Tag Archives: lady detectives

#BookReview ‘Secrets Typed in Blood’ by Stephen Spotswood @playwrightSteve #crime

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When a string of real-life murders are identical to a crime author’s latest stories, there’s only one detective team the writer can turn to. In Secrets Typed in Blood by Stephen Spotswood, Holly Quick asks the crack New York detectives Lilian Pentecost and Willowjean Parker for help. Stephen SpotswoodThird in the Pentecost & Parker post-WW2 1940s detective series, Secrets Typed in Blood is not a straightforward case for New York’s finest. When Miss Quick turns up on the doorstep, Miss P is weakened by side effects caused by her multiple sclerosis and Will is wearing lipstick and a pencil skirt while pretending to be a nine-to-five secretary to investigate a businessman involved in a cold case. Holly is a difficult client to read but her basic story is proven by some nifty research. Pentecost & Parker, unwilling to alert the police to their investigation, employ a private detective to research the three murdered men and identify links to Holly and her crime stories. Darryl Klinghorn does his job efficiently but without results. Until he becomes another victim of the murderer.
Entwined through this story are some attractive and unattractive characters. Miss P’s Scottish housekeeper Mrs Campbell adds her wonderful matter-of-fact analysis to knotty problems. Holly’s caretaker Mr Cosmo is a gem. I also liked the reappearance of Sam Lee Butcher, circus roustabout in the last book of the series Murder Under Her Skin, now a New York morgue orderly and occasional helper to the lady detectives. Worst is Jessup Quincannon, a wealthy man obsessed by murder who runs The Black Museum Club where murderers mingle over cocktails and canapes with his exclusive members. Upstairs is an unofficial museum of murderous artefacts displayed like art including bones, blades, hacksaws and a woman’s skirt, green chintz with golden lilies. Pentecost & Parker have a big problem. Their usual method, to identify the killer by first understanding the victim, isn’t working. Then they start to wonder if Holly is being truthful with them.
Surprising, rich, clever and inventive. The sub-plot about the Olivia Waterhouse case, the reason Will is pretending to be a secretary, left me uninvolved. I wanted to read more about the Holly Quick murders.
Next up is Murder Crossed Her Mind.

Here are my reviews of other books in this series:-
FORTUNE FAVOURS THE DEAD #1PENTECOST&PARKER …and read the #FirstPara of HERE
MURDER UNDER HER SKIN #2PENTECOST&PARKER

If you like this, try:-
‘The Killing Lessons’ by Saul Black
‘Wolf’ by Mo Hayder
‘The Various Haunts of Men’ by Susan Hill #1SIMONSERRAILLER

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview SECRETS TYPED IN BLOOD by Stephen Spotswood @playwrightSteve https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-9Yk via @SandraDanby

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

#BookReview ‘A Medal for Murder’ by Frances Brody @FrancesBrody #cosycrime

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I started reading the Kate Shackleton series of 1920s detective novels in the wrong order, so I’ve gone back to the beginning. A Medal for Murder is the second Kate book by Frances Brody. With flashbacks to the 1899 Boer War, it adds layer upon layer to the puzzles faced by Kate. Frances Brody 1922. Harrogate is a genteel city, a night at the theatre, a visit to a friend. But Kate Shackleton’s visit to her director friend doesn’t go to plan when on the last night of the play, a wealthy local businessman is found dead, a dagger in his chest.
Drawn to the spa town as part of an investigation into robbery at a Leeds pawn shop, Kate finds herself instead following clues to find the murderer. Everyone in Harrogate seems polite, helpful, thoughtful, concerned about the murder, ready to help. But are they really being helpful or trying to distract the investigation? Kate, who has stayed the night with her theatre producer friend Meriel, is asked for help from another source. Meriel’s landlord, elderly Captain Wolfendale, has received a ransom note. His grand-daughter Lucy, a budding actress, has been kidnapped. The note warns not to alert the police and so the captain asks for Kate’s help. As Kate’s three unrelated cases – theft, murder, kidnap – keep overlapping, she begins to wonder if everyone is acting a role. Is anyone telling her the truth? Where is Lucy, has she been kidnapped or is she hiding from someone. And why is the captain’s war experience significant?
A Medal for Murder starts slowly and builds the tension gradually. But the twist, when it comes, will take your breath away. I didn’t see it coming at all. Brody has a wonderful talent for misleading the reader, laying false clues and real ones, that keep you guessing for so long. Kate Shackleton is a very likeable protagonist, an independent woman making her own life post-Great War, shaped by her wartime experiences. Now a professional detective, Kate must consider the moral question: is a thief always a thief, or can there be mitigating factors that excuse or explain guilt? Harrogate, a beautiful spa town, is a worthy character in its own right.
Next in the series is Murder in the Afternoon.

Read my reviews of these other Kate Shackleton novels:-
DYING IN THE WOOL #1KATESHACKLETON … read the #FirstPara HERE.
A DEATH IN THE DALES #7KATESHACKLETON
A SNAPSHOT OF MURDER #10KATESHACKLETON
DEATH AND THE BREWERY QUEEN #12KATESHACKLETON
A MANSION FOR MURDER #13KATESHACKLETON

If you like this, try:-
‘The Various Haunts of Men’ by Susan Hill #1SIMONSERRAILLER
‘A Rising Man’ by Abir Mukherjee #1WYNDHAM&BANERJEE
‘Murder Under her Skin’ by Steven Spotswood #2PENTECOST&PARKER 

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview A MEDAL FOR MURDER by Frances Brody @FrancesBrody https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-8Zq via @SandraDanby

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