Review: Caught Off Guard

Caught Off Guard by Catherine Cloud
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Matthias Brandl is a German playing NHL hockey as the second goalie. After a game in Vegas he and his team mates go drinking, they meet up with some of the Vegas players and Mattias ends up hooking up with the Vegas leading goalie Casey Wallace, which wouldn't ordinarily be a problem, they both agreed it was a one-time thing. But then Matthias gets traded to Vegas and he's Casey's back-up. Whilst the Vegas guys agree that Casey can be a bit grumpy they think he's a good guy - but he seems to hate Matthias.

Matthias' new teammates seem good people, especially his neighbour and friend Oliver who looks after him and tries to avoid getting involved in the drama.

I first heard about this in a Dear Author review https://dearauthor.com/book-reviews/o... and put it on my Kindle Wish List but an upcoming holiday and an Amazon gift card bumped it to the top of the list - I was not disappointed.

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Review: 1982: A Year in the Life of Wendy Wood

1982: A Year in the Life of Wendy Wood by Jason Ayres
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It's New Years' Eve 2022 and Wendy Wood is 'enjoying' a karaoke night at the local British Legion Hall. A stroke two years ago has left her confined to a mobility scooter and she's regretting all the mistakes she made with her life. Then a stranger approaches Wendy with the opportunity of a lifetime. She has been selected to go back forty years to 1982 with the chance to put her life back on the right track with the help of a magical bracelet which will warn her if she is making bad choices.

Back in 1982 Wendy was the lead singer with a band called Velvet Temptation. They could have made it big, but egos, infidelity, bad luck, and artistic differences coincided to scupper their chances and Wendy has spent the last forty years working for minimal wage at local supermarkets.

Returned to 1982 Wendy must steer the band through shark-infested waters and change her future.

I enjoyed this, but I felt it was too straightforward, I understand that this is part of a series in which each book is set in a different year of the 1980s. For those of us who were young in the 1980s this is a trip down memory lane touching on the music, the TV, the celebrities, the news stories. However, I do wonder whether a younger reader would have the same enjoyment. I also worry how different the other books will be if they follow a similar premise.

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Review: Love & Other Inconveniences

Love & Other Inconveniences by Catherine Cloud
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Morgan Boyle is a non-drinking hockey player which has earned him the nickname of the fun police with his teammates. His family background isn't good, broken home, addictions, violence, and so he struggles to understand how to socialise. He'd really rather just hang out with his dog. Morgan is also in denial about his sexuality, whilst supporting gay rights, his homophobic upbringing has led him to vehemently deny being anything other than heterosexual.

At the start of the novel, Morgan is sent to the train with the Olympics team where he meets Noah Andersson, son of hockey royalty, who is his complete opposite, loud, friendly, touchy-feely. Somehow, Noah and Morgan end up sharing a brief kiss, which Morgan self-explains as satisfying a curiosity.

As the season(s) progress, Noah and Morgan inevitably meet when their teams play against each other Noah makes it clear he is interested in Morgan but Morgan is still in denial.

Can Noah and Morgan overcome their geographical separation, as well as Morgan's deep-seated issue with his own sexuality?

This was such a lovely slow burn romance. I understand that some in the LGBTQIA+ community might find the suddenly gay trope an issue, but I think Catherine Cloud does a good job of explaining that Morgan has been brought up by people who have demonised and vilified homosexuality and so he has supressed his feelings from a very young age.

Loved it.

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Review: The Canning Town Murder

The Canning Town Murder by Mike Hollow
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The second outing for the Blitz detective. After a night of bombing an ARP clean-up crew find a woman's body amongst the wreckage, the only trouble was ... the body wasn't there when they cleared the site earlier that evening.

Detective Inspector John Jago and Detective Constable Cradock are called in to investigate. The woman is Mary Watkins, an HR administrator for a local factory which, among other things, is manufacturing transistors for secret government work.

Jago's investigation encompasses Fifth Columnists, black marketeering, blackmail, bigamy, and just plain greed.

This series is growing on me nicely, some personal development between Jago and the American journalist and good historical detail.

Apologies for the brief review, I've returned from holiday with half a dozen books to review!

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Review: We Could Be So Good

We Could Be So Good by Cat Sebastian
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Nick Russo is a big brawny Italian American writer for the New York Chronicle, he's also gay which is a problem in 1950s America. To try to live as authentic a life as possible he has moved to The Village area, away from his family so that he doesn't have to pretend. However, his only 'romantic' encounters are of the one-night stand variety and cloaked in fear and secrecy.

Andy Fleming is the boss' son. Nick's polar opposite, he's charming and slightly helpless, forever losing his glasses or his keys, getting lost on the subway etc. As part of his grooming to take over the newspaper from his father Andy is rotated to work with Nick in the newsroom.

Nick finds himself attracted to Andy, even though he knows Andy isn't gay, in fact he's dating one of Nick's closest friends. Over the months they work together Nick spends his time finding Andy's keys, rescuing him, etc and they become best friends. So who else would Andy turn to when his fiance suddenly dumps him?

Andy has always wanted a family, marriage, children, maybe a dog, that's just how he's made, maybe in reaction to his parents' divorce and his mother's globe-trotting career as an investigative reporter. And for his entire life that vision included a woman. But sharing Nick's apartment suddenly opens Andy's eyes to a hitherto unacknowledged attraction.

Goodness, this was just sooooo good. I loved it. I loved Andy and Nick, I loved their family lives, I loved the way in which they could quarrel/speak at cross-purposes and then both come back with an apology. I loved the 1950s vibe and the reminder that while we haven't overcome homophobia yet we are still a long way past the repression and hatred of those times.

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Review: A Lethal Walk in Lakeland

A Lethal Walk in Lakeland by Nicholas George
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Rick Chasen, nicknamed Chase, is a retired American police detective. A fan of walking, he has arranged to meet his friend Billie and love-interest Mike on a shortened Coast-to-Coast walking tour in the Lake District. Unfortunately, an outbreak of some mysterious illness in Mike's home county of Devon means he cannot join them (he's the local coroner). Even worse, instead of the disparate group of walkers Chase was hoping for, the remainder of the group consist of a Canadian bird watcher and six members of the Upton family from Texas.

The reasons for the family joining the trek aren't clear, none of them seem like hikers. The oldest brother appears overly familiar with his younger sister and picks on one of his twin brothers, his wife is ridiculously superstitious. One twin is gregarious and outgoing, although too fond of a quick fix. The other twin is a former soldier who seems to have psychological problems. The only sister is a recent widow, although by her on admission she cheated on her husband while he was dying of cancer. The final member of the family group is actually the sister's best friend, although she gossips incessantly about all the other family members and clearly had a crush on her friend's husband.

The tensions between the family group frequently boil over into arguments, and occasionally physical fights, at one point the tour guide even kicks them all off the tour, although he is persuaded to reconsider.

But when one of the Uptons is mysteriously poisoned at a country hotel suspicions fall on the other members of the walking group and it is up to Chase to give the local police force the benefit of his observations about the group.

I think part of the reason for my average score for the novel is that I have recently read another book about a Coast-to-Coast walking tour, You Are Here so the theme was familiar. Also, given the mention of Mike, I assumed he would play a role in the story, but he only appears towards the end. Finally, although I knew that Chase had retired I assumed he was a fifty-something retiree rather than close to seventy.

I felt that any one of the tour group could have murdered the victim, because they were all given plausible motives, and I was rather irritated that the 'evidence' of the murderer was something that the reader could not have seen (which I am pretty sure breaks one of the mystery writing rules I read recently in another novel).

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

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Review: Famous Last Words

Famous Last Words by Gillian McAllister
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Camilla Deschamps is at the end of her nine months' maternity leave and about to go back to work as a literary agent. However, when she wakes up her husband Luke is nowhere to be seen, apparently he (a ghostwriter for celebrity memoirs) has gone into to his shared workspace early. Cam feels slightly aggrieved by this, she's the introvert and catastrophiser and he's the extrovert happy-go-lucky one -on a day like today she really needs him to talk her off the ledge about putting their daughter Polly in nursery. He's not even answering his phone or reading her messages.

Later that morning at work, Cam is astonished to see that the man holding three people hostage in a London warehouse is none other than Luke. Although instinctively she can't think of any reason why this charming, sunny-natured man would do such a thing, as the police question her she recalls a few instances where he snapped at her, or behaved out of character.

I don't want to spoil anything so I'll be vague. Seven years later Luke has disappeared without a trace, Cam seesaws between thinking it has all been a big mistake and hating him for what he put them through. Although the police are monitoring Cam's internet searches and phone calls their investigation is very low key, except for Niall, the hostage negotiator that day, whose personal and professional lives fell apart on that day. he can't get over what happened and is looking for some kind of closure.

Can Cam or Niall piece together the clues and find out what really happened that day?

First off, let me say this was a really good book, loved the story. However, having read a couple of Gillian McAllister's books before I was already looking for the surprise twist - didn't always get it right, mind - and therefore in some respects this was a little too predictable. I also felt at one point that there were going to be too many similarities with (what I consider to be her best book) Wrong Place Wrong Time, although that turned out to be incorrect.

Overall, if you are new to Gillian McAllister's work I think you'll love the twisty-turny plot, but if you read and loved Wrong Place, Wrong Time I suspect you will find it fell slightly flat. Still better than most of the contemporary mystery/thrillers out there.

I received an ARC from the publisher Penguin Random House via NetGalley.

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Review: Famous Last Words

Famous Last Words by Gillian McAllister
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Camilla Deschamps is at the end of her nine months' maternity leave and about to go back to work as a literary agent. However, when she wakes up her husband Luke is nowhere to be seen, apparently he (a ghostwriter for celebrity memoirs) has gone into to his shared workspace early. Cam feels slightly aggrieved by this, she's the introvert and catastrophiser and he's the extrovert happy-go-lucky one -on a day like today she really needs him to talk her off the ledge about putting their daughter Polly in nursery. He's not even answering his phone or reading her messages.

Later that morning at work, Cam is astonished to see that the man holding three people hostage in a London warehouse is none other than Luke. Although instinctively she can't think of any reason why this charming, sunny-natured man would do such a thing, as the police question her she recalls a few instances where he snapped at her, or behaved out of character.

I don't want to spoil anything so I'll be vague. Seven years later Luke has disappeared without a trace, Cam seesaws between thinking it has all been a big mistake and hating him for what he put them through. Although the police are monitoring Cam's internet searches and phone calls their investigation is very low key, except for Niall, the hostage negotiator that day, whose personal and professional lives fell apart on that day. he can't get over what happened and is looking for some kind of closure.

Can Cam or Niall piece together the clues and find out what really happened that day?

First off, let me say this was a really good book, loved the story. However, having read a couple of Gillian McAllister's books before I was already looking for the surprise twist - didn't always get it right, mind - and therefore in some respects this was a little too predictable. I also felt at one point that there were going to be too many similarities with (what I consider to be her best book) Wrong Place Wrong Time, although that turned out to be incorrect.

Overall, if you are new to Gillian McAllister's work I think you'll love the twisty-turny plot, but if you read and loved Wrong Place, Wrong Time I suspect you will find it fell slightly flat. Still better than most of the contemporary mystery/thrillers out there.

I received an ARC from the publisher Penguin Random House via NetGalley.

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Review: The Blitz Detective

The Blitz Detective by Mike Hollow
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Its 1940 and the Blitz has begun. For Detective Inspector John Jago it brings back unpleasant associations from his time in the trenches in WW1, being bombarded day and night. During the height of the bombing of East London an ARP Warden finds a man dead, slumped over the steering wheel of a van, it appears he has committed suicide, but on closer inspection he has also been stabbed in the heart.

The victim, Charles Villiers is a local Justice of the Peace and owns a printing factory nearby. However, before DI Jago and his new assistant Detective Constable Peter Cradock can get a police photographer and coroner to view the body the van is hit by German bombs and explodes!

When Jago starts to investigate Villiers it appears he wasn't a very nice man. His wife was clearly put upon, his son feels relief that his father is dead, his brother barely speaks to him, he's known to chase his female employees (and worse) and a lot of the people Jago speaks to suspect that he may have been involved in something 'dodgy'.

I did have trouble keeping the various characters straight in my head at times, especially when the story just leaps into a discussion between (say) Albert and Gus and you can't for the life of you remember who either of them are. Also because the man was such a pill there are clearly a lot of people with motive.

On reflection, perhaps the motive was a little far-fetched, and the final discovery overly dramatic, but it all hung together.

On to the second book.

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Review: The Soho Murder

The Soho Murder by Mike Hollow
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the ninth book in the series, I hadn't read any of the others and it didn't affect my enjoyment of the plot.

Detective Inspector John Jago and his trusty sidekick are called to disreputable Soho where an antiquarian bookseller has been found shot in his own flat. The man, only fairly recently married (ie last few years), owned a bookshop and his wife owned an ecclesiastical printing business and bookshop.

Investigating the murder will take John deep into Soho, exploring the jazz clubs which tip off their (male) customers, and the underground card games which sucker in losers.

This was a well-written and fast-paced detective story, set against the backdrop of the Blitz. On the strength of this book I have downloaded the first two in the series (which are currently available on Kindle Unlimited if anyone wants to try before they buy).

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

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Review: Caroline Minuscule

Caroline Minuscule by Andrew Taylor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a bit of a curiosity, having read several of Mt Taylor's other series I bought this book because it was only 99p, but was (frankly) put off by the title - don't be. It's not clear when this is supposed to be set, I initially thought the 1950s but I suspect it was contemporary when it was written in the 1980s - doesn't' that make me feel old!

William Douglas is a mature(ish) student who chose the rather obscure Caroline Miniscule medieval script for his post-graduate studies (mainly because of its obscurity which would make any research easier to pass off as new). He is lackadaisically preparing to provide a translation of a piece of said Caroline Miniscule from a photo provided by his tutor when he finds the tutor's body garotted in his study. Rather than call the Police, William basically runs away.

Later William is accosted by a man called James Hansard, who he suspects is his tutor's murderer, apparently his tutor was to have translated the text in the photograph for this man and he offers William an eye-wateringly large sum of money to translate the script instead.

But then William reads that James has been killed and later receives a letter and a parcel from James' bank. The letter explains that James was searching for a cache of diamonds, hidden by a client, but the client has shared clues with James and another man, James suspects this man will kill him and has asked William, if that happens, to find the diamonds in his place.

The ensuing search involves a road trip from London to East Anglia and the fens. There's murder, double-crosses, and more.

Loved it, loved the ambiguous ending and I've already bought the second book in the series.

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