Five in May

 I read five books in May.

 

Games and Rituals by Katherine Heiny

This is Katherine Heiny’s second book of short stories. I’ve been waiting for it and it did not disappoint. Inevitably some appealed more than others but all had the writing style I’ve come to love after reading her two novels Standard Deviation (three times so far) and Early Morning Riser (twice). 

 

The Crystal Crypt by Fiona Veitch Smith

A fun read with a 1920s amateur sleuth Poppy Denby. The sixth in a series but the first I’ve read. Here she is asked to investigate the mysterious death of an up-and-coming female scientist in an Oxford laboratory known as the Crystal Crypt.

 

 

Christmas is Murder by Val McDermid

Hardly seasonal, I know, but I bought this very pretty copy in the Christian Aid Book Sale and just got stuck in to this ‘festive collection of chilling tales’.

 

The Villa in Italy by Elizabeth Edmondson

I paid my first visit to Italy (Sicily) in February so the country is on my radar. Four people, previously unknown to each other, have been mentioned in the will of a woman, of whom none of them have ever heard. They have to spend time in her villa to find out why. I did keep reading to find the solution – but the reasons the legatees were brought together were convoluted and the whole thing pretty unlikely, but hey, that’s fiction for you.

 

 

Far Off in Sunlit Place: Stories of the Scots in Australia and New Zealand by Jim Hewitson

Another Christian Aid Book Sale purchase and a book I’ve wanted to read since it first came out many years ago. I’ve read other, academic, books on the fascinating subject of the Scottish diaspora – this one, while undoubtedly involving a great deal of research, is at the popular end of the history scale and extremely readable.