A Series Of (Un)Fortunate Reviews

Sidney Chambers and the Perils of the Night is the second novel in the Grantchester Mysteries written by James Runcie.  It's also a British TV series that airs on PBS, the second season of which aired earlier this year.  Although I haven't yet seen the second series, I can say that as far as the characters' lives and timeline that the two have diverged. The second novel's timeline is hard to follow because it picks up in 1955, the year after the close of the first novel.  However, Perils of the Night covers over five years (!) concluding literally on the eve of the construction of the Berlin Wall.  The first novel was reviewed here on the blog.  In this installation Sidney is caught up in many mysteries and adventures, two of which are connected to his alma mater University of Cambridge. In 1955 when a research fellow falls to his death in the middle of a forbidden midnight climb on King's College Chapel towers, Sidney is enlisted to ascertain that it w...

Happy Valley is a British TV series that stars Sarah Lancashire as a police sergeant upholding the law in a West Yorkshire town that is losing the battle with drugs.  The series may be called Happy Valley , but no one is happy.  And several people become downright miserable throughout the course of events depicted in these six episodes. Kevin Weatherill, blindly indignant when his boss Nevison Gallagher rebuffs his request for a raise, hatches a plot to kidnap Ann, Nevison's daughter, in order to pocket the ransom money.  You know because kidnap for ransom is an excellent way to raise the money needed to send your daughter to an elite school.  In a fit of ill-advised shock, Kevin enlists the local druglord, Ashley, to run the scheme.  And now there is no turning back from this very slippery slope to hell. Unfortunately for Kevin and just about everyone else involved but mostly for Ann, Ashley in turn enlists his local hired lads, Louis and Tommy Lee Royce...

Death of a Bachelor , released in January of this year, is the first album by Panic! at the Disco since the band members left the band. Brendon Urie is the sole remaining member of the band. He played most of the instruments in this album himself but received the help of several musicians. For this album, Urie stepped away from his traditional sounds slightly and mimicked the sounds of both Queen and Frank Sinatra, two of his biggest influences. The music still sounds like Panic! At the Disco, but the new sounds are easily noticeable. The songs on this album sound similar to Panic! At the Disco’s old music just evolved. However, this isn’t a bad thing. Urie has found a new sound that works. This album includes playful lyrics with some introspective analyses that outline Urie’s life both as a party boy and a married man. Though, like many of their songs, some of the lyrics just sound like nonsense. Many songs on this album quickly became my favorites. I listen to “Don’t Thre...

Miss Shayne returns this week with a new review of a YA title! “This has a bizarre cover,” I thought as I looked for something to read before I got my hands on the next book in the series I am currently invested in. As I paged through this book, I thought, “it doesn’t look like a long read, either. Lemme check it out.” Let this be a warning to book cover-judgers everywhere: don’t make the same mistake I did! This story is about the complicated relationship between Wink, Poppy, and Midnight. They are all connected somehow, whether they show it or not. Wink is the imaginative girl who lives beside Midnight. Midnight is the awkward boy who is quiet and analytical. Poppy is the pretty blonde bully. Their lives converge, and their interactions lead up to an event that alters the lives of all three and uncovers some truths in the process. What I like about this book was how introspective the characters are. Poppy in particular realizes the error of her ways and goes off to be hap...