So here we are. After the mind numbing banality and apparently endless pages of The Kills, I needed something to decompress. Something easy, something short, something that I can take my brain out for and still enjoy. Who better fulfils that remit that Miss Marple by way of Midsomer Murders? As some of you may be aware, I’ve read a fair few of these books and this instalment is number 12 in the still ongoing series. Not bad when you consider the author is knocking on 80 years old. When we […]
Metaphorical poetry masquerading as prose
Sixteenth book reviewed as part of the 130 Challenge. This is a feeler’s book. While you’re reading this book, you don’t think through the story, you feel your way through it. You are taken on an epic journey through a century of existence – subdued passions, resigned fates, a grudging surrender to the onslaught of time that is made inevitable by the mere act of existing. You will feel the layers of time peel away and color your senses with their distinctive hues, as seen […]
A Long Time Ago… Oh, You Know the Rest
Chances are, if you’re reading this, you’re a fan of the Veronica Mars tv show (and most likely the movie as well), so I’m not going to reintroduce all the characters or delve into any history here. This novel picks up right after the events of the movie, with Veronica leaving her life in NY behind to take her rightful place behind the desk at Mars Investigations while Keith recovers from his injuries. Just as she’s pondering how she’ll pay her new assistant, Mac, a […]
Release the Hounds
The year is 1018. King Cnut of Denmark is ruling England. He’s in Oxford to collect payment and to try to unite the various groups living in England. This means there’s hundreds of people living in tents. People who were recently at war with each other. People not necessarily happy with their new king. And then there’s a murder. The king is accused by the victim’s wife. Winston, an illuminator/painter and his companion former nobleman Halfdan, accidentally find themselves investigating the murder. They need to […]