Fall of Angels

March 12, 2018
Set in Cambridge, England, in 1923, this disappointing series launch from Cleverly (Diana’s Altar) introduces Det. Insp. John Redfyre, the scion of a well-to-do family. When his Aunt Hetty persuades him to attend a holiday concert in her stead, he’s pleasantly surprised to find that one of the performers is a pioneering female trumpeter, Juno Proudfoot. A second surprise is that the other seat Hetty was unable to use is occupied by Earwig Stretton, an attractive childhood acquaintance whose “laughter frothed and gurgled like champagne being poured by a generous hand.” Less pleasantly, Juno is almost killed when she falls down the stage stairs after the music ends. John suspects the fall wasn’t accidental, a thesis buttressed when the woman who distracted the stagehand from his duties at the time of the tumble is later murdered. The banter between John and Earwig is labored, and having a toff who attended the city’s university assigned to the Cambridge beat as a policeman isn’t novel in concept or execution. Readers will hope Cleverly returns to form next time. Agent: Juliet Burton, Juliet Burton Literary (U.K.).

March 15, 2018
A series of murders roils suffragists in Cambridge, England.DI John Redfyre, a member of an upper-crust family, survived the horrors of World War I to become a valued police officer. Having grown up nearby and a Cambridge University graduate himself, he's especially sensitive to the gown side of town-and-gown problems. When his eccentric Aunt Hetty offers him tickets to a Christmas concert at St. Barnabas College, he agrees to go even though he'll be sitting with Eadwig Stretton, the youngest of a wild family whose members tormented him as a child. The concert is more memorable than he could have anticipated. One of the musicians is beguiling female trumpeter Juno Proudfoot, a first at Cambridge, where women still cannot obtain degrees. And Eadwig is an attractive woman instead of a grown-up version of Redfyre's male tormentors. During the interval, as they trade barbs and family history, he learns that her oldest brother, Wulfie, fought for the Germans in the war. As she exits the concert, Juno is almost killed in a fall down the stairs in what turns out to be the first in a series of attacks on women. The nasty poison pen letters Eadwig says Juno's received are the harbinger of an attack on another upper-class woman who's strangled and thrown in the river. The victim, Louise Lawrence, is another friend of Eadwig's who, after having left her unconventional school, took a job with one of her father's friends for a suspiciously high salary. At length Redfyre realizes that the work Eadwig, Louise, his aunt Hetty, and a shadowy group of women are doing on behalf of universal suffrage has enraged a misogynist with deadly intent, leading Redfyre to question his own feelings on the subject.In this new series kickoff, Cleverly (Diana's Altar, 2017, etc.) provides the requisite period detail, adds a cunning mystery, and acknowledges that the fight for equality continues to this day.

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May 1, 2018
Cleverly, author of the Detective Joe Sandilands mysteries, introduces a promising new series, set in 1923 Great Britain. Handsome, educated, and well-bred Detective Inspector John Redfyre moves easily between Cambridge academics and townsfolk, an attribute that comes in handy when he lands on a sticky wicket of dons, toffs, and bluestockings. Trouble erupts after Redfyre attends a Christmas concert starring trumpet player Juno Proudfoot, whose appearance has scandalized conservative Cambridge society, not at all comfortable with the idea of a female virtuoso. When Juno is nearly killed in a fall after the concert, and two young women are subsequently strangled, it's up to Redfyre to walk the line between town and gown to find the killer. A brilliant sleuth with surprisingly liberal politics for the time, Redfyre combines the wit and willingness to defy convention of Kerry Greenwood's Phryne Fisher with the polish of Dorothy Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey, adding a hint of G. M. Malliet's Max Tudor. The novel has the feel of a humorous cozy while exploring serious themes and boasting richly flawed characters.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)

May 1, 2018

DI John Redfyre of the Cambridge CID, attending a Christmas concert at St. Barnabus College, is intrigued by the most unusual trumpeter soloist, a young woman named Juno Proudfoot. When Juno falls down the stairs after the concert, Redfyre investigates her suspicious death. It's 1923 England, and civic disorder has wracked the community lately. As more women die, Redfyre finds ties to a small group of determined feminists. Are they suspects or potential victims of a misogynistic killer? The author of the "Joe Sandilands" mysteries set in post-World War I India (Diana's Altar) initiates a new postwar historical series featuring an educated police officer raised as a gentleman whose only flaw is that he's too mannerly to grill the ladies effectively. This leisurely paced mystery is complicated by the numerous characters who use fake identities, which can become confusing at times. VERDICT Aficionados of Jacqueline Winspear and Dorothy Sayers will relish this atmospheric historical mystery, with its colorful period details that brilliantly capture post-World War I Britain. [See Prepub Alert, 11/13/17.]--Lesa Holstine, Evansville Vanderburgh P.L., IN

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2018

A Cambridge upper-cruster in the city's police department in the 1920s, Detective Inspector John Redfyre is on hand at the annual St. Barnabas College Christmas concert when a trumpeter falls nearly to her death. Was it really an accident? The popular Cleverly (Diana's Altar) launches a new series.

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.