I so very much enjoyed this book and purchased the next one at 3AM. Thanks to Prime reading for bringing this one to my attention and to Jean Grainger a skillful storyteller. 5 Stars!
It's not my usual read but books from WWII are increasingly popular and meaningful to me, as a war baby. Many Irish sayings such as "the wreck of the Hesperus" were familiar to me. Until I started this book I knew nothing about the Kindertransport or what it was about but am awed by it and other humanitarian efforts during this time period.
I especially enjoyed the storyline that was superimposed on this tale and am looking forward to the next two volumes of this tale. The characters and their relationships seemed improbable at first, but then came to life. It was what I needed to read and not a more journalistic sort of book.
#TheLanternMen #NetGalley. Thanks to both NetGalley, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and, the ever so talented Elly Griffiths, for this absolutely terrific Ruth Galloway #12. I read it right through and so hated for it to end!
Good news is that the ending seems to be taking Ruth back to Norfolk- and Nelson? She was not really content in Cambridge even with the more lucrative position. Could Frank be going with her? I'm not sure but maybe not.This was definitely not the place she wanted to live so I'll see who turns up in Book #13.
The Lantern Men, of course, was impeccably researched and suitably thrilling. The mystery itself was multilayered and tailored to this cast of characters, who are partly law enforcement, and partly forensic anthropologists. It was breathtaking until almost the very end!
Recommended highly for lovers of the best of mysteries
I very much enjoyed this book although I almost stopped reading it when Andrea made Danny and Maeve leave the house after their father died. It was at night and I woke up during the night trying to figure out where the story line would go and what would happen next. I decided in the morning I better finish reading it- so glad I did.
It tells the story of siblings, as Danny said at the end it was supposed to be about his sister Maeve and how they dealt with family dysfunction. It could have been about adult children of alcoholics as the dynamics are the same- "Same House -Different Homes", Danny and Maeve had "different" mothers and fathers emotionally.
Danny and his family did better through life than Maeve, which is to be expected as she "protected" him from the loss of his mother and every catastrophe almost that he encountered. He was closer to his father because she was not and because his father valued his son a bit more.
A great read!! My Book Club September Selection
Huge thanks to Severn House, Cora Harrison, #NetGalley for this advance copy of #DeathofaProminentCitizen. I adore this series, Reverend Mother Mystery #7, and found myself unable to put this book down, except to sleep. The period detail and the characters are so entrancing to me, not the least as details I know happened to my ancestors are unfolded. What a terrible time for all but the upper class citizens at this time, the immediate aftermath of the Irish Civil War.
"Money is the root of all evil, according to the Reverend Mother – but is it the motive for her cousin's murder?"
Wealthy Charlotte Hendrick, first cousin to the Reverend Mother and 6 others, was not a warm character as well as being a slum landlord. She decides to change her will and exclude 6 of her cousins and invites them to her mansion to "present their cases" on what they would do with an inheritance. The evening of the presentation falls on a night of riots on the nearby quays, and in the morning, Reverend Mother finds her cousin deceased with her throat cut.
Was this an outside murder related to the landlord riots or was it a distraught relative who did not want to be disinherited ?Reverend Mother, Inspector Patrick Cashman with his Sergeant Joe and Dr. Scher spend the following week finding the murderer. Of course Reverend Mother figures it out and it was a completely unexpected ending- but VERY satisfactory! Love this series.
As always Chris Nickson brings Leeds to life with #TheMoltenCity, which gives a hint of the conflagration which is to come. Thanks to #NetGalley and Severn House for outing number 8 of the Detective Superintendent Tom Harper series. It was a thrilling and complex historical novel to read.
"Detective Superintendent Tom Harper senses trouble ahead when the prime minister plans a visit. Can he keep law and order on the streets while also uncovering the truth behind a missing child?"
Two ( at least), events are taking place, started by an anonymous letter from a dying woman hoping to clear her conscience about knowledge of the child snatching of Andrew Sharp , 14 years before.
As Harper starts to look into this disturbing event, he is informed that he will be in charge of the arrival of Herbert Asquith, Prime Minister to the city. This visit, unlike that of King Edward, will be made dangerous by Leeds already being roiled by by tensions between suffragettes and the unemployed. Tom Harper's wife and now 16 years old daughter seem to be in opposition on the tactics of the suffragettes versus the women's suffrage lower keyed movement.
Events keep the whole city force and other town law enforcement entities stretched very thin with both violence and murders happening with the older child abductions case(s) and the anticipated rioting at the PM's speech.
A very entertaining book on more than one level which kept my attention to the end. Chris Nickson draws on actual historical events, and marvelous period detail, to enmesh his fine mysteries in.
Like others, I too would like to read more about the Red Cross Commissary effort..My husband who is a WWII history nut knew nothing about this group, although he knew about the events they were in..I loved this book and would love for a sequel to show where everyone was.
The beginning was also good but when they got through training it really took off. I was a war baby in the US so enjoy all of this. I was born right before the victory in the Pacific. in July.
The story was based on actual historical events that happened to known Commissary Red Cross units and some of those events were amazing. Fiona, Dottie and Vi were college friends who joined for various reasons. Fiona's fiance had been declared missing and she wanted to go and help the war effort, and perhaps find out where he was. Both things happened in a pretty amazing fashion.
Recommended
