Books of the month – August 2025

Last month, I published my first blog about my books of the month for July. Feedback was really positive so many thanks for everyone who commented. I’ve therefore decided to do it again and I look forward to hearing your thoughts. As before, I’ve rated them out of five with five stars being excellent and one star being awful.

The Seventh Body by Catherine Kirwan – five stars

Alice has recently moved to Cork from Dublin after a “hiccup” at work, a broken relationship and a nervous breakdown. Her Garda colleagues in Cork don’t really trust her to do a good job so Alice has to work extra hard to prove her worth.

A derelict building site in Cork’s Barrack Street is being cleared to make way for a fancy new block of apartments. As the diggers move in, six bodies are discovered. The archaeological team quickly determine that they are from the 16th century but then another body is found under the floor of an old pub. This body is more recent and so the Garda team (including Alice) start to investigate but they are hitting a brick wall. Then another dead body is found on a park bench and Alice suspects that both deaths are related.

All in all, this is a great crime story and it kept me addicted to find out who was the culprit although the ending was completely unexpected. As a lover of Irish crime, I’m looking forward to Catherine’s next book and hope that Alice makes a comeback.

(I bought this book in Bridge Books – a fabulous independent bookstore in Dromore, Co Down.)

The Secrets of Flowers by Sally Page – four stars

Emma is a university research scientist. A year ago, her husband Will died from a heart attack and she is devastated. She then decides to resign from her academic job and take up a position as a florist in a local garden centre. The owners, Betty and Les, take her under their wing. But when Les delivers a talk on the “Secrets of the Titanic”, Emma decides to undertake some research on the florist of the Titanic. Her research brings her to talk to many people and to many places including Paris but she is captivated by a Titanic stewardess called Violet who she feels a strong connection with.

Violet spent her early childhood in Argentina where she developed a love of flowers. During a serious illness where she was expected to die, her doctor wheeled her bed out to the garden so she could smell the flowers. Amazingly, Violet recovered but a short time later, her father died. Her Irish mother was then forced to move back to London with Violet and her siblings. Her mother took a job as a stewardess on the trans Atlantic ocean liners but she found the work too physically demanding. By then, Violet was old enough to work and she followed in her mother’s footsteps to become a stewardess with the White Star Line. Violet’s love of flowers was soon discovered by the Purser and she ended up arranging flowers on the Titanic. She was lucky enough to get into one of the Titanic’s lifeboats and survived the sinking of the ship.

“The Secrets of Flowers” is an easy book to read and the character descriptions are wholesome. The author, Sally Page, has also written another wonderful book called “The Book of Beginnings” which I would also recommend. Her youngest daughter is Libby Page who has written “The Lido” and other books.

(I bought this book in the Concern charity bookshop in Holywood, Co Down. It’s full of second hand books, sorted by genre and in alphabetical order by author so you can easily find your favourite authors plus support a good cause.)

The Outcast Dead by Elly Griffiths – five stars

I think this is one of the best Ruth Galloway mysteries so far. Not only are the regular characters here (ie Ruth, Nelson, Kate, Cathbad, Judy and Clough), there is a new character, Frank, who is an American historian and TV presenter. Perhaps there will be a romance with Ruth in future books?

This book wasn’t too heavy in terms of history although the story of Jemima Green (Mother Hook) had inspired a TV production company to make a documentary. But Nelson was investigating the mysterious death of a baby as well as the abductions of two babies. All against a background of druid Cathbad’s mysticism and spirituality.

The ending was dramatic and made very compelling reading. I can’t wait to read the next Elly Griffiths mystery.

(I bought this book on World of Books, an online second hand bookshop.)

The List of Suspicious Things by Jennie Godfrey – five stars

Miv and Sharon took it upon themselves to find out who the Yorkshire Ripper was, even though the police were frantically trying to identify him. Their starting point was to devise a “List of Suspicious Things” and this could include people and places. Their detective work led them to scrutinise the lives of many people that they came across but things didn’t always go to plan eg they travelled by bus to the red light district in Leeds, spotted the local vicar there and ended up being escorted home by the police. They were naive and didn’t understand many of the terms they heard adults bandying about eg what was a prostitute.

Racism was an issue the girls encountered first hand and witnessed the local shop, owned by a Pakistani family, being burned down. Nevertheless they befriended the shopkeeper’s son Ishtiaq who they played chess and cricket with. Domestic abuse and marital affairs came under their scrutiny too as well as mental health issues. The ending was a bolt from the blue and totally unexpected.

This is book about the power of friendship and looking after people in the community. It was both funny and sad – to be honest, I didn’t know what the girls would get up to next. As a result, it was a very addictive read and educational as I didn’t know much about the Yorkshire Ripper. I was a similar age to Sharon and Miv in the late 70s and I could relate to much of the narrative including the swirly carpets that everyone had in their homes.

This was Jennie Godfrey’s debut novel and I would definitely recommend it. I’m very much looking forward to her next book!

(This was a recommended book from the MacMillan Cancer Book Club which is run in conjunction with Libraries NI.)

The Affair by Claire Allen – four stars

Lonely Christina decides to join Soul Sisterhood and is taken under Sorcha’s wing at the first coffee morning which Christina attends. Sorcha then invites Christina to go seawater swimming in Donegal with some of the group and Christina starts to think that her days of loneliness are over. But all is not what it seems and Christina starts to receive warning phone calls from an anonymous caller to leave the group which she ignores.

Despite the warnings, Christina continues to participate with the group both on Facebook and WhatsApp and then decides to join their Book Club. At the first meeting, she becomes violently ill and has to be rushed home by one of her new friends, Carla. Sorcha also gets sick and she is rushed to hospital. The next day Christina struggles into work and when she returns home, she discovers that her flat has been trashed. Kind hearted Sorcha invites Christina to lunch the next day but things get nasty. The story ends with a completely unexpected twist which I certainly didn’t see coming.

Claire has written a number of thrillers and they are all set in the Londonderry area. No matter which of her books you read, they are all excellent and completely addictive as you try to guess how it will end up. Claire always keeps me guessing right to the end.

(This was another purchase from World of Books, an online second hand bookshop.)

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Hopefully I have given you some inspiration about what to read next and if you have any ideas as to what I could read next, please feel free to comment below with your thoughts.

Lynda