Deadly Animals, Marie Tierney’s brilliantly plotted debut mystery, introduces readers to Ava Bonney: a 14-year-old English girl obsessed with decomposing bodies.
Deadly Animals, Marie Tierney’s brilliantly plotted debut mystery, introduces readers to Ava Bonney: a 14-year-old English girl obsessed with decomposing bodies.
John Straley’s nonstop, high-octane Big Breath In introduces the unforgettable Delphine, a 68-year-old cancer patient-turned-investigator.
John Straley’s nonstop, high-octane Big Breath In introduces the unforgettable Delphine, a 68-year-old cancer patient-turned-investigator.
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You will definitely read The Solitary House from beginning to end, though perhaps not without some difficulty, if you tend to want to get on with things. Author Lynn Shepherd’s well-received debut novel, Murder at Mansfield Park, was a literate re-thinking of Jane Austen’s style and métier, while her new novel ambitiously sets out to re-imagine the world and words of Charles Dickens’ Bleak House.

Charles Maddox, a bright, irascible and somewhat quick-tempered guy, is trying to earn his living as a private sleuth in 1850s London, after being sacked by the London police. He’s hired by eminent attorney Edward Tulkinghorn, ostensibly to find the source of threatening letters that some of his clients have received. But Tulkinghorn is seeking something of quite a different nature. Charles tumbles to the fact that he’s being used for another purpose—protecting the terrible secrets of some of the city’s most influential powerbrokers—and he discovers deadly purpose and personal danger behind a string of horrific murders that have dogged his steps since taking Tulkinghorn’s assignment. In his detecting, he benefits from sporadic but incisive help from his great-uncle Maddox, now suffering from encroaching dementia, but once a legendary detective and “thief taker” in his own right. Charles also has another client, a man seeking the possible whereabouts of a long-missing grandchild.

This tasty slice of Victoriana is sure to resonate with fans of the genre.

Readers will quickly figure out that the two storylines are eventually going to intersect, but getting to the denouement is a complicated and sometimes hair-raising experience. The plot moves through dark streets and alleys in a gritty, grimy Victorian London that shows a sinister underbelly far scarier than could ever be imagined.

Fans of Charles Dickens will revel in this engrossing tale featuring an attractive and stubborn sleuth, though it may be a harder slog for those who like a more straightforward narrative. Besides two narrative points of view (one that follows Charles, unaccountably couched in the present tense, and one simply called “Hester’s Narrative”), there’s a third anonymous narrator, a kind of one-man Greek chorus, whose comments pop up occasionally while adding little to the story’s progression. These can be a distraction in a story already bursting with compelling scenes and characters. The author’s obvious descriptive skills, meticulous research into the era and fine storytelling ability would stand out even more without the narrative complications. However, this tasty slice of Victoriana is sure to resonate with fans of the genre.

You will definitely read The Solitary House from beginning to end, though perhaps not without some difficulty, if you tend to want to get on with things. Author Lynn Shepherd’s well-received debut novel, Murder at Mansfield Park, was a literate re-thinking of Jane Austen’s style…

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Long Spoon Lane, Anne Perry’s latest addition to the excellent Thomas and Charlotte Pitt series, is a compelling tale of murder, terror and corruption in 1893 London. In the opening paragraphs, Thomas Pitt and Victor Narraway, both with the Special Branch for England’s homeland security, race across the city in response to a terrorist threat, hoping to thwart a bombing in the gritty East End. Arriving in time to witness, but too late to prevent the explosion and devastation, Pitt and Narraway pursue the suspects. The chase leads them to a tenement in dingy Long Spoon Lane where a gun battle ensues and two suspects are arrested. There is one dead suspect, however. Identified as Magnus Landsborough, he instantly becomes the most interesting piece of a complicated puzzle for Pitt and the Special Branch. Magnus Landsborough died because of an apparent gunshot to the head, but more significantly, he was the son of a respected Member of Parliament. Pitt immediately has several questions: why was Magnus, an ostensibly honorable young man with important social and political connections, involved in the murderous terrorist bombing? And, equally important, how and why did this young man really die? Eager to find answers to these and other questions, Pitt sets out on a harrowing adventure in which he must move with equal ease in tough, down-and-out neighborhoods and in high-society drawing rooms. Relying upon help from his wife Charlotte and a few dependable friends and colleagues, but also reluctantly allying himself with a personal enemy, Pitt despite dangers to himself and his family ultimately exposes terrifying truths about personal loyalties, family secrets, police integrity and Parliamentary politics. Perry fills her exciting novel with perfectly nuanced images of life in 1890s London, proving once again through her adroit blend of ingenious plotting, superb characterizations and compelling themes that she is a master of the Victorian crime novel.

Tim Davis teaches literature at the University of West Florida.

 

Long Spoon Lane, Anne Perry's latest addition to the excellent Thomas and Charlotte Pitt series, is a compelling tale of murder, terror and corruption in 1893 London. In the opening paragraphs, Thomas Pitt and Victor Narraway, both with the Special Branch for England's homeland…

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Grace and Mike Covey are living a charmed life in contemporary London—she’s a part-time journalist for a local paper, and he’s a sought-after BBC filmmaker. Their son Adam is enrolled at the posh Sidley House Preparatory School; their daughter Jenny, 17, is working there as a temporary teaching assistant after failing her A-levels, and trying to decide whether to attempt them again.

On Adam’s eighth birthday—also Sports Day for the elementary students—a fire breaks out on the school’s second floor, quickly engulfing the old building. Grace, a volunteer mom that day, realizes Jenny is still inside on the upper floor, and rushes into the building to try and save her. When the ambulance arrives, they are both whisked off to the ICU—Jenny badly burned, with serious damage to her heart, and Grace in a coma.

Using a unique literary device, author Rosamund Lupton allows these two main characters to escape their unconscious bodies—to move around and communicate with each other, though no loved ones or medical staff see anything but their severely damaged physical selves, bedridden and mute.

When Grace hears Sarah, Mike’s sister and a police detective, tell him that the fire was arson, she begins to connect that horrific act to the hate mail Jenny had received over the last few months—some of which she had neglected to reveal to Mike. In her out-of-body state, Grace follows Sarah as she interviews potential suspects, and soon realizes that Jenny is still the arsonist’s target.

In Lupton’s debut, Sister, she wrote of the bond between sisters: one whose death was called a suicide, the other struggling to disprove that charge. In her second family-centered thriller, she explores the fierce love of a mother for her children, while at the same time unraveling a case of attempted murder fueled by jealousy and a history of abuse. With its hint of a Jodi Picoult family saga blended with an eerie Ruth Rendell mystery, Afterwards should appeal to readers of both genres.

Grace and Mike Covey are living a charmed life in contemporary London—she’s a part-time journalist for a local paper, and he’s a sought-after BBC filmmaker. Their son Adam is enrolled at the posh Sidley House Preparatory School; their daughter Jenny, 17, is working there as…

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The early to mid-20th century is a popular setting in the world of detective fiction, touching as it does on the cataclysmic changes underway on the brink of the modern era. The London atmosphere of Elegy for Eddie, the ninth novel in Jacqueline Winspear’s Maisie Dobbs series, perfectly evokes these changes, as the new is rapidly replacing the old. Workhorses are just about replaced by motorcars and delivery trucks; assembly-line workers replace mom-and-pop entrepreneurs; airplanes attract attention as they fly overhead; and labor unions and feminists are assembling their forces. Behind it all, a major conflict with Germany looms. 

Private inquiry agent Maisie Dobbs tries to stay abreast of the changes as she works out of her small London investigative office. She responds to a plea from a group of street peddlers—old friends from her father’s era—who are distraught over the death of Eddie Pettit, a well-known character among the city’s street sellers and hawkers. Eddie, a man whom today we might call mentally challenged, had a willing disposition and a gift for diagnosing exactly what an ailing horse needed. He could communicate with the equine population better than anyone else around. As the use of workhorses waned, Eddie took on other projects as he found them, and one such job proved to be his undoing. Maisie sets out to show that the “accident” was really murder and discover why a gentle, somewhat simple man could have become the victim of such a brutal crime.

Thus, Maisie steps into a mess of prewar political intrigue and danger. Readers may find the protagonist excessively nosy or, in today’s terms, obsessive-compulsive. However, her perfectionism and intrusive nature gets soundly challenged by friends and acquaintances as the story progresses; from the sound of it, Maisie may start questioning her need to be in control and relaxing a bit in future installments of this series. Throughout the book, she tries her best to avoid making a commitment to the man who loves her. But there’s a cool breeze blowing at the end of the novel as we see Maisie and her sometimes-lover, James, relaxing at Sam’s café, enjoying an ice cream cone. This may signal good news for fans of these popular books.

 

The early to mid-20th century is a popular setting in the world of detective fiction, touching as it does on the cataclysmic changes underway on the brink of the modern era. The London atmosphere of Elegy for Eddie, the ninth novel in Jacqueline Winspear’s Maisie Dobbs…

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Family intrigue at its most seamy and dramatic, plus his usual firm grasp of lawyerly tactics and tricks, distinguish Richard North Patterson’s new thriller, Fall from Grace. The former trial lawyer has concocted a fine tale to complement his list of bestsellers stretching back to 1979.

Adam Blaine returns to his family home on Martha’s Vineyard after a decade’s absence; he’s there to join his family in burying their father, an illustrious writer and adventurer who has been killed after a fall from a cliff. The reasons for Adam’s absence and long estrangement from his father emerge slowly over the course of the book, and the effect is like a rolling snowball gathering weight and mass. Patterson’s taut, wired writing reveals one complication after another as family members interact and gradually disclose their secrets.

“There are reasons why we become the way we are, which often aren’t apparent on the surface of our lives."

Ben could have committed suicide, fallen by accident or been pushed to his death—and his family members have a welter of motives. His wife may be victim or catalyst; his brother a sadly demeaned sibling or secret protagonist; his sons loving brothers or pawns in a disjointed rivalry; his lover—the last of a long line—a clever liar or a woman innocent of all except her genuine love for the dead man. Complicating matters, the powerful and charismatic Ben has left behind a recently changed will, with his wife deprived of her rights to the family estate.

As a covert CIA operative whose training ground includes secret ops in Afghanistan, Adam should be the perfect person to untangle the mess. Only trouble is, he’s part of the family history of rivalry and deceit. He is also afraid of the answers he may uncover, ones that will forever change his perception of himself and others close to him.

Patterson is a master storyteller. His narrative appears to be straightforward, but as you continue turning the pages you'll realize he’s hooked you into something much more intricate and complicated. He makes use of his characters' slightest conversational nuance or subtle change of expression, weaving the inconsistencies into a clever, absorbing plot. “There are reasons why we become the way we are, which often aren’t apparent on the surface of our lives,” says Adam at one point. This turns out to be a truth at the heart of this complicated, intriguing book, one that will attract newcomers and longtime Patterson fans alike.

Family intrigue at its most seamy and dramatic, plus his usual firm grasp of lawyerly tactics and tricks, distinguish Richard North Patterson’s new thriller, Fall from Grace. The former trial lawyer has concocted a fine tale to complement his list of bestsellers stretching back to…

Review by

It always seems to be dark out or raining in Nicci French’s thriller, appropriately named Blue Monday, the first in a new series featuring Frieda Klein, a loner psychotherapist who, we’re quick to find out, needs her space.

Ambiance and setting ring large in this sometimes terrifying tale. Not the least of the drama is the contrast in moods between the drab London streets and the warm, cozy atmosphere that Frieda creates for herself and her patients. In her solitary apartment, there’s always a comfy couch, a book waiting in the lamplight and a fire ready to be lit to dispel the gloom. Bedraggled patients always get to dry off and warm up, and Frieda’s cool distance and willingness to listen all but compel them to disgorge their secrets and complaints.

When five-year-old Matthew goes missing, it doesn’t take long before the strange circumstances of the abduction reach back and connect to a similar tragedy—the kidnapping of a young girl 25 years earlier. To make matters worse, one of Frieda’s patients is describing ferocious, odd dreams involving a young boy who, in the patient’s description, is remarkably similar to the kidnapped Matthew. Frieda’s tidy and solitary world turns upside down as her concerns about her patient’s dreams worm their way into her mind and force her to move out of her cozy circle of calm. She reports her worries to authorities and eventually joins a gritty, purposeful London police inspector in a race to find the child and trap a kidnapper.

This twisted, ferocious story tangles around the reader, pitting a controlled, predictable world against one of darkness, paranoia and the passions of characters who can’t escape their pasts or vanities. Flawed and unforgettable characters move throughout these pages, going about their lives, stuck in their own vulnerabilities but still struggling to have their voices heard.

Readers looking for a magical cure-all may be surprised when the pages disclose not-so-sunny twists. Still, a Christmas celebration like you’ve never seen, peopled with the odd and fragmented people of Frieda’s newly expanding world, offers an emotional and satisfying scene as the book winds down. Suspenseful writing and marvelous descriptions make this series one to follow and Blue Monday an addictive read.

It always seems to be dark out or raining in Nicci French’s thriller, appropriately named Blue Monday, the first in a new series featuring Frieda Klein, a loner psychotherapist who, we’re quick to find out, needs her space.

Ambiance and setting ring large in this sometimes…

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Christian novelist Frank Peretti, author of This Present Darkness, Piercing the Darkness and many others, writes about the fascinating blend of physics, enduring love, time travel and faith in Illusion, his first book in seven years.

For 40 years, Dane and Mandy Collins shared a deep love as well as a magic act—until Mandy was killed in a car crash. Dane is left floundering as he seeks to come to terms with his wife’s death and rebuild a life in Hayden, Idaho. Meanwhile, Mandy awakens as a 19-year-old in 2010, even though she was born in 1951. New technologies like cell phones and computers are a mystery to her, and really, all she wants to do is find the (long gone) family farm and her father. Instead, Mandy is held at the Behavioral Health ward of the Spokane County Medical Center on suspicion of mental incompetence.

While held at the facility, Mandy discovers some very unusual powers, including one that enables her to walk out of the building undetected. Maintaining a low profile, Mandy makes her way to Hayden, where she also begins the slow process of building a new life. Fascinated by magic and struggling to make a living as a street performer, Mandy—who now calls herself Eloise—receives some helpful advice from Dane, thus beginning their frequently rocky acquaintance. Dane was warned about the possibility of his mind playing tricks on him, but Eloise bears an uncanny resemblance to his beloved wife. Grudgingly, Dane begins mentoring Eloise, who is just learning about her magical capabilities, like the ability to mentally control objects. While powerful forces rally against Eloise, the mentor and protégé plan a spectacular magic act, the likes of which has never been seen before. But will Eloise be strong enough to survive it?

Illusion is both a mystery/sci-fi story and a sweet tale of timeless love between 60-year-old Dane and the now-teenaged Mandy, although nonbelievers may have difficulty with the obvious Christian message at the novel’s heart. The science behind the plot is sketchy at best, yet that does not take away from the reader’s enjoyment of the story. Excellent character development, a smooth pace and an unusual twist to the time travel theme make for a strong cross-genre story with a satisfying conclusion.

Christian novelist Frank Peretti, author of This Present Darkness, Piercing the Darkness and many others, writes about the fascinating blend of physics, enduring love, time travel and faith in Illusion, his first book in seven years.

For 40 years, Dane and Mandy Collins shared a deep…

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Available Dark is dark, all right. It almost seems as if author Elizabeth Hand is not so much penning a novel as sending a series of cries into the night.

Hand’s main character, Cass Neary, first appeared in the cult hit Generation Loss, and here she has returned in a blistering story that will sear the pages from your fingers. Cass is now a weary middle-aged alcoholic and speed freak who lives on the very edge, her promise as a photographer faded after her one brilliant book, Dead Girls, spiraled briefly into the limelight.

Rewards for the reader are found in the author’s prose, brilliant and acute.

From her bleak corner of Manhattan, Cass responds to an e-mail from a mysterious client in Finland, a collector of the macabre and murderous—a genre Cass is immersed in and drawn to. The collector wants Cass to assess the value and provenance of a small cache of black market photographs taken by an iconic photographer with an “eye for the beauty in extinction.” Cass views the group of five photos depicting violent death scenes, and verifies their authenticity by phone with her client. Later that day she leaves Helsinki on a flight to Iceland, following up on another obsession: the search for a long-ago lover. Iceland overwhelms Cass; she thinks: “The whole … country was like The Birds, if the birds had won.” Once in Reykjavik, she finds herself in escape mode after she learns that both the collector and the iconic photographer have been brutally murdered, and the photo studio destroyed.

There’s no respite on any page in this dark story, as Cass works to save herself and unravel the deadly skein that binds together a handful of people involved in the creation of the photo death scenes. The desolate, perpetual twilight of Iceland’s terrain lends itself to the telling of this tale, which is peopled with a stunning cast of characters—from Quinn, the hollow-eyed lover of Cass’s youth; to an albino dealer in cult recordings; to a reclusive former black metal guitarist who inhabits a Quonset hut in remotest Iceland with his collection of artifacts and Icelandic folklore, and who speaks in a voice “so deep it was as though the stones spoke.”

There are no happy endings in Available Dark. However, rewards for the reader are found in the author’s prose, brilliant and acute, shot through with glimpses of humanity that may come to inhabit your dreams.

Available Dark is dark, all right. It almost seems as if author Elizabeth Hand is not so much penning a novel as sending a series of cries into the night.

Hand’s main character, Cass Neary, first appeared in the cult hit Generation Loss, and here she…

Review by

The author of such critically acclaimed books as Aquamarine and Lucky in the Corner, Carol Anshaw returns with a sure-to-be breakout novel, Carry the One. Between the opening, at a country wedding, and the ending, at an unfortunate funeral, Anshaw tells the story of three siblings who are bonded together not only by blood, but also by the tragedy of having accidentally run over an unknown girl.

Carry the One begins with Carmen and her spur-of-the-moment hippie wedding. She is unexpectedly pregnant, yet eager to begin her life with Matt. However, Carmen’s sister Alice and their stoned brother Nick (along with his postal-worker girlfriend Olivia) manage to take the night in a different direction on their ride home, when Olivia (the driver) accidentally strikes and kills a young girl. The ensuing, interlocking stories follow each of them in the aftermath of this catastrophic event.

Readers will become invested in Alice, the soon-to-be-famous painter who not only struggles with emerging from the shadow of her misogynist, famous father, but also carries an endless torch for Maude, Matt’s sister. Their battle of a love affair rises and falls over the years, as their careers—Maude’s as an actress and Alice’s as an artist—take turns eclipsing the other person’s role in their lives. While Olivia—after taking the rap and being sent off to jail—becomes straight edge, it is Nick who is most haunted by the death they inadvertently caused. He squanders his genius in astronomy with endless cycles of alcoholism and addiction. And the eldest, Carmen, struggles to remain true to herself as a political women’s activist in her faltering marriage.

These stories perfectly capture the changes within the characters as they grow older, shedding their more light-hearted attitudes toward sex, drugs and work. Tied together by that roadside tragedy, this makeshift family struggles to protect and support one another through heartbreak, addiction and even violence.

Anshaw’s prose in Carry the One is delicate and effortless, flowing from one beautifully believable scene to another. Its quiet power lies in her observation of how easy it is to destroy something and how much effort it takes to focus on keeping everything—and everyone—together.

The author of such critically acclaimed books as Aquamarine and Lucky in the Corner, Carol Anshaw returns with a sure-to-be breakout novel, Carry the One. Between the opening, at a country wedding, and the ending, at an unfortunate funeral, Anshaw tells the story of three…

Review by

Books come and go, and mysteries are prolific in the fiction category—but some stand out above the others. There’s nothing quite like a suspenseful tale well told.

Stephen Gallagher’s The Bedlam Detective is his second book to feature Sebastian Becker (after The Kingdom of Bones), an investigator for the Crown who is charged with discovering who among the affluent population may be deemed insane and therefore unable to manage their own affairs. It is 1912 in England, and Becker arrives in the village of Arnmouth to visit Sir Owain Lancaster’s estate and determine whether the once-rich landowner may be responsible for the murder of two young girls who were found dead on his estate grounds.

Sir Owain is the number-one suspect, possibly guilty of both madness and murder. His personal journals tell a creepy tale that winds throughout the story, describing dragons and monsters that he claims pursued him during an adventure into the Amazon some years back, when nearly everyone in his party was murdered, including his own wife and son. He still sees beasts no one else can see and says they have committed the recent murders.

For those who love a tale of phantoms, this engrossing book has it all. One can sense terror hiding in a derelict country cottage in Arnmouth or lurking on the mist-shrouded streets of London. Each character is vividly drawn here, including Evangeline, an energetic young suffragette, and her childhood friend, Lucy. Both girls were past victims of the mysterious killer, who left them both for dead—although they are still very much alive. Becker, too, is beset by demons of his own. He must survive a personal tragedy that leaves him to cope with straitened financial circumstances as well as the future of his troubled but brilliant young son.

Throughout The Bedlam Detective, sanity and madness are intertwined and the line between truth and fantasy is paper-thin. Near the book’s end, readers are treated to a hair-raising hallucinatory trip in which butterfly specimens come alive in glass cases; the eyes of a stone carving move; and ghosts speak. Filled with precise yet haunting prose, The Bedlam Detective will shock and sustain readers, keeping them on the edge of their seats.

Books come and go, and mysteries are prolific in the fiction category—but some stand out above the others. There’s nothing quite like a suspenseful tale well told.

Stephen Gallagher’s The Bedlam Detective is his second book to feature Sebastian Becker (after The Kingdom of Bones), an…

Review by

Crime and politics in sub-Saharan Africa keep a tight hold on readers of Those Who Love Night, a truly fine mystery by acclaimed author Wessel Ebersohn. This tense, elegantly written narrative is the second in a series starring Abigail Bukula, a young South African lawyer in her country’s Department of Justice.

Bukula sets out to unravel a twisted skein of terror in Zimbabwe after she is informed that a cousin she never knew existed is reportedly imprisoned in a jail known for its brutality and corruption. Known for her outspokenness and determination, she agrees to help a naive young Zimbabwean lawyer who is defending the prisoner and the rest of his group—the Harare Seven—who are being held as radicals and resisters by the country’s new dictatorial government. Leaving her husband and safe environment behind, Bukula travels to Zimbabwe to learn the truth about her cousin and help the dissidents, thus sparking a tangled series of events and illuminations—and propelling her headlong into grave peril, as her every move is known by the government in power. The iron fist in a velvet glove is worn by the powerful and mesmerizing Jonas Chunga, in charge of public relations in the regime’s Central Intelligence Organization. He is physically and emotionally drawn to Bukula—and the feeling is mutual—but there may be terrible reasons for Chunga’s attraction.

The extraordinary and aggressive Bukula discovers herself suddenly vulnerable, and a violent death of her host, lawyer Krisj Patel, serves only to further sever her connection to safety. Help unexpectedly arrives in the form of Yudel Gordon, a South African corrections officer with whom Bukula has worked in the past. Along with his initially reluctant wife, Rosa, Yudel jeopardizes life and limb to help Bukula discover the truth behind the Seven’s imprisonment. Rosa, who initially appears almost as a footnote to the story, develops a depth and importance that enhances and enlarges this terrifying, unrelenting and provocative tale that reaches back into the depths of Bukula’s family history.

Author Wessel lets us linger on each fascinating character who plays a role in Those Who Love Night. We hope to hear more from Bukula and her talented creator in the future.

Crime and politics in sub-Saharan Africa keep a tight hold on readers of Those Who Love Night, a truly fine mystery by acclaimed author Wessel Ebersohn. This tense, elegantly written narrative is the second in a series starring Abigail Bukula, a young South African lawyer…

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Author Tessa Harris is sure to garner a host of followers for her new mystery series featuring Dr. Thomas Silkstone, anatomist and forensic detective. The Anatomist’s Apprentice opens at a time in late 18th-century England when many scientists pioneering in the new fields of dissection and anatomy have become fascinated by the field’s forensic possibilities and are increasingly being called to crime scenes to help determine cause of death in possible cases of murder.

Against this historical backdrop, Dr. Silkstone finds himself drawn away from his laboratory and classroom to assist in exhuming and examining a corpse at the request of the victim’s sister Lydia, who fears that Lord Edward Crick may have been murdered. Even more shockingly, she secretly fears the perpetrator may have been her own husband. Silkstone must isolate and identify the substances present in the victim’s body. He also must identify the people who had the means and motive to ensure that Edward would breathe his last breath at their secret behest.

When Silkstone falls in love with Lydia, he finds no solace when her husband, Captain Farrell, is arrested for the murder: He believes the man to be innocent. He must carefully investigate all those with close connections to the murdered man, including Lady Crick, Lydia’s weak-minded mother; the maidservant, Hannah Lovelock, whose own daughter has recently died tragically; Lord Edward’s cousin, Francis Crick, once a suitor to Lydia; and Captain Farrell’s own lawyer, James Lavington, a longtime tenant on the estate with an agenda of his own.

The descriptions in The Anatomist’s Apprentice will boggle readers’ minds: There are shelves of flasks, flagons, bottles, jars and other containers of herbs, leaves, oils, creams, lotions, plants, fungi and odd-smelling roots. These tools are the sort cultivated and understood not only by doctors and scientists, but by farmers and plainspoken folk who use them routinely—and sometimes not so routinely—in their daily lives.

Difficult as it is to imagine that men were attracted to women as seemingly useless and docile as Lady Crick, this is a novel of its time, and Dr. Silkstone must work through his own horrible suspicions as he seeks to protect Lydia while proving her husband’s innocence. Tricks, twists and turns prevail throughout the story. The author’s detailed research on the historical era pays off handsomely in this engrossing, lively and satisfying series debut.

Author Tessa Harris is sure to garner a host of followers for her new mystery series featuring Dr. Thomas Silkstone, anatomist and forensic detective. The Anatomist’s Apprentice opens at a time in late 18th-century England when many scientists pioneering in the new fields of dissection…

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Hamlet is supremely aware of literary nuances, and can be counted on to pick just the right book from the shelves. Only thing is, Hamlet’s a cat, and his sleek moves are not always clear to his human companions at Pettistone’s Fine Books, now owned by one Darla Pettistone after her great-aunt Dee died and left her the bookstore in Brooklyn—as well as its resident cat.

Double Booked for Death is the first outing for the brand-new Black Cat Bookshop Mystery series written by Ali Brandon, one of several pen names belonging to Diane A.S. Stuckart, also known to readers as the author of the Leonardo da Vinci historical mysteries.

Darla is set to realize every bookstore owner’s dream after famed teen author Valerie Baylor agrees to sign her latest Haunted High YA novel at the store, and hundreds of screaming teens dressed in black capes crowd the sidewalk, waiting for the author (similarly known for her distinctive goth look) to arrive.

The feline sleuth seems to know his humans, too, arriving on the scene just in time to disrupt a counter display or two at opportune moments.

But a killer in—guess what?—black-caped attire intervenes, relegating Baylor to the status of murder victim. Too many suspects crowd the scene, from the writer’s odd entourage that includes a mysterious makeup assistant named Mavis, to a jealous bookstore employee, to a caped protestor accusing Baylor of plagiarism.

Darla and her tenant, friend and “store security” agent, Jacqueline (aka “Jake”), do what amateur sleuths usually do in fiction: mess around and interfere where it’s none of their business. Jake’s friend, police officer Reese, is heading up the official police investigation. But Hamlet’s on the case, albeit surreptitiously, and his timely interference and paws-on choice of reading material push the detecting in a new direction. The feline sleuth seems to know his humans, too, arriving on the scene just in time to disrupt a counter display or two at opportune moments.

Bookstore owners, current and former, may cringe a bit at the author’s somewhat pie-in-the-sky descriptions of the business of bookselling, but author Brandon’s clever casting saves the day. Readers are in for a treat if Brandon continues to develop her stable of promising characters, including bookstore manager Professor James T. James; antiques seller Mary Ann; and the very attractive Reese, whose broken nose adds a bit of intrigue to his curly blond hair and wraparound sunglasses. And, last but far from least, Hamlet himself, who deserves more respect from his colleagues next time around.

Hamlet is supremely aware of literary nuances, and can be counted on to pick just the right book from the shelves. Only thing is, Hamlet’s a cat, and his sleek moves are not always clear to his human companions at Pettistone’s Fine Books, now owned…

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