Death in the English Countryside

 Review of Death in the English Countryside by Sara Rosett

Overview from www.barnesandnoble.com: Location scout and Jane Austen aficionado, Kate Sharp, is thrilled when the company she works for lands the job of finding locations for a new film adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, but then her boss, Kevin, fails to return from a scouting trip to England. Afraid that Kevin has slipped back into some destructive personal habits he struggles with, Kate travels to England to salvage Kevin's and the company's reputation before word gets out that he is missing.
Things go from bad to worse when Kate arrives in Nether Woodsmoor, a quaint village of golden stone cottages and rolling green hills, only to find no trace of Kevin except his abandoned luggage. Even the rumpled, easygoing local scout they consulted, Alex, doesn't know where Kevin might be. 

My Review:

I can’t be quite certain but I believe that this story falls into the cozy mystery genre and thus that is what I am labelling this as. The story begins with our protagonist, Kate Sharpe who works for a company that finds locations out in the real world where movie companies can shoot their movies. Kate comes into work one day only to discover that her boss Kevin has not yet returned to the office after a scouting trip to the English countryside—and what’s worse, he apparently did not use his return ticket.

Kate’s clandestine mission is to fly to England and find him all the while keeping his past alcohol problems under wraps so that their current client doesn’t bolt. Expecting to find him in a local pub somewhere hung-over, Kate is dismayed to learn that has been days since he has been seen and that his disappearance is looking less and less likely to be alcohol-related.

With the help of the location scout (Alex) that Kevin had been working with, she attempts to discover what really happened to him and convince the police to spend less time focusing on her as a potential suspect. Meanwhile she begins to wonder if her instincts about Alex’s innocence were not to be trusted after all as Inspector Quimby casts doubt on his alibi shortly after an unknown assailant makes an attempt on her own life.

This story was great. I really liked the characters as well as the plot itself. I believe it is the first book in a series and if I am right about that it should make a very interesting one at that. It would be unique to say the least to have a woman working for a film locations company as an amateur sleuth in a cozy mystery. It is different and refreshing though I would love to know where the author will find future situations for Kate to be exposed to other crime investigations.

The English village did not play out in the stereotypical way that I have often seen in the past. The villagers seemed generally kind to our main character but not nauseatingly so. In other words, I found the setting entirely believable.

Also, the story was clean. I don’t remember much in the way of foul language or sex scenes. The violence was minimal. I don’t even recall any blood though I am sure that there was some.

The plot was engaging enough to keep me guessing up to nearly the very end. It did not feel like the author left anything out. In the end, as Kate herself said, it was just a bunch of little things that didn’t add up and made her think twice.

I recommend this book for a good light-hearted read, a good summer read. It won’t take long to get through and it kept my attention throughout. As of this writing, it is not too expensive either. If you like this genre, you’ll probably want to check it out.

The Jesuit Letter

Review of The Jesuit Letter by Dean Hamilton

Overview from www.barnesandnoble.com:

England 1575

Ex-soldier turned play-actor Christopher Tyburn thought he had left bloodshed and violence behind him when he abandoned the war against the Spanish in Flanders, but fate has different and far bloodier plans waiting.The inn yards of London are closed due to plague and the Earl of Worcester's Men are on the road, touring the market-towns of the Midlands.When Tyburn accidentally intercepts a coded letter from a hidden Jesuit priest in Warwickshire, he is entangled in a murderous and deadly conspiracy. Stalked by unknown enemies, he must race to uncover the conspirators and hunt down the Jesuit to clear his name... or die a traitor's death.

My Review:

Again, I issue what is becoming my standard apology for being late with this post. Rather than go into all the boring details, let’s just dive right in.

My review for today focuses on the novel The Jesuit Letter by Dean Hamilton. This one promised to be very much in the vein of a previous book that I reviewed a while back (and liked) called Sacred Treason by James Forrester.

Plot-wise, Mr. Hamilton’s novel measure up nicely and involves similar types of situations. Instead of William Harley, King of Arms, our main character is one Christopher Tyburn, otherwise known as Kit. His main occupation, and I mean that literally, is as a player. And when I say player, I don’t mean that he has a few girls on the side. I am guessing that it is an Elizabethan term for an actor.

Kit is out for a stroll one day while his company is playing in Stratford, yet that Stratford, when he comes upon a young Will Shakespeare being assaulted by some not so nice men. The men are after a letter that young Master Shakespeare carries. Against his better judgement, Kit retrieves Shakespeare’s letter while the later bolts only to find a longtime family friend dead at the same hands that assaulted him. Thus begins our story.

When Kit’s friend is later killed because he is suspected of having the same letter in his possession, Tyburn determines to find out why this letter is so important. To do that, he must borrow young Shakespeare from his father while the two put their heads together to try to figure out how they can stay alive.

The good points of this story are that it has plenty of action and great characters. Tyburn is not a perfect man thankfully but he does have some heroic qualities even if he does make his living by lying to people and pretending to be something that he is not. We get the impression that he is the reason for young Will’s later interest in the stage, though his impeccable Latin might also have something to do with it.

It is been a while since I last read a biography of Shakespeare so I really couldn’t remember how accurate this story is with what we know about the bard as a person. I think most of my information was about his adult life anyway.

The biggest negative was how the pages were organized. My e-book copy had references besides some of the dialogue so as to explain certain points to the reader. When you click on them you are taken to the notes section. However, when you want to go back to where you were, there’s no link to take you there. You are on your own. This was annoying. I hope that when this book comes out officially as e-book, the publisher will have fixed this problem but if not, beware.

The downside for me was, unlike Forrester’s novel, our main character is a less moral man. He has experienced his own version of PTSD and seems to be scared by it many years later. Also he has a job where he is considered only one step above a beggar in the hierarchy of things which I suppose accounts for his lack of manners at times (he likes to swear in both Dutch and English).

Because of this character trait there are scenes in the book that I skipped over due to sexual content that was a bit too explicit for me as well as the swearing which became more and more intense throughout the progress of the book. If you can overlook these things and you enjoy your Historical Fiction with a lot of intrigue, you just might enjoy this.

Hanover Square Affair

Review of Hanover Square Affair by Ashley Gardner

Overview from www.barnesandnoble.com: London, 1816
Cavalry captain Gabriel Lacey returns to Regency London from the Napoleonic Wars, burned out, fighting melancholia, his career ended. His interest is piqued when he learns of a missing girl, possibly kidnapped by a prominent member of Parliament. Lacey's search for the girl leads to the discovery of murder, corruption, and dealings with a leader of the underworld. At the same time, he faces his own disorientation transitioning from a soldier's life to the civilian world, redefining his role with his former commanding officer, and making new friends--from the top of society to the street girls of Covent Garden.
Book 1 of the Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries.

My Review:

Captain Lacey, this week’s protagonist, is someone that I really came to like. He has pluck and cares about people who are downtrodden in his world of Regency England, perhaps because he is one of them.

Until I found this little gem I had no idea that there were Regency Mysteries. I had always heard mostly about Regency Romances and never much cared for them. I do like mysteries though so this was perfect.

And as I mentioned, I came to love Captain Lacey. He is a recent forty something former soldier who was wounded in the Napoleonic Wars. Having retired on half pay, he has few prospects and even less money. What he does have is a man commonly referred to as Mr. Grenville in his corner.

Grenville is apparently the man to know in high society and for some reason that Lacey can’t fathom, he has taken an interest in him.

It turns out to be a very good thing for Lacey when he decides to make another of his brave, spontaneous decisions to help a stranger. That stranger is a Mr. Thornton who is a broken man when Lacey discovers him one day standing outside of the home of a well-to-do London man named Mr. Horne. Thornton is shot and barely escapes with his wife, thanks to Captain Lacey.

Lacey later learns what drove Thornton to do what he did. His daughter has disappeared. She was last seen at the home of Mr. Horne. He claims to have had nothing to do with young Jane Thornton’s disappearance but Thornton thinks that he knows better. She is his only child and he is determined to get her back.

Moved by pity for Thornton’s plight, and having nothing better to do, Lacey decides to look into her case himself. I guess this is how he becomes some kind of private investigator since this book is a first in a series.

In any case, it certainly is a good start. Besides the fact that I loved Capt. Lacey as a character, the story is also very entertaining as well as moving. His weaknesses and determination to see this through somehow only make him seem more lovable, if also a little foolish.

The story of the vast London underworld is also interesting as is Lacey attempt to navigate through it without the help of the police. Grenville does however prove invaluable with his vast connections and desire to prove himself to Lacey. It was definitely a page turner and I recommend it highly to anyone who loves the Mystery or Historical Fiction genre.

Contains: a small amount of sexuality and some violence and language

Hornet Flight

       


Review of Hornet Flight by Ken Follett


Overview from www.barnesandnoble.com: "It's June 1941, and the low point of the war. England throws wave after wave of RAF bombers across the Channel, but somehow the Luftwaffe is able to shoot them down at will. The skies - indeed, the war itself seem to belong to Hitler." "But on a small Danish island across the North Sea, Harald Olufsen, a bright eighteen-year-old with a talent for engineering, stumbles upon a secret German installation. Its machinery is like nothing he has ever seen before, and he knows he must tell someone - if he can only figure out who." "With England preparing its largest aerial assault over, what Harald has discovered may turn the course of the war - but the race to convey the information could have terrible consequences for everyone close to him: For his older brother Arne, a pilot in the grounded Danish air force and already under suspicion of the authorities. For Arne's fiancee, Hermia, an MI6 intelligence analyst desperate to resurrect the foundering Danish resistance. And most of all, for Harald himself, because as the hour of the assault approaches, it will all fall to him and his friend Karen to get the word to England. And the only means available to them is a derelict Hornet Moth airplane abandoned in a ruined church, a plane so decrepit that it is unlikely ever to get off the ground." Pursued by the enemy; hunted by collaborators with almost no training, limited fuel, and no way of knowing if they can even survive the six hundred-mile flight, the two will carry with them England's best - perhaps only - hope to avoid disaster.

My Review:

I am happy to say that I am back with a Historical Fiction offering this week. Although I like to read a wide range of genres, Historical Fiction is my favorite. The only way to make it better is when authors sometimes combine the two.

However, that is not the case in the Hornet Flight by Ken Follett which is what I am reviewing this week. Our story begins in June of 1941 when it might have seemed that Britain stood alone against Hitler’s Nazi party which was bent on world domination.

The story seems to give almost equal time to all of the main characters therefore it is hard for me to pin it down to one protagonist. We start however with Digby Hoare. He works on the staff of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. And he along with the Prime Minister is trying to figure out how it is that the Germans have been able to annihilate them with such precision recently.

Enter the mission. The mission begins with Hermia and Poul. Hermia works in England while Poul is in Denmark, the country Hermia had just escaped from when the Nazis invaded. But when Poul is discovered Hermia must find someone else to take his place and she can think of no one else other than her fiancé Arne who she previously thought to be too happy go lucky for the job.

Arne’s younger brother Harald discovers the plot and realizes he can help since he has seen the German installation that the British are interested in. He demands to be included and gets his wish at great cost to himself and everyone he trusts.

Meanwhile Peter Flemming, a Danish policeman out to make a name for himself under the new regime, discovers the brother’s involvement. Having borne a grudge against the family for years, he is elated to now have a reason to strike his revenge. But will he stop them in time to prevent the British from gaining the upper hand in the war?

My verdict on the story is mixed. The main plus of course besides the interesting characters is the plot itself. The action kept me turning the pages and anxious to see if each character will live as the baton is passed to the next as Hermia herself scrambles to try to figure out who has it. It was very entertaining.

On the negative side, I had my doubts about the historical accuracy of the story and a quick Internet search did not help.  I am however still recommending it to those who are ok with a few f bombs and the sexuality that was in it. For me it was a bit much but not enough that I stopped reading the story.