Review Copy – Page 2

The Death of Shame by Ambrose Parry

Published on August 10, 2025 by Margaret6 Comments

Description:

1854, Edinburgh.
Respectable public faces hide sordid private sins.

Apprentice Sarah Fisher is helping to fund Dr Will Raven’s emerging medical practice in exchange for being secretly trained as a medic, should the rules barring women ever change. Sarah needs no instruction in the inequalities that beset her gender, but even she has her eyes opened to a darker reality when a relative seeks her help in searching for her missing daughter. Annabelle Banks was promised a situation in a prestigious household, but there has been no word from her since she left home, and the agency that arranged her position says she never appeared.

Sarah’s inquiries lead her to reforming campaigners trying to publicise the plight of the hundreds of girls ensnared in Edinburgh’s houses of assignation. Sarah learns how young women are lured, deceived, trafficked and raped, leaving them ruined in the eyes of a society obsessed with moral purity, and where virginity is prized as a lucrative commodity.
Drawing upon real historical events, The Death of Shame takes Raven and Sarah into a treacherous labyrinth of exploitation, corruption, high-level complicity and Victorian-style revenge porn.

Ambrose Parry is the pseudonym of crime fiction author, Chris Brookmyre and Marisa Haetzman, a consultant anaesthetist. The combination of a crime fiction writer and an anaesthetist works excellently in Ambrose Parry’s novels. The research into the history of medicine is extensive, making this book a combination of historical fact and fiction, a tale of murder and medical matters, with the social scene, historical and medical facts slotting perfectly into an intricate murder mystery.

The Death of Shame by Ambrose Parry is the 5th and final Raven and Fisher book. Dr Will Raven is no longer working with Dr Simpson (a real historical person, renowned for his discovery of chloroform) but is setting up his own medical practice with the financial assistance of Sarah Fisher. Sarah, who began working as a housemaid for Dr Simpson, then as a nurse, has ambitions to train as a doctor, something rarely possible for women in her position. So secretly Will is training her as his apprentice to become a doctor.

It’s set in 1854, when Will and his wife, Eugenie have two children, as she is struggling to bond with her children suffering from postnatal depression. The book begins with the death of her father, himself an eminent doctor with a wealthy practice. It appears he committed suicide but Eugenie can’t accept that and asks Will to investigate. Meanwhile Sarah has also been asked to investigate the disappearance of her young niece who has disappeared after leaving home to start a job in Edinburgh.

The plot is complicated and although you could read this as a standalone book as there is some background to what has happened in the earlier books, I really think it’s better to have read them – and they are well worth reading. Will and Sarah’s separate investigations take them into dark and desperate places dealing with blackmail, murder, suicide, abortion, rape, female exploitation, and prostitution. The position of women and girls in society and the dangers they faced are centre stage.

I always enjoy reading the Historical Notes at the end of the Raven and Fisher books and this one is no exception. It gives the factual background and sources that Ambrose Parry used and information about the real life people who are included in the book as well as Dr Simpson, such as Henry Littlejohn, Edinburgh’s police surgeon who served as Medical Officer for Health and medical advisor to the Crown, and Emily Blackwell, one of the pioneers of women in medicine.

This is a great ending to the series but I’d like to think this is not the end of their stories – I’d love to read more about them! In the meantime there is a short story, The Apple Falls Not Far by Ambrose Parry, a digital exclusive short story from the world of Raven and Fisher to read – more about that in a later post.

One Dark Night by Hannah Richell

Published on August 1, 2025August 1, 2025 by Margaret1 Comment

ELLIE
When the body of a young woman is discovered in the woods the morning after Halloween, arranged with ritualistic precision, teenager Ellie has more reason than most to be afraid …

RACHEL
As both Ellie’s mum and the local school counsellor, Rachel, must grapple with the terror gripping the community, a tough job that’s made even harder when she realises her daughter is keeping secrets …

BEN
Police detective Ben Chase is desperate to solve the murder, but with his daughter Ellie struggling and the noose circling ever tighter, can he catch the killer before they strike again?

My thoughts:

I requested One Dark Night by Hannah Richell from NetGalley because I thought I’d like it when I read the blurb. And I was right! I haven’t read any of Richell’s books before but I’m certainly going to try some of her six earlier novels, all of them stand-alone stories. On her website she describes her work as suspenseful novels about families and friends tangled in secrets and lies. I’m drawn to buildings that creak with stories, to landscapes that shape the characters moving through them, and to the rich and often complex relationships between mothers, daughters and sisters.

One Dark Night is her sixth book, which she says is inspired by a real-life stretch of woodland and an old stone folly near where I currently live, supposedly one of the most haunted spots in England. Yes, it is very creepy.

I loved the spooky, tense atmosphere and as soon as I started reading it I knew I was going to enjoy this book. The settings are vividly described, the characters come across as real people, and the plot is amazing, multi- layered, with plenty of suspects for the murder and numerous twists and turns to throw me off the scent. For quite a while you don’t even know the name of the victim, who was found in the woods, called ‘Sally in the Wood’. It’s a police procedural centred on Ellie, a pupil at the private school, where her mother Rachel works as the school counsellor and her father, Ben, a detective sergeant who is on the investigation team. Ellie is struggling, having just started at the school and also because her parents are newly divorced.

In the Acknowledgements the author explains that the novel is loosely inspired by the place and stories of Sally in the Wood and the nearby stone folly, but the surroundings are drawn purely from her imagination. She had the idea for the novel after her daughter took part in a Girl Guides night hike to the stone folly above the spooky wood.

I found more information about the origins of the road, Sally in the Wood, on the Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre. The road forms a curved section of the A363 road on the Somerset-Wiltshire border that cuts through dense woodland near Bath – a perfect place to set a murder mystery. There are a few explanations for the name – one being that a girl called Sally was murdered in the woods or imprisoned in nearby Brown’s Folly, or that she was an actual road accident victim. It has a reputation of being an eerie place, where ‘no birds sing’, so you never know…

I loved it, one of the best books I’ve read so far this year!

The Elopement by Gill Hornby

Published on July 3, 2025July 3, 2025 by Margaret4 Comments

Another short post as I’m catching up with the backlog of books I haven’t reviewed.

1820. Mary Dorothea Knatchbull is living under the sole charge of her widowed father, Sir Edward – a man of strict principles and high Christian values. But when her father marries Miss Fanny Knight of Godmersham Park, Mary’s life is suddenly changed. Her new stepmother comes from a large, happy and sociable family and Fanny’s sisters become Mary’s first friends. Her aunt, Miss Cassandra Austen of Chawton, is especially kind. Her brothers are not only amusing, but handsome and charming.

And as Mary Dorothea starts to bloom into a beautiful young woman, she forms an especial bond with one Mr Knight in particular. Soon, they are deeply in love and determined to marry. They expect no opposition. After all, each is from a good family and has known the other for some years.

It promises to be the most perfect match. Who would want to stand in their way?

The Elopement by Gill Hornby is historical fiction about the life of Jane Austen’s niece Fanny Knight and Mary Dorothea Knatchbull, Fanny’s stepdaughter. I wanted to read it because I loved her earlier books about Jane Austen’s extended family, Miss Austen and Godmersham Park. However, I was a bit disappointed as I think it fails to capture that flavour of Jane Austen’s novels that I have loved ever since I first read Pride and Prejudice as a young teenager.

There are many characters listed at the beginning of the book – there are the Knights of Godmersham Park; the Knatchbulls of Mersham-le-Hatch and the Austens of Chawton Cottage, where Cassandra, Jane Austen’s elder sister, and her mother lived. Cassandra Austen only has a cameo role.

Fanny’s father was Edward Austen, who was adopted by the wealthy Knight family (Thomas Knight was a cousin), taking their name in 1812. In 1820 Fanny married Sir Edward Knatchbull, a widower, with six children. Fanny and Mary Dorothea, the only daughter, had a difficult relationship right from the start, unable to break through their natural reserve. Fanny is not a warm character and Mary is reluctant to accept her as a substitute mother – neither of them are willing to be open with each other and maintain an icy politeness. However, Mary and Fanny’s brothers and sisters get on well; very well with one brother in particular.

I didn’t find it evenly paced, beginning very slowly with a rushed ending. I found the first part of the book was too drawn out (even boring in parts) and I thought I’d have to abandon it, but I read on and the second part held my interest and I finished the book. I liked the insight into the wider Austen family and the social context – family relationships, attitudes towards duty, marriage, the position of women and the dangers of childbirth.

The Author’s Note is very interesting, explaining that the narrative exactly follows Fanny Knight’s record of events she recorded in her daily journals that she kept from 1804, when she was eleven years old until she was eighty. Gill Hornby highlights:

‘ … the perilous nature of the lives of the married women. The birth of every child is a moment of danger. The loved ones of expectant mothers are on high alert. … If you married young and were happily fertile, then it was a game of Russian roulette, year after year.

Many thanks to the publishers for a review copy via NetGalley.

Gabriel’s Moon by William Boyd

Published on June 21, 2025 by Margaret9 Comments

I’ve been making good progress with my reading, but I’m way behind with writing about the books I’ve read. So it’s time to catch up with a few short posts.

My first one is the first book I read for the 20 Books of Summer Challenge – Gabriel’s Moon by William Boyd.

Description

Gabriel Dax is a young man haunted by the memories of a tragedy: every night, when sleep finally comes, he dreams about his childhood home in flames. His days are spent on the move as an acclaimed travel writer, capturing changing landscapes in the grip of the Cold War. When he’s offered the chance to interview a political figure, his ambition leads him unwittingly into the shadows of espionage.

As Gabriel’s reluctant initiation takes hold, he is drawn deeper into duplicity. Falling under the spell of Faith Green, an enigmatic and ruthless MI6 handler, he becomes ‘her spy’, unable to resist her demands. But amid the peril, paranoia and passion consuming Gabriel’s new covert life, it will be the revelations closer to home that change the rest of his story . . .

Gabriel’s Moon by William Boyd is his 18th book, but it’s the first book by him that I’ve read. I loved it right from the start. It’s well written, one of those books that makes me want to read on and on eager to know what happens next.

I wondered about the title – what is Gabriel’s Moon? The Prologue set in 1936 enlightened me straight away. When Gabriel was six years old his family home burnt down. He escaped, but his mother died in the fire, caused, so the fire brigade claimed, by the naked flame of the nightlight burning by his bed. It was a small candle covered by a glass dome that resembled the moon. His mother would light it as part of a bedtime ritual that was important to him, signifying order and calm. But, his mind has blanked out all his memories of that night, although he still has nightmares about the fire.

By the early 1960s Gabriel had become a successful travel writer and in 1960 he travelled to the newly independent Republic of the Congo to interview the Prime Minister, Patrice Lumumba. And thus he is accidentally drawn into the intrigue surrounding Lumumba’s murder. And then Dax is drawn into the dangerous and shadowy world of espionage.

I loved it. It’s a gripping tale that kept me turning the pages as Gabriel travels from Africa to London, Cadiz and then Warsaw. At home he visits a psychoanalyst, hoping to discover the truth about the tragic events of his childhood. He is drawn deeper and deeper into ever more complex and dangerous situations, whilst in thrall to Faith Green, his MI6 handler, who effortlessly manipulates him.

Gabriel’s Moon is the first novel in a new espionage trilogy. The second book, The Predicament will be released on September 4. 2025 and I’m looking forward to reading more about Gabriel Dax.

Many thanks to the publishers for a review copy via NetGalley.

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Viking
Publication date ‏ : ‎ 5 Sept. 2024
E-book
Print length ‏ : ‎ 263 pages
Source: NetGalley
My rating: 5*

The House of Lost Whispers by Jenni Keer

Published on May 17, 2025 by Margaret2 Comments

Summary:

What if another world existed… where the Titanic had never sunk?

When the ill-fated maiden voyage of the Titanic leaves Olivia Davenport orphaned, she’s sent to live with her guardians, the Fairchilds, in their huge Jacobean mansion. But the Fairchilds have more to worry about than a grieving young girl – with war in Europe imminent and four sons to protect.

Olivia feels alone and friendless. Until she hears a voice from behind the wall in her tower bedroom. A voice from a man called Seth. Convinced he’s merely a product of her grieving imagination, it’s not until after the heartbreak of war that Olivia discovers that he exists in an overlapping world, just a shudder in time away from her own. A world where the Titanic never sank… Where everything since has been just slightly… different.

All Olivia wants is to find a way into his reality. And not just to see the faces of her beloved parents once again. But also to meet Seth. Who might just be the love of her life…

I enjoyed reading Jenni Keer’s debut novel, The Hopes and Dreams of Lucy Baker several years ago and thought I’d like to read more of her books. This one is her eighth book, so I missed the books in between. I don’t often read romance or fantasy novels but The House of Lost Whispers has both elements and it’s also historical fiction set before, during and after the First World War. I preferred the historical element, especially the middle section about the War. But I also enjoyed reading the fantasy element about the anomaly in the magnetic field surrounding the earth causing vibrations, disrupting the fabric of space and time. This resulted in the formation of a duplicate earth, one parallel with our world, in which the Titanic did not sink on 12th April 1912.

I think this is a very interesting and possibly original idea, exploring what life would have been like for Olivia and her family if the Titanic had not been sunk. The book also explores loss and grief, family life, friendship and romantic relationships, as well as the devastating and horrific events of the First World War. As described in the blurb Olivia in the ‘real’ world and Seth in the parallel world can hear each other through the wall in her tower bedroom (the whispers), but despite their efforts they cannot break through to meet.

It’s beautifully descriptive, bringing the settings to life and there is also a murder mystery to solve. My only criticisms are that at times I did get a bit confused about Seth’s character and his parallel in the ‘real’ world, and I could have done without the love scenes (too descriptive in places). As I read on I was wondering how it would end and maybe Jenni Keer wondered too because the conclusion seemed rushed and rather neatly sown up. I was a bit disappointed, although I can’t imagine how else it could have ended. But overall it kept me reading, wanting to know what would happen next.

Many thanks to the publishers for a review copy via NetGalley.

Murder at Gull’s Nest by Jess Kidd

Published on March 16, 2025 by Margaret3 Comments

Summary from the publishers’ website:

The first in a sparkling new 1950s seaside mystery series, featuring sharp-eyed former nun Nora Breen.

After thirty years in a convent, Nora Breen has thrown off her habit and set her sights on the seaside town of Gore-on-Sea. Why there? Why now? Instinct tells her it’s better not to reveal her reasons straight away. She takes a room at Gulls Nest guest house and settles in to watch and listen.

Somewhere in the north, a religious community meets for Vespers. Here on the southeast coast, Nora Breen prepares for braised liver and a dining room full of strangers.

Over disappointing – and sometimes downright inedible – dinners, Nora realises that she was right to keep quiet: her fellow lodgers are hiding something. At long last, she has found an outlet for her powers of observation and, well, nosiness: there is a mystery to solve, and she is the only person for the job.

My thoughts:

This is the first one of Jess Kidd’s books that I’ve read and I didn’t know what to expect. I enjoyed it. It’s quirky with some odd characters. At times it feels like a cosy crime mystery, but it’s also rather dark and foreboding, whereas at other times there’s some humour and also a hint of a romance. The setting is good in a fictional 1950s British seaside town.

It’s the mystery and the characters (there a lot) that stand out the most in my mind. Nora, the main character, is a no-nonsense person, who has just left a convent after 30 years, where she worked as a nurse. She went to the same guest house at Gore-on-Sea to find her friend, Frieda, a novice who had previously left the same convent due to ill health. Frieda had been writing to her weekly, but Nora hadn’t heard from her for some time and knew something was very wrong.

There are some very strange people. Among these people the ones who stood out for me are Nora, who is adjusting to life outside the outside world, whilst trying not to draw attention to herself. Dinah, who is eight years old, is the daughter of Helena, the owner of Gulls Nest, and is a very strange child. Nora first met Dinah hanging upside down from a curtain rail. Sometimes she hides in a small cupboard and doesn’t speak to anyone, living in a world of her own. Then there is old Professor Poppy, a Punch and Judy man with his puppets, and the mysterious Karel Jezek, who follows the young married couple Stella and Teddy. Teddy is suspicious of Karel, suspecting that something is going on between him and Stella.

Frieda had told Nora that she believed all the people at Gulls Nest were concealing some kind of secret. And indeed they were as Nora finds out. Life at Gulls Nest is tense, as all the residents’ secrets and past lives bubble away under the surface. Matters come to the boil as some of them die, or are they murdered? Nora helps Detective Inspector Rideout of the local police as he investigates the deaths as well as Frieda’s disappearance.

Overall I loved this book, crime fiction that is really in a category all of its own, that kept me wondering what was going on all the way to the end.

Jess Kidd was brought up in London as part of a large family from county Mayo and has been praised for her unique fictional voice. Her debut, Himself, was shortlisted for the Irish Book Awards in 2016, the Authors’ Club Best First Novel Award 2017 and longlisted for the John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger 2017. Jess won the 2016 Costa Short Story Award. Her second novel, The Hoarder, also titled Mr. Flood’s Last Resort (U.S.), was shortlisted for the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year 2019 and longlisted for the 2020 International Dublin Literary Award. Both books were BBC Radio 2 Book Club Picks. Her third book, the Victorian detective tale Things in Jars, has been released to critical acclaim. Jess’s work has been described as ‘Gabriel García Márquez meets The Pogues.’

Jess’s first book for children, Everyday Magic, was published in April 2021. Jess’s fourth novel for adults, The Night Ship, was released in August 2022. Murder at Gulls Nest, the first in the Nora Breen Investigates series will publish in Spring 2025. Jess is currently developing her own original TV projects with leading UK and international TV producers. (Copied from the C & W, a London-based literary agency’s website)

Many thanks to the publishers for a review copy via NetGalley.