The Unseen Sister - Andy Maslen

 52%

12.08.24

Disappointingly, after a strong opening to the series, this was confusing, impossible to work out the murderer and, surprisingly, not particularly well written. And it's lucky that nobody ever finds out the main character's coincidental links with the cases.

(I often wonder, with police procedurals, how people know what to call the investigator: "Oh, Acting Detective Superintendent Officer, do have a cup of tea.")

The Seventh Girl - Andy Maslen

 63%

14.07.24

I met Andy a couple of times when he was a highly paid and highly visible copywriter teaching others how to be as rich and famous as him. Then he decided to be even richer and famouser as an author and, of course, his boundless confidence paid off. And, perhaps not surprisingly given his background, it was really rather good - well written, well paced and with reasonably strong characters. It still plodded (ha!) at times as police procedurals do, but it was skilfully executed.

The Essex Serpent - Sarah Perry

70%
22.06.20

I'd been putting off reading this, partly because I wasn't all that keen on Perry's previous book, After Me Comes the Flood. But this was very different - rich and complex in all sorts of ways, with unusually detailed characterisation and an unusually modern take on Victorian Britain. I even liked the way it didn't wrap everything up neatly at the end (spoiler!).

Strange Sight - Syd Moore

59%
03.04.20

I grabbed this off the shelf just before the library closed down - the fabulous cover and quirky premise caught my eye. It turned out to be the second in a series but that didn't matter much. It was simply a fun read, if a little creaky in places.