The Baker Street Phantom by Fabrice Bourland

Gallic Books brings us yet another hugely entertaining novel of mystery by a French author this time set in London. Well translated by Morag Young, Fabrice Bourland tells the story of two young Canadians who arrive in London and set up a detective agency. The first client to engage the services of the cerebral Singleton and the more physical Trelawney is non other than Lady Conan Doyle, widow of the creator of Sherlock Holmes, with an intriguing tale of premonitions, poltergeists and very real murders. Bourland conjures a fascinating tale of spirits brought into existance by the thoughts of the public who have read about them

Holy Warrior by Angus Donald

Richard the Lionheart sets out for the Holy Land to fulfill his vow to liberate Jerusalem from the Saracens. In his train rides Robert, Earl of Loxley aka Robin Hood. This Robin Hood has no resemblance to Errol Flynn or the dashing social engineer of legend, he is a battle hardened warrior with both eyes fixed firmly on the main chance and would not be going on crusade at all were it not for an oath sworn to the Templar knight Sir Richard at Lea in return for support against the Sherrif of Nottingham. However, he is on the road with a strong party of men-at-arms and his comrades from Sherwood Little John, Will Scarlett and the narrator of the story Alan Dale and an excellent story it is too. Original, convincing and never slacking it's pace it kept this reader turning the pages and, what is more, waiting keenly for the sequel.

The Mapping of Love and Death by Jacqueline Winspear

This is the seventh Maisie Dobbs novel and I am pleased to say that the high standard Miss Winspear set in the previous six is well maintained here. A young American cartographer of British descent volunteers for the British Army in 1914 but in 1916 is listed as missing in action. However, in 1932 his body, along with the rest of his team,is found beneath a field in France and his familly are anxious to trace the writer of letters found with his body. Close examination of the Post Mortem report reveals to Maisie that he was not killed by enemy action but struck down from behind. Using her many contacts in high places, the shoe leather of her assisstant Billy and her gift for organising the facts of the case Maisie brings those responsible to justice. Miss Winspear has given us another well plotted and well written detective story which is sure to please her growing legion of fans but the thing is that the Maisie Dobbs novels are more than just detective stories. Maisie has a life outside of her investigations and it is peopled by interesting and well rounded characters who are brought into the story for their interaction with Maisie and not just devices for pushing along the plot. I am sure that this accounts in large part for the popularity of these novels.

The Kingdom of the Wicked by Anthony Burgess

This ambitious novel covers the period from the death of Tiberius to the suicide of Nero, one of the most flamboyant, colourful, outrageous and deadly episodes in the history of the world. It is hardly surprising that novellists have returned time and again to explore these characters and their actions and that they have attracted the attention of some of our finest writers. Burgess goes one step further and blends in the story of the founding of the Christian religion especially how Saul of Tarsus, better known these days as St.Paul, managed to inject a nasty streak of bigotry into what was a message of love. Well researched, well planned and well written as one has come to expect from Burgess.

Assassins of Athens by Jeffrey Sigar

The body of a teenager is found in a skip outside a gay club in an Athens backstreet. Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis and his sidekick Yianni Kouras discover that he is the son of a wealthy businessman but when they break the news to him he seems strangely reluctant to cooperate. Their investigation takes them from seedy nightclubs to the haunts of high society discovering jealousy, revenge, murder and corruption all along the way. No change there then! Sigar keeps up a good steady pace all through this story making it a good read on a wet afternoon.

Carry on Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse

This collection of short stories, first published in 1925, introduced Bertie Wooster and his incomparable valet Jeeves to a grateful world. There are those, I know, who are immune to the wit and elegant prose of the great "Plum" Wodehouse but these bounders are not fit for the company of first class chaps like us. What! This volume details the tribulations of a modest chap beset by Aunts, fiancees, old school friends, elderly relatives and more Aunts. I say, when a chap is trapped by a deb who says the stars are God's daisy chain well, I mean, it has to be Jeeves to the rescue.

Mistletoe and Murder by Carola Dunn

Another excellent Daisy Dalrymple murder mystery from Carola Dunn. Daisy with her new husband Inspector Alex Fletcher and step-daughter Belinda are invited to spend Christmas at Brockdene, home of the Earl of Westmoor. When they arrive it is to discover that they are to be entertained by Westmoor's poor relations the Norvilles. In no time Daisy, wearing her journalists hat, has collected numerous stories of the familly's colourful past but none that compares with the tangled web of inheritance that entwines the current generation. When a guest, who could have settled the inheritance question, is found stabbed in the old chapel Inspector Fletcher is denied the quiet familly Christmas he was anticipating and is plunged into the police investigation. Naturaly his attempts to exclude Daisy from the action are futile. Another good 'un from Carola Dunn.

The Death Instinct by Jed Rubenfeld

After two hundred pages I definitely felt the death instinct creeping over me. Frankly I just could not take any more of the two main characters, a smartarse police Captain and an obnoxious doctor. The plot is built around an actual incident when a large bomb was detonated outside the Wall St offices of the J.P. Morgan bank. No one was ever apprehended for this crime. Alright, this is as good as anything for an imaginative chap to build a story round and Mr Rubenfeld does not do a bad job if one ignores the tendency of Americans to assume that once they decide that anyone is a villain they are free to behave as brutally as they like and no one should complain. Sorry not for me.

The Unquiet Sleeper by Norman Russell

Norman Russell's latest outing for Detective Inspector Saul Jackson and his Sergeant Herbert Bottomley has an unusual and original theme. Ursula Holt is a somnambulist and has been sentenced to six months in a mental institution found guilty of mutilating sheep and killing a sheepdog during one of her nocturnal walks. Could she also be guilty of two murders of young men in the district? Detective Inspector Jackson and Sergeant Bottomley, two of the most sympathetic police characters in detective fiction, find their investigation taking them far from their native Warwickshire as they track down a clever and resourceful villain.

For the good of the State by Anthony Price

In the seventies I read all of the political thrillers by Anthony Price featuring the Intelligence Section lead by David Audley. All of these books were marked by their concentration on overcoming the KGB by intellectual rather than crash bash methods and this was an approach that I much appreciated. However, as the series progressed this escalated to the point of unacceptable intellectual arrogance and in For the Good of the State, which I was unable to finish, I was reminded of the judgement of the Marquess of Salisbury on the Conservative politician Iain MacLeod

Death at Daisy's Folly by Robin Paige

One of the better American efforts at an English whodunnit. Americans are fascinated by European Aristocracy but unable to understand how it works and therefore make some quite hilarious mistakes. Robin Paige evades most of the pitfalls but still maintains that because Charles Sheridan is due to inherit a Barony he would not be able to marry an American writer. Whilst such an alliance would have raised eyebrows, especialy among mothers with eligible daughters, there was no legal bar to such a marriage. That out of the way it is a good read well written and with an intriguing plot.

The Legion by Simon Scarrow

Simon Scarrow takes the story of his two heroes Cato, now promoted to Prefect, and Macro the Centurion to Egypt. In pursuit of the rebel slave leader Ajax, now turned pirate and raiding shipping and small settlements along the Egyptian coast, Cato and Macro are in command of a small fleet of warships. Though they smash his pirate band Ajax escapes and on return to Alexandria Cato and Macro are ordered south to join the understrength Twenty Second Legion to repel the incursions of the army of the Prince of Nubia. Ajax himself has fled south and offers his services to Nubia which enables our heros to kill two birds with one stone. With soldiers like Macro and Cato to call on no wonder that Rome ruled the world. Another cracking adventure story from Simon Scarrow

Death and the Maiden by Frank Tallis

The star soprano of the Court Opera, Ida Rosenkrantz, is found dead in her villa of an overdose of laudenam. Was it accident or suicide? The post mortem reveals evidence that could point to murder. The singer had been courted by many wealthy and powerful men could her death have been contrived to avoid a public scandal? Tasked with bringing the case to a swift and quiet conclusion Detective Inspector Oskar Rheinhardt calls on his friend Dr Max Liebermann for help. Their trail leads them to Gustav Mahler the controversial director of the State Opera House and to the equally controversial Mayor of Vienna Karl Lueger. Then there is the well-connected psychiatrist Professor Sominsky and the Lord Marshall whose office oversees security for the Emperor Franz-Josef. All these men were involved with Ida at one time or another and none could face a scandal and survive with their career intact. Did one of them have her removed from the scene? Rheinhardt's superiors want him to close the case and it appears that more than just his career would be at stake if he proves obstinate. Frank Tallis has given us another episode of drama in old Vienna but is it the last? At the end of the book Liebermann and Rheinhardt are discussing the possibilities of re-location to London! Of Course Dr Liebermann could set himself up in a medical practice in England but Rheinhardt of Scotland Yard! Somehow I do not think so.

The Street Philosopher by Mathew Plampin

Thomas Kitson is the art critic of the London Courier but asks his editor to send him to report on the war in the Crimea. There he is answerable to Richard Cracknell, an experienced and cynical Irishman, with a talent for getting on the wrong side of the Army Brasshats. Further Cracknell is engaged in an affair with the beautiful young wife of Colonel Bryce, the corrupt and incompetant commander of the Light Infantry. Kitson and Cracknell witness Bryce's officers commit murder and robbery but higher command will take no action. Returning to England Kitson has to leave London and takes a job reporting on the social scene for a Manchester paper but the past arrives to haunt him. Mr Plampin has written a very compelling story well on a par with the Gunmaker's Gift that I reviewed last year.

Styx and Stones by Carola Dunn

Miss Dunn's engaging sleuth The Honourable Daisy Dalrymple is pursuing her day job of free lance journalist when she is approached by her brother-in-law, Lord John Frobisher, who is the recipient of Poison Pen letters. Lord John is anxious to stop the letters whilst avoiding public scandal at all costs and so hesitates before involving the police. Daisy agrees to spend a few days at Oakhurst, the Frobisher familly home ,in the village of Rotherden Kent which is a hotbed of gossip and rumour. Discovering that Lord John is only one of several recipients of the letters Daisy is forced to reveal their existance to the police when murder is commited. Carola Dunn is one of the better writers of pastiche "Golden Age" detective stories and this is well up to her high standard.

Deadly Communion by Frank Tallis

This is the fifth in Frank Tallis' series of murder mysteries set in Vienna at the end of the nineteenth century and featuring Detective Inspector Oskar Rheinhardt and psychiatrist Dr. Max Liebermann. Rheinhardt is investigating a series of sex murders commited in avery cool and calculating manner. Once again he calls on his friend Liebermann to probe the mindset of the killer and help bring him to justice. Sumarising the plot would convey too much or too little and so I will leave it to the reader to discover and enjoy. Frank Tallis has again written an enthralling story that confirms his place as one of the leading detective mystery writers of the day.

Give Me Back My Legions by Harry Turtledove

Around the year AD 6 the Emperor Augustus decided that the troublesome German tribes north of the Rhine should be pacified and brought within the Empire. The obvious choice to lead such an expedition was his son-in-law, and designated successor, Tiberius. However, he was currently commanding the army in stamping out the last embers of revolt in Pannonia. Augustus, therefore, gave the command to Publius Quinctilius Varus husband of his great-neice Claudia and in doing so made the most disastrous mistake of his reign. Varus was an experienced administrator, he had recently held the governorship of Syria one of the richest provinces of the Empire, but had minimal military experience. Why Augustus made this decision is a mystery. He could have waited until Tiberius was finished in Pannonia or transferred him to the new project leaving his subordinate generals to continue mopping up the rebels. There were, of course, several other experienced military men who could have been given the command but instead Augustus chose a career bureaucrat and the Legions and the Empire paid a terrible price for his error. Varus was put in charge of three legions, twenty thousand men with irreplaceable front line battle experience, the bedrock of the Empire, and threw them away through a combination of ignorance and arrogance. At this time the Roman Legion was the most deadly military machine in the world but only if they were able to deploy in their well-rehearsed formations. It was the function of their Generals to ensure that any battle took place in terrain that allowed for this. Varus, however, was simply not capable of comprehending this and ordered his men along a route that trapped them on a narrow track hemmed in by forest that made deployment impossible. The result was a massacre and meant that Germany never became part of the Empire. Harry Turtledove has written an excellent book combining historical characters and real incidents with a well imagined narrative.

The Elephant to Hollywood by Michael Caine

Unlike many actors Michael Caine actually wrote this himself. I am confident in my assertion not only because no other writer is mentioned on the flyleaf but because the whole narrative sounds like the man himself talking. I remember seeing him in Zulu and turning to my wife and saying "That man is going to be a star" so perhaps I should claim some of the credit for what now seems an inevitable rise to the top, though as he makes clear it did not feel like that at the time. Most people have a favourite Michael Caine film, the Italian Job or Get Carter are most likely to crop up, but mine is still Zulu. His portrayal of a young inexperienced officer suddenly faced with circumstances for which he is not prepared yet determined to lead his men even to the death would have taxed a veteran let alone a young man in his first major role but he did it. Caine gives us an insiders view of the film business with all it's quirks and eccentricities as well as the famous people that he met and worked with, a roll-call of Hollywood legends. Michael Caine the familly man is also here including the famous story of how he met his beautiful wife Shakira. Now I saw that advert at the same time as he did, just think if I had ........ no forget it.

The Kingdom of Light by Giulia Leoni

An excellent historical mystery set in Fourteenth Century Florence featuring the poet Dante Alighieri as the sleuth. The story opens with Dante, in his role as Prior of the committee which rules the Florentine Republic, investigating a ship that has been discovered beached on the bank of the Arno. On board he finds the galley slaves dead still shackled to the oars, the officers poisoned in the Captains cabin and on the floor a strange mechanical object that has been smashed with an axe. Thus begins a complex and very entertaining story as Dante threads his way through the religious and political currents that swirl through the city. Leoni's characters and his descriptions of the old city are first rate and his narrative thundered along taking this reader with it. Part of the credit for this must go to the translation by Shaun Whiteside.

Snobbery with Violence by M.C. Beaton

Having read about a dozen of the author's Agatha Raisin books I looked forward to this new departure into Edwardian detective fiction. Oh dear! What a disappointment. The plot is OK but the characters are stock Central Casting images. The well-connected but impecunious war hero setting himself up as a private eye assisted by an Earl's daughter whom Americans would describe as "feisty" ie wilful and mouthy. Their clients are, of course, all from the aristocracy who are without exception portrayed as stupid, arrogant, self-centred and often malicious. Has it not occurred to writers like Miss Beaton that had this been a true picture of British Aristocrats they would have long since disappeared from the scene and not be, as so many are, still farming their broad acres from the comfort of their stately homes. If this book is ever filmed I am sure that one of Miss Beaton's derided Lords will make good money renting his castle to the film company.

The Campaigners by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

In volume fourteen of the Morland Dynasty chronicles the war in Europe comes home to the familly, or rather the familly goes to it! Buonaparte has escaped from Elba and is raising a new army in France. Horatio and Marcus Morland are both in the army which is in Belgium and Lucy's husband Danby Wiske, now Viscount Theakston, is called back to Brussels by the Duke of Wellington. At the same time Lucy, Heloise and the ever parsimonious Lady Barbara Morland all have daughters to "bring out" but have been unable to do so as the familly is in mourning for the late Fanny. The season is nearly over and they must decide whether to fly in the face of social custom or wait until next year when many of the potential husbands will have been taken. Wellington thinks he has problems! All this time James Morland, husband of Heloise, mopes about Morland Place in an extravagance of grief for his dead daughter Fanny. The Ladies decide to "follow the drum" as it were, and take their daughters to Brussels to be brought out where there will be no raised eyebrows and there are plenty of eligible young aristos amongst Wellington's officers. Meanwhile back at Morland Place there is contention regarding the estate of Fanny's late grandfather the cotton magnate Jo Hobsbawm. Yes, there is trouble at t'mill. Back in Belgium Napoleon attacks and drives back the Prussian half of the Allied Army and advances on Brussels. Even worse all the young ladies have fallen for unsuitable men. Miss Harrod-Eagles does a first class job of describing the two battles, at Quatre-Bras and Mont St-Jean, and the terrible suffering of the men involved. These two battles are known to us as the Battle of Waterloo because that is where Wellington had his HQ and from where he wrote his report and so he gave it that name. Perhaps he realised that Quatre-Bras would be a terrible name for a railway station.

Hue and Cry by Shirley McKay

A young lawyer, Hew Cullan, returns from France to his native St Andrews and walks right into a double murder with his old friend as chief suspect. This is just the kind of historical mystery that is meat and drink to me so why did I put it aside after the first few chapters? I do not know is the answer. It just did not work for me. Well, that's show business folks!

The Oxford Murders by Guillermo Martinez

This is a very good murder mystery set in Morse country. Well written, nicely paced and well translated from the Spanish by Sonia Soto. The unnamed hero, like the author, is an Argentine mathematician who is in Oxford as a post graduate student. Returning to his lodgings he meets the famous mathematician Arthur Seldom on his doorstep but when they enter they find the landlady murdered. Now follows a search for a murderer who appears to be using a mathematical theorum to plan his killings and Seldom and the narrator are swept into the investigation. Martinez concludes his story with a stunning twist, one that would not have been allowed in the "Golden Age" of detective fiction.

The Regency by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

This is volume thirteen of Miss Harrod-Eagles highly praised Morland Dynasty series of novels. As the title suggests we have now reached the beginning of the nineteenth century and the war with France continues. However, the conflict intrudes only peripheraly on the story of the Morlands whose greatest danger comes from the behaviour of the younger members of the familly. Africa Haworth, daughter of Mary Morland, runs off and joins the circus rather than stay at her school (I do know how she feels) but it is Fanny Morland, heiress to the entire estate and spoiled rotten by her father James, who puts all in jeopardy by marrying fortune hunter George Hawker. Fortunately for the familly she dies in childbirth before her twentyfirst birthday and the estate passes to Lady Henrietta. So that's alright then! Now on to volume fourteen. SPOILER: Bounaparte has escaped from Elba!

The Mystery of a Butchers Shop - Gladys Mitchell

This mystery was first published in 1930 which puts it at the heart of the "Golden Age" of British detective fiction. The sleuth, amateur of course, is Beatrice Lestrange Bradley and they do not come any Lestranger than our Beatrice. With her outrageous clothes, cackling laugh and clawlike hands she sounds like one of the witches from Macbeth but nonetheless she homes in on the murderer. In this mystery a rather repulsive businessman, who may also have been a blackmailer, is last seen in the company of a cousin whom he intends to cut out of his will before ending on a series of hooks in a butchers shop. An open and shut case one may think but this is a detective story. Gladys Mitchell presents a fine array of typical middle class English Village characters and provides a neat and meticulously documented solution. The writing is vastly different even from those modern novels set in the thirties which to me is one of it's attractions. The strogest swear word is "damn", such a refreshing change from the gutter language of most modern detective novels.

The Blood of Alexandria - Richard Blake

This is the third book following the adventures of Aelric, exiled Saxon nobleman now elevated to Legate Extraordinary of Heraclius, Emporer of Rome (Eastern Division) whose capital is Constantinople. Sent to Alexandria to effect a programe of land reform he finds himself stymied by Nicetas cousin of Heraclius and Viceroy of Egypt so decides to concentrate on his two other missions in life, enriching himself through dodgy deals and discovering rare books for onward transmission to the newly founded library at Canterbury. At this point who should turn up but Prince Priscus, nobleman, soldier, drug addict, conspirator extrordinaire and all round homicidal maniac. When Priscus turns up sensible people make their excuses and leave but Aelric was sent by the Emporer so has no choice but to stay and survive as best he can, which as the hero, he does. Richard Blake has written three cracking books set in the tumultuous era when the Roman Empire in the West was destroyed and the foundations of the Roman Catholic Church as a power in it's own right were being laid. The Empire in the East is being assailed on all it's frontiers and it's survival is in the hands of such as Aelric and Priscus sabotaged by highly placed incompetants like Nicetas. There is a fourth volume due out later this year. Bliss!!!

The Final Return

For several years in our fair city a black man of advancing years stood in the main shopping street proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ. The response ranged from indifference to embarassment with a very few passers-by prepared to accept his small leaflets imprinted with a brief passage from the Bible. I, of course, was one of the few. Who knows, perhaps it was a premonition that one day I would write a blog on Google that would also be greeted with indifference and possibly embarassment as well. Therefore in a spirit of kinship with that unknown black man who continued to present his message to those passing faces despite their rejection I will once again plough my lonely furrow in the field of Google.