The Art Fiasco is 5th in Fiona’s Poppy Denby Investigates series, and I was given the chance to read a copy for review. I thoroughly enjoyed this new mystery, set in Newcastle on Tyne and in the mining village of Ashington, in 1924 (with backstory in 1897-8). The book has a cast of lively and… Read More

My latest blogpost is here: click on the official blog box below to read Please don’t be Political! where I’m discussing why my main ‘writing prompt’ for fiction is social change… Then on Thursday, a special double treat: One, fellow author Fiona Veitch Smith will be guesting on my blog, under the title Who’s left… Read More

Autumn … evenings are ‘drawing in’, it’s a great time to curl up with a book…here’s a cosy phychotherapy mystery. Annie Try’s Red Cabbage Blue Read about it here

This new short book of stories is authored by the writer known as ‘Philologus’, published and obtainable only from Hodge. Illustrations by Ceri Leeder (here), design by Rachel Lawston (lawstondesign here). Can a teacher from the first century AD have anything to say to us in the twenty-first? The author of The Wisdom of Yakob… Read More

What indeed are ‘friends’? When Frances and Bobbi take up with an older couple, also involved in the Dublin arts scene, they probably don’t realise they’re stepping into deep water…

Want to know how Jenny and Daze became step sisters? Read the story of how Jenny attempts to show off her Mum’s work on a hot summer afternoon… go to ‘read an extract’ And here’s a picture of how Daze might’ve looked back then, angry with new step-mum Caroline soon after this, for giving her… Read More

Stranger at St Brides is the newest book by my writer friend Debbie Young, and if you’re looking to relax, smile, and feel good, this is the book to pick for your next read. Ironically, I completed reading the story sitting in the garden, under the parasol, in something like 33 degrees and sunshine (I… Read More

Normal People by Sally Rooney – an in-depth review of the novel which became the TV series…find it here

Bird Summons – Mari’s latest read – a remarkable combination of poetry and social insights from Scottish based Egyptian/Sudanese author Leila Aboulela… read more at the Mari’s Book Club page –

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