THE hero (and villain) of this fascinating book is, unsurprisingly, coal. The wealth it brought, but the privations and tragedy that accompanied it, form the basis of a very compelling read.

The Fitzwilliam family estates of over 20,000 acres straddled the very rich Barnsley coalfield, and the magnificent 18th-century house at Wentworth proclaimed the aristocratic family's tremendous wealth and standing on the death of the sixth earl in 1902.

Catherine Bailey's work tells of the spectacular decline of the Fitzwilliam family and fortune since then, charting a catalogue of family in-fighting, rumours of lunacy, love affair cover-ups, violent death mingled with heroism, as well as class war, poverty, labour exploitation, mining tragedies and vindictive government retribution.

This is Catherine Bailey's first book, telling a story gleaned from different sources, many of them oral.

Our second book is in a very different vein. Josephine Tey's Miss Pym Disposes has recently been re-issued, the first edition having been published in the 1940s. In this novel Miss Pym is a retired teacher whose best-seller on psychology has made her a celebrity and supposed expert on "reading people". Life as a celebrity author in London turns out to be rather dull and she enjoys getting to know the students at Leys College when she visits as a guest speaker.

In the first three-quarters of the book the reader is given a chance to meet the characters at the college and see them through the eyes of Miss Pym.

As a visitor, she occupies a unique position giving her access to students, staff and faculty when a ghastly accident takes place. What should she do with knowledge which it seems only she possesses? Can she resist the desire to manipulate the situation to create the best outcome? Good foreshadowing means that not all comes as a complete surprise at the fascinating conclusion.

It's a lovely work with frothy girls' school good nature and underlying human nature that make an interesting mix. But there is one aspect that jars, and this is the casual racism thrown in here and there. While these are 'era-appropriate' turns of phrase they may spoil the reader's complete enjoyment.