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todayiamadaisySeptember books read
* Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud and the Last Trial of Harper Lee - Casey Cep (2019) ★ ★ ★
This is a non-fiction book in three parts: the first tells of the Reverend Willie Maxwell, a preacher whose family members had an unfortunate habit of having car accidents not long after he'd taken out life insurance on them; the second tells of his lawyer, who got him off all his murder charges and helped with his insurance claims, then also won an acquittal for the man who murdered him; the third is a biography of Harper Lee, who attended the last murder trial intending to write a book about it. The first section is the best, and the one that I would have liked more of; the rest felt like (interesting and well-written) padding.
* The Furthest Station - Ben Aaronovitch (2017) ★ ★ ★ ★
This is a novella set in the Rivers of London universe; chronologically falling between Foxglove Summer and The Hanging Tree, but as a standalone story separate from the overarching plot in the main novels. In this, Peter and co are chasing down reports of ghosts on the Tube. A short, fun romp.
* Elementary Murder - AJ Wright (2017) ★ ★ ★
A solid, old-fashioned murder mystery set in the north of England in 1894.
* The Sussex Murder - Ian Sansom (2019) ★ ★ ★ ★
This is the fifth in the County Guides murder mysteries, in which the People's Professor, Swanton Morley, his daughter Miriam, and assistant Sefton, travel around England in 1937 to write a series of travel guides, leaving chaos and a number of deaths in their wake. A cut above the usual sort of cosy crime writing.
* Jill and the Perfect Pony - Ruby Ferguson (1959) ★ ★ ★ ★
Poking around in a second-hand bookshop a few weeks ago, I found a Jill book I'd never read before. Other Jill books are episodic, filled with dilemmas small ("will Jill talk the curmudgeonly land owner into letting her stage a gymkhana on an unused field?") and large ("will the sick horse survive?"). This one has an actual plot, albeit a silly one: Jill goes to stay with a family that needs an extra member for team Pony Club competition, despite the fact they think she's someone else. Mild pony-related hijinks ensue.
* Rivers of London: Water Weed - Ben Aaronovitch & Andrew Cartmel (2018) ★ ★ ★
This is the sixth graphic novel — short story, really — in the Rivers of London universe. Quick, simple, inessential, but a bit of fun. (Nightingale doesn't look anything like I imagined.)
* Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud and the Last Trial of Harper Lee - Casey Cep (2019) ★ ★ ★
This is a non-fiction book in three parts: the first tells of the Reverend Willie Maxwell, a preacher whose family members had an unfortunate habit of having car accidents not long after he'd taken out life insurance on them; the second tells of his lawyer, who got him off all his murder charges and helped with his insurance claims, then also won an acquittal for the man who murdered him; the third is a biography of Harper Lee, who attended the last murder trial intending to write a book about it. The first section is the best, and the one that I would have liked more of; the rest felt like (interesting and well-written) padding.
* The Furthest Station - Ben Aaronovitch (2017) ★ ★ ★ ★
This is a novella set in the Rivers of London universe; chronologically falling between Foxglove Summer and The Hanging Tree, but as a standalone story separate from the overarching plot in the main novels. In this, Peter and co are chasing down reports of ghosts on the Tube. A short, fun romp.
* Elementary Murder - AJ Wright (2017) ★ ★ ★
A solid, old-fashioned murder mystery set in the north of England in 1894.
* The Sussex Murder - Ian Sansom (2019) ★ ★ ★ ★
This is the fifth in the County Guides murder mysteries, in which the People's Professor, Swanton Morley, his daughter Miriam, and assistant Sefton, travel around England in 1937 to write a series of travel guides, leaving chaos and a number of deaths in their wake. A cut above the usual sort of cosy crime writing.
* Jill and the Perfect Pony - Ruby Ferguson (1959) ★ ★ ★ ★
Poking around in a second-hand bookshop a few weeks ago, I found a Jill book I'd never read before. Other Jill books are episodic, filled with dilemmas small ("will Jill talk the curmudgeonly land owner into letting her stage a gymkhana on an unused field?") and large ("will the sick horse survive?"). This one has an actual plot, albeit a silly one: Jill goes to stay with a family that needs an extra member for team Pony Club competition, despite the fact they think she's someone else. Mild pony-related hijinks ensue.
* Rivers of London: Water Weed - Ben Aaronovitch & Andrew Cartmel (2018) ★ ★ ★
This is the sixth graphic novel — short story, really — in the Rivers of London universe. Quick, simple, inessential, but a bit of fun. (Nightingale doesn't look anything like I imagined.)