Tag: Ellis Blackwood

Delicious debut

In the much anticipated The Belgravia Phantom, Ellis Blackwood has delivered another delicious debut with his new Quill and Page Mystery Series.

Having put the acclaimed 17th century Samuel Pepys Mysteries to bed earlier this year, Blackwood has brought another world artfully to life in exquisite detail — this time Victorian England, Settles Street in the East End of London.

That’s where we get to know a rich ensemble of colorful characters: Kate Quill, a wrongfully dismissed lady’s maid now forced to take in mending to pay the rent, her three siblings, their ragamuffin friends, an all-knowing Irish landlady, not to mention the meticulous, former gentleman’s gentleman, Frederick Page.

Each has their own talents, including some which may or not have been acquired in the course of petty thievery, ala The Artful Dodger. After Kate takes a job as a medium’s assistant, it will take every last one of the Settles Street crew to try and prove her innocence before police bring Kate in for the murder of her former employer, who was killed during the séance.

I loved getting to know the entire Quill clan, and enjoyed the thrilling chase for Lady Pemberton’s killer, with as many twists and turns as suspects. Especially with more than a tease to their next adventure, featuring one of my favorite characters, I can’t wait to read the next Quill and Page installment and highly recommend The Belgravia Phantom to historical mystery fans.

I received an advance reader’s copy of The Belgravia Phantom, courtesy of the author and Vintage Mystery Press. Order online or buy now at your favorite independent bookstore. Mine is Sellers Books and Art in Jim Thorpe, PA.

Review by Di Prokop

Spectacular swashbuckling finale

If you love historical mystery and suspense as much as I do, you’ll love the swashbuckling adventure that is Jacob’s Last Standish, the final installment of author Ellis Blackwood’s incredible Samuel Pepys Mysteries.

This brilliant series follows acclaimed diarist Samuel Pepys’ intrepid inquisitors, Pepys’ former maid, Abigail Harcourt, and Jacob Standish, whom Pepys gave a job as a deathbed pledge to Jacob’s father, Sir Miles Standish, investigating everything from witch trials, to plague-masked killers, murders of royal mistresses, threats to the king’s life, plots to steal the Crown Jewels, as well as the pair’s own personal quests.

Inspired by Pepys’ actual diaries, Blackwood has exquisitely crafted a pop-up picture book in the reader’s mind of 17th century London, where the nine volumes of whodunits take place over four months time, from the fall of 1666, as the embers of the Great Fire are taking hold in the city that had been besieged with the plague just the previous year, through January 1667, holding pace and tension from one book to the next with deftly woven mysteries and intrigue that keep you guessing.

In Jacob’s Last Standish, plagued by a lifetime of self-doubt, the titled character needs to draw up every ounce of breath and bit of confidence he has, to overcome himself, go after the murderous, treasonous Colonel Blood, avenge the death of a young woman who saved his life, and in his mind, prove his worth as his father’s son.

After Abby receives a letter from her brother, Will, who feared for his life, she ignores admonitions from Pepys and Jacob to stay away from him. When last Pepys and the inquisitors had seen Will, who at one time had been in league with a fanatical Puritan group, he had threatened them all.
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How I wish I could tell you more without giving spoilers away!

Suffice it to say, there were tears in my eyes during Pepys’ speech near the end. I am ever so grateful to have spent time with Abby and Jacob, cheer them on and watch them grow over these past two years, thanks to Blackwood’s prolific writing. I also enjoyed the author’s rich variety of colorful characters, who would pop into plots throughout the series. I will miss them all. (Hopefully, only until they make their way on screen.)

I highly recommend Jacob’s Last Standish to fans of historical fiction, historical mysteries and British mysteries. I received an advance reader’s copy of Jacob’s Last Standish, courtesy of the author and Vintage Mystery Press
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Order online or buy now at your favorite independent bookstore. Mine is Sellers Books and Art in Jim Thorpe, PA.

If you’re interested in learning more about Samuel Pepys, his diary is available online. Pepys’ diary entries from 1665 are also woven into the narrative of the Pulitzer Prize-nominated The Great Plague by Dorothy and Lloyd Moot (for which I was privileged to host a C-Span BookTV episode).

Review by Di Prokop
More Mystery Please

The Crown Jewels Murders


Abigail Harcourt and Jacob Standish are tasked with their biggest challenge yet — protecting the Crown Jewels at the Tower of London on behalf of the king in Ellis Blackwood’s The Crown Jewel Murders.

So well plotted, in this eighth installment of the Samuel Pepys Mystery series, Blackwood artfully shows that everything we thought we knew is not necessarily so, keeping readers guessing until the very end.

The entire series leading up to and including The Crown Jewel Murders has taken place in less than six months from September, 1666 to January 1667. Each book, each adventure leading to the next for Abby, Pepys’ housemaid turned inquisitor and Jacob, who became Pepys’ inquisitor as a deathbed promise to Jacob’s father. With each mystery the pair became more confident in their skills and in each other.

Blackwood’s masterful skill in 17th century world-building only gets better as he takes readers along through the Tower of London, deftly bringing costumes, architecture, the infamous jewels and even the lion statues today’s visitors see to life.

I love historical fiction. Each of Blackwood’s mysteries had me wanting to learn more, wanting to find out what story may have been the inspiration behind it. For The Crown Jewels Murders, it may have been Thomas Blood, a real man, who is not only behind the fictional plot to thieve the exquisite jewels in this mystery but also for his own attempt at a Crown Jewels heist in 1671.

I highly recommend The Crown Jewel Murders to lovers of historical fiction, suspense, mysteries and British mystery series, in particular. I can hardly wait to read the series finale in April. I received an advance reader’s copy 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.

By Di Prokop

I love this series!

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I love this series! That’s exactly what I said out loud the moment I closed The Brampton Ghost Murders, Book 7 of Ellis Blackwood’s phenomenal Samuel Pepys Mysteries.

While I knew the first book, The Brampton Witch Murders, was a brilliant debut, Blackwood has never ceased to amaze me in each of the subsequent stories he’s spun, the depth of his characters, the richness of the 17th century worlds he creates, and the perfectly paced intricacies of his plots, inspired by Pepys’ actual diaries – each installment better than the last with mysteries that keep you guessing.

In The Brampton Ghost Murders, Pepys’ inquisitors Abigail and Jacob return to the village of Brampton to find bags of gold Pepys had sent to his family home for burial in the back garden. According to the diaries, Pepys did in fact send his gold to Brampton for hiding when a Dutch invasion was feared might sail up the Thames.

Abigail and Jacob weren’t particularly keen on returning to a town where grudges were easily held against them, where there had been palpable evil in the guise of the Witchfinder General and residents who believed the women he had accused of being witches, including Pepys’ sister, Paulina, were just that.
Then there’s the ghost. With a fire damaging a local inn and no room at the Pepys’ home, the inquisitors were made to sleep in a cottage deep in the dark woods, where the ghost of the Wychwood Drummer was said to roam. A perfect read for the most ghoulish time of the year – at night during a power outage made it especially atmospheric.

I highly recommend The Brampton Ghost Murders to lovers of historical fiction, British mysteries and suspense and recommend giving the entire series as gifts to your favorite mystery lover. I received this advanced reader copy 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.

Bravo, Blackwood!

All the world’s a stage and some of them are deadly.

The most suspenseful Samuel Pepys Mystery yet, The Drury Lane Murders finds Pepys’ inquisitors working to discover not only the source of financial irregularities in the King’s Theatre Company but solve the murder of a lead actress at the Theatre Royale, as well.

With suspects aplenty to keep you guessing, in this sixth book of the series, author Ellis Blackwood masterfully weaves together not only delicious mystery and intrigue but a dash of comedy as well — much of it at poor Jacob Standish’s expense. Blackwood’s exceptional talent for world building also gives readers a rich taste of 17th Century British theatre life in what is now known as London’s famed West End.

When Jacob is barred from the theatre, Abigail Harcourt, his fellow inquisitor, must follow leads in the theatre solo and becomes one, as she replaces the murdered actress onstage. While performing for the King himself, her life may hang in the balance.

I loved the tying in of characters we’ve met earlier in the series coming back to stir the pot, tying up of plot points from previous books, as well as the laying of strings to pull in future marvelous mysteries.

Tip: If you are near the end of this book, do not read it if you wake in the middle of the night, as your adrenalin will rush and despite the most satisfying of endings, you’ll never fall back to sleep.

I highly recommend The Drury Lane Murders for anyone interested in historical cozy mysteries, suspense thrillers, and 17th century London. I received this advanced reader copy of The Drury Lane 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

Murder most frigid

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

Royally Intriguing: The King’s Court Murders

From his brilliant series debut to the fourth novel, my excitement still hasn’t waned for Ellis Blackwood’s Samuel Pepys Mysteries.

In my favorite to date, The King’s Court Murders finds the famed diarist’s inquisitors -Pepys’ former housemaid, Abigail Harcourt, and Jacob Standish – paying a visit, as honored guests of Charles II at his court at Whitehall Palace, where Jacob’s younger sister Anne resides as one of the king’s mistresses.

After one of the mistresses is murdered and Pepys is implicated, the king gives Jacob and Abigail an emotionally fraught 24 hours to find the truth and exonerate their esteemed employer.

With his incredible gift for seamlessly weaving setting, history and a most compelling mystery, Blackwood brings readers on a thrilling adventure through 17th century London and the royal court.

I highly recommend The King’s Court Murders for anyone interested in historical cozy mysteries and 17th century London. I received this advanced reader copy of The Brampton Witch 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.

If you’d like a peek into the world of Samuel Pepys inquisitors and a free novella, visit https://ellisblackwood.com/

For more on Samuel Pepys, Abigail, Jacob and bringing 17th Century London to life, check out my interview with Ellis Blackwood below.

Review by Di Prokop, More Mystery Please

A rich blend of history, mystery and murder


In The Coffee House Murders, masterful storyteller Ellis Blackwood, sets Abigail Harcourt and Jacob Standish on another captivating adventure bringing the post-Great Fire 1660’s London to life.

This third installment of the Samuel Pepys Mysteries finds the famed diarist, the Clerk of the Acts to the Navy Board and adviser to King Charles II, for whom the series is named, charging his young inquisitors with another mission – to find his missing pocket watch.

The seemingly innocuous task soon takes a dangerous turn when the pair put their sleuthing abilities to work upon discovering the murder of a wit and parliamentarian, which they had met in Rose’s Coffee House on the Strand, the very coffee house the two had frequented the previous night.

After the investigation leads to an adjacent royalist-clientele coffee house, the Gilded Bean, it becomes clear treachery is afoot. In order to protect the crown and Pepys, who has no idea of his inquisitors activities, they must break into Westminster. If caught, the consequences are deadly. If they do not break in, the consequences are the same, save for who will die.

I love the way Abby and Jacob’s confidence and skills continue to grow and though not yet romantic, how they’ve come to rely on each other.

In this third installment in as many months, Blackwood continues to impress with his ingenious plotting, characterization, and richly detailed setting, painting another brilliant whodunit. I highly recommend The Coffee House Murders to fans of historical fiction, historical mysteries and British mysteries.

I received an advance reader’s copy of The Coffee House Murders, courtesy of the author and Vintage Mystery Press. Order online or buy now at your favorite independent bookstore. Mine is Sellers Books and Art in Jim Thorpe, PA.

If you’re interested in learning more about Samuel Pepys, his diary is available online. Pepys’ diary entries from 1665 are also woven into the narrative of the Pulitzer Prize-nominated The Great Plague by Dorothy and Lloyd Moot (for which I was privileged to host a C-Span BookTV episode).

Review by Di Prokop
More Mystery Please

Plague Doctor Murders

With The Plague Doctor Murders, the second of his Samuel Pepys Mysteries, Ellis Blackwood leaves no doubt that readers are in for an amazing series, one for which historical fiction fans will clamor.

Picking up where The Brampton Witch Murders left off, the famed diarist, the Clerk of the Acts to the Navy Board and adviser to King Charles II, for whom the series is named, along with his personal inquisitors Jacob Standish and housemaid Abigail Harcourt are on their return to London, not knowing what they would find of the ancient city that burned during their absence.

Though purportedly saved from the flames, knowledge of the state of his home and belongings would have to wait for Jacob as Pepys had another urgent mission for his inquisitors – to find out who was prowling the royal dockyards by night, dressed in the nightmarish, bird-like, plague doctor mask and cloak, threatening a colleague’s life in a similar way to a recently murdered man.

No easy task for the pair as they head to Deptford, where Jacob was known for a costly mistake he made during a brief stint as a purser’s apprentice. Likewise, young Abby must assert herself to be taken seriously by the dockworkers and be recognized by Samuel as more than just a maid or Jacob’s assistant.

Another thread of the story begins in Cornwall, following the life of a young boy whose father was believed to be kidnapped at sea. Masterfully tying the two together, Blackwood is a gifted storyteller, making 17th century London, the devastation following the Great Fire, the Thames as a workaday waterway and Cornish fishing villages all come to life.

A thrilling mystery with plenty of suspects, clues and red herrings to keep you guessing, I highly recommend The Plague Doctor Murders for fans of historical fiction, British mysteries and anyone who enjoys a fascinating story.

I can’t wait to read the next installment, The Coffee House Murders due out October 30. I also can’t wait to see, for I have no doubt, The Samuel Pepys Mysteries will appear on-screen, as well.

I received an advance reader’s copy of The Plague Doctors, courtesy of the author and Vintage Mystery Press. Order online or buy now at your favorite independent bookstore. Mine is Sellers Books and Art in Jim Thorpe, PA.

If you’re interested in learning more about Samuel Pepys and the Great Plague: Pepys’ diary entries from 1665 are woven into the narrative of the Pulitzer Prize-nominated The Great Plague by Dorothy and Lloyd Moot (for which I was privileged to host a C-Span BookTV episode)

Review by Di Prokop
More Mystery Please

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