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[[Category:New Reviews|Crime (Historical)]]==Crime (historical)==__NOTOC__{{newreview|author=Thomas Bruce Wheeler|title=The London of Sherlock Holmes <!- Over 400 Computer Generated Street Level Photos|rating=3|genre=Travel|summary=Should I trust a book that has a typo on the FRONT cover? Would I purchase a book that practically says, as its first words, the e-book version is better than this paper thing? This, despite setting up very much the wrong impression, is a gateway into the world of Sherlock Holmes Remove - but does, as I say, blatantly show itself up as flawed, while the electronic version could count as a very worthwhile app for the Conan Doyle buff.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780922094</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Andrew Lane|title=Young Sherlock Holmes: Fire Storm|rating=4.5|genre=Teens|summary=The estate of Arthur Conan Doyle has authorised Andrew Lane to write a series of books about the early years of Sherlock Holmes, and if this book is typical then they made an excellent choice. Through these stories we see the development of the complex and sometimes contradictory aspects of Sherlock's personality, set in the context of the most thrilling adventures and courageous acts of derring-do a young person could desire. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>0230758509</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Anthony Hays0571370977|title=The Killing Way|rating=3.5|genre=Crime (Historical)|summary=Post-Roman invasion and Great Britain shows the signs of a beleagured nation. And straight away Hays gives us an historical flavour Lock- Saxons, Picts and names such as 'Ambrosius Aurelianus' are mentioned early on in the book.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857890050</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewUp|author=Guy Adams|title=Sherlock Holmes: The Breath of GodJohn Banville

|summary=A body It's six months since the dramatic events which we read about in [[April in Spain by John Banville|April in Spain]] and Dr Quirke is discovered now back in LondonDublin and living (if somewhat uneasily) with his daughter, Phoebe. The worst of his grief is over but he irrationally blames DI St John Strafford for what happened and this has made the already strained relationship between them more difficult. They're brought together by Chief Inspector Hackett when the body of a young gentleman concerned, a Mr Hilary De MontfortJewish scholar, had enjoyed a good life: no money problems for example and as far as anyone can ascertainRosa Jacobs, no enemies either. The motive is therefore fuzzy at bestfound in a lock-up. The state of his body when it was discovered was bizarre - At first, it looked as if hethough she'd been hurled from a great height, even although he'd been discovered in an open space around Grosvenor Square. And in the words of Dr Watson himself (it gassed herself but Quirke is he who narrates in the main) ' ... as varied as our capital might be, convinced that it will always be found wanting of mountain rangeswas murder rather than suicide.'|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857682822</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Tracy Revels1529337968|title=Shadowblood: A Novel Of Sherlock HolmesIn Place of Fear|author=Catriona McPherson

|summary=For those picking up It's July 1948 and Helen Crowther is due to start work as a Tracy Revels novel for qualified medical almoner the first time, she writes Sherlock Holmes fiction with following morning - on the twist day that Holmes the NHS is a supernatural being, coming from the Shadowsborn. In the hugely enjoyable romp [[Shadowfall: A Novel of Sherlock Holmes by Tracy Revels|Shadowfall]], Watson discovered this, She'll be working for Dr Deuchar and Dr Strasser in their GP surgery and was plunged headlong into an adventure involving Titania, Springher job will be to help patients with those non-Heeled Jack, voodoo, medical problems which affect their health. The hardest part of the job will be to persuade people that the services she offers really are free and various other dark and mysterious beingsthat they don't have to do anything to qualify for them. That one ended with the good doctor losing his memory Some of the story – problems will require delicate handling but I was always hoping that was merely Helen has a temporary measure, and indeed, it’s not long here before he starts to recall Holmes’ true natureproblem of her own which might give her some insight. Her marriage has never been consummated.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780920474</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=John O'Connell057136358X|title=The Baskerville Legacy: A Novel|rating=4|genre=General Fiction|summary=1900, and a man on a ship coming back from the Boer War to edit the Daily Express meets one of his heroes in the form of Arthur Conan Doyle. With similar experiences and interests yet different enough to bounce off each other they take up the idea of collaborating on a plot. When they do fix on time to do so, it leads to literary prospects, which lead to a week's research together on Dartmoor, which leads to ''The Hound of the Baskervilles''. But perhaps April in a way that only one of them intended.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1907595465</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewSpain|author=Dicky Neely and Paul R Spiring (Editor)|title=The Case of the Grave Accusation: A Sherlock Holmes AdventureJohn Banville|rating=35

|summary=Much Terry 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 way thought that legend says that King Arthur will return when his country needs him, Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson have returned because he was an accusation has been made against their creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyleextreme version of Marie Kondo. The charge is that He enjoyed his job, something which occurred to him when he was in Burma with the great man plagiarised army ''The Hound where he got the chance to kill a lot of the Baskervilleslittle yellow fellows and had a fine old time'' from his great friend Bertram Fletcher Robinson – and then went on to commit adultery, blackmail and murder in order to conceal what he had done. HolmesHe was spending a lot of time with Percy Antrobus - who couldn't understand why Terry didn' rooms in Baker Street have not changed a great deal – if one can overlook t know the addition purpose of a desktop computer and better plumbing – but itswizzle stick - surely he wouldn't drink champagne with bubbles in the ''morning''? It was after Percy's not long before death that he saw the pair are off to Dartmoor to discover the truthbenefits of taking up a job in Spain.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908218819</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=John BuchanB08Z8BMZ7H|title=The Thirty-nine StepsMystery of Healing|author=A P McGrath

|summary=Ask anyone about We 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 Thrity-nine Stepsremuneration isn' t high but the work gives the doctor a feeling of virtue and I guarantee theyhones his skills: Solon ''wants''ll be able the warriors to tell you itlive. It's quite a spy story with Richard Hannay at its heartspectacle: the magistri are the charge hands and when we first see them, they're sprinkling gold dust onto the lions' manes to make them look more impressive. Most people will be able The sagitarii are the archers and the beastiarii are the condemned criminals who are going to tell you how it startsfight for their lives with the wild animals. But when you askToday, it'Yes, but what ARE s the 39 Steps?' most people will faltercrocodiles.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846971985</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Tracy Revels1529337925|title=Shadowfall: A Novel of Sherlock HolmesThe Mirror Dance (Dandy Gilver)|author=Catriona McPherson

|summary=You remember Sherlock HolmesIt was the August Bank Holiday weekend and, yes? Deerstalker, pipe, leetle grey cells… (Oh, sorryas so often happened, that it was Poirot, but same kind of deductive ability), naked winged-woman cold enough to have the fire lit and Bunty the Dalmation wasn't inclined to leave it to keep Dandy Gilver warm on, or at least floating above, the sofa . The thought of work was almost cheering when Dandy took the call from Sandy Bissett in Baker Street… wait Dundee. She was the publisher of a minute? Seriously?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908218258</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Gerard Kelly|title=The Outstanding Mysteries magazine and had been told that the man running the Punch and Judy show in the local park had used copies of Sherlock Holmes|rating=4|genre=Crime (Historical)|summary=I'll spare people the details two of Holmes her cartoon characters - Rosie Cheek and Watson as crimeher sister Freckle -solvers – I'm assuming anyone likely to pick this one drum up is probably familiar with the Victorian duosome local interest in his show. This is generally very faithful Sandy Bissett's request was simple: she wanted Gilver and Osborne to warn the Arthur Conan Doyle originals man about infringement of copyright - and Dandy and the best stories in this set of thirteen sound authentic enough Alex would be cheaper than employing a solicitor to take their place alongside some of do the canonsame job.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908218673</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Kate WorkmanB08LKT7HSR|title=Rendezvous at Murder in the Populaire : Belltower (A Novel of Sherlock HolmesMiss Underhay Mystery)|author=Helena Dixon

|summary=After chasing his arch-enemy Moriarty without success on a cold night In December 1933 the remains of Elowed Underhay were discovered in November 1882, Sherlock Holmes is left maimed and unable to walk without the use cellar of a canethe Glass Bottle Public House. Despondent, he decides to give up his career as a detective – but is talked into taking an extra special case, as a Madame Giry comes across the Channel to beg his help Ezekiel Hamett was sought in connection with the mysterious 'ghost' which is terrorising the Opera Populaire…|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908218703</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Carole Bugge|title=The Further Adventures murder of Sherlock Holmes: Star of India|rating=3.5|genre=Crime (Historical)|summary=A woman with a distinguished scent about her appears flustered at a concert recital. A famous landlady gets kidnapped while on an innocent holiday to the west country. A malformed, brilliant modernElowed 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 the 1850sLife has changed dramatically for Mirabelle, and religion and science are at war. Hatton and Roumonde carry out investigations in the morgueour favourite fifties sleuth, and even at crime scenes, but their findings are seen as of little value in Victorian England. Indeed, to many of their colleagues, what they do to since the human body is downright blasphemous. They struggle on, sending begging letters to rich patrons so they can buy equipmentwar, and trying to persuade not always for the police to accept the findings of their autopsies, but they make slow progressbetter. In this engrossing case, their efforts are rewarded and they are called When she first settled in by Inspector Adams of Scotland Yard to help with the murder of Lady BlessinghamBrighton she was alone, who has had her head smashed in with a fossil. This immediately plunges them into a series of murders, each more bizarre rudderless and horrible than the lastsecretly grieving for Jack, which are all connected to theories of evolution and the creation of the worldlover who died before he could leave his wife.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>031255768X</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Stefanie Pintoff|title=In the Shadow of Gotham|rating=4|genre=Crime (Historical)|summary='Never Judge… ' Every As 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>}} {{newreview|author=Giulio Leoni and Shaun Whiteside|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>}} {{newreview|author=Shona Maclean|title=A Game of Sorrows|rating=4|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=Two years have passed since [[The Redemption of Alexander Seaton went by Shona Maclean|Alexander Seaton]] she found his redemption. He is comfortably settled in his life at the University, about herself an ability to be sent on the academic expedition of a lifetimesolve crimes, made friends including an ebullient and wondering how best to ask the determined young woman he loves called Vesta who refused to be his wife. Then let a case of mistaken identitylittle thing like racial prejudice stop her doing what she wanted, which almost costs him his love and even found consolation in the respect arms 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 helprather charming policeman.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1849162441</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=C J Sansom1912374439|title=Heartstone (Matthew Shardlake)|rating=5|genre=Crime (Historical)|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>}} {{newreviewCourier|author=Simon Brett|title=Blotto, Twinks Kjell Ola Dahl and the Dead Dowager DuchessDon Bartlett (translator)

|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 Murder (HistoricalKate Shackleton Mysteries)|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 (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)Frances Brody|rating=4.5

|summary=Having recently read Even detectives need a break and reviewed Cora Harrison's [[Michaelmas Tribute (Burren Mysteries) by Cora Harrison|second Burren mystery]]for Kate Shackleton, photography gives her the mental relaxation which she needs. When the local Photographic Society proposed an outing, it Kate was with great excitement that I noticed that Bookbag had the third in keen to take the series available opportunity to review! I had a strong suspicion that a treat was in store for me-visit Haworth and I was Stanbury, not disappointed.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1405092270</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Cora Harrison|title=Michaelmas Tribute (Burren Mysteries)|rating=4|genre=Crime (Historical) |summary=Several surprising murders in least because the kingdom deeds of the Burren, on the Western coast of Ireland, lead our heroine (Mara) on Brontë Parsonage are being handed over so that it can become a tortuous quest museum and her parents will be there for the truthevent. Were the killings unpremeditated - or brought about through resentment What could be better than seeing her family, greed witnessing a momentous event and having the desire for revenge? Aided by her scholars in the Law School, Mara doggedly pursues the truth, opportunity 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 take photographs of the Emperor Vespasian, has been to many places in his time, but setting for once he's on a family outing. Well, mostly. An 'informal commissionWuthering Heights'' (read: no money) from Vespasian finds Falco at the Great Library in Alexandria uncovering his usual brand of intrigue, murder and incongruous mayhem? Nothing could go wrong. And getting to know a crocodile.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846052874</amazonuk> Or could it?

{{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|genre=Crime (Historical)|summary=Like all the best literary detectives, Jim Stringer is a mixture of know-all and know-nothing. As an ex-railway worker he can identify when the local young firemen are over-stoking their engines. He can't figure out why, though, in the sweltering heat 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 over in the York station he works at as a traffic policeman, on their way to the gallows. And when he asks of a condemned aristocrat if the man did it, he is certainly not used to the answer being ''I don't know''.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0571229670</amazonuk>}} {{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]]