A new book by one of my most recommended authors is always a joy. But one of the problems with reading any of Phil Rickman's books is the contradictory impulses of wanting to read it really quickly to find out what happens, as he is master storyteller, whilst also wanting to savour the writing, as he is also brilliant at evoking atmosphere and character. As always, the first, baser, impulse won and I read the book in one sitting.

From the opening scenes in a foggy Ledwardine graveyard to the final dénouement, the pace does not slacken. We’re reunited with old friends, make some news ones, learn something new and as always are gloriously entertained and at times scared witless, by a brilliant book.

The burning question is why isn’t Phil Rickman more widely known?

A Sufeit of Lamphreys 4 Stars

Death and the Dancing Footman 3 Stars

Colour Scheme 4 Stars

A tie in to the Ugly Duchess, this books features two stories, one about Sir Griffin Barry, the other noble pirate featured in the book, the other about Lady Grace Ryburn, Jamie and Theo’s daughter, who falls in love with Colin, Sir Griffin’s adoptive son, who follows his father to sea by joining the Royal Navy and possibly falls in love with Grace’s sister. Sir Griffin, having been absent from home since the day after his wedding fourteen years ago has a great deal of work to do to convince his wife Phoebe to take him back, including getting her name right. These are charming stories which work well alongside The Ugly Duchess and passed the time nicely.

Gowan Stoughton, Duke of Kinross, falls in love with Lady Edith Gilchrist at her coming out ball and immediately proposes marriage. Edie accepts, even though she was ill at the ball and can’t quite remember Gowan. This is a weird book by romance standards, yes it follows many of the conventions of the romance novels, but in this book most of the obstacles are created by the couple themselves, through their inability to communicate and their rigid habits – Edie is passionate musician who has to practice at certain times and Gowan is a control freak who has to know everything about his estates. An enjoyable read nonetheless, although the Rapunzel elements of the story felt forced.

Jamie and Theodora, Daisy to Jamie, have been bought up as brother and sister. So when Jamie is ordered by his father to marry Theo, as she prefers to be called, because he’s embezzled some of her inheritance, he is shocked. After they are married things look to be settling down well, until Jamie’s father catches them in a ‘delicate’ situation and reveals all. Hurt and disillusioned, Theo throws Jamie out and he runs away to sea, while Theo, stays home to endure the gossip, that Jamie fled because she was so ugly. Years later Jamie returns. Is it too late for their marriage? A fun swashbuckling romance, which passed the time quickly and enjoyably.

A slightly unconventional instalment in the series as the hero, Thorn Dautry, is the illegitimate son of a Duke and spent his early years a mud lark scavenging in and around the Thames. Determined to marry well he buys a run-down country estate with a scandalous history. His stepmother asks her friend Lady Xenobia India St. Claire, daughter of a Marquess, to help him decorate the Estate. When these two unconventional characters meet sparks fly, sparks which may prevent Thorn from securing the marriage he desires. This is quite a witty instalment in the series, I particularly loved the exchange of letters between India and Thorn.

Following a riding accident Quill, heir to Viscount Dewland, is deemed incapable, so his father insists that his younger brother, Peter, a fashion obsessed fop marries Gabby. Inevitably Quill falls for Gabby and shenanigans ensue. This is an interesting tale as although Gabby seems to be a bit silly by the standards of many of James’s heroines, although we quickly learn that she is a gifted liar, she turns out to be strong and determined, although a bit misguided. The darkness in this book is less oblique than in the other books in the series, but its still an enjoyable and fun read.

Sophie's father's public indiscretions have caused Sophie to vow not to marry a rake and left her parents estranged. So when the notorious rake Patrick Foakes proposed she turns him down and becomes engaged to his friend Braddon. But, inevitably, all is not plain sailing as planned elopement with Braddon goes awry and Sophie ends up marrying Patrick. Sophie is another of James’s unconventional heroines, gifted with languages, she is encouraged by her mother to hide her gift in case her husband views her as a bluestocking. Another enjoyable slightly dark tale by James which passed the time.

Eloisa James's characters often are unconventional and Charlotte is no exception as she is a passionate painter. She is, of course, as the heroine of a romance novel, also passionate about other things and when she encounters Alex Foakes at a disreputable masquerade ball, he seduces her. As is ruined Charlotte determines never to marry, until years later, after her debut, she encounters Alex, now titled, rich and the subject of a scandalous marriage and he doesn't remember Charlotte. I enjoyed reading this dark story, Alex is not a straightforward character and his and Charlotte's romance is not the stuff of fairy tales.

Two of the three Apostles feature in this book, which is a strange tale even by Vargas's standards. Louis Kehlweiler is an ex-investigator who just can't stop investigating. He finds a human toe bone embedded in some dog excrement, realises that this is evidence of a murder so he, two of the Evangelists and Kehlweiler's own oddly assorted band of investigators start on a mission to discover where the dog which deposited the evidence came from, in the hope of tracing the victim. Possibly because of its strangeness, which feels very French to this English reader, I really enjoyed this book.

In order to save the last two dragons from destruction, Jennifer and Perkins, supported by a Princess who isn’t quite herself, embark on journey - not a quest, this would involve too much paperwork and take too long for find approval - to find the Eye of Zoltar and pay a ransom for the Once Magnificent Boo (long story) in The Cambrian Empire. Their journey is full of peril Addie, their guide, calculates that half their party will die, and, to lengthen the odds, invites other tourists to join the tour. A fantastic instalment in the series and I look forward to seeing where Fforde takes the surviving characters.

I very rarely give up on reading a book, but I was so bored, unengaged and uncaring about the characters and the plot in this book that I gave up on page 225. Now I love a Gothic novel, but this was just list of autopsies, dis-interments, death, sometimes murder, broken up every so often with the odd slice of the London underworld, which does not a Gothic novel make.

A well-written mystery which kept me engaged from the first page to the last. Dark and filled with shocks, twists and turns, and certain unresolved plot developments, which will hopefully be resolved later in the series, I will definitely be reading more of these books.

I love this series of books and how Daisy has developed as a character over the years. Here Daisy is called in to help with the investigation into those asserting the claim to be the legitimate heir to her cousin Edgar, the childless Lord Dalrymple. The investigation takes a dark turn when one of the claimants dies, possibly murdered, during a family gathering at Fairacres for Edgar’s birthday and Daisy and Alec are forced to try and untangle the family tree to find the true heir and whether or not he is a potential victim or the murderer. Wonderful.

I absolutely adored this book as I loved the three historians Mathias, Marc and Lucien, the three Evangelists of the title, and Marc’s ex-policeman great uncle as they investigated first the mysterious appearance of a tree in the garden of their neighbour, Sophia Simeonidis and then Sophia’s disappearance, followed by an increasing body count. The various mysteries are intriguing and judiciously placed red herrings ensure that the solution was a surprise to this reader at least. Wonderful.

Harriet has come home at last and, as the family gather at Buckshaw things start to change for Flavia. There seem to have been very strong reactions to this instalment in the series with some loving it and some hating it. Personally I loved it as Flavia couldn’t continue to stumble onto murder mysteries in and around her home. Am very interested in seeing where Bradley takes Flavia in the next book.

I loved this instalment in the series and how Vargas mixed ‘fact’ – the Highgate Vampire story is based on real reports of supernatural activity in and around Highgate Cemetery in the 1970s – and fiction. I also loved how the seemingly random elements of the plot, the shoes and the decomposing feet found at Highgate, the murder and complete disintegration of the victim’s body, and the Serbian village, all came together at the end. Fabulous.

A lovely, sometimes touching, and fun reworking of the Princess and the Pea.

Superb follow up to The Cold Calling Seffi Callard, renowned psychic is in trouble and she asks, Marcus, her ex-teacher for help. Ill with the flu he sends Grayle, now working as his assistant, to meet Seffi and she immediately encounters trouble. Bobby, on track for a promotion that he doesn’t really want, is still grappling with his demons and police corruption, while Cindy and Kelvin the Kite have achieved fame, if not fortune, presenting the National Lottery show on the BBC.

Rickman, the master story teller, brings all these characters together in a story which is both terrifying, each of our characters is threatened, and compelling.

Brilliant.

What a cast of characters, Bobby Maiden, policeman, once 4 minutes dead, Sister Andy who used ‘alternative’ means to bring him back, Grayle, who’s left New York to try and find her missing sister, Marcus, trying to keep his dying magazine going and, possibly Rickman’s best creation, Cindy, a cross-dressing ventriloquist and shaman.

I just couldn’t put this book down as I wanted to discover who the ‘Green Man’, driven to murder his victims at sacred sites, what happened to Grayle’s sister, and whether or not everyone makes it alive to the end of the book. But I also didn’t want to finish it as, as well as his wonderfully three dimensional and flawed characters, Rickman’s sense of place is superbly evocative of the border country he writes about.

I really don’t why Rickman isn’t more widely read as he should be at the top of the best seller lists.

This story really disturbed me and haunted me, but as an insight into obsession this is a superb story and very well written. Sallie is an interesting character and I don't want to give too much of the story away, but you really get drawn into her world and her reactions to it.

A lovely sequel to Rickman’s Marco’s Pendulum and a lovely book for young adults. As always Rickman’s sense of place is evocative and Marco is a realistic central character as he deals with the latest threat to Glastonbury’s equilibrium and his family.

A fun reworking of the Beauty and the Beast tale set in Regency Britain which, as the author notes, is partially inspired by House. Passed the time nicely.

A collection of short stories/fairy tales set in the world Clarke created for Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. They’re an interesting take on the world, with my favourite being ‘Tom Brightwind, or How the Fairy Bridge was Built at Thoresby’. Probably not a collection for everyone but if you loved Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell and are interested in folklore and fairy tales do read this.

A wonderful work of escapist literature as Heyer, clearly inspired by Shakespeare's Twelfth Night amongst other, writes her own story of cross dressing siblings. Prudence and Robin who were on the losing side of the Jacobite Rebellion hide out in London by Masquerading as Kate (Robin) and Peter (Prudence) Merriot with sometimes hilarious consequences.

Heyer really goes for the fun in this book, there’s a masked ball in which Robin, dressed as a man, engages in some light flirtation with his intended, a duel, including the slap around the face with a glove, highwaymen and lots of intrigue.

Wonderful.

Lots of fun in this one as Gilly, Duke of Sale, discovering that one of his cousins is being blackmailed and determined to escape from the oppressive care of his guardian and his servants, sets out on an adventure. Things don't go as planned, and Gilly ends up caring for the beautiful Belinda, the foundling of the title and Tom, a schoolboy on the run from his annoying tutor.

An interesting idea, an alternate universe New York with feuding superheroes. Then I got really confused and the book became very disjointed as I tried to work out who was who, where they were and how these seemingly disparate stories were linked. It did all come together in the end. I like the idea, but I'm not sure how I feel about the book, its not badly written, but I can't work out if its a great book or not.

A lovely instalment in the Canongate Myths Series. To be honest I don’t know enough about the Angus Myth to know how McCall Smith interpreted it, but I loved the juxtaposition between Angus's storty and the 'real world'. Somehow I found the story of Pig 20 really really moving. Lovely.

Death in a White Tie

An interesting story set in the London Season of the 1930s. Someone is blackmailing Society ladies, so Alleyn, unable to overtly investigate, asks his friend Lord Robert “Bunchy” Gospell, a well known Society character, to help with the investigation. In the meantime Alleyn’s beloved mother is chaperoning his niece through her first season – I love Alleyn’s mother, she’s such a fun character – and Troy, also a friend of Bunchy’s attends one of the balls. Then some close to Alleyn is murdered and Alleyn has to work hard to remain detached in order to complete his investigation. I really enjoyed this story, it completes the humanisation of Alleyn which started with Artists in Crime.

Overture to Death

Set in a Dorset village this is a story very much of its time, with two warring spinsters fighting for the attentions of the local vicar and when one of them is murdered, whilst playing the piano at a charity performance staged to raise money for a new piano, Alleyn is called into investigate, with the first order of business being whether or not she was the intended victim. While its very much of its time Marsh beautifully evokes the claustrophobic atmosphere of a small village, where everyone knows everyone’s else’s business and everyone has an agenda. I have one small quibble with this, Marsh seems to have gone for the easy route in selecting her murderer and the motive.

Death at the Bar

A murder takes place in a bar, but this is the show more simplest part of the plot. Called in to help the local police, Alleyn and Fox, have to try and work out the motive for the murder and the means, before they have a chance of singling out the murderer from a number of suspects. There were some inventive elements, our intrepid detectives are nearly murdered themselves, which brings about some lovely scenes between Alleyn and Fox, but again Marsh seems to have gone the easy way in choosing her murderer, although there are lots of red herrings along the way. show less

Lots going on here, all seemingly disconnected except that French cop Richard Guérin, tasked with investigating Parisian suicides, believes that everything is connected so searches for the links. This is a dark, disturbing and surreal novel where possibly nothing is at it seems, or it is, in fact, exactly what you think it is. I’m really not sure whether is this one of the best pieces of crime fiction I’ve read, or is just a mildly diverting and slightly bonkers read. I’m leaning towards the former mainly because Varenne’s characters are so flawed and compelling that by the end of the book I cared about their fate.