Difference between revisions of "Newest Crime (Historical) Reviews"

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[[Category:Crime (Historical)|*]]
 
[[Category:Crime (Historical)|*]]
[[Category:New Reviews|Crime (Historical)]]
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[[Category:New Reviews|Crime (Historical)]]__NOTOC__ <!-- Remove -->
==Crime (historical)==
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{{Frontpage
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|isbn=0571370977
{{newreview
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|title=The Lock-Up
|author=Stephen Gallagher
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|author=John Banville
|title=The Bedlam Detective
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Crime (Historical)
 
|summary=Authors like to claim that writing is hard work. In a way, that’s true – there are a really astonishing number of words in a book, and it’s often very difficult to wrangle them from your head into coherent sentences on a page. At the same time, though, ''hard'' should not be the same as ''boring''. It’s sad to come across authors who don’t enjoy the process of writing, and it’s so easy to tell when you’re reading a piece of work by a writer who was actually having fun when they wrote it.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0091950120</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Edney Silvestre
 
|title=If I Close My Eyes Now
 
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Crime (Historical)
 
|genre=Crime (Historical)
|summary=
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|summary=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 now back in Dublin 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, Jewish scholar, Rosa Jacobs, is found in a lock-up. At first, it looked as though she'd gassed herself but Quirke is convinced that it was murder rather than suicide.
12th April 1961, the radio news is full of Yuri Gagarin's first earth orbit and two boys who'd had ambitions to be Tarzan, to be engineers, or medical scientists curing all diseases, suddenly had a new possibility: maybe they could be astronauts. 'Brasilia had been inaugurated less than a year earlier, but whichever of us got to be president was going to transfer the capital back to Rio.  We were twelve. It was a different country. A different world.'
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857521322</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=1529337968
|author=Sax Rohmer
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|title=In Place of Fear
|title=Fu-Manchu - Daughter of Fu-Manchu
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|author=Catriona McPherson
|rating=4
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|rating=5
|genre=Crime (Historical)
 
|summary=Fu Manchu is dead (or is he?) but his evil genius lives on, in the form of his daughter! New narrator Greville is sent to fetch Dr Petrie (narrator of the first three books) to come to an archaeological dig where Greville's chief Barton, an old friend of Petrie's, lies dead. (Or does he?) From there, the pair, along with Nayland Smith and Superintendent Weymouth, are plunged into a death-defying adventure.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857686062</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=GK Chesterton
 
|title=The Complete Father Brown Stories
 
|rating=4.5
 
 
|genre=Crime (Historical)
 
|genre=Crime (Historical)
|summary=Having read many of the Father Brown short stories before, and after really enjoying the recent screen version, I jumped at the chance to get hold of this TV tie-in omnibus. The little cleric who has such a mild manner, but a keen knowledge of human evil, is one of my favourite detectives, and it was a pleasure to be able to read this complete collection of his stories.
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|summary=It's July 1948 and Helen Crowther is due to start work as a qualified medical almoner the following morning - on the day that the NHS is born.  She'll be working for Dr Deuchar and Dr Strasser in their GP surgery and her job will be to help patients with those non-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 that they don't have to do anything to qualify for them.  Some of the problems 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>1849906467</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=057136358X
|author=Sara Sheridan
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|title=April in Spain
|title=London Calling: a Mirabelle Bevan Mystery
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|author=John Banville
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Crime (Historical)
 
|genre=Crime (Historical)
|summary=Mirabelle Bevan is an intriguing character. Warm, resourceful and extremely clever, she spent her war years in intelligence (though not active duty) and then, as the war ended and her long-time lover died, she withdrew to the coast and the dubious joys of running a debt-collection agency. Accidentally getting involved in solving a major crime with her vibrant young companion Vesta gets her noticed, however, and it isn't long before she finds herself knee-deep in another mystery. A childhood friend flees London and an accusation of murder to beg Vesta and her employer to help him prove his innocence. This leads the intrepid pair into the world of smoky, music-filled basements and the black market, where they encounter criminals from all across the social spectrum.
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|summary=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 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 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 time with Percy Antrobus - who couldn't understand why Terry didn't know the purpose of a swizzle stick - surely he wouldn't drink champagne with bubbles in the ''morning''?  It was after Percy's death that he saw the benefits of taking up a job in Spain.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846972434</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=B08Z8BMZ7H
|author=Jacqueline Jacques
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|title=The Mystery of Healing
|title=The Colours of Corruption
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|author=A P McGrath
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Crime (Historical)
 
|genre=Crime (Historical)
|summary=Mary, an impoverished cleaner, is witness to a murderArchie is one of the first artists to work with the police and creates a picture of the man she says she sawTaken by her looks he persuades Mary to sit for a portrait, but the man who buys the portraitwould rather buy Mary herself...
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|summary=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 populaceThe remuneration isn't high but the work gives the doctor a feeling of virtue and hones his skills: Solon ''wants'' the warriors to liveIt's 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 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 wild animals. Today, it's the crocodiles.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1906784531</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=1529337925
|author=Andrew Taylor
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|title=The Mirror Dance (Dandy Gilver)
|title=The Scent of Death
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|author=Catriona McPherson
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Crime (Historical)
 
|genre=Crime (Historical)
|summary=It’s hard to explain why Andrew Taylor’s novels are so chilling. They’re ghost stories that often lack ghosts, crime novels in which the crime itself feels at a remove from the rest of the action. But that’s really the secret of their power: while in most thrillers, the bogeyman is a single entity, easy to pinpoint and therefore easy to excise from the rest of the healthy fictional world, things are never so simple in the universes Taylor creates. What is frightening in an Andrew Taylor novel? Everything.
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|summary=It was the August Bank Holiday weekend and, as so often happened, it was cold enough to have the fire lit and Bunty the Dalmation wasn't inclined to leave it to 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 publisher of a 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 drum up some local interest in his 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 solicitor to do the same job.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007213514</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=B08LKT7HSR
|author=George Mann (Editor)
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|title=Murder in the Belltower (A Miss Underhay Mystery)
|title=Encounters of Sherlock Holmes
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|author=Helena Dixon
|rating=4.5
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|rating=3.5
 
|genre=Crime (Historical)
 
|genre=Crime (Historical)
|summary=
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|summary=In December 1933 the remains of Elowed Underhay were discovered in the cellar of the Glass Bottle Public House.  Ezekiel Hamett was sought in connection with the murder of Elowed and his half-brother, Denzil Hammett, whose body was also discovered. Kitty Underhay's long search for her mother, who disappeared in June 1916 was over.  Now she's determined that the man responsible for her murder will be brought to justice.
Sherlock Holmes remains an enduring icon of English literature; perhaps as popular today as he was back in the late 1800s, maybe even more so with the advent of TV and film adaptations of his adventures. Indeed, such is the lasting appeal of the character that since the death of Conan Doyle there have been literally hundreds of works published, picking up where the original stories left off.  
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781160031</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Stephen Clarke
|author=Matthew Pearl
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|title=The Spy Who Inspired Me
|title=The Technologists
 
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 +
|genre=General Fiction
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|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 secret service, but in the planning side of things more than the active service.  Lemming finds himself put on a mission with a female spy called Margaux, and the pair end up stranded in Normandy, with Margaux on a desperate mission to unearth traitors in the resistance network, and Lemming desperately trying to keep up with her!
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|isbn=2952163855
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{{Frontpage
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|isbn=0349423083
 +
|title=Death and the Brewery Queen (Kate Shackleton Mysteries)
 +
|author=Frances Brody
 +
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Crime (Historical)
 
|genre=Crime (Historical)
|summary=The year is 1868 and Boston is under threat from an evil genius who seems to have the uncanny ability to manipulate matter itself. The city has already experienced two attacks; the chaos in the harbour when the navigation instruments went awry and the eerie spectacle in the commercial quarter when every item of glass, including windows, eyeglasses, clocks and watches spontaneously melted. But are these attacks a prelude to something greater?
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|summary=Kate Shackleton runs her investigation agency from Batswing Cottage, ably assisted by Jim Sykes, who lives in Woodhouse and her housekeeper, Mrs Sugden. She's been approached by William Lofthouse of the Barleycorn Brewery in Masham.  Something is going wrong with his business and he'd like Kate to look into it discreetly: he's hoping that his nephew and right-hand man, James Lofthouse, will be back from a trip to Germany before long.  James went to see what the continental brewers were doing and what changes Barleycorn might need to make. William is worried that James is perhaps enjoying himself a little bit ''too'' much or is going to bring back a German bride but he'd like the business to be ship-shape before his nephew returns.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099512769</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=0241433568
|author=James P Blaylock
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|title=Eight Detectives
|title=The Aylesford Skull
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|author=Alex Pavesi
|rating=4
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|rating=5
 
|genre=Crime (Historical)
 
|genre=Crime (Historical)
|summary=Langdon St. Ives, renowned scientist and adventurer, returns home from the hubbub and grime of Victorian London to his tranquil residence in rural Aylesford where he lives with his wife Alice and their two young children. Weary of the city, having survived a devastating explosion and particularly vicious attempt on his life, he is hoping for some repose and a chance to work quietly on his latest project; a dirigible airship.
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|summary=It's 1930 and Megan and Henry are staying with Bunny at his house in Spain.  It's unbearably hot and Bunny drank too much at lunch: he's going to have a rest and then he wants to talk to Megan and Henry about something serious.  Only it never gets that far: when Bunny doesn't emerge after his siesta his guests find that he's been murdered.  How can that have happened?  There's no one else in the house, so one of them must be the killer.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857689797</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=1473682401
|author=Stephen Gallagher
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|title=The Turning Tide (Dandy Gilver)
|title=The Kingdom of Bones
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|author=Catriona McPherson
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Crime (Historical)
 
|genre=Crime (Historical)
|summary='If you like this sort of thing…' reads a line from Stephen Gallagher's 'The Kingdom of Bones', 'then here comes the kind of thing you’ll like'. It’s describing the opening music for a theatrical number, but it’s an almost perfect tagline for ''The Kingdom of Bones'' itself. If you like Victorians, vaudeville and villainy, if you like prize-fighting and police chases and possession by the Devil, then here comes 'The Kingdom of Bones'. It’s the kind of thing that you’re really going to like.
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|summary=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 charms of Lavinia Dahlia Cherry and her brother, Edward Hugh Lachlan Gilver.  There are two drawbacks: they're noisy and they're staying with Dandy and Hugh. Dandy and her detective partner, Alec Osborne, had not taken up the chance to look into a problem at the Cramond ferry when it was offered to them twice before, but suddenly the possibility of being out of the house at Gilverton seems irresistible.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0091950139</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Seishi Yokomizo and Louise Heal Kawai (translator)
|author=Dashiell Hammett
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|title=The Honjin Murders
|title=The Return of the Thin Man
 
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=Crime (Historical)
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|genre=Crime
|summary=I've recently been discovering the original works of Raymond Chandler which, like many people, I'd only really known from the Hollywood renditionsA natural, if backwards, progression from there was clearly to the writer that Chandler called 'the ace performer', the man 'who did over and over again what only the best writers ever do at all'.
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|summary=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 need more, here is the extra background – we're in rural Japan in the 1930s.  The oldest son of an esteemed family is belatedly getting married, although the whole affair is really not as ostentatious as it might be – hardly anybody has turned up, what with it being arranged at great haste.  She only has an uncle representing her family, for one thingEither way, the celebrations have gone ahead as planned, only for the wedded couple to be slashed to death in their private annexe before the sun rises on their marriage.  What with a man missing parts of his fingers being in the neighbourhood, and some mysterious use of a traditional musical instrument at the time of the crime, this case has a lot of the peculiar about it.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908800208</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1782275002
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=B07XLM3SM6
|author=Essie Fox
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|title=Murder at the Dolphin Hotel
|title=Elijah's Mermaid
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|author=Helena Dixon
|rating=4.5
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|rating=4
 
|genre=Crime (Historical)
 
|genre=Crime (Historical)
|summary=Author Augustus Lamb receives a shocking letter from his publisher and old friend Frederick HallHall has discovered Lamb's small grandchildren, Lily and Elijah, in a London home for foundlings.  Lamb's son Gabriel had died after a socially unacceptable liaison with beautiful Italian Isabella who subsequently disappearedDelighted beyond words at Hall's discovery, Augustus adopts the twins, raising them in his Herefordshire country home, Kingsland HouseThere the children grow, happy and loved.
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|summary=Elowed Underhay was just twenty-seven when she disappeared from Dartmouth in June 1916, leaving her daughter, Kitty, in the care of her grandmother.  A great deal of money had been spent to find out what happened to her and the conclusion was that she was dead, mainly because there was no evidence to suggest otherwiseKitty has come to terms with this and in 1933 she was running the Dolphin Hotel in Dartmouth with her grandmother when her grandmother had to leave to look after her sister who was ill.  She was reluctant to leave Kitty in charge - and Kitty could not understand whyShe's always coped with the mix of holidaymakers, boating people and the naval college on the edge of town before - and she's done every job in the hotelAnd she particularly cannot understand why her grandmother's friends have been roped in to keep an eye on things ''and'' why Captain Matthew Bryant has been hired to take charge of security at the hotel.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1409123340</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=0349423067
|author=James Carnac
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|title=The Body on the Train (Kate Shackleton Mysteries)
|title=The Autobiography of Jack the Ripper
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|author=Frances Brody
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=Crime (Historical)
 
|summary=The ''Autobiography'' presents itself as the Ripper’s story told from his own perspective.  The son of an impoverished doctor, young Carnac has a childhood obsession with blood which a series of unfortunate events morphs into a full-blown desire to slit human throats. It’s the typical Victorian coming-of-age story (from birth, to school, then first love and finally adulthood) with a twist, in that the path Carnac’s on leads him to become not a responsible adult but the most famous murderer of the nineteenth century.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0552165395</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Kylie Fitzpatrick
 
|title=The Silver Thread
 
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Crime (Historical)
 
|genre=Crime (Historical)
|summary=It's 1840 and Rhia Mahoney, daughter of an Irish merchant specialising in local linen, has a comfortable life.  All that changes, however, as her father's warehouse burns down, taking his faltering business with it, ensuring Rhia must make her own way in the worldVia family connections she comes to England and the home of Quaker widow Antonia Blake.  The idea is that Antonia will protect Rhia whilst she seeks a position as governess in bustling, alien LondonBut rather than residing in a sanctuary, her problems worsen as she's enveloped in a mystery leading to transportation despite her innocence.  The only things holding her life together are the letters she writes to her dearly departed grandmother, her artistic skill and a determination to discover who wants her gone.
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|summary=From Christmas to Easter a train ran from Leeds City Station to King's Cross, arriving before dawn so that the forced rhubarb it carried could be taken to Covent Garden. In early March 1929, one of the porters who was unloading the boxes discovered the body of a man, stripped naked and with no means of identificationScotland 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 lead they neededKate immediately found herself hamstrung: Commander Woodhead remembered her as a child and could not come to terms with the fact that she was now a woman experienced in dealing with murder.  He was reluctant to give her all the information which the police held.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908800127</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Martin Davies
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|isbn=1472127110
|title=The Year After
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|title=Indian Summer: a Mirabelle Bevan Mystery
|rating=5
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|author=Sara Sheridan
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=Captain Tom Allen is home from World War I.  Whilst waiting to be demobbed, he receives an invitation to attend the annual Christmas house-party at Hannesford Court, the stately home of Sir Robert and Lady Stansbury.  He used to look forward to it before joining up and so decides to attend again, but everything has changed.  The Stansbury's heir, Harry, and son-in-law, Oliver, were killed and second son, Reggie Stansbury, remains in a nursing home with no legs and dwindling self-respect.  Whilst coming to terms with the devastating realisation that he's one of the very few men in their set to return alive and entire, Tom remembers pre-war Hannesford and the night when his friend Professor Schmidt died at such a gathering.  Everyone believes it was unsuspicious but gradually things are coming to light that hint of hidden secrets.  Along with her Ladyship's former companion, Anne (who has issues of her own), Tom decides to investigate as truths are exhumed, making him doubt whether those happier times were as idyllic as he remembers.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0340980443</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Karen Engelmann
 
|title=The Stockholm Octavo
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=As a Customs and Excise 'Sekretaire' in 18th century Stockholm, Emil Larsson has all he needs: professional respect, a bachelor's lifestyle and a table at Mrs Sparrow's gaming house whenever he fancies his luck.  Contrastingly, his superiors at work feel he's missing a certain something.  In order to climb further up the career ladder (maybe even to maintain his current position) Emil needs to marry.  His manager believes this so fervently that there's a deadline for the wedding.  Emil panics but Mrs Sparrow offers to lay an 'Octavo', a fortune-telling spread of eight cards to guide him to the eight people who will ensure his success.  However, not all goes to plan as, over the eight nights it takes to complete the Octavo, it becomes apparent that the prediction isn't for Emil's future, but has become an Octavo to save the whole of Sweden.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444742698</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Bruce Macbain
 
|title=Roman Games (Plinius Secundus)
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Crime (Historical)
 
|summary=Sextus Ingentius Verpa isn't the most popular person in Rome.  He may be a high ranking politician with the Emperor Domitian's ear but this also means he's a spy, ambitious and not always using his power and position for good.  When Verpa is discovered, unceremoniously and repeatedly stabbed in his well-guarded bedroom, there are many who sigh with relief.  However, the murderer must still be found and so Domitian appoints Gaius Plinius Secundus (or Pliny the Younger as history will dub him) to investigate.  Pliny isn't a natural but reluctantly takes on the task because Domitian says so; Pliny has no choice.  Domitian also says that the culprit must be found before the end of the Roman Games, giving Pliny 15 days.  Over these 15 pressurised days he'll dig into Rome's filthy underbelly of cults, prostitution and other things he wasn't expecting, including practically adopting his own, personal rude poet.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908800364</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Maureen Jennings
 
|title=Vices of My Blood: Murdoch Mysteries
 
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Crime (Historical)
 
|genre=Crime (Historical)
|summary=William Murdoch has at last been promoted to full detective, and continues to solve cases with his usual mix of dogged determination and flair. Toronto at the end of the nineteenth century is marked by a huge divide between the rich and the poor, and the fact that many of the latter group are utterly destitute leads to all manner of crimes, great and small.
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|summary=Life has changed dramatically for Mirabelle, our favourite fifties sleuth, since the war, and not always for the better. When she first settled in Brighton she was alone, rudderless and secretly grieving for Jack, the lover who died before he could leave his wife. As time went by she found in herself an ability to solve crimes, made 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, and even found consolation in the arms of a rather charming policeman.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857689924</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=1912374439
|author=John Kerr
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|title=The Courier
|title=Fell the Angels
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|author=Kjell Ola Dahl and Don Bartlett (translator)
 
|rating=3.5
 
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=Crime (Historical)
 
|genre=Crime (Historical)
|summary=Cecilia had had more surnames than was usual for a young woman in the late nineteenth century. She was born Henderson but married Robert Castello and quickly came to realise that he was an adulterer with a drink problem.  A woman's place was thought to be with her husband - even by Cecilia's wealthy parents - but they recognised that forcing her to go back to him could be problematical.  As a compromise she was sent to Malvern to take a water cure and it was there that she came into contact with Dr James Gully.  He was a good deal older than Cecilia but a relationship developed between the two - affection on Cecilia's part (probably the most of which she was capable) and love on his.
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|summary=Nazi-occupied Oslo, 1942. There, I've given the game away. For in a book that centres around a murder, I've told you who did it – the Nazis, surely? Well, that certainly has to remain to be seen in this volume, which splits its time between one of war, when a young woman sees her father arrested, and their store condemned as Jewish and rushes to her best friend to help – not knowing she will never see her alive again, and the late 1960s, when great consternation is being felt. In this timeline, a maverick agent is 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 young family, except he was thought by all to have died in the War…
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0709098383</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=1786075431
|author=Graeme Kent
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|title=Mrs Mohr Goes Missing
|title=One Blood
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|author=Maryla Szymiczkova and Antonia Lloyd-Jones (translator)
|rating=4.5
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|rating=3.5
 
|genre=Crime (Historical)
 
|genre=Crime (Historical)
|summary=Sergeant Kella is being sent from his native Malaita to another part of the Solomon Islands to investigate logging sabotage there. In the same district, his friend Sister Conchita has assumed reluctant control of a mission with three elderly sisters living there who are rather set in their ways, to say the least. Then a body turns up in the church… is this related to the sabotage? And how does the wartime history of John F Kennedy, vying to become the new President of the USA, fit in to all of this?
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|summary=Meet 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 esteemed career. In 1890s Cracow, life is pretty good, but she knows it could always be better.  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 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 she has vanished.  Only due to Zofia's help does she get found, dead and in a place the near-lame woman could never reach by herself. Just who could be killing people in a charity home, and to what end? And why does Zofia feel the need to make a name for herself by answering those questions?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1849013411</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=1786893762
|author=David Long
+
|title=Things in Jars
|title=Murders of London: In the steps of the capital's killers
+
|author=Jess Kidd
|rating=4
 
|genre=Crime (Historical)
 
|summary=While the true crime specialist reader may prefer books which deal in one case in depth, there’s always room for another title at the other end of the spectrum, dealing in brief with a variety of murders over the years.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847946720</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Shirley McKay
 
|title=Time and Tide
 
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Crime (Historical)
 
|genre=Crime (Historical)
|summary=A ship is wrecked on the coast of 16th century Scotland, the crew gone, the only man on board dying and a windmill lashed to its deck. What happened?  What sort of illness does it carry?  And, more importantly for the town's people, who gets to keep the windmill?  It's a tough one, but university professor and erstwhile lawyer Hew Cullan is on the case.
+
|summary=A child has gone missing. The detective asked to take 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, and the setting is Victorian London, with all the rich and colourful paradoxes of that era: technical and scientific progress jostling for space beside superstition and a fascination with the bizarre and the downright hideous. And before you're more than a couple of pages in, you 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 pipe (my dear, what an utterly ''fast'' thing for a 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 ghost. Ruby Doyle, world-famous tattooed boxer (deceased) accompanies Bridie all through her investigation, and it's clear he has a soft spot for the determined young woman. If he really exists, that is.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846972183</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|isbn=0349414327
|author=Daniel Stashower
+
|title=A Snapshot of Murder (Kate Shackleton Mysteries)
|title=The Harry Houdini Mysteries: The Dime Museum Murders
+
|author=Frances Brody
|rating=4
 
|genre=Crime (Historical)
 
|summary=There are two things you need to know about Stashower's Harry Houdini. Firstly, he is a huge fan of Sherlock Holmes. Secondly, and much more importantly, he is utterly certain of his own ability to do whatever he sets his mind to. Therefore, when he finds himself involved, albeit in a minor way, in a murder, he immediately decides it is up to him to solve the case. It never occurs to him that he might fail, because that is simply not an option for the Great Houdini.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857682849</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Maureen Jennings
 
|title=Let Loose the Dogs: Murdoch Mysteries
 
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Crime (Historical)
 
|genre=Crime (Historical)
|summary=The fourth book in the series of mysteries which star Detective William Murdoch is set, like the others, in Toronto. Religion, money and family rule this late-Victorian city just as they do back 'home' in England, and Murdoch's struggles for truth and justice, not to mention his love life, are played out against the sense of guilt and the moral restrictions imposed upon him by his Catholic faith.
+
|summary=Even detectives need a break and for Kate Shackleton, photography gives her the mental relaxation which she needs.  When the local Photographic Society proposed an outing, Kate was keen to take the opportunity to visit Haworth and Stanbury, not least because the deeds of the Brontë Parsonage are being handed over so that it can become a museum and her parents will be there for the event. What could be better than seeing her family, witnessing a momentous event and having the opportunity to take photographs of the setting for ''Wuthering Heights''?  Nothing could go wrong. Or could it?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857689908</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
  
{{newreview
+
Move on to [[Newest Dyslexia Friendly Reviews]]
|author=Maureen Jennings
 
|title=Under the Dragon's Tail: Murdoch Mysteries
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Crime (Historical)
 
|summary=Murdoch is a lonely man, still grieving for the fiancée who died over a year before. He busies himself, when he is not working, with training for the police sports' day, learning to dance, and trying to overcome his attraction to the charming lady who lodges in the next-door room. She is a charming young widow with a young son, but since she is not Catholic, he knows, sadly, that he can never find married bliss with her.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857689886</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Dan James
 
|title=Unsinkable
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Crime (Historical)
 
|summary=This year sees the hundredth anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, and several books, for both children and adults, are being published based on the story of the doomed ship. In this particular book the fact that we already know fate of the majority of the travellers adds a whole new level of tension to a story which is already an exciting thriller. Not only is there the question of whether they will catch the bad guy or not, but also, and more crucially: will the main characters all survive?
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099558130</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Sam Siciliano
 
|title=The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: The Web Weaver
 
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=Crime (Historical)
 
|summary=An old gypsy woman places a curse on guests at a ball, leaving the upper class revellers shocked. When, over the next few years, misfortune befalls several of the party-goers, potted-meat magnate Donald Wheelwright knows there's only one recourse left to him - to call Sherlock Holmes. It's a slightly different version of Holmes from that we've come to expect, though. The detective, far from being an emotionless man, is capable of feeling strongly for the right woman - could the detective find love as well as the answer to the mystery?
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857686984</amazonuk>
 
}}
 

Latest revision as of 13:45, 25 March 2023

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Review of

The Lock-Up by John Banville

4star.jpg Crime (Historical)

It's six months since the dramatic events which we read about in April in Spain and Dr Quirke is now back in Dublin 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, Jewish scholar, Rosa Jacobs, is found in a lock-up. At first, it looked as though she'd gassed herself but Quirke is convinced that it was murder rather than suicide. Full Review

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Review of

In Place of Fear by Catriona McPherson

5star.jpg Crime (Historical)

It's July 1948 and Helen Crowther is due to start work as a qualified medical almoner the following morning - on the day that the NHS is born. She'll be working for Dr Deuchar and Dr Strasser in their GP surgery and her job will be to help patients with those non-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 that they don't have to do anything to qualify for them. Some of the problems will require delicate handling but Helen has a problem of her own which might give her some insight. Her marriage has never been consummated. Full Review

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Review of

April in Spain by John Banville

5star.jpg Crime (Historical)

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 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 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 time with Percy Antrobus - who couldn't understand why Terry didn't know the purpose of a swizzle stick - surely he wouldn't drink champagne with bubbles in the morning? It was after Percy's death that he saw the benefits of taking up a job in Spain. Full Review

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Review of

The Mystery of Healing by A P McGrath

4star.jpg Crime (Historical)

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 remuneration isn't high but the work gives the doctor a feeling of virtue and hones his skills: Solon wants the warriors to 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 lions' manes to 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 wild animals. Today, it's the crocodiles. Full Review

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Review of

The Mirror Dance (Dandy Gilver) by Catriona McPherson

4.5star.jpg Crime (Historical)

It was the August Bank Holiday weekend and, as so often happened, it was cold enough to have the fire lit and Bunty the Dalmation wasn't inclined to leave it to 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 publisher of a 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 drum up some local interest in his 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 solicitor to do the same job. Full Review

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Review of

Murder in the Belltower (A Miss Underhay Mystery) by Helena Dixon

3.5star.jpg Crime (Historical)

In December 1933 the remains of Elowed Underhay were discovered in the cellar of the Glass Bottle Public House. Ezekiel Hamett was sought in connection with the murder of Elowed and his half-brother, Denzil Hammett, whose body was also discovered. Kitty Underhay's long search for her mother, who disappeared in June 1916 was over. Now she's determined that the man responsible for her murder will be brought to justice. Full Review

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Review of

The Spy Who Inspired Me by Stephen Clarke

4star.jpg General Fiction

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 secret service, but in the planning side of things more than the active service. Lemming finds himself put on a mission with a female spy called Margaux, and the pair end up stranded in Normandy, with Margaux on a desperate mission to unearth traitors in the resistance network, and Lemming desperately trying to keep up with her! Full Review

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Review of

Death and the Brewery Queen (Kate Shackleton Mysteries) by Frances Brody

4.5star.jpg Crime (Historical)

Kate Shackleton runs her investigation agency from Batswing Cottage, ably assisted by Jim Sykes, who lives in Woodhouse and her housekeeper, Mrs Sugden. She's been approached by William Lofthouse of the Barleycorn Brewery in Masham. Something is going wrong with his business and he'd like Kate to look into it discreetly: he's hoping that his nephew and right-hand man, James Lofthouse, will be back from a trip to Germany before long. James went to see what the continental brewers were doing and what changes Barleycorn might need to make. William is worried that James is perhaps enjoying himself a little bit too much or is going to bring back a German bride but he'd like the business to be ship-shape before his nephew returns. Full Review

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Review of

Eight Detectives by Alex Pavesi

5star.jpg Crime (Historical)

It's 1930 and Megan and Henry are staying with Bunny at his house in Spain. It's unbearably hot and Bunny drank too much at lunch: he's going to have a rest and then he wants to talk to Megan and Henry about something serious. Only it never gets that far: when Bunny doesn't emerge after his siesta his guests find that he's been murdered. How can that have happened? There's no one else in the house, so one of them must be the killer. Full Review

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Review of

The Turning Tide (Dandy Gilver) by Catriona McPherson

4star.jpg Crime (Historical)

Those who were with us at the end of 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 charms of Lavinia Dahlia Cherry and her brother, Edward Hugh Lachlan Gilver. There are two drawbacks: they're noisy and they're staying with Dandy and Hugh. Dandy and her detective partner, Alec Osborne, had not taken up the chance to look into a problem at the Cramond ferry when it was offered to them twice before, but suddenly the possibility of being out of the house at Gilverton seems irresistible. Full Review

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Review of

The Honjin Murders by Seishi Yokomizo and Louise Heal Kawai (translator)

4star.jpg Crime

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 need more, here is the extra background – we're in rural Japan in the 1930s. The oldest son of an esteemed family is belatedly getting married, although the whole affair is really not as ostentatious as it might be – hardly anybody has turned up, what with it being arranged at great haste. She only has an uncle representing her family, for one thing. Either way, the celebrations have gone ahead as planned, only for the wedded couple to be slashed to death in their private annexe before the sun rises on their marriage. What with a man missing parts of his fingers being in the neighbourhood, and some mysterious use of a traditional musical instrument at the time of the crime, this case has a lot of the peculiar about it. Full Review

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Review of

Murder at the Dolphin Hotel by Helena Dixon

4star.jpg Crime (Historical)

Elowed Underhay was just twenty-seven when she disappeared from Dartmouth in June 1916, leaving her daughter, Kitty, in the care of her grandmother. A great deal of money had been spent to find out what happened to her and the conclusion was that she was dead, mainly because there was no evidence to suggest otherwise. Kitty has come to terms with this and in 1933 she was running the Dolphin Hotel in Dartmouth with her grandmother when her grandmother had to leave to look after her sister who was ill. She was reluctant to leave Kitty in charge - and Kitty could not understand why. She's always coped with the mix of holidaymakers, boating people and the naval college on the edge of town before - and she's done every job in the hotel. And she particularly cannot understand why her grandmother's friends have been roped in to keep an eye on things and why Captain Matthew Bryant has been hired to take charge of security at the hotel. Full Review

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Review of

The Body on the Train (Kate Shackleton Mysteries) by Frances Brody

4.5star.jpg Crime (Historical)

From Christmas to Easter a train ran from Leeds City Station to King's Cross, arriving before dawn so that the forced rhubarb it carried could be taken to Covent Garden. In early March 1929, one of the porters who was unloading the boxes discovered the body of a man, stripped naked and with no means of identification. 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 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 she was now a woman experienced in dealing with murder. He was reluctant to give her all the information which the police held. Full Review

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Review of

Indian Summer: a Mirabelle Bevan Mystery by Sara Sheridan

4.5star.jpg Crime (Historical)

Life has changed dramatically for Mirabelle, our favourite fifties sleuth, since the war, and not always for the better. When she first settled in Brighton she was alone, rudderless and secretly grieving for Jack, the lover who died before he could leave his wife. As time went by she found in herself an ability to solve crimes, made 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, and even found consolation in the arms of a rather charming policeman. Full Review

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Review of

The Courier by Kjell Ola Dahl and Don Bartlett (translator)

3.5star.jpg Crime (Historical)

Nazi-occupied Oslo, 1942. There, I've given the game away. For in a book that centres around a murder, I've told you who did it – the Nazis, surely? Well, that certainly has to remain to be seen in this volume, which splits its time between one of war, when a young woman sees her father arrested, and their store condemned as Jewish and rushes to her best friend to help – not knowing she will never see her alive again, and the late 1960s, when great consternation is being felt. In this timeline, a maverick agent is 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 young family, except he was thought by all to have died in the War… Full Review

1786075431.jpg

Review of

Mrs Mohr Goes Missing by Maryla Szymiczkova and Antonia Lloyd-Jones (translator)

3.5star.jpg Crime (Historical)

Meet 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 esteemed career. In 1890s Cracow, life is pretty good, but she knows it could always be better. 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 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 she has vanished. Only due to Zofia's help does she get found, dead and in a place the near-lame woman could never reach by herself. Just who could be killing people in a charity home, and to what end? And why does Zofia feel the need to make a name for herself by answering those questions? Full Review

1786893762.jpg

Review of

Things in Jars by Jess Kidd

4.5star.jpg Crime (Historical)

A child has gone missing. The detective asked to take 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, and the setting is Victorian London, with all the rich and colourful paradoxes of that era: technical and scientific progress jostling for space beside superstition and a fascination with the bizarre and the downright hideous. And before you're more than a couple of pages in, you 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 pipe (my dear, what an utterly fast thing for a 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 ghost. Ruby Doyle, world-famous tattooed boxer (deceased) accompanies Bridie all through her investigation, and it's clear he has a soft spot for the determined young woman. If he really exists, that is. Full Review

0349414327.jpg

Review of

A Snapshot of Murder (Kate Shackleton Mysteries) by Frances Brody

4.5star.jpg Crime (Historical)

Even detectives need a break and for Kate Shackleton, photography gives her the mental relaxation which she needs. When the local Photographic Society proposed an outing, Kate was keen to take the opportunity to visit Haworth and Stanbury, not least because the deeds of the Brontë Parsonage are being handed over so that it can become a museum and her parents will be there for the event. What could be better than seeing her family, witnessing a momentous event and having the opportunity to take photographs of the setting for Wuthering Heights? Nothing could go wrong. Or could it? Full Review

Move on to Newest Dyslexia Friendly Reviews