Tag: historical mystery

#BookReview The Murder Wheel by Tom Mead @HoZ_Books @AriesFiction @TomMeadAuthor #TheMurderWheel

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Welcome to today’s stop on the blog tour for The Murder Wheel by Tom Mead. My thanks to Poppy at Ransom PR for inviting me to take part in the tour and to Head of Zeus for my digital review copy via NetGalley.

About the Book

1938, London. Young lawyer Edmund Ibbs has a new a woman accused of shooting her husband in the already infamous ‘Ferris Wheel Murder’ case.

The case proves to be a web of conspiracy, and Ibbs himself is accused when a second suspicious death occurs, during a magic act at the crowded Pomegranate Theatre.

Also present at the theatre is Joseph Spector, illusionist turned highly respected sleuth. Spector begins to investigate the mystery, but when another body is discovered later that same night, all evidence points to Ibbs being guilty.

With time against him, and a host of hangers-on all having something to hide, can Spector uncover the guilty party, or will he and Inspector Flint of Scotland Yard conclude that Ibbs is the culprit after all?

Format: eARC (288 pages) Publisher: Head of Zeus
Publication date: 12th October 2023 Genre: Historical Fiction, Crime, Mystery

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My Review

I haven’t read Death and the Conjuror, the first book featuring illusionist turned sleuth Joseph Spector, so waiting for him to appear in this one was like awaiting the start of the main act. Actually I’m being rather unfair to young lawyer and amateur magician. Edmund Ibbs, who carries a good deal of the first part of the book. I found him a really engaging, sympathetic figure although, as the book progresses, you learn that not everyone may be exactly what they seem. What, even Edmund? Well, he does find himself in a rather incriminating situation…

A theatre makes the perfect setting for a murder mystery because it’s all about artifice, make believe and playing a part. Add set, lighting and costume changes and you create situations designed to confuse, amuse, shock or surprise. And none of the audience can see what’s going on backstage whilst a performance is taking place.

Illusionist Joseph Spector possesses Sherlock Holmes’s observational ability plus a magician’s knowledge of techniques with which to distract an audience, techniques which, as it turns out, are equally useful when trying to commit a murder and, importantly, get away with it. Or, even better, frame someone else for it. In fact, Spector regards a crime as being much like a magic trick, as ‘a complex network of deceptions’. Inspector Flint’s approach, which Spector rather disaparagingly describes as ‘making the facts fit the solution’, provides a counterpoint to Spector’s lateral thinking and sparks of genius. As Spector boasts, ‘I can spot an inconsistency like no man on earth’. And, boy, can he.

There were lots of things I loved about the book, such as the character names that were so unusual I was convinced they must be anagrams. Or the chapter near the end which invites the reader to put all the facts together (apparently all ‘in plain sight’) and come up with a solution. And, as the solution is revealed, the footnotes directing you back to the page on which a relevant piece of information appeared. Or to be more accurate, the pages on which the pieces of information you totally overlooked appeared.

Never mind rotating on a Ferris wheel, my head was spinning by the end of the book such is the intricacy of the plot and the number of red herrings and false trails the author has subtly inserted into the story.

The Murder Wheel is a skilfully crafted and very entertaining crime mystery that will have you scratching your head whilst speedily turning the pages to find out what happens next. Definitely one for fans of ‘Golden Age’ crime fiction.

In three words: Ingenious, suspenseful, entertaining

Try something similar: Blackstone Fell by Martin Edwards

About the Author

Tom Mead is an aficionado of Golden Age crime fiction. His short stories have appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine and Lighthouse, as well as The Best Crime Stories of the Year [ed. Lee Child]. Death and the Conjuror, his debut novel featuring illusionist turned sleuth Joseph Spector, was highly acclaimed by the UK and US press and was one of Publishers Weekly’s Mysteries of the Year. He lives in Derbyshire, England.

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#BookReview Treason by James Jackson 20BooksOfSummer23

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About the Book

‘Remember, Remember, the Fifth of November…’

Behind the famous rhyme lies a murderous conspiracy that goes far beyond Guy Fawkes and his ill-fated Gunpowder Plot . . .

In a desperate race against time, spy Christian Hardy must uncover a web of deceit that runs from the cock-fighting pits of Shoe Lane, to the tunnels beneath a bear-baiting arena in Southwark, and from the bad lands of Clerkenwell to a brutal firefight in The Globe theatre.

But of the forces ranged against Hardy, all pale beside the renegade Spanish agent codenamed Realm.

Format: Paperback (336 pages) Publisher: Zaffre
Publication date: 19th October 2017  Genre: Historical Fiction, Historical Mystery

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My Review

I was first introduced to this book when I took part in the blog tour back in November 2017. (The timing was not accidental.) At the time I couldn’t fit in a review, only publish an extract, and unbelievably it’s taken me nearly six years to get round to reading it. Treason is the third book in the author’s series featuring ‘intelligencer’ Christian Hardy. There are references to key events in previous books which would probably spoil your enjoyment of the first two in the series if you haven’t read them so I’d recommend either reading the series from the beginning or treat this, as I did, as a standalone. (There is a subsequent book, Cradle, an excerpt from which appears at the end of Treason.)

Christian Hardy is a bit of a James Bond figure, probably more Daniel Craig than Sean Connery by now because his first adventure (in Blood Rock) was set in 1565, his second (in Realm) was set in 1588 and Treason opens in 1591 although the main action takes place from 1604 onwards. So it seems time has been kind to him because he’s still a formidable swordsman as well as being a bit of a one for the ladies. He’s ruthless when he needs to be which, as it happens, turns out to be a lot of the time and expert in eliciting information whether that’s at the point of knife or in the bedroom. ‘Everyone had vulnerabilities and diverse motives and Hardy was the master of exploiting both. Either through desire or greed or love or fear, humans were instruments demanding to be played.’

In case this might make Hardy seem a one-dimensional action man, his life has not been without personal tragedy, mainly at the hands of a man known as Realm. He has become Hardy’s arch-enemy, if not nemesis. Realm is an utterly ruthless character who appears to get a kick out of killing. Although there are few really graphic descriptions of his actions there’s enough to give you a sense of his sadistic nature. ‘Wherever he roamed and whatever he touched, devastation seemed to result.’

Blending fiction with historical fact, Treason is a race-against-time adventure with Hardy, under the direction of Robert Cecil, seeking to unmask and frustrate the group of Catholics nobles – and the man we know as Guy Fawkes – in their plan to assassinate James I. Ah yes, Cecil. What book set in Tudor or Stuart times would be complete without one of the Cecil family? In Treason, he’s a sort of ‘M’ to Hardy’s James Bond, directing affairs from Westminster and, like a chess player, always seemingly several moves ahead of everyone else. There are also walk-on parts for other historical personages, including William Shakespeare and Ben Jonson, who converse in snappy dialogue, exchanging witticisms and pithy retorts.

As we know from history, the Gunpowder plot failed and those involved met a grisly end but the author manages to introduce enough twists and breathtaking escapes from death into the story to maintain the readers interest and make Treason an accomplished historical thriller.

In three words: Action-packed, suspensful, spirited

Try something similar: Rivers of Treason by K. J. Maitland

About the Author

Sunday Times bestselling author James Jackson has written numerous historical and contemporary thrillers, including three previous Christian Hardy novels Blood Rock, Realm and Treason. He is a former political risk consultant and a postgraduate in military studies. He was called to the Bar and is member of the Inner Temple. He lives in London. (Photo: Author website)

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