50 Books Challenge 2025 Part Three

No, those are a different series again, are based around a stage magician from the forties. The Harbinder Kaur ones are set on the South coast to begin but I don’t think it’s Brighton.

Also, a lovely cosy series that this thread got me into a few years ago is Hazel Holt’s Mrs Mallory.

Oh no @SheilaFentiman, you've got me bang to rights guv'nor and no mistake!

I did not, in fact, read The Secret Garden last year. I actually read Tom's Midnight Garden and it was in 2020!!!!!!! So now I'd better read The Secret Garden.

I definitely did read Annie Bot though, I didn't make that up.

While I've always loved books, some years I have read non-stop, nothing particularly cultured, or I have read only a handful.

Joining this thread has inspired me and I have read more in 2 months than I have done for the previous 2-3 years combined. I am also albeit tentatively trying different genres. Wandering around Waterstones yesterday did nothing to help with deciding what to read next as I wanted a pile of at least thirty books so came out without any at all. I just simply couldn't choose 1.

I felt it best to come on here instead.

@LuckyMauveReader

I joined the thread 5 years ago to get me out of a slump where I hadn't read a book in 2 years it's certainly worked!

@EineReiseDurchDieZeit Unfortunately, I lost my love of reading as a teen until my mid to late twenties. I have a great deal of catching up to do.

Maeve Kerrigan's books look appealing with some interesting storylines. Thanks for the suggestion.

Looking through the list of Elly Griffith books, it appears that I have only read a few and not in the correct order, so I will revisit them also.

@Tarragon123

Are they the Brighton ones

Posted too soon yes I read the Patricia Cornwell books as a teenager they go off the boil in the end, get very silly.

@LuckyMauveReader

Have you done Maeve Kerrigan?

Today I have started to read The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths. I got through a couple of chapters and realised I have read this series.

Does anyone have any suggestions on similar books please?

Due to being mentioned on here, I have been looking through the Booker Prize winners and there are a number I wish to pick up.

@EineReiseDurchDieZeit The Patricia Cornwell books are good. They're about Kay Scarpetta who is a medical examiner. While she is responsible for conducting the autopsies, she works alongside the police to uncover the back stories of some of the people who end up on her table.

I found these fascinating and had many enjoyable breaks at work or quiet afternoons with a bottle of plonk reading them.

I had a couple left and was waiting for them to become available in the library and forgot all about them. All these years later, I have found out that Cornwell continued writing, and there are so many more books for me to read 😁

@Tarragon123 Things may remain rather enigmatic in that direction. It’s a mystery, wrapped inside an enigma, wrapped inside one of Lamb’s discarded takeaway boxes, and covered in secrecy, lies, damned lies and the subtle aftermath of one of Lamb’s farts.

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie – yes! I’m still not over the death of a certain someone from book 6. I read that the tv adaptations are running books 6 and 7 together. I wonder if they will change any of the deaths? I feel that we are almost in Game of Thrones territory lol. I’m pleased to hear that one of the dreadful ones has some comeuppance!

@highlandcoo – excellent! I attended a book event last year where both Lynne McEwan and Marion Todd appeared together. Both seemed as lovely as Elly Griffiths.

Marion Todd’s DI Clare Mackay are set in St Andrews. You probably don’t need anymore encouragement lol. @EineReiseDurchDieZeit – you’ve already had Lynne McEwan recommended, I’d add Marion Todd too. Also, I cant remember if you have read Elly Griffith’s Harbinder Kaur books? Only 4 or 5 of them. I prefer Harbinder to Ruth.

I haven't @ChessieFL thanks!

I have read the Kate Atkinsons (except the new one)

Noooo

I'm very very new to the Crime Series Genre so far only Maeve Kerrigan and Ruth Galloway

Eine have you read Tim Weaver’s David Raker series? Bit different as he’s a missing person investigator rather than a detective but I really like them.

Bad Actors by Mick Herron

I thought this was great. Boris Johnson and Dominic Cummings appear as very thinly disguised caricatures and one of them has something enjoyable happen to him (by enjoyable, I mean enjoyable for any reader who thinks the pair of them should be hung up by a sensitive part of their respectively revolting anatomies for a long and painful time).

There’s a fabulous scene with Shirley and an unexpected hero.

I’ve fallen a bit in love with Lech. This worries me because it probably means he’s going to die horribly at some point.

I’m guessing you’ve read Vera and Shetland @EineReiseDurchDieZeit and Jackson Brodie..

It starts in India and there's a cholera epidemic that kills her parents.

Oh @EineReiseDurchDieZeit I forgot to say William Shaw’s Alexandra Cupidi novels too- I’ve been enjoying those ones recently.

Heads up that the Simon Mason is 99p and the Lynn Mcewan was 1.99

Wow thanks @SheilaFentiman @ÚlldemoShúl

Looks like I'm breaking the buying ban! I did well, two months!

1. @EineReiseDurchDieZeit have you read wee Shon/a books, as recommended to me on here? First one: In Dark Water - Lynn McEwan

I forgot to add Summer Will Show by Sylvia Townsend Warner. I loved Lolly Willowes and with high hopes borrowed this from a friend. Hopes were sadly dashed. After the death of her 2 children, landed gentry Sophia follows her husband to his mistress in France with the intention of conceiving a replacement child, but instead embarks on a lesbian relationship with the aforementioned mistress. This all takes place against the backdrop of the 1848 Revolution and Sophia is duly radicalised. Add in the unnecessarily cruel treatment of her mixed race ward and anti-semitic tropes (I appreciate this was not unusual for the time when this was written) and I'm afraid I found this a disjointed bore which showed little of the wit and sparkling prose found in Lolly Willowes. I fear it may also have shaken me out of my slight crush on STW.

@EineReiseDurchDieZeit Don’t forget the Ryan Wilkins books that have been talked about a lot on here. The author is Simon Mason and the first one is A Killing in November. I’ve only read the first 2 (of four so far) and really enjoyed them.
Other Irish ones to think about (anlong with inaptonym’s excellent recommendations) are Brian McGilloway’s Ben Devlin books, first one is Borderlands set along the border between the north and south. Adrian McKinty’s Sean Duffy books are popular too- set in the 80s the anti-hero is a Catholic RUC officer in Belfast. The first one is The Cold Cold Ground- I think these ones are a bit love or hate so worth waiting for an offer or trying the library. Maybe try Dervla McTiernan too- set in Galway- police procedurals. I think the first one is The Ruin but there’s only 2 or 3 of these before she got a new agent and went all twisty thrillery instead of police procedural.