Yes, I know, I am hideously late with this post, but April was a bumper month for reading books – 16 in total. Surprisingly three of those reads were non-fiction (it’s unusual for me to read that many in a month), so inevitably that contributed to the longer write up time for my reviews. I also attended CrimeFest last week, which delayed me a little more. Not that this is a bad thing, as I very much enjoyed listening to the panels I attended, and it was great to chat with other writers. I was shortlisted for CrimeFest’s H. R. F. Keating award (hence the trip) and as you can see there were many strong entries:
Alas I didn’t win, but I thoroughly enjoyed the gala dinner with my convivial table companions. I was lucky enough to be sitting with Kate Ellis (author of the Wesley Peterson series), Christine Poulson (writer of the Cassandra Clarke series) and Christina Koning (creator of The Blind Detective series).
Before announcing which fiction and which non-fiction title won book of the month, I thought it might be useful to share some links to the non-review posts I did in April:
- The Return of the Ranked List: Rating the Novels of Edmund Crispin
- ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls, It Tolls for Thee’: Calling Time on Detective Fiction
- The #1937 Club: Ranking 31 Mysteries from 1937
- Beef vs. Deene: Comparing Leo Bruce’s Two Mystery Series
There were two contenders for the fiction category for April’s Book of the Month award and it was quite tough deciding between them. However, in the end I chose the one which I felt achieved its narrative aims the most successfully and left me with the most reader satisfaction upon completing it. So, without further ado, the winner is…
I found Anne Wedgwood’s The Botanist (2020) to be a gripping and intense inverted mystery. I loved how the book does not start with the killer planning to commit their deeds, but instead kicks off with the elderly murderer realising that their crimes are soon to be discovered. Moving between the past and the present the reader finds out what the protagonist has been up to, as well as what they are planning on doing next.
When it came to choosing my non-fiction read of the month, there was a clear winner who stood out and those who have read my last post, will know that the winning title is…
I was really impressed with Hallie Rubenhold’s The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper (2019). It shines a light on the lives of the Ripper victim’s, debunking many assumptions which have not changed since the crimes were perpetrated. Furthermore, this book successfully argues why these needed disproving and how this links into how women are perceived. The Five clearly evidences the realities of being a homeless woman in the Victorian period and all in all I found this a moving and powerful read.
Unsurprisingly, I have something a review backlog, which I am hoping to chip away at this week. To whet your appetite here are the titles I will be reviewing soon:
- My Brother’s Killer by Jean Potts
- Curtain: Poirot’s Last Case by Agatha Christie
- Mr Monk and the Dirty Cop by Lee Goldberg
- The Fashion in Shrouds by Margery Allingham
- Hanged Man’s House by Elizabeth Ferrars
- The Worm of Death by Nicholas Blake
My current read is by a lesser-known author from the 1920s, David Whitelaw. He is a new-to-me author, so it will be interesting to hear what others make of his work. I am not sure which other mysteries I will squeeze into May, but do let me know which books you have been enjoying so far this month.