pocket books

La Plante excels again in british crime fiction with another great read. it is great, but slightly odd, to read a crime thriller book set in the UK - we are so used to reading american fiction that it disorientates you a bit to begin with! The characters are well rounded and the team could easily be part of a tv series (that would actually be very watchable).

A very personal account of Richards Madeleys family spanning over one hundred years and three generations. His grandfather at the age of ten was left with his aunt and uncle at a farm in Shropshire while the rest of
the family emigrated to Canada - the poor lad had no idea.

Reviews of this, the first in a trilogy covering the 15th century War of the Roses, have generally been favourable for its more or less historical accuracy, and for a good story well written.

Elizabeth Woodville is probably best known as the mother of the Princes in the Tower, and this novel fleshes out some of her extraordinary life. As a commoner, widowed and with two small children, she meets, falls in love with, and marries the King of England.

This book started off slowly, focusing on a few main characters, with not much to hint at what may happen. it continues this way for most of the book, only really progressing in the last few chapters, although the ending is not 100% what you expect, its pretty predictable and no real surprise to the reader.

This is a well written book with good characters, atmospheric descriptive prose, a strong intricate plot, and I really, really disliked it ! If I hadn't been asked to review it, I wouldn't have read past the first few chapters.

Set in paranoic post war Russia, it's a good man's search for a murderer at a time when even a suspicion of disloyalty to the state or its officials is punishable by torture, incarceration, expulsion or death and justice is therefore thin on the ground.

Lots of interesting details, for example romans and saxons beneath St Pauls, discovery of mass graves, the latest being during the construction of the Channel Tunnel rail link in 2004, the horrors of the Plague and the separate station at Waterloo for transporting corpses out of town. Plus the Victorian wonders of Highgate Cemetery, now high on my visit list !

I wish there had been more, and better, illustrations and some maps but maybe the specific locations of graves, specifically the cholera and plague pits are still contentious.

This book is in fact the first in the trilogy of books that Jane and Mike wrote together, it tells of the heartbreak of being diagnosed with breast cancer and the agony that the family had to go through to overcome this distructive disease.

Jane and Mike had their ups and downs as does every family with such a pressure on them. Jane hoped that she would see her children grow up and start school, especially young Steven who she hoped she would be alive to actually see him start school. For her each milestone was a plus.

I enjoyed Natasha Cooper's book and was amazed how she managed to place her hero of the book to research all the amazing facts that are featured in the book. I really did not expect to discover that there is so much that goes on behind the scenes in a reputable autioneers; including some who will willingly push the price of an item up just to gain a better price and will do anything just to satisfy their own needs and wants.
I just hope it is that I never come across some dealer like that if I ever have to sell something.