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Showing posts from August, 2024

Smoke and Murders - J L Blackhurst

  Description COMING SOON – PRE-ORDER NOW The follow-up to  Three Card Murder  and the second book in a gripping new mystery series introducing Detective Tess Fox and her con-artist sister Sarah Jacobs. Members of the Lewes Bonfire Society would say afterwards that the event would have been a huge success that year, if it hadn’t been for the dead body… When the charred remains of MP Rupert Millington are found inside a burning effigy, no one knows how they got there, but there are plenty of rumours about whodunnit. The lead suspect wants Detective Tess Fox and her con-artist sister Sarah Jacobs to help clear her name. She says she's being framed, but surely there is no smoke without fire. The heat is on when a second victim is killed in a locked room while Tess and Sarah are in the building. Can the duo solve this puzzling mystery and find the real killer before they strike again? Review We are back with the two sisters Tess (police officer) and Sarah (con artist) from th...

The Lantern of Lost Memories - Sanaka Hiiragi

  Description One photograph, one treasured memory, one chance to go back . . . In a cosy photography studio in the mountains between this world and the next, someone is waking up as if from a dream. A kind man will hand them a hot cup of tea and gently explain that, having reached the end of their life, they have one final task. There is a stack of photos on their lap, one for every day of their life, and now they must choose the pictures that capture their most treasured memories, which will be placed in a beautiful lantern. Once completed, it will be set spinning, and their cherished moments will flash before their eyes, guiding them to another world. But, like our most thumbed-over photographs, our favourite memories become faded with age, so each visitor to the studio has the chance to choose one day to return to and photograph afresh. Each has a treasured story to tell, from the old woman rebuilding a community in Tokyo after a disaster, to the flawed Yakuza man who remembers...

Mina's Matchbox - Yoko Ogawa

  Description On sleepless nights, I open the matchbox and reread the story of the girl who gathered shooting stars. After the death of her father, twelve-year-old Tomoko is sent to live for a year with her uncle in the coastal town of Ashiya. It is a year which will change her life. The 1970s are bringing changes to Japan and her uncle's magnificent colonial mansion opens up a new and unfamiliar world for Tomoko; its sprawling gardens are even home to a pygmy hippo the family keeps as a pet. Tomoko finds her relatives equally exotic and beguiling and her growing friendship with her cousin Mina draws her into an intoxicating world full of secret crushes and elaborate storytelling. Rich with the magic and mystery of youth,  Mina’s Matchbox  is an evocative snapshot of a moment frozen in time, and a striking depiction of a family on the edge of collapse. Review This was an intriguing read, although not much really happens. As I reflect back over this book I realise that it ...

Scandalous Women - Gill Paul

  Description Mad Men meets the world of publishing in million-copy bestselling author Gill Paul’s new novel about Jackie Collins and Jacqueline Susann 1966: In London ,  Jackie Collins 's racy  The World is Full of Married Men  hits bookshops and launches her career. In  New York, Jacqueline Susann 's debut novel  Valley of the Dolls  is published, and she's desperate for it to be a bestseller. But both are about to discover the price they will pay for being women who dare to write about sex. Meanwhile, college graduate Nancy White is excited to take up her dream job at a  Manhattan publishing house . But Nancy could never be prepared for the rampant sexism she is about to encounter. When Nancy introduces the two Jackies, she fears they will become rivals in their race to top the charts. As she strives to achieve her ambition of becoming an editor,  can all three women succeed despite the men determined to hold them back? Praise for  Sc...