New arrivals
Crooked Heart by Lissa Evans (ebook)
When Noel Bostock – aged ten, no family – is evacuated from London to escape the Blitz, he winds up in St Albans with Vera Sedge – thiry-six, drowning in debts. Always desperate for money, she’s unscrupulous about how she gets it.
The war’s thrown up all manner of new opportunities but what Vee needs is a cool head and the ability to make a plan. On her own, she’s a disaster. With Noel, she’s a team.
Together they cook up an idea. But there are plenty of other people making money out of the war and some of them are dangerous. Noel may have been moved to safety, but he isn’t actually safe at all…
Ike and Kay by James MacManus (ebook)
In 1942, Cork-born Kay Summersby’s life is changed forever when she is tasked with driving General Eisenhower on his fact-finding visit to wartime London. Despite Eisenhower’s marriage to Mamie, the pair takes an immediate liking to one another and he gifts Kay a rare wartime luxury: a box of chocolates.
So begins a tumultuous relationship that against all military regulation sees Kay travelling with Eisenhower on missions to far flung places before the final assault on Nazi Germany. She becomes known as “Ike’s shadow” and in letters Mamie bemoans his new obsession with ‘Ireland’. That does not stop him from using his influence to grant Kay US citizenship and rank in the US army, drawing her closer when he returns to America. When the US authorities discover Eisenhower’s plans to divorce from his wife they threaten the fragile but passionate affair and Kay is forced to take desperate measures to hold onto the man she loves…
Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey (ebook)
Meet Maud.
Maud is forgetful. She makes a cup of tea and doesn’t remember to drink it. She goes to the shops and forgets why she went. Sometimes her home is unrecognisable – or her daughter Helen seems a total stranger.
But there’s one thing Maud is sure of: her friend Elizabeth is missing. The note in her pocket tells her so. And no matter who tells her to stop going on about it, to leave it alone, to shut up, Maud will get to the bottom of it.
Because somewhere in Maud’s damaged mind lies the answer to an unsolved seventy-year-old mystery. One everyone has forgotten about. Everyone, except Maud . . .
Forsaking All Others by Catherine Meyrick (ebook, review copy courtesy of Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours)
England 1585. Bess Stoughton, waiting woman to the well-connected Lady Allingbourne, has discovered that her father is arranging for her to marry an elderly neighbour. Normally obedient Bess rebels and wrests from her father a year’s grace to find a husband more to her liking.
Edmund Wyard, a taciturn and scarred veteran of England’s campaign in Ireland, is attempting to ignore the pressure from his family to find a suitable wife as he prepares to join the Earl of Leicester’s army in the Netherlands.
Although Bess and Edmund are drawn to each other, they are aware that they can have nothing more than friendship. Bess knows that Edmund’s wealth and family connections place him beyond her reach. And Edmund, with his well-honed sense of duty, has never considered that he could follow his own wishes. With England on the brink of war and fear of Catholic plots extending even into Lady Allingbourne’s household, time is running out for both of them.
Trigger Mortis by Anthony Horowitz (ebook)
It’s 1957 and James Bond (agent 007) has only just survived his showdown with Auric Goldfinger at Fort Knox. By his side is Pussy Galore, who was with him at the end. Unknown to either of them, the USSR and the West are in a deadly struggle for technological superiority. And SMERSH is back.
The Soviet counter-intelligence agency plans to sabotage a Grand Prix race at the most dangerous track in Europe. But it’s Bond who finds himself in the driving seat and events take an unexpected turn when he observes a suspicious meeting between SMERSH’s driver and a sinister Korean millionaire, Jai Seong Sin. Soon Bond is pitched into an entirely different race uncovering a plan that could bring the West to its knees.
Welcoming back familiar faces, including M and Miss Moneypenny, international bestselling author Anthony Horowitz ticks all the boxes: speed, danger, strong women and fiendish villains, to reinvent the golden age of Bond in this brilliantly gripping adventure. Trigger Mortis is also the first James Bond novel to feature previously unseen Ian Fleming material. This is James Bond as Fleming imagined him.
On What Cathy Read Next last week
Blog posts
Monday – I took part in the blog tour for Lords of the Greenwood featuring a fantastic guest post by its author, Chris Thorndycroft.
Tuesday – I shared my five favourite books in March and my review of Friends and Traitors by John Lawton, the eighth in his Inspector Troy series. This one features, in fictionalised form, Guy Burgess, one of the Cambridge Spies whose defection rocked a nation.
Wednesday – WWW Wednesday is the opportunity to share what I’ve just finished reading, what I’m reading now and what I’ll be reading next. I also hosted a spotlight feature on crime novel The Ticket by Fred Shackelford and published my review of historical mystery The Pharmacist’s Wife by Vanessa Tait.
Thursday – My Throwback Thursday book was The Winner by Erin Bomboy set in the competitive world of professional ballroom dancing. I also published my review of Manipulated Lives by H. A. Leuschel, a collection of five compelling stories exploring the theme of manipulation.
Friday – I shared my review Charlemagne, one of the titles in in60Learning’s new range of concise historical and biographical works that can be read or listened to in under 60 minutes. Ideal for history buffs with little spare time on their hands.
Saturday – I took part in the blog tour for Lesley Thomson’s latest novel in her The Detective’s Daughter series, The Death Chamber. In a fascinating Q&A, Lesley shared some insights into the process of coming up with a great title for a book. I also took part in the blog tour for A Mother’s Sacrifice by Gemma Metcalfe, sharing my review of this twisty, fast-paced psychological thriller. Finally, I participated in the 6 Degrees of Separation meme constructing, through some twisted logic of my own, a chain that started with Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden and ended onboard a plague-ridded cruise ship!
Challenge updates
- Goodreads 2018 Reading Challenge – 51 out of 156 books read, 4 more than last week
- Classics Club Challenge – 13 out of 50 books read, same as last week
- NetGalley/Edelweiss Reading Challenge 2018 (Silver) – 16 ARCs read and reviewed out of 25, 3 more than last week
- From Page to Screen– 10 book/film comparisons out of 15 completed, same as last week
- 2018 TBR Pile Challenge – 5 out of 12 books read, same as last week
- Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 2018 – 23 books out of 50 read, 2 more than last week
- When Are You Reading? Challenge 2018 – 7 out of 12 books read, same as last week
- What’s In A Name Reading Challenge – 0 out of 6 books read, same as last week
- Buchan of the Month – 3 out of 12 books read, same as last week
On What Cathy Read Next this week
Currently reading
Planned posts
- Blog Tour/Q&A: The Room by the Lake by Emma Dibdin
- Review: Things Bright and Beautiful by Anbara Salam
- Buchan of the Month: Introducing…Greenmantle by John Buchan
- Review: The Clocks In This House All Tell Different Times by Xan Brooks
- Blog Tour/Review: Lady Helena Investigates by Jane Steen
- Throwback Thursday: Prussian Blue by Philip Kerr
- Excerpt: El Hacho by Luis Carrasco
- Guest Post: Girl Without A Voice by Chris Bridge
- Review: The Good Father by S. R. Wilsher
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Thinking of other memoirs led me to 
A fairly obvious next move is to Mark Haddon’s award winning 
Amongst other things, Christopher hates the colours yellow so I hope he will beg my pardon if my next link in the chain is to 
This leads me to another book set in Nigeria – 
Set in 1348 at the time of the Black Death, the inhabitants of the village at the heart of 
The passengers and crew in 
