None So Blind by Alis Hawkins

 

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You can buy None So Blind.......Here

You can find out more about the author.....Here

The Blurb...

1850 – Harry Probert-Lloyd is a young barrister making a successful career in London when he realises he’s going blind. Forced home from London to rural Cardiganshire, the only path open to him seems to be one he hoped he’d have never take: to become one of the squirearchy.

But Harry has scarcely got his things unpacked when a messenger comes banging on the door. Human remains have been discovered on a neighbouring property.

Harry has a horrible feeling he knows who the bones belong to; and that he’s part of the reason she’s dead.

But the murder took place during the infamous ‘Rebecca’ tollgate riots and, with the whole area caught up in a frenzy of gossip, rumour and fear, the inquest jury brings in an anomalous verdict o. Intimidation by the resurgent influence of the shadowy Rebecca? Harry thinks so.

In the teeth of opposition from all sides, he sets out to find out who killed Margaret Jones. And why.

Needing help, Harry hires John Davies, a young solicitor’s clerk, to be his eyes and, as they pursue their investigation, three names keep cropping up.

Rebecca – Why are the men who dressed as women and rode out at night so keen to leave Margaret Jones’s death uninvestigated?

Nathaniel Howell – rabble-rousing, equality-before-God espousing minister of the local chapel. Why did he disappear when the riots were at their height? What did he know about Margaret Jones? Is he still alive, or did he, too, end up in an unmarked grave?

And David Thomas. Every time his name is mentioned, Harry steers away from it and John becomes suspicious. Who is David Thomas and why are they not beating a path to his door to ask him what he knows? Exactly what part did Harry himself play in the Rebecca Riots?

Harry and John’s investigations take them as far afield as London and Ipswich where they make an astonishing discovery.

The truth behind Margaret Jones’s death changes everything.

My Review...

None So Blind is the first in the Teifi Valley Coroner Series. Other novels in the series are

In Two Minds

Those Who Know

I found this to be a very good book on so many levels. The murder mystery was intriguing,  the characters were compelling and (to me anyway) the historical context was absolutely fascinating.

Murder Mystery; How do you solve a murder if there is no police force? Indeed how can even find out  that it is a murder. This is the dilemma facing Harry. There is no police force but there is a very rudimentary coroner system in 1850s rural West Wales. Harry believes he knows the victim who was buried beneath a tree. He feels duty bound to find her killer. His first step in his quest is to use his fathers influence to push the local coroner to open an inquest. This is by no means a straight forward and routine procedural  task as would be the case today. The jury returns a verdict that cannot be correct. They have been nobbled. Harry is requested to continue his investigations by an unlikely source. He does this gladly but by doing so falls foul of his distant father. Harry must navigate his path to the killer, but that path lies through corruption, conspiracy and physical intimidation by the Rebecca Rioters.  The 1840s equivalent of a vigilante, guerilla, militia.  Several possible scenarios for Margaret's death are investigated and several red herrings are produced before the perpetrator is exposed. In addition the author does have a lively turn of phrase. Have a squint at the selected quotes for some fine examples. I have probably used too many quotes. I hope the author forgives me but they are all little belters

Compelling Characters; Harry on first glance would appear to be the stereotypical hero. He is from landed gentry, well educated with a conscience. This is all well and good but it would make for a very boring protagonist. This is where the author comes up with two strokes of genius. Harry has a debilitating occular disease and is going slowly blind. He only has periphal vision. He needs help. He needs someone to be his eyes. This is where John Davies comes in. John is from a lower social strata than Harry and can see things that Harry cannot both physically and societally. Between the two of them they have access to the whole social strata. They grow to become almost symbiotic. The second stroke of genius is to give Harry a past both with Margaret and the Rebbecca Riots. John begins to suspect Harry of some sort of involvement. It's like Starsky not really trusting Hutch! In addition John himself is carrying a dark secret. Yes Hutch is hiding something from Starsky (ed probably showing my age with those references 🤔) It makes for full, well rounded, proper meaty characters.

There are few appendices in the version that I read. Notes on the Rebecca Riots, notes on law and order in 19th Century West Wales and questions for reading groups. All very interesting additions to the story itself. 

Historical Context; This aspect was fascinating. We go from rural West Wales where the poorest in society are sharing their homebuilt dwelling with cattle to London where there are gaslights in the home along with turquoise wallpaper. The Rebecca Riots play a large part in the story and it seems to me while they started as a sort "Poll Tax Riot" they degenerated into the paranoia and chaos of the Salem Witch Trials. I have read about the Rebecca Riots, The Merthyr Rising and the Chartist Rising but I think if you ask the average Welsh citizen about these, their knowledge would be little to nothing. That is why is great to see books like this, that provide a palatable and engaging way to learning about our heritage. These things together with Treweryn should be higher in our collective national conscience. Anyway I digress back to the book

 I was thinking what novels could I compare it with regards to  setting and context and it eventually came to me, and if you think the Starsky and Hutch reference was odd you are going really surprised at this. It reminded me of both the Godfather  and I Claudius (two of my favourite books.) Yes, Yes I know I am odd but here me out. All three totally immerse you  in a society with a very distinct social strata. The rules and etiquette  for recognising  who is on what level (and sub level) of society  are numerous and, to the outsider at least, opaque. For example speaking Welsh is only for the lower classes, upper classes speak English. Tenant farmers are below land owners. Power, wealth and status are everything. Trying to to move up the social ladder is fraught with danger and conversely the threat of falling down the ladder is forever looming in the background. The hand you are dealt with from birth greatly impinges on everything you do in life. In an ideal world it wouldn't but it does and sadly that is still true today. All three societies are cultures that I had limited knowledge of before reading about them. However upon reading them felt totally immersed in that world with all the subleties and nuances that go along with them, and now I will never forget them. 

Selected Quotes...

"As we walked under a sky like soaked linen,"

"I didn’t trust anything until it was written down where I could see it. Behaving itself."

‘In my experience, Mr Probert- Lloyd,’ the coroner said, ‘the truth is rarely told where a suspicious death is concerned. And certainly not the whole truth.’

‘Do you defend these Rebeccas?’ ‘I defend their right to take action if nobody else will uphold the law!’ ‘To take action? They’re rioting, boy!’ ‘Riot is in the eye of the beholder.’

"...fire burning in a room nobody was in. That was what having money meant."

"Parry was a large man and I remembered him as being soft around the edges, as if he might be easy to squeeze into a blancmange mould."

About the Author...

Alis Hawkins grew up on a dairy farm in Cardiganshire. Her inner introvert thought it would be a good idea to become a shepherd and, frankly, if she had, she might have been published sooner.

However, three years reading English at Corpus Christi College, Oxford revealed an extrovert streak and a social conscience which saw her train as a Speech and Language Therapist. She has spent the subsequent three decades variously bringing up two sons, working with children and young people on the autism spectrum and writing fiction, non-fiction and plays. She writes the kind of books she likes to read: character-driven historical crime and mystery fiction with what might be called literary production values.

As a historical writer, Alis takes her research very seriously which sometimes has unexpected consequences. Research into the techniques of medieval charcoal burning led to a fascination with the craft and she and her partner are now regular members of the team that keeps the earth burn charcoal-producing technique alive in the Forest of Dean.

Series: The Teifi Valley Coroner historical crime series, featuring Harry Probert Lloyd and John Davies, published by The Dome Press. #1 - None So Blind (2018),#2 - In Two Minds (2019), #3 - Those Who Know (2020)

Testament, a split time narrative set in fictitious university town Salster in both fourteenth and twenty-first centuries – published by Sapere Books July 2019.

The Black and The White, a historical psychological mystery set during the time of the Black Death will be published by Sapere Books (publication date March 30th 2020)

Q&A with Darren Arthurs author of the DeLuca Series

 

Hi Darren, 😁 Give us a brief outline/history about yourself. 

Hi Grumpz! I am Forty-five year old man living in Swindon, married with children and a dog that spends so much time sleeping that I find myself getting jealous. I try to be as positive as I can because there is more than enough arguments going on to want to add to it. I read quite a lot, yet I don’t consider myself an avid reader or read reviews in newspapers, I read the blurb and take a chance. I have been writing properly for about a year and have released three books with a new one being released in May or June.

Give us a brief outline of your latest book.

It’s the follow-on to ‘DeLuca’ which was released late last year. It isn’t a sequel as such, the story doesn’t carry on, but it is helpful if you have read the first. The story centres around Breanna DeLuca who is working as a cleaner in a hotel when she ‘accidentally’ picks up a memory stick not knowing that it is central to a blackmail plot by some European criminals.

She is then followed by a dangerous former Polish police detective that has been hired to retrieve it no matter who or what stands in his way. She turns to her friends to help her while also trying to keep one step ahead of her pursuer.

NB. You can buy Broken Umbrellas (a short stand alone)..........Here

 You can buy DeLuca....................Here

You can buy DeLuca Finds a Man.................Here

Where can readers find out more about you?

I don’t have a website or anything, so I suppose the place to find me is through the ‘author page’ on Amazon or Twitter (@CreativeType14) where I post things about books I’m reading and biscuits I’m eating.

What was the hardest scene to write?

The violence was tricky, I tried to make it a little more violent so the reader can dislike the baddie, but I also didn’t want to put people off, because the central character is supposed to be fun. Finding that balance was difficult, and I had to rewrite certain parts three or four times to reach a point I was happy with.

Do you find it difficult to write from a different gender/ethnic background point of view?

Being a middle-aged white man means I’m a million miles away from my main character, who is a twenty-something black female, but I don’t really think about it. I could have made the central character a white man in his forties, but he wouldn’t have fit into the story so well. I hope no one is offended by my main character, I guess Mary Shelley wrote about a male medical student and that worked out ok. The vast majority of positive things I hear about the first book is the fact that Breanna is likeable, so maybe I’m doing ok…

It is part of a series. Is there another in the pipeline?

I’m piecing together a third one at the moment, but it’s difficult. The fact she isn’t a police officer means she doesn’t have certain tools at her disposal so the ‘crimes’ need to stay either under the radar with regards to police involvement or low key. But, hopefully, there will be a third – and if I can make the pieces fit together, it’ll be a cracker!

How did you first get into writing?

I write reviews for music releases for a website called Dancing About Architecture, it specialises in smaller, unsigned bands and tackles all genres, but writing novels started in March 2020. I was put on Furlough for a few weeks, and I struggled with insomnia. To help me get off to sleep I busied myself with an idea for a story, over a few nights that story grew larger and eventually I decided to write it down. It became a book called ‘Broken Umbrellas’ about a young boy living in an abusive home who plans to walk to the seaside.

I planned, wrote the first draft and edited it in three weeks.

Then I was hooked.

I returned to work in April 2020 and wrote in my spare time.

What have been your favourite books to read throughout your life and why?

What a question! I rarely read a book more than once, but books that have stuck with me are ones like World War Z by Max Brooks, I loved this book and was hooked from the opening page. The Last of Us by Rob Ewing, which is about a group of young children surviving on a Scottish island after some kind of pandemic. I’m not obsessed with plague and disease honestly! 

Another I read this year was Les Miserable by Victor Hugo, I loved the intertwining stories.

You can buy World War Z by Max Brooks......Here

You can buy The Last of Us by Rob Ewing.....Here

You can buy Les Miserables by Victor Hugo...Here

Who is your favourite author and why?

I don’t really follow authors, I tend to flit and bounce between genres but two authors that I seem to return to and that I’m currently obsessed with are Linda Castillo, who writes spectacular crime novels set against the backdrop of an Amish community in Pennsylvania, and S D Sykes who writes historical crime in the 1300’s during the Black Death. Both writers could write a shopping list and I’d read it.

You can find  Sworn to Silence the first in the Kate Burkholder series by Linda Costello....Here

You can find Plague Land the first in the Oswald DeLacy series by SD Sykes ...Here

Has any book that you have read changed you?

I think reading changes all of us, I know my understanding of language has changed since reading regularly. I also enjoy and appreciate my own thoughts more and I find myself seeking moments during the day to read. I know it’s a very general answer, but I think the actual act of reading is good for us.

If you could be any character from literary fiction who would it be?

Does Batman count? I can’t think of anybody that has leapt from the page and made me want to be them. Jack Reacher would be cool, but his life sounds far too busy for me.

What is your favourite quote?

One I say often, especially to my daughters, is “there’s always a bigger fish” meaning the world is full of people and there will always be someone better than you at something, but this also means, you are better than someone else. It’s from Star Wars.

What comes first plot or characters?

Plot. The characters come later, depending on what is needed.

Do you plan it or when you sit down it just happens?

Because I’m not a full-time writer, I tend to plan the next step, so once I’ve stopped writing I then add one or two sentences to explain what happens next, this acts as a springboard to get going quickly the next time.

How to you create characters in your books, are they cast in your mind or composites of real people?

I don’t think any of them are real people, what I find useful is thinking of a tv celebrity for characters and that way I know exactly what they look like and maybe a quirk or habit will come through too. It’s particularly helpful when writing a series where the characters need to stay the same, they can’t be short and slim one minute, only to be tall and muscular the next.

What is the most difficult part of writing for you?

Editing. I like to write and move on, but I have to go back through and repair/replace things. I find it tiresome because I usually have another idea in my head that I want to work on.

How do you research your books?

Google is a big help of course, but most of the time it’s moments and information that I have picked up from television, films, experiences. I seem to have one of those minds that gathers useless information and stores it away in some dark corner in my nogging. It’s annoying, but also useful when describing scenes with words. 

What is the best and worst thing about being a writer?

Best thing is writing whatever pops into your head, I love the freedom that comes from a blank page and an imagination. The worst thing is time, I don’t get enough time to write, and my head goes onto the next thing before I’ve really finished the thing I was working on. 

Share something that your readers will not know.

I detest green pesto. I can’t be anywhere near it. Just the smell of it makes me gag.

Favourite place, favourite film, favourite song, favourite food?

Favourite place would be my home, favourite film is a toss-up between The Godfather or Jaws. Song is even more difficult, but I love Boys of Summer by Don Henley. Favourite food would be something simple like a sausage sandwich or lasagne.

DeLuca Finds a Man by Darren Arthurs

 

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You can buy DeLuca Finds a Man.....Here

You can read a brilliant interview with Darren..... Here

The Blurb...

Breanna DeLuca is back!
Just when Breanna thought she was about to return to her quiet existence, she finds herself in possession of something that some of Europe's most powerful criminals are after - and they don't care who gets in the way...
Why are people turning up dead?
Who is the dangerous hitman on Breanna's tail?
Why is Sukier doing community service?
Will Pavek ever cheer up?
And how come Breanna's mum is on a dating website?
Welcome back to the world of Breanna DeLuca.

My Review...

Well it's the second book and Darren Arthurs has done it again. He has a habit of turning what should be a dark tale involving multiple murder, blackmail, corrupt coppers and organised crime into a fun filled jolly escapade.

Most of this is down to his bright and breezy, happy go lucky, afro wearing, ball of energy, everyday heroine Breanna Deluca. This would be a dream part in a TV series for any up and coming actress. 

Of course the writer accentuates her bouncy character by giving her the dour, droll Pavek as her sidekick. They are like a human Tigger and Eeyore. 

Breanna now working as a maid in a hotel stumbles into a blackmail plot and the usual criminal chaos ensues as the body count rises alongside the chuckles on the giggle-meter. 

This time Breanna finds a young beau, but how will he fit with what has become her adoptive family 🤔

This is the second DeLuca book. While it is advisable to have read the first it is not totally necessary.

Once again Darren Arthurs has written an enjoyable cozy crime romp. 

He also hints that the next book may be a stand alone adventure for Pavek. So that's another for the TBR then.

Selected Quotes...

"Breanna stands in the middle of the salon and removes her coat, its a mustard colour quilted winter coat with a high collar which, being the same width as her afro, makes her appear like a chess piece or salt and pepper pot."

"So, this was what life was going to be for Kerry. Sitting at home on a weekend watching talent shows and hospital dramas whilst wearing comfortable footwear."

“Do you know anything about cars?” Delma asked. “I know you put petrol in one end and your shopping in the other,"

"I’m far more devious. You’ve got the speed, sure, but I’ve got this”, she tapped her head with her finger. “An afro?” came the reply."

"it was an old- style pub with carpet on the floor and packets of peanuts that were stored on a cardboard photograph of a woman in a swimsuit, with each packet that was removed, another glimpse of the woman was revealed, a little like Pass the Parcel but for perverted squirrels."

About the author...

Darren is a hobbyist writer living in Swindon. He comes up with stories whilst driving to work and they niggle away at him, fleshing out details and characters until he has to write it down. He mostly reads crime and historical drama.  He is currently being plagued by plans for a fantasy book.