Items from the collection - 1

   

   Time to catch up with posting the incoming books I haven't mentioned yet, so here is the first dip into the current collection, and as you'll see there are lots of promising things waiting for me to get to them.

First up, a little book I have already read. Bob Burke's The Third Pig Detective Agency (the first of a series) is a really fun read for children and adults alike. It reminded me in its humour and pace of Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl, but its hero is a cross between Sam Spade and Columbo, though a porcine version of that hybrid! Harry Pigg - himself the third member of the Three Little Pigs anti-wolf house-building crew - has been called in to investigate the case of a stolen lamp, his client none other than Aladdin. What unfolds is slick, smart and funny, and as it says on the cover, "a crackling detective story"!

Crime of a very different kind next with Denise Mina's Still Midnight. Set in Glasgow, this begins with a raid on a house by a group of armed and masked men. They demand millions of pounds - a sum far beyond the resources of their victims - and then kidnap the elderly grandfather. DS Alex Morrow must investigate but she finds she has many mysteries to solve.
I haven't read Denise Mina before but she certainly comes highly recommended by the likes of Ian Rankin, so this should be impressive stuff.

Last of this first batch is Nikki Gemmell's The Book of Rapture. Described as "searing, provocative and unputdownable" it "challenges our beliefs about science, about children and about trust" - you can find out more by reading Mark's interview with the author herself.

Comments

[Samantha]

I am about a third of the way into The Book of Rapture and finding it pretty tough going actually. Stylistically, it definitely is not my cup of tea but a few stunningly truthful sentences every so often are keeping me hanging in there!

[Bob]

Hi Karen,

Thanks for the review and your kind words. I'm glad you enjoyed Harry's adventure.

bob

[Cornflower]

I did enjoy it very much, Bob - best of luck for it and the rest of the series!