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Wednesday November 30, 2016
Books in November
- The China Thrillers by Peter May [read by Peter Forbes]
Peter May wrote these 6 books in the 1990s based on his experiences living in China during a period of great change for that country. Extraordinarily he was given access to their police department for research and subsequently received awards for the books within China.*
I have had The Firemaker as a talking book for some time and never got into reading (listening to) it, but once started it was totally compelling (like all his books) and I was able to borrow the next two (The Fourth Sacrifice and The Killing Room), from the library.
The books were recently rereleased in paperback so May has been giving interviews and generally chatting about them to increase publicity.
* For a long time this was the only thing I knew about Peter May - it makes for an excellent Quiz question "who is the only writer to have...." etc
- The Case of the Imaginary Detective by Karen Joy Fowler
I found this in a charity shop and went for it as I was so impressed
with We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves - and how could such a title not appeal to me?. It continues with certain
familiar themes of loss and adjustment. I found the overall plot a tad
confusing but I took great delight in the main character's not infrequent
philosophical mental "asides" - which could have been part
of any book (as in Cat Out of Hell - recognisable
scenes from everyday life which can be side splitting funny when well
written). So despite not really empathising with the main character
- lucky for me given her situation - I still found it to be an excellent
read.
[Noting that I did also pass it on to Rob but he did not get on so well with it]. - The Hanging Club by Tony Parsons [read by Colin Mace]
Tony Parsons has produced a great series here and I can only hope he
is not going to get tired of his Max Wolfe any time soon. This story
offered a very interesting thread around "old London" in the
history of the Law Courts combined with locations discussed in the plot.
I was driven to look up information on abandoned Underground stations
as what he wrote did not quite gel with what I thought I knew - but
this was explained later in the story. I did not previously realise
that there was a station British Museum (though I always thought that
public transport for the Museum was strangely out of the way); it was
permanently closed in 1933 as Holborn station was so close by.
I would say again though - I find these books are rather sickeningly graphic - but clearly, although it goes against the grain, this must have some appeal as I am also so keen on Mark Billingham who uses much the same approach. 
Gideon Fell - The Blind Barber
There is only one clue to a brutal killing on an ocean liner - the engraving on the murder weapon.
Stars Donald Sinden as Doctor Gideon Fell, John Hartley as Supt. Hadley, and Patrick Allen as Lord Sturton.
Dr Gideon Fell is an archetypal English eccentric and amateur sleuth created by John Dickson Carr. Dramatised by Peter Ling, directed by Enyd Williams, and first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1997.
Posted by Christina at 4:23 PM. Category: Books of the Month
