Henley Literary Festival – Page 22 – What Cathy Read Next…

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This week’s topic is Top Ten Authors I’d Love To Meet. Having just returned from attending several events at Henley Literary Festival 2018, my list is a combination of the authors I met (or at least saw in person) and those I would have liked to meet if I’d been able to attend more events.

Click on the author name to view event details (some now past or sold out). Henley Literary Festival started on Saturday 30^th September and runs until Sunday 7^th October 2018. Later this week I’ll be posting detailed reviews of the events I attended.

Have met:

Alan Johnson – Former Labour politician and Home Secretary turned author of the award-winning memoirs This Boy, Please, Mister Postman and The Long and Winding Road. Alan’s latest book, In My Life: A Music Memoir was published by Bantam Press in September 2018. My husband was thrilled to chat briefly to Alan and have his copy of Please, Mister Postman signed at Henley Literary Festival on Sunday.

Diane Setterfield – Best-selling author of The Thirteenth Tale and Bellman & Black returns with her next book, Once Upon A River, due out in December. The TV rights for the book have already been snapped up. I was lucky enough to hear her read an excerpt from the book at Henley Literary Festival yesterday and leave with my own (signed) proof copy.

A J Pearce – Debut novelist who burst onto the scene in 2017 with Dear Mrs. Bird. She’s currently working on her next book, a sequel to Dear Mrs. Bird. Having loved the book, I was delighted to meet her in person at Henley Literary Festival yesterday.

Anne Youngson – Another debut novelist whose epistolary novel, Meet Me At the Museum was praised by other authors and critics alike. I was delighted to meet Anne and have her sign my copy of her book at Henley Literary Festival yesterday.

Would have liked to meet:

Lucy Mangan – I recently read (and loved) Lucy’s book Bookworm: A Memoir of Childhood Reading but unfortunately couldn’t make her event at Henley Literary Festival today. It would have been great to swap childhood favourites.

Sebastian Faulks – Author of Birdsong, Sebastian Faulk’s latest novel is Paris Echo which I read recently. I’d have loved the chance to meet him and ask him about the book when he appeared on the first day of this year’s Henley Literary Festival.

Louis de Bernières – Another author I was sorry to have missed seeing at Henley Literary Festival as I loved Captain Corelli’s Mandolin and have a reservation request at my local library for his latest novel, So Much Life Left Over.

Anthony Horowitz – In my review of his book, The Word is Murder, I commented that ‘it was proof, if it were needed, that Anthony Horowitz is a very clever man’. As someone who was a fan of the TV series Foyle’s War that he created and who has several of his books in my TBR pile, it would have been great to meet him at Henley Literary Festival tomorrow.

Kate Mosse – I’ve enjoyed many of Kate Mosse’s previous books and rated her most recent novel, The Burning Chambers, one of her best. How fascinating would it be to find out firsthand how she keeps producing such great historical fiction.

Vera Brittain –Since she died in 1970 it’s clearly impossible to meet the acclaimed author of Testament of Youth and many other works of fiction and non-fiction. The next best thing perhaps would be to hear her biographer, Mark Bostridge, talk about Vera and the reissue by Virago of a special illustrated edition of Testament of Youth to mark the centenary of the First World War.

About the Book

Where is David Pemberton?

It’s 1971. Thirteen year old David has been missing for two years. It’s now up to Laurel Bowman and Frank Diamond, partners in the newly formed Anglian Detective Agency, to find him. But how do you solve a cold case with no leads? Are there connections to the brutal deaths of three local residents?

As their first big case unravels, they uncover a circle of temptations, destruction and deceit. But the closer they get to solving the case, the more exposed they are to danger. And now both Laurel’s and Frank’s lives are at risk.

Format: ebook (371 pp.) Publisher: Accent Press
Published: 17^th May 2018 Genre: Crime, Thriller, Mystery

Purchase Links*
Amazon.co.uk ǀ Amazon.com ǀ Hive.co.uk (supporting UK bookshops)
*links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

Find The Temptation (The Anglian Detective Agency #2) on Goodreads

My Review

The Temptation is the sequel to Some Particular Evil, which introduced many of the characters who also feature in The Temptation. Readers should be aware that The Temptation contains references to events in the earlier book, including the identity of the culprit. Therefore, although The Temptation works perfectly well as a standalone, readers who feel inclined to read the whole series should definitely start with Some Particular Evil.

The Temptation starts with the feel of a classic crime era novel but soon gets distinctly darker, especially when a number of unexplained deaths occur. Soon the members of the newly established Anglian Detective Agency (brought together as a result of events in the first book) start to find links between cases that initially seemed entirely unconnected. As the bodies pile up, it becomes clear that there are evil forces at work. I enjoyed the way the book explored the idea of temptation; whether that’s something as innocent as a weakness for bacon sandwiches (Any HP sauce, Mabel?) or a pint of Adnams…or something more illicit and sordid.

Set around Aldeburgh in Suffolk (home of the composer, Benjamin Britten), the author creates a convincing sense of the location through detailed descriptions of the town, its shops, the nearby villages and surrounding countryside. I particularly liked the way the author conjured up the energy of the sometimes storm-lashed Suffolk coastline. ‘It was deserted, the sea pounding the shingle; she put a hand over her mouth as the gusts were taking her breath away. Steel grey waves rushed in, piling on top of each other in their anxiety to reach land. A few gulls were riding the wind , banking and turning, likes planes in a dog fight.’

Mainly set in 1971, I would have liked to get a similarly vivid sense of the period. Although there were a few references to television programmes of the time (remember Softly, Softly or The Virginian, anyone?) and national events, I often found the need to remind myself when it was set. Having said that, towards the end of the book, when motives begin to emerge, I started to see why the author perhaps chose to set the story in this period.

The Temptation is a well-written, adeptly plotted crime mystery with engaging central characters and an interesting setting. Did I imagine it or, at the end of the book, did the author leave an opening for the story to continue in what would be an intriguing direction? I know from the author’s website that a third book in the series is planned for 2019…

Vera is appearing at Henley Literary Festival on 1^st October 2018 at the ‘Crime and Wine’ event alongside Vaseem Khan, author of Murder at the Grand Raj Palace, and Jessica Fellowes, author of Bright Young Dead (event sold out at time of writing).

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In three words: Suspenseful, atmospheric, engaging

Try something similar…The Missing Girl by Jenny Quintana (read my review here)

About the Author

Before becoming a teacher Vera blew soap bubbles in Woolworth’s, cooked in hotels and electro-fished in Welsh rivers. The majority of her teaching career was in a local mixed comprehensive in South Oxfordshire, where she became headteacher. Her interests include writing, gardening, cooking, reading, the theatre, museums and art galleries, and travelling in her campervan. (Photo credit: author’s website)

Connect with Vera

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Category: Henley Literary Festival