April already! More than a quarter of the way through the year, just. March saw me heading to London for the launch of the Theakston’s Crime Writing Festival which happens every July in Harrogate. Yep, it confused my husband too when I said I was going to London to celebrate the launch. I had a lovely time meeting up with reviewer friend Jules, fellow blogger Tracey, chatting to authors and publicisits, including this year’s chair Vaseem Khan, Will Carver, Martyn Waites, William Shaw, Tina Baker, Graham Bartlett, Mick Herron and Mark Billingham.

It’s a rare day that I come away from London without any books but this time I didn’t get any new ones and managed to finish one on the train back so the trip helped the deficit!

I’m not saying other books didn’t arrive into the house as I would be lying otherwise.

March also saw the Spring rotation on the TBR shelves, or one of them at least. It’s important to let the ones at the back get some sun, and I may have discovered a duplicate amongst them…

Here’s what took up residence on the bookshelves in March:

1. Seven Steeples by Sara Baume, sent for review by Midas PR.
2. If This is A Man/ The Truce by Primo Levi.
3. Dominion by Tom Holland.
4. Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat.
5. The Bottle Factory Outing by Beryl Bainbridge. These four were sent for review by Abacus.
6. All of Us Are Broken by Fiona Cummins. Sent for review by Laura Sherlock.
7. The Great Reclamation by Rachel Heng, sent for review by Tinder Press.
8. The Sleep Watcher by Rowan Hisayo Buchanan, sent for review by Sceptre.
9. Date with Evil by Julia Chapman, sent for review by Pan Macmillan.
10. The Home by Penelope Mortimer.
11. The Black Spectacles by John Dickson Carr. Both of these were sent for review by the British Library.
12. Mrs Porter Calling by A J Pearce, sent for review by Picador.
13. Found in a Bookshop by Stephanie Butland, sent for review by Headline.
14. One Moment by Becky Hunter, sent for review by Becky.
15. A Place Called Home by Ellie Dean, sent for review by Penguin.
16. Henny Is Stuck by Aileen Crossley, sent for review by Little Door.
17. Promise of the Runes by Christina Courtney, sent for review by Headline.
18. The Tumbling Girl by Bridget Walsh, sent for review by Gallic.
19. Skin Deep by Antonia Lassa, sent for review by Corylus.
20. The Illusions by Liz Hyder, sent for review by Manilla Press.
21. The Forgetting by Hannah Beckerman, sent for review by Hannah.
22. The Dive by Sara Ochs, sent for review by Bantam.
23. Carrie’s War by Nina Bawden, sent for review by Virago.
24. The Fall by Gilly Macmillan, sent for review by Century.

Here’s what I read:

1. Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent.
2. Miss Pym Disposes by Josephine Tey.
3. No Life for a Lady by Hannah Dolby.
4. Death of an Author by E C R Lorac.
5. Seven Steeples by Sara Baume.
6. A Killing in November by Simon Mason.

I gave away some books 35 kids books and 2 prizes (we established last month that children’s books count). So that’s 24 in and 43 out. More out than in! Wonders will never cease. I hope you enjoyed whatever you read in March and remember, it’s not the quantity that counts, the most important thing is you enjoyed whatever you did manage to read.

Until next month!