Monday, November 24, 2025

Review: The Secret Sauce


 

Birmingham, England, November 1944.

Chief Inspector Mason of Erdington Police Station is summoned to a suspicious death at the BB Sauce factory in Aston on a wet Monday morning in late November 1944.

Greeted by his enthusiastic sergeant, O’Rourke, Sam Mason finds himself plunged into a challenging investigation to discover how Harry Armstrong met his death in a vat containing BB Sauce – a scene that threatens to put him off BB Sauce on his bacon sandwiches for the rest of his life.

Together with Sergeant O’Rourke, Mason follows a trail of seemingly unrelated events until something becomes very clear. The death of Harry Armstrong was certainly murder, and might well be connected to the tragedy unfolding at nearby RAF Fauld. While the uncertainty of war continues, Mason and O’Rourke find themselves seeking answers from the War Office and the Admiralty, as they track down the person who murdered their victim in such an unlikely way.

Join Mason and O’Rourke for the third book in the quirky, historical mystery series, as they once more attempt to solve the impossible in 1940s Erdington.

Review

What a charming book by an accomplished writer! I became acquainted with MJ Porter in the Mercia series. I knew them to be a deft historical fiction author. I was delighted to discover that they also dabble in cozy mysteries. 

The Erdington Mysteries are well-written procedurals that follow the two main protagonists as they explore unusual mysteries in war-time England. While the stories may be "quirky," they are not silly. The atmosphere is gritty and real, well-grounded in the difficulties of the war and seriousness of the crimes. The stories are drawn well - there are plenty of clues and surprises to help keep any reader engaged. 


Purchase Link

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Secret-Sauce-incredibly-historical-Erdington-ebook/dp/B0F4PCVJWP

https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Sauce-incredibly-historical-Erdington-ebook/dp/B0F4PCVJWP

Author Bio – I’m an author of historical fiction and non-fiction (Early English (Saxon), Vikings and the British Isles as a whole before the Norman Conquest, as well as five twentieth-century mysteries), born in the old Mercian kingdom at some point since the end of 1066. Historical mysteries allow me to use such modern inventions as the telephone and the car, which is very exciting when I spend so much of my time worrying about feeding the horses my warriors usually ride.

I was raised in the shadow of a strange little building and told from a very young age it housed the bones of long-dead kings of Mercia, it’s little wonder my curiosity in the early English ran riot. I can only blame my parents!

I like to write. You’ve been warned!

 

Social Media Links – https://linktr.ee/MJPorterauthor



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Review: The Secret Sauce

  Birmingham, England, November 1944. Chief Inspector Mason of Erdington Police Station is summoned to a suspicious death at the BB Sauce ...