AN UNHALLOWED GRAVE by KATE ELLIS

 AN UNHALLOWED GRAVE by KATE ELLIS  (PGS 240)

When the body of a middle-aged woman is found hanging from a yew tree in Stokeworthy Churchyard, the police suspect foul play. But the victim is an unlikely one. Pauline Brent was the local doctor's receptionist, respected and well liked. She seems to have no real enemies-and yet someone killed her.

Detective Sergeant Wesley Peterson, a black detective recently transferred to the quiet, West Country English village, is determined to discover the truth and, once again, it is history that provides him with a clue. For Wesley's archaeologist friend, Neil Watson, has excavated an ancient corpse at a nearby dig: a woman who had been buried at a crossroads, on unhallowed ground. It appears that the body is that of the same woman whom local legend has it was publicly executed in the churchyard centuries before.

A chilling echo of the fifteenth-century lynching, Pauline Brent's death forces Wesley to consider the possibility that the killer also knows the tree's dark history. Has Pauline been "executed" rather than murdered-and if so, for what crime?

To catch a dangerous killer, Wesley has to discover as much as he can about the victim. But Pauline Brent appears to have been a woman with few friends, no relatives, and a past she has tried carefully to hide...

THE RUSTED SOULS by CHRIS NICKSON

 THE RUSTED SOULS by CHRIS NICKSON  (Pgs 230)

Leeds, 1920. Chief Constable Tom Harper of Leeds City Police has just six weeks left in the role before his well-earned retirement. But even though his distinguished forty-year career is ending, the crime and mayhem on the city’s streets continues.
 
Council leader Alderman Thompson is being blackmailed. He wants Harper to find the love letters he sent to a young woman called Charlotte Radcliffe and return them discreetly. Elsewhere, masked, armed robbers are targeting jewelry shops in the city, and an organized gang of shoplifters is set to descend on Leeds. As events threaten to spiral out of control, Harper battles to restore justice and order to the streets of Leeds one last time.

This is the last in the DI Tom Harper mysteries, and I have enjoyed all the books in this series.

(Mary Harper is a character in this book)

A DARK STEEL DEATH by CHRIS NICKSON

 A DARK STEEL DEATH by CHRIS NICKSON (Pgs 224)

Leeds. December, 1916. Deputy Chief Constable Tom Harper is called out in the middle of the night when a huge explosion rips through a munitions factory supplying war materials, leaving death and destruction in its wake. A month later, matches and paper to start a fire are found in an army clothing depot. It's a chilling discovery: there's a saboteur running loose on the streets of Leeds.

As so many give their lives in the trenches, Harper and his men are working harder than ever - and their investigation takes a dark twist with two shootings, at the local steelworks and a hospital. With his back against the wall and the war effort at stake, Harper can't afford to fail. But can he catch the traitor intent on bringing terror to Leeds?

THE TALE OF CASTLE COTTAGE by SUSAN WITTIG ALBERT

 THE TALE OF CASTLE COTTAGE by SUSAN WITTIG ALBERT Pgs 320

Beatrix is eager to marry her fiancé, solicitor William Heelis. But with remodeling work at Castle Cottage, their future home, going at a snail’s pace, Beatrix finds frustration when the building contractor fires his best carpenter, Mr. Adcock, for stealing. At the same time, Will is investigating thefts on other construction sites—an inquiry that comes to a screeching halt when Mr. Adcock is found dead.

Besides the construction debacle, there’s another hurdle for Beatrix and Will to overcome: the Potters have yet to give their blessing on the marriage. And when Beatrix’s brother decides to tell their parents about his own decade-long secret marriage, Miss Potter knows that any chance she had of finding her own happy ending is about to be destroyed…

THE TALE OF HILLTOP FARM by SUSAN WITTIG ALBERT

 THE TALE OF HILLTOP FARM by SUSAN WITTIG ALBERT  Pgs 269

Spiced with gentle mystery and peopled with earthy and endearing villagers, The Tale of Hill Top Farm introduces Miss Beatrix Potter at a time of crisis, just after the death of her fiancé, Norman Warne.

While Beatrix deals with her intractable parents, the loss of her heart’s love, and the challenges of becoming a farmer, her animal friends—Tabitha Twitchit, the senior village cat; Rascal, the courageous terrier; and the wise and cunning cat Crumpet—quietly go about solving mysteries, restoring harmony, and making sure that life in the village stays as peaceable as it looks.

MAGIC IN THE WEAVE by ALYS CLARE

 MAGIC IN THE WEAVE by ALYS CLARE Pgs 250

October, 1604. Plague has hit London, and the theatres are closed. But the capital’s loss is Plymouth’s gain, when a London theatre troupe, the Company, arrive on their ‘Plague Tour’.

Country physician Gabriel Taverner is both bewitched and unnerved by the Company’s sexually charged staging of Othello. The play thrums with magic and witchcraft – perilous subjects, with the King’s deadly spies lurking around every corner.

When Gabriel’s good friend, Coroner Theophilus Davey, tells him of a dangerous, whispered conversation overheard during a brief break, suggesting one of the cast fled London in possession of a terrible secret, Gabriel is even more relieved the Company will soon be on their way.

But then one of the actors collapses, and Gabriel finds himself caught in a waking nightmare, where nothing is as it appears. Death is stalking the Company – but how can Gabriel hope to catch a cold-blooded killer, if he can’t even trust the evidence of his own eyes?

This page-turning historical mystery will appeal to readers who enjoy theatrical settings, head-scratching puzzles and creepy atmospherics.

THE MYSTERY OF THREE QUARTERS (AGATHA CHRISTIE) by SOPHIE HANNAH

 THE MYSTERY OF THREE QUARTERS (AGATHA CHRISTIE)  by SOPHIE HANNAH 344 Pgs

Hercule Poirot returns home after an agreeable luncheon to find an angry woman waiting to berate him outside his front door. Her name is Sylvia Rule, and she demands to know why Poirot has accused her of the murder of Barnabas Pandy, a man she has neither heard of nor ever met. She is furious to be so accused, and deeply shocked. Poirot is equally shocked, because he too has never heard of any Barnabas Pandy, and he certainly did not send the letter in question. He cannot convince Sylvia Rule of his innocence, however, and she marches away in a rage.

Shaken, Poirot goes inside, only to find that he has a visitor waiting for him — a man called John McCrodden who also claims also to have received a letter from Poirot that morning, accusing him of the murder of Barnabas Pandy... 

Poirot wonders how many more letters of this sort have been sent in his name. Who sent them, and why? More importantly, who is Barnabas Pandy, is he dead, and, if so, was he murdered? And can Poirot find out the answers without putting more lives in danger?

BRASS LIVES by CHRIS NICKSON

 BRASS LIVES by CHRIS NICKSON PGS 216

Leeds, June 1913. Deputy Chief Constable Tom Harper is a busy man. He's overseeing a national suffragist pilgrimage due in Leeds that his wife Annabelle intends to join, and his daughter Mary has exciting plans of her own. Then a letter arrives from police in New York: Davey Mullen, an American gangster born in Leeds, is on his way back to the city, fleeing a bloody gang war.

Despite Tom’s best efforts to keep an eye on him, Davey’s arrival triggers a series of chilling events in the city. Is he responsible for the sudden surge in crime, violence and murder on Leeds’s streets? Facing a mounting workload, Tom must hunt down a cold-blooded killer while also confronting danger and tragedy close to home.

FAIR AND TENDER LADIES by CHRIS NICKSON

 FAIR AND TENDER LADIES by CHRIS NICKSON  (p 215)

1734. When a young country lad requests the Constable’s help in finding his sister who has run away to Leeds to seek her fortune, Nottingham is not optimistic. Such girls usually end up as prostitutes – or worse. The following day, the young man is found dead, his throat slit.

The evening before his death, the victim had been seen in deep conversation with career criminal Tom Finer in the Bell Inn. Could there be a connection to his murder? Why has Finer returned to Leeds after a seventeen-year absence? And what really happened to the young man’s sister?

Then a second body is discovered floating in the River Aire – and Nottingham finds himself plunged into a murder investigation where nothing is as it seems.

A BEAUTIFUL BLUE DEATH by CHARLES FINCH

 A BEAUTIFUL BLUE DEATH by CHARLES FINCH  317 PAGES

Charles Lenox, Victorian gentleman and armchair explorer, likes nothing more than to relax in his private study with a cup of tea, a roaring fire and a good book. But when his lifelong friend Lady Jane asks for his help, Lenox cannot resist the chance to unravel a mystery.

Prudence Smith, one of Jane's former servants, is dead of an apparent suicide. But Lenox suspects something far more sinister: murder, by a rare and deadly poison. The grand house where the girl worked is full of suspects, and though Prue had dabbled with the hearts of more than a few men, Lenox is baffled by the motive for the girl's death.

When another body turns up during the London season's most fashionable ball, Lenox must untangle a web of loyalties and animosities. Was it jealousy that killed Prudence Smith? Or was it something else entirely? And can Lenox find the answer before the killer strikes again―this time, disturbingly close to home?

This is the first book in the Charles Lenox mysteries, set in London during the Victorian era. I really enjoyed it and have already started on the second book!

REST NOT IN PEACE by MEL STARR

 REST NOT IN PEACE  by  MEL STARR  pgs 240

Master Hugh is asked to provide a sleeping potion for Sir Henry Burley, a friend and guest of Lord Gilbert at Bampton Castle. Sir Henry, (with his wife, a daughter by a first wife, two knights, two squires, and assorted servants), has outstayed his welcome at Bampton Castle. The next morning after Master Hugh provides the potion, Sir Henry is found dead, eyes open, in his bed. Master Hugh, the target of the wife's wrath, is asked by Lord Gilbert to determine the cause of death ...

UNHALLOWED GROUND by MEL STARR

 UNHALLOWED GROUND by MEL STARR  pgs 239

A man nobody likes is found hung from a tree, and all but Master Hugh assume he has taken his own life. When he discovers that the corrupt priest John Kellet had been covertly in Bampton at the time of the death, he thinks he's found his man. But when he catches up with Kellet at Exeter, he finds that the priest is a shadow of his former self, and is mourning the folly of his past life.

A TRAIL OF INK by MEL STARR

 A TRAIL OF INK by MEL STARR  PGS 240

Some valuable books have been stolen from Master John Wyclif, the well known scholar and Bible translator. He calls upon his friend and former pupil, Hugh de Singleton, to investigate. Hugh's investigation leads him to Oxford where he again encounters Kate, the only woman who has tempted him to leave bachelor life behind, but Kate has another serious suitor. As Hugh's pursuit of Kate becomes more successful, mysterious accidents begin to occur. Are these accidents tied to the missing books, or to his pursuit of Kate?

One of the stolen books turns up alongside the drowned body of a poor Oxford scholar. Another accident? Hugh certainly doesn’t think so, but it will take all of his surgeon’s skills to prove.

THE BLUE ROSE

THE BLUE ROSE by ANTHONY EGLIN 304 Pages

Alex and Kate Sheppard found the home they had always dreamed of owning. Nestled deep in the Wiltshire countryside and surrounded by a two-acre walled garden, The Parsonage was to be their own little paradise. And soon after moving in they make an impossibly exciting discovery that defies every known law of nature and science - a blue rose.

As word of their good fortune leaks out, the Sheppards' peaceful existence is shattered, and they find themselves plunged into a world of coded journals, genetic experiments, cold-blooded greed and, ultimately, murder. Threatened from all sides, with no one to trust but Lawrence Kingston, a gardening expert to whom they have revealed their exciting secret - the only way they can ensure their survival is to unravel the dark, seductive secret of the Blue Rose