Month: August 2021

NO OXFORD BLUES ABOUT GRIFFEE’S THIRD NARROWBOAT MYSTERY, IT’S A RED HOT READ

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Probably like most people, I always associate Oxford with education and in recent times with the development of a Covid vaccine. But in terms of literature and in particular crime fiction, whenever someone mentions the city, I think of the Inspector Morse books, as well as the hugely successful TV series and its spin-off Endeavour series. So I was delighted when I got sent a copy of the third Johnson and Wilde mystery series. This months Third book review is Oxford Blues by Andy Griffee and published by Orphans publishing (www.orphanspublishing.co.uk) in July.

Jack Johnson is suffering from a severe case of the boating blues as we join him aboard Jumping Jack Flash in Oxford. He has moved there following his erstwhile companion, Nina Wilde. Nina’s niece, Anna, has recently started studying in Oxford and Nina has moved to be near her. Jack hopes they can have a fresh start but finds they’re drifting apart. He throws himself into a new job and makes friends amongst his boating neighbours. Then a young woman’s body is pulled from Iffley Lock. The victim’s boyfriend is a good friend of Anna. Nina, who is still grieving the loss of her husband is keen to support him. Reluctantly, Jack is pulled into the investigation.

Followers of this blog will know I previously reviewed the first of the series, ‘Canal Pushers’. As a former boater myself, I was impressed with the technical explanations and representations of the joys and hardships of living on the water. I haven’t boated around Oxford, but I’ve experienced some river cruising around York and Cambridge. Being at the whim of the river in terms of currents, tides and floods made for interesting and testing times and sometimes inventive boat handling techniques. I recall a boating holiday around York one winter. We’d cruised up the river Ouse ok, then spent some time on the Ripon Canal, during which it snowed. We thought nothing of it until we wanted to re-join the Ouse and found it in full flood. Trying to close the lock gates at the end of the canal where the two water courses met was a nightmare, due to the strong river current and that the landing stage where I planned to hop back aboard was under several feet of water. I remember some scary acrobatic climbing down onto the boat with the gates open.  I was always afraid of weirs, and to a certain extent locks. I can remember being concerned that we’d be pulled onto the weirs rather than being able to take the safe channel around. What a holiday! Even currently, any nightmarish dreams involve floods, water crossings, weirs and locks!  All thrilling enough without murder and intrigue thrown in!

Andy Griffee (Worcester Observer)

The job of freelance journalist and the use of a narrowboat are ideal vehicles for this crime series. They allow the story to move to different settings easily and for the main character to have both nose for trouble and an insight into how to investigate. The fact that Andy Griffee has experience, both as a journalist and boater, shines through. Everything rings true and doesn’t seem forced or unbelievable. I loved the addition of a few new characters to the story, who I hope will reappear in future adventures. There was some humour again here. Andy Griffee seems to have a fixation with naturists! Perhaps that’s another life experience he’s drawing on? Who knows! There was also some moments of well written tension, that got my heart thumping, as well as the will they, wont they aspect of Jack’s romantic interest in Nina.  Certainly, there were enough twists and turns to keep me guessing until the end.

This is English Author Andy Griffee’s (www.andygriffee.co.uk) third book, his others are Canal Pushers (2019) and Riiver Rats (2020). A former journalist with the Bath Chronic;le and 25 year stint as a regional controller with the BBC, he finished his career in charge of the redevelopment of the BBC’s iconic Broadcasting House in London. He lives in Worcestersire with his wife and three dogs, where he also rears rare pigs and maintains a 1964 triumph spitfire.

 I’d highly recommended Oxford Blues to other crime readers. You could read this as a standalone but it’s well worth acquainting yourselves with the previous books. I’m already looking forward to number four. So cast off to your local bookseller and hook yourself a copy.

Reviewed by Georgina Murphy

BOURKE CROSSES THE LINE TO SUCCESS WITH HIS ENGAGING AND SIMPLE DEBUT

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We’ve being doing something sub-consciously for years, then over the past eighteen months or more, we’ve had to get used to doing it almost as a necessity. While also lengthening this simple act by standing two metres apart from the person in front and behind us. What am I talking about? Queuing.

Whether you’re standing at a bus stop, in a supermarket, or a public toilet, we usually form an orderly queue. But when order breaks down, or someone tries to jump the queue, that’s when problems arise. This is usually supressed by a few polite words and an effusive apology from the offender. But when fear, or if there is a perception of missing out on something, and you could look at those images coming out Afghanistan over the past couple of days, or those scenes in the past of men, women and children scrambling over each other to get at items in Black Friday sales, that things can turn bad.  So, it’s in this month’s second book review that the story centres around queuing, its Line by Niall Bourke and published by Tramp Press (www.tramppress.com) in April of this year.

Willard, his mother, and his girlfriend Nyla have spent their entire lives in an eternal procession, as part of The Line.  The Line is a seemingly never-ending queue that stops, starts, and meanders its way across vast plains, up over mountains and in and out of valleys. Daily life in the Line is dictated by the ultimate imperative: obey the rules or lose your place in the line. When, one day Willard returns to his place in the line after visiting Nyla, he finds his mum has died. Among her possessions he discovers a small booklet, unable to comprehend what it means or its refences to Ali-Ben Orkul and The Corporation, he and Nyla decide to break one of the more sacrosanct rules and leave The Line. What answers will they find in the wilderness, cut off from The Line, and who or what are the Corporation and Ali-Ben Orkul?

Over the past number of years, a host of new Irish writing talent has taken it upon themselves to breakdown old traditions and step outside the literary box so to speak. Take Mike McCormack’s award-winning Solar Bones, which is a single sentence stretching over 233 pages and the equally unusual and highly celebrated Milkman by Anna Burns, which I had to put down after 20 pages due to it wrecking my head.

Unlike Burns’ book, I couldn’t put this down. Niall Bourke’s Line is both unusual and amazing in its simplicity. There is also punctuation, as well as seemly intriguing but easy to follow story within these 245 pages.

But I was held by the mystery of this story from page one and kept trying to figure out whether The Line and Willard, his mum and Nyla were part of a wagon train crossing the Americas? Were they and everyone else migrating from Africa to Europe or from South America to North America?  Bourke’s excellent writing style gives no clue and lets you wonder. But every so often, I had to ask myself, is it simpler than that? Are they just on a constant never-ending line? And there you have it, the thing I found most interesting about this book and the story, is the unknown… But then, just when you think you can relax and let the book lead on, Bourke throws in a thesis on queuing!!! Again, this was beautiful and reminded me of the asides that regularly feature is Hitch Hikers Guide to The Galaxy, and as a result I was enthralled by the uniqueness and originality of this story.

Niall Bourke (rte.ie)

This is Irish Author Niall Bourke’s (www.niallbourke.com)  debut novel. His work has been published widely in magazines across Ireland and the UK, while his poems and stories have been shortlisted for numerous awards, including the Costa Short Story Award and the Hennessy New Irish Writing Award. When not writing he is a teacher and lives in London with his wife and daughter.

This book proves that you can make a highly thought-provoking read out of the most mundane things in life and follows hot on the heels of the recent success of fellow Irish debutant writer Jamie O’Connell and his Diving for Pearls, which we reviewed here in June. I hope Niall keeps this up and bases his next book on some equally obscure day to day ritual or maybe he’ll write a sequel.

So, as we enter the latter part of August, and the last vestiges of the school holidays. I urge you to step away from the queue to the bestselling authors as you search for your holiday read and try this brand-new name in Irish literary fiction, that will have you following a new line -the one for his next eagerly anticipated book.

Reviewed by Adrian Murphy

This review is part of a Random Things Blog Tour. To see what the other reviewers thought visit their blogs listed below. Then if you get a copy comeback and tell us what you thought we’d really appreciate the feedback.

ONCE AGAIN, MOGGACH PROVES YOU’RE NEVER TOO OLD TO HAVE FUN IN A BLACK DRESS.

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We read These Foolish Things with our bookclub a few years back and the following Christmas, we watched the movie. It was our Christmas tradition to watch the film version of one of the books we’d enjoyed that year. Other years we watched The Help, after reading the book by Kathryn Stockett and The Dead, following from the story of the same name by James Joyce. Usually, it was fun to see the characters brought to life and the plot twists occur as expected on the screen. This wasn’t the case with The Best Marigold Hotel, the film which is based on the book. In general, the storyline is vastly different, but the great characters developed by Deborah Moggach had been used. So I was delighted to get the opportunity to read her latest book for this months first review. Its The Black Dress published by Headline Review (www.headline.co.uk ) 22nd July

When Pru’s husband walks out on their seemingly rock solid marriage, she’s distraught. More over from the shock of the break up and the loss of the life they had, than him leaving. Still reeling from the bombshell, she goes off to a friends funeral, the hymns are the same, words of praise. But the eulogy is different, not the person she knew… She’s gone to the wrong funeral. Everyone is very welcoming, its quite hilarious actually. and more fun than she’s had in ages. So Pru buys a Little Black Dress in a charity shop and goes to another funeral and another. People don’t want to make scenes at a funeral, what harm can it, or will it…

I approached reading Deborah Moggach’s new release, The Black Dress, anticipating another great cast of characters, but maybe not a lot happening. There is a fine but small cast of characters, however, we mainly follow the life and thoughts of Pru. 

Lots of things do happen in this book. Deborah Moggach really throws the kitchen sink at this drama in terms of plot twists and turns. Sometimes several things at once, so you can understand why Pru is overwhelmed with all the changes to her reality. There are lots of surprises and a good dash of dark humour. I’ve just read the Thursday Murder club, by Richard Osman. There, I loved the character of Joyce, with her constant eye out for lonely men and her wry wit. I thought Pru was going to be of similar ilk. However, Pru is a bit less resilient and bit more whiney. She reminded me of the Liz Jones column in the Saturday Independent, which I refer to as ‘Liz Jones Moans’ so I guess, personally, I found Pru a little harder to like. She may well sit better with other readers. This didn’t take too much way from my enjoyment of the writing. The story is funny and the scenarios farcical but believable. There is some pathos there too. The characters show their vulnerability and humanness.

Deborah Moggach

This English author Deborah Moggach’s (www.deborahmoggach.com) twentieth book The others include, You Must Be Sisters (1978), A Quiet Drink (1980), Porky (198383), Driving In The Dark (1988), These Foolish Things (2004) on Which The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel ,was based, and The Carer (2019). She’s also written two collections of Short Stories – Smile and Other Stories (1987), Changing babies and Other Stories (1995). On top of that she’s written two screen plays Pride & Prejudice(2005) Starring Keira Knightley and Matthew MacFadyen, and Tulip Fever (2017). She she currently divides her time between Wales and London.

I’d recommend this book to fellow ladies of a certain age, who have a naughty twinkle in their eye, an open mind and a good sense of humour, but sadly I wasn’t cheering for Pru in the same way as I was for Evelyn in These Foolish Things.

Reviewed by: Georgina Murphy

This review is part of a random things blog tour, to see what the others thought the book visit their blogs listed below. Then if you get a copy, comeback and tell us what you thought. we’d really appreciate the feedback.