A Pound of Flesh

Newly minted Detective Superintendent William Lorimer of the Serious Crimes Squad has been to look over two similar murder cases.  But rather than deal with two detectives who wanted control of the two cases, Lorimer decides to focus on the investigation of the murder of four young prostitutes, all killed in similar manners.  He has called in his friend, Professor Solomon Brightman to help on the case.

All of his plans are thrown into disarray when a high ranking politician is found shot to death just outside Glasgow.  His murder is similar to two previous ones in that he had a white Mercedes as did the other two.  Lorimer is told by the Chief Constable to make this killing a priority and set aside the killings of the prostitutes.

Solomon's hint to "Cherchez la femme." causes Lorimer to have the CCTV cameras checked.  Sure enough, the politician's car is found on "the drag".  Were the other two men killed for the same reason?  Then forensic evidence arrives that points to the killer of two of the women to be the same man.

Can Lorimer's team find the woman who is killing punters before she kills again?  Is it possible that the two cases are tied together?  Lorimer is not allowed to check into that, but all evidence seems to point in that direction?  What is he to do?

Author Alex Gray leaves the greatest amount of tension to build up in the last chapters.  As a result, the reader is anxious to turn the next page in anticipation of what is to come. An excellent read.  Hard to put down.

The Chalk Pit

A hole has appeared in Denning Road, and when DS Clough jumps down into it he discovers that it is actually part of a tunnel system.  Did a Jesus-like figure disappear down it?  DCI Harry Nelson also has another missing person on his hands, but he is more interested in the medieval bones forensic anthropologist Ruth Galloway has on her hands.

A few days after this DS Judy Johnson discovers the body of a rough sleeper right on the steps of the police station.  He has a knife in his chest.  This is the man who had informed Nelson of the missing woman.  At the same time, Ruth gets a call from the lab informing her that the bones she has are recent.

At the weekend another rough sleeper is found stabbed to death.  He was one that Johnson had interviewed.  Later in the week another woman goes missing.  What is the  connection to the other missing woman?  Are the cases of the deaths and the missing women related?

Things change when the partner of DS Clough goes missing.  At this point, the pace of author Elly Griffiths' murder mystery rapidly picks up.  The reader is in for an exciting conclusion.  A very good, quick read.

Don't Look Back

Detective Inspector Konrad Sejer and Police Officer Karlsen have been called to the home of a missing six year old girl.  Fortunately the child returned home a few hours later.  Sometime after that, Sejer received a call from the mother who told him that the daughter had opened up after the police had left.  She had seen a naked woman lying perfectly still by a lake up on the mountain.

Sejer and Police Officer Skarre find the body of an 18 - 20 year old woman, just as the girl had said.  There seems to be no evidence at the scene.  Sejer is sure that she wasn't there earlier in the day, because some boys searching for the girl had not reported anything here.  By midnight the girl had been identified by her parents.  She was only fifteen.

A witness saw the girl going to a person with a motorcycle.  Could this be the same person seen riding down the mountain away from the crime scene?  Could it have been her boyfriend?  Why had a hitchhiker persuaded one of the witnesses that the car he had seen was red?  Could the ex of the mother of the victim also be in the picture?

Sejer is surprised when the pathologist tells him that the teen was living on borrowed time.  She had a malignant tumour in her liver.  Later her school bag is found in a shed behind the boyfriend's house.  This definitely puts him in the frame.

Can Sejer prove that the boyfriend is innocent?  If he is innocent, then who is the killer?

Author Karin Fossum's murder mystery is intense and fast paced.  A thoroughly enjoyable read, and hard to put down.

The English Agent

Kit Marlowe has been taken by Dr. Lopez to London to meet with Walshingham's agent Beak.  Marlowe is surprised when the agent turns out to be Lenora Beak.  He was not expecting a woman agent.  Walshingham's orders are that Marlowe and Lenora are to travel to Delft and prevent the assassination of William the Silent.  Even before they can start out, tragedy strikes.

Setting off for the coast in pursuit of killers, Marlowe and Lenora are attacked and Marlowe is shot.  Fortunately Lenora has medical skills, and the following day the pursuit continues, albeit at a slower pace.  When they finally get to the coast, they find that the man they are chasing has fled aboard a ship.  Alternative plans are necessary.  Those plans fail as William the Silent is killed shortly after they arrive in Delft.

Fortunately the assassin is captured.  But, will Marlowe be allowed to question him before the man is tortured and then quartered?  At the last minute he is given the opportunity to ask his questions.  He learns that a plot is afoot to kill Queen Elizabeth and put her cousin Queen Mary of Scotland on the English throne.  He and Lenora have been duped!  They must get back to England immediately.

When Marlowe meets with Walshingham, he is given the task of finding as much evidence as possible against Mary.  Walshingham also informs him that Lenora has been murdered.  He only gives Marlowe three days to find the culprit before going on to his task about Mary.

At Chartley, Marlowe discovers that Anthony Babington was the one passing messages to Mary in a secret compartment in ale casks delivered to her.  The messages hint at an invasion of England using The Netherlands as a jumping off point.

Will Marlowe's return to The Netherlands help to find the mastermind behind the assassination attempt on the queen?  Or will it lead to more death and the killing of the queen?

Author Phillip DePoy's thriller is fast paced and full of action.  A very good read, and hard to put down.

A Lesson in Secrets

Why is Maisie Dobbs being followed by members of the Special Branch?  It turns out that she is being tested by the Special Branch and the Secret Service.  They want her to become a spy at a college on Cambridge; to look for anyone who might be a detriment to the government.  She accepts with alacrity.

A week after starting her teaching position at the college, the college principal is found dead in his office.  Maisie determines that the man's neck has been broken.  She immediately calls the head of The Special Branch.

When the secretary to the late principal leaves totally unexpectedly, Maisie travels to Ipswich in search of her.  She also finds out that one of the female teaching assistants travels to London on a regular basis to take part in activities of the German National Socialist Party.  Later, returning to Ipswich, Maisie finds the missing secretary and learns some important secrets.

However, it is not those secrets that reveal who the killer is.   Jacqueline Winspear's murder mystery has a few surprises in store for the reader before the killer is unveiled.  A very good read.

The Children of Silence

Amateur detective, Frances Doughty, has been engaged to look into the case of a missing man.  Frances begins by questioning the wife of the missing man.  She comes away still not really knowing much about him.  Could he have decided to leave his wife?  Could his half-brother be behind his disappearance?

After talking to many people, Frances doesn't seem to be making any headway.  However, it seems that her client's brother-in-law has intentions of evicting her client from the family home as per the will of her husband.  A short time later, remains are found with a satchel containing the business cards of the missing man.  Is he now found?

Things change when one of Frances' former clients is found murdered, and the man charged had been at odds with him.  As her investigation continues, Frances finds that people she has spoken to have been frugal with the truth.  However, Frances is able to see beyond that frugality and discover some very nefarious plans.

Author Linda Stratmann's Victorian murder mystery is full of subplots, which leave the reader guessing just which way she is going with the storyline.  A good read.

Command

Captain Rowley of the Tenacious had made life hard for Lieutenant Kydd ever since taking over command.  He finally found something to remove him from his ship.  Brought before the admiral of the fleet, Kydd assumed that his naval career was over when the admiral sent him to Malta.  Much to his surprise, there he learned that he was to become captain of a sloop named Teazer.

Commander Kydd's new ship needs to be outfitted and crewed.  He sets about doing that.  However, it will take time, and then there are the sea trials, but they go well.  Their first real task is to get dispatches to Admiral Warren, warning of a French fleet sailing with supplies for the French army in Egypt.

Back in Malta, Teazer's next task is escorting a convoy to Dubrovnik.  For that successful voyage, Kydd is awarded some silver plate by the merchants of Malta.  The crew also brings aboard a kitten.  Every ship needed a cat, and Sprits'l would help lift Kydd's spirits.  He is given orders to search for a French corvette seen near Malta and tackle it.  The enemy ship is found in a cove on the island of Lampedusa.  Kydd challenges the captain to come out and fight.  Will this end in the destruction of little Teazer or glory?

Glory would come for Teazer later, and with it notoriety for Kydd.  However, not long after this peace breaks out.  Teazer is ordered to Plymouth where the crew and commander would become unemployed.  At this same time, Kydd learns that his dear friend Renzi lies on his deathbed.

Back in England Kydd is depressed.  He is a sailor with no ship.  He petitions the admiralty for one, but it being peace time, there are no ships.  He decides to try a merchantman, and there his fortune changes.  He is to captain a ship to Botany Bay loaded with cargo and convicts.  He is also shocked to find that one of his paying clients is Renzi, headed to self exile.

Will Kydd ever make it back to the navy or will this new land gain another settler?

Author Julian Stockwin's naval novel has less action in it than previous novels of his because of the peace that came about between Britain and France at this time.  However, it is still a very good read.

Fire

1666 and London is a tinderbox - in more ways than one.  Also, the 666 is the sign of the devil.

Thief-taker Pitman and his helper William Coke have been tasked with stopping a proposed assassination of the king.  Fortunately they are able to thwart a bombing of the king at the theatre.  However, before they can apprehend the bomber, someone stabs him to death.

Later, Pitman and Coke have the conspirators trapped.  Unfortunately they manage to escape and in the process, Pitman is severely wounded in the thigh.  The following day was Coke's wedding day.  After the wedding a good friend came to Coke telling him that his daughter had been kidnapped.  He provides Coke with the money demanded for her release.  What could Coke do, but oblige.

Arriving to meet the kidnappers, Coke's drink is spiked, and he is placed in a compromising situation with the girl.  His new wife is brought to the scene also.  How will he get out of this?  He is taken by a press gang.

While Coke is missing, his wife Sarah, is incarcerated in a debtors prison, for debts taken on by him.  Meantime, Pitman is on the road to recovery.

On September the second, in a bakery in Pudding Lane, in the wee hours, a fire started, and wouldn't be put out.  Two children are born in those hours, too.  One to Pitman's wife and one to Sarah Coke.

And the wind picked up.  Can anything be done or has the Beast arrived?  Pitman joins the fight to stop the fire.  Not long after this, Coke returns from the sea. Although asked to help fight the fire by King Charles, he requests permission to find Sarah.  However, has he arrived in time to save her from the inferno?

C. C. Humphreys' novel of the Great Fire of London is intense as the fire itself was.  A thoroughly enjoyable read.

The Circus

Inspector John Carlyle, and Sergeant Joe Szyszkowski have just been called to a crime scene; a man's body is dead on the walk in front of a house and a boy inside the house has a bomb attached to his neck.  After the bomb squad ensures the boy that the bomb is fake, it explodes.  Fortunately Carlyle and Szyszkowski were not near.

Later the sergeant is called to the home of a missing fourteen year old girl, while the inspector deals with a body in a garbage truck.  It turns out that the victim in the truck had been stabbed several times.  He was also a reporter whose paper was being investigated for phone hacking.  Carlyle's commander tells him to focus on the bombing incident.

Discussing what they have found out to date with his Sergeant and WPC Hall, Carlyle learns that his old nemesis, Trevor Miller is connected to the the reporter and that the missing girl has a boyfriend who is thirty-two years old.

Later Carlyle finds himself warned about investigating the reporter's death because it has the potential to affect another investigation.  However, more deaths await throughout the investigation.  Are they linked together or not?

Author James Craig's murder mystery is full of action and intrigue.  A good read.

Tainted Angel

Vidia is an "angel" used to lure men into spilling secrets.  It is with surprise then when she hears words from a fellow agent that appear to make him to be a double agent working for the French!  Is it an attempt to entrap her?  Her home is then searched to see if she was holding any secrets there.

Shipments of gold to the army on the continent have been disappearing.  Why?  Could it have anything to do with Brodie, the man who is her supposed guardian?  An attempt to kidnap her outside the Prince Regent's home is unsuccessful.  Who was responsible for it?  The French or someone else?  Vidia is sure that it was her own people.

Vidia has been compromised by a man she works with and is now expecting his child.  When she tells him of it, he immediately insists on marrying her.  However a short time after the marriage, Vidia realises that it was not a true marriage when she sees a man poorly disguised as a fisherman, who was the chaplain who married them.

Author Anne Cleeland has plenty of twists and turns and counter turns in this spy novel.  I must admit it is not one of her best works, however.

Britannia

Prefect Cato and Centurion Macro have discovered what appear to be the Druids preparing to cause the Roman army problems during the upcoming winter season.  Unfortunately, while returning to their Fort, Macro is shot in the thigh with a hunting arrow.  It requires major surgery.  While he survive it?

Acting governor Quintatus has decided to drive the Druids to their sacred island of Mona and destroy them there.  He has sent naval ships to the island in advance of the attack.  He orders Cato to have his men prepare for battle.  Quintatus also subtly suggests to Cato that Nero is on the rise in Rome, and to protect himself and his family, he should become Quintatus' man.

When Cato and his men march out of the fort, he leaves Macro in charge of the auxiliaries who have just arrived.  They are not up to military standards and Macro has plans to change that.  Once Cato joins Quintatus, his men are tasked with leading the army towards Mona, and setting a bloody tone.

The advance towards Mona is slow due to rain and mud and of course the enemy.  Back near Macro's fort, one of his scouts discovers an enemy column.  The scout brings back an enemy who, after an interrogation, informs Macro that there is an enemy column advancing behind Quintatus' column.  They are marching into a trap.  Macro needs to warn them.

Having reached the coast, the Roman army needs to get through the enemy coastal defence before crossing the channel.  Neither will be easy as winter begins to settle in.   On top of that, Quintatus refuses to accept Macro's logic about the enemy army behind him.  He is also upset by the fact that Macro has also brought a man to liaise with the newly appointed governor of Britannia.  Macro has also brought bad news for Cato.

Macro's information proves true.  Quintatus is forced to abandon his attack on Mona and retreat.  Will the Britons destroy the Romans during their retreat having already cut off their supplies?

Author Simon Scarrow's latest novel about Cato and Macro is full of battles, death and sacrifice.  We are left wondering if the might of the Roman Empire is enough to ever defeat and subdue the Druids and their followers.  A very good read.

Cold Earth

Jimmy Perez is at a funeral when the side of the hill the mourners were standing on slid away.  They were fortunate to get away, but a woman in a croft down below wasn't so lucky.  Who was she?  There doesn't seem to be anything to identify her in the croft.

Later James Grieves, the pathologist calls to tell him that the woman hadn't been killed by the slide.  She had been strangulated.  Perez then calls the mainland to ask DCI Willow Reeves to come help with the investigation.  Willow is able to come up with a possible identification and it seems to be confirmed by a man who rented the croft sometime earlier.

However, when they contact the place the victim worked, it turns out that she is alive and well.  So, who is the imposter?  Her identity is discovered when Jimmy finds an old photo of her.  His sergeant, Sandy Wilson recognises her as a star in a TV series.  Now to determine what her connection to the island is.

The body of a local lawyer is then discovered on the shore of the island.  He had a legal connection to the house where the body of the woman was found.  Why would he have been killed?  As Sandy checks the accounts of the dead man, he finds something both surprising and suspicious.

Author Anne Cleeves requires the detectives to do further investigation before they find the killer.  The ending has quite a twist to it that the reader doesn't see coming.  A very good read.

The Cater Street Hangman

The Ellison household is shocked when one of their maids is garrotted, just like two other young women in the area have been.  They also feel that Inspector Pitt is quite impertinent to think that he can question the women of the house.  It just won't do.

Why has the inspector taken an interest in continually questioning Charlotte Ellison?  Is it as her sister, Emily suggests that he is interested in her romantically?  Or for other reasons?

When the daughter of the local sexton is killed in the same manner, it sends shockwaves through the Ellison household.  The death causes further turmoil in the house when Charlotte shares her suspicions of Emily's boyfriend with Inspector Pitt.

Tensions mount as the family turns on itself in the terror it is experiencing.  Will they destroy themselves before the inspector discovers the killer?

Author Anne Perry's murder mystery presents no suspects until the last pages of the story.  Well written and and well worth the read.

Signal for Vengeance

It is 1860 and in Dorset a woman stumbles on the body of her lover on the railway tracks.  Inspector Robert Colbeck has been requested, however Superintendent Tallis proposes to send an untried detective in his place because Colbeck's wife is due with their first baby.  Colbeck is annoyed that Tallis would take this job from him.  He convinces Tallis that he and Sergeant Leeming can do the job as it isn't that far away.  The victim was a railway policeman and that is why Colbeck was asked for.

It appears that the victim was left lying across the railway tracks, so that the next train along would slice him into three parts.  Colbeck and Leeming are able to get help from the local doctor, however the man who sent for them is more of a nuisance than a help.  It isn't long before the pair have a number of suspects in mind.  But how do you eliminate half a dozen suspects and come up with the right one?

Author Edward Marston's murder tale sets the two sleuths on several trails of which none seem to offer any hope of success.  It isn't until virtually the final pages that the reader finds out the true killer.  A good, quick read.

Sleep Like the Dead

DCI William Lorimer has been called to a murder scene by DS Ramsay.  Pathologist Rosie Ferguson tells him that the victim died in the wee hours of the night.   Why had an apparent upstanding citizen been killed in what appears to have been a professional hit?

A few days later two more victims appear.  Both shot in what appears to be a professional manner, in the home of a known drug dealer.  Did he kill them, and where is he?  Evidence shows that the dealer's sister was the ex-wife of the first victim.  What's the connection and how can they find her?  As time goes by, Lorimer is convinced that she has been killed, too.

However, when Dr. Solomon Brightman informs the police that he had seen her just the day before her ex was killed, a new light is thrown on the case.  Could she and her brother have been involved in the killing together?  The death of a police informer creates new connections, which in turn give another perspective to the case.

But, how will they draw the case to a conclusion?  Author Alex Gray's novel is tense with brutal killings and psychological intent.  A very good read.

The Rhetoric of Death

Master Charles du Luc, a Jesuit priest in training is on his way to Paris to teach rhetoric, Latin and French at the Jesuit school there.  The king had recently revoked the Edict of Nantes, and Charles had helped his second cousin Pernelle, a Huguenot, escape to Geneva.  As a result another cousin, the Bishop of Marseille has now sent him into exile.  Charles will be working with Father Jouvancy, who is also in charge of dancing instruction at the school.

The day after his arrival, a young student of the school is run down by a man on a horse. The lad's godfather, is Father Guise, librarian of the school, and he states that it was an accident.  However, another witness tells Charles that the rider deliberately targeted the boy.  Charles tries to reconcile the reports of the different witnesses.  Had the lad been out looking for his older brother who had gone missing a day earlier?

Charles is ordered by the rector to halt his investigation.  However, the next day, he discovers the body of the older brother in the latrine.  This time he is asked to determine how the boy was killed.  Later, Antoine, the victim's younger brother tells Charles that his brother had sent him a note, which a friend saw his godfather take from him while he was unconscious.

Later, Charles is informed of a secret set of stairs that lead into the school from a bakery.  Could this be the way the killer moved about?  A day after this, Charles is found with the body of a witness by the head of the police.  He threatens Charles and demands that he become a police spy within the school.  What choice does Charles have?  That same day, the rector assigns Charles the task of finding out who the killer is.

Charles then learns that the death of the student might be connected to a possible French interference in the government of England.

Author Judith Rock has more death awaiting plus plenty of treachery.  Can Charles save those that mean so much to him and stay within his vows as a Jesuit?  Well written and based on historical fact.  A good read.

Hunting the Eagles

It is A. D. 14, and Centurion Tullus and his optio Fenestela are in Rome, where, if they are found could mean their execution, to watch the triumph of Tiberius. Unfortunately Tullus is recognised by Germanicus, who surprisingly offers him a position when he goes to Germania as governor and to exact revenge for the destruction of the three legions by the Germans.

Back with his century, Tullus finds it hard to keep his temper against those who demean those who made it back from the massacre done by the Germans.  In their arrogance, they claim that it would never have happened to them.  Rumours of mutiny are starting to float amongst the legions, too.

Across the Rhine, Arminius, Tullus' foe and leader of the Germans is preparing for the expected attack.  It will be a tougher enemy this time because Augustus has died and the new emperor will want to make his mark.

When Tullus hears of a potential mutiny, he takes it to his superior, who doesn't seem overly concerned.  When a full blown mutiny breaks out, Tullus' century stays true.  However, the mutineers do damage to many officers and kill some.  Will Governor Germanicus' arrival quell the rebellion?

Germanicus capitulates, and further trouble is averted; for a time.  However, trouble continues to fester so Germanicus orders that the ringleaders be executed.  He then plans a punitive attack across the Rhine before the winter season closes in.

The following spring, Germanicus attacks across the Rhine in force.  A daring raid results in the capture of Thusnelda, pregnant wife of Arminius.  Germanicus then hits the Germans with a three pronged attack, on coming from the North Sea.  How will Arminius and his allies respond?

Tullus takes Germanicus to the site of the ambush.  It is an emotional time for him and those who survived with him.  It is a month into the invasion before Arminius' soldiers begin to harass the Romans.  It is unnerving. Having struck deep into Arminius' heartland, will the Romans be able to safely retreat before winter sets in?

Tullus and his men are with Caecina on the retreat.  Unfortunately they end up trapped between a forest and a bog with Arminius and his army in the forest.  What are their options?  Will it end in another slaughter of the Roman army?

Author Ben Kane gives the author a real sense of life, death and battles at this time. Life was not easy, and at times death could be hard; not just on those who died, but those left behind.  A thoroughly enjoyable read, and I look forward to reading the concluding book in this trilogy.