The Black Pearl - Cynthia Harrod Eagles

In the Morland Dynasty series, the majestic sweep of English history is richly and movingly portrayed through the fictional lives of the Morland family. It is 1659, and the bleak years of Cromwell’s Protectorate are drawing to a close. Civil war and its aftermath have left Morland Place in bad case, but with the return of the king, Ralph, the master, believes he can rebuild its fortunes.  For his beautiful and ambitious cousin Annunciata it means a journey to London where, embroiled in the amours and intrigues of Charles’ Court, she makes her fortune and at last unlocks the secret of her past.  A kinder age is dawning, but still uncertainty, conflict, and sorrow await both Ralph and Annunciata before they can find peace and forgiveness.

Cynthia Harrod-Eagles continues the story of the Morland family using English history has the background. This entry is volume number five and has the previous ones it has a female Morland as the main character. This time it is Annunciata Morland, Ruth's daughter.

Annunciata never met her father, in fact no one, except her mother, knows of her parentage. That, however, doesn't stop her from being a proud and arrogant young woman who loves to be the center of attention and to belittle her less fortunate cousins. My least favourite Morland heroine used to be Eleanor, in book one, but Annunciata just won the title.

As a young adult, she travels to the newly restored court of King Charles II where she is celebrated as a beauty, finds love, has children and  her heart is broken more than once. Part of the story follows Annunciata's adventures at court and her discovery of her true parentage, while another follows Ralph and the rest of family who now live in reduced circumstances. 

As in the previous books of this series, I think the author did a very good job with the historical background. The Morlands are fictional but it's very easy to imagine them has a real family. She even manages to create a tie with the royal family that doesn't sound too forced and definitely keeps things interesting. The same detail is applied to how people lived, loved, worked...

Annunciata doesn't have an easy life but in the end she finds happiness. That is more than what can be said of some of the other characters... Overall I think this is a fast read wich allows us to learn a bit about the Restoration period in England.

Grade: 4/5

For the Jane Austen fans out there...

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A Vision of Light - Judith Merkle Riley

Margaret of Ashbury wants to write her life story. However, like most women in fourteenth-century England, she is illiterate. Three clerics contemptuously decline to be Margaret’s scribe, and only the threat of starvation persuades Brother Gregory, a Carthusian friar with a mysterious past, to take on the task. As she narrates her life, we discover a woman of startling resourcefulness. Married off at the age of fourteen to a merchant reputed to be the Devil himself, Margaret was left for dead during the Black Plague. Incredibly, she survived, was apprenticed to an herbalist, and became a midwife. But most astonishing of all, Margaret has experienced a Mystic Union—a Vision of Light that endows her with the miraculous gift of healing. Because of this ability, Margaret has become suddenly different—to her tradition-bound parents, to the bishop’s court that tries her for heresy, and ultimately to the man who falls in love with her.

Although I've found some pretty strong women in the medieval stories I read this is the first time where one convinces a man to use his time and skills to tell a woman's story. Just that premise alone intrigued me and kept me glued to the pages.

The story we are told is Margaret of Ashbury's tale. She is married to a wealthy London merchant and a voice as told her to write her story. Since she can't write she has to find someone who will and her husband indulges her every desire.

She finds a destitute monk, Brother Gregory, who is willing to do it for coin and so starts the narration of her life story since she was a little girl. I did love the detail put in describing a woman's everyday life and the daily worries and thoughts that sometimes were so different from men's.

Margaret has a colourful life. She was married young to a beastly man who treated her badly, was abandoned on the side of the road after catching the black plague, learns a trade, joins a band of actors and moves to London where she leads a successful life as a midwife, is eventually accused of witchcraft but ends up being saved and marries her current husband.

While she tells all this to Brother Gregory they get to know each other and develop a relationship of sorts. She knows how cranky and easily provoked he can be and he eventually starts respecting her. The story deals with some serious aspects of the time but the author manages to include some humourous tidbits which make it a lighter reading than it otherwise would be.

I guess my only complaint is the supernatural aspects of the story. I can't help but being sceptic of such events and while they didn't bother me too much here on principle I would prefer not to have Margaret talking to God and having healing powers.

Grade: 4.5/5

The Silver Pigs - Lindsey Davis

Rome. AD 70. Private eye Marcus Didius Falco knows his way around the eternal city. He can handle the muggers, the police and most of the girls. But one fresh sixteen-year-old, Sosia Camillina, finds him a case no Roman should be getting his nose into. Some friends, Romans and countrymen are doing a highly profitable, if highly illegal, trade in silver ingots or pigs. For Falco it's the start of a murderous trail that leads far beyond the seven hills.

Although I do read a lot of historical mysteries the Roman period is not one I often find in the stories I read. That is one of the reasons I was curious about this one but, I think, also one of the reasons why it took me so long to get into the story.

The plot revolves around silver ingots (the silver pigs the title refers too) and who has been trading them illegally. However I have to say I was much more interested in Didius Falco and the characters he meets and that surround him than the mystery itself of who was trading them.

In the beginning of the story Falco meets a young girl, Sosia Camilina. When she is killed he vows to find who did it and discovers that her death is related with the ingots. Sosia belonged to a noble and powerful family and Falco ends up being hired by her uncle to discover what is going on. That will take him to Britain where he meets Sosia Camilina's cousin, Helena Justina, and unfortunately for him to work as a slave in the mines.

Falco and Helena hate each other at first sight but that will eventually evolve to another king of relationship. I did like both of them immensely but especially Helena, she was tough, sharp-tongued and fun. She and Falco will eventually work together and will find out who did kill Sosia Camilina but also who is behind a plot against Emperor Vespasian.

Falco moves easily between the lower ranks of society and the more powerful families thus giving us interesting observations of the roman society. He also has an interesting family and his mom and niece are added as colourful secondary characters.

An interesting, and sometimes funny read that is worth the time spent with it.

Grade: 4/5

The Complaint of The Dove - Hannah March

Georgian London, 1760. A world of high fashion and even higher spirits—but also of squalid back alleys, violent quarrels, and shadowy intrigues.

It is private tutor Robert Fairfax’s mission to see that troublesome Matthew Hemsley matures into a fine, young gentleman and that he comes to no harm during his first season in London. But Matthew is soon smitten with Miss Lucy Dove, the toast of Covent Garden’s stage. And, after saving her from a crazed attacker, he receives an invitation to Lucy’s private apartments. In the morning, she is found strangled—and Matthew is found on her doorstep in a drunken blackout.

Now, Fairfax must save his young pupil—and his own livelihood and reputation. For one thing, if Lucy already had a lover of great wealth and standing, why did she summon Matthew? For another—unless the real murderer is caught—Matthew will surely hang.

Hannah March is another pen name of author Jude Morgan. I had read and enjoyed a book by Morgan and I decided to give this one a god when I found out the author was the same.

The story has a bit of a slow start, in fact we have time to meet all the characters and their situations in life well before the murder happens. As soon as we meet Lucy I was waiting for her to die but the authors takes his time before letting that happen.

Robert Fairfax is an intriguing character, there's a mystery in his past but we also have to perservere with the reading before finding out what it is. When the book starts he is working as the tutor of a young man, Mathew Hemsley. Mathew is bright, honest and a gentleman. A bit too impulsive at times in face of injustice and a bit too naive in terms of love and romance which leads him to fall heads over heels in love with Lucy when he meets her.

When Lucy is found dead and he is found on her doorstep without a clear memory of what happened inside he is the most obvious suspect and Fairfarx will have to do all he can to get him out of jail. To do that he must launch an investigation of his own, folowing leads and suspicious people to find who Lucy Dove really was and who had most to gain with her death. I did like all the twists and turns the action took although sometimes I wish it had gone a bit faster. Another thing I really enjoy enjoyed was the atmospheric setting, not only the city of Lodon but also the descriptions of Newgate and other unsavory places was so well done that it seemed we were there.

Grade: 4/5

Pardonable Lies - Jacqueline Winspear

A deathbed plea from his wife leads Sir Cecil Lawton to seek the aid of Maisie Dobbs, psychologist and investigator. As Maisie soon learns, Agnes Lawton never accepted that her aviator son was killed in the Great War, a torment that led her not only to the edge of madness but also to the doors of those who practice the dark arts and commune with the spirit world." Maisie accepts the assignment - determined to prove Ralph Lawton either dead or alive - and in doing so is plunged into a case that tests her spiritual strength, as well as her regard for her mentor, Maurice Blanche. The mission also brings her together once again with her college friend Priscilla Evernden, who served in France and who lost three brothers to the war - one of whom, it turns out, had an intriguing connection to the missing Ralph Lawton.

This is my third Maisie Dobbs mystery and my favourite so far. In this one Maisie ends up involved in three different mysteries - she tries to help a young girl charged with murder; she is hired to prove if a young aviator, Ralph Lawton, was actually killed during the war and her old school friend Priscilla asks her to find out how one of her brothers died in the war.

I think that what made me like this one so much is that there was a bit more of history here than in previous books. Maisie actually has to travel to France to find out the answers she needs and a lot is mentioned about life during the war. Then there seemed to be less of Maisie's "supernatural" powers in this one which, to me, is always a good thing. And her mentor Maurice Blanc seems to be more involved than we knew in the war's intelligence service.

There were strong characters, interesting plots and the mysteries were engaging although we could guess at a distance what had separated Ralph Lawton from his father and I think Maisie finding what happened to him involved quite a bit of luck. In the end my favourite resolution was the mystery of what happened to Priscilla's brother.

I am now looking forward to see how Maisie will do in future mysteries since she probably won't feel as close to Maurice as she did thus far.

Grade: 4/5

Hugh and Bess - Susan Higginbotham

Forced to marry Hugh le Despenser, the son and grandson of disgraced traitors, Bess de Montacute, just 13 years old, is appalled at his less-than-desirable past. Meanwhile, Hugh must give up the woman he really loves in order to marry the reluctant Bess. Far apart in age and haunted by the past, can Hugh and Bess somehow make their marriage work?


Just as walls break down and love begins to grow, the merciless plague endangers all whom the couple holds dear, threatening the life and love they have built.

I've heard much about Susan Higginbotham's books but I had never tried any when this Hugh and Bess attracted my attention. I know that it is not her first book and that the first - The Traitor's Wife - is a sort of prequel to this story but since I already had this one I couldn't resist picking it up.

I did find it a nice, fast read. It is mostly a romance but with a strong historical background that gives you an idea of what was happening in England at the time. Besides the main families here - Montacute and Le Despenser - we see bit of the king, of Joan the Fair Maid of Kent and even of Isabella, the She-Wolf of France. Those parts were interesting and I was sorry not to have more historical detail.

Still, this is a sweet story of two people falling in love after they marry, much against the bride's wishes. How they get to know each other and start trusting each other before they manage to make their marriage work.

After reading this one I got curious about The Traitor's Wife and I have now added it to my WL.

Grade: 4/5

The Innocent - Posie Graeme-Evans

The year is 1450, a dangerous time in medieval Britain. Civil unrest is at its peak and the legitimacy of the royal family is suspect. Meanwhile, deep in the forests of western England, a baby is born. Powerful forces plot to kill both mother and child, but somehow the newborn girl survives. Her name is Anne.


Fifteen years later, England emerges into a fragile but hopeful new age, with the charismatic young King Edward IV on the throne. Anne, now a young peasant girl, joins the household of a wealthy London merchant. Her unusual beauty provokes jealousy, lust, and intrigue, but Anne has a special quality that saves her: a vast knowledge of healing herbs. News of her extraordinary gift spreads, and she is called upon to save the ailing queen. Soon after, Anne is moved into the palace, where she finds her destiny with the man who will become the greatest love of her life -- the king himself.

 

The Innocent has been in my TBR pile for quite some time. It is set during the period of the War of The Roses and I've read quite a few books with the same setting so, while I am often curious about that period, I also fear that my expectations will be too high and I tend to postpone picking them up unless they are recommended by friends.

The story starts in 1450 with a birth, the baby lives but the mother dies in labour. We find out that she was being protected by Royal Guards till they were ambushed in a forest.

Fast forward fifteen years and Anne, a young girl, is brought by her foster mother to the city to work as a servant in merchant's house. Her knowledge of herbs saves the merchant's wife who was dying and eventually her healing gift brings her to the attention of the court's doctor and she plays a role in helping Edward IV's Queen giving birth to their first daughter.

At court Anne attracts the King's eye and in time she discovers she is not just little Anne but actually a bastard daughter of the previous King, Henry VI, and a young gentlewoman. While she struggles not to give in to the attraction between her and the King she also has to deal with the fact that she is now an eventual threat to his throne and that she has gained a few enemies along the way.

I have to say that I found this an entertaining and fast read, it's not heavy in historical detail and the story focuses much more in Anne's everyday life and feelings so I would think of this more as historical romance than historical fiction, especially the second half of the story. However I did have some problems with Anne.

She seemed too perfect. A fifteen year old girl who can heal better than doctors, evade unwanted advances, became friends with those she serves and still maintain a wide eyed innocence seemed a bit unreal. Then, she finds her way to court still maintaining the same innocence, gaining other's admiration and managing to attract the King just with a glance and a touch or two. And the King, who is known for his numerous meaningless affairs, manages to fall in love with her deeply. I don't know about you but to me it seemed too much of a good thing happening to one person.

One other thing that bothered me was the change in her after she discovers she is a royal bastard. It's almost as that gave her instant maturity. She starts thinking that she has a role in the politics of the time and that she has to think of her future according to her new bloodlines. It's not that I think she might not have had a role but she is only an illegitimate daughter. I'm not sure if she would be such a big threat to Edward's crown.

Still, as I said, it makes for an entertaining read, if you think you won't be bothered by these aspects this may well be the book for you. This is the first book in a trilogy and I am undecided whether I should track down the other two or not...

Grade: 3.5/5

Dark Angels - Karleen Koen

Alice Verney is a young woman intent on achieving her dreams. Having left Restoration England in the midst of a messy scandal, she has been living in Louis XIV's Baroque, mannered France for two years. Now she is returning home to England and anxious to re-establish herself quickly. First, she will regain her former position as a maid of honor to Charles II's queen. Then she will marry the most celebrated duke of the Restoration, putting herself in a position to attain power she's only dreamed of. As a duchess, Alice will be able to make or break her friends and enemies at will.

But all is not as it seems in the rowdy, merry court of Charles II. Since the Restoration, old political alliances have frayed, and there are whispers that the king is moving to divorce his barren queen, who some wouldn't mind seeing dead. But Alice, loyal only to a select few, is devoted to the queen, and so sets out to discover who might be making sinister plans, and if her own father is one of them. When a member of the royal family dies unexpectedly, and poison is suspected, the stakes are raised. Alice steps up her efforts to find out who is and isn't true to the queen, learns of shocking betrayals throughout court, and meets a man that she may be falling in love with—and who will spoil all of her plans. With the suspected arrival of a known poison-maker, the atmosphere in the court electrifies, and suddenly the safety of the king himself seems uncertain. Secret plots are at play, and war is on the horizon—but will it be with the Dutch or the French? And has King Charles himself betrayed his country for greed?

This was my first read by Karleen Koen. A book set in Charles II's court sound interesting and full of intrigue and I decided to pick. I also have a biography of his Queen in my TBR pile and thought this could be an interesting first introduction to the period.

The main character is a young lady, Alice de Verney, a former lady-in-waiting to Queen Catherine who followed Princess Henrietta to France on her wedding to Monsieur, the brother of the French King Louis XIV. The beginning of this novel sees them returning to England for a brief visit as Princess Henrietta serves as go-between for both Kings.

Alice is a consummate courtier. Used to court life all her life she is very sure of herself and of what she wants and is not above manipulating others to get it. In the first chapters we find out that her travel to France is due to having been betrayed by her fiancé and best friend, when an unplanned pregnancy forces them to wed she deals with her feelings by running away and trying to avoid them now that she is back. When she can't avoid them she strikes back at them and refuses forgiveness.

Some people might have problems with Alice but I felt that for a while there was genuine pain behind her actions which helped me accepting them. It's when it comes to her scheming for revenge, she plans to marry her ex fiancé's uncle and so become higher than him in social ranking. Still, for someone who has lived with intrigue and scheming all her life this may just be ordinary behaviour. I also liked her faithfulness towards Queen Catherine. The Queen is in the King's good graces only when she accepts his infidelities and it seems she has few friends when she loses it.

I had more trouble accepting her behaviour towards her friend Barbara and one of the reasons was that I felt Barbara was left with friends that were less good than Alice. Despite all her stubbornness, her pride and her manipulations Alice actually seemed the best one of the lot. Through her eyes we see the King Charles II, his court, his advisors and how everyone is only interested in advancing themselves at the expense of others. I couldn't have been easy living surrounded by lies and deceit every day.

When Princess Henrietta's party returns to France and her arrival is soon followed by her death, Alice suspects poison was at work. She and the other English attendants are soon returned to England and after a while one of Princess Henrietta's Ladies - Louise Renée de Kerouaille - follows them. Without realising it Alice is also manipulated by others. Eventually she comes to that conclusion but what truly upsets her and drives her to her breaking point is the fate of her friend Barbara.

There is a thread of romance that follows Alice throughout part of the book and I thought that was not well woven in the rest of the story. The conclusion to that comes very abruptly after the man had been in love with someone else for most of the action and I did feel it was particularly believable. In fact, my biggest complaint of the book is precisely its ending. I felt there should be a conclusion, a moral if you like and that this ending comes too soon and cuts short the story and the sense of closure that I needed.

There are a lot more characters walking in the pages of this novel and I really enjoyed how Koen mixed real historical characters with fictional ones. I have since found out that this is a prequel to her first novel - Through a Glass Darkly - and I think that I'll have to go and find that one to add to my list. The urge to revisit an older Alice is big.

Grade: 4/5

Island of the Swans - Ciji Ware

Best friends in childhood, Jane Maxwell and Thomas Fraser wreaked havoc on the cobbled streets of Edinburgh with their juvenile pranks. But years later, when Jane blossoms into a beautiful woman, her feelings for Thomas push beyond the borders of friendship, and he becomes the only man she wants. When Thomas is reportedly killed in the American colonies, the handsome, charismatic Alexander, Duke of Gordon, appeals to a devastated Jane. Believing Thomas is gone forever, Jane hesitantly responds to the Duke, whose passion ignites her blood, even as she rebels at his fierce desire to claim her.

But Thomas Fraser is not dead, and when he returns to find his beloved Jane betrothed to another, he refuses to accept the heartbreaking turn of events. Soon Jane's marriage is swept into a turbulent dance of tender wooing and clashing wills--as Alex seeks truly to make her his, and his alone. . . .

When I discovered this book was being republished, last year, and was marketed as historical fiction I was very glad that I had an earlier copy on my shelves. So last week I was in the mood for some HF and decided to pick it up.

Based on the life of Lady Jane Maxwell, the Duchess of Gordon, who was a leading society lady in her time and a rival of the Duchess of Devonshire, this sounded like an interesting read. It starts with Jane as a child and her friendship with her neighbour Thomas Fraser and it follows her through her adult years when she truly becomes a woman to be reckoned with and a society matchmaker who married all her children well.

It covers a vast period of time and so a lot of events. There are reflections on Scotland of the Bonnie Prince Charlie defeat, the American war, the reign of King George III and the political protagonists of the period. I found all those mentions very interesting although at some points it seemed a bit too much. Too many things going on at the same time that made me pause and reread or check dates to see if I was following everything.

But the main thing in the story is not this rich background of events and characters of history. The main thing is the love triangle between Jane, her husband Alexander and her childhood sweetheart Thomas. And because of it I think this is much more an historical romance novel than an historical fiction novel.

Having said that, I have to mention that I did not particularly like Jane. She is a selfish brat at first, although I think that's because this was written in 1989 and feisty young heroines were the norm then. And Thomas is a hothead. I couldn't help but sympathise with Alex at first -  if only Thomas hadn't come back from the dead I'm sure he and Jane would have dealt well together. As it is, we have a life time of drama and heartbreak and I couldn't understand how they didn't seem to be able to move on from their misery once they decided not to be together.

Ware is very good at creating heart wrenching scenes, full of agony and heartbreak and during those parts I was glued to the story. However I have my doubts that so much drama, while creating an interesting, albeit a bit over the top romance, is a realistic representation of the lives of the people involved.

Grade: 3.5/5

A Venetian Affair - Andrea di Robilant

Giustiniana Wynne meets Andrea Memmo when she is only sixteen, and he is not much older. They fall passionately in love, but are prevented from openly pursuing the ordinary course of love and marriage by her mother, his family, and the rigid social structure in which they live. But these are no ordinary teenagers. Tenacious, talented, and philosophical, they try for years to engineer various plans intended to bring them together in spite of class differences, governmental opposition, and prolonged separation. All their efforts fail in conventional terms, but they succeed in remaining lifelong friends. Their correspondence, which was necessarily secret in their lifetimes, is now public and is a literary achievement perhaps more enthralling than any novel, because of its historical truth.

When Andrea di Robilant's father found a stash of letters in the old family Palazzo in Venice a journey of discovery began. The discovery of an 18th century doomed love affair between their ancestor Andrea Memmo and Giustiniana Wynne, a half English young woman.

This book is the compilation of those letters with di Robilant's explanations and contextualisation of the period and the political incidents and social customs of the time. As a love story I must confess that reading some of the letters made me feel somewhat like a voyeur. The intimacy that they share was obviously for their eyes only, the letters were written in code by the way, and makes sense only to them.

But they do tell a lot more of Venetian society in the last decades of the Republic. Andrea and Giustiniana are of such different stations in society that a marriage between them is deemed impossible for most of the book and when considered is destroyed by rumours and revelations of the past. We realise that Venetian society was ruled by an old, unbreakable code that forbade marriages outside the oldest families for its sons and daughters, and that the old customs were maintained and enforced by a group of Inquisitors. The Republic also had strict rules about who was allowed to enter and reside in Venice not to mention that society eventually accepted or excluded the ones that were different or did not behave according to the norm.

To continue their affair the lovers plan was to marry Giustiniana off to some old man as married ladies had much more freedom of movements. That never happened and eventually Giustianiana leaves Venice but they never cease corresponding, maintaining their love and describing their lives. I found their life story a bit sad, they had to conform to the society they lived in and in doing so some of their actions are less than correct and certainly brought them no happiness. In the end, I felt that what stayed with me was the larger picture of Venice's story during the 18th century.

I found this an interesting story but better read as a work of nonfiction. It may be a bit too dry for historical fiction lovers.

Grade 4/5

The Canterbury Papers - Judith Koll Healey

The only thing I felt was a strong hand around my neck, another around my waist, and -- before I could cry out -- I smelled the thick, sweet scent of a mandrake-soaked cloth. Unforgiving hands clapped it against my face, and all went dark.


Alaïs, the king of France's sister, is abducted while on her mission for the wily Eleanor of Aquitaine, the former Queen of England, to retrieve hidden letters that, in the wrong hands, could bring down the English king. In exchange, the French princess was to receive long-heldand dangerous information. Now Alaïs, along with help from the very intriguing leader of the Knights Templar, must unravel a tangled web of family secrets and lies.

I am always very fond of stories that bring some light to those minor, forgotten characters of history. I am fully aware that if they are minor characters a lot of the writer tells me is pure fiction but I like to imagine that it could have been so.

When I found a book about Princess Alais of France, of which I only knew she was Richard, the Lionheart's betrothed and that they never married because she became his father's mistress I couldn't help but be interested. As many of the HF being published today this one belongs to a subgenre, it's a historical mystery. Princess Alais would have had a baby by King Henry and about 20 years lately here she is trying to find out what happened to the child she believed dead.

I found this an interesting story, it is written in a light tone and you get an overview of what was happening in England and France at the time. Alais was once used as a pawn between Eleanor of Aquitaine and King Henry and now she is set up to be one again. Luring her with information about the child, she is quickly captured by King John who is trying his best to find the same information and eliminate a potential threat to the throne.

However I did feel that Alais was a bit too daring, and shall we say modern, in her way of thinking at times. That made it a lighter read than what I would have liked. The author also felt the need to add a love story, I have nothing against that but making it so quickly consummated definitely made it look a bit too much like a romance novel. Overall I would have preferred a more solid read in terms of medieval behaviours and way of life but I still found it a pleasant read if not a memorable one.

Grade: 3.5/5

Hearts and Bones - Margaret Lawrence

Hannah Trevor, a midwife in a small Maine town, discovers the body of a young wife and mother, along with a note naming Hannah's secret past lover and the father of her illegitimate daughter as the woman's murderers.

Ever since I read, and really enjoyed Sara Donati's into The Wilderness that I have been looking for books with a similar setting. Hearts and Bones is also set in America and around the same time and I couldn't resist picking it up.

Unlike Donati's this book is a murder mystery. The heroine is Hannah Trevor, a midwife living with her aunt and her deaf, and illegitimate, daughter in Rufford, Maine. When she finds a young woman raped and murdered who left a letter accusing three men, one of which is Hannah's child's father, she can't resist doing an investigation of her own. Unable to believe the worse of the man she loved she eventually finds a link between the dead woman, the three mentioned men and some others not mentioned in the letter.

Despite being a great lover of mysteries I think what I loved best in the story was the sense of time and period. How life was actually hard for this people, how some of the wounds of the Revolutionary War were still open and how Hannah, that we could consider a bit too modern for those times, is looked sideways for her behaviour does making it believable. However I found that she unraveled what was happening a bit too quickly to be believable.

The story is dark, there are some pretty horrible crimes mentioned and some people never recover from them. The aftermath and consequences of the war are very present here and play an important part in the action. It's also very atmospheric; you can almost see the characters as they walk around doing their business, which definitely contributed to my enjoyment of the story. It made for an interesting read and I wouldn't mind picking the next book in the series to find out what happens next to Hannah and Daniel.

Grade: 4/5

Tutankhamun - Nick Drake

Tutankhamun, son of Akhenaten, has inherited an empire that seems to be at the height of its power and international glory. But the young King, just eighteen years old, is faced with the political and personal intrigues and conspiracies of the Court, where his godfather Ay, and the General Horemheb are locked in a bitter struggle for ascendancy. Tutankhamun must steer the empire back from the brink of disaster and dissent to which his father Akhenaten's rule led the Two Lands of Egypt, and re-assert the stability and authority of his famous dynasty.Rahotep, chief detective of the Thebes division, has his own worries - his daughters are growing up in a changing world of danger and instability, while out on on the streets of Thebes things are falling apart; poverty and dissent are breaking out into a nightmare of violence, gold and corruption seem all-powerful, and the city's shadowy underworld is itself witnessing mysterious acts of shocking brutality. Yet, when he receives a mysterious invitation to the secret halls of the Royal Palace, he cannot refuse.What he finds there, and the quest on which he embarks, will change his life, and put everything he thought he believed, and everything he loves, at risk.

A while back the Historical Tapestry blog was asked to give some recommendations on books set in Ancient Egypt. One of the titles that came up at the time was Nick Drake's historical mysteries Nefertiti and Tutankhamun. When I was offered a chance to read the second I couldn't let it pass.

The story is a mystery set during Tutankhamun's reign. The main character is Rahotep, a Seeker of Mysteries. The fact that I haven't read the first book didn't really upset me except for the fact that Rahotep was in very good terms with Tutankhamun's wife, Ankhesenamun, and I can only guess that it was due to the action in the first book.

Ankhesenamun and her husband have been have been King and Queen of Egypt but the true ruler is Ay, the regent. Eager to shed that influence Ankhesenamun ask Rahotep for help with her plans and asks him to be her personal guard. Rahotep is already working on a case, a young boy with deformities was found murdered, with his crippled members broken and reset in the right position. Then another body is found, and another, and another, till it is apparent a serial killer is at work.

Rahotep has to combine his investigation about the killer with his role with the Royal Family. Through his eyes we see not only the Royal couple but also the power struggle between the regent Ay and the General Horemheb. As with any story about Tutankhamun this one offers an explanation for his death and the events surrounding the construction and embellishment of his tomb. Is it the real one? Probably not but it worked for me.

Regarding the serial killer, which Rahotep eventually realises, also has a connection with the Royal family, I found his work to be more those of a mad man but it made for an engaging, suspenseful read to watch Rahotep follow the clues and find the culprit. I will definitely pick up Nefertiti when I find it.

Grade: 4/5

Symptoms of Death - Paula Paul

Edward Boswick, Fifth Earl of Dunsford, hosted a small gathering of friends at his country estate, including the village's lady-doctor, Alexandra Gladstone. The noblest of the nobel, each of his intimates was in possession of title, land--and a secret vendetta against his host. And so,when their "dear Eddie" is found murdered in his own bed, the lords and ladies point to a helpless servant--and flee.


But when Dr. Gladstone finds evidence suggesting otherwise in her autopshy of the late earl, her inquires lead her into a web of scandal and deceit.

December is always a busy month and there's nothing better than a light, entertaining historical read to pass the time. The abundance of mysteries of the cosy variety that has appeared recently have made that one of my favourite genres for when I want to be entertained but not think too much. This time my choice was the first in the Dra Alexandra Gladstone Mysteries by Paula Paul.

The book is set, I believe, in Victorian England during a house party at the Earl of Dunsford's country estate. Dra Alexandra Gladstone is called upon to attend to a young maid who has apparently tried to murder the Earl believing him to be the killer of her lover. Alexandra tends to the girl and makes her go to her room believing her to be harmless but the next morning the Earl is dead and the girl, Elsie, has disappeared.

Alexandra is somewhat of a rarity, a female doctor when females weren't allowed to study medicine. Paul explains that by having her been taught at home by her father and well accepted in the village because everyone knows since she was a girl. To tell the truth Alexandra sounds a bit too sensible to be true in a Victorian heroine but I could deal with that.

Earl Dunsford's guests don't waste time in blaming the doctor for not having drugged the girl, and stopped her from murder, but Alexandra quickly realises that the earl was not stabbed, as the girl was threatening, but strangled which would imply someone stronger. With the help of Mr. Forsythe, one of the Earl's guests, Alexandra decides to try to find out what really happened. Soon it is apparent that the earl wasn't exactly a nice person and that more than one of his guests could have a motive for murder.

The appearance of several "ghosts", and walks in the foggy night, does give the story a bit of a gothic look and I couldn't help thinking that sometimes Alexandra was a bit too daring. In one of those I was so engaged in the story and waiting for something to happen that I immediately deduced who the murderer was... and in the end I was proven right.

So if you are in the mood for something light, fast paced and with a bit of a gothic feel this might just be the book for you!

Grade: 4/5

The Darcys Give a Ball - Elizabeth Newark

While Jane and Lizzie plan a lavish ball at Pemberley, the Darcys' second son falls in love with the Collins' daughter, first-born Juliet Darcy is almost lured into an elopement, and Georgiana's timid daughter Lucy is the new target of Miss Caroline Bingley's meddling.


The Darcys Give a Ball is a charming and very amusing imagining of the next generation of Jane Austen's beloved characters from Pride and Prejudice and other novels, where all the young people come together for a surprising and altogether satisfying ending. Sons and daughters share the physical and personality traits of their parents, but of course have minds of their own, and as Lizzie says to Jane: "The romantic attachments of one's children are a constant distraction."

As usual I picked this one up with a mix of great expectations and dread. The first because it is always nice to revisit the characters of our favourite stories, and the second because sometimes these sequels totally ruin them. Although that doesn't happen here I guess it's more because this novel is more about the Collins family than Elizabeth and Darcy.

The story takes place about twenty five years after the end of Pride and Prejudice. The Darcys, the Bingleys and the Collinses - not to mention the Brandons, the Wentworths and other Austen characters - now have adult children who are making their way into society.

The beginning of the story tells us about the life Charlotte Lucas has been leading since she married Mr. Collins. She produced a number of children, has made the best of her situation and has kept in touch with Elizabeth Darcy although they are not regular visitors of each other’s house for obvious reasons.

When an invitation arrives for a ball at Pemberley, Charlotte is naturally ecstatic for this opportunity to revisit an old friend and Mr. Collins is even more so. Never having been invited before this seems like a dream come true but unfortunately an illness prevents him from attending. That's how Charlotte finds herself a guest at Pemberley with her two children - Jonathon and Eliza. The two youngest Collins are the main characters of this story, at Pemberley they meet Elizabeth's offspring, namely her son William and her daughter Juliet. Eliza and William immediately strike up a friendship but Juliet seems, sadly, like a really disagreeable young girl.

The second half of the story is about the ball and all the events surrounding it. The guests include a lot more Austenesque characters but we don't really get to know them well as the plot centers around the Collins and Darcy children and their romantic attachments. It's a light and fun read perfect to spend an afternoon with!

Grade: 4/5

The Suspicions of Mr Whicher - Kate Summerscale

The fascinating story of a famous Victorian murder case - and the notorious detective who solved it It is a summer’s night in 1860. In an elegant detached Georgian house in the village of Road, Wiltshire, all is quiet. Behind shuttered windows the Kent family lies sound asleep. At some point after midnight a dog barks.

The family wakes the next morning to a horrific discovery: an unimaginably gruesome murder has taken place in their home. The household reverberates with shock, not least because the guilty party is surely still among them. Jack Whicher of Scotland Yard, the most celebrated detective of his day, reaches Road Hill House a fortnight later. He faces an unenviable task: to solve a case in which the grieving family are the suspects.

The murder provokes national hysteria. The thought of what might be festering behind the closed doors of respectable middle-class homes – scheming servants, rebellious children, insanity, jealousy, loneliness and loathing – arouses fear and a kind of excitement. But when Whicher reaches his shocking conclusion there is uproar and bewilderment.

I was very curious about this book. I enjoy historical mysteries very much and that this one about a true crime seemed perfect to my tastes. Unfortunately that was not so... I found it very interesting in terms of analysis of the Victorian mind, in terms of early detective work but I ended up finding it a bit dry and too cluttered with information that while important to the real investigation dragged the story.

The crime in question is the murder of three year old Saville Kent. In 1860, in the middle of night and in a locked house someone removed him from his bed, took him to an outside privy and slashed his throat. The first suspects are his family and their servants. The local police couldn't come up with answers and the Scotland Yard sends one of their best detectives, Mr. Jonathan Whicher.

Whicher arrives two weeks after the crime and some of the evidence is already lost. But careful analysis of what he could find and the family history led him to the conclusion that one of the family members was indeed guilty but the evidence was not conclusive and the case almost brought him to ruin.

I thought, from what I had read about it, that the book would be about his investigation, finding the clues and analysing them to reach a conclusion. Instead it ended up being more about the family relations, class system and mental illness. Which is also very interesting but it doesn't make for a fluid reading when it is described with as great detail as it is here.

One interesting aspect is when Summerscale mentions how Mr. Whicher influenced the detective fiction of the time and the works of writers such as Wilkie Collins and Charles Dickens. Readers who enjoyed The Moonstone or Bleak House will find this a very interesting read. Other shocking murders of the time are also mentioned, some with motivations more material and, to me, easier to understand than this one.

In the end it is clear that the author did a great deal of research about the Saville Kent murder and her explanation of what might have happened to the two Mrs. Kent sounds like a plausible one but I think that is terms of resolution, despite the fact that Mr. Whicher's suspect confessed half way through the book, we are still left with many questions.

This book is very interesting for people wanting to find out about the family life in the Victorian world, about the crimes of the time, the motivations and the beginning of the forensics methods that led some of the criminals to justice. As for people wanting to find out just about this murder, the information is there but you need to filter through all the other details provided.

Grade: 3.5/5

The Talisman Ring - Georgette Heyer

'I dare say it will not be so very bad, our marriage, if I can have a house in town, and perhaps a love.' 'Perhaps a WHAT?' demanded Shield, in a voice that made her jump. Neither Sir Tristram Shield nor Eustacie, his young French cousin, share the slightest inclination to marry one another. Yet it is Lord Lavenham's dying wish. For there is no one else to provide for the old man's granddaughter while Ludovic, his heir, remains a fugitive from justice...

I have been a long time fan of Georgette Heyer, I first read some of books while a teenager in translated versions and now, as an adult, I have been collecting them in the original English thanks to Arrow and Sourcebooks who made them readily available everywhere.

The talisman Ring was one of the books that I read more recently. A mixed story, part romance / part mystery, it sees two couples searching around for a family jewel to exonerate one of the heroes from a murder charge. To make a long story short, Sir Tristam Shield and Eustacie de Vauban are ordered by their great granduncle and grandfather respectively to embark on a marriage of convenience to guarantee Eustacie’s well being and status in life after the old man dies. But Eustacie is a lively and romantic girl who finds Sir Tristam a stuffy unromantic old man and decides to run away to become a governess. On the road she finds her cousin Ludovic, her grandfather’s heir who has been on the run for the past two years after having been suspected of murdering a man on the night his favourite jewel – the talisman ring – disappeared. Ludovic is now a free trader, which seems utterly adventurous and romantic to Eustacie, and after an encounter with the excise men he is hurt and they find shelter at a nearby inn. There they find Lady Sarah Thane, a young woman who travels with her brother and seems to have an original sense of humour, and that’s where Sir Tristam eventually finds them. With Eustacie and Ludovic on their way to falling in love the four set out to find the jewel and prove his innocence.

I must admit that this is not one of my favourite Heyers. I think the story, as a mystery, loses pace because of the romance and all those secondary characters – the free traders, the excise men, the Bow Street Runners – and as a romance looses interest because so much time is devoted to finding the jewel. I think I am more used to those Heyer romances where we find sparkling and witty dialogue between the main characters, where the funny coincidences make for laugh out loud moments and where we have closure in the end. Here, although there are some funny moments they are not so sparkling and witty, and while the story ends with one couple engaged, the other doesn’t get the same king of closure, although everything indicates that they will do so too.

I did like Lady Sarah Thane and Sir Tristam Shield very much. To the point where I would have loved to have the book devoted solely to them. In a way, because they are an older couple they reminded me of Abby and Miles from The Black Sheep which I greatly enjoyed. If only we had seen more of them I am sure that we had been gifted with some witty dialogues. Eustacie seemed a bit too young and, well, silly. I have been fond of other young heroines like Horry and Leonie and I have forgiven them their silly naiveté because of their wonderful heroes but here I must confess that Ludovic was not a favourite with me either. He seemed impulsive and extravagant but oh so perfect for Eustacie who only wanted a husband to ride “ventre a terre” to her death bed.

But don’t be discouraged by my review, lots of Heyer fans seem to love this story so my advice to you is try it and see. There are a lot of farcical moments in this story and if nothing else it will definitely put you in a good mood.

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This review was written for the Heyer Celebration at Austenprose in August 2010

This is my R entry for the Alphabet in Historical Fiction Challenge.

The Kitchen Boy - Robert Alexander

Though the events are almost a century old, the imprisonment and execution of Tsar Nicholas and his family still hold an aura of mystery that fascinates. In haunting prose, Robert Alexander retells the story through the eyes of Leonka, on the kitchen boy to the Romanovs, who claims to be the last living witness to the family's brutal execution. Mysteriously spared by the Bolsheviks, the boy vanished into the bloody tides of the Russian Revolution. Now, through Alexander's conjuring, he reemerges to tell his story. What did the young boy see in those last days of the Imperial Family? Does he have answers to long-standing questions about secret letters smuggled to the Tsar, thirty-eight pounds of missing tsarist jewels, and why the bodies of two Romanov children are missing from the secret grave discovered in 1991?

I hesitated for a long time in picking up this book because I once read a description of Tsar Nicholas last moments and it so impressed me for its brutality that I always felt a bit depressed whenever I thought of reading this about it even in HF. But yesterday I was looking for something different to read and I thought it was time to give this one a chance.

I'm very glad that I did it because I think Alexander wrote an engaging story. Nothing is really new in the first chapters but he manages to make us care for the characters at the same time that he points out their flaws. We see them through the eyes of Leonka, the kitchen boy of the title. It is though him that the Imperial family receives notes from their supporters detailing a plan to release them. Since we know from the beginning how it all ends it's a bit sad to read of how much hope they had. The narrator is now an old man telling his granddaughter of the events of the past. He feels guilty that he did not manage to save them and he is the only witness of what really happened in the "House of Special Purpose" in that fateful night of July 17th 1918.

Leonka's narrative also gives a clue about why two of the children's bodies were missing from the family grave. When this book was published (2003) only three of the children's bodies had been found thus leading to stories about how two of them had maybe survived and been smuggled out of Russia. Alexander uses that in an interesting twist at the end of the book but in 2007 those two last bodies were finally identified in another grave thus proving that the whole family did die that night.

It is quite incredible the amount of research that Alexander must have needed to do to write such a story. There's a huge amount of information about Nicholas and Aleksandra's family and about their personalities and behaviour towards others. He doesn't shy away from concluding that Nicholas' rule was far from successful but it is difficult to accept that anyone should be condemned to the brutality the Romanovs faced. While it didn't much add to my knowledge of the period and people involved I found the fiction bits were interesting and well merged in the narrative. I think I might just have to try another on of his books in the future.

Grade: 4/5

The Queen's Man - Sharon Kay Penman

England, 1193: a land rife with rumours about the fate of its missing king. Justin de Quincy travels from Winchester to London. With a promise to a dying man, he is plunged into the conspiracy surrounding the disappearence of Richard the Lionheart, and under oath to reveal the truth to the Queen.

The Queen's Man is SKP first book in the Justin de Quincy series. It's a mystery series set in medieval England (around 1193) and Justin is the illegitimate son of a bishop that, after finding out the truth about his birth, has a falling out with his father and decides to set out on his own.

While on the road he witnesses the robbery and murder of a goldsmith. The man's dying words ask him to deliver a letter to Queen Eleanor and, after reading said document and seeing how it might be worth killing for that is exactly what he does. The letter informs the queen of the fate of her son, King Richard, a prisoner of the Emperor. Worried about her favourite son Eleanor asks Justin to investigate what was behind the murder, whether it was truly to waylay the letter and if the King of France is behind the act.

It is obvious from the beginning that the court is full of spies and that both Queen Eleanor and her son John have their own men trying to gain information. Justin strikes a friendship with one of the queen's ladies - Claudine - and is immediately suspicious of one of John's creatures - Durand.

His first steps are to investigate the goldsmith’s life and family. At first it seems his own relatives might be behind the crime and Justin decides to follow the murderers trail to find out the truth. He ends up being helped by Luke de Marston, the under sheriff who is also looking for the same killers.

I think Penman did a good job with the historical setting and contextualization of the action but I found it a bit lighter in historical detail than my previous read by her (TSIS). And despite having liked Justin my favourite characters were Luke and Nell, I intend to read the other books in this series and I definitely hope they make an appearance.

The mystery was interesting, not exactly the conclusion but the way Justin and Luke set out to discover things and draw their conclusions. In fact the mystery ends with a plot twist that I did not see coming and that I am not sure was completely convincing. Still it made for a very pleasant read

Grade: 4/5

This is my Q entry for the Alphabet in Historical Fiction Challenge.