Death at the Altar by Donna Gowland – Review
Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin (Mary Shelley) is in the grip of a deep depression. Her baby daughter has died. The baby’s father Percy Bysshe Shelley is too preoccupied with the literary life to provide Mary much solace. Her stepsister Claire Clairmont has her own designs on Percy, but soon gets distracted by a campaign to woo Lord Byron. And life in early-nineteenth century London is generally bleak and difficult, especially for young women who have given birth to the child of a married man. Percy was still married to his first wife Harriet Westbrook at this point.
So when Mary receives an invitation to the wedding of an old school friend in Scotland, Percy thinks a break from London will do them both good. However, violence and tragedy seem to stalk Mary and Percy wherever they visit. The phrase shotgun wedding had, most likely, not yet entered the lexicon, which is a shame as a country parson is shot dead at the wedding Mary and Percy attend and such events are not supposed to happen in polite society. The culprit is quickly found hanged, presumably a suicide brought on by overwhelming guilt. But Mary knows that the mystery is only just beginning to unravel.
Regular readers of this blog will know that I am a big fan of the ‘Mary Shelley Investigations’ series. Donna Gowland knows her literary detective well. Gowland’s expertise on both Mary Shelley and the times she lived through is brought to vivid life on the page. Death at the Altar is the third book in the series and the best so far. My advice is to buy and read all three volumes in the series. Gowland writes some of the best gothic fiction being published today.
The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk, reviewed for Ellroy Reads
Happy new year, dear readers! I hope you have enjoyed the holiday season. 2026 promises to be an important year for James Ellroy with the release of his new novel Red Sheet in July. This will be a very active website over the next twelve months as I cover all Ellroy and crime fiction related-news.
Today, I bring you the latest episode of Ellroy Reads in which I discuss Herman Wouk’s classic novel of World War Two – The Caine Mutiny. Ellroy has always admired Wouk’s novel about life in the US Navy as one of the greatest studies of how people behave under intense pressure. I hope you enjoy the episode and remember to subscribe to the show.
Wildcat Play by Helen Knode, reviewed for Ellroy Reads
For the latest episode of Ellroy Reads I look at Wildcat Play, Helen Knode’s excellent sequel to her debut novel The Ticket Out. In The Ticket Out, Knode’s heroine Ann Whitehead is a film critic working in Los Angeles whose life is turned upside down by a murder. In Wildcat Play Whitehead has quit her job as a critic and is now working in the oil industry in the San Joaquin Valley, but it’s not long before another murder drags her back into a world of danger and intrigue.
This is the final episode of Ellroy Reads for the year. The show will return in January 2026. Thank you to everyone who has supported the show and this website this year. Subscribe to the show if you haven’t already. 2026 is going to be an epic Ellroy year!
Stainless by Todd Grimson – reviewed for Ellroy Reads
On January 29th of this year, the author Todd Grimson died as the result of a bizarre traffic accident. He was only 73. Grimson’s premature death deprived American literature of a daring and transgressive writer. In the latest episode of Ellroy Reads I examine Grimson’s fascinating life, his friendship with James Ellroy and his classic vampire novel Stainless.
Warrant for X by Philip MacDonald – Ellroy Reads
In this week’s episode of Ellroy Reads I discuss Philip MacDonald’s classic mystery Warrant for X. James Ellroy read Warrant for X in 1965, the same year Stephanie Gorman was shot to death in her family home in Los Angeles. I discuss the unusual connection between Warrant for X and the murder of Stephanie Gorman. Ellroy investigated the Gorman homicide and wrote about it in his GQ article ‘Stephanie’.
I hope you enjoy this mix of literary analysis, true crime investigation and stories from Ellroy’s incredible life. If this type of content is your sort of thing, consider subscribing to the channel.
The Lost Girls by Donna Gowland – Review
The Mary Shelley Investigations series began earlier this year with the publication of the excellent The Missing Wife. I interviewed author Donna Gowland about the book and she described what drove her to create a literary series in which Mary Shelley (Mary Godwin to be precise as the novel is set prior to her marriage to Percy Shelley) solves mysteries by playing amateur detective. Gowland is extremely knowledgeable about Mary Shelley and this expertise ensures that the latest addition to the series, The Lost Girls, is rich in period detail.
The story begins roughly where The Missing Wife left off. Mary and her lover Percy Shelley are back in London and find themselves ostracised from polite society as they are living together in sin. Percy is still married to his estranged wife Harriett. He spends his time in the taverns, drinking and whoring his days away. Mary is determined to find a way out their squalid living conditions. But soon enough, she finds herself embroiled in another deadly mystery. Mary’s stepsister Claire Claremont, who Marys suspects is a rival for Shelley’s affections, claims to have witnessed the violent death of a girl. But when Mary and Percy arrive at the scene of the crime the corpse has vanished. Shortly thereafter, more girls are reported as missing. There are shades of Robert Louis Stevenson’s ‘The Body Snatcher’ in the storyline and Gowland takes Mary to heart of the British medical establishment and the scientific advances that were being made at the time. I was fascinated by one character, Dr James Barry, in particular. These scenes shed light on how Mary may have been inspired to write her greatest work – Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus.
The Lost Girls works as both a fine period novel and as an intricate Gothic mystery. Gowland has brought Mary Shelley alive in these novels. Now I can’t wait for the third volume in the series.
Ellroy Reads – LA Confidential: The Screenplay
Many viewers have been waiting for this episode of Ellroy Reads. Our text this week is LA Confidential: The Screenplay by Brian Helgeland and Curtis Hanson. I use the screenplay as a conduit to explore Ellroy’s changing opinion of the film over the years, and give some behind the scenes stories about the making of the movie. These stories haven’t been shared before and some of them are hair-raising. If you are the type who worships Hollywood celebrities then I should probably add a trigger-warning!
The video cut-off right at the end so I have uploaded this episode in two parts. The latter part is mostly the tail-end of the episode.
Thank you for watching and don’t forget to subscribe to the channel.
Ellroy Reads – The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
There are certain books which are timeless. The stories they contain are so compelling they will never cease to entertain and inform. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas is one such book. James Ellroy read it as a teen on the advice of his father and thought it was heavy-going, but over the years he has acknowledged it as a classic tale of revenge. This is the focus of today’s episode of Ellroy Reads.
Enjoy the show, and remember to share, like, comment and subscribe to the content.
Ellroy Reads – Margaret Thatcher The Authorized Biography Volume Three: Herself Alone
For the latest episode of Ellroy Reads I talk about a book which was also the last gift I gave to James Ellroy. Knowing Ellroy to be a conservative, I gave him a copy of Charles Moore’s biography of Margaret Thatcher for his 74th birthday.
I use the book as a conduit to discuss Ellroy’s politics and how they have changed over the years. For many readers and critics, Ellroy’s views are problematic and yet he still manages to be the darling of the liberal left. The most prominent left-wing newspaper in the UK, The Guardian, has never been shy in showering Ellroy with praise. As someone who has spent a lot of time with Ellroy, I can say that his views might surprise you. They frequently surprised me.
I hope you enjoy the episode. Remember to subscribe to the channel and share with your family and friends, whether they be on the left, right or everything in between.
The Venetian Vase 