Fiona is feeling bored and frustrated. She returned from her latest spy adventure in Italy and is now stuck doing paperwork. But then she is asked to investigate an anti-vivisectionist group of wealthy women so she dons a disguise and gets to work…
Arsenic at Ascot is the fourth book in the Fiona Figg and Kitty Lane series of historical murder mysteries. I have read and reviewed the first books in the series: Chaos at Carnegie Hall, Covert in Cairo, and Mayhem in the Mountains. There are mentions of events from previous books, in particular Fiona’s developing relationships with other characters, but no spoilers about the murder plots.
Fiona’s recent trip to Italy has left her wanting more drama so she is disappointed to be back behind a desk. Finally she is about to see some action by going undercover and this coincides with a coded note to meet her nemesis, German spy Fredrick Fredricks. The pair recently locked horns in Italy but now both are back in England and she wants to protect her country for the German spy.
The murder doesn’t happen until over a third of the way through the book. There is quite a bit of build up to show Fiona’s situation and her adept skill with disguises. She also has some heartache and confusion as she spots Archie whose marriage proposal she recently turned down. She is also wondering where Kitty is, again not turning up until quite a way through the book. The plot developments are rather slow as the narrative is character driven.
I love Fiona’s character and the use of first person narration bring her to life. She has fabulous quirks and nuances which add a touch of humour to very serious circumstances. Her behaviour is sometimes erratic as she is often led by her heart rather than her head. Her emotional and romantic aspects bring out another side to her personality as well as acting as a subplot.
Arsenic at Ascot is an enjoyable cosy historical murder mystery.
Arsenic at Ascot (A Fiona Figg & Kitty Lane Mystery Book 4)
Saddle up for this first class historical mystery, perfect for fans of Helena Dixon and Verity Bright.
London, 1918
Fiona Figg finds herself back in Old Blighty saddled with shuffling papers for the war office. Then a mysterious card arrives, inviting her to a fancy house party at Mentmore Castle. This year’s Ascot-themed do will play host to a stable of animal defense advocates, and Fiona is tasked with infiltrating the activists and uncovering possible anti-war activity.
Disguised as the Lady Tabitha Kenworthy, Fiona is more than ready for the “mane” event, but the odds are against her when both her arch nemesis, dark-horse Fredrick Fredricks, and would-be fiancé Lieutenant Archie Somersby arrive unexpectedly and “stirrup” her plans. And when a horse doctor thuds to the floor in the next guest room, Fiona finds herself investigating a mysterious poisoning with some very hairy clues.
Can Fiona overcome the hurdles and solve both cases, or will she be pipped to the post and put out to pasture by the killer?
Author Bio –
Kelly Oliver is the award-winning, bestselling author of three mysteries series: The Jessica James Mysteries, The Pet Detective Mysteries, and the historical cozies The Fiona Figg Mysteries, set in WW1. She is also the Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Vanderbilt University and lives in Nashville, Tennessee. She is bringing new titles in the Fiona Figg series to Boldwood, the first of which, Chaos in Carnegie Hall, will be published in November 2022.
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TRIGGER WARNING: memories of spousal and child abuse
Ingrid Barker runs away from her abusive husband and takes her daughter Susan to a remote area of Scotland to act as housekeeper for the McCleod family. But both parties are harbouring dangerous secrets…
What Happened At The Abbey is a sinister mystery book with elements of the supernatural. The book is set during Victorian times although the exact date is not specified.
Ingrid is desperate to escape her husband. She has happy memories of her childhood in Scotland so returns to the area to take the position of hosekeeper. But within minutes of arrival she discovers that her actual role in more akin to housemaid and she is trapped between the master’s warring children, a disgruntled and talentless cook and maid.
Reluctantly, she accepts the change in circumstances due to her desperation but is unsettled by strange episodes including cold drafts and odd smells as well as the discovery of notes from her predecessor. Gertrude McCleod is flexing her new power within the household and her brothers Miles and Blake are angered by her behaviour. All of the main characters are haunted by the past…
The book is written in the first person throughout. However, I felt a little confused as the narrator changes from Ingrid to Miles without warning, sometimes within a chapter. A simple name at the start of each chapter or section would have eliminated this entirely. However, I almost felt that Miles’ narration was unnecessary to the plot development but did offer additional insights.
I have to mention the remote Scottish location and the associated bog and ruined abbey which contribute to the setting and supports the backdrop to events. The sinister and tense atmosphere is effectively created and secrets are gradually revealed. There were some good twists as the conclusion approached and I wanted Ingrid to find safety, happiness and peace for herself and her daughter.
What Happened At The Abbey is an entertaining, spooky and emotional mystery novel.
What Happened at the Abbey
When Ingrid flees a violent husband to become a housekeeper in the Scottish Highlands, she discovers the family she works for has a much darker history than her own.
Who haunts Strathbairn? Why are the adult McCleod children at each other’s throats? And why does the youngest sneak off at night? As Ingrid searches for answers, she grows ever more fearful that her husband will track her down.
Set in late 19th century Scottish Highlands, WHAT HAPPENED AT THE ABBEY is a gothic mystery brimming with intrigue, ghostly drama, and family secrets.
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Author Bio – Isobel Blackthorn is a prolific novelist of unique and engaging fiction. She writes across a range of genres, including gripping mysteries and dark psychological thrillers.
The Unlikely Occultist: A biographical novel of Alice A. Bailey received an Honorable Mention in the 2021 Reader’s Favorite book awards. A Prison in the Sun was shortlisted in the LGBTQ category of the 2021 International Book Awards and the 2020 Readers’ Favorite Book Awards. Her short story ‘Nothing to Declare’ was shortlisted for the Ada Cambridge Prose Prize 2019. Her dark thriller A Legacy of Old Gran Parks won a Raven Award in 2019. The Cabin Sessions was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award 2018 and the Ditmar Awards 2018.
Isobel holds a PhD in Western Esotericism from the University of Western Sydney for her ground-breaking study of the texts of Theosophist Alice A. Bailey. Her engagement with Alice Bailey’s life and works has culminated in the biographical novel The Unlikely Occultist and the full biography Alice A. Bailey: Life and Legacy.
Isobel carries a lifelong passion for the Canary Islands, Spain, her former home. Six of her novels are set on the islands of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura. These standalone mystery novels are setting rich and fall into the broad genre of travel fiction.
Isobel has led a rich and interesting life and her stories are as diverse as her experiences, the highs and lows, and the dramas. A life-long campaigner for social justice, Isobel has written, protested and leant her weight to a range of issues including asylum seekers and family violence. A Londoner originally, Isobel currently lives in the Canary Islands, Spain.
TRIGGER WARNING: domestic abuse
Edie and Ethel go out for a walk in the hills but stumble across a body. They recognise the woman as Joyce Reid, an unpopular pacifist from the local area. The police think it was a terrible accident but Edie isn’t convinced and appeals to the police officer who helped her previously to aid her investigation…
Murder In A Country Village is the second book in the Edie York murder mystery series set during WW2. There are major spoilers about the outcome of the first book so I would advise reading the books in order.
Edie is still hoping for her big break in journalism. When she stumbles across a dead body, she is sure that it wasn’t a simple accident. Added to this are a pair of missing teens that no one is concerned about.
The mystery sustained my interest but the pace was quite slow. Both the murder and the missing teens provide Edie with plenty of opportunity to investigate and explore the local area and community. There were a whole range of suspects and potential motives for each crime.
I felt fully immersed in the 1940s with the rationing, black outs, tragic telegrams. There is some big emotion as we consider the deaths of brave young men fighting for their country and evacuees desperately missing their homes. I also felt incredibly moved by the plight of Edie’s friend Suki who is trapped in a violent marriage.
Murder In A Country Village is an enjoyable cosy historical murder mystery.
Murder in a Country Village: An utterly compelling historical cozy mystery (An Edie York Mystery Book 2)
England, 1941. With World War Two shaking the nation, rookie reporter Edie York wants to write the front-page news. But she ends up as the headlines when she stumbles over a body on the moors…
Eager to follow Churchill’s order to keep calm and carry on, Edie York has left the bombed-out streets of Manchester behind for a stroll in the countryside. But her rationed picnic lunch turns to ashes in her mouth when she discovers Joyce Reid, a well-known anti-war activist, lifeless at the bottom of a cliff.
Despite infuriatingly handsome DCI Louis Brennan’s less-than–amused warnings ringing in her ears, Edie is unable to leave the conscripted local bobby to do his work. Heading off to investigate, she immediately uncovers potential suspects galore. From alleged black-marketeers to the local land girl, a shell-shocked artist to Joyce’s on-off lover, Edie is sure the murderer is right under her nose.
Then Edie makes another gruesome discovery, and realises she needs long-suffering Louis on the scene to officially investigate. Can they uncover the killer hiding in plain sight, before it’s too late? Or will Edie’s own obituary end up featured on the front pages she’s coveted for so long…?
A fantastically gripping historical cozy mystery perfect for fans of Richard Osman and Agatha Christie. This is the second book in the Edie York Mystery series.
About the author
Flic Everett is a Mancunian writer who now lives in a cottage in the beautiful West Highlands with her patient husband and two deranged cocker spaniels. She still misses Manchester, and returns like a homing pigeon every month to see family and friends. She spends a lot of time writing on trains.
Flic has owned an award-winning vintage shop, guest-presented Woman’s Hour and was once a part-time tarot reader. She has a grown up son who makes her laugh more than anyone on earth, and she likes reading, painting, cooking, clothes, animals, Art Deco and rummaging in charity shops for bargains. Her greatest fear is being stranded without a book. She has spent many years as a freelance journalist and editor for national newspapers and magazines and can’t believe she’s finally allowed to make up stories from the comfort of her own home.
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Instagram URL @fliceverett
Twitter URL @fliceverett
1991: DCI Jane Tennison has to survive in a male dominated profession and carefully negotiate her personal and professional relationships…
I have never watched Prime Suspect on TV which is shocking as I love Lynda La Plante’s books. I am definitely going to catch up with all 7 series now! So, my introduction to the force of nature that is Jane Tennison was the three books (audio versions) that kickstarted the series (books based on her earlier life have now been published).
Prime Suspect: Jane investigates the death of a prostitute but her team are acting against her. Can she prove herself and catch the killer?
Face in the Crowd: the body of a woman is discovered in a poor black community but can she be identified?
Silent Victims: a death in a fire and a transvestite subculture leads to an investigation into a paedophile ring
Jane is an utterly brilliant character and I loved the mix of personal and professional elements that feature across the three books. She experiences sexism directly from her colleagues and the attitudes towards female officers from the general public.
The storytelling is superb in all 3 books but they do feature racism and homophobism, alongside the misogyny mentioned above, which impacts the murder investigations. Reading the books now, the content seems a little dated but I felt that the depiction of the 1990s was authentic.
I enjoyed both the style of writing and the narration with the narrator using different accents and voice inflections to depict the different characters and bring them to life. These three books are brilliant police procedural with important social comentary that doesn’t shy away from big topics including misogyny, institutional racism, abortion and AIDS.
Book blurbs
Prime Suspect: In the dark night of the soul . . . . If Detective Chief Inspector Jane Tennison hadn’t been a woman, she might not have noticed the victim’s shoes . . . . and that they didn’t match the size given on the info sheet now so obviously misidentifying the dead blonde as a hooker named Della Mornay. Being so through, so good at the details, made Jane a top investigator; being a woman made the boys in the squadron want to see her fall on her face. But Jane Tennison was determined to catch the madman stalking women in London’s street shadows. She had a prime suspect, and she needed to make the charges against him stick. She also needed to keep her own secret in check: she couldn’t let anyone see that she was falling apart inside, as her obsession with cracking this case and breaking out from under the heel of the station house boy’s club took over life, destroying her relationship with the man she loved, pushing her closer and closer to the dark urges of a killer . . . .
Face in the Crowd: The victim was young. Female. And black. Her skull had been smashed in, her face decomposed beyond all recognition. But for Detective Chief Inspector Jane Tennison, the corpse that had just been found in one of London’s poorest communities was only the beginning of a case that would tear apart an already divided city . . . and embroil the gritty cop and her force in a hotbed of racial strife, shocking accusations, and sudden, wrenching violence.
Silent Victims:The drag queen named Vera Reynolds swayed on-stage singing “Falling in Love Again.” And a sixteen-year-old boy lay in Vera’s fire-engulfed apartment . . . very, very dead. He was a “rent boy,” a sex-for-hire street kid who catered to the tastes of special customers. It was the kind of murder Soho’s Vice Squad saw often. But the influential do-gooder who was a prime suspect in this one made the young boy’s death different–a ticking bomb able to blast open the nasty, secret lives of politicians, judges . . . and cops. Detective Jane Tennison had moved up the career ladder through sheer guts and an unstoppable passion for justice. Now, on her first day as the head of the Vice Squad, she caught a case threatening to wreck her career. She had been told whom to arrest–and whom to back off from-in the murder of the “rent boy.” And she couldn’t go with the program. She knew a destroyer of children was out there. She knew she had a choice: to save her future or go after him like an avenging angel, and damn the consequences to hell . . . .
Molly, a homeless woman, leaves her precious bag at the library. It is packed full of papers with rather sinister notes written on them. The librarian passes the bag to retired cops Matt and Liz to sort through but, before they can start, Molly’s murdered body is discovered…
The Bag of Secrets is the sixth book in the Matt Ballard private detective and crime thriller series.
Matt and Liz have several cases on the go: shoplifting, a missing teen and now this mysterious bag. When they find out that Molly has been killed, they are asked by the police to help investigate as it isn’t a high priority. They are lumbered with working with a senior officer’s grandson who has a lot to learn about compassion and avoiding assumptions.
The mystery develops as it becomes obvious from the post mortem and information from other homeless people that Molly wasn’t quite what she appeared. This ties in with the bag of notes that the detectives sift through to make sense of the death. Meanwhile Matt is becoming increasingly worried about missing teen Liam.
The narration is in the third person. Most of the focus is on Matt and Liz but we also get chapters that show the other characters including unnamed people acting suspiciously with obvious secrets.
I really like Matt and Liz’s characters. There is a touch of gentle humour about their relationship and their love and respect for each other as well as the compassion they have for those involved in their cases are an important feature of the book.
The Bag of Secrets is an engaging crime thriller.
THE BAG OF SECRETS (Matt Ballard #6) by Joy Ellis
A GRIPPING NEW CRIME THRILLER FROM BESTSELLING AUTHOR AND BRITISH BOOK AWARDS CRIME & THRILLER OF THE YEAR NOMINEE JOY ELLIS.
From three-million-selling author Joy Ellis comes the book that everyone will be reading this Christmas.
Matt and Liz may have retired from the police, but that doesn’t guarantee a quiet life.
An abandoned carpet bag full of mysterious handwritten notes. A body in a marshy lagoon.
Matt is intrigued when his partner Liz brings home an old carpet bag she found dumped in the local library. It contains a pile of mysterious handwritten notes. Liz is convinced the bag belongs to Old Molly, a local woman who lives on the streets.
The following day, a body is discovered in a marshy lagoon. It’s Old Molly. Suffocated with an expensive men’s handkerchief.
Molly clearly knew something that got her killed. Liz believes she was trying to tell them something important. She calls on her nephew David to help decipher the carpet bag notes.
Meanwhile Matt is hired to find teenage runaway Liam Cooper. Liam has been missing for ten days now, and Matt has a very bad feeling about him.
A few days later, a second body is discovered in an old barn out on the fens.
Matt and Liz must piece together the cryptic clues Molly has left for them before more people die. The answers lead to the remote fenland village of Marshdyke-St-Mary — and a series of shocking secrets stretching back many years.
DISCOVER A TOTALLY ENTHRALLING CRIME THRILLER.
This utterly gripping crime thriller is perfect for fans of L.J. Ross, Peter May, J.D. Kirk, Angela Marsons, J.M. Dalgliesh, Elly Griffiths or Ann Cleeves.
THE SETTING
England’s rural fenland is a strange place, with its never-ending fields, winding tracks, and long straight droves (the old livestock routes) that lead to nowhere. The lonely lanes are flanked either side by deep drainage ditches and are, for a good part of the year, filled with tall, whispering reeds. Closer to the Wash, high seabanks form a barrier between river and marsh, and the richly fertile soil of the drained land. But when the mists come down, as they so often do, perspective is destroyed and all sense of direction lost, and then the fens become a rather frightening place of mystery and danger. Somewhere that you do not want to be at night.
DETECTIVE MATT BALLARD
1: BEWARE THE PAST
2: FIVE BLOODY HEARTS
6: THE BAG OF SECRETS
JOY ELLIS
UK #1 BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE JACKMAN & EVANS AND DI NIKKI GALENA SERIES; SHORTLISTED FOR BOOK OF THE YEAR FICTION: CRIME & THRILLER AT THE BRITISH BOOK AWARDS 2021
OVER 3 MILLION BOOKS SOLD!
Joy grew up and lived in Kent, trained in floristry in Mayfair and ran her own highly successful floristry business in Weybridge for many years. In the mid-1990s, she followed her lifelong love of books, first as the manager of an independent bookshop in Leatherhead, Surrey, then as a writer. When she retired, Joy and her partner Jacqueline and their two spaniels settled in a village just outside Boston, captivated by the Lincolnshire Fens.
Joy’s happy home life is far removed from her storylines, however, and while she loves living in the misty Fens, the area provides a remote and eerie backdrop to her novels. Joy is also able to add the authenticity vital to any crime thriller by drawing on Jacqueline’s inside knowledge, to confirm procedures and the reality of tackling brutal crime and criminals in a modern police force.
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