‘A Grave Concern’ by Susanna Gregory

Published by Sphere,
26 July 2016.
ISBN: 978-0751549799

It is Cambridge 1359 and Tynkell the University's Chancellor dies fighting a cloaked figure on the roof of the St. Mary the Great church. Whoever killed him seemed to fly away and the gathered crowd are convinced it was the devil. There is certainly no sign of him in the church.

So begins the search for a new Chancellor, a very much sort after position resulting in many unpopular and unsavoury characters putting themselves up for election. It is Brother Michael's job to organise it, and as he has been offered a Bishopric causing him to leave Cambridge, he wants to make sure he sees the best candidate in place before he goes.

However, to add to his consternation, a number of murders take place, including some of the candidates for the Chancellorship. Matthew Bartholomew, Michael's friend, a physician and a bit of a sleuth is baffled as to the connection of the deaths as they include workmen too, currently building tombs in the church. This leads him to believe that there must be two different killers at large. Then at the same time thefts start occurring, marble slabs etc. from the tombs.

To add to the confusion Matthew discovers that there seems to be a number of people who are secret devil worshippers, can this be possible among so many Holy men?

Michael and Matthew engage the sheriff and a number of his men to help solve the mysteries leading to some exciting action before all is solved. However, along the way they are shocked by the traitorous actions of some of the people they thought they could trust, is no one honest and reliable any more?

This latest story of Matthew Bartholomew and his friend Brother Michael lives up to expectations. It is full of twists and turns and many a red herring. The action builds nicely with a fast paced climax, especially as it takes place in a snow storm. So well described was it that it made me shiver!

Susannah Gregory certainly has a great talent for bringing the past alive and once again I see many of the characters in the book actually existed making it more interesting still. I also found it fascinating to learn that some of the events actually took place too.

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Reviewer: Tricia Chappell

Susanna Gregory was raised in Bristol. After graduating from university, she spent three years in Leeds, as an officer in the West Yorkshire Police, before taking up an academic career. She has served as an environmental consultant, doing fieldwork with whales, seals and walruses during seventeen field seasons in the polar regions, and has taught comparative anatomy and biological anthropology. She is the creator of the Thomas Chaloner series of mysteries set in Restoration London as well as the Matthew Bartholomew books, and now lives in Wales with her husband, who is also a writer.

Tricia Chappell. I have a great love of books and reading, especially crime and thrillers. I play the occasional game of golf  (when I am not reading). My great love is cruising especially to far flung places, when there are long days at sea for plenty more reading! I am really enjoying reviewing books and have found lots of great new authors.

‘After she Fell’ by Mary-Jane Riley

Published by Killer Reads,
28 April 2016.
ISBN: 978-0-008181109

Seventeen-year-old Elena was found dead at the bottom of a cliff, and her mother is convinced it wasn’t suicide. She asks her journalist friend Alex Devlin to investigate – and Alex soon finds out that all’s not as it should be at The Drift, Elena’s private boarding school.

This novel is told in the third person throughout, centring alternately on Alex and Elena. Alex is investigating in the present, while the Elena narrative begins twenty-nine weeks before her death, and gradually moves forward in time, until the last chapter shows us what really happened. Both narrators draw you in, Elena particularly for the courage with which she faces her difficulties: a Queen Bee girl clique, a pair of thuggish boys, and a secret love affair. Alex is having difficulties with her son, who’s gone off to Europe to find the father who doesn’t know he exists, and her former boyfriend, undercover policeman Malone, has reappeared in her life. Her investigations bring her into conflict with both staff and pupils of The Drift, as well as into grippingly-described personal danger. The central theme of parents and children is handled gently, but without sentimentality; in the end, the parents too have to face up to their shortcomings, but Alex at least has a chance to put things right with her son, Gus. The plot moves swiftly, with a lot going on, and a number of neat twists, particularly the end surprise. This is a sequel to The Bad Things, and there are spoilers, so if you enjoy contemporary psychologial thrillers, you might like to start with that.

A tense, well-written psychological thriller with characters you get involved in, and a twisting plot. Recommended.

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Reviewer: Marsali Taylor

Mary-Jane Riley wrote her first story on her newly acquired blue Petite typewriter. She was eight. It was about a gang of children who had adventures on mysterious islands, but she soon realised Enid Blyton had cornered that particular market. So she wrote about the Wild West instead. When she grew up she had to earn a living, and became a BBC radio talk show presenter and journalist. She has covered many life-affirming stories, but also some of the darkest events of the past two decades.
Then, in true journalistic style, she decided not to let the facts get in the way of a good story and got creative. She wrote for women's magazines and small presses. She formed WriteOutLoud with two writer friends to help charities get their message across using their life stories. Now she is writing psychological suspense, drawing on her experiences in journalism.
The Bad Things by Mary-Jane Riley was published by Harper Collins/Killer Reads. Her second book, After She Fell, also published by Killer Reads, is out on April 28th.
In her spare time Mary-Jane likes to walk the dog and eat a lot. Good job she likes walking.

Marsali Taylor grew up near Edinburgh, and came to Shetland as a newly-qualified teacher. She is currently a part-time teacher on Shetland's scenic west side, living with her husband and two Shetland ponies. Marsali is a qualified STGA tourist-guide who is fascinated by history, and has published plays in Shetland's distinctive dialect, as well as a history of women's suffrage in Shetland. She's also a keen sailor who enjoys exploring in her own 8m yacht, and an active member of her local drama group.  Marsali also does a regular monthly column for the Mystery People e-zine.

‘Magdalena’s Redemption’ by James Morley

Published by Benhams Books,
6 Aug. 2007.
ISBN: 978-0954888022

When Hampshire farmer Tom O’Malley finds the body of a dead girl, apparently suicide, the police won’t listen to him when he tries to explain the discrepancies he noticed ... but soon mysterious events are happening on his employer’s estate, and it takes him all his wits to work out what’s going on.

This fast-moving crime thriller is mostly told through the eyes of Tom O’ Malley, farmer, grieveing widower (thought the elegant Gina is very ready to console him), estate manager and local JP. Another viewpoint is given by his daughter Lucy, a newly-qualified GP. We soon find out that the dead girl worked on the estate Tom manages for his friend, the film-star and director Gustav Fjortoft, and was in fact an undercover journalist. The plot broadens to include deaths from World War II, and a Jewish group determined to hunt down the perpetrators. Tom is a sympathetic central character, and the family tensions between him, Lucy and his son, Andy, add bite to the characters. The Hampshire farming background is authentically done, the plot twists good, and the finale satisfying.

A non-stop thriller packed with action.

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Reviewer: Marsali Taylor

James Morley sis a local author, writing books under the name Benham's Sea Mysteries. Retired from an agricultural background Jim has been writing books since 2005. He is well known in the local area for his novels, short stories and publicity writing. He is chairman of Petersfield Writers’ Circle and an active members of his local book club. Jim lives in Liss in Hampshire, a widower, in an untidy house filled with books and computers. Jim is a members of the UK Society of Authors.

http://www.jimmorleybooks.com/
http://jimmorleybooks.blogspot.com

Marsali Taylor grew up near Edinburgh, and came to Shetland as a newly-qualified teacher. She is currently a part-time teacher on Shetland's scenic west side, living with her husband and two Shetland ponies. Marsali is a qualified STGA tourist-guide who is fascinated by history, and has published plays in Shetland's distinctive dialect, as well as a history of women's suffrage in Shetland. She's also a keen sailor who enjoys exploring in her own 8m yacht, and an active member of her local drama group.  Marsali also does a regular monthly column for the Mystery People e-zine.

'Mr Scarletti's Ghost' by Linda Stratmann

Published by The Mystery Press,
7 September 2015.
ISBN 978-0-7509-6050-2

Brighton, 1871. Mediums are all the rage, and Mina Scarletti’s mother has succumbed to the wiles of Miss Eustace, whose dramatic seances exploit the vulnerable. Mina is determined to save her mother, and expose Miss Eustace for the cheat she is ...

I was hooked by this crime novel straight away. Mina Scarlatti is the kind of heroine you want to follow: determined and resourceful, with a vividly drawn family around her: her imperious, insensitive mother, her conventional brother Edward, who sends good advice by letter, and her wayward brother Richard, who flits from one disreputable career to another, and is still engaging in spite of the way he only visits when short of money. Other characters of Brighton society were sharply drawn, and convincingly period: the unctuous healer, Mr Bradley, the gullible Professor Gaskin, and his social-climbing wife, had a wonderfully Dickensian feel to them. The descriptions of Victorian Brighton are vivid, and the plot twists and turns as Mrs Scarlatti and her friends are drawn deeper into Miss Eustace’s coils. The seance exploits are rooted in the mediums of the period, as the references to D D Home show, and wanting to find out how Miss Eustace achieves her effects, and how Mina will expose her, draws us to read on. There are neat final twists, and a satisfying ending.

A thoroughly good read, which takes you back into the world of a sharp and witty heroine solving an entertaining mystery. Highly recommended.

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Reviewer: Marsali Taylor

This is the first book about Mina Scarletti but Linda  Stratmann has a 5 volume series about Frances Doughty set in Victorian London

Linda Stratmann was born in the city of Leicester on 4 April 1948. Linda attended Medway Street Infants and Junior School, in the days of the eleven plus, and from there went to Wyggeston Girls Grammar School. Her earliest ambition was to be an astronomer, and she read and wrote a great deal of science fiction. She also read biology, zoology and medicine, and seriously considered a medical career. But by her teens, she had developed an absorbing and life-long interest in true crime, probably taking after her mother who loved to read about famous trials.  Linda took her A levels and went to Newcastle University in 1971, graduating with first class honours in psychology three years later. She then joined the civil service, and trained to be an Inspector of Taxes.  In 1987, unable to resist the pull of London she moved there, married her second husband, Gary in 1993. In 2001 she left the civil service, and started a new career as a freelance writer and sub-editor, and in 2002 was commissioned to write her first published book on the history of Chloroform.

http://www.lindastratmann.com/

Marsali Taylor grew up near Edinburgh, and came to Shetland as a newly-qualified teacher. She is currently a part-time teacher on Shetland's scenic west side, living with her husband and two Shetland ponies. Marsali is a qualified STGA tourist-guide who is fascinated by history, and has published plays in Shetland's distinctive dialect, as well as a history of women's suffrage in Shetland. She's also a keen sailor who enjoys exploring in her own 8m yacht, and an active member of her local drama group.  Marsali also does a regular monthly column for the Mystery People e-zine.