Publisher: Severn House

#BookReview: For Better or Murder by Simon R. Green

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | B- Reviews> book reviews
#BookReview: For Better or Murder by Simon R. GreenFor Better or Murder (A Holy Terrors Mystery, 4) by Simon R. Green
Format: eARC
Source: supplied by publisher via NetGalley
Formats available: hardcover, ebook, audiobook
Genres: horror, mystery, paranormal, urban fantasy
Series: Holy Terrors #4
Pages: 192
Published by Severn House on May 5, 2026
Purchasing Info: Author's Website, Publisher's Website, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Bookshop.org, Better World Books
Goodreads

It’s wedding season with a spooky twist! The Holy Terrors are trying to tie the knot while solving a ghostly murder in the latest witty, creeptastic paranormal mystery from
New York Times
 bestselling British fantasy author Simon R. Green.
There are those who say seagulls cry over the sins of mankind. And that if we could only get our act together, they could stop crying …
Holy Terrors dream team—actress Diana Hunt and her partner in crime (solving) young bishop Alistair Kincaid—are getting married! The plan is to hold a small ceremony with just some family and friends at a charming and secluded hotel in Cornwall. But in true Holy Terrors fashion, the Pale Rider hotel carries the legend of a killer ghost rider and his skeleton horse, which sets the perfect tone for a cheerful occasion!
Trying to make the best out of the stormy weekend and seemingly haunted place, spirits fall even lower when one of the guests is found murdered in the hallway. Did the legendary pale rider strike again or is there something more sinister going on—and will Diana and Alistair finally have the chance to say yes?
The “hugely entertaining” (
Booklist
) Holy Terrors Mysteries are perfect for fans of Simon R. Green’s urban fantasy novels, authors Jim Butcher, Terry Pratchett and Ben Aaronovitch, as well as those who enjoy
American Horror Story
,
The X-Files
, and murder mysteries with a supernatural twist.

My Review:

It feels like this latest book in the Holy Terrors series begins at the end. The Bishop and the Actress, Bishop Alistair Kincaid and actress Diana Hunt, are about to tie the knot. At the end of Which Witch? (the previous book in the series) the Bishop popped the question and the Actress said yes. THE question. They’re getting married.

Which is not nearly as crazy an idea as it would have been if this story had been set back in the early 1900s when that catchphrase was both suggestive AND popular. (The original Saint series by Leslie Charteris used that phrase A LOT and always with the double entendre firmly evident – double entendre intended.)

Alistair and Diana met in the first book, The Holy Terrors, and were dubbed by the press as “The Holy Terrors”, when they filmed a spooky reality TV show that had much too much fake spookiness – along with entirely too many real murders. That first book set up the whole series – and the relationship between Alistair and Diana.

A relationship that, up until AFTER the fade to black at the end of this latest story, hasn’t been nearly as salacious as Diana would like it to be. And it will be once they manage to FINALLY tie that marital knot.

But it’s never that simple when the Holy Terrors are involved. First, there’s the press. Currently, they are media darlings, which has given Diana’s acting career a serious boost. But she’s not interested in the ‘paps’ running or ruining her wedding. So they’ve chosen a venue as far from the madding crowd as they can manage. A remote inn so close to the end of Cornwall that if it were any further out it would fall into the Atlantic Ocean.

Of course, the place is haunted. Or so the proprietors claim. Of course the atmosphere is beyond spooky and Mother Nature seems determined to whip the dramatic pauses and power failures up to eleven. Of course, the wedding party is a motley crew filled with hidden agendas and open resentments.

So when the bodies start dropping, neither Alistair, Diana OR the reader are surprised. But it is still fun to watch Alistair take all of the atmospheric spooky stage setting apart with his bare hands – and his logical mind – one more time.

Escape Rating B-: This reads like it could be the final book in the Holy Terrors series. And that’s probably for the best. (Yes, I know I need to explain that.)

I read this author for the snarkitude. He has always had a great line in dry, wry, intelligent banter, and that’s still true. So I’m not sorry I read this at all.

That being said, the plot is utterly predictable. It’s not just that every story in this series hangs off the same scaffolding, it’s that it’s the same scaffolding as one of the author’s other recent series, the Ishmael Jones series.

The investigators (Alistair and Diana, Ishmael and Penny) find themselves in a situation that is presented as being paranormal or supernatural in origin. Or, at least, someone tries to fool them into thinking it is. But neither Alistair nor Ishmael are fooled – Alistair out of faith and Ismael out of experience. The story is in taking the illusion apart as the bodies drop from human causes out of human motivations.

Ishmael Jones series actually works a little better because there’s an SFnal element in Ishmael’s background that allows some of the ends to be supernatural or extra-terrestrial and have that work. OTOH, Ishmael and Penny can’t really reach a happy ending – for other factors in Ishmael’s origin – but Alistair and Diana can. And quite possibly do at the end of THIS book.

So this turned out to be fun, but only because I was already invested in the series. That fun relies on prior knowledge of the series – while the series as a whole hasn’t been all that compared to the author’s earlier works like Nightside and The Secret Histories.

I also had the feeling, particularly with this last book, that this whole thing relies more than a bit on some particularly British humorous stock characters that I just didn’t have the cultural background for. Or something like that. I had this constant sense that I was just missing some nuance around the edges but didn’t know what it was precisely enough to go hunting for it.

Your reading mileage may vary.

#BookReview: The Museum of Unusual Occurrence by Erica Wright

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | B Reviews> book reviews
#BookReview: The Museum of Unusual Occurrence by Erica WrightThe Museum of Unusual Occurrence (A Psychic City Mystery) by Erica Wright
Format: eARC
Source: supplied by publisher via NetGalley
Formats available: hardcover, paperback, ebook
Genres: cozy mystery, Gothic
Series: Psychic City Mystery #1
Pages: 240
Published by Severn House on April 7, 2026
Purchasing Info: Author's Website, Publisher's Website, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Bookshop.org, Better World Books
Goodreads

Welcome to the Museum of Unusual Occurrence—a place full of strange exhibits and even stranger murders. The first in the new Psychic City mystery series by talented author Erica Wright.

“Every small town thinks it’s special—That might be true, but this one actually is.”

Rational and cynical Aly Orlean’s life in her psychic hometown of Wyndale, Florida couldn’t be more hectic. It’s all about running her business, raising a teenage sister, sending out holiday greetings—and her new finding a killer.

For her Museum of Unusual Occurrence not only houses odd curiosities but now has a brand-new The body of Rose Dempsey, a local twenty-year-old, set up in one of the exhibits as if she has been ritually sacrificed.

With the police clueless, Aly is worried that this is a vicious warning for her and her solitary way of life. Fearing for her sister Merope’s wellbeing, she’s determined to find out why the killer murdered Rose and how her body was placed in Aly’s museum . . . But might the killer be someone hiding in plain sight?

My Review:

This looks like it should be a Gothic romance. Or a paranormal mystery. Or something in the middle, even if I’m not entirely sure what that middle would look like. Let’s just say that the cover has a certain vibe.

It begins as a mystery that might, or might not, be a Gothic mystery – even if the setting is utterly right – or ripe – for that.

The Museum of Unusual Occurrence reads like something out of Ripley’s Believe or Not tourist trap – or perhaps an out-of-the-way knockoff of one. Wyndale, Florida certainly seems like the place for it. Once upon a time, in the post-Civil War era, Wyndale became the center of spiritualist practices. There were a lot of people hoping to contact loved ones in the afterlife in the late 1800s, and Wyndale (along with its real-world counterpart, Cassadaga) acquired a reputation as a place where you could find a medium on every street corner, but if you were a medium – or anything else in that line – you could find a home amongst fellow practitioners and believers who wouldn’t automatically think you were crazy for your beliefs.

In the here and now, Wyndale uses its history as a spiritualist haven to attract tourists – and their money. Nothing fraudulent or illegal, just celebrating who they were – and still are – to keep the place going.

The museum that Alcyone Orlean inherited from her dad, the Museum of Unusual Occurrence, showcases the historical aspects of the town – and includes exhibits about the history of spiritual and other ‘unusual’ practices around the world. It’s a combination of labor of love and noose around Aly’s neck that supports both Aly and her younger sister Merope. The exhibits in the museum range from the authentically historic to the chillingly creepy to the hushed reverence of the museum’s library.

At least until the morning that Aly discovers a young and very recently dead woman INSIDE one of the display cases – posed like Snow White in her glass coffin just waiting for her prince. But no prince can wake this ‘sleeping beauty’ – and Aly isn’t looking for one to save her, either.

However, Aly can’t resist getting involved in the case. Not just because it happened inside her own home, but because one of her old high school friends is the lead detective on this big case in this tiny town, and he’s just sure that Aly can help him solve the crime if she does his ‘homework’ on ritual killings for him.

As a way for her old friends to get Aly out of her self-imposed exile, out of her still simmering grief over her dad, and out of her neverending funk over the mother that abandoned her and her sister and left 20something Aly to raise her high school age sister alone, it turns out to be the best worst idea anyone ever had.

Because Aly gets invested in the fate of #wyndalesnowwhite before she’s aware that she’s all in. And before she knows that the truth about the murder – and the girl left in her museum’s glass coffin – lies much closer to home than Aly ever imagined.

Escape Rating B: In a weird way – and there’s a lot of weird to go around with this one – my mixed feelings had mixed feelings. There’s a part of me that thinks the readalikes for this one are Alix Harrow’s Starling House and Tanya Huff’s Direct Descendant. The feeling all three stories evoke is similar, even though the “magic” in both Starling House and Direct Descendant is absolutely real, while the paranormal vibes in Aly’s museum are not – for the most part.

Certainly the mystery and the villainy in Museum are both due to entirely human motives and human agencies, even though Aly begins the story as the only skeptic in a town chock-full of believers. It ends with Aly’s acknowledgement that there are “more things in heaven and Earth” than are dreamt of in her philosophy.

There are at least two mysteries in this mystery. Well, there are two obvious mysteries. It’s not just who was the dead girl or even who killed the dead girl. It’s also who put her body in the museum case and how did they get in? Along with how do they KEEP getting in, leaving threatening messages and scaring Aly half to death?

Everyone in town seems to know a little bit of something – but Aly, skeptic that she is, can’t be certain whether their knowledge comes from the ‘other side’ or just being nosy neighbors on this one. Aly bets on the nosy neighbors – and she’s not wrong to do so. Everyone certainly knows more of her business than she’d like and she learns more of theirs than she wants.

The focus is on Aly’s deepening involvement with the case, with the fate of the dead girl, and with the way that her amateur investigation draws her out of herself and her self-imposed isolation. That she’s fumbling and stumbling along the way, that there are entirely too many things she doesn’t want to see, and that she gets led down the primrose path towards the wrong perpetrator isn’t a surprise.

That the case turns in the direction it does, however, makes for a dark and surprising ending. I was completely lost in Aly’s search for ‘whodunnit’ to the point where I wanted to flip to the end and just ‘get on with it’. Whether that was a result of too many red herrings or a shade too many convolutions in the mystery, well, I’m on the fence about that part. Aly’s flailing turned into a bit of a drag before the final curtain not merely fell but finally fell on the correct parties.

This story is labeled as the first book in the Psychic City Mystery series. The town of Wyndale was every bit as much of a character in this story as Aly, her sister, and their wayward mother, and the town certainly has plenty of characters in it whose stories would be fun to dig into. My curiosity is more than engaged enough to return for another visit if the series continues!

Grade A #BookReview: Fire Must Burn by Allison Montclair

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | A Reviews> book reviews
Grade A #BookReview: Fire Must Burn by Allison MontclairFire Must Burn (Sparks & Bainbridge, #8) by Allison Montclair
Format: eARC
Source: supplied by publisher via NetGalley
Formats available: hardcover, ebook
Genres: espionage, historical fiction, historical mystery
Series: Sparks & Bainbridge #8
Pages: 255
Published by Severn House on January 6, 2026
Purchasing Info: Author's Website, Publisher's Website, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Bookshop.org, Better World Books
Goodreads


The owners of The Right Sort Marriage Bureau are back, and more determined than ever to bring love matches to the residents of Post-WWII London . . . so something as trivial as
being dragged into a spy mission isn’t going to stop them!

Sparks fly when an old friend comes to town . . .
London, 1947. After recent events have left the normally steadfast Iris Sparks thoroughly shaken, she’s looking forward to some peace. With The Right Sort doing well, she and business partner Gwen Bainbridge are due a holiday. Until Iris’s former boss enlists their help for a secret mission.
Iris, who left British intelligence after the war, is being recruited for her Cambridge connection to one Anthony Danforth. She hasn’t seen Tony in almost ten years, yet she and Gwen must manipulate him into hiring their marriage service.
Tony’s suspected of being a Soviet operative, and an undercover agent posing as his perfect match could discover the truth. Despite her reluctance at being dragged back into the world of espionage, Iris agrees. After all, Tony was once a very good friend. If he’s innocent, she’ll happily prove it. If not? Well, no one ever said being a spy was easy . . .
Those who enjoy reading Kerry Greenwood's Phryne Fisher Mysteries and Dorothy Sayers will adore this warm and witty historical mystery!

My Review:

This series began with The Right Sort of Man about two women opening a marriage bureau in post-World War II London. Miss Iris Sparks, formerly something seriously clandestine during the late war, and Mrs. Gwendoline Bainbridge, formerly a resident of a sanatorium after the death of her husband and the loss of what would have been her second child, start their agency because they both need jobs. Gwen needs to focus on her recovery so can legally reclaim her sanity and independence and regain custody of her remaining son. Iris, so she can pay the rent. They are not from the same social class but they quickly learn that their own weaknesses are the other’s strengths.

Strength they both need when one of their first clients is charged with murdering one of the others.

By this point in the series, now eight books in, Sparks and Bainbridge are ride or die friends and partners, and the tables have sort of turned on the dynamics of their friendship/sisterhood. Sparks is recovering from the loss of her gangster lover, she’s houseboat sitting in lieu of getting her own apartment, and she’s at a low point, just ripe for manipulation by her old boss/spymaster. Bainbridge has reclaimed her legal rights to her life and her remaining child, she’s in the midst of a new romance, and has just signed the Official Secrets Act because Sparks has let too many cats out of too many bags that should have been kept firmly shut in order to save both of them from the consequences of some of their more dangerous cases.

Which puts Sparks and Bainbridge squarely into – or back into in Sparks’ case – the spy game. Not against Britain’s wartime enemies, but against the new enemies all around them. It’s 1947 and one of Sparks’ old friends from Cambridge is suspected of being a Communist. (The UK and the US were seeing communists under every hedgerow in the post-war period, which gave rise to McCarthyism and the “Red Scares” of the 1950s in the US.)

It’s also true that a lot of young people, particularly college students, flirted with both socialism and communism in the 1930s, between the wars and during the Great Depression. And some became communist agents before, during and after the war. A particularly infamous spy ring, the Cambridge Five, was uncovered in the 1950s.

However, this story takes place in 1947, and the Cambridge Five have not been uncovered yet. But Sparks’ friend Tony Danforth, and for that matter, Sparks herself, did flirt with both political movements in their Cambridge days in the mid-1930s. Sparks definitively turned away, the question that the Brigadier needs to answer is whether or not Danforth did as well. His plan is to use Sparks, Bainbridge and the Right Sort Marriage Bureau as a kind of honeytrap for Danforth.

It’s not going to work the way that the Brigadier thinks it will. He’s correct that Danforth is keeping a secret, but he’s very, very wrong about the nature of the secret that Danforth is keeping. Not that he cares. But Sparks and Bainbridge very much do.

Escape Rating A: I’ve been reading this series from its opening in The Right Sort of Man, and have enjoyed every single one. But the tone of the series has changed over the course of those eight books, and the covers tell their own story. The first two covers were a bit soft-focused and reflected the romances that “The Right Sort” Marriage Bureau was working to create. Not that a murder didn’t occur, and not that the plot beats of a murder investigation didn’t drive both stories, but they were sorta/kind cozies – albeit with a more than a few twists.

original cover
current cover

The next several books, from A Rogue’s Company to Murder at the White Palace, look more like romantic suspense covers, which also represents one facet of those stories. It’s clear just from the covers that Sparks and Bainbridge are in a LOT more danger in those stories, and not just as a result of Sparks’ romance with gangleader Archie Spelling. If you compare the original version of the cover of A Rogue’s Company with the current version (both at left), that turn is made very manifest between the two.

The covers for the previous book, An Excellent Thing in a Woman, and this one, Fire Must Burn, represent another turn. They may be labelled as mysteries, but those are thriller covers, and so they should be. The Cold War is heating up – so to speak – and Iris Sparks and Gwen Bainbridge, both now signatories of the Official Secrets Act, are in the spy game up to their necks as a result of favors owed to Iris’ wartime boss, the mysterious Brigadier. Who is obviously a high-muckety-muck of one sort or another in MI6.

(I recognize that this series also experienced a change in publishers between Murder at the White Palace and An Excellent Thing in a Woman, but have no way of unraveling the reasons behind that ball of wax. I just see that the new covers EXCELLENTLY fit the new direction.)

This eighth entry in the series is a story about youthful folly, the power of privilege, the distribution of collateral damage and the price of consequences. And it kept me glued to my seat from beginning to end.

There were multiple strands to that glue. The story operates in two timelines, Sparks’ and Bainbridge’s 1947 present, AND Sparks’ own mid 1930s past at Cambridge. There are fascinating reveals in both timelines, with a kind of how it started vs. how it’s going feel. Sparks was a barely middle-class female student at Cambridge in the 1930s, and we see her as young, foolish, risk-taking and rule-breaking in a way that both fits with who we know AND shows how far she’s come as well as how the war and her own losses have changed her.

All of which are set in sharp contrast by the young female agent the Brigadier sends to seduce Danforth. A young woman very much like Sparks used to be, reminding her that she’s now 30 and scarred and jaded by her experiences. Especially the experience that set her on the course she is currently on – for both good and ill.

The story concludes with a whole lot of surprising reveals – not so much the whodunnits as a bunch of whydunnits all around. More importantly for both Sparks and Bainbridge, an all too intimate view of the changed nature of what seemed righteous in wartime but has now become a very dirty and dangerously clandestine war. One where not even the supposed “good guys” give a good goddamn about the cost – not even to their own.

It’s clear that Sparks is going to have to find a way to extricate herself and Bainbridge from the mess that necessity and expediency have gotten them into. The question is whether the Brigadier and MI6 will be willing to let them go.

A burning question – possibly literally – for the next book in the series. Hopefully this time next year.

Grade A #BookReview: A Lion’s Ransom by Candace Robb

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | A Reviews> book reviews
Grade A #BookReview: A Lion’s Ransom by Candace RobbA Lion's Ransom (An Owen Archer Mystery Book 16) by Candace Robb
Format: eARC
Source: supplied by publisher via NetGalley
Formats available: hardcover, ebook
Genres: historical fiction, historical mystery
Series: Owen Archer #16
Pages: 252
Published by Severn House on January 6, 2026
Purchasing Info: Author's Website, Publisher's Website, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Bookshop.org, Better World Books
Goodreads

Who stole the king's coronation gift? Owen encounters murder, secrets and spies as he attempts to recover a missing gold lion.

'A standout . . . Robb reinforces her place among the top writers of medieval historicals' - Publishers Weekly Starred Review

York, 1377. Owen Archer is called upon when a lion created by the goldsmiths of York as a gift for King Richard’s coronation is stolen.

A CITY’S ROAR.

The missing lion isn’t the only thing causing outrage in the city. Rumours of merchant spies passing on information to the French and Spanish persist. And then a body is spotted floating in the river . . .

TO CATCH A THIEF . . .

Is there a connection between the theft of the lion and the drowned man? The murder of a suspected spy raises further questions. Are the thief and a ferocious killer the same person? Owen’s quest for answers leads him to uncover passion, betrayal, fiercely guarded secrets . . . and to one of the most powerful men in the land.

A page-turning, intricately plotted medieval mystery from a master storyteller, perfect for fans of PAUL DOHERTY, ELLIS PETERS and C.J. SANSOM.

My Review:

Owen Archer, Captain of the Guards for the city of York in 1377, takes his responsibilities seriously. But his duties to his family, his city, AND to be the eyes and ears in the North of Princess Joan, the mother of the new and very young King Richard II, often pull him in multiple, conflicting, directions.

And that’s certainly true in this latest entry in the long-running series, even though Archer’s part of the story takes place entirely in York and the surrounding area. At least he gets to sleep in his own bed at night – when he gets to sleep at all.

This mystery begins not with a dead body, but with a missing one. Not a human body, but the solid gold body of a lion, made by the goldsmiths’ guild of York, intended to be a gift for the newly crowned king.

The golden lion was supposed to be under lock and key. It was supposed to be safe. But the Guildmaster didn’t take nearly as many precautions as he promised Archer that he would, so an enterprising thief managed to steal the lion while the Guildmaster and his apprentices were distracted by a party that should never have been held so close to such an obvious prize.

While it’s all the master goldsmith’s fault, and he’s going to end up paying for that fault in multiple ways, that doesn’t stop pressure from being placed on Archer to find the golden lion before it’s gone – out of reach either by simple geography or smelted down for its valuable metal.

But that theft is not the only case weighing down on Archer. His wife and daughter found a dead body floating in the river, with obvious signs that the victim had been helped to his demise. In the process of tracking down the victim’s identity and the cause of his death, another man is brutally tortured and murdered. The second death might be linked to the first, or to the theft – but one or both might be linked to rising tension among the merchants’ guild as calamity at sea has followed in the wake of the jostling for power at court. The coastline on which England depends for her livelihood isn’t as secure as it was under the old king, and too many enemies are aware of that fact.

Which leads, by multiple routes, to the true source of Archer’s unease. “Woe to the country whose king is a child,” or so goes the proverb. There is chaos at court as the old king’s remaining sons and supporters scrabble for power under a new, young king who is immature and easily influenced. None yet know it, but the infighting between John of Gaunt, the Duke of Lancaster, and Sir John Neville, Baron of Raby, set the first pieces on the board for the family feud that history would refer to as the “Wars of the Roses”.

While that conflict is a century in Archer’s future, in his present he is forced to reckon with Neville’s growing power and influence on the young king, as one of the victims in the mystery that Archer has to solve was a spy, a thief, and Neville’s bastard son. Information that Archer will have to tell the man and pray that his family and his city survive the wrath of a powerful noble with growing influence on the king and the kingdom they both serve.

Escape Rating A: One of the things I love about the Owen Archer series is the place that it is set. York is one of those places where, if you listen carefully, you can hear history walking beside you. While the history that one feels today is the life of Archer’s own time, it’s also true that in the series, Archer and the other characters are very aware of their own histories, as well as the foment and ferment of the time in which they themselves walk.

(I know parts of the above sound a bit fanciful, but it feels right to me all the same. Particularly as I read the first book in this series, The Apothecary Rose, on a trip to York many moons ago.)

Because this story isn’t just about Archer’s present. As has been true in the past couple of books in the series, A Fox in the Fold and A Snake in the Barley, this story manages to solve its mysteries, hint at the future in the growing tensions at court and the (as it turns out correct) fears about the immaturity and outright petulance of the new king, and take a much deeper dive into the personal past of one its long-running characters, Archer’s friend Martin Wirthur. A man who has kept his secrets close to his vest for decades – because those secrets tell a much different – and considerably more villainous – story than the one that Wirthur has presented to his friend.

A Lion’s Ransom is Wirthur’s redemption story, and it works even though the reader never gets the full picture of his sins. We don’t need to and neither does Archer. But Wirthur’s attempt to do as much good as he can in what remains of his life allows the reader to see parts of the city where Archer is not welcome, gives the reader an intimate view of Archer and his wife’s Lucie’s home life with their children, AND provides a surprisingly neat bow for tying off this portion of what likely become Sir John Neville’s growing part of the political story in which this series is set.

Which is also the other thing I love about this series. The way that, while the mysteries may be local, the wider world has a huge influence on the overall story and that the series allows us to see those events from the perspective of the people upon whom the fallout will fall. It’s not about the court, but it clearly shows how chaos and power grabs at court affect the lives of people we can identify with and empathize with.

I always love returning to Archer’s York, and this particular entry in the series had me from the opening. The combination of Archer’s investigation, his running himself ragged to keep all the investigations in motion, AND his fears for his friends and family in the midst of local unrest, along with the missives from court giving him yet more to worry about in the future, made for a very tasty, and absolutely compelling, brew of a story.

I can’t wait to see what trouble comes for Archer in his next investigation – hopefully this time next year.

#BookReview: Which Witch? by Simon R. Green

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | B Reviews> book reviews
#BookReview: Which Witch? by Simon R. GreenWhich Witch? (Holy Terrors Mystery, #3) by Simon R. Green
Format: eARC
Source: supplied by publisher via NetGalley
Formats available: hardcover, ebook, audiobook
Genres: horror, mystery, paranormal, urban fantasy
Series: Holy Terrors #3
Pages: 203
Published by Severn House on August 5, 2025
Purchasing Info: Author's Website, Publisher's Website, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Bookshop.org, Better World Books
Goodreads

Talented actress Diana and young bishop Alistair, her partner in crime-solving and supernatural sleuthing, face the terrifying curse of the Scottish Play in this witty, creeptastic paranormal mystery from New York Times bestselling British fantasy author Simon R. Green

Miles away from town or city, and centuries away from civilization, three witches dance around a great brass cauldron, singing songs of horror and hatred. The Crone raises her voice to ‘When shall we three meet again?’ . . . only for the cauldron to emit a thick, poisonous smoke, sending her, and her fellow actresses, fleeing for their lives.

For the director, it’s the last straw. Macbeth is famously a cursed play, but the incident, not the first in a long line of creepy events, makes him wonder if someone – or something – is trying to sabotage the play. The show must go on! But not if the forces of darkness are determined for it not to.

Talented actress Diana Hunt, hired to give her Lady Macbeth, knows just the man to turn to for her partner in crime-solving, handsome young bishop Alistair Kincaid, whose help investigating a series of seemingly supernatural murders has earned them the nickname the Holy Terrors. But with evil and black magic wrapping the theatre in darkness, this investigation might cost Alistair and Diana far more than they’re expecting.

My Review:

There’s a curse on ‘The Scottish Play’, or so the old acting tradition goes. Part of that curse is that if any of the actors in the play utter the play’s actual title, that the production will be doomed. It’s possible that tradition arose because The Tragedy of Macbeth has the potential to be a rather expensive play to put on, and a lot of theaters that did so went out of business because they were already in financial trouble and hoping that a splashy production would rescue them.

Or it could all be the witches’ fault. There are certainly plenty of them in any production of Macbeth.

The production of Macbeth that ‘the Actress’ half of the ‘Holy Terrors’ is rehearsing seems to already be covered in the curse from every possible angle even before her partner-in-solving-crimes, ‘the Bishop’, gets called in.

The theater they’re rehearsing in may not technically be haunted, but it’s been derelict for so long that it might as well be. It’s certainly falling apart around the actors’ ears. There have been a series of spooky, mildly dangerous, plausibly supernatural events amid the rehearsals from the very first day.

Neither the director nor the money men seem willing to take those events seriously, but Diana Hunt, ‘the Actress’, certainly is. So she calls in Bishop Alistair Kincaid, her very own Bish. At least she wants him to be.

Hers, that is.

Not that anyone can blame her – although a few people do – for wanting his stalwart presence at her side, because there’s something terribly wrong in the wings of this old theater. So far in their adventures, the spooky and the supernatural have turned out to all be matters of misdirection and human agency, but there’s a first time for everything.

And even if there’s not, the Holy Terrors have an excellent record of finding their way to the truth – no matter how much fog – or fire – or at least smoke – gets in their eyes.

Escape Rating B: I read this author for the tone of his voice – particularly his excellent line in snark – and this latest book was no exception. What makes this series especially fun is that the Bishop and the Actress give excellent banter. The series – at least so far – rides on the coattails of their obvious attraction to each other to the point where their every interaction hints at both the double entendre of old “the Bishop said to the Actress” jokes AND the will they/won’t they? of their relationship.

So I sunk right into this third entry in the series – after The Holy Terrors and Stone Certainty – because I was having a grand time just listening to the two of them talk to each other and egg each other on. For this reader, that’s the best part of the story.

But there is also a mystery. Based on their prior outings, I was pretty sure at the outset that whatever was going on in that awful theater was awfulness of the entirely human  – and living – variety. Not that someone wasn’t using the creepy atmosphere to further their aims, but that those aims were entirely among the living and so was the perpetrator – or perpetrators.

Like those previous books, this one does a terrific job in poking holes at something we’re already familiar with that affords plenty of opportunity for some sort of woo-woo trickery to ooze right into everyone’s subconscious. In The Holy Terrors it was reality TV, Stone Certainty featured a stone circle, while this time around its the shenanigans and superstitions of an acting troupe. The internal squabbles of this intimate group of frenemies certainly added to the rising tide of red herrings in solving the mystery.

In the end, this turned out to be a bit of Noises Off set backstage of the creepiest play to ever creep in a haunted theater filled with backstabbing personalities on all sides. I came into this one expecting to be entertained – possibly more than any audience this production might ever have – and that’s exactly what I got.

I was not expecting there to be a supernatural element in the actual mystery – and there wasn’t. The hint of the supernatural that the story did have was JUST the right touch.

What I did hope for was to see a bit of how the UST between the Bishop and the Actress was – or was not – going to resolve. I left the story thinking that they believe it did – but I’m not certain at all that it will work out. We’ll see whether it does for the book or the characters – or possibly but not likely both – if/when the series continues. Because this could be the end – but I kind of hope it isn’t.

A- #BookReview: The Misplaced Physician by Jeri Westerson

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | A- Reviews> book reviews
A- #BookReview: The Misplaced Physician by Jeri WestersonThe Misplaced Physician (An Irregular Detective mystery Book 3) by Jeri Westerson
Format: eARC
Source: supplied by publisher via NetGalley
Formats available: hardcover, ebook, audiobook
Genres: historical fiction, historical mystery, mystery
Series: Irregular Detective #3
Pages: 218
Published by Severn House on July 1, 2025
Purchasing Info: Author's Website, Publisher's Website, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Bookshop.org, Better World Books
Goodreads

When Doctor John H. Watson is kidnapped while Sherlock Holmes is out of the country, private investigators Timothy Badger and Benjamin Watson must find the missing physician . . .

London, 1895. Former Baker Street Irregular Timothy Badger and his partner in detection Benjamin Watson are in a the eminent Dr John H. Watson has been kidnapped! The physician was enjoying a glass of sherry at his Baker Street residence before being bundled away in a barouche coach wearing only one slipper. Did Dr Watson know his captor, and where is he now? Could the mysterious ransom notes arriving in the post hold the answer?

With their mentor Sherlock Holmes out of the country, recovering the missing doctor could well be the biggest case the intrepid duo is ever likely to face . . . and if they don't do so quickly, it could be their last!

An intriguing Victorian mystery full of shenanigans, humor, and twists featuring a cast of eccentric characters led by two exciting, unconventional detectives mentored by Sherlock Holmes - perfect for fans of Charles Finch and Anne Perry.

My Review:

Sherlock Holmes’ investment in his experiment pays surprising dividends for the ‘Great Detective’ in this third book in the Irregular Detective series. The physician who has been misplaced is Holmes’ own friend and chronicler, Dr. John H. Watson, while Holmes is out of town and out of reach on some mysterious errand of his own – or more likely at the behest of his brother Mycroft.

So, when Mrs. Hudson receives a ransom demand for the good doctor, she’s at sixes and sevens about who to call on. Of course, the note demands that she NOT involve the police, leaving her in a bit of a quandary. But Mrs. Hudson does not dither about the problem. If she were a ditherer, she wouldn’t have survived as Sherlock Holmes’ landlady for these many years.

If she can’t reach the master, she’ll get the apprentice, leading her straight to the Dean Street door of Badger and Watson, the young detectives that Holmes has taken under his wing. Or, in the case of Timothy Badger, kept there as Badger was once one of Holmes’ own Baker Street Irregulars.

The game that is afoot in Badger and HIS Watson’s third outing is both WAY over their heads and too close to home to allow them to refer the case to the police – even if Dr. Watson’s kidnappers hadn’t completely ruled out that possibility. Timothy Badger and Ben Watson OWE Sherlock Holmes after he bankrolled their start. His continued support has kept them afloat AND sent them cases to grow their agency.

They NEED to get this right. And for that, they need help. Specifically, they need the help of intrepid reporter Ellsie Littleton to help them navigate the trail from the familiar confines of London to places and situations where two young men from the rough side of that town have never had to tread.

And they need eyes and ears in places they never thought to go, meaning that the young detectives need to develop some ‘irregulars’ of their own – to be where they cannot. Just as Badger did when he was a lad.

It’s going to take the combined efforts of every single one of those resources – as well as the odd assortment of skills that Ben Watson has learned along his way – to figure out the who, what, when, where and why of a case that may not make much sense but has the potential to scupper their futures AND take away a mentor that they both respect.

Escape Rating A-: This series has been pure historical mystery fun from Badger and Watson’s first outing in The Isolated Seance, and this third book is no exception – although it is a bit different from both Seance and the second book, The Mummy of Mayfair.

It did seem as if the young detectives were taking on cases that their mentor probably wouldn’t have touched with someone else’s barge-pole due to the supposed ‘paranormal’ vibes. (The author left hints that their fourth case will head back in that direction.)

But this third outing is a bit less outré and a bit more conventional than their earlier cases, as at its heart this is a kidnapping and ransom case where it’s up to our detectives to rescue the victim before their kidnapper is done with them – and does away with Dr. John H. Watson.

While the stakes of this case are high, it is still fun to see Badger and Watson grow into it, both as people and as detectives. They have to expand their horizons, both literally and figuratively, as they have no one to rely on but each other and the ‘irregulars’ they have already gathered around them.

They’ve never been outside of London, they’ve never had a case with so few clues, and they’ve never had to solve a case where the costs will be both so personal and so catastrophic if they fail.

Which is where, really, really surprisingly, romance enters the picture for both Badger and Watson. As much as Ben Watson doesn’t want to include reporter Ellsie Littleton in their investigation, they need her for the skills they both lack. At the same time, Tim and Ben are both wary of Ellsie’s involvement in their cases AND especially in Tim’s life, as she is an aristocrat whose family fortune is gone. There’s plenty of suspicion to go around – as there should be.

Meanwhile, the case itself is fascinating, because so little of it makes sense. It absolutely does hang together well in all the ways that a mystery should, but everything feels askew. Dr. Watson either left in a hurry OR he left really obscure clues behind. The case might relate to one of Holmes’ old cases, or it might be a way of getting at Holmes himself by kidnapping his friend.

And the ransom demand is WAY too low and the instructions for delivery are way too strange. The kidnapping might not be about the ransom at all. But then, what is it about? They have a lot to work through but seemingly a flexible amount of time to do it. Which is also, well, not exactly typical in a kidnapping case.

That, in the end, this case, like one of Holmes’ other old cases, comes down to the ‘curious incident of the dog in the nighttime’ weaves the whole thing back into the Holmes’ canon without pulling a thread of it out of place made The Misplaced Physician an excellent addition to both the Irregular Detective series and the library of stories that ensure that the game is always afoot.

A- #BookReview: An Excellent Thing in a Woman by Allison Montclair

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | A- Reviews> book reviews
A- #BookReview: An Excellent Thing in a Woman by Allison MontclairAn Excellent Thing in a Woman (A Sparks and Bainbridge Mystery, #7) by Allison Montclair
Format: eARC
Source: supplied by publisher via NetGalley
Formats available: hardcover, ebook
Genres: historical fiction, historical mystery
Series: Sparks & Bainbridge #7
Pages: 224
Published by Severn House on February 4, 2025
Purchasing Info: Author's Website, Publisher's Website, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Bookshop.org, Better World Books
Goodreads

The owners of The Right Sort Marriage Bureau are back, and more determined than ever to bring love matches to the residents of Post-WWII London . . . so something as trivial as a murder investigation isn't going to stop them!
London, 1947. Spirited Miss Iris Sparks and ever-practical Mrs Gwendolyn Bainbridge are called to action when Gwen's beau Salvatore 'Sally' Danielli is accused of murder!
Sally has taken a job at the BBC studios at Alexandra Palace, but when the beautiful Miss JeanneMarie Duplessis - one of the Parisian performers over for a new variety show - is found dead in the old theatre, a number of inconvenient coincidences make him Suspect
Just days earlier, Miss Duplessis had arrived at The Right Sort, desperately looking for a husband - any husband - to avoid having to return to Paris. As the plot thickens, Iris is pulled back into the clandestine circles she moved in during the war and it soon becomes apparent that to clear Sally's name, she and Gwen would need to go on the hunt for a killer once more!
Those who enjoy reading Kerry Greenwood's Phryne Fisher mysteries and Dorothy Sayers will adore this warm and witty historical mystery!

My Review:

The Right Sort Marriage Bureau began by making one long-lasting partnership – and solving a murder into the bargain – in their very first outing, The Right Sort of Man.

The business partnership and ride-or-die sisterhood of Iris Sparks and Gwen Bainbridge has held true through thick and thin, murder and mayhem, for six books so far, with this seventh proving that these two women are in it for each other – no matter what life throws in their way. Separately AND together.

Because they’ve always been separated by one BIG secret – not that they haven’t chipped at that secret’s edges over the course of their partnership.

During the war whose aftermath still scars London and the English countryside, Iris Sparks signed the Official Secrets Act, vowing to keep her clandestine work on behalf of the British government just that, a secret. Gwen has always known that Iris did a LOT of things she can’t talk about – if only because people from Iris’ life during those shadowy years keep showing up in her present.

This particular case, two years after the end of the war, is riddled with bullets and memories from those dark days – even as it portrays a world making bold strides towards the future.

The lights, cameras and action of the brave new world of television are about to bring British talent and culture – and slapstick – into the living rooms of thousands around the country – and eventually the world. But among the shadowy sets and hidden props a traitor has hidden in plain sight – one who plans to pin an entire new set of crimes and coverups on someone in the wrong place and the wrong time.

But he’s made one BIG mistake. He’s tried to fit a frame around someone that both Iris and Gwen hold dear – and neither of them can let that stand.

Escape Rating A-: Archie Spelling is dead, to begin with. The ending of the previous book, Murder at the White Palace, left the fate of Iris Sparks’ lover hanging by a thread. In the brief period between the end of that book and the beginning of this one, that thread was cut. Now Iris is the partner adrift at the Right Sort, while Gwen Bainbridge, finally free of the Lunacy Court and the oppressive conservatorship of her late husband’s wealthy family, has begun a new independent life in a new house with her young son AND has begun a romantic relationship of her own.

Gwen’s world is finally looking up, while Iris’ is mostly staring blearily at the bottom of a bottle, as the manner of Archie’s death, devastating enough in its own right, brought back to Iris entirely too many unresolved issues from her secret spy work during the war.

So Gwen is rising, Iris is falling, and their new case represents the changes coming even as it all goes very, very pear-shaped.

Television transmitter ‘mast’ at the Ally Pally ca 1935

Sparks & Bainbridge are investigating the murder of one of their clients – as they did in their first story – but this case in all of its fake tinsel and real tinsel, takes place at “Ally Pally”, the Alexandra Palace, home and headquarters of BBC television. A performer is dead, a stage manager is suspect, and Iris and Gwen are caught in the middle and tied up in knots by the Official Secrets Act that Iris signed long ago.

Because the dead woman, the accused stage manager, the likely murderer and pretty much every single person Iris runs into along the way of the investigation – all signed the Act and can’t talk about how they know each other, what they did together and separately, and why this murder has nothing to do with BBC TV now and everything to do with secret radio broadcasts from hidden bunkers in the midst of some very dark nights then.

If they don’t tell the truth, the wrong man will be hanged for the murder. If they do tell the truth, they’ll all hang for telling the tale.

Iris can’t save herself, but Gwen can save them all. By becoming part of the world of danger and derring-do that she’s been nibbling at the edges of since the day she met Iris Sparks. It looks like Sparks & Bainbridge are going to be up to their necks in the Cold War in future books in this series – and I can’t wait to read them!

#BookReview: Stone Certainty by Simon R. Green

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | B Reviews> book reviews
#BookReview: Stone Certainty by Simon R. GreenStone Certainty (A Holy Terrors mystery, 2) by Simon R. Green
Format: eARC
Source: supplied by publisher via NetGalley
Formats available: hardcover, ebook, audiobook
Genres: horror, mystery, paranormal, urban fantasy
Series: Holy Terrors #2
Pages: 192
Published by Severn House on February 4, 2025
Purchasing Info: Author's Website, Publisher's Website, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Bookshop.org, Better World Books
Goodreads


Dare you enter the stone circle . . .? The world's most unlikely ghost-busting duo - actress Diana and handsome young bishop Alistair - are back in this spine-tingling paranormal mystery from
New York Times bestselling British fantasy author
There are stories about the dilapidated stone circle at Chipping Amesbury, going back centuries. Of people going missing, never to be seen again. Of people found dead inside the circle. Of monsters, and of demons. The villagers may tell the tales with relish to visiting tourists, but a careful observer will notice that there is no transport to the stones, no tours on offer, and the locals stay well away.
Alistair Kincaid, the youngest ever bishop of All Souls Hollow, is an expert in Britain's ancient stone circles. That's why, when landowner Sir Neville Chumley announces his plans to restore the circle to its ancient glory, he agrees to take part in a documentary about the project.
Well - that, plus talented actress Diana Hunt is on board. Ever since their last encounter, when the pair of them hunted ghosts and solved a murder, the tabloids have dubbed them the Holy Terrors, and Alistair can't wait to see her again.
But soon after filming begins, Alistair and Diana are plunged into a terrifying mystery. For the repositioning of the final stone unleashes a series of blood-chilling events that threaten to make them both believe in demons - if, that is, they make it out of the stone circle alive.
The Holy Terrors novels are funny, scary and thoroughly entertaining - perfect for fans of Simon R. Green's urban fantasy novels, as well as those who enjoy American Horror Story, The Haunting of Hill House, horror novels, and murder mysteries with a supernatural twist.

My Review:

As the Bishop said to the Actress, this time was better than the last time. Or perhaps he should have said. Or I’d have said to him (as the reader and not the actress) because this second outing in the Holy Terrors Mystery series was better than the first entry, The Holy Terrors.

It helped more than a bit that we are at least already acquainted with that Bishop and that Actress, Alistair Kincaid and Diana Hunt, after their first meeting and first adventure.

What REALLY helped was that even though a whole bunch of the mystery was obviously a put up job from the off – even if we don’t know exactly how it was put up, or why – the setting was inherently a whole lot creepier than the supposedly “most haunted hall in England” in that first go around.

Stonehenge at Sunset

Stone circles are a haunting feature of the British Isles – and there are considerably more of them than people tend to think there are. Over 1,300 are scattered over England, Scotland, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Wales, Brittany and the Channel Islands. Stonehenge may be the largest, and certainly the best known, but it’s far, far, far from the only one.

And no, with all our science, we still don’t know for certain what they were built for. But they are fascinating, and creepy, and fascinatingly creepy all at the same time. Whatever the reason for them, the ‘monumental’ amount of effort required to build them at the time when they were built represented a HUGE drain on the society of the time. Their builders certainly thought they were important based on the amount of time and effort that was needed to build them.

Myths and legends are attached to all of them – and not just the stories of time travel between the stones that the Outlander books popularized. In the present, they also generate a lot of tourist income wherever they are located.

All of which makes the idea of this second book in the Holy Terrors series more plausible and a bit less of a joke than the first story. Which made the whole enterprise just a bit easier to get into and go along with for the ride.

That the tiny, off-the-beaten path town of Chipping Amesbury, with its even more out of the way stone circle, would like to revive the tourist industry that used to sustain them before the town becomes as derelict as the stone circle makes a whole lot of sense. That the new local squire actually has enough money to put a big push behind that desire is a bit less common but at least is plausible.

That some locals think he’s disturbing things that shouldn’t be disturbed makes a nice foil for his attempt at restoration, and provides just the right note of tension to this story about a made-to-order documentary about this particular stone circle and how much it can improve the local economy – which seemingly EVERYONE should want.

That the documentary production includes the local TV news personalities, to give it some gravitas, and the ‘Holy Terrors’ duo who caught the popular imagination back in their first adventure to give the project a bit of pizzazz seems like exactly the kind of thing that a publicity hunting squire would do to drum up the desired interest.

Which is, of course, when the entire thing goes utterly pear-shaped, and the crew is stranded in that remote stone circle, surrounded by dense fog, as the bodies start dropping. Out of the circle and seemingly into thin air – or perhaps, to some Other Place.

Escape Rating B: I liked this better than the first book, because I went into it more willing to suspend my disbelief this second time around. I’m already convinced that there is nothing real about so-called ‘Reality TV’, but I’ve been to more than one stone circle and they do have a bit of a weird vibe even if it’s only in the sense of “what the hell made these people go to all this trouble.” I’ve been to Stonehenge a bunch of times and it’s been gloomy and lowering and weird every time.

So I went into this one, well, not thinking that anything supernatural or extraterrestrial was going to come out of the stones, but that both the locals and the crew would be a bit creeped out and that everyone on all sides would have some ‘feelings’ about it all because the places do engender those feelings for real.

I was expecting a human agency behind it all – because that’s the way that all of this author’s recent paranormal-ish, supernatural-ish series (I’m looking at you Ishmael Jones) mostly work.

But I did expect to have a bit more fun along the way than I did last time because the premise had a bit more meat to it. And it did and I did. But I’m left wondering just how long the author plans to ride this one-trick pony, because there’s no real meat on those bones.

Although I certainly want the Bishop and the Actress to resolve their “will-they? / won’t they?” relationship before the ride is over!

#BookReview: Rebellious Grace by Jeri Westerson

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | B+ Reviews> book reviews
#BookReview: Rebellious Grace by Jeri WestersonRebellious Grace (A King's Fool mystery, 3) by Jeri Westerson
Format: eARC
Source: supplied by publisher via NetGalley
Formats available: hardcover, ebook
Genres: historical fiction, historical mystery
Series: King's Fool #3
Pages: 224
Published by Severn House on January 7, 2025
Purchasing Info: Author's Website, Publisher's Website, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Bookshop.org, Better World Books
Goodreads


Henry VIII's court jester Will Somers turns reluctant inquisitor once again when a grotesque murder within the palace walls is linked to the Pilgrimage of Grace rebellion in this gripping Tudor mystery.

1536, London. The gruesome murder of a servant in the king's palace, his throat savagely cut, has brought fear to the court of Henry VIII. When the man's body is then dug up from the churchyard and disembowelled two weeks later, Will Somers, the king's jester, is horrified. What terrible mischief is now afoot under the king's roof?
With Henry VIII distracted by The Pilgrimage of Grace, the religious revolt led by Robert Aske in protest at the king turning his back on the Catholic faith, Will becomes reluctant inquisitor once again. As he attempts to unmask a murderous knave, Will uncovers a chilling link between one of Queen Jane Seymour's precious jewels, the rebellion and the dead man. Is a shocking act of treachery behind a grotesque killing?
Perfect for fans of stunning Tudor mysteries and historical dramas featuring witty and tenacious sleuths, and bursting with betrayal, politics and passion from the likes of Paul Doherty Michael Jecks,, C.J. Sansom and Philippa Gregory.

My Review:

Will Somers, the King’s Fool of this series, finds himself hoist on his own petard in this particular case. After his success at investigating murders on his own in the two previous books in this series, Courting Dragons and The Twilight Queen, this time around his king has ordered him to look into the death of one of Will’s fellow royal servants.

Not as a result of the original murder, but because some ghoulish or desperate person disinterred the corpse of the late Geoffrey Payne in order to disembowel the man two weeks after his burial. Someone seriously had it out for the victim, and King Henry VIII has tasked his fool, Will Somers, with discovering who would do such a terrible thing – and especially why.

Finding out who might have wanted the man dead is one thing, figuring out who hated him so much that they desecrated his corpse is something else altogether.

Evidence from the murder has long been washed away, but Will knows THAT is where he must begin, with a trail long grown as cold as the winter winds whipping through the palace. But Will, as the king’s own, personal, fool, has permission to poke his nose in anywhere and everywhere at court. With his king’s commission, he has the warrant to ask all the questions he wants, as well.

Even as every single noble he even attempts to talk with makes him all too aware that they will remember this slight and take it out on him whenever the first opportunity arises. Because even if they’re guilty they know they can’t be punished – but sooner or later, Will Somers most certainly can.

But Will can’t resist the puzzle – no matter how much he wishes that he could. The more he digs into the problem, the more it seems like that problem is much bigger than the ‘mere’ death of one of the queen’s own royal servants – not that Will Somers, a royal servant himself, would ever see it so.

That his best witness is unreliable by their very nature only adds to the conundrum, as each clue he teases out takes his investigation one more rung up the ladder of people that Will knows he cannot touch – even if they are guilty.

Especially if they have involved a member of the court so high that they cannot even be questioned, let alone touched, at all.

Escape Rating B+: Historical mysteries like this one, and the King’s Fool series of which it is the third entry, have to walk a tightrope over the historical era they portray. That’s especially true in this case, as Will Somers, the ‘King’s Fool’ of the title, was a real person in the court of Henry VIII, and his position and duties are known to history – if not the details of his days and nights.

At the same time, as an integral part of the court, Will was, by definition of his duties, in a position to literally see all and know all about the doings of the high and mighty among whom he served.

Which is very much where that tightrope comes in. His job, not as a ‘court jester’ but as the king’s own fool, required him to be in the rooms where Henry VIII’s reign happened – while at the same time being ignored as beneath the notice of the courtiers in that room with him.

The conceit of this series has put Somers in the sort of position that modern detectives would envy. He is intimately aware of all the ‘goings on’ in court, and he has been part of the court more than enough years to know how things work, where the nobility stash the skeletons in their personal closets and where the metaphorical and occasionally physical bodies are buried.

At the same time, he’s an outsider. He’s not himself a noble and he never will be. He’s a servant and all too frequently reminded of that fact. He’s beneath notice – and yet, he has the ear of the king. He can go everywhere and see everything and continue to slither out of trouble as long as he doesn’t go too far for the king to allow him to keep both his position and his head.

The story gets told, and the mystery gets solved, through Will Somers’ intimate perspective on the court and the people in it. It very much feels as if the mystery is second to the detailed and loving portrait of the court and its denizens. Not that Will doesn’t manage to solve the mystery while getting into as much danger as any contemporary detective, but that both the solution and the danger are tightly wrapped in the historical period.

I enjoy this series a LOT because this is a period that has always fascinated me. The history that it dives into so deeply is recognizable and familiar and the ‘you are there’ feeling is one that I’m eager to be a part of. I hope it works just as well for readers who are experiencing this era for the first time.

The series continues to move through the reign of Henry VIII based on that old doggerel about his wives, “Divorced, beheaded, died. Divorced, beheaded, survived.” The next book in the series, tentatively titled Beloved Sister but recently changed to Devil’s Gambit, will be set during Henry VIII’s brief marriage to Anne of Cleves, which she survived in style.

In the meantime, I’m also looking very much forward to Six Wild Crowns by Holly Race coming in June, the start of an epic fantasy series that also takes its inspiration from the court of Henry VIII and his wives.

I am eagerly anticipating both of these upcoming books!

A- #BookReview: A Snake in the Barley by Candace Robb

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | A- Reviews> book reviews
A- #BookReview: A Snake in the Barley by Candace RobbA Snake in the Barley (An Owen Archer mystery Book 15) by Candace Robb
Format: eARC
Source: supplied by publisher via Edelweiss
Formats available: hardcover, ebook
Genres: historical fiction, historical mystery
Series: Owen Archer #15
Pages: 325
Published by Severn House on December 3, 2024
Purchasing Info: Author's Website, Publisher's Website, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Bookshop.org, Better World Books
Goodreads

Where is taverner Tom Merchet? Owen Archer unearths a series of troubling secrets and a dangerous foe intent on retribution when his good friend goes missing.

"A standout . . . Robb reinforces her place among the top writers of medieval historicals" - Publishers Weekly Starred Review

York, 1377. Owen Archer is determined to find his friend, taverner Tom Merchet, who has been missing for five days. His wife, Bess, is frantic with worry.

AN ENIGMATIC STRANGER.

Who is the elusive Widow Cobb that Tom was seen visiting? And who is the man spotted following Tom before he vanished? As Owen hunts for clues, Bess decides to visit the widow’s lodgings and makes a terrifying discovery.

RETRIBUTION IS BREWING . . .

Owen digs up past sins and long-buried secrets that answer some of the questions surrounding Tom’s disappearance. But who is the sly and malevolent figure intent on destroying his friend, and why? A shocking confession will rock Owen to his core . . .

An action-packed, evocative and masterfully plotted medieval mystery in the critically acclaimed Owen Archer series, perfect for fans of C.J. Sansom, Ellis Peters and Paul Doherty.

My Review:

The previous entry in this marvelous long-running series, A Fox in the Fold, was all wrapped up in Owen Archer’s past. This current entry dives deeply into the past of Owen and Lucie Archer’s friend and neighbor, tavernkeeper Tom Merchet.

At the heart of this particular mystery is something that almost seems foreign to us in this era of instant communication and always available – if not always true – information. The past is another country, as the saying goes, and they do things differently there. One of the things that is very different is just how easy it could be to reinvent yourself – for good or ill – by moving a distance that doesn’t seem all that far to us, but represented a significant investment in time, money and danger in Owen Archer’s – and Tom Merchet’s – late 14th century.

Owen Archer, his wife Lucie, and his neighbors and good friends Tom and Bess Merchet, are all middle-aged by this point in the series (1377) which began in 1363 in The Apothecary Rose. Owen wears his past on his face in the form of an eyepatch that covers the wound that saw him mustered out of the King’s Archers and into a life as the King’s wandering investigator.

But Tom Merchet’s past has remained firmly down the road both literally and figuratively, in places and people he left behind and buried before Owen came to York to investigate whether – or not as the case turned out to be – Lucie murdered her late husband.

Everyone in York knows that Tom lost his first wife and child, and very nearly the York Tavern along with them. And that Bess saved him and the tavern both with her skills as a cook and manager, and that they grew together into a happy and loving marriage.

But their peace has been disturbed by a series of unfortunate and downright strange events. Someone is digging holes around their property. Tom has been skulking about town at odd hours, visiting strangers suspected of theft – and worse. Bess is sure it’s all tied to a past that Tom has always refused to talk about – and that whatever happened then has come back to haunt him now – and that it’s taken him away from her. Possibly for good. Meaning for something very, very ill indeed.

And she’s right about that. But wrong about pretty much every single thought and speculation that has led her – and her now missing husband – to this terrible pass. Because of a past that has refused to let him go.

Escape Rating A-: I adore this series, and have since I read the very first book, The Apothecary Rose, as I myself was walking the streets of York on a trip just over OMG 30 years ago. Time does fly and some of it has been fun. The reading parts, certainly.

Reflecting back on the series, how much time it has covered both in the ‘real world’ and in Owen and Lucie’s historical York – even if it hasn’t been nearly as much time for them as it has been for us – I can’t help but think over how much has happened in both sets of those years. While at the same time marveling at just how little prior knowledge of the series a reader needs to have or remember to get into this 15th entry in it. (Meaning that you could start here but it’s all just so good you really should start at the beginning!)

It’s all down to the fact that, throughout the series, Tom Merchet has revealed little of his past. That he has one, yes. What it consisted of, what sins he’s committed, he hasn’t discussed. At all. Even with his wife.

So when Tom goes missing Owen doesn’t have any clues about where to start because Tom didn’t leave any. Owen is just as lost as we are – or the other way around! – investigating events that happened nearly two decades ago if not more, committed to and perhaps committed by a man he knows NOW but who may not much resemble the person he was THEN.

As Owen investigates, he hears conflicting reports of Tom in both the past and the present. He knows that the behavior that resulted in Tom’s near death beating in the now doesn’t make much sense even in the abstract and certainly bears no resemblance to his friend. Which doesn’t mean that the long-ago events which left behind so much enmity in Tom’s former home couldn’t have been committed by a much younger – and likely more hot-headed – version of that same man.

The heart of Owen’s investigation, the mystery he has to solve, lies in the past. A past that Tom has kept from his wife, a past that he’s ashamed of. But someone wants him dead in the present very, very badly. Someone who has left a trail of corpses behind them and then attempted to frame Tom for their deeds. Someone who obviously left Tom for dead in the hopes that the frame would fit his corpse better than it does a living man who has tales to tell.

Unless Tom has been hiding a villainous nature all along. Or a nature that was once villainous enough that he can be blackmailed now to keep it quiet. Leaving Owen to navigate his way through the rather pointy horns of multiple dilemmas, all of which must be resolved in order to bring the true villain – or villains – to justice.

And, as always in this series, it’s a delight to watch him work – especially this time around as he doesn’t begin with a clue and we get a refresher on everyone and everything all over again. Even the parts that seem familiar have to be re-examined with fresh eyes and it’s a great reminder of the bones of all the stories that have come before in the series while giving new readers a place to jump in.

The major plot of this particular story and its biggest mystery, is primarily domestic in nature this time around. But that does not mean that the roiling boil of royal politics does not touch upon York, particularly upon Owen in his semi-official position as the Princess of Wales’ agent in the North. The old king is on his deathbed, his Prince of Wales is several years in his grave, and the heir apparent is a child that all his uncles are already squabbling over – as well as over the throne on which the young Richard II-to-be will sit. If he lives that long.

The English royal family feud better known as the Wars of the Roses is about to boil over, and even in far north York, Owen Archer is likely to be in the thick of it. Hopefully in the next book or two – or maybe several! – books in the series. As one of the things I love best in this series is the author’s deft mix of Owen’s domestic business in York with the doings of the great and the mighty in London, I’m looking forward to finding out what happens on both fronts whenever the next book appears.

May it be soon!