Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers

Publication Date: September 3, 2019

 

Whose Body? by Dorothy L. SayersWhose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers is the first novel of the Lord Peter Death Bredon Wimsey series. Lord Peter is financially independent and has a special hobby; he solves murder cases. When an unknown dead body is found in Mr. Thipps’s bathtub, he is on the case. With the help of his butler-friend Bunter, a talented forensic and semi-professional photographer and his friend Charles Parker, who works for Scotland Yard, he sets out to solve this mystery.

Whose Body? was released in 1928 and, like many first novels of a series, the reader is introduced to a number of characters that reappear as the series continues. The protagonist, Lord Peter was born in 1890 and is a World War I veteran. In the series, he ages in real-time making him 28 years old at the time the first book was released.

Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers is a procedural-police meets private-inspector investigation story that is told by Lord Peter and Scotland Yard inspector Parker. Therefore, readers have a great overview of all on-going investigations and can solve the crime along the way. Continue reading Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers

To End All Wars; a Story of Love, Loyalty and Rebellion 1914-1918 by Adam Hochschild

Publication Date: March 6, 2012

To End All Wars; a Story of Love, Loyalty and Rebellion 1914-1918 by Adam Hochschild is a look at the often ignored World War I moral objectors along with those people who wholeheartedly believed in the cause.

Is it the job of the historian to moralize and pontificate? History is propaganda written by the winners, so to read a book highlighting the moral objectors is supremely interesting. To sermonize that an event already placed in history shouldn’t have happened is not appealing. People died in World War I. It happened. It’s done. It’s 100 years in the past. History is about facts and while “woulda” “shoulda” and “coulda” are nice to suggest that a war in which an estimated 37 million people (civilian and military) died was a waste of human life. Maybe. But it happened and isn’t it a disservice to chide key figures in history-making portraying them as Keystone Cop archetypes. Despite my distaste at the author’s position, the story of the objectors is one that should be told and was presented with delicacy, mindful of the challenges they faced. Continue reading To End All Wars; a Story of Love, Loyalty and Rebellion 1914-1918 by Adam Hochschild

The Celebration Husband by Maya Alexandri

Publication Date: October 13, 2015

 

MA_The Celebration_Husband

Baroness Tanya von Brantberg’s husband is fighting with the British in East Africa. It’s the first decade of the twentieth century and Tanya knows that a war rages in Europe but her purpose is to work “for the cause.” Tanya is called upon to lead in a way that women rarely are and when her intelligence is recognized by others will she have the confidence to do what must be done?

 

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Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson

Publication Date: March 10, 2015

 

EL_Death_WakeOn Friday, May 7, 1915 a German U-Boat sunk the RMS Lusitania. [easyazon_link identifier=”0307408868″ locale=”US” tag=”rabidreaders-20″]“Dead Wake”[/easyazon_link] tells the true story and political machinations and personalities behind the tragic event nearly 100 years ago.

 

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Christmas Eve, 1914 by Charles Olivier

Release Date: December 16, 2014

CH_Christmas_Eve_1914Written to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Christmas Truce, [easyazon_link asin=”B00R2D5T9U” locale=”US” new_window=”default” nofollow=”default” tag=”rabidreaders-20″]Christmas Eve, 1914[/easyazon_link] is a story of soldiers on the Western Front. A story of men sent to fight far from home anticipating the end of war and not realizing that hostility has just begun. One day that an unofficial truce was called and British and German soldiers exchanged holiday greetings.

 

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