A To Z Blogging Challenge 2025: Mysteries: E Is For Ellis Peters

 Okay, cheating a bit here, it should have been “P is for Peters”, but what the heck! 

Ellis Peters is the pen name for Edith Pargeter, who wrote historical fiction under her own name and historical crime fiction as Ellis Peters. She also has a series featuring a character called Inspector Felse, which I admit I haven’t got around to reading yet. They were written earlier than the better-known Brother Cadfael novels. I read her historical fiction first, and loved it, but who could not enjoy the Brother Cadfael novels? 

There are nineteen books in the series. They are all very good. The novels are set in Shrewsbury in the 12th century, during the war between cousins King Stephen and Empress Maud. 

Ellis Peters’ hero is a monk called Brother Cadfael. Cadfael had been a soldier in the First Crusade, having lots of adventures, and romancing a number of women, including the mother of his son, who first appears several novels into the series, The Virgin In The Ice. There is a short story in the collection A Rare Benedictine, in which he is returning from the Crusades and an encounter with some monks inspires him to join them. He considers it an enjoyable retirement. Brother Cadfael is the herbalist at the abbey of St Peter and St Paul in Shrewsbury(The church is still there). He creates medicines for the abbey. So he is skilled in forensics, being able to pick up information from the dead bodies that turn up in all the novels. 

His best friend is Hugh Beringar, who becomes Sheriff of Shropshire, but is basically a policeman - so you have the trope of the amateur sleuth and his buddy the cop.

While the main characters are fictional, there are some historical figures, such as the Abbot. However, in general, the regular characters were ordinary people you might expect in a small town, even if it did have more than its share of murders…

The series is historically accurate and when I visited Shrewsbury many years ago, I was able to find my way through the streets of the historical part of town because the author had described them in such detail. I met a local gentleman while I was taking pictures of the church, and he pointed out places mentioned in the novels. 

If you get a chance, do catch up with the TV series with Derek Jacobi. He was a perfect choice for the role of Brother Cadfael; Ellis Peters even said that she would always, from then on, imagine him as her hero. And if you’re a Doctor Who fan, the first actor to play Hugh Beringar was Sean Pertwee, son of the third Doctor. He was rather taller than the character in the books, but he was so good, I didn’t care.

Derek Jacobi also read the audiobooks, of which I only have one, but love it.

I hope that you will check out these books if you haven’t already. It’s easily available in ebook or audiobook, though you might need to hunt them up in print copy. Booktopia, the Australian site, has them, though Amazon has mostly second hand.

Have you read this series?

A To Z Blogging Challenge 2025: Mysteries: D Is For Peter Dickinson

 Peter Dickinson was best known as a children’s writer of speculative fiction. The Changes Trilogy, for example, shows a dystopian future England where people have suddenly rejected technology. I read them many years ago. He also wrote some adult mysteries, but this one is YA, seen from the viewpoint of a thirteen year old girl.

King And Joker is set in an alternative universe, so I suppose you could consider it speculative fiction, but it’s a murder mystery set in Buckingham Palace, which has a different royal family. The “what if?” is “What if George V’s older brother, Albert Victor(Prince Eddy), who was destined for the throne, survived the pandemic that killed him in our world and married Mary of Teck, who married George V in our world?” 

As a result, the current king is Victor II. He lives in Buckingham Palace with his Spanish wife and their two children, Albert and Louise. Princess Louise, the book’s heroine, goes to a regular school outside the palace and does royal duties, as well as visiting her former nanny, now very old and in bed, who knows a lot of royal secrets. 

A joker has been playing tricks around the palace. Louise suspects who it might be, but not, for a while, why. And then…there is a dead body sitting on a throne in a dark room while the royal couple in the room in front are busy hosting a Venezuelan delegation. And Louise is the one who discovers the body.

I particularly enjoyed it for the “what if?” aspect. Once you create a fictional royal family, there’s no reason not to set your story in the palace - and why not have a murder? But there is also a lot about the background to this family, some of which is connected to the murder. 

This isn’t the only crime novel written by this author, but it’s the one I stumbled across by accident some years ago.

It’s available in ebook, both in Apple Books and Kindle. Amazon also offers it in paperback, though it might be second hand.

It’s good fun, well worth a read. There is a sequel, which I haven’t yet read; I do have it in ebook. But Peter Dickinson wrote quite a lot of books and they are available both in Apple Books and Kindle. You may not find the print edition in your local bookshop, but it does seem to be available in paperback. 

A To Z Blogging Challenge 2025: Mysteries: C Is For Cosies

 Cosies are my favourite type of mysteries. They tend to be about a character - usually a woman - who isn’t a professional detective. Mostly, the character has a boyfriend who is. Kerry Greenwood, for example, has written a series about baker Corinna Chapman, who lives and runs her business in the Melbourne CBD. Her boyfriend, Daniel Cohen, is a private detective. The books usually end with recipes baked during the course of the story - and a party held by all the inhabitants of the lovely Roman-style block of flats, Insula. There are quite a few American cosies with bakers or cooks, though to be honest, I prefer Kerry Greenwood’s recipes. She enjoys baking and writes it into her stories. The American ones I have read have rather fatty recipes I couldn’t eat.

There are a lot of occupations carried on by the heroines of cosies - cleaners, booksellers, caterers, florists and many more. Quite often the detective boyfriend is a police officer. She stumbles into whatever case he is handling.

Then there is Kathy Reichs’s Tempe Brennan, who has even had her own TV series, though I haven’t seen it. I’m not sure you could quite call these books cosies, as there is a murder in each, but Tempe Brennan isn’t a professional detective. She is a forensic anthropologist, though, and checks human remains in the course of investigation into murders. The author is herself a forensic anthropologist. 

Tempe has a niece, who features in a novel that reads very much like The Goonies and, in one scene, is watching a TV show that’s cheekily based on Bones, the Tempe Brennan show.

In each of the Tempe Brennan novels I have read, she has at least one scene where the killer traps her in a room and snarls, “Ha ha, now I’ve got you, you interfering bitch!” So, not a professional detective, no. But she does escape the villain and appear in another novel.

The Corinna Chapman novels are more obviously cosies, though, as there is no murder in any of them. There is, admittedly, one where there is an attempted murder in the middle of a witches’ gathering, but the main issue is some jewels stolen by the Nazis and somehow turning up in the present day in Melbourne! 

So, do you have a favourite cosy series?

A To Z Blogging Challenge 2025, Mysteries: B Is For Benjamin January

 

If you have been following this blog for a while, you will certainly have read my posts about the Benjamin January series by Barbara Hambly. But the series is among my favourites. I can’t leave it out. So far, there are twenty books plus some self published short stories and novellas, which are published on Smashwords. All are worth reading. It’s one of the few series I’ve read that doesn’t go downhill.

It’s set in New Orleans in the 1830s and 40s. Sometimes there is travel elsewhere. Benjamin January is an African American former slave, who is now making most of his living as a musician and piano teacher, though he is also qualified as a surgeon, thanks to his mother Livia’s late lover, who bought her and her children out of slavery and set her up as a placee(coloured mistress). 

Benjamin is also a sleuth. Usually, it’s because someone he cares about has been accused of murder. Sometimes he is actually commissioned and paid. He works with his two closest friends, both white, to solve each mystery. One of them is Abishag Shaw, a police officer - who commissions him, in one novel, The Shirt On His Back, to find out who murdered his brother. His other close friend is fellow musician Hannibal Sefton, an Anglo Irishman, who is poor as dirt now, and very sick, but who carries a Stradivarius violin. Hannibal often poses as his master when they need to travel because it will be safer for Benjamin to avoid being kidnapped and sold back into slavery if he is apparently a slave. 

His wife, Rose, is an intellectual who runs a girls’ school and translates Ancient Greek and Latin text. 

I really enjoy this series. It’s not only the history but the culture that intrigues me. The author really knows her history but also things such as the food - my mouth waters every time Benjamin stops off with a friend on the street to discuss the case while enjoying coffee and delicious pastries. Also, when one of his family is cooking. Yum! 

She also, quite often, centres a story around a historical event, or includes a historical figure. In the course of the series, he meets pre-circus Barnum, a charming rogue, and Edgar Allan Poe, when Benjamin is in Washington searching for a missing man. Both of these help him. 

If you haven’t read any of these stories yet, what are you waiting for? 

The first novel in the series is A Free Man Of Color. 

Owltitude Press: An Interview With Rebecca Fung

Recently, I reviewed children’s novel Septopus by Rebecca Fung on this site. Rebecca is also a  publisher at Owltitude Press, a small Australian press specialising in children’s books. Septopus was the first book from Owltitude, so far the only one, but keep an eye out for more. You’ll see Rebecca’s plans below. 

Take it away, Rebecca, and thanks for kindly agreeing to this interview!

GR: What gave you the idea to start Owltitude Press - and why that name?

RF: I worked in a small legal publishing company as an editor - very different from children's publishing but I worked closely with a group of people who'd started up their own publishing company. Their story was very inspiring (one of the things I love about stories!). They told me things like how they started out together and raced around madly selling their first book out of a van - and now it's their strongest selling title.

 

I love writing children's books and I had a manuscript so this was the place we wanted to start. We felt children could be inspired as I was. We discussed ideas for growing children's love of reading and writing and we wanted to be part of that.

 

'Owltitude' is a mash-up of owls - animals that I find super-endearing (and also a symbol of wisdom and learning which we thought very appropriate) and the word 'altitude' - we wanted to challenge ourselves and kids to write their best and push their creativity further.

 

GR: Tell us a bit about the process of publishing Septopus.

RF: When I started Owltitude Press I had most of the Septopus draft written and revised. I had engaged some amazing beta readers to read it for me and they gave most helpful feedback so it could be further edited and improved.

 

Because we really wanted to get children more involved in Owltitude Press, we reached out to schools and some children test-read the first couple of chapters of Septopus and gave feedback. I was so impressed by the interest and variety of feedback given by children in middle to upper primary school.

 

I also worked with Kathy Creamer, my illustrator. It was highly enjoyable working with an artist and receiving illustrations to choose from and develop with her.

 

Kathy is an absolute star. She went above and beyond in her work on Septopus. She was tireless in working on feedback and the little details she puts into her illustrations are so clever. They really take the book to the next level. I found out a good artist can teach you a lot about your own characters.

 

GR:  What else are you planning for Owltitude Press?

RF: I've talked to people about several projects and I'm writing a new manuscript now. However, I don't want to rush into anything. When I talk to people I want to feel that we're both committed to the project and it's both the right time and the right fit - we don't want to do something that anyone's uncomfortable with to meet a quota or anything.

 

GR: What are some of the best moments in running a press?

RF: When the books arrived back from the printer was a high point! I've worked in publishing before and this is always a favourite time for me - when you see your work become a tangible product.

 

The book launch was also fantastic. We launched the book at Book Face St Ives and the staff were so cooperative. Everyone who attended made the day special. We had special Septopus gingerbread and other themed food, there was a great turnout, the children asked interesting questions, everyone was supportive and we sold out of books!

 

Every time someone buys a book, says they've enjoyed a book or wants to talk about books with me is a great moment. Having a press gives a lot of freedom to work with books (which I love) and do it at my own pace, and look for my own opportunities. I'm open to all sorts of ideas.

 

GR: Are you working on something, yourself, right now? 

I'm writing a book about a magical zoo - a zoo with magical creatures such as dragons and unicorns in it. I've also been asked if I would write a sequel to Septopus and the answer is yes, I have been sketching out ideas for that too!

Thanks, Rebecca! That was fascinating. I think it’s great that you got children so involved in your first publication. 

If you want to check out Owltitude, the new web site is now up.

 

A To Z Blogging Challenge 2025: Mysteries! A Is For Archer

C. J. Archer is an author I have just discovered. She seems to be very prolific, writing both mysteries and speculative fiction. This novel, Murder At The Mayfair Hotel, is the first of a series. The heroine and sleuth is Cleopatra(Cleo) Fox, who, in this book, has just come to live with her aunt, uncle and cousins at the Mayfair Hotel in London, after losing her grandmother, who had brought her up. She lost both her parents as a child.

Three chapters into the novel one of the guests is found horribly dead in her room. Cleo and some of the staff get together to find the murderer. Will the hotel go down as other guests find out and leave and the newspapers report it? Who could have done it? Suspects include a staff member whose father is the detective inspector investigating the case. 

This is an entertaining cosy set in the late Victorian era. Cleo is a likeable character and the Victorian hotel described is fascinating.

If you are curious about this series, this first novel is currently free on both Apple Books and Kindle, and the other ebooks are not expensive, about A$6.99 each. If you do get it on Kindle, you can buy the audiobook that goes with it for only A$2.99. Definitely worth checking out! 

A To Z 2025. Theme Release

 I’ve been doing A to Z for several years now and have forgotten some of the ones I’ve posted. And some of the books and authors I am going to mention have been on this blog before, mainly in reviews. But the theme of this year’s A to Z has not been covered here before.

I love speculative fiction and children’s/YA works. I also love mysteries. So, that’s this year’s theme. I will be covering books and authors I’ve read and enjoyed over the years.

My preference is cosies, with the occasional police procedural. 

I hope you enjoy crime fiction as much as I do! I confess I’d love to write it myself, as well as the fantasy and non fiction I’ve done for children and teens. One of these days…

Saving Susy Sweetchild: Silver Screen Historical Mysteries 3. By Barbara Hambly. Edinburgh: Severn House, 2024

Saving Susy Sweetchild is the third of the Silver Screen Historical Mysteries. This series, set in Hollywood in the 1920s, started life as Bride Of The Rat God, a horror novel in which Norah Blackstone, an Englishwoman who had married an American soldier during World War I, lost her entire family, including her husband, and moved to Hollywood with her beautiful sister-in-law Christine, a silent movie star. They had to deal with a horrifying Manchu god which tears apart its victims, who wear a sacrificial necklace. It was a lot of fun. It’s probably out of print, though I was able to get it in audiobook.

Now, the fantasy elements have been removed and the novels are murder mysteries. Norah Blackstone becomes Emma Blackstone and Christine is Kitty. She still owns three cute Pekingese dogs, with the same names and personalities as in Bride Of The Rat God. Emma still has a cameraman as a boyfriend, though his name has been changed from Alec to Zal. Between the three of them, mysteries are solved.

In this one, there are some murders, but the main issue is the kidnapping of a child movie star, Susy Sweetchild. Her current film is unfinished, so the studio is not happy, not worrying about the child herself, but how they can finish the film without her if necessary. The child has been robbed of her earnings by her mother and other relatives want to get custody so they, too, can benefit from her work. In those days, children in film were not protected. The best known case was Jackie Coogan, who later went on to play Uncle Fester in The Addams Family. When he turned 21, he discovered that his mother and stepfather had squandered all the money he had earned as a child actor. The Coogan Act came in to protect other children. 

Emma, Kitty and Zal work together to solve the mystery and find Susy, hoping she is still alive.

It’s very readable stuff, with a lot of silent era Hollywood background. Like Christine, Kitty plays villain roles and enjoys them. Kitty is a lot less ditzy than Christine, though she does like men, plural, as Christine does. Despite that, she has enough of a brain to be involved in the mystery solving. 

I think I enjoyed this one even more than the second book, One Extra Corpse. It’s not surprising; Barbara Hambly’s books never seem to go downhill. There are twenty Benjamin January mystery books and they are still going strong. 

It doesn’t matter if you haven’t read Bride Of The Rat God, though you probably would enjoy this novel more if you have read the first two books in this series.

I bought my copy in Apple Books, and they are also in Kindle, but if you prefer print books, they should be available from your local bookshop.