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[[Category:New Reviews|Crime (Historical)]]__NOTOC__ <!-- Remove -->{{newreviewFrontpage|titleisbn=The Luck of the Vails0571370977|author=E F Benson|ratingtitle=5|genre=Crime (Historical)|summary='The sequestered village of Vail lies in a wrinkle of the great Wiltshire downs, and is traversed by the Bath Road.' Of course the big inn is called 'The Vail Arms' and about a mile from the village is 'the big house'. Benson doesn't name the house – indeed it wouldn't have needed a name. Locally it would just be known as the big house, and any local delivery person would know where to deposit any attached to Lord Vail.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099572435</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewLock-Up|author=David Ashton|title=Nor Will He SleepJohn Banville|rating=4.5

|summary=Two opposing Edinburgh university student gangs are full of high jinks It's six months since the night that Agnes Carnegie dramatic events which we read about in [[April in Spain by John Banville|April in Spain]] and Dr Quirke is found deadnow back in Dublin and living (if somewhat uneasily) with his daughter, Phoebe. Daniel Drummond, one The worst of the merry-makers, his grief is a prime suspect as over but he had an altercation with her irrationally blames DI St John Strafford for what happened and uses a silver cane that matches this has made the murder weaponalready strained relationship between them more difficult. Nothing is They're brought together by Chief Inspector Hackett when the body of a foregone conclusion though and so douryoung, Jewish scholar, Rosa Jacobs, wily Inspector James McLevy of the Leith police is determined to uncover the truthfound in a lock-up. Meanwhile Robert Louis Stevenson is in town for his fatherAt first, it looked as though she's funeral and renews his acquaintance with McLevy which d gassed herself but Quirke is convinced that it was murder rather fortuitous when we consider what lies aheadthan suicide.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846972515</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=MRC Kasasian1529337968|title=The Mangle Street MurdersIn Place of Fear|author=Catriona McPherson

|summary=March MiddletonIt's father dies, July 1948 and she becomes Helen Crowther is due to start work as a 20qualified medical almoner the following morning -something alone; not a good status for a Victorian womanon the day that the NHS is born. She therefore moves 'll be working for Dr Deuchar and Dr Strasser in their GP surgery and her job will be to help patients with her guardian, Sidney Grice, personal (not private!) detectivethose non-medical problems which affect their health. Although, as Sidney has a case 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 solve, March may as well be invisiblequalify for them. Grice Some of the problems will require delicate handling but Helen has been employed by shopkeeper William Ashby who has savagely murdered his a problem of her own wife by stabbing which might give her 40 times and leaving the Italian word for 'revenge' on the wallsome insight. Everyone says he did it apart from Ashby, of course. Therefore Grice teams up with Inspector Pound of the Yard to solve the conundrum and March is there to help, whether Sidney wants her to or notHer marriage has never been consummated.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781851840</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Frances Brody057136358X|title=Murder on a Summer's Day: (Kate Shackleton Mysteries)April in Spain|author=John Banville

|summary=It Terry Tice was Kate Shackletona hitman, although he didn's cousin t think of himself in the India Office who sought her help to find Maharajah Narayan who had gone out hunting on the Bolton Abbey Estate and not returned, although his horse - a flighty Arab - returned riderlessthose terms. The following morning He saw what he did as ''a body was found - but this proved to be one matter of the grooms who had accompanied Narayan earlier in the daymaking things tidy''. Had I couldn't resist the thought that he slipped jumping across the Strid and drowned? was an extreme version of Marie Kondo. The jump across the river Wharfe looked tempting and people were warned of the dangersHe enjoyed his job, but it something which occurred to him when he was known that young men regularly crossed that way rather than walking to in Burma with the wooden bridge or army ''where he got the stepping stones. Later in chance to kill a lot of the day Narayanlittle yellow fellows and had a fine old time''s body was found. Hewas spending a lot of time with Percy Antrobus - who couldn't understand why Terry didn'd been shot through t know the heart and purpose of a clumsy attempt had been made to hide swizzle stick - surely he wouldn't drink champagne with bubbles in the body - but only Kate Shackleton believed that there ''morning''? It was foul play. The authorities seemed determined after Percy's death that what had happened would be written off as 'he saw the benefits of taking up a tragic accident'job in Spain.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>034940058X</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Hannah KentB08Z8BMZ7H|title=Burial RitesThe Mystery of Healing|author=A P McGrath|rating=4.5

|summary=Fridrik, Agnes We meet Solon in Pergamon in the second century of the common era and Sigridur are accused he's the physician on duty at the munus - the games put on for the amusement of murdering two men one Icelandic night in 1829 before setting fire to their homethe populace. Now Agnes awaits execution, imprisoned in The remuneration isn't high but the work gives the farm doctor a feeling of a lowly local family who, rumour has it, wouldnvirtue and hones his skills: Solon ''wants''t be too great a loss if the prisoner becomes dangerouswarriors to live. Margrit Jonsdottir (the farmerIt's wife) doesnquite a spectacle: the magistri are the charge hands and when we first see them, they't feel threatened and sets re sprinkling gold dust onto the shocked, malnourished Agnes lions' manes to workmake them look more impressive. Gradually Agnes reveals The sagitarii are the archers and the events of that night beastiarii are the condemned criminals who are going to Margrit and Toti, a young priestfight for their lives with the wild animals. Her version seems to be a little different from what everyone else concludedToday, predictably… Or perhaps not so predictablyit's the crocodiles.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1447233166</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Daniel Woodrell1529337925|title=The Maid's Version|rating=5|genre=Historical Fiction|summary= Life may be tough in the Missouri town where Alma grew up but at least she has a job. She learns and experiences a lot as maid to the wealthy Glencross family, but many of the experiences aren't the sort she'd like to relive. To top it all off, in 1929 the Arbor, a local dance club, explodes into flames killing 42 people including Alma's younger sister Ruby. The cause remains a mystery as factions are blamed or viewed suspiciously. However Alma knows the truth, a truth that remains secret until decades later during a visit from her grandson.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444732838</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|title=Heroes Mirror Dance (Most WantedDandy Gilver)|author=Anne Perry|rating=4.5|genre=Dyslexia Friendly|summary=Trench warfare has widely been acknowledged as one of the most soul destroying forms of combat. It broke men physically and mentally. Death seemed inevitable for many, and life was so horrible that at times it must have come as release. So what is one more death among the multitudes? To Chaplain Joseph Reavely every death counts, but he can not let this one go. Morton was not killed by enemy fire - he was murdered and Joseph will not rest until justice is done. It sounds pretty straight forward, but there is far more to it than this and justice is truly poetic in this case.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1842995103</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Bruce Macbain|title=The Bull Slayer|rating=5|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=Years after we left him in [[Roman Games (Plinius Secundus) by Bruce Macbain|Roman Games]], Pliny the Younger has become Roman Governor of Bithynia. Not the most hospitable of regions, its Greek residents regard the Romans with hatred; an emotion that, in many cases, is reciprocated by the Romans. No matter how bad this is though, it gets worse when a high ranking official dies mysteriously. Could it have anything to do with the religious sect of Mithras? Possibly but it's not Pliny's only dilemma; at home his beloved young wife Calpurnia is acting somewhat oddly.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781850798</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Frances Brody|title=Murder In The Afternoon: (Kate Shackleton Mysteries)Catriona McPherson

|summary=Kate Shackleton's business It was the August Bank Holiday weekend and, as a private investigator is beginning so often happened, it was cold enough to attract interest but when there's a loud banging on have the door very early one morning she soon learns the truth of fire lit and Bunty the old adage that when family comes in, money doesnDalmation wasn'tinclined to leave it to keep Dandy Gilver warm on the sofa. The visitor ''looks'' familiar but Kate can't quite place where she's seen thought of work was almost cheering when Dandy took the woman before. Eventually it emerges that Mary Jane Armstrong is Kate's sistercall from Sandy Bissett in Dundee. Kate She was adopted as the publisher of a baby magazine and knew nothing of her natural family but Mary Jane needs help. Her children had taken food for their father at been told that the man running the quarry where he worked Punch and tenJudy show in the local park had used copies of two of her cartoon characters -yearRosie Cheek and her sister Freckle -old Harriet reported finding her father dead on to drum up some local interest in his show. Sandy Bissett's request was simple: she wanted Gilver and Osborne to warn the floor man about infringement of the hut, but when searchers returned copyright - and Dandy and Alex would be cheaper than employing a solicitor to do the quarry there was no sign of a body or of Ethan Armstrong either. Local opinion said that her husband had abandoned them, but Mary Jane believed her daughtersame job.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0749954876</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Elizabeth LoupasB08LKT7HSR|title=The Second DuchessMurder in the Belltower (A Miss Underhay Mystery)|author=Helena Dixon|rating=3.5

|summary=Elizabeth Loupas, it seems, was not In December 1933 the first author to be inspired by remains of Elowed Underhay were discovered in the intrigue and scandal cellar of the renaissance court Glass Bottle Public House. Ezekiel Hamett was sought in connection with the murder of FerreraElowed and his half-brother, Denzil Hammett, whose body was also discovered. The poem Kitty Underhay'My Last Duchess' by Robert Brownings long search for her mother, first published who disappeared in 1842 is an elegiac account reflecting June 1916 was over. Now she's determined that the popular view that Duke Alfonso d’Este murdered his first wife Lucrezia de Medici because of man responsible for her unfaithfulness. Loupas explores some of the themes raised in the poem and cleverly combines elements of Browning’s work with true historical accounts murder will be brought to create an appealing murder-mystery set against the sumptuous backdrop of renaissance Italyjustice.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848093837</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Frances BrodyStephen Clarke|title=A Medal for Murder: (Kate Shackleton Mysteries) The Spy Who Inspired Me|rating=4.5|genre=Crime (Historical)General Fiction|summary=When This is a pawnbroker was unceremoniously robbed of valuable items which he was holding on behalf of clients he first spoof spy story, that isn't about James Bond. Or Ian Fleming. But it features a man called the police Ian Lemming, who dresses well and then Kate Shackleton when 'likes the police seemed to be getting nowhere. It wasnladies't just and who works for the crime which had been committedsecret service, but in the pledges had sentimental value to many planning side of Moony's clients and he was worried about how they would feel when things more than the jewellry couldn't be returned active service. Lemming finds himself put on a mission with a female spy called Margaux, and what the impact would be pair end up stranded in Normandy, with Margaux on ''his'' reputation. He wanted a desperate mission to unearth traitors in the pieces back - but most of all he wanted Kate Shackleton resistance network, and her assistant Jim Sykes Lemming desperately trying to visit the clients and discuss the situation keep up with them. Simple? No.her!|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0749941928</amazonuk>2952163855

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

|summary=Kate Shackleton had gained something of a reputation for solving mysteries runs her investigation agency from Batswing Cottage, ably assisted by Jim Sykes, who lives in Woodhouse and there were plenty her housekeeper, Mrs Sugden. She's been approached by William Lofthouse of those at the end of the Great WarBarleycorn Brewery in Masham. She tracked down men who were then reunited Something is going wrong with their families his business and even those who had no wish he'd like Kate to look into it discreetly: he's hoping that his nephew and right-hand man, James Lofthouse, will be found and were not reunitedback from a trip to Germany before long. She had her own reasons for James went to see what the continental brewers were doing this - it made her feel more positive about her own situationand what changes Barleycorn might need to make. Her husband Gerald was posted William is worried that James is perhaps enjoying himself a little bit ''too'missing, presumed dead'much or is going to bring back a German bride but he' in the last year of the war and it was d like the one mystery she couldn't solve, no matter how she tried. But her successes in other areas led business to her first professional investigationbe ship-shape before his nephew returns.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0749941871</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Stephen Gallagher0241433568|title=The Bedlam DetectiveEight Detectives|author=Alex Pavesi|rating=4.5

|summary=Authors like to claim that writing is hard work. In a way, that’s true – there It's 1930 and Megan and Henry are a really astonishing number of words 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 book, rest and it’s often very difficult then he wants to talk to wrangle them from your head into coherent sentences on a pageMegan and Henry about something serious. At the same time, though, Only it never gets that far: when Bunny doesn't emerge after his siesta his guests find that he'hards been murdered. How can that have happened? There'' should not be s no one else in the same as ''boring''. It’s sad to come across authors who don’t enjoy the process of writinghouse, and it’s so easy to tell when you’re reading a piece one of work by a writer who was actually having fun when they wrote itthem must be the killer.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0091950120</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Edney Silvestre1473682401|title=If I Close My Eyes NowThe Turning Tide (Dandy Gilver)|author=Catriona McPherson

|summary=12th April 1961, Those who were with us at the radio news 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 full having twins. When they arrive no one can doubt the charms of Yuri GagarinLavinia Dahlia Cherry and her brother, Edward Hugh Lachlan Gilver. There are two drawbacks: they's first earth orbit re noisy and two boys whothey'd re staying with Dandy and Hugh. Dandy and her detective partner, Alec Osborne, had ambitions not taken up the chance to be Tarzan, look into a problem at the Cramond ferry when it was offered to be engineers, or medical scientists curing all diseasesthem twice before, but suddenly had a new the 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 being out of the capital back to Riohouse at Gilverton seems irresistible. We were twelve. It was a different country. A different world.'|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857521322</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Sax RohmerSeishi Yokomizo and Louise Heal Kawai (translator)|title=Fu-Manchu - Daughter of Fu-ManchuThe Honjin Murders

|genre=Crime (Historical)|summary=Fu Manchu To many readers, the phrase 'locked room murder mystery' is dead (enough to make the book one to read; preferably quantified by the words 'clever' or 'good'. For those who need more, here is he?) but his evil genius lives on, the extra background – we're in rural Japan in the form 1930s. The oldest son of his daughter! New narrator Greville an esteemed family is sent to fetch Dr Petrie (narrator of belatedly getting married, although the first three books) to come to an archaeological dig where Greville's chief Bartonwhole 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 old friend of Petrie'suncle representing her family, lies deadfor one thing. (Or does he?) From there Either way, the paircelebrations have gone ahead as planned, along only for the wedded couple to be slashed to death in their private annexe before the sun rises on their marriage. What with Nayland Smith a man missing parts of his fingers being in the neighbourhood, and Superintendent Weymouthsome mysterious use of a traditional musical instrument at the time of the crime, are plunged into this case has a death-defying adventurelot of the peculiar about it.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0857686062</amazonuk>1782275002

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=GK ChestertonB07XLM3SM6|title=The Complete Father Brown Stories|rating=4.5|genre=Crime (Historical)|summary=Having read many of the Father Brown short stories before, and after really enjoying the recent screen version, I jumped Murder 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.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1849906467</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewDolphin Hotel|author=Sara Sheridan|title=London Calling: a Mirabelle Bevan Mystery|rating=5|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.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846972434</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Jacqueline Jacques|title=The Colours of CorruptionHelena Dixon

|summary=MaryElowed Underhay was just twenty-seven when she disappeared from Dartmouth in June 1916, leaving her daughter, an impoverished cleanerKitty, is witness to a murderin the care of her grandmother. Archie is one A great deal of money had been spent to find out what happened to her and the first artists conclusion was that she was dead, mainly because there was no evidence to suggest otherwise. Kitty has come to work terms with this and in 1933 she was running the police 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 creates a picture Kitty could not understand why. She's always coped with the mix of holidaymakers, boating people and the naval college on the man edge of town before - and she says she saw's done every job in the hotel. Taken by And she particularly cannot understand why her looks he persuades Mary grandmother's friends have been roped in to keep an eye on things ''and'' why Captain Matthew Bryant has been hired to sit for a portrait, but the man who buys take charge of security at the portraitwould rather buy Mary herself..hotel.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1906784531</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Andrew Taylor0349423067|title=The Scent of DeathBody on the Train (Kate Shackleton Mysteries)|author=Frances Brody

|summary=It’s hard From Christmas to explain why Andrew Taylor’s novels are Easter a train ran from Leeds City Station to King's Cross, arriving before dawn so chillingthat the forced rhubarb it carried could be taken to Covent Garden. They’re ghost stories that often lack ghostsIn early March 1929, crime novels in which one of the porters who was unloading the boxes discovered the crime itself feels at body of a remove from the rest man, stripped naked and with no means of the actionidentification. But that’s really Scotland Yard hit a dead end and called on the secret services of their power: while Kate Shackleton in the hope that her knowledge and connections in most thrillers, Yorkshire would give them the bogeyman is lead they needed. Kate immediately found herself hamstrung: Commander Woodhead remembered her as a single entity, easy to pinpoint child and therefore easy could not come to excise from terms with the rest of fact that she was now a woman experienced in dealing with murder. He was reluctant to give her all the healthy fictional world, things are never so simple in information which the universes Taylor creates. What is frightening in an Andrew Taylor novel? Everythingpolice held.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007213514</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=George Mann (Editor)1472127110|title=Encounters of Sherlock HolmesIndian Summer: a Mirabelle Bevan Mystery|author=Sara Sheridan

|summary=Sherlock Holmes remains an enduring icon of English literature; perhaps as popular today as he was back in Life has changed dramatically for Mirabelle, our favourite fifties sleuth, since the late 1800swar, maybe even more so with and not always for the advent of TV better. When she first settled in Brighton she was alone, rudderless and film adaptations of secretly grieving for Jack, the lover who died before he could leave his adventureswife. IndeedAs time went by she found in herself an ability to solve crimes, such is the lasting appeal of the character that since 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 death of Conan Doyle there have been literally hundreds arms of works published, picking up where the original stories left offa rather charming policeman. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781160031</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Matthew Pearl1912374439|title=The TechnologistsCourier|author=Kjell Ola Dahl and Don Bartlett (translator)|rating=43.5

|summary=The year is 1868 and Boston is under threat from an evil genius 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 seems did it – the Nazis, surely? Well, that certainly has to have the uncanny ability remain to manipulate matter itself. The city has already experienced two attacks; the chaos be seen in the harbour this volume, which splits its time between one of war, when the navigation instruments went awry 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 eerie spectacle in the commercial quarter late 1960s, when every item of glassgreat consternation is being felt. In this timeline, including windowsa maverick agent is back in town, eyeglassesone who might have been fingered for murdering that female victim, clocks even though she and watches spontaneously melted. But are these attacks he lived together with their baby as a prelude young family, except he was thought by all to something greater?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099512769</amazonuk>have died in the War…

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=James P Blaylock1786075431|title=The Aylesford SkullMrs Mohr Goes Missing|ratingauthor=4|genre=Crime Maryla Szymiczkova and Antonia Lloyd-Jones (Historicaltranslator)|summaryrating=Langdon St3. 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.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857689797</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Stephen Gallagher|title=The Kingdom of Bones|rating=45

|summary='If you like this sort Meet Zofia. A socially climbing wife of thing…' reads a line from Stephen Gallaghermedical professor, she's 'The Kingdom of Bones'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'then here comes s life could certainly be better – cholera is nearing the kind city due to lack of thing you’ll like'hygiene, and many people have to fall on charity and almshouses to keep a roof over their heads. It’s describing the opening music for a theatrical number One such was Mrs Mohr, but it’s an almost perfect tagline for although she was rich enough to keep private lodgings and staff in her charitable home. I say ''The Kingdom of Boneswas'' itself, for she has vanished. If you like Victorians Only due to Zofia's help does she get found, vaudeville dead and villainy, if you like prizein a place the near-fighting and police chases and possession lame woman could never reach by the Devilherself. Just who could be killing people in a charity home, then here comes 'The Kingdom of Bones'. It’s and to what end? And why does Zofia feel the kind of thing that you’re really going need to like.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0091950139</amazonuk>make a name for herself by answering those questions?

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Dashiell Hammett1786893762|title=The Return of the Thin Man|rating=4|genre=Crime (Historical)|summary=I've recently been discovering the original works of Raymond Chandler which, like many people, I'd only really known from the Hollywood renditions. A 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'.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908800208</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewThings in Jars|author=Essie Fox|title=Elijah's MermaidJess Kidd

|summary=Author Augustus Lamb receives a shocking letter from his publisher and old friend Frederick HallA child has gone missing. Hall has discovered Lamb's small grandchildren, Lily The detective asked to take on the case is still struggling with the shame and Elijahfrustration 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 home , with all the rich and colourful paradoxes of that era: technical and scientific progress jostling for foundlingsspace beside superstition and a fascination with the bizarre and the downright hideous. LambAnd 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 son Gabriel had died after cap and stout, shiny boots, but the tobacco she smokes in her pipe (my dear, what an utterly ''fast'' thing for a socially unacceptable liaison lady to do!) is mixed with beautiful Italian Isabella who subsequently disappeareda nugget of something, well, let's say recreational, created by her chemist friend Prudhoe. Delighted beyond words at HallThe fact that it's discovery, Augustus adopts actually meant to cure bronchial problems is by the twinsby. Her housemaid, raising them in his Herefordshire country homebeing seven-foot-tall, Kingsland Houseis also somewhat remarkable. There And then, of course, there's the children growghost. Ruby Doyle, world-famous tattooed boxer (deceased) accompanies Bridie all through her investigation, happy and lovedit's clear he has a soft spot for the determined young woman. If he really exists, that is.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1409123340</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=James Carnac0349414327|title=The Autobiography A Snapshot of Jack the Ripper|rating=3.5|genre=Crime Murder (HistoricalKate Shackleton Mysteries)|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 ThreadFrances Brody

|summary=It's 1840 Even detectives need a break 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 itfor Kate Shackleton, ensuring Rhia must make photography gives her own way in the world. Via family connections mental relaxation which 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 London. But rather than residing in a sanctuary, her problems worsen as she's enveloped in a mystery leading to transportation despite her innocenceneeds. The only things holding her life together are When the letters she writes to her dearly departed grandmotherlocal Photographic Society proposed an outing, her artistic skill and a determination to discover who wants her gone.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908800127</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Martin Davies|title=The Year After|rating=5|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=Captain Tom Allen is home from World War I. Whilst waiting to be demobbed, he receives an invitation Kate was keen to attend the annual Christmas house-party at Hannesford Court, take the stately home of Sir Robert and Lady Stansbury. He used to look forward to it before joining up and so decides opportunity to attend again, but everything has changed. The Stansbury's heir, Harry, visit Haworth and son-in-lawStanbury, 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 not least because the devastating realisation that he's one deeds 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 Brontë Parsonage are coming to light being handed over so 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 it can become a Customs museum 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 her parents will be there's a deadline for the weddingevent. Emil panics but Mrs Sparrow offers to lay an 'Octavo'What could be better than seeing her family, witnessing 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 momentous event and having the eight nights it takes opportunity to complete take photographs of the Octavo, it becomes apparent that the prediction isnsetting for ''Wuthering Heights't for Emil's future, but has become an Octavo to save the whole of Sweden? Nothing could go wrong.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444742698</amazonuk> Or could it?

{{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) Move on 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>}}[[Newest Dyslexia Friendly Reviews]]