November 2023

Kathleen Rooney, From Dust To Stardust - quite good, B
Lily King, Writers & Lovers – boring and self indulgent, C-
Dorothy Gilman, Mrs Pollifax On The China Station – excellent, A
Jessa Maxwell, The Golden Spoon – light murder mystery set at a simplified American knockoff of Bakeoff; author doesn’t realised you need to prove bread, or that there are sweet and savoury pastry doughs; the multiple POVs are not written distinctively enough to identify them; and the twists were all too obvious, but a pleasant enough read, C+
Georgina Boyes, The Imagined Village – interesting, but one really basic, easily checkable error – thinking Three Mile Cross is in Hampshire – makes me wonder about other aspects of her research and judgment, B
Charlaine Harris, All the Little Liars – excellent, A
Andrea Camilleri, The Terracotta Dog – very gritty, but I liked the cold case crime part a lot, A
David Eddings reread, Pawn Of Prophecy – likeable but with a few questionable moments, B
Victoria Selman, All The Little Liars – very good, A-
Anthony Horowitz, Moonflower Murders, very good, A
Christobel Kent, The Viper, excellent, A
Hania Allen, The Unexpected Guest, a bit hit and miss but quite good, B-
Tim Weaver, Broken Heart – excellent thriller, A
Susan Scarlett (Noel Streatfeild), Clothes Pegs – very charming parish magazine type story, B-
Cara Hunter, The Whole Truth – good, but the pacing was not quite right, B+