On Bee's Bookshelf

It is the year 1710, and Thomas True has arrived on old London Bridge with a dangerous secret. One night, lost amongst the squalor of London's hidden back streets, he finds himself drawn into the outrageous underworld of the molly houses. Meanwhile, carpenter Gabriel Griffin struggles to hide his double life as Lotty, the molly's silent guard. When the queen of all 'he-harlots', Mother Clap, confides in him about a deadly threat, he realises his friends are facing imminent execution. To the horror of all mollies, there is a rat amongst them, betraying their secrets to a pair of murderous Justices, hell-bent on punishing sinners with the noose. Can Gabriel unmask the traitor before it's too late? Can he save hapless Thomas from peril, and their own impossible love? Oh Mr West I have been waiting impatiently for you to grace my bookshelves again and it was so worth the wait. Thomas True is an enthralling, gothic and beautifully dark tale that transports us to the old ...

  Henri Koskinen, intrepid insurance mathematician and adventure-park entrepreneur, firmly believes in the power of common sense and order. That is until he moves in with painter Laura Helanto and her daughter... As Henri realises he has inadvertently become part of a group of local dads, a competing adventure park is seeking to expand their operations, not always sticking to the law in the process... Is it possible to combine the increasingly dangerous world of the adventure-park business with the unpredictability of life in a blended family? At first glance, the two appear to have only one thing in common: neither deals particularly well with a mounting body count. In order to solve this seemingly impossible conundrum, Henri is forced to step far beyond the mathematical precision of his comfort zone … and the stakes have never been higher... "I can't claim to be entirely at ease. I am an actuary, not a  burglar ." Henri is back in the highly anticipated final episode of...

  Summer, 1993 – a group of young guerrilla filmmakers spend four weeks making Horror Movie, a notorious, disturbing, art-house horror film. Steeped in mystery and tragedy, the film has taken on a mythic, cult renown, despite only three of the original scenes ever being released to the public. Decades later, a big budget reboot is in the works, and Hollywood turns to the only surviving cast member – the man who played ‘the Thin Kid’, the masked teen at the centre of it all. He remembers all too well the secrets buried within the original screenplay, the bizarre events of the filming, and the crossed lines on set. Caught in a nightmare of masks and appearances, facile Hollywood personalities and the strangeness of fan conventions, the Thin Kid spins a tale of past and present, scripts and reality, and what the camera lets us see. But at what cost do we revisit our demons?  After all these years, the monster the world never saw will finally be heard. "I'm afr...

When age makes you invisible, secrets are easier to hide Daphne knows that age is just a number. She also knows that society no longer pays her any attention – something she’s happy to exploit to help her hide a somewhat chequered past. But finding herself alone on her 70th birthday, with only her plants to talk to and neighbours to stalk online, she decides she needs some friends. Joining a Senior Citizen's Social Club she’s horrified at the expectation she’ll spend her time enduring gentle crafting activities. Thankfully, the other members – including a failed actor addicted to shoplifting and a prolific yarn-bomber – agree. After a tragic accident, the local council threaten to close the club – but they have underestimated the wrong group of pensioners...and with the help of a teenage dad and a geriatric, orphaned dog, the incongruous gang set out to prove it. If I had to sum up this book in just a few words it would be delightful chaos. The opening scene felt like a bad improv ...

The Divorce is an incisive and sharp look at relationships at their breaking point with a unique and compelling style. It really tries to capture the signs of a breakdown that are ignored or overlooked leaving one person blindsided - and uses a split narration to give both sides of the story with one half from the wife, one from the husband as we watch both of them as their marriage crumbles and try to find the real story between them. The narration was intense, emotional- at times a little heavy with long running sentences but it would flow again quite easily. The split narration was intriguing - taking one entire perspective at a time which both worked and didn’t for me; I loved how you get a first impression based on one person telling their version then have to rethink it and then repeating it again in the second half - But it also felt a little too separate at times, visiting the entire events again as someone else but as the story goes on it switches more frequently and it makes ...