Welcome to my world. My name is Tony Berry, writer and editor (and lifelong pedant) with five crime fiction books and two memoirs to my name. Also running addict, failed chef, theatre 'luvvie' and dedicated cruciverbalist
Hold that ball and be set for life A double-take was needed. Are my weakening eyes truly failing me? Did I read that correctly? Surely it could not have been £370,000? A wage of £370,000 a week? In underpaid, impoverished, breadline Britain? Definitely has to be another typo. One not noticed by the subs. But hey, what subs? Sub-editors are a dying breed, put out to pasture, their jobs done by interns or bots. Crusty old pedants with a lifetime’s knowledge watch aghast as errors akin to this obvious monetary misprint proliferate and are ignored. Mistakes not even recognised as…
Continue reading
Receive my ‘Read. Write. Run. Repeat.’ newsletter
Regular updates of my reviews and commentary direct to your inbox.

There has always been a leisurely air about Guido Brunetti’s approach to crime. In Give Unto Others his creator dips him even deeper into the realm of the soporfic. Better than a warming cup of camomile tea. More digestible than a tab or two of valerian. It’s dreamtime in Venice.
Continue reading

There is a new game afoot among crime fiction afficionados. Especially those who believe there’s nothing to match the rapidly expanding sector known as tartan noir. It is called Spot the Join. Or Find the Seam. Even Detect the Author. Or any of the many possible similar phrases. My own…
Continue reading

What makes a good page turner? Anyone seeking the answer needs only to devour the final fifty or so pages of Bad Apples. Allow yourself to be drawn in – which is a hands down certainty in itself – and you will be turning pages with increasing rapidity, helpless to…
Continue reading

Author Adele Parks is a tease. Relentlessly so. At least, judging by One Last Secret (paperback, HQ/Harper Collins, 2022) it seems she simply can’t help herself. She never stops. Just when you think you know what is going on, she drops another bombshell and lures you into reading on .
Continue reading
CAN’T help wondering how many of the doubtless thousands of air fryers bought in the Christmas shopping madness will end up discarded, re-gifted or otherwise dumped. This must surely be the most useless bit of kitchen gadgetry ever. Over-publicised, over-promoted and oversold it is destined for the dump once reality bites. As commented on here a few months ago, https://tinyurl.com/eps4vnja it is severely limited in its application. It offers no substantial benefits over any of the several alternative means of cooking a meal. Certainly not any worth the price asked for a model with even moderate capacity. Little wonder that…
Continue reading