Blimey – that was a long old week. After a long weekend away, doing a five day stint in the office was a killer. Not helped by the fact I felt like I was perpetually in meetings from Monday through to Thursday. Once again, reading suffered Monday – Friday as, despite having some cracking books in front of me, I’ve been too tired to read them, Thank heavens for weekends! Nothing exciting to share this week, so it’s back to the holiday photos I’m afraid (sorry, not sorry).
Scenes from Alnwick and Craster – Dunstanburgh Castle
Scenes from Dunstanburgh Castle and Howick Hall & Gardens
You would think that after being inundated with books last weekend at Harrogate, I’d be on a buying break this week. You’d be wrong. When am I ever really on a buying break? 1 new Netgalley title – Below Ground by Michael Wood (30 Sept), the upcoming new Matilda Darke thriller. Cannot wait to get stuck into that one! I treated myself to a paperback copy of The Associate by Victoria Goldman too. Book two in the Shanna Regan series, I’ll be sharing my review very soon. Other than that I have bought the following: An Unnecessary Assassin – a charity anthology of short stories Rotary International’s campaign to eradicate Polio; The David Raker Series – Books 1-3 and Books 4-8 by Tim Weaver; and Agatha Christie – Halloween Party , a preorder due out on 31 August. I also received a spot of book post – In Service of Death by JD Kirk, courtesy of the author and Zertex Crime.
The Associate; In Service of Death
Below Ground: An Unnecessary Assassin; David Raker Collection Books 1-3 and 4-8; Hallowe’en Party
Books I have read
White As Snow by Lilja Sigurdardóttir (12 October)
Daníel and Áróra hunt a brutal killer when a shipping container with the bodies of five women is found outside Reykjavik, as Áróra continues the search for her missing sister. Book three in the addictive, chilling An Áróra Investigation series. On a snowy winter morning, an abandoned shipping container is discovered near Reykjavík. Inside are the bodies of five young women – one of them barely alive. As Icelandic Police detective Daníel struggles to investigate the most brutal crime of his career, Áróra looks into the background of a suspicious man, who turns out to be engaged to Daníel’s former wife, and the connections don’t stop there… Daníel and Áróra’s cases pit them both against ruthless criminals with horrifying agendas, while Áróra persists with her search for her missing sister, Ísafold, whose devastating disappearance continues to haunt her. As the temperature drops and the 24-hour darkness and freezing snow hamper their efforts, their investigations become increasingly dangerous … for everyone. Atmospheric, twisty and breathtakingly tense, White as Snow is the third instalment in the riveting, award-winning An Áróra Investigation series, as crimes committed far beyond Iceland’s shores come home…
Cleaner by Brandi Wells (31 August)
I clean the offices and bathrooms and lobby five nights a week, but my actual job is to take care of everyone. They need so much help. At night, in a corporate office block in an unnamed metropolitan city, a cleaner begins her shift. As she cleans Sad Intern’s desk, she throws away some of her more alarming health supplements, and leaves her healthy snacks instead. Mr Buff’s desk is immaculate, but he seems to have a secret smoking habit – not conducive to his fitness journey – which she’s going to help him kick. She confiscates the knitted coaster that attractive, sensitive Yarn Guy has given to Cola Woman – someone who clips her nails in the office doesn’t deserve his gifts. But tonight, while scrolling through your emails, she’ll discover the secret you’ve been hiding – the one that will threaten her job, and the jobs of everyone she takes care of. And you’re about to find out that, sometimes, your most powerful enemy is the one you don’t even see.
The Murmurs by Michael J Malone (14 September)
A young woman starts experiencing terrifying premonitions of people dying, as it becomes clear that a family curse known only as The Murmurs has begun, and a long-forgotten crime is about to be unearthed…
On the first morning of her new job at Heartfield House, a care home for the elderly, Annie Jackson wakens from a terrifying dream. And when she arrives at the home, she knows that the first old man she meets is going to die.
How she knows this is a terrifying mystery, but it is the start of horrifying premonitions … a rekindling of the curse that has trickled through generations of women in her family – a wicked gift known only as ‘the murmurs’…
With its reappearance comes an old, forgotten fear that is about to grip Annie Jackson.
And this time, it will never let go…
A compulsive gothic thriller and a spellbinding supernatural mystery about secrets and small communities, about faith, courage and self-preservation, The Murmurs is a startling and compulsive read from one of Scotland’s finest authors.
There we go. That was my lot. Mostly achieved over the weekend. But it’s all good – as were the books. Busy week on the blog – recap below:
Eye For An Eye – MJ Arlidge Deadly Autumn Harvest – Tony Mott, translated by Marina Sofia None Of This Is True – Lisa Jewell You Can’t See Me – Eva Björg Ægisdóttir, translated by Victoria Cribb Death on the Beach – Steph Broadribb Blood and Sugar – Laura Shepherd Robinson
A couple of blog tour reviews coming up this week – Zero Days by Ruth Ware and Murder At The Inn by Katie Gayle (03 August).
Zero Days; Murder At the Inn
And that is all you are getting from me. Not a lot more to say really – it’s been one of those months, as my reading tally (or lack there off) will attest when I share July’s stats next weekend. Also, I am tired and grumpy and have just restarted my diet. Good for me in the long term, book hiss right now …
Have a lovely bookish week all.
Jen x
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