In the year Eighteen-Six, it has been two hundred years since last a practical magician walked in England, when Mr. Norrell shews himself after many years of study. In time, he is joined by a student Jonathan Strange who later dis­tin­guish­es himself in the Peninsular War against the tyrant Bonaparte. But their most dangerous adversary is the capricious gentleman with the thistle-down hair from Faerie.

Susanna Clarke’s debut novel is a startling take on fantasy, evoking the work of Austen and Dickens, pitting madness against reason, exploring magic and Eng­lish­ness.

Highly rec­om­mend­ed.

A year after Sir Edward Grey’s sudden collapse and death, his widow Lady Julia realizes the truth in what Nicholas Brisbane, the private inquiry agent, had told her: Sir Edward had received threat­en­ing letters. She engages Brisbane to in­ves­ti­gate the possible murder and starts asking questions herself.

The most re­spectable member of her large, eccentric family, Julia starts to shed her Victorian con­ven­tion­al­i­ty as she is drawn to the enigmatic Brisbane.

The Northern English city of Newcastle is on edge as racial tensions have been whipped up. Joe Donovan’s team are asked to in­ves­ti­gate a seemingly unrelated case where a one-time radical is getting threat­en­ing calls.

The main char­ac­ter­s—­Dono­van’s team and some teenaged no-hopers way out of their depth in a white su­prema­cist or­ga­ni­za­tion—are credible and well-drawn. The plot however relies overly on co­in­ci­dence after co­in­ci­dence.

Inspector John Madden, like so many of his generation, came back from the Great War a changed man. When a par­tic­u­lar­ly savage and senseless murder takes place, he must persuade his superiors at Scotland Yard to adopt some new and unwelcome practices, such as psy­cho­log­i­cal profiling.

This well-done thriller is as much about the aftermath of World War I as it is a police procedural.

Honey West is a “private eyeful”, a kick-ass statuesque private in­ves­ti­ga­tor tough enough to take on the guys at their own game and sexy enough to dazzle them. Somehow she manages to lose her top all the time, but it never goes further than that. The plot is lu­di­crous­ly com­pli­cat­ed, switching gears on every page, with snappy Mike Ham­meresque dialog.

The books inspired a mid-sixties TV show that Emma remembers with great fondness. The sex was excised from the show, of course.

After the events of The Truelove, Aubrey and Maturin set sail for Peru to undertake the in­tel­li­gence mission originally begun four books ago in The Letter of Marque. O’Brian packs more than usual into this book: multiple sea battles, the Reverend Martin’s descent into madness, Stephen inciting a revolution of in­de­pen­dence against the Spanish, naturalism high in the Andes, Jack almost being lost at sea in a small boat, and a nerve-wracking encounter with an American frigate amongst the ice floes of Cape Horn.

Highly rec­om­mend­ed.

Twenty years ago, three twelve-year-olds went into their local woods in Knocknaree near Dublin. Hours later, only one was found, catatonic. Now, under a different name, Rob Ryan is a detective in the Irish Murder Squad and another twelve-year-old has been murdered in Knocknaree.

Tana French’s debut is subtle and gripping. The story unfolds in unexpected ways. Ryan’s re­la­tion­ship with his partner in detection, Cassie Maddox, is tested to the breaking point while he tries to conceal his past and stay on the case.

Highly rec­om­mend­ed.

Leaving Sydney after the events of The Nutmeg of Con­so­la­tion, Aubrey and Maturin sail for Moahu, a fictional British island near Hawaii. Jack Aubrey is out of sorts for various reasons; most notably a young female convict, Clarissa Harvill, has been smuggled aboard by Midshipman Oakes. Like many sailors, he is su­per­sti­tious about women on board his ship. Not without reason: even after her shipboard marriage to Oakes, men vie for her attention and factions form aboard the ship.

Few battles in this one. Most of the conflict arises from in­di­vid­u­als.

Highly rec­om­mend­ed.

In an alternate world where the Laws of Magic have been codified, a master sorcerer has been murdered in a locked room at a convention of sorcerers. Lord Darcy must resolve the mystery.

The puzzle is first-rate, well con­struct­ed, yet plausible on its own terms. The characters, alas, are per­func­to­ry.

Ian Rankin’s first novel is a coming-of-age tale. Mary Miller is a single mother, with a reputation as a witch since childhood. Her son, Sandy, is fifteen, and as lost and confused as you’d expect. They live in Carsden, a small, dying Scottish town in the 1980s.

A creditable first novel.