On looking at the books I have read in June I note with a slight feeling of dismay that I seem to have been surrounded by corpses, murderers and morgues. In other words, I have read a lot of crime fiction this month. Not that reading detective novels is a source of dismay, au contraire, but I feel I now need to come up for air and try something different as I am beginning to feel a tad more knowledgeable about DNA, nail clippings and rigor mortis than I think is healthy.
So, two Margery Allinghams which I have mixed feelings about, but feel that I will probably read more to see if this slight lack of warmth towards them, good though they are, will improve. I do hope so as there are an awful lot of them to get through and this will keep me going for a while if so. Then a re-read of a Ngaio Marsh, The Nursing Home Murder, with the gorgeous detective Roderick Alleyn. Have read this several times and know who dun it but I just love NM's slightly camp, theatrical style of writing, always have.
Two books by a writer new to me, Lisa Miscione, which gripped me from start to finish. I will be posting about these separately. Two by Jill Paton Walsh, one A Presumption of Death, a Peter Wimsey story 'finished' by her and extremely well written. Apparently notes and storyline left by DL Sayers when she died were used and it is difficult to see where DLS ends and JPW begins it is done so seamlessly. Thoroughly enjoyed this one. Second one, Debts of Dishonour featuring a college university nurse, Imogen Quy, less successful and not sure I will be pursuing this series any further.
A biography of Agatha Christie purporting to work out precisely why she disappeared for those ten days and the reasons behind it - poorly written and littered with my bete noire - too many exclamation marks!!! Quite bad. It is on its way to a charity shop in the hope that somebody might find it of interest.
Welcome to the Real World by Carol Matthews (set in an opera house, hence my interest) and Plotting for beginners by Sue Hepworth and June Linfoot both of which were fun reads and written with a deft touch. A reversion to my teenage days when I devoured everything by Anya Seton when I re-read Dragonwyck. Will be posting about this and I loved every single gothic page. More nostalgia with the School at Barrule by Mabel Esther Allen from Fidra Books. On reading this was transported back to my days at the junior library when I read everything this author wrote.
Dark Hearts of Chicago by William Horwood and Helen Rappaport which I have posted about at length and which is going to be, I very much hope, the first in a series about its heroine, Emily Strauss, intrepid woman reporter. The Good Thief's Guide to Amsterdam by Chris Ewan, and another first in a series which I very much look forward to. Cracking pace and written with great style and panache.
And finally, My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell which I have never read even though I have been aware of it all my Reading life and now wish I had discovered sooner.
So, not a bad haul. Now on to July and not two days in I have already read two detective stories. I think perhaps I need to pull something else out of the To Be Read pile before I start prowling around in showers with a kitchen knife...
