The Last Caesar

Aulus Caecina Alienus has decided to write about the history of the Roman Empire as he experienced it.  After serving in Britannica, helping to put down the revolt of Boudicca, Caecina becomes the quaestor in the city of Corduba, in the province of Baetica.

It isn't long before Caecina finds himself involved in a plot to overthrow Nero.  He is tasked with convincing Agricola and Vindex, two important governors to support the rebellion.  He finds that Vindex Has plenty of men, but they have no training, so he sets about doing that.  Which army will they have to take on first?  The army of the Rhine or the Italian?  Caecina hopes that negotiations will prevent war, but Vindex has other ideas.  After a battle, it is learned that Nero has been asked to step down by the Senate.  Will Galba become the new emperor?  In his aspirations to become so, he appoints Caecina to lead a legion in Gaul.

Caecina averts a number of potential diasters for the new emperor.  But shortly afterwards, Galba accuses him of fraud, planning on summoning him to Rome for punishment.  Caecina is naturally shocked at this treatment.  What must he do to save his own skin?

Author Henry Venmore-Rowland has written a very good historical novel of Roman times involving lots of action and betrayal.  A good read.

Blind Justice

Hester Monk's friend's father has run into extreme debt because he was convinced by a church to continuously donate to their cause.  Hester feels that there is something very wrong with the church, so she asks her accountant to surreptitiously look at the books of the church.  He confirms her worst fears.

Evidence presented results in the minister of the church being charged with fraud, and the case going to trial before Judge Oliver Rathbone.  Hestor's name comes up in the case, and is besmirched.  Unfortunately there is nothing that Rathbone can do about it.

As Rathbone listens to the evidence that the witness is giving damning Hester he comes to the realisation that he has seen the witness before, related to another case.  Can he put the information forth without affecting his judicial powers?  Shocking evidence results in the death of three people and the arrest of Rathbone.

Hester and William Monk know it is up to them to help their friend, even though he may be guilty.  Their adopted son, Scuff also wants to help.  The information they discover is shocking, but is enough to get Rathbone off?

Author Anne Perry has given the reader, not just a police investigation, but much courtroom drama in this novel.  A good, quick read.

Three to a Loaf

Rory Farrell is a young man who lives a privileged life in Montreal.  In 1915 he is at university, but decides to join the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry to go off to war.  He feels that it is his duty as a Canadian, even though his mother is from Germany.  Because of his education, he is selected for officer training.

Training occurs at Valcartier, Quebec with more in England.  It really doesn't prepare Farrell for the mud, noise and death of the Ypres Salient.  It isn't long after getting into the lines that he begins to lose comrades, and it is during a big German offensive that farrellis wounded.  As a result he loses an eye and has a badly damaged hand.  He convalesces in England, where on bad nights he dreams and raves in German.  As a result he comes to the attention of military intelligence.

Farrell is given a new identity and turned into a spy.  He travels via Norway and Sweden to Germany, where he is accepted as the German/American officer whose identity he has taken on.  However, there is one man who is suspicious of him.  Farrell is impressed by the German army, but he discovers that as a result of the war, Germany is suffering severe deprivations.

In Berlin he meets nurse Gabriele Richter, an avowed socialist. He finds himself attracted to her.  Unfortunately their time together is brief before he is transferred to Poland where his assignment is to exploit the resources for the war effort.  In Poland, Farrell finds conditions even worse as the country had been stripped first by the Russians and then by the Germans.

Working in German intelligence, Farrell gains valuable information, but how to get it back to England?  Author Michael J. Goodspeed has written an excellent thriller around the events of World War One.  Written in the first person as a memoir, I found it to be an excellent read.

The One Thing More

The vote has been taken, the king is to die; he only has three days to live.  The French Revolution is well under way.  However, a man by the name of Bernave has different ideas.  He wants to save the king and allow him to live out the remainder of his days as a normal person.  He has Celie Laurent and others to help him.  The question is, how to accomplish it.

Joseph Briard has offered to replace the king, sacrificing his life in the king's place.  Bernave's plans are limited to only a few.  Unfortunately Bernave is killed when members of the Paris Mob break into his house.  Citizen Menou, who is investigating the murder, is sure that someone living in the house is the culprit, and he wants to ensure that that person goes to the guillotine.

Celie is determined that the plan must go ahead.  She has to convince the other co-conspirators to continue with the plan, and ensure that Bernave left nothing behind that could show Citizen Menou their plans.  Can they succeed in the face of the strength of revolutionary leaders like Robespierre, Danton or Marat?  The death of the king would surely mean that the monarchies of Europe would then attack France.

Anne Perry has brought the early days of the French Revolution to life in this historical novel.  Having taught this topic for many years, I found it to be a very good read.

The Trinity Six

Sam Gaddis is in dire financial straits; the tax man wants a large amount of money and his estranged wife wants money so their daughter can attend a good school.  He is going to have to write a best seller.  His good friend Charlotte Berg suggests co-writing a book about a sixth spy, an additional member of the Cambridge Five.  Unfortunately Charlotte dies before they can get underway.

Charlotte's husband, Paul gives Sam permission to access Charlotte's research.  As he progresses with his own research, Sam runs into roadblocks, and sets into motion an even larger roadblock initiated by SIS.  However, through two of Charlotte's contacts, San finds himself on the road to a groundbreaking story.

It is during a quick trip to Moscow that San comes to the realisation that he is in danger.  Maybe Charlotte's death wasn't the heart attack it appeared to have been.

Author Charles Cumming pieces together a really good, modern spy thriller that takes Sam throughout Europe as he pieces together a story that results in the death of several people and threatens him and the people he loves.  A thoroughly good read.

And None Shall Sleep

DI Joanna Piercy has just had a severe bicycle accident.  She is taken by ambulance to the same hospital where solicitor Jonathan Selkirk has been taken, suffering from an apparent heart attack.  Sergeant Mike Korpanski speaks to Piercy the following morning because Selkirk has disappeared from his hospital bed.

Despite her injuries, Piercy becomes actively involved in the investigation.  Selkirk's wife doesn't seem overly concerned and Korpanski is sure that he was abducted; but by whom and why?   The following day, a body is found outside of town.  It appears to be Selkirk, but it is impossible to know as the man was executed with a bullet to the back of the head.  They are now sure that it was a contract killing.

Because it appears to be a professional hit, the Regional Crime Squad is placed in charge of the investigation.  Piercy resents the RCS being brought in, but is surprised when she is told to continue with her part of the investigation.

Author Priscilla Masters provides plenty of suspects in this thriller, leaving the reader guessing right up to the end.  A good, quick read.

Deadly Friends

It is just after Christmas and DI Charlie Priest has a rape to investigate that occurred on Christmas Eve.  He doesn't have a large crew to work with because many of the police are investigating the murder of a local doctor.  The murder investigation is not Priest's, but circumstances lead to it being turned over to him.

Priest and his team pull in the murder suspect, but before long come to realise that he couldn't have done it.  Meantime they continue to search for the rapist.  The name of the suspect is discovered, and Priest finds out from a colleague in a different jurisdiction that the suspect has changed his name.  He also finds out that the suspect had committed five other rapes and gotten away with them because of a smart solicitor.

Author Stuart Pawson provides the reader with some interesting detective work as Priest and his team put together evidence in both cases.  A good quick read.