Very Nice People

In Agatha Christie's Mrs McGinty's Dead (1952), Hercule Poirot arrives home to his flat in London to find a gentleman has called. Superintendent Spence needs urgent assistance. A court has just convicted James Bentley of the murder of charwoman Mrs McGinty, his landlord, and sentenced him to death. Spence doesn't think he is guilty and wants Poirot's help to prove this and save the man from execution. 

Poirot heads to the village of Broadhinny and stays at a ramshackle guest house owned by the Summerhayes family. The accomodation is terrible - draughty, dirty and messy, with awful meals which offend Poirot's gastronomic sensibilities. From here Poirot wanders about the village interviewing the locals, whom he concludes are all very nice people. Poirot reminds Spence that very nice people 'has been, before now, a motive for murder' (Chapter 8).  He learns that a few days prior to the murder, Mrs McGinty had taken a clipping from the Sunday Comet, a gossipy newspaper. She had also purchased some ink and written letters to persons unknown. The newspaper clipping contained photos of four women who were involved in old criminal cases. Perhaps Mrs McGinty had recognised one of the women. Perhaps one of the women was now living in Broadhinny. Perhaps one of the women did not want her past revealed and killed Mrs McGinty to stop her from sharing this secret.

Like most Poirot novels, there are little clues scattered everywhere, a few red herrings, and the story culminates in a gathering of all potential suspects to hear Poirot narrate his findings and reveal the killer in dramatic fashion. 

I had never heard of Mrs McGinty's Dead so I went in with no knowledge of the story. This allowed me to theorise and guess motives and suspects, and while I had kind of worked it out, there were a few twists I had not foreseen. What I found problematic was that there were so many characters I could not keep them straight in my mind.  Between the Hendersons, Carpenters, Weatherbys, and Summerhayes there were too many similar characters that I could not tell them apart detracting from my enjoyment of the book. 

However, one of the delights of this novel is the character Ariadne Oliver, famed crime novelist in town to work with a playwright adapting one of her works. Oliver talks about the famous Finnish detective she has based her stories around, Sven Hjerson. Olivier exclaims: 

'How do I know why I ever thought of the revolting man? I must have been made! Why a Finn when I know nothing about Finland?.... You try something - and people seem to like it - and then you go on - and before you know where you are, you've got someone like that maddening Sven Hjerson toed to you for life. And people write and say how fond you must be of him, Fond of him? If I ever met that bony gangling, vegetable-eating Finn in real life, I'd do a better murder than any I've ever invented.' (Chapter 14)

Christie must have delighted in creating this fictitious version of herself and to critique her own famous detective. Mrs McGinty's Dead was Christie's 29th Poirot novel, and it marks the beginning of Poirot's final phase and Oliver's ascendency.

I read this novel as part of the 2026 Read Christie Challenge 'Biggest, Best, Beloved', which has placed Mrs McGinty's Dead in the 'Beloved Characters' category. While I cared little for most of the characters, I certainly enjoyed Poirot and Ariadne Oliver.

My reviews of other Christie novels are available on this blog: 

• The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920)
• Murder on the Links (1923)
• The Body in the Library (1942)

 

International Booker Prize Longlist 2026

The International Booker Prize 2026 Longlist has been announced with thirteen titles of fiction translated into English.

The longlist is as follows:

• The Nights are Quiet in Tehran by Shida Bazyar (translated by Ruth Martin)
• 
  
  We are Green and Trembling by Gabriela Cabezon Camara (translated by Robin Myers)
• The Remembered Soldier by Anjet Dianne (translated by David McKay)
• 
  The Deserters by Mathais Enard (translated by Charlotte Mandell)
• Small Comfort by Ia Genberg (translated by Kira Josefsson)
• She Who Remains by Rene Karabash (translated by Izadora Angel)
• The Director by Daniel Kehlmann (translated by Ross Benjamin)
• On Earth as it is Beneath by Ana Paula Maia (translated by Padma Viswanathan)
• The Duke by Matteo Melchiorre (translated by Antonella Lettieri)
• The Witch by Marie NDiaye (translated by Jordan Stump)
• Women Without Men by Shahrnush Parispur (translated by Faridoun Farrokh)
• The Wax Child by Olga Ravn (translated by Martin Aitken)
• Taiwan Travelogue by Yang Shuang-zi (translated by Lin King)

Natasha Brown, Chair of the judges writes of this longlist: 

'Many of the submitted books examined the devastating consequences of war, which is reflected in our longlist. The list also features petty squabbles between neighbours, mysterious mountain villages, Big Pharma conspiracies, witchy women, ill-fated lovers, a haunted prison, and obscure film references. The page counts range from “pocket-friendly” to “doorstopper”. And while the books’ original publication dates span four decades, each story feels fresh and innovative.'

The prize awards £25,000 to the author and £25,000 to the translator, in recognition of the essential work of translators in bringing fiction to a wider audience. 

The only one of these titles that had been on my radar was The Director about a filmmaker who flees Nazi Germany for Hollywood. However, I am interested in The Remembered Soldier which sounds like an interesting story about a man who lost his memory in World War One and a woman who claims to be his wife. The Nights are Quiet in Tehran also sounds intriguing, about a family fleeing and then returning to Iran.  I need to read more translated fiction, so will be keen to investigate these titles further and see if I can track them down at the local library.

The shortlist of 6 titles will be announced on 31 March and the winner on 19 May 2026.

Dublin Literary Award Longlist 2026

Back in November 2025, the nominations for the 2026 Dublin LiteraryAward were announced with 69 titles vying for contention.  That list has now been whittled down to a longlist of twenty works of fiction as follows:

• Rachel Kushner - Creation Lake
• Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - Dream Count
• Maria Reva - Endling
• Ali Smith - Gliff
• Aria Aber - Good Girl
• Magdelana Blazevic - In Late Summer
• Sally Rooney-  Intermezzo
• Brigitte Giraud - Live Fast
• Niamh Ni Mhaoileoin - Ordinary Saints
• Alan Hollinghurst - Our Evenings
• Laurent Binet - Perspective(s)
• Karen Russell - The Antidote
• Donatella Di Pietrantonio - The Brittle Age
• Siphuwe Gloria Ndlovu - The Creation of Half-Broken People
• Evie Wyld - The Echoes
• Ocean Vyong - The Emperor of Gladness
• Olga Tokarczuk - The Empusium
• Jerimamah Wei - The Orignial Daughter
• Elif Shafak - There are Rivers in the Sky
• Eric Chacour - What I Know About You

This is an interesting Longlist. I have only read Evie Wyld's The Echoes, but I have Intermezzo, and Our Evenings. Many of these titles have been recognised elsewhere, for example, Karen Russell's The Antidote was shortlisted for the National Book Award 2025, Maria Reva's Endling was longlisted for the 2025 Booker Prize, Rachel Kushner's Creation Lake was longlisted for the 2025 Carol Shields Prize, and both Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Dream Count and Aria Aber's Good Girl were longlisted for the 2025 Women's Prize. 

The Longlist will become a Shortlist of six titles in April 2026, while the winner of the 100,000 Euro prize will be announced in May 2026. 

The Sense of an Ending

On his eightieth birthday, English author Julian Barnes released his final book Departure(s) (2026). Currently being treated for a rare blood cancer, Barnes had one last book to write and has crafted a curious  hybrid work of fiction and memoir about aging and the problems of memory.  

Departure(s) begins with an exploration of memory - the Proustian involuntary autographical memory of madelines dunked in tea which transport the author back to an earlier time, the importance of forgetting unwanted memories, and the wonder of the human mind. Barnes plays with his reader, inserting himself (or a fictional version of himself) in the tale, and promising that this will be an unreliable story filled with gaps.

The first part of his story takes place at Magdelen College Oxford in the 1960s, where Julian is reading modern languages. Here he meets Stephen, a fellow student, and introduces him to Jean, a girl from Julian's Russian class. Stephen and Jean engage in a brief relationship while students, but then go their seperate ways. Forty years later, when Julian, Jean and Stephen are in their sixties, they are reunited, with Barnes again enabling the couple's meet-cute. This time they wed and, during their marriage, Julian is their confidant and sounding-board. 

Amidst this tale of love, is one of aging and death. Barnes' diaries are used to explore his diagnosis and treatment. His body is failing and he grasps on to recollections of his past. He is preparing to depart but still has some wisdom to convey. 

I have always liked Barnes as a writer. His wonderful novel The Sense of an Ending (2011) won the Booker Prize and prior to my blogging days, I enjoyed his A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters (1989) and Flaubert's Parrot (1984).  I had the good fortune of hearing him speak and meeting him at the 2016 Sydney Writers' Festival where he signed a copy of The Sense of an Ending for me. 

While the story was different, Departure(s) reminded me of Richard Flanagan's genre-defying Question 7 (2023) which blended autofiction, memoir, history and philosophy. As I read Departure(s) I initially wondered what parts were fiction and which were memoir, and then I realised it doesn't matter. This is Barnes' departure, leaving behind his brilliant career on his own terms, and giving his readers a gift with his contemplative musings. 

Journey's End

I have just finished the final volume of Philip Pullman's epic The Book of Dust trilogy. It has been 30 years since Pullman introduced the world to heroine Lyra Bellaqua (aka Lyra Silvertongue) in the His Dark Materials series. Now, with The Rose Field (2025), Lyra's journey has come to an end. While I am saddened that no more books will be written in this series, I feel tremendously satisfied with this story and was utterly gripped by its conclusion.

Picking up where volume two - The Secret Commonwealth (2019) - ended, Lyra is travelling East in search of her daemon Pantalaimon who is heading towards the Blue Hotel in the desert of Karamakan. Earlier Pan and Lyra had a disagreement, which saw Pan depart in search of Lyra's imagination. Lyra is assisted in her journey by her knowledgable and wily guide, Abdel Ionides. Pan, for the most part, is bravely travelling alone. 

For Lyra and Ionides, the journey is an arduous one in which the travel by land, sea and air. Along the way they meet witches, angels, and gryphons, while being tracked by both Olivier Bonneville and Marcel Delamare, the head of the Magisterium. Oakley Street agent and friend Malcolm Polstead is also on his way. Everyone is racing to get to gateway to another universe which houses the Rusakov Field. Will Pan and Lyra find one another? Will Delamare succeed in his ruthless ambition to rule the world with a global theocracy? Will they ever get home again?

Pullman is such a creative writer, having set this series in a world that mostly resembles our own, but with subtle differences. He offers a rebuke of authoritarianism, capitalism and colonialism, and there are times this reads as a cautionary tale.

I know some readers have criticised the ending for not tying all the threads up in a neat, shiny bow. But I loved this, as Pan's whole quest was to find Lyra's imagination, her childlike wonder and free-thinking mind. Pullman is encouraging his readers to do the same and use our imaginations to continue this story. He has played his last Myriorama card, and now it is our turn to chose the next one.

As with the previous two volumes, I power-read this alongside Michael Sheen's audiobook narration. I absolutely loved Sheen's storytelling as he is able to voice different characters/accents, and he alters her tone and pace to drive the story forward. Highly recommend listening to the audiobook! 

Farewell Lyra and Pan. Thank you - and Mr Pullman - for an incredible adventure that has brought me such joy over the past thirty years. 

My reviews of the previous books in this trilogy are available on this blog:

• La Belle Sauvage (2017) 
• The Secret Commonwealth (2019) 

I don't have reviews of Pullman's earlier His Dark Materials trilogy - Northern Lights (aka The Golden Compass) (1995) The Subtle Knife (1997) and The Amber Spyglass (2000) - as I read these long before I started this blog. Perhaps it is time to revisit....  

Women's Prize for Non-Fiction Longlist 2026

The third annual Women's Prize for Non-Fiction longlist has been revealed! This prize celebrates non-fiction written by women. The Winner will receive £30,000. Sixteen works of non-fiction were longlisted.

The 2026 longlist is as follows:

Barbara Demick - Daughters of the Bamboo Grove: China's Stolen Children and a Story of Separated Twins

In 2000 a Chinese woman secretly gave birth to identical twin girls. An American couple adopted an abandoned baby girl from China, not knowing that she had been snatched from her mother and separated from her twin. Author journalist Demick is the adoptive mother who only discovered the truth in 2007. This book tells the story of what happened to these twins and Demick's role in reuniting them. Demnick is the author of Eat the Buddha (2020) and Besieged (2012).

Lyse Doucet - The Finest Hotel in Kabul: A People's History of Afghanistan

The luxury Hotel Inter-Continental in Kabul is a modern wonder in a city and country that has been devastated by civil war and invasion. It has remained open using the fall and rise of the Taliban, and has welcomed journalists and visitors from around the world. BBC journalist Doucet writes about the Afghans who have maintained the hotel since the 1970s.

Jenny Evans - Don't Let It Break You, Honey: A Memoir About Saving Yourself

At 18 Evans was cast in a cult film and thought she had got her big break. She was assaulted at a party by a high profile person and reported the crime. A tabloid published her story without her permission. Evans went on to train as a journalist to make sense of what happened and realised she was part of the 'phone-hacking' scandal. This memoir is about resilience and finding your own voice.

Daisy Fancourt - Art Cure: The Science of How the Arts Transform Our Health 

While most people consume art as a hobby, perhaps the arts are more beneficial to our health than we realise. Professor Fancourt explores the science behind the transformational power of arts and how it is good for the mind and the body. Fancourt is a professor of Psychobiology and Epidemiology at University College London.

Lady Hale - With the Law on Our Side: How the Law Works for Everyone and How We Can Make It Work Better

Written by the former President of the British Supreme Court, this book uses real cases to explore the justice system and how the law works. This is an accessible, easy to read book peppered with compelling cases. It is designed to give a glimpse behind the formalities of the intimidating legal system, and show that everyone has rights to be protected. Baroness Hale was called to the Bar in 1969, became a judge in 1994. She was President of the Supreme Court from 2017-2020.

Kidiatu Kanneh-Mason - To Be Young, Gifted and Black: Creativity and Race in the 21st Century

Kannah-Mason is the mother of seven children who are all gifted, classically-trained musicians (including cellist Sheku Janneh-Mason who performed at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle). When one of her children was the victim of racist online bullying, she had conversations with her children about Black artistic self-expression and how to rise above the abuse. This book explores belonging and creativity.

Judith Mackrell - Artists, Siblings, Visionaries: The Lives and Loves of Gwen and Augustus John

Welsh post-impressionist painter Augustus John was known for his portraiture as well as for fathering children with many different women. His sister Gwendolyn was also an artist, and long-time lover of sculptor Auguste Rodin. This book explores the sibling artists, their work and their lives. Biographer Mackrell has written books about other artists and was the dance critic for The Guardian. 

Deepa Paul - Ask Me How it Works: Love in an Open Marriage

Paul is a Filipina-Indiana author living in Amsterdam. Married, with children, Paul also has a boyfriend. In this book she answers questions many people have about open marriage, how it works and whether polyamory is worth it. Deepa seeks to live an authentic life, without shame for her desires.

Sarah Perry - Death of an Ordinary Man

When her father-in-law died in 2022 only nine days after his cancer diagnosis, Perry realised that this ordinary may was actually quite extraordinary. This meditation on mortality shows that life and death are both ordinary and unique. Perry is an internationally best selling novelist best known for The Essex Serpent, what was longlisted for the 2017 Women's Prize for Fiction. 

Harriet Rix - The Genius of Trees: How Trees Mastered the Elements and Shaped the World

Trees are change agents, surviving forrest fires, drought, climate change and human interference. They manipulate fungi, water, animals and humans to survive. Humans have a lot to thank trees for and this book is designed to ensure readers never look at trees the same way again. Rix is a science consultant and writer with a passion for ecology. 

Jane Rogoyska - Hotel Exile: Paris in the Shadow of War

The Hotel Lutetia on Paris' Left Bank has served as a meeting place for bohemian artists, musicians and politicians. Among its guests were Andre Gide, James Joyce, Pablo Picasso, Josephine Baker, and Henri Matisse. In the 1930s activists and intellectuals fleeing Hitler's rise to power, came to the hotel and attempted to form an alternative government. When Paris was occupied, it became the headquarters of the German Military intelligence service. After the war, it was requisitioned again as a repatriation centre for people returning from concentration camps. Author Rogoyska charts the incredible history of this hotel at the heart of European history.

Arundhati Roy - Mother Mary Comes to Me

The Booker Prize winning novelist Arundhati Roy's memoir details how her relationship with her mother Mary shaped her life. It is the story of how Roy became an artist, writer and activitist. The mother-daughter relationship was fraught, but provided the fuel for Roy's remarkable life. From all the reviews I have read, this memoir sounds brilliant,

Zakia Sewell - Finding Albion: Myth, Folklore and the Quest for a Hidden Britain

Documentarian Sewell has travelled across Britain in search of its folklore and myth. She learns of Celtic rites, ancient folksongs and seasonal rituals. Along the way, she discovers the story of who the British are and where they are going. 

Grace Spence Green - To Exist As I Am: A Doctor's Notes on Recovery and Radical Acceptance

Junior doctor Spence Green has a life changing injury in 2018 which has confined her to a wheelchair. In this memoir, she shows how to turn tragedy into advocacy as she uses her resilience to fight for a more accessible and inclusive future. Hailed as an eye opener and a must-read for the medical profession, this memoir is a powerful story of rehabilitation and the need to change the narrative around disability. 

Ece Temelkuran - Nation of Strangers: Rebuilding Home in the 21st Century 

The number of displaced persons continue to grow as exiles and refugees seek shelter in new places. Nation of Strangers is a series of letters between strangers encouraging them to welcome newcomers and push back against oppression. The meaning of Home shifts, not just meaning a place to live but also a sense of comfort and security. Turkish author and activist, currently based in Berlin, writes on the rise of fascism around the world. 

Lea Ypi - Indignity: A Life Reimagined

Ypi finds a photo of her grandmother honeymooning in the Alps in 1941 amidst the horrors of World War Two. She thought records of her grandmother had long been lost, so begins a search to discover her past. In doing so she questions the moral authority with which we judge the acts of those who came before us. Chair in Politics and Philosophy at the London School of Economics, Lea Ypi won the Ondaatje Prize for her first book Free: Coming of Age at the End of History.

The Chair of the Judges, Baroness Thangam Debonnaire, said of the Longlist:

'The books on this hopeful longlist are rigorous and researched, lyrical and flowing. They are drawn together by the originality and skill with which they have been written. This reading list carries relevance and truth for the future as well as holding significant value for the present day – the books spark curiosity and demand attention; they are for everyone navigating the complicated and unpredictable world we are living in. The voices of these sixteen remarkable women need to be heard – loud and clear.'

I have not read any of these titles, and I have to say I am disappointed that Hannah Kent was not recognised for her brilliant memoir Always Homesick, Always Home. I had also anticipated that Jacinda Arden's A Different Kind of Power, Electric Spark and Yiyun Li's Things in Nature Merely Grow would be in the list. I am surprised, but not saddened, that there are no books on Artificial Intelligence or technology on the list.

Of the longlist, the only one I am likely to read, and my early pick for winner, is Arundhati Roy's memoir Mother Mary Comes to Me. If I can find them in the library, the other books that interest me are Hotel Exile, Indignity and Nation of Strangers.

The shortlist will be announced on 25 March 2026 and the winner will be revealed on 11 June 2026. Happy reading!

Want more? Here is the video of the Longlist announcement.

Cat and Mouse

Dead Lions (2013) is the second novel in Mick Herron's Slough House series, and the subject of season two of the tv series Slow Horses. 

London's Slough House is an off-shoot of the British spy service MI5, where incompetent or disgraced agents remain on the payroll doing tedious archiving or low level grunt work, forever hoping to make their way back to MI5 headquarters, 'The Park'. The man overseeing these misfits, Jackson Lamb, knows they will burnout, quit or die before ever being redeemed. Lamb himself was stationed in Berlin at the height of the Cold War, before he wound up as head of the Slow Horses. Dismissed by The Park as a washed out annoyance, and physically resembling the same in his stained clothes and greasy visage, Lamb has dirt on 'Second Desk' Diana Taverner. Despite his appearance and the time he spends sleeping, drinking and/or smoking at his desk, Lamb possesses a razor-sharp mind which allows him to piece together clues which would be undecipherable to others.

Lamb is out in the field for much of Dead Lions. An old chum from his Berlin days has been found dead on a bus in Oxford. Dickie Bow's demise doesn't raise an eyebrow anywhere, but Lamb knows there is more to his death and starts to investigate Bow's movements leading up to his death. Bow left a cryptic message, which hints at the return of a ghost from their past. 

Back at Slough House, Louisa and Min have been seconded to help The Park with a Russian oligarch that may become an asset. Roddy Ho continues his online creeping. Newcomers Shirley Dander and Marcus Longridge join the team, wary of each other. River Cartwright is given an opportunity to go undercover, ever hoping to prove himself. Meanwhile Standish, the steely core of Slough House, keeps the wheels turning. As all these agents busy themselves in seemingly unrelated tasks, the pace quickens leading to a heart-racing crescendo.

 

I loved Dead Lions. Herron has done something remarkable in creating a modern thriller which hints at Cold War old school spycraft and marries this with satire and laugh-out-loud dialogue. Herron's genius comes in his innovative use of scene setting, bookending this novel with a walkthrough of Slough House by a cat and mouse. His pacing in brilliant and I admire the way Herron weaves the various strands of the story together.

Having seen the series, the characters are forever imprinted in my mind as the actors who play them. But this is not a bad thing, as the series is perfectly cast. There are several differences between the novel and the television adaptation, that also make for interesting reading. So glad I have a box set of these books on hand as I am sure it won't be long before I visit Slough House again.

 My reviews of other books in Mick Herron's Slough House series can be found on this blog:

• Slow Horses (2010)