​Freya Lockwood lives in London and receives news from her distraught Aunt Carole that her former mentor, the antiques dealer Arthur Crockleford, has died suddenly. It’s been twenty years since Freya cut herself off from Arthur following a tragic incident while they were working in Cairo. She blames him and in spite of his death finds it difficult to forgive him for what he did. Freya’s marriage is at an end, her only daughter lives in America and her home is up for sale. She has nowhere to go and gives in when Carole persuades her to return to her Suffolk village for the funeral.

Once there, she is faced with a series of mysteries, shocked that it is beginning to look like Arthur was murdered. A few days prior to his death, he wrote a will leaving his business jointly to her and Carole, encouraging Freya to return to the antique trade as a verifier. He has also written a cryptic letter with various clues that allude to what happened in Cairo, that Freya and Carole must follow his instructions to finally discover the truth about the seamy side of the antique trade in which he’s been involved.

All of this is a promising plot, and should appeal to anyone with a passing interest in the wheeling and dealing of antiques and the black market in forgeries, but the rambling execution of it leaves much to be desired.

Carole has the more distinctive personality but Freya’s attitude doesn’t make her particularly appealing. There is a cast of another half-dozen or so one-dimensional characters that are up to no good yet none of them leap off the page, and it is easy to get them mixed up. There’s a feeble attempt by Carole to interest Freya romantically in one of them that goes nowhere and is pointless.

Although this is primarily Freya’s first-person story, there are also chapters featuring Carole in the third person and fragmentary chapters with the points of view of other characters that pretty much give the game away and would have been better left out to intensify the mystery factor.

The editing is woeful, with constant repetition of facts and some glaring errors, e.g. at the funeral on page 43, when Freya asks about one of the pall-bearers, Carole tells her that he is Harry, Arthur’s assistant, and on page 116, Carole mentions checking on her dog Harley who’s been looked after by Harry. Freya says ‘I don’t understand. Who’s Harry?’ No, I don’t understand either. A big mistake too many writers make is having similar names for their characters – and human names for dogs – and thus errors like this can get easily overlooked.

The author is a member of a family well-known in the antique world and I do commend her for the interesting idea and a valiant effort that would have been so much better with tougher, rigorous editing. Apparently there is a sequel on the way. I hope it is an improvement.
 
Two stars.
 
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​After some ho-hum experiences with reading recently, I think I need to start two new categories of book reviews – either DNF (did not finish) or STF (struggled to finish) – and just admit I’ve been defeated.

I’m a keen follower of Alice Loxton on her various social media channels. Her youthful enthusiasm and knowledge of quirky British history are refreshing in a subject too often fronted by middle-aged, over-exposed and jaded presenters. When she announced publication of her book on the 18th Century caricaturists and satirists, I looked forward to an entertaining and informative read. I even envisaged something along the lines of ‘orrible ‘istories. [or Horrible Histories]

Unfortunately, I'm disappointed. On the one hand, some of the book reflects the author’s peppy presentation style with witty asides but, on the other, a lot of it is dry and dense and doesn’t reflect her persona. It makes me wonder if there was someone else involved in researching and writing up the duller passages to link the more lively ones together.

Then there’s the subject matter. The style of humour in the cartoons can be hard to find outrageous or funny 200 years later. It helps if you have a good grasp of British politics, society and personalities of the time but even that doesn’t save it from turning into a soup of facts. (I was shocked when I found myself re-living long-forgotten struggles for my school-leaving history exam and tearing my hair out trying to get a handle on the machinations of the Prince Regent, Walpole, Fox, Lord North and those pesky Pitts – elder and younger.)

At the half-way mark, I am undecided and therefore no stars as yet. Perhaps I’ll keep going and at least it will turn into a STF.

​So far, it’s serving as a useful aide for insomnia.

I hope Loxton’s next outing as an author is more promising than this.


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​A heatwave that’s had me confined to the house for several days steered me towards the second book in Lucinda Riley’s Seven Sisters series. I had read the first book a while back and caught myself wondering from time to time, “So what happens to the next sister … and the next … and the next …”

Yes, I admit it, I’ve been hooked. However, the sheer epic scope of these novels can be a bit daunting and as they are not easily cast aside once started, my guilty pleasure needs to be rationed between other more generalised reading!
 
Ally crews in international yacht races. She falls in love with new skipper, Theo, before hearing that her adoptive father, Pa Salt, has died. She leaves Theo and rushes home to Geneva where the sisters gather to grieve. Each sister receives a message from their father with clues as to their origins. Maia’s story led us to Brazil and Ally’s will lead her to Norway.
 
It is impossible to summarise everything that happens in these 700+ pages, but as with the first book, there is a cornucopia of human experiences; love and hate, life and death, misunderstandings, mysteries, lavish historical back stories, effusive sentimentality, a great deal of purple prose, plus in this case, icy fjords filled with the music of Edvard Greig. Not a bad way to escape the heat.
 
Book three awaits. Maybe once the rain sets in!

Four stars. 
 
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​This is the fifth outing of the Hawthorne and Horowitz crimefighting duo. If you’re unfamiliar with the earlier books, this could make things pretty confusing so it is definitely recommended you start with book one (The Word is Murder) to understand the basis of these stories which feature Horowitz as the famous author - albeit slightly bumbling - sidekick to the elusive private detective, Hawthorne. (A sort of pastiche on Dr Watson and Sherlock Holmes.)
 
Riverview Close is a residential enclave in Richmond-upon-Thames wherein dwell a set of law-abiding, respectable (and a touch snobby) characters. Among them are a doctor, dentist, a retired barrister, bookshop owners and a world-ranked chess player. They all rub along nicely together until the ghastly Kenworthy family arrive and bring with them all sorts of annoyances and Attitude with capital A. Loud music in the small hours, too many cars that block driveways, obnoxious kids on skateboards, dubious money, hints of right-wing opinion.
 
Unpleasant things start happening. A dog that may have strayed onto the Kenworthy property is found at the bottom of a well. Plants with sentimental meaning are trampled. When the residents receive notice from the council about improvement plans to the Kenworthy residence that involves removing trees for the construction of a “swimming pool and pavilion and the creation of a new patio area on the eastern law of the property”, you can pretty well predict what’s going to happen. It isn’t long before Giles Kenworthy becomes a bull’s eye (in the true archery sense). And this is followed soon afterwards by another demise featuring the traditional “locked room” scenario.
 
Of course, all the seething residents are suspects and have their own secrets. Hawthorne remains as frustrating and elusive ever as Horowitz entertains us with his clever trademark writing in which he pokes fun at himself and drops names of his real associates or friends (Ewan McGregor’s real dentist might have something to say on this) and all the while leading us down paths strewn with red herrings to try and figure out whodunnit. Escapist, enjoyable, good fun.
 
(With many thanks to Edelweiss for the ARC.)
 
4 stars
 
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