About UKChica UK Chica is the culmination of a lot of effort from a few people. Firstly, the name is a nod to my BFF (OK, I’m not 15, but she is the bomb!). She brilliantly came up with it. I am from the UK and call my girls chica all the time. I love different languages having studied French and German as a kid and Spanish as an adult. So that makes sense – well at least to us!
The idea of this site is because I read a lot and friends know this and they ask for recommendations all the time. Let me also add that I read a lot of different stuff. I may have my daughter add a section on sci fi, or as I call it, weird, as she is very discerning and reads that genre a lot.
You will also find new as well as old books reviewed here. I try to read classics each year, working my way back through Shakespeare or Dickens, for example.
As for me, I grew up in the suburbs of London and studied science in college. Community happened in pubs, and I love a good chin wag, discussion or disagreement between friends, old and new. or as a wise man has said and recently quoted by Jase, “Strangers are just friends we haven’t met yet”.
Welcome.
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Claire is an interesting bookshop owner who has been coerced into helping with a mystery book convention. I must say I tend to be in awe of authors and can totally relate to some of the hero worship that goes along on these pages. What is hilarious is the authors here not only put on their trousers the same way we do, they are narcissistic, self-absorbed and ego-maniacal. Editors seem to be worse. I will one day be published – just need the right people along with way I guess. The writers in question have all been brought to a sleepy little town in Arkansas to speak and sign their books when on the first night tragedy strikes. And to a seemingly innocuous character to boot. To make matters worse, our sleuth has been in a relationship with the lead investigator but they haven’t even seen each other for months due to his ex-wife ergo, Claire is not happy with him.
As the weekend progresses things actually worsen and the authors bicker constantly. Jealousy overwhelms any respect they have for each other. Claire has to get to the bottom of the source of the animosity between all the characters and figure out who would have reason to kill the victim and of course, why. This book is immediately interesting and never slows down and it really got me! I love figuring these out and enjoy it even more when I get it wrong – I will be reading more of her books!
Dixie Hemingway is a former deputy sheriff in Florida. She now pet sits. She is as meticulous with her pet sitting business as she was as a law enforcement officer. On a walk with a dachshund early one morning the dog discovers a dead body. Due to circumstances the killer now believes she can identify him/her and so now her life is in danger. This book tells not only this story but also of her history and why she is no longer working for the sheriff’s office. I liked it even though the mystery could have been less cut and dried.
This is an oldie but certainly worth the time. A young lady who is the ward of her uncle decides she wants to do some solo travel but, considering the times, he is not happy with her staying in places unaccompanied. There is a certain amount of control at issue here but the uncle arranges for our heroine to stay at an employee’s home when she arrives in Cyprus. Needless to say dastardly activities commence. Fun characters and descriptions of gorgeous landscapes surround the storyline which begins with a death en route to Cyprus. Jolly good stuff!
If you watch the TV show Castle then you will completely understand this book – if you don’t I’m not sure you’ll care. Quick reading, interesting storyline, brain candy. I like the relationship between the main characters and, of course, they take it a step further with the two main beautiful people. Come on we all need junk reads now and again, don’t we? One wonders if they will keep churning out these books as long as the series is popular – what can I say, I’ll read them.
So I am on a Scandinavian mystery kick right now and a friend recommended this author. I can only imagine what living in towns like these portrayed in the book could be like but Nesser does such a good job with descriptions without too much detail –this is a mystery after all not poetry. Interesting characters and quite a gritty series of murders all the while giving background on the different coppers and their family lives. I give myself a pat on the back for figuring out ‘whodunnit’ but the why eludes until the very end. I enjoyed this thoroughly and will be looking for more by the same author.
Another winner from Mr. Hornby. Many of his books are made into movies for a good reason – he writes great stories. This one is set in a little seaside town in England where we meet an unmarried couple, Annie and Duncan. Duncan has an unhealthy obsession with an American musician who hasn’t recorded in ages. He blogs with a few others who feel the same way about the music and Annie just seems to go along with it – for years. One day they have an argument about the music which effectively ends their relationship and Annie actually starts writing to the artist online, without Duncan having a clue about what is going on. As is typical of Hornby’s writing, this is another intelligent book with great character development throughout.
I actually enjoyed the story in this novel. Brown is masterful at creating suspenseful scenes that completely capture you as you are reading. The main character in this book is a continuation of Da Vinci and Angels and Demons but I really think this story is superior. It is engaging and totally creepy at times even if the story is a little silly. How many people are poring over the monuments of D.C. to find all the markings Brown has written about I don’t know but it solidifies that he is convincing if nothing else. A great book for when you have a couple of hours to just read as you won’t want to put it down.
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