50 Books Challenge 2026 Part Eight

Read and liked it @Owlbookend

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie- MG Leonard has a whole series of children’s detective books set on trains including 2 set in the snow! (Danger at Dead Man’s Pass and The Arctic Railway Assasin). I didn’t manage to get through any but DS2 used to be very fond of them. I can’t think of many adult novels set on trains (other than the train journeys in Shute’s The Pied Piper & Trollope’s The Eustace Diamonds which are only short episodes in the story; and Richard Trevithick appearing in the later Poldark novels), which feels like I must be missing something given how much people love trains.

@ÚlldemoShúl- I enjoyed The Familiars (& agree that Fleetwood is quite a name). I have also been more aware of the history of witch trials after reading it (& have a history book to read on them), which is what a good historical novel should do (make you more interested in the actual history).

100 . Nucleus by Rory Clements - spy/detective story about Nazis infiltrating an atomic research lab in pre-War Cambridge. This is the second in the series and was readable, but not as good as its predecessor. Very pleased to make 100 though! Next challenge is to finish the 52 book challenge for the first time!

101 . Nemesis by Rory Clements - more WWII spying as the main character runs into an ex-student on a trip to France. Is this a coincidence or something more sinister. This wasn’t as good as its predecessors and featured an annoying marriage subplot, where a character’s attitudes feel too modern for the time the novel is set (she does get told off by her charlady & quite rightly so). This did however satisfy the nemesis prompt for the 52 book challenge 😊

That’s probably why @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie it’s an old one

Finished two more* *and DNFed two
The DNFs - The Fury of the Gods by John Gwynne loved the first part of this, second was a disappointment and a couple of hours (audio) into this third instalment I just realised that I didn’t care enough about the characters I’d liked in book 1 to outweigh the hours of POV chapters I’d have to listen to from the annoying characters from book 2 so I quit. I do find it difficult these days to find a fantasy series that lives up to book 1.
Whose Body by Dorothy L Sayers- this was a quick DNF- the kind of comedy writing I know lots of people enjoy, like PG Wodehouse, but sets my teeth on edge

The finished books
Grief is the Thing with Feathers by Max Porter
I read this short novella across two sittings. Told from 3 POVs- a bereaved widower, his little sons and a crow which has arrived to help them grieve. There’s lots of Ted Hughes/ crow related allusions here which I didn’t get but as a description of grief it was devastating. Bold. I now want to read some Ted Hughes at some stage and go back to it again afterwards.

The Familiars by Stacy Hall
Set around the Pendle witch trials. Fleetwood Shuttleworth (what a name!) fears she will die in childbirth after several miscarriages and finding a letter in her husband’s possession that suggests she won’t survive another pregnancy. The midwife she chooses is connected to the Pendle witches. This was a page turner. It’s not in any way life changing but it was highly entertaining.

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie how about Burial Rites Hannah Kent? Set in 19th century Iceland it centres on a woman condemned to death for murder - it isn't traditional crime though. I found it gripping and atmospheric. Snow features.
I did read another of hers that wasnt half as good (& had a high weirdness factor).

Thank you. I read the sample, but it wasn’t grabbing me.

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie how about Murder in the New Forest by Carol Cole.
Crime fiction, nothing religious or Irish. No trains but interesting setting in the New Forest which I'm not familiar with. Also horses.

@BestIsWest Your photograph reminds me that I have Snow Widows waiting, but it's a big hardback, so won't be joining me on the train!

The Yermakov Transfer is winning so far but more recs gladly appreciated. I'm reading a terrible Margery Allingham at the moment - keep forgetting who is who because one minute she uses their surname and the next their first name and I can't keep track of who they are and who is married to who (whom????).

Just remembered I gave up during the sample of Wild Dark Shore previously, as the writing style (present tense, v short snippets) wasn't working for me.

I can't find Charlotte Doyle on Kindle, @EineReiseDurchDieZeit . Maybe that's why I didn't get it before?

I've read The Nine Tailors but disliked it tbh. Not a fan of Ann C. I'll get samples of the other stuff - thank you.

Have you read The Nine Tailors by Dorothy L Sayers? I love it as a wintry book, and it’s crime. Not Irish, female or religious (apart from a charming bumbling vicar as a minor character)

No trains, though.

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie The Yermakov Transfer by Derek Lambert might fit the bill. Thriller set on the Trans Siberian Express. It's very old though.

Loving the polar photo. I’m off to Cambridge next week and looking forward to the polar museum.

Thanks for the recs, which I will check out. I’m pretty sure I’ve read all the relevant Agatha C.

4.50 From Paddington is the other Christie that sprung to mind but am sure you've read it. Death in The Clouds for a plane journey.

Have you tried Ann Cleeves for crime?

I don't know if you read Wild Dark Shore which was on the Women's Prize list? The plot gets a bit silly, but there is kind of a crime and the descriptions of living on an island near the Antarctic are pretty amazing.

And for a classic, which I didn't love but you might, Snow Country which starts wth a train journey in Japan into the snow.

Ditto

As to your journey. No trains it’s a boat and it’s children’s/ya. I’ve recommended it to you before but I don’t think you’ve picked me up on it The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle

There must be an Agatha Christie that ticks those boxes@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie (aside from Orient Express which obviously does).

I was in Hay-on-Wye this week and, thinking of you, took a photo of part the Polar section in Booths.
Bought myself a book on Old Drovers routes in mid-Wales.

Meanwhile, have finished The Summer Everything Changed - Siân O’Gorman, nice romance set in a cliff top hotel in Dublin and have begun the new Matthew Venn from Ann Cleeves.

Proving should be providing

I’ve read it! Quite liked it, but disliked the follow up iirc.

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie I read the first couple of sentences and was going to suggest Snow by John Banville - read on - scrap that idea 😁

I need a new book (or books) for a train journey.

Novel, rather than non-fiction
Ideally an autumn or winter setting
Something I haven’t read before
Crime good but would consider non-crime proving it’s not too Irish, too religious or too female
If it features a train journey, even better, but not a deal breaker
Something I won’t want to put down!

@Arran2024 💐 wishing your DH a speedy recovery.

Thank you. Have added The Crane Wife to my list.

Any Londoners, there's a book swap running at the Royal Festival Hall from 21-31 October as part of the London Literature Festival, which seems to be being run by Dua Lipa!

https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/london-literature-festival-book-swap/

Me too, and I may get around to rereading the rest of the series eventually. Only 4 books in total which I think was the right choice by the author.