Tag: historical mystery

#BookReview Hell Gate (Ingo Finch Mystery #3) by Jeff Dawson @canelo_co

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Hell GateAbout the Book

To solve this case, only an outsider will do… Ingo Finch faces his biggest challenge yet.

New York, 1904. Over a thousand are dead after the sinking of the General Slocum, a pleasure steamer full of German immigrants out for a day on the East River. The community is devastated, broken, in uproar. With a populist senator preying on their grievances, a new political force is unleashed, pushing America to ally with Germany in any coming war.

Nine months later, Ingo Finch arrives in Manhattan, now an official British agent. Tasked with exposing this new movement, he is caught in a deadly game between Whitehall, Washington, Berlin… and the Mob.

Not everything in the Big Apple is as it seems. For Finch, completing the mission is one thing; surviving it quite another…

Format: ebook (255 pages)                      Publisher: Canelo
Publication date: 5th November 2020 Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery, Thriller

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*link provided for convenience not as part of an affiliate programme

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My Review

I’ve been a fan of Jeff Dawson’s Ingo Finch series since reading the first book, No Ordinary Killing, in 2017. And I absolutely loved the 2018 follow-up, The Cold North Sea. Although there are brief references to events in the previous two books, Hell Gate can definitely be enjoyed as a standalone. However I’m betting that, having read it, you’ll want to go back to where it all began and find out just why Ingo Finch finds himself at the beck and call of the British secret service.

I recall describing The Cold North Sea as “Buchanesque” and, as regular followers of this blog will know, there is no higher compliment as far as I’m concerned. I’ll happily award the same accolade to Hell Gate. Although there’s a terrific scene on a train that could come straight out of a James Bond movie, the episode in which Finch infiltrates an anarchist group reminded me of the exploits of John Buchan’s hero, Richard Hannay, in Mr. Standfast and a pursuit across open country recalled Hannay’s adventures in the The Thirty-Nine Steps.

Ingo Finch’s latest mission sees him sent to New York, a city that in 1904 is a “growing metropolis in all its living, steaming, cacophonous glory”. I enjoyed seeing him experiencing landmarks such as the Statue of Liberty and Brooklyn Bridge, and his exploits take him to many well-known parts of the city including Central Park, Broadway, the Meatpacking District and Little Italy. I also loved his wide-eyed reaction to American innovations such as traffic lights and toothpaste you squeeze from a tube. Finch also has his first taste of pizza and hot dogs.

Early on in the book, there are walk-on parts for some famous historical figures such as financier J.P. Morgan, chairman of the White Star Line Bruce Ismay, and Edward Smith, captain of the Baltic (the ocean liner on which Finch travels to America) later to become infamous as the captain of another ship. There’s even a mention of a Trump!

As in the earlier books, there are fascinating nuggets of historical fact around which the author has cleverly wrapped a gripping historical thriller. For instance, I hadn’t appreciated how much of the population of New York at the time was made up of people of German extraction and to what extent this influenced political and economic power within the city. As one character says, “German labour built this city. German labour built the Brooklyn Bridge and the Williamsburg…”.

As Finch reflects at one point, “The United States was a nation forged in blood” and it’s not long before he’s experiencing the reality of this in the melting pot that is New York with its rival gangs and political factions fighting for control. As one insider explain, “All I can tell you is that it’s getting worse – far worse. The Irish, the Italians, the Jews… We got Russian gangs, Chinese gangs, too… We got Black gangs, Hispanic gangs. And now…the Germans.”

In the dedication to The Thirty-Nine Steps, addressed to his friend Tommy Nelson, John Buchan recalls their mutual fondness for ‘that elementary type of tale…which we know as the “shocker” – the romance where the incidents defy the probabilities, and march just inside the borders of the possible’.  It’s an apt description of Hell Gate in which Ingo Finch lurches from one narrow escape to another and is constantly trying to work out – as is the reader – who he can trust. The short answer is pretty much no-one.

The author keeps the pace moving and the tension building as Finch seeks to achieve his mission. As with any good action hero, he gets rather battered and bruised along the way. I’ll admit to having developed a slight crush on Finch making me think it might almost be worth being held captive by a mysterious cult in order to be rescued by him. However, I also suspect I might have some quite formidable rivals for his affections!

If you’re a fan of historical crime thrillers that feature an intrepid hero, are set in interesting locations, that exude the atmosphere of the period and have a plot that cleverly combines fact and fiction, then this is the series for you. I loved Hell Gate and I can’t wait for the next outing for Ingo Finch, not least because he has unfinished business…

I received an advance review copy courtesy of Canelo via NetGalley.

In three words: Fast-paced, gripping, action-packed

Try something similar: Hudson’s Kill by Paddy Hirsch

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Jeff Dawson CaneloAbout the Author

Jeff Dawson is a journalist and author. He has been a long-standing contributor to The Sunday Times Culture section, writing regular A-list interview-led arts features (interviewees including the likes of Robert De Niro, George Clooney, Dustin Hoffman, Hugh Grant, Angelina Jolie, Jerry Seinfeld and Nicole Kidman). He is also a former US Editor of Empire magazine.
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Jeff is the author of three non-fiction books — Tarantino/Quentin Tarantino: The Cinema of Cool, Back Home: England And The 1970 World Cup, which The Times rated “Truly outstanding”, and Dead Reckoning: The Dunedin Star Disaster, nominated for the Mountbatten Maritime Prize.

Historical thriller, No Ordinary Killing (2017) – an Amazon/Kindle bestseller – was Jeff’s debut novel. His follow-up, The Cold North Sea (2018), continued the adventures of Captain Ingo Finch. The third book in the series, Hell Gate (2020), comes out on November 5th.

Connect with Jeff
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#BookReview Those Who Know (The Teifi Valley Coroner #3) by Alis Hawkins @DomePress

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Those Who Know Alis Hawkins

Welcome to today’s stop on the blog tour for Those Who Know by Alis Hawkins, the third in The Teifi Valley Coroner series. My thanks to Emily at The Dome Press for inviting me to take part in the tour and for my review copy.

About the Book

Harry Probert-Lloyd has inherited the estate of Glanteifi and appointed his assistant John as under-steward. But his true vocation, to be coroner, is under threat. Against his natural instincts, Harry must campaign if he is to be voted as coroner permanently by the local people and politicking is not his strength.

On the hustings, Harry and John are called to examine the body of Nicholas Rowland, a radical and pioneering schoolteacher whose death may not be the accident it first appeared. What was Rowland’s real relationship with his eccentric patron, Miss Gwatkyn? And why does Harry’s rival for the post of coroner deny knowing him? Harry’s determination to uncover the truth threatens to undermine both his campaign and his future.

Format: Paperback (348 pages) Publisher: The Dome Press
Publication date: 28th September 2020 Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery, Crime

Find Those Who Know (Teifi Valley Coroner #3) on Goodreads

Purchase links*
Publisher | Amazon UK | Hive (supporting UK bookshops)
*links provided for convenience not as part of an affiliate programme

My Review

I really enjoyed None So Blind, the first book in Alis Hawkins’ Teifi Valley Coroner series, and I’m kicking myself that I’ve not yet made time to read the second in the series, In Two Minds. However, it does mean I can reassure readers who haven’t read the previous books that Those Who Know can easily be enjoyed as a standalone. That’s not to say there aren’t a few references to events in the earlier books but these are subtly done. In fact, the appearance of characters who were new to me, such as Doctor Reckitt and Lydia Howell, made me even more eager to go back and read In Two Minds.

It was a delight to catch up with Harry and John again. As before, they narrate alternate chapters giving a sense of pace to the book and providing the reader with different views of events, an insight into their perspective on each other, and on what has become an unique working relationship. I was touched once more by John’s anticipation of Harry’s needs, not just the help Harry requires to overcome his visual impairment but his desire to be independent and not the subject of people’s curiosity or pity. Equally touching is Harry’s faith in John and his appreciation for his abilities despite John’s humble birth and troubled upbringing.

Although the book sees them occasionally pursuing their enquiries independently, they’re at their most formidable when working as a team, such as during interviews of witnesses when they adopt a “good cop, bad cop” approach. Or when John acts as Harry’s eyes, as he does during the inquest into Nicholas Rowland’s death, signalling by his posture whether Harry should press ahead with a line of questioning or desist.

The inquest is just one of the great set pieces in the book. Others include the dramatic night-time scene when the cefyll pren or wooden horse (a traditional form of folk justice that also made a memorable appearance in None So Blind) is taken to the house of someone the villagers believe may have been involved in Rowland’s death. “Daylight restraints are loosened after dark, anger rises in the blood and darkness releases animal instincts.“

Skilfully woven into the main storyline are nuggets of information about Welsh history. Okay, the 1847 Report of the Commission of Inquiry into the State of Education in Wales may not sound that interesting but, believe me, you may be surprised at its relevance to the plot.

The author is a Welsh speaker and I particularly enjoyed the part the Welsh language plays in the book. As John explains, the aforementioned 1847 report branded the speaking of Welsh as not only “holding the whole nation back” but of “encouraging backward thinking and immorality”. At the time the book is set, Welsh is considered the language of the ordinary people not of the “gentry” who speak English. Therefore, the people Harry comes across in the course of his investigation are often surprised that he, a member of the gentry, is able to converse with them in their native tongue. During the inquest, the difficulty of translating the evidence of some witnesses from English to Welsh for the jury is revealed. As John observes, “Welsh isn’t a scientific language. English is good as absolutes. Science. Welsh is better at poetry and metaphor and a different kind of truth. Not one that’s clear cut and neat…but messy and bloody and confusing. Like life.“

Those Who Know has all the elements you look for in a mystery: a perplexing crime scene, an unknown motive, a victim with secrets in his past and an array of possible suspects. Before long, links also begin to emerge between Harry’s campaign for election as Coroner and the investigation into Rowland’s death. But do the electors want a Coroner who, as one character puts it, “sees doubt where everybody else sees death”? Not everyone, least of all the local magistrates, approves of Harry’s dogged pursuit of the truth, hammering away at “the stone of unexplained death” with question after question until the “unyielding stone finally gives way and the truth is uncovered”.

I can highly recommend The Teifi Valley Coroner series to fans of historical crime fiction. Like its predecessors, Those Who Know combines an intriguing mystery, engaging leading characters and convincing period detail. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for another book in the series before too long.

In three words: Assured, intriguing, atmospheric

Try something similar: The Figure in the Photograph by Kevin Sullivan

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About the Author

Alis Hawkins grew up on a dairy farm in Cardiganshire. After attending the local village primary school and Cardigan County Secondary School, she left West Wales to read English at Oxford. Subsequently, she has done various things with her life, including becoming a speech and language therapist, bringing up two sons, selling burgers, working with homeless people, and helping families to understand their autistic children.

And writing. Always. Non-fiction (autism related), plays (commissioned by heritage projects) and, of course, novels. Alis’ first novel, Testament, was published in 2008 by Macmillan and was translated into several languages. Her current historical crime series featuring visually impaired investigator, Harry Probert-Lloyd, and his chippy assistant, John Davies, is set in Cardiganshire in the period directly after the Rebecca Riots. As a side-effect of setting her series there, instead of making research trips to sunny climes like more foresighted writers, she drives up the M4 to see her family.

Now living with her partner on the wrong side of the Welsh/English border (though she sneaks back over to work for the National Autistic Society in Monmouthshire), Alis speaks Welsh, collects rucksacks and can’t resist an interesting fact.

Connect with Alis
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