The Serpent Under continues Bonnie MacBird’s glorious Sherlock Holmes series
“The sixth instalment from Baker Street continues to invoke the Holmes of Conan Doyle” There is always a challenge when an author picks up the baton and continues the legacy of a character that is entrenched in English literature. Both reader and, to some extent, the author must feel the weight of history and the
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Hugh Johnson’s Pocket Wine Book proves again to be a fine vintage
“Just love pulling the cork out of Hugh’s guide and drinking in the information within” Back in the day, the day being the late nineties and over the millennium, I was quite the Francophile and enjoyed many a trip to La Belle France to take in its cafe culture and enjoy a relaxed lengthy lunch Read more
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Julian Doyle delivers the ‘After-life of Brian’ and a whole host of questions
“You might think that this is a massive can of worms to open” It is fair to say that The After-Life of Brian by Julian Doyle was not exactly what I was expecting. I have been an avid fan of Monty Python since childhood and jumped at the opportunity to read an account from someone Read more
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Join Peter Taylor-Gooby’s celebration of Aspasia, The Immigrant Queen
“It is fair to say that Aspasia had quite a life” Mining the wealth of material that Greek history provides is a path that many authors have trodden in recent years but when the stories are as compelling as Peter Taylor-Gooby’s The Immigrant Queen, it is easy to see why Ancient Greece is a destination Read more
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Antonio Ramos Revillas delivers a Mexican masterpiece with ‘The Wild Ones’
“Opens the eyes of the reader and keep them wide-eyed until the final breath” Living in rural Somerset could not be further away from the gang-controlled streets of Mexico but thanks to the award-winning Antonio Ramos Revillas, the sights, sounds and smells of Monterrey feel like they are on my doorstep after reading The Wild Read more
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Hazel Prior has ‘Gone with the Penguins’ to a fitting end to her trilogy
“Hazel’s love of penguins always shines through on the pages” When I heard the news that Hazel Prior would be completing her ‘penguin’ series, I was delighted that we would be finding out how it all ends of octogenarian Veronica McCreedy, the intrepid Penguin Ambassador. I suppose it is only fair at this stage to Read more
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J.J. Green reveals inspiration for ‘Someone to Blame’ that’s seeped in Covid tensions
“I think it’s hard for any writer to keep their own worldview of out their writing” Someone to Blame is the second novel from Irish writer J. J. Green, who has had a number of political essays focusing on economic and environmental injustice also published. Her first novel, The Last Good Summer, was published in Read more
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