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Starting/joining in with buddy reads
By Judy · 1334 posts · 372 views
By Judy · 1334 posts · 372 views
last updated 1 hour, 51 min ago
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White Nights by Ann Cleeves (Shetland #2) (August/Sept 25)
By Susan · 29 posts · 12 views
By Susan · 29 posts · 12 views
last updated Sep 04, 2025 12:17PM
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Other topics mentioning this book
What mysteries are you reading at the moment? (2022)
By Judy · 873 posts · 160 views
last updated Jan 08, 2023 08:15PM
What Members Thought
The cultured, well read but never pompous Appleby is back. This novel was written in 1939, as war was imminent. For that reason alone it makes a fascinating read. It is proof that there were authors who saw this with great clarity. “You know what this is? It’s some two hundred million people crouching ready to cut each other‘s throats.”
Early in the book Innes describes a bookish character,
“Reason tells us that we cannot seep into or shelter behind the monuments of art…he threw up all this cult ...more
Early in the book Innes describes a bookish character,
“Reason tells us that we cannot seep into or shelter behind the monuments of art…he threw up all this cult ...more
Feb. 2023 reread:
This 5th book in the Appleby series is more about espionage than criminal detection. Luckily I like a good spy story :) Lots of overtones of Buchan's 39 Steps (especially in the middle)... ...more
This 5th book in the Appleby series is more about espionage than criminal detection. Luckily I like a good spy story :) Lots of overtones of Buchan's 39 Steps (especially in the middle)... ...more
The fifth John Appleby whodunnit, this time written just before WWII, and involves spies and traitors and a vital formula. An intellectual 39 Steps, with much taking place in the Scottish lochs and heather, it is an exhilarating adventure, full of grotesque fantasy and an ever-twisting plot. Wonderful.
The GR blurb:
'Successful minor poet, Philip Ploss, lives a peaceful existence in ideal surroundings, until his life is upset when he hears verses erroneously quoted as his own. Soon afterwards, he ...more
The GR blurb:
'Successful minor poet, Philip Ploss, lives a peaceful existence in ideal surroundings, until his life is upset when he hears verses erroneously quoted as his own. Soon afterwards, he ...more
This is not a bad mystery but unfortunately it didn't age well and it shows the influx of the time when it was written.
It is more interesting as a documentation of a specific historical time than as a mystery.
Many thanks to Netgalley and Ipso Books ...more
It is more interesting as a documentation of a specific historical time than as a mystery.
Many thanks to Netgalley and Ipso Books ...more
Another of this author's books that has been a disappointment. The overall pot was quite good but it did seem very implausible to me. A women told to amble around in a field wearing a light coloured raincoat, so she would be taken as a sheep, was ridiculous! However the stamina of this woman who had been knocked out, deprived of sleep and not eaten, was to be envied. Another amazing character has to be Macintosh, from Scotland Yard with his feats of activity. The author's references to Swinburne
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Aug 30, 2014
Gary Vassallo
marked it as ebook-library
Nov 03, 2014
Cindy
marked it as to-read
Sep 01, 2016
vetchling
marked it as to-read
Jul 09, 2022
Kim Johnson
marked it as to-read
Jul 17, 2022
Julie
marked it as to-read
Jul 26, 2022
Megan
marked it as to-read
