The Virgin in the Ice

November 1139, and the civil war in England has forced refugees into Shrewsbury.  The ill and exhausted are in the infirmary of the abbey.  Sun-Prior Herward from Worcester has also come to the abbey in search of two orphaned noble children who were on the way to Shrewsbury, but seem to have disappeared.  One is a girl of eighteen, along with her brother who is thirteen.  They are travelling with a nun who is the girl’s tutor.

The sheriff however, will not provide safe passage for their uncle to search for them because he is a supporter of Empress Maud.  The sheriff will ensure that they are searched for and when found safely turned over to their uncle.

Shortly after this, Cadfael has to venture out into the cold, snowy weather to a sister abbey at Bromfield where a man has been attacked and is in bad shape. Prior Leonard informs Cadfael that the man is a monk and he could very well know the whereabouts of the missing trio.

Cadfael goes in search of the trio, and has success at a remote cottage.  The lad tells him that his sister had left them with her lover.  As they progress back to Bromfield, Cadfael discovers the body of a young woman frozen in a brook.  Cadfael assumes that it is the body of the lad’s sister.  The following day, the lad informs him that it is actually the nun who had accompanied them.

As the search for the sister continues, Deputy Sheriff Hugh Beringar discovers a number of holdings that have been raided, people killed and the livestock stolen.  It would appear that there is a gang of trouble makers on the loose in the area.

What follows in author Ellis Peters’ historical mystery thriller is a tale of treachery, relief at the finding of a lost sheep, terror when another is threatened and the finding of a killer.  But most outstanding is the surprise the author provides at the end.  A well written, fast paced thriller that is possibly the best in this series so far.

The Lady Chapel

A man has been murdered in the liberty of York Minster and his hand cut off.  Archbishop Thoresby  wants Owen Archer to find the killers.  While the pair are discussing the murder, Bess Merchet bursts into the office with the hand.  It was found in a guest room.  The guest has departed, but Bess had heard him arguing with the victim the night before.

Owen is to go to Beverly to speak to the man in whose room the hand was found.  Before leaving he asks his wife, Lucie to find out about the boy, Jasper, who had seen the murder occur.

Some time later, the man Owen had gone to question is back in York visiting the archbishop.  That same night he is set upon, murdered and his hand sliced off.  Who was his hand sent to?  The wife of the dead man hints that his own commercial past may have had something to do with his death and that of his friend.

As his investigation progresses, Owen learns from Lucie that the physick that the dead man was taking contained arsenic.  It had been given to him by his wife!

What danger is Owen headed for?  Will he die because the archbishop wants to bring down the mistress of the king?  Author Candace Robb has plenty of action, murder and treachery awaiting both Owen and Archbishop Thoresby in this historical novel.  A very good read.  I am looking forward to reading the sequels.

The Repenting Serpent

DCI Michael Yorke and his team of DS Jake Pettnan and DI Emma Gardner are all at a bloody crime scene.  A woman has had her chest cut open and her heart removed.  In addition, two slices of flesh have been removed from her thighs.  The team all know the victim because she had been married to one of their own; DS Iain Brookes.  The police had received an anonymous call about the body.

Not long after attending the scene Brookes calls Yorke to inform him that his son is missing.  Fortunately, when they get to his home, the boy is back.  After questioning Brookes is ruled out as a possible suspect.  However, a print at the scene turns up a viable suspect.  Unfortunately, he is not where he should be.

The following morning pathologist Dr. Patricia Wileman gives the team a description of what had been done to the victim.  It was done with surgical precision.

Later, the prime suspect is found burned to death.  This time the killer left a drawing at the site of what appears to be an Aztec diety.  From a professor of Meso-american studies Yorke learns that the killer likely included cannibalism in his ritual.

News comes into the office of another killer that has returned to the area.  Lacey Ray is back from France where she had escaped to after killing a man the police were looking for in a previous case.

The team’s luck changes when a potential victim manages to escape the killer.  What can she tell them other than his description?  Will her description lead them to the killer before he kills again?

Author Wes Markin’s thriller is fast paced and full of horrific detail; not a book you would want to read just before bedtime.  All-in-all an otherwise good read.

One Last Prayer for the Rays

DCI Michael Yorke has come to a posh private school in Salisbury to meet with PC Tyler and DS Jake Pettman.  One of the teachers had gone to the washroom in search of one of his students and found a large pool of blood on the floor.  The student is missing.

Written in blood on the wall of one of the stalls was “In the blood.”  As the investigation begins, Yorke learns that the father of the missing boy had threatened to run away because the father was having affairs.

Later in the day it is determined that the blood on the floor is pig’s blood.  Could the boy have been taken, and the pig’s blood be some sort of message?  The boy’s family has had a connection to pig farming in the past.  Anyone who ever had a problem with the family needs to be identified as soon as possible.  That includes one of their own, Harry Butler.  His wife had been killed by the boy’s great uncle.

Things turn nasty when an video of the boy is emailed to the parents.  Later a ransom demand text is sent to them.

Can Yorke’s team save the boy before he is killed?  Author Wes Markin’s thriller picks up the pace at this point.  I found the book hard to put down and thoroughly enjoyed it.  I look forward to reading the sequel.

The Last Protector

Marwood has been assigned by his boss, Undersecretary Williamson, to spy on a duel between The Earl of Shrewsbury and the Duke of Buckingham.  It is not a task that Marwood is enthusiastic about.  Buckingham wounds Shrewsbury, but will it be fatal?  How will the king deal with Buckingham, whose support he needs in parliament.

Meanwhile Cat Hakesby and her husband have been approached by Richard Cromwell and his daughter Elizabeth, the former in disguise.  They want to see plans that Hakesby has for the Cockpit, which is a part of Whitehall.  Cat wonders why.  The pair explain that Cromwell’s mother had hidden something of value to them in the sewer underneath the Cockpit.  Would it still be there after twenty years?

With the discovery of Cromwell being back in England by Buckingham’s men, the plans of Cromwell and the Hakesbys is put in jeopardy.  Cat turns to Marwood for help.  What help can Marwood be?  The Hakesbys and the Cromwells are in the tight grip of Buckingham, while Marwood fears for his life because of the same man.

Andrew Taylor’s historical thriller is full of treachery and action.  Will Marwood survive the trials and tribulations that are set before him?  What will happen to Cat and her husband while in the grips of the Duke?  Taylor’s novel is a fun read and hard to put down.  I am hoping that there will be a sequel to this.

The Leper of Saint Giles

A wedding is about to happen in Shrewsbury.  Brother Mark has taken upon himself to work with lepers nearby.  Brother Cadfael has brought him some medicines when the groom rides by.  The groom decides to threaten the lepers who have turned out to view the spectacle, and lashes at one leper who refuses to move back.  Mark comments that “Feat makes men cruel.”  Cadfael is not sure that the man is truly a leper despite showing symptoms.

The bride is young enough to be the groom’s granddaughter.  What will become of her?  Cadfael is not surprised when he discovers the bride, Iveta, with a young man in his apothecary.  He is also not surprised her aunt comes upon them.  He pretends to be preparing a medication for a headache she is suffering from.  After Iveta and her aunt leave, Cadfael wants to get to know the young man, Joscelin.

The following morning Joscelin arrives angry in the abbey astride his horse.  He accuses Iveta’s uncle of having him fired from his job.  Both men give their side to Radulfus, the abbot.  Moments later, Joscelin’s former employer arrives with the sheriff and accuses Joscelin of theft.  He is shocked when the item is found amongst his possessions.  Cadfael is not surprised when Joscelin escapes from his captors by diving into the fast flowing river.

The day of the wedding, the bride is prepared, but the groom doesn’t show up!  When the man is found, he is dead.  Murdered by someone who had put a rope across his path.  Iveta’s uncle immediately accuses Joscelin of the murder as does the sheriff.

It is Brother Oswin, Cadfael’s helper, who points out that the body was found bareheaded.  Where was his hat? When he finds the hat, Cadfael discovers a posey of flowers not native to the area around Shrewsburyon the hat.  Where could the victim have been to have gotten them?  Cadfael begins his investigation.

Cadfael does discover the killer, but it is someone else who confronts him.  Author Ellis Peters also has another mystery within this murder mystery, which Cadfael quietly solves.  Peters once again has written an enjoyable historical murder mystery with a couple of surprises at the end.  On to the next in the series!

Fatal Promise

DI Kim Stone has finally had her cast removed after the incident in which one of the members of her team was killed.  Her boss wants her to take counselling, but she refuses.  Her DS, Bryant is the first to return, and it doesn’t take long for the pair to settle into a familiar banter.  DC Stacey Wood is quick to follow.  Within moments of their meeting, they have a new case on their hands.

It was the body of a doctor that they had met in their most recent case.  Based on the wounds to the body, it would appear that the killer didn’t like the victim.

The team is shocked when DS Penn joins them as the replacement.  He had worked with them in the past, however it is hard to accept him as the replacement for DS Dawson.

Despite having the current case to work on, Stacey is unable to give up on a missing girl she had been working on while seconded away.  She learns a bit more about the girl when she goes to speak to the mother a second time even though she is no longer on the case.

Stone’s case takes a nasty turn when the son of the doctor is severely injured in an automobile accident.  Stone can only wonder if someone has it in for the doctor.  The question is, if someone has it in for the doctor, who is next in line to be killed?

Can Stone and her team prevent further deaths before they catch the killer or will someone else die?  Will Stacey find the missing girl, or is she dead, too?

Author Angela Marsons’ thriller has all the answers in the following pages.  Once again, Marsons has written a fast paced thriller that is hard to put down.  Where will the next book in the series lead DI Stone and her team?  I look forward to finding out.

Arrowood and the Thames Corpses

London, 1896 and private detective William Arrowood, and his assistant Norman Barnett have been asked by Captain Moon and his daughter, Suzie, to take on their case.  They have a regular route ferrying people to Gravesend. They have a complaint that a new competitor has started damaging their boat.

A few days later after an attack on the boat, Barnett is on his own guarding the boat.  As far as he is concerned, nothing untoward happens during the night.  However, the following morning, two ropes are found tied to the boat.  When they pull up the first rope he and Suzie discover a series of children’s skulls tied to the rope.  The second rope is attached to the bodies of two women and a man.

When Inspector Petleigh shows up, he tells Arrowood and Barnett that they are off the case now as it is now a police investigation. However, will that stop them?  Unfortunately, Captain Moon commits suicide a day later.  Why did he do that?

A few days later, Barnett is arrested for the murder of the two women found tied to the boat.  If he is found guilty, he will hang.  The detective who arrested him claims to have evidence.

How can Arrowood solve the case with his right hand man in jail and likely condemned to hang?  Author Mick Finlay has the answers and the adventures that await the reader in the concluding pages.  A very good read with a number of surprises awaiting the reader.  I look forward to reading the next book in this series.

Black Sun Rising

Chief Inspector Maitland of Scotland Yard has just asked private detective Harry Lawton if he has any interest in a job in Barcelona.  Apparently a man had been blown up by an anarchist’s bomb there.  He had left a sum of money to a woman in his will.  His widow wants to know more about it.

Lawton begins his investigation by trying to learn more about the dead man.  What he learns makes him not like the man.  However, the pay is good, and he is prepared to go to Barcelona.

Using fingerprints from the corpse, and a couple of other bits of information he had been provided with, Lawton is able to determine that the corpse is indeed the man he was looking for.  Now, he needs to find the woman.  However, the bank manager where the cheque was written refuses to help.

Lawton’s quest leads him to a journalist by the name of Bernat Mata.  Both men feel that there is something sinister about the city.  Later, Lawton comes to the conclusion that the dead man was involved in the study of eugenics with a group of like-minded men

Death and destruction are bound to follow Lawton and Mata as they go about the investigation.  They will be surprised by what they discover.  Author Matthew Carr’s thriller is set amidst the “Tragic Week”, which actually happened in Barcelona in - .  Carr has told an intriguing story based on many factual events.  An enjoyable read.

The Fire Baby

Reporter Philip Dryden has made a promise to a dying woman; he will get her daughter back to be with her before she goes.  Maggie Beck shares the room with Dryden’s wife, Laura.  Maggie had also been a good friend of his mother.

Dryden has also been provided with information about a missing woman by DI Newman, who is an avid birder.  In return Dryden provided him with information about a rare gull.  Dryden is researching his own story about illegal immigrants.  A few days later, a man drops into the newspaper office; his daughter has been missing for five days.  The picture he shows to Dryden is the same girl Newman had shown him.

Just before she dies, Maggie tells Dryden and her daughter a shocking story.  She requests that he write it up and put it in the newspaper, which he does.  The same day the story is published, the missing woman shows up.  She tells Dryden that her father is now missing.

What trouble will the two stories lead to for Dryden?  Author Jim Kelly has plenty of trouble ahead for Dryden.  Murder aplenty, plus tapes, which reveal much about Maggie’s story.  One wonders how Dryden can manage to come out of this thriller alive.  Well written, and fast paced.  Quite an enjoyable read.

Traitors of Rome

Tribune Cato and His senior centurion, Marcus are in Tarsus with the Second Cohort of the Praetorian Guard, training the auxiliaries in preparation for the upcoming war with Parthia.  It isn’t an easy task.

Marcus is about to be married to Petronella.  The day after the wedding, General Corbulo summons Cato.  He tells Cato that he needs time to whip his army into shape, so he plans on sending Cato as head of an embassy to the king of the Parthians in hopes that Vologases will hold off fighting the Romans and focus on his eastern frontier instead.

Accompanying Cato will be an adviser of Corbulo, Apollonius of Perga.  They will have ten men to accompany them into Parthia.  Cato is not overly impressed with the prospects.  He decides to leave newlywed Macro behind to train the new troops.  He also decides to take his new slave, Flaminius, with him.

On the way east, Cato hears of an outlaw known as the Desert Hawk.  Apollonius also learns about the outlaw.  He wonders exactly what his role is, aid to King Volgases or the exact opposite?

Meanwhile, back in Tarsus, Macro and the Praetorian Guard are ordered to be part of an army Corbulo is taking to the north to put down a rebellion.

How safe can it be for Cato and Apollonius to go deep into enemy territory?  Will Macro survive the winter in the mountains?  Author Simon Scarrow has plenty of adventures and treachery awaiting the men in this historical novel.  A thrilling read for fans of historical fiction.