June Books

[pandop]

28: Wide Sargasso Sea Jean Rhys

Thanks to the book group I finally got round to reading this. I was a little disappointed as it wasn't as good as I hoped. However, I did find it interesting, particuarly the time-shift to place it just post slave emancipation, and the post-colonial view of the West Indies, as I haven't read much set here, most post-colonial literature I have read has been Indian.

29: A Bespoke Murder Edward Marston [Kindle]

A new series from an author I seem to be reading a lot of recently. This is set in WWI London, just after the sinking of the Lusitania, and in the midst of the anti-German violence that followed. I really liked the twists in the plot, and the characters - I will look forward to reading more of them.

30: Death on the Nile Agatha Christie

This is one of my favourite Poirots in the TV adaptations, and I was pleased to find that it had stuck quite closely to the book (although the book has a happier/neater ending for two characters than the TV does) - there is an extra mystery in the background too. Very much enjoyed

31: The Mammoth Book of Historical Whodunnits edited by Mike Ashley

As with any selection of short stories I enjoyed some more than others. What I didn't expect was to find a random novel stuck in the middle of the book - and not a good novel at that. The Ancient and Medieval sections suggested some new authors to me - and there was a Cadfael short story I had never read, so that was a real treat. The more modern stories seemed to suffer from a case of wanna-be Sherlock Holmes in the characters, which was less good - having said that, the one story with Conan Doyle as a detective was rather good.

Comments

[diva-c.livejournal.com]

I like Edward Marston books, I've read all the railway detective ones which are generally good, the Christopher Redmayne ones are good as well and he did a lightish sort of series of books under another name Conrad Somebody or other which are about two detectives on board different ships in 1910 onwards Murder on the (boat name). theres Murder on the Lusitana and various others- they are quite cheap on kindle from amazon.

[hazelstitch.livejournal.com]

Oh those are him? Cool. I have them, but I haven't got round to them yet. I have read the first three railway ones too, and some of the Redmayne ones.