Book Review – Poirot Investigates by Agatha Christie

books, reviews

Rating: 4 out of 5.

I have to admit I’ve sort of abandoned my plan to reread every Agatha Christie book. I started it ages ago and knew that it would take me ages. Not because her books take that long to read but because I didn’t want to suffer from burnout. Still, I haven’t really been keeping up with it this year. I think the last Christie book I read was back in December. Although, it’s not as if I read a great deal in 2022. I only picked up 4 of her books. Absolutely abysmal when compared to the 16 I got through in 2021. So, I’m going to try and improve this year. I’ve still got over 30 to get through so I need to get cracking. To get me started, I finally listened to an audiobook I’ve had in my library for too long. I normally like Hugh Fraser’s narration but surely David Suchet would be even better, right? At least Poriot would sound familiar.

Book Review – Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch

books, reviews

Rating: 3 out of 5.

One of the biggest problems with buying so many books in a year is that I tend to forget about them. I put them on my shelf with every intention of reading them later but, inevitably, they get lost amongst the rest. In some cases, I end up buying the book again but, thankfully, that’s a rarity. Mostly they just sit there gathering dust. In order to get my every increasing TBR down, I’ve taken to buying or borrowing the audiobook version as well. I’ve grown to really enjoy listening to an audiobook at work, so it means I can cross a few off in a particularly good week. In the case of this book, I ended up listening to it by accident. I knew that I’d bought a book a few years ago that had “of London” in the title. Turns out, that book was The Ashes of London instead. Ah well, I borrowed this one and might as well give it a listen. It’s one of those books that I see everywhere but didn’t know much about. Maybe it would be a new series for me?

Book Review – The Accident on the A35 by Graeme Macrae Burnet

books, reviews

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Between the publication of Graeme Macrae Burnet’s first Georges Gorski novel and the second, he had become a Booker-shortlisted author. The Disappearance of Adèle Bedeau didn’t get a great deal of attention when it was published. I’m not saying that the second book got loads but it certainly benefited from being the writer’s follow-up to His Bloody Project. I first read Adèle Bedeau last year and enjoyed it. When I stumbled across the audiobook of the sequel at the library, I decided it was time to get through book 2. There’s a third one on the way at some point, so at least it would leave me in a position to read that at some point.

Book Review – The Disappearance of Adèle Bedeau by Graeme Macrae Burnet

books, reviews

Rating: 4 out of 5.

When is it possible to say for sure that an author is one of your favourites? How many of their books do you need to have read before you can make that claim? Even after reading His Bloody Project, I was sure that Graeme Macrae Burnet would be in a position to earn that title. Then I read Case Study and it only confirmed how much I enjoy his writing. In order to get the full experience, I also bought copies of his other works but, as usual, it took me a while to get around to them. When I found the audiobook version of this book in my library’s catalogue, it seemed like it was the right time to do so. So, I listened to it during work with the hope that I could finally bestow the all-important title on the Scottish author.

Book Review – The Highland Falcon Thief by M.G. Leonard and Sam Sedgman

books, reviews

Rating: 4 out of 5.

First things first, my family bloody love trains. We get especially excited about steam trains. It fills me with absolute joy that my niece is finally reaching an age where she’s starting to want to play with our old train set. She’s still not quite got to grips with it but it gives me plenty of excuses to play with it myself. I could easily see myself becoming one of those model train people. If I had enough room, I’d definitely set one up permanently. So, as you can probably tell, I was really excited at the prospect of a series of children’s mysteries set on trains. It was everything I could have wanted.

Book Review – The Laird of Drumlychtoun by Hilary Pugh

books, reviews

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

I started August by reviewing an ARC, so it only seemed right to finish it with one. This was another book that I got access to thanks to The Book Network. It sounded like fun and I love a story set in Scotland. I also thought it would be the perfect size to finish before the end of August. I find it really annoying to get most of the way through a book but not finish it in time. It starts the month off badly if you ask me and I need September to go perfectly. I’ve got a lot of letters to cross off and a book club pick that isn’t one of them. Meaning I’m looking at 10 books at least in the next 27 days. It would be easy for a different reader but my focus has been so up and down lately. Who knows how I’ll do.