Tag: historical crime

#BookReview The Consequences of Fear (Maisie Dobbs #16) by Jacqueline Winspear @AllisonandBusby

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The Consequences of Fear Blog Tour Twitter Graphic

I’m delighted to welcome you to the first stop on the blog tour for The Consequences of Fear by Jacqueline Winspear. My thanks to Christina at Allison & Busby for inviting me to take part in the tour and for my digital review copy via NetGalley.

The Consequences of FearAbout the Book

London, September 1941. Freddie Hackett, a message runner for a government office, witnesses an argument that ends in murder. Hiding in the doorway of a bombed-out house, Freddie waits until the coast is clear. But when he arrives at his next delivery address, he’s shocked to come face-to-face with the killer.

Dismissed by the police when reporting the crime, Freddie turns to private investigator Maisie Dobbs. While Maisie believes the boy and wants to help, she must exercise caution given her work with the French resistance. When she spots the killer in a place she least expects, she soon realises she’s been pulled into the orbit of a man who has his own reasons to kill – reasons that go back to the last war.

Format: Hardcover (352 pages)       Publisher: Allison & Busby
Publication date: 23rd March 2021 Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery, Crime

Find The Consequences of Fear (Maisie Dobbs #16) on Goodreads

Purchase links
Bookshop.org
Disclosure: If you buy a book via the above link, I may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookshops

Hive | Amazon UK
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My Review

I was a late arrival at the party when it comes to Jacqueline Winspear’s hugely popular series, my first introduction being The American Agent, the fifteenth outing for the intrepid and resourceful Maisie Dobbs. Ardent fans of the series will have been eagerly anticipating Maisie’s next adventure but even if – like me – you’re a recent convert, or indeed if The Consequences of Fear will be your first foray into Maisie’s world, I guarantee you’ll quickly be drawn into the story.

Although there are brief references to Maisie’s previous cases and it may take a bit of time to sort out the various members of her extended family, The Consequences of Fear can definitely be enjoyed by readers new to the series. Those familiar with her previous adventures will be pleased to see the return of characters such as Billy Beale, Maisie’s assistant in her private investigation business, intelligence chief Robert MacFarlane and Anna, her adopted daughter. Not forgetting, of course, Maisie’s ‘gentleman friend’, Mark Scott.

As well as the ever reliable Billy, Maisie has a number of resources to call upon to help with her investigation, including her friends Priscilla and Gabriella. As Maisie observes, ‘She had her worker bees, valuable contacts who would seek whatever information she needed, buzzing around their gardens of endeavour until they found the pockets of intelligence she had requested.’ Unfortunately, being one of Maisie’s ‘worker bees’ can sometimes be a risky business. And when all else fails, Maisie can call on her memories of the wise advice of her former mentor, Maurice Blanche.

The book’s title is cleverly explored in various ways. For example, as one character remarks early on in the book, “where secrets reside, so does fear – it’s the unknown.” It transpires there are indeed secrets to be revealed some of which go longer back in time than anyone might imagine. Whilst fear can be ‘the scariest of emotions…a seed in the fertile seed of doubt’, it can also bring much-needed alertness. ‘Fear had to be handled with care, managed so it became a tool, not a weight.’

Increasingly, Maisie feels the tension between the important but secret work she undertakes alongside the cases that come to her private investigation business, and her new caring responsibilities. It doesn’t help that her secret work involves potentially life or death decisions about others, or that Mark Scott’s equally confidential work takes him away frequently. Naturally, like the rest of the population, she’s also concerned about her family’s safety –  the threat of further bombing raids and the possibility of invasion. ‘She realised that she had never trusted the world to keep herself or those she loved safe.’ It all leads at one point to Maisie concluding, “I think I’ve had enough”.

By the end of the book, I think even new readers will have come to the conclusion that Maisie doesn’t easily give in to fear when it comes to pursuing her investigations. But what about fear of commitment in her personal relationships? Should Maisie heed the advice that ‘Love is always worth the leap’? (I know my answer in Maisie’s case!)

The backdrop of wartime of London is vividly evoked: checking the blackout curtains as darkness falls, listening to the rumble of bombers overhead, navigating streets of bombed out houses, seeing young boys like Freddie Hackett running through the dark streets carrying messages between Air Raid Precautions depots.

The book’s conclusion sees scenes of both sorrow and joy, and – tantalizingly – a world on the brink of a new phase of the war.  As a now committed Maisie fan, I say roll on the next book!

In three words: Gripping, intriguing, atmospheric

Try something similar: The Mathematical Bridge by Jim Kelly

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Jacqueline WinspearAbout the Author

Jacqueline Winspear was born and raised in Kent and emigrated to the USA in 1990. She has written extensively for journals, newspapers and magazines, and has worked in book publishing on both sides of the Atlantic. Her acclaimed Maisie Dobbs crime series, set in the aftermath of WWI, is beloved by readers worldwide.  (Photo/bio credit: Publisher author page)

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#BookReview Blood Runs Thicker by Sarah Hawkswood @AllisonandBusby

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Blood Runs ThickerAbout the Book

August 1144. Osbern de Lench is known far and wide as a hard master, whose temper is perpetually frayed.

After his daily ride to survey his land, his horse returns to the hall riderless, and the lifeless body of the lord is found soon after. Was it the work of thieves, or something closer to home?

With an heir who is cast in the same hot-tempered mould, sworn enemies for neighbours and something amiss in the relationship between Osbern and his wife, undersheriff Hugh Bradecote, the wily Serjeant Catchpoll and apprentice Walkelin have suspects aplenty.

Format: Paperback (300 pages)       Publisher: Allison & Busby
Publication date: 18th March 2021 Genre: Historical Fiction

Find Blood Runs Thicker on Goodreads

Purchase links
Bookshop.org
Disclosure: If you buy a book via the above link, I may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookshops

Hive | Amazon UK
Links provided for convenience only, not as part of an affiliate programme

My Review

Sarah Hawkswood’s Bradecote and Catchpoll historical mystery series set in medieval Worcestershire has been around for some time but it’s one I only discovered recently when I read River of Sins, the seventh in the series. That made me keen to read more so I was delighted when I spotted this latest book, Blood Runs Thicker, on NetGalley and even more delighted when my request was approved by the lovely people at Allison & Busby.

Readers new to the series can be reassured that Blood Runs Thicker can definitely be enjoyed without having read any of the previous books, the occasional references to earlier events and the back stories of the leading characters, including some personal tragedies and longstanding enmities, being subtly introduced.

It was a pleasure to be reunited with Hugh Bradecote, Undersheriff of Worcestershire, and Serjeant Catchpoll. Also, enthusiastic young Walkelin, Catchpoll’s apprentice, ever eager to prove his abilities and showing early signs of a keen intelligence. Bradecote and Catchpoll make an effective team each contributing something different. Bradecote has the status to ensure they get access to those they need to speak to whilst Catchpoll possesses the detective nous and a rather intimidating gaze. Once again, they deploy their equivalent of a ‘good cop, bad cop’ strategy or perhaps more accurately ‘toff cop, common cop’. At one point, as they plan how to go about questioning the villagers of Lench, Catchpoll proposes, “Do you come the high and mighty and let me act the willing vessel into which they pours their remembering?” In fact, Catchpoll exhibits a touching pride in the signs of Bradecote’s developing investigative instincts. Observing Bradecote’s questioning of a suspect, ‘Catchpoll very nearly sighed with pleasure. This was just how serjeanting worked.’

In my review of River of Sins I noted that it had all the features of a police procedural but transported to medieval Worcestershire. The same is true of Blood Runs Thicker. Like their modern day counterparts, Bradecote and Catchpoll visit crime scenes in the search for clues and physical evidence, closely examine the body of the victim to establish the cause of death, interview witnesses and explore possible motives.

What they refuse to do is accept without question the accusation by Osbern’s son, Baldwin, now the new Lord of Lench, that his half-brother, Hamo, is responsible for their father’s death. Whilst Baldwin has inherited the short temper and high-handed nature of his father, Hamo is a gentler character albeit with a rather single-minded and literal way of thinking, often showing little emotion.  Today we would probably recognize Hamo as being on the autistic spectrum but it’s not surprising that the villagers of Lench find it strange and unsettling.

Bradecote and Catchpoll begin their search for suspects with the neighbouring lords of the manors, Raoul Parler and Walter Pipard, both of whom Osbern was widely known to have fallen out with. As Bradecote observes, “in dangerous times… petty rivalries hid beneath greater ones”. These greater ones include the constantly shifting loyalties of English nobles between Empress Maude and King Stephen, the warring rivals for the English throne.

As before, alongside what turns out to be a particularly complex mystery that had me a little baffled at some points, the author creates a vivid sense of what daily life for the inhabitants of an 11th century manor house and estate must have been like. Above all, the profound desire of everyone for a successful harvest to stave off hunger in the months to come. The latter is a concern Hugh Bradecote shares for his own estate. His wife, Christina, just wants Hugh back safely.

Blood Runs Thicker is another well-crafted historical mystery involving love, betrayal and family secrets. Fans of the series will be pleased to learn a further instalment is promised for later this year.

In three words: Intriguing, immersive, engaging

Try something similar: The Monastery Murders (Stanton and Barling #2) by E. M. Powell

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Sarah HawkswoodAbout the Author

Sarah Hawkswood describes herself as a ‘wordsmith’ who is only really happy when writing. She read Modern History at Oxford and her factual book on the Royal Marines in the First World War, From Trench and Turret, was published in 2006. The Bradecote and Catchpoll series are her first novels. She takes her pen name from one of her eighteenth century ancestors who lived in Worcestershire, and selected it because the initials match those of her maiden name. She is married, with two grown up children, and now lives in Worcestershire. She is a member of the Crime Writers’ Association, the Historical Writers’ Association, and the Historical Novel Society.(Photo/bio credit: Goodreads author page)

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