Tag Archives: Brighton

#BookReview ‘Dead Simple’ by @PeterJamesUK #crime #Brighton

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A plot that twists and turns, a dramatic beginning, a likeable detective in Roy Grace and a cleverly-drawn setting. Brighton is full of potential for a crime writer looking for a setting and it is clear Peter James knows and loves the Sussex seaside city. Dead Simple is a page-turner with clever ideas and a couple of twists I didn’t see coming. Peter JamesThe story opens with a stag night which does not go to plan, a missing groom, a car crash, an absent best man and a frantic bride. As the horrible realities of the situation become clear, with no witnesses and no clues, the police struggle to find the missing groom before the wedding on Saturday. But a few things do not ring true and that, coupled with Detective Superintendent Roy Grace’s controversial use of a medium, bring fresh, if confusing, clues.
Peter James has created an authentic police community which feels real from page one, this is not the first in a series where the first novel is about setting the scene and the context. James hits the ground running with a believable detective. Roy Grace is a maverick, and I like him. James spends a day a week with the Sussex Police Force and this experience is evident on every page without shouting ‘research’.
I’ve found a new favourite crime writer. This is a long-running series.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ABOUT THIS BOOK

If you like this, try:-
‘The House on Cold Hill’ by Peter James
‘Unnatural Causes’ by PD James
‘The Vows of Silence’ by Susan Hill

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
DEAD SIMPLE by @PeterJamesUK http://wp.me/p5gEM4-1QB #bookreview via @SandraDanby

Book review: The Mysterious Beach Hut

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the mysterious beach hut by jacky atkins 20-12-13This is a traditional children’s tale centred on a beach hut on the seafront at Brighton which is the doorway to another world. The Mysterious Beach Hut by Jacky Atkins is a time-travel tale in which sisters Holly and Beth find themselves on Brighton beach as England stands on the brink of the Great War. Brighton today is recognizable, but as soon as the girls step back into 1914 it is a radically different place. The costumes, the games, the speech, the West Pier in all its glory, the things that people are talking about. The sisters struggle to come to terms with what their eyes are seeing but their brains can’t process.

“Something had changed. The light was different. Just for a moment, it felt as if they were looking at a heat mirage when the bottom of the picture you see becomes slightly waxy and hazy. It was almost as if, for a split second, time had stood still.”

The sisters meet Marjorie who becomes their new best friend and guide to this strange world. But being a time-traveller is difficult. Holly, the older sister, knows something of the history of World War One from school, and finds it painful not to tell her new friends how the war turns out. Curious about Marjorie’s life, Holly and Beth go with their mother in their own time to Brighton Museum. where they meet Mr Edwards, who has a time travel tale of his own to tell.

This is a charming novel for ages 10+ which is really a detective tale involving a misplaced letter, war, death and old age, all sensitively handled. The overall message is one of hope.

To order The Mysterious Beach Hut from Amazon, click here.

‘The Mysterious Beach Hut’ by Jacky Atkins WW1 centenary logo 14-12-13