BLOG TOUR: A Brotherly Devotion - Jill Bray

York: July 1224

On a hot July night, Brother Clement is savagely murdered when returning from administering to Lady Maud de Mowbray.

Simon de Hale, Sheriff of Yorkshire, is in his office when Abbot Robert visits to inform him of the murder, and request that he take responsibility for investigating the killing.

Simon is unsure whether the murder is a crime against the Abbey, or if it is a more personal matter against the monk.

Commencing their investigation, Simon and his deputy, Adam, ride out to see Lady Maud de Mowbray at Overton - the last person to see Brother Clement alive. When they encounter her son, Roger de Mowbray, they both take an instant dislike to him.

Lady Mowbray reveals to Simon that she intends to leave her money to the Abbey, and Simon can see this being a motive for the monk’s murder, if her son was aware of this.

The investigation gathers pace and a murder weapon is found.

A banquet is held at the castle to honour the Royal Justice - during which, one of the guests is exposed as the murderer and apprehended. But that will not be the end of the story for Simon and his family.

 

What did I think?

I really enjoyed my visit to 13th century York in Jill Bray's debut novel, A Brotherly Devotion.  With a dual storyline of a murdered monk and an arranged marriage, it's intricately plotted and incredibly gripping.  I couldn't read fast enough to both discover 'whodunnit' and how the story would end.

Simon de Hale is the Sheriff of Yorkshire and he is arranging the marriage of his youngest daughter Katherine whilst investigating the murder of Brother Clement.  You'd think the murder investigation would be the most challenging but Katherine is a strong-minded young lady and she wants to marry for love, in fact she has found just the man and it's not the man her father has chosen.  

I loved Katherine from the start but really couldn't see a way out of her arranged marriage as the King's permission had already been granted.  What a quandary for Simon, especially when he is determined to bring the monk's killer to justice.  With a bucketful of red herrings strategically placed in the prose, I didn't guess who it was until very late on and the way that the killer is revealed is very reminiscent of Agatha Christie.

Atmospheric, authentic and riveting, A Brotherly Devotion is a fabulous debut novel and a must-read for fans of historical fiction.

I received a gifted paperback to read and review for the blog tour and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

Buy it from:

Amazon UK

Amazon US

About the author:

Jill lives on the Island of Guernsey now, but is originally from Yorkshire. She has a love of early medieval history which led her to study the subject at Huddersfield College in the 1980's. Working in Leeds at the time, meant that she had access to the Yorkshire Archaeological Society on their late night opening and following research, she wondered what the lives of the people she read about were actually like. This started a love of writing historical fiction, but her initial stories were never sent to a publisher. Life and work then intervened and writing was put to one side. It was only following a workshop held by the Guernsey Literary Festival in 2024 on writing historical fiction, that her love of writing was reignited. Her first novel 'A Brotherly Devotion' was published in July 2025.

Social Media Links:

Facebook: Jill Bray – Author 

Twitter/X:  @JillBray67

Website: https://www.jillbray.co.uk

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BLOG TOUR: The Distant Dead: 8 (The Detective's Daughter) - Lesley Thomson

 

LONDON, 1940

Several neighbours heard the scream of the woman in the bombed-out house. One told the detective she thought the lady had seen a mouse. Another said it wasn't his business what went on behind closed doors. None of them imagined that a trusting young woman was being strangled by her lover.

TEWKESBURY, 2020

Beneath the vast stone arches of Tewkesbury Abbey, a man lies bleeding, close to death. He is the creator of a true-crime podcast which now will never air. He was investigating the murder of a 1940s police pathologist - had he come closer to the truth than he realised?

Stella Darnell has moved to Tewkesbury to escape from death, not to court it. But when this man dies in her arms, Stella, impelled to root out evil when she finds it, becomes determined to hunt down his killer and to bring the secrets he was searching for into the light...

What did I think?

When I picked up The Distant Dead, I didn't realise that it was book 8 in the Detective's Daughter series but I have to say that it works brilliantly as a standalone.  I didn't feel at all confused or disadvantaged by jumping in mid-series but I definitely want to go back and read the earlier books.

I'm always delighted to find maps inside books and The Distant Dead has something just as good: a plan of Tewkesbury Abbey.  With a real life 'googleable' setting, it's really easy to visualise a lot of the scenes in the abbey (as pictured on the cover).  I have to say that my imagination was way out regarding the cadaver tomb; I had never heard of them before so I had to google it and although it did make me go 'eww' I found the history of cadaver tombs fascinating.  I love books that teach me something as well as providing entertainment through their storytelling.

In a dual timeline setting, a spate of modern day murders have a link to a cold case from 1940.  The murder of Maple Greenhill in 1940 is just one of many wartime crimes that remain unsolved but it had a snowball effect that has repercussions throughout the following decades.  Fast forward to 2019 and Stella (the detective's daughter in the series of the same name) is thrust into the middle of a killing spree that could see her becoming the next victim if she gets too close to solving Maple's murder.

The Distant Dead is wonderfully plotted, there's so much going on that it's impossible to work out what's going to happen next.  It's so fast-paced and gripping that it makes the pages turn effortlessly and I was equally riveted by both timelines.  I loved Stella's friend Lucie; she's absolutely hilarious and slightly crazy but fiercely loyal.  It's the characters of Lucie and Stella that make me want to read the earlier books in the series - I really want to find out their stories.

The Distant Dead is a hugely enjoyable read; it's intriguing, surprising and very atmospheric.  Lesley Thomson's writing is so vivid that I could almost feel the chill of the abbey and hear the echo of whispers.  The Detective's Daughter series fans will devour this one and I've no doubt that Lesley Thomson will pick up a few new fans too.

I received an ARC to read and review for the blog tour; all opinions are my own.

My rating:

Buy it from:

Amazon

iBooks

Kobo

Google Play

Waterstones

Bookshop.org

About the author:

Lesley Thomson is the author of the Detective's Daughter series of West London-set mysteries featuring private investigators Stella, a cleaner, and Jack, a tube driver. The first novel, The Detective's Daughter, became an ebook phenomenon in 2013, staying at number 1 in the digital charts for 3 months. Since then, the series has gone on to sell 800,000 copies worldwide. Lesley is an active member of the UK crimewriting community, and appeared at several crime festivals in 2019, including CrimeFest, Harrogate, Morecambe & Vice and Capital Crime. She lives in Lewes with her partner and her dog.

Follow Lesley:

Facebook: @LesleyThomsonNovelist

Twitter: @LesleyjmThomson

Website: lesleythomson.co.uk

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