The Unfinished Symphony Of You And Me

I can sum up this book in a sentence for you by saying that it is a perfect holiday read. Buy it now (only £1.99 on Kindle- what a bargain) and enjoy whilst lounging around in the sun (with a G&T if the sun is over the yard arm).

 I discovered Lucy Robinson's writing last year, when I laughed and laughed at A Passionate Love Affair With A Total Stanger (prior to that she wrote The Greatest Love Story Of All Time, which I haven't read yet). I think you can probably guess from the titles and jackets that they aren't high-brow reads, but they are very well-crafted indeed. They are essentially romances, so you can guess what the end-point of the plot is going to be, but they are definitely not formulaic, and there is plenty of humour and swearing along the way. 

I absolutely loved the backdrop to The Unfinished Symphony Of You And Me. It is set in the world of operatic music, and Sally the heroine is a wonderful but untrained singer (within the confines of her wardrobe). There is reference to Alfie Boe (bonus point from me for that one) and a cast of brilliantly eclectic characters. I found Jan Borsos, the Hungarian student who had walked across Europe Mister Magnolia-style with only one shoe, completely hilarious, and ex-boyfriend Julian was really quite delicious. The story isn't all a laugh a minute, there is a terribly sad story in Sally's past, and for a little while I wasn't sure that the ending that I had predicted was going to be the case at all. I ended up doing my usual trick of staying up until midnight with my eyes propped open to enjoy the last third of the book in one go, and it was just brilliant. 

Funny, heart-warming and mentioning both Alfie Boe and Les Mis. That's pretty much all the boxes ticked as far as I am concerned- a great read!

*****

Three more to try

 Jojo Moyes is brilliant; I think we all know that. The One Plus One is her most recent book, and has believable characters, warmth, sadness and humour. I loved it.

I am a bit obsessed by You Had Me At Hello . I recommend it to everyone, and it's still only 99p on Kindle. You'd be BONKERS not to own it at that price. Think of One Day, but funny and with characters that you care about. It's perfect.

Vince & Joy are my favourite Lisa Jewell couple, I love them. This is an oldie but a real goodie.

The Strange Fate Of Kitty Easton

After my last read, I needed to choose something from my virtual bookshelf that I was fairly certain to enjoy, and this was just the ticket. The Strange Fate Of Kitty Easton is the sequel to The Return Of Captain John Emmett , in which we are introduced to former infantry officer Laurence Bartram, who is called upon to solve the mystery of a man's death in the aftermath of WW1. I read the first book at the end of last year and enjoyed it, and was looking forward to picking up the story of the main character again.

The Strange Fate Of Kitty Easton takes place in 1924, four years after the first book, and once again Laurence Bartram becomes embroiled in mysteries- this time linked to the estate that he is invited to visit. There are puzzles galore, all connected to the Easton family, who have seen a series of tragedies in their lives. Elizabeth Speller's writing is definitely not fast-paced, and with both books I found that it took me a little while to adjust myself to the pace of the story. The Easton family mysteries are interesting, and cleverly interlinked, but what I enjoyed most about the book was the historical setting of the story, with the aftermath of WW1 still clearly so affecting in a variety of ways. I am fascinated by this period of history and yet only know a very limited amount about it, so I really welcomed  reading a fictional account of a visit to the Empire Exhibition, and considering the impact of whole villages enlisting for regiments together. Laurence Bartram is a really interesting character with his own demons to battle, and these are beautifully woven into the story too. 

I really hope that there will be more Laurence Bartram stories, because they are so well-crafted and a delight to read.

*****

Three more to try

The true story of the disappearance of Saville Kent is cleverly referenced in The Strange Fate of Kitty Easton and is a fascinating read. 

I confess, I haven't read Wake by Anna Hope yet, but I have heard brilliant reviews of it, and have just added it to my wish-list. It focuses on the same era as Kitty Easton, and bears similarity in its take on the impact of the Great War on life afterwards.

Very different in style and mood to the other books mentioned here, but still set in the aftermath of the Great War, the Daisy Dalrymple mystery series sees the heroine and amateur sleuth stumble across a huge number of murders. Murder on the Flying Scotsman is the fourth in the series, and I think, the best of those that I have read so far. The impact of the war on Daisy's life is often mentioned, despite the light-hearted nature of many of the stories, so it isn't an entirely frivolous choice on my part.

As ever, please let me know your thoughts, or if you have read any other books in a similar vein that you would recommend. I am racing through my current read, so I'll be back again soon!

The Beauty of Murder

I've been rather useless at blogging of late it seems- we had a busy half-term, but I also got a bit caught up on this, my latest read, for what seemed like weeks, and I still can't decide what I thought of it.

The Beauty of Murder is A.K. Benedict's debut novel, and it is a clever and ambitious story. It was a Kindle Deal of the Day when I bought it, and a synopsis describing a complex murder mystery set within Cambridge is always going to get me One-Clicking. The main character has just arrived in the city as a lecturer at the fictitious Sepulchre College, finds the body of a young woman in the grounds of Great St Mary's Church, and so the mystery begins. The book takes place in more than one time-frame (I won't spoil it by saying more than this), and there is reference to the draining of the Fens around Ely in the 17th Century, which I found quite interesting (I'm a bit of a geek and we visited Ely last weekend and went out on the river, so that might just be me though). 

I liked the book, but I didn't love it. I found pretty much all the characters other than mysterious older lady Iris unlikeable (there was potential for me to warm towards the female DI though, if she appeared in future books), and I'm not really very good with philosophy- I glaze over a bit, so I struggled with some minor elements of the story. I did really enjoy the setting, the atmosphere and the overall concept of the story though, and I would look of for future work by the author.

*****

Three more to try

Alison Bruce is the Queen of Cambridge crime writing in my opinion, and The Backs is the latest in her excellent DC Gary Goodhew series.

Kitty Peck is one of my absolute favourite heroines, and I am anxiously awaiting the sequel to this gruesomely gripping tale. I loved this book.

A far more gentile third choice- the Sidney Chambers stories are set in beautiful Grantchester (and occasionally Cambridge city) and are both quirky and easy to read. An ITV series (starring Robson Green) should be on our screens at some point in the next year, but for the meantime, this is the first book in the series (Mysteries 2 and 3 are also available now).

I'll be back again soon I hope! If you've read The Beauty of Murder, let me know what you thought of it please!