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?