December reading

David Eddings reread, Queen Of Sorcery – some dated attitudes but not bad, B-; Magician’s Gambit, B; Castle Of Wizardry, B
Alan Dean Foster, Strange Music – quite good, B
Mick Herron, Down Cemetery Road, slow to get there but quite good, B+
Alexandra Benedict, Murder On The Christmas Express – OK, B-
Elizabeth Fair, A Winter Away – very entertaining 1950s novel, B+
Lee Child, Past Tense – surprise late return to form, very gripping, plus there were archives, A
Charlie Holmberg, Followed By Frost – sweet fairytale, A
Peter Swanson, The Christmas Guest, OK, turned out to be a ghost story, B-
Jonathan Kellerman, Unnatural History, OK but some dubious arithmetic re ages of father and children, B
Alan Bradley, The Golden Tresses Of The Dead, OK, a bit disappointing, B
Genevieve Cogman, Scarlet –very good, A-
Naomi Novik, The Golden Enclaves, brilliant, A+
Lucy Clarke, The Hike, pretty good, B+
Charlotte Vassell, The Other Half - quite good, B-
Maggie Farrell, The Marriage Portrait, good but pointless and annoying present tense, B
Jessie Burton, The House Of Fortune, excellent despite the present tense, A-
Kate Morton, Homecoming - excellent, with small doubt regarding the ages of the babies working for the plot, A-
Denzil Meyrick, Murder At Holly House, plodding and mannered at first, then ridiculous, D
Nicci French, The Favour, good, B+
Erin Kelly, We Know You Know, unbelievable, C
Christianna Brand, Suddenly At His Residence, brilliant classic crime, A+
Claire Douglas, The Girls Who Disappeared, pedestrian, C+
C J Tudor, The Drift – gripping but horrific, B-
Holly Black, How the King of Elfhame Learned To Hate Stories, very slight, B-
Joanna Glen, All My Mothers – lovely but too many phrases instead of proper sentences, A-
Olivie Blake, Masters Of Death – patchily interesting but no sympathetic characters, C