Another month and another book club meeting. This, our fifth meeting was a little quieter than usual with only two members managing to make it this time. But with it being the busiest month of the year, it was to be expected, and it didn’t detract from what is now my favourite evening of the month!
We discussed The Dead of Winter by Peter Kirby. You can watch the meeting on the YouTube video below. You can subscribe to the book club channel here.
The book club members enjoyed the book, but it wasn’t the light-hearted Christmas read we had probably planned on having! The book focuses on the murders of homeless people at Christmas time in a devastatingly cold Canada and has strong connections to the Catholic Church. Kirby does a brilliant job with the sense of place and it was agreed that he handled the sensitivities of homelessness and the Church, well. The book gave members food for thought at this time of year when we are readying ourselves in warm homes for the festive season.
It was felt that the ending was a little too neatly tied up, but everyone agreed that they would read another book by Kirby. The Dead of Winter is the first in a series involving Inspector Luc Vanier.
January sees debut novel month and the choice is The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter by Malcolm Mackay.
A twenty-nine-year-old man lives alone in his Glasgow flat. The telephone rings; a casual conversation, but behind this a job offer. The clues are there if you know to look for them. He is an expert. A loner. Freelance. Another job is another job, but what if this organisation wants more? A meeting at a club. An offer. A brief. A target: Lewis Winter. It’s hard to kill a man well. People who do it well know this. People who do it badly find out the hard way. The hard way has consequences. An arresting, gripping novel of dark relationships and even darker moralities, The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter introduces a remarkable new voice in crime fiction. The second book in the Glasgow Trilogy How A Gunman Says Goodbye will follow soon .
February is Icelandic crime month, so if you have any nominations, please let me know.
We’d really love new members to join us. January is a perfect time, so if you’ve been thinking about it, do pick up the book and let us know your thoughts.
Quality over quantity, I say! But hopefully there will be more for the next session. I can’t make the January meeting, but for February, for Icelandic crime, I would nominate Jar City by Arnaldur Indridason, Chilled to the Bone by Quentin Bates and finally Someone to Watch Over Me by Yrsa Sigurdardottir. Or other books by these authors.
Sounds like I missed a great meeting. I am looking forward to January’s though.
Great video, lovely to see you all link up!