📖 Book Review ~ Sizar by Susan Grossey

Cambridge Hardiman Mysteries #2

Thanks to the author for my copy of this book

In Cambridge in the late Regency, Gregory Hardiman is learning the ropes as a university constable. But his quiet life is about to be disrupted by the gentlemanly sport of horse-racing and the lengths people will go to to win...

In the spring of 1826, ex-soldier Gregory Hardiman is settling in to civilian life as an ostler and university constable in Cambridge. When an undergraduate is found hanged in his rooms at St Clement’s College, the Master asks Gregory to find out what could have driven the seemingly happy young man to take such a drastic step. A second death at the same college suggests something altogether more sinister, and Gregory sets out to discover whether a love of illegal gambling on horse races could lie at the heart of the tragedies.

In the second of the Cambridge Hardiman Mysteries, Gregory finds himself on shifting sands – torn between family ties in Spain and the possibility of new affections in Cambridge.

If you're drawn to atmospheric Regency mysteries and immersive historical detail, you should make Gregory's acquaintance.

📖 My Review..

In his role as a Cambridge University Constable Gregory Hardiman often finds himself in the midst of unruly students but when he is called to investigate the suspicious death of one of the undergraduates he finds that there is far more to this mysterious death than even he could have imagined. This second book in the series offers just as good a mystery as the first and with inexplicable deaths occurring and a link to an illegal gambling ring, Hardiman must use his skill and determination, both qualities he has in abundance, to discover why the undergraduates at Cambridge are meeting such untimely deaths.

There is much to be appreciated in starting a series from the beginning as that way you get to know the characters so much better and certainly in this second book I feel that I have learned rather more about Hardiman’s character, his strengths and weaknesses and his unfailing steadfastness is to be commended. His unique ability to get right into the minutiae of the case is never doubted however, it’s just as fascinating to try to second guess the many twists, turns and red herrings which the author intersperses throughout, as it is to learn more about Hardiman’s role as Ostler at the Hoop Inn, his family connection to Spain and even to a possible romantic attachment at home in Cambridge.

With the author’s usual flair for bringing history alive, nineteenth century Cambridge would be instantly recognisable to anyone who once walked its streets. The research is meticulous, so much so, it feels as if you have been transported back to 1826 and sit companionably with Hardiman as he eats his, sometimes unappetising, supper with his landlady, Mrs Jacobs, enjoys a tankard of strong ale in the Angel or shares challenging vocabulary conundrums with his friend, Geoffrey Giles, the bookseller.

Spending time with Gregory Hardiman in Sizar has been a real pleasure and I look forward to many more companionable hours spent in his company in the next three books in this five book series of historical mysteries.

About the Author

Susan Grossey is the author of the successful Constable Sam Plank series of historical novels set in the early part of the nineteenth century. Sizar is the second novel in the Cambridge Hardiman Mysteries, set in Cambridge in the 1820s and narrated by a university constable called Gregory Hardiman.

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