Firstly, the coffee at Slasticarnica Cukar is perfect every time. The staff are friendly, quick and helpful, and the location, a few metres from Komiža’s waterfront, is the best location on the planet. The tables are next to a lavender garden and beneath a leafy vine. But that’s not even a fraction of why this might well be my favourite café… on Earth.

The owner’s mother was a dedicated cook and recorder of handwritten recipes, some of which are framed and hanging on the walls. The made-on-site pastries and cakes combine locally-grown ingredients such as carob, orange, lemon, lavender, rosemary, and figs. Slasticarnica Cukar is a culinary artist’s studio and a sweet-addict’s den.

There are small carrot cakes: moist and dense and packed with rich dark sugar, further sweetened by the carrots and walnuts and the not-overpowering cream cheese topping. 

There is a cake with an alluring, deep purple topping named after a local red wine, with a layer of dark chocolate biscuit separated by layers of chocolate cream. 

There is a moist, walnutty cake with a luxurious caramel layer just below the charred-meringue topping.

There is a heavy and dark carob cake. And I almost forgot to mention the dripping with honey, walnut-filled baklava. 

There is a light lavender-flavoured cream encased in a shell of white-chocolate on a biscuit base. 

And there is a not-so-sweet slice topped with a layer of hib (a densely compressed layer of dried figs – an absolute treasure from the island) and there is a small variation of this, made only of the compressed hib with almonds.

Every one of these little pieces of heaven goes best with a Julius Meinl double ‘Schwarzer’ (a large double espresso) because of its full, floral flavours.

Slasticarnica Cukar is in Komiza, a small fishing town on Vis Otok, a two and something hour ferry ride followed by a 15 minute bus ride from Split on Croatia’s Dalmatian coast. It’s a journey with a a heavenly destination.

I loved Our Friends in Beijing – from the snappy beginning with its colourful and clever turns of phrase, to the intriguing plot, the exciting chase and the surprisingly emotional ending… best read of 2021.

Jon Swift (the protagonist of Simpson’s earlier novel) is nearing the end of his journalism career, elbowed out by his younger, corporate managers. Immediately after being given his notice, Jon coincidentally meets an old friend, Lin Lifang, in Oxford who asks him to pass on a coded message. Jon first met Lin Lifang during the Tiananmen Square incident although now he is a well-connected and well-remunerated senior party member with a daughter studying in Oxford.

Jon maneuvres a last assignment out of his bosses, an investigation in China, accompanied by his producer Alyssa. What follows is a complex web of surveillance, rough-ups and shake-downs by the State Security staff, the police in China, Lin Lifang’s heavies, and Lin Lifang’s wife’s staff. (I said it was complex.) Needless to say, British ‘Intelligence’ is also involved – watching Jon and Alyssa and advising, without actually helping. Jon and Alyssa’s primary story is the rise and rise of Lin Lifang within the Party and the possibility of a leadership coup. As smoke screens (perhaps) they also chase stories relating to the Uighyrs and live-animal trafficking ex-Africa. As the coup approaches, it becomes clearer that Lin Lifang is using Jon to disseminate misinformation to the international community as well as to the State Security officials.

The coup attempt fails, the State Security close in on Jon and Alyssa, they escape, we’re treated to a wonderful vignette from the Gorbachov era, an exciting chase scene plays out and ends in tragedy for Jon. British spooks extract Jon from the clutches of the State Security and he makes a hero’s return to the newsroom where his nemesis (nemses) are clearing their desks following another corporate shake up – giving me hope for another episode of adventure and exquisite story-telling.

I really enjoyed reading this; it had everything I want in book – likable characters I can cheer for, evil enemies, intrigue, a twisty plot, an evocative ending that I didn’t see coming, and all extremely well-written.

I Swear I’m Not Insane is a really good read: well-paced, a lot happening, many twists and surprises, and, in the end, quite an emotional read.

Two friends on a road trip, sort of – at least, that’s how this story begins.

What begins as 2 undercover police on a road trip soon becomes an alternative reality for two escaped patients from a psychiatric detention facility. As their medication wears off, their real selves are allowed to surface, complete with anxieties and memories of their earlier lives… The reader is gradually invited into their stories through a series of conversations and incidents. These two intriguing friends come to be in possession of a six-year-old deaf girl who doesn’t seem to mind the adventure, which eventually concludes at the Mexico border. I’ll not complete the plot description because this is a suspense, but I will say the ending is satisfying for the reader (for this reader).

The character development was excellent as was the writing/story-telling. The two friends’ back-stories were sufficiently complex and real to make the whole book feel disturbingly and uniquely authentic.

I enjoyed reading this well-paced story and found myself sympathising with the two main characters and I certainly I hope to read more like this from his author.

What an excellent read – I loved The Father’s Son from start to finish.

The plot is relatively simple: boy’s father (a policeman) is kidnapped and never seen again. As his mother had already died, the boy goes into the government care system and has a rough start to life outside the care system. With some luck and hard work, the boys grows up to become an FBI agent. He’s called to help root out ‘inside’ corruption in the police and so is working undercover in Philadelphia. The crime he’s working on is linked to his father’s disappearance and ultimately it becomes clear that he is tracking down his father’s killer. As he gets closer to the killer, his own son is kidnapped. And as it’s a suspense, I’ll leave my plot description there.

The plot is well-constructed and credible. The characters are kept to a minimum and are each well-created with enough back-story to make them credible and developed. The good characters are likeable, the bad ones aren’t.

The story flows at an appropriate pace and picks up in the last few chapters as the story becomes exciting and an ending is near.

Very well-written. I really enjoyed reading this book.

I LOVED The Girl Who Painted Death as a window into real people’s lives and pasts. I think the Balkan region, and Zagreb in particular, is steeped in intrigue and charm and makes for a wonderful setting for any novel, but especially one with threads of evil and hope running through it in equal and competing proportions. Indeed, I only wish I could’ve read this book while sitting in a smoky bar or cafe in Zagreb. And It was good to read a ‘Balkan novel’ that has gone beyond the Yugoslavia war.

Julie moves from her childhood home in Macedonia to live with a friend in Croatia after her sister and father are killed in a mysterious accident/incident. She works in a bar by night and studies art/painting by day. While attending an exhibition she meets Adam, a successful, young, architect and a romance begins. Julie finds he has cheated on her and as she struggles to make sense of this, threatening letters begin appearing in her apartment which she attributes to Adam. Adam disappears from her life, but the letters don’t. She is led back to her Macedonian home town where her father and sister were killed and the facts of that incident are uncovered to her.

The characters in this book were carefully crafted and released to the reader in manageable bites as the book and story unfolded. I really enjoyed how the complex relationships were slowly untangled as I worked through the plot.

And a most satisfying ending!