Airport books

I mentioned a while back that I bought a few books in the bookstore in Gatwick airport while I was waiting for my flight. I've now read the ones I bought and am now working on the ones I took pictures of. (I could only realistically purchase and tote about so many books.) 

The book I read on the plane was The Appeal by Janice Hallett. This was an epistolary mystery which was a bit non-traditional. I enjoyed it once I got into it and sorted out all the characters. I appreciate a good fair play mystery and had it pretty much figured out by the end. 

I also purchased another mystery by the same author, The Twyford Code. The story is told by a series of transcripts of recordings, so not technically epistolary, but not traditional story telling, either. The premise is that there might be clues to a treasure within the novels of a children's book author, based on Enid Blyton. What it really becomes is an interesting look at one man's story of a less than ideal life and what he ended up making out of it. J. really liked it. 

The third book I bought was Dissolution by C. J. Samson. This is a historical mystery set in Tudor England during the time Henry VIII and Thomas Cromwell were dissolving the monasteries. The detective begins as one of Cromwell's agents and is sent to solve the murder of another agent in a monastery. It was a good story and well written. What interested me the most, though, was the portrayal of Thomas Cromwell. I read Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel last fall. Her portrayal of Cromwell (the book is set before the fall of Anne Boleyn) is very different from Sansom's. It makes me want to read the rest of the Wolf trilogy to see what Hillary Mantel did with his development. This mystery series has five more books. I did like the detective and do want to read the next books.

Finally, I'm now in the middle of one of the books I didn't buy, but took a picture of so I'd remember. It's A Shot in the Dark by Lynn Truss. (She wrote Eats, Shoots and Leaves, for those who are grammar fans.) It's really very funny and I'm enjoying it. Sometimes you just need light and amusing, huh? This also has more books and they are billed as Constable Twitten mysteries. Set in Brighton in the 1950's, Constable Twitten is a bright but precocious new policeman who joins the department of an incompetent and dim police captain. If you feel in the mood for well-written, broad humor, try this. 

Happy reading!

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