Hosted by Taking on a World of Words, this meme is all about the three Ws:
- What are you currently reading?
- What did you recently finish reading?
- What do you think you’ll read next?
Why not join in too? Leave a comment with your link at Taking on a World of Words and then go blog hopping!
Currently reading
Heaven, My Home (Highway 59 #2) by Attica Locke (audiobook)
Nine-year-old Levi King knew he should have left for home sooner; now he’s alone in the darkness of vast Caddo Lake, in a boat whose motor just died. A sudden noise distracts him – and all goes dark.
Darren Matthews is trying to emerge from another kind of darkness; after the events of his previous investigation, his marriage is in a precarious state of re-building, and his career and reputation lie in the hands of his mother, who’s never exactly had his best interests at heart. Now she holds the key to his freedom, and she’s not above a little maternal blackmail to press her advantage.
An unlikely possibility of rescue arrives in the form of a case down Highway 59, in a small lakeside town where the local economy thrives on nostalgia for ante-bellum Texas – and some of the era’s racial attitudes still thrive as well. Levi’s disappearance has links to Darren’s last case, and to a wealthy businesswoman, the boy’s grandmother, who seems more concerned about the fate of her business than that of her grandson.
Darren has to battle centuries-old suspicions and prejudices, as well as threats that have been reignited in the current political climate, as he races to find the boy, and to save himself.
Mrs P’s Book of Secrets by Lorna Gray (eARC, courtesy of One More Chapter and NetGalley)
The Cotswolds, Christmastime 1946: A young widow leaves behind the tragedy of her wartime life, and returns home to her ageing aunt and uncle. For Lucy – known as Mrs P – and the people who raised her, the books that line the walls of the family publishing business bring comfort and the promise of new beginnings.
But the kind and reserved new editor at the Kershaw and Kathay Book Press is a former prisoner of war, and he has his own shadows to bear. And when the old secrets of a little girl’s abandonment are uncovered within the pages of Robert Underhills’s latest project, Lucy must work quickly if she is to understand the truth behind his frequent trips away.
For a ghost dwells in the record of an orphan girl’s last days. And even as Lucy dares to risk her heart, the grief of her own past seems to be whispering a warning of fresh loss.
There are no white shrouded spectres here, no wailing ghouls. Just the echoes of those who have passed, whispering that history is set to repeat itself.
Augustus by John Buchan (hardcover)
In 27 BC, out of the carnage of two civil wars, one man emerged to rule absolutely the Roman world. This man was Octavian, the adopted son of Julius Caesar, and he was perhaps the least likely candidate to return stability to the Republic.
But by AD 14 Octavian had established peace over an empire that stretched from the shores of Britain to Anatolia. Power, prosperity and propaganda had seen him renamed as Augustus, ‘The Divinely Favoured One.’ He had become a God, and had changed the face of the Republic forever.
Recently finished
The Island of Sheep by John Buchan (hardcover)
Twelve years on from the last novel, Richard Hannay, now in his fifties, is called by an old oath to protect the son of a man he once knew, who is also heir to the secret of a great treasure.
Helped by old friends Sandy Arbuthnot, now Lord Clanroyden, and Lombard, the action takes place in England, Scotland and on the Island of Sheep. (Review to follow)
Fred’s Funeral by Sandy Day (ebook, courtesy of the author)
Only at his funeral, does a family come to know a long neglected and shell-shocked soldier from WWI. Based on a true story.
Fred Sadler has just died of old age. It’s 1986, seventy years after he marched off to war, and his ghost hovers near the ceiling of the dismal nursing home. To Fred’s dismay, the arrangement of his funeral falls to his prudish and disparaging sister-in-law. As Viola dominates the remembrance of Fred, his ghost agonizes over his inability to set the record straight.
Was old Uncle Fred really suffering from shell shock? Why was he shut away for most of his life in the Whitby Hospital for the Insane? Why didn’t his family help him more?
Fred’s memories of his life as a child, his family’s hotel, the War, and the mental hospital, clash with Viola’s version of events as the family gathers on a rainy October night to pay their respects. (Review to follow)
What Cathy (will) Read Next
Snow Kills by R. C. Bridgestock (paperback, review copy courtesy of The Dome Press)
The fourth in the D.I. Jack Dylan series, set in Yorkshire and written by the husband and wife team who are the storyline consultants to TV’s Happy Valley and Scott & Bailey.
When hairdresser Kayleigh Harwood is reported missing by her mother in the worst blizzards Harrowfield has experienced in years, D.I. Jack Dylan and his team are called in. Kayleigh’s car is found abandoned with her mobile phone inside but there is no sign of her. At the edge of the local quarry on the desolate Yorkshire moors, items of clothing are found. They are identified as belonging to the hairdresser, and an intense police search of the area begins.
The investigation turns to a loner living close to where Kayleigh’s car was discovered, and it soon becomes apparent to the investigators that the loner is hiding a bizarre secret.
To Dylan’s disbelief Divisional Commander Hugo-Watkins assumes that skeletal remains found in a lay-by are connected to the young woman’s disappearance, and without seeking Dylan’s advice, calls out the entire Major Incident Team. Refusing to be distracted, Dylan and his team continue to work round the clock in the hope of finding Kayleigh alive.
Meanwhile Dylan’s wife, Jen, is distracted and distant. Unbeknown to him her ex fiancé is in their midst, and stalking her.
Festive Good Wishes To You All!
What Cathy Read Next... 