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  • Crime/Humour/Mystery
    • Crime/Girl Power!
      • Katy Brent - How To Kill Men… and You’d Look Good in a Coffin
      • Camilla Bruce - Triflers Need Not Apply
      • Nilesha Chauvet - The Revenge of Rita Marsh
      • Alexia Casale - The Best Way to Bury Your Husband
      • Ajay Close - What Doesn’t Kill Us
      • Julie Mae Cohen - Bad Men
      • Mackenzie Common - The Six Murders of Daphne St Clair
      • DG Coutinho - The Light and Shade of Ellen Swithin
      • Helen Erichsen - Murder by Natural Causes
      • Eve Kellman - How to Kill a Guy in Ten Ways
      • Bella Mackie - What A Way To Go
      • DB Stephens - The Serial Killer Support Group
      • Charlotte Vassell - The Other Half
    • Crime/Humour
      • Belinda Bauer - Exit
      • Colin Bateman - I Predict A Riot
      • Paul Carroll - Shaking Hands With Elvis
      • Terry Deary - Actually, I’m A Murderer
      • Karsten Dusse - Murder Mindfully
      • Holly Gramazio - The Husbands
      • Gay Marris - A Curtain Twitchers Guide to Murder
      • Laura Marshall - A Good Place to Hide a Body
      • Richard Osman | The Man Who Died Twice
      • Richard Osman - The Thursday Murder Club
      • Nita Prose - The Maid, The Mystery Guest, The Maid’s Secret
      • David Stafford - Skeltons’s Guide to Domestic Poisons
      • David Stafford - Skelton's guide to Suitcase Murders
      • Benjamin Stevenson - Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone
      • Tom Trott - You Can't Make Old Friends
    • Crime/Thriller
      • Kia Abdullah - What Happens in the Dark
      • Claire Allan - Ask No Questions
      • Emma Babbington - The Neighbours
      • John Banville - Snow
      • Susanna Beard - The Wonder Drug
      • R.S. Burnett - Whiteout
      • Judith Cutler - Legacy of Death
      • Judy Daykin - Under Violent Skies
      • Kemper Donovan - The Busy Body
      • Louise Doughty - A Bird in Winter
      • Richard Easter - Don't You Want Me?
      • Jim Eldridge - Murder at Madame Tussauds
      • Jim Eldridge - Murder at the Ritz
      • Tana French - The Hunter
      • Tana French - The Searcher
      • Celina Grace - Death at the Theatre
      • Celina Grace - Sanctuary
      • Carole Hailey - Scenes From a Tragedy
      • Ike Hamill - Kill Cycle
      • Georgette Heyer - Penhallow
      • Sarah Hilary - Black Thorn
      • Anthony Horowitz - Moonflower Murders
      • Amy Jordan - The Dark Hours
      • Valerie Keogh - No Simple Death
      • Simon Kernick - Die Alone
      • Rosamund Lupton - Three Hours
      • Faith Martin - Murder by Candlelight
      • Faith Martin - The Last Word is Death
      • A.A. Milne - The Red House Mystery
      • Graham North - Holding
      • C.S. Robertson - The Trials of Marjorie Crowe
      • C.S. Robertson - The Undiscovered Deaths of Grace McGill
      • Sally Smith - A Case of Mice and Murder
      • Catherine Talbot - A Good Father
  • Sci-Fi & Fantasy
    • Dystopia/Speculative
      • Carys Bray - When the lights go out
      • Scott Bartlett - Finished With Life
      • Kaliane Bradley - The Ministry of Time
      • Max Brooks - Devolution
      • Natasha Calder - Whether Violent or Natural
      • Will Carver - Kill Them with Kindness
      • Nick Cole - The Wasteland Saga
      • Roz Dineen - Briefly Very Beautiful
      • Cory Doctorow - The Lost Cause
      • Claire Fuller - The Memory of Animals
      • Carole Hailey - The Silence Project
      • James L. Halperin - The Truth Machine
      • Jane Hennigan - Toxxic
      • Jenny Morris - An Ethical Guide to Murder
      • Ina L. Nara - A Happy Wife
      • Michael Rogers - Email from the Future
      • Alex Scarrow - Last Light
      • Lionel Shriver - The Mandibles: A Family 2029-2047
      • Kim Stanley Robinson - The Ministry for the Future
      • Susannah Wise - This Fragile Earth
    • Magical realism
      • Grady Hendrix - Witchcraft for Wayward Girls
      • Karen Heuler - The Splendid City
      • Melinda Taub - The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet, Witch
      • Emily Tesh - The Incandescent
    • Horror/Fantasy
      • J.L. Bourne - Day By Day Armageddon
      • David Brinson - Dead South
      • Bridget Collins - The Silence Factory
      • Simon Doyle - This is Not a Vampire Story
      • Rhiannon Frater - The First Days
      • Ike Hamill - Accidental Evil
      • Ike Hamill - Extinct
      • Ike Hamill - Spores
      • Rachel Harrison - Such Sharp Teeth
      • Al Hess - Key Lime Sky
      • LM Juniper - How We End
      • Stephen King - Cell
      • David Moody - Autumn
  • General Fiction
    • UK/IRL/Europe
      • Cecilia Ahern - Into the Storm
      • Clare Dowling - Expecting Emily
      • Roddy Doyle - Love
      • Roddy Doyle - The Women Behind the Door
      • Stella Duffy - Lullaby Beach
      • Anne Enright - The Gathering
      • Anne Enright - The Wren, The Wren
      • Elaine Garvey - The Wardrobe Department
      • Jennie Godfrey - The List of Suspicious Things
      • Catherine Gray - Versions of a Girl
      • Tessa Hadley - Free Love
      • Luke Kennard - The Answer to Everything
      • Emma Kennedy - The Things We Left Unsaid
      • Jodie Knight - Darling
      • Fiona McPhilips - When We Were Silent
      • Meryem El Mehdati - Checking Out
      • Gráinne Murphy - Where the edge is
      • Caroline O'Donoghue - Scenes of a Graphic Nature
      • Andrew O'Hagan - Mayflies
      • Kevin Power - White City
      • Julia Raeside - Don’t Make Me Laugh
      • Rose Ruane - Birding
      • Jessica Ryn - The Extraordinary Hope of Dawn Brightside
      • Elin F. Styve - Una, Unwanted
      • Simon Van Booy - Sipsworth
      • Jackie West - Shade of Violet
    • US/Other
      • Christopher Bollen - Havoc
      • Jeffrey Eugenides - The Marriage Plot
      • Karen Joy Fowler - We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves
      • Kate Greathead - The Book of George
      • Katherine Heiny - Early Morning Riser
      • Una Mannion - Tell Me What I Am
      • Ann Patchett - Tom Lake
      • Emily Perkins - Lioness
      • Marijke Schermer - Breakwater
      • Lionel Shriver - Big Brother
      • Trenton Lee Stewart - The Mysterious Benedict Society
      • Donna Tartt - The Goldfinch
  • Historical
    • Historical fiction
      • Annabel Abbs - The Language of Food
      • Christine Baker Kline - The Exiles
      • Tania Bayard - Murder in the Cloister
      • Sarah Burton - The Strange Adventures of H
      • Tracy Chevalier - The Glassmaker
      • Martin Davies - Mrs Hudson and the Capricorn Incident
      • Hannah Dolby - Violet Hamilton (series)
      • Virginia Feito - Victorian Psycho
      • Kate Foster - The Mourning Necklace
      • Alison Goodman - The Ladies Road Guide to Utter Ruin
      • Alison Goodman - The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies
      • Philip Gray - The House With Nine Locks
      • Kate Griffin - Fynshade
      • Stacey Halls - The Household
      • Emilia Hart - The Sirens
      • Emilia Hart - Weyward
      • Grady Hendrix - Witchcraft for Wayward Girls
      • Antonia Hodgson - The Devil in the Marshalsea
      • Lora Jones - The Woman in the Wallpaper
      • Jenni Keer - The Ravenswood Witch
      • Clare Marchant - The House of the Witch
      • Anna Mazzola - The Book of Secrets
      • Colleen Mc Cullough - The Thorn Birds
      • Katherine Mezzacappa - The Ballad of Mary Kearney
      • Katherine Mezzacappa - The Maiden of Florence
      • Billy O'Callaghan - Life Sentences
      • Noel O'Reilly - The Darlings of the Asylum
      • E.S. Thomson - Under Ground
      • Chloe Turner - Blue Hawk
      • Maybelle Wallis - Heart of Cruelty
      • Michael Ward - Rags of Time
      • Michael Ward - The Wrecking Storm
    • Classic novels
      • Daniel Defoe - A Journal of the Plague Year
      • Mary Elizabeth Braddon – The Queen of Victorian sensation fiction
      • J.S. Fletcher – Classic detective fiction influencer
      • John Galsworthy - A Forsyte Saga
  • Nonfiction
    • Psychology/Mindbody
      • Dr Gwen Adshead and Eileen Horne - The Devil You Know
      • Brené Brown - The Gifts of Imperfection
      • Joseph Burgo - The Narcissist You Know
      • Dr Rebecca Myers - Inside Job
      • Suzanne O'Sullivan - It's All In Your Head
      • Steven Ray Ozanich - The Great Pain Deception
      • Alastair Santhouse - Head First
    • Other
      • Fiona Brichaut - Writing for Mobile
      • Alan Davies - Just Ignore Him
      • Alain de Botton - The Course of Love: A Novel
      • Lucy Lethbridge - Servants
      • Darren McGarvey - The Social Distance Between Us
      • Shona Parker - How the Victorians Lived
      • Kate Summerscale - The Peepshow
      • Kate Summerscale - The Suspicions of Mr Whicher
      • Kate Summerscale - The Wicked Boy
  • More ...
    • More reviews
      • Short reviews: Runners up and bad books
      • Top 10 novels of 2024
      • Top 10 novels of 2023
    • Essays
      • Looking for a good book? 5 tips for readers.
      • The greatest stories ever told: Victorian fiction
      • Mary Elizabeth Braddon - The Queen of Victorian sensation fiction
      • In defense of zombie novels
    • FREE English writing guides
      • How to write good English
      • 10 NEW rules of business writing
      • Tone of voice in business writing: don’t be too formal 
      • Hyphens and dashes – A how-to guide
      • Common English mistakes Part 1
      • Common English mistakes Part 2
      • Writing for the web: writing for search engines AND people
      • It’s a digital world: use digits for numbers
      • 5 ways to improve information-rich websites
      • IA – Top 5 tips for organising website content
      • 5 steps for writing any non-fiction text
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BelEdit Book Reviews

Tag: historical

cover of Ladies Road Guide to Utter Ruin by Alison Goodman

The Ladies Road Guide to Utter Ruin

September 11, 2025 Nanni 4 ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ Leave a comment

A daring, witty and gritty Regency adventure with wonderfully independent female protagonists.

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cover of Actually, I'm A Murderer by Terry Deary

Actually, I’m A Murderer

August 13, 2025 Nanni 4 ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ Leave a comment

With murder and mayhem galore, Actually, I’m a Murderer is an unpredictable, darkly entertaining and well written tale set in 1973.

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cover of The Mourning Necklace by Kate Foster

The Mourning Necklace

July 27, 2025 Nanni 4 ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ Leave a comment

Captures universal aspects of the human condition, illustrated through a unique story.

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A Case of Mice and Murder - audiobook cover

A Case of Mice and Murder

May 27, 2025 Nanni 5 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Leave a comment

A Case of Mice and Murder is a sedate but gripping murder mystery in the classic tradition, set in London’s Inner Temple in 1901. Wonderful.

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The Woman in the Wallpaper cover

The Woman in the Wallpaper

May 5, 2025 Nanni 4 ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ Leave a comment

A captivating and atmospheric blend of historical fiction and gothic mystery set during the French Revolution.

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The Ballad of Mary Kearney cover

The Ballad of Mary Kearney

April 28, 2025 Nanni 4 ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ Leave a comment

The Ballad of Mary Kearney unfolds like a song, to tell a stirring tale of forbidden love, oppression and rebellion in 18th century Ireland.

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Mrs Hudson and the Capricorn Incident cover

Mrs Hudson and the Capricorn Incident

April 8, 2025 Nanni 3.5 ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ Leave a comment

Historical crime fiction set in the Sherlock Holmes universe. Entertaining, well written with strong characters and good dialogue.

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The Sirens Emilia Hart cover

The Sirens

April 7, 2025 Nanni 3.5 ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ Leave a comment

Magical realism meets historical fiction in The Sirens. Two sets of sisters, women in distress and an ocean offering comfort and succour…

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Victorian Psycho

Victorian Psycho

March 23, 2025 Nanni 5 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Leave a comment

Violent gothic horror. A psychopathic governess in a Victorian household descends into a psychotic rampage. Weird, wild and wonderful.

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This is Not a Vampire Story - Simon Doyle. Cover image

This is Not a Vampire Story

February 7, 2025 Nanni 4 ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ Leave a comment

In 1950, Victor is 17 and in love with a boy. Today, Victor is 17 and working in a care home, looking after the man he still loves.

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About me

Hi, I'm Fiona, aka Nanni. Welcome to my book blog! My ambition is to share and promote the books I've loved and help readers discover great books to read. I cover a wide range of book genres, topics, styles and eras, with particular (but not exclusive) focus on novels written by and about women.

I also publish reviews on NetGalley, Goodreads, Amazon, Waterstones, etc.

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