The Vivien Brandt Mysteries by Gianetta Murray

If you’re looking for a cosy crime series to curl up with on these dark winter nights, I can recommend the Vivien Brandt mysteries by Gianetta Murray, which explore the murky underbelly of pretty English villages with all the candour and incisiveness of their American heroine, and the author.

Relocated to the UK through marriage to Geoffrey, Vivien is trying to find her feet in polite English society and soon discovers its veneer is paper-thin. When murder comes knocking, it’s Vivien who finds herself centre stage as both suspect and amateur detective. Disarming the prickly reserve of neighbours and the police, former librarian Vivien uses her wits and charm to Miss Marple her way through the lies and deception that weave communities together. But playing detective is not without its dangers….

This is a delightful series, creating a likeable heroine, with an added a touch of gentle humour. If you enjoy the novels of Agatha Christie and Caroline Graham, then you will devour these books. I really enjoyed the relationship between Vivien and her neighbour-friend Hayley, who is deaf, which felt very real, and the animosity of Vivien’s stepdaughter Sara, which is finely observed. The murders stem from the petty obsessions of ordinary folk in tight communities, and are all the more convincing for it.

Gianetta is an author to watch! You can follow her on social media – Instagram gianettamurray and Facebook Ginetta Murray – Author, and she has a website at gianettamurray.com.

The Blue Book of Nebo by Manon Steffan Ros

This short novel has captured by breath and is holding my heart hostage. So deceptively simple, it is poignant, shocking and haunting. It tells the tale of teenager Dylan, who lives with his mother Rowenna in a small cottage in rural Wales. This is their notebook, chronicling what happened at the End, from the rumours, to the electricity going off, to the nuclear powerplant in Anglesey exploding – and what comes after. Both mother and son have secrets which they confess in their Blue Book of Nebo, creating a realistic and moving family dynamic. It is often shocking, in a muted, numb way that accentuates the power of the story; it made me cry several times. But it is also ultimately hopeful. For such a dark story, I found that I didn’t want to leave Dylan and Rowenna’s world, that I wanted to stay with them, to see what they did next. A disturbing tale, but one that also shows the dignity, silent strength and resilience of the human spirit. I remain forever haunted by such young adult tales as Children of the Dust by Louise Lawrence, Z for Zachariah by Robert C. O’Brien, and Brother in the Land by Robert Swindells, and The Blue Book of Nebo will deservedly be joining that canon of nuclear horror. It’s a stunning elegy to our possible futures and I got simply lost in the sheer disturbing beauty of it.

Firefly, 2022, ISBN 9781913102784