strange and random happenstance

The Great Mogul Diamond by G.P. Taylor
Published by: Tyndale Momentum
Publication Date: May 1st, 2011
Format: Hardcover, 293 Pages
Rating: ★★
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Muzz Elliott is being blackmailed. She has been told she must be in Cannes at a specific time and at a specific place. Sadie, Saskia, and Erik know all of this because, well, they can't let someone's privacy stand in their way. Conversations can be overheard and letters can be read and secrets can be revealed. So when Muzz Elliott tells the twins that they are all immediately leaving on a vacation to the south of France, the girls know that the vacation is just a cover. They are going to confront the blackmailer. The girls think that they might need the help of Erik and Dorcas Potts, so they contact Erik from the train station and tell them to follow in the Bugatti. Aboard the train odd things start to happen. Saskia is reading one of Muzz Elliott's books, Murder Train, and she notices that events that happened in the book are happening to them. Right now! Someone is using Muzz Elliott's own writing against her! Therefore they should be able to head the villains off at the pass, but the evil doers are too quick off the mark and Muzz Elliott is blaming herself for putting the girls in danger. Meanwhile Erik and Dorcas are encountering problems of their own. They are being followed through the Alps. Dorcas is convinced it's the mafia, who would use such tactics, and she's not unknown to them. But it is clear that whomever they are their goal is to keep Erik and Dorcas from reaching Muzz and her compatriots in Cannes. Things get even more out of control when Sadie is kidnapped and the blackmailer reveals their intentions. Muzz Elliott must recreate the plot of her book Another Day, Another Diamond, and steal the Great Mogul Diamond that is about to be auctioned off in Cannes. If she doesn't Sadie dies. Given the extent of their planning and the elaborate scheme to lure Muzz Elliott to Cannes, she has no doubt that they mean what they say. Only she isn't one to go down without a fight. Perhaps she and her gang can turn the tables on their enemies. Even if it should turn out their enemies were once their friends.

So despite all the supposed praise this "illustra-novella" series had larded on it The Great Mogul Diamond was the end of the line. Whether through lack of a cohesive style in the illustrations or lack of interest in readers to be converted to God this series ended on what I feel is the most disjointed of the chronicles. Because I loved half the story and hated the other half. Let me break it down. So we're finally done with the orphanage and all the ancillary characters. We're focusing on Sadie and Saskia living with Muzz Elliott and Erik living with Lord Gervaz and working with Gervaz's niece Dorcas Potts. We are stripping off the excess and moving on, even if due to lack of artistic ability I totally thought two of the bad guys were Potemkin and his henchman, this turned out to be an erroneous conclusion. So a smaller cast of characters involved in a story that is literally Agatha Christie meets Alfred Hitchcock. I loved this. I loved them being on a train that Muzz Elliott happened to set one of her novels on and then the events from the book started to come true as they headed towards the French Riviera, were the events of another one of her plots was being set in motion. I adored this gaslighting of an author with her own canon. It was perfection. So right now you're like, but wouldn't that make you love this book? Yes, I loved that part of the book, the problem is that wasn't all the book was. We have gone off the deep end with religiosity in this volume. I'm all for religious freedom as long as you're not trying to convert me. G.P. Taylor seemed to be doing a really hard sell with Erik and The Man of Good-Bye Friday. I'm sorry, but Jesus showing up in a pinstripe suit and going by that LUDICROUS name as some reference to his death on Good Friday, hell no. Then signalling that one of the villains wasn't bad because he was on a first name basis with Jesus and the angels!?! Ugh. And I'm not even going to touch the whole Erik's father is dead and The Man of Good-Bye Friday brought Erik peace. This just didn't work with the story being told. It was intrusive and manipulative. In other words, I'm very glad the series ended because The Man of Good-Bye Friday and Madame Raphael had overstayed their welcome.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Agatha Christie, Cannes, G.P. Taylor, Gaslighting, God, Going Gothic, Graphic Novel, Hitchcock, Jewel Heist, Mafia, Religion, The Dopple Ganger Chronicles, The Great Mogul Diamond, The Man of Good-Bye Friday

The Secret of Indigo Moon by G.P. Taylor
Published by: Tyndale Momentum
Publication Date: September 1st, 2009
Format: Hardcover, 287 Pages
Rating: ★★
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It's a dark a stormy night when Erik Morissey Ganger leaves the safety of his bed at the Isambard Dunstan School for Wayward Children and goes to investigate a noise. While initially thinking it could be Sadie and Saskia Dopple playing a prank on him it's actually villains! And there's a secret tunnel! In the tunnel he finds a letter from the former headmistress, the one who had disappeared a year previously. But his "subtle" questioning of the cook the next day gets him nowhere, except reprimanded by the headmistress. Though despite investigating things he shouldn't the headmistress has a treat for him. There's a journalist from the newspaper who wants to interview him and the Dopple twins about their adventures at Muzz Elliott's house! Though Dorcas Potts might be there not just to interview the trio. She might be there to pick their brains about their next door neighbor, Lord Gervez, a man seldom seen who collects antiquities. Seeing as Dorcas is a crime writer, she warns the kids that villains will resort to anything, even murder. But could she be trying to solve a big case herself without interference from meddling children? And why have the kids spotted that villain Potemkin the potty magician about? Isn't he supposed to be in prison and not lurking about secret tunnels? Tunnels that might just lead to Lord Gervaz's house!?! Their meddling might just put them into more danger than ever before! Potemkin has plans to not just make off with antiquities but to avenge himself on the trio and he has created a macabre contraption at the Blue Moon Theatrical Supply building to do just that. Can they escape unharmed once more, uncover the secret of Indigo Moon, and figure out what it has to do with their former headmistress or are they doomed?

This is going to be a rant, so to clear the air first, I didn't hate this book, I thought the Indigo Moon/Inigo Jones architecture rife was cute. Though I really thought Inigo Jones was Indigo Jones, so apparently I should have paid more attention in art history because think of all the Inigo Montoya jokes I missed out on making! As for the religious bent this series is taking, well, it was kind of expected with Taylor being an Anglican vicar. But the sidelining of the girls wasn't cool. OK, release the rant! At the front of my copy there's all this praise for the series organized under different headings; "What Readers Are Saying," "What Teachers Are Saying," and "What Parents Are Saying." Now, I usually don't read the hype for books, which is a bit weird because it's my dream to have a pull quote from one of my reviews in a favorite author's book... but for some reason I did. I really shouldn't have because it soured my opinion of the whole series. This series was basically being booked as God's gift to reluctant readers. OK, I DO agree that as a bridge between comics and chapter books I think it will encourage hesitant readers to risk moving on from just comics, divine intervention or no. But they go on to say that G.P. Taylor has single-handedly created this new medium. WHAT!?! Um. So much no here. I was literally left speechless when I read this. I was also left speechless by the handle "illustra-novella." Whomever is trying to make that handle happen please kindly go die in a ditch. To put in mildly, no, G.P. Taylor did NOT create a new kind of book. Just no. I mean, what about picture books? What about illustrated classics? What about Brian Freakin' Selznick!?! Yes, I know what hype is, I'm not naive, but this was just too much. It strained credulity and negatively impacted the book.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Art History, Brian Selznick, Comics, G.P. Taylor, Going Gothic, Illustrated Classics, Inigo Jones, Inigo Montoya, Picture Books, Prose, Reluctant Readers, The Dopple Ganger Chronicles, The Secret of Indigo Moon

Down the Hatch by M.C. Beaton
Published by: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: October 26th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 240 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Beloved New York Times bestseller M. C. Beaton's cranky, crafty Agatha Raisin - the star of her own hit T.V. series - is back on the case again in Down the Hatch.

Private detective Agatha Raisin, having recently taken up power-walking, is striding along a path in Mircester Park during her lunch break when she hears a cry for help. Rushing over, she finds an elderly couple, Mr. and Mrs. Swinburn, in the middle of the green - with the body of an old man lying at their feet.

The man, who the coroner determines died by poisoning, was known as "the Admiral," a gardener notorious for his heavy drinking, and Chief Inspector Wilkes writes the death off as an accident caused by the consumption of weedkiller stored in a rum bottle. Agatha is not convinced that anyone would mistake weedkiller for rum but carries on with her work at Raisin Investigations, until she receives an anonymous tip that the Admiral’s death was no accident.

Local gossip points to the Swinburns themselves as the killers, spurred by a feud at the club where they, as well as the Admiral, were members. Distraught at this accusation, they turn to Agatha to clear their name, and she takes the case - despite the warnings of Chief Inspector Wilkes.

Agatha encounters one suspicious character after another, becoming further enmeshed in the Admiral’s own dark and shady past. And when she's run off the road, narrowly escaping with her life, and then another attack occurs, it becomes clear that someone doesn’t want the case closed - and will stop at nothing to prevent Agatha from solving it."

The question I have is are we getting an author to continue Hamish Macbeth as well?

Murder at Mallowan Hall by Colleen Cambridge
Published by: Kensington Publishing Corporation
Publication Date: October 26th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 272 Pages
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The official patter:
"The first in an exciting new historical mystery series set in the home of Agatha Christie.

Colleen Cambridge's charming and inventive new historical series introduces an unforgettable heroine in Phyllida Bright, fictional housekeeper for none other than famed mystery novelist Agatha Christie. When a dead body is found during a house party at the home of Agatha Christie and her husband Max Mallowan, it's up to famous author's head of household, Phyllida Bright, to investigate...

In this delightful new historical mystery series, Phyllida Bright, housekeeper and amateur sleuth, discovers a body in the library - and a mystery to baffle even her famous employer...

Tucked away among Devon's rolling green hills, Mallowan Hall combines the best of English tradition with the modern conveniences of 1930. Housekeeper Phyllida Bright, as efficient as she is personable, manages the large household with an iron fist in her very elegant glove. In one respect, however, Mallowan Hall stands far apart from other picturesque country houses...

The manor is home to archaeologist Max Mallowan and his famous wife, Agatha Christie. Phyllida is both loyal to and protective of the crime writer, who is as much friend as employer. An aficionado of detective fiction, Phyllida has yet to find a gentleman in real life half as fascinating as Mrs. Agatha's Belgian hero, Hercule Poirot. But though accustomed to murder and its methods as frequent topics of conversation, Phyllida is unprepared for the sight of a very real, very dead body on the library floor...

A former Army nurse, Phyllida reacts with practical common sense - and a great deal of curiosity. It soon becomes clear that the victim arrived at Mallowan Hall under false pretenses during a weekend party. Now, Phyllida not only has a houseful of demanding guests on her hands - along with a distracted, anxious staff - but hordes of reporters camping outside. When another dead body is discovered - this time, one of her housemaids - Phyllida decides to follow in M. Poirot's footsteps to determine which of the Mallowans' guests is the killer. With help from the village's handsome physician, Dr. Bhatt, Mr. Dobble, the butler, along with other household staff, Phyllida assembles the clues. Yet, she is all too aware that the killer must still be close at hand and poised to strike again. And only Phyllida's wits will prevent her own story from coming to an abrupt end..."

Firstly, I'm here because I'm here for everything Agatha Christie. Secondly, I'm here because this is just another pseudonym of the wonderful Colleen Gleason!

Sherlock Holmes and the Three Winter Terrors by James Lovegrove
Published by: Titan Books
Publication Date: October 26th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 416 Pages
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The official patter:
"A beautifully presented sinister seasonal mystery from the acclaimed author of Sherlock Holmes and The Christmas Demon.

1889. The First Terror. At a boys' prep school in the Kent marshes, a pupil is found drowned in a pond. Could this be the fulfilment of a witch's curse from over two hundred years earlier?

1890. The Second Terror. A wealthy man dies of a heart attack at his London townhouse. Was he really frightened to death by ghosts?

1894. The Third Terror. A body is discovered in the dark woods near a Surrey country manor, hideously ravaged. Is the culprit a cannibal, as the evidence suggests?

These three chilling and strangely linked crimes test Sherlock Holmes's deductive powers, and his scepticism about the supernatural, to the limit."

I like when stories work for Halloween OR Christmas! Bring on the ghosts!

The Curse of Morton Abbey by Clarissa Harwood
Published by: Thornfield Press
Publication Date: October 26th, 2021
Format: Paperback, 384 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Jane Eyre meets The Secret Garden in this Gothic novel of romantic suspense set in 1890s Yorkshire.

Solicitor Vaughan Springthorpe knows perfectly well that Sir Peter Spencer's offer of employment seems too good to be true: he hires her sight unseen, offering a suspiciously large salary to prepare the sale of Morton Abbey, his crumbling Yorkshire estate. But few people in late-Victorian England will entrust their legal affairs to a woman, and Vaughan is desperate to prove herself.

Once at Morton, Vaughan discovers that someone is determined to drive her away. An intruder tries to enter her bedroom at night, gunshots are fired outside her window, and an eerie crying echoes from the uninhabited second floor. Even Netherton, the nearest village, seems odd: the picturesque houses and perfect-looking families are haunted by dark secrets connected to Morton Abbey itself.

To complete her work and solve the mystery at the heart of Morton, Vaughan needs the help of Joe Dixon, the handsome gardener, and Nicholas Spencer, her employer's irascible invalid brother. But with her questions diverted, her progress thwarted, and her sleep disrupted by the crying, will Vaughan escape Morton Abbey with her sanity intact or be cursed by the secrets within?"

Let's hope more Jane Eyre than The Secret Garden... I have issues with that book...

Arya Winters and the Tiramisu of Death by Amita Murray
Published by: Agora Books
Publication Date: October 26th, 2021
Format: Paperback
To Buy

The official patter:
"Arya Winters is your typical cozy heroine. She lives in a cottage in a small English village, and bakes for a living - well, she specializes in macabre desserts. She has the standard nosy neighbors, who she avoids ruthlessly due to her social anxiety.

When her neighbor Tobias Yards turns up dead, no one seems to connect it to Arya's Auntie Meera's recent death, so she takes matters into her own hands. All she has to do to uncover the truth is to get over her aversion to Other People. Besides that, it's just a matter of getting beyond some yellow tape, dodging her former BFF Tallulah from secondary school, and getting into her new neighbor, writer Branwell Beam's, pants - he seems strangely reluctant. What Arya doesn't realize is that the murderer is dangerous, preying on lonely people who've experienced trauma, and that she might have to do all she can not to become the next victim."

I'm all for the cozy murder mystery of this, but I am REALLY here for that gorgeous cover!

Grave Reservations by Cherie Priest
Published by: Atria Books
Publication Date: October 26th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A psychic travel agent and a Seattle PD detective solve a murder in this quirky mystery in the vein of Lisa Lutz’s The Spellman Files and Charlaine Harris’s Aurora Teagarden series.

Meet Leda Foley: devoted friend, struggling travel agent, and inconsistent psychic. When Leda, sole proprietor of Foley's Flights of Fancy, impulsively re-books Seattle PD detective Grady Merritt’s flight, her life changes in ways she couldn’t have predicted.

After watching his original plane blow up from the safety of the airport, Grady realizes that Leda’s special abilities could help him with a cold case he just can’t crack.

Despite her scattershot premonitions, she agrees for a secret reason: her fiancé's murder remains unsolved. Leda’s psychic abilities couldn’t help the case several years before, but she’s been honing her skills and drawing a crowd at her favorite bar’s open-mic nights, where she performs Klairvoyant Karaoke - singing whatever song comes to mind when she holds people’s personal effects. Now joined by a rag-tag group of bar patrons and pals alike, Leda and Grady set out to catch a killer - and learn how the two cases that haunt them have more in common than they ever suspected."

I'm all here for Cherie going all Spellmanesque... Could we just get a better cover. Please!?!

All the Feels by Olivia Dade
Published by: Avon
Publication Date: October 26th, 2021
Format: Paperback, 416 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Following Spoiler Alert, Olivia Dade returns with another utterly charming romantic comedy about a devil-may-care actor - who actually cares more than anyone knows - and the no-nonsense woman hired to keep him in line.

Alexander Woodroe has it all. Charm. Sex appeal. Wealth. Fame. A starring role as Cupid on TV’s biggest show, Gods of the Gates. But the showrunners have wrecked his character, he's dogged by old demons, and his post-show future remains uncertain. When all that reckless emotion explodes into a bar fight, the tabloids and public agree: his star is falling.

Enter Lauren Clegg, the former ER therapist hired to keep him in line. Compared to her previous work, watching over handsome but impulsive Alex shouldn’t be especially difficult. But the more time they spend together, the harder it gets to keep her professional remove and her heart intact, especially when she discovers the reasons behind his recklessness...not to mention his Cupid fanfiction habit.

When another scandal lands Alex in major hot water and costs Lauren her job, she’ll have to choose between protecting him and offering him what he really wants - her. But he’s determined to keep his improbably short, impossibly stubborn, and extremely endearing minder in his life any way he can. And on a road trip up the California coast together, he intends to show her exactly what a falling star will do to catch the woman he loves: anything at all."

So here for the Cupid fanfic!!!

Donut Fall in Love by Jackie Lau
Published by: Berkley
Publication Date: October 26th, 2021
Format: Paperback, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A baker provides the sweetest escape for an actor in this charming romantic comedy.

Actor Ryan Kwok is back in Toronto after the promotional tour for his latest film, a rom-com that is getting less-than-stellar reviews. After years of constant work and the sudden death of his mother, Ryan is taking some much-needed time off. But as he tries to be supportive to his family, he struggles with his loss and doesn't know how to talk to his dad - who now trolls him on Twitter instead of meeting him for dim sum.

Innovative baker Lindsay McLeod meets Ryan when he knocks over two dozen specialty donuts at her bakery. Their relationship is off to a messy start, but there’s no denying their immediate attraction. When Ryan signs up for a celebrity episode of Baking Fail, he asks Lindsay to teach him how to bake and she agrees.

As Lindsay and Ryan spend time together, bonding over grief and bubble tea, it starts to feel like they’re cooking up something sweeter than cupcakes in the kitchen."

I'm so here for the Vanessa Hudgens Netflix-esque movie in book form!

The Perks of Loving a Wallflower by Erica Ridley
Published by: Forever
Publication Date: October 26th, 2021
Format: Paperback, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"As a master of disguise, Thomasina Wynchester can be a polite young lady - or a bawdy old man. She’ll do whatever it takes to solve the cases her family takes on. But when Tommy’s beautiful new client turns out to be the highborn lady she’s secretly smitten with, more than her mission is at stake...

Bluestocking Miss Philippa York doesn’t believe in love. Her heart didn’t pitter-patter when she was betrothed to a duke, nor did it break when he married someone else. All Philippa desires is to decode a centuries-old manuscript to keep a modern-day villain from claiming credit for work that wasn’t his. She hates that she needs a man’s help to do it - so she’s delighted to discover the clever, charming baron at her side is in fact a woman. But as she and Tommy grow closer and the stakes of their discovery higher, more than just their hearts are at risk."

I am all about the Regency romp lately!

Comfort Me With Apples by Catherynne M. Valente
Published by: Tordotcom
Publication Date: October 26th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 112 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Comfort Me With Apples is a terrifying new thriller from bestseller Catherynne M. Valente, for fans of Gone Girl and Spinning Silver.

Sophia was made for him. Her perfect husband. She can feel it in her bones. He is perfect. Their home together in Arcadia Gardens is perfect. Everything is perfect.

It's just that he's away so much. So often. He works so hard. She misses him. And he misses her. He says he does, so it must be true. He is the perfect husband and everything is perfect.

But sometimes Sophia wonders about things. Strange things. Dark things. The look on her husband's face when he comes back from a long business trip. The questions he will not answer. The locked basement she is never allowed to enter. And whenever she asks the neighbors, they can't quite meet her gaze....

But everything is perfect. Isn't it?"

Here for everything Cat! Even if this has a horrid ass cover.

Cunning Folk by Adam L.G. Nevill
Published by: Ritual Limited,
Publication Date: October 26th, 2021
Format: Paperback, 338 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A compelling folk horror story of deadly rivalry and the oldest magic from the four times winner of The August Derleth Award for Best Horror Novel.

No home is heaven with hell next door.

Money's tight and their new home is a fixer-upper. Deep in rural South West England, with an ancient wood at the foot of the garden, Tom and his family are miles from anywhere and anyone familiar. His wife, Fiona, was never convinced that buying the money-pit at auction was a good idea. Not least because the previous owner committed suicide. Though no one can explain why.

Within days of crossing the threshold, when hostilities break out with the elderly couple next door, Tom's dreams of future contentment are threatened by an escalating tit-for-tat campaign of petty damage and disruption.

Increasingly isolated and tormented, Tom risks losing his home, everyone dear to him and his mind. Because, surely, only the mad would suspect that the oddballs across the hedgerow command unearthly powers. A malicious magic even older than the eerie wood and the strange barrow therein. A hallowed realm from where, he suspects, his neighbours draw a hideous power."

Because my Dad knew Derleth I think it's imperative that I read this book to make sure it's up to standards, right? 

ExtraOrdinary by V.E. Schwab
Published by: Titan Comics
Publication Date: October 26th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 112 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"#1 New York Times bestselling author of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, launches her incredible world of super beings with this ALL-NEW dazzlingly illustrated graphic novel set in the five years between Vicious and Vengeful. A must for all Schwab fans everywhere!

This collection also features, for the first time ever in print, Schwab’s original 2013 text short story Warm Up, which is set in the Vicious universe.

Taking place in the years between Vicious and Vengeful, ExtraOrdinary follows the tale of a teenage girl named Charlotte Tills who following a fatal bus crash, seemingly dies only to wake up to discover she has become an EO - a person with ExtraOrdinary abilities. In Charlotte’s case, it’s the ability to see people's deaths, but when she looks into her own future, sees her own murder at the hands of the self-proclaimed hero and notorious EO killer Eli Ever, who is currently in prison for the murder of Victor Vale. Refusing to accept her fate, Charlotte sets off to find - and change - her future - before it comes for her.

This graphic novel introduces Eli Ever, the antagonist at the heart of the Villains series.

Also includes for the first time ever in print, V.E. Schwab’s original text short story, Warm Up. Set in the Vicious universe and follows the story of a family man called David, who after surviving a deadly avalanche wakes up as an EO with the terrifying ability to create fire with his mind.

Drawn by sensational Mexican artist Enid Balam, ExtraOrdinary introduces a whole new take on the genre of super-powered humans!"

I've been reading the individual issues, but this is a must buy because of the short story! 

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Adam L.G. Nevill, Amita Murray, Catherynne M. Valente, Cherie Priest, Clarissa Harwood, Colleen Cambridge, Colleen Gleason, Erica Ridley, Jackie Lau, James Lovegrove, M.C. Beaton, Olivia Dade, V.E. Schwab

The First Escape by G.P. Taylor
Published by: Tyndale
Publication Date: 2008
Format: Paperback, 282 Pages
Rating: ★★
To Buy

Sadie and Saskia Dopple are the queens of the Isambard Dunstan School for Wayward Children. They rule all the girls in the orphanage with cunning ruthlessness. Until one day the headmistress is a little more crafty then they are. Saskia gets adopted by one Muzz Elliott, who will have one or none. Being a prestigious donor to the school she gets her wish and the twins are separated, much to the headmistress's delight. So Sadie stays behind while Saskia goes to live in the mysterious home of Muzz Elliott out on Hampstead Heath. She is given her own room in the tower where she mustn't ever answer the phone. Meanwhile, back at the orphanage, one of Sadie's pranks badly backfires and she's locked up for the night without food or water. But the school's only boy, and odd job man, overhears the mistress saying that Sadie will be off to prison for her stunt so Erik Ganger risks his neck and releases Sadie so that they can flee across the Heath to Saskia. Of course a rescue can never be as easy as that when you flee across Hampstead Heath at night with bloodhounds baying at your heels and a psychotic magician named The Great Potemkin offering concealment, if you'll only help with one little experimental magic trick that may or may not kill you. But things aren't going well for Saskia either. There's a mysterious painting she may not look at, a seance to recover a lost fortune, and a Muzz Elliott doppelganger out to kill them all. How will these three kids reunite and save the day?

It's interesting what remains after time. I read G.P. Taylor's Shadowmancer so many years ago now I don't even remember when it was I read it. I do remember how much I hated it. In fact I'm more often to remember why I hate a book than why I love a book but Shadowmancer is that rare book that I hated everything about it so much that I have blocked as much of it from my memory as possible as a precautionary measure. So it's kind of the definition of insanity to pick up another book by G.P. Taylor, but what am I if not slightly mad? When I first read this book five years ago I was impressed by how much I didn't hate it. Re-reading it five years later I see that perhaps I shouldn't base my opinions on a book by how much it didn't suck in comparison to another book by the same author. Because the truth is, this book is flawed. Very flawed. Yes, it's a fast read and has the nice comic versus prose structure of a Brian Selznick book. But seeing as I just read a Brian Selznick book recently, the yawning divide in quality is readily apparent. It makes me queasy even trying to place the two in the same category, but it has to be done no matter how disparate they are. Yet what nags me most about this book and in fact this whole series, or at least how much of it I've read while typing this, is that I have no idea when it takes place. It's almost Dickensian with lost inheritances, mistaken identities, evil twins, and ever so polite ghosts. Yet there is more modern technologies, like cars. So while I want to say Edwardian, it's actually more interwar, making me scratch my head. In the end I just have to throw up my hands and say that it lacks identity but at least it's not Shadowmancer.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Brian Selznick, Dickensian, Doppelganger, Edwardian, Erik Ganger, G.P. Taylor, Going Gothic, Hampstead Heath, Muzz Elliott, Sadie Dopple, Saskia Dopple, Shadowmancer, The Dopple Ganger Chronicles, The First Escape

The House on the Borderland by William Hope Hodgson
Published by: A Public Domain Book
Publication Date: 1901
Format: Kindle, 109 Pages
Rating: ★★
To Buy

There once was a house. It is now nothing more than ruins. There once were strange occurrences there. They are long forgotten. Only a journal tells of what happened there at the house near the abyss and that journal has been found by two travelers. They went looking for some good fishing in the west of Ireland and instead found a tale which will ensure they will never return to this benighted land. The author of the journal lived in the house with his sister who acted as his housekeeper and his dog Pepper. The house was long thought cursed by the locals, and after his experiences, perhaps they were right. One night he had an out-of-body experience and traveled through space to another planet that had a vast plain. There a valley housed a jade replica of his own home. The valley looked more like an arena because the mountains rise up in such away around the house that it feels as if they are watching it, along with the idols that dot the mountains. Before he returns home he sees a humanoid pig creature trying to force its way into the jade version of his house. The creature clearly sees him before he departs. Months later the humanoid horrors attack his home. This time it's not on some distant planet but right outside his door. He doesn't know how, but he fights them off. They appeared to have come out of an ever growing pit near his home and after the attack he plans to investigate. He and Pepper laboriously work their way further and further into the pit only to see that at the bottom there is no bottom, just an abyss. They have to fight their way out of the pit against rushing water and their own frailties. Pepper is injured in the exodus. The pit becomes a lake but the sound of rushing water is constant, which leads to the realization that a mysterious door in the cellar of the house leads directly into the abyss. The house is perched above nothing. Time expands and contracts. He sees his lost love, he sees Pepper age and die before his eyes, he sees the creatures return, he sees the door open...

At the very heart of this book there is a great Gothic horror story to be had, but you have to wade through a lot of slop to get to it. It's not that the slop isn't interesting from a historical point of view, you can obviously see how this work influenced authors from H.P. Lovecraft to Terry Pratchett. Pratchett even said that The House on the Borderland was "the Big Bang in my private universe as a science fiction and fantasy reader and, later, writer." Not knowing that Pratchett felt this way prior to reading it when the protagonist ends up on a foreign planet surrounded by idols I was instantly reminded of Pratchett's writing to a distracting degree. I'm just happy it turns out I wasn't hallucinating this, which is probably what most of this novel is. But going back to what worked in this novel, one night the house is attacked by the humanoid pigs previously seen in the vision of the other planet. They have somehow emerged from the pit near the house and decided to attack it. They are vicious and intelligent, but after a battle raging a full twenty-four hours the protagonist is victorious if still perplexed. Where did these creatures come from? Where are the bodies of those he successfully killed? He doesn't go out into the garden for days after the battle for fear of attack, but could the survivors really have taken away their fallen comrades? And did any of this even happen. That's what I find most interesting about this story is that here we have an entirely unreliable narrator, yet for these few pages as the battle rages, he seems lucid enough to be telling the truth. Yet his omissions make you question your own opinion on his sanity. The biggest problem is where is his sister? She seems to come and go throughout as an afterthought, but during a battle one would think that she would make an appearance. So then you start going further down the unreliable narrator rabbit hole and wondering if she even exists. What's more, are the humanoid swine really trying to break into the house on Earth or, because we saw the house on that far distant planet where the swine are supposedly from, is the attack happening to that house and somehow there is a rift in time and space? Whatever is really going on here, this small slice of the pie makes the rest of the hallucinatory rants almost worth it.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Book Club, Going Gothic, Gothic, H.P. Lovecraft, Horror, Humanoid, Interstellar, Journal, Ruins, Science Fiction, Secret Door, Swine, Terry Pratchett, The House on the Borderland, The Last Word, William Hope Hodgson

A Line to Kill by Anthony Horowitz
Published by: Harper
Publication Date: October 19th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 384 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The New York Times bestselling author of the brilliantly inventive The Word Is Murder and The Sentence is Death returns with his third literary whodunit featuring intrepid detectives Hawthorne and Horowitz.

When Ex-Detective Inspector Daniel Hawthorne and his sidekick, author Anthony Horowitz, are invited to an exclusive literary festival on Alderney, an idyllic island off the south coast of England, they don’t expect to find themselves in the middle of murder investigation - or to be trapped with a cold-blooded killer in a remote place with a murky, haunted past.

Arriving on Alderney, Hawthorne and Horowitz soon meet the festival’s other guests - an eccentric gathering that includes a bestselling children’s author, a French poet, a TV chef turned cookbook author, a blind psychic, and a war historian - along with a group of ornery locals embroiled in an escalating feud over a disruptive power line.

When a local grandee is found dead under mysterious circumstances, Hawthorne and Horowitz become embroiled in the case. The island is locked down, no one is allowed on or off, and it soon becomes horribly clear that a murderer lurks in their midst. But who?

Both a brilliant satire on the world of books and writers and an immensely enjoyable locked-room mystery, A Line to Kill is a triumph - a riddle of a story full of brilliant misdirection, beautifully set-out clues, and diabolically clever denouements."

I am here for WHATEVER Anthony Horowitz is up to next!

Destroy All Monsters by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips
Published by: Image Comics
Publication Date: October 19th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 144 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The next book in the red-hot Reckless series is here.

Bestselling crime noir masters Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips bring us a new original graphic novel starring troublemaker-for-hire Ethan Reckless.

It's 1988 and Ethan has been hired for his strangest case yet: finding the secrets of a Los Angeles real estate mogul. How hard could that be, right? Only what starts as a deep dive into the life of a stranger will soon take a deadly turn, and find Ethan risking everything that still matters to him.

Another smash hit from the award-winning creators of Reckless, Pulp, My Heroes Have Always Been junkies, Criminal, and Kill Or Be Killed - and a must-have for all Brubaker and Phillips fans"

Yes... it's a must-have for all Brubaker and Phillips fans... but really just for their die-hard fans.

The Voices at the End of the Road by Twyla Ellis
Published by: Zimbell House Publishing LLC
Publication Date: October 19th, 2021
Format: Paperback, 362 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The Whitfield Estate is hidden deep in the Big Thicket outside of Soda, Texas. This reclusive family brood amassed their oil and timber fortune over four generations, and now that it's been done, they have become painfully aware of how isolated and broken they are as a family.

Tessa Nettles, fresh from college, is hired as the estate manager. But her main role is to help the youngest Whitfield, Caroline, have a more normal life. She has been cloistered away at Whitfield for the whole of her first fourteen years. Now, her oldest brother, Grayson, wants to make a happier life for her than he and their brother, Travis, had.

But first, he will have to deal with the strange lights that fall from the sky over the Trinity River and their connection with the mysterious voices at the end of the road. The voices of entities that have secretly been Caroline's only friends her whole life. Are these ghostly entities dangerous? Will they want Tessa gone from Whitfield?

Will Old Gullah Woman and Preacher Man be allowed to stay on in the rundown river cabin, stirring up the waters and calling down the mysterious lights? Or will the Whitfield matriarch run them off, even after their Gullah potions kept her husband alive two years longer than the doctors could have?

Will Tessa bring harmony to the estate, or set off a competition between the brothers that has the potential to destroy the Whitfields completely?"

Dallas meets The X-Files with a Gothic wrapper? Yes please! 

The Ghost Tracks by Celso Hurtado
Published by: Inkshares
Publication Date: October 19th, 2021
Format: Paperback, 350 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A seventeen-year-old Texan from the wrong side of the tracks starts a supernatural detective agency - this is Fear Street for a diverse America.

Erasmo Cruz is from the wrong side of the tracks. His dad was a junkie who overdosed. His mom chose to run off rather than raise him. His only passion is the supernatural, and his only family is his grandmother, whose aches and pains, he soon learns, aren't just from old age but from cancer.

Desperate to help his grandmother pay for treatment, Erasmo sets up shop as a paranormal investigator. After witnessing a series of inexplicable events, he must uncover the truth behind his clients' seemingly impossible claims. From hauntings to exorcisms, Erasmo soon finds that San Antonio is a much scarier place than even he knew."

ALL about the supernatural PI! 

Jane Austen Investigates: The Burglar's Ball by Julia Golding
Published by: Lion Fiction
Publication Date: October 19th, 2021
Format: Paperback, 176 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Join young, budding detective Jane Austen in her second investigation to uncover a devious diamond thief at the glitziest, most scandalous ball of the year inspired by Sense and Sensibility.

When the headmistress invites her past favourite pupil to attend their end of term ball, Cassandra brings her younger sister, Jane, along too. Cassandra plunges into the feverish excitement of preparing for the biggest event of the year - the dresses, the dances and the boys expected from the neighbouring school.

Feeling rather excluded, sharp-witted Jane unearths the reason for the fuss - the headteacher wants to impress a rich family returned from India as the school is at risk of going bankrupt. Jane also befriends the dancing master's assistant, a former slave, called Brandon, who is as quick to notice things as she. At the ball, a diamond necklace is stolen from a locked room and they are propelled into a race to uncover the burglar and save Brandon from gaol.

With the ever-present Austen spirit, Jane with notebook in hand, boldly overcomes the obstacles to finding the truth."

Oh, here's hoping for lots of Jane Austen complaining about how she hates girls schools! 

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: A Line to Kill, Anthony Horowitz, Celso Hurtado, Ed Brubaker, Jane Austen, Jane Austen Investigates, Julia Golding, Reckless, Sean Phillips, Texas, The Ghost Tracks, The Voices at the End of the Road, Twyla Ellis

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark by Guillermo del Toro, Christopher Golden, and Troy Nixey
Published by: Hyperion Books for Children
Publication Date: July 19th, 2011
Format: Hardcover, 272 Pages
Rating: ★★
To Buy

Blackwood Manor has a dark past. Something happened to Emerson Blackwood one night in the basement. Someone died at the hands of Emerson Blackwood that night when he snapped. But that isn't where this story starts, that is where this story ends. It starts with an eager young Emerson Blackwood and a colleague showing him an unusual skeleton. Emerson is a young naturalist and what he sees upends his knowledge of what he knows about the natural world. Because he was shown the skeletal remains of a Tooth Fairy. He buys the remains and goes public with the discovery, only to be laughed at and then shunned. His colleagues think he has gone insane. But he hasn't. At least not yet. Emerson is undeterred by the disapprobrium as he writes of his continuing discoveries in his journal. He takes it upon himself not just to travel the world looking for a deeper understanding of Tooth Fairies, but also to create a guide to all dangerous fairies that the unsuspecting populace doesn't know about. He takes to travelling with an old man and his daughter who have also spent years researching the unseelie world. Though Emerson's tunnel vision for Tooth Fairies puts all their lives at risk. He has come to unearth evidence that they are prolific across the entire world. Fairy tales often vary from region to region, but not the stories of the Tooth Fairies, otherwise known as Bloody Gums, Gnaw Bones, and Bone Crunchers. They are unique. They are organized. And they are dangerous. Soon the old man dies and Emerson marries his daughter and they have a child. Tooth Fairies love nothing more than the teeth of children. And Emerson made a miscalculation in Italy. They are on to him. He flees to America and holes up in his house. But they are coming and they want revenge.

This is an odd little volume. It's half narrative and half field guide and in my mind only one of those works. Hint, it's not the guide. I've read enough guides in my time to know a good one, and there needs to be more depth, more worldbuilding, more thought for it to work. I should probably have prefaced that with, and I haven't actually watched the movie this is a tie-in for so maybe there is more worldbuilding there, but I really couldn't be bothered after reading the book and the book should be able to stand on it's own. I love Christopher Golden and it is patently clear that he wrote the part of the book I love, Emerson Blackwood's journey of discovery. Emerson is an interesting character in that he seems perfectly normal and reasonable at the beginning, but one taste of the supernatural and he starts a descent into obsession and madness. That madness deals with Tooth Fairies. It is a truth universally acknowledged that we humans are prone to nightmares about our teeth. I don't know why it is, but I've always had them. I can even remember having them way back in kindergarten. Usually they crumble and then choke me and I'm spitting them out. It's horrible. For years and years I thought I was alone, but then one day I was talking to my friend Grant and he was doing a piece about teeth and I commented on it by telling him about my teeth nightmares, his were almost exactly the same. So I started asking more and more people. I don't know what percentage of the population has these dreams, because another friend who was in on this conversation was like, I've never had that dream, but when you google it it says it's "a very common dream." Though some of the analysis online is absurd. No, I don't have a fear of public speaking, I have a fear of my freakin' teeth falling out! This book taps into that fear. I don't know why I never had a fear of the Tooth Fairy even though I had a fear of my teeth falling out. Probably because no one was referring to them as Bloody Gums, Gnaw Bones, or Bone Crunchers. So, yeah, my teeth nightmares have been expanded exponentially.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Blackwood's Guide to Dangerous Fairies, Christopher Golden, Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, Emerson Blackwood, Fairies, Fairy Guide, Going Gothic, Guillermo del Toro, Nightmares, Teeth, Tooth Fairies, Troy Nixey

The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry
Published by: Custom House
Publication Date: May 27th, 2016
Format: Kindle, 433 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)

The death of Cora Seaborne's abusive husband means she can finally cast aside the shackles of the life she was forced into. She can indulge her desire to be the next Mary Anning. Taking her household, which consists of her companion Martha and her disturbed son Francis, to Colchester, she spends her days mucking about the countryside wearing men's boots and unflattering clothing looking for ammonites. Once she even tangled with a man trying to rescue a sheep from the muck. But soon Colchester is abuzz with rumors of the Essex Serpent. It's hunting the estuaries and killing children and pets. Cora doesn't believe in something so fanciful, but she does wonder, could a creature from long ago have survived in an out of the way place to be discovered in the present day? Science doesn't deny it is possible and her hero, Mary Anning, often hoped to make such a discovery. Cora longs to have her name next to such a find in a museum and therefore jumps at the opportunity that fate hands her. Through mutual friends she is introduced to the Ransomes who live in Aldwinter. As fate would have it the Reverend Will Ransome is the man she helped to rescue the sheep. Despite such an inauspicious beginning the two become fast friends. Cora is fascinated by a pew in his church which is carved to represent the serpent, while Will is incensed by his parishioners obsession with fairy tales and threatens to destroy the pew. They argue over everything, from religion to science, it is a meeting of true minds. Everyone comments on their closeness, Cora even moves to Aldwinter. Yet Will's wife Stella doesn't seem to mind, and Martha, well Martha has more important things to worry about. But then there's an incident at the school. Cora begs her friend, Doctor Luke Garrett, to come down and investigate the medical reason behind the hysteria. This causes a breach between Cora and Will. A breach that will be healed and ruptured on one fateful night. So while they might not survive, the question remains, does the serpent?

The Essex Serpent is one of those books that seems to polarize people, and it has since it's publication. You either love it or you hate it and I decided to take the wisest approach and just avoid it. But then I bought Sarah Perry's Melmoth and a lot of reviews started referring to it as a companion piece to The Essex Serpent, which I took to mean I should read The Essex Serpent... Which went from being a "never " to a "some day" to a "now" event rather quickly because of the Tom Hiddleston starring adaptation that is filming. Will Ransome is a role Hiddles is born to play in my mind. But that adaptation is the future, and this is now, and this is about the book. The Essex Serpent is beautifully and lushly written yet is rather light on plot. It fits more into the style of Gothic literature and romance from the 19th century than what we necessarily think of as Gothic now. The book is all about duality as epitomized by the word "cleave," to cling and to separate all at once. The serpent is both a supernatural entity and a rather large fish. Stella is both dying and luminous. The world runs on both religion and science. Cora and Will's romance is both everything and nothing. Two states of being happening simultaneously. This recurs over and over again, reality versus fallacy. And at one point, the hysteria of Aldwinter with regards to the serpent reaches such a fever pitch that the young schoolgirls act out in a way that would best be described as Salem in 1692. And the fact that the doctor swings in and brings up ergot poisoning made my dorky history heart soar! Because it could very well be hysteria OR ergot OR none of the above. The problem is that the book reaches this fever pitch just before the summer solstice and then it just peters out. Cora had been the driving force of the book and she sees what she has done and retreats. She's barely in the rest of the book and her larger-than-life personality which carried everyone means that the other characters had to try to carry themselves, and they failed. So while the book technically ended, I like to think that in some other way it didn't and that one day the characters will find their proper endings.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Adaptation, Ammonite, Cleave, Cora Seaborne, Dinosaurs, Duality, Going Gothic, Gothic, Hiddles, Mary Anning, Melmoth, Myths, Naturalist, Reverend Will Ransome, Salem, Sarah Perry, The Essex Serpent, Tom Hiddleston

The Panda, the Cat and the Dreadful Teddy by Paul Magrs
Published by: HarperCollins
Publication Date: October 12th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 144 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy

If you live in a house where you have stuffed animals with very distinct and vocal personalities, ranging the gamut from sarcastic to profane to inebriated, then this is the book you've been waiting all your life for. And hopefully the stuffed animals will be fans as well. Though I know my Dad's monkey Salbert would probably downgrade the book for having no mention of Kim Novak. Thankfully the book doesn't mention Joey Bishop or we'd have real problems. And yes, wherever Sal is he knows what time it is in Vegas. While everyone might not have someone in their life at this moment giving constant commentary, we've all had a stuffed friend like this at some point in our life. Paul has Panda. Some of us know him as Art Critic Panda, but I am sure he has a plethora of aliases. If you read this book without any context, even though I do love that Paul added a picture of the trio at the back of the book, you are in for an entertaining time. Panda is saying what we are often thinking about but at too decorous to say. Though I would occasionally like to let loose with a stream of profanity Panda-style. The art varies in quality, but sometimes just the simplest of lines captures Panda and his posture so perfectly with so little that I wish I could draw like that. In particular I'm thinking of him exercising and looking lovingly at a bottle of gin. Yes, Panda does love his gin. There were also times when I wished that the drawings had been organized thematically or had some overarching story, but then I remembered this is a parody. I realized I couldn't properly critique this book without first reading The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy. I remember when this book came out and it was everywhere. There were large drifts of it in Barnes and Noble because if I recall correctly they made it their book of the year. Well, that book does have some amazing drawings, in a wide range of styles, and occasionally there is something profound said, but for me it was too saccharine. My teeth hurt after reading it. It was too goody goody trying to be something more and occasionally ending up sounding like your friends in college when they got high and thought they'd discovered the answers to life. But reading that book made me appreciate Paul's book so much more. He got the artistic shifts, the lack of structure, everything down pat, but with a wonderfully cynical edge, which is totally my wheelhouse. So yes, you can read this book in a vacuum, but I'd say read the book after doing your homework, you will enjoy it so much more!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Art Critic Panda, Barnes and Noble, Charlie Mackesy, Cynical, Joey Bishop, Kim Novak, Pandas, Paul Magrs, Sal, The Boy the Mole the Fox and the Horse, The Panda the Cat and the Dreadful Teddy: A Parody, Vegas

The Haunting Season by Bridget Collins, Imogen Hermes Gowar, Kiran Millwood Hargrave, Andrew Michael Hurley, Jess Kidd, Elizabeth Macneal, Natasha Pulley, and Laura Purcell
Published by: Pegasus Crime
Publication Date: October 12th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Eight bestselling, award-winning writers return to the time-honored tradition of the seasonal ghost story in this spellbinding collection of new and original haunted tales.

Long before Charles Dickens and Henry James popularized the tradition of supernatural horror, the shadowy nights of winter have been a time for people to gather together by the flicker of candlelight and experience the intoxicating thrill of a spooky tale.

Now eight bestselling, award-winning authors - all of them master storytellers of the sinister and the macabre - bring the tradition to vivid life in a spellbinding new collection of original spine-tingling tales.

Taking you from the frosty fens of the English countryside, to the snow-covered grounds of a haunted estate, to a bustling London Christmas market, these mesmerizing stories will capture your imagination and serve as your indispensable companion to cold, dark nights. So curl up, light a candle, and fall under the ghostly spell of winters past..."

I mean, the description along makes this a must read, Laura Purcell and Natasha Pulley make this a MUST BUY!

I Would Prefer Not To by Herman Melville
Published by: Pushkin Collection
Publication Date: October 12th, 2021
Format: Paperback, 256 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A new selection of Melville's darkest and most enthralling stories in a beautiful Pushkin Collection edition.

Includes "Bartleby, the Scrivener", "Benito Cereno" and "The Lightning-Rod Man."

A lawyer hires a new copyist, only to be met with stubborn, confounding resistance. A nameless guide discovers hidden worlds of luxury and bleak exploitation. After boarding a beleaguered Spanish slave ship, an American trader's cheerful outlook is repeatedly shadowed by paralyzing unease.

In these stories of the surreal mundanity of office life and obscure tensions at sea, Melville's darkly modern sensibility plunges us into a world of irony and mystery, where nothing is as it first appears."

If a title of a book could sell me on it, this would be that title.

A Surprise for Christmas edited by Martin Edwards
Published by: Sourcebooks
Publication Date: October 12th, 2021
Format: Paperback, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A Postman murdered while delivering cards on Christmas morning. A Christmas pine growing over a forgotten homicide. A Yuletide heist gone horribly wrong. When there's as much murder as magic in the air and the facts seem to point to the impossible, it's up to the detective's trained eye to unwrap the clues and neatly tie together an explanation (preferably with a bow on top).

Martin Edwards has once again gathered the best of these seasonal stories into a stellar anthology brimming with rare tales, fresh as fallen snow, and classics from the likes of Julian Symons, Margery Allingham, Anthony Gilbert and Cyril Hare. A most welcome surprise indeed, and perfect to be shared between super-sleuths by the fire on a cold winter's night."

Ah, Christmas and crime! Two things that compliment each other so well.

Murder Most Festive by Ada Moncrieff
Published by: Poisoned Pen Press
Publication Date: October 12th, 2021
Format: Paperback, 288 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The perfect cozy Christmas murder mystery.

Imagine being stuck indoors with your family, waiting for something to happen... and then disaster strikes.

Christmas 1938. The Westbury family and assorted friends have gathered together for another legendary Christmas at their Sussex mansion. As family tensions simmer on Christmas Eve, the champagne flows, the silver sparkles and upstairs the bedrooms are made up ready for their occupants. But one bed will lie empty that night...

Come Christmas morning, guest David Campbell-Scott is found lying dead in the snow, with only a hunting rifle lying beside him and one set of footprints leading to the body. But something doesn't seem right to amateur sleuth Hugh Gaveston. Campbell-Scott had just returned from the East with untold wealth - why would he kill himself? Hugh sets out to investigate... and what he finds is more shocking than he ever could have expected."

Sigh, I love me some murder for the holiday season...

Tomes Scones and Crones by Colleen Gleason
Published by: Oliver-Heber Books
Publication Date: October 12th, 2021
Format: Paperback, 298 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"At forty-eight, Jacqueline Finch has a nice, easy life with few responsibilities: she's been a librarian in Chicago for twenty-five years, she doesn't have a husband, children, or pets, and she's just coasting along, enjoying her books and a small flower garden now that she's over the hill.

That is, until the Universe (helped by three old crones) has other ideas.

All at once, Jacqueline's staid (and boring) life is upended, and the next thing she knows, she's heading off to Button Cove to start a new life as the owner of Three Tomes Bookshop.

The bookstore is a darling place, and Jacqueline is almost ready to be excited about this new opportunity... until Mrs. Hudson and Mrs. Danvers show up. Somehow, the literary characters of Sherlock Holmes's landlady and Rebecca deWinter's creepy and sardonic housekeeper are living persons who work at the bookshop (when they aren't bickering with each other). Not only does Jacqueline have to contend with them-and the idea that people regularly eat pastries while reading books in her store -but the morning after she arrives, the body of a dead man is found on her property.

Things start to get even more strange after that: Jacqueline is befriended by three old women who bear a startling resemblance to the Witches Three from Macbeth, an actual witch shows up at her bookshop and accuses Jacqueline of killing her brother, and the two women who own businesses across the street seem determined to befriend Jacqueline.

And then there's the police detective with the very definite hot-Viking vibe who shows up to investigate the dead body...

The next thing Jacqueline knows, her staid and simple life is no longer quiet and unassuming, and she's got crones, curses, and crocodiles to deal with.

And when a new literary character appears on the scene...things start to get even more hairy and Jacqueline is suddenly faced with a horrible life and death situation that will totally push her out of her comfort zone...if she's brave enough to let it. After all, isn't forty-eight too late for an old dog to learn new tricks?

From the bestselling author of the Wicks Hollow series, Tomes, Scones and Crones is the first book in a new paranormal women's fiction series about coming into one's own when you're over the hill, and owning one's "croneness.""

Even if I weren't already a fan of Colleen Gleason, I mean come on, this book sounds like it was written just for me! Especially with Mrs. Hudson and Mrs. Danvers showing up! 

Along the Saltwise Sea by A. Deborah Baker
Published by: Tordotcom
Publication Date: October 12th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 208 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"For readers of Kelly Barnhill and Cat Valente's Fairyland books, adventure and danger lurk Along the Saltwise Sea in this new book by Seanan McGuire's latest open pseudonym, A. Deborah Baker.

Be sure to explore the myriad wonders that can be found Along the Saltwise Sea.

After climbing Over the Woodward Wall and making their way across the forest, Avery and Zib found themselves acquiring some extraordinary friends in their journey through the Up-and-Under.

After staying the night, uninvited, at a pirate queen’s cottage in the woods, the companions find themselves accountable to its owner, and reluctantly agree to work off their debt as her ship sets sail, bound for lands unknown. But the queen and her crew are not the only ones on board, and the monsters at sea aren’t all underwater.

The friends will need to navigate the stormy seas of obligation and honor on their continuing journey along the improbable road.

Writing as A. Deborah Baker, New York Times bestselling and award-winning author Seanan McGuire takes our heroes Avery and Zib (and their friends Niamh and the Crow Girl) on a high seas adventure, with pirates and queens and all the dangers of the deep as they continue their journey through the Up-and-Under on their quest for the road that will lead them home....

Welcome to a world of talking trees and sarcastic owls, of dangerous mermaids and captivating queens in this exceptional tale for readers who are young at heart in this companion book to McGuire's critically-acclaimed Middlegame and the sequel to Over the Woodward Wall."

I would give almost anything to have Seanan McGuire's work ethic!

The Brides of Maracoor by Gregory Maguire
Published by: William Morrow
Publication Date: October 12th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 384 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Multimillion-copy bestselling author Gregory Maguire unveils the first in a three-book series spun off the iconic Wicked Years, featuring Elphaba’s granddaughter, the green-skinned Rain.

Ten years ago this season, Gregory Maguire wrapped up the series he began with Wicked by giving us the fourth and final volume of the Wicked Years, his elegiac Out of Oz.

But “out of Oz” isn’t “gone for good.” Maguire’s new series, Another Day, is here, twenty-five years after Wicked first flew into our lives.

Volume one, The Brides of Maracoor, finds Elphaba’s granddaughter, Rain, washing ashore on a foreign island. Comatose from crashing into the sea, Rain is taken in by a community of single women committed to obscure devotional practices.

As the mainland of Maracoor sustains an assault by a foreign navy, the island’s civil-servant overseer struggles to understand how an alien arriving on the shores of Maracoor could threaten the stability and wellbeing of an entire nation. Is it myth or magic at work, for good or for ill?

The trilogy Another Day will follow this green-skinned girl from the island outpost into the unmapped badlands of Maracoor before she learns how, and becomes ready, to turn her broom homeward, back to her family and her lover, back to Oz, which - in its beauty, suffering, mystery, injustice, and possibility - reminds us all too clearly of the troubled yet sacred terrain of our own lives."

I don't think I can adequately explain my excitement about returning to Oz. Needless to say I preordered my signed copy ages ago. 

Hooked: How Crafting Saved My Life by Sutton Foster
Published by: Grand Central Publishing
Publication Date: October 12th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 256 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From the 2-time Tony Award-winner and the star of TV’s Younger, funny and intimate stories and reflections about how crafting has kept her sane while navigating the highs and lows of family, love, and show business (and how it can help you, too).

Whether she’s playing an “age-defying” book editor on television or dazzling audiences on the Broadway stage, Sutton Foster manages to make it all look easy. How? Crafting. From the moment she picked up a cross stitch needle to escape the bullying chorus girls in her early performing days, she was hooked. Cross stitching led to crocheting, crocheting led to collages, which led to drawing, and so much more. Channeling her emotions into her creations centered Sutton as she navigated the significant moments in her life and gave her tangible reminders of her experiences. Now, in this charming and poignant collection, Sutton shares those moments, including her fraught relationship with her agoraphobic mother; a painful divorce splashed on the pages of the tabloids; her struggles with fertility; the thrills she found on the stage during hit plays like Thoroughly Modern Millie, Anything Goes, and Violet; her breakout TV role in Younger; and the joy of adopting her daughter, Emily. Accompanying the stories, Sutton has included crochet patterns, recipes, and so much more!

Witty and poignant, Hooked will leave readers entertained as well as inspire them to pick up their own cross stitch needles and paintbrushes."

I have been a fan of Sutton Foster's for ages. The fact that she's a crafter makes me so happy.

The Panda, the Cat and the Dreadful Teddy by Paul Magrs
Published by: HarperCollins
Publication Date: October 12th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 144 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The surely soon-to-be million-copy bestselling sort-of inspirational parody...

Enter the world of me, Panda, plus my sometime-friends Cat and Teddy. You will find us living our best lives, trying (and occasionally succeeding) to be kind to each other. The cat is quite nice but can be a little bit selfish. Teddy can come across as very nice, with his squeaky voice and looking so tiny and helpless. But I must warn you, Teddy can be a vicious little backstabber, actually.

This is a book of nice illustrations and some words from which you will likely gain some sort of inspiration. Like:

'Just because you're struggling, it doesn't mean you're failing... But it might do.'
'Nothing beats kindness, ' said the cat. 'Gin does', said Panda.
'If you don't stop saying inspirational things to me, I'm going to punch you up the hooter.'
'You OK, hun?' asked Panda, but he was just taking the piss.
'We're just so, so lucky to have each other as friends, and it's going to make a marvellous book.'"

I really hope that this book by the delightful Paul, he's not at all dreadful like Teddy, does become a bestseller with millions of copies sold. I've had mine preordered for ages!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: A. Deborah Baker, Ada Moncrieff, Christmas, Colleen Gleason, Crochet, Gregory Maguire, Herman Melville, Laura Purcell, Murder, Natasha Pulley, Oz, Paul Magrs, Rebecca, Seanan Maguire, Sutton Foster, Wicked

The Poison Thread by Laura Purcell
Published by: Penguin Books
Publication Date: June 18th, 2019
Format: Paperback, 368 Pages
Rating: ★★★
To Buy

Dorothea Truelove is a wealthy young woman. And wealthy young women need something to occupy themselves. Yes, she could marry, but her father would never approve of the policeman who has stolen her heart so she has turned to charitable works. And while visiting female prison inmates might be considered a normal outlet for someone of her class, her reasoning is more unnatural. She has taken up an interest in phrenology and wants to study the head of a murderer. Which is how she comes across Ruth Butterham at Oakgate Prison. The young seamstress doesn't deny she's a murderer, she just claims that her method of delivery is unintentional and otherworldly. She believes the items she sews are imbued with her emotions and that those emotions go on to kill those who wear her wares. She begs Dorothea to listen so that she will see she isn't insane. Her tale is a dark one. Her mother was from affluence and ran away with her father, a painter. But as time wore on they fell farther and farther down the social ladder. Ruth helped her mother with sewing she took in and it turned out she had an aptitude for it. After her father died they could no longer go on as they were and Ruth was indentured to a Mrs. Metyard. Ruth might have been better off on the streets with her mother the way she is treated by Mrs. Metyard and her daughter. The punishments were brutal and deadly. But Ruth had noticed something. Anyone whose clothes she had worked on had an ill will befall them. Little accidents and injuries. So she started to put her grievances into her labors and then there was a death. One of her classmates from her old life. They believe it was the dye from the fabric, a beautiful arsenic green. But Ruth knows better. Because this wasn't the only death. Dorothea doesn't believe Ruth's story. Besides being beyond the pale, she doesn't have the right shape of skull to be a killer. But then Ruth is forced to do some mending for the prison and illness breaks out. Could she really be telling the truth? Or is this just a poor misguided young girl whose life was stolen by circumstance?

The Poison Thread threads the needle (see what I did there) between the plausible and the supernatural, which is what Laura Purcell specializes in. Having only read The Silent Companions when I picked up this book I was slightly bemused and baffled that it handled the ending in such a similar manner. Through the whole book Purcell never spells it out if there is actually supernatural elements at play until the last few pages where the supernatural is confirmed and the book just ends. So ended The Silent Companions so ended The Poison Thread. I was worried that all her books would end in this kind of cliched manner. It almost feels like a cop out. Because admitting the existence of the supernatural and then not leaving room to explain how after all the why leading up to it makes the book somehow less than. But thankfully she has seemed to grow out of this from my further reading. And the truth is, this abrupt ending doesn't take away from this book the way it did in The Silent Companions. It just is. Or perhaps I was just prepared if it happened again... What set this book apart from other Victorian female prison fare, and yes, there are others, I'm looking at you Affinity, is the craft of Ruth Butterham. Ruth believes she has the supernatural ability to kill with her sewing. That her emotions transfer to the clothes she is working on. I totally buy this. Why you might ask? Well, as a maker, from artwork to theatre productions to clothing, I look at something I've made and I'm travelling into my past. My old work effects me when I see it, emotions, thoughts, what was happening in my life comes back to me, and I have wondered, what if that was visible to others? What if what I put in actually remains and then that would effect someone else? Could they feel the late night struggle on a seam? Could the joy I felt at burning something be tangible to another? That what if is what drives Ruth's belief. And maybe that is why I was fine with the ending, because I bought into the premise. I had wondered about my own work so it would obviously be possible for another artist to feel the same. It's logical, not necessarily supernatural.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Affinity, Arsenic, Artwork, Dorothea Truelove, Going Gothic, Laura Purcell, Maker, Mrs. Metyard, Murder, Phrenology, Prison, Ruth Butterham, Sewing, Supernatural, The Poison Thread, The Silent Companions, Victorian

The House of Whispers by Laura Purcell
Published by: Penguin Books
Publication Date: June 9th, 2020
Format: Paperback, 336 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy

Hester Why isn't really Hester Why. But who she was had too much baggage. Too much pain. Too many secrets. In fact, she might just be cursed. So she is making a new start, or more accurately, a new start is being foisted upon her. So why not take a new name in the process as an extra level of protection? With only a handful of belongings and a hip flask she heads to Cornwall and Morvoren House. She is to be nurse to the elderly Louise Pinecroft. When Hester arrives at Morvoren the winter is harsh and bleak, there is a sense the snow is finally coming, and the sea is ominous. Hester always thought she'd like to see the sea, now she's wondering if she'll regret this desire. Miss Pinecroft's house perches precariously above the churning waves. She spends her days in an unheated room with all the curtains drawn keeping vigil over bone china. Big vases, small figurines, plates, teacups, all this, as well as Miss Pinecroft, are now Hester's bounden duty. The nurse in her rebels. This elderly woman needs warmth and sustenance and proper clothes, not a drafty room where she wallows in her own filth and myopically watches knickknacks! But just as Hester has her secrets, so does Morvoren House. Bought by Louise's father after their family was ravaged by consumption, he was going to regain his medical renown by finding the cure to the disease that carried away his family. But forty years later there is no cure. Louise is an old woman consumed by the horrors of the past and the uncanny. Morvoren House might have meant to foster in a new age of medical understanding, instead it's caught in the old ties of folklore and fairy tales. Something is happening in the house. Locked doors are being opened without a key, salt borders doorways, clothes are wore inside out, young fertile women are in danger, and the bone china must never be left alone.

Whenever someone tells me to read a book because it reminds them of Daphne Du Maurier I gird my loins. Because if there's one thing this has proven to me time and time again is that people haven't actually read Daphne Du Maurier. They think they know what her writing is like, probably because they watched Rebecca, and have therefore jumped to conclusions. So let it be known when I say a book reminds me of Daphne Du Maurier I actually mean it. I've done my research. Meaning I've read more than one of her books. In fact I've broken double digits not counting re-reads. So yes, The House of Whispers doesn't let you down on the Du Maurier vibe. Now I won't go as far as Natasha Pulley and say it might be better than Du Maurier, because it's different, and that makes it it's own wonderful thing. This is part Poldark part Du Maurier part Fairy Tale and it's bloody brilliant. Pushing aside her first two Georgian books, once Purcell embraced the Gothic aesthetic, her next two books, The Silent Companions and The Poison Thread, could, in a way, be interchangeable in their narrative structure, drawing out the supernatural reveal until right at the end. It felt rushed to have the reveal and then the curtain drop literally within the span of a handful of words. This was gimmicky, and I was fully prepared to have it repeat here, but it didn't. I wouldn't necessarily say I was pleasantly surprised, more in awe. Laura Purcell has grown so much as an author it's almost like this book is separate from the rest of her body of work. I can't put my finger on any one thing that made this book better except that everything is better. Her character development, her plotting, her structure, every little thing kept me invested as I devoured this book. She has always had a well developed sense of place, almost at the cost of the characters, but here the characters, even those I didn't like, were fully rounded and fascinating. This is a tale of tragedy and otherness and obsession, and I can't wait to see what Laura Purcell will do next!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Bone China, Consumption, Cornwall, Daphne Du Maurier, Fairy Tales, Going Gothic, Gothic, Laura Purcell, Natasha Pulley, Poldark, Rebecca, Regency, The House of Whispers, The Poison Thread, The Silent Companions

The Book of Magic by Alice Hoffman
Published by: Simon and Schuster
Publication Date: October 5th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 400 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Master storyteller Alice Hoffman brings us the conclusion of the Practical Magic series in a spellbinding and enchanting final Owens novel brimming with lyric beauty and vivid characters.

The Owens family has been cursed in matters of love for over three-hundred years but all of that is about to change. The novel begins in a library, the best place for a story to be conjured, when beloved aunt Jet Owens hears the deathwatch beetle and knows she has only seven days to live. Jet is not the only one in danger - the curse is already at work.

A frantic attempt to save a young man’s life spurs three generations of the Owens women, and one long-lost brother, to use their unusual gifts to break the curse as they travel from Paris to London to the English countryside where their ancestor Maria Owens first practiced the Unnamed Art. The younger generation discovers secrets that have been hidden from them in matters of both magic and love by Sally, their fiercely protective mother. As Kylie Owens uncovers the truth about who she is and what her own dark powers are, her aunt Franny comes to understand that she is ready to sacrifice everything for her family, and Sally Owens realizes that she is willing to give up everything for love.

The Book of Magic is a breathtaking conclusion that celebrates mothers and daughters, sisters and brothers, and anyone who has ever been in love."

Anyone else thinking that October should just be all things Practical Magic?

The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling
Published by: St. Martin's Press
Publication Date: October 5th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Practical, unassuming Jane Shoringfield has done the calculations, and decided that the most secure path forward is this: a husband, in a marriage of convenience, who will allow her to remain independent and occupied with meaningful work. Her first choice, the dashing but reclusive doctor Augustine Lawrence, agrees to her proposal with only one condition: that she must never visit Lindridge Hall, his crumbling family manor outside of town.

Yet on their wedding night, an accident strands her at his door in a pitch-black rainstorm, and she finds him changed. Gone is the bold, courageous surgeon, and in his place is a terrified, paranoid man—one who cannot tell reality from nightmare, and fears Jane is an apparition, come to haunt him. By morning, Augustine is himself again, but Jane knows something is deeply wrong at Lindridge Hall, and with the man she has so hastily bound her safety to.

Set in a dark-mirror version of post-war England, Caitlin Starling crafts a new kind of gothic horror from the bones of the beloved canon. This Crimson Peak-inspired story assembles, then upends, every expectation set in place by Shirley Jackson and Rebecca, and will leave readers shaken, desperate to begin again as soon as they are finished."

Mention Crimson Peak and Rebecca and I'm in. Another reviewer mentioned Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell and I am SO IN!

The Lighthouse Witches by C.J. Cooke
Published by: Berkley
Publication Date: October 5th, 2021
Format: Paperback, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Two sisters go missing on a remote Scottish island. Twenty years later, one is found - but she's still the same age as when she disappeared. The secrets of witches have reached across the centuries in this chilling Gothic thriller from the author of the acclaimed The Nesting.

When single mother Liv is commissioned to paint a mural in a 100-year-old lighthouse on a remote Scottish island, it's an opportunity to start over with her three daughters - Luna, Sapphire, and Clover. When two of her daughters go missing, she's frantic. She learns that the cave beneath the lighthouse was once a prison for women accused of witchcraft. The locals warn her about wildlings, supernatural beings who mimic human children, created by witches for revenge. Liv is told wildlings are dangerous and must be killed.

Twenty-two years later, Luna has been searching for her missing sisters and mother. When she receives a call about her youngest sister, Clover, she's initially ecstatic. Clover is the sister she remembers - except she's still seven years old, the age she was when she vanished. Luna is worried Clover is a wildling. Luna has few memories of her time on the island, but she'll have to return to find the truth of what happened to her family. But she doesn't realize just how much the truth will change her."

A spooky Scottish lighthouse? Sign me up as an armchair traveler, because I am SO not going there in person!

Cackle by Rachel Harrison
Published by: Berkley
Publication Date: October 5th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A darkly funny, frightening novel about a young woman learning how to take what she wants from a witch who may be too good to be true, from the author of The Return.

All her life, Annie has played it nice and safe. After being unceremoniously dumped by her longtime boyfriend, Annie seeks a fresh start. She accepts a teaching position that moves her from Manhattan to a small village upstate. She’s stunned by how perfect and picturesque the town is. The people are all friendly and warm. Her new apartment is dreamy too, minus the oddly persistent spider infestation.

Then Annie meets Sophie. Beautiful, charming, magnetic Sophie, who takes a special interest in Annie, who wants to be her friend. More importantly, she wants Annie to stop apologizing and start living for herself. That’s how Sophie lives. Annie can’t help but gravitate toward the self-possessed Sophie, wanting to spend more and more time with her, despite the fact that the rest of the townsfolk seem…a little afraid of her. And like, okay. There are some things. Sophie’s appearance is uncanny and ageless, her mansion in the middle of the woods feels a little unearthly, and she does seem to wield a certain power…but she couldn’t be…could she?"

It's the most witchiest time of the year!

Payback's a Witch by Lana Harper
Published by: Berkley
Publication Date: October 5th, 2021
Format: Paperback, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Chilling Adventures of Sabrina meets The L Word in this fresh, sizzling rom-com by Lana Harper.

Emmy Harlow is a witch but not a very powerful one - in part because she hasn't been home to the magical town of Thistle Grove in years. Her self-imposed exile has a lot to do with a complicated family history and a desire to forge her own way in the world, and only the very tiniest bit to do with Gareth Blackmoore, heir to the most powerful magical family in town and casual breaker of hearts and destroyer of dreams.

But when a spellcasting tournament that her family serves as arbiters for approaches, it turns out the pull of tradition (or the truly impressive parental guilt trip that comes with it) is strong enough to bring Emmy back. She's determined to do her familial duty; spend some quality time with her best friend, Linden Thorn; and get back to her real life in Chicago.

On her first night home, Emmy runs into Talia Avramov - an all-around badass adept in the darker magical arts - who is fresh off a bad breakup...with Gareth Blackmoore. Talia had let herself be charmed, only to discover that Gareth was also seeing Linden - unbeknownst to either of them. And now she and Linden want revenge. Only one question stands: Is Emmy in?

But most concerning of all: Why can't she stop thinking about the terrifyingly competent, devastatingly gorgeous, wickedly charming Talia Avramov?"

Does anyone else besides me have a soft spot for witchy rom-coms?

In the Company of Witches by Auralee Wallace
Published by: Berkley
Publication Date: October 5th, 2021
Format: Paperback, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"When a guest dies in the B and B she helps her aunts run, a young witch must rely on some good old-fashioned investigating to clear her aunt's name in this magical and charming new cozy mystery.

For four hundred years, the Warren witches have used their magic to quietly help the citizens of the sleepy New England town of Evenfall thrive. There's never been a problem they couldn't handle. But then Constance Graves - a local known for being argumentative and demanding - dies while staying at the bed and breakfast Brynn Warren maintains with her aunts. At first, it seems like an accident...but it soon becomes clear that there's something more sinister at work, and Aunt Nora is shaping up to be the prime suspect.

There's nothing Brynn wants more than to prove Nora's innocence, and it hurts her to know that even two years ago that might have been easier. Brynn, after all, is a witch of the dead--a witch who can commune with ghosts. Ghosts never remember much about their deaths, but Constance might remember something about her life that would help crack the case. But Brynn hasn't used her powers since her husband died, and isn't even sure she still can. Brynn will just have to hope that her aunts' magic and her own investigative skills will lead her to answers--and maybe back to the gift she once thought herself ready to give up forever."

And then there's cozy witches!

Scales and Sensibility by Stephanie Burgis
Published by: Five Fathoms Press
Publication Date: October 5th, 2021
Format: Kindle, 307 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Sensible, practical Elinor Tregarth really did plan to be the model poor relation when she moved into Hathergill Hall. She certainly never meant to kidnap her awful cousin Penelope's pet dragon. She never expected to fall in love with the shameless - but surprisingly sweet - fortune hunter who came to court Penelope. And she never dreamed that she would have to enter into an outrageous magical charade to save her younger sisters' futures.

However, even the most brilliant scholars of 1817 England still haven't ferreted out all the lurking secrets of rediscovered dragonkind...and even the most sensible of heroines can still make a reckless wish or two when she's pushed. Now Elinor will have to find out just how rash and resourceful she can be when she sets aside all common sense. Maybe, just maybe, she'll even be impractical enough to win her own true love and a happily ever after...with the unpredictable and dangerous "help" of the magical creature who has adopted her.

A frothy Regency rom-com full of pet dragons and magical misadventures, Scales and Sensibility is a full-length novel and the first in a new series of standalone romantic comedies."

I have adored Stephanie's other writing set in the Regency era and have been waiting for this new story with baited breath. You can be sure it will be featured whenever Regency Magic returns! 

The Keepers of Metsan Valo by Wendy Webb
Published by: Lake Union Publishing
Publication Date: October 5th, 2021
Format: Paperback, 315
To Buy

The official patter:
"The spirits of Nordic folklore come calling in this entrancing tale of family secrets and ancient mysteries by the #1 Amazon Charts bestselling author of The Haunting of Brynn Wilder.

In Metsan Valo, her family home on Lake Superior, Anni Halla's beloved grandmother has died. Among her fond memories, what Anni remembers most vividly is her grandmother's eerie yet enchanting storytelling. By firelight she spun tall tales of spirits in the nearby forest and waters who could heal - or harm - on a whim. But of course those were only stories...

The reading of the will now occasions a family reunion. Anni and her twin brother, their almost otherworldly mother, and relatives Anni hasn't seen in forever - some with good reason - are all brought back together under one roof that strains to hold all their tension. But it's not just Anni's family who is unsettled. Whispers wind through the woods. Laughter bursts from bubbling streams. Raps from unseen hands rupture on the walls. Fireflies swarm and nightmares stir. With each odd occurrence, Anni fears that her return has invited less a welcoming and more a warning.

When another tragedy strikes near home, Anni must dive headfirst into the mysterious happenings to discover the truth about her home, her family, and the wooded island's ancient lore. Plunging into the past may be the only way to save her family from whatever bedevils Metsan Valo."

I love that Wendy Webb writes for my region, and just the thought of her writing about spirits of Nordic folklore has me planning an entire day with a blanket, this book, and no interruptions. 

The Hideaway by Pam Smy
Published by: Pavilion Children's
Publication Date: October 5th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 256 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A haunting illustrated novel from the author of the highly acclaimed Thornhill.

Told in two alternating narratives, The Hideaway tells the story of Billy McKenna, who runs away from home and takes refuge in an overgrown graveyard. The first narrative is told from his perspective, whereas the second thread tells of the situation at home and the police search for Billy. Covering themes of domestic violence, families, childhood, and being separated and reunited, this is an important and beautifully illustrated book for middle grade readers right up to adults.

The Hideaway is illustrated throughout with tonal and textured black and white drawings. The atmospheric illustrations seep into the edge of the pages before they give way to a series of double-page spreads as the story reaches its climax."

If you're like me and have been waiting to see what Pam Smy would do next after Thornhill, your wait is over! 

Reprieve by James Han Mattson
Published by: William Morrow
Publication Date: October 5th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 416 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A chilling and blisteringly relevant literary novel of social horror centered around a brutal killing that takes place in a full-contact haunted escape room - a provocative exploration of capitalism, hate politics, racial fetishism, and our obsession with fear as entertainment.

On April 27, 1997, four contestants make it to the final cell of the Quigley House, a full-contact haunted escape room in Lincoln, Nebraska, made famous for its monstrosities, booby-traps, and ghoulishly costumed actors. If the group can endure these horrors without shouting the safe word, "reprieve," they’ll win a substantial cash prize - a startling feat accomplished only by one other group in the house’s long history. But before they can complete the challenge, a man breaks into the cell and kills one of the contestants.

Those who were present on that fateful night lend their points of view: Kendra Brown, a teenager who’s been uprooted from her childhood home after the sudden loss of her father; Leonard Grandton, a desperate and impressionable hotel manager caught in a series of toxic entanglements; and Jaidee Charoensuk, a gay international student who came to the United States in a besotted search for his former English teacher. As each character’s journey unfurls and overlaps, deceit and misunderstandings fueled by obsession and prejudice are revealed, forcing all to reckon with the ways in which their beliefs and actions contributed to a horrifying catastrophe.

An astonishingly soulful exploration of complicity and masquerade, Reprieve combines the psychological tension of classic horror with searing social criticism to present an unsettling portrait of this tangled American life."

The book with the biggest buzz this fall. And I'm totally not bitter about being declined for an ARC. OK, maybe that's a lie, but I'm still really excited for this book. 

Ghosts Stories of an Antiquary by M.R. James
Published by: Poisoned Pen Press
Publication Date: October 5th, 2021
Format: Paperback, 176 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Dive into this collection of exquisite, classic horror stories - just make sure to have the lights on and the doors locked.

First published in 1904, Ghost Stories of an Antiquary contains eight tales of supernatural horror by genre master M.R. James. Highly regarded as a masterwork of horror, this collection is a must-have for fans of the frightful.

The stories in this collection include: "Canon Alberic's Scrap-Book," "Lost Hearts," "The Mezzotint," "The Ash-Tree." "Number 13," "Count Magnus," "Oh, Whistle and I'll Come to You, My Lad," and "The Treasure of Abbot Thomas.""

If you're an American you've probably heard about how great M.R. James is but have never found any books stateside... well now's your chance to read the master!

The Wintringham Mystery by Anthony Berkeley
Published by: Collins Crime Club
Publication Date: October 5th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 256 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Republished for the first time in nearly 95 years, a classic winter country house mystery by the founder of the Detection Club, with a twist that even Agatha Christie couldn’t solve!

Stephen Munro, a demobbed army officer, reconciles himself to taking a job as a footman to make ends meet. Employed at Wintringham Hall, the delightful but decaying Sussex country residence of the elderly Lady Susan Carey, his first task entails welcoming her eccentric guests to a weekend house-party, at which her bombastic nephew - who recognises Stephen from his former life – decides that an after-dinner séance would be more entertaining than bridge. Then Cicely disappears!

With Lady Susan reluctant to call the police about what is presumably a childish prank, Stephen and the plucky Pauline Mainwaring take it upon themselves to investigate. But then a suspicious death turns the game into an altogether more serious affair...

This classic winter mystery incorporates all the trappings of the Golden Age - a rambling country house, a séance, a murder, a room locked on the inside, with servants, suspects and alibis, a romance - and an ingenious puzzle.

First published as a 30-part newspaper serial in 1926 - the year The Murder of Roger Ackroyd was published, The Wintringham Mystery was written by Anthony Berkeley, founder of the famous Detection Club. Also known as Cicely Disappears, the Daily Mirror ran the story as a competition with a prize of £500 (equivalent to £30,000 today) for anyone who guessed the solution correctly. Nobody did - even Agatha Christie entered and couldn’t solve it. Can you?"

I've read an enjoyed other work by Berkely so am very excited that this is back in print. I'd be more excited if there was still a monetary reward...

The Last Guest by Tess Little
Published by: Ballantine Books
Publication Date: October 5th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A glamorous birthday dinner in the Hollywood Hills ends with the famous host dead and every guest under suspicion in this dark, cinematic suspense debut reminiscent of an Agatha Christie page-turner crossed with David Lynch's Mulholland Drive.

When Elspeth Bell attends the fiftieth birthday party of her ex-husband, Richard Bryant, the Hollywood director who launched her acting career, all she wants is to pass unnoticed through the glamorous crowd in his sprawling Los Angeles mansion. Instead, there are only seven other guests - and Richard's pet octopus, Persephone, watching over them from her tank as the intimate party grows more surreal (and rowdy) by the hour. Come morning, Richard is dead - and all of the guests are suspects.

In the weeks that follow, each guest comes under suspicion: the school friend, the studio producer, the actress, the actor, the new partner, the manager, the cinematographer, and even Elspeth herself. What starts out as a locked-room mystery soon reveals itself to be much more complicated, as dark stories from Richard's past surface, colliding with memories of their marriage that Elspeth vowed never to revisit. She begins to wonder not just who killed Richard, but why these eight guests were invited - and what sort of man would desire to possess a creature as mysterious and unsettling as Persephone.

The Last Guest is a stylish exploration of power - the power of memory, the power of perception, the power of one person over another."

You had me at Lynchian with a dash of Agatha Christie!

The Storyteller by Dave Grohl
Published by: Dey Street Books
Publication Date: October 5th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 384 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Having entertained the idea for years, and even offered a few questionable opportunities ("It's a piece of cake! Just do 4 hours of interviews, find someone else to write it, put your face on the cover, and voila!") I have decided to write these stories just as I have always done, in my own hand. The joy that I have felt from chronicling these tales is not unlike listening back to a song that I've recorded and can't wait to share with the world, or reading a primitive journal entry from a stained notebook, or even hearing my voice bounce between the Kiss posters on my wall as a child.

This certainly doesn't mean that I'm quitting my day job, but it does give me a place to shed a little light on what it's like to be a kid from Springfield, Virginia, walking through life while living out the crazy dreams I had as young musician. From hitting the road with Scream at 18 years old, to my time in Nirvana and the Foo Fighters, jamming with Iggy Pop or playing at the Academy Awards or dancing with AC/DC and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, drumming for Tom Petty or meeting Sir Paul McCartney at Royal Albert Hall, bedtime stories with Joan Jett or a chance meeting with Little Richard, to flying halfway around the world for one epic night with my daughters…the list goes on. I look forward to focusing the lens through which I see these memories a little sharper for you with much excitement."

Anyone else sometimes feel like it's Dave Grohl's world and we're all just lucky enough to live in it?

1979 by Val McDermid
Published by: Atlantic Monthly Press
Publication Date: October 5th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Hailed as Britain's Queen of Crime, Val McDermid's award-winning, internationally bestselling novels have captivated readers for more than thirty years. Now, in 1979, she returns to the past with the story of Allie Burns, an investigative journalist whose stories lead her into world of corruption, terror, and murder.

It's only January, and the year 1979 has already brought blizzards, strikes, power cuts, and political unrest. For journalist Allie Burns, however, someone else's bad news is the unmistakable sound of opportunity knocking, an opportunity to get away from the "women's stories" her editors at the Scottish daily The Clarion keep assigning her. Striking up an alliance with budding investigative journalist Danny Sullivan, Allie begins covering international tax fraud, then a group of Scottish ultranationalists aiming to cause mayhem ahead of a referendum on breaking away from the United Kingdom. Their stories quickly get attention and create enemies for the two young up-and-comers. As they get closer to the bleeding edge of breaking news, Allie and Danny may find their lives on the line.

The first novel in a brand-new series for McDermid, 1979 is redolent of the thundering presses, hammering typewriters, and wreaths of smoke of The Clarion newsroom. An atmospheric journey into the past with much to say about the present, it is the latest suspenseful, pitch-perfect addition to Val McDermid's crime pantheon."

I think everyone right now needs an atmospheric journey into the past right?

Nanny Needed by Georgina Cross
Published by: Bantam
Publication Date: October 5th, 2021
Format: Paperback, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A young woman takes a job as a nanny for an impossibly wealthy family, thinking she’s found her entrée into a better life - only to discover instead she’s walked into a world of deception and dark secrets.

Nanny needed. Discretion is of the utmost importance. Special conditions apply.

When Sarah Larsen finds the notice, posted on creamy card stock in her building’s lobby, one glance at the exclusive address tells her she’s found her ticket out of a dead-end job - and life.

At the interview, the job seems like a dream come true: a glamorous penthouse apartment on the Upper West Side of NYC; a salary that adds several zeroes to her current income; the beautiful, worldly mother of her charge, who feels more like a friend than a potential boss. She’s overjoyed when they offer her the position and signs the NDA without a second thought.

In retrospect, the notice in her lobby was less an engraved invitation than a waving red flag. For there is something very strange about the Bird family. Why does the beautiful Mrs. Bird never leave the apartment alone? And what happened to the nanny before her? It soon becomes clear that the Birds’ odd behaviors are more than the eccentricities of the wealthy.

But by then it’s too late for Sarah to seek help. After all, discretion is of the utmost importance."

The dark version of The Nanny Diaries you always wanted!

Crossbones by Kimberly Vale
Published by: Wattpad Books
Publication Date: October 5th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 376 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Never trust a pirate.

The Blood Bell tolls, marking the death of the pirate king and the start of the Trials - a heart-stopping competition where the reward is the Bone Crown. Only one contender can claim the coveted island throne; each will gamble life and limb to win.

Captain. Sister. Maiden.
Csilla Abado yearns to prove her strength to the seasoned pirates who balk at her youth and to her elder sister who has always craved Csilla’s captainship. She will risk everything to become the first pirate queen, no matter the cost.

Dealer. Son. Legacy.
Kane Blackwater wants to leave behind the dirty gold and shady trades he’s made to keep his father’s ship, the Iron Jewel, alive. The Trials represent a new beginning - yet rumors of a secret heir are swirling, threatening his hopes of becoming the pirate king.

Stowaway. Daughter. Storm.
Lorelei Penny longs for nothing more than to avenge her mother’s death. Stowing away on the Iron Jewel was supposed to get her closer to the killer, but instead she finds herself caught up in the deadly battle where loyalty and desire collide.

Csilla. Kane. Lorelei. Each on a mission. The sea, however, has other plans. Dark tides are rising, and if they aren’t careful, they’ll surely drown."

Have I ever mentioned before my love of pirates? Because I LOVE pirates!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Alice Hoffman, Anthony Berkeley, Auralee Wallace, C.J. Cooke, Caitlin Starling, Dave Grohl, Georgina Cross, Lana Harper, M.R. James, Pam Smy, Rachel Harrison, Stephanie Burgis, Tess Little, Val McDermid, Wendy Webb