Death at Fakenham Races - Ross Greenwood

45%

17.09.25

I'm not much of a Greenwood fan but how could I resist a story set in my oft-ignored home town? Unfortunately, the town didn't feature at all and so the very occasional mention of local businesses - plus the use of the actual names of many racecourse staff - were the only high points in this poorly written and deadly boring (ha!) police procedural, where there were more police officers than suspects.

Flint in the Bones - Eva St John

52%

06.08.25

I'm all for a story set in Norwich but there was too much time spent on (the admittedly intriguing) worldbuilding and not enough on plot, character development and continuity. There were, in fact, so many annoying continuity errors and unnecessary typos that I wondered if anyone, including the author, had actually read the book before (self)publishing it. 

Nowhere to Hide - Keri Beevis

 42%

10.07.24

From the Shari Lapena school of telling, not showing, this was a long, often grammatically dodgy synopsis with too many expositional flashbacks and not enough emotional development or psychological realism. I only read it because it was (partly) set in my local area, but it could have been anywhere.

Death on Cromer Beach - Ross Greenwood

 51%

26.03.24

This really put the procedure into police procedural. The author clearly did his research and wanted us to know it. If only he had put the thrill into thriller as well. Still, the local (to me) setting added a little something and my town, which is usually ignored, even got a dishonourable mention.

Darling - India Knight

 

54%

10.06.23

I've never read (or seen) The Pursuit of Love, of which this is apparently a modern interpretation, so I might have appreciated this more if I had. But, taking it at face-value, it's a colourful and, at times, amusing, tale of a rather self-absorbed and entitled family living in a strange version of North Norfolk I'm not familiar with. Nobody was particularly interesting and the last page was literally a 'WTF?' moment that seemed abrupt and entirely pointless (although I expect the original book ended in a similar way). Nice cover, though.

The Night Hawks - Elly Griffiths

 47%

18.09.21

Notable only for the clunky 'Beware! Covid's on its way' references and the hilariously inaccurate local driving times. But still I read this series.

The Lantern Men - Elly Griffiths

 56%

08.11.20

The 12th in the series and the template is set - including the very optimistic journey times between places that are actually quite far apart. But this one was slightly more sophisticated in its plotting, and it was an undemanding - and uncontroversial - read.

The Stone Circle - Elly Griffiths

56%
04.10.19

I know I've just read a not-very-good Griffiths novel but this was there waiting for me in the library. And actually it wasn't too bad - better than some of the more recent books in this series. Admittedly, that's hardly glowing praise but it was engaging enough (once I ignore the factually inaccurate local references). And the covers are great.

The Terrace - CJ Gilfillan

n/a
17.06.19

I won't give this a grade because 1) I know the author, Caroline, and 2) this is nominally set in a fictionalised version of my town. It's always fun to spot the local references but I'm not sure why the otherwise rather lovely cover shows Cley, which isn't mentioned at all.

The Chalk Pit - Elly Griffiths

49%
14.02.18

The ninth book in the series creaks under the weight of the characters' emotional baggage. Not a great deal happens, except in their heads - the actual crimes seem to be an afterthought. Readable enough, as always, but not a particularly thrilling thriller.

The Woman in Blue - Elly Griffiths

53%
20.03.17

I know I said this series is underwhelming but how could I resist one about a village 5 miles from me? Or an alternative-reality version of that village, anyway. As it happens, this one was a bit better than the previous couple, even if still more soap opera than thriller, and even if the murderer seems to have been picked at random (Christie-like) from the cast of characters.

A Siege of Bitterns - Steve Burrows

Didn't finish

Just admire the striking cover and don't bother opening the book. It's dull and confusing and the characters have no character but what really made me stop reading was the weird determination to capitalise types of bird. Seeing Crow and Bittern clog up the page is simply too distracting. I bet the copy editor and the author had strong words over that particular stylistic decision.

The Ghost Fields - Elly Griffiths

49%
11.01.17

The Ghost Story, more like, in the sense of it being hardly there. As this series goes on, it becomes more like a soap opera and less like a tightly plotted set of murder mysteries. There was only one candidate for the murder(s) this time, which killed the suspense, and even that took a back seat to the tedium of the characters' relationships. Disappointing.

The Outcast Dead - Elly Griffiths

53%
21.12.16

By this point in the series, you'd expect to feel some emotional investment in the characters but neither they nor the story are particularly memorable in this sixth book. But I'll keep reading the series purely for the local interest.

Merivel: A man of his time - Rose Tremain

66%
07.09.16

Tremain's books are always varied - if you don't like one, there's always another completely different story to try. But here, unusually, is a sequel. I read Restoration years ago - before I started my reviews, it seems - and remember little but it didn't matter much. Merivel is such a vivid character, strangely sympathetic despite - or because of - his many flaws, and doing the best he can with the times and means given to him. It's both a tragic and hopeful book - much like Restoration, actually.

After Me Comes the Flood - Sarah Perry

51%
30.09.15

Understated to the point of tedium. Did I not get it or was there simply nothing to get?

Death Wore White - Jim Kelly

48%
02.04.15

I should know by now that novels that are supposed to be set in my part of Norfolk are going to be geographically inaccurate but this was barely recognisable. It was therefore just another murder mystery hat I'll hardly remember in a few months, with rather a high body count and killer(s) with complicated and unlikely motive(s).

The Norfolk Mystery - Ian Sansom

48%
03.03.15

Monica in my reading group warned me that this was boring. I thought, how can it possibly be boring? It's about my local area! But she was right.

(Though it takes some audacity to start a series with each book set in a different English county. I wonder how far he'll get?)

The Chymical Wedding - Lindsay Clarke

64%
15.01.15

Written in the late 1980s, this seems old-fashioned in some ways - unashamedly intellectual and brazenly masculine. I can't pretend to have understood a lot of it, or to have empathised with any of the characters, who did very little over 500 pages. Nevertheless, many sections were utterly gripping - how did he do that?

The Hippopotamus - Stephen Fry

Didn't finish
25.11.14

Stephen Fry is good at lots of things, and is no doubt an interesting and entertaining chap, but this earlyish novel is slow, dull and generally unreadable. Even the lure of being set near my home couldn't hold me.