Colin Garrow's Blog, page 17
May 23, 2023
‘A is for Alibi’ by Sue Grafton
My Review (4 stars out of 5) The murder of ruthless divorce attorney Laurence Fife landed his beautiful young wife, Nikki, in jail. But now she’s out on parole and determined to track down the real killer. When PI Kinsey Millhone is hired to dig into the past, it looks like there may be nothing…
May 20, 2023
Writing the Self
Writers are often asked how much of themselves and their own experiences end up in their writing. For my part, I’d say I’ve found it almost impossible to avoid including my own feelings, experiences, and opinions in what I write. However, while I’ve often used something real as the starting point for a scene or…
May 8, 2023
‘The Seven Visitations of Sydney Burgess’ by Andy Marino
My Review (5 stars out of 5) After years of struggling with addiction, Sydney finds herself and her young son in a nice house, with a decent job and a loving partner. But when she unexpectedly encounters a burglar, the sequence of events before her escape to a neighbour’s house, become blurred. While she’s recovering…
May 1, 2023
Dialogue Tags and Other Irritations
I’m sure most writers work hard at their craft, constantly finding ways to improve their writing, to make their work better, more appealing, and more fun to read. From my very first novel – a children’s adventure titled The Devil’s Porridge Gang – I did my best to make the novel like one I would…
April 29, 2023
‘Laundry Man’ by Jake Needham
My Review (5 stars out of 5) Former high-flyer with a Washington law firm, Jack Shepherd has taken a job teaching international finance in Bangkok, where he expects life to roll along with no possibility of excitement or thrills. But when a former colleague calls him out of the blue, it’s a bit of a…
‘Did I Ever Tell You This?’ by Sam Neill
My Review (5 stars out of 5) (Audiobook) During 2022, Ireland-born Sam Neill began making a few notes which eventually became a book. This is the story of his life from doing odd jobs on farms to working with the likes of Meryl Streep, Isabel Adjani, Sean Connery, Steven Spielberg and Jane Campion. Sam Neill…
April 23, 2023
‘Dinner at the Happy Skeleton’ by Chris Chalmers
My Review (5 stars out of 5) Pushing 40, Dan is a gay man in the Noughties, single and promiscuous, and in an odd relationship with two men. When he is sacked from his job with an advertising firm, Dan finds himself with a bit of time and money and no particular desire to hunt…
April 22, 2023
What’s All This First Draft Nonsense?
Whenever I read blogs or Twitter posts by an author who’s just finished the first draft of their WIP (work in progress), I always wonder if I’m the only person in the world who thinks first drafts are just another way of saying, ‘what I’ve written is crap so I’m going to do it all…
April 16, 2023
‘A Dutiful Son’ by Kelly Miller
My Review (4 stars out of 5) Struggling to honour his father, Fitzwilliam Darcy is faced with a dilemma when the old man determines that Elizabeth Bennet is not the girl for his son. When Darcy’s sister Georgiana gets chummy with Elizabeth, Darcy hopes his father will recognise her qualities, but love and duty seem…
April 15, 2023
‘The Vesuvius Club’ by Mark Gatiss
My Review (4 stars out of 5) When several British scientists turn up dead, Edwardian painter and secret agent Lucifer Box sets off across Europe to track down those responsible. Leaving his residence at 9 Downing Street, Box delves into all things seedy and debauched as he follows the clues and the dead bodies to…
