Catching up!

It's been a while since I posted, I've had visitors and been busy enjoying the Olympics etc. but still reading, so I thought I'd do a quick catch-up post. 

I read just five books in July, which shows you how busy I was, plus it was Wimbledon fortnight of course. The last book I read for that month and after my last update HERE was Death in the Dark Walk by Deryn Lake. 

It feel like ages since I read this so I'm pinching the synopsis from Goodreads: 

Having just finished his indentures, John Rawlings is celebrating in Vaux Hall Pleasure Gardens when he trips over the body of a young girl. Summoned to the magistrate’s office as prime suspect, Rawlings not only clears his own name but impresses Fielding so much with his power of recollection that he is asked to investigate the crime. From gaming hell to fashionable house, Rawlings follows a trail of lustful liaisons and illicit intrigue which prove beyond a shadow of doubt that the girl has had quite a past … a past with threatening secrets. 

I gave this a 3 stars on Goodreads, there was nothing wrong with it, it was quite enjoyable, but I never did manage to connect with the main character, John Rawlings. This being book 1 in the series, he was very young so perhaps that's why, also he didn't feel like a young man from Georgian times - I think the book was set in the late 18th. century. I did learn quite a lot about Georgian times from it though, so that was fine, good descriptions of Vaux Hall (soon to be Vauxhall) gardens and what went on there. Anyway, I doubt I will read more in the series but you never know.

My first book of August was The Question Mark by Muriel Jaeger. 

This was sent to me (quite a while ago) by the British Library for review. It's a vintage (1926) science-fiction novel of the time-travel variety whereby the main character, Guy Martin, an unhappy office worker, is suddenly yanked forward in time 200 years. It seems like humans now have a Utopian society based on socialism, free from hunger, education and jobs for all, health-care and all that. Martin settles in with a scientist and his family and sets his mind to adjusting to this paradise. But it doesn't take him too long to discover that though everything might look hunkydorey, it isn't. I shall say no more. It was very interesting to read a very early sci-fi novel, written by a woman, long before women were expected to be writing speculative novels. There are some very interesting ideas in this, such as how human society could still be divided in a perfect society, how would people pass the time, what happens to those who are not academic? It's very well written and very readable, and I'm thinking I was a bit mean giving it only a 3 star rating - unfortunately 'again' I just didn't connect with the main protagonist. Very interesting and thought provoking though.

Next, I read The Girl Beneath the Sea by Andrew Mayne.

This is book 1 in the author's Underwater Investigation Unit series. Sloan McPherson works for the Lauderdale Police in Florida as a diving auxiliary officer. She comes, though, from a bit of a crime ridden family, uncle in prison, father a possible smuggler, that kind of thing. So when she finds a dead body while diving in a canal she's an immediate suspect. Push comes to shove and the only police officer willing to help her prove her innocence is the man who put her uncle behind bars. This book had an awful lot of 'thriller' type aspects, focussing as it does on a shady, spy-like dept., of the US government. I found some of it quite chilling and the rest really exciting. I don't dive but found all of the diving scenes fascinating and quite edge of the seat. If you like a fast paced adventure type crime yarn you could do worse than give this a go. I loved it and gave it 5 stars. Will definitely read more in this series.

 

Lastly, we have Green for Danger, a vintage crime novel by Christiana Brand.

This one is set in WW2 in a military hospital in a small village in Kent. Being Kent, it's suffering badly in The Blitz and one night two men are brought in badly injured. One, the village postman, promptly dies on the operating table and it's subsequently discovered that he was somehow murdered by one of the four nurses and three doctors attending the operation. Inspector Cockrill is brought in to look at this very complicated case and has to have a lot of operating theatre procedures explained to him. That's hard enough but why would anyone want to kill the postman? You need to keep your wits about you when reading this and because I was struggling to remember who was who I wrote them all down, something I never do, and found it helped a lot. The blurb on the back of the book describes the plot of this one as 'claustrophobic' and I think that's accurate. The hospital setting and knowing that only these people could've done the deed makes it so and 'these people' you get to know in minute detail. And they're all keeping secrets or not telling all they know. It's a very well crafted crime novel, my first by Christiana Brand but not my last, I grabbed Tour De Force for my Kindle and will look into others.  

So that's my reading up to date. I'm still reading this:

 

It's excellent but, like her Agatha Christie biography, quite densely written, so I'm taking my time over it.

I hope you're all well and finding lots of good books to lose yourselves in. I can feel autumn in the air, my favourite time of year, and am already pondering a few spooky reads for September.