Books

Listening In – Jenny Eclair, Sphere – out Thursday CHARACTERS in this bittersweet collection of short stories range from women blighted by loneliness to those motivated by despair and revenge to elderly ladies still full of fighting spirit. The comedian author, as you’d expect, is acute and her acidic wit makes these finely crafted tales a pleasure. Love Like Blood – Mark Billingham, Little, Brown – out Thursday DETECTIVE Tom Thorne tackles the disturbing subject of honour killing when a colleague ropes him into an off-the-books investigation which, for her, has taken a very personal toll. Thorne faces a wall of secrecy and lies as he probes the disappearance of a pair of Asian