strange and random happenstance

During my childhood it seemed that Derek Jacobi was omnipresent. Or perhaps I just watched The Secret of NIMH more times than I can count. But whenever his name was mentioned everyone would always add the caveat about what I great actor he is. At the time I didn't understand why the caveat was needed. And then I watched I, Claudius and I understood. The thing is you can never really grasp what an amazing actor Derek Jacobi is until you've seen him as Claudius. In 2007 for Masterpiece's thirty-fifth anniversary they conducted a poll to codify The Best of Masterpiece. I might have really gone in hard on the voting for the 2002 adaptation of The Forsyte Saga, which means that I, Claudius placed third behind that adaptation. I now take full responsibility for this happening, because I, Claudius deserved the highest spot it could get. Because there was no way it could upset Upstairs, Downstairs from the top spot. And I agree, Upstairs, Downstairs is the definitive show connected to Masterpiece, but I don't think it's the best show, especially in those early seasons of Masterpiece. In those early seasons I honestly don't know of a show with a more perfect cast than I, Claudius. The cast is what raises this above the typical Roman fare. And let me tell you, I know my Roman fare. I watch a lot of miniseries about Rome. I'm not thinking about Rome all the time, but if there's a miniseries or series about Rome I will devour it. Obviously there's Rome, but I have a soft spot for Britannia and Domina. In fact I know it's been two years, but I'm still not over Domina's cancellation. But these shows are nothing to I, Claudius. NOTHING! These are perhaps the best twelve episodes of any series ever. The cast alone is stacked! Brian Blessed as Augustus, Siân Phillips in her award winning turn as Livia, John Hurt as Caligula! Once you see their performances of these characters no one else could ever do them in your eyes. Caligula is unhinged yet at the same time sympathetic. He's out of control, he has a freakin' horse as a senator, and yet, during this spiral of debauchery there is such pathos that John Hurt brings to the role. Malcolm McDowell didn't stand a chance of usurping John Hurt when he took on the role three years later in the eponymous film. Did HE do a modern dance drag show? Well!?! As for Siân Phillips? Oh, she's so deliciously devious but her trying to find a loophole to eternal suffering on her deathbed for all the harm she has done, and let me tell you, if there was a death and it looked like poison, it was, and Livia was behind it, was television at it's best. Also, apparently getting deified is the loophole she was looking for. Thankfully she had a devoted grandson to carry out her final wishes. It was Claudius if you were wondering. And Claudius, that poor ruler sandwiched between Caligula and Nero. But Derek Jacobi brings this man out of the shadows of history, shows that this man with a limp and a stammer had insight beyond his years. The way he shepherds the story, being the focal point, yet also an outsider, makes this a show you just can't turn away from. There's a reason Kenneth Branagh cast Jacobi in Dead Again. That stammer, that will, it's unforgettable and interestingly an important twist to that film. Plus, oddly enough this show is currently escapist, because Rome really makes current politics and ever the fantastical politics seen in shows like Game of Thrones look tame by comparison. Now if only they'd release this on Blu-ray for it's upcoming fiftieth anniversary life would be worth celebrating. But I'd avoid the figs at the celebration if I were you. If you know, you know.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Augustus Caesar, Brian Blessed, Caligula, Dead Again, Derek Jacobi, Fifty-Five Years a Masterpiece, Horse, I Claudius, John Hurt, Kenneth Branagh, Livia, Malcolm McDowell, Politics, Rome, Siân Phillips, Stammer, The Secret of Nimh

Upstairs Downstairs by John Hawkesworth
Published by: Nelson Doubleday
Publication Date: 1971
Format: Hardcover, 243 Pages
Rating: ★★★
Out of Print

165 Eaton Place sits on the North side of the street in Belgravia. Above stairs there's Richard Bellamy, a conservative MP, and his wife Lady Marjorie. There two children are no longer at home with James in the Life Guards and Elizabeth at a finishing school in Dresden, Germany. Below stairs there's the butler, Hudson, and the cook, Mrs. Bridges. Under them are Alfred the footman, Rose the houseparlourmaid, and Emily the kitchen maid. The downstairs staff is completed by Miss Roberts, Lady Marjorie's Lady's Maid, and Mr. Pearce the chauffeur. The household are in need of an under houseparlourmaid after the last one came to a bad end. Lady Marjorie is interviewing one Clemence Dumas whom most of the staff are rooting against. Except Emily, but she's a romantic, and the tall tales Clemence spins have already won over the kitchen maid. Against all expectations Lady Marjorie takes on Clemence, rechristened Sarah, for a trial period. Almost at once she's causing a scandal by sitting for a portrait for the same artist that is painting Lady Marjorie. The painting of "the maids" is so salacious juxtaposed with the more traditional portrait of Lady Marjorie that the news is actually picked up by the local papers. Though it wouldn't be proper to send Sarah packing because of her naivete for trusting a painter the Bellamys themselves shouldn't have trusted. Thankfully they luck out soon enough when they are away for the summer and the servants play at masters and James Bellamy arrives home. A charged moment between him and Sarah makes her realize that she doesn't want to exist to prop up the lives of others, she wants to live her own life. A desire that may come back to haunt her. But for the Bellamys life goes on, Elizabeth returns from abroad, nowhere near as finished as they'd hoped and wanting to talk about German philosophers with everyone. A lady should only talk about the weather and never about politics, especially to politicians. Her behavior soon has her banished by her family from London. And despite their actions their dearest wish is that Elizabeth would be happy, so she comes and goes, trying to make a place for herself in society. But when the first man she falls for was using her as a pawn to get to her father and then runs off with the footman, she thinks that her love life is doomed. All is not lost. Not for her parents or for Elizabeth herself when she falls in with revolutionaries and meets the poet Lawrence Kirbridge. After much trial and tribulation, both for the masters and the servants, maybe an approximation of a happy ending is on the horizon. Though with Sarah back on the scene and stepping out with James the happy ending depends on your point of view.

If you're a fan of the original Upstairs, Downstairs I know the question on the tip of your tongue, and it's who the hell are these people on the cover of this book!?! It's like someone asked AI what the cast of Upstairs, Downstairs looked liked and this weird amalgamation of seventies business suits and mobcaps was churned out. But I can assure you, this is the real cover because I actually scanned it into the computer myself from my copy. My guess is that they were trying to lure in readers who weren't aware of the television show and therefore have these generic models because Richard Bellamy sure as hell wouldn't show that much ankle. Yet the selling point in the United States should have been that you could read the first season as it was meant to air, minus episode six, "A Cry for Help," and episode eleven, "The Swedish Tiger." Because when Upstairs, Downstairs first aired in the United States in 1973 what was shown was a weird hybrid of season one and season two where the twenty-six episodes where reduced down to thirteen. Obviously some of this had to do with the fact that the first six episodes were in black and white because of the Colour Strike with only the pilot being reshot for color. But still, that is A LOT of story to omit. So American audiences could have turned to this book written by John Hawkesworth, who turned Jean Marsh and Eileen Atkins's idea into the beloved show and produced the series and wrote twelve episodes of it as well. But the thing is, John Hawkesworth wasn't an author he was a screenwriter, so this book comes across more like a script treatment, where the dialogue is bulked out with minimal descriptors. So there's no insight and without the actors imbuing their characters with life they come across as flat and unlikable. In fact the omission of "A Cry for Help" in particular was detrimental to the understanding of Richard Bellamy's character. This lack of insight made the book feel more antagonistic, more us versus them instead of one household working together. What did work was the added history. Upstairs, Downstairs was known for it's incorporation of historical events, which occasionally verged on the preachy side with their teachable moments. I know everyone seems to love the episode "A Patriotic Offering" about Belgian refugees, but I've never liked it, mainly because of Hudson's racism. Though overall the extra bit of background, especially about the dreadnoughts, was welcomed. This is just such an odd book because it flattens some aspects and invigorates others, especially when the characters are away from the house. But in the end the problem is there is no arc to the book because there was no arc to the show. This book makes me simultaneously want to binge the show once more but also to never watch it again. It shows the ups and downs of the series rather well and, well, by the end of the book you could see even John Hawkesworth wanted it to come to an end as the episode dramatizations got shorter and brusquer. He just wanted it over with and regrettably so did I.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: 165 Eaton Place, A Patriotic Offering, AI, Belgian Refugees, Belgravia, Bellamy, Colour Strike, Eileen Atkins, Fifty-Five Years a Masterpiece, History, Hudson, Jean Marsh, John Hawkesworth, Novelization, Upstairs Downstairs

The Fox Hunt by Caitlin Breeze
Published by: Little Brown and Company
Publication Date: February 24th, 2026
Format: Paperback, 448 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Dive into the dark underbelly of England's most ancient university, where behind closed doors a circle of privileged students enter into a dark pagan ritual - one that holds tantalizing power and comes at a terrible price.​

When practical, unassuming second-year student Emma Curran wins an exciting research fellowship, she is ushered into the glittering debauchery of the University elite. There, she falls for the devastating, aristocratic Jasper Balfour, leader of the all-male Turnbull Club: a shadowy secret society that has created centuries of Britain's leaders, power brokers and history-makers.

One night, the Turnbulls propose a sinister little game: a fox hunt. The women run. The men chase. And Emma finds herself fleeing for her life through the streets, hunted by the boy she loves.

Torn from her ordinary life and trapped in a dangerous, otherworldly realm, Emma awakens transformed. No longer mortal, she's become something beastly. And now she must summon every ounce of cunning and ferocity to save herself."

A fox hunt is always dangerous.

Night of the Mannequins by Stephen Graham Jones
Published by: Tor Nightfire
Publication Date: February 24th, 2026
Format: Paperback, 128 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From the New York Times bestselling author of The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, Stephen Graham Jones, comes a slasher story where a teen prank goes very wrong and all hell breaks loose in a small town. Winner of both the 2020 Bram Stoker and Shirley Jackson Awards!

We thought we'd play a fun prank on her, and now most of us are dead.

One last laugh for the summer as it winds down. One last prank just to scare a friend. Bringing a mannequin into a theater is just some harmless fun, right? Until it wakes up. Until it starts killing.

Luckily, Sawyer has a plan. He'll be a hero. He'll save everyone to the best of his ability. He'll do whatever he needs to so he can save the day.

That's the thing about heroes - sometimes you have to become a monster first."

And this is why no one should do pranks. Especially on me.

Weavingshaw by Heba Al-Wasity
Published by: Del Rey
Publication Date: February 24th, 2026
Format: Hardcover, 464 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In this debut gothic fantasy, a young woman who can see the dead strikes a deal with the magnetic and dangerous Saint of Silence, a purveyor of dark secrets, to save her brother's life - the first book of a trilogy.

Three years ago, Leena Al-Sayer awoke with a terrible power.

She can see the dead.

Since then, she has hidden herself away from the world, knowing that if she ever reveals her curse she will be locked up in an asylum.

When her beloved brother, Rami, falls fatally ill, Leena is faced with a terrible choice: Let him die or buy the expensive medicine that will save his life by bartering the only valuable thing she has - her secret.

The Saint of Silence, a ruthless merchant who trades in confessions and is shrouded in unearthly rumors of cruelty and power, accepts her bargain, for a deadly price. Leena must find the ghost of Percival Avon, the last lord of Weavingshaw - or lose her freedom to the Saint forever.

As Leena's search takes her and the Saint to Weavingshaw, she finds the estate and the surrounding moors to be living things - hungry for blood and sacrifice. Fighting against Weavingshaw's might, Leena must also fight her growing pull toward the enigmatic Saint himself, whose connection to Percival Avon remains a mystery.

As the house begins to entomb them, time is running out on their desperate hunt for answers.

For Leena has come to see that here in Weavingshaw, the dead are not hushed - and some secrets are better left buried with them."

There are some places where gifted people should never go. When they do that makes the most dramatic of stories.

The Secret World of Maggie Grey by Granger
Published by: Podium Publishing
Publication Date: February 24th, 2026
Format: Paperback, 330 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"This is the Underground. We go by a different set of rules here - ones steeped in magic, history, and well...blood.

Maggie Grey always dismissed her grandmother's tales as superstition. Bedtime stories of vampiric priests, midnight covens, and secret conjurers from her youth during the Civil Rights Era. Even Maggie's stark white hair felt like nothing more than an inherited quirk. But when her grad school presentation retelling those stories catches the interest of her professor, she discovers the truth buried within them. He directs Maggie to Drew Collins University, a hidden HBCU beneath the streets of Atlanta where the legends come to life.

At DCU, necromancy is a major, students with claws and fangs roam the campus, and Maggie leans on a new circle of unlikely allies: Souxie, a mysterious priestess; Asha, a scarred siren; Isis, a water-bending nymph; and Quan, a snarky talking cat. Soon, Maggie learns she comes from the most feared bloodline in the Underground: the First Family, a lineage of vampires whose power has haunted the community for generations. That makes her not only dangerous but a target, especially to Namir, the sharp-eyed werewolf whose family has long despised hers. Distrust simmers between them, even as an undeniable pull grows harder to ignore.

When a murder shatters the campus, suspicion lands on Maggie. Not just because of what she is but because of the family she comes from. In a world where legacy is everything, hers might be the deadliest of all."

Be wary of the tales grandmother's tell, there is always truth.

The Red Winter by Cameron Sullivan
Published by: Tor Books
Publication Date: February 24th, 2026
Format: Hardcover, 544 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A devastating love story. A bewitching twist on history. A blood-drenched hunt for purpose, power, and redemption.

In 1785, Professor Sebastian Grave receives the news he fears most: the terrible Beast of Gévaudan has returned, and the French countryside runs red in its wake.

Sebastian knows the Beast. A monster-slayer with centuries of experience, he joined the hunt for the creature twenty years ago and watched it slaughter its way through a long and bloody winter. Even with the help of his indwelling demon, Sarmodel - who takes payment in living hearts - it nearly cost him his life to bring the monster down.

Now, two decades later, Sebastian has been recalled to the hunt by Antoine Avenel d'Ocerne, an estranged lover who shares a dark history with the Beast and a terrible secret with Sebastian. Drawn by both the chance to finish the Beast for good and the promise of a reconciliation with Antoine, Sebastian cannot refuse.

But Gévaudan is not as he remembers it, and Sebastian's unfinished business is everywhere he looks. Years of misery have driven the people to desperation, and France teeters on the edge of revolution. Sebastian's arcane activities - not to mention his demonic counterpart - have also attracted the inquisitorial eye of the French clergy. And the Beast is poised to close his jaws around them all and plunge the continent into war.

Debut author Cameron Sullivan tears the heart out of history with this darkly entertaining retelling of the hunt for the Beast of Gévaudan. Lifting the veil on the hidden world behind our own, it reimagines the story of Europe, from Imperial Rome to Saint Jehanne d'Arc, the madness of Gilles de Rais and the first flickers of the French Revolution."

I can't NOT read a book about the embers of the French Revolution and the Beast of Gévaudan!

The Ghost Women by Jennifer Murphy
Published by: Dutton
Publication Date: February 24th, 2026
Format: Hardcover, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A mysterious art academy in the woods, a deck of ancient tarot cards, a centuries-old secret.

On a hot August morning in 1972, the body of Abel Montague, a student at St. Luke's Institute of the Arts, is found hanging from a tree in the forest. An ancient Hanged Man tarot card is found in the back pocket of his pants and his body has been positioned into the exact pose illustrated on the card.

When Detective Lola Germany arrives at St. Luke's - a former monastery that once housed a secret order of monks who carried out witch trials and executions - she believes they are dealing with a ritualistic murder. While interviewing school administrators and Abel's classmates, Lola discovers Abel's live-in girlfriend, Pearl, seems shaken but also might be hiding something - along with her group of friends who call themselves witches.

When more students are found dead, each body arranged like a tarot card, Lola realizes she is trapped in a web of power and ambition that spans centuries. Soon the lines between past and present, spiritual and tangible, begin to blur, and the only way to survive is to seek answers from places she never imagined."

Jennifer Murphy had me and murder victim posed to look like tarot card.

Trust No One by James Rollins
Published by: William Morrow
Publication Date: February 24th, 2026
Format: Hardcover, 432 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From the #1 New York Times bestselling master of international intrigue comes a shocking new stand-alone thriller that thrusts a group of university students, falsely accused of murder, into a treacherous hunt across Europe, all to unlock the secrets buried within a centuries-old book that could change humankind forever.

Knowledge can be magic - until it falls into the wrong hands.

The ritualistic murder of a British professor at the University of Exeter points to a startling cast of suspects: his own students. All are enrolled in a postgraduate program covering the history of witchcraft, folklore, and spiritualism.

All evidence points to Sharyn Karr - an American student. Prior to the professor's death, he had thrust a centuries-old book upon her. It appears to be the handwritten and encrypted diary of an eighteenth-century mystic and occultist, the Comte de Saint-Germain. The professor begged her to keep the text safe, ending with a warning: Trust no one.

Such a responsibility forces her into cooperation with Duncan Maxwell, a fellow postgrad and the sixteenth in line to the British Crown. Already, Duncan has proven himself a savant with encryptions. Unfortunately, the pair clash at every level, but they both need one another. Especially when they discover the book's opening words: Herein lies the secret to my immortality. Come find me, if you dare.

As dark forces close upon the pair, she and her friends are forced to flee, pursued by law enforcement and hunted by a powerful cabal. In an explosive chase across Europe - from the Tower of London to Parisian chateaus to a fortress in the Italian Alps - Sharyn must learn the true secret hidden in Saint-Germain's text. It will send her and the others across history and deep into the heart of one of the world's greatest mysteries, a secret buried at the roots of Western Civilization, a discovery that could topple empires and change humanity forever.

For what lies at the end of Saint-Germain's diary is as shocking as its opening words."

I mean, this ticks all the boxes for me and adds a nice little twist in that the British university isn't Oxford or Cambridge.

What Happened That Night by Nicci French
Published by: William Morrow
Publication Date: February 24th, 2026
Format: Hardcover, 448 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From international bestselling master of suspense Nicci French comes a hair-raising locked-room thriller about a group of old university friends with a killer in their midst.

Old friends, new secrets, one deadly reunion.

Tyler Green, convicted of murdering his friend Leo at a student house party in 1993, has been released after almost three decades in prison. He has always protested his innocence.

On a warm evening in London, Tyler summons eight of his university friends who were present on that fateful night. Is it just a reunion - or something else? With wine - and accusations - flowing liberally, the reunion descends into violent chaos, and one friend will end the night with their throat slit in the upstairs bedroom…the same way that Leo's was in 1993.

When Detective Inspector Maud O'Connor gets called to investigate, she has her own doubts about Tyler's guilt, despite what his old friends, the rest of the Metropolitan Police Force, and even the Home Secretary would like her to believe...."

I mean, I know Tyler probably wanted to find out the truth, but this was a recipe for a repeat of the original disaster. 

How to Get Away with Murder by Rebecca Philipson
Published by: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: February 24th, 2026
Format: Hardcover, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
""If you picked up this book because you truly want to get away with murder, you will not be disappointed. Simply turn the page and we'll get started."

This fresh debut thriller finds a Scotland Yard detective trying to find the author of a self-help book that promises quite literally to teach readers how to get away with murder, which seems to have inspired London's newest murderer.

Detective Inspector Samantha Hansen has been on leave for six months, recovering from a breakdown she suffered at work, but when a fourteen-year-old girl is murdered in a local park, Sam jumps at the chance to return to the job and prove that she's still got what it takes to be the Yard's most successful homicide detective. One of the case's only leads is a copy of a self-help book found in the victim's backpack called How To Get Away With Murder by a man named Denver Brady.

Brady claims to be the most successful serial killer of our time, which is why no one's ever heard of him. Chapter by chapter, he details his methodology and his past victims, and as Sam's investigation progresses and the details of the book go viral, Sam begins to suspect that there's more to the author than what he's revealed. But in order to find a killer and get justice for young Charlotte, Sam must learn to trust her instincts once again, before Denver Brady - or someone else - really does get away with murder."

I mean, Denver Brady is the prime suspect.

Finders Keepers by Natalie Barelli
Published by: Poisoned Pen Press
Publication Date: February 24th, 2026
Format: Hardcover, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
""Dear Diary. Today I'm going to kill her. Love, Rose."

When Rose discovers her troubled past splashed across the pages of a bestselling book, she knows her carefully constructed life is about to unravel.

The author, Emily Harper, claims the story is fiction, but Rose knows better. Desperate to find out how Emily discovered her deepest secrets, Rose ingratiates herself into the author's life, posing as an eager assistant and adoring fan.

But as Rose gets closer to the truth, long-buried memories resurface. Slowly, the horrifying events of her teenage years come into focus, revealing that sometimes, the people you trust the most are the ones you should be most afraid of."

Personally I'd just kill the author and move on with my life...

The Whisking Hour by Ellie Alexander
Published by: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: February 24th, 2026
Format: Paperback, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Another delicious installment in Ellie Alexander's Bakeshop Mysteries set in Ashland, OR!

Fall is in full flush in the charming hamlet of Ashland, Oregon, and baker Juliet Capshaw is excited to celebrate the season with a night at the theatre. Lance Rousseau, Ashland's renowned theater director and one of Jules' closest friends, has put his own spin on a production of the Broadway classic Perfect Crime, drawing the audience into a cozy New York apartment as a nefarious set of suspects pulls off the perfect murder. As the final show approaches, Jules and the team at Torte are eagerly whipping up a murderous feast for the cast party, baking a bevy of treats like panna cotta eyeballs with blood orange coulis, deviled eggs, and savory cheese fingers with pumpkin dipping sauce.

On the day of the soirée, life seems to imitate art when a storm rolls over the Siskiyou Mountains, ushering in gusty winds and unrelenting rain. The audience buzzes with electric energy as the lights flicker and the actors take the stage. After the actors take their final bow, the cast trickles into Carpenter Hall, ready for a night of frivolity. But when an actor is discovered dead in his dressing room, Jules wonders if she's just witnessed the real perfect murder."

I LOVE murder mysteries surrounding am-dram!

Book for Trouble by Jenn McKinlay
Published by: Berkley
Publication Date: February 24th, 2026
Format: Hardcover, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"It's all hands on deck when a dead body is found near the small town of Briar Creek in this Library Lover's Mystery from the New York Times bestselling author of A Merry Little Murder Plot.

Just off the shores of the coastal Connecticut town of Briar Creek are two small islands, which library director Lindsey Norris visits with her new book-boat, inspired by the bookmobiles she's seen traveling across the country. Nothing, not even the infamous feud between the families who own the Split Islands, can stop Lindsey from getting books into the hands of readers. But when Lindsey and her boat captain husband, Mike Sullivan, discover a body on the rocky outcropping of one of the islands, Lindsey's new library venture quickly becomes a murder investigation.

At news of the crime, hostilities between the two families are reignited. Long buried secrets are revealed, tensions spark, and suspects abound. As Lindsey navigates treacherous waters (both literal and metaphorical), she must use her research skills and community ties to solve the murder and bring peace to the islands before her book-boat dreams are sunk."

Oh, I want a book-boat please! Like one of those canal barges in England.

The Girl and the Gravedigger by Oliver Pötzsch
Published by: HarperVia
Publication Date: February 24th, 2026
Format: Paperback, 448 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"When the mummified remains of a famed Egyptologist are discovered in the Vienna art museum, Inspector Leopold von Herzfeldt reunites with gravedigger Augustin Rothmayer to excavate the city's dark underbelly in this thrilling historical mystery from the New York Times bestselling author of The Hangman's Daughter and The Gravedigger's Almanac.

Vienna 1894. Augustin Rothmayer, the oddball gravedigger from Vienna's Central Cemetery, is approached by Inspector Leopold von Herzfeldt with an unusual favor: he needs Augustin to teach him everything he knows about preserving a dead body, information vital to a new investigation.

Opening an ancient Egyptian sarcophagus, employees of Vienna's Museum of Art History have discovered the well- (and quite recently) preserved body of Alfons Strössner, famed professor of Egyptology. Some believe that the professor was the victim of an ancient curse. But neither Rothmayer nor von Herzfeldt give credence to such superstitious rumors. They are certain it was murder.

The trail to unmask a killer leads them to fin-de-siecle Vienna's unscrupulous upper class and to some eccentric and unusual places, including "mummy parties" and human zoos. An engrossing and twisting historical mystery, The Girl and the Gravedigger once again brings turn-of-the-century Vienna to life in all its glitter and grime."

I love me a good mummy party. And by good mummy party I mean there has to be a murder. And preferably a "fresh" mummy.

Murder by Moonrise by Patrice McDonough
Published by: Kensington
Publication Date: February 24th, 2026
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"London's first woman doctor and a skeptical Scotland Yard detective find their holidays sidelined by a murderer threatening the royal family in this historically rich, gritty mystery set in Victorian London.

1867: For commoners and nobility alike, the Isle of Wight is an ideal holiday destination. Queen Victoria and her family frequently spend time at Osborne House, their stunning coastal residence. For the next few days the island will also be home to Dr. Julia Lewis, who is traveling with her grandfather and her great-aunt. But despite the pleasant surroundings, Julia is beset by worries.

Julia and Inspector Richard Tennant grew close during their last investigation, but he abruptly left England on a dangerous chase. She has heard nothing from him in weeks; meanwhile her maid, Kate, is nervous about rising anti-Irish sentiment. Editorials call for harsh retaliation against those determined to rid Ireland of British rule.

When Julia is called to perform an autopsy on drowning victim Lizzie Dowling, a young, Irish-born servant at Osborne House and a favorite of Princess Louise, she discovers that the girl was pregnant. Was her death a suicide? The distraught princess is eager for answers, and as Julia digs deeper, a second tragedy points to murder and perhaps a political scandal. There are rumors of smugglers funneling weapons to Ireland - and assassins who would target the Queen herself.

Motives abound but time is in short supply - and every day brings deeper urgency and threats that neither riches nor royalty may withstand..."

If a murder is on an island there have to be smugglers involved. I don't make the rules, but that is a rule.

White River Crossing by Ian McGuire
Published by: Crown
Publication Date: February 24th, 2026
Format: Hardcover, 288 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A breathtaking and cinematic novel about the lust for gold and its bloody consequences, set in the unforgiving landscape of the sub-Arctic Canadian wilderness, from the acclaimed author of The North Water.

A ragged fur peddler arrives at a remote outpost of the Hudson Bay Company in the winter of 1766 with a lump of gold, claiming that there is plenty more like it further north at a place called Ox Lake. The outpost's chief factor, Magnus Norton, dreams of instant riches and launches a secret and perilous expedition to find the treasure and bring it back.

Led by a family of native guides, the party of prospectors includes Norton's brutish deputy, John Shaw, and Thomas Hearn, the insular and intellectual first mate from the factory's whaling sloop. During their long journey north, Shaw's callousness and arrogance lead him to commit an act of sexual violence whose disastrous consequences will only fully emerge once they reach their final destination. There, amidst the bleak beauty of the Barren Grounds, as Norton's carefully crafted plans begin to fall apart and the brutal arctic winter starts to descend, Hearn is forced to make a choice that will define his character and determine his future forever.

Utterly captivating, White River Crossing transports us back to the furthest edges of the eighteenth-century British empire where two radically different worlds - indigenous and European - collide with calamitous and deadly results."

Jack London meets The Luminaries. 

Cleopatra by Saara El-Arifi
Published by: Ballantine Books
Publication Date: February 24th, 2026
Format: Hardcover, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Cleopatra tells her own story in this evocative and sensuous historical epic from the bestselling and award-winning author of Faebound and The Final Strife.

YOU KNOW MY NAME, BUT YOU DO NOT KNOW ME.

Your historians call me seductress, but I was ever in love's thrall.

Your playwrights speak of witchcraft, but my talents came from the gods themselves.

Your poets sing of my bloodlust, but I was always protecting my children.

How wilfully they refuse to concede that a woman could be powerful, strategic, and divinely blessed to rule.

Death will silence me no longer.

This is not the story of how I died. But how I lived."

Here for all things Cleopatra! ALL THINGS!

The Calico Cat at the Chibineko Kitchen by Yuta Takahashi
Published by: Penguin Books
Publication Date: February 24th, 2026
Format: Paperback, 224 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Follow the seashell path along Tokyo Bay until you get to the Chibineko Kitchen, where a traditional Japanese meal can summon anyone you choose from your past, but only for as long as it continues to steam...for fans of Before the Coffee Gets Cold, The Midnight Library, and Studio Ghibli films like Spirited Away.

If you could speak one last time to someone you've lost, what would you tell them?

One sunny morning, the Chibineko Kitchen opens its doors to Nagi, a young woman facing an impossible choice: Should she marry her boyfriend, despite knowing she has only a few years left to live? Desperate for advice from her mother, who died years ago, she hopes that one of the Chibineko Kitchen's fabled meals will work its magic.

Such is the promise that attracts three others to the restaurant: an anxious man rebuilding his life after shutting himself away for years, a lonely widow unaware that she is surrounded by friends, and a theater director hoping to rekindle his career after a tragic accident. In the company of Kai, the Chibineko Kitchen's chef; Kotoko, who has experienced the miracle of the restaurant and now works there; and Chibi, the resident kitten, each sits down to a meal of uncanny personal meaning that has the potential to reunite them with a departed loved one - and to remind them what matters most in life.

Menu
Tofu no Misozuke: Miso-marinated tofu
Buta Bara no Kara-age: Fried pork belly
Iwashi no Kabayaki-don: Soy-glazed sardines on rice
Shime no Kare: Curry using leftover hotpot"

I mean, who doesn't love a feel good book that also comes with it's own menu?

The Iron Garden Sutra by A.D. Sui
Published by: Erewhon Books
Publication Date: February 24th, 2026
Format: Hardcover, 400 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Klara and the Sun meets S. A. Barnes's Dead Silence with a touch of Becky Chambers' A Psalm for the Wild-Built in Nebula Award-winning author A.D. Sui's darkly philosophical, locked room murder mystery, as a death monk and a team of researchers trapped onboard a spaceship of the dead encounter something beyond human understanding...

Vessel Iris has devoted himself to the Starlit Order, performing funeral rites for the dead across the galaxy, guiding souls back into the Infinite Light. Despite the meaning he finds in his work and the comfort of AI companionship, his relationships with the living leave him longing for deeper connection.

The spaceship Counsel of Nicaea has been lost for more than a thousand years, its passengers reduced to dust and bone. A relic of Earth's dying past, its sudden appearance has attracted a team of academics eager to investigate its archeological history. And Iris has been assigned to bring peace to the crew's long departed souls.

Carpeted in moss and intertwined with vines, Nicaea is more forest than ship. Iris's religious rituals are met with bemusement by the scientists - and outright hostility by engineer Yan Fukui.

But the plant life isn't the only sentience to have survived in the past millennia. Something onboard is stalking the explorers one by one. And Iris with his AI enhancement may be their only hope for survival...

IN OUTER SPACE NO ONE CAN HEAR YOUR PRAYERS"

I LOVE Gothic space horrors! 

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: A.D. Sui, Caitlin Breeze, Ellie Alexander, Ian McGuire, James Rollins, Jenn McKinlay, Natalie Barelli, Nicci French, Oliver Pötzsch, Patrice McDonough, Rebecca Philipson, Saara El-Arifi, Stephen Graham Jones, Yuta Takahashi

My introduction to Poldark was the 2015 adaptation starring Aidan Turner and Eleanor Tomlinson. I of course knew of the original. I even have some of the Winston Graham paperback tie-in editions from the seventies that I picked up at a library sale with that very yellow logo with it's double handled "P" and swooping "K." But, for me, the first season of the 2015 adaptation was one of the most perfect seasons of any show ever. So perfect in fact that as time went on the show was never able to recapture the magic of that first season, and the less said about the nonsensical plot of the fifth and final season the better. I mean, Ross was a spy embedded and in bed with the French!?! Deep breath in, pretend they didn't try to shoehorn the entire season's plot into one episode, and breath out. Which all leads to the fact I was hesitant to watch the seventies adaptation. I'd only seen Robin Ellis in a handful of roles and they didn't endear me to him. In every one he annoyed me beyond belief with his quick temper and hauteur, which, I have to admit, are qualities necessary to playing Ross Poldark. And yet he's a far less hot-headed Ross. I was expecting the sanctimoniousness of Aidan Turner's Ross and instead, Robin Ellis's Ross is blunt. His word is his bond. This, among countless other reasons, is why I now love the original seventies adaptation more than I ever loved the reboot. They may try to lure me back in by continuing with the story in a few years, but they won't be Robin Ellis and Angharad Rees! And yet this version of Poldark is far from perfect. The second season, which comprises the plot of the third and forth seasons of the reboot, was more staid. It was a faithful adaptation that didn't swing for the fences. Yes, we finally had the longed for addition of Aunt Agatha and her hatred of George Warleggan, leading her to proclaim that she hopes "shit take him!" And oh, Morwenna needs to do even more monologues about how she feels like a gutted deer. But these highlights weren't enough to make up for the toning down of the show and it's copious recasts. They literally recast Dwight Enys! He's one of the core four! I could almost forgive Nicholas Warleggan and Harris Pascoe, but never Dwight! Which leads me to the conclusion that I will only ever get a perfect first season of any Poldark adaptation. This one was just a little longer ending with Francis's death and Elizabeth's remarriage to George. And that right there might be the key to the tonal shift in the show. Francis Poldark as played by Clive Francis is a revelation. He is the core to the campiness of season one which literally ends with a party taken straight from the pages of Edgar Allan Poe with an homage to "The Masque of the Red Death." Francis is unhinged. His drunken Christmas dinner screaming about his sister being a whore and then brandishing a knife while hacking at the beautifully prepared bird before collapsing to the floor is up there with Truman Capote's Thanksgiving rant on Feud: Capote vs. The Swans. I need more of this in my life. Why couldn't Francis have had just an iota of this energy in the remake? We know what a fabulous actor Kyle Soller is, he could have brought this delightful depravity, instead he was just dissatisfied and petulant. The manic energy, the mood swings, the joy in Clive Francis's face when Ross asks Francis to join him in his venture at Wheal Grace. This was perfection. Too bad it didn't last longer. But the greatest things never do, unlike Aunt Agatha's curses. They last forever. No matter George's wishes that she may rot in hell. 

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Aidan Turner, Angharad Rees, Aunt Agatha, Clive Francis, Edgar Allan Poe, Eleanor Tomlinson, Fifty-Five Years a Masterpiece, Francis Poldark, George Warleggan, Kyle Soller, Poldark, Robin Ellis, Truman Capote, Winston Graham

Being a fan of Masterpiece Theatre is sometimes hard, especially if you love the earliest seasons from the seventies. If you're extremely lucky they're available to stream. If you're very lucky they are available on DVD, and it still counts if it's an extra on Maggie Smith at the BBC or part of The Henry James Collection. If you're plain lucky the DVD is out of print but you can find a copy at your library or on eBay. If you're somewhat lucky there was a VHS release or you have the original broadcast taped. And yes, specifically for this reason I still have an old VHS player hooked up. And then there's Notorious Woman. Rosemary Harris won an Emmy for playing the formidable George Sand but this series is notorious in more ways than one because it was never reaired. It was shelved, never to be re-released, with no explanation given. And despite the picture above, there is no indication it was ever released by the BBC on DVD in England. If you're lucky you can find a press photo here and there and that's it. Therefore I resigned myself to never seeing this miniseries. And that was the case until I started trawling YouTube. Oh, thank you to whomever uploaded the entire series, all seven episodes as a single six hour movie. Yes, the quality was variable from atrocious to acceptable, and was obviously taken from a bad PAL tape that had somehow survived at the BBC, but however you got it, I salute you. I also like to think you're a vigilante BBC employee helping those who search out lost media to find their holy grails. And sometimes, those grails aren't worth chasing. There's a reason a show has been lost to time. Yes, I'm looking at you Fall of Eagles, you weren't worth hunting down on the secondary market at all. The least you could have done is let me see the Romanovs executed. But Notorious Woman is in a category all it's own. This series is just magnificent with some of the best writing of any show I've watched from Masterpiece Theatre and it deserves a release. Here's to you Harry W. Junkin, your writing is intoxicating. Notorious Woman is just simply wonderful and I don't know why it never has been released, the music is all in the public domain, and the lesbianism is implied, the male clothing was totally acceptable by the seventies, perhaps it's George Sand's radical embracing of feminism and socialism? Can't have people getting ideas after all, because truth is the one good thing in the world and ignorance is the one bad thing Sand quipped to Flaubert paraphrasing Diogenes. And that right there is why I love this show so much, she's facetious with Flaubert, she's bantering with Balzac, she's charming with Chopin. This is a literary lovers dream come true. The life of Aurore Dupin, later George Sand, led an extraordinary life, and here it is brought to us through the formidable talents of Rosemary Harris. If there's one flaw, aside from not being able to find it, it's that it's too short. Once Chopin emerges on the scene as the love of her life it's like he became her life, the most important but still oedipal relationship in her life. Once he's dead it's like her life was over, but she was very much still alive and active. I wanted that comradery of literati to continue. Like Owen Wilson's character in Midnight in Paris, I long for the salons of another era; Fitzgerald and Hemingway, or as here, Paganini, Chopin, Liszt, Sands, Balzac, all commingling in Paris. All lifting each other up and tearing each other down. I don't think since the Beats have we had true literati. Ah, to live in a time where there was this kind of literary and artistic culture. I want to go to there. This miniseries is sadly the closest I'll get and should be the definitive look at Sand, not that movie Impromptu. Hugh Grant as Chopin? Not for me. I want that guy from West Side Story!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Aurore Dupin, Chopin, Emmy, Feminism, Fifty-Five Years a Masterpiece, George Sand, Harry W. Junkin, Impromptu, Literati, Lost Media, Midnight in Paris, Notorious Woman, Owen Wilson, Paris, Rosemary Harris, Socialism, West Side Story

Agnes Aubert's Mystical Cat Shelter by Heather Fawcett
Published by: Del Rey
Publication Date: February 17th, 2026
Format: Hardcover, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A woman who runs a cat rescue in 1920s Montréal turns to a grouchy but charming magician to help save her shelter in this heartwarming cozy fantasy from the New York Times bestselling author of the Emily Wilde series.

Agnes Aubert leads a meticulously organized life, and she likes it that way. As the proudly type-A manager of a cat rescue charity, she has devoted her life to finding forever homes for stray cats. Now it's the shelter that needs a new home. And the only landlord who will rent a space to a cat rescue is a mysterious man called Havelock - who also happens to be the world's most infamous magician, running an illegal magic shop out of his basement. Havelock is cantankerous and eccentric, but not not handsome, and no, Agnes absolutely does not feel anything but disdain for him. After all, rumors swirl about his shadowy past - including whispers that his dark magic once almost brought about the apocalypse.

Then one day a glamorous magician comes looking for Havelock, putting the magic shop - and the cat shelter - in jeopardy. To save the shelter, Agnes will have to team up with the magician who nearly ended the world...and may now be trying to steal her heart.

Havelock is everything Agnes thinks she doesn't need in her life: chaos, mischief, and a little too much adventure. But as she gets to know him, she discovers that he's more than the dark magician of legend, and that she may be ready for a little intrigue - and romance - in her life. After all, second chances aren't just for rescue cats...."

Last year I devoured Heather Fawcett's Emily Wilde series and instantly I needed more books written by her. This right here isn't just a book by a newly favorite author, this is the cat book I needed in my life right now.

The Sun and the Starmaker by Rachel Griffin
Published by: Sourcebooks Fire
Publication Date: February 17th, 2026
Format: Hardcover, 448 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"There once was a village so far north that most considered it the top of the world...and in that village, the Sun fell in love with her Starmaker. From the New York Times bestselling author of The Nature of Witches comes a whimsical and sweeping romantic fantasy.

Nestled deep in the snowy mountains of the Lost Range, the village of Reverie is a small miracle. Beyond the reach of the Sun, Reverie is dependent upon the magic of the mysterious Starmaker: every morning, he trudges across a vast glacier and pulls in sunlight over the peaks, providing the village with the light it needs to survive.

Aurora Finch grew up on tales of the Starmaker's magic, never imagining she'd one day meet him. But on the morning of her wedding, a fateful encounter in the frostbitten woods changes everything. The Starmaker senses a powerful magic within her and demands she come study under his guidance. With her newfound abilities tied to the survival of the village, Aurora is swept away to his ice-covered castle and far from everything she's ever known.

The Starmaker is as cold and distant as the mountain itself, leaving Aurora to explore his enchanted castle alone. Yet the more she discovers about the sorcerer, the stronger their attraction grows, pulling her closer to the secrets he refuses to share. But a deadly frost approaches and Aurora must uncover what the Starmaker is hiding before she is left in an endless winter that even the Sun cannot touch."

A true fairy tale romance.

The Astral Library by Kate Quinn
Published by: William Morrow
Publication Date: February 17th, 2026
Format: Hardcover, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From New York Times bestselling author Kate Quinn comes a gorgeously written fantastical adventure which poses the question: Have you ever wished you could live inside a book? Welcome to the Astral Library, where books are not just objects, but doors to new worlds, new lives, and new futures.

Alexandria "Alix" Watson has learned one lesson from her barren childhood in the foster-care system: unlike people, books will never let you down. Working three dead-end jobs to make ends meet and knowing college is a pipe dream, Alix takes nightly refuge in the high-vaulted reading room at the Boston Public Library, escaping into her favorite fantasy novels and dreaming of far-off lands. Until the day she stumbles through a hidden door and meets the Librarian: the ageless, acerbic guardian of a hidden library where the desperate and the lost escape to new lives...inside their favorite books.

The Librarian takes a dazzled Alix under her wing, but before she can escape into the pages of her new life, a shadowy enemy emerges to threaten everyone the Astral Library has ever helped protect. Aided by a dashing costume-shop owner, Alix and the Librarian flee through the Regency drawing rooms of Jane Austen to the back alleys of Sherlock Holmes and the champagne-soaked parties of The Great Gatsby as danger draws inexorably closer. But who does their enemy really wish to destroy - Alix, the Librarian, or the Library itself?"

If you haven't ever wanted to literally fall into a book I'm sorry but we can never be friends.

Hot Chocolate on Thursday by Michiko Aoyama
Published by: Hanover Square Press
Publication Date: February 17th, 2026
Format: Hardcover, 208 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Across a bridge in a quiet neighborhood in Tokyo, a seasonal cherry blossom sits on the river. Nearby is the Marble Cafe, where a woman writes in a notebook and a young waiter prepares her favorite hot drink. Both wonder about each other and about the other lives of the clientele who frequent this charming little cafe behind the trees...

Without even realizing it, we may touch and change someone else's life.

Taking a walk along the river, cooking the best tamagoyaki, ordering hot chocolate, forgetting to remove our nail polish... The small, everyday acts that we do can lead to unexpected encounters, reverberate far beyond our own circle, and ultimately make a difference in the world around us.

Hot Chocolate on Thursday is a tapestry of slice-of-life moments that each open and close with a woman ordering her regular hot chocolate at the mysterious Marble Cafe. What happens in between will touch and swell your heart, as we connect with a community of untold unfolding lives."

The smallest thing can lead to the biggest changes.

The Halifax Hellions by Alexandra Vasti
Published by: St. Martin's Griffin
Publication Date: February 17th, 2026
Format: Paperback, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From USA Today bestselling author Alexandra Vasti comes The Halifax Hellions: a pair of sexy, hilarious romps in which the most scandalous ladies in London finally meet their match.

From the day of their debut, when Matilda smoked a cheroot and Margo tied a cherry stem in a knot with her tongue, the Halifax twins have flouted convention at every turn. But when Matilda runs off with the dangerous Marquess of Ashford - who has every reason to hate her - she may have gone a bit too far.

Determined to stop Matilda's inexplicable elopement, her sister Margo turns to her oldest friend for help: because if anyone can get her to Scotland in time, it's starchy solicitor Henry Mortimer. But the road to Scotland is paved with secrets. Beneath his buttoned-up exterior, Henry is ardently, wildly, miserably in love with Margo. And Matilda and Ashford's relationship too may not be quite what it seems.

Between salacious engravings, secret identities, and demanding feral cats, nothing about the journey goes as planned. With the Halifax Hellions at the reins, a week in a carriage is exactly enough time to turn the world upside down...and, perhaps, find the love stories they never expected.

For the first time ever in print, The Halifax Hellions brings together Margo and Matilda's novellas, along with a swoony new epilogue."

Please say someone uses the engravings pickup line!

Fallen Willow by Roxanne Tully
Published by: Embla Books
Publication Date: February 17th, 2026
Format: eBook, 384 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Dallas

Six months ago, a fire on my ranch took my fiancée. And my whole world along with her.

But just when I thought I'd never feel again, a six-year-old landed on my porch - with a paternity test confirming what I knew the moment I saw her.

Now the people who brought her to me want her back - and I'll do anything to keep her. Even marry the fiery redhead who snuck into my half-built house and charmed my daughter faster than I could throw her out.

A fake marriage to keep my daughter safe? Deal, as long it's clear this arrangement has an expiration.

Willow

Marrying Dallas Thorne could be the best and worst decision I've ever made.

The best because, like me, he's sworn off the four-letter word indefinitely.

The worst because he's rugged in every sense of the word and fiercely protective. So naturally, I'm drawn to him like a moth to a flame.

Only this flame is bound to burn me alive if I let myself fall.

Fallen Willow is the second book in the steamy and highly addictive Blue River Springs series, featuring grumpy cowboys who love wildly and protect fiercely. If you love Lyla Sage, Elsie Silver and Jessica Peterson, Roxanne Tully's small-town cowboy romance series will have you head over boots."

Oh a marriage of convenience AND an unknown child all in one!

First Sign of Danger by Kelley Armstrong
Published by: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: February 17th, 2026
Format: Hardcover, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong continues the atmospheric Haven's Rock series as Casey Duncan investigates a threat to their off-the-grid Yukon town.

Detective Casey Duncan and her husband, Sheriff Eric Dalton, are entering a new chapter of life as parents to their six-month-old baby. Their family is hidden away in the sanctuary town of Haven's Rock where they can live safe and private lives. But when they encounter hikers too close to the borders of Haven's Rock, they realize they're in danger of being exposed.

When they find one of the hikers dead the next day, they realize that their paranoia was justified, but they're no closer to finding out who these people were and what they were doing in the vicinity of Haven's Rock. Only by tracing the hikers' movements, as well as examining the recent behavior of their closest neighbors, the workers of a secretive mining camp, will they be able to figure out where the threat is coming from and shut it down. Otherwise, the lives of everyone in Haven's Rock - and their safe, secure new existence - are at risk."

I mean, obviously someone killed them to protect the haven...

The Devil's Bible by Steve Berry
Published by: Grand Central Publishing
Publication Date: February 17th, 2026
Format: Hardcover, 400 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From celebrated New York Times bestselling author Steve Berry comes the latest Cotton Malone adventure, a tale of mystery and intrigue stretching back over four centuries.

Former Justice Department operative, Cotton Malone, is called to Sweden when the younger sister of King Wilhelm I is kidnapped. The ransom demand? Hand over an 800-year-old book, the Codex Gigas - the largest illuminated medieval manuscript in the world. Claimed as war loot from Bohemia in 1648, it's been kept in Stockholm for nearly 400 years. Along the way it also acquired another more mysterious moniker...The Devil's Bible.

Now the Czech Republic wants the codex back, and Sweden has agreed to return it, but forces are at work to stop that deal from happening. The likely instigator? Russia. Who is also top of the list for possible kidnappers. It's up to Cotton and Cassiopeia Vitt to locate the king's sister, secure the codex, and thwart the Russians. Yet nothing is as it seems.

Trusted allies become hostile enemies. Long-standing enemies suddenly shift into partners. Making matters worse, an array of conflicting personalities re-emerge from Cotton's past, transforming an already chaotic international situation into something far more personal and deadly.

From the cobbled streets of Stockholm with its placid waterways and picturesque islands, to the hostile skies over the Baltic Sea, and finally onto a fabled 16th century Swedish warship, Cotton and Cassiopeia come face-to-face with the unthinkable - changing both of their lives forever."

If I were ever to kidnap someone my demands would be equally as odd and obscure as the Codex Gigas...

The Blood Countess by Shelley Puhak
Published by: Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication Date: February 17th, 2026
Format: Hardcover, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From the author of the national bestseller The Dark Queens, an incandescent work of true crime and feminist history about the woman alleged to be the world's most prolific female serial killer.

There have long been whispers, coming from the castle; from the village square; from the dark woods. The great lady - a countess, from one of Europe's oldest families - is a vicious killer. Some even say she bathes in the blood of her victims. When the king's men force their way into her manor house, she has blood on her hands, caught in the act of murdering yet another of her maids. She is walled up in a tower and never seen again, except in the uppermost barred window, where she broods over the countryside, cursing all those who dared speak up against her.

Told and retold in many languages, the legend of the Blood Countess has consumed cultural imaginations around the world. But despite claims that Elizabeth Bathory tortured and killed as many as 650 girls, some have wondered if the Countess was herself a victim - of one of the most successful disinformation campaigns known to history. So, was Elizabeth Bathory a monster, a victim, or a bit of both? With the breathlessness of a whodunit, drawing upon new archival evidence and questioning old assumptions, Shelley Puhak traces the Countess's downfall, bringing to life an assertive woman leader in a world sliding into anti-scientific, reactionary darkness - a world where nothing is ever as it seems. In this exhilarating narrative, Puhak renders a vivid portrait of history's most dangerous woman and her tumultuous time, revealing just how far we will go to destroy a woman in power."

I still have to wonder if anyone was questioning why there was such a high turnover rate among the maids...

They Call Her Regret by Channelle Desamours
Published by: Wednesday Books
Publication Date: February 17th, 2026
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In this young adult speculative mystery, a teen must find a way to free a cursed witch in order to save her best friend before time runs out.

Every year horror-loving Simone Washington throws an epic Halloween party for her classmates. Party-planning is her favorite escape from the dark secrets in her past, and this year, she's taking things up a notch with an invitation-only event to celebrate her eighteenth birthday - something that will leave the halls of Pinegrove Academy flooded with gossip about the big ghoulish bash. The overnight stay at Doll's Head Lake will be filled with spooky pranks and scary stories told by the fire - including the legend of a local witch named Regret.

But those dark secrets from Simone's past are forced to the surface at the party when her best friend Kira dies under questionable circumstances. The witch appears and offers Simone a deal: if Simone can figure out how to release Regret from the curse trapping her at the lake within fourteen days, all of Simone's regrets will be erased. If Simone accepts, Kira's life will be immediately restored. But if she fails, Kira will die again - and Simone will be the one to kill her."

Erasing your regret is probably not a good idea. You're getting ride of empathy and therefore walking straight into being a psychopath. 

Temple Fall by R.L. Boyle
Published by: Titan Books
Publication Date: February 17th, 2026
Format: Paperback, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A macabre and chilling supernatural gothic horror about a group of teenagers cursed to die on their 18th birthday from the Stoker Award shortlisted author of The Book of the Baku. Perfect for fans of Clay McLeod Chapman, The September House by Carissa Orlando and The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes.

Flynn and her friends plan to spend the night in Temple Fall, a mysterious house up on the moors with a strange history, but their planned night of drinking and teenage debauchery twists into a surreal nightmare. Suddenly forced into strange choices and places, the tight-knit group starts to fall apart. And then Jackson falls to his death.

In the days that come after, Flynn finds herself trapped, as if she never left the house. Consumed by the lost secrets of her family past, and haunted by the spectre of a Victorian woman, she finds herself losing time and seeing things that aren't there.

Reeling from the tragedy, Flynn must rebuild her group of friends, and bring them all together to grieve - and try to survive - on their own. Because while they escaped Temple Fall, the house didn't let them go..."

Oh, actual shivers, you can physically leave but you will forever be bound.

The Daughter Who Remains by Nnedi Okorafor
Published by: DAW
Publication Date: February 17th, 2026
Format: Hardcover, 192 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Set in the universe Africanfuturist luminary Nnedi Okorafor first introduced in the World Fantasy Award-winning Who Fears Death, The Daughter Who Remains is the breathtaking conclusion to the She Who Knows trilogy.

Featuring Najeeba, now older and wiser than readers have ever known her, this is a tale of family, courage, and healing.

Najeeba has something terrible to kill.

And now she's off to go and kill it. A fully trained, mature, and sharply focused sorcerer (don't call her sorceress), Najeeba has left the comfort and security of her town with two companions, the glass maker Dedan and the old camel MorningStar. This journey takes her back to where it all began. And despite the fact that her training with the sorcerer Aro forced her to face her deepest fears, she hasn’t seen anything close to what she’s about to see.

As the Igbo proverb goes, a masquerade does not dance for nothing. The Daughter Who Remains is the final book in the She Who Knows trilogy. This tale isn’t about Najeeba learning to master her powerful skills, it’s about her having the audacity and courage to use them and use them well…no matter the consequence."

I like that she eschews sorceress. 

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Agnes Aubert, Alexandra Vasti, Cats, Channelle Desamours, Elizabeth Bathory, Heather Fawcett, Kate Quinn, Kelley Armstrong, Michiko Aoyama, Nnedi Okorafor, R.L. Boyle, Rachel Griffin, Roxanne Tully, Shelley Puhak, Steve Berry

No, your eyes aren't deceiving you, this is the second Lord Peter Wimsey post in a week. I made a vow to myself to not repeat shows for Fifty-Five Years a Masterpiece, much as I did for its predecessor, Fifty Years a Masterpiece, but sometimes it's unavoidable, especially as later seasons of Masterpiece Theatre have fewer shows and one season had only a single show. Yes, I'm looking at you season thirty-seven. If it had been I good show I might have forgiven you, but The Amazing Mrs Pritchard is not good. Over thirty years earlier season three of Masterpiece Theatre had six shows while season four had five. With my self-imposed vow to not repeat a review that omitted Country Matters, The Edwardians, and Upstairs, Downstairs from consideration. Which left Lord Peter Wimsey, The Man Who Was Hunting Himself, and Vienna 1900. Thanks to YouTube I have actually found a lot of supposedly lost media this past year but The Man Who Was Hunting Himself and Vienna 1900 weren't among them when I previously checked. So I decided to take a novel approach so you wouldn't get the same post twice in a week. That approach was to watch the two mysteries featured in season three and then write my review before I started the two mysteries featured in season four. And voila! Two entirely new and unique reviews. Of course if I do a celebration for the sixtieth and the two aforementioned shows haven't made an appearance by then I have a feeling I'll be repeating myself... But I do at least try to refresh it and say thankee for indulging me. PS I'm totally planning on doing Sixty Years a Masterpiece. I might already be writing posts for it. So this season adapts Lord Peter's most famous case, "Murder Must Advertise," and I have to say, this is the Dorothy L. Sayers I know and loath. The racial slurs and infodumps are all here. Why no, I do not want to learn every single employee in the advertising agency in the first five minutes while they're all talking over each other simultaneously because I will forget who they all are, oh, and you're now doing it with the bell ringers in "The Nine Tailors?" I do not want to know the name of every single bell ringer, as well as the name, number, and tone of their bell. Because there is no way I will remember this information as they all look like identical old white men. And yes, she did this to me in Gaudy Night too. Which I haven't forgiven her for. I actually started a cast list while reading that book to try to avoid confusion. At least in a visual medium I can remember some of the faces. You know, the one young bell ringer, the one that reminds me of Richard Griffiths, that sort of thing. Because if there's one thing that these adaptations get right about Dorothy L. Sayers, beyond the racial slurs and infodumps, they are confusing as hell. One crime deals with breaking up a drug smuggling ring which I literally couldn't care less about all while Lord Peter is rather annoying darting around town dressed up as a harlequin with a penny whistle while the other is so badly plotted I have no idea when the mystery took place. I think it started right before the outbreak of WWI and then leaped forward to the middle of thirties, but with everyone still oddly talking about the Spanish Flu. Which led me down a rabbit hole about when there were other flu outbreaks, and needless to say, if you're having to do extracurricular research just to enjoy a show perhaps the show should have been giving you more information. I mean, they could have just put the date on the screen! Sigh. That obviously would have been too easy. I just really feel bad for Ian Carmichael. He really is a great Lord Peter. Too bad the source material isn't the greatest. And I know that sounds like blasphemy to some, but it's exactly how I feel.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Bell Ringers, Dorothy L. Sayers, Fifty-Five Years a Masterpiece, Gaudy Night, Ian Camichael, Infodump, Lord Peter Wimsey, Murder Must Advertise, Racism, Spanish Flu, The Man Who Was Hunting Himself, The Nine Tailors, WWI

Love or hate Lord Peter Wimsey and his antisemitic creator Dorothy L. Sayers, if not for them Mystery! would never exist. These adaptations of the Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries were so popular that Mobil suggested underwriting a crime based spinoff of Masterpiece Theatre and thus Mystery! was born. So I say thankee to Lord Peter in his own argot. But being indebted to him doesn't mean I'm willing to unequivocally embrace the adaptations of Sayers's second and fifth books. Even if it's one of my father's favorite television shows of all time. Which of course he prefaced with, remember, it was a different time. Oh, I know, I've read Dorothy L. Sayers and can say the best thing this series did was skip the first book. Whose Body? is as incomprehensible as it is antisemitic. So I saw this series as an opportunity, a chance to fix all the problems and strip out the outmoded and hateful speech, even if it was the seventies and therefore still problematic. And, for the most part, they succeeded, so far, the problem is they started with Clouds of Witness, which is painfully boring. I first read this book over a decade ago and literally when the episode started I went, hang on, is this the one where he wanders around the moors forever? Yes dear reader, it is. Sir Peter wanders around the moors forever and it's just as boring to watch as it is to read. And unlike every other book adapted for this series it was five instead of four episodes. Which means a whole extra moor episode just for me! How did you know this is exactly not what I wanted? And as for his family? They are a group of annoying prigs played by fabulous actors that couldn't escape the morass of the source material. We were all trapped in Peter's Pot without a chance in hell that an extra from Cold Comfort Farm was coming to rescue us. But I was willing to keep an open mind. With The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club, which for years I thought was the Belladonna Club, I was getting a clean state and a new, inferior Bunter. Don't worry, Bunter number one returns soon enough, much to my father's surprise. He was convinced that the bad Bunter stayed until the end. The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club is all about an inheritance and finding out which of two siblings died first. Because there were shenanigans with a corpse. And then more shenanigans when there was an inquest. This was a wonderful mystery because it dealt with so many issues from money insecurity with damaged veterans to Bloomsbury artists yet with a light touch that is Lord Peter's trademark. Always help, but do it with a smile, and don't forget your thankees. It also doesn't hurt that he's an honorable and people tend to doff their cap to him. What made this second episode so special to me was it included some of my favorite actors from seventies British television whom I of course refer to by favorite character name or familial connection. So I had Merriman (John Walsh in The Duchess of Duke Street), Dolly Longstaffe (Donald Pickering in The Pallisers), and Emma Thompson's mom (Phyllida Law). It created a wonderfully rounded cast, even if it appears I'm better at interpreting bad art than the characters on this show. Maybe that's what my art degree is useful for? If the show hadn't ended on a note of bygone notions of valor and honor it would have been the perfect mystery.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Clouds of Witness, Donald Pickering, Dorothy L. Sayers, Fifty-Five Years a Masterpiece, Ian Carmichael, John Welsh, Lord Peter Wimsey, Mystery!, The Lord Peter Wimsey Mysteries, The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club