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Colin Dexter – The Way Through the Woods | Review

Title: The Way Through the Woods

Author: Colin Dexter

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 304

Rating: 9/10

Colin Dexter – The Way Through the Woods

This is the first Colin Dexter book that I’ve ever read, and I wasn’t sure what to expect – I was hoping to find that he writes like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie, and I wasn’t disappointed. Dexter can write a cracking crime novel, and Morse is a fascinating character – just like Poirot, Holmes and the other great detectives in the world of literature.

The story follows Morse’s investigation into the disappearance and presumed death of a young girl – he’s a reluctant hero, as he’s on holiday at the time, but he’s still a hero. If that reminds you of Sherlock Holmes, then I’m not surprised – Dexter clearly takes a lot of inspiration from the great crime writers of old, and Conan Doyle was the best of the best.

But this book was so much more than just an imitation of Sherlock Holmes from another author who wanted to make a name for themselves. It’s a joy to read, incredibly well-written, and the story feels truly unique, packed full of twists and turns to keep you interested until the end.

Perhaps that’s why it won the Gold Dagger Award for the Best Crime Novel of the Year – if only I’d known that when I appeared on Pointless, the BBC quiz show. I got to the final round with a chance to grab the jackpot, and the question was about Gold Dagger Award winning crime writers. We didn’t get it right back then, but there’s a sort of poetic justice in the fact that I ended up reading a book which would’ve won me nearly £10,000, if only I’d read it a couple of years earlier.What a shame!

Colin Dexter

Click here to buy The Way Through the Woods.

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Seth Godin – Small is the New Big | Review

Title: Small is the New Big

Author: Seth Godin

Type: Non-Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 323

Rating: 8/10

Seth Godin – Small is the New Big

Small is the New Big is something of an anomaly, as it’s one of the few Seth Godin books which doesn’t focus on a single topic – instead, it’s a collection of the best of the best of his manifold blog posts, and the topics are as varied as the lengths of the posts, some of which are only a paragraph long.

Godin himself warns you not to read this from cover to cover because that’s now how he imagined you reading it, but there’s no reason why you couldn’t if you had a long flight and had nothing better to do – the subject matter is riveting, but there’s still a lot to take in and so you might not manage it all in one go. There’s no reason why you shouldn’t try, though – as always, Godin’s advice is sound and easy to apply to your own business, and the great thing about his converted blog articles is that they’re often written on location when a particular brand or product has inspired him.

Take the manufacturers of marshmallow fluff’s idea of creating a recipe for fluffernutters, for example – for those of you who live in the UK like myself, who might not be familiar with the concept, it’s simply a sandwich made with a mixture of marshmallow fluff and peanut butter, which is apparently delicious. Godin explains that the creation of this recipe gave people a valid reason for always keeping marshmallow fluff in their cupboards, increasing sales in the process.

Perhaps I’m biased because I first read this when I was in the waiting room of the BBC studios in London, getting ready to make my TV debut on Pointless, the quiz show. I know I shouldn’t be biased by when I first read it, but I am.