Orkney: Attack!

A walk this morning took us out to Ness Point and on to Ness Battery. All around the coastline is a number of pill boxes, batteries and other defensive buildings such as structures that housed search lights. Attack by sea was a reasonable concern in the early 1800s and Martello Towers were constructed in the …

Orkney

One of my favourite books is HMS Ulysses by Alistair Maclean. I know it's one of my dad's favourites, but it's not for the reason alone that I like it. I think I enjoy the adventure aspect of it. I like the seafaring aspect of it - the sea and all that associated with it …

The Mistletoe Murder and other stories, by PD James (CRC2020 #5)

PD James is much lauded throughout the literary world for being the master/mistress of crime fiction. Of course, she isn't the only Grande Dame of this genre. It is apparent that James was much influenced by Agatha Christie and makes several wry nods to her in her writing. The Mistletoe Murder and other stories is …

Pudding & Pie, by Nancy Mitford (CRC2020 #6, 7, 8)

Accompanying me on my travels I could probably devote a whole series of posts to the Mitford's. Six sisters born at the turn of the 20th Century, at the time the class system was breaking down and who all went on to have mixed and varied fortune. The last Mitford sister - Deborah - died …

Hiddensee, by Gregory Maguire (CRC2020 #4)

I've just finished reading Hiddensee by Gregory Maguire. It wasn't my favourite I have to admit. I kind of finished it a bit under duress, but there was a little bit of me that sort of wanted to know how it was all going to turn out. I was going to write a bit more …

The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle, by Arthur Conan Doyle (CRC2020 #3)

The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle. Picture taken from the short story in the giant compendium of Sherlock On paper Sherlock Holmes shouldn't work. There's a protagonist who is not a wholly likeable character. He's a drug addict; has little regard for those around him and solves crimes of impossible complexity that leave the reader …

Operation Heartbreak, by Duff Cooper (CRC2020 #2)

Operation Heartbreak One week in and the second book in the bag. Operation Heartbreak tells the story of Captain Willie Maryngton - too young to have fought in the Great War and too old to fight in the second. This fictionalised account of Operation Mincemeat chronicles the life and death of Maryngton as he joins …

The Man Who Never Was, by Ewen Montagu (CRC2020 #1)

The Man Who Never Was, Ewen Montagu So, off to a flying start for this reading challenge and I finished the first book over the weekend. I began with the account of Operation Mincemeat as told by Ewen Montagu. Published in 1953, approximately 10 years after the event, Montagu relays his part in one of …