Read then Write 12/3/26

It's been a good week for reading and all things books!

I finished Past Reason Hated by Peter Robinson. This was another good crime thriller featuring DCI Banks. This one felt a bit slow in places and there was a lot of repetition about the smoking and drinking that went on at the time but I still enjoyed the unravelling of the clues and solving of the crime. 3 stars

I moved on to this one

Yes, another crime thriller.  I think it's fair to say it's my favourite genre.

This one features DCI Karen Pirie a detective working on cold cases in Scotland.  

The blurb reads:

"On a freezing winter morning, fishermen pull a body from the sea. It is quickly discovered that the dead man was the prime suspect in a decade-old investigation, when a prominent civil servant disappeared without trace. DCI Karen Pirie was the last detective to review the file and is drawn into a sinister world of betrayal and dark secrets.

But Karen is already grappling with another case, one with even more questions and fewer answers. A skeleton has been discovered in an abandoned campervan and all clues point to a killer who never faced justice - a killer who is still out there.

In her search for the truth, Karen uncovers a network of lies that has gone unchallenged for years. But lies and secrets can turn deadly when someone is determined to keep them hidden for good...."

This was actually #6 in the series but I was familiar with the character as she has been televised. Karen is definitely a no nonsense character and it was interesting reading about how things are done in Scotland and what happens when the work overlaps with policing not only in England but also abroad.

The cold case was wrapped up by the end of the book and there were quite a few twists and turns to that but the case of the skeleton didn't feel finished to me.  I might have to look out the next book in the series to see where that actually ends up going.  But I'll be looking out for the earlier books in the series first - I do like continuity.  I'm not even sure where I got this book from.  Possibly from my BIL - he passed on a lot of books last summer but it may have been a charity shop buy.

Definitely worth the read though - 4 stars from me.

I also had 2 Book Club meet ups yesterday.

The first one in the afternoon had our biggest attendance yet - 7 people.  The book we'd been reading for that was Grandad there's a head on the beach by Colin Coterill which I wrote about here.  Five of the group had read it and surprisingly 3 people really enjoyed it while I was in the minority of 2 who hadn't enjoyed it all.  

The evening group also had 7 people there which was a good turn out and we discussed The Muse by Jessie Burton which we'd all enjoyed although some more than others.  We had 5 regulars and a couple of newcomers so it was a nice mix and of course we moved on to discussing all sorts of things!

The next book I'm going to read is this one which was one I'd reserved a while ago and I picked it up from the library on Tuesday.

I've read a few books by Ann Cleeves in both her "Vera" and "Shetland" series as well as the more recent "Matthew Venn" books but this one follows the original Shetland detective Jimmy Perez after his relocation to Orkney.

Time for bed and a few opening chapters.

Wednesday Hodgepodge - 11/3/26

The Wednesday Hodgepodge is brought to us each week by Joyce. We join up here to share our answers. Thanks Joyce.


1. Are you a naturally trusting person? Is trust built on logic or 'gut instinct'? Does everyone deserve a second chance? Elaborate.

I'm not a naturally trusting person, once bitten twice shy and all that. I think it's a bit of both when it comes to logic and instinct. Whether someone deserves a second chance depends on what they did and whether they are remorseful.

2. 'Beware the Ides of March'...March 15th on the ancient Roman calendar, these words were made famous by William Shakespeare in his play Julius Caesar. Caesar was assassinated on March 15th 44 B.C. Have you read any Shakespeare? If so, do you have a favourite? Have you ever been to Rome?

We read a couple of Shakespeare's works at school, Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth. I'm familiar with a couple more especially A Midsummer Night's Dream. I keep meaning to look out for a book that just gives the outlines of each play and characters etc. I do have a copy of his complete works but that's not an easy read. Useful for reference sometimes.

I've been to Italy but not to Rome. (We went skiing there many years ago!)

3. Do you like a Caesar salad? If given the choice between a garden/house salad or Caesar which do you order? Anchovies or no? What's your favourite salad dressing?

I do eat Caesar salad but not with anchovies thank you. I prefer a French dressing if given a choice.

4. Where do you typically work (or blog if that's easier) at home? Do you have a dedicated home office space? Are you happy with that space?

At my dining room table or on the sofa! (That's the advantage of using a laptop or iPad rather than a PC.) We do have a bedroom that's more of an office but it also doubles up as Hubby's music room so I rarely use it.

5. Snow drops, daffodils, lenten roses, crocus, hyacinth, or early tulips...what's your favourite early Spring flower?

Well I had to look up lenten roses and see that I know them as Hellebores. I love all the spring flowers but I love the colours of tulips. We had a lot of different varieties of Hellebores in our garden in our former house.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

It's nice to lose myself in a bit of blogging and avoid the news for a bit.

A-Z Blogging Challenge 2026 - Theme Reveal

Once again I'm going to embark on the A-Z Challenge.  Essentially this will involve posting every day during April (except Sundays) working through the alphabet letter by letter.

If you want to find out more about the challenge go here.

If you want to take part you can sign up between March 23 to April 4 here.

I've always found it easier to work with a theme although one year I did just use a random word generator. This year I've decided to write about the books I've read and their authors.  (Not all of the books or we'd be here until next April - I read - a lot!)

I originally started thinking about this back in June 2025 and set to work on filling the gaps for the letters where I didn't have an author.  I foolishly thought that starting that early would mean by now I would be all prepared and ready to go.

Sadly not.  But I do have authors for every letter! (Yes even the tricky ones.)  I even have the first week of posts done and scheduled to post. Hopefully by the end of this month the other drafts will have been finished giving me more time to visit other blogs.  Because that's another fun part of the A-Z challenge - you get to find new blogs to follow.

The countdown is on.

In the News this Week - 10/3/26

Well the news is so depressing right now, and scary so I'm just going for feel good today and bring you this story:

'Truly extraordinary coincidence' as three cousins born on same day - BBC News

Who doesn't love a baby story?

With the size of our extended family (75 at the last count I did and that's just Hubby's side) there aren't many days to wait before another birthday pops up on WhatsApp.  I don't have any sounds on the family group because on a birthday day the messages come through thick and fast so my phone would be pinging on and off all day.

Today one of my SILs has a birthday and someone pointed out that it's shared with the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Edward.  I noted that thankfully I didn't think we had anyone with a birthday on 19th February which is Andrew Mountbatten Windsor's birthday until my DIL piped up that's her Dad's birthday.  Oops.  

We do have a few days where there are 2 or even 3 birthdays happening and 2 of our children are born a day before a cousin was born.  One cousin takes great delight in reminding our daughter that she's a year older than him when it's her birthday but of course she gets him back the next day.

And for another feel good story go here. This is about the Clumber breed of Spaniel following Bruin winning Best in Show at this year's Crufts competition.

Not the prettiest of the Spaniel breeds but he's obviously a perfect example of a Clumber.

And finally it's time to sign up for the A-Z challenge.  If you've never heard of it you can't have been following my blog for long because it's something I take part in each April. 

I started back in 2015 but the challenge has been running since 2010.  You can find out all you need to know here.

Well not quite all you need to know as I'm working on my theme reveal post.  Watch this space.