Category: Reading Challenges

Book Review – Cabaret Macabre by Tom Mead @AriesFiction @TomMeadAuthor

whatcathyreadnext1 Comment
Blog tour banner Cabaret Macabre by Tom Mead

Welcome to the the final day of the blog tour for Cabaret Macabre by Tom Mead which was published on 1st August 2024. My thanks to Poppy at Ransom PR for inviting me to take part in the tour and to Head of Zeus for my review copy via NetGalley.

About the Book

Book cover of Cabaret Macabre by Tom Mead

Hampshire, 1938. When prominent judge Sir Giles Drury starts receiving sinister letters, his wife suspects Victor Silvius, a man confined to a sanatorium after attacking Sir Giles. Meanwhile, Silvius’ sister Caroline is convinced her brother is about to be murdered… by none other than his old nemesis Sir Giles Drury.

Caroline seeks the advice of Scotland Yard’s Inspector Flint, while the Drurys, eager to avoid a scandal, turn to Joseph Spector. Spector, renowned magician turned sleuth, has an uncanny knack for solving complicated crimes – but this case will test his powers of deduction to their limits.

At a snowbound English country house, a body is found is impossible circumstances. Spector and Flint’s investigations collide as they find themselves trapped by the snowstorm where anyone could be the next victim – or the killer…

Format: Hardcover (320 pages) Publisher: Head of Zeus
Publication date: 1st August 2024 Genre: Historical Fiction, Crime

Find Cabaret Macabre on Goodreads

Purchase Cabaret Macabre from Bookshop.org [Disclosure: If you buy books linked to our site, we may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookshops]

My Review

Cabaret Macabre is the third book in the author’s series of ‘locked room’ mysteries featuring illusionist and private detective Joseph Spector. Don’t worry if you haven’t read the two previous books – Death and the Conjuror or The Murder Wheel – because Cabaret Macabre can definitely be enjoyed as a standalone. Plus the good news is that although there are references to events in the earlier books, these are not spoilers so you could still go back and read them.

Marchbanks, the country home of Sir Giles Drury and his wife Lady Elspeth, makes the perfect location for a murder mystery. Set in large grounds, there’s a lake, a boathouse and a bedroom in which a previous (and unsolved) murder took place. There’s even a housekeeper who gave me Mrs Danvers (from Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca) vibes. As Spector remarks, ‘It was a place of secrets… Secrets, and death’.

Perhaps the best way to give you an idea of the complexity of the plot is this quote from Inspector Flint who for much of the time is just as baffled as the reader. ‘The whole thing feels like a jigsaw with all the wrong pieces. They should fit, but they don’t.’ But don’t worry, although even Spector acknowledges the challenge, you just know he’ll be able to unravel all the threads to reveal the full picture… eventually. ‘A puzzle. An enigma. A conundrum. But never impossible, Flint. Nothing is impossible.’

When it comes to inventive – and, yes, macabre – ways for people to meet their end, Cabaret Macabre absolutely delivers with scenarios worthy of an Agatha Christie or Dorothy L Sayers crime novel including, of course, the obligatory ‘locked room’ murder.

I’ll say it now, don’t even attempt to work out who did it, why they did it and how they did it because the effort will make your brain spin. Just sit back and enjoy the ride and wait for Spector to explain it all at the end. But give yourself a pat on the back if you spotted any of the clues (although helpfully the author does occasionally point you in their direction) but award yourself a ‘How clever am I?’ prize if you managed to work out their relevance. The barometer anyone?

Cabaret Macabre is another fiendishly intricate and skilfully plotted murder mystery that fans of Golden Age crime will absolutely love.

In three words: Clever, intricate, entertaining
Try something similar: Unnatural Ends by Christopher Huang

About the Author

Author Tom Mead

Born in Derbyshire, British author Tom Mead is the author of the critically acclaimed crime thriller novels Death and The Conjuror and The Murder Wheel. His debut novel was selected as one of Publishers Weekly’s Mystery/Thriller Books of the Year. Mead has been critically acclaimed by the Guardian, Sunday Times, New York Times, Kirkus, and Publishers Weekly amongst many others.

His Joseph Spector Locked-Room Mysteries have been critically acclaimed and longlisted for the Capital Crime and Historical Writers’ Association Awards. Tom’s fiction pays modern homages to the Golden Age and is filled with references for golden age crime thriller fans to pick up on in this 21st century take on classic crime fiction.

Connect with Tom
Website | X | Instagram | Facebook

Book Review – The King’s Mother by Annie Garthwaite

whatcathyreadnext3 Comments

About the Book

Book cover of The King's Mother by Annie Garthwaite

1461. Through blood and battle Edward has gained England’s throne – king by right and conquest – eighteen years old and unstoppable. Cecily has piloted his rise to power and stands at his shoulder now, first to claim the title King’s Mother.

But to win a throne is not to keep it and war is come again. As brother betrays brother, and trusted cousins turn treacherous, other mothers rise up to fight for other sons. Cecily must focus her will to defeat every challenge. Wherever they come from. Whatever the cost.

For there can be only one King, and only one King’s Mother.

Format: Hardcover (400 pages) Publisher: Viking
Publication date: 11th July 2024 Genre: Historical Fiction

Find The King’s Mother on Goodreads

Purchase The King’s Mother from Bookshop.org [Disclosure: If you buy books linked to our site, we may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookshops]

My Review

Although the book is pitched as a battle between four women – Cecily Neville, Elizabeth Woodville, Margaret Beaufort and Marguerite of Anjou – to see their sons become of King of England and therefore be in a position to claim for themselves the title of King’s Mother, the book is really Cecily Part 2 as we see events entirely from her point of view.

As in the earlier book, she’s a schemer and a behind-the-scenes fixer whose favourite game is chess and is not averse to creating her own rules in order to win. She frequently finds herself having the task of cleaning up her sons’ messes. For example, suppressing knowledge of her eldest surviving son Edward’s secret ‘marriage’ to a young noblewomen that might, if it was discovered, threaten the legitimacy of future offspring and, in the process, the succession.

When it comes to Cecily’s second son, George, Duke of Clarence, lets just say that if he’d have written his autobiography it probably would have been entitled ‘Spare’ so visceral is his anger at being continually passed over for the wealth and status he believes he deserves. It leads him to make some disastrous decisions having been manipulated by others for their own ends that see him eventually put to death for treason. An habitual drunkard, the manner of his death – possibly at his own request – is said to have been drowning in a butt of Malmsey, although the author gives us a slightly different angle on this.

Cecily’s youngest son, the man who will become Richard III, gets a flattering portrayal. He’s a skilled soldier, able administrator, loving husband and doting father who would surely never dream of doing away with two young princes.

For the first half of the book, although exerting what influence she can, Cecily is pretty much an observer of events. I’ll be honest, I found myself yearning for a little less historical detail, a bit more pace and something that would make me more invested in all the women’s stories. I did get that in the latter part of the book as Cecily jockeys for position with Elizabeth and Margaret Beaufort who, it turns out, is a pretty good chess player herself. Marguerite of Anjou, although having a key role in events, remains rather in the shadows throughout.

Even if I couldn’t be quite as enthusiastic as other readers, The King’s Mother completes the fascinating story of the life of a woman who was at the heart of events during a turbulent period of England’s history.

I received a digital review copy courtesy of Viking via NetGalley. The King’s Mother is book 4 of my 20 Books of Summer 2024.

In three words: Detailed, fascinating, assured
Try something similar: The Queen’s Rival by Anne O’Brien

About the Author

Author Annie Garthwaite

Annie Garthwaite turned to fiction after a 30-year international business career, fulfilling her lifelong ambition to write an account of Cecily Neville, matriarch of the House of York during the Wars of the Roses and mother of Edward IV and Richard III. Her obsession with Cecily and her family began in school and never left her. Setting off in the world of work, she promised herself that, at age 55, she would give up the day job and write. She did just that, completing her novel while studying for a creative writing MA at the University of Warwick. Cecily, her debut novel, even before it’s publication was named a ‘top pick’ by The Times and Sunday Times. (Photo: Author website)

Connect with Annie
Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Goodreads