Pilgrim Soul

Douglas Brodie, a reporter for the Glasgow Gazette and former policeman, has been asked by a group of Jewish Glaswegian businessmen to investigate nine robberies that have recently happened in their community.  The police just don't have the manpower nor resources to put enough time into the investigation.

A little bit of snooping about and Brodie finds the name of the thief.  Little does he know that the thief will get caught breaking into another house and end up being knifed to death.  When Brodie speaks to the thief killer, he wonders about the man; where does all the anger come from?  The next day Brodie's source of information is brutally murdered.

A surprise development occurs when a young woman walks into the newspaper office asking to speak to Brodie.  She brings him news of gold that originated in the death camps of Germany.  Shortly after that the thief killer is killed as is the young woman who had brought the news of the gold.

Brodie is informed by his Jewish friends that the thief killer was actually a guard from Treblinka.  Now they want to catch other Nazis like him with the aid of Brodie.  MI5 also wants his help, so he is called up and sent to Hamburg.

What Brodie experiences in Hamburg saps his strength both physically and mentally.  He does discover a way that the Nazis are getting out and to South America, but now a stop to it must be made.

Author Gordon Ferris has written an exciting thriller, based on real and fictional events.  I found it hard to put this book down.

Suspicious Minds

Harry Devlin has been serving as John Stirrup's lawyer for some time, so it comes as a bit of a surprise when he has to sit in during an interrogation of the man because his wife has gone missing.  Devlin wants to know who has been stirring the police interest in this missing person.

Meantime, the area is being threatened by "The Beast", a man who has been raping young blonde women.  His attacks have been growing in intensity.  It is not long after this that Stirrup calls Devlin in a panic; his daughter Claire has disappeared.

Later Claire's body is found in a cave.  She had been raped and then strangled.  Claire's boyfriend has gone missing, too.  When Devlin catches up with him, he is in for a few surprises.  Later, Devlin's private investigator finds out that Stirrup's wife is alive and well.  This provides Devlin with more surprises.  How is he to handle them?

Author Martin Edwards is full of surprises in this murder mystery.  A good, quick read.

Stettin Station

November 1941, and John Russell has been given the opportunity to watch trains loaded with Jews leaving Berlin for places in the east like Lodz in Poland.  What can he do with the information?  Nothing.  He comes to the realisation that he needs to get himself and his girlfriend, Effi out of Germany.

Knowing that the United States is likely going to be drawn into the war, Admiral Canaris offers Russell a job working for him, but based in Switzerland.  There is a condition attached to the position; Russell must make a secret trip to Prague on Canaris' behalf.

Later, after he has returned to Berlin, Russell is told by a friend in the police that the Gestapo are looking for him.  He knows that he has to get out.  Effi plans to go with him; she has disguises available, but no papers.  They go into hiding not knowing that Japan has attacked Pearl Harbour.

Russell and Effi manage to escape Berlin, but the ship that was supposed to take them out of Germany is torpedoed before it gets to Germany.  In addition, the cell that helped them escape from Berlin had been compromised, it would only be a matter of time before they were found.

Author David Downing puts a lot of tension and excitement into this World War II thriller.  A very good read, one you won't want to put down.

Death of a Chancellor

January 1901, the 20th Century is but a few weeks old, and Francis Powerscourt is coming home from South Africa.  Alongside him on the navy ship is his good friend Johnny Fitzgerald.  Powerscourt has no idea that a death awaits his investigative powers.

To everyone's surprise there appear to be three wills prepared by the deceased.  Powerscourt considers that there are five possible suspects that could have wanted the deceased dead as each is a beneficiary of at least one of the wills.

Powerscourt is sure that the will that leaves the vast amount of the deceased's estate to his sister has been signed by a forger.  The question is, how to prove that.

A few weeks later a body is found in a badly burned condition in the kitchen near the cathedral.  Powerscourt wonders if the two deaths are related in any way.  His concern increases when an attempt is made on his own life in the cathedral.  Not long after this, another member of the cathedral is found butchered to death.

As Powerscourt's investigation progresses he discovers information that could unsettle two powerful churches.  He must put into play a plan that will both put lives at risk, yet at the same time save a cathedral.  Author David Dickinson brings this novel to an exciting conclusion.  A very good read.

The Way Between the Worlds

It is 1092 and Lassair is still learning to be a healer, but she has now become apprenticed to Gurdyman, a wizard.  She no longer lives in the fens, but is at Gurdyman's house in Cambridge.  Recently she has been having dreams in which a voice calls out to her.

When she finds out that a nun has been murdered at Chatteris Abbey, where her sister is a nun, she feels that it is her sister who has been calling her.  She sets out for the abbey, but just as she is about to enter, Hrype stops her.  They disguise themselves, fearing the new priest at the abbey, and hoping to find her sister well.

They find out that it is a novice that has been murdered.  Later, Lassair finds that the new priest, Father Clement, possesses a very powerful and dangerous mind.

Shortly after returning to Cambridge, Lassair and Gurdyman are by the quay when a boat comes in dragging a body.  The sheriff assigns Gurdyman the task of determining the cause of death.  They find that he had been poisoned as part of a sacrifice.  Hrype brings them news that the nun had died in a similar fashion.

While Lassair goes on a quest of her own, called by voices in her head, Hrype consults his runes and comes to a conclusion as to who the murderer is.  Now he and Gurdyman must prove it.

Author Alys Clare has written an historical novel rife with magic and danger.  A good, quick read.

Hard Time

In December of 1985 a baby girl was abandoned in the toilets of Stafford town centre.  The reader wonders how this is going to tie into the story.

We then jump to modern times, when former cop Robbie Crawford and his do are run down by a vehicle and left for dead.  DS Bev Morriss is attending the funeral when her pager buzzes.  A five year old boy has been snatched from his school by someone who looked like his mother.

While DI Mike Powell and DC Carol Pemberton are questioning the parents, a ransom note is dropped through their mail slot, telling them not to involve the police or the boy dies.

A friend of Morriss', who she trained with, Jack Pope, has become a crime reporter, unbeknownst to her.  She accidentally has provided him with crucial information that the police want to withhold.

That night another former cop dies in unusual circumstances.  Detective Superintendent Byford has now lost two former colleagues.  The kidnapping case is not making any progress either.  Byford feels that a crime boss may have knowledge that ties the two together.

When the body of a little boy is found, fears abound that it is the kidnap victim.  However, it turns out to be someone different, thereby creating a new case to follow.  Morriss receives news shortly after this that another cop has been murdered.  Is Byford next on the list of cops to be taken down?

The concluding pages of Maureen Carter's "Hard Time" are tense and exciting.  A very good read.

The Last Caesar

Aulus Caecina Alienus has decided to write about the history of the Roman Empire as he experienced it.  After serving in Britannica, helping to put down the revolt of Boudicca, Caecina becomes the quaestor in the city of Corduba, in the province of Baetica.

It isn't long before Caecina finds himself involved in a plot to overthrow Nero.  He is tasked with convincing Agricola and Vindex, two important governors to support the rebellion.  He finds that Vindex Has plenty of men, but they have no training, so he sets about doing that.  Which army will they have to take on first?  The army of the Rhine or the Italian?  Caecina hopes that negotiations will prevent war, but Vindex has other ideas.  After a battle, it is learned that Nero has been asked to step down by the Senate.  Will Galba become the new emperor?  In his aspirations to become so, he appoints Caecina to lead a legion in Gaul.

Caecina averts a number of potential diasters for the new emperor.  But shortly afterwards, Galba accuses him of fraud, planning on summoning him to Rome for punishment.  Caecina is naturally shocked at this treatment.  What must he do to save his own skin?

Author Henry Venmore-Rowland has written a very good historical novel of Roman times involving lots of action and betrayal.  A good read.

Blind Justice

Hester Monk's friend's father has run into extreme debt because he was convinced by a church to continuously donate to their cause.  Hester feels that there is something very wrong with the church, so she asks her accountant to surreptitiously look at the books of the church.  He confirms her worst fears.

Evidence presented results in the minister of the church being charged with fraud, and the case going to trial before Judge Oliver Rathbone.  Hestor's name comes up in the case, and is besmirched.  Unfortunately there is nothing that Rathbone can do about it.

As Rathbone listens to the evidence that the witness is giving damning Hester he comes to the realisation that he has seen the witness before, related to another case.  Can he put the information forth without affecting his judicial powers?  Shocking evidence results in the death of three people and the arrest of Rathbone.

Hester and William Monk know it is up to them to help their friend, even though he may be guilty.  Their adopted son, Scuff also wants to help.  The information they discover is shocking, but is enough to get Rathbone off?

Author Anne Perry has given the reader, not just a police investigation, but much courtroom drama in this novel.  A good, quick read.

Three to a Loaf

Rory Farrell is a young man who lives a privileged life in Montreal.  In 1915 he is at university, but decides to join the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry to go off to war.  He feels that it is his duty as a Canadian, even though his mother is from Germany.  Because of his education, he is selected for officer training.

Training occurs at Valcartier, Quebec with more in England.  It really doesn't prepare Farrell for the mud, noise and death of the Ypres Salient.  It isn't long after getting into the lines that he begins to lose comrades, and it is during a big German offensive that farrellis wounded.  As a result he loses an eye and has a badly damaged hand.  He convalesces in England, where on bad nights he dreams and raves in German.  As a result he comes to the attention of military intelligence.

Farrell is given a new identity and turned into a spy.  He travels via Norway and Sweden to Germany, where he is accepted as the German/American officer whose identity he has taken on.  However, there is one man who is suspicious of him.  Farrell is impressed by the German army, but he discovers that as a result of the war, Germany is suffering severe deprivations.

In Berlin he meets nurse Gabriele Richter, an avowed socialist. He finds himself attracted to her.  Unfortunately their time together is brief before he is transferred to Poland where his assignment is to exploit the resources for the war effort.  In Poland, Farrell finds conditions even worse as the country had been stripped first by the Russians and then by the Germans.

Working in German intelligence, Farrell gains valuable information, but how to get it back to England?  Author Michael J. Goodspeed has written an excellent thriller around the events of World War One.  Written in the first person as a memoir, I found it to be an excellent read.

The One Thing More

The vote has been taken, the king is to die; he only has three days to live.  The French Revolution is well under way.  However, a man by the name of Bernave has different ideas.  He wants to save the king and allow him to live out the remainder of his days as a normal person.  He has Celie Laurent and others to help him.  The question is, how to accomplish it.

Joseph Briard has offered to replace the king, sacrificing his life in the king's place.  Bernave's plans are limited to only a few.  Unfortunately Bernave is killed when members of the Paris Mob break into his house.  Citizen Menou, who is investigating the murder, is sure that someone living in the house is the culprit, and he wants to ensure that that person goes to the guillotine.

Celie is determined that the plan must go ahead.  She has to convince the other co-conspirators to continue with the plan, and ensure that Bernave left nothing behind that could show Citizen Menou their plans.  Can they succeed in the face of the strength of revolutionary leaders like Robespierre, Danton or Marat?  The death of the king would surely mean that the monarchies of Europe would then attack France.

Anne Perry has brought the early days of the French Revolution to life in this historical novel.  Having taught this topic for many years, I found it to be a very good read.

The Trinity Six

Sam Gaddis is in dire financial straits; the tax man wants a large amount of money and his estranged wife wants money so their daughter can attend a good school.  He is going to have to write a best seller.  His good friend Charlotte Berg suggests co-writing a book about a sixth spy, an additional member of the Cambridge Five.  Unfortunately Charlotte dies before they can get underway.

Charlotte's husband, Paul gives Sam permission to access Charlotte's research.  As he progresses with his own research, Sam runs into roadblocks, and sets into motion an even larger roadblock initiated by SIS.  However, through two of Charlotte's contacts, San finds himself on the road to a groundbreaking story.

It is during a quick trip to Moscow that San comes to the realisation that he is in danger.  Maybe Charlotte's death wasn't the heart attack it appeared to have been.

Author Charles Cumming pieces together a really good, modern spy thriller that takes Sam throughout Europe as he pieces together a story that results in the death of several people and threatens him and the people he loves.  A thoroughly good read.

And None Shall Sleep

DI Joanna Piercy has just had a severe bicycle accident.  She is taken by ambulance to the same hospital where solicitor Jonathan Selkirk has been taken, suffering from an apparent heart attack.  Sergeant Mike Korpanski speaks to Piercy the following morning because Selkirk has disappeared from his hospital bed.

Despite her injuries, Piercy becomes actively involved in the investigation.  Selkirk's wife doesn't seem overly concerned and Korpanski is sure that he was abducted; but by whom and why?   The following day, a body is found outside of town.  It appears to be Selkirk, but it is impossible to know as the man was executed with a bullet to the back of the head.  They are now sure that it was a contract killing.

Because it appears to be a professional hit, the Regional Crime Squad is placed in charge of the investigation.  Piercy resents the RCS being brought in, but is surprised when she is told to continue with her part of the investigation.

Author Priscilla Masters provides plenty of suspects in this thriller, leaving the reader guessing right up to the end.  A good, quick read.

Deadly Friends

It is just after Christmas and DI Charlie Priest has a rape to investigate that occurred on Christmas Eve.  He doesn't have a large crew to work with because many of the police are investigating the murder of a local doctor.  The murder investigation is not Priest's, but circumstances lead to it being turned over to him.

Priest and his team pull in the murder suspect, but before long come to realise that he couldn't have done it.  Meantime they continue to search for the rapist.  The name of the suspect is discovered, and Priest finds out from a colleague in a different jurisdiction that the suspect has changed his name.  He also finds out that the suspect had committed five other rapes and gotten away with them because of a smart solicitor.

Author Stuart Pawson provides the reader with some interesting detective work as Priest and his team put together evidence in both cases.  A good quick read.