Savage Magic by Lloyd Shepherd

review by Maryom

1814 - another killer is on the loose in London. This time the victims are all members of a group of privileged young men whose main aim in life is the pursuit of pleasure in all its forms. The victims are found behind closed doors, with no signs of forced entry, all left wearing a satyr's mask. A classic closed-doors mystery? Not really, for, as usual when Charles Horton finds himself involved, the signs point to a more supernatural force.

This time Horton is on his own as John Harriott is indisposed. Sent by Magistrate Aaron Graham to Thorpe Lee House in Surrey, Horton at first finds himself investigating an outbreak of witchcraft, then getting pulled in to the spate of murders in London.
Horton's wife Abigail is indisposed too - the events of The Poisoned Island have left her disturbed in her mind. To seek a cure, she commits herself to a madhouse. Soon, perhaps inevitably, Horton's investigations and the series of deaths begin to point in the direction of one of Abigail's fellow inmates.

Savage Magic is another wonderful mystery in Lloyd Shepherd's signature mix of history and supernatural.
While I didn't find it quite as enthralling as Horton and Harriott's last outing in The Poisoned Island
I did still enjoy it. There are plenty of twists and turns to keep the reader enthralled; though there are equally occasions when the reader, having a better overview of events, knows more than Horton ( I really wanted someone to prod him in the right direction at times).
Although she was always independent for the time, definitely not a shrinking violet hiding from the seamier side of life,  I very much like that Abigail has a larger part to play in events. And,who knows, maybe in future she'll be even more involved with her husband's cases.

Maryom's review - 4.5 stars
Publisher - Simon & Schuster
Genre - adult, crime, historical fiction, supernatural

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The Poisoned Island by Lloyd Shepherd

review by Maryom

Harriott and Horton, heroes of Lloyd Shepherd's first novel, The English Monster, are back with a new mystery to unravel.
The Solander has just returned from a voyage to Tahiti - every spare inch of space above and below deck filled with specimens of exotic plants destined for the hothouses at Kew. Amongst them all is one special plant for the individual attention of Sir Joseph Banks, president of the Royal Society and financial backer of the voyage. The Solander's homecoming is not totally happy though. Within hours one of the crew is found dead - his throat cut, his room ransacked though no money taken and strangest of all a blissful smile fixed forever on his face. Magistrate John Harriott recognises this as an incident that calls for the unusual detecting talent of his constable Charles Horton and when he accidentally stumbles on more murders, Horton realises someone is stalking the Solander's crew and that the answers must lie in the ship's botanical cargo.

The Poisoned Island is a historical crime novel set during the reign of 'Mad King George', against the backdrop of Britain's exploration of the Pacific and plant-hunting expeditions when European botanists were extending their knowledge and trying to categorise the weird and wonderful plants to be found around the globe; there were high hopes of more finds such as the breadfruit tree discovered on Tahiti which became a major food source for West Indian plantations - and perhaps even of some miraculous cure-all plant. The Poisoned Island is full of amazing detail that brings the sights and sounds of early 19th century London - and Tahiti - to life on the page; events move from the hot tropical island, to the hustle and bustle of the docks of Wapping and Rotherhithe and to the more rarefied and genteel atmosphere of Kew with its massive greenhouses for the scientific study of the botanical marvels being brought back from around the world.
Having said that, the historical detail doesn't get in the way of a riveting thriller. While based around real historical people - for example,Joseph Banks was responsible for discovering and bringing back to England many botanical wonders -  the events of the Poisoned Island are totally fictitious. It's better in this regard than The English Monster which incorporated real murders and had me anticipating the unfolding of events; here they are all unexpected.
Charles Horton is back, of course, with his strange methods of observing and detecting rather than pouncing on the nearest suspect but I liked that this time his wife Abigail gets a slightly larger role - not only as a supportive wifely figure but as a woman interested in the scientific discoveries of the day and someone with a steady head, not given to the expected hysterics at the sight of blood. I half suspect she may be contributing more to her husband's investigations in future if some of his prejudices can be overcome.
An excellent read which should appeal to fans of both historical fiction and crime thrillers.



Maryom's review - 5 stars
Publisher - Simon & Schuster
Genre - adult, crime, historical fiction,


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The English Monster by Lloyd Shepherd

review by Maryom

The English Monster is a novel woven out of two seemingly unrelated historical events - the horrific Ratcliffe Highway murders of 1811 and the 16th century voyage of a royally-supported slave-trading ship.

1811 - a killer stalks the streets of Wapping, striking seemingly at random when people think they are safe in their homes.... While others blunder around, arresting all the usual suspects, John Harriott, magistrate of the River Police Office, puts his faith in his senior officer Charles Horton and his new-fangled ideas of detection.

1564 - another kind of monster is on the loose. Capt Jack Hawkyns has set sail, sponsored by the Queen, in search of 'black gold', ie Africans, to kidnap and sell as slaves. Young Billy Ablass has joined his crew in an attempt to make his fortune but the events that happen will change his life forever...

What piqued my interest about this novel was its central point of the Ratcliffe Highway murders. Now till 3 weeks ago, I'd never heard of them but then they 'guest starred' in ITV's Whitechapel and I wondered what someone else would make of the same starting material - as it turns out, something completely different! Unfortunately, Whitechapel had prepared me for how events unfolded which took some of the edge off Shepherd's story.

The English Monster is an amazing mix of fact, fiction and supernatural. It's a little difficult to get into as at first it's not apparent how the two story lines are linked - but persevere, it's worth the effort.

The strength of the book lies in bringing these murky events of the past to life through atmospheric descriptions and vivid characterisations. I loved the visualisation of Francis Drake as a man always in the right place at the right time but never getting his hands dirty with anything unpleasant or troublesome that might count against him in the future. (I've no idea how accurate this may be as outside his naval and bowls-playing exploits, my knowledge of him rests on Blackadder!)
Wapping almost counts as a character in its own right - with old crowded twisting streets, newer more spacious ones and over and above all the looming docks and ships' masts. But the hero of the book is Horton with his dodgy past and strange new methods of policing - examining the evidence and interviewing witnesses.

A book I thoroughly enjoyed and I hope we haven't seen the last of Horton - the last page seemed to be setting the stage for more 'detection'.

Maryom's review - 4 stars

Publisher - Simon & Schuster
Genre - adult, crime, historical fiction,

Buy The English Monster from Amazon

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