There are more books about WWII and the years after the end of the war arriving almost every day. My first choice for a Summer read is Jennifer Ryan’s The Spies of Shilling Lane. Mrs. Braithwaite heads up from her village to London to check on her daughter Betty who she has not heard from in quite a while. Given the chaos of the Blitz this is not necessarily unusual but on her arrival at Betty’s lodgings she finds that her daughter seems to be missing. Undeterred Mrs. Braithwaite sets out to find Betty, pressing all and sundry into service to help her. It is maybe a little sentimental in places, but it is an enjoyable, light read. (In store, TP, $23)
T.P. Fielden’s Riviera Express, is the first in a series set in Devon, England during the early 1950s. Miss Dimont, the main character is a reporter on the local newspaper of a seaside resort. The series has been out in England for a couple of years and we had expected to receive later titles in the series by now, unfortunately shipping issues associated with Covid 19 have slowed their arrival. This is a good introduction to a new series. (In store, TP, $20.99)
The Au Pair by Emma Rous has nothing to do with WWII. It is set in the present. Clearing up his study after her father’s death Seraphina Mayes discovers a photograph that was taken on the day she and her twin brother were born. But there is only one baby in the picture and her mother who supposedly committed suicide just hours after the picture was taken looks happy and relaxed. This is Daphne du Maurier with the modern bells and whistles of DNA testing etc. Very unputdownable. (In store, MM, $12.99)
It is a long time since I read a Jeffrey Archer novel. Nothing Ventured is the first book about William Warwick, who did appear in the Clifton Chronicles, and the series will follow his career from a uniformed policeman on the beat to the highest level of the London police service. Warwick’s path into the police was an unusual one as he studied Art History at university. The crime which is the focus of this novel is art forgery and the practice of stealing works of art to get an insurance payout for returning it. Although you want to rush through this it is a book that you can pick up and put down. A great Summer read. (In store, MM, $12.99)