Reviews

‘I opened this book with high expectations. They have been admirably fulfilled.  Here we have a stand alone thriller about two lonely people who pursue a relationship of monthly weekends together in remote spots.  Suddenly one of these two fails to get to the rendezvous-vous and the other realises how very limited her knowledge of her  companion is . . . Gradually the reader pieces together some of the facts as an atmosphere of rising tension envelops everything. The intelligent way Jay, Lisa and others plan their actions is enjoyable and the suspense of the tale is palpable.’

- MYSTERY PEOPLE

Ethel Lina White: underrated GA writer?

Posted on Aug 31, 2015 in Ethel Lina White, Fear Stalks the Village, Hitchcock, The Lady Vanished, The Spiral Staircase, The Wheel Turns, Wax | 2 Comments

I am often alerted to a book I might enjoy by my good blogfriend, Moira, over at Clothesinbooks.com and that was the case with Ethel Lina White’s Fear Stalks the Village. You can see her review here: http://bit.ly/1JrsBCs. As I happened I already had a ‘box set’ of White’s novels on my e-reader and this […]

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Stories of amazing courage

Posted on Aug 24, 2015 in Army of Shadows, French Resistance, Jean-Pierre Melville, Lucie Aubrac, Matthew Cobb | 2 Comments

Matthew Cobb’s book, The Resistance: The French Fight against the Nazis (2009) seemed a good choice of reading for my French holiday. Although I read some of it with tears in my eyes, I was glad I had taken it. I had known, of course, that the French had suffered during the Occupation, but I […]

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The Starlings and Other Stories

Posted on Aug 20, 2015 in Ann Cleeves, Graffeg, The Starlings, Uncategorized, Waterstones Wrexham | 2 Comments

I got back from my holiday in France to find a treat waiting for me: a copy of The Starlings & Other Stories, edited by Ann Cleeves. A while ago I wrote about writing short stories to a brief and mentioned this anthology, to be published by Graffeg, an excellent small Welsh Press: http://bit.ly/1WGllMk. The stories are all […]

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Helen McCloy’s Through a Glass, Darkly

Posted on Aug 1, 2015 in Cue for Murder, Darkly, Helen McCloy | 2 Comments

  I hadn’t heard of Helen McCloy before her novel, Cue for Murder, was discussed on one of my favourite blogs, Clothesinbooks.com. It’s set in a theatre and sounded right up my street. I did enjoy it, and but not nearly as much as I enjoyed Through a Glass, Darkly, regarded by many as her […]

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