Thank you to NetGalley and Severn House for this ARC from a favorite author of mine. I have read all of Alys Clare's Hawkenlye and Aelf Fen series with pleasure. This series is a bit different for me, and I seem slow to warm to the period, although the characters have improved since Book #1.
Former ship's physician Gabriel Taverner, and Celia his sister as well as their compatriots in rural Devon, live in a time still reeling from Reformation atrocities. This story exemplifies some of the horrors of that period, although it must be said that the characters themselves are educated and mature.
Vestiges of religious intolerance as well as damaged lives are what this story is about.Gabe and his friend Coroner Theo Davy, attempt to solve a death which becomes one, and then a series of murders. The area "gentry" definitely are not who they seem to be as our characters find out.
There is a hopeful-of-better-times ending which I appreciated. I gave it 3.5 stars rounded to 4 as it was darker than I care for
#FalseAccusations #NetGalley
" There is nothing to fear if you have nothing to hide … Summer of 1991 Nothing unusual ever happens in the sleepy village of Willowgrove.,everyone is shocked to their core when a local woman – Mrs Trevor – is murdered. Her daughter, Rosie confesses ..but Rosie has learning difficulties,and Flora Morgan –trained to help those who can’t represent themselves – is called in to assist. Flora has known Rosie for years.. Rosie wouldn’t hurt a fly. "
Thanks to NetGalley for giving me this ARC by one of my favorite authors, Cora Harrison. It is a new series and perhaps the next one will be more of what I was expecting. I did like the last chapter which showed Flora and Ted, the local solicitor growing quite fond of each other.
Not so sure that the two chapters prior to the last one made great sense to me. Flora's mysterious catastrophic illness leading to a long hospitalization, which ended in a series of hallucinations ,in which the murder investigation was wrapped up. Hmmm. Did Flora solve it or just think she solved it?
It was a unique type of British crime novel, a "cozy" of sorts, and Cora Harrison is a very fine writer and seemed to pull it off pretty well. Try it! 3.5 stars rounded to 4.
Thanks to Chris Nickson, favorite author, NetGalley and Endeavor for this fascinating book about an era in Britain I knew little about. I was reminded that Churchill wrote the book "While England Slept" in 1938 and JFK wrote a rebuttal of it , "Why England Slept" in 1940.
It was clearly a conflicted time in England and especially Leeds with deep economic depression. I will mention that I was not yet born, and my father, who was in battle in the South Pacific at my birth, always stated that he would not go to war again unless the Japanese were landing in Atlantic City. (We were from New Jersey) Dad had performed a heroic act shortly before my birth aboard his ship, which haunted him his whole life.
That was in my mind as I got into this quite excellent book, and I am still exploring after reading it, what was going on in England at that time. I was unaware of the factions existing in the UK at that time, and my husband whose parents were still British Citizens in the 1930s was not either.
Enter "the political tensions between Mosley’s Blackshirts and working-class Communists in 1930's Leeds" which was a city "struggling to shake off the effects of the Great Depression," and our hero WWI Vet DI Urban Raven. The Battle of Holbeck Moor September 1936 followed a week of rising tension, Sir Oswald Mosley against city orders, marched his Blackshirts ( British Union of Fascists) to Holbeck. The expected BUF rally was aborted by about 30,000 Leeds residents, opposing communists among them.
One unpopular, and mostly unmourned man( a means test inspector),was murdered and left in an alley which began our story. Detective Inspector Urban Raven was given the unwelcome task of finding the murderer with many unanswered questions. Was the murder a vengeful act or was it due to the rising political tensions in Leeds ? Which "side" was responsible and why were subsequent murders happening?
Add to that Urban's unraveling marriage, helping his young assistant DC Daniel Noble cope with the ensuing violence, and the conflict of his superiors, and you have a perfect mystery novel.
Suffice to say, it ends well (for most) and I sincerely hope this will become a series by this gifted writer.
I really enjoyed this book, as well as the place and time, and am excited that it will be a series. I kept peeking at the end of the book to make sure it ended well- which shows the characters engaged me!
Louisa Cannon, from a poor working class family in London, works with her widowed mother as a washerwoman and seamstress. Her father's brother often stays at their house and puts Louisa in harms way.
Jennie, a friend from school who gives her a hint for a job in an upper class family the Mitfords. Her uncle tries to interfere with her interview by abducting her, and she jumps off the train onto the tracks.Guy Sullivan, a young railway officer assists her to get to the interview.
At the very same time Louisa jumped from the train, a war nurse, Florence Nightingale Shore is attacked and left for dead on another train. Guy Sullivan and his coworker Harry are assigned to that case and this murder will consume them all.
Her new position is nursery maid for the Mitford family adds Nancy Mitford the oldest child to the group who become obsessed with Nurse Shore's murder.
An exciting sequence of events follows with an eventful conclusion. I cannot wait for the next in the series.
4.5 stars rounded up..A fun read where Georgie and Darcy almost make it to Gretna Green to marry but life and his father Lord Kilhenny intervened. A snowstorm interrupts their trip and the morning paper brings terrible news that Darcy's father has been arrested for murder.
Darcy breaks off their engagement to spare her ( and the throne) embarrassment and heads to Kildare. Georgie follows him, his friend Princess ZouZou follows suit. Queenie eventually comes also and hilariously stands at the foot of Georgie' s bed in Darcy's eccentric Great Aunt Oona's haunted manor house.
Georgie and ZouZou have ideas which are put into place and the murder eventually is solved with the US Embassy's assistance. Mr.Roach the deceased, was the head of a large robbery gang ( Based on an actual event in the US) and a gang members had actually committed the crime.
Lovely ending Christmas day, when Darcy gives Georgie his mother's ring, and has set things in motion for Royal consent for their marriage. It seems that Zou Zou and Lord Kilhenney may have similar plans. and Queenie has agreed to stay and help Great Aunt Oona and Uncle Dooley on their estate.
The Holywell Dead ( Chesterfield #3) was a satisfying read by a favorite author, about a perilous time in history. 1364 finds the plague returning to Chesterfield as the local priest, sorely needed now, has vanished.
John the Carpenter is content in his new life, but the plague brings up his own personal history as an 8 year left parentless. The discovery of the priest wrapped in a shroud in an empty house precipitates a string of related murders. John is charged with finding the murderer as he has been for some time past. His wife and extended family are concerned, and after John is attacked, he vows to not participate in the search.
Murders and abductions continue to occur,including the Carpenters young mute apprentice being taken. John intervenes to find Alan and once to find the Coroner, whose fury remains unabated.
After deHarville, the Coroner, is attacked and dies, John becomes the target of those few remaining in this group of mercenaries, who have some attachment to the King.
Unlikely allies are a group of lepers who are willing to help him fight the mercenary group, as they knew him as a kind generous person.. One of them, Alison, on her own, came with him on the final battle, and slew the remaining murderer while sacrificing her own life.
The ending was poignant and pointed to happier times as John and Alan had completed a "thank offering" bench commissioned by the Coroner, warmly received by parishioners. Katherine his wife happily tells him a second child will be born to them before long. I hope that indicates a sequel to this fine series.
Wow Daisy Dalrymple #23,
thanks NetGalley& St. Martin's Press for the read. I have not read all Carola Dunn's books, but enough to know this one was a very fun read. Daisy's family life is quite entertaining, with cousins from other countries, friends from near and far and the twins and Belinda.
Alec ( who ends the book at Superintendent of his unit at Scotland Yard) , tries very hard to keep Daisy from being immersed in his cases to no avail. His subordinates and colleagues are also sort of their extended family.
The school holidays have started and stepdaughter Belinda arrives at home, where Daisy has arranged many exciting day trips, as well as house guests. The first one, which included visiting cousins, close friends,Nanny Gilpin and her young assistant, was via several chauffeured vehicles to the Crystal Place.
Before lunchtime, Nanny Gilpin ends up floating in a pond and rescued by the older cousins Ben and Charlie, Belinda and others were in the ladies room where another Nanny appears to be deceased. A closer look at the deceased reveals the corpse is male, and a third Nanny was seen fleeing the scene after being pursued by Nanny G. Daisy feels she knows this man and it ends up he is a cousin of Lucy, her best friend and heir to a Baronet.
A complicated plot including Russian jewelers as well as a huge amount of possible murderers ensure. Teddy, the victim has made himself universally disliked in many social circles. The ending was enjoyable, as was another look at Daisy's world.
