Category Archives: Books

Killers of the King by Charles Spencer

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I decided to read Killers of the King by Charles Spencer when it was mentioned by the author S.G. MacLean as one of the books that she had found interesting when she was doing her research for one of her Seeker books. Luckily I was able to borrow it from the library. I was slightly disappointed when I got my hands on it as I had imagined it to be a sumptuous glossy hardback, but it is a normal format paperback, with just eight pages of photographs/illustrations. No doubt there is a similar hardback edition. However, it’s a really interesting book and is well-written.

There were fifty-nine men who were mad or crazy enough to put their name to King Charles I ‘s death warrant and with the eventual restoration of the monarchy it was open season on them all. Almost half of them had died in the intervening twelve years, but almost immediately the hunt was on for the survivors, with one of them being murdered just three weeks later.

They had had some warning because with the unexpected death of Cromwell who had named his son Richard as his successor, it must have been obvious to everyone who knew Richard that he would never be up to the job. Soon there was talk of bringing Charles II home from his exile, and he was obviously going to punish the regicides. Most of them left the country, but some of them were persuaded to go back home, with promises of mercy, which turned out to be lies.

Charles Spencer decided to write this book because he thought that Charles I was an execrable ruler in his final years. However, I don’t think he came close to being as bad as Cromwell was, and he obviously intended to take over as king himself from the beginning.

“It is striking how many fascinating and notable figures colluded to end his life. They deserve in my view to be remembered with respect for their sacrifices: this book is my tribute to them.”

I think they never wanted a Stuart dynasty in the first place – too Scottish or should I say not English enough,  and  too close to Catholics for their liking. There were just too many greedy men who resented their family not being top dogs, but with Cromwell the whole country suffered. Well, that’s my opinion anyway.

You can see a Wiki image of his death warrant here.

The Bookseller of Inverness by S.G. MacLean

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The Bookseller of Inverness by S.G. MacLean was published in 2022, I found it to be a cracking read, in fact it would make a great film.

Iain MacGillivray had been one of the many Jacobites on Drumossie Moor, Culloden in 1746, and one of the few to get away with his life, although badly wounded, he had feigned death.  It was a terrible time with the Redcoats running amok, pillaging, killing the wounded, and generally causing mayhem and despair within the local communities as they raped and murdered. Six years on and Iain has a bookshop in Inverness where he just wants to put it all behind him, and have nothing to do with the Jacobite cause. But the cause comes to him.

A mystery customer comes to his bookshop, he’s searching for a particular book but refusing to give any information at all, he’s going through all the books one by one. At the end of the day Iain has to practically throw the stranger out so that he can shut the shop, but when he opens it up the next morning he finds the stranger dead, his throat had been cut by a sword with a white cockade on its hilt – a Jacobite symbol.

Iain is surprised to discover that his Jacobite sympathies have resurfaced, and the behaviour of most of the Redcoats in the local barracks only strengthens his feelings.  Someone is settling scores, and it transpires that there’s another Jacobite plot afoot.

This was apparently a Times Audio Book of the Week with the comment that ‘This slice of historical fiction takes you on a wild ride.’

If you do read any books by S.G. (Shona) MacLean you should make sure that you read the Author’s notes at the end of the book. They’re always fascinating, her family background is steeped in the Scottish Highlands, where she still lives, and her uncle was the thriller writer Alistair MacLean. Shona MacLean obviously takes after him.

 

Theatre by W. Somerset Maugham – The 1937 Club

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I was having a tough time finding a 1937 book to read that I hadn’t already read, until I realised that I had a copy of Theatre by W. Somerset Maugham in a Far and Wide omnibus edition. I really liked it, he was such a good writer. The 1937 week is hosted by Simon at Stuck in a Book and Karen at Kaggsy’s Bookish Ramblings.

In Theatre, Maugham, as a successful playwright was writing about a subject that he knew well. Julia and Michael are married and have become a celebrity couple over the years, with Michael concentrating on the business side of things as he realised that he didn’t have the talent to become a successful actor, unlike Julia.  Michael is supposedly the best looking man in the country, which is what drew Julia to him in the first place, but they weren’t married long before Julia realised that he was a tight-fisted, narcissistic bore.

Julia is never off the stage, she’s always acting out her emotions, or the emotions that she thinks correct for the occasion, she’s completely artificial but seems to fool everyone, or so she thinks. It comes as a shock to her in her middle-age that others have been judging her, and she has been found to be wanting.

There’s obviously a lot more to the book than I’ve said, if you get the chance you should give it a go. I’m already planning to read another by Maugham soon.

The Classics Club Spin # 37

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It’s Classics Club Spin time again, number 37. Make a list of twenty of the classic books that are on your Classics Club list of 50. I’m going to have different categories this time around.  I don’t mind which number comes up,  but whichever it is I will be reading that book and reviewing it by the 2nd of June.  Have you read any of the books on my list.

Do not ask me why my computer is lumping the five Scottish author’s list close together in a single space, but the others are double spaced and I can’t change them. It’s a conspiracy!

Five classic books by Scottish authors:

  1.  The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle by Tobias Smollett
  2.  Kenilworth by Sir Walter Scott
  3.  The Quarry Wood  by Nan Shepherd
  4.  The Adventures of Sylvia Scarlett by Compton Mackenzie
  5.  An Inland Voyage by R.L. Stevenson

Five classic books in translation:

6. L’Assommoir/The Drunkard by Emile Zola

7.  Virgin Soil by Ivan Turgenev

8. The Wrench by Primo Levi

9. Moments of Reprieve by Primo Levi

10. Clochmerle by Gabriel Chevallier

Five books by W. Somerset Maugham:

11. Cakes and Ale

12. The Moon and Sixpence

13. Up at the Villa

14. The Painted Veil

15. The Razor’s Edge

Five classic books for children/ Young Adults:

16. The Little Book Room by Eleanor Farjeon

17.  Night Fires by Joan Lingard

18. The Chalet School at War by Elinor M.Brent-Dyer

19. Limbo Lodge by Joan Aiken

20. Meet the Austins by Madeleine L’Engle

 

 

The 1937 Week – previous reads

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It turns out that I had already read a lot of books which were published in 1937, in fact I’m struggling to find something to read for The 1937 Week which is hosted by Simon @ Stuck in a Book and Karen @ Kaggsy’s Bookish Ramblings.

The week of reading books which were printed in 1937 begins on Monday, but the links below are to my previous reads from that year. It’s quite an eclectic bunch, ranging from one for young children – Elsie Piddock – to The Road to Wigan Pier.

The Red Pony by John Steinbeck

Wolf Among Wolves by Hans Fallada

The Hand in the Glove by Rex Stout

The Mystery in White by J. Jefferson Farjeon

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

Lady Rose and Mrs Memmary by Ruby Ferguson

The Cheltenham Square Murder by John Bude

Rosabelle Shaw by D.E. Stevenson

The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather

An Infamous Army by Georgette Heyer

Summer Half by Angela Thirkell

Elsie Piddock Skips in Her Sleep by Eleanor Farjeon

Dimsie Intervenes by Dorita Fairlie Bruce

We Didn’t Mean to go to Sea by Arthur Ransome

The Road to Wigan Pier by George Orwell

 

Green Willow’s Secret by Eileen Dunlop

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Green Willow’s Secret by the Scottish author Eileen Dunlop was published in 1993. This book is meant for YA readers but is enjoyable to people of all ages I’m sure.

Kit had lived in Edinburgh with her parents and older sister, but a family tragedy has led to the father travelling to Australia and Kit and her mother moving to Maddimoss, a rural area. Kit isn’t settling in well and when her teacher tells the class about a Japanese exhibition she has been to the other pupils tell her that there’s a Japanese garden where Kit lives. Kit knows nothing about it but later when she gets home she does some exploring and discovers the remains of a very neglected but wonderful Japanese garden.

There’s a photograph of the garden in the house they are living in, as it was in its heyday, and there are people in the photo, including a Japanese man in traditional dress, but strangely he appears and disappears in the photo. There’s something slightly spooky about the garden. When Kit meets Daniel who is also not a local they decide to work on the garden together.

There’s a lot more to this book, but I don’t want to say much more other than that I enjoyed it. As it happens there is a Japanese Garden at Cowden, not that far from where we live and a hop and a skip from where Eileen Dunlop lived in the wee town of Dollar. I’m sure that is where she got the idea from because the garden at Cowden fell into neglect and was vandalised in the 1960s. As in the book the original Japanese gardener is buried in the local churchyard. You can read the garden’s history and see more photos here. It has fairly recently been brought back to perfection and is open to the public, obviously it’s a business too nowadays so you have to pay an entrance fee. It’s quite a few years since we visited, (you can see my blogposts on our visits here) I seem to remember that there was a small play area for youngsters who may not be so enamoured of the beautiful surroundings.

 

Green for Danger by Christianna Brand

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Green for Danger by Christianna Brand was first published in 1944 but it has been reprinted by British Library in their Crime Classics series.

The setting is Kent in 1942/43, at a new military hospital called Heron’s Park. Esther is a young woman who had joined the hospital as a V.A.D. against her widowed mother’s wishes as she was terrified of the bombing and didn’t want to be left on her own. Esther feels she has to do her bit though.

It’s a busy time for the hospital as lots of  bombs have been dropped in the locality. Joseph Higgins is a postman, and he’s also part of a rescue squad, helping to dig people and bodies out of bombed buildings. But he ends up in hospital himself after being caught up in a bombing raid. He’s very worried about having to have an operation and Esther reassures him, but something goes wrong when he’s on the operating table and he doesn’t survive it. When there’s another unexpected incident during an operation it’s obvious that there’s something nefarious going on.

Inspector Cockrill is called in to investigate.and it transpires that there’s a small number of people who would have had the opportunity to commit murder.

I must admit that I didn’t guess who the culprit was, which is always a plus, but I felt that I should have known. I didn’t really like many of the characters though which is always a problem for me.

Lynne Reid Banks 1929 – 2024

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It’s not all that long ago that I  was surprised to discover that the author Lynne Reid Banks was still alive, but news of her death was printed in today’s Guardian.  You can read her obituary here.

The first book by her that I read was The L-Shaped Room which was the first book in a trilogy.  It’s a great read and although it’s getting on for 50 years since I read it there are still parts of that book which are very vivid in my mind. I passed my copy of the book on to Jack who at that time read mainly Science Fiction, then my mother read it, she read mainly books of the family saga type, particularly Catherine Cookson who was hugely popular at that time. Both Jack and my mother really enjoyed The L-Shaped Room too, it was made into a film starring Leslie Caron. She later went on to write books for children, the most well known one being The Indian in the Cupboard.

Since then I’ve enjoyed several more books by her, but I still have a few to read. She was a fair old age though, 94 so she might have been ready to go, unlike some authors recently who popped off far too early.

If you haven’t read anything by Lynne Reid Banks you should give her a go.

Squeaky Clean by Callum McSorley

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Squeaky Clean by Callum McSorley is the author’s first novel and it won the McIlvanney Prize: Scottish Crime Book of the Year. The setting is Glasgow, mainly the east end.  I must say that I did like this one but in parts it’s not for the faint-hearted, or weak stomached, it’s definitely on the violent and gory side, but there is comedy too.

Detective Inspector Alison McCoist (yes, Ally McCoist) bungled her last investigation so she’s been demoted, if that wasn’t bad enough her husband has got custody of their teenage twins, things couldn’t get much worse for her but she’s determined to claw her wake back up again, it’s either that or she’ll be retired out of the force.

Sean owns a car wash business, he doesn’t do any of the work himself though, he’s in the office, with a serious cannabis habit. Davey is one of his employees, and he makes the huge mistake of ‘borrowing’ a client’s massive 4×4 to get to a family court session on time, he’s in danger of losing visiting rights to his much-loved daughter. Unfortunately Davey gets kidnapped on the way there, and the very expensive car is torched. He has been mistaken for Paulo, Glasgow’s most violent psychopathic gang leader.

Ally has had dealings with Paulo and company before, and she’s very suspicious of the car wash business. It’s all very dangerous for her, but if she succeeds in getting a conviction she’ll be back on that career ladder again.

This was a good read which reminded me a bit of Christopher Brookmyre’s books, but with less of the crazy humour, although it is funny in parts. I would definitely read more by McSorley in the future. I must admit though that there is quite a lot of Glasgow dialect which was no problem for me and I think should be easy for non Glaswegians to understand, but some people just can’t cope with dialogue like that.

 

 

The House of Lamentations by S.G. MacLean

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The House of Lamentations by S.G. MacLean is the fifth book in her Captain Damien Seeker series which ranges over the whole of the Cromwellian era.

It’s widely thought that Captain Damien Seeker had died at the end of the previous Seeker book, but in reality he has moved to Bruges where he has returned to his previous work as a carpenter. It’s a great cover for him as he is able to gain access to places he wouldn’t otherwise have reached.

Bruges has always been a popular place for the Royalist supporters to congregate. King Charles Stuart ( he had been crowned in Scotland after his father’s execution) hasn’t been welcomed elsewhere due to the politics of the time. His Royalist supporters have made themselves very unwelcome in the town as they’ve been spending a lot of their time gambling, drinking and causing trouble. A lot of the exploits centre around the House of Lamentations, a brothel.

Seeker is particularly interested in four of the Royalists, he has been sent information from England that one of them is a traitor to their cause, that puts Seeker himself in danger, but which of them is the turncoat?

Seeker, like many people had been becoming disillusioned with Cromwell’s regime which is as corrupt and nepotistic as the Stuarts’ had been, Cromwell’s cause certainly isn’t worth dying for.

The plot involves nuns and a Jesuit priest who even gives the nuns the creeps. The Jesuits always seem to be the bad guys, even nowadays, especially among old boys who had been taught by them!

I must say that at the beginning of the book there’s a description of a man being hanged drawn and quartered which for me was the most graphic that I had read, but maybe I’ve led a sheltered life.

There’s an author’s note at the back of this book, MacLean explains that she has used a lot of locations in Bruges which can be visited now by tourists, I wish I had known that when we visited the town some years ago, we just did a canal boat trip and walked around admiring the buildings.