P.D.R. Lindsay's Blog, page 15

'The Secrets of Wishtide'

The Secrets of Wishtide by Kate Saunders

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This novel is the first in a promised series and promises well. Author, Kate Saunders, has managed to find a new heroine and a new way of allowing her to work as an investigator. This is a Victorian hist-myst and an original.

Middle aged Laetitia Rodd, recently bereaved and now the impoverished widow of her dearly beloved Archdeacon, finds herself in a financial pickle because the Archdeacon never got round to making out an annuity...

Review: 'Frontier Wolf' by Rosemary Sutcliff

Whoever put the book up on Goodreads certainly hadn't read it, or understand the magic of Rosemary Sutcliff's writing and her way of writing characters that reach from the past to the reader's present. She does this by giving them problems we might have. Here it is having to make again a decision which once cost Alexios a great deal of pain and disgrace.

'Frontier Wolf' deals with Roman Britain under the young Emperor Constans. Alexios has an influential uncle who is Dux of Britain and this un...

Review of The Dead Woman of Deptford'

The Dead Woman of Deptford by Ann Granger

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Ann Granger is known for her detective series. The Dead Woman of Deptford is the sixth in a Victorian series. Readers of Anne Perry will probably enjoy this. It is similar in its use of the husband as detective and the wife as intelligent helper, but this time the wife is not welcomed as a helper. However the novel is not a copy of a Perry novel. This novel has more a lower middle class background with the detective work involvin...

Review of 'Even Dogs in the Wild' by Ian Rankin

Even Dogs in the Wild by Ian Rankin

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


An Ian Rankin novel is always worth reading. A new Rebus Rankin novel is a cause for celebration. 'Even Dogs in the Wild' is thought provoking and a grim reminder of the misuse of power.

Even though John Rebus is officially retired from the Edinburg police force he can't keep his nose out. When his old friend and colleague, now promoted to D.I.,Siobhan Clarke wants to pick his brains about a peculiar case he is happy to oblige. And soon...

Review 'Coffin Road'

Coffin Road by Peter  May

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Peter May is a reliable good read. His books have pace, remarkably good plot twists, 3D characters and are not blood soaked and full of 4 letter words.

'Coffin Road' starts with a man scrambling half drowned out of the sea. He has no memory of who he is. It's a good start. The reader is hooked. Who is this man? We feel his frustrations as he seems to be able to do things and recognise things but has no idea of his own name and identity. Plot...

Review of 'The Secret Recipe for Second Chances'

The Secret Recipe for Second Chances by J.D. Barrett

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


A light-hearted amusing paranormal Australian love story. Definitely a fun read with a nice Ah! ending.

Lucy Muir has finally broken free of her cheating husband and is determined to start her own restaurant where she will be free to invent her own recipes and cook without her ex claiming the credits.
She is drawn to a closed restaurant which was the best in the city in the 80s.
What she doesn't know is that the ghost of...

The Malice of Waves by Mark Douglas-HomeMy rating: 5 of 5...

The Malice of Waves by Mark Douglas-Home

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Hurray, number three in the series and another intelligent read. The author doesn't just write a murder mystery of the 'Here's a body, find the murderer' school, he looks at consequences, causes and effects. This makes for a more thoughtful read, a more complex plot and characters worth reading about.

Cal McGill is now more heavily involved with being a pure Sea Detective and finding bodies and he is employed to find the body of a...

Book review 'Being Magdalene' by Fleur Beale

This is the third in a series about children and teenagers in a Fundamentalist Christian sect. Sounds grim? No, it is a well written, simply written book, yet Fleur Beale manages to convey the problems her MC faces without being over-dramatic, melodramatic or sensational. She is writing about the freedom to choose, but she never hammers the theme home, she just shows us poor Magdalene struggling to be a good daughter and fit in.

The Pilgrim Family have been in the Sect for all the children's...

Review: The Woman Who Walked Into the Sea and NB Smashwords Sale

SMASHWORDS JULY SALE IS ON. p.d.r. lindsay's STORIES ARE FREE AT SMASHWORDS FROM JULY 1ST UNTIL JULY 31ST. Go to: 




The Woman Who Walked Into the Sea by Mark Douglas-Home

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I very much enjoyed the first book in this series. The second is a good second novel but as the plot hinged around Cal drifting about avoiding making decisions about finding missing bodies it was a little less focussed.

Still a good read, nice tight writing, 3D characters and some neat twists. Cal i...

Review and Smashwords Sale.

SMASHWORDS JULY SALE IS ON. p.d.r. lindsay's STORIES ARE FREE AT SMASHWORDS FROM JULY 1ST UNTIL JULY 31ST. Go to:
https://smashwords.com/books/category...

Grief Is the Thing with Feathers by Max Porter

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Stunning! Almost a prose poem I suppose. Helps if you know about Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath, Poe's Raven, and the Cowbie ballads.

Ostensibly a brief piece about a young man and his young sons coping with the death of the wife/mother. It's moving, annoying, even wry...