Be Excellent To Each Other

9.Disaster, Inc by Caimh McDonnell

A private detective uncovers a massive investment scam.

It's been a while since a novel's made me laugh out loud in a public space but this tale of crime and conspiracy had me doing so several times. Great fun, and now I'm keen to read more of this series.

10.) Decoy - Dudley Pope
Mostly a fun WWII naval adventure, scattered with bits of annoying exposition and technical details that suggest Mr Pope had no confidence in his audience's ability to understand 1940s cryptography. Pope apparently spent 2 weeks in a lifeboat after being torpedoed in WWII, and you get the impression that some of this story was a bit close to home for him. He does not like the Board of Trade, and has very strong feelings regarding life jacket design and safety inspections.

11.) Paths of Glory: The French Army, 1914-18 - Anthony Clayton
A short book that covers all of World War I, so it's pretty high level. Your poor old poilus had a rougher time of it in the trenches than his Tommy counterpart, with more politics and worse supplies and support, as well as having to wear red trousers and use a crummy rifle. It's made me want to read more about the French mutinies, as it seems the whole army wasn't that far from just falling apart - not altogether surprising, seeing how much shit the entire French army had been through.

10. A History of the World in 47 Borders by John Elledge
Short blog style chapters on various accidents of history. One of those to dip into when you're bored on the bus or toilet.

Segued neatly, however, to ...

11. The Book of Trespass by Nick Hayes

Part travelogue about the author's adventures ignoring "private property"/"no trespassing" signs, part history of restrictions on land access in England, and part cry for a saner system.
He skilfully intertwines these elements and gets quite poetic when describing the landscapes he's visiting. For anyone with even a passing interest in the great outdoors this is well worth a read, even if it'll frequently make you angry about aristocrats.