The Crime Warp

 It’s 1666 and our hero and erstwhile spy cum lawyer John Grey is taking his first taste of hot chocolate with Aminta, the Lady Pole. Most of us will be familiar with the Great Fire of London, but I wasn’t aware that hot chocolate was the new drink of fashion. I thoroughly enjoy reading about John Grey’s work for his dodgy spy master Lord Arlington and the dangerous scrapes he invariably gets himself into.  I’ve also be wondering for some time now if John Grey is going to propose to Aminta, the headstrong playwright and childhood friend, now that she is a widow. And I’m in good company. Will, John Grey’s clerk and man Friday, also wants John to pop the question, that’s when he’s not using his cunning and initiative to save his master from whatever dangerous situation he’s gotten himself into.  Back to the Great Fire of London. Was it actually an accident in the bakery on Pudding Lane or the result of a French Catholic plot? Grey stumbles across a conspirac...

Do you feel you never fulfilled your potential, that you are merely treading water or marking time? Inject some excitement into your life by meddling in a dangerous web of intrigue, stick your nose in where it’s not wanted, like in a dangerous smuggling ring, for example. At least that’s what the Reverend Hardcastle, vicar in Romney Marsh, Kent does. I guess midlife crisis in 1796 affected people in pretty much the same way as it does today. If it makes you reach for the bottle more often than is good for you, if you are disillusioned with your stalled career and are pining for excitement and a way to use your considerable acumen and intelligence, then you and Reverend Hardcastle have much in common. In ‘The Body on the Doorstep’ it’s hard to tell what adds more frisson to our protagonist’s life: the uncovering of a dastardly plot, the discovery of a murdered body on his doorstep or the collaboration with the lively widow Mrs Chaytor. It’s a dangerous business gathering info...

Just when you thought that every plot has been plotted, every character type drawn, along comes Jane Steele, heroine extraordinaire. Penned by Edgar Award nominee Lyndsay Faye, this engaging and well researched novel set in 19 th Century England was inspired by Jane Eyre.

This beautifully written historical crime novel is set London in 1654, a time when speaking your mind could result in a trip to the Tower and having the wrong friends could lead to your execution. And if you thought you could escape the attentions of Cromwell’s government, or play a double game, you’d be reckoning without the Seeker. Cromwell’s enigmatic and feared special agent would hunt you down mercilessly. When John Winter, one of Cromwell’s supporters, is found murdered not far from the living quarters of the Protector himself, it falls to Damian Seeker to unravel a fiendishly complicated plot to strike at the heart of the government. Will he discover who killed John Winter and prevent the assassination of Oliver Cromwell? The fact that John Winter had been married to the daughter of a prominent Cavalier and held secrets of his own, muddies the waters. A young lawyer and author of dangerously critical political pamphlets, Elias Ellingworth, inadvertently caught up in...

The third book in the Flavia Albia series takes us into the heart of a local election campaign in ancient Rome. Words like political intrigue, corruption, backstabbing and ruthles s ness   spring to mind. In fact are there enough closets in Rome to fit all the skeletons?    In her profession as informer   our protagonist Flavia Albia, the adopted British daughter of Falco and his wife Helena, has to find out not only who the dead body is that surfaces in a   strong box in her father’s auction, but   also   the identity of   the murderer. Complicated Roman family politics overlap with   local politics   (the list of characters in the front of the book is   very   useful) .   If you have ever been disillusioned with   current politics ,   read this book - it makes   our politicians   look like models of rectitude.   Aided by the dishy Manlius Faustus, magistrate and campaign manager for his frie...

I love the way reading crime takes me out of myself. But historical crime even takes me out of my familiar setting, the 21 st Century in Yorkshire. Imagine you could time travel and are transported back to ancient Rome. Imagine walking down the streets jostled by elegant Romans, attractive sex slaves fresh from the baths, oiled gladiators and other, more hairy people, from all over the Empire. The next best thing is reading Lindsey Davis. She brings the society of the time, the setting, the food, the mores and above all, the ‘improbitas’ (that’s immorality to you and me) to life. For anyone who read and loved the Falco Series, Flavia Albia’s charm will not come as a surprise. For those unfamiliar with these crime novels set in ancient Rome, you have a treat awaiting you. Excellently researched with well-rounded characters full of spirit and colour, we are plunged into the heart of patrician Roman life. When a newly married couple are found murdered in their bedroom, the hou...