***** (Audiobook) When wealthy and eccentric widow Mary Emsley is found dead at her home on 17th August 1860, the resulting murder inquiry grips the nation. Faced with several suspects, the police home in on two individuals, finally narrowing it down to one man – James Mullins. Convicted and hanged for the killing, the Mullins…
Category: Audiobook
‘They All Love Jack’ by Bruce Robinson
They All Love Jack (Audiobook) Ever since a mysterious figure ripped his way through the East End of London in the late 1880s, writers and filmmakers have focused on the identity of the perpetrator. The mystery of Jack the Ripper still exudes a fascination to…
Amateur Sleuth, Animals, Audiobook, Book Reviews, Children's Books, Classic, Crime, detective, Indie Authors, murder, mystery, Psychological
Best Reads of 2019
Over the course of the last twelve months, I’ve read 97 books. This includes paperbacks, eBooks, hardbacks and a few audiobooks, but doesn’t include those where I gave up after the first couple of chapters. What follows is a list of some of the more memorable reads, though isn’t intended to be definitive or in…
‘I Talk Too Much’ by Francis Rossi
I Talk Too Much I’ve been a Status Quo fan since the early seventies, and while I haven’t seen them live since 1980, I’ve always loved their music. Having said that, I did feel a little sceptical about reading this book, as whenever I saw them interviewed, Rossi often came across as a bit aloof…
‘On Writing’ by Stephen King
On Writing (Audiobook) While out for a walk In June 1999, Stephen King was hit by a van. It was only after several major operations that he was able to start writing again. ‘On Writing’ is the story of how King picked himself up from this near tragedy, as well as recalling the many steps…
‘Born a Crime’ by Trevor Noah
Born a Crime Trevor Noah’s childhood began with a crime – born of a black Xhosa mother and a white Swiss father, the young lad risked being taken away by the Government simply for being the wrong colour. Growing up in South Africa in the latter days of apartheid and the unrestrained freedom that followed…
‘The Invention of Murder’ by Judith Flanders
The Invention of Murder With its subtitle – ‘How the Victorians Revelled in Death and Detection and Created Modern Crime’, this book traces the British public’s interest in murder as a sort of national entertainment. Though the book’s title clearly suggests we’re talking about the Victorian period (1837-1901), Ms Flanders begins her romp through the…
‘Zodiac’ by Robert Graysmith
Zodiac 1968 – a hooded mass murderer terrifies the city of San Francisco and the Bay Area with a series of apparently random and vicious killings. From his first teenage victims, shot dead in a lover’s lane, he goes on to kill at least six people, though the real figure could be as high as…
‘The Monster Collection’ by Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker, Robert Louis Stevenson
The Monster Collection (Audiobook) Audio presentation of three classic Gothic tales, including Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Bram Stoker’s Dracula. I read these books as a teenager, though the only one I actually remember reading is Dracula. Given the plethora of film and TV…
‘Labyrinth’ by Kate Mosse
Labyrinth (Audiobook) Carcassonne, 1209. When a young woman is given a mysterious book by her father, she begins a quest to uncover an ancient mystery – the secret of the true Grail. Twelve hundred years later, archaeology volunteer Alice Tanner finds two skeletons in a cave in the French Pyrenees. Realising there’s something familiar about…
Colin Garrow 