What’s on your bookshelf: January

So here we are in the middle of January so time to reflect on the past month’s reading. I will confess the year has not got off to a racing start. A short trip, doing other things and spending too much time on YouTube watching cooking or tiny house videos (I love Anti-Chef). Anyway, I did read, and although I really enjoyed the three detective novels I read, none will be on my list of top books of the year.

I ended 2025 with a slim volume of short stories and essays by Harper Lee published under the title The Land of Sweet Forever. It was interesting, and I agree with this review in The Guardian that considers this book more one about the author herself rather than the works. I’m glad I read it, but do approach with a mindset of learning about Lee.

It was then back to Australia for the second Margaret Hickey I have read Stone Town. Three teenagers find a body in dense bushland one rainy Friday night. Back in his home town, Mark Ariti is called in to investigate the death of Aidan Sleeth, a property developer, whose controversial plan to buy up local land means few are surprised he ended up dead. At the same time, Detective Sergeant Natalie Whitsed has disappeared while investigating the wife of a crime boss. What follow is a gripping tale of who has done what to whom. A great holiday read.

The year started with a lovely collection of essays by the food writer Diana Henry Around the Table. She has a wonderful way of writing about food, for example, her piece on eggs Eggs is Eggs is just the sort of thing I would like to write. Her description of ginger as being the Lucille Ball of the spice world makes it become the party girl of our cupboards. Meanwhile, hazelnuts are the sopranos of the nut world small, smooth, high-pitched to the walnut’s deep bass notes. If you love food give this book a go, though it does get a bit repetitive in places, so maybe best read in small pieces at a time, like eating rich, dark chocolate.

It was then back to another Margaret Hickey, the third in the series featuring Mark Arditi Broken Bay. Mark Ariti has taken a few days’ holiday in Broken Bay at the same time as a cave diver is drowned while exploring a sinkhole. In retrieving the body, they find another one, which seems to be that of a young local woman who disappeared twenty years before ago. Then there is another murder….and so another gripping story carries on. I really like Hickey’s books and have another one on order from the library. Thanks to Jo for recommending them.

Finally, the latest Ann Cleeves The Killing Stones sees Jimmy Perez now on Orkney with his pregnant wife and small child, solving not two, but three murders. The new book picks up from 2018’s Wild Fire, (which I haven’t actually read but have also ordered from the library) which apparently ended with the detective moving to Orkney with his partner and fellow police officer, Willow Reeves. It is a good read as her books always are but I have a question: would a husband and wife be allowed to work at the same police station? I don’t think so.

• Harper Lee The Land of Sweet Forever – a hard one – 3.5
• Margaret Hickey Stone Town – 4 small Australian towns
• Diana Henry Around the Table – 4 fabulous dinners
• Margaret Hickey Broken Bay – 4 sink holes
• Ann Cleeves The Killing Stones – 4 islands of Orkney (there are about 70 in total I believe).

Thistles and Kiwis is a Wellington, New Zealand based blog written by Barbara, who likes cats, summer, good food and pretends to garden. Also on Facebook and Instagram @thistlesandkiwis