Madeleine

I think the number at the end shows which edition it is?

The Magpie Tree by Katherine Stansfield - second in the Cornish mysteries set during the 18th century. Shilly and her companion Anna Drake are at Jamaica Inn on Bodmin Moor when they hear of a missing boy, supposedly abducted by two strange women who have taken up residence in the village of Trethevy. Hearing of a reward, the two would be detectives head off to see the squire, and are duly commissioned to find the boy and get rid of the women before the villagers do. The natives are hostile snd Shilly finds the trees particularly oppressive, but they soon discover that the women, who are from Germany, are probably innocent, so they have a race to not only rescue the boy, but also save the two women from being killed as witches, and find out who the true culprit is. Actually that wasn't that hard to guess, but this was an enjoyable, atmospheric mystery, very easy to read and with a hint of the supernatural and folklore thrown in. 7.5/10

Cold in the Earth - Ann Granger

I liked the second book best - the BBC adaptation starts on 3rd November.

Yes I thought that too, it's very well written give Mary Shelley's age at the time, and very prescient. I think it's partly Hollywood's fault that the monster has a scary image, yes he is scary but he's also tragic and she managed to make him sympathetic too.

They're great escapism.

Take on Me - Aha

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dream

water

Lies Sleeping by Ben Aaronovitch - latest episode in the Peter Grant series known as "Rivers of London", another hugely entertaining, adrenaline-fuelled adventure in which he finally meets his nemesis - Mr Punch - and Martin Chorley aka the Faceless Man is also on his trail. Peter's private life is also getting interesting, and KIng Arthur and Excalibur are in there too. Yet again it's grounded in reality, with quite a lot about London history and more recent events and developments, including some of the monstrous structures appearing all over the City. Great fun. 7.5/10

Lisbon's lovely, and Sintra is a must!

The Stone Circle by Elly Griffiths - latest in the Ruth Galloway series and much better than the previous, Italian-set entry which was a bit disappointing. A lot of this book harks back to the first in the series - it's 10 years since the first book now - with a ghost from the past returning, in the form of Leif, who is the son of Erik, Ruth's mentor who was a major character in "The Crossing Places". Leif has returned to excavate another henge on the Norfolk coast, and yet again 2 bodies are found, one not unexpected, the other very unexpected and much more recent. DCI Nelson, celebrating the birth of a surprise 3rd child, finds himself investigating a cold case - the disappearance of a young girl on the day of Charles and Diana's wedding back in 1981. Old family secrets come out as the police try to get justice for the victim, whilst Ruth wrestles with several upheavals in her private life. Another entertaining, at times quirky tale, with a fair bit of humour and drama too. 7.5/10

The Temptation of Forgiveness by Donna Leon - another episode in the long running, Venice-set series starring Inspector Guido Brunetti, in which he is visited by an acquaintance of his wife, who is worried that her teenager son has become involved with drugs. However, as she has no proof of this apart from the usual teenage behaviour, and no evidence at all, he can't do very much apart from checking to see if there have been any reports of drug dealing at the boy's school. Then a man is found badly injured at the foot of one of Venice's bridges; initially the police think he was the victim of an attempted robbery or a fight, but then they discover he's the boy's father. As he lies in a coma, Brunetti still can't get much help from the man's wife, but she does mention something about an elderly aunt being given coupons by her pharmacist in lieu of her regular medicine, which opens up a whole new line of enquiry for the police. Although I enjoyed this, it wasn't the best of these books that I've read, it bowls along quite nicely but ultimately it felt a little bit unsatisfying. But Brunetti and his family are still great characters, and these books are always easy, cosy reads. 6.5/10

HI Iain and welcome, good luck with your writing. In answer to your question - I don't really mind 1st or 3rd person!

Yellow - Coldplay

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Big Yellow Taxi - Joni Mitchell

fingers

pea

Just started it!

I've got The Pale Horse lined up, also the Corset by Laura Purcell.

goo

Dark Skies by L J Ross - another DCI Ryan mystery, set in Northumberland, this time in the picturesque Kielder Water area, the Dark Skies of the title; newly married Ryan is back from honeymoon but finds the new Superintendent is making changes to his team, essentially she's splitting them up, assigning one of them to the Cold Case unit, and keeping Ryan in the office instead of on the frontline - and these two also have a history; when Ryan was in London's Met force, they had a brief fling, but now she seems to be anything but sentimental. However when a murder takes place near the Kielder Water reservoir, and another body from years ago is found by a diver, the two cases seem to be connected, and Ryan moves to the temporary incident room set up nearby. As the investigation closes in, it looks like old secrets are about to re-surface, and it really is a case of still waters running deep. Not the best of the Ryan mysteries, it's a little pedestrian and the new set up of the police team needs a bit of getting used to, but it looks like new storylines for Ryan's team are being set up, and it won't be a smooth transition to the new way of working for anyone. And the setting, as always, is stunning and well-used. 7.5/10

Death on the Nile - Agatha Christie