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Monika Paniatowski #1
The Dead Hand of History
Meet Monika Paniatowski, an ambitious new DCI with everything to prove — and everything to lose.
Two severed hands. One newly promoted detective with her hands full.
Monika Paniatowski can’t wait to land her first case as detective chief inspector. And, as it turns out, she won’t have to.
On her first day, a woman’s severed hand is found in a leafy park.
Monika races to the scene, determined to stay one step ahead of the gutter press. They don’t like women, and they don’t like Poles, and it’s no secret they don’t think Monika is up to the job.
All the evidence points to Stan Szymborska, the victim’s downtrodden husband. He shares Monika’s heritage, and rumour has it, he had every reason to want his wife dead.
But Monika’s not so sure. Something tells her there’s more to this case than meets the eye.
She wants to trust her instincts. But is the powerful chemistry between her and the prime suspect leading her off track?
The clock is ticking to catch a ruthless killer . . .
Then a second severed hand is delivered straight to the newspaper.
Discover a brilliantly twisty mystery series set in the 1970s — when it was tough to be a woman in a man’s world.
Two severed hands. One newly promoted detective with her hands full.
Monika Paniatowski can’t wait to land her first case as detective chief inspector. And, as it turns out, she won’t have to.
On her first day, a woman’s severed hand is found in a leafy park.
Monika races to the scene, determined to stay one step ahead of the gutter press. They don’t like women, and they don’t like Poles, and it’s no secret they don’t think Monika is up to the job.
All the evidence points to Stan Szymborska, the victim’s downtrodden husband. He shares Monika’s heritage, and rumour has it, he had every reason to want his wife dead.
But Monika’s not so sure. Something tells her there’s more to this case than meets the eye.
She wants to trust her instincts. But is the powerful chemistry between her and the prime suspect leading her off track?
The clock is ticking to catch a ruthless killer . . .
Then a second severed hand is delivered straight to the newspaper.
Discover a brilliantly twisty mystery series set in the 1970s — when it was tough to be a woman in a man’s world.
305 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 1, 2009
273 people are currently reading
343 people want to read
About the author
Sally Spencer
80 books152 followersA pseudonym used by Alan Rustage.
Sally Spencer is a pen name, first adopted when the author (actually called Alan Rustage) was writing sagas and it was almost obligatory that a woman's name appeared on the cover (other authors like Emma Blair and Mary Jane Staples are also men).
Before becoming a full-time writer, he was a teacher. In 1978-79 he was working in Iran and witnessed the fall of the Shah (see the Blog for what it was like to live through a revolution). He got used to having rifles - and, one occasion, a rocket launcher - pointed at him by both soldiers and revolutionaries, but he was never entirely comfortable with it.
He lived in Madrid for over twenty years, and still considers it the most interesting and exciting city he has ever visited, but for the last few years he has opted for a quieter life in the seaside town of Calpe, on the Costa Blanca.
His first series of books were historical sagas set in Cheshire (where he grew up) and London. They were very popular with his English readers, but his American readers find the dialect something of a strain.
He has written twenty books featuring DCI Woodend (a character based partly on a furniture dealer he used to play dominoes with) and ten (so far!) about Woodend's protegé Monika Paniatowski.
His DI Sam Blackstone books are set in Victorian/Edwardian London, New York and Russia, and the Inspector Paco Ruiz books have as their backdrop the Spanish Civil War.
Alan is a competitive games player who likes bridge and pub quizzes. It is only by enforcing iron discipline that he doesn't play video games all the time.
He now lives on Spain's Costa Blanca.
Sally Spencer is a pen name, first adopted when the author (actually called Alan Rustage) was writing sagas and it was almost obligatory that a woman's name appeared on the cover (other authors like Emma Blair and Mary Jane Staples are also men).
Before becoming a full-time writer, he was a teacher. In 1978-79 he was working in Iran and witnessed the fall of the Shah (see the Blog for what it was like to live through a revolution). He got used to having rifles - and, one occasion, a rocket launcher - pointed at him by both soldiers and revolutionaries, but he was never entirely comfortable with it.
He lived in Madrid for over twenty years, and still considers it the most interesting and exciting city he has ever visited, but for the last few years he has opted for a quieter life in the seaside town of Calpe, on the Costa Blanca.
His first series of books were historical sagas set in Cheshire (where he grew up) and London. They were very popular with his English readers, but his American readers find the dialect something of a strain.
He has written twenty books featuring DCI Woodend (a character based partly on a furniture dealer he used to play dominoes with) and ten (so far!) about Woodend's protegé Monika Paniatowski.
His DI Sam Blackstone books are set in Victorian/Edwardian London, New York and Russia, and the Inspector Paco Ruiz books have as their backdrop the Spanish Civil War.
Alan is a competitive games player who likes bridge and pub quizzes. It is only by enforcing iron discipline that he doesn't play video games all the time.
He now lives on Spain's Costa Blanca.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 63 reviews
December 20, 2014
This gets two stars because the author created an interesting puzzle and managed to tie up the loose ends fairly well. The procedural part of the novel didn't rise to the occasion (how come the lead detective didn't think of finger prints as soon as the first severed hand showed up? why is the reader not told about the various lines of inquiry that are being pursued?), while the reader is meanwhile given access to all sorts of info that the detectives didn't have (interior thoughts of various characters, including one of the victims just as she recognizes the perpetrator). There is a lot of attempt to give the characters depth, but it falls flat. (The lead detective is carrying with her the burdens of being a woman in a traditionally male job, being Polish-born and Polish-surnamed in England in the 1970s, having grown up in a rough public housing development, and having survived some sort of abuse, probably sexual, at the hands of her step-father, as well as being the single parent of an adopted non-white child. Somehow these seem like paper clothes on a paper doll, rather than life-shaping traits. Other characters get a similar smattering of life details. This makes the book read like a collision between a mystery novel and a social work student's class notes.)
October 23, 2017
Mmmmm....... not bad overall but room for improvement. Overall not a bad cast of characters except for the hackneyed token male chauvinist copper trying to bring down his female boss. I found this dull and unnecessary and it’s been done to death. Pun intended. Yet another crime novel where the dog walker finds the body, in the case, part of it. Is it mandatory for a dog walker to discover the remains? It’s the fourth book in a row where this has happened. I’m about to start the next book in the series so looking for a step up. Series has potential
February 28, 2022
In some ways I enjoyed this book and in others I was appalled by it. Very early on we are treated to a fine example of the male chauvinism commonplace in the era in which it was set (the 1970s) along with racist words which are most definitely not tolerated now. I had hoped that the culprit would have got his comeuppance in some way before the end of the book but that did not happen although he did seem to get sidelined but only in a “stopped mentioning him” kind of way. The DCI - who was herself the main target of his ignorance - did try to get rid of him but wasn’t allowed to.
The suggestion that she had “slept her way to the top” - dealt with quite crudely initially, was not only allowed to go unchallenged but even reinforced in a ‘you may have now been promoted but you will have to put up with the nasty misogynist who is actively working against you’ way.
I have no problem with reflecting the attitudes and behaviours of the time - I remember them all too well, but at the very least there ought to be a warning about the terminology used and an explanation of the reasons at the beginning of the book.
I am also bemused by some of the police procedures. The hands were not initially fingerprinted in an attempt to identify who they were detached from - surely they should have been? How did one detective manage to get hold of one of them to do his own fingerprint identification in order to get one up on his boss? Most incongruous of all - why was the DCI making voice recordings of interviews with suspects? It wasn’t done in the 1970s and this isn’t Life on Mars!
Beyond all that, it was a decent story with plenty going on and enough red herrings to keep the reader guessing and even when you think it is over, there may yet be more to come.
I will give the next book in the series a go in the hope that the charmless DS Walker does indeed get some ‘re-education’
The suggestion that she had “slept her way to the top” - dealt with quite crudely initially, was not only allowed to go unchallenged but even reinforced in a ‘you may have now been promoted but you will have to put up with the nasty misogynist who is actively working against you’ way.
I have no problem with reflecting the attitudes and behaviours of the time - I remember them all too well, but at the very least there ought to be a warning about the terminology used and an explanation of the reasons at the beginning of the book.
I am also bemused by some of the police procedures. The hands were not initially fingerprinted in an attempt to identify who they were detached from - surely they should have been? How did one detective manage to get hold of one of them to do his own fingerprint identification in order to get one up on his boss? Most incongruous of all - why was the DCI making voice recordings of interviews with suspects? It wasn’t done in the 1970s and this isn’t Life on Mars!
Beyond all that, it was a decent story with plenty going on and enough red herrings to keep the reader guessing and even when you think it is over, there may yet be more to come.
I will give the next book in the series a go in the hope that the charmless DS Walker does indeed get some ‘re-education’
July 3, 2017
This mystery has a decent plot to compensate for its overall blandness. Heroine DCI Paniatowski is likeable although her persistent self doubt gets tedious. The supporting characters are all stock. Half came out of the author's 'likes' box (good stereotypes) and half from her 'dislikes' box (bad stereotypes). The labels are way too big to miss and they stick. I'm not sure why this novel is set in 1973, as there isn't any period atmosphere. The inflation, strikes and 'troubles' that made headlines are all missing, as is the impending transformation of the Lancashire Constabulary caused by the boundary and local government reforms of 1972. Ms. Spencer's fictional "Mid-Lancashire" is immune to all and lacks the sense of a society in transition that permeates British novels actually published at that time (Ruth Rendell's "Some Lie and Some Die" springs to mind). In spite of a shortage of good suspects and a cliché WWII backstory, seeing how this one unravels should hold your interest.
August 16, 2018
This mystery, set in Whitebridge, England, in 1973, deals with the appearance of a pair of severed hands belonging to a man and a woman. Catching the case in her first day on the job is DCI Monika Paniatowski, who is taking over from her retired predecessor and friend, Charlie Woodhead. Monika also has to deal with subordinates who are jealous of her rise to the position of authority and the fact that she is a woman.
The tale moves along nicely, identifying the victims and their relationship and leaving at least this reader guessing who the killer is at the end. It is also a terrific look into British society of the not so long ago past and the trials that Monika has to ensure from her own side and the press as she even questions herself as to whether she can adequately fill Woodhead's shoes.
Recommended for mystery fans and I am looking forward to reading a sequel.
The tale moves along nicely, identifying the victims and their relationship and leaving at least this reader guessing who the killer is at the end. It is also a terrific look into British society of the not so long ago past and the trials that Monika has to ensure from her own side and the press as she even questions herself as to whether she can adequately fill Woodhead's shoes.
Recommended for mystery fans and I am looking forward to reading a sequel.
February 26, 2022
A late discovery but better late than never!
I realise that I am late in discovering Sally Spencer's detective stories, but I am so glad that I did! Even then I started with the Monika Paniatowski series when, in fact there is a series featuring Charlie Woodend, who had Monika as his assistant, which predates the current series. However I was totally gripped by The Dead Hand of History and couldn't put it down. I have one small grumble about the book and that is that it felt very rushed at the end. I had already worked out the identity of the murderer and Monika was interviewing the prime suspect, next page she knew who, why, when. As I said it just felt a bit rushed. I will continue reading the Monika series and, if they continue to be enjoyable, I will go back and read the Charlie Woodend series.
I realise that I am late in discovering Sally Spencer's detective stories, but I am so glad that I did! Even then I started with the Monika Paniatowski series when, in fact there is a series featuring Charlie Woodend, who had Monika as his assistant, which predates the current series. However I was totally gripped by The Dead Hand of History and couldn't put it down. I have one small grumble about the book and that is that it felt very rushed at the end. I had already worked out the identity of the murderer and Monika was interviewing the prime suspect, next page she knew who, why, when. As I said it just felt a bit rushed. I will continue reading the Monika series and, if they continue to be enjoyable, I will go back and read the Charlie Woodend series.
December 23, 2019
I found this "new" series to be better written than the Woodend series--or perhaps it is just that the author doesn't spend as much time telling us how fat and ugly his characters are. There are two extremes: DI Walker is a misogynist jerk, but he is a caricature of a racist, petty, bad cop rather than something new or interesting, and the boss who is "paying her back" for rejecting him leaves Monika twisting into the wind while claiming he needs to appear above reproach. The other end of the spectrum are the good guy cops who admire Monica and do all they can to help and to protect her--perfect little gentlemen.
Quick read, fairly interesting; not thrilling.
Quick read, fairly interesting; not thrilling.
March 4, 2022
Enjoyable and Well Written
Very good story well told but the final part felt rushed and lacked the detail of the earlier chapters. It skimmed the finale in just a couple of chapters and gave little background. This contrasted with a quite detailed build up.
There was also a very obvious loose end which I'm assuming will be swept up in the next book as it involves her team and it's development rather than this case particularly, but it would have been more complete to deal with it here in my opinion. But really looking forward to the next book and it's only a four not a five due to the reasons given above.
Very good story well told but the final part felt rushed and lacked the detail of the earlier chapters. It skimmed the finale in just a couple of chapters and gave little background. This contrasted with a quite detailed build up.
There was also a very obvious loose end which I'm assuming will be swept up in the next book as it involves her team and it's development rather than this case particularly, but it would have been more complete to deal with it here in my opinion. But really looking forward to the next book and it's only a four not a five due to the reasons given above.
February 23, 2022
Different
Set in the seventies makes for a rather different than usual police procedure story. At first the dialogue was awkward until Monika and the author finally found her voice. But I did like the story, although I did guess the killer rather sooner than I think the author intended. Would have liked a bit more insight into the time period and maybe something more about the business and works of a bakery. As it was, the story gave normal indication of why that setting and not some other business. But, in spite of that, a decent read.
Set in the seventies makes for a rather different than usual police procedure story. At first the dialogue was awkward until Monika and the author finally found her voice. But I did like the story, although I did guess the killer rather sooner than I think the author intended. Would have liked a bit more insight into the time period and maybe something more about the business and works of a bakery. As it was, the story gave normal indication of why that setting and not some other business. But, in spite of that, a decent read.
October 5, 2025
There is a certain style of mystery book that I just plain do not like, and this falls into that category. It's a sort of "oh-so-clever," tongue in cheek, sort of style where the author seems to be showing off. It separates me from the characters and story so completely that it makes the reading experience seem fruitless and useless. I know many others like this style, so my poor rating shouldn't turn you away if that appeals to you. I just couldn't finish this without being angry that the author was wasting my time.
September 28, 2019
The first book in any series often is not as good as the subsequent ones because the author has to give us an idea of the main character/s in the series, their back history, the milieu in which the series is set etc., which is a lot of information to work in seamlessly. Having not read any of the previous series featuring Charlie, Monica is totally new to me. However, the mystery is pretty gruesome, the cast of suspects extensive and well done, etc. I am intrigued to continue with the series.
March 31, 2022
Not sure if this actually deserves a 3 but I enjoyed it.
A brand new DCI’s first case if a severed hand a woman’s severed hand. The next clue is a man’s severed hand. Besides a sarcastic reporter and a traitorous sub ordinate she also has to deal with her boss being a former lover.
Why a 3? In the very last pages of the book the author uses one sisters name for the other. Unforgivable.
A brand new DCI’s first case if a severed hand a woman’s severed hand. The next clue is a man’s severed hand. Besides a sarcastic reporter and a traitorous sub ordinate she also has to deal with her boss being a former lover.
Why a 3? In the very last pages of the book the author uses one sisters name for the other. Unforgivable.
February 17, 2019
An interesting book that was a little slow in coming to the conclusion.
This book has a lot of misdirection clues and ideas that lead you into to many thoughts about who did it. A lot of it was never explained as to why it was there. The climax and clues never really show up until the last five percent of book. I don't believe I am going to follow this author's next book.
This book has a lot of misdirection clues and ideas that lead you into to many thoughts about who did it. A lot of it was never explained as to why it was there. The climax and clues never really show up until the last five percent of book. I don't believe I am going to follow this author's next book.
July 3, 2019
Fun Easy Read Escape Mystery
BY his outs the first book of Sally Spencer's I have read. I read it easily in a matter of hours. It was suspenseful enough to keep me reading and fun enough tho make me figure I'll likely read more of her. It was not what If call literature, but it did provide a pleasant afternoon's reading.
BY his outs the first book of Sally Spencer's I have read. I read it easily in a matter of hours. It was suspenseful enough to keep me reading and fun enough tho make me figure I'll likely read more of her. It was not what If call literature, but it did provide a pleasant afternoon's reading.
February 17, 2021
Good mystery with some very sad characters, and the police supt. Monika a bit of a numbskull, but finally making good. One police detective was particularly obnoxious (described by a junior detective as "neanderthal") and obstructive; I always think it's a shame police forces tolerate such people in their midst.
July 10, 2023
So this is set in a time when racial language was more acceptable - I didn't find this an issue but what really did irk me is the use of italics all the way through to give emphasis on certain words - it's really not needed! Other than that, enjoyed the twists and didn't really see the end coming until it was upon me!
November 23, 2024
Enthralling read
I enjoyed this story with a strong woman as the main character.
Monika is of Polish extract, and her Sergeant, Wilson, is a racist, misogynist man. I liked how the red herring and twists were brilliantly deployed to totally confuse me. I hope to read more about these characters.
I enjoyed this story with a strong woman as the main character.
Monika is of Polish extract, and her Sergeant, Wilson, is a racist, misogynist man. I liked how the red herring and twists were brilliantly deployed to totally confuse me. I hope to read more about these characters.
May 16, 2019
This book was not worth the $8+ I paid for it. I've read much better ones on Kindle Unlimited for free. I never felt I was inside the atmosphere of the story; it was like I was outside it. In other words, I was never fully engaged in the story.
May 8, 2022
Four stars
A good read. Towards the end I had changed my mind about the murderer a lot. That makes a good story in my opinion. Kept guessing and not having a clue until right towards the very end. Well done to the author.
A good read. Towards the end I had changed my mind about the murderer a lot. That makes a good story in my opinion. Kept guessing and not having a clue until right towards the very end. Well done to the author.
January 20, 2023
The Dead Hand of History
This book was a great read with well developed characters. I would recommend this book and series to anyone looking for a fresh and different kind of mystery not just the old cookie cutter. 2012
This book was a great read with well developed characters. I would recommend this book and series to anyone looking for a fresh and different kind of mystery not just the old cookie cutter. 2012
February 1, 2018
Excellent
June 9, 2018
Okay for the first book in a series...setting up the characters, building the plot. A bit slow moving at times, but a good enough story that I'll keep on with the next book.
January 7, 2021
Very good crime story. Highly recommend this author.
February 19, 2021
I think it was okay! Didn’t love, didn’t hate.
August 5, 2021
Love dci mysteries on tv and decided to try a book - loved it
November 10, 2021
I wasn't sure about starting this series after reading the Wood end series, but I thought I would give it a try. Glad I did. Really enjoyed it, but still miss Inspector Woodend.
November 22, 2021
Great
Well written and a really good page turner with interesting characters. Look forward to reading more in this series and discovering the back story.
Well written and a really good page turner with interesting characters. Look forward to reading more in this series and discovering the back story.
January 3, 2022
The Dead Hand of History
The Dead Hand of History is the first book I’ve read by Sally Spencer but I thoroughly enjoyed it and will now read more
The Dead Hand of History is the first book I’ve read by Sally Spencer but I thoroughly enjoyed it and will now read more
January 15, 2022
I don't even know where to start - not for me.
April 8, 2022
interesting read
Sally Spencer needs a proof reader. The book was very badly written and the story lost itself near the end.
Sally Spencer needs a proof reader. The book was very badly written and the story lost itself near the end.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 63 reviews