Review of 'Soot' by Andrew Martin.

Soot by Andrew Martin

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Impressive until the ending! And did that ending annoy me!

18th C and a murder, a nasty one. An artist who makes silhouettes is found stabbed with his large cutting scissors. No one is discovered as the murder so the artist's dissolute son, who had heard of Fletcher Rigge's ability to solve mysteries, makes him an offer. Rigge is stuck in the debtor's prison, but if he solves the crime he will be free. He is offered freedom for one month, but in that time, he must find the killer. If he fails, back into gaol he goes. With only the copies of the last 6 silhouettes, for one of them must be the murderer, Fletcher Rigge begins his search.

It's a well written well plotted book with 3D characters and a nasty twist. Written from several people's points of view it takes a bit of concentrated reading at first but the story will pull the reader on.



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2016 starting at last.

It seems to me that a writer's year never starts until a book is published. Well, Writer's Choice is about to launch Sharon Robards's historical novel 'Playing With Fire' so our year is finally starting.

Yes, it's a historical novel and what a cracker!

Here's her blurb:

Seventeenth century Germany, France and England, are places where love takes a backseat to power — power over people and places. Beautiful Eléonore is deeply in love with George William, heir of a German duchy, and he with her. But he hides a secret that makes a legal marriage impossible.

George William’s younger brother, Ernest, and his own bride are desperate to block George William’s marriage. If George William never has any male heirs by a legal marriage, then Ernest’s sons will inherit George William’s lands and holdings. There are other brothers wanting land too. The brothers’ plots against each other are only half of it. King Louis XIV of France has designs on German territory and aims to take it by force.

Courtesans, all the fashion in France, now sprout like mushrooms in a German forest. None is more ambitious than Klara, forced to return to her homeland from the Court of King Louis. Her version of love is monetary.

The layered schemes of the upper crust make life treacherous for their powerless offspring, especially young Sophia Dorothea, who must smother her heart’s yearnings and yield to the cold commands of her elders or suffer serious consequences.

Playing with Fire weaves together the threads of greed, lust, honour and brutality at the dawn of the Industrial age.


And hard on Sharon's heels comes G.J. Berger's historical 'Four Nails'. Anyone enjoying the tales of Hannibal and his elephants will enjoy seeing that history told from the elephant handler and elephant's side of the story.

Look for a marketing promotion at the end of April when all our books will b e on special offer for 3 to 5 days.