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The Dentist (The DS Cross Mysteries #1), by Tim Sullivan

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The Dentist by Tim Sullivan My rating: Four out of five stars I have mixed feelings about “The Dentist”. The mystery brings together a fatal accident from long ago, an unsolved murder, and a new killing in the present. With those events connected, some movement between past and present is inevitable. I expected the investigation to circle back and reconsider earlier events. Even so, the retrospective passages sometimes feel longer than they need to be, and the case takes a while to gather pace. I was interested in the pieces, but not always eager to find out what came next. What kept me engaged was DS George Cross. He is on the autism spectrum, in the area once labelled Asperger syndrome, and I felt a real affinity with him. His interactions felt plausible to me. He is not simply eccentric for effect; the effort of navigating the expectations of others is part of his everyday life. When he asks, » Why should a lie have a colour? «, the literal question is funny, but it also captures a...
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Broder, von Dörte Hansen

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Broder von Dörte Hansen Meine Bewertung: Vier von fünf Sternen Schon mit den ersten Seiten fühlte ich mich in „Broder“ zuhause. Dörte Hansen nimmt einen überschaubaren Ort und macht daraus einen Mikrokosmos, in dem Familie, Arbeit, Tiere und Veränderung ineinandergreifen. Der Hof folgt einem alten Gesetz: Der Sohn, der bleibt, zählt; die anderen sollen sich einfügen oder verschwinden. Hansen erzählt von dieser Härte ohne Pathos und verklärt die Vergangenheit nicht. Broder Bahnsen wollte Bauer werden, doch der Hof ging an seinen Zwillingsbruder Henning. Er wurde Tierarzt, hielt Abstand und kehrte nach Jahren in die Nähe der Familie zurück. Nun steht er zwischen seinem Gespür für Tiere, alter Kränkung und neuer Verantwortung. Mit James Herriot verbindet ihn höchstens der Tierarztberuf; Hansen verortet ihn in einer viel späteren, technisierten Landwirtschaft. Der Hof ist dabei mehr als Kulisse: Seine auf maximale Milchleistung ausgerichtete Herde macht den Wachstumsglauben greifbar. Hans...
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Bilbo's Last Song, by J.R.R. Tolkien

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Bilbo's Last Song by J.R.R. Tolkien My rating: Two stars out of five “Bilbo's Last Song” is old wine in a new bottle: Tolkien’s familiar nostalgia, repackaged as an illustrated farewell. The wine, naturally, is excellent. “I sit beside the fire and think” Its quiet reflections on memory and departure have warmth, but, for me, offer no new vintage in a world I already know. Compared with “The Adventures of Tom Bombadil”, I find a slender coda, not a varied collection; compared with “The Hobbit”, it lacks the delight of a journey into the unknown. Newcomers will find an excellent introduction here. For everyone else, this edition is no reason to return. Two stars out of five. Ceterum censeo Putin esse delendam https://turing.mailstation.de/bilbos-last-song-by-j-r-r-tolkien/?fsp_sid=2774
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But For The Grace (D.C. Smith #2), by Peter Grainger

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But For The Grace by Peter Grainger My rating: 3 of 5 stars I still like Detective Sergeant DC Smith, and I will keep reading the series. That makes this a disappointing instalment rather than a farewell: “But for the Grace” has not changed my affection for Smith, but it has tested my patience. “ An Accidental Death ” ( review ) took time to get going, too, but eventually the investigation acquired force as Smith followed details others had missed. Here, the whole novel feels slow. The plot stays close to one care home and a sustained argument about assisted suicide, but it rarely turns that material into forward motion. We spend a great deal of time in and around a home whose residents receive unusually expensive care. The phrase » not the cheapest place by a long way « is almost a miniature of the book’s enclosed world: comfortable, quiet, and short on urgency. Assisted suicide is not an abstract subject to me, and I do not consider its basic moral status unresolved: it must be a ri...
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An Accidental Death (D.C. Smith #1), by Peter Grainger

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An Accidental Death: A Novel by Peter Grainger My rating: 4 of 5 stars Peter Grainger and Detective Sergeant Smith first came to my attention through the New York Times article “The Best Literary Detective You’ve Never Heard Of, and the Man Who Made Him” ( Gift link ). It made an excellent introduction to both author and character. In “An Accidental Death”, a young man drowns after a party, apparently leaving Kings Lake police with a routine investigation. Smith, newly back at work, is paired with trainee Christopher Waters, and the case gradually becomes more complicated than the initial explanation allows. I will keep the details there, because the pleasure lies in watching Smith work rather than in having the investigation pre-explained. Smith is an immediate winner for me. He is experienced, observant, stubborn, and quietly funny, but Grainger never turns him into a grandstanding super-detective. His appeal is much more understated. He notices what other people overlook, follows h...
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The Burning Land (The Last Kingdom #5), by Bernard Cornwell

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The Burning Land by Bernard Cornwell My rating: 5 of 5 stars “ The Burning Land ” is exactly what I wanted from the fifth book in Bernard Cornwell's Saxon series : another fierce, fast-moving Uhtred adventure that keeps all the strengths of its predecessors while avoiding the weaknesses that occasionally slowed them down. I liked it very much indeed. More importantly, I enjoyed the entire journey. Every page gave me something: a battle, a sharp exchange, a political manoeuvre, a religious hypocrisy, or one of Uhtred’s wonderfully blunt observations. The setup is familiar but still effective. Alfred is ageing and ill, his heir remains untested, and the Danes see an opportunity to press their advantage. Uhtred’s position between Saxon and Dane, loyalty and independence, remains the engine of the story. Cornwell understands that Uhtred is most interesting when nobody can quite claim him, least of all Uhtred himself. His decisions feel personal, practical, and gloriously dangerous wi...
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The Way We Play (The Bradford Boys #2), by Tia Louise

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My rating: 1 of 5 stars “The Way We Play” is a miserable reading experience, not because its tropes are inherently objectionable, but because they replace characterisation, logic, and genuine chemistry. The premise has workable ingredients: a cautious thirty-year-old caring for her younger brother, and an injured former kicker with a repairman’s trade. Yet the novel turns every element into a contrivance designed to prove that Rachel and Zane are destined for each other. The book practically announces this problem itself: » Zane Bradford appeared at the perfect time. « That is not foreshadowing. It is the author waving a large sign labelled “plot convenience”. Nothing feels credible. Rachel’s responsibilities exist mainly to make Zane indispensable, while Zane alternates between wounded alpha hero, miraculous rescuer, and muscular plot device. Their supposed conflict never develops into convincing friction. They announce attraction, trauma, and eternal devotion at one another, and the ...
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