M. J. TrowRecensioni

Historical fiction featuring Christopher Marlowe as Queen Elizabeth’s advance scout to find a route for her tour of the English countryside, where the queen and her many attendants become visible to her subjects. This tour was known as a “progress,” and included sequential visits to the country houses of nobles. They entertained the queen with masques (stage performances), speeches, music, food, and drink. During Marlowe’s advance visits, several unexplained deaths and unpleasant incidents took place. The story revolved around solving the mystery of these incidents.

I found this novel quite unique in its setting and storyline. The author provided vivid descriptions of England in 1591 using period-appropriate language, in the time of Shakespeare (spelled Shaxsper) and Marlowe. I was interested to find out how these seemingly unrelated events were eventually explained. This story has an extremely long build-up and a quick denouement. I found it a solid story that transported me into the time-period. Recommended to readers of historical fiction of the Elizabethan era.

I received an advance reader's copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for a candid review.

1905 London. Mural Fazakerley, medium, has been found dead. Ruled an accidental death until another medium is discovered dead. But what could be the possible motive. D.S. Andrew Crawford with the help of ex D.I. Edmund Reid and Doctor Margaret Murray investigate.
An entertaining well-plotted and well-written Edwardian mystery. A good addition to this series with its interesting and likeable main characters.

M.J. Trow is one of my go-to authors when I'm in the mood for an historical mystery. She has a number of series, some of which I like better than others—and her new(ish) Geoffrey Chaucer series is my current favorite. These mysteries aren't cozy, nor are they blood-soaked. The plots have enough going on that they don't drag. Most enjoyable, they're populated by a cast of characters who are engaging and who bring with them all sorts of foibles.

I found The Yeoman's Tale particularly interesting since it's set during the peasants' uprising led by Wat Tyler and John Ball. For a brief historical moment, class-based England seemed on the verge of sweeping change—and the events of the time, even if they didn't result in sweeping change are both fascinating and unsettling. Having Geoffrey Chaucer thrown into the mix makes it all the more enjoyable.

If you're someone like me, always looking for historical mystery series with interesting settings and interesting central characters, you'll want to check out The Yeoman's Tale.

I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley; the opinions are my own.

I had two disadvantages when I read this book, first that it's the eight book in the series about Kit Marlowe and I have not read any previous book. And the second, this is an era that just doesn't really my thing. However, I went through a period when EVERYTHING looked interesting on NetGalley. That means I have a lot of books to go through that I, in hindsight perhaps should have passed over. This one is one of them.

Anyhow, this is a story about a murder, and it's the Queen's spymaster Sir Francis Walsingham that has been poisoned. Walsingham former righthand man orders Kit Marlowe to find out who killed Walsingham. So, Kit is off consulting scientists and thinkers of the School of Night to find out what poison it was and who murdered the spymaster.

I found myself not really taken with the story, actually now and then I felt a bit lost even. Like some thought processes from Kit's side took place outside the story in the book. It could just be me of course, not really finding neither the plot nor the characters especially interesting. On the plus side, Shakespeare shows up now and then in the story, not a terribly good playwriter apparently...

Eleventh Hour is probably a great book for fans of the era and those that love this series. I, however, will not bother with more books in this series.

I want to thank the publisher for providing me with a free copy through NetGalley for an honest review!

The former captain of the 3rd Cavalry of the Potomac Matthew Grand is tasked to catch the last co-conspirator at the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and the trail leads to London. In London, journalist Jim Batchelor stumbles over the dead body of a prostitute and that will turn his whole life upside down, but will also lead him to work with Matthew Grand.

This is the first book in a planned historical mystery series and what a great first book it was. Matthew Grand and Jim Batchelor are an excellent team, and it was great fun watching poor Grand trying to get used to London and its different "language" just a simple thing like ordering muffins at a coffee house and not at all getting the American muffin you excepted. Hell, I would have been confused as well.



Muffin and English Muffin

But even though I liked both Grand and Batchelor I actually like Inspector Tanner the best, there was just something about the man I just liked as soon as he was introduced into the story and I hope he will get a larger part in the future books.

It was an enjoyable book to read, a good introduction to a new series. The cases were OK, not earth-shattering, I mean I wasn't that surprised when the culprits were revealed. There was no "OMG I didn't see that coming" moment. I think back in my head I was already a bit suspicious when it came to the killers. I mean there wasn't that many to pick from and it is seldom the first person that the police suspect.

The Blue and the Grey was a nice historical mystery book, precisely the kind I like to read and I'm looking forward to the next one!

3.5 stars

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with a free copy for an honest review!

Short, disappointing, doesn't really go anywhere. It's only 155 pages but is nevertheless heavily padded out. If we're being generous, there's only 100 pages on the torso murders in here with the rest dedicated to irrelevant summaries of unrelated cases in different eras which do nothing to illuminate the supposed subject of the book.

There's a chapter summarising Jack the Ripper, a chapter listing various known lunatics of the time who couldn't have been the torso killer, a chapter of pure speculation which is rapidly presented as fact about a "cats meat man" suspect who cannot even be shown to have existed.

The writing style is dull which makes the occasional out of place humorous asides and sudden ironic exclamation marks when the author thinks he has hit upon a wry observation all the more jarring. I didn't get anything out of this to make it a keeper.

Archeological female amateur sleuth!

Interesting start to a new series set in London in 1900. Honorary Dr. Margaret Murray seems somewhat like a younger Miss Marples. She’s shrewdly intelligent, totally committed to her discipline, curious, and a pioneer for women in what has mostly been a man’s world. Based loosely on real person, Murray is an junior archeological lecturer at University College, London at a time when women academic staff are an athemna in the male dominated halls of academia.
A young woman who attends Margaret’s public archaeological sessions one afternoon a week, and moonlights as a street walker is dead. Another of her students, Adam Crawford (a constable with Scotland Yard) is convinced her death is a murder and not a suicide as the senior constabulary would want. Margaret is determined to investigate and makes the acquaintance of retired Inspector Edmund Reid.
Reid is drawn into the investigation by curiosity, another dead body, and a barely concealed disdain for the way Detective Inspector Blunt ( his successor) is stomping all over the murders, wanting a quick result, whether that is the truth or not.
Actually there were so many characters we were introduced to I became a tad confused. I delighted in the Doctor’s unflappability, but the pace of the story was uneven. In the end the reasoning behind the resolution and Margaret’s actions were just a bit too Dan Brownish for me.
Still, I’m eager to see where the good archaeologist might go in the future and will continue to monitor her progress.
The undercurrents of relationships, particularly sexual, in the hallowed halls of learning, have all the hallmarks of an academic Midsummers Murder type community, or as Jane Marples tells us the microcosm of a village (our village being the London halls of learning in the early 1900’s) where all types of negative behavior in the wider world are present.

A Severn ARC via NetGalley
(Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.)

I am sometimes hesitant to read fiction that uses real-life people as characters, but for some reason, I couldn't resist M.J. Trow's Four Thousand Days. Perhaps it was the time period-- 1900, right at the end of Victoria's reign. Perhaps it was the fact that Margaret Murray was a female archaeologist. For whatever reason, I'm glad I picked up this enjoyable historical mystery (and I appreciated the author's The Real Margaret Murray at the end of the book).

Dr. Margaret Murray isn't the only interesting character in the book. There's the handsome Constable Adam Crawford who attends Murray's free archaeology lectures on Fridays and has a keen eye for rooting out clues to solving crimes. There's retired Scotland Yard inspector Edmund Reid, subject of the popular Inspector Dier mystery novels. There's Tom, a former thief and erstwhile chef and server at Murray's favorite watering hole, the Jeremy Bentham. Of Murray's students, the standout for me was Janet Bairnsfather, "the Job of University College," who's much too rigidly proper to fit in well with Murray and her inner circle of students. Even the characters on the periphery are interesting, and sometimes good for a laugh or two, like the Herne Bay Decorum Society, "...a not-very-well-meaning clique of busybodies, largely female...who twitch curtains and look for outrage."

The mystery is a good one, and I was dying to find out what the archaeological find was. When I did learn, I think my jaw hit the floor. (And that was also when I learned the significance of the book title.)

Four Thousand Days is a well-written, thoroughly enjoyable historical mystery, and I'm looking forward to seeing Margaret Murray in the future.

(Review copy courtesy of the publisher and Net Galley)

1900, London, archaeologist, university, professor, ex-cop, murder, murder-investigation, historical-fiction, historical-figures, historical-research, history-and-culture, historical-setting, amateur-sleuth, sly-humor, class-consciousness, private-investigators*****

Professor Margaret Murray and Egyptologist Flinders-Petrie were real as is University College, London. The problems of class distinction and severe bias against women mitigated a little since then. The story is good whodunit fiction.
The publisher's blurb is a good hook, and I don't do spoilers, but I loved this fun read that has so many things that interest me (law enforcement, amateur sleuths, archaeology, sleuthing with due diligence) and even has a little romance going on between a university student and a constable. Awaiting the next in series!
I requested and received a free e-book copy from Severn House via NetGalley. Thank you!

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley.

This wasn't really for me. There were too many characters to keep on top of - students, lecturers, police officers, characters with more than one alias, stuffed owls etc etc. It was quite a 'cosy' mystery, with a tone that grated on me and was very sexist and dated. I appreciate that this was set in 1900, but it wasn't written then! I'm not entirely clear why the male victim had to die and I find it very hard to believe that Margaret would have done what she did to the explosive secret document at the end - it would go against all her training and beliefs.½

It's such a delight to discover what could be the first volume in a very satisfying historical mystery series. M.J. Trow has some fine mysteries behind him, so this new one featuring turn-of-the-20th Century archaeologist Margaret Murray promises to be exactly that. Murray is a lecturer at University College London with an interesting mix of students attending her tutorials, as well as others attending her Friday lectures, which are open to the public. Shortly after befriending one of Murray's "regulars," a policeman who is a Friday attendee discovers another of Murray's students dead. Then Murray pulls in Reid, a famous retired detective, and this cohort of academics and law enforcement are on the case.

Margaret Murray is an historical figure: raised in India, later a largely self-trained archaeologist and lecturer at University College London, and finally a well-known folklorist and scholar of Wicca. She's the perfect character around whom to build a series, particularly given her academic (and now law enforcement—and even one underworld) connections. This first mystery involves a discovery that may challenge a major historical timeline, adding to the excitement of the novel.

If you enjoy historical mysteries (particularly if you've been mourning the loss of Elizabeth Peter's Amelia Peabody), you'll be delighted by this new title both for itw own sake and for what it make promise in the future. I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley; the opinions are my own.

April 1590 and Sir Francis Walsingham, the spymaster of Elizabeth 1 is dead. Nicholas Faunt, his associate, is convineced that Sir Francis was murdered and instrusts Christopher Marlowe, the Spymaster's 'projectionist', to uncover the murderer.
Though a standalone book most of the characters are presented as complete with the expectation that you know their story.
An interesting mystery which is the latest in a series with a very likeable character in Marlowe. I enjoyed the book and the setting of Tudor England that I would like to start the series from the beginning.
A NetGalley Book

It all started in 1891 when Inspector Lestrade is sent to the Isle of Wight. There he investigates the death of a man who has been walled up in Shanklin Chine. But this is just the start of the random killings. Is there a serial killer stalking England.
Interesting mystery which did take it take time to get going, but there were moments when I felt it was verging towards a comedic story which I believe let it down.
A NetGalley Book

September 1592 and Kit Marlowe receives a letter from an old enemy, Richard Greene, imploring Kit to investigate his coming death. Events are compounded with the threat of the plague, but with the closure of the theatres it means Kit has the time to investigate. But when other murders occur what is the connection between then all. But has any one missed Tom Sledd the stage manager of the Rose Theatre.
An entertaining and enjoyable read, I really liked this story in the series.
A NetGalley Book

Gaius Calidus Nerva, a former slave and now heir to the house of Nerva is instructed by the Emperor Nero to discover who has murdered one of his High Priests. To find the killer he must discover the motive before another is killed. Will he be in time.
Enjoyable historical story about Rome in the reign of Nero with a murder mystery added to the storyline.

March 1875 Enquiry agents Grand and Batchelor are in their way to the Wild West in response to a call for help from Colonel Custer, a West Point contemporary of Grand. On arriving in Washington and meeting up with Custer, various incidents lead them to believe that Custers' life is in danger. Even more so when they proceed to Fort Abraham Lincoln where Custer is stationed.
While enjoyable enough there really didn't seem much depth to the mystery or the characters.
A NetGalley Book

In 1591 Queen Elizabeth decides to go on a progress. It is up to Marlowe to ensure the festitives are handled correctly, but it doesn't take long for the first death. What really is happening, it's for Marlowe to discover.
I liked the idea of the story but not the excution. I just couldn't get that interested in it. 2 stars for finishing the book, but only just.
A NetGalley book

In 1873 Matthew Grand and James Batchelor travel to Maine for the wedding, finally, of Grand's sister Martha. Only for the maid of Martha's best friend to be murdered. But she is only the first. But is there a connection with the fire that killed many, some months earlier, in Boston.
An enjoyable, easy to read mystery. I liked the book, but didn't love it. Easily read as a standalone story.
A NetGalley Book

December 1592. Henry Carey, Baron Hunsdon, has formed the Lord Chamberlain's Mens' troupe. But on the morning of their departure to Scadbury, one of the actors is found dead, stabbed, in his bed. Is he one of Burghley's men. But this is only the start of the deaths.
Does Burghley have another man in the troupe, and what other schemes is he orchestrating, with the other Privy Council members.
Meanwhile at Scadbury Manor the actors are rehearsing Marlowe's play Edward II, for its one performance, but are coming concerned over the content.
Is there a connection to Marlowe's past spying activities, will he discover the motive and the who behind the killings
An entertaining Elizabethan historical murder mystery.
A NetGalley Book

1583 Cambridge. Christopher Marlowe is concerned when his friend Ralph Whitingside has not been seen for several days, especially as they are about to graduate. He is found dead in his chambers and Kit investigates because he believes he was murdered. But when another body is discovered what could be the possible motive or is there any connection.
An entertaining well-written historical mystery with various likeable characters. A good start to the series.

1878 The painter Whistler wants Grand and Batchelor to uncover dirt of Ruskin, in retaliation for his comments about one of his paintings. They are also investigating the deaths of various streetwalkers as the police seem to be totally incompetent. Will Batchelor ever get married to the awful Lady Caroline Wentworth.
An enjoyable historical mystery, a decent addition to the series which can be read as a standalone story.
An ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

April 1380 Geoffrey Chaucer's former guardian, Lionel, The Duke of Clarence has been found dead in his locked bedroom at Clare Castle in Suffolk. Finder of the body, Sir Richard Glanville asks him to come and investigate. But will this be the only death and what could be the motives.
An entertaining well-written historical mystery with its cast of likeable and interesting characters, especially Richard Glanville and John Hawkwood. A good start to a new series.
An ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Some people, when they need a little comforting, turn to chicken soup. I turn to historical mysteries—and M. J. Trow is an author I can count on who can provide the kind of interesting, non-traumatic, non-overly romantic, occasional-in-joke fiction that I need when I'm in a funk.

I've read most of her Kit Marlowe mysteries. Now she's launched a Chaucer series. This is good news for me. Chaucer's Canterbury Tales contains 24 tales. So, if Trow is starting with the Knight's tale, that means I have up to 23 more books to look forward to in order to pull myself out of future funks.

This new book offers such little gems as—

"[H]e was so young. He'd barely finished shitting yellow."

"'Shawms.' the elder Glanville muttered suddenly. 'God, I hate shawms.'" (Shawms are actually a favorite of mine, but I can appreciate the sentiment.)

And there are the literary references—

"Glanville rolled his eyes. 'You know these Italians, Geoff,' he said. Actually, Chaucer didn't. He kept away from the Italian merchants in the city and the only Italian book he'd every read was by Dante Alighieri and it had left him rather cold."

And, as one of Chaucer's friends, who owns rather a large cat, explains when turning down an opportunity to go on pilgrimage: "I am not my own man, you see—for I must consider my cat, Geoffrey." Is Geoffrey the cat? Chaucer? Either way, it amuses.

If you're looking for historical mysteries that provide enjoyable, quick reads, M. J. Trow is just the ticket.

I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley; the opinions are my own.

Last Nocturne is a period mystery, set in 1878 London. Grand and Batchelor, the main characters, run a small private inquiry agency. In this volume, the seventh in the series, the two are hired by James Whistler—yes, that one—to investigate John Ruskin, who has deprecated Whistler's art. That's not much of a mystery, but then bodies start showing up and it's clear that something very wrong is underway, and it's based in the London art world. Several other artists make appearances—as does Oscar Wilde.

In all, this is a lively frolic for those who appreciate mysteries for their context as much as their plotting. Neither is remarkable on its own, but together they make for a rewarding read for fans of period mysteries.

I received a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes from the publisher via NetGalley; the opinions are my own.

Loved it. I did not want this to end - and as I realised where this was going, I slowed my reading to tease it out to the very end.

A must read series for those who love their mysteries set in Tudor times.