The Diary of an Unknown Aviator - Elliot White Springs

I read this book many years ago. I found it in an old book shop. It was an orange cover at the top with a picture of a WWI aircraft. The account, as I can remember, was of an unknown American pilot. I remember it was poignant and sad towards the end. I presume the writer (aviator) never survived the harsh WWI and the memoirs were then published in later years by a friend. I remember that the writer seemed to be under some stress as he gave an account of the casualty rate. I also remember a justifiable resentment at the conflict and a sense that he would not make it through the entire campaign of the air. He seemed to have an understanding of the terrible odds stacked against him and many like himself. You are actually touching a condemned man's inner being. There is an inevitable sadness about this biographical account. You are reading a condemned man's inner thoughts and it was rather sad in many parts because you know what is going to happen and the anonymous writer knows too. His thoughts are up close and very personal and immensely sad from the readers perspective. This is worth reading. Even if you can only do it once, I would advise reading this sad memoir.

The Crown for Castlewood Manor: My American Almost-Royal Cousin Series by Veronica Cline Barton (My Goodreads Review)

The Crown for Castlewood Manor: My American Almost-Royal Cousin Series by Veronica Cline Barton

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A young American woman named Gemma Alexandra Lancaster Philips decides to visit her ancestors in Britain. One of her distant and late aunts had married into the British aristocracy back in the 1930s. Her related Brit family estate is competing for the rights to have a new and hopefully popular TV saga filmed on location at their grounds. Such a project would increase revenue for running the vast family mansion and grounds. With TV revenue and an increase in visitor attraction, such a win would be a lucrative deal and set the estate’s financial balance in good order for the foreseeable future.

The estate is known as Castlewood Manor. This is the first story of my American Almost Royal Cousin Series. Gemma is persuaded by her actor mother to go over to Britain and help her aristocratic cousins win the competition. She leaves behind her Malibu house and cheating boyfriend and begins a new adventure with her dashing cousins, Kyle and Evan to win the important TV competition.

The problem is, there are other aristocratic estates participating in the competition too. And there is a complete lack of British sportsmanship about the whole affair. The dirty tricks are being pulled out of the bag in the most ghastly of ways. The coveted prize knows no bounds. For even the diabolical murder of participants is entertained.

Gemma and her cousins must walk a tight line as the competition progresses. Even when the Queen and other members of the Royal family attended functions, foul play is still lurking for the participants. We have the typical English cad and the rude obnoxious Brit rich bitch all thrown into the mix.

If you enjoy Cluedo board game style Murder Mystery or Hercule Poirot etc, I think you will enjoy this. One of the things we all do is to try and see if we can guess the murderer. Then when we find out, we all think ‘Oh blast!’

Well, I never see the end coming the way it did. I don’t think you will either. A very enjoyable read.

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The Thief Taker by C.S. Quinn (My Goodreads Review)

The Thief Taker by C.S. Quinn

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this book way more than I was expecting too. I'm always lured by historical thrillers. Especially if it is set in Britain's past. This story was most unusual. It is about a Thief-Taker who must take on a task way out of his normal perimeters of work. He must investigate a serial murderer stalking plague-ridden London of 1665 during the Restoration era of King Charles II.

The story is unashamedly farfetched, but that is what makes it. There are all sorts of boundaries that the writer presents. Like checkpoints in various districts of London. Outside of London, in the countryside, there are groups of vigilante patrols hell-bent on killing refugees fleeing the plague. This is to contain it.

The author makes a wonderful and diabolical way of showing the dying plague-ridden victims. They are contained in districts. They look like something from the walking dead. Like zombies, except in need of help and desperate to beseech anyone for spiritual or any other type of charity. Obviously, uninfected Londoners are desperate to be out of their way. It gets rather claustrophobic at times as one pictures these wretched and diseased people crawling and staggering towards you. This is a crime/historical/horror story. In parts, it is rather gory. We have a serial killer dressed as a plague doctor. A Thief Taker who is well out of his league trying to hunt the killer. He is also well out of his league with the gorgeous well to do lady who has hired him.

I can't help thinking this would make a grand modern Hammer House Horror production as a movie. I suppose it is classified as a historical crime story. However, I would class it as Horror too.

My only nitpick is one. The beginning was great. The first third of the story was engrossing. The middle third of the story petered down a bit. I thought it was going to lose its way. But then in the final third the whole tale bounced back with a second wind. A very good read and a rather unusual and compelling story.

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The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens (My Goodreads)

The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This story started off in the first person singular. Master Humphery tells the story. Then after a few chapters, it becomes a third person singular story. I think it was originally published in episodes via a magazine. The story follows Nell Trent who lives with her Grandfather. It is a very moving story and also rather sad. As with all Charles Dickens stories. The characters and the dialogue are wonderful. It was these gorgeous things that compelled me. It is always the same with Charles Dickens. Well worth reading.

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A Spy by Nature by Charles Cumming (My Goodreads Review)

A Spy by Nature by Charles Cumming

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I read another Charles Cumming story that I enjoyed. That was a Thomas Kell novel. This one, (A Spy by Nature) is about a character called Alec Milius. It is in the first person singular. As much as I enjoyed the other story with Thomas Kell, I found this one to be even more enjoyable. It got down to the nitty gritty more and gave an insight into recruitment and the depths that a spy might go to in order to infiltrate other organisations. This story was clever and involved industrial espionage at a corporate level. I liked the Alec Milius character. He is flawed in many ways but he is also creative and a very good liar. The entire plot is cleverly contrived as Milius presents himself as a disillusioned young man who is bitter and resentful at being unrecognised for his talents. He is bait for foreign CIA operatives - he is prey secretly hunting the hunters. It is not overly complex for the reader. Yet it is wonderfully devious as we see the groundwork laid out. It is also strange because the competitors are the Americans who are our allies in many areas of security. I will definitely read the second Alec Milius story after this one. If you like a good espionage story or John le Carre, then I would highly recommend this spy novel - splendid stuff.

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War of the Worlds Spin-Off. (HMS Thunder Child)

Thunder Child Attacks! #WarOfTheWorlds #adaptation https://buff.ly/2In7dFI  #USA https://buff.ly/2Hu6nWF  #UK #scifi #reading #paperback #Kindle #KindleUnlimited

This was the moment! 

All were pragmatic. 

The plucky little ironclad cruised forward. 

It’s mission, to engage the alien abominations from Mars. 

As the crew steered their old craft through the swell towards the diabolical fighting machines, they trained their guns upon the closest. 

Steady and with patience the guns took aim. 

Steady and with further patience the crew waited for the captain’s command.

The uncanny atrocities looked down through their repugnant eyes. 

The Martians did not know what to make of the strange craft that steamed towards them.

What is it?

Ker-BOOM!

Too late!

One of the vile monstrosities was up close and within sight of the wicked sting. 

The Thunder Child's vengeful guns had roared.

The metal projectile smashed into the alien body casing.

A hit! 

A fine one too.

Blood on the Cobbles: A Victorian True-Murder Casebook by Grahame Farrell (My Goodreads Review)

Blood on the Cobbles: A Victorian True-Murder Casebook by Grahame Farrell

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was an interesting book about some outrageous crimes of the Victorian age. With death sentences hanging over many of these murderers, one might think the deterrent would thwart such crimes. When we remember our grandparents saying, "It would not have happened in my day." You will be able to respond; "What a load of tosh!"

Some of these murders were diabolical beyond extreme. Especially one of a serial killing doctor who used poisons and life insurance. Each chapter is a story of a different murder. Much of this is shocking and certainly opens one's eyes to the way Victorian Britain was. It was not the ordered and proud society many of us like to think of. It was an absolute den of iniquity.

Because each chapter was of a different murder, the cases seemed to be rushed through. Interesting though they all were, one could have devoted a full-length documentary book to each foul act.

I found the book compelling. A collection of articles to make the book. But I wanted to know more detail about each case. Perhaps that is just me. For this reason, I drop the score from four stars to three. I recommend it but some cases could have had more depth.

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Resurrectionist by James McGee (My Goodreads Review)

Resurrectionist by James McGee

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I read the first Matthew Hawkwood story. Therefore, I decided to give the second Hawkwood a go too. I've managed to read it in two days. The plot is fast paced and there are some rather gruesome and nasty characters in this story. Our hero is Matthew Hawkwood. He is an ex-Green Jacket from the Napoleonic wars in Spain and Portugal. I think the year is about 1813. Hawkwood is now a Bow Street Runner in London. His new found employment is that of the early police militia. This Gothic Tale of grave robbing and wanted murderers borders on horror as well as historical crime.

The Napoleonic wars are still in progress and Hawkwwod has been invalided out of the army around 1808 or 1809, I think. He works for the magistrate who sends him out on an investigative role. This diabolical plot is very intriguing as Hawkwood is hunting grave robbers and a mad doctor who is conducting diabolical experiments. I can't say too much as to how this doctor comes about in, crime invested, London. It would spoil the story. Needless to say, I would recommend this historical/crime/horror tale to any reader of fiction. Great fun, great entertainment even though it is rather grizzly in parts.

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Single & Single by John le Carre (My Goodreads Review)

Single & Single by John le Carré

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Another very exciting read from John le Carre. I read all the Cold War stories and was apprehensive about the post Smiley era tales. This along with 'A Delicate Truth' means my reluctance was unjustified. From the first page, I was hooked. In this story, an entrepreneurial businessman named Tiger Single leads his company on a big business venture with the new Eastern European nations from the post-Soviet Union era. Opportunities from Georgia. The seasoned British businessmen of Single and Single's various enterprises think everything will be a walk in the park. It all turns out to be a little bit more demanding than a park stroll. Dynamic story and I recommend it to any espionage/thriller fan.

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A Foreign Country by Charles Cumming (My Goodreads Review)

A Foreign Country by Charles Cumming

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A fast-paced spy thriller with all the ingredients. It moved quickly and the reader discovers the many intricacies of the plot through Thomas Kell. A disgraced former agent brought in from the cold to investigate something on an ad-hoc basis for British SIS. I don't want to say what it is, but one thing leads to another with further intrigue and then counter intrigue. It all makes for a stunning climatic conclusion. This was a good story with just one flaw in my opinion. The enemy intrigue, that is peddled, would never have got over the first hurdle in today's high tech world. That is my humble opinion. But despite this, it still makes for a grand story. I would have given a five star except for that one BIG plot flaw.

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A Delicate Truth by John le Carré (My Goodreads Review)

A Delicate Truth by John le Carré

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This story was a total WOW! From the first page to the very last, I was gripped. I usually like John Le Carre's old Cold War stories. But this one was splendid and set during Blair and Brown's time in office. The new post- Cold War espionage stories are coming along a treat. I highly recommend this one to any fan of British espionage. A real page-turner and a little faster paced than the usual John le Carre novels I've been used to reading.

Toby Bell, a young Foreign Office worker finds himself well and truly entwined in a delicate truth. Perhaps that is putting it mildly. The characters throughout this tale are first class and the dialogue is splendid. I can't wait to read my next John Le Carre after this novel. I thought I was stayed old fuddy-duddy afraid to move away from his Cold War era stories. I just decided to dip my toe into the more modern-day themes and was delightfully surprised.

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The Last Hours by Minette Walters (My Goodreads Review)

The Last Hours by Minette Walters

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I’ve read a number of Minette Walters’ novels. I have enjoyed them all. There often seems to be a past theme in a character's history with psychological impacts etc. Such things are understandable because they are set in modern day times. The people or characters that unravel the crimes or conundrums seem to be well educated or equipped with knowledge in some way.

This story is set during The Black Death in Medieval England during the 1340s decade. It is in a small Dorset Hamlet where a lord or landowner has a moated abode with servants and working serfs tending the lands etc.

The Lady of the manor calls all serfs into the confines to sit out the pestilence in the sanctuary of the moated grounds. There seems to be a setting out of circumstances before there is a crime to be solved. I was almost halfway through the book by this time. It was a good mystery with all the varied consequences and set against the backdrop of a dystopian land ravaged by plague.

Despite this, I struggled with the novel because of Lady Anne of the manor. Her character came across as being surreal. I could understand a Lady trying to help the serfs, but I would have expected her to be strictly matriarchal and with a strong sense of Godly duty. Perhaps like a lady of these deeply religious times.

Instead, this Lady Anne’s character came across as some modern-day trendy left-wing liberal. One who might have been recognisable as a tutor in one of today’s inner city polytechnics and then quantum leapt into the body of a middle-aged Lady. The story was good but Lady Anne was a woman of today’s outlook and out-of-character for the time.

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Memoirs of Sergeant Bourgogne: 1812-1813 (My Goodreads Review)

Memoirs of Sergeant Bourgogne: 1812-1813 

by Adrien Bourgogne

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A compelling account of a French soldier in Napoleon's Imperial Guard. Sergeant Bourgogne tells of his monumental endeavour to survive a catastrophe. He is with the Grand Army when it invades Russia in 1812. He is in Moscow when the city is abandoned to the advancing French army and all the prisoners are released to loot and burn by order of the Russian Tsar. When there is no sign of a negotiation or treaty with the Tsar, the imperial French army decided to abandon the burning city. And so begins the diabolical retreat from Moscow. Sergeant Bourgogne gives an ordinary soldier's perspective of these historical events. Through it all, we see the depleting resources of the Grand Army. The following groups of Cossacks killing the stragglers of the Grand Army. Starvation killing the Grand Army. Soldiers of the Grand Army killing each other. Scattered remnants of more disciplined men try to fight a rearguard action all the way back. Everything seems to be collapsing, but some manage to reach the River Nieman. The journey takes many weeks and it is in bitter Russian winter conditions. Hordes of them freeze to death. For history buffs who like to learn about the Napoleonic Wars. This is a must. A compelling and biographical account of a man who lived every moment of the dreadful ordeal and tells his story about it in his old age.

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A Kestrel For A Knave by Barry Hines (My Goodreads Review)

A Kestrel For A Knave by Barry Hines

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a very poignant story. It captures much of the way I remember England as a kid. Except for this Northern lad, Billy Casper seems to live in a much more run down area of the country. I was thrilled by his finding of a young female kestrel. I happen to enjoy Falcons. I see them day in and day out where I live. Some of the other things aside struck a note too. The sports teacher being like a big kid during the games lesson. Out on the field with the kids in his Man United football kit etc. It was hard to imagine who was the bigger kid of all the youngsters during the PE - games lesson. The young adolescent Billy develops a new outlook on life as he forms a bond with his female kestrel. The falcon is cherished above all things in the young lad's life. His new falconry pursuit helps him as he struggles with the day to day ways of the run-down North England mining town.

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The Sculptress by Minette Walters (My Goodreads Review)

The Sculptress by Minette Walters
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Minette Walters never fails to impress me. Every time I read one of her novels, I always think I've got the culprit of the crime worked out. And then I'm taken by surprise at the end. I was engrossed in this novel from beginning to end. With the exception of The Shape of Snakes, this is a top-notch read of Minette Walters' novels. If you have never read any Minette Walters, I would strongly recommend this or The Shape of Snakes to kick off such reading of a fine author. A splendid read.

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The Age of Invincible: The Ship That Defined the Modern Royal Navy (My Goodreads Review)

The Age of Invincible: The Ship That Defined the Modern Royal Navy by Nick Childs

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book about the development of the reduced Royal Navy is very gripping reading. To be honest, I thought the book was going to be about the aircraft carrier HMS Invincible – the ship that became iconized in the Falkland’s War and mainly, just that topic only. Maybe some details of the building and design etc. What I did not expect was the in depth account of how the Royal Navy began to diminish with the break-up of the old empire after World War II.

At first, I thought I would not be too interested in the politics of all this, but as I continued to read the book, I was engrossed by the way the Royal Navy had to fight in the government’s corridors of power to define its new standing in the world.

There were projects for new aircraft carriers throughout the 1950s and 1960s but each time defence ministers seemed to think that aircraft carriers were too vulnerable and expensive. In the end, the Royal Navy actually put forward plans for a Cruiser with a flight deck. (A small aircraft carrier in all but name.)

By the time it was built it was referred to as an aircraft carrier and two more Invincible class carriers were to be built to allow the Royal Navy a compliment of three. Then under another new government things changed again as more cuts were to be made and one carrier to be sold to another country.

This to and through for ships comes to a head with Naval staff perusing a minister across the country to try and persuade the government to allow the Royal Navy its ships. All the way through the decades there is the need to adapt to new demands and the new world order. Much of the focus is on NATO and nuclear submarines.

Then comes the chance to convince the government that aircraft carriers are necessary. Argentina invades the Falklands. The whole thing was tailor made for the Royal Navy in a far off place.

I recommend this title for anyone who enjoys the Royal Navy and ships. Also for the politics of the situation over the decades leading up to the building of HMS Invisible.

The Last Days of Thunder Child


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What Would The Two Ancient Queens Of Roman Britain Speak of if they had Met?

Ancient Britain in the year of 61 AD

What would they speak of?

The Iceni warrior queen is defeated by the Roman Army and Boudicca awaits her poison elixir. 

The Druids will make sure her corpse never falls into Roman hands. Her remains will be hidden forever and her name will echo in eternity.

Before Boudicca - the Iceni warrior queen could commit suicide, she had one final task. She would indulge an audience with a hostile queen. A treacherous friend of the Roman Empire. 

She was known as Cartimandua – queen of the Brigantes.

The two queens are bound by a devious plot from exiles in the north lands of Caledonia and decide to meet.

One a Monumental failure - the other was an obscure success who was forgotten from history.

Years later, in 69 AD, and during the year of the four emperors, Cartimandua will go into exile in Gaul. As she sits upon a jetty waiting for a Roman galley to take her away from Roman Britain. While passing the time, she indulges three Roman guards with her tale about the meeting with the legendary warrior queen.

The Day of the Jackal by Fredrick Forsyth (My Goodreads Review)

The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The year is 1963 and things are going badly for France as she is retreating from her colonial past, kicking and thrashing all the way. Algeria has gained independence and many French people are angry and bitter about the situation for French people who lived inside the North African nation. Now there is a new underground movement that wants to rid France of President de Gaulle's rule. The movement is known as the OAS. They decide to hire a contract killer to assassinate the head of state (de Gaulle) because of the Algeria crises.

To perform such a task, the OAS decide to hire a mercenary. A freelance killer that comes at a price, but is a thorough professional. A suave cold and merciless killer. Intricate in planning and careful to cover his steps as he prepares to do the mission. Thus the anonymous Englishman is hired.

No one knows who he is, except that he is Anglo-Saxon and all police forces keep finding are cold dead end trails, fake identities discarded for another and dead bodies. This is a real page turning cat and mouse chase to stop an assignation attempt by a cold-blooded killer.

Through Interpol, the British police and intelligence services are racing against time to help their French counterparts who desperately need to stop the assassin before he makes that killing shot upon President de Gaulle at any number of public functions.

Some of the tricks are mind-blowing as the assassin adopts all sorts of personas and disguises with French security always just out of reach. This is one of the best thrillers I have ever read and all set in 1963 retro France. Superb reading.

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The Hard Life by Flann O'Brien (My Goodreads Review)

The Hard Life by Flann O'Brien

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A young lad tells you the story from a very naive point of view. You get to look out at the world through his eyes but see things more realistically and very different from his fledgeling innocent take on life. You, the reader, are equipped with adult perception against the young lad's less mature and comical perspective. This is how you enter and see the delightful story unfold. The style of writing makes this comedy novel so charming and compelling. The presentation to the reader is crafted in such a clever way. I found the result was stomach clutching funny at times and had to contain my sniggering while travelling on packed rush-hour trains to and from London. Smashing read set in Dublin and full of splendid Irish humour.

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One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (My Goodreads Review)

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A single day in a Soviet Gulag/prison out in the freezing Siberian wilderness. We follow political prisoner Ivan Denisovich as he tries to make his way through a normal day at the prison camp, while all around others (guards and prisoners) go through their trials and tribulations. It was a long while ago that I read this novel but it left an impression. It is a story that everyone should try to read - even just the once. It was depressing but compelling at the same time and a real turn off for the glorious worker's paradise.


C.A. Powell
The Last Days of Thunder Child



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