The Mitford Murders by Jessica Fellowes
(Sphere, £12.99)
Remarkably assured and with pitch-perfect period detail for English life in 1919, this story is set around the Mitford family, although only Nancy, aged 16, is to the fore. A First World War nurse is murdered and nursery maid Louisa gets on the trail; the villain is unexpected. More Mitford books to follow from Country Life’s former Deputy Editor and niece of Downton Abbey’s Julian Fellowes.
A Patient Fury by Sarah Ward
(Faber & Faber, £12.99)
The story is atmospherically set in Derbyshire and involves the death of a family in a house fire, with a complicated police procedural over the various officers working on the triple murder. The killer seems obvious – the usual suicide after the murders – but DC Connie Childs thinks this solution is too easy. Good stuff.
The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz
(Century, £20)
An unusual crime story about a rich woman who is murdered shortly after organising her own funeral. It’s unusual in that Mr Horowitz casts himself as the protagonist, mixing quite a bit of biography into the fiction. I enjoyed his portrayal of the grumpy and secretive Hawthorne, a former policeman who picks the author as a ghost writer. It keeps you guessing until the excellent solution.
Robicheaux by James Lee Burke
(Orion, £19.99)
This is the author’s 21st book starring his detective Dave Robicheaux. As always, it’s set in Louisiana, which is really the star of the story. The characters are mostly murderers and mobsters – some, such as the assassin who steals an ice-cream van to feed poor children, with good in them. The villains are not all villainous, the heroes not all heroic.
The Wife by Alafair Burke
(Faber & Faber, £12.99)
This is extremely timely. The famous husband of the wife in the title, Jason Powell, is accused of ‘inappropriate touching’ and his accuser is shortly joined by another, who claims rape. With the ‘he said, she said’ accusations, it’s almost impossible to tell if he’s guilty. Then, the second accuser is murdered. Gripping stuff with an unexpected denouement by an expert writer (daughter of James Lee Burke, see above) who teaches criminal law in America.
I’ll Keep You Safe by Peter May
(Riverrun, £18.99)
Niamh and Ruaraidh Macfarlane weave Ranish Tweed on the island of Harris. Thanks to a fashion designer, it’s become world famous. If you love the atmosphere of the Hebrides and have an ear for the Gaelic (there’s a helpful guide to pronunciation), this is for you. I can also vouch for the authenticity of the tweedy background. The climax is gripping.
Dark Pines by Will Dean
(Point Blank, £12.99)
A Nordic noir novel written, surprisingly, by a Briton who lives in the Swedish forest, forages and practises self-sufficiency, and, as a result, is able to perfectly evoke the sinister atmosphere of the elk-haunted pines. The heroine, reporter Tuva Moodyson, who hates nature and is deaf, becomes obsessed with a murderer who digs out the eyes of each victim. This is Will Dean’s first novel, but it won’t be his last.
A Spot of Folly by Ruth Rendell
(Profile, £14.99)
Ten and a quarter unpublished, newly discovered short stories by the mistress of crime, who died in 2015. The ‘quarter’ is only five lines long, the longest more than 50 pages. They demonstrate why the author was so good. Highly recommended.
Sleep no More by P. D. James
(Faber & Faber, £10)
Six ‘murderous tales’ from possibly the last exponent of the country-house crime novel’s golden age. As with Rendell, P. D. James’s plotting shows just why her books were so successful: she writes about the middle classes with conviction and the quality of her writing is excellent.
Credit: Alamy
Six audiobooks for Christmas, from Dickens to the latest Booker Prize winner
For book lovers who never get the time to read, audiobooks can make a great present. We've picked out five
Emilia Fox on on unexpected success, technophobia and being buried alive
The Silent Witness actress spoke to Country Life's Jeremy Taylor.
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Alan Titchmarsh: 'It’s all too easy to become swamped by the ‘to-do’ list, but give yourself a little time to savour the moment'Easter is a turning point in the calendar, says Alan Titchmarsh, a 'clarion call' to 'get out there and sow and plant'.
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Rodel House: The Georgian marvel in the heart of the Outer HebridesAn improving landlord in the Outer Hebrides created a remote Georgian house that has just undergone a stylish, but unpretentious remodelling, as Mary Miers reports. Photographs by Paul Highnam for Country Life.
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The five minute guide to 'The Great Gatsby', a century on from its publication'The Great Gatsby' sold poorly the year it was published, but, in the following century, it went on to become a cornerstone of world literature.
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Love, sex and death: Our near-universal obsession with the roseNo flower is more entwined with myth, religion, politics and the human form than the humble rose — and now there's a new coffee table book celebrating them in all of their glory.
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When London was beginning to establish itself as modern cultural powerhouse: The 1980s according to David BaileyIn his new book ‘Eighties Bailey’, ‘era-defining’ photographer David Bailey explores a time when London and the UK were at the centre of the fashion, art and publishing worlds.
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The life and times of P. G. Wodehouse, 50 years on from his deathBertie Wooster, Jeeves, Lord Emsworth and the Blandings Castle set: P. G. Wodehouse’s creations made him one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century, but he was denounced as a traitor and a Nazi.
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The story of how 007 creator Ian Fleming came to write Chitty-Chitty-Bang-BangChitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang, our fine four-fendered friend, turns 60 on October 22nd. Mary Miers relives the adventures of the magical flying car and reveals the little-known story of its creation by Ian Fleming, as the writer turned his attention from the world of 007 to a children's tale.
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Christmas gifts for children that don't need screens or take batteriesDon't just pick up the latest plastic toys with lights and noises – take a look at these gifts which kids will love just as much as you do.
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In Focus: T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land, the poem of broken modern civilisation that seems more apt than everOn the 100th anniversary of its publication, Julie Harding asks why T. S. Eliot’s great poem The Waste Land, with its devastating vision of a broken modern civilisation, still resonates so strongly today.
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In Focus: The enduring beauty of Thomas Gray's Elegy Written In A Country ChurchyardJack Watkins considers the timeless brilliance of Thomas Gray's 'Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard.'
