Newest Crime (Historical) Reviews
A Commonplace Killing by Sian Busby
In July 1946 two schoolboys found the body of a woman on a bombsite in north London. It's a while before she's identified as Lillian Frobisher, but that produces more problems. Lillian was - apparently - a respectably married woman but the encounter on the bomb site had been sexual and almost certainly consensual. And why was her husband not aware that his wife was missing? His position looks even worse when it emerges that the body was lying on an expensive mackintosh sold in the store where he's a doorman. But was Lillian quite as respectable as she would have had everyone think? Full review...
The Tournament by Matthew Reilly
Michael Reilly is somewhat of a guilty pleasure of mine; his novels are hi-octane adventures that are often as ludicrous as they are sublime. ‘The Tournament’ is a departure from his action packed Scarecrow and Jack West thrillers; instead creating an alternative history for our own Queen Elizabeth I. Why was she such a formidable leader whose reluctance to marry and dislike of the Catholics were only part of her make-up? Reilly poses a hypothetical tale about a 13 year old Bess going to Constantinople to watch a tournament of the world’s greatest chess players. Here she will be embroiled in a murder mystery alongside her tutor Roger Ascham. Full review...
The Return of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
I'm still not sure which is cheekier of the BBC – either riffing on the Conan Doyle originals for their own modern takes on Sherlock Holmes, or producing new editions of the original stories and novels with their young stars on the front, purely to tie a few sales down of what is now out of copyright. Certainly I think the latter is the greater crime, given the results on screen, for the number of young people picking up these classics for the first time on the basis of the TV and finding something quite against the grain of what they've ever read outside of school must be quite large. Still, anything to forcefeed classics to a new audience… Full review...
The City of Strangers by Michael Russell
In the spring of 1939 The Irish Times reported that Mrs Letitia Harris, aged 53 had gone missing from her home in Dublin. Her car was found the following morning on a cliff top near Shankill. There were bloodstains in the car, and a blood-stained hatchet in the shed back in Dublin, blood too in the flowerbed. Full review...
Sherlock: His Last Bow by Arthur Conan Doyle
The End. I got told off for writing those two simple words at the end of a short story I wrote at school, aged about eleven. If it is the end, I think the teacher was saying, it should be obvious. If it isn't, there's still no way the words are necessary. But at least I'm not alone. Conan Doyle, the south coast Doctor turned entertainer extraordinaire with all his output, was told off for the way he finished things. Holmes dead? Sorry, not allowed, Mr Doyle. Holmes retired to keep bees near Eastbourne? Beyond the pale, Sir – bring him back. You don't like the labour of proving your genius invention to be such a genius? Tough. And so we come to 'His Last Bow', which Watson tells us is the final, final, ending story with which to conclude, and a few others. He wasn't exactly correct about it being the last ones, though. Full review...
The Bones of Paris by Laurie R King
It is 1929 and Harris Stuyvesant has now left the Bureau of Investigation and England behind him and is working as a Private Investigator in Europe. An American, whom Stuyvesant had met, has gone missing and Stuyvesant is approached by her Uncle and her Mother to find her. The missing girl, Pip Crosby, was involved with a group of artists in the Montparnasse and Montmartre areas of the city. Many of them seem to have known her, but few have seen her in some time. Full review...
The Goddess and the Thief by Essie Fox
Alice Willoughby may only be a child but she feels at one with India, the country in which she was born and where her father works for the East India Company. The sights, the smells and the tales of the Indian gods told by Mini, her Indian ayah all contribute to it being home, despite the sub-continent having made her motherless. Therefore imagine her disgust when she's left in the hands of her Aunt Mercy (a counterfeit medium) in drab, dirty Victorian London. Life isn't easy anymore but it takes on a new turn when she meets the mysterious Mr Tilsbury. He has a plan for her that includes the theft of the Koh-I-Noor diamond, Her Majesty's pride and joy. Full review...
Touchstone by Laurie R King
Laurie R King may be best known for her Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes series, but she has also written a number of other novels, a couple of which feature detective Harris Stuyvesant. With the publication of the second in this series, the first Touchstone, originally published in 2008, has been republished, allowing those readers new to Stuyvesant, or even to King herself, to become properly acquainted. Full review...
The Lovegrove Hermit by Rosemary Craddock
Charlotte Tyler is delighted to receive an invitation to Lovegrove Priory, home of eccentric Gothic novelist Amelia Denby. The priory is surrounded by acres of picturesque parkland and Denby even has a hermit living in the grounds in his own private retreat. However, when the hermit, Brother Caspar, is found dead in an apparent suicide, it is up to Charlotte and her new friend Colonel Hartley to piece together the clues and unmask the murderer. Full review...
The Luck of the Vails by E F Benson
'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. Full review...
Nor Will He Sleep by David Ashton
Two opposing Edinburgh university student gangs are full of high jinks the night that Agnes Carnegie is found dead. Daniel Drummond, one of the merry-makers, is a prime suspect as he had an altercation with her and uses a silver cane that matches the murder weapon. Nothing is a foregone conclusion though and so dour, wily Inspector James McLevy of the Leith police is determined to uncover the truth. Meanwhile Robert Louis Stevenson is in town for his father's funeral and renews his acquaintance with McLevy which is rather fortuitous when we consider what lies ahead. Full review...
The Mangle Street Murders by MRC Kasasian
March Middleton's father dies, and she becomes a 20-something alone; not a good status for a Victorian woman. She therefore moves in with her guardian, Sidney Grice, personal (not private!) detective. Although, as Sidney has a case to solve, March may as well be invisible. Grice has been employed by shopkeeper William Ashby who has savagely murdered his own wife by stabbing her 40 times and leaving the Italian word for 'revenge' on the wall. 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 not. Full review...
Murder on a Summer's Day: (Kate Shackleton Mysteries) by Frances Brody
It was Kate Shackleton's cousin 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 riderless. The following morning a body was found - but this proved to be one of the grooms who had accompanied Narayan earlier in the day. Had he slipped jumping across the Strid and drowned? The jump across the river Wharfe looked tempting and people were warned of the dangers, but it was known that young men regularly crossed that way rather than walking to the wooden bridge or the stepping stones. Later in the day Narayan's body was found. He'd been shot through the heart and a clumsy attempt had been made to hide the body - but only Kate Shackleton believed that there was foul play. The authorities seemed determined that what had happened would be written off as 'a tragic accident'. Full review...
Burial Rites by Hannah Kent
Fridrik, Agnes and Sigridur are accused of murdering two men one Icelandic night in 1829 before setting fire to their home. Now Agnes awaits execution, imprisoned in the farm of a lowly local family who, rumour has it, wouldn't be too great a loss if the prisoner becomes dangerous. Margrit Jonsdottir (the farmer's wife) doesn't feel threatened and sets the shocked, malnourished Agnes to work. Gradually Agnes reveals the events of that night to Margrit and Toti, a young priest. Her version seems to be a little different from what everyone else concluded, predictably… Or perhaps not so predictably. Full review...
The Maid's Version by Daniel Woodrell
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. Full review...
Heroes (Most Wanted) by Anne Perry
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. Full review...
The Bull Slayer by Bruce Macbain
Years after we left him in 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. Full review...
Murder In The Afternoon: (Kate Shackleton Mysteries) by Frances Brody
Kate Shackleton's business as a private investigator is beginning to attract interest but when there's a loud banging on the door very early one morning she soon learns the truth of the old adage that when family comes in, money doesn't. The visitor looks familiar but Kate can't quite place where she's seen the woman before. Eventually it emerges that Mary Jane Armstrong is Kate's sister. Kate was adopted as a baby and knew nothing of her natural family but Mary Jane needs help. Her children had taken food for their father at the quarry where he worked and ten-year-old Harriet reported finding her father dead on the floor of the hut, but when searchers returned to 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 daughter. Full review...
The Second Duchess by Elizabeth Loupas
Elizabeth Loupas, it seems, was not the first author to be inspired by the intrigue and scandal of the renaissance court of Ferrera. The poem 'My Last Duchess' by Robert Browning, first published in 1842 is an elegiac account reflecting the popular view that Duke Alfonso d’Este murdered his first wife Lucrezia de Medici because of her unfaithfulness. Loupas explores some of the themes raised in the poem and cleverly combines elements of Browning’s work with true historical accounts to create an appealing murder-mystery set against the sumptuous backdrop of renaissance Italy. Full review...
A Medal for Murder: (Kate Shackleton Mysteries) by Frances Brody
When a pawnbroker was unceremoniously robbed of valuable items which he was holding on behalf of clients he first called the police and then Kate Shackleton when the police seemed to be getting nowhere. It wasn't just the crime which had been committed, but the pledges had sentimental value to many of Moony's clients and he was worried about how they would feel when the jewellry couldn't be returned and what the impact would be on his reputation. He wanted the pieces back - but most of all he wanted Kate Shackleton and her assistant Jim Sykes to visit the clients and discuss the situation with them. Simple? No. Full review...
Dying In The Wool: (Kate Shackleton Mysteries) by Frances Brody
Kate Shackleton had gained something of a reputation for solving mysteries and there were plenty of those at the end of the Great War. She tracked down men who were then reunited with their families and even those who had no wish to be found and were not reunited. She had her own reasons for doing this - it made her feel more positive about her own situation. Her husband Gerald was posted missing, presumed dead in the last year of the war and it was the one mystery she couldn't solve, no matter how she tried. But her successes in other areas led to her first professional investigation. Full review...
The Bedlam Detective by Stephen Gallagher
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. Full review...
If I Close My Eyes Now by Edney Silvestre
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.' Full review...
Fu-Manchu - Daughter of Fu-Manchu by Sax Rohmer
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. Full review...
The Complete Father Brown Stories by GK Chesterton
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. Full review...
London Calling: a Mirabelle Bevan Mystery by Sara Sheridan
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. Full review...
The Colours of Corruption by Jacqueline Jacques
Mary, an impoverished cleaner, is witness to a murder. Archie is one of the first artists to work with the police and creates a picture of the man she says she saw. Taken by her looks he persuades Mary to sit for a portrait, but the man who buys the portraitwould rather buy Mary herself... Full review...
The Scent of Death by Andrew Taylor
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. Full review...
Encounters of Sherlock Holmes by George Mann (Editor)
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. Full review...
The Technologists by Matthew Pearl
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? Full review...
