Tom's treasures of fiction, poetry, literature and more...

It is the end of the month so this is where I reveal some stuff I have read throughout the month.

Hello all. After having watched all the episodes of Death in Paradise series 2, I am going to be rating them all and ranking them from my most favourite to least favourite just as I did with the series 1 episodes.

Deceit, revenge and silencing continue as I review series two of Robert Thorogood's Death in Paradise . Immediately we open up with a wealthy man being stabbed in the back in episode one. Seeing the floral love heart with the knife through it really felt symbolic of the episode in a way. Richard struggled to muster up a loving feeling for the voodoo festival of love relating to Erzulie, the goddess of love while Camille was set up on a date by her mother. The loving theme present throughout the episode was contrasted with a theme of hatred evident with the bickering family of the deceased. I enjoyed this episode, seeing the family's problems and secrets. Funny how the ex-wife screamed at the discovery of his death but not the current wife. Their characters added to all the family backstory which provided me with clues to solve this case. The best bit though was the doctor finding the victim because I thought that regardless of who the killer was, the doctor could not be immedia...

Hello everyone. I was looking at potential bookshops to visit on a day out I was due to go on. Despite the fact that I never went out where it was a few of us considered going to, I still remember a bookshop I had come across. I found a bookshop which I wish I could have gone to because not only does it seem cool, but it also fits the theme of the month. What are the chances? For over forty years, Kim's bookshop has been offering what appears to be a mix of second-hand books with something to suit everyone. The other thing here, that is important is how they consider themselves to be "book detectives" and will try to track down rare books, first-hand editions or other books you want, if you are having trouble finding something. Just the thought of that sounds incredible. Currently they have one shop in the West Sussex town of Arundel. They did use to have another shop in the not-too-far-away coastal city of Chichester, West Sussex's only city. However, that closed dow...

Now I know she only appeared in one episode but Detective Sergeant Angela Young basically was an alternative version of Richard, only a hundred times more irritating. How can that be? Yes Richard can a bit annoying at times but this D. S Young was driving me somewhat mad! As soon as she started she just chucked all of Richard's things aside as if she was in charge now and he was gone for good. Eugh! Then I had to put up with her disorganised way of trying to solve the crime (which totally backfired on the whole team). She missed clues that could have helped her. Honestly, I was wishing that Camille would just return so that we could hopefully get a correct result sooner rather than later. Instead we spent the episode stuck with her! It says something when Dwayne and Fidel are trying to think like Richard. That never  happens. Richard did a much better job and he was in bed - sick! Thank heavens I only had to put up with her for one episode. Until next time, Thomas (they/them).

After giving you all my verdict on Detective Inspector Charlie Hulme last Friday, I decided it was time to the same for Detective Sergeant (D.S.) Lily Thompson. Now what words could be used to sum up D.S. Lily Thompson? Sneaky, unassuming and quiet. She was the one that no one saw coming. Well... I did not straight away but after thinking about things in some more depth, I quickly arrived at some answers I wanted. The thing is that Lily does not seem out of the ordinary and when she attends the crime scene in episode one, this just seems natural. Dwayne has his attention elsewhere so Lily just goes instead. Here's the thing though - she did offer. It was not as if there was any reluctance on her part. However, that can be put down to being a keen and thorough police officer just doing her job properly. Once the end of the episode arrived and the truth all came spilling out, some things made a lot more sense to me. I understood what she said but did I have any sympathy for what she ...

Welcome back to my blog people. I decided I wanted to do a post dedicated to Detective Inspector Charlie Hulme who we said goodbye to in the first episode of Robert Thorogood's Death in Paradise  (2011-) television series. D. I. Charlie Hulme was a likeable character who you never would think could have any enemies. I certainly liked him for the short and brief moments we did see him for. One thing that stood out to me was his choice of clothing. Imagine working on a Caribbean island as the most senior police officer of the police team and wearing a Hawaiian shirt in bright red. That there is a man who knows how to have fun and be a party animal when he wants to be. Look at his successor Richard Poole. For me the stark comparison of this bright, colourful and charismatic personality of Charlie's, with the moody, at times arrogant and somewhat dull personality of Richard was a clincher. Seeing the difference made me appreciate D. I. Hulme a lot more. Therefore, despite not disli...