The Flickering Light, by Jane Kirkpatrick

Do you want your picture taken? Grab a digital camera and you’ll have it in an instant. But just a mere one hundred years ago, a photograph was a treasured object. Having your picture taken meant a trip to the photographer’s studio and spending considerable money. Today’s story is about a portrait photographer, his studio and his assistant in [...]

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The King’s Coat, by Dewey Lambdin

This is a good, rousing tale of sailing life in 1780. You will learn much about ships and how they work as well as battles of the time and the weapons used. Our “hero,” (and we use the word loosely) is a wild young fellow who suddenly finds himself in a new world. Think Horatio Hornblower, but [...]

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The Last Kingdom, by Bernard Cornwell

This is a fairly new series for Bernard Cornwell, who is already well-known for his 21-book Richard Sharpe series. Cornwell continues his great story-telling style but in a different time and place. Now we are in the year 866, on the northeast border of England, or Englaland as it was once called.
The Last Kingdom, the first book [...]

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Medicus, by Ruth Downie

Here is another story about the great Roman Empire interwoven with a murder mystery.  This is a fun, light read – and very enjoyable.
The year is 117 A.D., and expansionist Rome is dispatching the Army to the far reaches of its empire.  And so Gaius Petreius Ruso, a doctor with the 20th Legion, finds himself [...]

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SPQR: The King’s Gambit, by John Maddox Roberts

SPQR I: The King’s Gambit is an entertaining combination of murder mystery and light history lesson which takes us back to 44 B.C., to the bustling and powerful city of Rome.  The protagonist is Decius Caecilius Metellus the Younger. As Head of the Commission of Twenty Six, his job is to solve the murders in his [...]

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