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<metadesc>Book review siteExpert, with books full book reviews from most walks of literary life; fiction, biographynon-fiction, crime, cookery and children's books & self-published books plus author interviews and & top tens.</metadesc><h1 id="mf-title">The Bookbag</h1>Hello from The Bookbag, a site featuring books from all the many walks of literary life - [[:Category:Fiction|fiction]], [[:Category:Biography|biography]], [[:Category:Crime|crime]], [[:Category:Cookery|cookery]] and anything else that takes our fancy. At Bookbag Towers the bookbag sits at the side of the desk. It's the bag we take to the library and the bookshop. Sometimes it holds the latest releases, but at other times there'll be old favourites, books for the children, books for the home. They're sometimes our own books or books from the local library. They're often books sent to us by publishers and we promise to tell you exactly what we think about them. You might not want to read through a full review, so we'll give you a quick review which summarises what we felt about the book and tells you whether or not we think you should buy or borrow it. There are also lots of [[:Category:Interviews|author interviews]], and all sorts of [[:Category:Lists|top tens]] - all of which you can find on our [[features]] page. If you're stuck for something to read, check out the [[Book Recommendations|recommendations]] page.

Reviews by readers from all the many walks of literary life. With author interviews, features and top tens. You'll be sure to find something you'll want to read here. Dig in! Find us on [[File:facebook.gif|link=https://www.facebook.com/TheBookbagCoUk|alt=Facebook]] [https://www.facebook.com/TheBookbagCoUk '''Facebook'''], [[File:twitter.gif|link=http://twitter.com/TheBookbag|alt=Follow us on Twitter]] [http://twitter.com/TheBookbag '''Twitter'''], [[File:instagram_classic_logo.png|link=https://www.instagram.com/thebookbag.co.uk/|alt=Follow us on Instagram]] [https://www.instagram.com/thebookbag.co.uk/ '''Instagram'''] and [[File:LinkedIn.png|link=https://www.linkedin.com/in/the-bookbag-1b12a264/|alt=LinkedIn]] There are currently '''{{PAGESINCATEGORY:Reviews}}''' [[:Category:Reviews|reviews ]] at TheBookbag.

==Reviews of the The Best New Books==

'''Read [[Forthcoming Publications|reviews of books about to be published]].{{Frontpage|class-"wikitable" cellpaddingisbn="15" <!-- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE--><!-- Martine -->1009473085|title=The Conservative Effect 2010 -2024| styleauthor="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"Anthony Seldon and Tom Egerton (Editors)|rating=5[[image:1529001579.jpg|linkgenre=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1529001579/refPolitics and Society|summary=nosim?tag=thebookbagSometimes it's simpler to explain a book by describing what it ''isn't'' and that applies to ''The Conservative Effect: 2010-21]]  | style="vertical2024 -align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine]]=== [[image:414 Wasted Years?''.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Science Fiction|Science Fiction]] The problem with Martine If you're looking for an easy read which will deliver the inside story about what ''really'' happened on certain occasions, then this isn's fiction debut is that she makes t the two commonest errors in SF writing: she tries to be too clever and she wants her fictional languages to be complex and rich and errs on the side of making them unpronounceable by most readers. book for you. If that's what you're looking for, I can see why she does both, but itdon't think Anthony Seldon's a disappointment because they're the blocks against which the brilliance of the book stumbles. [[A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martinebook, {{amazonurl|Full Review]] <!-- Lee -->|-isbn=B0BH7SKG2S| styletitle="width: Johnson at 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0874869722}}, can be bettered for those tumultuous years.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co It's a compelling read and should be compulsory for anyone who thinks Johnson should return to politics. ''The Conservative Effect'' is an entirely different beast.uk/dp/0874869722/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] | style="vertical It's the seventh book in a series which looks at the impact a government has made and co-align: top; texteditor Sir Anthony Seldon regards this as the most important. This book follows the well-alignestablished format: left;"|===[[When Spring Comes to a series of experts from various fields review the state of the nation when the coalition took over in 2010, the changes that occurred and the DMZ by Uk-Bae Lee]]===situation in 2024.}}{{Frontpage|author=Max Boucherat[[image:5star.jpg|linktitle=Category:{{{The Last Life of Lori Mills|rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:For Sharing=4.5|For Sharing]], [[:Category:Confident genre=Confident Readers|Confident Readers]] There is a place summary=We meet Lori on this earth that, at the time of writing, is resplendent with life. In first evening she's got the spring seals gambol in the river house to herself – not venturing too far, for fear of being slashed open on the razor wire the humans have put no neighbour to pop in place. In the autumn, salmon come upstreambabysitter poorly, looking doleful as well they mightmother at work, for they will spawn and diejust an avidly rule-breaking eleven year old, if they reach their birthing groundson her lonesome. Mountain goats gambol prettily among the hills – if the landmines men left behind do not prevent them from doing so. This is What could possibly go wrong? Snuggled in a snapshot of life in the DMZblanket fort, the demilitarized zone between the two countries with Korea in their nameshe has one main intention, and it's that is to log on to Voxminer, the world-building, critter-collecting game that is a hit in Lori's least welcome wildlife sanctuaryworld. [[When Spring Comes to the DMZ by Uk-Bae Lee|Full Review]] <!-- O But first Lori has a tiny inkling that this stormy night doesn'Reilly -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:147367235Xt find herself entirely on her own, and then she finds something even more spooky.jpg|link=http://www For the server she and her bestie and nobody else should be able to enter shows signs of tampering.amazon.co.uk/dp/147367235X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] When malevolent eyes spark up on her phone screen, and her safe place in the game has been doctored – well, where is a girl to turn?|isbn=0008666482}}{{Frontpage| styleauthor="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"Jenny Lecoat|title=Beyond Summerland|rating=4|genre==[[M for Mammy by Eleanor O'Reilly]]===General Fiction[[image:4star.jpg|linksummary=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]] The Augustts are, like all families, a bit complicatedJean lives on Jersey with her mother where they are celebrating the end of the occupation. A loving irish family During the war, their love binds them together – but all express that in very different ways. However, when misfortune strikes the family they are forced Jean's father was arrested for listening to work together in order to understand each other againa banned radio and soldiers took him away one night, as with a family as complicated as leaving Jean and her mother waiting for years for news of him. As the British finally free the Channel islands from the Nazis, and the Augustts it's not always what war is spoken finally over, their hopes rise that makes the most sense. Things are shaken up further when Granny Mae-Anne moves in and takes chargethey will finally learn what became of him. Full of stern words and common sense But will the truth come as a relief, she's a force of nature who must try her hardest to hold or will it raise further questions around what else happened during the war? Who was the informer who told the Nazis about the family together. [[M for Mammy by Eleanor O'Reilly|Full Review]] <!-- James Wallman -->radio? And what other secrets have been kept throughout the occupation?|-isbn=1846976537}}{{Frontpage| styleisbn="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"1529428289|[[image:0753552655.jpgtitle=A Grave in the Woods (A Bruno, Chief of Police Novel)|linkauthor=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0753552655/refMartin Walker|rating=nosim?tag4|genre=thebookbag-21]] Crime| stylesummary="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Time and How to Spend It: The 7 Rules Because of various property transactions, people were searching for Richerthe grave but when they found it, Happier Days by James Wallman]]=== [[image:4starit came with three sets of bones.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Lifestyle|Lifestyle]] Most things you can replace They dated back to World War II and it fell to Bruno, the Chief of Police for St Denis, but one to discover the identities of the things which you simply canbodies and establish whether or not a crime had been committed. As if this isn't replace enough to worry about, the Dordogne River - normally tranquil - is time. Even though we know this, we fail to use what we have wiselyflowing at record levels. We have more leisure time, but It's not just the local autumn rains that's not how it feelshave caused the problem: a high value is put various dams upstream on how we spend our working hours, but there's another river have had to release water and St Denis faces the possibility of a low value on leisuredevastating flood. Unfortunately we now know how to work and not how to ''live'': we need to }}{{Frontpage|isbn=152919640X|title=The Suspect|author=Rob Rinder|rating=4.5|genre=Crime|summary=The nation's favourite daytime TV presenter, Jessica Holby, was murdered live on television and it seems that there'learns only one suspect. He's celebrity chef Sebastian Brooks and his contract stated that he must not serve anything containing miso to Jessica Holby. She' how to spend our leisure time wisely s seriously allergic and James Wallman has taken on the onerous task carries an EpiPen in case of teaching us how to do thisemergencies. [[Time and How to Spend It: The 7 Rules for Richer Everything seemed as normal - as normal as they can be in a busy, Happier Days by James Wallman|Full Review]] <!live television studio -- Jonnes -->|-| styleand Brooks served a ragout to Holby. Her EpiPen was nowhere to be found and she was dead within minutes. It was soon clear that this was no accident.}}{{Frontpage|isbn="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|0008385068[[image:1609809173.jpg|linktitle=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1609809173/refThe Midnight Feast|author=nosim?tagLucy Foley|rating=thebookbag-21]]4.5|genre=Thrillers| stylesummary="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[EiffelIt's Tower for Young People by Jill Jonnes]]=== [[image:5starmidsummer on the Dorset coast and guests gather at The Manor.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Children It's their opening weekend and splendid celebrations are promised. It's Non-Fiction|Children's Non-Fiction]] Brash all headed up by Francesca Meadows. The Manor was her ancestral home and elegant, sophisticated, controversial and vibrant, the 1889 Worldshe's Fair in Paris encompassed converted it into an impressive retreat for the bestwealthy and famous. Her husband, Owen, was the worst architect and work is still ongoing on parts of the beautiful from many countries and culturessite. The French Republic laid out model villages from all their colonies, put on art shows, dance performances, food festivals heat is oppressive and concerts to stun amongst the sensesguests are enemies as well as friends. And towering above it all, the most popular and the most hated monument Old scores are going to French accomplishment be settled and daring – the Eiffel Towerit won't be long before a body is found. [[Eiffel's Tower for Young People by Jill Jonnes|Full Review]]}}<!-- Johnson -->{{Frontpage|author=Ashley Hickson-Lovence| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|Wild East[[image:1471178471.jpg|linkrating=http://www.amazon.co4.uk/dp/1471178471/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] 5| stylegenre="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Magnificent Mrs Mayhew by Milly Johnson]]===Teens[[image:4star.jpg|linksummary=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:WomenWritten in verse, this is Ronny's Fiction|Women's Fiction]] I liked this book. Whilst not necessarily a page-turnerstory, this was a thoroughly enjoyable heart-warming read young black fourteen year old boy from the Queen of chick lit, Milly JohnsonHackney who suddenly has to move to Norwich and start at a mostly white school. [[ The Magnificent Mrs Mayhew move is initiated by Milly Johnson|Full Review]] <!-- Kate Tough -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:034914365XRonny's mum who is worried for Ronny's safety after a tragic event, and so Ronny finds himself trying to settle in a new town, a new school, and keep himself out of trouble.jpg|link=http://www.amazon He listens to music constantly, and has always dreamed of being a rapper.co.uk/dp/034914365X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style But now, in this new school, his teacher encourages him to be part of a poetry writing workshop group and, slowly, Ronny begins to see the connections between rap and poetry, and the power of creativity and crafting your words.|isbn="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"0241645441}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1635866847|title=The Lavender Companion|author=Jessica Dunham and Terry Barlin Vesci|rating=[[Keep Walking Rhona Beech by Kate Tough]]4.5|genre===Lifestyle[[image:4.5star.jpg|linksummary=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]]It's strange, [[:Category:Womenthe things that make you 's Fiction|Women's Fiction]] Life has just hidden behind a corner and stuck a foot out as Rhona Beech came pastimmediately'' feel that this is the book for you. She and Mark had been together for nine years and it was beginning to feel Before I started reading ''The Lavender Companion'settled', I visited the author's [https://www.pinelavenderfarm. Then Mark announced that hecom/ website] and there'd got s a picture of a job in Canada slice of chocolate cake on the homepage. I don't eat cakes and he was going whether Rhona desserts - but I wanted to come with him or notthat cake viscerally. The ''not(There's a recipe in the book, which I' bit of m avoiding with some difficulty!!) Then I started reading the sentence book and I was the way told to make a mess of it worked out and Rhona was left on her own. Well, she wasn't completely on her own: she had friends and family, but it's not the same as having that special someone in your life, that someone who makes you part of a coupleNotes in the margins are sanctioned. So Rhona had to start again, rejoining a world that bore little resemblance You get to fold down the one she'd left nine years ago - and there's a lot corners of difference between being in the middle pages. You suspect that smears of your twenties and the middle of your thirtiesbutter would not be a problem. I ''loved'' this book already. [[Keep Walking Rhona Beech by Kate Tough|Full Review]]}}<!-- Kerry Watts -->{{Frontpage|-author=Rob Keeley| styletitle="widthChildish Spirits: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"10th anniversary special edition|rating=4[[image:1786817926.jpg|linkgenre=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1786817926/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Confident Readers| stylesummary="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Heartlands (D I Jessie Blake) by Kerry Watts]]=== [[image:3.5starAround here, we're big fans of children's author Rob Keeley. He's a ball of happy positivity, he understands children, and he writes for their pleasure and enjoyment, not to lecture or hector.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] The story had begun some twenty years earlier when two boys raped and killed Sophie Nicholl. Jack Mackay was - on the face of it - from a decent family, but he was the ringleader. Daniel Simpson was a follower, but he still raped Sophie and he could have stopped what happened but didn't. Sophie's body was found in a shallow grave by an enthusiastic cocker spaniel a few days later and the boys were arrested, tried and sentenced to five years in a young offenders institution. There were those who thought that the sentence was too lenient, even for fifteen-year-old boys and Sophie's elder brother, Tom, was one of these. He wasn't going to let the matter rest. [[Heartlands (D I Jessie Blake) by Kerry Watts|Full Review]] <!-- Hitchcock -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1788004388.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1788004388/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"| ===[[The Boy Who Flew by Fleur Hitchcock]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]]   Athan Wilde earns some money to supplement his family's meagre income by working for Mr Chen who is both mentor and friend. Mr Chen's wonderful imagination and sense of the future has led him to create some fantastic inventions for making life easier and work less back breaking. His latest endeavour is something on an entirely different level, however - it's a.... ''flying machine''! Imagine that! [[The Boy Who Flew by Fleur Hitchcock|Full Review]] <!-- David Hewson -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:178029106X.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/178029106X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Savage Shore by David Hewson]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] Reggio, in Calabria. It's a strange place, closer to Africa than Rome as Emmanuel kept reminding himself. He was an illegal immigrant and like most of his kind he was simply looking for a way to earn a decent living with a little dignity. Back in Nigeria he was an independent man and now he is no better than the monkey who sits in a cage on the bar he tends. The area is ruled by the Mafia. Further afield there are the Camorra and the Cosa Nostra, but here it's the 'Ndrangheta and the local boss is known as Lo Spettro - the ghost - as he's rarely seen, but he's one of the Bergamotti clan, but even that's not their real name. [[The Savage Shore by David Hewson|Full Review]] <!-- Cara Hunter -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0241283493.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0241283493/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[No Way Out by Cara Hunter]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] It was the end of the Christmas holidays and Felix House in an elite area of Oxford was on fire. Two children were dragged from the inferno: one, a toddler, was pronounced dead at the scene and the other, a boy on the cusp of his teens, died in hospital some days later. But where were the parents? Were their bodies in what remained of the house and which was being steadily cleared, or had they left the children at home alone? For DI Adam Fawley it's one of his most disturbing cases. He's still not got over the death of ''his'' son and there's every sign that his marriage is on the rocks. For his team it's just a heartbreaking, exhausting case. [[No Way Out by Cara Hunter|Full Review]] <!-- Reeves -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1788312201.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1788312201/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Women of Westminster: The MPs Who Changed Politics by Rachel Reeves]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Politics and Society|Politics and Society]] ''Women in Westminster have changed the culture of politics and the perception of what women can do'' ''Women of Westminster: The MPs Who Changed Politics'' chronicles the battles the 491 women who have been elected over the course of the past century have fought and highlights their victories. It is remarkable that the history of female Members of Parliament began in 1918, the same year in which women were first given the right to vote but a decade before all women were given suffrage on equal terms with men. Although Constance de Markievicz was the first female elected to Parliament, it was only in 1919 that Nancy Astor became the first women to take her seat in the House of Commons and pave the way for women of the future. It was not long after in 1924 that the first female MP, Margaret Bondfield, was appointed into a cabinet position and since then women MPs have endeavoured to fight gender inequality and campaign for female rights. Within 100 years there has been a gradual revolution of change in politics and to date Britain has been led by two female Prime Ministers. However, such great landmarks have overshadowed the other female MPs whose early achievements, which have paved the way for subsequent women politicians, are consistently overlooked. In ''Women of Westminster: The MPs Who Changed Politics'' Rachel Reeves brings the forgotten stories into the spotlight to document the history of British female political history from 1919 to 2019. [[Women of Westminster: The MPs Who Changed Politics by Rachel Reeves|Full Review]] <!-- Erskine -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1786074923.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1786074923/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Chemical Detectiveby Fiona Erskine]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]] Dr Jaq Silver is a brilliant scientist with a healthy social life who loves her work and life. Whilst she is haunted by her past she won't let it define her. When she becomes entangled in a mystery, a mystery that could tie to some of the most horrific weapons on Earth, she doesn't hesitate and jumps straight in. We follow Jaq as she travels the world digging deeper and deeper into a rabbit-hole of intrigue and betrayal, never compromising and always seeking the truth. From the ski slopes of Eastern Europe, to the sunny climes of Portugal and even making a visit to that most glamourous of locations… rainy Teeside… this is a true thriller. [[The Chemical Detectiveby Fiona Erskine|Full Review]] <!-- Varenne -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0857058738.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0857058738/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Equator by Antonin Varenne and Sam Taylor (translator)]]=== [[image:3.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Historical Fiction|Historical Fiction]], [[:Category:Literary Fiction|Literary Fiction]], [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]] It strikes me that nobody can speak well of the Wild West outside the walls of a theme park. Our agent to see how bad it was here is Pete Ferguson, who bristles at the indignity of white man against Native 'Indian', who spends days being physically sick while indulging in a buffalo hunt, and who hates the way man – and woman, of course – can turn against fellow man at the bat of an eyelid. But this book is about so much more than the 1870s USA, and the attendant problems with gold rushes, pioneer spirits and racial genocide. He finds himself trying to find this book's version of Utopia, namely the Equator, where everything is upside down, people walk on their heads with rocks in their pockets to keep them on the ground to counter the anti-gravity, and where, who knows, things might actually be better. But that equator is a long way away – and there's a whole adventure full of Mexico and Latin America between him and it… [[Equator by Antonin Varenne and Sam Taylor (translator)|Full Review]] <!-- Collins -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1408888335.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1408888335/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"| ===[[All the Invisible Things by Orlagh Collins]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Teens|Teens]]   Vetty, her dad, and her little sister are about to move back to London and Vetty can't wait. The family has been staying with Aunt Wendy since the death of Vetty's mother several years ago. With the girls older and Aunt Wendy getting married, it's time to get back to their lives. Vetty, mostly, is looking forward to reconnecting with Pez. She and he were inseparable - spending all their time together and knowing each other inside out, without the need for words. Vetty could do with a friend like that right now, as her inner feelings of difference get ever stronger... [[All the Invisible Things by Orlagh Collins|Full Review]]<!-- Dahl -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1912374439.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1912374439/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Courier by Kjell Ola Dahl and Don Bartlett (translator)]]=== [[image:3.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime (Historical)|Crime (Historical)]] Nazi-occupied Oslo, 1942. There, I've given the game away. For in a book that centres around a murder, I've told you who did it – the Nazis, surely? Well, that certainly has to remain to be seen in this volume, which splits its time between one of war, when a young woman sees her father arrested, and their store condemned as Jewish, and rushes to her best friend to help – not knowing she will never see her alive again, and the late 1960s, when great consternation is being felt. In this timeline, a maverick agent is back in town, one who might have been fingered for murdering that female victim, even though she and he lived together with their baby as a young family, except he was thought by all to have died in the War… [[The Courier by Kjell Ola Dahl and Don Bartlett (translator)|Full Review]] <!-- AMS -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1408711265.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1408711265/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Department of Sensitive Crimes by Alexander McCall Smith]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]] Long-time followers of The Bookbag will know I'm a die-hard fan of AMS. So you can imagine my excitement at reading a brand new book in a brand new series, described by the author himself as Scandi Blanc (as opposed to Scandi Noir)! Here we meet a new detective named Ulf Varg, who works in the Department for Sensitive Crimes, solving those crimes that perhaps fall outside the usual police parameters. This particular book deals with crimes including someone who is stabbed in the knee, the disappearance of an imaginary boyfriend, and a case of potential werewolves. They're the crimes that perhaps nobody else would bother to deal with, and I rather enjoyed them, especially the stabbing where you find that actually, you identify with the person who committed the crime, rather than the victim. [[The Department of Sensitive Crimes by Alexander McCall Smith|Full Review]] <!-- Lingane -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:B07NV8NY4Y.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07NV8NY4Y/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"| ===[[The Rose, the Night, and the Mirror by Mark Lingane]]===

[[image:4starThe ''Childish Spirits'' series is one of his greatest achievements.jpgIt's a sequence of ghost stories centring on Ellie, a stalwart young girl who can cope with anything the spirit world throws at her, and Edward, a spoiled lordling and the first spirit Ellie encounters|linkisbn=Category:1783064617}}{{Frontpage|author=Jenny Valentine|title=Us in the Before and After|rating=5|genre=Teens|summary=Elk and Mab are best friends, or more than that even, their friendship is a once in a lifetime connection. They meet as children one day on a trip out but unfortunately they don't get each other's contact details at the time. But then chance brings them back together, and they are inseparable. Something has happened though, something terrible and tragic, and now they must work through their grief, and their friendship, together.|isbn=1471196585}}{{Frontpage|author=Kieran Larwood and Joe Todd-Stanton|title=Dungeon Runners: Hero Trial|rating=4|genre=Confident Readers|summary=Meet Kit. Like most of the people in his world, it seems, he is an avid fan of Dungeon Running – the sport where a team of warrior, mage and healer enter specially prepared, century-old, magical mazes, and race to the exit, perhaps bothering with the treasure or the big bad and the points they grant you along the way. Unfortunately for Kit, the only thing he's seen of the latest race on the inn TV equivalent is that one team has been retired, eaten, and a new trio of questors is needed. Possibly very unfortunately indeed for Kit, he has taken to the goading from the token bully of his world and stumbled into declaring he'll enter as a team. What chance does this friendless, muscle-free-zone have in actually managing that, and how could he possibly hope to succeed?|isbn=1839945184}}{{Frontpage|author=Saima Mir|title=Vengeance|rating=3.5|genre=Thrillers|summary= I was instantly intrigued by the premise of this novel – an organised crime syndicate in the north of England run by a Muslim woman. The fact that it was the second in a series I hadn't read didn't stop me – I've jumped midway into a few series before (on page and screen) and it needn't be a hindrance if it's good enough. And that wasn't a problem here. Vengeance swiftly brings you up to speed, and I never felt lost.|isbn=0861541561}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Science Fiction|Science Fiction]]

Julian{{Frontpage|author=Stuart Douglas|title=Lowe and Le Breton Mysteries - Death at the Dress Rehearsal|rating=3.5|genre=Crime|summary=During location filming for his 1970's family are getting pretty fed up sitcom 'Floggit and Leggit', leading man Edward Lowe stumbles across the dead body of a woman on the edge of a reservoir. The police seem happy to assign it as an accidental death, but something about the whole thing bothers Lowe, and he enlists the help of a fellow actor, John Le Breton to help him investigate matters further. They travel across the country during their days off filming, uncovering more possible murders and, seemingly, a link to death during the Second World War. But is there really a link between the deaths? And will they manage to uncover who is responsible before more people lose their lives?|isbn=1803368209}}{{Frontpage|isbn=B0CYV674G2|title=Swanton Morley (John Tanner)|author=David Blake|rating=3.5|genre=Crime|summary=It seemed like an open-and-shut case. A man, covered in mud and blood - and carrying a knife, comes into the police station shouting that he hasn't killed the man. A body at the bottom of a freshly dug grave at Swanton Morley church - he's been stabbed to death. DCI John Tanner is just back from his honeymoon, which coincided with the birth of his permadaughter Samantha. You would think he'd be grateful for an easy answer but the words 'perverse' and 'John Tanner' were made for each other. He's sleep-deprived to the point of falling asleep at work but he's determined to keep going -student statusprobably because he can't get any sleep at home.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1787333175|title=You Don't Have to be Mad to Work Here|author=Benji Waterhouse|rating=5|genre=Popular Science|summary=I was tempted to read ''You Don't Have to be Mad to Work Here'' after enjoying Adam Kay's first book {{amazonurl|isbn=1509858636|title=This is Going to Hurt}}, a glorious mixture of insight into the workings of the NHS, humour and autobiography. ''You Don't Have to be Mad...'' promised the same elements but moved from physical problems to mental illness and the work of a psychiatrist. They feel that I did wonder whether it was acceptable to be looking for humour in this setting but the laughter is directed at a situation rather than a person and it is always delivered with empathy and understanding. }}{{Frontpage|author=Onyi Nwabineli|title=Allow Me to Introduce Myself|rating=4.5|genre=General Fiction|summary=Anuri spent her childhood on display to the world, thanks to her step-mother Ophelia's increasingly popular presence on social media, where she posted every step of Anuri's childhood for sponsorships and influencer deals and, basically, monetary gain. Now Anuri is in her twenties and she is slowly trying to regain her confidence and to get her life back, suing her step-mother to take down the maths PHD candidate should content about her. Anuri is battling alcoholism, failing to start earning some her PhD, undergoing therapy and secretly abusing people online and receiving money from them for doing so. Most importantly, she is desperately worried about her little sister, who is the new focus of Ophelia's online empire. Can she save her sister, and perhaps herself and her relationship with her father at the same time?|isbn=0861546873}}{{Frontpage|author=David Chadwick|title=Headload of Napalm|rating=4.5|genre=Thrillers|summary= It's September 1973 in Hicks, California. Hicks is a Mojave desert town of a few thousand people with its nearest neighbours of LA and Las Vegas both a significant drive away. Not much happens in Hicks. A silver mine and a defence contractor are the main local employers but otherwise, there's not much of note other than dive bars and Joshua trees. Life is quiet, until....|isbn= B0D321VJ76}}{{Frontpage|author=Tom Percival|title=The Wrong Shoes|rating=5|genre=Confident Readers|summary=Will's life is difficult, in a multitude of ways. He is bullied because he has 'the wrong shoes', he has the wrong shoes because his dad can't work and doesn't have enough moneyfor even the most basic of things like food, and his dad can't work because he lost his job at the college, was working a cash-in-hand job on a building site and had an accident. To Throw into that mix the fact that endhis mum and dad are separated, and Will's life seems bleak in every direction. And yet, he still has a tiny amount of hope. He is good at art, they have managed and clings to find him the moments of joy when he is drawing, that feel like a job tutoring light at the children end of a highly regarded politicianlong, dark tunnel. Julian bowls |isbn=1398527122}}{{Frontpage|author=Sylvie Cathrall|title=A Letter to the Luminous Deep|rating=5|genre=Science Fiction|summary= There are few greater joys than a book which lives up to a compelling premise. And this is one of them.|isbn= 0356522776}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0008517061|title=Death in a Lonely Place|author=Stig Abell|rating=4|genre=Crime|summary= Former Metropolitan Police detective, Jake Johnson, has settled into his rustic life at their strangeLittle Sky. There’s perhaps a little uncertainty about the future of his life with his vet girlfriend, Livia and her daughter Diana, austere mansion as moving in together would mean a lot of compromise: does Jake give up his off-grid and relaxing life to move in with little Livia or does Livia move to Little Sky despite her reservations about whether or not this is the future she wants for herself and her daughter? For the moment they’re enjoying life in the present and putting the future on the back burner.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1786482126|title=The Janus Stone (Dr Ruth Galloway)|author=Elly Griffiths|rating=4.5|genre=Crime|summary=Builders were demolishing an old house in Norwich - the way site was going to hold seventy-five 'luxury' apartments - when they discovered the bones of expectationa child beneath a doorway. There was no skull. Victor Was this a ritual killing or murder? Inevitably, Dr Ruth Galloway finds herself working with DCI Harry Nelson. It's difficult as Ruth knows, but Nelson doesn't, that she is pregnant with his child as a result of the politician one night they spent together some three months ago. Her condition will be obvious before long, not least because Ruth is not at homeprone to sudden bouts of sickness.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0008551324|title=The Devil You Know (D S Max Craigie)|author=Neil Lancaster|rating=4.5|genre=Crime|summary=It's unusual for anyone from the Hardie family to approach the police. Neither side likes or has any respect for the other. But EsisDavie Hardie is struggling in prison and he's prepared to tell the police where the body of a missing person is buried and who was responsible for her death. This person, he promises, is someone big and it will be worth the police doing what he wants. And what he wants is to be transferred to an open prison to serve the remainder of his wifesentence and to get an early parole date. Not much to ask, isit? The new Deputy Police Constable doesn't think so and she's even prepared to do the other thing that Hardie demanded - make certain that DS Max Craigie and anyone who works with him is kept well away from what's happening. }}{{Frontpage|isbn=0008405026|title=A beautiful Stranger in the Family (Maeve Kerrigan 11)|author=Jane Casey|rating=5|genre=Crime|summary=It's sixteen years since nine-year-old Rosalie Marshall disappeared from her bed one summer night. She was never found and the investigation ground to a halt. Now, her mother, Helena, and her father are dead in their bed. Initially, it looks like a straightforward murder/suicide but isolated womanthere's something about the positioning of the bodies that makes DS Maeve Kerrigan and her boss DI Josh Derwent suspicious. What looked as though it was going to be an open-and-shut case is now a complex double murder. Kerrigan is convinced that the explanation lies in Rosalie's disappearance: others (such as Derwent's boss, Una Burt) are less convinced.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0571379877|title=The Kellerby Code|author=Jonny Sweet|rating=3.5|genre=Crime|summary=Edward Jevons is a working-class young man, obsessed with his upper-class friends, Robert and Stanza. Robert's a theatre director. He's also self-obsessed, demanding, Esis shows little interest handsome and entitled and uses Edward to run errands for him. Edward has been in her children love with Stanza since their university days - and he's drunkenly confided how he feels to Robert. Most men in Robert's position would stay away from Stanza or tell Edward that a relationship had begun between them but he's not much more like most men: Edward is left to stumble upon the two of them kissing in a dark passageway.}}{{Frontpage|author=Jo Callaghan|title=Leave No Trace|rating=4|genre=Crime|summary=When a man is found crucified on the top of a hill in JulianNuneaton, DCS Kat Frank finds herself assigned to the case alongside her sidekick, the AI detective Lock. She directs him towards his room It's their first live case together, having previously been very successful with several cold cases. But when there is a second body found crucified a few days later, Kat is suddenly struggling with a potential serial killer and a very high profile case that draws a lot of unwanted attention to their AI Future Policing project. Will they be able to solve the library case in time, or will Kat find herself taken off the case and, potentially, out of a career?|isbn=139851120X}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1399613073|title=Moral Injuries|author=Christie Watson|rating=4.5|genre=Thrillers|summary=Olivia, Laura and Anjali met on the first day of medical school and their friendship would keep them inseparable for a quarter of a century. Olivia is ruthlessly ambitious, which he is a bonus when you aim to be a cardiothoracic surgeon. Laura is a perfectionist and a trauma doctor. Anjali is the free spirit of the group and she becomes a GP. When we first meet them they're at a drug and alcohol-fuelled party and it's going to end in tragedy. We don't know who suffered the tragedy or the consequences. Twenty-five years later there will be an eerily similar event that will teach impact the three friends. This time, it's their teenage childrenwho are involved.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0241636604|title=The Trading Game: A Confession|author=Gary Stevenson|rating=4.5|genre=Autobiography|summary=If you were to bring up an image of a city banker in your mind, you're unlikely to think of someone like Gary Stevenson. A hoodie and jeans replaces the kitchenpin-stripe suit and his background is the East End, whose chefbot will provide where he was familiar with violence, poverty and injustice. There was no posh public school on his CV - but he had been to the London School of Economics. Stevenson is bright - extremely bright - and he has a facility with numbers which most of us can only envy. He also realised that most rich people expect poor people to be stupid. It was his ability at what was, essentially, a card game which got him an internship with foodCitibank. [[Eventually, this turned into permanent employment as a trader.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1035021803|title=The RoseAntique Hunter's Guide to Murder|author=C L Miller|rating=3.5|genre=Crime|summary=It's twenty years since Freya Lockwood has been back to the English country village where she grew up. She's back now because of a request for help from her beloved aunt, Carole. Freya's former mentor and Carole's close friend, Arthur Crockleford, is dead and the circumstances seem suspicious, to say the least. Arthur was the reason why Freya had not been back to the village: Arthur, she feels, let her down badly. Even though they were in business together as antique hunters, she has not felt able to be near the man or pursue the profession she loved. After the Nightsplit, she worked in a cafe, met and married James (on the rebound from the Mirror by Mark Linganelove of her life, who was murdered) and Freya and James have now divorced.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=AllTomorrowsFutureCover|title=All Tomorrow's Futures: Fictions that Disrupt|Full Review]] author=Benjamin Greenaway and Stephen Oram (Editors)|rating=5|genre=Science Fiction|summary=''Opening up new ways of thinking about the shape of things to come.''

<!I've heard it said that 'technology' is what happens after you're eighteen. Well, I must confess that there have been more than a few decades of technology in my lifetime. I've kept up reasonably well with what's advantageous to me but I'm left with the feeling that it's all getting away from me. Some of it is -frankly - DO NOT REMOVE ANYTHING BELOW THIS LINE -->quite frightening. Of course, I could research the possibilities and the probabilities and end up down rabbit holes without really understanding whether I'm reading someone who knows what they're talking about or the latest conspiracy theorist. I needed people I knew I could trust and who could deliver information in a way I could understand.}}{{Frontpage|author=Sunny Singh|title=Hotel Arcadia|rating=3.5|genre=Thrillers |summary=The Hotel Arcadia is a luxury hotel in an unnamed city that has suddenly been violently taken over by a terrorist group. Hiding from the terrorists who are rampaging through, killing everyone on site, there is Sam, a wartime photographer and Abhi, the hotel manager. As Abhi continues to try to care remotely for the residents who are still alive in the hotel, he forms a bond with Sam who refuses to be cowed by events, and keeps on venturing out of her room to try to capture what's happened through her photography. Although they only ever talk over the phone, their friendship grows as Abhi tries to help her keep safe and they both wait to see if they will be rescued before they are discovered by the terrorists.|isbn=086154742X}}