It’s been a dreary week, with a returned-from-holiday-but-wish-I-hadn’t feel that was made worse by a cold that wasn’t serious enough to send me to bed but was perfectly pitched to make everything fell like more effort than it was worth.

BUT, there is good news: I got my first Bingo today. I think this is the first time I’ve had a Bingo in September.

I also bought a lot of books this week. No apologies for that. I think they’re all good books and buying them brightened a dreary week. Actually, it’s not so much the buying that cheers me up but the knowledge that they’re there waiting for me, like a promise of future sunshine.

Anyway, here’s what’s happened this week and what’s up next

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This week, I read a very disappointing psychological thriller, a beautifully written and deeply strange Sci Fi horror novella and an unusual take on a Locked Room murder mystery featuring my favourite Park Ranger.

They say blood is thicker than water. I say blood is just harder to wash off your hands.
My name’s Kimberley. I’m twenty-five. I have epilepsy, a seizure alert dog named Muffin, and a job I love as a senior housekeeper in one of London’s top hotels. I’m used to being invisible. Overlooked. Safe.
But that was before Jennifer Clifton checked in. She’s rich, powerful, terrifyingly calm — and she asks for me by name.
She offers me my dream job, working in her exclusive hotel in the Scottish Highlands. It’s more money than I ever imagined.
There’s just one catch: Don’t open the door to Room 21.
How hard can that be?
But something is wrong in this hotel. The guests give me the creeps. The staff whisper behind closed doors. And that room — the one I promised not to enter — calls to me.
I took this job for a better life. Now I’m trapped in a nightmare

I hindsight, the look-how-exciting-this-is first-person publisher’s summary should have been enough to warn me off this book. It’s one of the few books that I’ve finished and then wished I hadn’t bothered. I let my curiosity drag me through a book that made little sense, was casually unpleasant and blandly written.

My review is HERE

Kinsey has the perfect job as the team lead in a remote research outpost. She loves the isolation and the way the desert keeps temptations from the civilian world far out of reach.
When her crew discovers a mysterious specimen buried deep in the sand, Kinsey breaks quarantine and brings it inside. But the longer it’s there, the more her carefully controlled life begins to unravel. Temptation has found her after all, and it can’t be ignored any longer.
One by one, Kinsey’s team realizes the thing they’re studying is in search of a new host—and one of them is the perfect candidate….

I pre-ordered ‘Spread Me’ so I was able to read it on the day it was released. I was a wonderful but strange read. I haven’t written a review yet so I’m going to share the notes I made as I went along:

“I’m 18 minutes in. There hasn’t be a wasted second. It already has the claustrophobic doom-laden atmosphere I remember from when I saw ‘Alien‘ for the first time in 1979. Sarah Gailey’s tight prose and Xe Sands’ perfect narration have my complete attention.”

 “The premise is bizarre but both plausible and terrifying. The writing is outstanding. The writing is outsanding. A tight, clear, intimate, first-person account conveying a deep emotion sheathed in a complex and disturbing idea. The tone is present-day fever-dream laced with memories of a better, not irretrievable past that makes the present-day harder to bear.”

First-person accounts are hard to pull off but Sarah Gailey does it perfectly. Xe Sands’ narration made the reading experience even better.

Some readers may struggle with the peculiar obsession of the main character. It powers the story. I think it’s strange but compelling Some may find it too odd and too disturbing to settle into.

An insatiable, unstoppable beast, the wildfire called Jackknife has already devoured 17,000 acres of California’s Lassen Volcanic National Park. A devastating force of nature, it has brought out the very best – and worst – in those sworn to defeat it.
Ranger Anna Pigeon is among the exhausted firefighters, serving as medic and spike camp security, when an abrupt weather shift sends Jackknife racing relentlessly in their direction. And when the monstrous blaze has passed, Anna emerges from her protective shelter to discover two men are dead: one a victim of the hungry flames, the other stabbed through the heart. Now, trapped in a nightmarish landscape of snow and ash, cut off from rescue by a rampaging winter storm, Anna must investigate an inexplicable homicide – as she and nine others struggle to survive the terrible rage of nature… and the murderer in their midst.

‘Firestorm’ was my fourth visit with Anna Pigeon. This one was different from it’s predecessors. It’s effectively a version of a locked room mystery where the locked room is defined as the space occupied by the people who survive a flash over fire by sheltering under their indivivdual ‘shake and bake’ aluminium covers. One of the party didn’t survive. A knife in the heart will do that to you.

Meanwhile, Anna and the other survivors are trapped on the mountain. This was a both a more dramatic and more static setting than usual, Anna is exhausted and vulnerable for most of the investigation.

A second difference was that part of the story is told from the point of view of FBI agent Fredercik Stanton who Anna worked with in previous books. This helped the exposition along nicely but it also helped to develop Anna as a character.

I didn’t guess who the murderer was, so I was kept hanging until almost the end of the book and even then, things didn’t go the way I’d normally expect them to.

I think this was the best Anna Pigeon book so far.

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I know that buying a book a day may seem excessive but I had fun doing it and I spent very little. Most importantly, I now have seven books to look forward to.

Del Wensley, wife of the most celebrated preacher in Harlan County, tries to mind her place. Until her husband’s infidelity pushes an already strained marriage to a breaking point. Clinging to her last hope for self-respect, Del turns her back on the rigid life she’s known. A coal train is rolling through the valley. With her eyes wide open to the unfamiliar, and to the freedom she craves, Del takes to the rails.
Rumbling across America, Del is soon drawn into a transient community among outcasts—and finds a special friend in Louisa Trout. A nomadic single mother, Louisa teaches Del the ways of the boxcars and promises to help her reach a migrant enclave where Del can learn the skills she’ll need to survive. But as they move forward together under desperate circumstances, even the closest of bonds threatens to break.
With the Depression taking its toll, Del must gather her strength and faith. As she carries on toward one unknown after another, her life becomes a fulfilling, sometimes dangerous, and exhilarating adventure. But no matter the risks, it’s a life that she alone controls.

This is a roll of the dice for me. I haven’t read this author before and historical fiction doesn’t always work for me but the premise of this book calls to me and I enjoyed the audiobook sample.

Mrs. Plansky is fresh off of winning a thrilling senior tennis championship with her doubles partner, Kev Dinardo, and is gearing up to celebrate with him on his yacht. That is, until the yacht is destroyed in a fire. Kev claims the fire was caused by a lightning strike, pure bad luck, but there’s one small problem—Mrs. Plansky didn’t see any lightning.
Already certain there’s more going on than she’s being told, Mrs. Plansky’s curiosity turns to concern when Kev goes missing. Her suspicion gets the better of her and leads her to break into his house, only to find it ransacked.
But Kev isn’t the only person Mrs. Plansky has to worry about. A conversation with her dad reveals that not long ago, he’d introduced Kev to Jack, Mrs. Plansky’s wayward tennis pro son. And now, her dad—distracted by arrangements for his upcoming wedding—either can’t remember or has no interest in divulging any details.
Worse? Now Jack has gone missing, too.

I’ve had this on pre-order since I read ‘Mrs Plansky’s Revenge‘ in August. If it’s a good as the first book, I’m going to have a great time with this.

When Meredith Penvale and her writer brother, Joe, step aboard the iconic Orient Express, they’re embarking on a journey steeped in both luxury and mystery. The train, a literary legend, is a bucket-list destination for detectives and writers alike. But as the train winds through the Italian Alps, a sinister undercurrent begins to emerge.

A virus has infiltrated the train in Paris, trapping its passengers and cutting them off from the world. Then, a passenger vanishes, leaving their cabin a bloody crime scene. Suddenly, the idyllic journey turns deadly. Joe and Meredith find themselves trapped with a motley crew of detectives, each with their own secrets and agendas. 

As the body count rises and the train speeds towards its destination, the siblings must unravel the mystery before they become the killer’s next victim …

This is another roll of the dice. I bought it because I’m hoping that the Agatha Christie riffs will be interesting and that sometihng extra will have been added. The reviews so far have been positive.

In the early 20th century, the United States government concocted a plan to import hippopotamuses into the marshlands of Louisiana to be bred and slaughtered as an alternative meat source. This is true. 
Other true things about hippos: They are savage, they are fast, and their jaws can snap a man in two. This was a terrible plan. 
Contained within this volume is an 1890s America that might have been: a bayou overrun by feral hippos and mercenary hippo wranglers from around the globe. It is the story of Winslow Houndstooth and his crew. It is the story of their fortunes. It is the story of his revenge. 

I stumbled across this novella while looking at Sarah Gailey’s biography after finishing ‘Spread Me’. I adore the premise and Sarh Gailey’s playful attitude towards it. Their writing skills combined with this plot idea should provide a fun afternoon’s worth of listening.

From the dust of ancient battlefields to the fluorescent glow of modern cubicles, the eternal dramas of human nature play out across eleven unforgettable tales.
In Byzantine halls where emperors fall to ambitious generals . . . on plague-ravaged battlefields where leper kings become legends . . . in shadowy London where playwrights wield words like weapons, the past refuses to stay buried and the old gods have merely learned to whisper more quietly.
With Old Gods and Other Tales Scott Oden delivers a masterful collection that spans millennia yet speaks to timeless truths. Meet Tisias, the silver-tongued thief whose greatest weapon is his wit. Witness the extraordinary courage of Baldwin IV, the Leper King whose diseased body housed a lion’s heart. Follow Martin Kestrel through a London where understanding the story itself becomes a form of power. Experience the vengeance of Meriones, a skeleton warrior animated by Hecate’s will and driven by memories of love and betrayal.
Old Gods and Other Tales is heroic historical fiction at its finest—proof that every page of history teems with drama waiting to be discovered, and that some stories refuse to be silenced until they find their voice.

This pulled at my curiosity. I’ve never read Rober E Howard’s Conan novels or John Newman’s Chronicles of Gor novels. Back when I was reading paperbacks, I’d have been embarrassed to be seen with one of them. I bought this short story collection because the author is passionate about Howard’s work and because I like the apparent range of his stories. I’m not sure that Heroic Historical Fiction is for me, but this seems a good way to find out.

Moving back to her quiet coastal hometown in the wake of a catastrophically failed case in Melbourne, Senior Detective Antigone Pollard finds there are some things you can’t run from. A month into her new life, she is targeted by a would-be rapist at a local pub. When the male witnesses and even her own colleagues close ranks in defence of her attacker, it becomes clear this is only the tip of the iceberg.
 
As Antigone searches for answers, she encounters a wall of silence built on secrets, denial and fear. The women of the town are scared, and they know the law is not on their side. In the face of a society that would rather she lie down and keep quiet, Antigone decides to take a stand. To do whatever it takes to get justice for all the survivors in Deception Bay, no matter the cost to herself

Another roll of the dice. A debut novel kicking off a detective series set in rural Australia. The themse sound hard-hitting. If they’re handled bravely enough, this should be a compelling read.

Mr. Royston is driving his hansom through the night-time streets of Melbourne when he is hailed by a man supporting a slumped, intoxicated figure and requesting that the cabman take the unfortunate fellow home – before proceeding to drop his burden and make a rapid exit. 
Bundling the drunken man onto the seat, the cabman is startled by the reappearance of the good Samaritan, who joins his acquaintance inside – but jumps out before the end of the journey. And when Royston, receiving no response to his inquiries about directions, peers into the cab, he finds that his passenger is now a corpse….

I picked this up after reding FictionFan’s review. I hadn’t realised that this kind of crime fiction was being written in Australia in 1886. I’m looking forward to seeing how it compares to Conan Doyle and Wikie Collins.

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The two books on my reading list for next week are both by authors I usually enjoy. One is the fourth and final book in Jim Hines’ Princess series. One is a Holly Jackson book that seems to have been her first move away from the YA series that launched her career.

When Snow White fled her homeland of Allesandria after the death of her mother, she took with her only one thing: her mother’s magic mirror. Now, a spell gone wrong has shattered the mirror, freeing the demon enslaved there so many years ago. The demon’s magic distorts the heart and vision of each person it touches, and Snow is the first to fall under its power.
Snow takes Danielle’s son hostage and returns to Allesandria, determined to claim her rightful place as queen, and to take revenge against those who supported her evil mother.
As one city after another falls into darkness and evil, Danielle (Cinderella) and Talia (Sleeping Beauty) search desperately for a way to rescue Danielle’s son and free Snow from the demon’s influence. The cost of failure is war and death.
The cost of success might be the same.

I love how Jim Hines has reinvented the well-known fairy tale Princesses into a group of formidable women in ‘The Stepsister Sister Scheme‘, ‘The Mermaid’s Madness‘ and ‘Red Hood’s Revenge’. ‘The Snow Queen’s Shadow‘ brings the series to a close. I’m interested to say where he goes with it.

18-year-old Bel has lived her whole life in the shadow of her mom’s mysterious disappearance. Sixteen years ago, Rachel Price vanished and young Bel was the only witness. Rachel is gone, presumed dead.
The case is dragged up from the past when the Price family agree to a true crime documentary. Bel can’t wait for filming to end, for life to go back to normal. But then Rachel Price reappears, and life will never be normal again …

Like everyone else, I enjoyed Holly Jackson’s innovative debut YA novel ‘A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder’ in 2019. This year, I enjpyed her first written-for-adults novel, ‘Not Quite Dead Yet‘, I was delighted to find a book in her back catalogue that matched the True Crime square on my Halloween Bingo card.

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I got my first Bingo today. It involved a slight change in my reading plans. When the When Mother Nature Strikes square was called this week, I delayed starting the book I had planned for the Monsters square and read ‘Firestorm’ instead.

Anyway, here’s the status of my card:

Reading: 4, Called: 11, Read: 9, Read and Called: 7, Bingo: 1.