It’s frustrating when an author gets in touch about a book that really appeals to you but you just can’t fit it into your reading schedule, especially when the author is self-published and can do with all the support they can get. Such is the case when Susan Grossey contacted me about Notes of Change, the latest – and final – book in her Sam Plank historical crime series. Regular followers of this blog will know how much I love finding new historical crime series so I’m gutted I can’t find time to read Notes of Change at the moment. However, I have a feeling this might just be a series I read from the beginning. Watch this space!
The books are set in consecutive years in the 1820s – just before Queen Victoria came to the throne and in the policing period after the Bow Street Runners and before the Metropolitan Police – and feature magistrates’ constable, Sam Plank. Here’s how the author sums up each book:
- Fatal Forgery takes place in 1824 and looks at a banker stealing money from his clients
- The Man in the Canary Waistcoat is set in 1825 and deals with investment fraud involving the thrilling new technology of the day – gas lighting
- Worm in the Blossom takes place in 1826 and concerns rather unsavoury bribery and extortion
- Portraits of Pretence is set in 1827 and examines the world of art fraud
- Faith, Hope and Trickery is set in 1828 and explores religious fraud
- Heir Apparent is set in 1829 and concerns inheritance fraud.
About the Book
In the autumn of 1829, the body of a wealthy young man is found dumped in a dust-pit behind one of London’s most exciting new venues. Constable Sam Plank’s enquiries lead him from horse auctions to houses of correction, and from the rarefied atmosphere of the Bank of England to the German-speaking streets of Whitechapel. And when he comes face to face with an old foe, he finds himself considering shocking compromises…
The new and highly organised Metropolitan Police are taking to the streets, calling into question the future of the magistrates’ constables. Sam’s junior constable, William Wilson, is keen, but what is an old campaigner like Sam to do when faced with the new force and its little black book of instructions?
Format: ebook (290 pages) Publisher:
Publication date: 20th April 2022 Genre: Historical Fiction, Crime, Mystery
Find Notes of Change on Goodreads
Purchase links
Amazon UK
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About the Author
Susan writes: ‘I graduated from Cambridge University in 1987 with a degree in English, and then taught secondary English for two years before realising that the National Curriculum was designed primarily to extinguish every spark of creativity in its teachers. I then became a technical author, and reached the pinnacle of this profession when I was asked to document the workings of a choc-ice wrapping machine in Cardiff, while wearing a fetching blue hairnet (which I forgot to remove until it was pointed out by a cashier in a petrol station on the M4).
From this unbeatable high point I moved into technical training, and one day was asked to help with a staff manual on fraud prevention. As I wrote the chapter on money laundering, I realised that here was a topic that could keep my interest for years – and so it has proved. Since 1998, I have been self-employed as an anti-money laundering consultant, providing training and strategic advice and writing policies and procedures for clients in many countries. As part of my job, I have written several non-fiction books with exciting titles like Money Laundering: A Training Strategy, The Money Laundering Officer’s Practical Handbook and Anti-Money Laundering: A Guide for the Non-Executive Director.
However, even this is not enough financial crime for me, and in my spare evenings and weekends I write fiction – but always with financial crime at the heart of it.’ (Bio: Author website/Photo: Goodreads author page)
Connect with Susan
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