Hobbies and Crafts

Yes Vera it is/was Dunstanburgh castle near Craster, thanks for reminding me.

Strange Names you talk of characters aging. Recently reading an Ian Rankin book and Rebus is retired in I’ll health and on trial. I really enjoyed the book but wanted him to be back to his old fit self,

I have started a new list of authors or books to look for :-)

I meant to say earlier Ann that you mentioned a ruined castle overlooking the bay in one of the books and I wondered if it was Dunstanburgh. We love that area and have stayed at Craster and at a couple of places nearby but I doubt if we’ll go again. The long drive is too much for us now and, even if we could manage to somehow get there by public transport, I wouldn’t want to be there without a car to get around.

The Bob Skinner series by Quinton Jardine are very good. He has been writing them for about 30 years.

Bob starts off as a young Scottish copper and ends up at the vey top. I think it is unusual to allow the main character to grow and age. The books not only cover crime but also Scottish Politics. So we have the change to Police Scotland and the loss of regional police forces and devolution and the Scottish parliament ( I’ve probably forgotten some of it).

As Bob grows and ages so do his family and friends.

Thank you everyone for your various suggestions. A while ago I started making a list of recommended authors but I can’t find it now so I will have to begin again. I wish I had kept a note of books I’ve read though it would be a very long list by now. I regularly get something from the library only to find I’ve already read it.

My tastes are quite wide ranging though I’m not really a fan of romances or family sagas. I like detective/police procedural books (I’m never too sure of the difference). I enjoy the Roy Grace books but have never seen the TV series, and the same with the Alan Banks books. I also like a bit of fantasy, historical fact and fiction, biographies - in fact, you name it and I’ll read it.

I’ve recently reread three factual books by Robert K Massie that I had on my kindle: biographies of Peter the Great and Catherine the Great and The Romanovs: The Final Chapter which is about finding where the bodies of Tsar Nicholas II and his family were and then proving which bones belong to which person and using DNA and other techniques to prove that these bodies were those of the Tsar and family. I found all these books fascinating and will be rereading them in a year or two I’m sure.

I’m currently reading The Tower Bridge Murder by Emily Organ. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. It’s so lightweight that you couldn’t even call it a beach read. I read 64 pages very quickly last night. I will probably finish it to find out who the murderer is but I won’t bother to look for anymore books by this author.

It’s lovely to see the thread moving again.

I have read one, Hysteria, I can't actually remember it off hand but I keep a list of books read and this was in 2023 I think and I gave it a very good comment.

since Covid (and during), We have a lady who runs a free exchange book stall one a month, she encourages us taking 6 books a time and, of course they get returned when read. Although there is nothing to say they have to be returned. They have a large tent on their drive for 4 days over the weekend and inside are table with boxes of books (spines showing so you can see authors, titles etc. I was down there this morning and got 6 books. I read a lot so those six will be back with her within the month. They also have jigsaws to borrow free as well.

Have you read her Alexander Gregory books - they are good too.

But isn’t it funny that one can take to one series but not another. Couldn’t get on with the Vera books but loved the Shetland series. We definitely read those before the series not sure about Vera as it would have been long ago.

I rarely read a book when we’ve seen a film or tv series because they are too often not at all the same.

Free! That is with Kindle Unlimited.

I second that names, I loved those books and was quite disappointed when I read the last one. I can't remember whereabouts it is (memory for name is awful these days) but last year with daughter we were on that coast and were in the bay for I think a body on the rocks -It may not actually be called that, with the ruined castle on the hill overlooking the bay. It was spooky to actually be there.
I see that that series is free for kindle on amazon at the moment so worth a read if that is what you would like to read.

edit sorry should have said free with Kindle unlimited.

We read a lot on our kobo/ kindles, so lots of books are only on those. But the LJRoss stories have now come out in book form.
DCI Ryan is based in the North East. The first one is in Lindesfarne - quite spooky and the repercussions of that story reappear from time to time in the series. If you don’t like a good murder and often a dreadful one then this is not for you.

thank you AG, I have made a note of these Ladder of tears appeals to me.

Ladder of Years, by Ann Tyler

O Caledonia, by Elspeth Barker.

Taste, by Stanley Tucci

I shall give Grace a try then

Those were mild ones - I’ve just finished one called ‘Gutted’ ;-)

The Grace books are a bit different to the to series. Some things are very different.

The books do have themes going through them but the stories are separate although there are references from time to time,

I haven’t read James Patterson for years and I did like Alex Cross .

I think I have. Grace novel on my books to read shelf. I have seen the Tv series though and wonder if I should find the first in the series to read. Or would they ‘work’ out of order.

Thanks for venturing over here. You can see fro my list I like your sort of books I think my favourites have been James Patterson and the Alex Cross series.

Ann Your appeal has worked - a bit.

I don't often recomend books as not many people seem to llike the tough dtective novels I read (except OH).

However, I've just started the latest Roy Grace book and would rather be reading that than writing this!!!!

We also read the Marlow Mysteries before the TV series came out and really liked them - a lot lighter than our ususal reads.

Names

Fitting that the first ever post on this thread was a recommendation for a Lucinda riley book.

I read and thoroughly enjoyed all L Riley's 7 Sisters books, (as well as many others by her). And I was sad when she passed away after being diagnosed and living with cancer.

I have recently see that there is a new book out by Lucinda riley. I think I remember seeing that she had started or maybe almost finished a book when she died and it was going to be completed by her son. The book is called The Hidden girl but I think it is only out in hard back (£15+) so, much though I want to read it I will wait a while.

Just finished Tim Weaver's The Black Bird and before that Ian Rankin's A Heart full of Headstones. Both thrillers, both (I thought) very good.

Before Tony die in 2021 I rarely read thrillers, Used to rad more historical novels and, on holidays, light novels, authors such as Philippa Gregory, Elizabeth Chadwick, and Diane Chamberland, Lucy Diamond. After he died I read a lot to take away the fact I was now on my own most of the time. But I switched to crime by Rankin, Childs, Patterson,Connelly, Cobern etc. I couldn't 'take' romance at all. But I do mix it up more now.

I finished The Couple at no. 9 by Clare Douglas. It improved as it went along and I quite enjoyed it in the end. It was a murder mystery but the bodies that were found had been killed around 1980 and it was working out how various present day people (in 2018) were involved, if at all. There were a couple of unexpected twists in the plot. It's not the sort of book I would read over and over so I've put it aside to take to a charity shop, but I would read another one by this author.

I don't recall the name Edward Rutherford Tabitha, so I must look him up.

Happy reading everyone.

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I know what you mean. I was reading the Omen books and got to the last one. Could i get into it, could i heck, i put it away and tried later, no, tried it five times over a month and gave up.

The same with Edward Rutherford's Russia, I just cant get into it, read all the others, London, Sarum, New Forest, both Ireland books loved them all, couldn't stop reading them, but not Russia. Must be years since i tried it.

Lovely day getting quite hot out there, cats just flopped in the shade of the lilac bush or little hedges.

Quick edit Edward Rutherfurd my error. Good books slightly heavy going in places but interesting if you like historical facts mixed with fiction. I think the one i enjoyed the most was London. followed by Sarum.

Hope you are both well.

A briefish post today as time is running away from me.

It was good to read of your cats Tabitha. I had cats from the age of 4 until about 5 years ago when we lost our last 2 sisters and, for various reasons, decided not to get another cat. I do miss them.

I've finished reading The Running Grave at last and I did enjoy it but it was quite a complex plot and I kept forgetting who was related to whom.

I've also finished.The Spy and the Traitor. It's the true story of Oleg Gordievsky who was a KGB official who spied for Britain. He was head of the London KGB operation but suspician fell on him and he was recalled to Moscow where he might well have faced execution.. The story of how he was spirited out of Russia by MI6 is unbelievable except it really happened.

I'm now reading The Couple at no. 9 by Clare Douglas. It's easy reading and doesn't need much thought. So far I'm a bit disappointed but I'll reserve judgement till I get to the end. Some books are slow to get going.