Welcome to Litsy!

No. 9 in the Rutshire Chronicles series, and one of the best in the series so far; the story is good, the characters, although often caricatures, are still somehow well-developed. I do worry about Cooper‘s apparent necessity to include at least one incidence of sexual violence in each book, though. It may have seemed “acceptable” in 1985, but by 2010, when Jump! was published, I‘d like to think we‘ve moved on

Book 61/80 #Read2025 @DieAReader

.

All the Little Bird-Hearts, by Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow

Premise: An autistic mother and her daughter become swept up in the life of their glamourous new neighbours.

Review: This was long-listed for the 2023 Booker Prize and it certainly has the literary heft you‘d expect with that. It‘s well-written and has a strong point-of-view that provides good representation for autistic persons. Cont.

Teacher superlatives for teacher appreciation week… do you think my students know me??

Just bobbing around from park to park with my still-delightful book (which also takes a serious look at marital difficulties, in amongst all the fun bits). The Jardin Botanique de France was especially nice.

I absolutely bought this beer because of Jean Cocteau, and it‘s actually delightful. Yay! So is this madcap murder mystery from Alexis Hall. It‘s jam packed with references and oh, how I‘ve GIGGLED at it so far. Gonna read another big chunk while I finish the beer.

A true crime podcaster and her wife are snowed in at a Scottish hotel they'd gone to for a long weekend to rekindle their relationship. A guest falls or is pushed from a turret balcony, the first of many deaths on this less than idyllic getaway.

Great fun as a parody and a good mystery as well. The more familiar you are with Cluedo, the more puns you will appreciate. I smiled and groaned and gave the little grey cells a good workout.

@ShyBookOwl
#FirstLineFridays

#coffeeandabook

Catching up from last weekends reading and I'd enjoyed the birdwatcher so much I picked up the next in the series in which DS Culpidi takes centre stage. She is a single mum police officer transferred from te met to Kent police and is a great character as are those surrounding her. The plot features migrant workers and their exploitation by gang members. Definitely a series I will be going back to soon.