Books read in June

Now that it's July, the Wimbledon tennis tournament has my attention, so my reading has dropped off the last few days. But June was not actually a bad reading month for me. I read eight books in all and these are they:

38. The Bordeaux Book Club - Gillian Harvey

39. A Charmed Life - David Essex. Autobiography by the famous British singer, actor, writer. Enjoyed this one a lot.

40. What Would Jane Austen Do? - Linda Corbett

41. The Wild Isles - edited by Patrick Barkham. An anthology of British nature writing, a bit hit and miss but overall not bad.

42. The Canal Boat Cafe - Cressida McLaughlin

43. The Canal Boat Cafe, book 2 - Cressida McLaughlin. A continuation of the story from the first book, great fun. 

44. Death in the Sunshine - Steph Broadribb

This crime yarn is set in a retirement complex in central Florida. Moira is a retired British under-cover police officer, hoping to find a quiet life away from people she knows who might be aware of the secrets she's harbouring. Her mission is to keep herself to herself but this intent is stymied rather when she's the one to discover the dead body of a young woman floating in a swimming pool. Moira is not the only retired police officer living in the complex. There's another British couple, Phillip and Lizzie, he was a DCI and she a crime scene investigator. And then there's retired American cop, Rick. The police are so inept that the four retirees start to investigate themselves and discover that there's still life in the old dogs yet. I rather enjoyed this. The Florida retirement village setting was unusual although it was rather a stretch to imagine 'three' retired Brits in the same place, all previously attached to the British police. I also struggled to believe that the local police would that antagonistic. But I liked the way the four main characters with their various secrets were written and having each chapter written from the point of view of each of them worked for me. It kept me guessing about what had happened in their previous lives and even at the end we realise that not everything has come to light. Interesting. I will definitely read more in this series as I thought this was a decent start.

45. Frederica - Georgette Heyer. This was a reread for the 'Reread an old favourite' category in a Book Bingo  challenge I'm doing with a friend. It was like snuggling into a comfy old blanket as I immersed myself in the story of how Frederica and her young family inveigle themselves into the affections of the Marquis of Alverstoke. No one did Regency Romance like Heyer and I enjoyed this so much I plan to reread a few more favourites, Arabella, Sylvester etc. before too long.

Oh, here's a strange thing that happened while I was reading Frederica. It has a long scene about two thirds of the way in concerning an adventure the youngest brother has with a hot-air balloon. That mode of transport was in its infancy when this book was set. So, I'm sitting there reading this when I hear noises outside and when I looked out there was only a hot-air balloon floating along just above the house! How's that for weird?

So, eight books is not bad for me, I liked them all so that's even better. And I even managed a couple of non-fictions which I failed to do in May. 

My total for July so far is two and I will be back soon to talk abut those. Hope the summer is treating you well and it isn't too hot where you are. It certainly isn't here, it's more like autumn, but that's ok with me, I'm not a hot-house plant.