My Review (5 stars out of 5) In the 1660s, bubonic plague sweeps through the Derbyshire village of Eyam. New rector, William Mompesson and his family, must try to work with the community to combat the disease but his faith is at odds with that of the people and their Puritan rector Thomas Stanley. Eventually,…
Category: Historical
‘Mary Ann Cotton – Dark Angel’ by Martin Connolly
My Review (5 stars out of 5) In West Auckland, County Durham, in 1872, Mary Ann Cotton was arrested and charged with the murder of her stepson. Married four times and supposedly having borne twelve children, she was found guilty and hanged in Durham Goal. Charting the details of the trials and claims she may…
‘Henry VIII – King and Court’ by Alison Weir
My Review (5 stars out of 5) Alison Weir’s highly researched book explodes the life of Henry VIII and that of his court. While the book does not give as thorough an accounting of the six wives (which Weir delves into in greater detail in another book), we do get the low-down on the day-to-day…
‘The Lost Queen’ by Carol McGrath
My Review (4 stars out of 5) Berengaria of Navarre is destined to be the wife and queen of King Richard I (Richard the Lionheart). This story relates how Berengaria’s future mother-in-law, Eleanor of Aquitaine, took her on a journey to meet up with the young woman’s future husband, Richard. I’d never heard of Berengaria,…
‘The Shadow of Death’ by Philip E Ginsburg
My Review (5 stars out of 5) (Audiobook) During the 1980s, a killer stabbed six women in the Connecticut River Valley, between New Hampshire and Vermont. Despite rigorous investigations, the murderer has never been caught. Author Philip E. Ginsburg reveals the pioneering forensic methods police and FBI agents used to track the killer. The only…
‘The Custard Corpses’ by MJ Porter
My Review (5 stars out of 5) (Audiobook) Birmingham, 1943. A twenty-year-old murder sets Chief Inspector Mason on the trail of a killer. Along with his sidekick Constable O’Rourke, he investigates the death of a boy – Robert McFarlane – who was murdered in 1923. Weirdly, although the body was discovered on dry land, the…
‘A Woman of No Importance’ by Sonia Purnell
My Review (5 stars out of 5) In September 1941, a young American woman posing as a journalist arrived in Vichy, France. Her task was to work with the French resistance to sabotage, upset, and divert the Nazi invaders. By 1942 the Gestapo were hot on her heels, but Virginia Hall continued to slip through…
‘London Tales’ by Tim Walker
My Review (4 stars out of 5) This is another collection of stories from Tim Walker, with eleven tales taken from various points along London’s timeline. Subjects range from legendary Iceni queen, Boudica (seen from the point of view of the Romans), to more modern stories set in the twentieth century, such as a tale…
‘Bluebird and the Dead Lake’ by John Pearson
My Review (5 stars out of 5) Following Donald Campbell’s 1964 attempt on the world land speed record, John Pearson spent several weeks with Campbell and his team in Australia’s remote outback, waiting for conditions on the saltpan of Lake Eyre to meet the standards required for a successful record attempt. Aiming to hit speeds…
‘The Austrian Bride’ by Helen Parusel
The Austrian Bride My Review (4 stars out of 5) Austria, 1938. Longing for a better future for her fellow Austrians, Ella is caught up in the excitement when Hitler marches into Linz. But her enthusiasm fades as she witnesses the Nazis methods. Encouraged to join the Reich Bride School by her boyfriend Max and…
Colin Garrow 