It's the mid-18th century in rural Northern England, and coroner Titus Cragg is called out to investigate a murder at a farm. He's not amused to find that the victim is... a prize boar. But next day he's summoned there again, and this time it's the famer who's been shot - in the boar's sty.

That's just the first in a series of murders (no more animals are harmed in the making of this book, you'll be relieved to know) which have Cragg and his colleague Dr Luke Fidelis stumped. A meeting with a shifty lawyer, Ambrose Parr, reveals the perfect motive for the murders: a tontine, a scheme in which a group of people invest a sum of money which will all go to the last one of them alive. But who, of the (dwindling) list of suspects, is the murderer?

There's plenty of history and insight into the very questionable law of the period, and the story's told with a lightness of touch and flashes of humour. I found it an enjoyable read for the most part, and I didn't see the twist at the end coming. But it does lag in places, unfortunately. This book is part of a series and perhaps it would have grabbed me more if I'd been more familiar with the characters and world it's set in.

Robin Blake finds County Coroner Titus Cragg in 1744 examining a series of suspicious deaths of members in a tontine along with his colleague Dr. Fidelis. From the death of a prize pig to the shooting of his master, this intriguing tale lays bare crimes and injustices for those of low social status. Get ready for justice in the coroner's inquests and the unfair courts. Good tale with justice handed out after the fact not by the courts.

First Sentence: It was on a breezy Monday in April 1746 that I received a letter from a townsman of Ormskirk.

A letter from a townsman of Ormskirk sends County Coroner Titus Cragg, and his friend Dr. Luke Fidelis, to the farm of Richard Giggleswick. There they find Geoffrey, the farmer's potent boar, has been shot. Several days later, they are asked to return but now it is Giggleswick who is dead; murdered. They discover Giggleswick was one of six people involved in a Tontine; an agreement where each member contributed an amount of money to be claimed by the last surviving member. The one person who did not join was attorney Ambrose Parr.

One learns about a great deal about the legal system of the 18th century. This was a time when the accused had no right to subpoena witnesses, have their lawyers argue the case for them, or testify on their own behalf. This was not a time when justice was served, especially for the poor. The period is presented in stark and painful accuracy.

There are a fair number of characters, several of whom, though relevant, are dead before the story even begins. One that had the potential for being interesting, Giggleswick's daughter, is shuffled off almost immediately. Of our two protagonists, Titus comes across as weak and rather incompetent. He leaves his judgment up to the intuition of his clerk. Rather than conducting a full investigation, he is influenced by the opinion of others until it's too late. Fidelis, especially for a doctor, is bigoted and judgmental, willing to cost a life.

The period is well conveyed, from the descriptions to the dialogue which has a sense of the time without being uncomfortable. In general, a plot involving a tontine can be suspenseful, but the author waited late into the story before creating any real sense of grave danger. Although there are several twists, they aren't effective enough to save the story.

"Secret Mischief" is a muddled, rather unpleasant take on "And Then There Were None" with the protagonists being annoyingly weak, and the ending patently absurd.

SECRET MISCHIEF (Hist-Cragg/Fidelis-Lancashire, England-1746) – Poor
Blake, Robin – 7th in series
Severn House, May 2021, 256 pp

Secret Mischief is the 7th Cragg & Fidelis mystery by Robin Blake. Released 4th May 2021 by Severn House, it's 256 pages and is available in hardcover and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.

These are very well written, immersive, believable historical mysteries set in the mid 18th century featuring a county coroner (Cragg) and his investigative partner, physician Fidelis. The plots are complex and twisty and full of intricate misdirection and parallel subplot threads which wind together more tightly as the book progresses. The author skillfully weaves fiction around a framework of real historical events and characters. At times it's delightfully unclear where fiction shades over into reality, and I really liked that about this book.

Although it's the 7th book in the series, it works well as a self-contained standalone. There are, admittedly, some small background character developments presented in this book which will spoil some of the background history from the earlier books, but there's nothing major, and readers who read the series out of order won't find their enjoyment significantly diminished.

The language and dialogue are fairly true to period. The writing is clean and there are no graphically violent on-page scenes, however, it should be said that there is one scene in open court with some graphic descriptions of a sexual nature (which some readers might find objectionable). The deus ex machina climax did cause some internal eye-rolling, but it segued seamlessly into the resolution satisfyingly and I wasn't dissatisfied overall.

This series continues to develop very well with an unusual depth and compassion in the protagonists alongside a perceptive, sometimes humorous and wry commentary on humanity in general.

Four and a half stars. Highly recommended for fans of historical mysteries.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

A Georgian anomaly!___________3.5

It all starts with a dead pig! April 1746, on a breezy April morning, Preston County Coroner Titus Gragg is called out to a neigboring village to investigate a murder.
Much to his disgust the body turns out to be pig farmer Richard Giggleswick‘s prized animal! We have a boar assassination! The End!
That however was never to be the end. The very next day Titus finds himself with Dr. Luke Fidelis journeying once more to Chimneystacks Farm to investigate the same farmer’s demise. Their discovery process takes them onto Liverpool to consult with Ambrose Parr, Farmer Giggleworth’s lawyer and man of business.
A missing paper is alluded to by a frail, possibly demented mother
More truth than fiction, this turns out to be a paper labelled Tontine Fund—whatever that might be? signed twenty years prior!
Ah! and when they do realize what it is, the situation looks, as Fidelis says, ‘a ready-made list of people who may have shot Richard Giggleswick.’
As always it takes me a chapter or so to settle into the rytmn of a Cragg and Fiselis novel, but it’s not long before I’m wondering how things will play out—which they do—even if the pace is slower than I’d reckoned on.

A Severn House (Canongate Books) ARC via NetGalley
(Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.)

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, Severn House for this Advanced Reader Copy and the opportunity to review “Secret Mischief” by Robin Blake, the seventh in the Cragg and Fidelis series. All opinions are my own. This one is set in 1746.

Cragg is called to the scene of a crime – a dead pig. He tells the man he cannot help him discover the culprit. He thinks that’s the end of it. It is not. The next time he is called to the same place it is to view the body of the pig’s owner. Dr. Fidelis is called in, and believes that someone has tried twice to kill the farm owner, and finally succeeded. Thus begins “Secret Mischief,” with our two protagonists, Coroner Titus Cragg and his friend, Dr. Luke Fidelis hot on the trail of murder with a pecuniary background.

You’ll want to look up what a Tontine is, to better educate yourself as to why it might be a motive for killing. And there’s a lot of that going around, in “Secret Mischief.” The pace is leisurely, but that befits the time and place; we are in Georgian England, after all. Manners and class are important, and they are in abundance in this book.

An excellent investigation takes place throughout, including a demonstration worthy of a modern-day CSI. We also find out how trials were conducted back in the day. Guilty before innocent was the norm. That’s part of the story here, too.

The Craig’s family life is examined, as it has been in every book. And Dr. Fidelis is much mentioned – there’s a lot going on there, too. In fact, the middle of the book lags somewhat. But this is offsite by the scenes of life in Georgian England, and the fully fleshed, interesting characters that populate the pages.

The author gives us a twist, an exciting escape, and a resolution to the case, including an epilogue – in verse – that explains it all, gentle reader. “Secret Mischief” is well done, cleverly plotted, albeit not as entertaining as others in the series have been, I found. Still, you’ll learn things, and that’s always a point in favor of any historical mystery.

I like this series and loved this new novel.
It's as well written and gripping as usual, I was happy to meet again the fleshed out and interesting characters, and the historical background is vivid.
The solid mystery, full of twists and turns, kept me guessing.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

1746 Coroner Titus Craft is once again sent to Chimneystacks Farm to investigate a death, this time taking with him his friend Dr. Luke Fidelis. The investigation exposes a Tontine Fund of which the victim was a member. So who will be next. Is this the motive, and who is the guilty party.
An enjoyable and well-written historical mystery, with some likeable characters. The book can easily be read as a standalone story.
An ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

A new Cragg and Fidelis mystery from Robin Blake is always an event, so thank you, Severn House, for the review copy. For those who have yet to meet this pair of 18th century investigators, here’s a quick heads-up. We are in the mid 1700s, in Lancashire, and King George II has not long since led his army in the field to defeat the dastardly French at The Battle of Dettingen. Titus Cragg is the County Coronor, and lives with his wife and son in Preston. His friend Luke Fidelis is a local doctor who is much admired by his patients, but viewed as highly suspect by some of the older medical fraternity in the area. This is the seventh in the series, and you can read my reviews of of a couple of the earlier novels on my website.

As ever, murder is the word, and a series of deaths in and around the town of Omskirk are linked to an archaic form of business plan for raising money, known as a Tontine. The investment plan was named after Neapolitan banker Lorenzo de Tonti and, to put it simply, was a pot of money where a number of people contributed an equal sum. The money would either be invested, with interest paid to the members, or used to fund capital projects. As time went on, and investors died, the fund became the property of the remaining members, until the last man (or woman) standing hit the jackpot.

Sounds like a good excuse to bump off a few people? Doesn’t it just! The first victim is, comically enough, a prize porker called Geoffrey. When Cragg is called to examine the corpse he thinks his time is being wasted, but when the late pig’s owner – one of the Tontine members – is shot dead a few days later, Cragg realises that the pig took a bullet aimed at his owner, and the shooter came back to finish the job.

One by one the Tontine signatories come to sticky ends: one is, apparently, hit by the sail of a windmill; another is found dead on Crosby beach, apparently drowned, but Luke Fidelis conducts a post mortem and finds that the dead man’s body has been dumped on the seashore. Things become even more complex when a reformed ‘lady of the night’, now a maid, is accused of pushing the poor woman into the path of the windmill sail. Cragg is convinced she is innocent, but faces an uphill struggle against a corrupt judge.

Not the least of the charms of these books is the description of Luke Fidelis as a medical man who questions existing – and faulty – medical procedures. There is a melancholy moment when he examines the young daughter of one of Cragg’s relatives, and finds that she is suffering from Consumption and is terminally ill. ‘Consumption’ is, obviously, archaic, but so descriptive of a disease that did, until relatively recent times, almost literally consume its victims.

Titus Cragg gets to the bottom of the mystery eventually, of course, even the investigation has his ship sailing dangerously close to members of his own extended family. Off at a slight tangent, I do love books with a map as part of the frontispiece. What was good enough for the Macmillan editions of Thomas Hardy’s novels is plenty good enough for Robin Blake, too. Another left-field thought: the Cragg and Fidelis tales occupy the same geography as the excellent Henry Christie novels by Nick Oldham – just a few centuries earlier.

Secret Mischief is addictive, superbly evocative of its period and, most importantly, a bloody good crime story. Also – and I can’t remember a novel doing so in a long time – it features a cricket match as part of the plot! It is published by Severn House and is available now..

What a delight to find a new historical mystery series with six previous novels to explore. Set in England in 1746 the main characters are County Coroner Titus Cragg and his physician friend Luke Fidelis. And how nice it was to find an author who allowed his characters to have travel and distance issues because of the time period but who didn't have them on the road traveling for what seemed like forever and either parched from heat or drenched from rain. A distance of twenty miles was covered on horseback in a portion of one morning - how refreshing to just get on with the story instead of turning travel into a character. Sorry, my soapbox intrudes at times.

Titus Cragg is called to the town of Ormskirk for the second time in a few days, this time to investigate the death of a local farmer. The cause of death didn't need Dr. Fidelis to proclaim it, but what about the second bullet wound? From this point on this investigation only becomes more complicated as a motive is finally found and yet who profits from the killing? A complicated legal situation is in place and Cragg and Fidelis need investigative skills to work through all the questions surrounding murder.

I thoroughly enjoyed this story and the way past involvements opened up more and more to reveal the truth behind the murder. These characters are made to act as normal people and each was a treat to get to know. I'm sincerely glad there are more of these books for me to explore because this investigating duo has grown on me with this novel.

Thank you to NetGalley and Canongate Books Severn House Publishing for an e-galley of this novel.

My thanks to Robin Blake, Canongate Books and Net Galley for the ARC of SECRET MISCHIEF.
How could I have missed the first six books in this series! I'm so excited to read the others as I absolutely loved this novel...so much in fact I was disappointed when it ended. Titus, Fidelis and Elizabeth, a fab mix of historical fiction and modern thinking. I'll be searching out the others for sure. 5 super stars.

Secret Mischief is the seventh book in Robin Blake’s Cragg & Fidelis historical mystery series, but it really doesn’t matter if you haven’t read the previous six books. The author introduces Titus Cragg, a lawyer and coroner, along with Dr. Luke Fidelis, Cragg’s friend who examines the bodies. The current mystery is set in 1746 in England, at a time when accused had to prove their innocence because they were presumed guilty.

A farmer, Richard Giggleswick, sends for Cragg to come to Chimneystacks Farm. Cragg is furious when he learns the man wants him to hold an inquest for his prize boar who was shot to death. Two days later, though, the constable asks Cragg to return to the farm. Giggleswick was shot and killed at the same spot as his pig. Cragg can only assume that the farmer was the target in the first place. He’s ready to hold an inquest, and informs Constable Pickering that the motives were love, money, or pride.

Once Cragg meets Ambrose Parr, he suspects the motive is money. Parr, a lawyer and Giggleswick’s man of business, tells Cragg about a tontine. Over twenty years earlier, seven young people agreed to put money in a pot, with the survivor to take it all. Parr drew up the legal agreement, and the dead farmer was one of the members of that group. As Cragg investigates, he finds several have died, and in the course of the next few months, several more will meet unexpected endings.

While Cragg tries to do proper investigations and inquests, he’s blocked at every turn by either Parr or a judge related to one of the surviving participants in the tontine. Cragg tries so hard. He wants to think good of people, while Dr. Fidelis is much more cynical. But, it’s Fidelis who uncovers the killer, and provides a surprising conclusion.

I have to say that Secret Mischief is quite slow-paced. Readers who enjoy historical and legal details may appreciate it. If you’re looking for a fascinating book about a tontine, though, I’d recommend a 1955 novel that’s out-of-print, but you might be able to pick up a copy someplace. Thomas B. Costain wrote an enormous novel, The Tontine. It was one of my father’s favorite books. It’s a riveting account of two families influenced over several generations by a tontine. It’s worth finding, if you can.

Sumptuous Historical Mystery.....
Sumptuous historical mystery packed full of period detail and description and with more than a fair dollop of intelligent humour and banter. 1746, when County Coroner Titus Cragg is called out to examine a body he becomes drawn into a bizarre murder case. Nothing is ever quite as it seems. Precise plotting and perfectly drawn characters bring the case to life.

A new Cragg & Fidelis mystery is always a call for celebration but this time around, Robin Blake has surpassed himself by offering us a scrumptious & devilish historical whodunit. It's 1746, and while the Scottish Jacobite Army is being trounced by the British in the vicinity at Culloden, Dr. Luke Fidelis & coroner Titus Cragg are trying to untangle and resolve the murders and the mayhem that ensues, behind a 20 years old investment plan for raising a capital that involves 7 friends. The famous "Tontine", also called a mortality lottery...Written with panache, ribaldry and humour (the duel between Luke Fidelis and the useless Captain Garland had me in stitches) this wonderful historical novel will take you back in time, in mid 18th century Lancashire with the help of the zaniest cast of characters I have encountered so far this year. Highly recommended and please without moderation!

Many thanks to Netgalley and Severn House for allowing me to obtain an ebook version of this book before its scheduled release date

Very enjoyable and intelligent mystery read! Taking place in 1746, Coroner Titus Cragg and Dr. Luke Fidelis work together to solve the murder of a farmer found dead at his farm, by the pigsty. This was a relaxing, pleasant tale, unwinding slowly as the mystery deepens and more people are involved than originally thought. The element of humor and small talk as the two visited various places for clues made it feel as if you were more than of a participant than an audience, along with the many townspeople interviewed and questioned. No stone was left unturned. The scenery and times were very descriptive and detailed. I savored this over a few days, and consistently looked forward to next time opening the book to peruse a few more chapters. The characters were likable and some quite quirky, and added to the general appeal. The ending was both surprising and satisfying. Highly recommend.
Thank you to Netgalley, Robin Blake, and the publishers for an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.