On the blog last week
Monday – I published my review of crime thriller The Injustice of Valor by Gary Corbin.
Tuesday – My take on this week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic was Books That Make Me Think Of Spring. I also shared my review of Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall.
Wednesday – As always WWW Wednesday is a weekly opportunity to share what I’ve just read, what I’m currently reading and what I plan to read next… and to take a peek at what others are reading.
Thursday – I shared My Top 3 March 2025 Reads.
New on my shelves
A book club pick, the other half of a ‘Buy One, Get One Free’ offer and two NetGalley ARCs
The Kellerby Code by Jonny Sweet (Faber & Faber)
Edward is living in a world he can’t afford and to which he doesn’t belong. To camouflage himself, he has catered to his friends’ fetching drycleaning, sorting flowers for premieres. It’s a noble effort, really – anything to keep his best pals Robert and Stanza happy. In return, his proximity to them might sponge the shame of his birth and violent past cleanly away.
But the chink in his armour is his painfully unrequited love for Stanza. When he realises Stanza and Robert are an item, Edward is pushed too far. His little acts of kindness take a sinister turn, giving way to the unspeakable brutality Edward fears is at his core.Are there limits to what he will do for his friends? Are there limits to what he will do to them?
The Little Liar by Mitch Albom (Harper)
Eleven-year-old Nico Krispis has never told a lie. When the Nazis invade his home in Salonika, Greece, the trustworthy boy is discovered by a German officer, who offers him a chance to save his family. All Nico has to do is persuade his fellow Jewish residents to board trains heading “north,” where new jobs and safety await. Unaware that this is all a cruel ruse, the innocent boy reassures passengers on the station platform every day.
But when the final train is loaded, Nico sees his family being herded into a boxcar. Only then does he discover that he has helped send them – and everyone he knows and loves – to their doom at Auschwitz.
Nico escapes – but he never tells the truth again.
Secrets of the Bees by Jane Johnson (eARC, Apollo via NetGalley)
Time has forgotten this remote corner of West Cornwall, and left its many secrets undisturbed. Until now…
Ezra Curnow has lived in the little cottage on the Trengrose estate all his life. He was born there, as was his father, and his grandfather before that. It is his own little paradise.
Then the mistress of the estate, Eliza Rosevear, dies without leaving a will, and the cottage’s ownership is put into question. Trengrose’s charm soon attracts London financier Toby and his wife Minty, and Toby immediately sniffs an opportunity to rent out Ezra’s cottage to tourists. But Ezra, a wily old chap, is prepared to battle to save his beloved home, and he has a number of secret weapons in his armoury.
As Toby resorts to more drastic measures, Ezra’s case looks increasingly hopeless. But the recently deceased mistress of Trengrose took some secrets to her grave too, and she doesn’t intend to rest quietly until they come to light…
Lion Hearts (Essex Dogs #3) by Dan Jones (eARC, Aries via NetGalley)
1350. Three years on from the Siege of Calais:
The Black Death has wreaked havoc in Europe.
The Castilians are moving against England.
The Essex Dogs have scattered.
In Winchelsea, Loveday struggles to keep his tavern afloat in the aftermath of the Death. Nowadays, the only battles he fights are the ones within his own mind.
In Windsor, Romford thrives as a squire at King Edward III’s court, his days as an archer fading into memory. But when an unpaid debt threatens everything he’s built, Romford must call upon the lessons he learned all those years ago: be cunning. Be ruthless. Be quick.
With England still reeling from the Death and the Castilian threat on the rise, the kingdom’s future has never been more uncertain.
Each had reasons for leaving the Essex Dogs behind. But a life like that isn’t so easily forgotten. And for these men the fighting isn’t over yet.
What I’m currently reading
I’m switching between Glorious Exploits (one of the books on the longlist for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction), a review copy of Defender of the Wall sent to me by the author, and a NetGalley title.
Look out for…
- Book Review: The Belladonna Maze by Sinead Crowley
- Book Review: Legionary: Devotio by Gordon Doherty
- Book Review: The CIA Book Club by Charlie English
- Q&A: Fair Haven by Laury A. Egan
What Cathy Read Next... 
Secrets of the Bees sounds very good.
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