Review: You Will Have A Black Labrador by Nino Gugunishvili

Synopsis: Love, memories, family, enduring friendships, cooking, movies, dogs, travels, hairstyles, and saying Yes to many No’s in a witty, yet often sentimental, journey of self-discovery…

You Will Have a Black Labrador is a collection of semiautobiographical essays forming a narrative about a modern Georgian woman. Her stories range from the search for a perfect romantic partner to exploring food as an integral part of the Georgian culture. 

Many of the vignettes center on childhood memories or weird family traditions, such as the way family members stay connected no matter if they’re deceased or alive. One essay reveals how making a simple omelette can change your life; and that No can be the most powerful word in any language. She shows us, too, that a haircut can be a tribute to the movies you love as well as a path to your freedom; and how owning a dog always brings unexpected experiences. 

In this poignantly humourous collection, reality mixes and interferes with an imaginative world in so many surprising ways.

Short stories and contemporary literature are two genres I have never actively sought out. I don't mind a modern biography or even lengthier autobiographical memoirs - but the shorter style I gave a wide berth.

However, late last year I was introduced to a number of new authors, writing both contemporary fiction, memoirs and short stories - and loved what I was reading. Nino Gugunishvili was one of those authors. Her book - From My Balcony to Yours - a collection of covid lockdown anecdotes - resonated (read it - you will find it will with you too!). And this currently collection of vingettes, with her quirky sense of humour and heart-felt warmth and understanding of family, will also hit the spot.

This is just the perfect book for a lazy Sunday afternoon, with a good coffee (something else we have in common) and a comfy pair of socks!

About Nino:

Nino lives in Tbilisi, Georgia. Her educational and professional background includes film, television, and journalism.

Author Links:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/NinoGuguni

Instagram: https://instagram.com/ngugunishvili

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NinoGugunish/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14276355.Nino_Gugunishvili

Blog Tour: Masters of Rome

I am again participating in the upcoming Blog Tour for the "Rise of Emperors" series by Gordon Doherty & Simon Turney. "Masters of Rome" is the second instalment in the series of the story of Constantine the Great and Maxentius and follows on from "Sons of Rome".

Whilst you are waiting for my review of "Masters of Rome", you can read about how the series came about and my review of Sons of Rome below:

> Review: Sons of Rome

> Blog Tour: Sons of Rome

Follow Simon
Twitter: @SJATurney
Instagram: @simonturney_aka_sjaturney
Website: http://simonturney.com/

Follow Gordon
Twitter: @GordonDoherty
Instagram: @gordon.doherty
Website: https://www.gordondoherty.co.uk/

Follow Aries
Twitter: @AriesFiction
Facebook: Aries Fiction
Website: http://www.headofzeus.com

Review: Murder in the Cloister by Tania Bayard

Synopsis: Paris, 1399. Scribe Christine de Pizan is sent to the Priory of Poissy by the palace to copy a manuscript for the prioress. But the prioress already has many copyists at the priory, and Christine senses that something is amiss.Her suspicions are confirmed when the prioress reveals that one of the sisters has been found murdered in the cloister. Fearing for the welfare of the king's young daughter who resides at the abbey, she is eager for Christine to find out who killed the young nun - and why. As Christine investigates, she uncovers dark mischief and closely guarded secrets, but can she unmask a killer?

This is the fourth in the Christine de Pizan mystery series, and as with other review, it is suggested to start this series at the beginning and read in order to ensure continuity. In this outing Christine is travelling to the Prior of Poissy, ostensibly to see her daughter and to copy manuscripts, but also to investigate the murder of one of the nuns.

In the beginning of the 14th century most of the new (12th century) castle was razed to the ground to make way for the Dominican Priory at Poissy, erected in honour of Saint Louis, who had been canonized in 1297. The Priory of Poissy was generously endowed and soon became one of the more wealthy abbeys in France. Here a number of royal descendants of Saint-Louis lived as Dominican sisters involved in the liturgical celebration of this royal cult.

To date, there are some seventy manuscripts which can be identified as belonging to the Dominican monastery of Saint-Louis de Poissy between its foundation in 1304 and its dissolution in 1792. The majority were owned by the nuns and most are illuminated; a small number come from the library of the friars resident at the house. In "Manuscripts from the Dominican monastery of Saint-Louis de Poissy" by JM Naughton, the fate of the volumes is traced form the time of their production through successive alterations and refurbishments (or damage) in order to assess how the nuns acquired their handwritten books, kept them relevant both textually and artistically, or disposed of them when no longer wanted.

One of the convents most notable residents was Marie of Valois, daughter of "mad" king Charles VI and Isabeau of Bavaria. At the time Marie entered the convent the prioress was her great-aunt, Marie of Bourbon. Entering the convent with young Marie as a companion was another Marie, the daughter of Christine de Pizan. Christine described a visit to Poissy in 1400 in her work "Le Livre du Dit de Poissy," where she was greeted "joyously and tenderly" by the seven-year-old Marie of Valois and the Prioress. Christine also described Marie's lodgings as befitting a royal princess. Marie herself would become prioress, ending her days there, dying of plague in 1348.

These mysteries are full of historical detail, including Christine's life as a single mother, raising her family whilst trying to earn a living, which she manages to do thanks to royal patronage.

I really enjoy the series of mysteries as they make a nice change from the usual English-centric historical fiction that has dominated the market for some time. For those who love a bit of French history mixed with a tinge of crime, sorcery, a notable female protagonist.

further reading

> City of Ladies by Christine de Pizan

> Poissy Manuscripts & Chants

> Poissy Processional

> Behind the Scenes with Tania Bayard

Review: Mary Queen of Scots Secretary by Robert Stedall

Synopsis: Maitland was the most able politician and diplomat during the lifetime of Mary Queen of Scots. It was he who masterminded the Scottish Reformation by breaking the 'Auld Alliance' with France, which presaged Scotland's lasting union with England.

Although he gained English support to defeat French troops defending Mary's Scottish throne, he backed her return to Scotland, as the widowed Queen of France. His attempts to gain recognition for her as heir to the English crown were thwarted by her determined adherence to Catholicism.

After her remarriage, he spearheaded the plotting to bring down her objectionable husband, Lord Darnley, leading to his murder, after concluding that English and Scottish interests were best served by creating a Protestant regency for their son, Prince James. With encouragement from Cecil in England and the Protestant Lords in Scotland, he concocted evidence to implicate her in her husband's murder, resulting in her imprisonment and deposition from the Scottish throne.

Despite her escape to England, he remained personally loyal to her and attempted to conjure Scottish support for her restoration by backing her allies holding Edinburgh Castle on her behalf. When it fell in 1573, he resorted to suicide.

Maitland - who was he? what was his role in the government of Mary Queen of Scots? what was his role in Darnely's murder? did he bring about the downfall of Mary?

Maitland is a shadowy character, and I found myself often comparing him to Cecil, Elizabeth's right hand man - a man, I think, Maitland admired and wanted to emulate. However, he never did manage to maintain the consistency that Cecil did, and Scottish politics would not allow him to do so.

Those looking for a standard biography of this man may be slightly disappointed. He is more to be found in the shadows, working behind the scenes, often out of Scotland on diplomatic missions, so it difficult to assess just how influential he actually was.

I was interested in Stedall's take on Maitland is one of the instigators in Darnley's murder, one of those behind the infamous "casket letters" (of which I am no expert), and as a rather inconsistent supporter of Mary.

The reign of Mary is the focus - Maitalnd was - as the title suggests - a politician, a religious reform, and ultimately, a conspirator, before coming full circle as ardent supporter. With very little to go on, it becomes evident that Maitland would be seen in relation to the events of Mary's life and reign - a bit much like many women who lived off the pages that their more historically dominant husbands occupied.

Even with the benefit of hindsight, it is every difficult to judge and assess a person' motivations at that point in time; and even hindsight is often clouded by an author's bias, whether they be a contemporary or modern source. And as we have seen, it is also very easy to make facts support just about any theory.

But Stedall's book does give pause for thought - and I enjoy reading another author's perspective on events, especially when they diverge from mainstream consensus - I mean, who wants to read the same thing over and over again - you would only ever need to buy one book!

Yes, I would love to have had Maitland feature more prominently - but sometimes there is just not enough factual documentation for this to occur. It does however, shed light on the political and religious struggles within Scotland at the time of Mary's reign, which is often overlooked as her cousin, Elizabeth, takes the limelight nine times out of ten. But in the end he did achieve one thing - the succession of a Scottish monarch upon the English throne.

read more 

> The Memoirs of Secretary Maitland as contained in George Chalmer' second volume of the Life of Mary Queen of Scots (page 450)

> Maitland of Lethington by Sir John Skelton

> The Life & Times of John Maitland, Duke of Lauderdale by William Cook Mackenzie

The Forgotten 500 by Gregory Freeman

The astonishing, never before told story of the greatest rescue mission of World War II—when the OSS set out to recover more than 500 airmen trapped behind enemy lines in Yugoslavia...

During a bombing campaign over Romanian oil fields, hundreds of American airmen were shot down in Nazi-occupied Yugoslavia. Local Serbian farmers and peasants risked their own lives to give refuge to the soldiers while they waited for rescue, and in 1944, Operation Halyard was born. The risks were incredible. The starving Americans in Yugoslavia had to construct a landing strip large enough for C-47 cargo planes—without tools, without alerting the Germans, and without endangering the villagers. And the cargo planes had to make it through enemy airspace and back—without getting shot down themselves.

Classified for over half a century for political reasons, the full account of this unforgettable story of loyalty, self-sacrifice, and bravery is now being told for the first time ever. The Forgotten 500:The Forgotten 500: The Untold Story of the Men Who Risked All for the Greatest Rescue Mission of World War II is the gripping, behind-the-scenes look at the greatest escape of World War II.

Beyond the Thirty-Nine Steps: A Life of John Buchan

John Buchan's name is known across the world for The Thirty-Nine Steps. In the past hundred years the classic thriller has never been out of print and has inspired numerous adaptations for film, television, radio and stage, beginning with the celebrated version by Alfred Hitchcock.

Yet there was vastly more to 'JB'. He wrote more than a hundred books - fiction and non-fiction - and a thousand articles for newspapers and magazines. He was a scholar, antiquarian, barrister, colonial administrator, journal editor, literary critic, publisher, war correspondent, director of wartime propaganda, member of parliament and imperial proconsul - given a state funeral when he died, a deeply admired and loved Governor-General of Canada.

His teenage years in Glasgow's Gorbals, where his father was the Free Church minister, contributed to his ease with shepherds and ambassadors, fur-trappers and prime ministers. His improbable marriage to a member of the aristocratic Grosvenor family means that this account of his life contains, at its heart, an enduring love story.

Ursula Buchan, his granddaughter, has drawn on recently discovered family documents to write this comprehensive and illuminating biography. With perception, style, wit and a penetratingly clear eye, she brings vividly to life this remarkable man and his times.

Gresham’s Law: The Life and World of Queen Elizabeth I’s Banker by John Guy

From The Guardian:

When the Anglican divine John William Burgon published his classic two-volume biography of Sir Thomas Gresham (1519-1579) in 1839, he introduced his readers to a character – government banker, founder of the Royal Exchange, putative proponent of “Gresham’s law” – who had lived a life of “unsullied honour and integrity”. 

For Burgon, Gresham was among the most illustrious ancestors “of which our metropolis can boast” – not just owing to “the skill with which he contrived to control the exchange with foreign countries”, thereby laying “the foundations of England’s commercial greatness”, but also because his qualities spoke of an upstanding friend, associate, husband, father. When Gresham died, he deserved to be remembered as a “true patriot, beloved in private life and honoured in his public station”.

Burgon’s remarks are emblematic of the 19th-century view of Gresham as an honourable and self-made man: Queen Victoria’s recorder considered him an “eminent citizen and chief benefactor of his kind”. And such depictions are not without merit. But as the historian John Guy argues in this assiduously researched new account of Gresham’s life: “Something subtler is needed.” Accordingly, Guy has consulted several “large caches of often entirely virgin sources” in order to offer a reassessment of Gresham’s professional undertakings and “a fuller investigation of Gresham’s private life than anything attempted before”. It is an enterprise from which he does not emerge well.

read more here @ The Guardian and Amazon

Warriors of the Pale: An Irish Saga by Raymond Reagan Butler

In 1185, King Henry II of England sent a messenger to Rome, requesting that his youngest son, Prince John, should be recognised as King of Ireland. With the request granted, John went to Ireland to fight for his dominion and with him went Theobald Walter, the first of the warriors of the Pale - that part of Ireland completely under English rule in the Medieval period. The Butlers would produce an unbroken succession of male heirs right down to 1515.

For the first two centuries the military struggle between the native Irish and the Normans was a bloody stalemate; then in 1399 Richard II attempted to quell the Irish chieftains once and for all, but was pushed back to the Pale - and in the process lost the English throne to Henry IV. Raymond Butler follows the fascinating and not always well documented military struggle in Ireland, focussing upon the extraordinary Butler dynasty, who supported the English kings and were duly rewarded, the eighth earl being made Chief Governor of Ireland by Henry VIII.

The last of the great warriors of The Pale, the 'Black Earl', was Lieutenant-General of Ireland at his death in 1614, still loyal to the English King James I: though the Butlers had not always been loyal, not when their vast lands and wealth had been threatened. This is a 400-year-long story of pitched battles, shifting loyalties, political confusion, assimilation, treachery and military prowess that sheds new light on the entwined histories of England and Ireland.

James Flynn series by Haris Orkin

You Only Live Once

From Zero to Hero …  James Flynn is an expert shot, a black belt in karate, fluent in four languages and irresistible to women. He’s also a heavily medicated patient in a Los Angeles psychiatric hospital. Flynn believes his locked ward is the headquarters of Her Majesty’s Secret Service and that he is a secret agent with a license to kill.

When the hospital is acquired by a new HMO, Flynn is convinced that the Secret Service has been infiltrated by the enemy. He escapes to save the day, and in the process, Flynn kidnaps a young Hispanic orderly named Sancho.

This crazy day trip turns into a very real adventure when Flynn is mistaken for an actual secret agent. Paranoid delusions have suddenly become reality, and now it’s up to a mental patient and a terrified orderly to bring down an insecure, evil genius bent on world domination.

Once is Never Enough

The Perfect Hero For A World Gone Mad .... An old enemy seeking revenge sends James Flynn back around the bend and into a wild adventure even more deranged than his last one. Once again he believes that his psychiatric hospital is the headquarters of Her Majesty’s Secret Service and that he is a secret agent with a license to kill.

With the help of Sancho, his reluctant sidekick, Flynn confronts a mysterious new adversary just as unhinged as he is and far more deadly. The entire planet is in danger and the only one who can save it is someone no one believes.

The fate of the world now rests in the hands of a man suavely dancing on the thin line between objective reality and batshit crazy.

The Valley Beyond: A Daughter's Bond by TS Nichols

TS Nichols, a passionate writer with an interest in medieval history who is currently retired and resides in New Jersey, has completed his most recent book “The Valley Beyond: A Daughter’s Bond”: a page-turning novel about a young girl of noble descent who deals with the plot against her life and other provocative events that involve her wealth and status.

Nichols writes, “Lucia is an active child whose curiosity and behavior tend to get her into trouble. At the age of thirteen, she inherits the Condado of Segoia from the presumed death of her father, Don Fernando, who perished while on a crusade to the Holy Land. In addition, she inherits several titles and a vast amount of wealth from her mother, Lady Margaret, who dies while giving birth to Lucia. Her wealth is coveted by Don Raimundo Ortega Diaz, the Conde of Donato. He needs Lucia’s wealth to raise an army to take the throne of Castile in order to plunder the vast riches that lie to the south in Al-Andalus, the home of the Moors. He plots her demise to obtain her wealth.

Set against the backdrop of the ongoing war against the Moors in late twelfth-century Spain, Lucia is challenged by her lack of maturity, assassination attempts, her love for her dearest friend Isabella, befriending a Moor, a love interest with a French knight, and the ongoing questions concerning her deceased mother. These questions lead her to Pomeroi, her duchy in France, only if she can survive her travels beyond the Pyrenees.”

Published by Fulton Books, TS Nichols’s book shares a tantalizing journey of an inexperienced young noblewoman as she struggles to balance and survive in her newfound position following the tragedies in her life.

This book will take the readers to an era filled with royalty, politics, and wars that defined a young noblewoman’s character and purpose amid such turmoil.

Press Release Service by Newswire.com

The Book in the Cathedral by Christopher de Hamel

From The Guardian:

On Christmas Day 1170, Thomas Becket delivered a sermon to a packed chapter house at Canterbury. His theme was the death of one his predecessors as archbishop, St Alphege, hacked to death by the Danes in the early 11th century – the only martyr in the role so far. “There will soon be another,” Becket declared. Four days later, a quartet of knights arrived drunk, on a perceived mission from the king, and dashed the archbishop’s brains across the cathedral floor. It is easy to see how, knowing his time was up, Becket might identify with Alphege. In The Book in the Cathedral, however, Christopher de Hamel argues that the two had something more tangible in common: an elaborately jewelled psalter – a book of psalms – once owned by Alphege and later treasured by Becket.

On the final page, a 16th-century inscription – deemed spurious by previous scholars – links the book to two archbishops: Becket and “N”. The Book in the Cathedral is an exercise in bibliographic detective work, identifying “N” and overturning the judgment of earlier cataloguers. De Hamel – author of the wonderful Meetings With Remarkable Manuscripts – shows us all the tools of the bibliographer’s trade: dating handwriting, identifying pigments, noting the rust marks left by nails from a now-lost ornate binding. This is done with a lightness that belies De Hamel’s pre-eminence as a manuscript scholar – the telling is brisk, with a light foxing of anecdote, even as the evidence is rigorously lined up.

read more here @ The Guardian

Hillbilly Queer by JR Jamison

Synopsis: J.R. Jamison spends his days in a world of trigger warnings and safe spaces, while his trigger-happy dad, Dave, spends his questioning why Americans have become so sensitive.  Yet at the height of the 2016 election, the two decide to put political differences aside and travel to rural Missouri for Dave’s fifty-five year class reunion. But with the constant backdrop of the Trump vs. Clinton battle at every turn, they are forced to explore one formidable question: Will the trip push them further apart or bring them closer together?

Traveling through the rural, sun-beaten landscapes of Missouri the two meet people along the way who challenge their concepts of right and wrong, and together they uncover truths about their family’s past that reveals more than political differences, they discover a lesson on the human condition that lands them on the international pages of The Guardian.

Hillbilly Queer is an enduring love story between a dad and son who find that sometimes the differences between us aren't really that different at all.

" ... sometimes one has to go back to find their true selves ..."

This for me was a story one one man's journey "... to decide what is important to keep in our lives and what is important to let go .." as he traverses the back roads of Missouri with his 72yo father, Dave, who is on his way to his 55 year class reunion.

Jamison reflects not only on his father's life but on his own, growing up where, although he knew he was gay, it wasn't geographically or culturally permissible to acknowledge this openly - that fear of non-acceptable within the "good ole boy" community and of the social consequences of doing so.

That fact that this memoir coincided with the election that saw Trump come to power was, for me, a non-US citizen, neither here nor there. I guess I was able to compartmentalise the political aspects - everyone is entitled to their own political views and many families hold opposing, and oft time polarising views - nothing new there - I guess it was just that in this instance, it was a bit more public. Maybe others are reading more into this than I am.

I read it for what it was - one man's journey of discovery, acceptance, and most importantly family.

Witch In The White City by Nick Wisseman

Synopsis: Thousands of exhibits. Millions of visitors. One supernatural killer.

Neva's goals at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago are simple. Enjoy the spectacle—perhaps the greatest the United States has ever put on (the world’s fair to end all world’s fairs!). Perform in the exposition’s Algerian Theatre to the best of her abilities. And don't be found out as a witch.

Easy enough … until the morning she looks up in the theatre and sees strangely marked insects swarming a severed hand in the rafters. Before she can scream, the bugs drop and swarm her. And every one of them seems to have a stinger.

They strike fast—it only takes them a moment to inject her with so much venom that the same strange marks begin to rise on her skin. She's horrified, but there's worse to come: once the insects disperse, a Columbian Guard notices her rashes and warns that five people with similar sores have been murdered and dismembered. Before they died, the victims also seem to have lost their minds.

Neva considers fleeing the exposition. But that won't stop her from going mad. So she marshals her powers and searches for the killer. Soon enough, it becomes clear he's searching for her too.

This is truly a blend of real life events, alternate history fiction, fantasy fiction with a splash of the supernatural. If this is your genre, you will love this.!

I will admit that, personally, I guess I am a bit of an old-school fantasy fiction reader (Mists of Avalon, Lord of the Rings, etc), and my only real alternate history outing was a poorly done book about Anne Boleyn and a rather good one from Colin Taber on the Viking settlement of the US. So it was with a little bit of trepidation that I agreed to give this a go when offered by the author, Nick Wisseman.

The premise certainly was intriguing - being a non-US resident, I was not familiar with the names given to these "expos" - so that alone sent me scurrying away to do some more reading. I was delighted to know that this was a real event!

In 1893, an expo (or exposition) was held in Chicago in 1893 - ostensibly to celebrate Columbus' arrival 400 years previous. Here's me thinking it was an expo on actual Columbian culture! Anyway, from my additional reading, the setting is Wisseman's novel really taps into this event, and the events that occurred slightly before and after.

The Columbian Exposition covered 690 acres, made up on nearly 200 temporary neoclassical style buildings, canals and lagoons. The facade of every building was draped in white, giving rise to it's name - the white city. Artists and musicians, and people and cultures from 46 countries were featured in exhibits and many also made depictions and works of art inspired by the exposition. The expo ran for six months - May to October.

There were many "firsts" featured at this expo - the ferris wheel, electricity (which powered the event), the edison kinetoscope, morse code, the travelator and the telegram.

So, was there really a serial killer stalking the exposition grounds. Well, yes and no. Around this time lived a rather odd fellow called HH Holmes, who, it is speculated, may have killed as many as 200 people, in his "hotel" situated about three miles away from the expo. It is said he began construction of this hotel about ten years prior and may have begun his killings in the few years leading up to the expo - he is reported to have left Chicago about a year later when questions began to be asked about not only missing persons but from supplied about unpaid bills.

It is a slow build as the storyline unfolds, with multiple protagonists, each with their own agenda, who both help and hinder Neva (our heroine) in her quest to battle this supernatural enemy before she too, becomes one of its many victims. Throughout it all are the parallel (and challenging) themes of inequality, racism, political and social change, new ideas (including spiritualism) and concepts.

However, the Columbian Exposition was a mirage, an illusion, a temporary idyll - "Chicago changed its spots for a time, but not for long"  and "when the mask comes off, everyone is laid bare" - how very apt. For after the exposition's closure and subsequent fire, the idle smokestacks were fired up once again, blanketing the city in a perpetual grey cloak of fog that hid much from view.

Review: The Bookseller of Florence by Ross King

Synopsis: The Renaissance in Florence conjures images of beautiful frescoes and elegant buildings--the dazzling handiwork of the city's skilled artists and architects. But equally important for the centuries to follow were geniuses of a different sort: Florence's manuscript hunters, scribes, scholars, and booksellers, who blew the dust off a thousand years of history and, through the discovery and diffusion of ancient knowledge, imagined a new and enlightened world. 

At the heart of this activity, which bestselling author Ross King relates in his exhilarating new book, was a remarkable man: Vespasiano da Bisticci. Born in 1422, he became what a friend called "the king of the world's booksellers." At a time when all books were made by hand, over four decades Vespasiano produced and sold many hundreds of volumes from his bookshop, which also became a gathering spot for debate and discussion. Besides repositories of ancient wisdom by the likes of Plato, Aristotle, and Quintilian, his books were works of art in their own right, copied by talented scribes and illuminated by the finest miniaturists. His clients included a roll-call of popes, kings, and princes across Europe who wished to burnish their reputations by founding magnificent libraries.

Vespasiano reached the summit of his powers as Europe's most prolific merchant of knowledge when a new invention appeared: the printed book. By 1480, the king of the world's booksellers was swept away by this epic technological disruption, whereby cheaply produced books reached readers who never could have afforded one of Vespasiano's elegant manuscripts.

A thrilling chronicle of intellectual ferment set against the dramatic political and religious turmoil of the era, Ross King's brilliant The Bookseller of Florence is also an ode to books and bookmaking that charts the world-changing shift from script to print through the life of an extraordinary man long lost to history--one of the true titans of the Renaissance.

A love of renaissance Florence, books, and a curiosity about Vespasiano, drew me to King's book. How did - for all intents and purposes - a barely educated young man, become one of the most prolific of collectors and sellers of illuminated manuscripts in Florence. King takes us on a personal journey of one man, who strove to educate himself, and through this discover the value and importance of both the gathering and the disseminating of knowledge. He was also a keen observer of the history of both his city and of the times, his notes, lost for some time, were  rediscovered and printed, no doubt on that infernal machine that was the bane of his existence - the printing press.

But this is also a look at art, literature and learning, writing and its presentation; his customers, patrons, and the characters of the age.

King, a renowned expert in art and the Italian Renaissance, provides a fascinating glimpse of a man - born in the right place, at the right time, open to experience an "extraordinary efflorescence of culture". For me, a newly found kinship with a fellow collector.

Review: The House of Killers by Samantha Lee Howe

Synopsis: Killing Eve meets Jason Bourne in this nerve-shredding new thriller series simmering with obsession and espionage… Serial killer Neva has been conditioned not to ask questions of the mysterious Network, to remain perfectly incurious and perennially cold-blooded. She must simply execute the targets they text her and live to bury the tale. But then she’s tasked with terminating a fellow assassin and glimpses her own future in her colleague’s fate. When she leaves flowers on the gravesite, someone notices.

Agent Michael Kensington knows he’ll have his work cut out for him when he’s recruited by MI5 onto operation Archive to piece together patterns in cold cases. Nothing could ever have prepared him for Neva…

An assassin obsessed with hell, a fugitive tortured by the secrets of her past, a woman destined to unthread him

The premise and the cover drew me into this first class thriller! We follow Neva, a conditioned serial assassin, as she undertaken her latest missions. But when her next assignment is one her her own, things begin to fall apart, and as a result, that instilled conditioning opens up fragments to a long hidden past, one she now starts to question. Thrown into the mix is MI5 agent, Michael Kensington who has been hot on Neva's trail for some time. And then their paths inextricably cross (as you know they must!) - and Michael follows his own path of hide and seek, not only with Neva but with his own agency.

But it is always with Neva that the reader will empathise, as more and more of her past is revealed.  The author has provided the reader with an engrossing, well crafted cat and mouse game - assassin and victim - assassin and agent - assassin and employer. We never know if Neva will break free or will be drawn back into the tightly woven web that offers a rather curiously dystopian view where money and power and greed force humanity to take a backseat.  There are so many reveals, and twists and turns that one wonders where you - the reader - will eventually end up!

It is the start of what promises to be an enthralling trilogy!

Note: I believe the next books are "Kill or Die" (May 2021) and "Kill A Spy" (July 2021)

Visit Samantha's website >>> HERE

Review: River of Sins by Sarah Hawkwood

Synopsis: July 1144. Ricolde, ‘the finest whore in Worcester’, is found butchered on an island a few miles up the River Severn. How did she get there, who killed her, and why? Uncovering details of her life and her past reveal a woman with hidden depths and hidden miseries which are fundamental to the answers, but time has cast a thick veil over the killer’s identity. The lord Sheriff’s men have a trail that went cold over two decades ago, and evidence that contradicts itself. In a place Catchpoll knows inside out, he finds things new even to him, and then the case becomes personal.

This is book seven of in the Bradecote and Catchpoll series; and funny thing is, I think I have read the first one, but GR says apparently not. The characters seem so familiar to me as does the storyline of book one.

I enjoyed it - I love a good historical "whodunnit" and the author takes us on the same meandering path as the Severn River. The time is set during what came to be known as "The Anarchy", when Empress Maud and King Stephen fought for the throne of England in the 12th Century.

In 1144, however, the drama had been playing our for over ten years - with one side then the other gaining the upper hand.  Stephen was still King of England, though Empress Maud's banner was now being taken up by both her husband, Geoffrey of Anjou, and her eldest son, Henry Plantagenet.  Things were reaching an impasse.  The city of Worcester itself had suffered a series of attacks, held by Count Waleran of Meulan for the king, the city lay dangerously close to the powerbase of Gloucester, held for Empress Maud by her half brother Robert.  From its position, the city also had command of the nearest bridge crossing from Oxford, where the King was based.  As such, the attack five years previous saw part of the city destroyed by fire and its citizens held for ransom.

This is the backdrop against which the author weaves her story.  There is plenty of investigating, clue following, suspect interviewing - for the methods of investigation were not as scientifically exacting as they are today. And public perception of a person's character held (and carried) more weight than whether a person was innocent or not.

If you like the Cadfael series, you will take to this one - I will most likely go back and read them from the start as there are references to previous events and characters.