Murder on Devil’s Ridge by Irina Shapiro

 

A Victorian mystery which highlights this authors attention to detail and meticulous descriptives which bring the entire story alive.

A little girl taken out in the middle of the night. An extremely well secured home, two nursery maids plus many servants. Murdered in cold blooded apparently with all the signs of a ritualistic pagan death abd her body kept on Devils Ridge.

Sebastian and Gemma he from Scotland Yard and she a nurse are visiting family when they are summoned  and then given the authority to investigate the killing by Viscount Ravenel, the father of the dead child. 

The story unravels slowly because none of the servants wants to divulge secrets of the family, well known to them and hidden to outsiders. They are bound by a sense of fear, of losing their livelihood. The binds out of a sense of loyalty is a poor third. Gemma starts with the women of the household, making little headway though she begins to realize deep undercurrents within and Sebastian handles the males of the household. Almost all resent the outsiders in their midst and it is when a second child goes missing (again in the middle of the night) that tongues are loosened with the conviction amongst the household that the stories are going to come out and a very complicated story emerges. The need for a male heir, the dominance of a mother in law, homosexuality rumours which have to be kept hidden from society, the brutality and contempt that the aristocracy felt for anyone in their world who they felt inferior, and most importantly the helplessness of women whether rich or poor are amply shown in this novel.

Apart from the death of a young child, the lifestyle of Victorian England both upper, middle and poorer classes are seen very clearly. How the rich literally get away with every wrongdoing possible is sad, but inevitable. The story like all her stories was emotional, tense and a page turner.

I am always very appreciative when I get the opportunity to read her books.

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

Chalk Dust abd New Chapters by Gervase Phinn

 

Post war Britain had to face many changes. Trying to cope with economic hardships, the changing attitude of young women seemed to go head to head with the old guard who just could not accept that women were not willing to be silent or quiet in the face of injustice, and some men not accepting that times have changed.

Set amongst the Yorkshire Dales, Helen is a bright, determined teacher just returned from a stint in Germany, to a sadly neglected, run down school. As a supply teacher she is filling a temporary gap, but she is appalled by not just the conditions of the  classrooms but also the out of date practices and the apathy of teachers indifferent to their charges. The Head Teacher has a policy of not interfering or trying to improve the situation. Despite opposition, Helen steps in to improve her class. Moving on to the next school, the Head is only concerned with results at the Eleven Plus exams. Anything else is not necessary. Here too Helen sets things right. Her next assignment takes her to a modern school where romance also follows with not one, but two suitors.

The story is a good informative one about lifestyles, attitudes of the working class and middle class in Yorkshire at the time and the manner in which change was coming. A very good read. 

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

A Lark’s Gambit by Lynn Messina

 

Verity Lark has many persona. She is an avid reporter, a spy amongst the aristocracy, running a complicated household, madly in love with Coulson son of the Marques of Ware. Complicated enough but she is now pursuing tge opium trade in London, in disguise of course and now has to account how and why tge Marques of Ware is patronizing an opium den. Explaining that to his son is going to take gumption, explaining why she is kissing said Marques is going to be much more troublesome.

I love the historical details and snippets that flavor the entire read. The lifestyle and autocratic style will leave one puzzled as to how the aristocracy in Britain got away with it, for as long as they did, and did not face the way the French went. The sheer bigotry, the powers that were vested in them was unbelievable. Still that is history and we have Verity and Coulson, Delphine, Freddy and Lucy all playing a role in righting society’s ills.

Excellent reading of a historical fiction, romance, mystery read rolled into one very illuminating read.

Sent by Book Whisperer for an unbiased review, courtesy of Netgalley.

The Harrogate Spa Murders by Mona W Gloss

 

The Thorne Spa offers pampered luxury - a Three Heat treatment guaranteed to relax and reinvigorate tired people. On this day eight people registered and only six were left alive at the end. Seemingly unconnected, people were linked by a twenty year old unexplained murder of a young woman. Brought together through very clever, invidious means they did not know they were in for an upheaval, with two ending dead.

A real closed room mystery thriller, with strong characterization. Good reading.

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

The Spy and tge Snake by M J Robotham

 

Maggie works for M15 but she finds the routine boring. When an opportunity arises to visit Budapest, abd decamp with a defector British to boot, who now wants to re defect back to Britain, Maggie sets out with fervour. What she totally did not expect was to be copped at the final post by M16, her captor taken over and to return empty handed to face another betrayal in the corridors of power by someone she trusted.

Whilst describing spy tactics, surveillance and the antics of the KGB and other agencies, there was a great deal of humour and camaraderie that Maggie found in Budapest. Colorful characters and you get a lot out of middle aged characters in this story.

Sent by Aria & Aries for an unbiased review, courtesy of Netgalley.

The Cherokee Court Conundrum by Benedict Brown

 

Marius Quinn seventh in the series. An amateur detective he and Lady Bella are asked to solve an attempted murder and robbery. Set in the 1920s in a very countrified setting this is a comfortable read, the likes of which I never get tired of. 

This was a very pleasant cozy though I do think Marius has to get over his reticence in announcing his feelings for Bella. Maybe she could also indicate in some form her feelings for him. This endless to ing and fro ing is getting stale.

Nice read in the same genre as Agatha Christie classics.

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

The Secret of the Lantern Keepers. By Jenni Keer

 

This has got a lot to keep you going. A Victorian institute, run on almost feudal lines, an asylum according to its description. Many of the patients conveniently despatched there. An unwanted wife, a child with mental defects. A wife suffering from what was so wrongly called as hysteria. Never visited by family but the present management, within boundaries doing the best they can.

Edith, her father recently passed away with stipulations for his triplet daughters. Carry out the assignation given to them or forfeit the family home. For Edith and her sisters, homeschooled and who have not known the outside world this was a punishment but there was no choice. Edith entered the asylum as Mrs Brewer, tge lawyers clerk fictitiously acting as her husband. She entered as a woman abused violently by her husband. Her task set by her father to find out how the former superintendent Hawkins died. Her father’s hobby of pursuing cold cases was his passion, and he felt that this case needed enquiry. Edith had her own special gift which was to see memory clips and hear events, especially violent events and her father felt that she would be able to solve this unsolved violent murder. That he put his daughter’s life at stake obviously did not cross his mind, because the murderer could very well be around still - a member of staff or a patient perhaps.

Edith gradually gets involved with the workings of the asylum, begins to have warmer feelings towards the present superintendent Lambert but of course as an inmate and a married woman there was nothing further to be done.  Edith takes on more responsibilities and becomes aware of a secret confined to very few senior staff. A group called the Lantern Keepers who are a vigilante group, finding means to find the weaknesses and faults of those responsible to putting hapless people without a voice into the asylum. The blackmail and even their eventual deaths helps to keep Green Briars in funds and run in an efficient way with solid staff, very unlikely hospitals and asylums of tge time.

The story was full of a lifestyle of the day which made it almost a piece of history - the power of men over their wives and children was absolute. Rebellion of any kind was not permitted, women were restricted in every field and however clever one was, you were confined within clearly marked boundaries. The standards set for asylums and for the care of anyone in a mental institution was stark and brutal as seen in the past in this institution. Very few were of the calibre of staff found here, and this was in part because they carried their own trauma.  

Apart from this the description of the Cornish countryside in different seasons was very good reading too. The characters were varied and added so many layers to the story. An excellent book.

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