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.
I love historical fiction and this time period – James VI of Scotland succeeding to the throne after Elizabeth I and becoming James I of England. In my head, this is a time of Shakespeare, Macbeth, witch hunts and the Gunpowder Plot. Genuinely fascinating, and a precarious time to be part of the court, especially if you were gay as this was definitely not a time of tolerance.
Cue Francis Bacon – writer, philosopher and newly promoted to Attorney General under James I. And hiding his sexuality from all but the men he picks up for fleeting liaisons on the banks of the Thames.
I’ve been with Arrowood from the start of the series so I knew just what to expect in this fourth instalment – a fiendish mystery, grimy Victorian London and some great characters. Thanks to Mick Finlay and HQ for my copy of this book in exchange for an honest review, plus the invitation to join the blog tour.
I loved the first book in this series, ‘Dear Mrs Bird’, and couldn’t wait to get back into the 1940s world of Emmy Lake and her friends. Thanks to Camilla Elworthy and Picador Books for my copy in exchange for an honest review.
Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for ‘The Distant Dead’ by Lesley Thomson, the latest in the Detective’s Daughter series.
Thanks to the publisher, Head of Zeus, for inviting me on the blog tour and for gifting me a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
From the Publisher:
A woman lies dead in a bombed-out house. A tragic casualty of the Blitz? Or something more sinister? Sixty years later, the detective’s daughter unearths the truth… From the number 1 bestselling author of The Detective’s Daughter.
LONDON, 1940
Several neighbours heard the scream of the woman in the bombed-out house. One told the detective she thought the lady had seen a mouse. Another said it wasn’t his business what went on behind closed doors. None of them imagined that a trusting young woman was being strangled by her lover.
TEWKESBURY, 2020
Beneath the vast stone arches of Tewkesbury Abbey, a man lies bleeding, close to death. He is the creator of a true-crime podcast which now will never air. He was investigating the murder of a 1940s police pathologist – had he come closer to the truth than he realised?
Stella Darnell has moved to Tewkesbury to escape from death, not to court it. But when this man dies in her arms, Stella, impelled to root out evil when she finds it, becomes determined to hunt down his killer and to bring the secrets he was searching for into the light…
My Review:
I was drawn to this book by the prospect of a dual narrative – 1940 and 2019 – because I love the idea of the events of the past having their echoes in the present day.
This book begins with the murder of a young woman, Maple Greenhill, in a house abandoned during the Blitz in London during the Second World War. Although her murderer is revealed early on, this crime continues to reverberate down the years as people involved with the original investigation are hiding secrets. When a true crime podcaster is murdered in 2019 in Tewkesbury Abbey, it seems he was about to reveal something about the 1940 murder…
I loved the premise of this book and the balance between 1940 and 2019 is managed well by the writer. As a sucker for historical fiction, I particularly loved the 1940 scenes and some engaging writing about London in the war.
This is the eighth book in the series to feature Stella Darnell who is (from what I gathered) a cleaner and private investigator who has ended up fleeing London and settling in Tewkesbury. However, her new job cleaning Tewkesbury Abbey doesn’t provide her with much escape from her investigative past and it isn’t long before she is at the centre of a new mystery.
I think this book would probably be slightly easier to follow if you have read the previous ones in the series. Although a lot of the back-story is explained, I did find it a bit tricky to remember some of the finer details and get a sense of some of the characters – I guess they would be familiar if you know the series.
That said, I liked Stella as a main character – she seemed strong and clever, resilient and engaging. I didn’t fully understand the situation with Jack, but I liked him too – and the marvellous Lucie.
The novel is really well plotted – it kept me reading as I tried to keep one step ahead of Stella and her investigations. I totally failed, fell for every red herring going and didn’t identify the final solution – hats off to anyone who does because it is very involved and cleverly revealed.
I’d recommend this especially to those who are already familiar with the series and the relationship between Jack and Stella, the cleaning agency and the reasons Stella is in Tewkesbury. For those new to the series, I’d still recommend the writer but perhaps suggest starting with book one. However, this writer clearly has lots to offer so do pick up a copy!
About the Author:
Lesley Thomson is the author of the Detective’s Daughter series of West London-set mysteries featuring private investigators Stella, a cleaner, and Jack, a tube driver. The first novel, The Detective’s Daughter, became an ebook phenomenon in 2013, staying at number 1 in the digital charts for 3 months. Since then, the series has gone on to sell 800,000 copies worldwide. Lesley is an active member of the UK crimewriting community, and appeared at several crime festivals in 2019, including CrimeFest, Harrogate, Morecambe & Vice and Capital Crime. She lives in Lewes with her partner and her dog.
Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for ‘The Glorious Guinness Girls’ by Emily Hourican, a fascinating insight into the daughters of the famed Irish family.
With thanks to the publisher, Headline, for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
The main draw for this book was the period of history it covers – primarily the 1920s. Throw in some glitz and glamour, some high society sisters from the famous brewing dynasty, lots of Bright Young Things and raucous parties and I was absolutely sold!
This book fictionalises the story of the Glorious Guinness Girls – three sisters from Ireland who were celebrated in the contemporary media for being beautiful, privileged and eminently newsworthy. They were the daughters of Ernest and Cloe Guinness and raised in wealth and luxury in Glenmaroon until the events of the Irish Civil War became a little too close to home. They then embarked on a round the world yacht trip before settling in London where the girls were ‘brought out’ as debutantes and attended some pretty wild-sounding parties.
The story is told from the point of view of a fictional cousin of the Guinness Girls, Fliss, who is invited to live with the family and so is witness to the girls’ lives in the twelve year period that the book covers. Although she lives alongside the family, it is clear that she isn’t one of them – she is not invited on the yacht trip and instead becomes a kind of companion to Cloe and chaperone figure for the girls, even though she is a similar age to them. Fliss’ narrative covers mainly her time with the family in the 1920s, although we also see her as an older woman revisiting the former Guinness estate that has now been turned over to a religious order.
I’ll admit to being unsure how this book would work – particularly how the mixture of fact and fiction would work. In fact, the story is beautifully presented and engaging, although it is slightly ironic that the character we get the most vivid sense of is Fliss, the fictional one. This isn’t really surprising though, as her personal story – including her relationship with her brother, Hughie, who is caught up in the Irish Civil War – is really the heart of this book.
Of the three Guinness Girls (Aileen, Maureen and Oonagh), the one developed the most as a fully rounded character is Maureen, so it came as no surprise to me to read the author’s note at the end of the book which explained that one of her main sources was someone who knew Maureen best. Indeed, Maureen is vividly rendered as someone who is quite spiky and willing to test the boundaries of her sheltered life – it is a clever device to place Fliss as being a similar age to her and so sharing her experiences most closely. Aileen, the eldest, is probably the most mysterious of the three, while Oonagh (the baby of the family) is mostly sweet and spends most of her time on childish pursuits.
I thoroughly enjoyed the story of the Guinness Girls as I followed them from the volatility of the Irish situation to the glamour of the Roaring 20s in London. It was really interesting to see the ways that their wealth protected them from the political situation up until the point they could no longer ignore the reality of what was happening on their doorstep. I also loved how the author presented the fact that the traditions of the aristocracy were slowly dying in the youth revolution of the 1920s – to be young and free and living life to the full was the most important thing and Maureen embodies this.
Obviously, this presents a narrow view of what life in the 1920s was like, but it is an exhilarating experience to be carried along with the beautiful people as they partied like it was 1929 (pre-Wall Street crash, of course!) The blending of historical figures with the fictional ones was also engaging – it was lovely to ‘see’ Nancy Mitford, Evelyn Waugh and Brian Howard among others.
This book left me desperate to learn more about the Guinness Girls – all of whom had absolutely fascinating lives after the period of this book. In many ways, I really wanted this book to be more fact and less fiction – the historical figures are interesting in their own right and Fliss’ story is perhaps less compelling than the other elements of the novel. However, as a piece of historical fiction based in fact, it does work and is engaging.
I would recommend this to fans of historical fiction – fans looking for heavy-duty non-fiction will not find the detail they want here as this isn’t the intention of the book. As a fictional insight into the lives of the wealthy and fortunate in an interesting period of Anglo-Irish history, it absolutely hits the mark.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
This book isn’t my usual genre, but I’d seen lots of positive things about it on Twitter and fancied a fun, lighter read as a break from my usual crime novels. I did wonder how the main conceit (a woman taking her friend’s highly skilled job) would be sustained over the whole novel and looked forward to losing myself in Birdy’s world.
The novel follows Birdy (Elizabeth Finch) as she steps into her friend’s job in a Scottish restaurant – her friend Heather has run off to Rome with her lover and it seems a shame that a cushy job will be unfilled, so Birdy steps in. It’s far enough away from her life – and disastrous relationship – in London for people to suspect she isn’t Heather, the top class sommelier. Except for the fact that Birdy knows nothing about wine. Things get more complicated when she gets to the restaurant and meets the attractive chef…
Living as an imposter certainly throws a few problems Birdy’s way.
I’ll admit I was sceptical about some of the set-up. I’m not sure who asks their friend to turn down a job offer for them and am not sure you could ever pass as someone else for any length of time with social media so prevalent. However, Dent deals with these hitches well and the book is so cheery and funny that my reservations melted away.
I really enjoyed the Scottish setting, a long way from Birdy’s natural London habitat but gloriously described and written with real love. The restaurant itself was peopled with a lively and believable cast – anyone who has worked in catering or restaurants will recognise some of the types. I particularly loved Roxy, the trainee wine expert who helps Birdy out when her skills as a sommelier are being so sorely tested. It was also hard not to like and feel sorry for Bill, struggling with his own issues but smoothing the way for Birdy when he could.
Birdy herself is likeable and funny – there’s lots of self-deprecating humour that made me laugh and it was easy to feel sympathy for her as she worked hard to overcome her total lack of the specialist knowledge that she had supposedly been hired for. Indeed, her drive to make the best of the situation and not let her friend down made her an appealing character. She comes to really care about the restaurant – although not before a few disasters along the way.
I liked the love interest in the novel, James, although – for me – the central storyline was really Birdy finding her feet and place in the world. That this included a handsome Scottish chef was fine with me, and he came across well – although slightly lacking the warmth and humour of the female characters. Still, it was a romance I felt invested in and definitely preferable to Birdy’s London boyfriend who is just outrageously awful.
I’d recommend this to anyone looking for a fun and engaging book. There’s plenty to keep you reading – even as you wince at Birdy’s faux pas, warm to her colleagues and wonder what on earth Heather is going to make of it all when she finds out!
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for granting me a free copy of this in exchange for an honest review.
If you’d like a copy of this sweet and funny book, please use my affiliate link below – thanks for supporting my blog with any purchases (at no extra cost to you):
I have a huge apology to make. This book has sat on my NetGalley shelf for a long time and I should have read and reviewed it much earlier. Not least because I have missed out on reading this until now. This book was published in 2019 by Collins Crime Club, part of Harper Collins.
This is the third in Bonnie MacBird’s excellent series featuring Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson. I’ve now read all four books (the latest, ‘The Three Locks’, has just been published – you can read my blog tour review here). I think they can be read in any order as, although there are some recurring characters in the books aside from the expected ones, I don’t think there are spoilers.
Happy publication day to this unusual tale of gay friendship!
I didn’t really know what to expect from this book, but the 1920s setting and the concept seemed interesting – two childhood friends, Bettina and Bart, decide to marry in order to hide their same-sex preferences from a disapproving world. They hope that marriage will bring them a respectability that will allow them to carry out their love affairs in private.
The story opens in 1921 when Bart and Bettina share a moonlit kiss that convinces both of them that their sexual preferences aren’t for each other! What follows is a story of a marriage that is a giant cover-up – although, to the outside world, it looks conventional and produces children. Instead, Bart becomes involved with a French lover, Etienne, and Bettina conducts her own love affairs. As the pair progress through the 1920s and 1930s and into World War II, neither have any sense of where their deceptions will lead them.
I think I had hoped that this would be a heart-warming tale in which the friendship between Bart and Bettina would mean that they have each others’ backs even through the tough times. It doesn’t exactly play out like this as both characters are spiky and tough so they do seem to spend a lot of the novel either not together or not liking each other – I thought this was a shame as it undermined what I hoped would be a message about the power of friendship. It just isn’t that sort of book!
Instead, it is funny and shocking at times and quite graphic – there’s no cosiness in this version of the past. In fact, it reads as quite modern in the social sensibilities and language used – occasionally jarringly so, but this may be because I am used to more conventional historical fiction. It is also quite sad in places, particularly the framing of the novel in more modern times.
This was definitely a novel that kept me reading – it moves through time and space at speed and there really isn’t a dull moment. I enjoyed the varied settings and the historical backdrop, from Hollywood glitz to the very unglamorous work of the Land Girls of WW2. Although I can’t say I liked either of the lead characters, their story was interesting and thought-provoking.
I’d recommend this to anyone interested in the sexual politics surrounding LGBT issues in the past – it certainly doesn’t hold back on the challenges that people like Bart and Bettina must have faced in a much less permissive society than our own.
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