A History of the Railways of Northamptonshire by Peter Butler

This was an impulse purchase, I was in W.H. Smiths looking for a suitable birthday present for a family member when I happened to spot this book and I couldn't resist it. It is a small book with a big price but it is packed with information and it has the best collection of pictures that I have come across. My husband loves everything to do with trains and I am interested in Railway history so our house is full of railway book. We have a number on the subject of Northamptonshire's railway history, most are bigger and glossier, but none are better. This book enabled me to put the pieces together, to visualise how things used to be and to understand how those tantalising little architectural clues that still remain fitted in. I have longed to find pictures of the layout of the old St John's station in Northampton and this book has provide those pictures. It also contains a view of the Bridge Street station platform and a shot of the lovely old Castle Station building and the hideous cattle shed that replaced it. It is a book that I will return to again and again, it was expensive but it is well worth it.

A History of the Railways of Northamptonshire

My Railway Memories

Bethlehem Road by Anne Perry

I reread this book recently and I enjoyed it just as much as the first time. It is one of Anne Perry's Inspector Pitt series and it deals with the police investigation into the murder of three members of parliament on Westminster Bridge. Each man was found with his throat cut and tied to a lamp post and in each case the murderer had been able to vanish unnoticed from the scene laving the police struggling to find a motive. The general feeling was that it must be an anarchist plot or perhaps the work of a mad man, as the plot developed a tragic and deeply personal motive was revealed.

Anne Perry tackles very uncomfortable issues in her books and she vividly describes the social issues of the time. This book developed my understanding the injustice of the time regarding the treatment of women and for the first time I understood that the fight for women's suffrage was about far more than just getting the vote. It is a haunting story and the issues it raised will not easily be forgotten.

Family Skeletons - Ruth Paley and Simon Fowler

I bought this book because it caught my eye in a cut price book shop. It has a very striking cover with a montage of photographs of Victorian criminals. I had seen a review for this book in one of my family history magazines some months before, it sounded fascinating but the cover price of £19.99 put me off. I have been tracing my family history for a number of years and it has encouraged me to find out more about British social history. I haven't discovered any criminal ancestors yet, but I have found a Victorian policeman in my family tree, so this book was of particular interest to me. It covers everything from murder to petty offences and it was fascinating to read about the treatment of issues that would not be considered crimes today e.g. suicide, homosexuality and witchcraft. The book deals with child criminals as well as adults and there are plenty of case histories. I think the book is very well set out and it is easy to find information, I liked being able to dip into the book and to read whichever part took my fancy rather than reading the book from beginning to end in the usual way. I enjoyed the book very much, I would have preferred it to have a printed cover rather than a dust jacket because it would have made the book easier to handle, but in every other way I found that it was a well planned and interesting book. My only complaint is that it was far too expensive at £19.99, I would not have bought it at that price in fact I would have thought twice if it was £9.99, but I was delighted to find it in the cut price book shop for £2.99!

Five Little Pigs by Agatha Christie

Sometimes when you become familiar with characters from TV adaptations it discourages you from reading the books. I like Agatha Christie for a bit of relaxing reading, but it had been a while since I had read ant of her Hercule Poirot books. To be truthful I read Five Little Pigs because it happened to catch my eye when I was looking for something to read. I think I must have read it before, but I didn't remember the plot. After the first couple of chapters I was hooked and I really wanted Hercule Poirot to prove that the wrong person had been convicted of the crime sixteen years before and I found it hard to put the book down. It was a very enjoyable and satisfying read, and I was pleased and a little surprised by the resolution of the plot. As an added bonus the story was set in Cornwall, my favourite place in the world! This book has reminded me how much I enjoy Agatha Christie.

Crooked House

I have had the children on holiday from school for the last couple of weeks, so I needed a bit of easy reading that I could pick up and put down whenever I needed a few minutes distraction. What could be better than a nice murder mystery (I had a few murderous thoughts of my own last week!) so I decided to see what Agatha Christie had to offer. I have read and reread all her Poirot and Miss Marple books but I have never thought of reading any of her other work. I thought perhaps I wouldn't like it, but I read Crooked House and I was soon engrossed in the plot. It is dated and it is hard to believe that such an unattractive selection of characters could have lived together for so long, but somehow none of that mattered. I had my suspicions about the murderer, but still the book produced a sudden and unexpected twist at the end. I enjoyed it, it is a good holiday read and it has made me want to revisit my old friend Hercule Poirot so I am now reading Five Little Pigs.

A Necessary End - Peter Robinson

I read A Necessary End last week. I had never read anything by Peter Robinson before, but I bought this book because it was part of an offer. I usually like crime stories, and it is always nice to discover a different author, so I had high hopes of this book. I found it hard going at first, but gradually I became interested in the plot and wanted to read on. I thought it was a very male book, the characters were somewhat stereotyped and not especially attractive, but the plot did have edge and the outcome mattered more than I expected. The novel clearly evoked the world of about 20 years ago, there was a grubby and brutal but very recognisable aspect to the plot. It is a book that leaves you asking who was really the victim? I don't think Peter Robinson will become one of my favourite authors, but I will certainly read more of his books.

The Suspicions of Mr Whicher by Kate Summerscale

This book was serialised on the radio and by chance I caught the first installment and I was so taken with it that I had to buy the book. It looks at the investigation of a brutal country house murder of a three year old boy in 1860. The author had access to the original police documents which are held in the national archives and she was able to follow the suspicions and enquiries of Jack Whicher of Scotland Yard who was brought in to solve the murder. The author presents the account in the way that events unfolded at the time, she creates tension and atmosphere as it becomes clear that one of the occupants of the house must have killed the boy, perhaps one of his parents or even a sibling? It is interesting to find out how the press and the public responded at the time and it provides a snapshot of 1860 attitudes and social history. Jack Whicher did not solve the murder and it his career was damaged by his failure. Subsequently there was a conviction but was the real murderer ever caught? This is a facinating book and a very good read.