Author: Barbara

Avid reader/reviewer of historical romance and historical mysteries.

Murder of a Dead Man by Holly Newman

On By BarbaraIn Barb's Reviews, Historical Mystery, Part of a Series, Regency Era (1811-1820)Leave a comment

Murder of a Dead Man (A Chance Inquiry Book 4)Barbara’s rating: 3.8 out of 5 Stars
Series: A Chance Inquiry #4
Publication Date: 5/28/24
Period: Regency
Number of Pages: 264

While this is the fourth book of the series, it is my first and it is my first by this author. It was well-written and well-paced with the mystery and its clues dribbled out at just the right frequency. It turns out to have been quite a conspiracy – and you’ll wonder throughout the book if it is one perpetrator or many. You won’t have any trouble making the list of possible villains – it is just a matter of who you choose from that list. I enjoyed this book well enough that I have already purchased the first book in the series so I can begin reading from the beginning. Hopefully, I will have read them all before the next book’s release.

One of the things I enjoyed about this book was the portrayal of the victim. Normally, I don’t want to know much about the victim other than hearing it in passing because I don’t want to become emotionally involved with them. However, that wasn’t the case with this story and I appreciated that – just this once. Our victim was a good man, a loving man, but he suffered from a mental health issue that once was called Multiple Personality Disorder. Yes, it truly is a real thing, but I’ve not normally seen the sufferer portrayed in a positive light. Usually, it is that some dastardly personality takes over and does dastardly things leaving the ‘normal’ personality to take the blame – for instance, Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde. While we never learn what caused Malcolm’s personality to split into multiples, there is enough story for you to make a good guess. Anyway, I came to admire the victim and was very sorry that he died.

As children Lilias, Malcolm, and Alastair spent their summers playing together in Scotland. Then, as they grew up, Lilias and Alastair fell in love and wanted to marry, but her father refused because Alastair wasn’t ‘Scottish’ enough and he made arrangements for Lilias to marry Malcolm. Lilias loved Malcolm – as a friend – and they had a long and reasonably happy marriage despite Malcolm’s mental issues. However, an event happened, and it made Malcolm feel it was unsafe for him to be around his family. Malcolm checked himself into a sanitorium where, after a few years, Lilias received word that Malcolm had killed himself. Then, imagine her surprise and dismay, when after two years of mourning she announces to the family that she is going to marry Alastair – only to be told she couldn’t do that because Malcolm wasn’t dead. OOPS! Then, he really was dead and Alastair was arrested for murder. OOPS!

I really enjoyed Sir James Branstoke and his wife Cecilia Branstoke. Their camaraderie, love, consideration, and working relationship were well-defined since it was the fourth book in the series and it was fun to see them work together. When they were asked to investigate Malcolm’s death to find the real killer and set Alastair free, they decided to use a two-pronged attack. Because Cecilia was still recovering from a serious case of influenza that had swept through their village – and she was expecting their first child – they determined to check Cecilia into the sanitorium. That would allow her to investigate from the inside while James investigated things from the outside. As the clues add up, we meet some interesting ladies within the sanitorium. They are bright, mischievous, full of energy, and the only reason they are in the sanitorium is because that is where they want to be. With those ladies involved, the villains never stand a chance.

I’m always looking for new and new-to-me authors and I may have found one to add to my go-to list. The plot is well-developed and the presentation is good. It was a fun read and I’ll definitely read the first book in the series to see how that goes. I hope it will have a tad more action and excitement than this one. Overall this was a nice read. I will say that I probably would have rated it higher had the book not pretty much ignored the Privilege of Peerage laws.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Panic: An Alexander Gregory Thriller by LJ Ross

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Panic: An Alexander Gregory Thriller (The Alexander Gregory Thrillers Book 5)Barbara’s rating: 3.4 out of 5 Stars
Series: An Alexander Gregory Thriller #5
Publication Date: 5/2/24
Period: Contemporary London and Cambridge
Number of Pages: 254

Let me get this over with, right here at the beginning, I thoroughly DISLIKE cliffhangers! This author’s books usually pull me into the story so deeply that I cannot put the book down until I’ve read the last page. I cannot tell you why, but that just wasn’t the case with this story. It took me almost a week to read it and when it ended in a cliffhanger, I just threw my hands up. Had I known about the cliffhanger when I was halfway through the book, I would have just stopped reading at that point instead of slogging on through. The writing was fine and the story could have been one of the most exciting yet – but, that wasn’t the case. In some places, the movement of the storyline seemed almost nonexistent. I almost always give this author’s work a 5-star rating, but I just couldn’t do it this time – and that pains me greatly because it could have been so great.

We first met Dr. Naomi Palmer in the third book of the series, Bedlam, where Gregory checked into a highly secure mental hospital in America at the request of the FBI. Naomi and Gregory formed a bit of an attachment there and that attachment has grown since their separation. Now, Naomi has written a book and has come to England to promote it – and to promote her relationship with Gregory as well. We always knew Gregory had a soft, mushy, vulnerable side – but he didn’t know it. Now, he does. What we don’t know at the end of this book, is whether that soft, vulnerable side will survive or be crushed by events that didn’t finish playing out in this book.

Several years ago, Dr. Gregory Alexander and Professor William (Bill) Douglas profiled a sadistic serial killer for Scotland Yard. That profile was misused by the police and the wrong man was arrested, tried, and convicted. The true perpetrator was later found, and Carl Deere was set free. In reparations, Carl was paid millions of pounds and all records of him were erased – including his DNA profile.

One of the reasons Scotland Yard was so determined to arrest and convict Carl – even over the objections of Bill and Gregory – was because he closely matched that profile. He just hadn’t acted on any of those ‘urges’ yet. From prison forward, Carl had no reservations whatsoever about acting on those ‘urges’ – nor did he have any reservations about seeking revenge on those he blamed for incarcerating him. All of them, from the smallest role to the biggest, will receive the same punishment – the same sentence – death.

With the higher-ups at Scotland Yard in denial about the sudden spate of murders being related to Carl’s case, and their absolute refusal to have anything with criminal profiling, can Gregory and Bill manage to find and stop Carl? How many lives will be lost? Can Alexander save Bill from harm?

I can recommend this story if you have read other books in the series and enjoyed them. Perhaps you’ll love it with the cliffhanger and it will make you yearn for the next book that should solve the cliffhanger. I think that one of the things that bugs me about this book (and this series) is Scotland Yard – especially the leadership – looking like they are a bunch of bumbling twits. Scotland Yard is one of the premier law enforcement agencies in the world, but they won’t have anything to do with criminal profiling? Just how far behind the times are we supposed to believe they are? Most police forces – everywhere – even in small towns and villages – have what would pass for a criminal profiler. Why wouldn’t Scotland Yard? Anyway – while I didn’t get totally sucked into this story, I am looking forward to the next book, Amnesia.