Six in Six - 2023 Edition

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

Mystery in the Highlands by Lydia Travers Book Review - Blog Tour

Publication Date: July 26, 2023
Publisher: Bookouture
Series: The Scottish Ladies' Detective Agency #3
Format: Paperback, ebook and audio
Genre: Historical Mystery, Cosy

Synopsis

When members of a choir start dropping dead in the Highlands, Maud McIntyre and her lady’s maid Daisy go undercover to discover the inharmonious culprit. But will they uncover the killer before another murder takes place?

Edinburgh, 1911: When Maud and Daisy receive a letter from Daisy’s cousin, Clara, sharing her fears that two sudden deaths in her local choir weren’t accidental, at first Daisy thinks her cousin is overreacting. But Maud’s

Murder in Manhattan by Verity Bright Book Review - Blog Tour

Publication Date: 29 June 2023
Publisher: Bookouture
Format: Print, e-book and audio
Series: A Lady Eleanor Swift Mystery #14
Genre: Historical Mystery, Cosy Mystery

Synopsis

Glitzy parties, sightseeing at the Statue of Liberty and strolls through Central Park with Gladstone the bulldog… Lady Eleanor Swift is loving her first trip to the city that never sleeps, until she witnesses a murder!

After crossing from England on the SS Celestiana, Lady Eleanor Swift sets up her home-away-from-home in a lavish apartment in New York City. She is soon the toast of the town, with no high-class soirée complete without her presence. Of course, she drags

Murder on Oak Street by I. M. Foster Book Review - Blog Tour

Publication Date: November 4, 2022
Publisher: independent
Page Length: 503
Series: A South Shore Mystery
Genre: Historical Mystery

Synopsis

New York, 1904. After two years as a coroner’s physician for the city of New York, Daniel O'Halleran is more frustrated than ever. What’s the point when the authorities consistently brush aside his findings for the sake of expediency? So when his fiancée leaves him standing at the altar on their wedding day, he takes it as a sign that it's time to move on and eagerly accepts an offer

The Douglas Bastard by J R Tomlin Read an Excerpt - Blog Tour

Publication Date: April 26, 2022
Series: Archibald the Grim Series
Page Length: 185
Genre: Historical Fiction, Scottish Historical Fiction

Synopsis

Young Archibald, the Black Douglas's bastard son, returns from exile to a Scotland ravaged by war.

The war-hardened Knight of Liddesdale will teach him what he must learn. And with danger on every side, he must learn to sleep with one eye open and a claymore in his hand because even their closest ally may betray them...

The Roads of War by John Cameron Book Review

Synopsis

During the Civil War, Lewis McCormack has to return to his regiment’s training camp, leaving his wife Eliza to tend to their homestead. Rearing children, surviving a declining economy, and paying the family debts leads to intolerable hurdles and even more difficult decisions. Amid the chaos of war, Lewis just wants to stay alive—to make it back to his family.

Meanwhile, Private Davey Morris is detailed as courier and travels through war-torn Pennsylvania to complete his mission, while Private Tandy Strider uses his thirty-day wounded furlough to search for the young prostitute that he has deemed his soulmate.

As the war progresses, Lewis realizes that his

Cold Blows the Wind by Catherine Meyrick Read an Excerpt - Blog Tour

Publication Date: 28 April 2022
Publisher: Courante Publishing
Page Length: 425
Genre: Historical Fiction, Biographical Fiction, Women’s Fiction, Australian Fiction

Synopsis

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

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

Murder in the Scottish Hills by Lydia Travers Book Review - Blog Tour

Publication Date: May 25,2023
Publisher: Bookouture
Series: The Scottish Ladies' Detective Agency #2
Format: Paperback, ebook and audio
Genre: Historical Mystery, Cosy

Synopsis

When Maud McIntyre and her lady’s maid Daisy travel into the Scottish Highlands, the last thing they expect to find is a body on the train… Will these keen amateur sleuths stop a murderer in his tracks?

Edinburgh, 1911: When Maud McIntyre receives a letter from a maid called Rose, sharing her suspicions that something strange is happening in the house where she works, she and her assistant Daisy immediately travel

Muskets and Masquerades by Lindsey S. Fera Read an Excerpt

Publication Date: 18th April 2023
Publisher: Pompkin Press
Series: Muskets Trilogy
Page Length: 500
Genre: Historical Fiction / Historical Romance

Synopsis

Jack and Annalisa are married only five months when, enroute to France, a shipwreck separates them. On different shores, each believes the other dead. But when Annalisa learns Jack is alive, she returns to America and discovers much has changed. After a betrayal, she flees town as her alter ego, Benjamin Cavendish, and joins the Continental Army. Unbeknownst to Annalisa, Jack has also joined the Continentals, harboring shameful secrets from his days in mourning. Against the backdrop of war with Britain, façades mount

The Scottish Ladies' Detective Agency by Lydia Travers Book Review - Blog Tour

Publication Date: April 27,2023
Publisher: Bookouture
Series: The Scottish Ladies' Detective Agency #1
Format: Paperback, ebook and audio
Genre: Historical Mystery, Cosy

Synopsis

When Maud McIntyre sets up her own private detective agency, she never imagines her first case will involve murder… A mystery in the Highlands? The Scottish Ladies’ Detective Agency is on the case!

Edinburgh, 1911: When Maud McIntyre and her lady’s maid, Daisy, form a detective agency, they never dream their first case will take place at a glamorous house in the Scottish Highlands. But when the Duchess of

A Matter of Faith by Judith Arnopp Spotlight

Publication Date: March 20th, 2023
Publisher: self-published
Series: The Henrician Chronicle
Page Length: 209
Genre: Historical Fiction

Synopsis

Finally free of Catherine of Aragon, Henry VIII, is now married to Anne Boleyn and eagerly awaiting the birth of his son. In a court still reeling from the royal divorce and growing public resentment against church reform, Henry must negotiate widespread resentment toward Anne. He places all his hopes in a son to cement his Tudor blood line, but his dreams are shattered when Anne is delivered of a daughter.

Burying his disappointment, Henry focuses on getting her with child again, but their marriage is

The Kingmaking by Helen Hollick Special 30th Publication and 70th Birthday Celebration!

Publication Date: March 2023 (new editions, excl. US/CA)
Publisher: Taw River Press
Series: The Pendragon’s Banner Trilogy (Book #1)
Page Length: 570
Genre: Historical Fiction / Arthurian Fiction

Synopsis

The Boy Who became a Man:
Who became a King:
Who became a Legend... KING ARTHUR

There is no Merlin, no sword in the stone, and no Lancelot.
Instead, the man who became our most enduring hero.