2020 Book 3

'Gallows Court' by Martin Edwards
Format: Kindle ebook
Enjoyment factor: Just when you think you've got it all figured out, the rug's pulled from beneath your feet again. Damn you, Edwards! 😄

Synopsis & links to purchase: Amazon | Waterstones |  Hive.co.uk |

Having enjoyed Martin's other crime novels and his very interesting & informative blog - Do you write under your own name - I was looking forward to this one...and wasn't disappointed! Dark, intriguing and with more twists and turns than a theme park rollercoaster, it's an exhilarating read. The next one, Mortmain Hall, was an instant pre-order. Roll on April :)

2020 Book 2

'The Cost of Living' by Rachel Ward
First in the Ant & Bea Mystery Series
Format: Kindle ebook
Enjoyment factor: Maximum Costsave Club Card Points redeemed!

Synopsis & links to purchase: Amazon | Waterstones |  Hive.co.uk |

This series was new to me, so thank you to author Jennifer Killick for bringing it to my attention on Twitter :)

Check out sleuth Bea is an engaging & relatable main character, solving the crime in a realistic way & not resorting to CSI level heroics! I particularly liked her relationships with her mum, Queenie, and co-worker Dot.  It took me a while to warm up to Ant - just when he'd won me over he'd be a bit of a prat! - but by the end I'd have given him my last Rolo :D
Looking forward to finding out what happens next for Bea & Ant (I'm sorry, but she should be first!) in 'Dead Stock'.

2020 Book 1

'4.50 from Paddington' by Agatha Christie
Read as part of the 'Read Christie 2020 challenge'
Format: Hardcover, Crime Club Choice cover.
Enjoyment factor: 5 Twinkly Miss Marples/5

One I'd read before, but not for some years, and very much enjoyed re-reading as Miss Marple has always been my favourite of Christie's detectives (I do love you too Poirot, just not quite as much as Aunt Jane!)
Travelling back from London, Elspeth McGillicuddy witnesses a woman being strangled on a passing train ,but struggles to find anyone who will take her story seriously. Luckily for her, she's on her way to stay with her old friend Miss Marple who starts work to find proof of the crime.
Despite taking a back seat in the actual investigating, leaving that in the capable hands of Lucy Eyelesbarrow and Inspector Craddock, as ever it is left to Miss Marple to untangle the complex lives of the suspects and victim and solve the crime.
The cast of characters are an intriguing mix, this readers sympathies are all with Emma Crackenthorpe!
One thing that isn't revealed though is who, if any of them, does Lucy choose as a potential husband -Cedric or Bryan? Twinkly Miss Marple is sure she knows though!

Read Christie 2020

2020 is the centenary for the publication of Agatha Christie's first novel, 'The Mysterious Affair At Styles', so this seemed as good a time as any to try and read/re-read all of her published novels & short stories.
I would have first read most of the books during my early teens, borrowing them from the library or grandparents. There are a few books I know I have not read - Murder in Mesopotamia, Death Comes as the End, The Seven Dials Mystery, Man in the Brown Suit - and I'm sure there are others that I think I've read, but quite possibly have only watched the TV adaptations of! Some of the novels I have read many times over the years - Sleeping Murder, Nemesis, Five Little Pigs, Death on the Nile, A Caribbean Mystery  - and are favourites that I will look forward to enjoying again and I'm hoping to find some new favourites in the stories that I'm less familiar with.
There will be no order in which I read them, just whatever I feel like reading at the time :)

Here we go...

Hoping to keep track of my attempt this year to read/re-read all the Agatha Christie novels and record any other crime fiction that I enjoy.

If you do stumble across this blog and find anything of use, or amusement, then "Hello" and "Thank you for reading!" :)