Read-a-lot November

Towards the end of October I mentioned the Goodreads challenge I ‘work’ on each year. What with one thing or another I was way behind and had wondered whether I’d actually finish or not …….but look – this just popped up …….I did it!

So the question is – how did that happen a whole month before I intended it to?

Well, it would seem that because of all that cold wet weather we had over the past few weeks I didn’t feel like getting my hands dirty in the garden (plus the fact If I got down I couldn’t get up) so when a lot of my ordered library books all turned up at the same time I chose to sit around and do nothing but read. Not a hard choice at all – agreed😊

Out of all those I read, one stood out. One which looked like a smallish quick to read book that turned into a really great read by a new to me author. A crime/mystery set in Melbourne during WW2 involving the newly formed Homicide division of Vic Police. Very easy to read, mostly dialogue with a little bit of possibly unintentional humour in the writing

“The bathroom was tiled in green…..and the reflected light gave a bilious cast to the very dead face of the man who lay in the generously proportioned bath.  He looked to be in his sixties and was fully clothed; his features were remarkably composed, given that the back of his head and his brains were spread across the chip heater and the wall behind.”

“It’s Latin’, he said.  Do you read Latin, Sergeant? No, sir.  Latin isn’t big in Jewish families.”

as well as a lot of ’not known to me’ history of military matters and ‘unsavoury political groups’ evident at that time.

The Holiday Murders ~ Robert Gott – (2013)

Book blurb:-……If only the killings had stopped at two. The police are desperate to come to grips with an extraordinary and disquieting upsurge of violence. For Constable Helen Lord, it is an opportunity to make her mark in a male-dominated world where she is patronised as a novelty. For Detective Joe Sable, the investigation forces a reassessment of his indifference to his Jewish heritage. Racing against the clock, the police uncover simmering tensions among secretive local Nazi sympathisers as a psychopathic fascist usurper makes his move.

And guess what….this is No.1 in a series 😊

There were several all involving babies.  Also their mothers, their fathers, and the lengths they will go to protect each other.

• Harnessing Peacocks ~ Mary Wesley – (1985). Hebe sits in the darkness and listens to her hypocritical grandparents and her older siblings discuss how her unexpected pregnancy must be terminated to avoid the shame it will bring. 
• The Couple Next Door ~ Shari Lapena – (2016) Your neighbour told you that she didn’t want your six-month-old daughter at the dinner party. Nothing personal, she just couldn’t stand her crying.
• The Foundling ~ Stacey Halls – (2020) Six years after leaving her illegitimate daughter Clara at London’s Foundling Hospital, Bess Bright returns to reclaim the child she has never known.
• The Sister’s Gift ~Barbara Hannay – (2020) Two sisters, one baby and the best of intentions…

As well as a couple of others seen or recommended on other blogs.  It’s hard to go past those ‘books read’ lists….you never know what you’ll find !  

• The Long Call ~ Anne Cleeves –  (2019) In North Devon, where two rivers converge and run into the sea, Detective Matthew Venn stands outside the church as his father’s funeral takes place
• Death of a Busybody ~ George Bellairs – (1942) The eponymous nosy parker in Death of a Busybody is Miss Ethel Tither. She has made herself deeply unpopular in the quintessentially English village of Hilary Magna, since she goes out of her way to snoop on people, and interfere with their lives. 

If you’re interested, all the 2021 challenge books are listed in the Books Read page under the header photo. Hopefully there’ll be more added at the end of December