Anglophiles who are historical fiction buffs will enjoy each of Cynthia Harrod-Eagles' Morland Chronicles. They tell the story of the Morland family of northern England as it struggles to prosper as the world changes. Characters are not static and are interesting. Historical facts are well researched and provide a real background for this ongoing story. Read them all!

I have all twenty one books of this series from volume one upto twenty one. I started collecting them approximately sixteen or seventeen years ago. The stories are great the characters are facinating, but it is her historical bases for these novels that is so brillant and makes them very readable. I look forward to every new episode of this story that comes out, and I am waiting with baited breath for the next installment.

They start off set in the Wars of the Roses and in the most recent book the American Civil War has just ended. Ms Harrod-Eagles must be one of the most talented and dedicated authors around as the historical detail is impeccable and when you couple that with the characters it makes for compulsive reading. These are my favourite books ever - I try to read the whole series at least once a year. What I love most about it is the way the author creates such strong female characters - Eleanor, Nanette, Annunciata, Jemima, Lucy, Charlotte, Mary - they're wonderful and I love reading about them. Volume 22 is coming out soon and I can't wait for it. The only bad thing about these books is having to wait a whole year for the next installment!

If anyone wants to email me to discuss the books go ahead - I don't know anyone else who reads them.

This is a wonderful addition to the Bill Slider/Atherton series. There are enough plot twists in it to keep anyone interested, and Ms. Harrod-Eagles' wit shines throughout the entire book. In this installment a gruesome murder of a music critic occurs in a television station bathroom, and Slider is on the trail of what turns out to be a religious zealot. Even though I had figured out the murderer about 1/2 way through, it did not take away from the story. There were still wonderful characters to meet and a spine-tingling ending to get to. This series is my current favourite and I can't wait to get to the next one.

Blood all over the bog!

Opinionated, egotistical music critic Roger Greatrex is found with his throat cut in a restroom at the BBC television studios minutes before he's due to appear on a music discussion panel show. Panelists and production people alike are comfortable with the notion that the poor chap committed suicide.

Detective Inspector Bill Slider, however, begins to doubt the suicide theory when he notices signs that the body has been tampered with. Trouble is, if the man was murdered just about everyone connected with the show had motive and opportunity, and few have alibis.

The author, obviously enjoying every twist in the tale, takes Slider, his crew - along with the reader - up and down the garden path, through the hoops and over the jumps before she allows us to solve the mystery.

Cynthia Harrod-Eagles. What a joy of a writer we have here! She writes a clear good-humored prose with a lively wit and presents us with principal characters, Slider and his love Joanna, and Atherton his sergeant, who share our own foibles and frustrations, aspirations and disappointments.

All five of the Bill Slider mysteries are beautifully plotted and the author always plays fair with her readers. She also understands the value of the narrative hook. DEATH TO GO, for example, opens with a character discovering a severed finger in his take-out fish and chips.

The outrageous puns that Harrod- Eagles sneaks into her stories are real bonuses for this reader. In BLOOD LINES, Joanna refers to Verdi's Requiem as 'The O.K. Chorale'. A mischievous writer, this one. Just take a look at her picture on the dust jacket of one of her books.

Mysteries aside, Cynthia Harrod-Eagles is an award-winning historical novelist with more than 45 books to her credit.

Whatever the genre, this fan suggests you get your hands on a bunch of our author's first editions. You'll not only have rewarding reading but you might also just turn a tidy profit down the line.

I started three British Procedural series about the same time. Although they are all good, I like Ms. Harrod-Eagles series the best. She is a wonderful writer. Her plots and characterization are tight, and the story usually has many surprises. Bill Slider is a wonderful character. He's sensitive, a bit tentative (especially in his personal life), and a darn good detective. This was an interesting book because the mystery looked quite simple at the beginning, but the further that Bill dug into it, the more sinister it became. It took him all the way up to the top with his suspicions. With the help of his partner, he manages to discover the truth. I highly recommend this series.

I can never put this author's books down until I've read the whole book (usually in one sitting). She always maintains a nice balance between humor and adversity and tops it all off with a wicked and logical plot. Harrod-Eagle is a wonderful mystery writer and I always look forward to reading her latest book. All of them (so far) have been excellent.

this was a wonderful novel,and if u have any interest in imperial russia you will be very interested in this book.

I adored this book! Emily is the last book in the Kirov saga, after Anna and Fleur, and in my opinion, the best of the trilogy. It takes place in the declining years of Imperial Russia, and the Revolution. If you liked Anna and Fleur, you'll love Emily!

Being the sequel to “The Oak Apple”, this novel is the fifth book in the MORLAND DYNASTY series.

Nine months after the fateful battle of Marston Moor, which Kit did not survive, his cousin Ruth gives birth to a daughter, Annunciata.

After the restoration of James II, Ruth sends her daughter, now a woman grown and bearing an uncanny resemblance to the Stuarts, to London where she becomes an instant sensation at Court.

Populated by engaging characters and vivid in historical detail, this book is as enjoyable as the preceding books in the series.

I thought both books in this saga were extremely good, and the descriptive passages about Tsar Nicholas 1's Russia are incredible. I was on holiday and searching for trashy novels in the local library to pass the time, and found these instead. A very welcome surprise! Does anyone know if there are any more books after 'Fleur', because if there are, I'll be buying them a.s.a.p

Quick, those of you who like English Procedural mysteries. You will not be sorry if you take up this series. I love Bill Slider. He is really appealing and a good detective too. In this book Slider is trying to adjust to life without his wife and two children, and also without his lady love Joanna. He isn't handling single life that well, but a murder occurs that takes his mind off his personal problems. The victim in this story was very unlikeable, but it happens that he is the conductor for Joanna's orchestra, so at least Bill gets to see her in connection with the case. Before the murderer is discovered, Bill Slider finds a whole closet full of secrets in the victim's closet. Ms Harrod-Eagles keeps you guessing until the end with this one. Another good installment in the series.

Following "The Founding", "The Dark Rose" and "The Princeling", this is the fourth book in the MORLAND DYNASTY series.

After many years of peace and prosperity, the reign of Charles I brings brutal civil strife to England.

With their century-long history of fighting for what they consider a just cause, the Morland family is drawn inevitably into the bloody fighting. While the oldest son Ralph brings home a Puritan wife, thus creating a schism between himself and his father, his younger brother Kit joins the Royalist cavalry under Prince Rupert. Before leaving for the war, Kit marries his cousin Hero, thus making a lifelong enemy of Hero's brother Hamil. When the two cousins meet during the war, albeit fighting on the same side, the death of one seems inevitable.

There are so many more stories in the book concerning the various branches of the Morlands that it is impossible to go into more detail. For the first time, the author includes Colonial America in the story, telling of the desperate struggle of a young couple to survive in a harsh New World.

The characters are believable and the stories, which have been well researched, are full of rich historical detail. I simply could not stop reading until I reached the last page and then I rushed on to the next book. I have read the first six books in the series and have not yet been disappointed.

Bill Slider keeps getting better and better and his police crew are also growing and maturing. They are half the fun in these stories. This series should be read in order because the development of the characters is so well laid out from one book to the next. In this book Bill is trying to find out who raped and murdered a well-known journalist. Don't forget to read the chapter headings because Ms. Harrod-Eagles is still in fine form with the puns. Even her titles have hidden meanings which you will discover when you find out who committed the crime this time. There are lots of red herrings and lots of interference by principles in the crime to help keep the murderer a secret until you near the end. Very good series! My only complaint is the way this book leaves the reader hanging at the very end regarding Bill's and Joanna's relationship. Now that Bill's divorce is final, things should be going smoothly for him and Joanna, but that unfortunately is not the case. We'll have to read the next one to keep up to date on that relationship.

This gal is the real goods, she delivers. Cynthia has the knack for reconstructed cliches and malaprops. There are lots of chuckles, out loud laughs and guffaws. For some of the fun you have to have a frame of reference, a history, of course, but you will not be disappointed even when you don't know what you are missing. The plot is nicely constructed and the conclusion credible, which is not true of much of the dreck on the market today.

I'm so glad I stumbled across Cynthia Harrod-Eagles, a prolific British writer I'm guessing not well known here in the colonies, despite her portfolio of some 30+ books counting both these mysteries and over two dozen historical romances. I've only tried Bill Slider so far, but he's a wonderfully low-profile hero in the style of Dick Francis' leading men: guys you either want to be like (men) or want to be with (women). That our author can get that feeling so consistently over eight stories is impressive, despite plots that are entertaining and often complex enough to bewilder til right near the end.

The series is best read in order, because part of the fun is following Bill's personal life as his somewhat flawed marriage is tested (uncharacteristically for our straight arrow) by a lovely violinist that turns his head. His unattached "playboy" sidekick Atherton has much the same "trouble" and the interplay between these two men makes interesting counterpoint to the thorough police work otherwise on display. Indeed, we have come to know and like many of the precinct's supporting players beside our leading men.

I'm guessing Harrod-Eagles has either real life experience in an orchestra or a close friend in one, because her description of the lives and times of the players, and the politics and "affairs" in the symphony, are right on. (If that's "just" the result of research, I'm astounded!) Maybe best of all, some personal dilemmas for Joanna (our musician) add some real kick to the story, right up to a cliff-hanger ending that can only be resolved in the next book -- hopefully being penned as we speak!

So "Blood" seems to have it all: a mystery and plot that leads us here and there right to the end; compelling developments between Bill and Joanna that make us worry; and story that entertains on almost every page. Sounds like 5-stars to me!!

"The Founding," set during the War of the Roses, is the first book of the prolific Moreland family saga. The story opens with the marriage of the ambitious young Eleanor Courteney to Robert Moreland, son of a wealthy York wool merchant. Eleanor, having lived among nobility for most of her life, believes the match is beneath her station and desperately opposes it. The first half of the book revolves around Eleanor's struggle to come to terms with her marriage. As the novel progresses, the family is swept up, for better or for worse, by the tumultuous political tides of the war.
"The Founding" was an enjoyable read, full of colorful descriptions of everyday life during mid-to late fifteenth century England. The author effectively blends her fictional creations with historical events by giving her characters minor roles in the royal households and in significant battles of the war. In doing so, these characters' adventures seem plausible in light of known historical events. The author has also included a family chart, which this reader found extremely helpful for keeping track of the prodigious Moreland family.
I have only a few minor criticisms (the reason for the four star rating). The large gaps in time that occur between chapters can be disorienting for the reader. I also thought the book would have been more satisfying had the author given her characters more depth, rather than emphasizing the same character traits repeatedly.
Despite these criticisms, I felt the book was highly entertaining and am eagerly looking forward to continuing with this saga.

The Foundling begins a series that blows the mind with its historical accuracy. Unlike many other authors, Harrod-Eagles shows the good side as well as the bad, and each character is different. A depiction of real life and what the women (and men) had to go through during that time is written in great detail.

A must read for history fans!!

This is a well constructed book. You really feel for the main charchter and her family. You can feel the force that drives her to make something of her husband and her family. She suffers a lot especially from unrequited love. This book is excellent and the historical detail and accuracy is amazing. This book, the first in the dynasty, was a great starting book. It made me want to go out and read all the others which were just as good.