User Profile

The battle between Mapp and Lucia continues through this final novel by EF Benson (there are many more by later authors) and it's an enjoyable yarn with the main difference being that Lucia struggles rather more to keep herself at the top of the social pyramid of Tilling.

This is touted as a whodunnit but to be honest, although it is, it's much more about the style of it. It's written in the first person and our hero is ... special ... as becomes increasingly clear as the book progresses and you grow to love her, despite her weirdness.

If I had a criticism, although it's only a small one, there's a final twist in the tail which I didn't think really fitted well with the rest of the narrative and it wasn't really needed, but this shouldn't distract you from what is a very fine, if rather different, novel.

I'm always suspicious of celeb authors ... but then of course there's Richard Osman.

As for Mortimer he does an OK job to be honest. There's a slightly unlikely hero, a plausible plot, a twist which in truth I did see coming, and it all works out all right in the end so that's no bad thing. So yeah, worth a read.

This is the third book in the series starring the Bodger and to my mind the best. He's lost the serious elements, which he didn't handle well in 'We Joined The Navy' and toned down the sexism too. It's still very much a period read but it's a lot better and more enjoyable.

Also book 26 of 52 and we're not yet at the end of June so that's good news.

... then you'll probably like it rather more than I did. Easy reading but just not funny which, given it's meant to be "a work of comic genius" is a bit of a disappointment.

On the plus side it did only cost me £1 from a second hand bookshop in Ballater. On the down side I did buy two more of his books at the same time ...

To begin with I should say that I read this on the back of the dramatisation on Netflix, which I really enjoyed, however the two are fundamentally different plots. The character is the same with the same life and work philosophy, the Lincolns are there, as are two ex-wives and the daughter but that's about it.

Having said that this is a very fine book. A well mapped out plot, characters who are fully rounded and well described, and you never lose your way. This is the first of several books about Mickey Haller and I'm going to be back for more.

Our heroes here are three retired teachers and the biggest problem with it is that their personalities don't shine through so I kept forgetting which one was which. They also seem to miss enormous clues which the author lays in front of you. I struggled with it as it really didn't grab me but at page 213 of 319 I finally gave up and returned it to the library.

Bit of a cheat counting this for my 52 books in a year as this was read for work because we got a review copy.

Anyway, here's the review www.walklakes.co.uk/opus79609.html

The first book I've read as a result of a review on here and I confess I was disappointed in it. Our hero is ... odd. In a number of ways not least creating murder plots in her head all the time.

And the plot for the actual murder itself is both unlikely and rushed, in that it's mentioned right and the start and then ignored through the next three quarters of the book while the author builds a cast of characters to wrangle around the murder.

All in all it's a combination of being easy to read ... but poorly written. Like I said: odd.

It was rather late in the day, when I was about two thirds of the way through this but, that I read a review that likened in to Osman's Thursday Murder Club novels and they're not wrong. Like those books it's more to do about being comfortable with the characters than the plot itself, and with this one the lead character is HMQ herself which SJ Bennett obviously had a great affection for.

So it's gentle read, with the direction of travel being fairly unsurprising throughout, but none the worse for that. This is also the second book in the series, and there's a third due out soonish so I can see me coming back for one and three.

Oh, and nice hat tip to Sherlock Holmes in the title by the way.

Apparently this is a Sunday Times Bestseller and our library has a least two e-copies in stock but I got about a third of the way through before giving up.

For me it fails in two ways. Firstly it's just not that well written and considering this is a first person narrative it doesn't feel that way.

Second, and this is just me, but I really didn't like our hero that much, and if you're going to live with her ramblings through an entire book you really need to I think.

Anyway, moving on.

The follow up to 'We Joined the Navy' . I think Winton was getting the hang of the thing now and by re-discovering just a subset of characters from the first book he produced a better book as a result.

Still a mass of racism and sexism mind you.

This book is marginally older than me (first published 1959) and it shows in the language, so words I wouldn't think of posting here, and stereotypical attitudes both gender and race which, thankfully, are long behind us.

Where it's odd is that it is very superficial. When one of our young heroes is drowned in a sailing accident there's no dwelling on the impact it would have had on his friends and it's barely mentioned again.

But it's an easy read and a good yarn and I suspect it's probably a fairly accurate reflection of the experience of young men joining the navy then.

... for no good purpose, either for the reason our hero goes, or what he does when there. Apparently shortlisted for the International Booker but not my sort of thing at all.

The second in the DI Clare Mackay series (also borrowed from my local library - hurrah for libraries) turned out to be as fine as the first with a suitably twisty plot and an easy reading style. Our hero continues to have an interesting life outside work, just like all the best detective series, and that bodes well for more reading of these books however sadly I seem to have run out of Marion Todd novels in the library so it's off to a book shop for the remaining four.