Welcome to my stop on the Blog Tour for Storm of Mercia, via Rachel, at Rachel’s Random Resources Wessex has never been Mercia’s ally, neither has it been her only enemy. Wessex, AD836 The Viking raiders’ devastation has been halted once more by the shields of Mercia as opposed to Wessex. But their whereabouts are…
Category: Historical
‘The Mysterious Mrs Hood’ by Kim Donovan
My Review (5 stars out of 5) (Audiobook) In the fishing port of Great Yarmouth in September 1900, a young woman known only as Mrs Hood had been staying in a local lodging house. When she was found dead on the beach, strangled with a bootlace, police struggled to learn her identity, and that of…
‘Broken Ground’ by Val McDermid
My Review (5 stars out of 5) A body found buried in a peat bog in a remote spot in the Highlands, sends cold-case investigator DCI Karen Pirie to the scene. Buried along with the body are a pair of pre-war motorcycles, but the condition of the body suggests the murder is more recent. As…
‘Poole of Light’ by RJ Verity
My Review (4 stars out of 5) This is book 1 in the Poole Legacy, with book 2 due out in 2026, and Bright Light, an already-published short story prequel also available. Beginning in Spennymoor in the North of England during the first half of the 20th century, we follow Jeremiah Poole from his poverty-stricken…
‘The Secret Sauce’ by MJ Porter
Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for The Secret Sauce, via Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources Blurb Birmingham, England, November 1944. Chief Inspector Mason of Erdington Police Station is summoned to a suspicious death at the BB Sauce factory in Aston on a wet Monday morning in late November 1944. Greeted by his…
‘Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage’ by Alfred Lansing
My Review (5 stars out of 5) In 1915 arctic explorer Ernest Shackleton recruited 27 men and set sail for the ice-bound Antarctic seas in a bid to cross Antarctica via the pole. But their ship became wedged in the ice and Shackleton was faced with keeping his men alive until they could be rescued.…
‘A Sparrow Falls’ by Vicki Olsen
My Review (4 stars out of 5) Set in a changing America, the story centres on Sarah, who is haunted by a difficult upbringing. Growing up in the rural town of Tolerance, Arkansas, and having endured a traumatic childhood, she now struggles to alter the course of her life and overcome the traumas of the…
‘They Have Their Exits’ by Airey Neave
My Review (5 stars out of 5) Long before he became a senior member of Thatcher’s Government and his subsequent assassination by the IRA, Airey Neave had a distinguished war record. Taken prisoner in 1940, he made several escape attempts and was one of the few British prisoners to successfully make a ‘home-run’ from Colditz…
‘Salt and Honey’ by Candi Miller
My Review (5 stars out of 5) In 1950s South Africa, Koba’s tribe are hunter-gatherers, following the traditional ways of life of an ancient culture. But when her family clashes with a group of white people, the outcome is tragic, leaving her orphaned. Taken to their home, the girl grudgingly learns to speak their language…
‘Arrow of Alba’ by Allan Webster
My Review (5 stars out of 5) Young warrior Odo escapes Paris (where his father is accused of plotting against the king) and joins a barbarian ruler’s army in northern Britannia. A Saxon slave girl takes his fancy, but another woman—the wife of his new boss—also has her eye on Odo. Caught in a difficult…
Colin Garrow 