Category Archives: Tuesday Book Blog

Apr28

The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey

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When I got this recommendation by Amazon, a number of things appealed to me about the book and so I downloaded it. First, I’ve always been what’s known as a Ricardian. Second, in an early part of my career as a lawyer, I did some criminal work and have experience in breaking down elements of a crime. Third, my ancestors came from England and Scotland and I’ve always had a fascination with the history of the countries. As examples, I have Sir John and Sir Thomas Gresham in my line as well as I’m a MacDonald from Scotland. All this to say, the book is totally in the ambit of works that would attract me.

Josephine Tey wrote this book in 1951, but it still resonates today. The meticulous work by the detective laid up in the hospital with a broken leg seems to me to be on point with his conclusions. Inspector Alan Grant is a wonderful character who, in his experience on the force, has become sort of a self-styled expert on reading faces. He can usually tell (or so he tells himself) if someone is a criminal or an honest person by their face alone.

The side characters are well-drawn and I enjoyed them, especially Grant’s actress friend and his research assistant. His two nurses are both delightfully different from each other.

Bored with being laid up in the hospital and not drawn to the books his friends have dropped off for him, his actress friend decides to bring him some photos to amuse him. He lands on one of Richard III and says he appears to him to be a person to put in a judge category. When he’s told it’s Richard III, he can scarce believe it. Grant is sure the man couldn’t be a criminal based on his face. Grant can’t leave it alone and asks one of his nurses for a history book.

The adventure is on from that point. Grant becomes obsessed with figuring out exactly who killed the princes in the tower. What follows is a well thought out, meticulously researched, investigation into the very crime Richard has stood accused of for centuries.

I very much enjoyed this book. As a Ricardian since I began to read history, I was happy with the research Grant and his able American assistant did as well as the train of thought that led him to his conclusion. Yes, it’s fiction, but man, what a great job he did in his assessment (or should I say Josephine Tey did?).

One thing that I had to look up for myself was why the book was called Daughter of Time as there was no daughter. Interestingly, the name comes from a quote by Sir Francis Bacon about truth being revealed over time. History is written by the victors and in my humble opinion, as well as many others’, Henry Tudor was a usurper and had a very tenuous right to be king, so he had to slander Richard to quell any potential uprisings.

According to Bacon, true knowledge comes from evidence and research over time, rather than just believing what authority figures say. Looking at the historical records of how loyal Richard was to his brother, how he forgave those who betrayed him over the years of his life and spared their lives when it may not have been in his best interests, as well as his fair way of ruling and trying to unite the various factions of the red and white roses, this book makes sense to me.

To the Tudor loyalists, read this novel and see what you think. To my fellow Ricardians, read this novel, you’ll enjoy it like I did.

BLURB:

Inspector Alan Grant of Scotland Yard, recuperating from a broken leg, becomes fascinated with a contemporary portrait of Richard III that bears no resemblance to the Wicked Uncle of history. Could such a sensitive, noble face actually belong to one of the world’s most heinous villains – a venomous hunchback who may have killed his brother’s children to make his crown secure? Or could Richard have been the victim, turned into a monster by the usurpers of England’s throne? Grant determines to find out once and for all, with the help of the British Museum and an American scholar, what kind of man Richard Plantagenet really was and who killed the Little Princes in the Tower.

Feb9

The Ones Who Never Left by Gabrielle Mullarkey

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I received this book to review for Rosie’s Book Review Team. Thank you to the author for the copy.

Creepy house, young couple, small town in Yorkshire, mystery man who roams the woods, housekeeper with an odd name, and a lot of weirdness in the history of the house make for a great premise for a story.

And for a great majority of the book, I enjoyed it. There was enough mystery and intrigue to satisfy me as a reader. I liked the protagonist and felt bad for her in the way she was treated by a number of characters in the story. I like a story where I have someone to root for as the action progresses.

Without any spoilers, though, I have to say that the last few chapters changed my whole opinion of the book. The ending was especially disappointing to me and it tainted the whole reading experience. To go from enjoying the book to dissatisfaction was jarring to say the least.

I can’t say much more as I don’t want to go into too much detail of what changed it for me, but I am going to give it four stars for being well-written, satisfyingly macabre, and mostly well-drawn characters. Had those last chapters been different, this one would’ve easily have been five stars for me. I’m not quite sure if that was a cliffhanger at the end, but I hate them and that is also part of my dissatisfaction with the book.

Aug12

The Plot Twist by Eleanor Goymer, a Review

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Allie is a romance writer with writer’s block and a book due imminently.

Martin is a famous writer of murder mysteries who hasn’t had a new book out in so many years that he calls himself a former writer.

They share a publishing house and meet in an alley at the publisher’s summer party where both are avoiding certain people at the party. Also on that alley is an attractive young man who Allie had a conversation earlier when he was passing out hors d’oeuvres.

Both Allie and Martin are in a bind. They’re required to honor their contracts or return their advances. Allie still has hers but she doesn’t want to part with it. Martin has loaned his to his daughter and he’s positive she’s spent it all. And his wife has no idea.

Each of the writers are called in to the office of the publisher to see the new guy running the place. The man with no soul. After their meetings, separately, they both head to the cafe across the street to lick their wounds. Recognizing each other from that alley encounter, they sit together to commiserate.

The conversation turns to Allie’s boyfriend who broke up with her the night of the summer party. She’s not upset as they’d drifted apart, but she did fantasize about him being the victim of a serial killer. Martin talks about needing advice from a romance writer on how to reignite the passion in his marriage.

Martin tells her she should write a murder mystery with her idea about the serial killer, but her contract is for a romance, so she tells him he can have her plot if he helps her with her writer’s block by sharing the story of how he and his wife met as well as the romantic gestures he creates in his quest to win back his wife.

The story jumps off from there with many situations that cause the reader to cheer for both of the writers as well as laugh at some of the situations Allie finds herself in.

Allie is an absolutely charming character who steps into interesting scenarios as she flirts with and sort of dates the handsome man who was also in the alley that night. She also continues to try to work through her writer’s block and finds herself telling many fibs to her editor in the process.

Martin’s journey feels a little easier but he’s not the main protagonist so that was fine with this reader.  He’s a likable character as well. There is a twist in the tale that leads to more angst for Allie.

This was a fun book and a pretty quick read. It was left in my little free library on a Friday and I finished it that weekend. I’m not one to read a lot of romance as there are certain aspects of some of them I don’t enjoy, but this was witty, charming, and somewhat unique. I recommend it.

BLURB:

This love story is a work in progress…

When romcom author Allie Edwards crosses paths with bestselling crime novelist – aka publishing dinosaur – Martin Clark at a party, they discover they both have crippling writer’s block, overdue manuscripts and precisely zero words to show to their respective editors.

With deadlines looming, Allie and Martin decide to switch plots and tell each other’s stories. In the writing process, Allie not only gains a father-figure in Martin, but also meets gorgeous events caterer Will, the answer to the leading man-shaped hole in her life and her lack of spicy material.

Caught between love and her career, what could possibly go wrong?

Jun3

Them Bones by David Housewright- A Review

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Jul2

The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon

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I picked this book up way back in December because I was intrigued by the premise, but I kept passing it up to read other things. When I finally picked it up a couple of weeks ago to dive into it, I was surprised to find that I had actually read another book by the same author that I had enjoyed immensely. The other one was called Code Name: Helene and was also fiction based on a true person (and I thought I had a review of it and can’t find it, but I put the blurb at the end here as I highly recommend it too.

This book, The Frozen River, was based on Martha Ballard, a midwife in the time of the American Revolution and the years following it. Ms. Lawhon came upon her story and the actual lady’s diaries were woven into the premise of the story. Entries were used in each of the chapters which I found to be engrossing. The story is set in 1789.

Ms. Lawton has a gift for beautiful prose. Her work sings. She just makes the characters come alive.

Our heroine midwife has a great marriage and a number of children. She has also experienced the loss of children herself which makes her a compassionate midwife to the women of the community she serves.

The book starts with the discovery of a dead man frozen in the river. The man had previously been accused of rape and was found with bruises on him and marks on his neck. There had also been an altercation between him and others at a dance the evening he died.

Martha Ballard thinks the man was murdered. The new local doctor, who hates the heroine as he thinks she perceives herself as his equal, disagrees with her and says it was an accident. The body is placed in a barn as it is too cold to bury him while the ground is frozen.

There is no shortage of suspects who didn’t like the dead man. The book has our heroine trying to not only solve this mystery, but to try to get justice for the woman who was raped and who is now carrying the child of her rapist.

The story is fraught with tension as well as woven with many passages showing the love and strength of this woman with her family as well as the ladies she helps to bring life into the world.

As in Code Name: Helene, I found myself liking this character very much and rooting for her all the way.

Lots of intrigue both in the story of the rape and murder, but also in the flashbacks to the past of the main character.

Grab a copy of this one if you like family-oriented stories with a dash of mystery and solving crimes. This one is intricate and compelling with a strong heroine who is ready to stand up for women in an age where few did.

BLURB:

Maine, 1789: As a midwife in the town of Hallowell, Martha Ballard knows how to keep a secret. Her neighbors respect her not only for her medical expertise and calm under pressure, but for her discretion in a community governed by rigid Puritan values. So when a man is found under the ice in the Kennebec river, Martha is the first person called to examine the body.

The dead man is Joshua Burgess, recently accused, along with the town judge, Joseph North, of raping the preacher’s wife, Rebecca Foster. The case is set to go to trial in the coming months and Hallowell is churning with rumors. Martha, having tended to Rebecca’s wounds in the aftermath, is both a witness and a confidant of Rebecca’s, and while she feels certain she knows the truth of the night of the assault, she suspects there is more to the murder than meets the eye.

For years, Martha has recounted her every day in a leather-bound journal: deaths and births, the weather, town events, her patients and their treatments. As whispers and prejudices threaten to overflow into something bloodier, and North becomes more desperate to clear his name, Martha’s diary becomes the center of a mystery that risks tearing both her family and her town apart.

In The Frozen River, Ariel Lawhon brings to life a brave and compassionate unsung heroine of early American history, who refused to accept anything less than justice on behalf of women no one else would protect.

BLURB for Code Name: Helene

BASED ON THE THRILLING REAL-LIFE STORY OF SOCIALITE SPY NANCY WAKE, comes the newest feat of historical fiction from the New York Times bestselling author of I Was Anastasia, featuring the astonishing woman who killed a Nazi with her bare hands and went on to become one of the most decorated women in WWII.

Told in interweaving timelines organized around the four code names Nancy used during the war, Code Name Hélène is a spellbinding and moving story of enduring love, remarkable sacrifice and unfaltering resolve that chronicles the true exploits of a woman who deserves to be a household name.
It is 1936 and Nancy Wake is an intrepid Australian expat living in Paris who has bluffed her way into a reporting job for Hearst newspaper when she meets the wealthy French industrialist Henri Fiocca. No sooner does Henri sweep Nancy off her feet and convince her to become Mrs. Fiocca than the Germans invade France and she takes yet another name: a code name.
As LUCIENNE CARLIER Nancy smuggles people and documents across the border. Her success and her remarkable ability to evade capture earns her the nickname THE WHITE MOUSE from the Gestapo. With a five-million-franc bounty on her head, Nancy is forced to escape France and leave Henri behind. When she enters training with the Special Operations Executives in Britain, her new comrades are instructed to call her HÉLÈNE. And finally, with mission in hand, Nancy is airdropped back into France as the deadly MADAM ANDRÉE, where she claims her place as one of the most powerful leaders in the French Resistance, armed with a ferocious wit, her signature red lipstick, and the ability to summon weapons straight from the Allied Forces.
But no one can protect Nancy if the enemy finds out these four women are one and the same, and the closer to liberation France gets, the more exposed she–and the people she loves–become.