Blood From a Stone

May 20, 2013
Christie and Sayers fans will find Gordon-Smith’s seventh Jack Haldean whodunit set in post-WWI England (after 2012’s Trouble Brewing) a well-crafted throwback to the golden age of detection that pairs deduction with solid writing. Crime writer Haldean gets involved in solving the case of a gruesome murder aboard a train. A man who was stabbed to death had his head ripped off when someone positioned the corpse at an open window, apparently in an effort to stymie the police by delaying identification of the victim. Robbery was not the motive, given that the killer left behind a stash of valuable sapphires. The murder may be the work of a thief known as the Vicar, whose calling card (Simon Templar–like) is the drawing of a cross with a halo on top. The railway slaying may connect with Terence Napier, a man suspected of murdering his aunt. The author cleverly draws the various threads together in the series’ best entry to date.

June 15, 2013
Ancient sapphires provide the motive for several murders. Society sleuth Jack Haldean's friend Isabelle Stanton soon rues the good deed she does by helping out a Frenchwoman overwhelmed with caring for her children on a train trip to London. On the way to wash up the little girl, Isabelle encounters a terrified man in the doorway of a compartment. He's just discovered a headless body hanging out the window and a beautiful sapphire necklace on the floor. Inspector Rackham, who's sent to investigate, is joined at the station by Jack and by Isabelle's husband, Arthur. Inspecting the unidentified man's belongings reveals a picture of Mrs. Frank Leigh, of Breagan Grange, wearing the necklace, which she inherited from a Mrs. Paxton, who's apparently been recently poisoned by her nephew, Terence Napier, who'd revealed to her that the son she had thought died in the Great War was a deserter living in Paris. Mrs. Paxton is related to Frank Leigh, but the precious stones, which had originally been found in an ancient cave on the Breagan Grange property, have been left not to Frank, but to Evie, his second wife. Certain that his nephew Terence is innocent, Francis Leigh has already hired a private detective but is eager to procure Haldean's help as well. Both the police and Jack are sure they could solve the case if they could only identify the dead man, but that proves to be much more difficult than they imagined. Gordon-Smith, who specializes in classic British mysteries set between the wars (Trouble Brewing, 2012, etc.), poses a complex mystery designed to keep you and his clever sleuth guessing.

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July 1, 2013

The village folks (circa 1926) are shaken when widowed Mrs. Paxton is poisoned in her home. It's believed that her nephew killed her for her sapphire necklace, and now he's disappeared. Turns out the jewels had been willed to Evangeline Leigh, who is Celia Leigh's stepmother. Series regular Isabelle Thornton is Celia's friend. A few weeks later, a passenger is murdered on the same train on which Isabelle is riding; puzzlingly, a sapphire necklace is found at his feet. Isabelle remembers the Paxton connection, and soon Scotland Yard Insp. Bill Rackham asks his buddy Jack Haldean to investigate. Jack and Isabelle begin snooping around the Leigh family estate. On the grounds are some noteworthy British Roman ruins, including an underground altar, and Jack and Isabelle make some shocking discoveries. Problem is, another guest knows more, and things get excitingly dangerous. VERDICT The wit and plot are as sparkling as the sapphires in Gordon-Smith's seventh case for Jack (after Trouble Brewing). She incorporates enough intrigue and adventure to please any reader of traditional British mysteries. For fans of Kerry Greenwood's "Phryne Fisher" series; try with Elizabeth Peters's readers, too.

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June 1, 2013
Elderly Constance Paxton sets the village of Topfordham talking when she travels to Paris with her n'er-do-well nephew. But the trip is not the only thing that has tongues wagging. Rumor has it that Mrs. Paxton has gone to Paris to meet her son, who supposedly died in WWI. When she is murdered shortly after returning home, and her nearly priceless sapphire necklace and earrings go missing, the villagers are sure her nephew killed her and made off with the jewelry. But when Major Jack Haldean is called to investigate a grisly death on a train and finds a set of sapphires in the carriage where the victim died, he concludes there must be a link between Mrs. Paxton and the dead man on the train. But the more he tries to make sense of the story, the murkier it becomes. A byzantine plot, plenty of surprising twists, a debonair hero, and a shock ending make this classic British whodunit an entertaining and enjoyable read for all mystery buffs.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)