Before I begin, I’m revamping this site so if you find glitches, oddities, etc. it’s not you, it’s not the internet, it’s me (or WordPress).

Films and TV

The wonderful

Terry Pratchett: Back in Black***** Excellent mini-biography of the much-loved author
Happy Valley Seasons 1 and 2***** more please!!!

The Good

Wisting**** Norwegian crime – quite good but remind me never to visit Norway.
Responsible Child**** Looked at the age of criminal responsibility and the way UK courts work in a fictionalised version of a real case.
Exposed: The Church’s Darkest Secret**** fascinating and worrying account of an abuse cover-up by the CoE
Terror in the Jungle**** The story of the Jonestown massacre.Chilling and gave me nightmares.

The acceptable

Deadwater Fell*** With David Tennant. Slow, and lacked any twists and turns, but well acted.
Bancroft*** Predictable because we knew who the villain was.

The poor

Panorama: How to Save the High Street** Didn’t really address the root of the problems or do much lateral thinking.

Books

The excellent

Escape (Rebellion Bk 1) by Anabelle Jacobs***** Shifters and politics plus mm romance. I want to read Bk2 soon!
Flash Rip by Keira Andrews***** An Australian surfer group and an mm romance. Nice cameo for the characters from Honeymoon for One
Reindeer Games by NR Walker*****Romance between an artist and a millionaire.

The good

Lost and Found by Liv Rancourt**** Benjamin is looking for Elias but finds Louis in Paris. There’s a flaw in the plot– homosexuality was not illegal in France at the period in which the story is set so the characters only needed to fear disapproval, not arrest.
The Picture on the Fridge by Ian W Sainsbury**** Thriller with mental contact between twins.
In The Dark by Loreth Anne White**** Homage to Christie’s And Then There Were None but set in Canada.
Untouchable by Sibel Hodge****Thriller based around the premises of Operation Midland.
Wrangling a Groom by DJ Jamison****Diego from the first book in the series goes back to his childhood ranch home and reconnects with Wyatt

Readable

Buck Baxter, Love Detective by Geoffrey Knight*** Detectives and mm romance in the 1920s with a lot of rather forced humour.
A Child Called “It” by David Pelzer*** The story of severe child abuse from the child’s point of view. Raised far more questions than it answered.
Their Missing Daughters by Joy Ellis*** Competent crime story set in Lincolnshire
Origins of the French Revolution by William Doyle*** I was recommended this as a new look at the subject but it could have been the text book for my A level course many many years ago. I suspect my teacher (who had just left Oxford) studied with or under this author.
He Is Watching You by Charlie Gallagher*** A strong female character is the detective in a fictional southern county

Nothing dire, though I did abandon a couple of free downloads without reading more than a couple of paragrapsh (or recording their titles)

Shorts

The excellent

Wild Bells by Charlie Cochrane***** Two gorgeous novellas. I think I preferred The Shade on a Fine Day in which a curate and local landowner fall in love. The Angel in the Window recounts the romance between two naval officers and is beautifully written but Age of Sail stories are not my favourites.
The Bayleaf Mediaeval Farmstead – Weald Downland Open Air Museum***** A short illustrated museum book that looked at the structure of farmhouses and outbuildings and also the furnishings and tools. Fascinating.

The readable

Swept Away by Keira Andrews***A Flash Rip spin-off story which I found too short to be really interesting.

Fanfiction

I read a lot of SGA fanfic, most of it written for the SGA Secret Santa challenge (which started posting in December). Much of it was very good but all of it required a knowledge of canon so there are no recommendations. I have to assume that if you are a keen SGA fan you already read whatever is posted!

I was lucky enough to receive a gift fic for Christmas:
Formal Arrangements by Small_Hobbit***** https://archiveofourown.org/works/21904924 is in The Hobbit fandom and includes Lady Dis which was an extra treat. Readers unaware of the fandom conventions might find it confusing (everybody lives and nobody dies) but I loved it.

My next post (unless I totally destroy my site whilst refurbishing it) will be a more in-depth look at some of the crime series and books mentioned above.