Library Loot: March 23 to 29th

Following my previous post about loving your local library, it seems appropriate to join my voice to Library Loot, a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Linda from Silly Little Mischief that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library.

After two weeks of reading short stories and murder mysteries, and anticipating my forthcoming four day weekend* I went to the library and brought home the following treasures. 

Murder Mystery: An Excellent Mystery by Ellis Peters

I got into Ellis Peters at an early age, because her books are the literary equivalent of the York Railway Game, for which the rules are: when attending any social gathering in York, score one point for each person you can find who works for (or retired from) the rail industry (excluding myself because that would be cheating). Whether it’s a village panto or an International Women’s Day event at the library, in four years I’ve never had a score of zero! 

Murder Mystery: The Sting of Justice by Cora Harrison

Imagine a wind-swept stony place on the edge of the sea, where ancient Irish law holds sway in the face of English empire-building. Cora Harrison’s series of Burren mysteries is set in a law school during the sixteenth century on the limestone plateau called the Burren on the west coast of Ireland. I’ve never been there, but I imagine something like Malham Cove but by the sea. On the basis of Cora’s beautiful descriptions, this is definitely somewhere I’d like to go on holiday…

Murder Mystery: Bones in the Nest by Helen Cadbury

This is my second review of books featured in ReadRegional 2016, a fantastic festival of home-grown literary talent across the North of England. Find your local events here.

“Bones in the Nest” is the second novel about Sean Denton, who starts out as a Police Commumity Support Officer (PCSO) in “To Catch A Rabbit” but has now been trained as a fully fledged PC. Sean is a great character: still learning his role, keeping up with banter and conflicted by having to solve a difficult murder case on the estate in Doncaster where he grew up.

Time For A Good Murder Mystery (or several)

Having recently appeared in the York Theatre Royal’s “Blood in the Ballroom” murder mystery event, I think it’s time to review some of my favourite crime and mystery books, starting with Read Regional author Helen Cadbury.