While building a snowman with her two children, Harriet Smith finds the body of a man in a snow filled ditch near her isolated cottage. To be precise it was Barnie the family dog who found it.
What follows is the hunt for the identity of the body, why and how it came to be where it was found. In a way the story resembles peeling an onion as each layer is removed another lurks beneath it. Peeling this onion to reveal a murder are Detective Inspector Samantha Freeman and Detective Sergeant Jenny Newcombe.
The plot twists and turns, complicated by not only family jealousies, deceit, abuse and violence but the problem of juvenile delinquents.
The characters are well drawn the scenes well described, I read this book quickly, a real page turner. I found it to be an unusual and enjoyable read.
May Morrigan lives in her large Blackheath Home with her very elderly mother (Minty) and friend Fletcher, also known as Barbara Bouvier, the other two members of the household are May’s two miniature dachshunds, Bess and George. That is the straightforward part of the book.
The story starts at May’s bookshop when a mysterious text message appears on the phones of everyone in the bookshop. The action is non-stop from that point forward, weaving in and out of unconvential lifestyles and relationships.
Murders follow the receipt of cryptic text messages, which prompts May and her friends to try to track down the murderer.
The scenes are wonderfully set and the descriptions paint vivid pictures of the action. The characters particularly the lusty Minty are interesting and far from run of the mill.
This is the most unusual, funniest book I have read in a long time and one of the most enjoyable ever.
I am not normally tempted by historical novels; those more historical than the 1930s, that is but it was the promise of a murder mystery that swung the balance. The story is set in the early eighteenth century West Country and mainly in Bristol.
Miss Coronation Amesbury leaves her village in Wiltshire to seek her fortune in Bristol. The coach journey alone in atrocious weather is an adventure in its self. Her arrival in this bustling port city following a difficult overnight stay in Bath is not an easy one for her and a great shock after village life.
The recent horrendous murder of several young boys haunts Bristol. We follow Coronation as she looks for work in what she hopes will be her new home and her search for the perpetrator of these horrendous crimes.
The time, place and the events are beautifully painted we can see it all in our minds eye, a warts and all view of a bustling Bristol with its busy port during the era of slave trading. The story is well told and I found myself neglecting important tasks to finish the book, I struggled to put it down until I read those two final words, “The End”.
I along with two of my fellow Whittlesey Wordsmiths, Cathy Cade and Wendy Fletcher, were priveleged to have short stories published on Marsha’s blog. She has now collected short stories first shown on her blog and published them in a book which is available as a paperback and on Kindle.
Fiction relaxes and stimulates intelligent, busy people, as social media and games can’t. A professional commuting to work or waiting for the next meeting is too busy to read a long novel, but they might be looking for the next book for an after-hour reading.
Each story in the new book, Story Chat: Online Literary Conversations: Series of Short Stories and Ruminations, takes three to five minutes to read, making it the perfect book for well-educated readers who love reading fiction in short spurts. Some of the authors are just getting their literary feet wet, but many of the Story Chat authors already have published longer novels.
“Daily, we miss out on a valuable 24 minutes waiting on other people.” Patricia Murphy Irish Independent.
Everyone browses on their phone, but according to one life coach, reading is an effective way to use those minutes. Bookstores at airports, near subways, and offices where people wait carry a myriad of reading choices. Why should an intelligent reader choose Story Chat: Online Literary Conversations over a magazine or a novel?
My colleague Carmen called her quick fiction “mind candy.” Her “mind candy” came out during breaks between presentations, when she traveled, or when she needed to rest her brain.
Anthologies like this one introduce book consumers like Carmen to many authors quickly. Each story entertains yet has a deeper vein for the perceptive reader. At the end of each story are three or four quotes from previous online readers.
Online readers had this to say about Story Chat: Online Literary Conversations.
“I loved not only reading brand-new stories, but the interaction between readers was also great.”
“There was an excellent mixture of genres.”
“The balance is perfect. There is a good mixture of male and female writers from all over the world.
Story Chat stories were first published on AlwaysWrite.blog. They covered working and retired adults’ topics like dealing with dementia, bullying, nursing home care, social services, PSTD, surviving as an x-con, changing jobs, single parenting, and finding romance. Most of the stories have surprise or open endings. Some stories are realistic, while others mix in paranormal.
The first readers of these stories online were writers, social workers, librarians, lawyers, psychologists, professors, and teachers who each wrote an in-depth analysis of each short story in the comment section. The author and readers bantered back and forth online like they were sitting together in a book club host’s living room, enjoying their favorite beverage and snack. Each author left with new knowledge and a Mona Lisa smile.
Marsha Ingrao
Story Chat: Online Literary Conversations: a Series of Short Stories and Ruminations is Marsha Ingrao’s first experience as a contributing editor. Previous works include a chapter in This Is How We Grow (2023) by Yvette Prior, Images of America: Woodlake, published by Arcadia Publishing (August 13, 2015), available on Amazon. She has had a blog since 2012 with over 1,600 posts. In addition, Ingrao has had numerous poems and articles published during her twenty-five-year career as a teacher and educational consultant.
I usually get to see my brother most weekends, one Sunday he suggested we visit the SOE Barn at Tempsford.
I had been aware of the Special Operations Executive (S. O. E.) for a long while, initially from memory, by reading about the British secret services during World War Two. Until I attended a lecture as part of a Huntingdonshire History Festival in 2019 from memory, I was unaware of the very local connection to my home town Huntingdon.
The SOE had a base in Godmanchester, Farm Hall, where SOE agents were trained and housed until they were taken to Tempsford Aerodrome near Saint Neots. From Tempsford they were flown to Europe at night either to be dropped by parachute or landed in Lysander aircraft covertly. Once in Europe behind enemy lines they would undertake sabotage missions to destroy infrastructure or carry out espionage.
It was dangerous work and casualty rates were high not just among the SOE personnel but also among the airman delivering and collecting them.
I suppose that as the work of the SOE was clandestine and shrouded in secrecy it should have come as no surprise that the SOE Barn would be less than easy to find. My brother typed the Post Code into his sat nav and we started the journey from his home nearby. There were no helpful signs giving any clue as to its position before we fetched up in the village of Tempsford. A look around the village revealed no helpful signs either. The first people we asked were not local luckily a man walking his dog knew of the barn and gave us instructions on how to find it back the way we came, a pull in off the road before the railway crossing a sort of semi layby.
We passed through a metal gate and walked along a concrete path that could have been part of the perimeter track of the old aerodrome, after walking for some time with no sight of the barn it seemed that this wasn’t the way after all. We were on the point of turning back to retrace our steps when a young couple approached from behind we waited for them and asked if they knew where the barn was and for directions. They told us the path was the correct one and offered to show us where the barn was, an offer eagerly accepted.
A simple memorial outside the barn. Planted next to an Oak tree it reads in memory of the Polish Servicemen in WW2
Inside the Barn
In remembrance
The Barn was a surprise with nothing on it to mark it out there was no door and you could walk straight in. There were a few trees in the grounds with memorial plaques. Inside much of the wall space at a lower level housed wreaths and photos commemorating some of those passing through here, many of them didn’t return. After spending some time reading the material on show and looking at the photos, we left walking the half mile back to the car.
A remembrance
A quiet, sobering place, a memorial of sorts, perhaps it could be better but possibly for the people who really matter, the relatives of those who passed through Tempsford, it is enough.
After the book’s shocking start, we share the events leading up to and following a life-changing experience.
Leora is one of a very unusual pair of twins, her childhood, teenage years and the life which follows is chronicled in detail. The story gives a vivid picture of Leora, her friends, loves and family, while exploring the relationships with and between them.
In part, this is a psychological thriller, a story with elements of the paranormal, exploring a controlling relationship and the ultimate destructiveness of jealousy. However, it is Leora and Ben’s enduring love for each other, which is at the very heart of this novel.
We have to wait to the very end to see how they move forward.
I was sorry to have missed an author event with Elly Griffiths in Huntingdon organised by Niche Comics Bookshop but it did put Elly’s name on my radar. With the name Elly Griffiths lodged firmly in what passes these days as my memory, I looked in the local library. Picking up a copy there of The Crossing Places, Elly Griffith’s first novel in the Dr. Ruth Calloway series.
Elly Griffith’s, Dr Ruth Calloway is a Forensic Archaeologist, and lecturer at the North Norfolk University. she is called in to help the police when bones of a young child are discovered buried in a salt marsh, close to Ruth’s home. The man requesting her assistance is Detective Chief Inspector Harry Nelson, a man trying to solve the mystery of a child who disappeared ten years earlier. The book is well written in as much as the characters are finely drawn and believable. The landscape and the locations are described with great skill.
However, the plot could be better. This is I understand Elly Griffiths first crime novel, I will try some of her others, to see if she has addressed, what was in my opinion a serious shortcoming.
This remarkable book is a real thriller, which gradually draws you into the life of Kate and the relationship she has with her husband. The troubled relationship with her parents and siblings during childhood also form part of the plot.
The story starts when Kate’s life gradually starts to disintegrate before her, a slow-motion train crash of events that turns her world upside down. As the reality of Kate’s situation starts to unfold, the search for the truth and answers to questions that emerge during that search, kept me reading. I was always spending more time reading than I had allocated myself for the activity, other projects and important jobs were put on hold until I had finished turning the pages. Yes, it is a good read, a damn good read, well it certainly was for me. Now to get the things done, I had neglected to finish reading this book.
Although over the years I have watched several episodes of Morse on TV, this is the first of Colin Dexter’s books, (Morse’s creator), I have actually read. This crime story was adapted for TV but with a different title The Secret of Bay 5 B and from my memory it varies quite a bit from the book (note to self re-watch the Secret of Bay 5B then compare and contrast).
For a start I found Dexter’s style a little tricky but once I had found the rhythm of his writing it was an easier read. Having seen the Morse programmes on television and John Thaw’s portrayal as the man himself the picture of Morse in our minds is John Thaw’s portrayal, as is Kevin Whately’s, Lewis. If I had read the books first the TV Morse might be an intruder but there isn’t enough of a description of the man evident in the book to contradict John Thaw.
The story is convoluted and a real puzzle, the action centres on a Fancy Dress New Year’s Party in the Haworth Hotel. The disguises worn by the guest’s in the form of their costumes complicates identification and the rapid departure of guests after the event and false identities are other obstacles thrown in the path of Morse and Lewis’s investigation.
It was a good read and an interesting one. I will seek out more of Dexter’s books to read and review.
The Lady in The Van, Angela Harris as Miss Shepherd. Photo credit Stamford Shakespeare Company
Our first encounter, my wife and I’s that is, with Tolethorpe Hall and the Stamford Shakespeare Company was in 2019, when my brother in law invited us to join his family outing to watch Blithe Spirit, my son had given me a ticket as a birthday present. It was an absolutely brilliant performance, with Angela Harris excelling in the role of Madam Arcarti. Since then we have made a point of making a yearly visit except when Covid intervened.
The Lady in the Van, is based on true events, Miss Shepherd drove her van into Alan Bennett’s life during 1974 remaining there within his garden for the next 15 years. Alan Bennett’s relationship with his guest, for want of a better word and Alan would no doubt have found one, was an uneasy one. He described Miss Shepherd as a “bigoted, blinkered, cantankerous, devious, unforgiving, self-centred, rank, rude, car mad cow.” The play extracts the humour from the situation, together with a profound sadness as Bennett tries to piece together the events that led to Miss Shepherd living as a tramp in a van.
The Two Alan Bennetts Steve Cunningham 2 Paul Beasley 1. Photo credit Stamford Shakespeare Company
The production was fantastic, Paul Beasley and Steve Cunningham excelled as the two versions of Alan Bennett, both had perfected Alan Bennett’s voice and I couldn’t distinguish any difference between them. Angela Harris played Miss Shepherd brilliantly. The rest of the cast were great too making it a fully satisfying performance.
Other outstanding features of the Stamford Shakespeare Companies productions at Tolethorpe, are apart from the excellent cast, costume design and professionalism of the whole team but also the fantastic set designs and construction. This year’s set was as impressive and innovative as ever.
The stage
It was a truly wonderful night out.
If you would like to see it for yourself here is the link:
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