#45 Jack’s Secret Summer by Jack Ryder

Jack has been dreading the summer holidays – his dad works long hours, and so all he has to look forward to is an empty house. But when his boisterous neighbours, Bruno and Rocco, make it their mission to pull him into an adventure, his life will never be the same again. Together they decide…

#39 James and the Giant Peach

Paperback |150 pages Publisher: Penguin Random House UK (2016, as part of a set of 15 books) Read – Thursday 14th May, 2020. I’m pretty sure I read this as a kid, but I can’t be 100% certain. It’s definitely one of Roald Dahl’s stories that I know more. There’s a lovely poem in the…

#38 The Lantern Men by Elly Griffiths

Everything has changed for Dr Ruth Galloway. She has a new job, home and partner, and is no longer North Norfolk police’s resident forensic archaeologist. That is, until convicted murderer Ivor March offers to make DCI Nelson a deal. Nelson was always sure that March killed more women than he was charged with. Now March…

#36 Loch of the Dead by Oscar de Muriel

The Scottish Highlands, 1889. When a young heir receives a sinister death threat, Inspectors Frey and ‘Nine-Nails’ McGray answer a desperate plea to offer him protection. The detectives travel north to the remote and misty Loch Maree, site of an ancient burial ground. They must stay with the mysterious Koloman family – any one of…

#35 Trust Me, I’m Dead by Sherryl Clark

She hasn’t seen her brother in years. Now, he’s dead. When Judi Westerholme finds out her estranged brother has been murdered, she assumes it’s connected to his long term drug addiction. Returning home, she is shocked to discover he had been clean for years, had a wife – now missing – a child and led…

#34 Esio Trot by Roald Dahl

“I do actually happen to know how to make tortoises grow faster, if that’s really what you want.” Paperback | 56 pages Publisher: Penguin Random House UK (2016, as part of a set of 15 books) Read: 29th April I have not read this Roald Dahl book before, but I did watch the BBC adaptation…

#33 George’s Marvellous Medicine by Roald Dahl

The rule would be this: Whatever he saw, if it was runny or powdery or gooey, it went in.  Paperback | 104 pages Published: Penguin Random House (2016, part of 15 book set) Read: 29th April I did read this book as a kid. I have a vague memory of my Dad reading it to…

#31 A Mask of Shadows by Oscar de Muriel

1889. The Scottish Play is coming home. But before the darling couple of London theatre, Henry Irving & Ellen Terry, take their acclaimed Macbeth to the Edinburgh stage terror treads the boards. A grisly message found smeared across the cobbles in blood, foretelling someone’s demise. As the bloody prophecies continue to appear Edinburgh’s own beloved…

#30 Elevation by Stephen King

In the small town of Castle Rock word gets around quickly. That’s why Scott Carey only confides in his friend Doctor Bob Ellis about his strange condition. Every day he’s losing weight – but without looking any different. Meanwhile a new couple, Deirdre and Missy, owners of a ‘fine dining experience’ in town, have moved…