The Adventures of Rodney Fluffychops

The Adventures of Rodney Fluffychops tells the amazing and utterly charming story of Rodney Fluffychops and his new best mate, Spike.

Rodney Fluffychops is a delightful and incredibly nosy cat and Spike is a hedgehog who loves nothing better than going out and picking up some litter to make his home more tidy.

Together the two friends have some absolutely wonderful adventures.

The book is beautifully illustrated -there's even a map that shows you all of the big world that Rodney lives in!- and illustrations of not only Rodney and Spike, and of their friends the rabbits who live in the Garden Centre that's not far from Rodney's home.

The book is designed to be read to and by children aged 3 to 5 years of age and their parents, grandparents and their older siblings.

And Rodney is a real cat, who does really live with Mr and Mrs C in the village, not far from the Garden Centre.

This book is written by Mr C, aka Mr F. Compton and illustrated by artist Rianna "Dolly" Aguilar.

It's published by Matador at £6.99 and is available at the That's Books and Entertainment bookshop which is, as ever, just a little to the right of this book review.

I can't recommend this charming book enough.

Get a Life

Get a Life is the fourth novel by author Don Snuggs.

There's a purpose behind the novel, it is intended to assist the reader to begin to question ingrained, routine ways of thinking.

It tells the story of Fiona.

Fiona is the daughter of a prosperous businessman and his wife.

Fiona was brought up during and after the beginning of the Second World War, when, for her, life was increasingly good as her family became more and more prosperous.

Her faith and her beliefs were inculcated within her by her parents and her mentors. But even so, Fiona had a desire and a need to question what it was that she was being taught.

Whilst still in her teenage years, a series of terrible disasters befell our heroine.

Her boyfriend, who she loved very much, died in an accident.

And then she was kidnapped by a criminal gang and held hostage. During her illegal incarceration she was raped and became pregnant as a result.

She struggles with conflicting emotions and ideas, based on what she had been taught whilst growing up.

Should she proceed with the pregnancy or not? She eventually decides to go through with the pregnancy, but that she should put the child up for adoption, which she does.

Throughout the following years she continues with her life as best she can. She attends university where she majors in business studies.

Her father too soon and Fiona takes the decision to turn her considerable talents to joining the family business.

She marries and is able to make a fresh start. Only for her oldest son from this marriage to decide to indulge in a notorious and high-profile affair with a woman who is older than he is.

This results in heartache and misery all round and brings with it the potential for disaster not only for her son but also for the entire family.

What should Fiona do? Gather up the determination to re-start her life all over again?

The book is intended to be an uplifting novel strength and success despite adversity and heartbreak along the way.

It is published by Matador in paperback at £9.99 and can be purchased from the That's Books and Entertainment bookshop, on the right hand side of this review.

Lights Burning Blue

Lights Burning Blue is a thriller novel set in the world of the theatre and it is written by a man who knows a great deal about this world, successful actor, Andrew Cullum.

It relates the story of a somewhat unlikely friendship set against the backdrop of a savage murder.

Brooke McCarthy has graduated from her drama school and she has landed her dream job. Well, it's not exactly her dream job. But it is a job in a theatre company, so there's that much to it, hopefully?

But it's not, actually, a proper acting job. She has had to take up a job in stage management. Which was not what she wanted at all. She wants to be on the stage, acting, not stage managing!

And the director of the play is Jimmy Knowles, notorious in the world of British theatre as being very difficult to please and not very nice to work with or for.

The play is in the rehearsal phase and it's not actually in the theatre, yet. The rehearsals are being undertaken in a village hall in a village that is probably as out of the way as you could possibly get, near to nothing but a woodland nature reserve.

But this whole thing beats Brooke's previous job, working as a temp in an office, so she grits her teeth and is determined to make as good a job of things as she can.

On her first day at work she meets up with an elderly gentleman who she finds endearing and who lives in a cottage which is just over the path from the village hall where the rehearsals  are taking place.

This elderly gentleman seems to have had something of an interesting past and a deep love of all things theatrical.

But is everything quite what it appears to be?

For just one week prior to her taking up her new job, a young girl was found murdered in the woods that make up the nature reserve.

And is it just a coincidence that the murder victim looks like Brooke?

What, exactly, is going on? Who, if anyone, can Brooke trust?

This is Andrew Cullum's début novel. And all I can say is that I hope it is not be his only novel!

We mystery lovers have found, in Andrew Cullum, a great new writing talent and, in Brooke McCarthy, a wonderful new character. Who I want to be able to learn more about in forthcoming novels.

Could she develop into a female version of a younger and perhaps more theatrically successful Charles Paris?  Oh, I do hope so!

The book is published by Matador at a remarkably reasonable £9.99 in paperback and if you buy only one book during 2016, please do make it Lights Burning Blue. You'll find it for sale at the That's Books and Entertainment book shop, just a little to the right of this review.

Horizons of Light

Horizons of Light is a passionate love story by Jaime Manrique-Palacin.

It's a novel in the erotic fiction genre (this is the English language version of the book which was first published in Spanish) which tells the story of Enrique who, in a hot summer's night back in 1964 takes the decision to leave his home town of Santa Maria de los Rios and emigrate to the United States of America.

He has to leave behind his wife and child -only for a while, of course- and leaves to make his mark in America.

He planned to bring his wife and his child over to join him in America, but a letter from home blew his plans into pieces, piercing his heart with the news that his family was now lost to him.

Eventually he makes his way across America and becomes a famous and wealthy actor in Hollywood, where his good looks and personality attracts admiration and romantic attention from members of both genders.

But Enrique needs more than brief encounters he knows that he must rediscover and fight for his one true love and bring joy and happiness to someone who had known misery and heartache.

This is a splendid and richly written novel which has heart and soul throughout it's pages.

It is published in hardback by The Book Guild at £17.99 and can be bought via the That's Books and Entertainment book shop, which you will find to the right of this book review.

A Game That Must be Lost

A Game That Must be Lost is a novel set in the world of international diplomacy, written by a former high ranking British diplomat and now a leading academic Alan Hunt.

A Game That Must be Lost takes the reader back to the year 2005.

On the eve of the Chinese New Year in Singapore, all is not quite what it appears to be.

Marina Singleton, the daughter of the British High Commissioner, has -somehow- become involved in the world of international drug smuggling and has vanished with a high value consignment of illegally smuggled heroin.

But that's not all she has done. For she has left an innocent man to face the death penalty for a crime he had no knowledge of.

A little while later, Marina's father, Andrew Singleton, also vanishes.

The repercussions of these events are potentially catastrophic for the British government, so it is decided that a high power investigation will be launched into the case, under the watchful eye of Adam White, Head of Chancery at the High Commission.

It is Adam White's task to try to establish the exact sequence of events and to discover the truth as to what actually had happened.

For example, was Marina Singleton really involved in the smuggling? Has she vanished of her own volition, or was she kidnapped? And if so, what could be the motives of the kidnappers?

And what of the equally problematic disappearance of her father? Is it linked to the mysterious disappearance of his daughter? Has he gone to ground? Or was he, also, kidnapped?

And why would anyone want to kidnap the Singletons?

But as Adam White commences on his somewhat tricky and potentially dangerous mission he discovers that, in the world of international diplomacy things are never quite what they appear to be and that there is a very dangerous plot that aims to bring the world to the brink of disaster with a nuclear holocaust as the eventual aim.

But is all that it seems? And how many would die before the case could be considered as closed? But how can Adam White, a man with troubles of his own, work to prevent this from happening? In fact, can he? Or is it beyond his abilities?

The book is a compelling read and is published by Matador at £7.99 in paperback and is available from the that's Books and Entertainment book shop, which you will find to the right of this review.

Hidey Holes

Hidey Holes is a book of Beautiful Hideaways, Bolt Holes and Harbours in England and Wales.

It is by Robin Whitcomb and it is a truly fascinating book. So fascinating that I have had to wait for a couple of weeks to review it because my wife was absolutely riveted by it!

Yorkshire-born Robin Whitcomb has lived an interesting life. A student of Cranleigh School in Surrey, after a couple of years working in the oil industry in Tulsa, Oklahoma, he spent time in LA with his older brother Ian, a musician who had a smash hit with "You Turn Me On", who introduced him to Sonny and Cher, who, at that time, were a pair of rapidly rising stars.

Robin became their drummer and perchusionist and who played on their smash massive hit: "I Got You Babe".

After returning to the UK, Robin played cricket for the MCC and rugby for Richmond and other clubs.

Amongst other things, after several years on The Daily Telegraph he taught at Dulwich Prep for 33 years.

This is his third book.

The book brings the reader to a variety of absolutely charming places in and around the coastal areas of England and Wales.

There are some perfectly crafted paintings by local artists and also some stunningly beautiful and well-composed images photographed by Robin himself.

There are also some first class descriptive texts that tell you all that you need to know about the villages, towns, hamlets and small communities that he found on his travels with his (late) companion, his Labrador Coco. She was his constant companion throughout the five years that it took Robin to create this utterly charming and quintessentially English book, which he, with considerable English charm,  dedicated to Coco.

See the drama that is Mullion Cove, the majesty of Boscastle -and the local Witchcraft Museum!- the Ship Inn of Mousdehole and the story of how it was attacked and almost totally destroyed by Spanish raiders. Squire Jenkin Keigwin was able to kill six of them who had attacked his house, before he was cruelly murdered, but still with his sword in his hand. A brave Cornishman to the very end!

It was later famed as the home of Dolly Pentreath who died at age 101 who was reputedly the last person able to speak in the ancient Cornish tongue, when she died in 1777.

See dramatic mine ruins, read about the smugglers who worked the coast and of novelists like D. H. Lawrence and Agatha Christie who made Cornwall their homes for lesser or greater times.

There are preserved railway lines, cliff railways and much, much more.

Moving on to Northern England there are castles, like Bamburgh, fishing villages like Craster, and locations like Robin Hood's Bay.

Moving round the coast we find the magic of Norfolk, with basking seals, motoring museums and the birthplace of Lord Nelson. And more preserved railway lines, like the Wells-Walsingham Railway.

There's the magical coastline of Pembrokshire, including Porthgain. There's Solva -with the horrifying story of why there was always three light house keepers and there's Abereiddy with its Blue Lagoon and the interesting story of how it came into being.

This high quality coffee table sized book is published in hardback by Troubador at a remarkably reasonable £14.99 and will make a wonderful conversation piece and an equally superb present for the armchair traveller. Or for the person who wants to have things to look for when they take a coastal holiday.

It is available from the That's Book and Entertainment book shop, which you will find to the right hand side of this book review.

More Thorns Than Roses

More Thorns Than Roses is a remarkable collection of short stories from H. A. Howe.

It's an interesting collection of disparate ideas and themes.

It's light and frothy, yet it is also tart and salty. It's as if someone has made a really rather splendidly fluffy meringue and replaced half of the caster sugar with some crunchy pink Himalayan salt.

There are tales of love, of betrayal, of fears, real and imagined and tragedic events of the kind that make people shake their heads and say: "We should have seen that coming" but, somehow, nobody ever does.

There's guilt, sometimes where there should be none, and an absence of guilt where guilt should be a crushing remorse.

There are cruelties upon cruelties and acts of stupidity, thoughtlessness and of fecklessness.

Yet there are also moments of great tenderness, of love, and of sacrifice and of hope. And of situations that are beyond all realistic hope. And, finally, of light.

This book is published in paperback by Victory and it is her second collection of short stories.

It is available through the That's Books and Entertainment book shop, which is to be found on the right hand side of this book review.