The Bravest Hiur by Anna Lee Huber

 

Verity Kent, is an extraordinary agent working for British intelligence. Escaping the trial in Belgium and Germany, underrated by many of the men working with her, as well as her bosses, her real talents are highlighted in this story.

November 1920 Dublin not the best place to be. She and husband Sidney are amongst enemies, personal ones and Lord Ardmore is treacherous and protected by his title. She has flouted his planned attack by phosgene on an unsuspecting public, and he is not a man to forget. Taken in for questioning, tortured and imprisoned this time at the notorious Castle, she and Sidney have to work through friends on both sides to stop Ardmore.

The Irish Rebellion was harsh. No holds barred. The ordinary man suffered in random attacks of revenge and the death toll was high and destruction of people’s livelihoods was rampant. The Government turned a blind eye and media coverage was one sided. If a publisher decided to be truthful, he was severely dealt with. It was a Nazi style state. One which the average person outside Ireland was unaware of.

The story described as historical fiction is full of facts as well though our chief characters may be fictional. Moving and extremely well written story.

Sent by Kensington Publishing for an unbiased review, courtesy of Netgalley.

Miss Morton Takes tge Waters by Catherine Lloyd

 

Set in Bath, the idea is to help Mrs F improve her health both mentally and physically and Caroline feels that the move is a good one for them both. Her boss is forthright and is not affected by the airs and graces of the ladies who look down on her for her “industrialised” origins. 

A murder in the same block of flats of a Lady who was rude and unpleasant sets the two amateur detectives in full investigative mode, much to the Inspector in charge. He seems ineffectual, unable to look beyond the actual facts to the histories of the various people involved or the nuances of the characters and it is upto the two ladies to connect the dots in what is quite a convoluted case.

Apart from the murders, and the detection there is a lot going on, on the social side and the sulphuric air and steamy baths add to the description of life in Bath. All adding a great deal of interest to the story.

Sent by Kensington Publishing for an unbiased review, courtesy of Netgalley.

The Whitechapel Mystery by Tessa Harris

 

Combining plenty of horrific murders, set in the time of Jack the Ripper, the story brings to life the history of Whitechapel, of how people survived despite the squalor and poverty of the time, and mirrored the terror faced by working women who did what they did to just survive.

There was one more strand which made it different from other Ripper stories. It brought in a genre of spiritual mediums into the story with the very plausible flow of messages from Emily, a teacher to Constance a young girl who was stronger in character and tenacity and who proved to be a conduit as a medium.

Victorian England described well.

Sent by dp books for an unbiased review, courtesy of Netgalley.

Murder Stage Left by Verity Bright

 

Lady Eleanor her husband Hugh and Clifford the butler along with their entourage have descended on Stratford upon Avon. Everyone awaits a play of Macbeth with a brilliant new cast. They certainly did not expect the burning of the theatre, a murder and loss of priceless artifacts.

Like most murders, all the suspects have “histories” which they’d like to hide, links between them that they’d also like to keep quiet about. An arsonist amongst the suspects adds to the complications in the case, along with an antagonistic Police Chief who does not like having the trio around.

With lots of humour and plenty of good food, the detectives go to work to solve the murders. Always a bright read despite the deaths around.

Sent by Bookouture for an unbiased review, courtesy of Netgalley.

Sisters at an Exhibition by Claudia Hagadus Long

 

A heist, a forgery of a sketch by Caravaggio and two sisters who pull apart but fiercely loyal to each other. A mystery how the sketch goes missing from a highly secured facility, its appearance and then the forgery. The FBI involvement, amusing the bungling and then everyone appearing in Alsace, where all the villains are.

Fast paced, very interesting and conveying the strong bonds of family over riding everything else.

Sent by Sibylline Press for an unbiased review, courtesy of Netgalley.

Dramatic rocks called Lovers Leap in Trincomalee, Sri Lanka.

Murder in St James’s Park by Vanessa Riley

 

I am trying to vary my reading by going into more modern settings for the detective/mystery genre but I seem to getting into the Regency or Victorian era more and more.

1807 and Lady Abigail wants nothing more than to have her husband out of her life permanently. She did not want to be the one to find his body in the park, murdered. Clues left behind seemingly point to Abigail being the main suspect. No small detective herself, Abigail must use all her wits to find the murderer, especially when the ones plotting her downfall are her own family.

With a regency setting and mixed race ancestry in the story, it features abolitionists, the history of slave plantations and the mystery of what James was actually involved in. Fast paced and quite out of character, the women in the story are very different.

Sent by Joffe Books for an unbiased review, courtesy of Netgalley.

Killing in the Countryside by Maria Malone

 

Of all things Sergeant Ali and her help Wilson are being called to help out with a pride of peacocks who have shifted residence and are terrorising a particular household. The small village is divided on the issue with some supporting the animals right to freedom as they have been there for years. But for Gina and her husband it is a deep rooted fear of the birds.

When a vicious murder takes place, the situation changes because there seems to be many suspects who cannot be ruled out and in a small village like Heft, gossip and rumours flourish.

We get the cozy mystery genre and the idyllic English village in equal measure and discover that everyone has secrets that they will like to stay hidden. How much they will go to ensure that those secrets stay hidden is the issue here.

Very comfortable reading of the genre.

Sent by Crooked Lane Books for an unbiased review, courtesy of Netgalley.