Tag: NetGalley

Book Review – The Bookseller by Tim Sullivan @AriesFiction #DSCrossTheBookseller #DSCross

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Blog tour banner for The Bookseller by Tim Sullivan

Welcome to today’s stop on the blog tour for The Bookseller by Tim Sullivan, the latest book in the DS George Cross crime series. My thanks to Andrew at Head of Zeus for inviting me to take part in the tour and for my digital review copy. Do check out the reviews by my tour buddies for today, Andy at amwbooks and Matt at Reader Dad.

About the Book

Front cover of The Bookseller by Tim Sullivan

Someone’s about to turn their last page…

THE SETTING
The body of a bookseller is discovered, lying in a pool of blood in his Bristol bookshop. Police have one question: how did the man meet such a violent, murderous end in this peaceful place?

THE CONFLICT
DS Cross’s ability to dismiss red herrings is challenged by a worrying development in his personal life. Hopelessly distracted, he needs to rely on those around him in a way he has never been comfortable doing before.

THE MURDER PLOT
It may be a quiet profession, but it’s full of passionate, ambitious characters who know the value of a rare book. Their extensive reading means they also know how to get away with murder.

But is that enough to fool the tenacious DS George Cross?

Format: Hardcover (368 pages) Publisher: Head of Zeus
Publication date: 16th January 2025 Genre: Crime

Find The Bookseller on Goodreads

Purchase The Bookseller from Bookshop.org [Disclosure: If you buy books linked to our site, we may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookshops]

My Review

I only discovered this series when I read book five, The Monk, book five but straightaway I fell in love with George Cross thanks to the skill and sensitivity with which the author has developed his character. George may occasionally come out with funny things but you never want to laugh at him because, although he may be pedantic at times, he’s essentially warm-hearted, loyal and has a strong sense of justice. Like a dog with a bone, George won’t let go of a case until he’s uncovered the truth. That may cause frustration for his superiors but his results speak for themselves. And some of them are quite happy to claim the credit for them.

At the end of the last book, The Teacher, George received some distressing news about his father Raymond and its consequences are making him question where his priorities should lie. As followers of the series will know, George doesn’t react well to uncertainty so he responds in the only way he knows, by immersing himself in an in-depth search for any fact he can find on the subject. It’s the same way he approaches investigating a crime.

There’s a potential change in his professional life too. His partner, DS Josie Ottey, has received a well-deserved and overdue promotion. George fears that means getting used to working with someone new. It’s not a prospect he welcomes because Ottey is the only person who really understands the unique way George’s mind works and give him the discreet cues about how to react to others’ emotions, something he finds difficult. It’s one of George’s endearing qualities (and he has many) that he’s tries so hard to work on this. An unprompted ‘thank you’ from George means a lot.

Luckily – although not for the victim – George has a new case to occupy his mind, the murder of Ed Squire, who has taken over the running of the antiquarian bookshop established by his father Torquil. As George and Josie undertake their investigation they discover the world of bookselling can be a rather ruthless business with booksellers competing to acquire rare titles for wealthy clients or to uncover hidden gems that the owners of libraries were unaware of.

But was the murkier side of bookselling, such as forgery and price fixing, or the anger of a disgruntled client, enough of a motive for murder? As George and Josie look more closely at the Squire family they discover a history of quarrels, secrets, relationship breakdown and recrimination. For example, Josie wonders about the oddly reserved reaction of Victoria to the death of her husband. Then there’s Persephone, Ed’s niece by marriage, visibly shaken at the death of a man who took her under his wing during a difficult time in her life and gave her a job in the bookshop. She has dreams, perhaps unrealistic, of making a success of the their recent venture into selling new books, the viability of which shop manager Sam Taylor has serious doubts about.

Modern day policing benefits from the use of technology but it also needs good old-fashioned skills of observation and deduction. This is where George comes in because nothing much escapes his attention. In fact, his observational skills result in a very important detail coming to light, one that pretty much no-one else would have discovered, except perhaps Sherlock Holmes.

Does George crack the case? Oh, of course he does but if you identify the culprit before he does, I’d be surprised. (Having said that, if you’re a student of Greek mythology, one name might give you a clue to an element of the plot.)

The Bookseller is another superbly entertaining and skilfully crafted crime novel. It’s also full of warmth and some quite moving moments. Please, please don’t let this be the last outing for George Cross because as Josie observes, ‘He was impossible at times but also impossible not to love’.

In three words: Intricate, clever, satisfying

About the Author

Author Tim Sullivan

Tim Sullivan is a crime writer, screenwriter and director, whose film credits include Shrek, Flushed Away, Where Angels Fear to Tread and Jack and Sarah. His crime series featuring the brilliantly persistent DS George Cross has topped the book charts and been widely acclaimed. Tim lives in North London with his wife Rachel, the Emmy Award-winning producer of The Barefoot Contessa and Pioneer Woman.

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Book Review – Homeseeking by Karissa Chen

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About the Book

Front cover of Homeseeking by Karissa Chen

There are moments when a single choice can define an entire life.

Haiwen and Suchi are teenage sweethearts in 1940s Shanghai; their childhood friendship has blossomed into young love, and they believe that they are soulmates. But when Haiwen secretly decides to enlist in the army to keep his brother from the draft, their shared future is shattered. Their paths take them far afield from each other, with the exception of one pivotal chance encounter on the Hong Kong ferry in 1966.

Sixty years later, Haiwen, now in his late seventies, is bagging bananas at a 99 Ranch in Los Angeles when he lifts his head to once more see Suchi. As they begin to rekindle their friendship, it feels like they might have a second chance to live the life they were supposed to have together. But the weight of the past lives with them at every moment, and only time will tell if they are able to forge something new.

Format: eBook (474 pages) Publisher: Sceptre
Publication date: 7th January 2025 Genre: Historical Fiction

Find Homeseeking on Goodreads

Pre-order/purchase Homeseeking from Bookshop.org [Disclosure: If you buy books linked to our site, we may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookshops]

My Review

The book spans seven decades and several continents, from Shanghai in 1938 to Los Angeles in 2008, and is told in alternating narratives. With a few exceptions, Suchi’s story is told forwards while Haiwen’s story is told backwards. There are scenes seen from both their points of view, bringing home painfully things said or left unsaid that might have changed the course of their lives. Their stories converge at one point when concidence or, if you prefer, fate brings them together. At other times there are ‘near misses’ but mostly it’s a story of separation between two people who in other circumstances might have spent their lives together.

Both make sacrifices: Haiwen when he enlists in the army so his brother is not conscripted and suffers worse treatment than would a volunteer; and Suchi when she endures a loveless marriage for the sake of her sister, Sulan.

As they age, both Suchi and Haiwen are reluctant to revisit the past because it is too full of painful memories or because it might confirm their fears about the fate of loved ones. Haiwen’s brief visit back to Shanghai in 1983 demonstrates how much has changed about the place he grew up. We too can recognise the changes because of the evocative descriptions of the place during his and Suchi’s childhood.

Suchi and Haiwen’s stories unfold against a backdrop of a tumultuous period in Chinese history. This is exemplified in the changing fortunes of Shanghai, a Chinese city with enclaves controlled by the British and the French, occupied by the Japanese, and fought over by Nationalist and Communist forces during the Chinese Civil War. 

The book explores the theme of identity, for example through the use of names. Suchi and Haiwen are known by different names in Shanghainese and Cantonese and adopt the names Sue and Howard when they move to America. Homeseeking is a story of displacement, of people uprooted from their birthplace through war, circumstance or the desire for a better life. The search for an opportunity to return to their roots or to find a new place that can feel like ‘home’ is at the heart of the book.

I really became invested in Suchi’s and Haiwen’s lives, hoping that both might find fulfilment and realise their dreams. In some ways they do but perhaps differently from how they might have imagined.

Homeseeking is a compelling story that explores many interesting issues and is beautifully written. I’ll confess though that the narrative structure and changes of timeline left me confused at times and the ‘back to front’ way Haiwen’s story unfolds often left me thinking ‘I already know that’. If, as a reader, you can get around this you will find Homeseeking a rewarding read. It’s certainly an impressive debut given its ambitious scope.

I received a review copy courtesy of Sceptre via NetGalley.

In three words: Powerful, authentic, emotional
Try something similar: Peach Blossom Spring by Melissa Fu

About the Author

Author Karissa Chen

Karissa Chen is a writer who splits her time between New Jersey and Taipei, Taiwan. Her work has appeared in The Atlantic and PEN America, among others, and she has been the recipient of numerous fellowships, including from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, Fulbright, Kundiman and VONA Voices. Formerly the senior fiction editor at The Rumpus, she currently serves as the editor-in-chief at Hyphen magazine. She received her MFA in fiction from Sarah Lawrence College. (Photo: Goodreads)

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