A Feast of Books and Christmas Treats at Tea With Tales

For our last catch up for 2024 we shared a Christmas feast of egg and salmon sandwiches, bacon muffins, Christmas mince pies and white chocolate and cranberry fudge. It put us in mind of our favourite Christmas food although we couldn’t be pushed to choose just one.

One of our new members is a Lucinda Riley fan and really enjoyed Lucinda Riley’s Light Behind the Window – where the inheritance of a grand house in France leads to the discovery of family secrets. But The Girl on the Cliff – heartbreak sends Grania from New York to coastal Ireland where there are more family secrets from before WWI – was disappointing.

Robert Galbraith’s series is being enjoyed by three of our readers with all finding the books hard to put down. Featuring private detective Cormoran Strike and his sidekick Robin, and a bunch of twisty mysteries, the latest in the series is The Running Grave.

Another mystery series that one of our readers is enjoying is Janet Evanovich’s Fox and O’Hara series. They centre around FBI agent Kate O'Hare and former fraudster Nicholas Fox. There are seven in the series so far, beginning with The Heist.

Two readers had enjoyed several psychological thrillers. Lisa Jewell’s The Girls (also known as The Girls in the Garden) was a recommendation; here an assault sparks suspicion and distrust among neighbours around a suburban enclave. Also recommended was Harlan Coben’s Just One Look, a thriller with plenty of twists.

Both of John Grisham’s thrillers Camino Island and Carmino Winds, following cases investigated by a bookshop owner in a sleepy resort town, were enjoyed as was New Zealand author Shonagh Koea’s hilarious Time for a Killing.

Although The Fortunes of Africa: A 5,000-Year History of Wealth, Greed and Endeavour is a weighty tome, our reader found it well researched and well written.

Our last reader enjoys historical fiction and has recently read and enjoyed The Masterpiece by Belinda Alexandra and The Underground Library by Jennifer Ryan, both of which were compelling reads that take the reader back to events of World War Two.

Merry Christmas and we will back on Monday 6^th January 2024.

9 December 2024

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