Book 3 emerges

With my second book now just weeks away from hitting the shelves, focus can turn to book 3. This is also on railway stations, but this time in the West Midlands. My publisher sent me a draft of the cover of the book yesterday. I don't think it will be released until the late Summer or early Autumn but the cover looks pretty good.

A trip to Warwick

At the weekend i went to Warwick, i haven't been to the county town for a couple of years. I have been waiting for the rebuilding works at the railway station to be completed before i went there to update my photography. The works are almost complete (why does everything take so long in this country?) and so i went there, i had another visit to the Warwick Marketplace Museum too. I love a fossil and some ancient (looted) knick knacks me.

You can see my Warwick photos here.

American Warplanes

I love a big Salamander book, they were the backbone of my book collection when i was in my teens. This volume by Bill Gunston is on American military aircraft from the earliest of days until the 1980s. 

So, this is standard fare for a Salamander book. Aircraft profiles with good information, technical specifications and plenty of photographs and illustrations. As the book was by Bill Gunston then you know it is informative and very well written.

This is an interesting book, covering all types from the famous like the Mustang and Eagle to the obscure. The latter are more fun of course. By now the book is very dated of course but still very enjoyable.

Gently where the roads go

After a man is brutally murdered by a maniac with a sten gun, Superintendent George Gently is bought in to investigate a murky tale of stolen military supplies, enemy agents and a fair amount of sleaze. Gently also finds himself in danger as the gun man tries to cover his trail by also filling Gently with lead.

This is quite a respectable crime romp by Alan Hunter, though at times the story is a little dense with clues and plot points, some of which seem to be going nowhere fast. It is well written and pretty gritty. The ending is a surprise though, but not completely in a good way. The resolution did surprise me though as i was becoming pretty sure the culprit was one of the characters, but in the end they only had a supporting role.

I have a few other George Gently books in my large to-read pile, and i am looking forward to them.

Sowing some seeds

With the spider plant and some garlic bulbs seemingly taking to the mini-greenhouse, it was time to sow some seeds and try and grow something from scratch. I has sown some daisies, dahlias and poached egg plant seeds in trays. Hopefully i will soon have plenty of flowers which i can pot outside the front of the house to try and brighten it up a bit!

22 Pans

I have a big pending list of fiction books to read so of course the most natural thing is to greatly increase it! I have bought a job lot of 22 Pan paperbacks from the 1960s. They include some authors i am familiar with such as John Creasey though a lot that are new to me. Exploring them will be fun, when i finally get around to them. That may be some time!