The Ghosts of Glevum by Rosemary Rowe;
Genre: Historical mystery;
Format: Kindle ebook;
Publisher: Headline Publishing Group (2013);
Rating: (3 / 5).

This series of historical mysteries is set in AD 187 Roman Britain. Libertus is a pavement artist; he makes beautiful mosaic floors for the wealthy citizens of Glevum, what is now Gloucester. This is the sixth book of the series.

Basically, I kept reading this story because I like Libertus, a reluctant detective who was formerly a slave and therefore can appreciate a good thing when he sees it. However, many of the supporting cast in this volume were not good things, and he only spends time with them because he’s forced to. And I don’t only mean the beggars and theives . . . the rich and powerful were just as bad. This and the descriptions of the living conditions didn’t make the story any more enjoyable to read, but it did make Libertus shine in the darkness.

Furthermore, Libertus either had to solve this particular mystery or lose almost everything he has. That dark side was very evident in this book, where Marcus, Libertus’s patron, was accused of murder and treason. This leaves our hero with no help from his main supportor or anyone else nearby.

Ms. Rowe’s descriptions are excellent, as usual, but the pacing was a little choppy. Perhaps that was intentional because of the hero’s circumstances; he had to sit around and wait a lot.

The mystery itself was a bit of a letdown. Libertus must rely on the “ghosts” of the story to help him investigate, and it felt like he wasn’t even present for most of the legwork, which is half the fun.

I’d taken a hiatus from this series for several years, and I’d hoped for more from this volume. I will give Libertus one more try before giving up.

This story contains some violence, no sexual content, no foul language.

Baynard’s List by Jason Vail.
My rating: 4 of 5 stars;
Genre: Historical Mystery;
Format: Kindle ebook;
Rating: (4 / 5).

This was the second book in this series, and I liked it better than the first. I think Stephen is shown in a bit more favorable light, and he’s becoming more of a real character. I would still like to see more internal feeling from him, however, as I sometimes felt he was just going through the motions.

The atmosphere is described very well in this series, and you can almost feel the mud sucking at your shoes and smell the straw in the stable. The town of Ludlow is a real place, of course, and the author loses no opportunity to name the streets and waterways to good effect. Given the setting and story, the violence was applicable. There’s no descriptive sex and no foul language.

This mystery had a real surprise in the end, too, which was enjoyable.

A Trail of Ink (Chronicles of Hugh De Singleton, Surgeon, Book 3)

Author: Mel Starr;
Genre: Historical Mystery;
Format: Kindle Ebook;
Publisher: Lion Fiction (2013).

This is the third book in a great series, and I liked it the best so far. The setting is 15th-century England, mostly in Oxford this time.

Our protagonist, Hugh de Singleton, is bailiff for Lord Talbot, a local nobleman. In this capacity, he investigates crimes, and is a tenacious man when he finds something he thinks is unjust or unmoral.

In this volume, the mystery begins calmly enough when Hugh’s old professor Wycliffe reports that his entire library of books—a valuable commodity—has been stolen. The case gets more complicated, with some red herrings thrown in, and of course some danger involved. The actual murder in this instance doesn’t even happen until halfway through the book.

The characters are a mixed lot, but Hugh is a good man and true. He is currently searching for a wife after Lord Talbot recommends he settle down. Enter Kate, who made an appearance in the previous book and has a bigger role here. Hugh has a rival that will probably cause more trouble in future books, but so far, the romance is going well, although it’s only a small part of the overall story.

Descriptions are done very well, and the pacing is fine. As with the previous books in this series, the pacing is quite slow through most of the story, which forces the reader to consider the slower speed of everyday life in the setting. The ending came up quickly and was over fast, as with many historical mysteries.

Some violence (circa 1465), no foul language, no sex.

Copyright © 2018 Janice F McClintock; All Rights Reserved

I’ve been on a roll with historical mysteries lately after having taken a break for a while. I think I’m too cynical these days to really relax and enjoy most of them, but I count them as light reading. All the following were ebooks.

The Wayward Apprentice (A Stephen Attebrook mystery Book 1)

by Jason Vail

The title character is a widowed knight in 13th-century England. He’s lost part of his foot and that means he had to give up fighting. Now he’s a deputy coroner in a small town and thinks it might be a quiet billet. That is until several murders throw him into a conflict between local lords.

The setting is very gritty and the lives of the inhabitants coarse. No bad language or sex, but this isn’t a happy story.

Although Stephen doesn’t seem very likable, his sidekick and some of the local folk are easier to like (or hate, as the plot thickens). There were many formatting errors in the ebook and the book itself is poorly edited. The plot is very uneven and there are large holes left for the next volume.

The Red Hill (Thomas Berrington Historical Mystery Book 1)

by David Penny

A unique and interesting setting helps to pull this mystery forward, but only so far. Moorish Spain in 1482 is a place of power struggles and politics. The English physician to the Sultan of Granada, Thomas Berrington, is drawn into investigating a number of murders in the palace. He reluctantly follows his orders, along with a palace eunuch, Jorge, who helps with logistics and advice when dealing with the harem.

The characters are fun (even the bad ones), the setting is different, but the pace is very drawn out. Thomas and Jorge stumble along with little help from others. The middle of the book was slow, and even the denouement was sluggish.

Again, there were quite a few spelling and usage errors throughout the ebook, which makes me wonder how much the author cared about his work. Penny was apparently not a rookie author, either, so what happened to the editing?

This is the first of four (so far) in this series. This one included quite a bit of violence and sexual references (but not gratuitous).

Uneasy Spirits (A Victorian San Francisco Mystery Book 2)

by M. Louisa Locke

The second in a cozy historical mystery series set in 1879 San Francisco, this was better than the first one. Annie Fuller, a widowed boarding house manager, is a compelling heroine and she and her friends are very well described. Her sometimes boyfriend, Nate Dawson, also has a good back story and he struggles as a young lawyer to get some meaty cases.

The plot is based on the then-popular fad of spiritualism and seances. Annie tries to help a friend by debunking a husband and wife team who practice their craft on unsuspecting victims. However, Annie does make some foolish choices and the “accidents” that keep happening are obvious to everyone but her.

I think the pacing and the length of this book were very good, and the author is skilled with description. What I didn’t like was the large number of characters. Were they all necessary to this plot? The mystery itself was well done and although it wasn’t a huge shock, it was a nice twist.

No foul language or sex, and very little violence.

Murder at Merisham Lodge: Miss Hart and Miss Hunter Investigate: Book 1

by Celina Grace

Another first in a series that has two amateur detectives working to solve a murder in a large English manor house, circa 1930. The two young women, one a lady’s maid and one a cook’s assistant, must work hard to keep their places in the household. When their mistress is killed, they investigate while going through their daily chores…over and over.

As another reviewer on Amazon pointed out, there are no hunky leading men to save the main characters from themselves. Instead, the local police accept the help of the servants to try to solve the case. Highly unlikely, but it makes for a decent mystery.

Like so many of this kind of story, the rich are made out to be the spoiled bad guys while the lowly servants work hard to improve their sorry states. Blah, blah, blah.

Light reading for a winter’s evening by the fire. Very little violence, no sex, and no foul language. Recommended for cozy lovers of English house mysteries.

Runaway Girl (Runaway Girl Series Book 1)

by Emily Organ

Yet another widow, but also a strong leading woman, Alice, is the main character of this mystery set in 14th-century London. After the deaths of her husband and child, Alice removed herself to a monastery, where she cares for orphan children. One of the nursery helpers, 14-year-old Constance, is abducted, and Alice sets out to find her, with a little help from one of the monks (with a very small hint of romance).

Medieval England is not one of my favorite settings, and this proves my case. Like the above rich-vs-poor conflict, this one includes nuns that are downright mean and men in charge who don’t think much of women. Yes, that setup might be authentic, but do I really need to see again how corrupt the church was in that time or how much the streets stank or how cold it was?

The writing was fine, although the dialog left something to be desired, and there were noticeably fewer errors in this ebook; what a nice change! I was somewhat disappointed by an intended twist of the story, which I thought pretty much gave away the solution. And the ending of the book was not very satisfactory. I just don’t care enough about the setting or characters to continue this series.

Some violence, no sexual content, and no foul language (just foul living conditions).

Act of Treason: An Elizabethan Thriller

Author: Frank Dickens;
Genre: Historical Mystery;
Format: Ebook;
Publisher: Endeavour Press Ltd (2016).

An Elizabethan mystery, this story is narrated by George Bullen in London, 1598. Mr. Bullen is a scribe; he writes letters and transcribes legal and financial documentation for those who cannot read or write. A stranger visits to recount an incident that has landed him in serious trouble—treason, in fact—with the crown. Gareth Simmons is running for his life and needs the money his story will bring, possibly to sell to a playwright like Shakespeare or Marlowe, to leave the country.

The story-within-a-story involves Queen Elizabeth and her court, which famously (or infamously) travelled the country on “progresses,” both to save her own money and to keep away from the sicknesses in London. As Simmons relates the tale each day and George Bullen records it, the scribe begins to understand the dangers. When people around him start to die, he must decide whether to let the fugitive finish the tale or turn him in to the crown.

During the days that Simmons is relating the story to Bullen, the story dragged quite a bit. It was frustrating to wait between sessions, especially when the story wasn’t very interesting, at least yet. The author included some—but not too much—historical background on the time period, including the political scene and the religious context, which would help those not familiar with the time.

Once Bullen starts to investigate the mystery himself, I felt the plot meandered from one idea to the next. It was difficult to keep up with where it was going and why Bullen was putting himself and his family in such danger. It felt as if the author had some famous locations and/or events in mind and wanted to be sure he included them all in the book.

In the Kindle version, at least, there were quite a few errors of punctuation and usage. Whether these came from the original or were from the conversion process, it’s hard to say. As an editor, it’s difficult to overlook the lack of quotation marks, the duplicate words, and the name changes from one section to another, for instance. The finished product deserves better proofreading.

This is not a long book and the mystery is intriguing, but the reader must be patient and not expect a lot of action.

Some violence, no sex, no cursing

Blood on the Water: A William Monk Novel by Anne Perry

Genre: Historical Mystery;
Publisher: Ballantine Books (2014);
ISBN: 978-0345548436.

Although I missed a couple of the latest books in the William Monk series by Anne Perry, I was sent this one in exchange for an honest review and was excited to get back on the horse, so to speak.

As usual, Perry takes us deep into the lives of William and Hester Monk in 1856 London. A large pleasure boat explodes on the Thames, right in front of William and his deputy. Many people are killed or injured, and the city is outraged. The resulting investigation is taken away from the River Police, which seems either a very foolish or very political decision… or both.

Of course, William doesn’t let that stop him. He begins an undercover investigation of his own. As is usual in the Monk series, the questioning and research seem to drag a bit, but the story itself was interesting enough to keep my interest. It all leads up to last-minute denouements and a seat-of-your-pants revelation in the courtroom.

Favorite characters are back, including the adopted son, the shamed barrister, and the staff at the woman’s shelter, all of whom help to add color to the story.

Overall, I enjoyed the book and know that long-time readers of this series won’t be disappointed.