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Book Review: The Gift Maker by Mark Mayes

Sometimes, when a book (or a film) is accompanied by much hyperbole, the event itself can be a letdown; not so in the case of Mark Mayes’s exquisite debut novel, The Gift Maker.  The book’s blurb is an accurate teaser of what you’re getting…

Book Review: Dancers in the Wind by Anne Coates

Dancers in the Wind is a classic thriller in the mould of Lynda La Plante’s Prime Suspect. It could be that I was reminded of the series because it is set in London’s King’s Cross in the early nineties – an era when this part of London…
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There is no love like dog-love

The last few weeks have been a bag of mixed blessings; the rough with the smooth, the yin with the yang (insert your own cliché here). Still raw from the passing of our beloved old dog Rodney, after new year the Boyf and I returned to the…
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Book Review: Love and a Dozen Roast Potatoes by Simon Wan

Simon Wan’s Love and a Dozen Roast Potatoes is an autobiography with a fresh take.  Dates, names and places are unimportant; instead the author takes an acerbic yomp (or more of a techno-twitch) through the decades, luxuriating in the 90s…

If you’ve written a novel, you’ve probably played ‘who would I cast in the movie?’

It’s a fun game (go on, admit it) and one I am no stranger to. Oddly enough, Seeking Eden is already a fully cast three-part drama on ITV, complete with amusing Sainsbury’s idents at ten minute intervals – at least it is in my head. After…
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RIP darling Rodney; you were our son and our sun

The thing I’ve been dreading all year happened yesterday; our adored Jack Russell Rodney died. He was very old (16 and a half) and his life was, for the most part, happy and carefree. We helped him to die with serenity by asking our caring…

If you’re telling stories about real life, set the bar high...

For many years I’ve been a huge fan of the British playwright and film director Mike Leigh. My fascination with his work spiked in the 90s when his filmmaking was most prolific. Relationship dramas such as Life is Sweet, Naked, Secrets &…
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Book Review : Close of Play by P J Whiteley

I have just read and thoroughly enjoyed PJ Whiteley’s Close of Play. Set in the late 90s, there are dual themes running here: First to emerge is our hero Brian Clarke’s devotion to cricket (the clue is in the title). Brian describes himself…
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Book Review: The Life Assistance Agency by Thomas Hocknell

Thomas Hocknell’s debut novel The Life Assistance Agency skilfully combines two genres. It’s an adventure thriller; tense, suspenseful and threat-laden with twists a plenty, but the supernatural theme of the book means that it will also…
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Book Review: 183 Times a Year by Eva Jordan

Eva Jordan’s debut novel 183 Times a Year is the story of beleaguered mum Lizzie and angst-ridden teenage daughter Cassie’s relationship and their chaotic ‘blended’ family. Thanks to a first person narrative by Lizzie and Cassie alternately,…