As Karen investigates the case, it soon becomes obvious that this is not just a local crime but is connected to events that occurred during the Balkan War in the 1990s. A number of parallel stories, including accounts of events that occurred during the war and the lasting effect of war on individuals and relationships, are provided throughout the novel until the truth is finally uncovered.
When Misha walks into the police station to report a missing person, she is transferred to Karen's department as the 'missing person' disappeared twenty-two years previously during the Miners' Strike of 1984. It was believed by his family and the local community that he had deliberately disappeared to Nottingham with five of the local workers. Consequently no one wanted anything to do with him. Misha needs him found as her son has a rare blood disease and her father's blood may be able to save him. When Karen decides to investigate the disappearance of Mick Prentice she discovers more than she anticipated.
Meanwhile Sir Broderick Maclennan Grant has demanded that DCI Pirie should further investigate the murder of his daughter, Catriona, and the disappearance of his grandson, Adam, also twenty- two years previously. The case has been re-opened as a journalist on holiday in Italy recognised a poster associated with the original crime in a deserted house. She also noticed recent blood stains on the floor of the house.
The sections describing the two two cases are interwoven, as are the time frames of events in 1984 and 2007. Descriptions of events during the 1984 Miners' Strike feature in the novel as Karen and Phil work to discover the truth.
Lachlan Macquarie was governor of the Colony of NSW from January 1810 until February 1822. During that twelve years, the settlement changed from a collection of ramshackle buildings to a town with planned streets and architectually designed public buildings. It was no longer just a convict settlement but also a community for free settlers to live - those who had arrived from overseas and decided to make their home in the colony plus the convicts who had served their sentence. He also ensured that emancipists (former convicts) were actively involved in the new colony and were treated as equals with free settlers. Elizabeth Macquarie actively supported the changes that were made to improve life in the Colony.
John Macarthur arrived in NSW as an officer in the army and stayed. After been given large land grants he specialised in establishing sheep farming in the Colony. He also became actively involved in political issues and on two occasions returned to England in order to defend himself for some of his actions, including his involvement in the plot to remove Governor Bligh from office. In his absence Elizabeth Macarthur successfully ran and expanded the family business.
During Macquarie's time in NSW both the Elizabeths became friends and supported each other in their endeavours to improve life in the Colony, particularly when not everyone (including John Macarthur) approved the changes introduced by the Macquaries.
Although a work of fiction, the book is based on historical fact and provides a picture of life in the Colony at the time. The names of many of the inhabitants of Sydney appear throughout the book including Simeon Lord, my great x 3 grandfather. The novel also explores how women at the time could play an active part in business and community activities but needed to ensure that their activities were not seen to usurp the role played by their husbands.
Other books on this period include:
A Room Made of Leaves by Kate Grenville (novel about Elizabeth Macarthur)
Mrs M by Luke Slattery (novel about Elizabeth Macquarie)
Set in London, the novel tells the story of the experiences of Philomena McCarthy, a police officer, who is called out to assist a young woman, Tempe Brown, when she is assaulted by her partner. Unfortunately the partner turns out to be Darren Goodall, a highly respected member of the police force and his arrest causes a string of consequences for PC McCarthy. Phil's life is further complicated when her colleagues discover that her father is a London gangster, a fact that she had been careful to hide.
Warned off pursing the case, Phil continues to investigate the background story relating to Goodall and discovers that Goodall's wife and children are also being abused. Phil helps Tempe find accommodation but as the friendship between the two women grows, she begins to suspect the truth of many of the the stories that Tempe tells her.
Themes covered in the book include domestic violence, corruption in the police force including protecting their own officers from accusations, the strength of family and toxic friendships. It may be a cliche but once you start reading this book you will want to keep reading to discover what will happen next.
The story in the first part of the novel, The Good Wife of Bath: a (mostly) true story, by Australian author Karen Brooks is based on the prologue to The Wife's Tale in Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer (1343-1400).
Eleanor Cornfed was twelve when she married an elderly farmer who became the first of Eleanor's five husbands. In Mediaeval England life was not easy for a woman of the lower classes. Even when Eleanor's opportunities increased and she was able to show her flair for organisation and business she was thwarted because she was not a man or a widow. Never the less Eleanor was a fighter and strived to make her mark and established firm friendships.
Between each marriage Eleanor went on a pilgrimage to places such as Canterbury, Rome and Jerusalem. Eleanor's distant cousin was the poet Geoffrey Chaucer who followed Eleanor's advice to write about ordinary people, including women. However she was not impressed when he modelled one of his characters on her experiences.
This is a story about the power of men over women in all forms. It is also about the determination of a woman trying and make her own way in a world where the rules are made by men.
The Good Wife of Bath is an entertaining reworking of Chaucer's story and the historical context in which the novel is set provides an interesting glimpse into the history of 14th century England. At the end of the book there is a glossary of medieaval terms used, a list of the names of real people mentioned in the novel plus a dtetailed author's note about the writing of the book.
With a new series of Midsomer Murders recently screened on television followed by repeats I decided to have a look at one of the books by Caroline Graham that inspired the long running television series (22 series so far). Caroline Graham wrote seven books in the Midsomer Murders series (or Chief Inspector Barnaby series) and Written in Blood is number 4. It was first published in 1994.
The Midsomer Worthy Writers' Circle meet regularly to discuss the members' writing projects and from time to time, usually unsuccessfully, invite authors to speak to the group. However when Max Jennings accepts their invitation they all meet at Gerald Hadleigh's house to discuss writing with their guest speaker. Next day it is discovered that Gerald has been murdered. Tom Barnaby and Gavin Troy plus their team from Caustin CID are called in to investigate.
A major feature of the Midsomer Murders books is the importance of the characters in the novel, not just the police carrying out the investigation but also the villagers suspected of being involved in the crime. The author spends much of the novel allowing the reader to get to know these characters as people while the murder is being investigated. In this case it soon becomes obvious that no one in the village really knew the deceased and that his past was definitely a mystery. Then when the police tried to interview Max Jennings it was discovered that he had disappeared.
In 2016, John Nettles, the actor who played Tom Barnaby, wrote a foreward to thenovel in which he discusses first being approached to be involved in the television series and major differences between books and television plays:
In Carolines' novels, unlike the television series, the size of the social canvas is vast, with a huge variety of characters from all social classes ... The lives of all these characters are intimately and entertainingly deliniated and explores, the murder mysteries are character led, in a way that television versions are, very often, not - the television plots concentrate almost exclusively on the exotic methods of the murder rather than the character of those who commit them.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel and meeting the inhabitants of the village of Midsomer Worthing as mysteries were revealed and the crime eventually resolved.
Before You Knew My Name is written by Jacqueline Bublitz, born in New Zealand but now living in Australia. The novel is not so much about who murdered Alice Lee but is a study of Alice and Ruby as narrated by Alice.
This is a crime novel with a difference with the story revealed from both the viewpoint of the victim and the person who found the body, rather than techniques involved in solving the crime or the perpetrator. It is a study of the effects of crime on individuals including the victim who will never have the opportunity to experience the life she would have expected to live.
With no identification on her, plus being from out of town, Alice is treated as a Jane Doe, waiting for someone to identify her as well as her killer. Meanwhile Ruby struggles with the knowledge of being 'the jogger who found the body'. A sensitive study of coming to terms with the effects of grief after a death or near death experience. The book also examines the abuse of power that some men attempt to have over women. A crime novel truely worth reading.
