Teenager Romy Field may not be quite the good girl that everyone, least of all her mother, Ailsa, believes her to be.

But she’s not as bad as the rest of the world makes her out to be either.

In fact, she’s a straight-A student who soon learns that what ‘really sets you free is other people not knowing your shit’ and that, even in rural Norfolk, teenage mistakes are played out against a viciously viral social media backdrop. Continue reading →

I like Ove, who drives a Saab and believes only the self-employed and ‘other idiots’ drive Audis.

Yes, he’s single-minded and obsessive and completely lacking in the social graces.

But, scratch away at the surface and you’ll find a kindly bloke, who likes to do things by the book and who believes that ‘if men like him don’t take the initiative there’ll be anarchy’.  Continue reading →

The last time I dipped into a Mills and Boon romance was 20 plus years ago on a beach holiday.

I’d read all my own books and was reduced to reading whatever I could find on the apartment owner’s bookshelves, which just happened to be Mills and Boon.

Without exception, the books were frothy, undemanding reads.

But the repetitive plotlines – girl meets boy; initial attraction followed by misunderstandings; followed by happy-ever-after ending were just a little too formulaic for my taste.  Continue reading →

It’s most unlikely I’d make the shortlist as a possible love interest for geneticist Don Tilman.

He’s convinced love is an exact science and devises a questionnaire to help him find the perfect partner.

His friend Claudia warns he’s being far too picky but Don, who’s had plenty of first dates but never a second one, is determined not to waste time on unsuitable choices. Continue reading →

There’s something fishy about the fish paste sandwiches that wealthy heiress Elinor Carlisle offers her guests at an impromptu picnic.

They’re laced with deadly morphine hydrochloride and before lunch is over, the youngest picnicker, beautiful Mary Gerrard is dead.

It’s too much of a coincidence – Elinor’s fiancé Roddy has recently broken off their long-standing engagement to pursue Mary, a protégé of Elinor’s recently deceased aunt.

And there are rumours too that aunt Laura, also a victim of poisoning, had planned to leave a substantial share of her fortune to the girl.  Continue reading →

Do you remember the scene towards the end of The Empire Strikes Back, second episode in the original Star Wars trilogy, when the charismatic mercenary Han Solo is frozen in suspended animation in a block of carbonite?

And realisation dawns that you’ve got to wait for the sequel to find out whether he’s dead or alive?

Thanks to the magic of the DVD player I can watch the next episode anytime I want.

Unfortunately, I’ve got at least 12 months, if not longer, before I can hope to read the follow-up to In the Blood, the debut novel of Robin L. Martinez. Continue reading →

You know a book is good when your head is still in the story several days after it came to a very satisfying conclusion.

Jake Caldwell, chief protagonist of James L. Weaver’s gripping Poor Boy Road is an endearingly attractive bad guy with a heart of gold.

He could have been too good to be true.

A mob enforcer who fixes things by paying off the other man’s debts instead of beating the hell out of him. Continue reading →

A Christmas Carol: Charles Dickens

In a way it’s a good job that Charles Dickens is long dead otherwise I’d be lobbying him to grant Jacob Marley a reprieve. Continue reading →