The Cold, Cold Ground

DS Sean Duffy has just gotten home from riot duty when he is called out to investigate a body in Carrickfergus.  A young man has been shot in the chest and the back of the head.  Also, his right hand had been cut off.  Signs that he was an informer for the police or the army.

Nobody seems to know who the victim is, and his prints bring nothing up either.  The next day, Dr. Cathcart, the pathologist, informs Duffy that the hand doesn’t belong to the victim.  She also hands him a piece of paper with music on it, which had been placed in his rectum.  He had also had anal sex either pre or post death.  What kind of a weird case did Duffy have on his hands?

Once Duffy discovers what the words are to the music, he realises that the killer is mocking the police.

The following day a second body is found.  It happens that Dr. Cathcart is available to view the body in situ.  The victim had been shot just inside his door.  His right hand had been cut off and the hand of the other victim casually tossed on top of the body.  This time the victim is quickly identified.

DC McCrabban tells Duffy that the dead man is a known homosexual.  The next morning in the post, Duffy receives a post card from the killer telling him he doesn’t have it in for homosexuals.

They have a serial killer on their hands.

Shortly after this the body of a young woman is found hanging in nearby woods.  Had she done it because her estranged husband had started a hunger strike in jail?  She had been missing for some time before being found.  Dr. Cathcart informs Duffy that she had recently been pregnant and breastfeeding.  She also tells him that the victim’s throat had additional bruising beside that caused by the rope.  Could they have another murder on their hands?  Another question arises - where is the baby?

Duffy receives a phone call, which he interprets to mean that the first victim actually had high standing in the IRA.  Duffy is fortunate to have a quick chat with Gerry Adams and point out that they are actually on the same side on this case.  But will that help anything?

Author Adrian McKinty’s thriller is fast paced, yet the hero, DS Sean Duffy at times seems to bumble his way about.  Being a detective in Belfast during The Troubles is not an easy task.  McKinty has some surprises in store for the reader, which create a very good read.  This book was hard to put down.

Murder on Ile Saint Louis

Aimee Leduc has been working on a client’s security programme when she receives a mysterious phone call from a woman who seems to know her.  Aimee doesn’t recognise the voice, but the woman seems terrified and asks Aimee to go to her courtyard.  In the courtyard, she discovers a newborn baby girl.  What is she supposed to do now?

Her partner, Rene Friant, comes over to help her finish the security programme.  He is shocked to find the baby there.  Once done the programme, Aimee goes out in search of the mother.  She is sure that she is being followed, so makes a run for it.

Fortunately, the following morning, when Aimee has a meeting, she has a friend who is willing to help with the baby.  Later, a chance meeting at the morgue with a young man, sets Aimee off in search of him.  She goes to his place, but he’s not in.  A picture that he has left behind helps her possibly identify the mother of the baby.

As the hours go by, Aimee becomes more and more attached to the baby.  She decides to call her Stella.  Aimee sets out to search for the mother, and quickly discovers that the woman who she thought was the mother isn’t.  She now has a new quest.

However, her search leads to more than she bargained for.  Her client is murdered, and it appears that he had a connection to the mother of the baby. 

How will Aimee solve this conundrum?  Author Cara Black’s thriller is fast paced as usual, keeping Aimee Leduc barely ahead of severe troubles that could do her in.  A very good read.

The Lazarus Curse

Dr. Thomas Silkstone is part of a gathering to witness an autopsy.  Those there are shocked when it is revealed that the corpse is a beautiful young black woman.  As Silkstone touches the body, he realises that rigor mortis has not yet set in; she can only have been dead a very short time.  How did Dr. Izzard manage to get such a fresh body?

On a happier note, Silkstone has been tasked with classifying specimens brought back from a recent voyage to Jamaica by the Royal Society.  However, the young man holding much of the documentation of the trip seems to have disappeared.  Silkstone’s mentor, Dr. Carruthers sugests that Silkstone do some investigation into the missing man.

A short time later Silkstone is asked to do an autopsy on a headless body pulled from the Thames.  Based on initials on the clothing, Silkstone assumes the body belongs to the missing man.

When Silkstone discovers a badly beaten black man, he takes him home to help him recover.  Others warn him that protecting a slave will not have a good outcome.  Taking the opportunity to study information from the trip to Jamaica while the man is recovering, Silkstone realises that the expedition to Jamaica had an ulterior motive.  The question is, who is involved?

Author Tessa Harris’ latest thriller has plenty of plot twists, which Silkstone will have difficulties interpreting.  He has a number of shocking surprises in store, too.  Another good quick read, however, the way the book ended makes me want to get my hands on the next in the series ASAP!

Trouble Brewing

Jack Haldean has been invited to visit an elderly man, but he has no idea why.  A Mr. Hunt wants Jack to search for and find his nephew who has been missing for a few months now.  Jack’s first place to go to get information is Bill Rackham of Scotland Yard, however he is unable to provide further details other than the missing man is the heir to a vast sum from his grandmother.

Going through the police files, Jack notices that the missing man was supposed to meet with the Brazilian manager of his uncle’s coffee firm.  When he checks into that, he discovers that that man is also missing.  Did one or the other bump the other off?

When a body is discovered, initially it is assumed to be the nephew, however dental records prove it not to be.  So is it the Brazilian?  If so, does this make the nephew a killer?  Mr. Hunt now wants Jack to prove otherwise.

When a woman who works for the Hunt Coffee business is murdered, Jack isn’t sure that the man apprehended and charged with the murder is the killer.  Despite this, Rackham is building a solid case.

An attempted murder and the death of a pauper, another suspicious death and plenty of suspects.  Author Dolores Gordon-Smith’s tale is twisted as they come.  How Jack Haldean will ever be able to solve it is anyone’s guess.  A good quick read.

Murder in Montmarte

Aimee Leduc’s friend Laure has invited her to a party to celebrate the retirement of a cop.  Shortly after arriving, Laurie’s partner, Jacques, asks her to join him to meet an informer.  When they don’t return within five minutes Aimee goes in search of them.  She finds them; Laure has been knocked down and Jacques shot.  Aimee immediately calls for police backup.  When the police arrive, Aimee is arrested for the killing of Jacques.

Gunpowder residue has been found on Laure’s hands.  Aimee is sure that she is suffering from shock and a concussion.  How is she going to get her friend out of this mess?  She gets her cousin Sebastian to help her.  They think that they have discovered the killer’s escape route.

The following day Aimee learns from Laure’s lawyer that Jacques’ ex-wife has filed a civil suit against Laure, charging her with murder!  She also learned that Jacques’ mother was Corsican, and a vendetta may have been behind his death.  The morning after Aimee discovers a man she had questioned dead - killed in the Corsican style.  She phones the cops anonymously, but as she’s exiting the phone booth she is approached by two men.  Fortunately, she manages to evade them.

Can Aimee clear her friend’s name despite fighting against Corsican men who are fighting for independence?  Author Cara Black has lots of action awaiting Aimee and her partner Rene in this thriller.  A good, quick read.

Perfect Prey

The killer had taken advantage of the crowd, slashing the victim in the stomach.  It was only when a teenager slipped in his blood that he was noticed.  How is DI Luc Callanach supposed to make any sense of a badly trampled crime scene?

The pathologist, Ailsa Lambert, informs Callanach that the knife used was specially designed to do maximum harm; a ritual killing in her mind.

Not long after this DI Ava Turner is assigned to investigate a brutal murder of a woman in her own home.  DCI Begbie wants a quick closure to this case, too.

On top of all of this, DCI Joseph Edgar has come to Edinburgh because a possible internet attack is imminent.  The following morning a cyber attack has transferred funds from wealthy individuals to charities in need of funding.

Three weeks on and Callanach hasn’t made any progress.  He is asked to check on a missing man.  When he’s at the man’s place of work, he discovers the body of the man in the basement.  Shortly after Begbie arrives to assess the scene, he has a heart attack.  The scene is badly compromised by the paramedics, much to the chagrin of pathologist Lambert.

Later Lambert informs Callanach that the incisions on the latest victim were made with a knife similar to the cuts made on the first.  With his team dispersed, Callanach now relies on DC Salter.

Almost immediately Turner has another case on her hands, this time the strangulation of a young woman.  On top of that, the press has somehow managed to get their hands on photos of the crime scene.

Superintendent Overbeck has taken over for Begbie, but will she bring about a resolution any quicker?  Callanach does some research on all four victims and discovers that each had been given an award of some sort for their caring nature.  Will this link help them find the killer or killers?

Are the killers in competition?  Graffiti, which appeared before the death of the last victim and graffiti that seems to warn of the next victim would seem to make that a reality.  Then Callanach is badly beaten and warned off by cops.  What is going on?

As the individual investigations progress, Callanach and Turner become more at odds with one another.  Callanach is gambling with his career despite Overbeck making threatening innuendos.

Author Helen Fields’ thriller is just that, a thriller that has cops set against each other while working towards the same goal.  She leads the reader deep into the workings of the darknet.  Who can anyone trust?  As a reader, you feel the tension each of the players in this story are experiencing.  This was a thoroughly enjoyable read, and hard to put down.  I’m looking forward to getting my hands on the sequels.

Silent Scream

DI Kim Stone has been called out to a house where the body of a woman has been found drowned in her bathtub.  Since the house was some distance from the nearest neighbours, the killer had set fire to nearby trees to draw attention.  Why do that?

The victim was the principal at a boys’ school, so she and DS Bryant begin interviewing the staff there.  When they go to speak to a professor of archeology who the victim had been in contact with, they find out that he’s been missing for forty-eight hours.  He later shows up, and informs Stone that he had gone into hiding because his dog had been killed, and a note had been stapled to its ear warning him not to go ahead with a dig, and threatening the professor’s wife.

When a second body turns up, the victim in this case had worked at an former girls’ home near where the proposed dig is proposed.  Stone orders a dig to go ahead without authorisation, which could mean her job.  Bones are found in the pit.  An archaeologist informs Stone that the victim in the pit had been decapitated. 

Moments after questioning a elderly drunk, Stone and Bryant have to rush to his aid because he was hit by a car which sped away.  Stone is sure that it was no accident.  They have only one adult left connected to the former girls’ home.  Then it is time to start questioning the girls who had been at the home.

A second body is discovered in the field, and after speaking to one of the girls, Stone is sure that there is a third awaiting discovery.  The archeologist on the site informs Stone that the second body is a girl and she had been pregnant.

Author Angela Marsons leads Stone on a troubled path as she and her team investigate the old deaths and the current ones.  How are they connected?  It will be difficult for Stone to make those connections, and she is in for some surprises along the way.  This was a book I could not put down.  I thoroughly enjoyed the read and look forward to reading the sequels.

Death Wore White

DI Peter Shaw and DS George Valentine are on the coast outside of King’s Lynn looking for yellow drums of potential hazardous materials when Shaw sees a raft floating in toward the shore.  Something about the way it is bobbing about tells him that there is something in the raft.  When it runs aground he removes his shoes and socks and wades out to it.  Aboard the raft he discovers the body of a man.

While exploring the area, Shaw notices a string of vehicles stranded on the road behind the beach.  Then a blizzard blows through, hampering the CSI unit from getting out to the beach.  Shaw and Valentine go over to check on the vehicles.  He checks to see that the drivers and passengers are okay.  One appears to have had a heart attack, so he gets Valentine to radio for a helicopter.  As he proceeds to the truck at the front of the string, which had been stopped by a fallen tree, he realises that he has a corpse in it.

Who could have killed the man as their are no footprints in the snow?  When the helicopter arrives to take the heart attack victim away, the young man in the last car runs away.  After questioning all of the people in the string of cars, they receive confirmation that the last car, a Ford Mondeo had been stolen.

The following morning Shaw is informed that the tree came down as a result of three blows of an axe.  Not long after, at low tide, another body is found in the sand on the beach.

The heart attack victim having recovered, but still in hospital, informs Shaw and Valentine that there was a young woman with the murder victim.  He provides Shaw with a description of her.  Shaw is able to draw her likeness.

Justina Kazimierz, the pathologist, informs them that the first beach victim died from the bite of a venomous snake.  Is there a snake out there somewhere in a warm container?  By that evening Shaw’s team was starting to find links.  But will it lead to the killer or killers?

Author Jim Kelly’s first mystery in the Shaw and Valentine series is a confusing plot.  Whodunnit, is a question that Shaw seems unable to solve because it would seem that nobody at the scene could have done it.  Could this be the perfect murder?  In the end Shaw is able to unwind the mess and reassemble things so that they make sense. A good mysterious read.

Path of Gods

In Book 3 of the Valhalla Sag, Ulfar and Audun have joined up with Sigurd and Sven from Stenvik, who are on their way to join Forkbeard’s army to the north so that they can do battle with King Olav.  On the way they join Jolawer Scot and Alfgeir who are on the same mission.

To the north, at Trondheim, King Olav is gathering an army, too.  But can he really trust those who have come to join him?

Further north, Valgard is preparing to cause trouble for everyone.  He felt his power growing as he neared Trondheim.  He has Loki at his back.  When Valgard gets to Trondheim with his trolls and wreaks death and destruction, King Olav refuses the help of Odin, who then leaves.  Olav is forced to sail away with only sixty men.

Hearing that Olav is going south, Forkbeard and his crew also turn south, while Sven, Sigurd, Ulfar and Audun continue north.

Author Snorri Kristjansson has a major battle awaiting Ulfar and Audun, but who will win?  Only the gods know for sure. 

I’m not really a fan of fantasy, but this Valhalla Saga was a fun read.  A good read for fans of fantasy.

False God of Rome

Jerusalem, 33 A. D., where a man by the name of Yeshua has been condemned by Pontius Pilate to be crucified for claiming to be a king of the Jews, however he states that he has never said that, rather others have.  Questor Sabinus is warmed that it is the dawning of a new age.

A year later Vespasian is in Cyrenaica hoping to be able to travel to Egypt, but Emperor Tiberius forbids it.  Vespasian’s mind is taken from that task when he meets Flavia Domitilla.  Vespasian is determined to make her his wife.  She demands that he take men into the desert to bring back her man.  He agrees to do so, but it will not be an easy task.

Having successfully released many captured people, Vespasian is thanked especially by one Yosef, who was related to the man crucified in Jerusalem.  Yosef will be vital in putting down a riot in Cyrene when they get back.

Back in Rome, Vespasian has to carefully consider his next move.  Does he trust Antonia or the senate with the information he has gleaned on his expedition?  His only option is Antonia, and from her he learns of a conspiracy to wrest power from the emperor.  What can they do to halt the conspiracy?

Despite unscrupulous means, Vespasian comes out the conspiracy mess unscathed.  Two years on and Tiberius has died.  Caligula claims the throne.  Since Vespasian was a good friend of Caligula, Caligula expects his friend to be with him.  What will it mean for Vespasian?

Caligula spends profligately, quickly depleting the treasury.  However, the people and his army are happy with their newfound funds, so they aren’t bothered by his sexual depravity.  As time goes by, Caligula’s madness deepens; no one is safe from his whims.

What can be done with an emperor out of control? Assassination would mean immediate death for the assassin.  Author Robert Fabbri has written an intriguing historical fiction tale about Rome at the time of one of its worst emperors, showing the machinations of those in power and those ambitious for power.  A thoroughly enjoyable read, making the reader wonder what will come next, but I will have to wait until I have the next book in the series.

The Flesh Tailor

DI Wesley Peterson and his wife are at his sister and brother-in-law's for a dinner party, at which one of the guests hasn’t shown up. When he receives a call to attend a crime scene, Peterson is relieved to get away.  However, when he arrives at the scene, DCI Gerry Heffernan informs him of the victim’s name and Peterson understands why the dinner guest hadn’t shown up - he had been shot in the head.

The following day while interviewing a woman who was close to the victim, Peterson received a call about two skeletons being dug up while a local businessman was having a services trench excavated.  Dr. Neil Watson is called in to do an archaeological survey of the area.  He is also interested in the nearby Tudor house.  He asks the owners if he can look more closely at it.  He discovers a mysterious room up in the attic that gives him the creeps.

Two neighbours to the shooting victim suddenly disappear and Watson has discovered another skeleton near the first two.  What is going on, and what went on?  When Dr. Watson discovers a fifth body, everyone is shocked to find out that it was a male child, and the death was more recent.  This now makes it into the realm of a modern murder and therefore a case for Heffernan and Peterson to follow up on.

Author Kate Ellis’ latest murder mystery has several twists, which tie the old murder to the current death in a surprising way.  It also closes with an enigmatic thought.  All-in-all, a very good read, which was hard to put down.

The Girl in the Ice

DCI Erika Foster has just arrived at Lewisham Row Police Station in London and is immediately plunged into the investigation of a missing young woman whose body has just been found in a small lake frozen in the ice.  Foster is going to be taking the lead on the investigation.

After the parents have been informed by Foster and the two detectives working with her of their daughter’s death they demand DCI Sparks be put back in charge of the investigation.  Because they are wealthy, they seem to feel they have that kind of power.  However her Superintendent Marsh stands behind her.

Sparks presents circumstantial evidence, which Superintendent Marsh prefers to go with rather than the evidence that Foster has gathered, which upsets her.  Sparks’ suspect is quickly eliminated by the team, Foster highjacks the press conference, which upsets both Sparks and Marsh.  Then one of her witnesses is found in another pond.  The witness is a well known prostitute.

At the scene, shortly after her arrival, Sparks arrives and claims to now be the SIO.  Foster is then called onto the carpet, and then officially suspended pending a psychological assessment.

Frustrated, Foster approaches the pathologist, Issac Strong.  He informs her that he has come up with three cases in the past in which prostitutes were killed in the same manner as her two victims.  Foster’s former team members start feeding her information.  They don’t agree with Sparks’ theories.

While at the funeral for the witness, Foster gets a potential lead.  That night, she is attacked in her own flat.  Has the killer found her?  Will Foster be the next victim?

Author Robert Bryndza’s first novel in this series is well written, exciting and will leave the reader on the edge of their seat.  Hints of the perpetrator are given, but nothing is revealed until the final pages, and therein lies a surprise.  An excellent read, and I can’t wait to get my hands on the sequels.

The Devil's Breath

The weather has been hot and dry in England for some time.  Dr. Thomas Silkstone has also noticed that things do not seem to be as they should.  He asks the gardener at Boughton Hall if he’s noticed anything.  Amos Kidd says that the butterflies and bees seem to be missing from the garden.  He also mentions to Silkstone that a mysterious cloud had covered the land to the north somewhere and people were choking and coughing because of it.  It was apparently known as the devil’s breath.

At the same time, Lady Lydia Farrell of Boughton Hall has enlisted the help of Silkstone to find her son, who was born out of wedlock.  Lydia’s deceased husband had placed the child with a wet nurse, but after payments for his upkeep stopped, she placed him in a workhouse.  At the workhouse they find out that someone else may have the boy.

Returning to Boughton Hall, they find it enclosed in a toxic fog, which makes it hard to breathe.  There are strange greyish snowflakes on the ground and the temperature has dropped.  After doing some tests on the material in the fog, he confirms his fear that it is acid rain.  It begins to take the lives of those caught out in it.

Lady Thornton asks Silkstone to attend her.  He goes, assuming that she also has been caught out in the fog.  Unfortunately, she forces him into a compromising situation.

Afterwards Lydia’s search for her son takes her to London.  Every place they go they seem to behind someone else who is also searching for her son.

Author Tessa Harris’ novel includes a phenomenon, which was the result of a volcanic eruption in Iceland, which works well with the machinations of the rich and powerful.  We are shown the underbelly of London at the time, contrasted with the benefits of being wealthy.  A thoroughly enjoyable read, and hard to put down.

Murder in Clichy

Linh, a Vietnamese nun has asked Aimee Leduc to contact a man on her behalf.  Aimee’s partner Rene readily agrees to her request.  Just as she is handing an envelope to a man in exchange for a backpack the sound of a motorcycle and gunshots ring out.  The man collapses into her arms as she falls down.  She manages to get away, although wounded in her arm.

Inside the backpack, Aimee discovers eleven  small jade statues of the oriental zodiac.  The one that’s missing is the dragon.  Rene tells her to get them to the Vietnamese temple the following day.  She may still be a target of the shooter.  Just as she arrived home she was accosted by members of the RG, and after searching her bag she was warned to turn the jade over to them.  Linh tells her that the jade needs to be returned to Vietnam.  She also gives Aimee a name of a soldier who had been in Vietnam when the jade disappeared.

Then Aimee receives a phone call threatening to send her parts of Rene if she doesn’t turn over the jade in forty-eight hours.  How was she going to get him released?

A client wants Aimee to tap into competing offers connected to oil developments in Vietnam.  Could this, in anyway be connected to the jade?

Once again author Cara Black has Aimee Leduc involved in a fast paced thriller.  How she manages to stay out of serious trouble will keep the reader on the edge of their seat.  A good, quick read.

After the Exhibition

Betty Wingate has come up to London to speak to Inspector Bill Rackham.  He decides to share her unusual story with his friend Jack Haldean.  Betty had seen a light in a house that was supposed to be empty.  She went inside to see if the owner had returned, however much to her dismay she discovered the owner dead!  When the police checked nothing was found.  Betty is sure that something is wrong.

From what Betty tells them, Rackham and Haldean are convinced that she was chloroformed.  Although Scotland Yard can’t investigate without an official request, Haldean can act on his own.  Evidence is found at the home that seems to point towards murder.  On the verge of arresting a suspect, the supposed victim walks into the room.

So, who was the missing victim?  Rackham and Haldean will have to take a different look at the case.  Then, the suspect that Rackham was going to arrest is killed.  He has a real conundrum on his hands.

Author Dolores Gordon-Smith has Rackham and Haldean going up a number of paths only to find a dead end before back tracking.  However, an artist’s sketch sets Haldean on the right track.  Another good, quick read.

The Dead Shall Not Rest

Lady Lydia Farrell has summoned Dr. Thomas Silkstone to her estate at Boughton near Oxford.  She wants him to exam an Irish man, who stands eight feet tall.  Charles Byrne is the man in question and Silkstone is sure that his health is waning.  Along with Count Josef Boruwlaski, she has freed Byrne from the freak show he worked in.

When Silkstone listens to Byrne’s lungs, he is sure that he suffers from tuberculosis.  It is Count Boruwlaski’s intent to show Byrne to the aristocracy for a substantial fee, which will then be used towards getting a royal pardon for Byrne’s father who had been falsely hung for the death of a woman in Ireland.

Meanwhile the renowned Dr. John Hunter also has his eyes on Charles Byrne, but for different reasons.  It is the former that orders a couple of his lackeys to beat up the latter.

Knowing that he is dying, and not wanting to be cut up, Byrne asks that his body be laid to rest at sea.  Boruwlaski and Silkstone agree to arrange that.

Author Tessa Harris’ second historical novel in this series is partially based on what happened to Charles Byrne and Dr. John Hunter.  It is full of plot twists and surprises. A very enjoyable read.

Murder in the Bastille

Aimee Leduc has been attacked in a side street in Paris.  Fortunately, he partner, Rene Friant had been on the phone with her at the time.  Unfortunately, the attack resulted in her needing brain surgery to repair a ruptured vein.  It also means that she has lost her vision!

Sergeant Loic Bellan has been assigned to Aimee’s case.  He has his own issues, which he is dealing with.

Aimee hears on the news that there had been a murder nearby to where she had been attacked.  The news accuses “The Beast of Bastille”.  She gets in touch with her godfather, Commissaire Morbier because she is sure that she wasn’t attacked by the Beast.  She feels that it was a case of mistaken identity.

While Aimee is in the hospital, Rene begins to investigate.  He learns that thugs are forcing people out of their apartments so that a company can come in and build anew. What Aimee and Rene are about to discover is a lot more than they expected to find.

Author Cara Black’s fourth novel in this series presents a unique way to solve a problem.  Although blind, Aimee’s mind is not dulled, and Rene adds his unique perspective to solving the mysteries.  A good quick read.

The Anatomist’s Apprentice

Lady Lydia Farrell has come to see Dr Thomas Silkstone regarding a very delicate matter.  He is a well known anatomist, and she wants him to exam her recently deceased brother to determine whether he was poisoned.  Rumour has it that he was poisoned by her husband so that he could gain her brother’s inheritance.

Silkstone must travel to Oxford to examine the body, which has been dead for a week now.  After presenting his credentials to the coroner, Silkstone is given the opportunity to  perform an examination of the body.  It is badly decomposed, but he is able to remove a few intact organs for further study.  He returns to London to do that.

The evening of his return to London Silkstone receives a letter telling him to stay away from Oxford.  The following morning, Lady Farrell’s cousin, Francis Crick, brings Silkstone a vial containing cyanide.  Could this be what killed the young man?  Working together, they eliminate it.  So what killed him?  The evening he returns to Oxford he is badly beaten.  Someone doesn’t want him giving his report to the coroner’s inquest!  Fortunately, he survived and was able to tell the inquest that the victim didn’t die as a result of cyanide poisoning.  However, he was sure that the victim was poisoned somehow, but he had yet to discover by what.

The brother-in-law is the prime suspect, and when he apparently takes his own life in jail, Silkstone is sure that he didn’t.  How will he be able to prove it when the deceased’s lawyer is preventing him from accessing the body or the widow?

Author Tessa Harris’ first novel in this series is intriguing and mind gripping.  I thoroughly enjoyed this book and am looking forward to reading the sequels.

Blood From a Stone

Dr. Mountford is making a regular visit to a patient when he is met at the door by a dishevelled housekeeper.  The mistress of the house isn’t answering the door of her room.  Mountford has to break the door open.  Inside the woman is found sitting in her chair, quite deceased.  It appears that she had taken a full bottle of a sleeping draught.  Accident, suicide or murder?

After the police begin their investigation, they find a will dated only three weeks earlier leaving everything to the deceased’s nephew, who disappeared the same night she died.  Dr. Mountford swears that the will is a forgery because both witnesses to it have been dead for some time.  Also, the brandy decanter contained evidence of a sleeping draught.  A warrant is issued for the nephew.

A couple of months later, a man is found murdered in a compartment on a train to London.  At his feet is a sapphire necklace.  Inspector Bill Rackham meets the train as it gets into London.  He is accompanied by Arthur Stanton, husband of the Isabelle who was in on the discovery of the body.  She is cousin to Jack Haldean, who also awaits the train.  Isabelle suggests that the jewels could be connected to the aforementioned murder, which was near the place where she and the victim had gotten on the train.

When Rackham and Haldean examine the body, they discover a French trench knife in the ribs, which would have gone directly into the heart.  Gloves with blood on them are found in the compartment of the train coach.  They have a potential identity for the victim; a man known as The Vicar, who was a well known thief prior to the war.  Could he have been bumped off by an accomplice?

Later, Isabelle is pushed into oncoming traffic in London.  The same thing happens to her co-witness.  Fortunately, both survive.  Who wants them dead?

Author Dolores Gordon-Smith has a real conundrum ahead for Haldean to solve.  Who can he trust beyond his cousin Isabelle, Rackham and Inspector Ashley?  People are not who they seem to be.  The reader will have a real tough time trying to solve this mystery ahead of Haldean.  A good, quick read.

Murder in the Sentier

Aimee Leduc has just received an enigmatic phone call from a woman who claims that she knew Aimee’s mother.  Aimee questions how the woman knew her mother.  The response is as a cell mate.  Moments later the woman is at her door.  When invited in, she informs Aimee that her mother served time as a terrorist!

The woman demands fifty thousand francs for an address book and further information. Aimee has to borrow the funds from a friend.  Upon arriving at the place where they had agreed to meet, Aimee finds the woman shot through the head.  She calls for emergency services and then runs.

In search of answers, Aimee turns to another man, only to find out that he had committed suicide.  She then speaks to his son, who hires her to find out who is stalking him.  When returning to his apartment one evening she discovers it in flames.  She is knocked over the head while escaping the blaze.

Will Aimee ever find any answers about her mother?  She does learn more about her father as her investigation progresses, however.  But author Cara Black has lots of terrifying action ahead as Aimee’s investigation leads her into the past and the actions of terrorists as they try to recover money and more hidden in a secret place.  A good, quick read.