France's Reading 2026

[France]

1. Lucy Carmichael - Margaret Kennedy ****

2. Clown Town -Mick Herron ****1/2

3. An Instruction in Shadow - Kevin >Hearne ****1/2

4. Introducing Mrs Collins - Rachel Parris ***1/2

5. In the Blink of an Eye- Jo Callaghan *****

6 Peach Street to Lobster Lane - Felicity Cloake ***1/2

7. Cairo Gambit - SJ Parris ***

8. Hexwood - Diana Wynne Jones *****

9. The Killing Stones -Ann Cleeves ****

Edited Friday at 02:20 PM by France

[France]

Lucy Carmichael by Margaret Kennedy.  This is a strange one.  Margaret Kennedy was a prolific author from the 1920's and I've read several of her books before and enjoyed them.  This one from 1951 is  about Lucy and how she remakes her life after being jilted on her wedding day. Lucy is a survivor and a realistic one, she makes mistakes and isn't good at everything and there's a feel good ending but it's also strangely inconclusive in many ways.  I like books where all the ends are not neatly tied up but here there are story arcs which seem to meander into nothing and don't leave you speculating what might have happened. It's an interesting read but is very much of its time.

[France]

In the Blink of an Eye by Jo Callaghan.  For once the blurb for the book sums it up perfectly (and much better than I could)

 

  In the UK, someone is reported missing every 90 seconds.
Just gone. Vanished. In the blink of an eye. 

DCS Kat Frank knows all about loss. A widowed single mother, Kat is a cop who trusts her instincts. Picked to lead a pilot programme that has her paired with AIDE (Artificially Intelligent Detective Entity) Lock, Kat's instincts come up against Lock's logic. But when the two missing person's cold cases they are reviewing suddenly become active, Lock is the only one who can help Kat when the case gets personal. 

AI versus human experience. 
Logic versus instinct.
With lives on the line can the pair work together before someone else becomes another statistic? 

 

This really is excellent, original, well paced (the misogyny of one character is a little heavy handed but no writer is perfect) and very hard to put down. Recommended.

 

The Killing Stones by Ann Cleeves. I was so looking forward to this, the start of a new series set on Orkney for Jimmy Perez and Willow.  Jimmy's best friend is murdered and it's leading up to Christmas and the bad weather keeps the proper team from Glasgow arriving so Jimmy is investigating. Parts of this are very good indeed, Ann Cleeves is brilliant at giving a  sense of place and some of her characterisation is very good but heaven is the writing clunky in places.  There's endless spelling out of the obvious, Jimmy and Willow have  four year old and he's constantly referred to as 'his son' not by his name as if the reader is too inattentive to remember who James is or that Fran who died several books ago was 'the love of his life' (told this three times at least.  There are more murders and once you get to the end you'll realise they weren't credible, it leaves a bit of a sour taste.  Finally, James aged 4 has quite an active role in the last grand scene and he talks like an articulate 10 year old.  So a bit of a disappointment but if you don't get annoyed by the things I do (I freely admit I'm a pedant) you'll love it.

[Madeleine]

Must admit I'm a bit of a pedant as well and can't stand repetition either!  Still it's good to see Perez back I would imagine.

[France]

On 2/6/2026 at 5:09 PM, Madeleine said:

Must admit I'm a bit of a pedant as well and can't stand repetition either!  Still it's good to see Perez back I would imagine.

Yes, very good even if there were at least two too many references to him being "emotionally incontinent"!