The Strange Case of Jane O by Karen Thompson Walker
Reviewed by Harriet If like many people you saw this title and thought of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde you’d probably be thinking this will be a psychological thriller, and…
Marble Hall Murders by Anthony Horowitz
Reviewed by Harriet Back in 2016 I reviewed Anthony Horowitz’s hugely entertaining Magpie Murders [here], in which book-editor Susan Ryeland takes up detection when she discovers that Alan Conway, the…
Love and Marriage in the Age of Jane Austen by Rory Muir
Reviewed by Harriet A few months after Pride and Prejudice was published, Jane Austen visited her brother Henry in London. The opening words of Rory Muir’s book might lead the…
Wild Thing: A Life of Paul Gaugin by Sue Prideaux
Reviewed by Harriet Before I started this very interesting and comprehensive book, I probably knew as much about Gauguin as most people. I’d seen countless reproductions of his powerful, imaginative…
The Golden Road by William Dalrymple
Reviewed by Harriet India has always had a great attraction for me. I didn’t manage to go there until I was in my thirties, but I’ve visited countless times since…
The Dancer from the Dance by Janet Burroway
Reviewed by Harriet I had never heard of Janet Burroway until Mike Walmer recently republished her 1965 novel, The Dancer from the Dance. It was the second of her eight…
Three Days in June by Anne Tyler
Reviewed by Harriet ‘You know I’m not a huge cat fan. I’ve always thought they were cold-hearted’. ‘Cats are not cold-hearted’, I said. ‘They’re only protecting their dignity in case…
The Handheld Diaries by Kate Macdonald
Reviewed by Harriet, 4 Feb 2025 Christoph says, ‘Kate, you should really set up your own publishing house.’ Many of Shiny’s regular readers will have read the wonderful books published…
The Drowned by John Banville
Reviewed by Harriet, 14 Jan 2025 When John Banville announced that he was going to give up writing the multi-award-winning literary fiction for which he had been celebrated for decades,…
Shakespeare’s Borrowed Feathers by Darren Freebury-Jones
Reviewed by Harriet, 7 Jan 2025 When I was young, I spent several summers in Stratford-upon-Avon. My parents were working at the theatre there, so I was fortunate to be…
The Sequel by Jean Hanff Korelitz
Reviewed by Harriet Sequels can be very enticing when the initial book has done well. Readers want to know what happens to a character they’ve connected with. So says a…
Lady Living Alone by Norah Lofts
Reviewed by Harriet In the year 1932, Miss Penelope Shadow published a book which instantly became a best seller. It was her fourth book and not, in her opinion, markedly…
Death at the Sign of the Rook by Kate Atkinson
Reviewed by Harriet He had spent a good two weeks being sensible and mature, and then he bought a Land Rover Defender instead. It was a rugged, blokey kind of…
Gabriel’s Moon by William Boyd
Reviewed by Harriet William Boyd’s latest novel has been almost overwhelmingly greeted with admiration and praise. ‘A Spy Story to rival Restless’ is the Guardian’s headline, harking back to Boyd’s…
The Watermark by Sam Mills
Reviewed by Harriet Sam Mills is not a prolific writer, but her books are well worth waiting for. In 2012 she published The Quiddity of Will Self, which she described…
Glimpses of the Moon by Edith Wharton
Reviewed by Harriet The spring night drew them into its deepening embrace. The ripples of the lake had gradually widened and faded into a silken smoothness, and high above the mountains the…
All That Glitters: A Story of Friendship, Fraud and Fine Art by Orlando Whitfield
Reviewed by Harriet This is the second book about fraud I’ve reviewed this year, the first being Joseph Hone’s impressive The Book Forger. Obviously, as you can tell from the…
The Trap by Ava Glass
Reviewed by Harriet Ava Glass has been proclaimed as the new queen of spy fiction. I’m not in a position to judge this, as The Trap is the first of…
Interview with Kate Macdonald of Handheld Press
Interview by Harriet Harriet: Hi Kate – thanks for agreeing to do this. We know you’re working on a memoir of your Handheld days, so this will be a special…
The Gulls Fly Inland by Sylvia Thompson
Reviewed by Harriet October 3rd 1939 Inaction is difficult to bear. Since I am forced into inaction, here, I shall write. Not, as I have written in peace-time, brief things…
Tatting and Mandolinata by Faith Compton Mackenzie
Reviewed by Harriet This intriguing title indicates the presence of two separate works by Faith Compton Mackenzie, of whom you’ve probably never heard. The name will ring a bell though,…
The House of Silence by Edith Nesbit
Reviewed by Harriet Here at Shiny, I’m proud to say, we have now covered every aspect of Edith Nesbit’s wonderful fiction writing. Best known to most people as a writer…
The Book Forger by Joseph Hone
Reviewed by Harriet ‘Thomas James Wise (1859-1937) was a bibliophile and thief’, says Wikipedia. He was indeed. As Joseph Hone puts it in this fascinating exploration of ‘the most sensational…
Close to Death by Anthony Horowitz
Reviewed by Harriet ‘Anyone who has read the four books I have written about my adventures with ex-Detective Inspector Daniel Hawthorne, may be surprised by this one. Where is Hawthorne?…