William McIlvanney changed the face of crime fiction, and arguably Scottish fiction, when he created Glasgow-based detective Jack Laidlaw, heralding the start of so-called ‘tartan noir’. Although McIlvanney wrote several other more literary and equally beautiful novels, for the Laidlaw books are beautiful, the latter are particularly dear to me. I’m not sure if it’s … Continue readings →

Tags : Canongate, crime fiction, Ian Rankin, Laidlaw, William McIlvanney

In the final pages of The Reacher Guy, Heather Martin’s expansive biography of Lee Child, she includes a ‘final rumination’ from the mega author, in his words a ‘kind of epitaph’: ‘People ask, am I happy now I have retired? The truth is, I retired because now I’m happy. The times I grew up in, … Continue readings →

Tags : constable non-fiction, crime fiction, Crime Writers Association, heather martin, heather martin biographer, jack reacher, jack reacher lee child, lee child, lee child authorised biography, lee child literary biography, literary biography, The Literary Lounge, the reacher guy, the reacher guy the authorised biography of lee child

Best-selling novelist Louise Beech’s latest novel, This Is How We Are Human, is really an exploration of love in all its guises. Beech has proved herself a fearless writer, unafraid to tackle subjects many would run away from. Here she explores an area little discussed, love and sex for those people on the spectrum.   … Continue readings →

We’d love to meet Professor Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson. Apart from the fact she sounds like she’d be great fun, her book, Tapestries of Life: Uncovering Lifesaving Secrets of the Natural World, is just joyous. A wonderful evocation and celebration of our world, which also holds us to account. In the opening pages, the author tells of … Continue readings →

Tags : Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson, environmental books, Mudlark publishers, natural world books, nature writing, Tapestries of Life, Tapestries of Life Sverdrup-Thygeson

Helga Flatland’s books are a joy, her writing quiet, her observations sharp, her language simple but carefully chosen. One Last Time, her latest, is a fine example of this and, like her debut, it focuses on family. Here, Flatland’s gaze hones in on the relationship between mothers and daughters, as exposed in three generations of … Continue readings →

Tags : family drama, Helga Flatland, Norwegian writers, One Last Time, One Last Time Helga Flatland, Orenda Books

The only part of her that stands out are her eyes, which are as green as the tops of those paddle-shaped plants, and her nose, pink as the tip of a sunset. She looks at us for a long, silent moment. So long that I think she might not move at all, and when she … Continue readings →

Tags : big cat sanctuaries, big cats, jane goodall, Laura Coleman, Little a, Little a publishers, puma, The Puma Years, travel memoir, travel memoir Bolivia

      I typed in my usual search (Douglas Jordan Dead Cave Floodwater) and one of the hits … was  a listing on a baby names website. Douglas (boy). Means. Dark Water. Ever since then I’ve blamed myself and Gill, accidental prophets. I blame us for choosing a name that turned out to be … Continue readings →

Tags : Allen & Unwin, Allen & Unwin fiction, commercial fictioh Allen and Unwin, fiction 2021, Francesca Haig, Francesca Haig poet, The Cookbook of Common Prayer

    Fargo is one of those films, you either absolutely love with an almost cultish adoration, or just don’t get: it’s too screwball, too noir, too dark, too odd. We sit firmly in the former camp and, when we first saw it, in a small press screening in Soho, in 1996, it was mesmerising. … Continue readings →

Tags : A lot can happen in the middle of nowhere, And It's a beautiful day a Fargo companion, Coen brothers, Fargo, Fargo 25h anniversary, Fargo companion, Fargo the movie, film critic, flm critique, Nige Tassel journalst, Nige Tassell, Nige Tassell the Guardian, Polaris books, The Literary Lounge reviews, The Literary Shed editor's choice

  Romance is one of the most underrated genres, which is an outrage as so many talented authors write within it. Liz Jones’ The Queen of Romance celebrates one of the late greats – and, no doubt, to many, unknowns – Marguerite Jervis. A prolific writer, better known by her pen names, among them Countess … Continue readings →

Tags : Caradoc Evans, Countess Barcynska, Hitchcock, Hitchcock book to film, Honno, literary biography, Liz Jones, Liz Jones biographer, Marguerite Jervis, Marguerite Jervis biography, Oliver Sandy, romance and historical writers, romance writers, The Pleasure Gardens, The Queen of Romance, The Queen of Romance Marguerite Jervis, twentieth-century romance writers

      We’ve been fans of Kathy Reich’s Temperance Brennan for a long time and it’s a huge pleasure to meet her again in The Bone Code, her twentieth outing. It’s rather like catching up with an old friend. Set between South Carolina and Montreal predominantly, here we find the forensic anthropologist living in … Continue readings →

Tags : Brenna no 20, forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan, Kathy Reichs, lead crime fiction 2021, Quebec set crime fiction, Simon & Schuster crime fiction, Temperance Brennan

      Identical twins, a Gothic-esque house, mysteries from the past and a missing woman – oh, and a fantasy place created by said children in said house – that’s Mirrorland, Carole Johnstone’s psychological novel, in its most simplified form and what’s not to like? It takes its title from the escapist world sisters … Continue readings →

Tags : Borough Books, Carole Johnstone, Gothic, Gothic-esque novels, Mirrorland, psychological thriller, Rebecca-esque novels, Stephen King recommendation

    It feels fitting to review Together on this day, 12 April 2021, when the world, or at least our little part of it, begins to open up again, easing our return we hope to a better, brighter, safer and healthier new world. We hope. And that’s what Luke Adam Hawker and Marianne Laidlaw’s … Continue readings →

Tags : architectural designers, books for gifts, charlie mackesy, Covid literature, Kyle Books, Luke Adam Hawker, Marianne Laidlaw, mindfulness literature, pandemic reading, Together, Together Luke Adam Hawker

    We shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, and yet most of us do, particularly in this age of having to buy online, without flicking through pages or sniffing paper. In the case of Song, Michelle Jana Chan’s acclaimed novel, published in paperback this month by Unbound, we’re pleased to say that it’s … Continue readings →

Tags : Asian immigrant experience, crowdfunded fiction, Guiana in literature, historical fiction, Michelle Jana Chana, Michelle Jana Chana Vanity Fair, Song a novel, Song Michelle Jana Chana, Unbound Books, Unbound fiction, Vanity Fair

      Coming shortly after the week we’ve had, the months we’ve had, the years, a book essentially celebrating the achievements of a group of very fine women (and, yes, men) who essentially helped save the day for the Allies during the Second World War, is both timely and great. Kate Quinn’s The Rose … Continue readings →

Tags : Alan Turing, Bletchley Park, Bletchley Park fiction, codebreakers, Enigma, historical fiction, Kate Quinn, Kate Quinn novelist, Second World War fiction, the marriage of Princess Elizabeth to Prince Philip of Greece, The Rose Code, the women of Bletchley Park

    We love Bitter Lemon’s list, especially its crime-fiction in translation, and The Measure of Time, by award-winning author Gianrico Carofiglio, joins its ranks this month. Set in Bari, in southern Italy, it’s the sixth book in Carofiglio’s series featuring aging lawyer Guido Guerrieri, a philosophical man coming to terms with the passing of … Continue readings →

Tags : Bari, Gianrico Carofiglio, Gianrico Carofiglio prosecutor, Guerrieri 6, Guido Guerrieri, lawyers turned crime-ficiton writers, mafia, southern Italian-based crime fiction, The Measure of Time