Paula Longhurst's Blog, page 8

Razzmatazz, Christopher Moore

Continuing the misadventures of sometime bartender Sammy ‘Two Toes’ Tiffin, Stilton (aka the cheese) and the rest of the Cookie’s Coffee Irregulars in post WWII San Francisco. 

If you like your romps madcap and full of murder, mayhem, ETs, Drag Kings and, ahem Dragons then this perfect follow up to ‘Noir’ is for you.

Bad Actors, Mick Herron

Off with her head?

 

Are Diana Taverner’s days as First Desk of MI5 numbered? It certainly seems so. A little bird is telling Oliver Nash that Diana has disappeared a vital advisor to the PM’s team. Are the intelligence services getting too independent for the PM's liking or is this a threat to make MI5 fall in line.

Lady Di has other, more pressing problems, her opposite number in Russia is in town, unnoticed by five's 'crack' surveillance team and therefore able to operate under the radar. Jackson Lamb's slow horses have been involved in an incident in Wimbledon that leaves one 'horse' with tyre marks and another sent to a sanitorium. It doesn't take Lamb long to realize that he and his team have unwittingly gathered intel that could be very useful to Diana. Question is can he be arsed to save her?
If you haven't read any of this brilliant series, you can jump in with Slough House (Bk 7 in the series) or go back to the very first book, Slow Horses.
 

Breathless, Amy McCulloch

Ceci Wong, freelance journalist and inexperienced climber finds herself on the team of the final climb of mountaineering legend Charles McVeigh’s ‘Clean Fourteen’ expedition. Manaslu has a deadly enough reputation, without a killer stalking their expedition. Ceci becomes convinced that not everyone is getting off the mountain alive.

Nine Lives, Peter Swanson

A modern twist on the Agatha Christie classic ‘and then there were none’. Nine random strangers receive a list in the mail; their name is on that list. FBI agent Jessica Winslow is in a race against time to stop a killer with a seemingly supernatural reach because the list is getting shorter and her name is rising to the top.

Verifiers, Jane Pek

Veracity is an online dating detective agency, small, referral only and they just recruited Claudia Lin away from her dull finance job. Claudia is keeping her new dream job away from the family because as the good Chinese daughter she’s supposed to meet a nice Chinese boy and settle down - and Claudia isn’t into boys. What she is into is detecting and a new client will put her skills to the test and possibly turn the online dating world on its head in the process.

Undermoney, Jay Newman

Reading Newman���s debut is a little like cutting a diamond. You can trace the fault lines and watch as they crack.

It started with a heist pulled off by a small group of soldiers, a two star general, a brilliant CIA asset and one idealist Senator. It leads to strange bedfellows; corrupted politicians, bankers with Vatican ties, private security firms linked to Putin and the inner sanctums (and madness)of the super rich.

And how does it end?

With many sleepless nights for the reader after the final page has turned.

Box 88, Charles Cumming

At age 18 young Lachlan ‘Lockie’ Kite was introduced to the highly secretive intelligence unit Box 88; now - many years later -he runs it. Attending a close friend’s funeral his guard is down and Kite makes a rare mistake that puts his life and that of his family in jeopardy. Who is the mysterious Iranian holding him prisoner and what does he want with Kite’s memories of his first Box 88 operation?

Hopefully this is the start of a new series, much more to explore in Kite's past!

The Electricity of Every Living Thing, Katherine May

In 2015 Katherine May (Wintering) took on the 630 mile South West Coast Path amid feelings that life and career were getting on top of her.

Married to H and bringing up her handful of a young son the chance comment of a radio show interviewer that ‘his Autistic son needs to write everything down or else he won’t be able to take it in’ strikes a chord in her. When she realises the interview is about adults coping with Aspergers, May; whose coping mechanisms to ‘fit in’ have been honed her whole life begins to see herself in a whole new light.

Far From The Light Of Heaven, Tade Thompson

An Afrofuturist whodunnit set on a spaceship where the second officer is overqualified, the AI uncooperative and you’d best not turn your back on the maintenance bots - or the wolf.

Michelle ‘Shell’ Campion - poached from NASA - is awoken by the AI to find that something has crippled her ship and is harming her paying passengers. Her distress call brings an investigator from the Bloodroot colony and his robot to investigate.

Shelf Life, Nadia Wassef

Part memoir, part love letter to Egypt, to bookselling, to the family we form and the family we’re born with; Nadia Wassef chronicles her dream of setting up the Diwan bookstore branches in Cairo. Each chapter is a section of the store. Nadia and her partners Hind and Nihal three women who battled red tape, censorship and the ever looming patriarchy, with grit, grace, guile and -in Nadia’s case- more than a few swear words!