BookTalk
Book Talk with Smiffs book & card store , Nerja
Meantime ( h ) by Frankie Boyle . Marina Katos ’ s body is found in a park and the police don ’ t seem to know or care who committed the crime . In a haze of tranquillisers , hallucinogens and Valium , her best friend Felix McAveety decides to solve the murder . To break through his drug-induced fog and get closer to the truth Felix enlists the help of a dying crime novelist , Jane Pickford , and his crisis-ridden friend Donnie . Their quest takes them into the dark heart of Scottish politics , the orbit of drug dealers , and the matrix of AI , encountering Independence activists , the intelligence services and stalkers , as they seek justice for Marina .
Meantime leads off this month ’ s Soltalk Hotlist of titles , some entirely new , others moving into small paperback format for the first time or being reissued , sometimes after years out of print . All are due for publication on dates in August , with availability in print this month or in early September . The Hotlist helps readers to budget for and plan book ordering .
The Bloodless Boy ( p ) by Robert J Lloyd . London , 1678 . New Year ’ s Day . The body of a young boy , drained of his blood and with a sequence of numbers inscribed on his skin , is discovered on the bank of the Fleet River . With London gripped by hysteria , where rumours of Catholic plots and sinister foreign assassins abound , Sir Edmund Bury Godfrey , the powerful Justice of Peace for Westminster , is certain of Catholic guilt in the crime . He enlists Robert Hooke , the Curator of Experiments of the Royal Society , and his assistant , Harry Hunt , to help . Hooke and Hunt must discover why the boy was murdered . Moreover , what does the cipher mean ?
The Line ( p ) by Rachel Lynch . International bestseller Rachel Lynch returns with ‘ The Line ’, the second novel featuring Royal Military Police detective Major Helen Scott . On a sunny morning , when the Mediterranean is dead calm , Captain Paul Thomas embarks on a dive to the wreck of the Zenobia , off the coast of Larnaca , Cyprus . Within hours , he has taken a final , gasping breath in an accident below the surface . A new Royal Military
Police liaison is required to pick up on his work , and Major Helen Scott gets the assignment . It turns out Paul Thomas had rattled cages during his current case - four serving soldiers are in custody accused of the leaking of state intelligence ...
Psycho by The Sea ( p ) by Lynne Truss . It ’ s September in Brighton and the town is playing host to weeks of endless rain and lashings of villainy . A trusted member of a local gang has disappeared part way through planning a huge heist ; a violent criminal obsessed with hunting policemen has escaped Broadmoor and is rumoured to be headed towards the town , while at Gosling ’ s department store an American researcher has been found dead in the music section . Inspector Steine has other things on his mind as he typically bathes in unearned glory , but Sergeant Brunswick and Constable ‘ Clever Clogs ’ Twitten are both on the case . If only they could work out just who is behind these dastardly acts .
The Long Answer ( h ) by Anna Hogeland . Twelve weeks pregnant for the first time , Anna speaks to her sister on the other side of the country and learns she has just miscarried her second child . As this loss strains their bond , and complications with Anna ’ s own pregnancy emerge , her tenuous steps towards motherhood are shadowed and illuminated by the women she meets along the way , whose stories of the babies they have had , or longed for , or lost , crowd in . ‘ The Long Answer ’ is a stunning novel of secrets kept , and secrets shared . Deeply empathetic and hugely absorbing , it unravels the intimate dynamics of female friendship , sisterhood , motherhood and grief .
Murder Under her Skin ( p ) by Stephen Spotswood . New York , 1946 : The last time Will Parker let a case get personal , she walked away with a broken face , a bruised ego , and the solemn promise never again to let her heart get in the way of her job . But she called Hart and Halloway ’ s Travelling Circus and Sideshow home for five years , and Ruby Donner , the circus ’ s tattooed ingenue , was her friend . To make matters
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