Booking Ahead: June 2022

Booking Ahead is an opportunity to glance through my never-ending TBR list/pile and select a few potential reads for the coming month. If I’m not reading books I love talking about books I’d like to read, so this post is a perfect excuse to do just that.

It’s time for another glance at my TBR list to select potential reads for the coming month. I’m doing something a little different this month. I’ve been thinking about books I might like to read for my reading challenges, not just this month, but beyond that, so I’ve created a list to remind myself of the possibilities. If you see anything here that you’ve enjoyed then let me know. On to the book list…

Evil Under the Sun by Agatha Christie
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
The Kingdoms by Natasha Pulley
The Shape of Darkness by Laura Purcell
A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik
The Death of Mrs Westaway by Ruth Ware
Wolves of the Calla (The Dark Tower #5) or another novel by Stephen King
The Highway by C. J. Box
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
We Begin at the End by Chris Whittaker
Shorefall (The Founders Trilogy #2) by Robert Jackson Bennett
The Scarlet Dress by Louise Douglas
The Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan
The Lamplighters by Emma Stonex
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie
The Ladies of the Secret Circus by Constance Sayers
Thirteen by Steve Cavanagh
My Cousin Rachel by Daphne Du Maurier
The House on the Strand by Daphne Du Maurier

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What are you hoping to read this month? Have you read of my picks, and if so what did you think?
See you again next month for another Booking Ahead.

Book Review: Murder by the Seaside by Cecily Gayford

Name:  Murder by the Seaside
Author:  Cecily Gayford (Editor)
Number of Pages:  223 (Kindle)
Published: May 12th 2022 by Profile books
Genre: Mystery, Crime

It’s the height of summer. As the heat shimmers on the streets and ice cream melts onto sticky fingers, tempers begin to rise and old grudges surface. From Cornish beaches to the French Riviera, it’s not just a holiday that’s on people’s minds … it’s murder.
In these ten classic stories from writers such as Dorothy L. Sayers, Cyril Hare and Margery Allingham, you’ll find mayhem and mysteries aplenty. So grab the suncream and head down to the beach – if you dare.

My Rating:

My Thoughts:

Murder by the Seaside is a collection of short stories edited by Cecily Gayford. The stories included are:

The Boscombe Valley Mystery – Arthur Conan Doyle
Weight and See – Cyril Hare
Error at Daybreak – John Dickson Carr (Carter Dickson)
The Absence of Mr Glass – G. K. Chesterton
Razor Edge – Anthony Berkeley
The Furies – Michael Innes
Daisy Bell – Gladys Mitchell
A Mystery of the Sand-hills – R. Austin Freeman
Superintendent Wilson’s Holiday – G. D. H. & M. Cole
Man Overboard – Edmund Crispin

As you can probably guess, all the stories have some link to a seaside/coastal setting, and each has some sort of crime at it’s centre just waiting for the right kind of detective to come along and make sense of it all. Be it life and death, or some kind of deception for as-yet unknown reasons, there’s a variety here to keep you entertained and guessing throughout.

This collection introduced me to authors I’ve never read before, and threw in some old familiars too, such as Arthur Conan Doyle, which reminds me that it’s a very long time since I read a Sherlock Holmes story.

Each story was quite different. There were many twists and turns throughout, and even by the end I was no closer to working out whodunnit in most cases.

I usually choose really long books, so it was something of a novelty to be able to pick this up and read a whole story in one sitting. It was quite refreshing and I enjoyed that, and also experiencing so many new-to-me authors. I’ve been reading a lot of Agatha Christie lately so it was nice to have a variety of takes on a similar theme from different authors. That said, I am looking forward to getting back to another Poirot book.

Murder by the Seaside is an entertaining collection for a warm afternoon when you want a bit of a mystery to read in one sitting.

Book Review: Death Comes as the End by Agatha Christie

Name:  Death Comes as the End
Author:  Agatha Christie
Number of Pages:  336 (Kindle)
Published: February 27th 2010 (first published October 1944)
Genre: Mystery, Crime, Historical

In this startling historical mystery, unique in the author’s canon, Agatha Christie presents the puzzle of a deadly mystery at the heart of a dissonant family in ancient Egypt. Imhotep, wealthy landowner and priest of Thebes, has outraged his sons and daughters by bringing a beautiful concubine into their fold. And the manipulative Nofret has already set about a plan to usurp her rivals’ rightful legacies. When her lifeless body is discovered at the foot of a cliff, Imhotep’s own flesh and blood become the apparent conspirators in her shocking murder. But vengeance and greed may not be the only motives…

My Rating:

My Thoughts:

Following my recent read of Death on the Nile I decided to pick up another Agatha Christie mystery set in Egypt, Death Comes as the End.

The story revolves around the family of Imhotep, and sets a scene of domestic disharmony which is made many times worse upon the arrival of a young woman, Nofret, who has a talent for troublemaking. She knows she has a degree of power, and is confident enough in her position to go about causing discord and unease amongst the siblings and their families without regard for the consequences.
If things were unsettled before Nofret arrived, they were certainly worse afterwards, and more so when head of the family Imhotep goes away on business and leaves Nofret behind, ordering his family to look after her.
The simmering tension and animosity has a violent outcome, and from there the tale takes on an unexpected very slight hint of the supernatural, and one death follows another as someone or something develops a taste for murder.

Renisenb is Imhotep’s daughter. She is recently widowed, has returned home to her family, and is the main viewpoint throughout the story. She goes from suspicion to disbelief to horror as it is suggested that someone amongst her own family might actually be responsible for the awful occurrences. She ponders on characters and personalities, and how what lies within and drives a person may be very different from their outer appearance.

The characters drive this story, from eldest son Yahmose and his strong-willed wife Satipy, to trusted family friend Hori and the newly arrived Kameni. I also really liked Esa, the oldest member of the family, and possibly the most observant. She watches as trouble of various kinds unfolds within the family home and eventually develops some theories of her own as to what is going on.

Death Comes as the End has the familiar feel of a Christie story – a murder steeped in mystery, a number of suspects, an investigation of sorts, although not in the more typical format of a detective’s involvement. In this case it is Renisenb and her thoughts that propel us through the twists and turns.

There’s also something quite different in this story which made it enjoyable. The ancient Egypt setting gives it something of an historical air, and the characters and their lives are quite unique to many that I’ve encountered in my Christie reading so far. Definitely one to consider if you’re looking for something a little different in your Agatha Christie murder mystery reading.

Book Review: Death on the Nile (Hercule Poirot #17) by Agatha Christie

Name:  Death on the Nile (Hercule Poirot #17)
Author:  Agatha Christie
Number of Pages:  320 (Kindle)
Published:  July 5th 2005 by William Morrow Paperbacks (first published November 1st 1937)
Genre: Mystery, Crime

Beloved detective Hercule Poirot embarks on a journey to Egypt in one of Agatha Christie’s most famous mysteries.
The tranquility of a luxury cruise along the Nile was shattered by the discovery that Linnet Ridgeway had been shot through the head. She was young, stylish, and beautiful. A girl who had everything . . . until she lost her life.
Hercule Poirot recalled an earlier outburst by a fellow passenger: “I’d like to put my dear little pistol against her head and just press the trigger.” Yet under the searing heat of the Egyptian sun, nothing is ever quite what it seems.
A sweeping mystery of love, jealousy, and betrayal, Death on the Nile is one of Christie’s most legendary and timeless works.

My Rating:

My Thoughts:

All aboard the S. S. Karnak for murder and mystery with Hercule Poirot. All he really wanted was a holiday, but somehow the great detective manages to find himself onboard a steamer on the Nile accompanied by murderers and more. There’s no rest for this detective, not at this point anyway.

Plot-wise we have many tried-and-tested ingredients. Take one famous detective. Add one extremely wealthy heiress, her new husband, and her former friend. Sprinkle in hints of betrayal, jealousy and resentment. Blend with a varied group of travelling companions and a number of concealed secrets and allow to simmer under the heat of the sun on a river cruise along the Nile.
The result? A perfect portion of Death on the Nile.

Initially this is a leisurely paced story. It was about a quarter of the way through before the group boarded the Karnak. Instead, the scene is set at a hotel in Egypt where various parties gather and spend their days, living their own dramas and observing their companions do the same. There’s also the build-up to Linnet’s marriage, which comes as something of a surprise to more than one person. More shocks are in store as Linnet and her new husband Simon set out to enjoy their honeymoon, much to the annoyance of her former friend Jacqueline, who has a strange knack of turning up in whichever location the would-be happy couple visit next.
This leisurely scene-setting allows for some sightseeing for the reader too, which brings me on to…

The setting, which was rich and immersive. I thought you could tell from the descriptions that it was a place Christie had experienced and enjoyed and she captured a real air of it in these pages. The vastness of the place provided a great contrast with the setting of the Karnak. Even in such an idyllic setting it’s possible to feel trapped and closed in, on board a boat with a group of people who may wish you ill, as Linnet comes to believe as the journey progresses.

The pace picks up after the central event, as Poirot sets to work trying to identify the killer, and as always there are plenty of tangled threads to unpick, and a number of red herrings to throw the reader off the scent. There’s a great air of mystery surrounding so many people on this boat, and plenty of intrigue amongst the clues.

I liked Poirot a lot in this novel, and the way he interacted with various passengers, especially the central trio, Linnet and Simon Doyle, and Jacqueline de Bellefort. All three of these characters were intriguing, as were many of their travel companions, some of whom know the newlyweds, some of whom happen to be onboard the Karnak by chance. There’s a vulnerability to some of them that ignites Poirot’s sympathy and compassion, and I liked this side of the character.

The central mystery surrounds who killed Linnet Doyle, but there are many other things going on aboard the boat as well. Imagine all those various people, so many things they would rather remain unknown, all gathered together in one place, at the time of a murder, and in the presence of the great Hercule Poirot. What are the chances?! And how many have something to fear from the presence of the detective and his ‘little grey cells’? It made for some very entertaining reading as I tried to work out who had done what, who was concealing something, and whether everyone was as they initially appeared to be. Many of them had motive for something, but was it for murder?
I wish I could go into this more but it would spoil it (if spoiling such a well-known and well-adapted story can be possible). I knew little of the story going on beyond the obvious ‘death on the Nile’, so was pleasantly surprised.

Reading Death on the Nile was some great escapism and very entertaining. I enjoyed this just as much as Murder on the Orient Express. I hope that whichever Poirot story I choose next (and there remain plenty that I haven’t read yet) I enjoy it as much as this one.

Booking Ahead: May 2022

Booking Ahead is an opportunity to glance through my never-ending TBR list/pile and select a few potential reads for the coming month. If I’m not reading books I love talking about books I’d like to read, so this post is a perfect excuse to do just that.

Welcome to the TBR pile once again! This month there’s one book I will definitely be reading as I’ve already started it:

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (Wayfarers #1) by Becky Chambers – Rosemary Harper doesn’t expect much when she joins the crew of the aging Wayfarer. While the patched-up ship has seen better days, it offers her a bed, a chance to explore the far-off corners of the galaxy, and most importantly, some distance from her past. An introspective young woman who learned early to keep to herself, she’s never met anyone remotely like the ship’s diverse crew, including Sissix, the exotic reptilian pilot, chatty engineers Kizzy and Jenks who keep the ship running, and Ashby, their noble captain.

Life aboard the Wayfarer is chaotic and crazy—exactly what Rosemary wants. It’s also about to get extremely dangerous when the crew is offered the job of a lifetime. Tunneling wormholes through space to a distant planet is definitely lucrative and will keep them comfortable for years. But risking her life wasn’t part of the plan. In the far reaches of deep space, the tiny Wayfarer crew will confront a host of unexpected mishaps and thrilling adventures that force them to depend on each other. To survive, Rosemary’s got to learn how to rely on this assortment of oddballs—an experience that teaches her about love and trust, and that having a family isn’t necessarily the worst thing in the universe.

Beyond this I’m not sure what I’m in the mood for reading at the moment.
I might try another Agatha Christie, which will possibly be Death on the Nile, or I might go for The Highway by C. J. Box as I’ve been watching the series Big Sky which is based on this book.
I might even get back to my Dark Tower reread. Next up is Wolves of the Calla.

Or, I might end up choosing something completely different.

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What are you hoping to read this month? Have you read of my picks, and if so what did you think?
See you again next month for another Booking Ahead.

Book Review: The Room in the Attic by Louise Douglas

Name:  The Room in the Attic
Author:  Louise Douglas
Number of Pages:  388 (Kindle)
Published:  October 12th 2021 by Boldwood Books
Genre: Historical, Mystery

A child who does not know her name…
In 1903 fishermen find a wrecked boat containing a woman, who has been badly beaten, and a young girl. An ambulance is sent for, and the two survivors are taken to All Hallows, the imposing asylum, hidden deep on Dartmoor. The woman remains in a coma, but the little girl, who the staff name Harriet, awakens and is taken to an attic room, far away from the noise of the asylum, and is put in the care of Nurse Emma Everdeen.
Two motherless boys banished to boarding school…
In 1993, All Hallows is now a boarding school. Following his mother’s death and his father’s hasty remarriage, Lewis Tyler is banished to Dartmoor, stripped of his fashionable clothes, shorn of his long hair, and left feeling more alone than ever. There he meets Isak, another lost soul, and whilst refurbishment of the dormitories is taking place, the boys are marooned up in the attic, in an old wing of the school.
Cries and calls from the past that can no longer be ignored…
All Hallows is a building full of memories, whispers, cries from the past. As Lewis and Isak learn more about the fate of Harriet, and Nurse Emma’s desperate fight to keep the little girl safe, it soon becomes clear there are ghosts who are still restless.
Are they ghosts the boys hear at night in the room above, are they the unquiet souls from the asylum still caught between the walls? And can Lewis and Isak bring peace to All Hallows before the past breaks them first…

My Rating:

My Thoughts:

The Room in the Attic is a tale told over three timelines – 2021, 1993 and 1903. The majority of the story is spread over the latter two timelines, but begins when Lewis Tyler, working for a firm of architects, is sent to take details on All Hallows, a property acquired by a client and due for renovation.
All Hallows is a former hospital/asylum, repurposed in more recent years as a boarding school, of which Lewis was a former pupil.

The tales unfold and complement each other, adding to the narrative in revelations and mysteries as we learn about All Hallows in 1903, and the arrival of a woman and young girl in mysterious circumstances. Found floating at sea, injured and left for dead, the two are taken to All Hallows, where the girl is placed in the care of Nurse Emma Everdeen. The pair are given rooms in the attic, away from the other patients and general goings-on in the hospital, and gradually begin to form a friendship.

In 1993, young Lewis is sent away to boarding school at the behest of his father and stepmother. Mourning the death of his mother in a tragic accident, missing his friends and his old life, Lewis has to find his place in this new environment.
Flooding damage makes the dorm rooms uninhabitable so Lewis finds himself rooming in another part of the school with a boy named Isak, who has family issues of his own, and, after some slightly eerie goings-on, the two of them soon become involved in the mystery of what happened years ago when All Hallows was an asylum.

This has a marvellous setting in All Hallows, which manages to exude an air of creepiness across all timelines.
In the present day it is dilapidated, damaged and neglected, a ruin.
In the school days it retains echoes of happenings of years ago, from the repurposed wards where the young and imaginative Lewis imagines the residents of long ago (and where pupils are sent when they’re on report), to the ill-lit corridors, the strange noises and smells, the echoes of the past.
In the hospital setting we’re mostly with Emma and Harriet as they pass their time in the room in the attic, waiting for Harriet’s mother to regain consciousness. Emma receives updates about daily life in the hospital from her friend and colleague Maria Smith.

Lewis in his youth is a wonderfully imaginative character, imagining himself as a prisoner launching a daring escape as he explores the grounds, going beyond the boundaries set by his teachers. He has a very creative imagination, and imagines the plight of former residents of the asylum. Once he discovers the story of Nurse Everdeen he’s determined to find out what happened many years ago.

The way the revelations drip through from one era to the next is teasingly done. Things are suggested, then a scene will show something to the contrary, or you’re left wondering how on earth such a thing could be possible when the evidence speaks to almost the opposite. It’s hard to detail what I mean without going into spoiler territory and I really don’t want to do that because the mystery kept me turning the pages, needing to know more.

The chapters are short, and the timelines alternate, which kept me thinking ‘just one more chapter’, and so I found myself reading long after I’d decided I should put the book down for a while. I just had to find out what had really happened

The Room in the Attic is a dual-timeline mystery with a subtly spooky air. It’s my first Louise Douglas book but I doubt it will be my last.

Book Review: The Wind Through the Keyhole (The Dark Tower #4.5) by Stephen King

Name:  The Wind Through the Keyhole
Author:  Stephen King
Number of Pages:  321 (Kindle)
Published:  April 24th 2012 by Hodder & Stoughton
Genre: Fantasy

For readers new to The Dark Tower, THE WIND THROUGH THE KEYHOLE is a stand-alone novel, and a wonderful introduction to the series. It is a story within a story, which features both the younger and older gunslinger Roland on his quest to find the Dark Tower. Fans of the existing seven books in the series will also delight in discovering what happened to Roland and his ka tet between the time they leave the Emerald City and arrive at the outskirts of Calla Bryn Sturgis.
This Russian Doll of a novel, a story within a story, within a story, visits Mid-World’s last gunslinger, Roland Deschain, and his ka-tet as a ferocious storm halts their progress along the Path of the Beam. (The novel can be placed between Dark Tower IV and Dark Tower V.) Roland tells a tale from his early days as a gunslinger, in the guilt ridden year following his mother’s death. Sent by his father to investigate evidence of a murderous shape shifter, a ‘skin man,’ Roland takes charge of Bill Streeter, a brave but terrified boy who is the sole surviving witness to the beast’s most recent slaughter. Roland, himself only a teenager, calms the boy by reciting a story from the Magic Tales of the Eld that his mother used to read to him at bedtime, ‘The Wind through the Keyhole’. ‘A person’s never too old for stories,’ he says to Bill. ‘Man and boy, girl and woman, we live for them.’ And stories like these, they live for us

My Rating:

My Thoughts:

The Wind Through the Keyhole is a late edition to the Dark Tower series as it was written after the series had been completed, and in reading order is placed between Wizard and Glass and Wolves of the Calla. As I’m rereading the whole series I thought I’d read it in place this time around.

Although the book doesn’t really further the quest of Roland and his ka-tet, it’s a wonderful addition to the series and I’m glad I reread it before moving on to Wolves of the Calla. It is a story within a story within a story, which begins shortly after the group leave behind the strange city that concluded Wizard and Glass. A deadly storm is about to blow in, and the ka-tet seek shelter in which to wait it out, passing the time with Roland’s tales of times gone by.

Roland begins relating one of his youthful adventures with another of his friends. Alas, it is not Cuthbert who gets sent on this mission with Roland, for I would have loved another appearance from that particular character with his wit and wisdom and cheerful outlook. This time we meet Jamie, another of Roland’s contemporaries in his younger years, as the duo go off in search of a rumoured skin-man, a shape-shifter who is terrorising the local populace and leaving a trail of destruction with each visitation. At the scene of such an attack Roland encounters Young Bill, the lone survivor, and as the pair lay a trap to catch the villain, the story within this story begins.

And this is the true heart of this novel, The Wind Through the Keyhole, the title of the overall book. It’s a tale Roland’s mother told to him, and one that stayed with him. A fantasy quest of a tale involving a young boy from the village of Tree who, under perilous circumstances encounters a (familiar) figure dressed all in black, who shows him some awful truths and winds him up to the point that he leaves the village in search of Maerlyn, a wizard who may only exist in myth, but desperate times call for desperate measures, and Tim’s journey takes him through danger and wonder.
I enjoyed every moment of this tale, and could read just this section again as a standalone story. It had a bit of everything – adventure, peril, heroes, villains (and not just that certain person dressed in black), and a whole load of magic.

The Wind Through the Keyhole is a nice addition to the Dark Tower series. I hadn’t read the whole series by the time this came out, but I imagine fans would have been pleased to have more of Roland, the ka-tet, and another chance for further adventures in the weird world of the Dark Tower.

Top Ten Tuesday: Authors I Haven’t Read, But Want To

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.  Click on the link for more info and to find out about future topics.

This week’s theme is:  Authors I Haven’t Read, But Want To

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Top Ten Tuesday this week is all about authors I haven’t read yet. I’m adapting this slightly for my final two mentions and including a couple of authors whose first-in-a-series books I’ve read and would like to continue with the rest.
I’ve chosen mostly series or trilogies this week, some of which have been on my TBR list for such a long time. The many standalone books I’d still love to find time for would make up a whole new post in themselves.
On to the books…

Brandon Sanderson – The Mistborn first trilogy (The Final Empire, The Well of Ascension, The Hero of Ages)

Robin Hobb – The Farseer trilogy (Assassin’s Apprentice, Royal Assassin, Assassin’s Quest)

Joe Abercrombie – The First Law trilogy (The Blade Itself, Before They Are Hanged, Last Argument of Kings)

Julia Quinn – The Bridgertons series

Alice Hoffman – The Practical Magic series

Becky Chambers – The Wayfarers series

Mary Robinette Kowal – The Lady Astronaut series

Jodi Taylor – The Chronicles of St. Mary’s series

Genevieve Cogman – The Invisible Library series. I’ve read the first book in this series.

Diana Gabaldon – The Outlander series. I’ve also read the first book in this series, and I’ve kept up with the TV adaptation, but I’d really like to get back to reading the books too.

So, any recommendations about which of these I should definitely try to make time for?

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So, what did you write about this week?
See you again next time for another Top Ten Tuesday.

Book Review: Murder is Easy (Superintendent Battle #4) by Agatha Christie

Name:  Murder is Easy (Superintendent Battle #4)
Author:  Agatha Christie
Number of Pages:  274 (Kindle)
Published:  January 2020 (first published June 5th 1939)
Genre:  Mystery, Crime

Luke Fitzwilliam could not believe Miss Pinkerton’s wild allegation that a multiple murderer was at work in the quiet English village of Wychwood – or her speculation that the local doctor was next in line.
But within hours, Miss Pinkerton had been killed in a hit-and-run car accident. Mere coincidence? Luke was inclined to think so – until he read in The Times of the unexpected demise of Dr Humbleby…

My Rating:

My Thoughts:

Every so often I like to sample another Agatha Christie murder mystery, and Murder is Easy is the latest in my explorations of Christie’s many books. This one is included in the Superintendent Battle series, and I’ve never read any of the other books or come across this character before, but I found that didn’t matter as the story really belongs to Luke Fitzwilliam. Battle only makes a very brief appearance right at the very end of the story.

Luke goes to Wychwood after hearing a tale from a lady on a train that a serial killer may be residing in the village. Luke listens politely but thinks little else of it until he reads that the very same lady has been killed, apparently in an accident. He concocts a tale about writing a book and ventures off to Wychwood to see what he can find out.

Luke has a potential shortlist of suspects, and manages to find motive and means in many of the cases, but reasons it all out to himself in such a way that actually any of the people he suspects could indeed have committed the murders and still be wandering around the village, planning their next crime, a serial killer amongst a sleepy village. All these deaths come about in such subtle ways, things that can be passed off easily as accident, or coincidence.

I liked the countryside village setting, a place that may seem welcoming and cosy but may actually be the home of a serial killer.
The cast of characters, and the way they are revealed through Luke’s questioning and investigations, through chat and gossip among the locals, and the various scandals that abound in this small community also added to the overall mystery. There’s even a little romance in the midst of the murders.

I tried to keep up with the various threads and Luke’s many suppositions, and thought I might have worked out who the killer was but alas, I was proved wrong in the end. I’m glad I picked Murder is Easy as my latest Christie, it was an enjoyable mystery.

Top Ten Tuesday: Lighthouses and Sailing Ships

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.  Click on the link for more info and to find out about future topics.

This week’s theme is:  Freebie AKA Lighthouses and Sailing Ships

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This week on Top Ten Tuesday we can choose our own topic, so here is ‘Lighthouses and Sailing Ships’, a post in which I gather together a selection of books based on either of these themes, whether as a main feature or a passing scene.
I decided on this theme when I noticed that many of the books that have recently caught my attention featured either lighthouses or ships.

I’ve read three of these, and linked to my reviews where possible (marked with a*), and have even included a non-fiction title this week, which is very rare. On to the books…

The Lamplighters by Emma Stonex

The Lighthouse Witches by C. J. Cooke

The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow*

Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane – Read this in my pre-blogging days so no review unfortunately.

The Kingdoms by Natasha Pulley

Erebus: The Story of a Ship by Michael Palin

Temeraire by Naomi Novik

The Bone Ships by R. J. Barker

Ship of Magic by Robin Hobb

The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton*

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So, what did you write about this week?
See you again next time for another Top Ten Tuesday.