Really enjoyed this book. Great plot and engaging, believe characters. I was drawn right into the story. Would definitely recommend.

Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

"The White Feather Killer " eBook was published in 2019 and was written by R. N. Morris (http://rogernmorris.co.uk). Mr. Morris has published 11 novels with this being the 5th in his “Silas Quinn” mystery series.

I categorize this novel as ‘R’ because it contains scenes of Violence, Mature Language, and Mature Situations. The story is set in 1914 London. The primary character is DI Silas Quinn.

Quinn has finished his recuperation after his last case and has returned to Scotland Yard. He finds that his old team has been reassigned as has he. His Special Crimes Department has been disbanded. Quinn’s new duties are a slap in the face.

WWI has just begun. Pastor Cardew holds a rally to support the British. The young women of London are urged to hand men not yet enlisted a white feather to ‘urge’ their enlistment. The day after the body of a young woman is discovered with a white feather in her mouth. Initially, Quinn is excluded from the investigation. He sees more in the evidence than those in charge and it is not long before that stirs up more trouble for him. Fortunately, he is not entirely on his own. An arrest is made for the young woman’s killer, but Quinn believes that they have the wrong man.

Will he be able to find the guilty party and survive at Scotland Yard?

I enjoyed the 7.5+ hours I spent reading this 288-page mystery. I did think that the book started off slowly. It was not until the 35% point that the murder of the young woman actually takes place. Things, fortunately, pick up from that point until the end of the novel. As you would hope to find in a mystery, there are several twists to the plot. I do like the selected cover art. I give this novel a 3.8 (rounded up to a 4) out of 5.

Further book reviews I have written can be accessed at https://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/.

My book reviews are also published on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/31181778-john-purvis).

I expected more from this story. I expected more because the writing is lovely, and the characters are well-thought and believable, and the setting is exceptionally well-done. But the plot is completely off.
The first half of the story is confusing and distracting. It focuses on how the MC, Detective Inspector of Scotland Yard Silas Quinn, copes with what happened in the previous book. This alternates with chapters following a variety of other people who seem to appear randomly in the plot. We don’t know what relationship these people have with the story, and unfortunately, some of them don’t really have any relevance. Although this can theoretically be a great way to build the plot, I found it that placing so much interest in what happened in the previous book annoyed me. I would have preferred a greater focus on what was actually happening in this book. And while I initially liked getting to know some of the characters, the piling up of this amount of info about characters sometimes unrelated to each other just confused me.

The murder happens halfway through the book. A bit late, I’d say. Here the story picked up a bit for me. The actual investigation started – and it was very good at the beginning – but it soon faded away in Quinn’s personal grudges. Lots of clues were discovered, but I as a reader already knew most of them because of all the previous exposition - and this was frustrating.
The mystery is really all over the place, if you ask me. There are in fact a few crimes surfacing from the murder, which, for me, add confusion to confusion.

It’s really a pity. It could have been a great story, all the elements were there, but it was too much of a mess for me. The author tried to push into it more than the story really allowed to sustain, in my opinion. He added elements (like British’s reaction to the break out of WWI) that were in themselves interesting, but were quite detached from the story and so ended up getting in the way of the plot.
Pity.

This historical mystery is set in London in the late summer of 1914, during the early weeks of World War One. Recruitment calls are going out, the early wounded are returning for care and lists of those killed and wounded in battle are being published. Night time blackout precautions have begun; people are still hoping the war will be over by Christmas.

Against this background, we are introduced to many characters in the initial chapters, most of whom are quite singular but who take future reappearances in this story to cement in memory. And they do. The war itself is a character in the novel as most characters have some relationship to it: fearing the fight, anxious to fight, fomenting anger at Anglo-Germans and their children who were born in Britain, a woman’s group advising women to give white feathers to any men not in uniform. And the police, exempt from war but with a less controlled world at home.

And the murder itself joins together all of the people who were introduced in those opening pages, in one way or another, as victim, suspect, relatives, witnesses, investigators. And behind the investigation is the drumbeat of the war.

I was struck by the author’s use of so much detail of everyday life during the Great War. These details align well with what I have learned from histories of this era that I have read, I.e. the white feathers themselves, the public shaming, the doubly dark nights of blackouts. Also, this book is part of a series, with Inspector Silas Quinn the primary character. I had no difficulty understanding and enjoying this novel without having read the prior books in the series (though I am now curious about his situation immediately before this, as you will be) and will look for other books. Recommended for historical mystery readers.

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review.

The declaration of war changes London, the country, and the people. The mood has turned dark, distrusting, and suddenly things change between neighbors. Men are flocking to enlist and those who do not are beginning to be looked on as cowards (or worse). Many receive the "white feather," the ultimate, shameful sign that marks the man.

DI Silas Quinn has returned to New Scotland Yard after a sick leave. His Special Crimes Unit has been closed and his former team are now members of the CID, where he'll also report in a new capacity but then a young girl is discovered murdered and left with a white feather in her mouth.

I didn't realize this would be on the dark side, almost historical police noir. Support characters are fleshed out in rather depressing descriptions and Quinn's former situation tends to haunt him. The author has a rather unique style of writing that tends to the verbose.

I enjoyed the easy affectionate familiarity with characters who shared history, the way the dialogue swung to nicknames. There were red herrings that introduced more possibilities and all along you had your own suspicions and were just waiting for proof.

Then, the final twist. YES! I suspected all along! But in the meantime, a couple even darker incidents, one particularly ugly one. This is book five of the series and doesn't particularly develop the characters except perhaps for Quinn, but then I had real difficulty with him and couldn't invest. Possibly would have understood him better had this not been my introduction to the series and the author. The conclusion rolled in on not one, but several reveals, all quietly answering any questions left--and the way it ended? Okay, Interesting... Justice will be done, one way or the other.

I received this ebook download from the publisher and NetGalley and appreciated the opportunity to read and review and these are my own opinions. Recommended for those who enjoy a dark, historic police procedural with a damaged protagonist. 3.5/5

Eve gave Felix a white feather; did he murder her and put the feather in her mouth in revenge? He's been arrested but Silas Quinn doesn't think he did it. Felix is not an especially likable character but that doesn't matter to Quinn, a man who seems determined to make waves. He's working more or less on his own out of New Scotland Yard but that doesn't matter. I'd not read the earlier books but his back story was clearly explained here, making hopping in easy. I especially liked this for the portrayal of the UK in 1914. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. For fans of historical procedurals.

He's been moved out of the detective section into a dead end position as the person who checks out the many stories the cops have received about German spies. World War I has just begun and anyone with a German heritage is being thought of as a traitor. He has to report to a man he dislikes.

He manages to get away and look at the victim that has been found. She has a white feather in her mouth. The feathers were distributed at a meeting and their purpose was to shame any eligible boys into joining the services and going to war. It signified a coward. So why is it in her mouth?

Severn House and Net Galley let me read this book for review (thank you). It will be published on August 1st.

He's not supposed to be on the case but he begins investigating anyway. The boss arrested a half-German American citizen and accuses him of her murder. He won't listen to anyone else. It makes good press because he's part German.

The good detective keeps looking. There are several surprises in this story. The dead girl's father commits suicide. The butcher arrested is let out of jail and then there's another young woman's death nearer the butcher shop with a meat cleaver. A young man looking for a missing girl takes a gun with him and ends up dead. The killers are finally revealed and it's a surprise on all counts.

This is a story that is sad and filled with bad news but it's a good mystery and reflects the effect of WWI.

1914 and war fever has come to the country and with it the fear and suspicion of Germans. Felix Simpkins tries to find the courage to enlist without success. Meanwhile the SCD has been disbanded and D.C.I. Silas Quinn and his men now work for the C.I.D. unfortunately under D.C.I. Coddington.
The day after a church rally to shame men into joining the war a body of a female is discovered with a white feather in her mouth.
For Coddington any German will do to be the guilty party but can Quinn determine the truth.
Another enjoyable and interesting mystery in this series. A historical series that is character driven and well-written.

On his return from sick leave, Silas Quinn finds his Special Crimes Department has been dissolved and his team has been reassigned to CID. Much to his dismay, he is assigned to a desk job as a liaison with Intelligence. It is 1914 and with the onset of WWI there are constant reports of suspicious persons. It is Quinn’s job to review reports for credible threats and pass them on.

At a rally to support recruiting that is led by Pastor Cardew, a table of envelopes filled with white feathers was provided for the women. The white feather was a symbol of cowardice that was presented to men who were not seen as doing their duty. Eve Cardew, the pastor’s daughter, presents a feather to Felix Simpkins, a mild, indecisive man who lives with his overbearing mother. Eve’s body is later found with a white feather lodged in her mouth. CID’s Chief Inspector Coddington dismisses this evidence and arrests the son of a German butcher. Unhappy with Coddington’s lack of investigation, Quinn begins an investigation of his own. This not only leads him to Simpkins but also to Pastor Cardew who is hiding secrets of his own.

This is the fifth entry in the Silas Quinn series. While Quinn is a successful investigator, he follows his own instincts with little regard to regulations, earning him enemies in influential positions. He does receive support from his former sergeants, who remain loyal and keep him informed of the CID’s actions. When a second murder occurs, Coddington ties it to Eve’s killer, but Quinn once again has serious doubts.

R.N. Morris brings WWI London to life. It is early in the war and there is still an optimistic hope that it will not last long. The lines to enlist are long and shortages are beginning to appear. It is easy for many to accept Coddington’s easy solution to the murders, but justice is more important to Quinn. His quest for the truth makes this an excellent book for fans of historical mysteries.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Severn Publishers for providing a copy of this book for my review.

I’m a great fan of historical crime fiction, particularly if it is set in the 19th or 20th centuries, but I will be the first to admit that most such novels tend not to veer towards what I call The Dark Side. Perhaps it’s the necessary wealth of period detail which gets in the way, and while some writers revel in the more lurid aspects of poverty, punishment and general mortality, the genre is usually a long way from noir. That’s absolutely fine. Many noir enthusiasts (noiristes, perhaps?) avoid historical crime in the same way that lovers of a good period yarn aren’t drawn to existential world of shadows cast by flickering neon signs on wet pavements. The latest novel from RN Morris, The White Feather Killer is an exception to my sweeping generalisation, as it is as uncomfortable and haunting a tale as I have read for some time.

If Morris were to have a specialised subject on Mastermind, it might well be London Crime In 1914, as the previous books in the DI Silas Quinn series, Summon Up The Blood (2012), Mannequin House (2013), Dark Palace (2014) and The Red Hand Of Fury (2018) are all set in that fateful year. Silas Quinn, like many of the best fictional coppers, is something of an oddball. While not completely misanthropic, he prefers his own company; his personal family life is tainted with tragedy; he favours the cerebral, evidence-based approach to solving crimes rather than the knuckle-duster world of forced confessions favoured by his Scotland Yard colleagues.

London - like the rest of Britain in the late summer of 1914 – is convulsed with a mixture of outrage, mad optimism and a sense of the old world being overturned. There is the glaring paradox of the first BEF casualties from Mons and Le Cateau being smuggled into the capital’s hospitals on bloodstained stretchers while, the length and breadth of the city, young men are jostling and queuing around the block in a testosterone fuelled display of patriotism, with their only anxiety being the worry that it will all be over before they can ‘do their bit’.

Morris takes his time before giving us a dead body, but his drama has some intriguing characters. We met Felix Simpkins, such a mother’s boy that, were he to be realised on the screen, we would have to resurrect Anthony Perkins for the job. His mother is not embalmed in the apple cellar, but an embittered and waspish German widow, a failed concert pianist, a failed wife, and a failed pretty much everything else except in the dubious skill of humiliating her hapless son. Central to the grim narrative is the Cardew family. Baptist Pastor Clement Cardew is the head of the family; his wife Esme knows her place, but his twin children Adam and Eve have a pivotal role in what unfolds. The trope of the hypocritical and venal clergyman is well-worn but still powerful; when we realise the depth of Cardew’s dscent into darkness, it is truly chilling.

Historical novels come and go, and all too many are over-reliant on competent research and authentic period detail, but Morris plays his ace with his brilliant and evocative use of language. Here, Quinn watches, bemused, as a company of army cyclists spin past him:

“The whole thing had the air of an outing. It did not seem like men preparing for war. The soldiers on their bicycles struck Quinn as unspeakably vulnerable. Their jauntiness as they sped along had a hollow ring to it, as if each man knew he was heading towards death but had sworn not to tell his fellows.”

Quinn has to pursue his enquiries in one of the quieter London suburbs, and makes this wry observation of the world of Mr Pooter – quaintly comic, but about to be shattered by events:

“Elsewhere, in the bigger, flashier houses, the rich and servanted classes might indulge in their racy pastimes and let their jealous passions run wild. Here the worst that could be imagined of one’s neighbours was the coveting of another man’s gardenias, or perhaps going hatless on a Sunday afternoon.”

The White Feather Killer is published by Severn House, and is available now. Let Morris have the last word, though, and he takes us back to that autumn when, after those heady weeks when everything seemed possible, innocence finally died.

“The world had suddenly become a dangerous and uncertain place. A drastic shift in perspective had brought Death into the foreground; the dim figure on the horizon, drifting in and out of sight, had become an insistent, looming presence, so close its stinking, clammy breath could be felt on the back of the neck.”

Hi Karen,

My Next review is:-

“The White Feather Killer( A Silas Quinn Mystery)””, written by R N Morris and published in Hardback by Severn House Publishers. 288 pages. ISBN-13: 978-0727888853

This was an exciting, atmospheric and deftly plotted police procedural set in and around London in the early days of the Great War.
London, 1914. The declaration of war with Germany has made the capital a dark, uncertain place, rife with fear and suspicion. As the pressure on young men to enlist grows stronger, Pastor Cardew holds a rally at his church. Unfortunately, it ends in humiliation for Felix Simpkins when he receives a dreaded white feather - the ultimate sign of cowardice. Meanwhile, DI Silas Quinn returns to New Scotland Yard after his recent sick leave to find the Special Crimes Department has been closed and his team absorbed into CID. But when a body is discovered in Wormwood Scrubs the day after Cardew's rally, a white feather placed in its mouth, Quinn finds himself unable to take a back seat in the investigation. Was the murderer really a foreign spy . . . or someone closer to home?
I really loved reading this new book by the author as I last time that I read his work was in “The Dark Palace” in January 2014 and had forgotten how well he writes and the general high quality of his work I feel that I must read more of his previous books.Strongly recommended.

Best wishes,

Terry
(To be published on eurocrime .co.uk)

This is my first foray into reading R. N. Morris but I can assure you it won’t be my last. Although this is the fifth in the Silas Quinn Mystery series, it works beautifully as a stand alone book. In this book, Quinn finds himself in a somewhat awkward situation as the Special Crimes unit, which he headed up, has been closed down. This leaves him with no team and at the beck and call of a rather unpleasant colleague. This being World War 1, all those not joining up are handed white feathers, the universal sign for cowardice. When a young woman is murdered, with a white feather found in her mouth, the police are quick to arrest someone. However, Quinn feels the white feather is significant and continues the investigation.

Morris is an outstanding writer and this character driven narrative is superb. Quinn is a well rounded character with a burning desire to see justice done, often to his own detriment. The plot is gripping. Just when you think everything is worked out another corner is turned and off it goes again. I truly loved this book and I am off to buy another in the series. If you like authentic, character driven, historical suspense, I would say this book is a must buy.

This review has also been posted on Goodreads, Amazon UK and my personal blog.

Sometimes you can pick up a book in the middle of the series and not feel the need to go back and start at the beginning. However, when I began The White Feather Killer, I did feel a little lost as to the circumstances of DI Silas Quinn’s current status within the police department. He returns to New Scotland Yard, after an undisclosed illness to the realization that the Special Crimes Division has been closed. It is 1914 and war had been declared putting everyone’s nerves on edge. Anyone with the slightest ties to Germany is instantly suspect. DI Quinn is now tied to a desk, tasked with ferreting out supposed spies and enemies of Britain while his former team members have been dispersed through out the department. Felix Simpkins wants to escape his dominant, overbearing mother and join up. Unfortunately, he’s a coward. He attends a special service at the church of Pastor Cardew hoping it will give him the courage to enlist. As he leaves the church, he is approached by a young woman who hands him a dreaded white feather. The sign of cowardice. A body is soon found with a white feather placed within the mouth of the victim and a policeman is shot during the investigation. DI Quinn is restless and hopes that the investigation will not be botched by the current investigator who decides the murderer is of German descent and is determined to find someone who fits within his ideas. I have read many books that take place within the same time period as The White Feather Killer. This is the first that has really brought forth the underlying doubt and suspect that would have surfaced within Britain against the German population. Not just those that immigrated from Germany, but the descendants of those immigrants. He has dug down and showed many facets of prejudice and corruption within services that were put in motion to protect citizens. As this was my first sojourn into the world of Quinn, I found him to be very human. He doesn’t drink or depend on drugs, but he is emotional and has self-doubts. He’s not the hard boiled, gritty investigator of many novels. He is sure of his methods but when it comes to the fairer sex, he is shy and clumsy. In this volume, Morris doesn’t muddy up the story with descriptive details of sex and dirty deeds. He does give us a look at London at a time when the lives of its population were turned upside down and weren’t sure what was going to come their way the next time the sun rose.

This is the fifth in the Silas Quinn series, following on from: Summon Up the Blood, The Mannequin House, The Dark Palace and The Red Hand of Fury. To be honest, I don’t feel that this series has managed to be as successful as it should be – if you like interesting, character driven, historical mysteries, then this is a series you should investigate.

It is summer, 1914, and DCI Silas Quinn has returned to Scotland Yard, following his last investigation, that led, indirectly, to the closure of the Special Crimes Unit; which Quinn used to run, along with faithful Sergeants, Inchball and Macadam. Used to his own department, and to his independence, Quinn finds himself desk bound at CID. To add insult to injury, he has also had to leave his comfortable lodgings, and is uncomfortably housed at a disreputable hotel.

Men are rushing to join up and those who are not immediately rallying to join the troops, find themselves in danger of receiving the white feather of cowardice. When a young girl is murdered, after giving a man a white feather, even the police are keen for the murderer to be German. The desire to blame the enemy is embraced by almost everybody. Quinn, however, feels that the answer to the crime has darker, closer reasons.

This is an interesting addition to the series and I hope we won’t wait too long for the next book. I am very fond of Quinn, and the cast of characters who surround him. I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, for review.

4 stars

It is 1914 in London and Britain has declared war on Germany. Young men are joining up to serve. The white feather has become a symbol of cowardice. Thus anyone who receives a white feather is shamed and cosidered a coward.

Felix Simpkins is a young man who this reader had a very difficult time liking or feeling any empaty with. He lives under his mother's thumb, is afraid of many things and is generally unlikeable.

When a murder occurs, and the victim is decorated with a white feather DI Silas Quinn is assigned the case. He is rather upset with the recent reorganization of the police department that happened during his absence.

The circumstances of the murder seem to point to the victim being a spy. This was a time in history when people were seeing spies everywhere. There was a special suspicion of German immigrants.

DI Quinn has his hands full with this case. Is the woman truly a spy, or is her murder a cover-up for something more sinister and far closer to home?

This is a well written book with an instructive slant on living in Britain in 1914. It was a difficult time in which the enemy was perhaps not as straightforward as was the second war with Germany beginning in the 1930's.

I want to thank NetGalley and Severn House/Severn House Publishers for forwarding to me a copy of this interesting book for me to read, enjoy and review.

An interesting take on the white feather theme as an alternative type of WWI story. I enjoyed reading this book and would recommend it to those who enjoy reading about this time in history.