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#BookReview ‘Munich Wolf’ by Rory Clements #crime #thriller

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A standalone thriller by Rory Clements is to be treasured, though I wonder if Munich Wolf is the first of a new between-the-wars crime series. Munich in June 1935 is the spiritual home of Nazism. The vibrant city is full of young people having a good time. Except pretty girls are being killed. Can maverick police detective Sebastian Wolff find the murderer before another girl dies. Rory ClementsWolff faces an uphill battle in investigating the murder of a young English woman, the Honourable Miss Rosie Palmer, daughter of a lady-in-waiting to Queen Mary, and friend of Adolf Hitler’s supporter Unity Mitford. Politicians fear a diplomatic incident, Hitler wants the murderer to be apprehended immediately, the Bavarian Political Police wants to send Wolff to Dachau, his boss wants a quiet life, and his Hitler Youth enthusiast son thinks he is a traitor to Germany. Sebastian, who believes police work is about apprehending villains regardless of social class, politics, race, gender or wealth, must uphold the law within a political landscape evolving into a dictatorship where people vanish overnight and onlookers feign ignorance.
What is the meaning of strange lipstick marks on the corpse; random scribbles, Hebrew writing or something mythical. When Wolff asks a specialist for help, he complicates the case further. Only his mother, who is constantly trying to feed him, and his girlfriend Hexie, who is something of a rebel, seem to be on his side.
After a slowish-start, this turns into a thrilling read. A complex crime story set at the time of momentous political upheaval. Munich is full of a toxic combination of people. Hitler, his intimates and fanatical supporters; followers of the Völkisch racial ideology; power-hungry aristocrats; brutal thugs, and young upper-class English women happy to party with handsome SS officers in their black uniforms tailored by Hugo Boss. While the in-crowd party to excess – one celebration features endless champagne and naked women writhing in ecstasy as they fight on a lawn for a flag – Jews are being deported and homosexuals terrorised.
The Lancia-driving anti-Nazi Wolff is a likeable hero and defender of the word of the law. He is not perfect; he works too hard, lacks diplomacy and has a short fuse. But he doesn’t respond well to being bullied and continues to investigate when he has been threatened, attacked and locked up.
As a fan of the Tom Wilde, series, I’m happy to find another Rory Clements character to root for.

Click the title to read my reviews of the Tom Wilde thriller series by Rory Clements:-
CORPUS #1TOMWILDE
NUCLEUS #2TOMWILDE
NEMESIS #3TOMWILDE
HITLER’S SECRET #4TOMWILDE
A PRINCE AND A SPY #5TOMWILDE
THE MAN IN THE BUNKER #6TOMWILDE
THE ENGLISH FUHRER #7TOMWILDE

If you like this, try:-
‘Eeny Meeny’ by MJ Arlidge #1HelenGrace
‘The Guest List’ by Lucy Foley
‘A Fatal Crossing’ by Tom Hindle

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#BookReview MUNICH WOLF by Rory Clements https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-7Qs via @SandraDanby

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

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

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Italian heretic and spy Giordano Bruno becomes embroiled in a Catholic plot to kill Queen Elizabeth I and replace her with Mary, Queen of Scots. Execution by SJ Parris, sixth in the excellent Bruno series, starts fast and doesn’t slow down. SJ ParrisBased on the true Babington Plot of 1586 to assassinate the queen, this is the best so far of this historical mystery series. Well-researched with lots of unexpected twists and turns, London seethes with threat around every corner. Bruno, keen to find patronage again in London after fleeing Paris, finds himself unable to say no to his former boss, Elizabethan spymaster Sir Francis Walsingham. He must impersonate a Spanish priest and infiltrate a group of Catholics conspiring with Mary to kill her cousin.
There are secret letters written in code, horrible torture, turncoats, double agents, a brave lady spy and a wonderful boy bodyguard Ben. Bruno the heretic must remember quickly how to say mass and give extreme unction to the dying, get one word wrong and his co-conspirators will suspect he is false. Danger lurks as Bruno goes from the grand houses of the north bank of London to the filth, flesh pots, rowdy playhouses and bear pits of the south bank. Characters reappear from his past, some more welcome than others, while the solemn forger and codebreaker Thomas Phelippes and the publican’s son Ben are fascinating additions.
Parris maintains the tension as Bruno makes errors and escapes by the skin of his teeth, all the time wondering if Walsingham has erred in his character judgement of allies within the plotters. Yes, Bruno sometimes gets it wrong. He is not perfect, he is not a professional spy. He is a philosopher who wants nothing more than to write his books and settle down with the woman he loves. But trouble always seems to find him.
A skilfully-written fictional take on a historical event. Colourful, smelly, foul and vibrant, London deserves a special mention as an additional character in Execution.

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

If you like this, try:-
‘A Rustle of Silk’ by Alys Clare #1GabrielTaverner
‘The Swift and the Harrier’ by Minette Walters
‘The Western Wind’ by Samantha Harvey

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

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

#BookReview ‘Glorious Exploits’ by Ferdia Lennon #historical #Medea #Syracuse

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412BC. Syracuse, Sicily. Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon is a wild ride and something of a surprise. There is the ancient setting, rattling modern dialogue and irreverent humour, a combination of ancient Syracusans and Athenians, and the tragi-comedy double act of Lampo and Gelon who decide to stage Medea with a cast of half-starved enemy soldiers. Ferdia LennonSuch a distinctive voice from the first paragraph, the story moves quickly, initially disorientating until the dialogue rhythm settled in my head and I went with the flow. With a flick of a word, Lennon turns the mood from funny to sad to hopeless, to consoling, to hopeful, to drunken to horror and pain. Lampo the narrator is not a sympathetic character, at times downright unpleasant but the story becomes addictive.
Syracuse, post-war is a city that cannot escape the memories of battle. Men walk the street with amputations and visible injuries, loved ones are dead, jobs are scarce, hundreds of Athenian soldiers are held captive in a quarry while out at sea beneath the surface are shipwrecks. ‘The sea-skins a gentle swishing blue, and it’s hard to imagine that whole forests of sunken ships lie underneath it, a second city.’ The war in question is the Peloponnesian War of 415-413BC when Athens fought the combined forces of Sparta, Syracuse and Corinth, and lost. But all is not well in Syracuse either. In Glorious Exploits, Lampo and Gelon are out-of-work potters, they raise funds for their theatre production by selling a heap of Athenian armour they find. Driven by Gelon’s love of Euripides and Lampo’s need of gold, the unlikely theatre production approaches. Costumes designed, actors auditioned, lines learned, music rehearsed. Are Gelon and Lampo a team, truly co-directors, or just two ordinary men out of their depth.
There are funny moments and episodes of horrific cruelty and ignorance. Via the ambition, idealism and naivety of these two potters, Glorious Exploits shows the impact of war on ordinary people – the foot soldiers, the angry grieving families left behind, the men on both sides following the orders of officers who escape – long after the fighting has stopped and surface wounds have healed. An enemy becomes another man just following orders. Damage hidden below the surface may, like the wrecked ships, be out of sight but it is still there and when unleashed, the unexpected can happen.
A unique voice. Something completely different.

If you like this, try:-
‘The Silence of the Girls’ by Pat Barker
‘Stone Blind’ by Natalie Haynes
‘The Wolf Den’ by Elodie Harper #1WolfDen

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#BookReview GLORIOUS EXPLOITS by Ferdia Lennon https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-7OP via @SandraDanby

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

Great Opening Paragraph 137… ‘The Last Lifeboat’ #amreading #FirstPara

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“Mid-Atlantic. 17 September 1940.
Alice can’t breathe. The wind snatches her breath away, leaving her gasping for air as she half jumps, half stumbles into the lifeboat and falls, face down, against the boards. She tries to pull herself up, but the lifeboat pitches violently as another monstrous wave smashes into them and throws Alice into a woman beside her. The woman loses her grip on the rain-slicked mast and tumbles, with extraordinary grace, into the dark ocean, her white nightdress unfurling around he as she spins and twirls like a ballerina in a pirouette. Too shocked to respond, Alice can’t look away.”
Hazel GaynorFrom ‘The Last Lifeboat’ by Hazel Gaynor

Click the title to read my review of THE LAST LIFEBOAT…

… and these other novels by Hazel Gaynor:-
THE BIRD IN THE BAMBOO CAGE
THE COTTINGLEY SECRET

Try one of these #FirstParas & discover a new author:-
‘Beloved’ by Toni Morrison
‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time’ by Mark Haddon
‘Tipping the Velvet’ by Sarah Waters

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#Books #FirstPara THE LAST LIFEBOAT by @HazelGaynor https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-7UL via @SandraDanby

#BookReview ‘Normal Rules Don’t Apply’ by Kate Atkinson #shortstories

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Normal Rules Don’t Apply by Kate Atkinson is a collection of eleven inter-connected stories that as soon as you finish reading them you’ll want to start again. As the title hints, nothing is as it seems. Is someone alive, or could they be dead. Does that voice belong to a person, or a cat? Will Franklin ever find the right girl? Kate AtkinsonThe first story ‘The Void’ sets a dark tone as the Universe blinks. Atkinson shows us the arbitrariness of life, the obsessions and minutia of daily living that become irrelevant as people suddenly drop dead. Things mentioned in passing in this first story may be referenced later, it is worth paying attention. The tone doesn’t stay dark, it shifts from story to story. There are laugh-out-loud moments and then Atkinson will turn the mood on a sixpence.
‘Puppies and Rainbows’ made me smile. The key character, Skylar Schiller is a child actress turned film star filming in England, her daily routine sustained by a stream of tablets and potions. Then at the party following the film’s premiere in Leicester Square, she bumps into an ordinary looking guy who is anything but.
My favourite character Franklin, a producer on television soap Green Acres, pops up regularly and knits together some of the disparate storylines. He is a ‘man of straw, buffeted and blown around on the winds of change. Sometimes he had the feeling that he existed only on the fringes of other’s people’s lives, not at the heart of his own.’ If Normal Rules Don’t Apply was a Venn diagram, Franklin would be at the centre. You’ll enjoy spotting the links as you go along.
Atkinson has such a wonderful way with words, down-to-earth and ordinary, set in a disorientating strange world. For example, in ‘Blithe Spirit’ Mandy is dead but the description seems reassuringly bland. ‘Seventeen years old when she started work, armed with her RSA certificate and a fuschia lip-gloss and already thinking with nostalgic fondness of the drunken and careless youth she had exchanged in order to be tethered to a Dictaphone.’ Just as Mandy is settling into one world, she is transported to another. The truth of her death, when it is revealed, is a surprise and another link to the Venn diagram.
These stories rattle along at a high pace, at times I needed to catch my breath. I know that a lot of references, and chuckles, passed me by. The writing is beautiful, as always with Atkinson, and I enjoyed the Yorkshire settings. Some of it seems a bit mad but she takes the reader by the hand and leads them on her rollercoaster.
Original. One to read and read again and to think about. Just because a story makes you laugh, doesn’t mean there’s isn’t a serious theme.

Read my reviews of these other novels by Kate Atkinson:-
A GOD IN RUINS
LIFE AFTER LIFE
SHRINES OF GAIETY
TRANSCRIPTION
BIG SKY #5JACKSONBRODIE
DEATH AT THE SIGN OF THE ROOK #6JACKSONBRODIE

If you like this, try:-
‘Last Stories’ by William Trevor
‘An Unfamiliar Landscape’ by Amanda Huggins
‘The Dreams of Bethany Mellmoth’ by William Boyd

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview NORMAL RULES DON’T APPLY by Kate Atkinson #shortstories https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-7Nt via @SandraDanby

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

Great Opening Paragraph 73… ‘The Chateau’ #amreading #FirstPara

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“The big ocean liner, snow white, with two red and black slanting funnels, lay at anchor, attracting seagulls. The sea was calm, the lens of the sky was set at infinity. The coastline – low green hills and the dim outlines of stone houses lying in pockets of mist – was in three pale French colours, a brocade borrowed from some museum. The pink was daybreak. So beautiful, and no one to see it.”
William MaxwellFrom ‘The Chateau’ by William Maxwell

And read my reviews of these other novels by William Maxwell:-
BRIGHT CENTER OF HEAVEN
THE FOLDED LEAF
THEY CAME LIKE SWALLOWS
TIME WILL DARKEN IT… and read the first paragraph HERE.

Try one of these #FirstParas & discover a new author:-
‘Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant’ by Anne Tyler 
‘I’ll Take You There’ by Joyce Carol Oates 
‘Notes on a Scandal’ by Zoe Heller 

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#Books #FirstPara THE CHATEAU by William Maxwell https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-7TF via @SandraDanby

#BookReview ‘The Whispering Muse’ by Laura Purcell #historical #mystery

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The Whispering Muse by Laura Purcell is a haunted mystery full of suspense, superstition and danger. Set at the Mermaid, a London theatre specialising in tragedies, the story is told by Jenny Wilcox, dresser to lead actress Lilith Erikson. Laura PurcellRecruited by Mrs Dyer, wife of the theatre owner, to be dresser to Lilith, Jenny is grateful for the wage which enables her to support her three siblings at home. Left alone after their elder brother, a scene painter at the Mermaid, ran away with one of the actresses, Jenny cannot believe her luck. Until Mrs Dyer, suspecting her husband of an affair with Lilith, sends Jenny to spy on her rival. The two women vie over one man, and over a mysterious watch that seems to give power to the holder. But the previous owner of the watch, an actor, died on stage.
I raced through this book in two days; there isn’t a pause or a breath without the action progressing. Jenny finds herself involved in plots, unable to say no, beholden to her benefactor, divided by the powerful two women and unsure if she should trust either, agreeing to things she knows are wrong and dangerous, regretting she got involved. Purcell is excellent at creating a dark and menacing atmosphere in the theatre, a place ridden with superstitions that seems to crumble around them, rotting and smelling rank as the lies increase and the betrayals intensify.
This is a dark story I didn’t want to put down until I knew the ending. The theatrical world adds to the gothic setting, the costumes and special effects, the scenery and superstitions, the bitchiness. The self-obsession of the actors contrasts with the down-to-earth backstage staff who, after all, are there for the wage and cannot rock the boat when odd things begin to happen. And happen they do, as the company progresses through the season from Macbeth, The Duchess of Malfi, Antony and Cleopatra, Romeo and Juliet, finally to Faust, Part One.
One of my favourite books of 2024.

Here’s my review of THE SILENT COMPANIONS, also by Laura Purcell.

If you like this, try:-
‘The Night Child’ by Anna Quinn
‘Inheritance’ by Nora Roberts #1LostBrideTrilogy
‘The Lamplighters’ by Emma Stonex

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview THE WHISPERING MUSE by Laura Purcell https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-7LT via @SandraDanby

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

#BookReview ‘Murder at the Fair’ by @BrightVerity #cosymystery #crime

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When one raft fails to finish the race at the May Fair, honorary guest and amateur sleuth Lady Eleanor Swift is the only person to be suspicious. And so starts Murder at the Fair, sixth in the 1920s cosy mystery series by Verity Bright. And as is the way of these things, the murder at the fair is not the only death in Little Buckford. Verity Bright Warned off any further investigations by Detective Chief Inspector Seldon –  who Eleanor sometimes called Inspector, and sometimes Hugh – she believes her suspicions are correct when a spiteful obituary is published in the local newspaper. ‘For Solemn Jon’s death was not an accident, dear reader. It was murder!’ The obituary is signed Willie Green, who just happens to be assistant to ‘Solemn’ John Jon, who was the local undertaker. Green is the argumentative kind of man who exists on the fringe of the village, his brain sloshing with booze, a sharp tongue in his mouth, and so an obvious suspect. Perhaps too obvious?
When a second murder happens, another nasty obituary is published. This death looks like a horse-riding accident until Eleanor sets out to prove otherwise. Her on-off relationship with Seldon continues as they behave awkwardly around each other, not helped by the guilt Ellie feels at going behind his back to investigate the murders. These investigations are fun, supported as she is by loyal butler Clifford who has an astonishing range of suspect skills and tools, including skeleton keys and a pistol, and useful contacts amongst his fellow butlers. Things take a turn for the worse when a third obituary is published, for someone who is still alive.
The series is established now and key characters are familiar, this is the time when the narrative can run out of steam and become formulaic. But Murder at the Fair has a twisty plot with plenty of  unexpected hiccups and u-turns. The deathly events occur at a time of great upheaval at Henley Hall, the annual spring clean, when a newcomer to the hall causes early excitement followed by disaster.
Enjoyable, fun, clever and charming, a great book to sink into when relaxation is required.

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
A LESSON IN MURDER #7LADYELEANORSWIFT
DEATH ON A WINTER’S DAY #8LADYELEANORSWIFT

If you like this, try:-
‘The Killing of Polly Carter’ by Robert Thorogood #2DeathinParadise
‘The Lost Ancestor’ by Nathan Dylan Goodwin #2MortonFarrier
‘A Mansion for Murder’ by Frances Brody #13KateShackleton

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

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

Great Opening Paragraph 70… ‘Dying in the Wool’ #amreading #FirstPara

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“My name is Kate Shackleton. I’m thirty-one years old, and hanging onto freedom by the skin of my teeth. Because I’m a widow my mother wants me back by her side. But I’ve tasted independence. I’m not about to drown in polite society all over again.”
frances brodyFrom ‘Dying in the Wool’ by Frances Brody

Here’s my review of DYING IN THE WOOL, the first in Frances Brody’s series about amateur sleuth Kate Shackleton set in 1920s Yorkshire:-

And read my reviews of these other Kate Shackleton books:-
A DEATH IN THE DALES #7KATESHACKLETON
A SNAPSHOT OF MURDER #10KATESHACKLETON
DEATH AND THE BREWERY QUEEN #12KATESHACKLETON
A MANSION FOR MURDER #13KATESHACKLETON

Try one of these #FirstParas & discover a new author:-
‘The Pelican Brief’ by John Grisham 
‘Divisadero’ by Michael Ondaatje 
‘The Secret History’ by Donna Tartt 

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#Books #FirstPara DYING IN THE WOOL by @FrancesBrody https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-7S8 via @SandraDanby

Great Opening Paragraph 69… ‘The Funny Thing About Norman Foreman’ #amreading #FirstPara

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“When I was born my insides lay outside my body for twenty-one days. Which is unexpected, but not nearly as unusual as you might think. For every 3,999 babies that come out with everything tucked in neatly and sealed away exactly where it should be, there’s one like me. Nobody really knows why. Luck of the draw, my father used to say.”
Julietta HendersonFrom ‘The Funny Thing About Norman Foreman’ by Julietta Henderson

Click the title to read my review of THE FUNNY THING ABOUT NORMAN FOREMAN.

Try one of these #FirstParas & discover a new author:-
‘To Have and Have Not’ by Ernest Hemingway
‘Peter Pan’ by JM Barrie
‘Fortune Favours the Dead’ by Stephen Spottiswood 

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#Books #FirstPara THE FUNNY THING ABOUT NORMAN FOREMAN by Julietta Henderson @JuliettaJulia1 https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-7RL via @SandraDanby