Tag: historical mystery

#BookReview Skelton’s Guide to Suitcase Murders by David Stafford @AllisonandBusby

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Welcome to today’s stop on the blog tour for Skelton’s Guide to Suitcase Murders by David Stafford, the second book in the historical crime series featuring barrister, Arthur Skelton. My thanks to Christina at Allison & Busby for inviting me to take part in the tour and for my digital review copy via NetGalley.

Skelton's Guide to Suitcase MurdersAbout the Book

A woman’s dismembered corpse is discovered in a suitcase, and police quickly identify her husband, Doctor Ibrahim Aziz, as their chief suspect. Incriminating evidence is discovered at his home and his wife was rumoured to be having an affair, giving him clear motive.

With his reputation for winning hopeless cases, barrister Arthur Skelton is asked to represent the accused. Though Aziz’s guilt does not seem to be in doubt, a question of diplomacy and misplaced larvae soon lead Skelton to suspect there may be more to the victim’s death.

Aided by his loyal clerk Edgar, Skelton soon finds himself seeking justice for both victim and defendant. But can he uncover the truth before an innocent man is put on trial and condemned to the gallows?

Format: Hardcover (352 pages)      Publisher: Allison & Busby
Publication date: 22nd April 2021 Genre: Historical Fiction, Crime, Mystery

Find Skelton’s Guide to Suitcase Murders (Arthur Skelton #2) 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

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

My Review

It was an absolute pleasure to be reunited with barrister Arthur Skelton and his trusty clerk – and friend – Edgar Hobbes. I loved the scenes where Arthur and Edgar discuss the briefs that have been sent to him. By the way, if you want to discover the inspiration for the character of Arthur, read David’s blog post on how Arthur came to be. I should say at this point that it’s not necessary to have read the first book to enjoy this second one.

Having said that, for fans of the series Skelton’s Guide to Suitcase Murders sees the return of characters from the first book, including Arthur’s cousin, Alan, and his sister, Norah, who travel the country with their caravan spreading the word of God at meetings. Often they gather useful nuggets of information for Arthur’s cases along the way, relayed to him in Alan’s chatty letters.

Another returning characters is Rose Critchlow who helped Arthur with his previous case and is now working as an articled clerk in the solicitors who provide most of Arthur’s work. Once again, Rose makes a valuable contribution, one that leads to an important discovery and provides an insight into the emerging science of forensic entomology (the lifecycles of creepy crawlies) at the same time. Amongst her other attributes, the reader learns, are superb navigational skills. ‘Rose knew the way. Of course she did. Five minutes with a map and Rose would be able to take you straight to the green-eyed yellow idol to the north of Kathmandu or the lost kingdom of She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed.‘ I was particularly delighted to come across the latter reference having already decided on my ‘Try Something Similar’ suggestion below.

As in the first book, the reader gets an insight into Skelton’s domestic life with wife, Mila, and children, Lawrence and Elizabeth. I particularly enjoyed the episode in which Arthur is entrusted with the Christmas shopping list, including purchasing gifts for the children and hits the busy streets of London. ‘He’d been told by many people that, if you value your health and sanity, you should never venture into a toyshop at Christmas time. Climb the Matterhorn by all means, take the waters in Moscow during a cholera epidemic, but stay away from toyshops.’ Does Arthur return with exactly what was specified on the list? Come on, he’s a man isn’t he?

Arthur’s wife, Mila, is a wonderful character and definitely nothing like the ‘She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed’ of John Mortimer’s Rumpole series. Mila is an avid reader of the newspapers, teaches archery to local girls and has lately developed a rather grand ambition, keen to outdo her acquaintance, Cissy Pemberton.  Mila and Arthur have a touching relationship such that I found it hard to forgive the author for putting Arthur through the mill when there is a a sudden turn of events.

Alongside Arthur’s attempts to find the evidence needed to achieve the acquittal of his client, Doctor Aziz, are entertaining interludes where the reader witnesses Arthur’s court appearances in other cases in which he has been instructed. He frequently ponders on the small things that can turn a case and influence a jury.

The book is also enlivened by references to real life figures such as the renowned pathologist, Sir Bernard Spilsbury. And I especially enjoyed Arthur and Edgar’s memorable encounter with a star of stage and screen in their favourite eating place, Kembles. By the way, it’s here that Edgar, seeking to reduce his portly stature for reasons he is initially reluctant to reveal, eschews the delights of veal and ham pie for an egg salad that Arthur describes as looking like ‘the sort of thing that Mr Gandhi might have eaten as a form of protest‘.

Do Arthur and Edgar get to the bottom of the (suit)case? What do you think…?

Skelton’s Guide to Suitcase Murders is another delightful addition to the series. I loved its combination of period detail, ingenious mystery and amiable humour, and I’m already looking forward to Arthur’s next guide to dastardly deeds.

In three words: Engaging, lively, clever

Try something similar: Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders by John Mortimer

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David StaffordAbout the Author

David Stafford began his career in theatre. He has written countless dramas, comedies and documentaries including two TV films with Alexei Sayle, Dread Poets Society with Benjamin Zephaniah, and, with his wife, Caroline, a string of radio plays and comedies including The Brothers, The Day The Planes Came and The Year They Invented Sex as well as five biographies of musicians and showbusiness personalities. Fings Ain’t Wot They Use T’Be – The Life of Lionel Bart was chosen as Radio 4 Book of the Week and made into a BBC Four TV documentary.

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#BookReview The Deception of Harriet Fleet by Helen Scarlett @QuercusBooks @HelenSWriter

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The Deception of Harriet Fleet PBAbout the Book

1871. An age of discovery and progress. But for the Wainwright family, residents of the gloomy Teesbank Hall in County Durham the secrets of the past continue to overshadow their lives.

Harriet would not have taken the job of governess in such a remote place unless she wanted to hide from something or someone. Her charge is Eleanor, the daughter of the house, a fiercely bright eighteen-year-old, tortured by demons and feared by relations and staff alike. But it soon becomes apparent that Harriet is not there to teach Eleanor, but rather to monitor her erratic and dangerous behaviour – to spy on her.

Worn down by Eleanor’s unpredictable hostility, Harriet soon finds herself embroiled in Eleanor’s obsession – the Wainwright’s dark, tragic history. As family secrets are unearthed, Harriet’s own begin to haunt her and she becomes convinced that ghosts from the past are determined to reveal her shameful story. For Harriet, like Eleanor, is plagued by deception and untruths.

Format: Hardcover (368 pages)  Publisher: Quercus
Publication date: 1st April 2021 Genre: Historical Fiction

Find The Deception of Harriet Fleet 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

The publishers describe The Deception of Harriet Fleet as ‘dark and brimming with suspense’ and ‘an atmospheric Victorian chiller set in brooding County Durham’. It certainly has all the elements of a Gothic mystery: a remote house – Teesbank Hall – that’s chilly in more than one sense of the word; subjects that can’t be talked about; household members who rarely venture outside the house and don’t welcome visitors; locked attic rooms; and footsteps in the night. It was also the scene of a tragedy that means the local villagers give it a wide berth, even after twenty years.

And there’s Eleanor, Harriet’s pupil, who is treated like a prisoner for reasons no-one is particularly keen to explain in any detail, referring simply to ‘a weakness of the mind’ and ‘qualities that must be…suppressed’. No wonder that before long, Harriet begins to believe she’s been employed more as gaoler than a governess.  Eleanor’s only ally within the family seems to be her brother, Henry, to whom Harriet takes an instant dislike. However, as we learned from Pride and Prejudice, first impressions can be deceptive.

Gradually the initially chilly relationship between Eleanor and Harriet starts to thaw, especially as Harriet starts to see parallels between her own situation and Eleanor’s, constrained in their life choices by their gender.  In addition, as Harriet learns more about the family’s history, her curiosity leads her to make what will turn out to be a dangerous bargain with Eleanor.

From early on in the book, by her own admission, the reader knows Harriet is guilty of betrayal, theft and deception. Therefore, although Harriet describes Teesbank Hall as having ‘something grim and sinister’ about it, she also thinks of it as ‘a hiding place’ and, later, even as a sanctuary. I think it becomes fairly obvious what she’s fleeing from but I believe even the most observant reader will still find there are some surprises in store.

The blurb refers to the period in which the book is set as ‘an age of discovery and progress’.  However, as the book explores, at the fringes of these developments were more questionable theories such as a belief in phrenology. Even less enlightened was the approach to mental health issues, especially in women, with a diagnosis of ‘hysteria’ commonplace and frequently linked with reproduction, menstruation or viewed as a sign of ‘unnatural sexual urges’.

As the story reaches it’s dramatic conclusion, with echoes of Jane Eyre and Rebecca, Harriet has need to cling to her personal mantra more than ever: “I will not let circumstances destroy me. I will survive this. Everything will pass”.  Perhaps, after all, what seemed hopeless may not be entirely lost.

From its dramatic prologue to the book’s epilogue entitled ‘Aftermath’, The Deception of Harriet Fleet is an absorbing story of family secrets, betrayal, grief, jealousy and a desire for vengeance.

In three words: Atmospheric, dramatic, immersive

Try something similar: The Conviction of Cora Burns by Carolyn Kirby

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Helen ScarlettAbout the Author

Helen Scarlett is a writer and English teacher based in the north east of England. Her debut historical novel, The Deception of Harriet Fleet, is a chilling take on nineteenth-century classics such as Jane Eyre seen through modern eyes. It is set in County Durham, close to where Helen lives with her husband and two daughters.

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