Tag: historical crime

#BlogTour #BookReview #Giveaway The Custard Corpses by M.J. Porter @rararesources

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The Custard Corpses Full Tour BannerWelcome to the first day of the blog tour for The Custard Corpses by M.J. Porter. My thanks to Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources for inviting me to take part in the tour and to the author for my digital review copy. Do check out the posts by my tour buddies for today, Jo at books_for_the_shed and Lynn at Ellesea Loves Reading.

WinIf you like the sound of The Custard Corpses, then I’m pleased to say there’s a giveaway with a chance to win one of two copies of the book. Enter via Rafflecopter here.

Giveaway terms and conditions

  1. Open to entrants aged 18 or over.
  2. Worldwide entries welcome.
  3. The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner.
  4. Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random Resources will delete the data.
  5. I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize

The Custard CorpsesAbout the Book

Birmingham, England 1943. While the whine of the air raid sirens might no longer be rousing him from bed every night, a two-decade-old unsolved murder case will ensure that Chief Inspector Mason of Erdington Police Station is about to suffer more sleepless nights.

Young Robert McFarlane’s body was found outside the local church hall on 30th September 1923. But, his cause of death was drowning, and he’d been missing for three days before his body was found. No one was ever arrested for the crime. No answers could ever be given to the grieving family. The unsolved case has haunted Mason ever since.

But, the chance discovery of another victim, with worrying parallels, sets Mason, and his constable, O’Rourke, on a journey that will take them back over twenty-five years, the chance to finally solve the case, while all around them is uncertainty, impossible to ignore.

Format: ebook (225 pages)               Publisher: N/A
Publication date:  21st March 2021 Genre: Historical Fiction, Crime, Mystery

Find The Custard Corpses on Goodreads

Purchase links
Amazon UK
Link provided for convenience only, not as part of an affiliate programme

My Review

Ever mindful of the murder on his patch that remains unsolved and determined to one day provide the answers the victim’s family crave, as well as to bring the culprit to justice, Chief Inspector Sam Mason leaves no stone unturned when new evidence puts a completely different slant on the case.  Is there a link between the murder of Robert McFarlane and that of another murdered boy? If so, what could it be and what is the significance of the curious modus operandi of the killer?

Much like custard, as the plot thickens a series of fortunate discoveries lead to a painstaking search for clues and a delve into the past as Mason and his assistant, Constable O’Rourke, try to piece together the often flimsy evidence gathered at the time. With no recourse to modern forensic techniques, it’s down to good old-fashioned paper and pencil, and searches through dusty archives (all fuelled by plentiful cups of tea) that eventually provide Mason and O’Rourke with the breakthrough they have been looking for. But what they discover is more disturbing than they might have imagined.  I’ll admit I found some of it unexpectedly macabre.

The plot of The Custard Corpses is certainly ingenious and, of course, custard is delicious. However, given the nature of the victims, it isn’t what I would describe as a ‘cosy’ mystery.

In three words: Ingenious, intricate, suspenseful

Try something similar: The Ghost Tree (A Betty Church Mystery #3) by M.R.C. Kasasian

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About the Author

M.J. Porter writes: “I’m an author of historical fiction (Early English, Vikings and the British Isles as a whole before the Norman Conquest) and fantasy (Viking age/dragon-themed). I’ve recently written a relatively modern mystery novel set in 1943. I was born in the old Mercian kingdom at some point since 1066. Raised in the shadow of a strange little building, told from a very young age that it housed the bones of long-dead Kings of Mercia and that our garden was littered with old pieces of pottery from a long-ago battle, it’s little wonder that my curiosity in Early England ran riot. I can only blame my parents! I write a LOT. You’ve been warned!”

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The Custard Corpses

#BookReview Down a Dark River (Inspector Corravan #1) by Karen Odden @crookedlanebks @karen_odden

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Down A Dark RiverAbout the Book

London, 1878. One April morning, a small boat bearing a young woman’s corpse floats down the murky waters of the Thames. When the victim is identified as Rose Albert, daughter of a prominent judge, the Scotland Yard director gives the case to Michael Corravan, one of the only Senior Inspectors remaining after a corruption scandal the previous autumn left the division in ruins. Reluctantly, Corravan abandons his ongoing case, a search for the missing wife of a shipping magnate, handing it over to his young colleague, Mr. Stiles.

An Irish former bare-knuckles boxer and dockworker from London’s seedy East End, Corravan has good street sense and an inspector’s knack for digging up clues. But he’s confounded when, a week later, a second woman is found dead in a rowboat, and then a third. The dead women seem to have no connection whatsoever. Meanwhile, Mr. Stiles makes an alarming discovery: the shipping magnate’s missing wife, Mrs. Beckford, may not have fled her house because she was insane, as her husband claims, and Mr. Beckford may not be the successful man of business that he appears to be.

Slowly, it becomes clear that the river murders and the case of Mrs. Beckford may be linked through some terrible act of injustice in the past—for which someone has vowed a brutal vengeance. Now, with the newspapers once again trumpeting the Yard’s failures, Corravan must dredge up the truth—before London devolves into a state of panic and before the killer claims another innocent victim.

Format: ebook (336 pages)                   Publisher: Crooked Lane
Publication date: 9th November 2021 Genre: Historical Fiction, Crime, Mystery

Find Down a Dark River (Inspector Corravan #1) on Goodreads

Purchase links
Amazon UK
Link provided for convenience only, not as part of an affiliate programme

My Review

As regular followers of my blog will know, I love a good historical crime mystery; even better if it’s part of a series. (You can find some of my favourites here.) Unfortunately, I seem to make a habit of discovering series that have been going for some time – Sarah Hawkswood’s Bradecote and Catchpoll series, I’m looking at you – so I’m delighted to be in at the beginning of what looks like a terrific new series.

In Michael (Mickey) Corravan Karen Odden has created an attractively multi-faceted character. He has a strong sense of justice, is handy in a fight (thanks to his earlier experiences as a prize-fighter) and has worked his way up from humble beginnings to the rank of Senior Inspector at Scotland Yard, even if he sometimes feels he doesn’t fit in. ‘The Yard was changing.  The whole bloody world was changing. But I wasn’t sure I had it in me to be different than I was.‘ He has some inner demons too, which to my mind only adds to his attractiveness as a character. At one point the behaviour of another character leads him to reflect, ‘There was something about her desperation that edged too close to memories that I’d rather let lie‘. I”ll admit to developing a bit of a crush on Corravan although I’m conscious that will bring me a formidable opponent in the person of Mrs Belinda Gale. A successful novelist and playwright, she’s Corravan’s Thursday night paramour but also the person who knows him best, even if he occasionally finds her perceptive scrutiny uncomfortable. ‘I loved Belinda – of course I did. But she liked to haul thoughts and feelings out into the light to examine them, and sometimes mine were wily and furtive and wanted to be left alone in the dark.’

In the book, the Thames is not just means of transport or trade but a metaphor for all that’s murky and malevolent in London society. As Corravan observes of the Thames, ‘I say it’s mostly a cesspool, a receptacle for the entire city’s detritus, complete with entrails and rotting corpses..it’s easy to imagine the Thames as a live serpent, filthy and slithering at my back‘. Definitely a dark river then. And it’s not only the river that is dark. The book features some particularly unpleasant (male) characters whose sense of entitlement makes them believe they are above the law and free to abuse others with impunity. Bribes, favours and convenient looks the other way are their currency. Remind you of anything?

The skilfully crafted plot has plenty of twists and turns with events described in such a way that I felt as if I was looking over Corravan’s shoulder as he tries to puzzle things out. Not for nothing is he described as ‘like a dog with a bone’. I also loved the cast of secondary characters, such as Corravan’s diligent colleague, Stiles, his wise doctor friend, James, and young Harry who Corravan is persuaded to take under his wing and whose eclectic knowledge proves more useful than he might have imagined.

I thought Down A Dark River was terrific and I want to thank Karen for offering me a review copy and for introducing me to Corravan. I sincerely hope this will be the first of many more cases for him. If you’re a fan of historical crime mysteries, I can heartily recommend Down A Dark River.

In three words: Atmospheric, ingenious, suspenseful

Try something similar: Death Makes No Distinction by Lucienne Boyce

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Karen OddenAbout the Author

Karen received her Ph.D. in English literature from New York University and subsequently taught at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Her first novel, A Lady in the Smoke, was a USA Today bestseller and A Dangerous Duet and A Trace of Deceit have won awards for historical mystery and historical fiction. Her fourth mystery, Down a Dark River, will be available November 9, 2021. (Bio: Goodreads/Photo: Author website)

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