bookshelves: published-2006, summer-2012, tbr-busting-2012, mystery-thriller, france, winter-20152016, re-visit-2016, lit-richer-jan-2016, lit-richer, series, pharma, conspiracy-theories-abound, conflagration, games-people-play, paranoia, adventure, britain-scotland, betrayal, islands, scotland-hebridean

11 hours 40 mins, read by Joe Dunlop.

Description: For a group of ex-comrades, it is to be the reunion to end all reunions: a weekend in the Scottish castle where they were guinea pigs in a psychological experiment many years before. They haven't seen each other since. But the convivial atmosphere on the journey north is quickly shattered by the apparent suicide of one of their party.

When a second death occurs, a sense of forboding descends on the group. It appears that the past is coming back to haunt them, a past that none of them have ever spoken about. Their recollections are all frighteningly different. So what really happened?

Then when one of them uncovers an extraordinary secret, he becomes convinced that they will never leave the castle alive...

The elephant in the corner is the change of narrator for this last book, it was not a good move for my shell-likes, especially when there was so much conversation calling for accent interpretation. Okay moving on, let's talk about the book:

You could be forgiven for thinking this reminiscent of And Then There Were None, and it becomes clear just how important it was to read this trilogy in order - if the previous books have not been read the main two characters will seem a little 2 dimensional here as Goddard doesn't spent time describing them all over again (thank goodness!). Winding up at a point where we all need to know about something called MRQS, we realise just how dangerous that quest was and still is.

Let The Good Times Roll- Ray Charles

Harry and Barry, that rhyming couplet.

4* Into The Blue (Harry Barnett #1) (1990) - re-visit 2016
4* Out of the Sun (Harry Barnett #2) (1996) - re-visit 2016
3* Never Go Back (Harry Barnett #3) (2006) - re-visit 2016

5* Past Caring (1986)
5* In Pale Battalions (1988)
3* Play To the End (1988)
4* Painting the Darkness (1989)
4* Take No Farewell (1991)
3* Hand in Glove (1992)
2* Closed Circle (1993)
3* Borrowed Time (1995)
TR Beyond Recall (1997)
4* Caught in the Light (1998)
4* Set in Stone (1999)
3* Sea Change (2000)
1* Dying to Tell (2001)
3* Days Without Number (2003)
3* Sight Unseen (2005)
2* Name to a Face (2007)
1* Found Wanting (2008)
TR Long Time Coming (2009)
TR Blood Count (2010)
WL Fault Line (2012)

3* The Ways of the World (The Wide World Trilogy #1) (2013)
WL Intersection: Paris, 1919 (2013)
TR The Corners of the Globe (The Wide World Trilogy #2) (2014)
WL The Ends of the Earth (The Wide World Trilogy, #3) (2015)

bookshelves: historical-fiction, mystery-thriller, published-2006, re-visit-2015, radio-4, tudor, series, play-dramatisation, paper-read, hardback, a-cut-above

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06bglnf

Revisit is via R4 dramatisation: Atmospheric dramatisation of C. J. Sansom's third Tudor crime novel featuring hunchback lawyer detective Matthew Shardlake.

Autumn, 1541. King Henry VIII has set out on a spectacular Royal Progress to York, aiming to strike fear and awe into his rebellious northern subjects. Shardlake, and his assistant Barak, arrive in the city a day ahead of the 3,000-strong procession. Officially there to prepare petitions for the King, they have also been tasked with a secret mission by Archbishop Cranmer: to ensure the welfare of one of the northern conspirators, Sir Edward Broderick, who is to be brought back to London for questioning in the Tower.

1/10: Tensions are running high in the city, and soon Shardlake is called to investigate a suspicious death - and stumbles upon a daring plot that has the potential to shake England to its core

2/10: After settling into their living quarters, Shardlake witnesses a man fall to a terrible death and, on hearing his last words, feels sure it was more than an unfortunate accident.

3/10: After meeting with fellow lawyer Wrenne, Shardlake and Barak decide to go back to Oldroyd's house and see if they can find something to confirm Shardlake's suspicion that there was more to the glazier's death than a terrible accident.

4/10: Autumn, 1541. King Henry VIII's spectacular Royal Progress is drawing closer to York. Shardlake and his assistant Barak have arrived in the city ahead of the 3,000-strong procession. Officially there to prepare petitions for the King, they have also been tasked with a secret mission by Archbishop Cranmer: to ensure the welfare of one of the conspirators, Sir Edward Broderick, who is to be brought back to London for questioning in the Tower.

But they have become distracted from their duties by the mysterious death of a local glazier, Oldroyd, and Shardlake has been attacked by an unknown assailant who then stole papers from a box found hidden in Oldroyd's house. Bruised and smarting from tough questioning by Sir William Maleverer, Shardlake prepares to ride out to meet King Henry VIII.

5/10: Reeling from his public humiliation at the hands of King Henry, Shardlake returns to York knowing that it will haunt him for the rest of his life. His troubles aren't over, however, because an old enemy is waiting to see him: Sir Richard Rich.

6/10: Shardlake has been left badly shaken by the attempt upon his life. Fearing for his safety, he hopes to convince Sir William Maleverer that he should be sent back to London.

7/10: Shardlake, aided by his trusty assistant Barak, is determined to pursue his own investigations into Oldroyd's murder and the theft of the treasonous papers - as well as to discover who has been trying to kill him. Their inquiries lead them to a rough part of York, in search of information about Craike.

8/10: After the second attempt upon his life, Shardlake is convinced that the stolen papers - with their allegations against the King - hold the key to the whole mystery.

9/10: With the killer unmasked and his final duty - caring for the prisoner, Broderick - almost complete, Shardlake is glad to be heading returning south with the Progress. But when the ship docks in London, he receives a shocking summons.

10/10: Falsely accused of treason and unable to answer the gaoler's questions, Shardlake awaits his fate in the Tower of London. Can Barak convince Archbishop Cranmer that the allegations are false and save him from the torture chamber?

I got to hiss, boo, and shake both fists at Dickie Rich all over again. Come on BBC - give us the whole book series as TV drama, you have the costumes from Mantel's epic.

11 Things you didn’t know about King Henry VIII’s Great Progress

Shardlake: Justin Salinger
Barak: Bryan Dick
Maleverer: Stephen Critchlow
Radwinter: David Acton
Broderick: Nick Underwood
Wrenne: Geoffrey Whitehead
Craike: Patrick Brennan
Rich: Chris Pavlo
Innkeeper: Mark Edel-Hunt

bookshelves: australia, hardback, mythology, one-penny-wonder, paper-read, published-2006, tbr-busting-2015, queensland, winter-20142015

My isbn: 9781845297213
Withdrawn from Libraries NI
Dedication: For Toly

The author

Quote:

The first words got polluted
Flowing with the dirt
Of blurbs and front pages.
My only drink is meaning from the deep brain,
What the birds and the grass and the stones drink.
Let everything flow
Up to the four elements
Up to water asnd earth and fire and air.

Seamus Heany 'The First Words'

Millers Creek

Opening: The ancestral serpent, a creature larger than storm clouds, came down from the stars, laden with its own creative enormity.

This was sent by a Melbourne friend a few years back and have kept putting it off. That first page alone seems to dry up the brain-juice and my finallly logging it here doesn't mean I'll get to it next. She also sent me Don't Take Your Love to Town, which certainly needs more traffic from goodreaders.

 

Read from August 17 to 18, 2014

Description: The body of journalist Matt Barber, found in a chalet deep within the hills of a remote village, connect Banks to the death of John Gaunt, a guitarist for a band known as 'The Crystal Kiss', who died during the 1980s. His band-mate, and best friend, Martin Hareford, was sent to prison on the grounds of manslaughter, serving five years for Gaunt's death. Banks finds himself not only investigating Matt Barber's death, but re-opening the Gaunt case in order to identify the potential cover-up which is threatening to hide the truth behind Barber's death. As he finds himself raking over bad memories for those involved, DI Morton finds herself suspicious of Barber's father Jack, who was the investigating officer in the Gaunt case, who extracted a confession from Martin Hareford. However, when the files reveal the confession has disappeared, DI Morton suspects that Jack has more to do with his son's death than he is letting on.

3* Gallows View (Inspector Banks, #1)
3* A Dedicated Man (Inspector Banks, #2)
3* A Necessary End (Inspector Banks, #3)
TR The Hanging Valley (Inspector Banks, #4)
TR Past Reason Hated (Inspector Banks, #5)
3* Wednesday's Child (Inspector Banks, #6)
3* Dry Bones That Dream (Inspector Banks, #7)
3* Innocent Graves (Inspector Banks, #8)
TR Blood At The Root (Inspector Banks, #9)
TR In A Dry Season (Inspector Banks, #10)
3* Cold Is The Grave (Inspector Banks, #11)
4* Aftermath (Inspector Banks, #12)
TR Close To Home (Inspector Banks, #13)
3* Playing With Fire (Inspector Banks, #14)
3* Strange Affair (Inspector Banks, #15)
3* Piece Of My Heart (Inspector Banks, #16)
3* Friend Of The Devil (Inspector Banks, #17)
TR All The Colours Of Darkness (Inspector Banks, #18)
TR Bad Boy (Inspector Banks, #19)

Read from September 23 to 24, 2012