Fortune Favours the Dead - Stephen Spotswood

 

Description

*CHOSEN FOR THE BBC RADIO 2 BOOKCLUB!* 

The first in the brilliant new Pentecost and Parker series, FORTUNE FAVOURS THE DEAD is a hugely entertaining murder mystery set in 1940s New York City.

New York, 1946. Lillian Pentecost is the most successful private detective in the city, but her health is failing. She hires an assistant to help with the investigative legwork. Willowjean Parker is a circus runaway. Quick-witted and street-smart, she's a jack-of-all-trades with a unique skill-set. She can pick locks blindfolded, wrestle men twice her size, and throw knives with deadly precision - all of which come in handy working for Ms P.

When wealthy young widow Abigail Collins is murdered and the police are making no progress, Pentecost and Parker are hired by the family to track down the culprit. On Halloween night, there was a costume party at the Collins' mansion, where a fortune teller performed a séance which greatly disturbed Abigail. Several hours later her body was discovered bludgeoned to death in her late husband's office. Problem is, the door to the office was locked from the inside. There was no-one else in the room, and the murder weapon was beside the victim; the fortune teller's crystal ball.

It looks like an impossible crime, but Pentecost and Parker know there is no such thing...

Review

I love a good mystery, but the book made me wait a really long time to find out whodunnit.

We meet Will, who has run away from the circus, with a great set of skills that set her in good stead to be the sidekick of Lillian Pentecost - detective. After the initial introduction of how they met we skip forward a few years to their latest mystery. A dead body in a locked room after a séance. 

This book has a lot going for it. Set in the 1940s with a strong female lead (well two in fact) and a mystery to solve. Unfortunately it felt like a chore to get through it at times. Every so often I would wonder why they didn't just use their mobile phone and then remembered it was the 1940s. A little more scene setting would have made for it to feel more like the 1940s.

I thought I had this one solved early on but then events later in the book put paid to my theory and I was in the dark once more. I really liked the character of Will a go getter and up for anything. The writing was good on action but it moved too slowly for me overall.  I also liked the representation of different factions of society within the book. I could see this being great on screen.

I'm giving this book 3 out of 5 stars. My thanks to netgalley for the ARC and I appear to have also bought the book from Amazon!

Everyone In This Room will Someday be Dead - Emily Austin

 

Description

Meet Gilda. She cannot stop thinking about death. Desperate for relief from her anxious mind and alienated from her repressive family, she responds to a flyer for free therapy at a local church and finds herself abruptly hired to replace the deceased receptionist Grace. It's not the most obvious job - she's queer and an atheist for starters - and so in between trying to learn mass, hiding her new maybe-girlfriend and conducting an amateur investigation into Grace's death, Gilda must avoid revealing the truth of her mortifying existence.

A blend of warmth, deadpan humour, and pitch-perfect observations about the human condition, Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead is a crackling exploration of what it takes to stay afloat in a world where your expiration - and the expiration of those you love - is the only certainty.

Review

This novel deals with a character who has extreme anxiety/depression - it may not be for someone who can sometimes feel like this themselves.

Took me a while to get used to the depressing outpouring onto the page, skipping from one time line to another, one subject to another. Without warning hurtle into the unknown. Gradually I began to read it at speed and that seemed to help with the randomness of the story.

Dead pan comedy it does have and I did laugh out loud a couple of times. But in the main it is a bit depressing to be honest. I did get to quite like Gilda especially when she went on a few dates with a man she was set up with out of kindness. Gilda being a lesbian meant it was never really going to work out for her especially as she was already seeing someone. Most of the comedy does come from Gilda being too nice or inept most of the time to actually say what she means, or tell the truth, leading her to be out of her depth in most situations. 

I was hoping for more of a detective slant to the book from the book blurb.

I'm giving this book 3 out of 5 stars. My thanks to netgalley for the ARC to review.

The Cat Who Saved Books - Sosuke Natsukawa

 

Description

Grandpa used to say it all the time: books have tremendous power. But what is that power really?

Natsuki Books was a tiny second-hand bookshop on the edge of town. Inside, towering shelves reached the ceiling, every one crammed full of wonderful books. Rintaro Natsuki loved this space that his grandfather had created. He spent many happy hours there, reading whatever he liked. It was the perfect refuge for a boy who tended to be something of a recluse.

After the death of his grandfather, Rintaro is devastated and alone. It seems he will have to close the shop. Then, a talking tabby cat called Tiger appears and asks Rintaro for help. The cat needs a book lover to join him on a mission. This odd couple will go on three magical adventures to save books from people who have imprisoned, mistreated and betrayed them. Finally, there is one last rescue that Rintaro must attempt alone . . .

The Cat Who Saved Books is a heart-warming story about finding courage, caring for others – and the tremendous power of books. Sosuke Natsukawa's international bestseller, translated from Japanese by Louise Heal Kawai, is a story for those for whom books are so much more than words on paper.

Review

This book reminded me a little of Alice in Wonderland. There's certainly some life lessons within it's pages and the same need to suspend belief.

I love books and those set in Japan, but really this could have been set anywhere as only a few Japanese references are made. Rintaro lives with his grandfather in a bookshop. Sadly his Grandfather just passed away and so Rintaro must leave the bookshop and go to live with an Aunt he doesn't even know. That is until a talking cat appears in the bookshop, and asks Rintaro to go with him on several missions to save books from people who are mistreating their books. 

As Rintaro goes with the cat  each time, it becomes clear that he's not only saving books but he's saving himself too. He's also putting into practice some of the wisdom his Grandfather passed onto him that he's never really understood until now.

A magical book with that Japanese feel of an other unworldly realm. This is a book for adults but at times it read more like a YA novel and I think someone in that category could certainly read and enjoy this book. I'm giving this book 4 out of 5 stars. My thanks to netgalley for the ARC to review.

The Maid - Nita Prose

 

Description

THE HOTLY-ANTICIPATED DEBUT, COMING JANUARY 2022
RIGHTS SOLD IN 29 TERRITORIES

*Film rights snapped up by Universal, with Florence Pugh set to star as the title character*

‘A smart, riveting, and deliciously refreshing debut’ LISA JEWELL

I am your maid.
I know about your secrets. Your dirty laundry.
But what do you know about me?

Molly the maid is all alone in the world. A nobody. She’s used to being invisible in her job at the Regency Grand Hotel, plumping pillows and wiping away the grime, dust and secrets of the guests passing through. She’s just a maid – why should anyone take notice?
 
But Molly is thrown into the spotlight when she discovers an infamous guest, Mr Black, very dead in his bed. This isn’t a mess that can be easily cleaned up. And as Molly becomes embroiled in the hunt for the truth, following the clues whispering in the hallways of the Regency Grand, she discovers a power she never knew was there. She’s just a maid – but what can she see that others overlook?

Escapist, charming and introducing a truly original heroine, The Maid is a story about how everyone deserves to be seen. And how the truth isn’t always black and white – it’s found in the dirtier, grey areas in between . . .

Review

Molly the maid has a set of rules and she loves to work to them. Her goal is to return rooms to a state of perfection. So, we realise this is already no everyday maid.

Molly works at the Regency Grand and is happy in her work. Her beloved Grandmother recently passed away and she has no one for guidance anymore. She see things a little differently to others and unfortunately this can lead her to be taken advantage of.

Told through the eyes of Molly the reader soon begins to realise that all is not what it might be at the Regency Grand, except Molly will be last to realise, even after she finds a dead body. With Molly very much an innocent, it became worrying that no one seemed to be on Molly's side, but instead used her to their advance their gain. I grew to really detest her supervisor Cheryl and the Lothario called Rodney who Molly has set her sights on.

Initially I thought that the plot felt drawn out, but then the action really began and it got very interesting. I couldn't understand the need for the book to carry on once all the ends were tied up. However I was in for a surprise ending and what a surprise it turned out to be. I'm still mulling it all over in my mind now.

I'm giving this book 4 out of 5 stars. My thanks to netgalley for the ARC to review. This book will be published in January 2022.

The Late Train To Gipsy Hill - Alan Johnson

 

Description

A woman hiding a deadly secret. And the man who went in search of adventure, but found himself in danger ...

Gary Nelson has a routine for the commute to his rather dull job in the city. Each day, he watches as a woman on the train applies her make up in a ritual he now knows by heart. He's never dared to strike up a conversation . . . but maybe one day.

Then one evening, on the late train to Gipsy Hill, the woman invites him to take the empty seat beside her. Fiddling with her mascara, she holds up her mirror and Gary reads the words 'HELP ME' scrawled in sticky black letters on the glass.

From that moment, Gary's life is turned on its head. He finds himself on the run from the Russian mafia, the FSB and even the Metropolitan Police - all because of what this mysterious young woman may have witnessed. In the race to find out the truth, Gary discovers that there is a lot more to her than meets the eye . . .

Review

I was drawn to this book as it was by the former Home Secretary Alan Johnson and I wanted to see if he could write - and he can! 

A great story, which to begin with I wasn't sure was going to be that exciting, but once our hero got involved with the waitress Arina it got very interesting. After a while I got a little confused with the all Russian names and who was who, who was Russian Mafia and who was FSB. Personally I found it difficult to retain all of the names and just went with it. Luckily there were some breadcrumbs laid down to remind you every so often of what was happening. 

I liked the characters and they were very believable. Gary is out of his depth and thinks he's protecting Arina but all is not what it seems. There was also some light hearted humour at times. The only part that didn't ring true for me was some of the Met Police scenes and particularly those involving a side plot.

The ending wasn't what I was expecting. To me it did feel a little rushed. All of a sudden it was a race to tell the reader everything that had happened and all the twists you missed along the way. Having said that pretty much an Agatha Christie formulaic ending. 

My thanks to Pigeonhole for the ARC to read.

London Clay - Tom Chivers

 

I'm just thrilled to be on the Blog Tour today for London Clay with Random Things Tours. Thanks for the invite and for a copy of the book to review.

Description

What secrets lie beneath a city?

Tom Chivers follows hidden pathways, explores lost islands and uncovers the geological mysteries that burst up through the pavement and bubble to the surface of our streets. From Roman ruins to a submerged playhouse, from an abandoned Tube station to underground rivers, Chivers leads us on a journey into the depths of the city he loves.

A lyrical interrogation of a capital city, a landscape and our connection to place, London Clay celebrates urban edgelands: in-between spaces where the natural world and the metropolis collide. Through a combination of historical research, vivid reportage and personal memoir, it will transform how you see London, and cities everywhere.

Review

What an absolutely fascinating book.

I'm interested in the history of places, what stood before, what happened when and this book has this and more. The title I think is a little misleading, making it sound more like a staid geology book than the absolute joy it is. 

Within pages of beginning to read I was off down a rabbit hole of the internet and google maps, my appetite whetted by the history uncovered surrounding Aldgate. This became a pattern throughout the book for me, as I just had to see for myself the places the author visited. At over 400 pages it would have been a weighty tome to fully cover everything about a place. I started to realise I had walked past many of these places but was oblivious to their status.  Other areas further out of the City I had no idea even existed.

Although the author sets off in search of covered waterways, to find them he encounters sites and sights along the way. Observed street life now and from centuries ago brought to life by his beautiful writing. 

Part way through the book I find out that the author is indeed a poet and this shines through in the writing style of the book. This is social history commentary of significant importance for both now and the future. One minute you are reading about Chaucer and the next minute recent history, with the London bombings of 7/7 and even the current pandemic. 

Within the pages the author refers to his Mother who died when he was a teenager. I began to get the sense of a remarkable woman, and this was confirmed at the end of the book when I read of her chosen headstone inscription; and also that she was part of the protests to save the Rose Theatre. 

Because of the varied subjects covered by the book, although linked by the strata of London, it is difficult to place it in any one category. It's like accompanying a very knowledgeable friend, who as you walk along knows so much information about everything you pass. I only wish I could retain all the information myself. I will definitely be dipping into the book again, especially as the book contains many footnotes for further research which are collected at the end of the book.

I'm giving this book 5 out of 5 stars.

Freckles - Cecelia Ahern

 

Description

You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.
 
When a stranger utters these words to Allegra Bird, nicknamed Freckles, it turns her highly ordered life upside down. In her current life as a parking warden, she has left her eccentric father and unconventional childhood behind for a bold new life in the city.
 
But a single encounter leads her to ask the question she’s been avoiding for so long:  who are the people who made her the way she is?  And who are the five people who can shape and determine her future? Just as she once joined the freckles on her skin to mirror the constellations in the night sky, she must once again look for connections.

Told in Allegra’s vivid, original voice, moving from Dublin to the fierce Atlantic coast, this is an unforgettable story of human connection, of friendship, and growing into your own skin. 

Five people. Five stars. Freckle to freckle. Star to star.

Review

I really wanted to like this book more than I did. The lack of speech marks made it a hard read for me.

Allegra has freckles and she's self harmed to connect them into constellations. At first this is all we know about Allegra. As the book progresses we begin to understand that she is moving to a slightly different beat than everyone else.

She has come from a small island off the coast of Ireland to work as a traffic warden on the mainland but really she always wanted to be in the Garda. It's here she meets someone who tells her that she is the sum of the five people you spend the most time with, and he doesn't mean it as a compliment. At first I couldn't understand why Allegra takes this to heart so much and it dominates most of the first half of the book. I felt it was over played and I struggled to get into the book.

The scenes with her Father where she suspects him of displaying signs of dementia were so well written and believable. I felt sorry for her when she went back to the island and everything she knew had changed. I also felt sorry for her as she tried to connect to five new people.

The second half of the book flowed much better, by now I had the measure of Allegra, well I thought I did. Maybe I misjudged her just as some of the people in the book did. The ending was sweet justice for Allegra.

I'm giving this book 3 out of 5 stars. My thanks to netgalley for the ARC to review.