HISTORICAL FICTION

SOOT by Andrew Martin (Corsair £14.99)

AUTHor of the Jim stringer railway crimes series, Andrew Martin takes a break from the early 20th century in favour of 1799. in york, the much soughtafter ‘painter of shades, or silhouettes’, Matthew Harvey, has been murdered with his own scissors. Almost certainly, the murderer was one of his six last clients. But which one, and where are they?

Baffled, the artist’s son commissions Fletcher rigge, known for his intelligence and probity but currently residing in the debtor’s prison, to track down the killer. rigge is given one month; if he fails he will be dispatched back to prison indefinitely.

in a cunningly constructed narrative made up of letters, diaries and other documents, the mystery is unravelled with a nod to the 18th- century novel while remaining bang up-to-date.

strong characters, humour and a dash of the picaresque flesh out a sophisticated, confident and intriguing treat.

COURT OF LIONS by Jane Johnson

(Head of Zeus £18.99) A WoMAn working under an assumed name at the Alhambra palace in Granada, spain, discovers a scrap of paper with strange markings wedged into a crack in the garden wall. What do they mean?

Five centuries earlier, two young men walked the same gardens. one of them is Mohammed, heir to the palace, the other, Blessings, is his devoted servant and friend. The halcyon days will end with Mohammed losing his sultanate at the hands of the two Catholic sovereigns, Ferdinand and isabella. His grieving friend, Blessings, can only watch and record.

The modern frame to the story provides a diverting connection and some comfort, but it is the dramatisation of the last desolate days of Moorish spain which provides the heartbeat of the novel.

A terrible and all-too-familiar story of dispossession, it tells of unrequited love, bloodshed and despair and is written with empathy and a flair for the dramatic.