It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

This weekly meme is hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date.

Conjunctivitis scuppered my reading last week. While I was able to read print books, I found it difficult to read ebooks comfortably so set A Burning Summer and The Sculthorpe Murder, my current reads, aside for the time being. Likewise Barnaby Rudge, due to its tiny print. 

The two books I did complete were from Ann Granger's Victorian mystery series. I'd started this series at book five, followed by books four and six, and decided that it would be a good idea to read the first three books as I was enjoying this series so much. After book three, it's back to my ebooks and Barnaby Rudge now that my eyes are getting better.

What I hope to read next is a book that has been sitting in my TBR pile for a while and is another mystery, The Bishop's Girl by Rebecca Burns

What I Read Last Week

The Companion by Ann Granger

When Lizzie Martin arrives in London in 1864 to become a lady's companion, her first impressions are disturbing. She's barely out of the station when her cab encounters a wagon carrying the remains of a young woman recently dead.
 At her new home, Lizzie learns that her predecessor, Madeleine Hexham, disappeared without a word of warning. Despite rumors of immoral behavior surrounding the girl's departure, Lizzie is soon persuaded that there's a deeper mystery here. Her suspicions are tragically confirmed when Inspector Benjamin Ross delivers shocking tidings.
 Lizzie is determined to unravel the truth about the lost Miss Hexham. As, too, is Ben Ross: a man who cares about justice, whatever the class of victim. But they must tread carefully, as a cornered killer is the most dangerous of all...

A Mortal Curiousity by Ann Granger

It’s 1864 and Lizzie Martin is leaving London for the south coast of England to be the companion of Lucy Craven, a teenager who lives in seclusion with her aunts and has recently lost an infant daughter to illness. En route, Lizzie meets Doctor Lefebre, a slightly off-putting gentleman headed for the same destination. Lefebre, it turns out, is an alienist hired by Lucy’s family to determine whether the young woman is mad. And he discloses something shocking: Lucy Craven doesn’t believe her daughter is dead; she insists the baby was stolen from her.
In Hampshire, complications mount. Late at night, Lizzie hears furtive voices outside, there’s a gentleman farmer whose demeanor with Lucy seems unusually familiar, and, while Lucy proves a bit moody, she hardly seems deranged. The girl’s aunts are clearly withholding something. . . . These tensions come to a head when a man is found dead in the garden, stabbed with a knife from the aunts’ home.
Lizzie calls upon her beau, Inspector Benjamin Ross. Together, they find themselves entangled in a mystery as bewildering as any they’ve faced.

What I'm Reading Today

A Better Quality of Murder by Ann Granger

London is shrouded in a pea-souper fog. Wandering in that fog, for reasons not fully established, was the beautiful Allegra Benedict, wife of an art dealer. When the fog clears, her murdered body is discovered in Green Park. How much does frightened little Miss Marchwood know? Is there any connection with charismatic preacher, Joshua Fawcett? Who - or what - is the River Wraith who preys on the prostitutes working the riverside on foggy nights?
Lizzie Martin and Ben Ross are now married and have set up home near to Waterloo Station. Ben, officially, and Lizzie, unofficially, must investigate.

That Burning Summer by Lydia Syson

Romney Marsh, July 1940. When invasion threatens, you have to grow up quickly. Sixteen-year-old Peggy has been putting on a brave face since the fall of France, but now the enemy is overhead, and the rules are changing all the time. Staying on the right side of the law proves harder than she expects when a plane crash-lands in the Marsh: it's Peggy who finds its pathetic, broken pilot; a young Polish man, Henryk, who stays hidden in a remote church, secretly cared for by Peggy. As something more blossoms between the two, Peggy's brother Ernest's curiosity peaks and other secrets come to light, forcing Peggy and Henryk to question all the loyalties and beliefs they thought they held dear.

Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens

Set against the backdrop of the Gordon Riots of 1780, Barnaby Rudge is a story of mystery and suspense which begins with an unsolved double murder and goes on to involve conspiracy, blackmail, abduction and retribution. Through the course of the novel fathers and sons become opposed, apprentices plot against their masters and Protestants clash with Catholics on the streets. And, as London erupts into riot, Barnaby Rudge himself struggles to escape the curse of his own past. With its dramatic descriptions of public violence and private horror, its strange secrets and ghostly doublings, Barnaby Rudge is a powerful, disturbing blend of historical realism and Gothic melodrama.

The Sculthorpe Murder by Karen Charlton

Northamptonshire, 1810: As a new canal network snakes across the landscape, a vicious mob stakes its claim to the county. Every local constable is out on the hunt for the ruthless Panther Gang. When an elderly man is robbed and murdered in sleepy Middleton, the beleaguered magistrates send for help from London’s Bow Street Police Office.
Detective Stephen Lavender and Constable Ned Woods soon discover there’s more to William Sculthorpe’s demise than meets the eye. Mystery surrounds the old man and his family, and the stench of revenge hangs heavy in the air. Are the Panther Gang really responsible or is something more sinister afoot? As Lavender delves further into long-hidden secrets, Woods has demons of his own to contend with: ghosts from his past that stalk him through the investigation.
Uncovering decades of simmering hatred and deceit, Lavender and Woods must use all their wit and cunning to solve this evil crime.

What I Hope To Read Next

The Bishop's Girl by Rebecca Burns

The body had no name. It was not supposed to be there...
Jess is a researcher on a quest to give the one-hundred-year-old skeleton, discovered in the exhumed grave of a prominent bishop, an identity. But she's not sure of her own - her career is stalling, her marriage is failing. She doesn't want to spend hours in the archives, rifling through dusty papers in an endless search for a name. And when a young man named Hayden makes clear his interest in her, Jess has to decide what is most important to her.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

This weekly meme is hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date.

Another sweltering week where I kept inside with the air conditioner on and some great books for company. A grand total of five books read, but they were all quick reads.

Two weeks ago I was hooked on Georgian mysteries, last week it was Victorian ones. The cover of The Testimony of the Hanged Man by Ann Granger caught my eye at the library and as is usually the case, the first books in the series weren't available. Normally, I don't begin a series at book five, but found that once I'd checked out the first chapter I was hooked, then followed books 4 and 6. The great thing about these mysteries is that they are stand alone novels and there is enough back story in each of them to bring you up to speed with the main characters.

I also finished Skylarking by Kate Mildenhall. This is one of those stories that stays in your head long after the book is finished. It is sad and deeply moving.

On a brighter note, I also read The Crown Spire by Catherine Curzon and Willow Winsham. What a delightful Georgian romance this was. Just what I needed to clear my mind.

This week I'm reading That Burning Summer by Lydia Syson, set in one of my favourite periods in history. I'm also struggling with Charles Dickens' Barnaby Rudge. It's been ages since I've read any Dickens so I'm still reacquainting myself with his style of writing. I think it will take me awhile to get through this book.

After this, as I'm still in the mood for mysteries, I'll be reading a Regency one that's been sitting in my TBR pile for quite a long time, The Sculthorpe Murder by Karen Charlton. This is the third of a series and once again I'm taking a chance by not starting with the first book.

What I Read Last Week

Skylarking by Kate Mildenhall

Kate and Harriet are best friends, growing up together on an isolated Australian cape in the 1880s. As daughters of the lighthouse keepers, the two girls share everything, until a fisherman, McPhail, arrives in their small community. When Kate witnesses the desire that flares between him and Harriet, she is torn by her feelings of envy and longing. But one moment in McPhail’s hut will change the course of their lives forever.




The Crown Spire by Catherine Curzon and Willow Winsham

Scotland, 1795. When the coach carrying Alice Ingram and her niece, Beth, to Edinburgh is attacked, they're grateful for the intervention of two mysterious highwaymen who ride to their rescue. Beth is thrilled by the romance of it all, but Alice, fleeing her brutish husband, has had more than enough drama in her life.
As the women find sanctuary in a tavern on the Great North Road, Beth is thrilled to meet Edward Hogan, the roguish publican. Despite the difference in ages and backgrounds, the couple have instant chemistry and when Ed invited Beth to visit his Edinburgh tavern, she resolves to get to know him even better. Yet Beth is also taken with the highwayman who rescued her; after all, there's something irresistible about a rogue.
Shaken from the attack, Alice grudgingly allows herself to be seen by Doctor James Dillingham, Ed's best friend. Though Dillingham sees the telltale signs of physical abuse on Alice, she refuses to speak of it. Dillingham is dour and Alice frosty, and the two take an instant dislike to each other, so why does their shared coach journey to Edinburgh the following day seem to sizzle?
Once in Edinburgh, Beth starts secretly spending time with Ed, who she begins to think might know more about those highwaymen than he is letting on. By day, Alice sorts Dillingham's paperwork at the charity hospital he runs yet by night she sneaks off to meet her own highwayman, travelling the backroads of the city with the masked figure. Slowly, Alice is coming back to life. But will the husband she is fleeing find her out? And will her highwayman come to her rescue again

The Testimony of the Hanged Man by Ann Granger

A hanged man would say anything to save his life. But what if his testimony is true? When Inspector Ben Ross is called to Newgate Prison by a man condemned to die by the hangman's noose he isn't expecting to give any credence to the man's testimony. But the account of a murder he witnessed over seventeen years ago is so utterly believable that Ben can't help wondering if what he's heard is true. It's too late to save the man's life, but it's not too late to investigate a murder that has gone undetected for all these years, though convincing his superiors to allow him to investigate 'a cold case' proves difficult.
However, Lizzie is determined that she will look into it and what she discovers persuades Scotland Yard to take the matter seriously. But Lizzie, in making her enquiries, has entered dangerous territory.

A Particular Eye for Villainy by Ann Granger

When Mr Thomas Tapley, a respectable but down-at-heel gentleman, is found bludgeoned to death in his sitting room, his neighbour Inspector Benjamin Ross of Scotland Yard rushes to the scene. Tapley had recently returned from abroad but little else is known about the elusive man. Then, on hearing the news of Thomas's death, Mr Jonathan Tapley, QC, comes forward and the truth about his cousin's tragic past slowly begins to emerge.
Meanwhile, Ben's wife Lizzie is convinced that Tapley was being followed on the day he died and, with a bit of surreptitious questioning, she discovers that he received a mysterious visitor in a beautiful carriage a few days before his death.
As the list of suspects begins to mount, Ben can't help wondering how much of the truth is being revealed and who would benefit most from Tapley's unfortunate demise?

The Dead Woman of Deptford by Ann Granger

On a cold November night in a Deptford yard, dock worker Harry Parker stumbles upon the body of a dead woman. Inspector Ben Ross is summoned from Scotland Yard to this insalubrious part of town, but no witness to the murder of this well-dressed, middle-aged woman can be found. Even Jeb Fisher, the local rag-and-bone man, swears he's seen nothing.
Meanwhile, Ben's wife Lizzie is trying to suppress a scandal: family friend Edgar Wellings has a gambling addiction and no means of repaying his debts. Reluctantly, Lizzie agrees to visit his debt collector's house in Deptford, but when she arrives she finds her husband is investigating the murder of the woman in question. Edgar was the last man to see Mrs Clifford alive and he has good reason to want her dead, but Ben and Lizzie both know that a case like this is rarely as simple as it appears...

What I'm Reading Today

That Burning Summer by Lydia Syson

Romney Marsh, July 1940. When invasion threatens, you have to grow up quickly. Sixteen-year-old Peggy has been putting on a brave face since the fall of France, but now the enemy is overhead, and the rules are changing all the time. Staying on the right side of the law proves harder than she expects when a plane crash-lands in the Marsh: it's Peggy who finds its pathetic, broken pilot; a young Polish man, Henryk, who stays hidden in a remote church, secretly cared for by Peggy. As something more blossoms between the two, Peggy's brother Ernest's curiosity peaks and other secrets come to light, forcing Peggy and Henryk to question all the loyalties and beliefs they thought they held dear.

Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens

Set against the backdrop of the Gordon Riots of 1780, Barnaby Rudge is a story of mystery and suspense which begins with an unsolved double murder and goes on to involve conspiracy, blackmail, abduction and retribution. Through the course of the novel fathers and sons become opposed, apprentices plot against their masters and Protestants clash with Catholics on the streets. And, as London erupts into riot, Barnaby Rudge himself struggles to escape the curse of his own past. With its dramatic descriptions of public violence and private horror, its strange secrets and ghostly doublings, Barnaby Rudge is a powerful, disturbing blend of historical realism and Gothic melodrama.

What I Hope To Read Next

The Sculthorpe Murder by Karen Charlton

Northamptonshire, 1810: As a new canal network snakes across the landscape, a vicious mob stakes its claim to the county. Every local constable is out on the hunt for the ruthless Panther Gang. When an elderly man is robbed and murdered in sleepy Middleton, the beleaguered magistrates send for help from London’s Bow Street Police Office.
Detective Stephen Lavender and Constable Ned Woods soon discover there’s more to William Sculthorpe’s demise than meets the eye. Mystery surrounds the old man and his family, and the stench of revenge hangs heavy in the air. Are the Panther Gang really responsible or is something more sinister afoot? As Lavender delves further into long-hidden secrets, Woods has demons of his own to contend with: ghosts from his past that stalk him through the investigation.
Uncovering decades of simmering hatred and deceit, Lavender and Woods must use all their wit and cunning to solve this evil crime.

Popsugar Reading Challenge 2017

Challenge period: 1st January to 31st December, 2017
Sign-up: no official sign up, just download the checklist

I did this challenge last year and checked off 17 books from a list of 41. This year the list is similar in length (40 books), plus there is an Advanced section which will add another 12 books. If you check off both lists, you will have read a total of 52 books, which averages out to a book a week! I hope to improve on last year's result.

So visit the page, download the printable check list and get started. The details are HERE.

Historical Fiction Challenge 2017 - My Sign Up Post

Hosted by: Passages to the Past.
Challenge period: 1st January to 31st December, 2017
Sign up: anytime during the year

All the details are available on the sign-up page.

There are six different reading levels: 20th Century Reader (2 books), Victorian Reader (5 books), Renaissance Reader (10 books), Medieval (15 books), Ancient History (25 books) and Prehistoric (50+ books).

Any sub-genre is acceptable: Historical Romance, Historical Mystery, Family Sagas, Historical Fantasy, Young Adult Historical Fiction, Military and Nautical Historical Fiction etc.

I'm signing up for the Prehistoric level (50+ books) and these are some of the books I intend to read for this challenge.

*Read but not reviewed.


01.Coachman by Sue Millard
02. Late Harvest by Fiona Buckley*
03. The Hourglass by Tracy Rees*
04. The Vanishing by Sophia Tobin*
05. The Silent Boy by Andrew Taylor*
06. The Morning Gift by Diana Norman*
07. Secrets in Time by Alison Stuart*
08. Theft of Life by Imogen Robertson*
09. Circle of Shadows by Imogen Robertson*
10. The Infidel Stain by M.J.Carter*
11. The Strangler Vine by M.J.Carter*
12. Daughter of the Murray by Darry Fraser*
13. The Testimony of th Hanged Man by Ann Granger*
14. The Dead Woman of Deptford by Ann Granger*
15. A Particular Eye for Viillainy by Ann Granger*
16. My Father's Moon by Elizabeth Jolley
17. And Then Mine Enemy by Alison Stuart
18. The Currency Lass by Tea Cooper*
19. The Crown Spire by Catherine Curzon and Willow Winsham
20. My Love Must Wait by Ernestine Hill
21. Skylarking by Kate Mildenhall
22. Armistice by Nick Stafford*
23. Ambulance Girls by Deborah Burrows*
24. Whispers in the Wind by Janet Woods*
25. The Bishop's Girl by Rebecca Burns
26. The Keeper of Secrets by Judith Cutler*
27. The Duke's Agent by Rebecca Jenkins*
28. In Farleigh Field by Rhys Bowen*
29. Spindrift by Tamara McKinley*
30. The Unmourned by Meg and Tom Keneally
31. Shadow of the Moon by M.M. Kaye
32. Land of Golden Wattle by J.H. Fletcher
33. From This Valley by Murray Harvey
34. Map of Stars by Catherine Law*
35. For Two Cents I'll Go With You by Marcia Maxwell
36. Salt Creek by Lucy Treloar
37. Perseverance by L.F. McDermott
38. Indiscretion by Jude Morgan
39. Season of Light by Katherine McMahon*
40. Shoes for Anthony by Emma Kennedy*
41. Nor the Years Condemn by Justin Sheedy*
42. The Lighthorseman's Daughter by David Crookes*
43. Secrets of Nanreath Hall by Alix Rickloff*
44. The Woolgrower's Companion by Joy Rhoades*
45. We That Are Left by Clare Clark*
46. Golden HIll by Francis Spufford*
47. The Convict and The Soldier by John P.F. Lynch*
48. Soot by Andrew Martin*
49. Eureka Run by Bruce Venables*
50. The Firebird by Susanna Kearsley*
51. Mackenzie Crossing by Kaye Dobbie (Re-read)*
52. Troubadour by Isolde Martyn* 53. Bluebirds by Margaret Mayhew*
54. The Shadow Hour by Kate Riordan*
55. The Unseen by Katherine Webb*
56. House of Shadows by Pamela Hartshorne*
57. Lighthouse Bay by Kimberley Freeman*
58. The Silk Weaver by Liz Trenow*
59. Cast No Shadows by E.V. Thompson*
60. A Time of Secrets by Deborah Burrows*
61. Cassie by E.V. Thompson*
62. We That Are Left by Lisa Bigelow*
63. A Stranger In My Street by Deborah Burrows*
64. Illusion by Stephanie Elmas
65. Remember Remember the 6th of November by Tony Morgan
66. In Pale Battalions by Robert Goddard (Re-read)*
67. Slipstream by Alan Judd*
68. The Steady Running of the Hour by Justin Go*
69. The Sixteen Trees at the Somme by Lars Mytting
70. The Girl with the Make Believe Husband by Julia Quinn
71. Brown on Resolution by C.S. Forester
72. A Person of No Consequence by Allison Stuart
73. Woman in the Mirror by Winston Graham
74. The Distant Summer by Sarah Patterson
75. The Ugly Sister by Winston Graham
76. Coming Home to Island House by Erica James
77. Island in the East by Jenny Ashcroft
78. The Rose in Winter by Sarah Harrison
79. A Humble Companion by Laurie Graham