Tag: historical crime

#BookReview The Vanished Bride by Bella Ellis @HodderBooks @brontemysteries

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cover171547-mediumAbout the Book

Yorkshire, 1845. A young wife and mother has gone missing from her home, leaving behind two small children and a large pool of blood. Just a few miles away, a humble parson’s daughters – the Brontë sisters – learn of the crime. Charlotte, Emily, and Anne are horrified and intrigued by the mysterious disappearance.

These three creative, energetic, and resourceful women quickly realize that they have all the skills required to make for excellent “lady detectors.” Not yet published novelists, they have well-honed imaginations and are expert readers. And, as Charlotte remarks, “detecting is reading between the lines – it’s seeing what is not there”.

As they investigate, Charlotte, Emily, and Anne are confronted with a society that believes a woman’s place is in the home, not scouring the countryside looking for clues. But nothing will stop the sisters from discovering what happened to the vanished bride, even as they find their own lives are in great peril…

Format: ebook (352 pp.)                             Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Publication date: 12th September 2019 Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery

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

Find The Vanished Bride on Goodreads

My Review

It’s 1851 and the prologue to the book sees Charlotte, now the last surviving member of the Brontë family, looking back on her and her sisters’ lives before they became famous authors.  It underlines how tragically short their lives were, Emily having died in 1848 and Anne in 1849.  Charlotte herself was to die in 1855.

The book’s very engaging premise is that the sisters were enterprising ‘detectors’ before they were novelists and The Vanished Bride represents their first case undertaken in 1845 (before, for example, the publication of Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights in 1847).  In a clever nod to the fact that the Brontë sisters’ novels and poems were initially published under pseudonyms (Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell) in order to disguise their gender, the author has adopted Bella Ellis as her pen-name for this new series of historical mysteries. That’s only one of very many clever nods to the works of the Brontë sisters that feature in The Vanished Bride and readers who are familiar with any of the novels of the Brontës will have great fun in spotting the allusions.  I know I did but I probably missed just as many more.   (There is also at least one allusion to another famous fictional detective in the reference to what might be described as a ‘curious incident’.)

The book also makes references to events in the lives of the sisters.  There is one especially poignant scene where Charlotte and Anne visit Scarborough as part of their  investigation and Anne remarks that, apart from Haworth, Scarborough is ‘the only other place in the world that she ever wished to be…standing on the clifftops, marvelling at the boundless magnitude of the sea, and wondering at what might lie beyond it’.

The sisters take it in turns to relate the story and, as well as making engaging narrators, it allows the reader to appreciate their different strengths when it comes to the art of ‘detecting’, neatly mirroring what you might imagine were their characters in real-life.  For example, Emily is all action, emotional and instinct, whereas Anne is methodical and thoughtful, and Charlotte is in her element when dealing with people and eliciting information.  Collectively, the sisters find their gender is a positive advantage on a number of occasions, something very different from the position they find themselves in as members of society.   Fans of Branwell Brontë will be pleased to know that he also features, although very much in an assisting role.

I wouldn’t want what I’ve said so far to put off readers who are unfamiliar with the lives or works of the Brontë sisters because The Vanished Bride works perfectly well as an engaging historical mystery even without such knowledge (although, I suspect readers may be tempted to pick up one of the sisters’ novels afterwards).  The sisters’ investigation involves everything you’d expect from a mystery: examining the scene of the crime, looking for evidence, interviewing suspects, even a bit of undercover work and an early outing for what we’d probably recognise today as psychological profiling.  Those with good powers of observation may pick up clues along the way but you definitely won’t know if they were significant or ‘red herrings’ until the final chapters.

The Vanished Bride is an accomplished, entertaining historical mystery that is also great fun for Brontë fans.  I shall certainly be looking out for future books in the series.

I received an advance review copy courtesy of Hodder & Stoughton via NetGalley

In three words: Clever, engaging, mystery

Try something similar: Lady Helena Investigates by Jane Steen (read my review here)

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Rowan ColemanAbout the Author

Bella Ellis is the Brontë-esque pseudonym of Rowan Coleman, an acclaimed author of numerous novels for adults and children. She first visited the former home of the Brontë sisters when she was ten years old. From the moment she stepped over the threshold she was hooked, and embarked on a lifelong love affair with Charlotte, Emily, and Anne; their life; their literature; and their remarkable legacy. (Photo credit: Goodreads author page)

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Book Review: Hudson’s Kill (Justice Flanagan #2) by Paddy Hirsch

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hudson's killAbout the Book

New York, 1803. The expanding city is rife with tension, and violence simmers on every street as black and Irish gangs fight for control.  When a young girl is found brutally murdered, Marshal Justy Flanagan must find the killer before a mob takes the law into its own hands.

Kerry O’Toole, Justy’s friend and ally, decides to pursue her own inquiries into the girl’s murder.  When they each find their way to a shadowy community on the fringes of the city, Just and Kerry encounter a treacherous web of political conspiracy and criminal enterprise.  As events dangerously escalate, they must fight to save not only the city,  but also themselves…

Format: Hardcover, ebook (320pp.)    Publisher: Corvus Books
Published: 4th July 2019     Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery, Crime

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 Hudson’s Kill (Justice Flanagan #2) on Goodreads

My Review

I loved The Devil’s Half-Mile, the first book in the series, and in Hudson’s Kill the author once again transports the reader to the powder keg that is New York in 1803, where gangs and other power brokers are seeking to stake their claims to areas of the rapidly expanding city.

The author brilliantly conjures up the sights, sounds and smells of early nineteenth century New York. Aptly described as ‘a dangerous place to live’, the city is overcrowded, many of its inhabitants are prey to gang warfare and disease, and the contrast between the slums and shanty towns of the poor and the lavish homes of the rich is stark.

The story’s told in the same colourful, lively prose as the previous book. Generous helpings of period slang (nimgimmer, dimber), imaginative curses (‘tossy-locked florence’) and memorable one-liners (‘Just because I’m togged in buntings and a snicket don’t mean you can treat me like some judy hick’) add to the sense of authenticity and atmosphere. You’ll definitely want to make use of the helpful glossary at the back of the book and it’s only right to give a shout out to the copy editing and proofreading team. And, if you’ve ever wondered about the hierarchy of prostitutes in early nineteenth century New York, well, Paddy Hirsch has done the research for you. As Kerry learns in preparation for an undercover role, it goes ‘bunters’, ‘buricks’, ‘curtezan’ and top of the tree, ‘gentry-mort’.

I was pleased to see many of the larger-than-life characters from the first book make return appearances: Justy’s uncle, Ignatius Flanagan, known as ‘The Bull’; Justy’s friend, Lars Hokkanssen, the tough red-bearded sailor; streetwise Kerry O’Toole; and Kerry’s cousin, Lew Owens. But there are also new characters to get to know, such as the memorably named Hardluck. And, of course, there’s the man himself, Justy Flanagan. His moral complexity makes him a fascinating and engaging leading character. He’s shrewd, observant, resourceful and pretty handy with a ‘chive’ or in a ‘clutch’. (Sorry, you need that glossary again.) But Justy, a word – Eliza is definitely not the woman for you. You need to listen to Lars.

The gruesome discovery in the opening chapter sees Justy and Kerry each embark on their own inquiries into the death of a young girl. Whilst for Justy it’s largely professional, it also speaks to his sense of justice and desire to see everyone – rich or poor, black or white – treated equally under the law. As he says, “We have to speak for her. We have to act for her. And that means finding her killer”. For Kerry, there’s a very personal reason why she’s equally determined to see justice done.

However, if you ask questions, especially questions that bring you to the attention of criminals and murderers, then you court danger, as both Justy and Kerry find out to their cost. Throw in a range war between competing gang leaders, corruption and conspiracy in high places and you have all the components for a conflagration – and not necessarily just metaphorical. Oh, and remember there are spies and informers everywhere so be very careful who you trust.

The plot takes advantage of the febrile state of New York at the beginning of the nineteenth century to create a page-turning crime mystery but also touches on issues of contemporary relevance, such as immigration, racial discrimination and segregation.

Paddy Hirsch certainly knows how ‘to spin a cakey dit’*.  Hudson’s Kill is as fast-moving and intricately plotted as its predecessor with the same fantastic period atmosphere and great cast of characters. I absolutely loved it. On behalf of historical crime fans, I fervently hope there are more adventures awaiting Justy Flanagan.

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

* to tell a good story (You see why you need that glossary?)

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In three words: Gripping, immersive, fast-paced

Try something similar…Blood & Sugar by Laura Shepherd-Robinson (read my review here)

Paddy HirschAbout the Author

Paddy Hirsch was educated in Dublin and Belfast, and the University of Warwick, where he founded the University’s Irish Society.  He started his journalism career in Hong Kong after a short stint in the military, and spent the next few years working in East and Southeast Asia, and Eastern Europe.  From there to America, where he covered various aspects of Wall Street for a variety of American and European news outlets.  He now lives in Los Angeles.  (Photo credit: Goodreads author page)

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