Peter Temple, “The Broken Shore” (2007)

We all have our weaknesses. One of mine: I’m a sucker for an Aussie crime novel, especially one set away from the cities. I can’t say why, but done well, there’s something about the combination of the...

nickwiltsher.com

Ann Cleeves, “Raven Black” (2006)

Whenever I start one of these, I check how many pages I’m in for. 385 here. On the hefty side. Worrying. Then I breezed through the first 100 or so without noticing them going. Less worrying. Good, in...

nickwiltsher.com

Arnaldur Indriðason, “Silence of the Grave” (2005)

This was dull. Nothing very much happened, and it happened slowly, and repetitively, and in flat affectless prose. Is it a sort of reflection of the slow pace of Icelandic life? I don’t know. A skele...

nickwiltsher.com

Sara Paretsky, “Blacklist” (2004)

This was the 11th of Paretsky’s novels featuring V. I. Warshawski. The first came out in 1982; the 22nd came out in 2024; you can pre-order the 23rd now. The author’s own website and other sources ...

nickwiltsher.com

UKRI launches two AI research labs to stay ahead in global race

Two new labs will back British researchers to develop next generation artificial intelligence (AI) systems, helping secure the UK’s position as a global leader.

ukri.org

Minette Walters, “Fox Evil” (2003)

This is a less successful retread of the last Walters winner . So much is similar. Location: village Dorset. Situation: rich family, disliked, finds itself in bother and besailed by scurrilous rumour...

nickwiltsher.com

José Carlos Somoza, “The Athenian Murders” (2002)

Two texts. Above the line, a pastiche of (a translation of) an ancient Greek prose work, in which a “decipherer” called Heracles investigates a set of killings in Athens. Below the line, the translato...

nickwiltsher.com

Henning Mankell, “Sidetracked” (2001)

2001 in the UK, but 1995 in Sweden; the first translated winner, and I think the first from outwith the US or UK. Plenty more of those to come. The fifth in Mankell’s much-loved Wallander series, a ...

nickwiltsher.com

Jonathan Lethem, “Motherless Brooklyn” (2000)

This was published in the UK by Faber, so you know we’re dealing with a Proper Writer here, and the book was a critical and popular hit well beyond the crime genre when it came out, apparently. You ca...

nickwiltsher.com

Robert Wilson, “A Small Death in Lisbon” (1999)

It’s not a bad read, this one, but it doesn’t feel quite as good as it wants to be. It’s a big chunky book, because it’s one of those dual timeline jobs. You know, you get one story set in the past, a...

nickwiltsher.com

Canonic counterpoint as a philosophical practice: mind, meaning, and metaphysics in Renaissance and Baroque musical composition

In an essay entitled “Schopenhauer’s Flute and Descartes’s Lute” (2024), Helen De Cruz asks: “what can musical practice tell us about philosophy?” The present paper offers an answer to this questio...

tandfonline.com

James Lee Burke, “Sunset Limited” (1998)

This is like the funhouse mirror of the last one, the Rankin book. Both feature protagonists firmly established in a series (this is book 10 of Burke’s Dave Robicheaux novels). Both have numerous plot...

nickwiltsher.com

Research Fellow - AR3263 at University of St Andrews

Discover Research Fellow - AR3263 jobs and more in higher education on jobs.ac.uk. Apply for further details on the top job board.

jobs.ac.uk

Ian Rankin, “Black and Blue” (1997)

A novel in Rankin’s John Rebus series. I’ve read more or less all of them, many of them twice. This is prime mid series stuff. Early in the series, Rebus is something of a cardboard cutout of a detect...

nickwiltsher.com

The men who worship pie

Britain’s top bakers face off in a church • 1,000 pastries, one Supreme Champion • Welcome to the British Pie Awards

dispatch-media.com

Postdoctoral Award - The British Society of Aesthetics

The British Society for Aesthetics invites applications for a two-year postdoctoral award in philosophical aesthetics, to the value of £30,000 per annum with up to £3,000 additional geographical allow...

british-aesthetics.org

Ben Elton, “Popcorn” (1996)

This is pretty bad. It’s supposed to be a satirical thriller of sorts. We have a film director, Bruce, who makes glossy amoral flicks in which a lot of people are glamorously killed. These films provo...

nickwiltsher.com

Val McDermid, “The Mermaids Singing” (1995)

A nasty serial killer stalks a northern English city. The police bring in a criminal psychologist, Tony Hill, to help them find the baddie by providing a psychological profile. Some of the coppers ar...

nickwiltsher.com

Minette Walters, “The Scold’s Bridle” (1994)

In a small village in southern England, an unpleasant rich woman is murdered. No shortage of suspects: Mathilda Gillespie had a lot of enemies, many of whom were intricately bound to her by blood, lie...

nickwiltsher.com