hello again, it's been ages since I updated - and I'm so jealous of all of you with long lists post holiday, small children and pool meant I didn't actually get to read much! Updates since last time:
36. And Then There Were None - Agatha Christie - one of her 'stand alone' books and rather darker than her normal. A group of people are invited to an isolated island for a variety of reasons (thinking it's a house party, that they are employed by the owner, that it's a new hotel they have been invted to stay in etc). Each has a secret, and is accused of killing someone in the past and getting away with it via a recording on a gramaphone record. One by one they are murdered. It's clear there's no one else on the island, so the murder must be one of them. One of her better ones.
37. The Wood Cutter - Reginald Hill - bought on a recommendation on here. A man returns to a small northumberland commuity after being released from prision for abusing children. Panic amongst people who knew him in his past life. Good mystery book.
38. Lion - Saroo Brierley - the true story that inspired the film. A small boy in India is playing on the trains with his older brother and accidentally ends up crossing the country. Alone living on the streets, he's taken into an orphanage and then adopted by an Australian couple. This follows his memories of his childhood in India and his search for his birth family. Very moving.
39. Oscar Wilde and the Candlelight Murders - Giles Brandreth - another recommendation on here - very very silly and whimsical murder mystery story, with Oscar Wilde as the investigator. Light and fluffy.
40. To Play The King - Michael Dobbs - 2nd in the House of Cards trilogy. The now PM Urquhart is faced with a popular new King (not specified as Charles but clearly supposed to be), and plots to undermine him. However, various enemies the new PM has made getting to No. 10 are also plotting against him.
41.Revelation - C. J. Sansom - the 4th Shardlake story. Set when Henry VIII was between wives 5 & 6, someone is murdering people in a way that corresponds with parts of the book of Revelation. Our hunchback lawyer investigates. It's a well written mystery story in an interesting period. Thank you to whoever first recommended this series - I really need to make notes of who told me to read various books!
42. In the Blood - Steve Robinson - an American geneologist is trying to trace a family tree of a rich client's wife and comes to England to investigate what happened to part of the family who where loyal to the Crown and so returned to England after the war of independence.
CRAP BOOK RANT ALERT The premise of this book is complete bobbins. He comes to England to 'solve the mystery' of all but the head of the family seeming to survive the 8 week crossing back, with no death records. It states that if people died at sea in those days they were usually thrown overboard, but is flumoxed at the idea that the wife and all 3 DCs all could possibly die at sea in that period - surely it was perfectly normal with close quarters and no medical help on board for disease to spread through a family and the idea that only one family member (the healthy man) would survive wasnt' such a hard thing to believe? Plus that after the (frankly rediculous) family secrets sitting unnoticed for over 200 years, it was stretching the imagination that at the same time he was investigating this family, so was several others. Thats before the rediculous behaviour of an overweight geneologist deciding to be an action hero rather than just act like a normal person and tell the police when things get a bit messy. (and the police just accept his word for who he is and let him lead them, rather than treating him like a suspect as any self respecting police officer would do.) I only finished it as I was stuck at my parents house for a few days without alternative reading material. Don't bother.
43. Rotherweird - Andrew Caldecott - A fantasy novel. Rotherweird is an isolated town in an valley that has been independent since Elizabeth I's time. No police, no MP, no Bishop, their own currency, traditions and rules. There are strict rules against studying the town's history and no history before 1800 can be taught in the school. The town boasts an usually intelligent population. Not sure how I can explain the story without givnig away spoilers, but a good read, can't wait for the next in the series to be published!