In my book blog, I review my favourite fiction genres: comedy, community, crime. I enjoy all three equally, but I’m always delighted when I find new books where they overlap.
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Kim Jacobs believes that she is happily married, until her husband tells her he is leaving her. Forced to re-evaluate her life on the same day that her son leaves for university, Kim is shocked to find herself sleeping in the spare room of his college flat share.
Read MoreA Death in Custody is a crime novel providing an insider’s view of the operation of the legal system in relation to the deaths of prisoners in police custody, written by an author with experience in the Crown Prosecution Service.
Read MoreIn 2019 Thompson uncovered the true story of a forgotten Underground library, built along the tracks of Bethnal Green Tube tunnel during the Blitz. In her podcast she talks to international bestselling authors and some remarkable wartime women. This is her way of celebrating and documenting the remarkable stories she has found whilst researching her books.
Read MoreThe fifth in a series of witty, erudite suspense mysteries by the celebrated classic author, with an independent, smart heroine and an ending sure to surprise.
Read MoreA feel-good novel about a young woman finding the courage to step into her new community and make friends, with the help of some very cute otters - from the bestselling author of Away with the Penguins.
Read MoreDetective Matthew Venn returns in The Raging Storm, the next captivating novel in the Two Rivers series from Ann Cleeves, the number one bestselling author and creator of Vera and Shetland.
When Sarah Cassells, a young British woman who has just completed her training as a chef, hears of her father’s violent death on Ibiza, she refuses to believe it is suicide. She goes to Ibiza to investigate and becomes involved with an art dealer; with two beautiful jetsetters; with her brother’s strange predicament; with a remarkable American woman who is not all what she seems – and with Johnson Johnson, the mysterious portrait painter who shows up on his yacht, Dolly. As Ibiza prepares to celebrate Holy Week with the traditional processions, events become more and more macabre….
Read MoreRita, a small, tough Scottish makeup artist, is on Madeira trying to find out who killed Kim-Jim, an American makeup supremo. Anchored off the island is Dolly, the yacht of Johnson Johnson, with whom she teams up.
Read MoreJack Fogel always wanted to work in TV, not run the family business. He thought he'd escaped, until his father's heart attack saddled him with Fogel's Kosher Chickens.
Read MoreDark, moving and wry, The Funeral Cryer is both an illuminating depiction of a 'left behind' society and proof that it's never too late to change your life.
Read More‘Wahala’ is the Yoruba word for ‘trouble’. In May’s funny and perceptive debut novel, the trouble is created by a pushy outsider who intrudes herself into the lives of a tight-knit friendship group. Ronke, Simi and Boo have been friends ever since they met at university in Bristol…
Read MoreBrilliant Asha has created an algorithm that could change the nature of social media. Her charismatic husband Cyrus has the personality and charm which are essential to popularise her platform. Will their passionate marriage survive the stress of a tech startup?
Read MoreIt’s summer 1994, and three eighteen year old girls are working in a shirt factory in a country town. They’re waiting for the exam results and all they want is to earn some money while having as much fun as possible. But this is Northern Ireland, so there are obstacles to overcome before Maeve, Caroline and Aoife can head off into the big wide world.
Read More‘They kept each other in the dark. Only when the light got in did the Ghoramis start falling apart.’ Yasmin’s attempts to cast light on her family’s secrets is touching and funny.
Read MoreChemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, she would be the first to point out that there is no such thing. But it’s the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute take a very unscientific view of equality.
It looks as if the long-standing friendship of Ellen and Alexa is about to crumble and fall, taking with it Alexa and Ben’s promising love affair. There are lots of laughs while flatmate Jack tries to save the situation.
Read MoreBee is working all hours to build up her dressmaking business and Nick is freelancing as a literary editor. Both of them are lonely and open to a relationship, but through no fault of their own, unimaginable difficulties stand in the way of their love affair. Fortunately the nature of their problem allows plenty of scope for humour.
Read MoreThe Hanrahan clan gather to support famous artist and notorious egoist Ray, as he prepares for his first exhibition in decades. He is sure it will polish his reputation for good. But what will happen if his family make the changes necessary for their own happiness?
Read MoreWhen Dave wakes up in his own personal purgatory, he’s shocked to discover he’s dead. And worse – he was murdered.
Heaven doesn’t know who did it so with the help of two rogue angels, Dave must uncover the truth.
Read MoreHell has no fury like a woman dumped on Twitter. The pain suffered by Charlotte Goodwin after her celebrity boyfriend leaves her is intense. Not only does she have to cope with being abandoned by her lover, but she is jeered at by a Twitter group called the Hive. Meanwhile her rival is praised and envied. In her debut novel Scarlett Brade takes the reader inside the head of a woman at the centre of a perfect storm of resentment and humiliation. The resulting despair and anguish finds its outlet in premeditated murder.
Read MoreThe reader can learn a lot from Bonnie Garmus’ brilliant debut novel - and not only about chemistry. The story of Elizabeth Zott, scientist, tells us how ambitious women in America struggled to make their voices heard in the 1950s and 60s.
