Recent Reading by Wendy - The Missing Clue - April 2018

I have always been exasperated by novels where the heroine (usually the heroine but not always) steps into a darkened room, a hidden passage etc., actions that scream out that they are not the sensible or safe thing to do. So when the blurb on the back of Cass Green’s In a Cottage, in a Wood read, ‘When Neve arrives alone in the dark woods late one night, she finds a sinister looking bungalow with bars across the windows…’you might think that I would not pick it up but for whatever reason I did and thoroughly enjoyed it. Cass Green is an English writer and is usually regarded as part of the Grip Lit group of writers, not usually my cup of tea, but this book a good old fashioned thriller with a very interesting and unexpected twist.

After a twelve-year gap Margaret Maron came back to Lt. Sigrid Harald in Take Out, just released in mass market ($10.49). Sigrid Harald had not completely disappeared as she was seen in a couple of the Judge Deborah Knott novels, including Three Day Town and the The Buzzard Table, when Sigrid and her mother are visiting family in North Carolina. The Judge and the Lieutenant are cousins. Take Out set in New York deals with the poisoning of two men, one of whom was homeless, on a park bench. Although I don’t remember where I read it or maybe heard it, I think this is the end of the Sigrid Harald series just as Long Upon the Land was the last Deborah Knott novel, there is a sense in both of them of I’s being dotted and t’s being crossed, If you have not read either of these series they are well worth a try.

Lynda La Plante has written a new series starting with Tennison, which is a prequel to the Jane Tennison/Prime Suspect series. Set in the early 1970s Jane Tennison has just graduated from the Metropolitan Police Academy and is at her first posting in Hackney. The four titles in the series are being published over the space of the next few months. Tennison is in stock and will be followed in short order by Hidden Killers, Good Friday and Murder Mile.

I must admit that to call After the Snow a mystery is stretching it more than a bit. Susannah Constantine’s novel set in 1969 may have some mysteries in it but so far none of them have involved the staples of the mystery novel. I am not sure why I ordered it, perhaps I was carried away by the comment from Elton John on the front cover “A modern day Nancy Mitford” whatever the reason we have it in stock and I thoroughly enjoyed it. A perfect book to get you through these less than perfect “Spring” days.

Gail Bowen has a new book out. Sleuth is not part of her Joanna Kilbourn series but is a non-fiction guide to mystery writing (in stock TP $18.95). The various chapters lay out the nuts and bolts of constructing a mystery novel, Setting, Characterization, Plot etc. But I think that probably the most important piece of advice to the aspiring writer is in the third chapter called Prewriting Your Mystery. Bowen describes how important it is to use the interstices of your daily life, no matter how short, to think about and plan the story you want to write, so that when you do have the time to sit down to write you already have a good idea of what you want to say. I think that many of our customers if pressed would admit to having or have had an idea for a mystery novel. This book might be just the thing to get on with it. The 18th Joanne Kilbourne novel, A Darkness of the Heart, will be released in hardcover ($32) in August. The 17th novel, The Winners Circle will be available in trade paper ($18) in July.

Sarah Vaughan’s Anatomy of a Scandal, (in stock, trade paper $24.00), tells the story of British M.P. James Whitehouse whose own life and that of his wife, Sophie, descends into chaos and newspaper headlines after he confesses an affair to his wife. This is just the first step in what becomes a major scandal with James ending up being arrested for rape and standing trial at the Old Bailey. The book draws the reader in with the wonderful evocations of Oxford University, Houses of Parliament, the Old Bailey and Brighton at the Annual political party convention time. The novel certainly hits many chords in this era of #MeToo, but there is also an underlying plot of something that happened while James and some of his political associates were at Oxford University. Will both these events the present and the past end up being papered over.

On a lighter note Andrew Cartmel’s first title in the Vinyl Detective series, Written in Dead Wax, has just been released in mass market paperback (in stock $10.99). Cartmel’s main character is an avid and extremely knowledgeable collector of vinyl records. As such his expertise is often called upon to track down various rare and often valuable records. This series is extremely enjoyable with an interesting and quirky cast of characters. The third title in the series, Victory Disc, is due to be released in trade paper on May 8th ($16.95).

 

Stealing Van Gogh and Other Art Mysteries by Wendy - The Missing Clue - February 2018

One night last week Jack and I watched Andrew Graham-Dixon’s television programme, ‘Stealing Van Gogh’. Graham-Dixon is a British art historian and you may have seen some of his other series which includes one on the art collection of the Royal Family. This programme was different in that it not only talked about Van Gogh’s art but also described a crime which took place in December 2002 and followed the story to its final resolution in September 2016. On December 7th, 2002 a daring robbery took place at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, two smallish Van Gogh’s were stolen. The whole thing took three minutes and 40 seconds, from the time the burglars’ dressed as workmen put up their ladder against the museum wall to when they drove away with their ill- gotten gains. The paintings were retrieved 13 years and nine months later in Naples, Italy. Due to carelessness, he lost his hat during the exit from the museum and the police were able to trace his DNA, one of the burglars was easily apprehended but there was no sign of the paintings. Evidently, valuable paintings are used as currency in the underground drug dealing/crime gang world. If a painting is worth say $14 million dollars, the possessor is able to use about ten percent of its value as collateral for purchasing drugs etc. Possession of stolen art is also often used as a bargaining chip by criminals for reduced sentences. “I’ll give you back the paintings, you can knock x years off my sentence.”

Watching the programme got me thinking about mysteries I had read that involved art. The first one that came to mind, probably because of the title, was A.J. Zerris The Lost Van Gogh, (in stock, used MM, $4). This book starts not with the theft of a Van Gogh but with the return of a missing Van Gogh to the Met in New York, in an ordinary UPS package. Timothy Holme’s, The Neapolitan Streak, was another obvious connection with the television show I had just watched. There are five books in this series featuring Inspector Perini. We have a copy of book #4, The Assisi Murders, in used mass market ($7). Iain Pears has written a number of books with art themes. He has a series which features the Italian National Art Theft Squad and British Art historian Jonathan Argyll. In a classic mystery construct the officials and the amateur, are sometimes working together and sometimes working from opposite ends of the problem. I have really enjoyed this series.

Barbara A. Smith, the thriller writer, has started to write mysteries with an art theme. The first title is The Art Forger (in stock, TP, $16.99) which is based in the Isabella Stewart Gardiner Museum in Boston, which itself was the site of spectacular art theft. In March 1990, two men posing as policemen gained entry to the museum, tied up the guards and during the course of the night stole 13 paintings valued at $500 million. Despite the offer of a $10 million reward the paintings have never been recovered. There were suspicions that criminal gangs were involved and the museum has made announcements regarding the way the art work should be treated to preserve its value. Shapiro’s second novel is The Muralist (in stock, TP, $19.99) and the third novel The Collector’s Apprentice will be published in hardcover in October 2018.

Many mystery writers have one title in a series that includes an art theft. The 17th title in John Sandford’s Lucas Davenport series, Invisible Prey is one example (in stock, used mm, $5). The plot in sixth title in A.D. Scott’s Highland Gazette series, A Kind Of Grief, revolves around the death of an artist (in stock, new TP $18.50, used TP $10). In other series art and art related crime are a continuing undercurrent and subplot. The hero of Daniel Silva’s long series is Gabriel Allon an art restorer by trade. Inspector Roderick Alleyn, the main character in Ngaio Marsh is in a relationship and then married to painter Agatha Troy. The sixth title in the series, Artists in Crime, takes place in an art class (in stock, used mm, $6). Marsh died in 1982. There was an unfinished manuscript which has now been completed by Stella Duffy. Money in the Morgue will be published in hardcover in March 2018 ($32.99). This book like Died in the Wool (published 1944), is set in New Zealand during the second World War (in stock, used mm, $5).

The first title in Margaret Maron’s ‘Sigrid Harald’ series, One Coffee With, starts with a murder in a university Art Department (in stock, used mm, $8). There are eight titles in the series that were published between 1981-1995. Because of Harald’s relationship with an artist she meets during the first murder investigation there is an undercurrent of art in most of the other titles. Maron stopped writing this series and moved on to the Judge Deborah Knott series. Maron announced that Long Upon the Land published in 2015 would be the last title in that series (in stock, new mm, $9.49). In 2017 after a 22 year gap, Maron published Take Out which is to be the final Sigrid Harald title (mm, $10.49, March 2018).

Michael Redhill won the 2017 Giller prize for Bellevue Square (in stock, hard cover, $32), one of his earlier novels Martin Sloane (in stock, TP, $19.95) which is about a missing artist was also short listed for the Giller. Since 2008 Redhill has been writing the ‘Hazel Micallef’ mysteries under the pseudonym Inger Ash Wolfe. We’ve got books #2, 3, and 4 in stock.

A quick look through the store’s inventory produced many books in stock (both new and used) where the plot had an art theme. I am going to list a few of them here but there are many more which we could point out to you. Janice Law has a series in which Irish born British artist Francis Bacon is the main character. The first title is Fires of London which takes place during the Blitz (in stock, TP, $16.99). Other writers and titles would be Arturo Perez-Reverte The Painter of Battles (in stock, TP, $19), John Malcom A Back Room in Somers Town (in stock, used mm, $6), and Barbara Ewing The Fraud (in stock, new, $14.99).

What survey of mysteries would be complete without one of the major figures in the genre Ian Rankin. And yes, he also has an art mystery. Back in 2007 when Rebus had departed, supposedly had his last stand in Exit Music, Rankin published a completely different mystery Doors Open (in stock, used TP, $8/$9). This is a classic heist story revolving around millionaire Mike Mackenzie and the National Gallery of Scotland.

New and Forthcoming Books by Wendy - The Missing Clue - December 2017

I’ve just finished reading Elizabeth Wilson’s She Died Young (TP, $20.50). Set in 1956 much of the plot revolves around Hungarian student refugees who were based in Oxford. Some of them were attending classes at Oxford while others were waiting to go on to universities in other countries, including Canada. Elizabeth Wilson has written other standalone novels but this one seems to be set up as the first in a series. The two main characters are policeman DCI Jack McGovern and journalist Gerry Blackstone. I really enjoyed this book.

Reading She Died Young, reminded me of a book that I read back in January, Sara Sheridan’s Brighton Belle (TP, $16.95). That novel was set in Brighton in 1951, the main character Mirabelle Bevan, had formerly been a member of the British secret service. The second title in the series, London Calling, is being published in January (TP, $17.95). This time Mirabelle and her friend Vesta investigate the disappearance of debutante Rose Bellamy Gore, from a seedy Soho night club.

Both these books presented a very realistic description of postwar England and seem well rooted in the period with references various political and news events.

Minette Walters has set her first novel in ten years in quite a different period. The plot of The Last Hours, revolves around the arrival of the Black Death in the Dorset village of Melcombe in 1348. This is quite a departure from the author of The Scold’s Bridle. It is being published in April of 2018 (TP, $24.99).

Wendy's Pick - Bumsted Picks of 2017 - The Missing Clue - December 2017

Party Girls Die in Pearls by Plum Sykes

(TP, $22.99, order here)

My book of the year is Plum Sykes, Party Girls Die in Pearls. This is a fun read. Set in the 1980s the plot centres around a disparate pair of students Ursula Flowerbottom, a studious girl from rural England and Nancy Feingold, an American exchange student from Saddle River, New Jersey. Neither of whom are really au fait with the lifestyle and expectations of the group of wealthy and/or aristocratic students with whom they are mixing. Sykes adds a few footnotes to inform readers who do not remember that far back e.g. comparison of outfit to one Sue Ellen might wear, Sue Ellen Ewing from the prime-time soap Dallas, which was the epitome of 80s glamour.

Fall Reading by Wendy - The Missing Clue - October 2017

While I was collecting books for this newsletter piece, I ended up picking up a couple of books that exemplify what is to me the most annoying current trend in publishing – the book that starts as if you have literally just turned the page on the last chapter of the previous book. I am actually a huge fan of the back story, in fact there are some series I continue to read just for the back story but this is ridiculous. I do not see how anyone can be expected to remember very precise details of a book that was probably read at least a year ago. I am grasping to find an explanation and frankly I have not found a feasible one.

I have not read any other titles by George Mann, and he has written a number of different series, some of which fall into our crossover category, but I thoroughly enjoyed Wychwood, (in stock, trade paper, $19.95) which is I hope the first in a new series. The main character, Elspeth Reeves has just lost her job as a reporter in London and simultaneously broken up with her boyfriend, as a result she is heading back to her mother’s house in the village of Wilsby -under- Wychwood. A traffic snarl up on the way home is the result of a body having been found in the woods behind her mother’s house, and needless to say this piques Elspeth’s attention.

I have been a fan of James Craig, ever since his Inspector Carlyle series started appearing in print as opposed to being ebooks. The latest title, number ten in the series is Acts of Violence, (in stock, trade paper, $15.99). The plot like the previous titles always appears very current this time it involves uber wealthy Chinese who live in Chelsea and yet seem very separate from the milieu. As I have said before, I like Carlyle because he is relatable. He has a normal, happy life, a wife, who works for a charity, a teenage daughter, he goes to the pub but does not drink to excess. Life is not picture book perfect he has grumbles about his job, his bosses, worries about his father’s health but it always feels real. This series is worth a try if you have not read it before and while the back story moves on in each book it is not a barrier to enjoying the story.

Harry Bingham’s ‘Fiona Griffiths’ is another series I really enjoy. The main character is a detective constable in the South Wales police force based in Cardiff. In the latest title, The Deepest Grave, (in stock, trade paper, $24.99) an archaeologist is found dead, decapitated by an antique sword at an iron age fort site she is in charge of excavating. Griffiths is a complex character who has her own demons most of which revolve around the origins of her birth. This is another good contemporary series with believable characters.

Peter May’s ‘Enzo Macleod’ series published between 2006 and 2011, was originally five books long. The series has been re-issued in trade paper over the last eighteen months. The fifth book Blowback, was published at the beginning of September. May has now extended the series with the publication of a sixth novel, Cast Iron, (in stock, hardcover, $32.49). May’s very first series set in China is being re-released and The Firemaker will be available in North America in January (on order, trade paper, $19.49).

Anna Lee Huber author of the very popular ‘Lady Darby’ mysteries has a new series. In 1919, Verity Kent, thought that no one knew that she had been part of Britain’s Secret Service during the hostilities but someone knows. While grieving for her husband Sidney killed in action, Verity is faced with the fact that nothing is as it seems and maybe her husband was not the honorable man she believed him to be, This Side of Murder (in stock, trade paper, $16.95)

One of my longtime favorite authors is Michael Pearce. I think I have read every one of the ‘Mamur Zapt’ books, now numbering nineteen, set in Egypt at the beginning of the twentieth century. He has a couple of other shorter series and one of them ‘Seymour of Special Branch’ is in the process of being re-released. The period is roughly the same as the ‘Mamur Zapt’ books. The first title A Dead Man in Trieste, (in stock tp $15.99) is set in 1906, and the British counsel has gone missing. The Foreign Office send Seymour, a member of the Special Branch, who has by his talents rather than birth risen up through the ranks of the Metropolitan Police, to find out what is going on, The Foreign Office pooh bahs look down on Seymour as not being one of us. Pearce writes with a light touch and the series is very entertaining but also like the Mamur Zapt books a lot can be learned about the political situation in Eastern Europe and the Middle East in the decade before WWI. Titles will be released over the next two months in trade paper at $15.99.

The end of September brought us a number of Christmas themed books! Frankly, I think this is way too early but if you like to have a Christmas cosy at Christmas you might like to check them out. Leslie Meier’s Holiday Murder, (in stock, mass market, $10.95) this volume contains two of Leslie Meier’s earlier Christmas titles Mistletoe Murder and Christmas Cooke Murder. There will be a new Lucy Stone title for Christmas: Eggnog Murder (on order, mass market, $8.99) will be released at the beginning of November. Hannah Swensen is still busy baking in Joanne Fluke’s Christmas Caramel Murder (in stock, mass market, $8.99) and there are a dozen recipes for you to try. Alex Erickson’s Bookstore Café is serving Death By Eggnog, (in stock, mass market, $8.99) the fifth title in this engaging series and Jennifer David Hesse is promising Yuletide Homicide (in stock, mass market, $8.99) in the third Wiccan Wheel Mystery.

Check the October and November Book lists for more Christmas specific titles.

TV Alert: I have seen some of the trailers for the British TV series ‘Strike’ which is based on the first two Robert Galbraith novels, The Cuckoo’s Calling and The Silkworm. It was shown in the UK last month, so hopefully we will see it here soon.

As Seen on TV (sort of) by Wendy -The Missing Clue - August 2017

While Sian and her wonderful new daughter Penelope have been visiting, Sian introduced me to a British quiz show called Pointless. Don’t ask me what the app is that gets this because, honestly, I have no idea (editors note: it’s called Filmon Television). I mention Pointless because last week’s celebrity round featured some mystery writers, Mark Billingham, Val McDermid and Tony Parsons. This gave me a hook for this month’s piece.

Mark Billingham was wearing a very country and western outfit and it seems that he is part of a country and western group, as well as being a standup comic in his spare time. His main series is the Tom Thorne series, the 14th title in the series Love Like Blood (trade paper $22.99) will be in the store on August 15th. We also have a spin off from the main series, featuring D.I. Tanner, Die of Shame, (trade paper $15.99).

Val McDermid is a major force in the British crime fiction scene, in addition to her own writing she was the founder of the Harrogate Mystery Conference, which has become one of the pre-eminent conferences in the United Kingdom. The conference has a number of awards including the Theakstons Old Peculiar Crime Novel of the Year Award. The winner receives £3000 and a small hand-carved oak beer cask carved by one of Britain's last surviving coopers. Old Peculiar is Theakstons most popular beer. McDermid’s next new title to be published in Canada is Insidious Intent, the 10th Carol Jordan and Tony Hill title which the will be published in December in hard cover. December also sees the publication of the trade paper of the 4th Karen Pirie title Out of Bounds ($24.95) She does have two anthologies coming this fall, Bloody Scotland, is a collection of stories by major Scotish crime writers; the stories are set between the Iron Age and the present day. Murder on Christmas Eve, is a collection of Christmas stories by writers from the United Kingdom. Unfortunately, we have not yet found a North American distributor for either of these titles but we are working on it.

Tony Parsons writes the Max Wolfe series this is a newer much shorter series. The main character Max Wolfe is a London police detective and as a single father adds a different dimension to the stories. The first novel in the series was The Murder Bag, published in 2014. The fourth title Die Last is arriving imminently. It is based on a relevant topic of people smuggling.

A few other new books which are good summer reads, Connie Willis, Crosstalk, (tp $24), M.C. Beaton’s latest Agatha Raisin, Pushing Up Daisies (mm $10.99) Liane Moriarty’s Big Little Lies (mm$12.99) which was recently a TV series starring Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman, we also have Moriarty’s newest title The Husband’s Secret (mm$12.99). This is also a good time to check out our used section as we have some great used titles at the moment. A good way of finding a new author or filling in gaps in existing series. Feel free to ask for recommendations based on what we have in stock.

The Missing Clue - April 2017 - Spring and Summer Reading Picks by Wendy

With the weather finally perking up a little, my thoughts gravitated towards summer and summer reading. This was in part due to the book that I was reading, Plum Sykes’ Party Girls Die in Pearls. This is Plum Sykes first mystery, launching the ‘Oxford Girl Mystery’ series although she has written a couple of other novels and writes regularly for Vogue magazine. The novel is set in Oxford in the late 1980s. The two main characters, Ursula Flowerbutton and American Nancy Feingold. Both are first year students from somewhat non-traditional backgrounds. It was a really fun read, and for those readers not familiar with 1980s clothing and popular culture the author provides footnotes explaining the reference, I am old enough not to need an explanation of references to various television shows like Dynasty. The book is due for release on May 9th in trade paperback just in time for a good Victoria Day weekend read.

Christina Kovac’s first novel is called The Cutaway. The novel is set in Washington D.C. a place that is probably higher in people’s consciousness these days. The plot revolves around the disappearance of a young female lawyer, she walks out of a fashionable D.C. restaurant and is never seen again. This disappearance catches the attention of a female news producer, Virginia Knightly, at a D.C. television station. Knightly becomes involved in the investigation when it seems that the authorities are not taking it seriously enough. Christine Kovacs was herself a TV journalist who worked on a number of political news shows including Meet the Press. A most enjoyable read with a very believable setting.

Sara Sheridan is a Scottish writer who has written many novels, including a series whose main character is Mirabelle Bevan. The first novel Brighton Belle was originally published in the UK in 2012 but was just released in North America in January of this year. Mirabelle Bevan had worked for British Intelligence during WWII now in 1951 she is living in Brighton, working as a secretary to debt collector, and mourning the death of her wartime boss and lover. When her boss is sick she becomes involved in a routine inquiry but as they say the plot soon thickens and nothing is what it seems. Book #2 in the series, London Calling, was just released in hardcover and is available to order.

Sally Andrew‘s first mystery Recipes for Love and Murder was published in 2015 and is now available in trade paperback. Set in Ladysmith, in the South-eastern part of South Africa, Andrew’s main character Tannie Maria writes the agony aunt column for the local newspaper. This advice column is slightly different as she always includes a recipe. The second novel in the series, The Satanic Mechanic, has just been released, also in trade paperback. It includes the same characters as the previous title. These books present a slightly harsher description of life in Southern Africa, than Alexander McCall Smith’s Botswana series. Andrew herself lives in South Africa and has been an environmental and social activist, themes which are very clear in her books. These are not titles to read when you are hungry.

The Unfortunate Decisions of Dahlia Moss is the first in a new series by Max Wirestone, available in store in trade paperback. Set in present day California Dahlia is an un/underemployed 20 something. Being chronically short of money she agrees to act as a private detective for a friend of a friend who is trying to recover a stolen icon in a video game. I enjoyed the character and the plot but I did find the intricacies of online gaming somewhat beyond me. But it is an enjoyable read. Book #2 in the series, The Astonishing Mistakes of Dahlia Moss, was just released in trade paperback and is available to order.

My book of the year for 2016, Susie Steiner’s Missing, Presumed, will be released in the mass market size on April 25th, ($12.50). Highly recommended. If I haven’t sold you a copy yet and you can’t wait for the mass market, we still have the trade paperback in stock. Also highly recommended Joanna Cannon’s The Trouble With Goats and Sheep, is now in a smaller size ($15.99). If you missed either of these the first-time round, great titles to slip into a beach bag or take on a plane.

The Missing Clue - February 2017 - Bits and Bobs by Wendy

Feeling pretty excited as I have just received a packing slip that shows that Deborah Crombie’s new novel, The Garden of Lamentation, is about to be shipped. This is the 17th title in the Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James series. It has been too long (almost three years) since the previously published title in this series, To Dwell in Darkness. This remains one of my favourite series. We’ve got books 1,2, 6-10, 12, 14, and 15 in stock in a combination of new and used, mass market and trade paperback.

It is sometimes interesting how publishing works. Suddenly there will be a number of new books with the same theme/ background. Just recently we have received two new books by different authors set in Scotish bookshops. Shelton Paige’s, The Cracked Spine, (mm $10.99) is set in Edinburgh and is the first in a new series by this author. Molly Macrae has left the Haunted Yarn Shop and her new series is called Highland Bookshop Mystery. The first title is Plaid and Plagiarism (hc$34.95). We’ve got both in stock.

The Missing Clue - August 2016 - My Recent (Summer) Reading by Wendy

If you were a fan of Dorothy Cannell, I found a new series that reminded me of her characters and her settings. Murder at Honeychurch Hall, (tp $18.50), is the first in the series and the second title, Deadly Desires at Honeychurch Hall, will be available in October. The main character is a Kat Stanford is a presenter of a TV show but she is giving it up to open an antique shop with her widowed mother, however, unbeknownst to our heroine her mother has moved away from London and bought a somewhat ramshackle property in the West of England. Kat tracks her down and she and her mother are soon embroiled in various rural shenanigans involving the local nobility. The author is Hannah Dennison who previously wrote the Vicky Hill series.

I had not read any of Deanna Raybourn’s previous series but I really enjoyed the first in her new series, A Curious Beginning (tp$20). The series is set in Victorian England and the main character is a young woman called Veronica Speedwell, who is an entomologist specializing in butterflies. The story begins with the death of her aunts who have raised her since she was a baby. Returning from the funeral an attempt is made to kidnap her and she is rescued by a somewhat enigmatic German nobleman.  From there on the plot, as they say, thickens. Veronica is a very appealing heroine and I am looking forward to the second title due out next year. 

I know that Sian has written about Darcie Wilde’s, A Useful Woman, a couple of times. I finally got around to reading it and thoroughly enjoyed it. I was reticent to read it because I have since my teens been a super fan of Georgette Heyer’s Regency novels all of which I have read. In fact all of which I own and had just finished a rereading.

Susie Steiner is a writer for the Guardian newspaper and Missing, Presumed is her first mystery novel. A graduate student has disappeared from the flat that she shares with her boyfriend. As the daughter of one of the Queen’s doctors, whose parents have many connections to the government of the day, the local police are from the get go under enormous pressure to find out what happened.  The plot has many twists and turns, and it is a very satisfying read.  The main police character is D.S Manon Bradshaw and I hope that this will be the beginning of a series.

Quintin Jardine’s Bob Skinner series has been a perennial favourite of mine. The newest title in the series has recently arrived in the store, Private Investigations (tp$22.99). Skinner has now officially left the Scottish police force and does have a private investigators licence. Two seemingly unconnected events, a request by the brother of one of his previous lovers to help settle an insurance claim and a rear-ender in a mall car park coalesce and lead Skinner and the Scottish police force to a series of much larger crimes. The involvement of the police of course brings in the usual cast of characters. An excellent way to while away a summer afternoon and evening.

Summer is always a good time to try new authors and a good way of doing that is to check out the used section. Despite what the sign on the door, might have led you to believe we have bought a fairly substantial amount of books for our used section.  As a result we do have many series where we have almost complete runs of titles in a series. So please come and check them out.