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[[Category:New Reviews|Crime (Historical)]]==Crime (historical)==__NOTOC__ <!-- Remove -->{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Dicky Neely and Paul R Spiring (Editor)0571370977|title=The Case of the Grave Accusation: A Sherlock Holmes AdventureLock-Up|author=John Banville|rating=34

|summary=Much It's six months since the dramatic events which we read about in the way that legend says that King Arthur will return when his country needs him, Sherlock Holmes [[April in Spain by John Banville|April in Spain]] and Dr Watson have returned because an accusation has been made against their creatorQuirke is now back in Dublin and living (if somewhat uneasily) with his daughter, Sir Arthur Conan DoylePhoebe. The charge worst of his grief is that over but he irrationally blames DI St John Strafford for what happened and this has made the great man plagiarised already strained relationship between them more difficult. They''The Hound re brought together by Chief Inspector Hackett when the body of the Baskervilles'' from his great friend Bertram Fletcher Robinson – and then went on to commit adulterya young, Jewish scholar, Rosa Jacobs, blackmail and murder is found in order to conceal what he had donea lock-up. HolmesAt first, it looked as though she' rooms in Baker Street have not changed a great deal – if one can overlook the addition of a desktop computer and better plumbing – d gassed herself but Quirke is convinced that it's not long before the pair are off to Dartmoor to discover the truthwas murder rather than suicide.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908218819</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=John Buchan1529337968|title=The Thirty-nine StepsIn Place of Fear|author=Catriona McPherson|rating=45

|summary=Ask anyone about It'The Thritys July 1948 and Helen Crowther is due to start work as a qualified medical almoner the following morning -nine Stepson the day that the NHS is born. She' ll be working for Dr Deuchar and I guarantee they'll Dr Strasser in their GP surgery and her job will be able to tell you it's a spy story help patients with Richard Hannay at its heartthose non-medical problems which affect their health. Most people The hardest part of the job will be able to tell you how it startspersuade people that the services she offers really are free and that they don't have to do anything to qualify for them. But when you ask, 'Yes, Some of the problems will require delicate handling but what ARE the 39 Steps?' Helen has a problem of her own which might give her some insight. most people will falterHer marriage has never been consummated.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846971985</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Tracy Revels057136358X|title=Shadowfall: A Novel of Sherlock HolmesApril in Spain|author=John Banville|rating=4.5

|summary=You remember Sherlock Holmes, yes? Deerstalker, pipe, leetle grey cells… (Oh, sorryTerry Tice was a hitman, although he didn't think of himself in those terms. He saw what he did as ''a matter of making things tidy''. I couldn't resist the thought that he was Poirotan extreme version of Marie Kondo. He enjoyed his job, but same kind something which occurred to him when he was in Burma with the army ''where he got the chance to kill a lot of the little yellow fellows and had a fine old time''. He was spending a lot of deductive ability), naked wingedtime with Percy Antrobus -woman on, or at least floating above, who couldn't understand why Terry didn't know the sofa purpose of a swizzle stick - surely he wouldn't drink champagne with bubbles in Baker Street… wait the ''morning''? It was after Percy's death that he saw the benefits of taking up a minute? Seriously?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908218258</amazonuk>job in Spain.

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Gerard KellyB08Z8BMZ7H|title=The Outstanding Mysteries Mystery of Sherlock HolmesHealing|author=A P McGrath

|summary=IWe meet Solon in Pergamon in the second century of the common era and he's the physician on duty at the munus - the games put on for the amusement of the populace. The remuneration isn'll spare people t high but the work gives the details doctor a feeling of Holmes virtue and Watson as crime-solvers – Ihones his skills: Solon ''wants''m assuming anyone likely the warriors to pick this one up is probably familiar with live. It's quite a spectacle: the magistri are the charge hands and when we first see them, they're sprinkling gold dust onto the Victorian duolions' manes to make them look more impressive. This is generally very faithful to The sagitarii are the Arthur Conan Doyle originals archers and the best stories in this set of thirteen sound authentic enough beastiarii are the condemned criminals who are going to take fight for their place alongside some of lives with the wild animals. Today, it's the canoncrocodiles.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908218673</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Kate Workman1529337925|title=Rendezvous at the Populaire : A Novel of Sherlock HolmesThe Mirror Dance (Dandy Gilver)|author=Catriona McPherson|rating=34.5

|summary=After chasing his arch-enemy Moriarty without success on a It was the August Bank Holiday weekend and, as so often happened, it was cold night in November 1882, Sherlock Holmes is left maimed enough to have the fire lit and unable Bunty the Dalmation wasn't inclined to leave it to walk without keep Dandy Gilver warm on the sofa. The thought of work was almost cheering when Dandy took the call from Sandy Bissett in Dundee. She was the use publisher of a cane. Despondent, he decides magazine and had been told that the man running the Punch and Judy show in the local park had used copies of two of her cartoon characters - Rosie Cheek and her sister Freckle - to give drum up some local interest in his career as a detective – but is talked into taking an extra special case, as show. Sandy Bissett's request was simple: she wanted Gilver and Osborne to warn the man about infringement of copyright - and Dandy and Alex would be cheaper than employing a Madame Giry comes across the Channel solicitor to beg his help with do the mysterious 'ghost' which is terrorising the Opera Populaire…|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908218703</amazonuk>same job.

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Carole BuggeB08LKT7HSR|title=The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: Star of IndiaMurder in the Belltower (A Miss Underhay Mystery)|author=Helena Dixon

|summary=A woman with a distinguished scent about her appears flustered at a concert recitalIn December 1933 the remains of Elowed Underhay were discovered in the cellar of the Glass Bottle Public House. A famous landlady gets kidnapped while on an innocent holiday to Ezekiel Hamett was sought in connection with the west country. A malformed, brilliant modernmurder of Elowed and his half-day alchemist gets murdered. There is only one personbrother, who famously went over a certain Alpine waterfallDenzil Hammett, who could piece all this and more into a threat to the Royalty and Empire itselfwhose body was also discovered. But there is also only one personKitty Underhay's long search for her mother, who famously seemed to have stayed dead disappeared in going June 1916 was over the same Alpine waterfall, with the strength of mind to put the whole game into play.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857681214</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Philip Jose Farmer|title=The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: The Peerless Peer|rating=4.5|genre=Crime (Historical)|summary=It Now she's World War One, and Britain has got wind of some brilliant scientific research, determined that has created a new bacterial weapon capable of wiping out the world's supply of sauerkraut. But a dastardly German has stolen the formula. Before he can give a variant based on boiled meat, cabbage and potatoes to the kaiser, his most recent nemesis - Sherlock Holmes, no less - must man responsible for her murder will be brought out of beekeeping retirement. Cue an adventure and a half, as he and Watson take to the skies for the first time in their hectic lives, end up in darkest Africa, and encounter a certain yodelling, long-haired nobleman, more than up to the name of King of the Jungle..justice.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857681206</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Rory ClementsStephen Clarke|title=John Shakespeare: PrinceThe Spy Who Inspired Me

|genre=Historical General Fiction|summary=This is a spoof spy story, that isn't about James Bond. Or Ian Fleming. But it features a man called Ian Lemming, who dresses well and 'likes the ladies' and who works for the third secret service, but in the excellent Elizabethan murder mystery series, featuring John Shakespeare, brother planning side of Willthings more than the active service. An inexplicable murder is linked to Lemming finds himself put on a mission with a much deeper plot of political dimensionsfemale spy called Margaux, leading Shakespeare into danger and tragedy. A series of bombingsthe pair end up stranded in Normandy, which appear with Margaux on a desperate mission to be targeting unearth traitors in the immigrant population causes huge unrest and fearresistance network, and leads Lemming desperately trying to the uncovering of further political dimensions.keep up with her!|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1848544251</amazonuk>2952163855

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Anne Perry0349423083|title=Betrayal at Lisson GroveDeath and the Brewery Queen (Kate Shackleton Mysteries)|author=Frances Brody

|summary=After recently reading Perry's [[Acceptable Loss Kate Shackleton runs her investigation agency from Batswing Cottage, ably assisted by Anne Perry|Acceptable Loss]] Jim Sykes, who lives in Woodhouse and thoroughly enjoying ither housekeeper, I was looking forward to reading this book and hoping it would be as good as readMrs Sugden. The novel opens with Pitt, Special Branch, She's been approached by William Lofthouse of the Barleycorn Brewery in the midst of frenzied action trying to catch a suspectMasham. Suspected of murder, Something is going wrong with his business and he'd like Kate to look into itdiscreetly: he's imperative hoping that he's caught. They weave between crowdshis nephew and right-hand man, duck through alleysJames Lofthouse, but their best efforts are simply not good enough. The man is not caught. He's free will be back from a trip to strike againGermany before long. This all makes for a good, old-fashioned chase as Pitt makes up his mind James went to board a ferry for France, believing that's where see what the suspect could be headingcontinental brewers were doing and what changes Barleycorn might need to make. Pitt William is extremely thorough and meticulous in all matters of policing but this may very well bode ill later on in the story. We learn of deep unrest in parts of the world: Europe and Ireland in particular. And Perry worried that James is good at giving her readers perhaps enjoying himself a little palatable history here and there, bit ''too'' much or is going to keep us all in bring back a German bride but he'd like the loopbusiness to be ship-shape before his nephew returns.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>075537682X</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Anne Perry0241433568|title=Acceptable LossEight Detectives|author=Alex Pavesi|rating=4.5

|summary=I must admit to not taking to the rather stylized front cover It's 1930 and Megan and nor did I take to the titleHenry are staying with Bunny at his house in Spain. I got the initial impression that this novel was going to be all about heaving bosoms It's unbearably hot and manly men without Bunny drank too much substance. Was I right though? I gave a bit of a sigh as I started on chapter one. Straight away we meet two of the central characters, Mr and Mrs Monk. Mrs Monk (Hester) seems at lunch: he's going to have brought a local street urchin into her lovely home. All sounds a bit odd rest and also a bit intriguing. Perry back-tracks a little for the benefit of her readers then he wants to talk to Megan and lets us know how this situation has come Henry aboutsomething serious. The boy is street-wise but heOnly it never gets that far: when Bunny doesn's also now desperate for a warm, safe bed and regular meals if t emerge after his siesta his guests find that he's luckybeen murdered. He's had a dreadful life up till now and has somehow survived a terrible ordeal - and yes, you could say How can that ithave happened? There's no one else in the stuff house, so one of nightmares. I loved his name - Scuff and I automatically called him Scruff in my head, every timethem must be the killer.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0755376846</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Alan Bradley1473682401|title=A Red Herring Without MustardThe Turning Tide (Dandy Gilver)|author=Catriona McPherson|rating=4.5

|summary=Eleven year old Flavia Those who were with us at the end of [[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 Mallory is having twins. When they arrive no one can doubt the youngest daughter charms of the de Luce family Lavinia Dahlia Cherry and her brother, Edward Hugh Lachlan Gilver. There are two drawbacks: they're noisy and she doesnthey't get on all that well re staying with her elder sisters, Feely (Ophelia) Dandy and Daffy (Daphne)Hugh. It could be rather lonely for her as her father is an eccentric stamp collector Dandy and her mother died in detective partner, Alec Osborne, had not taken up the chance to look into a problem at the Himalayas some ten years Cramond ferry when it was offered to them twice before, but she has her faithful bicycle, Gladys, for company and when she's not doing some sleuthing she's tinkering in her laboratory, where she has enough chemicals and poisons to give suddenly the possibility of being out of the modern-day Health and Safety person a heart attackhouse at Gilverton seems irresistible.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0752897152</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Cassandra ClarkSeishi Yokomizo and Louise Heal Kawai (translator)|title=Abbess of Meaux: The Law of AngelsHonjin Murders

|genre=Crime (Historical)|summary=A widow To many readers, the phrase 'locked room murder mystery' is enough to make the book one to read; preferably quantified by the words 'clever' or 'good'. For those who remarried need more, here is the extra background – we're in rural Japan in the Middle Ages became1930s. The oldest son of an esteemed family is belatedly getting married, once againalthough the whole affair is really not as ostentatious as it might be – hardly anybody has turned up, subject to what with it being arranged at great haste. She only has an uncle representing her husbandfamily, and many women of independent means preferredfor one thing. Either way, thereforethe celebrations have gone ahead as planned, only for the greater financial freedom afforded by taking wedded couple to be slashed to death in their private annexe before the veilsun rises on their marriage. After the death What with a man missing parts of her husband Hildegard joins his fingers being in the Cisterciansneighbourhood, one and some mysterious use of the richest and most powerful groups in Europe a traditional musical instrument at the timeof the crime, and sets out to found this case has a small convent near her childhood home. Chance leads her to investigate the death lot of several men whose bodies she finds on her way, and in each subsequent book in the series she finds herself yet again risking her life to investigate and solve crimespeculiar about it.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>074900942X</amazonuk>1782275002

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Robert DinsdaleB07XLM3SM6|title=Three Miles|rating=4.5|genre=General Fiction|summary=Captain Abraham Matthews is so desperate to catch Murder at the villainous Albie Crowe and bring the youngster to justice that some people would say he was obsessed. After six months, Matthews has finally tracked down his prey, and captures him just three miles from the police station. But with Albie's boys trying to rescue him, other men without Abraham's moral compass more interested in vengeance than justice, and the Luftwaffe dropping bombs on Leeds, this is set to be the longest three miles of either of their lives...|amazonuk=<amazonuk>057126025X</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewDolphin Hotel|author=Ben Pastor|title=LumenHelena Dixon

|summary=CracowElowed Underhay was just twenty-seven when she disappeared from Dartmouth in June 1916, Polandleaving her daughter, Kitty, October 1939: The Germans have recently occupied Poland and are seeking to establish their authority. Captain Martin Bora of the Wehrmacht (the German army) has just arrived in the city from the battlefield to take up a posting to Intelligencecare of her grandmother. His boss asks Bora A great deal of money had been spent to drive him find out what happened to a convent every day to see her and the renowned Abbessconclusion was that she was dead, rumoured mainly because there was no evidence to have mystic suggest otherwise. Kitty has come to terms with this and healing powers. A few days later, though, in 1933 she is found shot dead was running the Dolphin Hotel in the grounds of Dartmouth with her grandmother when her convent. Bora is asked grandmother had to leave to investigate and report backlook after her sister who was ill. He proceeds She was reluctant to investigate who shot her leave Kitty in charge - and Kitty could not understand why. She's always coped with the mix of holidaymakers, but as his investigation continues, there are more questions for Bora boating people and the naval college on the edge of town before - and she's done every job in the readerhotel. Where does this case fit And she particularly cannot understand why her grandmother's friends have been roped in with the priorities to keep an eye on things ''and'' why Captain Matthew Bryant has been hired to take charge of security at the occupying forces?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1904738664</amazonuk>hotel.

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Frank Tallis0349423067|title=Death and The Body on the Maiden|rating=3|genre=Crime Train (HistoricalKate Shackleton Mysteries)|summary=Just to clear the confusion out of the way, this book has nothing to do with the novel of the [[Death and the Maiden by Gladys Mitchell|same name]] by Gladys Mitchell. Both take their name from an early Schubert piece, in which Death entices the Maiden to leave the world of men. The maiden resists. It was a common enough theme at the time: the death of beauty.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846053579</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=C J Sansom|title=Dark FireFrances Brody|rating=4.5

|summary=1540 was From Christmas to Easter a train ran from Leeds City Station to King's Cross, arriving before dawn so that the hottest summer forced rhubarb it carried could be taken to Covent Garden. In early March 1929, one of the sixteenth century but Matthew Shardlake porters who was doing his best to hold his legal practice together, which was made more difficult by unloading the boxes discovered the fact that he believed himself to be out body of favour a man, stripped naked and with Thomas Cromwellno means of identification. He tried to keep Scotland Yard hit a low profile but when he defended dead end and called on the accused services of Kate Shackleton in a most unpopular case – the hope that of a girl accused of brutally murdering her cousin – he knowledge and connections in Yorkshire would give them the lead they needed. Kate immediately found herself hamstrung: Commander Woodhead remembered her as a child and could not come to terms with the fact that the king's chief minister had she was now a new assignment for himwoman experienced in dealing with murder. Unless he could solve Cromwell's problem his client He was likely reluctant to die a slow and nasty deathgive her all the information which the police held.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0330450786</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=D E Meredith1472127110|title=DevouredIndian Summer: a Mirabelle Bevan Mystery|author=Sara Sheridan

|summary=It is Life has changed dramatically for Mirabelle, our favourite fifties sleuth, since the 1850swar, and religion and science are at warnot always for the better. Hatton and Roumonde carry out investigations When she first settled in the morgueBrighton she was alone, rudderless and even at crime scenes, but their findings are seen as of little value in Victorian England. Indeed, to many of their colleaguessecretly grieving for Jack, what they do to the human body is downright blasphemouslover who died before he could leave his wife. They struggle on, sending begging letters As time went by she found in herself an ability to rich patrons so they can buy equipmentsolve crimes, made friends including an ebullient and trying determined young woman called Vesta who refused to persuade the police to accept the findings of their autopsies, but they make slow progress. In this engrossing caselet a little thing like racial prejudice stop her doing what she wanted, their efforts are rewarded and they are called even found consolation in by Inspector Adams of Scotland Yard to help with the murder arms of Lady Blessingham, who has had her head smashed in with a fossil. This immediately plunges them into a series of murders, each more bizarre and horrible than the last, which are all connected to theories of evolution and the creation of the worldrather charming policeman.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>031255768X</amazonuk>

 {{newreview|author=Stefanie Pintoff|title=In the Shadow of Gotham|rating=4|genre=Crime (Historical)|summary='Never Judge… ' Every time I look into the Bookbag to see if there's anything I fancy, I should remind myself: 'Never judge a book by its cover'. Pintoff's first novel in the Simon Ziele series, indeed her first published novel, 'In The Shadow of Gotham' is yet another of those ill-served by both its title and its cover. In fairness Americans are probably more familiar with Gotham as a nickname for New York City than we Brits – to whom it simply conjures up variations on a theme of Batman.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0141399708</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Giulio Leoni and Shaun Whiteside1912374439|title=The Kingdom of Light|rating=3|genre=Crime (Historical)|summary=Famous poet Dante is at present the prior of Florence, which gives him responsibility for investigating crime. Several murders occur in quick succession - there must be a connection… but how, why? I approached this book with excitement. The underlying premise seemed to be interesting - take a famous character and place them in situations unknown to us. The portents were good! (Can you feel, a ''but''?)|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099516462</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewCourier|author=Shona Maclean|title=A Game of Sorrows|rating=4|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=Two years have passed since [[The Redemption of Alexander Seaton by Shona Maclean|Alexander Seaton]] found his redemption. He is comfortably settled in his life at the University, about to be sent on the academic expedition of a lifetime, and wondering how best to ask the woman he loves to be his wife. Then a case of mistaken identity, which almost costs him his love Kjell Ola Dahl and the respect of his friends leads Alexander to discover he has a cousin in town – the son of his late mother's brother, come from Ireland to seek his help.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1849162441</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=C J Sansom|title=Heartstone (Matthew Shardlake)|rating=5|genre=Crime Don Bartlett (Historicaltranslator)|summary=Henry VIII was not one to ponder on his failings but his recent invasion of France had gone completely wrong and the French fleet was preparing to cross the Channel and invade England. The only way that Henry could raise the money to gather a large militia army was to debase the currency and the country was put in the grip of raging inflation and economic crisis. Meanwhile the English fleet gathered at Portsmouth.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1405092734</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Simon Brett|title=Blotto, Twinks and the Dead Dowager Duchess

|summary=Nazi-occupied Oslo, 1942. There is , I've given the game away. For in a book that centres around a long tradition of country house murder novels, and Simon Brett I've told you who did it – the Nazis, surely? Well, that certainly has a glorious to remain to be seen in this volume, which splits its time parodying them in the Blotto and Twinks series. All the stock characters are there: the dim but honourable young manbetween one of war, the clever and emancipated when a young womansees her father arrested, the loyal lower orders and the dastardly (their store condemned as Jewish and rushes to her best friend to help – not knowing she will never see her alive again, and preferably foreign) villains. Death is treated in the most light-heartedlate 1960s, almost off-hand manner, and danger when great consternation is as regular an occurrence as kippers for breakfastbeing felt. In hands as experienced as Simon Brett's this should be timeline, a rich mine maverick agent is back in town, one who might have been fingered for comedymurdering that female victim, even though she and to some extent it is, but stillhe lived together with their baby as a young family, it has except he was thought by all to be said, something is lacking.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1849013179</amazonuk>have died in the War…

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Alan Wright1786075431|title=Act of Murder|rating=4|genre=Crime (Historical)|summary=In 1894 Wigan was having a feast of cultural entertainment. The Morgan-Drew players from London were presenting a celebrated Victorian melodrama, but nearby the Richard Throstle Magic Lantern Company was presenting a ghoulish extravaganza called ''Phantasmagoria''. They're at opposite ends of the cultural scale but the town was just recovering from the recent miners' strike and it seemed that happily there might be something for everyone. It wasn't to last though as the town is soon in turmoil after a gruesome murder. Detective Sergeant Samuel Slevin of the Wigan Borough Police is called in to investigate and soon discovers that much is not as it seems.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846971675</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewMrs Mohr Goes Missing|author=Guy Fraser|title=Avenging the Dead|rating=3.5|genre=General Fiction|summary=It's 1863 Maryla Szymiczkova and the Superintendent covering the inner city area of Glasgow has his hands full. First off an alarming forgery scandal has just been discovered and no sooner has he drawn breath than one, two and counting suspicious deaths occur. Instinctively, I want to say that it's all good, clean fun. Because it is. The language Fraser uses is very much of that era which lends the book a particular oldAntonia Lloyd-fashioned and rather twee, charm. It's all over the book in spades. On almost every page. Let me give you just one endearing example of the flavour of the book 'None of Mrs Maitland's four regulars at her superior guest house for single gentlemen would even dream of taking another's seat ...'|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0709090684</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Norman Russell|title=The Calton PapersJones (translator)

|summary=Philip Garamond had had an abiding interest in botany since his teens and when we first meet him heMeet Zofia. A socially climbing wife of a medical professor, she's intent on making herself known as a charitable lady, and keen on her husband progressing yet through his way to Sothebyesteemed career. In 1890s Cracow, life is pretty good, but she knows it could always be better. Meanwhile, other people's intent life could certainly be better – cholera is nearing the city due to lack of hygiene, and many people have to fall on making charity and almshouses to keep a bid roof over their heads. One such was Mrs Mohr, although she was rich enough to keep private lodgings and staff in her charitable home. I say ''was'', for the Calton Papersshe has vanished. Sir George CaltonOnly due to Zofia's papers include an unpublished account of Darwin's explorations on the Beaglehelp does she get found, some letters dead and in a geographical survey of place the British Islesnear-lame woman could never reach by herself. Garamond's ambition had always been to own Just who could be killing people in a botanical garden on Madeiracharity home, but he lacked the funds and to what end? And why does Zofia feel the Calton Papers seemed need to be as close as he would get to owning something special.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0709089546</amazonuk>make a name for herself by answering those questions?

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Cora Harrison 1786893762|title=Writ Things in Stone (Burren Mysteries)Jars|author=Jess Kidd|rating=4.5

|summary=Once again we are transported back A child has gone missing. The detective asked to medieval Irelandtake on the case is still struggling with the shame and frustration left by a previous case, where the child was not found in time. Hardly original themes for a private eye thriller. And yet . . . take another look. This detective is a woman, following and the life setting is Victorian London, with all the rich and times colourful paradoxes of that era: technical and scientific progress jostling for space beside superstition and a fascination with the bizarre and the charismatic lady judgedownright hideous. And before you're more than a couple of pages in, Marrayou realise just how much more unusual our heroine is than you expected. Bridie Devine may dress in half-mourning, with a widow's cap and stout, shiny boots, but the tobacco she smokes in her fiancé King Turlough . A violent and horrific murder sets the stage pipe (my dear, what an utterly ''fast'' thing for a dramatic prelude lady to do!) is mixed with a nugget of something, well, let's say recreational, created by her chemist friend Prudhoe. The fact that it's actually meant to cure bronchial problems is by the by. Her housemaid, being seven-foot-tall, is also somewhat remarkable. And then, of course, there's the happy coupleghost. Ruby Doyle, world-famous tattooed boxer (deceased) accompanies Bridie all through her investigation, and it's nuptials!|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0727868128</amazonuk>clear he has a soft spot for the determined young woman. If he really exists, that is.

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Imogen Robertson0349414327|title=Instruments A Snapshot of Darkness|rating=4|genre=Crime (Historical)|summary=The lively heart of this book is Harriet Westerman. Harriet is a capable woman and manager of her family's estate in Sussex, while her husband Murder (a naval Commodore) is away at sea. Her neighbours at Thornleigh Hall are a titled family in decline: the owner is crippled, his heir is missing, and his second son is an alcoholic. Against this background Harriet finds the body of a dead stranger holding a ring displaying the Thornleigh arms. Meanwhile, in London, a young father is murdered in his music shop. Harriet's actions uncover a link. She turns for help to Gabriel Crowther, an anatomist and reclusive recent arrival in the area. Their enquiries allow the author to paint a wide ranging picture of life in Georgian England, and to tell a rollicking good tale reminiscent of Daphne du Maurier. Robertson uses her knowledge of the period with a light touch: the level of detail advances the plot without overcomplicating the story.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0755348397</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Cora Harrison |title=The Sting of Justice (Burren Mysteries)|rating=4|genre=Crime (Historical)|summary=Having recently read and reviewed Cora Harrison's [[Michaelmas Tribute (Burren Kate Shackleton Mysteries) by Cora Harrison|second Burren mystery]], it was with great excitement that I noticed that Bookbag had the third in the series available to review! I had a strong suspicion that a treat was in store for me-and I was not disappointed.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1405092270</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Cora Harrison|title=Michaelmas Tribute (Burren Mysteries)Frances Brody|rating=4|genre=Crime (Historical) |summary=Several surprising murders in the kingdom of the Burren, on the Western coast of Ireland, lead our heroine (Mara) on a tortuous quest for the truth. Were the killings unpremeditated - or brought about through resentment, greed and the desire for revenge? Aided by her scholars in the Law School, Mara doggedly pursues the truth, to bring 16th century justice to her community.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0330446460</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Lindsey Davis|title=Alexandria|rating=4|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=Marcus Didius Falco, a professional informer working for the Emperor Vespasian, has been to many places in his time, but for once he's on a family outing. Well, mostly. An 'informal commission' (read: no money) from Vespasian finds Falco at the Great Library in Alexandria uncovering his usual brand of intrigue, murder and incongruous mayhem. And getting to know a crocodile.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846052874</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Alanna Knight|title=Murder in Paradise|rating=5|genre=Crime|summary=It is 1860. Constable Jeremy Faro, much to his chagrin, is lifted from his Edinburgh beat and dispatched to Kent to pick up the trail of the master criminal, MacHeath. All too aware of MacHeath's genius for evasion, Faro goes through the motions of finding him, only to become embroiled in a local case of petty theft, which might be connected to the disappearance of a young girl. At the same time, he discovers a terrifying secret about his best friend's wife-to-be. Are all of these events connected, and has the demonic MacHeath really fled, after all?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0749079436</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Andrew Martin |title=Death on a Branch Line|rating=4

|summary=Like all the best literary Even detectives, Jim Stringer is need a mixture of know-all break and know-nothingfor Kate Shackleton, photography gives her the mental relaxation which she needs. As an ex-railway worker he can identify when When the local young firemen are over-stoking their engines. He can't figure out whyPhotographic Society proposed an outing, thoughKate was keen to take the opportunity to visit Haworth and Stanbury, in not least because the sweltering heat deeds of the summer of 1911. He is well used to solving heinous crimes – this is the fifth book he's been in, after all. But he is not used to criminals stopping Brontë Parsonage are being handed over in the York station he works at as so that it can become a traffic policeman, on their way to museum and her parents will be there for the gallowsevent. And when he asks of What could be better than seeing her family, witnessing a condemned aristocrat if momentous event and having the man did it, he is certainly not used opportunity to take photographs of the answer being setting for ''I don't knowWuthering Heights''? Nothing could go wrong.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0571229670</amazonuk> Or could it?

{{newreview|author=C J Sansom |title=Revelation (Matthew Shardlake 4)|rating=5 |genre=Crime (Historical)|summary=Matthew Shardlake is an enigmatic lawyer, shunned and mocked by many in society, due to his physical deformity: he comes across as an immensely compassionate and clever man - born ahead of his time. Matthew shows immense physical and moral courage, strongly facing up to insults and taunts, at the same time as confronting a murderous enemy, who for most of the novel has the upper hand.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1405092726</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Nicola Upson |title=An Expert in Murder|rating=4.5|genre=Crime|summary=In March 1934 author and playwright Josephine Tey travelled from her home in Scotland to London for the final week of her successful play ''Richard of Bordeaux''. On the train she met Elspeth Simmons, who, coincidentally, was travelling to meet her boyfriend and to see the play yet again. When they arrive at King's Cross to Elspeth's delight they're met by one of the stars of the show but their arrival coincides with a murder Move on the train.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0571237703</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Marjorie Eccles|title=Last Nocturne|rating=4|genre=Crime|summary=It was whilst she was at Evensong that Grace Thurley decided that she would not marry her fiancé. Instead she took a job as a social secretary to recently-widowed Edwina Martagon and moved to London. Eliot Martagon had shot himself in his study some months earlier, leaving neither suicide note nor any indication that there was a problem in his life.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0749080795</amazonuk>}} {{newreview |title=Death In Hellfire (John Rawlings Mystery) |author=Deryn Lake|genre=Crime (Historical)|rating=4|summary=John Rawlings, an apothecary in eighteenth century London, is set a task by John Fielding, the founder of the Bow Street Runners, which involves the investigation of a gentleman's club. This club, frequented by members of the upper classes, has a reputation for organising orgies. Rawlings is lucky enough to attend one of the gatherings, but apart from sexual excess, can find nothing terribly wrong until one of the club's members is found dead, apparently poisoned to death. This incident is followed by another murder. Can Rawlings find out what is going on before someone else dies? |amazonuk=<amazonuk>0749080760</amazonuk>}}[[Newest Dyslexia Friendly Reviews]]