strange and random happenstance

The Puzzle of Blackstone Lodge by Martin Edwards
Published by: Poisoned Pen Press
Publication Date: August 1st, 2023
Format: Paperback, 400 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Rachel Savernake investigates a bizarre locked-room puzzle in this delicious Gothic mystery from the winner of the CWA Diamond Dagger.

1930. Nell Fagan is a journalist on the trail of an intriguing and bizarre mystery: in 1606, a man vanished from a locked gatehouse in a remote Yorkshire village, and 300 years later, it happened again. Nell confides in the best sleuth she knows, judge's daughter Rachel Savernake. Thank goodness she did, because barely a week later Nell disappears, and Rachel is left to put together the pieces of the puzzle.

Looking for answers, Rachel travels to lonely Blackstone Fell in Yorkshire, with its eerie moor and sinister tower. With help from her friend Jacob Flint - who's determined to expose a fraudulent clairvoyant - Rachel will risk her life to bring an end to the disappearances and bring the truth to light.

A dazzling mystery peopled by clerics and medics; reporters and rogues, Blackstone Fell explores the shadowy borderlands between spiritual and scientific; between sanity and madness; and between virtue and deadly sin."

A locked room mystery with a mystic? Oh my yes.

The Narrow by Kate Alice Marshall
Published by: Viking Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: August 1st, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 384 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A ghost haunting her boarding school uncovers a teen girl's best kept secrets in the Queen of Scream's deliciously terrifying new novel.

Everyone has heard the story of the Narrow. The river that runs behind the Atwood School is only a few feet across and seemingly placid, but beneath the surface, the waters are deep and vicious. It's said that no one who has fallen in has ever survived.

Eden White knows that isn't true. Six years ago, she saw Delphine Fournier fall into the Narrow - and live.

Delphine now lives in careful isolation, sealed off from the world. Even a single drop of unpurified water could be deadly to her, and no one but Eden has any idea why. Eden has never told anyone what she saw or spoken to Delphine since, but now, unable to cover her tuition, she has to make a deal: her expenses will be paid in return for serving as a live-in companion to Delphine.

Eden finds herself drawn to the strange and mysterious girl, and the two of them begin to unravel each other's secrets. Then Eden discovers what happened to the last girl who lived with Delphine: she was found half-drowned on dry land. Suddenly Eden is waking up to wet footprints tracking to the end of her bed, the sound of rain on the windows when the skies are clear, and a ghostly silhouette in her doorway. Something is haunting Delphine - and now it's coming for Eden, too."

Oh, dry drowning mystery!

One Night by Georgina Cross
Published by: Bantam
Publication Date: August 1st, 2023
Format: Paperback, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"One night. That's all the time a family has to decide what to do with the man they believe murdered their daughter: Do they forgive him, or do they take justice into their own hands?

The anonymous letters arrive in the mail, one by one: To find out what really happened to Meg, meet at this location. Don't tell anyone you're coming. In one night, you'll find out everything you need to know.

Ten years after her murder, the letters tell Meghan's family exactly when and where to meet: a cliffside home on the Oregon coast. But on the night they're promised answers, the convicted killer - her high school boyfriend, Cal, who spent only ten years in prison for murder - is found unconscious in his car after it slammed into a tree near the house where the family is sitting and waiting. Is he really the one who invited them to gather?

As a storm rampages along the Pacific Northwest, the power cuts off and leaves the family with no chance of returning to the main road and finding help. So they drag Cal back to the house for the remainder of the night. How easy it would be to let him die and claim it was an accident. Or do they help him instead? As the hours tick by, it becomes an excruciating choice. Half of the family wants to kill him. The other half wants him to regain consciousness so he can tell them what he knows.

But if Cal wakes up, he might reveal that someone in the family knows more than they're letting on. And if that's the case, who is the real killer? And are they already in the house?"

It's like Clue meets Murder on the Orient Express! 

Death in Print by G.M. Malliet
Published by: Severn House
Publication Date: August 1st, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 240 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A celebration in Oxford for university tutor and bestselling author Jason Verdoot, attended by DCI St. Just and his fiancée Portia, is a night to remember...for all the wrong reasons.

University of Oxford tutor and bestselling author Jason Verdoodt has it all: acclaim, women, money...and an enemy or two. When he's found dead at the bottom of the stairs during a celebratory reception at St Rumwold's College, many wonder if seething jealousy of his literary success has turned someone's mind to murder.

Detective Chief Inspector Arthur St. Just becomes inescapably drawn into an investigation that takes him down the historic streets of Oxford and into the hallowed halls of its university. Alongside his fiancée, crime fiction writer Portia De'Ath, he uncovers several motives for murdering the celebrated but insufferable Jason - whose next novel may be a threat to many in his orbit - and no shortage of suspects who are nursing a grudge from the first novel. Has someone decided to write revenge into the plot?"

To fill the Endeavour sized hole in your life.

The Bookbinder by Pip Williams
Published by: Ballantine Books
Publication Date: August 1st, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 448 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A young British woman working in a book bindery gets a chance to pursue knowledge and love when World War I upends her life in this new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of the Reese's Book Club pick The Dictionary of Lost Words.

It is 1914, and as the war draws the young men of Britain away to fight, women must keep the nation running. Two of those women are Peggy and Maude, twin sisters who live on a narrow boat in Oxford and work in the bindery at the university press.

Ambitious, intelligent Peggy has been told for most of her life that her job is to bind the books, not read them - but as she folds and gathers pages, her mind wanders to the opposite side of Walton Street, where the female students of Oxford's Somerville College have a whole library at their fingertips. Maude, meanwhile, wants nothing more than what she has: to spend her days folding the pages of books in the company of the other bindery girls. She is extraordinary but vulnerable, and Peggy feels compelled to watch over her.

Then refugees arrive from the war-torn cities of Belgium, sending ripples through the Oxford community and the sisters' lives. Peggy begins to see the possibility of another future where she can educate herself and use her intellect, not just her hands. But as war and illness reshape her world, her love for a Belgian soldier - and the responsibility that comes with it - threaten to hold her back.

The Bookbinder is a story about knowledge - who creates it, who can access it, and what truths get lost in the process. Much as she did in the international bestseller The Dictionary of Lost Words, Pip Williams thoughtfully explores another rarely seen slice of history through women's eyes."

Ah yes, the responsibilities of love that can hold you back. I know that all too well.

The Bone Hacker by Kathy Reichs
Published by: Scribner Book Company
Publication Date: August 1st, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"#1 New York Times bestselling author Kathy Reichs returns with her twenty-second high-stakes thriller featuring forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan who, following a series of bizarre disappearances on the islands of Turks and Caicos, enters a sinister labyrinth in which a new technology may wreak worldwide havoc.

Called in to examine what is left of a person thought to have been struck by lightning, Tempe traces an unusual tattoo to its source and is soon embroiled in a much larger case. Young men - tourists - have been disappearing on the islands of Turks and Caicos. Seven years earlier, the first victim was found in a strange location with his left hand hacked off; subsequently, two other visitors vanished without a trace. But, recently, tantalizing leads have emerged and only Tempe can unravel them.

Maddeningly, the victims seem to have nothing in common - other than the odd places where their bodies turn up, and the fact that none seems likely to have been involved in criminal activity. Do these attacks have something to do with the islands' seething culture of gang violence? Tempe isn't so sure. Disturbingly, she discovers evidence that what's at stake may actually have global significance.

It isn't long before the sound of a ticking clock grows menacingly loud. Then Temperance herself becomes a target."

Because once you're in Turks and Caicos, well, anything illicit is on that table.

A Pocketful of Happiness by Richard E. Grant
Published by: Simon and Schuster
Publication Date: August 1st, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Academy Award-nominated actor Richard E. Grant's memoir about finding happiness in even the darkest of days.

Richard E. Grant emigrated from Swaziland to London in 1982, with dreams of making it as an actor. Unexpectedly, he met and fell in love with a renowned dialect coach Joan Washington. Their relationship and marriage, navigating the highs and lows of Hollywood, parenthood, and loss, lasted almost forty years. When Joan died in 2021, her final challenge to him was to find a "pocketful of happiness in every day."

This honest and frequently hilarious memoir is written in honor of that challenge - Richard has faithfully kept a diary since childhood, and in these entries he shares raw detail of everything he has experienced: both the pain of losing his beloved wife, and the excitement of their life together, from the role that transformed his life overnight in Withnail and I to his thrilling Oscar Award nomination thirty years later for Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Told with candor in Richard's utterly unique style, A Pocketful of Happiness is a powerful, funny, and moving celebration of life's unexpected joys."

As with his acting and his other books, I have always admired Richard E. Grant's ability to find the positive in the bleakest of times.

The Book of Witches edited by Jonathan Strahan
Published by: Harper Voyager
Publication Date: August 1st, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 512 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"With a breathtaking array of original stories from around the world, P. Djèlí Clark, Amal El Mohtar, Garth Nix, Darcie Little Badger, Sheree Renée Thomas, and two dozen other fantasy and science fiction geniuses bring a new and exciting twist to one of the most beloved figures in fiction, witches, in never-before-seen works written exclusively for The Book of Witches, compiled by award-winning editor Jonathan Strahan and illustrated by award-nominated artist Alyssa Winans.

Witches! Whether you know them from Shakespeare or from Wicked, there is no staple more beloved in folklore, fairy tale, or fantasy than these magical beings. Witches are everywhere, and at the heart of stories that resonate with many people around the world. This dazzling, otherworldly collection gathers new stories of witches from all walks of life, ensuring a Halloween readers will never forget. Whether they be maiden, mother, crone, or other; funny, fierce, light and airy, or dark and disturbing; witches are a vital part of some of the greatest stories we have, and new ones start here!

Bringing together twenty-nine stories and poems from some of the greatest science fiction and fantasy writers working today, including three tales from a BIPOC-only open submission period, The Book of Witches features Linda Addison, C.L. Clark, P Djeli Clark, Indrapramit Das, Amal El Mohtar, Andrea Hairston, Millie Ho, Saad Hossain, Kathleen Jennings, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Cassandra Khaw, Fonda Lee, Darcie Little Badger, Ken Liu, Usman T. Malik, Maureen F. McHugh, Premee Mohamed, Garth Nix, Tobi Ogundiran, Tochi Onyebuchi, Miyuki Jane Pinckard, Kelly Robson, Angela Slatter, Andrea Stewart, Emily Teng, Sheree Renée Thomas, Tade Thompson, and E. Lily Yu - and contains illustrations from three-time Hugo award-nominated artist Alyssa Winans throughout. This extraordinary anthology vividly breathes life into one of the most captivating and feared magical sorceresses and will become a treasured keepsake for fans of fantasy, science fiction, and fairy tales everywhere."

Because it's never too early to start planning your Halloween reading.

Ravensong by T.J. Klune
Published by: Tor Books
Publication Date: August 1st, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 512 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The beloved fantasy romance sensation by New York Times bestselling author T.J. Klune, about love, loyalty, betrayal, and joy. The Bennett family has a secret: They're not just a family, they're a pack. Ravensong is Gordo Livingstone's story.

Gordo Livingstone never forgot the lessons carved into his skin. Hardened by the betrayal of a pack who left him behind, he sought solace in the garage in his tiny mountain town, vowing never again to involve himself in the affairs of wolves. It should have been enough. And it was, until the wolves came back, and with them, Mark Bennett. In the end, they faced the beast together as a pack...and won.

Now, a year later, Gordo has found himself once again the witch of the Bennett pack. Green Creek has settled after the death of Richard Collins, and Gordo constantly struggles to ignore Mark and the song that howls between them. But time is running out. Something is coming. And this time, it's crawling from within. Some bonds, no matter how strong, were made to be broken."

Please tell me that Gordo is named for Mister Gordo from Buffy the Vampire Slayer!

Field of Screams by Wendy Parris
Published by: Delacorte Press
Publication Date: August 1st, 2023
Format: Paperback, 256 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A new pulse-pounding supernatural mystery about twelve-year-old Rebecca, who has always wanted to hunt ghosts...until she meets one.

Paranormal enthusiast Rebecca Graff isn't happy about being dragged to Iowa to spend the summer with family she barely knows. But when she tracks a ghostly presence to an abandoned farmhouse, she starts to think the summer won't be a total lost cause!

The trouble is no one believes her. Then Rebecca finds a note stashed in a comic belonging to her late father - a note that proves the same spirit haunted him when he was twelve. Suddenly she feels a connection to the dad she pretends not to miss, and she is determined to uncover the story behind the haunting.

But the more Rebecca discovers, the scarier the ghost becomes. Soon she is in a race to piece together the puzzle and recover a family legacy before it is lost forever and a horrible tragedy repeats itself."

I've always felt that people who want to hunt ghosts have no experience of actually meeting a ghost. Because that experience will sure change their minds fast.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Clue, Endeavour, G.M. Malliet, Georgina Cross, Gothic, Jonathan Strahan, Kate Alice Marshall, Kathy Reichs, Martin Edwards, Oxford, Pip Williams, Richard E. Grant, T.J. Klune, The Book of Witches, Wendy Parris

Foxglove Summer by Ben Aaronovitch
Published by: DAW
Publication Date: January 6th, 2015
Format: Paperback, 336 Pages
Rating: ★★★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)

The disappearance of children has traditionally fallen to the Folly for two reasons, the Fae and dark magic. The Fae and changelings are actually real, and well, dark magic, it's dark for a reason. Which is why Peter is off to Herefordshire. Two eleven-year-old girls, Nicole Lacey and Hannah Marstowe, just walked out of there respective homes one night and didn't return. Nightingale would like Peter to check in on an old colleague in that area, Hugh Oswald, to make sure Hugh can be ruled out as a suspect. The idea that the sleepy old wizard could have kidnapped two rambunctious preteens is laughable to Peter, so one possible theory eliminated, Peter makes himself known to the local investigation team and offers up his help to see if this case might be designated "falcon." With the rise of magic and the police's desire to never use that word supernatural cases are now earmarked as "falcon" to help everyone's delicate sensibilities and to stop the public at large knowing about magic. The country is gripped by the case and the press frenzy is fierce which means that Peter has to step carefully. And for awhile it looks like he will be nothing more than another body on the ground, aiding the police with their inquiries until the girls' cellphones are found. The batteries have been fried. But fried in a very specific way that Peter recognizes as he's lost so many phones in the same manner. Magic fried the phones. But they weren't fried where they were found. So that means there might be a crime scene with vestigia, an imprint of the magic used, and this is the first concrete lead the police have had. Peter is hesitant to declare the case as falcon, he thinks it might be more falcon adjacent, until more and more evidence piles up proving that he is indeed the one man for the job. It would be helpful if Nightingale could come and lend a hand but with Lesley's betrayal the Folly cannot be left unattended, due to that mysterious door in the basement that Peter still hasn't uncovered the secret to. But cavalry arrives in the from of Beverley Brook, a genius loci, who might have ulterior motives for helping, and they involve Peter and getting him to admit there's something between the two of them. Finding the missing girls might be easier than finding out what being Beverley's boyfriend would be like.

Foxglove Summer is a hot mess, with neither word bearing more weight than the other. First, would it kill England to have air conditioners? I mean, how do they survive? Do any cars have cooling features? Because seriously, I thought the majority of the characters might just drop dead due to heat exhaustion. And reading this on a suspiciously hot week did add some verisimilitude, which I could have done with a little less of if I'm honest. Yet one can't really complain about a book that successfully drags you into it to such an extent that you're complaining about fictional weather, so therefore the mess becomes the important part. I just don't know what was going on here. You expect some sort of Broadchurchian mess with the disappearance of children with all the town being suspects and Peter arriving late and playing catch-up, but this was a hot mess, and I'm no longer talking about the weather. Instead of the plot shoring up as the investigation progressed it got more convoluted. That's not how it's supposed to go! I even had a hard time distinguishing between the Lacey and Marstowe families, not surprising giving some of the later obvious reveals, but I should have at least been able to keep the two girls straight and who had the magical unicorn friend and who didn't. But it all merged together in a giant ball of confusion. And here's the thing, Ben Aaronovitch could have saved it in the end and he obviously chose not to. I'm now going to spoil some things, so if you have delicate sensibilities, much like those who don't like to speak the word magic, look away now. So at the end it's revealed that it is the Fae, that there is a changeling involved, and Peter does a hostage swap using himself as collateral assuming that Nightingale will rescue him. Firstly, Peter's naivete that the Fae live on another plain of existence is sheer stupidity for someone so smart, but I will forgive him, he's been through a lot. But after Peter is rescued, the book just ends. Which leaves SO MANY questions unanswered. Why did the Fae take the children in the first place? I mean, yes, it could have been the whole changeling angle, but then why didn't they keep Hannah? What are they going to do with the original Nicole? How did the original Nicole get magical powers? Why did the "gates" to fairy cause the ground to be acidic and grow foxglove? Was the Fae's kidnappings related to the felling of the trees? If not, how can they make sure this doesn't happen again? And would it have killed them to have included a map? I mean, I think the only question I felt was answered at the end of this book was why it was dedicated to Terry Pratchett. Which means The Hanging Tree better start out with some answers.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Ben Aaronovitch, Beverly Brook, Broadchurch, Changling, Fae, Falcon, Foxglove Summer, Heat, Herefordshire, Kidnapping, Lesley May, London Calling, Magic, Nightingale, Peter Grant, Spoilers, The Folly, The Hanging Tree

The Dagger in the Desk by Jonathan Stroud
Published by: Disney-Hyperion
Publication Date: October 31st, 2013
Format: Kindle, 46 Pages
Rating: ★★★
To Buy

School is somewhere where you should feel safe. Many children haven't been afforded the luxury of school since the Problem. They are needed to protect society from the ghosts and ghouls and things that go bump in the night. They are the nation's first defense against the Problem. Therefore those lucky enough to receive an education deserve to feel safe. And the children attending St. Simeon’s Academy for Talented Youngsters have not been feeling safe. A ghost is stalking the halls and the headmaster is worried that the very sharp and very real dagger it wields might do harm to one of his students. Therefore he enlists the help of Lockwood and Co. After all they did get a big publicity bump after their handling of their perilous investigation of Combe Carey Hall. They agree to take the case and Lockwood, George, and Lucy show up at the Academy that same evening. They set up base in the library, which is a beautiful new structure, and fan out from there. They take in the classroom with the dagger but Lucy is being drawn to a closet. What could a janitor's closet have to do with the dagger? Soon they are under a supernatural attack, books are flying everywhere, and it's just another night's work for Lockwood and Co.

This short story was apparently conceived as a collaborative piece with The Guardian, where readers could decide the location and title. I have to say, I agree, schools are the perfect place for hauntings. It's not just all the trauma and hormones that give schools that creepy vibe, it's something extra. Something about them being empty when they are usually filled with life. My Mom was a school librarian, so I spent quite a lot of time in my old school after hours. It was always slightly disconcerting and unsettling, especially the number of janitors they went through because they refused to be in the building at night. Now I never saw anything spooky there, and I have been known to see spooky things. I was even there at the witching hour once or twice, but again, saw nothing, out it felt off. I really enjoyed how this short story tapped into this unease. What's more, school is a place where Lockwood, George, and Lucy, wouldn't be attending, because they are so good at their job. So it was wistful and creepy. Though the worst crime the ghost did was to harm all those books in that beautiful new library!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Anthony Lockwood, Collaboration, Combe Carey Hall, George Cubbins, Jonathan Stroud, Library, Lockwood & Co., London Calling, Lucy Carlyle, School, Short Story, The Dagger in the Desk, The Guardian, The Problem

House of Roots and Ruin by Erin A. Craig
Published by: Delacorte Press
Publication Date: July 25th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 544 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A modern masterpiece, this is a classic Gothic thriller-fantasy from New York Times bestselling author Erin A. Craig, about doomed love, menacing ambition, and the ghosts that haunt us forever.

In a manor by the sea, one sister is still cursed.

Despite dreams of adventures far beyond the Salann shores, seventeen-year-old Verity Thaumas has remained at her family's estate, Highmoor, with her older sister Camille, while their sisters have scattered across Arcannia. When their sister Mercy sends word that the Duchess of Bloem - wife of a celebrated botanist - is interested in having Verity paint a portrait of her son, Alexander, Verity jumps at the chance, but Camille won't allow it. Forced to reveal the secret she's kept for years, Camille tells Verity the truth one day: Verity is still seeing ghosts, she just doesn't know it.

Stunned, Verity flees Highmoor that night and - with nowhere else to turn - makes her way to Bloem. At first, she is captivated by the lush, luxurious landscape and is quickly drawn to charming, witty, and impossibly handsome Alexander Laurent. And soon, to her surprise, a romance...blossoms.

But it's not long before Verity is plagued with nightmares, and the darker side of Bloem begins to show through its sickly-sweet façade...."

Oh, the question then becomes, who are ghosts and who aren't!

Yvonne Got to York by M.C. Beaton
Published by: Blackstone Publishing
Publication Date: July 25th, 2023
Format: Paperback, 178 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A dead employer's legacy of five thousand pounds has allowed spinster Hannah Pym to resign from housekeeping and enjoy traveling the English countryside by coach. But adventure soon finds Miss Pym in the form of runaway brides, spirited heiresses, and international refugees, who continue to test her expert matchmaking skills.

The shy Miss Yvonne Grenier, a beautiful fugitive of the French Revolution, is quite terrified when a dangerous enemy boards her coach to York. Luckily, Miss Hannah Pym is also on board. Ever the matchmaker, Miss Pym sees the answer to Yvonne's plight in the hands and heart of another passenger - the Marquis of Ware.

Handsome and tailored to perfection, the Marquis has birth and fortune enough to defend Yvonne. Although the girl is of the French bourgeoisie and below his rank, Miss Pym is certain that Yvonne's Gallic graces and quick wit have more than piqued his interest. After all, a maiden in distress is irresistible - even to a confirmed bachelor."

While I'm over the moon at these books being reissued why is a Marquis riding in a common coach?

Her Little Flowers by Shannon Morgan
Published by: Kensington Publishing Corporation
Publication Date: July 25th, 2023
Format: Paperback, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Readers of Eve Chase, Kate Morton, and Anita Frank will devour this bewitchingly atmospheric, melancholy modern ghost story set in the lush hills of England's Lake District. There, a solitary women's quiet life spent in her crumbling ancestral manor house with the company of a child's ghost is dramatically interrupted when her estranged sister returns to share a horrific story of cruelty and desperation from decades earlier...

Francine Thwaite has lived all her fifty-five years in her family's ancestral home, a rambling Elizabethan manor in England's Lake District. No other living soul resides there, but Francine isn't alone. There are ghosts in Thwaite Manor, harmless and familiar. Most beloved is Bree, the mischievous ghost girl who has been Francine's companion since childhood.

When Francine's estranged sister, Madeleine, returns to the manor after years away, she brings with her a story that threatens everything Francine has always believed. It is a tale of cruelty and desperation, of terror and unbearable heartache. And as Francine learns more about the darkness in her family's past - and the role she may have played in it - she realizes that confronting the truth may mean losing what she holds most dear.

As moving and poignant as it is chilling, Her Little Flowers is a story of grief and enduring love - and of the haunting regrets only forgiveness can dispel."

Are the ghosts people murdered by the family!?! I can't be the only one thinking that!

Ghosted by Amanda Quain
Published by: Wednesday Books
Publication Date: July 25th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 384 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Never Have I Ever meets The X-Files in Amanda Quain's Ghosted, a gender-bent contemporary retelling of the Jane Austen classic, Northanger Abbey.

Hattie Tilney isn't a believer. Yes, she's a senior at America's most (allegedly) haunted high school, Northanger Abbey. But ever since her paranormal-loving dad passed away, she's hung up her Ghostbusters suit, put away the EMF detectors, and moved on. She has enough to worry about in the land of the living - like taking care of her younger brother, Liam, while their older sister spirals out and their mother, Northanger's formidable headmistress, buries herself in work. If Hattie just tries hard enough and keeps that overachiever mask on tight through graduation, maybe her mom will finally notice her.

But the mask starts slipping when Hattie's assigned to be an ambassador to Kit Morland, who's just transferred to Northanger on - what else - a ghost-hunting scholarship. The two are paired up for an investigative project on the school's paranormal activity, and Hattie quickly strikes a deal: Kit will present whatever ghostly evidence he can find to prove that the campus is haunted, and Hattie will prove it's not. But as they explore the abandoned tunnels and foggy graveyards of Northanger, Hattie starts to realize that Kit might be the kind of person who makes her want to believe in something - and someone - for the first time.

With her signature wit and slow-burn romance, Amanda Quain turns another Austen classic on its head in this sparkling retelling that proves sometimes the ghosts are just a metaphor after all."

Wait, do ghost-hunting scholarships exist? Because if they do I really need to know!

The Woman in the Castello by Kelsey James
Published by: John Scognamiglio Book
Publication Date: July 25th, 2023
Format: Paperback, 288 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Set in 1960s Italy, this stylish, atmospheric debut spins a bewitching web of ruthless ambition, family secrets, and the consequences of forbidden love, as an ambitious American actress snags the starring role in a mysterious horror movie shooting on location in a crumbling medieval castle outside Rome...

Readers who enjoy the moody Gothic allure of Kate Morton and Silvia Moreno-Garcia or the immersive settings of Lucinda Riley and Fiona Davis will be enthralled by Kelsey James' spellbinding web of intriguing mystery, family secrets, forbidden love, and midcentury Italian flair.

Rome, 1965: Aspiring actress Silvia Whitford arrives at Rome's famed Cinecittà Studios from Los Angeles, ready for her big break and a taste of la dolce vita. Instead, she learns that the movie in which she was cast has been canceled. Desperate for money, Silvia has only one choice: seek out the Italian aunt she has never met.

Gabriella Conti lives in a crumbling castello on the edge of a volcanic lake. Silvia's mother refuses to explain the rift that drove the sisters apart, but Silvia is fascinated by Gabriella, a once-famous actress who still radiates charisma. And the eerie castle inspires Silvia's second chance when it becomes the location for a new horror movie, aptly named The Revenge of the Lake Witch - and she lands a starring role.

Silvia immerses herself in the part of an ingenue tormented by the ghost of her beautiful, seductive ancestor. But when Gabriella abruptly vanishes, the movie's make-believe terrors seep into reality. No one else on set seems to share Silvia's suspicions. Yet as she delves into Gabriella's disappearance, she triggers a chain of events that illuminate dark secrets in the past - and a growing menace in the present..."

Nothing says Gothic horror to me like a mid-century movie set in Italy!

The Lady from Burma by Allison Montclair
Published by: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: July 25th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In Allison Montclair's The Lady from Burma, murder once again stalks the proprietors of The Right Sort Marriage Bureau in the surprisingly dangerous landscape of post-World War II London...

In the immediate post-war days of London, two unlikely partners have undertaken an even more unlikely, if necessary, business venture - The Right Sort Marriage Bureau. The two partners are Miss Iris Sparks, a woman with a dangerous - and never discussed - past in British intelligence and Mrs. Gwendolyn Bainbridge, a war widow with a young son entangled in a complicated aristocratic family. Mostly their clients are people trying to start (or restart) their lives in this much-changed world, but their new client is something different. A happily married woman has come to them to find a new wife for her husband. Dying of cancer, she wants the two to make sure her entomologist, academic husband finds someone new once she passes.

Shortly thereafter, she's found dead in Epping Forest, in what appears to be a suicide. But that doesn't make sense to either Sparks or Bainbridge. At the same time, Bainbridge is attempting to regain legal control of her life, opposed by the conservator who has been managing her assets - perhaps not always in her best interest. When that conservator is found dead, Bainbridge herself is one of the prime suspects. Attempting to make sense of two deaths at once, to protect themselves and their clients, the redoubtable owners of the Right Sort Marriage Bureau are once again on the case."

Never trust a wife trying to find a second wife for after she's gone. That's solid advice I'll always believe in.

The Weaver and the Witch Queen by Genevieve Gornichec
Published by: Ace Books
Publication Date: July 25th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 432 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The lives of two women - one desperate only to save her missing sister, the other a witch destined to become queen of Norway - intertwine in this spellbinding, powerful novel of Viking Age history and myth from the acclaimed author of The Witch's Heart.

Oddny and Gunnhild meet as children in tenth century Norway, and they could not be more different: Oddny hopes for a quiet life, while Gunnhild burns for power and longs to escape her cruel mother. But after a visiting wisewoman makes an ominous prophecy that involves Oddny, her sister Signy, and Gunnhild, the three girls take a blood oath to help one another always.

When Oddny's farm is destroyed and Signy is kidnapped by Viking raiders, Oddny is set adrift from the life she imagined - but she's determined to save her sister no matter the cost, even as she finds herself irresistibly drawn to one of the raiders who participated in the attack. And in the far north, Gunnhild, who fled her home years ago to learn the ways of a witch, is surprised to find her destiny seems to be linked with that of the formidable King Eirik, heir apparent to the ruler of all Norway.

But the bonds - both enchanted and emotional - that hold the two women together are strong, and when they find their way back to each other, these bonds will be tested in ways they never could have foreseen in this deeply moving novel of magic, history, and sworn sisterhood."

Norwegian Witch Queen! Now that's something my ancestors probably aspired to.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Allison Montclair, Amanda Quain, Erin A. Craig, Genevieve Gornichec, Ghosts, Gothic, Italy, Jane Austen, Kelsey James, M.C. Beaton, Northanger Abbey, Norway, Shannon Morgan, The Right Sort Marriage Bureau, Witches

Broken Homes by Ben Aaronovitch
Published by: DAW
Publication Date: February 4th, 2013
Format: Paperback, 325 Pages
Rating: ★★★
To Buy 

Sometimes police work isn't flashy it's just putting your nose to the grindstone or your feet to the pavement. Which is how the Folly has compiled and is slowly eliminating members of the Little Crocodiles, that infamous Oxford dining club founded by Geoffrey Wheatcroft, in an attempt to put a name to the Faceless Man. Because they obviously can't put a face to this dangerous rogue magician given his apt moniker. Which is how the Folly gets drawn into a car crash, a dead woman with her face blown off by a shotgun, a one-under suicide, a man burnt from the inside out, and the legacy of a famous Brutalist architect. All these cases seem to have no connecting thread other than they could tentatively link back to the Faceless Man. They hope. But there does seem to be a link from a large percentage of the cases to the German architect Erik Stromberg and his famous Skygarden Estate near Elephant and Castle. He was one of those architects who believed that the environment in which a person lived could make them better. He was an idealist whose work in actuality could never live up to his vision; utopia through Brutalism was never going to work when confronted with the workaday world. Because the Folly has less oversight than other police departments, despite their tendency to destroy everything from ambulances to underground stations, it is decided that going undercover at Skygarden Estate might be the fastest way to get answers. They can infiltrate meetings of tenants, see inside apartments after being invited over for tea, be on the ground when whatever is about to happen happens, or, if they're really lucky, their presence will deter the Faceless Man. Peter and Lesley set up base on a floor that is mostly abandoned apartments. In fact much of the building is sealed off by Country Gard, most likely in hopes the that the building gets delisted and they can demolish it. But behind those seals new work is being done. There's new concrete poured over channels in the ground. Something is going on and their arrival isn't slowing down whatever the Faceless Man has in motion. If anything it's speeding it up. Yet, what's the worst that could happen? It's not like they'll destroy the Estate and face the ultimate betrayal is it?

The problem with Broken Homes is that even though the surprise ending is spectacular it can't save it from the fact that the first half of the book is exposition. In the previous three volumes we're immediately in the weeds of the case, here it's information slowly trickling in from different sources until they finally develop a plan beyond wait and see. And wait and see isn't an exciting plan to read about let me tell you. And yes I know it's probably more realistic, but this series is about magicians, so realism went out out the window a long time ago. The star of this volume is the Skygarden Estate, not at all connected to the real Sky Garden in London which looks like some sort of weird speaker and not a Brutalist architect's ideal of future living. There's a wonderful High-Rise vibe to it, but actually better than High-Rise because I legit don't like that book. Though, much like Peter who dreamed of being an architect until his drafting skills didn't come up to snuff, it's just the whole aesthetic and quirkiness of Brutalism that gives this book life. Because if there's one subset of architecture that is legitimately insane it's Brutalism. You think mid-century modernists are weird with their kitsch, or devotees of Frank Lloyd Wright are odd with their love of his uncomfortable homes and furniture, it's nothing compared to Brutalists! NOTHING! Because what Aaronovitch gets is that Brutalism has attracted all this weird mythology and baggage to it. Not only did I take a class entitled "German Architecture: The Modern Movements" but my University has one of the most notorious Brutalist buildings that just happens to house the art department; The Humanities building by a Harry Weese. Since the late sixties rumors have spread; it was a maze, it was designed to be riot proof, it was built upside down, that the architect killed himself, none are true, except that the sixth floor men's bathroom has no doors because it was a hookup spot, that's true, but all the rest sounds like they could be applied to Skygarden too, maybe even the bathroom bit. The art department is only on the sixth and seventh floor, only accessible by certain, not all, staircases, with minimal light. On the sixth floor there's only a window at floor level under a concrete bench or at the ceiling, which you can only look out of by climbing onto the concrete bench. The seventh floor has dim skylights. So while yes, this book was flawed, I still strongly connected to it, the Brutalism that is in this book is also in my bones.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Architecture, Ben Aaronovitch, Broken Homes, Brutalism, Elephant and Castle, Erik Stromberg, Faceless Man, High-Rise, Humanities, Little Crocodiles, London Calling, Myths, Peter Grant, Skygarden Estate, The Folly

Whispers Under Ground by Ben Aaronovitch
Published by: Gollancz
Publication Date: June 21st, 2012
Format: Paperback, 375 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)

It's the week before Christmas and PC Peter Grant is working with the big boys, he's been assigned to the murder squad. It's almost a thrill to be working with other coppers again. Being assigned to the Folly means his coworkers are his boss and hopefully soon his old partner Lesley. But not today, today Christmas has come early. He was called in to the Baker Street Underground station to see if he could pick up anything uncanny about their newest corpse. The corpse though was surprisingly clean. No magic. The broken piece of pottery shard that ended the life of James Gallagher is anything but. And now Peter's looking into the murder of an American art student who just happens to be the son of a U.S. Senator. The victim, James Gallagher, was not untalented, he had an eye for street scenes and capturing life. It was almost old fashioned in it's precision. But his art had started to change of late, becoming darker. One of his teachers worried that he might be suicidal. Peter assures him that James Gallagher's death was indeed murder. At his studio Peter learns that his victim was interested in Ryan Carroll, an artist who road the Celtic Tiger all the way to the Tate Modern. Ryan Carroll's artwork, an assemblage of mannequins and found pieces, exude magic. Much like the murder weapon. And much like a bowl found at James Gallagher's apartment. Because magic is the reason that Peter was allowed on the murder squad it's his job to look into the pottery. For that he'll need the help of James Gallagher's roommate, Zach. Zach had obviously been living rough prior to moving in to "help" James discover the real London. Zach though is only passingly familiar with telling the truth. He is definitely more than he looks and when he discovers that Peter is in league with the Nightingale, he's almost more obstreperous. Which Peter doesn't have time for. He has an FBI agent breathing down his neck, an unexpected snowstorm, a trek through the sewers, and who knows what other hell before Christmas comes and all the while there's the looming threat of their "Little Crocodiles," black magicians illegally trained at Oxford that are trying to make his and Nightingale's life a living hell. Couldn't Zach give him the smallest of breaks? And not another broken bowl thank you very much.

What's interesting about the Rivers of London series is that Ben Aaronovitch has created a series with a strong connection to the arts. The first installment was about the world of the threatre, the second installment was about the world of music, in particular jazz, and this third installment brings us to the art world. Oh my, it's like this series was made with me and the various stages of my life in mind, from the piano lessons I started in first grade to the Bachelor's degrees I got in art and theatre as an undergraduate. But when you think about it while the arts are viewed as something rarefied, especially to those with pretensions who I was occasionally taught by, we all have a connection to them, be it a school play we were in, a song we've loved, or something we've drawn. Through our development from child to adult even if it's only tangentially, we've experienced the arts. So while some might think these themes lofty, I think of them as the basic human condition, these are what separate us from the animals, the ability to create and enjoy wonder. But going back to my time as an undergraduate, the student studios that Peter tours are priceless. I mean, it was so spot on I could barely contain my glee. The pretentious concept pieces to James's very traditional art, I've seen it all and Ben Aaronovitch brought it all back to me. Oh and I can't leave out Ryan Carroll, a man in it for the money, who views that his art should speak for itself. Do not get me started on people who think art should speak for itself. Nothing is beyond verbalization. Your "act of creation" or whatever you want your process to be about in the forming of clay or what have you should be able to speak for itself BUT you should be able to talk about the what and the whys of it. An artist who can not explain their art isn't a true artist, they are a poseur. Which is very interesting as to how the pottery angle works in. I don't know if other people experienced the mystique of pottery as I did. Two hippies ran my pottery classes and it was a weird clique. They "knew things others did not." Therefore to have this mystery of the pottery just made me nod my head sagely and go, "yes, pottery is the greatest mystery." And it's a mystery that Peter is able to solve to the delight of artists and urban explorers everywhere.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Art, Baker Street, Ben Aaronovitch, Christmas, Little Crocodiles, London Calling, London Underground, Murder Squad, Music, Nightingale, Peter Grant, Pottery, Theatre, Urban Explorers, Whispers Under Ground

Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Published by: Del Rey Books
Publication Date: July 18th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From the New York Times bestselling author of The Daughter of Doctor Moreau and Mexican Gothic comes a fabulous meld of Mexican horror movies and Nazi occultism: a dark thriller about the curse that haunts a legendary lost film - and awakens one woman's hidden powers.

Montserrat has always been overlooked. She's a talented sound editor, but she's left out of the boys' club running the film industry in '90s Mexico City. And she's all but invisible to her best friend, Tristán, a charming if faded soap opera star, though she's been in love with him since childhood.

Then Tristán discovers his new neighbor is the cult horror director Abel Urueta, and the legendary auteur claims he can change their lives - even if his tale of a Nazi occultist imbuing magic into highly volatile silver nitrate stock sounds like sheer fantasy. The magic film was never finished, which is why, Urueta swears, his career vanished overnight. He is cursed.

Now the director wants Montserrat and Tristán to help him shoot the missing scene and lift the curse...but Montserrat soon notices a dark presence following her, and Tristán begins seeing the ghost of his ex-girlfriend.

As they work together to unravel the mystery of the film and the obscure occultist who once roamed their city, Montserrat and Tristán may find that sorcerers and magic are not only the stuff of movies."

I am always here for the dark side of film and Nazi occultism!

A Guide to the Dark by Meriam Metoui
Published by: Henry Holt and Company
Publication Date: July 18th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"You can check out of Room 9, but you can never leave.

The Haunting of Hill House meets Nina LaCour in this spine-chilling horror YA about the ghosts we carry with us.

Something is building, simmering just out of reach.

The room is watching. But Mira and Layla don't know this yet. When the two best friends are stranded on their spring break college tour road trip, they find themselves at the Wildwood Motel, located in the middle of nowhere, Indiana. Mira can't shake the feeling that there is something wrong and rotten about their room. Inside, she's haunted by nightmares of her dead brother. When she wakes up, he's still there.

Layla doesn't see him. Or notice anything suspicious about Room 9. The place may be a little run down, but it has a certain charm she can't wait to capture on camera. If Layla is being honest, she's too preoccupied with confusing feelings for Mira to see much else. But when they learn eight people died in that same room, they realize there must be a connection between the deaths and the unexplainable things that keep happening inside it. They just have to find the connection before Mira becomes the ninth.

Readers won't be able to put down this edge-of-your-seat thriller that includes over thirty interior black and white photos by the author!"

Because nothing adds to the creepy than being able to see the creepy.

Jackal, Jackal by Tobi Ogundiran
Published by: Undertow Publications
Publication Date: July 18th, 2023
Format: Paperback, 318 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From Shirley Jackson award-nominated author Tobi Ogundiran, comes a highly anticipated debut collection of stories full of magic and wonder and breathtaking imagination!

In "The Lady of the Yellow-Painted Library" - featured in LeVar Burton Reads - a hapless salesman flees the otherworldly librarian hell-bent on retrieving her lost library book.

"The Tale of Jaja and Canti" sees Ogundiran riffing off of Pinocchio. But this wooden boy doesn't seek to become real. Wanting to be loved, he journeys the world in search of his mother-an ancient and powerful entity who is best not sought out.

"The Goatkeeper's Harvest" contains echoes of Lovecraft, where a young mother living on a farm finds that goats have broken into her barn and are devouring all her tubers. As she chases them off with a rake, a woman appears claiming the goats are her children, and that the young woman has killed one of them and must pay the price: a goat for a goat.

These and other tales of the dark and fantastic await."

If it's good enough for Levar it's good enough for me!

The Bitter Past by Bruce Borgos
Published by: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: July 18th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In the tradition of Craig Johnson and C. J. Box, Bruce Borgos's The Bitter Past begins a compelling series set in the high desert of Nevada featuring Sheriff Porter Beck...

Porter Beck is the sheriff in the high desert of Nevada, north of Las Vegas. Born and raised there, he left to join the Army, where he worked in Intelligence, deep in the shadows in far off places. Now he's back home, doing the same lawman's job his father once did, before his father started to develop dementia. All is relatively quiet in this corner of the world, until an old, retired FBI agent is found killed. He was brutally tortured before he was killed and clues at the scene point to a mystery dating back to the early days of the nuclear age. If that wasn't strange enough, a current FBI agent shows up to help Beck's investigation.

In a case that unfolds in the past (the 1950s) and the present, it seems that a Russian spy infiltrated the nuclear testing site and now someone is looking for that long-ago, all-but forgotten person, who holds the key to what happened then and to the deadly goings on now."

There's something about nuclear testing sites that just exudes mystery and danger.

The Block Party by Jamie Day
Published by: St. Martin's Press
Publication Date: July 18th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 384 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"This summer, meet your neighbors.

The residents of the exclusive cul-de-sac on Alton Road are entangled in a web of secrets and scandal utterly unknown to the outside world, and even to each other.

On the night of the annual Summer block party, there has been a murder.

But, who did it and why takes readers back one year earlier, as rivalries and betrayals unfold - discovering that the real danger lies within their own block and nothing - and no one - is ever as it seems."

Because neighbors are always up to something...

The Anniversary by Stephanie Bishop
Published by: Grove Press, Black Cat
Publication Date: July 18th, 2023
Format: Paperback, 432 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"For fans of Lisa Halliday and Susan Choi, The Anniversary is a simmering page-turner about an ascendant writer, the unresolved death of her husband, and what it takes to emerge on her own. Novelist J.B. Blackwood is on a cruise with her husband, Patrick, to celebrate their wedding anniversary. Her former professor, film director, and cult figure, Patrick is much older than J.B.. When they met, he seemed somehow ageless, as all gods appear in the eyes of those who worship them. But now his success is starting to wane and J.B. is on the cusp of winning a major literary prize. Her art has been forever overseen by him, now it may overshadow his. For days they sail in the sun, nothing but dark water all around them. Then a storm hits and Patrick falls from the ship. J.B. is left alone, as the search for what happened to Patrick - and the truth about their marriage - begins. Propulsive and fiercely intelligent, The Anniversary is exquisitely written with a swift and addictive plot. It's a novel that asks: how legible, in the mind of the writer, is the line between reality and plot? How do we refuse the people we desire? And what is the cost, to ourselves, to others and to our art, if we don't?"

And what really happens behind closed doors when a older professor marries his ingenue. 

The Wonder State by Sara Flannery Murphy
Published by: MCD
Publication Date: July 18th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 384 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From the author of Girl One comes a spellbinding adventure about a strange power lurking in the Arkansas Ozarks, and the group of friends obsessed with finding it.

Five friends arrive back in Eternal Springs, the small town they all fled after high-school graduation. Each of them is drawn home by a cryptic, scrawled two-word letter: You promised.

It has been fifteen years since that life-changing summer, and they're anxious to find out why Brandi called them back, especially when they vowed never to return.

But Brandi is missing. She'd been acting erratically for months, in and out of rehab, railing at whoever might listen about magic all around them. About a power they can't see. And strange houses that appear only when you need them...

Told in two enthralling time lines, The Wonder State is a stunning, immersive follow-up to Girl One. Sara Flannery Murphy has created another dazzling, genre-blurring novel - an adventure story laced with nostalgia and magic, exploring belonging and the lasting power of community."

I've always been fascinated by the appearance of strange houses.

Sinners of Starlight City by Anika Scott
Published by: William Morrow and Company
Publication Date: July 18th, 2023
Format: Paperback, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From the author of the international bestseller The German Heiress, a gripping historical drama about a woman determined to avenge the crimes against her family, set at the 1933 Chicago World's Fair.

Vengeance is in the family, and the family is a bond like no other...

It's the worst year of the Great Depression, and America needs all the hope it can get. The Chicago World's Fair, a glittery city-within-a-city, becomes a symbol of the good that's yet to come. But every utopia has a seedy side - and that's Rosa Mancuso's world. As the mysterious Madame Mystique she mixes magic with a dose of bare skin burlesque, bringing customers to the home of the Fair's carnival rides and spectacles.

Rosa doesn't perform for fame, though. She has come from Mussolini's Italy to America, where she's plotting her revenge for the murders of her family. The perpetrator will soon arrive at the World's Fair via a celebrated Italian air fleet, and Rosa is determined to be prepared.

But when her estranged cousin, Mina, comes to her desperate for help, with a dangerous mobster close on her heels, Rosa agrees to protect Mina and her new baby, born across the color line. With the clock ticking, Rosa decides the only way to survive is to make vengeance a family affair and prompt everyone to, at last, confront the sins from their pasts.

A gripping story of retribution, belonging, and survival, Sinners of Starlight City boldly explores the complexity of identities straddling ethnic lines and asks, who gets to decide who we are and where we belong?"

I've always been obsessed with Chicago and the World's Fair. My grandfather actually went to it!

The Madwomen of Paris by Jennifer Cody Epstein
Published by: Ballantine Books
Publication Date: July 18th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Two women fall under the influence of a powerful doctor in Paris's notorious women's asylum in this gripping historical novel inspired by true events, from the bestselling author of Wunderland.

When Josephine arrives at the Salpêtrière asylum, she is covered in blood, badly bruised, and suffering from amnesia. She is quickly diagnosed with what the Paris papers are calling "the epidemic of the age" hysteria, a disease is so baffling and widespread that Doctor Jean-Martin Charcot, the asylum's famous director, devotes many of his popular public lectures to the malady. Charcot often uses hypnosis to prompt his patients to reproduce their hysterical symptoms, and to his delight, Josephine proves extraordinarily susceptible to this unconscious manipulation. He is soon featuring the young woman on his stage, entrancing her into fantastical acts and hallucinatory fits before enraptured audiences and eager newsmen - many of whom feature her on their papers' front pages.

Laure, a ward attendant assigned to care for Charcot's new favorite, knows that Josephine's diagnosis is a godsend. Life in the Salpêtrière's Hysteria ward is far easier than in its dreaded Lunacy division, from which few inmates ever return. But as Josephine's fame grows, her memory starts to return - and with it, images of a terrible crime she's convinced she's committed. Haunted by these visions, and ensnared in Charcot's hypnotic web, she starts spiraling into seeming insanity. Desperate to save the girl she has grown to love, Laure begins to plot their escape from the Salpêtrière and its doctors. First, though, she must confirm whether Josephine is truly a madwoman, doomed to die in the asylum - or a murderer, destined for the guillotine.

Both are dark possibilities - but not nearly as dark as what Laure unearths when she sets out to discover the truth."

Male doctors historically misdiagnosing there female patients.

Awakenings by George Mann
Published by: Games Workshop
Publication Date: July 18th, 2023
Format: Paperback, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Sabbathiel returns! Now, facing mistrust wherever she turns, she must prove her worth once more.

Inquisitor Astor Sabbathiel has a problem: she's been dead for nearly a hundred years... or so everyone believes.

The last thing she remembers is being shot at point-blank range just as a roiling warp storm engulfed the Calaphrax Cluster. Now, she finds herself awakening on a distant Ecclesiarchy stronghold and indebted to a magos called Metik, who has brought her back from the brink of death.

Shortly after her resurrection, Sabbathiel is called to an audience on the planet Hulth by a high-ranking inquisitor of the Ordo Hereticus, Heldren, who informs her that after being lost for so long, the members of her former conclave no longer trust her. Forced to undertake a mission to prove herself worthy and true, Sabbathiel soon discovers a secret agenda beginning to unfold - one that contains a burgeoning threat to the Imperium that only she can avert. Trying to assemble the fragments of the past to make sense of the mysteries of the present, Sabbathiel will need to act fast and decide who to trust quickly, or else risk the fate of the future."

A new George book!

Batman: One Bad Day: Catwoman by G. Willow Wilson and Jamie McKelvie
Published by: DC Comics
Publication Date: July 18th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 88 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"When Selina Kyle finds out an item from her past is being sold for way more than it used to be worth, it sends her into a spiral, and she'll do everything in her power to steal it back.

2023 Eisner Nominee - Best Limited Series

Selina Kyle, a.k.a. Catwoman, is the greatest thief that Gotham City has ever seen. She's effortlessly stolen countless items of immense value over the years and successfully evaded the GCPD and Batman. But when Catwoman finds out an item from her past is being sold for way more than it used to be worth, it sends Catwoman into a spiral, and she'll do everything in her power to steal it back. Batman tries to stop her before she goes too far, and a mysterious figure known as the Forger will change Catwoman's life forever. The all-star creative team of G. Willow Wilson (Poison Ivy, Ms. Marvel) and Jamie McKelvie (The Wicked and The Divine, Young Avengers) unite for this epic story!"

I am always here for Catwoman!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Anika Scott, Bruce Borgos, Catwoman, George Mann, Jamie Day, Jennifer Cody Epstein, LeVar Burton, Meriam Metoui, Nazis, Sara Flannery Murphy, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Stephanie Bishop, Tobi Ogundiran, Warhammer

The Rook by Daniel O'Malley
Published by: Back Bay Books
Publication Date: January 11th, 2012
Format: Paperback, 486 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy

Myfanwy Thomas is a Rook, a high-level operative in The Court of a secret organization called The Checquy. She's hardworking, discreet, reserved, and unflappable. Give her a spreadsheet and she can work wonders. But she has a looming problem. Due to the nature of her job and the type of people and creatures she meets she has learned that she will lose her memory. Permanently. She doesn't know how, she doesn't know why, she doesn't know when, but she knows that soon she will be vulnerable because someone she trusts is going to betray her. Therefore she does what she is best at; she plans. She figures out how to tell the you she will become everything she needs to know in order to survive. Therefore on a rainy night when Myfanwy Thomas is surrounded by corpses in a London park the you that she was saves the you that she is. The new Myfanwy is told by her past self that she has two options before her, disappear into the sunset or find out what happened to her. There are two lock boxes at a bank, each leads to a very different future. The new Myfanwy was going to take the money and run, but she is attacked at the bank. Obviously her body's unknown past is going to haunt her unless she is able to uncover what exactly is going on in The Checquy. Which means she has to go into work on Monday and pass herself off as the Myfanwy they all know and love. Well aside from that one person trying to kill her. At least she hopes it's only one person. What if it's a cabal? But that's just letting her thoughts get away with her, but then again her thoughts all did go away and someone at work did it to her. So she slips on one of numinous bland suits, I mean did she really have this bad of taste? And off to work she goes. She has a sense of who she was from all the letters and the invaluable purple binder left for her, but it's kind of hard to spend all your time looking at your feet and avoiding eye contact when this world is completely new to her. She can control peoples bodies! Her complementary Rook Gestalt is one person in four bodies! Everything is so wonderful and strange. This isn't just a brave new world, this is a brave new Myfanwy, and she's going to live this life she's been given no matter what weirdness stands in her way. She might just have to survive another assassination attempt is all. Or perhaps several.

What I find astounding is given just the premise of secret supernatural organization the vast array of possibilities that authors have come up with. No two are alike and yet they all hold the same DNA, a dollop of the X-Men, a helping of The Avengers, no, the British ones, then a side of The Initiative. Aside from the giant great wallop of snark found here that skeletal framework can apply to so many stories I've known and loved over the years. Yet The Rook stands out. That is because the voice or I should say voices of Myfanwy Thomas are so unique. You love the her that she was, that shy overly precise workaholic, but on her journey to self discovering after erasure you come to love the her that she is becoming. But the sardonic narration isn't the only reason that I am so in the grip of this book's tentacles, it's the deeper implications about identity and trauma. When Myfanwy's powers presented at the age of nine it was traumatic. She injured those she loved and was then taken away from them creating a wound that would never heal as she was shipped off to the Estate and became the property of The Checquy. This event in her life lead to her associating her power with pain and therefore she's never really been able to utilize it to it's full potential. Her and her power aren't one. When that Myfanwy is erased from existence so is all her baggage. All her trauma is washed away in the rain and the new Myfanwy can't believe how easy it is to access her powers. She is able to do feats that the old her could never do. Which can be a bit problematic when you're trying to pretend to be the you you no longer are and start manifesting hugely improved powers. But at least the powers mean more protection. She doesn't have to touch people to control their bodies. She can shut them down and puppet them from across a room. Her powers weren't pain they were protection but the old her could never separate that in her mind. Which makes me wonder, what could we be without our past traumas? So much of therapy is about letting go, finding a way to reach our full potential. While losing your memory is a drastic way to lose your inhibitions, there's something so empowering reading Myfanwy's story. While we might not have had to do battle with cubes of flesh or prophetic ducks, we all know what it's like to be holding yourself back. To be unable to cope with moving forward. This is a cathartic read, a call to arms to heal the trauma and embrace the Myfanwy in us all by daring to go out in that red dress.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Amnesia, Assassination, Baggage, Cathartic, Daniel O'Malley, Gestalt, Identity, London, London Calling, Memory, MyFanwy Thomas, The Avengers, The Checquy, The Checquy Files, The Initiative, The Rook, Trauma, X-Men

The Screaming Staircase by Jonathan Stroud
Published by: Disney-Hyperion
Publication Date: August 29th, 2013
Format: Kindle, 400 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
To Buy (different edition than on reviewed)

The Problem started about the middle of the last century. The dead no longer stayed dead. They roamed the street at night and were deadly to the living. Cemeteries were exhumed and the dead burned. Marissa Fittes and Tom Rotwell are credited with discovering the Problem and through their methods teaching others how to subdue paranormal phenomena by locating it's Source, the epicenter of it's haunting. Marissa set up the Fittes Agency and soon Tom set up the Rotwell Agency. And other psychic investigations agencies sprang up like mushrooms from corpses after that, one of them being Lockwood and Co. But the peculiarity of the Problem is that it is only children who can see and therefore destroy ghosts. The only adults on hand are those who were legends in their day but can no longer see ghosts and therefore have to pass on their knowledge to the younger generations now wielding psychic abilities. But not all children can see these supernatural foes. Some are blind to it, others are just slightly touched and aren't agency material, but some have special skills, from hearing, to touch, to smell. Lucy Carlyle is very talented. Any agency would kill to have her on their team. The problem is she left her last job under a bit of a cloud so she doesn't have the bona fides needed to secure a job at one of the prestige agencies, so instead she gets a job at Lockwood and Co. Before her job interview the "Lockwood" was young and dashing Anthony Lockwood and the "Co." was George Cubbins, the master of research if nothing else. They don't have uniforms, they don't have many jobs, but they have a nice headquarters at 35 Portland Row. After Lucy's job interview the "Co." increases by one. One night they are tackling what should be a simple case for their client, a Mrs. Hope, when things go pear-shaped. As in, they burn her house to the ground. With legal action being threatened they need a big case to pay off their client and keep the agency open. Which is why they accept a job at Combe Carey Hall. The estate is notorious. So many people have died there. So many investigators, even top trained Fittes investigators, have been victims to the house and the infamous Red Room. But as Lockwood says, they are desperate so they might as well go out with a bang. And if they succeed? Well, their name will be made and the agency secured.

If there's one thing I'm always looking for it's something spooky and Gothic to read. It's my comfort food. It's my jam. Ironically jam isn't my comfort food but that is a story for another time. Therefore when I was recommended the Lockwood and Co. series by someone whose opinion I trust I didn't really read anything about the series other than to get their elevator pitch of British teens dealing with paranormal phenomena. That right there was enough for me, Ghostbusters with a YA bent. But perhaps I wouldn't have had such a disconnect with the book for a long while if I had read a tad more about the series. Because everything I'd read made it sound very Dickensian. And the thing is that it is. It is very Dickensian. But set in modern day. Or a decade ago now because it was current day or near enough when it was written. I could not wrap my head around this for the longest time. They have swords and gas lights and then there was a television set, I was so confused. It almost took literally the whole book for me to make sense of this society that was trapped in a different time because all technological advances went to figuring out and fighting the Problem. But still, the start of the Problem was about the middle of the previous century, so shouldn't the tech have been more mid-century than this mishmash of what it is? Maybe what I'm trying to inarticulately say is that instead of jumping so headlong into the action I needed a little more explanation than the stumbling around in the dark until it clicked. In fact just a date would have been helpful. But on the bright side, when it clicked, it clicked. So what did it take? It took taking our three leads and dropping them in the middle of a classic haunted house story. They were just dropped in it at Combe Carey Hall. I mean, just that name sends a chill down my spine! It was just riddled with tropes from rooms filled with blood to ghostly monks to secret passageways, and of course a sinister staircase! Yet through it all Lucy, Lockwood, and George made it their own special story. It might have resembled everything from The Haunting of Hill House to The Legend of Hell House, which are personal favorites I might add, but it was it's own thing, which is a major feat given the preponderance of stories out there in the haunted house genre. More haunted houses less televisions please!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Anthony Lockwood, Combe Carey Hall, George Cubbins, Ghosts, Haunted House, Jonathan Stroud, Lockwood & Co., London Calling, Lucy Carlyle, Psychic Investigations Agencies, The Problem, The Screaming Staircase

Claws and Contrivances by Stephanie Burgis
Published by: Five Fathoms Press
Publication Date: July 11th, 2023
Format: Kindle
To Buy

The official patter:
"Passionate, idealistic Rose Tregarth may have been invited into her uncle's remote home in the heart of Wales as an act of kindness to a poor relation, but it doesn't take her long to realize that her newly-met family members are eccentric, creative, deeply lovable - and in need of all the help they can get. If the crumbling medieval walls of Gogodd Abbey aren't to collapse around their heads at any moment, someone will have to step up and take charge of the situation. Fortunately for all of them, Rose has never lacked in determination."

I was surprised and delighted by the first book in this series, Scales and Sensibility, and about two minutes after I finished it I preordered the sequel. Thankfully it's coming out now and not in November. I don't think I could wait that long for Rose's story!

The Secrets of Wycliffe Manor by Patricia Rice
Published by: Book View Cafe
Publication Date: July 11th, 2023
Format: Kindle, 332 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Be wary of what you wish for...

In Regency England:
The descendant of adventuring - dead - aristocrats, Clarissa Knightley supplements a modest inheritance by penning Gothic novels that cost more than they earn. Upon learning that she has mysteriously inherited a share of an earl's estate, she rashly packs up her household. In remote Gravesyde Priory, she hopes to find a safe haven and family who will welcome her and her young nephew.

Instead, she discovers a drunken American army captain, his African servant, and ancient, surly caretakers. Terrified, prepared to flee, Clare is lured to linger by the prospect of secret diaries, hidden jewels, and an increasingly intriguing man. Then a killer strikes.

The crumbling manor's ominous and baffling history offers fascinating fodder for Clare's horror novels - if only she can survive real-life madmen and a spectral murderer who may seek the jewels at any price."

What Gothic author doesn't want to live in their own books?

Thief Liar Lady by D.L. Soria
Published by: Del Rey Books
Publication Date: July 11th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 416 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
""Happily Ever After" is a total scam, but at least this time the princess is the one controlling the grift - until her true love arrives and threatens to ruin the whole scheme. Intrigue, magic, and wit abound in this Cinderella fairytale reimagining, perfect for fans of Heather Walter and Naomi Novik.

I'm not who you think I am.

My transformation from a poor, orphaned scullery maid into the enchantingly mysterious lady who snagged the heart of the prince did not happen - as the rumors insisted - in a magical metamorphosis of pumpkins and glass slippers. On the first evening of the ball, I didn't meekly help my "evil" stepmother and stepsisters primp and preen or watch forlornly out the window as their carriage rolled off toward the palace. I had other preparations to make.

My stepsisters and I had been trained for this - to be the cleverest in the room, to be quick with our hands and quicker with our lies. We were taught how to get everything we wanted in this world, everything men always kept for themselves: power, wealth, and prestige. And with a touchingly tragic past and the help of some highly illegal spells, I would become a princess, secure our fortunes, and we would all live happily ever after.

But there's always more to the story. With my magic running out, war looming, and a handsome hostage prince - the wrong prince - distracting me from my true purpose with his magnetic charm and forbidden flirtations, I'm in danger of losing control of the delicate balance I've created...and that could prove fatal.

There's so much more riding on this than a crown."

Cinderella grifter? Tell me more!

The Carnivale of Curiosities by Amiee Gibbs
Published by: Grand Central Publishing
Publication Date: July 11th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 448 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A dazzling Gothic tale of Faustian bargains, jealousy, and murder set in a spectacular circus, where star-crossed lovers' destinies are forged at an unexpected price - perfect for readers of V. E. Schwab​'s The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue.

In Victorian London, where traveling sideshows are the very pinnacle of entertainment, there is no more coveted ticket than Ashe and Pretorius' Carnivale of Curiosities. Each performance is a limited engagement, and London's elite boldly dare the dangerous streets of Southwark to witness the Carnivale's astounding assemblage of marvels. For a select few, however, the real show begins behind the curtain. Rumors abound that the show's proprietor, Aurelius Ashe, is more than an average magician. It's said that for the right price, he can make any wish come true. No one knows the truth of this claim better than Lucien the Lucifer, the Carnivale's star attraction. Born with the ability to create fire, he's dazzled spectators since he was a boy.

When Odilon Rose, one of the most notorious men in London, comes calling with a proposition regarding his young and beautiful charge, Charlotte, Ashe is tempted to refuse. After revealing, however, that Rose holds a secret that threatens the security of the troupe's most vulnerable members, Ashe has no choice but to sign an insidious contract.

The stakes grow higher as Lucien finds himself drawn to Charlotte and her to him, an attraction that spurs a perilous course of events. Grave secrets, recovered horrors, and what it means to be family come to a head in this vividly imagined spectacle - with the lives of all those involved suspended in the balance."

Say the word "carnivale" and I'm there!

Barbarian's Mate by Ruby Dixon
Published by: Berkley Books
Publication Date: July 11th, 2023
Format: Paperback, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The next novel in the international publishing phenomenon the Ice Planet Barbarians series, now in a special print edition with a bonus novella!

Josie has always dreamed of finding The One, but the hunter chosen for her is nothing like what she expected (or wanted) - but he might be exactly what she needs.

"Resonance" is supposed to be a dream - that's when your soulmate is chosen for you. And every woman on the ice planet has hooked up with a big, hunky soulmate of their own - except me. So do I want a mate? Heck yeah. More than anything, all I've ever wanted is to be loved by someone.

But the soulmate chosen for me? My least favorite person on the darn ice planet. Haeden's the most cranky, disapproving, unpleasant, overbearing male alien...so why is it that my body sings when he gets close? Why is he working so hard to prove to me that he's not as awful as I think he is?

I hate him...don't I?"

Finding your soulmate can be complicated even on an ice planet of barbarians.

The Only Purple House in Town by Ann Aguirre
Published by: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Publication Date: July 11th, 2023
Format: Paperback, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From New York Times bestselling author Ann Aguirre comes the magical town of St. Claire, where anything is possible...

Iris Collins is the messy one in her family. The "chaos bunny." Her sisters are all wildly successful, while she can't balance her budget for a single month. It's no wonder she's in debt to her roommates. When she unexpectedly inherits a house from her great aunt, her plan to turn it into a B and B fails - as most of her plans do. She winds up renting rooms like a Victorian spinster, collecting other lost souls...and not all of them are "human."

Eli Reese grew up as the nerdy outcast in school, but he got rich designing apps. Now he's successful by any standards. But he's never had the same luck in finding a real community or people who understand him. Over the years, he's never forgotten his first crush, so when he spots her at a café, he takes it as a sign. Except then he gets sucked into the Iris-verse and somehow ends up renting one of her B and B rooms. As the days pass, Eli grows enchanted by the misfit boarders staying in the house...and even more so by Iris. Could Eli have finally found a person and a place to call "home"?"

I love found family stories, it's like a magical Tales of the City.

Light Comes to Shadow Mountain by Toni Buzzeo
Published by: Holiday House
Publication Date: July 11th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 272 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Cora Mae Tipton is determined to light up her Appalachian community in this historical fiction novel from an award-winning author and former librarian.

It's 1937 and the government is pushing to bring electricity to the mountains of southeastern Kentucky. It's all Cora can think of; radios with news from around the world, machines that keep food cold, lightbulbs by which to read at night! Cora figures she can help spread the word by starting a school newspaper and convincing her neighbors to support the Rural Electrification Act.

But resistance to change isn't easy to overcome, especially when it starts at home. Cora's mother is a fierce opponent of electrification. She argues that protecting the landscape of the holler - the trees, the streams, the land that provides for their way of life - is their responsibility. But Cora just can't let go of wanting more.

Lyrical, literary, and deeply heartfelt, this debut novel from an award-winning author-librarian speaks to family, friendship, and loss through the spirited perspective of a girl eager for an electrified existence, but most of all, the light of her mother's love and acceptance.

Back matter includes an Author's Note; further information on the Rural Electrification Act, the herbs and plants of Appalachia, the Pack Horse Library Project, and more; and a "Quick Questions" historical trivia section for readers."

Sometimes it's hard to grasp that even electricity is not that old an invention.

Boys in the Valley by Philip Fracassi
Published by: Tor Nightfire
Publication Date: July 11th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The Exorcist meets Lord of the Flies, by way of Midnight Mass, in Boys in the Valley, a brilliant coming-of-age tale from award-winning author Philip Fracassi.

St. Vincent's Orphanage for Boys.

Turn of the century, in a remote valley in Pennsylvania.

Here, under the watchful eyes of several priests, thirty boys work, learn, and worship. Peter Barlow, orphaned as a child by a gruesome murder, has made a new life here. As he approaches adulthood, he has friends, a future...a family.

Then, late one stormy night, a group of men arrive at their door, one of whom is badly wounded, occult symbols carved into his flesh. His death releases an ancient evil that spreads like sickness, infecting St. Vincent's and the children within. Soon, boys begin acting differently, forming groups. Taking sides.

Others turn up dead.

Now Peter and those dear to him must choose sides of their own, each of them knowing their lives - and perhaps their eternal souls - are at risk."

Because you're going through Yellowjackets withdrawal and this can help.

Cult Classic by Stephen Blackmoore
Published by: Daw Books
Publication Date: July 11th, 2023
Format: Paperback, 288 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The ninth book of this dark urban fantasy series follows necromancer Eric Carter through a world of vengeful gods and goddesses, mysterious murders, and restless ghosts.

Eric Carter has a lot on his plate.

He's hunting the Oracle of Las Vegas, a literal talking head that manipulates the future to make its prophecies come true. But it has a new trick. It can change the past, too.

Now Jazz Age Los Angeles is invading the present. Long gone buildings suddenly restored, decommissioned Red Car trains appearing on paved over tracks, miles of the city changing back to orange groves.

Throw in a hundred-year-old doomsday cult, time magic, and a terrifyingly powerful spell to raise the dead and it makes for a busy week. Carter knows the Oracle is behind it all but he can't figure out how. Or why.

But he better figure it out soon or he, the city, and everyone he knows might be wiped from existence.

Cult Classic is noir urban fantasy at its finest, with a cutting voice, sharp wit, and a plot that will keep you on the edge of your seat."

Oh be still my heart, Jazz Age L.A. bleeding through to the present? Which is good because the art on the front doesn't look as much like Richard Armitage this time out...

Thriller by Don Bruns
Published by: Blackstone Publishing
Publication Date: July 11th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 228 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From Beat It to Billie Jean, the songs we know and love take on a brand-new, thrilling connotation in this anthology edited by Don Bruns.

In this second collection in the Music and Murder Mystery series, nine award-winning, bestselling authors have written their own interpretations of the Thriller song list. With original work from some of the best mystery authors out there, the anthology includes stories from Heather Graham, Jeffery Deaver, William Kent Krueger, Dahlia Rose, and David R. Slayton, among others.

With poignant, frightening, and intriguing stories from some of the best writers in the genre, this eerie collection is sure to keep you up at night - and maybe even haunt your dreams."

I just love this idea of reinterpreting pop culture because who hasn't written their own stories in their heads listening to songs?

Burn the Negative by Josh Winning
Published by: G.P. Putnam's Sons
Publication Date: July 11th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In this incendiary mash-up of horror and suspense, a notorious slasher film is remade...and the curse that haunted it is reawakened.

Arriving in L.A. to visit the set of a new streaming horror series, journalist Laura Warren witnesses a man jumping from a bridge, landing right behind her car. Here we go, she thinks. It's started. Because the series she's reporting on is a remake of a '90s horror flick. A cursed '90s horror flick, which she starred in as a child - and has been running from her whole life.

In The Guesthouse, Laura played the little girl with the terrifying gift to tell people how the Needle Man would kill them. When eight of the cast and crew died in ways that eerily mirrored the movie's on-screen deaths, the film became a cult classic - and ruined her life. Leaving it behind, Laura changed her name and her accent, dyed her hair, and moved across the Atlantic. But some scripts don't want to stay buried.

Now, as the body count rises again, Laura finds herself on the run with her aspiring actress sister and a jaded psychic, hoping to end the curse once and for all - and to stay out of the Needle Man's lethal reach."

Scream meets the curse of The Crow!

Shadow Drive by Nolan Cubero
Published by: Blackstone Publishing
Publication Date: July 11th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 300 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In this thrilling debut from award-winning filmmaker Nolan Cubero, a young father must investigate his mysterious new tenant and discover what secrets she's hiding - while trying to keep his own.

Landlord Gabriel Angueira is trying to put his life back together. His teenage daughter, Megan, was seriously injured in a car accident caused by her own drunk driving, though Gabe blames himself. Since the accident he has spent every day taking care of her, reflecting on his failures as a father, and trying to rebuild his relationship with his ex-wife, Anya.

So, when a woman wants to rent the house on Shadow Drive, Gabe hands her the keys without a second thought - or doing a background check. Once she moves in, he discovers everything she told him was a lie: her name, her story, her previous address. Gabe knows nothing about this mysterious woman, but she knows a lot about him - and quickly begins destroying the house from the inside out. Gabe soon realizes she's specifically targeted him and the house on Shadow Drive but has no idea why.

Now Gabe must figure out who this woman is before she unearths his family's secrets and takes down the house - along with his entire life as he knows it."

Here's a hot tip, if you have secrets don't rent to someone without doing a background check.

Dead of Winter by Darcy Coates
Published by: Poisoned Pen Press
Publication Date: July 11th, 2023
Format: Paperback, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From bestselling author Darcy Coates comes Dead of Winter, a remote cabin in the snowy wilderness thriller that will teach you to trust no one. There are eight strangers. One killer. Nowhere left to run.

When Christa joins a tour group heading deep into the snowy expanse of the Rocky Mountains, she's hopeful this will be her chance to put the ghosts of her past to rest. But when a bitterly cold snowstorm sweeps the region, the small group is forced to take shelter in an abandoned hunting cabin. Despite the uncomfortably claustrophobic quarters and rapidly dropping temperature, Christa believes they'll be safe as they wait out the storm.

She couldn't be more wrong.

Deep in the night, their tour guide goes missing...only to be discovered the following morning, his severed head impaled on a tree outside the cabin. Terrified, and completely isolated by the storm, Christa finds herself trapped with eight total strangers. One of them kills for sport...and they're far from finished. As the storm grows more dangerous and the number of survivors dwindles one by one, Christa must decide who she can trust before this frozen mountain becomes her tomb."

It's July, you need some chills and thrills to cool off and Dead of Winter will do the trick!

The Skull by Jon Klassen
Published by: Candlewick Press
Publication Date: July 11th, 2023
Format: Paperback, 112 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Caldecott Medalist and #1 New York Times best-selling author-illustrator Jon Klassen delivers a deliciously macabre treat for folktale fans.

Jon Klassen's signature wry humor takes a turn for the ghostly in this thrilling retelling of a traditional Tyrolean folktale. In a big abandoned house, on a barren hill, lives a skull. A brave girl named Otilla has escaped from terrible danger and run away, and when she finds herself lost in the dark forest, the lonely house beckons. Her host, the skull, is afraid of something too, something that comes every night. Can brave Otilla save them both? Steeped in shadows and threaded with subtle wit - with rich, monochromatic artwork and an illuminating author's note - The Skull is as empowering as it is mysterious and foreboding."

If you don't like Jon Klassen I'm sorry but we can't be friends.

Queen of Exiles by Vanessa Riley
Published by: William Morrow and Company
Publication Date: July 11th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 448 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Acclaimed historical novelist Vanessa Riley is back with another novel based on the life of an extraordinary Black woman from history: Haiti's Queen Marie-Louise Coidavid, who escaped a coup in Haiti to set up her own royal court in Italy during the Regency era, where she became a popular member of royal European society.

The Queen of Exiles is Marie-Louise Christophe, wife and then widow of Henry I, who ruled over the newly liberated Kingdom of Hayti in the wake of the brutal Haitian Revolution.

In 1810 Louise is crowned queen as her husband begins his reign over the first and only free Black nation in the Western Hemisphere. But despite their newfound freedom, Haitians still struggle under mountains of debt to France and indifference from former allies in Britain and the new United States. Louise desperately tries to steer the country's political course as King Henry descends into a mire of mental illness.

In 1820, King Henry is overthrown and dies by his own hand. Louise and her daughters manage to flee to Europe with their smuggled jewels. In exile, the resilient Louise redefines her role, recovering the fortune that Henry had lost and establishing herself as an equal to the kings of European nations. With newspapers and gossip tracking their every movement, Louise and her daughters tour Europe like other royals, complete with glittering balls and princes with marriage proposals. As they find their footing - and acceptance - they discover more about themselves, their Blackness, and the opportunities they can grasp in a European and male-dominated world.

Queen of Exiles is the tale of a remarkable Black woman of history - a canny and bold survivor who chooses the fire and ideals of political struggle, and then is forced to rebuild her life on her own terms, forever a queen."

I recently read about the Haitian revolution so this is a perfect book to pair with my previous reading.

The Murder Wheel by Tom Mead
Published by: Mysterious Press
Publication Date: July 11th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 288 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In London, 1938, young and idealistic lawyer Edmund Ibbs is trying to find any shred of evidence that his client Carla Dean wasn't the one who shot her husband dead at the top of a Ferris Wheel. But the deeper he digs, the more complex the case becomes, and Edmund soon finds himself drawn into a nightmarish web of conspiracy and murder. Before long he himself is implicated in not one but two seemingly impossible crimes.

First, a corpse appears out of thin air during a performance by famed illusionist "Professor Paolini" in front of a packed auditorium at the Pomegranate Theatre. Then a second victim is shot dead in a locked dressing room along one of the theatre's winding backstage corridors. Edmund is in exactly the wrong place at the wrong time, and attracts the suspicion of Scotland Yard inspector George Flint. Luckily, conjuror-turned-detective Joseph Spector is on the scene. Only Spector's uniquely logical perspective can pierce the veil of deceit in a world of illusion and misdirection, where seeing is not always believing.

Tom Mead continues to pay homage to the locked room mysteries of the Golden Age in this second Joseph Spector novel."

Who doesn't want to find out how ingenious and impossible crimes are committed? 

Alchemy of a Blackbird by Claire McMillan
Published by: Atria Books
Publication Date: July 11th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 288 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"For fans of The Age of Light and Z, a mystical, historical novel based on the true story of the 20th-century painters and occultists Remedios Varo and Leonora Carrington, each beginning as the muse of a famous lover and then breaking away to become an icon in her own right through a powerful friendship that springs from their connection to the tarot.

Desperate to escape the Nazis, painter Remedios Varo and her lover, poet Benjamin Peret, flee Paris for Villa Air Bel, a safe house for artists on the Riviera. Along with Max Ernst, Peggy Guggenheim, and others, the two anxiously wait for exit papers. As the months pass, Remedios begins to sense that the others don't see her as a fellow artist; they have cast her in the stifling role of a surrealist ideal: the beautiful innocent. She finds refuge in a mysterious bookshop, where she stumbles into a world of occult learning and intensifies an esoteric practice in the tarot that helps her light the bright fire of her creative genius.

When travel documents come through, Remedios and Benjamin flee to Mexico where she is reunited with friend and fellow painter Leonora Carrington. Together, the women tap into their creativity, stake their independence, and each find their true loves. But it is the tarot that enables them to access the transcendent that lies on the other side of consciousness, to become the truest Surrealists of all.

From an author with "an enchanting, intoxicating voice" (Cristina Alger, author of The Darlings), Alchemy of a Blackbird is about a dynamic female friendship that became a historic artistic collaboration between two giants of the art world."

Art and the mystical, who could ask for anything more?

Do Tell by Lindsay Lynch
Published by: Doubleday Books
Publication Date: July 11th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"As character actress Edie O'Dare finishes the final year of her contract with FWM Studios, the clock is ticking for her to find a new gig after an undistinguished stint in the pictures. She's long supplemented her income moonlighting for Hollywood's reigning gossip columnist, providing her with the salacious details of every party and premiere. When an up-and-coming starlet hands her a letter alleging an assault from an A-list actor at a party with Edie and the rest of the industry's biggest names in attendance, Edie helps get the story into print and sets off a chain of events that will alter the trajectories of everyone involved.

Now on a new side of the entertainment business, Edie's second act career grants her more control on the page than she ever commanded in front of the camera. But Edie quickly learns that publishing the secrets of those former colleagues she considers friends has repercussions. And when she finds herself in the middle of the trial of the decade, Edie is forced to make an impossible choice with the potential to ruin more than one life. Debut novelist Lindsay Lynch brings the golden age of Hollywood to glittering life, from star-studded opening nights to backlot brawls, on-location Westerns to the Hollywood Canteen. Through Edie's wry observations, Lynch maps the intricate networks of power that manufacture the magic of the movies, and interrogates who actually gets to tell women's stories."

If old time Hollywood had a little Me Too.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Amiee Gibbs, Ann Aguirre, Claire McMillan, D.L. Soria, Darcy Coates, Hollywood, Jon Klassen, Patricia Rice, Philip Fracassi, Ruby Dixon, Stephanie Burgis, Stephen Blackmoore, Tom Mead, Toni Buzzeo, Vanessa Riley