Category Archives: Reviews

The Winters by Lisa Gabriele is a ‘retelling’ of Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca, originally published in 1938, and updates the story to a contemporary setting, this time relocating the grand mansion (Asherley instead of Manderley) to a private island in … Continue reading →

How Not To Be Wrong – The Art of Changing Your Mind by James O’Brien is the author’s follow up to 2018’s How To Be Right. O’Brien is a journalist and broadcaster who has written for the TLS and the … Continue reading →

The Lamplighters by Emma Stonex is inspired by the true story of three lighthouse keepers who mysteriously vanished from the island of Eilean Mor on 26th December 1900. Wilfred Wilson Gibson wrote a poem about the incident, Flannan Isle, published … Continue reading →

When Leah’s submarine vanishes without trace during her latest deep sea mission, her wife Miri accepts that she has lost her forever. She struggles emotionally, receiving very little information from Leah’s employers at the Centre, until one day – unexpectedly … Continue reading →

I’ve been a fan of the British Library Crime Classics series for many years. Since 2012 they have been reprinting a decent selection of ‘golden-age’ mysteries (although not exclusively from this period) and the occasional short story anthology. As a … Continue reading →

Editor Ellen Datlow presents 29 tales of body horror from the very best of today’s writers, incorporating a diverse range of voices and styles, originally published over the last 40 years. This was an anthology that I didn’t think would … Continue reading →

Madhouse at the End of the Earth: The Belgica’s Journey into the Dark Antarctic Night by Julian Sancton is a wonderful non-fiction account of the ill-fated 1897 expedition – the first ever to winter in the Antarctic region – which … Continue reading →

Following a work’s office party, Quirke – the irascible Irish pathologist, and central character in the Dublin-set crime novels by Benjamin Black – one night stumbles across his brother-in-law amending a report in his office in the bowels of the … Continue reading →

I’ve been a fan of Tori Amos for a fair few years. She writes songs and creates music that no one else on Earth would make. Her work is sometimes challenging, often experimental, frequently complex, and yet always devastatingly brilliant. … Continue reading →

When classics teacher Rose Christie lands the role of Department Head at prestigious Caldonbrae Hall, the private boarding school for girls on the coast of Scotland, she thinks all her dreams have come true. For over 150 years the education … Continue reading →