Review: The Long and Short of It

The Long and Short of It by Jodi Taylor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

An anthology of seven novellas, six old and one new.

When a Child is Born
Max and her team have one small task - witness the coronation of William the Conqueror. What could go wrong? Let me list the ways!

A short story that makes you laugh and think (well a little bit)

Roman Holiday
t seemed so innocent, it always does with St Marys! Then there is Caesar, Cleopatra, assassination attempts and being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Christmas Present
As always Ms Taylor tells a Christmas story which doesn't play on THE Christmas story. A secret mission, all our favourite characters, lots of cups of tea and Boadicea - what more could you ask?

Ships and Stings and Wedding Rings
I love Jodi Taylor.

It's Christmas so obviously Max and Peterson and Markham have to steal Leon's pod and fix some terrible mistake before the Time Police get wind of it.

The St Mary's books always give me a mild form of Tourette's syndrome where I like to randomly splutter funny bits. So I give you in no particular order: Rupert, toilet roll, third place and fairy lights. You'll understand when you read it.

The Very First Damned Thing
A slightly more sombre novella than I have come to expect from Jodi Taylor. This is a background novella explaining, to some extent, how St Mary's first came into being and how Dr Bairstow created the core team. I still have lots of questions about what really happened in Cardiff and fighting back the fascists but this fills in some of the blanks.

A must-read for fans of the series but of limited interest for people who haven't read the other books.

The Great St Mary's Day Out
Review Not recommended for anyone who hasn't read at least one of the The Chronicles of St Mary's books but otherwise highly recommended.

Imagine what would happen if 15 of the miscreants, deviants and mildly insane staff of St Mary's go to Elizabethan London to watch William Shakespeare's Hamlet at the Globe theatre. Yes, it goes even worse. Basically, 13 out of 15 people get involved in brawls, almost get shipped to the New World and/or nearly kill William Shakespeare.

Four and a half stars, because not enough Leon and too short and not enough biting sarcasm but otherwise just like Mary Poppins, practically perfect in every way.

My Name is Markham
Do you want to know the true story of how King Alfred burnt the cakes? Then this is the book for you. Told from Markham's POV it, gives an insight into how the security team view the historians and the cruel and unusual punishments inflicted by Dr Bairstow.

Only recommended for those who have read previous books in the series, otherwise you won't understand the references to previous events. A must read for devotees of everything St Mary's.

A Perfect Storm
This new novella takes place at St Mary's where the team are in various degrees of rehabilitation after their last mission. Max has just two tasks: get one of their former colleagues to destroy his latest novel (about time travel) and get a film producer to sign a lucrative contract with St Mary's for historical research and/or costumes. But the producer is an ass and Max allows Professor Rapson to recreate Hannibal's fire setting techniques. There are foetid vapours, fake accents, superheroes, a pub crawl (on a Monday night) and film producers - just another day at the office for St Mary's

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