Author:Richard Osman

After a break last year, Richard Osman reunites us once again with the Thursday Murder Club for a fifth instalment of their adventures. It’s been a quiet year for the elderly gang, with Elizabeth still mourning the loss of her husband. Joyce, however, has a wedding to plan for her daughter, but the case begins when the Best Man mysteriously disappears after the celebrations, taking with him half of the code needed to access a fortune in Bitcoin. Suspects abound, including his business partner, a poverty stricken aristocrat and a career criminal. Meanwhile, in a second thread, Ron’s family is threatened by a vicious estranged son in law. Osman cleverly weaves the two plot lines together in this cosy but nonetheless exciting thriller, with a clever and unexpected denouement at the climax. Along the way, he returns to themes that will be familiar to those who have read the previous books, and actually to anyone really – loneliness is bad, family and friends are good, your body and mind beginning to fail you as the years pass isn’t much fun, but by sticking together and helping each other the passage through the later years in life can be » Continue Reading.

Author:Felix Francis

When I was younger, so much younger than today, I used to (and sill do in fact) love a good thriller. One fine day, a friend lent me a Dick Francis novel, which I’d previously avoided as I wasn’t a follower of the sport of kings, and I was somewhat surprisingly hooked. I went back and read all the earlier titles, and since then have always kept up with the new ones. As age caught up with him, Francis recruited his son Felix to collaborate with him, and eventually, after his father’s passing, he took over the mantle and wrote the more recent novels alone, although they are still branded as ‘Dick Francis novels’. Although they are all standalone works, certain characters do periodically reappear, this new book featuring private investigator Sid Halley who has cropped up in a good few previous titles. Here, a young Irish female jockey whose career is very much on the up, is forced to flee to England to escape a jealous controlling boyfriend. Unsurprisingly, he pursues her across the Irish Sea, intent on destroying her career and reputation. Halley is asked by her father to step in, and reluctantly agrees only to » Continue Reading.

Author:Mick Herron

A welcome return to Slough House for all Jackson Lamb fans with the ninth novel in the series, the first visit proper since 2022’s Bad Actors. After the slight detour taken in the last book, the standalone but very much connected The Secret Hours, Herron picks up the narrative shortly after the events described in that tale, with the usual gang of miscreants and misfits all present and correct. River is still trying to get back to full health in the hopes of returning to active duty, while the others continue to while away the interminable hours on pointless tasks under Lamb’s watchful eye. When a book is noticed to be mysteriously missing from River’s late grandfather’s library, he, being at a semi permanent loose end, is sent to investigate further. Meanwhile an attempt is made to blackmail The Park by threatening to expose its complicity in murders committed during the height of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, a threat, which First Desk Diana Taverner soon realises, could be turned into an opportunity to settle some long standing old scores. This is an excellent addition to the series, as cleverly plotted as always, high on action and thrills » Continue Reading.

Author:Kevan Furbank, Chris Sutton, Darren Johnson

The general consensus is that 1977 was a musical ‘year zero’, the year punk began and the old prog rock dinosaurs fell into extinction. A complete fallacy of course, because the prog scene continued unabated for those who were interested. A brief look at just some of the albums released by UK bands in that year reveals the likes of Animals, Going For The One, Works Vol 1 (and its inferior cousin vol 2), and Songs From The Wood, while the international stage provided A Farewell To Kings and The Grand Illusion among others. The book takes a look at these records alongside some rather less well known ones such as Ant Phillips The Geese and The Ghost and Gentle Giant’s The Missing Piece, giving first a potted history of the story so far before moving on to a more detailed examination of the albums themselves. I really enjoyed this book, it’s well researched and put together – and of course it covers music that I’m a huge fan of! There isn’t perhaps that much new insight to offer on the most famous pieces, but it brought to my attention a few albums I’d » Continue Reading.

Author:Thomas R Weaver

This compelling novel blends murder, mystery, political intrigue and the rise of AI, all set against a background of global climate change. The year is 2050 and the world is battling with catastrophic climate change, preceded a decade earlier by a severe heatwave in the Persian Gulf that claimed the lives on millions, including the wife of investigative journalist Marcus Tully. The core of the plot revolves around the impending election to choose a global leader tasked with dealing with the crisis engulfing the planet. The final two candidates are a morally ambiguous ex US President and the world’s first AI politician, Solomon. Tully recives information suggesting the heatwave that killed his wife was not a natural disaster, while simultaneously trying to find the truth behind the sudden death of Solomon’s creator. This is the author’s debut novel, and he creates a plausible future world while tackling weighty issues such as climate change and the impact of AI on society, and considering whether there are times when individual freedoms must be sacrificed for the sake of civilisation’s survival. This is a tautly paced thriller with elements of sci fi, that has plenty of twists and turns as » Continue Reading.

Author:Andrew Rooney, Ben L Connor, Karen Windle, Nick Assirati

One of the most enduring US hard rock bands, Aerosmith have been around for over half a century now, although there have been plenty of ups and downs along the way. Inspired by UK acts such as The Yardbirds and Led Zeppelin, they produced some great albums in the seventies – take a listen to the likes of Toys in the Attic, Rocks and Draw The Line. They lost their way in the early eighties when Joe Perry left, a time the band was in the thrall of substance abuse – check out the book Babysitting a Band on The Rocks for more on this period. However, a late career resurgence with massive selling records like Permanent Vacation and Pump in the late eighties saw the start of a decade where the band became bigger than ever, although at times the music became maybe a bit less hard edged and seemed designed to appeal to a more AOR audience with songs like Don’t Want To Miss A Thing. This exhaustive look at the band’s output covers all the albums song by song as well as delving into what was going on » Continue Reading.

Author:Irvine Welsh

The author returns to familiar territory with this new novel set in the immediate aftermath of the events of the original Trainspotting story. Renton, with the stolen loot, is holed up in an Amsterdam hotel trying to get clean, while a furious Sick Boy is attempting to find a new life in London. Meanwhile back in Edinburgh, Spud and Alison are scraping an existence at the rock bottom of society and Begbie continues to do what Begbie does, with retribution at the forefront of his thoughts. While Renton contemplates investing his ill-gotten gains in a night club venture, the amoral and manipulative Sick Boy can’t believe his luck when the daughter of a wealthy family succumbs to his dubious charms. With wedding bells on the horizon and a newly arrived baby, the life of his dreams is surely within reach. This uproariously funny, bawdy black comedy, set as the late eighties become the nineties, takes a look at what happens when young men begin to fall in love and form lasting relationships for the first time, for better and perhaps inevitably for worse. These enduring characters really are the archetypal gift that keeps on giving, and the pages » Continue Reading.

Author:Stephen King

I remember reading this excellent book when it first appeared in 2000. Now to mark its 25th anniversary, it’s been reprinted in this very stylish gilt embossed edition, complete with a brief new foreword from the man himself. It’s a combination of biography and tips for aspiring writers, providing a look at the basic tools of the trade for would be authors. Alongside this are some quite poignant memories from the author’s childhood, through the struggles of his early years as an up and coming writer and on to his near fatal accident in 1999. It’s a very readable book despite the rather serious title, sharing King’s own experiences not just in the world of writing but also in life itself, and he manages to achieve this is an entertaining and witty way, while simultaneously providing plenty of level headed hard won practical advice. Part memoir and part masterclass, this is a book that’s well worth seeking out as it provides a rare insight into the creative process, and gives a revealing view of the writer’s craft through the bad days and hard times to the sunny uplands of a completed work, all grounded in vivid memories of » Continue Reading.

Author:Alan Parks

Author Alan Parks, previously known for the award winning Harry McCoy novels, takes a break from that series with this new work. Set in Glasgow in 1941, we find Joe Gunner, an ex police detective, back home after being invalided out of the army. On arrival, he’s met by his former boss, and persuaded to investigate the discovery of a mutilated body. As he digs deeper, he comes into contact with bitter enemies and old flames, soon realising he’s caught up in a high level conspiracy that reaches to the very highest levels of government. There’s plenty of action, divided loyalties and clever plot twists to keep the reader gripped to the very last pages, and the ending suggests that the story will continue in subsequent books. All in all, this is a very enjoyable and gripping read, tautly paced with vividly realised characters, that authentically evokes life on the home front in war torn Glasgow – I’m already looking forward to discovering what the future holds for this intriguing battle scarred hard-bitten creation.

Length of Read:Medium

Might appeal to people who enjoyed…

This is the first book in a new series, which should prove well worth following, » Continue Reading.

Author:Dylan Jones

This fascinating book takes a look at 21 key albums released in 1975, interspersing the detailed critiques of them with pieces of writing to set the music in, dare I say, a socio-political context, for change was very much in the air and musicians of all types were reflecting that in their work. Thus you get the likes of Young Americans, Autobahn and Still Crazy After All These Years interspersed with writing on Nixon, the Vietnam War and Margaret Thatcher, and Born to Run, Physical Graffiti and The Hissing of Summer Lawns alongside pieces on Harold Pinter, Jaws and Fawlty Towers. It makes you realise that 1975 was such a prolific year for what would become regarded as classic albums, as also featured are the likes of Blood On The Tracks, Katy Lied, Tonight’s The Night, Siren and Bob Marley’s Live at the Lyceum. In fact, there are numerous others that don’t even get a look in, Wish You Were Here springing to my mind, but I suppose the one album that pointed the way for what was to come in the following year was Patti Smith’s Horses. There’s an impressive amount of detail in the writing, with » Continue Reading.

Author:Andrew Wild

Subtitled The Progressive Rock Revival 1984 to 1989, this super book is a sequel and companion to last year’s excellent A Mirror of Dreams, which covered the years 1981 to 1983. Very engagingly written, it continues to trace the then resurgent UK prog scene through the lens of six key bands, Marillion, Pallas, Solstice, Twelth Night, IQ and Pendragon. All seemed to have a bright future ahead of them, with a combined 400 gigs played in 1984 alone, and it appeared the whole new prog scene was about to really break out in a big way. Alas, it wasn’t to prove as simple as that, with only Marilllion really making the transition from a cult following to a more mainstream rock audience. Perhaps it was that trying to update the archetypal progressive rock of its seventies heyday into a more modern sound made the music more difficult to categorise and market, and all important radio play was to prove nigh on impossible to come by. As the years slipped by, most of the bands to a greater or lesser extent began to fade, as ultimately did the once burgeoning and vibrant scene itself. One wonders what might have » Continue Reading.

Author:Doug Thornton, Opher Goodwin, Paolo Carnelli

Journey are one of those bands that were huge in the US but far less so here. Of course in recent times they’ve become known for the now ubiquitous Don’t Stop Believin’, but their most successful years really began with 1978’s Infinity album when Steve Perry was brought in on vocals to supplement Neil Schon’s guitar and Gregg Rolie’s keyboards. For me they’re a band where all I need is their greatest hits set as I found a lot of their music quite bland, but it certainly shifted plenty of units in their heyday, and even today they remain a big concert draw Stateside, although Perry is long gone of course. This well put together book takes a comprehensive look at all their albums as well as recounting the internal fallings out within the ranks over the years. Fans of the band will certainly enjoy this look at their long career.

I have to be in the right mood to listen to Leonard Cohen, maybe late at night after a long day. Over 15 studio albums his mesmerising deep baritone voice created rich tapestries blending religious, mystical, sexual and secular themes. Along the way, » Continue Reading.

Author:Matthew R Davis, Pete Woolliscroft, Brent Waltz

Last year saw the first studio album by The Cure since 2008, and showed the band have lost none of their vigour since their debut set way back in 1979. While reading this book, it’s inspired me to relisten to the whole of their back catalogue, and what a range of styles it covers, from the bleakest of gloom to the most danceable pure pop. This very comprehensive book covers all the studio albums of course, song by song, plus live sets, B sides, and every conceivable rarity and remix. It’s very well researched and is a really informative and entertaining read that will meet with the approval of their legions of fans, and relistening to albums you’ve not heard in years while you peruse it only adds to the enjoyment.

Pete Wooliscroft was a young engineer, then producer, making his way in the pivotal decade of the 1980’s. a period that saw the last great era of recording studios, but also a time when there were huge technological developments in recording equipment and techniques. Using diaries written at the time, he draws back the curtain on his work behind closed doors with » Continue Reading.