Palomino Sky by Jan Ruth

Reviewer: JD Smith, author of Tristan and Iseult and the Overlord series www.jdsmith-author.co.uk

What we thought: Palomino Sky is the second book in The Midnight Sky series, following the lives of James and Laura. Whilst the book is a sequel, I have read it as a standalone, and found myself immediately immersed in the couple's wedding plans.

Will it go smoothly? I think we all know the answer to that.

Laura's fun and loving, she just wants to be held and to live the life she sees before them. She wants to be married and be happy. But James is still running from his dead wife, He wants to sell his farmhouse and accompanying stables, a place that seems so perfect for him and Laura, but holds too many daily reminders of his previous life and love. And then a devastating accident throws him back into depression.

Maggie's more down to earth and matter-of-fact. Deep down she desires to feel needed after her husband is made redundant and promptly turns their family home into a B&B. And with too much time on her hands she's prone to meddling. But when her daughter's liaison with an undesirable man comes to light, everything is thrown into chaos.

Jan Ruth writes with the honesty and reflection that gives a very real representation of life and the way we live. Her characters are more than 3D, they live and breathe, they are people you and I know in our own lives. They are our neighbours and our friends, and depict a life filled with the same dramas we face day to day.

You’ll enjoy this if you like: Drama, relationships, funny stories, Bridget Jones.

Avoid if you don’t like: Romance, annoying teenagers, horses.

Ideal accompaniments: Mug of hot chocolate, packet of custard creams.

Genre: Women's fiction

Available from Amazon

An Unsuitable Job for a Woman by PD James

Reviewer: JD Smith

What we thought: An Unsuitable Job for a Woman strikes of a dated title. Indeed the book was first published in 1972, and you get a feel for that period throughout the novel in both the opinions of women throughout, as well as the scenery. Written now, I dare say our MC would have been sporting a more outwardly brash and feminist persona to the Cordelia Gray we read about here. She's young, tough and intelligent ... or so the blurb tells us. In fact our third person narrator describes a more complex character than that, one which shows every facet of our keen if a little unworldly detective.

Grey has inherited the Pryde Detective Agency, and what we discover of it's previous proprietor is enough to make you want to go back and discover the novels preceding this tale. Grey has her first assignment in the form of a Why-dunnit? rather than a Who-dunnit? She's to discover the reason young Cambridge student Mark Callender hanged himself.

Grey sets about delving into the life of the Callender family and Mark's friends, hired by Sir Ronald Callender, father of the diseased, himself.

With a diverse and wholly believable cast, many of them potentially guilty of a variety of 'crimes', all is not what it seems and the truth is far more sinister than originally suspected.

This is the first novel in the series I've had the pleasure of reading and I would certainly dip back into the world of Cordelia Grey and another mystery soon.

You’ll enjoy this if you like: Good old fashioned detective stories, Sherlock Holmes, female leads.

Avoid if you don’t like: Murder mysteries.

Ideal accompaniments: tea, half a pint of old ale, small sandwiches cut into perfect squares.

Genre: Mystery, Crime.

Available from Amazon

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Reviewer: JD Smith

What we thought: It's hard to say much about Gone Girl without giving away chunks of the plot , and yet there are so many twists and turns and meticulously crafted reasons and explanations that regardless of what a review might reveal, you'd still be saying 'Oh, yes, that makes so much sense now!' and 'Of course, that's why they thought/went/did/said those things'. 

The story opens in the voice of Nick - "I used to be a writer… back when people read things on paper, back when anyone cared about what I thought" - a husband whose wife suddenly and mysteriously goes missing from their home in small town Missouri; the home nick dragged Amy back to almost kicking and screaming had she not been 'cool girl' who is far too laid back and cool to object 'much'. 

We flick back and forth, between Nick's present day narrative and Amy's diary entries for the years leading up to her sudden disappearance. 

Nick calls the police upon finding Amy gone, the front door left wide open, furniture upturned in their living room. But there's something not right about Nick's reactions to the police. He refers to Amy in the past tense, corrects himself. He appears on TV and there's something not quiet right about his expressions, the fact that he smiles. The scene of the crime isn't quite 'right'. But when you listen to Nick, his voice, it's all so right, so normal, for him to react that way. The media begin to believe Nick killed his wife.

And yet there's no body. Only the trace of blood having been cleaned up from his kitchen floor. 

So where is Amy and who is telling the truth? Because there's definitely an unreliable narrator in our midst.

This is a brilliant story. Both as a book and a film. Although I would say that the film has a darker edge than the book . There's something about the narrative in the book which gives a lighter, slightly less dark and sinister feel. And yet it is no less entertaining for it.

You’ll enjoy this if you liked: Before I Go To Sleep SJ Watson and The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty.

Avoid if you dislike: The word 'amazing', unreliable narrators.

Ideal accompaniments: a bottle of Budweiser, salted peanuts, seafood, crisp white wine (depending on whose narrative you're reading).

Genre: Thriller, mystery.

Available from Amazon

The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory

Reviewer: JD Smith, author of Tristan and Iseult and The Rise of Zenobia.

What We Thought: It's been a long time since I read The Other Boleyn Girl, but I distinctly remember the court, menacing, unforgiving, moulded and manipulated by the strong families surrounding Henry VIII, that Gregory created. And now I entered that world once more with The Boleyn Inheritance. The year is 1539 and Henry Tudor must take yet another wife following the death of Jane Seymour and the birth of his only legitimate son. Anne of Cleves takes the crown.

Only Gregory can make the world of Tudor England appear as dangerous through the eyes of its women as it must have been. She builds a world through the voice if its women, in this case Anne of Cleves, a young girl who is tormented by her brother, Katherine Howard, a silly girl who is naive right to the end, and Jane Boleyn, sister in law to Anne Boleyn and wife to George, who betrayed them both to save herself. She is perhaps the most complex character, the one who is not innocent, who would do anything to live, who professes her constant and undying love for her husband and sister despite her betrayal.

It is the characters who make the story, their accounts and retelling in their own words. For without their distinct voices, without the smell and texture of a court life that draws you in and keeps you reading until the very last page, this would not be as engaging as it is, for we all know what happened to Henry's six wives.

You'll enjoy this if you like: fine gowns, the Tudor court, lots of description.

Avoid if you dislike: Lots of repetition, first person narrative, silly girls.

Ideal accompaniments: A glass of port and a plate of cheese and crackers, a warm fire, visits to lots of Elizabethan manor houses.

Genre: Historical Fiction.

Available from Amazon