One reason I decided to include book reviews in my blog now is that these days it can be difficult (especially for those of us who live outside the UK) to have our reviews posted on a certain large online bookstore. Going forward, I’ll have a review post towards the end of most months – they’ll be short resumes of what I enjoyed in the books, just a few sentences giving my personal opinion, posted in the order I read them.
This week’s books are set in two very different European cities: Glasgow and Berlin.
Maureen Myant‘s The Fallen is set in my old home town, not far from the area where I grew up. It’s the fourth in the Glasgow Southside Crime Series (and I’m very glad the fifth will be out this autumn).
My review: Another Excellent Book
Detective Inspector Alex Scrimgeour is setting out for work one day when a lucky escape (bending to pick up a stray crisp packet) means he dodged a bullet. An attempt on his life? Or is there something else going on?
Meanwhile, Alex’s journalist daughter Kate is investigating a series of what appears at first glance to be teenage suicides. She quickly realises that something else is happening here, and consults Alex, who is having problems of his own as the investigation into the attempt on his life throws up some very disturbing information about his team.
I always enjoy the glimpses of Glasgow we get in this series, and the little touches of humour that are scattered throughout the books. Family life plays a part too, with the continuation of Alex’s and Kate’s stories as well as others in the team. Both investigations come to a satisfactory conclusion, with the ending hinting that there is more to come about the Scrimgeour family.
Five fat stars from me.
A Pair of Blue Eyes by JJ Marsh is book two in her The Years Between series – that’s between the first and second world wars, so you can imagine that life in Berlin is anything but tranquil. I’m currently reading the third in this series and I really hope the author is writing a fourth…
My review: Intriguing
Berlin towards the end of the 1920s. After the death of her husband, Swiss Eloise de Fournier leaves her children with her parents to take up a Berlin-based job as journalist in a woman’s magazine. A Pair of Blue Eyes tells the story of her fight for independence and equality in a society where women are – increasingly – at a disadvantage. Over the next year or two, she finds friends in all levels of society, loses one job and gains another, and falls in love again. But all the way through, political unrest is swelling, and Eloise must make a tough decision.
What I loved about this book was the amazing sense of place and time; Jill Marsh must have done a tremendous amount of research. Authentic little details about the way of life both in Switzerland and in Germany at that time are peppered throughout the prose: food, fashion, language, family traditions, and these make the story as well as the characters come alive.
A poignant, beautifully written book.
For the next review post, we’re having books with more than a touch of magic…
Happy reading!
