Thanks to Sapere Books for an ebook ARC. This period piece, set in the Dutch Golden Age, was wonderful from beginning to end. A very enjoyable, quick read. With a memorable MC, great descriptions of Delft, and the interesting minor characters, I was very pleased with this novel, and am anticipation the 2nd book. Master Mercurius is such a good character. Recommended.
#DeathinDelft #NetGalley

Delft 1671, a cold and snowy January. A young girl's body is found and two other young girls have disappeared. The mayor requests help in the search from a teacher at Leiden University - Magister Mercurius. As a teacher there he is an ordained Protestant minister but also retains the old faith by being an ordained Catholic Priest - this is important at a time when the two faiths are at odds with the Catholics being driven underground. It also helps hi with his enquiries at times although in this he always has to be careful. He makes methodical and meticulous investigations into the lives of the three girls, all very different from each other except for their red hair - ably assisted by the artist Vermeer and microbiologist (we'd call him now) van Leeuwenhoek - real people interwoven with the novel. An aspect that I found very satisfying. The sense of place felt real, the icy cobbles and dark gurgling waters of the wintry canals. He drew things to a satisfying conclusion with the two surviving girls being found safe and well. I look forward to reading other books by Mr Brack. Thanks to NetGalley and Sapero Books for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

I enjoyed this Dutch period piece.  I felt I had been transported back in time and was going through the action with the main character.  Looking forward to next from Brack.

I have been in Delft many times, and that is what first drew me to this title.  Graham Brack has written a wonderful period mystery which brings back some memories of walking the streets of the old city.  His accurate use of the tensions between the Catholics and the Protestants along with his addition of the endearing warm hearted Johannes Vermeer tie this mystery together into a wonderful read.

There is something very fulfilling about a book that you start without intending to actually see it all the way through in that sitting, but end up doing just that it.  This was one such book. I cannot point out the exact reason I enjoyed reading this book that quickly, the cause can be either the smooth narrative voice or even the length of the story. It is sometimes tiring to read something that is extra-long and packs too much detail in.

We meet Master Mercurius, who is officially ordained both as a catholic priest and a protestant one. This is set in a time where the former is required to stay in low profile. It is 1671, and in the town of Delft, there are three missing girls and only one of them was found dead. Master Mercurius is sent as a sort of investigator, and he does a pretty good job by asking the right questions and analysing the people who he crosses paths with. It is a very vibrant group of people and thought processes that he describes, which definitely brings to life a whole other time and place! The mystery itself was straightforward and works itself out in a very satisfying manner. Still, the highlight of the narration has to be the intertwining lives of people as well as how first impressions do not wholly reveal anyone's true colours. If you read this, it has to be for the investigative style rather than the plot and revelation of the mystery itself. 

I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.

The story is set in the beautiful city of Delft during the Golden Age of the Netherlands . Three eight year old girls are missing. One of them is found buried in a field just outside the city. The city council of Delft asks Master Mercurius of the University of Leiden to assist them in recovering the girls and solving this crime.
Mercurius is a far from perfect character. For one thing ,he is a protestant minister and an ordained catholic priest which is not always an easy marriage in the 17th century low countries. But he is very likeable, intelligent and disarmingly naive. He also meets some very interesting people among which Johannes Vermeer,the painter,and Antonie Van Leeuwenhoek,the founder of modern microbiology. And there is the city of Delft in the background of course.
You know with some books that as soon as you start reading them that they are going to be alright (or more than alright). Historical mystery fiction is not always a perfect blend between the different parts. Sometimes there is not enough historical data,sometimes there is just too much and the mystery story just disappears in a swamp (or in this case perhaps a canal) of titbits and not relevant facts. But here it really ticked off and all the boxes.
The setting,in the dead of winter,was both enchanting and a bit eerie. 
Sometimes it felt as if I was walking through one of Vermeer's paintings. The slippery cobblestones,the dykes,the wind mills and the endless sky hovering over the frost covered fields.
Perhaps one little remark,nothing to do with the quality of the story,but the frozen fields,icy sleet and biting wind makes this a perfect read for the winter.

If you like a crime novel and you enjoy an historical novel Death in Delft is a wonderfully satisfying read.  This is the first time I had read anything by Graham Brack and apparently he has a very successful series featuring Josef Slonsky, a Prague policeman.

That would explain why the sense of pacing in the novel is excellent and the main protagonist, Master Mercurius a worldly delight.  In some ways this is closest to a police procedural in that Mercurius gets to the truth via deductive reasoning.

The novel is a delight in the way it creates a sense of place, weather and what life might have been line in the 17th Century Netherlands.

Another way this above the regular cut of crime fiction is the sly humour in the book, the embedded history, and the asides he makes to the reader.  

An extremely enjoyable read.  I'm definitely going to read the author's other work.

Mecurious is an odd man. He is a Protestant priest in order to maintain a role at the University but secretly an ordained Catholic priest. He is dispatched to Delphi to find out what has happened to three missing girls, one of whom has been found dead. The book is set in the 17th century but much of it reads like a historical police procedural. I found his explanations of his religious beliefs when questioned to be intersting and unusual in a novel. The end is satisfying and this is a quick read.

Well this was hugely enjoyable. My first read by this author. To be honest the thing that drew me in, apart from the crime genre of the piece was the setting of Delft. I’ve been to the town many times as have friends there and was surprised to see it as a backdrop for a novel. 

This is a historical crime novel set in the 17th century. When 3 young girls go missing in Delft the mayor sends for help from the university of Leiden. The gifted cleric Master Mercurius is sent to investigate. 

Mercurius is the narrator of this book and a fantastic character to spend time with. Both witty and smart, he makes a great narrator and story teller. 

This book is as much about the characters as it is the story and crime. It’s an absolute joy to read. So many well written and vivid characters(a couple of them real life characters) make this an effortless read. 

The story itself is intriguing and the conclusion wholly satisfying. Well paced, the story is kept moving along but not at the expense of character development. There’s a lot packed into the 200+ pages here and you never feel short changed. 

Hopefully we see more in this series. I’m not particularly a fan of historical fiction but this one had me hooked. Highly recommend.

Many thanks to Netgalley, Sapere Books and Graham Brack for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

My thanks to Saphre Books for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘Death in Delft’ by Graham Brack in exchange for an honest review.

This is the first in Brack’s Master Mercurius Mysteries series set in late 17th Century Europe.

1671, Delft. Three young girls have been abducted close to their homes. One body has been found in a shallow grave and the others are still missing.

The people of the usually peaceful city of Delft are panicking and the mayor is desperate. He requests the help of Master Mercurius, a gifted cleric from a nearby university. Assisting Mercurius is local artist, Jan Vermeer, who uses his skills to sketch the crime scenes.

This was a very satisfying murder mystery and I felt that Brack brought his 17th Century setting vividly to life. 

The story is written by Mercurius in the form of a journal written later in his life to preserve his memories. He conveys this in his opening, addressed to ‘Whom It May Concern’: “I am vain enough to believe that at least some of my activities will be of interest to my fellow men, and if I have not glowed as brightly as others at least I have reflected some brilliant lights.”

I enjoyed the use of quite formal language as it added to the sense of reading an account from this period. In addition, I love the art of Vermeer and appreciated how elements of his works were integrated into the story. 

Having enjoyed this first outing for Master Mercurius, I am now looking forward to further books in this series.

Before I requested this book from Netgalley I had never read anything by this author. I was mainly attracted to this book by the historical setting in Delft, a town about 20km from my home town and my place of work for about 2 days a week. 

The protagonist of the book is Master Mercurius, a Protestant minister and scholar of the university of Leiden, who secretly is also a Catholic ordained priest. Mercurius, a fictional character, is called to Delft to investigate the disappearance of three girls. In this search he is assisted b some historical figures, like the painter Johannes Vermeer, the microbiologist and discoverer of the microscope  Antoni Van Leeuwenhoek and doctor / anatomist Reinier de Graaf, all famous sons of Delft who indeed lived in Delft during the same time.

I really liked the descriptions of historical Delft and while reading the book the old time came to life in my mind. The plot was interesting and I liked the way the author let all the historical characters play a part in the story.

Maybe not quite 4 stars, but I will give it the benefit of the doubt, Definitely going to give the next episode a try if it's going to be a series.

I received a copy of this book to read from the publishers Sapere Books. This is the first book I have read by this author and I look forward to reading some of the others that he has written.  This is a historical murder mystery but it is not a deep heavy historical novel which I appreciate. Our main character is Master Mercurius who is Cleric that is openly Protestant and secretly a Catholic priest. He is a delightful character with some humour to add to his investigation. This is a book that doesn’t include a lit of flowery and descriptive text but I could still picture the town and the people quite easily. It flows easily along like the canals and is what I would consider a light read. There is no active violence and while he is investigating three disappearances, I did not find it heavy. I enjoyed learning a bit about the area and the religious beliefs of that era. I look forward to reading more of this series if it continues. It was nice to not figure out right away who “dunnit”.

An old-fashioned and satisfying murder mystery, Death in Delft is set in the 17th  century and features Master Mercurius, a cleric sent to investigate the disappearance of three young girls. There are clues to follow, humour to keep things light and cameo roles from some well known historical figures. This is the first in a series and I look forward to reading about Master Mercurius in the future.

Graham Brack's new series is somewhat different from his popular Joseph Slonsky crime series. Set in 17th century Europe, it features a University academic, Master Mercurius. A learned man and catholic priest, he has also been ordained as a protestant minister to allow him to work at Leiden University while keeping his true faith secret. When the Rector is contacted by the Mayor of Delft asking if he could send him an educated man help look into the disappearance of three young girls, one of whom has been found dead, he decides to send Mercurius.

In his descriptions of the little town of Delft, Brack has conveyed an excellent sense of the period, the people and customs of the time, along with the dominance of Calvinism on people's lives. The freezing winter also adds to the atmosphere as Mercurius must walk everywhere encountering thick mud. In Delft he meets famous historical figures, scientist Antonie Van Leeuwenhoek, the Mayor's Chamberlain at the time, artist Jan Vermeer and physician Reineer de Graaf, all of whom assist Mercurius in their own ways.

Master Mercurius makes the perfect investigator, good natured and practical with a sense of humour, he logically approaches the problem, interviewing the parents and witnesses and thinking through several hypotheses. He also does not feel constrained by the law and metes out his own sense of fairness and justice. Brack's writing style suits this type of mystery very well, keeping it light while delivering an intriguing plot that is hopefully the first of many in this series.

Historical mysteries are so very different from the latest forensic novels what we have now, it's done with thought, and speaking to all whether bitchy or backstabbing, lots of walking because those days no transport of cars if you were lucky it was a horse or maybe a carriage as well.  Master Mercurius is sent for he is a cleric, he is also a catholic priest in secret and a protestant.  The tale starts with 3 children missing and a finding of a grave and the children all little girls approximately aged 8yrs all from different backgrounds. but they do have one thing in common, that is what Master Mercurius has to find out and as to how these little girls went on their own accord.  Because of the time within the 1600s, there is no camera's so how do you find out what these children look like and what do they have in common, the story does go into the background of these children and whose loved and who has to work at a tender age, and in those days children worked unless you were well to do but he does get help from an artist and draws a picture of one little girl so good is the likeness, but to get the people to talk was indeed challenging, because if you were born a bastard you didn't count, and alas in those times it seemed to matter. It did deem a little slow at times but did keep me entertained and I did work out the children's connection and near the end the reason, well thought out good characterization and locale description, not heard of the author Graham Brack before and will certainly have another go at his novels, and many thanks to Netgalley and Sapere Books for giving me a copy to review, wonderful story.

1671. Master Mercurius of the Leiden University is sent by request to Delft. The mayor wishes him to investigate the death of a young girl and the abduction of two more. Can he find them before they are also killed, and what is the motive behind the abductions. Is there a connection between the three girls and are more in danger.
An entertaining and well-written historical mystery with a likeable main character. A very good start to a new series.

I enjoyed this book very much.It's set in 17th century Holland and the main character,Master Mercurius, is a university lecturer and priest.When three young  girls disappear in Delft,and one is subsequently found dead,he is sent to investigate .In the course of his investigation he meets up with several real life characters,including Jan Vermeer,and we get some lovely snapshots of life in Holland at this time.
There is a lot of humour in the story with lots of funny little asides and observations ,as the story is told in the first person.The plot moves quite slowly but it held my attention and I was satisfied with the way it developed and was resolved.
This is the first in a series,and I would definitely read more  books featuring this character .Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC in return for an honest review which reflects my own opinions.

A well written short story. I liked the writing style and the setting. I would have liked it more if it had been a bit longer.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

I like historical crime/mystery fiction and thought this would be right up my street.....it was!  Gentle pace throughout and easy reading, nothing dark or too sinister.  I enjoyed it.

I am already a fan of Graham Brack's very entertaining Josef Slonsky series but this book is something different. 

Death in Delft is an historical mystery, set in the Netherlands in the 17th century. The MC is Master Mercurius, a man who contrives to be simultaneously a Catholic priest, a Protestant minister and a university lecturer. There are good reasons for this. He also promises to be an excellent part time detective.

The period setting is a time when some of the great artists and important scientists were at work and in the course of the story we meet Jan Vermeer and Van Leeuwenhoek. They also contribute to solving the crime. 

The book is written in Brack's easy style. He has a light touch with humour and creates some wonderful characters. The mystery is interesting and it is apparent that the author has spent a lot of time on his research into how the people lived and spoke. I hope he plans to use this research and continues to write this series!