Tag Archives: murder mystery

Ryan’s Christmas by L J Ross

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Ryan’s Christmas by L J Ross was published in 2020 and it’s the first book by the author that I’ve read. I chose it because of the title, but it might have been better if I had read one of her earlier books as she refers to several of them in this one.

Ryan’s Christmas has been inspired by several such previous books. DCI Ryan and his team of murder detectives are having a festive jaunt out in Edinburgh, but on the way home to Northumberland the weather is awful, they run into a snowstorm, then they run out of fuel. They’ll all freeze to death in the car overnight if they don’t find shelter.

Luckily they discover that they are close to Chillingham Castle, apparently it’s the most haunted house in England!  In fact the owners run ghost hunt weekends, so the staff are used to looking after guests, and they’re made welcome there.

You’ve guessed it – there’s a murder, but which of them is the culprit? With the telephone lines down and no mobile phone signal in the remote area there’s no easy way of getting help.

I enjoyed the setting of this book as it’s all familiar to me, that’s the way we drive when we visit friends in Sunderland, so I know Northumberland quite well, it’s a lovely area. For my taste though there was a wee bit too much romance going on in this book, but I realise that a lot of readers will enjoy that.  According to the blurb on the front  of the book L J Ross is a multi-million best selling author.  I’ll give another of her books a go sometime in the future anyway, but this one was just too much of an homage – or a cliche – for my liking.

 

The Shadows of London by Andrew Taylor

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The Shadows of London by Andrew Taylor was published in 2023. The setting is London, 1671 and it’s a continuation of the Cat and Marwood series.

Architect Cat has a contract to restore an old almshouse, but work has to be stopped on it when a body is discovered.  The face has been mutilated, making it almost impossible to identify the victim. It could be a financial disaster for Cat and others. Marwood is still working at Whitehall and he has the job of investigating the murder.

At court King Charles II has his eyes on yet another mistress, this time she’s a young French woman, Louise de Keroualle, supposedly a virgin.  There’s more to the liaison than just the King’s lust though as it involves European politics, with the French intending to use Louise as a spy in the camp, and presumably to manipulate the King for their own ends.

For some reason the Duke of Buckingham who is the most inflential courtier has taken against Marwood, putting him in danger of his life.

This is the sixth book in the Cat/Marwood series which I have really enjoyed, but for me this one dragged a bit in the middle, I suspect that was because I felt there was too much of Marwood and not enough of Cat.  I’ll still read the next one in the series though, if there is one.

The historical note at the end makes it clear that the Louise and King Charles II episode is historically correct, with many powerful men involved in the seduction of the young woman. The author compares it with the Harvey Weinstein and Jeffrey Epstein shenanigans, but women have always been used by men – just ask Eve.

 

Death of a Chief by Douglas Watt

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Death of a Chief by Douglas Watt was first published by Luath Press Ltd in 2009.

Tthe setting is Edinburgh, it’s 1686. To begin with there’s a ‘prelude’ which tells of Lachlan MacLean’s experience as a youngster on the battlefield of Inverkeithing where he had lost two of his brothers. But now he’s Sir Lachlan MacLean, clan chief, but not for long as he is the chief referred to in the book title.

When Sir Lachlan’s body is found in his bed in his Edinburgh lodgings it’s not clear if his death was murder or suicide. The victim had borrowed money from people for years and often hadn’t been able or inclined to pay his debts.

The Edinburgh lawyer John MacKenzie is tasked with the work of investigating, helped by his young scribe Davie Scougall. They have to travel to the Highlands to Sir Lachlan’s home to look through the papers in the chief’s home, looking for clues. Davie Scougall had barely been out of Edinburgh before and he had certainly never been to the Highlands. He’s nervous about the journey as he has heard so many stories about the lawless area which is apparently populated by violent marauders. Even his granny has warned him never to go there! There’s a possibility of clan warfare to avenge the death, but there are plenty of suspects, including the new clan chief.

This was a quick read at just 187 pages but it’s an enjoyable read with some likeable characters, it’s well written by an author who prior to writing fiction was more used to writing about Scots history. He wrote The Price of Scotland: Darien, Union and the Wealth of Nations. I might give that one a go – sometime. I borrowed this one from the library.

 

Twice Round the Clock by Billie Houston

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Twice Round the Clock by Billie Houston was originally published in 1935 but it was reprinted by British Library in 2023. This one is my kind of murder mystery as Billie Houston gets to the murder immediately. By the time the reader gets to the bottom of page one a body has been glimpsed in a flash of lightning. It’s draped across a table and has something white and gleaming sticking out of its back!  It’s Bill Brent who has made the discovery at 4 a.m. He had been one of several guests at the home of scientist Horace Manning. They had been celebrating the engagement of his daughter Helen to Anthony Fane. Surprisingly her father had agreed to the match.

But Helen lives in fear of her father, as did her now dead mother and she knows that her father must have a plan to sicken their happiness. Mrs Geraint the housekeeper has only stayed in the job to try to protect Helen from the cruelties of her father. He had enjoyed torturing people mentally.

I enjoyed this one which is a classic country house whodunnit with a small cast of possible culprits – the staff and the house guests. The murder victim is shown to be a despicable character that nobody would feel sorry for, not even if he was mad rather than just bad.

Billie Houston was born in the east end of Glasgow into a theatrical family and she followed her parents onto the stage as an actress and dancer. Sadly Twice Round the Clock is the only book that she wrote.

 

The Last Remains by Elly Griffiths

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The Last Remains by Elly Griffiths is the most recent book in the author’s  Dr Ruth Galloway series.

When new owners of a shop in King’s Lynn decide to do some renovations there’s a shock in store for them.  With the removal of a false wall a skeleton can be seen in the void. It’s another job for archaeologist Dr Ruth Galloway who is called in to examine the bones to see if they’re modern or ancient. It turns out that the skeleton belongs to an archaeolgy student who was reported missing over twenty years previously. It seems that the case wasn’t taken that seriously at the time and Nelson and his team discover a lot of clues which had been overlooked.

It turns out that Cathbad had known the victim and he had been with her at an archaeology camp shortly before she disappeared. When Cathbad himself disappears Judy his partner and his children are worried, especially as he’s still suffering from long Covid.

Ruth is also worried. for different reasons. Her whole archaeology department is in danger of being axed by the university, and the Nelson/Michelle marriage is still ongoing it seems.

I think this one wraps up the series. I enjoyed it although I must admit that I found Cathbad more than a bit wearing at times.

Friend and Foe by Shirley McKay – 20 Books of Summer 2023

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Friend and Foe by Shirley McKay is the fourth book in the author’s Hew Cullan mystery series. The setting is St Andrews in 1583. At the back of this book there is a glossary of Scots words used by the author which I imagine will be useful to some readers, I must admit there were a few that even I didn’t know, but I think they’re always easy to take a guess at from the context.

It’s over three weeks since I read this book and so much has happened in the time since I finished it that some of the details of the mystery are a bit of a blur to me, but I did really enjoy it.

Hew’s sister Meg isn’t really happy in her new home in St Andrews, but her physician husband Giles works at the university and must live within the town. Meg misses her old home which is just a few miles outside the town, but she had a garden there where she grew the herbs she needed to make her lotions and potions. Giles is worried about her and has begun to extend their home so that Meg will have a place of her own where she can continue with her own herbalism.  But they find themselves in trouble when it looks to others that their renovations have an ulterior motive.

Hew has made more enemies and things are just too hot for him in Scotland, it looks like he’ll be leaving home for his own safety, but will he be jumping from the frying pan into the fire?  It looks like the next book in this series will find Hew in England again.

 

Voices of the Dead by Ambrose Parry

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Voices of the Dead by Ambrose Parry has just been published and I was lucky enough to be sent a digital copy of the book by the publisher Canongate via Netgalley.

The setting is Edinburgh, 1853, where Raven is finding life tough as a father to little James who always seems to be crying and it’s taking a toll on his marriage as Raven spends a lot of his time avoiding family life.  When he gets a message that he’s needed, body parts have been found at Surgeons’ Hall, it’s grim but Raven is glad of the excuse to get out of his home and avoid more tantrums from his small son.

The city is being visited by an American mesmerist who is holding meetings and trying to drum up interest in it, claiming it as being scientific. Sarah, Raven and Simpson’s assistant is frustrated at not being allowed to study to become a doctor, despite her knowledge and experience, she’s keen to find out more about mesmerism, hoping it might be a way forward for her.

When more body parts are found McLevy the detective has to be told, and he always does his best to make things even worse than they are.

This is the fourth book by Ambrose Parry – aka the author Christopher Brookmyre and his consultant anaesthetist wife Marisa Haetzman, I believe that she provides the details of the medical history, amongst other things. I’m really enjoying this series which combines murder mysteries with history and social history in a Victorian Edinburgh setting.

 

 

 

In Place of Fear by Catriona McPherson – 20 Books of Summer 2023

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In Place of Fear by Catriona McPherson is set in Edinburgh in 1948. The National Health Service is just being set up and Helen Crowther has got a job as a medical almoner, akin to a social worker nowadays, attached to two local doctors’ surgery. Previously the work had been done by a sort of ‘lady bountiful’ type of woman who had been doing the work voluntarily, and she had trained up Helen to help her.  Helen has trouble making people believe that they won’t have to pay for visits to the doctor as the idea of the NHS seems too good to be true to them, but as she has been brought up in similar circumstances to her clients she’s more in tune with their problems.

When Helen and her husband get the chance to move into a home of their own they’re ecstatic.  Helen hopes that not sharing cramped accommodation with her parents and sister will mean that things will now be different in their marriage, her husband isn’t interested in her and her mother is champing at the bit to be a grandmother.

When Helen stumbles across a body she’s sure she knows who the victim is, but she’s perplexed when the investigation doesn’t proceed the way she thinks it should. There’s a lot going on in the secretive life of some of Edinburgh’s more prominent citizens and Helen needs to untangle it all. This was a really good read. This is one of my 20 Books of Summer reads.

 

 

Time and Tide by Shirley McKay

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Time and Tide by Shirley McKay was published in 2011 and it’s the third book in the author’s Hew Cullan series.

The setting is St Andrews 1582 and a ship has been wrecked just off the town. There’s only one survivor, all the others have succumbed to some sort of illness. The locals are worried that it might have been some sort of infectious disease, but there’s a windmill on  the wreck and various inhabitants of the town want it for themselves.  But who does it belong to?

Hew is given the job of sailing to Ghent to find the owner and to tell them what has happened to all of the sailors, while Hew’s brother-in-law tries to establish what the sailors died from.  Hew’s task is all the more dangerous as the Low Countries are at war with Spain, but he’s glad to get out of St Andrews and to be travelling again and he soon falls in with a Scottish mercenary who will help him with his investigations in Antwerp and Vlissingen –  or not.

There’s a lot going on in this book, murders, rumours of witchcraft and Hew meets royalty,  I really liked it although my thoughts on it are hardly rivetting reading, but I’m looking forward to reading the next one in this series.

 

Striding Folly by Dorothy L. Sayers

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Striding Folly by Dorothy L. Sayers contains three short stories, apparently the last three cases of Lord Peter Wimsey. This book was first published in 1972, but two of the stories had previously been published in 1939. This book has an introduction by Janet Hitchman.

Striding Folly wasn’t terribly entertaining, for me anyway. Two neighbours Mr Creech and Mr Mellilow  play chess a couple of times every week, but it seems that everything is going to change as the valley they live in has been sold to an Electrical Company – by Mr Creech. Mellilow had moved to the area because it seemed so unchanged, he thought that nothing would ever spoil the solitude. There’s a murder which is when Lord Peter appears, towards the end of the story. It was okay-ish.

The Haunted  Policeman begins with the birth of Lord Peter and Harriet’s son Bredon in a hospital. On the way back home after the birth Lord Peter falls in with a policeman who is new to the beat so Lord P is a stranger to him and he’s supicious of him, until he explains he has just become a father. The policeman is a worried man though, he had thought he had seen a murder victim earlier in the night – through a letter box –  but the house seems to have disappeared. Of course Lord Peter can help.

Talboys was written in 1942 but hadn’t been published before. Bredon is now a young lad and is more than a bit of a handful. Lord Peter is an indulgent father  but believes in corporal punishment. Miss Quirk is a guest in the house, she’s keen on child psychology and  speaks her mind. This is quite an amusing read and I enjoyed being in the Vane-Wimsey household.