Sam's Fireside - Cosy Book Reviews & Recommendations

'A large, dark shape materialised to his right, as though plunging through a thick cloud. The drumming faster, relentless'. I read my first Ross Greenwood novel, earlier this year and loved it, so of course I was going to read this one. Another day and another Norfolk murder! This one reminded me of a Dick Francis book. If you don't know, Dick was a former jockey, turned author and many of his books were set in the horse racing world and featured a murder or two! As Ross was writing about the stable yards, and the beauty and grace that comes with the horses who reside there, I could smell the wood shavings and the gorgeous horsey smell. I could sense the love the people who worked there, had for their charges, and I dropped myself right into the middle of it all, as I set about trying to solve the murder(s) along with DI Ashley Knight. A perfectly written police procedural. Ross kept me guessing most of the way through, and my choice of murderer changed from one chapter to ...

When I was a teenager, I devoured Dick Francis books like they were going out of fashion. As soon as a new one was published, I was there, at the library, getting my hands on it as soon as possible. Imagine, therefore, my delight when I discovered that his son, Felix Francis, was also writing books in a similar vein. No Reserve is the first book written by Felix Francis that I have read and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Slow to begin with, as the scenes are set, it soon picks up pace and becomes an addictive crime thriller, set in the horse-racing world.  Theo, our protagonist, is determined to discover just who is responsible for the crimes being committed, and he seemingly won’t stop at anything to bring about justice.  All the characters are well-written and they establish themselves pretty quickly. Yes, there are some downright nasty pieces of work here, albeit making the story just that much better and I honestly didn’t work out who the villain was until the author told me! I...