May 2020 has been and gone, and despite half term and basically being locked in the house, I’ve only got through ten books. Apparently this is a lot, according to some other bloggers I could mention, but it didn’t seem a lot to me. Maybe there’s something wrong with my eyes – I know, I’ll go and drive to Barnard Castle and back again to check. That makes sense.

I’ll be honest, I’ve been distracted this month – I’m busy trying to write introductions for you-know-what, I’ve been making plans for teaching remotely, I’ve been inwardly seething about the hypocrisy, spinelessness and utter uselessness of our government – and to be honest, my reading material has contained a few clunkers (and one outstanding exception). Except I read that last month, but I’ve been saving it for nearer release date. So what were these titles?

• The Case Of The Flowery Corpse by Christopher Bush – a solid entry in this series of reprints. Enjoyable, but not his very best work.
• Shroud Of Darkness by E C R Lorac – I’m appreciating Lorac more and more and this is a pretty decent effort from her. I’d recommend it if it was remotely available…
• The Seventh Sign by Brian Flynn – a tense exciting serial killer tale, let down somewhat by the killer’s calling card…
• Murder On The Downs by Julie Wassmer – another charming outing for the Pearl Nolan Detective Agency.
• The Nightingale Galley by Paul Doherty – an outstanding historical mystery, but I knew that, I’d read it before.
• As If By Magic by Dolores Gordon-Smith – the third Jack Haldean mystery, very entertaining, let down a bit for me by an overuse of a certain plot device.
• The Curator by M W Craven – simply the best mystery/thriller writer out there at the moment. There’s such a quality here, you can easily overlook the villain’s somewhat convoluted master-plan…
• The Obituary Club by Hugh Pentecost – possibly the winner for stupidest condition ever in a will.
• Down Among The Dead Men by Peter Lovesey – too many apparently disparate threads leading to a lack of focus that undermines the quality writing.

I was kind of determined not to give it to The Curator but the only book of the same quality is The Nightingale Gallery, and that was a re-read. The Curator is another outstanding thriller – three for three for the Washington Poe/Tilly Bradshaw (and two for two for the Avison Fluke books, recently re-released). The Curator is out on June 4^th – and, just so you can sort out your diaries, Dead Ground, Book 4, is out on June 3^rd 2021. Because I, for one, am already waiting for it…