The Parliament House

I read through this great book in just two evenings. Mr Marston has a great ability to create interesting characters who's future you care about and even better, able to bring historic London to life amid all his story-telling. An interesting read that has spurned me on to order another in this series!

Presented in large print format, The Parliament House is a historical murder mystery set in 1670 London. Architectural designer Christopher Redmayne is delighted to complete his latest masterpiece, a house commissioned for a wealthy merchant; but when one of the merchant's guests is murdered the night of the new house's debut, Redmayne feels personally involved and, with the aid of Puritan Constable Jonathan Bale and his brother Henry, sets out to find the killer. A period piece written with detail and flavor befitting its era, The Parliament House inextricably wraps the reader in its complex yet fluid storytelling style.

This historical mystery was complex in plot and while the characters were a bit stiff the dialogue was good and the sense of the times was quite riveting.

I am always excited about a new book from Edward Marston. He is perhaps not as well known as some authors, but he is certainly in my top six and a new novel is always well worth waiting for. Christopher Redmayne has just overseen the completion of a house he has been commissioned to design for a merchant. To celebrate the completion of the property, Francis Polegate the merchant throws a party and invites Christopher as an honoured guest, and also several people who are known to Christopher, including his sweetheart Susan. The party is brought to an abrupt and sad end when news is brought that one of the guests, who recently left the house has been murdered. Christopher cannot help but feel involved and seeks out the help of a constable, Jonathan Bale, a man Christopher has had assistance from before, while he was involved in the solving of certain crimes. He also enrols the help of his wayward brother, Henry, and between them they set out to solve the murder of the unfortunate guest. There investigations lead them to believe that there may have been a case of mistaken identity. The dead man was very well liked, he had no apparent enemies. If he had been murdered by mistake who was the intended victim?

I had not read Marston before and admit to not being a huge fan of the amateur sleuth. However, I did find this a very enjoyable book with a wonderful range of interesting characters. The period details didn't always ring true to me, although they may well have been, but nothing to cause me great distress. There was some good suspense; the dialogue was well done and seemed appropriate to the period. To the negative, there were a couple coincidences, and I did suspect on of the characters part way through. All-in-all, it was a fairly quick, enjoyable read.