London Archives - Page 4 of 5 - The Quick and the Read

‘The Summer Job’ by Lizzy Dent

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):

Header photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash.

‘The Devil’s Due’ by Bonnie MacBird

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.

‘The Inverts’ by Crystal Jeans

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.

If you’d like a copy of this book, please use my Amazon Affiliate link below – thanks for supporting my blog with any purchases.

Header photo with thanks to Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash.

Blog Tour: ‘The Three Locks’ by Bonnie MacBird

Welcome to my stop on this blog tour for ‘The Three Locks’, a Sherlock Holmes adventure, by Bonnie MacBird.

This tour is organised by Random Things Tours. The novel was published on 18th March, 2021, by Collins Crime Club.

‘A Wedding in the Country’ by Katie Fforde

A new novel from Katie Fforde is always a treat – so much so that I don’t even need to read the blurb to know that I’ll like it!

Precisely because I hadn’t read the blurb, I was surprised that this book takes place in 1963 as I am used to Fforde’s contemporary romances. What a great setting! From early 1960s London – just about starting to swing – to the promised wedding in the country…this has interesting and engaging settings throughout.

The book is about a young woman, Lizzie, who moves to London to attend a cookery school. Once the course is finished, she cannot bear to think about giving up her new-found freedoms by returning home and so moves into a shabby but fabulous shared house in Belgravia with her new (clearly very wealthy) friends. This leads on to invitations to the country to stay in stately homes…and – before she knows it – her life has been turned upside down and will never be the same again.

Wow, it is hard to write about this book without giving spoilers!

I read Katie Fforde books precisely because nothing bad will happen and everything will work out fine – it is comforting and uplifting, even if it means slightly suspending disbelief at times that things can work out so fortunately. Lucky for Lizzie that one of her cookery course-mates has a huge house in Belgravia – just the first of many fortuitous events!

The characters are appealing and relatable – Lizzie is our fish-out-of-water in the setting of her wealthy friends, David is the gay character whose sexuality is closing doors to him in 1960s London, Meg is a hard-working and talented cook and Alexandra is wealthy but generous in sharing her shabby house with them all. The supporting characters are also generally nice, or at least see the error of their narrow thinking by the end of the novel – this was the 1960s, after all, so we can’t expect modern attitudes to various issues, something that sustains the main plot lines of the book,

The book is a romance and ticks all the boxes that you’d expect – misunderstandings, obstacles and delays abound. However, the love story actually takes a bit of a back seat as Fforde instead focuses on the themes of friendship, social attitudes and even class systems, although – as you’d expect from Fforde – always with a light touch and never preachy.

My only criticism is that the book was a little slow in places and it takes a very long time before the wedding in the country (promised in the title) appears on the horizon. This seems a bit like a spoiler or – at very least – a mis-titling of the book as it is about so much more than a wedding.

Overall, I’d recommend this to fans of Fforde’s contemporary fiction and anyone who needs a reassuring, comfort blanket of a read. It is definitely one to pick up for escapism – maybe something we all need right now.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for my copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

If you’d like a copy of this book, please use my affiliate link below – thank you for supporting my blog with any purchases.

Header photo with thanks to Jeremy Wong Weddings on Unsplash.

Blog Tour: ‘Seven Days’ by Michelle Kidd

Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for ‘Seven Days’ by Michelle Kidd, the second book in the series featuring Detective Inspector Jack MacIntosh.

I was lucky enough to be included on the blog tour last year for the first book in this series so I jumped at the chance to read the sequel!

This tour is organised by Damp P ebbles Blog Tours – thanks to them and Michelle Kidd for my free copy of the novel for review. As always, opinions are my own.

Book Blurb:

One killer. One city. One week.

July 2012 and a serial killer is terrorising the streets of London. With the Opening Ceremony of the London Olympic Games in just seven days time, Detective Inspector Jack MacIntosh and his team at the Metropolitan Police have one week to find him. With the killer’s motives unknown, and a mysterious clue being left at each scene, the case takes on a menacing and personal twist. Distracted by his own demons, will DI Jack MacIntosh solve the case before it is too late?

The clock is ticking.
Tick.
Tock.

My Review:

The first book in this series was a twisty, jet-setting thriller with a huge cast of characters, secrets galore and lots of tension.

With the second book, Michelle Kidd has produced an absolutely brilliant police procedural. Lots of the same cast, but a totally different feel to the first book – and I loved it.

The book opens with the discovery of the body of a woman in a London park. DI Jack MacIntosh, still struggling with the PTSD from his distant past, is called in to investigate and finds a mysterious clue…which makes a lot more sense with the death of a second woman and the deliberate placement of another clue. It seems that someone is taunting the police – but with only seven days to go before the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games turns the world’s eyes to London, there is a race against time to catch the killer.

Returning in this book is Isabel (a main focus on the first novel), Mac and some other familiar faces. I was particularly pleased to see Isabel again as the first novel really immerses the reader in her story and she is an interesting character. She has moved on from her past experiences and set up a cafe in London – but, as expected, she can’t seem to stay out of trouble for long!

One of the main strengths of this book is the clever plotting – I honestly thought I’d solved this mystery several times over, only to be confounded at every turn. At least I wasn’t alone – DI Jack MacIntosh and the Metropolitan Police seemed to be having the same problem!

I found the timeline easier to keep track of in this novel as it didn’t jump around as much as the first. I liked that each scene in the book had a clear time and place so it was easy to follow – it felt a lot more cohesive than the last book which was great but made my head spin with the time and location jumps!

Although this is the second in the series, I think it probably could be read as a standalone. There are some elements that carry across the books and it obviously would be better to have the back-story, but I think the plot absolutely carries this book in its own right. There are also a lot of flashbacks which help to explain the history behind Jack, Mac and Isabel.

A lot happens in this book and the pacing is generally good – I never felt like I was bored or waiting for something to happen. My only gripe would be that there did feel like there were some additional scenes that weren’t central to the plot, especially at the end – although I would guess that these may well feed into the sequel.

I’d recommend this to anyone who is looking for an engaging and immersive police procedural. There are properly scary, thriller elements too – but the real strength is in the clever plot, likeable (and familiar) characters and the wow-factor twists.

About the Author:

Michelle Kidd is a self-published author known for the Detective Inspector Jack MacIntosh series of novels.

Michelle qualified as a lawyer in the early 1990s and spent the best part of ten years practising civil and criminal litigation.

But the dream to write books was never far from her mind and in 2008 she began writing the manuscript that would become the first DI Jack MacIntosh novel – The Phoenix Project. The book took eighteen months to write, but spent the next eight years gathering dust underneath the bed.

In 2018 Michelle self-published The Phoenix Project and had not looked back since. There are currently three DI Jack MacIntosh novels, with a fourth in progress.

Michelle works full time for the NHS and lives in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. She enjoys reading, wine and cats – not necessarily in that order J

Bibliography:

The Phoenix Project (DI Jack MacIntosh book 1)

Seven Days (DI Jack MacIntosh book 2)

The Fifteen (DI Jack MacIntosh book 3)

Social Media:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AuthorKidd

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michellekiddauthor

Website: https://www.michellekiddauthor.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michellekiddauthor/

Purchase Links:

Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/3obLftd

Amazon US: http://amzn.to/3qNy2bM

Publishing Information:

Published in paperback and digital format on 22^nd January 2020

‘Daughters of Night’ by Laura Shepherd-Robinson

Finally! Happy publication day to this brilliant, 5-star slice of historical fiction!

I’ll admit I read this nearly a year ago before the publication was delayed by the pandemic. For those of you not lucky enough to have an advance copy, the wait is over…please do buy this now.

Here’s my review that I originally filed with NetGalley – thanks to them for a copy of this brilliant book in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book so much! Although it's outside of my usual historical period of interest (I am obsessed with Victorians), I'm glad I took my chances as this is an amazing novel.

Beautifully written and extensively researched, this is an absolute gem of a historical novel. Although it is ostensibly a murder mystery, that feels too restrictive a genre for this book which roams freely through social history, politics, art and ethics and manages to do so with engaging characters and a pin-sharp focus on historical detail.

Caro Corsham is our heroine here, a character who apparently features in Shepherd-Robinson's first novel, 'Blood and Sugar'. I haven't read the first book but am about to remedy that situation! Caro is a likeable and lively heroine, grappling with her own secrets while also seeking justice for a murder she almost witnesses;. the novel opens with a killing at the pleasure gardens in Vauxhall and it is Caro who finds the dead woman.

This discovery leads Caro (and us as readers) deep into the seedier side of Georgian London, a world of brothels and prostitution and gin houses and moneylenders and crime. Her investigation is helped by thief-taker Mr Child, himself struggling with his past and secrets. Together, they roam through polite (and much less polite) society, uncovering the secrets of a club of influential men and the prostitutes they hire. In the process, they reveal lies and unleash great danger.

It's almost impossible to sum up the plot of the novel and I don't feel that I have done it justice. Suffice it to say that it is intricately plotted with a host of characters who are all flawed in their own ways. I was totally convinced I had solved it several times, only for the next twist to ruin my thinking!

This is a treat of a novel for anyone who loves a clever, twisty murder mystery. It will keep you turning pages and guessing late into the night and the end, when it comes, is satisfying and credible.

If you’d like your own copy of this (and you really would!), please use my affiliate link below. Thanks for supporting my blog with any purchases.

Header photo by Ameen Fahmy on Unsplash.

‘The Jigsaw Man’ by Nadine Matheson

I was delighted to win a proof copy of this serial killer crime novel from Nadine Matheson and the lovely people at HQ Stories.

The book is published on 18th February 2021 – just enough time to sneak in a pre-order!

This book opens with the gruesome discovery of body parts in various parts of South London and the return to front-line policing duties for DI Anjelica Henley who has been on office duties after a traumatic experience. Faced with the dismembered corpses, Anjelica and her newbie detective sidekick embark on an investigation that will have sinister echoes of a previous spate of serial killer murders. However, that killer, Peter Olivier, is in prison – so how can he be responsible?

DI Anjelica Henley herself is an interesting character. She has a complex home life and the case threatens to break the uneasy peace she has found for herself after her past experiences. It is normally a bit of a bugbear of mine when police officer’s private lives are tied up in a case (you’d think all crime was a personal vendetta against individual officers if you read too much crime fiction!); however, it was well managed here and Anjelica’s family context and relationships added to the sense of her as a realistic character.

As I’ve mentioned, this book is gruesome. You do need quite a strong stomach to deal with the dismemberment and descriptions of injuries. It is dark, although I didn’t find the violence gratuitous.

I did find the casual racism expressed towards DI Henley by other characters in the novel quite shocking – the idea that this highly competent and intelligent woman was being judged primarily on her skin colour was an eye-opener for me.

This is a debut novel, not that I think you would know that from the confident way that Matheson has plotted out her narrative and presented her characters. The book, although fairly long at over 400 pages, is well-paced and packed full of tense moments that keep the reader going. Personally, I finished this novel at 3am during a particularly sleepless night – and I had to get up to check all the doors were locked before I nodded off!

I did have a few niggles with the book – mainly the large cast which meant that some of the revelations didn’t always pack the necessary punch because I had to remember who was being referred to! I’m also not sure whether the ending was setting up a sequel (although please do be reassured that this mystery is tied up comfortably at the end). However, these are small quibbles and didn’t detract from my enjoyment.

Overall, this is an excellent debut novel and I do hope that Matheson is planning more cases involving DI Anjelica Henley.

An affiliate link for this book is below – thank you for supporting my blog with any purchases.

‘The Art of Death’ by David Fennell

Happy publication day to this debut novel from David Fennell!

I was in the mood for a fast-paced, tense book to break a bit of a reading slump – and this book hit the spot perfectly!

The story opens with a gruesome and shocking scene: an art installation in Trafalgar Square contains the bodies of three homeless men. DI Grace Archer, newly promoted and in an awkward situation in regards to her new team, is called to the scene and embarks on a dangerous and difficult search for a serial killer who plans more ‘art’ pieces.

There was lots I liked about this book – it was well-plotted and very tense. It certainly kept me reading as I really wanted to know how it would all pan out! I also really liked DI Grace Archer – she was tough but also realistic and it was good to see her gain control of her tricky work situation. I thought that the idea of the killer as an artist was interesting too – although the reality of the art works was rather stomach-churning!

Overall, this is a lively and pacey crime story as Grace Archer and her team race to unmask a serial killer operating openly on the streets of London. This is a confident debut and I hope that there will be more books featuring DI Archer in the future – I’d certainly like to read more.

Header photo with thanks to Kira auf der Heide on Unsplash.

Blog Tour: ‘The Wrong Sort to Die’ by Paula Harmon

Welcome to my stop on the Damp Pebbles blog tour for ‘The Wrong Sort to Die’ by Paula Harmon. This engaging and lively historical mystery was published by January Press in paperback and digital formats on 30^th May 2020.

Book Blurb:

June 1910.

Fighting her corner in a man’s world, Dr Margaret Demeray works as a pathologist in a London hospital for the poor. Suppressing her worry that she’s breaching confidentiality, Margaret gives a stranger called Fox information about a dead down-and-out, in the hope he’ll use it to raise awareness of bad working conditions.

But when a second man appears to die the same way, Margaret starts to wonder why the enigmatic Fox keeps turning up to ask ever more complex questions.

She decides to work alone, uncertain of his motives and wary of her attraction to him. Once she starts investigating however, her home is burgled, she’s attacked in broad daylight and a close friend becomes distant. Fox offers the chance to forge an alliance, saying he knows why the men have died but needs her to find out what is killing them and who is behind it.

Yet how come the closer she gets to him the more danger she faces? And how can a memory she’d buried possibly be linked to the deaths?

Margaret must discover the truth before someone – known or unknown – silences her for good.

My Review:

I love a good mystery book. I also love historical fiction. Furthermore, I love a sassy and strong female protagonist, especially those pushing at societal boundaries, so choosing to read this book was a no-brainer for me!

I really loved the character of Dr Margaret Demeray who works as a pathologist in a London hospital for the poor – this was unknown for women at this time and it seemed a regular occurrence in the novel that men visited the hospital expecting to meet a male Doctor – it was frustrating to both Margaret and me that she was often treated as a nurse or some kind of helper!

When the death of what appears to be a rough-sleeper is brought to Margaret’s attention, she investigates his lungs for signs of disease as was common among those suffering poverty in London. However, she is mystified to find signs of another issue, almost a kind of poisoning of the tissue, and worries that it is caused by working conditions.

When another body is discovered with the same signs, Dr Margaret Demeray becomes embroiled in a mystery that proves dangerous to her personally. Her only ally seems to be a man called Fox, about whom she knows nothing other than he helps her out and keeps digging for information.

As Margaret is led into ever-more perilous situations, I couldn’t wait to turn the pages and race through the book to find out what happened. I really liked the fact that – although she faces some real danger – Margaret is a heroine that rarely needs saving by a man! Instead, she is tough and makes considered and thoughtful decisions – and she can see off an attacker if needed!

The plot is well-paced and the clues gradually begin to add up to something that is much beyond Margaret’s expectations. As the events of the novel began to race towards a denouement, I had everything crossed for Margaret! I wasn’t sure how the strands of the story would come together but they do – and well.

I would heartily recommend this to anyone who likes intelligent historical fiction with a crime and mystery element. This is no cosy crime – the diseased lungs and pathology put paid to that idea early on – but it is an engaging and lively novel with a heroine who is to be admired.

About Paula Harmon:

Paula Harmon writes chiefly but not only historical mysteries. Paula Harmon was born in North London to parents of English, Scottish and Irish descent. Perhaps feeling the need to add a Welsh connection, her father relocated the family every two years from country town to country town moving slowly westwards until they settled in South Wales when Paula was eight. She later graduated from Chichester University before making her home in Gloucestershire and then Dorset where she has lived since 2005.

She is a civil servant, married with two adult children. Paula started making up stories before she could write but didn’t take the plunge and do it seriously until 2015. Now she has several writing projects underway and wonders where the housework fairies are, because the house is a mess and she can’t think why.

Social Media:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Paula_S_Harmon

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pg/paulaharmonwrites

Website: https://paulaharmon.com/

Amazon Author Page: https://amzn.to/37wEXzm

Purchase Links:

Amazon UK: https://amzn.to/2TioPJu

Amazon US: https://amzn.to/2HsTwcg