Pile by the Bed reviews Tell Me Something True by Michael Robotham, his twentieth but first set in Australia – a rural crime novel with three memorable characters at its heart.
Pile by the Bed reviews Gentle Things a heady mix of genres – a dark reimagining of 18th Century London with a speculative edge that deals with the documented practice of using human body parts to create medicines.
Pile by the Bed reviews Little Spark by Jess Kidd a gothic steampunk fantasy set in Victorian times which follows a young woman with some extraordinary abilities to a remote estate to work with automata.
Pile by the Bed reviews and recommends Venus, Vanishing the debut novel ny art historian Rebecca Birrell which focusses on the life of a young, female Jewish artist in Berlin struggling to find her artistic voice during the rise of Nazism,
Pile by the Bed reviews Dying Days by Anthony Byrt an historical epsionage novel set in complex city of Trieste in the closing stages of World War 2.
Pile by the Bed reviews The Knight Watch by Thomas D Lee the second book in his loosely connected series which draws on the premise that the Knights of the Round Table can return when Britain is in peril. This book is set in World War 2 and is a “weird, enjoyable, Nazi-punching romp”.
Pile by the Bed reviews Contrapposto by Dave Eggers a sprawling American novel about art and artists that follows two characters from childhood to old age.
Pile by the Bed reviews and recommends Cool Machine by Colson Whitehead the final book in his Harlem crime trilogy bringing his main character, fence Ray Carney into the 1980s.
Pile by the Bed reviews and recommends Shadow of Madness by DV Bishop, the sixth book in his always enjoyable and tense historical crime series set in Renaissance Italy and featuring Cesare Aldo.
Pile by the Bed reviews The Unicorn Hunters by KAtherine Arden historical fantasy that reminagines the life of Anne of Brittany only with unicorns and fae beings.
Pile by the Bed reviews The Tinder Box by MR Carey a more complex and satisfying reimagining of a Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale.
Pile by the Bed reviews Murder at the Spirit Lounge by Jess Kidd, the second in her Miss Marple-esque mystery series featuring ex-nun Nora Breen.
Pile by the Bed reviews and recommends Palaces of the Crow by Ray Naylet the story of a group of children taking refuge in a Lithuanian forest during World War II and their relationship with the crows there.
Pile by the Bed reviews The Faces of the Dead by Chris Nickson, the second in his histocial crime series set in Leeds during World War 2 and featuring constable Cathy Marsden.
Pile by the bed reviews The Girl with a Thousand Faces by Sunyi Dean a hsitorical urban fantasy set in Hong Kong in the 1970s and drawing on Asian history and mythological traditions.
Pile by the Bed reviews The Tapestry of Fate by Shannon Chakraborty the second book to feature ageing pirate Amina Al-Sirafi on another dangerously magical quest.
Pile by the Bed reviews No Man’s Land by Richard Morgan, a dark fantasy set post World War I in a world that is being threatened by violent forest creatures.
Pile by the Bed reviews The First Law of the Bush by Geoff Parkes, his second crime novel featuring the small rural New Zealand town of Nashville, set ten years after his debut.
Pile by the Bed reviews Shellybanks by Louise Milligan a resonant and fascinating but very different follow up to her debut Pheasants Nest that takes as its focus the historical exploitation of vulnerable teenagers in Ireland.
Pile by the Bed reviews Sisters in Yellow by Mieko Kawakami a coming of age story about a young woman trying to forge her own life in Tokyo in the 1990s.
