First Reads of 2023

I'm not going to review EVERYTHING I read this year, but I wanted to touch on a few things that I have read in 2023 as it feels weirdly out of my comfort zone and yet, feels perfectly normal (though am not sure why). 

I am reading collections of short stories. I don't feel like I see a lot of these in bookshops or online unless there are linked to a Brand (whether that be a successful author or a character/series) or if it's indie collection or for charity. Maybe am not looking in the right places, so if you know of an awesome collection of short stories, shout them at me as I always like to discover new authors and styles. 

So, at the time of writing this, I have read three and about to start a fourth (after that, I think I will be diving into novels - I am eyeing The Postscript Murders by Effy Griffiths and An Autobiography by Agatha Christie. I won't affiliate link them to Bookshop.org till I have read them). And I thought it would be nice to pop in, say hi, write these up SUPER quick and be on my merry way.

Reindeer Readathon - The Private Patient

Reindeer Readathon Audiobook the Second. Ok, am still going strong but how much are we willing to be I’ll lose stream and read whatever calls to me like a siren? Anyone? And yes, most of my reads in the next few weeks/into 2021 sound very crime (am I turning to a crime book blogger? Surely not! I love YA and fantasy too much to do that, right?). Anyway, let’s get this post started, shall we? 

Title And Author: The Private Patient by PD James
Publisher: Faber
Physical, eBook or Audiobook: Audiobook
Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Bought
Length: 416 Pages or 12 Hours 39 Minutes

The final Adam Dalgliesh novel (as well as penultimate novel PD James wrote before her death in 2014 [her last novel was Death Comes to Pemberley, a murder mystery sequel/fan-fic to Jane Austin’s Pride and Prejudice) and we see Dalgliesh and the team investigate the murder off notorious investigative journalist, Rhoda Gradwyn, who was strangled in a private clinic in Dorset after the successful removal of a disfiguring scar. But as the team try and solve the murder, the question of innocence and guilt become far more complicated and line more blurred…

Audiobook Review - The Murder Room

I'm surprised that this is the first review am writing for the new Pewter Wolf. As you know, from my Sit Crooked And Talk Straight post, the last few months have been a bit of a struggle so am trying to find a new medium of writing the blog and having fun with it, so am trying things out. The next few months are going to be very trial and error. 

But this is a book reviewing book, so I should write a few bookish things on here, right? Something to reflect my, hopefully, new change in direction. Something fun, light, hopefully in these dark times, something - *checks notes* - nope, let’s talk murders, shall we? 

• Title And Author: The Murder Room by PD James
• Publisher: Faber & Faber
• Physical, eBook or Audiobook: Audiobook
• Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Bought
• Length: 560 Pages or 12 Hours 39 Minutes

Commander Adam Dalgliesh knows of the Dupayne Museum in Hampstead. He took one of his friends there one Friday. He knows about niché museum’s commitment to preserve the history of the interwar years, including its sinister murder room. Now, he and his team are asked to investigate the murder of one of the trustees. Petrol was thrown on him and his car and set alight. With news that the this trustee was refusing to sign a new lease, meaning the museum would close, it now looks like his death was targeted. 

But what makes the murder more creepy is how similar it is to one of the murders in the Murder Room. A coincidence? Or is the killer using the Murder Room for inspiration and, if so, what murder are they going to do next…?