Book review – Page 43 – Everything Is Better With Dragons

Review: ‘Mavis and Dot’, by Angela Petch

Blurb

A warm slice of life, funny, feel-good, yet poignant. Introducing two eccentric ladies who form an unlikely friendship.Meet Mavis and Dot – two colourful, retired ladies who live in Worthington-on-Sea, where there are charity shops galore. Apart from bargain hunting, they manage to tangle themselves in escapades involving illegal immigrants, night clubs, nude modelling, errant toupees and more. And then there’s Mal, the lovable dog who nobody else wants. A gently humorous, often side-splitting, heart-warming snapshot of two memorable characters with past secrets and passions. Escape for a couple of hours into this snapshot of a faded, British seaside town. You’ll laugh and cry but probably laugh more.”This book is quirky and individual, and has great pathos…[it] will resonate with a lot of readers.” Gill Kaye – Editor of Ingenu(e). Written with a light touch in memory of a dear friend who passed away from ovarian cancer, Angela Petch’s seaside tale is a departure from her successful Tuscan novels.

All profits from the sale of the books will go towards research into the cure for cancer.

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November Bonus Review #6

Landruâs Secret Published By: Pen & Sword

Publication Date: 10th October 2018

Format: Hardback

I.S.B.N.: 9781526715296

Price: £15.99

Purchase Link

Blurb

On 12 April 1919, the Paris police arrested a bald, short, 50-year-old swindler at his apartment near the Gare du Nord, acting on a lead from a humble housemaid. A century later, Henri Désiré Landru remains the most notorious and enigmatic serial killer in French criminal history, a riddle at the heart of an unsolved murder puzzle.

The official version of Landru’s lethal rampage was so shocking that it almost defied belief. According to the authorities, Landru had made “romantic contact” with 283 women during the First World War, luring ten of them to his country houses outside Paris where he killed them for their money.

Yet no bodies were ever found, while Landru obdurately protested his innocence. “It is for you to prove the deeds of which I am accused,” he sneered at the investigating magistrate.

The true story of l’affaire Landru, buried in the Paris police archives for the past century, was altogether more disturbing. In Landru’s Secret, Richard Tomlinson draws on more than 5,000 pages of original case documents, including witness statements, police reports and private correspondence, to reveal for the first time that:

Landru killed more women than the 10 victims on the charge sheet.

The police failed to trace at least 72 of the women he contacted.

The authorities ignored the key victim who explained why the killings began.

Landru did not kill for money, but to revel in his power over what he called the “feeble sex”.

Lavishly illustrated with previous unpublished photographs, Landru’s Secret is a story for our times: a female revengers’ tragedy starring the mothers and sisters of the missing fiancées, a lethal misogynist and France’s greatest defence lawyer, intent on saving his repulsive client from the guillotine.

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Review: ‘Homicide in Herne Hill’, by Alice Castle

Publication Date: 3rd October 2018

Published By: Crooked Cat Books

Format: Kindle and Paperback

I.S.B.N.: 9781724129325

Price: 99p (Kindle); £6.99 (Paperback)

Blurb

Beth Haldane, SE21’s premier – and only – single mum amateur sleuth, is really pleased to find a new friend at the school gates, in the shape of irrepressibly bouncy Nina. As well as a way with words, Nina has a puzzle she wants Beth to solve, centred on the solicitor’s office where Nina works in Herne Hill.

But as the mystery thickens, threatening to drag in not just Nina and her boss, but the yummy mummies of Dulwich, too, Beth is about to find out just how far some people will go to keep up appearances.

Join Beth in this fourth instalment in the London Murder Mystery series for her toughest case yet.

Purchase Link – myBook.to/homicideinhernehill

Amazon UK – https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07GPGBSC6

There’s a chance to win a signed copy of the book at the bottom of the post.

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November Bonus Review #5: ‘Tempests and Slaughter’, by Tamora Pierce

Published By: HarperCollins UK

Publication Date: 20th September 2018

I.S.B.N.: 9780008304331

Format: Paperback

Price: £8.99

Blurb

The legend begins.

In the ancient halls of the Imperial University of Carthak, a young man has begun his journey to becoming one of most powerful mages the realm has ever known. Arram Draper is the youngest student in his class and has the Gift of unlimited potential for greatness . . . and of attracting danger.

At his side are his two best friends: clever Varice, a girl with too often-overlooked, and Ozorne, the ‘leftover prince’ with secret ambitions. Together, these three forge a bond that will one day shape kingdoms.

But as Ozorne inches closer to the throne and Varice grows closer to Arram’s heart, Arram realizes that one day – soon – he will have to decide where his loyalties truly lie.

In the Numair Chronicles, fans of Tamora Pierce will be rewarded with the never-before-told story of how Numair Salmalín came to Tortall. Newcomers will discover an unforgettable fantasy adventure where a kingdom’s future rests on the shoulders of a boy with unimaginable gifts and a talent for making deadly enemies.

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November Bonus Review #3: ‘The First Forensic Hanging’, by Summer Strevens

The First Forensic Hanging Published By: Pen & Sword

Publication Date: 5th September 2018

Format: Paperback

I.S.B.N.: 9781526736185

Price: £10.39 (normally £12.99)

Purchase Link

This is one of the new books Pen & Sword have sent me to review (Thanks to Rosie Crofts, Digital Marketing, Pen & Sword). There will be a few coming up, as I have four more in this delivery, nine in a delivery due today, and two or three more on order. What can I say? I do enjoy their books. Next up will be Murder, Madness and Mayhem by Kathryn Burtinshaw and John Burt.

Blurb

‘For the sake of decency, gentlemen, don’t hang me high.’ This was the last request of modest murderess Mary Blandy, who was hanged for poisoning her father in 1752. Concerned that the young men in the crowd who had thronged to see her execution might look up her skirts as she was ‘turned off’ by the hangman, this last nod to propriety might appear farcical in one who was about to meet her maker. Yet this was just another aspect of a case which attracted so much public attention in its day that some determined spectators even went to the lengths of climbing through the courtroom windows to get a glimpse of Mary while on trial. Indeed her case remained newsworthy for the best part of 1752, for months garnering endless scrutiny and mixed reaction in the popular press.

Opinions are certainly still divided on the matter of Mary’s ‘intention’ in the poisoning of her father, and the extent to which her coercive lover, Captain William Cranstoun, was responsible for this murder by proxy. Yet Mary Blandy’s trial was also notable in that it was the first time that detailed medical evidence had been presented in a court of law on a charge of murder by poisoning, and the first time that any court had accepted toxicological evidence in an arsenic poisoning case. The forensic legacy of the acceptance of Dr Anthony Addington’s application of chemistry to a criminal investigation is another compelling aspect of The First Forensic Hanging.

Continue reading “November Bonus Review #3: ‘The First Forensic Hanging’, by Summer Strevens”

November Bonus Review #2: ‘The Real Guy Fawkes’, by Nick Holland

The Real Guy Fawkes Published By: Pen and Sword

Publication Date: 9th October 2017

ISBN: 9781526705082

Format: Hardback

Price: £19.99

Purchase link

Blurb

Guy Fawkes, born in York in 1570, is one of the key figures in British history, taking a central role in a plot that would have destroyed the ruling class and changed the nation forever. Today protesters wear his mask, families burn his effigy, and he is an instantly recognisable name and face. But just who was the real Guy Fawkes? In this new book, we take an exciting look at the flesh and blood person behind the myth. We find out what radicalised the man who was born a Protestant, and yet planned mass murder for the Catholic cause. The book takes a fresh look at Guy’s early life in York and beyond, and examines how that led to him becoming a Catholic mercenary and a key member of the 1605 Gunpowder treason.

This fresh new biography of Guy’s life removes the layers of complexity that can cloud the British history of this time: an era when fearful Catholics hid in tiny priest holes, government spies were everywhere, and even your closest friends could send you to be hung, drawn and quartered. Guy and his conspirators were prepared to risk everything and endanger everyone, but were they fanatics, freedom fighters, or fools? This explosive read, accompanied with beautiful illustrations, is accessible and engaging, combining contemporary accounts with modern analysis to reveal new motivations behind Guy’s actions.

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Review: ‘Bertie The Buffalo’, by Wendy H. Jones

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Published By: Sarah Grace Publishing

Publication Date: 30th November 2018

Format: Paperback

Price: £7.99

I.S.B.N.: 9781910786529

Blurb

Bertie the Buffalo is based on a true story of when a Water Buffalo escaped from a Buffalo Park in Fife, near Dundee, Scotland. A rhyming book about the adventures Bertie got up to and how he safely returned home, demonstrating how important each of us is no matter how insignificant we feel. Bertie felt that no one noticed him. But he didn’t need to think that as we are all special. We are all a part of one big family.

Buy Link

https://amzn.to/2Phntyv

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Review: ‘Nessie’s Husband’, by Sibel Beadle

Publication Date: 31^st October 2018

Published By: Grosvenor House Publishing Ltd

Format: Picture Book

I.S.B.N.: 9781786233394

Price: £6.99

Amazon Link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Witchy-Travel-Tales-Nessies-Husband/dp/1786233398/

Blurb

Miranda’s daughter, Mimi, is half-cat half-human. Mimi wants to become invisible and hopes that Nessie can teach her how to become invisible and hide from her classmates. The story takes, Mimi accompanied by her witch mother and sisters, to a magical trip across Scotland where the family ends up rediscovering themselves and finding Nessie’s husband.

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Review: ‘Reprobation’, by Catherine Fearns

Blurb

Are you one of the elect?

Dr. Helen Hope is a lecturer in eschatology – the study of death, judgement, and the destiny of humankind. She is also a Calvinist nun, her life devoted to atoning for a secret crime.

When a body is found crucified on a Liverpool beach, she forms an unlikely alliance with suspect Mikko Kristensen, lead guitarist in death metal band Total Depravity. Together, they go on the trail of a rogue geneticist who they believe holds the key – not just to the murder, but to something much darker.

Also on the trail is cynical Scouse detective Darren Swift. In his first murder case, he must confront his own lack of faith as a series of horrific crimes drag the city of two cathedrals to the gates of hell.

Science meets religious belief in this gripping murder mystery.

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Review: ‘Sex Drive’, by Stephanie Theobald

Publication Date: 18th October 2018

Published by: Unbound

I.S.B.N.: 978-1-78352-681-9

Format: Hardback

Price: £16.99

Blurb

Arriving in New York with a failing relationship and a body she felt out of touch with, Stephanie Theobald set off on a 3,497 mile trip across America to re-build her orgasm from the ground up. What started as a quest for the ultimate auto-erotic experience became a fantastic voyage into her own body.

She takes us from ‘body sex’ classes with the legendary feminist Betty Dodson to an interview with the former US Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders, who was fired for suggesting that masturbation should be talked about in schools. Along the way, we are immersed in a weird, countercultural America of marijuana farms and ‘ecosexual sexologists’.

Sex Drive is a memoir about desire and pleasure, merging sexuality and spirituality,
eighteenth-century porn and enlightenment philosophy. A new sexual revolution has begun – and this time round, it’s all about the women.

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