The Dutch Muse by Heidi Eljarbo Spotlight

Publication Date: 17 June 2025
Publisher: Independently published
Series: A Fabiola Bennett Mystery
Pages: 270
Genre: Historical Art Mystery, Dual Timeline, Historical Fiction, Dutch Historical Fiction, Dual-timeline Fiction

Book Description

A ruthless thief leaves a private Dutch gallery with a coveted seventeenth-century painting. The owner lies unconscious on the floor. Art historian Fabiola Bennett is on vacation in Holland and takes on the case.

Amsterdam, 1973.
It’s late summer, and Fabiola and Pippa join their friend, Cary, for a few days of sightseeing, museums, and riding bikes around the beautiful city.

The Paris Portrait by Heidi Eljarbo Spotlight

Publication Date: 12th November 2024
Publisher: independently published
Series: A Fabiola Bennett Mystery
Pages: about 200, but it has not been formatted yet
Genre: Historical Mystery, Dual-timeline, Historical Fiction,

Book Description

Fabiola stumbles upon a clue that indicates a royal portrait went missing almost two hundred years ago. Is this true, or is there substance to the rumor?

Paris, France, 1973. After an enjoyable but dusty road trip, Fabiola and her friends, Pippa and Cary, arrive in a small village on the outskirts of Paris to spend a few days with Fabiola’s brother Eivind and his family.

Georgia's Folly by Deborah Chase Spotlight

Publication Date: September 2024
Pages: 322 manuscript pages
Genre: Dual-Timeline/Split Time Historical Romance

Book Description

For fans of "Antiques Roadshow" and "American Pickers" - this is the one for you!

Beginning at a cluttered flea market and ending at a glittering art auction, Georgia’s Folly tells the compelling story that blends past and present and the search for a valuable and elusive antique. Chloe Bishop grew up in foster care. She loves shopping at flea markets, picking up family heirlooms like old pottery or vintage furniture to fill in for the family and home she never had.

As Chloe walks through the Brooklyn Flea

Trouble in Assisi by Heidi Eljarbo Spotlight

Today, the spotlight is shining on another winning combination of history, mystery and art: the second book in Heidi Eljarbo's Fabiola Bennett mysteries.

Publication Date: 28th May 2024
Publisher: Independently published
Series: A Fabiola Bennett Mystery
Pages: ~ 225 pages
Genre: Historical Mystery / Dual Timeline Mystery

Blurb

Assisi, 1973.

On art historian Fabiola Bennett’s first day in Assisi, a local gentleman takes her aside to ask for advice about a painting that has wondrously appeared in the basilica’s bell tower. So much for enjoying relaxing days filled

The Paris Network by Siobhan Curham Book Review

Publication Date: February 15, 2022
Publisher: Bookouture
Format: ebook, print and audio
Genre: Historical Fiction

Synopsis

Paris, 1940: He pressed the tattered book into her hands. ‘You must go to the café and ask at the counter for Pierre Duras. Tell him that I sent you. Tell him you’re there to save the people of France.’

Sliding the coded message in between the crisp pages of the hardback novel, bookstore owner Laurence slips out into the cold night to meet her resistance contact, pulling her woollen beret down further over her face. The silence of the night is suddenly shattered by an Allied plane rushing overhead, its tail

The Queen's Spy by Clare Marchant Book Review

Publication Date: 8th July 2021
Publisher: Avon
Format: Print, ebook and audio
Page Length: 400 Pages
Genre: Historical Dual Timeline

Synopsis

1584: Elizabeth I rules England. But a dangerous plot is brewing in court, and Mary Queen of Scots will stop at nothing to take her cousin’s throne. There’s only one thing standing in her way: Tom, the queen’s trusted apothecary, who makes the perfect silent spy…

2021: Travelling the globe in her campervan, Mathilde has never belonged anywhere. So when she receives news of an inheritance, she is shocked to discover she has a family in

Beyond the Olive Grove by Kate Hewitt Book Review

Publication Date:13 August , 2021
Publisher: Bookouture
Format: ebook & paperback
Genre: Historical Fiction

Synopsis

The place seemed utterly still, the only sound was the wind rustling high in the pines above. Standing there, realizing she didn’t even know which house had belonged to her grandmother, Ava wondered just how crazy and desperate she’d been to come all this way with no hope or plan.

When Ava arrives in Greece, it’s with a heart that’s shattered into a thousand pieces. But as she pulls up in a tiny village nestled on a cliff above the glittering Ionian Sea, and steps out in front of a tumbledown house that once

The Secret Diary by Anna Stuart Book Review

Publication Date: August 3, 2021
Publisher: Bookouture
Format: ebook & paperback
Genre: Historical Fiction

Synopsis

Two women. One house. And a wartime secret that spans decades…

Norfolk, 1945: Only a few months ago Nancy Jones was fighting for her country as a gunner girl. Now she’s struggling to adjust to her responsibilities as a gamekeeper’s wife. After a whirlwind romance, Nancy is deeply in love with her handsome husband Joe but there is still so much they don’t know about each other. When a secret from Nancy’s war years threatens to resurface, will the terrible truth about the worst night of her life shatter their

The Rainbow by Carly Schabowski Book Review

Publication Date: July 28, 2021
Publisher: Bookouture
Format: ebook & paperback
Genre: Historical Fiction

Synopsis

There, on the dusty floorboards, was a piece of paper, folded neatly. A newspaper article from 1941, written in German, alongside a faded picture of two men in Nazi uniforms staring at the camera. I was about to place it back in the box of forgotten things when something in the text jumped out at me. My breath caught in my chest. I know that name.

London, present day. Isla has grown up hearing her beloved grandad’s stories about his life as a child in pre-war Poland and as a young soldier bravely fighting the Germans to protect his people. So she is shocked and

The Shut Away Sisters by Suzanne Goldring Book Review

Publication Date: 29 June 2021
Publisher: Bookouture
Format: ebook and paperback
Genre: Historical Fiction

Synopsis

Two ordinary sisters. A long and brutal war. A heroic sacrifice…

London, 1915. As German bombs rain down on the East End of London and hungry children queue for rations in the blistering cold, fifteen-year-old Florrie is forced to grow up fast. With her father fighting in the muddy trenches, Florrie turns to her older sister Edith for comfort. But the war has changed Edith. She has grown quiet, with dark shadows under her eyes, and has started leaving the house at night in secret. When Florrie follows her sister through the dark and winding streets of

Beyond This Broken Sky by Siobhan Curham Book Review

Publication Date: April 20, 2021
Publisher: Bookouture
Format: ebook
Genre: Historical Fiction, World War II

Synopsis

1940, London: An unforgettable novel about the strength of the human spirit in the face of war and the remarkable women who put themselves in danger on the front lines during the Battle of Britain.

As a volunteer for the ambulance service, Ruby has the dangerous task of driving along pitch-dark roads during the blackout. With each survivor she pulls from the rubble, she is helping to fight back against the enemy

From A Paris Balcony by Ella Carey Book Review - Blog Tour

Publication date: 11th November 2020
Publisher: Bookouture
Genre: Historical Fiction

Synopsis

The small green chest was concealed at the back of her father’s wardrobe. Its hinges were made of brass that must once have shone, but now the surface was roughened and dull. As she opened the lock, there was only one thing inside: a letter, postmarked 1895, Paris.

England, 1895. Louisa West, a young beauty from Boston, looks like she has it all: a handsome husband, she is lady of Ashworth Manor and one day she’ll be a duchess. But in truth, her life is falling apart. Louisa’s

The House by the Lake by Ella Carey Book Review - Blog Tour

Publication Date: 20th October, 2020
Publisher: Bookouture
Format: ebook
Page Length:296 pages
Genre: Historical Fiction, WWII

Synopsis

The cobbled streets were dark as Isabelle hurried through the shadows, dodging in and out of doorways, constantly looking back. She worried the sound of her loudly thumping heart would give her away, as she peered around a corner. Suddenly, Isabelle was surrounded by Nazi soldiers, their black boots pounding on the pavement, barring her way… 

The Road to Ironbark by Kaye Dobbie Book Review

Synopsis

1874, The Victorian Goldfields

In the town of Ironbark, Aurora Scott faces ruin as the railways supplant the Cobb & Co coach line, the lifeline of her hotel. Aurora is no stranger to adversity; the formidable publican has pulled herself from a murky past to build a respectable life in Ironbark. But when bushrangers storm the hotel, taking hostages as leverage for the Starburst Mine's payroll, Aurora has more trouble on her hands than she can handle.

This is no random act, but a complex scheme of revenge. The gang turn on each other. Shots ring out. And when the dust settles, the

The Hanged Man by Andrée Rushton Book Review

Synopsis

Castignac, a beautiful farmhouse in the South-West of France, is a shared holiday home for a group of Brits. The shocking death of Ian, one of the group’s members, taints the happy memories of the house and the group decides to try and sell it on. However, another member, Tessa, senses secrets and endeavors to find out more…

The present-day story is interwoven with chapters about the past, and the life story of the Castignac farmer is revealed through flashbacks to the First World War. The hidden history of this farmhouse is brought further into question when Tessa unveils a drawing of a

The Memory House: A Love Story in Two Acts by Jenetta James Book Review - Blog Tour - Giveaway (US only)

Publication Date: August 10, 2020
Quills and Quartos Publishing
Paperback & eBook; 276 pages
Genre: Historical Romance

Synopsis

A house in one of London’s most exclusive neighbourhoods is home to secrets, mysteries, and two love stories spanning two centuries.

In 1859, independent-minded Kitty Cathcart dreams of escaping Veronica Gardens but her father’s determination to marry her off to a rich man of his choosing forces her to seek happiness and find her own voice by other means. And then the handsome but poor Alex Faraday walks through the front doors.

The Woman in the Green Dress by Tea CooperBook Review - Blog Tour - Giveaway (US Only)

Publication Date: June 16, 2020
Thomas Nelson
Paperback, eBook, & AudioBook
Genre: Historical Fiction/Mystery

Synopsis

A cursed opal, a gnarled family tree, and a sinister woman in a green dress emerge in the aftermath of World War I.

After a whirlwind romance, London teashop waitress Fleur Richards can’t wait for her new husband, Hugh, to return from the Great War. But when word of his death arrives on Armistice Day, Fleur learns he has left her a sizable family fortune. Refusing to accept the inheritance, she heads to his beloved home

READ AN EXCERPT/BLOG TOUR: With Kisses from Cécile by Jan Agnello & Anne Armistead

Publication Date: September 12, 2019
Storyology Design and Publication
eBook and Paperback
Genre: Historical Fiction

Synopsis

A heartbroken Maggie travels to Paris to visit the grave of her great-grandmother’s French pen pal Cécile and uncovers 100-year-old secrets that give her courage to rebuild her own life.

NOW

Maggie Ruth Mitchell’s failed attempt at reconciliation with her unfaithful husband has left

BOOK REVIEW/BLOG TOUR: The Catherine Howard Conspiracy by Alexandra Walsh

Publication date: 28th March, 2019
Sapere Books
Format:ebook, 464 pages

Synopsis

What secrets were covered up at the court of Henry VIII …?

Whitehall Palace, England, 1539.
When Catherine Howard arrives at the court of King Henry VIII to be a maid of honour in the household of the new queen, Anne of Cleves, she has no idea of the fate that awaits her.

Book Review: The Bishop's Girl by Rebecca Burns

The Bishop's Girl is Rebecca Burns' debut novel and is one of the best historical mysteries I've read this year.

Bishop Anthony Shacklock was killed in France during World War I and buried in the graveyard of a church near the field hospital where he ministered to the injured and dying soldiers. At the end of 1919 when the Bishop’s body is exhumed for re-burial in England, a skeleton wrapped in a canvas bag is found on top of the coffin. The bones are that of a female and DNA tests on a finger bone reveal a familial link to the Bishop. Other than that there are no other clues as to who she was or how she came to be buried in the same grave.