Crime (historical)
Lumen by Ben Pastor
Cracow, Poland, October 1939: The Germans have recently occupied Poland and are seeking to establish their authority. Captain Martin Bora of the Wehrmacht (the German army) has just arrived in the city from the battlefield to take up a posting to Intelligence. His boss asks Bora to drive him to a convent every day to see the renowned Abbess, rumoured to have mystic and healing powers. A few days later, though, she is found shot dead in the grounds of her convent. Bora is asked to investigate and report back. He proceeds to investigate who shot her and why, but as his investigation continues, there are more questions for Bora and the reader. Where does this case fit in with the priorities of the occupying forces? Full review...
Death and the Maiden by Frank Tallis
Just to clear the confusion out of the way, this book has nothing to do with the novel of the same name by Gladys Mitchell. Both take their name from an early Schubert piece, in which Death entices the Maiden to leave the world of men. The maiden resists. It was a common enough theme at the time: the death of beauty. Full review...
Dark Fire by C J Sansom
1540 was the hottest summer of the sixteenth century but Matthew Shardlake was doing his best to hold his legal practice together, which was made more difficult by the fact that he believed himself to be out of favour with Thomas Cromwell. He tried to keep a low profile but when he defended the accused in a most unpopular case – that of a girl accused of brutally murdering her cousin – he found that the king's chief minister had a new assignment for him. Unless he could solve Cromwell's problem his client was likely to die a slow and nasty death. Full review...
Devoured by D E Meredith
It is the 1850s, and religion and science are at war. Hatton and Roumonde carry out investigations in the morgue, and even at crime scenes, but their findings are seen as of little value in Victorian England. Indeed, to many of their colleagues, what they do to the human body is downright blasphemous. They struggle on, sending begging letters to rich patrons so they can buy equipment, and trying to persuade the police to accept the findings of their autopsies, but they make slow progress. In this engrossing case, their efforts are rewarded and they are called in by Inspector Adams of Scotland Yard to help with the murder of Lady Blessingham, who has had her head smashed in with a fossil. This immediately plunges them into a series of murders, each more bizarre and horrible than the last, which are all connected to theories of evolution and the creation of the world. Full review...
In the Shadow of Gotham by Stefanie Pintoff
'Never Judge… ' Every time I look into the Bookbag to see if there's anything I fancy, I should remind myself: 'Never judge a book by its cover'. Pintoff's first novel in the Simon Ziele series, indeed her first published novel, 'In The Shadow of Gotham' is yet another of those ill-served by both its title and its cover.
In fairness Americans are probably more familiar with Gotham as a nickname for New York City than we Brits – to whom it simply conjures up variations on a theme of Batman. Full review...
The Kingdom of Light by Giulio Leoni and Shaun Whiteside
Famous poet Dante is at present the prior of Florence, which gives him responsibility for investigating crime. Several murders occur in quick succession - there must be a connection… but how, why? I approached this book with excitement. The underlying premise seemed to be interesting - take a famous character and place them in situations unknown to us. The portents were good! (Can you feel, a but?) Full review...
A Game of Sorrows by Shona Maclean
Two years have passed since Alexander Seaton found his redemption. He is comfortably settled in his life at the University, about to be sent on the academic expedition of a lifetime, and wondering how best to ask the woman he loves to be his wife. Then a case of mistaken identity, which almost costs him his love and the respect of his friends leads Alexander to discover he has a cousin in town – the son of his late mother's brother, come from Ireland to seek his help. Full review...
Heartstone (Matthew Shardlake) by C J Sansom
Henry VIII was not one to ponder on his failings but his recent invasion of France had gone completely wrong and the French fleet was preparing to cross the Channel and invade England. The only way that Henry could raise the money to gather a large militia army was to debase the currency and the country was put in the grip of raging inflation and economic crisis. Meanwhile the English fleet gathered at Portsmouth. Full review...
Blotto, Twinks and the Dead Dowager Duchess by Simon Brett
There is a long tradition of country house murder novels, and Simon Brett has a glorious time parodying them in the Blotto and Twinks series. All the stock characters are there: the dim but honourable young man, the clever and emancipated young woman, the loyal lower orders and the dastardly (and preferably foreign) villains. Death is treated in the most light-hearted, almost off-hand manner, and danger is as regular an occurrence as kippers for breakfast. In hands as experienced as Simon Brett's this should be a rich mine for comedy, and to some extent it is, but still, it has to be said, something is lacking. Full review...
Act of Murder by Alan Wright
In 1894 Wigan was having a feast of cultural entertainment. The Morgan-Drew players from London were presenting a celebrated Victorian melodrama, but nearby the Richard Throstle Magic Lantern Company was presenting a ghoulish extravaganza called Phantasmagoria. They're at opposite ends of the cultural scale but the town was just recovering from the recent miners' strike and it seemed that happily there might be something for everyone. It wasn't to last though as the town is soon in turmoil after a gruesome murder. Detective Sergeant Samuel Slevin of the Wigan Borough Police is called in to investigate and soon discovers that much is not as it seems. Full review...
Avenging the Dead by Guy Fraser
It's 1863 and the Superintendent covering the inner city area of Glasgow has his hands full. First off an alarming forgery scandal has just been discovered and no sooner has he drawn breath than one, two and counting suspicious deaths occur. Instinctively, I want to say that it's all good, clean fun. Because it is. The language Fraser uses is very much of that era which lends the book a particular old-fashioned and rather twee, charm. It's all over the book in spades. On almost every page. Let me give you just one endearing example of the flavour of the book 'None of Mrs Maitland's four regulars at her superior guest house for single gentlemen would even dream of taking another's seat ...' Full review...
The Calton Papers by Norman Russell
Philip Garamond had had an abiding interest in botany since his teens and when we first meet him he's on his way to Sotheby's intent on making a bid for the Calton Papers. Sir George Calton's papers include an unpublished account of Darwin's explorations on the Beagle, some letters and a geographical survey of the British Isles. Garamond's ambition had always been to own a botanical garden on Madeira, but he lacked the funds and the Calton Papers seemed to be as close as he would get to owning something special. Full review...
Writ in Stone (Burren Mysteries) by Cora Harrison
Once again we are transported back to medieval Ireland, following the life and times of the charismatic lady judge, Marra, and her fiancé King Turlough . A violent and horrific murder sets the stage for a dramatic prelude to the happy couple's nuptials! Full review...
Instruments of Darkness by Imogen Robertson
The lively heart of this book is Harriet Westerman. Harriet is a capable woman and manager of her family's estate in Sussex, while her husband (a naval Commodore) is away at sea. Her neighbours at Thornleigh Hall are a titled family in decline: the owner is crippled, his heir is missing, and his second son is an alcoholic. Against this background Harriet finds the body of a dead stranger holding a ring displaying the Thornleigh arms. Meanwhile, in London, a young father is murdered in his music shop. Harriet's actions uncover a link. She turns for help to Gabriel Crowther, an anatomist and reclusive recent arrival in the area. Their enquiries allow the author to paint a wide ranging picture of life in Georgian England, and to tell a rollicking good tale reminiscent of Daphne du Maurier. Robertson uses her knowledge of the period with a light touch: the level of detail advances the plot without overcomplicating the story. Full review...
The Sting of Justice (Burren Mysteries) by Cora Harrison
Having recently read and reviewed Cora Harrison's second Burren mystery, it was with great excitement that I noticed that Bookbag had the third in the series available to review! I had a strong suspicion that a treat was in store for me-and I was not disappointed. Full review...
Michaelmas Tribute (Burren Mysteries) by Cora Harrison
Several surprising murders in the kingdom of the Burren, on the Western coast of Ireland, lead our heroine (Mara) on a tortuous quest for the truth. Were the killings unpremeditated - or brought about through resentment, greed and the desire for revenge? Aided by her scholars in the Law School, Mara doggedly pursues the truth, to bring 16th century justice to her community. Full review...
Alexandria by Lindsey Davis
Marcus Didius Falco, a professional informer working for the Emperor Vespasian, has been to many places in his time, but for once he's on a family outing. Well, mostly. An 'informal commission' (read: no money) from Vespasian finds Falco at the Great Library in Alexandria uncovering his usual brand of intrigue, murder and incongruous mayhem. And getting to know a crocodile. Full review...
Murder in Paradise by Alanna Knight
It is 1860. Constable Jeremy Faro, much to his chagrin, is lifted from his Edinburgh beat and dispatched to Kent to pick up the trail of the master criminal, MacHeath. All too aware of MacHeath's genius for evasion, Faro goes through the motions of finding him, only to become embroiled in a local case of petty theft, which might be connected to the disappearance of a young girl. At the same time, he discovers a terrifying secret about his best friend's wife-to-be. Are all of these events connected, and has the demonic MacHeath really fled, after all? Full review...
Death on a Branch Line by Andrew Martin
Like all the best literary detectives, Jim Stringer is a mixture of know-all and know-nothing. As an ex-railway worker he can identify when the local young firemen are over-stoking their engines. He can't figure out why, though, in the sweltering heat of the summer of 1911. He is well used to solving heinous crimes – this is the fifth book he's been in, after all. But he is not used to criminals stopping over in the York station he works at as a traffic policeman, on their way to the gallows. And when he asks of a condemned aristocrat if the man did it, he is certainly not used to the answer being I don't know. Full review...
Revelation (Matthew Shardlake 4) by C J Sansom
Matthew Shardlake is an enigmatic lawyer, shunned and mocked by many in society, due to his physical deformity: he comes across as an immensely compassionate and clever man - born ahead of his time. Matthew shows immense physical and moral courage, strongly facing up to insults and taunts, at the same time as confronting a murderous enemy, who for most of the novel has the upper hand. Full review...
An Expert in Murder by Nicola Upson
In March 1934 author and playwright Josephine Tey travelled from her home in Scotland to London for the final week of her successful play Richard of Bordeaux. On the train she met Elspeth Simmons, who, coincidentally, was travelling to meet her boyfriend and to see the play yet again. When they arrive at King's Cross to Elspeth's delight they're met by one of the stars of the show but their arrival coincides with a murder on the train. Full review...
Last Nocturne by Marjorie Eccles
It was whilst she was at Evensong that Grace Thurley decided that she would not marry her fiancé. Instead she took a job as a social secretary to recently-widowed Edwina Martagon and moved to London. Eliot Martagon had shot himself in his study some months earlier, leaving neither suicide note nor any indication that there was a problem in his life. Full review...
Death In Hellfire (John Rawlings Mystery) by Deryn Lake
John Rawlings, an apothecary in eighteenth century London, is set a task by John Fielding, the founder of the Bow Street Runners, which involves the investigation of a gentleman's club. This club, frequented by members of the upper classes, has a reputation for organising orgies. Rawlings is lucky enough to attend one of the gatherings, but apart from sexual excess, can find nothing terribly wrong until one of the club's members is found dead, apparently poisoned to death. This incident is followed by another murder. Can Rawlings find out what is going on before someone else dies? Full review...