The American Boy by Andrew Taylor

      As Andrew Taylor’s latest book, The Ashes of London, is featured everywhere at present, I have put it on my TBR list. In the meantime, I am looking back at his earlier historical mystery, The American Boy. Interweaving real and fictional elements, The American Boy is a literary historical crime novel in the tradition of

The Secret Diary of Eleanor Cobham by Tony Riches

Eleanor Cobham, Duchess of Gloucester was unknown to me until I began to read this book, but she features in Shakespeare’s play, Henry VI, and was a significant historical character. Written in the first person as a secret coded diary we soon learn that Eleanor is imprisoned in Beaumaris Castle on the island of Anglesey,

Honour and Obey by Carol Hedges

Do you want to find yourself walking the streets of Victorian London on a night of “relentless rain” seeing people hurrying back to their semi-detached villas and tiny hovels, a place where evil and kindness stand side by side?   Then this is the book for you. “Honour and Obey” is packed with richly drawn characters

The Calling of the Raven by Jenny Lloyd

“The Calling of the Raven,” is the sequel to Jenny Lloyd’s powerful, emotive novel, “Leap the Wild Water.” We join the heroine, Megan, early in her marriage to Eli Jenkins, the man she had long loved, but she is burdened by a secret that is bound to sour their relationship. For Megan had given birth