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…
Category: Historical
‘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…
‘Back Side of a Blue Moon’ by Caleb Pirtle
***** In the East Texas town of Ashland, the Great Depression means times are hard. With money and jobs scarce, anyone with any sense is leaving town. For red-head Eudora Durant, something needs to change and when her violent and whoring husband disappears, townsfolk soon begin making assumptions. But then a stranger comes to town…
‘Mrs Hemingway’ by Naomi Wood
***** Beginning in the summer of 1926, Ernest Hemingway and his wife Hadley move from Paris to a villa in the south of France. Spending their time drinking, swimming and playing cards they mix with a bevy of guests including Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald and the seemingly ever-present Pauline (Fife) Pfeiffer. As Fife progresses from…
‘Midtown Huckster’ by Leopold Borstinski
***** Welcome to my stop on the Blog Tour for ‘Midtown Huckster’ (Alex Cohen #3) by Leopold Borstinski. Thanks to Emma at Damppebbles Blog Tours for including me. My Review: Working with mobster Lucky Luciano, Jewish gangster Alex Cohen needs to find a new way to make money. But when his boss is nabbed for…
‘Arthur Rex Brittonum’ by Tim Walker
***** Arthur, King of the Britons, and only son of the late King Uther, now rules over the northern regions, but he still has to take on the Saxons in order to succeed. This is the fifth instalment of Tim Walker’s ‘A Light in the Dark Ages’ series and while it is clearly part of…
Colin Garrow 