Death On A Longship by Marsali Taylor

Cass Lynch is desperate to skipper her own Tallship and crew, sadly she currently works winters as a waitress and summers giving sailing lessons until one day in the restaurant she works in she overhears a conversation. A film crew are looking for a skipper to get a Viking Longship refitted and seaworthy to use on their next film project. Cass immediately puts herself forward.

Once the Longship is ready and the film crew arrives things go well for a while then the lead actress is found dead on the Longship. Along with a few other characters, Cass seems to be the main suspect.

I really enjoyed this, lots of twists and turns. The characters are well written and likeable. In the early chapters we get a lot of introspective thought by Cass about how she has ended up where she now finds herself but the story still moves along nicely and all this introspection has more meaning as the story progresses.

Some of the dialogue is written phonetically in the Shetland dialect. I am not normally a fan of this but in this book it is not overly used and where it is used it is part of someone's character. You can't have a salty old Shetland fisherman talking the Queens English can you?

I have been so lucky in my book choices recently and this was another great read.

Paris Echo by Sebastian Faulks

Paris Echo by Sebastian Faulks

A teenage Moroccan boy runs away to Paris to try and discover something about his French Mother.

An American postdoctoral researcher returns to Paris ten years after her student years in the city.

Tariq travels the rougher parts of Paris on the Metro that he falls in love with and works illegally in a fried chicken take-away. The search for his mothers history leads him to discover plenty about French/Arab recent history. His naivety of the recent past is startling but he learns to accept some of what has happened to his fellow Arabs and relates it to his lost mother even if that was not her families fate.

Hannah is researching the life of women in occupied France during World War Two. She spends her days listening to womens accounts of their lives during the war, recorded and kept in a library. She also revisits a few places from her past and meets up with an English friend. They talk about her research, her past love in the city. He helps with some of her research gaining access to one of the recorded women that is still alive. Ultimately Hannah discovers that she can love again.

Two very different characters brought together in this interesting story.  Tariq ends up lodging in the flat that Hannah has rented. His French is much better than Hannahs so he helps with some translating. He also provides a sounding board for Hannahs thoughts though neither realise this. These little discussions help them both come to realise what they both really want in their lives.

A lovely read with some dark humour hidden where you least expect it. Once again a highly recommend from me

The Little Country by Charles de Lint

Janey Little discovers a book hidden in her grandfathers attic. She is captivated by the first few pages and that is by an author she loves but did not know of this book. Then an old boyfriend comes back into her life unexpectedly and then things start to get complicated.

A strange cult leader has been searching for this book for most of his life. The last time he 'felt' it was when it was last opened some forty years ago. There is nothing he will not do to get his hands on this book this time.

I am slowly reading my way through de Lint's books in something close to published order and so far I have enjoyed every word. To start with I thought this would be the first book I was not going to enjoy but as I got into the story this feeling changed. Janey is a bit whiney and likes everything her own way, to the point where it drives people away. Anyone that does not agree with her is either shouted down or ignored. Her ex coming back into her life only seems to give her another reason to moan. Not a great start!

Ignoring this part of the story I persevered as there are two definite threads running in this story. You find that besides Janey's story we are also reading the book she has discovered and this story has a magical quality that I have come to expect when reading de Lint. The two stories seem far removed from each other but as we reach the climax we come to realise they are closely related. Also a very nice twist at the end, I'll not explain as it would spoil the read if you pick it up.

Another brilliant read from de Lint, another recommendation from me if you enjoy Urban Fantasy.

Information Received by E.R. Punshon

Bobby Owen has been a beat policeman for just over three years when he finds himself at the scene of a murder. At first he is simply another policeman at the scene but his inquisitive nature and frustrations at not not being more involved finally get him seconded to the C.I.D temporarily on this case.

He finds himself mainly doing the footwork but the detective in charge sees something more in Bobby and starts to include him more in the crime investigations.

This is the first of over thirty books about Bobby Owen as we follow his career in the police force of thirties and Forties Britain.

Originally published in 1933 this first instalment is a brilliant insight into life of thirties England. I really enjoyed this ebook even if the storytelling is a bit convoluted and life is seen through rose tinted glasses. Owen is an interesting character, driven by the need to know answers to unsolved mysteries. Dedicated to the truth at any cost to himself.

This story has a great plot with twists and turns on almost every page. I am not one who can ever guess early who the perpetrator of these crime books is, in this one it was even harder because we do not find out until quite late in the story that there are two.

I highly recommend this ebook if you enjoy period crime writing, or even crime writing in general.