Audiobook Review - The Twisted Tree

• Title And Author: The Twisted Tree by Rachel Burge
• Publisher: Hot Key Books
• Physical, eBook or Audiobook: Audiobook
• Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Borrowed from local library via BorrowBox
• Length: 256 Pages or 6 Hours 41 Minutes

This might be my last review/write-up of 2019! It depends how fast I can finish my current read (unless I finish it prior to this weekend). Anyway, back story. I went the to the Hot Key Blogger Launch to The Twisted Tree earlier this year at the publisher and we were all intrigued by this. A ghost story with hints of Norse mythology? Sign me up!

But I kept putting this off. So, in the end, when I saw the audiobook version on the BorrowBox app (in connection with Essex Libraries), I requested it and listened to this over the course of several days at work.

Ever since the accident, Martha can sense things. She can tell things about a person by touching their clothes. Their emotions, memories, regrets, all soaked into the fabric. Trying to come to terms with this new, unsettling gift and how the accident left her blind in one eye, Martha goes to her grandmother - Mormor - house in Norway. But when she gets there, she finds that her Mormor is dead and a runaway is living in her cabin. Not only that but something is outside the cabin, waiting… and all the while, the Twisted Tree is watching. Watching and waiting…

Audiobook Review - Wolf-Speaker

• Title And Author: Wolf Speaker by Tamora Pierce
• Publisher: Harper Voyager
• Physical, eBook or Audiobook: Audiobook
• Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Borrowed from local library via BorrowBox
• Length: 256 Pages or 6 Hours 31 Minutes

Last year, I went through a huge blitz of getting advance reader copies of Tamora Pierce’s novels via NetGalley. And I only read Wild Magic. I liked it (will put link to my write-up here) and I had plans to read the second and third (Wolf-Speaker and Emperor Mage) in the series soon after as I got them as well as her newest novel, Tempests and Slaughter. And I somehow didn’t get round to it. I just lost track of time. Earlier this year, I audiobooked First Test, the first in another quartet by her, Protector of the Small (link for that is here). After audio booking and again, liking it, I decided that if I want to continue with that series, I really should try and finish the ARCs I have and, maybe even completing the series somehow.

But it’s been nearly a year, could I pick up the story of how Wild Magic ended and Wolf-Speaker begun…?

Daine has wild magic. She can talk and sway the actions of animals. So when Daine is summoned by a pack of wolves who saved Daine’s life years ago, she goes without thinking, taking her mentor, the legendary mage Numair. They travel to the Dunlath Valley, but both are shocked at the danger that awaits them. The animals and humans of the valley’s lives are in danger as the valley’s rulers have been blinded by greed and power, and they plans to overthrow the king must be stopped at all costs…

Audiobook Review - Flying Too High

• Title And Author: Flying Too High by Kerry Greenwood
• Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press/C&R Crime
• Physical, eBook or Audiobook: Audiobook
• Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Borrowed from local library via BorrowBox
• Length: 236 Pages or 5 Hours and 2 Minutes 

Another audiobook that I listened to while during Believathon (I really should have prepped myself much better but I had to wait till it was available), and it’s another cosy crime. I seem to enjoy reading/audiobooking crime stories, as long as I click with it. 

And after listening to my first Phryne Fisher mystery - Murder on the Ballarat Train - back in October, I wanted to do another. I was torn between this, the second in the series, or Death at Victoria Dock, the fourth. This came available first so nabbed that. 

Phryne Fisher likes a thrill. Flying a Tiger Moth plane and walking the wings of one in full flight should be enough excitement for some people, but not Phryne. Now becoming a private investigator, Phryne finds herself involved in trying to solve a murder, save a child from kidnapping, all while having young, attractive men at her door… Sometimes, a woman’s work is never done.

Believathon 2019 - Le Belle Sauvage

• Title And Author: La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman
• Publisher: Penguin/David Fickling Books
• Physical, eBook or Audiobook: Audiobook
• Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Bought
• Length: 546 Pages and 13 Hours 14 Minutes

It’s been a long time coming, hasn’t it? With me finally, FINALLY, getting my rear in gear and reading/audiobooking La Belle Sauvage, seeing how much I love the His Dark Materials trilogy and bought this as soon as I could. 

But I held off reading this. For the same reason I’m holding off watching the BBC/HBO adaption of the series - The Fear! I mean, we have been waiting for these FOR YEARS! What if, after all this waiting, they don’t live up to our exceptions?!

So, how/why did I decide to do it now? Well, the audiobook is the main reason. Plus, The Secret Commonwealth for another. OK, let me explain. The Secret Commonwealth has just come out in hardback and I would like to read that as Lyra is an adult in this and I want to return and see what’s happened to her and her daemon, Pan. Now, the audiobook. I returned an audiobook after an hour’s listening on Audible and they, very kindly, gave me a credit as a refund. So, I decided to grab this (as well as activate a Black Friday deal of getting an Audible Subscription with 4 months being only £3.99 [The offer is still going. I think it ends on Thursday 12th December aka UK General Election Day or Friday 13th, so go go! Just remember to cancel it before the price goes up to £7.99])

Anyway, La Belle Sauavge, the first volume in the Book of Dust series is a little different from what everyone was expecting. We thought this was going to follow after His Dark Materials. Nope. This takes place years BEFORE, when Lyra is only six months. 

Malcolm Polstead and his daemon, Asta, lives in the pub in Oxford by the river Thames. His life is fairly ordinary, even uneventful. But this winter, the rain won’t stop. Rumours of a flood are everywhere, and Malcolm finds himself near the centre of a battle between religion, science and politics, when he goes to the priory across the river and discover they are looking after a small six month baby called Lyra, daughter of Lord Asriel...

Believathon 2019 - Mary Poppins

• Title And Author: Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Physical, eBook or Audiobook: eBook
• Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Borrowed from Prime Reading
• Length: 228 Pages

As I said in my previous post, I struggled then DNFed North Child. And because of that, it threw my reading plans out of the window. I wanted to read the Believathon group book, Frostheart by Jamie Littler. I then wanted to read my advance reader copy of Elizabeth and Katherine Corr’s Throne of Swans. I was so excited to read them. But after DNFing North Child, I decided that I didn’t want to go near these titles just yet. I wanted one or two titles, a bit left-field choices, for me to read. Something I can read fast and something I can switch my brain off too. One of these choices was the new James Patterson 19th Christmas. But the other was going to be something I can read FAST as Nanowrimo is still going on and I know that I’m not going to hit the 50,000 word as I’ve written my conclusion and am now tying up loose ends and thinking “I kinda want to write a sequel. I want to know what happens next to these characters.” 

So, when I remembered that I can “borrow” books from Amazon’s Prime Reading, I thought I would have a look at titles that I borrow and to check my memory. And I saw I could request the original Mary Poppins. So, borrowed that and started to read, deciding that this could be my last Believathon read...

We all know Mary Poppins. Disney used the original stories as inspiration for the movie, starring Julie Andrews, and we all know that PL Travers disliked the Disney adaptation so much that she demanded that no one who worked directly with the original to be involved in the sequel (hence why it took so long for Mary Poppins Returns to be made, even though both Disney and PL Travers both wanted a sequel to be made). 

So, Mary Poppins. The Bank family are desperate. Their nanny has worked out. Who will look after the four Banks children: Jane, Michael and the twins? Then, the mysterious Mary Poppins appears, as if blown in on the wind. Firm but fair, Mary Poppins brings magic into the children’s lives. But she will only stay till the wind changes…

Believathon 2019 - The Worst Witch Mini-Reviews

Sorry for my lack of write-up for my Believathon as the book I’m read (North Child by Edith Pattou) is taking a lot longer to read that I was expecting (meaning I’m not going to read the readathon’s group read - Frostheart by Jamie Littler - in time. Might try and read it over the Christmas Blog Break!). Plus, with Nanowrimo taking my time on the typing front and me listening to audiobooks that don’t really fit Believathon (so I’m putting those reviews/write-up’s up in December), I’ve kinda got myself a bit of a blog dip. 

So, SURPRISE! I have one big blog post over two The Worst Witch books! I have The Worst Witch All At Sea (the fourth in the series) and The Worst Witch and the Wishing Star (the seventh in the series). 

Hang on a moment. I need to put those blasted affiliate links up (do you use them? I’m curious on whether to keep them or only use one or two instead of four) 

• Title And Author: The Worst Witch All at Sea and The Worst Witch and the Wishing Star by Jill Murphy
• Publisher: Puffin
• Physical, eBook or Audiobook: Audiobook
• Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Borrowed from local library via BorrowBox
• Length: 224 Pages for Worst Witch All at Sea, 208 Pages for Worst Witch and the Wishing Star or 2 Hours and 5/9 Minutes 

So, with that out of the way (do those links make sense? I hope so!), let me do a quick write-up on each. 

In The Worst Witch All at Sea, Mildred Hubble and her classmates have been given a special treat: a week by the seaside. But Mildred is upset over her cat, Tabby, behind left behind, so she sneaks him with her. And with that, trouble follows. 

In The Worst Witch and the Wishing Star, Mildred makes a wish on a shooting star and, to her surprise, it comes true! A dog is waiting for her, but how is she going to keep him - Star - a secret from everyone, especially the formidable Miss Hardbroom? And with the school entering a contest to win an indoor swimming pool, you know trouble is going to come when disaster-prone Mildred is about…

Believathon 2019 - Spirit Walker

• Title And Author: Spirit Walker by Michelle Paver
• Publisher: Orion Children’s Books
• Physical, eBook or Audiobook: eBook 
• Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Bought 
• Length: 320 Pages

My first Believathon read for this month! Who’s excited?! 

So, as you know from last month, I devoured the first book in the series, Wolf Brother, most of it on the plane to New York (link to my write-up is here!). I love this world and I made a decision that I will try and read each book in the series once a month in the lead-up to the newest book, Viper’s Daughter, being published in April 2020. 

So, here we are with book 2 of the Chronicles of Ancient Darkness series! 

Several months after the events of Wolf Brother, a strange sickness is creeping through the Stone Age Forest. It threatens the Raven Clan and after destroying the Bear with the aid of the World Spirit, Torak thinks he can find the cure. Word is that the Seal Clan has a cure and Torak decides to travel to them to find it…

Book Review - Angel Mage

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

What’s this? I don’t start with my usual bulletpoints of information and affiliates. Ok, stay with me. I had plans to buy this. I honestly did! I preordered it and EVERYTHING! So it came as a huge surprise to me when I got an email from Gollancz, asking if anyone wanted to be involved in a blog tour. I jumped at it as I am a huge fan of Garth Nix’s Old Kingdom series and Keys to the Kingdom series. What came as a surprise was when the publisher said “We’re sending you a book for review for the tour”. Now, I don’t normally do reviews for tours as you all know and I had preordered my copy of the book already. But I went “Sod it!” and decided to be involved. Unless something unspeakably awful happened in the book, I was going to be involved in this tour. 

And with that out of the way, let’s talk Angel Mage, shall we? 

• Title And Author: Angel Mage by Garth Nix
• Publisher: Gollancz
• Physical, eBook or Audiobook: Physical
• Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Gifted by publisher in exchange for an honest review/reaction
• Length: 560 Pages

Over a century ago, the country of Ystara fell to the Ash Blood plague. If anyone came into contact with the magic of an angel, regardless of the angel’s level, their blood will turn into ash or the person will transform into a terrifying beastling. 

It’s been over a century since Liliath crept into the empty sarcophagus of Saint Marguerite and slept, waiting. But now she is awake, and she has a plan. She still is nineteen, she still looks beautiful and she still is as singleminded as she was before her sleep. She is determined to find the missing archangel of Ystara, Pelleniel. 

But for her plans to succeed, her quest centres round four young Sarancians, each so different and yet, share something important. But what connects the doctor-in-training Simeon, the fortune hunter Herni, the musketeer Agnez, and the scholar and icon maker Dorotea? 

When the four meet by sheer chance, they feel the kinship between them instantly, though they have no idea why. Only Liliath knows why they are so important and she has plans to manipulate the Queen, her musketeers and everyone around her to achieve her ends… 

So… where do I begin?

Audiobook Review - Murder on the Ballarat Train

• Title And Author: Murder on the Ballarat Train by Kerry Green
• Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press/C&R Crime
• Physical, eBook or Audiobook: Audiobook
• Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Borrowed from local library via BorrowBox
• Length: 162 Pages or 4 Hours 48 Minutes

I tried to audiobook the first book in the Phryne Fisher Mystery (or the Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, if you are a fan of the TV show via Alibi or Netflix), Cocaine Blues, a few months back but due to my hay fever headache and me not warming to the first few chapters (I don’t think I got halfway through chapter 3), I DNFed it. So, why did I decide to try the third book in the series? I wanted something light and quick after audiobooking Eragon, which I struggled with. 

All Phryne Fisher wants is a week of fabulousness in 1920s Ballarat, and going by train should be fun. Expect she woke up with the first class carriage filled with chloroform. Soon, she finds herself in the middle of several investigations: the murder of an elderly woman whose body was dragged up out of the window, a girl with no memory and rumours of white slavery with young girls rumoured to be sold into prostitution. But Phyrne will get to the truth before a possible second murder happens, and if she can have a discreet dalliance with a young man, so be it… 

Audiobook Review - Eragon

• Title And Author: Eragon by Christopher Paolini
• Publisher: Random House (Corgi)
• Physical, eBook or Audiobook: Audiobook
• Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Borrowed from local library via BorrowBox
• Length: 528 Pages or 16 Hours 22 Minutes

At the beginning of the year, I said I was going to try and read the whole Inheritance Cycle and His Fair Assassin series. I failed. I fully accept that I sucked that sticking to my reading plans (hence why I NEVER do “This is my TBR for the month” list). But I did want to try and read this series all the way through. I have read Eragon years ago and I did enjoy myself hugely with it. So, when I was on my library audiobook app and I saw this, I requested it. 

When Eragon finds a polished blue stone, he thinks it’ll be worth something. Maybe he could sell it for meat. But he can’t and, almost overnight, his simple farm boy life is shattered as the stone isn’t a stone but a dragon’s egg. Soon, the egg hatches and, as Eragon and the dragon (who he needs Saphira) bond, both are thrown into a dark world beyond the farm…

eBook Review - Wolf Brother

• Title And Author: Wolf Brother by Michelle Paver
• Publisher: Orion Children’s Books
• Physical, eBook or Audiobook: eBook
• Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Bought
• Length: 256 Pages

I’ve been quite excited over the recent news that Michelle Paver is writing new instalments in her Chronicles of Ancient Darkness series. I’m not sure why but I had the funny feeling I had read the first book in the series, Wolf Brother. So, when I saw that the collection of the six books published so far was on Kindle for less than £4, I jumped at it and decided to reread Wolf Brother and, if I enjoy it, try and read each instalment every month before the newest, Viper’s Daughter, is published early next April. (FYI, I hadn't read Wolf Brother before so no idea why I thought I had!)

Thousand of years ago in the Stone Ages, in the Forest, 12 year old Torak has just seen his father being murdered. Murdered by a bear, which isn’t a bear at all, but a demon possessing the bear’s body. With his dying breath, Torak’s father makes Torak swear a vow: lead the bear to the mountain of the World Spirit and beg for its help. 

But Torak has no idea where the Mountain is or what he will have to do to get the World Spirit’s help. All he knows is that his Guide will help him. But can a small wolf cub, who’s whole pack died in a flash flood, really be Torak’s guide?

Audiobook Review - First Test

• Title And Author: First Test by Tamora Pierce
• Publisher: HarperVoyager
• Physical, eBook or Audiobook: Audiobook
• Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Borrowed from local library via BorrowBox
• Length: 212 Pages or 5 Hours 21 Minutes

You would think I would focus on the one Tamora Pierce series that I started to read a few months back - Wild Magic, the first in the Immortals series (I have the second and the third on my kindle, as well as Tempests and Slaughter) - but when I was randomly searching my BorrowBox app for a short audiobook (I wasn’t ready to dive into the two long audiobooks I bought several months back…), I spied First Test and went “Ooooh!” then requested. Only to discover afterwards that BorrowBox only had this and Wild Magic as audiobooks so if I liked what I heard, I would have to find a way to continue the series! 

Keladry of Mindelan is the first girl who dares to take advantage of the new law of Tortall, allowing females to train for Knighthood. After growing up on the Yamani Islands, she knows women can be fearless warriors and she wants to be one. But Lord Wyldon, the training master, is dead against the idea of girls becoming knights and forces the king to say that Kel must do a year’s trial - something no boy has ever done. Kel is determined to prove herself, just to be seen as equal…

#re3 Murder Month 2019 - Murder On The Orient Express

• Title And Author: Murder On The Orient Express by Agatha Christie
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Physical, eBook or Audiobook: Physical
• Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Bought
• Length: 240 Pages

I am going to say this now but this reread wasn’t planned to happened. After I finished reading Howl’s Moving Castle (link here to read my write-up) where I struggled to finished, I wanted something light to read. Something fast. Something I could finish within a week. My brain decided that, even though I was thinking of reading this for Murder Month, I wanted to reread Murder on the Orient Express. So, I read this back in August and decided to pop my write-up of this now… 

I think we all know the basic premise of Murder on the Orient Express, but to refresh your memory, this is the tenth outing for Hercule Poirot and he is returning to Paris after a telegram comes to him, begging him to return to London. While on the Orient Express, his is approached by an American, Samuel Ratchett, who wants to hire Poirot as his personal detective. Poirot refuses, not liking the man. But the following morning, Poirot discovers that Ratchett is dead, stabbed 12 times while he slept and that Orient Express is at a standstill due to a vicious snowstorm, meaning the murderer is still on the train…

Murder Month 2019 - The First Lady

• Title And Author: The First Lady by James Patterson and Brendan DuBois
• Publisher: Century
• Physical, eBook or Audiobook: Audiobook
• Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Borrowed via Local Library & BorrowBox
• Length: 368 Pages or & Hours 15 Minutes

Do you have one of those authors? You know the authors I mean. The ones where you know you shouldn’t read as you and they don’t get on, but every now and then, your resolve weakens and you go “One last time. I will try that author one more time”?

This is my relationship with James Patterson. I find his audiobooks fun, fast and great beach reads, but I find them quite predictable. I know the beats of each of the novels I listen to or read and, though I do have fun listening to the audiobook (I went through a small blitz when I was in my teens with his novels and I find, because of that, I can’t really physical read them any more) and I have a soft spot for the Women’s Murder Club, I always feel a little let down by the stories. 

So, when I first started to think about doing Murder Month, I thought I would give one or two authors a second chance. The first was Patrica Cornwall’s Kay Scarpetta and I found, after nearly two or so hours of audiobooking All That Remains, I frankly didn’t care and I DNFed it. But the second was James Patterson. Now, originally, I decided to do The President Is Missing as that had a lot of hype and noise when it was coming out. But I changed my mind. I’m not sure why, but I decided to try The First Lady instead. 

It’s four weeks before the next Presidential Elections and the President is riding high in the polls. So when he is ambushed walking out of an Atlanta hotel with his mistress, President Tucker is desperate to get the scandal under control, and the first step is the get the First Lady by his side…

Expect, she’s not in the White House. She walked out of the East Wing after the scandal broke to ride her horse outside the capital and, within moments, she loses her security detail lose her. 

The First Lady is missing. Did she run away? Is she dead? Either way, she must be found and, all the while, things are happening behind the scenes… things that will protect the President at all costs.

Murder Month 2019 - The Five

• Title And Author: The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold
• Publisher: Doubleday
• Physical, eBook or Audiobook: Audiobook
• Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Borrowed by BorrowBox & Essex Libraries
• Length: 432 Pages or 10 Hours 18 Minutes

Since I first heard of this book earlier in the year, I wanted to read it. I am not a fan of True Crime and not really had much interest over Jack the Ripper (though I have said I would be curious to go on a Jack the Ripper Walk round East London), so the idea of me wanting to read this came very left field. I mean… why? Why would I want to read about Jack the Ripper and his murders? 

But wanting to read this surprised me and when I decided to close my Audible subscription and use my local library and their audiobook app, I went to see this was on here. And it was, much to mu surprise, and I knew, without really thinking it through that I wanted this to be part of my Murder Month. No, not wanted. This HAD to be in my Murder Month. 

The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper looks at the five women at the heart of this terror, and, with this, looks at the social pitfalls and peril of being a middle-class women (or just a women in general) in Victorian London. 

I don’t want to go any further here as I want to go further a little later in this write-up.

Murder Month 2019 - Nothing Stays Buried

• Title And Author: Nothing Stays Buried by P.J. Tracy
• Publisher: Penguin
• Physical, eBook or Audiobook: Audiobook 
• Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Borrowed from local library via BorrowBow
• Length: 320 Pages or 7 Hours 22 minutes

I wanted to include The Guilty Dead by P.J. Tracy in my Murder Month, but decided against it for reasons I explained back in July. But I had such a fun time audiobooking it, I decided I wanted another P.J. Tracy audiobook so when back in June/July (yes, I decided to prep for this month and get my stuff together and organise) via my local library audiobook app, I jumped at it. I do like a good audiobook and podcast, as you know! 

This is the 8th book in the Monkeewrench or Twin Cities series (depending on which you prefer - plus, The Guilty Dead was the ninth so am backtracking) and it starts with a body of a woman beginning discovered in a dog park. When detectives Gino and Magozzi get to the scene, they soon realise that this is the work of a serial killer. And he’s stuck before as he left a playing card, like with his last victim over a year ago. Expect that card was the ace of spades and this victim’s card is the four of spades…

As Gino and Magozzi desperately try and stop the killer from completing the whole deck,  they cal on the computer skills of Grace MacBride and the Monkeewrench team for help. But they, too, are investigating a case: a disappearance of a young woman in farm country…

But are the two cases linked to each other?

Murder Month 2019 - The October Man

• Title And Author: The October Man by Ben Aaronovitch
• Publisher: Gollancz
• Physical, eBook or Audiobook: Audiobook
• Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Bought
• Length: 192 Pages or 4 Hours 20 Minutes

I am in two minds over whether or not to write this as part of my Murder Month. I decided, probably against my better judgement, that I will on the condition that I attempt to read the first book in the Rivers of London series this month as well (yes, I know, this is my first within this series and before you all have a go at me, when have I EVER read a book series in order? This is very on me brand).

The reason I bought this is because back in October last year, at the Orion Book Blogger Event, the sampler of this audiobook was played and I went “Ok, I need to read this!” so I preordered it a few weeks later and thought “I’ll have plenty of time to catch up”. Oh, foolish book blogger, do you know nothing about yourself? You’ve been doing this for how long and still, you don’t know yourself? 

So, in this 7.5 novella of the Rivers of London series, we are no longer in London, but Germany. In Trier, to be exact. Famous for being Germany’s oldest city, its wine and now a dead body covered impossibly in fungal rot. Enter Tobias Winter, an investigator for the Abteilung KDA, the branch of the German Federal Criminal Police that handles magic and the supernatural. His aim is to get in, solve the case and get out, with little fuss, danger and, more importantly, paperwork. 

Together with a frightening enthusiastic local cop, Vanessa Sommer, the two link the first victim to a group of ordinary men who create a wine club to handle their midlife crisis. But is it possible this club has reawaken a bloody conflict from the previous century? Looks like the duo will have the unearth the secret, magical history of Trier that goes back two thousand years. That is… is history doesn’t kill them first…

Murder Month 2019 - Small Wars

• Title And Author: Small Wars by Lee Child
• Publisher: Penguin
• Physical, eBook or Audiobook: Audiobook
• Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Borrowed from BorrowBox & Local Library
• Length: 1 Hours 17 Minutes

Maybe this wasn’t the best place to start with Lee Child and his well loved creation, Jack Reacher. This is, to my knowledge, 19.5 within the series. But when have I ever started in the right place...? 

Set in 1989, a young lieutenant colonel in a stylish handmade uniform and a swish car, drives through the woods down a lone road meets a very tall soldier with a broken-down car. 

But what connects a cold-blooded off-post shooting, an officer in the military police called Jack Reacher, his mysterious brother Joe and a secretive unit of pointy-heads from the Pentagon…? 

So… what are my thoughts of this short audiobook that I wanted to listen to due to Murder Month?

Murder Month 2019 - Murder She Wrote: Gin and Daggers

• Title And Author: Murder She Wrote: Gin and Dagger by Jessica Fletcher and Donald Bain
• Publisher: Penguin Putnam Inc
• Physical, eBook or Audiobook: Physical
• Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Borrow from local library
• Length: 261 Pages

I bet you thought when I decided to do a possible crime reading month back in May, you didn’t think I was going to start with Murder She Wrote. But yeah, I am and I have no shame. 

The first book in the series, best selling author Jessica Fletcher is off to London for be a keynote speaker as a mystery writers convention. She’s also looking forward to meeting her friend and fellow crime writer, Marjorie Ainsworth, who she’s hasn’t seen in so long. When Marjorie invites Jessica to a house party to celebrate the release of her new novel, Gin and Daggers, Jessica happily accept. But the party ends with murder when Jessica discovers Marjorie stabbed in her bed… 

When I first discovered this book spinoff series existed, I went “This is no way going to be as fun as the TV show” and yet I still wanted to read at least one of the titles in this series. And it’s a long series. At the time of you guys reading this, its 50th instalment will be published this coming November. FIFTY BOOKS in this series, and it’s not going to end any time soon as it’s still hugely popular, plus the TV is still hugely popular with reruns still airing on TV channels round the world (according to me Googling, 5USA is the UK home for Jessica now, but ITV, BBC and Alibi have all been home in the past ten years). 

So… what do I think of this?

Murder Month - Sue Wallman Gets Dead Popular

Let's kickstart this Murder Month of mine with having the super lovely Sue Wallman on for a quick Q&A.

For those of you not in the loop, Sue is a YA thriller writer who's previous three novels, Lying About Last Summer, See How They Lie and Your Turn to Die have been making waves with YA thriller readers. Lying About Last Summer was selected as one of Zoella's Book Club picks with WHSmiths in autumn 2016 and each book has won awards and have received praise across the UK.

Her newest, Dead Popular, came out last month, but I have been saving myself to read it till this month as how perfect this book is to fit into this themed month of mine! Sue has written about what Dead Popular is in my quick Q&A of six questions - I didn't want to go too spoiler plus I wanted to know what her thoughts of the genre of crime and thriller.

Before I hand you over to the Q&A, I want to quickly thank Sue for answering these questions and thank Harriet at Scholastic for going "That sounds like fun" when I mentioned I was planning to do this month. If you want to say hi to Sue, you can check out her website at suewallman.co.uk or say hi to her on Twitter at @SueWallman. 

ONTO THE MURDERY QUESTIONS!