Time on my Hands ? No. Just Crime in my Hands

I've read 5 books in the last couple of weeks and all were crime fiction.

Deborah Crombie - Garden of Lamentations.
 This is the 17th and latest in a series of modern crime fiction. Another author from the States who writes crime set in this country. It features Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James, a married couple who both work for the police in London.

Agatha Christie - The Listerdale Mystery . A collection of 12 of her early short stories, very light reading and some are odd rather than good.

Alys Clare  - The Devil's Cup. The 17th and final book in the Hawkenlye Mystery Crime series. Set mainly in Kent during the 12th Century. I've loved these books which mix history, magic and mystery at a time when some people still follow pagan ways. At the beginning these were set in Hawkenlye Abbey and feature Abbess Helewise and Josse d' aquin with the Great Forest of The Weald of Kent as a backdrop. Although still featuring the abbey the later books involve the younger members of the families and move across Europe as far as Jerusalem. It really is best to start with the first to enjoy the story developing. Read about them on Fantastic Fiction HERE


Dorothy L Sayers - In the Teeth of the Evidence. Early short stories and like the Agatha Christie mentioned above they are very light reading, with crimes quickly solved.

Kate Ellis - The Mermaids Scream. This is the 21st novel in her police/crime/history/archaeology  series featuring D.I Wesley Peterson and set in Dartmouth Devon which she calls Tradmouth (and Totnes is thinly disguised as Neston with Kingswear becoming Queenswear, so I don't know really why she bothered to change the names!) They are a good read if a little predictable now and each time I'm not sure if I should bother reading but always do. As with all books featuring the same characters it's best to start with the first which was "The Merchants House" published in 1998

I've got several non-fiction to read now for a change although the latest in the Jacqueline Winspear Maisie Dobbs series is shouting "Read Me" and I know it will be brilliant.

Thank you for comments over the last couple of days.

We are still waiting for the call for Colin to go back into hospital to re-start the chemo tablets, hope the smaller dose tablets arrive soon and a bed becomes available........ he is losing energy fast as the lymphoma builds up again. We had to go to the day-centre yesterday for blood tests and he is on anti-biotics again as a precaution. I do hope he's not stuck in hospital for Bank Holiday weekend, that will be frustrating,  a repeat of last year. Hey Ho ......... all jolly good fun - (NOT!)

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Sue