The headlines scream warnings about the ‘Butcher of Berner Street!’ and the journalist behind them, Leo Stanhope, is secretly thrilled to see the effect his words are having. Leo’s previous work has largely been concentrated on more mundane issues but when an anonymous letter summons him to a club in East London, only for the […]
Those Who Know by Alis Hawkins
Harry Probert-Lloyd has inherited the estate of Glanteifi and appointed his assistant John as under-steward. But his true vocation, to be coroner, is under threat. Against his natural instincts, Harry must campaign if he is to be voted as coroner permanently by the local people and politicking is not his strength. On the hustings, Harry […]
Those Who Know by Alis Hawkins
Harry Probert-Lloyd has inherited the estate of Glanteifi and appointed his assistant John as under-steward. But his true vocation, to be coroner, is under threat. Against his natural instincts, Harry must campaign if he is to be voted as coroner permanently by the local people and politicking is not his strength. On the hustings, Harry […]
Why do Historical Authors Turn to Crime?
Our guest this month, Barry Forshaw, author of Historical Noir, examines the growing popularity of historical crime fiction. The historical crime genre might be said to have begun in earnest with Ellis Peters’ crime-solving monk Brother Cadfael in the 1970s, and Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose in 1980 (with another monkish detective), but it […]
Russian Roulette by Sara Sheridan
Brighton 1956 When Mirabelle’s on-off boyfriend, Superintendent Alan McGregor, is taken off a gruesome murder case because the key suspect is an old school friend, Mirabelle steps in to unravel the tangle of poisoned gin, call girls and high stakes gambling that surrounds the death. It isn’t long before McGregor’s integrity is called into question […]
City of Masks by S D Sykes
City of Masks is the third outing for medieval crime-solving Lord of the Manor Oswald de Lacy and an excellent addition to a thoroughly enjoyable series. As one would expect from a writer of Sykes’ calibre, the novel works perfectly well as a stand-alone but I would recommend reading them in order if only for the […]
Historia Interviews: Kaite Welsh
Kaite Welsh is an author, critic, journalist and activist. Her excellent debut novel, The Wages of Sin, set in the dark underworld of Victorian Edinburgh, is published by Tinder Press on 1 June. Here she discusses with fellow Victorianista Anna Mazzola her love of history, feminism, mob-caps and buttered crumpets. Your protagonist, Sarah Gilchrist, is […]
All Clio’s Children
Sarah Hawkswood, author of the Bradecote and Catchpoll series, on how being an academic historian influences her fiction. I am an historian, and I am also a writer of historical fiction. Being the former influences how I write as the latter, imposes a ‘morality’, but I do not see it as constricting. I also do not […]