The Black Rose of Florence by Michele Giuttari

For fans of detective fiction, this book (and others by the same author) have the added attraction of being written by someone with intimate knowledge of the Italian criminal justice system.  Michele Giuttari was for some years the head of the Squadra Mobile, or Flying Squad, in Florence.    

His central character is Michele Ferrara, also head of the Florence Flying Squad and from the descriptions offered by the author, would seem to resemble the author in looks as well as occupation.  For all that, the author is well-placed to write about serious crime and work carried out by the police to solve it.   “The Black Rose of Florence” centres around a series of horrific murders which appear to be linked to the occult.    Giuttari, through Ferrara, exposes the “dark underside” of Italy’s Renaissance city.

Giuttari’s writing style is a little Dan Brown-esque at times which some will like and some won’t.    However, his background and experience give him a unique perspective and the narrative builds rapidly to a gripping climactic scene.    So if you like detective fiction and you’re also a fan of all things Italian, you’ll probably enjoy this book.”

 The Villa Girls by Nicky Pellegrino.

This was a really lovely read.  If you have ever been to Italy it will take you back to the places, the smells of the food and wine, the laughter and of course the wonderful way the Italians have of expressing themselves.  Also the gentleness of Italy that is depicted in this book.  If you have never been to Italy maybe this will inspire you to go and enjoy all it has to offer.  

The story itself follows the lives of four very different young woman as they grow up and what becomes of them, especially the main character – Rosie and Enzo the charming Italian who she meets on one of their holidays.   It is a gentle read but one that takes you away to another place.

In for a penny in for a pound - Tim Waterstone

A penniless publisher teetering on the brink…thirty something Hugh Emerson seems to have it all: a glamorous barrister wife and his own highly regarded publishing house.  But books do not pay the bills and Hugh is in serious financial trouble – even before his bestselling author gets involved in a tabloid scandal.   Fortunately there’s a friend Ned Macaulay, to bail Hugh out but he has problems of his own.  The family newspaper firm is on the brink of bankruptcy and if he is to save it, Ned must not only confront his father, but defeat the self-serving consultants from his investment bank.
Dragged into a cut-throat circle of devious investors and journalists, Hugh and Ned enter a world that is darker and dirtier than they ever imagined. But if they want to succeed, then they might have to play dirty too.

The vow : the true story that inspired the movie  by Carpenter, Kim

I read this story as I had been interested in going to the movie but didn’t get round to it, so thought I would read the book.  It was a lovely true story which is a great modern day love story.  It was a very easy quick read with the real feel good factor about it.  Would recommend it for all those true romantics out there!

Next to Love - Ellen Feldman

Babe, Grace and Millie have been best friends since their first day at their small town's only kindergarten. Despite their differences, they've played together, grown up together, shared each other's secrets. And when World War Two becomes a reality for America too, the girls begin a new phase of their lives together each quickly marries her first true love. With the men away, life is difficult for these newly married women, but when no fewer than sixteen telegrams arrive on a single morning in 1944, bearing news of the worst kind from the War Department, the girls know that nothing will ever be the same again... As each woman struggles to rebuild a life, they face not only the challenges closest to home the brutal effects of war....
This is a very readable  and beautifully written insight into the every day lives of young marrieds during and after World War Two. Highly recommended.

Blackhouse – Peter May

I do have a bit of a penchant for crime fiction set in Scotland, but this novel, the first in a trilogy, was far more than a run of the mill detective novel. Set in the Isle of Lewis, “the most remote, harshly beautiful place in Scotland, where the difficulty of existence seems outweighed only by people’s fear of God”.  Detective Fin MacLeod returns to his childhood haunts to investigate a murder that seems to be a copycat killing of a similar investigation he is heading in Edinburgh.After a bit of a pedestrian start it turned into a chilling, melancholy story that was gripping all the way through to the very end. The novel flits seemlessly from the present day where Fin’s young son has been recently been killed, to Fin’s upbringing in Lewis in the 1970s .It describes harsh  life  in the God fearing Outer Hebrides, childhood crushes, bullying, cruelty, secrets, jealousy, and introduces the complex character of Detective Finn MacLeod, I will look forward to the second in the this trilogy.

House of Silk - Anthony Horowitz

Horowitz re-creates the style and detail of Conan-Doyle’s Holmes stories very well indeed, and it would be quite easy to believe for the first half of the book that you are reading an original Victorian tale except for the occasional comment by the now much older Watson who serves again as the first-person narrator.  What seemed a little odd is that although Horowitz wrote such an authentic seeming story, it seemed almost to lack anything new or of Horowitz and didn’t develop the Holmes storyline greatly or add to that world.  
                I’m being a little unfair to Horowitz by complimenting his recreation of the original style and then decrying the lack of modern development but that’s one of the challenges which would-be Holmes writers face and which certainly challenged the (superb) new television adaption, ‘Sherlock.’
                The House of Silk is a relatively straight-forward novel though delving into slightly darker territory plot-wise at times than the classic tales but quite satisfying as the story reaches a conclusion and a worthy addition to the Holmes canon.  Recommended for fans and the casual reader alike but not going to set the literary world on fire.

The author’s debut novel “Sister” was a huge international bestseller in the UK, largely due to it’s promotion in the popular Richard and Judy Book club choices. Afterwards is the follow up novel, again a  suspenseful thriller with a twist, not quite up to the standard of writing and originality set by her first novel, but certainly not too much of a disappointment either.

The novel begins with a catastrophic fire in a private school in the UK, which badly injures a mother and daughter. The story is largely told through the eyes of the mother, Grace, as she tries to uncover the arsonist. You do have to suspend a bit of disbelief early on in  this book, as both Grace, and her daughter,Jenny, are trying to investigate the mystery whilst they are both comatose in hospital. So unfettered by their physical bodies, they are able to listen in on private conversations, travel outside the hospital, and … Meanwhile back in the real world, Grace’s sister-in-law, Sarah, a police officer, is trying to uncover the arsonist.

It is a book full of red herrings, perhaps a few too many , my husband guessed the perpetrator from the second chapter (so he says…) I was a bit slower off the mark. I think there was an opportunity missed in exploring the mother/daughter relationship further – considering they were both in the same predicament of floating about outside their bodies, they didn’t seem to spend that much time together. I also found the exploration of motherhood and the strong love felt for her Grace’s family perhaps was a bit overdone at times.

In all, not as great a novel as Sister, but a perfectly adequate follow up to such a runaway success, and I’ll look forward to her next novel with interest.

 

The Lake of Dreams - Kim Edwards