Carol Naylor's REVIEW it...

                          The Next Big Spanish Adventure by Janette Davies. "It was too late, all the rafters had seen the sitting man, his body bound with white sheeting and his decapitated head, face turned towards the river, resting on his lap." The saga continues at Apartamento Paraiso with some of the familiar characters we met in the first book and some welcoming additions. " Chaos to the Costa" could have been a headline in the Sol Times . The expats seem responsible for some bizarre goings-on once again. A murder in the least expected place, a beauty spot, apparently staged for maximum effect, to shock and horrify, I.S. style to give it a contemporary feel, followed by a brutal murder witnessed by newly weds on what should have been a happy occasion. The usual cycle of unexpected birth, marriage and natural  deaths complete the pattern. Nothing untoward there. But a 51% share in a brothel? We a...

                       The Two Faces of January. Film Review. "Truth is we're joined at the hips. I get caught, I take you down. You get caught, you turn me in." If you're a fan of Hitchcock or Patricia Highsmith and love psychological thrillers, this film is for you. I'm sure you're familiar with the Ripley books by Highsmith so you'll find similar underlying themes with fraudsters, murders and of course, men on the run! For well-known screenwriter Hossein Amini, this was to prove a successful directorial debut joining the prolific ranks of Clement, Hitchcock and Minghella, reminding us of the thrill and tension, on the edge of your seat tension that is characteristic of this genre. Where Amini excels is in conveying subtle and unspoken tension particularly with the Alpha males sparring over Colette. The cold-hearted stares and the grimaces will give you the creeps followed by the profanities and the scuffle...

                Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson. "The sense of simple joy was so poignant it was almost pain. She would not let herself think of tomorrow when all this would only be a dream. This was today." Ever heard of Winifred Watson? She wrote six novels from 1935-1943. Five of them contained either a rural or historical setting based around the north-east of England and because of their romantic nature, Watson soon developed a strong female following before Catherine Cookson. But it was the book written in 1938, initially rejected by her publishers as being too risque that proved the most popular of her books. A musical version had been planned with Billie Burke playing Guinevere but Pearl Harbour ended all hope of this although it eventually inspired the  2008  film  starring Frances McDormand as Guinevere, Amy Adams as Delysia and Mark Strong as Nick. The book is charming and funny "pure C...