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!

Murder Month 2019

In possible the worst-kept secret I’ve had on The Pewter Wolf, I have decided to make this September my crime/thriller/mystery reading month - or, as I like to call it, Murder Month! 

Ok, I have done this once before, back in ye olde days of in 2016 and I always said I would read more of these types of books as I enjoy them and I didn’t want them to feel like a “guilty pleasure” read (they’re not). And I think I’ve done a goodish job reading more crime/thriller months, but two things happened that made me go “Ok, I want to do a themed month linked to the crime genre”. 

The first is Capital Crime. Capital Crime is a literary festival that is going to happen later this month in London to celebrate Crime literary. I believe this is the first festival celebrating the crime genre in London (I know Scotland has several and I know there are a few others, but this is the closest to where I live).

The second is a podcast I listen to called Death By The Books. It’s a podcast I love where the two hosts - Lianne and Kirsti - talk about “crime, thrillers and other books where people die”. And seeing as I have bought and requested from publishers several books based on this podcast, I feel like I need to get my rear in gear and read them in honour of this podcast. 

And with that, the idea of redoing a murder-reading month came to mind and I got excited to try! 

When I first thought of this idea, it was back in May, so I have been slowly getting ahead of myself with this themed month, based on the idea that I want to read far and wide within the crime/thriller genre. It might not be great reads, but I wanted to push myself out of my comfort zone. Some of these books are going to be real curveballs so heads up in advance for that! 

Now, I can’t guarantee that this month is going to make interesting reading for you guys, but I hope to explore this genre a little more, try new authors (and maybe try a few I know vaguely but been too chicken to try), give one or two authors one final chance and maybe reread a few novels that I love… 

There are a few titles that I do want to try and read this month, but I can’t guarantee I will read them this month (for one reason or another). I’m going to put them below, as a taster of what I want to try and do this month, and then will leave the rest as a surprise. So come with me as we murder the month away…! 

Book Review - The Witch's Blood

• Title And Author: The Witch’s Blood by Elizabeth and Katharine Corr
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Physical, eBook or Audiobook: Physical 
• Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Gifted by publisher & authors in exchange for an honest reaction/review
• Length: 416 Pages

I’ve been holding off reading this for a while. After finding myself blitzing the second book in the series, Witch’s Tears, I’ve been a little hesitant to go back and finish this series off. I knew I would, but I never felt ready, if that makes sense. Plus, if you guys have follow the blog or any of my social medias, you know I have a tendency to start a series but NEVER EVER FINISH THEM! 

So, imagine my surprise when I was chatting to the authors on social media one day at work and went “Oh hell, I’m ready!”. And because of Murder Month round the corner, I had to slip it in somewhere. And when I did, I found time and hammered it out over a week (or, if we are being super picky, four sittings). 

After the devastating events of Witch’s Tears, Merry will stop at nothing to save her brother Leo. Even if that means ignoring her coven’s orders to do so. But doing so has unforeseen consequences for the teenage witch. As she and Leo are forced to confront evil from past and present and her powers growing, how far are they will to go to save the people close to them? 

So… where do we begin?

Library Audiobooks DNFs

As you guys know, I canceled my Audible subscription earlier this year and switched to my local libraries BorrowBox app as I love a good audiobook. What’s surprised me in using it is, while the back catalogue isn’t as vast as Audible, how I pick certain audiobooks on whim. Sometimes, there are a raging success and others… not so much. And when I don’t get on with these audiobooks, I have no guilt in returning them to the library, no matter if I have listened to a few hours or just a few minutes. 

And because I want to show you guys that I am trying to branch out and try new genres, I thought I would show some of my DNF library audiobooks.

Audiobook Review - The Witchfinder's Sister

• Title And Author: The Witchfinder’s Sister by Beth Underdown
• Publisher: Penguin
• Physical, eBook or Audiobook: Audiobook
• Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Borrowed from Essex Libraries via BorrowBox
• Length: 368 Pages or 10 Hours 54 Minutes

Now, this is a bit of a curveball as historical fiction isn’t my jam. But I requested this from NetGalley AGES ago (yes, it’s an eProof and I am surprise behind on them!) and I’ve been going “I will read this one day… one day…”. Then I saw this on my Library Audiobook app and went “Why Not? I can pop this as one of my Murder Month reads” as, for a reason I’m not 100% certain on why, this book is classed as crime and thriller. So, I’m not sure to pop this in my Murder Month or not… So, it’s going up now! 

Before the famous Salem Witch Hunts happened in the US, the UK had the Essex Witch Trials, spearheaded by the Witchfinder General, Matthew Hopkins. When his sister, Alice, is forced to return to the small Essex home in Manningtree after the tragic death of his husband, she hopes for safety, love and support. But home is no longer a place of safety. Matthew has changed from their last meeting and whispers follow him now. Whispers of witchcraft and whispers of a book he owns, a book where he is gathering women names… As Matthew’s obsession grows, so does the creeping dread Alice feels… How far is Matthew’s obsession going to go? And what choice will Alice make to save herself?

eBook Review - Howl's Moving Castle

• Title And Author: Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Physical, eBook or Audiobook: eBook
• Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Bought
• Length: 320 Pages

It’s been a while coming. Yes, I’ve only got round to reading this, a classic within fantasy, I know. I am very behind the times, I know. 

So, down to business. Where do I begin with this? 

In the land of Ingary, Sophie Hatter finds herself in trouble. After catching the unwanted attention of the Witch of the Waste, Sophie is now under a spell where she now is an old woman. Thinking she has nothing to lose, she makes her way to the moving castle that belongs to Wizard Howl, a vain wizard who, they say, have an appetite for the hearts and souls of young women who fall in love with him… 

But once in the castle, she meets Howl’s young apprentice, Michael, and Howl’s fire demon, Calcifer and Sophie realise that she might not be the only one under a curse…