Julie Wassmer

Julie Wassmer's story reads like an extended woman's magazine feature, but there is no denying the raw emotion behind the punchy humour and new-age introspection. She made me laugh, she brought tears to my eyes, and the 'coincidence' of the title truly is stranger than fiction, as she repeats throughout.

Julie was born into a larger than life family in the East End of London, much like the families on the soap opera she eventually came to write for. In fact, her life is more like a chick lit show more novel, replete with parent angst, romantic adventures, gay friends, true love - and a teenage pregnancy. After she returned from sailing around the Med with Captain Birdseye to fall straight into a successful writing career, I must admit I was rolling my eyes, but then, that is why I love to read about how exciting the lives of other people can be, after all.

The main focus of Julie's story is actually the baby she gave up for adoption, after a mostly secret pregnancy in the late 1960s, and the twist of fate which reunited mother and daughter twenty years later. I read the key facts in a condensed newspaper version of Julie's book, but her telling of how they met is far more powerful, especially after sharing her life story up to that momentous day. Julie and her daughter Sara - called Sarah Louise on her birth certificate - also look amazingly alike, judging from the cover photographs, so it must have been like meeting her own reflection.

The build up to the chance reunion, in the office of Julie's agent, is the better part of the book, after that she must have been so overwhelmed with reliving the experience that she rather overeggs the pudding ('Fireworks were still banging and fizzing outside. Or was it fallout from the final, cataclysmic collision of my two worlds?') Still, I was bowled over just by reading her story, so I can only admire her ability to put her thoughts and feelings into words!

A heartwarming and fascinating true story. show less

One of the very rare books that I've come across after first watching the TV serialisation. It is of course better, but I can't quite keep the actors out of my visualisation, even though I think they've been changed. It's less clear from the writing as the characters aren't explicitly described in detail.

Pearl as a single mum has been running a restaurant, but now that her son is gone to university she thinks she needs a bit more challenge in life, and has opened a small PI business to show more re-find her former career's police skills. Her first client turns out to be someone chasing a bad debt - and she knows the debtor. She turns out the case, but can't find Vinnie, until she heads out to his boat - where his body is tangled amidst the anchor chain. The Police arrive, and follow the usual procedure, not revealing details to Pearl (the number of PI books where details are leaked is really quite high). show less

Pearl Nolan is feeling a little out of sorts. She has a new chef at her restaurant and he's a great success, her boyfriend is in London involved in a court case and she hasn't had an interesting case for her detective agency in a while. When Pearl is called in investigate the disappearance of a man six years earlier she is intrigued. the case brings her into contact with all sectors of Kent society from the newcomers to the old residents and from the church to social services.
I hadn't read show more any of Wassmer's previous novels but that was no barrier to getting into this tale. The setting in and around Whitstable is wonderful and Wassmer really knows the area well to be able to write about it in both detail and loving descriptions. The story is a bit of a mixed bag. Potentially it could have been really dark, the abuse of girls from a care home, man with PTSD, the suspicious minister etc but Wassmer chose to keep it fairly light, things are hinted at rather than described explicitly. I think this is in keeping with the fairly light tone of the novel, it is a pleasant read rather than a gritty one. That is no bad thing and in a crowded genre Wassmer has quite a distinctive voice. show less

With no cases for a year Pearl Nolan's detective agency is not exactly flourishing but her restaurant goes from strength to strength and she is invited to help out catering for an important local twinning event. During this festival a celebrated local author is found dead and then a visitor from the German twin town is murdered shortly afterwards.
Completely out of kilter with the trend for dark and gritty detective novels Wassmer's Whitstable Pearl books are a breath of fresh air. They hark show more back to the light novels of the 1930s but with a modern, playful twist. Books like this aren't everyone's taste but for a little light reading they are terrific and this is no exception. show less