Oh joy, oh rapture, to be off on the road with a new Thomas Perry, which won’t be published until January. A perfect start to travel reading.

Volume 111 of the History of England. Very well told history of the English Civil War from the arrival of the Scottish King James V1 to become James 1^st, through his wilful son Charles 1^st who was executed, and his two sons Charles II and James II who was forced to flee the throne on 1688 in the Bloodless Revolution, allowing his daughter Mary to take the throne. A fascinating struggle for Parliamentary rights against the capricious arrogance of a monarchy. Parliament’s victory was a very important moment in the history of the rights of the individual.

A cracking good yarn as they say. I think this is his second novel and he is working his way towards his Thai detective series. This is set in Hong Kong on the eve of liberty from the British and has a Hong Kong Policeman who is only half Chinese. Really excellent read on my iPad.

I think Hammet is not as good as Chandler but still I like this, his best book. Spade is a weird man. “When your partner gets killed you’re supposed to do something about it” but what he does do is avoid the widow, whom he is clearly having an affair with, and pursue the client, sexually and then turn her in. He is described as a blond Satan and with his yellow hair, his slightly cruel, in fact beastly behaviour to his secretary, he is both more real and less attractive than Humphrey Bogart. The yarn is still superbly set up for the John Huston movie, with all the characters leaping off the pages on to the screen.

The second volume of director John’s daughter picks up her tale in the seventies in London, with some familiar faces to me. Jack Nicholson filming The Shining, Shelley Du Val and Nona and Martin Somers. Familiar times. I was kinda hoping she would describe her visit to filming The Life of Brian in Tunisia, but she didn’t so I guess I’ll have to. There is the arrest of Polanski which she was very close to. A wonderful woman, and a great life.

Fine short stories, some linked which I picked up on the road and enjoyed even though I had the feeling I had read them before, which I had in July 2011, and here’s what I wrote then: The new collection of vaguely linked short stories is a return to form for him, and an example of what he does best, conveying character through dialogue. These short stories are almost play-like in their lack of descriptive prose, but his characters talk, bicker and despair and come to life immediately. Happy to see he’s back.

Continued to read on iPad.

The first set in the South of France where Maigret commutes by bus between Cannes and Nice while sorting out what’s up.

The thing I notice is his weather is superb, his atmosphere, the rain, the cold, the boots, the bars, the differences between the French and the Flemish. The border places, the boat places, the canals, the locks, and in this case the Meuse which is in full flood and preventing the barge traffic. Maigret is often soaked and cold, and always reaching for a warming drink or missing his wife’s cooking. The images are in the details. I loved this one.

Brilliantly alive with the misunderstandings of the British, Fielding, Miss Quested, drawn together by the strange and unlikely affection of Mrs Moore for Dr. Aziz, a Muslim who lives through misunderstanding, false arrest, false accusation and unexpected release and triumph, to explore his hatred and misunderstanding and finally his love for India and the inevitability of its release from the British Raj. Written in 1924, it still had only 24 years left, and correctly predicts another European war will do for it. First US edition, third printing August 1924. Rather oddly Pages 161–176 are bound in upside down…