Dare the Dark by Bruce Mitchell Book Review

In Dare the Dark, Bruce Mitchell has set aside his Thornton family saga for the time being to venture into the historical mystery genre.

Synopsis

Sydney, January 1879.

A body with its eye hacked out is found in a suburban street, and a cryptic note promises more. Detectives Kennedy and Walsh scour the city for a crazed killer dubbed ‘Doctor Hacksaw’ by the press.

A female suffrage march turns ugly and Kennedy’s wife Mary defends three accused women in a courtroom drama. Walsh’s partner Victoria Chen has information on a crime boss that could get her killed.

Lives spiral out of control as the body count

Rags of Time by Michael Ward Book Review

Synopsis

London.

1639.

Thomas Tallant, a young and ambitious Spice Merchant, returns from India to find his city in turmoil.

A bitter struggle is brewing between King Charles I and Parliament, as England slides into civil war. The capital is simmering with dissent. The conflict is ready to boil over.

But Thomas soon has other troubles to contend with. A wealthy merchant, Sir Joseph Venell, is savagely killed; then his partner Sir

Book Review: The Power Game by Meg and Tom Keneally

The Power Game is the third book in the crime series set in Colonial Australia by daughter and father team, Meg and Tom Kenneally.

Synopsis

When a boatman is murdered on a remote island off Van Dieman’s Land, the authorities want to blame a famous, and very inconvenient, political prisoner. But the victim’s history of blackmail prompts Monsarrat to look further afield – and not everyone is happy . . .

In this, the third in the Monsarrat series, Hugh Llewelyn Monsarrat and his trusty housekeeper, Mrs

Book Review: The Unmourned by Meg and Tom Keneally

The Unmourned is the second book in the crime series set in colonial Australia from daughter and father team, Meg and Tom Keneally.

I enjoyed their first collaboration, The Soldier’s Curse, which takes place in Port Macquarie, a penal settlement for reoffenders, and introduced Mrs. Mulrooney, an Irish housekeeper, and Hugh Monsarrat, an English gentleman convict.

In The Unmourned, Monsarrat, with his ticket of leave regained, is in Parramatta, with Mrs. Mulrooney, now employed as his housekeeper and unofficial assistant.

Saturday Sleuthing: Classic Cars, Spitfires, Chimney Sweeps, Chefs and Jane Austen

Amy Myers writes crime novels, but they are crime novels with a difference. Her crime solving characters are an unusual mix and while some of these novels cannot be called historical fiction they do have links to the past.

THE JACK COLBY, CAR DETECTIVE, MYSTERIES

Jack Colby is the owner of a classic car restoration business and while tracking down classic cars finds himself involved in murder. I was drawn to these books by their covers: classic cars have a style of their own, especially those from the 1930s. Six books are currently available in this series.

Classic In The Barn (Jack Colby, Car Detective Mysteries #1)

When Jack Colby glimpses a 1938 Lagonda V12 lying uncared for in a Kentish country barn, he has to have a closer look - which brings him face to face with its angry owner, Polly Davis. Is it the car or Polly that captivates his heart? He decides to find out more about both, but his enquiries are abruptly cut short when Polly is murdered. Convinced that the Lagonda is somehow involved, he is determined to bring her killer to justice, even at the expense of his own safety . . .








Classic Cashes In (Jack Colby, Car Detective, Mysteries #6)

Jack Colby, car detective, takes a seemingly routine commission that precipitates him into a dangerous world of secrets and murder. A commission to buy a classic Packard saloon from the 1930s on behalf of a client should have been routine for Jack Colby, but this Packard is special ...and as Jack struggles to piece together the car's history and the mystery surrounding it, he is soon precipitated into a dangerous world where nothing is as it seems. What is the reason behind enigmatic banking magnate Philip Moxton's desperate desire for this particular car? Whatever it is, the car's current owner, actor Tom Herrick, seems to know it too - and is all too willing to sell. But when murder strikes, Jack is drawn into a hunt for the truth that involves not only his personal happiness but facing a relentless killer.



THE MARSH AND DAUGHTER MYSTERIES

Peter and Georgia Marsh are a father and daughter team. Peter is an ex-policeman confined to a wheelchair and Georgia is the wife of a publisher. Together they investigate crimes from the past and write books about their cases. There are eight books in this series, The Wickenham Murders,  is the first.

Once again I was drawn to these two novels by their covers: spitfires always signal a World War II story, another of my favourite eras, and the ink pot, with the image of the old mansion, and quill definitely hinted at a more historical connection.

Murder in Hell's Corner (Marsh and Daughter Mystery #3)

A reunion of Spitfire pilots from the Battle of Britain in a Kentish country hotel, and an overgrown rockery garden covered with bluebells combine to spark off one of Georgia and Peter Marsh's most dramatic cases. They discover that a murder had taken place in the 1970s; the victim was a popular war hero, Patrick Fairfax. His murder had never been solved. Convinced that there is a story here, the father and daughter Marsh team is driven to find out what happened. As well as the Spitfire pilots, the reunion included several members of the aviation club Fairfax ran after the war, and not all of them had cause to love him. Fairfax' memory is still green: his family keeps the flame burning, a film is in production, and his classic story of the Battle of Britain is to be reissued. What Peter and Georgia discover, however, sets in train of events that leads to a second murder, as the passions of today boil over to prevent the truth from emerging.

Murder in Abbott's Folly (Marsh and Daughter Mystery #8)

Curiosity about a murder that took place in an eighteenth-century folly draws father and daughter team Peter and Georgia Marsh to a Jane Austen-themed summer gala at Stourdens, a fast-decaying Georgian mansion in Kent. But instead of enjoying a literary day out, they are thrust into a tense situation, with a collection of Jane's letters - thought to contain thrilling secrets about her love life - at its heart. Should they be published? Peter and Georgia are inadvertently caught up in the battle - which soon turns deadly .







THE TOM WASP MYSTERIES

Tom Wasp is a chimney sweep from the East End of London. Together with Ned, his former climbing boy, they solve crimes in Victorian London. There are only two novels so far in this series, the first being Tom Wasp and the Murdered Stunner.

Tom Wasp and the Newgate Knocker (Tom Wasp Mystery #2)

When chimney sweep Tom Wasp visits his friend Eliza Hogg in Newgate Prison in January 1863, on the day before she is due to be hanged, he is surprised to be given the only thing of value she possesses and even more surprised when that turns out to be a pawn ticket. Tom's apprentice, twelve-year-old Ned, is disappointed that the pawned item is only a scruffy sailor doll. Some days later, however, they find its hidden secret...








THE AUGUSTE DIDIER MYSTERIES

This series, of nine books, is set in the late Victorian/early Edwardian era and features Auguste Didier, a French chef. This was Amy Myers' first series.

Murder in Pug's Parlour (Auguste Didier Mysteries #1)

Accused of poisoning a man with the mushrooms he prepared the night of the murder, chef Auguste Didier is forced to investigate the crime himself in order to clear his name.













I did say at the start of this post that Amy Myers' crime solving characters are an unusual mix. What do you think?

While I probably won't read any of the Jack Colby novels or the books featuring Auguste Didier, not being a great fan of books with a culinary setting, I'm seriously tempted by the other two series. Cold case crimes fascinate me by the fact that crimes can still be solved a very long time after they are committed. And the Tom Wasp Mysteries? This series did grab my attention. If a chef and a car restorer can solve crime, why not a Victorian chimney sweep?

Amy Myers' writing career spans over 25 years, from 1986 to the present. She also writes romances, suspense and historical novels under a number of pseudonyms: Laura Daniels, Alice Carr and Harriet Hudson. As with most authors with a large body of work, many of her early crime novels are out of print, but some have been released as ebooks.

The Grantchester Mysteries by James Runcie

The first episode of  'Grantchester' was aired on Australian television last night, which sent me off  to discover more about the television series I’ll be devoting the next five Saturday nights to.

'Grantchester' is based on The Grantchester Mysteries, a relatively new series of novels by James Runcie, involving a village vicar turned sleuth. Canon Sidney Chambers, ex-Scots Guards Officer, is the vicar of Grantchester, an English village near Cambridge, England. He is assisted in his investigations by Detective Inspector Geordie Keating.

Six novels are planned for this series, spanning the years 1953 to 1978. To-date there are three books available and one due for release in May, 2015. I love the retro look of the book covers, a style which seems to be very popular at present for books in the crime fiction genre.

I'm not sure how closely the television series follows the novels, so the following synopses may contain spoilers for those who have yet to watch the series.

Sidney Chambers and The Shadow of Death

It is 1953, the coronation year of Queen Elizabeth II . Sidney Chambers, vicar of Grantchester and honorary canon of Ely Cathedral, is a thirty-two-year-old bachelor. Tall, with dark brown hair, eyes the color of hazelnuts, and a reassuringly gentle manner, Sidney is an unconventional clerical detective. He can go where the police cannot.Together with his roguish friend, inspector Geordie Keating, Sidney inquires into the suspect suicide of a Cambridge solicitor, a scandalous jewelry theft at a New Year's Eve dinner party, the unexplained death of a jazz promoter's daughter, and a shocking art forgery that puts a close friend in danger. Sidney discovers that being a detective, like being a clergyman, means that you are never off duty, but he nonetheless manages to find time for a keen interest in cricket, warm beer, and hot jazz--as well as a curious fondness for a German widow three years his junior.With a whiff of Agatha Christie and a touch of G. K. Chesterton's Father Brown, "The Grantchester Mysteries "introduces a wonderful new hero into the world of detective fiction.

Sidney Chambers and The Perils of the Night

The loveable full time priest and part time detective Canon Sidney Chambers continues his sleuthing adventures in late 1950's Cambridge. Accompanied by his faithful Labrador Dickens, and working in tandem with the increasingly exasperated Inspector Geordie Keating, Sidney is called on to investigate the unexpected fall of a Cambridge don from the roof of King's College Chapel; a case of arson at a glamor photographer's studio; and the poisoning of Zafar Ali, Grantchester's finest spin bowler, in the middle of a crucial game of cricket. As he pursues his quietly probing inquiries, Sidney also has to decide on the vexed question of marriage. Can he choose between the rich, glamorous socialite Amanda Kendall and Hildegard Staunton, a beguiling German widow three years his junior? To help him make up his mind Sidney takes a trip abroad, only to find himself trapped in a complex web of international espionage just as the Berlin Wall is going up. Here are six interlocking adventures that combine mystery with morality, and criminality with charm.

Sidney Chambers and The Problem of Evil

Our favorite clerical detective is back with four longer mysteries in which Canon Sidney Chambers attempts to stop a serial killer with a grievance against the clergy; investigates the disappearance of a famous painting after a distracting display of nudity by a French girl in an art gallery; uncovers the fact that an "accidental" drowning on a film shoot may have been something more sinister; and discovers the reasons behind the theft of a baby from a hospital just before Christmas 1963. In the meantime, Sidney wrestles with the problem of evil, attempts to fulfill the demands of his faithful Labrador, Dickens, and contemplates, as always, the nature of love.



Sidney Chambers and The Forgiveness of Sins 

The loveable full-time priest and part-time detective, Canon Sidney Chambers, continues his sleuthing adventures in 1960's Cambridge. On a snowy Thursday morning in Lent 1964, a stranger seeks sanctuary in Grantchester's church, convinced he has murdered his wife. Sidney and his wife Hildegard go for a shooting weekend in the country and find their hostess has a sinister burn on her neck. Sidney's friend Amanda receives poison pen letters when at last she appears to be approaching matrimony. A firm of removal men 'accidentally' drop a Steinway piano on a musician's head outside a Cambridge college. During a cricket match, a group of schoolboys blow up their school Science Block. On a family holiday in Florence, Sidney is accused of the theft of a priceless painting. Meanwhile, on the home front, Sidney's new curate Malcolm seems set to become rather irritatingly popular with the parish; his baby girl Anna learns to walk and talk; Hildegard longs to get an au pair and Sidney is offered a promotion. Entertaining, suspenseful, thoughtful, moving and deeply humane, these six new stories are bound to delight the clerical detective's many fans.

Rory Clements, Historical Crime Writer

My browsing has turned up another historical crime writer, Rory Clements. His novels, five to-date, feature an Elizabethan investigator, John Shakespeare.

Visit the author's site to read excerpts from his novels. He also has some interesting information about the Elizabethan world in which his novels are set.