Review: Death on the Lusitania

For all the historical fiction I read, I didn’t know much about the RMS Lusitania. I vaguely recalled something from history class telling me it sank but that was about it - I didn’t know when, how, or why. Enter Death on the Lusitania by R.L. Graham, a husband and wife author team. (Sadly, Marilyn Livingstone was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and passed away while the book was being written.) This novel is the first in a historical mystery series and I was interested because the authors were born in Canada, I didn’t know much about the ship, I like historical mysteries, and, well, that cover! Isn’t it stunning? The story held between the gorgeous covers kept me interested and I really wasn’t sure whodunit until all was revealed!

Here’s the book’s description:

Welcome on board the Lusitania’s final voyage . . .
New York, 1915. RMS Lusitania, one of the world’s most luxurious trans-Atlantic liners, departs for Liverpool and war-torn Europe. Among those on board is Patrick Gallagher, a civil servant in Her Majesty’s government tasked with discreetly escorting a British diplomat back to England in relation to charges of suspected treason.
When a fellow passenger, Jimmy Dowrich, is found shot to death in his cabin, the captain asks Gallagher to investigate. Knowing something of the man’s past, Gallagher realizes that the problem will not be simple; and also, the body was discovered in a locked cabin with the key inside and no gun to be found.
Gallagher believes that one of his fellow passengers is a deadly killer. But many of those on board are harbouring secrets of their own, and his questioning reveals that several had a motive for ending Dowrich’s life. He fears that the killer could strike again to protect their true reasons for being on board and all the while, the ship sails on towards Europe, where deadly submarines patrol the war zone . . .

I liked that Graham chose to have a countdown to the sinking of the ship at the start of each chapter. A bit morbid, yes, but it amped up the tension that was already present in the novel in a really good way. You know the ship is doomed but, oh by the way, people are being murdered on board, too! As if the guests didn’t have enough to worry about, sailing into a warzone and all. That part did make me think about what I would have done in the guests’ position. Would I have still chosen to sail, knowing there was a very real chance a U-boat would torpedo the ship?

Since I didn’t remember much about the Lusitania other than it had sank at some point in history, I definitely didn’t know that there was a second explosion after the torpedo hit the ship and the reason for that second explosion has never been determined, at least not definitively. She was carrying ammunition, though she was not armed, so it’s possible that some of her cargo was the cause of the second explosion. Graham took that possibility and wondered, “what if this happened?” And this became Death on the Lusitania. They were clear from the outset that they were reimagining history, to an extent, and I appreciated both the note and their creativity.

The historical aspect may have charmed me ever so slightly more than the mystery in this novel, but that’s not to say I was unimpressed with the case. This is the set up to the start of a series starring Patrick Gallagher, who is, ostensibly, a civil servant for His Majesty’s government (something I realized while writing this review - the book's description says “Her” Majesty but there was a King on the throne in 1915, George V - grandson of Queen Victoria and grandfather of Queen Elizabeth II). With the Captain (the only real character in the book) slightly occupied with getting his ship through the war zone in one piece, he tasks Gallagher with figuring out who decided Dowrich wouldn’t live to see the ship’s destination. While I questioned some of Gallagher’s methods (sometimes it seemed like he was giving away too much, like, “Was it so-and-so who told you such-and-such?” and the suspect says, “Why, yes!” but…was it or did they just grab hold of a piece of information that’ll help them?), I still couldn’t put together who the murderer was. Part of me wonders if I couldn’t figure it out because it just wasn’t well done and was far too confusing. But I’m choosing to give Graham the benefit of the doubt since everything else was so well written.

Death on the Lusitania was a really solid start to a new historical mystery series. I don’t know if R.L. Graham will continue with the series now but I do hope to see another Patrick Gallagher mystery in the future.

*A copy of this novel was provided by the Canadian distributor, PGC Books, in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

Review: Bluebird

It is no secret that I love everything Genevieve Graham writes. (And if you didn’t know that…where have you been?) I’ve been so very excited about Bluebird since Graham first hinted at the storyline so my hopes were high for another great read. Even with sky high expectations, Graham managed to smash them and delivered a stunning historical fiction novel that I was completely riveted by. I didn’t want it to end.

Here’s the book’s description:

Present day
Cassie Simmons, a museum curator, is enthusiastic about solving mysteries from the past, and she has a personal interest in the history of the rumrunners who ferried illegal booze across the Detroit River during Prohibition. So when a cache of whisky labeled Bailey Brothers’ Best is unearthed during a local home renovation, Cassie hopes to find the answers she’s been searching for about the legendary family of bootleggers...
1918
Corporal Jeremiah Bailey of the 1st Canadian Tunnelling Company is tasked with planting mines in the tunnels beneath enemy trenches. After Jerry is badly wounded in an explosion, he finds himself in a Belgium field hospital under the care of Adele Savard, one of Canada’s nursing sisters, nicknamed “Bluebirds” for their blue gowns and white caps. As Jerry recovers, he forms a strong connection with Adele, who is from a place near his hometown of Windsor, along the Detroit River. In the midst of war, she’s a welcome reminder of home, and when Jerry is sent back to the front, he can only hope that he’ll see his bluebird again.
By war’s end, both Jerry and Adele return home to Windsor, scarred by the horrors of what they endured overseas. When they cross paths one day, they have a chance to start over. But the city is in the grip of Prohibition, which brings exciting opportunities as well as new dangerous conflicts that threaten to destroy everything they have fought for.

What I, and so many others, love about Graham’s novels is that they feature Canadian history – and often the parts of our history that are lesser-known. Yes, most people know that Canadians fought in World War I and anyone who lives near the US/Canadian border knows how important Prohibition was to the Canadian towns along the water. But the specifics about the Canadian Tunnelling Company and the nursing sisters, like Adele? I can’t say I knew anything about them. (And if tunnellers sound familiar, yes, Graham was inspired by Peaky Blinders.) 

Not only is the history presented in Graham’s novel our history but it’s so incredibly well researched. True, I don’t know what it was like to live in this time period so I can’t say for sure that Graham is 100% accurate. But, like many historical fiction authors, she outlines the research she did and mentions some of the sources she used to help craft her narrative. That, to me, shows the author put the work into determining what life was really like and was able to create a story that suited the time period. Another great thing about Graham’s work is that I never feel like a history textbook is being recited at me. The historical facts are woven into the fictional narrative so seamlessly that you can almost forget you’re reading a book set a hundred years ago.

Some people may think that the “present day” sections aren’t necessary but I’d argue that they are. There are only a few pieces of story told from Cassie’s point of view but they do help move the story along. And I think these types of stories – ones that feature characters who lived so very long ago – need something to ground the reader. The reader is in Cassie’s shoes and it helps them realize why this story, about people who died so long ago, matters now. And maybe I’m a bit precious about the present day sections because it was me and my colleagues who helped Graham determine she needed to connect with Cassie (who, yes, really exists) at the Maison François Baby House in Windsor.

It’s so hard to write a review for a book that I loved so, so, so much. Bluebird was one of those books. Genevieve Graham has written seven historical fiction novels now and this latest one? It just may have catapulted itself to the top of my favourites list. It was so well written, and full of fascinating facts and characters that feel like friends. I hope you buy a copy of this one soon and love it just as much as I did.

*An egalley of this novel was provided by the publisher, Simon & Schuster Canada, via NetGalley in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

Review: The Victory Garden

If you take a look at the historical fiction titles I read, you'll realize I tend to gravitate towards novels set in and around each of the World Wars. I'm not sure why. Perhaps because there are just so many of them written (and is that because people are interested or because it's easier to write about something so dramatic and relatively close in time?). Or perhaps there's just something about that time period that draws me in. Therefore, The Victory Garden was immediately intriguing. I had heard of victory gardens before so I was interested to see how Rhys Bowen weaved them into her novel. Overall I was a bit disappointed in this one but it provided yet another perspective of World War I so I'm glad to have read it.

Here's the synopsis:

As the Great War continues to take its toll, headstrong twenty-one-year-old Emily Bryce is determined to contribute to the war effort. She is convinced by a cheeky and handsome Australian pilot that she can do more, and it is not long before she falls in love with him and accepts his proposal of marriage.
When he is sent back to the front, Emily volunteers as a “land girl,” tending to the neglected grounds of a large Devonshire estate. It’s here that Emily discovers the long-forgotten journals of a medicine woman who devoted her life to her herbal garden. The journals inspire Emily, and in the wake of devastating news, they are her saving grace. Emily’s lover has not only died a hero but has left her terrified—and with child. Since no one knows that Emily was never married, she adopts the charade of a war widow.
As Emily learns more about the volatile power of healing with herbs, the found journals will bring her to the brink of disaster, but may open a path to her destiny.

In terms of a historical novel where I'm learning what it would have been like for people living through WWI, The Victory Garden succeeded. Bowen hit on what the poor, the rich, the fighting, and the wounded had to go through. It wasn't particularly an in-depth look, of course, but I feel like she really got the feel of the time right.

Bowen was able to write this story in such a way that I really felt what Emily was going through. I was frustrated when she was, heartbroken when she was, and I was so proud of her for being strong and standing up for what she believed in - love and the war (at least I felt these things early on - but more on my issues with Emily later). She was determined to do her bit and couldn't understand why her parents wouldn't let her do something of importance. Yes, they had lost a son but their coddling of her was keeping a willing and able young woman from assisting with the war efforts.

But apart from that? I struggled with this book. Emily was pretty snobbish, even with all of her "why does it matter if he's a poor farmer from Australia?" talk about Robbie, her pilot beau. I actually wanted to throw the book across the room near-ish the end when she's talking with Lady Charlton, the old woman whose gardens Emily and her friends are tending. Lady Charlton is well off as was Emily - and her family - before she left home. I admit I can't remember the specifics and I didn't mark the page, but essentially Emily thinks that she wants to move back home/into a house with her childhood friend because she wants to be with her own kind - rich, "educated" people. I couldn't believe how shallow she was and how easily she seemed to be dismissing the amazing and loyal friends she had made while working as a land girl. And the implied HEA she got? Seemed a bit too perfect. Harrumph.

And as much as I liked that we got to see Emily working in different areas of the war efforts - as a land girl and tending gardens at large homes - the whole story felt a bit disjointed. It was also pretty slow paced.

All in all, The Victory Garden was not for me. Rhys Bowen didn't write a bad book, just one that I wasn't fully invested in. I think the idea was a good one but it got a bit lost in the actual execution.

*A copy of this novel was provided by the distributor, Thomas Allen & Son, in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*