Golden Lion

Hal Courtney and Judith Nazet have had a successful war fighting in Africa.  It is their plan to return to England to cash in their booty and pay off Courtney's crew.

Meanwhile, Angus Cochran, also known as The Buzzard, and sworn enemy of Courtney, is recovering from serious injuries inflicted upon his body in a naval battle with Courtney.  The Maharaj of Zanzibar has tasked Cochran with bringing the head of Courtney back to him or suffer beheading himself.

As they head south along the eastern coast of Africa, their ship is attacked by Dutch pirates.  Fortunately they defeat the attackers and gain a small ship as a result.  Aboard the ship is a prisoner, one William Pett, who claims to work for the East India Company.  As a result he is treated with respect by Courtney.  However, unbeknownst to those on board, Pett is an assassin.

Courtney now has two ships under his command, and heads for Zanzibar City to send information to England and to drop Pett off there.  Unfortunately while in the city, Judith is kidnapped.  How can Courtney save her and at the same time get himself, her and his two ships safely away?

Author Wilbur Smith along with co-author Siles Kristian have written a rollicking novel full of adventure.  It was an enjoyable read.

The Woman in Blue

Cathbad has been house and cat sitting for a friend when one evening the cat escapes from the house.  He follows it into a nearby graveyard where he sees a woman in white with a blue cloak.  Later that evening the woman is found dead in a roadside ditch.  DCI Harry Nelson and his team begin the investigation.  They find out that the woman had been a patient at a nearby rehab sanctuary.

The autopsy shows that there was cleaning fluid on the victim's hands?  Why would that be?  Nelson finds stone cleaning fluid near one of the headstones in the graveyard.

At the same time, Ruth Galloway, Nelson's forensic archeologist friend meets with a former classmate who is now a priest.  She has been receiving threatening letters.  Is it a coincidence, Nelson wonders, after Ruth speaks to him about them.  Ruth meets her friend who has come to the area to take a course.  The letters appear very threatening.

One evening Nelson's wife Michelle is attacked in a cemetery near where the victim had been found.   Fortunately she is not seriously hurt.  But later that same night one of the priests on the course with Ruth's friend is killed.  An interesting aspect of the victim is that she looks similar in appearance to both Michelle and the first victim.

Nelson is surprised when a suspect, who is a  patient at the rehab sanctuary confesses.  Has he got his man?  Or could the killer still be out there?

Author Elly Griffiths is very good at building suspense.  Once again she has done so in this murder mystery, which I am sure that you will enjoy.  I look forward to reading the sequel.

The King Without a Kingdom

France and England have been at war for 18 years.  King John is still a prisoner of England, and Europe has been devastated by The Great Plague.  The Cardinal of Perigord narrates the story of how King John II of France dithered and made stupid mistakes during his reign.  His decisions would lead to his capture at the Battle of Poitiers.

Author Maurice Druon has written this work as a one sided conversation on the part of the cardinal.  I must admit, that while the story is well outlined, I did not feel that it was  not well told as compared to the previous books in this series.  All-in-all, rather a disappointment.

Murder in Grub Street

Sir John Fielding has apprenticed young Jeremy Proctor to a printer on Grub Street.  However, just before Jeremy is to move in with the printer's family, the family and apprentices are all murdered in their beds.  The alleged killer has been caught red handed.   Sir John proceeds to the site of the grisly murders with the help of Jeremy.  He is puzzled by the fact that there were boot marks in the blood at the scene, yet the alleged killer did not wear any.

The day following the massacre, Fielding, in his role as magistrate holds an inquest.  The previous night, the suspect had given a different name than his true name when arrested.  When called before the inquest he gives a third name, and soundly defends the accused in third person.  Fielding consigns him to Bedlam.

Now that Jeremy has no place to go, Fielding offers the lad a place in his own household.  Jeremy continues running errands and doing other odd jobs for the household as he had in the past.

The case of the multiple murders seems to have been forgotten until the Lord Chief Justice brings the issue to the attention of Fielding.  The two justices meet with the accused in Bedlam, where he seems to have come to his senses.  He requests to be brought to trial because he is sure that there was a gang of three men who committed the murders.  But, how will Fielding be able to prove it in court?

As evidence is gathered, Fielding comes to the conclusion that it is all circumstantial, and therefore a trap must be set to get the perpetrators.

Author Bruce Alexander has put together an historical murder novel, which is slow to get off the ground, but which has plenty of action at the climax.  Lots of time is spent building up the case, but all-in-all a good read.

Cold in the Earth

In Galloway, DI Marjory Fleming has a bully on her staff.  DS Conrad Mason manages to have an excuse for his actions, and promises that it won't happen again.  He's a good cop, and Fleming doesn't want to have him disciplined.  The force is going to be busy with an outbreak of foot and mouth disease that is spreading rapidly across the UK.  Fleming's husband is a sheep farmer, and this could prove to be costly for them.  Mason's uncle and mother's herd of cattle are in the same jeopardy.

At the same time Laura Harvey is looking for her long lost sister.  An article she writes for a newspaper about her sister brings plenty of reaction; one from a man who claims to have known her 15 years earlier.  That man is Conrad Mason's cousin, Max.  However, she doesn't trust him.  Laura has become obsessed with finding her sister, so she heads off to Scotland.

She is surprised when she runs into Max in the hotel she chooses to stay in.  There she learns that the cattle are being destroyed on the farm belonging to Max's father who had a stroke upon learning that his cattle were infected.  Conrad is shocked when he meets Laura because she looks so like he older half-sister who he knew when she worked on the farm.

In order to bury Mason's cattle, a pit is dug, but in doing so, a body is found.  Because the body could potentially be Conrad's aunt, Fleming has to take him off active duty as he is a potential suspect.  However, when being routinely questioned, Laura reconises a piece of evidence that points to the body being that of her sister!  Fleming's investigation is suddenly thrown into disarray.

Aline Templeton is a new author to me, and as I started to read this murder mystery, I wasn't sure what I was getting into.  Templeton took two strands and neatly wove an excellent mystery together.  The main protagonist, DI Fleming, has a tough case to handle besides the rough spot that her personal life is going through.  Templeton has made her very human.  A top notch read.  I'm looking forward to reading the sequel.

The Generals

France 1795, and Napoleon Bonaparte would rather be leading one of the armies fighting France's enemies than putting down the citizens of France who object to the way the new regime is treating them.  The royalists take advantage of this situation.  Before long the leaders of the government are hemmed in at the Toulieres.  Napoleon takes charge and with the help of cavalry Major Murat, he gets some small cannons to defend the palace.  The ensuing result is a massacre when musket balls and grape shot rip through crowd.

Bonaparte is promoted to general and becomes the talk of Paris.  One person who comes to his attention as a result is Madame Josephine Beauharnais.  Because of his rising popularity in Paris, Napoleon is ordered to take command of the army in Italy, but not before he has married Josephine.

Meanwhile Arthur Wesley has returned to Dublin where he hopes for promotion, and the hand of Kitty Packenham.  Neither seems to be in the stars.  The next thing he knows is that he is being shipped out to the West Indies to take the war to the French in their colonies.  But even that is not to be as a storm forces his convoy back to Southampton.  There he finds that he has now been ordered to Calcutta.

It doesn't take Napoleon long to gain success in northern Italy.  The Austrians retreat and the army of Piedmont beg for an armistice.  However, the Directory back in Paris doesn't want him to have success.  He had been sent to Italy in the hopes that it would be the end of him.  However, success in Italy causes Napoleon to set his sights on Vienna.  Unfortunately the Army of the Rhine doesn't operate according to plan.  Napoleon strikes an advantageous treaty with Austria.

It takes six months for Wesley and his troops to reach India.  He is shocked at the squalor he finds upon arrival.  He is informed that not only is Britain at war with France, but now Holland and Spain have joined against Britain.  Shortly after arrival Wesley is tasked with planning an invasion of Manila.  After all his work planning, the command is taken away from him by a general.  But before the flotilla can reach Manila, a message is received that Austria is out of the war!  The flotilla turns back to Calcutta in order to protect the East India Company from uprisings that might occur.

Back in Paris, Napoleon begins to bring together like minded men.  He plans a war with Britain, taking the war to them in all of their colonies followed by an invasion of the island.  To do that, the British navy must be beaten and Napoleon must ensure that he has made a strong name for himself.  With that in mind, he convinces the Directory to assemble an army to invade Egypt.

A few days into the Egyptian and the Heat has gotten to his men; they are on the verge of mutiny.  Napoleon convinces them to march on to the Nile.  There his army runs into Murad Bey and his army of thousands of Marmalukes.  The French are victorious; now to march north to Cairo.  After Cairo falls, Napoleon learns that Josephine has a lover; angered and unable to confront her, he dedicates his life to achieving his goals.  He brutally begins to attack the remaining enemies, only to find out that his army is now utterly alone because the British navy has destroyed the fleet that brought the army to Egypt.

In May of 1798, Wesley's brothers arrive in Calcutta, Richard having been appointed Governor General.  Arthur is quickly assigned the task of securing Hyderabad from the French.  He does it without bloodshed.  However, news is received of Bonaparte's success in Egypt, which creates a threat to India.  The brothers next look to securing Mysore.  Arthur is sent there with his regiment.  Upon arrival Arthur is informed of Nelson's destruction of the French fleet in Egypt.  Planning for taking Mysore commences at once.

Napoleon is not having success in Egypt converting the locals to France's side.  On a brighter note for himself, he has taken as mistress, the wife of one of his officers.  However, to the northeast in Syria, troops are gathering to fight Napoleon, and the Sultan of Turkey has declared war on France.  Napoleon's march toward Acre in Syria is not easy, especially when some of his troops come down with the plague.  With no success at the siege of Acre, Napoleon decides to return to Egypt.

The withdrawal to Cairo is punishing on Napoleon's army.  There are no ships available to help transport them.  Napoleon knows that the Directory has abandoned them.  He also learns that the Directory is losing the war in Europe.   He needs to get back to Paris.

In India, Wellesley is placed in charge of the Indian column marching on Mysore.  In the first action, he is wounded in the leg, but that doesn't stop him from continuing on.  When the battle is over and victory accomplished for the British, Wellesley is given the task of being Governor of Mysore.

Back in Paris, Napoleon falls to the wiles of Josephine once again.  He also becomes part of a plot to overthrow the government.  The coup is successful and Napoleon is appointed First Consul of the new consulate.  Napoleon immediately sets to work governing France.  He realises that he can't have peace with Britain and Austria.  Britain's navy prevents any possible invasion of the island nation, so he plans on defeating Austria first.  The two armies meet at Marengo.  The Austrians win the battle and Napoleon is forced to retreat, however as the retreat progresses, the Austrians follow.  Napoleon turns and faces them.  In the ensuing battle the Austrians are decimated.

Wellesley's military success in India leads to peace and prosperity.  He is next tasked with preparing an expedition to Java.  However, before that can get underway, he and his men are shipped off to Egypt.  On the way, his command is turned over to General Baird.  Baird asks Wellesley to become his chief of staff, to which he accepts.  Unfortunately, Wellesley comes down with a disease, which leaves him bed-ridden and he is unable to go on to Egypt.  When his health returns, he goes back to continue his work as governor of Mysore.

Having returned to Paris after Marengo, Napoleon sets about establishing peace with the nations of Europe and isolating Britain.  He wants time to rebuild his army.  At the same time it gives him the opportunity to make things better for the citizens of France.  This would include a new law code and an agreement with the church.  Britain agrees to a peace treaty in 1802.  In this period of peace, Napoleon arranges to have him elected, by the people, First Consul for life.

Napoleon is not only busy improving the lot of the French, he is also building up his army.  Britain responds with an enlarged navy.  Finally, Britain has had enough and declares war.

Back in India, Wellesley has achieved the rank of Major General, but his work is not done.  He still has rebellious leaders to put down.  The last battles exhaust him, but now Britain has added India to its empire.  He simply wants to return home to recover.

Author Simon Scarrow has written an intensely engaging historical novel.  The development of the two main characters makes the reader feel as if they knew them personally.  Well researched and well written, the avid historical fiction fan will not want to put the book down.