It’s the first Saturday of the month which means it’s time for another Six Degrees of Separation, hosted by Kate of Books are my Favourite and Best. The idea is that Kate chooses a book to use as a starting point and then we have to link it to six other books of our choice to form a chain. A book doesn’t have to be connected to all of the others on the list – only to the one next to it in the chain.

This month we’re starting with I Want Everything by Dominic Amerena. I haven’t read it, but here’s what it’s about:

You all know this, of course, but years and years ago, acclaimed Australian novelist Brenda Shales went missing. After two explosive, controversial books that would shape the literary canon of the country for decades to come — and that terrible legal scandal about plagiarism, of course — she was simply gone.

That was, right up until a frustrated young writer sees an elderly woman swimming at his local pool in Melbourne. She looks familiar…very familiar in fact. No. It couldn’t be. Stunned, he returns home to confirm the impossible truth; it’s Brenda Shales, now in her old age and stranded in a retirement home. He’s determined to pursue her, to discover what happened to her all those years ago, and to possibly fulfil his dreams of literary stardom through a tell-all biography. But when he finds her, a case of mistaken identity and Brenda’s own terrible secrets begin to derail his ambitions, and ultimately, his entire life.

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I’m going to begin this month’s chain with another book about an author who goes missing. In Death of an Author by ECR Lorac (1), the reclusive crime writer Vivian Lestrange disappears without trace, leaving the police questioning whether he ever really existed in the first place. This is the only book I’ve read by Lorac so far and I enjoyed it, although I think it probably wasn’t the best one I could have started with – I must read another one soon!

Now a simple link using the word ‘Death’. Death in Cyprus by MM Kaye (2) is one of a series of romantic suspense novels set in different parts of the world. In this one, Amanda Derington visits Cyprus while accompanying her uncle on a business trip. Before the ship even arrives at the port, a murder has taken place and Amanda finds herself the next target. The books are all standalone stories and can be read in any order – this is one of my favourites.

Another book set in Cyprus is The Sunrise by Victoria Hislop (3). The story takes place in Famagusta in 1974, when a luxury hotel, the Sunrise, is evacuated during a Greek military coup and Turkish invasion. Although I found the book quite unevenly paced, I did love the setting and the descriptions of the abandoned city in the aftermath of the invasion.

Amor Towles’ A Gentleman in Moscow (4) is another book with a hotel setting. It tells the story of a Russian Count who is sentenced to spend the rest of his days under house arrest in Moscow’s Metropol Hotel. I loved this book and found it very inspiring to see how the Count managed to lead such a fulfilling life during his confinement.

Room by Emma Donoghue (5) also deals with confinement. It’s narrated by five-year-old Jack, who is being held captive with his mother inside a single room and has never seen the outside world. Although the plot is quite disturbing and it also took me a while to get used to Jack’s narrative voice, I eventually became gripped.

Like Room, Andrew Martin’s Soot (6) has a four letter title with a double o in the middle. This is the only similarity, though, as this book is a mystery set in 18th century York and revolving around the murder of a painter of silhouettes. I really enjoyed this book, so it’s a good place to end my chain!

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And that’s my chain for this month. My links have included: missing authors, the word ‘death’, Cyprus, hotels, confinement and four letter titles.

In November we’ll be starting with We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson – at last, a book that I’ve actually read!