With only nine days until the announcement of the winner of the CWA Ellis Peters Award, I have realised that I will not be able to read all the books on the shortlist. Luckily Professor Rob Kitchin who blogs at The View from the Blue House has read the other three books, and here are links to his excellent reviews.
The Somme Stations by Andrew Martin
The Hanging Shed by Gordon Ferris
The Red Coffin by Sam Eastland
And below to my own reviews of the remaining books.
The Cleansing Flames by Roger Morris
Island of Bones by Imogen Robertson
Rob gives The Hanging Shed: Gordon Ferris his highest mark; and I think The Cleansing Flames: R.N.Morris with its blend of humour, philosophy and tension is a winner over Island of Bones by a short metatarsal.
But will the judges have other ideas? They do love their Tudors.
CRIME SCRAPS REVIEW 
The Tudors are so popular aren’t they? What with them and WW2, what do our younger generation know about the broad sweep of history? Thanks for these links and have noted your tip for the winner, which is likely to be more to my taste than the actual one (unless they coincide!). You and Prof Kitchen are a classy double-act!
Still hoping that Roger wins…
Thanks Maxine, I think i would need a reconditioned brain to be a double-act with Prof Rob. 😉
Rhian, I really hope something other than a modern WWII or Tudor book wins this time.