I was already more than happy to bore rigid any passing victim on the excellence of Mick Herron’s Slough House…
Tana French, ‘The Wych Elm’ (2018)
Crime is the business of the police, men poorly paid who worry about their shoes needing mending and the seats…
The McBainiad, Book 16: ‘Like Love’ (1962)
‘The facts of life in the 87th Precinct were too often the facts of death.’ Reading the 87th Precinct books…
Iain Banks, ‘Canal Dreams’ (1989)
It is a truth universally acknowledged that good writers write bad books. We all have our off-days, times when the…
On little black (and cream) books
‘Nostalgia ain’t what it used to be.’ These are singular times. I’m torn between wanting to keep up with every…
The McBainiad, Book 15: ‘The Empty Hours’ (1962)
‘There is no real mystery, there never is. There is only life, and sometimes death, and neither follows a rule…
The McBainiad, Book 14: ‘Lady, Lady I Did It!’ (1961)
Lady, Lady I Did It! is one of the most enjoyable 87th Precinct books I’ve read since returning to the…
Sue Black, ‘All That Remains: A Life in Death’ (2018)
Much as I like to read, I don’t always get it right. Exhibit A: this thoroughly absorbing medical memoir, which…
Thomas Harris, ‘Red Dragon’ (1981)
I’ve just read Red Dragon for the third or fourth time, which is unusual for me. I don’t often re-read books start…
Sarah Moss, ‘Ghost Wall’ (2018)
‘People don’t bother to hurt what they don’t love.‘ When it comes to reading I have no plan, just a…
