Glorious but very bad for my allergies!

I have been somewhat absent due to (successful) eye surgery and the aftermath. My new glaases should arrive this week but I felt I couldn’t put off posting any longer. Please forgive any typos! Meanwhile, FB sees to have decided I can do anything except actually post text so as I usually cross post I have been waiting for the glitch to be resolved – to no avail.

Anyway, here are my recommendations from my spring viewiing and reading. I have been limited to Kindle books because of being able to alter the font but there is still a good selection. Television, on the other hand, is now miraculously clear and I can even read subtitles, something which eluded me for months.

Spring 2026

Viewing.

Crime dramas.

Excellent

Unforgotten itvx **** Season 6. Cold cases. Well done as usual

Death in Paradise bbc1 Season 14 **** Formulaic but I like the new DI and hope he stays a while. At least the entire cast is now from the Caribbean though as usual the lead has been sent by London.

The Bay itvx *****  Season 5 Competent Brit crime drama set in Morecambe.

Virdee bbc ***** Very violent but fascinating. Bradford police drama plus drug gang wars. Written, produced and mostly acted by ethnic minority guys from the area. Left wide open for a further series. Fingers crossed.

The Burning Girls. Netflix *****. Fascinating blend of horror and crime mystery spanning three time periods. Excellent acting and special effects. Clever plot linking the three mysteries.

Watchable

Return to Paradise bbc ****  Season 1 Australian spin off to Death in Paradise. Not as good because of lack of exotic location scenes despite the possibilities offered by the setting.

Hinterland bbc **** Seasons 1 and 2 Welsh noir. Interesting but main characters are rather too keen on scowls, poses, etc. Season 3 is available behind a paywall.

Ellis Ch 5**** Three film length episodes for a London detective parachuted in to help with strange and difficult cases. Good acting. But it was supposed to be set in the Peak District, where I live and was in fact filmed in N.Ireland which I found disconcerting.

Other drama.

Watchable

Wheel of Time Amazon Prime**** season 3 Dark filming and widescreen format reduced pleasure. And now they’ve cancelled the series in the middle of the story. Good job I’ve read the books. I loved the costumes and the tweaks to the plot but don’t bother if you haven’t read the series.

Adolescence Netflix ****. Well done but I didn’t learn anything. However, the world is talking about this exploration of how children are radicalised into the ‘manosphere’ so I thought I’d better watch it.

Non-fiction

Excellent

The Great Pottery Throwdown All4***** I love this show. I watch for the pottery information and stay for the competition.

Easter Island Origins bbc***** Fascinating update re Easter Island statues, society, etc.

Louis Theroux: The Settlers bbc*****  Chilling. As usual Louis just lets people condemn themselves by what they say.

Renaissance: The Blood and the Beauty.bbc*****  Good docudrama in three episodes that puts the art of Michelangelo, Da Vinci and Rafael into the political and religious context of their time. I knew all the info but had never somehow connected the dots when looking at the art. Talking heads interspersed with dramatised scenes from the lives. Charles Dance is particularly compelling as the older Michelangelo.

Watchable

My Octopus Teacher Netflix **** Fantastic underwater photography and a fascinating animal but I could have done without some of the voiceover.

Reading

Excellent

The Sheltering Tree by JR Lawrie***** It starts as a slow burn romance between Jay, CEO of a charity who is also in Witness Protection, and Al, who is Metropolitan Police Commissioner. Turns into a gripping thriller.

The Courtship of Julian St Albans by Amy Crook***** Alex is a mage in a modern city (never named but as they have mobiles rather than cellphones I suspect London). He inserts himself into the ritual courtship of Julian, in order to investigate the magical murder of Julian’s first fiancé. Then, of course, falls in love with Julian. Quirky magic, lots of dramatic action and romance, interspersed with detailed descriptions of fashion and food. I didn’t want it to end and as soon as it did I sought out the sequel immediately. However, see below.

The Duke at Hazard by KJ Charles***** Excellent mm Regency romance.

An Embrace of Smoke and Steel by Rowan Amaris and Theo Behr***** (ARC) I have reviewed this in detail for Scott Coatsworth’s site but have to recommend it highly here. It’s the sequel to An Embrace of Citrus and Snow with another fae/human pairing. There’s a further novel, at least, to come, but you do need to read them in order.

Wings and Wounds by Dr SK Burkman***** Delightful account, written by a vet, of becoming a veterinarian to dragons.

Very good.

Oyster by Fearne Hill**** Nico, an oyster farmer on an island off the west coast of France, has to negotiate his love for a trans woman at the same time as the death of his mother. Also, Eti has far more problems than just being trans… Beautifully done.

Fall from Grace by Jackson Marsh**** Jack and Will investigate an old case whilst looking for a missing person. Follow the Van**** Another case for Jack and Will, this time involving their father and grandfather and a missing deception book. Then comes Where there’s a will**** in which Will takes the lead in a case involving a will, a creepy castle, an island, and storms. Then A Case of Make Believe**** – a child is missing and the detectives have to penetrate the world of stage illusionists.

The cat who came in from the cold by Alexa Milne**** Nice shifter/human romance with extra interest provided by Thom’s theatre career.

Hiding Place by Jackie Keswick**** MM romance plus a cold case murder investigation involving a locked room. Set in Northumberland so doubly appealing to me.

Missing Pieces by NR Walker**** Trilogy about recovery from traumatic brain injury. Plus mm romance. Account of amnesia came across as much more real than most stories with this trope.

Rocking Karma by Kaje Harper**** Part of the Rocktoberfest series. Lane is not the first band member to be ‘blackmailed’ by the son of the label owner. Sound tech Dax saves the day.

How to run Britain by Robert Peston**** Some good ideas and some explanations of how the treasury works.  

The Last Sister by Kendra Elliot**** Competent thriller in the Columbia River series. Three sisters were orphaned and are now threatened. The Silence **** is the next in the series, and Ava is a target in the murderer’s eyes. Then In the Pines **** where the focus is on a treasure hunt and some missing persons.

Blood Magic by Chloe Garner**** I really hope this was the end… The plot kept me hooked but I think in this series she got the balance wrong between the conversations about philosophical questions and the action.

Symphony of Salvation by Nicky James**** Romance between music teacher and concert ‘maestro’ with added interest of maestro’s daughter who has her own problems.

Waifs and Strays by Helen Harper**** Paranormal thriller set on English/Scottish border. Nice twist at the end. I hope it might have a sequel.

Murder under Contract by Alex Henry.**** Satisfying third volume in the Leon Peterson series. Leon’s father’s body is found.

Switched by NR Walker**** Nicely understated friends to lovers romance (Israel and Sam) but the main interest is Israel’s discovery that he and Nicholas were switched at birth followed by a lot of family drama.

Better Red by Tara Lain**** Nice mm contemporary retelling of Red Riding Hood. Clever and well written.

Bald faced liar by Victoria Helen Stone**** Gripping psychological thriller. Elizabeth is being stalked, or is she?

Dragon School eps 1-5, 6-10 by Sarah Wilson**** Compelling dragon school saga with twists and turns. Better than Steve Turnbull’s Rebel Dragons series. Will be following the series.

Readable

Criminal Intentions Bk 2 by Cole McCade*** If I’m going to follow the series, which I think I will, I need to reread Bk 1 which I have, but have totally forgotten. I like the main pairing and the police work is interesting but there is a lot of purple prose.

Photographic Memories by Nicky James.*** A Valor and Doyle Christmas short in which the tree is decorated with photographs. Plus a flashfic in newsletter about shopping for baby books. I really do prefer the crime plots.

Throwing Hearts by NR Walker*** Pleasant romance between potter and a pupil at a class, plus two older LGBT characters. No drama…

Slow Road to Hell by Grant Atherton*** Gay crime story. When Mikey’s father dies, Nathan, his ex, is the investigating officer.

The Secret Witness by Victor Methos*** Competent crime/legal thriller about a horrendous serial killer and his copycat.

The Lending Library by Aliza Fogelson*** Dodie juggles art teaching, a lending library, wanting a baby and helping care for the orphaned adopted baby of her dead best friend. HEA . Very run-of-the-mill mf romance but a pleasant read.

The murder between us by Tal Bauer.*** First iu a series featuring Cole and Noah. Quite gripping until the crime is solved and then what should be a brief epilogue goes on and on and on.

Journey to Compromise by Mara Ismine*** Sweet, quite short cougar shifter romance. Compromise turns out to be a place.

I seem to have managed to delete everything in my viewing list below four stars and everything in my reading below three. I blame my eyesight and just hope I don’t need to look anything up. Part of the reason for keeping lists is, after all, so that I don’t re-read something I found unmemorable first time around.