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<\/a>I borrowed this battered and well-read omnibus from the ‘crime room’ at the Maldon Athenaeum.\nDorothy Simpson is a new writer to me. Her detective, Inspector Thanet, works in a small English city and is \u2013 for a change \u2013 happily married with no drug or alcohol problems. Almost boringly well balanced. The 3 books I read were Midsomer without the bizarre elements; classic English village and small town characters, and the crimes all satisfyingly rooted in the past. The sensitive Thanet and his more stolid sergeant Mike Lineham snuffle like hounds through the lives of victims and suspects. What fun. Simpson wrote 15 Thanet novels in the 1980\u2019s so I can work my way happily through all of them as the need arises.<\/p>\n
My other crime spree was with a Brother Cadfael omnibus, this time on Kindle.<\/p>\n
They\u2019re set Cadfael is an older man, kindly, wise, experienced and well-travelled (once a crusader) but now happily tending his herb garden and making up medicines in the Abbey in between crimes. The mysteries are middling but the historical background is fascinating. \u2018The Anarchy\u2019. Empress Maud. Who knew? Not me.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve just returned from a week up in Far North Queensland to gale-force winds, rain and grey skies. And it\u2019s Spring! In like a lion, out like a lamb is the old saying. In between tottering out for swims, beach … Continue reading <\/a>in and around the city of Shrewsbury in Shropshire at the time, in the 12th century, when a civil war, known as \u2018the Anarchy\u2019 was raging between supporters of the two claimants to the throne, King Stephen and the Empress Maud. Brother Cadfael is a Welsh Benedictine monk, a herbalist, healer and very excellent detective. Ellis Peters wrote 21 Brother Cadfael mysteries (I\u2019ll bet there are plenty at the Athenaeum) and there was also a TV series starring Derek Jacobi.<\/p>\n<\/a>
\nWhen I think about it, much of my knowledge of history comes from novels. I first fell in love with historical fiction when as a 14-year-old I read a big fat novel called Katherine<\/em> by Anya Seton, and soon I was working my way through the Plantagenets and Tudors and Stuarts in fiction and in fact. I think this is where my interest in the history of fashion comes from, too. When I read about characters wearing kirtles and wimples and parti-coloured hose, I just had to look them up. Now, I’m wondering if Katherine<\/em> is at the Athenaeum. I hope it has the 1970’s cover, which is the one I remember.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"