This is the third book in the Discworld series, but the first one introducing the witches, and it's very early in Pratchett's writing career, so you can see how cantankerous and stubborn Granny Weatherwax evolves. (She's one of my favourite Discworld characters, a little behind Vimes and a whisker in front of Death and Vetinari.) A dying wizard bequeaths his staff to the 8th son of an 8th son. Unfortunately the 8th son turns out to be a girl, Esk which means she can't be a wizard. Wizarding is a man-job, and magical women have to be witches because that's the way it is. So Granny Weatherwax takes on the education of this female wizard/witch, until it's time to kick down the doors of the Unseen University, that bastion of male wizardry. In this third Discworld novel (from 1987) Pratchett is finding his feet, and it's head and shoulders above the first two. It's Ialso a good starting point for anyone new to Discworld. This is Pratchett's take on gender quality and feminism, satirical without being preachy.
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This is certainly not the type of book I would normally read, but it caught my attention on an Audible two for one sale and I have to say, I really enjoyed it. It's lightweight and cosy, a whodunit in which the investigator is Queen Elizabeth II at the age of 89, going on ninety. After a do at Windsor Castle a young Russian pianist is found dead in a cupboard in his bedroom, supposedly hanged. Is it suicide, or might it be murder? Desperately trying to keep the news out of the tabloids, MI5 and the Met leap to an incorrect conclusion, that there must be a Russian sleeper agent on the Queen's staff. Annoyed, the Queen begins to investigate the matter herself with the help of her Assistant Private Secretary, Rozie Oshodi, a British Nigerian, and recently an officer in the Royal Horse Artillery. She's a young lady with considerable talents, and the Queen makes good use of them. The reading, by Samantha Bond, is superb, she captures the Queen beautifully, as indeed does the author.
This is my favourite Discworld book ever. As a writer I appreciate that it's a consummate lesson in how to do dramatic tension properly. Vimes, commander of the City Watch, is chasing a villain through the streets of Ankh Morpork and they venture too close to the Unseen University. Magic flings both of them back in time to when Vimes was a young and impressionable copper, just stepping out into the shady world of law-enforcement and just as likely to learn from bent coppers as straight ones. Luckily he had a role model who put him on the right track, never dreaming that his role model was actually his older self. Complicated? Yes. That wibbly wobbly timey wimey thing is at work here, and it's brilliantly done. Pratchett has killed off beloved characters before (and since) so you're never sure whether Vimes will survive this. There are riots, and, of course, the original villain is still out there and getting more and more dangerous with each passing page. If you only ever read one Discworld book, this is the one.