Tag: 20BooksofSummer

Blog Tour/Book Review: The Serpent’s Mark by S.W. Perry

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FINAL The Serpent's Mark BT Poster

I’m delighted to be closing out the blog tour for The Serpent’s Mark by S.W. Perry, the second in the author’s historical mystery series featuring physician, Nicholas Shelby, and tavern owner, Bianca Merton.  My thanks to Anne at Random Things Tours for inviting me to take part in the tour and to Corvus and Readers First for my review copy.

the serpent's markAbout the Book

Treason sleeps for no man…

London, 1591. Nicholas Shelby, physician and reluctant spy, returns to his old haunts on London’s lawless Bankside. But, when the queen’s spymaster Robert Cecil asks him to investigate the dubious practices of a mysterious doctor from Switzerland, Nicholas is soon embroiled in a conspiracy that threatens not just the life of an innocent young patient, but the overthrow of Queen Elizabeth herself.

With fellow healer and mistress of the Jackdaw tavern, Bianca Merton, again at his side, Nicholas is drawn into a dangerous world of zealots, charlatans and fanatics. As their own lives become increasingly at risk, they find themselves confronting the greatest treason of all: the spectre of a bloody war between the faiths…

Format: Hardcover (432 pp.)    Publisher: Corvus
Published: 6th June 2019    Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery

Purchase Links*
Amazon.co.uk  ǀ  Amazon.com  ǀ Hive.co.uk (supporting UK bookshops)
*links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

Find The Serpent’s Mark by S.W. Perry on Goodreads

My Review

It was a real pleasure to be reunited with Nicholas and Bianca whom readers were introduced to in the first book in the series, The Angel’s Mark (which I thoroughly enjoyed). Although there are references to events in the earlier book, The Serpent’s Mark works perfectly as a standalone although I would personally recommend reading the series from the beginning.

Like the first book, The Serpent’s Mark features both imagined and real characters from the Elizabethan period, amongst the latter being a famous playwright. And, as before, it’s set in that febrile period towards the end of the reign of Elizabeth I when plots abounded amid concerns over the succession and the risk of invasion, as well as fervent disputes over religious dogma.

The author conjures up the London of the period in lively and colourful passages, such as this description of those plying their trade to citizens of Southwark celebrating the end of Lent. ‘Waiting for them are the fakers, the dancers, the tumblers, the swordsman, the dice-kings, the card-sharps, the whole purse-diving, eye-for-an-opportunity crew. Fire-jugglers light their way. Street musicians serenaded them with sackbut and tambour.’

Nicholas and Bianca combined are a force to be reckoned with, which is just as well because they soon find themselves by different routes uncovering what looks like a conspiracy with potentially far-reaching consequences. Once more, they find themselves battling the madness and cruelty of zealots who will stop at nothing to achieve their objectives whether out of ‘twisted piety’, ‘monstrous ambition’ or unquenchable passion. Bianca and Nicholas also find themselves pondering the future direction of their own relationship. If it has a future, that is, given the ghosts of the past that haunt at least one of them.

From the moment a gruesome discovery is made in the opening chapter I was well and truly hooked and the twists and turns of the plot with its intriguing premise kept me turning the pages right to the dramatic events of the final chapters. If you love historical crime mysteries by the likes of C J Sansom, S J Parris or Rory Clements, then this is a series I can highly recommend.

I received a review copy courtesy of publishers, Corvus, and Readers First.

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In three words: Gripping, intriguing, mystery

Try something similar…The Secret of Vesalius by Jordi Llobregat (read my review here)

S W Perry Author PictureAbout the Author

S.W. Perry was a journalist and broadcaster before retraining as an airline pilot. He lives in Worcestershire with his wife.

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Blog Tour/Book Review: The Playground Murders by Lesley Thomson

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I’m delighted to be hosting today’s stop on the blog tour for The Playground Murders by Lesley Thomson. Described by Ian Rankin (no less) as ‘A class above’, The Playground Murders is the seventh in the author’s ‘The Detective’s Daughter’ crime series.

My thanks to Vicky at Head of Zeus for inviting me to take part in the tour and for my review copy.

The Playground MurdersAbout the Book

Forty years ago, in the dark of the playground, two children’s lives were changed forever.

Stella Darnell is a cleaner. But when she isn’t tackling dust and dirt and restoring order to chaos, Stella solves murders. Her latest case concerns a man convicted of killing his mistress. His daughter thinks he’s innocent, and needs Stella to prove it.

As Stella sifts through piles of evidence and interview suspects, she discovers a link between the recent murder and a famous case from forty years ago: the shocking death of six-year-old Sarah Ferris, killed in the shadows of an empty playground.

Stella knows that dredging up the past can be dangerous. But as she pieces together the tragedy of what happened to Sarah, she is drawn into a story of jealousy, betrayal and the end of innocence. A story that has not yet reached its end…

Format: Hardcover (384 pp.)    Publisher: Head of Zeus
Published: 4th April 2019   Genre: Crime, Mystery

Purchase Links*
Amazon.co.uk  ǀ  Amazon.com  ǀ Hive.co.uk (supporting UK bookshops)
*links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

Find The Playground Murders on Goodreads

My Review

Switching back and forth in time from the present day to 1980 (always clearly signposted), the reader is soon immersed in the uncanny connections between people, places and events. The connections are especially personal for Stella because of her links to those involved in investigating the original murder at a pivotal moment in her childhood. To this day there is a fascination about child murders that makes them compelling (albeit possibly uncomfortably so) as subject matter for a crime novel.

Cleaner, Stella, and underground train driver, Jack, make an interesting partnership both as detectives engaged in solving cold cases and in their out of office hours activities. Stella has the eye for detail of a cleaner and the strong stomach needed at a crime scene. Jack is blessed with a photographic memory and a ‘sixth sense’ when it comes to spotting murderers and psychopaths (whom he refers to as ‘True Hosts’ and to whom he ascribes particular psychological traits and powers). As Stella admits, ‘Jack saw what others missed, what she missed.’ I’ll confess this ‘paranormal’ element took me slightly by surprise in what is otherwise a conventional crime mystery.

Coming new to the series, I did miss having witnessed the development of Jack’s and Stella’s relationship over previous books. In fact, The Playground Murders sees them at a particularly fractious point in their relationship with past liaisons resulting in mistrust, misunderstandings and big decisions about their future. I was soon rooting for them to work things out however. There are references to events in earlier books but not so much that it would deter me from reading previous books in the series. Equally, The Playground Murders works perfectly well as a standalone novel.

As Stella’s and Jack’s investigation progresses, things get very close to home for both of them. There are multiple suspects, possible scenarios and motives. Because of the number of characters, some of whom are known by different names at various points in the book, some concentration is required from the reader. Well, at least it was from this one. I did have suspicions about one particular character early on although I certainly didn’t predict how events would unfold as the tension builds to a dramatic climax.

Having read The Playground Murders, I can appreciate why ‘The Detective’s Daughter’ series has attracted so many fans amongst crime fiction lovers. They may be reassured by the fact that there still seem to be some unopened case files belonging to her father in Stella’s attic.

I received a review copy courtesy of publishers, Head of Zeus. The Playground Murders is the second book on my 20 Books of Summer Reading Challenge list.

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In three words: Compelling, intricate, atmospheric

Try something similar…The Temptation by Vera Morris (read my review here)

Lesley Thomson NewAbout the Author

Lesley Thomson grew up in west London. Her first novel, A Kind of Vanishing, won the People’s Book Prize in 2010. Her second novel, The Detective’s Daughter, was a number 1 bestseller and sold over 500,000 copies.

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