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It’s time to celebrate your local independent book shop!
With ‘Love Your Book Shop’ Day on Saturday 12 October, there’s no better time to pick up a new read.
Book shops are sanctuaries for book lovers, offering more than just shelves of stories – they’re treasure troves of the community, where like-minded book friends can hunt for jewels between infinite pages.
Not real jewels though – if you find any of these, hand them in to the counter.
When you wander into a local book shop, it’s not just about buying a book, it’s about finding that hidden gem (again, metaphorical only) you never knew you needed, thanks to passionate staff who love books just as much as you do.
Whether you’re picking up a reimagined classic like James by Percival Everett or discovering The Spy Coast by Tess Gerritsen, there’s something deeply personal about every bookshop visit. It’s an experience you can’t replicate online.
Books are life, life is love, and there’s no better time to love your book shop than right now. Finish your cuppa and we’ll head off.
Update your TBR list with heartwarming tales from All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot or grab an unexpected thriller like Real Tigers by Mick Herron. Your independent bookshop has something for every mood.
So, take a break, slow down, hurry up and immerse yourself in the magic that only a small, dedicated book shop can offer.
Happy Reading, friends!
Series or Standalone? :
This is Book One in the ‘All Creatures Great and Small’ series.
"All Creatures Great And Small" Book Blurb:
Contains “If Only They Could Talk” and “It Shouldn’t Happen to a Vet” – the inspiration for the BBC series of the same name. Fresh out of Glasgow Veterinary College, to the young James Herriot 1930s Yorkshire seems to offers an idyllic pocket of rural life in a rapidly changing world. But from his erratic new colleagues, brothers Siegfried and Tristan Farnon, to incomprehensible farmers, herds of semi-feral cattle, a pig called Nugent and an overweight Pekingese called Tricki Woo, James find he is on a learning curve as steep as the hills around him. And when he meets Helen, the beautiful daughter of a local farmer, all the training and experience in the world can’t help him.
Grab yourself a copy:
I’ve never read this series, but must have absorbed some of the essence growing up, as even the name of it fills me with a weird comfort. I’ll be looking to see if I can grab a copy and finally get to know the characters.
Series or Standalone? :
This is Book 8 in the ‘Discworld‘ series.
"Guards! Guards!" Book Blurb:
The city of Ankh-Morpork is in turmoil, its citizens revolting. Again. A shadowy secret brotherhood has summoned a dragon to spread terror throughout the city, intent on overthrowing the Patrician and ruling in his place. Too bad the dragon has ideas of its own. It’s up to Captain Sam Vimes and the ramshackle Night Watch to stop it. Only problem is, the Watch are more used to dealing with mobs than dragons. And if they can’t bring down this fire-breathing tyrant and reinstate their own, slightly less dangerous one, Ankh-Morpork might be lost. For ever.
Grab yourself a copy:
I’ve been collecting some nice hard-cover versions of the Discworld series and this is the next one on my list, if I can spot a similar edition in the wild. Love Pratchett’s humour and world-building.
Series or Standalone? :
This is a standalone novel.
"James" Book Blurb:
A brilliant, action-packed reimagining of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn , both harrowing and ferociously funny, told from the enslaved Jim’s point of view. When the enslaved Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he decides to hide on nearby Jackson Island until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck Finn has faked his own death to escape his violent father, recently returned to town. As all readers of American literature know, thus begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive and too-often-unreliable promise of the Free States and beyond. While many narrative set pieces of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn remain in place (floods and storms, stumbling across both unexpected death and unexpected treasure in the myriad stopping points along the river’s banks, encountering the scam artists posing as the Duke and Dauphin…), Jim’s agency, intelligence and compassion are shown in a radically new light.
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I feel like I’ve read ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’ in the past, but don’t remember much about it. So sorry in advance to Percival Everett who has probably done an amazing job of recreating the story from a different viewpoint. This one sounds interesting and basically counts for two books as it takes us back through the classic tale! Activate cheat code!
Series or Standalone? :
This is a standalone novel.
"Ordinary Grace" Book Blurb:
New Bremen, Minnesota, 1961. The Twins were playing their debut season, ice-cold root beers were selling out at the soda counter of Halderson’s Drugstore, and Hot Stuff comic books were a mainstay on every barbershop magazine rack. It was a time of innocence and hope for a country with a new, young president. But for thirteen-year-old Frank Drum it was a grim summer in which death visited frequently and assumed many forms. Accident. Nature. Suicide. Murder. Frank begins the season preoccupied with the concerns of any teenage boy, but when tragedy unexpectedly strikes his family—which includes his Methodist minister father; his passionate, artistic mother; Juilliard-bound older sister; and wise-beyond-his-years kid brother—he finds himself thrust into an adult world full of secrets, lies, adultery, and betrayal, suddenly called upon to demonstrate a maturity and gumption beyond his years. Told from Frank’s perspective forty years after that fateful summer, Ordinary Grace is a brilliantly moving account of a boy standing at the door of his young manhood, trying to understand a world that seems to be falling apart around him. It is an unforgettable novel about discovering the terrible price of wisdom and the enduring grace of God.
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I’ve been wanting to pick up another book by Krueger since reading and enjoying ‘The River We Remember‘. This one looks interesting and should scratch the new-author itch I’m after.
Series or Standalone? :
This is a standalone novel.
"Over My Dead Body" Book Blurb:
When the misanthropic Dr Miriam Price wakes up dead, her day has only just started to go wrong. With everyone mistakenly thinking she killed herself, she’s condemned to half a century in Limbo as a ‘Death By Misadventure’ – unless she can prove that she was murdered. Unable to communicate with anyone living, Miriam’s investigative options look decidedly limited. But she soon realises that Winnie, her elderly next-door neighbour – and mortal enemy – can see, hear and talk to her. The good news for Miriam is that the dying can interact with the dead. The bad news for Winnie is that if she can see Miriam, she hasn’t got long to live. Now this unlikely detective duo must work together to solve Miriam’s murder – and maybe avert Winnie’s death – before time runs out for them both. And before they kill each other first.
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Don’t know a lot about this one, but it kinda had me at ‘she wakes up dead’ lol. Any book that features Limbo as a setting, or has a cosy crime element to it, will usually spark my interest. Here’s hoping this is a goodie.
Series or Standalone? :
This is Book 3 in the ‘Slough House‘ series.
"Real Tigers" Book Blurb:
Slough House is the Intelligence Service outpost for failed spies, former high-fliers now dubbed the ‘slow horses’. Catherine Standish, one of their number, worked in Regent’s Park long enough to understand treachery, double-dealing and stabbing in the back, and she’s known Jackson Lamb long enough to have learned that old sins cast long shadows. And she also knows that chance encounters never happen to spooks, even recovering drunks whose careers have crashed and burned. What she doesn’t know is why anyone would target her. So whoever’s holding her hostage, it can’t be personal. It must be about Slough House. Most likely, it’s about Jackson Lamb. And say what you like about Lamb, he’ll never leave a joe in the lurch. He might even be someone you could trust with your life.
Grab yourself a copy:Still wanting to continue my read of the ‘Slough House’ series. I’ve enjoyed the first two, and then hit a stumbling block with Herron’s standalone spy thriller ‘The Secret Hours’. Hoping this book gets me back on track with Herron.
Series or Standalone? :
This is a standalone novel.
"Remarkably Bright Creatures" Book Blurb:
After Tova Sullivan’s husband died, she began working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium, mopping floors and tidying up. Keeping busy has always helped her cope, which she’s been doing since her eighteen-year-old son, Erik, mysteriously vanished on a boat in Puget Sound over thirty years ago. Tova becomes acquainted with curmudgeonly Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium. Marcellus knows more than anyone can imagine but wouldn’t dream of lifting one of his eight arms for his human captors–until he forms a remarkable friendship with Tova. Ever the detective, Marcellus deduces what happened the night Tova’s son disappeared. And now Marcellus must use every trick his old invertebrate body can muster to unearth the truth for her before it’s too late.
Grab yourself a copy:
Anyone who knows me well, knows that I bang on a LOT about krakens. Octopuses … octopie? … are amazing! And it sounds like this one might be helping to solve a crime – sign me up!
Series or Standalone? :
This is a standalone novel.
"Strong Female Character" Book Blurb:
A summary of my book: 1. I’m diagnosed with autism 20 years after telling a doctor I had it. 2. My terrible Catholic I hate my parents etc. 3. My friendship with an elderly man who runs the corner shop and is definitely not trying to groom me. I get groomed. 4. Homelessness. 5. Stripping. 6. More stripping but with more nervous breakdowns. 7. I hate everyone at uni and live with a psycho etc. 8. REDACTED as too spicy. 9. After everyone tells me I don’t look autistic, I try to cure my autism and get addicted to Xanax. 10. REDACTED as too embarrassing.
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I enjoyed getting to know Fern Brady a bit when she was on the UK version of ‘Task Master’. She seems like a hoot, and someone that would be candid and warm in real life. While not a huge biography fan, I’m interested enough in Fern to give this a try.
Series or Standalone? :
This is Book One in the ‘Housemaid‘ series.
"The Housemaid" Book Blurb:
Every day I clean the Winchesters’ beautiful house top to bottom. I collect their daughter from school. And I cook a delicious meal for the whole family before heading up to eat alone in my tiny room on the top floor. I try to ignore how Nina makes a mess just to watch me clean it up. How she tells strange lies about her own daughter. And how her husband Andrew seems more broken every day. But as I look into Andrew’s handsome brown eyes, so full of pain, it’s hard not to imagine what it would be like to live Nina’s life. The walk-in closet, the fancy car, the perfect husband. I only try on one of Nina’s pristine white dresses once. Just to see what it’s like. But she soon finds out… and by the time I realise my attic bedroom door only locks from the outside, it’s far too late. But I reassure myself: the Winchesters don’t know who I really am. They don’t know what I’m capable of.
Grab yourself a copy:
I’ve seen this book everywhere, and it’s on a lot of ‘must read’ lists for crime readers. I’m at the point where I think if I don’t pick it up soon, it’s going to just turn up in my house one day and then I’ll be confused and it will be a whole thing. So better to just buy it now, so it doesn’t haunt me. You get it.
Series or Standalone? :
This is a standalone novel.
"The Ledge" Book Blurb:
When human remains are discovered in the forests of regional Victoria, the police are baffled, the locals are shocked, and one group of old friends starts to panic. Their long-held secret is about to be uncovered. It all began in 1999 when sixteen-year-old Aaron ran away from home, dragging his friends into an unforeseeable chain of events that no one escaped from unscathed.
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I’ve read a lot of Aussie crime fiction in recent months, and am firmly on the bandwagon. I love reading about small towns that I might actually get to visit, even if they are riddled with fictional murders – they’re a bit more accessible than popping over the pond to stalk Poirot. I’ve not read any of Christian White yet, so this will be a new-to-me author.
Series or Standalone? :
This is Book One in the ‘Martini Club‘ series.
"The Spy Coast" Book Blurb:
Former spy Maggie Bird came to the seaside village of Purity, Maine, eager to put the past behind her after a mission went tragically wrong. These days, she’s living quietly on her chicken farm, still wary of blowback from the events that forced her early retirement. But when a body turns up in Maggie’s driveway, she knows it’s a message from former foes who haven’t forgotten her. Maggie turns to her local circle of old friends—all retirees from the CIA—to help uncover the truth about who is trying to kill her, and why. This “Martini Club” of former spies may be retired, but they still have a few useful skills that they’re eager to use again, if only to spice up their rather sedate new lives. Complicating their efforts is Purity’s acting police chief, Jo Thibodeau. More accustomed to dealing with rowdy tourists than homicide, Jo is puzzled by Maggie’s reluctance to share information—and by her odd circle of friends, who seem to be a step ahead of her at every turn. As Jo’s investigation collides with the Martini Club’s manoeuvres, Maggie’s hunt for answers will force her to revisit a clandestine career that spanned the globe, from Bangkok to Istanbul, from London to Malta. The ghosts of her past have returned, but with the help of her friends—and the reluctant Jo Thibodeau—Maggie might just be able to save the life she’s built.
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Tess Gerritsen feels like someone I have to read. Much like Ann Cleeves, she’s an icon in the crime fiction world. I’ve read a few of her ‘Rizzoli and Isles’ books and they were middle-of-the-road reads for me, but I’ll give this one a crack, and see how I go.
Series or Standalone? :
This is Book One in the ‘Shadow of the Leviathan‘ series.
"The Tainted Cup" Book Blurb:
In Daretana’s most opulent mansion, a high Imperial officer lies dead—killed, to all appearances, when a tree spontaneously erupted from his body. Even in this canton at the borders of the Empire, where contagions abound and the blood of the Leviathans works strange magical changes, it’s a death at once terrifying and impossible. Called in to investigate this mystery is Ana Dolabra, an investigator whose reputation for brilliance is matched only by her eccentricities. At her side is her new assistant, Dinios Kol. Din is an engraver, magically altered to possess a perfect memory. His job is to observe and report, and act as his superior’s eyes and ears–quite literally, in this case, as among Ana’s quirks are her insistence on wearing a blindfold at all times, and her refusal to step outside the walls of her home. Din is most perplexed by Ana’s ravenous appetite for information and her mind’s frenzied leaps—not to mention her cheerful disregard for propriety and the apparent joy she takes in scandalising her young counterpart. Yet as the case unfolds and Ana makes one startling deduction after the next, he finds it hard to deny that she is, indeed, the Empire’s greatest detective. As the two close in on a mastermind and uncover a scheme that threatens the safety of the Empire itself, Din realises he’s barely begun to assemble the puzzle that is Ana Dolabra—and wonders how long he’ll be able to keep his own secrets safe from her piercing intellect.
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I’ve enjoyed a few of Bennett’s books previously, and have been wanting to pick up a bit more Fantasy (a bit more than none). This one seems like a bridge between Fantasy and my comfort crime genre – so hoping for a hit here.
Series or Standalone? :
This is Book One in the ‘Ill-Mannered Ladies‘ series.
"The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies" Book Blurb:
Lady Augusta Colebrook, “Gus,” is determinedly unmarried, bored by society life, and tired of being dismissed at the age of forty-two. She and her twin sister, Julia, who is grieving her dead betrothed, need a distraction. One soon presents to rescue their friend’s goddaughter, Caroline, from her violent husband. The sisters set out to Caroline’s country estate with a plan, but their carriage is accosted by a highwayman. In the scuffle, Gus accidentally shoots and injures the ruffian, only to discover he is Lord Evan Belford, an acquaintance from their past who was charged with murder and exiled to Australia twenty years ago. What follows is a high adventure full of danger, clever improvisation, heart-racing near misses, and a little help from a revived and rather charming Lord Evan. Back in London, Gus can’t stop thinking about her unlikely (not to mention handsome) comrade-in-arms. She is convinced Lord Evan was falsely accused of murder, and she is going to prove it. She persuades Julia to join her in a quest to help Lord Evan, and others in need—society be damned! And so begins the beguiling secret life and adventures of the Colebrook twins.
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I get pulled in to historical crime settings quite often, and seeing society ladies go off-grid in a world where they’re supposed to be demure and pliable, is always fun. Throw a mystery in there, and I’m in. Here’s to the start of a fun new series!
‘The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies’ by Alison Goodman
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