Letterbox Love [5] : Bart's Bookshelf

Letterbox Love is hosted by Lynsey at Narratively Speaking. Letterbox Love is intended for us Brits with a focus on the books that are coming though our letterboxes.

Bought

Dodger by Terry Pratchett

Dodger is a tosher – a sewer scavenger living in the squalor of Dickensian London.

Everyone who is nobody knows Dodger. Anyone who is anybody doesn’t. But when he rescues a young girl from a beating, suddenly everybody wants to know him.

And “Dodger’s” tale of skulduggery, dark plans and even darker deeds begins…

The new Pterry. ‘Nuff said!

Taken by Benedict Jacka

Welcome to Fountain Reach Ancient seat of the Aubuchon dynasty Majestic setting of the White Stone tournament

Alex Verus’s (not necessarily reliable) reputation attracts all sorts. Most are plain bonkers. Yet there’s one invitation he just can’t refuse. At Fountain Reach, Alex is perfectly placed among the noted and notorious to figure out why apprentices have been vanishing.

But the tournament is a minefield of ancient grudges and new threats, and Alex can’t afford to miss a trick as his elusive adversary stays one step ahead in this most dangerous of games.

I’d really enjoyed the first two books in Jacka’s urban fantasy series, so I downloaded this one to my Kindle soon after it’s release. I’ve already read it, and should be reviewing it this week!

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley

For very-nearly-eleven-year-old Flavia de Luce, the discovery of a dead snipe on the doorstep of Buckshaw, the crumbling de Luce country seat, was a marvellous mystery – especially since this particular snipe had a rather rare stamp neatly impaled on its beak.

Even more astonishing was the effect of the dead bird on her stamp-collector father, who appeared to be genuinely frightened. Soon Flavia discovers something even more shocking in the cucumber patch and it’s clear that the snipe was a bird of very ill omen indeed.

As the police descend on Buckshaw, Flavia decides it is up to her to piece together the clues and solve the puzzle. Who was the man she heard her father arguing with? What was the snipe doing in England at all? Who or what is the Ulster Avenger?

And, most peculiar of all, who took a slice of Mrs Mullet’s unspeakable custard pie that had been cooling by the window…?

This one is *so* Carl’s fault!

For Review

The Deadly Game [The Malichea Quest #2] By Jim Eldridge

Jake Wells has uncovered the shadowy and mysterious Order of Malichea.

He has – briefly – had in his possession an ancient book belonging to the Order. However, other agencies are also desperate to get hold of the book and the knowledge it contains. Jake finds himself forced to give up the book, and then his girlfriend, Lauren, is blackmailed and has to leave the country for her own safety.

But Jake is determined not to be beaten. To ensure Lauren can return to the UK, he knows he must locate another book from the Order, and this means he must contact those he most fears in a high-risk and life-threatening strategy…

I was in no way, blown away by the first book in the series: The Invisible Assassin. Even so, I’m quite looking forward to reading The Deadly Game. Thanks to Bloomsbury for sending this one to me.

Mask of Death [C.R.Y.P.T Book #3] by Andrew Hammond

A figure wearing a white mask swoops down a deserted hospital corridor towards a quarantined patient. Covered in black sores and writhing in agony the patient can’t be saved by modern medicine. But then, the masked figure is not a modern doctor…

Bodies are being discovered all over London, all marked with the same black sores – it seems a contagious disease is spreading across the city. But when witnesses all report seeing the same mysterious masked figure it seems there’s something more sinister going on.

This is a case for CRYPT: a team of elite teenage agents who use their extra sensory perception and arsenal of high-tech gadgets to investigate crimes that the police can’t solve.