The Red Hill

Thomas Berrington is a surgeon employed by Sultan Abu al-Hassan Ali in Gharnatah, Spain.  The sultan wants Thomas to investigate a number of attacks and deaths which have occurred in the harem.  A couple of serving girls have been killed.  The sultan wants the killer found before he kills someone more important.

Jorge, a eunuch in the Sultan’s palace, informs Thomas that the murders had been investigated by the Vizier’s clerks.  However, he is sure that it was simply to cover things up.  It would not be good to have it known that there had been killings in the palace.

While beginning the investigation, they hear screaming.  Both run to its source.  They find the sultan’s pregnant wife Safya with her arm severed.  She is dying, so Thomas immediately begins a Caesarian to save the baby.  While doing that, guards and the sultan arrive.  Thomas is arrested.  Will he, Jorge and the two girls who were with Safya at the time be beheaded?

Fortunately, the sultan still wants Thomas to continue his investigation.  Upon reaching the room where the deadly incident had occurred, he and Jorge find that it has been cleansed.  No evidence of the killer can be found.  Jorge lists who could have entered the room without anyone noticing.  While examining the body of the servant girl, Thomas discovers that the killer had grasped her with his left hand and it is missing two fingers.

As Thomas and Jorge close in on their target, they endanger themselves.  Thomas is attacked and injured.  The vizier wants to send him away, but Thomas refuses.  As a result he is cast out of the palace.  

With no where to turn, will Thomas and Jorge continue their search for the killer or will they become the hunted?  Author David Penny’s first in this series has danger awaiting the pair and those close to them.  How many more will die as their quest progresses?  Penny has written an excellent historical thriller, full of deceit, treachery and a complete plot twist at the end.   I found this story hard to put down.  I look forward to reading the sequels.

Tom Wasp and the Murdered Stunner

Tom Wasp, a chimney sweep, was on his way to work early, when mudlarks informed him of a body in the mud of the Thames.  He sent his assistant, Ned, to get the police while he walked into the mud to see.  It was the body of his friend, Bessie Barton.

Tom had met Bessie when he was at a house cleaning chimneys.  The master of the house was an artist who painted people.  When Tom went to look at the chimney in his room he discovered Bessie posing for the artist.  Mr. Drake, the artist, decides that he wants Tom included in the picture he is painting of Bessie.  As they sit for Drake, Tom gets to know Bessie.

The police inform Tom that Bessie had been strangled before being tossed in the river.  Tom vows to find out who killed her.  In Covent Gardens, Tom learns that Bessie was known there as Lizzie Watkins.  The cabbage seller is sure that she was running away from someone called Moonman.

The day after the funeral the police arrest Drake.  He asks Tom to find the killer.  Like a spider, Tom begins to spin some webs in the hopes of gathering information.  He learns of a sister, and from that sister he learns of a boy.  What has happened to him?  When Tom discovers where they had lived, he learns that the Moonman has taken the lad.

Mudgwick, Drake’s lawyer hires Tom to investigate further, paying his expenses for so doing.  Tom’s sources find Bessie’s brother for him, and from him, he learns more about Bessie.  But, that doesn’t bring him any closer to the killer.  Will more women die before Tom can find the killer?

Author Amy Myers’ novel is a good historical thriller, the first in a trilogy.  Myers shows the dirty underside of Victorian London while presenting an unusual and determined detective.  Be prepared for some surprises.  A good, quick read.

Alexander’s Legacy - To the Strongest

Babylon, the summer of 323 BC.  Alexander is dying.  Who will the greatest conquerer of all name as his successor?  Unfortunately, he dies without naming anyone.  There are six possible bodyguards of Alexander who could be named his successor.  How will he be chosen?  And what of his unborn child currently being carried by Roxanna?

Roxanna reaches out to the most prominent of the guards - Perdikkas.  He quickly points out to her that he doesn’t regard her as his queen.  She offers him the regency of the child.  She also wants Alexander’s two other wives dead.

Ptolemy suggests that the army be governed by a group of four.  Would that work?  He also suggests that the army choose the four.  Peithon declares that Macedon must have a king, which has agreement.  They also agree that they will wait for the birth of Roxanna’s child, and that Perdikkas will be the regent for fourteen years.  It is a compromise, but will the infantry and cavalry agree to it?

The infantry doesn’t and immediately declares Arrhidaeus king!  Can Meleagros get them to change their minds?  Meleagros takes advantage of the situation, and crowns a new Philip, the third of that name.  As Eumenes realises, Meleagros is in reality setting himself up as regent because the new king is a half-wit.

The council of four is made up of Perdikkas, Leonnatus, both in Babylon, Antipatros in Macedon and Krateros in Cilicia.  Will they work together or start to pull Alexander’s empire apart?  The empire is slowly divided.  Ptolemy will get Egypt.  Perdikkas will stay in Babylon to oversee Asia.  On the other hand, Meleagros is executed.

And so, the scheming, treachery and counter- treachery begins.  What is to become of the body of Alexander in its expensive catafalque?  Each leader is now for himself and war is on the horizon.

Author Robert Fabbri goes on to detail the ensuing battles for control of Alexander’s body and his empire.  Lots of blood is spilled as his empire is broken apart.  Fabbri based the novel on actual people and events.  A thoroughly enjoyable read for fans of historical fiction.

Murder in the Holy City

A hot day in July 1100 in Jerusalem; Sir Geoffrey Mappestone and his group of soldiers have come upon some people confronting a young woman who has a bloody knife in her hand.  She tells him that there is a dead soldier in her house.  When he sees the dead man, Geoffrey realises that he knows him.  Is the woman the killer? He takes the body and the woman to the Advocate.  Is the killing connected to one that had occurred earlier?

That same evening, a priest is killed by an unknown person, but they used the same kind of knife as had killed the victim that the woman had found in her home.  Geoffrey is called to the Patriarch’s palace by the Advocate.  There Geoffrey meets his liege lord, Tancred, who asks him to continue learning Arabic and to look into the murder of three priests and two knights; all killed in the same manner.  When Geoffrey gets back to his little room in the citadel he is shocked to find a heart pinned to the wall by a jewelled dagger!

The following morning Geoffrey is approached by a monk named Courrances, to investigate the murders on behalf of the Advocate.  Geoffrey agrees because it gives him a bit of an advantage.  His friend, Roger, offers to help, while his other friend, Hugh, is wary.  And so, Geoffrey begins his investigation.  

The investigation takes a turn when another monk is killed.  This time he was strangled.  Is someone trying to scare the Crusaders out of Jerusalem?  In this case, the monk was the scribe for the Patriarch.  This man now asks Geoffrey to investigate the murders on his behalf.  Geoffrey is now working for three of the most important men in Jerusalem, who just may be at odds with one another.  Roger, who had accompanied him, is now in the pay of his lord, Bohemond and the Patriarch.  This puts another powerful man into the mix.

Who can Geoffrey trust?  Is his friend, Roger, trustworthy?  Knights from different jurisdictions are definitely not.  How can he solve the cases if he can’t trust anyone?

Author Simon Beaufort’s first in this historical series has conceived a thriller based on fact.  Conspiracy, ambition and treachery were foremost amongst the issues facing the Crusaders, not just the Saracens.  An enjoyable read full of action, and hard to put down.

The Skeleton Man

Reporter Philip Dryden is participating in a live fire exercise with the Territorial Army.  Their objective is the abandoned town of Jude’s Ferry.  Unfortunately, the artillery was off and hit some targets that they weren’t supposed to.  The action is called off, and the troops advance into the town to put out fires and assess damage.  Inside one cellar they discover a body hanging from a hook.

The major that Dryden is with is sure that the body is a woman because at the time of the evacuation an older woman had gone missing.  When Dryden looks at the army maps, he notices that there is no cellar indicated in the pub where the body had been found.

Dryden begins an investigation into the missing woman.  He learns a lot about her from her daughter.  Two days later, a fisherman discovers two severed fingers in his net.  Who do they belong to, and could the person still be alive?  As Dryden is working on that story, news comes in that the skeleton was a man.  They have also found the man to whom the fingers belong, and he is still alive.

Deciding to focus on the skeleton man, Dryden goes to the army to check their records of the removal of the people from Jude’s Ferry.  He creates a list of eight men who could possibly be the victim.

The following day Dryden receives a phone message from a group threatening a local farm where guinea pigs and rats are raised for academic studies.  When he speaks to the owner, he doesn’t seem overly concerned, plus the police are aware.

Shortly after this, he meets with DI Peter Shaw, who is in charge of the case.  Shaw presents Dryden with details of another incident, which is shocking.  It is related to an animal rights group.  Dryden understands now why the police want him to sit on the story.  But, are all the incidents tied together?

Dryden feels that they are, however will his quest for the answers lead him to the solution or will DI Peter Shaw solve the cases first?  Author Jim Kelly has a very convoluted storyline in this mystery which will leave the reader wondering where they are being led.  A good, enjoyable read.

The Thursday Murder Club

PC Donna De Freitas has just given a talk to a group of pensioners.  Four of them invite her to lunch with them afterwards.  There they inform her that they are the Thursday Murder Club.  The four members of the club are:  Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron and Ibrahim.

The Thursday Murder Club has taken on cold case files smuggled out to them by a retired police officer.  Not that they ever solved any of them.  Now, they have a real case on their hands.  One of the developers of their retirement village has been killed by blunt force to the head.  They decide to help the police with their investigation.

Elizabeth and Joyce approach PC De Freitas.  Unfortunately, she isn’t part of the investigating team.  However, Ron and Ibrahim are in the process of convincing DCI Chris Hudson to add her to the team.

Elizabeth has her connections and gathers the financial records of the business partner of the victim.  She and Joyce travel to London to visit Joyce’s daughter Joanna, who just happens to be a financial expert.   They learned that the business partner mad £12 million upon the death of the victim. 

But, then suddenly the business partner is dead.  What is going on?  And are all the residents of the pensioner village suspects?  Because they were all nearby at the time he collapsed from a fentanyl overdose.  The Thursday Murder Club has a list of thirty suspects.

On top of these two cases, the Thursday Murder Club has another body on their hands.  A set of bones has been found in a grave, however what is unusual about the bones is that they are on top of a very old coffin.  Are the bones associated with the death of the two men?

Can a set of amateur sleuths, well into their seventies and eighties solve these mysteries or will the police do all the work?  Author Richard Osman has written a charming murder mystery, which was complex, and had some surprises.  A thoroughly enjoyable read and hard to put down.

At the Going Down of the Sun

It is the summer of 1914 and Rex Sheridan is the first of the three brothers home to Tarrant Hall.  Rex had ambitions in aviation, but his father had sent him to university to get a degree. Roland, the eldest, arrived the following day.  He was studying to become a surgeon.  Two days later the youngest brother, Chris, came home, despite having told everyone he was headed to Greece.  He has plans of attending Cambridge in the fall.

A few days later, they received a telegram that their father had committed suicide.  Roland was now head of the family.  It was the same day that Archduke Ferdinand was killed by a Serbian student.

The death of their father brings reality to the three boys.  Roland as head of the family decides to give up his studies, while he and Rex decide that Chris must go on to university.  However, those plans are kiboshed when it is revealed that Chris has made Marion, the daughter of the local doctor, pregnant.  They are to get married as a result.

On the day of the wedding, Rex shows up in uniform.  He has joined the R. F. C.  It wasn’t until February 1915 that Rex would make it to France.  He soon learned of the dangers of flying and the loss of friends in battle.

To get away from a wife and child he didn’t want, Chris tries to join the army.  However, his poor eyesight excludes him.  He learns the eye chart by memory and goes to a different recruiting station and manages to get in.  However, his poor eyesight lands him in trouble.  Fortunately, that leads him to a promotion and an attachment to the Intelligence Corps.  He only tells Rex where he is.

Roland continues to run Tarrant Hall, growing food to help with the war effort.  Despite that, and offering part of the hall for recuperating officers, the locals began to shun him.  He also began to receive white feathers in the mail, a sign of cowardice.

Due to Chris’ intelligent capabilities, he is shipped out to Gallipoli.  What happens to him there influences Roland to join the army in the medical services.

What follows in Elizabeth Darrell’s novel is a moving tale of a family, community and world caught up in a gruesome, brutal war.  Each man experienced the war in a different way, and it affected those around him to a great deal.  Darrell is very descriptive in writing about their experiences through the Great War.  This is the first in a trilogy.  A good, long read.

The Shapeshifter’s Lair

Pedlar, Cetach, has brought a body to the Abbey of the Blessed Caemgen.  But why?  Abbot Daircell recognises the body of a brehon.  Cetach informs the abbot that he had followed a group of three along the trail nine days after they left.  The other two in the group included Princess Gelgeis and her steward Spealain.  Where were they?  Cetach had seen no other bodies, nor other evidence of them.  Could the shapeshifters have taken them, as Cetach believes?

Princess Gelgeis is the betrothed of Colgu, King of Muman.  Daircell decides to send his master of the stables, Brother Eochai, to inform Colgu of the situation.  Colgu resides at Cashel.  He turns to his sister, Fidelma, for help.  Fidelma is a lawyer of a high degree, and along with her husband, Eadulf, has done numerous investigations.  Fidelma decides that the best thing would be for them to travel to the abbey disguised as religious.  They will take their friend and soldier Enda to ensure their safety.

At the abbey, they learn from Brother Lachtna, the physician who had examined the body that the man had been shot at close range by an arrow, and then his throat was slashed from behind by a left handed person.  The man’s clothing had been given away.  The only thing in his purse was a pebble, which the abbot has.

Fidelma and her companions go to the nearby town to speak to Cetach.  Before going there, Eadulf questions a fletcher about the arrow.  He learns that it was made by a left handed fletcher.  Going on to Cetach’s cabin, they find the man dead.  His throat had been slashed by a left handed person.

While going to examine the spot where the body was found, Fidelma’s group is taken hostage.  They are then escorted to the stronghold of Dicuil Dona.  Fidelma is not intimidated.  They begin a discussion of the situation.  Dicuil Dona suggests that the princess has been taken by brigands.  He also informs Fidelma and Eadulf of a mysterious mining operation going on that is stealing gold and silver from his territory.  Can he and Fidelma work together or will they be at odds?

Author Peter Tremayne’s latest saga in the adventures of Fidelma and Eadulf has plenty of twists and turns in the mountains of Ireland as the pair gather evidence.  It is a couple of similar words that will lead Fidelma to the solutions.  However, it will mean some more tribulations before she can present her case before the court.

An entirely enjoyable read from Tremayne once again.  I’ve already got my eyes on the sequel.

The King’s Bishop

Owen Archer has been tasked with escorting a group carrying letters from the Archbishop of York to abbeys encouraging them to vote for William of Wykeham to be the new Bishop of Winchester.  Thoresby, the Archbishop is in Windsor with the king.  In order to get the letters to York, Ned Townley, a spy for Lancaster and a good friend of Owen’s, will be part of the delegation headed to York with the letters.

Ned has trouble of his own.  He had threatened a young page for being to often with his girlfriend, Mary.  Mary is maid to Alice Perrers, mistress to the king.  She has gone missing, apparently to follow Ned to the north.

Owen sends Ned with a delegation to Rievaulx Abbey and leads another delegation to Fountains Abbey.  Ned leaves earlier than Owen because the route is more difficult.  When Owen sets out, he learns that Ned has a secretive friar in his group.  He is not impressed.

On the way to Fountains Abbey, Ned learns of Mary’s death after the friar attacks him and then runs away.  The abbot he is travelling with puts him under arrest based on the fact that the friar is missing.  In the dark of the night, Ned fled.  But what was he fleeing from or to?

Owen decides that he must investigate the friar and the cause of his grievances with Ned.  What will he find?  Treachery? More death?  And what of Lucie’s dream about the threat to both Owen and Ned?

Author Candace Robb’s thriller is complex and, although it starts out slowly, it quickly becomes fast paced.  Another excellent read in this series.

A Share in Death

Detective Superintendent Duncan Kincaid has just finished a rather harrowing case for New Scotland Yard, and is now in Yorkshire for a week of vacation at a time share where there are several other guests in attendance.

The morning after he arrived two young children find the assistant manager dead in the hot tub.  An electrical appliance had been dropped into the tub from above electrocuting the young man.  Kincaid ensures that the electricity is cut off and then arranges for the local constabulary to be called. 

DCI Nash is not impressed that a Detective Superintendent from New Scotland Yard is on his patch.  However, DI Peter Raskin is much more congenial.  The other guests resent Kincaid when they discover that he is a detective.

Not impressed with Nash’s investigation, Kincaid does a bit of poking about and then requests the help of his DS, Gemma James.  A day later one of the guests is found dead on the tennis court.  Her head had been bashed in from behind.

Has another death occurred when Kincaid finds another body at the foot of a set of stairs?  Fortunately, the woman is still alive.  She remembers being pushed.  Who could have done it?  Author Deborah Crombie has Kincaid’s work cut out for him.  Can he discover the killer before he achieves his ultimate goal?  Crombie’s novel is an excellent read, which I thoroughly enjoyed.  I look forward to reading the sequels.

A Dead Man in Trieste

Seymour of the Special Branch has been sent to Trieste to investigate the disappearance of Lomax, the British Consul.  He learns from the Inspector Kornbluth of the local police in Trieste that the consul had been out drinking with friends the night that he disappeared.

A couple of days after arriving in Trieste, the body of Lomax is hauled from the sea.  Seymour is called to the police station again to meet Schneider, who is in a special branch related to politics.

The autopsy report that Seymour received from Kornbluth indicated that Lomax had been killed by a heavy blow to the back of his head.  There was no indication that he had drowned.

Lomax had been friends with a group of artists, one of whom was a young woman named Maddalena.  Seymour turns to her for help.

Things turn topsy turvey when the man who worked at the consulate is arrested for helping Serbs find a way to escape the Austrian-Hungarian Empire.  It now seems that Seymour is in charge of the consulate.

Will Seymour be able to find the killer before an international incident occurs, which could cause Europe to burst into flames?  Author Michael Pearce’s thriller is full of potential, but to be honest I found his writing to be wordy.  The premise of the story is good and complex, but I feel that it is over written.

Wrong Place

DI Sally Parker and her partner DS Jack Blackman have been called out to a graveyard where the body of a naked woman has been found.  The following morning there is another murder of a woman.

Although the murders were only five miles apart, they were different.  Could this be two different killers or just happenstance?

It is a week before another woman is found dead in similar circumstances to the first, however this time the body was left in a disused warehouse.  Parker and Blackman come to the realisation that the women all have bartending in common.

When DNA evidence is presented, they have a suspect and he is quickly arrested.  He naturally denies everything, and is kept in custody.  However, later there is another murder, and his DNA is found on the victim. How can this be?  Is he being set up?

Are there going to be more murders?  Author M. A. Comley has crafted a short, fast paced thriller, which makes the reader wonder how the police will be able to find the true killer.  The first in a new series by this author leaves the reader wanting to read more of Parker’s and Blackman’s investigations.

The Devil’s Novice

A new oblate has just joined Cadfael’s abbey.  When Cadfael first saw the nineteen year old, he felt that the lad was at odd with his father who had accompanied him.  Cadfael doesn’t know what to make of the new novice, Meriet.

After an accident to another novice, in the middle of the night, Meriet has a disturbing dream, which causes him to scream out in terror.  Cadfael finds him still asleep, although obviously disturbed.  Not waking the lad, he comforted him back to sleep.  A few days later, Meriet talks loudly in his sleep.  Does a devil possess him in his sleep?

Later Deputy Sheriff Hugh Beringar informs Cadfael that a cleric, who was on a mission to gain support for the king, has disappeared.  It appears that he disappeared after visiting the home of Meriet.  The man’s horse is found riderless not far away.  When Hugh brings the horse to the abbey, Meriet blanches at the sight of it.  Only Cadfael notices his reaction.

Meriet reacts violently when one of the brothers takes a ribbon wrapped around a bit of hair that belongs to him and burns it.  He is punished as a result.  Cadfael offers to go to the home of Meriet to learn more about him.  He does learn more, but it is from a girl who wants to be Meriet’s girl.

Having served his punishment, Meriet is sent to work with Brother Mark and the lepers.  While they are in the forest gathering wood, Mark and Meriet discover the body of a man.  Beringar and Cadfael investigate, with Beringar firmly sure that Meriet knows something.  Later, he confesses to Brother Mark, however Mark disbelieves him.

What author Ellis Peters presents to the reader is a story of murder, treachery and treason.  If Meriet isn’t the killer, who is?  It a girl and the discovery of a jewelled pin that leads to the outing of the killer, but not before more damage is done.  A good quick read.

The Coldest Blood

Ely has experienced a cold snap and a number of people have died as a result.  One fellow still has money in his electrical meter.  For experienced journalist Philip Dryden the devil is in the details.

As his investigation progresses, Dryden is sure that there is more to the death than what has been ascertained to this point.  However, the police aren’t overly concerned.  Dryden also learns that the dead man had attended the local Catholic orphanage, which, although closed for some time is under investigation for abuse of the boys who grew up there.

Later, following a man he suspects of dealing dope to kids, Dryden manages to confront the man.  The man tells Dryden that he is delivering dope to a friend who needs it to help suppress the discomfort of throat cancer.  He suggests that Dryden come and meet his friend.  However, they discover that he is dead, frozen to death outside his home.  Could this be another suicide?

Dryden also learns that the second victim was a ward of the orphanage and knew the first victim.  He finds out that they were potential witnesses who could free a man from jail.  When he is shown a picture of the men, he realises what they had seen because he is also in the picture.  Is he the next one in the killer’s sight?

There is more death to come in Jim Kelly’s thriller.  Will he and his wife Laura come out of it alive?  Kelly once again has his reader on the edge of their seat as this thriller moves to its conclusion.  Another good read by this author.

Murder at Kensington Palace

Young Raven and Hawk have just informed Charlotte Sloane of a very gruesome murder of a nobleman.  Apparently the “Bloody Butcher” has struck again.  Charlotte wishes to know more and sends a message via the boys to The Earl of Wrexford to find out more.  It doesn’t take long for him to arrive at her home to discuss it.  

When Wrexford names the victim, Charlotte collapses in a faint.  Sent away, Wrexford is left to wonder why she fainted.  Having learned that the victim’s twin brother has been charged with the murder, returns to tell Charlotte.  She immediately denies that the brother would have done it.

Wrexford arranges for the pair to visit the incarcerated brother, who gives them a couple of leads, plus a plausible alibi.  Charlotte’s contacts indicate that the killer is someone of the upper crust.  Yet, at the same time, her questions only raise more questions.

While Charlotte sends Raven and Hawk into the stews of London, Wrexford and his friend Sheffield attend a brothel to question a woman the alleged killer spent the night with.  The latter come up with some surprising information.  But Charlotte has her own sources, too.

Wrexford learns that the victim had been experimenting with electricity.  He also learns that he had been engaged in experiments with electricity on his own body.

Charlotte comes to the conclusion that she must return to society, which means informing those closest to her of her past.  It also means, hopefully the help of an elderly aunt.  Will that help be forthcoming?

Author Andrea Penrose throws up a number of potential killers for Charlotte and Wrexford to investigate, however as they are killed or disappear, new prospects appear.  So, who is the killer and how will these amateur sleuths find out?  One has to read this historical murder mystery to find out.  A good quick read, and fast paced at the end.

Marbeck and the Double-Dealer

Marbeck has been kicking his heels for too long in his own mind.  Fortunately, Sir Robert Cecil, Master Secretary to Queen Elizabeth, wants him to gather intelligence from someone at Marshalsea Prison and bring it to him.  The man who torturers prisoners tells Marbeck that before he died, the prisoner told him that the Master Secretary has a double agent in his service, working for the Spanish by the name of Morera.

Cecil wants this Morera, which means Mulberry in English, flushed out as soon as possible.  Cecil has his suspicions and provides Marbeck with two names.  After questioning them, he feels that they are not the traitors.  So, the following morning he heads to Dover to check on another man.

Joseph Gifford tells Marbeck of rumours of a Spanish invasion coming from the Low Countries.  The following day Marbeck receives orders to travel to France.  From Dover, Marbeck heads to Plymouth to make the crossing.

There, from Edmund Trigg, he learns of more rumours of Spanish invasion.  This time from the west.  Finally, in Brest, Marbeck finds that his contact is on his deathbed.  The man sends Marbeck further south to his source, the Comtesse de Paiva.

At that point things go south for Marbeck.  He finds himself in a right nasty situation, which is difficult for him to extract himself from.  But a trick he learned as a child helps.  Then he is off to Paris and finally back to London.

Author John Pilkington has more dangerous events awaiting Marbeck in London, and despite the help from Gifford he is almost killed a couple of times.  There is double dealing aplenty.  Pilkington has written a rollicking good historical thriller in this, the first of a series, which I look forward to reading.

Shadow of the Past

Lady Chase has recently taken up residence in Pastor Campion’s area at Moreton Hall.  She is bent on doing good works like helping with a school.  Her nephew Sir Marcus Bramwell and his family have come for a stay.  Campion is not impressed with him.

While out walking one day, Campion comes across the governess employed by Bramwell and her two charges.  Moments after departing from them he hears screams.  Running back he finds the governess in the nearby stream pointing to the body of a man in the water.  Later, when he goes to check on the governess, Campion finds that she is missing.

Dr. Toone, a good friend of Dr. Hansard examines the body and determines that he had been suffocated.  Who was he, and why did he have the ring of the late Lord Chase?  Hansard’s wife Maria manages to execute a fair likeness of the dead man in a sketch.

Campion and his groom set off to London in search of information on the dead man and Lady Chase’s missing son.  The day after, Hansard also travels to London.  What will they find there or will they get into more trouble?

Author Judith Cutler’s second in the series about Pastor Campion is full of mystery and action.  Success also leads to disaster, which in turns leads to the unravelling of the mysteries.  A good, quick read.

Nothing Ventured

Ever since the age of eight, William Warwick  had wanted to become a detective, while his father wanted him to study law and join the firm.  In 1982, William reported to Hendon Police College.  Sixteen weeks later he was in uniform.  However, it would be some time before he could write the detectives exam.

Pass the exam and an invitation to Scotland Yard.  William has been invited to meet Commander Jack Hawksby.  Hawksby sends William to learn the ropes in Peckham.  However, moments after his interview, Hawksby has changed his destination; he will now be working in Arts and Antiques.  However, he still has some time to complete in uniform and it isn’t going to end well.

Newly minted DC William Warwick’s first case with the Art and Antiques team involves a man who steals art and then makes deals with the insurance company to return the item.  He has quite a team to aid and abet the crimes.  Two have been caught, but refuse to give up their leader.  While in jail, their loved ones are well looked after.

That isn’t the only case on the detectives plates, and William is given a couple of cases to solve.  Unexpectedly, William finds himself on the way to Rome following a forger.  Based on pictures they have, it is assumed that he has been forging old Spanish silver coins.  The team also assumes that the money man behind this scheme is the same who is behind the art thefts.

Meanwhile the investigation into the Art thief continues with unexpected help.  Will the team finally get their man?  Author Jeffrey Archer’s first mystery in this series is full of excellent investigative work, court room drama and a few surprises with a complete plot twist on the final page.  This was an extremely top notch read, and I am looking forward to reading the next book in the series.