My Review (5 stars out of 5) In 1922, solicitor Major Herbert Rowse Armstrong was tried and found guilty of killing his wife by poisoning her with arsenic. Hanged for her murder, the case caused a scandal not only in Hay-on-Wye where he lived but across the whole country. My first introduction to this story…
Category: Historical
‘A Rising Man’ by Abir Mukherjee
My Review (5 stars out of 5) Calcutta, 1919. After the horrors of war and the death of his wife, Captain Sam Wyndham is keen to make a new start. Joining Calcutta’s police force seems like the perfect solution, as it offers a location and position that couldn’t be more different from his recent experiences.…
‘Bad Side of a Wicked Moon’ by Caleb Pirtle
My Review (5 stars out of 5) Finding oil in East Texas brings strangers into the town of Ashland, and Eudora Durant and her new lover Doc know very well that strangers sometimes mean trouble. When a hearse turns up in the town one morning, it drops off an unexpected cargo. Meanwhile, the local sheriff…
‘Before the Fall’ by Orna Ross
My Review (5 stars out of 5) In 1995, pregnant Jo Devereux is still living in Ireland. Caught between her relationship with former lover Rory and the desire to return home to San Francisco, Jo battles with the past and its possible impact on her future, as she unravels her family’s possible involvement in the…
‘The Brothers Grimshaw’ by Joy Mutter
My Review (5 stars out of 5) Set in London during the 1970s, this autobiographical tale is based on the author’s experiences following landing her first job after leaving art college. Based in a grotty printing firm in Kilburn, the heroine finds her new employers to be lacking in social graces and good manners, as…
‘Things in Jars’ by Jess Kidd
My Review (5 stars out of 5) London, 1863. Female detective Bridie Devine is recruited to track down a stolen child. However, the child’s father seems unwilling to disclose all but the vaguest of details relating to the girl and Bridie finds herself thrust into the realm of freaks and medical misfits. Aided by her…
‘Storytellers’ by Bjorn Larssen
My Review (3 stars out of 5) Iceland, 1920. Blacksmith and hermit Gunnar is unhappy when a lodger is foisted on him. Persuaded to allow the stranger to stay around for a while until the man’s injury heals, the visitor earns his keep by telling a story. But as the tale progresses, it seems the…
‘Desperate Passage’ by Ethan Rarick
My Review (5 stars out of 5) In October 1846, as part of the last wagon train making the westward migration towards California, the group that became known as the Donner Party were forced to dig in at the foot of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Unable to make the arduous climb to finish their journey…
‘The Dublin Railway Murder’ by Thomas Morris
My Review (5 stars out of 5) (Audiobook) Dublin, November 1856: When the chief cashier of the Broadstone railway terminus is found dead in his office, his colleagues assume he must have committed suicide. But further investigation uncovers the truth – George Little has been murdered. Most baffling is the fact that Little’s office door…
‘Rebel Hearts’ by Kevin Toolis
My Review (5 stars out of 5) This book details the investigation by journalist Kevin Toolis into the lives of men and women who were part of the IRA’s efforts to oust the British Army from Ireland during the infamous ‘troubles’. Exploring the history of the cause and the republican (and loyalist) interpretations of it,…
Colin Garrow 