What’s not to love, in The Frost Fair Murders, Ellis Blackwood’s fifth book of the Samuel Pepys Mystery series!
Part cozy mystery, part 17th century thriller, we find the esteemed Samuel Pepys, his personal inquisitors Jacob Standish and Abigail Harcourt, along with other guests sharing a Christmas feast and talking of the possible Frost Fair should the River Thames freeze over.
According to the author, Frost Fairs no longer happen because the old London Bridge had 19 arches, which used to stop the flow of water when it got really cold. Once in a blue moon, the Thames above London Bridge would ice over. The people would all come out, set tents up, roast ox, skate around, play nine pins, and even set up a printing press on the ice. “It almost feels almost Victorian, but these things go back hundreds of years,” Blackwood said in a recent interview.
For any lover of British mysteries, we all know that if there is a fair or a village fête, there’s bound to be a body or two or three. Blackwood did not disappoint. Jacob and Abby soon discover that the first death was not the terrible accident Pepys had suspected but was, in fact, murderous evil a-glide on the ice. Evil that could touch them all if the inquisitors could not solve the mystery.
I love Blackwood’s writing, not just the incredible pictures of 17th century England that he paints on the page and in our minds, but the way his characters move their investigation and his fabulous stories forward.
In this installment of the series, we get to know the famed diarist and his foibles a little better, learn more about Abby and her past, and watch the trust and understanding grow between the former housemaid and her fellow inquisitor.
And it’s a Christmas mystery!
I highly recommend The Frost Fair Murders for anyone interested in historical cozy mysteries, thrillers, Christmas cozies and 17th century London. I received this advanced reader copy of The Frost Fair Murders from Vintage Mystery Press, courtesy of the author.
Order online or buy now at your favorite independent bookstore. Mine is Sellers Books and Art in Jim Thorpe, PA.
Review by Di Prokop, More Mystery Please
Part cozy mystery, part 17th century thriller, we find the esteemed Samuel Pepys, his personal inquisitors Jacob Standish and Abigail Harcourt, along with other guests sharing a Christmas feast and talking of the possible Frost Fair should the River Thames freeze over.
According to the author, Frost Fairs no longer happen because the old London Bridge had 19 arches, which used to stop the flow of water when it got really cold. Once in a blue moon, the Thames above London Bridge would ice over. The people would all come out, set tents up, roast ox, skate around, play nine pins, and even set up a printing press on the ice. “It almost feels almost Victorian, but these things go back hundreds of years,” Blackwood said in a recent interview.
For any lover of British mysteries, we all know that if there is a fair or a village fête, there’s bound to be a body or two or three. Blackwood did not disappoint. Jacob and Abby soon discover that the first death was not the terrible accident Pepys had suspected but was, in fact, murderous evil a-glide on the ice. Evil that could touch them all if the inquisitors could not solve the mystery.
I love Blackwood’s writing, not just the incredible pictures of 17th century England that he paints on the page and in our minds, but the way his characters move their investigation and his fabulous stories forward.
In this installment of the series, we get to know the famed diarist and his foibles a little better, learn more about Abby and her past, and watch the trust and understanding grow between the former housemaid and her fellow inquisitor.
And it’s a Christmas mystery!
I highly recommend The Frost Fair Murders for anyone interested in historical cozy mysteries, thrillers, Christmas cozies and 17th century London. I received this advanced reader copy of The Frost Fair Murders from Vintage Mystery Press, courtesy of the author.
Order online or buy now at your favorite independent bookstore. Mine is Sellers Books and Art in Jim Thorpe, PA.
Review by Di Prokop, More Mystery Please
