Christmas is Murder

Rex Graves is a Scottish barrister and has been invited to Brighton for Christmas.  The weather is dreadful, and shortly after his arrival he and the other guests are snowed in.  When he arrives, he finds that an elderly guest has died.  However, Charley, who is newly married and a paramedic, tells him that he thinks that the old fellow died as a result of cyanide poisoning.

Rex begins subtlety questioning the staff and guests about the evening in question.  Charley finds an empty bottle of sodium cyanide in the trash outside.  However, Mrs. Smithings, the owner of the hotel, claims it is used to clean jewelry.

That evening another death occurs when an American guest slips on the cellar stairs and falls to her death.  Is it coincidence or murder?  A mark on the back of her neck points to the latter.  When a third person is murdered, the hotel is put into disarray.  Everyone is a suspect.

On Christmas morning Rex meets with everyone together and goes through the list of possible suspects.  He also presents evidence of the true culprits, who are apprehended by the other guests and held for the police.

This was not a bad murder mystery for what I believe is a first time writer.

Age 14

It is 1924 and John Condon receives word in Waterford from the British War Office that he is dead and his remains have been found in Flanders.

Young Patrick Condon is big for his age in 1911.  At 10 he goes with his father and brother to work on the quays at Waterford to help earn a few pennies for the family.  Two years later Patrick attempts to join the army, giving his age as 17 and using the name of his brother John, who is five years old than him.  Surprisingly he is accepted.  Patrick takes to the army with alacrity; he is now in the part time army.

As war looms Patrick joins the regular army and thrives.  When war breaks out he is extremely excited about getting to the front.  But you have to be 19 for that.  He can't wait until he turns 19 in the eyes of the army.

As the Irish troops enter Ypres, Patrick is excited by the devastation he sees, whereas his good friend, Tom, sees an appalling destruction of centuries of history.  The progress to the front is slow and at night.  From the front come weary soldiers, the wounded and the dead.  An MP tells them to turn off lanterns and to not smoke, unless they want to become targets for the Germans.

Shelling and machine gun fire is constant at the front.  It is bitterly cold in the trenches and the men are given whale oil to smear on their feet to protect them from the cold and damp.  Snipers pick off men who are foolish enough to stick their heads above the top of the trench.  Patrick is shocked by the death he sees around him.  A cycle of four days in and four days out of the trenches is set up.

By April of 1915 the weather was warming up, and poppies were starting to bloom amongst the many graves.  On the German side of the battlefield at Ypres, they are preparing to release their new devastating new weapon.  Chlorine gas is released against the Zouaves and Canadians at Ypres.  The Germans are unable to take advantage because the Canadians counter-attack.  Without gas masks the Irish are told to pee on their handkerchief and wrap it around their face.

The Second Battle of Ypres is devastating to both sides, costing thousands of men.  Patrick's Irish regiment is virtually wiped out.

This is an excellent, short novel, based on a true story.  Author Geert Spillebeen has really given the reader a sense of what it was like to live and die in the trenches near Ypres.  A very good read.

Watching the Dark

DI Lorraine Jenson has just discovered a body by the lake at the clinic where she is a patient recovering from a badly broken leg.  When the body is turned over by DCI Alan Banks and the crime scene doctor it is discovered that the victim was killed by a crossbow bolt, he was also a patient at the clinic and a DI himself.

Banks sets his team to querying the guests at the clinic while he went to Leeds to check up on the late DI Bill Quinn.  Banks' team is surprised when a member of the Professional Standards team, Inspector Joanna Passaro, is assigned to work alongside them.  Banks knows that she will slow down the investigation just because of who she represents.

Banks and his team discover what might be a migrant camp up in the dales.  Within the camp is found a body, the body of a man that might have been phoning Quinn from a nearby pay phone.  Delving deeper, it appears that there is a people trafficking connection, brought even closer to home when one of Banks' team find a number of deaths by cross bolt in Europe, and related to people trafficking.

Evidence comes to light that Quinn and the second victim were on the trail of a young woman who had gone missing in Estonia six years earlier.  Banks needs to travel there to gather more information.  Is the case of the missing girl tied to the people trafficking?  Banks heads to Estonia, but much to his chagrin, must take Passaro along.  What they discover is shocking and revealing.

I have been a fan of author Peter Robinson ever since I picked up his first Inspector Banks novel.  Robinson is a great story teller and you won't be disappointed with this latest novel.  An excellent read.

Nights of Awe

Ariel Kafka is a detective in Finland.  He has just been assigned a case where two bodies have been found near a railway bridge.  One has been shot several times and the other is an apparent suicide.  Both are foreigners.  It doesn't take long for the security police to become involved.

Kafka's investigation leads him to an auto body shop, where two more bodies are found in the paint booth, both from Iraq.  The investigative team wonder if there is a terrorist connection. 

The next morning a burned out car is found with a body in it.  It would appear that the car is the one connected to the four other deaths.  As the investigation continues, evidence points to an attack on the local Jewish synagogue.  Then another body is found.  This one has an Israeli passport on it.

As the investigation continues evidence is found of a planned attack on the synagogue just when the Israeli foreign minister is to visit it.  Terrorists, the Mossad and criminal elements make this into a very good thriller.  This is the first book I have read by Finnish author Harri Nykanen, and I was very impressed.  I look forward to reading more.

The Twylight Tower

Elizabeth has been on the throne for a short time.  In that short time her forces have defeated France and Scotland and forced a treaty on them.  Unfortunately her favourite musician has just fallen to his death because of too much drink.

Elizabeth accedes to the request of her cousin, Henry Carey to investigate the death of Geoffrey, her lutenist.  William Cecil, her main advisor wants Elizabeth to get back to concerning herself with the running of the country instead of dallying with Robert Dudley.  Cecil is also concerned about de Quadra, the Spanish ambassador.  He is sure the Spanish want to put Mary, Queen of Scotland and France on the throne of England.

Meantime, Elizabeth is sure someone is watching her and some of her servants are quietly investigating, what they feel, was not the natural death of her musician.

During a play, in which Elizabeth is to be raised as in flight, her loyal man, Luke Morgan collapses while holding the rope which suspends Elizabeth.  Things appear very suspicious.  Is Luke or Elizabeth the intended victim?  Author Karen Harper present three possible suspects behind the threat to Elizabeth.

It isn't long after this that Dudley's wife dies from a fall down the stairs.  Are Dudley and Elizabeth complicit in her death as many in the realm will come to suspect?  Elizabeth puts into motion an investigation into what she is now calling murders.

This novel is good, but not one that excited me as a reader.

The Thing Itself

"The Thing Itself is a mystery that goes back and forth in time.  This story contains a prequel to Peter Gutteridge's previous novels.  It outlines how the "Brighton Trunk Murder" came about.  A man who survived World War One killed and dismembered the body of his mistress because she had become pregnant, and he was sterile due to the Spanish Influenza.

Sarah Gilchrist is still investigating Bernie Grimes, the con that the armed police group had tried to arrest in Milldean earlier.  She has since found out that the young girl she had saved on the beach is Grimes' daughter.  Grimes asks Charlie Laker, another con, to take care of the girls who attacked his daughter.  Charlie has other investments that he needs to take care of as well.

Bob Watts and James Tingley also have unfinished business to attend to.  Watts wants to know about the Brighton Trunk Murder and its connection to his father.  Tingley is after two Balkan murderers.

Watts' father has a stroke and dies.  In his father's papers he discovers notebooks about the Brighton Trunk Murder.  He reads that his father was involved with British fascists in the 30s.  He also finds out about his father's role in the war.  Watts will discover much more in his investigation about the past and present in this thriller by Peter Gutteridge.  An excellent read.

Dorchester Terrace

Lady Vespasia Cumming-Gould's good friend is aging quickly and slipping into dementia.  Serafina  Montserrat knows what is happening to her and expresses concern to Vespasia that she might say something wrong at an inconvenient time, which could create problems for others.

Vespasia approaches Victor Narraway, former head of Special Branch, to see if there are any worries about Serafina disclosing secrets, and how she might be protected.  He is unable to approach Thomas Pitt, who has recently been confirmed as head of Special Branch, so Narraway has to do things on his own.

Meantime, Pitt's sergeant, Stoker has discovered that some foreigner is asking questions about the rail line between Dover and London.  This raises the possibility that foreigners plan to strike at Britain for some reason; or could it be a diversion for something else?  Later information comes to Pitt indicating that the target could be a minor member of the Austrian nobility.  Were he to be assassinated on British soil, the two nations could potentially end up at war.

When Serafina dies unexpectedly, Vespasia approaches Pitt with her concerns.  Pitt immediately goes to Serafina's home in Dorchester Terrace to investigate.  An autopsy proves that Serafina has succumbed to an overdose of laudanum.  Because of Serafina's knowledge, Pitt wonders if the two cases aren't tied together.  He approaches his old boss Narraway for advice.  Narraway is provided with information that there is possibly an agent of the Austrian government working in the Foreign Office.

Murder, political intrigue, conspiracy, and love are all well woven together in this 19th century mystery by author Anne Perry.  A good read.