Viewing

The excellent

Cumbria’s Red Squirrels***** iPlayer. Lovely film about conservation.

An undeclared war Season 1 Ch4*****Vaguely remembered… quite gripping. GCHQ in a battle with Moscow. The Undeclared War S2 *****4 Well done Brit spy thriller mostly set in GCHQ. We had to rewatch S1 before watching this because of the long wait and the complex plot.

BBC Last Night of the Proms.***** So far I have only watched part 2 which began with Dolly Parton tribute and then had Nicky Spence with Scottish Snap and lots of lgbtq+ references. Available for a year. Probably also available on YouTube for people outside UK.

And the very good

River. itvx**** Unusual crime drama. Police officer John River sees ‘ghosts’ although he does not believe in them. He is impelled to investigate the murder of his partner.

The Chelsea Detective Ch4 Season 1,2.3**** Some plotholes but basically nice cop drama.  

Heartstopper Forever **** Netflix. Nicely done feature-length ending to the series.

The Suspect itvx**** Tense thriller about a man wrongly suspected of murder.

The Sheep Detectives**** Amazon Prime. Hugh Jackman and Emma Thompson plus a stellar cast of CGI sheep in a murder mystery… Unusual, amusing, and emotional. But for some mysterious reason Amazon insisted on showing it to us in some Eastern European language (possibly Polish) with English subtitles, even though you could tell the cast were speaking English and it all took place in a CGI version of the English countryside. It added, I suppose, to the air of unreality.

Trigger Point S4 itvx**** Less believable than the previous seasons though equally gripping. Sees the end of Lana’s time in the bomb squad so presumably that’s the last season.

Murder in a Small Town**** Netflix. Canadian crime series set on west coast near Vancouver.

Reading

The excellent

Proto by Laura Spinney***** Account of the rise of Indo European languages. Very ‘dense’ and I am still not clear about all the ‘-stan’ countries and areas. Fascinating.

In the lives of puppets by TJ Klune***** Intriguing story set in a future when robots have taken over the world. Vic is a human with robot companions. Echoes and pays homage to Pinocchio. Also a short story Reduce! Reuse! Recycle! **** Set earlier in the same world – very sad. I went on to read Ravensong by TJ Klune*** Disappointing second book in the Green Creek series. I disliked the structure with constant flashbacks and I never really got invested in the characters.

Pathogenesis by Jonathan Kennedy***** A fascinating study of the way viruses and bacteria have influenced the rise and fall of states and societies throughout human history.

Eyes Eyes by Kaje Harper***** Lovely story (told in episodes on FB) that ties into the whole Hidden Wolves series and particularly the prequel. Also All these years by Kaje Harper.***** Nicely done glimpse of life prior to the events in the later books in the Hidden Wolves series.

Virtually Guarded by Karenna Colcroft***** Excellent shifter romance. Ren, a homeless trans guy is bitten and shifts. Escaping from his attacker’s pack who torture him once they realise he is trans, he seeks sanctuary with the Anax and in doing so finds his mate, Xavier, one of the Anax’s guards. Deals with trans issues very well. (Reviewed for Scott).

Wing’d by Vin George ***** Interesting and worthy book 3 in the Evergreen Council series. For me personally it would lose a star because of the amount of explicit sex. However, this is part of the plot as Eddie, Trace and James confront their respective traumas and I’ve no doubt it would add to the pleasure for a lot of readers because it’s all very well written.

Field Notes From Earth by Ben Athem***** Really nice sci fi novella with a hinted mm romance. (Reviewed for  Scott).

Winter of the Owl by Iris Foxglove***** (Seasons of the Lukoi bk 1) Lovely mm romance set in fantasy island country. Will definitely be looking for sequel because although I think the story is finished for Sava and Victor, the world building is great. Spring of the Wolf*****. The world building is great and the new characters are, too. Looking forward to the next.

I also want to point people to Alien Romance by Gynn Silva*****. I kept promising to mention it but then kept waiting till it was finished and of course it isn’t and may never be. Well, the novel is, but the lives continue and will reach your inbox via FB, Dreamwidth or Patreon depending on your social media of choice. The ‘alien’ in the title refers mainly to the fact that Maurice is Vietnamese/American (and in some ways alien to his own society) and Cathy is French, from Lyons and very definitely alien to US culture and language. Theirs is the main romance but there are others and there are many characters with different physical problems, different gender preferences, etc. It’s a ‘comic’ format and Gynn’s art is amazing. She conjures real emotions in a couple of lines, even for horses and cats.

And the very good

A voice in the dark by Barbara Nickless**** Interesting crime story with teens addicted to social media and games.

Seen by Fearne Hill **** Review for Scott. Good exploration of problems. Luke, a dermatologist, has mental problems that in turn cause physical ones. Neil, bar owner and singer, has physical problems that in turn cause mental issues. The pair end up supporting each other and coming to terms with their difficulties. No ‘external’ drama, but the story was quite gripping.

Love is Love**** Charity anthology. Mixed, as most anthologies are and I was irritated by the first story that was so clearly an attempt to get readers to buy the series. But Burial of Bones by Laura Greenwood and Finishing Touches by Rebecca Cohen stood out as excellent and gave the collection an extra star. I might follow Laura’s Egyptian Empire series, and of course I already follow Rebecca.  

Eden Mercer (bks 1-5) Paige Black**** Eden is a cop and wants to be a detective. She rescues a German Shepherd in this first case, involving a missing woman and an old cold case. Shadow becomes her K9 dog for the series which I have now read. Slightly repetitive but the overall mysteries are good and the back story is sufficiently intriguing.

Dodge by VL Locey**** Book 2 in the Bastian Brothers series. Small town drama and banter – nice character development and enough interest in even minor characters to keep me reading the series. Ford**** is the third in the quartet, with some excellent drama created by the Leary brothers and a mountain lion.

Come Away Again by Mere Rain**** (Reviewed for Scott) Fairy tale novella that echoes Labyrinth and other fairy tales with an mm slant.

Lessons in tracing a dangerous scent by Charlie Cochrane**** Nice novel in the Cambridge Fellows mystery series. It is set in the period when Jonty’s parents are still alive and helping to investigate at the beginning of the war. I would have preferred to have read it in the correct historical sequence.

In the Killer’s Sight by Mike Omer**** Competent police procedural with two endearing police dogs helping find victims of a kidnapper/serial killer. I shall probably look for the next book in the series.

Hart Ridge by Kay Bratt**** Competent police procedural (USA) with an interesting rescue dog. I will probably get the sequel.

The Back Bedroom by Gregg Olsen**** Chilling true crime about a child murdered by a cult that believed him to be possessed.