July 2026 Round Up

 July saw heatwaves and the grass court tennis season. One encouraged my reading, the other placed obstacles! But I've enjoyed a month of books that I had no expectations of bar one, perhaps.

Let's start with the bar one - Richard Osman's We Solve Murders. This was a departure from the Thursday Murder Club format but the style was very similar. Cosy crime and entertaining. A new set of Osman characters and the stage is set for another series. 

Next was a book that was lent to me by a dear friend dealing with bereavement. The Ones We Wait For by Michael V Ivanov which is a fictional exploration of how it might be to pass over and enter heaven. I can see what a comfort it might be to those struggling with the loss of a loved one.

I continue to ensure that my month includes one library book at the very least. I passionately believe in libraries and I know that if we don't use them we will lose them. I heard this author, Aisling Rawle, talking on JazzFM's Summer Book Club programme about her book The Compound. It piqued my interest and I sought the book out. It's a dystopian story that first reminded me of the Big Brother reality show. I saw on the cover endorsement that someone had described it as 'Love Island meets Lord of the Flies". I've never watched Love Island I'm proud to say!! But I have read Lord of the Flies, I'm proud to say! 😉 I found it to be a compelling book, full of satire and with much to say about reality TV and consumerism.

Next some non fiction by an author I had previously seen as a fiction writer of some substance. Death of an Ordinary Man by Sarah Perry. So I wasn't sure what to expect, but...wow. This book is so powerful and moving, with such elegance and dignity.It explores grief and the observation of death in a loved individual and how it affects our understanding of our lives and mortality. I cried.

Wreck by Catherine Newman was wonderful. So funny, there were occasions when I laughed out loud. But for all its wit, it is a serious book. An exploration of family dynamics and what anxiety can do. It looks at an ordinary family who navigate the often extraordinary ups and downs of everyday life. Things that can happen to all of us, illness, ageing etc. 

Next was a proof I received from a Penguin book community when their normal reward system failed, and they didn’t want people to miss out. Emma Nanami Strenner’s My Other Heart. A debut novel and what a debut! Two Asian American women searching for their identities and a perceptive exploration of family, friendship, culture, social class. I couldn’t put it down.

I’m always intrigued by why one book is deemed to be better than others. Reading is such a subjective process. I often wonder how the judges of these award committees arrive at their decisions. And so it interests me to read those books that have been awarded these prestigious prizes. And it was curiosity  that led me to The Correspondent by Virginia Evans. Epistolary novels have always fascinated me ever since I read Jean Webster’s Daddy Long Legs. The Correspondent won the Women’s Prize for fiction this year, and I can see why. It’s masterfully and cleverly constructed. Probably my favorite epistolary novel since We Need to Talk about Kevin.

And finally The Burning Grounds by Abir Mukherjee. This is another proof from Penguin that I’ve just got around to reading. I’ve not read any of this writer’s work before but I know he’s won awards in the past. This was a fast paced crime/ history story I guess. From what I understand it features a crime, solving duo, Wyndham and Bannerjee who featured in some previous stories. There’s obviously some history between them, but it doesn’t impact on the enjoyment of this tale. I enjoyed the dynamic between them. Two very different people with different personalities in from different cultures. It captured the spirit of an age beautifully. Definitely not cosy crime, though! 

Woman, Mapped - Edited by Jennifer Wong

 This impactful collection traces the journey of becoming a woman—highlighting its highs and lows. From childhood to old age, a dozen writers share frank reflections on what it means to express ourselves as women. 'Woman, Mapped' showcases a wide range of relevant experiences across different identities, cultures, and generations.

 

Poetry comprises the majority of the collection with some quite extraordinary pieces that keep you reflecting and thinking. I particularly enjoyed the work of Aoife Lyall. As ever for me, I have to read poetry aloud to really feel and try to get to the heart of what the poet is trying to express. I loved Equal Temperament, I’d like to quote it all, but I will confine myself to these lines. –

 

‘I want the out-of-tune piano

 

to hear the notes     stretch

 

in the rhythms of their shadows

 

     I want to feel        the felt

 

and know the strings are       trying’

 

I was also much absorbed by Janette Ayache’s A Poem in Which Female Writers Who Committed Suicide Visited Me. She seems to capture the essence of those writers  -

 

‘Sylvia Plath comes to me in the shower.

& she’s always too sad to speak.

her gaze, her oven gas, her bruised love,….’

 

And Sylvia Plath makes another appearance Ilse Pedler’s It was mountains i thought of where her poem Crossing the Water is referenced – 

 

‘it was mountains I thought of

In the silence that followed’

 

It seems to embody the spirit of Plath.

 

There are three essays in the collection, two. All of them fascinating. I’m not in general an essay reader. I’m more attracted by the poetry, but I have to say I found these essays very thought provoking. I loved Jesse Williams opening essay, Sisterhood. I loved the joyous affirmation of females together even though they have been to hell and back, the solidarity and the joy they managed to encompass was uplifting.

 

I loved Teddy Webb’s description of herself as an ‘angry feminist’ because that is the feeling I got from reading her erudite and impassioned words regarding her sexuality. 

 

The final essay in the collection, by Claire Harnett-Mann is a fitting conclusion to the anthology as it fuses the art of the essayist with the whimsy of the poet in a dissemination of class and identity - Women Poet Demolition Land.

 

It's a collection to ponder, to dip in and out of and to return to from time to time. 

My thanks to Isabelle Kenyon and Fly on the Wall Press for my proof copy. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Deep water - Elle Blair

 

DI Rachel Harlow is off duty on a cruise with her twin teens and parents. Trying to escape problems at Northumbria Police HQ, she flirts with a stranger who turns up dead the next day. With no official investigation and an uncooperative crew, Rachel pursues the case alone, defying orders. In international waters, she uncovers a dangerous crime ring but has no team for support.

 

If a crime aboard a ship away from land constitutes a locked room mystery, then Deep Water might be that. But however you want to categorise the tale, it is immersive and engaging. 

 

There is a dual narrative cleverly delineated by ‘Land’ and ‘Sea” so you know exactly where you are with each chapter. The Land sections describe Rachel’s situation before embarking upon the cruise and inform the reader of how she is in her current position. The link between the two ‘worlds’ seems to be her colleague, Lennon. I enjoyed the juxtaposition of the ‘on duty’ Rachel and the ‘off duty’ Rachel.

 

The story moves along at a cracking pace with plenty of suspense and some good twists. I was surprised to learn that this is a debut novel. The writing is efficient, absorbing and intelligent. 

 

Rachel is a formidable character, very determined and, as often the case with members of the crime prevention profession, treading a tenuous line between the personal and the professional. She faces up to conflicts on both these levels and show herself to be unafraid of challenge. 

 

Alongside the crime and its solving, family dynamics play a big part. They’re another minefield that Rachel must navigate, as a mother, as a daughter and as a colleague. But none of these themes get in the way of the main thrust of the story. They are used to complement it and cause Rachel to reconsider her priorities.

 

And as much as we are invested in Rachel as a character this author cleverly entices us into engaging with several others. There were times when I wanted to give Rachel’s mum a good shake but as the story unfolded, I became more sympathetic. The twins are great. I loved Jess’s teenage indignation at the injustices facing the environment and Jake’s adolescent shenanigans, (trying not to give anything away here). 

 

The long and the short of it is I can’t wait for Elle Blair’s next novel! But I don’t envy her the task of matching this one! It really is that good.

 

My thanks to Caitlin McCoy at HQ stories for my copy. 

 

 

The Kingpin - A.A.Dhand

 

If you've read The Chemist you'll want to read this. It follows on very naturally from that book where we met pharmacist Idris Khan. However it doesn't matter if you haven't read it because of all of the salient details are referenced within the narrative of The Kingpin.

I read The Chemist last year and I wrote about it on this blog. Much of I wrote would apply to this story too. 

https://bookphace.blogspot.com/2025/05/the-chemist-aadhand.html

Many crime/thriller series can become formulaic, they are no less enjoyable for that because sometimes you simply enjoy the familiar. The main protagonist often remains stable, not a great deal of  discernible progression in their lives and modus operandi. Not the case here though. We see how circumstances have altered Idris. The release of his brother from prison is a further tangle in this knotted life. You have a sense of the moral struggle within him. It's as if his world has disintegrated and his survival is in the balance unless he follows a path that could lead to his own demise. He's not alone! There are other characters who are considering their futures regardless of the ethics of their behaviours.

Dhand's prose doesn't dawdle, he's writing a sprint not a marathon and it is exciting. There's just enough detail to satisfy the readers' imagination but action dominates.  The characters are raw, real and often brutal. There are many here I would not like to meet on a dark night, or even in broad daylight!

There is violence aplenty, and Idris attempts to solve many of his problems with his pharmaceutical knowledge. I love this aspect of the stories, it gives the character an original edge. Drugs and turf wars, revenge and retribution, some challenging issues  populate almost every page in the book. There is the occasional bit of light relief but it's an intense read that will you have turning the pages desperate to know what happens next but, paradoxically, fearful of what atrocities you might encounter! 

And if you are hungry for more I suspect that a further book is intended as the conclusion of The Kingpin suggests that we have not heard the last of Idris Khan. 

My thanks to Caitlin McCoy of HQ stories for my copy.