December is the month I get most of my reading done. I have so many holidays left to take this year that I am off work from the 14th! That so many days to just sit an read and I have lots of plans for what I want to read. From catching up with the Time police to diving into some festive mysteries. As well as my usual Agatha Christie Buddy Read and my Terry Pratchett project.
Doing Time
Jodi Taylor
Time Police #1
About the book:
At some time in the future, the secret of time-travel became available to all. Chaos ensued as people sought to take advantage. Because there will always be nutters who want to change history…
And so the Time Police were formed. Internationally sanctioned thugs whose task it was to keep the timeline straight by any and all means possible. And they succeeded. The Time Wars are over. The Time Police won. But who will win the peace?
Doing Time follows three hapless new Time Police recruits – Jane, Luke and Matthew – as they try to navigate their first year on the beat. It’s all going to be fine. Obviously.
Hard Time
Jodi Taylor
Time Police #2
About the book:
A time slip in Versailles, problems in the Ice Age and illegal time travellers in need of rescue. Must be a job for the Time Police.
Luke, Jane and Matthew are back and ready to cause havoc – inadvertently or otherwise – in their latest adventures.
Saving Time
Jodi Taylor
Time Police #3
About the book:
Life is good for Team Weird, now heroes and fully fledged Time Police officers. Luke can’t wait to bear arms. Jane has a date. And Matthew still hasn’t had his hair cut.
But Time waits for no one and neither do criminal masterminds. A major threat to the Timeline is looming, one far deadlier than mere idiots who want to change history. And when a familiar face becomes a Very Important Lead, will conflicting family loyalties spell trouble for Team Weird?
One missing. One guilt-ridden. And one facing the end of their Time Police career before it’s even begun. Not so good then, after all.
About Time
Jodi Taylor
Time Police #4
About the book:
After their heroic efforts to safeguard the Acropolis and prevent the Paris Time-Stop, the Time Police have gone from zero to hero in but a single bound.
Then one fateful mission to apprehend a minor criminal selling dodgy historical artefacts blows up in all their faces. An officer is attacked within TPHQ. A prisoner is murdered. And investigations are about to lead to the one place where no officer can legally tread.
Worst of all, trouble is brewing for Team Weird as a surprise revelation tears the team apart.
For Commander Hay, battling to keep the Time Police afloat in a sea of storms, this will turn out to be a very long day.
Santa Grint
Jodi Taylor
Time Police
About the book:
It all begins when the Time Police hold their first Children’s Christmas Party. Their most dangerous mission yet . . .
No good deed ever goes unpunished. Lt Grint succumbs to his softer side and soon lives to regret it. The combination of bubble universes, candy floss, a small boy, a toad named Mr Fluffy, Mount Fanboten, £6.5 million, and a love-struck Officer Lockland are all hard enough to believe, but imagine a situation so dire that only Officer Parrish can save the aforementioned Grint from a lengthy stay in prison. At least, he can – but will he?
And, most unlikely of all, has Commander Hay’s long-suffering adjutant finally experienced the first faint stirrings of romance? Is such a thing even possible?
My Thoughts:
This is this years Christmas short story. I always pre-order Jodi Taylor’s Christmas Story. I love waking up early before all the Christmas day madness and snuggling up to read it.
A Cornish Christmas Murder
Fiona Leitch
The Nosey Parker Mysteries #4
About the book:
A PINCH OF PARANOIA
It’s three days before Christmas, and detective-turned-chef Jodie ‘Nosey’ Parker is drafted in to cater a charity event run by a notorious millionaire at a 13th-century abbey on Bodmin Moor.
A DASH OF DECEPTION
Things get more complicated when a snowstorm descends, stranding them all, and the next morning they find one of the guests has been gruesomely murdered in their bed…
A MURDER UNDER THE MISTLETOE
Secrets mull in every corner – can Jodie solve the crime before the killer strikes again?
Death and Papa Noel
Ian Moore
A Follet Valley Mystery
About the book:
Richard Ainsworth is preparing for the Christmas of his dreams: quiet, no guests at his French B&B and his favourite films on the TV. None of which seems on the cards when his rural peace is shattered by the unexpected arrival of a familiar face.
Valérie d’Orçay has hotfooted it from Paris with her chihuahua in tow and an invitation to a Christmas themed murder mystery game. Richard begrudgingly dresses up as Father Christmas, but the costume becomes the least of his worries when he realises this isn’t a game to everyone. As other guests arrive to join the hunt, can Richard work out who is the victim – and who is murderer?
Mistletoe and Murder
Robin Stevens
A Murder Most Unladylike Mystery
About the book:
Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong are spending the Christmas hols in snowy Cambridge. Hazel has high hopes of its beautiful spires, cosy libraries and inviting tea-rooms – but there is danger lurking in the dark stairwells of ancient Maudlin College.
Two days before Christmas, there is a terrible accident. At least, it appears to be an accident – until the Detective Society look a little closer, and realise a murder has taken place. Faced with several irritating grown-ups and fierce competition from a rival agency, they must use all their cunning and courage to find the killer (in time for Christmas Day, of course).
4:50 From Paddington
Agatha Christie
Ms Marple #8
About the book:
For an instant the two trains ran together, side by side. In that frozen moment, Elspeth witnessed a murder. Helplessly, she stared out of her carriage window as a man remorselessly tightened his grip around a woman’s throat. The body crumpled. Then the other train drew away.
But who, apart from Miss Marple, would take her story seriously? After all, there were no suspects, no other witnesses… and no corpse.
Lords and Ladies
Terry Pratchett
Witches #4, Discworld #14
About the book:
The fairies are back – but this time they don’t just want your teeth.
It’s Midsummer Night – no time for dreaming. Because sometimes, when there’s more than one reality at play, too much dreaming can make the walls between them come tumbling down. Unfortunately there’s usually a damned good reason for there being walls between them in the first place – to keep things out. Things who want to make mischief and play havoc with the natural order.
Granny Weatherwax and her tiny coven are up against real elves. And even in a world of dwarfs, wizards, trolls, Morris dancers and the odd orang-utan, this is going to cause real trouble. With lots of hey-nonny-nonny and blood all over the place.
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Happy Reading!
Fi's Bibliofiles 