My Review (5 stars out of 5) The murder of Elizabeth Short (known as the Black Dahlia) has remained unsolved for more than fifty years. Now, former LAPD detective Steve Hodel believes he has uncovered the killer. Following a death in his family, Hodel found documents that set him off on a murder hunt, unearthing…
Category: Historical
‘Burke in the Land of Silver’ by Tom Williams
My Review (4 stars out of 5) Taking on the role of a spy, soldier James Burke reinvents himself as a Buenos Aires leather merchant, and with his trusty assistant William, sets off to aid efforts to free Argentina from Spain. Caught between two warring factions, Burke is faced with a difficult task and soon…
‘The Great Escape’ by Paul Brickhill
My Review (5 stars out of 5) The classic wartime adventure story that tells how 600 men worked on a plan that would eventually result in 76 men escaping from a prisoner-of-war camp. With men engaged in digging, forging passports and other documents, making suitable escape outfits and keeping the Germans occupied when they got…
‘The Watermen’ by Patrick Easter
My Review (4 stars out of 5) 1798 – the Port of London. Villainous Irishman Boylin gets the opportunity to take revenge on his nemesis, Captain Tom Pascoe, the man responsible for giving Boylin 200 lashes on board ship. When Pascoe is offered the position of River Surveyor in the newly formed marine police, he…
‘Pretty Evil New England’ by Sue Coletta
My Review (5 stars out of 5) Exploring murder in nineteenth century New England, crime writer Sue Coletta tells the stories of five female serial killers – Jane Toppan, Lydia Sherman, Nellie Webb, Harriet E. Nason and Sarah Jane Robinson. Delving into their individual backgrounds, she looks at the events that drove these women to…
‘Biko’ by Donald Woods
My Review (5 stars out of 5) Activist and founder of the Black Consciousness Movement, Steve Biko was hounded by the South African authorities for his outspoken views on apartheid. Detained, arrested, banned and beaten by security police, Biko died on 12 September 1977. Daily Dispatch editor Donald Woods had become a close friend of…
‘Guardians at the Wall’ by Tim Walker
My Review (5 stars out of 5) At Hadrian’s Wall, a group of archaeology students explore the area close to the ancient ruins, searching for buried artefacts left by the Romans while guarding the barrier separating Roman Britain from the Caledonian tribes. Twenty-year-old Noah is delighted to discover a figurine, and hopes it’ll put him…
‘Wayward Voyage’ by Anna M Holmes
NB This post first appeared on the Blog Tour for ‘Wayward Voyage, via Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources. My Review (4 out of 5 stars) Growing up in the frontier colony of Carolina, life doesn’t hold many attractions for young Anne. Not content with living up to the expectations of other young women her age,…
‘Lazarus Remembered’ by EJ Harper
***** Learning that his mother Lydia is dying, Peter Mackenzie’s life erupts as work demands, arguments with his partner and the urgency to return to Australia all converge in a flurry of pressure and anxiety. Having left his home as a teenager, Peter has plenty of reasons for not going back, but if he doesn’t,…
‘Scottish Witches’ by Lily Seafield
*** This is a collection of factual, and no-so-factual, tales of Scottish witches, ghosts, superstitions and folklore, and ranges from the seventeenth century through to the twentieth. For the most part, the stories are about witches and the various confessions, trials and punishments dished out to them by a society that believed ordinary folk could…
Colin Garrow 