Tag: NetGalley

Book Review – Secrets of the Bees by Jane Johnson @HoZ_Books

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Welcome to today’s stop on the blog tour for Secrets of the Bees by Jane Johnson especially given it’s publication day! My thanks to Eleanor and Sophie at Ransom PR for inviting me to join the tour and to Head of Zeus for my review copy via NetGalley. Do check out the review by my tour buddy today, bookstagrammer cosylittlereadingcorner.

About the Book

Time has forgotten this remote corner of West Cornwall, and left its many secrets undisturbed. Until now…

Ezra Curnow has lived in the little cottage on the Trengrose estate all his life. He was born there, as was his father, and his grandfather before that. It is his own little Cornish paradise.

Then the mistress of the estate, Eliza, dies without leaving a will, putting the cottage’s ownership into question. London financier Toby and his wife Minty are soon enticed by Trengrose’s charm and, worse still, see a lucrative rental opportunity in Ezra’s cottage.

But Ezra is prepared to battle to save his beloved home, and has a number of secret weapons in his armoury. What Ezra doesn’t know is that Eliza also took some secrets to her grave – and she doesn’t intend to rest quietly until they come to light…

Format: Hardcover (336 pages) Publisher: Head of Zeus
Publication date: 5th June 2025 Genre: Contemporary Fiction

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My Review

Ezra epitomises someone who is ‘in tune’ with nature in a way people once were but are sadly less so these days. He grows his own fruit and vegetables (and some other things as well), tends to the bees in their hive and uses herbal remedies. He doesn’t see humans as superior to animals. Although he has a cat companion, he doesn’t own him; Bucca comes and goes as he pleases. The same with the jackdaw who pecks mealworms from Ezra’s pocket.

Ezra has few material possessions and his cottage doesn’t have the things we might consider essential today, like electricity, a telephone line or an inside bathroom. But that doesn’t matter to him. He’s happy living in the cottage where he was born and the only way he intends to leave is, in his own words, feet first.

The sale of Trengrose House threatens to upend everything because its new owners, the Hardmans, see only its financial potential. They represent everything Ezra is not. They’re not interested in preserving the estate with its orchards and meadows. To them the Celtic cross in the lane is merely an obstacle not a sacred monument that’s stood there for centuries. And they’re definitely not interested that Ezra’s lived in the cottage all his life, they just want him out. Unfortunately they haven’t counted on Ezra’s determination, resourcefulness, and ingenuity. And his capacity for mischief making.

There’s quite a contrast between the more lighthearted moments and what we learn about Ezra’s experiences as a young man.

The landscape, culture and history of Cornwall is an essential element of the book, reflecting the author’s own attachment to the county. The story also incorporates some of the social and economic issues Cornish people face today, such as a lack of affordable housing, but in a way that never feels like a political tract. There is though a strong ecological message that runs throughout the book. ‘Everywhere humans go, they wreck it. Pillage the land for whatever profit they can make out of it, without giving a thought to the consequences for any other living thing.’

It seems to me all the characters learn something in the course of the book, leading them to a sense of fulfilment. With Ezra’s help, Mindy and Toby’s son Dominic learns to identify the local flora and fauna, whilst their daughter Miranda comes to appreciate the wild landscape around Trengrose with the help of Ezra’s great-nephew Sam. Mindy becomes absorbed in discovering the history of Trengrose House and its previous occupants, uncovering some long hidden secrets in the process. Toby? Well, the only thing he learns is that there are some things money can’t buy. (The description of him as an ‘encysted pustule’ is spot on.)

The reader learns quite a bit as well about Ezra, including some things I certainly didn’t see coming.

Secrets of the Bees is a heartwarming story that has woven into it a message about the risk we run if we lose our connection with nature and value things purely in monetary terms. ‘You can’t buy birdsong, or the sight of your bees visiting your own flowers, or the sun through the leaves of the apple trees, or the smell of ripe tomatoes you’ve grown from seed…’ Add a whiff of the supernatural, a touch of mystery and an element of melodrama and you have all the ingredients for an entertaining read.

In three words: Engaging, tender, intriguing

About the Author

Jane Johnson is a novelist, historican and publisher. She is the UK publisher of many bestselling authors, including George R.R. Martin. She has written for both adults and children, including the bestselling novels The Tenth Gift and The Salt Road. Jane is married to a Berber chef she met while climbing in Morocco. She divides her time between London, Cornwall and the Anti-Atlas Mountains.

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Book Review – Traitor’s Legacy by S. J. Parris

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About the Book

England, 1598. Queen Elizabeth’s successor remains unnamed. The country teeters on a knife edge.

When a young heiress is found murdered at the theatre, the Queen’s spymaster Robert Cecil calls upon former agent Sophia de Wolfe to investigate.

A cryptic note found on the dead girl’s body connects to Sophia’s previous life as a spy, and her quest soon takes her into dangerous waters. Powerful enemies emerge, among them the Earl of Essex: the Queen’s favourite courtier and a man of ruthless ambition.

This is a murder that reaches directly into the heart of the court. And Sophia is concealing a deep-buried secret of her own. She must uncover the truth before her past threatens to destroy her.

Format: Hardcover (384 pages) Publisher: Hemlock Press
Publication date: 8th May 2025 Genre: Historical Fiction, Crime

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My Review

Traitor’s Legacy is the first in a new series featuring Sophia de Wolfe, former agent of Queen Elizabeth’s spymaster, Sir Francis Walsingham. We discover pretty quickly that Sophia has had an eventful life including a previous marriage, an illegitimate son given up for adoption and coming under suspicion of murder. In fact, so detailed is her back story I found myself checking that I hadn’t missed an earlier book in the series. That is until I realised she had featured (then going by the name Sophia Underhill) in some of the books in the author’s Giordano Bruno series which I read years ago. However, although new readers might find them wishing for more detail about her colourful past, it does mean you don’t need to have read the Giordano Bruno books to enjoy this one.

Sophia is now a widow with a stepson who resents the fact she has inherited her late husband’s wealth. Her stepson is a drunkard, a gambler and a spendthrift with a potential for violence. Although Sophia’s was a marriage of convenience arranged by Walsingham to ensure her safety, she developed a real affection for her late husband Humphrey, often recalling his wise and supportive advice. Having said that, widowhood has given Sophia a certain freedom. ‘One of the great advantages of being a widow with her own money is that, for the first time in her life, she doesn’t have to submit to any man telling her what she can and can’t do.’

Our first encounter with Sophia is during a duel with her fencing master, so we know from the off she’s someone to be reckoned with. She’s resourceful, intrepid and resolute. ‘Here you are, like some kind of truffle-hound, determined to sniff out the truth and dig it up.’ Sophia has faced many obstacles in her life but has never given up trying to overcome them. ‘She has been raging all her life, for as long as she can remember, at one thing or another (usually the actions of men.’

Following the discovery of the dead girl’s body, Sophia is reunited with Anthony Munday, now a playwright for Richard Burbage’s theatre company, but formerly a pursuivant hunting Catholic priests smuggled into the country. This involved him working for Richard Topcliffe, notorious for his brutal interrogations. Munday now has a wife and children but his attachment to Sophia means that when her connection to the death of the girl becomes very personal he can’t help but get involved. I enjoyed the tease of the relationship between Sophia and Anthony. They’re certainly comrades but could they become something more to each other?

The plot revolves around the question of what was the motive for the murder? Was it an act of jealous rage by a spurned lover? Was it for financial gain given the dead girl was a wealthy heiress? Or was there a political angle to the murder? Answering those questions means taking on the rich and powerful, and Sophia and Anthony both find themselves in risky situations as a result. As she says at one point, ‘I feel with every step we’re tangling ourselves deeper in something that can’t end well’.

The book is set in 1598 towards the end of Elizabeth’s reign when the question of the succession was in a lot of minds and there was turmoil in Ireland where Catholics were suspected of supporting the enemies of England, notably Spain. Alongside the fictional characters, there are real historical figures including the Queen’s favourite, the Earl of Essex, his wife Frances, daughter of Sir Francis Walsingham, and Thomas Phelippes, Walsingham’s cryptographer who deciphered the coded letters of the Babington Plot conspirators. There’s even a walk-on part for William Shakespeare.

Traitor’s Legacy has everything I look for in a historical mystery: a deliciously complex plot, an engaging main character, a varied supporting cast and lots of period detail. It moves along at pace and, most importantly as far as I’m concerned, the ending is all nicely set up for the next book in the series. If you loved the Giordano Bruno series or you’re a fan of historical mysteries I think you’ll enjoy this as much as I did.

I received an advance reader copy courtesy of HarperCollins via NetGalley.

In three words: Compelling, intricate, fast-moving
Try something similar: Viper in the Nest by Georgina Clarke

About the Author

S. J. Parris is the pseudonym of Stephanie Merritt. It was as a student at Cambridge that Stephanie first became fascinated by the rich history of Tudor England and Renaissance Europe. Since then, her interest has grown and led her to create her series of historical thrillers featuring Giordano Bruno.

Stephanie has worked for a variety of newspapers and magazines as well as radio and television. She currently writes for the Observer and the Guardian and lives in Surrey with her son.

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