Introducing the Fitzglens and their theatre of thieves in this spellbinding gothic mystery!
London, 1908. The Fitzglens are proud of their reputation as one of London’s leading theatre families. They are, however, equally proud of another profession which they pursue very discreetly . . . When not on stage, they are thieves.
Jack Fitzglen’s latest plan is to seek out the infamous Talisman Chalice, steal it and create a dazzling piece of theatre around it. He travels to Vallow Hall in Northumberland to find the mysterious Maude – the last known link to the Chalice – but uncovers something far darker. Scandal, secrets and danger lurk in every shady corner. Perhaps the legend of the Chalice has come true: that in the wrong hands, the Chalice drags a person into a darkness from which he or she can never emerge…
As past and present collide, can Jack find the Chalice, the truth and return to his theatre of thieves unscathed?
My Thoughts
I was first introduced to Sarah Rayne through one of her non-series books, The Death Chamber, which remains one of the scariest books I’ve ever read. I’m glad to see her again deviating from her series regulars Phinneas Fox and Nell West in Chalice of Darkness, and possibly introducing a new series family, the Fitzglens!
The storytelling here is as intriguing and well-plotted as usual with Rayne’s work, and is accompanied by a surprisingly tender treatment of a woman horribly wronged. Maude endures unthinkable punishment from her husband, driven by his own inadequacy and his fear and loathing of her. Quite a reminder that the times when women were considered their husband’s property isn’t all that long ago.
In addition to Maude, the Fitzglen family is fascinating. The blend of thespian and thief was fun to read, and the ending was so satisfying. I would welcome additional stories featuring this troupe of performers and con artists!
This will appeal to fans of Simone St. James and of course to Raynes’ fans.
“Superb . . . Lovers of British historical mysteries with a dash of romance and gothic atmosphere will clamor for more” – Publishers Weekly Starred Review
Publication Date: February 7, 2023 Published By: Severn House Thanks to Netgalley for the review copy
Summer of Love A Music & Murder Mystery by Paul Martin February 6-17, 2023 Virtual Book Tour
Synopsis:
It’s 1967 in California’s magical City by the Bay— a bold new era of sex, drugs, rock ’n’ roll…and murder.
Graduating from UC Berkeley just as the Summer of Love begins, twin brothers Jack and Bobby Doyle forge two different career paths. Jack heads off to Vietnam to serve his country, while Bobby remains in the Bay Area, immersing himself in the world of music journalism. As the summer progresses, both brothers witness death firsthand for the first time, Jack on the battlefield and Bobby on the drug-infested streets of San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district.
Their experiences are equally shattering, with Jack losing newfound comrades-in-arms and Bobby enduring the murders of two women he’d grown close to. Bobby’s traumas become as threatening as Jack’s daily perils when he falls under suspicion in the murder investigations. Conferring with Jack by letter, Bobby tries to discover who actually committed the crimes. As the Summer of Love draws to a close, stunning events overtake the entire Doyle family.
My Thoughts
Paul Martin has delivered a solid mystery steeped in the sex, drugs & rock & roll of San Francisco in the late 1960s and in the horror that was Vietnam. It’s clear that Martin knows his stuff when it comes to the bands and music that ruled the music scene, which at times results in overload for the reader. However, that feeling leads to a sort of vicarious thrill as you experience the total bombardment of ground-breaking music enhanced by psychedelic drugs that men and women like Bobby Doyle experienced during those heady days.
On the other side of the world, Jack Doyle experiences a very different set of bombardments, literally through warfare in Vietnam. While both brothers are dealing with life-changing experiences, they manage to maintain their bond as twins via corresponding by mail.
Martin does a good job of bringing both men’s stories to satisfying conclusions, giving us two older, scarred, and wiser twins by the end.
Fans of The Girls by Emma Cline and Laurie King’s Back to the Garden will enjoy this.
Praise for Summer of Love:
“Summer of Love follows two brothers, Jack and Bobby Doyle, through the terrifying and wondrous heart of the ’60s—one in the darkness of Vietnam and the other in the orange sunshine of the Haight-Ashbury, a tale stitched deeply into the historical background. Martin takes you there and he gets it right.” – Joel Selvin, bestselling author and longtime San Francisco Chronicle music critic
“A deeply immersing, character-rich plot…. With the skill of an expert storyteller and a special talent for bringing different pieces together to form a harmonious story, Paul Martin weaves together a spine-chilling and intense search for a killer, the brutal scenes of war, the thrilling and sensational moods of romance, and a relaxed and artsy atmosphere.” (5 Stars) – San Francisco Book Review
“Murder, music, and a tour of ’67 San Francisco power this literary mystery…. Martin exhibits a mastery of the city, from the level of the street as well as the cultural significance of its music and art…. The sense of a world spinning out of control pervades the novel…. Readers will not guess the jolting resolution…. A fascinating biography of a particular time and a particular place.” – Publishers Weekly
“This riveting page-turner set against the colorful backdrop of San Francisco in 1967 instantly absorbs the reader with its beautifully worded descriptions and vivid characterizations…. The author is expert at weaving fiction and reality so tightly they nearly become one.” – Lida Sideris, author of the Southern California Mysteries
Book Details:
Genre: Historical Mystery Published by: Level Best Books Publication Date: December 2022 Number of Pages: 310 ISBN: 978-1-68512-168-6 Series:A Music & Murder Mystery, Book 3 || This is a Stand Alone Mystery Book Links:Amazon | Goodreads | Level Best Books
Author Bio:
Paul Martin is a former book and magazine editor with the National Geographic Society. His writing assignments have taken him around the world. The author of twelve books of fiction and nonfiction, he has also edited or contributed to a dozen other books on history, science, and travel. An amateur luthier and onetime vineyard owner and winemaker, Martin lives near Washington, D.C.
Beth Larter in front of the Arnett Branch of the Rochester Public Library. Photo by Quajay Donnell.
Beth Larter is a public elementary school librarian who has been a loyal library visitor since well before she learned how to read. She is passionate about education and the Rochester community. Her favorite activities outside of school include taking pictures on her film camera, rock climbing, and spending time with her family.
What character or author would be the librarian in your personal literary paradise?
I would want a library that had been created by the author Amy Krouse Rosenthal, who was one of the funniest and most insightful authors I have read and also had an incredible gift for seeing and developing the best parts of the people who knew her. I think she would develop a really wonderful and fun collection.
As a school librarian, do you have books that you recommend again and again to kids?
Every kid is so different, so the books I recommend are also really different. But one book I recommend a lot to my students who like graphic novels is the book New Kid by Jerry Craft. I also like to recommend one of my personal favorites from when I was younger, Ella Enchanted, by Gail Carson Levine.
Do you ever judge a book by its cover? What attracts you to a cover?
I absolutely judge a book by its cover– if the cover is a really good one. I am extremely impressed by the cover design artists who can capture the mood and themes of a book. It’s really the mood that the cover communicates that attracts me to a book.
What is the funniest book you ever read?
I think the Squirrel Girl comics by Ryan North were some of the funniest books I’ve ever read. The characters are delightful and almost every page has extra funny details tucked into the footnotes.
How do you get a reluctant reader to pick up a book and read?
I think most of the time readers are reluctant because either they struggle with reading, or they haven’t found something that they like, or both. So sometimes it’s a matter of figuring out what is causing the reluctance. For me, I’m thinking a lot about this when I’m purchasing books for the library. I try to have a wide selection of books about specific topics I know my students are interested in that are written at an accessible reading level. I also try to give students a platform to share what they are reading, because reluctant readers are often more likely to listen to their peers when they recommend a book.
You’re also a photographer. Does reading influence your camera work?
I never thought about the connection! But, yes, I think the two passions influence each other. Both reading and photography require a level of intentionality and focus. It’s choosing to block out time, and distractions, and be present with the story or the image. I find both activities really helpful for me mentally, to give myself a chance to slow down and connect with the world and with myself as a person.
What was the last book you read that challenged your world view?
Last summer, I was reading Oak Flat: A Fight for Sacred Land in the American West around the same time I listened to the podcast This Land hosted by Rebecca Nagle. And that combination made me aware of how little I really understood land sovereignty and the ongoing fight for recognition of the full status & rights of Native people in the United States.
What book would you recommend to heal a broken heart?
I think it depends if you want to sit with the sadness or escape from it. There is room for both in the healing process. One of my favorites for sitting with the sadness (but with still an element of hope) is the book Persuasion, by Jane Austen. Jane Austen captures really beautifully in that book the specific pain of mourning what might have been. For trying to still see the good in the world while experiencing personal pain, I would recommend The Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude, by Ross Gay.
What is a favorite quote from a book?
“You can’t see the future coming– not the terrors, for sure, but you also can’t see the wonders that are coming, the moments of light-soaked joy that await each of us.” – John Green, The Anthropocene Reviewed
If you had a Narnia closet, what literary world would it lead to and what’s the first thing you would do there?
My college roommate wrote an incredible series that reimagined Pride and Prejudice as a fantasy called the Heartstone trilogy. I would love to have a Narnia closet where I could see her vision come to life. The first thing I would do is probably get a ride on a dragon.
You’re on a dating app and all your matches are literary characters. Who do you select?
Mr. Bingley from Pride and Prejudice 🙂
In your opinion, what books should win the Newbery and Caldecott medals this year?
My students in our school’s version of the Caldecott for this year selected Gibberish by Young Vo, so I would have to agree with their decision for that one. For the Newbery, I would pick Swim Team by Johnnie Christmas.
NOTE: The 2023 Newbery went to Freewater by Amina Luqman-Dawson and the Caldecott went to Hot Dog by Doug Salati.
Thank you, Beth, for sharing your reading with us!
If you are a Reader and would like to do a profile with me, contact me at patricia.uttaro @ gmail.com.
The master of the Providence plantation in Barbados gathers his slaves and announces the king has decreed an end to slavery. As of the following day, the Emancipation Act of 1834 will come into effect. The cries of joy fall silent when he announces that they are no longer his slaves; they are now his apprentices. No one can leave. They must work for him for another six years. Freedom is just another name for the life they have always lived. So Rachel runs.
Away from Providence, she begins a desperate search to find her children—the five who survived birth and were sold. Are any of them still alive? Rachel has to know. The grueling, dangerous journey takes her from Barbados then, by river, deep into the forest of British Guiana and finally across the sea to Trinidad. She is driven on by the certainty that a mother cannot be truly free without knowing what has become of her children, even if the answer is more than she can bear. These are the stories of Mary Grace, Micah, Thomas Augustus, Cherry Jane and Mercy. But above all this is the story of Rachel and the extraordinary lengths to which a mother will go to find her children…and her freedom.
My Thoughts
This stunning novel will take you on an emotional journey that you will not soon forget. The experiences of mothers, fathers, children, and siblings born into slavery and ripped away from each other are just too horrific to fully understand, and Shearer skillfully conveys the raw emotions – rage, heartbreak, despair but also hope, love, and resilience – experienced by Rachel, her children, and her allies. Rachels’ story drives home the capacity for humans to torture each other physically and mentally, and that makes this a difficult book to read. However, it is also ultimately a story of redemption and reunification driven by the incandescent love of a mother for her children. This is a book that will change you.
A GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK • This beautiful, page-turning and redemptive story of a mother’s gripping journey across the Caribbean to find her stolen children in the aftermath of slavery is a “celebration of motherhood and female resilience” (The Observer). “A powerful novel that explores how freedom and family are truly defined”—Marie Benedict, New York Times bestselling coauthor of The Personal Librarian
Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2023 by Real Simple, Goodreads, AARP, Boston.com, BookBub and BookRiot
Her search begins with an ending.…
Publication Date: January 31, 2023 Published By: Berkley Publishing Group Thanks to Netgalley for the review copy
Private investigator Elvis Cole and his enigmatic partner, Joe Pike, are back on the case in this brilliant new thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author Robert Crais.
Adele Schumacher isn’t a typical worried mom. When she hires Elvis to find her missing son, a controversial podcaster named Josh Shoe, she brings a bag filled with cash, bizarre tales of government conspiracies, and a squad of professional bodyguards. Finding Josh should be simple, but Elvis quickly learns he isn’t alone in the hunt—a deadly team of mysterious strangers are determined to find Josh and his adult film star girlfriend first.
With dangerous secrets lurking behind every lead, Elvis needs his friend Joe Pike more than ever to uncover the truth about Josh, corrupt politicians, and the vicious business cartels rotting the heart of Los Angeles from within. And when Elvis’s estranged girlfriend, Lucy Chenier, and her son, Ben, return, he learns just how much he has to lose…if he survives.
Written with the heart, humor, and relentless suspense for which Crais is famous, Racing the Light delivers Elvis Cole’s most dangerous case yet.
My Thoughts
For years, Crais and Elvis Cole have been a go-to combo that satisfies my craving for a balls-to-the-wall detective story with a killer plot, snappy dialog, and characters as comfortable as a pair of worn in boots. Crais has mastered the art of the hard-boiled detective novel and this series never disappoints. Elvis Cole and Joe Pike are by turns rough & tumble and completely soft-hearted when it counts. The usual characters are back and as wise-cracking and world-weary as ever.
Not to throw shade at that other author who writes 1,000+ page detective novels, but ma’am THIS is how you write a detective novel.
A murderer strikes at a school reunion—but the students are no strangers to death— in this propulsive, twisty thriller from the internationally bestselling author of the Ruth Galloway Mysteries.
Is it possible to forget that you’ve committed a murder?
When Cassie Fitzgerald was at school in the late 90s, she and her friends killed a fellow student. Almost twenty years later, Cassie is a happily married mother who loves her job—as a police officer. She closely guards the secret she has all but erased from her memory.
Until her husband persuades her to go to a school reunion. Cassie catches up with her high-achieving old friends from the Manor Park School—among them two politicians, a rock star, and a famous actress. But then, shockingly, one of them is found dead in the school bathroom, supposedly from a drug overdose. As the victim was an eminent—and controversial—MP and the investigation is high profile, it’s headed by Cassie’s new boss, DI Harbinder Kaur, freshly promoted and newly arrived in London. The trouble is, Cassie can’t shake the feeling that one of them has killed again.
My Thoughts
Griffiths is already one of my go-to authors and I am so pleased to see her ramping up the Harbinder Kaur series at the same time she ends the Ruth Galloway series.
Kaur is a magnificent protagonist – wry, funny, brave, and well-able to hold her own in the male-dominated world of London CID. In this new entry, Kaur has moved from Sussex to London and is trying to acclimate herself to the big city. Her social awkwardness is endearing and familiar to anyone who has found themselves in a new, unfamiliar, but exciting city. That awkwardness has no effect on her ability to solve a murder, and this one is a doozie!
As usual, Griffiths’ writing is on pointe – a perfect blend of dialog and description, witty, and clever. This series is a winner and I really, really hope we see Harbinder on the screen sometime soon.
A darkly humorous, surprisingly poignant, and utterly gripping debut novel about a guy who works in Hell (literally) and is on the cusp of a big promotion if only he can get one more member of the wealthy Harrison family to sell their soul.
Peyote Trip has a pretty good gig in the deals department on the fifth floor of Hell. Sure, none of the pens work, the coffee machine has been out of order for a century, and the only drink on offer is Jägermeister, but Pey has a plan—and all he needs is one last member of the Harrison family to sell their soul.
When the Harrisons retreat to the family lake house for the summer, with their daughter Mickey’s precocious new friend, Ruth, in tow, the opportunity Pey has waited a millennium for might finally be in his grasp. And with the help of his charismatic coworker Calamity, he sets a plan in motion.
But things aren’t always as they seem, on Earth or in Hell. And as old secrets and new dangers scrape away at the Harrisons’ shiny surface, revealing the darkness beneath, everyone must face the consequences of their choices.
My Thoughts
This is one of those books that is hard to characterize. Is it a mystery? Horror? Weirdly devised chick/bro lit? Bitingly witty workplace angst? This is ALL that! The author offers brilliantly imagined facets of Hell, ranging from the C-suite to never-ending puddles, and every page offers some new observation about daily life.
Keeping everything straight was a little chaotic, but well worth the effort. This is a multi-layered book that I can see generating some really lively book discussions about what it means to live a decent life. There is a lot to unpack here in terms of what it takes to tip people to the dark side.
If you’re familiar with the legendary story of Dr. Faust, you’ll recognize some of that. There is more of Marlowe’s original Faust here – the successful but unsatisfied man who sells his soul to the Devil for unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasure – than Goethe’s intellectual Faust. Why do people want more and what is it about those in our society who are obscenely wealthy and fortunate that makes regular people idolize them? What kind of person would sell their very soul for unlimited wealth? Timely questions I’d say.
Final word – this is some of the best modern satire I’ve read in a long time.
Forty years ago, Steven “Smithy” Smith found a copy of a famous children’s book by disgraced author Edith Twyford, its margins full of strange markings and annotations. When he showed it to his remedial English teacher Miss Iles, she believed that it was part of a secret code that ran through all of Twyford’s novels. And when she disappeared on a class field trip, Smithy became convinced that she had been right.
Now, out of prison after a long stretch, Smithy decides to investigate the mystery that has haunted him for decades. In a series of voice recordings on an old iPhone from his estranged son, Smithy alternates between visiting the people of his childhood and looking back on the events that later landed him in prison. But it soon becomes clear that Edith Twyford wasn’t just a writer of forgotten children’s stories. The Twyford Code holds a great secret, and Smithy may just have the key.
“A modern Agatha Christie” (The Sunday Times, London), Janice Hallett has constructed a fiendishly clever, maddeningly original crime novel for lovers of word games, puzzles, and stories of redemption.
My Thoughts
I’ve been searching for a book that really captures and holds my attention and makes me think about the story and the clues.
The Twyford Code is it.
The firts part of the story is told in the unusual format of transcribed recorded messages which require the reader to pay attention in order to keep to the plot. I did find this a bit difficult to follow at times and thought there could be some editing done, but it all works out in the end.
I can often predict the twist in mysteries, but this one had me completely unsuspecting the action in the last part of the story, which is AMAZING!
This book makes you work – I found myself going back and re-reading passages several times to keep everything straight, and spent a lot of time re-reading parts after I got to the end.
Puzzle aficionados will adore this and I can see book clubs chewing on this one. Very well-done.
The mysterious connection between a teacher’s disappearance and an unsolved code in a children’s book is explored in this fresh novel from the author of the “clever and often wryly funny” novel The Appeal.(PopSugar)
Publication Date: January 24, 2023 Published By: Atria Books Thanks to Netgalley for the review copy
Based on a true story, an epic historical novel from the award-winning author of Things in Jars that illuminates the lives of two characters: a girl shipwrecked on an island off Western Australia and, three hundred years later, a boy finding a home with his grandfather on the very same island.
1629: A newly orphaned young girl named Mayken is bound for the Dutch East Indies on the Batavia, one of the greatest ships of the Dutch Golden Age. Curious and mischievous, Mayken spends the long journey going on misadventures above and below the deck, searching for a mythical monster. But the true monsters might be closer than she thinks.
1989: A lonely boy named Gil is sent to live off the coast of Western Australia among the seasonal fishing community where his late mother once resided. There, on the tiny reef-shrouded island, he discovers the story of an infamous shipwreck…
With her trademark “thrilling, mysterious, twisted, but more than anything, beautifully written” (Graham Norton, New York Times bestselling author) storytelling, Jess Kidd weaves “a true work of magic” (V.E. Schwab, author of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue) about friendship, sacrifice, brutality, and forgiveness.
My Thoughts
Jess Kidd continues to deliver absolutely stunning novels. The dual stories here of two young people, hundreds of years apart, are horrifying and gripping. The historical and modern settings are not the usual choices and create a fascinating ambience from start to finish.
What will keep you reading this story is Kidd’s ability to take you from the absolute worst of her characters to the best of the human spirit. The characters are childlike, playful, motherly, pompous, sly, clever, faithful, sadistic, confused, and eventually, at peace. There’s a touch of Lord of the Flies here which resulted in some scenes that were difficult to read.
Warning: there is some graphic horror here and the story is not for the faint of heart. If you can handle that, this is recommended.
From Catriona Ward, author of The Last House on Needless Street, comes the Shirley Jackson Award-winning novel Little Eve, a heart-pounding tale of faith and family, with a devastating twist.
“A great day is upon us. He is coming. The world will be washed away.”
On the wind-battered isle of Altnaharra, off the wildest coast of Scotland, a clan prepares to bring about the end of the world and its imminent rebirth.
The Adder is coming and one of their number will inherit its powers. They all want the honor, but young Eve is willing to do anything for the distinction.
A reckoning beyond Eve’s imagination begins when Chief Inspector Black arrives to investigate a brutal murder and their sacred ceremony goes terribly wrong.
And soon all the secrets of Altnaharra will be uncovered.
My Thoughts
Atmospheric, cunning, and with surprises all along the way, this early novel by Catriona Ward is wild. She writes in her forward that this was her second novel and it challenged her considerably. Now that she has published other novels and established her residency among the best horror writers of her generation, Little Eve has made a reappearance.
This is not the first book I’ve read recently where an established author has gone back and re-worked earlier stories. To a book, these re-workings have been some of the best work I’ve read, and Ward continues the trend with this masterful and haunting story.
Ward’s work often examines horror emanating from a human source. There are no mysterious monsters here – the monsters are all carried within the hearts of the characters. What will people do when driven to a point of madness? While there have been a few excellent tales told in recent years that feature remote villages and what can happen when even just one person becomes unstable and evil, Ward takes that trope and builds a fleshy, gruesome story that will haunt you.
Put simply, this is a goddamn great story. Read it on a cold, gray weekend and I bet you won’t sleep for a couple of days.
It's All About the Book 