The Curse of the House of Foskett - Victorian-era crime fighters!

Having enjoyed the first book in the Gower Street Detective Series, I decided to dip my toe back into Victorian London and spend some more time with incredibly rude and uncivil detective, Sidney Grice, and his long-suffering ward, March Middleton. The Curse of the House of Foskett, by M.R.C. Kasasian begins with Sideny's reputation in tatters after leading an innocent man to the gallows in his previous case. No one wants to hire him and he is not taking it well. A new case is just what he needs, so when a gentleman comes calling to hire Sidney to investigate the Final Death Society, and promptly drops dead during the meeting, he couldn't be happier! Even better, it turns out that the man has been murdered. Sidney and March delve into this society where a distinguished group of people have clubbed together with the intention that the last one left alive inherits all the money. However, it seems one member of the Society isn't willing to wait for nature to take its course, for when Sydney and March try to speak to the various members, they discover that they too have been murdered, and in such a way as to implicate Sydney in the deadly deed. Despite the increasingly grisly nature of each crime, this book is full of laughs and clever touches. However, the incredibly un-PC statements made by Sydney did sometimes grate with me, and I wondered why on earth March puts up with them. But it becomes apparent that she is more than a match for him, and is a perfect foil for the socially inept man who has taken her in. During the course of the novel, we also find out more about March's past, which really helps round her out. There were also hints that Sydney does have a heart somewhere beneath his bluster and apparent coldness, which could help to make him a more sympathetic character. The action rolls along at great pace, and this is an entertaining read - but it might be a while before I can face Sydney and his acerbic tongue once again.

My STAR rating: FOUR.

Length: 416 print pages.
Price I paid: £2.99.
Formats available: print, unabridged audio download, MP3-CD, ebook.

Berlin Red - A bit too neatly wrapped?

Berlin Red, by Sam Eastland is, I have just discovered, the SEVENTH book in a series featuring Inspector Pekkala, a detective from Stalinist Russia. This came as a bit of a surprise to me as the book works perfectly well as a stand-alone story. It's April 1945 and the Red Army is on the verge of overrunning Berlin and finally defeating the Third Reich. Holed up in his bunker, Hitler is buoyed by the news that his scientists have perfected the guidance system for the V-2 rocket - and is convinced that this super-weapon could turn the tide of the War back in his favour. However, the message he received has been intercepted by a British listening post and they immediately set one of their extremely well-placed spies the delicate task of acquiring the plans to this "Diamondstream". But they realise that to get both the spy and those plans safely out of Berlin, they'll need the help of one man - Inspector Pekkala, Stalin's finest investigator. Meanwhile, Hitler suspects that there is a traitor in the ranks, as small bits of information keep leaking out, so he assigns his own highly skilled detective, Major Kirov, to trace the source. It's now a race to see who finds the spy first, but for Pekkala, the stakes couldn't be higher, as she is none other than the woman he had planned to marry before the Russian Revolution got in the way. This is a taught thriller, set against the horror of war. It weaves fact with fiction in an extremely convincing manner and whilst some of the characters may be a bit one-dimensional, there are some excellent ones too, particularly the villainous ones. It's grim and gritty, with a bit of romance thrown in for good measure. Yes, there are twists and turns, and a certain amount of tension, but I never really felt that the main characters wouldn't attain their goal and make it out alive. A good read, though maybe a little too neatly wrapped up at the end, possibly because it is likely to be the last in the series. We shall see! I did enjoy this, and it may be interesting to see earlier books in the series, but that won't be happening this year as I try to get through the mountain of books already nesting in my house!

My STAR rating: FOUR.

Length: 384 print pages.
Price I paid: free, borrowed from the library as an ebook.
Formats available: print, unabridged audio download, ebook.

Welcome to 2019

Happy New Year to one and all. Let's hope for a better one than 2018 turned out to be! During the last 12 months, I have been working my way through The Popsugar Reading Challenge, which contained 40 book prompts designed to broaden your reading. The prompts ranged from "a book about feminism" to "a book with alliteration in the title". Whilst I didn't get through all 40 of them (there were a couple of really, really long books in there which slowed me down!), I did manage to finish 31, so not too bad. It helped me find a new author (Madeleine Miller) whose books were a delight, and rediscover the work of an author I haven't read in years (John Irving). I read books I wouldn't have gone near without the Popsugar prompts, so the goal of expanding my reading horizons was achieved. HOWEVER, what this has now meant is that the pile of unread books in my house has not gone away and so this year, I will be delving back into those patiently waiting tomes in the hope that I can reclaim some much needed storage space.

Bring it on ...