(Warrior of Rome, Book 3) NY: Overlook Press, 2010.
I take my history seriously so it’s always nice to find a writer of historical novels who cares enough about his craft to include another thirty-odd pages of commentary, context, discussion of original sources, and glossary at the back.
NY: Random House, 1956.
This was the first of Renault’s historical novels set in the classical Greek world, and it’s still arguably her best, encompassing life in Athens and in the Aegean during the latter stages of the Peloponnesian War.
NY: Berkeley, 2010.
Okay, so it’s late in 1932 and Lady Georgiana, living on tea and toast because her family’s broke and she has no way to earn a living, gets drafted by her cousin, Queen Mary, to go and represent the family at a royal wedding in a castle in Transylvania.
NY: Pantheon, 1958.
I first got hooked on history, and therefore on historical fiction, as a highly imaginative and rather geeky kid living in Europe in the ‘50s. Anywhere we went, I could look around and see buildings and street scenes that were ancient before the United States was even invented, and it affected me on a deep level.
NY: Berkeley, 2009.
As Bowen’s fans know by now, Lady Georgiana of Glen Garry and Ranoch, half-sister of the Duke of Ranoch, is trying to live in the family’s London townhouse on beans, tea, and toast. She’s a granddaughter of Victoria and 34th in the line of succession, but she’s still basically penniless.
NY: Harper, 2012.
A new book from Sir Terry is always a cause for celebration, and this one is no exception. It’s also somewhat unlike any he’s done before, being in the way of an “historical fantasy,” as he himself describes it.
NY: Berkley, 2008.
This is the second in Bowen’s most recent mystery series and it’s not bad — as long as you’re not expecting hard-boiled noir, shoot-outs, car chases, or the Mafia. Lady Georgiana of Rannoch is the half-sister of a duke and while she has the Swiss private school education and the social contacts, she has barely a shilling to her name.
NY: Berkley, 2007.
This is the first offering in Bowen’s third series of humorous murder mysteries, this time set in the spring of 1932 and featuring the young Lady Georgiana, half-sister of the Duke of Glen Garry and Rannoch (known to all as “Binky”), and granddaughter of “the least attractive of Queen Victoria’s daughters.”
NY: Knopf, 2009.
Even though he’s been doing this stuff since the 1960s and has won every award there is, Joe Gores remains an underappreciated author of detective stories. He’s also a devotee of the hardboiled style, and especially of Dashiell Hammett’s greatest creation, Sam Spade.
NY: Putnam, 1978.
This is the second of three rather short novels about the early career of Richard Bolitho of the Royal Navy. The story is set in 1773, shortly after the events of the first volume, and the seventeen-year-old Bolitho has been granted a brief furlough
As a retired public librarian (very large system in a very large city), I've been writing book reviews for the consumption of other people for more than 40 years. Since 1999, I've been posting my reviews to a personal website, but I'm now shifting my reviewing jones to this blog.
I have been a semi-professional genealogist since the 1960s and I have another blog of book reviews in the field of family research! To read those, go to BookSmith's Genealogy Book Reviews.
