Release Date: 09/04/15
Publisher: Hodder
SYNOPSIS:
In the blazing July heat of imperial Rome, Flavia Albia inspects a decomposing corpse. It has been discovered in lots to be auctioned by her family business, so she's determined to identify the dead man and learn how he met his gruesome end.
The investigation will give her a chance to work with the magistrate, Manlius Faustus, the friend she sadly knows to be the last chaste man in Rome. But he's got other concerns than her anonymous corpse. It's election time and with democracy for sale at Domitian's court, tension has come to a head. Faustus is acting as an agent for a 'good husband and father', whose traditional family values are being called into question. Even more disreputable are his rivals, whom Faustus wants Albia to discredit.
As Albia's and Faustus' professional and personal partnership deepens they have to accept that, for others, obsession can turn sour, and become a deadly strain that leads, tragically, to murder.
REVIEW:
Ah a book that might feel like a timely read for those of us in the UK although to be honest whilst I do enjoy reading the Alba titles, I did feel that this one felt a little flat and sadly suffered from a few problems. Firstly, that there were way too many people with the same name so that you had problems telling which one was who.
Secondly I found quite a few errors within the text and as such left me wondering what had happened to the editing time that books normally go through and perhaps more importantly I was left feeling that I had no real stake in the title as there would be no consequences for the principle character so that he had no real point in exercising his remarkable abilities in such a stifling summer.
All, whilst it was a solid enough read, against a lot of Lindsey’s other work this is perhaps one of the weaker titles and whilst against a great many others it still stands heads above their writing, to find so many problems with one text may well have readers asking why so many errors got through which in turn, can ruin their own enjoyment.
Release Date: 22/09/11
SYNOPSIS:
Vienna 1903. An operatic diva, Ida Rosenkrantz, is found dead in her luxurious villa. It appears that she has taken an overdose of morphine, but a broken rib, discovered during autopsy, suggests other and more sinister possibilities. Detective Inspector Oskar Rheinhardt seeks the assistance of his young friend, the psychoanalyst Dr. Max Liebermann, and they begin their inquiries at Vienna’s majestic opera house, where its director, Gustav Mahler, is struggling to maintain a pure artistic vision while threatened on all sides by pompous bureaucrats, vainglorious singers, and a hostile press. When the demagogue Mayor of Vienna, Karl Lueger, becomes the prime suspect - with an election only months away - the Rosenkrantz case becomes politically explosive.
The trail leads Rheinhardt and Liebermann, via a social climbing professor of psychiatry, to the Hofburg palace and the mysterious Lord Marshal’s office – a shadowy bureau that deals ruthlessly with enemies of the ageing Emperor Franz Josef. As the investigation proceeds, the investigators are placed in great personal danger, as corruption is exposed at the very highest levels. Meanwhile, Liebermann pursues two private obsessions: a coded message in a piece of piano music, and the alluring Englishwoman, Miss Amelia Lydgate. Romance and high drama coincide as the Habsburg Empire teeters on the edge of scandal and ruin.
REVIEW:
Frank has been one of those authors that tends to throw a curve ball at me, as he delivers a novel that is unexpected, has great characters and a suitable enough twist to keep you guessing throughout. It has decent pace, top notch prose and of course an author who knows how to fool the reader with sleight of hand tricks from start to finish revealing the solution in such a way that you feel almost like an idiot for having missed some of the elements.
As usual with the authors style the title is sold on the characters and with the success of Max and the inclusion of some well-known Viennese real life inhabitants it creates a story that is believable as well as full of promise. Cracking stuff.
Release Date: 31/03/11
SYNOPSIS:
Seventeenth century England is a place of superstition and fear.
Deep in the Forest of Pendle, people have been dying in mysterious circumstances. The locals whisper of witchcraft, but Squire Roger Nowell, in charge of investigating the deaths, dismisses the claims as ridiculous. Until a series of hideous desecrations forces Roger and his cousin Margery to look further into the rumours. And what they discover brings them face to face with the horrifying possibility that a coven of witches is assembling, preparing to unleash a campaign of evil and destruction...
Robert Neill’s novel is a classic tale of witchcraft set in a wild inaccessible corner of Lancashire and in a time when the ancient fear of demons and witches was still a part of life… and death.
REVIEW:
Living in the county to which this title is set, I was looking forward to see how the author would adapt and bring the 17th Century to life for the reader. It’s beautifully done, the landscape speaks and above all else the authors prose as well as pace leads the reader to a time of Witches and superstitions without fail.
Add to this a touch of archaic language through the dialogue and it’s wonderfully refreshing. The characters are outstanding; they feel real and as such allow the reader to find faults as well as boons within to allow them to connect. Back this up with great understanding as to the situations alongside a masterful story arc within and it’s a wonderful title. All in, it’s a story that will intrigue, it’s a title that will enthral and if you happen to have access to the wonderful Spooks Young Adult series by Joseph Delaney it’s one that will feel all too familiar. Cracking.
