Tag Archives: books

#BookReview ‘A Cornish Christmas Murder’ by Fiona Leitch #crime #cosycrime

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Christmas was long gone when I started to read A Cornish Christmas Murder by Fiona Leitch but it didn’t matter. Although this is a murder tale starting three days before Christmas, the festive season is a background theme rather than being key to the story. Fiona LeitchFourth in the Nosey Parker cosy crime series featuring ex-Metropolitan Police caterer Jodie, this is a closed room mystery in a snowbound country hotel high on Bodmin Moor. Jodie, mum Shirley, daughter Daisy and friend Debbie have got a last-minute catering job at Kingseat Abbey, a country mansion being renovated into a hotel. A charitable foundation, run by a millionaire with a notorious bad boy reputation, has hired the hotel as venue for a Christmas party for local children. The party is a success but after the departure of the children, the weather turns nasty. Jodie and friends are snowbound with the hotel’s owner and staff plus the millionaire, his son and charity manager. They are soon joined by people lost in the snow; four Japanese girls whose car is in a ditch, and a mysterious couple who are rather vague about who they are. While Jodie rustles up food for the group, hotel manager Lily – who grew up in Penstowan with Jodie – attempts to find beds for the unexpected guests in the partially-redecorated hotel. Next morning, one of the group is found dead in a locked bedroom.
The police are informed but, because of the snow, are unable to get to the remote hotel. Jodie’s boyfriend DCI Nathan Withers, stuck in Penstowan, reminds her that the murderer is most likely still in the house and urges her not to start investigating. Of course she ignores his advice. While Daisy proves herself to have inherited her grandfather’s sharp eye for clues, Jodie tries to keep all the guests in the house without frightening them. But the hours pass without the police arriving.
This is a great locked room mystery in a house with a sinister history, a hidden priest hole and secret passages, and the brooding silence of the snow-covered moors around them.
Despite there being too many toilet jokes – I don’t remember noticing them in the earlier books –  this is an easy read with enough laughs and unpredictable elements to keep me guessing until near the end. Oh, and there are some tempting Christmas recipes at the end.
The baking theme continues in book five, A Cornish Recipe for Murder, to be reviewed here soon.

And 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

If you like this, try:-
‘The Secrets of Gaslight Lane’ by MRC Kasasian #4GowerDetective
‘The Killing of Polly Carter’ by Robert Thorogood #2DeathinParadise
‘Or The Bull Kills You’ by Jason Webster #1MaxCamara

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview A CORNISH CHRISTMAS MURDER by Fiona Leitch https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-7Yf via @SandraDanby

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

#BookReview ‘The Silver Bone’ by Andrey Kurkov #crime #Ukraine

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Providing a glimpse into 1919 Kyiv during the four-year Ukrainian-Soviet war, The Silver Bone by Andrey Kurkov cleverly mixes a detective story with magical realism. Andrey KurkovAfter the death of his father, in an incident in which Samson Kolechko has his ear cut off by a Cossack soldier, the young man must adapt to life alone. But he isn’t alone for long. First, two Russian soldiers are billeted in his flat; second, items of his furniture are requisitioned. In search of his father’s desk – not just for its emotional significance but also because his severed ear rests in a tin in the desk drawer – Samson goes to the local police station to demand the desk’s return. Instead, he finds himself employed – without salary but with food vouchers, a uniform and a gun – as a detective. Receiving a course in marksmanship, but no training in criminal investigation, Samson begins his new job.
It turns out that his two lodgers are also thieves. When they go on the run, Samson gives chase. What follows includes a tailor, a silver bone and a suit for a person of unusual proportions. Some of this is quite surreal but hugely enjoyable, woven into the dour poverty, dirt and deprivation of wartime Kyiv. Despite being an untrained policeman, Samson is curious, writes excellent reports and takes action on assumptions rather than fact. This is an anarchic, funny, clever novel that doesn’t fail to surprise. Samson’s severed ear takes on a life of its own and it enables him to hear what is happening wherever the ear is. It’s very useful for a detective, like being in two places at once, and very disconcerting.
Samson soon acquires a group of expert witnesses who help in his search. His father’s tailor, an eye doctor and his new girlfriend Nadezhda, a mathematician who works on the census at the nearby statistics office. Each adds their own world-weary interpretation of Samson’s task. ‘It’s a shame to lead a senseless existence when the sense of your existence can bring some good to the world,’ says the retired fingerprint expert when asked to help.
Quickly read, this is so much more than a crime novel and, be warned, not the usual detective fiction. This is book one of Kurkov’s Kyiv Mysteries. Next is The Stolen Heart.

If you like this, try:-
‘Fortune Favours the Dead’ by Stephen Spotswood #1Pentecost&Parker
‘A Rising Man’ by Abir Mukherjee #1Wyndham&Banerjee
‘Butterfly on the Storm’ by Walter Lucius

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview THE SILVER BONE by Andrey Kurkov https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-7X4 via @SandraDanby

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

#BookReview ‘A Column of Fire’ by @KMFollett #historical #Kingsbridge

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A Column of Fire by Ken Follett is fourth in the Kingsbridge historical series (starting with prequel The Evening and The Morning) and from page one I sank immediately into this world again. Not only Kingsbridge but London, Paris, Spain, Holland and the Caribbean. Ken FollettIt is 1558 and Elizabeth Tudor is a queen in waiting. The religious differences of the earlier Kingsbridge novels have descended into violence, hatred, murder and war. In Kingsbridge, teenage protestant Ned Willard is in love with Margery Fitzgerald, a Catholic. They are prevented from marrying not because of their religious beliefs, but because the Fitzgerald family are ambitious and want a husband for Margery who will elevate them into the aristocracy. Heartbroken, Ned seeks employment with Sir William Cecil, advisor to Princess Elizabeth. Ned’s intelligence, quick wittedness and language skills see him become a spy for Sir Francis Walsingham, Elizabeth’s spymaster. When princess becomes queen, her sovereignty is threatened by ‘Spanish Mary,’ Mary Queen of Scots, who is sheltering in Paris. There, Ned runs into a man who will become an enemy throughout his life, Pierre Aumande. Religious intolerance destroys trust, splits families and wrecks countries.
I really enjoyed the sub-plot of Ned’s brother Barney, who gets into trouble and runs away to sea. He becomes a master of naval artillery and when the English fleet faces the Spanish Armada he has a crucial role to play. The timespan of A Column of Fire runs from 1558-1620, that’s a lot of history. Follet does a wonderful job of seamlessly placing his fictional characters into real events, including the Babington Plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I and replace her with Mary Queen of Scots, and the Gunpowder Plot to kill Elizabeth’s heir King James I.
I’ve read comments saying the Kingsbridge books have a master plot repeated from book to book and this becomes predictable. Yes, there are similar themes, big themes about religion and politics that run across the books and the centuries. Teenage sweethearts are prevented from marrying, there are despotic local politicians, corrupt clergy, young men leave home to find a better life while feisty women survive despite the odds. These are themes of life, and of the times, and each book is individual. Discussions about the role of faith in a civil society, the danger of religious conflict fuelled by difference, and the freedom of religious belief, are pertinent today.
Thought-provoking. Thrilling. Romantic. There’s love, loyalty, betrayal, codebreaking and some cracking battles. I love these books and look forward to re-reading them many times.

Click the titles to read my reviews of other Follett novels:-
THE EVENING AND THE MORNING #prequel Kingsbridge
THE PILLARS OF THE EARTH #1Kingsbridge
WORLD WITHOUT END #2Kingsbridge
NEVER

If you like this, try:-
‘Execution’ by SJ Parris #6GiordanoBruno
‘The City of Tears’ by Kate Mosse #2Joubert
‘Dissolution’ by CJ Sansom #1Shardlake

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview A COLUMN OF FIRE by @KMFollett https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-7WB via @SandraDanby

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

#BookReview ‘A Lesson in Murder’ by @BrightVerity #cosymystery #crime

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When Lady Eleanor Swift is asked by her favourite teacher to return to school to give an inspirational talk about her solo travels around the world, Ellie does not expect a dead body. We, of course, do. A Lesson in Murder is seventh in the 1920s-set murder mystery series by Verity Bright. These books are so good. Verity BrightWhen Mrs Wadsworth is murdered, Detective Chief Inspector Seldon is prevented from taking over the case. Many of the pupils at St Mary’s are the children of diplomats and politicians meaning that police presence on site is forbidden in order to avoid press attention. And so with Seldon – Hugh, to Ellie – observing from a distance, and occasional meetings with Ellie and her butler Clifford in a tea shop, the two amateur sleuths move into the school as undercover detectives. Clifford – a bit of a stretch, this – joins the maintenance team and Ellie becomes temporary house mistress of her old lodgings, Holly House. A list of suspects is drawn up and a plan for questioning is agreed. But of course, Ellie never sticks to a plan. Then a second teacher is found dead.
When Eleanor meets the girls of Holly House, aged 9-11, it’s a reminder of how young she is for all she has achieved. At nine years old she arrived at the school, grieving the death of her parents, lonely at boarding school and her uncle always away, she was rebellious, mischievous and brave. Can she bring her spirit to today’s girls living in Holly House, the youngest of the houses, the overlooked, the quiet and bullied? And what memories of her own past will be unearthed? This storyline is rather endearing, reminding me of Malory Towers. Meanwhile in the background but with increasing intensity, the shy sparring between Eleanor and Hugh continues. As they circle each other with longing, unable to take the next step, being awkward, saying the wrong thing, I wonder how much longer this can be maintained.
The best of the series so far; I seem to keep writing that about these books, the last time was Mystery by the Sea. Both books fill in gaps about Eleanor’s family history and her life before we met her in A Very English Murder. Two thirds of the way through her investigations at St Mary’s, Ellie overhears another truth revealed. ‘Oh Ellie, how many more sad secrets do you have to uncover before you can catch a killer?’ A line not just applicable to the murder, but to Ellie’s own life.
Excellent.

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
DEATH ON A WINTER’S DAY #8LADYELEANORSWIFT

If you like this, try:-
‘The Blood Detective’ by Dan Waddell #NigelBarnes
‘An Expert in Murder’ by Nicola Upson #1JosephineTey
‘The Cornish Village Murder’ by Fiona Leitch #2NoseyParker

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview A LESSON IN MURDER by @BrightVerity https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-7Dw via @SandraDanby

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

#BookReview ‘A Rising Man’ by Abir Mukherjee @radiomukhers #crime #historical #India

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I love discovering a new author and series and savouring the delight of books to come. A Rising Man by Abir Mukherjee is first in the Wyndham & Banerjee historical crime series set in Calcutta in 1919. Abir MukherjeeA fascinating combination of facts and settings get this book moving quicker than is normal for the first of a series. An English policeman newly arrived in India who asks awkward questions, a tradition-bound corrupt and racist white police force, a dead man found with a note in his mouth threatening the English in India, powerful men who are very enthusiastic about hanging the obvious suspect. All set within the framework of an India in the last decades of Empire when a newly-arrived Ghandi was advocating peaceful non-cooperation rather than violent terrorism.
Former Scotland Yard detective Captain Sam Wyndham arrives in Calcutta fleeing bad memories of tragedy at home and nightmares from trench warfare in the Great War. His tipple is whisky and, when things get really bad, opium. He joins an Indian Police Force organised on racial lines and operating according to the newly introduced Rowlatt Rules, emergency legislation to combat terrorism allowing indefinite detention and imprisonment without trial or judicial review. Wyndham, something of a naif and idealist, persists in following the method of investigation he learned in England which means he soon ruffles feathers.
The dead man is an important white civil servant, that he was found dead outside a brothel in a dodgy part of town means the powers-that-be want a quick arrest. Wyndham, with Sub-Inspector Digby and Sergeant ‘Surrender-not’ Banerjee, must find the killer quickly. Wyndham acts on instinct. Digby, the cynical old hand who has been looked over for promotion, is steeped in the casual racism with which Calcutta is riddled. Banerjee is the fresh-faced Indian policeman, university-educated, who always asks the pertinent questions but is painfully shy with women. One of the pleasures of the book is seeing the friendship between Wyndham and Bannerjee develop.
Fresh, entertaining. A very satisfying read. Next is A Necessary Evil.

Here are my reviews of two other books in the Wyndham & Banerjee series:-
A NECESSARY EVIL #2WYNDHAM&BANERJEE
SMOKE AND ASHES #3WYNDHAM&BANERJEE

If you like this, try:-
‘Wilderness’ by Campbell Hart #1Arbogast
‘Darktown’ by Thomas Mullen
‘Death at the Sign of the Rook’ by Kate Atkinson #6JacksonBrodie

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

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

#BookReview ‘The Temple of Fortuna’ by @Elodie_Harper #historical #Pompeii

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The final instalment of the Wolf Den trilogy by Elodie Harper doesn’t disappoint. The Temple of Fortuna follows the return journey of former brothel worker Amara from Rome via Misenum to Pompeii. She returns a very different woman from the last time she stood on the city’s streets beneath Vesuvius, having clawed her way up from slave to freedwoman and high-class courtesan. Elodie HarperIt’s been a while since I read the second book of the trilogy, The House with the Golden Door, but I slipped quickly back into Amara’s world. Moving in the highest of political circles on the arm of her patron Demetrius, and sometimes spying for him, Amara still fears the shadows and sees glimpses of poor people who remind her of her past and the dangers she faced. Every day she thinks of her daughter Rufina, left in Pompeii in the charge of slave Philos, her former lover and Rufina’s biological father, and fears for their safety. Rome is Amara’s best chance to better herself so she can raise Rufina in wealth and security. When Demetrius asks her to be his wife, Amara sales to Misenum to the house of her benefactor Pliny and then on to Pompeii. It is September AD79.
The fatal eruption of Vesuvius is a shadow throughout the trilogy but especially so in this book. As Amara’s ship approaches Pompeii, small earthquakes make the land of Campania shake. The tremors are so frequent that to the locals they become normal. Amara is reunited with her spiky daughter and we meet again friends familiar from previous books. My favourite is the female gladiator Britannicus, who has been watching over Rufina’s safety in a city where Felix, pimp and owner of the Wolf Den brothel, and Rufus, Rufina’s nominal father, are always a threat.
I admit to being impatient for the eruption to begin, this happens just past halfway but could have been much earlier. The earth trembles, dusk falls prematurely. ‘Above the mount, a black column has risen, is still rising, piercing the sky like a spear thrown from the kingdom of Vulcan, god of fire.’ From this point on, all political, business and relationship worries – will Demetrius accept Rufina as his adopted daughter, how can Amara leave Philos who she realises she still loves, how can she stop Felix extorting money from the bars she owns near the gladiator arena – disappear and the running starts. What follows is an almost eyewitness detailed report of fleeing Pompeii for Stabiae and Surrentum.
It’s impossible to review the second half of the book without spoilers. There are a number of epilogues which tie up loose ends, a little too neatly for my liking. But this is an excellent trilogy, immersive, with characters you root for. Definitely one to re-read.

Here are my reviews of the first two novels in the ‘Wolf Den’ series by Elodie Harper:-
THE WOLF DEN #1WOLFDEN
THE HOUSE WITH THE GOLDEN DOOR #2WOLFDEN

If you like this, try:-
‘A Traveller at the Gates of Wisdom’ by John Boyne
‘Glorious Exploits’ by Ferdia Lennon 
‘Shadows in the Ashes’ by Christina Courtenay 

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview THE TEMPLE OF FORTUNA by @Elodie_Harper https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-7U6 via @SandraDanby

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

#BookReview ‘Murder on the Dance Floor’ by Helena Dixon @NellDixon #cosymystery #crime

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When hotelier and amateur detective Kitty Underhay is invited to a boring dinner and dance for the local hoteliers’ association, you know it will be anything but quiet. In Murder on the Dance Floor, fourth in this 1930s-set sleuthing series by Helena Dixon, there are two mysteries to solve. Helena DixonThe head of Exeter Chamber of Commerce, Councillor Harold Everton, is a martyr to indigestion so when – after the three-course dinner, coffee and petits fours – discomfort strikes, his wife does what she always does. Marigold takes a sachet of powders from her handbag. Harold mixes the contents with water and swallows it in one gulp. He drops dead at the dinner table as diners around them are dancing to the music of the Imperial Hotel’s dance band.
Immediate suspects are the councillor’s fellow guests at the table including Kitty and Captain Matthew Bryant, her friend and owner of Torbay Private Investigative Services. Also present are the Everton’s daughter, Mr Everton’s nephew, his solicitor and his wife, and a pair of local hoteliers. Matt is troubled that the councillor may have been about to employ his services. When meeting Mr Everton days earlier, he had requested Matt’s business card. ‘It must have been a delicate or personal matter, or he would have involved the police.’ Matt and Kitty spring into action, asking questions, gathering information and, as usual, making a nuisance of themselves. Unfortunately, the murderer notices their investigations and they find themselves in danger again.
Meanwhile Kitty has new clues to follow up regarding the disappearance of her mother in June 1916. Could a map of medieval underground passages beneath Exeter’s streets prove helpful. Is a disreputable pub called The Glass Bottle at the heart of the secret? And why would her mother Elowed have gone to such a dangerous part of the city?
The detection progresses at a brisk pace along with the underlying question of whether Matt and Kitty will ever get around to discussing the possibility of ‘walking out together.’ This theme works well because Dixon tells the story from Kitty and Matt’s alternating viewpoints, neatly showing up the misunderstandings, minor grudges, jealousies and secrets.
Reasons to keep reading the series? First, Kitty is an independent heroine whose unpredictable and determined behaviour adds charm and tension to the storyline. Two, Kitty and Matt’s relationship is like some sort of romantic two-step, one step forwards, one step back. Third, the cast of local characters whose personalities become clearer as the series progresses. These include irritating gossip Mrs Carver, whose annoying stories are always outrageous sometimes accurate. The cake-loving detective inspector Greville. The car-mad Doctor Carter who drives too fast. And Alice Miller, housemaid at the Dolphin who has already proven herself a worthy accomplice in Kitty’s detections. It’s a great ensemble cast.
There are to date 18 books in the series and I’ve only read four. Next is Murder in the Bell Tower.

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 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:-
‘Murder at Catmmando Mountain’ by Anna Celeste Burke #1GeorgieShaw
‘Death at the Sign of the Rook’ by Kate Atkinson #6JacksonBrodie
‘Dying in the Wool’ by Frances Brody #1KateShackleton

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

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

#BookReview ‘My Father’s House’ by Joseph O’Connor #WW2 #thriller

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My Father’s House by Joseph O’Connor starts with great tension. Nazi-occupied Rome in 1943. A diplomat’s wife, a priest, an injured man are driving madly through the empty city streets. It is ‘119 hours and 11 minutes before the mission.’ Joseph O'ConnorThis is the story of five days in the life of the resistance members of The Choir, including a priest based in the neutral Vatican City and in neighbouring Rome a collection of Italian and foreign partisans. Hundreds of Allied soldiers are hidden around the city, awaiting movement to safety, risking daily capture. Gestapo boss Paul Hauptmann is obsessed with arresting and torturing the leader, Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty, who ‘had three doctorates and was fluent in seven languages, his mind was like a lawnmower blade, he’d shear through any knot and see a solution.’
Based on a true story, the author’s caveat at the end emphasizes that real incidents have been condensed, characters amalgamated and invented. Terror comes to the holy city. Barriers are erected across St Peter’s Square in Vatican City and the special Vatican troops are issued with sub-machine guns.
The premise is fascinating, its an area of World War Two history I haven’t read about before; a great premise that takes detours away from the main storyline. Tension ebbs and flows because the objective of the ‘rendimento,’ the mission, is never really clear. The story is told in a combination of voices featuring retrospective post-war interviews with some of the Choir and the 1943 narratives of O’Flaherty, Hauptmann and D’Arcy Osborne, UK ambassador to the Holy See and in refuge in the holy city.
There is some beautiful description of the grandiose settings, sometimes too much if I’m honest. It is a difficult balance to strike, maintaining the tension, the threat and the danger, while enriching the atmosphere and setting. Get it wrong, and it distracts from the main thrust of the story. One example of beautiful description which adds to the story is O’Flaherty in the scriptorium, his workplace. From the darkest corner he removes a hefty book, ‘Illuminated grinning evangelists, scarlet dragons, silver gryphons, the rook-black of the text, the black of burned coal. Then a carnival of ornamented capitals wound in eagles and serpents, the haloes of archangels forming ivory O’s, to the hollow where the middle quires have been patiently razored out in which eleven folded pieces of architectural paper are hidden… Names, contacts, hiding places, dates.’
This is a hybrid literary thriller about a fascinating subject. I wanted slightly less of the architecture, art and memories of times past, and more about The Choir and the individuals involved. This is the first of the Rome Escape Line series. Book two, The Ghosts of Rome is next.

If you like this, try:-
‘The Garden of Angels ‘ by David Hewson
‘While Paris Slept’ by Ruth Druart
‘A Hero in France’ by Alan Furst

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview MY FATHER’S HOUSE by Joseph O’Connor https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-7UB via @SandraDanby

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

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

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SW Perry is a new author for me. I first came across the Jackdaw Mysteries when The Rebel’s Mark was published. But, discovering that book was fifth in the series, I decided to start at the beginning with The Angel’s Mark. And I’m so glad I did. SW PerrySome first novels of a series can seem a little slow, concentrating on establishing world and character at the expense of tension but in The Angel’s Mark, Perry tells a rollicking good historical mystery. It is 1590, Queen Elizabeth I’s reign is nearing its end, Catholics are still celebrating mass in secret, there are wars, plotting, spies and witchcraft. Young physician Nicholas Shelby has a good career ahead of him and is due to become a father until tragedy sends him reeling towards alcoholism, vagrancy and ruin.
This is at once a sad story, and one of hope. Watching Nicholas suffer the worst imaginable kind of grief is a painful read, until Perry presents him with a puzzle to be solved, a medical dilemma that doesn’t make sense, a challenge to his intellect currently sozzled by alcohol and to his vanished self-esteem. He is convinced a killer is at large, preying on the weak, unfortunate and overlooked in London’s streets. At first no-one wants to hear his complaints, the victims are found south of the river, unimportant, and Shelby is a ruined man, certainly no doctor, whose word cannot be trusted. Each victim has a strange symbol cut into the leg; could it be devilry, a sacrifice? But Shelby is still a physician at heart, he believes in facts and evidence not hearsay and superstition. So with the help of innkeeper Bianca Merton, who rescued him at his lowest point, he begins to investigate. Their search for the truth takes them into one of the most glamorous houses in London, Nonsuch Palace. Bianca is a fascinating character; an apothecary and healer forbidden a license to practise, she runs an inn, keeps a herb garden and helps local people with her salves and potions.
A well-written thriller in Elizabethan London featuring a likeable hero with a strong conscience and vulnerabilities. If, like me, you love Shardlake, give this series a go.

If you like this, try:-
‘The Almanack’ by Martine Bailey #1TabithaHart
‘The Swift and the Harrier’ by Minette Walters
‘A Rustle of Silk’ by Alys Clare #1GabrielTaverner

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview THE ANGEL’S MARK by SW Perry @swperry_history https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-7PM via @SandraDanby

COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK I REVIEW WILL BE:- Joseph O'Connor

#BookReview ‘Shadows in the Ashes’ by @PiaCCourtenay #romance #Pompeii

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Shadows in the Ashes is the new dual-timeline romance novel by Viking specialist Christina Courtenay. Alternating between the present day and AD79 Pompeii, it tells the story of gladiator Raedwald and Aemilia, a wealthy Roman woman trapped in a loveless marriage; and Caterina, an English-Italian woman who flees to Italy leaving behind an abusive husband, and Connor a red-hair volcanologist she meets in Sorrento. Christina CourtenayThe story opens in AD73 with Raedwald, a young man in Frisia (today’s Netherlands) who, after being betrayed and sold into slavery, finds himself training as a gladiator in Pompeii. In 2022 in North London, Cat works from home as a translator, shielding young daughter Bella from her manipulative husband Derek. Both Raedwald and Cat fall in love when it is most inconvenient; Cat because she is on the rebound and not looking for a boyfriend, Raedwald because he is planning to escape from Pompeii and return home to Frisia to seek revenge for his betrayal. To earn extra money, Cat takes a live-in position at a hotel in Sorrento where Connor is a guest; Raedwald and his fellow gladiator Duro take on extra work as bodyguards, their client is Lucius Licinia, husband of the beautiful Aemilia.
The two stories switch effortlessly between the centuries as Courtenay creates a mirroring effect as the people in each timeline face similar, but not identical, situations. The story becomes more mystical when Cat visits the ruins at Pompeii and starts to have visions. The actual date of the real Vesuvius eruption isn’t known so this adds tension to the Pompeii timeline as days pass and the warning signs increase. Minor earthquakes become bigger, smoke rises from the ground.
I had a few quibbles – there are a few easy coincidences, some difficult actions are achieved too simply or without mention, and the Pompeii research sometimes lies heavily on the page – but this is an easy read to sink into after a difficult day. The author treads a careful path through her narrative, including the tragic volcanic explosion and an abusive marriage, counter-balancing these threats by emphasizing the security of true love, of family, of friends, of partners. Even if the romance and flirting at times edges into over-the-top ‘teenage crush’ territory, the characters quickly return to the hard reality of daily life. I particularly enjoyed the scenes with Cat’s Italian family, particularly her two uncles who are just the men to have on your side in a tough situation.
Included as ‘Bonus Material’ is an intriguing short story called Alaric’s Dilemma which hints at a sequel to Shadows in the Ashes.
Welcome escapism.

Here’s my review of TEMPTED BY THE RUNES by the same author.

If you like this, try:-
‘Glorious Exploits’ by Ferdia Lennon 
‘The Wolf Den’ by Elodie Harper #1WolfDen
‘The House with the Golden Door’ Elodie Harper #2WolfDen

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview SHADOWS IN THE ASHES by @PiaCCourtenay https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-7RW via @SandraDanby

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