A Crime Round Up by Margaret Graham

Posted on October 3, 2016 by Margaret Graham

I haven’t been out hunting down criminals but something rather more restful – choosing a few crime books I have enjoyed, and I feel might help you through the autumnal evenings.

A Good Month for Murder by Del Quentin Wilber

This is a real life cop book, praised as writers like Lee Child, and he should know. Peter James also joined the gang, and called it a stunner. Well, is it? Yep, I thought so. It’s a moment in time in a homicide unit, full of detail, some – well a lot of darkness as the team of detectives carry out their almost impossible job, one that demands not only their expertise, but their duty to the dead. Thought provoking. I don’t know how they do it and remain humane.

A Good Month for Murder. Pub. Pan Macmillan hb. £16.99

Are You Watching Me by Sinead Crowley

This is a creepy, but cracking novel which was short listed for Crime novel of the year at the 2015 Irish Book Awards. Liz Cafferty has been rescued from her past by the owner of a drop-in centre for older men and she soon finds herself as the face of the charity, and the less than willing darling of the Dublin media. A murder occurs, Liz receives notes… Sergeant Claire Boyle is stumped. With no leads how can she protect Liz?

Read and find out.

Are You Watching Me pub. Quercus pb £7.99

Keep you Close by Lucie Whitehouse – author of Richard and Judy Summer Bookclub pick Before We Meet

Marianne Glass falls to her death, accidentally, or so everyone thinks. But not her closest friend, Rowan, who has connections with the family, or once had. This is another creepie, and cleverly plotted psychological thriller.

I liked this. It kept me turning the pages. Clever, with a great ending.

Keep you Close by Lucie Whitehouse. Pub Bloomsbury HB £12.99 ebook £10.99

Tall Oaks by Chris Whitaker. Reviewed by Margaret Graham

Posted on October 3, 2016 by Margaret Graham

As an author I am so used to starting a book and recognising the signals almost immediately of who dun it, or at least a sense of who, why what.

Not with Tall Oaks. The first chapter drew me straight in, without me having a clue what was going on, not really. Yes, it was a recording of an event, and the man listening was reluctant to continue listening at times. But who was he, what, why?

Was it a ghost story? Was he a psychiatrist? Was he a copper? The tension built, and I totally colluded with the author, trusting in him and his writing, and the world he was creating.

Tall Oaks is a blast. For a debut novel it is extraordinarily self-confident, almost swaggeringly so as it strides across the pages, a scarf drifting in the wind behind it, gathering characters, events, emotions, action, and storming to a resolution.

It is by turns funny, dark, and ultimately comes close to ripping your heart out as Whitaker exposes the secrets of Tall Oaks, California. Of course the media descends once it sniffs out the story of a three year old who has gone missing, but without an end game, they leave. Together the young lonely distraught mother and Jim the local police chief are left to try to find the boy. There are other living breathing characters, some missing, some not, some suspicious, some…

Nope, read it. Clever, original and not really fair because this is a new writer, and it all seems so effortless. But then we all know it isn’t. This has been thought through, and then again, and the idea pushed further until originality came to the fore. The writing is tight, the plotting supreme. Bravo young Chris Whitaker. Get going on the next one please.

Tall Oaks pub Twenty7. £7.99 ebook £4.99

New York Delis – the best of the best!

Posted on October 1, 2016 by Jack Shamash

New York Delis – Junior’s, Katz’s, Carnegie Deli and Russ&Daughter

According to Allen Ginsberg – the famous New York poet -‘Allegories are like lettuce in reality sandwiches’. The implication is that a sandwich should have very little lettuce; the important thing is the meat.

New York sandwiches traditionally have vast quantities of meat – often far more than anyone would actually want to eat. This is particularly true of the delis – some of which are very famous.

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One of the giant corned beef sandwiches at Carnegies in New York

Possibly the most famous is Carnegie Deli near Carnegie Hall on Seventh Avenue, which specialises in corned beef sandwiches (in Britain we would call it ‘salt beef’) and pastrami. A corn beef sandwich at Carnegie is an eloquent argument against the American way of life. I visited two years ago. The corn beef sandwich costs $30 and is about the size of a small football. I split one with my wife and between us we managed to get through about half of it. They do a nice chicken and matza ball soup, but the matza ball is slightly larger than a tennis ball and has about a zillion calories. We did ask the Chinese waiter if anyone ever finished the food. He told us that such events are a rarity.

Carnegie is a New York institution. The walls are literally covered with photos of celebrities eating there. It’s a lovely place to sit and talk and to push the food, that you can’t possibly finish, around your plate.

Katz’s is another institution. It is in the Jewish area around the East Village. If you ever watched the film When Harry Met Sally, you’ll remember the scene in which Meg Ryan is sitting in a deli and fakes a very noisy orgasm. This was filmed in Katz’s and there is a banner above the seat where Meg Ryan sat.
Mercifully the portions are smaller in Katz’s than at Carnegie. The corn beef is better at Katz’s but the soup is more flavoursome at Carnegie.The thing I love about Katz is the old posters including one with the slogan ‘Buy a Salami for your boy in the army!’ I bought a T-shirt with this slogan on it.

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Juniors Deli at Broadway – nice food, good prices and manageable portions

These delis are about 80 years old. There are some great new places. After going to the theatre one night, we dropped into Juniors on Broadway. The food is reasonably priced and very good. I shared a corned beef sandwich and a cup of matza ball soup with my wife.The corn beef is manageable – not too big – and very tasty. The soup is delicious – although a bit heavy on the salt. And the chopped liver was absolutely wonderful – very creamy, deep flavours of onion and lots of mashed up egg. The burger, which my son ordered, was nicely cooked and the chips were crisp and well sized. It cost $70 for four, which I thought pretty reasonable.

More recently there has been a move towards upmarket deli food. Russ & Daughters has for many years operated a traditional Jewish delicatessen shop in the Jewish area around Houston Street. It sells salmon, bagels, dried fruit etc to take away. More recently, the firm has opened a sit-down restaurant on Orchard Street. They sell large platters of traditional Jewish deli food – and it’s all very classy. You can buy caviar and shots of vodka, as well as various types of herring. It is served by neatly dressed women in suits and – in addition to the elderly Jewish couples – there are lots of businessmen at lunchtime.

A quiet meal at Russ and Daughters – a new upmarket deli

We ordered one of their large platters, which will serve three or four people. In our case, the platter, which cost $90, contained smoked salmon, sturgeon, smoked trout, smoked cod and wild Alaskan roe – along with bread, cream cheese, onion, tomato salad and capers. By the time we’d ordered a couple of side dishes, the bill came to around $150 for four. It’s not a bargain, but the quality is good.

If I lived in New York, I’d probably go to Russ and Daughters every few months, Juniors about once a fortnight and Katz’s about once a month. And I’d go to Carnegie if I got tired of life and decided to eat myself to death.

Hape Home Education – The Perfect Match

Posted on September 30, 2016 by Tracy Baines

Hape Home Education range endorsed by teachers from around the world

Hape’s beautiful range of home education toys allows for endless hours of fun and play. Each product is designed to encourage children to explore and learn. The complete range has been developed to build children’s skills and confidence in a fun, gentle way following Hape’s ethos that; ‘children do not play to learn; children learn because they play’. These three products, all part the Home Education range, are endorsed by teachers from around the world.

Each game is made from high-quality natural materials, water-based paints and non-toxic glues. The designs and pictures are vibrant and cheerful. It’s a joy to play with such a good quality product. All games meet European and American safety standards.

Hape’s Motto is Love play. Learn and it certainly scores on every front. I remember so many happy times playing similar puzzles with my own children, and what fun we had. Now it’s the grandchildren’s turn. A lovely gift for Christmas but I couldn’t wait until then. It’s another one for grandma’s toy box.

Hape Converse – Find, match and describe pairs of opposites.

Converse encourages kids to find, match and describe pairs and opposites using brightly coloured picture cards. It’s a great way to develop children’s communication skills and have fun at the same time. The set contains; 20 pairs of playing cards, 1 red card and instructions. The cards are lovely to touch and the use of animals and children to describe opposites such as big and little, wet and dry, front and back are a delight to the eye.

The Hape converse set is recommended for 4 years+ and is available from Amazon priced £12.00.

Hape Listen to the Clues – Children use their own words to guide one another in selecting the correct picture sequence.

Listen to the Clues is a delightful communication game containing 4 game strips for the listener and 32 colourful playing cards for the speaker. The aim of the game is for the players to use their own words to guide one another in selecting the correct pictures to match a sequence. Cooperation and teamwork are developed and strengthened. A really lovely game that helps with description and storytelling. Great size for little hands as well as larger ones.

The Hape Listen to Clues set is recommended for 4 years+ and is available from Amazon priced at £13.42.

Hape Combino – use colourful transparent overlays to complete pictures.

Combino provides children with the opportunity to develop their experimental skills. The wooden tiles are only partly drawn and finished by laying on transparent image overlays to complete the picture. There’s lots of fun to be had by completing the correct pictures but even more from creating odd combinations – propellors on cakes, umbrellas in goldfish bowls.

The Hape Combino is recommended for 4 years+ and is available from Amazon priced £13.42

Grooming gifts for men – from Brisk and Johnny’s Chop Shop

Posted on September 30, 2016 by Jack Shamash

Great Grooming products from Brisk and Johnny’s Chop Shop

Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat and you haven’t got a clue what to give your man for Christmas. There are some great ranges of grooming products which are ideal for the image-conscious male.

Johnny’s Chop Shop (available at Boots and online) and Brisk (available from Boots and Waitrose) both have ranges of products, which make great gifts. Both ranges are unfragranced, which means that they won’t clash with whatever aftershave your bloke normally wears.

Johnny’s Chop Shop are offering a traditional barber shop range. The Born Lucky shampoo £6 for 150g) has a shot of conditioner and leaves your hair squeaky clean without taking all the moisture out. The Soul and Balm face balm (£7.50 for 125ml) is a moisturiser, which puts life back into listless skin. There is also Wild Cat Hair Clay (£7 for 70g), which gives a very stiff hold. It’s great for men – and women – if you want to build a quiff or really make a statement with your hair.

Brisk is aimed at hipsters who enjoy spending time with their beards. They offer a beard oil (£6.99 for 50ml) and a beard shampoo (£4.99 for 150ml). The beard oil leaves an attractive sheen and helps tame even the most unruly beard.

Gransthread: Roots, and how many of us revisit them? By Margaret Graham

Posted on September 30, 2016 by Margaret Graham

It’s strange to return to our ‘roots’. This weekend we took a train to Newcastle, which is where my mum, a Geordie, had one of the few pleasurable experiences in her young life. Her dad took her to see Peter Pan in between the wars, and a short while later, he died.

Mum was born in 1914 in the pit village of Washington, which was then in County Durham. Her Da wasn’t a pitman but he and his brother ran a couple of shops. Mum’s was in Brady Square, which still exists in Washington Station, though as a house. Her mum died when mum was two. My grandma, Annie, was off her head with sepsis and took poison. Mum’s dad was at war, Mum’s brother, my uncle Stan, was seven.

We think times are hard now, but you ain’t seen nothing, if you weren’t living then. The depression was in high gear, war trauma was rife, jobs were scarce. My grandfather killed himself when mum was eleven, soon after he had taken his children to Peter Pan. Post Traumatic Stress, which is one of the reasons I started the charity Words for the Wounded.

I’m not really sure of sections of my mother’s life, but I do know she ran amuck as an orphan until a cousin came to Washington from Gosforth, looking for her. This cousin took mum, now 14, to live with her, sending her to school. Into a class of 7 year olds little Annie Newsome (as she was called) went, to learn to read and write. In time Mum, also an Annie, trained as a nurse.

She worked at the Royal Victoria Hospital as the 2^nd World War broke out, and is mentioned in Brenda McBryde’s book, A Nurse’s War. Mum became a military nurse, travelled to India to look after the troops in the Burma campaign, meeting my dad, an RAF pilot, on the convoy going over.

As children my sisters and I used to go to Uncle Stan’s shop for our school holidays. It was the shop where my grandfather died. It is now a house and we were shown round by the current owner last year. My mother would have been sitting up on a cloud roaring with laughter, because he told us the shop was bought on my uncle’s death by a Madam, who ran a knocking shop, until closed down by the police. She spent a bit of time in clink and featured in a national newspaper. Tall story or the truth? Who knows.

Anyway, now I go up north as often as I can. It has changed beyond measure. The pits are gone, the slag heaps too. It is steadily regenerating. Though it has changed it is still ‘home’ and to arrive is a relief, to leave is not. It is an area that informed my writing. Indeed, my first novel After the Storm was based on events in mum’s life. My writing gave my mum immense pleasure. She liked to paint, my father wrote poetry. Perhaps between them they gave me a talent, but it was the north east which gave me inspiration, and continues to do so.

www.wordsforthewounded.co.uk

www.margaret-graham.com

Aldi’s superb Christmas offerings

Posted on September 29, 2016 by Jack Shamash

Champagnes and sparkling wines from Aldi

Over the last few years Aldi’s wines have been one of the great success stories of British retail. This year – in addition to the normal ranges – they have got some superb sparkling wines and Ports, which are ideal for Christmas and which will also make superb gifts.

Last week Aldi unveiled its range of wines for Autumn/Winter 2016. They are continuing with the extremely successful Exquisite Collection – a range of good quality wines for around £6 a bottle. I really enjoyed the Claire Valley Riesling (£6.99), but they are all worth drinking.

More exciting was a range of excellent sparkling wines. The Valdobbiadene Prosecco Spumante, was a classy prosecco – lots of citrus flavours and medium dry – for £7.49. If you want to create a bit of a splash at Christmas, then the Veuve Monsigny Champagne Brut at £10.99 is an absolute bargain. Lovely light grain – not too fizzy – and a refreshing slight taste of toast. The ideal thing to bring along to a party.

Another interesting sparkling wine is Asti Spumante at £4.99. This is a bit retro – a throwback to the seventies. But it’s fun. It isn’t too alcoholic (7 per cent ABV), it has lovely flavours of ripe pears and would be just the thing for younger people who currently drink cider. Stick a bottle on the table at Christmas dinner!

The collection of fortified wines is also pretty impressive. If you want to splash out Maynard’s Late Bottled Vintage Port 1992 at £19.99 has lovely flavours of chocolate and cherries and a slight hint of pepper. If you’re on a budget Maynards also do a 2012 Late Bottled Vintage Port for £9.99 – which is almost as nice.

Great wines in lovely bottles – Aldi has some exciting ports for Christmas

Oh, and there’s a Maynard’s 40 year old tawny port for £29.99. It comes in a lovely bottle and makes a great gift. Tawny ports are made in much smaller barrels than ruby ports, so there is more oxidation. Ruby ports taste of fresh fruit, tawny ports taste of dried fruit. This one has lovely flavours of dried figs, dates, raisins. It would make a great gift and would be just the thing to serve with the mince pies.

Legacy by Hannah Fielding Review by Contributing Editor & author Margaret Graham

Posted on September 29, 2016 by Margaret Graham

Award winning romance novelist, Hannah Fielding, has written the third book in her Andalucian Nights Trilogy and her readers will be relieved and excited to know that this epic, Legacy, is written with all the verve of her previous novels.

I say epic because it has a sweeping plot and setting. The author’s ability to sustain the story line and amalgamate the two main characters is impressive. Her setting is active. By this I mean that her descriptions don’t just sit like a sack of potatoes, but are interwoven into an action so they don’t stop the pace. She doesn’t however ignore the need for a pause to empathise with the setting, or for the reader to process a scene. This is something I try to encourage in those I mentor: pace is important, but so is pause.

She also ‘holds back’. This means that the reader has to wait for facts, secrets, feelings to be revealed, and this is an excellent use of tension. Fielding does this extremely well.

So, the plot in a nutshell: Luna Ward, a beautiful blonde journalist based in New York is commissioned to investigate – undercover – the head of an alternative health clinic in Spain. As one might expect she finds the man she has been asked to expose irresistible but is he good, or bad? And what does her deception make her?

Secrets and lies threaten to destroy their lives, not to mention their love. So…?

Oh no, read it and see.

Hannah Fielding’s novel The Echoes of Love won first place in the Romance category at the Independent Publisher Book Award in New York in 2014, and in 2015 Indiscretion won 2015 USA Best Book Award for Romantic Fiction, and in April 2016 Gold Medal and Masquerade won silver medal for romance at the IPBA Benjamin Franklin Awards.

Frost Magazine is really excited that Hannah will be telling our readers of A Day in her Life very soon. Make sure you keep an eye out.

Legacy by Hannah Fielding is published by London Wall Publishing. £7.99