This series continues to deliver a superior mix of period crime combined with a modern sensibility. Here Upson melds together a fiendish revenge plot based around the ghost stories of M.R. James, with a more heartfelt story of a serial rapist terrorising Cambridge.

The ongoing story of Josephine and her friends continues with a particularly emotionally-fraught development for Archie...

Altogether one of my favourite series currently being written, and one which is intelligent as well as beautifully written.

To be posted on Amazon and Goodreads

I would like to thank Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for an advance copy of Nine Lessons, the 7th novel to feature the fictional exploits of author and playwright Josephine Tey and her friend DCI Archie Penrose.

Archie is called out to a murder scene where Dr Stephen Laxborough has been found entombed alive in a sarcophagus. A photograph left with the corpse sends him to Cambridge. Josephine is now living in Cambridge where a serial rapist is terrorising the town. A third plotline sees her uncover a secret which tear at the foundation of her friendship with Archie.

Nine Lessons is an interesting read. The historical descriptions of 1938 Cambridge are fascinating with all the "new" buildings and, of course, the old. I was slightly disappointed not to see a larger shadow of the impending war which must have been on everyone's mind, especially as Ms Upson makes many references to the Great War. Otherwise I liked the period detail in respect to the attitudes of the time.

The plot involving the murder of Dr Laxborough is very well done. I enjoyed it and didn't have a clue about where it was going. It is cleverly thought out and executed and had me turning the pages to see what was coming next. The plot about the rapist mostly concerns Josephine. It is handled sensitively up until the resolution which seems rushed and almost like an afterthought.

I found the the third plotline about the secret rather incomprehensible, not the basic facts but the characters' actions and reactions, and I found their reasoning difficult to follow.

I enjoyed Nine Lessons with some reservations so I think 3.5* is a fair assessment.