Trowbridge Book Group XMAS - Murder Your Darlings by Mark McCrum

Details
Meet the Author Mark McCrum
Crime writer-sleuth Francis Meadowes discovers something dark hiding under the beautiful Umbrian sun when one of his writing group is found dead in Italy.
Francis Meadowes is soaking up the late summer sun in Italy, running a creative writing course at the beautiful Villa Giulia, deep in the remote Umbrian countryside. Recruited by the villa's owners, Stephanie and Gerry, Francis's students include snooty, irritating Poppy and her ex-ambassador husband Duncan, eccentric Northern Irishman Liam, quirky, self-styled 'Hampstead Jewess' Zoe, bossy Scottish Diana, kooky young American Sasha, mysterious 'spy' Tony and restless civil servant Roz.
But what should be a magical week under the Italian sun turns into something far more sinister when one of the group is found dead, and the local police quickly turn to Francis for help. Uncovering betrayal, lies, secrets and old scores to be settled, Francis soon realizes something very dark is lurking beneath the genteel and civilized veneer . . .

2024 reading list:
The Ascent of Man by Jacob Bronowski
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell
Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
The Bullet That Missed: Thursday Murder Club, Book 3 by Richard Osman.
The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell
The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece by Tom Hanks
The Seventh Son by Seb Faulks
Yellow Face by Rebecca Kung
Prophet Song by Paul Lynch

Our previous books:
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir TBC
I Am, I Am, I Am by Maggie O'Farrell 6/10
Isaac Asimov's Caliban by Roger Macbride Allen 8/10
Wicked Game by Matt Johnson 7/10
I'm Going to Find You by J D Pullan 7.5/10
I am Watching You by Teresa Driscoll 7.5/10
Someone at a Distance by Dorothy Whipple 6/10
All that Lives by James Oswald 4.5/10
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus 8.5/10
Ghosted by Mark McCrum 7.5/10
Foundation and Earth by Asimov 7/10
Red Light and Bell: Your Sins Will Find You Out by Richard Cobourne Rachel's Holiday by Marian Keyes 8/10
Bandwagon by Richard Cobourne 6.5/10
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout 3.5/10
The Seven Sisters: Book 1 - Lucinda Riley 7.5/10
Night Train To Lisbon by Pascal Mercier --
The Murder Bag by Tony Parsons --
When You Look Like Us by Pamela N. Harris 7.5/10
The Dinner Guest by B P Walter 8/10
The Radleys Paperback by Matt Haig 7.75/10
The Keeper of Stories by Sally Page 7/10
Equinox by Micheal White 7.5/10
Restless by William Boyd 7/10
The The Crimson Petal And The White by Michel Faber 4/10
To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee 9/10
Tell No One by Harlan Coben 8/10
The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Dare 7/10
The Case of the Shoplifter's Shoe - Eric Stanley Gardner 8/10
Dune by Frank Herbert 7.5/10
The Last Picture Show by Larry McMurty 8/10
The L Shaped Room by Lynn Reid Banks 7/10
The Guest List by Lucy Foley 7/10
Dark Crimes by M Hambling 8/10
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig 9/10
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
One More Croissant for the Road by Felicity Cloake 8.5/10
The Space Machine by Christopher Priest 7.5/10
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens 8/10
The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton 9.5/10
Angela's Ashes: A Memoir of a Childhood by Frank McCourt 6.5/10
The Einstein Enigma - Jose Rodrigues Dos Santos 6.5/10
The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon 8/10
Jamaica Inn - Daphne du Maurier 8/10
1st To Die (Women’s Murder Club 1) - James Patterson 6.5/10
When all is said – Anne Griffin 9/10
Sacred hearts, Sarah Durant 8.5/10
The Island - Victoria Hislop 9/10
Jonathan Livington Seagull – Richard Bach 9/10
The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood - Score 7/10
Here to Stay, Mark Edwards - Score 5/10
A Death in Tuscany, Michele Giuttari - Score 8.33/10
Derek Landy, Skulduggery Pleasant book 1 - Score 7/10
Just For The Record: The Autobiography of Status Quo - Score 5/10
Force of Nature by Jane Harper
Saint's of the Shadow Bible by Ian Rankin
Heresy by S J Parris
Foundation by Isaac Azimov
Sight Unseen by Robert Goddard
The Guilty One by Lisa Ballantyne
How to Stop Time by Matt Haig
The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult
The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul by Douglas Adams
The Secret Place by Tana French
Unreliable Memoirs by Clive James
London Calling by James Craig
I Am Missing by Tim Weaver
About Grace by Anthony Doerr
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
Natural Causes by James Oswald
This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor by Adam Kay
This Must be the Place by Maggie O'Farrell
Sky Burial by Xinran
Disclaimer by Renee Knight
Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandell