Kate Shackleton Mysteries on Goodreads

Book Number 6 of Kate Shackleton Mystery series written by Frances Brody.
Favourite bookcover artwork © photo Gretchen Bernet-Ward 2025.

For readers interested in this series and my reading record. “Gretchen is reading the Kate Shackleton Mystery Series by UK author Frances Brody for the Goodreads “Annual Crime Series Challenge 2025″ Read a Series, twelve crime novels, one a month for a year. Info: Join Aussie Lovers of Crime/Mystery/Thriller/Suspense. One crime novel a month in a crime/mystery/thriller/suspense series.”
Admin by Goodreads Moderator Phrynne, Mystery lover!
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/22983939-annual-challenge-2025—read-a-series

MY GOODREADS CRIME SERIES CHALLENGE 2025
The dates indicate the publication edition
Mystery Series Kate Shackleton by Frances Brody

JANUARY 1. Dying in the Wool (2009) Owned/Reviewed

FEBRUARY 2. A Medal For Murder (2010) Owned/Reviewed

MARCH 3. Murder in the Afternoon (2011) Owned/Reviewed

APRIL 4. A Woman Unknown (2012) Owned/Reviewed

MAY 5. Murder on a Summer Day (2013) Owned/Reviewed

JUNE 6. Death of an Avid Reader (2014) Owned/Reviewed

JULY 7. A Death in the Dales (2015) Owned/Reviewed

AUGUST 8. Death at the Seaside (2016) Owned/Reviewed

SEPTEMBER 9. Death in the Stars (2017) Owned/Reviewed

OCTOBER 10. A Snapshot of Murder (2018) Owned/Reviewed

NOVEMBER 11. The Body on the Train (2019) Owned/Reading

DECEMBER 12. Death and the Brewery Queen (2020) Owned
+ Last book to be reviewed.

My Goodreads Book Reviews here: https://www.goodreads.com/gretchenbernetward
Note: I order books from Booktopia Australia.
There is a 13th book which I will read at a later date: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59732421-a-mansion-for-murder
Frances Brody Goodreads Author: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3102629.Frances_Brody
Author update: Friday 25th July 2025 “A few of her books were only £2.99 on Kindle but ‘Death at the Seaside’ has been selected for a Kindle Monthly Deal in August”. I have just finished reading this book in paperback (in wintertime) and currently pay between AU$21 to AU$38 per book depending on the UK availability plus postage and handling. Also pricing changes between hardcover and paperback copies. I wanted the actual books so this is the Australian price we pay for new/real books from the other side of the world. 🥂 Cheers to mystery reading!

💗 © Gretchen Bernet-Ward 2025

SERIES SYNOPSIS
From a hard-boiled crime reader’s point-of-view the private investigator
Kate Shackleton book series could be classified under the ‘cosy crime’ banner
but these stories contain a clear-eyed and faithful look at the 1920s.

Set in a bygone era where much has changed, our intrinsic human nature is
still the same: people committing Crime, Misdemeanour and Murder.
Kate is the individual who perseveres to solve these transgressions.
Kate’s two companions Mrs Sugden and ex-policeman Jim Sykes
add their own opinions and insights into every investigation.
The Yorkshire countryside settings feature strongly.
Also I am a fan of the retro-style bookcovers.
Kate Shackleton’s life progresses through the books as she solves
murderous crimes with her clever mind and astute manner.

https://www.goodreads.com/series/70508-kate-shackleton
https://www.goodreads.com/gretchenbernetward
https://www.hachette.com.au/frances-brody/books
This author has written other books

Four of 12 books in the Kate Shackleton Mystery series by author Frances Brody.
Photo © Gretchen Bernet-Ward 2025

Goodreads and Bad Goodreaders

What is it with the anonymous people who give a one-star rating on Goodreads without having read the book? I call them Bad Goodreaders. They don’t even pretend to know the author, the contents of the book or the country of origin. How foolish they appear to real readers by giving a well rated new book a one-star rating for no reason whatsoever.

I know this anonymous deceit is done, and done frequently throughout the Goodreads website. I have a very old volume of ‘King Anne’ written by Ethel Turner, pseudonym of Mrs. H.R. Curlewis, a well-known Australian children’s author in early 1900s. It is a hardcover book with illustrations, owned by my great-aunt and her sister who was my grandmother. It was bequeathed to me when I was a teenager and I though nothing about it until many years later.

As one does, I wrote a comprehensive illustrated blog post review— https://thoughtsbecomewords.com/2022/02/19/ethel-turner-wrote-more-than-seven-little-australians/

I believe the ‘King Anne’ book has been out-of-print for many many years; perhaps it will never be republished but rare copies are available. There is a blank bookcover on Goodreads but I posted the real bookcover with my review.

This book has attracted a couple of genuine star ratings and, without a shadow of doubt, two random one-star ratings from two anonymous people. It would seem to me that they did not know the author or the age of the book. It is not a contemporary story. Come on, one hundred years ago, guys! Of course, it may not be thrilling reading for today’s young readers but it’s part of the Australian classics and there is no need to give it a worthless rating just because you feel spiteful. Move on if you don’t know anything about it.

Are these Bad Goodreaders hiding behind anonymity because they are unhappy, bitter ex-readers who cannot bear a book to be successful or popular or well liked? Perhaps because they themselves are not liked? Are they lashing out with their single click because it represents the only meanness or passive/aggressive behaviour available to them without repercussions from social media or cyber police? There is no government body assigned to prosecute a non-reader, or issue a fine for a rating from an anonymous person who gives a single star reflecting their malcontent with life and literature.

Could these non-readers be resentful of devoted readers and perhaps authors they have met who are successful when they themselves have received publishers rejection? That seems feasible because we all know our own work is best. However, all the more reason to give another author a helping hand because “what is given is given in return”.

So next time, One-Star Reviewer, unless the book is actually terrible or one you hated as a child, why not pass over that random book you are about to give a poor rating and get involved in computer gaming instead? Battle it out with something animated, something virtual that can at least challenge you.

All in all, the Goodreads website may be clunky but it’s about the best book reader website surviving on the world wide web today. Just don’t get me started on spoilers or huge tracts of a book sometimes reproduced without acknowledgement or consent from the original author.

In closing, Dear Reader, we can differ in our opinions. But just so we see both sides of the page, be aware of book reviewers who are known to give too many stars to boost their favourite author. This is also misleading for readers who are looking for a good book.

Be fair, be honest, you may gain more followers by giving a genuine rating and review from what you have actually read.

❤ Gretchen Bernet-Ward 2024
https://www.goodreads.com/gretchenbernetward

Scratch that Blogging Itch

SINCE MY VERY FIRST BLOG POST ‘My Name is Lucy Barton’ by Elizabeth Strout book review 6th July 2017, posted at 6:01pm, I have currently written 580 post—as at 26th March 2024—over a wide range of topics, mainly illustrated with my own photographs, and I’ve seen many changes. I even have my own personal favourite blog posts.

In 2024 it’s interesting that the Seven-Year Itch has struck. I appear to have hit a malaise where not enough grabs my interest to write about it. However, although I may feel like slowing down, I will continue to be a voracious reader and write regular reviews here and on Goodreads.

Also, I stress that blogging is an excellent form of written and visual expression and I urge anyone to give it a go! Just do it at your own pace, don’t even follow an agenda. Too many self-imposed rules and deadlines add pressure which goes against naturally allowing yourself the freedom of expression.

Of course, your hobby or favourite subject can take pride of place but it doesn’t have to control a daily blog output unless you thrive on uniformity, regularity, consistency—sounds like hard work to me 😀

Preaching to the converted here but I stress that there are many WordPress templates and layouts to choose from, just give yourself a bit of time to become familiar with the settings and capabilities and soon your decision will make itself clear. I gradually discovered my own writing style and headings, and I use them for comfortable working conditions. My only gripe is the inability to change the designated default font/spacing of draft copies. Each template has its own settings. Although things have become a bit more flexible, I am not a fan of block editor; what I draft-type is not what I get layout-wise.

My website ThoughtsBecomeWords.com is not flashy or intellectual but it works for me. Interestingly I chose not to have a date stamp on my posts. Any person can read your blog anytime without being a WordPress blogger so don’t read too much into timings, Likes or Views. I have made friends through blogging. The big thing is to follow other bloggers because that way you can keep your finger on the writing pulse and learn things from around the world, plus they will also follow you.

I have a particular blogger dear to my heart, Paula Bardell-Hedley in Wales, her Book Jotter site is prodigious, packed with world-wide literary information. Paula created Reading Wales ‘Dewithon’ which features Welsh writers every March for the month of March. I have participated over the years and read wonderful Welsh authors.

Nostalgically, I guess I’ve had my day in the sun; and while blogging is more genuine than politics, pics and fakery on social media, the enchantment is fading for me. Inevitably the pressure of life (and general formatting changes) have turned me into a grump. I think I will cruise along now, enjoying the breeze, occasionally stopping to sniff the eucalypt blossom, and not listen to the raucous competition of the world around me. Been there, done that, over it.

Naturally I will keep popping in to post (maybe even a serialised short story I am working on—stay tuned) but for now it’s on with something new! I have my sights set on a photographic journey so perhaps more local Aussie snapshots will emerge. Two more book review posts to add then it’s irregular posting for me—in awhile crocodile!

Kindly note that I will continue ‘Photo Of The Week’ on my Home Page every Saturday—in the meantime happy writing, happy blogging and see ya later alligator!

❤ Gretchen Bernet-Ward 2024

Merry Montage of Books 2023

A small selection of some of the books I read in 2023. Those shown are not block-busting bestsellers (yet) but very enjoyable reads. I liked them all and can recommend them.

The particular standout for me is Stone Yard Devotional because it was unexpected and different and engrossing—and believe it or not I did not write a blog post review. However, below I have re-posted my Goodreads review. I am sure this novel will win a literary prize in 2024.

View the 80+ books I have read and reviewed in 2023, click on link and browse my Goodreads webpage:
https://www.goodreads.com/gretchenbernetward

If you have time, here is my l-o-n-g Goodreads book review for my favourite Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood:

Charlotte Wood’s books opened up a new avenue of reading for me and I really, really, wanted to read this novel. The whole premise, ethos, structure of the story cried out to be read slowly and with feeling. It did deliver emotions, from the characters as well as from me. It was like bobbing along in a small row boat down a tranquil stream then coming to a bridge with pylons difficult to navigate; fast water swirling around rocks; clumps of bullrushes clogging the oars; finally being chased by hissing swans. These, of course, are my similes for the obstacles faced by the nuns who showed calm resilience in the face of adversity. Mainly a horrendous mouse plague which saw their Chapel and retreat overrun by thousands of hungry mice for quite some time. Then there is the arrival of the remains of nun Sister Jenny who died in Thailand and, perhaps the most unsettling, the enigmatic visitor Sister Helen Parry who doesn’t seem to want to leave. In fact it takes awhile to work out why she stays at all.

And still the mice invade everything and eat anything in their path. The religious sect is nameless and the protagonist is unnamed (at least I don’t think she is named) narrating Her role in the produce garden and general surroundings, written in beautiful prose, succinct, moving, observant, showing respect for others and the Monaro plain. On page 161, nun Simone takes Her to task over the way she prays “Praying was a way to interrupt your own habitual thinking” she told me. “It’s admitting yourself into otherness, cracking open your prejudices.” Enigmatic local farmer Richard Gittens helps out although his wife Annette doesn’t really approve. Many vignettes occurred to me to write in my review. Of course the overzealous rodents predominate but it would be difficult and unfair to isolate and convey the undercurrents in this book; the flashbacks, the past catching up with the future, the enlightenment. If asked, I would say this novel is semi-autobiographical. If not, it surely has those universally relatable feelings of loss, regret and the challenging moments which shape us throughout life.

A brilliant example of literary showing-not-telling with quite graphic moments, strange dreams, and egg-laying hens. Coupled with Her past memories it caused me to reflect on my own youth and how I retained snippets of a particular event but regrettably never found out the full story, or the true story behind a family’s grief. In fact, this story is layered with other people’s despair and made me delve into my own preconceived ideas of forgiveness. There is almost a comfort in not knowing the people whom Charlotte Wood weaves through the pages, I read, I understand, but I don’t have to take action. Just like the written characters, pursed lips, a head shake, a tut-tut and let’s move on; our society has been good at looking away for centuries. Through the unnamed narrator, sense has been made of all this and I came to grips with Her world without maudlin sentiment and saw the truth of what transpired in several dysfunctional lives. Perhaps a potential for trigger moments, this is a moving, insightful and significant adult read and holds up well to discussion.

❤ Gretchen Bernet-Ward

Author: https://www.charlottewood.com.au/

Short bio: Charlotte Wood is the prizewinning author of six novels and three books of non-fiction. A recent book is The Luminous Solution about creativity and the inner life.

Interview: https://www.smh.com.au/culture/books/the-shock-was-so-deep-novelist-charlotte-wood-on-the-experience-that-changed-everything-20230925-p5e7f3.html

HAPPY HOLIDAYS, HAPPY NEW YEAR 2024 🦋 GRETCHEN

A Question of Copyright on Goodreads

THE CREATION https://www.penguin.co.uk/articles/2020/feb/the-boy-the-mole-the-fox-and-the-horse-saved-my-life.html

The beautifully illustrated book ‘The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse’ by Charlie Mackesy is intended for children not cynical adults.

The content has been reproduced in countless book reviews on Goodreads to the extent that a large portion of the book has been copied.

We should all know our own country’s copyright laws. Where possible I acknowledge the source of material I use and only quote a sentence or two for emphasis in my book reviews. Copyright is adhered to in many areas including business, education, libraries, publicity, government, even blogs and hand-out leaflets.

So why do certain Goodreads reviewers think they can profusely post someone’s artwork?

Would they like their creative endeavours photographed and reproduced, and in this case vilified, and used for a different purpose other than originally intended?

I believe that by reviewing Mackesy’s work on Goodreads, a reviewer is not justified in reproducing the words and illustrations constituting a chunk of the author’s work.

“Copyright is a form of intellectual property that protects the original expression of ideas. It enables creators to manage how their content is used.”
https://www.copyright.com.au/about-copyright/

There may be Goodreads rules and regulations in the fine print which I could not locate but I am waiting on a reply from the Librarians.

My WordPress followers know that I do not activate Comments but I suggest if you think the copying is unfair or unjustified, check the book ‘The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse’ on Goodreads and perhaps submit a message to the gatekeepers.

WEBSITE LINKS:

PUBLISHER https://www.penguin.com.au/books/the-boy-the-mole-the-fox-and-the-horse-9781529105100

AUTHOR https://www.charliemackesy.com/

GOODREADS https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43708884-the-boy-the-mole-the-fox-and-the-horse

♥ Gretchen Bernet-Ward

“I have noticed on Goodreads that generally there does not appear to be any control over spoilers or plot reveals so what hope does copyright offer Goodreads authors. Copyright is mentioned under https://www.goodreads.com/about/terms and it would appear action has to be taken by the author.” GBW.

POSTSCRIPT—Below is my contact post to Goodreads Librarians on Monday 29^th March 2021—no reply has been received:

“What are the copyright limitations on posting author illustrations on Goodreads? The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy has had pages copied by reviewers to such an extent that they almost represent the complete book. The book contains original work by the author and has significant meaning to him while naturally being a source of income which could be impacted due to continued copying by book reviewers. I know it is hard to control copyright (particularly on social media) but I would expect a certain level of copyright control on a book-dedicated website. I have no vested interest in this book other than enjoying it, and wanting to see Goodreads and reviewers being more circumspect regarding the posting of images from inside this book, or indeed any illustrated book.” GBW.

Fear of Joining Goodreads

Yes, fear that I will become addicted. Fear that I will push myself to read a gazillion books a year so I can frantically, faithfully rate and review them. Fear that I will get hooked on groups, authors, discussions, surveys and polls—or even worse, a bestseller—and thus lose my individuality.

What if I was swamped by a wave of literary-ness which swept away my identity and I became a book character, never able to reach the shores of reality, adrift in a choppy sea of font and words, desperately swimming towards the final chapter so I could beach myself on that last blessed page?

It didn’t happen.

I know this because I have finally joined the ranks of Goodreads readers.

Why did I join? Because I was caught, hook, line and sinker by a single author and her book ‘The Rose and The Thorn’.

In August 2019, I posted my very first Goodreads review on Indrani Ganguly’s historical novel (also here on my blog) and the Hallelujah choir sang. That was it!

I think I shelved about twenty books in one hit. Then about thirty, then more, and before I knew it I was writing reviews; albeit after I sussed out their (ssshh, whisper here) rather archaic system.

Without fear, without favour! I am part of Goodreads for better or worse!

So far I have followed a couple of authors I enjoy, and a couple of groups which seem relevant to my reading tastes. I encompass miscellany, similar to my blog, so I am open to your book reading suggestions.

Take a peek, you may find the same book we both have read . . . but will our rating or review be the same?

https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/101014600-gretchen-bernet-ward

♥ Gretchen Bernet-Ward