Latest reading

The Psychic Tourist by William Little - the author buys his sister and her daughter astrological chart analyses for Christmas. Unfortunately they both say that his sister and niece need to be careful about being near water. This stops his sister travelling by boat or even being anywhere near water. Feeling responsible for restricting her life, William Little sets out to discover whether the future really can be predicted. He consults psychic, mediums, astrologers, gypsies, palm reader, Tarot readers and physicists. The verdict? Perhaps it is possible to predict the future but no one really knows. Fortunately he is able to eradicate his sister's fear of drowning and takes her out in a rowing boat to show her she is quite safe. This is an interesting read with some thought provoking findings especially in the field of science.

Mansfield Revisited by Joan Aiken - it is a credit to this book that I have been carrying it around in my bag for months and only reading it when I'm waiting for things to happen such as in doctors' and dentists' waiting rooms and yet I still managed to retain my interest in the story. I actually took it out of my bag and read the last 30 pages because I wanted to find out the ending. The books starts a few years after the end of Mansfield Park. Sir Thomas Bertram is dead. Fanny and Edmund have two children and are about to leave on a trip to the West Indies to oversee family business interests there. Susan - Fanny's sister - has grown into a sensible young woman with more sparkle than her older sister. Mary Crawford - a much subdued Mary Crawford - returns with mixed results. There is a marvellous failed trip out to discover Roman ruins which is worthy of Jane Austen herself. This is worth reading in its own right as well as a continuation of Mansfield Park.

The Plague Maiden and A Cursed Inheritance by Kate Ellis - Further episodes in the Wesley Peterson series which mixes modern crime with archaeological discovers with conspicuous success. I found both of these compulsive reading. There is little on the page violence or bad language and they are dark stories with many ramifications between past and present. Human nature is both good and bad. Tensions are growing between Wesley and his wife Pam and the constant conflict between work and home life is well done.

When Last I Died by Gladys Mitchell - the inimitable Mrs Bradley is drawn into a cold case when she rents a house which formerly belonged to a lady who may or may not have been murdered. There is a marvellous haunted house featured in this absorbing and psychologically well crafted story. I read nearly all of it one evening and found it totally absorbing.

Books read

The first few in the Agatha Raisin series by M C Beaton: Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death; Agatha Raisin and the Vicious Vet; Agatha Raisin and the Potted Gardener; Agatha Raisin and the Walkers of Dembley. I like Agatha Raisin because she is not the conventional heroine. She is outspoken and a good organiser and she she is insecure about her ability to attract men. She does her best in any situation but her attempts at detection do not always go to plan. These books are a light and amusing read but well written. I have read all three before but they will bear re-reading.

Carmen Reid - New York Valentine - the latest in the How Not to Shop series. Chick lit at its best with Annie Valentine wading in where angels fear to tread to sort out clothes shopping nightmares.

Patricia Wentworth - The Lonesome Road; The Chinese Shawl; Miss Silver Comes to Stay. All three are excellent examples of Patricia Wentworth's Miss Silver books.

Elizabeth Edmondson - The Villa in Italy. Set in the late 1950s. Four people unknown to one another arrive at the Villa Dante in accordance with a will. They have to find a codicil which is hidden somewhere in the Villa and they have thirty three days in which to find it or all the money will go to charity. The plot may seem a bit of a cliche but everything is in the writing and the writing of this novel is excellent. The characters are interesting and I wanted them to sort out their problems with or without the money. I felt quite sad when I read the last page.

Gladys Mitchell - The Mystery of a Butcher's Shop. A body of an unpopular man is found neatly jointed in a butcher's shop - but the head is missing. Another case for the inimitable Mrs Bradley.

Theodore Dalrymple - Second Opinion. A collection of short pieces about the flotsam and jetsam of society as represented by inner city dwellers and prisoners. Ascerbic and judgemental - Theodore Dalrymple will either delight or horrify you and may completely destroy your faith in the basic goodness of the human animal.

And yet more reading . . .

Death at the Opera by Gladys Mitchell - e-book - the first I've read by this author and very enjoyable it was too. She is one of the Golden Age of detective fiction writers from the 1920s and 1930s. This story features psycho-analyst Beatrice Lestrange Bradley trying to find out why a school teacher apparently committed suicide during the school's performance of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado.

Georgette Heyer's Penhallow - e-book - not what I was expecting because the reader knows who the murderer is and how it was done. The portrait of a family tyrant - Adam Penhallow - and the effect he has on his nearest and dearest deserves to be better known. It is an excellent psychological novel

Games People Play by Eric Berne - I first read this about 30 years ago and had forgotten a great deal of it. Very instructive about the way people operate and you find yourself looking out for the games people play in every day life.

Currently reading:

Georgette Heyer - Death in the Stocks - e-book - a body is found in the stocks on the village green. Superintendent Hannasyde is his usual self and the story exposes a very strange family set up.

Risk: the science and politics of fear by Dan Gardner - e-book - fascinating book about how bad human beings are at assessing relative risk