Barbara’s Book Club (8)
It’s a small club, and you’re in it!
Every month, Barbara Rafer and Jo Guise invite you on a literary journey through two captivating books—one classic masterpiece and one contemporary gem.
Barbara’s Book Club- Edition 8
June 2026
‘We Solve Murders’ by Richard Osman
We Solve Murders- review by Barbara Rafer
Having been temporarily immobile recently a friend gave me a bag of crime novels to pass the time. Variable in quality I found ‘We solve murders’ by Richard Osman buried in the bag.
This is the first in Osman’s new series with a female action hero, a retired thoughtful male sidekick and ranges across the world from America, Ireland, Dubai and…the New Forest.
Yes, it is cosy crime but rooted in the now as it tackles social influencing, money laundering and murder. It is funny, pacey and unmistakable British in it’s wit and wry observations on the world. As
the bbq smokes and the Pimms is on ice what better way to slide into summer.
‘On The Beach’ by Neville Shute
On The Beach- review by Jo Guise
Sometimes I just want to read about ordinary people. I am not that concerned about the ending of a book; more about the way the characters get there. And this is one of the best of them.
this month I revisited On the Beach – Shute’s post apocalyptic novel set in Australia. This is a book about how humans cope in the face of the certainty of dying – about a year away. Radiation clouds are coming – there’s no way out.
It’s a book about small lives, vignettes of domesticity, a glimmer of hope that is dashed and people choosing their own ways out. It sounds grim – some of it is – but it makes us realise how fragile life is, and encourages us to find joy in the small everyday things.
Like the book? Watch the movie – you get Gregory Peck and Ava Gardner, Fred Astaire and Anthony Perkins and a 7.1 rating on IMDb. The film was made in 1959 just two years after the novel was published. I guess someone was keeping an eye on the Oscars that year.
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