3.5* ( )

This is a political thriller set in England in 1936. A series of murders in and around Cambridge seem to be linked to the murky groups supporting (and in some cases opposing) the rise of the German Nazi movement. Thomas Wilde, an American history professor at Cambridge specialising in the Elizabethan secret service, is dragged into the affair and becomes central to hunting down the killers.

This is the first in a new series of thrillers from Rory Clements featuring Thomas Wilde and focusing on mid-20th century European espionage. The intellectual and upper middle classes are well represented and finely drawn. The politics of the day are well explained without becoming lectures. The action is very realistic and the tension and suspense are held to the very last.

I think the character of Thomas Wilde comes across as lacking agency - he has a lot done to him without him ever really driving the action - but this may be because this is the first in the series and is more focused on establishing him as a character than using him to drive the plot.

I enjoyed this book and will definitely seek out others in the series. ( )

The daughter of an upper class Englishman is found dead; a presumed drug overdose. Nancy Hereward's family and friends are shocked but not surprised. They knew she was a user.

Uncrowned King Edward VIII wants to marry the woman he loves. His family and friends are shocked. The King marrying a twice-married divorcee was out of the question. But not for some. There were people who wanted him to stay on the throne and were prepared to go to murder to achieve it.

The connection between these two events in 1936 are tenuous. But Rory Clements has weaved a complex tapestry that explains it and a lot more. Cambridge University history professor Thomas Wilde is determined to uncover the truth. Historians are investigators, looking for evidence to create a narrative that explains events. Wilde specialises in the Elizabethan era and the present. His involvement in the investigation of Nancy's death draws him into a web of intrigue. Despite the lack of evidence, he doesn't give up.

His task is complicated by the people with whom he deals not being what they seem. The Russian who has a huge amount of gold, the Times journalist whose media work isn't his only job and the handsome one-time German lover of Nancy all have their own agendas.

Corpus is the skilful combination of mystery and history. Mystery/thriller fans and people interested in the 1930s will love it. ( )

It is 1936, and while the Nazi regime’s cycle of oppression is already under way, Britain is lurching towards a constitutional crisis as opposition to Edward VIII’s liaison with American Divorcee, Wallis Simpson, gathers weight. Meanwhile, hunger marchers are descending on London, complaining of the poverty and unemployment ravaging much of the country.

Nancy Hereward is clever, beautiful and vivacious, and as this novel opens she is nervously undertaking a clandestine mission to deliver new identification papers to a Jewish scientist who is currently in hiding in Berlin. Unfortunately, Nancy Hereward is also a heroin addict, and back in her native Cambridge she is found dead in her flat, with her trademark syringe not far from her body. Her body was discovered by her close friend Lydia Thomas, who manages a small publishing company, and is a familiar figure on the many left of centre movements campaigning in Cambridge. Her next-door neighbour is Thomas Wilde, a lecturer in history and a Fellow of one of the older colleges, of which Nancy’s father had until recently been Master. Neither Tom nor Lydia believe that Nancy could be sufficiently careless to overdose, but are met with a conspiracy of silence when they give voice to their doubts.

On the same night as Nancy’s body is discovered, a prominent local landowner and his wife are brutally murdered in their beds, and Soviet slogans painted on the walls in their blood. It turns out that the man had been a noted supporter of Mosley. A couple of days later, another wealthy man, also a known sympathiser with Mosley and supporter of Hitler’s Germany, is murdered in similar circumstances.

And while all of this is going on, a boat is making it slow passage from Spain to the Suffolk coast carrying 750 tons of gold coins, initially intended to finance the purchase of arms to help the Republican campaign in the Spanish Civil War. Oh, yes, there is a bunch of White Russian fanatics raging around, ready to strike a blow for the concept of hereditary monarchy, and in the absence of a Tsar to support, they are prepared to intervene on Edward VIII’s behalf instead.

There are a lot of strands to this story, and I fear that the author is not sufficiently dextrous to manage them all properly. The story opens well, and the reader is quickly caught up in the action, but thereafter it just lurches from incident to incident in a hectic and headlong dash. The historical context is well drawn, but then squandered on a threadbare plot. ( )

It is 1936. The Spanish civil war is in full swing. A constitutional crisis looms as Edward VIII considers abdicating in order to marry the woman he loves. ‘Corpus’ by Rory Clements starts in Berlin as a young Englishwoman slips away from a friend to deliver a secret package to an unnamed man. Soon after, Nancy Hereward is dead. It is Nancy’s death which makes Cambridge history professor Tom Wilde ask questions, awkward questions which lead him to uncover conspiracy, lies, and pre-war positioning by Stalin and Hitler.
Wilde makes an interesting amateur detective. For one, he is American with a different reading of human nature; he sits on the fence and observes. For another, he is a professor of history; he analyses and looks for proof rather than opinion. And third, he has a cool motorcycle that he uses to cross the fens and investigate isolated country houses. The story starts rather slowly as Clements fleshes out various groups involved without letting the reader know how these people are connected, and who is traitorous. There is one out-and-out baddie, another who looks like a baddie but possibly isn’t, and a journalist who may or not be a spy or a traitor. The reader’s confusion reflects Tom Wilde’s muddle as he and Nancy’s friend Lydia, both disillusioned with official efforts to explain Nancy’s death, unite to investigate. I particularly enjoyed the description of Cambridge in the 1930s, college life, the city and surrounding fens. The portrayal of Cambridge dons is rather polarised, they all seem to be either fascists or communists, reflecting the political jockeying that went on pre-war.
The plot features twist upon twist as Wilde, and the reader, doesn’t know who to trust: is that policeman really honest, or in the pay of the fascists or communists? Perhaps there is one twist too many as Clements manipulates history to fit his plotline. I have a few minor quibbles, knowing that this is the first book of a series. Some of the loose ends were tied off conveniently at the end with minimal or no explanation. The gold plot was lightly sketched and lacked significance. And the budding romance seemed rather one-sided. A good read, not a great read, but it left me liking Tom Wilde and anticipating the next novel, ‘Nucleus’.
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