The Stone Circle (The Dr. Ruth Galloway Mysteries #11) by Elly Griffiths.

Follow Dr. Ruth Galloway as she helps solve a mystery in Norfolk. Although this is the eleventh book in the series, it can be read as a standalone. Ruth is a forensic archaeologist and her skills are vital in getting to the truth.

I have enjoyed reading the Dr. Ruth Galloway series and the usual cast of characters return to this novel. This gives a very cosy reading experience as it is very much like watching the latest series of Cold Feet on ITV1 television. All the characters are well developed and grow older together. The whole feel of this book is one of friends and family with a work/life balance nicely woven into the story.

I like how Elly uses real locations in her books, it adds so much to the story. Not only do we have real locations but also local culture and legends to enhance her tale. For example…

‘It’s an old Norfolk tradition,’ says Tom Henty, the desk sergeant who has been at the station for as long as anyone can remember. ‘Three knocks on the door and, when you go to answer it, there’s nobody there but Jack Valentine has left a present, usually in a brown paper bag.’ ‘I’ve never heard of that tradition,’ says Clough, halfway through his second breakfast of the day, ‘and I was born and brought up in Norfolk.’ ‘It’s an east Norfolk thing,’ says Tom. ‘I was born in Yarmouth.’

Elly is a master at how she sets a scene and is very descriptive, making you imagine that you are there. For example…

Ruth’s cottage is one of three at the very edge of the marshes. Her only neighbours are an itinerant Indigenous Australian poet and a London family who only visit for the occasional weekend. The road is often flooded in winter and, when it snows, you can be cut off for days.

The Saltmarsh is a bird sanctuary and, in the autumn, you can see great flocks of geese coming in to hibernate.

I found The Stone Circle to be a cosy mystery which has some soft humour along the way. For example…

At least she has arranged to meet Cathbad and his son, Michael, and, after their swim, the children play in the circle of hell known as the Soft Play Area and the adults drink something frothy which may or may not contain coffee.

The Stone Circle was a GOOD read for me and having read other books in the series, felt like a session on Facebook catching up with friends and family. I found it warm, awfully British and very easy to relate to. The Stone Circle was a comfortable read and gets 4 stars from me.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Quercus Books for giving me a copy of this book on the understanding that I provide an honest review.

Who Killed Anne-Marie? By C.M. Thompson.

Anne-Marie likes a drink and her anti-social behaviour is causing problems in her neighbourhood. One day Anne-Marie is found dead and everyone wonders who killed Anne-Marie.

This book is a mystery set somewhere in Britain. The author is careful not to reveal any locations, everywhere is generic, the city, the street, the park, the shops etc. This is a shame as the whole book is so obviously British, she could have had so much extra added value by using real locations.

Character development is very good. By the end of the novel you really get to know Anne-Marie and her husband Daniel. It is a shame about the book’s title because you know before you start reading that Anne-Marie will not make it to the end. But slowly the story develops and we learn how Anne-Marie and Daniel have been living and what sort of marriage they hold. Then when Anne-Marie dies, the mystery deepens until all is revealed very near the end.

I liked how C.M. Thompson explored the dynamics of marriage and how couples cope with the pet hates of their partners. I liked how she dealt with the problems that can be caused by alcoholics. I liked how she featured the love that can be shared within a relationship when partners are strongly aware of each others bad points.

I liked how her husband and wife appeared very real. They are not glamorous but refreshingly ordinary. It niggles me when female characters are beauty queens and faultless in their appearance and actions. Anne-Marie is your normal, ordinary, heavy drinker and it made me smile when I got to the part…

Anne-Marie has been wearing the same faded grey pyjamas since Tuesday; not last Tuesday or the Tuesday before, but over a month ago last Tuesday. She is barely wearing them anyway: she has lost so much weight, they hang loosely off her scraggly frame. She is vaguely aware that she smells. She knows her hair is in dire need of a wash and she has split ends on her split ends but she just can’t bring herself to give a flying fuck.

...Anne-Marie is not a celebrity model, she is dirty, scruffy and smelly! And her poor husband Daniel tries his best and when I got to this bit, I understood his plight and had great sympathy for him…

If he tried to watch TV, she would be there endlessly asking questions; if he tried to involve her, she would want alone time. If he cooked, she wasn’t hungry. If he ordered in food, then she was sick of take-aways. If something was left lying around, it wasn’t anything to do with her. If he tidied something away, she was using that, THANK you. Everything he did or said was wrong. Then he made the mistake of having a beer. He just wanted to turn off a little, it had been a hard day at work and he was very tired. He had tried to do it in secret but she had caught him. You would have thought he was hiding the crown jewels from her, the way she started. Then she wanted one. Just one.

...So Anne-Marie and Daniel bumbled along in their marriage enjoying many hours of drinking, over-eating and watching television. The three things we have shared in our marriage over the last 27 years!

I enjoyed reading Who Killed Anne-Marie? and I thought it was a GOOD mystery. There were plenty of suspects but the focus was on how Daniel was getting on and being a husband, it felt very easy to stand in his shoes as the pages swept by. I found this book a GOOD read, so it gets 4 stars from me.

Who Killed Anne-Marie? was written in 2018 and is available as an Amazon Kindle eBook.

In at the Deep End by Kate Davies.

Follow Julia who is 26 years old and is single. She lives in London but has not had sex for 3 years. Julia decides her dry patch has lasted for too long and jumps In at the Deep End to have some fun in her life.

I was really attracted to the cover of this book. It shows two red chilli peppers arranged together to let the reader imagine they were labia. In at the Deep End gets off to a great start from the first paragraph by informing the reader of Julia’s sex life.

The writing style within this book is jolly and the mild humour will make you smile. For example…

Staring into my eyes, he went to push himself into me. He missed. ‘Jesus. That’s never happened before,’ he said. He picked up his penis and guided himself in, frowning as though he was trying to assemble a particularly tricky piece of IKEA furniture.

I liked how this novel was not just about sex. Character development of Julia was very good and I found it very easy to enter her world of work, flat sharing, friends and family. In at the Deep End is Kate’s debut novel but it does not show. Kate is a great storyteller and her book is an intelligent read. I loved all the observations and social commentary. I found the novel to be very well written and although there was a fair amount of sex within the pages, there was no dumbing down of language or content. This is a quality read that I found to be enjoyable, fun and informative.

In at the Deep End guides you into a lesbian lifestyle and demystifies how women can find love. This book allows the reader to access a lifestyle they may have no knowledge about, it is a kind of Lesbians for Beginners. Kate’s outline of sexual acts are told with skill and were not gross and do not make the reader feel uncomfortable.

I loved the explanation of the lesbian lifestyle and it’s culture. I now know the importance of a toaster to lesbians. Because of my age, work, family and friends, I already knew there were many different types of lesbians but this book also mentions by name the different types. Going about your everyday life would you be able to spot the differences between butches, femmes, pillow queens and bull dykes?

I thought the explanation of polygamy within the lesbian scene to be very helpful to heterosexual readers. I thought polygamists were just greedy people who wanted lots and lots of sex, with one partner never being enough for them. I have NEVER strayed away from my wife and would not dream of it. But In at the Deep End does offer the opposite view which helped me to understand why some people are polygamists when Kate writes…

‘I wouldn’t want to limit myself to one woman. It would be like only eating cheese sandwiches for the rest of your life. Sometimes you just want pastrami, don’t you? Which is why I’m non-monogamous.’

...I loved reading In at the Deep End and found it a pleasure to read. Kate’s writing is so good that I just imagined I was Julia and thoroughly enjoyed playing her part in this story. For an author to make the reader feel they are the central character of a novel is really good. For a reader to identify with Julia because they are a woman, or in their 20’s or a lesbian is very, very good. For a 60 year old, heterosexual married man to feel as though he is Julia having all this fun, is absolutely BRILLIANT. I felt really included and could live out a lesbian sex life from the comfort of my armchair. I thoroughly enjoyed reading In at the Deep End, so it gets the top score of 5 stars from me. Only thing is trying to keep a straight face when moving past red chilli peppers in ASDA but I can live with that.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher HarperCollins UK for giving me a copy of this book on the understanding that I provide an honest review.