Montgomery Bonbon: Mystery at the Manor (Montgomery Bonbon 3) by Alasdair Beckett-King, illustrated by Claire Powell

It’s funny how children’s aspirations change over the years. At various points growing up, I remember wanting to be a nurse, a librarian and – heavily influenced by watching Quincy as a teenager – a pathologist. Today’s youngsters are more likely to list career choices such as footballer or influencer but one job that still

The Royal Jewel Plot (Mysteries at Sea 2) by A. M. Howell

Away for a couple of nights with Mr S to celebrate our wedding anniversary, while he spent five minutes chucking the bare necessities into his overnight bag, I thought long and hard about what to take in the way of reading material. Knowing that there would be things to see and do, I reluctantly came

The Island at the Edge of Night by Lucy Strange

I love a mystery and I know that I am not alone in this but to describe this new title from author Lucy Strange as just a mystery is to do it – and her – an enormous disservice. Richly imagined, dark and haunting, this is – as you would expect if you have read

Gracie Fairshaw and The Missing Reel (Gracie Fairshaw 3) by Susan Brownrigg

The Great British seaside resort is a national institution and with its glorious sandy beach, traditional amusements and – of course – its iconic tower, Blackpool must surely be top of many people’s lists of examples. Although I’ve never been, it’s one of those places that I feel as though I must have done at

Feather (The Twitchers 4) by M. G. Leonard

A few days ago, Mr S found himself restless as a result of having nothing to do – something that I pointed out to him would not be the case if he had a hobby. For me, there are simply not enough hours in the day for reading and I found it hard to imagine finding

Secrets of the Snakestone by Piu DasGupta

Mr S and I have very different tastes in fiction – either that contained within books or that presented on screen. While I prefer fantasy and science fiction, he will only read or watch things that have the potential to be true so that the only genre that we both enjoy is a good detective story. As

Twice Upon a Time by Michelle Harrison

Like many other readers, I love a good old-fashioned murder mystery. You know the kind of thing – somebody gets bumped off, there are clues to be found by whomever is investigating and eventually, after multiple red herrings, there is the denouement. When I first became aware that author Michelle Harrison had a new read coming out,