Agatha Raisin and the Wellspring of Death - M C Beaton

The Taxi Queue - Janet Davey

This is just the kind of book I enjoy - all about human relationships and the internal lives of slightly quirky people - leading seemingly normal lives and yet there are undercurrents of behaviour and thoughts. It demonstrates that eternal truth - you really don't know anything about anyone else - even when you're married to them or are related to them - you think you do, and have a central belief in their character - and then they do something that disproves all that you ever thought was correct. Janet Davey has a wonderfully spare style and a light use of description that I like - a few words sets the scene and brings you into the action - a mention of a smell or an emotion, a look or a taste that places you at the centre of the story. The plot is simple. It is winter and snowing. Abe, young, casual and careless with others arrives at Paddington and decides to share a taxi with 40+ Richard, married, but with a history. They share a taxi (is this with Abe's contrivance and Richard's desire for risk and adventure?) and Richard invites Abe to stay the night. This sets off a series of events that affect several people, but leaves Abe (an ace manipulator) unscathed and carefree, whilst others begin to question so much about their lives. Janet Davey sketches the story so effectively and provokes so many thoughts about people's behaviour - why is Abe so selfish and thoughtless, why is Richard so unreliable and containing this empty void in the centre of his being. The only problem is the length - too short to truly develop the plot properly and to examine the characters motivations thoroughly enough. Still I rate it 7/10

How Late It Was, How Late - James Kelman