Reading Challenge Prompt: A book by a local author #20

I figured, finding books written by authors from London will be easy-peasy. Well, joke’s on me, because there really weren’t as many as I thought there will be. London is no small village, and yet, the number of authors who write the sort of stuff I read and I’m actually familiar with (meaning: heard of their existence) from around here is surprisingly low.

So let’s see who made the cut for this reading challenge prompt.

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Jeffrey Archer

Apart from being a novelis and a politician, Jeffrey Archers is also the Baron of Weston-super-Mare. How cool is that?
In the ’80s he was accused of hooking up with a prostitute, and in 2001 he was imprisoned for perjury and perverting the course of justice.

Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less

The conned: an Oxford don, a revered society physician, a chic French art dealer, and a charming English lord. They have one thing in common. Overnight, each novice investor lost his life’s fortune to one man. The con: Harvey Metcalfe!!
A brilliant, self-made guru of deceit. A very dangerous individual. And now, a hunted man.
With nothing left to lose four strangers are about to come together-each expert in their own field. Their plan: find Harvey, shadow him, trap him, and penny-for-penny, destroy him. From the luxurious casinos of Monte Carlo to the high-stakes windows at Ascot to the bustling streets of Wall Street to fashionable London galleries, their own ingenious game has begun. It’s called revenge-and they were taught by a master.

Posh people on the loose!

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Tim Reed

He is a self proclaimed “werebeast of writer proportions”, and that alone makes him some sort of an intellectual badass in my eyes. He writes dark fantasy and horror, and even though I’ve never read any of his books, they seem to be right up in my alley.

Spider from the Well

A man and his wife go on holiday in the New Forest, where they find old ruins and among it, a tattered diary. Intrigued, they begin to read, and are drawn into the tale of a bereaving man from the 19th Century, who has visions of a green sun and creatures clambering from the well outside his house. Slowly, as madness takes him, these cosmic visions intensify and he finds himself under siege; his daughter, pet cat and his independence are under dire threat, leaving him alone, afraid, and at the mercy of horrific, otherworldly invaders. He witnesses alternate histories of the world, grim futures, and at the end of all, a dreadful predator patiently broods – hoping to sate its hunger.
What fate awaits the Victorian man? Will the diary reveal secrets best left in dust? And what is the ultimate purpose of the green sun, looming over the Earth like an emerald?

I hate bloody spiders though…

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James Herbert

He was one of Britain’s greatest popular novelists, whose books are sold in thirty-three other languages. According to his bio, with a skillful blend of horror and thriller fiction, he explored the shaded territories of evil, evoking a sense of brooding menace and rising tension.

Enough said!

The Secret of Crickley Hall

The Caleighs have had a terrible year…They need time and space, while they await the news they dread. Gabe has brought his wife, Eve, and daughters, Loren and Cally, down to Devon, to the peaceful seaside village of Hollow Bay. He can work and Eve and the kids can have some peace and quiet and perhaps they can try, as a family, to come to terms with what’s happened to them…Crickley Hall is an unusually large house on the outskirts of the village at the bottom of Devil’s Cleave, a massive tree-lined gorge – the stuff of local legend. A river flows past the front garden. It’s perfect for them…if it a bit gloomy. And Chester, their dog, seems really spooked at being away from home. And old houses do make sounds. And it’s constantly cold. And even though they shut the cellar door every night, it’s always open again in morning The Secret of Crickley Hall is James Herbert’s finest novel to date. It explores the darker, more obtuse territories of evil and the supernatural. With brooding menace and rising tension, he masterfully and relentlessly draws the reader through to the ultimate revelation one that will stay to chill the mind long after the book has been laid aside.

The mini TV series based on this book is also creepy as fuck.

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Jane Fallon

She is an English novelist and former producer, most famous for working on popular telly series, like East Enders. Admittedly, I’ve never watched a single episode of that, and not planning to do so, like ever. I’ve read her book, My Sweet Revenge last year, and it was pretty entertaining, so I’m quite curious about her other novels. She also has a cat named Ollie, and as a fellow cat lady this warmed me up to her instantly.

Getting Rid Of Matthew

What to do if Matthew, your secret lover of the past four years, finally decides to leave his wife, Sophie, and their two daughters and move into your flat, just when you’re thinking that you might not want him anymore . . .
PLAN A: Stop shaving your armpits. And your bikini line. Tell him you have a moustache that you wax every six weeks. Stop having sex with him. Pick holes in the way he dresses. Don’t brush your teeth. Or your hair. Or pluck out the stray hag-whisker that grows out of your chin. Buy incontinence pads and leave them lying around.
PLAN B: Accidentally on purpose bump into his wife Sophie. Give yourself a fake name and identity. Befriend Sophie. Actually begin to really like Sophie. Snog Matthew’s son (who’s the same age as you by the way. You’re not a paedophile). Buy a cat and give it a fake name and identity. Befriend Matthew’s children. Unsuccessfully. Watch your whole plan go absolutely horribly wrong.

Note to self: shave armpits.

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Lisa Jewell

She worked for the fashion chain Warehouse for three years as a PR assistant and then for Thomas Pink, the Jermyn Street shirt company for four years as a receptionist and PA. She started her first novel, Ralph’s Party, for a bet in 1996. She finished it in 1997 and it was published by Penguin books in May 1998. It went on to become the best-selling debut novel of that year.

So don’t despair fellow readers and aspiring writers! Your current career choice means nothing, and you can become a published author at any time!

Then She Was Gone

THEN
She was fifteen, her mother’s
golden girl. She had her whole life ahead of her.
And then, in the blink of an eye, Ellie was gone.
NOW
It’s been ten years since Ellie
disappeared, but Laurel has never given up
hope of finding her daughter.
And then one day a charming and charismatic stranger called Floyd walks into a café and sweeps Laurel off her feet.
Before too long she’s staying the night at this house and being introduced to his nine year old daughter.
Poppy is precocious and pretty – and meeting her completely takes Laurel’s breath away.
Because Poppy is the spitting image of Ellie when she was that age.
And now all those unanswered questions that have haunted Laurel come flooding back.
What happened to Ellie? Where did she go?
Who still has secrets to hide?

Secrets?!? Did someone say secrets? Any time a book has the word “secret” slapped onto the cover, I feel compelled to pick it up. I might have a problem… Or a secret…

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Ruth Rendell

Another posh person on my list, she was also going by the title Baroness Rendell of Babergh. She was an acclaimed English crime writer, known for her many psychological thrillers and murder mysteries and above all for the character Inspector Wexford.

From Doon With Death (Inspector Wexford #1)

There is nothing extraordinary about Margaret Parsons, a timid housewife in the quiet town of Kingsmarkham, a woman devoted to her garden, her kitchen, her husband. Except that Margaret Parsons is dead, brutally strangled, her body abandoned in the nearby woods.
Who would kill someone with nothing to hide? Inspector Wexford, the formidable chief of police, feels baffled — until he discovers Margaret’s dark secret: a trove of rare books, each volume breathlessly inscribed by a passionate lover identified only as Doon. As Wexford delves deeper into both Mrs. Parsons’ past and the wary community circling round her memory like wolves, the case builds with relentless momentum to a surprise finale as clever as it is blindsiding.
In From Doon with Death, Ruth Rendell instantly mastered the form that would become synonymous with her name. Chilling, richly characterized, and ingeniously constructed, this is psychological suspense at its very finest.

Confusing title is confusing… Also, if I ever change my surname, I will take Wexford under serious consideration. That’s one cool ass name for sure!

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Have you read anything by any of these authors? What did you think?
Yey or nay?

P.S. Half of these books could stand a great chance in the contest for “A Book With An Ugly Cover”. I mean… seriously… Ewww.