The Water Babes

The Water Babes is a first novel by retired successful text book author and editor Norman Whitney.

It's set in the perhaps unlikely milieu of a water aerobics class.

It brings together people of widely or wildly differing backgrounds, classes, races and religious.

Readers who are looking for a warm, humorous novel in which there is absolutely no violence or murders, will love this debut novel.

You'll witness smiles, laughter and some tears, and a variety of incidents events and accidents some funny, some not all that funny.

But this is a special day, for it's the last of their lessons and to mark this momentous event, they are going to hold a party in the evening,

Food and drink are shared in friendship, then as the night progresses, something more than mere nourishment is shared. Secrets are revealed, confessions made, some of which are mildly amusing, others which are, to be quite frank, a bit of a shock.

But there is also something else., too. The novel explores how, apparently totally different people are perhaps not as different as one might think.

In fact the levels of connectedness might be deeper than one might expect.

The book is also nicely illustrated, too.

This is a heartwarming debut novel and it is published by Matador at £9.99.

You can purchase it now at the That's Books and Entertainment bookshop, which you will find to the right hand side of this book review.

Day of Reckoning

Day of Reckoning is the latest crime novel by Keith Wainman.

It is set against a contemporary backdrop of the new age of terrorist outrages.

The story begins in the 1950s when a Muslim Brotherhood organiser has to flee from his homeland, Egypt, after a failed assassination attempt on the Prime Minister of Egypt.

Kamal and his family settle in Canada. One of his sons, Mo, marries an American woman called Kathleen Bush and he decides to take her name, becoming known as Mo Bush.

They have three sons, the last of these, Nathan, grows to maturity under the shadow of his older siblings who help run the farm.

In 1992, Mo asks Nathan to accompany grandfather Kamal on a trip back to the Middle East, which Nathan accepts.

He spends time with Kamal in Egypt and Jordan, learning of the struggles of his grandfather as a member of the Muslim brotherhood and he hears stories of the occupation from an Arab perspective.

When he returns home he decides to become a Marine, serving in Afghanistan.

 Some years later he makes a return trip to the Middle East with Kamal and he becomes involved with the "armed struggle" to the extend that he becomes involved in armed attacks on American troops in Iraq.

Eventually he is approached by one of the leaders. Would he be willing to participate in a major terrorist attack on Britain?

An attack that would bring about the day of reckoning.

However, for whom would the day of reckoning come? And for what reasons?

And what would happen if someone, somewhere, decided that they did not like Nathan's plan and decided upon a different course of action?

It's a fast paced and exciting novel that has the ring of plausibility in all of its 262 pages.

It is published by Matador at £8.99 and is available from the That's Books and entertainment bookshop, just to the right of this review.

The Ghost of Bowness

The Ghost of Bowness is another novel by author M J Evans that features police officer turned Private Eye Jordan Lewis and her friend and confidante, professor of Criminology, Jarvis Moon.

Jordon was enjoying a break from work doing what she loves best, just aimlessly wandering around in the beautiful English Lake District.

Ten years ago, a local girl had simply vanished and although the police suspected foul play, the body of Tara Marshall was never discovered and no leads in the case were discovered.

However, now Tara's friends are convinced that they keep seeing her in and around the area. How can this be? If she has come back, why has she come back? And why has she not contacted her old friends?

And who are the two women who keep meeting each other in the town?

Tara's friends decide to hire Jordan Lewis to get to the bottom of the mystery of Tara's disappearance and her apparent reappearance,  a decade later.

But then a series of murders and bizarre kidnappings begin to happen in the normally quiet Lake District.

Are they connected to the case? Whose is the skeleton that is discovered? And what is the meaning of the ghostly apparition that seems to be haunting the proceedings?

Why are other people running their own investigations? Who is following Jordan Lewis? And why?

And why does someone keep sending her their own copious files on the case?

And are all of Tara's friends quite what they appear to be? If they are involved in the mysterious events, why would they hire a Private Investigator?

Who is the mysterious figure who is controlling events from a distance? Are they involved in the murders?

I sat down in the sun early one afternoon to read this book and was immediately captured by it. In fact I only finished reading to novel after my wife insisted, several times, that I topped up my sun block!

It's rare that I feel compelled to finish a book in one sitting, but this book was one of those. It truly is a gripping thriller.

The pace of the novel is very fast and you will be gripped by the author's story telling abilities.

I could quite easily see Jordan Lewis Investigates, set in the beautiful Lake District and Lancashire, transferring to the television.

The book is published by The Book Guild in paperback and costs £8.99, it belongs on the shelf of every mystery reader.

You can purchase it -and M J Evans' other books, The Corpse that Danced and To Dig Up Murder, both of which feature Jordan Lewis and Jarvis Moon- at the That's Books and Entertainment Book Shop, which you will find to the right hand side of this review.

They will make excellent presents for someone you love or even a great gift to yourself!

Drying Naked

Drying Naked is an anthology of poems written by poet Theophanis Kleanthous.

The poems are an eclectic mixture of poems drawn from the rich and varied society in which we live.

The poem Drying Naked, for example, explores the intimacy of the very humble, yet important act of drying oneself.

After reading this poem drying myself will never again seem to be the mundane, ordinary act that it once appeared to be.

For such is the powerful imagery created by  Theophanis Kleanthous.

The other poems, A Kindness, Worshipper, A butterfly in love, Flowering for you, Disintegrating love, Impossible emotions and the other poetry in this work explore everything that there is about the human condition. Love, fear, hope, joy, grief, loss, knowledge, confusion certitude and more besides.

Christopher Shakespeare the man behind the plays

Christopher Shakespeare the man behind the plays, is a book by Malcolm Elliot that explores the possibility that the plays of William Shakespeare were actually written by his contemporary, Christopher Marlow.

The book claims that Marlow did not, in fact, die in Deptfords in 1593 but that he actually lived out the rest of his life in hiding, including a long period of time in Italy.

The book describes what his life might have been like, had he actually lived.

It suggests that there is evidence that the plays and sonnets were written abroad and not in England.

He reiterates the theory that William Shakespeare was merely a frontman who allowed his name to be placed upon the works to facilitate their publication.

The author owes, he acknowledges, a debt to A. D. Wraight and Peter Farey whose "pioneering work" showed that, according to them, the evidence of the death of Marlow in Deptford is "utterly unconvincing."

The reader is asked to believe that Christopher Marlow, the son of a Kentish cobbler, rather than William Shakespeare, the son of a glover, wrote all the plays and sonnets that are ascribed to the latter.

My one concern is that, the book seems to be filled with conjecture. We read that "we can imagine the young Christopher wandering around..." the ruins of the Abby of St Augustine.

We then read that Marlowe "would have been told of the execution ad burning of Friar Stone" that Marlowe "would have" heard or seen this, that and the other.

In his own area in the Midlands a young William Shakespeare would also have seen and heard a great deal, too. but this cannot, really, be said to prove anything one way or the other.

Malcolm Elliot proves that Marlowe was an excellent poet and a great playwright, but this does not necessarily prove that there could not have been at least two great playwrights and poets at or around the same time, Marlowe and Shakespeare.

However, Malcolm Elliot does argue his case well and scholars of Shakespeare and Marlowe would do well to purchase this learned and well-written book, which is published in hardback at £12.99, by The Book Guild.

It is available from the That's Books bookshop, which is to the right of this review.  

There There My Dear

There There My Dear is a satirical novel and a debut work by author Neil Mason.

Imagine, if you will, a former British Prime Minister who appears to be making a mockery of the entire political establishment of Great Britain.

Ex-Prime Minister Harold Connor has been waiting for a quarter of a century to do the right thing.

His own life was destroyed, but then he had nobody else to blame, as the destruction was wrought by his own actions and deeds.

His wife? Gone to her eternal rest.

Harold has lived in the dark and gigantic shadow of the world's biggest political secret.

But, in a way, Harold has kept a secret himself down through these long, lonely years. The secret? Was a somewhat dangerous idea. A desire to put things right should the opportunity ever present itself.

Fortunately or unfortunately it appears that fate, in the shape of media mogul Kyle Andrews, has presented Harold with the opportunity to put things right on a solid gold, diamond encrusted platter.

For Kyle Andrew is beginning to film a new talent show which, it is intended, will discover the next generation of politicians.

But Harold seizes this as the opportunity to put right a great wrong and to do this by make a mockery of the British political system.

But what had happened 25 years ago?

How could it impact on today's political life?

And to what end was Harold Connor manipulating everyone he came in contact with, including his own son?

And when his son discovers the truth, what then?

This is a book published by Matador at £8.99 and it is available through the That's books and Entertainment bookshop, which you will find to the right of this review.

The Ring and the Swastika

In The Ring and the Swastika author Sandy Jenkins explores the situation on Norway after the country was invaded and over-run by the German armed forces.

It tells the story of a half -Norwegian half-British Commando Captain, Erik Kingsnorth.

In 1942 he is landed in Norway as a radio-communications agent.

His instructions are to avoid, if possible, his Norwegian relatives, but he is seen by Bjorn, who is his cousin and a close boyhood confidante.

But it transpires that Bjorn is a traitor to Norway and is collaborating with the German occupiers. The Norwegian Resistance is unaware of who Bjorn is when they order Captain Kingsnorth to kill Bjorn.

He confronts Bjorn at dusk, but finds that family ties destroy  his resolve to liquidate his family member who is also his enemy.

Later Kingsnorth discovers a secret German U-Boat base and he narrowly evades death by the skin of his teeth, chased and shot at by German guards.

The action of the novel; eventually finds itself in Northern Russia as the war where he encountered Russian soldiers where his situation became even more desperate, as the Russians presumed he was a Norwegian collaborator.

Would he survive life in a Russian prison camp? Could he return to Britain? If not, what would return after the war was over?

This is a harrowing and well-written book by an author who clearly knows his history,

It is published in hardback by Matador at £12.99 (paperback £8.99) and can be bought from the That's Books and Entertainment online bookstore which you will find to the right hand side of this review.