Reviews and Comments

I'm really enjoying the Vigilauntie Justice series. I would recommend at least reading All Tea, No Shade... before this one, as there are references to events in that book.

The topic of romance fraud is handled sensitively, as I'd expect from this author. There are some interesting twists, and a great ending.

Very biased towards the British. Not only are the Argentinian junta portrayed as buffoonish clowns, luck always favours the British.

The Sherman Firefly's 17-pounder was undisputedly an excellent anti-tank gun in the 1940s. I find it difficult to believe that it would have been as effective in this scenario as the author portrays it, though, especially with nearly 40-year old ammunition.

It did manage to keep me engaged to the end, but it did feel like wish fulfilment.

Unfortunately the book suffers very badly from a lack of editing and inconsistent formatting.

It's a ridiculous premise: In the 1950s, three Sherman Fireflies that are due to be scrapped are instead sent to the Falklands because of a bureaucratic mixup. An FIDF volunteer looks after them, and brings them out when Argentina invades in 1982.

But I'm in the mood for something a bit silly, so we'll see if this fits.

I bought this after watching the author's excellent talk at We Have Ways Fest 2025.

A little different to the Liz Carlyle series, but very good.

I'm still irritated at proper nouns not being capitalised, though.

I'm enjoying the story, but I'm getting irritated that proper nouns at the start of chapters aren't capitalised for some reason.

For example, chapter 26 starts:

‘Well, manon,’ said wilberforce, ‘when I asked you to keep close to your friend Louise and find out more about this MP Peter Robinson, I certainly didn’t expect you to come back so soon with a story like this.

I read the ebook a while ago. When the audiobook was published, I bought that too.

Knowing what was coming made it a different experience second time around, but it didn't diminish my enjoyment, just changed it.

The narration by @kayeluvian@the.voiceover.bar was superb, as ever. Her Robert Llewellyn voice was spot on, and the Alan Rickman very good.

Overall, a really fun story with excellent narration in the audiobook.

I read the ebook a while ago, now I'm listening to the audiobook.

O'Keefe makes a strong case for his assertion that the Dieppe raid was planned as a pinch operation. The audiobook narrator is also very good.

I really struggled to get interested in this one, and eventually just gave up. I don't know if I've changed, or if le Carré's later books just aren't as good as the earlier ones.

This is an excellent set of quick, simple skirmish rules, ideal for introducing kids to wargaming. Like Panzer Kids by the same author, it includes several scenarios with different win conditions. There's also a welcome section on game etiquette, including notes on how to be a good winner and loser.

Another good short story from Si Clarke (@clacksee@wandering.shop). I'm glad she's returned to the Mars Colony series, and I'd love to see a full-length book three. But then, I also want another full-length Vigilaunte Justice book, so maybe I'm just greedy 😎

It's a lovely, cosy short, told from Gurdeep's perspective. My only criticism is that it's very short and I wanted it to last longer.