Review - W. J. BURLEY - "Wycliffe and the Dunes Mystery"

Publ: 1993
Stornoway Library
ISBN: 0 552 14221 2
Genre: Crime fiction
Pages: 220p
Continuing the series
Rating: ***** **


What led you to pick up this book?
Continuing the series.

Describe the plot without giving anything away.
The body of a young man missing for fifteen years turns up in the dunes after a storm. He appears to have been murdered and Wycliffe and his team hunt down the suspects who include some respectable citizens who partied in a nearby chalet all those years ago. A second death creates further havoc with the investigation.

What did you think of the characters?
I find the characters quite well set out but note that a commenter on a previous Burley entry would dispute that. The anonymous commenter obviouskly hadn't read this one because some of his or her points are answered in this book. I believe the complexities of Wycliffe's character are in no way inconsistent and the 'saintly' Mrs Wycliffe is a bit more visible and forceful in this book! I guess a writer cannot please all of the people all of the time.

What did you think about the style?
A fair cosy crime novel from the early 1990s but in the style of ten or twenty years earlier.

Would I recommend it?
Yes. But not quite as good as some of the Wycliffe novels - mainly because the outcome was rather predictable.

W J BURLEY see Wycliffe and Death in Stanley Street

Review - Christopher WOOD - "William Powell Frith - A Painter and his World"

Publ: 2006
Stornoway Library
ISBN: 0-7509-3845-5
Genre: Biography; Art.
Pages: 272p
Found by Serendipity
Rating: ***** ***


An enjoyable illustrated biography about this once popular Victorian painter of scenes of Victorian life. To learn more about Frith see the excellent brief biography on
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/speel/paint/frith.htm or put his name into Google images to see his pictures.


If you enjoy art and biographies this is a well-written and enjoyable book that would grace any collection.

Review:- Chris KUZNESKI - “The Lost Throne”

Publ: 2008
My own copy
ISBN: 978-0-718-15432-5
Genre: Crime / Thriller
Pages: 592p
Found by Serendipity in charity shop
Rating: ***** ****


What led you to pick up this book?
Sounded in the blurb like a darned good yarn - and it was.

Describe the plot without giving anything away.
Some monks in a Greek monastery are killed by warriors carrying ancient weapons. Meanwhile, In St Petersburg, a man is shot dead. Two separate sets of heroes set out to solve these crimes and in so doing begin a search for a centuries old secret treasure.

What did you think of the characters?
Although they have appeared in three previous books, which I haven’t read, the main heroes, Payne and Jones, are laid out in such a way that reading this volume out of sequence doesn’t matter.

What did you think about the style?
Racing, non-stop page-turner. The switch between the two sets of heroes is always made at a key moment so the suspense is never-ending.

What did you like most about the book?
Original plot, plenty of travel and suspense.

Was there anything you didn't like about the book?
No.

Thoughts on the book jacket / cover.
Ordinary.

Would I recommend it?
Yes - any crime or thriller reader would enjoy this.



Chris Kuzneski, born 1969, attended the University of Pittsburgh, where he played football, wrote for three newspapers, and passed most of his classes. He earned a master's degree in teaching, then taught English for five years before pursuing a career in writing. His first novel, THE PLANTATION, introduced the characters of Payne and Jones, and received rave reviews.

Review:- Roderick GORDON & Brian WILLIAMS - “Freefall”

Publ: 2009
My own copy
ISBN: 978-1-906427-05-4
Genre: Children’s Adventure
Pages: 575p
Continuing the series
Rating: *****


Continuing the Tunnels series. Will and Chester go deeper still and meet new hazards on the way. I didn’t enjoy it as much as the first two.

There is a credibility threshold which authors should not cross. I think the authors did in this third volume. I was also dissatisfied that the end is far too open and is obviously designed to herald further volumes. It would have been far better to lead to a conclusion - of sorts - in this volume. The way could still have been left open for more books but as it is the overall feeling one is left with is dissatisfaction.

Would I recommend it?
I’ve enjoyed the books as a whole but given the choice I would go back and NOT start again! I feel I’ve been done.

Review - Elizabeth NOBLE - "The Reading Group"

GB's copy
ISBN: 0 340 73470 1
Genre: General Fiction
Pages: 466p
Found bySerendipity
Rating: *****


What led you to pick up this book?
The idea of a novel based on a reading group attracted me.

Describe the plot without giving anything away.
"The real, hidden subject of a book group discussion, is the book group members themselves." Margaret Attwood.

What did you think of the characters?
I found it hard to get the characters clear in my mind for quite a while but that could be because of all the other things I was doing while reading this. I felt I should make a list of characters and who they were.

What did you think about the style?
Apart from the above criticism I found the style quite easy going But it was not a book that I would rush back to.

Would I recommend it?
Not especially but I couldn't be sure I've given it a fair crack of the whip.

ELIZABETH NOBLE lives in Guildford, Surrey, with her husband and two daughters and this was her first novel.

Review - Ed. David A QUINE - “Expeditions to the Hebrides by George Clayton Atkinson 1831 and 1833”

Publ: 2001
Stornoway Library
ISBN: 1 899272 06 2
Genre: Topography, History, Western Isles
Pages: 190p
Found by Serendipity
Rating: ***** ***

Trying to catch up with all the books I've read recently. Not easy when I've been doing so much other blogging so the next few reviews are very brief...


A most enjoyable view of the Hebrides by naturalist and diarist George Clayton Atkinson who described himself as the first non-native commentator on the |isles. He wasn’t but he was certainly one of the early ones and his perceptions were quite insightful. The artwork by the various artists (1831 Edward Train; 1833 T.M.Richardson, G. Richardson, Henry Perlee Parker) is a great bonus.

Sunday 19th May 1833
Digression on the Methodists... The introduction of this overcharged degree of sanctity to the Hebrides took pace 15 or 16 years since, and originated with an institution which was calculated, in a simple form, and with moderate and judicious management, to do much good among the poor in reading the Bible and for some years it ent on quietly and well.... But when the teachers - men qualified to instruct no further than in the simple reading of the scriptures, were sent forth to the more remote parts of the Highlands, where this bare qualification alone gave them a decided superiority over the common inhabitants, they became puffed up - human nature couldn’t stand it - and from teaching, they go to explain, from explaining to preaching, from preaching to disputing with the regular clergy....

Tuesday 21th (sic) May 1833
In passing the cottage doors today, I remarked what I had never seen in use beore: earthen and vessels of baked clay, formed entirely with the hand... Of course, they were very rough, and being unglazed, incapable of containing liquids. But they were of considerable size, maybe a couple of gallons, and appeared to be in general use for such dry goods as potatoes and oat meal. The use of such utensils as these may probably convey to my reader a more correct notion of the primitive and unimproved state of being of our countrymen of Lewis, than anything else which I could state.
...The ingress was therefore neither cleanly nor convenient... and the tracks of otters (which all the world knows to be a pugnacious, hard biting animal) were most abunant on the mud.... Another similar passage presented itself on the south side of the cave, to be about 100 paces in length and equally uninteresting and Ottery.

Wednesday 22th May
About three miles north of Barvas... a gigantic looking object... a single upright stone of great size. ...is called by the islanders “Clach an Truiseil” or “The Giant’s Stone”, from a legend they have of some gigantic warrior who lies beneath it. The mass of stone must be considerable, as it stands about 16 feet out of th ground, and must be pretty well planted below the surface to support itself. It is flat on the north and south sides, and about 16 feet in circumference.

Saturday 25th May 1833
About 40 years since two or three hares were introduced, and they have increased wonderfully on the island...
On the whole there is little in Lewis to induce a tourist to visit it. It is, I think, almost the only spot my ramblings have led me to, that I should not feel desirous or re-visiting to see something more or. I have seen nearly enough of Lewis and formed the general conclusion that its north part is chiefly level, uninteresting moor, interspersed with numerous, boggy un-picturesque lakes, but very destitute of incident in its interior. Its shores, unlike many of the islands, are more bold and precipitous on the east than on the west side, and rise, I should think, in some places, to a 100 ft or more, and contain a few fine caves.
The Remains of Antiquity, consisting of the Druidical Circles, the Danish fort as it is called ... and the ruins of the Roman Catholic Chapels... exist, I believe, almost entirely along its west side, and would afford, to an antiquarian a most curious subject for enquiry and research.

Review - RODERICK GORDON and BRIAN WILLIAMS - "Deeper"

Publ: 2008
My own copy
ISBN: 978-1-905294-62-6
Genre: Children's fantasy and adventure
Pages: 660p
Recommended by a fellow blgger
Rating: ***** ****


Sequel to the previous book. As the title suggests our heroes descend deeper into the bowels of the earth. Just as good as 'Tunnels' - no, even better. But beware - you'll need to have the next volume ('Freefall') to hand because you won't want to stop.

Review - RODERICK GORDON and BRIAN WILLIAMS - "Tunnels"

Publ: 2007
My own copy
ISBN: 978-1-905294-42-8
Genre: Children's fantasy and adventure
Pages: 464p
Recommended by a fellow blgger
Rating: ***** ***


What led you to pick up this book?
A fellow blogger - sorry I cannot recall who - enthused over this and said how she and her normally non-reading children had got hooked on the series. Thanks to whoever it was! I promptly sent off to Amazon - £6.99 well spent.

Describe the plot without giving anything away.
14-year-old Will Burrows has little in common with his strange, dysfunctional family. In fact, the only bond he shares is with his eccentric father's passion for archaeological excavation. So when his dad mysteriously vanishes, Will is compelled to dig up the truth behind his disappearance. He unearths the unbelievable: a subterranean society that time forgot. "The Colony" is ruled by a merciless overclass, the Styx.

What did you think of the characters?
Ideal characters for a children's novel. All are a bit OTT but in my experience children tend to like their characters clearly drawn like this.

What did you think about the style?
Plenty of action and a real page-turning style that makes you always want to know what happens next.

What did you like most about the book?
The novelty of the idea behind it. Shades of a 21st Century Jules Verne.

Was there anything you didn't like about the book?
I would have liked it to be more complete in its own right and less of a cliff-hanger. It was very obviously done that way to ensure the whole series is bought. But if the third v9olume is equally unresolved I shall be peeved.

Thoughts on the book jacket / cover.
A smart design by David Wyatt. The inside illustrations are by Brian Williams.

Would I recommend it?
Yes. Ideal for a teenager or anyone who enjoys well-written teenage fantasy and adventure.

Totally irrelevant side note:
This first volume is now entitled the The Highfield Mole and the overall series is called Tunnels.

RODERICK GORDON was born, grew up and went to university in London. He worked in corporate finance in the City until 2001. He counts a number of writers and poets among his ancestors such RD Blackmore, Philip Doddridge and Matthew Arnold plus two paleontologists and celebrated eccentrics, William and Frank Buckland. He recently moved with his family from London to north Norfolk.

BRIAN WILLIAMS grew up in Zambia until moving to Liverpool with his family in the seventies. He attended The Slade School of Fine Art and, after graduating, has continued with painting, writing and film-making, which has encompassed both his own films and also working as art director and acting in a number of UK productions. He presently lives in Hackney.

Review - W J BURLEY - "Wycliffe and the Three-toed Pussy"

Publ: 1968
Stornoway Library
ISBN: 0 552 14205 7
Genre: Crime fiction
Pages: 221p
Continuing the Wycliffe series.
Rating: *****

What led you to pick up this book?
Continuing the Wycliffe series.

Describe the plot without giving anything away.
This was Burley's first Wyclffe book - and not his best! Another cosy crime set in Cornwall. The murderer of Pussy Welles had torn off her stocking and shoe to reveal that she had a deformed foot bearing only three toes. Superintendent Wycliffe discovers that she had been lethal in her dealings with men, and people had reason to hate her. Soon he realises her murder was more subtle than it first seemed.

What did you think of the characters?
Less credible than the others in the Wycliffe series.

What did you think about the style?
Enjoyably easy.

Thoughts on the book jacket / cover.
see comment on the Cycle of Death

Would I recommend it?
Probably not.

W J BURLEY see Wyclffe and Death in Stanley Street

Review - W J BURLEY - "Wycliffe and the Cycle of Death"

Publ: 1988
Stornoway Library
ISBN: 0 552 14109 7
Genre: Crime fiction
Pages: 223p
Continuing reading the series
Rating: ***** ***


What led you to pick up this book?
Continuing reading the series.

Describe the plot without giving anything away.
Superintendent Wycliffe of the Cornish crime squad finds himself caught up in the various feelings of bitterness and resentment among the family of a murdered bookseller and local councillor. When Matthew Glynn is murdered, Wycliffe is mystified. Why would anyone want to kill him? But a look at Glynn's background reveals tension within the family. Alfred Glynn, an eccentric recluse, has born a grudge against his brother for years. The other brother, Maurice, argued bitterly with Matthew over the sale of family land. His sister Sara is caught out in several crucial lies to the police. Add to this a discontented son, the discovery of valuable documents in the bookseller's safe, and the mysterious, still unexplained disappearance of Matthew's wife years earlier, and Wycliffe faces one of his most impenetrable cases yet.

What did you think of the characters?
All very believable and well drawn.

What did you think about the style?
It is noticeable that the action takes place 30 years ago and the style is also very much of those days - comparatively gentle and un-gruesome! Cosy crime set in cosy Cornwall.

What did you like most about the book?
I didn't guess whodunit!

Thoughts on the book jacket / cover.
I much prefer book jackets not to have the face of a TV star on them as the one I read had. When you haven't seen the TV series it just ruins an otherwise pleasant cover.

Would I recommend it?
Yes. Ideal for cosy crime lovers.

Totally irrelevant side note:
I may be slow but I still haven't worked out the reason for the title.

Quotations:
"Gina's husband was perched on a stool by the refrigerator. To his straw-coloured hair and blue eyes he added an obvious desire to please, at lest to be agreeable, attributes which were rare amongst the Glynns. In zoological terms Barry was a commensal - a tolerated intruder from another species."

W J BURLEY see Wyclffe and Death in Stanley Street