Michael J. Ritchie's Blog

“The Last Murder At The End Of The World” by Stuart Turton (2024)

“‘Is there no other way?’ asks a horrified Niema Mandripilias, speaking out loud in an empty room.”

There are only a handful of authors I actively long for more work from. With Agatha Christie and Douglas Adams both no longer going concerns, that leaves me with Jasper Fforde and Stuart Turton. Fortunately they’re both releasing new books this year – and even better, I’ve been lucky enough to read them in advance! Here’s the newest from Turton; a brand new murder mystery like only he could write....

“Red Side Story” by Jasper Fforde (2024)

“My name is Eddie Russett, but only for another two hours and nine minutes.”

Thirteen years we’ve been waiting, so time to see if it was worth it. I was very, very lucky to be able to read an advanced copy of this in September 2023, but I’ve set the date on this post so it won’t come out until the official release date, just so I can talk a little more freely about things that happen.

The book opens a couple of weeks after the first one ended. Eddie and Violet’s engagement is well known, but he ...

“Nine Lives” by Peter Swanson (2022)

“Jonathan Grant, unless he let her know ahead of time that he couldn’t make it, always visited on Wednesday evening.”

And where better to end the year than with a twisty murder mystery? Peter Swanson wrote one of my favourite books ever, Rules for Perfect Murders, so it’s time to go back and see if it was just a fluke, or he’s just that good.

One September day, nine people across the United States get a letter in the mail. It’s simply a list of nine names – their own and eight others that they d...

“Murder On Christmas Eve” by Various (2017)

“He was sitting on top of one of the rear gate-posts of the churchyard when I walked through on Christmas Eve, grooming in his lordly style…”

It’s Christmas! So what else is there to do but pour a mulled wine, grab the Celebrations, and curl up with a nice murder.

This collection brings together the great and good from the worlds of detective fiction and each one has given us a festive mystery to solve. From classic authors like Margery Allingham and John Dickson Carr, right up to the likes of ...

“Miss Phryne Fisher Investigates” by Kerry Greenwood (1989)

“The glass in the French window shattered.”

In a rare subversion, I arrive at this book after having long ago devoured the TV series. Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries was a cool, clever series about the aristocratic flapper Phryne Fisher, who works as a private detective in 1920s Melbourne. I really loved it, so thought it was time to dip into the books and see if the magic holds up.

After impressively solving a theft at a dinner party, Phryne Fisher is hired by a retired colonel and his wife to g...

“The Fellowship Of Puzzlemakers” by Samuel Burr (2024)

“LTARDBT ID IWT UTAADLHWXE DU EJOOATBPZTGH!”

I’ve always liked a puzzle. Not jigsaw puzzles, actually, I don’t have the patience, but I like a crossword or wordsearch, a dingbat or a logic puzzle. I absolutely love a quiz. So a novel about puzzles feels entirely up my alley.

Clayton Stumper has always been something of an enigma. Dropped as a baby on the doorstep of the Fellowship of Puzzlemakers, he was raised by a group of older people who all delighted in designing and playing puzzles, and pr...

“4.50 From Paddington” by Agatha Christie (1957)

“Mrs McGillicuddy panted along the platform in the wake of the porter carrying her suitcase.”

I wasn’t always a Christie obsessive. I can trace the moment it all kicked off to my third year of university. Although the first full book I read was Death in the Clouds, it was the opening chapter of 4.50 from Paddington that was my first proper experience of her. We had a class in which we had to read the start of this book to learn something about introducing a story and, well, it did the job. This ...

“The Rise And Reign Of The Mammals” by Steve Brusatte (2022)

“For the first time in years, the sun broke through the darkness.”

A couple of years back, I read Steve Brusatte’s excellent book about the age of the dinosaurs. I was delighted that he decided to carry on in time and cover the mammals.

From humble beginnings to world domination, the story of the mammals looks like your standard “rags to riches” tale, but it is anything but. Our mammalian ancestors have been around since the dawn of the dinosaurs, but rarely had the chance to get very big, espec...

“The Old Woman With The Knife” by Gu Byeong-Mo (2013)

“So this is what it’s like on the subway on Friday nights.”

In yet another attempt to thrown my reading net wider, I land in South Korea with this novel.

Hornclaw is sixty-five years old. She lives in Seoul, with her pet dog Deadweight. She has no family, and keeps to herself. She’s also one of the country’s most skilled assassins.

Contemplating retirement (the tremor in her hand is giving her problems with her knife), she doesn’t know what she’ll do after she gives up work, so carries on for th...

“Quietly Hostile” by Samantha Irby (2022)

“This is not an advice book.”

I don’t know anything about Samantha Irby (or didn’t before picking up this book anyway) but since skunks are my favourite animals, and my attitude to the general public after a life in customer service can be described as “quietly hostile”, I was compelled to pick up this book anyway.

This is a collection of humorous essays by Samantha Irby, an American writer who has absolutely no filter. Be it her sexual proclivities, bowel movements or her favourite pornography,...