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Hidden In Shadows (The Åre Murders Book Two) by Viveca Sten

 

Hidden In Shadows (The Åre Murders Book Two) by Viveca Sten.

Translated by Marlaine Delargy.

Published 5th December 2023 by Amazon Crossing.

Audio book narrated by Laura Jennings.

From the cover of the book:

Secrets, vengeance, and a brutal murder unsettle an idyllic winter paradise...

In the Swedish ski resort of Åre, crime is rare. Certainly nothing so brutal as the murder of Johan Andersson, a former Olympic skier found bound and beaten to death in the forest. According to his distraught wife, he didn’t have any enemies in the world. To Detective Inspectors Hanna Ahlander and Daniel Lindskog, the crime proves otherwise. But what could have provoked such rage? And in whom?

As Hanna and Daniel search for answers, Rebecka Ekvall, a vulnerable pastor’s wife, is trapped in an abusive marriage. Isolated from her congregation, she’s afraid of her husband and even more fearful for her life. Because Rebecka carries a fateful secret. But she isn’t the only one in Åre with something to hide.

As Hanna and Daniel continue to untangle the dark histories of a growing list of suspects, they realize that Johan’s murder is just the beginning of a disturbing case about survival and revenge—at any cost.

***********

Just a few months after the community of Åre was shocked by the killing of a teenaged girl, another murder in this quiet Swedish ski resort has everyone talking. Plumber, Johan Andersson, has been found battered to death in the snow. Everyone liked the personable former Olympic skier, and it seems impossible that someone could have killed him in such a brutal fashion.

Detective Inspectors Hanna Ahlander and Daniel Lindskog have a another difficult investigation on their hands...

Following on from the first book in the series, Hidden in Snow, this opens with the discovery of Johan's body, sparking a new murder investigation in Åre. Hannah and Daniel are on the trail of a murderer once again, but why anyone would want to kill a man who was apparently so well-liked is a mystery - until they discover that his gambling-addicted business partner had threatened Johan and his wife in the weeks running up to the crime. He seems the obvious culprit, but is the case really that simple?

The story unfolds through a number of narratives, as in the previous book, largely through the voices of Hannah and Daniel, and a character called Rebecka Ekvall, the wife of a pastor from the ultra conservative Light of Life church. It takes some time to discover quite how Rebecka's account of an abusive and controlling marriage fits into the big picture around Johan's murder, and Sten builds lovely suspense going back and forth between the complexities of the investigation, and Rebecka's worsening situation, before the threads of the plot cross over.

Additional narratives from Johan's wife, Marion, and Hannah and Daniel's colleague Anton are used cleverly - Marion's to provide a persistent little niggle in the back of you mind, and Anton's to add an interesting side-plot around his struggles with opening up about his sexuality (and his attraction to a witness in the case). I was less enamoured by Sten's decision to add the voice of Daniel's one-dimensional partner, Ida, to the mix.

It was great to see Hannah finding her feet in the wake of her personal and professional troubles, but I would like to see something more from the Daniel-Ida dynamic than the guilt-trip vs jealousy vibe. Either properly explore the issues that both of them have with some couple's counselling (could be interesting), or leave Daniel's constant buffeting between a rock and a hard place to the cop-has-difficulty-maintaining-a-settled-home life trope we all know and love. Two books in and it is getting tedious in a way that interrupts the flow of the story.

I really enjoyed how the pieces of this puzzle gradually come together though, especially when the significance of Rebecka's part in the plot is revealed. The tension in the final stages of the story is first-class, and I found myself holding my breath at more than one point as all the threads collide in the midst of a raging snow storm (just my cup of tea). The continuing themes of dysfunctional relationships, violence against women, and what goes on behind closed doors are explored well too.

Laura Jennings' capable narration carried me through this one, as in the first instalment, and I am looking forward to listening to her once again in book three, Hidden in Memories.

Hidden in Shadows is available to buy now in paperback, ebook and audio formats.

The Åre Murders series is currently available free for Kindle Unlimited subscribers.

About the author:

Viveca Sten is the author of the Åre Murder series and the #1 internationally bestselling Sandhamn Murders series. Since 2008, the series has sold close to eight million copies, establishing her as one of Scandinavia’s most popular authors. Set on the island of Sandhamn, the novels have been adapted into a Swedish-language TV series shot on location and seen by almost one hundred million viewers around the world.

Viveca lives in Stockholm with her husband and three children, but she alternates between Sandhamn in the summer and Åre in the winter, where she writes and vacations with her family.

The Ice Angels (Detective Elea Baker Book One) by Caroline Mitchell

 

The Ice Angels (Detective Elea Baker Book One) by Caroline Mitchell.

Published 15th January 2026 by Penguin.

From the cover of the book:

Ten years ago, in the depths of the Finnish winter, Detective Elea Baker’s daughter was taken―and never found.

Now, in the quiet streets of Lincoln, girls are disappearing again. When one is found on the cathedral steps, clutching a chilling clue linked to the decade-old abduction, there’s only one person who can solve the case: Elea.

Dragged back into her nightmare, she’s determined to bring her daughter home this time―no matter the cost.

But is she chasing a ghost, or on the verge of uncovering a truth that will shatter everything?

***********

Ten years ago, Detective Elea Baker's twelve-year-old daughter disappeared on her way home from school, leaving her bag lying in the snow. Elea has searched tirelessly for Liisa, and the two other Finnish children taken, determined that the Ice Angels case remain open, despite no trace having been found of any of them.

Now, there is a new lead. Miles away in quiet Lincoln, England, girls are going missing. When one reappears, huddled on the steps of Lincoln Cathedral, she is found in possession of a clue that connects her to the unsolved Ice Angels disappearances. Elea's estranged husband, DCI Swann, is heading up the UK investigation, and invites Elea to join them as a consultant - even though he is aware it might mean disruption for him both personally and professionally. Can Elea conjure up the break they need?

In a delicious clash of two of my favourite things - an ice cold Nordic noir thriller, and home-grown police procedural with a team you can whole-heartedly pin your colours to - this first instalment in a brand new crime series was everything I hoped it would be, and more!

Elea, trailing havoc in her wake, blows into the incident room like the force of nature she is. Stirring up trouble almost as soon as she steps off the plane, her ball-busting, unconventional methods soon provide impetus to the investigation - and bring new hope that Liisa's fate might finally be revealed.

As the story unfurls, following the narratives of Elea and Swann in the present, and Lissa in the past, Mitchell spins her emotionally charged threads with accomplished skill, and uses the slow-burn terror of Liisa's predicament, the authentic feel of an investigation mired in politics and paperwork, and the sparks that fly between Elea and Swann, to drive the plot in equal measure. She introduces the different characters in Swann's team in a way that makes their individual personalities stand out, and ensures you know exactly what Elea's arrival means for Swann's new relationship - cue lots of drama, given the palpable unresolved feelings that still lie between Elea and Swann.

Lovely themes run through the whole novel around the weight of things unsaid, mothers and daughters, the complex dynamics between captive and abductor, and the first-class twists come like a sucker-punch to the midriff!

I absorbed this gem from cover to cover, totally invested in the characters, and cannot wait to get to know more about them as the series develops. I need more Caroline Mitchell in my life!

The Ice Angels is available to buy now in paperback, ebook and audio formats.

Thank you to Penguin for sending me a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

About the author:

Caroline Mitchell is a New York Times, USA Today, Washington Post and international #No. 1 bestselling author who has sold over 2 million books . She originates from Ireland and now lives in a woodland village outside the city of Lincoln. A former police detective, she has worked in CID and specialised in roles dealing with vulnerable victims, high-risk victims of domestic abuse, and serious sexual offences. She now writes full time.

Her books have won first place as ‘Best Psychological Thriller’ in the US Reader’s’ Favourite Award Contest, been shortlisted for the International Thriller Writer Awards in New York and been shortlisted for ‘Best Procedural’ in the Killer Nashville awards and the Audie awards. Her crime thriller, Truth And Lies is a No.1 New York Times bestseller and has been optioned for TV.

Blank Canvas by Grace Murray

 

Blank Canvas by Grace Murray.

Published 15th January 2026 by Fig Tree.

From the cover of the book:

Introducing an outstanding new voice in literary fiction: a sensual, sharp, and utterly compelling campus novel about grief, reinvention, and the ripple effects of telling lies

If I ever woke up with an ungodly dread ― that I could change it all now, turn around, and confess ― I ignored it. I had never been good, and there was no point in trying now.

On a small liberal arts campus in upstate New York, Charlotte begins her final year with a lie. Her father died over the summer, she says. Heart attack. Very sudden.

Charlotte had never been close with her classmates but as she repeats her tale, their expressions soften into kindness. And so she learns there are things worth lying for: attention, affection, and, as she embarks on a relationship with fellow student Katarina, even love. All she needs to do is keep control of the threads that hold her lie – and her life – together.

But six thousand miles away, alone in the grey two-up-two-down Staffordshire terrace she grew up in, her father is very much alive, watching television and drinking beer. Charlotte has always kept difficult truths at arm’s length, but his resolve to visit his distant daughter might just be the one thing she can’t control.

***********

On a small liberal arts college campus in Pittsford, New York, Charlotte begins her final year with a lie, by telling fellow student Katarina her father had a heart attack and died over the summer -when he is, in fact, alive and well back home in Lichfield, England. 

Charlotte has never connected with her fellow students, but suddenly she is an object of kindness from those around her, and she starts to enjoy being noticed. But once the lies begin, it is impossible to stop - especially when she embarks on a relationship with Katarina that is founded on falsehoods.

Murray sucks you in this literary delight through the perspective of her unreliable narrator. Charlotte's voice grips you from the first page, completely immersing you in a novel that begins wreathed in acid wit, and then has you run a gamut of heart-rending emotions. 

In an effort to distance herself from the bleakness of her life in England, Charlotte has attempted to reinvent herself, without success - until a whopping lie brings her the contact she craves. Suddenly feeling seen, for the first time in her sad life, she quickly becomes addicted to the attention. Drawn into a relationship with her unwitting confidante, a young woman she has previously found ugly, she is seduced by Katarina's kindness and affection. Charlotte becomes overwhelmed by the feelings she has long supressed, and finds herself falling in love, but disaster awaits...

I found it impossible to look away as Murray gradually peels back the layers of Charlotte's dysfunction, revealing the unresolved traumas that have shaped her, and why she feels the need to fill the void inside with lies. She makes it her business to take a good long look at complicated family history, painful childhood experiences, guilt, shame, estrangement, loneliness, and yearning, freewheeling towards the inevitable moment when the consequences of Charlotte's actions play out - and then takes you beyond to a messy kind of healing. There is nothing vaguely comfortable about the experience, but, my goodness, the writing is a joy to behold.

And if that was not enough, this is also a seriously clever dig in the ribs to the absurdity of the world of art, especially the pretentious folly of the liberal arts college campus scene.

What an absolute cracker of a debut, with a wonderfully apposite title! Quietly devastating, it is like a gut punch to the emotions, with shades of Rebecca Wait's mix of pitch black humour and raw sentiment, and it held me fast, all the way to a perfectly contrived ending. I cannot wait to see how Grace Murray's career develops, because this is an impressive opening gambit.

Blank Canvas is available to buy now in paperback, ebook and audio formats.

Thank you to Fig Tree for sending me a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

About the author:

Grace Murray was born in 2003 and grew up in Norwich. She has recently graduated from Edinburgh University, where she read English Literature and found time to write between her studies and two part-time jobs. Her short fiction has been published in The London Magazine.

In writing Blank Canvas, Grace set out to explore themes of Catholic guilt and queer identity, clashing moral codes and lies, and the opportunity for reinvention presented by moving between countries and settings.

Blank Canvas was written over the course of a year as part of WriteNow, Penguin Random House’s flagship mentorship scheme for emerging talent. Grace Murray won one of nine places on the scheme on the exceptional strength of her writing, selected from a pool of over 1,300 applicants.

The Coming Fire (The Coming Darkness Book Three) by Greg Mosse

The Coming Fire (The Coming Darkness Book Three) by Greg Mosse.

Published 17th July 2025 by Moonflower Books.

From the cover of the book:

First came the darkness.
Then the storm.
Now it’s time to face the fire.

Following a fighter jet crash in the Haitian hinterland, special agent Alex Lamarque is taken captive by a violent gang, the lone authority in this lawless territory.

His only allies are busy on the other side of the world, facing a crescendo of dangers: the AI viruses crippling the digital state; the breakdown of law and order; and some unexpected, terrifying news from a Paris observatory.

With no hope of rescue, Alex must take on his greatest challenge entirely alone. Survival will take every bit of strength he has.

***********

In the midst of global chaos, Alex Lemarque has crash landed in the Haitian jungle. The experimental jet is in pieces, his captive Davide Castile has escaped, and he has been taken hostage by a violent gang. With a mysterious AI virus wreaking havoc to all digital systems, Alex's divided allies are finding it difficult to reach him. He must find a way to free himself. Meanwhile, a new threat looms in the skies above the earth...

And so we have reached the final volume of Greg Mosse's ambitious cli-fi trilogy! The Coming Fire kicks off hot on the heels of The Coming Storm, which exploded in an orgy of cataclysmic events as the result of far-reaching conspiracies, and left readers very much in cliff-hanger territory.

This final instalment begins very much as it means to go on, flipping back and forth between multiple characters and locations to follow the scattered threads of the series to their conclusions - and Mosse has an epic task on his hands, because the previous volume took his protagonists far and wide in their slow-burn quest to save the world once again. 

Elements of tropical hell, Middle Eastern meltdown, danger on the high seas, dam-busted devastation, solar system shenanigans, AI induced cascading digital failures, civil disorder, and the monumental machinations of a madman all come crashing together in a mind-bending mash-up. There is a lot to keep track of (too much at times), and the changing pace between burst of action and Mosse's brand of slow-burn suspense is a little disorienting - especially when some of the threads venture back in time to explain pieces of the puzzle that happened off-stage.

There are nice surprises here though, that the fear of spoilers prevents me from revealing, so it is worth persevering to the pay-off, and never let it be said that Mosse does not know how to throw in highly original bumps in the road for his hard-working protagonists. His baddies are entertainingly pitched somewhere between Bond-esque meglomaniacs and Wilbur Smith-type wackos too, which makes them lots of fun.

Although I do not think either this concluding volume, or the mid-trilogy book (The Coming Fire), manage to hit the delicious page-turning noir delights of Mosse's debut, The Coming Darkness, there are some really thought-provoking concepts embedded here that show real promise when is comes to the intelligent way he tackles near-future Dystopia. I find myself left with the impression that less would probably have been more, but if you are game for a cli-fi series that goes all in then you will find lots here to please.

The Coming Fire is available to buy now in paperback, and ebook formats.

Thank you to Moonflower Books for sending me a n ecopy of this book in return for an honest review.

About the author:

Greg's first career was in theatre as actor, director & writer. He has lived and worked in Paris, New York, Los Angeles and Madrid. Having worked as an interpreter at a variety of international institutions, in 2015 Greg returned to theatre. Since then, he has written and produced 25 plays and musicals. His debut novel, The Coming Darkness, was named Best Thriller 2022 by The Times and one of the Books of the Year by the Sunday Times. It was endorsed by big names like Lee Child and Anthony Horowitz. Greg is a regular on radio, including his appearance as a guest on BBC Radio 4 Front Row. He now lives in Sussex with his wife, the novelist Kate Mosse.

The Future Saints by Ashley Winstead

 

The Future Saints by Ashley Winstead.

Published 22nd January 2026 by Aria.

From the cover of the book:

A band on the brink. A love worth playing for.

When record executive Theo meets the Future Saints, they're bombing at a dive bar in their hometown. Since the tragic death of their manager, the band has been in a downward spiral and Theo has been dispatched to coax a new - and successful - album out of them, or else let them go.

Theo is struck right away by Hannah, the group's impetuous lead singer, who has gone off script in debuting a new song-and, in fact, a whole new sound. Theo's supposed to get the band back on track, but when their new music garners an even wider fan base than before, the plans begin to change-new tour, new record, new start.

But Hannah's descent into grief has larger consequences for the group, and she's not willing to let go yet. not for fame or love.

***********

Record executive Theo Ford is sent on a mission by Manifest Records to see the Future Saints play their latest gig, at a dive bar in their home town. Once an up-and-coming, shiny West Coast trio, the Future Saints have not only failed to meet their potential, but are falling apart at the seams - especially since the tragic death of their manager.

Theo's job, as Manifest's 'fixer', is to try to coax another album out of the band before the label drops them back into obscurity, and he is more than aware that he is facing an uphill task - until he sees a glimmer of hope in a surprising change of direction at the end of a lack-lustre gig.

Affecting new songs bring the Future Saints new fans, a new tour, and a new start, but can their change in fortunes save the group's singer Hannah from spiralling into a pit of despair?

Meet the Future Saints: Kenny Lovins on the drums; Tarak 'Ripper' Ravishankar on the bass; and charismatic lead singer and guitarist, Hannah Cortland. Their story unfolds through two compelling narratives from heart-broken Hannah, and Theo, the man sent to squeeze one more album from the band - with a sprinkling of social media posts, and transcripts from interviews with the band members, that chart the dramas around their fortunes.

Winstead delves nicely into the dynamics of a band struggling with the pressures of performing when their lives have hit rock-bottom, especially Hannah, whose answer to a loss she cannot even begin to deal with is to submerge herself in a self-destructive cycle of drink, drugs and partying. Enter Theo, who after a difficult start, is able to see beyond the bitter shell Hannah has built-up between herself and everyone around her to the hurt that lies within - the hurt she has poured into new songs tinged with sadness that connect with a wider audience than the Future Saints could ever imagine.

Weaving around the ups and downs of the music business, cynical corporate machinations, the dark side of fame, and the way social media makes people exploit the tragedy of those in the public eye, Winstead has written the most beautiful love story wreathed in messy lives struggling with loss and family dysfunction.

I came to adore both Hannah and Theo as they learn to open up to each other and face their demons. Winstead brings so much to this story in terms of shattered souls, tender emotion, kinship, and healing (particularly through the medium of music). Poignant reflections on the relationships between siblings, coming to terms with painful feelings from childhood that carry over into family estrangement, and moving on from wrenching heart-ache had me reaching for the tissues throughout. And a thinly veiled dig at celebrities that love to indulge in a little drama in front of the media for their own ends gave me more than a few wry smiles.

If you are looking for a novel that evokes Daisy Jones and the Six, but with characters you can genuinely fall in love with, and an ending that leaves you with a full heart and eyes brimming with tears, then this is the book for you. I adored it.

The Future Saints is available to buy now in paperback, ebook, and audio formats.

Thank you to Aria for sending me a copy of this book, in returnfor an honest review.

About the author:

Ashley Winstead is the author of In My Dreams I Hold a Knife, The Last Housewife, Midnight is the Darkest Hour, This Book Will Bury Me, Fool Me Once, The Boyfriend Candidate and The Future Saints. Her books have been translated into over a dozen languages worldwide and optioned for film/television. Ashley holds a Ph.D. in contemporary American literature and lives in Houston. 

Room 706 by Ellie Levenson

 

Room 706 by Ellie Levenson.

Published 15th January 2026 by Headline.

From the cover of the book:

Kate stretches her legs and turns on the TV while James washes away the traces of their morning. She watches in horror at the unfolding news: the hotel they are staying in has been taken under siege.

She should be making her way home, working on appearing normal, getting ready to re-enter family life with her loving husband Vic and their two adored children. Instead, she is trapped somewhere she shouldn't be, with a man she definitely doesn't love.

How will she begin to tell Vic what she is doing here? If her body is found, will it give up the secret of what she's been up to? She's been so careful hiding the evidence of her affair: write nothing down, leave no trace. Will he begin to understand why?

For now, Kate can only hide, take a deep breath, and reflect on the series of choices she's made that have brought her to this moment.

What will her marriage and her life look like, if she makes it out?

***********

After a morning of passionate love-making in an upmarket London hotel, Kate relaxes before facing the rest of her day as a busy wife and working mum of two. Switching on the TV while James takes a shower, she is horrified to discover that the hotel has been taken over by terrorists, and is now under siege.

Trapped in Room 706, Kate begins to ponder the choices that brought her to this moment, because the man she is with is not the one she is supposedly happily married to. If she makes it out alive, how will she explain her presence here to her husband, Vic, and what will it mean for her marriage?

This cracking debut unfurls in three beautifully wrought threads that delve into the history of Kate's relationship with her husband, and her lover, whilst the tension of a hostage scenario plays out in the present.

Beginning with the moment she meets Vic in Italy, while consumed by the devastating loss of her beloved mother, we follow Kate through the ups and downs of a love story that has become complicated by the every-day stresses and strains of marriage, motherhood, and career. With no-one she can confide in about her doubts and longing for time away from her family, despite caring deeply for her husband and children, Kate embarks on an affair with, James, a married man she feels an instant connection with. Kate wants nothing more from James than the kind of no-strings, uninhibited sex she does not have with Vic, justifying the affair as 'me time' like any other self-care ritual. But when circumstances mean she is forced to look closely at her life, she realises what kind of future she really wants - just when it might be snatched away from her.

A lovely atmosphere of knife-edge tension builds in the present, as Kate and James risk detection at any moment, and the story is made more unsettling by the fact that they are never sure about what is happening outside the door of 706. Rather than making this a story about in-your-face action, what dominates is the incredibly insightful way Levenson explores Kate's reflections on all the twists and turns that have led her here - trapped with a man who was supposed to be her guilt-free escape from a predictable reality.

As the threads draw together, Levenson takes you on a coming-of-age journey through Kate's life, delving into the emotional nitty-gritty behind her decisions, the experiences that find her caught between what these two men mean to her, and the clarity danger brings. There is a lot to unpack about what a healthy marriage and being a good parent looks like. I thoroughly enjoyed how Levenson examines everything that comes with Kate's mental load, and her need to ensure her husband and children can go on without her - all those elements of legacy, love, protection, and the myriad, hidden facets of domesticity are so relatable.

This is an impressive debut, marking Ellie Levenson out as a talent to watch. I adored how it leaves you with lingering feelings of sondering, and will be thinking about this book for a long time to come. 

Room 706 is available to buy now in hardcover, ebook and audio formats.

Thank you to Headline for sending me a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

About the author:

Ellie Levenson is a freelance journalist whose work has appeared across many national newspapers and magazines. She lives in London with her family.

The Body In The Library by Agatha Christie

 

The Body in the Library by Agatha Christie.

This edition published 13th October 2022 by Harper Collins, Originally published 1942.

From the cover of the book:

A young woman found murdered...

A scandal in the making...

When Mrs Bantry wakes to find a body in her library, there’s only one woman to call: her good friend Jane Marple.

But she hasn’t called her old friend for comfort.

The body in her library has been murdered and Miss Marple is so very good at solving murders.

Her investigations uncover a scandal far darker than either of them could have imagined, and this time she may be out of her depth.

Never underestimate Miss Marple.

***********

The orderly morning routine of Gossington Hall, in the quiet village of St Mary Mead, is shattered when the maid announces to a recently awakened Mrs Dolly Bantry that there is a body in the library. Dolly wakes her sleeping husband, Arthur Bantry, with the news, and sends the bemused retired Colonel downstairs to investigate. The body of a platinum blonde, clad in a spangly dress, is indeed lying on the floor of the library. No one seems to know who she is, or how she got there. Colonel Bantry calls the police, who soon attend the scene, but Dolly has other ideas - instead she calls her old friend Miss Marple, who is bound to be able to solve the crime!

This was the first Miss Marple book I read (although it is actually the second one in the series, after Murder at the Vicarage), way back in my youth. It did take me a number of years to really appreciate the genius of Jane Marple (Poirot being my first love), but the cleverness of the story captivated me - along with the charms of the delightful Dolly Bantry. Dolly remains one of my firm favourite Marple characters.

The story is not easy to sum up in a few words, as it is one of Christie's most complicated set ups, revolving around the deaths of two girls from nearby Danemouth - a dancer at the refined Majestic Hotel, called Ruby Keene, who was in the process of being adopted by wealthy widower Conway Jefferson (much to the chagrin of his nearest and dearest): and a local girl guide who went missing on her way to Woolworths.

While the police (Arthur's pal Colonel Melchett and the assiduous Inspector Slack) attempt to get to the bottom of the Ruby Keene affair, Dolly and Miss Marple decamp to the Majestic Hotel for a bit of sleuthing of their own - especially as Arthur is uncomfortably in the frame as a murderer. The appearance of the delightful Sir Henry Clithering, on the request of Conway Jefferson, gives Miss Marple an official 'in' on the case, and of course, she manages to sort out the tangled mess in no time - and even suggest a little trap at the end to catch the guilty party.

Christie misleads and misdirects with characteristic skill, and there are lovely themes delving into loss, ambition, complex family dynamics, and reputation. However, my favourite aspect is the insightful way Miss Marple uses her understanding of female psychology to cut through the red herrings, with a case that turns on the 'wrong dress' and cut fingernails! 

It is an absolute cracker, and a wonderful way to kick of a brand new theme for #ReadChristie2026 which explores Christie's Biggest, Best and Beloved stories - January's prompt being 'Best Opening'. The Body in the Library certainly starts with a bang!

I very much enjoyed revisiting this gem through the voice talents of Stephanie Cole, via the audio book - I am a big fan of Cole's Marple narrations (I find Emilia Fox a tad too young to do her justice). Highly recommended!

The Body in the Library is available to buy now in multiple formats.

About the author:

Agatha Christie is known throughout the world as the Queen of Crime. Her books have sold over a billion copies in English with another billion in over 70 foreign languages. She is the most widely published author of all time and in any language, outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare. She is the author of 80 crime novels and short story collections, 20 plays, and six novels written under the name of Mary Westmacott.

 December 2025 Reading Round-Up

Last round-up of the year time! It was a crazy busy month, but I managed to fit in eleven Christmas crackers!

You can find my reviews of these gems by clicking on the pictures below.

The Cat Share by Angela Jariwala

Blackwater by Sarah Sultoon

A Christmas Gift by Sue Moorcroft

The Merge by Grace Walker

The Sittaford Mystery by Agatha Christie

Nine Lessons by Nicola Upson

Hidden in Snow by Viveca Sten

The Christmas Clue by Nicola Upson

Tea with Jane Austen and Dinner with Jane Austen
by Pen Vogler 

You Are Elizabeth Bennet
by Emma Campbell Webster

Looking forward to what 2026 holds!

You Are Elizabeth Bennet by Emma Campbell Webster

 

You Are Elizabeth Bennet by Emma Campbell Webster.

Published 9th October 2025 by Faber Books.

From the cover of the book:

Is it a truth universally acknowledged that a young Austen heroine must be in want of a husband?

You are in the world of a Jane Austen novel. As the events of Pride and Prejudice - and Austen's other novels - start to unfold around you, you must choose your own path, avoiding social scandal and unsuitable engagements, and write your own destiny, whether it's to marry a single man in possession of a good fortune or to become a famous author yourself.

A witty and irreverent celebration of Jane Austen and her novels, this literary game will test all your powers of propriety and prudence.

***********

Have you ever wondered how you would have tackled the trials and tribulations Jane Austen threw in the way of Elizabeth Bennet, on her way to matrimonial bliss with Fitzwilliam Darcy? Well, now you can see for yourself where fate might have taken you in her satin-slippered stead, via this hugely enjoyable 'Create your own Jane Austen Adventure' from Emma Campbell Webster!

Your mission, in keeping with all good Austen heroines, is to marry both prudently, and for love - eluding undesirable suitors, and family scandals along the way.

The book launches you into Lizzie Bennet's world, from Austen's original, but at various points in the story you are given options to choose whether you take a familiar path from Pride and Prejudice, or go a different way. 

The first time around, I chose largely as Lizzie did, avoiding the Mr Collins, Wickham, and premature Darcy proposal pitfalls, finding my happy ending in a marriage of minds with Darcy after the Proud and Prejudicial bumps in the road. Hurray!

But then, I decided to check out all the alternatives for Lizzie, which is where the quirky fun lies! By opting to go in different directions, you find yourself straying off the familiar P & P path into previously unknown territory for plucky Miss Bennet. Sometimes this is into dangerous situations in the same story, but mostly it allows you to leap into the pages of Austen's other novels to encounter a surprising array of potential suitors of the eligible and decidedly undesireable sort. Serious plot twists abound!

No spoilers, but I had such a great time running down all the paths in this book to see where Lizzie's mission took her - there is even an unexpected turn more suited to the beloved authoress herself.

Full of wit, humour, and romance, this is an absolute a must-buy for any Janeite, and was the perfect way for me to round off a wonderful year of #JaneAusten250 indulgence! 

You are Elizabeth Bennet is available to buy now in hardcover.

Thank you to Faber Books for sending me a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

About the author:

Emma Campbell Webster studied English Literature at the University of Oxford where she specialized in Austen. She later worked as an actress in theatre and television before going on to write her first book, You Are Elizabeth Bennet. Originally from Norwich, England, she now lives in Los Angeles with her two daughters.