JoannaM

Sue Limb sems to write mainly for teenagers these days - my daughter (and I!) love the Jess Jordan novels, and now the Zoe and Chloe series. But I really like her adult comedies - does anyone else have fond memories of Izzy the teacher in Up the Garden Path and Love's Labours? I think they may be out of print now. They were made into radio and TV series in the 1990s, but the books are fantastic, really warm and witty, and highly literate too - the perfect combination for a comfort read!

I'd certainly recommend Jacquot and the Waterman as a first read. A lot grittier than the subsequent ones, but more about the detective's character - as SueK says, well-drawn and interestingly flawed. - as well as the Provencal setting, especially a darker than expected Marseille.

I thought this was a really well-written, absorbing book. True, Mike Engleby is an unknown quantity but that - for me - was what worked so well. The growing certainty that something was not quite right with him and his version of the story was thoroughly enjoyable. The settings of Cambridge in the seventies and then London in the early eighties were very well done too, plenty of atmosphere and absolutely authentic reactions to them from Engleby. I've read plenty of Sebastian Faulks' previous novels, and I'd say this was different from his usual style but one of the best.

I didn't have much luck starting a discussion on the last book I posted here, so maybe this one is better known. This must be the third of fourth in the Chief Inspector Jacquot series - and they are all great. If you enjoy novels that really make you feel you are in the sunny landscape where they're set, you'll find these stories about a French detective in Provence right up your rue! They are atmsopheric but often surprisingly gritty, although his particular outing is set in a smart hotel where a famous old artist holds sway. There's quite a satire on the vogue for upmarket painting holidays and as well as the dark underside of the international art market. Inspector Jacquot is a rugby-playing gourmet (there are always good meals along the way...) and a really charismatic character. Has anyone else read it - or any of the earlier ones?

I really enjoyed Enduring Love - thought the start was one of the best I'd ever read - although as the book went on it went off the boil as bit for me, a bit farcical maybe. Which is not to say it isn't a good book.

Agree with that one - read Friend of the Devil on holiday and was completely absorbed!

Has anyone else read this novel by Deborah Lawrenson? She's an author I didn't know before, but I read this in 24 hours, could hardly put it down. It's set on Corfu, and about a woman who is trying to solve the mystery of her late mother's relationship with a famous author - a fictionalised version of Lawrence Durrell. Well, it's unexpectedly gripping and the writing is so full of warmth and colour that I almost forgot I was reading it under grim grey skies here! There's lots to it, as well. The idea of biography and how it can be inaccurate - especially as we may not even know the people closest to us as well as we think. Loved it.