The Sans Pareil Mystery by Karen Charlton

Taking a detour from my summer house reading project I purchased a book for my Kindle last week. This book by Karen Charlton is the second in a series of books about Inspector Lavender and his assistant, Constable Woods who live in Regency London. This case sees Lavender becoming involved with a beautiful Spanish emigre named Dona Magdelena who, somehow, gets into the middle of his investigation. The case revolves around the body of a young woman found under the floorboards of a derelict house which is being demolished. The doctor conducting the post mortem recognises her as April Clare, a young actress at the Sans Pareil Theatre in London, but all is not as straightforward as it may appear.
The descriptions of theatre life are interesting and there are references to the war at the time between Spain and France as the Napoleonic Wars loom. The author likes to present strong female characters and in this book, besides Dona Magdalena, we have Dorothy Jordan, mistress of the Duke of Clarence and Jane Shaw, owner of the Sans Pareil Theatre and some time writer of plays. I can see this as a television series with many more adventures of Lavender and Woods and it is an entertaining read.

As meat loves salt by Maria McCann

I have to confess that it took me a while to get into this book and there were parts where I was skipping ahead to see where it was going, but there were also parts that were compulsive reading. The main character of the book is Jacob Cullen - I hesitate to call him hero - who is one of three brothers compelled to work as servants on a neighbouring estate, because of their father's financial mismanagement. The main perspective we have of events is that of Jacob but we do not share all of his consciousnss until later in the book. We discover that he has murdered a young man, ostensibly through fear of being revealed as a reader of seditious material along with his brothers. The novel is set during the seventeenth century English Civil War and, as Jacob flees his crime, he is recruited as a Roundhead. The details of seventeenth century life are as well presented as though the author had lived them herself: the life of a soldier  and the dehumanising aspects of war. Jacob strikes up a physical relationship with Christopher Ferris, who had co-opted Jacob into the army and becomes completely possessed by him. An emotional power struggle ensues in which Ferris demands to know all about Jacob and tries to make him his creature.
Before leaving his place of work Jacob had been betrothed to Caro, a fellow servant, and it is on their wedding day that he absconds forcing her and his brother to go with him. He attacks them both viciously, and the violence that always simmers beneath the surface with him is revealed. After the army Jacob accompanies Ferris to London, where his aunt lives, and their relationship continues. Ferris has unconventional views and persuades Jacob to establish an alternative rural farming community with him and some others, these people will later be called Diggers. They start to plough up common land but of course the idyll cannot last.
It would be true to say that this is a dark novel about very dark characters (or one in particular) but at the same time the recreation of period detail and the feel of seventeenth century life is masterful, so with the proviso that it may not be for the squeamish it is certainly recommended.

Masterpiece of corruption by L C Tyler

Set in London and Brussels, this novel features as the main character John Grey who is actually a lawyer who works in Lincoln's Inn Fields but has also done some spying work in the past. Much is made of mistaken identity and John Grey has many names - he is mistakenly identified by two Royalists, Ripley and Broderick, as John Clifford, but as a spy he is also known as Mr Cardinal and Mr Plautus. The story happens in the years 1657- 8 and ends with the death of Oliver Cromwell and the return of Charles II to England to reclaim the throne.
John Grey receives a written message delivered to his lodgings inviting him to meet with a 'Mr SK' at a designated place. It soon becomes apparent that John Grey is not the intended recipient of the note but he attends the meeting anyway after deciphering that 'Mr SK' is a reference to the Sealed Knot, a Royalist organisation.
The title of the novel is a name given to one of the characters and the themes of the story include lies and deceit, a web of which threatens to engulf one who is attempting to spin it. The story is told with a sly and ironic humour and the narrator (Grey) never seems to take himself too seriously even when his life seems to be in danger. The author uses Grey for his naratorial perspective except for a scene at the end of the book where it shifts to that of the future king, Charles Stuart. The first novel in the John Grey historical series is "A cruel necessity" and the next is "Pestilence", which is to be a story about the Black Death, and I look forward to reading them both.