There’s a relatively young website named Shepherd.com that aims to help readers navigate to new discoveries. They invite authors to give capsule reviews of books that have shaped or impressed them, and which in some way mirror their own themes. It’s not so much a platform for self-promotion—you get to mention one title of your own as a way of cueing up your five recommendations, and that’s it—but more a method of informed curation. If you’ve been disappointed by hype as often as I have, you may welcome the guidance. It made me take a hard look at my own stuff in order to work out exactly what makes it tick.

They’re supported by click-through sales. If you want to follow up on a review then you get a choice of redirection to Amazon or to Bookshop.org, where you can support your local independent.

You can find my selection, along with a plug for The Bedlam Detective, by clicking right here.