Short Review: One of the classic Miss Marple stories, this one has been adapted several times & in fact was the first Miss Marple film ever made, featuring Margaret Rutherford. This is a fast-paced murder mystery with quite a large cast of characters. Miss Marple spends most of the time 'off screen' but does make several appearances throughout the story but mainly investigating through proxy Lucy Eyelesbarrow. Very enjoyable read. 4🌟

For centuries, Clodia has been vilified as a promiscuous woman who murdered her husband, all thanks to one of Cicero‘s most famous speeches during the trial of her ex-lover. The truth is in fact much more complex & nuanced & this book examines the contemporary evidence to remove the caricature & see the real Clodia underneath.

There's a great deal of well-researched history here about subjects such as voting procedures, careers in office,

A fictional take on the real lives of the Brontë sisters (although Branwell features too) from the early tragic death of their mother & older sisters to the dawn of Charlotte's marriage to Arthur Bell Nicholls.

It was an interesting read with some surprisingly strong language in parts. I don't know why but the tragic deaths of these talented women juxtaposed with their writing talents & what more could have been never fails to raise a tear. 4🌟

The autobiography of 'Friends' star Matthew Perry is an honest, unflinching look at his life & his struggle with alcohol & drug addiction. I didn't realise it had gotten as bad as it was, taking 55 pills a day at some point & ending up in a coma for 2 weeks!

Perry is very frank with the fact that at times he was not a nice person to those around him, as Chandler would have said “Could I BE more of an asshole?“. (continued)

1993 & the narrator (we never know his name) is approached by a group of young filmmakers to play the pivotal role of, 'the Thin Kid', in their film “Horror Movie“. The film is completed but never released due to various incidents on set & over the years it has gained notoriety & cult status. Several decades later & the film is being rebooted & the only surviving original cast member (the narrator) is approached to reprise his role in the film.

Short Review: If you have read this author's books before you know what you are likely in for: a dark, sinuous tale like a snake wrapping itself around you before sinking its fangs into your skin. It didn't quite captivate me as much as the previous books I've read by the author though for some reason. It's a good read but for me it fails to hit the heights of 'The Shape of Darkness' or 'The Silent Companions'. 3.5🌟

Psychology graduate, Anna Varga, applies for a position at the Säter, notorious clinic for forensic psychiatry which underwent a recent scandal. Still, it's prestigious & would be a great career step, so even when Anna arrives at the clinic to start her new post & learns that her predecessor disappeared, she carries on.

Anna is asked to work with a new patient, a man who committed a well-planned murder but claims to have no memory of doing so.

Tessa Hart has severe agoraphobia & has lived in her room for the last year. Her one escape is the online world as part of the fandom for pop sensation Eric Thorn, as @TessaHeartsEric, & she writes a fanfic story which goes viral.

Eric Thorn feels trapped by his fame & frightened by the dedication of some of his fans, especially since a fellow pop star was murdered by an obsessive fan. (continued)

A collection of 15 cases which offer a glimpse into the world of forensic science & its use in solving crime.

Forensic science is endlessly fascinating to me & the real life cases obviously provided a wealth of knowledge, but unfortunately that didn't transfer into the written word. In the ARC version I had, it read as if a foreign language book had been translated into English by AI, it was phrased oddly & was very disjointed. (continued)

The Zapruder film: a staple in JFK documentaries & films, it is regarded as the most critical visual record of President Kennedy‘s assassination. This book asks what would it mean if it could be proved that this version is not the original footage captured by Abraham Zapruder on November 22, 1963?

It was certainly an interesting read & will add to the ever-growing pile of evidence that a conspiracy was covered up. 3.75🌟

Didn't manage to read any of last month's picks 😒 Hopefully August will be better.

#ReadYourKindle
@CBee

Good pace, a well-thought out plot, & two appealing main characters made this one of those books you can't put down! The narrative is told from both Lizzie & Bex's points of view & it lifts the lid on the disconnect that these women are selling traditional gender roles whilst raking in millions of dollars & that probably very little of what is seen online is real. (continued)

England, 1910 & John Innes Nisbet boarded a train to work, carrying with him the colliery wages as usual but by the end of the journey, his body was found stuffed underneath the carriage seats in an empty carriage compartment. Nisbet had been shot 5 times with 2 different guns & the money stolen. A local man, John Alexander Dickman was arrested after several witnesses saw Nisbet with a man identified as Dickman at the station before boarding.

Then: 1991 & 4 teenage girls form the Dead Girls Club. When Becca starts to tell stories about the Red Lady, the vengeful spirit of a witch murdered centuries before, things start to go wrong. The girls feel haunted by the witch & Becca says it's because the Red Lady is real. Heather doesn't want to believe it & insists that the stories are just stories & their friendship fractures until one night everything erupts. (continued)

When DCI Jane Tennison transferred to the Metropolitan police, she expected to be at the helm of some of the bigger cases, instead she has been handed everything the other DCIs didn't want to do. When a sex worker is found murdered in a bedsit, DCI John Shefford is given the case, even though Tennison was on call that night.

Just as Tennison starts to think that perhaps she will never be given a fair chance, (continued)

This is the story of two women trying to live & work in a man's world in 1981: Janice Starr, student & US Army veteran, & Det. Kay Schucker who investigated Janice's disappearance & eventually recovered her remains.

A really interesting case. What I liked about this one was the fact that although we got some background info on some of the other players in the case, the narrative didn't go off on tangents but kept the focus on the two women.

Investigators Lincoln Rhyme & Amelia Sachs are brought in to track down a dangerous human smuggler & killer known as the Ghost. He is currently onboard a cargo ship carrying two dozen illegal Chinese immigrants & Rhyme has pinpointed the ship's location, but the capture goes wrong & the ship starts to sink. Only two families & the Ghost survive the sinking, & they all disappear once reaching land (continued)

Famous actress & current Lady Edgware, Jane Wilkinson, asks Hercule Poirot to help her obtain a divorce from her husband, Lord Edgware. Poirot visits Lord Edgware, who surprisingly enough agrees to a divorce quite easily, but the next morning, Edgware is found murdered in his study.

Edgware's staff are adamant that Lady Edgware visited her estranged husband the night of his death, & she had 'joked' about bumping him off to people before,

This is a slightly underwhelming sequel to the first book (which I really enjoyed). There's some tragic deaths, adventure, & a smattering of romance (Violet remembers Ash but does he remember her?) & yet there's something missing. I think it's the fact that the plot seemed to barrel along without taking a breath & the ending seemed to be wrapped up far too quickly. 4🌟

Sanctuary, a small town in Connecticut, is shocked by the death of Daniel Whitman, star of the local college football team. Initially thought to be an accident during a party, rumours begin to circulate that he was killed by his ex-girlfriend, Harper Fenn, who was also at the party. Harper's mother, Sarah Fenn, is a registered witch & although Harper is said to have no magical powers whatsoever, gossip & paranoia begin to spread. (continued)

Following a serious neck injury which left him paralysed, Ed Jackson has defied the odds. Not only to walk again but to climb 'Himlung Himal', one of the Himalayan peaks which stands at just over 7000 feet high. Climbing can be a test of anyone's strength, endurance, & resilience, but especially if the climber has a physical disability. This particular peak had not been climbed for 2 years & this account details the journey, (continued)

A group of writers are invited to the reading of the will of legendary horror author Mortimer Queen. Queen passed away recently & the group find themselves assembling at his eerie manor house. Each of the guests were linked to Queen in some way & are a beneficiary in his will, but first they have to play a game. Each room in the house contains a riddle, & the group must solve the riddle, before progressing onto the next room. (continued)

Marie Leautey decides to take on the challenge of becoming only the second woman to run around the world. This involves crossing at least 4 continents & there are many more rules - more than you would think even when running in a competitive challenge for a world record. After months of preparation, Lootie (name based on many people's pronunciation of her surname) sets off by running through Europe just as Covid strikes.

The second outing for barrister, Lee Mitchell, sees her defending someone from her legal Chambers - Junior Clerk, Dean. Dean's boss, Tom Mannion, was found dead in a dark alley after a night out drinking, & Dean was the last person to be seen with him. Even though the evidence, what there is of it, is mostly circumstantial, the police & judiciary seem oddly keen to prosecute the case. (continued)

I'll say right from the off that I have always believed that Marilyn Monroe was murdered. Her death was just too convenient for certain people & the evidence & changing testimony of those there that night just don't fit with suicide or accidental death. The scenario posited by this book hangs together with the evidence a lot better than the bs we've been fed for decades. (continued)

Leanne (Lee) Mitchell is a young barrister, she's a woman, working-class, & Black so the odds are against her. Having moved from her childhood home to a house in a richer part of town, Lee is also viewed with suspicion by some in her old community.

When the younger son of the local pastor is shot, the community is shattered but vengeful, especially when evidence suggests thar a police officer, Sergeant Jack Lambert, was the shooter.

At a petrol station in a quiet Manchester suburb, a man watches horrified as someone walks up to the pump, pours petrol over themselves & sets it alight. Meanwhile, a 14-year-old girl is arrested for killing her mother but she seems confused over the details.

At the Coroner's Officer, Mrs Challinor is back even if it is only part time at present, but the Major Incident Team want Detective Inspector Ridpath back working on their cases.

In Jan 1993, Palatine, Illinois, two men entered the 'Brown's Chicken' restaurant around closing time. At 3am police investigated reports that the workers had not returned home & found seven bodies in the walk-in freezer & fridge. Seven members of staff, including the two owners, had been killed & it would take a decade to bring their killers to justice.

“Can you uncover the dark secret of these strange houses? When you do, an unforgettable truth will be revealed.“

This is one of the strangest books I've ever read. It's fairly short, I read it in a couple of hours, & it's based around the floorplans of three houses. It's difficult to give a synopsis without giving anything away - I will say that it is dark in tone. (continued)

In the history of the legendary Wild West, Belle Starr's name is up there with Calamity Jane & Annie Oakley. Like those other two women, Belle's life history has been romanticised & sensationalised until many would not know where the truth & the lies begin & end.

Through the American Civil War & its aftermath, the author painstakingly recreates the events of Starr's short life, & finds that in most cases, (continued)

1546 is the sunset year of King Henry VIII's reign but he is still alive for now & his councillors are locked in a power struggle between the Catholic faction & the Protestant Reformers. Radicals are being burned at the stake & Queen Catherine Parr is teetering on the edge of disaster.

Shardlake is summoned by Lord Parr, uncle to the Queen & asked to take on one more investigation. (continued)

Managed 2 off the list for June. This is my July list for #ReadYourKindle

@CBee

In Holly May's family, every granddaughter is invited to their estranged paternal grandmother's house when they are about to turn 17 & usually leave with an expensive present. It's soon to be Holly's turn, but all Holly wants is to fix the rift between her father & grandmother.

When she arrives at the manor house, there are some oddities: her phone doesn't work, the staff seem strangely reticent except for the charming yet obsequious Austin,

When her parents die from an illness, 16-year-old Cissie Brodie & her younger siblings are left penniless & homeless & facing the shadow of the workhouse. To prevent them being split up, Cissie searches for somewhere else to live but with no money they cannot afford anywhere, except a cave on the moor. Cold & drafty to start with, the local carpenter helps Cissie turn it into something resembling a dwelling place, if not a home.

Why did the 9th Duke of Rutland, owner of the spacious Belvoir Castle in Leicestershire, die on a couch in a cramped. cold, suite of rooms in the servants' quarters? In 1940, in poor health & fading fast, the Duke refused to be removed to more comfortable surroundings & insisted on being left alone in the rooms, which were then locked up & left untouched for 60 years after his death. But why?

Stephanie 'Stevie' Diaz is happily married to Troy, but has a job as a 911 operator that she hates. One night, Stevie answers a call & hears a woman who is being followed by someone in a truck. Whilst online, the woman is forced off the road in an isolated area & starts running for her life, Stevie hears a gunshot, but the call is ended. The officers sent to the area find the woman's car but there is no sign of her or the other driver. (continued)

Det Lieutenant Eve Dallas is called to the scene of a puzzling murder.. The founder of computer gaming company U-Play, has been found murdered in his locked holo-room. According to the security logs, no-one else entered or left the room during the time of the murder, not even the house droid, so how did Bart Minnock end up literally losing his head?

Archaeology graduate Eoin Ryan leaves his soul-crushing call centre job for a position as a teacher at a remote island commune. Mainly self-sustaining, the group sounds like the perfect solution to his problems, but if something sounds too good to be true.....

First of all, I thought the plot & setting were intriguing & having studied archaeology & history, an MC from that background & the bits about Irish mythology were interesting. (continued)

In the early hours one morning, Joseph Carver finds his teenage son, Max, in the kitchen frantically trying to clean his bloodied hands. Max says there's been an accident - he killed someone with his car, tried to help them but when it was obvious they were dead, he panicked & fled the scene with the body. Joseph promised his late wife that he would always protect Max so he decides to cover it up & helps Max bury the body.

When 90-year-old care home resident, Daphne St Clair, confesses to being a serial killer, everyone wants to be the one to break the story. Why would someone who has gotten away with decades of murders suddenly confess? Podcaster, Ruth King, is the person Daphne chooses to tell her story, but as they get to know each other during the interviews, it becomes clear that neither of them are telling the whole truth.....

The prequel to 'The Final Hunt' & 'The Last Hunt' is set in 1985 & is about the making of a serial killer. Weaving in parts of the story from the real-life Green River Killer, this one has pace & some surprising twists. Like Cameron (the female MC in the main two books), Holly Sparks is a lead character that the reader can't help rooting for & you really want her to find the evidence to uncover her sister's killer. (continued)

Ten lucky winners are on their way to the grand opening of the Hotel Artemis, the first hotel on the moon. Two weeks of luxury & pampering awaits, however, the guests soon discover all is not as it seems. It soon becomes clear that they are the only people there, all the staff have mysteriously left. Detective Penelope Strand is sure that something nefarious is about to happen & sure enough, the next morning one of the group is found dead. (cont)

An account of an expedition to Everest which culminated in the deaths of 8 people including 2 experienced guides. In March 1996 three separate groups were caught out not far from the summit by a severe storm. This is a detailed account of the climb & an examination of the factors which led to the tragedy & leaves the reader wondering if such exploration is really worth the cost in lives.

Violet is attending Comic Con where the actors from her favourite book-turned-into-a-film 'The Gallows Dance' are due to appear, when a freak accident transport Violet, younger brother Nate, & friends Alice & Katie into the story world for real. Now they are right in the midst of the struggle between the perfect 'Gems' & the 'Imps' (Imperfects) but their appearance derails the story & causes the death of 'Imp' heroine, Rose.

Following the death of their 3-year-old son, Anthony, Sondra & husband Travis move to the mountains of Montana for a fresh start. After their house in Seattle, the rustic cabin in Montana is a shock for Sondra especially when she notices the strange footprints on the walls of the cabin which look like they were made by a child. It soon becomes clear that the townspeople are haunted by a spirit which feeds on guilt & lies - can it be defeated?

Keep your friends close & your frenemies closer.....

Milla receives an invite to a reunion at a ski resort in the French Alps. She doesn't really want to go but the invite is from Curtis, the man she has held a torch for all these years. She's surprised to hear from him after 10 years especially around the anniversary of his sister's disappearance at the same resort, but she can't pass up the chance to see if he has any feelings for her too.

I vaguely remember the repeats of 'Happy Days' but I was much more interested in spin-off 'Mork & Mindy' (shazbot!) in which the much-missed Robin Williams was absolutely hilarious. I digress, so anyway this is the autobiography of Henry Winkler, best known as 'The Fonz' (Ayyy) in Happy Days.

Winkler has been in a lot more than just 'Happy Days', not things that I have tended to watch in the main but I remember him in 'Scream'. (Continued)

Ten years ago Claire Moore narrowly escaped being the eighth victim of the Black-Out Killer, a serial killer who gained entry by cutting all power to the victims' homes & then killing couples by burning down their homes with them locked inside. Claire's husband, Owen, was killed & Claire has been struggling with grief, survivor's guilt & PTSD ever since, (continued)

How do you steal an archive? One file at a time.

This is the story of a quiet, introverted archivist who had access to the most heavily guarded files in the world. Vasili Mitrokhin had started out as a communist party believer until he was transferred into the archives of the KGB. What he read there angered him to such an extent that he decided to copy the files, one by one, in his own shorthand code to be rewritten in his own time at home.

There's too much animal cruelty for me to continue as it‘s a big trigger for me. DNF