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[[Category:New Reviews|Crime (Historical)]] __NOTOC__ <!-- Remove -->{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Rory Clements0571370977|title=CorpusThe Lock-Up|author=John Banville|rating=54

|summary=A suicidal overdose It's six months since the dramatic events which we read about in [[April in Spain by John Banville|April in Spain]] and the murder of upper class Cecil Langley Dr Quirke is now back in Dublin and living (if somewhat uneasily) with his wife are two events that may be unconnecteddaughter, Phoebe. However this The worst of his grief is England in 1936, a magnet over but he irrationally blames DI St John Strafford for opposing forces what happened and their first moves in preparation for this has made the already strained relationship between them more difficult. They're brought together by Chief Inspector Hackett when the coming conflictbody of a young, assisted or prevented by Jewish scholar, Rosa Jacobs, is found in a royal crisis (depending on which side you're on)lock-up. Cambridge history professor Tom Wilde may fall into the middle of this accidentally to begin with At first, it looked as though she'd gassed herself but his curiosity has been piqued enough to ensure he's not walking awayQuirke is convinced that it was murder rather than suicide.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1785762613</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Ian Ross1529337968|title=The Mask In Place of Command (Twilight of Empire)Fear|author=Catriona McPherson

|genre=Crime (Historical Fiction)|summary= Warning: spoilers ahead for previous books in It's July 1948 and Helen Crowther is due to start work as a qualified medical almoner the series. 305AD: Castus Aurelius, following morning - on the death of his predecessor, has been promoted to commander (or vir perfecctissiums) of day that the Roman forces at the RhineNHS is born. HeShe's also been ordered ll be working for Dr Deuchar and Dr Strasser in their GP surgery and her job will be to take Crispus, Constantine's son and heir, for the characterhelp patients with those non-building experiencemedical problems which affect their health. That complicates matters as when Castus isnThe hardest part of the job will be to persuade people that the services she offers really are free and that they don't trying have to keep Crispus alive, he's finding it difficult do anything to increase his own chance qualify for them. Some of survival, especially considering how the last Rhine commander met his endproblems will require delicate handling but Helen has a problem of her own which might give her some insight. Her marriage has never been consummated.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1784975257</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Graham Hurley057136358X|title=FinisterreApril in Spain|author=John Banville

|genre=Crime(Historical)|summary=The Second World War is almost lost but Terry Tice was a hitman, although he didn't think of himself in those terms. He saw what he did as ''a last, desperate roll matter of making things tidy''. I couldn't resist the dice thought that he was an extreme version of Marie Kondo. He enjoyed his job, something which occurred to him when he was in Burma with the German High command launch Operation Finisterre. In America army ''where he got the apparent suicide chance to kill a lot of a scientist working on the atom bomb little yellow fellows and off the coast had a fine old time''. He was spending a lot of Spain time with Percy Antrobus - who couldn't understand why Terry didn't know the shipwreck purpose of a German submarine, become catalysts as swizzle stick - surely he wouldn't drink champagne with bubbles in the plans spiral out of control, leading to a shattering climax. 'Finisterre' is morning''? It was after Percy's death that he saw the benefits of taking up a crime thriller packed with grit, suspense and stylejob in Spain.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1784977810</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Shirley McKayB08Z8BMZ7H|title=1588: A Calendar The Mystery of Crime (Healing|author=A Hew Cullan Mystery)P McGrath|rating=4.5

|summary=A lot of crime happens We meet Solon in St Andrews during 1588 and therefore Pergamon in the life second century of law lecturer the common era and local investigator Hew Cullen toohe's the physician on duty at the munus - the games put on for the amusement of the populace. As we travel through The remuneration isn't high but the work gives the year with him, his recently wedded English wife Frances, doctor brother in law Giles a feeling of virtue and hones his sister Meg, skills: Solon ''wants'' the wise woman, we also encounter some of his most interesting caseswarriors to live. In fact thereIt's one quite a spectacle: the magistri are the charge hands and when we first see them, they're sprinkling gold dust onto the lions' manes to match each of make them look more impressive. The sagitarii are the archers and the beastiarii are the condemned criminals who are going to fight for their lives with the yearwild animals. Today, it's big festivals: Candlemas, Whitsun, Lammas, Martinmas and Yulethe crocodiles.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846973635</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Erle Stanley Gardner1529337925|title= The Knife Slipped|rating= 5|genre= Crime |summary= Before we begin, I must confess. Confess that I am a hardboiled noir addict. Therefore, I approach each grisly tale of murder, private detectives and femme fatales with a sense of wonder but also scepticism. ''Surely'', I think ''this one can't be as good as the last, it must have flaws, poor characters and lack the necessary grit to be a true hardboiled noir masterpiece?'' so you can imagine my trepidation when opening the Knife Slipped. I was wrong, wonderfully wrong. This book for me is the essence of the hardboiled noir genre and E.S. Gardner is a marvel. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1783299274</amazonuk>}}{{newreviewMirror Dance (Dandy Gilver)|author=Wray Delaney|title=An Almond for a ParrotCatriona McPherson

|genre=Women's FictionCrime (Historical)|summary=It was when Tully gained a step-mother that her education really started. That the August Bank Holiday weekend and, as so often happened, it was cold enough to have the beginning of fire lit and Bunty the road Dalmation wasn't inclined to leave it to discoverykeep Dandy Gilver warm on the sofa. The discovery that she can realise ghosts for others, that she can escape thought of work was almost cheering when Dandy took the call from Sandy Bissett in Dundee. She was the cruelty publisher of an alcoholic father a magazine and had been told that the discovery of man running the income Punch and pleasure her body can generate. That, Judy show in turn, leads to the rather classy Fairy House brothel local park had used copies of two of her cartoon characters - Rosie Cheek and, now, the condemned cell her sister Freckle - to drum up some local interest in Newgate Prisonhis show. As Sandy Bissett's request was simple: she awaits her fate, Tully writes her autobiography ''An Almond for wanted Gilver and Osborne to warn the man about infringement of copyright - and Dandy and Alex would be cheaper than employing a Parrot'' and allows us solicitor to read over her shoulderdo the same job.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>000818254X</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=S G MacleanB08LKT7HSR|title=The Black Friar: Damian Seeker 2Murder in the Belltower (A Miss Underhay Mystery)|author=Helena Dixon|rating=3.5

|summary=When a dead monk is In December 1933 the remains of Elowed Underhay were discovered walled into a disused monastery in the local gossip is awash cellar of the Glass Bottle Public House. Ezekiel Hamett was sought in connection with remarks on the miracle murder of Elowed and his wellhalf-preserved brother, Denzil Hammett, whose body all these years after the monastery was abandonedalso discovered. Investigator and Captain of CromwellKitty Underhay's guard Damian Seeker has other ideaslong search for her mother, who disappeared in June 1916 was over. This is a recent non-clergy death. This is Carter Blyth, a man on such a secret mission Now she's determined that even Cromwell didn't know about it. This will add complications to the already convoluted and dangerous path that Seeker man responsible for her murder will take to solve the crime, one of the complications being very close be brought to homejustice.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1782068449</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|author= M J CarterStephen Clarke|title=The Devil's FeastSpy Who Inspired Me|rating= 4.5|genre= Crime (Historical)General Fiction|summary=London, the early 1840s: the newly-opened Reform Club This is the focal point for the Liberal elitea spoof spy story, where Whigs and Radicals can co-exist in harmonythat isn't about James Bond. Or such was the intentionIan Fleming. With But it features a celebrity chef in its up to the minute kitchen, however, the club seems to have more of a reputation for its dinners than its politicsman called Ian Lemming, who dresses well and when a man dies horribly after eating one the Reform could have a problem on its hands. Particularly when it begins to look like murder. Luckily William Avery agrees to look into 'likes the matter with some urgency, but – as everyone keeps asking him – where on earth is his professional investigator friend Jeremiah Blake?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0241146364</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= George Mann (Editor)|title= Associates of Sherlock Holmes|rating= 4.5|genre= Crime (Historical)|summary=The world-famous consulting detective Sherlock Holmes needs no introduction; a redoubtable protagonist with an appeal that shows no sign of waning. ladies''Associates of Sherlock Holmes,'' however, moves the spotlight away from our hero and focuses on the exploits of some of the minor players who have featured in his adventures over works for the years. Here we get a chance to reacquaint ourselves with friends and foes alikesecret service, all keen to give their own, unique perspective of the indomitable investigator.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1783299304</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= Lindsey Davis|title= The Graveyard of the Hesperides|rating= 5|genre= Crime (Historical)|summary= Our heroine Albia's grey-eyed and broad-shouldered love interest but in this, the fourth planning side of things more than the Falco New Generation crime novels (Falco active service. Lemming finds himself has got put on the wrong side of Emperor Domitiana mission with a female spy called Margaux, and has very sensibly retired to the coast) is called Manlius – that alone should be enough to tell you reams about the wickedly sly sense of humour Ms Davis displays pair end up stranded in her novels. The setting is once again Ancient RomeNormandy, and Ms Davis provides enough local colour with Margaux on a desperate mission to create a world so convincing you could almost be there. In fact, unearth traitors in the descriptions are so vivid thatresistance network, as you pull in your skirts or bewail the fate of your brand-new sandals and Lemming desperately trying to follow our gutsy heroine into picturesque slums like the Brown Toad bar or Mucky Mule Mews, you could be forgiven for suspecting you've wandered into somewhere far more familiar, like, say, the back streets of Brum.keep up with her!|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1473613396</amazonuk>2952163855

{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=0349423083|title=Death and the Brewery Queen (Kate Shackleton Mysteries)

|title=Death at the Seaside|rating=4.5

|summary=Kate Shackleton felt that she needed a holiday runs her investigation agency from Batswing Cottage, ably assisted by Jim Sykes, who lives in Woodhouse and since it was August when her housekeeper, Mrs Sugden. She''nothing'' ever happened, she decided that it was s been approached by William Lofthouse of the ideal time to visit her friend Alma and goddaughter Felicity Barleycorn Brewery in WhitbyMasham. The timing was good too - Mrs Sugden was Something is going to visit her cousin in Scarborough wrong with his business and Jim Sykes was taking his family he'd like Kate to Robin Hoodlook into it discreetly: he's Bayhoping that his nephew and right-hand man, James Lofthouse, will be back from a trip to Germany before long. Perfect! James went to see what the continental brewers were doing and what changes Barleycorn might need to make. Well, it would have been except for William is worried that James is perhaps enjoying himself a little bit ''too'' much or is going to bring back a couple of things..German bride but he'd like the business to be ship-shape before his nephew returns.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0349406588</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Francis Duncan0241433568|title= Behold A Fair Woman|rating= 3|genre= Crime (Historical)|summary= Mordecai Tremaine is in need of a holiday. According to the blurb ''the island of Moulin d'Or seems to be just the destination'' – except the island isn't called that. Moulin d'Or is the district in the north west of the unnamed Channel Isle to which our hero has been invited by some friends of less than a year's standing: an unlikely start in itself.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1784704849</amazonuk>}}{{newreviewEight Detectives|author=J D Davies|title=Death's Bright Angel (Matthew Quinton’s Journals 6)|rating=5|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=Captain Sir Matthew Quinton of King Charles II's navy sets out for another day at work. He and his men are charged with helping to subdue the Dutch town of Westerschelling. It's only afterwards that the true consequences hit him, along with some other consequences that are and will be open to conjecture. For the year is 1666 and London is about to face a disaster that will be discussed and theorised over for centuries… Fire!|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1910400467</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Antonia Hodgson|title=A Death at Fountains Abbey (Thomas Hawkins 3)Alex Pavesi

|summary=John Aislabie thinks that Thomas Hawkins has arrived at AislabieIt's country mansion to investigate murder threats1930 and Megan and Henry are staying with Bunny at his house in Spain. ThatIt's part of it but Thomasunbearably hot and Bunny drank too much at lunch: he' main reason is s going to carry out have a command from Queen Caroline connected rest and then he wants to the recent South Sea Bubble scandaltalk to Megan and Henry about something serious. The command was phrased nicely enough, but the sinister intent was clearOnly it never gets that far: Tomwhen Bunny doesn't emerge after his siesta his guests find that he's been murdered. How can that have happened? There's failure or refusal means loss no one else in the house, so one of Kitty, them must be the person he loves most in the worldkiller. Those murder threats are a little concerning though…|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1473615097</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Anna Mazzola1473682401|title=The UnseeingTurning Tide (Dandy Gilver)|author=Catriona McPherson|rating=54

|summary=1837: Sarah Gale is found guilty Those who were with us at the end of aiding [[A Step So Grave (Dandy Gilver) by Catriona McPherson|A Step So Grave]] will remember that Donald was engaged to Mallory Dunnoch. They're now married and abetting James Greenwood in Mallory is having twins. When they arrive no one can doubt the murder charms of HannahLavinia Dahlia Cherry and her brother, his fiancéeEdward Hugh Lachlan Gilver. ItThere are two drawbacks: they're noisy and they's particularly gruesome as the body was brutally dismembered re staying with Dandy and left in various locations around LondonHugh. Bound for the gallows Dandy and fearing for the future of her young son Georgedetective partner, Sarah petitions for mercy from the Home Office and, as a resultAlec Osborne, had not taken up the Home Secretary appoints barrister Edmund Fleetwood chance to re-investigate look into a problem at the case. Edmund approaches Cramond ferry when it with an open mind was offered to them twice before, but nothing prepares him for what he'll discover and not just in suddenly the possibility of being out of the professional realmhouse at Gilverton seems irresistible.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1472234731</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|author= William SuttonSeishi Yokomizo and Louise Heal Kawai (translator)|title= Lawless and the Flowers of SinThe Honjin Murders|rating= 4|genre= Crime (Historical)|summary= Much of this To many readers, the phrase 'locked room murder mystery' is enough to make the book centres on, as we are accustomed one to in tales of Victorian London, dastardly deeds done on a foggy nightread; preferably quantified by the words 'clever' or 'good'. Indeed the fog runs thick through this novel For those who need more, draping here is the seedy events extra background – we're in a soupy broth rural Japan in the 1930s. The oldest son of vice. Our hero, Lawless, rather ironicallyan esteemed family is belatedly getting married, although the whole affair is that most rare of birdsreally not as ostentatious as it might be – hardly anybody has turned up, what with it being arranged at great haste. She only has an honest detectiveuncle representing her family, for one thing. Either way, although the celebrations have gone ahead as we learn heplanned, himself, is not without his vicesonly for the wedded couple to be slashed to death in their private annexe before the sun rises on their marriage. What becomes clear however is that he is something with a man missing parts of a social crusader when his eyes are opened to fingers being in the misery neighbourhood, and degradation faced by 'fallen' women. At its heart, the Flowers some mysterious use of Sin is a detective story, with Lawless given an impossible task to complete alongside solving a seemingly impossible crime. Along traditional musical instrument at the way he meets a rag tag bunch time of misfits who helpthe crime, hurt and hinder our hero. There is romance and intrigue along the way as well as this case has a sensational public trial, murder and episodes lot of mayhemthe peculiar about it. |amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1785650114</amazonuk>1782275002

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Cecilia EkbackB07XLM3SM6|title=In Murder at the Month of the Midnight SunDolphin Hotel|author=Helena Dixon|rating=54

|summary=1856Elowed Underhay was just twenty-seven when she disappeared from Dartmouth in June 1916, Blackasen Villageleaving her daughter, Sweden: Kitty, in the care of her grandmother. A Lapp sits surrounded by three great deal of money had been spent to find out what happened to her and the conclusion was that she was dead bodies – the vicar, a constable and one othermainly because there was no evidence to suggest otherwise. The murders coincide Kitty has come to terms with this and in 1933 she was running the arrival of Magnus Lille, a geologist sent by the Swedish government Dolphin Hotel in Dartmouth with her grandmother when her grandmother had to leave to map the mountain that gives the village its namelook after her sister who was ill. Magnus doesn't realise what he's walking into as up till now he thought his main problem She was his sister-reluctant to leave Kitty incharge -law, brought with him at his wife's fatherand Kitty could not understand why. She'salways coped with the mix of holidaymakers, (boating people and the Minister for Statenaval college on the edge of town before - and she's), insistencedone every job in the hotel. The events that will take place will cause them both sleepless nights And she particularly cannot understand why her grandmother's friends have been roped in to keep an eye on things ''and a real chance that neither will live '' why Captain Matthew Bryant has been hired to go hometake charge of security at the hotel.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444789937</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Susanna Gregory0349423067|title=A Grave Concern: The Twenty Second Chronicle of Matthew BartholomewBody on the Train (Kate Shackleton Mysteries)|author=Frances Brody|rating=4.5

|summary=Chancellor Tynkell was kindlyFrom Christmas to Easter a train ran from Leeds City Station to King's Cross, but ineffectual and everyone was stunned by his murderarriving before dawn so that the forced rhubarb it carried could be taken to Covent Garden. In early March 1929, not least because it happened very publicly - on top one of the church towerporters who was unloading the boxes discovered the body of a man, in a high wind stripped naked and with a lot no means of people watchingidentification. Then Scotland Yard hit a dead end and called on the services of Kate Shackleton in the hope that her knowledge and connections in Yorkshire would give them the murderer disappearedlead they needed. Some people saw Kate immediately found herself hamstrung: Commander Woodhead remembered her as a black cloak being blown along child and could not come to terms with the marshes outside Cambridge and swore fact that it she was the devil's work, but physician Matthew Bartholomew and Brother Michael knew better and were determined to prove it. These are not Bartholomew's only problems though: now a 'barber surgeon' (free shave or haircut woman experienced in dealing with every treatment) recently arrived from Nottingham is causing problems rather than curing illnessesmurder. His sister is struggling He was reluctant to get give her husband's tomb built by all the mason she commissioned to do information which the work: like builders everywhere throughout the ages he keeps moving from job to job and never finishing any. Then Brother Michael is offered a Bishopric - in Rochesterpolice held.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0751549797</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Bonnie MacBird1472127110|title= Art in the BloodIndian Summer: A Sherlock Holmes Adventure|rating= 4|genre= Crime (Historical) |summary= It's the winter of 1888 and Sherlock Holmes is languishing. After a devastating result concerning the mysterious Ripper investigation, Holmes can find no solace and falls back in to his troublesome relationship with cocaine. Not even his good friend Doctor Watson can cheer him – that is until an encoded letter arrives from Paris from a young French cabaret star who claims her son has vanished. Intrigued, Holmes explores the case only to uncover that the disappearance of a young boy is only the tip of the iceberg. Journeying to Paris and then to the Lancashire countryside, Holmes and Watson become involved in a dangerous investigation, concerning a prized stolen statue, child slavery, and murder – but who is the culprit behind it all?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>000812969X</amazonuk>}}{{newreviewMirabelle Bevan Mystery|author=CC Humphreys|title=FireSara Sheridan

|summary=Puritan/former Roundhead Pitman Life has changed dramatically for Mirabelle, our favourite fifties sleuth, since the war, and former highwayman/Cavalier Captain William Coke have formed a deep respect not always for each otherthe better. Their When she first mission settled in Brighton she was to track down the Fifth Monarchistsalone, an organisation out to avenge those who were found guilty rudderless and hanged secretly grieving for signing Charles I's death warrant. That was thenJack, during the Great Plaguelover who died before he could leave his wife. A mere year laterAs time went by she found in herself an ability to solve crimes, the Plague has lessened but the Fifth Monarchists are backmade friends including an ebullient and determined young woman called Vesta who refused to let a little thing like racial prejudice stop her doing what she wanted, taking Pitman's and Coke's interventions personally. We therefore find our heroes defending themselves, their families, even found consolation in the monarch, and, on top arms of that, a new disaster is about to hit the capitalrather charming policeman. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780891458</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Indrek Hargla and Christopher Moseley (translator)1912374439|title= Apothecary Melchior and the Ghost of Rataskaevu StreetThe Courier|ratingauthor= 5|genre= Crime Kjell Ola Dahl and Don Bartlett (Historicaltranslator)|summary=In fifteenth century Tallinn religion and superstition sit side by side. In the midst of this is scientifically-minded apothecary Melchior Wakenstede, known for his curiosity, logical thinking, and ability to solve murders. There are rumours of a ghost a few doors down from Melchior on Rataskaevu Street, though he's not as ready to believe in it as some of his neighbours. When several people die after saying they'd seen the ghost, Melchior can't resist looking for the connection between them and trying to discover the truth behind the tales.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0720618452</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Jennifer Donnelly|title=These Shallow Graves

|summary=Jennifer Donnelly wrote one of my allNazi-time favourite booksoccupied Oslo, 1942. There, I've given the game away. For in a book that centres around a murder, I'A Gathering Light''ve told you who did it – the Nazis, surely? Well, so I was very excited that certainly has to remain to read be seen in this volume, which splits its time between one of war, when a young woman sees her latest novel father arrested, and their store condemned as Jewish and rushes to her best friend to help – not knowing she will never see how it comparedher alive again, and the late 1960s, when great consternation is being felt. Like ''A Gathering Light''In this timeline, ''These Shallow Graves'' a maverick agent is a historical novel back in town, one who might have been fingered for murdering that female victim, even though she and he lived together with their baby as a murder mystery at its heart and a feisty heroine who challenges the standards of young family, except he was thought by all to have died in the day. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1471405176</amazonuk>War…

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Lloyd Shepherd1786075431|title=The Detective Mrs Mohr Goes Missing|author=Maryla Szymiczkova and the Devil Antonia Lloyd-Jones (Charles Horton 4translator)|rating=3.5

|summary=1855: Only Meet Zofia. A socially climbing wife of a few years after the notorious Highways Murderer left his mark on Londonmedical professor, she's docksintent on making herself known as a charitable lady, Constable Charles Horton and keen on her husband progressing yet through his esteemed career. In 1890s Cracow, life is called back to the areapretty good, but she knows it could always be better. The disturbing murder Meanwhile, other people's life could certainly be better – cholera is nearing the city due to lack of hygiene, and many people have to fall on charity and almshouses to keep a clerk roof over their heads. One such was Mrs Mohr, although she was rich enough to keep private lodgings and his family bears the trademark of the serial killer but Hortonstaff in her charitable home. I say ''was''s sure he, for she has vanished. Only due to Zofia's already help does she get found, dead; Horton saw him dieand in a place the near-lame woman could never reach by herself. At this point the hunt for Just who could be killing people in a devil incarnate beginscharity home, taking Horton and his wife Abigail to what end? And why does Zofia feel the other side of the world and the darker side of an untouchable Victorian institution: The East India Company.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1471136124</amazonuk>|amazonus=<amazonus>1471136124</amazonus>need to make a name for herself by answering those questions?

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Martin Edwards (editor)1786893762|title=Murder at the Manor: Country House Mysteries (British Library Crime Classics)Things in Jars|author=Jess Kidd

|summary=I'm not big A child has gone missing. The detective asked to take on short storiesthe case is still struggling with the shame and frustration left by a previous case, but two factors nudged me towards this bookwhere the child was not found in time. Hardly original themes for a private eye thriller. And yet . . . take another look. FirstlyThis detective is a woman, it's broadly golden age crimeand the setting is Victorian London, one with all the rich and colourful paradoxes of my weaknesses that era: technical and scientific progress jostling for space beside superstition and a fascination with the bizarre and secondlythe downright hideous. And before you're more than a couple of pages in, the editor you realise just how much more unusual our heroine is [[:Category:Martin Edwards|Martin Edwards]]than you expected. Bridie Devine may dress in half-mourning, with a man whose knowledge of golden age crime is probably unsurpassed and hewidow's done us proudcap and stout, not only with his selectionshiny boots, but the tobacco she smokes in her pipe (my dear, what an utterly ''fast'' thing for a lady to do!) is mixed with the half-page biographies a nugget of the writerssomething, well, let's say recreational, which precede each storycreated by her chemist friend Prudhoe. ThereThe fact that it's just enough there actually meant to allow you to place cure bronchial problems is by the author and to direct you to other works if you're temptedby. Her housemaid, being seven-foot-tall, is also somewhat remarkable. ItAnd then, of course, there's an elegant selection, from the well known and the less well knownghost. Ruby Doyle, world-famous tattooed boxer (deceased) accompanies Bridie all set in through her investigation, and around it's clear he has a soft spot for the country housedetermined young woman. If he really exists, that is.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0712309934</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|author= A J MacKenzie|title= The Body on the Doorstep|rating= 4.5|genre= Crime (Historical)|summary=On the marshes of Kent in the late eighteenth century, Reverend Hardcastle discovers a dying man on his doorstep. Narrowly escaping a bullet himself, he is entrusted with the dying man's last words which leave him questioning the mystery behind this anonymous man's death. With smugglers rife along the Kent coast, it seems as though it was a simple falling out amongst thieves, but the Reverend believes the answer to this crime lies deeper. Assisted by the brilliant Mrs Chaytor they set off to solve the mystery – but with smugglers lurking all through the county and the French threatening to invade, there are unsuspected dangers around every corner.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1785761137</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|authorisbn=Gavin Scott0349414327|title=The Age of Treachery|rating=4|genre=Crime (Historical)|summary=In the winter of 1946 Duncan Forrester, formerly of the Special Operations Executive, was back at his Oxford college as a junior fellow in Ancient History. He'd lost the woman he loved to the Gestapo and was now feeling guilty about the fact that he was besotted with the wife of his best friend, a fellow academic. To confuse matters further the woman in question, Margaret Clark, had been having an affair with another lecturer, David Lyall and it seemed likely that she would leave her husband for him.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1783297808</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= E S Thomson|title= Beloved Poison|rating= 4.5|genre= Crime (Historical)|summary=St Savior's is a crumbling infirmary – its walls stuffed with ambition, jealousy and hatred. Six tiny coffins, each containing dried flowers and mouldering rags, are uncovered inside the decaying chapel. A silent outsider, with secrets of her own to hide, is determined to discover the truth. And in a trail that leads from the bloody worlds of dissecting table and operating theatre, through to the squalor Snapshot of Newgate Prison and its gallows, Jem Flockhart faces a ruthless adversary. As the destruction of St Savior's looms, the dead are unearthed, the living are forced into impossible decisions – and murder is the price for secrets to be kept…|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1472122275</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= George Mann|title= The Osiris Ritual: A Newbury and Hobbes Investigation|rating= 3|genre= Crime Murder (HistoricalKate Shackleton Mysteries)|summary=Sir Maurice Newbury, his majesty's special agent, and his assistant Miss Veronica Hobbes are on the case once more. When a group of well-to-do explorers return from an Egyptian expedition, they unveil a mummy and unleash an ancient mystery. Soon the explorers are being picked off one by one and Newbury must solve the mystery if he is to catch the culprit. But there's more than one brute on the loose, while Newbury attempts to track down a rogue agent, Veronica takes the case of disappearing women into her own hands with dangerous consequences … |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1783298251</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Sir Arthur Conan Doyle|title=Sherlock: The Essential Arthur Conan Doyle AdventuresFrances Brody

|summary=There can be few people who haven't heard of Sherlock Holmes, whether in the guise of the original stories or subsequent film Even detectives need a break and television adaptations including the most recent series starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freemanfor Kate Shackleton, who are pictured on photography gives her the dust cover of ''Sherlock: The Essential Arthur Conan Doyle Adventures''. It's this most recent series mental relaxation which has widened the fan base of the stories and many of them won't have copies of the original stories to handshe needs. My own copy is a 1959 reprint of When the 1929 edition which had four stories in one volumelocal Photographic Society proposed an outing, but this current volume has nineteen stories in Kate was keen to take the one book.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1785940163</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Margery Allingham|title=Sweet Danger|rating=3.5|genre=Crime (Historical)|summary=''Sweet Danger'' is the fifth book in Margery Allingham's ''Campion'' seriesopportunity to visit Haworth and Stanbury, which has our eponymous gentleman-adventurer on a quest to find not least because the rightful heir deeds of a suddenly-valuable principality on the Adriatic Sea known as Averna. The British Government want proof of ownership and this, of course, involves overcoming several obstacles, including Brontë Parsonage are being handed over so that it can become a curious riddle, collecting various items museum and keeping one step ahead of her parents will be there for the enemyevent. The quest soon becomes a race against time What could be better than seeing her family, when the villains, led by Machiavellian schemer Brett Savanake, start to close in on our heroes.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099474689</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= Margery Allingham|title= Mystery Mile|rating= 5|genre=Crime (Historical)|summary= On witnessing a transatlantic liner, an American points out Crowdy Lobbett momentous event and predicts that he will have been murdered within a fortnight. Indeed he places a bet on it. It seems like a safe bet: retired Judge Lobbett has been having the subject of four near misses so far: four attempts on his life that have misfired and killed someone close to him. His children have persuaded him opportunity to take a trip to England in an attempt to keep him somewhat safer, photographs of the setting for a while at least''Wuthering Heights''? Nothing could go wrong.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099474697</amazonuk> Or could it?