Review: Poison at the Wild Haggis Bookshop

Poison at the Wild Haggis Bookshop by Jackie Baldwin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The first thing to say about Poison at the Wild Haggis Bookshop is that, whilst it is a poisoning, it's not actually at the Wild Haggis Bookshop. This isn't the only error in the book. As others have commented, there are quite a few plot points that are never followed up (the disappearing cat carriers for example). It is much easier to read than the first book in the series, far fewer long (30 or more word) sentences, completely devoid of punctuation.

So that's enough of the negatives. Having read book one in the series, I'm really enjoying how the characters are developing. To me, the magic of this sort of crime series lies in getting to know and care about the characters. Some characters in this series have a darker back story than one would usually find in a cosy crime novel, but that is to the fore here. It gives a good basis for some of the exhibited behaviours.

So, worth a read, but I'd advise reading the first book in the series first.

Review: Murder at the Wild Haggis Bookshop

Murder at the Wild Haggis Bookshop by Jackie Baldwin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A caveat on this review: I have been told that the copy of the book I read had received no editing or proofreading. I do hope that this is the case, and that the published version does not contain so many sentences of over 30 words without any punctuation whatsoever (one sentence has more than 50 words and no punctuation). For readers like me, this makes the text very difficult to process. A friend of mine, who is a teacher and has dyslexia, would struggle to read it at all. Hopefully, this problem, as well as the plethora of incorrect words, will have been fixed by the time you read it.
Caveat over...

Apart from the above, I did really like the characters. I don't usually manage to figure out "who dunnit", but I did in this one. In some ways it was quite nice to have worked out who the culprit was. I would certainly give another book by this author a go, but if the grammar and punctuation proved to be as bad as in this book, I think it might be the last.

Review: The Burning Stones

The Burning Stones by Antti Tuomainen
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Having read other books by this author, I was really looking forward to an amusing conundrum. I'm afraid that it didn't really do it for me. The character of the main police officer was rather cliched. Whilst overall the read was quite enjoyable and the scenery interesting, I realised that by about halfway through the book, I didn't really care about who had done it. None of the characters really came alive enough for me, apart maybe the lead one - Anni - and I knew that she hadn't done it, anyway.

View all my reviews

Review: The Trials of Arthur Whitty

The Trials of Arthur Whitty by Tim Walker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A pleasant story which indirectly compares and contrasts dementia, with a man's fantasy world approach to making his way through life's challenges.

I particularly like the way the relationship between Arthur and his wife is handled. The way that it shows the tightrope walked by family members when dealing with someone who is developing dementia, with mollycoddling on one side and allowing them to continue an autonomous life on the other.

Review: Kill Them with Kindness

Kill Them with Kindness by Will Carver
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I can't really tell you precisely what this book is about, but that may well be due to me trying too hard to find a single subject to hang on to it. Near the beginning I thought it was about possible theories as to how the Covid outbreak may have started, but it wasn't that. Later I wondered whether it was intended to poke fun at one of our previous UK Prime Ministers. It certainly did a lot of this, but I'm sure that wasn't its primary aim. One theme that came through quite strongly, to me at least, is the problem of unintended consequences. In the same way that the American laws on child seats in cars may have affected if/when families may have a third child, the good that was attempted in this book may not have manifested itself in the way the initiator had expected. Most of the narrative focuses on a scientist who releases a virus which makes people nicer and more compassionate. But the ultimate horrific deed actually had little to do with this aspect of the story. Unusually for one of Will's books, there are a few plot holes. It is in this parallel, slightly related, story that the plot holes exist. All through the book I was very hooked. I was just a bit disappointed in what felt like a rather slapdash and contrived denouement.

View all my reviews

Review: The Lonely Lake Killings

The Lonely Lake Killings by Wes Markin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars



View all my reviews

I've slipped this one from five stars (on the previous book) to four stars for this one. There are some things that were acceptable in the first book of the series, but that are now getting a bit ridiculous. The Chief Constable appears to be the first person told about a murder and she contacts the SIO (a DCI in this case) directly and the Chief Constable visits the crime scenes and gets involved in the day-to-day investigations. There are apparently no other ranks between the DCI and the Chief Constable. There are also assumptions made by the characters which officers of their experience would not make. Sounds pretty damning eh? Well, I'm glad to say that overall IMHO, the plot and the emergence of the characters' back stories easily help this book to a four star review rating. Am intrigued to know where they go from here.

Review: The Viaduct Killings

The Viaduct Killings by Wes Markin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars



View all my reviews.

A new series from a great author. He has found a nice way to bring one of his favourite characters to a new location. His new characters are slightly less extreme that those in his previous books and this is all to the good, since they are just that little bit ore believable. This is not to say that they don't also have their quirks. Indeed there are some wonderful back stories that are carefully being unfolded. I finished this book in only two days and for me that only happens when it's too good to put down. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens next.

Review: Suicide Thursday

Suicide Thursday by Will Carver
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

If there is a common theme running through Will Carver's books, it's that there is no common theme (OK in this one he did reuse his computer company DoTrue from Psychopaths Anonymous, but we can forgive him that). His characters always seem weird, yet there is always just enough there for you to believe in them. It's a fine line that he is a master of navigating. Unlike the other books of his that I have read, I didn't have a central question that I was waiting to see answered. Instead I found myself wondering where the book was taking me. At the end was a twist, but when it came, I didn't really care that mush about it. So far this may sound a rather lacklustre review, why the 4 stars? Well having read the book, what with it being a Will Carver book, one tends to think back over what has just been read. For me, it's at that stage when all those observations from life start to percolate through my mind and I realise that I've been taken on a very intriguing journey. If you haven't read any Will Carver yet, then you really should do.

View all my reviews