Lockdown reading 2020

 

LOCKDOWN READING 2020

March - December

 

Brooker, W. (2019) Why Bowie Matters. London: William Colins.

            Brooker reflects on his sexuality through post-structuralist commentary on Bowie.

 

Brown, C. (2020) One, Two, Three, Four: the Beatles in time. London: 4th Estate (Harper-           Collins)

            A (non-chronological) biography/history of the Beatles, drawing on its predecessors.

 

Cairns, Warwick (2008) About the size of it: the common sense approach to measuring     things. London: Pan Books. (Original 2007, Macmillan)

            How common sense measures often prevail against 'rational' official approaches.

 

George, Elizabeth

            1989 Payment in Blood. London: Bantam Press.

                        Murder among a theatre group in a Scottish mansion.

            1990 Well-Schooled in Murder. London: Bantam Press.

                        A small boy's death at boarding school reveals a cover-up culture.

            1991 A Suitable Vengeance. London: Bantam Press.

                        Visiting Cornwall, Lynley finds murder, drugs, transvestitism & family drama.

            1992 For the Sake of Elena. London: Bantam Press.

                        A deaf student at Cambridge is murdered on her regular run.

            1996 In the Presence of the Enemy. London: Bantam Press.

                        A Home Office minister, a leftie journalist and an illegitimate child.

            1997 Deception on His Mind. London: Hodder & Stoughton.

                        Murder in a seaside Pakistani community.

            1999 In Pursuit of the Proper Sinner. London: Hodder & Stoughton.

                        Two bodies in a stone circle lead to music copyright and prostitution.

            2001 A Traitor to Memory. London: Bantam Press.

                        A child prodigy with stage fright tells a psychiatrist about his sister's death.

            2011 This Body of Death. London: Hodder & Staughton.

                        A body in a cemetery leads Lynley on a tortuous path to a child killer.

            2012 Believing the Lie. New York: Signet. (Part of Penguin USA) (Orig. Dutton)

                        Was Ian Cresswell's death in the boathouse on Windermere really an accident?

 

Grisham, John (1999) The Testament. USA: Doubleday.

            Washed-up lawyer paid to find the illegitimate daughter of a billionaire, now living as      a reclusive female missionary in Brazil, to tell her that she's inherited $7bn.

 

James, P.D. (Faber & Faber - part of Penguin Books?)

            1962 Cover Her Face. London: Faber & Faber.

                        A parlour maid newly-engaged to a privileged son is murdered.

            1967 Unnatural Causes. London: Faber & Faber.

                        A handless corpse is found drifting in a boat off the Suffolk coast.

            1972 An Unsuitable Job for a Woman. London: Faber & Faber.

                        Cordelia Grey's first case is the apparent suicide of a Cambridge student.

            1980 Innocent Blood. London: Faber & Faber.

                        Adoptee Phillippa Palfrey traces her birth parents, then lives with her mother.

 

            1982 The Skull Beneath the Skin. London: Faber & Faber.

                        Cordelia Grey is hired to protect famous-but-fading actress Clarissa Lisle.

            1986 A Taste for Death. London: Faber & Faber.

                        The bodies of a lord and a tramp are found in a canal-side church.

            1989 Devices and Desires. Vintage Books (Random House)

                        Murder near a nuclear power station on the (East Anglia?) coast.

            1992 The Children of Men. London: Faber & Faber.

                        Infertility is endemic and humanity faces extinction. Then, a great discovery!

            1997 A Certain Justice. London: Faber & Faber.

                        Murder at Middle Temple chambers.

            2001 Death in Holy Orders. London: Faber & Faber.

                        Death at an isolated theological college on the East Anglia coast.

            2003 The Murder Room. London: Faber & Faber.

                        A series of murders in a private museum in Hampstead.

            2005 The Lighthouse. London: Faber & Faber.

                        A visitor to a private Cornish island is found hanging from the lighthouse.

            2008 The Private Patient. London: Faber & Faber.

                        A notorious journalist is murdered at a private 'cosmetic surgery' clinic.

 

London, Joan (2008) The Good Parents. North Sydney: Vintage.

            An eighteen-year-old girl from Western Victoria moves to Melbourne and has an affair with her enigmatic boss. Her parents arrive, but no one knows where she is.

 

McCall Smith, A. (2007) Love over Scotland. London: Abacus. (Orig. 2006)

            2^nd in his "44 Scotland Street" series. Bertie goes to Paris, Domenica to Malacca and         recent millionaire Matthew to a Glasgow hard man about cafe-owner Big Lou.

 

Rendell, Ruth. (Arrow Books is owned by Random House)

            1979 From Doon with Death. London: Arrow Books. (Orig. 1964, John Long)

                        A dull, ordinary women, Margaret Parsons meets an extraordinary death.

            1981 A New Lease of Death. London: Arrow Books. (Orig. 1969 Hutchinson)

                        Painter was hanged, but a man and his father (a vicar) want the case reopened.

            1981 The Best Man to Die. London: Arrow Books. (Orig. 1969 Hutchinson)

                        Cocky lorry driver Charlie Hatton was murdered - or was he?

            1988 The Veiled One. London: Arrow Books.

                        A woman is garrotted in a subterranean car park; Wexford's house is bombed.

            1993 Kissing the Gunner's Daughter. London: Arrow Books.

                        Is a massacre at Tancred House linked to earlier shooting of a police officer?

            1997 Road Rage. London: Hutchinson.

                        A planned bypass will destroy local habitat and a protest group takes hostages.

            1999 Harm Done. London: Hutchinson.

                        A series of missing women coincides with the release of a local paedophile.

            1999 A Sight for Sore Eyes. London: Arrow Books. (Original: 1998, Hutchinson)

                        Teddy's & Francine's childhoods bring them together, then break them apart.

            2001 Piranha to Scurfy and other stories. London: Arrow Books.

                        (Short stories.)

            2002 The Babes in the Wood. London: Hutchinson.

                        During unprecedented floods, two teenagers and their 'sitter' go missing.

            2003 The Rottweiler. London: Hutchinson.

                        A series of murders gradually involve antique shop-owner Inez Ferry.

            2004 Thirteen Steps Down. London: Hutchinson.

                        Max is obsessed with murderer John Christie and eventually he, too, murders.

            2008 Portobello. London: Hutchinson.

                        Art dealer finds some money, is blackmailed and becomes addicted to a sweet.

 

Roach, A. (2019) Tell Me Why: the story of my life and my music. Cammeray: Simon & Schuster.

            Archie Roach was taken away from his family as a young child, became an alcoholic        drifter in his teens (always finding and staying with 'the local mob'), found love and lost it with Ruby Hunter and became a major music star.