Janet Gordon is married, retired, obsessed with her Westlake Terrier, Rollo – and books are her passion. She reads multiple books a week across all genres and reviews them for Rest Less.
This month’s round-up features Everyone on this Train is a Suspect, The Disappearance of Astrid Bricard, My Favourite Mistake, and The Flower Sisters.
Note: Prices can change often, so you may notice some variations on the providers’ websites. Prices and availability are accurate as of the 23rd of April, 2024.
Firstly, I’d really like to thank the Ideal Home Show for offering Rest Less readers the chance to win 500 pairs of tickets last month.
For those who won, I hope you had a really great day out – my friend Stephanie and I had a wonderful time! We came home laden with goodies and gadgets aimed at making life easier, although my favourite purchase was a bottle of lavender gin which tasted superb.
We enjoyed wandering around the Dream House which was packed with all kinds of innovations designed so that you don’t have to move from your armchair. Though, these weren’t quite for me since I’ve only just got to grips with the Alexa I got for Christmas! I even had my hair straightened using the latest high-tech straighteners – sadly they were far too expensive for my purse, but my hair looked glorious (until we stepped outside and into a deluge)!
In other news, my husband and I – and, of course, our dog Rollo – are off to North Norfolk in a couple of weeks for a few days away. We’re headed to Strawberry Cottage, Snettisham, which is just a few minutes away from Sandringham. I’m hoping for, at the very least, a walk around the grounds there. This trip will be courtesy of Crabpot Cottages (isn’t that a wonderful name!), which is a small, family-run business with some lovely properties available for holiday lets.
And, of course, the first thing I’ll be packing is my books. My husband just takes the one whereas I really do need a selection – who knows what I’ll feel like reading?!
With that said, here are some recent reads I’ve enjoyed…
Everyone on this Train is a Suspect by Benjamin Stevenson (Kindle £7.99, Amazon £8.99)
This is a hoot of a book by an author who seems to have made this type of story his trademark after the success of his first novel, Everyone in my Family Has Killed Someone.
There’s a convention of the Australian Mystery Writers’ Society held aboard the Ghan – an Orient Express type train which runs between Darwin and Adelaide – and the book is from Ernest Cunningham’s perspective. Ernest is thrilled to have been invited after the success of his first novel – a real life, true crime story about being the sole survivor of a series of murders that took place at a ski cabin.
So, onboard there’s Cunningham, the debut writer; a forensic science writer; a blockbuster writer; a legal thriller writer; a novelist who writes literary thrillers; and a legal thriller writer.
Ernest has also brought along his partner, Juliette. All that’s needed is a pregnant nun, an aeroplane pilot, and possibly an escaped snake!
The book is packed with hilarious one-liners and detailed descriptions. It’s a real ‘Golden Age’ mystery, coupled with a dash of Agatha Christie, and a modern twist. Definitely a different kind of mystery read and great fun!
The Disappearance of Astrid Bricard by Natasha Lester (Kindle £0.99, Amazon £9.19, Hachette £9.99)
Although Natasha Lester seems to specialise in novels set in Paris, she actually lives in Perth, Australia.
I really enjoyed her recent historical fiction book. Back in the 70s, Astrid Bricard was well-known as the daughter of Mizza (who was infamous for being Christian Dior’s muse). Astrid is determined to escape this legacy, but when she falls in love with the notorious fashion designer Hawk Jones, who’s on the same course as her, she finds herself becoming exactly what her mother was – a muse to a designer.
But then Astrid disappears, leaving behind a white, silk dress.
Fast forward to today and Astrid’s daughter Blythe (who’s as talented as both her mother and grandmother), is determined to unravel the mystery of her mother’s disappearance.
Swarming with fashion details and famous names, this is a lovely, generational read.
My Favourite Mistake by Marion Keyes (Kindle £11.99, Amazon £11)
Well, my first mistake was leaving this book lying on the floor, only to career into it and break my left little toe! So having spent the best part of March lying on the sofa with my foot in the air, I’m now hopping around the house with my little toe ‘buddy’ strapped to the toe next to it – and swallowing pain killers like smarties.
Marion Keyes is a wonderful Irish writer that many of us adore. In My Favourite Mistake we meet Anna, who has a lovely life with a high-flying beauty PR job, but who’s found herself on the verge of a mid-life crisis and making minor mistakes.
She has a partner, but somehow she’s of the mindset to exchange Manhattan for Maumtully (a small Irish town) and finds herself roped into crisis managing her friends Brigit and Colm’s new luxury coastal retreat there.
The locals hate, hate, hate what the twosome plan to do, but Anna is confident that she can fix this.
We also meet her ex-boyfriend, Joey, who seems to be involved in the retreat and who Anna really doesn’t want to get re-involved with.
Told with Keyes’s trademark sparkling conversation and verve, My Favourite Mistake will be one of those reads that people will be picking up for years to come.
The Flower Sisters by Michelle Collins Anderson (Kindle £8.30, Amazon £15.18, Kensington Books £14.51)
When flames envelop the dance hall, 15-year-old Violet is burnt to death.
Fifty years later, young Daisy is dumped in Possum Flats, Missouri, by her mother and left in the care of her grandmother, who owns the local morticians. Daisy doesn’t really want to work there over summer and wangles an apprenticeship at the local paper. While rummaging through the archives, she discovers the story of the deadly fire.
Daisy recognises one of the names, but nobody wants to speak to her about the fire.
This is a wonderful read inspired by a real-life event that happened in the author’s home town in 1928. I loved it.
For more reading inspiration, head over to the books, literature, and writing section of our website. Or, for further book and literature discussions, you might be interested in joining the thriving book club or short story club over on Rest Less Events.
Have you read any of these books? Or have you added any of them to your reading list? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below.