Book Review: A Cruel Necessity by L.C. Tyler

The theatres are padlocked. Christmas has been cancelled. It is 1657 and the unloved English Republic is eight years old. Though Cromwell's joyless grip on power appears immovable, many still look to Charles Stuart's dissolute and threadbare court-in-exile, and some are prepared to risk their lives plotting a restoration.
For the officers of the Republic, constant vigilance is needed. So, when the bloody corpse of a Royalist spy is discovered on the dung heap of a small Essex village, why is the local magistrate so reluctant to investigate? John Grey, a young lawyer with no clients, finds himself alone in believing that the murdered man deserves justice. Grey is drawn into a vortex of plot and counter-plot and into the all-encompassing web of intrigue spun by Cromwell's own spy-master, John Thurloe.
So when nothing is what it seems, can Grey trust anyone?


John Grey, returning home after a night’s drinking in the village inn, meets a stranger who enquires after the innkeeper. Thinking nothing of this until a body is discovered and  no-one in the village admits to seeing the stranger, John sets off to solve the murder and becomes embroiled in more deaths and espionage along the way.

He lurches from one suspect to another in his investigation,  always one step behind and manipulated by those around him. For all his academic learning, John is outwitted by those less educated than himself. Early on in the novel I had a feeling that John was the only person in the village not in on the conspiracy and was being indulged.

John Grey is just one of  a cast of amusing and eccentric characters that populate the village, where Republicans and disenfranchised Royalists live side by side. John once held Royalist views, but now supports the Commonwealth. This all adds to John's dilemma of who to trust.

Told from John Grey’s point of view, the story held my interest. There were enough clues and suspects along the way to keep the momentum going to the surprise revelation at the end.
 
I found this an unusual historical mystery. The style of writing left me puzzled. It read like a comedy. I wasn't sure this was the effect the writer intended, but an internet search revealed Len Tyler is a writer of comic crime fiction and so the writing style made sense.

This was Len Tyler's first historical mystery. While being an entertaining read, I’m not sure I enjoyed this novel enough to read another in the series for no other reason than I discovered I am not a great fan of comic fiction.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?


This weekly meme is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.

I did manage to get some reading done this week. Not as much as I would have liked, but two books finished and two started is not too bad a result for the week, plus a number of reviews written just needing some finishing touches before being posted.

What I Read Last Week

Scotland, 1830. Following the death of her husband, Lady Darby has taken refuge at her sister's estate, finding solace in her passion for painting. But when her hosts throw a house party for the cream of London society, Kiera is unable to hide from the ire of those who believe her to be as unnatural as her husband, an anatomist who used her artistic talents to suit his own macabre purposes. Kiera wants to put her past aside, but when one of the house guests is murdered, her brother-in-law asks her to utilize her knowledge of human anatomy to aid the insufferable Sebastian Gage--a fellow guest with some experience as an inquiry agent. While Gage is clearly more competent than she first assumed, Kiera isn't about to let her guard down as accusations and rumors swirl. When Kiera and Gage's search leads them to even more gruesome discoveries, a series of disturbing notes urges Lady Darby to give up the inquiry. But Kiera is determined to both protect her family and prove her innocence, even as she risks becoming the next victim...

Patrick Paniter was James IV's right-hand man, a diplomatic genius who was in charge of the guns at the disastrous battle of Flodden in September 1513 in which the English annihilated the Scots. After the death of his king he is tormented by guilt as he relives the events that led to war. When Louise Brenier, daughter of a rogue sea trader, asks his help in finding out if her brother Benoit was killed in action, it is the least he can do to salve his conscience. Not satisfied with the news he brings, Louise sets off to find out the truth herself, and swiftly falls foul of one of the lawless clans that rule the ungovernable borderlands. After Flodden is a novel about the consequences of the battle of Flodden, as seen through the eyes of several characters who either had a hand in bringing the country to war, or were profoundly affected by the outcome. There have been very few novels about Flodden, despite its significance,and none from this perspective. It's a racy adventure, combining political intrigue and romance, and its readership will be anyone who loves historical fiction, or is interested in the history of Scotland and the turbulent, ungovernable borderlands between Scotland and England.

Reading Today

I read the first chapter of Shirley on my laptop. Not finding this a comfortable way of reading, I've decided to wait for the copy I've ordered to arrive in the mail or borrow a copy from the library.

The Shirley of the title is a woman of independent means; her friend Caroline is not. Both struggle with what a woman's role is and can be. Their male counterparts - Louis, the powerless tutor, and Robert, his cloth-manufacturing brother - also stand at odds to society's expectations. The novel is set in a period of social and political ferment, featuring class disenfranchisement, the drama of Luddite machine-breaking, and the divisive effects of the Napoleonic Wars. But Charlotte Brontë's particular strength lies in exploring the hidden psychological drama of love, loss and the quest for identity. Personal and public agitation are brought together against the dramatic backdrop of her native Yorkshire. As always, Brontë challenges convention, exploring the limitations of social justice whilst telling not one but two love stories.



I didn't intend to start this book as I had others on my week's to read list, but sorting through my reading pile on Saturday, I made the mistake of reading the prologue and now I'm 23 chapters in, roaming the streets of London with Sebastian St. Cyr as he tries to clear his name....

It's 1811, and the threat of revolution haunts the upper classes of King George III's England. Then a beautiful young woman is found savagely murdered on the altar steps of an ancient church near Westminster Abbey. A dueling pistol found at the scene and the damning testimony of a witness both point to one man-Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, a brilliant young nobleman shattered by his experience in the Napoleonic Wars.

Now a fugitive running for his life, Sebastian calls upon his skill as an agent during the war to catch the killer and prove his own innocence. In the process, he accumulates a band of unlikely allies, including the enigmatic beauty Kat Boleyn, who broke Sebastian's heart years ago. In Sebastian's world of intrigue and espionage, nothing is as it seems, yet the truth may hold the key to the future of the British monarchy, as well as to Sebastian's own salvation.

Hoping to Also Read This Week 

Still on my list from last week are Run Them Ashore by Adrian Goldsworthy and The Riddle of the River by Catherine Shaw. However, there is one book that has been in my reading pile for a while, The Winter Guest by Pam Jenoff, so have added this title to my list for the week.

Life is a constant struggle for the impoverished eighteen-year-old twins Helena and Ruth Nowak as they raise their three younger siblings in rural Poland under the shadow of the Nazi occupation. The constant threat of arrest has made everyone in their village a spy, and turned neighbour against neighbour.

Though independent Helena and gentle Ruth couldn't be more different, they are staunch allies in protecting their family from the threats and the hardships the war brings closer to their doorstep.

Then Helena discovers an Allied paratrooper stranded outside their village, wounded, but alive. Risking the safety of herself and her family, she hides Sam—a Jew—but Helena's concern for the American grows into something much deeper and the dream of a life beyond the mountains beckons.

 Defying the perils that render a future together all but impossible, Sam and Helena make plans for the family to flee. But Helena is forced to contend with the jealousy her choices have sparked in Ruth, culminating in a singular act of betrayal that endangers them all—and setting in motion a chain of events that will reverberate across continents and decades.

Zemindar by Valerie Fitzgerald: A Classic Re-issued

This post was prompted  by a recent one from Sarah at  Reading the Past entitled Two New and Substantial Historical novel reissues: Zemindar and Csardas. I've not read Csardas by Diane Pearson, but Zemindar by Valerie Fitzgerald is an old favourite of mine and I'm so pleased that this classic is being re-issued. My copy, a 1982 Bantam edition, is well used as I re-read this novel regularly and it is definitely in my pile of "keepers". I've even included it in my list of books for The Re-read Challenge 2015.

In her post Sarah links to a newspaper article and a radio interview. The interview with Valerie Fitzgerald, who is now in her eighties, is very interesting. In it she explains why there were no more novels after Zemindar. A shame, but life took her in other directions.

Cover: 1982 Bantam Paperback
From the back cover:

A magnificent love story unfolds against a backdrop of exotic splendour and stirring deeds as young Englishwoman Laura Hewitt journeys to the East – and to the fabled fiefdom of the Zemindar, Guardian of the Earth.

He is Oliver Erskine, the hereditary ruler of his private kingdom, commander of his own native army – and brother of the man she loves.

Subject of Britain’s Queen, but also a son of India, he walks the tightrope between treason to the Crown and betrayal of his own beloved land.

Challenging Laura to discover “the real India”, he guides her through a world both beautiful and dangerous, lit with splendour and torn by despair.

Laura is alternately bewitched and repelled by Oliver’s world – and by the Zemindar himself: arrogant and demanding, lustful and compassionate, tender and persuasive. He infuriates her, invades her soul – and claims her as his own. Then, as a tidal wave of rebellion engulfs even the enchanted reaches of Oliver’s estate, Laura is forced to confront her own divided loyalties, her own mutinous heart.

Not since The Far Pavilions has a novel so captured the essence of the fabulous East; not since Gone With the Wind has there been a love story so intense and so memorable.
 
Cover: 2015 Head of Zeus Paperback
From the back cover:

An epic love story, in the tradition of The Far Pavilions set during the Indian Mutiny.

From M M Kaye's The Far Pavilions to Julia Gregson's East of the Sun the Indian Raj has been a rich source of bestsellers. Zemindar is one of the greatest ever written.

A magnificent, twisting, turning love story unfolds against a backdrop of exotic splendour as Englishwoman Laura Hewitt accompanies her cousin and fiance, first to Calcutta and then to the fabled fiefdom of Oliver Erskine, Zemindar - or hereditary ruler - of a private kingdom with its own army.

But India is on the verge of the Mutiny, which will sweep them all up in its turbulence. Not one of them - not even the Zemindar himself - will remain unchanged by this violent rebellion against the Raj.



 Zemindar  won the Georgette Heyer Historical Novel Prize in 1981. The jury that year included none other than M.M. Kaye herself.

What more can I say about this wonderful book? If you like exotic settings, history and a strong hero and an equally strong heroine then grab a copy. You won't be disappointed.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?



This weekly meme is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.

Once again not much reading or blogging has happened over the past week. I've signed up for all the reading challenges I'm participating in this year and now I'm ready to do some serious reading and review writing.

What I Read Last Week

The Winter Siege by Ariana Franklin & Samantha Norman

Run, run, girl. In the name of God, run. It's 1141 and freezing cold. Gwil, a battle-hardened mercenary, watches in horror as a little girl with red hair is dragged away by his own men. Caught in the middle of the fight for England she is just one more victim in a winter of atrocities. But a strange twist of fate brings them together again. Gwil finds the girl close to death, clutching a sliver of parchment - and he knows what he must do. He will bring her back to life. He will train her to fight. And together, they will hunt down the man who did this to her. But danger looms wherever they turn. As castle after castle falls victim to siege, the icy Fens ring with rumours of a madman, of murder - and of a small piece of parchment the cost of which none of them could have imagined....

You can read my review here.

What I'm Reading Today

The Anatomist's Wife by Anna Lee Huber

Scotland, 1830. Following the death of her husband, Lady Darby has taken refuge at her sister's estate, finding solace in her passion for painting. But when her hosts throw a house party for the cream of London society, Kiera is unable to hide from the ire of those who believe her to be as unnatural as her husband, an anatomist who used her artistic talents to suit his own macabre purposes. Kiera wants to put her past aside, but when one of the house guests is murdered, her brother-in-law asks her to utilize her knowledge of human anatomy to aid the insufferable Sebastian Gage--a fellow guest with some experience as an inquiry agent. While Gage is clearly more competent than she first assumed, Kiera isn't about to let her guard down as accusations and rumors swirl. When Kiera and Gage's search leads them to even more gruesome discoveries, a series of disturbing notes urges Lady Darby to give up the inquiry. But Kiera is determined to both protect her family and prove her innocence, even as she risks becoming the next victim...

Hoping to Also Read This Week

These books are still in my reading pile from last week's It's Monday! What are You Reading? meme.
I would also like to read one book towards my Reading England 2015 challenge, which will cross-over into a few other challenges:

Shirley by Charlotte Brontë

The Shirley of the title is a woman of independent means; her friend Caroline is not. Both struggle with what a woman's role is and can be. Their male counterparts - Louis, the powerless tutor, and Robert, his cloth-manufacturing brother - also stand at odds to society's expectations. The novel is set in a period of social and political ferment, featuring class disenfranchisement, the drama of Luddite machine-breaking, and the divisive effects of the Napoleonic Wars. But Charlotte Brontë's particular strength lies in exploring the hidden psychological drama of love, loss and the quest for identity. Personal and public agitation are brought together against the dramatic backdrop of her native Yorkshire. As always, Brontë challenges convention, exploring the limitations of social justice whilst telling not one but two love stories.


Reading Challenges 2015

I've finally signed up for all the challenges I'm participating in  this year. Last year I only participated in one and came into that rather late: it had four months left to run. So this year I decided to get in at the beginning of the year and do more than one. Saying that January is nearly over, but I'm organized.

These are the challenges with links to my sign up pages:
I totalled up the minimum number of books to be read this year: 165. This total excludes any crossovers and includes an average of 10 books per year for The Classics Club challenge.

I've also signed up for the Goodreads Reading Challenge 2015, but as this will encompass all books
planned for the various challenges it won't add to my book count.

Have I taken on too much? Time will tell. 

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?



This weekly meme is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.

Regretfully not much reading has been happening over the past week. I'm still trying to sort out what reading challenges I will sign up for this year. However, I did manage to finish three novels, though the reviews are still to be written.

What I Read Last Week


The theatres are padlocked. Christmas has been cancelled. It is 1657 and the unloved English Republic is eight years old. Though Cromwell's joyless grip on power appears immovable, many still look to Charles Stuart's dissolute and threadbare court-in-exile, and some are prepared to risk their lives plotting a restoration.
For the officers of the Republic, constant vigilance is needed. So, when the bloody corpse of a Royalist spy is discovered on the dung heap of a small Essex village, why is the local magistrate so reluctant to investigate? John Grey, a young lawyer with no clients, finds himself alone in believing that the murdered man deserves justice. Grey is drawn into a vortex of plot and counter-plot and into the all-encompassing web of intrigue spun by Cromwell's own spy-master, John Thurloe.
So when nothing is what it seems, can Grey trust anyone?

 
 A powerful novel set in Gallipoli, that's part war-story and part mystery. 'Amid Gallipoli's slaughter he hunted a murderer ...' It is 1915 and Thomas Clare rues the day he and his best friend Snow went to war to solve the murder of his father. The only clues - a hidden wartime document and the imprint of an army boot on the victim's face - have led the pair from the safety of Queensland to the blood-soaked hills of Gallipoli. Now not only are Thomas's enemies on every side - from the Turkish troops bearing down on the Anzac lines, to the cold-blooded killer in his own trench - but as far away as London and Berlin. For, unbeknown to Thomas, the path to murder began thirteen years earlier in Africa with the execution of Breaker Morant - and a secret that could change the course of history ...


To any passer-by, Eleanor Lee might be almost invisible - just another elderly lady - but beneath the surface lies a powerful secret she has kept hidden for decades . . . At the dawn of the Second World War, Eleanor is a fiercely independent young woman, determined to write her own future, rejecting marriage for passion security for adventure. But now, seventy years later, alone in her big old house, she is anxious to erase the past. Peter Mistley, a young man escaping his own ghosts, is employed to help Eleanor sort through her lifetime of possessions. For amongst them are things that her children and grandchildren must never find. Together, Eleanor and Peter uncover traces of another life - words and photographs revealing a story of forbidden love, betrayal, guilt and self-sacrifice. But by releasing her memories at last, can Eleanor still protect those who must never know the truth? 

Reading Today


Run, run, girl. In the name of God, run. It's 1141 and freezing cold. Gwil, a battle-hardened mercenary, watches in horror as a little girl with red hair is dragged away by his own men. Caught in the middle of the fight for England she is just one more victim in a winter of atrocities. But a strange twist of fate brings them together again. Gwil finds the girl close to death, clutching a sliver of parchment - and he knows what he must do. He will bring her back to life. He will train her to fight. And together, they will hunt down the man who did this to her. But danger looms wherever they turn. As castle after castle falls victim to siege, the icy Fens ring with rumours of a madman, of murder - and of a small piece of parchment the cost of which none of them could have imagined....

Hoping to Also Read This Week

As the fifth novel in acclaimed historian Adrian Goldsworthy's Napoleonic series opens, British fortunes in the Peninsula War are at their lowest ebb. Lieutenant Hamish Williams of the 106th Foot will soon discover just how precarious their situation is, and what bloody sacrifices are necessary to prevent total victory for the French. While the Navy keeps the British foothold at Cadiz from falling to the enemy, help from the valiant but divided Spanish geurrillos will be vital if the French advance on land is to be halted. Alongside the experienced 'exploring officer' Lieutenant Hanley, Williams joins the Spanish partisans behind enemy lines, but while he learns much about the viciousness of guerrilla warfare - not least that women can sometimes fight with all the ferocity of their male counterparts - he quickly finds that the greatest danger comes from his own side. Carrying vital knowledge of a traitor, Williams must find his way back to the British lines before a deadly French trap can be sprung, but with the British commanders determined to go on the attack, will he be able to avert disaster?


Patrick Paniter was James IV's right-hand man, a diplomatic genius who was in charge of the guns at the disastrous battle of Flodden in September 1513 in which the English annihilated the Scots. After the death of his king he is tormented by guilt as he relives the events that led to war. When Louise Brenier, daughter of a rogue sea trader, asks his help in finding out if her brother Benoit was killed in action, it is the least he can do to salve his conscience. Not satisfied with the news he brings, Louise sets off to find out the truth herself, and swiftly falls foul of one of the lawless clans that rule the ungovernable borderlands. After Flodden is a novel about the consequences of the battle of Flodden, as seen through the eyes of several characters who either had a hand in bringing the country to war, or were profoundly affected by the outcome. There have been very few novels about Flodden, despite its significance,and none from this perspective. It's a racy adventure, combining political intrigue and romance, and its readership will be anyone who loves historical fiction, or is interested in the history of Scotland and the turbulent, ungovernable borderlands between Scotland and England.


On a balmy summer in 1898 Vanessa Wetherburn is contentedly feeding a clotted cream scone to her young son in her Cambridge garden when she is startled by the abrupt arrival of her long-time friend, the journalist Patrick O'Sullivan. Eager to discover the identity of a beautiful young woman found floating in the River Cam, Pat has called on the one woman he knows is sure to be able to solve the mystery. Over recent years Vanessa has garnered a reputation for solving crimes - including murders, thefts and blackmail attempts - but never before has she faced an unknown victim. She is at a loss to know where to begin. As Vanessa considers what to do, her first important clue arrives in the form of Ernest Dixon, who is worried by the disappearance of his favourite actress; a young woman named Ivy Elliot, who was playing the part of Ophelia.Could the missing girl and unidentified body be one and the same woman? Forced to go undercover to continue her research, Vanessa stumbles across an amazing and revolutionary discovery, which not only helps her to solve the case but will have a major impact worldwide. Beautifully written and thoroughly researched, this latest case for the talented Mrs Weatherburn proves to be her most perplexing yet.