Book of the year: Den of Thieves

Ask most people to name their favourite book of the year, and they will take some time to think about it. Not so Jenny (age 12) who instantly responds: the "Cat Royal" series by Julia Golding. Of the series, her favourite is "Den of Thieves", about the French Revolution. From the Amazon synopsis: "Den of Thieves" is the thrilling third volume in the "Cat Royal" series, following the huge success of "The Diamond of Drury Lane". Our hardy heroine, Cat Royal, finds herself homeless, travels to Paris, becomes an underground reporter, nearly gets hung for being a traitor to the revolution, and is baffled by attention from numerous suitors; all the while being disguised as a prissy ballerina! As the French Royal family flee, Cat discovers the power of the people. Vive La Revolution! Once again, Julia Golding will have you captivated from page one.

Since then, we have had (again via Amazon) …"Cat-O’ Nine Tails". In which, Cat becomes an unlikely recruit for the British Navy, takes passage to America and navigates her way through a fiendish plot to do away with Lord Francis, heir to a dukedom. From the grand Assembly Rooms of Bath to the wilds of a new frontier, Cat finds she is for once quite out of her depth. All aboard, Cat’s going abroad.

Jenny is desperate for February, which brings us the fifth installment, Black Heart of Jamaica.

Some new reviews at Euro Crime

A couple of my reviews have recently been published at Euro Crime:

Raven Black, by Ann Cleeves, an absorbing mystery set in a remote Scottish island community; and

Dead I Well May Be by Adrian McKinty, a "post-Godfather Odyssey", boiled as hard as it goes.

Other books reviewed last week at Euro Crime are Peter James’s Not Dead Enough (reviewer Terry Halligan); Karen Meek (Euro Crime herself) on Michael Dibdin’s Back to Bologna; and Laura Root’s take on Armand Cabasson’s The Officer’s Prey.

One of the many delights of Euro Crime is comparing reviews of the same book. From this set, you can read Sunnie Gill’s opinion of Raven Black (I liked the book but not as much as Sunnie, who raves about it); and my view of Not Dead Enough (again, I liked the book but not as much as Terry, who found it "simply amazing").

While you are at Euro Crime, don’t forget that you have until 31 December to win a copy of Thirty-Three Teeth, Colin Cotterill’s second book about the chief coroner of Laos in the 1970s. I reviewed the book here, and can highly recommend it and its predecessor The Coroner’s Lunch (reviewed on Euro Crime here by me, and here by Karen C) as perfect holiday (or any other time) reading.