The Apothecary Rose

Owen Archer was just that, a masterful archer.  However, an attack by two people resulted in the loss of sight in one eye and damage to his shoulder.  Nevertheless, his two attackers fared worse with the loss of their lives.  Owen wondered what’s use he was to anyone with only one eye.  The Duke of Lancaster had a solution; Owen would become a spy for him.

When the duke dies, Owen is at a loss.  He thinks of travelling to Italy, but before he can do that, the Archbishop of York calls for  him.  The archbishop is concerned about two deaths, which have occurred in York.  Both seem to have been from the same cause.  Are they related or not?  He has been assured that the infirmarian at the abbey is to be trusted.

In York, Owen is told to apply as an apprentice to the apothecary that might be connected to the two deaths.  However, first Owen must meet with the infirmarian, Brother Wulfstan.  He also meets with the Riverwoman, a healer.  He gathers minimal information, however he does gain work at the apothecary owned by Nicholas Wilton.  Wilton is bedridden, so his wife Lucie has taken charge.

When a man, who works for the Archdeacon is found dead, Owen wonders if his connection to the man had anything to do with his death.  A few hours later someone tosses a torch into his room at the inn.  Fortunately, he was not in there and they were quickly able to put the fire out.

How many more are to die before Owen can find the truth?  Author Candace Robb has written an excellent historical mystery in the first of a series.  I look forward to reading the next book.

Saint Peter’s Fair

A committee of Shrewsbury has come to the nearby monastery to request that a portion of the funds raised during the three day Saint Peter’s Fair be given to the town to help repair the degradation, which had occurred during the siege the king had put the town under the previous year.  Abbot Radulfus outright refuses the request.

When preparations for the fair are underway, Brother Cadfael is helping a Welshman who doesn’t speak any English.  They notice a group of about twenty-five young striding towards the grounds.  They seem hellbent on making trouble.  However, they simply requested what their elders had of the abbey.  The merchants denied the request, and a simple misunderstanding led to a riot!  The local lads disperse when the sheriff’s men show up.

That evening one of the merchants seems to have gone missing.  His niece is quite concerned.  Deputy Sheriff, Hugh Beringar, commences a search for the missing man.  The following morning he shows up - dead. He had been found in the river downstream naked, and with a stab wound to the heart from behind.

Is the leader of the lads who was seen in conflict with the merchant guilty?  He was arrested in the early morning hours.  Emma, the niece is not so certain.  A preliminary hearing is held before the sheriff, who deems the crime serious enough for him to be held until further evidence is gathered.

After the hearing, Emma discovers that someone has been aboard her uncle’s barge and stolen a few of her items.  That night someone breaks into her uncle’s booth and steals the strongbox.  Emma’s only concern is that the man guarding the strongbox is safe.  As a result, both Cadfael and Hugh are left wondering whether she knows what is being searched for and where it actually is.

How many more are going to die?  Will Emma admit to knowing what is being searched for?  Author Ellis Peters Hints at the culprits throughout this mystery and leaves the reader guessing.  An enjoyable quick read.

The Best of Our Spies

Arnold Vermeulen had entered England as a  refugee from Belgium when the Germans invaded, however it didn’t take long for the British to determine that he was a sleeper agent of the Nazis.  It also didn’t take them long to turn him.  He was to pass on the messages of a female German spy known as Magpie.

Colonel Visser, a member of the Dutch intelligence, working with Captain Edgar of MI-Five assure Professor Newby, who is in charge of XX Committee, that Vermeulen can be turned, but they want to get their hands on the Magpie.  But how will they accomplish that?

Fortunately, Captain Edgar’s team is able to identify Magpie and trail her after she meets with Vermeulen.  She has come from France and is a nurse.  When Edgar speaks to her matron, it fortunately turns out that the young woman has requested a transfer to a military hospital.  Newby tells Edgar that the request will be granted in time.

Nathalie Mercier, also known as the Magpie, receives her request to transfer to a naval hospital.  While there she quietly goes through the files of the patients and discovers that a Lieutenant Owen Quinn is to be transferred to London to work in intelligence.  She begins to put her plan into play.

Unbeknownst to Quinn, he is destined for Naval Intelligence.  He does take a hint from Captain Edgar and becomes engaged to Nathalie.  One of his major projects was the Dieppe Raid.  Quinn was very upset with the results.

The plan is to give Magpie more information about the upcoming invasion.  So, Quinn is allowed to take home maps of Calais, so that she will pass on the information that the invasion is to be directed there.  The plan works quite well.  Major Edgar’s next plan is to send Nathalie to the area.

What follows is the invasion of Europe, but not at Calais.  Nathalie plays a role that she is unaware of that helps with the invasion.  She then disappears.  Quinn, once the invasion is well established goes in search of her.  Will Edgar get to her first or will her Nazi handlers punish her for providing false information?

Author Alex Gerlis has written a tremendous thriller that I found hard to put down.  The conclusion is shocking.  However, I am sure that all who read this book will enjoy it.  I look forward to reading more from this author.

Merchants of Virtue

August 1685, France and Louis XIV intends to ensure that all of France is catholic.  The Huguenots were to be banned from practising their religion.  He plans on overturning the Edict of Nantes.  Will they convert or leave France?

In Montauban Jacob Delpech de Castanet is concerned for his pregnant wife and children in light of the situation.  However, Jeanne wants to be with him for the birth of their child.  It isn’t long before the army marches into their town.  Soldiers are to be billeted in the homes of Huguenots .  Nine soldiers are assigned to Delpech’s home.  They have no regard for his position in society nor the quality of the house.  They just want to be fed and provided with a place to sleep.

Most of the soldiers were mercenaries of Germanic stock who cared little for French traditions and culture.  However, Jacob and Jeanne refuse to give up their faith in order to rid themselves of the soldiers in their home.  The nine soldiers are moved on and another group moved in.

Eventually Jacob would be imprisoned and Jeanne sent to live in the country with the children.  But for her, that wouldn’t even be enough.  She was forced to give up her children to her sister and her husband, and then go into hiding.

“Merchants of Virtue” is the first book in a trilogy that chronicles the Huguenots’ trials when Louis VIV decides to make all of France catholic.  Author Paul C. R. Monk follows one family as they are split asunder and persecuted for their beliefs.  A good quick read.

Scaring Crows

DI Joanna Piercy is out in the country looking at a derelict cottage that her partner Matthew wants to fix up for them when she receives a calll from her DS, Mike Korpanski that two men have found shot to death in their farm home.  Murder - suicide?

The man who found the bodies informs them that there is also a daughter.  Where is she?  Where would she run to?  And why has no one seen her for about a month?  Piercy begins to think that she may also be dead.

When they do find the daughter, it comes as a complete shock to the team.  Now they have to turn their investigation in a different direction.  Author Priscilla Masters has a few more surprises in store for DI Piercy and DS Korpanski, with a complete twist when the killer is revealed.  A thoroughly enjoyable quick read.

Vita Brevis

Medicus Ruso and his wife Tilla are now in Rome with their adopted daughter.  However, Ruso is unable to find any work despite having been promised that there would be work for him.

Ruso is surprised when a note comes from a doctor who is out of the city attending to his father, offering him his business while he is away.  However, the note also contains a warning:  “Be careful who you trust.”

They are shocked when they discover the body of a man inside a barrel just outside their new lodging, which had once been the lodging of the doctor who seems to have disappeared.  Ruso begins to investigate where he might have disappeared to.

Then one of Ruso’s patients suddenly dies. Could he have been poisoned?  Could Ruso’s medicine have killed him?  Ruso’s patron, Accius, teams Ruso up with his old nemesis, Metellus, to look into the matter.

As usual, author Ruth Downie has Ruso and Tilla get into a variety of adventures, some of which undoubtedly are dangerous to one or the other.  However, their work does lead to a number of solutions and a happy ending for Accius.  Downie has written another very good historical mystery.

Walking by Night

Late one foggy night in Eborby, a young woman claims to having seen a body.  A search doesn’t turn up a body.  She also reports having seen a nun-like figure in the fog.  The following morning a woman is reported missing.  DI Joe Plantagenet is inclined to believe the young woman.  But, where is the body, and what is the connection to the play in which the missing woman was involved in?

Later that same morning the body of the actress is found, in what Joe thinks is the position of a penitent.  The autopsy reveals that the victim was about three months pregnant.  Could the father be the killer? Or was it a scorned wife?

Not long after this the lead male actor in the play the first victim participated in, is found strangled in his dressing room.  The theatre is at the centre of both crimes.  Are there going to be more deaths?

Author Kate Ellis has the answers in the following pages, and the reader will be surprised at who the killer is.  Ellis throws up a few suspects, but not the real one.  This was a very good read.  Sadly, Ellis has not added to the series since this book was published in 2015.

Dying Truth

DI Kim Stone and her DS Bryant have been called to a school where a young girl is threatening to jump from a bell tower.  Unfortunately, she has jumped to her death just before they arrive.  Since it was a suicide, it wouldn’t be in the remit of CID.

Stone isn’t completely sure that it is a suicide.  She requests to be kept up-to-date on the autopsy.  Unfortunately, her team doesn’t hold the same concerns she has.  The pathologist, Keats, agrees with Stone’s assessment after he has done the autopsy.  It is murder staged to look like a suicide.

DS Kevin Dawson is quick to jump on board once he realises that it is now a murder investigation.  Stone gives him the task of speaking to the young people at the school.  He learns that the victim was a bit of a loner, yet willing to stand up for those who were being bullied.  It would also appear that someone had removed her personal writings from her room before he got there.

A couple of days later while Stone and Bryant are interviewing the school counsellor, Dawson interrupts them to inform them that a fourteen year old boy from the school has just been rushed to A and E.  Unfortunately the lad doesn’t make it.  He suffered anaphylactic shock.

Stone relies on DC Stacey Wood to use her skills to gather information on all the people who are connected one way or another to the school.

Keats informs Stone that the boy had been force fed peanuts, which brought on the anaphylactic shock.  What is going on at this school and why would kids be killing other kids?

How many more kids are going to die before Stone and her team find the killer?  The surprising conclusion to that is unexpected, as is the shocking conclusion to the story.  Author Angela Marsons’ sorty is an excellent read, that will leave the reader quite unsettled.  Hard to put down.

Murder at Half Moon Gate

Late one night The Earl of Wrexford and his friend Christopher Sheffield stumbled upon a body after a night of gambling.  The following morning the widow came to him to ask that he investigate the killing of her husband.

The Earl turns to his friend Charlotte Sloane, also known as the political cartoonist, A. J. Quill, for help.  She had helped him solve a murder recently, which had seen him falsely accused of.  A symbol had been carved into the belly of the victim; Charlotte is sure that she had seen it somewhere before, but where?

It is Sheffield who recognises the handwriting on a note sent to the victim inviting him to a meeting.  Could this be their killer?  They soon find out that the man who wrote the note was paid to do it.  They are off on another track, only to find another dying man who gives them a different clue.

It is the following day that one of the potential suspects goes missing.  Is he a killer or has something else happened to him?  However, it is an intruder in Charlotte’s home that turns a new light on the case.

Is anyone safe from those with murderous intent?  Can Charlotte and Wrexford discover the culprits behind the devious schemes before more people die?  Author Andrea Penrose has written another fast paced thriller set in the Regency era, which will have the reader engrossed from beginning to end.

To the Eastern Seas

Things are quiet in Europe.  Boney seems to behaving himself for the time being.  So, Britain is looking to protect its eastern interests, and the East India Company asks that the navy support its interests there.  Captain Thomas Kydd is chosen along with his crew and ship, the Tyger, to go there.  Kydd’s wife, Persephone, is not happy because he will be away for a couple of years at least.

The sail to Madras was uneventful, however Admiral Pellew was glad to see Kydd and the two other frigates, which had accompanied Tyger.  Knowing that they would be stationed in the area for quite some time, Kydd arranges housing and servants.

Pellew is concerned about French privateers in the area.  He gives Kydd three days to prepare to go in search of them.  He also takes from Tyger, Bray, the first lieutenant and assigns him his first command.  In addition, much to the shock of Kydd, Pellew demands forty of his men to be distributed amongst the ships on station to strengthen the quality of the men on those ships.

With a new first lieutenant, and down in men, the Tyger sets out in search of a French privateer.  But where to find him?  The Indian Ocean is vast.  They do sight the privateer, but when the privateer saw that what they were trying to capture was a Royal Navy ship, it quickly ran.  But to where?  It takes some study of books and charts for Kydd and his officers to come up with an answer.  They set sail for their target.

Author Julian Stockwin has plenty of adventures ahead for Kydd and the crew of Tyger, which will take them through the Indian Ocean, up to Macao on the Chinese coast and into the area of the Spice Islands.  It is a rough area for the Tyger as the heat and humidity take its toll on the ship and crew.  Once again Stockwin provides the reader with a very good read.

The Indigo Ghosts

Ezekiel Colt has sent a note requesting the urgent presence of physician Gabriel Taverner aboard the Falco in Plymouth.  Gabriel has no idea what the summons is about.  He is shocked by the changes in the captain.

The captain describes a tale of woe, that started with a very bad storm.  As the ship sailed towards England the crew were on edge.  Then one day down in the hold Colt saw what was bothering them - a ghost, and it was blue in colour!

Colt takes Gabriel on a tour into the depths of the ship.  They encounter an indescribable stench.  Then they see it - ghost, which changes shape in Gabriel’s vision, yet is unseen by Colt, who only hears a wailing sound.  Afterwards, they discover a body of a woman.  What was she doing there?

The following day, Gabriel brings the coroner, Theophilus Davey, to the ship.  Theo orders the removal of the body to his office where Gabriel is to examine it.  Gabriel determines that the woman was between eighty and ninety when she died.  At one time she would have been a beautiful woman.  He is also sure that she had been dead for quite some time.

Gabriel is sure that whoever took her aboard the ship would be wanting to reclaim her.  His sister has some ideas about that, but before anything can be done about that, the body disappears from Davey’s custody.  Later that same morning a body is found.  Gabriel quickly determines that the young man has been drained of his blood.  Why would someone do that?  A young lad along to help remove the body notices that it is blue.

Why are Gabriel and Jonathan Carew, the local priest who did an exorcism on the ship, having strange, threatening dreams?  Why do they both feel like they are being watched?  What is the link to ships’ captains who sailed in the Caribbean?

Author Alys Clare has the answers to these questions and many more that the reader will have in this historical novel of malevolent men and gracious spirits.  An interesting read and a different tack for this author.  All-in-all, a good read.