The Nidderdale Murders by J R Ellis (idyllic setting!)

A Yorkshire Murder Mystery - that is the description and certainly more than the murder or the mystery or the detective work, the Yorkshire dales are so beautifully described in this book that anyone will want to go right now see what it is all about. The names of the villages themselves are enchanting and add to the mystery of this story. Add a detective that loves poetry and the dales, a mix of very realistic village folk, cautious with "in comers" and everyone who loves a pint the story is very good reading. One murder at point blank range, the murderer almost wanting to be recognized as so and so and then the murderer disappears. No one knows where he lived, though he worked for many as an odd job man and gardener - the victim was obnoxious and disliked but tolerated because he spent quite a bit around the village (though never paid his bills on time). When a second murder happens in the same manner, where the murderer faces a witness so that he will be identified Detective Oldroyd knows that there is something much more than meets the eye. Good detective work, plodding book work connects the dots and how revenge is really served cold in this case. Sent by Netgalley for an unbiased review, courtesy of Amazon Publishing UK.

The Quiet Girl by S F Kosa

Still unable to upload the picture of this book! Alex returns home after a spat with his new wife and discovers her missing. Her rings are in a wineglass and that's that. The police treat it as a person who wants to be missing and do not take his pleas seriously. The story begins to unravel at that point. Alex has not met his parents in law other than on a single occasion. He knows that his wife is not on good terms with them but they are his last resort to find out any clues as to what has happened to her. Meeting them and feeling the tensions and hidden stories behind their steely façade, Alex knows there is more than meets the eye and it is somehow connected to his wife's disappearance. The story of Layla is running parallel to Mina's story and one is definitely linked to the other. How Alex has to work to unravel the mystery of his wife's past and somehow find her is this story. The book was good but meandered a bit to the point that it became rambling and it was difficult for me to fix events and how they connected. Sent by Netgalley for an unbiased review, courtesy of Sourcebooks Landmark.

The Secrets of Saffron Hall by Clare Marchant

The story is told in two time frames. 1538 and 2019 five centuries apart. The story which we read in present times is an eerie similarity to what went on five centuries before and you do kind of think that there is much more to life than what actually meets the eye. Saffron Hall is a crumbling manor house lived in by Amber's grandfather. Amber after a miscarriage almost at the end of a normal pregnancy has fled to her family home as she cannot bear to live in the house with her husband who is also grieving but who seems to be able to cope better with the emotional trauma of this loss. Amber's reason for being there at Saffron Hall is to deal with the enormous collection of books that are lying around, to archive it and to bring it to some sense of order. Discovering an ancient manuscript when one tower of the Hall comes down, reveals a story that Amber feels compelled to follow. She feels that Eleanor is trying to tell her a story about the child she carried which died, and which was never properly buried. Trying to unravel this piece of history and bring it to completion is what Amber feels will also bring peace to herself and a reconciliation with her husband. Till this is resolved, she is determined not to leave Saffron Hall. The story alternating between two centuries is a poignant one in both time frames. Both Eleanor and Saffron suffered immensely from their loss and both had to come to peace before they could move forward. Sent by Avon Books UK for an unbiased review, courtesy of Netgalley.

The Last to Know by Jo Furniss

Very atmospheric from the word go, Rose and Dylan with their little son are returning home from tumultuous Somalia after a long exile away from home. Home is Dylan's ancestral pile in the quiet village of Hurtford. The house is eerie, sitting on a hill and the Kynaston name alone is spoken about with derision, scorn and disdain. Rose is unaware of the tension surrounding her husband's family until she actually arrives in the home to find Gwendoline - Dylan's mother herself eccentric, displaying all the characteristics of dementia but is not acknowledged by her son to actually be a danger to anyone. To the outsider Rose, there are lots of things very wrong both with Gwendoline and the house but Dylan persists in being blind to all this. The scandal attached to Dylan's father persists despite there being no proof at all (case dismissed) but it is not a happy situation at all. Rose is fighting blind an enemy that she does not know or even can perceive, and when human remains are discovered the entire old scandal is reopened like a festering wound and it is upto Rose to protect herself and her son even against her husband who is now a prime suspect in a murder investigation. The whole village of Hurtford itself added to the suspense of the story as it seemed as if small time villages have very long memories and thirty years is a mere few days in people's memory. It does not fade with time nor is it allowed to do so and it is kept very much alive - the animosity and hatred particularly. This was a good read with a lot to ponder over - how family ties, loyalty to a clan to a village can sometimes be too much of a good thing! Sent by Lake Union Publishing for an unbiased review, courtesy of Netgalley.

The House at Mermaid's Cove by Lindsay Jayne Ashford (WWII setting)

Another story with a World War II background set between the coasts of Cornwall, scenes of quiet rural life with hidden secrets and then moving across to France and all the turmoil there with German occupation. Alice is a survivor of a ship torpedoed by the Germans and washed up on the Cornish coast. With her shorn hair and secretive speech, her rescuer knows that there are secrets behind the façade of the washed out, exhausted woman found at his doorstep. When her life story is told which in itself is intriguing (a convent in Africa, a questioning of faith, an idea of leaving the strict no feelings to be shown policy of the convent) and with her knowledge of French, Alice becomes a key person in the permanent quest of finding people who can infiltrate the French coast and bring back airmen and others who need to get back to England. Following her adventures both in and out of France at great personal risk to herself and reading about her life in the convent in Africa, both the highs and lows - you can see how far the church has come since those difficult times of strict laws, and rules and nothing else. It was a tough time for anyone who chose a vocation unless you were devoid of any natural feelings. The story of survival, of faith, and finally of a peaceful end and love finding a way is all told in this imaginative story. Sent by Lake Union Publishing for an unbiased review, courtesy of Netgalley.

The Lighthouse by P D James

I am going to the pile of books unread at home and picking up one at a time. The first is an all time favourite P D James. I love her style of writing, formal, precise and so very informative. All in one sentence. The feeling conveyed in a sentence is so good that nothing is superfluous. Never get tired of reading her books. The Lighthouse set on Coombe Island is a isolated place. It serves as a resort for those "captains of industry" or politicians who need a quiet, restful place to recuperate and relax, free from the intrusions of modern life. It did not prove to be so for Oliver Nathan, a cantankerous author who from several accounts was described as evil. His murder set in motion a series of events starting with Detectives from Scotland Yard arriving on the island and with a second murder, an episode of SARS, it soon racked up the tensions on this small island with just a few people. Uncovering a history that went back decades in the lives of those who were on the island, not just islanders as such of whom there were only a couple but the lives of those who were on the island at the time of the murder showed that coincidences is not acceptable when it comes to murder. On an island with such a few inhabitants even the lives of the detectives - just three of them mesh in a way that does not happen in a more "open" environment. This added another dimension to the story. This was a gorgeous read, I can see myself reading it again in a year or two.

The Fixed Stars by Molly Wizenberg

The saga of Blogger not allowing me to paste the picture of the book continues. Sigh! Unusual memoir. At 36 the author finds herself (presently for descriptive purposes only) married and with a small baby. Happy in her marriage, financially stable, happy with her domesticity as well. Called up for jury duty Molly finds herself hopelessly and irrevocably attracted to Nora a lawyer and she cannot get her out of her mind. It is not a momentary feeling of lust but one that seems to take over Molly's entire thought process. The story proceeds how Molly (and her husband) have to handle this new intrusion in their life, come to terms with it (which they do), and proceed with their separate lives, causing as little disruption to the lives of their child and those around them. It seems all very civilized, a minimal amount of heartbreak over a failure of a marriage but it seems a bit strange all the same. It is a memoir which feels like a bit of therapy is going on with the writing itself, expunging itself as it were and on the other hand gives a clearer perspective of how harsh it is to have a gender identity crisis at the age of 36. Unusual reading, got me thinking. Sent by Netgalley for an unbiased review, courtesy of Abrams Press.