Confession time: some women have a ‘thing’ about handbags. For others, it’s shoes.

It’s the fantasy that a little Chanel purse or a pair of staggeringly high Jimmy Choos will make them into a better person.

Me? It’s doubtful a) that the contents of my tote would fit into any kind of Chanel bag that my bank account could afford or b) that I’d be able to totter more than a couple of steps in anything higher than a loafer.

No, this girl drools over cookbooks. I love everything about them: the orderly layout, Continue reading →

Journalists, especially freelance ones, make good amateur detectives.

The unconventional nature of their job means they are not tied to the same nine-to-five routine of more ordinary mortals and can fit their sleuthing around their work.

And, as journalists, they’re used to poking and prying and digging for facts.

They’re pretty good too – or should be – at picking up things that don’t quite add up.

Certainly, Nick Potterton, hero of Andrew Bibby’s Lake District murder mystery In the Cold  of the Night, is a case in point. Continue reading →

Meet Maura Jortner, whose first novel The Life Group is published by Lakewater Press.

New Hampshire-born Maura, who has a PhD in Theatre History, explains why she loves winters in Texas and eating breakfast.

And she finally owns up to denting the in-laws’ car… Continue reading →

Tick tock. Tick tock…it’s Saturday, March 14 and the clock is ticking for wayward Leah Dorsett, who has been missing for 13 days.

No clues. No suspects. And even the police have almost given up hope.

Only her younger sister Rachel – fearless, dependable, enterprising – believes she is still alive.

She’s convinced the answer lies in the radical church where Leah was last seen. Continue reading →

There’s a lot to like about Georgette Heyer’s Regency romance The Grand Sophy.

It’s had a well-thumbed place in my annual re-reading pile for a good few years.

But should it stay there?

These days Heyer’s anti-Semitic portrayal of a moneylender, a central plot point, and her rather xenophobic dismissal of Spaniards as ‘quite stupid, and dreadfully indolent’, make uncomfortable reading. Continue reading →

The problem with Christmas books is that the plot has to be all wrapped up by Christmas.

And, because it’s Christmas, everyone has to live happily ever after – which can make things a little saccharine.

Thankfully, Kate Blackadder deftly keeps Stella’s Christmas Wish on the right side of syrup.

This is a lovely, heart-warming festive read.

Blackadder writes confidently and with a great sense of pace. Continue reading →