‘A great mix of British properness and humour with a large dollop of historical fun’ ***** BOOK 11 IN THE INTERNATIONALLY BESTSELLING CHRONICLES OF ST MARY’S SERIESFor fans of Richard Osman’s Thursday Murder Club, Jasper Fforde and Doctor Who.I would have trusted this man with my life. Until a couple of days ago, anyway.You know what they say – hope for the best, but plan for the worst.Max is … quite accustomed to everything going wrong. She’s St Mary’s, after all. Disaster is her default state. But with her family reunited and a jump to Bronze Age Crete in the works, life is getting back to normal. Well, normal for St Mary’s. And then, following one fateful night at the Tower of London, everything Max thought she knew comes crashing down around her.Too late for plans. The worst has happened. And who can Max trust now?Readers love Jodi Taylor: ‘Once in a while, I discover an author who changes everything… Jodi Taylor and her protagonista Madeleine “Max” Maxwell have seduced me’‘A great mix of British proper-ness and humour with a large dollop of historical fun’‘Addictive. I wish St Mary’s was real and I was a part of it’‘Jodi Taylor has an imagination that gets me completely hooked’‘A tour de force’
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Another 4 stars.
A couple of moments dragged, but overall great with a character betrayal and a very big and very exciting reveal.
Time periods and incidents explored.
15th century England, Tower of London:
A sightseeing jaunt to the period right before the princes in the Tower go missing under the guardianship of Richard III. Their disappearance is still considered one of the greater historical mysteries, and Richard’s innocence is still debated.
Other good books about Richard III are:
The Murders of Richard III A lighthearted contemporary mystery about a bunch of Richard III fanatics.
The Daughter of Time A more traditional British mystery.
1600 BCE Crete:
The crew goes back to Crete in the weeks before Thera erupted and destroyed the island and essentially destroyed Cretan culture. Bad timing.
Terrific! Lots of action of course! Cleaning up the Remote Site and having unexpected visitors! The Princes in the Tower with Dr. Bairstow and Mrs Brown. Are they there?? Some things go wrong! No I’m not giving spoilers! Minoan Crete! Volcanoes! And Clive Ronan always menacing in the background!! This book is always a page turner. I hate to have to put it down. Love you Jodi Taylor! I will miss the crazy antics of these characters when this series comes to a conclusion!!
The Chronicles of St Mary’s is one of my favorite all time series.
Another great book in the series. I love the character development and their relationships with each other throughout the series.
This may be my favorite book of the series. First and foremost….Clive. Ronan. Is. DEAD!!! Gotta say, I wasn’t quite prepared for the incredibly gruesome and horrific way in which he dies, BUT…c’est la vie!
Also, having read a few reviews before I started, I knew there was a big reveal in this book. I was so smug in thinking I had it all figured out. I was convinced Dr. Bairstow was actually Max’s father…or CLIVE was Max’s father…or Leon was leading a double life…something to that effect.
Well, I was wrong. So very, very wrong.
Not in a MILLION years would I have guessed the big reveal, and anyone who says they knew is lying through their teeth! Wow…so completely out of left field and I loved it!
This story was all over the place in such an exciting edge-of-your-seat kind of way. You (and Max) think you know what’s going on only to be shown how little you actually know. Who can you trust? Who’s telling the truth? What the hell is going on??
I started the St. Mary’s series on June 9th and have now finished it exactly three months later on September 9th (I swear I didn’t plan that). This is such a great series and I’ve been recommending it to everyone. The history, the shenanigans, the people, and the places…I’ve loved it all. Some books weren’t as good as others (which is bound to happen in a series this long), but the story as a whole is just wonderful and I’ve loved having these crazy tea-drinking lunatics entertain me throughout this never-ending quarantine.
So, thank you Jodi, for bringing a little bit of fun and adventure to those of us who are stuck on the couch and bored out of our minds. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for Max and Company and to start in on the Time Police and see what trouble they get themselves into!
OK, Taylor makes me laugh with uncanny reliability. I got a historian friend to read one in this series also and I feared for her life. The history is debatable, but the dialog and descriptions are hilarious. And now my friend is addicted as well. On a bad day, this is the escape I want.
I love, literally everything I’ve read of Jody Taylor’s! She creates worlds that you just have to come back to, to find out what happens! Her stories are funny, informative (tons of history), and exciting! I buy her books without even reading what they are about!
Wow; just wow. This book has so many emotional ups and downs and sideways flinging that I can’t even begin to describe it. Some loose ends are marvelously tied up and the future is wide open. Bravo, Jodi Taylor. I can hardly wait to meet again!
The trademark wit, verve, and disaster-handling of this series continues flawlessly as the St. Mary’s team dodge volcanoes, tsunamis, and the Time Police in this installment.
I’ve loved all of the books in this series and this was no different. If you’re looking for something light and frequently laugh-out-loud funny, I recommend these books.
Great book; wonderful series—engaging characters; fascinating premise and plot; excellent writing.
All of her books are great. When I start a new one, it’s like going home because I’m so comfortable with the characters.