A Capitol Death by Lindsey Davis

A Capitol Death: A Flavia Albia Novel by Lindsey Davis --- 308 pages, including a map and a List of Characters.

The seventh book in Lindsey Davis' outstanding historical mystery series sent in first century A.D. Rome during the reign of the Emperor Domitian is everything we expect from a Lindsey Davis book:  a cracking good mystery, meticulous historical detail, and a world weary and street smart detective in dogged pursuit of a murderer.

It is 89 A.D. and the egomaniacal Emperor Domitian is demanding not just one but a double Triumph to celebrate two so-called victories over two rebellious Germanic tribes. Actually, Domitian resorted to enormous bribes to "subdue" the tribesmen, but no one in Rome is prepared to quibble over details with their irrational self-proclaimed Master and God. Preparations for the Emperor's parade are derailed however, when Gabinus, the official responsible for overseeing transport for the Triumph, falls to his death from the ancient Tarpeian Rock at the top of the Capitoline Hill, the sacred precinct of the gods of Rome, and the site of the Temple of Jupiter Best and Greatest.

At first the authorities assume that the dead man either fell accidentally or jumped on purpose. But then a witness turns up insisting that Gabinus was pushed to his death.  An accident or a suicide was bad enough, but a murder was an affront to the gods that could pollute the Emperor's Triumph and unleash Domitian's indiscriminate rage.

Someone will have to investigate, but of course no one wants a job that could make them the prime target of Domitian's wrath. Eventually the job gets handed off to the plebian aedile, Tiberius Manlius Faustus. Still recuperating from the effects of the lightning that struck him on his wedding day (talk about dire portents), Tiberius asks his new wife, Flavia Albia, one of Rome's best informers (ie. private inquiry agent for hire), to look into the matter.

Flavia Albia suspects this is a case of murder, as she quickly discovers Gabinus was despised by everyone who had the misfortune of having to deal with him.  He was an abusive swine who cheated and swindled and made life a misery for everyone who crossed his path. She finds evidence Gabinus was rigging contracts, taking bribes and kickbacks, and running scams on contractors, including one concerning the supply of imperial purple dye and a gullible family of shellfish-boilers from the coast near Rome. When yet another person is found dead at the foot of the Rock, she realizes more lives are at risk.

As Flavia finds herself drawn deeper into the strange world of carnival floats, musicians, dancers, impersonators of ritual victims, incense and sacrificial beasts, can she see past the deceptions to the heart of the matter and break the cycle of vengeance before more deaths occur?

Click HERE to read the * review from Publishers Weekly.

Click HERE to read the review from Kirkus Reviews.

Click HERE to read the review from the forwinternights blog.

Click HERE to read the review from Crime Reviews.

Death at Whitewater Church by Andrea Carter

Death at Whitwater Church: An Inishowen Mystery by Andrea Carter --- 342 pages including Acknowledgments.

The first book in Irish author Andrea Carter's mystery series set in the windswept and rugged far northwest of Ireland has just been published in America.

Solicitor (lawyer) "Ben" O'Keeffe discovers a skeleton in the crypt of a deconsecrated church near Glendara, on the Inishowen peninsula in County Donegal.  The people in Glendara immediately assume these must be the bones of a local man, Conor Deavitt, who went missing six years ago on the very day of his wedding.

But when Sergeant Tom Molloy of the local Garda send the remains for forensic analysis, it turns out it's not Conor Deavitt after all.  Since Ben represents the owners of the church, who are anxious to sell it, she becomes involved in the case, and her curiosity keeps her looking for answers. And more than curiosity, as Ben discovers people are hiding secrets --- and that reminds her of the secrets she is hiding about her own life.

An intriguing mystery, based in part on an actual tragedy from the years of "the Troubles" in Ireland's recent past. Plus evocative descriptions of the stark beauty of Ireland's remote northwest and the self sufficient folk who live there, for those who have been or want to go. The author has already published three additional titles in the series, so hopefully those books will also be published in the U.S.

Click HERE to read an interview with the author from the Irish Times.

Click HERE to read the review from Publishers Weekly.

Click HERE to read the review from Kirkus Reviews.

Hunting Game by Helene Tursten

Hunting Game: A Novel by Helene Tursten, translated from the Swedish by Paul Norlen --- 280 pages including Acknowledgements.

The first book in a new crime series by celebrated Swedish mystery writer Helene Tursten. Embla Nyström has overcome a troubled childhood and adolescence and has established a promising career for herself  as a detective police inspector in a special investigative mobile unit in Gothenburg, Sweden. She's a health fanatic and competitive welterweight boxer, and she loves the outdoors life.

As the story begins, Embla is taking a much-needed holiday from her high-stress job to participate in a moose hunt with family and old friends in a beautiful but isolated rural retreat. It's something that Embla looks forward to every year, a chance to reconnect with her roots. But this year the equilibrium of the long-established hunting group is disturbed by the addition of a new member, a very attractive  but mysterious young man named Peter Hansson, who has just inherited a farm in the area.

Embla finds herself strongly attracted to Peter one moment and put off by his abrupt moods the next. The longtime leader of the hunting group, Sixten Svensson, seems to have taken an immediate and visceral dislike to Peter, but Embla knows that Sixten had long harbored hopes of buying the land Peter inherited to add to his own holdings.

When the hunt begins, at first it seems like everyone has settled down and Embla begins to relax and enjoy herself. However, the good mood doesn't last long.  A series of unsettling incidents leaves Embla wondering if someone has a grudge against the members of the hunting party. But when two of the hunters abruptly disappear overnight, the situation turns into something far worse. Embla takes charge of the search, and it doesn't take long to discover the body of one of the missing men, floating in the icy waters of a nearby lake. The other missing man seems to have vanished into thin air.  Soon the rest of Embla's investigative team arrives to assist in the search, and slowly a series of enigmatic clues are discovered that suggest someone is exacting vengeance for a dark deed buried in the past. Can Embla put the pieces together and discover the truth?

A classic whodunit with a thoroughly modern female detective who has her own ghosts to face down as she pursues her investigation.  Tursten is also the author of the popular Irene Huss mystery series, which was turned into an equally popular television serial in her native Sweden. 

Click HERE to read the review from the Crime by the Book Blog.

Click HERE to read the * review from Publishers Weekly.

Click HERE to read the review from the New York Journal of Books.

Click HERE to read the review from Booklist Online. 

The Book Artist by Mark Pryor

The Book Artist by Mark Pryor --- 269 pages including a map and Acknowledgements. Book 8 in the Hugo Marston Series.

Hugo Marston, former FBI profiler and currently head of security for the U.S. Embassy in Paris, finds himself the target of a vengeful killer while investigating the murder of an up-and-coming young American artist holding her first international show at the Dalí Museum in Montmartre.

The French detective in charge of the case is not fluent in English, and since all of the prime suspects are American, Hugo offers his assistance in interviewing the witnesses and potential suspects. Unfortunately, Lieutenant Intern Marchand seizes on a single piece of evidence to build a case against Marston's close friend Claudia Roux, who happened quite by accident to be on the scene just after the murder was discovered. Now Hugo has a personal reason to remain involved in the investigation and clear Claudia.

While this is playing out in Paris, Hugo's best friend, former CIA spook Tom Green, is in  Amsterdam, following the trail of Rick Cofer, a killer recently released from prison in Texas, and carrying an old grudge against Tom and Hugo.

With Claudia under arrest, a murder to solve, and Tom in danger, Hugo knows he needs to find answers fast before one killer gets away, while another gets too close for comfort.

Mark Pryor is the author of the Hugo Marston novels, The Bookseller, The Crypt Thief, The Blood Promise, The Button Man, The Reluctant Matador, The Paris Librarian, and The Sorbonne Affair. Most of his books take place in Paris, the city he loves and knows best in the world. A native of England, Pryor immigrated to Chapel Hill NC in 1994, where his American mother's relatives lived. He went back to school and eventually earned a law degree from Duke University. After graduating he moved to Dallas TX to practice law. In 2006 he took a job as an Assistant Prosecutor in the Travis County TX District Attorney's Office, where he continues to work today.  He lives with his wife and children in Austin TX.

Click HERE to read a profile of Pryor from the Houstonia Magazine.

Click HERE to read a review of The Book Artist from Publishers Weekly.

Click HERE to read a review from Book People.

Click HERE to read an interview with Pryor about The Book Artist from thebigthrill.org.   

The Hanging Psalm by Chris Nickson

The Hanging Psalm: A Simon Westow Mystery by Chris Nickson --- 218 pages.

Dark deeds and vengeance in this gripping revenge thriller set in 1820 Leeds, a West Yorkshire market town that grew into a major manufacturing center during the Industrial Revolution, with all the attendant ills of poverty, crime and pollution.

Simon Westow survived a childhood spent in the workhouse, using the anger and anguish to fuel a burning ambition. He's now "respectable," with a house and money in the bank, and a wife and family. He's established a reputation as a thief-taker; someone who finds stolen property for a fee, and sometimes assists the victim of the theft in prosecuting the thief.  This is what passes for justice in England in 1820.

Simon is particularly fortunate in acquiring the services of Jane, his assistant. A damaged soul, Jane learned early to do whatever she has to in order to survive on her own on the cold, unforgiving streets of the city.

Now Simon has been hired to find wealthy mill owner John Milner's kidnapped daughter Hannah. The man who is holding the girl wants 1,000 pounds to return her unharmed. If the ransom is not paid, he will return her, but not unharmed and (Simon suspects) not alive either. When Simon fails to find Hannah before the ransom must be paid, Milnor bids him to get both Hannah and the ransom money back if he wants to salvage his fee.

Desperately searching for some trace of Hannah or the money, Simon and Jane find themselves following a maze through the dark underbelly of Leeds that takes them in an entirely unsuspected direction: into the past and a dangerous enemy they thought was good as dead.

The first in a projected series of murder mysteries set in Regency Leeds. Nickson is the author of two other mystery series set in his home town of Leeds: the Inspector Tom Harper  mysteries (1890s) and the Richard Nottingham series (1730s), and other books.

Click HERE to see a Youtube trailer for The Hanging Psalm.

Click HERE to read a review from Kirkus Reviews.

Click HERE to read a review from Publishers Weekly.

Click HERE to read a review from the Classic Mystery Blog.

The Legacy by Yrsa Sigurdardottir

The Legacy: A Thriller by Yrsa Sigurdardóttir; translated from the Icelandic by Victoria Cribb --- 455 pages

Yrsa Sigurdardóttir is the current queen of Icelandic crime fiction, with a number of books to her credit.  The Legacy is the first book in a projected new "Children's House" series that will explore the unlikely partnership of Freyja, a psychologist who works with severely traumatized children, and newly promoted homicide detective Huldar.

Freyja and Huldar must (reluctantly) work together on a particularly horrific series of murders because the only witness they have is a seven-year-old girl who was hiding under the bed in the room when her mother was killed.  Freyja dislikes the police in general and Huldar in particular, but has to cooperate in order to protect little Magrét from the intense pressure of the investigation.

Meanwhile, Karl, a lonely young man living in his deceased mother's house, is getting strange numerically-coded messages on short wave radio that seem to be aimed specifically at him. It takes a long time for Karl to figure out the key to the numbers and decode them, but the cryptic messages that result only frighten and confuse him further.

The only thing that is certain is that the killer, whoever he is, holds a violent grudge against his victims, yet they seem to be chosen at random. If he can only discover what connects the victims, Huldar is certain he could identify the killer. But will he make the connection before the killer strikes again?

Nordic Noir to rival the darkest and most tangled tales of the Icelandic sagas.

Click HERE to read the * review from Publisher's Weekly.

Click HERE to read the review from the Criminal Element blog.

Click HERE to read the review from theartsdesk.com.

Revenge in a Cold River by Anne Perry

An Echo of Murder: A William Monk Novel by Anne Perry --- 286 pages

In this 23rd novel in Perry's Victorian murder mystery series featuring Commander William Monk of the Thames River Police and his wife Hester, Monk must solve a series of brutal, ritualistic murders targeting Hungarian immigrants in London.

A respectable middle-aged Hungarian immigrant is found murdered in his office in a warehouse on the Thames River in the Shadwell area of London.
When Monk is summoned to investigate, he finds a gruesome, blood-spattered scene: seventeen candles dipped in the blood of the victim, and horrific wounds but no sign that the victim put up any resistance to his attacker. Monk wonders: did some deed committed in the past finally catch up with him; or could this be the work of an unbalanced mind? Or the result of local resentment and prejudice against foreigners?

An immigrant who is well known in the tight-knit Hungarian community offers to assist Monk and his men by translating for them as they interview those less fluent in English. Monk accepts the help grudgingly, as he suspects the translator hopes to further his own agenda by helping the police with their inquiries.

Suspicion falls on another recent arrival in the community: a doctor fallen upon hard times, who is known to Monk's wife as a colleague tending the wounded and dying during the Crimean War. Himself desperately wounded and left for dead on the battlefield, Fitz has only recently found his way home to England. He speaks fluent Hungarian from the years he spent there after the war. But his own wounds of body and mind have left him struggling with nightmares and blackouts, his nerves in shambles.

Three additional deaths, all identical with the first, has the community on the point of panic. When Fitz is found covered in blood, wandering dazed in the streets, Monk is forced to arrest him to prevent a mob from hanging him on the spot. And Monk cannot be sure Fitz did not commit the murders unless he can prove that someone else did.

Click HERE to read the review from Publisher's Weekly.

Click HERE to read the review from Kirkus.

When Falcons Fall by C.S. Harris

When Falcons Fall: A Sebastian St. Cyr Mystery by C.S. Harris --- 355 pages

The eleventh book in Harris' intriguing Regency mystery series.  It's 1813, and Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, has brought his family to the small village of Ayleswick-on-Teme in Shropshire, ostensibly to honor a promise to a dying friend. But the truth is that the friend, Jamie Knox, a London tavernkeeper, looked enough like Devlin to be his brother; and was killed by a man who mistook him for he Viscount.  Now Sebastian hopes that Jamie's family in Ayleswick might be able to tell him something more about the mysterious man who may have fathered both Jamie and himself.

But no sooner did Sebastian and his wife Hero and their entourage arrive in the village when Sebastian is forced to put aside his own quest to assist the young and inexperienced local magistrate in investigating the death of a young widow, also a visitor to the village, whose body is found in the watermeadow beside the River Teme, with an empty laudanum bottle at her side.

It takes very little effort for Sebastian to determine that Emma Chance did not commit felo-de-se ---suicide --- a criminal offense in 19th century England. It takes a little longer to determine how she really met her death, but the true challenge is discovering why she died and who killed her.

With Hero's assistance, Sebastian learns that Emma Chance was not her real name, and that her purpose in coming to Ayleswick was not just a sketching expedition. But was there some connection between the dead woman and Lucien Bonaparte, the estranged brother of the French Emperor Napoleon? Lucien supposedly broke with his brother and fled to England for refuge; he and his family are visiting an estate near Ayleswick. When a British agent keeping Lucien under surveillance is ambushed during a meeting with Sebastian, the Viscount wonders which of them was actually the target?

Sebastian’s investigation takes a new turn when he discovers that Emma is just the latest in a series of young women in Ayleswick who have supposedly committed suicide. Ayleswick reveals itself to be a place where greed and injustice have festered for decades — and where someone is pursuing a relentless revenge. What will it take to stop the killing? 

Click HERE to read a review from High Voltage.

Click HERE to read a review from the Historical Novel Society.

Click HERE to read a review from Kirkus.

Click HERE to read a review from Publisher's Weekly.

No Shred of Evidence by Charles Todd

Mother and son writing team
Caroline and Charles Todd

No Shred of Evidence: An Inspector Ian Rutledge Mystery by Charles Todd --- 341 pages

The eighteenth book in the best-selling series by the mother and son writing team of Caroline and Charles Todd.  Although the authors are American, they write two different mystery series, one featuring Ian Rutledge and the other Bess Crawford, both dealing with World War I and its aftermath, and both featuring British characters and settings. And unlike many American authors, they get the Brits and the pre-forensics detecting right.

No Shred of Evidence takes a reluctant Ian Rutledge back to the coast of Cornwall. This time he's been handed the case of four privileged young women accused of murdering a banker's son during a boating trip. The women say they were trying to rescue the young man --- no more than an acquaintance (ie. not their equal in the complicated British class system) --- from his sinking dinghy. Somehow in the mad scramble of trying to heave him into their boat without capsizing it, he was struck on the head by an oar. An unfortunate accident, no more. However an eyewitness, a local farmer (even further down the social ladder), accuses the women of attempted murder. Since the victim never regains consciousness, there's no one to refute the farmer's accusation. Then other violent attacks occur, complicating Rutledge's investigation. Slowly he assembles the jigsaw puzzle of old grudges and uncontrolled fury that is behind the attacks. But can he find the proof in time to save four women from hanging for murder?

Click HERE to read an interview with Caroline and Charles Todd from the Fort Worth TX Star-Telegram.

Click HERE to read a review from Military Press.

Click HERE to read a review from Publishers Weekly.

Click HERE to read a review from the Historical Novel Society.

Home by Nightfall by Charles Finch

Home by Nightfall: A Charles Lenox Mystery by Charles Finch --- 294 pages

It's 1876 and Charles Lenox has abandoned his promising career in Parliament in favor of his fascination with detection. Drawing on his reputation and contacts as an amateur sleuth, he is now a partner in a detective agency, along with his former protegee Lord John Dallington, and the intrepid Miss Polly Strickland.

Just now London is agog with the mysterious disappearance of a celebrated German pianist and favorite of the Royal family. Charles and his partners desperately want to be called in by Scotland Yard to consult on the case, but their overtures have been rebuffed, and a rival agency has been hired instead.

Charles is also concerned about the desolate state of his elder brother Sir Edmund, who is mourning the sudden death of his wife Molly. When business requires Edmund to return to the family estate in Sussex where Molly died, Charles decides to go with him. No sooner have they arrived then they learn that the peace of Lenox House and the nearby village of Markethouse has been disturbed by a series of small but strange incidents targeting a respectable resident of the village. Lenox investigates, coaxing his brother to participate (in the hopes of distracting Edmund from his grief). But as the odd happenings continue, Charles begins to suspect there is something seriously amiss in Markethouse.

Juggling two myserious cases, one on London and one in Sussex, Charles finds his powers of detection challenged at every turn. Neither case is as simple as it seemed at first. Reputations and lives are hanging precariously in the balance. Worst of all, Charles finds no matter what he does, any sense of justice achieved is ambivalent at best.

Finch writes well: his characters come alive on the page, his plots are fiendishly clever, and his research incorporates fascinating details of everyday life in Victorian England.  This is the ninth book in the Charles Lenox Mysteries Series. It can be read as a stand alone, but I recommend reading the series in order, starting with A Beautiful Blue Death.

Click HERE for a review from Publisher's Weekly.

Click HERE for a review from the Reading the Past Blog.

Click HERE for a review from The Bookwyrm's Hoard web site.

The Son by Jo Nesbo

The Son by Jo Nesbo; translated from the Norwegian by Charlotte Barslund --- 402 pages

Jo Nesbo is a musician, songwriter and economist as well as an award-winning Norwegian writer of gripping psychological crime novels.

He describes his new book, The Son, as a biblically-themed story of love, betrayal, vengeance and redemption.  I read it in one day; once I started, I was unable to put the book down until I finished it. Kudoes not just to the author but to the translator!


Cllick HERE to read a review of The Son.

The Serpent of Venice by Christopher Moore

The Serpent of Venice by Christopher Moore --- 326 pages

A comic mash up of Shakespeare (Othello, The Merchant of Venice, King Lear) and Edgar Allan Poe (The Cask of Amontillado) with Marco Polo and a Chinese Water Dragon thrown into the mix, along with a large dollop of ribald sexuality and Moore's distinctive snarky humor flavoring the stew.

This is a sequel of sorts to Moore's 2009 novel, Fool, although it can be read on its own. Moore may be an acquired taste but it's one that a lot of people are starting to acquire. Even if you HATED Shakespeare in high school, you will bust a gut laughing at Moore's version of events, complete with bloody ghost --- because there's ALWAYS a bloody ghost! Will would approve.