Jean M. Roberts's Blog, page 23

Review: The Suspension Bridge Robbery by G. Reading Powell

The Details

The Suspension Bridge Robbery by G. Reading Powell

Publisher:

Published:

Genre: Historical Fiction/ Murder Mystery

Pages:

Available: Paperback, ebook

Sex: ❤none

Violence: 😨mild

 

My Review

Reviewer’s Note: I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Plot in Brief: Lawyer Catfish Calloway takes on a case mid trial. The outcome seems to be a forgone conclusion but Catfish is not convinced of his client’s guilt. With a life on the line, he, Miss Peach and his son, Harley, must prove their client innocent!

The Characters: I fell for Catfish and Company after reading the first instalment in this series. Powell brings his characters to life, they seem so real

The History: The story is set in Waco, Texas near the turn of the century. The ‘talking phone’ is making its way into people’s lives and they are just shy of the modern world. Powell infuses this world with great period detail and immerses the reader in Catfish’s daily life.

The Writing: Well written with a great crime story, the narrative flows at a steady pace.

Overall: Another great book, filled with wonderful characters. Lovers of historical fiction will enjoy this book as will those who love a great whodunit.

 

My Rating: 5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐stars

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Book Blitz: A Trio of awesome Women's Fiction by Joanne Kukanza Easley

 

SWEET JANE,  JUST ONE LOOK, &I’LL BE SEEING YOUbyJoanne Kukanza Easley
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Sweet Jane Joanne Kukanza Easley’s debut novel 2019 Wisdom-Faulkner Award finalist2020 Adult Fiction winner Texas Author Project2020 Sarton Award Finalist2020 Eric Hoffer Award Short List
A drunken mother makes childhood ugly. Jane runs away at sixteen, determined to leave her fraught upbringing in the rearview. Vowing never to return, she hitchhikes to California, right on time for the Summer of Love. Seventeen years later, she looks good on paper: married, grad school, sober, but her carefully constructed life is crumbling. When Mama dies, Jane returns for the funeral, leaving her husband in the dark about her history. Seeing her childhood home and significant people from her youth catapults Jane back to the events that made her the woman she is. She faces down her past and the ghosts that shaped her family. A stunning discovery helps Jane see her problems through a new lens.
Family Saga / Women’s Fiction / Historical Fiction Publisher: Red Boots PressPages: 279 pagesPublication Date: September 17, 2022
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  Just One Look May 2022 Pulpwood Queen Book Club PickShelf Unbound 2021 Notable 100 Best Indie BooksRecommended by the US Review of Books
In 1965 Chicago, thirteen-year-old Dani Marek declares she’s in love, and you best believe it. This is no crush, and for six blissful years she fills her hope chest with linens, dinnerware, and dreams of an idyllic future with John. When he is killed in action in Viet Nam, Dani’s world shatters. She launches a one-woman vendetta against the men she seeks out in Rush Street’s singles bars. Her goal: break as many hearts as she can. Dani’s ill-conceived vengeance leads her to a loveless marriage that ends in tragedy. At twenty-four, she’s left a widow with a baby, a small fortune, and a ghost—make that two. Set in the turbulent Sixties and Seventies, Just One Look explores one woman’s tumultuous journey through grief, denial, and letting go.
Family Saga / Women’s Fiction / Historical Fiction Publisher: Red Boots PressPages: 293 pagesPublication Date: September 17, 2022
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I'll Be Seeing You
The new release from Joanne Kukanza Easley, the multi-award-winning author of Sweet Jane and Just One Look
A saga spanning five decades, I’ll Be Seeing You, explores one woman’s life, with and without alcohol to numb the pain.
Young Lauren knows she doesn’t want to be a ranch wife in Palo Pinto County, Texas. After she’s discovered by a modeling scout at the 1940 Fort Worth Stock Show Parade, she moves to Manhattan to begin her glamourous career. A setback ends her dream, and she drifts into alcohol dependence and promiscuity. By twenty-four, she’s been widowed and divorced, and has developed a pattern of fleeing her problems with geographical cures. Lauren’s last escape lands her in Austin, where, after ten chaotic years, she achieves lasting sobriety and starts a successful business, but happiness eludes her.
Fast forward to 1985. With a history of burning bridges and never looking back, Lauren is stunned when Brett, her third husband, resurfaces, wanting to reconcile after thirty-three years. The losses and regrets of the past engulf her, and she seeks the counsel of Jane, a long-time friend from AA. In the end, the choice is Lauren’s. What will she decide?
Family Saga / Women’s Fiction / Addiction & Recovery / Historical Fiction Publisher: Red Boots PressPages: 227 pagesPublication Date: August 28, 2022
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I'll Be Seeing You

Lauren is a small-town Texas girl with big city ambitions. At the age of sixteen, she is whisked away from her parent’s ranch for a modeling career in New York City. It’s the 1940s and the Powers Girls are micromanaged but Lauren is lucky. She’s allowed to live with her wealthy and flamboyant aunt. When Lauren falls in love with her photographer, a much older Frenchman, she throws caution and her career to the wind. Before long, she’s pregnant, and he’s returned to France to fight. Lauren’s life spirals out of control and she drowns her sorrows in alcohol. 

Lauren’s troubled life is laid bare on the page. She makes poor choices, repeats mistakes, alienates her family and runs from her troubles. Finally, she decides to put her life back together and seeks help for her drinking problem. When she thinks she has everything, a man from her past returns, but is it a good thing? 

This is the third book I’ve read by Joanne Easley. I enjoy her writing style and her eye for period detail. Joanna’s characters are vulnerable but strong, flawed, but able to recognize their imperfections and battle their demons. Happily-ever-after is not guaranteed and at times seems far out of reach. I like that she is willing to make her characters suffer for their redemption and is not afraid to tackle tough topics like alcoholism and miscarriage. 

I would recommend I’ll Be Seeing You to readers of Women’s Fiction, recent historical fiction and those who enjoy a good story.

 I rate this book: 5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

A retired registered nurse with experience in both the cold, clinical operating room and the emotionally fraught world of psychiatric hospitals, Joanne lives on a small ranch in the Texas Hill Country, where she writes fiction about complicated, twentieth-century women. 
Her multi-award-winning debut, Sweet Jane, was named the adult fiction winner at the Texas Author Project and shortlisted for the Sarton Award and Eric Hoffer Award, among others. Just One Look, Joanne’s second novel was a May 2022 Pulpwood Queen Book Club Pick. I’ll Be Seeing You, her third novel, features characters from Sweet Jane. Her prize-winning short stories and poetry have appeared in several anthologies.
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Guest Post: Putting Words in Their Mouths - Writing Historical Fiction Based on Real Lives by Catherine Meyrick

 Putting Words in Their Mouths - Writing Historical Fiction Based on Real Lives.

1 – At the Springs, Mount Wellinggton c1880.
To the left of the door are Harry Woods’ parents and Ellen Thompson holding her eldest daughter Jane.
Photo courtesy of Libraries Tasmania Online Collection

It is said that all we owe the dead is the truth. But when we write historical fiction how do we do this, especially when we attempt to imagine the lives of those who left only faint traces in the records.

My latest novel, Cold Blows the Wind, is based on a period in the lives of my great-great-grandparents, Sarah Ellen Thompson and Henry Watkins Woods, Ellen and Harry. It is set in Hobart Town, Tasmania between the years 1878 and 1885 and grew out of my genealogical research.

Both Ellen and Harry were the children of people transported to Australia from the British Isles. Their parents were not among those who made good and went on to live of comfort. They were what is described today as the working poor—living conditions were basic; pay was low for men, lower for women; life was precarious and illness, an accident or death could tip a family into dire poverty. They had few resources to fall back on in times of trouble and they left little behind to mark that they had been here other than the greatest legacy, their children.

I knew, early in my research that I wanted to write about Ellen, a woman who faced more in those few years between 1878 and 1885 than any person should in the whole of her life. I could have written Ellen’s story as non-fiction but it would have been filled with a lot of ifs and buts and ‘women like Ellen did this so she probably did too’ – a most unsatisfying style of biography. By contrast, fiction allows us to walk in a character’s shoes, to see the world through her eyes, to feel her heartbreak and her joy.

By the time I sat down to write, I knew the shape of Ellen’s life and had a framework of known facts on which to base the novel: births, marriages, deaths, children, court appearances. But there were still periods where nothing is known, and there were people in Ellen’s life who had disappeared from the record. For fiction to work well, those gaps needed to be filled. I had to bring Ellen and those around her to life and put words in their mouths to make my story believable and compelling.

One important step was to do what every writer of historical fiction does – to create a verisimilitude of that past world. This is the element we all love – searching archives, reading books and journal articles, trawling the internet, reading newspapers, poring over maps and photographs, visiting the places where our characters lived and walked, understanding the institutions they interacted with. I hoped by understanding the world of Ellen and Harry and their families, I would gain insight into their reactions to it and their motivations.

It is here that my greatest challenges lay. In imagining their motivations, I needed to make sure that I was true to what I knew of their lives and to treat these people of the past with honour, not as chess pieces to be moved around the board in service of what I thought would be a good story. Neither Ellen nor Harry could write, though they might have been able to read at a basic level, so I could gain no insight through memoirs or letters (and they, when they do exist, may not be truthful). I did not imagine that the portions of their DNA that I carried offered me any special insight into them. Perhaps, though, my sense of them as family might have made me far more diligent in my search for understanding.

From the beginning I had a strong sense of who Ellen was through the incidents in her life, her reported reactions to them, and her appearances in the newspapers and the court records across her whole life. An incident that, for me, encapsulated the strength of her protectiveness and sense of family came three years after the period the novel covers. Ellen was in court for assaulting another woman, Alice Baynton, in the street. Ellen had walked up to Alice and punched her between the eyes. A few days earlier Ellen had seen John Jackson, her sister Jane’s husband, get into a cab with Alice. Several years before, Alice and John had been living together in house Ellen was renting. Ellen imagined the worst and was having none of it. She was defending her sister Jane ferociously and warning Alice off. No one messed with a Thompson! In court the case descended to a shouting match between Ellen and Alice to the point where the magistrate had to yell above the din to bring the court back to order.

I found it harder to get a sense of Harry. He had lived a quieter life before his arrival in Hobart Town in 1878 and made no appearances in court or the newspapers that I have discovered so far. I had no clear photographs of either Ellen or Harry, so there was no opportunity to stare into their faces and gain a sense of who they were by the way they confronted the camera. Eyes often tell a story – are they sad or hard? Is there a twinkle of mischief there despite the rigidly held pose? The photograph I have of Ellen is small and I cannot see her features clearly. She is sitting beside Harry’s parents outside the cottage at the Springs on Mount Wellington where they lived for several years, holding her eldest daughter. I realized quite late that I had a copy of another even more indistinct photograph taken at that time. Ellen is not in it, but there is a man to the right of the photo, apart from the group of visitors and the rest of the family. You can tell a lot about a person and his character by his physical demeanor. This man’s posture and his dress are different from the others in the photograph. There is a confident physicality and an assurance about him. I am sure it is Harry. (Is that my DNA kicking in or just wishful thinking?) I drew my sense of Harry from what I saw of him in the photograph and it fitted with what I knew of his behaviour.

The problem of trying to imagine the personality of someone who has not left a clear imprint behind was something I had not faced before as my first two novels, set in Elizabethan England, followed entirely fictional characters. Although elements and incidents in those novels drew inspiration from the lives of known people, I could imagine what I wanted within reason. The common wisdom with historical fiction is that where there are gaps it is acceptable to fill them with plausible and informed imaginings, in keeping with the period in which they lived. I filled them with what I thought most likely, given my understanding of their characters.

I was deeply aware that my characters should never give the appearance of modern people in historical dress. Yet there is much in the behaviour of Ellen and her family that seems quite modern and a rejection of the mores of Victorian society. I needed to ensure that the reasons for their behaviour were apparent within the context of that society. My view is that their behavior was not a deliberate rejection but the result of their position in the poorer levels of society. Mothers worked, often outside the home, while they raised children; young women, of necessity they went out unchaperoned; they had children out of wedlock and kept them; they sang and danced and swore. Despite their daily struggles, they tried to gain some pleasure in a grim world. They were not rebels rejecting the strictures of their society but rather these strictures were a luxury they could not afford even if they wanted to follow them.

There is an unspoken element in the way this story is told, the writer. I might put off my twenty-first century glasses but the construction of the story, the imputed motivations are very much a reflection of when and where I write, and of my own personality. I was aware, painfully, that every creative decision I made, every interpretation of the records, another writer with different life experiences and a different view of the world could interpret in another way. In Here Be Dragons, Sharon Kay Penman creates the life of Joanna/Joan, Princess of Wales, from childhood through to her death. Joanna is a character beloved of so many readers, yet in by Barbara Erskine’s Child of the Phoenix Joanna is portrayed as cold and sanctimonious. With no detailed evidence of Joanna’s personality, who is to say which writer is closest to the truth?

So Cold Blows the Wind is my interpretation of the lives of Ellen, Harry, and their families. I have tried to be honest and aware in my interpretation of the records and what I know of their lives. At this distance of time, I don’t know that we can ever get to exact truth but through diligence and imagination, I have tried to distil its essence. And, most of all, I have let Ellen’s life, in particular, drive the story so that the reader can walk beside her and see that world through her eyes.

Since publication of the novel, the comment that has touched me most came from a cousin who I did not know of until after the book came out. He said that Ellen, as I had presented her in the novel, was what he had imagined her to be – strong and loving. It was the same sense I had of Ellen Thompson. And perhaps this means that my imaginings do have something of the truth that we owe to those who came before us.

2 – Possibly a photograph of Harry Woods, on far right.

Book link

https://books2read.com/ColdBlowstheWind

Social media

Website/Blog – www.catherinemeyrick.com

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/CatherineMeyrickAuthor/

Twitter – https://twitter.com/cameyrick1

Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/catherinemeyrickhistorical/

Pinterest – https://www.pinterest.com.au/catherinemeyrick15/boards/

Blurb

Hobart Town 1878 – a vibrant town drawing people from every corner of the earth where, with confidence and a flair for storytelling, a person can be whoever he or she wants. Almost.

Ellen Thompson is young, vivacious and unmarried, with a six-month-old baby. Despite her fierce attachment to her family, boisterous and unashamed of their convict origins, Ellen dreams of marriage and disappearing into the ranks of the respectable. Then she meets Harry Woods.

Harry, newly arrived in Hobart Town from Western Australia, has come to help his aging father, ‘the Old Man of the Mountain’ who for more than twenty years has guided climbers on Mt Wellington. Harry sees in Ellen a chance to remake his life.

But, in Hobart Town, the past is never far away, never truly forgotten. When the past collides with Ellen’s dreams, she is forced to confront everything in life a woman fears most.

Based on a period in the lives of the author’s great-great-grandparents, Sarah Ellen Thompson and Henry Watkins Woods, Cold Blows the Wind is not a romance but it is a story of love – a mother’s love for her children, a woman’s love for her family and, those most troublesome loves of all, for the men in her life. It is a story of the enduring strength of the human spirit.

Bio

Catherine Meyrick is an Australian writer of romantic historical fiction, and the descendant, through her father, of nine men and women transported to Van Diemen’s Land as Tasmania was known until 1856. She lives in Melbourne, Australia but grew up in Ballarat, a large regional city steeped in history. Until recently she worked as a customer service librarian at her local library.

Catherine has a Master of Arts in history and is also an obsessive genealogist. When she is not writing, reading and researching, she enjoys gardening, the cinema and music of all sorts from early music and classical to folk and country & western. And, not least, taking photos of the family cat to post on Instagram.

The Further Exploits of the Pirate Queens by James Grant Goldin

 

The Details

The Further Exploits of The Pirate Queens by James Grant Goldin

Publisher: Basilisk Book

Published: September 2022

Genre: Historical fiction

Pages: 338

Available: paperback, ebook, audiobook

Sex: ❤nothing graphic

Violence: 😨 some mild but none graphic

 

My Review

Reviewer’s Note: I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Plot in Brief: Pirate Anne Bonny left her new-born child with friends. As the girl’s first birthday draws near, Anne is determined to see her on her special day. By her side is friend and fellow pirate, Mary Read. But she must convince her lover and daughter Kate’s father, Calico Jack, to take her to Cuba.

The Characters: Pirates Calico Jack Rackam, Anne Bonny and Mary Read are well known, but author James Grant Goldin, spins a yarn that will suck you in and having you cheering for them. The dialogue is tongue-in-cheek and very funny. And I learned a new word: bedad, which is An Irish minced oath, a corruption of be gad, for by God! 

The History: I don’t know a lot about the history of pirates in the Caribbean but the story seems to be very well researched and full of details about ships and pirate things!

The Writing: Well written with a zippy pace, this book will have you laughing at the zany antics of the Calico Jack and his crew. The narrative is full of over-the-top action and larger-than-life characters.

Overall: I really enjoyed this book and found it seriously funny. I’m going to add book one and three to my TBR!

 

My Rating: 5 🥥🥥🥥🥥🥥coconuts in honour of the book!

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Targeted: Three Romantic Suspense Novellas

 

TARGETED: Three Romantic Suspense Novellas byLynette Eason, Lynn H. Blackburn, & Natalie Walters
Christian / Suspense / Romance / NovellasPublisher: RevellPages: 368 pagesPublication Date: November 1, 2022
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Get ready for triple the excitement, intrigue, and romance with three heart-stopping stories from your favorite romantic suspense authors!
In On the Run, Lynette Eason introduces you to IT Specialist Daria Nevsky, a highly skilled FBI agent with the ability to hack any computer. She must go on the run to find out who wants her dead--and Dr. Ryker Donahue refuses to let her do it alone.
In Deadly Objective, Lynn H. Blackburn throws physical therapist Emily Dixon and Secret Service Agent Liam Harper into an impossible situation. They don't know why the vice president's son seems to be in the crosshairs of a killer, but they'll sacrifice anything to keep him safe.
In Caught in the Crosshairs, Natalie Walters pits former Army PSYOPS officer Ari Blackman against his colleague, CIA officer Claudia Gallegos, when Claudia is implicated in the murder of a Saudi prince. Can he prevent a coup that would put America at risk?
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I don’t usually read novellas, but Targeted gives us three thrillers in one package. I zipped through these ‘on the run’ stories at breakneck speed. 

First up is On the Run by Lynette Eason. The MC is Daria Nevsky, an FBI agent who is chased by an unknown man who injures her in a fight. The handsome ER doc, Ryker, recognizes her and is willing to help. Together, they go on a rollicking ride with a romantic resolution. 

Next up: Deadly Objective by Lynn H. Blackburn. Physical therapist Emily Dixon is working with the son of the American Vice President when a bomb rocks her world. She’s whisked away to safety with Secret Service Agent Liam Harper. The next thing she knows they are camping in the wilderness and under attack by unknown assailants. Another fun story.

Last up is Caught in the Crosshairs by Natalie Walters. Claudia Gallegos is a CIA hotshot who gets caught up in the murder of a Saudi prince and comes under suspicion from the FBI and agent Ari Blackman. After he saves her life, they team up to solve the crime while fighting a growing attraction. 

All in all, it was a fun read. Some of the plot lines were a bit over the top, but made for a page turning story and will make you want to check out their full length novels, if you haven’t already! 

I give this book: 4 ⭐⭐⭐⭐stars

is the USA Today bestselling author of Life Flight and Crossfire, as well as the Danger Never Sleeps, Blue Justice, Women of Justice, Deadly Reunions, Hidden Identity, and Elite Guardians series. She is the winner of three ACFW Carol Awards, the Selah Award, and the Inspirational Reader's Choice Award, among others. She is a graduate of the University of South Carolina and has a master's degree in education from Converse College. Eason lives in South Carolina with her husband and two children. Learn more at www.lynetteeason.com.
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 is the award-winning author of Unknown Threat and Malicious Intent, as well as the Dive Team Investigations series. She believes in the power of stories, especially those that remind us that true love exists, a gift from the Truest Love. Blackburn is passionate about CrossFit, coffee, and chocolate (don't make her choose) and experimenting with recipes that feed both body and soul. She lives in Simpsonville, South Carolina, with her true love, Brian, and their three children. Learn more at www.lynnhblackburn.com.

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 is the author of Lights Out and Fatal Code, as well as the Harbored Secrets series. A military wife, she currently resides in Texas with her soldier husband and is the proud mom of three. She loves traveling, spending time with her family, and connecting with readers on Instagram and Facebook. Learn more at www.nataliewalterswriter.com.

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GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY! ONE WINNER:Receives a paperback copy of  TARGETED, a soy candle, anda $10 Target Gift Card(U.S. only; ends midnight, CDT, 11/12/22.)
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Be A Character in My Next Book! Find out how!

 

Hey Reader Friends! Most of y'all know me as Jean M. Roberts, author of historical fiction....but I have a secret! At night, I put on my deerstalker and pull out my magnifying glass and turn into JM Roberts, writer of super-sleuth murder mystery novels!

My first Cozy-Mystery, A Murderous Grudge, was published on 1 November and book 2 in the series, A Trophy for Murder, is scheduled for 1 February 2023. To help launch this book, I'm running a Kickstarter Campaign to help cover the cost of editing, formatting, book cover and to record an audiobook. All this costs thousands of dollars! I'm hoping y'all can help. 

I have lots of great rewards as part of my campaign, including copies of all my books, a fantastic companion cookbook and more! You can get copies of my books for less than the cost on Amazon! 

My super reward is to name a character in my third book, Murder in the Genes, which will be published by December of 2023. You can choose the name and appearance of a character. They can be the bad guy, a cop, or a friend of the main character, Peggy Rector. 

For details on all the rewards, including my historical fiction novels, see my Kickstarter Campaign page here: JM Roberts KickstarterThis is an 'all or nothing' campaign so even $1.00 will help me reach my goal of $500, which is only a fraction of the cost to publish a book! Please check it out and see if you can help!




Thanks for following and Happy Reading!

The Wolf in Winter by Barbara Lennox

 

The Details

 

Publisher: Independently published

Published: Nov. 2021

Genre: Historical Fiction

Pages: 516

Series: yes, this is book one of two

Available: ebook, paperback, hardback

Sex: ❤mild

Violence: 😨lots of fight scenes but not terrible graphic

The Author’s Blurb:

How do you protect a hero?

Corwynal, son of the King of Lothian, dreams of reputation as a warrior. But when his half-brother, Trystan, is born on The Night of Thresholds, he’s forced to rein in his ambitions to become the child’s guardian and mentor.

For seventeen years, he’s kept Trystan safe in Lothian. But now the British Kingdoms have declared war on the powerful Caledonian Confederacy, and there will be no safety for anyone. Especially a young man determined to win fame as a hero.

As war spreads throughout the Lands between the Walls, Corwynal must emerge from the shadows and reclaim his lost dreams if he’s to guard the boy he’s given up his future to defend. But how much more will he be willing to sacrifice for the boy with the secret he can never reveal?

A spell-binding story of second chances, of love and letting go. An epic journey into the heart of a man riven by conflict, set amidst the warring cultures of dark-age Scotland.

My Review

Reviewer’s Note: I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Plot in Brief: This is a retelling of the Arthurian legend of Tristan and Isolde, a Celtic legend set during the dark-ages in Scotland, instead of the traditional Cornwall.

The Characters: The two main characters are Trystan and his half-brother and possible father Corwynal.  Trystan’s mother died in childbirth and he was given to his brother Corwynal to raise. Corwynal dedicates his life to keeping Trystan safe, from himself and others. Dark dreams of Trystan’s death keep him on edge, and Trystan, unaware of Corwynal’s fears, champs at the bit. Other characters include Arthur, a war leader, his wife, and champion, and other names familiar from the Arthur legends. Trystan and Corwynal's father is a rather nasty piece of business, ruthless and seemingly uncaring, is there more to him than meets the eye? 

The History: The setting is 5thcentury Scotland after the fall of the Roman Empire. Petty kingdoms fight for survival against each other and the rising tide of Angles as they sweep northward. The legend of Arthur, stripped bare of razzle-dazzle, is inserted into this gritty world. Well-researched, the narrative drops you into their daily life with amazing descriptions without bombarding you with info dumps.

The Writing: What can I say? Well-written, well-plotted, this was a great read.

Overall: Loved it! Ready for book 2

 

My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Buy the Book

 

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Floats the Dark Shadows by Yves Fey

 

 

Welcome to the Book’s Delight and this stop on the Coffee Pot Book Tour for Floats the Dark Shadows by Yves Fey. We have a great excerpt for you, so grab a cup of something warm, slip into a comfy chair and get ready!

 

The Details  

Book Title: Floats the Dark Shadow

Series: The Paris Trilogy

Author: Yves Fey

Publication Date: September 2022 (Second Edition)

Publisher: Tygerbright Press

Audiobook: narrated by Hollie Jackson

Page Length: 340 pages

Genre: Historical Mystery

 

 

Blurb:

 

When children she knows vanish mysteriously, Theo confronts Inspecteur Michel Devaux who suspects the Revenants are involved. Theo refuses to believe the killer could be a friend—could be the man she loves. Classic detection and occult revelation lead Michel and Theo through the dark underbelly of Paris, from catacombs to asylums, to the obscene ritual of a Black Mass.

Following the maze of clues they discover the murderer believes he is the reincarnation of the most evil serial killer in the history of France—Gilles de Rais. Once Joan of Arc’s lieutenant, after her death he plunged into an orgy of evil. The Church burned him at the stake for heresy, sorcery, and the depraved murder of hundreds of peasant children.

Whether deranged mind or demonic passion incite him, the killer must be found before he strikes again.

 

The Excerpt:

 Michel’s Past – Floats the Dark Shadow

Michel had been eighteen. Old enough to know better, young enough not to care.  The Commune cast a long shadow and Michel had found its darkness brighter than the pallid light of everyday life. He’d still felt bound to the past, to the Communards he’d worshipped with a boy’s fervor. He’d still felt bound by blood to his cousin Luc, who had been the glowing symbol of that worship. Now Luc, hero of the Commune, had returned. Luc, who was dashing, articulate, brave—and utterly ruthless.

In 1883, Paris was again a shambles, the mammoth stock market crash only a year behind them. Wild speculation and borrowing had spiraled out of control. Banks all around France had collapsed and finally l’Union Générale floundered. The Catholic bank blamed its demise on the Jews and Freemasons, as if its own gluttonous greed, its falsified reports, had no bearing. France plummeted headlong into a recession that would last another decade. Guillame Devaux, brigadier of the Sûreté, had helped keep the peace in turbulent Paris.  But keeping the peace meant oppressing the people. He’d spoken soberly of the perils of anarchy and warned of worse bloodshed, but the words Michel had once found wise constricted him like a straitjacket.

Defiant, he’d wanted words of passion, of rebellion. At her trial, the Commune’s great heroine, Louise Michel, had cried out, “You decree that any heart which beats for freedom has the right to nothing but a lump of lead. I now claim mine. Let me live and I will go on crying for revenge. I shall avenge my fallen brothers. If you have any courage, you will kill me!”

Twenty-five thousand Communards had died or been executed, but they had not given Louise Michel her lump of lead. She had been deported. Now, twelve years after the fall of the Commune, she’d returned to Paris, her fiery spirit unquenched. Continuing her fight against oppression, she’d led a huge demonstration at the Esplanade of Les Invalides. Afterwards, a huge crowd marched across Paris. Loaves of bread were looted from bakers' shops. Louise Michel was charged with instigating the looting. Ever fearless, she’d turned herself in to the police.

Montmartre was in an uproar. Their heroine was arrested because some tag-alongs had stolen bread. Who could blame them? They stole because they were starving! Anger simmered hotly under the cold, heavy lid of fear. Everyone believed the protesters would go to jail—or worse, be gunned down just as during the Commune. The cafés were filled with furious arguments and songs of revolution.

Michel had shared their zeal. He remembered sitting in Le Rat Mort on a cold, wet day, drinking red wine and feeling like a man. Surrounding him were tables filled with the glorious riffraff of Montmartre—musicians, artists, poets, radical journalists and even more radical anarchists. Craziness became the ultimate sanity, bourgeois sobriety the death of the spirit. Michel’s hair had grown long and shaggy. He tossed it out of his eyes as he quoted Kropotkin’s Anarchist Manifesto, “We demand bread for all, work for all, freedom and justice for all.”

That was when his cousin reappeared, sliding into the chair beside him. “For words such as those,” Luc said, “Kropotkin was sentenced to five years' imprisonment.”

He looked a little like Michel’s true father, with finer bones and a more olive coloring than Michel had inherited. Luc’s easy surface charm barely concealed an inner ferocity. Michel responded to both instantly. The past was not dead. It was alive, here, now, with this man. Michel had found his true family again.

Luc filled him brimful of tales of woe and triumph. He told Michel how he’d fought at Père Lachaise cemetery, the final bastion of the Communards. Michel envisioned the thick early morning fog that gave way to drizzling showers. He saw the cherry trees dripping rain like tears. Then the army blew open the gates and rushed upon them. The Communards fought hand to hand with the enemy amid the tombs. Most died in the battle. Those captured were lined up against a wall and shot. Luc claimed he was the fabled last man on the barricade, that he fired the last shot before he walked off into the mist. Paris wasn’t safe, so he took a new name and vanished.

“Where did you go?”

“Many places, Algeria, Madagascar, Dahomey. I was dealing guns two years ago in Abyssinia. I had a partner, but he took sick, Arthur Rimbaud.”

“The poet?”

Luc smiled. “A poet? Oh, I doubt that. Rimbaud was a cold-blooded, mercenary creature. He read nothing but books on engineering.”

Filled with hero worship, Michel believed him. Now he thought his cousin knew what stories would thrill him, as he had when Michel was a child. Of course, Luc told him stories about his parents, things he barely remembered, things he never knew. And, of course, they talked politics. The dream of anarchy—the triumph of the honest poor over the corrupt rich.

“What would be the perfect revolutionary act?” Luc asked him one day.

“For me? To rescue Louise Michel.”

Luc smiled. “And how would you achieve that?”

“She goes to trial in June.” Michel had fantasies, but he knew they were just that. “She will be heavily guarded.”

“In shackles.”

That stirred his anger. “We could organize—”

“—and be gunned down in the streets, as always.”

“A distraction then. A disruption.”

Luc waited.

“A bomb.” A spear of ice pierced Michel. He knew that Luc had led him to the idea.

“A bomb in the Palais de Justice.”  Luc’s eyes glittered.

Michel hesitated. “An explosion to cause panic and in the chaos rescue Louise Michel?”

“Yes, of course.” Luc leaned closer. “And how would you do it? Do it and escape?”

They argued about various targets within the Palais de Justice and about the structure of the time bomb. Michel could visit his adoptive father at will. He could saunter off and explore various parts of the building. Luc suggested the Café Louis, where the lawyers gathered for lunch. Somehow, he even acquired an advocate’s robe. “I will walk unseen among them.” He laughed. Michel argued that an empty trial room would be the ideal target. But there were seldom empty rooms. Cases piled up endlessly. Reporters flocked the halls along with the accused and their lawyers.

Luc shrugged. “We can send a warning.”

“They would clear the building, but what if they searched for the bomb?”

“Stupidity can be fatal.”

Michel had imagined killing. In fantasy, he’d climbed the ramparts, fighting to the death and taking the enemy with him. But even at the height of his rebellion, he was by then enough Guillame Devaux’s son not to want to murder anyone. Perhaps Marcel Calais’s son had also seen enough horror. He’d watched his mother starve to death. He’d seen bloody, bloated corpses in the street, crawling with maggots. He’d seen his sister raped and bayoneted. The soldiers had threatened him with the same before Guillame Devaux entered the abandoned building and saved him.

He was also enough Guillame Devaux’s son to know of the million things that could go wrong when carrying out a crime.

Luc scoffed. “Do you think we’ll blow ourselves up? We are not idiots.”

The longer they talked, the more Michel resisted. The heroine of the Commune might be freed by a well-executed plan with many participants, but the most likely outcome would be slaughter in the streets. He felt both a coward and a fool when he expressed his doubt, but Luc only said, “I believe you are right. Rescue is impossible. Louise Michel might even refuse us. She is willing to be a martyr to the cause—to take that lump of lead into her heart.”

“You thought all along it was a crazy idea,” Michel accused.

Luc grinned at him. “I believe in crazy ideas. How else can I be an anarchist?”

Without his glorious plan, however futile, Michel felt bereft.

Leaning forward, Luc lowered his voice. “We cannot rescue Louise Michel, but nothing else needs change.”

It had all changed for Michel.  For a second he felt only confusion, then a cold weight sank to the pit of his stomach. “The bomb.”

Luc’s smile was hard. “Propaganda by deed.”

Michel argued fiercely, “In Le Révolté Kropotkin says a structure based on centuries of history cannot be destroyed with a few kilos of dynamite.”

“A few kilos are a beginning. Wave after wave of us will crash down on them. In the end, we will obliterate them.”

“Or they us,” Michel said.

Finally, Luc just laughed at the idea of no one dying. “What does it matter? I will try to stay alive, but if I die killing them, I will become a martyr for those who follow.”

“Many are innocent,” Michel protested.

“There are no innocent bourgeois,” Luc said scornfully. Then, quoting Robespierre, “Pity is treason.”

“Robespierre was a monster.” Suddenly Michel was furious. “Pity is human.”

 

 

Buy Links:

 

Universal Link: https://books2read.com/u/3GW2BO

 

Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Floats-Dark-Shadow-mystery-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B0BB88NZLC/

 

Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Floats-Dark-Shadow-mystery-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B0BB88NZLC/

 

Amazon CA:  https://www.amazon.ca/Floats-Dark-Shadow-mystery-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B0BB88NZLC/

 

Amazon AU: https://www.amazon.com.au/Floats-Dark-Shadow-mystery-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B0BB88NZLC/

 

 

Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/floats-the-dark-shadow-yves-fey/1112417004?ean=2940149661459

 

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/floats-the-dark-shadow

 

Audio: https://www.audible.com/pd/Floats-the-Dark-Shadow-Livre-Audio/B00IX13DGG

 

AppleBooks: https://books.apple.com/book/floats-the-dark-shadow/ 

 

 

Author Bio:

 

Yves Fey has MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Oregon, and a BA in Pictorial Arts from UCLA. Yves began drawing as soon as she could hold a crayon and writing at twelve.  

She’s been a tie dye artist, go-go dancer, creator of ceramic beasties, writing teacher, illustrator, and has won prizes for her chocolate desserts. Her current obsession is creating perfumes inspired by her Parisian characters.

Yves lives in Albany with her mystery writer husband and their cats, Charlotte and Emily, the Flying Bronte Sisters.

 

 

Social Media Links:

 

Website: YvesFey.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/YvesFey

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/YvesFey

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gayle-feyrer-366b9832/

Instagram: Gayle Feyrer (@yves_fey) • Instagram photos and videos

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Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Yves-Fey/e/B008VHHPPC

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/499414.Yves_Fey

Be sure to visit all the stops on the book tour for more excerpts!

The Fifth Daughter of Thorn Ranch by Juia Brewer Daily

 

THE FIFTH DAUGHTER OF THORN RANCHbyJulia Brewer Daily
Women's Fiction / Contemporary Western / Family SagaPublisher: Admission PressPages: 322 pagesPublication Date: November 1, 2022
SCROLL DOWN FOR GIVEAWAY!

Emma Rosales is the heiress of the largest ranch in Texas—The Thorn. All the responsibilities of managing a million acres now fall into her fifth-generation hands.A task Emma could handle with her eyes closed…if The Thorn were any ordinary property.
The Thorn is home to many things. Clear, cloudless skies. Miles of desert scrub and craggy mountains. A quiet disrupted only by whispers of the wind. And an ancient web of secrets won’t let Emma out alive without a fight.
The Fifth Daughter of Thorn Ranch is a family saga as large as the state of Texas.
PRAISE FOR THE BOOK:
“A delight to read.”  -- Theresa Kadair, Seattle Book Review

"Julia Daily builds a captivating world by letting her imagination lead the way. The result? A unique story that’s a little Wild West, a little old Mexico, a little ancient history, and a lot rebellious” 

--Julie Cantrell, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of Perennials

“A novel that combines mystery, suspense, adventure, and a romance that neither hardships nor time can erase between the main characters.” --Debra Holt, award-winning, multi-published Texas author of series such as The Tremaynes of Texas and The Lawmen Series.

"A dignified, passionate, and layered tale in a rugged yet picturesque landscape... This book testifies to the rewards of fighting for enduring connections between family members and home." 
--RECOMMENDED, The US Review of Books

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College student Emma Rosales, is the heiress to the largest ranch in Texas. A ranch that has been run for generations by her female ancestors. She longs to work as a small-town veterinarian but the obligation to takeover Thorn Ranch from her mother weighs heavy on her mind.

On a ride to check fence lines, Emma, horse is injured and a sudden flood force her into a cave to escape the rising waters. What she finds inside the cave system will change her life forever.

I really enjoyed the mysterious Texas setting and the unique plot. Not unlike Alice falling down the rabbit hole, Emma enters a world both foreign and compelling in its simplicity. Dewer does an amazing job of creating a believable alternate world which kept me turning the page.

The storyline takes a while to develop, but once it gets going it will suck you in. I won’t go into details as it would give away the plot! There is a bit of back and forth in time between Emma growing up and as a student at Texas A &M, which explains the background of the ranch.

Overall, the book is well written and well plotted. I enjoyed the relationship between Emma’s parents with each other and with her as well as her extended family. The pace picks up once the main story develops and I found the narrative intriguing. The slow developing romance has a satisfactory ending.

I give this book 4 stars. ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 

Julia Brewer Daily is a Texan with a southern accent. She holds a B.S. in English and a M.S. degree in Education from the University of Southern Mississippi.
She has been a Communications Adjunct Professor at Belhaven University, Jackson, Mississippi, and Public Relations Director of the Mississippi Department of Education and Millsaps College, a liberal arts college in Jackson, MS.
She was the founding director of the Greater Belhaven Market, a producers’ only market in a historic neighborhood in Jackson, and even shadowed Martha Stewart.
As the Executive Director of the Craftsmen’s Guild of Mississippi (300 artisans from 19 states) which operates the Mississippi Craft Center, she wrote their stories to introduce them to the public.
She is a member of the Writers’ League of Texas, the Women Fiction Writers’ Association, Women Writing the West, and the Pulpwood Queens Book Club.
A lifelong southerner, she now resides on a ranch in Fredericksburg, Texas, with her husband Emmerson and Labrador retrievers, Memphis Belle and Texas Star.
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11/04/22

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11/09/22

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Squire's Hazard by Carolyn Hughes

 

Welcome to the Book’s Delight and a stop on the Coffee Pot Book Tour for Squire’s Hazard by Carolyn Hughes!

 

The Details:

 Book Title: Squire’s Hazard, The Fifth Meonbridge Chronicle

Series: The Meonbridge Chronicles

Author: Carolyn Hughes

Publication Date: 6th October 2022

Publisher: Riverdown Books

Page Length: 360

Genre: Historical Fiction

 

 

Blurb:

 How do you overcome the loathing, lust and bitterness threatening you and your family’s honour?

 It’s 1363, and in Steyning Castle, Sussex, Dickon de Bohun is enjoying life as a squire in the household of Earl Raoul de Fougère. Or he would be, if it weren’t for Edwin de Courtenay, who’s making his life a misery with his bullying, threatening to expose the truth about Dickon’s birth.

 At home in Meonbridge for Christmas, Dickon notices how grown-up his childhood playmate, Libby Fletcher, has become since he last saw her and feels the stirrings of desire. Libby, seeing how different he is too, falls instantly in love. But as a servant to Dickon’s grandmother, Lady Margaret de Bohun, she could never be his wife.

 Margery Tyler, Libby’s aunt, meeting her niece by chance, learns of her passion for young Dickon. Their conversation rekindles Margery’s long-held rancour against the de Bohuns, whom she blames for all the ills that befell her family, including her own servitude. For years she’s hidden her hunger for retribution, but she can no longer keep her hostility in check.

 As the future Lord of Meonbridge, Dickon knows he must rise above de Courtenay’s loathing and intimidation, and get the better of him. And, surely, he must master his lust for Libby, so his own mother’s shocking history is not repeated? Of Margery’s bitterness, however, he has yet to learn…

 Beset by the hazards these powerful and dangerous emotions bring, can young Dickon summon up the courage and resolve to overcome them?

 Secrets, hatred and betrayal, but also love and courage – Squire’s Hazard, the fifth MEONBRIDGE CHRONICLE.

  

Buy Links:

 

This book is available to read on #KindleUnlimited.

 

Universal Link: https://books2read.com/u/bW5yJz

 

Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Squires-Hazard-Meonbridge-Chronicle-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B0BHKH1QB1/

Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Squires-Hazard-Meonbridge-Chronicle-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B0BHKH1QB1/

Amazon CA: https://www.amazon.ca/Squires-Hazard-Meonbridge-Chronicle-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B0BHKH1QB1/

Amazon AU: https://www.amazon.com.au/Squires-Hazard-Meonbridge-Chronicle-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B0BHKH1QB1/

 The paperback is available to buy at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Waterstones.

  

Author Bio:

 CAROLYN HUGHES has lived much of her life in Hampshire. With a first degree in Classics and English, she started working life as a computer programmer, then a very new profession. But it was technical authoring that later proved her vocation, as she wrote and edited material, some fascinating, some dull, for an array of different clients, including banks, an international hotel group and medical instruments manufacturers.

 Having written creatively for most of her adult life, it was not until her children flew the nest several years ago that writing historical fiction took centre stage, alongside gaining a Master’s degree in Creative Writing from Portsmouth University and a PhD from the University of Southampton.

 Squire’s Hazardis the fifth MEONBRIDGE CHRONICLE, and more stories about the folk of Meonbridge will follow.

You can connect with Carolyn through her website www.carolynhughesauthor.com and on social media.

 

Social Media Links:

 

Website: www.carolynhughesauthor.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/writingcalliope

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CarolynHughesAuthor/

Book Bub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/carolyn-hughes

Amazon Author Page UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Carolyn-Hughes/e/B01MG5TWH1/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16048212.Carolyn_Hughes