1970s Archives - The Quick and the Read

Blog Tour: ‘Blunt Force’ by Lynda La Plante

I’m delighted to share my review of ‘Blunt Force’, the sixth book in the excellent series featuring Jane Tennison in her early career – way before her ‘Prime Suspect’ days.

I’m reading this series as part of #TeamTennison – thanks to Compulsive Readers and Zaffre Books for inviting me on to the tour and for my copies of the books for review. As always, opinions are entirely my own.

In this book, Jane Tennison has left Flying Squad and is now stationed in Knightsbridge – not exactly a hub of violent crime in comparison to some of her previous postings! Just as she’s beginning to worry that her career is going nowhere, a brutal murder is committed and Jane joins the investigative team. However, the case is far from straightforward – the victim, Charles Foxley, was a theatrical agent who was well-known, not always above board and had some powerful enemies…

Book Review: ‘The Dirty Dozen’ by Lynda La Plante

It’s time for my review of Book 5 in the Jane Tennison crime series by Lynda La Plante!

Thanks to Compulsive Readers for inviting me to read the series as part of #TeamTennison and Zaffre Books for my review copy of the book. As always, opinions are entirely my own.

I’ve really enjoyed this series to date, so I was looking forward to see what came next in Jane Tennison’s (1970s) Metropolitan police career before the events of the ‘Prime Suspect’ TV series with Helen Mirren. Each of the books have been so different, with Jane involved in traditional police procedures, forensic murder investigations, undercover police work, lots of different teams in different areas of London and even the aftermath of a major bombing.

In this instalment, WDS Jane Tennison has finally gained a spot in the famous Flying Squad, also known as ‘The Sweeney’. She knows it’s going to be tough, especially as the first female detective there, but nothing can prepare her for the dramatic events of his first day when she attends the scene of an armed robbery on a bank. As the investigation progresses, it seems both that the gang involved have a bigger target in mind, and that Jane’s maverick policing techniques may just get her in a lot of trouble…

Book Review: ‘The Murder Mile’ by Lynda La Plante

Thanks to Compulsive Readers for inviting me onto the #TeamTennison project and to Zaffre Books for my copy of this – the fourth in the series covering Jane Tennison’s life before Prime Suspect.

As always, opinions are my own.

In this book, Jane Tennison has been made Detective Sergeant and is working in Peckham CID, in a tough part of London and in a policing team imbued with the all-too-familiar misogyny and racism that we’ve seen before in the series. When a young woman is found killed in Bussey Alley, Peckham, Jane Tennison is first on the scene and keen to find the killer. A second body with no obvious link to the first other than physical proximity throws Tennison’s team into confusion…and a third murder on their patch tests them further. The newspapers begin stirring up panic about a serial killer in Peckham – as Tennison uncovers some baffling links and leads…

Book Review: ‘Tennison’ by Lynda La Plante

I was absolutely delighted to be asked to join #TeamTennison and read the whole series featuring Jane Tennison from the start! Thanks to Compulsive Readers for my spot on the team and for my copies of the books.

This review is for ‘Tennison’, the first in the series – most people will be familiar with DCI Jane Tennison from the ‘Prime Suspect’ series featuring Dame Helen Mirren, but this series takes us back to 1973 and the very start of Tennison’s career.

Book Review: ‘All About Evie’ by Matson Taylor

‘The Miseducation of Evie Epworth’ was one of my books of 2021 – I couldn’t wait to see how Matson Taylor was going to follow up his impressive debut novel. Thanks to NetGalley for granting me access to this sequel in exchange for an honest review.

This novel picks up a way after the first one finished with 1960s Evie heading for London. She’s now 10 years older and living the high life in 1970s London – until a surprising and unfortunate incident involving Princess Anne ends her BBC career a little prematurely. Faced with a number of possibilities, Evie picks herself up and tries some different paths with the help of her friends.

Book Review: ‘Between the Covers’ by Jilly Cooper

I love Jilly Cooper – her Rutshire Chronicles were pretty much my constant companions throughout my teens and twenties – and was so pleased to be granted access to read this collection of her journalism. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy in exchange for an honest review.

The book features a selection of Cooper’s journalism covering the period she wrote columns for The Times (roughly from the end of the 1960s to the early 1980s). As expected from Cooper, it features meditations on sex – the raunchy nature of her fiction books is well-known – but also mid-life, family, pets, domesticity, relationships and plenty more. It is also packed with humour – there’s lots of self-deprecation, witty turns of phrase, puns and plenty of Cooper’s ability to see the ridiculous in situations.

(Audio)Book Review: ‘The Adventures of Miss Barbara Pym’ by Paula Byrne

I’ll admit I perhaps didn’t come to this book for the most obvious reason. I didn’t actually know anything about Barbara Pym or her books, but have read and enjoyed several biographies by Paula Byrne and so was keen to read this. I’m grateful to NetGalley and Fourth Estate Books for my copy of her latest book in exchange for an honest review.

Book Review: ‘A Passion for Poison’ by Carol Ann Lee

I’m always intrigued by a poisoner – not that I probably should admit to this! Indeed, crime fiction – especially Agatha Christie, queen of poisons – has always been my go-to genre, although I don’t usually read much true crime.

With that in mind, I was very excited to win an advance copy of ‘A Passion for Poison’ from Readers First and relished the opportunity to read about a real life poisoner.

Blog Tour: ‘Mary Jane’ by Jessica Anya Blau

Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for ‘Mary Jane’ by Jessica Anya Blau, a fabulous coming-of-age novel set in the 1970s.

With thanks to Random Things Tours and the publisher for inviting me onto the tour and for my copy of the novel in exchange for an honest review.