It is Easter and it is a time when people are jetting off on an early holiday. Of course if you are on the Eurostar then you are buggered and have already lost a day milling around St Pancras with half the nation waiting to know when you will finally get going. If you are at the airport, you may be lucky and get off ok unless the baggage handlers or the flight controllers decide to hold a lightening strike. It is par for the course so thank goodness I am going to further than Costa del Ealing this weekend though as I have to traverse the North Circular via Wembley and Neasden, I daresay it won't be plain sailing.
But if you make your destination OK and you have time to read here are a few titles to contemplate.
The Chase - Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg. This is the second in a new series by this prolific author featuring FBI agent Kate O'Hare and glam con artist Nicolas Fox. Fox is famous for his scams but has climbed new heights when he convinces the FBI to take him on and team him with Kate whose has made it her life's work to catch him.
These are caper novels pure and simple. In this one they are targeting a former White House Chief of Staff who has stolen a rare Chinese artefact from the Smithsonian. The US are now returning this artefact to China to futher international relations but as the artefact currently on show is a fake to conceal its theft, the original needs to be recovered pretty darn quick before the handover.
So off go Nick and Kate and it is totally preposterous and huge fun and I loved every word. I am a fan of the TV series Castle, and I could not help but view the two actors in that as Nick and Kate here, they fit nicely.
The Cornish Coast Murder - John Bude. I recently reviewed the Lake District Murder by this author, one in the series of unknown and forgotten early detective stories being republished by the British Library. The Reverend Dodd, vicar of a quiet Cornish village and a great lover of detective stories, find he is involved in the murder of Julius Tregarthan, a local magistrate who was not the nicest bloke in the West Country and who is found with a bullet through his head.
Police of course have NO idea who dun it and how so step forward our sleuthing Vicar in the grand tradition of English village crime. Really like these books and hope more will be forthcoming, and the covers are so gorgeous as well.
Return to Mandalay - Rosanna Ley. OK Mandalay is now Myanmar but really does Return to Myanmar or On the Road to Myanmar have the same romantic ring as Mandalay? No. This is a terrific read. Eve Gatsby has often wondered about her grandfather's past and what happened to him in Burma during the second World War. As an antiques dealer who specialises in craft from this area, she is delighted when her firm sends her to Burma/Myanmar to authenticate a shipment of goods. Her grandfather, when he hears she is going, gives her an object to take back to somebody he knew there in his youth and return it to its rightful owner.
Eve is intrigued and the story is told in different strands. Lawrence as a young man who met the love of his life in Mandalay, Eve herself and Eve's mother who has suffered tragedy and has become estranged from her family.
Wonderful descriptions of the country, story is wonderful and draws you in and, of course, nefarious schemes going on and baddies round the corner. I have read this authors previous books, Bay of Secrets and The Villa but this is her best yet and I simply loved it.
Sorry have just checked and this title is not published until May. So you will have to pre-order it for your summer hols instead.
OK that is enough to keep you going. I only hope you don't end up reading these in an airport lounge or stuck in a tunnel. And yes I know, I am a Miserable old Bag but hey ho......
