Review: THE NARRATOR, K.L. Slater

• 
   This edition from Amazon on Kindle
  
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0BLCN1CF4
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Bookouture (January 6, 2023Print length ‏ : ‎ 306 pages

Synopsis (Amazon) 

What if the chance of a perfect life… put your daughter in grave danger?

Being a single mother is tough, but I’d do anything for my little girl Scarlet. I’d given up on my career as a voice actor when the call came, but suddenly I was the new narrator for a secret book from bestselling author Philippa Roberts, who has been missing for eight months. It was a lifeline for me and my daughter.

I hated that it meant leaving Scarlet with my ex in his perfect new home with his perfect new girlfriend. But I knew it was the right thing to do.

But as I start reading Philippa’s new novel, I start to wonder if it’s no coincidence that I’ve been chosen to narrate it. There’s something hidden in the pages of this book, I’m sure of it. Some clue to Philippa’s disappearance. And I don’t feel safe. I think I’m being watched. My room has been searched.

And then my ex’s girlfriend calls in tears and everything starts to click together. If I don’t find answers fast, I’ll lose more than my second chance. I’ll lose my daughter. 

My Take

Eve has been the narrator for all nine of Philippa Roberts' popular crime fiction D.I. Tower series but then Philippa disappeared, Eve's father died, and her marriage collapsed. Now Philippa's tenth novel has turned up and Eve is offered the job of narrator again.

But, as she reads, Eve feels there is something wrong with this novel. It doesn't feel quite right. So she starts asking questions about the disappearance of the novelist, and Eve starts to get threatening messages.

This plot has some good strands and some interesting characters - sure to keep you reading to find out the final answer.

My rating: 4.6

• 4.4, THE APARTMENT  
• 4.6, THE MISTAKE
• 4.8, THE GIRLFRIEND

Review: THE MOVING FINGER, Agatha Christie

• 
  This edition from Amazon on Kindle
• Miss Marple #4
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0046H95SG
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ HarperCollins; Masterpiece Ed edition (October 14, 2010)
  
• Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 14, 2010
• Originally published in 1942
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 243 pages

Synopsis (Amazon)

The quiet village of Lymstock seemed like the perfect place for Jerry Burton to recover from his accident. But shortly after his arrival he receives a letter accusing him of the unthinkable.

He’s not the only one. Across the village people are receiving letters accusing them of terrible acts. It seems like just a cruel prank until one recipient is found dead, with a letter next to her reading ‘I can’t go on’.

The inquest rules that her death was a suicide and the case seems clear cut. Until another body appears…

My Take

I'm reading this again for a group discussion, and at the same time I'm looking for new insights, things I haven't taken notice of before. 

Here are a few things to consider

• In this novel Agatha Christie reverts to the use of a narrator, and we need to ask ourselves how reliable he is. Does the fact that the narrator is male skew the perspective for the reader? Do other things cloud his judgement?
  
• The novel is well underway (over 60% according to Kindle) by the time Miss Marple is called in by the Vicar's wife, after two murders have already taken place:
  
  
  I’m going to call in an expert. .... I don’t mean someone who knows about anonymous letters or even about murder. I mean someone who knows people.
  
  The Dane Calthrops had a guest staying with them, an amiable elderly lady who was knitting something with white fleecy wool. We had very good hot scones for tea, the vicar came in, and beamed placidly on us whilst he pursued his gentle erudite conversation. It was very pleasant. I don’t mean that we got away from the topic of the murder, because we didn’t. Miss Marple, the guest, was naturally thrilled by the subject. As she said
  apologetically: ‘We have so little to talk about in the country!’ She had made up her mind that the dead girl must have been just like her Edith.
  
  
• Miss Marple lays a trap for the murderer just as she did in THE BODY IN THE LIBRARY
• Miss Marple attributes her understanding of what has happened to her life-long observation of village life.
  
  
  One sees a good deal of human nature living in a village all the year round,’ said Miss Marple placidly. Then, seeming to feel it was expected of her, she laid down her crochet, and delivered a gentle old-maidish dissertation on murder. ‘The great thing is in these cases to keep an absolutely open mind. Most crimes, you see, are so absurdly simple. This one was. Quite sane and straightforward—and quite understandable—in an unpleasant way, of course.’
  
  
  
  “No smoke without fire.” It irritated you, but you proceeded quite correctly to label it for what it was—a smoke screen. Misdirection, you see—everybody looking at the wrong thing—
  
  
  
• And of course Miss Marple engages in a little misdirection herself. When Jerry Burton and the police think the murderer has been found, the wrong person is accused.
• And then finally there is a bit of romance, just as there was in MURDER AT THE VICARAGE, and THE BODY IN THE LIBRARY.
• And the motive for the murders? well, that would be telling.
  

My Rating: 4.5

See what other Agatha Christie novels I've read

Review: MURDER FROM THE NEWSDESK, Peter Bartram

My Take:

This book consists of 7 Crampton of the Chronicle mystery stories, cozies set in Brighton in the 1960s.

The Mystery of the African Charity

The Mystery of the Two Suitcases

The Mystery of the Single Red Sock

The Mystery of the Beauregard Hotel

The Mystery of the Precious Princess

The Mystery of the Clothes on the Beach

The Mystery of the Phantom Santa

If you are looking for a quick but satisfying read, this may suit.

The longest story is the first one which dates from Colin Crampton’s early days at the Chronicle. A friend of his landlady becomes worried when a nephew she rarely sees requests her to donate her dead husband’s clothes to charity and follows up by asking if he can store clothes in her spare room.

Each of the stories gives Crampton a scoop for the newspaper.

All very readable.

My Rating: 4.4