Local trees on a late November afternoon.

Viewing recommendations

First the series – husband likes to binge watch and I don’t, so it took us some time to get through these.

The best:

High Country ***** BBC iPlayer. Police drama set in rural Victoria, Australia.

Sambre ***** BBC  iPlayer. Excellent French crime drama based on a real story.

Mr Loverman ***** BBC iPlayer Romantic mm drama (plus family drama) set among London’s Caribbean community.

Heartstoppers Season 2 nd 3 ***** Netflix. I love the way teenage problems with sexuality, eating disorders, etc. etc. are confronted head on in an otherwise ‘cosy’ drama in half hour episodes.

The good:

Sherwood Season 2 **** BBC iPlayer. Gripping crime drama set in Nottinghamshire.

Showtrial Seasons 1 and 2 **** BBC iPlayer (or you can get it on Amazon Prime outside UK) Good and gripping legal thriller. Two totally unrelated cases with different casts.

The Turkish Detective **** BBC iPlayer. Crime drama set in Istanbul with English/Turkish detective.

The Umbrella Academy Season 4**** Netflix. I’d been looking forward to this final season for ages then the finale suggested it had all been a dream or an alternate reality which I thought was a cop-out, though the marigolds were re-opening at the end of the credits so maybe…

And one you might like:

The Killing Kind *** itvx. I kept having to suspend disbelief that this woman was a barrister. Apart from that, the cliff hanger ending was irritating but the plot kept us gripped throughout.

Then the standalones:

The good:

The Secret Life of Orangutans **** Netflix. David Attenborough is as good as usual. Fascinating.

And two you might like:

Undercover ***  All4 .Worthy but nothing new after reading articles and reports so 90 minutes was too much! However, if you haven’t been following news about the far right, this might be for you.

Single All the Way *** Netflix. If Christmas romcoms appeal to you, this mm version is very sweet. Romcoms are not my genre of choice but I did watch to the end.

Reading recommendations

The series I’m following

The excellent:

KM Avery’s Beyond the Veil ***** mm romance/crime/paranormal series. The Skeleton under the Stairs A house seems to be full of skeletons. The Dog in the Alley A shifter can’t get back to his human form. This was a re-read because of I’d got out of sequence in  the series. Just as good second time around. The Bones in the Yard Great sequel to the Dog in the Alley with more digging for bones involved.  The Elf Beside Himself Last for now in the series and Valentine Hart faces a lot of problems with his boyfriend, his best friend, and his family when his best friend’s father is murdered.

Linzi Day’s Gretna Green series.***** Paranormal drama. The main romance pairing is mf but there are some mm pairings. Code Yellow Viking’s problems definitely take the series well out of the cosy genre. Gretna Green goes to Manchester Nice short as an epilogue to Code Yellow. Niki finally has a few days off. Market Forces in Gretna Green Niki tries to persuade the realms to adopt new trading practices. I am eagerly awaiting the next book. I believe there are to be ten full novels altogether.

Jackson Marsh’s Clearwater Mysteries and Larkspur Mysteries.***** Victorian mm romance and crime. I’m currently re-reading the Larkspur series having now got all the backstory from the Clearwater series. Seeing through Shadows The one with the ghost in the grounds of Larkspur Hall. Speaking in Silence Edward’s story and the rogue MP Flynn. Starting with SecretsThe treasure hunt begins. One more volume to go then I can start on the Delamere series which follows on from these.

Chloe Garner’s Queen’s Chair series.***** Fantasy plus. The Merchant’s Daughter is book 8. Politics, economics, love, power, independence, feminism – all wrapped up in a fantasy adventure as usual. We have to wait till 2027 for more. Meanwhile, Stasia and Babe are married and Stasia is pregnant.

TJ Klune’s Green Creek series***** So far I’ve only read Wolfsong a really good shifter novel with a human alpha and a large ‘found family’. Lots of tragedy and emotion and a hopeful ending. I expect the series to live up to the recs I got – Klune’s other writing is great.

Joy Lynn Fielding’s Wings over Albion series***** Dragon shifter families in contemporary UK. Dragon’s Folly is volume 3It was nice to see familiar faces whilst following Ollie and Archer in the lovely moated manor house. I am looking forward to more stories.

Rowan Amaris and Theo Behr’s Fallen for a Fae series***** I found this almost accidentally as I was sent an ARC for review. An embrace of citrus and snow is a gorgeous fae mm romance with a new and intriguing fae world as well as our own. I shall be reading more.

Sapphire Wolf’s City Shifter Mysteries.*****  Feline Protector A great start to a new series with a shifter detective. Nice world building and some exciting moments. No romance as yet but there are possibilities.

CS Poe’s Snow and Winter series***** I will definitely be following the series of mm crime dramas with the antiquarian and the cop. The Mystery of Nevermore This is the first of the series where they meet.Brilliant characterisation as usual.

Ruth Downie’s Gaius Petreius Ruso Series***** is a crime series set in what would become Chester. The Roman and British ways of life are brought to life in vivid detail, reminding me slightly of Linsey Davis’ Falco series which I also love. Medicus is the first volume and I am looking forward to more.

AJ Rose’s The Mindhacker series***** FBI investigations into serial killings.  The Phantom  A great sequel to The Family Man. plus mm romantic developments for Tracey and Jon.

Bookshops and Bonedust by Travis Baldree*****  I’m not sure if this counts as a series or not! It’s a great sequel/prequel to Legends and Lattes which I loved. We find out more about Viv’s earlier life in this exploration of ff romance in a fantasy world.

The Rocktoberfest series by various authors. I haven’t added a series star. I haven’t read most of the series yet but the ones I have read have been wildly varied in quality. This one was great. Missing Chord by Kaje Harper***** Music has parted Griffin and Lee. Maybe there’s a chance it can bring them back together.

The good:

Chloe Garner’s School of Magic Survival series. **** Somewhat darker than Harry Potter with much better writing.  Unveiling Magic I’m still following the series but I don’t care about Valerie the way I cared about Stasia in The Queen’s Chair serieswhich is on some kind of hiatus leaving me bereft. Real Magic Further adventure and magic for Valerie. Interesting but still not up to the Stasia books. I also tried Tell me a secret with a vampire detective. (Tell, the Detective series)Good writing but I didn’t much like the characters so won’t be following it.

Joy Lynn Fielding’s Strength of the Pack series.**** Interesting shifters and a well built world. An Impossible Mate Nice start to a series though there is too much explicit sex for my tastes. Jesse has been on his own for ages until he meets Matt who is alpha of a pack of misfits. The concept has promise and the writing is good.

Marshall Thornton’s Pinx Video Store series.**** Crime plus gay life. The author really brings Hollywood to life, and also details the earlier days of the AIDs epidemic.  Kapowie!  is the latest volume. The usual cast are trapped in a Hollywood sound stage and one of the actors is dead.

Jaime Reese’s Men of Halfway House series.**** Follows the fortunes of men who have served prison sentences, sometimes deserved and sometimes not. Sweet Man is book 7. It’s a good story with some exciting drama towards the end. Ben is deaf and is learning to be a cook following a prison sentence after he followed people he thought were friends. Natalie owns the bakery, and her brother Gabriel is a security agent who wants to settle down with someone permanent. All the books have interesting and well developed minor characters.

Michael Stagg’s The Nate Shepherd Legal Thriller Series**** I’m really enjoying the way this crime series has a focus on the work of the defence lawyers. Lethal Defence. Nate has to defend someone who is pleading guilty though he isn’t. True Intent Another court case for Nate and his team and this time the reader is left wondering about the guilt or innocence of the woman found not guilty.

The Carnival of Mysteries Series by various authors. I’m not giving the series a star because the offerings are very varied, partly due to the quality of writing but more because different takes on the central concept appeal to different tastes and I haven’t liked them all. Midnight on the Midway by Morgan Brice**** Nice addition to 2024 Carnival of Mysteries with Drake, an agent for the FBSI dealing with supernatural crimes and Garrett, a veterinarian who learns to deal with paranormal clients.

And some standalones

Excellent:

First, a non-fiction book which was a requested birthday present.

Chums by Simon Kuper***** A light hearted but hard-hitting look at the backgrounds of the Tory ‘ruling elite’. Fascinating and informative.

Then on to fiction:

Queer Windows vol1 Spring by Cay Fletcher ***** Four good short stories on a seasonal theme, with a mostly ff focus. The title suggests there may be more to come.

Istanbul Crossing by Timothy Jay Smith***** Spy thriller with a focus on the refugee problem in the Middle East. There is an mm romance as a sub plot. Poor formatting almost threw me out of the book so as it was an ARC I complained to the publishers who wanted screenshots. However, my laptop Kindle reader refused to believe I had the book despite it being open on my Kindle… Go figure. Anyway, screenshots were not possible but the problems may have arisen because the ARC copy was a pdf and they are notoriously difficult to convert. I hope so, but if you read it and find the title, chapter titles and page numbers randomly inserted in words and sentences, persevere because the novel is well worth your time.

Taylor Maid by Tara Lain***** Shows how a good writer can make even tired tropes fresh. Taylor has to marry in a hurry to secure his inheritance. Ally is hiding from his family and working as a maid.

And good:

Feline Fine (eventually) by MistressKat****  Fanfiction in the world of The Professionals. Pure hurt/comfort fluff but very enjoyable.  https://archiveofourown.org/works/58090273

The Bones by DD Black**** Competent police procedural (USA) I might read any sequels. Someone is killing babies and boiling the bodies to produce bags of bones. Grisly but gripping.

Not not normal by Peter Fenton**** Nice YA novel about differences and budding mm romance.

Face Blind by JL Merrow**** Sweet mm romance set in Glastonbury. Corin and Adam both need to lay ghosts to rest while Corin adjusts to life with a disability.

The Monk’s Lair by Ellie Thomas**** Short but suitably creepy Halloween story with a happy ending.