A nice pile of books this week and also a few from the library to read. People are always surprised when they discover I go to the library and borrow books. 'But surely you have enough at home?' You can never have too many books is my response to that.
So here is what I am ploughing through at the mo:
The End of Andrew Harrison – Freeman Wills Croft. I have been reading all the books I can lay my hands on by this author, one of the most famous writers of the Golden Age of Crime, but I am now nearing the end of the list. A good friend loaned me her collection of some twenty titles, I had some reprints from the British Library, a few from the Online Digital Library and others I have picked up on Amazon and eBay. There are a few that are very difficult to find 
and very expensive and so I suggested one of these titles to the BL for their Classic Crime series and they may reissue that one. Which would be wonderful.
I purchased this one through Amazon, not too expensive, but at the top range of what I would pay and I read it over the weekend. Andrew Harrison, a millionaire, vanishes on a business trip. There had been rumours about his stock and the price started falling rapidly when it was thought he had done a runner. He turned up a few days later explaining he had been away for a few days on a friend's yacht and out of reach of everyone and all contact. The stocks immediately began to rise and it was suspected that this may have been a scheme to deflate the price so he could buy everything he could lay his hands on and make a killing. Difficult to prove but then a few weeks later he is found dead in a locked cabin on his river cruiser. At first it looks like suicide, but as Any Fool Kno this is not so and Inspector French is called in.
I am going to write about Crofts and Inspector French in another post some time as I find his books so compelling in their detail and intricacy and this one was no exception.
Gallows Court – Martin Edwards. Martin is a crime writer but I do not think he will mind me saying that over the last few years his expertise on the Golden Age of Crime has been more to the fore that his writing. He is the editor of the Classic Crime series and the author of two wonderful books on the same which I highly recommend.
This is a new series (his previous ones included the Lake District murders) and features that character so beloved in crime fiction – the amateur detective. In this case it is Rachel Savernake, the 'enigmatic daughter of a hanging judge'. I have just picked this one up today and will comment further when read.
I also have the latest Isabel Dalhousie book by Alexander McCall Smith – the Quiet side of Passion. I found this in the library and I had totally missed its publication. I will buy it even though I have this copy to read as I love these books and have the entire series on my shelves and, at some stage, intend to read them. They are gentle, philosophical books set in Edinburgh where Isabel, who edits a Journal of Philosophy, lives with her husband and son and who becomes involved in solving problems for her friends and colleagues. They are not bloody murders or fraud or violent, but seemingly every day happenings that are causing disquiet. I love these books and am looking forward to reading this one.
Two children's books by Noel Streatfield -Apple Bough and Caldicott Place. Recently reissued and I have never read these. I worked my way through Ballet Shoes, White Boots et al when I was younger but these two passed me by so I am rather keen to read them,
And the new Inspector Montalbano – Death at Sea by Camilleri. How I love these books and how they make me laugh and how I love every single member of the Vigata Police. Camilleri was interviewed a few years ago and he says he has about ten books waiting to be published – he wrote them and stored them in case he gets senile and cannot write any more which I thought was a very sensible and practical thing to do! He is in his eighties now so I am very pleased that there are plenty more to come. They will stop at some stage but not yet, not yet…
The Moscow Sleepers – Stella Rimington. I have just finished this today and enjoyed it very much. This series features Lilz Carlyle head of MI5 and has a permanent cast of characters and events running through each novel. though they can be read separately I do think it is best that they are read in order. This latest one has settings in Suffolk and Essex, all of which are known to me, so it helps set the scene. When two characters are driving along the A12 I instantly feel empathy!
A link turns up between a missing teenager left behind on a cultural visit, a slightly creepy school in Suffolk and a Russian sleeper in Brussels and it seems that refugees are being cherry picked for their computer ability and used as an army of hackers. All very up to date. There were lots of twists and turns and references back to a previous couple of novels (see what I mean about reading them in order) and I had to really concentrate to understand the ins and outs. I am not sure I enjoyed it as much as previous titles, felt a tad rushed to me and seemed to act as setting a stage for the next book. But still hugely enjoyable.
Among the pile were two lovely editions from the Oxford University Press – A Christmas Carol in an elegant Christmas red binding with the orginal illustrations and, as a huge Dickens fan, this was received with great pleasure. I read this every Christmas Eve and use a different edition each time (I have five). This will the one for Christmas 2018.
Victorian fairy tales from the same source also looks intriguing and more of this anon.
A goodly collection and, once again, I am grateful to authors and publishers for sending me such largess. I have been blogging for 11 years now and the thrill of a new book arriving never wears off.
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