“Wrong Place Wrong Time” by Gillian McAllister (2022)
“Jen is glad of the clocks going back tonight.” If you could turn back time, what would you do differently? I’m sure there’s always something we’d change if we had a do-over. In this novel, our heroine...
View Article“Death By Shakespeare” by Kathryn Harkup (2020)
“William Shakespeare occupies a special place in history.” Death comes for us all, and writers are some of the biggest killers. Throughout his works, William Shakespeare sees off over 250 named...
View Article“The Family Upstairs” by Lisa Jewell (2019)
“Libby picks the letter up off the doormat.” Can I be honest with you? I really adored Lisa Jewell’s romantic comedy style novels. They were the perfect balance of fun, frothy and realistically dark....
View Article“Opening Night” by Ngaio Marsh (1951)
“As she turned into Carpet Street the girl wondered at her own obstinacy.” It’s a return at last to Ngaio Marsh, who takes the action from her native New Zealand to the West End stage. Martyn Tarne...
View Article“The Three Dahlias” by Katy Watson (2022)
“The last of the late August sunshine slid away behind the alder trees by the river as Rosalind watched, Amaretto in hand, leaning against the windowsill to take the weight off her aching knee.” Barely...
View Article“West Heart Kill” by Dann McDorman (2023)
“This murder mystery, like all murder mysteries, begins with the evocation of what the reader understands to be its atmosphere…” As I’ve yakked on about on this blog many times, I really love a fresh...
View Article“Black Lake Manor” by Guy Morpuss (2022)
“Maquina, chief of the Mowachaht, watched impassively as the Pride of Whitby broke her back.” Whether it’s by TARDIS, DeLorean, or magical remote control, we all fancy the idea of time travel at least...
View Article“4.50 From Paddington” by Agatha Christie (1957)
“Mrs McGillicuddy panted along the platform in the wake of the porter carrying her suitcase.” I wasn’t always a Christie obsessive. I can trace the moment it all kicked off to my third year of...
View Article“Murder On Christmas Eve” by Various (2017)
“He was sitting on top of one of the rear gate-posts of the churchyard when I walked through on Christmas Eve, grooming in his lordly style…” It’s Christmas! So what else is there to do but pour a...
View Article“Nine Lives” by Peter Swanson (2022)
“Jonathan Grant, unless he let her know ahead of time that he couldn’t make it, always visited on Wednesday evening.” And where better to end the year than with a twisty murder mystery? Peter Swanson...
View Article