Booklog 64/2024: Alexander Kent: Richard Bolitho, Midshipman - Bolitho #1 - Audiobook

Audiobook read by Michael Jayston
Set in 1772, this is the chronological-first Richard Bolitho book and takes up his story as a midshipman of sixteen (already with four years naval service) as he transfers to HMS Gorgon, a 74-gun ship of the line. The first person he meets is Martyn Dancer, a slightly junior fellow midshipman. The Gorgon is sent to West Africa to investigate the disappearance of ships in the region. On discovering an abandined ship, the City of Athens, they realise she's the victim of pirates who have looted the ship and killed the crew. Sailing on they come under the guns of a coastal fort occupied by pirates and the City of Athens is disabled. Bolitho and Dancer are sent on a mission to recover a British ship under the lead of Lt. Tregorren, who has a grudge against Bolitho's prestigious naval heritage. Bolitho and Dancer, with Tregorren disabled by drink, regain the boat and lead the powerful pirate vessel to its doom over rocky shoals. Tregorren takes the glory but the captain isn't fooled. Michael Jayston is an excellent reader.

Booklog 65/2024: Alexander Kent: Midshipman Bolitho and the Avenger – Bolitho #2 – Audiobook

Audiobook read by Michael Jayston.

Richard Bolitho, together with his Midshipman friend Dancer, are given leave for Christmas and head for the Bolitho family home in Cornwall. The discovery of a dead Excise Man and the arrival of Bolitho's older brother, Hugh, in his naval cutter Revenge, somewhat scuppers the festivities as Richard and Dancer are conscripted into the Revenge's crew to search for and apprehend a gang of wreckers and smugglers. Though this is told from Richard's point of view it's really his brother Hugh, hot-headed and tempestuous, who is the main mover and shaker in this story. Richard contributes the odd good idea and mostly does as he's told. Unlike the previous book, some of this adventure takes place on land, but the climax is another thrilling sea battle. Michael Jayston is an excellent reader.

Booklog 66/2024: Josephine Tey: The Daughter of Time – Alan Grant #5 – Audiobook

Original review from 2012
A policeman lies in a hospital bed nursing a broken leg and a king-sized beef about the fairness of life. A friend gets him interested in the mystery of Richard III and who really killed the princes in the tower. With the aid of a researcher to do the leg-work and unearth original sources he gradually solves the mystery and we learn as he learns. It's all pieced together as a police procedural and it makes fascinating reading. I'm convinced. It's a great example of how the winners write the history. Poor old Dicky 3, who by all accounts was an excellent if short-lived monarch, was very probably the victim of a fit-up by Henry 7 and his cronies. How it all happened and the conclusions drawn from original sources is really the heart of this book. It's not about the result, it's about the process.

Audiobook 22/6/2024

This is brilliantly read by Derek Jacobi. He brings out the story beautifully. Of course, since |I read this in 2012, Dicky 3 turned up under a car park in Leicester, proving that he did, indeed, have scoliosis, so the 'hunch back' image is not wrong, but despite his spinal condition, Richard was a good soldier, sword-wielding and armour-wearing. I still find this book fascinating, though very historically biased.