Book reveiw: "Oscar Wilde and the Vatican Murders" by Gyles Brandreth

 

I was intrigued by the title of Brandreth’s book Oscar Wilde and the Vatican Murders, since it promised to depict a giant of literature as a detective.  In fact, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is the main character, with him as the narrator in first person, with Wilde as secondary.  However, as the story unfolds, it is Wilde who employs Sherlock Holmes’s techniques to solve a mystery and murders unfolding in the Vatican.  Although Doyle is the creator of Holmes, one of the world’s greatest detectives, he is relegated to playing Watson to Wilde’s Holmes. 

Doyle is depicted as clueless and Wilde is the observant one, who eventually solves the mystery.

During the heyday of Doyle, the author received volumes of fan mail, including many messages for Sherlock Holmes.  In Brandreth’s novel, Doyle receives several packages addressed to Holmes, which he opened weeks and months after receipt.  Doyle had been delinquent in responding to his mail, which moved slowly in the late nineteenth century.  Among the correspondence, Doyle found a mummified hand, a severed finger with a rose-gold ring, and a lock of hair.

Since the packages were sent from Rome, Oscar Wilde convinces Doyle that they must travel there to discover the source of the objects, the purpose in sending them, and solve the mystery of their origin.

To Wilde, money is no object and is more than willing to throw it around to conduct the investigation in luxury, with good food and drink. 

Brandreth employs Wilde’s flair and witticism throughout the novel.  But his treatment of Doyle is bland in comparison.  Doyle seems dull and without personality.  Of course, compared to Wilde, most everybody would be ordinary.  In this story, Doyle meets a charming young lady, “Irene Sadler” (an obvious reference to Irene Adler, who appears in A Scandal in Bohemia, and is the only person to outsmart Sherlock Holmes). It seems Doyle is smitten by Irene Sadler based on Wilde's observations, but there are no inner thoughts or acknowledgement of his feelings toward her. 

Weird.

If you’re an Oscar Wilde fan, you might enjoy this novel, but it really did not hold my interest and took me a while to finish it.

Book review - "Hornswoggled" by Donis Casey

I bought Hornswoggled, excited to find a new mystery author, from Oklahoma. The first in the series wasn't available at this store so I settled for #2.

A woman has been found stabbed and hidden in a pond under some tree roots.  Her husband, the town barber, is suspected but he has an air tight alibi.  He was in Kansas City when his wife was murdered, and arrived back in Boynton, Oklahoma after her body was found.  

A few months later, the grieving barber has his sights set on Alafair's daughter Alice.  And the feeling is mutual.  Alafair does not trust the charming, handsome, wealthy barber and is determined to find out who killed his wife, before her daughter could possibly become his next victim.

I enjoyed the book mainly for its historical setting in Oklahoma, the first decade after statehood. Casey included many details of what life was like in 1913, living on a farm with a small town nearby.

Sometimes those details bogged the story down. I didn't mind the section where Alafair is churning butter but when a long paragraph is devoted solely on how each member of the Tucker clan (13 in all) like their eggs, the story grinds to a screeching halt. I had to put the book down for a short while, before convincing myself to pick it back up again and finish it.

I grew up reading the Hardy Boys in grade school before I graduated to Agatha Christie and others. I realized Frank and Joe rarely solved a mystery. They were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Other sleuths figure out the mystery by looking at all the clues and figuring out who the bad guy is. Hornswoggled is the same vein as the Hardy Boys. Alafair realizes whodunit isn't anyone she suspected until it was too late.

Still, I would recommend this to people who enjoy cozy mysteries, early Oklahoma, or pre-WWI history buffs

Book review - "In the Kingdom of Ice" by Hampton Sides

Warning: Contains spoilers!

In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette, Hampton Sides chronicles the adventure of Captain George De Long and thirty-two men, who set out to explore the North Pole in 1879.  De Long had his heart set on reaching the pole via ship, going on the flawed information from previous explorers.  

Sides manages to grip the readers' feelings when the group realizes they will never reach their goal and head back toward civilization.  That's when the real hardships begin.  Maybe we have a morbid fascination with someone else's catastrophes and can't stop reading.  Or perhaps the story opens a world to which we will (thankfully) never see.  

I was disappointed when Captain De Long's body was discovered, since he had been the central figure throughout the book.  So when he died trying to return home, it was heartbreaking.  The fact that any of them survived is a miracle.

I enjoyed reading this book.  I like how Hampton Sides presented his research on the subject, which seems to be quite extensive, given the time-frame of the story and lack of communication and records keeping.  

However, a lot of the book seemed to be rather non sequitur, but Sides managed to show why certain passages were necessary and how they related to the story.   

Although there are a lot of scientific details, the book did not get bogged down in data dumps, which is why this book is an entertaining read.

"A Faire Day for Murder" gets a 4-star review on Goodreads!

A Faire Day for Murder got a 4-star rating and a review from reviewer Nicci! 

I absolutely loved Ian and the other characters. The setting being a renaissance faire is just perfect. I want to know more about the psionic officers. Keep em coming Alan Scott!!

A Faire Day for Murder got a 5-star rating from Philomena!

Thank you so much, ladies!

Purchase your copy from Purple Sword Publishing: https://purpleswordpublications.blogspot.com/

"A Faire Day for Murder" received two 5-Star reviews on Amazon!

Check out the reviews here!

Book review - "Final Chance" by David Sullivan

I’m always glad when my friend David Sullivan releases a new story.  His most recent novel Final Chance takes place in the year 2027 after a devastating plague, the N-virus, has killed 85% of the world’s population.  Travis bikes from Seattle to a small town in Oregon to reunite with his grandfather.  The rest of their family died and they are the only two left.

A nearby house catches fire and the three siblings, Winston and his sisters, living in it have to move in with Travis and his grandfather.  Travis and Winston hit it off and soon become lovers.  Together they have to protect their families and survive in a post-apocalyptic world with no infrastructure or law enforcement. 

The only problem with Sullivan’s story is the editing, which I have addressed with him.  Other than that, it’s a good story with great characters.  It kept my interest and I finished it in a short amount of time.  I would have like to see a little more development in their situation, such as Travis and Winston discovering more people alive and thriving, and can start re-building a community. 

Maybe a sequel?

Here is the link to purchase Final Chance:

https://www.amazon.com/Final-Chance-David-Sullivan-ebook/dp/B07KFYM7V5/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1549842130&sr=1-1&keywords=Final+Chance+David+Sullivan

Book review - "Demon of the Air" by Simon Levack

I really enjoyed this book.  This is another one that I picked up in hopes of finding another series to follow and I found one.  Levack’s novel Demon of the Air is set in 1517 in Mexico in the Aztecan capital Tenochtitlan, where Emperor Montezuma resides.

In the first chapter, Levack exhibits a dark humor as the main character Yaotl, the Chief Minister’s slave, goes about the ho-hum practice of human sacrifice, with a nonchalance as we would an every day task.  The mystery begins as the sacrifice victim Yaotl and his friend Handy brought for the Chief Minister escapes from their grasp.  They chase him but he utters a strange prophecy before leaping to his death.

First, the Chief Minister wants to know why his sacrifice got away.  Second, he wants to know what the prophecy means.  Third, he wants to know why all the sorcerers in the city have disappeared.

Yaotl has few friends in the city and is estranged from his family, as a result of being dishonorably discharged from being a priest.  He has to forge new alliances and mend bridges to solve the mystery.

Levack introduces each character by their Aztec name but then uses the English translation, such as Curling Mist and Black Feathers. 

The novel is fast paced and keeps the reader’s interest.  I found it easy to follow the story although I am not at all familiar with the Aztec culture.  Levack brings out their culture beautifully and it is very entertaining. I look forward to reading more of his work.

Book review - "The Mosaic Crimes" by Giulio Leoni

I’m not sure how to review this novel.  It was very well-written and its subject matter – historical mysteries – is a favorite of mine.  However, Giulio Leoni’s novel The Mosaic Crimes focuses a bit more on philosophical discussions than the murder investigation.

The main character in this novel is Dante Alighieri, who will eventually write The Inferno.  He is poet and prior of Florence, Italy in which the novel is set.  The year is 1300 and a mosaicist is found murdered in front of his work, constructing a mosaic in the stadium.  Dante meets seven scholars who have a keen interest in the stadium and all of them knew the murdered man. 

Here is where the novel veers off into intellectual discussion and philosophy.  Also, Leoni introduces other aspects of early fourteenth century Florence, such as a riot during the climax of the story.  Maybe I wasn’t following along as diligently as I should have but it was not an easy read. 

If one has an interest in or is knowledgeable in Italian history, perhaps this would be a more enjoyable took to read.

Book review - "The Mozart Score" by Edwin Leather

I remember reading The Mozart Score by Edwin Leather years ago so when I saw it in a used book store, I picked it up to re-read it but I didn’t recall any of the story.

First, I’ll say that I did enjoy reading it again.  It’s a sort of a spy novel but without the undercover antics and intelligence as in Daniel Silva or Brad Thor.  The story centers on the kidnapping of an Israeli scientist Karl Reuben by Arab terrorists.  Did I mention this was published in 1977?  This takes place before the fall of the Iron Curtain and the Soviet Union.  Soviet bloc countries are still shrouded in secrecy and distrust of everyone.  Rupert Conway is an art dealer in Vienna and gets involved in the search for the scientist, since Conway is a friend of Rueben’s father.  The search takes them across Austria, Yugoslavia and Albania.

Second, the story was exciting for most of it, but the ultimate climax was rather disappointing.

Third, his writing, although full of rich details of the country and cities in southeast Europe, breaks the cardinal rule of showing rather than telling.  The omniscient narrator is pervasive throughout the story.  It made the head hops not nearly as distracting as in previous novels. 

Fourth, the opening scene in which a man is murdered during a Mozart performance in Vienna is not resolved until the last page, literally, and it seems almost an afterthought, as if Leather realized he hadn’t addressed it since the second chapter. 

Lastly, the Mozart score in the novel has nothing to do with the novel.

Leather also wrote a book The Vienna Elephant but I don’t think I’ll read it.

Two 𝅘𝅥𝅮 out of five.

Book review - "Dressed for Death" by Donna Leon

I really enjoyed Donna Leon’s Dressed for Death, which I picked up years ago in Puerto Vallarta.  Of the past few books I’ve read, this is one series I might continue to read.

Set in Venice, Commissario Guido Brunetti is called to investigate a body of a man found in Maghera, a short distance from Venice.  The murder is particularly gruesome since the victim’s face has been bashed in so viciously, he cannot be identified.  Also, he is dressed in women’s clothing and wearing make-up. Hence the title.

At first, Brunetti suspects he is one of the male prostitutes who frequent some of the less-reputable areas of Venice, but the victim is older and not as fit as the young men who ply that trade. His investigation is frustrated by lack of leads and an upcoming vacation with his family.  He must complete the investigation before he can join his family. 

Then another body is discovered.

The book was published in 1994 so computer technology was not as advanced as today, so it was interesting to be reminded how much technology has come in the past twenty years.  But attitudes in the novel seem to be before their time.  Brunetti and most of his fellow officers seem open-minded toward homosexuality and transvestites.  Don’t misunderstand me.  Late twentieth-century Italy has its share of homophobia but it was not a major issue in the story, considering the subject matter.

I look forward to reading more of Leon’s work.

4 ₤ out of 5 

Book review - "The Canterbury Papers" by Judith Koll Healey

It is not easy to keep reading a book when you don’t like the main character.  That’s the conundrum I had with The Canterbury Papers by Judith Koll Healey.  The novel follows Alais, daughter of a king, sister to a second king, former betrothed to a third king and mistress to a fourth.  Girl gets around.  But soon the reader finds out that not only is she stupid (she realizes her room at an inn has been broken into but decides to ignore it), she is also a mean girl.  After finding this out, I had to make a decision to finish the book or stop because I no longer cared what happened to the Princesse Alais.

I chose to press on.  The story is centered around Eleanor of Aquitaine, demanding that Alais travel from Paris (again?) to Canterbury in England to retrieve some hidden letters that would be extremely awkward to the Queen mum if they were ever made public.  In return, Eleanor promises information about the son Alais believed had died shortly after she gave birth to him.  She feels she has no choice but to do the queen mum’s bidding.

When Alais arrives at Canterbury, she comes face to face with the man whom she and her royal siblings tormented as a boy, because he was smarter than they were.  William has grown into a formidable man and Alais discovers there is much more to him that meets the eye. 

The issue with the letters is a little anticlimactic since Alais learns their existence and content are the worst-kept secrets in England and France.  

Despite that the book was well-written with few head-hops, but had great details of thirteenth century England and France without all the data dumps.  The kidnapping scene, which opens the book, isn't suspenseful after the first chapter.  

Three ♕ out of five.

Book review - "Murder on the Eiffel Tower" by Claude Izner

I find it a little strange that I read two mysteries in a row that take place in Paris, albeit 250 years apart.  Murder at the Eiffel Tower by Claude Izner (published in 2009) occurs during the International Exposition in 1889 when the amazing structure was opened.

The main character is Victor Legris, a columnist and bookseller in Paris, who has joined thousands of people visiting the tower.  A woman dies of an apparent bee sting.  The incident doesn’t attract much attention until an anonymous letter sent to a local newspaper suggests she was murdered.  Soon more people die and Victor begins to suspect, well, everyone.

I enjoyed the book mainly for the description of late nineteenth century Paris and the International Exposition.  One thing that detracted from the enjoyability of the story is the numerous head-hops which confuse the reader, but nearly as bad as the previous book I tried to read.  Izner also builds his characters a bit better.

Readers of Agatha Christie might note a similarity between Murder on the Eiffel Tower and The ABC Murders by Christie.  I won’t go into detail here so you can figure it out for yourself. 

3 out of 5 croissants.

Book review - "Manhunt" by Christian Jacq

This is one of those books I picked up thinking that it might lead to another interesting series of mysteries with an ancient Egypt setting.  Other authors have done so and successfully, too.  I had hoped Manhunt by Christian Jacq would be as good as they are.

I was wrong.

It has been quite some time since I have read a book so poorly written.  It has been translated from French into English so perhaps a lot got lost in the translation, but it was so messed up I finally stopped reading after I had read just over half it.

Jacq commits the cardinal sins of writing by constant head-hopping so much you don't know who's point of view the scene is in.  It makes reading very confusing.  He also uses huge data dumps and the ever intrusive narrator. In one scene, a woman speaks to the main character Kel and after only two greetings, she tells him her entire backstory.  

Huh?

Okay, Jacq.  You’re an expert on ancient Egypt.  We get it.

Characters are cardboard, not developed at all and dialogue is so choppy, it doesn’t flow like a conversation should.  One paragraph made absolutely no sense and I read it several times to figure it out. 

Maybe his non-fiction work is better written, but if you want a good ancient Egyptian mystery read Agatha Christie’s Death Comes as the End, or P. C. Doherty’s Amerokte series or Lauren Haney’s Lieutenant Bak series

Book review - Death of a Musketeer by Sarah D'Almeida

The dust jacket of Death of a Musketeer boasts a quote from Margaret Frazer: “A fun read.”  I’m not sure I agree with s. Frazer, because although a good book, I did not find it to be a fun read.  I would describe more as ‘put-downable’. It has a great setting using Alexander Dumas’ characters from his Three Musketeers to solve a murder.

The story opens just as D’Artagnan has challenged Athos to a duel.  Porthos and Aramis are nearby when the four of them are attacked by the Cardinal’s men.  The musketeers fend off the attackers and then go off to celebrate.  Their drinking lasts until way into the night.  As they leave the last pub, they encounter another musketeer, who has been murdered, and they discover it is a woman in disguise.  Naturally, the musketeers take it upon themselves to solve the murder of this woman who has a remarkable resemblance to the Queen.

Most of the antics of the story take place during night times, and it seems that no one in France sleeps at night.  It doesn’t matter what hour it is, everyone seems to be awake, and the musketeers seem surprised to realize they have awakened someone. 

D’Almeida keeps true to the spirit of the Three Musketeers but it seems odd to have them try to solve a mystery, using their heads instead of their swords.  The story involves a plot to discredit the Queen using the Duke of Buckingham, which we’ve seen before in Dumas’ work. There are times when D’Almeida has a character reminisce or goes off on a tangent to describe the surroundings.    Okay, you’re an expert on 17^th century Paris. We get it. 

Other readers might find this one more satisfying than I did. This is the first one of a series, but I'm not interested in reading anymore.

I give it one musketeer out of three.

Book review - "Murder Casts a Shadow" by Victoria Nalani Kneubuhl

I picked up this book when we were in Hawai’i two years ago, looking for inspiration for my own Hawai’ian mystery.  Kneubuhl is a Honolulu playwright and writer for a television series “Biography Hawai’i”.   It is the first book in a series of mysteries set in 1930s Hawai’i.

Set in 1935 Honolulu, the story opens as the new year starts when a museum curator is found murdered.  A priceless painting is stolen from the museum at the same time.  (I felt a Daniel Silva-esque novel coming on but was quickly appeased.)  Kneubuhl’s sleuths are a British-speaking Samoan-born Ned Manusia and Mina Beckwith, a Honolulu socialite and newspaper reporter of Polynesian descent.  Despite the fact, Mina’s twin sister Nyla is married to a local police detective Todd Forrest, Ned and Mina take on the mystery themselves, since Ned brought paintings from England for display.

It isn’t long before the painting is recovered.  With art theft removed as a motive for the murder, Ned and Mina have to determine what is.  By now, more people are killed and they stumble upon a possible cover-up of the U.S. government having a hand in Hawai’i’s last king’s death, over forty years before.  King Kalekaua died in San Francisco in 1891.  The official cause of death is listed as Bright’s disease, an inflammation of the kidneys, but Kneubuhl’s story entertains the idea that he was poisoned to pave the way for the U.S. government to end the monarch and annex the islands.

Not really a stretch of the imagination.

Kneubuhl infuses a lot of history, imagery and the environment of mid-1930s Hawai’i but they come across as data dumps and tend to take the reader out of the story.  Also, she describes Mina’s and Nyla’s clothes in every scene but unnecessarily.

Oh, well.  It’s still a good read.

3 🌈🌈🌈 out of 5

Book reviews - "A Prayer for the Damned", "Dancing with Demons" by Peter Tremayne

Due to a little confusion as to the sequence of books, I started reading Dancing with Demons (No. 16) until I realized I had missed A Prayer for the Damned (No. 15), so I ended up reading them back to back but in the proper order.  As with all Sister Fidelma mysteries, Tremayne presents an investigation which appears to be an open-and-shut case, but everyone’s favorite ancient Irish dalaigh manages to unravel a complicated, impossibly complex mystery.  He does a great job of keeping up the suspense and keeping the reader guessing until Fidelma has completed her report to the council.

A Prayer for the Damned opens with a beautiful, young woman throwing herself off a cliff, heartbroken over the loss of a love.  The main crux of the story is a fanatical abbot, who is wreaking havoc over the five kingdoms to have his views on celibacy and separation of sexes recognized as the top law, is murdered in Cashel, on the eve of Fidelma and Eadulf’s wedding.  One of the kings is seen leaving the abbot’s room just before the body is discovered.  In a shrewd move, the king requests Fidelma represent him to the High Council.  This means postponing her wedding.  Of course, Fidelma cannot stand by and let a client be railroaded into a conviction, not with so many other people wanting to kill the abbot.

Dancing with Demons begins with the High King Sechnussach being murdered in his bed and the murderer is discovered immediately afterwards, and commits suicide before he can be captured.  The Chief Brehon cannot investigate the assassination because it presents a conflict of interest (he and the king are members of the same clan), so Fidelma is called in.  Again, it appears it was an easy case to complete, but not for Fidelma.  She uncovers so much political intrigue and religious conflict, the reader can get overwhelmed.

That being said, there are aspects of Tremayne’s writing that make reading a little tedious.  He’s an expert on ancient Irish cultures.  We get it.  He knows what he’s talking about.  But the data dumps get weary.  It is interesting to know there were six types of roads in Eireann, but some of us like mysteries and do not want a history lesson, especially since only one of them is pertinent to the story.  Unless there is a quiz at the end.  Hint: There isn’t.

Also monotonous, he introduces ancient terms, which is fine, but follows them up with similar phrases like “Eadulf recognized the term for…”  “Eadulf was unfamiliar with the term and asked what it meant…” Sometimes, Tremayne just tells the reader what it is. 

Despite these issues, I continue to read Fidelma’s mysteries.  I find the glimpse into ancient Ireland fascinating and the stories are always satisfying.

I give them both ☘☘☘☘ out of 5

Book review - "The Heist" by Daniel Silva

Might contain spoilers.

Silva is never one to give the reader a break.  He starts his novel The Heist with a scene that seems innocent enough (unless you’ve read some of his other works), but within a few paragraphs has you devouring each page while taking you on a wild ride through Europe, the Middle East and all the art museums in between.

The Heist opens with the brutal murder of an art thief, so naturally Israeli spy extraordinaire and master classic art restorer Gabriel Allon is taxed with finding out who killed him.  And where are the paintings he stole?

The title refers to Allon staging a theft of a Van Gogh from the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.  He creates an exact replica of the painting and puts it on the black market to flesh out the murderer.

Of course, Silva doesn’t stick with a mere art thief and a couple of murders.  Soon, Allon and his team uncover huge sums of money generated from the theft, trafficking and selling of priceless pieces of art.  Billions of dollars are hidden in bank accounts all over the globe to keep a tyrannical regime in power, and rolling in the dough while keeping its citizens in poverty and oppressed by the military.

Although a great story, I felt it wasn’t as good as some of his previous works.  The final solution is a little disappointing but I suppose we can’t become complacent.  There is still an element of satisfaction that the little fish didn’t get away, even if the big fish does.

I enjoy Silva’s work even though he violates writers’ rules against adding data dumps, however, interesting and the intrusive narrator.  He keeps his stories fast passed despite these sins(?).

3 ✪✪✪ out of 5

Book review - "The Devil's Wolf" by P. C. Doherty

I think P. C. Doherty has ghost writers for his publications and when they learn a new word, they try to see how many times they can use it in a novel.  In his previous book in this series, Dark Serpent, the word was ‘contumaciously’ (stubbornly perverse or rebellious).  In The Devil’s Wolf, the nineteenth and latest Hugh Corbett mystery, the word is ‘comitatus’ (a companion, an associate).  The repetition becomes tedious and distracts from the enjoyment of the story.  Doherty et al, think about using a thesaurus!  It is a great tool.

In The Devil’s Wolf, King Edward II has sent Hugh Corbett and his comitatus north, closer to Scotland.  England’s war with the Scots is going from ‘terrible’ to ‘it can’t get any worse’.  Corbett is traveling to Lord Percy of Alnwick Castle for a prisoner exchange with the Scots.

On the way, Corbett is warned of an attack by Edmund Darel, a ruthless knight whose sympathies lie with Robert the Bruce.  Corbett and his men foil the attack but one of their Scottish prisoners is later found poisoned.

Even after they reach the safety of Alnwick Castle, more attempts are made to kill Corbett.  Two more Scottish prisoners are poisoned and the fourth disappears.  Corbett knows there is a traitor in their midst but he cannot determine who it is.  He hears stories of Darel’s comitatus cavorting with witches and devil worshippers at bizarre midnight ceremonies.

Doherty takes a walk on the weird side with this story.  He’s touched on these subjects before but hasn’t take a complete dive off the deep end as with this one.

But Doherty ends The Devil’s Wolf with a teaser for the reader that Hugh Corbett Novel #20 will follow.

Three dragons out of five.
🐉🐉🐉

Book review - "The Radium Girls" by Kate Moore

The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women by Kate Moore delves into the lives of the women who painted dials and clocks for the U.S. military during World War I.  The paint they used contained radium, a radioactive substance that glowed in the dark, thus its use for aircraft indicators.  The girls, hired by U.S. Radium Corporation (USRC), were unaware of the dangers of the radium compound they used, and the company reassured them frequently that the substance was perfectly safe.  The girls, mostly teenagers and early-twenty-somethings, developed a technique to make their lines straight.  They put the brushes with the radium compound into their mouth so the bristles could produce the tiny lines required by the company.

Lip…dip…paint.

The girls also painted their fingernails with the compound and put it on their eyelashes, loving the glow-in-the-dark effect it had.  Their jobs were lucrative and they enjoyed having parties and wearing fashionable clothes.  Even after the war ended, there was a demand for radium painted products.

After a few years, some of the women began developing serious health problems and then dying.  It took a while for them, their dentists, and their doctors to make the connection between their jobs and the radium.  Naturally, they went after USRC, whom they claimed knew about the dangers of radium but withheld the information from them.

Naturally, the company did everything it could denying any responsibility and would not claim liability.  The women spent years fighting USRC and time, realizing that they might not live long enough to see justice served.

Moore based her book on a number of interviews with the relatives of the radium girls, and plenty of court records.  Most disturbing, though, was the details in which she describes the deteriorating health of the radium girls, chronicling their rapid declines and suffering to death meticulously.  It got rather stomach-churning in some instances to read what was happening to these women.  In fact, there were times in the book, I thought Moore might be putting too much detail in their symptoms but it does illustrate how poorly these women were treated by their employers, doctors and even townsfolk. 

What is chilling about this book is the corruption of the USRC to deny these girls the lives they should have had all for the sake of making a buck.  The dangers of radium had been known since 1901 when the Curies first discovered it.  The company knew of those dangers but deliberately lied to the girls to cover their complicity.

Sound familiar?

Book review - "The Mysterium" by P. C. Doherty

I was reluctant to start The Mysterium by P. C. Doherty since the synopsis made it sound a lot like the previous novel, Nightshade.  Remember in that novel, a sinister, mysterious assailant known as the Sagittarius was ambushing people with a long bow.  In this novel, there is another sinister, mysterious assailant known as the Mysterium.  I was afraid it was going to be a similar theme, but fortunately, it was entirely different.

In the seventeenth installment of P. C. Doherty’s Hugh Corbett series, a chief justice, close to Edward I who sought sanctuary in an abbey after he had been implicated in a series of crimes, has been found with his throat slashed, although his cell was locked from the inside and he was the only one in there. 

About the same time, the justice’s clerk’s body is found floating in the Thames, bound to the body of a pirate hanged earlier.  The clerk’s body had the letter ‘M’ carved into his forehead before he died.

Edward fears the Mysterium, a mysterious assassin, has reappeared after twenty years of silence.  The person they believed to be the Mysterium vanished without a trace then, and nothing has been heard from him since. 

Corbett and Ranulf are dispatched to the abbey to discover and capture the Mysterium.  The mystery hinges on a number of events that occurred twenty years prior, which still reverberate through the kingdom.  And the bodies continue to pile up.

I enjoyed The Mysterium more than Nightshade which I found confusing.  It could also be that I figured out who the Mysterium was before Corbett made the final reveal.

I would definitely recommend this one for mystery fans.