Full cast recording featuring Stephen Mangan, Matt Lucas and many more.

I don’t generally like full cast recordings, but this was done well, more like a radio play, which, indeed, was its first incarnation. This is a revised edition, ten years on from the first one. Twelve years after the events in Dickens’ original book, Oliver Twist is back on the streets of London, penniless because his inheritance from the recently deceased Mr Brownlow, his adoptive father, has been blocked by missing papers. He meets up with Jack Dawkins, the Artful Dodger, an enters a scheme to get his rightful money, even though it means jointing a plan to steal the world’s most valuable diamond from a safe in the British Museum. There are returning characters and new ones (Nancy’s sister). Just when Oliver starts to trust Dodger, the ghost of Fagin, in Dodger’s head, twists plans. It’s not just wealth Dodger is after, but revenge – for Fagin. Things get really dodgy and twisty before the final showdown.

Narrated by Christian Rodska

Falco and Helena set off for Greece to investigate two deaths, three years apart, that have occurred to travellers journeying with Seven Sights Travel, a somewhat seedy company. The current batch of customers are an odd lot, but don’t seem capable of murder – though they might be victims. Marcus thrashes around fruitlessly before finally solving the case (or cases). Christian Rodska voices Falco very well, though the storyline gets a bit lost in the middle.

Read by Stephen Fry with introductions by Stephen Fry.

Fry's voice is perfect for the Holmes stories and his introductions are fascinating. This is a L_O_N_G audiobook encompassing several stories, so I'm reviewing them one at a time. A Study in Scarlet covers Holmes and Watson's meeting and their first case together where Holmes is using his powers of forensic investigation to the full. Holmes and Watson are introduced and agree to share a suite of rooms at 221B Baker St. Shortly after, Holmes is called in to help solve the murder of an American name Drebber and then Stangerson. There's obviously a connection. Holmes find the murderer, Jefferson Hope and then we are treated to a long digression to Salt lake City, Utah, where we discover Hope's motive for the killings. When Inspectors Gregson and Lestrade are credited with solving the crime, Watson determines to put it right in print and this the adventures of London's only consulting detective begin.

The Christmas Day round of cooking, eating, unwrapping, snoozing, and watching Dr Who on TV is over for another year and I have enough pre-prepped food in the fridge to make kitchen duties fairly easy between Christmas and New Year. So there are a few spare hours on my horizon, and I managed to settle down with Jodi Taylor’s new Christmas short story, Lights! Camera! Mayhem!, on my Kindle.

I still have the audiobook version of Adrian Tchaikovsky’s City of last Chances unfinished, and I might well finish it before New Year’s Eve, but realistically, if I do, it will be my last read of 2024.

Counting the last one, as yet unfinished, I will have read 116 books this year, (including a couple of DNFs – did not finish – after giving them a fair try). Many of them I’ve consumed in Audiobook format, which is convenient and enables me to keep up with my reading when doodling around the house, in the kitchen, or in bed at night when any kind of light (even Kindle-light) disturbs my husband’s sleep. In the past I’ve mostly listened to audiobooks as re-reads, but this year I’ve consumed a fair few as first time reads. I’ve written a bit about some of my favourites on the Milford blog, and blogged all of them here. This is my full reading list for 2024. Roll on 2025. As before I will be trying some new-to-me authors as well as reading favourite authors.

Booklog 2024

1. Jodi Taylor: Christmas Pie – St Mary’s 14.5 – Audiobook
2. Sarah Hawkswood: Too Good to Hang – Bradecote & Catchpoll – Audiobook
3. Sophie Keetch: Morgan is my Name – Morgan Le Fay #1 – Audiobook
4. Cherryh, C.J.: Pride of Chanur – Chanur #1  – Audiobook
5. T. Kingfisher: Paladin’s Faith – Saint of Steel #4 – Audiobook
6. Sarah Hawkswood: Blood Runs Thicker – Bradecote & Catchpoll #8 – Audiobook
7. C.S. Forester: A Ship of the Line – Hornblower #7 – Audiobook
8. C.S. Forester: Flying Colours – Hornblower #9 – Audiobook
9. Kevin Hearne: Trapped – Iron Druid #5– Audiobook
10. Ben Aaronovitch and others: Blake’s 7: A Rebellion Reborn – Audiobook
11. Sebastien de Castell: Crucible of Chaos – Greatcoats #5
12. Dennis E. Taylor: All These Worlds – Bobiverse #3 – Audiobook
13. Travis Baldree: Legends and Lattes – Legends and Lattes #1 – Audiobook
14. Martha Wells: Fugitive Telemetry – Murderbot #6
15. James Lovegrove: Firefly: magnificent Nine – Firefly #2 – Audiobook
16. Kim Newman: Secrets of the Drearcliff Grange School (DNF)
17. Lois McMaster Bujold: Demon Daughter – Penric and Desdemona – Audiobook
18. Martha Wells: Network Effect – Murderbot #5 – Audiobook
19. Neil Gaiman: Fragile Things – Audiobook
20. James Logan: The Silverblood Promise – The Last Legacy #1
21. Jim Butcher: Summer Knight – Harry Dresden #4
22. Stan Lee’s Alliances – A Trick of the Light – Audiobook (DNF)
23. Dennis E. Taylor: Outland – Quantum Earth #1 – Audiobook
24. Dennis E. Taylor: Earthside – Quantum Earth #2 – Audiobook
25. S.J. Bennett: Murder Most Royal – Her Majesty the “Queen Investigates #3 – Audiobook
26. Dennis E. Taylor: Roadkill – Audiobook
27. Dennis E. Taylor: Singularity Trap – Audiobook
28. Sebastien de Castell: Play of Shadows – Greatcoats
29. Joshua Dalzelle: Warship – Black Fleet Trilogy #1– Audiobook
30. Dennis E Taylor: Heaven’s River – Bobiverse #4 – Audiobook
31. Dennis E Taylor: A Change of Plans, Audiobook
32. Amber Benson and Chris Golden: Slayers – Buffyverse – Audiobook
33. Tamsin Muir: Gideon the Ninth; Locked Tomb Trilogy #1 – Audiobook
34. Terry Pratchett: Monstrous Regiment – Discworld #31 – Audiobook
35. Sarah Painter: The Night Raven- Crow investigations #1 – Audiobook
36. K.J. Parker: Saevus Corax Deals with the Dead – Saevus Corax #1
37. Sarah Painter: The Silver Mark – Crow Investigations #2 – Audiobook
38. Sarah Painter: The Fox’s Curse – Crow Investigations #3 – Audiobook
39. Sarah Painter: The Pearl King – Crow Investigations #4 – Audiobook
40. Sarah Painter: The Copper Heart – Crow Investigations #5 – Audiobook
41. Sarah Painter: The Shadow Wing– Crow Investigations #6 – Audiobook
42. R.S. Ford: A Demon in Silver – War of the Archons #1 – Audiobook
43. C.S. Forester: The Happy Return – Hornblower – Audiobook
44. K.J. Parker: Saevus Corax Captures the Castle – Saevus Corax #2
45. Lindsey Davis: A Body in the Bath House – Marcus Didius Falco #13 – Audiobook
46. K.J. Parker: Saevus Corax Gets away with Murder – Saevus Corax #3
47. Lindsey Davis: The Jupiter Myth – Marcus Didius Falco #14 – Audiobook
48. Lois McMaster Bujold: The Sharing Knife #1 Beguilement – Audiobook
49. Lois McMaster Bujold: The Sharing Knife #2 Legacy – Audiobook
50. Lindsey Davis: Shadows in Bronze – Marcus Didius Falco #2 – Audiobook
51. Lindsey Davis: Venus in Copper – Marcus Didius falco #3 – Audiobook
52. Lindsey Davis: Poseidon’s Gold – Marcus Didius Falco #5 – Audiobook
53. Jodi Taylor: The Something Girl: Frogmorton Farm #2 – Audiobook
54. Lindsey Davis: A Dying Light in Corduba – Marcus Didius Falco #8 – Audiobook
55. Mercedes Lackey: Beyond – The Founding of Valdemar – Valdemar #1 – Audiobook
56. Sarah Painter: The Broken Cage – Crow Investigations #7 – Audiobook
57. Sarah Painter: The Magpie Key – Crow Investigations #8 – Audiobook
58. Jodi Taylor: Killing Time – Time Police #5
59. Anthony Hope: The Prisoner of Zenda – Audiobook
60. Lois McMaster Bujold: Penric’s Demon – Penric #1 – Audiobook
61. Juliet E. McKenna: Green Man’s Heir – Green Man #1 – Audiobook
62. Lois McMaster Bujold: The Hallowed Hunt – Five Gods #3 – Audiobook
63. Lindsey Davis: The Iron Hand of Mars – Falco #2 – Audiobook
64. Alexander Kent: Richard Bolitho, Midshipman – Bolitho #1 – Audiobook
65. Alexander Kent: Midshipman Bolitho and the Avenger – Bolitho #1 – Audiobook
66. Josephine Tey: The Daughter of Time – Alan Grant #5 – Audiobook
67. Charles de Lint: Jack the Giant Killer – Jack of Kinrowan #1 DNF
68. Jennifer Roberson: Sword Dancer – Tiger and Del #1 – Audiobook
69. Genevieve Cogman: Scarlet – The Scarlett Revolution ‘#1
70. Beverley Watts: Grace – Shackleford Sisters #1
71. Robin McKinley: Dragonhaven – Audiobook
72. Jodi Taylor: Storm Christopher – Frogmorton Farm #4
73. A.C.Riddle: Lost in Time – Eddie LaCrosse #1 – Audiobook
74. Alex Bledsoe: The Sword-Edged Blonde – Audiobook
75. C.J.Archer: Honour Bound – Witch Born #1 – Audiobook
76. Lindsey Davis: Last Act in Palmyra – Marcus Didius Falco #6 – Audiobook
77. C.S. Forester: Hornblower and the Atropos – Hornblower #5 – Audiobook
78. C.J. Sansome: Dark Fire – Shardlake #2 – Audiobook
79. Sarah Hawkswood: Wolf at the Door – Bradecote & Catchpoll #9 – Audiobook
80. Sarah Hawkswood: A Taste for Killing – Bradecote & Catchpoll #10 – Audiobook
81. Guy Gavriel Kay, Ysabel – Audiobook
82. David D. Levine: The Kuiper Belt Job – Cannibal Club #1
83. Lois McMaster Bujold: Penric and the Bandit – Penric and Desdemona #13
84. Hazel Cushion: Reading Companion and History Briefings for Just One Damned Thing After Another
85. Naomi Novik: Throne of Jade – Temeraire #2 – Audiobook
86. Adrian Tchaikovsky: Service Model – Audiobook
87. T. Kingfisher: A Sorceress Comes to Call – Audiobook
88. Martha Wells: System Collapse – Murderbot Diaries #7
89. C.L.Polk: The Midnight Bargain – Audiobook
90. Andre Norton: Moon of Three Rings – Moon Magic #1 – Audiobook
91. T Kingfisher: Bryony and Roses – Audiobook
92. Adrian Tchaikovsky: Alien Clay – Audiobook
93. Marshall Ryan Maresca: The Imposters of Aventil –
94. Jodi Taylor: The Ballad of Smallhope and Pennyroyal – Chronicles of St Mary’s
95. A.G. Riddle: The Extinction Trials – Audiobook
96. Dana Chamblee Carpenter: Bohemian Gospel – Bohemian Gospel #1 Audiobook
97. Dennis E Taylor: Not Till We Are Lost – Bobiverse #5 – Audiobook
98. Elizabeth Bear: Dust – Jacob’s Ladder #1 – Audiobook
99. Lindsey Davies: Two for the Lions – Marcus Didius Falco #10 – Audiobook
100. Benedict Jacka: An Inheritance of Magic – Inheritance of Magic # – Audiobook
101. Benedict Jacka: An Instruction in Shadow – Inheritance of Magic # – Audiobook
102. C.S. Forester: Hornblower and the Crisis – Hornblower #4 – Audiobook
103. Juliet E McKenna: The Green Man’s War – Green Man #6
104. Kesia Lupo: We are Blood and Thunder.
105. Alexandra Walsh: The Wind Chime – Audiobook
106. Anne McCaffrey: Dragonsong – Harper Hall (Pern) #1 – Audiobook
107. James Felton: 52 Times Britain was a Bellend – Audiobook
108. Robin McKinley: Rose Daughter – Audiobook
109. The Infinite Monkey Cage – Series 1 – 5 – Audiobook
110. The Infinite Monkey Cage – Series 6 – 9 – Audiobook
111. Rebecca Fraimow: Lady Eve’s Last Con
112. Joe Haldeman: The Forever War – Forever War #1 – Audiobook
113. Elizabeth Chadwick: The Greatest Knight – William Marshal #2 – Audiobook
114. James Lovegrove: Sherlock Holmes and the Christmas Demon – Audiobook
115. Jodi Taylor: Lights! Camera! Mayhem! # A Chronicles of St Mary short story
116. Adrian Tchaikovsky: City of Last Chances – Tyrant Philosopher #1 – Audiobook

Narrated by Rosalyn Landor

I like Elizabeth Chadwick’s historical fiction, and this is a listen to a book I’ve previously read, but it’s a story I like, a fictionalised version of the real-life William the Marshal (1146-1219), a younger son who rose to serve not only Eleanor of Aquitaine, but also five kings of England from Henry the Young King (son of Henry II), Henry II, Richard the Lionheart, John and John’s son, Henry III, for whom he was guardian and regent when Henry became king at the age of nine. This is the second book featuring William (the first being focused on his father) and this follows William through his early training as a knight in Normandy, his success on the tourney field, his positions in the households of Henry the Young King, Henry II and Richard the Lionheart, for whom he held England while the Lionheart was off playing at crusaders. On marrying Isabel de Clare, more than twenty years his junior,  he took over the extensive de Clare lands but wasn’t made Earl of Pembroke until later. The story ends while Richard is still alive and the next part of the story is picked up in The Scarlet Lion (which I read some years ago). And the very end of his story, plus the backstory of his time in Jerusalem is told in Templar Silks. Rosalyn Landor is a decent narrator.

The final Hornblower book, unfinished art the time of Forester’s death. In chronological order it’s #4 following Hornblower and the Hotspur. Set in 1805, Hornblower gives up command of the Hotspur to James Meadows, leaving Lt Bush behind to support the new captain. While on his way back to England he’s called to attend the court martial of Meadows who managed to run the Hotspur aground the day after he took over. Court martial over, Hornblower and the Hotspur’s officers are returning to England in a civilian water-boat, when they are chased down by a French warship which will inevitably catch them. In a daring move Hornblower turns the tables and briefly the Hotspur officers, through vastly outnumbered, take the French ship through subterfuge. Hornblower takes an important set of despatches and on return to Plymouth and then London discovers that they are very important. Together with two Admiralty secretaries and an admiral Hornblower formulates a plot designed to draw the French fleet out of their very secure port… and that’s where it ends. I thought another author might have finished off the novel, but all we get at the end if a minute of Forester’s notes indicating the successful end of the plot which leads to the battle of Trafalgar. There are a couple of additional short stories which adds an extra hour to the reading. The narrator is the late Christian Rodska, who is perfect for Hornblower. Good as far as it goes.

Audiobook narrated by Matt Addis

It’s 1145 and Godfrey Bowyer, the best but most unlikeable bow make in Worcester, dies, poisoned, while his wife, Blanche, eats the same meal and, though ill, survives. Under-Sherriff Hugh Bradecote, Serjeant Catchpoll and Under-Serjeant Walkeling must investigate the murder. One murder turns into two and there are a couple of false trails before everything points to the guilty party. On top of all this Bradecote’s wife is about to give birth and since Bradecote’s first wife died in childbirth, he’d understandably worried. Young Walkelin is growing in investigative skills, and considering marriage, if he can placate his mother about bringing another woman into the house. Nice twisty plot and three-dimensional characters. Matt Addis narrates well.

Audiobook narrated by Steven Crossley

Having seen the TV series covering the first Shardlake book, I opted to read the second which involves Matthew Shardlake, lawyer, and his (Cromwell appointed) assistant Jack Barack searching for the secret of Greek Fire (Dark Fire), but a series of grisly murders of all those involved proves that the killer or killers is consistently one step ahead of Shardlake and Barak. Cromwell is getting increasingly angry and anxious because the king is expecting a demonstration. In the meantime Shardlake is also defending an alleged murderess who is supposed to have thrown her young cousin down a well. Unfortunately, she won't plead and therefore must be pressed beneath heavy weights until she speaks. Cromwell fixes a stay of execution but the clock is ticking on both mysteries and Shardlake and Barak are increasingly endangered. Steven Crossley is a decent narrator, though I notice that some of the later Shardlake stories are narrated by Anton Lesser, who (from the samples) is a better reader.

Narrated by: Gordon Griffin

I love the Falco books, but this one seemed too long for the story it was telling. It was still a good listen, but not so tightly written as other books in the series. Marcus and his girlfrend, Helena Justina go off to the Middle East in order to do a bit of casual spying for Rome and also to find a missing girl who has run away from her obligations as a musician. After finding the drowned body of a man, obviously murdered, they fall in with a travelling theatre company and Marcus takes the dead man's job of playwrite. They are accompanied by Musa, a priest, sent to keep an eye on them. There's another murder and an attempt on Musa's life and Marcus spends most of the book travelling from place to place with the company, writing lines that no one ever appreciates, and questioning suspects. There are a lot of the company's stops and performances that simply don't move the story forward, and though Marcus gets there in the end, it all seems a bit tedious. Gordon Griffin is not the most exciting narrator. I much prefer Christian Rodska's interpretation in the later books, or Anton Lesser in the BBC radio plays.