Some crime fiction

I'm on a crime writing binge at the moment. Sometimes that's all you want, some fun reading about dead people and how they got that way. Trying to figure out who did the dirty deed. So much to love. :-)

First up, A Nice Class of Corpse by Simon Brett.

Mrs. Pargeter, a widow of a certain age, is looking for a place to live. Her husband has left her quite well off so she applies to get a permanent room in the posh, Devereux Hotel, in a town on the south coast of England. On her first night she hears some odd noises but does not get out of bed to investigate. The next morning she discovers that an elderly woman has fallen down the stairs to her death. Did she fall or was she pushed? Her will reveals that she has left her fortune to be divided between the other residents. How many people knew about this? And something is not quite right about her jewellery. Not to mention that the dead woman inhabited the most coveted room in the hotel. Mrs. Pargeter knows a thing or two about human nature and criminal activity and sets about investigating the goings on in the hotel. Well, this was great fun. Mrs. Pargeter is a larger than life character with a personality that is more than a match for the snobby residents of the Devereux Hotel. It was nice to have a cast of elderly suspects and the book is written with a lot of humour, plus a very strong sense of an out of season town on the south coast. This is book one in the series and I'll definitely be reading more. 

Next, Dead Men Don't Ski by Patricia Moyes.

Henry Tibbett is an inspector with Scotland Yard. He and his wife, Emmy, are off on a skiing holiday to the Italian Alps. They're part of a motley crowd all staying at the same hotel, perched on the side of a mountain. There's a German family, three young Brits, the wife of a German baron and her two children and nanny, a mysterious chap no one likes, various Italian ski instructors and so on. All goes well until a dead man arrives at the bottom of the ski lift at the end of the day. The Italian police ask Henry to help solve the murder, which is awkward as he hasn't told anyone what he does for a living... This is book one in the author's 'Inspector Tibbett' series. I have to confess that I'd not heard of the series or the author until I saw it mentioned on a YouTube channel I watch. The cover struck me immediately and the review was positive so I checked it out. And I wasn't disappointed. The plot was a trifle convoluted and the cast of characters quite extensive. But Henry and Emmy were good detectives, very unassuming, and it was nice that they're middle-aged and ordinary. There was also a very strong sense of place, I'm a bit of a sucker for a mountain setting and this was depicted very well indeed. I had an idea who'd done the deed but didn't decide too early on so it kept me guessing. People who like a closed circle sort of murder mystery would enjoy this I think. I already have book 2, The Sunken Sailor, on my Kindle and I think there are about twenty altogether, so I'm delighted. 

Lastly, a short story anthology, Cyanide in the Sun, edited by Martin Edwards.

As suggested this is an anthology about holidays. I thought they would all be foreign holidays but no, thinking about it, back in the day, most Brits did not have the money to go on foreign holidays, it was Blackpool or Bognor or, if you were very lucky, Devon or Cornwall. Martin Edwards has picked out many excellent authors for this collection: Celia Fremlin, Michael Gilbert, Christiana Brand, Anthony Berkeley... the usual suspects. A few favourites: The Summer Holiday Murders by Julian Symons. An old lady, part of a coach trip, is pushed over a cliff by persons unknown. A crime writing author is also on the coach and the baffled police ask 'him' to keep watch over the passengers and report back. The Summer Holiday by Celia Fremlin. A woman has just become a widow and is so happy that she'll no longer be forced to go on holiday by her husband because she's a home-body and hates holidays. But... Loved this! Two on a Tower by Michael Innes. John Appleby takes up with a couple in Italy, she's young, married to an elderly man and there's another chap with them... A Holiday by the Sea by Will Scott features two tramps hitching a ride to Margate in an empty removal van. The tramps' cant was sometimes a bit hard to decipher but Giglamps was an excellent protagonist. There are more short stories about him but I fancy they're going to be hard to track down. Consider Your Verdict by Anthony Gilbert (female author using a pen-name) was a story set in the Lake District about a conman. Kill and Cure by Guy Cullingford features a burnt-out author whose doctor sends him on holiday to a hotel on the south coast. He can't help but study all of the other guests, their behaviour and how they treat their families or employees. This is a very solid anthology. I marked about 10 as good and all of the rest were never less than readable. Several authors I would like to follow up on, I must read one of Celia Fremlin's republished works for instance, and something longer by Julian Symons.

So that's my latest reading up to date, three good books. Very happy. I hope your summer reading is going well. 

 

Books read in May

 Good grief, it's already June and very soon we'll be halfway through the year. How can that possibly be? If someone has an explanation I'd be very interested to hear it.

May was quite a good reading month for me. I read eight books, so my reading mojo has definitely returned, and I'm pleased about that. I read a couple of non-fiction books too, which I've not been doing much of this year either, so I'm pleased about that too. It's all good. These are the books:

The Fellowship of the Ring - J.R.R. Tolkien

Bookish - Lucy Mangan

The Girl in Blue - P.G. Wodehouse

Murder in the Moor - Thomas Kindon. Whodunnit from the 1920s, involving a police inspector on a walking holiday on Dukesmoor (Dartmoor in Devon) and various dead bodies found on said moor. Nicely atmospheric and a very good sense of place. Enjoyed it but it's the only book the author wrote so no good going off on a pilgrimage to search for more.

The Secret World of Twilight, a non-fiction book by Sally Coulthard. Nice cover:

 

The author tells us about the creatures that come out at twilight, bats, badgers, owls and so forth, the various late blooming flowers, and how we as humans behave, deal, experience twilight. A gentle, informative, interesting book. And that cover...

A Fire at the Exhibition by T.E. Kinsey is book 10 in his Lady Hardcastle and Flo crime series set in the 1910s. I love this series with its banter between the two main characters and fun plotting. This one involves a village art exhibition where an expensive, unique book  and some art is stolen. Lady Hardcastle and her maid/companion, Flo need no encouraging to get involved. Great fun.

The Villa of Secrets by Emma Burstall, is a contemporary fiction story set on Crete. 

 

Our heroine, Cleo, after a messy divorce and falling out with her daughter, treats herself to a holiday on Crete at a wellness centre sort of place. She gets to know several women and why they're there and things look to be going ok until... well I won't say what but it's pretty major and I was a bit taken aback at where the book went from there. Not what this type of book usually does but I enjoyed it and would read more by the author.

Cousins from a Distant Sun by Tamor Myers is classified, I think, as cosy science-fiction.

 

I was halfway through this and having my doubts, when I thought I'd check Goodreads, only to find it has an overall rating of 2.67. Wow. I gave it a 3.00 because the plot had potential. An alien species kidnap a pre-history group of humans from China and spend thousands of years breeding and changing them, only to dump them back in Peru during the time of the Incas. They now live in a hidden valley, in secret, but need help, so one of their number seeks out an archaeologist to help them. I felt like this could've been excellent, but sadly it wasn't. I didn't like the archaeologist, the author made the valley-dwelling species ridiculous and the writing was very average. A shame but there you go, win some, lose some. 

So that was my May reading. Overall, not bad. Favourite book? Probably my reread of The Fellowship of the Ring. I'd forgotten how brilliant it is and thoroughly enjoyed it. I have a list of books I want to read this summer and the next book, The Two Towers, is on it.  

My potential summer books: 

1. Nephthys - Rachel Driscoll

2. The Seven Rings - Nora Roberts

3. The Rockpool Murders - Emylia Hall

4. The Fall of Hyperion - Dan Simmons

5. The Instruments of Darkness - John Connolly

6. Beyond the Point - Damien Boyd

7. The Two Towers - J.R.R Tolkien

8. A Nice Class of Corpse - Simon Brett (just finished)

9. Dead men Don't Ski - Patricia Moyes

10. Defying Rome - Guy de la Bédoyére (non-fiction about Boudica)

A lot these belong to series that I want to catch up on this year so I have an ulterior motive for reading them. If I get through half of these I'll be happy as I'm notorious for making a list of books and then going off the idea of reading the books on said list. We shall see.

Happy June reading, I hope you're all well and looking forward to your summer reading.  

I have been reading...

I wonder if I have my reading mojo back? Yes, I think maybe I have. Halfway through May and I have three books under my belt. Not heaps, but not too bad either. 

First up is a reread for me, I think I've only read this once, back in my late teens, but I'm not sure about that. The thing is, the movies of The Lord of the Rings are so familiar that I mix them up in my head with the books. Anyway, my first book of May was a reread of The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien. 

This needs very little introduction. There's a special ring. Bilbo the Hobbit took it off Gollum in The Hobbit, and brought it home to The Shire with him. When you put the ring on it renders you invisible but it's far more dangerous than that. So powerful in fact that Sauron, the dark lord of the wizards, is searching for it. Dark forces are on the move and Frodo, Bilbo's nephew, is now tasked with getting the ring to Mordor where it can be destroyed. The first part of the story covers the journey from The Shire to the river Aduin. Many adventures are here included and I had forgotten most of them, despite being quite familiar with the movie. The book was huge fun, a lot more readable than I had remembered, I was sure it was a more difficult read, but it simply wasn't. What it was though, was a lot creepier than I remembered, very much full of suspense and edge of your seat moments. Really pleased that I reread it after all this time and, although I wasn't sure if I would, I'm now pretty sure I'll continue on and reread The Two Towers, probably in the autumn.

 

After that, or rather, alongside it, I read Bookish by Lucy Mangan. This is the author's second book about the joy of reading, and what's it's like to be so bookish that it matters more than anything else. I thought that was an interesting thing and, having thought about it, I realise that I'm not quite as addicted as that. Yes, I like to read every day, and I'm constantly buying new books (although 'that' is arguably a different hobby), but I don't think I'm quite on the author's level of obsessiveness. 'But' an interesting look at the books the author loved once she got into adulthood and I like that she is in no way a book snob; all bookish life his here within the pages of this book.

Next was a standalone book by P.G. Wodehouse, The Girl in Blue. 

The plot of this is very complicated, although it doesn't seem quite that bad while you're reading it. Jerry is engaged to Vera, a gold-digger who won't marry him until he forces his uncle to release his trust money. Doing jury service he meets Jane, and falls head over heels in love. His uncle sends him off to Mellingham Hall, the family pile, to find a missing miniature, only someone else is also looking for it. And Jane is also there, she's suddenly become an heiress and Jerry feels awkward as he himself does not want to appear to be a gold-digger. There's a lot more going on than this and it's all huge fun. And Wodehouse of course had one of the funniest turns of phrase in the English language, I was constantly laughing a lot as I do love an author who knows how to play with words (Terry Pratchett is another such one). This is a standalone, nothing to do with Jeeves and Wooster or Blandings but, to be honest, it is of that ilk, with loads of eccentric family members, misunderstandings and madness and whatnot. I thoroughly enjoyed it and will look at more of Wodehouse's standalones amd maybe revisit Jeeves and Wooster. I also have Wodehouse's book of golfing short stories which I started but didn't get very far with, so I must return to that. 

My current read is this:
 

Murder in the Moor was apparently the only book Thomas Kindon wrote and he's a mystery in himself as apparently no one knows who he was. He's called the moor 'Dukesmoor', but it's very clearly Dartmoor in Devon, which is fun as I know it. The plot involves a detective inspector on a walking holiday and a dead body beside a pool. Fantastic sense of place so I'm enjoying it very much so far. 

I hope you're all having a good reading month, finding lots of good books to read and keeping well.
 

Books read in April

I actually read a few books this month! Six in fact, which is more than any other month this year so it's a win as far as I'm concerned. Plus, I enjoyed them all to a greater or lesser extent.

I started the month with Night and Day by John Connolly, author of the Charlie Parker series, set in Maine. 

 

This is the author's third book in his anthology series entitled Nocturnes. I only gave it three stars on Goodreads, which is unusual for me for a John Connolly book, but it was odd. Half the book consisted of some good short stories but the other half was rather a rambling essay on an obscure horror movie. I did read it - many on Goodreads did not - but it wasn't all that rivetting. The short stories were quite good, particularly the two (or three) concerning the Caxton Library where characters in books come alive and arrive to live in the library. I wonder if Connolly will one day collate all of these stories into one volume?

Next was a reread, Black Sheep by Georgette Heyer.

 

I've read this one several times and it never disappoints. Miles Calverleigh is back from India after being banished there because of a scandal over an elopement. He is confronted by Abigail Wendover who wants him to call off his good for nothing nephew who is laying seige to her heiress neice. Shenanigans ensue of course, there's a wonderful Bath setting, lots of humour, I loved it. 5 stars

After that, I read two books in Damien Boyd's excellent 'Nick Dixon' crime series, Heads or Tails and Dead Lock. 

 

 Heads or Tails begins with Nick Dixon on a beach in the Bristol Channel trying to save a man who's been handcuffed to his steering wheel, in a van, with the tide coming in and about to drown him. Edge of the seat stuff. Nick ends up going to Manchester to investiagte 1990s gangland killings. Dead Lock concerns a ten year old girl going missing, followed by another who is the grand-daughter of the team's forensic expert. This one is full of twists and turns and more Somerset based than the previous one. I gave both of these 5 stars as they were excellent. I'm trying to catch up with this series this year as I'm rather behind; it's no hardship as it's so good. I do think knowing the area where it's set helps but even so, they are superb books. Damien Boyd is such a good writer. 

Next another book of short stories, Beware of the Trains by Edmund Crispin.

 

I didn't write about any of the stories as I went along so can't give details 'but' they were mostly centred on Crispin's sleuth, Gervase Fen. This was an absolutely excellent collection, pretty much every story was clever, funny and had nice twists. It is of its time, with corresponding language, particularly in one story, but it's well worth reading if you like these kinds of vintage tales. And just look at that cover! 

My last books for this month was one I've been reading for a while and which I saw on Lark's blog, The Paranormal Ranger by Stanley Milford Jr. 

 

This is a non-fiction account of the life of the author who was a Navajo Ranger in the Navajo Nation for many years. He talks of UFOs, skin walkers, Bigfoot and hauntings and, being very open minded about such things, I found it absolutely fascinating. 

So, that was my reading for April, an interesting mix and all good books, which is all you can ask for really.

I'm currently reading two books. The first is a reread from about 55 years ago. 

 

It's The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkein of course, first read when I was about sixteen or seventeen. And I don't believe I've read it since. The reason I'm not sure is because I've seen the films so many times that I'm confusing them in my mind with the books. I know I've read The Hobbit several times, but The Lord of the Rings, I'm not sure. Anyway, really enjoying this.

The other book is a non-fiction I'm reading slowly, through the year is, The Country Commonplace Book by Miranda Mills. 

The author has a very successful channel on YouTube where she talks mainly about books, but also other things as well. Her first book is full of seasonal quotes from various classics, old and new, and poetry appropriate to the seasons. It really is a beautifully presented book.

I hope you're all keeping well and enjoying the spring if you live in the northern hemisphere, autumn if you're south of The Equator. I hope too that you're finding lots of good books to read. 

Catching up

Well, I didn't expect or plan to take three months away from blogging about books but somehow or other ended up doing so. Partly the reason is that I haven't read heaps of books this year, but also I've had other stuff going on with family and so forth and this month the death of a close American friend has thrown me a bit. Plus, as soon as the sun came out here and the rain stopped, I went down with a nasty cold, which I'm still fighting off. 

I thought I would just do a post mentioning a few books I've enjoyed this year, the first has more detail because I wrote it back in January, fully intending to post it before the end of March!

I finished off 2025 and started 2026 with a rather nice contemporary fiction story. The Cornish Cream Tea Christmas by Cressida McLaughlin.

 

I would say that this has 'Christmas' plastered all over the title but it's really more of a 'run-up' to Christmas tale. It also turns out to be book 3 in a series but the other books feature different characters (some of whom turn up in this one) so the book can easily be read as a standalone. The heroine, Hannah Swan, is sent from her home in Scotland to a Cornish fishing village near Newquay to advise on how a hotel can be more eco-friendly. She's joined by a feelancer from Mousehole (further down in the county), Noah, who is at first a bit frosty. Naturally he doesn't stay frosty as Hannah slowly breaks down his defenses and works out the reasons for them. There's also a supernatural element to the story but that's fun and doesn't overwhelm the plot at all. I wasn't expecting a lot from this other than a fluffy Christmassy romance but actually the Cornish setting is 'spot-on', the author knows her Cornwall. So, in point of fact, I really enjoyed it. So there you go, surprise, surprise.

My first book of 2026 was Death in Ambush by Susan Gilruth a BLCC book, first published in 1952.

Coincidently, this also is a 'run-up to Christmas' story. Liane Crauford goes to stay with the Metcalfe family, they're Lord and Lady Metcalfe, him being a retired judge, so that's the kind of social strata we're talking. He dies, supposedly of a stroke, but is it? I loved this country house, country village murder yarn by an author not previously known to me. Gilruth was a good writer but her books are nigh on impossible to find now, which is a crying shame. Perhaps the BL will reissue more as this was top rate.

A Case of Life and Limb is book two in Sally Smith's new 'Gabriel Ward' series. (I read book one, A Case of Mice and Murder, in November, review HERE.) KC, Gabriel, is once again a reluctant investigator as Lincoln's Inn is shaken by mysterious parcels being delivered to various worthies, the parcels have rather macabre contents... and then there's a murder.  Gabriel is once again ably assisted by Constable Wright. I can't over-emphasize how much I love this series, and this book was every bit as good as the first instalment. Tragically, book three will not be out until next January.

A Body at a Boarding School by Benedict Brown is the second outing for the retired detective, Lord Edgington and his grandson, Christopher.

 

This is what it says on the tin, a boarding school tale of a dead, unpopular teacher and who knocked him off. In the running are other teachers of course, but also prefects, pupils and lord knows who else. I enjoyed this as I like a school based murder mystery and this series is fun with likeable investigators.

A quick mention of The Arctic Cruise, a contemporary romance with older protagonists by Caroline James.  This was a Norway Fjords cruise yarn, I liked the older characters very much, secrets and so forth abound, but all of the cruise detail was too much really, and did not make me want to jump on a ship and go cruising. Which I fancy was not the intention...

My first book of March was Sky High by a favourite vintage crime writer, Michael Gilbert.

This crime yarn from 1955 has a village setting (I seem to like those) and involves a house being blown up and the occupant killed. Was it an accident or was he knocked off by persons unknown? Choir leader and motorcyclist, Liz, her son, whose occupation seems to be a bit hush-hush, and a retired army general take the investigation on. I loved this. Michael Gilbert was such a classy writer, loads of dry humour in all of his books, I've read quite a few now and have loved them all. Can't recommend this highly enough. 

Richard Osman needs no introduction from me, We Solve Murders is the first book in his new series of the same name. 

Steve Wheeler is a retired police detective, his daughter-in-law, Amy, is a private security type. Her life is suddenly in danger, she's in South Carolina protecting a mad author, and she has to go on the run. Steve hates leaving his village and the weekly quiz team but would do anything for Amy, so off he goes travelling the world to save her. I enjoyed this but with reservations. It was fun, I liked the international spy thriller flavour of it, but Steve and Amy did not really gel with me. The mad female author though, Rosie D'Antonio, I thought she was great. So I probably 'will' read the next book when it comes out. We'll see. 

My latest book was The Furies, book 20 in the Charlie Parker series by my favourite author, John Connolly.  This was two creepy novellas in one book, not his best, in my opinion, but he can't write a bad book so I still gave it four stars on Goodreads. I only have two books to go now and I will be caught up with this amazing series. 

So that's a few of the books I've enjoyed this year so far. As I said, I haven't read heaps but those I have read, mainly murder mysteries, have all been excellent. 

I will try to catch up with a few posts over the next few days, and also, be around a bit more. Hope everyone has had a good start to 2026 and are keeping well? 

Merry Christmas and a few books

So, I've been a bit absent for several weeks, mainly due to it being the run-up to Christmas but a week long bout of sciatica stopped me in my tracks rather. I do my blog posts on an old fashioned desktop pc and sitting at it for any length of time proved painful. Thankfully, the sciatica is now in retreat and also family have now arrived to help out so all is now well.

I have managed to read a bit this month, just not review. So, a quick rundown of what I've read:

The Tesla Legacy by Rebecca Cantrell is  book 2 of her 'Joe Tesla' series and concerns a machine his grandfather invented which vibrates and can destroy buildings, bridges etc. Where are the plans? 

Sherlock Holmes and the Miskatonic Monstrosities by James Lovegrove is book 2 of his Cthulhu series. It's bonkers but fun and I loved the setting of the North Kent marshes. 

Hercule Poirot's Christmas by Agatha Christie sees Poirot investigating the death of wealthy Simeon Lee in a country house mystery. Which of his relatives did him in? Great fun.

Tha Harbour Lights Mystery by Emylia Hall is book 2 of her Shell House Detective series.  This is set around the Mousehole Christmas lights which I've seen many a time so it was a nice nostalgic read. Good mystery but maybe a bit too much relationship stuff. 

My current read is a Christmas romance set in Cornwall.

 

It's frothy and fun and the setting of a hotel on the north Cornwall coast is well done.

As I said, I have family staying now and consequently will not be back until the new year. 

I want to wish everyone who visits my blog, whether you comment or not, a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New year. See you in 2026. 

November reading

November was a quietish reading month for me. Not sure why but that's the way it goes sometimes.  

I started the month by finishing Inheritance by Nora Roberts. My review of that is HERE. Thoroughly enjoyed that and then went on to read book 2 of the trilogy, The Mirror. That was basically more of the same, more hauntings, more stories of dead wives, more of Sonya's new business, her friends, and all of their new romances. Good fun, I enjoyed it and am looking forward to reading book 3 soon. 

I then went back to a series I haven't read anything from since 2018, apparently, and that's the Kate Shugak books by Dana Stabenow. 

Midnight Come Again is book 10 in the series. It sees Kate burying her grief from a terrible incident in the last book by working all hours for a flying freight company in Bering, Alaska. No one knows she's there but state trooper, Jim Chopin, comes across her when he's sent to work for the company, undercover. Kate naturally gets embroiled in Jim's case, involving Russian smuggling and more danger than either of them bargained for. So this was 'ok'. I felt it got bogged down in too much superfluous detail and Kate's selfishness annoyed me. She left all her friends worrying about her and didn't bother to let them know she was ok. But then I have always thought that one of Kate's faults is that she is rather self-absorbed. It might be why I've not read anything from this series for 7 years. Will I read on? I'm not sure. 

Next up, I read a delightful fanfiction novella for the Book Bingo challenge I'm doing. Only three categories to fill now, Thriller, Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie. I've just started the thriller, will probably reread The Hound of the Baskervilles, and am not sure about Agatha yet... plenty to choose from.

All month I've been reading a non-fiction book by Guy Shrubsole, The Lost Rainforests of Britain.  

 

The Amazon is not the only place in the world that has rainforests. There are plenty of places in the world where there are 'temperate' rainforests as opposed to 'tropical' ones. I suppose the most famous would be The Pacific Northwest but at one time Britain had a huge stretch running the length of its west coast from Cornwall to Scotland. There are still remnants but they're rapidly disappearing for many reasons. Yes, climate change, but a bigger culprit is the grazing of sheep that eat the saplings in these small woodlands, so they can't regenerate. Can anything be done? Anyway, this was a bit dry in places, info dumps etc. but all in all I enjoyed this trip around the small rainforests of the UK and learnt quite a lot. Dartmoor, one of our Devon moors, featured quite a bit which is probably why I fancy rereading The Hound of the Baskervilles.

Lastly, I've just finished a collection of weird Winter/Christmas short stories, Sunless Solstice edited by Lucy Evans and Tanya Kirk.

 

This collection was so good I almost gave it 5 stars. Then towards the end two really very average stories cropped up that I was not enthused by, so it ended up a 4 star read. (It's a 4.5 really.) It starts with an Irish yarn, the author of which is anonymous, that one was good. I liked On the Northern Ice by Elia Wilkinson Peattie, a story about a man skating to a village on Lake Superior... very full of atmosphere. The Black Cat by W.J. Wintle is about someone who hates cats being haunted by one. Mr Huffam by Hugh Walpole is one of those tales where someone picks a stranger up, takes him home and said stranger changes the household - in a good way. The Third Shadow by H. Russell Wakefield was an excellent mountaineering story, bit of a murder mystery. Daphne du Maurier's The Apple Tree was quite depressing, about a marriage gone sour, but so beautifully written that I enjoyed it. The last story in the collection, A Fall of Snow by James Turner concerns a 15 year old lad who goes to spend Christmas with an uncle and his family in Norfolk. While out tobogganing with his cousin he sees the dead body of one of the maids. Only it's not, she's in the house and is fine... good twist at the end. I think if you're looking for some spooky or weird stories to read over the Christmas you could do a lot worse than this anthology. The writing is superb throughout and with only two stories I didn't like (your mileage may well vary on those), I was very happy with this collection. 

So that's my reading up to date. I hope yours is going well and that you're managing to escape all the marauding lurgies.