Tag Archives: books

#BookReview ‘Angel with Two Faces’ by @nicolaupsonbook #JosephineTey #crime #mystery

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Angel with Two Faces by Nicola Upson is second in the 1930s crime series featuring real-life author Josephine Tey. I admit to finding the first, An Expert in Murder, a slow start but I’m glad that I gave the series a second chance. Angel with Two Faces ticks so many ‘mystery’ boxes. The unexplained death of a handsome man. A beautiful setting on a Cornish estate. A community bound by complex relationships going back generations. Secrets, love, lies, jealousy and tragedy. Nicola UpsonNovelist Josephine Tey arrives in Cornwall to stay at the Loe Estate, childhood home of her friend Detective Inspector Archie Penrose. Inspired by the beauty of the lake and the coastline, Josephine hopes to start work on a new crime novel. But the disappearance of an estate worker means Archie is called to investigate and Josephine, despite her best intentions, finds herself curious about the hidden secrets in this seemingly idyllic place. When the missing man is discovered drowned and his death is recorded as an accident, Archie is unsure and asks Josephine for subtle help. As she chats to locals, she finds herself welcomed by some and ignored by others. The variety of snubs, memories, answers and contradictions form an impenetrable knot leaving her feeling guilty at being an outsider with a story she is unable to unravel. Meanwhile the community nurses its grief by continuing with daily life, including the staging of a play in an open air cliff-top theatre. But when another man dies, the original verdict of accidental drowning is questioned.
Like the first novel, I found myself confused at times by the number of characters, the complex truth and lies told that are impossible to differentiate. There are familiar characters from the first novel which bring continuity. Archie’s cousins, the theatrical costumiers Ronnie and Lettice, add a touch of glamour. It felt good to learn more of Archie’s early years and family history, I hope a future novel gives the same treatment to Josephine.
Like all good mysteries, the possible answer to the problem came upon me slowly. But when the truth was revealed, my guess was only partly correct. A satisfying, page-turning mystery with emotional depth, Angel with Two Faces is about the long-term nature of friendships and family relationships, young love, grown in a rural situation throughout times of war, struggle and tragedy. Not one of the characters living on the Loe Estate is untouched by what happens in Angel with Two Faces.

Read my review of these other novels by Nicola Upson:-
AN EXPERT IN MURDER #1JOSEPHINETEY
STANLEY AND ELSIE

And here’s my review of BRAT FARRAR by the real-life author Josephine Tey.

If you like this, try:-
‘The Silver Bone’ by Andrey Kurkov #1KyivMysteries
‘The Guest List’ by Lucy Foley
‘A Death in Valencia’ by Jason Webster #2MaxCamara

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview ANGEL WITH TWO FACES by @nicolaupsonbook https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-82b via @SandraDanby

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

#BookReview ‘A Necessary Evil’ by Abir Mukherjee @radiomukhers #crime #historical #India

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After thoroughly enjoying A Rising Man, first in the Wyndham & Banerjee Raj-era Indian crime series by Scottish author Abir Mukherjee, I couldn’t wait to read the next. A Necessary Evil doesn’t disappoint. Abir MukherjeeMukherjee has a wonderful way with words that make you smile but also put you straight into the place and time of his setting. Within five pages I’d already smiled three times, starting with the opening line, ‘It’s not often you see a man with a diamond in his beard.’ Other favourites include, ‘If the prince wanted to talk to me, it at least saved me from hanging around eavesdropping like an Indian mother on the night of her son’s wedding’ and ‘The man was bald, bespectacled and nervous – like a librarian lost in a dangerous part of town.’
When Captain Sam Wyndham and Sergeant Surendranath (aka Surrender-not) Banerjee accompany His Serene Highness the Crown Prince Adhir Singh Sai of Sambalpore to important government talks at Government House in Calcutta, they do not expect to witness a murder. The small but fabulously wealthy kingdom is thrown into uncertainty at a critical time; the Viceroy is inviting twenty local maharajas to join the new Chamber of Princes, as a sop to Indian demands for Home Rule. Adi’s younger brother, playboy Punit, is now heir to the throne and their father, the Maharaja of Sambalpore, is ageing.
Wyndham suspects the clues to Adi’s killer are based in his homeland and not in Calcutta. As a schoolmate of Adi at Harrow, Surrender-not is invited to the state funeral in Sambalpore and so Wyndham goes along too, ‘on holiday.’ Limited by the Raj’s absence of authority to investigate in the state of Orissa, language difficulties and the inability to speak to women living in purdah in the palace’s zenana, nevertheless Wyndham stubbornly continues to seek the truth. They encounter a maelstrom of politics, religion, ambition, secrets and jealousy with power at the heart.
Mukherjee writes atmospherically of this period towards the end of the Raj, juxtaposing the arrogant authoritarian but sometimes well-meaning nature of the Raj towards the Indians with that of the maharajas towards their subjects. It is a complicated time. The wealth on display is as glittering as the poverty is dirty. There is law and order, tradition and community. But scratch the surface to find cruelty, rivalry, envy and ambition; everywhere.
This is a fast-paced read with the two central characters catapulted into a dangerous political arena in a strange city where they have no back-up and no friends. Everyone comes under suspicion, except each other. Banerjee quite often adds a hand of restraint on Wyndham’s arm as he is about to go dashing off into the fray, whereas Wyndham adds words of encouragement and motivation when Banerjee’s self-confidence is wavering. They make a brilliant pairing.
A Necessary Evil is an exciting sequel to A Rising Man, faster-paced and more intricate. This series is now up and running. Next in the series is Smoke and Ashes.

Here are my reviews of two other books in the Wyndham & Banerjee series:-
A RISING MAN #1WYNDHAM&BANERJEE
SMOKE AND ASHES #3WYNDHAM&BANERJEE

If you like this, try:-
‘Murder at the Dolphin Hotel’ by Helena Dixon #1MissUnderhay
‘The Guest List’ by Lucy Foley
‘A Death in Valencia’ by Jason Webster #2MaxCamara

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview A NECESSARY EVIL by Abir Mukherjee @radiomukhers https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-7Zz via @SandraDanby

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

#BookReview ‘The Seaside Murders’ by Helena Dixon @NellDixon #cosymystery #WW2

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The Seaside Murders is second in ‘The Secret Detective Agency’ series by Helena Dixon and has all the benefits of coming after the introductory story. A more dynamic plot, key characters established, interesting newcomers, danger, bravery and surprises. Helena DixonThe first book The Secret Detective Agency took place at Arthur Cilentro’s home in Devon so it is helpful to see detectives Jane Treen, Arthur and his manservant Benson sent to investigate a mysterious death only yards from Jane’s childhood home in Kent. A body has been found on the beach at Ashbourne, the circumstances of death are unknown and there is a strange tattoo on the victim’s arm. Jane’s boss the Brigadier suspects a connection with local looting, theft and black marketeering. We learn more about Jane, making her character more empathetic and less spiky, especially when her actress mother Elsa unexpectedly arrives. Annoying as Elsa is, she acts as a catalyst for the relationship of the investigative trio, making them more of a team.
The parallel investigations get off to a tricky start. There is an unmotivated inspector and an annoying government inspector. Although Jane grew up in Ashbourne, she finds many incomers due to the war. Land girls working on farms, Italian prisoners of war at a local camp, a rich landowner and magistrate plus a recently arrived schoolmistress, an artist and new managers at the village pub.
The deceased is identified as an Italian prisoner, one of a government experiment using approved POWs to help beleaguered farmers produce enough food to feed the population. Antonio Russo and his friend Matteo Gambini, who both grew up on farms in Italy, are imprisoned at the local POW camp and adjudged safe to work alongside land girls on a local farm. Now one of them is dead.
Overall I enjoyed this more than the first. Firstly, there was less smoking by Jane and more gentle interaction and less confrontation between Jane and Arthur. I also confess to being very curious about Benson and am looking forward to learning more about his background. There’s an interesting hint about his previous work with Arthur, so fingers crossed.
This is a new take on the usual wartime setting and I’m curious to see what happens in the third book.

Here’s my review of the first in this new series:-
THE SECRET DETECTIVE AGENCY #1SECRETDETECTIVEAGENCY

And my reviews of Helena Dixon’s Kitty Underhay 1930s cosy mystery 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

If you like this, try:-
‘A Very English Murder’ by Verity Bright #1LadyEleanorSwift
‘The Various Haunts of Men’ by Susan Hill #1SimonSerrailler
‘Fortune Favours the Dead’ by Stephen Spotswood #1Pentecost&Parker

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview THE SEASIDE MURDERS by Helena Dixon @NellDixon https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-85u via @SandraDanby

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

#BookReview ‘The Women’ by Kristin Hannah #historicalfiction #VietnamWar

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The Women is the first novel by Kristin Hannah that I’ve read and I wasn’t sure what to expect. I read it in two days! What an emotional ride, a curious but powerful mixture of wealthy west-coast California 1960s living and ‘in country’ action in the Vietnam War. Kristin HannahPart-romance, part-war story, part-feminist history, The Women is about Frankie McGrath, 21-year old nursing student from a privileged California family, who follows her older brother Finley to Vietnam where he is fighting. Inspired by her father’s heroes’ wall honouring the sacrifices made by their family in the service of their country, Frankie wants to make a difference too. Full of enthusiasm she ships out to Vietnam wearing her smart naval uniform, including girdle and stockings, and a bag containing her work fatigues, pyjamas and a pale blue summer dress recommended by her mother for days off. Her first day, ill from drinking unclean water, she lays on the cot in her ‘hooch’ wishing she’d stayed at home. When she meets her room-mates, Ethel and Barb, they’ve just come off shift, are exhausted, covered in blood and unworried about stripping off in front of her.
This book is not just Frankie’s story but that of Ethel and Barb and all the other women who served in the Vietnam War. Unrecognised, ignored and discounted, except by their hospital colleagues and the men whose lives they saved, these heroic women sacrifice everything. Part One is set in Vietnam as Frankie gains experience, learning how to nurse in a war zone, working in indescribable conditions, long hours, filth, blood and bombs. She falls in love for the first time, sees friends finish their tour of duty and return home, and transforms from a ‘turtle’ to a highly-respected surgical nurse.
Part Two is perhaps even more shocking. Frankie returns home as the anti-war feeling in America is gaining a voice. Spat at and ignored as she arrives at the airport, she returns home to Coronado Island to find her mother still living her country-club life while her father is in denial about Frankie’s war service. Adjustment to ordinary life is difficult and when she does reach out for help, Frankie is rejected by the veterans’ support services because she isn’t a Vietnam vet. Repeatedly told ‘there were no women there,’ Frankie falls between the gaps. She finds a nursing job but soon finds her war experience counts for nothing; she is designated a beginner, on probation and put on the night shift.
This is both a difficult novel to read and also compelling. Frankie is a warm-hearted character, determined and loyal. She gives her heart fully. Because, according to official and popular conception at the time, there were no women in Vietnam, she is unable to get a diagnosis of PTSD. So she stumbles and falters towards help, a heartbreaking path to read.
A powerful story of a horrific time in America’s recent history, The Women shines a light on the role of women in wartime. An immersive, often brutal read, there are also moments of beauty, love and most of all friendship. These women are still in my thoughts.

If you like this, try:-
‘The Warm Hands of Ghosts’ by Katherine Arden 
‘My Name is Yip’ by Paddy Crewe
‘The Pull of the Stars’ by Emma Donoghue

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview THE WOMEN by Kristin Hannah https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-800 via @SandraDanby

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

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

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Second in the Elizabethan Jackdaw Mysteries series by SW Perry, The Serpent’s Mark is a satisfyingly twisty story involving medical malpractice, religious fanatics, complicated espionage and a likeable pair of heroes. SW PerryThe story takes off from page one with many entangled knots that aren’t smoothed out into separate strands until the end of the book. Disgraced physician Dr Nicholas Shelby and apothecary-publican Bianca Merton are catapulted into an international conspiracy where chance plays as big a part as spycraft. The contrasting wealth and poverty in London in 1591 is real on every page, death or imprisonment can strike without warning and the poor are manipulated at the whims of the academics and the rich.
When Italian-born Bianca visits the Sirena di Venezia, a newly arrived ship from Italy, she is planning to encourage the crew to visit her inn where they will receive a warm welcome in their own language. On board she is surprised to find her cousin, Captain Bruno Barrani, a bit of a dandy who is trading rice. After Bruno is attacked and suffers a nasty head wound, Bianca nurses him at the Jackdaw inn where he is visited daily by members of his crew. Meanwhile Nicholas is in Gloucestershire, engaged by Robert Cecil to investigate the dodgy medical practices of a Swiss doctor, Professor Arcampora, who slimily refers to himself in the third person. Cecil is concerned that Arcampora, who has been engaged to treat a family member who suffers from the falling sickness, is a charlatan. Nicholas is acquainted with the family having fought alongside Sir William Havington and his son-in-law Sir Joshua Wylde in the wars in Holland. It is Joshua’s son, Samuel, who is ill. William is recently deceased and it his widow Lady Mercy who told her cousin Robert of her concern for Samuel. There are a lot of family twists to get your head around, who is related to who, who knew who when and what they did when they were younger.
This is a convoluted plot, impossible to predict, with some rather nasty medical procedures described. Sixteenth century medicine was not for the faint-hearted. Nicholas, called before the College of Physicians to answer charges of disreputable conduct and proficiency [featured in the first book, The Angel’s Mark] finds himself drawn to practical surgery and treatment that takes effect quickly rather than the approved medical procedures involving humours and astrology.
At the heart of the story is the continuing tension between the Protestant and Catholic faiths, full of dislike and suspicion which often tips quickly into violence. The tension builds as the separate paths followed by Nicholas and Bianca begin to mysteriously converge. Have they uncovered different plots or are they in some unseen way connected. Both are in danger, both must second-guess the other’s next move at pain of violence and possibly murder. How well do they really know each other, trust each other? And when will Nicholas be ready to put aside the grief for his dead wife and child, and recognise the chance of new love.
Bianca is an easy character to like, sharp-witted, resourceful, unbowed and brave when threatened. And it’s difficult not to cheer on Nicholas, kind-hearted, moral, brave but shy.
A page-turner. I’m looking forward to the next in the series, The Saracen’s Mark.

Here’s my review of the first book in the series:-
THE ANGEL’S MARK #1JACKDAWMYSTERIES

If you like this, try:-
‘A Traveller at the Gates of Wisdom’ by John Boyne
‘Glorious Exploits’ by Ferdia Lennon
‘Winter Pilgrims’ by Toby Clements #1Kingmaker

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview THE SERPENT’S MARK by SW Perry @swperry_history https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-80C via @SandraDanby

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

#BookReview ‘Murder in the Belltower’ by Helena Dixon @NellDixon #cosymystery #crime

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I stayed up way too late to finish reading Murder in the Belltower by Helena Dixon, fifth in the Miss Underhay 1930s cosy mystery series. The plot is a reminder that this novel is set in 1933, six years before the outbreak of World War Two. Like Murder at Enderley Hall, second in the series, Murder in the Belltower continues the theme of espionage and the theft of military secrets. Helena DixonIt is Christmas and Kitty and Matt, now officially girlfriend and boyfriend, have been invited to spend the season at Enderley Hall with Kitty’s aunt, uncle and cousin Lucy. In need of a quiet break, after startling revelations about her mother’s disappearance in the Great War, the couple long to spend time together to become closer acquainted. But at the last minute Matt is given a top secret assignment, which must be kept secret from Kitty too, to observe the house guests at Enderley Hall and watch out for dastardly intentions. No specifics are given and he’s at a bit of a loss what to look for.
There are familiar characters and many new ones. The house guests include Count Vanderstrafen and his sister, a coolly elegant brother and sister from Austria; an American couple, Mr and Mrs Cornwell, who seem devoted and travel the world wherever his work takes him; Lord Medford’s cousin Hattie who over-confidently considers herself a poet, singer and artist; and botanist Simon Frobisher who is using Lord Medford’s library to research his new book. Locals attend the celebratory meals and church services including the vicar and a variety of village ladies. There is discontent in the village, the new vicar is not popular and there is competition amongst the ladies which has led to name-calling and nasty gossip. There are familiar faces too including Kitty’s brave and intrepid maid Alice, Lucy’s dog Muffy (who has a key role to play) and stern-faced butler Mr Harmon (who frowns every time he sees Kitty climb on the back of Matt’s motorbike). It is quite a list of suspects when a lady is found dead, there are clues but nothing makes sense. Some guests seem the guilty sort, others far too nice to be a murderer. And all the time there are Christmas festivities, food and party games.
Kitty, whose common sense and clarity of vision often makes inspired leaps to identify the truth of a case before anyone else, is distracted. In the last book, Murder on the Dance Floor, she discovered some unwelcome truths about her mother’s last movements. Try as she might to be festive, she cannot forget the strange circumstances of Elowed Underhay’s death. Kitty’s investigation switches to a new phase as she places an advertisement in a local newspaper, asking for witnesses of her mother’s last days. She’s also irritated that Matt seems to be hiding something from her and jealous that he clearly once knew Juliet Vanderstrafen very well.
When the body of parish clerk Miss Plenderleith is found, at first an accident is assumed. Then a vagrant is blamed, and then a thief. Kitty, of course, knows instinctively that none of these answers is correct.
An excellent country house murder with sinister between-the-wars espionage in the background, lightened by the delicious flirting between Kitty and Matt. We never really get to know the truth of Matt’s assignment and I’m sure the espionage theme will feature again in future books, adding a welcome tougher edge to the storyline.
Very good.

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 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:-
‘A Death in the Dales’ by Frances Brody #7KateShackleton
‘The Red Monarch’ by Bella Ellis #3BronteMysteries
‘Elizabeth is Missing’ by Emma Healey

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview MURDER IN THE BELLTOWER by Helena Dixon @NellDixon https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-7GO via @SandraDanby

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

Great Opening Paragraph 138… ‘Anna Karenina’ #amreading #FirstPara

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“All happy families are alike, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”
Leo TolstoyFrom ‘Anna Karenina’ by Leo Tolstoy

Try one of these #FirstParas & discover a new author:-
‘Beloved’ by Toni Morrison
‘The Cement Garden’ by Ian McEwan
‘The Heart is a Lonely Hunter’ by Carson McCullers 

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#FirstPara ‘Anna Karenina’ by Leo Tolstoy #books #amreading https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-7gl via @SandraDanby

#BookReview ‘Alchemy’ by SJ Parris @thestephmerritt #historical #crime

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Prague 1588, the city of a hundred spires is also a city in political and scientific turmoil. In Alchemy, seventh in the excellent Giordano Bruno series by SJ Parris, lapsed Catholic Bruno arrives in Prague as a spy for Elizabeth I. He quickly discovers that this tolerant city, famed for freedom of thought and expression, is really seething with barely concealed hatred, suspicion and violence. SJ ParrisLiving a quiet academic life in the German city of Wittenberg, teaching at the university, Bruno receives a secret letter from the Queen’s spymaster, Sir Francis Walsingham. He bids him speed to Prague where he believes there is a plot against Emperor Rudolf, the Holy Roman Emperor and ally of Queen Elizabeth. When Bruno and his young student assistant Besler arrive in the city, they see a grizzly sight; the corpse of an alchemist hanging from the Stone Bridge, his eyes and tongue cut out. Killed, it is rumoured on the streets, by the Golem, a Jewish monster conjured by the Chief Rabbi of Prague and released in the city.
Bruno, who is hoping the emperor may be a patron enabling him to settle in the city to write and publish his philosophical books, arrives at the house where his mentor, scientist and free-thinker John Dee is lodging, to find him disappeared. Keen to find Dee, Bruno is instead tasked by the emperor to find the murderer of the alchemist, a favourite of his, Ziggi Bartos. Soon Bruno is confronted by an old enemy, one he hasn’t seen since he renounced the Catholic faith and fled Italy.
The juxtaposition of wealth and poverty, believers and chancers, scientists, gamblers and swindlers, is handled excellently. Parris has plotted a thriller which twists together the destinies of an eccentric emperor, a powerful Catholic lobby with a gang of toughs ready to threaten and kill, a disparate band of scientists all eager to make a big discovery and win the favour of Rudolf, and a Jewish quarter watched with suspicion and prejudice. As always Bruno is a reluctant detective who throws himself enthusiastically into his investigation, with multiple suspects and plots to explore. Being a stranger in town who doesn’t know the streets or speak the local language is a significant disadvantage. Bruno, sometimes too quick to trust, is made to reflect more than usual on his theories by the logical questions of his young assistant. Besler repeatedly asks why, and how?
A fascinating historical story packed with myth, legend and superstition, it is also great fun. Throw in a lion, the Emperor’s renowned erotic art collection, a precocious 11-year old, the naïve and charming Besler, the mysterious Powder Tower where the alchemists work, and Rudolf’s castle with its dark underground passages and opulent rooms full of artistic and scientific wonders. Wonderful.

Read my reviews of other books in the series:-
HERESY #1 GIORDANOBRUNO
PROPHECY #2 GIORDANOBRUNO
SACRILEGE #3 GIORDANOBRUNO
TREACHERY #4GIORDANOBRUNO
CONSPIRACY #5GIORDANOBRUNO
EXECUTION #6GIORDANOBRUNO

If you like this, try:-
‘The Angel’s Mark’ by SW Perry #1JackdawMysteries 
‘A Column of Fire’ by Ken Follett #3Kingsbridge 
‘Lord John and the Private Matter’ by Diana Gabaldon

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview ALCHEMY by SJ Parris @thestephmerritt https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-7Z1 via @SandraDanby

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

#BookReview ‘The Warm Hands of Ghosts’ by @arden_katherine #WW1 #mystery

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The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden is a historical fantasy about a Great War nurse who returns to the Flanders battlefield to find her brother, believed dead. Part-history, part-ghost story, part-magical realism, part-mystery, there are times when I didn’t know what to believe. Katherine ArdenHaving already served as a nurse in the trenches, Canadian Laura Iven is back at home in Halifax, recovering from the injuries she sustained while nursing. But she isn’t there for long. After the shocking death of her parents in an explosion in Halifax, Laura receives a package from Belgium; her brother Freddie’s uniform and dog tags. The assumption is that he is dead. But Laura receives no official confirmation that he is dead or missing. Disturbed by supernatural possibilities and questions raised at a séance, she decides to return to Belgium to find Freddie.
Laura and Freddie’s stories are told in alternating sections in a timeline that jumped around in a disorientating way; which made me identify with the dislocation and giddiness of Laura’s circumstances. Freddie Iven awakes in No Man’s Land after an explosion and finds himself trapped in mud beneath an overturned pillbox. His only companion is an injured German soldier. Should he kill his enemy. Or can they help each other. If they escape, where should they go. Escaping into the hellish landscape of mud and putrefaction they stay together and wander, lost both emotionally and geographically. Until they meet a fiddler, a man who entertains, who makes the horror of war disappear for a brief time. Is he real, and what is his unspoken motivation? Exhausted, their decision-making puts them in danger. Freddie risks being shot as a deserter, Winter as an enemy.
Laura, now volunteering at a private hospital behind the lines, learns to ride a motorcycle so she can search for Freddie or anyone who remembers him. Troubled by her own trauma, Laura’s nightmares become more vivid. She hears talk of ghosts that move about among living people, and a hotelier who offers soldiers the chance to forget their terrors. Seen once, this man and his hotel can never be found again. Is he real, or another ghost. Laura is a likeable heroine. At times dogged in her determination, unattractively so for the times, and sometimes tin-eared, I was willing her on in her search for Freddie. As the traumas of present-day and past war experiences combine, the ability to differentiate between real life, facts, dreams and superstitions becomes transient.
This is an unusual take on the familiar World War One themes. Powerful, harrowing, it examines the nature of what it takes to fight in a war and kill another human being, when the enemy soldier is really an ordinary man like yourself. Thought-provoking.

Read my reviews of the Winternight trilogy, also by Katherine Arden:-
THE BEAR AND THE NIGHTINGALE #1WINTERNIGHT
THE GIRL IN THE TOWER #2WINTERNIGHT
THE WINTER OF THE WITCH #3WINTERNIGHT

If you like this, try:-
‘Another World’ by Pat Barker
‘A Long Long Way’ by Sebastian Barry
‘The Lie’ by Helen Dunmore

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview THE WARM HANDS OF GHOSTS @arden_katherine https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-7Xy via @SandraDanby

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

#BookReview ‘The Secret Detective Agency’ by Helena Dixon @NellDixon #cosymystery #WW2

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London 1941. Secret government worker Miss Jane Treen is addicted to coffee and cigarettes. Unfortunately, her new partner prefers tea and is asthmatic. The Secret Detective Agency is first in a new series of cosy mysteries by Helena Dixon, author of the 1930s Kitty Underhay detective books. Helena DixonStarting the first book of a new series is always a risky thing, it takes time to set up characters, back stories, context and as a result the pace can be slow. But I enjoy the Kitty books and the wartime setting of The Secret Detective Agency is another plus. Miss Treen works for an unnamed government department running Operation Exodus, her team of secret agents assist the escape of double agents from Germany to the UK. But Jane’s agents are dying and when Polly Flinders is killed at a safe house in Devon, Jane is sent to investigate. Her boss, referred to as The Brigadier, teams her up with asthmatic code breaker Arthur Cilentro. They make an unlikely pairing, especially in the first half of the book. Chain-smoking Jane brings her long-haired cat Marmaduke with her to stay at Arthur’s house, Half Moon Manor. While the two investigators sniff around, asking questions, squabbling and sulking as they go, Arthur’s manservant Benson is the grown-up.
This is a story of wartime spies, treason, double dealing and multiple identities with rather confusing code names. By the time Miss Treen and Mr Cilentro have relaxed together enough to call each other Jane and Arthur, the death toll has increased. Fuelled by gossip in an isolated wartime village where everyone’s business is well-known, the two detectives realise that everyone is a suspect.
It is inevitable that the trio – don’t forget the indispensable Benson, who is always on hand with the essentials without which Jane and Arthur would simply fail – will morph into a team by the end of this novel. I expected Arthur to be quite bookish; he is, but also a fussy bachelor with severe breathing problems and a sharp analytical mind. I expected Jane to be an efficient professional young woman from London, responsible for a top secret mission; she is, but as a detective on the ground she can be naïve and not tight-lipped enough. She also ignores Arthur’s asthma. I got a bit fed up of her blowing smoke in Arthur’s direction and letting her cat into his sitting room. Thankfully as the story progresses, the two learn to appreciate each other’s skills and their relationship becomes less spiky.
More a cosy wartime mystery than cosy crime, this is a good start to a new series which offers something different. Irritations aside, this was a quick enjoyable read. I enjoyed the wartime espionage setting and the idea of a government detective agency specialising in crimes too secret for the police. It’s easy to have unreasonably high expectations of a new series and, looking back to my review of the first Kitty Underhay mystery Murder at the Dolphin Hotel, it too was a 3* read for me. I’m now a firm fan of Kitty and Matt’s investigations in 1930s Dartmouth.
Coming soon is the second instalment of Jane and Arthur’s investigations, The Seaside Murders. Hints about Jane’s family background, including a glamorous actress mother, are sure to become storylines in future novels.

Here’s my review of the next in this series:-
THE SEASIDE MURDERS #2SECRETDETECTIVEAGENCY

And here are my reviews of books in the Kitty Underhay 1930s cosy mystery series by Helena Dixon:-
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

If you like this, try:-
‘Dying in the Wool’ by Frances Brody #1KateShackleton
‘Hiding the Past’ by Nathan Dylan Goodwin #1MortonFarrier
‘The Heat of the Day’ by Elizabeth Bowen

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview THE SECRET DETECTIVE AGENCY by Helena Dixon @NellDixon https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-84X via @SandraDanby

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