Spain

NICHOLAS HAS ME FALLING FOR THIS QUIRKY BUTTERFLY AND HER CUTE FERRET

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I’ve always wanted to go to Mallorca, but the thought of sharing a two hour flight with a group of boozed up twenty somethings, heading for Magaluf, is not my idea of starting or ending a memorable and relaxing holiday.  Mallorca is the largest of the three Balearic Islands, and the seventh largest island in the Mediterranean of 191, ahead of it are Euboea, Crete, Corsica, Cyprus, Sardinia, and Sicily. It’s a popular holiday destination, with its main airport in Palma being one the busiest in Spain, over 14 million passengers passed through it in 2021, with figures in excess of 27 million a year before the pandemic. As for famous residents past and present, even counting part timers, there are some big names. The Irish actor Colm Meaney, famous for playing Chief O’Brien on Star Trek Next generation, is a resident. So is Jeffrey Archer, the novelist, along with Rafa Nadal, the tennis player. While Cynthia Lennon, John Lennon’s first wife and Julian’s Mother, lived there until her death in 2015.  Death and crime are what brings us to this beautiful island for our first book review of 2023, the book is Fallen Butterfly by Anna Nicholas and published by Burro Books ( www.burrobooks.co.uk ) in December 2022.

Plans for a controversial new motorway, that will cut a swathe through the unspoilt Mallorca countryside, cause political tensions to run sky high. Then the transport minister is victim of a ritualistic murder, which sends shockwaves reverberating across the island. This causes the island’s police Chief, Tolo Cabot to seek the assistance of his lover and former Barcelona detective, Isabel Flores Montserrat. The two of them along with Isabel’s pet ferret,  ‘Furo’ are thrust into a perilous race for answers. All while Isabel is also looking into the mysterious near fatal accidents befalling tourists in the mountains surrounding her village, is this the work of environmentalist or is something more sinister afoot.

This is a lovely book to start the new year off on. I like my detectives to have a bit of quirkiness about them that makes them stand out from your bog standard, trench coat wearing gumshoe, and in Isabel Flores, Anna Nicholas goes full off the books quirky, but in a great way. No other detective I know has a ferret for a sidekick (I stand to be corrected). Cats, dogs, horses… But a cute little ferret, that chunters at just the right time, is a heart-warming addition, and he’s almost the reason you’d pick up the book. My wife and co-librarian, Georgina would love this book, she recently started watching the FBI International TV series, just because of the dog in it….

Isabel also drives a canary coloured, vintage, Fiat 500. Which she affectionately calls ‘Pequinito’ – “Little One”, Morse has his red jag, Magnum his Red Ferrari. But Nicholas again adds charm and likeability to this character with the very human touch of giving her most treasured possessions, cute names… But on top of that this girl is flawed, she sucks Chup Chup lollipops like they are going out of fashion (a nod to Telly Savalas and Kojak) and has a love of wine and cream sponges. If this was real life, and set in the UK, she’d be 300 pounds and two steps away from a coronary. But, no she’s, smart, athletic, and one of the more likeable central characters I’ve happened upon in a while.

Anna Nicholas (Charles Marlow)

As for the story, Anna Nicholas doesn’t shy away from the gritty, but marries the hard reality of crime investigation, with the everyday humour of rural village life. There’s a Bergerac feel about it, with a lot of English references and colloquialisms and at times having seen how successful, the likes of Murder in Paradise have been, I could see this taking off as a very good TV adaptation.

This is Mallorca resident and author Anna Nicholas’s ( www.anna-nicholas.com ) eleventh book, her third in the Isabel Flores Mallorcan Mystery series, the others are Haunted Magpie (2020) and Devil’s Horn (2019). She has written six books on her experiences of starting a new life with her family in Mallorca, and her desire to leave the non-stop London PR Life behind, to run a cattery in the sun. They include Peacocks in Paradise (2021), Goats From a Small Island (2009), Cat On A Hot Tiled Roof (2008) and A Lizard In My Luggage (2007). She also wrote Strictly Off The Record : On The Trail of World Records with Norris McWhirter (2010), recanting her experiences working for the Guinness Book of Records. She is currently along with her friend Alison attempting to climb all the island’s 54 peaks over 1000m, before the end of 2023… (wow, I though setting myself the challenge of Climbing Croagh Patrick and Cycling from the Atlantic to the Med, along the foothills of the Pyrenees, in 2023 was challenging.)

So, if you’re now tiring of the long cold winter months and want inspiration for planning the summer holidays. then I recommend you visit your local book shop or order a copy online, along with the other two, while you’re at it. Then join Isabel, Furo, and Pequinito in their hazardous and heart-warming adventures across the Balearic isles.

Reviewed by Adrian Murphy

This book 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 come back and tell us what you thought. We’d really appreciate the feedback.

VINE’S DEBUT DALI-ANCE WITH FICTION HAS ME LOVED AND ENLIGHTENED

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It’s often said that you should never meet your heroes, as you’ll be disappointed. Because when you do, you’ll find their guard is down and their stage persona offline and so you will undoubtedly discover they are just like you and me, spilling things down their front, slurping their tea, picking their nose or teeth in public, etc, etc. I’ve met a few famous people in my time, namely in my work as a film extra in the past. Its rare that I’ve had the opportunity to meet celeb’s in a personal capacity; but the above applies when I have (excluding the nose picking, but you get my point).

Another thing I have never done and is part of a large list, which I keep trying to shorten, especially having hit my half century this year, is visit Glasgow. If I had, I would have probably gone to its main art museum The Kelvingrove to see among other things its pride and joy, a Dali painting. I’ve seen the Caravaggio in Dublin, the Nightwatch in Amsterdam and David in Florence.  While I used to have a poster of Dali’s, The Temptation of St Anthony on my bedroom wall when I was in my teens. Dali’s surrealism and the weird things he did with animals and clocks amused me. This month’s first book review, is centred around the great man’s painting, Christ Of St John Of The Cross. The book is The Diver and The Lover by Jeremy Vine and published by Coronet an imprint of Hodder & Stoughton (www.hodder.co.uk) in September.

Its 1951, Ginny and Meredith, two sisters from Hull, travel to Spain to help Meredith recover from a terrible trauma. They run into the famous American stuntman, Russell Saunders in their hotel. He’s there to work with Local resident and surrealist painter Salvador Dali with his latest project. But, tensions have arisen between the two men and their PR representative, a fiery red headed Irish woman, called Siobhan Lynch is desperate to save this very lucrative arrangement for her bosses back in London and push on with her plan of taking control of the Dali account. With Saunders refusing to work with Dali and time running out, Ginny and Meredith witness what appears to be the suicide of a member of the hotel staff off nearby cliffs, only to discover he’s Adam, a keen diver. The sisters along with Siobhan, hatch a plan to save the deal, wherein  Adam takes Saunders place as a body double for Dali’s masterpiece, with Saunders taking all the credit. Meanwhile, Ginny and Adam have fallen in love, but Siobhan also has feelings for the Canadian. Can the quartet work together, against Dali’s eccentricities and with the backdrop of the ever growing divisions between the locals and Franco and the rumblings of Civil War….

Like most books I accept for these blog tours, I rarely read the blurb on the back and literally like Adam, I dive right in and see where it takes me. I knew nothing of Dali’s Christ Of St. John Of The Cross and that it was hanging in Glasgow or the history behind it’s conception and what Saunders had to endure so Dali could get what he wanted. Along with the outcry which came with the Museums purchase.

Christ Of St. John Of The Cross (Glasgowlive.co.uk)

What I got, was a thoroughly enjoyable read from start to finish. I had seen mixed reviews from other bloggers and my own wife had baulked at reading it when it arrived in the post. Now that I’ve finished, I feel enlightened and delighted to discover the back story of this amazing piece of work.

Vine has a lovely easy going style about his writing, which is similar to his style of radio presentation (something I experience regular listening to him from here in Dublin and on our regular trips to visit family in the UK) which allows him to tell a story with just enough drama, humour and suspense. Not forgetting, adding a healthy and rich mix of romance into the tale too. The four main characters are full bodied and well drawn, while there there is a Rainman-esque sort of relationship between Ginny and Meredith. As for the real characters, Dali and Saunders, there is a lot of research visible by Vine into the artist’s home and character. I had a feeling of Dali’s acting like Willie Wonka as he shows the quartet around his villa in  Port Lligat and down to his subterranean studio. Vine has done a great job to bring out the artists eccentric qualities. While Saunders is a support cast member, he does provide some great heroic interludes, as well as being the inspiration for the story too.

Jeremy Vine (BBC.co.uk)

This is English author, broadcaster and journalist Jeremy Vine’s (@thejeremyvine) first novel, he’s previously published two books of non-fiction ‘Its All News To Me’ (2013) and ‘What I Learnt: What My Listeners Say’ (2017). He currently presents The Jeremy Vine Show on BBC radio 2 and in 2018 took over presenting the UK’s  Channel 5’s The Right Stuff, now called Jeremy Vine. He lives in Chiswick, with his wife and two daughters.

If there was a downside to the book, I thought it was a bit drawn out at the end, but apart from that it was an amazing experience and a fantastic read. With my choice for a book group read coming up in four weeks’ time, I think I may have found another contender. A difficult choice ahead, me thinks.

So if like me, you are fascinated by Dali’s work and the eccentric life of this great painter, but also want to discover more about the history of this little known work, Then you’ll enjoy this story. So download or purchase a hardcopy, throw yourself onto the couch, and with Covid restrictions still in place, visit Spain through Vine’s eyes. Then, like me, plan a trip to Glasgow for next year (fingers crossed).

Reviewed by Adrian Murphy

This review is part of a blog tour Organised by Hodder & Stoughton, to see what the other reviwers thought, visit their sites listed below. Then if you get a copy comeback and tell us what you think, we’d really appreciate the feedback.

YOU WON’T CRY OVER BROWN’S BONE CRUNCHING SUMMER READ

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Thirty One Bones coverWe’ve all dreamt of an escape from our everyday lives, to live somewhere that we would usually holiday in and enjoy that holiday feeling permanently. The reliable sunny weather, the sea, the cheap cost of living and maybe the chance to reinvent yourself or to become ‘someone’ in a place no one knows you. Every year, many Brits and Irish retirees move to Spain and Portugal, to enjoy perpetual summers and a relaxed style of living. Fair play to them. I’ve had that daydream myself. The realistic among us, know, however, that its very hard to become a new person. Most of the time our history, personality traits and issues would catch up with us.

This month’s first book review has a subtitle of ‘it can be dangerous out in the sun’. This may be especially true due to Covid 19 being still highly prevalent. Prior to the pandemic my main concerns would’ve been limited to sunburn and sunstroke, but this book has Spain’s Costa Del Crime as a much scarier scenario. Its Thirty One Bones by Morgan Cry and published by Polygon (www.polygonbooks.co.uk) in June this year.

 

Daniella Coulson travels to Spain following the death of her mother Effie. Mother and daughter have become estranged and Daniella is surprised to discover her mother has  been a well-respected member of a small ex-pat community of misfits who frequent her mother’s bar. There were many secrets in Effie’s life, however. She and her friends had been plotting a multi-million-pound property scam before her death and now the money is missing. The ex-pats all have their own, sometime desperate need for their share of the cash. There’s also a local detective, who is investigating Effie’s death and a local enforcer who has heard about the missing cash. Danielle must race against time to find the cash and avoid having thirty-one bones in her body broken.

This is a real roller-coaster of a story. Danielle is a stranger to the location and to her mother’s life. She arrives in Spain, planning to quickly resolve her mother’s affairs, sell up and move on. The ensuing drama gives Danielle an insight into her mother’s life and her own strengths and weaknesses.

The cast of ex-pats are sometimes likeable, sometimes sad, sometimes funny but all initially at least, hostile to Danielle. The plot is farcical with crosses, double-crosses, chases and secrets. There’s also a romance and a lot of dark humour. You can almost taste the desperation and feel the heat.

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Morgan Cry (aka Gordon Brown)

Effie seems to have been a wily lady. Is Danielle a chip off the old block? She’s a sympathetic character. The story is told mainly in the first person, but interspersed there are chapters with interviews, held by the detective, of each of the participants in the drama. These actually became some of my favourite sections. I loved the descriptions of the heat, the town and the buildings too but the characters were the best thing in the book, funny, scary and with a deft touch of pathos to make you like them despite everything.

This is Scottish author Gordon Brown (www.gordonjbrown.com)eith eighth book, the others include three in the Craig McIntyre series – Darkest Thoughts(2017), Furthest Reaches (2017), Deepest Wounds (2018). Two in the Charlie Wiggs series – Falling(2009) and Falling Too (2017). Thirty One Bones is his first writing under the pen name of Morgan Cry. Born in Glasgow, he’s lived in London as well as Toronto before returning home. His most significant day job was a marketing strategy specialist, before going on to help found Scotland’s international crime writing festival, Bloody Scotland. He’s been a DJ on a local radio station, sold non-alcoholic beer in the middle east and floated a tech company on the London Stock exchange. While he’s also had the pleasure of being booed by 49,000 fans at a major football cup final. That’s one way of trying to make friends.

For those who won’t brave the Costas this summer, instead opting for a staycation, this book is a great vehicle for helping you to imagine what might have been. Or it could make great sun-lounger reading whilst you risk the worldwide contagion. Do I recommend it? Yes, and that at least, is not complicated….

 

Reviewed by : Georgina Murphy

 

 

This book 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 love the feedback.

 

FINAL Thirty-One Bones BT Poster