Uncategorised | Blog | Book reviews | Books | Crime fiction | Writing
Enthralling trio of tricky tales
Dire and deadly start for plush Dorset coast resort
Blog | Book reviews | Books | Crime fiction
Baby-snatch thriller adds riddle of which author wrote which part
Two puzzles for the price of one As if one superbly twisted plot was not enough, two top crime writers have united to leave readers puzzling over who wrote what. Author credits for The Wrong Child are highlighted on the cover as MJ Arlidge and Julia Crouch. Both have long been famed as being among…
Blog | Book reviews | Books | Crime fiction | Writing
Thrills remain though we know who dunnit
The prime joy of reading crime fiction is puzzling out “who dunnit”. Yet here’s a thriller in which we know who the guilty parties are almost from the get go. And yet we are still happy to go along for the ride. Wondering where this horror journey can possibly end – and how many victims…
Tabloid scandals ready-made for a modern Becky Sharp
The tabloid scandals of the UK’s recent history are prime fodder for the eponymous heroine of Becky. The chronicles of this razor-sharp young woman provide a lively modern version of Thackeray’s Vanity Fair. They offer a sparkling antidote to the millions of words spilled by these seedy events. Their framework is clearly based on those…
Uncategorised | Blog | Book reviews | Books | Writing
Chemistry provides formula for joy
A recent trip into the chemistry lab surprised and delighted with the discovery that it held a formula for joy. It produced the recipe (pictured left) for sheer undiluted pleasure, as well as moments of laugh-out-loud comic interludes. Thankfully there was no need this time for the white coat and protective goggles demanded by Health…
Blog | Commentary | Modern life | Technology | Uncategorised
LinkedIn or lost out?
Somewhere along the way I seem to have lost out on the many advantages LinkedIn claims to offer. Several years of membership and I am none the wiser. It’s like being admitted to one of those exclusive London clubs and being allowed to enter no further that the lobby. Am I wearing the wrong tie?…
Crime so cosy that it makes an excellent nightcap
There has always been a leisurely air about Guido Brunetti’s approach to crime. In Give Unto Others his creator dips him even deeper into the realm of the soporfic. Better than a warming cup of camomile tea. More digestible than a tab or two of valerian. It’s dreamtime in Venice. Give Unto Others documents the…
Deep in the forest a page turner lures its readers in
What makes a good page turner? Anyone seeking the answer needs only to devour the final fifty or so pages of Bad Apples. Allow yourself to be drawn in – which is a hands down certainty in itself – and you will be turning pages with increasing rapidity, helpless to resist. Desperate to know the…
Fading air fryer fervour sends gadget to the cooling rack
CAN’T help wondering how many of the doubtless thousands of air fryers bought in the Christmas shopping madness will end up discarded, re-gifted or otherwise dumped. This must surely be the most useless bit of kitchen gadgetry ever. Over-publicised, over-promoted and oversold it is destined for the dump once reality bites. As commented on here…
Blog | Commentary | Food and drink | Lifestyle | Modern life
Frying the air is no way to cook
Kitchen gadgets come and go. Yet so few stay with us unless stored well out of sight and accessibility. There is a damned good reason for this; cooking is a sensory art. A touchy feely joy; the fondling foreplay before the final act of love – presenting your creation. It can be as simple or…