Everything old becomes new again in the book marketing world
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Everything old becomes new again in the book marketing world

Dressing up old books in new covers seems to be a growing ploy of  publishers’ marketing departments. Authors’ names are emblazoned in bold type – more prominent than that used for the actual title – on redesigned covers enclosing novels written decades ago. It is an eye-catching trick that can bamboozle avid readers into thinking…

The tale of a love-lorn prime minister
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Love-lorn PM’s steamy backseat affair makes intriguing wartime tale

Imagine any prime minister of recent times having regular trysts with a woman many years their junior and expecting no one to breathe a word. Or a love-lorn prime minister taking his paramour for regular cosy drives in the official limousine, with its blacked out windows, without a hint of a whisper beyond their inner…

Cosy crime book cover
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How cosy can cosy crime become?

Reading cosy crime at bedtime is better than any narcotic; a sure cure for insomnia. But sometimes the level of cosiness irritates rather than calms. Frustration with plot, characters or dialogue wakens rather than lulls, and sleep becomes a forlorn hope. Maybe it is a case of “you can have too much of a good thing.”…

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Chemistry provides formula for joy

A recent trip into the chemistry lab surprised and delighted with the discovery that it held a formula for joy. It produced the recipe (pictured left) for sheer undiluted pleasure, as well as moments of laugh-out-loud comic interludes. Thankfully there was no need this time for the white coat and protective goggles demanded by Health…

Midsommer faces Canadian rival for murder frequency
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Midsommer faces Canadian rival for murder frequency

Why would anyone want to risk living in the outwardly charming British village of Midsommer? The number of bizarre and sudden deaths that beset its residents must be an estate agent’s nightmare. The ultimate hard sell. Charming 18th century cottage for sale, all bloodstains removed, two previous owners shot, two knifed, one poisoned and another…

A tease of a tale
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A crime fiction tease from start to finish of sex worker thriller

Author Adele Parks is a tease. Relentlessly so. At least, judging by One Last Secret (paperback, HQ/Harper Collins, 2022) it seems she simply can’t help herself. She never stops. Just when you think you know what is going on, she drops another bombshell and lures you into reading on . . . and on ….

Book reviewers need to get out from Between the Covers
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Book reviewers need to get out from Between the Covers

It’s time for members of the BBC’s weekly book discussion group to emerge from Between The Covers and broaden their field of vision. Doing so might change their outdated and somewhat snobbish attitudes to the vast world of crime fiction. Even put some excitement and joy into their studiously serious lives. This tired old viewpoint…

‘New’ Nordic noir discovery goes to top of the genre
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‘New’ Nordic noir discovery goes to top of the genre

Apologies for the long silence on the book review front. There’s no real excuse apart from being busy editing other writers’ books. This means scant time or energy remains for more reading at the end of a busy day. And the hillock of books for review is fast becoming a high tor. So much easier,…