Can you solve the murder by Antony Johnston

I used to love 'Choose your own adventure' books when I was a child, borrowing them from the local library and becoming adept at holding my fingers as place-markers in multiple pages in the book so I could attempt to undo any mistaken choices!  So I was excited to try this grown up version, the only sad thing being that I was reading it on my Kindle!  The jumps from section to section worked well, though I missed that scrabble through the pages to find the right section during the exciting parts!   I did, initially, use the notes and highlights function on the Kindle to try to keep track of all the clues, but this quickly became completely unmanageable and I resorted to traditional paper & pen and honestly, I would recommend that as you feel much more of a detective when you're scrawling things down in a notebook!

I wasn't a very good detective, it turns out!  I failed my first attempt pretty quickly, and then I started trying to keep track of where I'd made choices that turned out to be bad choices, so that I could more easily undo rather than go back entirely to the beginning.  So, I did get there in the end, and wound up with a good rating of being a Detective Inspector, but felt slightly guilty that this might not have been warranted.  I've always felt quite suited to the role of a small village sleuth, so it's a bit sad to find that I was missing the obvious clues and repeatedly reprimanded by my superiors for making bad decisions and letting suspects get away or fail to be convicted due to lack of evidence!  

I should also admit that I tried using AI to help me crack the code in the book!  It managed a little bit, but what came out was mostly nonsense, so actually in the end I had to sit and work it out with pen and paper myself.  Which was fun and harder than I'd thought!

The actual writing isn't anything fancy, and initially that worried me, but once I started collecting clues and trying to solve the crime I stopped worrying about literary style and just enjoyed the book for the adventure it is.  This was definitely a nostalgic experience, and an interesting and unusual way to enjoy crime fiction!

With thanks to the publisher & Net Galley for my review copy.

The highland falcon thief by MG Leonard and Sam Sedgman

A mystery on a steam train?  Well, what's not to love?!  Really enjoyed this one, which has everything from stowaways, dogs, missing jewels, royalty and the excitement of a steam train journey.  I enjoyed all the little details about the train journey, and the train itself, as well as enjoying the mystery.  Hal is a great character, and I raced through the book.  The mother in me felt sick at some of the super dangerous antics that ensue on the train, but put your grown-up head away and just enjoy the ride :)

Murder on the Marlow Belle by Robert Thorogood

This one was my favourite of the series so far.  I read it in a blink, and this time around Judith was my favourite!  I think having been in school theatre productions many moons ago, the storyline and character of the Marlow am drams appealed to me.  I enjoyed the setting along the river as well and, as I said, I really liked Judith in this book.  I enjoyed watching her puzzle things out, and I felt her character was filling out a little more.  I really loved the final grand reveal - the setting is great, and the audience participation made me laugh!

Looking forward to the next one, thanks to the cheeky cliff-hanger!

Endless Night by Agatha Christie

This was recommended at an author talk I attended recently (Robert Thorogood) and so I thought I'd give it a try.  I love 'Why didn't they ask Evans', and Poirot, but had never come across this book.  I wasn't sure what to expect, and for quite a lot of it I was wondering 'what on earth is this?!'  Told by our narrator, Mike, it feels a bit soap-opera-drama for a lot of the novel.  But of course I knew that *something* must be coming, and so I hung on, wondering what that something could be and finding myself more and more caught up in Ellie and Mike's lives.  I really didn't want them to go and live at Gypsy's Acre, but of course they were going to...I didn't see what was coming at all, and I raced through the final part of the book!

Some of the writing felt great, and some a little melodramatic.  But overall, this was a good, somewhat unsettling read.

What are you doing here?: My autobiography by Baroness Floella Benjamin

I am one of Floella's playschool babies.  I remember her beautiful smile on the TV when I was a little girl, and feeling like she was directly speaking to me.  And so I just loved this book - her early childhood (she was fierce!), her family's experiences in coming to the UK, and how she took everything that made her who she is into everything she did.  

I cried at the end - she has so tirelessly tried to make a difference, and she *has* made a difference, in a multitude of ways.  Not least of which is the recent introduction for women who have experienced early baby loss to be able to apply for a certificate to mark that, and it applies retrospectively.  I miscarried twice before having my children, and so I had applied for one - I'd had no idea she had worked on that.  So thank you, Floella.