it is not all that often, from what i can recall, that i give a preview of books i have every intention of reading. well, i am doing so now, look you see, since i made a vague, non-committal gesture of promise to a (very good) friend that i would go and gone done read this one. actually, it might have been that they casually asked if, when it came out in (my preferred) paperback was i going to read it and my answer was of a "yes, probably" nature.
the book, or if you will novel, is Murder On Line One off of Jeremy Vine, as in (very much) that Jeremy Vine. going on the blurb or write up on the back it seems he has, for what i believe is his debut novel, wisely stuck with that "write what you know" advice, for the protagonist (or "central character") is indeed a radio show host. mostly, i would suggest, i am troubling all who(m) bother to read this post with an update on it to showcase the disparity in pricing across shops.
during a visit to Morrisons one day was when i first observed that it, the novel, was now out in paperback. generally i have a preference for shopping at Morrisons, mostly as they are (i think) the only supermarket here in the UK what sells tapes, be it in compact disc, dvd or blu ray format. yes i would rather like to go to HMV for such, but hey, convenience. also, in my experience, the Morrisons "loyalty bonus" customer discounts and what have you are second only to Lidl in regards of being the best.
but, that said, Morrisons generally do not do "cheap" or discounted books. quite strange saying that, what with the "RRP" (which saves one typing out recommended retail price) for this one is £9.99, and to be fair they are selling it for £6, which is a discount of (hang on whilst i p!ss about with a calculator for this) around 39%. from what i recall it is only "proper" book shops that sell novels at the actual listed price on the cover.
later on in the day, when i required a brief break for both a coffee and the use of a gentleman's restroom facility (not for Spiros reasons), i happened to be at a Tesco. there i saw they also had it for £6, or, as either a "thank you" or a "f*** you" (depending on your stance on Vine) to holders of their club card thing, one could get it for £4. which is a discount of just south of 60% on that RRP thing (no, i am not going to type out recommended retail price again). whereas Tesco are not quite so good with "money off" vouchers as Morrisons their "clubcard" prices are, being fair, really good. but still, Lidl is excellent with money off and discounts.
none of this, i am rather keen to point out, is any sort of "dig" (or similar go) at Jeremy Vine. whilst i just find some of his talk show / phone in subjects bonkers (as in "have you ever had funny looks when you have gone to buy a chainsaw", as if such was a frequent thing), i do appreciate he is divisive for some. mostly i have a great deal of admiration for him as he has stood up to them hideous "internet trolls", pursuing matters of some rather really vile abuse online all the way through court. well done to him, and i do wish more people would simply not listen to, or pay attention to, people that they do not like instead of feeling a need to hurl abuse.
purchase decision made, then, and of course the economies of the Tesco price prevailed, or if you like won out. not (too) sure the Fern Britton endorsement made that much of a difference, but still it didn't really put me off. i am somewhat baffled by the (of course slightly redacted) receipt what came with it, at least about the "notus" which appears in the description of the item (the book) purchased. can't work out if this is Tesco saying "not us" as in nothing to do with them, or "not US", as in this edition is not, for whatever reason, allowed to be sold in America. my best guess would be the latter, but no, i would have no idea why they would feel the need to clarify that. possible it's just how the works experience kid in the office programmed the barcode.
when, exactly, will (or shall) i read this one? eventually, i suppose. over the years the genre of "celebrity novels" has been a bit hit and miss, with (alas) miss more often than not being the result. i suspect the only qualified (or unqualified if you prefer) success for a "celebrity novelist" is them Thursday Murder Club books off of that tall bloke who(m) is the brother of the boss bass player out of Suede and, of course, started off as a backing dancer for Sonia. yet i don't think he ever actively sought fame. kind of hope this one turns out to be decent, mind.
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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