On What Cathy Read Next last week
Monday – I shared five books that deal with aspects of the Holocaust to mark Holocaust Memorial Day.
Tuesday – This week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic was New-To-Me Authors I Discovered in 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.
Saturday – I took part in the #6Degrees of Separation meme.
New arrivals
Three ARCs and a book club pick...
Traitor’s Legacy by S.J. Parris (eARC, Hemlock Press via NetGalley)
England, 1598. Queen Elizabeth’s successor remains unnamed. The country teeters on a knife edge.
When a young heiress is found murdered at the theatre, the Queen’s spymaster Robert Cecil calls upon former agent Sophia de Wolfe to investigate.
A cryptic note found on the dead girl’s body connects to Sophia’s previous life as a spy, and her quest soon takes her into dangerous waters. Powerful enemies emerge, among them the Earl of Essex: the Queen’s favourite courtier and a man of ruthless ambition.
This is a murder that reaches directly into the heart of the court. And Sophia is concealing a deep-buried secret of her own. She must uncover the truth before her past threatens to destroy her.
That Which May Destroy You by Abda Khan (eARC, Chiselbury)
The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth…?
Miriam Hassan stands in the defendant’s dock at Birmingham Crown Court charged with the cold-blooded murder of her well-known, rich, charismatic husband Zaf, to which she pleads not guilty. However, nothing is straightforward.
There is conflicting witness testimony. The couple argued on the day in question, and Miriam was overheard threatening him. A witness places her at the scene of the crime. Miriam’s evidence casts doubt on her guilt, but no one can corroborate it.
It soon becomes apparent that both Zaf and the marriage were not as they seemed. Miriam discloses details about the ‘gaslighting’ and emotional abuse she suffered, and the court also discovers that Zaf in fact had a number of enemies. On the other hand, Miriam stands to inherit Zaf’s vast fortune if she walks free.
Through the moving testimony in the courtroom and dramatic flashbacks of the two-year marriage, the reader is taken on a gripping and thought-provoking journey, but when the shocking truth is finally revealed, the reader will be left with a moral question that may be difficult to answer.
A Death in Berlin by Simon Scarrow (eARC, Headline via NetGalley)
Berlin. May 1940. As Hitler prepares to invade Western Europe, there is bloodshed closer to home.
CI Horst Schenke is an investigator with the Kripo unit. Powerless against the consequences of the war, he fights to keep criminals off his patch. But with doubts growing about his loyalty to the Nazi regime, he is walking a tightrope. If his relationship with a Jewish woman is exposed, a dreadful fate awaits.
Berlin’s gangsters run their crime rings with impunity. Decadent senior Nazis protect them. Schenke is different. He won’t turn a blind eye when innocents are caught in the crossfire between warring gangs. But dangerous enemies know everything about him. They will do whatever it takes to bend him to their will . . .
Butter by Asako Yuzuki, translated by Polly Barton (audiobook)
There are two things that I can simply not tolerate: feminists and margarine.
Gourmet cook Manako Kajii sits in Tokyo Detention Centre convicted of the serial murders of lonely businessmen, who she is said to have seduced with her delicious home cooking. The case has captured the nation’s imagination but Kajii refuses to speak with the press, entertaining no visitors. That is, until journalist Rika Machida writes a letter asking for her recipe for beef stew and Kajii can’t resist writing back.
Rika, the only woman in her news office, works late each night, rarely cooking more than ramen. As the visits unfold between her and the steely Kajii, they are closer to a masterclass in food than journalistic research. Rika hopes this gastronomic exchange will help her soften Kajii but it seems that she might be the one changing. With each meal she eats, something is awakening in her body, might she and Kaji have more in common than she once thought?
Inspired by the real case of the convicted con woman and serial killer, “The Konkatsu Killer”, Asako Yuzuki’s Butter is a vivid, unsettling exploration of misogyny, obsession, romance and the transgressive pleasures of food in Japan.
On What Cathy Read Next this week
Currently reading
Planned posts
- Book Review: The Endeavour of Elsie Mackay by Flora Johnston
- My Five Favourite January 2025 Reads
- Book Review: The Secret History by Donna Tartt
- Book Review: The Ghosts of Rome by Joseph O’Connor
What Cathy Read Next... 