#BookReview ‘The Royal Rebel’ by Elizabeth Chadwick @Chadwickauthor #historicalfiction #medieval

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1338 England is at war with France. The court of King Edward III travels to Calais and with them goes Jeanette of Kent, a rebellious, outspoken, daring, determined young girl, all the things a lady of the court is supposed not to be. War runs throughout The Royal Rebel by Elizabeth Chadwick and so does love. I loved Jeanette’s character arc through the course of this book, from impressionable young teenager to twenty-something. As a cousin of the king, twelve-year-old Jeanette spends much of her time at court, chaperoned, managed, supervised, hardly ever alone. In Calais, she meets a young soldier, commoner Thomas Holland, and the two fall head over heels in love. Married secretly their plans immediately go wrong. Jeanette returns to England with the court while Thomas must go to war again. Both are desperately in love.
As happens with any young woman of the court, Jeanette is expected to make a pragmatic politically-acceptable marriage. When told she must marry a childhood acquaintance William Montagu who she dislikes, she explains she is already married. Her mother and William’s reject Jeanette’s inconvenient story as a child’s fancy and deem her evidence insubstantial. Jeanette has no choice but to marry as she is told, ‘she could not refuse; she was a sparrow tossed in a storm wind, wings over tail. She curtseyed, and took her leave, carrying herself with pride and grace until she was out of the door, but then grabbed her skirts in her fists and started to run… on and on… [until] the enormity of what she had tried to outrun caught up with her like a gazehound on a hare.’
This is essentially a love story set within the unemotional, unromantic world of the court. Marriage matches are made for convenience, diplomacy, for political gain, wealth and property; never for love. Jeanette and Thomas’ love for each other means nothing. Decisions are taken about their lives without their input. There are many twists and turns in this story and I really rooted for the couple to find a way to be together. They are manipulated, lied to, separated, bullied and abused. Thomas must continue to earn his living as a soldier and a piece of luck means he gains the funds to mount a legal challenge. But this court case moves so slowly, delayed by process, by the spreading plague, by machinations of the witnesses giving evidence against Jeanette and Thomas. But the couple, still so young, continue their fight, continue to hope despite all the setbacks, opposition and accusations of dishonesty. Jeanette learns patience, ‘All her hopes were like beautiful eggshells, and she dared not tread too heavily for fear that they would shatter.’
Elizabeth Chadwick has created strong, nuanced characters to care for. She is a new author for me and now I look forward to reading the sequel, The Crownless Queen.

If you like this, try:-
‘The Last Hours’ by Minette Walters #1BLACKDEATH
‘The Turn of Midnight’ by Minette Walters #2BLACKDEATH
‘The Story Spinner’ by Barbara Erskine

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COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK I REVIEW WILL BE:- Catherine Airey

#BookReview ‘The Secret Keeper’ by Renita D’Silva @RenitaDSilva #romance #India #WW2

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From 1930s India to England in World War Two and the 1990s, The Secret Keeper by Renita D’Silva is the story of Rani Raj, the secrets she kept, the secrets she didn’t keep and the fallout across two generations. Renita D’SilvaRani grows up in pre-war Europe with her Indian father, a crown prince, and German mother. Their life is thrown into turmoil when her grandfather dies and her baba becomes king. This doesn’t simply mean that the family must relocate to India, but that they must abandon their Marxist beliefs and adopt the wealthy segregated existence that goes with the royal role. Rani and her mother must live in the women’s zenana, separately from Rani’s father and brother Arjun. Rani’s entire world turns upside down, she struggles to understand her father’s about-face of everything he believed in, and encouraged her to believe. Planning to study at university, Rani’s world becomes limited to an enclosed space, albeit a beautiful, privileged one.
Strong-willed Rani rebels. Adopting her maid’s sari and strong accent, she ventures beyond the palace walls where she meets the milkman’s son Prasad and falls in love. After a misguided plan to convince her father the king that Prasad is a suitable husband for her, she is banished to England where she studies at university. In Cambridge she struggles with an ethical dilmena; her delight at being able to study again, against the silence from her family and the uncertainty about Prasad’s fate. She writes home weekly but receives no reply. It is a severe punishment for an idealistic, hopelessly naive mistake.
When war begins, Rani is recruited as a codebreaker at Bletchley Park while her best friend Gertie joins the Special Operations Executive. I so wanted to know more about Gertie, and it’s at this point that I felt the book could have gone in a different direction.
In England 1990, a young woman called Esme is bereaved twice in a matter of weeks. First her beloved, quiet, academic father dies, and then the family’s motherly housekeeper Mrs Lewes who has raised Esme in the absence of a mother. Struggling with her grief, Esme visits a counsellor who encourages her to explore her past family history. A visit to her older brother Andrew unveils a childhood different from the one she remembers.
The Secret Keeper is a moralistic story about teenage mistakes having a tragic consequence in the adult world. This is an emotional story about the traps of idealistic first love coming back to haunt you in later life. Young Rani makes promises without understanding or stopping to think what it may mean to keep them.
I always enjoy Renita D’Silva’s stories set in India. Whether describing extremes of wealth or poverty her description puts me in the place, in all its intensity and power.

Read my reviews of these other novels by Renita D’Silva:-
A DAUGHTER’S COURAGE
A MOTHER’S SECRET
BENEATH AN INDIAN SKY
THE GIRL IN THE PAINTING
THE ORPHAN’S GIFT
THE SPICE MAKER’S SECRET
THE WAR CHILD

If you like this, try:-
‘Daughters of War’ by Dinah Jefferies #1DAUGHTERSOFWAR
‘The Secret History of Audrey James’ by Heather Marshall
‘Dear Mrs Bird’ by AJ Pearce

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#BookReview THE SECRET KEEPER by @RenitaDSilva https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-8LE via @SandraDanby

COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK I REVIEW WILL BE:-

#BookReview ‘The Silk Code’ by Deborah Swift @swiftstory #WW2

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World War Two is one of my favourite periods to read about and so I expected much from The Silk Code by Deborah Swift, especially as it is based on the Special Operations Executive in London. Coding, female agents, secrets, spies. Deborah SwiftOn the rebound from a broken engagement, Nancy Callaghan leaves her beautiful but claustrophobic home in Scotland for London. Her brother Neil, who works in an unnamed adminstrative department in Baker Street, offers to put her forward for a secretarial job. Except Baker Street is the home of SOE and Nancy turns out to be a dab hand at decoding, especially the ‘indecipherables,’ the messages sent by agents that are muddled and meaningless. Nancy finds Neil much changed; he seems to sleep little, is out much of the night, is grumpy and uncommunicative. Then when Nancy takes a shine to Tom Lockwood, the expert who trains the coders, Neil instantly disapproves. Of course there is more going on here than office politics. Is it simply a matter of professional jealousy or is there a traitor in the building? Why is the death rate of SOE agents parachuted into Holland so high? And why won’t the bosses listen to Tom’s suspicions? When Nancy is given an ultimatum – spy on your colleagues for the good of your country, or be demoted and moved from Baker Street – she feels she has no choice.
This is a thrilling story packed with moral choices of the ‘do the easy thing or the right thing’ type. Based on true history but populated with mostly fictional characters, Swift has written a novel that kept me reading just another chapter. The pace is fast following the introduction to Nancy in rural Scotland and Swift convincingly shows Nancy’s difficulties arriving in a strange city, living in a box room in her taciturn brother’s flat, training to do a job that isn’t explained alongside colleagues who have all signed the Official Secrets Act. As Nancy is trying to work out what is going on, so is the reader. Everyone knows only so much and everyone, it seems, has secrets.
When Tom and Nancy invent a method of printing one-time codes on silk cloth that can be hidden in the agents’ clothing, little do they realise that Nancy will soon be in Holland. Half-Dutch and fluent in the language, Nancy is a natural for SOE espionage training. But she truly has little idea of what she is flying into. N-Section in Holland is a vipers’ nest of double agents with Nazis masquerading as Allied coders. From the moment her feet touch the ground, she doesn’t know who to trust.
The Silk Code is a very good introduction to Swift’s WW2 Secret Agent series. Next is The Shadow Network. Deborah Swift is a new author to me and I’d also like to read some of her historical fiction.

If you like this, try:-
‘The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society’ by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows
‘Dominion’ by CJ Sansom
‘The Rose Code’ by Kate Quinn

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#BookReview THE SILK CODE by Deborah Swift @swiftstory https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-8Sr via @SandraDanby

COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK I REVIEW WILL BE:- Renita D’Silva

#BookReview ‘Murder on Board’ by Helena Dixon @NellDixon #cosymystery #crime

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Kitty Underhay’s wedding is approaching fast but as the late summer season at the Dolphin Hotel proves busy there is little time to think of the nuptials. In Murder on Board by Helena Dixon, tenth in the 1930s amateur detective series, hotel owner Kitty is having a fitting for her wedding dress one day and organising a glamorous birthday party on board a riverboat steamer the next. Unfortunately the latter includes a murder and a jewel theft. Helena DixonDartmouth, September 1934. Life at the Dolphin Hotel is transitioning as Kitty prepares to marry on Christmas Eve and her grandmother gets ready to retire. Chief evidence of this is the arrival of the new hotel manager, Mr Cyril Lutterworth. Meanwhile Kitty’s fiance Captain Matthew Bryant is working again for his old London spy boss, Brigadier Remmington-Blythe, following a man suspected of trading top secret information to the enemy. So when Kitty boards the Kingswear Castle to check everything is ready for the 21st birthday party of the Chief Constable’s daughter, she is horrified to see Matt’s suspect is working on board as a steward. And even more horrified when he is later killed in the engine room.
The party guests, unaware of the crime on board, are enjoying the second half of the celebrations at the Dolphin Hotel as planned with a glamorous evening ball. Sir Montague Hawkes presents the birthday girl, his daughter Serafina, with the fabulous Firestone diamond necklace, a family heirloom. But as soon as the necklace is fastened around her neck, the lights go out, Serafina screams and the necklace is gone. Chaos ensues. Inspector Greville is short-staffed and so recruits Kitty and Matt to help with the investigations of the two separate crimes, separate except for the fact that they happened in the presence of exactly the same group of guests.
Inspector Greville has no leads; every party guest seems to have seen nothing, to not know the dead man and to be shocked by the theft. There is an old foe, a kidnapping, a very flash car, a visit to Dartmouth Naval College and some unwanted romantic advances for Kitty, while Matt’s unruly dog Bertie is proven to have a hidden talent. How can Matt’s spy, the murder and the theft possibly be linked?
Borrowed from the library as an emergency read when my faithful Kindle finally died, this novel is just the ticket if you’re looking for a story to take you away from the stresses of modern life. I thoroughly enjoyed Murder on Board. I quickly guessed the puzzle of one of the crimes but wasn’t correct at identifying either the murderer or thief.

Next in the series is Murder at the Charity Ball.

Here are my reviews of other books in the series:-
MURDER AT THE DOLPHIN HOTEL #1MISSUNDERHAY
MURDER AT ENDERLEY HALL #2MISSUNDERHAY
MURDER AT THE PLAYHOUSE #3MISSUNDERHAY
MURDER ON THE DANCE FLOOR #4MISSUNDERHAY
MURDER IN THE BELLTOWER #5MISSUNDERHAY
MURDER AT ELM HOUSE #6MISSUNDERHAY
MURDER AT THE WEDDING #7MISSUNDERHAY
MURDER IN FIRST CLASS #8MISSUNDERHAY
MURDER AT THE COUNTRY CLUB #9MISSUNDERHAY

And my reviews of the first in a new series by Helena Dixon:-
THE SECRET DETECTIVE AGENCY #1SECRETDETECTIVEAGENCY
THE SEASIDE MURDERS #2SECRETDETECTIVEAGENCY

If you like this, try:-
‘A Mansion for Murder’ by Frances Brody #13KATESHACKLETON
‘The French for Murder’ by Verity Bright #10LADYELEANORSWIFT
‘Death comes to Marlow’ by Robert Thorogood #2MARLOWMURDERCLUB

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#BookReview MURDER ON BOARD by Helena Dixon @NellDixon https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-8RS via @SandraDanby

COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK I REVIEW WILL BE:- Deborah Swift

#BookReview ‘The Sinner’s Mark’ by SW Perry @swperry_history #historical #crime

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Religious extremism, Moorish diplomacy, sedition and missing youths. In England 1600, Dr Nicholas Shelby’s elderly father is accused of distributing seditious pamphlets. The Sinner’s Mark by SW Perry is sixth in the fantastic Jackdaw Mysteries historical series. SW PerryNicholas and Bianca are happily married, living in Bankside on the south bank of the Thames, with their five-year-old son Bruno. Bianca is a talented apothecary, Nicholas attends the sick and, with misgivings, answers the occasional call of Queen Elizabeth I’s right hand man, Sir Robert Cecil. Accustomed to being ordered to undertake a distasteful task for Cecil, Nicholas is shocked to learn the reason for his summons. Sedition. Cecil has discovered that Shelby’s elderly father in Suffolk has been arrested. With Cecil’s help, Nicholas secures his father’s freedom but is disturbed by the stories of a firebrand young priest whose sermons have bewitched a local congregation. When the priest arrives in London, the pace of the story speeds up.
When Petrus Eusebius Schenk, an army acquaintance of Nicholas from his fighting days in the Low Countries, arrives at the Jackdaw, Bianca cannot warm to the man. Uneasy at Nicholas’s instant trust of the newcomer, Bianca observes contradictory behaviour. Nicholas believes she is being uncharitable about an old soldier still suffering from traumatic memories of war. When Schenk takes the Jackdaw’s tavern man Ned Monkton to listen to an evangelical new preacher, Bianca decides to investigate. What follows is a rollercoaster ride of radical puritanism, what today we would call grooming, the disappearance of young men and a conspiracy to commit treason. At this time Bianca comes into an unexpected inheritance, a small house and warehouse on the north bank of the river, where she makes an unwelcome discovery. Nicholas is called into the queen’s service again, this time as diplomat and translator during the state visit of the Morroccan ambassador. Nicholas met Muhammed al-Annuri in Marrakech seven years previously, as featured in The Saracen’s Mark, and is expected to inform Cecil of Annuri’s real expectations, something he finds difficult to do. As always when Nicholas is pushed into doing something reluctantly, or is divided between two loyalties, the story gets interesting.
A page-turning historical mystery that doesn’t disappoint, set in a time of political uncertainty as the queen approaches the end of her reign. Difficult to review without giving away critical plot points but the interventions of Will Shakespeare are welcome, as is the presence of Carib-born apothecary trainee Cachorra who proves herself a suitable, independent-minded sidekick for Bianca.
Excellent.

Here are my reviews of the  other books in the series:-
THE ANGEL’S MARK #1JACKDAWMYSTERIES
THE SERPENT’S MARK #2JACKDAWMYSTERIES
THE SARACEN’S MARK #3JACKDAWMYSTERIES
THE HERETIC’S MARK #4JACKDAWMYSTERIES
THE REBEL’S MARK #5JACKDAWMYSTERIES

If you like this, try:-
‘The Almanack’ by Martine Bailey #1TABITHAHART
‘The Blue Afternoon’ by William Boyd
‘The Glassmaker’ by Tracy Chevalier

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#BookReview THE SINNER’S MARK by SW Perry @swperry_history https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-8KJ via @SandraDanby

COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK I REVIEW WILL BE:- Helena Dixon

#BookReview ‘Leeward’ by Katie Daysh #historicalfiction #adventure #navalwarfare

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I’m new to historical naval fiction and wasn’t sure what to expect from Leeward by Katie Daysh, first in the Nightingale & Courtney mystery series. Life at sea is brutal, and beautiful. It is lonely, and companionable. It is exhilarating, it is terrifying. Katie Daysh1800 Antigua. For Hiram Nightingale, naval captain and veteran of the Battle of the Nile, the sea is everything. ‘The sea. The sea… Nearly everything of importance in his life had happened on the ocean.’ Horribly injured, physically and emotionally, after the famous battle of the Napoleonic Wars and grieving for his lost crew, Hiram is encouraged back to sea by his father and father-in-law who arrange a captaincy in the West Indies. Expecting a quiet commission, instead he finds himself captain of the ‘Scylla’ charged with hunting down and apprehending a mutinied ship, the ‘Ulysses.’ His mission is to chase the ‘Ulysses’ wherever she goes, even around Cape Horn into the Pacific. It soon becomes clear that Hiram hasn’t been told the real reason for his mission or why the ‘Ulysses’ crew mutinied. He is uncertain who to trust either onboard or on shore and uncertain about his own capability to do the job.
I took a while to settle into the story but after that I didn’t want to put it down. For me there is just enough nautical detail to be interesting but not so much that I started to skip sections. Naval warfare tactics are fascinating as are the politics of the region and the character clashes on board, but professionalism, talent and justice mean nothing in the face of ostentatious wealth and overwhelming greed. Nightingale becomes a detective, hunting his prey, trying to decipher the truth of the crime. He is on a nautical journey, making his peace with the sea and grieving those he lost in battle; he’s also on an emotional journey, being honest with himself about his deepest nature. The gay sub-plot complements the main storyline but doesn’t dominate. As Hiram struggles with the lonely responsibility of command, his dreams are full of flashbacks to his loss of the ‘Lion’ at the Nile, moments with his wife Louisa, and an unforgettable, unforgiveable incident in his childhood. The journey parallels throughout to Homer’s Odyssey are handled with a light touch: Hiram’s ship the ‘Scylla’ is named after Homer’s multi-headed monster, while ‘Ulysses’ is the Roman name for Odysseus.
What a surprising delight this novel is, an insight into the professionalism of the Royal Navy, a fight to catch the criminals, the ocean, the unpredictable elements and a naval trial. I’m looking forward to the next in the series, The Devil to Pay.

If you like this, try:-
‘The Silver Wolf’ by JC Harvey #1FISKARDO’SWAR
‘Nero’ by Conn Iggulden #1NERO
‘The Surfacing’ by Cormac James

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#BookReview LEEWARD by Katie Daysh https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-8Qr via @SandraDanby

COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK I REVIEW WILL BE:- SW Perry

#BookReview ‘The Cornish Campsite Murder’ by Fiona Leitch #crime #cosycrime

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Strictly speaking, the title of The Cornish Campsite Murder by Fiona Leitch should really be ‘Murder at a Cornish Music Festival’. This is a fun, quickly-read murder mystery involving some great named pies, a few ageing rock stars and one dead body on the beach. Fiona Leitch Seventh in the Nosey Parker cosy crime series, Jodie and fiance DCI Nathan Withers have the weekend off. Like all their friends and family, they’re heading to the local music festival where Jodie and Nathan will run a friend’s catering van, Pie Hard. Of course the pies are named after Die Hard characters. First there is Jodie’s discovery that a couple she recently catered a dinner party for are actually old rockers – Caz Harper, bass player with The Burners, was a teenage idol of Jodie’s – and that the band, now called The Burnouts, will be playing at the festival. Except the band members are squabbling amongst themselves. And then the body is found.
Nathan, off duty and cooking pies with Jodie, keeps an eye on the investigation. The victim is the former lead singer of The Burners, Lee Roskill. But did he die in a drunken or drugged fall onto the rocks, or was he attacked. Lee, it turns out, had recently accused his fellow band members and manager of cheating him out of royalties. Was he killed to keep him quiet? Jodie, unable to accept that her heroine Caz is capable of murder, is determined to unearth the truth.
This story is on all levels all about first impressions, prejudices, acceptance and open-mindedness. Assumptions are made about the band members because they are known to take drugs. Jodie isn’t keen on her mum Shirley’s new friend because Jocasta is introducing Shirley to reiki and CBD oil. Paul Dyer, the local drug dealer who wears his signature hoodie with the snake motif, must be selling dodgy pills to teenagers. Teenagers like Daisy, Jodie’s daughter, now fifteen, enjoying her first festival and all the new experiences on offer. Shirley, Daisy and Jocasta all add their suggestions about the murderer and likely motivations.
I read The Cornish Campsite Murder when I was full of flu and feeling sorry for myself, so it’s a testament to Leitch’s writing that it made me chuckle. Read in 24 hours, it is sufficiently twisty and unpredictable without being confusing. Just what I needed. And yes I was suspicious of the guilty party but only on instinct, without evidence. That’s up to Jodie and Nathan to figure out.

Here are my reviews of the first books in the Nosey Parker series:-
THE CORNISH WEDDING MURDER #1NOSEYPARKER
THE CORNISH VILLAGE MURDER #2NOSEYPARKER
THE PERFECT CORNISH MURDER #3NOSEYPARKER
A CORNISH CHRISTMAS MURDER #4NOSEYPARKER
A CORNISH RECIPE FOR MURDER #5NOSEYPARKER
A CORNISH SEASIDE MURDER #6NOSEYPARKER

If you like this, try:-
‘A Snapshot of Murder’ by Frances Brody #10KATESHACKLETON
‘Big Sky’ by Kate Atkinson #5JACKSONBRODIE
‘An Expert in Murder’ by Nicloa Upson #1JOSEPHINETEY

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COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK I REVIEW WILL BE:- Katie Daysh

#BookReview ‘Murder in an Irish Castle’ by @BrightVerity #cosymystery #crime

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Murder in an Irish Castle by Verity Bright is another Christmas instalment in the 1920s Lady Eleanor Swift mystery series, but with a big difference. The setting is in the west of Ireland at the remote estate inherited by Eleanor from her late Uncle Byron and never before visited. Arriving in December 1922 in the aftermath of the Irish War of Independence, snow is on the ground and the welcome is just as cold. Verity BrightAfter a long journey in the Rolls Royce, Eleanor and faithful butler Clifford find an unconscious man in an isolated lane near the estate. They seek help at the nearest building, an abbey, which is the first of many unexpected things they encounter. The behaviour of the abbess and doctor is distinctly odd. The poor man’s death, however, seems predictable.
Invited by the committee of Derrydee, the village closest to Hennelly Towers, Eleanor anticipates a warm welcome. But the house is empty, there is no staff, no food, no welcome and Miss Breen, whose name is on the invitation received by Eleanor, says she didn’t send it. This is the first in a series of denials, objections, obfuscations and lies that Eleanor and Clifford face.
I think this is the slowest start of all the titles I’ve read so far, and this is twelfth book. Perhaps the chill I feel reflects the cool welcome Ellie and Clifford receive from the locals. But ever the troupers, they make the best of it. With Gladstone and a newly adopted kitten, they settle into Hennelly Towers, make Christmas decorations, find a local hostelry for sustenance and then set about confirming the identity of the poor man and establishing the cause of his death. From day one it feels as if people are either lying to them, avoiding the truth or attempting to stop their investigations. As the story progresses, this feeling deepens. And then at 50% there’s a bombshell, and the story takes off.
The plotting is complicated and there are so many guilty-looking suspects. I guessed wrong again but was nearly right, so much so that I wanted to start reading from the beginning again to see what I missed. This is a clever, unusual storyline, deeply based in 1920s Ireland. Eleanor and Clifford are on their own. There is no help from Detective Chief Inspector Seldon, they are snowed in, without transport or telephone. And even murderers can appear friendly and smiling.
At one point Eleanor says, ‘this is definitely the most difficult of all the unpleasant matters we’ve tried to solve.’ For me this is a book of two halves, a slower beginning and a sprint to the end. Darker and creepier than the earlier books.

Read my review of other books in the Lady Eleanor Swift series:-
A VERY ENGLISH MURDER #1LADYELEANORSWIFT
DEATH AT THE DANCE #2LADYELEANORSWIFT
A WITNESS TO MURDER #3LADYELEANORSWIFT
MURDER IN THE SNOW #4LADYELEANORSWIFT
MYSTERY BY THE SEA #5LADYELEANORSWIFT
MURDER AT THE FAIR #6LADYELEANORSWIFT
A LESSON IN MURDER #7LADYELEANORSWIFT
DEATH ON A WINTER’S DAY #8LADYELEANORSWIFT
A ROYAL MURDER #9LADYELEANORSWIFT
THE FRENCH FOR MURDER #10LADYELEANORSWIFT 
DEATH DOWN THE AISLE #11LADYELEANORSWIFT

If you like this, try:-
‘Agatha Raisin and the Vicious Vet’ by MC Beaton #2AGATHARAISIN
‘A Death in the Dales’ by Frances Brody #7KATESHACKLETON
‘Murder at the Playhouse’ by Helena Dixon #3MISSUNDERHAY

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview MURDER IN AN IRISH CASTLE by @BrightVerity https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-8r5 via @SandraDanby

COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK I REVIEW WILL BE:-  Fiona Leitch

#BookReview ‘The Players’ by Minette Walters #historicalfiction

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Minette Walters is such a skilled storyteller, I savour any new historical novel. The Players doesn’t disappoint. England in 1685 is in the aftermath of the Duke of Monmouth’s failed rebellion. King James II is still on the throne and in search of vengeance. Minette Walters It was unexpected and delightful to find myself in the company again of Dorset physician Lady Jayne Harrier, last seen in The Swift and the Harrier. As always, Walters takes the clinical historical facts and adds likeable, and detestable, characters that make you care and challenge your assumptions. Lord Granville, Jayne’s son Elias, is a fabulous character. A spy who operates in the shadows, a political agitator, an inventor, a man of the people. He is his mother’s son. With his mother and neighbour Althea Ettrick, a young woman with a phenomenal legal brain, they hatch a plan to thwart the king’s cruel and unjust punishment regime for the Monmouth traitors.
Thousands in the south-west are destined to be judged guilty without trial and sentenced to be hung, drawn and quartered. The king dispatches his judge with an impossible timetable of trials and hangings. Elias, Jayne and Althea set out to rescue as many as they can, recognising that not all can be saved. Their plotting, bravery, imagination and willingness to challenge the status quo is uplifting to read, though I admit at times Althea’s legal arguments left me spinning. Walters populates the Harrier and Ettrick households with a community of people who each bring something to the fight, loyal to the cause, all with a solid sense of what should be done. And when Lady Harrier dismisses everyone’s hatred of Judge Jeffreys, the ‘Hanging Judge’, and treats him when he is in extreme pain, we learn to look at the person behind the words, to look for explanations for behaviour and cruelty.
Meticulously researched. Hard to put down. This is a powerful story asking questions about justice, tolerance and forgiveness in the aftermath of war that resonate across the centuries. A sequel to The Swift and the Harrier, The Players can be read as a standalone novel.
Excellent.

Read my reviews of other historical novels by Minette Walters:-
THE LAST HOURS #1BLACKDEATH
THE TURN OF MIDNIGHT #2BLACKDEATH
THE SWIFT AND THE HARRIER

If you like this, try:-
‘The Witchfinder’s Sister’ by Beth Underdown
‘The Ashes of London’ by Andrew Taylor #1FIREOFLONDON
‘Plague Land’ by SD Sykes #1OSWALDDELACY

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview THE PLAYERS by Minette Walters https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-8JT via @SandraDanby

COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK I REVIEW WILL BE:- Verity Bright

#BookReview ‘Murder at the Country Club’ by Helena Dixon @NellDixon #cosymystery #crime

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Murder at the Country Club by Helena Dixon begins as hotelier and amateur detective Kitty Underhay has been invited to the luxurious Torbay Country Club with her fiance Captain Matthew Bryant. The afternoon is going beautifully until their host is found dead with an arrow in his back. Helena DixonNinth in the 1930s murdery mystery series featuring Miss Kitty Underhay, there are a lot of suspects for this crime. Possibly Sir William Winspear’s younger glamorous wife, or his put-upon sister, or his disgruntled younger brother, or the glamorous brother and sister dancers. Then there’s a second death. Someone is found dead in a swimming pool and the possibilities become even more entangled as questionable alibis and dodgy motivations are shaken.
Kitty and Matt are called in by Inspector Greville to help with the investigation. Why did the victim ask Matt for help. Who are the mysterious Russian brother and sister dancers. Does Lettice Winspear really love her much older, wealthy, husband. Was Sir William planning to change his will. And is Lettice having an affair. Is the most obvious suspect really the murderer, or the least obvious?
I have enjoyed all the Kitty Underhay books. They are entertaining, give opportunities for problem solving and are read quickly. Ongoing storylines make the next book seem enticing. As Kitty and Matt’s wedding approaches, decisions must be taken about the running of the Dolphin Hotel, where the newly-marrieds will live, and how Kitty’s grandmother can continue to help in the hotel’s management. The ever-present threat of criminal mastermind Esther Hammett means the next Kitty story, Murder on Board, promises a resolution to one of the longest-running threats in the series.

Here are my reviews of other books in the series:-
MURDER AT THE DOLPHIN HOTEL #1MISSUNDERHAY
MURDER AT ENDERLEY HALL #2MISSUNDERHAY
MURDER AT THE PLAYHOUSE #3MISSUNDERHAY
MURDER ON THE DANCE FLOOR #4MISSUNDERHAY
MURDER IN THE BELLTOWER #5MISSUNDERHAY
MURDER AT ELM HOUSE #6MISSUNDERHAY
MURDER AT THE WEDDING #7MISSUNDERHAY
MURDER IN FIRST CLASS #8MISSUNDERHAY

And my reviews of the first in a new series by Helena Dixon:-
THE SECRET DETECTIVE AGENCY #1SECRETDETECTIVEAGENCY
THE SEASIDE MURDERS #2SECRETDETECTIVEAGENCY

If you like this, try:-
‘Death comes to Marlow’ by Robert Thorogood #2MARLOWMURDERCLUB 
‘A Cornish Recipe for Murder’ by Fiona Leitch #5NOSEYPARKER
‘Agatha Raisin and the Potted Gardener’ by MC Beaton #3AGATHARAISIN

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview MURDER AT THE COUNTRY CLUB by Helena Dixon @NellDixon https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-8K6 via @SandraDanby

COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK I REVIEW WILL BE:- Minette Walters