Heather Cranmer (2721 KP) created a post
Mar 4, 2022
Murder at Keyhaven Castle
Book
With her wedding to Viscount “Lyndy” Lyndhurst just days away, strong-willed American ex-pat...
Murder on Oak Street (A South Shore Mystery #1)
Book
New York, 1904. After two years as a coroner’s physician for the city of New York, Daniel...
Historical Mystery Cozy
Hazel (1853 KP) rated Havana Sleeping in Books
Dec 17, 2018
<i>Havana Sleeping</i> is a historical mystery novel by British author Martin Davies, which is based on real events that occurred in Cuba during the 1850s. Although the Slave Trade had been abolished in England, there were still people in America and Cuba who would be happy for slavery to remain legal. George Backhouse was posted to Havana, Cuba as a British Judge to take a stand against the illegal slave trading.
Backhouse ends up getting involved in a lot of complicated situations that could potentially spark a devastating war. His path also becomes tied up with the other main character, Leandra Leigh. Whilst most of the characters are real historical figures, Leandra appears to be fictional. A dear friend of hers, a watchman, was murdered during a supposed robbery and although the matter has been closed for a couple of years Leandra is determined to find out the truth – something of limited value in Havana. To begin with Backhouse and Leandra’s investigations seem unrelated, but a connection begins to build up as the story goes on.
In all honesty, the novel was very difficult to get into. There is nothing wrong with the actual writing as such, it is in fact written well and grammatically correct, however there was a lack of excitement in the narrative. It was also difficult to keep track of the characters – admittedly that may have been the point in the case of a couple of people, but as a result it was impossible to connect story. There were a few attempts of showing emotion, mostly surrounding Leandra’s character, yet this failed to arouse much interest.
From a historical point of view, those interested in Cuban and British history of this time period may be interested in reading <i>Havana Sleeping</i> and the author also includes some factual notes at the end of the book, but anyone hoping to get a story of some kind is bound to be disappointed.
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2204 KP) rated A Simple Murder (Will Rees, #1) in Books
Feb 9, 2020
I’m always on the lookout for a good historical mystery, so I was quite eager to pick this one up. I’m not familiar with the Shakers, so that was also an interesting aspect of the book. The plot is good with plenty of twists and a logical conclusion, however, I felt like the pacing could have been better. That might have just been me since Will could only talk to a couple of people at a time if he had to travel far to talk to them. This is a historical mystery, after all. That travel time may have helped lead me to feel like things were slow. The characters are strong. I really came to care for Will and several of the others. The characters were just as strong, and I had no trouble keeping them apart. However, as Will begins to find complex family relationships, I had a hard time keeping all of those straight. The everyday details of life in the time period were strong and helped make me feel like I was back in time when I was reading the book. I am definitely planning to visit Will again to find out what happens to him next.
The Song of Names (2019)
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The Great Mortdecai Moustache Mystery: The Fourth Charlie Mortdecai Novel
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The Great Mortdecai Moustache Mystery - the fourth Charlie Mortdecai novel, soon to be a major film...
Lindsay (1717 KP) rated The Keys of the Watchmen in Books
Sep 7, 2017
The author does a wonderful job of tell the story of the of the historical facts. You get to feel as if you are part of it. You want to help the characters. You learn about christianity though this book as well. The Archangel Michael and Lucifer (Satan, Devil) and one of the fallen angels that is mention in the book is Abdon.
The book is about good and evil and saving the mount. We have a fallen angel Abdon and Nicolas and Katelyn. We are mostly in the year of 1424. We have Jean and Katelyn and Nicholas who are called Watchman but will they save Mount Saint Michael?
So Great a Crime
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"Well-loved national hero, or predatory paedophile? So Great a Crime tells the true story of...
Nemesis: The First Iron Warship and Her World
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The Nemesis was the first of a generation of iron-clad, steam-powered naval vessels that established...