His account, rather, detailed the voyage from England (spoiler alert he was not a natural sailor) and the exploration of Port Phillip and Van Diemen’s Land.

Humphrey’s purpose on the boat was as Minerologist, though his correspondence has limited reference to the specimens he collected.

To order Love & Deception or The Tale of the Tailor and the Three Dead Kings go to Voyage to Port Phillip and Van Diemen’s Land with Governor Collins gives an account of Adolarius Humphrey’s journey from England to Port Phillip and Van Diemen’s Land, via letters he wrote to his family. Marsh’s mixture of derring-do and scholarship makes for a fun read and a suitably colourful supporting cast of rogues, turncoats and spies keeps the narrative hurtling along, even as graver points are made about the consequences of colonialism. The third in the series of Alec Marsh’s engaging historical mysteries, featuring the dashing, dipsomaniac duo of adventurer Ernest Drabble and journalist Percival Harris, sees the two head to the US in search of a stolen Native American artefact, only to discover a far more sinister conspiracy in the run-up to the second world war. He has adapted a medieval tale of the supernatural (which was transcribed from the Latin by MR James in 1922) his tight, chilling account of an unsuspecting tailor and the terrifying shenanigans in which he is embroiled compares favourably with James’s own ghost stories, the author’s grasp of historical detail giving it welcome verisimilitude. The Tale of the Tailor and the Three Dead Kingsĭan Jones is best known for his epic histories, which makes his first foray into fiction a surprising but effective change of direction. Hanning concentrates on the relationship between Philby and Eleanor Kearns and suggests that, for the most committed of traitors, there was never any competition choosing between his spouse and that most demanding mistress, the Communist party. The saga of the Cambridge spy Kim Philby might seem well-worn, but the investigative journalist James Hanning has eschewed a cradle-to-grave narrative in favour of concentrating on his espionage activities in Beirut in the 1950s, using fascinating new material he has unearthed.

The tailor and the three dead kings