I love historical mysteries and books where we deal with forensic sciences in their early stages. So when I heard that “A Cruel Necessity” by L.C. Tyler would bring me a dead body with an expertly slashed throat underneath a dung heap I had to read the book in one sitting. Naturally. The author takes […]
Book Reviews
Moscow Bound by Adrian Churchward
If you look at the cover of this political thriller you will see in the background some lines of a document. We can vaguely make out what it says. It is a snapshot of a page. That one page undoubtedly belongs inside a huge file. The words “Top Secret” are crossed out. Who did that […]
The Grenadillo Box by Janet Gleeson
How I missed Janet Gleeson‘s book in 2002 I do not know. It will forever be a mystery. The book has everything I love: a historical setting with enough twists so that the plot I envisioned could come true. We are in the eighteenth century, in the United Kingdom. The year is 1755. It is […]
Peter Morrone, the Pope who quit
Peter Morrone (1215 – 1296), the Pope who quit, is better known as Pope Celestine V. The book by Jon Sweeney presents us with three powerful men. All skilled and stubborn. We discover how Peter Morrone’s life became entangled with Charles II of Anjou, the King of Naples. The other of course, was Cardinal Benedict […]
The blood on my hands by Shannon O’Leary
“I used pseudonyms in the book in order to protect my family. He was never charged despite the police knowing about his activity. The police investigations were case files and are not available to the public. People outside Australia would not be aware that many of the missing person files in NSW in the 1960s […]
Gun Alley by Kevin Morgan
Gun Alley by Kevin Morgan is about the murder of Alma Tirtschke (12) a.k.a. the “schoolgirl murder.” It is a cold case, a wrongful conviction, the rape-murder of a child, sloppy police work, jailhouse information, and a rush to judgment that led to the botched execution on April 24, 1922 of an innocent man. Collin Campbell […]
The Second Girl by David Swinson
The Second Girl by David Swinson is the first in a series featuring retired cop Frank Marr. He is damaged like the cop in Swinson’s first book “A Detailed Man.” Marr is worse though. Marr is a junkie. Even when faced with a chained scarcely clad teen his mind drifts. Whether it is the pain in […]
Damn his blood by Peter Moore
Damn his blood by Peter Moore tells us the story about the 1806 murder of Reverend George Parker that happened in Oddingley, UK. I happened upon this book while on vacation in London. We were in Waterstones, Islington, when I saw this book on the £0.99 cart. The woodcut and the different fonts on the […]
The Devil in the Marshalsea by Antonia Hodgson
The Devil in the Marshalsea by Antonia Hodgson is a splendid début novel. I love it when an author can describe the filth dripping from the walls so that I get an instant itch and the urge to check my room for anything decaying. Antonia Hodgson’s work is murder for your eyes (you will exhaust them) and […]
“Chase Your Shadow; the trials of Oscar Pistorius”
“Chase Your Shadow; the trials of Oscar Pistorius” by John Carlin is a must read. The title is well-chosen. We learn about Oscar, his family, his disability, and his career. His life was indeed filled with trials and they started well before 2013. Carlin clearly wrote this book with compassion in his heart. Some might […]