Tag: historical mystery

#BookReview The Figure in the Photograph by Kevin Sullivan @allisonandbusby

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20200224_131215-1About the Book

1898. Juan Camerón’s father is killed while working as a photographer amidst the chaos of war in Cuba, but his last pictures reveal a sinister truth to his final moments…

Juan travels to Scotland to grieve with family and immerses himself in the study of photography. When he invents a device that inadvertently solves a crime, local law enforcement recruit him to help stop a brutal serial killer plaguing the streets of Glasgow.

Format: Hardcover (352 pages)      Publisher: Allison and Busby
Publication date: 23rd April 2020 Genre: Historical Fiction, Crime, Mystery

Find The Figure in the Photograph on Goodreads

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

My Review

I was attracted to this book for a number of reasons: firstly, because historical crime is one of my favourite genres; secondly, because it’s published by Allison & Busby who have a great track record of publishing books I enjoy; thirdly, I was intrigued by it being partly set in Cuba.

Initially I was a little disappointed that the setting moves pretty quickly from revolutionary Cuba to Glasgow. However, I was soon immersed in the story and the atmosphere created by the author which vividly brings to life the sights, sounds and smells of the crowded streets and tenements of Glasgow at the very end of the 19th century.

The main character, Juan, was a little less vivid. The reader never gets much description of him so I found it hard to create a picture of him in my mind. At first, I wondered if this was deliberate on the author’s part, since there are detailed descriptions of other characters, or if it would have some significance for the story. As it turns out, the only things we really learn are that he is skilled in photography and that he can look after himself in a tight situation, having learned to box in Granada and been taught judo by his Jesuit tutor in Madrid. The latter comes in very handy. I also found Juan’s lack of curiosity about his mother’s whereabouts, mentioned as part of his back story early on in the book, rather surprising. However, perhaps the author is saving that for the future.

Introducing the use of photography as a detection technique, in particular Juan’s pioneering self-timer which enables photographs of a scene to be taken at set intervals, is a bit of a masterstroke on the author’s part. After all, who hasn’t enjoyed a ‘spot the difference’ quiz at one time or another? It also raises some intriguing questions about what we notice or don’t notice when we look at a photograph. Who is there who shouldn’t be? Who isn’t there but should be? Is there something that stands out as remarkable? Is there something so unremarkable it gets overlooked? It brought to mind Sherlock Holmes’ oft quoted observation about the curious incident of the dog in the night time. (Talking of Sherlock Holmes, I loved young Tommy, who appoints himself Juan’s assistant, messenger and guide; a sort of one urchin version of the Baker Street Irregulars.)

As the bodies mount up, Juan despairs at his lack of progress in discovering the identity of the serial killer, despite hours spent painstakingly analysing the scenes he’s photographed and undertaking his own investigations. But if he’s really not getting anywhere, why do so many influential local men seem anxious to bring his involvement in the case to an end? Like the process of developing a photograph, slowly the full picture is revealed. And Juan maybe on to something when he wonders if, in the future, it will be possible to place cameras in city streets taking continuous photographs.

I really enjoyed The Figure in the Photograph. It’s a well-crafted, atmospheric historical crime mystery and I look forward to reading further books by the author.  I received an advance review copy courtesy of Allison and Busby.

In three words: Compelling, atmospheric, suspenseful

Try something similar: The Wages of Sin by Kaite Welsh

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sullivan-kevin-wbAbout the Author

Kevin Sullivan was born in Glasgow. His career in journalism has placed him on the front line of defining historical moments in living memory, from documenting events at Tiananmen Square to covering the siege of Dubrovnik and the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. His work has taken him to Singapore, Sri Lanka, Japan, the Western Balkans and Spain.  He lives in Sarajevo.  (Photo credit: Publisher author page)

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#BlogTour #BookReview The Canary Keeper by Clare Carson @HoZ_Books

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The-Canary-Keeper-Blog-Tour-BannerWelcome to today’s stop on the blog tour for The Canary Keeper by Clare Carson which was published in paperback on 6th February 2020. Thanks to Cerian at Head of Zeus for inviting me to take part in the tour and for my review copy.

The Canary Keeper PBAbout the Book

In the grey mist of the early morning a body is dumped on the shore of the Thames by a boatman in a metal canoe. The city is soon alive with talk of the savage Esquimaux stalking Victorian London and an eye witness who claims the killer had an accomplice: a tall woman dressed in widow’s weeds, with the telltale look of the degenerate Irish.

Branna ‘Birdie’ Quinn had no good reason to be by the river that morning, but she did not kill the man. She’d seen him first the day before, desperate to give her a message she refused to hear. But now the Filth will see her hang for this murder.

To save her life, Birdie must trace the dead man’s footsteps. Back onto the ship that carried him to his death, back to the cold isles of Orkney that sheltered him, and up to the far north, a harsh and lawless land which holds more answers than she looks to find…

Format: Paperback (384 pages)           Publisher: Head of Zeus
Publication date: 6th February 2020 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 Canary Keeper on Goodreads

My Review

Moving between London and the Scottish island of Orkney, and opening with a dramatic prologue, The Canary Keeper cleverly incorporates real life events of the time, notably the disappearance of explorer Sir John Franklin, along with his two ships and their crew, while on his last expedition to the Arctic in 1845. The fate of the crew was the subject of much public speculation and debate at the time, including by notable figures of the day. In her author’s note, Clare Carson also reveals that Orkney’s history provided the inspiration for many of the female characters in the book such as wise woman, Morag, and Stromness shipping merchant, Margaret Skaill.

The crowded streets and dingy alleyways of foggy London – where the ‘wealthy and powerful exist cheek by jowl with the rotten and squalid‘ – and the wild, stormy landscape of Orkney are equally vividly depicted. I liked the way the author gives the reader Birdie’s perspective on the contrast between the two places. ‘In London the weather feels man-made, the thick fogs dense with soot. Here the elements seem untamed and unpredictable. The air is alive with strange, sharp smells – seaweed and salt. And there is no clanking of cranes or pounding of factory hammers, instead she hears the haunting calls of curlews and the cries of the gulls.’ On the other hand, there are sights on Orkney that evoke for her memories of romantic encounters in London.

There are gothic elements in the book such as ghostly apparitions and rumours of witchcraft and flesh-eating monsters. As Birdie observes, ‘While Orkney folk tell tales of witches and Finmen, we Londoners entertain ourselves with tales of murderers like Spring Heeled Jack who has horns and blazing eyes and vaults across rooftops in pursuit of his victims.’

Not only does Birdie feel compelled to search for the person responsible for the murder in order to clear her own name but also because she feels some strange, almost otherworldly, link to the victim. It’s as if “some inescapable pattern here, some force of fate [is] drawing her together with the murdered man”. It certainly explains some of the coincidences that allow Birdie to confirm the victim’s identity and come up with a theory as to a possible motive.

The tension builds as Birdie gets closer to finding out what has really been taking place on ‘the dark side of the river’ – corruption, cruelty and much worse. A shadowy figure emerges as the possible mastermind behind a conspiracy involving those with power and wealth. But is the culprit closer to home than Birdie imagines or has she been wrong all along about who she can trust? Finally, an unexpected revelation presents Birdie with a moral dilemma and a difficult personal choice. (Birdie, I think you made the right one!)

The Canary Keeper is an absorbing mystery with a great sense of period atmosphere and enough twists and turns to keep any historical crime fan satisfied.

In three words: Atmospheric, gripping, suspenseful

Try something similar: Hudson’s Killby Paddy Hirsch

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_Carson_author pic_credit Charlotte MacphersonAbout the Author

Clare Carson grew up in the suburbs of London. She studied anthropology at university and lived for a while in villages in Tanzania and Zimbabwe doing ethnographic research. She has worked as an adviser on human rights and international development for nearly twenty years and has written three novels, all published by Head of Zeus.

She lives by the sea in Sussex with her partner, two daughters and a couple of very large cats.

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