Category: Historical

Book Tour, Family, Fantasy, Historical, Mythology, Partners In Crime

Circle of Nine: The Novella Collection by Valerie Biel

Patricia McDonald Uttaro

Virtual Book Tour October 27 – December 31

Description

Return to the Celtic magic that began with the suspenseful, award-winning novel Circle of Nine – Beltany.

Descended from a legendary Celtic tribe that guards the secrets of the ancient stone circles, the Quinn women have a great responsibility to protect their pagan rituals and way of life. As members of the formidable Circle of Nine, they celebrate the holidays of the year from Yule to Samhain, keeping the traditions of the Tuatha de Danann alive through the centuries against insurmountable odds. We first met these women in Circle of Nine – Beltany, and now a set of three novellas reveals more of their engaging stories.

In Bressa’s Banishment the power struggle between Father Banan and village healer Bressa Gormley unfolds amidst accusations of treachery, heresy, and murder. Can the Circle protect their trusted healer and the path of the Tuatha against a growing religious fervor?

Dervla’s Destiny brings us to medieval Ireland where the beloved character Dervla Quinn learns of her gifts and fights tremendous loss, betrayal, and violence, all the while never giving up on finding the love she deserves.

In Phoebe’s Mission, when an evil force on a quest for ultimate power threatens the Circle of Nine, Phoebe Quinn must leave Ireland for the first time and travel to the United States to protect their way of life. Along the way, she meets the handsome Macklin Scott, taking her mission, and possibly her future, on a far different course than expected.

My Thoughts

The Novella Collection provides a fascinating backstory for the characters we first met in Beltany. The Quinn heritage, awash in Irish folklore, comes to life through Bressa, Dervla, and Phoebe. The injustice of the historic times in which the women lived will make your blood boil, but the golden thread holding it all together is the heritage and the importance of what the Quinn family guards.

Dervla’s story is especially violent and upsetting, as she comes very close to sexual assault.

The author continues to build the world of the Quinns with beautiful descriptive narrative, engaging characters, and lovely language.

Author Bio

Valerie Biel writes award-winning books for middle grade to adult audiences–stories inspired by her travels and her insatiable curiosity. Her young adult fantasy series, Circle of Nine, was inspired by the myth and magic of Ireland’s ancient stone circles. She’s also the author of HAVEN, a contemporary middle grade novel, and BEYOND THE CEMETERY GATE, a mystery suspense story. She’s a founding member of the Blackbird Writers & a member of Sisters in Crime & the Wisconsin Writers Association. When she’s away from the computer, she’s likely wrangling her overgrown garden, reading multiple books per week, or traveling the world–often on trips for the The World Orphan Fund charity she and her husband run. She calls a (tiny) portion of her family’s century-old Wisconsin farm home, but regularly dreams of finding a cozy cottage on the Irish coast where she can write and write.

Catch Up With Valerie Biel:

ValerieBiel.com
Valerie’s Substack Newsletter
Amazon Author Profile
Goodreads – @valerie_biel
BookBub – @ValerieBiel
Instagram – @valeriebielauthor
Threads – @valeriebielauthor
X – @ValerieBiel
Facebook – @ValerieBielBooks
YouTube – @ValerieBielAuthor
Pinterest – @ValerieBiel

Cozy, Historical, Magical

The Italian Secret by Tara Moss

Patricia McDonald Uttaro

Description

An old family secret leads from the streets of Sydney to Italy’s sun-drenched Neapolitan coast, in this immersive historical mystery from #1 international bestselling author Tara Moss

Pacific Ocean, 1907. A girl embarks on a journey to begin a new life far from home.

Naples, 1943. A woman shelters underground from a wartime air raid, praying her husband will return home. 

Sydney, 1948. Billie Walker, returned from a stint as a wartime investigative journalist, uncovers a dusty box in her father’s old office whose contents—correspondence with a woman on the other side of the world—just might explain how they all are connected. 

Plunged into a perilous search that will take her onto the first postwar luxury passenger ship to sail across the ocean to Italy, Billie finds herself up against a dangerous adversary—someone with a mysterious grudge against her family—as she races to uncover the secrets her father left behind. And as the trail leads her towards two women whose histories may be entwined with her own, she realizes that her father’s Italian secret just might upend everything she thought she knew.

My Thoughts

I need to pay more attention to determining if books new to me are part of series, which is the case here. The author has written multiple series, with this one being the 3rd in the Billie Walker series. I always appreciate the subtle ways a series author seeds the early chapters with bits of information from previous books. Moss does that here, sometimes successfully, sometimes not. Despite feeling lost at a few different places, the story here hangs together pretty well, although it takes some time to connect the angry little boy at the beginning with the full story.

I liked Billie and other recurring characters well enough that I will seek out the earlier entries in the series and also try some of Moss’ other work. She writes very well, balancing dialog and description with decent character and plot development.

Recommended for fans of historical mysteries with a bit of romance.

Publication Date: December 2, 2025
Published By: Dutton
Thanks to Netgalley for the review copy

British, Historical, Mystery

Desolation by Keith Moray

Patricia McDonald Uttaro

Description

The Black Rood of Scotland, stolen.

A coroner of York, murdered

An evil worse than plague itself, at large…

1361, York. As the country recovers from the war with France, and whispers that the pestilence has returned to England grow louder, fear is in the heart of every nobleman and commoner alike. Sir Ralph de Mandeville, ex-solider and newly appointed Justice of the Peace is sent to Langbarugh, just outside York, to investigate the murder of Coroner Sir Boderick de Whitby.

More deaths quickly follow, and while these are swiftly dealt with as plague victims, Sir Ralph and his two assistants Merek and Peter soon uncover something altogether more horrifying… A greater evil is at large in the northern wapentakes.

As panic escalates and the lines between plague and murder blur, Sir Ralph is thrust into a desperate race against time. Every shadow hides a potential killer, every cough could be a death knell. Can he unmask a murderer lurking in the terrifying shadow of the Black Death before they’re all consumed by a terror more sinister than any plague?

A gruesomely wicked medieval mystery, perfect for fans of C. J. Sansom, Paul Doherty and E. M. Powell.

My Thoughts

Moray offers a twisted story set in England in the dangerous times post-plague when survivors lived in fear of the pestilence returning and good men could be forced to do unspeakable things by persuasive, megalomaniacal evil-doers.

Moray does an excellent job of conveying the sheer terror people felt when faced with the possibility of the pestilence returning. Protecting themselves and what family that remained was paramount, and Moray communicates that very well. However, he also demonstrates the opposite effect of a world-shifting event like the Plague on people who become so used to death that taking a life becomes no big thing. While this is an historical mystery, the author writes a fascinating commentary on how people respond to a terrible, life-changing event.

Fans of historical mysteries will appreciate Moray’s seamlessly blended research with well-developed characters who will make your skin crawl. The story will suck you in right away and keep hold as you plow through the plot because you have to know what happens and who gets their comeuppance. There are some gross descriptions, but overall this is a good one.

Recommended.

Publication Date: October 17, 2025
Published By: Boldwood Books
Thanks to Netgalley for the review copy

British, Historical, Mystery

Murder at Holly House by Denzil Meyrick

Patricia McDonald Uttaro

Description

A festive mystery perfect for fans of Murder on the Christmas Express and Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot’s Christmas

A village of secrets.

Yorkshire, 1952. Christmas is fast approaching when a dead stranger is found lodged up the chimney of Holly House in the snow-covered village of Elderby. Is he a simple thief, or a would-be killer?

A mystery that can’t be solved.

Inspector Frank Grasby is ordered to investigate. But as is often the way for him, things don’t go according to plan.

A Christmas to remember.

When the local doctor’s husband is murdered, Grasby begins to realize that everyone in Elderby is hiding something.

And if he can’t uncover the truth soon, the whole country will pay a dreadful price…

My Thoughts

I started this expecting the usual clever country house murder mystery and instead got a rough and tumble few days that could have shook the world. The writing reminded me of old Golden Age dialect-driven mysteries, with the lovable screw-up main character who turns out to be much more than you initially think.

Meyrick does a wonderful job of describing the Yorkshire moors – snow, sleepy policemen, irritating peers, and more snow – but it’s the story that shines here.

I expected the country house thing and instead got a bit of The Secret Adversary and The Thirty Nine Steps crossed with Albert Campion (if Campion were a vicar’s son). The relationship between Frank and Deedee was written with a nice blend of comedy and drama.

On the whole, this will appeal to readers who appreciate a good, old-fashioned, save-the-world whodunit told with a bit of whimsy.

Recommended.

Publication Date: October 7, 2025
Published By: Poisoned Pen Press
Thanks to Netgalley for the review copy

Historical, Mystery

The Face Stealer by Sarah Rayne

Patricia McDonald Uttaro

Description

A puzzling mystery pulls the thieving Fitzglen family back to a shocking crime committed in the time of Catherine the Great in this third instalment of the spellbinding Theatre of Thieves gothic mystery series, set in Victorian England.

London, 1909. The Fitzglens combine running London’s finest theatre with a very profitable side-line in stealing. But while they might be thieves, they still have principles. They never pinch anything their victim couldn’t afford to lose.

When a stranger approaches Jack Fitzglen after a performance, claiming that a Fitzglen has committed a grave crime in his village in faraway Russia, Jack knows exactly who’s to blame: the unpleasant Saintly Simeon, who was chucked out of the family for breaking their code.

Simeon has stolen three valuable, and oddly frightening, Stone Heads, the likenesses of children who vanished over a century ago. The Heads were locked away from the world in a remote Russian monastery . . . though whether to protect the priceless sculptures, or to protect the villagers from the Heads themselves, no one can say.

Jack joins forces with fellow actor Viola Gilfillan to retrieve the stolen goods and put things right. But as they investigate, peeling the layers of history back to the treacherous court of Catherine the Great herself, the ominous power of the Stone Heads begins to draw them down into a darkness from which they may never be able to escape . . .

This unsettling gothic historical mystery from acclaimed British author Sarah Rayne will appeal to fans of Daphne du Maurier, Laura Purcell, Rebecca James, Sarah Waters and Stuart Turton.

My Thoughts

Sarah Rayne keeps coming up with fascinating plots and this one is just spectacular. We’re once again immersed in the world of the FitzGlen family of actors/thieves who only “filch” from people who can afford it. Here we are treated to an origin story that explains how the family came to own the Amaranths Theatre where they perform their popular plays. The story of patriarch Harry FitzGlen’s relationship with Catherine the Great is done with Rayne’s usual one-two punch of softness (their relationship) then a quick jab to the throat (murder & court intrigue).

Rayne excels in writing creepy characters that make your skin crawl and Brother Quintus is no exception. He’s wily, deceitful, sly, and most certainly unhinged. His role in the plot to murder Peter III and the follow up to that is shiver-inducing.

I continue to be stymied by the fact that so many of my American friends don’t know about this fabulous author. All of her series are well-researched and skillfully written, and most of them bone-chillingly scary. The Face Stealer is one of the best horror mysteries I’ve read in a while.

Recommended for those looking for a clever, knuckle-whitening story of historical murder and mayhem.

Publication Date: August 5, 2025
Published By: Severn House
Thanks to Netgalley for the review copy

Historical, Mystery, Women

Murder in Minature by Katie Tietjen

Patricia McDonald Uttaro

Netgalley Description

The second installment in the Maple Bishop historical mysteries continues the adventures of intrepid amateur sleuth Maple Bishop.

Inspired by the real-life mother of forensic science, Frances Glessner Lee, this smartly plotted series will appeal to fans of Rhys Bowen.

In post-WWII Vermont, Maple Bishop has a thriving dollhouse business and a new career as a crime scene consultant for the local sheriff’s office. On the surface, she seems to be doing well, but deep down Maple is still reeling from the death of her husband. When the body of an aspiring firefighter–who was close childhood friends with Kenny, the sheriff’s deputy and Maple’s confidante–is discovered in the charred remains of a burned cabin, Maple is called in to help determine whether the fire was an accident or a case of murder by arson.

Realizing there’s more to the crime than meets the eye, she sets out to unearth the discrepancies from the scene by re-creating the cabin in miniature. The investigation leads them to Maple’s old Boston neighborhood, forcing her to confront the past she’s desperately trying to forget. 

As Maple and Kenny sift through clues, they uncover dark secrets that hit close to home, unraveling in unexpected ways—and putting their lives in danger.

My Thoughts

Mystery readers looking for something more than a cozy and less than hardcore police procedural will fully appreciate this offering from Katie Tietjen. With main character Maple based on the “mother of forensic science,” it would be hard to go astray.

Maple will appeal to many readers, as her attention to detail in constructing her miniature dollhouses and in her approach to solving a gruesome murder is pretty brilliant. (I admit, though, the miniatures reminded me of the CSI Las Vegas story thread that featured a serial killer who made miniatures of their death scenes.)

Maple is reminiscent of an American Maisie Dobbs, and fans of that series will certainly enjoy this one. There is also a fairly overt suggestion that Maple may have some sensory issues, which again will appeal to some readers as the issues are handled with sensitivity.

Overall, this is a solid mystery and a series I will definitely read again.

Publication Date: September 23, 2025
Published By: Crooked Lane Books
Thanks to Netgalley for the review copy

Cookbooks, Historical

The Gilded Age Christmas Cookbook by Becky Libourel Diamond

Patricia McDonald Uttaro

Description

Although most Americans have heard of sugar plums thanks to the famous holiday poem A Visit from St. Nicholas by Clement Clarke Moore, many have likely never have had the pleasure of tasting one of these luxuries, or even know what they really are (hint: they are not sugar-dusted plums). This is because sugar plums are one of the Gilded Age era holiday sweets that got eclipsed as America moved into the twentieth century. But The Gilded Age Christmas Cookbook will bridge the past and present, bringing back sugar plums and other confections not typically found in modern cookbooks, while revisiting some beloved favorites. 

With origins that date back to the nineteenth century and even earlier, the recipes in The Gilded Age Christmas Cookbook have been adapted for today’s ingredients and appliances, allowing cooks to recreate them in their own modern kitchens. Each recipe will provide a colorful glimpse into the era, featuring the fascinating history behind each cookie, its ingredients and baking methods. There will also be sidebars throughout, offering tidbits of Christmas lore of the era. 

A perfect gift to bring sparkle to the holiday season for anyone who enjoys food, history, culture and Christmas traditions, The Gilded Age Christmas Cookbook is a unique way to revitalize any baker’s holiday repertoire while looking to past foodways for inspiration. With all the opulence and enchanting allure of the Victorian period, this nostalgic book is chock-full of delicious holiday treats.

My Thoughts

The author has done an admirable job of culling interesting, sometimes esoteric, facts about Christmas from an amazing array of sources and turning that dry history into a readable, very entertaining exposition of holiday traditions of the Gilded Age.

Digging deep into the roots of many of our current holiday traditions and giving the origin stories new life with short, well-crafted paragraphs complemented by lovely illustrations, The Gilded Age Christmas Cookbook is an absolute delight to read. I especially enjoyed the section on games and may use some of the old time games in modified versions for the always-dreaded ice-breaker games in the business world!

However, I think I’ll leave Snapdragon to history. What a time it was when children were allowed to play that game!

Also notable is the inclusion of Black Christmas traditions such as the work by the Ida B. Wells Women’s Club and the Christmas balls held by Philadelphia’s Crescent Club. Also included are Jewish Hanukkah traditions that were practiced during the Gilded Age, along with the recipes for things like sufganiyot.

While the recipes and their backstories are interesting and well-adapted for 21st century cooking, I didn’t find anything new, but I am an avid reader of Christmas recipes, so someone who is relatively new to Christmas cooking and baking will surely find many recipes that will become family favorites.

The lore appears to be well-researched and is presented in an interesting manner.

Publication Date: August 5, 2025
Published By: Globe Pequot
Thanks to Netgalley for the review copy

British, Detective, Historical, Mystery, New Releases

Knave of Diamonds by Laurie R. King

Patricia McDonald Uttaro

Publisher Description

Mary Russell’s allegiances are tested by the reappearance of her long-lost uncle—and a tantalizing case not even Sherlock Holmes could solve.

When Mary Russell was a child, she adored her black sheep Uncle Jake. But she hasn’t heard from him in many years, and she assumed that his ne’er-do-well ways had brought him to a bad end somewhere—until he presents himself at her Sussex door. Yes, Jake is back, and with a load of problems for his clever niece. Not the least of which is the reason the family rejected him in the first place: He was involved—somehow—in the infamous disappearance of the Irish Crown Jewels from an impregnable safe in Dublin Castle.

It was a theft that shook a government, enraged a king, threatened the English establishment—and baffled not only the Dublin police and Scotland Yard, but Sherlock Holmes himself. And, now, Jake expects Russell to step into the middle of it all? To slip away with him, not telling Holmes what she’s up to? Knowing that the theft—unsolved, hushed-up, scandalous—must have involved Mycroft Holmes as well?

Naturally, she can do nothing of the sort. Siding with her uncle, even briefly, could only place her in opposition to both her husband-partner and his secretive and powerful brother. She has to tell Jake no.

On the other hand, this is Jake—her father’s kid brother, her childhood hero, the beloved and long-lost survivor of a much-diminished family.

Conflicting loyalties and international secrets, blatant lies and blithe deceptions: sounds like another case for Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes.

My Thoughts

I swear, the last three books in King’s Mary Russell series are some of the best, which is a tremendous feat. Often in a series that has gone on a long time, you can tell when an author is getting tired. The plots become repetitive and the characters lose their charm.

Not so here.

Russell and Holmes are their usual witty, clever selves and the introduction of Russell’s Uncle Jake adds a new and intriguing character to the mix. This seems to be a trend King is riding. Her last book, Lantern Dance, wrote Holmes’ son by Irene Adler into a much stronger character. Here, we delve more into Russell’s past through her uncle.

King always throws in new connections between Holmes and Russell that sometimes even pre-date their meeting in The Beekeeper’s Apprentice. I keep imagining a wall in Laurie King’s house that is covered with strings connecting Holmes and Russell to countless characters, each strand leading to a new story.

While this can be read as a stand-alone story, I strongly recommend you read the series from start to finish to get the best understanding of the dynamic between these two fascinating characters. If you are an audiobook fan, I also recommend that version narrated by the wonderful Jenny Sterlin.

Highly recommended.

Publication Date: June 10, 2025
Published By: Penguin Random House
Thanks to The Greece Public Library for the book

Action Adventure, British, Historical, Mystery

The Grand Illusion by Syd Moore

Patricia McDonald Uttaro

Publisher Description

Historical fiction inspired by the War Office response to the Nazi obsession with the occult

Step forward Daphne Devine – you are about to change the course of the war 

June 1940. As World War Two rages, Daphne Devine remains in London, performing each night as assistant to stage magician Jonty Trevelyan, aka the Grand Mystique.

Then the secret service call.

For, aware of Hitler’s belief in the occult, the war office has set up a hidden cohort to exploit this quirk in the enemy’s chain of command.

Daphne and Jonty find themselves far from the glitz and glamour of the theatre, deep inside the lower levels of Wormwood Scrubs prison. Here, they join secret ranks of occultists, surrealists, and other eccentrics co-opted to the war effort. There is one goal: to avert invasion on British shores.

Soon Daphne realises she must risk everything if there is any chance of saving her country.

My Thoughts

I first read Syd Moore’s Essex Witch Museum series a few years ago, then she dropped off my reading radar…until I came across this beauty buried in my Goodreads Want to Read list. I am very happy I found her again!

Grand Illusion is a whopper of an adventure, complete with likable (and unlikable) characters, suspense, action, a nail-biting climax, and promise of more to come.

This explores the little-known use of illusion in WWII – where the Allies used illusory effects to fool the Axis into thinking they had bigger, better & more people and equipment. Here, Moore uses Daphne and her mentor/employer Jonty to develop all sorts of illusions to trick the enemy. There’s a wonderful scene where a senior official believes he is under attack by the enemy, only to discover it’s all smoke and mirrors.

Moore also touches on the incarceration and deportation of thousands of Germans and Italians in Britain during the war. This is the first I’ve read about that and will be seeking out more information (always the sign of a good book!)

Moore is a clever, engaging writer who consistently produces quirky and imaginative mysteries that depart from the well-worn tropes used by many authors. Check out all her work, including Grand Illusion.

Publication Date: May 7, 2024
Published By: Magpie Books, Simon & Schuster
Thanks to the Central Library of Rochester & Monroe County for the book

Family, Historical, Makes You Think, Women

Moloka’i by Alan Brennert

Patricia McDonald Uttaro

Publisher Description

This richly imagined novel, set in Hawai’i more than a century ago, is an extraordinary epic of a little-known time and place—and a deeply moving testament to the resiliency of the human spirit.

Rachel Kalama, a spirited seven-year-old Hawaiian girl, dreams of visiting far-off lands like her father, a merchant seaman. Then one day a rose-colored mark appears on her skin, and those dreams are stolen from her. Taken from her home and family, Rachel is sent to Kalaupapa, the quarantined leprosy settlement on the island of Moloka’i. Here her life is supposed to end—but instead she discovers it is only just beginning. 

With a vibrant cast of vividly realized characters, Moloka’i is the true-to-life chronicle of a people who embraced life in the face of death. Such is the warmth, humor, and compassion of this novel that “few readers will remain unchanged by Rachel’s story” (mostlyfiction.com).

My Thoughts

GoodReads “Want to Read” #2

I recall reading about Father Damien of Moloka’i in grammar school and remember being shocked and so sad for the people with leprosy who were banished to Kalaupapa. I am sure that memory is what drew me to this book and led me to add it to my GoodReads list back in 2012.

This is an emotional and beautiful reading experience that demonstrates the wide range of human capacity for survival. From the people in Rachel’s community who, driven by fear and disgust, shunned her family to the cold and clinical treatment Rachel experienced in hospital to the warm and welcoming community on Kalaupapa to the vibrant but full-of-heartbreak life Rachel led – this book will make you feel all the emotions.

The author writes eloquently of this difficult topic and with tremendous compassion and grace for the characters affected by leprosy. The descriptions of Hawaii add a color to the narrative that helped this reader (who has never been there) envision the beauty of the landscape. Brennert is equally adept at writing characters, and there are several here that I will remember for a long time.

As I read, I was taken back just a few years to the beginning of the pandemic. I recognized many of the same panicky reactions in the community members and the devastating impact Rachel’s illness had on her family. I think this reading experience would have been much different pre-pandemic and I think this would make a very interesting book club discussion today.

Highly recommended.

Publication Date: September 9, 2004
Published By: Macmillan
Thanks to the Rochester Public Library Winton Branch for the book