Brian G's bookshelf: all en-US Thu, 17 Apr 2025 13:11:15 -0700 60 Brian G's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Dr. Sleep (The Shining, #2) 16092173 568 Stephen King 9024559154 Brian G 0 4.16 2013 Dr. Sleep (The Shining, #2)
author: Stephen King
name: Brian G
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/17
shelves: 2025, horror, currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (Hercule Poirot, #4)]]> 16328
The peaceful English village of King’s Abbot is stunned. The widow Ferrars dies from an overdose of Veronal. Not twenty-four hours later, Roger Ackroyd—the man she had planned to marry—is murdered. It is a baffling case involving blackmail and death that taxes Hercule Poirot’s “little grey cells� before he reaches one of the most startling conclusions of his career.

Librarian's note: the first fifteen novels in the Hercule Poirot series are 1) The Mysterious Affair at Styles, 1920; 2) The Murder on the Links, 1923; 3) The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, 1926; 4) The Big Four, 1927; 5) The Mystery of the Blue Train, 1928; 6) Peril at End House, 1932; 7) Lord Edgware Dies, 1933; 8) Murder on the Orient Express, 1934; 9) Three Act Tragedy, 1935; 10) Death in the Clouds, 1935; 11) The A.B.C. Murders, 1936; 12) Murder in Mesopotamia, 1936; 13) Cards on the Table, 1936; 14) Dumb Witness, 1937; and 15) Death on the Nile, 1937. These are just the novels; Poirot also appears in this period in a play, Black Coffee, 1930, and two collections of short stories, Poirot Investigates, 1924, and Murder in the Mews, 1937. Each novel, play and short story has its own entry on ŷ.]]> 288 Agatha Christie 1579126278 Brian G 5 2025, murder-mystery 4.26 1926 The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (Hercule Poirot, #4)
author: Agatha Christie
name: Brian G
average rating: 4.26
book published: 1926
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/17
date added: 2025/04/17
shelves: 2025, murder-mystery
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Death at the Seaside (Kate Shackleton, #8)]]> 29982610 402 Frances Brody 0349406596 Brian G 3 2025, murder-mystery 3.75 2016 Death at the Seaside (Kate Shackleton, #8)
author: Frances Brody
name: Brian G
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/13
date added: 2025/04/13
shelves: 2025, murder-mystery
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Death Comes to Marlow (Marlow Murder Club, #2)]]> 57366942
But during the soiree, there’s a crash from inside the house, and when the Marlow Murder Club rush to investigate, they are shocked to find the groom-to-be crushed to death in his study.

The study was locked from the inside, so the police don’t consider the death suspicious. But Judith disagrees. As far as she's concerned, Peter was murdered! And it’s up to the Marlow Murder Club to find the killer before he or she strikes again…]]> 366 Robert Thorogood 0008238316 Brian G 5 2025, murder-mystery 3.88 2023 Death Comes to Marlow (Marlow Murder Club, #2)
author: Robert Thorogood
name: Brian G
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/08
date added: 2025/04/08
shelves: 2025, murder-mystery
review:

]]> Twisted 40735214 BEFORE YOU READ THIS BOOK
I WANT YOU TO KNOW THREE THINGS:

1. The police are looking to charge me with murder.
2. No one knows who I am. Or how I did it.
3. If you think you've found me. I'm coming for you next.

After you've read this book, you'll know: the truth is far more twisted...]]> 320 Steve Cavanagh 1409170691 Brian G 4 2025, thriller 3.91 2019 Twisted
author: Steve Cavanagh
name: Brian G
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/03
date added: 2025/04/03
shelves: 2025, thriller
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Mrs. Jeffries on the Ball (Mrs. Jeffries, #5)]]> 1824218 The Jubilee Ball in honor of Queen Victoria was meant to be a festive affair... but for Hannah Greenwood, it was a fatal event. Since the victim belonged to the prestigious Hyde Park Literary Circle, the shadow of suspicion falls on her fellow members. And since Inspector Witherspoon was a guest at the ball, the job of finding the murderer falls to him. Fortunately, Mrs. Jeffries is there to help him read between the lines--and identify the guilty party behind this deadly plot...

IS THERE A DETECTIVE IN THE HOUSE
She keeps house for Inspector Witherspoon...and keeps him on his toes. Everyone's awed by his Scotland Yard successes--but they don't know about his secret weapon. No matter how messy the murder or how dirty the deed, Mrs. Jeffries's polished detection skills are up to the task ... proving that behind every great man there's a woman-and that a crime-solver's work is never done.

Meet the Inspector and Mrs. Jeffries--in a delightful new mystery series set in Victorian England--and featuring the most charming characters ever to crack a case!]]> 200 Emily Brightwell 0425144917 Brian G 0 3.90 1994 Mrs. Jeffries on the Ball (Mrs. Jeffries, #5)
author: Emily Brightwell
name: Brian G
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1994
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/02
shelves: currently-reading, 2025, audio
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Traveler (Fourth Realm, #1)]]> 80754
A world that exists in the shadows of our own.

A conflict we will never see.

One woman stands between those determined to control history and those who will risk their lives for freedom.

Maya is hiding in plain sight in London. The twenty-six-year-old has abandoned the dangerous obligations pressed upon her by her father, and chosen instead to live a normal life. But Maya comes from a long line of people who call themselves Harlequins—a fierce group of warriors willing to sacrifice their lives to protect a select few known as Travelers.

Gabriel and Michael Corrigan are brothers living in Los Angeles. Since childhood, the young men have been shaped by stories that their late father was a Traveler, one of a small band of prophets who have vastly influenced the course of history. Travelers are able to attain pure enlightenment, and have for centuries ushered change into the world. Gabriel and Michael, who may have inherited their father's gifts, have always protected themselves by living “off the Grid”—that is, invisible to the real-life surveillance networks that monitor people in our modern society.

Summoned by her ailing father, Maya is told of the existence of the brothers. The Corrigans are in severe danger, stalked by powerful men known as the Tabula—ruthless mercenaries who have hunted Travelers for generations. This group is determined to inflict order on the world by controlling it, and they view Travelers as an intolerable threat. As Maya races to California to protect the brothers, she is reluctantly pulled back into the cold and solitary Harlequin existence. A colossal battle looms—one that will reveal not only the identities of Gabriel and Michael Corrigan but also a secret history of our time.

Moving from the back alleys of Prague to the heart of Los Angeles, from the high deserts of Arizona to a guarded research facility in New York, The Traveler explores a parallel world that exists alongside our own. John Twelve Hawks' stunningly suspenseful debut is an international publishing sensation that marks the arrival of a major new talent.]]> 464 John Twelve Hawks 1400079292 Brian G 4 2025, kindle, thriller 3.89 2005 The Traveler (Fourth Realm, #1)
author: John Twelve Hawks
name: Brian G
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/27
date added: 2025/03/27
shelves: 2025, kindle, thriller
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Secret of Chimneys (Superintendent Battle, #1)]]> 16361 400 Agatha Christie 0007122586 Brian G 4 silly but satisfying
4 stars]]> 3.85 1925 The Secret of Chimneys (Superintendent Battle, #1)
author: Agatha Christie
name: Brian G
average rating: 3.85
book published: 1925
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/22
date added: 2025/03/22
shelves: 2016, christie, murder-mystery, rating-4, 2022, 2025
review:
An enjoyable early Christie. The plot is complex involving missing jewels, a master criminal, a missing Prince and murder,blackmail and no one is who they seem to be.
silly but satisfying
4 stars
]]> <![CDATA[Blood on the Tongue (Ben Cooper & Diane Fry, #3)]]> 503232 Blood on the Tongue. The unidentified body of a dead man has turned up on a frosty roadside. An abused woman is found curled in the snow on nearby Irontongue Hill, an apparent suicide. And there's the lingering puzzle of a Royal Air Force bomber that crashed into Irontongue back in 1945, killing everyone on board except for the pilot, who reportedly walked away from the wreckage... and was never heard from again. With leave and sickness decimating the ranks of the Edendale police force, all hands are needed to solve the modern deaths. But constable Cooper finds himself distracted by the World War II tragedy, in large part because of a beguiling young Canadian, the granddaughter of that missing pilot, who's come to Edendale determined to clear her ancestor's name.

Not surprisingly, these various cases eventually intertwine. But how they're linked by time and tragedy provides the intrigue here. Equally involving is the prickly alliance between Cooper, the "too bloody nice" local lad, and his superior, the emotionally guarded outsider, Fry. Plotted for maximum psychological suspense, teeming with singular secondary characters, and capitalizing on Britain's still-poignant memories of the last world war, Blood on the Tongue is an ambitious and remarkably mature work that delivers on the promise Booth showed in his first novel, Black Dog. --J. Kingston Pierce

]]> 480 Stephen Booth 0743457838 Brian G 4 2025, murder-mystery 3.89 2002 Blood on the Tongue (Ben Cooper & Diane Fry, #3)
author: Stephen Booth
name: Brian G
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2002
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/17
date added: 2025/03/17
shelves: 2025, murder-mystery
review:

]]> Pride & Prejudice 129915654 400 Jane Austen Brian G 3 2025, audio 4.38 1813 Pride & Prejudice
author: Jane Austen
name: Brian G
average rating: 4.38
book published: 1813
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/11
date added: 2025/03/11
shelves: 2025, audio
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Man in the Brown Suit (Colonel Race, #1)]]> 209194 Pretty, young Anne came to London looking for adventure. In fact, adventure comes looking for her—and finds her immediately at Hyde Park Corner tube station. Anne is present on the platform when a thin man, reeking of mothballs, loses his balance and is electrocuted on the rails.


The Scotland Yard verdict is accidental death. But Anne is not satisfied. After all, who was the man in the brown suit who examined the body? And why did he race off, leaving a cryptic message behind: "17-122 Kilmorden Castle"?


Twisty, clever, and intriguing, The Man in the Brown Suit showcases Agatha Christie once again at her very best.

]]> 381 Agatha Christie 0007151667 Brian G 4 3.97 1924 The Man in the Brown Suit (Colonel Race, #1)
author: Agatha Christie
name: Brian G
average rating: 3.97
book published: 1924
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/08
date added: 2025/03/08
shelves: 2020, christie, murder-mystery, 2025
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Worth Dying For (Jack Reacher #15)]]> 9460413 61 Hours, when he runs afoul of a local family with a stranglehold over the county and skeletons in their closet. An unsolved murder in the area from a quarter-of-a-century before draws Reacher in to the business of everyone in the area.]]> 511 Lee Child 0553825488 Brian G 5 2015, rating-5 This book is better than the last (61 hours) in that it is non-stop action. Jack is back to his no nonsense, hit first and hit hard best.
Brilliant, book if a bit gruesome in places. ]]> 4.13 2010 Worth Dying For (Jack Reacher #15)
author: Lee Child
name: Brian G
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2010
rating: 5
read at: 2015/05/13
date added: 2025/03/04
shelves: 2015, rating-5
review:
Jack Reacher is hurt. Resting in a small town in Nebraska he stumbles upon the Duncan Family, who hold the entire town in fear. Jack decides to teach them a lesson but discovers a buried secret.
This book is better than the last (61 hours) in that it is non-stop action. Jack is back to his no nonsense, hit first and hit hard best.
Brilliant, book if a bit gruesome in places.
]]> <![CDATA[Need You Dead (Roy Grace, #13)]]> 33121977 Need You Dead.

Lorna Belling, desperate to escape the marriage from hell, falls for the charms of another man who promises her the earth. But, as Lorna finds, life seldom follows the plans you’ve made. A chance photograph on a client’s mobile phone changes everything for her.

When the body of a woman is found in a bath in Brighton, Detective Superintendent Roy Grace is called to the scene. At first it looks an open and shut case with a clear prime suspect. Then other scenarios begin to present themselves, each of them tantalizingly plausible, until, in a sudden turn of events, and to his utter disbelief, the case turns more sinister than Grace could ever have imagined.]]> 431 Peter James Brian G 5 2025 4.27 2017 Need You Dead (Roy Grace, #13)
author: Peter James
name: Brian G
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/01
date added: 2025/03/01
shelves: 2025
review:

]]> The Keeper of Lost Things 34856247 A charming, clever, and quietly moving debut novel of endless possibilities and joyful discoveries that explores the promises we make and break, losing and finding ourselves, the objects that hold magic and meaning for our lives, and the surprising connections that bind us.

Lime green plastic flower-shaped hair bobbles�Found, on the playing field, Derrywood Park, 2nd September.

Bone china cup and saucer�Found, on a bench in Riveria Public Gardens, 31st October.

Anthony Peardew is the keeper of lost things. Forty years ago, he carelessly lost a keepsake from his beloved fiancée, Therese. That very same day, she died unexpectedly. Brokenhearted, Anthony sought consolation in rescuing lost objects—the things others have dropped, misplaced, or accidently left behind—and writing stories about them. Now, in the twilight of his life, Anthony worries that he has not fully discharged his duty to reconcile all the lost things with their owners. As the end nears, he bequeaths his secret life’s mission to his unsuspecting assistant, Laura, leaving her his house and and all its lost treasures, including an irritable ghost.

Recovering from a bad divorce, Laura, in some ways, is one of Anthony’s lost things. But when the lonely woman moves into his mansion, her life begins to change. She finds a new friend in the neighbor’s quirky daughter, Sunshine, and a welcome distraction in Freddy, the rugged gardener. As the dark cloud engulfing her lifts, Laura, accompanied by her new companions, sets out to realize Anthony’s last wish: reuniting his cherished lost objects with their owners.

Long ago, Eunice found a trinket on the London pavement and kept it through the years. Now, with her own end drawing near, she has lost something precious—a tragic twist of fate that forces her to break a promise she once made.

As the Keeper of Lost Objects, Laura holds the key to Anthony and Eunice’s redemption. But can she unlock the past and make the connections that will lay their spirits to rest?

Full of character, wit, and wisdom, The Keeper of Lost Things is heartwarming tale that will enchant fans of The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake, Garden Spells, Mrs Queen Takes the Train, and The Silver Linings Playbook.]]> 302 Ruth Hogan 1473635489 Brian G 1 tbr-shelf, 2025 Dnf. Not for me 3.75 2017 The Keeper of Lost Things
author: Ruth Hogan
name: Brian G
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2017
rating: 1
read at: 2025/02/23
date added: 2025/02/23
shelves: tbr-shelf, 2025
review:
Dnf. Not for me
]]> The Murder Game 61659088 One house. Nine guests. Endless motives for murder...

In the seaside town of Hamlet Wick, guests assemble for the party of the year.

At tonight's 1920s-themed murder mystery party in the crumbling Hamlet Hall, everyone has their own part to play.

But before the dessert has even been served, one of the guests is found murdered in his room.

Trapped in the house together, can the killer be found before they strike again?

In a close-knit community, old rivalries run deep...
]]> 384 Tom Hindle 1529902177 Brian G 5 2025, murder-mystery 3.54 2023 The Murder Game
author: Tom Hindle
name: Brian G
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/20
date added: 2025/02/20
shelves: 2025, murder-mystery
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Torso in the Town (Fethering, #3)]]> 1230967 327 Simon Brett 0330486551 Brian G 2 2025, audio, murder-mystery 3.57 2002 The Torso in the Town (Fethering, #3)
author: Simon Brett
name: Brian G
average rating: 3.57
book published: 2002
rating: 2
read at: 2025/02/18
date added: 2025/02/18
shelves: 2025, audio, murder-mystery
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Murder on the Links (Hercule Poirot, #2)]]> 51132354
Among the plausible suspects are Renauld's wife Eloise, his son Jack, Renauld's immediate neighbor Madame Daubreuil, the mysterious "Cinderella" of Hasting's recent acquaintance, and some unknown visitor of the previous day--all of whom Poirot has reason to suspect. Poirot's powers of investigation ultimately triumph over the wiles of an assailant whose misdirection and motives are nearly--but not quite--impossible to spot.

Contains a character key, a detailed biography, and an illustrated list of notable Poirot portrayals.

Librarian's note: the first fifteen novels in the Hercule Poirot series are 1) The Mysterious Affair at Styles, 1920; 2) The Murder on the Links, 1923; 3) The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, 1926; 4) The Big Four, 1927; 5) The Mystery of the Blue Train, 1928; 6) Peril at End House, 1932; 7) Lord Edgware Dies, 1933; 8) Murder on the Orient Express, 1934; 9) Three Act Tragedy, 1935; 10) Death in the Clouds, 1935; 11) The A.B.C. Murders, 1936; 12) Murder in Mesopotamia, 1936; 13) Cards on the Table, 1936; 14) Dumb Witness, 1937; and 15) Death on the Nile, 1937. These are just the novels; Poirot also appears in this period in a play, Black Coffee, 1930, and two collections of short stories, Poirot Investigates, 1924, and Murder in the Mews, 1937. Each novel, play and short story has its own entry on ŷ.]]> 199 Agatha Christie 1734452552 Brian G 0 2025 3.84 1923 The Murder on the Links (Hercule Poirot, #2)
author: Agatha Christie
name: Brian G
average rating: 3.84
book published: 1923
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/15
shelves: 2025
review:

]]> The Chalet 51197929 Four friends. One luxury getaway. The perfect murder.

French Alps, 1998

Two young men ski into a blizzard� but only one returns.

20 years later

Four people connected to the missing man find themselves in that same resort. Each has a secret. Two may have blood on their hands. One is a killer-in-waiting.

Someone knows what really happened that day.

And somebody will pay.]]> 390 Catherine Cooper 0008400229 Brian G 4 2025, thriller 3.75 2020 The Chalet
author: Catherine Cooper
name: Brian G
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/10
date added: 2025/02/10
shelves: 2025, thriller
review:

]]> Mrs Jeffries Takes Stock 21062881
This charming series of Victorian murder mysteries features mild-mannered Inspector Witherspoon of Scotland Yard and, more importantly, Mrs Jeffries, his housekeeper. A policeman's widow herself, her quick wits allow her to nudge the Inspector in the right direction to solve the crime.]]> 234 Emily Brightwell 1472108906 Brian G 4 2025, murder-mystery 3.49 1994 Mrs Jeffries Takes Stock
author: Emily Brightwell
name: Brian G
average rating: 3.49
book published: 1994
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/06
date added: 2025/02/06
shelves: 2025, murder-mystery
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Secret Adversary (Tommy and Tuppence, #1)]]> 594137 242 Agatha Christie 0451201205 Brian G 3 2022, 2025 3.71 1922 The Secret Adversary (Tommy and Tuppence, #1)
author: Agatha Christie
name: Brian G
average rating: 3.71
book published: 1922
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/02
date added: 2025/02/02
shelves: 2022, 2025
review:
Agatha Christie's second novel is a fun, if over the top, adventure. Entertaining 3 stars
]]> <![CDATA[Thirteen Guests (Inspector Kendall #1)]]> 25571846
Soon events take a sinister turn when a painting is mutilated, a dog stabbed, and a man strangled. Death strikes more than one of the house guests, and the police are called. Detective Inspector Kendall’s skills are tested to the utmost as he tries to uncover the hidden past of everyone at Bragley Court.

This country-house mystery is a forgotten classic of 1930s crime fiction by one of the most undeservedly neglected of golden age detective novelists.]]> 256 J. Jefferson Farjeon 1464204896 Brian G 3 2025, murder-mystery 3.51 1936 Thirteen Guests (Inspector Kendall #1)
author: J. Jefferson Farjeon
name: Brian G
average rating: 3.51
book published: 1936
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/28
date added: 2025/01/28
shelves: 2025, murder-mystery
review:

]]> The Loop 25422 511 Nicholas Evans 0552144959 Brian G 5 2025 3.96 1998 The Loop
author: Nicholas Evans
name: Brian G
average rating: 3.96
book published: 1998
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/22
date added: 2025/01/22
shelves: 2025
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Ghost and Mrs. Jeffries (Mrs. Jeffries, #3)]]> 1052337 198 Emily Brightwell 0425139492 Brian G 4 An inspector solves the case with the help of his domestic staff.
I'll be picking up more from this series.]]> 3.78 1993 The Ghost and Mrs. Jeffries (Mrs. Jeffries, #3)
author: Emily Brightwell
name: Brian G
average rating: 3.78
book published: 1993
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/16
date added: 2025/01/16
shelves: 2019, murder-mystery, rating-4, 2025
review:
Enjoyable light murder mystery set in Victorian London.
An inspector solves the case with the help of his domestic staff.
I'll be picking up more from this series.
]]> Joyland 13596166
A riveting story about love and loss, about growing up and growing old - and about those who don't get to do either because death comes for them before their time. It is at once a mystery, a horror story, and a bittersweet coming-of-age novel, one that will leave even the most hard-boiled reader profoundly moved.]]> 285 Stephen King 1781162646 Brian G 5 2025, horror, audio 3.90 2013 Joyland
author: Stephen King
name: Brian G
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2013
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/16
date added: 2025/01/16
shelves: 2025, horror, audio
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Night Hawks (Ruth Galloway, #13)]]> 51830272
The Night Hawks, a group of metal detectorists, are searching for buried treasure when they find a body on the beach in North Norfolk. At first Nelson thinks that the dead man might be an asylum seeker but he turns out to be a local boy, Jem Taylor, recently released from prison. Ruth is more interested in the treasure, a hoard of Bronze Age weapons. Nelson at first thinks that Taylor's death is accidental drowning, but a second death suggests murder.

Nelson is called to an apparent murder-suicide of a couple at the isolated Black Dog Farm. Local legend talks of the Black Shuck, a spectral hound that appears to people before they die. Nelson ignores this, even when the owner's suicide note includes the line, 'He's buried in the garden.' Ruth excavates and finds the body of a giant dog.

All roads lead back to this farm in the middle of nowhere, but the place spells serious danger for anyone who goes near. Ruth doesn't scare easily. Not until she finds herself at Black Dog Farm ...]]> 319 Elly Griffiths 1787477827 Brian G 4 2025 4.22 2021 The Night Hawks (Ruth Galloway, #13)
author: Elly Griffiths
name: Brian G
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/15
date added: 2025/01/15
shelves: 2025
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Mysterious Affair at Styles (Hercule Poirot, #1)]]> 52843028
A refugee of the Great War, Poirot has settled in England near Styles Court, the country estate of his wealthy benefactor, the elderly Emily Inglethorp. When Emily is poisoned and the authorities are baffled, Poirot puts his prodigious sleuthing skills to work. Suspects are plentiful, including the victim’s much younger husband, her resentful stepsons, her longtime hired companion, a young family friend working as a nurse, and a London specialist on poisons who just happens to be visiting the nearby village.

All of them have secrets they are desperate to keep, but none can outwit Poirot as he navigates the ingenious red herrings and plot twists that contribute to Agatha Christie's well-deserved reputation as the queen of mystery.]]> 174 Agatha Christie 1734452595 Brian G 4 2025 4.06 1920 The Mysterious Affair at Styles (Hercule Poirot, #1)
author: Agatha Christie
name: Brian G
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1920
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/08
date added: 2025/01/08
shelves: 2025
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Agatha Christie's Poirot: The Greatest Detective in the World]]> 48836641 From the publication of Agatha Christie’s very first book in 1920 to the release of Sir Kenneth Branagh’s film Death on the Nile , this investigates the phenomenon of Hercule Poirot and celebrates a century of one of the world’s favorite fictional detectives.

Hercule Poirot has had a near-permanent presence in the public eye ever since the 1920 publication of The Mysterious Affair at Styles. The detective who solves diabolical crimes using his “little grey cells� has enamored audiences not only in the original novels, short stories, and plays, but also across radio, television, and movies.

From Agatha Christie’s earliest conceptions and publication history, to forays on the stage and screen, the story of Poirot is as fascinating as it is enduring. Mark Aldridge tells this story decade-by-decade, exploring and analyzing Poirot’s many and often wildly different appearances, following the detective to present day when he is enjoying a worldwide renaissance.

Packed with original research, never-before-published correspondence, and images from the Agatha Christie archives.]]> 400 Mark Aldridge 0063019019 Brian G 5 4.16 2020 Agatha Christie's Poirot: The Greatest Detective in the World
author: Mark Aldridge
name: Brian G
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2021/02/26
date added: 2025/01/04
shelves: 2021, christie, non-fiction, currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Death in the Dales (Kate Shackleton #7)]]> 26220101 A murder most foul
When the landlord of a Yorkshire tavern is killed in plain sight, Freda Simonson, the only witness to the crime, becomes plagued with guilt, believing the wrong man has been convicted. Following her death, it seems that the truth will never be uncovered in the peaceful village of Langcliffe . . .
A village of secrets
But it just so happens that Freda's nephew is courting the renowned amateur sleuth Kate Shackleton, who decides to holiday in Langcliffe with her indomitable teenage niece, Harriet. When Harriet strikes up a friendship with a local girl whose young brother is missing, the search leads Kate to uncover another suspicious death, not to mention an illicit affair.
The case of a lifetime
As the present mysteries merge with the past's mistakes, Kate is thrust into the secrets that Freda left behind and realises that this courageous woman has entrusted her with solving a murder from beyond the grave. It soon becomes clear to her that nothing in Langcliffe is quite as it appears, and with a murderer on the loose and an ever-growing roster of suspects, this isn't the holiday Kate was expecting . . .]]> 384 Frances Brody 0349406561 Brian G 4 2024, murder-mystery 3.82 2015 A Death in the Dales (Kate Shackleton #7)
author: Frances Brody
name: Brian G
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/04
date added: 2025/01/04
shelves: 2024, murder-mystery
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Agatha Christie: A Very Elusive Woman]]> 59822447 A new, fascinating account of the life of Agatha Christie from celebrated literary and cultural historian Lucy Worsley.

"Nobody in the world was more inadequate toact the heroine than I was."

Why did Agatha Christie spend her careerpretending that she was “just� an ordinary housewife, when clearly shewasn’t?Her life isfascinatingfor its mysteries and its passionsand, as Lucy Worsley says,"She was thrillingly, scintillatingly modern."She went surfing in Hawaii, shelovedfast cars, and she was intrigued by the new science of psychology, whichhelped her through devastating mental illness.

So why—despite all the evidence to thecontrary—did Agatha present herself as a retiring Edwardian lady ofleisure?

She was born in 1890 into a world that hadits own rules about what women could and couldn’t do.Lucy Worsley’s biography is not just of amassively, internationally successful writer.It's also the story of a person who, despite the obstacles of class andgender, became anastonishingly successful working woman.

With access to personal letters and papersthat have rarely been seen, Lucy Worsley’s biography is both authoritative andentertaining andmakes us realize what an extraordinary pioneer Agatha Christiewas—truly a woman who wrote the twentieth century.]]> 498 Lucy Worsley Brian G 5 2024, non-fiction 4.20 2022 Agatha Christie: A Very Elusive Woman
author: Lucy Worsley
name: Brian G
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/03
date added: 2025/01/03
shelves: 2024, non-fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Birdwatcher (DS Alexandra Cupidi #0/prequel)]]> 32498061 Police Sergeant William South has a good reason to shy away from murder investigations: he is a murderer himself.

A methodical, diligent, and exceptionally bright detective, South is an avid birdwatcher and trusted figure in his small town on the rugged Kentish coast. He also lives with the deeply buried secret that, as a child in Northern Ireland, he may have killed a man. When a fellow birdwatcher is found murdered in his remote home, South's world flips.

The culprit seems to be a drifter from South's childhood; the victim was the only person connecting South to his early crime; and a troubled, vivacious new female sergeant has been relocated from London and assigned to work with South. As our hero investigates, he must work ever-harder to keep his own connections to the victim, and his past, a secret.

The Birdwatcher is British crime fiction at its finest; a stirring portrait of flawed, vulnerable investigators; a meticulously constructed mystery; and a primal story of fear, loyalty and vengeance.

]]> 336 William Shaw 0316316245 Brian G 3 2024, audio 3.92 2016 The Birdwatcher (DS Alexandra Cupidi #0/prequel)
author: William Shaw
name: Brian G
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/03
date added: 2025/01/03
shelves: 2024, audio
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Perplexing Theft of the Jewel in the Crown (Baby Ganesh Agency Investigation, #2)]]> 26227647 The second book in the heartwarming and charming Baby Ganesh series.

For centuries the Koh-i-Noor diamond has set man against man and king against king. Now part of the British Crown Jewels, the priceless gem is a prize that many have killed to possess. So when the Crown Jewels go on display in Mumbai, security is everyone's principal concern. And yet, on the very day Inspector Chopra visits the exhibition, the diamond is stolen from under his nose. The heist was daring and seemingly impossible. The hunt is on for the culprits. But it soon becomes clear that only one man - and his elephant - can possibly crack this case...]]> 353 Vaseem Khan 1473612292 Brian G 4 2024, murder-mystery 4.00 2016 The Perplexing Theft of the Jewel in the Crown (Baby Ganesh Agency Investigation, #2)
author: Vaseem Khan
name: Brian G
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/29
date added: 2024/12/29
shelves: 2024, murder-mystery
review:

]]> On the Edge (Jen Shaw, #1) 58374725
Yet, when she awakens to find herself drugged and dangling off the local lighthouse during a wild storm less than twenty-four hours after returning to Cornwall from a rehab center, she needs all her skill to battle her way to safety. Once safe, the real challenge begins. Jen must face her troubled past in order to figure out whether something triggered her return to this risky behavior, or if there is a more sinister explanation hidden in her hometown…]]> 320 Jane Jesmond 0857308165 Brian G 4 2024, thriller 3.64 2021 On the Edge (Jen Shaw, #1)
author: Jane Jesmond
name: Brian G
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/23
date added: 2024/12/23
shelves: 2024, thriller
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Lantern Men (Ruth Galloway, #12)]]> 59138327 Forensic archaeologist Ruth Galloway changed her life—until a convicted killer tells her that four of his victims were never found, drawing her back to the place she left behind.]]> 373 Elly Griffiths Brian G 3 2024, thriller 4.17 2020 The Lantern Men (Ruth Galloway, #12)
author: Elly Griffiths
name: Brian G
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/15
date added: 2024/12/15
shelves: 2024, thriller
review:

]]> The Vanishing of Audrey Wilde 31851232
When fifteen-year-old Margot and her three sisters arrive at Applecote Manor in June 1959, they expect a quiet English country summer. Instead, they find their aunt and uncle still reeling from the disappearance of their daughter, Audrey, five years before. As the sisters become divided by new tensions when two handsome neighbors drop by, Margot finds herself drawn into the life Audrey left behind. When the summer takes a deadly turn, the girls must unite behind an unthinkable choice or find themselves torn apart forever.

Fifty years later, Jesse is desperate to move her family out of their London home, where signs of her widower husband’s previous wife are around every corner. Gorgeous Applecote Manor, nestled in the English countryside, seems the perfect solution. But Jesse finds herself increasingly isolated in their new sprawling home, at odds with her fifteen-year-old stepdaughter, and haunted by the strange rumors that surround the manor.]]> 512 Eve Chase 0718180100 Brian G 1 2024, thriller, dnf DNF 3.80 2017 The Vanishing of Audrey Wilde
author: Eve Chase
name: Brian G
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2017
rating: 1
read at: 2024/12/07
date added: 2024/12/07
shelves: 2024, thriller, dnf
review:
DNF
]]> <![CDATA[Lord Emsworth and Others (Blandings Castle, #5.5)]]> 16388 268 P.G. Wodehouse 1585672777 Brian G 5
Delightful tales from Blandings, The Oldest Member and Ukridge to enjoy
Perfectly plotted and delightful dialogue

5 stars]]> 4.11 1937 Lord Emsworth and Others (Blandings Castle, #5.5)
author: P.G. Wodehouse
name: Brian G
average rating: 4.11
book published: 1937
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/04
date added: 2024/12/04
shelves: 2020, humour, shorts, wodehouse, 2024
review:
Nobody writes better short stories than Wodehouse

Delightful tales from Blandings, The Oldest Member and Ukridge to enjoy
Perfectly plotted and delightful dialogue

5 stars
]]> <![CDATA[Death of the Demon: A Hanne Wilhelmsen Novel]]> 17251274 From the Edgar Award finalist, the captivating third book in the series featuring the brilliant and tough police investigator Hanne Wilhelmsen, who must investigate the grisly murder of an orphanage director.

In an orphanage outside Oslo, a twelve-year-old boy is causing havoc. The institution’s aging director, Agnes Vestavik, sees something chilling in Olav’s sheer hatred. When Vestavik is found murdered at her desk late at night, stabbed in the neck with a kitchen knife—with Olav nowhere to be found—the case goes to maverick investigator Hanne Wilhelmsen, recently promoted to superintendent in the Oslo police. Hanne suspects that Olav witnessed the murder and fled, and she orders an investigation of the orphanage staff. But Hanne is hopeless at delegating, hopeless at pooling information, hopeless at sharing responsibilities. Only Hanne’s supreme deductive skills keep her on the job, but this, however, is one case where her instincts are leading her astray.

Meanwhile, Olav makes his way to his once unfit mother’s apartment in central Oslo. When police finally catch up to him, Olav will lead them on a chase that will upend all of their assumptions. A dark and captivating new chapter in this brilliant, rollicking series, Death of the Demon examines that murky intersection between crime and justice.]]> 288 Anne Holt 1451634927 Brian G 3 2024, audio, thriller 3.61 1995 Death of the Demon: A Hanne Wilhelmsen Novel
author: Anne Holt
name: Brian G
average rating: 3.61
book published: 1995
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/29
date added: 2024/11/29
shelves: 2024, audio, thriller
review:

]]> <![CDATA[At Bertram's Hotel (Miss Marple, #10)]]> 16333
When Miss Marple comes up from the country for a holiday in London, she finds what she's looking for at Bertram's: traditional décor and impeccable service. But she senses an unmistakable atmosphere of danger behind the highly polished veneer. Not even Miss Marple can foresee the violent chain of events set in motion when an eccentric hotel guest makes his way to the airport one day late!

Librarian's note: this entry is for the novel, "At Bertram's Hotel." Collections and other Miss Marple stories are located elsewhere on ŷ. The series includes 12 novels and 20 short stories. Entries for the short stories can be found by searching ŷ for: "a Miss Marple Short Story."]]> 223 Agatha Christie Brian G 2 Although this is a Miss Marple book she hardly features at all and seems to be a last minute inclusion.
The story deals with a hotel and Christie's writing is very good in the atmosphere and details of this, the characters are interesting and engaging. The problem with this book is the plot and pacing.
It doesn't excite or engage the reader but is a long descriptive narrative about how good things were in the past and how things have changed.
The few exciting parts are lacking in depth to really care
And the murder mystery part happens on about page 250 of 310....The rest is just atmosphere and she tries to convey a sense of anticipation but on whole it fails

3 stars - good, but not classic Christie or Marple ]]> 3.72 1965 At Bertram's Hotel (Miss Marple, #10)
author: Agatha Christie
name: Brian G
average rating: 3.72
book published: 1965
rating: 2
read at: 2019/01/09
date added: 2024/11/29
shelves: 2019, christie, murder-mystery, rating-3
review:
a slow nostalgic book
Although this is a Miss Marple book she hardly features at all and seems to be a last minute inclusion.
The story deals with a hotel and Christie's writing is very good in the atmosphere and details of this, the characters are interesting and engaging. The problem with this book is the plot and pacing.
It doesn't excite or engage the reader but is a long descriptive narrative about how good things were in the past and how things have changed.
The few exciting parts are lacking in depth to really care
And the murder mystery part happens on about page 250 of 310....The rest is just atmosphere and she tries to convey a sense of anticipation but on whole it fails

3 stars - good, but not classic Christie or Marple
]]> Take Your Breath Away 58735545 From the New York Times bestselling author of Find You First and Elevator Pitch comes a gripping psychological thriller about a formerly missing woman who has suddenly returned under mysterious circumstances.

One weekend, while Andrew Mason was on a fishing trip, his wife, Brie, vanished without a trace. Most everyone assumed Andy had got away with murder--it's always the husband, isn't it?--but the police could never build a strong case against him. For a while, Andy hit rock bottom--he drank too much to numb the pain, was abandoned by all his friends save one, nearly lost his business, and became a pariah in the place he once called home.

Now, six years later, Andy has finally put his life back together. He sold the house he once shared with Brie and moved away. Truth to tell, he wasn't sad to hear that the old place was razed and a new house built on the site. He's settled down with a new partner, Jayne, and life is good.

But Andy's peaceful world is about to shatter. One day, a woman shows up at his old address, screaming, "Where's my house? What's happened to my house?" And then, just as suddenly as she appeared, the woman--who bears a striking resemblance to Brie--is gone. The police are notified and old questions--and dark suspicions--resurface.

Could Brie really be alive after all these years? If so, where has she been? It soon becomes clear that Andy's future, and the lives of those closest to him, depends on discovering what the hell is going on. The trick will be whether he can stay alive long enough to unearth the answers.]]> 354 Linwood Barclay 0063035138 Brian G 4 2024, thriller 3.93 2022 Take Your Breath Away
author: Linwood Barclay
name: Brian G
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/28
date added: 2024/11/28
shelves: 2024, thriller
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Stone Circle (Ruth Galloway, #11)]]> 53216609 In a chilling entry to the award-winning Ruth Galloway series, she and DCI Nelson are haunted by a ghost from their past, just as their future lands on shaky ground.

DCI Nelson has been receiving threatening letters. They are anonymous, yet reminiscent of ones he has received in the past, from the person who drew him into a case that's haunted him for years. At the same time, Ruth receives a letter purporting to be from that very same person--her former mentor, and the reason she first started working with Nelson. But the author of those letters is dead. Or is he?

The past is reaching out for Ruth and Nelson, and its grip is deadly.
]]> 0 Elly Griffiths 1328974650 Brian G 3 2024, thriller There was more focus on personal relationships than the crime story]]> 4.09 2019 The Stone Circle (Ruth Galloway, #11)
author: Elly Griffiths
name: Brian G
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/22
date added: 2024/11/22
shelves: 2024, thriller
review:
First 90% is good. The ending of the mystery part was very rushed.
There was more focus on personal relationships than the crime story
]]> Watermelon (Walsh Family, #1) 9300
She decides to go home to Dublin. And there, sheltered by the love of a quirky family, she gets better. So much so, in fact, that when James slithers back into her life, he's in for a bit of a surprise.]]> 520 Marian Keyes 0099489988 Brian G 3 2024, audio 3.78 1995 Watermelon (Walsh Family, #1)
author: Marian Keyes
name: Brian G
average rating: 3.78
book published: 1995
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/18
date added: 2024/11/18
shelves: 2024, audio
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Heavy Weather (Blandings Castle, #5)]]> 18033
Monty Bodkin, abruptly given the boot by Lord Tilbury, has taken up his secretarial duties at Blandings Castle, home of Lord Emsworth and his adored pig, Empress of Blandings. There, it seems the publication - or otherwise - of the memoirs is becoming a "cause celebre".

Three camps are forming: those who want the book published, those who want it suppressed and those who, including Monty on one side and Percy Pilbeam, private detective, on the other, who have been sent to steal it. Whichever side they're on it's bound to involve blackmail, theft and the abduction of the Empress . . .]]> 249 P.G. Wodehouse 0141181966 Brian G 4 This book is essentially a sequel to Summer Lightning,taking place a few days after the events of that book have settled, so I suggest don't read this one without the other first
I love Blandings and the more I read of it I want to go and stay. Who knows what awaits.

A empress(ive) 4 stars]]> 4.24 1933 Heavy Weather (Blandings Castle, #5)
author: P.G. Wodehouse
name: Brian G
average rating: 4.24
book published: 1933
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/17
date added: 2024/11/17
shelves: 2016, humour, rating-4, blandings, wodehouse, 2024
review:
Reading Wodehouse is like a nice cup of tea. Refreshing and makes you feel more english
This book is essentially a sequel to Summer Lightning,taking place a few days after the events of that book have settled, so I suggest don't read this one without the other first
I love Blandings and the more I read of it I want to go and stay. Who knows what awaits.

A empress(ive) 4 stars
]]> <![CDATA[Love You Dead (Roy Grace, #12)]]> 27993438 449 Peter James Brian G 4 2024, thriller 4.32 2016 Love You Dead (Roy Grace, #12)
author: Peter James
name: Brian G
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/11
date added: 2024/11/11
shelves: 2024, thriller
review:

]]> A Tap on the Window 16072980
Driving home one night, a rain-drenched girl taps on his car window and asks for a ride. He knows a grown man picking up a teenage hitchhiker is foolish—but he lets her in. Cal soon senses that something’s not right with the girl or the situation. But it’s too late. He’s already involved.

Drawn into a nightmare of secrets, lies, and cover-ups in his small, upstate New York town, Cal knows that the only thing that can save him is the truth. And he’s about to expose the town’s secrets one by one—if he lives long enough.]]> 512 Linwood Barclay 0451414187 Brian G 5 2023, thriller 3.93 2013 A Tap on the Window
author: Linwood Barclay
name: Brian G
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2013
rating: 5
read at: 2023/06/15
date added: 2024/11/11
shelves: 2023, thriller
review:

]]> <![CDATA[One, Two, Buckle My Shoe (Hercule Poirot, #23)]]> 16312
From the
What reason would an amiable dentist like Dr. Morely have for committing suicide? He didn't have emotional difficulties, money problems, or love trouble. What he did have was an appointment with Hercule Poirot, who is not persuaded by the suicide story and has therefore taken it upon himself to question the good doctor's patients, partners, and friends. All he's come up with is the numbing fear that Dr. Morely wasn't an unlikely victim at all. Nor the first.]]> 0 Agatha Christie 1572703857 Brian G 4 3.79 1940 One, Two, Buckle My Shoe (Hercule Poirot, #23)
author: Agatha Christie
name: Brian G
average rating: 3.79
book published: 1940
rating: 4
read at: 2021/10/24
date added: 2024/11/07
shelves: 2021, christie, murder-mystery
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Dancing with the Virgins (Ben Cooper & Diane Fry, #2)]]> 522367 528 Stephen Booth 0743431006 Brian G 4 2024 3.84 2001 Dancing with the Virgins (Ben Cooper & Diane Fry, #2)
author: Stephen Booth
name: Brian G
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2001
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/04
date added: 2024/11/04
shelves: 2024
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Complete Father Brown Stories]]> 17141957
Here you will find the complete Father Brown collection of 53 murder mystery stories in the chronological order of their original publication.

- The Innocence of Father Brown
- The Wisdom of Father Brown
- The Donnington Affair
- The Incredulity of Father Brown
- The Secret of Father Brown
- The Scandal of Father Brown
- The Mask of Midas]]> 800 G.K. Chesterton 1849906467 Brian G 0 to-read 3.78 1935 The Complete Father Brown Stories
author: G.K. Chesterton
name: Brian G
average rating: 3.78
book published: 1935
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Wind Through the Keyhole (The Dark Tower, #4.5)]]> 12341557
Roland Deschain and his ka-tet�Jake, Susannah, Eddie, and Oy, the billy-bumbler—encounter a ferocious storm just after crossing the River Whye on their way to the Outer Baronies. As they shelter from the howling gale, Roland tells his friends not just one strange story but two . . . and in so doing, casts new light on his own troubled past.

In his early days as a gunslinger, in the guilt-ridden year following his mother’s death, Roland is sent by his father to investigate evidence of a murderous shape-shifter, a “skin-man� preying upon the population around Debaria. Roland takes charge of Bill Streeter, the brave but terrified boy who is the sole surviving witness to the beast’s most recent slaughter. Only a teenager himself, Roland calms the boy and prepares him for the following day’s trials by reciting a story from the Magic Tales of the Eld that his mother often read to him at bedtime. “A person’s never too old for stories,� Roland says to Bill. “Man and boy, girl and woman, never too old. We live for them.� And indeed, the tale that Roland unfolds, the legend of Tim Stoutheart, is a timeless treasure for all ages, a story that lives for us.

King began the Dark Tower series in 1974; it gained momentum in the 1980s; and he brought it to a thrilling conclusion when the last three novels were published in 2003 and 2004. The Wind Through the Keyhole is sure to fascinate avid fans of the Dark Tower epic. But this novel also stands on its own for all readers, an enchanting and haunting journey to Roland’s world and testimony to the power of Stephen King’s storytelling magic.

~from first edition jacket]]> 322 Stephen King Brian G 0 2024, kindle, fantasy 4.12 2012 The Wind Through the Keyhole (The Dark Tower, #4.5)
author: Stephen King
name: Brian G
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at: 2024/10/24
date added: 2024/10/28
shelves: 2024, kindle, fantasy
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The October Man (Rivers of London, #7.5)]]> 42389859
Fortunately this is Germany, where there are procedures for everything.

Enter Investigator Tobias Winter, whose aim is to get in, deal with the problem, and get out with the minimum of fuss, personal danger and paperwork. With the help of frighteningly enthusiastic local cop, Vanessa Sommer, he’s quick to link the first victim to a group of ordinary middle aged men � and to realise they may have accidentally reawakened a bloody conflict from a previous century. But the rot is still spreading, literally and with the suspect list extending to people born before Frederick the Great solving the case may mean unearthing the city’s secret magical history.

. . . so long as that history doesn’t kill them first.]]> 180 Ben Aaronovitch 1473224314 Brian G 0 2024, audio, fantasy 3.93 2019 The October Man (Rivers of London, #7.5)
author: Ben Aaronovitch
name: Brian G
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at: 2024/10/28
date added: 2024/10/28
shelves: 2024, audio, fantasy
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Few Right Thinking Men (Rowland Sinclair, #1)]]> 8176796 349 Sulari Gentill 0980741815 Brian G 4 2024, murder-mystery 3.62 2010 A Few Right Thinking Men (Rowland Sinclair, #1)
author: Sulari Gentill
name: Brian G
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2010
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/15
date added: 2024/10/15
shelves: 2024, murder-mystery
review:

]]> Watching You 38355282
As the headmaster credited with turning around the local school, Tom Fitzwilliam is beloved by one and all—including Joey Mullen, his new neighbor, who quickly develops an intense infatuation with this thoroughly charming yet unavailable man. Joey thinks her crush is a secret, but Tom’s teenaged son Freddie—a prodigy with aspirations of becoming a spy for MI5—excels in observing people and has witnessed Joey behaving strangely around his father.

One of Tom’s students, Jenna Tripp, also lives on the same street, and she’s not convinced her teacher is as squeaky clean as he seems. For one thing, he has taken a particular liking to her best friend and fellow classmate, and Jenna’s mother—whose mental health has admittedly been deteriorating in recent years—is convinced that Mr. Fitzwilliam is stalking her.

Meanwhile, twenty years earlier, a schoolgirl writes in her diary, charting her doomed obsession with a handsome young English teacher named Mr. Fitzwilliam…]]> 320 Lisa Jewell 1501190075 Brian G 4 2024, thriller 3.83 2018 Watching You
author: Lisa Jewell
name: Brian G
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/10/15
shelves: 2024, thriller
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Death on the Downs (Fethering, #2)]]> 1912523
So begins the second investigation for strait-laced Carole and her more laid-back neighbour Jude. This time their enquiries take them away from their seaside village of Fethering to the small downland hamlet of Weldisham.

There gossips quickly identify the corpse as Tamsin Lutteridge, a young woman who disappeared from the village months before. Detective Sergeant Bayliss will confirm nothing. So why is Tamsin's mother, a friend of Jude's, so certain her daughter is still alive? Why is village elder statesman Graham Forbes suddenly taking an interest in Carole? And why is the decidedly unstable Brian Helling so keen to announce that there is a serial killer on the loose ...?

As Jude sets out to find Tamsin - either dead or alive - Carole digs deeper into Weldisham's history and the bitter relationships simmering beneath the village's gentle facade.]]> 304 Simon Brett 0425179532 Brian G 4 2024, audio, murder-mystery 3.61 2001 Death on the Downs (Fethering, #2)
author: Simon Brett
name: Brian G
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2001
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/09
date added: 2024/10/09
shelves: 2024, audio, murder-mystery
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Dark Angel (Ruth Galloway, #10)]]> 59138314
In this highly atmospheric mystery, Ruth Galloway—“a captivating amateur sleuth� (Louise Penny)—and DCI Nelson investigate a murder in a medieval Italian town where dark secrets are buried as deep as bones.
It’s not every day that you’re summoned to the Italian countryside on business, so when archaeologist Angelo Morelli asks for Ruth Galloway’s help identifying bones found in the tiny hilltop town of Fontana Liri, she jumps at the chance to go, bringing her daughter along with her for a working vacation. Upon arriving, she begins to hear murmurs of Fontana Liri’s strong resistance movement during World War II and senses the townspeople are dancing around a deeply buried secret. But how could that be connected to the ancient remains she’s been studying?

Ruth is just beginning to get her footing in the dig when she’s thrown off-guard by the appearance of DCI Nelson. And when Ruth’s findings lead them to a modern-day murder, their holidays are both turned upside down, and they race to find out what darkness is lurking in this seemingly picturesque town.
]]> 357 Elly Griffiths Brian G 3 2024, murder-mystery 4.13 2018 The Dark Angel (Ruth Galloway, #10)
author: Elly Griffiths
name: Brian G
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2018
rating: 3
read at: 2024/10/04
date added: 2024/10/04
shelves: 2024, murder-mystery
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Summer Lightning (Blandings Castle, #4)]]> 13707659 288 P.G. Wodehouse 0393341615 Brian G 4 The plot is complicated to explain, too complicated which is why it's 4 stars not 5.]]> 4.25 1929 Summer Lightning (Blandings Castle, #4)
author: P.G. Wodehouse
name: Brian G
average rating: 4.25
book published: 1929
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/05
date added: 2024/10/03
shelves: 2015, blandings, humour, rating-4, wodehouse, 2024
review:
The writing of PG Wodehouse sparkles like champagne. it's impossible not to smile when reading this. There are many laugh-out-loud moments too
The plot is complicated to explain, too complicated which is why it's 4 stars not 5.
]]> Blaze 349473
The last of the Richard Bachman novels, recently recovered and published for the first time. Stephen King's "dark half" may have saved the best for last.

A fellow named Richard Bachman wrote Blaze in 1973 on an Olivetti typewriter, then turned the machine over to Stephen King, who used it to write Carrie. Bachman died in 1985 ("cancer of the pseudonym"), but in late 2006 King found the original typescript of Blaze among his papers at the University of Maine's Fogler Library ("How did this get here?!"), and decided that with a little revision it ought to be published.

Blaze is the story of Clayton Blaisdell, Jr. --of the crimes committed against him and the crimes he commits, including his last, the kidnapping of a baby heir worth millions. Blaze has been a slow thinker since childhood, when his father threw him down the stairs--and then threw him down again. After escaping an abusive institution for boys when he was a teenager, Blaze hooks up with George, a seasoned criminal who thinks he has all the answers. But then George is killed, and Blaze, though haunted by his partner, is on his own.

He becomes one of the most sympathetic criminals of all of literature. This is a crime story of surprising strength and sadness, with a suspenseful current sustained by the classic workings of fate and character--as taut and riveting as Stephen King's The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon.]]> 285 Richard Bachman 141655484X Brian G 4 2024, thriller 3.76 2007 Blaze
author: Richard Bachman
name: Brian G
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/24
date added: 2024/10/03
shelves: 2024, thriller
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays The Rent]]> 177660385 400 Judi Dench 0241638208 Brian G 5 4.62 2023 Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays The Rent
author: Judi Dench
name: Brian G
average rating: 4.62
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/09/30
date added: 2024/09/30
shelves: non-fiction, shakespeare, 2024
review:

]]> The Empire 60800110
1922. When Jack Treadwell arrives at The Empire, in the middle of a rehearsal, he is instantly mesmerised. But amid the glitz and glamour, he soon learns that the true magic of the theatre lies in its cast of characters - both on stage and behind the scenes.

There's stunning starlet Stella Stanmore and Hollywood heartthrob Lancelot Drake; and Ruby Rowntree, who keeps the music playing, while Lady Lillian Lassiter, theatre owner and former showgirl, is determined to take on a bigger role. And then there's cool, competent Grace Hawkins, without whom the show would never go on . . . could she be the leading lady Jack is looking for?

When long-held rivalries threaten The Empire's future, tensions rise along with the curtain. There is treachery at the heart of the company and a shocking secret waiting in the wings. Can Jack discover the truth before it's too late, and the theatre he loves goes dark?

Musical theatre legend Michael Ball brings his trademark warmth, wit and glamour to this, his debut novel.

Enjoy the show!]]> Michael Ball Brian G 4 2024 3.90 2022 The Empire
author: Michael Ball
name: Brian G
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/29
date added: 2024/09/29
shelves: 2024
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Mrs. Jeffries Dusts for Clues (Mrs. Jeffries, #2)]]> 1068565 184 Emily Brightwell 042513704X Brian G 3 2024, audio, murder-mystery 3.78 1993 Mrs. Jeffries Dusts for Clues (Mrs. Jeffries, #2)
author: Emily Brightwell
name: Brian G
average rating: 3.78
book published: 1993
rating: 3
read at: 2024/09/23
date added: 2024/09/23
shelves: 2024, audio, murder-mystery
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Let Loose the Dogs (Detective Murdoch, #4)]]> 23963058 318 Maureen Jennings 0857689975 Brian G 0 2024, kindle, murder-mystery 3.87 2003 Let Loose the Dogs (Detective Murdoch, #4)
author: Maureen Jennings
name: Brian G
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2003
rating: 0
read at: 2024/09/22
date added: 2024/09/22
shelves: 2024, kindle, murder-mystery
review:

]]> The Ties That Bind 19884930 The Ties That Bind is the fourth novel from Erin Kelly, the author of The Poison Tree and The Burning Air. Gripping, twisty and compelling, it confirms her as a mistress of psychological suspense.

Could a soul, once sold, truly be redeemed?

Luke is a true crime writer in search of a story. When he flees to Brighton after an explosive break-up, the perfect subject lands in his lap: reformed gangster Joss Grand. Now in his eighties, Grand once ruled the Brighton underworld with his sadistic sidekick Jacky Nye - until Jacky washed up by the West Pier in 1968, strangled and thrown into the sea. Though Grand's alibi seems cast-iron, Luke is sure there's more to the story than meets the eye, and he convinces the criminal-turned-philanthropist to be interviewed for a book about his life.

Luke is drawn deeper into the mystery of Jacky Nye's murder. Was Grand there that night? Is he really as reformed a character as he claims? And who was the girl in the red coat seen fleeing the murder scene? Soon Luke realises that in stirring up secrets from the past, he may have placed himself in terrible danger.]]> 352 Erin Kelly 1444728385 Brian G 3 2024, thriller 3.75 2014 The Ties That Bind
author: Erin Kelly
name: Brian G
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2014
rating: 3
read at: 2024/09/16
date added: 2024/09/16
shelves: 2024, thriller
review:

]]> 11/22/63 10644930
In 2011, Jake Epping, an English teacher from Lisbon Falls, Maine, sets out on an insane � and insanely possible � mission to prevent the Kennedy assassination.

Leaving behind a world of computers and mobile phones, he goes back to a time of big American cars and diners, of Lindy Hopping, the sound of Elvis, and the taste of root beer.

In this haunting world, Jake falls in love with Sadie, a beautiful high school librarian. And, as the ominous date of 11/22/63 approaches, he encounters a troubled loner named Lee Harvey Oswald...]]> 849 Stephen King 1451627289 Brian G 5 audio, 2024, thriller 4.33 2011 11/22/63
author: Stephen King
name: Brian G
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2011
rating: 5
read at: 2024/09/15
date added: 2024/09/15
shelves: audio, 2024, thriller
review:

]]> Exiles (Aaron Falk, #3) 60784359
A year on, Kim Gillespie’s absence casts a long shadow as her friends and loved ones gather deep in the heart of South Australian wine country to welcome a new addition to the family.

Joining the celebrations is federal investigator Aaron Falk. But as he soaks up life in the lush valley, he begins to suspect this tight-knit group may be more fractured than it seems.

Between Falk’s closest friend, a missing mother, and a woman he’s drawn to, dark questions linger as long-ago truths begin to emerge.

An outstanding novel, a brilliant mystery and a heart-pounding read from the author of The Dry, Force of Nature, The Lost Man and The Survivors.]]> 356 Jane Harper 1250235359 Brian G 4 3.96 2022 Exiles (Aaron Falk, #3)
author: Jane Harper
name: Brian G
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/12
date added: 2024/09/12
shelves: 2024, murder-mystery, thriller
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Blessed Are Those Who Thirst (Hanne Wilhelmsen #2)]]> 13547124
IT is only the beginning of May but in Oslo a brutal heat wave has coincided with an alarming increase in violent crime. In the latest instance, police investigator Hanne Wilhelmsen is sent to a macabre crime scene on the outskirts of town. An abandoned shed is covered in blood. On one wall an eight-digit number is written in blood. There is no body—nor any sign of a victim. Is it a kid’s prank or foul play? Is it even human blood?

As more bloody numbers are found in isolated locations throughout Oslo, Hanne’s colleague Håkon Sand makes a startling discovery: the digits correspond to the filing numbers of foreign immigrants. All are female, all are missing. Is there a serial killer on the loose in Oslo? How does the killer have access to immigrant data?

Meanwhile, as the trail heats up, the victim of a horrific unsolved rape case and her father have each decided to take justice into their own hands. Hanne and Håkon soon discover that they aren’t the only ones on the hunt for the killer.]]> 211 Anne Holt 1451634781 Brian G 4 3.64 1993 Blessed Are Those Who Thirst (Hanne Wilhelmsen #2)
author: Anne Holt
name: Brian G
average rating: 3.64
book published: 1993
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/03
date added: 2024/09/03
shelves: 2024, kindle, murder-mystery, thriller
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World]]> 40698027
My parents told me how crowded the world used to be, but we were never lonely on our remote island. We had each other, and our dogs.

Then the thief came.

There may be no law left except what you make of it. But if you steal my dog, you can at least expect me to come after you.

Because if we aren't loyal to the things we love, what's the point?]]> 365 C.A. Fletcher 0316449458 Brian G 4 2024 4.11 2019 A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World
author: C.A. Fletcher
name: Brian G
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/01
date added: 2024/09/01
shelves: 2024
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Lies Sleeping (Rivers of London, #7)]]> 36534574
Martin Chorley, aka the Faceless Man, wanted for multiple counts of murder, fraud, and crimes against humanity, has been unmasked and is on the run. Peter Grant, Detective Constable and apprentice wizard, now plays a key role in an unprecedented joint operation to bring Chorley to justice.

But even as the unwieldy might of the Metropolitan Police bears down on its foe, Peter uncovers clues that Chorley, far from being finished, is executing the final stages of a long term plan. A plan that has its roots in London’s two thousand bloody years of history, and could literally bring the city to its knees.

To save his beloved city Peter’s going to need help from his former best friend and colleague–Lesley May–who brutally betrayed him and everything he thought she believed in. And, far worse, he might even have to come to terms with the malevolent supernatural killer and agent of chaos known as Mr Punch . . .]]> 406 Ben Aaronovitch 1473207819 Brian G 4 2024, kindle, fantasy 4.20 2018 Lies Sleeping (Rivers of London, #7)
author: Ben Aaronovitch
name: Brian G
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/22
date added: 2024/08/22
shelves: 2024, kindle, fantasy
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Death of an Avid Reader (Kate Shackleton, #6)]]> 19164555
Kate Shackleton's sterling reputation for courageous sleuthing attracts the attention of the venerable Lady Coulton. Hidden in her past is a daughter, born out of wedlock and given up to a different family. Now, Lady Coulton is determined to find her and puts Kate on the case.

A mysterious killing in the library's basement

But as Kate delves deeper into Lady Coulton's past, she soon finds herself thrust into a scandal much closer to home. When the body of the respected Horatio Potter is found in the Leeds Library basement, the quiet literary community is suddenly turned upside down with suspicions, accusations and - much to Kate's surprise - the appearance of a particularly intelligent Capuchin monkey!

The most puzzling case in Kate's sleuthing history yet

Convinced an innocent man has been blamed , Kate sets out to discover the truth. Who would want Dr Potter dead? Does Lady Coulton's missing daughter hold a vital clue? As the stories start to emerge in the seemingly quiet Leeds Library, Kate is learning fast that in this case, she can't judge a book by its cover.]]> 360 Frances Brody 0349400571 Brian G 4 2024, murder-mystery 3.80 2014 Death of an Avid Reader (Kate Shackleton, #6)
author: Frances Brody
name: Brian G
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/16
date added: 2024/08/16
shelves: 2024, murder-mystery
review:

]]> Full Dark, No Stars 7912007
In “Big Driver,� a cozy-mystery writer named Tess encounters the stranger along a back road in Massachusetts when she takes a shortcut home after a book-club engagement. Violated and left for dead, Tess plots a revenge that will bring her face-to-face with another stranger: the one inside herself.

“Fair Extension,� the shortest of these tales, is perhaps the nastiest and certainly the funniest. Making a deal with the devil not only saves Dave Streeter from a fatal cancer but provides rich recompense for a lifetime of resentment.

When her husband of more than twenty years is away on one of his business trips, Darcy Anderson looks for batteries in the garage. Her toe knocks up against a box under a worktable and she discovers the stranger inside her husband. It's a horrifying discovery, rendered with bristling intensity, and it definitely ends a good marriage.

Like Different Seasons and Four Past Midnight, which generated such enduring films as The Shawshank Redemption and Stand By Me, Full Dark, No Stars proves Stephen King a master of the long story form.]]> 368 Stephen King 1439192561 Brian G 4 2024, audio, horror, thriller 4.07 2011 Full Dark, No Stars
author: Stephen King
name: Brian G
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/12
date added: 2024/08/12
shelves: 2024, audio, horror, thriller
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Inspector and Mrs. Jeffries (Mrs. Jeffries, #1)]]> 905755 (Same isbns for pb 184 pg)]]> 181 Emily Brightwell 0425136221 Brian G 3 2024, murder-mystery 3.63 1993 The Inspector and Mrs. Jeffries (Mrs. Jeffries, #1)
author: Emily Brightwell
name: Brian G
average rating: 3.63
book published: 1993
rating: 3
read at: 2024/08/08
date added: 2024/08/08
shelves: 2024, murder-mystery
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Dangerous Place (Maisie Dobbs, #11)]]> 22693178
Spring 1937. In the four years since she left England, Maisie Dobbs has experienced love, contentment, stability—and the deepest tragedy a woman can endure. Now, all she wants is the peace she believes she might find by returning to India. But her sojourn in the hills of Darjeeling is cut short when her stepmother summons her home to England; her aging father Frankie Dobbs is not getting any younger.

But on a ship bound for England, Maisie realizes she isn’t ready to return. Against the wishes of the captain who warns her, “You will be alone in a most dangerous place,� she disembarks in Gibraltar. Though she is on her own, Maisie is far from alone: the British garrison town is teeming with refugees fleeing a brutal civil war across the border in Spain.

Yet the danger is very real. Days after Maisie’s arrival, a photographer and member of Gibraltar’s Sephardic Jewish community, Sebastian Babayoff, is murdered, and Maisie becomes entangled in the case, drawing the attention of the British Secret Service. Under the suspicious eye of a British agent, Maisie is pulled deeper into political intrigue on “the Rock”—arguably Britain’s most important strategic territory—and renews an uneasy acquaintance in the process. At a crossroads between her past and her future, Maisie must choose a direction, knowing that England is, for her, an equally dangerous place, but in quite a different way.]]> 309 Jacqueline Winspear 0062220551 Brian G 0 2024, murder-mystery 3.83 2015 A Dangerous Place (Maisie Dobbs, #11)
author: Jacqueline Winspear
name: Brian G
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at: 2024/08/06
date added: 2024/08/06
shelves: 2024, murder-mystery
review:

]]> A Clubbable Woman 25880120
Detective Superintendent Andy Dalziel investigates murder close to home in this first crime novel featuring the much-loved detective team of Dalziel and Pascoe.

Home from the Rugby club after taking a nasty knock in a match, Sam Connon finds his wife more uncommunicative than usual. After passing out on his bed for a few hours, he comes downstairs to discover communication has been cut off forever � by a hole in the middle of her forehead.

Andy Dalziel, a long-standing member of the club, wants to run the murder investigation along his own lines. But DS Peter Pascoe's loyalties lie elsewhere and he has quite different ideas about how the case should proceed.]]> 232 Reginald Hill 0007390823 Brian G 4 2024, kindle, murder-mystery 3.72 1970 A Clubbable Woman
author: Reginald Hill
name: Brian G
average rating: 3.72
book published: 1970
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/04
date added: 2024/08/04
shelves: 2024, kindle, murder-mystery
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Furthest Station (Rivers of London, #5.5)]]> 31626329
Enter PC Peter Grant junior member of the Metropolitan Police's Special Assessment unit AKA The Folly AKA the only police officers whose official duties include ghost hunting. Together with Jaget Kumar, his counterpart at the British Transport Police, he must brave the terrifying the crush of London's rush hour to find the source of the ghosts.

Joined by Peter's wannabe wizard cousin, a preschool river god and Toby the ghost hunting dog their investigation takes a darker tone as they realise that a real person's life might just be on the line.

And time is running out to save them.

With this new novella, bestselling author Ben Aaronovitch has crafted yet another wickedly funny and surprisingly affecting chapter in his beloved Rivers of London series.]]> 144 Ben Aaronovitch 1473222443 Brian G 2 2024, audio 4.05 2017 The Furthest Station (Rivers of London, #5.5)
author: Ben Aaronovitch
name: Brian G
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2017
rating: 2
read at: 2024/07/25
date added: 2024/07/25
shelves: 2024, audio
review:

]]> Under the Dome 6320534
When food, electricity and water run short, the normal rules of society are changed. A new and more sinister social order develops, Dale Barbara, a young Iraq veteran, teams up with a handful of intrepid citizens to fight against the corruption that is sweeping through the town and to try to discover the source of the Dome before it is too late...]]> 1074 Stephen King 1439148503 Brian G 4 2024, audio 3.92 2009 Under the Dome
author: Stephen King
name: Brian G
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2009
rating: 4
read at: 2024/07/18
date added: 2024/07/18
shelves: 2024, audio
review:

]]> Blandings Castle 13707660 272 P.G. Wodehouse 0393341623 Brian G 4 These short stories are perfectly crafted snapshots of life at Blandings. From trouble with the Head Gardener to worries about the Empress these tales are little pockets of bliss to ease your mind and escape into the fantasy world of Wodehouse
Added to that a few tales from Mr Mulliner about his extended family - this time in hollywood movie business

Delightful 4(+half) stars]]> 4.14 1935 Blandings Castle
author: P.G. Wodehouse
name: Brian G
average rating: 4.14
book published: 1935
rating: 4
read at: 2024/07/18
date added: 2024/07/18
shelves: blandings, 2016, humour, shorts, rating-4, wodehouse, 2024
review:
A splendid dip into the lake at Blandings.
These short stories are perfectly crafted snapshots of life at Blandings. From trouble with the Head Gardener to worries about the Empress these tales are little pockets of bliss to ease your mind and escape into the fantasy world of Wodehouse
Added to that a few tales from Mr Mulliner about his extended family - this time in hollywood movie business

Delightful 4(+half) stars
]]> Daisy Darker 59808050 The New York Times bestselling Queen of Twists returns…with a family reunion that leads to murder.

After years of avoiding each other, Daisy Darker’s entire family is assembling for Nana’s 80th birthday party in Nana’s crumbling gothic house on a tiny tidal island. Finally back together one last time, when the tide comes in, they will be cut off from the rest of the world for eight hours.

The family arrives, each of them harboring secrets. Then at the stroke of midnight, as a storm rages, Nana is found dead. And an hour later, the next family member follows�

Trapped on an island where someone is killing them one by one, the Darkers must reckon with their present mystery as well as their past secrets, before the tide comes in and all is revealed.

With a wicked wink to Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, Daisy Darker’s unforgettable twists will leave readers reeling.]]> 352 Alice Feeney 1250843936 Brian G 3 2024, thriller Far fetched and unbelievable but well written nonsense.
Good characters but needed a better plot.]]> 3.75 2022 Daisy Darker
author: Alice Feeney
name: Brian G
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2024/07/14
date added: 2024/07/14
shelves: 2024, thriller
review:
Hmm.. started OK but I spotted the twist halfway.
Far fetched and unbelievable but well written nonsense.
Good characters but needed a better plot.
]]> <![CDATA[Murder on the Dance Floor (The Sequin Mysteries #1)]]> 61067290
Behind the sequins and sparkle of Blackpool Tower Ballroom’s famous Dance Festival, the competition is about to turn deadly�

When a promising young dancer collapses during the opening tango of the festival, Lily Richmond, dance legend, teacher and one-time world champion, is convinced that murder is afoot. There’s only one person who can help her delve into the mystery: her former student and private detective, Susie Cooper. But Susie vowed she’d never return to the ballroom � let alone go undercover as a professional dancer when there’s a killer on the loose�

As the competition gets even fiercer and the bodies start to pile up, can the unlikely dance-detective duo unravel the rumours from the rumbas and expose the murderer’s identity, before they strike again?]]> 431 Shirley Ballas Brian G 3 2024, murder-mystery 3.61 2023 Murder on the Dance Floor (The Sequin Mysteries #1)
author: Shirley Ballas
name: Brian G
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/07/11
date added: 2024/07/11
shelves: 2024, murder-mystery
review:

]]> Sam the Sudden 898659 320 P.G. Wodehouse 1841591505 Brian G 5 2024, humour, wodehouse 4.13 1925 Sam the Sudden
author: P.G. Wodehouse
name: Brian G
average rating: 4.13
book published: 1925
rating: 5
read at: 2024/07/06
date added: 2024/07/08
shelves: 2024, humour, wodehouse
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Murder on a Summer's Day (Kate Shackleton, #5)]]> 18514251
Perceived as 'establishment', Kate feels an outsider in her sympathies. One thing she is sure of: her own skills and insights. Qualities that she is sure will help her unravel the latest disappearance on that fateful summer's day . . .]]> 400 Frances Brody Brian G 4 2024, murder-mystery 3.78 2013 Murder on a Summer's Day (Kate Shackleton, #5)
author: Frances Brody
name: Brian G
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2024/07/04
date added: 2024/07/08
shelves: 2024, murder-mystery
review:

]]> <![CDATA[They Shoot Horses, Don't They?]]> 152052
"Were it not in its physical details so carefully documented, it would be lurid beyond itself." �Nation]]> 122 Horace McCoy 185242401X Brian G 5 2024 3.90 1935 They Shoot Horses, Don't They?
author: Horace McCoy
name: Brian G
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1935
rating: 5
read at: 2024/06/26
date added: 2024/06/26
shelves: 2024
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Blind Goddess (Hanne Wilhelmsen, #1)]]> 13260120
A small-time drug dealer is found battered to death on the outskirts of the Norwegian capital, Oslo. A young Dutchman, walking aimlessly in central Oslo covered in blood, is taken into custody but refuses to talk. When he is informed that the woman who discovered the body, Karen Borg, is a lawyer, he demands her as his defender, although her specialty is civil, not criminal, law. A couple of days later, Hansa Larsen, a lawyer of the shadiest kind, is found shot to death.

Soon police officers Håkon Sand and Hanne Wilhelmsen establish a link between the two killings. They also find a coded message hidden in the murdered lawyer’s apartment. Their maverick colleague in the drugs squad, Billy T., reports that a recent rumor in the drug underworld involves drug-dealing lawyers. Now the reason why the young Dutchman insisted on having Karen Borg as a defender slowly dawns on them: since she was the one to find and report the body, she is the only Oslo lawyer that cannot be implicated in the crime. As the officers investigate, they uncover a massive network of corruption leading to the highest levels of government.

As their lives are threatened, Hanne and her colleagues must find the killer and, in the process, bring the lies and deception out into the open.]]> 343 Anne Holt 1451634765 Brian G 3 2024, kindle, thriller 3.40 1993 Blind Goddess (Hanne Wilhelmsen, #1)
author: Anne Holt
name: Brian G
average rating: 3.40
book published: 1993
rating: 3
read at: 2024/06/24
date added: 2024/06/24
shelves: 2024, kindle, thriller
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Chalk Pit (Ruth Galloway #9)]]> 59138298 Winner of the CWA Dagger in the Library Award

Praise for Elly Griffiths� Ruth Galloway series

“Gripping.� —Louise Penny | “Highly atmospheric.� �New York Times Book Review
“Remarkable, delightful.� —Associated Press | “Must-reads.� —Deborah Crombie
“Wonderfully rich . . . A great series.� �Guardian | “Smart, down-to-earth, and completely believable.� �Mercury News

Far below Norwich is a maze of old mining tunnels. When Ruth Galloway is called to examine a set of human remains in one of them, she notices the bones are almost translucent, a sign they were boiled soon after death. Once more, she’s at the helm of a murder investigation.

Meanwhile, DCI Nelson is looking for a homeless woman who he hears has gone “underground.� Could she have disappeared into the labyrinth? And if so, is she connected to the body Ruth found? As Ruth and Nelson investigate the tunnels, they hear rumors of secret societies, cannibalism, and ritual killings. And when a dead body is found with a map of what seems to be the full maze, they realize their hunt for the killer has only just begun—and that more bodies may be underfoot.]]> 373 Elly Griffiths Brian G 3 2024, murder-mystery 4.13 2017 The Chalk Pit (Ruth Galloway #9)
author: Elly Griffiths
name: Brian G
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2017
rating: 3
read at: 2024/06/19
date added: 2024/06/19
shelves: 2024, murder-mystery
review:

]]> Black Dog 19316941
‘Where Cooper stood was remote and isolated� but the smell that lingered under the trees was of blood�

The long hot Peak District summer came to an end when they found Laura Vernon's body. But for local policeman Ben Cooper the work has just begun. His community is hiding a young girl’s killer and a past as dark as the Derbyshire night. It seems Laura was the keeper of secrets beyond her years and, in a case where no-one is innocent, everyone is a suspect.

But Cooper’s local knowledge and instincts are about to face an even greater challenge. The ambitious DC Diane Fry has been called in from another division, a woman as ruthless as she is attractive…]]> 537 Stephen Booth Brian G 5 4.06 2000 Black Dog
author: Stephen Booth
name: Brian G
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2000
rating: 5
read at: 2024/06/14
date added: 2024/06/14
shelves:
review:

]]> Just After Sunset 2906039
A blind intruder visits a dying man - and saves his life, with a kiss.

A woman receives a phone call from her husband. Her LATE husband.

In the emotional aftermath of her baby's sudden death, Emily starts running. And running. Her curiosity leads her right into the hands of a murderer... and soon her legs are her only hope for survival.

Enter a world of masterful suspense, dark comedy and thrilling twists which will keep you riveted from the fist page.]]> 367 Stephen King 1416584080 Brian G 0 2024, audio, shorts 3.89 2008 Just After Sunset
author: Stephen King
name: Brian G
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at: 2024/06/12
date added: 2024/06/12
shelves: 2024, audio, shorts
review:

]]> Bill the Conqueror 1667589 256 P.G. Wodehouse 0257651578 Brian G 3 2024, humour 3.92 1924 Bill the Conqueror
author: P.G. Wodehouse
name: Brian G
average rating: 3.92
book published: 1924
rating: 3
read at: 2024/06/08
date added: 2024/06/08
shelves: 2024, humour
review:

]]> You Are Dead (Roy Grace, #11) 23848172
That same afternoon, workmen digging up a park in another part of the city, unearth the remains of a woman in her early twenties, who has been dead for thirty years.

At first, to Detective Superintendent Roy Grace and his team, these two events seem totally unconnected. But then another young woman in Brighton goes missing - and yet another body from the past surfaces.

Meanwhile, an eminent London psychiatrist meets with a man who claims to know information about Logan. And Roy Grace has the chilling realization that this information holds the key to both the past and present crimes . . . Does Brighton have its first serial killer in over eighty years?]]> 416 Peter James 1250065712 Brian G 4 2024, thriller 4.15 2015 You Are Dead (Roy Grace, #11)
author: Peter James
name: Brian G
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/31
date added: 2024/05/31
shelves: 2024, thriller
review:

]]> The Woman in the Library 57882343 In every person's story, there is something to hide...

The ornate reading room at the Boston Public Library is quiet, until the tranquility is shattered by a woman's terrified scream. Security guards take charge immediately, instructing everyone inside to stay put until the threat is identified and contained. While they wait for the all-clear, four strangers sitting at the same table, pass the time in conversation and friendships are struck. Each has his or her own reasons for being in the reading room that morning—it just happens that one is a murderer.

Award-winning author Sulari Gentill delivers a sharply thrilling read with THE WOMAN IN THE LIBRARY, an unexpectedly twisty literary adventure that examines the complicated nature of friendship and shows us that words can be the most treacherous weapons of all.]]> 267 Sulari Gentill 1464215871 Brian G 0 to-read 3.56 2022 The Woman in the Library
author: Sulari Gentill
name: Brian G
average rating: 3.56
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The House We Grew Up In 18764826
Then one Easter weekend, tragedy comes to call. The event is so devastating that, almost imperceptibly, it begins to tear the family apart. Years pass as the children become adults, find new relationships, and develop their own separate lives. Soon it seems as though they've never been a family at all. But then something happens that calls them back to the house they grew up in -- and to what really happened that Easter weekend so many years ago.

Told in gorgeous, insightful prose that delves deeply into the hearts and minds of its characters, The House We Grew Up In is the captivating story of one family's desire to restore long-forgotten peace and to unearth the many secrets hidden within the nooks and crannies of home.]]> 388 Lisa Jewell 1476702993 Brian G 5 2024, thriller 3.73 2013 The House We Grew Up In
author: Lisa Jewell
name: Brian G
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2013
rating: 5
read at: 2024/05/25
date added: 2024/05/25
shelves: 2024, thriller
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Poor Tom Is Cold (Detective Murdoch, #3)]]> 1521692 278 Maureen Jennings 0312268920 Brian G 2 2024, audio, murder-mystery 3.75 2001 Poor Tom Is Cold (Detective Murdoch, #3)
author: Maureen Jennings
name: Brian G
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2001
rating: 2
read at: 2024/05/23
date added: 2024/05/23
shelves: 2024, audio, murder-mystery
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Woman in Blue (Ruth Galloway, #8)]]> 59138285 370 Elly Griffiths Brian G 3 2024, murder-mystery 3.95 2016 The Woman in Blue (Ruth Galloway, #8)
author: Elly Griffiths
name: Brian G
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2024/05/18
date added: 2024/05/18
shelves: 2024, murder-mystery
review:

]]> The Woman in the Window 40389527
Then the Russells move into the house across the way: a father, a mother and their teenage son. The perfect family. But when Anna, gazing out her window one night, sees something she shouldn’t, her world begins to crumble and its shocking secrets are laid bare.

What is real? What is imagined? Who is in danger? Who is in control? In this diabolically gripping thriller, no one—and nothing—is what it seems.]]> 455 A.J. Finn Brian G 4 2024, thriller 3.94 2018 The Woman in the Window
author: A.J. Finn
name: Brian G
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/13
date added: 2024/05/13
shelves: 2024, thriller
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Leave It to Psmith (Psmith, #4)]]> 13707720
]]> 293 P.G. Wodehouse 0393343057 Brian G 5 A joyful 5 stars]]> 4.24 1923 Leave It to Psmith (Psmith, #4)
author: P.G. Wodehouse
name: Brian G
average rating: 4.24
book published: 1923
rating: 5
read at: 2024/05/06
date added: 2024/05/06
shelves: 2018, blandings, humour, wodehouse, 2024
review:
Delightful trip to Blandings. This time we follow Psmith who has his own reasons to be there. Add in a valuable necklace a jewel thief, poets and the efficient Baxter and you have a perfect farce.
A joyful 5 stars
]]> <![CDATA[The Body on the Beach (Fethering, #1)]]> 489435 320 Simon Brett 0425181820 Brian G 3 2024, audio, murder-mystery 3.59 2000 The Body on the Beach (Fethering, #1)
author: Simon Brett
name: Brian G
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2000
rating: 3
read at: 2024/05/02
date added: 2024/05/02
shelves: 2024, audio, murder-mystery
review:

]]> The Enigma of Room 622 59787429
Years later, the writer Joel Dicker, Switzerland's most famous literary ingenue, arrives at that same hotel to recover from a bad breakup, mourn the death of his longtime publisher, and begin his next novel. Little does Joel know that his expertise in the art of the thriller will come in handy when he finds himself investigating the crime. He'll need a Watson, of course: in this case, that would be Scarlett, the beautiful guest and aspiring novelist from the next room, who joins in the search while he tries to solve another puzzle: the plot of his next book.

Meanwhile, in the wake of his father's passing, Macaire Ebezner is set to take over as president of the largest private bank in Switzerland. The succession captivates the news media, and the future looks bright, until it doesn't. The bank's board, including a certain Lev Levovitch-Geneva's very own Jay Gatsby-have other plans, and Macaire's race to the top soon becomes a race against time... A matryoshka doll of a mystery built with the precision of a Swiss watch. Joel Dicker presents a diabolically addictive thriller where a love triangle, a power struggle, shocking betrayals and dangerous envy play out against the backdrop of a not so quiet Switzerland, where the truth twists and turns into something no reader will see coming. A European phenomenon, Dicker's latest page-turner is his most personal novel yet"]]> 592 Joël Dicker 0063098814 Brian G 5 2024, thriller 3.69 2020 The Enigma of Room 622
author: Joël Dicker
name: Brian G
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2024/04/29
date added: 2024/04/29
shelves: 2024, thriller
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Wire in the Blood (Tony Hill & Carol Jordan, #2)]]> 91480
He's handsome and talented, rich and famous - a notorious charmer with the power to seduce ...and the will to destroy. No-one can believe what he's capable of. No-one can imagine what he's already done. And no one can fathom what he's about to do next. Until one of Hill's students is murdered - the first move in a sick and violent game for three players. Now, of all the killers Hill and Jordan have hunted, none has been so ruthless, so terrifyingly clever, and so brilliantly elusive as the killer who's hunting them...]]> 528 Val McDermid 0312936923 Brian G 5 2024 4.14 1997 The Wire in the Blood (Tony Hill & Carol Jordan, #2)
author: Val McDermid
name: Brian G
average rating: 4.14
book published: 1997
rating: 5
read at: 2024/04/20
date added: 2024/04/20
shelves: 2024
review:

]]> Duma Key 472343
A terrible construction site accident takes Edgar Freemantle's right arm and scrambles his memory and his mind, leaving him with little but rage as he begins the ordeal of rehabilitation. A marriage that produced two lovely daughters suddenly ends, and Edgar begins to wish he hadn't survived the injuries that could have killed him. He wants out. His psychologist, Dr. Kamen, suggests a "geographic cure," a new life distant from the Twin Cities and the building business Edgar grew from scratch. And Kamen suggests something else.

"Edgar does anything make you happy?"

"I used to sketch."

"Take it up again. You need hedges . . .

hedges against the night."

Edgar leaves Minnesota for a rented house on Duma Key, a stunningly beautiful, eerily undeveloped splinter of the Florida coast. The sun setting into the Gulf of Mexico and the tidal rattling of shells on the beach call out to him, and Edgar draws. A visit from Ilse, the daughter he dotes on, starts his movement out of solitude. He meets a kindred spirit in Wireman, a man reluctant to reveal his own wounds, and then Elizabeth Eastlake, a sick old woman whose roots are tangled deep in Duma Key. Now Edgar paints, sometimes feverishly, his exploding talent both a wonder and a weapon. Many of his paintings have a power that cannot be controlled. When Elizabeth's past unfolds and the ghosts of her childhood begin to appear, the damage of which they are capable is truly devastating.

The tenacity of love, the perils of creativity, the mysteries of memory and the nature of the supernatural--Stephen King gives us a novel as fascinating as it is gripping and terrifying.]]> 611 Stephen King 1416552510 Brian G 5 2024, horror, kindle 3.97 2008 Duma Key
author: Stephen King
name: Brian G
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2008
rating: 5
read at: 2024/04/15
date added: 2024/04/15
shelves: 2024, horror, kindle
review:

]]> The Burning Air 21346665 368 Erin Kelly 1444728342 Brian G 0 2024, thriller 4.02 2013 The Burning Air
author: Erin Kelly
name: Brian G
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at: 2024/04/02
date added: 2024/04/02
shelves: 2024, thriller
review:

]]> Matrix 57185348 Lauren Groff returns with her exhilarating first new novel since the groundbreaking Fates and Furies.

Cast out of the royal court by Eleanor of Aquitaine, deemed too coarse and rough-hewn for marriage or courtly life, 17-year-old Marie de France is sent to England to be the new prioress of an impoverished abbey, its nuns on the brink of starvation and beset by disease.

At first taken aback by the severity of her new life, Marie finds focus and love in collective life with her singular and mercurial sisters. In this crucible, Marie steadily supplants her desire for family, for her homeland, for the passions of her youth with something new to her: devotion to her sisters, and a conviction in her own divine visions. Marie, born the last in a long line of women warriors and crusaders, is determined to chart a bold new course for the women she now leads and protects. But in a world that is shifting and corroding in frightening ways, one that can never reconcile itself with her existence, will the sheer force of Marie's vision be bulwark enough?

Equally alive to the sacred and the profane, Matrix gathers currents of violence, sensuality, and religious ecstasy in a mesmerizing portrait of consuming passion, aberrant faith, and a woman that history moves both through and around. Lauren Groff's new novel, her first since Fates and Furies, is a defiant and timely exploration of the raw power of female creativity in a corrupted world.
]]> 260 Lauren Groff 1594634491 Brian G 1 2024 DNF 3.64 2021 Matrix
author: Lauren Groff
name: Brian G
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2021
rating: 1
read at: 2024/03/31
date added: 2024/03/31
shelves: 2024
review:
DNF
]]> The Remains of the Day 28921 Librarian's note: See alternate cover edition of ISBN 0571225381 here.

In the summer of 1956, Stevens, a long-serving butler at Darlington Hall, decides to take a motoring trip through the West Country. The six-day excursion becomes a journey into the past of Stevens and England, a past that takes in fascism, two world wars, and an unrealised love between the butler and his housekeeper.]]> 258 Kazuo Ishiguro Brian G 4 2024, audio 4.14 1989 The Remains of the Day
author: Kazuo Ishiguro
name: Brian G
average rating: 4.14
book published: 1989
rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/24
date added: 2024/03/24
shelves: 2024, audio
review:

]]> Mystery in the Channel 29967411
The captain of the Newhaven to Dieppe steamer spots a small pleasure yacht lying motionless in the water, and on closer inspection, sees a body lying on the deck. When members of his crew go aboard the yacht, they find not one male corpse but two. Both men have been shot, but there is no sign of either the murderer or the pistol. The dead men, it quickly emerges, were called Moxon and Deeping, and they were chairman and vice-chairman respectively of the firm of Moxon General Securities, one of the largest financial houses in the country.

Inspector Joseph French of Scotland Yard is called in, reporting directly to the Assistant Commissioner, Sir Mortimer Ellison. French soon discovers that Moxon's is on the brink of collapse. One and a half million pounds have gone missing, and so has one of the partners in the business. Moxon and Deeping seem to have been fleeing the country with their ill-gotten gains, but who killed them, and how? French faces one of the toughest challenges of his career, and in a dramatic climax, risks his life in a desperate attempt to ensure that justice is done.]]> 284 Freeman Wills Crofts 0712356517 Brian G 3 2024, blcc, murder-mystery 3.54 1931 Mystery in the Channel
author: Freeman Wills Crofts
name: Brian G
average rating: 3.54
book published: 1931
rating: 3
read at: 2024/03/12
date added: 2024/03/12
shelves: 2024, blcc, murder-mystery
review:
An interesting premise which turns into a police procedural.
]]> <![CDATA[Want You Dead (Roy Grace, #10)]]> 20613547 The 10th book in Peter James' multi-million-copy selling crime series, featuring the definitive Brighton detective, Roy Grace.

IF HE CAN'T HAVE HER, THEN NOBODY CAN . . .

Virtual romance becomes a terrifying obsession in Want You Dead . . .

Single girl, 33, redhead and smouldering, love life that’s crashed and burned. Seeks new flame to rekindle her fire. Fun, friendship and—who knows—more maybe?

In Peter James' Want You Dead, thirty-year old Red Cameron meets handsome, charming and rich thirty-five year old Bryce Laurent through an online dating agency, and is instantly attracted to him. But as their love blossoms, the truth about his past begins to emerge, and with it his dark side. Everything he has told Red about himself turns out to be a tissue of lies, and her infatuation with him gradually turns to terror.

Within a year, and under police protection, she evicts him from her flat and her life. But far from being over, her nightmare is only just beginning. For Bryce is obsessed and besotted with her. He intends to destroy, by fire, everything and everyone she has ever known and loved—and then her, too. It's up to Detective Superintendent Roy Grace to stop him before it's too late...]]> 416 Peter James 125003020X Brian G 4 2024, thriller 4.05 2014 Want You Dead (Roy Grace, #10)
author: Peter James
name: Brian G
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/05
date added: 2024/03/05
shelves: 2024, thriller
review:

]]> Lisey's Story 9678718 667 Stephen King Brian G 4 2024 3.64 2006 Lisey's Story
author: Stephen King
name: Brian G
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at: 2024/02/28
date added: 2024/02/28
shelves: 2024
review:

]]> Remember Me 44753649
Last night my sister was murdered. The police think I killed her.

I was there. I watched the knife go in. I saw the man who did it.

He's someone I know. But he won't be caught.

Because he knows I have prosopagnosia - I can't recognise faces.

But if I don't find him, I'll be found guilty of murder.]]> 368 Amy McLellan 1409185133 Brian G 4 2024, audio, thriller 3.98 2019 Remember Me
author: Amy McLellan
name: Brian G
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2024/02/23
date added: 2024/02/23
shelves: 2024, audio, thriller
review:

]]>