Book Review - The Water Room by Christopher Fowler

I received The Water Room by Christopher Fowler from Transworld as part of their reading challenge. The idea is that you pick four books from a selection of twelve and they send you the first, which you read and then review before they send you the second, and so on. I picked The Water Room because it sounded like my kind of book – a sort of crime thriller with a mystery twist to it.

I had never heard of Christopher Fowler before reading this and so I had no idea that the book was part of a series. The Water Room is actually the second in the Bryant and May series of Mysteries. Having read it without this knowledge, I can safely say that it isn’t necessary to read the previous book to enjoy this one. Fowler introduces the characters and their circumstances at the beginning of the book sufficiently enough that you don’t feel that you have missed out.

Arthur Bryant and John May are octogenarian detectives who work in the fictional Peculiar Crimes Unit in London. I was a bit disappointed to learn that the unit was indeed fictional as I would have loved for it to have been a real thing. The unit is an offspring of the Metropolitan Police and takes on the bizarre crimes that are too time-consuming for the Met to investigate. In this particular story, the case involves an old lady who is found dead in her basement. Her death appears to be completely natural aside from the odd fact that she has a throat full of river water.

Book Review - The Secrets Between Us by Louise Douglas

I received this book to read and review from Transworld as part of their book group. The idea is that you choose four books from their list of twelve and they send you them one at a time through the month of August. I choose ‘The Secrets Between Us’ by Louise Douglas, because I have never read any of her books before, in fact never even heard of her, and I thought it’d be a great opportunity to go out of my reading comfort zone, plus I thought the book sounded interesting.

Sarah meets Alexander on holiday in Sicily, where she is escaping her marital problems and taking a break from the real world. It seems that Alexander is doing the same thing with his son and they end up deciding to start again together. Sarah moves to the quiet village in Somerset where Alexander lives, to be his nanny and housekeeper and, she hopes, more. It soon becomes clear that all is not as it seems with Alexander and his previous relationship. His beautiful and much loved wife Genevieve seems to have disappeared off the face of the planet, totally against character, and the entire village (her rich and powerful family included) think that Alexander has something to do with it.

Sarah is beginning to fall in love with Alexander and simply cannot believe that he would do anything like what people think he might have done – but when the evidence and the hatred builds up against him, what will she do?

‘I’m part of the Transworld Book Group!’

I've just joined the Transworld Book Group and I'm very excited! The idea is that you pick four books from their list of twelve and they send you one, which you then review before they send you the next, and so on. Can't wait to get started and I'll let you know how it's going . . .

It's Challenge Time Again!

I think I was a little bit ambitious with the challenges I got myself involved in last year - I started off well but it went downhill from there! Having said that, I couldn't resist BookChickCity's Mystery and Suspense Challenge - it was so much fun last year that I'm doing it again this year too!

Check it out!

PS It's sponsored by Simon and Schuster, so there's an ARC to get you started when you sign up!

Book Review - Rumour Has It by Jill Mansell

Jill Mansell is considered to be at the forefront of 'chick-lit' writing and has a number of popular novels under her belt. Rumour Has It is her latest offering and deserves its place as a number one bestseller. Mansell has proved again that she has the formula of writing in this genre off to a tee.

Rumour Has It is the story of Tilly Cole a twenty-something, newly single woman who changes her life by moving to a new place (a quirky village in the country somewhere), taking a on a new job (a quirky but fun one that she has no experience of - as is usually the case in this type of book) and meeting a handsome chap who is probably going to be no good for her.

It all starts when Tilly returns to the London home she shares with her fairly long term boyfriend and finds out that he has done a runner whilst she's at work, moving out his belongings and leaving her nothing but a note and a nosy neighbour to break the news. Rather than mourning the demise of her relationship, Tilly heads off to the sleepy, quaint village of Roxborough to reap the commiserations of her best friend Erin. After a few days of moping she decides to head back to her life in the city, but is distracted by an advert in the local paper that requires a 'Good Friday Girl'. Intrigued, Tilly calls the number and after some gentle persuasion finds her self living with a gay interior designer and his feisty daughter, as their personal assistant.