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Friday January 31, 2020
Books in January
- Murder on Christmas Eve edited by Cecily Gayford
A collection of 10 Christmas themed short stories by classic mystery writers
- The Trinity Cat Ellis Peters
- The Santa Claus Cat Julian Symons
- The Four Seasons Michael Innes
- No Sanity Claus Ian Rankin
- The Footprint in the Sky John Dickson Carr
- A Wife in a Million Val McDermid
- The Dagger with Wings G K Chesterton
- Cambric Tea Marjorie Bowen
- As Dark as Christmas Gets Lawrence Block
- On Christmas Day in the Morning Marjorie Allingham
- Prophecy by S.J. Parris
[read by Laurence Kennedy]
It's Autumn, 1583. Rumours and predictions abound. Mary Stuart's supporters, always scheming to usurp Elizabeth, take heart and advantage of the astrological year of the Great Conjunction (once in a thousand years), when the two most powerful planets, Jupiter and Saturn, align. Murders at the palace are dressed up with occult symbolism, but Bruno can see they may have a more political motivation.
John Dee appears as a character in this book, in which we see his diminishing influence at court and his leanings towards the supernatural. This and his use of a crystal-gazer (charlatan), finally leads to his leaving England. [Bruno of course is delighted to know him and have use of his library during this period]. - The Waters Edge by Karin Fossum
[read by David Rintoul]
I realise this description may contain >>spoilers<< (but probably best not to read this author expecting a traditional whodunnit).
A very sad tale (when are they not?) investigating the murder of a young boy. We see things from the perspective of the criminal (clearly bonkers), and the altogether weird behaviour of the male half of the couple that found the body. The death seems to be "natural causes" but clearly brought on by some kind of assault.
Weeks go by with suspicions of a "man seen in the woods" but no arrest - then a second boy goes missing. The police finally move in on the man guilty of the assault - but it is Inspector Sejer who deduces the even sadder fate of the second child.
Posted by Christina at 7:17 PM. Category: Books of the Month
