I've Hit a Rich Seam

Greetings dear friends. Here's a quick book update, sharing what I've recently been reading and my new arrivals.

You'll see there's a bit of a theme developing with my "Just Finished" list. As a lover of crime fiction, but rather particular about the genre, I dive into a feeding frenzy when I discover an author who ticks my boxes, and has a linked series of novels.

There's something very satisfying about getting to know regular characters, plus a particular part of the world, and Aline Templeton does this with her series of books featuring DCI Kelso Strang.

In the first book - Death on Skye - we meet Detective Chief Inspector Kelso Strang, a widower whose pregnant wife died in a car crash. As a result, he has a thick scar on his cheek. Kelso has been seconded to run a special Rural Crimes Squad by Police Scotland. He's catapulted into situations where a small part-time police station can't cope with a major crime.

Unusually for a crime thriller, or police procedural, we have to wait quite a while before the first murder. This is Templeton's modus operandi for all the books, and it works very well. She introduces us to a particular community and key individuals, and there are clues about tensions and explosive situations.

PC Livvy Murray is sent to assist Kelso, and what a character she is. Ambitious and confident, but also rather too bullish and inclined to follow her own initiative in the hope of impressing Strang (who is the silent, brooding type). She finds herself becoming jealous of a superior officer and is furious that she can't seem to stop herself.

And then there's Detective Chief Superintendent Jane Borthwick, Kelso's boss, described as "Fair, firm and effing formidable."

The crimes themselves are complex and typical of rural communities, with a few surprises for any city dwellers who think that money laundering, people trafficking, murders and organised crime don't exist in remote areas.

Templeton is very good at constructing a finely woven plot where it's impossible to predict who the perpetrators are until the very last minutes. The hallmark of a good crime thriller.

So yes, I'm hooked on this series, and NetGalley books are getting a rest at the moment.

Having said that, I do have a couple of new arrivals to share with you. These were all provided free of charge as advance digital copies by NetGalley and the publishers, in return for an honest review.

Fallout by Eleanor Anstruther (publication date: 21 April).

Set in Thatcher's Britain of the 1980s, this is the story of a radical daughter, a closeted father and a prim mother turned protester. One runaway girl sets a family on fire—and lights the way to liberation. The book shines a light on the Greenham Common nuclear protests, a significant feminist uprising which has disappeared into the annals of time.

Blind Pursuit by Rob Sinclair

Synopsis: Callum Murphy thought he was happily married to a corporate consultant. But when police show up at Callum’s work site, informing him of his wife Lea’s death, his world starts to crumble. It turns out her death was just the beginning. Callum learns that Lea was, in fact, an MI6 agent who was killed because of intelligence only she had. Then strangers with guns break into his home and he’s forced to run for his life.

A Hard Day's Night by Samira Ahmed (publication date: 11 June)

Well-known journalist and BBC broadcaster Samira Ahmed attempts to answer the question of how a film made to capture a pop phenomenon become an enduring cinematic classic.

It's a film that's particularly close to my heart because it was the first one I ever saw. aged 3, and I can still remember how captivated I was. It's a charming film, full of energy and wit, and the magical songs and personalities of The Beatles.

Have you seen A Hard Day's Night? What was the first film you saw? Do tell in the comments.

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