List of book reviews since I started to write about books in April 2007, in alphabetical order by title. Clicking on the titles will take you to my reviews. My aim is to write something about each book even if it’s just a few lines, so some of the posts are less detailed than others.
4.50 from Paddington by Agatha Christie
100 Days on Holy Island: a Writer’s Exile by Peter Mortimer
A
A is for Alibi by Sue Grafton
The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie
The Accomplice by Elizabeth Ironside
Admit One by Emmett James
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Adventures of a One-Breasted Woman by Susan Cummings
After the Armistice Ball by Catriona McPherson
After the Fine Weather by Michael Gilbert
After Flodden by Rosemary Goring
After the Funeral by Agatha Christie
After Work (a cookbook)
Agatha Christie and the Eleven Missing Days by Jared Cade
Agatha Raisin and the Haunted House by M C Beaton
Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte
All Bones and Lies by Anne Fine
All the Colours of Darkness by Peter Robinson
The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman
Among the Mad by Jacqueline Winspear
Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner
Anna Märklin’s Family Chronicles by Dorte Hummelshøj Jakobsen
Arlington Park by Rachel Cusk
The Arrow Chest by Robert Parry
The Art of Drowning by Frances Fyfield
At Bertram’s Hotel by Agatha Christie
Atonement by Ian McEwan
An Autobiography by Agatha Christie
Awakening by S J Bolton
B
Bad Boy by Peter Robinson
Bad Science by Ben Goldacre
The Balkan Trilogy by Olivia Manning
Balthazar Jones and the Tower of London Zoo by Julia Stuart
Be Near Me by Andrew O’Hagan
Beachcombing by Maggie Dana
The Beacon by Susan Hill
Before the Poison by Peter Robinson
The Behaviour of Moths by Poppy Adams
The Bell by Iris Murdoch
Berenice by Edgar Allen Poe
Betrayed in Cornwall by Janie Bolitho
The Birthday Present by Barbara Vine
The Black Book by Ian Rankin
The Blackhouse by Peter May
Blessings by Anna Quindlen
Blonde by Joyce Carol Oates
The Blood Detective by Dan Waddell
Blood Harvest by S J Bolton
Blood Safari by Deon Meyer
Blotto, Twinks and the Ex-King’s Daughter by Simon Brett
Blue Lightning by Ann Cleeves
The Body in the Library by Agatha Christie
The Body on the Beach by Simon Brett
Body Parts: Essays on Life-Writing by Hermione Lee
The Body Snatcher by Robert Louis Stevenson
Body Surfing by Anita Shreve
The Book of Illusions by Paul Auster
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Books, Baguettes and Bedbugs: the Left Bank World of Shakespeare & Co by Jeremy Mercer
The Border Line by Eric Robson
The Brading Collection by Patricia Wentworth
The Bradshaw Variations by Rachel Cusk
Breakfast at the Hotel Deja Vu by Paul Torday
The Breaking Point: short stories by Daphne du Maurier
Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel
The Builders by Maeve Binchy
The Burry Man’s Day by Catriona McPherson
By the Pricking of My Thumbs by Agatha Christie
C
Cakes and Ale by W Somerset Maugham
A Card from Angela Carter by Susannah Clapp
Cards on the Table by Agatha Christie
The Careful Use of Compliments by Alexander McCall Smith
A Caribbean Mystery by Agatha Christie
The Case of the Curious Bride by Erle Stanley Gardner
The Case of the Lame Canary by Erle Stanley Gardner
The Case of the Substitute Face by Erle Stanley Gardner
Castle Dor by Daphne Du Maurier
Cat Among the Pigeons by Agatha Christie
The Cat Who Could Read Backwards by Lilian Jackson Braun
The Chalk Circle Man by Fred Vargas
A Change in Altitude by Anita Shreve
Chocolat by Joanne Harris
Christine Kringle by Lynn Brittney
The Christmas Mystery by Jostein Gaarder
The Christmas Train by David Baldacci
Cider With Rosie by Laurie Lee – see also this post
The Cipher Garden by Martin Edwards
Cleanskin by Val McDermid
Climbing the Bookshelves by Shirley Williams
The Clocks by Agatha Christie
The Clothes on their Backs by Linda Grant
A Clubbable Woman by Reginald Hill
The Clue of the Twisted Candle by Edgar Wallace
The Coffin Trail by Martin Edwards
A Cold Day for Murder by Dana Stabenow
Cold is the Grave by Peter Robinson
The Comfort of Saturdays by Alexander McCall Smith
Company of Liars by Karen Maitland
The Complaints by Ian Rankin
Cop Hater by Ed McBain
Consequences by Penelope Lively
A Cool Head by Ian Rankin
The Coroner by M R Hall
The Cosy Knave by Dorte Hummelshøj Jakobsen
Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell – also here and here
Crime in the Community by Cecilia Peartree
The Crimson Rooms by Katharine McMahon
The Crocodile Bird by Ruth Rendell
The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths
Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner
Crow Lake by Mary Lawson
Curtain: Poirot’s Last Case by Agatha Christie
D
Daniel Isn’t Talking by Marti Leimbach
Dandy Gilver and the Proper Treatment of Bloodstains by Catriona McPherson
Dandy Gilver and an Unsuitable Day for a Murder by Catriona McPherson
Daphne: a novel by Justine Picardie
Daphne by Margaret Forster
Daphne du Maurier: a Daughter’s Memoir by Flavia Leng
A Dark-Adapted Eye by Barbara Vine
Dark Matter: a Ghost Story by Michelle Paver
Daughters of Fire by Barbara Erskine
The Day Gone By: an Autobiography by Richard Adams
Dead in the Morning by Margaret Yorke
Dead Man’s Folly by Agatha Christie
Dead Simple by Peter James
Dead Water by Ann Cleeves
Dear Dodie by Valerie Grove
Deaf Sentence by David Lodge
Death at the President’s Lodging by Michael Innes
Death at Wentwater Court by Carola Dunn (Daisy Dalrymple 1)
Death Comes To Pemberley by P D James
Death in the Clouds by Agatha Christie
Death of a Chief by Douglas Watt
Death of a Gossip by M C Beaton
Death of the Moth and Other Essays by Virginia Woolf – see also here
Death of a Red Heroine by Qiu Xiaolong
Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie
Death’s Jest-Book by Reginald Hill
A Detective at Death’s Door by H R F Keating
Digging to America by Anne Tyler
The Distant Hours by Kate Morton
The Divine Comedy by Dante
The Doctor of Thessaly by Anne Zouroudi
Doctored Evidence by Donna Leon
Doors Open by Ian Rankin
Down to a Sunless Sea by Mathias B Freese
Dracula by Bram Stoker
Drawing Conclusions by Donna Leon
Drood by Dan Simmons
Dumb Witness by Agatha Christie
E
Eden’s Outcasts: the story of Louisa May Alcott and her father by John Matteson
An Elegy for Easterly by Petina Gappah
Elephants Can Remember by Agatha Christie
The End of the Affair by Graham Greene
Endless Night by Agatha Christie
Evil Under the Sun by Agatha Christie
Excursion to Tindari by Andrea Camilleri
The Expats by Chris Pavone
An Expert in Murder by Nicola Upson
Exit Lines by Reginald Hill
Exit Music by Ian Rankin
F
Faceless Killers by Henning Mankell
Fair Exchange by Michèle Roberts
Faithful Unto Death by Caroline Graham
The Fall by Simon Mawer
The Fall of Troy by Peter Ackroyd
Fallen Gods by Quintin Jardine
The Falls by Ian Rankin – see also here
A Fatal Inversion by Barbara Vine
Fatherland by Robert Harris
Faulks on Fiction by Sebastian Faulks
Fear in the Sunlight by Nicola Upson
A Fearful Madness by Julius Falconer
A Feast for Advent by Delia Smith
Ferney by James Long
Fire in the Blood by Irene Nemirovsky
Fleshmarket Close by Ian Rankin
The Flight by M R Hall
The Flight of the Falcon by Daphne Du Maurier
The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
The Four Last Things (Roth Trilogy 1) by Andrew Taylor
Four Stories by Alan Bennett
The Franchise Affair by Josephine Tey
The Friend of Madame Maigret by Georges Simenon
Frozen Moment by Camilla Ceder
Full Tilt: Dunkirk to Delhi by Bicycle by Dervla Murphy
G
Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen
The Gardens of the Dead by William Brodrick
Gently by the Shore by Alan Hunter
Gently Does It by Alan Hunter
Ghostwalk by Rebecca Stott
The Giant’s House by Elizabeth McCracken
Gillespie and I by Jane Harris
The Girl on the Landing by Paul Torday
The Girl on the Stairs by Louise Welsh
Giving Up the Ghost by Hilary Mantel
The Glass Guardian by Linda Gillard
The Glass Room (Vera 5) by Ann Cleeves
Going into a Dark House by Jane Gardam
Gone to Earth by Mary Webb
Good Evening, Mrs Craven: the Wartime Stories of Mollie Panter-Downes
A Good Hanging by Ian Rankin
The Good Thief’s Guide to Amsterdam by Chris Ewan
The Gourmet by Muriel Barbery
Le Grand Meaulnes by Alain-Fournier
The Gravedigger’s Daughter by Joyce Carol Oates – also here
The Great Fortune by Olivia Manning
Great Ghost Stories by Various Authors
Guilty Consciences: short story collection edited by Martin Edwards
H
Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
The Hand That First Held Mine by Maggie O’Farrell
The Hanging Garden by Ian Rankin
The Hanging in the Hotel by Simon Brett
The Hanging Valley by Peter Robinson
The Hanging Wood by Martin Edwards
Heartland by John MacKay
Hearts and Minds by Amanda Craig
Hearts and Minds by Rosy Thornton
Heartstone by C J Sansom
Hector and the Search for Happiness by François Lelord
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Hercule Poirot’s Christmas by Agatha Christie
Here Lies Arthur by Philip Reeve
Hickory Dickory Dock by Agatha Christie
Hide and Seek by Ian Rankin
The Highest Tide by Jim Lynch
His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman
The Historian and The Gibbon by Virginia Woolf
The Hobbit by J R R Tolkien
The Hollow by Agatha Christie
The Holly-Tree Inn by Charles Dickens
The Hostelry by Guy de Maupassant
The Hotel Majestic by Georges Simenon
The Hound of Death by Agatha Christie (short stories)
The House at Riverton by Kate Morton
The House at Seas End by Elly Griffiths
House of Silence by Linda Gillard
The House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz
The House of Stairs by Barbara Vine
The House on the Strand by Daphne du Maurier
Howards End is on the Landing by Susan Hill
I
The Illusionist by Jennifer Johnston
The Impossible Dead by Ian Rankin
In Praise of Slow by Carl Honore
Ink in the Blood by Hilary Mantel
The Inspector’s Daughter by Alanna Knight
Inspiration by Wayne Dyer
Intimate Kill by Margaret Yorke
Invisible by Paul Auster
Is Anybody Up There? by Paul Arnott
Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott – for overall view see also this post
J
Jamie At Home by Jamie Oliver
James Herriot’s Cat Stories by James Herriot
Jane Austen: a Life by Claire Tomalin
The Janus Stone by Elly Griffiths
The Jigsaw Maker by Adrienne Dines
A Judgement in Stone by Ruth Rendell
The Judgement of Strangers (the Roth Trilogy 2) by Andrew Taylor
K
Keeping His Promise by Algernon Blackwood
Keeping the World Away by Margaret Forster
King Arthur’s Bones by The Medieval Murderers
King of the Streets by John Baker
Knots and Crosses by Ian Rankin
L
The Labours of Hercules by Agatha Christie
The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver
Ladies of Grace Adieu by Susanna Clarke
A Leap by Anna Enquist
Let it Bleed by Ian Rankin
Lewis Carroll: a biography by Morton Cohen
Little Boy Lost by Marghanita Laski
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Lock 14 by Georges Simenon
The Lollipop Shoes by Joanne Harris
The Long Song by Andrea Levy
Lord Edgware Dies by Agatha Christie
Losing You by Nicci French
A Lost Lady by Willa Cather
A Loyal Character Dancer by Qiu Xiaolong
M
The Madman of Bergerac by Georges Simenon
The Madonna of the Almonds by Marina Fiorato
Maigret and the Ghost by Georges Simenon
Maigret in Court by Georges Simenon
The Man in the Brown Suit by Agatha Christie
Man in the Dark by Paul Auster
A Man Lay Dead by Ngaio Marsh
The Man on the Boulevard by Georges Simenon
The Man Who Planted Trees by Jean Giono
The Matchmaker of Kenmare by Frank Delaney
Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man by Siegfried Sassoon
The Messenger of Athens by Anne Zouroudi
Messenger of Truth by Jacqueline Winspear
The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side by Agatha Christie
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo also these posts
Missing Link by Joyce Holms
Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin
Molly Fox’s Birthday by Deirdre Madden
The Moon and Sixpence by W Somerset Maugham
The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
Mortal Causes by Ian Rankin
Mountains on the Moon by Michael Arthern
Mr Blossom’s Shop by Barbara Euphan Todd
Mrs McGinty’s Dead by Agatha Christie
Much in Evidence by Henry Cecil
Murder Being Once Done by Ruth Rendell
Murder by Yew by Suzanne Young
Murder in the Mews (Poirot 4 short stories) by Agatha Christie
Murder in the Museum by Simon Brett
Murder is Easy by Agatha Christie
The Murder of the Mandarin by Arnold Bennett
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie
Murder on the Eiffel Tower by Claude Izner
The Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie
Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
The Music Room by William Fiennes
My Cleaner by Maggie Gee
My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier
My Friend Maigret by Georges Simenon
The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie
The Mystery of the Blue Train by Agatha Christie
The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens
N
The Naming of the Dead by Ian Rankin
Naming the Bones by Louise Welsh
Nefertiti by Michelle Moran
Nigella Bites by Nigella Lawson
Ninepins by Rosy Thornton
No Longer at Ease by Chinua Achebe
Northern Lights by Philip Pullman
Not in the Flesh by Ruth Rendell (audio book)
Not Safe After Dark & other works by Peter Robinson
Now You See Me by S J Bolton
O
The Ode Less Travelled by Stephen Fry
Olalla by Robert Louis Stevenson
The Old Man in the Corner by Baroness Orczy
On Trying to Keep Still by Jenny Diski
One Fine Day by Mollie Panter-Downes
One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson
One Two Buckle My Shoe by Agatha Christie
Operation Mincemeat by Ben Macintyre
Oscar Wilde and the Candlelight Murders by Gyles Brandreth
Our Longest Days: A People’s History of the Second World War by the writers of Mass Observation
Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens
The Owl Service by Alan Garner
P
The Painted Veil by W Somerset Maugham
The Pale Horse by Agatha Christie
The Parasites by Daphne du Maurier
Pardonable Lies by Jacqueline Winspear
Pariah by Dave Zeltserman
Passenger to Frankfurt by Agatha Christie
Paw Tracks at Owl Cottage by Denis O’Connor
Paw Tracks in the Moonlight by Denis O’Connor
Payment Deferred by Joyce Holms
Peaches for Monsieur Le Curé by Joanne Harris
The Perfect Summer: Dancing into Shadow in 1911 by Juliet Nicolson
Perfume: the story of a murderer by Patrick Süskind
Peril at End House by Agatha Christie
A Place of Greater Safety by Hilary Mantel
Playing with the Moon by Eliza Graham
The Poe Shadow by Matthew Pearl
Poetic Lives: Shelley by Daniel Hahn
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
Pompeii by Robert Harris
Portobello by Ruth Rendell
Portrait of an Unknown Woman by Vanora Bennett
Postern of Fate by Agatha Christie
Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark
The Private Lives of the Impressionists by Sue Roe
The Private Patient by P D James
Q
A Question of Blood by Ian Rankin
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain
Quite Ugly One Morning by Christopher Brookmyre
R
The Rain Before It Falls by Jonathan Coe
Raven Black by Ann Cleeves
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
The Rebecca Notebook and Other Memories by Daphne Du Maurier
Rebus’s Scotland by Ian Rankin
Red Bones by Ann Cleeves
The Redeemed by M R Hall
The Redemption of Alexander Seaton by Shona MacLean
Reflections at Sheffield Place by Virginia Woolf
Remainder by Tom McCarthy
Remember Me by Melvyn Bragg
Requiem for a Mezzo by Carola Dunn (Daisy Dalrymple 2)
Resurrection Men by Ian Rankin
Revelation by C J Sansom
Revenge Served Cold by Jackie Fullerton
The Riddle of the River by Catherine Shaw
The Right Attitude to Rain by Alexander McCall Smith
The Road to Nab End by William Woodruff
The Rose of Sebastopol by Katherine McMahon
S
Sacrifice by S J Bolton
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen by Paul Torday
Sarah Thornhill by Kate Grenville
The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy
Season of the Witch by Natasha Mostert
The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie
The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry
The Secret River by Kate Grenville
Seeking Whom He May Devour by Fred Vargas
The Serpent Pool by Martin Edwards
Set in Darkness by Ian Rankin – see also here
A Severed Head by Iris Murdoch
The Shipping News by Annie Proulx
A Short History of Scotland by Richard Killeen
The Sidmouth Letters by Jane Gardam
Silent Voices by Ann Cleeves
The Silent World of Nicholas Quinn by Colin Dexter
The Sixth Lamentation by William Brodrick
The Sixth Wife by Suzannah Dunn
Skipping Christmas by John Grisham
Sleeping Murder by Agatha Christie
The Sleeping Policeman by Andrew Taylor
The Small Hand by Susan Hill
Snapped in Cornwall by Janie Bolitho
Solar by Ian McEwan
Solstice by Joyce Carol Oates
Somewhere Towards the End by Diana Athill
Sons and Lovers by D H Lawrence
The Spare Room by Helen Garner
Speaking of Love by Angela Young
A Splash of Red by Antonia Fraser
The Stabbing in the Stables by Simon Brett
Standing in Another Man’s Grave by Ian Rankin
Standing Water by Terri Armstrong
Star Gazing by Linda Gillard
Started Early, Took My Dog by Kate Atkinson
Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves by P G Wodehouse
Stillmeadow and Sugarbridge by Gladys Taber and Barbara Webster – also here
Strange Affair by Peter Robinson
The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman
Suite Française by Irène Némirovsky
A Summer Bird-Cage by Margaret Drabble
The Sunday Philosophy Club by Alexander McCall Smith
Surveillance by Jonathan Raban
The Suspicions of Mr Whicher by Kate Summerscale
Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwan
T
Take My Breath Away by Martin Edwards
Taken at the Flood by Agatha Christie
Tales of Mystery and Imagination by Edgar Allen Poe
Tales of Terror by Robert Louis Stevenson
Tangled Roots by Sue Guiney
The Tapestry of Love by Rosy Thornton
The Tent, the Bucket and Me by Emma Kennedy
The Testament of Gideon Mack by James Robertson – see also here
Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain
Testimony by Anita Shreve
Theft by Peter Carey
They Came to Baghdad by Agatha Christie
The Third Pig Detective Agency by Bob Burke
Thirteen Hours by Deon Meyer
The Thirteen Problems by Agatha Christie
The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
Ticket to Ride by Janet Neel
Tiger in the Smoke by Margery Allingham
Tigerlily’s Orchids by Ruth Rendell
A Time of Gifts by Patrick Leigh Fermor
The Tinder Box by Minette Walters
Toast by Nigel Slater
Tom Fleck: a Novel of Cleveland and Flodden by Harry Nicholson
Tony and Susan by Austin Wright
Travels in the Scriptorium by Paul Auster
True Grit by Charles Portis
Turbulence by Giles Foden
The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
Two Moons by Jennifer Johnston
U
An Unsuitable Job for a Woman by P D James
V
The Verneys by Adrian Tinniswood
The Very Thought of You by Rosie Alison
The Victorian Chaise-Longue by Marghanita Laski
The View from Castle Rock by Alice Munro
The Village by Marghanita Laski
W
The Warrior’s Princess by Barbara Erskine
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
A Weekend with Mr Darcy by Victoria Connelly
Westwood by Stella Gibbons
Whatever You Love by Louise Doughty
When the Lights Went Out: Britain in the Seventies by Andy Beckett
When Will There Be Good News? by Kate Atkinson
Where Three Roads Meet by Salley Vickers
Wherever You Go by Joan Leegant
The Winter Garden Mystery by Carola Dunn (Daisy Dalrymple 3)
The Whispers of Nemesis by Anne Zouroudi
White Nights by Ann Cleeves
White Noise by Don Delillo
Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? by Agatha Christie
The Widow’s Tale by Mick Jackson
Wilberforce by John Pollock – also see here
Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang see also this post
Wildwood: a Journey Through Trees by Roger Deakin
Wilful Behaviour by Donna Leon
William, William by Edgar Allen Poe (short story)
Winter in Madrid by C J Sansom
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
The Woodlanders by Thomas Hardy
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Wycliffe and the Cycle of Death
Wycliffe and the Last Rites by W J Burley
X
X, Y, Z: a Story Told by a Detective by Anna Katherine Green