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[[Category:New Reviews|Crime (Historical)]] __NOTOC__ <!-- Remove -->{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=CC Humphreys0571370977|title=PlagueThe Lock-Up|author=John Banville|rating=54

|summary=Highwayman Captain William Coke stops a carriage in the line of his chosen career and soon discovers heIt's not six months since the first to have assailed itdramatic events which we read about in [[April in Spain by John Banville|April in Spain]] and Dr Quirke is now back in Dublin and living (if somewhat uneasily) with his daughter, Phoebe. The driver worst of his grief is dead over but he irrationally blames DI St John Strafford for what happened and all those within have been brutally skeweredthis has made the already strained relationship between them more difficult. He flees They're brought together by Chief Inspector Hackett when the scene but unfortunately leaves body of a pistol behind. This young, Jewish scholar, Rosa Jacobs, is all thieffound in a lock-taker Pitman needs to arouse his interest and attempt to track the Captain down with a noose in mindup. Meanwhile nature has an equally random mode of death thatAt first, it looked as though she's soon to be let loose on London. This d gassed herself but Quirke is 1665 and the Great Plague is about to beginconvinced that it was murder rather than suicide.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780891423</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Alan Hamilton1529337968|title=StalemateIn Place of Fear|author=Catriona McPherson

|summary=In It's July 1948 and Helen Crowther is due to start work as a qualified medical almoner the summer of 1930 Walter Bruce was told following morning - on the day that he had an incurable illnessthe NHS is born. With nursing care She'll be working for Dr Deuchar and Dr Strasser in their GP surgery and an easier her job he might have a few more years will be to live help patients with those non- but without them he had a matter of monthsmedical problems which affect their health. The solution would seem straightforward but Bruce had a wife - and she demanded to hardest part of the job will be ''kept'' and was far too selfish to be his nurse. Life ''might'' have continued much as it was, but Bruce discovered persuade people that his wife had been deceiving him about her age the services she offers really are free and background - and with that they don''two'' of his business colleaguest have to do anything to qualify for them. The solution was obvious: he would devise Some of the perfect murder and then live out his final years in comfort. Bruce was problems will require delicate handling but Helen has a chess player and he approached the problem much as he would a game of chess - but even the best plans rarely survive contact with realityher own which might give her some insight. Her marriage has never been consummated.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>178132204X</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|titleisbn=The Marathon Conspiracy057136358X|author=Gary Corby|rating=3.5|genre=Crime (Historical)|summarytitle=Nicolaos has a lot on his mind. His wedding is only a few weeks away and he still has no real means of supporting a wife and family. The investigating game, it seems, doesn't pay too well. So when his patron Pericles asks him to investigate the murder of a young child, Nico is a little reticent, especially since he is still waiting to be paid for his previous assignment. Deciding that he can't afford to be picky, Nico accepts a case which will see him, amongst other things, fending off street thugs, diving for treasure April in a sacred spring, going on a bear hunt, rescuing a pair of fighting cocks and consulting a strange priestess who has a habit of running around the woods naked...At least he can't complain that his work is boring.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>161695387X</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewSpain|author=Shirley McKay|title=Friend and Foe (A Hew Cullan Mystery)John Banville|rating=4.5

|summary=1583 and King James VI Terry Tice was a hitman, although he didn't think of Scotland is paranoid and, after the events himself in those terms. He saw what he did as ''a matter of the Ruthven raid the year before, who can blame him? making things tidy''. Surely this wonI couldn't affect humble academic lawyer Hew Cullen? resist the thought that he was an extreme version of Marie Kondo. Oh but it willHe enjoyed his job, eventually causing more turmoil than even something which occurred to him when he was in Burma with the army ''where he is used got the chance tokill a lot of the little yellow fellows and had a fine old time''. Back at He was spending a lot of time with Percy Antrobus - who couldn't understand why Terry didn't know the beginning though, while Hew continues, unaware purpose of what's to come, a swizzle stick - surely he has more pressing domestic worries that, for once, donwouldn't affect his herbalist sister Meg or his doctor brother-drink champagne with bubbles in-law Giles. the ''morning''? Indeed, this time It was after Percy's death that he saw the concern is the love benefits of Hew's own hearttaking up a job in Spain.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846972175</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=B08Z8BMZ7H|title=The Axeman's JazzMystery of Healing|author= Ray CelestinA P McGrath

|summary=Based We meet Solon in Pergamon in the second century of the common era and he's the physician on duty at the munus - the games put on for the amusement of the populace. The remuneration isn't high but the work gives the doctor a true story, 'feeling of virtue and hones his skills: Solon 'The Axeman's Jazzwants'' is scriptwriter Ray Celestinthe warriors to live. It's debut novel. It tells of quite a serial killer in New Orleans in 1919 - spectacle: the Axeman - who torments magistri are the city charge hands and has everyone talking; it seems that everyone has their theories when we first see them, they're sprinkling gold dust onto the lions' manes to make them look more impressive. The sagitarii are the archers and yet no meaningful leads the beastiarii are presenting themselves, as the police and citizens of New Orleans begin condemned criminals who are going to despair of ever catching fight for their lives with the wild animals. Today, it's the killercrocodiles.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>144725886X</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=1529337925|title=Sherlock Holmes: Gods of WarThe Mirror Dance (Dandy Gilver)|author=James LovegroveCatriona McPherson

|summary=The year is 1913 It was the August Bank Holiday weekend and, as so often happened, it was cold enough to have the fire lit and Bunty the storm clouds of war are gathering ominously Dalmation wasn't inclined to leave it to keep Dandy Gilver warm on the horizonsofa. Most people dread The thought of work was almost cheering when Dandy took the inevitable, but there are individuals who stand to gain call from Sandy Bissett in Dundee. She was the oncoming conflict publisher of a magazine and will stop at nothing to facilitate their plans, even if had been told that means murder. However, it would take a very brave (or naïve) criminal to commit such an atrocity the man running the Punch and Judy show in the neighbourhood local park had used copies of Mr Sherlock Holmes, even if he is supposed two of her cartoon characters - Rosie Cheek and her sister Freckle - to be enjoying drum up some local interest in his retirementshow. When it comes Sandy Bissett's request was simple: she wanted Gilver and Osborne to investigating mysterious activity, Holmes can't resist warn the lure man about infringement of the chase copyright - and Dandy and soon Alex would be cheaper than employing a solicitor to do the game is afoot!|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781165432</amazonuk>same job.

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Marco Malvaldi and Howard Curtis (translator)B08LKT7HSR|title=The Art of Killing Well|rating=4.5|genre=Crime (Historical)|summary=Pellegrino Artusi has travelled the length and breadth of Italy researching his masterpiece ''The Science of Cooking and the Art of Eating Well'' and the chance to visit the home - or rather the castle - of the seventh Barone di Roccapendente was a double bonus. He'd have the opportunity to discover the secrets of the Barone's kitchen and the chance of a few days rest and possibly a boar hunt in the Tuscan hills. What could be better? Well, his stay would have been improved had a body not been discovered Murder in the locked cellar of the castle. The cast of aristocratic suspects baffles the local police inspector and Artusi realises that he will have to become involved.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857052942</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=MRC Kasasian|title=The Curse Of The House Of Foskett (The Gower Street Detective Series)|rating=5|genre=Crime (Historical)|summary=Personal Belltower (not private!A Miss Underhay Mystery) detective Sidney Grice is still smarting because he's thought to have sent an innocent man to the gallows. It's also hit him in the pocket as work has dried up as a result. He's therefore pleased and intrigued when he's visited by a potential client who wants him to look into the Last Death Club, a group of people who have each put £2,000 in the kitty, the sum of which will go to the last person surviving. Unfortunately they seem to be dying quicker than planned and rather unnaturally. Sidney is about to accept the case when his client drops dead in Grice's study in front of him and his ward and assistant March Middleton. It may not improve his reputation any, but his attention has been piqued; he'll take the case anyway.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781853258</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|title=An Appetite for Violets|author=Martine BaileyHelena Dixon|rating=3.5|genre=Crime (Historical)|summary=Biddy 'Obedience' Leigh is the under-cook at Mawton Hall, but although she is passionate about cooking, her dearest wish is to marry her young man. The date is set for her to leave the Hall for married life and she is looking forward to it. But the master of the house surprises everyone when he gets himself a very young wife – and Biddy’s world is rapidly changed. Lady Carinna takes a shine to Biddy, and when Biddy proves herself to be resourceful and entrepreneurial, her fate is sealed.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444768727</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Sharon Penman|title=Prince of Darkness|rating=4

|summary=1193: Justin de Quincy, bastard son In December 1933 the remains of Elowed Underhay were discovered in the cellar of the Bishop Glass Bottle Public House. Ezekiel Hamett was sought in connection with the murder of Chester Elowed and loyal to Queen Eleanor of Aquitainehis half-brother, steers clear of Eleanor's youngest son John at all costs. After allDenzil Hammett, John's henchman did try to murder himwhose body was also discovered. However thereKitty Underhay's a plot afoot to frame John long search for a crime he didn’t commit (for a change)her mother, bringing with it somewhat of a dilemma for Justin. As much as he hates John, de Quincy realises that getting to the bottom of the plot is who disappeared in the interests of the Queen and EnglandJune 1916 was over. So JustinNow she's course is set, no matter what it costs and no matter which hornets' nests it disturbsdetermined that the man responsible for her murder will be brought to justice.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781857083</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Bruce CrowtherStephen Clarke|title=Harlem NocturneThe Spy Who Inspired Me

|genre=Crime (Historical)General Fiction|summary=Just before the beginning of the Second World War and half This is a world away from Europe the Worldspoof spy story, that isn's Fair is taking place in New Yorkt about James Bond. Or Ian Fleming. The British king But it features a man called Ian Lemming, who dresses well and queen are expected 'likes the ladies' and there's a Joe Louis title fight on who works for the horizon. Daniel Leland lives secret service, but in Harlem. He used to be with the NYPD but was retired after he was shot by robbers: planning side of things more than the bullet is still in his body and perilously close to his spineactive service. Right now he makes his living as Lemming finds himself put on a mission with a small-time private detectivefemale spy called Margaux, but business seems to be looking and the pair end up when he's offered an investigation - and a very large retainer - by a manufacturer who might be suffering espionage. Before long there's stranded in Normandy, with Margaux on a murder desperate mission to add into unearth traitors in the equation too.resistance network, and Lemming desperately trying to keep up with her!|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1490960821</amazonuk>2952163855

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Andrew Hughes0349423083|title=The Convictions of John DelahuntDeath and the Brewery Queen (Kate Shackleton Mysteries)|author=Frances Brody

|summary=As John Delahunt sits Kate Shackleton runs her investigation agency from Batswing Cottage, ably assisted by Jim Sykes, who lives in a cell for Woodhouse and her housekeeper, Mrs Sugden. She's been approached by William Lofthouse of the condemned writing an account of Barleycorn Brewery in Masham. Something is going wrong with his life, we go through business and he'd like Kate to look into it with him. It all begins as discreetly: he witnesses a fracas between 's hoping that his fellow students nephew and the police after right-hand man, James Lofthouse, will be back from a visit trip to one of Germany before long. James went to see what the fine hostelries Victorian Dublin has continental brewers were doing and what changes Barleycorn might need to offermake. In this way JohnWilliam is worried that James is perhaps enjoying himself a little bit ''s brought to the attention of too'The Department', a pro-British intelligence unit based in the notorious Dublin Castle. John agrees to help them not realising this much or is never going to be an agreement he can bring back away from, no matter how hard a German bride but he tries and no matter how much it costs him'd like the business to be ship-shape before his nephew returns.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781620148</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Simon Sebag Montefiore0241433568|title=One Night in WinterEight Detectives|author=Alex Pavesi

|summary=In June 1945 two school students are shot dead in Moscow. These aren't just any school students; they attended Josef Stalin School 801, the academy that taught StalinIt's own children 1930 and the current educational establishment of choice for the offspring of many government Megan and army grandeesHenry are staying with Bunny at his house in Spain. Why did they die? Did the seemingly innocent Fatal Romantics Club have anything to do with it? For the children the club is a way of living their love of PushkinIt's literature but to others it seems a little different. Stalin himself is determined to have it investigated unbearably hot and what Stalin wants, Stalin gets no matter how wide the ultimate spiderBunny drank too much at lunch: he's web of suspicion is cast and no matter whom it catches.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099580330</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Laura Wilson|title=The Riot|rating=3.5|genre=Crime|summary=DI Stratton has moved going to have a new posting rest and Notting Hill is fresh territory then he wants to him, but he’s going talk to have to get to know Megan and Henry about something serious. Only it fast never gets that far: when a rent collector is stabbedBunny doesn't emerge after his siesta his guests find that he's been murdered. There’s a sense of loss from the people who knew the man - he was inclined to help if he could and with landlords wanting to oust rent-controlled tenants so How can that they could put ‘coloured’ people or prostitutes have happened? There's no one else in their place (higher rentsthe house, you see) any help was welcome. Added to this there are increasing numbers so one of street fights involving teddy boys. It’s 1958 - and there’s a heatwavethem must be the killer.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1782063080</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=James Scott1473682401|title=The Kept|rating=5|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=Elspeth and her 12 year old son Caleb have been beset by one of the worst types of tragedy. As a result, fuelled by Caleb's need for revenge and Elspeth's motherly love, they set out on a journey that brings them to the small Lake Erie town of Watersbridge. With their new setting comes a greater understanding of their past which is a mixed blessing that must be met head on before they have to face their future.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0091944503</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewTurning Tide (Dandy Gilver)|author=Sian Busby|title=A Commonplace KillingCatriona McPherson

|summary=In July 1946 two schoolboys found Those who were with us at the body end of a woman on a bombsite in north London[[A Step So Grave (Dandy Gilver) by Catriona McPherson|A Step So Grave]] will remember that Donald was engaged to Mallory Dunnoch. ItThey's a while before she's identified as Lillian Frobisherre now married and Mallory is having twins. When they arrive no one can doubt the charms of Lavinia Dahlia Cherry and her brother, but that produces more problemsEdward Hugh Lachlan Gilver. Lillian was - apparently - a respectably married woman but the encounter on the bomb site had been sexual There are two drawbacks: they're noisy and they're staying with Dandy and almost certainly consensualHugh. And why was Dandy and her husband detective partner, Alec Osborne, had not aware that his wife was missing? His position looks even worse taken up the chance to look into a problem at the Cramond ferry when it emerges that was offered to them twice before, but suddenly the body was lying on an expensive mackintosh sold in possibility of being out of the store where he's a doormanhouse at Gilverton seems irresistible. But was Lillian quite as respectable as she would have had everyone think?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780722060</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|titleauthor=The TournamentSeishi Yokomizo and Louise Heal Kawai (translator)|authortitle=Matthew ReillyThe Honjin Murders|rating=3.54|genre=Crime (Historical)|summary=Michael Reilly To many readers, the phrase 'locked room murder mystery' is somewhat of a guilty pleasure of mineenough to make the book one to read; his novels are hi-octane adventures that are often as ludicrous as they are sublimepreferably quantified by the words 'clever' or 'good'. ‘The Tournament’ For those who need more, here is a departure from his action packed Scarecrow and Jack West thrillers; instead creating an alternative history for our own Queen Elizabeth I. Why was she such a formidable leader whose reluctance to marry and dislike of the Catholics were only part of her make-up? Reilly poses a hypothetical tale about a 13 year old Bess going to Constantinople to watch a tournament of extra background – we're in rural Japan in the world’s greatest chess players1930s. Here she will be embroiled in a murder mystery alongside her tutor Roger Ascham.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1409134229</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|title=The Return oldest son of Sherlock Holmes|author=Arthur Conan Doyle|rating=5|genre=Crime (Historical)|summary=I'm still not sure which an esteemed family is cheekier of belatedly getting married, although the BBC whole affair is really not as ostentatious as it might be – either riffing on the Conan Doyle originals for their own modern takes on Sherlock Holmeshardly anybody has turned up, or producing new editions of the original stories and novels what with their young stars on the frontit being arranged at great haste. She only has an uncle representing her family, purely to tie a few sales down of what is now out of copyrightfor one thing. Certainly I think the latter is the greater crimeEither way, given the results on screencelebrations have gone ahead as planned, only for the number of young people picking up these classics for the first time on the basis of the TV and finding something quite against the grain of what they've ever read outside of school must wedded couple to be quite large. Still, anything to forcefeed classics slashed to a new audience…|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1849907609</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|title=The City of Strangers|author=Michael Russell|rating=5|genre=Crime (Historical)|summary=In the spring of 1939 The Irish Times reported that Mrs Letitia Harris, aged 53 had gone missing from her home death in Dublin. Her car was found their private annexe before the following morning sun rises on a cliff top near Shankilltheir marriage. There were bloodstains What with a man missing parts of his fingers being in the carneighbourhood, and some mysterious use of a blood-stained hatchet in traditional musical instrument at the time of the shed back in Dublincrime, blood too in this case has a lot of the flowerbedpeculiar about it.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1847563473</amazonuk>1782275002

 {{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=B07XLM3SM6|title=Sherlock: His Last BowMurder at the Dolphin Hotel|author=Arthur Conan DoyleHelena Dixon

|summary=''The End''. I got told off for writing those two simple words at Elowed Underhay was just twenty-seven when she disappeared from Dartmouth in June 1916, leaving her daughter, Kitty, in the end care of a short story I wrote at school, aged about elevenher grandmother. If it is A great deal of money had been spent to find out what happened to her and the end, I think the teacher conclusion was that she was saying, it should be obvious. If it isn'tdead, mainly because there's still was no way the words are necessaryevidence to suggest otherwise. But at least I'm not alone. Conan Doyle, Kitty has come to terms with this and in 1933 she was running the south coast Doctor turned entertainer extraordinaire Dolphin Hotel in Dartmouth with all his output, her grandmother when her grandmother had to leave to look after her sister who was told off for the way he finished thingsill. Holmes dead? Sorry, She was reluctant to leave Kitty in charge - and Kitty could not allowed, Mr Doyleunderstand why. Holmes retired to keep bees near Eastbourne? Beyond She's always coped with the palemix of holidaymakers, Sir – bring him back. You donboating people and the naval college on the edge of town before - and she't like s done every job in the labour of proving your genius invention to be such a genius? Toughhotel. And so we come she particularly cannot understand why her grandmother's friends have been roped in to keep an eye on things 'His Last Bow', which Watson tells us is the final, final, ending story with which to conclude, and a few others. He wasn't exactly correct about it being ' why Captain Matthew Bryant has been hired to take charge of security at the last ones, thoughhotel.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1849907617</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=0349423067|title=The Bones of ParisBody on the Train (Kate Shackleton Mysteries)|author=Laurie R KingFrances Brody|rating=4.5

|summary=It is From Christmas to Easter a train ran from Leeds City Station to King's Cross, arriving before dawn so that the forced rhubarb it carried could be taken to Covent Garden. In early March 1929 , one of the porters who was unloading the boxes discovered the body of a man, stripped naked and with no means of identification. Scotland Yard hit a dead end and Harris Stuyvesant has now left called on the Bureau services of Investigation Kate Shackleton in the hope that her knowledge and England behind him and is working as a Private Investigator connections in EuropeYorkshire would give them the lead they needed. An American, whom Stuyvesant had met, has gone missing and Stuyvesant is approached by Kate immediately found herself hamstrung: Commander Woodhead remembered her Uncle as a child and her Mother could not come to find her. The missing girl, Pip Crosby, terms with the fact that she was involved with now a group of artists woman experienced in the Montparnasse and Montmartre areas of the citydealing with murder. Many of them seem He was reluctant to have known give her, but few have seen her in some timeall the information which the police held.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0749015357</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Essie Fox1472127110|title=The Goddess and the ThiefIndian Summer: a Mirabelle Bevan Mystery|author=Sara Sheridan|rating=4.5

|summary=Alice Willoughby may only be a child but she feels at one with IndiaLife has changed dramatically for Mirabelle, our favourite fifties sleuth, since the war, and not always for the country better. When she first settled in which Brighton she was born alone, rudderless and where her father works secretly grieving for Jack, the East India Companylover who died before he could leave his wife. The sights, the smells and the tales of the Indian gods told As time went by Mini, her Indian ayah all contribute she found in herself an ability to it being homesolve crimes, despite the sub-continent having made friends including an ebullient and determined young woman called Vesta who refused to let a little thing like racial prejudice stop her motherless. Therefore imagine her disgust when doing what she's left wanted, and even found consolation in the hands arms of her Aunt Mercy (a counterfeit medium) in drab, dirty Victorian London. Life isn't easy anymore but it takes on a new turn when she meets the mysterious Mr Tilsbury. He has a plan for her that includes the theft of the Koh-I-Noor diamond, Her Majesty's pride and joyrather charming policeman.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1409146197</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=1912374439|title=TouchstoneThe Courier|author=Laurie R KingKjell Ola Dahl and Don Bartlett (translator)

|summary=Laurie R King may be best known for her Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes seriesNazi-occupied Oslo, 1942. There, but she has also written I've given the game away. For in a book that centres around a number of other novelsmurder, a couple of which feature detective Harris Stuyvesant. With I've told you who did it – the publication of the second Nazis, surely? Well, that certainly has to remain to be seen in this seriesvolume, which splits its time between one of war, when a young woman sees her father arrested, and their store condemned as Jewish and rushes to her best friend to help – not knowing she will never see her alive again, and the first ''Touchstone''late 1960s, when great consternation is being felt. In this timeline, originally published a maverick agent is back in 2008town, has one who might have been republished, allowing those readers new to Stuyvesantfingered for murdering that female victim, or even to King herselfthough she and he lived together with their baby as a young family, except he was thought by all to become properly acquainted.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0749015454</amazonuk>have died in the War…

 {{newreviewFrontpage|titleisbn=The Lovegrove Hermit1786075431|authortitle=Rosemary CraddockMrs Mohr Goes Missing|ratingauthor=3|genre=Crime Maryla Szymiczkova and Antonia Lloyd-Jones (Historicaltranslator)|summaryrating=Charlotte Tyler is delighted to receive an invitation to Lovegrove Priory, home of eccentric Gothic novelist Amelia Denby3. The priory is surrounded by acres of picturesque parkland and Denby even has a hermit living in the grounds in his own private retreat. However, when the hermit, Brother Caspar, is found dead in an apparent suicide, it is up to Charlotte and her new friend Colonel Hartley to piece together the clues and unmask the murderer.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0719811066</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|title=The Luck of the Vails|author=E F Benson|rating=5

|summary=Meet Zofia. A socially climbing wife of a medical professor, she'The sequestered village of Vail lies in s intent on making herself known as a wrinkle of the great Wiltshire downscharitable lady, and keen on her husband progressing yet through his esteemed career. In 1890s Cracow, life is pretty good, but she knows it could always be better. Meanwhile, other people's life could certainly be better – cholera is traversed by nearing the Bath Roadcity due to lack of hygiene, and many people have to fall on charity and almshouses to keep a roof over their heads. One such was Mrs Mohr, although she was rich enough to keep private lodgings and staff in her charitable home.' Of course the big inn is called I say 'The Vail Arms' and about a mile from the village is was'the big house', for she has vanished. Benson doesn Only due to Zofia't name s help does she get found, dead and in a place the house – indeed it wouldn't have needed a namenear-lame woman could never reach by herself. Locally it would just Just who could be known as the big housekilling people in a charity home, and any local delivery person would know where to deposit any attached what end? And why does Zofia feel the need to Lord Vail.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099572435</amazonuk>make a name for herself by answering those questions?

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=David Ashton1786893762|title=Nor Will He SleepThings in Jars|author=Jess Kidd

|summary=Two opposing Edinburgh university student gangs are full of high jinks A child has gone missing. The detective asked to take on the night that Agnes Carnegie case is still struggling with the shame and frustration left by a previous case, where the child was not found deadin time. Hardly original themes for a private eye thriller. And yet . . . Daniel Drummondtake another look. This detective is a woman, one of and the merry-makerssetting is Victorian London, is with all the rich and colourful paradoxes of that era: technical and scientific progress jostling for space beside superstition and a prime suspect as he had an altercation fascination with her the bizarre and uses a silver cane that matches the murder weapondownright hideous. Nothing And before you're more than a couple of pages in, you realise just how much more unusual our heroine is than you expected. Bridie Devine may dress in half-mourning, with a foregone conclusion though widow's cap and so dourstout, shiny boots, wily Inspector James McLevy of but the Leith police tobacco she smokes in her pipe (my dear, what an utterly ''fast'' thing for a lady to do!) is determined mixed with a nugget of something, well, let's say recreational, created by her chemist friend Prudhoe. The fact that it's actually meant to uncover cure bronchial problems is by the truthby. Meanwhile Robert Louis Stevenson Her housemaid, being seven-foot-tall, is in town for his fatheralso somewhat remarkable. And then, of course, there's funeral the ghost. Ruby Doyle, world-famous tattooed boxer (deceased) accompanies Bridie all through her investigation, and renews his acquaintance with McLevy which it's clear he has a soft spot for the determined young woman. If he really exists, that is rather fortuitous when we consider what lies ahead.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846972515</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=MRC Kasasian0349414327|title=The Mangle Street Murders|rating=5|genre=Crime A Snapshot of Murder (HistoricalKate Shackleton Mysteries)|summary=March Middleton's father dies, and she becomes a 20-something alone; not a good status for a Victorian woman. She therefore moves in with her guardian, Sidney Grice, personal (not private!) detective. Although, as Sidney has a case to solve, March may as well be invisible. Grice has been employed by shopkeeper William Ashby who has savagely murdered his own wife by stabbing her 40 times and leaving the Italian word for 'revenge' on the wall. Everyone says he did it apart from Ashby, of course. Therefore Grice teams up with Inspector Pound of the Yard to solve the conundrum and March is there to help, whether Sidney wants her to or not.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781851840</amazonuk>}} {{newreview

|summary=FridrikEven detectives need a break and for Kate Shackleton, Agnes and Sigridur are accused of murdering two men one Icelandic night in 1829 before setting fire to their homephotography gives her the mental relaxation which she needs. Now Agnes awaits executionWhen the local Photographic Society proposed an outing, Kate was keen to take the opportunity to visit Haworth and Stanbury, imprisoned in not least because the farm deeds of the Brontë Parsonage are being handed over so that it can become a lowly local museum and her parents will be there for the event. What could be better than seeing her family who, rumour has it, wouldn't be too great witnessing a loss if momentous event and having the prisoner becomes dangerous. Margrit Jonsdottir (opportunity to take photographs of the farmersetting for 's wife) doesn't feel threatened and sets the shocked, malnourished Agnes to work. Wuthering Heights''? Gradually Agnes reveals the events of that night to Margrit and Toti, a young priestNothing could go wrong. Her version seems to be a little different from what everyone else concluded, predictably… Or perhaps not so predictably.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1447233166</amazonuk>could it?

{{newreview|author= Daniel Woodrell|title=The Maid's Version|rating=5|genre=Historical Fiction|summary= Life may be tough in the Missouri town where Alma grew up but at least she has a job. She learns and experiences a lot as maid Move on to the wealthy Glencross family, but many of the experiences aren't the sort she'd like to relive. To top it all off, in 1929 the Arbor, a local dance club, explodes into flames killing 42 people including Alma's younger sister Ruby. The cause remains a mystery as factions are blamed or viewed suspiciously. However Alma knows the truth, a truth that remains secret until decades later during a visit from her grandson.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444732838</amazonuk>}}[[Newest Dyslexia Friendly Reviews]]