A Wolf at the Gate

Second in the Orkneyinga murder mysteries by Lexie Conyngham.

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Book description

Ketil had not intended to return to Orkney, but when you work for Thorfinn Sigurdarson, you obey orders. Thorfinn wants him back to help with a visiting Abbot from Saxony, escorted by an old colleague of Ketil’s. Then people who know the Abbot start dying, and Ketil must once again work with his friend Sigrid to find out why – and to face dark memories from his own past.This is the second in the Orkneyinga Murders series.

My review - 

This is a second outing for Ketil and his childhood friend Sigrid. Ketil had been called back to Orkney when the bishop of Colonia and his colleague and follower Otto arrive. There’s a death soon after and the victim knew the bishop. All communication between the groups is complicated by the need to translate. It’s a really interesting puzzle as so many people could have so many reasons to want the victim dead – and then there are more deaths. Is it the same killer? This story is well set in time and place and the little details make it come alive. Sigrid, a worker in wool, is teaching someone nailbinding. I had to Google it. You can see YouTube videos. I love this little detail bringing Viking life to my own living room.

If you love mysteries if you’re fascinated by history, or if you’re partial to a little yarn-craft, this book will delight you. It’s a whole lot of story for your money.

About the author

Lexie Conyngham is a historian living in the shadow of the Highlands. Her Murray of Letho novels are born of a life amidst Scotland's old cities, ancient universities and hidden-away aristocratic estates, but she has written since the day she found out that people were allowed to do such a thing. Beyond teaching and research, her days are spent with wool, wild allotments and a wee bit of whisky. 

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Just a thought

Wear the old coat and buy the new book ― Austin Phelps

Lexie Conyngham

The latest in the Murray of Letho series is just as exciting and unfathomable as the earlier books. Although this is number 11 in a series, I think they all stand well alone.

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Book description

A violent double murder in a lonely, empty house. 
Not the kind of mystery that Charles Murray and his old friend Blair expect to find when they are trapped in snowbound Aberdeen. Tangled with dangerous whisky smugglers and an unexplained local illness, the solution is far from clear – and does it involve a missing box of human bones? 
This is the eleventh book in the Murray of Letho series.

My review -

Charles Murray and his friend Blair are ashore at Aberdeen after terrible storms throughout which Murray was dreadfully seasick. While they are there, they find themselves in the midst of a murder investigation or two. A local doctor has died of typhus too, and people are going down with some kind of poisoning. There is a big cast, all well fleshed-out, and there’s no shortage of possible killers. As always, Murray unpicks the plot – I never get there before him! A lovely period story with a great deal going on. This series has been a favourite with me for a long time.

About the author

Author of three historical crime fiction series: Murray of Letho, Hippolyta Napier, and Orkneyinga Murders, Lexie lives in North-East Scotland and after some years of trying the traditional methods (with absolute and complete lack of success) she was persuaded to test her limited technical skills with e-books. When she isn't writing (that would be Sundays) she teaches, knits, gardens, drinks wine or whisky, and sits looking thoughtful while random facts wander around her head. 

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Just a thought

In books I have traveled, not only to other worlds, but into my own.
― Anna Quindlen

The Thankless Child

Another in the fabulous Hippolyta Napier historical mystery series by Lexie Conyngham.

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Book description -

The sun is shining, Ballater is full of wealthy visitors, and Mrs. Kynoch’s school for young ladies is flourishing - until one pupil, the daughter of a slave-owner, vanishes. Has she eloped with a rich man, or is something more sinister afoot? Hippolyta Napier needs to know, before a vulnerable local man is accused of something he could not have done.

My review - 

Once again Hippolyta can’t stop herself from investigating strange happenings in Ballater. New pupils appear at her friend’s school for young ladies, arriving from Tobago. Other newcomers appear at the nearby spa, increasing her acquaintance. Each book in this series makes me feel I’m back with a gossipy friend. I love the domestic details: the problems with servants, the tea parties. In this volume, concerns are voiced about emancipation in the West Indian sugar plantations. There are topics great and small, and Hippolyta and her husband Patrick, the local doctor, are in the midst of it all. A great murder mystery within a slice of Scottish history. Not to be missed.

Author info 

Lexie Conyngham is a historian living in the shadow of the Highlands. Her Murray of Letho novels are born of a life amidst Scotland’s old cities, ancient universities and hidden-away aristocratic estates, but she has written since the day she found out that people were allowed to do such a thing. Beyond teaching and research, her days are spent with wool, wild allotments and a wee bit of whisky. 

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Just a thought - There are two motives for reading a book; one, that you enjoy it; the other, that you can boast about it.

― Bertrand Russell

Lexie Conyngham

A new series - set in Viking times! What's not to love?

Tomb for an Eagle


Book description -

A man lies under the tawny earth, hands still clutching the knife that killed him. 
Thorfinn Sigurdarson, Earl of all Orkney and Caithness, has made a mistake, and he won’t let himself forget it. 
Now rumours have started in the Norse lands that he might be getting a second chance – but should he take it, when it means that dead men are walking?


My review -

In this new mystery series we find ourselves in the Orkneys in the Viking times, with the lords and their men, farming and fighting. The women spin, weave and get up to all sorts else. Sigrid finds a body buried in a gulley on her farmland. Ketil is looking for the murderer. The dead man was one of his followers. Through the eyes of these two, we watch the building of a new church, though the dead man was buried with the old ceremonial. Sigrid and Ketil each find small details of what’s been going on, and this body isn’t the only one we encounter. It’s a really good, though most unconventional, historical detective novel and I couldn’t drag myself away from it once I’d started. The cover art is stunning too.

Lexie Conyngham

This is a novella length sequel to a story which has some supernatural elements. It's jolly good!

A Dark Night at Midsummer

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My review - 

This is a novella length sequel to The Murray of Letho story, Out of a Dark Reflection. The supernatural happenings in that book continue and Mrs Dean, the housekeeper calls upon the skills of Lizzie Fenwick to try to capture the spirit of Grissel Gardiner, a witch of old. Lizzie’s not taken in by some of Mrs Dean’s logic, but agrees to help rather than have the happy household of Letho continuing under the present dark cloud.

Well conjured! You would need to have read Dark Reflection first, but if you have, you’ll enjoy this, its murky supernatural goings-on and the small community it encapsulates. Fittingly, I finished it at Halloween.

Lexie Conyngham

Another Murray of Letho. I never tire of them!

Thicker than Water

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My review -

Charles Murray, Laird of Letho, is in St Andrews and visits his old tutor, who is taking the education of young Walter in hand. Walter makes a better student than he ever did junior servant. While Murray is there, a young man is found dead in the garden, apparently deliberately drowned in the fish pond. Murray and the constable try to discover who was responsible. It seems that many of their apparently respectable social circle have something to hide.

This, the tenth Murray of Letho novel, is, for anyone who has followed the series and its early nineteenth century setting, like spending time with old friends. Many of the characters are new but the old Letho crowd didn’t let me down. These stories, though filled with solid and believable characters, are nevertheless driven by plots as complex as the people who inhabit them. It’s not at all clear who has done the deed but as the story unfolds, we discover that so many people had a motive. Trust Murray to sort it out, even at danger to himself. Another addition to a fantastic and well-written series, though it would stand alone very well. 

Lexie Conyngham

An old favourite author with a brand new series. Don't you just love it when that happens? 

A Knife in Darkness

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My review -

Hippolyta Napier, the heroine of this new series by mystery author Lexie Conyngham, comes to Ballater as the new wife of Patrick, one of the doctors in the little spa town. She comes across two bodies, those of Colonel Verney and his manservant, when calling upon the colonel’s niece with a view to a sketching expedition. She takes it upon herself to solve the mystery. Her suspicions, before she finds the answer, range widely.

In some ways Hippolyta reminded me of Jane Austen’s Emma, intelligent and insistent upon doing things her own way. She’s young and enthusiastic and positive that she knows best. As always with this author, the characterisation is spot on and the story involved and intriguing. I didn’t guess! Some writers’ books are as comfortable as your favourite outfit and I’m pleased to say that, though I’ve been a great fan of the Murray of Letho series, I’m becoming a huge fan of the resourceful Mrs Napier. A great read and a good start for the new series.

Lexie Conyngham

This is the ninth in a series which goes from strength to strength. You can read them as stand-alones but I've followed the series from the beginning.

Slow Death by Quicksilver

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My review - 

Charles Murray, the Laird of Letho, is visiting an old university friend who's struggling to cope after his young wife's death in childbirth. The child was lost, too, and Murray is on a protracted visit to attempt to cheer his friend. While he's there, one of the villagers, a particularly unpleasant old chap, is discovered writhing in the throes of a very painful death. He's been found to have drunk whisky laced with a compound of mercury. Murray joins the local sheriff's officer in trying to discover how it happened. It appears that a lot of people had reason to want to be rid of him.

Lexie Conyngham has created a character in Murray who is at once a darned good man and also someone who thinks some of the slightly unworthy things we ourselves are thinking. He's not goody-goody, but human. His young servant-in-training, Walter, is another lovable character, though in some circumstances quite useless. He we find his strengths. Murray persistently picks apart the details of the death, as further bodies turn up. The author beautifully depicts the structure of a village at that time, with the local landowner and his ‘quality’ friends entertaining one another while most of the villagers carry on the work that keeps the place going. The very old, unable to work, spend their time sitting by the window minding other people’s business. It's a great historical whodunit and I enjoyed this latest Murray story just as much as I expected to.

Lexie Conyngham

This latest Murray of Letho mystery is one of the author's best, in my view. I enjoyed it immensely.

Out of a Dark Reflection

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My review - 

There are wicked things afoot in Letho. An old woman, allegedly a witch, has been found murdered then a young maid from the Letho household goes missing. When another lady disappears, Charles Murray is hard pressed to know what's going on. His wife is heavily pregnant and talk of witches is rife, spreading through the area like fire through dry tinder and upsetting her Ladyship.

This book contains the usual kind of mystery which the level-headed Murray copes with well, but it is all shot through with uneasy sightings, an unchancy mirror and the cry of 'Burn the witch'. It’s one of the best Murray of Letho stories, I think, and I enjoyed this one very much indeed. 

Lexie Conyngham

This lady combines with and wisdom with history and mystery to create a fantastic series. They're the kind of books you wait for when you know there's another due!

Death of an Officer's Lady

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My review -

This story sees the recently married Charles Murray return without his wife from Letho to Edinburgh to fulfil a commission from his brother who is abroad and fighting with the Duke of Wellington’s army. One of his brother officers is worried about the wife he hasn’t heard from since she moved to different premises in fear of her life. It’s out of season and Murray doesn’t want to open up the big house in Edinburgh, bringing all the staff that will require, so he and a young trainee servant stay with a childhood friend of his. 

This is a trail of detective work for Murray and fighting at Waterloo for his brother. We follow both the Murray brothers and discover that people are not always what they wish you to believe. This story was engrossing from start to finish. Anyone acquainted with Charles Murray of Letho will love this book. There’s lots of subtle humour in it and the characters are painted so faithfully that you feel you know them. I’ve enjoyed this series more as the characters have grown and I have come to know and appreciate them. 

Lexie Conynhgam

Another adventure of Charles Murray of Letho and his butler, Robbins. It's a complete story but oh, how I want to know what happened next!

The Tender Herb

Amazon .com The Tender Herb

My review - 

Charles Murray of Letho is in self-imposed exile in Italy with Robbins, his butler. Robbins receives a letter from the erstwhile maid, Mary, who married a soldier and moved to India, to Delhi. Her husband is accused of murdering a man of the cloth and is being held in jail and she begs that Robbins might come, if Murray will allow him, to help her secure his release. Murray, on the point if being trapped into a marriage he doesn't want, decides that he will go too.

This is just the opening section of the story in which Murray and his butler take a long sea voyage and an overland trip of many months. Robbins develops a touching fondness for elephants and Murray befriends a mynah bird. More deaths take place and Murray finally faces the culprit. The ending is fast and exciting and, after watching Murray’s progress like a fussy mummy, I finally witnessed his wedding. Oh deary me! This is another hugely enjoyable story, complete of itself but leaving the reader longing for more.

Lexie Conyngham

This is another in the Murray of Letho series and in my view, it could be the best so far!  

Fellowship with Demons

Amazon.com Fellowship with Demons

My review - 

Charles Murray is commissioned by Melville, a high-ranking Scottish nobleman, to look into the family into which his cousin is hoping to marry.  Melville feels there is something shady about them but has no proof.  This is a story of officers, young, marriageable ladies, balls, suppers and concerts at the Assembly Rooms – it all sounds very Jane Austen.  However, Lexie Conyngham puts far more emphasis on the ‘Downstairs’ part of Upstairs/Downstairs than ever Jane Austen did and we meet up with far more violence, murder and assault than was ever hinted at in her genteel writings.  Murray finds what Melville has asked him, but some of the knowledge comes with the realisation that people he loves and respects will be hurt by it too.

Lexie Conyngham’s elegant and intelligent writing comes with a sprinkling of Scottish dialect terms which give it huge charm.  The story here is one of mystery, murder, intrigue and deceit.  I love the way the author combines action and plot line with a thoughtful look at the lives of some otherwise minor characters.  She looks at the effects of dementia on an old and loved servant, and at other issues of mental instability.  It’s a gripping thriller and mystery but is also a great social comment on the times.  I enjoyed reading this very much.  I’m a big fan of the Murray of Letho series and I think this is possibly the best.  (So far – I’m an optimist!)

Lexie Conyngham

Another brilliant tale from the ever elegant pen (word processor just does't have the ring!)  of Lexie Conyngham.

An Abandoned Woman

Amazon.com  An Abandoned Woman

My review -

This is another wonderful episode in the saga of Murray of Letho, but it can perfectly well be read as a story in its own right. If you have followed the books from Murray's University days in St Andrews though, you will have fleshed out the character of the main protagonist to your benefit. There is a young, unknown woman found murdered in Letho and another, one of Murray's own kitchenmaids, is attacked. This is a murder mystery enshrouded in the social history of Scotland in the early 1800s. Lexie Conyngham is like a Scottish Jane Austen! We follow the attempts of Murray to repair the chronic dampness of his servants' quarters, the problems of damp exacerbating the asthma of the young daughter of the manse and the mystery enshrouding two new arrivals to the area. There are several strands carefully woven together to bring us to an exciting and to me, unexpected climax. In fact it's rather a double climax.

Lexie Conyngham's writing is never less than clear and elegant and contains the lovely lilt of the Scottish voices, particularly in the case of the servants, who haven't had the vernacular schooled out of them. Blair, friend of Murray's late father and frequent guest at Letho is another delightful creation who brings a great deal of wisdom and creative oddity to the book. The style of writing here is absolutely fitting to the age in which the book is set and it all reads beautifully. An excellent story and very well told.

Lexie Conyngham

Lexie writes historical murder mysteries.

Death in a Scarlet Gown

Amazon.com  Death in a Scarlet Gown

My review -

This is the first book in what I hope will be a long series. The young man Charles Murray has a serious falling out with his father over his future. Young Charles is a natural academic but his father wants him to take his place in society and help with running the family's estates. We meet with characters both pleasant and unpleasant and of course with murder most foul. The writing is superb and there's enough action to keep us on the edge of our seats, both with the progress of investigation of the mysterious deaths and with Murray's fight to stay in St Andrew's to take his MA.

Murray is a really 3 dimensional character, with his own likes, dislikes and prejudices etc. I hope to read much more about him!


Knowledge of Sins Past

Amazon.com  Knowledge of Sins Past

My review -

Charles Murray, cut off financially by his father, is forced to make a living in spite of being heir to a great estate of his own. He does this by taking the post of Private Secretary to Lord Scoggie and tutor to his sons. The setting at Scoggie Castle, the locals who have historic reasons to detest one another, the one-legged war hero and of course, the two young lads Murray has to teach, give a huge variety to the writing. The boys are real little lads - I think I know them! Murray is a well rounded character - not a perfect know-all - and you can really warm to him.
The rest of the family and the locals are well drawn and the writing overall is excellent and the story gripping from the start.
I understand there are more Murray of Letho books in the wings. I really look forward to them.