Books Monthly
November 2025 Volume 26 Number 2 Home Page/Fiction Books
November 2025 Volume 26 Number 2 Home Page/Fiction Books
Welcome to issue 2 of the relaunched and now expanded Books Monthly. I thought I would include a review of the Netflix movie based (loosely) on Richard Osman's magnificent first Thursday Murder Club book, and you'll find it in the right hand column on this page. I'm afraid that changing it for the American market was not a good idea and simply didn't work for me. Having just re-read the first four titles aftetr reading the new one, I'm afraid the film gets a serious thumbs down from me. Now to this month's books:
BOOK OF THE MONTH:
Charlie Mackesy: Always Remember 9th October 2025
Charlie Mackesy’s four unlikely friends are wandering through the wilds again. They’re not sure what they are looking for. They do know that life can be difficult, but that they love each other, and cake is often the answer.When the dark clouds come, can the boy remember what he needs to get through the storm?
The hugely anticipated new book from Charlie Mackesy, revisiting the much-loved world of The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse – the bestselling adult non-fiction book of all time, with over ten million readers around the world.
Charlie Mackesy's gentle, homespun philosophy shines through like a beacon of light in this world of darkness we now inhabit - this is Winnie-the-Pooh for the 21st century, and another sure-fire smash hit for Charlie. The most astonishing book of 2024 has a sequel, and it continues the adventures of the boy, the mole, the fox and the horse. Charlie's paintings and illustrations are extraordinary, and his ability to convince you that all you need is love (and cake) is second to none. I'm proud to have this book on my shelf.
STUART MACBRIDE: THIS HOUSE OF BURNING BONES
6th November 2025(Paperback edition)
The Granite City is ready to burn, and all it takes is a single spark . . .In the heat of a blistering summer, Aberdeen’s police are struggling: half the force is off sick, leave has been cancelled, someone’s firebombed a hotel full of migrants, and there’s a massive protest march happening this Saturday.
With officers dropping like flies, Detective Inspector Logan McRae is forced to juggle cases and run a major murder investigation with a skeleton staff of misfits, idiots and malingerers until the top brass can arrange back-up from other divisions.
It doesn’t help that the Aberdeen Examiner has just been bought by Natasha Agapova, a tabloid media tycoon hell-bent on blaming local police for everything. And she’s more than happy to fan the flames.
But, as bad as everything seems, it’s all about to get much, much worse . . .Now out in paperback - this magnificent book celebrates 20 years of the adventures of Detective Inspector Logan McRae in fine style, with all the dark menace of the underbody of Aberdeen and its murky districts, murders and other dastardly crimes expertly and brilliantly intermingled with the amazing humour as Logan, Steel, Rennie, Biohazard Bob, Doreen and the wee loon Tufty (PC Quirrel) tackle the criminals. Before Richard Osman, there was Stuart MacBride.... and the sheer brilliance of Logan McRae. I like all of Stuart's books, the Ash Henderson books, all of them; but for me Logan McRae is head and shoulders better than any other contemporary police procedural, and the guided tours of Aberdeen and its environs are an absolute delight, as are all of the characters, regular and otherwise. And talking of characters, we mustn't forget Colin Miller and Isobel; and THIS HOUSE OF BURNING BONES has one last brilliant cast member: Rebecca, the superb young girl who helped Logan to crack the "Livestock Market" case in ALL THAT'S DEAD. Logan doesn't recognise her at first, but when he does, they get to reminisce about the good and terrifying times they shared when Logan almost died for a second time. This book is hugely enjoyable - it's the best of all the Logan McRae books, and its terrifically good value, because it's as big as a Stephen King novel. Absolutely superb, and I can't wait for the next one in the series...
VAL McDERMID: SILENT BONES
23rd October 2025
The truth is buried just beneath the surface . . .When torrential rain causes a landslide on a motorway in Scotland, it reveals a crime scene: someone hid a body in the tarmac eleven years before. Journalist Sam Nimmo had been the prime suspect in the murder of his fiancée when he disappeared, and now DCI Karen Pirie and her Historic Cases Unit must find out who buried him, and why.
Meanwhile, in Edinburgh, new evidence reopens a closed case and the accidental death of a hotel manager starts to look like murder. But what did Tom Jamieson's book club have to do with his demise - and what will they do to keep their secrets?
Karen and her team begin to untangle a web of lies, one that connects their murder cases with Scotland's rich and powerful. They will be tested to their limits - and possibly beyond . . .
THE REVEREND RICHARD COLES: MURDER UNDER THE MISTLETOE
23rd October 2025
The truth is buried just beneath the surface . . .When torrential rain causes a landslide on a motorway in Scotland, it reveals a crime scene: someone hid a body in the tarmac eleven years before. Journalist Sam Nimmo had been the prime suspect in the murder of his fiancée when he disappeared, and now DCI Karen Pirie and her Historic Cases Unit must find out who buried him, and why.
Meanwhile, in Edinburgh, new evidence reopens a closed case and the accidental death of a hotel manager starts to look like murder. But what did Tom Jamieson's book club have to do with his demise - and what will they do to keep their secrets?
Karen and her team begin to untangle a web of lies, one that connects their murder cases with Scotland's rich and powerful. They will be tested to their limits - and possibly beyond . . .
JOE HILL: KING SORROW
21st October 2025
Bookish dreamer Arthur Oakes is a student at Rackham College, Maine, renowned for its frosty winters and beautiful buildings.But his idyll - and burgeoning romance with Gwen Underfoot - is shattered when local drug dealers force him into a terrible crime: stealing rare and valuable books from the exceptional college library.
Trapped and desperate, Arthur turns to his closest friends for help: the wealthy, irrepressible Colin Wren; brave, beautiful Allison Shiner; the battling twins Donna and Donovan McBride; and brainy, bold Gwen. Together they dream up an impossible, fantastical scheme that they scarcely imagine will work: to summon the fabled dragon King Sorrow to kill those tormenting Arthur.
But the six stumble backwards into a deadly bargain - they soon learn they must choose a new sacrifice for King Sorrow each year or one of them will become his next victim. Unleashing consequences they can neither predict nor control, this promise will, over the course of four decades, shape and endanger their lives in ways they could never expect.
RICHARD OSMAN: THE IMPOSSIBLE FORTUNE
`Who's got time to think about murder when there's a wedding to plan?
It’s been a quiet year for the Thursday Murder Club. Joyce is busy with table plans and first dances. Elizabeth is grieving. Ron is dealing with family troubles, and Ibrahim is still providing therapy to his favourite criminal.
But when Elizabeth meets a wedding guest who fears for their life, the thrill of the chase is ignited once again. A villain wants access to an uncrackable code and will stop at nothing to get it. Plunged back into their most explosive investigation yet, can the gang solve the puzzle and a murder in time? To be published September 25th...
I now know what it is about the Thursday Murder Club I like so much. It isn't just the quality of the writing, it's also the fact that Richard has created a "Famous Five" for the 21st century. Because now, thanks to the advent of Alan the dog, they are five - Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron, Ibrahim and Alan. There was never any doubt that a fifth book would be equally as brilliant as the previous four - Richard seems unable to turn in anything other than excellence when it comes to The Thursday Murder Club. There is gentle humour, there is excitement, there are plots, sub-plots and sub-sub-plots, all of which are brought successfully to a conclusion by someone who has found his niche and has set out to entertain us right-royally. I enjoyed The Impossible Fortune so much, it's made me want to start again with book one, and having just finished Gyles Brandreth's brilliant biography of the man who created Winnie-The-Pooh I am ready and in the mood to do just that. There are authors whose books mean a great deal to me - I'm still awaiting my review copy of SHARPE'S STORM (see below for my review of this stupendous adventure novel), and there is always the thoroughly and equally stupendous Ann Cleeves, whose The Killing Stones has just been published and is also reviewed in this issue; and earlier this year there was a new Logan Macrae from the excellent Stuart MacBride which I am due to read again soon; but my bookshelves are groaning with superb books, and it's The Thursday Murder Club that is beckoning first.
Bernard Cornwell: Sharpe's Storm 21st October
If any man can do the impossible it’s Richard Sharpe …
The year is 1813. France is a battlefield, and winter shows no mercy. Amidst brutal conditions, Major Richard Sharpe finds himself saddled with an unexpected burden: Rear-Admiral Sir Joel Chase, dispatched by the Admiralty with sealed orders, unshakable confidence, and a frankly terrifying enthusiasm for combat.
Sharpe’s mission from Wellington is clear, yet anything but simple: keep Sir Joel alive.
Sir Joel could hold the key to defeating Napoleon once and for all. But to pull off his audacious plan, he needs someone who knows how to fight dirty, think fast, and survive the impossible.
He needs Sharpe … When I was a young teen, in the late 1950s, my favourite author was Dennis Wheatley, primarily because of The Devil Rides Out, but also because everything else he wrote was pretty good too. I remember reading a series of historical novels about an English secret agent, Roger Brook, and his adventures during the time of the Napoleonic wars. Brook was a contemporary of James Bond, of course in terms of when the books were written - I preferred Roger Brook, but only because I was fascinated by history (my favourite subject at school), and I remember telling my history teacher that I had learned more Napoleonic War history from my Roger Brook stories than from the very dry textbooks we were fed on in the late 1950s at the Crypt Grammar School for boys in 1950s Gloucester. Of course, Dennis Wheatley's books were primitive compared with those by the greatest historical novelist of our time - Bernard Cornwell - but they were definitely more entertaining than the textbooks and a welcome distraction at the time. I've been following Richard Sharpe's adventures since day one, and love to re-read them along with the Warrior chronicles which taught me so much about the history of the British Isles in the years before the Norman Conquest. Sharpe is a much more interesting character than Flashman for me, and in this, his 25th outing, he is simply superb, cutting people down to size and behaving like a true hero of the British Army during the vicious, cutthroat skirmishes of the Peninsular War. This is Bernard Cornwell at his absolute finest, and Richard Sharpe, Wellington's finest agent, is on top form. In his Author's note, Bernard won't promise when he will continue with Sharpe's adventures - one can only hope...
Ann Cleeves: The Killing Stones 7th October 2025
When a violent storm descends upon Orkney, the body of Archie Stout is left in its wake. An unusual murder weapon, a Neolithic stone bearing ancient inscriptions, is found discarded nearby. Archie was a popular, larger-than-life character, and his death is a shocking blow to the community.
Detective Jimmy Perez, no stranger to the complexity of human nature and the darkness it can harbour, is soon on the scene. He counted Archie as a childhood friend, so this case is more personal than most. Now living in Orkney with his partner, Willow, and their son, Perez is soon drawn into the lives of the islanders, many of whom hold secrets. Dark secrets, which could have led to the man’s murder.
Here, in these ancient lands where history runs deep, Perez must discern the truth from legend before a desperate killer strikes again . . .
The BBC may have decided to drop Jimmy Perez from Shetland (or it may have been Douglas Henshall's decision to leave) but either way, it was the wrong decision... there is plenty of mileage left in Perez, as this latest adventure by creator Ann Cleeves proves. True, the adventure is shared by Perez's partner Willow, but there is plenty of Jimmy Perez to get your teeth into, and it's he that solves this complex case of three murders. As always, the clues mount as the characters and situations unfold - it's classic Ann Cleeves, establishing her at the very top of the tree when it comes to crime and police procedurals. If there was a natural successor to Agatha Christie, it would be Ann. Vera and Shetland dominate the TV ratings, and the books are second to nonw. THE KILLING STONES is brilliant, unmissable, and fills a yawning gap in the Shetland series.
Peter James: The Hawk Is Dead 21st October 2025
Roy Grace never dreamed a murder investigation would take him deep into Buckingham Palace . . . Her Majesty, Queen Camilla, is aboard the Royal Train heading to a charity event in Sussex when disaster strikes – the train is derailed. A tragic accident or a planned attack? When, minutes later, a trusted aide is shot dead by a sniper, the police have their answer. Despite all the evidence, Roy Grace is not convinced The Queen was the intended target. But he finds himself alone in his suspicions. Fighting against the scepticism of his colleagues and the Palace itself, Grace pursues his own investigation. But when there is a second murder, the stakes rise even higher, and Grace is at risk of being embroiled in a very public catastrophe – and in mortal danger. Failure at this level is not an option. But time is running out before a killer in the Palace will strike again . . .
Roy Grace is back with his most difficult case yet in the gripping new instalment from number one bestselling author Peter James.
On this page:
Charlie Mackesy
Stuart MacBride
Val McDermid
Revd. Richard Coles
Joe Hill
Richard Osman
Bernard Cornwell
Ann Cleeves
Richard Osman's The Thursday Murder Club film (* that's a one star review)
This month we finally bit the bullet and paid £5.99 for the dubious privilege of being able to enjoy a month's Netflix viewing including the film adaptation of Richard Osman's Thursday Murder Club. There is so much wrong with the film version it's difficult to know where to start, so I'll start with the obvious two major flaws and that may be enough... The first major flaw has to be with the screenplay, and this is a perfect example of what happens when you get American writers in to "improve" a classic British story for the sake of the movie. The first 30 minutes or so were reasonable, acceptable almost (apart from the cast, which we'll get to in a moment or two). But during the second half things started to go momentously and tragically wrong. Bogdan confessed to the first murder to the police, and that was the end of Bogdan who, to be fair, features in all five of the books, and enjoys increasing importance in books 2-5. A major character written off in the last 15 minutes of the film - it was a bit like writing out the character of Mr Darcy in Pride and Prejudice, courtesy of American screen writers. Unforgivable. Now to the casting, and unfortunately it's Bogdan we need to look at first. Not only is he written out by means of his own confession (which happens in the book, but not to the police!), he is also half the size of the Bogdan we know and love in the books, and with much more deadpan presence than the actor portrays. Helen Mirren, good as she is, is wrong for Elizabeth. Elizabeth, in the books, is a commanding presence. Helen Mirren is just a little old lady who has no real presence, and she pronounces Ian Ventham's name differently every time she says it. Celia Imrie is excellent as Joyce; Pierce Brosnan is awful as Ron, Ben Kingsley is not very good as Ibrahim, Daniel Mays is utterly and completely catastrophic as DCI Chris Hudson, whilst the actress playing Donna is the only other excellent casting choice. It's a shame Stephen Spielberg had to get involved, and I expected much better of the director, Christopher Nolan. All in all, this would have been much better as a six part TV series, made by either BBC or ITV, without unnecessary and relentless rewrites by Americans, who successfully ruined what remains one of the best British crime fiction books ever written. You can keep Netflix... American rubbish, if you ask me!
About BOOKS MONTHLY: This publication started life as FANTAZONE in December 1998. Within a month publishers were starting to send me review copies, and I changed the name to Books Monthly as the new title reflected the new primary purpose of the magazine. Many people, including Bernard Cornwell and Gyles Brandreth have commented on how much they like the magazine, which this month has morphed into a newsletter, although its premise remains the same - to alert readers to a selected number of newly published books with my reviews when I've managed to persuade a publisher to send me a copy. To the best of my knowledge, Books Monthly is the longest-running book review magazine on the web. I hope you enjoy it in its new format!
contact me at paulenorman1@gmail.com
Charlie Mackesy
Stuart MacBride
Val McDermid
Revd. Richard Coles
Joe Hill
Richard Osman
Bernard Cornwell
Ann Cleeves
Richard Osman's The Thursday Murder Club film (* that's a one star review)
This month we finally bit the bullet and paid £5.99 for the dubious privilege of being able to enjoy a month's Netflix viewing including the film adaptation of Richard Osman's Thursday Murder Club. There is so much wrong with the film version it's difficult to know where to start, so I'll start with the obvious two major flaws and that may be enough... The first major flaw has to be with the screenplay, and this is a perfect example of what happens when you get American writers in to "improve" a classic British story for the sake of the movie. The first 30 minutes or so were reasonable, acceptable almost (apart from the cast, which we'll get to in a moment or two). But during the second half things started to go momentously and tragically wrong. Bogdan confessed to the first murder to the police, and that was the end of Bogdan who, to be fair, features in all five of the books, and enjoys increasing importance in books 2-5. A major character written off in the last 15 minutes of the film - it was a bit like writing out the character of Mr Darcy in Pride and Prejudice, courtesy of American screen writers. Unforgivable. Now to the casting, and unfortunately it's Bogdan we need to look at first. Not only is he written out by means of his own confession (which happens in the book, but not to the police!), he is also half the size of the Bogdan we know and love in the books, and with much more deadpan presence than the actor portrays. Helen Mirren, good as she is, is wrong for Elizabeth. Elizabeth, in the books, is a commanding presence. Helen Mirren is just a little old lady who has no real presence, and she pronounces Ian Ventham's name differently every time she says it. Celia Imrie is excellent as Joyce; Pierce Brosnan is awful as Ron, Ben Kingsley is not very good as Ibrahim, Daniel Mays is utterly and completely catastrophic as DCI Chris Hudson, whilst the actress playing Donna is the only other excellent casting choice. It's a shame Stephen Spielberg had to get involved, and I expected much better of the director, Christopher Nolan. All in all, this would have been much better as a six part TV series, made by either BBC or ITV, without unnecessary and relentless rewrites by Americans, who successfully ruined what remains one of the best British crime fiction books ever written. You can keep Netflix... American rubbish, if you ask me!
About BOOKS MONTHLY: This publication started life as FANTAZONE in December 1998. Within a month publishers were starting to send me review copies, and I changed the name to Books Monthly as the new title reflected the new primary purpose of the magazine. Many people, including Bernard Cornwell and Gyles Brandreth have commented on how much they like the magazine, which this month has morphed into a newsletter, although its premise remains the same - to alert readers to a selected number of newly published books with my reviews when I've managed to persuade a publisher to send me a copy. To the best of my knowledge, Books Monthly is the longest-running book review magazine on the web. I hope you enjoy it in its new format!
contact me at paulenorman1@gmail.com