a website child. She would worry about whether the monsters under the bed were comfortable: it was the sort of life where if she had nothing to worry about she would become anxious but such occasions were few and when it can be delivered, and how much leeway they have to swap our wishes for whatever it is they do bring usfar between. But those changes are also supposed On a visit to be affecting us – we're supposed to use a smart watch to tell us if we're moving or nottherapist, as an adult, we have when she was completely unable to keep up speak about what was wrong with the latest fads, her it was suggested that she should write it down and we're supposed to prick our ears up and take note when the proverbial 'theyMy Mess is a Bit of a Life: Adventures in Anxiety'' change their minds about what is the result - or so we're supposed are given to eatbelieve.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780722885</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|author= Luke RhinehartJohn Boyne|title= InvasionThe Echo Chamber|rating= 4.5|genre= Humour General Fiction|summary=SuperMeet George Cleverley. He is self-intelligent furry aliens suddenly appear from another universedefined as "one of the few television personalities over the age of fifty without a criminal record". And theyHe starts this book a bit worried when his mistress tells him she've come to earth to have fun. Alien Louie follows fisherman Billy Morton home one days carrying his child, and he and but then his family quickly come to love author wife is getting her kicks with the playful alienUkrainian partner "Strictly Come Dancing" paired her with. But when Louie starts using their computer to hack into government and corporate networksThey have three children, stealing millions from banks to give to otherswho are a sad-sack with absolutely no social skills whatsoever, they realise that Louie and his friends mean trouble. As Billy and his family begin a roller coaster ride of fame and fortunegirl who hangs around with a virtue-signalling, as well as a ranking high on keyboard warrior "wokester" who wants to save the FBIworld's most wanted listhomeless with out-of-date food, and a fit young lad doing the Government soon decides gay hustle thing. Add in a few other characters – therapists, lawyers, random transgender types – that these aliens are terroristsall have two very different connections to his life, and must be eliminated. Whilst the aliens are playing games they hope will help humans you have something that suggests an almost farcical approach to see the insanity of modern world. What suggests the American politicalfarcical approach even more, economic and military systemshowever, they soon come to realise that is the Powers that Be don't play games: they make warfact this is bloody funny. |amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1785651757</amazonuk>0857526219

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Rod GreenStephen Clarke|title=Only Fools and Horses: The Peckham ArchivesSpy Who Inspired Me

|genre=Entertainment General Fiction|summary=We are in the world of one of the countryThis is a spoof spy story, that isn's most famous and well-loved sitcoms – even if it was sort-of killed off for Christmas 2003t about James Bond. Or Ian Fleming. Yes, there have been specials sinceBut it features a man called Ian Lemming, who dresses well and more repeats to clog up the BBC schedules than is really pukka, but very few people failed to succumb to its charms at one time or another. I'm sure there have been books before now celebrating likes the stony-faced reception of ladies''that'' drop through and who works for the open bar hatch, and ''that'' chandelier scenesecret service, but this is much in the planning side of things more meatythan the active service. Purporting to be Lemming finds himself put on a mission with a female spy called Margaux, and the family archives, found dumped pair end up stranded in Nelson Mandela HouseNormandy, the documents here were passed from pillar to post, from one council worker in a department with Margaux on a clumsy acronym desperate mission to anotherunearth traitors in the resistance network, from them and Lemming desperately trying 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?keep up with her!|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1849909245</amazonuk>2952163855

{{newreviewFrontpage|author= Mara WilsonAfonso Cruz and Rahul Bery (translator)|title= Where Am I Now?: True Stories of Girlhood and Accidental FameKokoschka's Doll|rating= 2.5|genre= AutobiographyLiterary Fiction|summary= Mara Wilson has always felt Well, this looked very much like a little young book I could love from the get-go, which is why I picked my review copy up and flipped pages over several times before actually reading any of it. I found things to potentially delight me each time – a little out of place: as weird section in the only child middle on darker stock paper, a film set full of adults, chapter whose number was in the first daughter in a house full of boys20, the sole clinically depressed member of a cheerleading squad000s, a valley girl in New York and a neurotic in Californialetters used as narrative form, and an adult so on. It intrigued with the world still remembers as subterranean voice a man hears in wartorn Dresden that what little girl. Tackling everything from how she first learned about sex on the set I knew of ''Melrose Placeit mentioned,too. But you'' to losing her mother at a young ageve seen the star rating that comes with this review, to getting her first kiss (or and can tell that if love was it kisses?) on a celebrity canoe tripthese pages, to it was not being cute enough to make it in Hollywood, these essays tell the story of one young woman's journey from accidental fame to relative obscurity, but also illuminate a universal struggle: learning to accept yourself, and figuring out who you are and where you belongactually caused by them. So what happened?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0143128221</amazonuk>1529402697

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Tony StuartB08KKQ85FN|title= Writing LinesBut Never For Lunch|author=Sandra Aragona|rating= 4.5|genre=HumourShort Stories|summary= George Gordon Wentworth (1946-2011) lived ''If a humdrum life. He was woman approaching the menopause can be likened to a barely adequate teacher Rottweiler in lipstick, an Ambassador nearing retirement resembles a fairly pampered peacock about to be released into the company of carrion crows or, more to the point, about to discover the real world renowned independent school in Kent of bus timetables and kept a copious diary of paying his quotidian existenceown gas bills. Most of what he recorded was dross. However'' You don't get many better opening sentences than that, amongst all do you? We first met His Excellency and The Ambassador's Wife in [[Sorting the utterly uninteresting tailings of his life there were some nuggets Priorities: Ambassadress and Beagle Survive Diplomacy by Sandra Aragona|Sorting the Priorities]] and grains we learned what it was like to catch be moved around countries like accompanying baggage by the Italian Government but the attention. Author Tony Stuart time has created these amusing anecdotes, panning them out over twenty six episodes which give us the best come for HE to retires and for Sandra Aragona to become The Wife of Wentworth – comedy goldFormer Ambassador. From losing all the pupils .. They have left The Career and settled in his charge on a school trip to being arrested on suspicion of terrorism; from waking up in bed between Rome. Well 'settled' rather overstates the married couple the morning after situation and their weddingdog, to destroying a ski run; from appearing full-frontal naked in a sheep-farmers' gazette to triggering an air-sea rescue; Wentworth wasBeagle, blinkered and befuddledhas no intention of slowing down any time soon, the subject – of these despite being sixteen and so many more unlikely but highly amusing eventsdeaf.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1524634441</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Graham FulbrightB08GFSK2WZ|title=Driving Mad: Maniacs, Morons and the Advanced Motorist's Club|rating=3.5|genre=Humour|summary=I passed my driving test when John F Kennedy was in the White House and I've recently had to reapply for my driving licence having achieved a venerable age. When I started driving the roads were kinder, more forgiving places - or put another way, the idiots were fewer and further between. I don't know how long Graham Fulbright has been driving, but he certainly knows his motoring morons and in ''Driving Mad'' he brings us a fictional sample of their eccentricities. Well, I'm pretty certain that they're fictional - but these days you never know...|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1783062584</amazonuk>}}{{newreviewThe Karma Trap|author=Mario Giordano|title=Auntie Poldi and the Sicilian LionsLisette Boyd

|summary=Poldi had not long been widowed when she decided to move from Bavaria to Sicily with the intention of drinking herself to death. She could, of course, have done this in Germany, but she felt that John Cranston is a sea view was essential. Once theregardener, new friends, family already resident on the island and the corpse of a young man, his face blown off by although what he did before he became a shotgungardener, whom she found on the local beachhe claims, intervened to give her life some meaningis classified. For That is just as well because he is about to be caught up in a while she was a suspectcriminal / spy / terrorist plot, but that (and her wig) were no obstacle to her falling for Commissario Vito Montana who was assigned to investigate where only he can save the case. Assisting him (or having him assist her) came naturally to Poldi and before long there was an investigative and personal partnership. At least so far as Poldi was concernedday.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1908524693</amazonuk>0956180523

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Grady HendrixJester_Forever|title= My Best Friend's ExorcismForever After: a dark comedy|author=David Jester|rating= 54|genre= Horror|summary=1988Michael Holland is a cocky and brash young man who dies and gets made the offer of his lifetime; immortality. We follow Michael, Charleston, South Carolina. High school sophomores Abby a grim reaper and Gretchen have been best his friends since fourth grade. But after an evening of skinny-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 - Chip (a stoner tooth fairy) and by Naff (a stoner in the time records department) as they grapple with their story reaches its terrifying conclusion, the fate of Abby long lives and Gretchen will be determined by finding a single question: Is clean surface to sit on in their friendship enough to beat the devil?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1594748624</amazonuk>flat.

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Kevin MacNeil1683691172|title=The Brilliant and ForeverWilliam Shakespeare's Much Ado About Mean Girls|author=Ian Doescher|rating= 32.5|genre= Humour|summary= You know sometimes when someone tells A long time ago, in a jokegalaxy far away, all the Star Wars films were crunched up against Shakespeare, everyone else laughsand the marriage seemed a perfectly suitable one. So much so – so easily did the plots and characters converse in Shakespearean dialogue, and youbehave with Shakespearean stage directions – that the producers tried again, with [[William Shakespeare's Get Thee Back to the Future! by Ian Doescher|Back to the Future]] no less. And that worked. But simultaneously they put a real test out. A film I can're sat there wondering what t even really remember seeing was transcribed into the original Elizabethan lingo. A cult following I had never followed whatsoever was given the brand new, yet oh so funnyancient, dressing. Here was the true challenge – would I manage to enjoy this, based on little foreknowledge?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846973376</amazonuk>Oh damn those shiny gold stars for letting the game away…

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Christopher Fowler168369094X|title= Bryant and May: Strange TideWilliam Shakespeare's Get Thee Back to the Future!|author=Ian Doescher|rating= 34.5|genre= CrimeHumour|summary= The thirteenth outing A long time ago, in a publishing house far away, [[:Category:Ian Doescher|someone]] thought it wonderfully wacky to rewrite the story of Star Wars in Shakespearean pentameter, colliding two entirely different genres and styles in such a clever way they seemed perfectly suited. It was then duly repeated for Bryant all the other films in the main Star Wars cycle, and May is looking very much like it will be clearly someone's buffing their lastquills ready for Episode Nine, the title of which became public knowledge the day before I write. Arthur Bryant is on compassionate leave whilst tests are continuingIn the hiatus, however, the effort has been made to see if the same shtick works with other texts, which are likely and to confirm that he is suffering from Alzheimer'sriff on other seemingly unlikely source materials in iambs. His condition is worsening almost by And could we have anything more suitably unsuitable-seeming than Back to the dayFuture, with its tales of time travel, bullying, memory lapses are morphing into full-scale hallucinations.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857523422<and parent/amazonuk>child strife like no other?

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Kevin Smith1473669065|title=The Voyage of the DolphinQueenie Malone's Paradise Hotel|author=Ruth Hogan

|genre=Historical FictionHumour|summary=Dublin 1916: Among the unrest and anti-British feeling worsened by the threat of conscription into a war seen as nothing Tilda returns to do with the IrishBrighton, Trinity College faculty has other distractions. They'd like a trophy; to tidy away the skeleton remains of an Irish her mother'giant' to be precises life after her death. The only glitch is that the main trophy contenderWhilst there, Bernard MacNeill's skeleton, is somewhere difficult she returns to access and all seasoned explorers are otherwise engaged. There may be hope though. They turn to Fitzmauricethe Paradise hotel, a student not good enough haven for anything elseeccentrics and misfits. Fitzmaurice agreesA place where people can be themselves, picking his friends Crozier and Rafferty to let go with himof thoughts that torment them elsewhere. Little wonder that Tilda cannot forgive her mother for banishing her as a child, from this place of wonder. So… ''GentlemenWith the help of Queenie Malone, caring, lace up your strongest boots and pack your warmest underwear – we're all off gregarious, Tilda begins to pick apart the bloody Arctic!'' Whether battle cry or epitaph, three men tricky and a dog… uncertain relationship she had with her sometimes cruel and an iguana… are going anywaydistant mother.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1910124826</amazonuk>|amazonus=<amazonus>1910124826</amazonus>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Tony Hawks1683690346|title=Once Upon a Time in the West… Country|rating=3|genre=Travel|summary=I have often complained in a jokey voice to my partner about life in the sticks, and the way she moved me from an inner-city flat to slumming it in the suburbs with fewer busses, no takeaways within walking-and-keeping-food-hot distance, and no 'Polish' shops for a can of beer whenever you fancy one. Things are different with Tony Hawks, as here he has purposefully decided to up sticks from London to Somewhere, Devon – a tiny village where the people who built their own homes decades ago still live in them, where slugs are a lot more of a problem for the wannabe lettuce-grower than they 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 you're the wrong gender at a Zumba class…|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444794809</amazonuk>}}{{newreviewThe Con Artist|author=Marian Keyes|title=Making It Up As I Go Along|rating=4.5|genre=Entertainment|summary=Oh, how the book reviewing gods like to give, and equally like to take away. Here before me is a brand, spanking new collection of journalism by the wonderful Marian Keyes – but it's a proof copy, so there's no photo of the author. Even if over the years I have stopped reading her novels, I have always turned to the author picture to remind myself such sights exist in this world. 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 number.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0718182529</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= Jean-Yves Ferri|title= Asterix and the Missing Scroll (Album 36)|rating= 5|genre= For Sharing|summary=Asterix is those rarest of book 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 can't help but wonder why, because they are so full of hilarious jokes that I definitely wouldn't have understood when I was younger. I laughed loud and hard to myself twice within the first two pages of Asterix and the Missing Scroll, so I'd definitely say that this was a hit.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1510100458</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Spadge Whittaker|title=Braver Than Britain, OccasionallyFred Van Lente

|summary=In which Spadge researches BritainComic-Cons are a place of wonder and sanctuary for many people, and when Comic book artist Mike Mason arrives at San Diego Comic-Con, he's top ten fears looking for both that and faces them all over sanctuary with other fans and creators, plus the course chance of a yearmaybe, just maybe reuniting with his ex. We're quite a fearful societyHowever, when his rival is found dead, you know. And Mike is forced to navigate every dark corner of the things we fear most are, con in order: heights (acrophobia), snakes (ophidiophobia), public speaking (glossophobia), spiders (arachnophobia), small spaces (claustrophobia), mice (musophobia), needles (trypanophobia), flying (pteromerhanophobia), crowds (agoraphobia) to clear his name – from cosplay flash mobs and clowns (coulrophobia).|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0993429904</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= intrusive fans to zombie obstacle courses – Mike Bullen|title= Trust|rating= 4|genre= General Fiction|summary= Greg and Amanda are happy. Unmarried, but together thirteen years must prove his innocence and with two young daughters, they are very much in love. Dan and Sarah aren't doing so fortunate. Their marriage is going through the motions, and they're staying together for the sake of their troubled teenage son. Following may just unravel a business conference away from home, one bad decision sends dark secret behind a happy couple into turmoil, and turns an unhappy couple into love's young dreamlegendary industry creator. As secrets and betrayals threaten to send both relationships out of control, there's only one thing that can keep everything from falling apart: Trust|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0751559253</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Dan Rhodes1473669588|title=When the Professor Got Stuck in the Snow|rating=4.5|genre=General Fiction|summary= Two people are on a train on their way to, of all things, a WI meeting where the ladies of All Bottoms will be lectured on the non-existence of God. One of the two people is Professor Richard Dawkins, rampant atheist, hectoring scientist chappie, 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 the fore when the weather sets in and the train journey has to be abandoned some way short of its ultimate destination, Upper Bottom. Instead the pair fetch up at the isolated yet friendly community of Market Horton, and the only option for accommodation is taken – yes, the died-in-the-wool non-believer has to be housed by a retired vicar and his wife. This clash of titanic opinions, peppered with social faux pas aplenty will provide for a particularly English kind of farcical comedy, but one with the legs to go as far as any other Good Books have reached in the past…|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1910709018</amazonuk>}}{{newreviewFalling Short|author=Rob Temple|title=Very British Problems AbroadLex Coulton

|summary=MeetLex Coulton's debut novel is a story about mistakes, if you haven't alreadyfailures, the phenomenon of the Very British Problemand relationships. In this format they're in pithy little comments (ofThe main protagonist, oohFrances Pilgrim, about 140 characters in lengthis a sixth form English teacher who has recently fallen out with her best friend Jackson, for some reason…) a work colleague and detail is grappling with the minor things in life that we like nothing more than to inflate to a major factor increasingly eccentric behaviour of lifeher mother. They can involve manners, staring at things until they mend themselves, hitting things ditto, or This relationship is complicated by the fact that nobody apart from you and I know how to queue properly. 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 abroadFrances's father disappeared at sea when she was five years old.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0751558494</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Fraser McAlpine1683690133|title=Stuff Brits LikeMy Lady's Choosing|author=Kitty Curran and Larissa Zageris

|summary= With over 100 chapters on different aspects You are a lass of Britain and Britishnesstwenty-eight. Plucky, this book is both fascinating penniless and hilarious. Just looking at in Regency-era London the list of subjects race is enough on to produce find a sardonic twist of that stiff upper lip: the chapters cover topics that range from offal suitable suitor - or else doom yourself to currylife as an eternal spinster. Along your journey, you'll be accompanied by Lady Evangeline Youngblood - a fiesty noble eager to save you from pedantry a life alone, and fired by a rogueish sense for adventure. When it comes to bantersuitors though, from conkers you'll have to rugbymake 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. There may be many chapters but this is no academic tome - each chapter is just two to three pages longWith orphans, each is written with endearing affectionwerewolves, each is easy long lost lovers and satisfying - and quirkily funny - ancient Egyptian artefacts along the way, it's clear this isn't going to readbe an easy decision...|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1857886348</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= John SamuelStibbe_Xmas|title= What I Tell You in the DarkAn Almost Perfect Christmas|author=Nina Stibbe|rating= 34.5|genre= Humour|summary=A man called Will is fighting fiercely against corruption Christmas – the time of traditional trauma. You only have to think about the turkey for that – desperate once upon a time it was leaving it sat on the downstairs loo to expose his companydefrost overnight, and if that failed the hair-dryer shoved inside it treatment was your next best bet. Nowadays it's dodgy dealings all having to the press. Overcome with doubt make sure it's suitably free-range and organic – but not too organic that you can go and fearvisit it, he goes and get too friendly with it to kill himselfwant to eat it. ButChristmas, at the exact moment he attaches his noose to the back of the doorthough, he is savedof course also a time of great boons. By It's cash in hand for a curious housemate or lot of plump people who can hire red suits and beards, it was always a concerned girlfriend? No, by an Angel. Not godsend for postmen with all the whitethank-feathered guardian Angel you may expect, but one who wishes letters to help Will achieve his endsaunties you saw twice a decade that your parents made you write out in long-hand as a child, and so possess as for the body makers of the hapless Will in order to finish what he started. It goes without saying that the Angel is hoping things go better than Meltis Newberry Fruits – well, did they did with even try and sell them any other time of the last guy he possessed – a hapless young man from Galilee called Jesus…|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0715650505</amazonuk>year?

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= John NivenDoescher_Will|title= The Sunshine Cruise Company|rating= 4.5|genre= Humour|summary= Susan Frobisher and Julie Wickham live in a small Dorset town. Friends since school, they live fairly uneventful lives – Susan has a lovely house and a lengthy marriage to accountant Barry, whereas Julie is doing slightly less well – living in a council flat and working in an old peopleWilliam Shakespeare's home. When Barry is found dead trussed up in a sex dungeon, it transpires that he has been leading a hidden life for years, and his expensive fetishes lead to the bank moving to take Susan's home. Struck 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 Force Doth Awaken: Star Wars Part the nursing home longing for adventure.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0434023183</amazonuk>}}{{newreviewSeventh|author=Marie Phillips|title=The Table Of Less Valued KnightsIan Doescher

|genre=FantasyHumour|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 long time ago, in a quest. Therefore when damsel Elaine seeks help to find her kidnapped fiancégalaxy far away, Humphrey and his wardthere was a man called William Shakespeare, the teenage giant Conrad, eagerly set forth. Meanwhile in the kingdom who was able to create a series of dramatic histories full of Tuftmachinations most foul, new Queen Martha has run away after a disastrous wedding to… a… well… disastrous Prince Edwinrulers most evil and rebellious heroes and heroines most sturdy. She You may or may not realise it yet, but she too will have a job for Humphrey!|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099555875</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Tim Flannery|title=The Mystery noticed the cinematic version 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 his original stage play 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 heThe Force Doth Awaken's plucked or pickled. That's not to ignore , but here at last we get the fact he'll count as something quite alien himselfactual script, complete with his filledannoying-in-different-ways-out frame, nearly allto-over suntan and totemic tattoobefore droids anew, returning heroes from elsewhere in amongst other changes to his body. But what's this? When he gets backoeuvre, he finds one of the main Venus Islands artefacts that caused him to go there and people keeping it in the first place, a huge, macabre ceremonial fetish mask, purloined as corporate artworkfamily til it hurts. And some if you need further encouragement, don't forget his audience only demanded three parts of Henry VI – here the curators he wishes to work alongside have vanished. Is the weird society of the museum heseries is so popular we's returning re on to, perchance, even weirder, stranger and more violent than the cannibalistic society he's waving farewell to?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1922079308</amazonuk>part seven – surely making this over twice as good…