Work has been very busy this week, so reading was on the back-burner. And even when I had time to read a few chapters before falling asleep, I had to re-read plots from the night before…but at least one book was worth doing this with.

The Killings at Badger’s Drift (1987) by Caroline Graham

This is the first book in the Inspector Barnaby series. I love the TV series, but had never read any of the books.

I really appreciated the foreword by John Nettles which explained how the TV adaptations had to make some changes to the main characters, DCI John Barnaby and Sgt. Troy.

I have heard before that Troy is not a loveable character in the books, and my fellow readers were right. Troy is an arsehole.

However, this kind of added to my reading enjoyment as I loved when Barnaby took Troy in his stride and dished out put downs that left Troy sqirming or when Barnaby acted contrary to Troy’s expectations and left him standing with his mouth open.

I also really enjoyed the mystery … not just because of the mystery itself but because of the level of detail Graham went into to describe her characters. I don’t mean their appearance here, but how they act and think. I really loved the part when one of the characters is faced with an ultimatum to comply and submit to another character or be left with nothing. Her simple reply made me laugh in admiration.

I am really looking forward to reading more of the series. I will probably know the plots and twists, but the if the characters are as well-drafted as in this forst book, I’m in for a treat.

4*

Swan Song (2018) by Kelleigh Greenberg-Jephcott

Yes, I bought this book mostly because of the cover. I love it. It looks great.

Also, the title and premise was really intriguing: a story about Truman Capote dropping a bomb among society that left a lot of people reeling. Great.

What let the book down, however, was that

1. The promised bomb turned out to be nothing more than Truman using people he knew as blueprints for characters in a book; and

2. The characters who were so offended were shallow, unlikeable, arrogant, snobs who I hated to spend time with; and

3. The writing was very … purple. It felt like something out of a creative writing course that tried too hard. It was neither interesting nor enjoyable in style;

4. I was bored. A lot.

5. I felt cheated by the promise on the blurb.

Yeah, this was a bad pick for me.

1* (mostly for the cover art)

Other reviews posted this week:

None

Currently reading:
The Oxford Shakespeare: The Complete Works – William Shakespeare (see The Will’s World Project)

The Breaking Point – Daphne Du Maurier

Rebel Writers: Seven Women Who Changed Their World – Celia Brayfield

The Inugami Curse – Seichi Yokomizo

The Assistant – Kjell Ola Dahl