For weeks now, my reading has been taking second place to Things That Must Be Done. I’m hoping that’s over now. I’d like to spend the rest of the summer being able to read whenever I feel like it. Last week was a very mixed reading week. I set three books aside but managed to finish four others. I continue to find new books that call to me. All I need now is the time to pay them the attention they deserve.
Anyway, here’s what’s been happening this week and what’s up next.
This was a genre reading week. I read a classic Space Opera, a contemporary spy novel, a newly released Urban Fantasy, three crime novels and a colection of horror short stories. Not everything went to plan. I set the urban fantasy and two of the crime novels aside. The rest of the books kept me entertained and helped me relax. One of them even got me hooked on a new series,
MOVE FAST. STAY DARK.
These are the instructions sent to new operative Emma Makepeace.
She’s been assigned to track down a man wanted by the Russians and bring him into MI5.
It should be easy. But the Russians have eyes everywhere.
Emma knows that if spotted she and her target will be killed.
What follows is a perilous chase through London’s night-time streets.
But in a city full of cameras, where can you hide?
We listened to ‘The Chase‘(2023) on a couple of long drives. It provided a welcome distraction.
The all-night-long chase across London with Emma Makepeace trying to keep her charge safe from Russian kill teams was dramatic and exhausting. If the story had only been about the chase, it might have been a sort of female version of a John Wick movie – all action and no character development. Ava Glass avoided this by intercutting the action with scenes from Emma’s past that explained why and how she became a spy, gave context on why she was selected for this perilous assignment and why she wasn’t getting any support carrying it out.
This was entertaining in an action movie way but, like the action movies, it required a significant effort to suspend disbelief. Much was made of how heavily surveilled central London is but no mention was made of the many Armed Response Units the Met has in place. I struggled to believe in a scenario in which the police made no response to men firing shots from Range Rovers speeding along the banks of the Thames in the middle of the night.
BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR
Take a trip to a terrifying carnival and uncover the secrets within, solve a mysterious puzzle box and await your reward, join a travelling circus and witness the strangest ventriloquist act you’ve ever seen.
In this follow-up to the bestselling Cursed: An Anthology, you’ll unearth curses old and new. From a very different take on Snow White, to a new interpretation of The Red Shoes, the best in fantasy spin straw into gold, and invite you into the labyrinth.
Just don’t forget to leave your trail of breadcrumbs…
Featuring stories from: Joanne Harris Neil Gaiman Joe Hill Sarah Pinborough Angela Slatter M. R. Carey Christina Henry A. C. Wise Laura Purcell Katherine Arden Adam L. G. Nevill Mark Chadbourn Helen Grant Kelley Armstrong A. K. Benedict L. L. McKinney
‘Twice Cursed’ (2023) is a collection of sixteen stories about curses, the cursed and curse casters, told in a wide variety of styles. Some of the best revisit fairytales, showing them for the nightmare warnings they were before they were sanitised and made child-safe. A few are in classic horror locations: a carnival, a circus, a Music Hall theatre, where the line between illusion and magic can be crossed unnoticed.
Five of the stories stood out for me: Neil Gaiman’s take on Snow White from the (allegedly) evil queen’s point of view; Angela Slatter’s travelling circus with a covert agenda. Mark Chadbourn’s reflection on the hate and rage needed to sustain a curse; Joe Hill’s story of drunken teenagers dooming themselves at a carousel that is more than it seems to be and A. C. Wise’s blood-soaked take on the Red Shoes and the women who wear them.
My review, inluding comments on each story, is HERE
In the sequel to Pride of Chanur, Tully returns, and brings with him a priceless trade contract with human space – a contract that could mean vast power, riches, and a mess of trouble for Pyanfar Chanur.
I read this series in the 1980s. I re-read the first book, ‘The Pride Of Chanur‘ (1982) last year and enjoyed it enough that I decided to re-read the rest of the series. The second book, ‘Chanur’s Venture’ (1984) is a fast-paced, conflict-filled, action-packed Space Opera that continues following Pyanfar Chanur and the crew of her ship, who once again find themselves blindsided at the centre of a complex struggle between competing alien races.
It was good fun. This time around, my favourite part was watching Pyanfar, who comes from a big cat species where the females are dominant, trying to convince her husband that, contrary to societal norms on their home planet, males don’t have to be emotionally unstable and are not biologically incapable of being functioning members a ship’s crew.
I knew that there would be a semi-cliffhanger ending. At least this time, the next book is already available.
There will be no pussy-footing around. Not when Kit McCafferty is involved.
When Kit rescues a wealthy witch from the treacherous, monster-filled waters of the River Tweed, she reckons she’s completed her fair share of good deeds for the day. But when a second anonymous body is pulled from the same river, Kit is dragged into a mystery as murky as the water itself. The corpse has no identification, no personal possessions and no one who cares. Kit is determined to change that.
At least Thane Barrow, the copper-haired werewolf who sees the world in a similar way to Kit, is happy to also get involved. Together, they navigate Coldstream’s magical streets and mysterious secrets, determined to uncover the truth about John Doe. Alas, it soon becomes clear that his death was no accident. Kit finds herself investigating a complex crime with more than one victim. She will have her claws full if she’s going to get to the bottom of what’s happened.
One thing is for certain—when death threatens, Kit McCafferty doesn’t back down. She pounces.
I liked ‘Waifs And Strays‘ (2025), the first of The Cat Lady Chronicles series, so much that I preordered the second book. I’d been looking forward to it. I set it aside at 30% because I was bored. I’d wanted something with more tension, something where Kit had more at stake and where her background as an assassin mattered more. This book read more like a comedy than a thriller and the humour didn’t work for me.
For Maddog, the killer who had Minneapolis in a grip of chilled terror, satisfaction came from the thrill of the contest. After each grisly murder he would leave behind one of the rules he had devised: Never kill anyone you know. Never have a motive. Never follow a discernible pattern. He was no textbook psychopath. But Lieutenant Lucas Davenport was no ordinary detective. To bring an end to Maddog’s trail of death, he would have to play by his own rules.
This was violent, misgynisitc, voyeuristic macho crap.
I set it aside at 35% and withed I hadn’t waded through that much of this toxic waste before making that decision.
My review is HERE
New to the RCMP’s Major Crimes Unit, Corporal Roxanne Calloway is keen to make her mark. She’s young and ambitious. But when she’s called from the big city to tiny Cullen Village to lead the investigation into the death of the talented but devious star of the local music scene—discovered frozen and dismembered at the local dump—she finds much to contend with. The close-knit community does not give up its secrets willingly. Barely has she begun her investigation when another very dead, very frozen body disturbs the rural peace.
In the summer Cullen Village is filled with cottagers and day-trippers who flock to the lakeshore’s tranquil beaches. But when the temperatures drop the tourists disappear and the year-round residents settle in for months of bitter cold. The local book club likes to cozy up with good food and good friends—and, of course, good books.
This Canadian crime series came to my attention because Wanda, a fellow book blogger, reviewed the second book in the series ‘And Then Is Heard No More‘ as part of her ‘Murder Across Canada’ summer reading project. I started with the first book, ‘And We Shall Have Snow‘, which follows Corporal Roxanne Calloway leading her first investigation for the RCMP Major Crimes Unit. She is sent, in the depths of winter, to investigate the discovery of a dismembered body in a small rural town in Manitoba.
I loved that this wasn’t a conventional police procedural. It was as much about the community in which the murder was committed as it was about the RCMP Corporal investigating the crime. The book had a very distinctive flavour, delicate without being weak – like white tea. The plot was relatively uncomplicated and the pace of the investigation was realistically slow, which left a lot of room for developing the characters and the small town setting, both of which seemed very vivid to me. Most of the important characters were women who knew one another well. The way they interacted felt real to me. I liked that Roxanne Calloway wasn’t the dominant character in the book. She was interesting and credible but she wasn’t the focus of the story.
When the body of a man is found crucified at the top of Mount Judd, DCS Kat Frank and AIDE Lock – the world’s first AI detective – are thrust into the spotlight with their first live case.
But when they discover another man dead – also crucified – it appears that the killer is only just getting started. When the Future Policing Unit issues an extraordinary warning to local men to avoid drinking in pubs, being out alone late at night and going home with strangers, they face a hostile media frenzy. Whilst they desperately search for connections between the victims, time is running out for them to join the dots and prevent another death.
And if Kat and Lock know anything, it’s that killers rarely stop – until they are made t
I enjoyed ‘In The Blink Of An Eye’, the first book in this series about an English DCI teamed with an experimental AI. I reluctantly set the second book, ‘Leave No Trace’, aside at 56% because the use of AI to catch a serial killer was too improbable and because the pacing sagged. I won’t be continuing with this series.
My review is HERE
I’ve added a diverse set of books this week. A mainstream Irish novel set in present day Belfast, a Space Opera, the first book in a Canadian Crime series that started in 1990 and a speculative fiction short story collection.
Meet Frankie, Miriam and Bronagh: three very different women from Belfast, but all mothers to eighteen-year-old boys.
Gorgeous Frankie, now married to a wealthy, older man, grew up in care. Miriam has recently lost her beloved husband Kahlil in ambiguous circumstances. Bronagh, the CEO of a children’s services charity, loves celebrity and prestige. When their sons are accused of sexually assaulting a friend, Misty Johnston, they’ll come together to protect their children, leveraging all the powers they possess. But on her side, Misty has the formidable matriarch, Nan D, and her father, taxi-driver Boogie: an alliance not so easily dismissed.
Brutal, tender and rigorously intelligent, The Benefactors is a daring, multi-voice presentation of modern-day Northern Ireland. It is also very funny..
‘The Benefactors’ (2025) is a debut mainstream novel that has attracted a lot of attention. It was a bestseller in Ireland as soon as it was released. From what I’ve read, it sounds ambitious but accessible. I’m looking forward to listening to the audiobook.
When the kif seize Hilfy and Tully, Pyanfar and her shipmates enter into a simple rescue attempt. It soon becomes a deadly game of interstellar politics.
When I first bought this book in the 1980s, I had to order it as an import from the US. I remember that the bookseller ordering for me was a bit sniffy about it. I got the impression they thought the book too trashy to be imported. Which just goes to show that not everyone recognises classic Space Opera when they see it. I released my physical copy into the wild a while ago because the print was too small for me to read. Now I’m all set to listen to Dina Pearlman read it to me.
Andy Boychuk is a successful Saskatchewan politician – until one sweltering August afternoon when the party faithful gather at a picnic. All of the key people in Boychuk’s life – family, friends, enemies – are there. Boychuk steps up to the podium to make a speech, takes a sip of water, and drops dead.
Joanne Kilbourn, in her début as Canada’s leading amateur sleuth, is soon on the case, delving into Boychuk’s history. What she finds are a Bible college that’s too good to be true, a woman with a horrifying and secret past, and a murderer who’s about to strike again.
‘Deadly Appearances‘ (1990) is another book that came to my attention via Wanda’s review as part of her ‘Murder Acros Canada’ summer reading project. I’m hoping it will give me another series to follow.
‘Ladies and Gentlemen: I give you the Kissing Booth Girl! Lips that beguile. Oh, I promise, the nearest thing to nuzzling an angel can be yours – today – for a shiny round seated liberty I know you carry in your very pockets as I speak.” But to mechanically-inclined Beni, is the ethereal girl who fell from the sky a wish come true, or false hope for life beyond the confines of the odd carnival called home.
Her story – as well as tales of an order of deep-sea diving nuns caring for a sunken chapel, and a high school boy asked to prom, by the only dead kid he’s ever met – can be found in A.C. Wise’s newest collection of the fantastical, the weird, the queer, and the poignant.
I thought ‘Shoes As Red As Blood‘ by A. C, Wise was one of the strongest stories in the ‘Twice Cursed‘ anthology. I wanted to read more of her stories so I’ve picked up this collection from back in (2016). It looks like it has a wide range of speculative fiction for me to sample.
I have two books that I’m excited about planned for next week: an Agatha Christies stand alone novel that Christie thought was one of her best and the just-released tenth novel in the Rivers of London series.
Gipsy’s Acre was a truly beautiful upland site with views out to sea – and in Michael Rogers it stirred a child-like fantasy.
There, amongst the dark fir trees, he planned to build a house, find a girl and live happily ever after.
Yet, as he left the village, a shadow of menace hung over the land. For this was the place where accidents happened. Perhaps Michael should have heeded the locals’ warnings: ‘There’s no luck for them as meddles with Gipsy’s Acre.’
Michael Rogers is a man who is about to learn the true meaning of the old saying ‘In my end is my beginning…’
Published in 1967, ‘Endless Night‘ is a psychological thriller told from the point of view of Michael Rogers, a young man who takes a fancy to what is locally thought to be a cursed piece of land. This was the book that it took Christie the shortest time to write – seven weeks rather than a three or four months – and it was a favourite of hers. I’ve just started it.It feels very different. Very modern actually (well, for the mid-twentieth century).
Detective Sergeant Peter Grant takes a much-needed holiday up in Scotland. And he’ll need one when this is over…
If more’s the merrier, then it’s ecstatic as his partner Beverley, their young twins, his mum, dad, his dad’s band and their dodgy manager all tag along. Even his boss, DCI Thomas Nightingale, takes in the coastal airs as he trains Peter’s cousin Abigail in the arcane arts.
And they’ll need them too, because Scotland’s Granite City has more than its fair share of history and mystery, myth … and murder.
When a body is found in a bus stop, fresh from the sea, the case smells fishy from the off.
Something may be stirring beyond the bay – but there’s something far stranger in the sky…
This series is an automatic buy for me. The best ones are wonderful and all of them are entertaining. This one has Peter and his entire family heading up to Aberdeen to investigate ‘animal attacks’ that might be supernatural.
Mike Finn's Fiction 