I have belatedly discovered Lindsey Davis's Falco series about a Roman private eye. I listened to the audio book version of See Delphi and Die - which has to be one of the best titles for a book - and was hooked. I'm not sure why I was never attracted to this series before but it could be because I tried Cadfael and couldn't get into that. Not logical I know but there we are. I have so far read The Silver Pigs and Shadows in Bronze and have just started the third one - Venus in Copper.
Why do I like them? Falco's attitude to his own successes and failures; the characters themselves and the way Falco often finds common ground with those he's investigating; his ability to tell it as he sees it to the Emperor and get away with it; the fascinating details about life in ancient Rome. Then of course there's the humour which is priceless. Even though I am now reading the series in order they can be read, or listened to, out of order as each book stands alone. If you go for the audio books then Christian Rodska is an excellent reader in my opinion.
I have just finished Jane Shaw's Talking to Zeus about the year she spent in Greece working in a garden on a hillside. Not a travelogue but a slice of life with some marvellous and eccentric characters both human and animal. Zeus by the way is a stuffed lion.
I really enjoyed the latest in Veronica Heley's cosy crime series featuring Ellie Quicke - Murder my Neighbour. Ellie is married to Thomas and struggling to combat her daughter Diana's latest demand for money as well as deal with the failing health of her housekeeper and friend, Rose, when she is presented with a mystery to solve. One of her neighbours has moved out of her house supposedly to take up residence is a retirement home - but she never arrived there.
Showing posts with label Veronica Heley. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Veronica Heley. Show all posts
Monday, 27 June 2011
Tuesday, 16 November 2010
Books, books and yet more books
Jenni Mills - Buried Circle - very good novel with two inter-twined stories - from the 1930s and the present day. Set around the Avebury stone circle.
Georgette Heyer - A Blunt Instrument - body in the study and plenty of suspects not to mention a Bible quoting PC. Another case for Hannasyde and Hemingway.
Trisha Ashley - Twelve Days of Christmas - chick lit set around Christmas with widow Holly Brown coming to terms with her grief for her late husband. Serious issues but feel good factor too.
Veronica Heley - False Money - latest instalment in the Abbot Agency series. Cosy crime with interesting characters and fascinating scenarios.
Elizabeth Buchan - That Certain Age - two women sixty years apart - facing very similar problems in balancing their own lives with family life
Angela Thirkell - Wild Strawberries - I first read this book about forty years ago and had forgotten how good it is if you like reading about life for the upper classes in the 1930s. Her dialogue and witty descriptions raises this author's work above run of the mill novels.
M C Beaton - Death of a Gossip - first in the Hamish Macbeth series - good light reading.
Anna Dale - Magical Mischief - a children's book but still worth reading for adults - Mr Hardbattle's bookshop has been taken over by magic. We see drawing pins sending messages, a velour elephant which marches up and down a shelf, a step that turns to custard and books that rearrange themselves in the colours of the rainbow when no one is looking. Fun for any age.
Trisha Ashley, Angela Thirkell and Veronica Heley were books the rest were e-books.
Georgette Heyer - A Blunt Instrument - body in the study and plenty of suspects not to mention a Bible quoting PC. Another case for Hannasyde and Hemingway.
Trisha Ashley - Twelve Days of Christmas - chick lit set around Christmas with widow Holly Brown coming to terms with her grief for her late husband. Serious issues but feel good factor too.
Veronica Heley - False Money - latest instalment in the Abbot Agency series. Cosy crime with interesting characters and fascinating scenarios.
Elizabeth Buchan - That Certain Age - two women sixty years apart - facing very similar problems in balancing their own lives with family life
Angela Thirkell - Wild Strawberries - I first read this book about forty years ago and had forgotten how good it is if you like reading about life for the upper classes in the 1930s. Her dialogue and witty descriptions raises this author's work above run of the mill novels.
M C Beaton - Death of a Gossip - first in the Hamish Macbeth series - good light reading.
Anna Dale - Magical Mischief - a children's book but still worth reading for adults - Mr Hardbattle's bookshop has been taken over by magic. We see drawing pins sending messages, a velour elephant which marches up and down a shelf, a step that turns to custard and books that rearrange themselves in the colours of the rainbow when no one is looking. Fun for any age.
Trisha Ashley, Angela Thirkell and Veronica Heley were books the rest were e-books.
Saturday, 17 April 2010
Murder by Mistake
I am a fan of Veronica Heley's Ellie Quicke series and the latest one - Murder by Mistake - lives up to the high standard set by the previous books. Ellie is married to Thomas and living in Aunt Drusilla's house now that her aunt is dead. She is playing host to Ursula's wedding reception and looking after Mia as she recovers from her ordeal at the hands of her family and their friends. Ursula and Mia appeared in the previous book in the series Murder in House.
Everything is going smoothly with the wedding plans until Ellie's obnoxious daughter Diana appears and announces she wants to hold her own wedding reception at the house on the same day and Ursula's will have to be cancelled. But Ellie puts her foot down about it and refuses to cancel Ursula. So then it's two wedding receptions on the sane day - which would have been fine if someone hadn't decided to try and wipe out Mia and/or Ellie by various means.
This is a fast paced plot with an excellent mixture of fascinating characters. The constant battles between Ellie and her daughter are always interesting; and Ellie's endless curiosity about friends and neighbours and her efforts to help unravel their lives make for entertaining reading. The sub text is always Ellie trying to live up to her Christian principles - with her successes and failures. This could be sickly but isn't because Ellie is a strong character with a sense of humour and a well developed sense of the ridiculous as well as a good knowledge of human nature.
This is a series I collect in hardback and regularly re-read. It deserves to be better known in my opinion.
Everything is going smoothly with the wedding plans until Ellie's obnoxious daughter Diana appears and announces she wants to hold her own wedding reception at the house on the same day and Ursula's will have to be cancelled. But Ellie puts her foot down about it and refuses to cancel Ursula. So then it's two wedding receptions on the sane day - which would have been fine if someone hadn't decided to try and wipe out Mia and/or Ellie by various means.
This is a fast paced plot with an excellent mixture of fascinating characters. The constant battles between Ellie and her daughter are always interesting; and Ellie's endless curiosity about friends and neighbours and her efforts to help unravel their lives make for entertaining reading. The sub text is always Ellie trying to live up to her Christian principles - with her successes and failures. This could be sickly but isn't because Ellie is a strong character with a sense of humour and a well developed sense of the ridiculous as well as a good knowledge of human nature.
This is a series I collect in hardback and regularly re-read. It deserves to be better known in my opinion.
Friday, 2 April 2010
Publisher of crime novels
I have just noticed a publisher I've never heard of - ostara publishing - who are reprinting authors such as V C Clinton-Baddeley, D M Greenwood, Kate Charles and Veronica Heley. Many of Kate Charles' novels featuring mayhem in the Church of England have been out of print for a while, as have D M Greenwood's Theodora Braithwaite novels so this can only be a good thing.
A publisher to watch perhaps.
A publisher to watch perhaps.
Sunday, 15 November 2009
False Pretences
I gave up on the Cruel Hoax having realised that one of the books he was quoting from was actually revealed as a hoax way back in 1912. I have posted a review of it on Amazon which I'm sure will attract a lot of negative comments. The book already has two positive reviews which appear to have been written by men who have swallowed the theory hook line and sinker. I did read most of it though I skimmed through the last 50 pages as being hopelessly irrational and delusional.
I turned instead - with relief - to Veronica Heley's False Pretences which is the fourth book in her Abbot Agency series. I wasn't sure about this series at first but it is really growing on me. There is no on the page violence, characters attend church though they are definitely not holier than thou types. Zander - who ap
peared in a previous book - asks Bea for help. He works for the Tudor Trust which owns blocks of flats in London which it rents out at reasonable prices. Zander has discovered an ongoing fraud which is netting one of the directors a tidy sum each month and as a result has put himself in danger.
The plot is satisfyingly complicated and the regular characters - Oliver, Maggie, Max, Nicole and Piers make a welcome reappearance. This is a relaxing read with realistic characters and situations. I enjoyed it.
I turned instead - with relief - to Veronica Heley's False Pretences which is the fourth book in her Abbot Agency series. I wasn't sure about this series at first but it is really growing on me. There is no on the page violence, characters attend church though they are definitely not holier than thou types. Zander - who ap
peared in a previous book - asks Bea for help. He works for the Tudor Trust which owns blocks of flats in London which it rents out at reasonable prices. Zander has discovered an ongoing fraud which is netting one of the directors a tidy sum each month and as a result has put himself in danger.The plot is satisfyingly complicated and the regular characters - Oliver, Maggie, Max, Nicole and Piers make a welcome reappearance. This is a relaxing read with realistic characters and situations. I enjoyed it.
Sunday, 17 May 2009
Murder in House
I stayed up late last night to finish Veronica Heley's latest Ellie Quicke mystery - Murder in House. This is a darker mystery than usual but still just as gripping as the rest of the series. Ellie has a terrible cold and would rather wrap up warm and stay inside when new husband Thomas asks her to talk to Ursula who is staging a sit in at a church. Ursula asks Ellie to look into a murder which has been treated as an accident and to find her fried Mia who has disappeared.
Ellie can't see how she can solve the problems - or even whether she wants to. But she does as Ursula asks and returns her engagement ring to her former fiance who behaves in an extremely strange fashion and Ellie's curiosity is aroused. She quickly tracks Mia down and finds the mystery is even more complicated and unpleasant than it first appeared. It also involves an exceedingly nasty local business man who is putting pressure on Ellie's cousin Roy to come up with a large sum of money.
There are some brilliant scenes involving Ellie's ruthless daughter Diana with Ellie increasingly getting the upper hand. All the usual characters appear including son-in-law Stuart, cousin Roy and wife Felicity, Ellie's friends Kate and Armand and ageing housekeeper Rose. The climax of the book is perfect and shows Ursula to be a more complex character than at first appeared. The dialogue throughout the book is full of humour and humanity and Thomas is shown at his best. There are some marvellous minor characters as well.
I love this series though some might find it too tame. There is bad language only by implication and there is an emphasis on the human virtues and a belief in God but the books are not pious and Ellie is never a saint in human form. She doesn't always behave well and is all the more believable and likable for this. This story involves rape, murder muggings and attempts by a pillar of the community to bribe and cheat his way through life. So the nastier aspects of human behaviour are not glossed over they are merely not described in excessive detail - leaving it to the reader's imagination. I loved it and think it is one of the best in this series.
Ellie can't see how she can solve the problems - or even whether she wants to. But she does as Ursula asks and returns her engagement ring to her former fiance who behaves in an extremely strange fashion and Ellie's curiosity is aroused. She quickly tracks Mia down and finds the mystery is even more complicated and unpleasant than it first appeared. It also involves an exceedingly nasty local business man who is putting pressure on Ellie's cousin Roy to come up with a large sum of money.
There are some brilliant scenes involving Ellie's ruthless daughter Diana with Ellie increasingly getting the upper hand. All the usual characters appear including son-in-law Stuart, cousin Roy and wife Felicity, Ellie's friends Kate and Armand and ageing housekeeper Rose. The climax of the book is perfect and shows Ursula to be a more complex character than at first appeared. The dialogue throughout the book is full of humour and humanity and Thomas is shown at his best. There are some marvellous minor characters as well.
I love this series though some might find it too tame. There is bad language only by implication and there is an emphasis on the human virtues and a belief in God but the books are not pious and Ellie is never a saint in human form. She doesn't always behave well and is all the more believable and likable for this. This story involves rape, murder muggings and attempts by a pillar of the community to bribe and cheat his way through life. So the nastier aspects of human behaviour are not glossed over they are merely not described in excessive detail - leaving it to the reader's imagination. I loved it and think it is one of the best in this series.
Sunday, 16 November 2008
Books
I finished reading Veronica Heley - False Step the other day and very good it was too. This is a new series which started with False Charity and features widow Bea Abbot who runs a domestic agency. This one involved a suicide which turned out to be murder and a corpse who isn't what he seems. I thought it was the best one so far.
I've also just finished Alison Joseph - A Violent Act which is the latest in the Sister Agnes series. She is a very unconventional nun with a penchant for fast cars, good food and wine. In this story she has to face unfinished business to do with her father who died some years ago. Her friend, Father Julius, wants her to visit a lady who is dying of cancer and an inmate of the hostel for homeless young people which she helps to run dies of an overdose. An excellent complex plot with more serious issues than the average who done it.
Paul Gallico's Flowers for Mrs Harris is a charming short novel - Ada 'Arris - London char falls in love with the idea of owning a Dior dress. So she saves up until she has enough money to fly to Paris to buy one. What happens to her and the people she meets is a gorgeous heart warming story. I had read this author's Too Many Ghosts and The Hand of Mary Constable so this was another one to add to the list.
I am currently reading Trisha Ashley - A Winter's Tale. This is sort of chick lit but also almost an historical novel in modern dress. Sophy inherits Winter's End a rambling manor house, estate and a garden which is in the process of restoration. There are two eccentric great aunts who live on the premises and a cousin who expected to inherit and who is trying to persuade Sophy to marry him so that he can get his greedy paws on the property. Excellent light reading.
I've also just finished Alison Joseph - A Violent Act which is the latest in the Sister Agnes series. She is a very unconventional nun with a penchant for fast cars, good food and wine. In this story she has to face unfinished business to do with her father who died some years ago. Her friend, Father Julius, wants her to visit a lady who is dying of cancer and an inmate of the hostel for homeless young people which she helps to run dies of an overdose. An excellent complex plot with more serious issues than the average who done it.
Paul Gallico's Flowers for Mrs Harris is a charming short novel - Ada 'Arris - London char falls in love with the idea of owning a Dior dress. So she saves up until she has enough money to fly to Paris to buy one. What happens to her and the people she meets is a gorgeous heart warming story. I had read this author's Too Many Ghosts and The Hand of Mary Constable so this was another one to add to the list.
I am currently reading Trisha Ashley - A Winter's Tale. This is sort of chick lit but also almost an historical novel in modern dress. Sophy inherits Winter's End a rambling manor house, estate and a garden which is in the process of restoration. There are two eccentric great aunts who live on the premises and a cousin who expected to inherit and who is trying to persuade Sophy to marry him so that he can get his greedy paws on the property. Excellent light reading.
Sunday, 8 June 2008
No more ants and Veronica Heley
They do seem to have gone - but I shall be buying the chemical means of killing them as well tomorrow to ensure they don't come back.
I finished reading Veronica Heley's latest - 'False Picture' last night. This is the second in the Abbot Agency series in which widowed Bea Abbot takes on problems which are better solved without reference to the police. In this one her friend Velma wants Bea to track down her missing step son. The resulting mayhem includes a trip to Bruges and various people turning out to be not what they seem. Bea sticks up for herself and discovers she can rise to a challenge and think on her feet. Her assistants Maggie and Oliver develop as characters and there are an assortment of murders. Well written and just that little bit different - very enjoyable.
Next on the pile are Martin Edwards' 'The Cipher Garden' - the second of his Lake District series, and Susan Hill's 'Vows of Silence which by all accounts is something of a tear jerker.
I finished reading Veronica Heley's latest - 'False Picture' last night. This is the second in the Abbot Agency series in which widowed Bea Abbot takes on problems which are better solved without reference to the police. In this one her friend Velma wants Bea to track down her missing step son. The resulting mayhem includes a trip to Bruges and various people turning out to be not what they seem. Bea sticks up for herself and discovers she can rise to a challenge and think on her feet. Her assistants Maggie and Oliver develop as characters and there are an assortment of murders. Well written and just that little bit different - very enjoyable.
Next on the pile are Martin Edwards' 'The Cipher Garden' - the second of his Lake District series, and Susan Hill's 'Vows of Silence which by all accounts is something of a tear jerker.
Sunday, 24 February 2008
Books etc
Currently I am on the last one of Veronica Heley's Ellie Quicke series - which I read for the first time a while back. I decided to go back to the beginning and read them all again - whereupon you find things - amusing or interesting - that you'd not noticed before. It's really good the way the characters develop as well over the years. These books are in the cosy sub genre of crime writing, but deal with some very modern crimes - child abuse (Murder of Innocence); attack by dangerous dog (Murder in the Park); financial shenanigans (Murder by Committee); food poisoning (Murder by Bicycle); identity theft (Murder of Identity); suicide (Murder by Suicide); honour killing (Murder in the Garden); drugs (Murder at the Altar); rip off builders and tradesmen (Murder by Accident). Throughout the series there is the issue of how to manage the care of elderly relatives and how to say no to adult children, no to speak of childcare issues where mothers work full time. There are well written believable characters dealing with everyday issues and crime. This author deserves to be better known in my opinion.
I am also reading 'Escape' by Carolyn Jessop. I'm not a fan of the misery memoir category which is so popular at the moment but this is gripping stuff. Carolyn was married for 15 years to Merrill Jessop and a member of the fundamentalist sect of the Latter Day Saints - Mormons. This is the polygamous bit of the church. It's all arranged marriages with men having several wives - chosen for them by the elders of the church. Women have no say in their lives and are treated as property. They have to obey their husbands, there is no contraception so people end up with loads of children. Carolyn at the time I've got to in the book is one of 6 wives and between them they have 34 children. The set up works if the wives get on, but frequently they are rivals and bullying is rife. The women are always married off at between 18 and 20. Sometimes they do get to go to college - Carolyn went - but had to take some of her stepdaughters with her as chaperones. This is happening today in America - supposedly the most civilised country in the world. Women are still being forced into Stepford Wife roles. Words fail me really. Carolyn did escape but even knowing that I am compelled to read on . . . .
I am also reading 'Escape' by Carolyn Jessop. I'm not a fan of the misery memoir category which is so popular at the moment but this is gripping stuff. Carolyn was married for 15 years to Merrill Jessop and a member of the fundamentalist sect of the Latter Day Saints - Mormons. This is the polygamous bit of the church. It's all arranged marriages with men having several wives - chosen for them by the elders of the church. Women have no say in their lives and are treated as property. They have to obey their husbands, there is no contraception so people end up with loads of children. Carolyn at the time I've got to in the book is one of 6 wives and between them they have 34 children. The set up works if the wives get on, but frequently they are rivals and bullying is rife. The women are always married off at between 18 and 20. Sometimes they do get to go to college - Carolyn went - but had to take some of her stepdaughters with her as chaperones. This is happening today in America - supposedly the most civilised country in the world. Women are still being forced into Stepford Wife roles. Words fail me really. Carolyn did escape but even knowing that I am compelled to read on . . . .
Wednesday, 6 February 2008
Writing progress
I have managed to add some more to Knowledge is Death over the last few days - up to 33,717 words now. We are progressing. Even though I have a plan for the rest of it I keep thinking of things to add, including a new suspect. This means introducing said suspect earlier in the book - good thing I'm just trying to get to the end rather than write perfectly!!
Reading - I have been reading Writers' News and Writing Magazine over the last few days. I am re-reading Veronica Heley's 'Murder by Accident' and seeing things in it I hadn't noticed before. I am still debating whether to write a strongly worded reply to a letter in the magazine saying something along the lines of - writing for publication is a full time job. Well no it isn't or probably two thirds of the books published would not ever be written. So many people combine writing for publication with other jobs because it doesn't always pay well. Doing it as a hobby or part time income does not mean you have an unprofessional attitude to it and a disregard of deadlines. I think all the writer of the letter was meaning was that yu do need to be professional but it wasn't the way it came over.
I have also read 'The Desperate Diary of a Country Housewife' by anon - the book of the Sunday Times Country Mole column. Amusing reading and left me wondering about the fine - invisible? - line between fact and fiction.
Still trying to get hold of Martin Edwards' 'The Cipher Garden' from Amazon. They seem to be having difficulty getting it so I may try Waterstone's instead. Or better still - my local independent bookshop - a job for tomorrow lunch time I think.
Martin -thanks for the tip about the companion to Dorothy Sayers - I shall be hunting for that.
Anne B - I will be buying a copy of 'Thorn in the Flesh' when it's released and I've just e-mailed Goldenford to see when it will be available to buy from their website.
Reading - I have been reading Writers' News and Writing Magazine over the last few days. I am re-reading Veronica Heley's 'Murder by Accident' and seeing things in it I hadn't noticed before. I am still debating whether to write a strongly worded reply to a letter in the magazine saying something along the lines of - writing for publication is a full time job. Well no it isn't or probably two thirds of the books published would not ever be written. So many people combine writing for publication with other jobs because it doesn't always pay well. Doing it as a hobby or part time income does not mean you have an unprofessional attitude to it and a disregard of deadlines. I think all the writer of the letter was meaning was that yu do need to be professional but it wasn't the way it came over.
I have also read 'The Desperate Diary of a Country Housewife' by anon - the book of the Sunday Times Country Mole column. Amusing reading and left me wondering about the fine - invisible? - line between fact and fiction.
Still trying to get hold of Martin Edwards' 'The Cipher Garden' from Amazon. They seem to be having difficulty getting it so I may try Waterstone's instead. Or better still - my local independent bookshop - a job for tomorrow lunch time I think.
Martin -thanks for the tip about the companion to Dorothy Sayers - I shall be hunting for that.
Anne B - I will be buying a copy of 'Thorn in the Flesh' when it's released and I've just e-mailed Goldenford to see when it will be available to buy from their website.
Saturday, 12 January 2008
Murder in the Park
I have finished reading Veronica Heley's latest Ellie Quicke mystery. If this is the finale to the series which she has indicated before that it could be, then it was a worthy finish. But there are enough loose ends for there to be other stories. Ellie is called to the aid of her friend Felicity who has witnessed a murder by a dangerous dog in the park where she was walking her baby. Ellie decides - encouraged, if not commanded by her formidable Aunt Drusilla - also Felicity's mother-in-law - to find the dog and owner before another killing takes place. But this is easier said than down and another person is injured. This time it is one of the ladies who helps in the charity shop where Ellie herself used to work. Ellie appears on the scene immediately after Mae is attacked apparently by the same dog and this makes her more determined to find the dog and alert the police. On top of this task she has to help look after her Aunt who's health is giving cause for concern, and try to keep her daughter Diana's schemes for increasing her own wealth in check.
For those of you who have followed this series it is interesting to see how much Ellie has come into her own strength of character. She takes charge of difficult situations on several occasions in this book and does it very successfully. Her relationship with Thomas the vicar is growing enjoyably until he announces he will soon be leaving the parish. Ellie realises how much Thomas matters to her, but it looks as though there isn't going to be a happy ending. Can she resolve the situation and catch up with the dog owner before a tragedy strikes? On top of all this there is a fire which badly damages her own house and Ellie is accused of starting it. Will she cope with all this and find a dangerous criminal as well? I am now going back to the beginning of the series to read them through again so that I can watch how all the characters develop.
On another topic - I only realised today that 'Writing Magazine' had published a letter of mine in the latest issue. It wasn't on the letters page which was why I missed it when I first flicked through the magazine. They'd done a letters extra page and it was on there! That's the first thing I've had published for months so I was quite chuffed about it.
My book has not had anything added to it since last weekend. Partly because I seem to have pulled a muscle in my back sitting in an upright chair is painful - that's my excuse anyway. I'm ok if I'm lying down or standing up, or even walking, but sitting down is quite painful - must be a different angle or something. It is easing off now, but I'm trying to spend as much time as possible this weekend horizontal with a book in my hand to give it a chance to return to normal before I go back to work on Monday. Work last week was only possible because I kept getting up every twenty minutes or so and having a walk round. If it's not better by mid week I shall go to the doctors. Easy with ours as there are no appointments - you just turn up.
Off to have a shower.
For those of you who have followed this series it is interesting to see how much Ellie has come into her own strength of character. She takes charge of difficult situations on several occasions in this book and does it very successfully. Her relationship with Thomas the vicar is growing enjoyably until he announces he will soon be leaving the parish. Ellie realises how much Thomas matters to her, but it looks as though there isn't going to be a happy ending. Can she resolve the situation and catch up with the dog owner before a tragedy strikes? On top of all this there is a fire which badly damages her own house and Ellie is accused of starting it. Will she cope with all this and find a dangerous criminal as well? I am now going back to the beginning of the series to read them through again so that I can watch how all the characters develop.
On another topic - I only realised today that 'Writing Magazine' had published a letter of mine in the latest issue. It wasn't on the letters page which was why I missed it when I first flicked through the magazine. They'd done a letters extra page and it was on there! That's the first thing I've had published for months so I was quite chuffed about it.
My book has not had anything added to it since last weekend. Partly because I seem to have pulled a muscle in my back sitting in an upright chair is painful - that's my excuse anyway. I'm ok if I'm lying down or standing up, or even walking, but sitting down is quite painful - must be a different angle or something. It is easing off now, but I'm trying to spend as much time as possible this weekend horizontal with a book in my hand to give it a chance to return to normal before I go back to work on Monday. Work last week was only possible because I kept getting up every twenty minutes or so and having a walk round. If it's not better by mid week I shall go to the doctors. Easy with ours as there are no appointments - you just turn up.
Off to have a shower.
Sunday, 6 January 2008
Sunday
It's Sunday - a day of rest and doing what you want to.
I read about 70 pages of Martin Edwards' 'The Coffin Trail' last night. Really good so far. It features DCI Hannah Scarlett who feels she's been side-lined by being asked to head the cold case review unit. Daniel Kind - an Oxford Historian with links to the Lake District has bought the cottage in which a murderer used to live. He knew the murderer and is haunted by the case as he does not believe Barry committed the crime. Lots of nuances and trails to be followed including my idea of an ideal bookshop/coffee shop, and a pub called the Moon Under Water. There's a pub with that name in Boston - by the river - but that's the only one I've come across before. I will report more fully when I've finished it. Martin Edwards' blog - link in my favourite blogs - is interesting reading for anyone who enjoys crime novels - either reading or writing them.
I received yesterday a copy of Veronica Heley's latest Ellie Quicke mystery - 'Murder in the Park'. She writes excellent cosy mysteries. I'm never sure I like that description but it is becoming more and more common. It just means there is very little 'on screen' violence, and little bad language. This does not stop Veronica Heley covering serious issues - such as attacks by dangerous dogs in this latest installment. Then there is paedophilia in 'Murder of Innocence', food poisoning in 'Murder by Bicycle', shenanigans in the city in 'Murder by Committee', poison pen letters in 'Murder by Suicide'. Throughout all her investigations Ellie has to stand up to her daughter Diana and ensure her elderly aunt is cared for. They are books which are anchored firmly in real life. They deserve to be better known in my opinion.
I had difficulty getting a copy of 'Murder in the Park', even though it was on order from Amazon for months before it was published in December. Amazon wrote and told me delivery would be delayed until February as they were out of stock, so I got it from The Book Depository http://thebookdepository.co.uk/s-book-.html - much cheaper! It's a shame that Amazon seem not to keep smaller publishers' books in stock. Severn House http://www.severnhouse.com/ Veronica Heley's publishers, mainly aim at the library market, both here and in the US. Their books are beautifully produced, with the picture on the dust jacket laminated onto the hard covers. These books are designed to withstand considerable wear and tear as might be expected and are a joy to read from a purely physical point of view, with a clear and easy to read typeface.
As well as these books to read I have my copies of Writers' News and Writing Magazine to read, not to speak of at least two shelves of unread books.
Writing progress - just over 24,000 words - so I've done my quota for this weekend, but I shall probably do some more later today.
Happy Sunday
I read about 70 pages of Martin Edwards' 'The Coffin Trail' last night. Really good so far. It features DCI Hannah Scarlett who feels she's been side-lined by being asked to head the cold case review unit. Daniel Kind - an Oxford Historian with links to the Lake District has bought the cottage in which a murderer used to live. He knew the murderer and is haunted by the case as he does not believe Barry committed the crime. Lots of nuances and trails to be followed including my idea of an ideal bookshop/coffee shop, and a pub called the Moon Under Water. There's a pub with that name in Boston - by the river - but that's the only one I've come across before. I will report more fully when I've finished it. Martin Edwards' blog - link in my favourite blogs - is interesting reading for anyone who enjoys crime novels - either reading or writing them.
I received yesterday a copy of Veronica Heley's latest Ellie Quicke mystery - 'Murder in the Park'. She writes excellent cosy mysteries. I'm never sure I like that description but it is becoming more and more common. It just means there is very little 'on screen' violence, and little bad language. This does not stop Veronica Heley covering serious issues - such as attacks by dangerous dogs in this latest installment. Then there is paedophilia in 'Murder of Innocence', food poisoning in 'Murder by Bicycle', shenanigans in the city in 'Murder by Committee', poison pen letters in 'Murder by Suicide'. Throughout all her investigations Ellie has to stand up to her daughter Diana and ensure her elderly aunt is cared for. They are books which are anchored firmly in real life. They deserve to be better known in my opinion.
I had difficulty getting a copy of 'Murder in the Park', even though it was on order from Amazon for months before it was published in December. Amazon wrote and told me delivery would be delayed until February as they were out of stock, so I got it from The Book Depository http://thebookdepository.co.uk/s-book-.html - much cheaper! It's a shame that Amazon seem not to keep smaller publishers' books in stock. Severn House http://www.severnhouse.com/ Veronica Heley's publishers, mainly aim at the library market, both here and in the US. Their books are beautifully produced, with the picture on the dust jacket laminated onto the hard covers. These books are designed to withstand considerable wear and tear as might be expected and are a joy to read from a purely physical point of view, with a clear and easy to read typeface.
As well as these books to read I have my copies of Writers' News and Writing Magazine to read, not to speak of at least two shelves of unread books.
Writing progress - just over 24,000 words - so I've done my quota for this weekend, but I shall probably do some more later today.
Happy Sunday
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