Starling House - Alix E. Harrow

Another week, another visit to the dentist. The filling I had last week had 'lifted' so it was kind of loose and scratching the inside of my cheek, but still in firmly enough to need drilling out, and altogether it's been a nuisance. I now have a new filling and a lot of paranoia as my dentist clearly has no faith in this one lasting any longer than the 4 days the previous effort managed. She's away on holiday next week but assured me one of her colleagues would do a temporary fix if needed. Not encouraging. 

Starling House was my Cheltenham book and read mostly for work. I came at it with limited expectations but ended up really enjoying it. It's an excellent autumn choice - full of Gothic (specifically Southern Gothic) atmosphere. It riffs smartly on Beauty and the Beast and the Hades and Persephone myth whilst making something almost benign out of the haunted house trope. 

Opal Jewell lost her mother 10 years ago, since then she's done lied, forged, and connived her way to keeping her brother with her and getting by with the hope she can find a way out of their small town, dead-end life for him. Then one day she finds the gates of Starling House open for her - it and it's owner have a decidedly grim reputation in town, but it calls to her one outcast to another. She takes up a suspiciously well-paid job there as a cleaner and gets a much closer look at some of the house's secrets. 

Unfortunately for all Opal isn't the only one interested in those secrets. There's a threatening corporate outfit who would also very much like to know what Starling House is and how they can exploit it, and they're an entirely credible threat. Harrow also explores the legacy of slavery, abuse, and generational trauma, but with a reasonably light hand. It's enough to give the book substance without overwhelming the reader in misery. Overall the book is a slow burner with a lot of atmosphere balancing the early lack of action. 

The tropes and influences are well warn, but Starling House does it better than most of the examples I can think of, so I don't mind that at all. Harrow has written Young Adult in the past and the only real criticism I have of this book is that her main characters read a good few years younger than their stated ages of late 20s and early 30s. In a charitable mood, I could put that down to their personal histories - Opal's younger brother seems more mature than she does, so maybe she's meant to read like this. It's probably also part of what makes this feel like a book that would be suitable for anyone from youngish teen upwards, and after a summer of fantasy books heavy on smut and violence, it's been a relief to read something more thoughtful and low-key.

Altogether a hit for me; a smart, well crafted, Gothic fairy tale with excellent world building and convincingly fallible characters. I'd describe it as solid rather than brilliant, and mean it as a compliment.

A Lively Midwinter Murder - Katy Watson

I'm more or less over my Cheltenham cold - still coughing but mercifully no longer snotty, and wondering how it's almost half way through October already. I'm normally a bit further ahead with Christmas plans by now but I'm not really feeling it this year - except for the Christmas books which are filtering in at work and turning me thoughts somewhat festive. Or murderous seeing as it's crime and dark folklore I'm mostly being drawn towards. 

A Lively Midwinter Murder is the fourth outing for the 3 Dahlias, as a series it continues to go from strength to strength. Do our actresses meet a more than statistically likely amount of murders - yes, but it's not as if celebrity circles are scandal or crime-free. The motivation in this book is also the most compelling one yet. The setting is atmospheric and fun, the characters continue to develop into believable people, and the further involvement of the ladies various partners is a nice touch - it makes those relationships more convincing as well. 

I really like the way Katy Watson evokes golden age atmosphere and tropes in a contemporary setting as well. Not everybody can carry this trick off as well as she does, and I'm wondering if the key here is the strong friendship between the 3 Dahlia's themselves. I can't think of another series or book that has this mix of 3 women of different ages negotiating life, love, and career whilst solving crime together. If anyone has a recommendation though, I'd love to hear it. 

The central friendship is far more important than any background romances which also makes a pleasant change. I love the relationship between Lord Peter and Harriet Vane as much as the next person, and between every other detective and their significant other, or the relationship between Lord Peter and his Bunter for that matter (and so on) but an equal friendship without social hierarchy, gender, or job in the way is a nice touch. 

In short, an excellent Christmas mystery with ruined weddings, snow storms, ghost stories, a Scottish castle, mince pies, and murder for lovers of the cosier sort of crime to look forward to this November (I've only just realised that I read an advanced review copy and didn't think to check the publication date until this moment)

Cheltenham Literature Festival Set Up

I spent last week helping set up for Cheltenham Literature festival - it;s one of the oldest, and though I can't easily find specific information on this, I think probably one of the UKs largest too - there are 400 events over 10 days with some really big names attached in venues all over the town as well as the Montpellier gardens sight, it's definitely not small.

It's by far the largest thing I've been involved in, and it was fascinating. We built 3 bookshops from the floor up, 2 of them on a grand scale in 4 days, Moved tons of stock and furniture, and saw some of the effort that goes into making something like this come together. I left on the first day of events as work needed me back in Leicester - I have mixed feelings about leaving halfway through. I loved the setup and meeting colleagues, and as a Cheltenham first-timer, it was good to have the more gentle introduction before all the crazy stuff that can go wrong with live events kicked in - the last-minute cancellations are wild. I also caught a cold that would have made the next few days miserable...

On the other hand I'm missing some amazing events and the chance to say hello to some people I'd love to have met. But there will be other opportunities to do that, and I'm more inclined to go to a book festival as a paying customer after this. As a none driver I've looked at headline events and train fairs in the past and thought no. Hours of cross checking events over the last few days has taught me that the majority of the things I want to see would not be headline events and are fairly reasonably priced - I'd think about it for next year.

The best thing might well have been seeing all the books - more stock than we have in our local branch across all the sights and an emphasis on new titles with supporting backlist for speakers, not all of which we will see in Leicester. I knew this about books generally, but unpacking pallet after pallet of them is something like looking through old photograph albums. Books about art, books about wine, books written by people I'm friendly with, books published by people I'm friendly with, books about people I've crossed paths with, books I've loved, and books I've loathed. Day to day this is not how I interact with stock at work where it's the odd thing that strikes a chord. On this scale the whole orchestra was playing. 

How To Solve Your Own Murder - Kristen Perrin

I picked this up mostly because I liked the cover and there's a bit of buzz about it - it looked like it was going to be a decent easy read at the cosier end of the crime scale. And more or less it is exactly that, but a quote from the mail that says "This has a Netflix series written all over it..." probably more or less sums it up. There's lots of great visuals in here and an intriguing plot, it would televise nicely, but it doesn't quite hang together as a book. 

I didn't check until I'd finished reading but Kristen Perrin is American, she moved to England to do a masters and then a PHD after several years as a bookseller. It probably explains a few of the anomalies - the most glaring of which seems to be a lack of understanding of how titles and property are handed down through British aristocracy, or inheritance tax. 

I'm not sure who exactly this book is aimed at, cosy crime suggests middle age to me (because I'm middle aged and I don't like violent psychological crime thrillers, but plenty of my contemporaries do so that's worth very little), but the cover maybe suggests a younger more design-conscious, bookstagram, reader. They may not be particularly well-versed in the inequities of primo geniture either for all I know, but I grew up on Jane Austen before moving on to Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West. 

I suppose there might be a world where a small English Village had two ambulances stationed in it, but not one where paramedics commonly worked alone - who hasn't seen enough Casulty to understand that? And the 60s might have been swinging in London and the bigger cities, but attitudes towards sex outside of marriage for middle-class girls in the counties took a long time to catch up, and so did the availability of condoms. There's a very sketchy understanding of the current art market too. 

The premise of How To Solve Your Own Murder is that in 1965 three teenage girls have their fortune read at the village fair, one is told her future contains dry bones and she will be murdered. She takes it to heart, and after another one of the three goes missing she dedicates her life to solving that mystery and evading her own fate. Eventually, more than half a century later she is murdered just as her great-niece has been sent for as a new potential heiress - she might be the right daughter mentioned in the fortune who will bring justice. 

Annie is an unemployed would be crime novelist living in a Chelsea mansion with her artist mother on the charity of Great Aunt Frances. She seems a bit flakey, the terms of the will say if she solves her great aunt's murder within a week and before the police or the other potential heir - I don't think this is a will that would stand up in court. Much of the detection work revolves around reading Frances' diaries that Annie has discovered from the summer of 1965, and these flashbacks are probably the best bit of the book, the characters come alive, and the plot holes are less glaring. 

This is the first in a planned series, it will probably do well, and there are worse things out there, but it fell flat for me. The resolution to the 1960s murder is flimsy, and half an hour's research would have cleared up some silly errors - that nobody thought it worth checking any of these details made me, as a reader, feel taken for granted. 

Martini - Alice Lascelles

If 20 years in the wine trade gave me a really strong set of prejudices about anything it centres around making cocktails at home. When it comes to most things wine, beers, or spirit related there isn't a right or wrong - if that odd food match works for you go for it. Buy the wine you enjoy, drink whatever neon-hued liqueur takes your fancy (there may be mild prejudice there), and if a mass produced lager appeals more than an artisanal brew - well, you get the idea. 

With cocktails and most things pertaining to them I strongly believe there's a right and a wrong way to go about things, partly born out of bitter and expensive experience in the early days of learning about them using crappy 80s guides and not great ingredients. 

the first rule to observe is that unless you're prepared to invest serious time, money, and effort, leave the really fancy stuff for going out to a really fancy bar. The second is to start with a good book. Alice Lascelles writes very good books full of really practical advice and her deep dive into the Martini is a joy.

If ever there was a drink designed to tweak into your own signature serve it's a Martini. It's veered from super dry to sweet and fruity over its long life - where hits the spot for you is a matter of personal judgement, there's a good bit of fun to be had in working that out. 

So going back to rule 2, and what makes this such a good book is the way it breaks everything down and covers all the practicalities. For a drink that can be neat gin or vodka the details matter - starting with ice, working through glassware, and finishing up with ingredients. For most of us, all of these things need to be sensibly priced - and that's exactly what Lascelles recommends. Glasses that aren't too large - you don't want your Martini to have time to warm up (and I don't want it in knock-out quantities either) mid-priced, and easily available, ice trays that work well, and make decent sized cubes - the details matter.

The choice of ingredients is smart here too, easily available, premium but not super premium spirits, and discussion around the differences different vermouths make to a drink. There's also a useful guide to the properties of vermouth and that it doesn't keep well - so one bottle at a time and take the time to consider which flavour profile works for you. 

From there the recipes come with tips for garnishes and how to prepare them, and an entertaining little potted bio of each iteration. I love this book, I've loved reading it, am looking forward to drinking from it, and am planning on giving it widely this Christmas to stylish friends who imbibe. It ticks all the boxes. 

A New Jumper

I've knitted a few jumpers now and got past the early failures of too big, too long, and generally unwearable to a reasonable sense of what works for me, so this time I decided to try without an actual pattern to follow, although I did look at Donna Smith's Peerie Leaves for a general size guide. Very general because the Jamieson and Smith 5 ply doesn't equate to the DK that pattern uses so there was added guesswork for the number of stitches to cast on. I used 4mm needles too, which I like for this because I prefer a lighter fabric that I can layer. I'm sorely tempted to order a couple more cones straight away to start a second jumper on smaller needles for when I want something slightly more windproof though. 

Basically I'm happy with the result except for the neck. Long story short I should have added at least another 18 stitches to it, I went down a needle size first time thinking the tighter knit would help with structure. It was too tight so I had to rip it back, and definitely dropped some stitches in the process. I did not manage to effectively pick them all back up so after I'd knitted the neck for a second time and finally clicked on where I'd gone wrong (it should have had another pattern repeat/18 stitches) I didn't want to risk ripping back again. 

More than anything though I've fallen in love with the yarn. It's lovely to knit with, the colors are fabulous, and it feels great. It's not as grippy as the shetland yarns I'm used to - hence the slipped stitches on the neck but I cannot wait to wear this or to knit more with the 5 ply. It's probably for the best that I can't call in to the shop right now, there's zero chance I'd exercise even a minimum of self restraint. If I order online I do at least have to meet the postman's eye and all the judgement I imagine I'm seeing there. This is the work postman, a genuinely nice man who yet manages to make the most ordinary conversation sound threatening.

Anyway, I strongly recommend trying the 5 ply. It comes in 50g balls and 250g cones. For a jumper to fit a UK size 20 with negative ease I used just over 1.5 cones of the main colour, maybe 20 -25g each of the other colours. Unless you're seriously skinny and like a fairly cropped jumper you would definitely want 2 cones for any larger project. 

Long Live Evil - Sarah Rees Brennan

I have a weakness for a cosy sort of fantasy that doesn't take itself or the genre too seriously but does treat it with affection and respect. It started with Terry Pratchett at a formative age and has been reignited by the current vogue for this particular subgenre. Some books have been better than others, Long Live Evil, which I listened to while knitting surprised me with how much I liked it. It doesn't do anything particularly new, but it does it much better than a few other examples I can think of. 

Rae is a 20 year old woman dying of cancer with pretty much only her younger sister by her side. Het father abandoned the family when the going got to tough, and her mother is too busy working to try and pay medical bills (it is an American book). Her friends have moved on and it's all fairly bleak, when one day a mysterious woman tells her she can have a second chance in her favourite book series - if she retrieves a mystical flower in the book she'll be cured in her own world. 

It sounds like nonsense, but what do you do but humour a mysterious stranger, even on your deathbed. So nobody is more surprised than Rae when she wakes up in Time of Iron, as a villainess. Unfortunately, she never really read the first book in the series properly, it was her sister's favourite first, becoming something they shared. She's listened to her sister read it to her, but not very closely so there's a lot of very hazy detail. 

Even more unfortunately she does remember that the character she's currently inhabiting is due to be executed the next day, but Rae isn't going to give up on her second chance so easily no matter what it does to the plot - which spins further and further away from her. 

Chaos ensues. Sarah Rees Brennan is transitioning from YA to adult here, and does it well. She interrogates fandom and it's obsessive nature, but with enough good humour to see the good as well as the bad in it. She has fun with her characters and discusses some reasonably dark themes, but avoids smut - this wouldn't be inappropriate for her younger audience to read. I found this one fun and look forward to book two and seeing where she takes her story next. 

Seven Lively Suspects - Katy Watson

It's been an up and down kind of week - I've been having problems with my foot that I'd been assured by consultant were arthritis and would be helped by a steroid injection. After a very long wait, I finally had an appointment for that injection on Monday. Just before needles were brandished it turned out that over almost 2 years of consultations and scans (4 appointments in that time) they had the wrong foot. No injection, the arthritis in my left foot isn't bad enough to warrant it and it wouldn't have done anything for the actual problem in my right foot. So back to the beginning but with much less mobility and much more pain than I had 2 years ago. I'm both angry and upset which is a poor combination online. 

I'm making good progress on a jumper though and been listening to a couple of audio books whilst I do it. I've been sent a review copy of A Very Lively Midwinter Murder which made me realise I hadn't read this one yet. It's still in hardback and I didn't like book 2 in the series enough to want to buy it until the paperback release. 

I enjoyed Seven Lively Suspects far more than A Very Lively Murder - which was okay (thoughts here) which I felt lacked character development and had too high a body count. Seven Lively Suspects reins back considerably on the murder and does much better by its 3 main characters who are really starting to come to life. With book 5 due out in the spring this series clearly has no shortage of ideas to play with.

The charm of book one was in the 3 strong female leads - all actresses who have played or are playing the same fictional detective (Dahlia Lively) along with the references to various golden age crime writers - Agatha Christie in an obvious candidate but in book one there were references to Dorothy L. Sayers, and in this book I thought I saw parallels to Josephine Tey. If there were similar references in book 2 I missed them. 

Here our actress detectives are asked to join a true crime podcast set to re-examine a cold case, Caro the middle Dahlia has a connection to the case in that she testified against the presumed culprit and helped send him to prison. The mix of guilt and fear she feels is persuasive, and so is the friendship between the three Dahlias.

 The mystery hangs together nicely, I guessed the wrong murderer, and Caro's, now a true crime writer herself, appropriation of Katy Watson's books is another amusing touch as is the literary festival setting. Cosy crime isn't normally my thing but I like this series for its homage to the golden age and the fun it has with what it's doing. I didn't like the narration of the audio book - I found the tone mildly annoying, the accents felt off, and the humour over stressed. It wasn't enough to stop me from listening, but enough to think I'm much better off reading the physical book. 

Shetland with Laurie Goodlad and Otter Spotting

Shetland Your Essential Travel Guide by Laure Goodlad is the latest book from Misa Hay's 60 North Publishing project. If you're planning a trip to Shetland it's definitely worth giving Laurie a follow on Instagram, and ordering her book either direct from 60 North or through the Shetland Times bookshop. I bought it as soon as I got up there with the definite intention of doing something I'd never done before. After consulting the book and my general level of fitness (arthritis is playing hell with my right foot, and I can't currently walk as far as I'd like and really not very far off road - I'm scheduled for an injection to help with the pain a week today) I thought a sea bird tour around Noss would be perfect.

Unfortunately, the weather had other ideas, it was sunny for most of our time in Shetland, but also windy enough on the free days I had not to be ideal for a boat trip. Next time. Meanwhile the book is full of excellent walks, info for shopping for wool and knitwear, things to see, photography tips, heritage attractions and more. The size is sensible, the weather advice is another excellent feature, and altogether it's a thoroughly useful and engaging guide book.

An actual highlight of the holiday was spending the best part of an hour on a sunny afternoon Otter watching though and there are tips for that in Lauries book too. 

She lists some great possible spots in Lerwick, the best times of day to see them, and gives a bit of solid advice - if you really want to be sure of seeing an Otter book a nature guide. I learned this when I went to Mull and didn't see a Sea Eagle - it feels like everyone else I know just saw them hanging out, so I thought I might get lucky too. Sadly not and if I ever go to Mull again I'm doing a nature tour because I really don't know enough about Sea Eagle habits to have a clue about where to start.

I do know a bit about Otters though, and I'm pretty good at spotting them. Shetland is a great place to do it, it has the highest concentration of otters in Europe and a lot of water close at hand - which otters like. Watching the sea is a good strategy for Shetland anyway - there are seals, an excellent chance of whales, dolphins, and porpoises, and a whole raft of birds to spot quite apart from an otter. 

Spending a bit of time observing seals is worthwhile - once you know what they look like in the water you'll know that's not what you're seeing when you spot an otter. My next tip is to go for a good walk along the coast - look for lots of crab shells, sea urchin shells, and possible otter spraint - otters are messy eaters when it comes to leftovers. From there the best time to see them is either side of low tide - look for good rocks with plenty of kelp around them and then sit downwind from the sea.

Otters don't see very well so if your spot is a good one you might end up getting quite a close encounter. If you see one in the water you can move closer to the shoreline whilst they're diving, but be respectful of their space - it's their home, not ours. 

New Scottish Baking - Sue Lawrence

I didn't think to take a photograph of it, the tent was busy and sometimes you just want to enjoy the moment, but a hotly contested category in the Shetland agricultural shows is best Sultana cake baked by a Gentleman. We hit it lucky and managed to shows in the time we were up north - Cunningsburgh and my local show - Walls (Waas). Dad entered his sultana cake, delicious but unplaced along with a couple of other friends one of whom swiped first prize. I'm not saying dad is bitter about this, but I'm not saying he's not either. 

Doug is now determined to get in an entry next year and so I bought Sue Lawrence's 'New Scottish Baking, because if anyone was going to have a really classic, hopefully show winning as well as stopping, sultana cake it's surelySue Lawrence. Her recipe is based on her mother's and she also mentions similarly simple cakes from the 18th century. It's a simple recipe with no fancy tricks, so will rely very much on the baker making a good job of the business. I'm very much looking forward to the results.

It would have been an expensive book for a single recipe for a fairly standard cake so it's lucky there's a whole lot of good interesting sounding things in here, though at times I'm not sure what makes something Scottish. I'm looking at you artichoke heart and thyme bread, and you Pain aux Raisen, and Pecan Pie is getting some side eye too. I made a Pecan Pie with my sister last week so I should probably let it pass and save my questions for the two separate brownie recipes (it feels like one too many to me). It's not that any of these things sounds less than delicious so much as that I do  not associate pain aux raisins with Scottish home or cafe cooking. 

On the other hand who am I to argue with Sue who knows far more about her subject than I do. I'm on safer ground with Aberdeen butteries (a salty fatty thing that my husband loves and I don't) an excellent range of shortbreads, a particularly intriguing bannock that comes out on the shortbread end of the scale, a lot of scones, oatcakes, and roasted rhubarb, orange and ginger blondies. The concept of the blondie doesn't often appeal, but a rhubarb and ginger version does. It fits the tray bake tradition and the ability of rhubarb to thrive in the highlands and islands. The gentleman who won first prize for his rhubarb at the show told me his patch was well over a hundred years old.

There's a tomato and black pudding (Stornoway of course) tart that's also caught my attention, so altogether I'm delighted with this book and looking forward to making good use of it. I might even see if this pecan pie is a better version than the one  I've been using for the last 20 years.