My Week in Books – 14th January 2024

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MyWeekinBooksOn What Cathy Read Next last week

Monday – As part of the blog tour, I published my review of The Teacher by Tim Sullivan along with a letter to help spell out a clue.

Tuesday – This week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic was Most Anticipated Books Releasing in the First Half of 2024.

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 sign-up post for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 2024. 

Friday – I published my review of crime novel, The Distant Dead by Lesley Thomson.

New arrivals

Someone ran amok on NetGalley…

The HouseholdThe Household by Stacey Halls (eARC, Manilla Press via NetGalley)

London, 1847. In a quiet house in the countryside outside London, the finishing touches are being made to welcome a group of young women. The house and its location are top secret, its residents unknown to one another, but the girls have one thing in common: they are fallen. Offering refuge for prostitutes, petty thieves and the destitute, Urania Cottage is a second chance at life – but how badly do they want it?

Meanwhile, a few miles away in a Piccadilly mansion, millionairess Angela Burdett-Coutts, one of the benefactors of Urania Cottage, makes a discovery that leaves her cold. Her stalker of ten years has been released from prison, and she knows it’s only a matter of time before their nightmarish game resumes once more.

As the women’s worlds collide in ways they could never have expected, they will discover that freedom always comes at a price . . .

A Plague of SerpentsA Plague of Serpents by K. J. Maitland (eARC, Headline via NetGalley)

London, 1608. Three years after the Gunpowder Treason, the King’s enemies prepare to strike again.

Daniel Pursglove is tasked by royal command with one final mission: he must infiltrate the Serpents – a secret group of Catholics plotting to kill the King – or risk his own execution. But other conspirators are circling, men who would blackmail Daniel for their own dark ends.

In the Serpents’ den, nothing is quite as it seems. And when Daniel spies a familiar face among their number, the game takes a dangerous turn.

As plague returns to London, tensions reach breaking point. Can Daniel escape the web of treason in which he finds himself ensnared – or has his luck finally run out?

SufferanceSufferance by Charles Palliser (eARC, Guernica Editions via NetGalley)

When his nation is invaded and occupied by a brutal enemy, a well-intentioned man persuades his wife that they should give temporary shelter to a young girl who is at school with their daughter.

He has no idea that the girl belongs to a community against whom the invader intends to commit genocide. 

Days stretch into weeks and then months while the enemy’s pitiless hatred of the girl’s community puts all of the family in danger. Nobody outside the family can be trusted with the dangerous secret and the threat from outside unlocks a darkness that threatens to derail them all.

JamesJames by Percival Everett (eARC, Mantle via NetGalley)

The Mississippi River, 1861. When the enslaved Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a new owner in New Orleans and separated from his wife and daughter forever, he decides to hide on nearby Jackson’s Island until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck Finn has faked his own death to escape his violent father who recently returned to town.

Thus begins a dangerous and transcendent journey by raft along the Mississippi River, toward the elusive promise of free states and beyond. As James and Huck begin to navigate the treacherous waters, each bend in the river holds the promise of both salvation and demise. With rumours of a brewing war, James must face the burden he the family he is desperate to protect and the constant lie he must live. And together, the unlikely pair must face the most dangerous odyssey of them all . . .

On What Cathy Read Next this week

Currently reading

Planned posts

  • Book Review: Back Trouble by Clare Chambers
  • Book Review: Perfume River by Robert Olen Butler
  • Book Review: Munich Wolf by Rory Clements
  • Book Review: The Slowworm’s Song by Andrew Miller
  • Book Review: History of Wolves by Emily Fridlund

Book Review – The Distant Dead by Lesley Thomson

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About the Book

Book cover The Distant Dead by Lesley Thomson

London, 1940. A woman lies dead in a bombed-out house. It looks like she’s another tragic casualty of the Blitz, until police pathologist Aleck Northcote proves she was strangled and placed at the scene. But Northcote himself has something to hide. And when his past catches up with him, he too is murdered.

Tewkesbury, 2020. Beneath the vast stone arches of Tewkesbury Abbey, a man has been fatally stabbed. He is Roddy March, an investigative journalist for a podcast series uncovering miscarriages of justice. He was looking into the murder of police pathologist Dr Aleck Northcote – and was certain he had uncovered Northcote’s real killer.

Stella Darnell used to run a detective agency alongside her cleaning business. She’s moved to Tewkesbury to escape from death, not to court it – but Roddy died in her arms and, Stella is someone impelled to root out evil when she finds it. Now she is determined to hunt down Roddy’s killer – but then she finds another body…

Format: ebook (400 pages)   Publisher: Head of Zeus
Publication date: 13th May 2021 Genre: Crime

My Review

The Distant Dead is the eighth book in Lesley Thomson’s ‘The Detective’s Daughter’ crime series. I read book seven, The Playground Murders, back in 2019 and book nine, The Mystery of Yew Tree House, last year. Like The Mystery of Yew Tree House, The Distant Dead has a dual timeline, moving back and forth between 1940 during the height of the Blitz, and the present day (2020). The wartime mystery element and the present day murder investigations can definitely be enjoyed without having read any of the previous books. These are satisfyingly complex, with lots of potential suspects and some surprising reveals. There are also a few rather convenient coincidences with Stella, in particular, having a knack for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

However, a lot of the book involves the ups and downs of Stella and Jack’s relationship (it’s a definite down at this point) and this element definitely engaged me a lot less. I noted in my review of The Playground Murders that I felt I’d missed out by not having followed the development of their relationship from the beginning, and the same was true here. Additionally, it took me a bit of time to recall who was who when it came to the employees of Clean Slate, the cleaning business started by Stella, and their various partners. I also found Stella’s journalist friend and current flatmate, Lucie, increasingly annoying.

I enjoyed the unravelling of the mystery, which spans six decades, and I thought the scenes in wartime London were really realistically evoked. George Cotton, the detective assigned to the 1940 murder case, was a brilliant character, an example of a dogged, thorough and principled police officer determined to bring the culprit to justice. If I’m honest, I found the book quite slow, mainly for the reasons I mentioned above. However, those who’ve followed the series from the beginning and are fans of Stella and Jack, will I’m sure find it another satisfying outing for the duo.

I received a digital review copy courtesy of Head of Zeus via NetGalley.

In three words: Intriguing, intricate, well-crafted
Try something similar: The Teacher by Tim Sullivan

About the Author

Author Lesley Thomson

Lesley Thomson grew up in west London. Her novel, A Kind of Vanishing, won The People’s Book Prize in 2010. Her second novel, The Detective’s Daughter, was a #1 bestseller and the resulting series has sold over 900,000 copies. Lesley divides her time between Sussex and Gloucestershire. She lives with her partner and her dog. (Photo: Michael White)

Connect with Lesley
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