Tag: ReadersFirst

#BookReview The Heretic’s Mark by S. W. Perry @CorvusBooks

whatcathyreadnext

The Heretic's Mark

Welcome to today’s stop on the blog tour for The Heretic’s Mark by S. W. Perry, the fourth book in the Jackdaw Mysteries series. My thanks to Kate at Corvus for inviting me to take part in the tour and to Readers First for my advance review copy.

The Heretic's MarkAbout the Book

The Elizabethan world is in flux. Radical new ideas are challenging the old. But the quest for knowledge can lead down dangerous paths.

London, 1594. The Queen’s physician has been executed for treason, and conspiracy theories flood the streets. When Nicholas Shelby, unorthodox physician and unwilling associate of spymaster Robert Cecil, is accused of being part of the plot, he and his new wife Bianca must flee for their lives. With agents of the Crown on their tail, they make for Padua, following the ancient pilgrimage route, the Via Francigena. But the pursuing English aren’t the only threat Nicholas and Bianca face.

Hella, a strange and fervently religious young woman, has joined them on their journey. When the trio finally reach relative safety, they become embroiled in a radical and dangerous scheme to shatter the old world’s limits of knowledge. But Hella’s dire predictions of an impending apocalypse, and the brutal murder of a friend of Bianca’s forces them to wonder: who is this troublingly pious woman? And what does she want?

Format: Hardcover (448 pages)  Publisher: Corvus
Publication date: 1st April 2021 Genre: Historical Fiction, Crime, Mystery

Find The Heretic’s Mark (The Jackdaw Mysteries #4) 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

S. W. Perry’s novels featuring physician Nicholas Shelby and tavern owner Bianca Merton have fast become one of my favourite historical mystery series. I’ve loved all three previous books – The Angel’s Mark, The Serpent’s Mark and The Saracen’s Mark. Although The Heretic’s Mark is the fourth in the series, the author has ensured it can be enjoyed by new readers and established fans alike thanks to brief recaps of events from previous books and sketches of the main characters.

Aside from Nicholas and Bianca, amongst those making a return appearance are Rose and Ned Monckton, now charged with overseeing the rebuilding of the Jackdaw tavern following its dramatic destruction at the end of the previous book. Such is Ned’s gratitude to both Bianca and Nicholas for the new life they’ve made possible, that Ned decides to try to discover the person responsible for denouncing Nicholas as a co-conspirator in a plot against the Queen.

No historical mystery set in the reign of Elizabeth I would be complete without a member of the Cecil family featuring in the plot and in this case it’s Sir Robert Cecil. Nicholas is hoping that having treated Cecil’s son, he may be able to call on Cecil’s help should it be needed. However, perhaps you can never be quite sure with one of the Cecils.

As fans of the series have come to expect, the book vividly conjures up the sights, sounds – and smells – of 16th century London. However, the need to seek refuge from their unknown enemy allows the author to transport Nicholas and Bianca to a whole new landscape. Having travelled across the Narrow Sea to Den Bosch in Brabant, two significant events occur. Firstly, Nicholas catches sight of Hieronymus Bosch’s triptych, The Last Judgment, and is a witness to a brutal attack. Secondly, he and Bianca encounter a strange young woman, Hella Mass, whose joins them on their arduous journey along the pilgrim route towards Italy.

In Hella, the author has created an enigma, possibly a monster, but most certainly an unforgettable character. Is she a latter day Cassandra whose predictions of impending doom are destined to be ignored, a delusional young woman damaged by her traumatic experiences who should be pitied not reviled, or a skilled manipulator and charlatan? You’ll have to read the book to find out. Whichever it is, there’s certainly no love lost between Hella and Bianca who quickly tires of Hella’s predictions, especially when she believes them to have turned personal. As Bianca observes, ‘There is only so much a woman with blisters on her feet, who’s sure she stinks of mule, and has a mountain range ahead of her to cross, can suffer with equanimity.‘

Although initially the result of a forced departure from England, before long Nicholas finds himself enjoying the journey through Europe. ‘Here, on the path down to the northern shore of Lake Geneva, the air is sharper, more bracing even than a tub of cold Thames water, more cleansing than the stinking fug he breathes in the narrow lanes of London.’ And for Bianca, the journey gives her the freedom to practice her Catholic faith openly.

Alongside the account of Nicholas and Bianca’s journey, there are regular updates on the progress of Ned’s investigation back in London. Another storyline involves Bianca’s cousin, Bruno Barrani, who has a bold scheme to acquire an object that he hopes will bring him both wealth and powerful patronage. The arrival of Nicholas and Bianca in Padua, the city of Bianca’s birth, sees the convergence of a number of plot lines as result of which dramatic events ensue. To borrow from the musical Kiss Me Kate, it’s not so much a case of “I’ve come to wive it wealthily in Padua” as “I’ve come to knife them steathily in Padua“.

A multitude of twists and turns had me at more than one than point silently entreating the author, ‘No! You can’t end a chapter like that!’  The book builds to a wonderfully dramatic climax that makes full use of the historic sites of Padua and the city’s traditions. And I’ll freely admit the closing chapters left me a little tearful.

Fans of the series will be delighted to learn The Heretic’s Mark is another historical page-turner from the pen of S. W. Perry.  And to readers looking for a new historical mystery series to follow, I can only say ‘Get thee to a bookshop’.  I, for one, can’t wait for the next instalment.

In three words: Gripping, atmospheric, dramatic

Try something similar: Rags of Time by Michael Ward

Follow this blog via Bloglovin

S W Perry Author PictureAbout the Author

S. W. Perry was a journalist and broadcaster before retraining as an airline pilot. He lives in Worcestershire with his wife.

Connect with S. W. Perry
Website | Twitter | Facebook

The Heretic's Mark

#BookReview The Ice House by Laura Lee Smith @GrovePressUK @ReadersFirst1

whatcathyreadnext

The Ice HouseAbout the Book

Johnny MacKinnon might be on the verge of losing it all. The ice factory he married into, which he’s run for decades, is facing devastating government fines following a mysterious accident and may have to close. The only hope for MacKinnon’s, and the dysfunctional family of employees who depend on them, is that someone in the community saw something – but no one seems to be coming forward.

Then there’s Johnny’s son Corran, back in Scotland. The two haven’t spoken in nearly a year. Corran’s heroin addiction has strained his father’s love and finances, but it was the disappearance of Johhny’s wife Pauline’s engagement ring that finally drove Johnny to breaking point. Now, after a collapse on the factory floor, it appears Johnny may have a brain tumour. He’s been ordered to take it easy, but in some ways, he thinks, what’s left to lose?

With time running out, this may be his last chance to bridge the gap with Corran – and to have any sort of relationship with the baby granddaughter he’s never met.

Format: Paperback (464 pages)       Publisher: Grove Press
Publication date: 3rd January 2019 Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Find The Ice House 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 Ice House was one of the first books I won in the weekly prize draw from Readers First and I’m now wishing it hadn’t taken me quite so long to get around to reading the book.

The quotation from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, ‘When sorrows come, they come not single spies. But in battalions!‘ might have been written for Johnny MacKinnon, owner of Bold City Ice. Not only is he facing the possible loss of the family business as a result of fines imposed due to a freak accident but he has recently received the news he has a serious medical condition. Add to that his fractured relationship with Corran, his son by his first wife, Sharon. Oh, and not forgetting an invasion of Cuban tree frogs in his garden.

And Johnny’s not the only one finding their plate is full to overflowing with problems. Pauline, Johnny’s wife, is facing the challenge of running the ice factory in Johnny’s absence, including managing their appeal against the fine for breaches of safety related to the accident. To add to that, her father, Packy, is suffering with dementia. Back in Scotland, Johnny’s birthplace, Corran is recently out of rehab for heroin addiction and trying to balance the demands of caring for his baby daughter alone with holding down a job.

Both Johnny and Pauline find a degree of solace in friendships they form with two young people: Johnny, with Chemal, the stepson of his neighbour Jerry, who he bonds with over their shared love of cars and the TV programme Top Gear; and Pauline with Sam, the young lawyer from the firm the MacKinnons have instructed to handle their appeal, who shares her interest in running.

The author provides some great pen pictures of secondary characters, especially the employees of Bold City Ice. For example, Claire, the super-efficient woman who manages much of the factory administration and is ‘a miracle of competence’, is referred to as the ‘Vice President of Everything’. The factory’s hirsute Operations Engineer, Roy Grassi, is likened to a ‘funny, loyal yeti’ whose beard length seems to correspond to the current state of his love life

Alongside the myriad problems and moments of drama, there is welcome humour. I especially liked the scene in which Pauline imagines applying the concepts she hears about at a marketing conference – deliverables, paradigm shifts, learnings, BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goals, for the uninitiated) – to operational meetings back at Bold City Ice.

There is some beautiful writing in the book. I was particularly struck by the following passage in which Johnny ruminates on the differences between the atmosphere of his birthplace, Scotland, and that of his adopted home state, Florida. ‘In Florida, silence was a porous thing, damp and fragile, never quite solidified. Always there was sound, somewhere. Cicadas whirring, rustle of palmettos, rumble of afternoon thunderheads. Pecans dropping through the canopy. Mosquitos buzzing at earlobes. In Scotland, out in the country, the silence was dry, hardened, complete. It was a silence so absolute it was almost deafening, softened only now and again by a cold wind cutting through wide yellow fields of oilseed rape. Johnny also felt that the silence in Scotland was older, perhaps wiser. Florida quiet was restless, wild, as unrestrained and lightsome as a bobcat cub.’

The Ice House is an absorbing exploration of family dynamics and how sometimes it can be way more difficult to fix things than it was to cause them to go wrong in the first place, but that it’s always worth the effort. As Johnny’s doctor observes, “We all keep going, Johnny. We just keep going until we can’t.”

I received a review copy courtesy of Grove Press and Readers First.

In three words: Insightful, assured, tender

Try something similar: A Modern Family by Helga Flatland, trans. by Rosie Hedger

Follow this blog via Bloglovin

Laura Lee SmithAbout the Author

Laura Lee Smith is the author of two novels: The Ice House (2017) and Heart Of Palm (2013), both from Grove Press. Her short fiction was selected by guest editor T.C. Boyle for inclusion in Best American Short Stories 2015 and by guest editor Amy Hempel for inclusion in New Stories from the South: The Year’s Best, 2010. Her work has also appeared in New England Review, The Florida Review, Natural Bridge, Bayou, and other journals, and she is a frequent contributor to Swamp Radio. She works as an advertising copywriter. (Photo/bio credit: Goodreads)

Connect with Laura
Website | Goodreads