Murder After Christmas by Rupert Latimer
Book Review

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Synopsis

Good old Uncle Willie - rich, truculent and seemingly propped up by his fierce willpower alone - has come to stay with the Redpaths for the holidays. It is just their luck for him to be found dead the morning after Christmas day, dressed in his Santa Claus costume, seemingly poisoned by his favourite chocolates. Or was there something sinister in the mince pies? If so, was it the ones stashed in his room or those sent to him mysteriously by post? More importantly, since his will was recently redrafted, who stands to gain by this unseasonable crime?

First published in 1944, Murder After Christmas is a lively riot of murder, mince pies and misdirection, cleverly playing with beloved murder mystery tropes to create

Under a Veiled Moon by Karen Odden
Book Review - Blog Tour

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Publication Date: October 11, 2022
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books>br> Series: An Inspector Corravan Mystery (Book 2)
Length: (336) pages
Format: Hardcover, eBook, & audiobook
Genre: Historical Mystery, Detective Mystery, Victorian Mystery

Synopsis

September 1878. One night, as the pleasure boat the Princess Alice makes her daily trip up the Thames, she collides with the Bywell Castle, a huge iron-hulled collier. The Princess Alice shears apart, throwing all 600 passengers into the river; only 130 survive. It is the worst maritime disaster London has ever seen, and early clues point to sabotage by the Irish Republican Brotherhood, who

Top Ten Tuesday
Books on My Summer 2022-2023 To-Read List

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl. A topic is assigned to each Tuesday. For that topic you are encouraged to make a top ten list, putting your own spin on it, if needed. Upcoming topics and

The Sisters of Sea View by Julie Klassen
Book Review - Blog Tour

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Publication Date: December 6, 2022
Publisher: Bethany House Publishers
Series: On Devonshire Shores (Book 1)
Length: (448) pages
Format: hardcover, trade paperback, & eBook 
Genre: Historical Romance, Regency Romance, Inspirational Fiction

Synopsis

Some guests have come for a holiday, others for hidden reasons of their own . . .

When their father's death leaves them impoverished, Sarah Summers and her genteel sisters fear they will be forced to sell the house and separate to earn livelihoods as governesses or companions. Determined to stay together, Sarah convinces them to open their seaside home to guests to make ends

The Hearts of All on Fire by Alana White
Spotlight

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Publication Date: September 27, 2022
Publisher: Atmosphere Press
Series: The Guid’Antonio Historical Mysteries
Page Length: 392
Genre: Historical Mystery

Synopsis

Florence, 1473. An impossible murder. A bitter rivalry. A serpent in the ranks.

Florentine investigator Guid’Antonio Vespucci returns to Florence from a government mission to find his dreams of success shattered. Life is good—but then a wealthy merchant dies from mushroom poisoning at Guid’Antonio’s Saint John’s Day table, and Guid’Antonio’s servant is charged with murder. Convinced of the youth’s innocence and fearful the killer may strike again

Murder in an Irish Castle by Verity Bright
Book Review - Blog Tour

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Publication Date: 28 November, 2022
Publisher: Bookouture
Series: A Lady Eleanor Swift Mystery #12
Format: ebook, print and audio
Genre: Historical Fiction/Cosy Mystery

Synopsis

Irish whiskey, rolling green hills, a traditional Christmas feast and… a murder? Lady Swift will need the luck of the Irish to survive this holiday season!

Christmas, 1923. Lady Eleanor Swift has received a rather unexpected invitation to the village Christmas party in the tiny, rural hamlet of Derrydee in the west of Ireland. Eleanor is thrilled about exploring her ancestral roots at her late uncle’s estate and spending the festive season in a castle. Packing Gladstone the bulldog’s coziest Christmas jumper, they

The Brightest Star by Emma Harcourt
Book Review

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Synopsis

1496. It is the height of the Renaissance and its flowering of intellectual and artistic endeavour, but the city state of Florence is in the grip of fundamentalist preacher Friar Girolamo Savonarola. Its good people believe the Lord speaks through him, just as certainly as the Sun circles the Earth.

For Leonarda Lunetta, eldest daughter of the learned Signore Vincenzo Fusili, religion is not as interesting as the books she shares with her beloved father. Reading is an escape from the ridicule flung her way, for Luna is not like other girls. She was born with a misshapen leg and that, and her passion for intellectual pursuits - particularly astronomy - alters how society sees her and how she sees the world.

Literary Christmas 2022 Reading Challenge
My Sign Up Post

Hosted by: In the Bookcase
Challenge period: Now to 31st December, 2022
Sign Up: Now
Aim: To read and review as many Christmas-themed titles as you can from a list you

Wolves of Wagria by Eric Schumacher
Release Day Book Blast

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Publication Date: Nov 15, 2022
Publisher: Bodn Books
Series: Olaf’s Saga Book 3
Page Length: 344 pages
Genre: Historical Fiction / Historical Action

Synopsis

Three kingdoms. Two friends. Only one way to survive.

For fans of Bernard Cornwell and Conn Iggulden comes the tale of Olaf Tryggvason and his adventures in the battle-scarred kingdom of Wagria.

It is AD 972. Olaf Tryggvason and his oath-sworn protector, Torgil, are once again on the move. They have left the Rus kingdom and now travel the Baltic Sea in search of

The Case of the Disappearing Beaune: A Sherlock Holmes Christmas Mystery by J. Lawrence Matthews
Spotlight

The end of the year is fast approaching and there is a plethora of Christmas-themed novels being released.

My Christmas reading usually takes the form of historical mysteries and I'm excited to share that the latest novella from J. Lawrence Matthews, the author of One Must Tell the Bees, is another interesting case involving Sherlock Holmes and, of course, Dr Watson.

Synopsis

Christmas morning, 1902: Sherlock Holmes discovers that the wine in a bottle of French Beaune (intended as a gift for Dr. Watson) has been switched with sand, and he suspects it means threat to the newly crowned King of England. Or does it? With Dr. Watson's help, he soon finds out...

I'm adding this to my Christmas reading list!

Godmersham Park by Gill Hornby
Book Review - Blog Tour

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Publication Date: November 1, 2022
Publisher: Pegasus Books
Length: (416) pages
Format: Hardcover, eBook, & audiobook
  Genre: Historical Fiction, Biographical Historical Fiction, Austenesque

Synopsis

A richly imagined novel inspired by the true story of Anne Sharp, a governess who became very close with Jane Austen and her family by the #1 International bestselling-author of Miss Austen.

On January 21, 1804, Anne Sharpe arrives at Godmersham Park in Kent to take up the position of governess. At thirty-one years old, she has no previous experience of either teaching or fine country houses. Her mother

Floats the Dark Shadow by Yves Fey
Read an Excerpt

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Publication Date: September 2022 (Second Edition)
Publisher: Tygerbright Press
Series: The Paris Trilogy
Audiobook: narrated by Hollie Jackson
Page Length: 340 pages
Genre: Historical Mystery

Synopsis

Young American painter Theodora Faraday struggles to become an artist in Belle Époque Paris. She’s tasted the champagne of success, illustrating poems for the Revenants, a group of poets led by her adored cousin, Averill.

When children she knows vanish mysteriously, Theo confronts Inspecteur Michel Devaux who suspects the Revenants

The Godmother's Secret by Elizabeth St.John
Book Review - Blog Tour

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Publication Date: 4th October, 2022
Publisher: Falcon Historical
Page Length: 350 pages
Genre: Biographical Historical Fiction / Historical Mystery



Synopsis

What if you knew what happened to the Princes in the Tower. Would you tell? Or would you forever keep the secret?

November, 1470: Westminster Abbey. Lady Elysabeth Scrope faces a perilous royal duty when ordered into sanctuary with Elizabeth Woodville–witness the birth of Edward IV’s Yorkist son. Margaret Beaufort, Elysabeth’s sister, is desperately seeking a pardon for

Small Eden by Jane Davis
Book Review - Blog Tour

Publication Date: 30 April 2022, eBooks / 30 May 2022, paperbacks
Publisher: Rossdale Print Productions
Page Length: 394
Genre: Historical Fiction (1864 – 1910)

Synopsis

A boy with his head in the clouds. A man with a head full of dreams.

1884. The symptoms of scarlet fever are easily mistaken for teething, as Robert Cooke and his pregnant wife Freya discover at the cost of their two infant sons. Freya immediately isolates for the safety of their unborn child. Cut off from each other, there is no opportunity for husband and wife to teach each other the language of their loss. By the time they meet again, the subject is taboo. But unspoken grief is a

The Belle of Belgrave Square by Mimi Matthews
Book Review + Blog Tour Giveaway (US Only)

Publication Date: October 11, 2022
Publisher: Berkley Romance
Length: (432) pages
Format: Trade paperback, eBook, & audiobook
Series: Belles of London #2
Genre: Historical Romance, Historical Fiction

Synopsis

A London heiress rides out to the wilds of the English countryside to honor a marriage of convenience with a mysterious and reclusive stranger.

Tall, dark, and dour, the notorious Captain Jasper Blunt was once hailed a military hero, but tales abound of his bastard children and his haunted estate in Yorkshire. What he requires now is a rich wife to ornament his

In the Shadow of a Queen by Heather B. Moore
Book Review - Blog Tour

Publication Date: October 4, 2022
Publisher: Shadow Mountain Publishing
Length: (384) pages
Format: Hardcover, eBook, & audiobook 
Genre: Historical Fiction, Inspirational Fiction

Synopsis

Based on the True Story of the Free-Spirited Daughter of Queen Victoria. Princess Louise’s life is upended after her father’s untimely death. Captive to the queen’s overwhelming mourning, Louise is forbidden to leave her mother’s tight circle of control and is eventually relegated to the position of personal secretary to her mother―the same position each of her sisters held until they were married. Already an accomplished painter, Louise risks the queen’s wrath by exploring the art of sculpting, an activity

Millstone of Doubt by Erica Vetsch
Book Review - Blog Tour

Publication Date: September 20, 2022
Publisher: Kregel Publications
Series: Thorndike and Swann Regency Mysteries #2
Format: Trade paperback & eBook
Length: (304) pages
Genre: Historical Mystery, Historical Romance, Inspirational Fiction

Synopsis

A Bow Street Runner and a debutante in London Society use their skills to find the killer of a wealthy businessman, but the killer’s secrets aren’t the only ones they will uncover.

Caught in the explosion of the Hammersmith Mill in London, Bow Street runner Daniel Swann rushes to help any survivors only to find the mill's owner dead of an apparent

A Turbulent Peace by Paul Walker
Read an Excerpt

Publication Date: July 2022
Publisher: Sharpe Books
Page Length: 305 Pages
Genre: Historical Fiction

Synopsis

January 1919.  

Following the armistice, Mary Kiten, a volunteer nurse in northern France, is ready to return home to England when she receives a surprise telegram requesting that she report to Paris. The call comes from her Uncle Arthur, a security chief at the Peace Conference.

Within minutes of arriving at the Majestic Hotel in Paris, Mary hears a commotion in the street outside. A man has been shot and killed. She is horrified to earn that the victim is her uncle. The

Top Ten Tuesday
Books On My Spring 2022 To-Read List

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl. A topic is assigned to each Tuesday. For that topic you are encouraged to make a top ten list, putting your own spin on it, if needed. Upcoming topics and

20 Books of Summer (Winter) 2022 - Wrap Up

This reading challenge was hosted by Cathy @ 746 Books and ran from June 1st to September 1st, the winter months here in Australia.

In that time, I read a total of twenty five books and wrote reviews for nine. I still have some reviews in the draft stage which will be posted at a later date.

My list was drawn from my NetGalley shelf (which included titles for book

My Name is Ona Judge by Suzette D. Harrison
Book Review - Blog Tour

Publication Date: September 6, 2022
Publisher: Bookouture
Format: ebook, print and audio
Genre: Historical Fiction

Synopsis

New Hampshire, 1796. “My name is Ona Judge, and I escaped from the household of the President of the United States. I was the favored maid of George and Martha Washington, but they deemed me a slave and thought me property, and I hear ten dollars is offered as reward for my capture. Now I must write the truth that I have lived, and tell my story…”

Chincoteague, Virginia, present day. Rain soaks Tessa Scott as she runs from her car to the old, vine-covered property she has been

Death Down the Aisle by Verity Bright
Book Review - Blog Tour

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Publication Date: August 31, 2022
Publisher: Bookouture
Series: A Lady Eleanor Swift Mystery #11
Format: ebook, print and audio
Genre: Historical Fiction/Cosy Mystery

Synopsis

The society wedding of the decade has everything: the blushing bride, beautiful flowers… and the groom arrested before he can walk down the aisle? Thank goodness Lady Swift is on the guest list!

Lady Eleanor Swift isn’t normally one for grand social occasions, but who can resist a wedding? Especially when it’s her old friend, Constance Grainger, marrying the most eligible bachelor in town, Lord Peregrine Davencourt. Eleanor is taking Gladstone the

Where the Sky Begins by Rhys Bowen
Book Review

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Synopsis

London, 1940. Bombs fall and Josie Banks’s world crumbles around her. Her overbearing husband, Stan, is unreachable, called to service. Her home, a ruin of rubble and ash. Josie’s beloved tearoom boss has been killed, and Josie herself is injured, with nothing left and nowhere to go.

Evacuated to the English countryside, Josie ends up at the estate of the aristocratic Miss Harcourt, a reluctant host to the survivors of the Blitz. Awed as she is by the magnificent landscape, Josie sees opportunity. Josie convinces Miss Harcourt to let her open a humble tea shop, seeing it as a chance for everyone to begin again. When Josie meets Mike Johnson, a handsome Canadian pilot stationed at a neighboring bomber base, a

Miss Aldridge Regrets by Louise Hare
Book Review

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Synopsis

The glittering RMS Queen Mary. A nightclub singer on the run. An aristocratic family with secrets worth killing for.

London, 1936. Lena Aldridge wonders if life has passed her by. The dazzling theatre career she hoped for hasn't worked out. Instead, she's stuck singing in a sticky-floored basement club in Soho, and her married lover has just left her. But Lena has always had a complicated life, one shrouded in mystery as a mixed-race girl passing for white in a city unforgiving of her true racial heritage.

She's feeling utterly hopeless until a stranger offers her the chance of a lifetime: a starring role on Broadway and a first-class ticket on the Queen Mary bound for New York. After a

Spell the Month in Books - August 2022

Spell the Month in Books is a linkup hosted by Jana on her blog Reviews from the Stacks on the second Saturday of each month.

The aim is to spell the current month with the first letter of book titles, excluding articles such as ‘the’ and ‘a’ as needed. Easy! More information here.

I've watched this challenge doing the rounds for sometime now, but never joined in. Usually because I missed when it was due. Today, however, I made it!

The Secret Keeper by Siobhan Curham
Book Review

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Publication Date: July 27, 2022
Publisher: Bookouture
Format: Print, ebook and audio
Genre: Historical Fiction/Womens Fiction

Synopsis

Nazi-occupied Paris, 1942. “I want to create a world where we are free to be together, to be in love,” he whispered. I gulp down the sobs building in my throat. “I want that too. I’ll come back to you. I swear I’ll come back.”

Elena Garcia knows that the mission she has been tasked with is her most dangerous yet. With a tearful goodbye to the man she has grown to love, the dark-eyed and warm-hearted Santiago Lozano, she hurries to catch the train to the drop-off point, the coded maps she is delivering for the resistance concealed

Six in Six is Back for 2022!

Another July has come around which means it's time for this fun meme hosted by Jo @ The Book Jotter, now in its tenth year.

The aim of Six in Six is to share what we've read in the first six months of the year by choosing six of the categories given and listing six books under each category. More information and the list of categories can be found here.

This meme is a great way to look back on what you've read so far in the year and to see any emerging trends. Looking at what I've read over the past six months,

Spotlight On:
A Turbulent Beginning, The Mallory Saga, Book 5
by Paul Bennett

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The Mallory Saga Series

Follow the Mallory family as they attempt to live a peaceful life on the PA frontier in 1756.

They face tragedy and loss as they become embroiled in The French and Indian War - Clash of Empires.

In Paths to Freedom, the colonies are heading to open revolt against King George III, and the Mallory's are once again facing the spectre of war.

Crucible of Rebellion continues the Mallory story through the early years of The Revolutionary War.

Book 4, A Nation is Born completes the Revolution and The Mallory's have played

Shoot the Horses First: A Collection of Histories
by Leah Angstman
Cover Reveal + Blog Tour Giveaway (US only)

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Publication Date: February 28, 2023
Publisher: Kernpunkt Press
Format: Hardcover, Paperback, eBook, Audiobook; 238 pages
Genre: Literary / Historical / Short Stories

***Finalist for the Shorts Award for Americana Fiction***

Through a historian’s lens and folkloric storytelling, the pieces in SHOOT THE HORSES FIRST revel in the nuances, brutality, mythology, and tiny victories of our historical past. A launderer takes us inside the linens of the richest families in early Baltimore. A child on the Orphan Train has his teeth inspected like a horse. Civil War soldiers experience PTSD. While one woman lands on an island of the Wampanoag tribe, a woman 200 years later finds Apache in a

The Crimson Thread by Kate Forsyth
Book Review + Blog Tour Giveaway (US only)

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Publication Date: July 5, 2022
Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
Genre: Historical Fiction

Synopsis

In Crete during World War II, Alenka, a young woman who fights with the resistance against the brutal Nazi occupation, finds herself caught between her traitor of a brother and the man she loves, an undercover agent working for the Allies.

May 1941. German paratroopers launch a blitzkrieg from the air against Crete. They are met with fierce defiance, the Greeks fighting back with daggers, pitchforks, and kitchen knives. During the bloody eleven-day battle, Alenka, a young Greek woman, saves the lives of two Australian soldiers.

Cragside: A 1930s Murder Mystery by M. J. Porter
Read an Excerpt

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Publication Date: 14th April 2022
Publisher: M J Publishing
Page Length: 234 Pages
Genre: Historical Mystery

Synopsis

Lady Merryweather has had a shocking year. Apprehended for the murder of her husband the year before, and only recently released, she hopes a trip away from London will allow her to grieve. The isolated, but much loved, Cragside Estate in North Northumberland, home of her friends, Lord and Lady Bradbury, holds special memories for her.

But, no sooner has she arrived than the body of one of the guests is found on the estate, and suspicion immediately turns on her. Perhaps, there are no friendships to be found here, after

The Lost Sister of Fifth Avenue by Ella Carey
Book Review

Publication Date: July 7, 2022
Publisher: Bookouture
Series: Daughters of New York #4
Format: ebook, print and audio
Genre: Historical Fiction

Synopsis

New York, 1938: Martha pulled the door of her Fifth Avenue apartment closed, her heart thumping, re-reading the telegram she’d been dreading. Her beloved sister Charlotte needed her help. She was alone in Paris, and the threat of Nazi invasion was growing ever stronger. The time had come for Martha to make the bravest decision of her life. She needed to bring Charlotte home.

As Martha looks out of her bedroom window at the blossom-covered trees in Central Park,

A Dress of Violet Taffeta by Tessa Arlen
Spotlight and Excerpt

Publication Date: July 5, 2022
Publisher: Berkley Books
Length: (352) pages
Format: Trade paperback, eBook, & audiobook 
Genre: Historical Fiction

Synopsis

A sumptuous novel based on the fascinating true story of La Belle Époque icon Lucy, Lady Duff Gordon, who shattered the boundaries of fashion with her magnificently sensual and enchantingly unique designs.

Lucy Duff Gordon knows she is talented. She sees color, light, and texture in ways few people can begin to imagine. But is the male dominated world of haute couture, who would use her art for their own gain, ready for her?  

Raleigh - Tudor Adventurer by Tony Riches
Book Review

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Publication Date: 1st May 2022
Publisher: Preseli Press
Page Length: 332 Pages
Series: The Elizabethan Series, Book 3
Genre: Historical Fiction

Synopsis

Tudor adventurer, courtier, explorer and poet, Sir Walter Raleigh has been called the last true Elizabethan.

He didn’t dance or joust, didn’t come from a noble family, or marry into one. So how did an impoverished law student become a favourite of the queen, and Captain of the Guard?

The story which began with the best-selling Tudor trilogy follows Walter Raleigh from his first days at the Elizabethan Court to the end

Gwenna The Welsh Confectioner by Vicky Adin
Spotlight

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Publication Date: 24th July 2017
Publisher: Vicky Adin Author
Page Length: 396 Pages
Series: The New Zealand Immigrant Collection - suspenseful family saga fiction about overcoming the odds
Genre: Historical Women’s Fiction

Synopsis

Against overwhelming odds, can she save her legacy?

Gwenna's life is about to change. Her father is dead and the family business on the brink of collapse. Thwarted by society, the plucky sweet maker refuses to accept defeat.

Amid the bustling vibrancy of Auckland’s Karangahape Road, she promised her father

The Angel of Vienna by Kate Hewitt
Book Review

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Publisher: Bookouture
Publication Date: June 16, 2022
Format: ebook, print and audio
Genre: Historical Fiction, WWII

Synopsis

Nazi-occupied Vienna, 1940: A young nurse finds herself with the chance to save innocent children. An unmissable and heartbreaking story—based on devastating real events—about tragedy, hope and courage in the face of impossible odds.

“These children, who the Nazis don’t even see as human, these children are innocent. And, Hannah, if you have the chance to save even one of them, you know what you have to do. Even if it puts your own life at risk.”

The Wistful and the Good by G. M. Baker
Read an Excerpt

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Publication Date: 4th April 2022
Publisher: Stories All the Way Down
Page Length: 341 Pages
Series: Cuthbert’s People #1
Genre: Historical Fiction

Synopsis

The mighty are undone by pride, the bold by folly, and the good by wistfulness.  

Elswyth's mother was a slave, but her father is a thegn, and Drefan, the man she is to marry, is an ealdorman's son. But though Elswyth is content with the match, and waits only for Drefan to notice that she has come to womanhood, still she finds herself gazing seaward, full of wistful longing.

From the sea come Norse traders, bringing wealth, friendship, and tales of distant lands.

A Fatal Crossing by Tom Hindle
Book Review

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Synopsis

November 1924. The Endeavour sets sail from Southampton carrying 2,000 passengers and crew on a week-long voyage to New York.

When an elderly gentleman is found dead at the foot of a staircase, ship's officer Timothy Birch is ready to declare it a tragic accident. But James Temple, a strong-minded Scotland Yard inspector, is certain there is more to this misfortune than meets the eye.

Birch agrees to investigate, and the trail quickly leads to the theft of a priceless painting. Its very existence is known only to its owner . . . and the dead man.

With just days remaining until they reach New York, and even Temple's purpose on board

Classics Club Spin #30: The Number Has Been Announced!

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The result of the Spin has been announced. It is #5!

In the 20 books I'd listed for this spin, five were set in Australia and I was hoping for one of these.

Well, I'm very happy with the outcome of the spin as I Know My Love by Catherine Gaskin, set in 1850s Australia, was #5 on my list. I need to read this book by August 7th, 2022.

Gaskin is more famous for her other novel set in colonial Australia, Sara Dane, which was my introduction to this author in my early teenage years.

Classics Club Spin #30

Another Classics Club Spin is coming up!

My track record with Classics Club spins is woeful, not that I've participated in that many. I hope this time I've chosen my books wisely and that I'll finish reading whatever the spin dictates AND post a review.

Last Nocturne by M.J. Trow
Book Review

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Synopsis

Private detectives Grand & Batchelor's latest case draws them into the arcane world of high art and high society in this compelling Victorian mystery.

London. May, 1878. Private enquiry agents Matthew Grand and James Batchelor have been hired by the artist James Whistler to dig into the past of outspoken critic John Ruskin, with whom he has an ongoing feud. Not particularly optimistic of success, the two detectives are sidetracked from the investigation by the murder of a prostitute in nearby Cremorne Gardens. Her body posed on a park bench, a book on birth control sitting on her lap, Clara Jenkins is not the first young woman to have met a similarly grisly fate - and she won't be the last.

The French for Murder by Verity Bright
Book Review

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Publication Date: May 30, 2022
Publisher: Bookouture
Series: A Lady Eleanor Swift Mystery #10
Format: ebook, print and audio
Genre: Historical Fiction/Cosy Mystery

Synopsis

A grand villa, croissants for breakfast and a dead body in the wine cellar… Lady Swift can’t seem to take a vacation from murder!

Summer 1923. Lady Eleanor Swift is finally persuaded by her butler, Clifford, to take a villa in the south of France for the season. She plans to do what a glamorous lady abroad should: long lunches on the balcony followed by lazy afternoons lounging by the pool. Even Gladstone the bulldog is looking forward to a daily paddle in the ocean.

But when Clifford examines the wine cellar, he discovers there are no decent reds but there is a very dead body. The victim is famous American movie star Rex Armstrong. Poor Rex seems to have been stabbed with a sword

Six Degrees of Separation: from Sorrow and Bliss to Windyridge

It's the first Saturday of the month and time to play Six Degrees of Separation. This meme is hosted by Kate of Books Are My Favourite and Best. The aim is to link six books to each other from the starting point.

This month the starting point is Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason. Once again, I've not read the book we are starting with and, as last month, time is not my friend due to various committments, the highlight of which was a four-day family get-to-gether to celebrate my father's 96th birthday (which I'm still recovering from).

As Sorrow and Bliss has been shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2022, I thought I'd look at previous winners. This wasn't very helpful, but at least it gave me a starting point. The only author I was familiar with was Helen

Northbridge Rectory by Angela Thirkell
Book Review

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I'm still way behind in Reading Thirkell's Barsetshire Series in Order Challenge, but hopefully I will catch up at some point.

Synopsis

Barsetshire during wartime finds Mr Downing, Miss Pemberton, and Mrs Turner engaged in a love triangle; a chorus of officers raucously quartered at the rectory; and village ladies with violent leanings.

In Mrs Major Spender, Thirkell offers a devastating sketch of the good-natured egoist, and readers will be pleased that the less-than-articulate Betty finds a soulmate in Captain Copham.

My Thoughts

Northbridge Rectory, its inhabitants and those

20 Books of Summer (Winter) 2022

I'm hoping that this reading challenge hosted by Cathy @ 746 Books will provide a boost for my reading and reviewing year, which is not going too well to-date.

The challenge will run from June 1st to September 1st, the winter months here in Australia and the ideal time for me to catch-up, now that work has finally quietened down after the prolonged and hectic tourist season and the weather will, no doubt, keep me housebound.

Unlike Any Other By Edward Londergan
Read an Excerpt

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Publication Date: 1st March, 2022
Publisher: White River Press
Page Length: 270 Pages
Genre: Historical Fiction

Synopsis

The Story of An 18th Century Woman from A Prominent New England Family Who Went from A Life of Privilege to The Gallows

Bathsheba Spooner was the daughter of Timothy Ruggles, a general in the French and Indian War, president of the Stamp Act Congress, Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, and a leading loyalist in Massachusetts during the Revolutionary War; the epitome of upper class.

Like her father, Bathsheba was smart, strong-willed, and a staunch British loyalist. Forced

The Colour of Rubies by Toni Mount
Blog Tour - Read an Excerpt

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Synopsis

Murder lurks at the heart of the royal court in the rabbit warren of the Palace of Westminster. The year is 1480. Treason is afoot amongst the squalid grandeur and opulent filth of this medieval world of contrasts. Even the Office of the King’s Secretary hides a dangerous secret.

Meeting with lords and lackeys, clerks, courtiers and the mighty King Edward himself, can Seb Foxley decipher the encoded messages and name the spy? Will Seb be able to prevent the murder of the most important heir in England?

All will be revealed as we join Seb Foxley and his abrasive brother Jude in the latest intriguing adventure amid the sordid shadows of fifteenth-century London.

Bloomsbury Girls by Natalie Jenner
Blog Tour - Read an Excerpt

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Publication Date: May 17, 2022
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Genre: Historical Fiction, Women’s Fiction
Length: (368) pages
Format: Hardcover, eBook, & audiobook
ISBN: 978-1250276698

Synopsis

Natalie Jenner, the internationally bestselling author of The Jane Austen Society, returns with a compelling and heartwarming story of post-war London, a century-old bookstore, and three women determined to find their way in a fast-changing world in Bloomsbury Girls.

Bloomsbury Books is an old-fashioned new and rare bookstore that has persisted and resisted change for a hundred years, run by men and guided by the general manager's unbreakable fifty-one rules. But in 1950, the

Six Degrees of Separation: From True History of the Kelly Gang to Jack and the Beanstalk

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It's the first Saturday of the month and time to play Six Degrees of Separation. This meme is hosted by Kate of Books Are My Favourite and Best. The aim is to link six books to each other from the starting point.

This month the starting point is Peter Carey’s True History of the Kelly Gang. Ive only read one book by this Australian author and that is Jack Maggs, which I liked.

As I'm pressed for time, this book is my first link and sets the theme for my quick, pictorial post: books with the name Jack in the title.

My Six Degrees of Separation includes a popular maritime series, an Australian classic, a military series, an infamous historical figure and a well-known fairy tale.

Where the Gulls Fall Silent by Lelita Baldock
Blog Tour - Read an Excerpt

book cover image
Publication Date: 28th October 2021
Publisher: Independently Published
Page Length: 231 Pages
Genre: Historical Fiction

Synopsis

A small fishing village, a shunned healer, her daughter, tradition, superstition and a world set to change.

Kerensa lives with her mother, the healer Meliora, on the edge of a small fishing community on the Cornish Coast.

The townsfolk, who work the fish runs of pilchard and mackerel that make their way up the Atlantic coast, call on her mother for help with their ailments, but never for her company.