Books read in August

 What a summer it's been. Much of the UK experienced five heatwaves, although to me it felt pretty much like one just rolled into the next and the next and the next. Horrendous. Thank goodness it changed about ten days ago, we had the first serious rain since May, and the countryside and our gardens are just starting to turn from brown to green again. Welcome September, and a lovely autumnal feel to the air. I thought we would never get here.

So, August was an 'okay' reading month for me. Average, I would say. I read six books and these are they:

First up, The Villagers by A.J. Griffiths.  

 A couple and their children move into a quiet village, thinking it will be a good place to bring the kids up. But it's not long before Olive, the wife, begins to discover that people are not always what they seem. Their neighbours seem nice, if a little eccentric, but it turns out they all have secrets and some of them are very odd indeed. I'm a bit of a fan of secrets in books, plus I do like the tales Miss Marple tells about the people who live in St. Mary Mead, so this one ticked a lot of boxes for me. It's part of an unconnected series of books, there's a 'Seasiders' one, a 'Circus' and a 'Church' one (being a fan of churchy mysteries I think I'll grab that) and I gather from a friend that they're all good.

Next, Postmortem by Patricia Cornwell, the first in her Kay Scarpetta series of books.

 

It's Richmond, Virginia, in the early 1990s, and a serial killer has murdered three women in a very nasty manner.  Kay Scarpetta has just become the Chief Medical Examiner, which must've been unusual for a woman back then, and not everyone is happy about it. Add in a ten year old niece, whose mother doesn't want her, and the appearance of a fourth body and you have the ingredients of a good book. I quite enjoyed this, it was pacey and the characters were interesting, I'm just not sure I'll carry on with such a long series. It's a commitment and I had one or two misgivings... I just wish I could remember what they were... it's a whole month since I read it. LOL!

Next, a non-fiction book, The North Sea: Along the Edge of Britain by Alistair Moffat.  

This is a travelogue about the author's journey along the edge of the North Sea, from Kent to the north of Scotland. Interesting in parts, I would call this. I wasn't very interested in the Butlins or the seaside holiday bits, but the Doggerland details were excellent and even better was the section on how the Romans tried several times to defeat the Picts and failed. The author is Scottish so I suppose it makes sense that the Scottish bits would be the most engaging. Nice cover.

Shadows in Bronze is book two of Lindsey Davis's 'Didius Falco series. 

 

The story here starts with Falco, and one other, disposing of a body for the Emperor Vespasian. It leads to him, and a friend and his family, holidaying in Herculaneum and getting into all sorts of trouble along with the new love in his life, Helena. This was very slow starting and I felt like giving up to be honest. But it picked up halfway through and I ended up enjoying it. I could do with less of the bad luck Falco suffers from, it gets a bit wearing after a time when nothing ever goes right. I will continue with the series though as the Ancient Rome setting is superb. 

Next, I read one of the British Library's weird tales collections, Roads of Destiny edited by Alasdair Richmond. The theme of this is parallel universes, roads not taken, that sort of thing. There were several good stories, I didn't take notes so can't elaborate on those, but to be honest I thought this a very average collection. 

Finally, The Case of the Late Pig, an Albert Campion murder mystery, by Margery Allingham. 

 

Albert attends the funeral of 'Pig' Peters, whom he was at school with. Six months later the police summon him, the newly dead body of Pig Peters has been discovered. What's going on? Campion and Lugg head to the village of Kepesake to investigate. This was huge fun, if slightly confusing at times as regards who's who. The books are very engagingly written, lot of banter and humour. Apparently this is the only Campion book that Campion himself narrates. Will certainly be reading more of this entertaining vintage crime series.

So that was my August reading month. There were no massive stand-out wonderful books (on Goodreads I gave them all four stars apart from Roads of Destiny, which got three) but neither was anything terrible. And that's fine. 

Happy September reading!