Clothes In Books

Barbara Cartland is the gift that keeps giving.

Death and the Pleasant Voices by Mary Fitt published 1946 Marcel was sitting at the grand piano singing…Ursula was standing beside Marcel with her hand on his shoulder…laughing across at each other, quite absorbed.

The Great Dictator by Matthew Sweet published 2026 Writing about the Royals for the I newspaper recently, I picked up Matthew Sweet’s new biography of Barbara Cartland, marvellously titled The Great Dictator.

The Interloper by E Phillips Oppenheim aka The Ex-Duke published1927 For clarity: I would say that I am the Queen of writing about Tosh, leaving room for others to take their own Royal roles.

I know my Royal books as only a confirmed Republican champagne socialist can.

I am back from my holidays, and also from doing another project - more soon.

The Top Story Murder by Anthony Berkeley published 1931 ****This will be the last post for a couple of weeks, as I am taking a holiday.

Fear by Night by Patricia Wentworth published 1934 [There has been a problem with comments, now resolved.

- yet more of them....

The Dancing Druids by Gladys Mitchell published 1948 A most enjoyable farrago (words that can be used about most Mitchell books) but strangely unmemorable: a couple of weeks after reading it I have not much to say about the plot.

The Spoils of Poynton by Henry James published 1896/7 Fleda Vetch.

Fictional schools: there’s a new one in town I recently did this post LIVING A LIFE IN BOOKS: HOLIDAYS on fictional holidays I would like to enjoy.

DOWER HOUSES IN LITERATURE Sometimes when I do a theme post, I think 'will anyone else care?'

Answer in the Negative by Henrietta Hamilton published 1959 searching for secrets in the files....

North Woods by Daniel Mason published 2023 The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder published 1940 [Excerpt from North Woods] Anastasia Rossi, born Edith Simmons, sat upright, her bulk filling the chair to its arms.

The Concubine by Norah Lofts published 1963 Following on from this post earlier in the week: Anne Boleyn's Imaginary Stepmother (low class and scandalous) - This is the book that set me off in pursuit of Anne Boleyn’s lost stepmother.

Elizabeth Howard Boleyn?

Laura by Vera Caspary book published 1943 film released 1944 My old friend Sergio Angelini has a wonderful podcast called Tipping My Fedora (following on from his blog of that name) looking at All Things Noir.

Story of My Life by Jay McInerney published 1988 ***After a blog outage this week, a reminder that this would be a good time to sign up to my Substack (top of the home page), as if anything goes wrong in the future I will use that to keep readers informed.

My blog disappeared from the web for close to 24 hours this week, which was a shock and a worry.

What Did It Mean?

On Beulah Height & Midnight Fugue by Reginald Hill published 1998 & 2009 I am working through Reginald Hill’s Dalziel and Pascoe books, - see more on the project here Dalziel & Pascoe, an Overview: the Early Years And click on the Reginald Hill tag to find

In the recent sunny weather in the UK I was reminded of a favourite quotation from revered author Peter Dickinson: “Nobody who has not spent a whole sunny afternoon under his bed rereading a pile of comics left over from the previous holidays has any real…

The Late Mrs Prioleau by Monica Tindall published 1946 daughter/daughter-in-law in mourning I wish I could remember how I came to buy this book – it’s been sitting on my Kindle for a couple of years.

Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke published 2026 In my recent piece for the i newspaper on a new Netflix series Little House on the Prairie: Laura had me at the hat I mentioned the concept of the tradwife – an online definition is as follows: The tradwife m…

Recalled to Life by Reginald Hill published 1992 I’ve worked my way through rereading all the Dalziel and Pascoe books – I explain all in this post Dalziel & Pascoe, an Overview: the Early Years and give a rating for the first 11 books.

The Death of the Heart by Elizabeth Bowen published 1938 This picture is Boredom, 1935 Alexander Deineka – I don’t believe Portia would have worn such a low-cut dress, BUT her elbows feature a surprising amount in the book, and there are several mentions…

I have had some wonderful holidays in my life, and yet I am secretly always longing to jump into my favourite books and share a holiday there.

I decided a while back to reread all Reginald Hill’s Dalziel and Pascoe books – partly because I’m trying to reduce the number of books in the house, so have to make decisions.

There's been a short CiB hiatus while I attended an important family event, but now we are back in business with very important TV-watching The Little House on the Prairie books by Laura Ingalls Wilder are a phenomenon: always in print, beloved by generat…

A Bullet for Rhino by Clifford Witting published 1950 ****IF YOU HAVE READ THIS BOOK, THERE IS A FASCINATING DETAILED DISCUSSION IN THE COMMENTS BELOW BETWEEN BLOG REGULARS ADRIANDOMINIC AND SOVAY - HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.