November 2022, the year of my 2000^th post. Now that does sound a bit silly – I haven’t been doing this that long have I? Well obviously I have, it really doesn’t seem that long to me. One thing that I did find as I was skimming my old reviews in search of inspiration for the anniversary post was the shear number of books that I have no recollection of reading – some from quite recently. Naming no names, obviously…

Anyway, apart from the celebrations this month, what about my latest reading? Nine books in total so let’s take a look at them.

• A Murder At The Castle by Chris McGeorge – murder strikes at the Christmas celebrations of an alternate reality royal family. Far darker than the twee cover and blurb would imply and much better than a similar themed series…
• Death Of Jezebel by Christianna Brand – still think there’s too much left to chance in the murder method and an even better map than the one provided would have helped, but you can’t help admire the class on show here.
• The White Priory Murders by Carter Dickson – a classic locked room – well, isolated building surrounded by unbroken snow – mystery, revived by the British Library. More on this soon…
• Morality Play by Barry Unsworth – a fascinating historical tale of crime told in a stunning voice.
• Traitor’s Mountain by Showell Styles – the first outing of Abercrombie Lewker, as a spy rather than an amateur detective. Probably a contender for the “Books that I’ve read that no one else has” award…
• A Corpse At Camp Two by Glyn Carr – a more standard murder mystery, albeit set in the Himalayas and with a yeti in the distance (possibly)
• Courting Dragons by Jeri Westerson – a historical mystery set in the court of Henry VIII. A promising start to a series.
• Fell Murder by E C R Lorac – a beautiful tale set in a beautiful location, but the mystery is admittedly somewhat slight.
• The Accomplice by Steve Cavanagh – did a serial killer’s wife know what he was up to? And, more importantly, did she help him?

Book of the month? A bit tricky, because I’m not giving it to a re-read and I’m still not completely sold on Death Of Jezebel. Yes, it’s good, but it’s not the second coming… It’s almost going to Steve Cavanagh for The Accomplice, which is great fun, or Morality Play by Barry Unsworth, which is almost the exact opposite of The Accomplice but just as good. Just pipping them, though is A Murder At The Castle by Chris McGeorge. A really interesting tale that I do hope gets the attention it deserves. Probably released at the worst possibly time – OK, not on the day of the funeral, but even so – this is an alt-reality royal family and, more importantly, an interesting  and original setting, with a great lead character. Don’t fall for the cover style, this is a great read.

Next month, there are a few new January releases that I’ll be getting a head start on and hopefully another trip to the Bodleian for more Styles/Carr fun. I wonder if there will be drunk racist Australians in the next book?