strange and random happenstance

Homecoming by Kate Morton
Published by: Mariner Books
Publication Date: April 4th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 560 Pages
Rating: ★★★
To Buy

Jess's life isn't exactly going to plan. She's lost her job and her partner in quick succession when she gets a call from Australia saying that her grandmother Nora has had a fall and Jess needs to return home. Her grandmother might be eight-nine years old but the woman who raised her has always seemed so young so she doesn't understand the urgency in the doctors' voices. But it's not exactly like she can claim she's busy at the moment so she returns to the home in which she was raised, Darling House, in Sydney. There she tries to piece together how Nora could have fallen. This seems so unexpected, but when she starts to ask questions she realizes that the grandmother she thought she knew and loved had been acting odd lately. Nora had been secretive, furtively reading a book which she wouldn't let anyone else see. She might even have been digging around in the attic when she fell. This could all be dated back to a letter she got in the mail from a solicitor in New South Wales. But Jess can't think of any connection her grandmother had there until she remembers that Nora had an older brother who died right around the time that Jess came to live at Darling House. A brother who lived in New South Wales. Her grandmother's injury seems to be tied to a secret in the past and so Jess, being a journalist, even if she's currently unemployed, starts to dig. Thomas Turner returned to Australia after World War II. He decided to settle in Tambilla in the Adelaide Hills. There he purchased and renovated a house that was commonly referred to as the Wentworth House. A large, sprawling home that had a tragic backstory, but not nearly as tragic as the one that would befall the house once it was rechristened Halcyon. Thomas brought his English bride Isabel to live there with their expanding family. When December 1959 rolled around they had four beautiful and precocious children, Matilda, John, Evie, and a newborn baby girl. On Christmas Eve Isabel took the children down to the creak to escape the heat of the day. That is where they lay when Percy Summers, the proprietor of the local grocery store, found them. They were all dead. Except for the baby. The baby was nowhere to be found. It was assumed that the baby was dragged off by some wild animal. This entire sorry affair was documented by Daniel Miller in his book As If They Were Asleep. Which happens to be the book that Nora was reading when she had her turn. Which means that Nora's preoccupation with the past does indeed figure into the present. It turns out Nora was there at Halcyon. She gave birth to Jess's mother Polly on Christmas Eve as her family lay dead. But why Nora's obsession? Could she have known something, some secret, that she's been holding on to all her life? And could Daniel Miller have the answers? He conducted extensive interviews with Nora. Did she confess something? And can Jess help lift the guilt from her grandmother's shoulders before it's too late?

If you're a fan of Kate Morton, you know you don't read her for the mysteries. You read her for the atmosphere; the old wallpaper crumbling in a stately manor, the creak of an old floorboard that the house's inhabitants have long grown accustomed to, the sense of elegant decay. This is what Kate Morton books are about and thankfully, after a misstep with The Clockmaker's Daughter, she is back in fine fettle, once again delving into the darkest secrets that Ancestry.com doesn't document. Family secrets that not even the family are aware of. These mysteries pepper all of Kate Morton's books, and sadly, are often easily solved. As I stated previously, you don't read her books for the mysteries. Which, ironically, would be doing this book a disservice, because for the first time I think the mystery steals the show. We have what amounts to a more deadly version of the Lindbergh baby kidnapping, an unsolved case she has taken inspiration from before, and we see it played out through dual timelines. But what I feel really sets Homecoming apart are two things, Daniel's Miller's book and her sticking to the Golden Age rule of fair play. Miller's book within the book, As If They Were Asleep, reads as just a wonderful gripping true crime story. It has such a unique and different voice and tone to Morton's usual work that it actually feels like it could conceivably exist and therefore the tragedy in Tambilla is given a greater weight. You actually feel as if this isn't a fictional story that Kate Morton has created for her dedicated readers, but that she stumbled on a real case and a real book and wove this narrative around it. Of course, this isn't the case, but it really feels like it is and that makes this book special. This makes the book something more, something unique, especially among her bibliography. The other thing that sets this apart is that she followed the Golden Age rule of fair play. The rule states that the reader has to be given all the information that they need in order to solve the crime. The author can't pull some weird Josephine Tey The Man in the Queue bullshit wherein there was no way in which the reader could conceivably solve the case. Ronald Knox codified this in his ten rules which, really, if you want a good laugh you should read them to see how badly some of them have aged. Also, he really didn't like secret passages. He would have hated the movie Clue. Therefore we could never have been friends. In fairness to Morton, I don't think she's ever played dirty, but here the way she draws out the information leaves you guessing until almost the very end when all the pieces click into place. It was masterfully done. Also, seriously, wicked vengeance. I approve. I can't wait to see where her writing goes next. Now to just sit here for her next book, which if it follows her average three year gap would mean a new book next year... Though it could be at least five. Here's hoping it's not more.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: As If They Were Asleep, Australia, Cold Case, Darling House, Fair Play, Golden Age of Detection, Halcyon, Homecoming, Kate Morton, Lindbergh Kidnapping, Murder Most Foul, The Clockmaker's Daughter, True Crime

The Clockmaker's Daughter by Kate Morton
Published by: Atria Books
Publication Date: October 9th, 2018
Format: Hardcover, 512 Pages
Rating: ★★
To Buy

Elodie Winslow works as an archivist for Stratton, Caldwell and Co. Mainly cataloging the detritus of one man's life. But one day she stumbles on something she finds remarkable, an old leather satchel that contains an artist's sketchbook and a photograph of an arrestingly beautiful woman wearing the Radcliffe Blue, an heirloom diamond that has long been missing. Elodie isn't interested in the diamond, even if it would be quite the find, she's interested in a drawing of a house in the sketchbook. For some reason it reminds her of a house her mother used to tell stories about. She finds out that it's Birchwood Manor, an estate in the Upper Thames region. Instead of planning her elaborate society wedding Elodie decides to investigate the mystery of Birchwood Manor. Birchwood Manor was rumored to be built on land blessed by a Fairy Queen because of two children whose lives were saved. The two children are supposed to haunt the house and that is what brought the Magenta Brotherhood to the house in 1862. The leader, Edward Radcliffe, and his muse Lily Millington are the center of a summer of artistic expression. But things take a tragic turn. When Edward's ex fiance arrives she is killed and Lily and the Radcliffe Blue disappear into the ether. Because Lily had a secret past as a pickpocket it's assumed that she and her old partner have run off to America with their bounty. But the past is never as it seems and the house has gone through many hands since then. In 1899 the house became a school that Edward Radcliffe's sister Lucy actually opened. But another tragedy strikes Birchwood Manor when a student dies in a boating accident. In 1928 the house has long been sealed up but a historian gets the right to stay on the property to research Edward and Lily. There he meets a young girl, Juliet, who in 1940 will come to Birchwood Manor to escape the blitz with her three children. But what does this all have to do with Elodie's memory of this house and her mother? Only Birchwood Manor holds the key and it has keep it's secrets close for a long long time.

Kate Morton is an author who in theory should be one of my favorite authors. She writes exactly the kind of books I want to read, but somehow never sticks the landing. I've read all her books out of order, which is fine because they aren't interconnected, but if I sequence them chronologically what amazes me is that as she's developed as a writer her books have greatly improved as evidenced by my reviews. But then came The Clockmaker's Daughter. After The Secret Keeper in 2012 I had really started to anticipate her new books. I started following her on social media and the buildup to The Clockmaker's Daughter had me tingling in anticipation. Seriously, Kate Morton and the Pre-Raphaelites are so in my wheelhouse. I couldn't wait. I was so excited I even picked it as my selection for my book club to read. Now I will say that a confluence of events happened that made reading this book happen under not the best circumstances, but I don't think that would change my opinion of it. The Clockmaker's Daughter is a big step back for Morton. Quirks and ticks that were common in her early books and had been phased out were back. The writing felt immature and didn't have a clear voice coupled with an unwieldy cast of characters. Which leads me to the conclusion this has to have been a trunk book. A trunk book is a book you write and lock in the deepest and darkest of trunks because you want no one to read it because it's that bad. It's you before you understood how to be a writer. But occasionally authors hit a dry spell and their hand is forced by the demands of their agents, editors, and publishing houses. Therefore trunk books can get published. I believe the first time I heard of the official moniker "trunk book" was in the television adaptation of Stephen King's Bag of Bones. And I'm sure King has dug up a few trunks over the years to meet his publishing demands. And I think that is exactly what happened here. Morton isn't the most prolific of authors, she's only published six books, but those six books have a through line in style that is all knotted when it comes to The Clockmaker's Daughter. Yes, I'm sure she tried to polish it up a bit, but it just didn't have any luster. What's more, the Pre-Raphaelites are barely in this book. I was just let down on so many levels by this book and had to apologize to my book club. Thankfully this is something all of us do often so it wasn't a new occurrence.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Birchwood Manor, Diamond, Fairy Queen, For the Love of Book Clubs, Kate Morton, Magenta Brotherhood, Pre-Raphaelite, Radcliffe Blue, Stephen King, The Clockmaker's Daughter, The Secret Keeper, Trunk Book

The Clockmaker's Daughter by Kate Morton
Published by: Atria Books
Publication Date: October 9th, 2018
Format: Hardcover, 512 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A rich, spellbinding new novel from the author of The Lake House - the story of a love affair and a mysterious murder that cast their shadows across generations, set in England from the 1860s until the present day.

My real name, no one remembers.
The truth about that summer, no one else knows.

In the summer of 1862, a group of young artists led by the passionate and talented Edward Radcliffe descends upon Birchwood Manor on the banks of the Upper Thames. Their plan: to spend a secluded summer month in a haze of inspiration and creativity. But by the time their stay is over, one woman has been shot dead while another has disappeared; a priceless heirloom is missing; and Edward Radcliffe's life is in ruins.

Over one hundred and fifty years later, Elodie Winslow, a young archivist in London, uncovers a leather satchel containing two seemingly unrelated items: a sepia photograph of an arresting-looking woman in Victorian clothing, and an artist's sketchbook containing the drawing of a twin-gabled house on the bend of a river.

Why does Birchwood Manor feel so familiar to Elodie? And who is the beautiful woman in the photograph? Will she ever give up her secrets?

Told by multiple voices across time, The Clockmaker's Daughter is a story of murder, mystery, and thievery, of art, love and loss. And flowing through its pages like a river, is the voice of a woman who stands outside time, whose name has been forgotten by history, but who has watched it all unfold: Birdie Bell, the clockmaker's daughter."

Kate Morton is an author who has really matured as a writer, each book better than the last and I can't wait for this one!

The Witch Elm by Tana French
Published by: Viking
Publication Date: October 9th, 2018
Format: Hardcover, 528 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
" From the writer who "inspires cultic devotion in readers" (The New Yorker) and has been called "incandescent" by Stephen King, "absolutely mesmerizing" by Gillian Flynn, and "unputdownable" (People), comes a gripping new novel that turns a crime story inside out.

Toby is a happy-go-lucky charmer who's dodged a scrape at work and is celebrating with friends when the night takes a turn that will change his life - he surprises two burglars who beat him and leave him for dead. Struggling to recover from his injuries, beginning to understand that he might never be the same man again, he takes refuge at his family's ancestral home to care for his dying uncle Hugo. Then a skull is found in the trunk of an elm tree in the garden - and as detectives close in, Toby is forced to face the possibility that his past may not be what he has always believed.

A spellbinding standalone from one of the best suspense writers working today, The Witch Elm asks what we become, and what we're capable of, when we no longer know who we are."

Family secrets and murder? Yes please!

The World of Lore: Dreadful Places by Aaron Mahnke
Published by: Del Rey
Publication Date: October 9th, 2018
Format: Hardcover, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Captivating stories of the places where human evil has left a nefarious mark—featuring both rare and best-loved stories from the hit podcast Lore, now a streaming television series.

Sometimes you walk into a room, a building, or even a town, and you feel it. Something seems off—an atmosphere that leaves you oddly unsettled, with a sense of lingering darkness. Join Aaron Mahnke, the host of the popular podcast Lore, as he explores some of these dreadful places and the history that haunts them.

Mahnke takes us to Colorado and the palatial Stanley Hotel, where wealthy guests enjoyed views of the Rocky Mountains at the turn of the twentieth century—and where, decades later, a restless author would awaken from a nightmare, inspired to write one of the most revered horror novels of all time. Mahnke also crosses land and sea to visit frightful sites—from New Orleans to Richmond, Virginia, to the brooding, ancient castles of England—each with its own echoes of dark deeds, horrible tragedies, and shocking evil still resounding.

Filled with evocative illustrations, this eerie tour of lurid landmarks and doomed destinations is just the ticket to take armchair travelers with a taste for the macabre to places they never thought they’d visit in their wildest, scariest dreams.

This volume includes some of the best stories from the Lore podcast, such as “Echoes,” “Withering Heights,” and “Behind Closed Doors” as well as rare material."

I love it when podcasts jump to books, because it's rare I'll listen to a podcast, but I will sure read a book!

Ghosts of Christmas Past by Neil Gaiman et al
Published by: John Murray
Publication Date: October 9th, 2018
Format: Paperback, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A present contains a monstrous secret.
An uninvited guest haunts a Christmas party.
A shadow slips across the floor by firelight.
A festive entertainment ends in darkness and screams.

Who knows what haunts the night at the dark point of the year? This collection of seasonal chillers looks beneath Christmas cheer to a world of ghosts and horrors, mixing terrifying modern fiction with classic stories by masters of the macabre. From Neil Gaiman and M. R. James to Muriel Spark and E. Nesbit, there are stories here to make the hardiest soul quail - so find a comfy chair, lock the door, ignore the cold breath on your neck and get ready to welcome in the real spirits of Christmas."

Did you know that Halloween didn't used to be the only time for ghost stories? This book plans to bring back the tradition of Christmas Chills!

Carols and Chaos by Cindy Anstey
Published by: Swoon Reads
Publication Date: October 9th, 2018
Format: Paperback, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From the author of Suitors and Sabotage comes a swoonworthy Christmas adventure, perfect for fans of Jane Austen and Downton Abbey. 

1817. The happy chaos of the Yuletide season has descended upon the country estate of Shackleford Park in full force, but lady's maid Kate Darby barely has the time to notice. Between her household duties, caring for her ailing mother, and saving up money to someday own a dress shop, her hands are quite full. Matt Harlow is also rather busy. He's performing double-duty, acting as valet for both of the Steeple brothers, two of the estate's holiday guests.

Falling in love would be a disaster for either of them. But staving off their feelings for each other becomes the least of their problems when a devious counterfeiting scheme reaches the gates of Shackleford Park, and Kate and Matt are unwittingly swept up in the intrigue.

Full of sweetness, charm, and holiday mischief, Carols and Chaos - a standalone companion novel to Suitors and Sabotage - is perfect for readers who like their historical fiction with a side of romance and danger."

And now that we've radically shifted holidays to Christmas, how about this book that promises a fix for fans of Jane Austen and Downton Abbey? Because I am I fan of both!

The Hour of Death by Jane Willan
Published by: Crooked Lane Books
Publication Date: October 9th, 2018
Format: Hardcover, 314 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Jane Willan’s The Hour of Death will be a Christmas delight for fans of G. M. Malliet, set on an island in Wales.

Sister Agatha and Father Selwyn make sleuthing a work of art. But will they paint themselves into a corner when they investigate the Village Art Society president’s death?

As Yuletide settles upon Gwenafwy Abbey, the rural Welsh convent’s peace is shattered when Tiffany Reese, president of the Village Art Society, is found dead on the floor of the parish hall. Sister Agatha, whose interests lie more with reading and writing mystery stories than with making the abbey’s world-renowned organic gouda, is not shy about inserting herself into the case. With the not-entirely-eager assistance of Father Selwyn, she begins her investigation.

Sister Agatha has no shortage of suspects to check off her naughty-or-nice list, until finally, Tiffany’s half-brother, Kendrick Geddings, emerges as the prime suspect. There never was any love lost between Tiffany and Kendrick, and of late they had been locked in a vicious battle for control of the family estate. But if Sister Agatha thinks she has the case wrapped up, she’ll have to think again.

As the days of Advent tick by, Sister Agatha is determined to crack the case by Christmas in The Hour of Death, Jane Willan’s perfectly puzzling second Sister Agatha and Father Selwyn Mystery."

A Welsh Christmas cozy for a cold winter night!

Queen of Kenosha by Howard Shapiro and Erica Chan
Published by: Animal Media Group LLC
Publication Date: October 9th, 2018
Format: Paperback, 160 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A coming of age tale, this is the first installment of the Thin Thinline Trilogy, the fiercely independent Nina Overstreet has an axe to grind. A talented singer-songwriter slogging her way through the burgeoning Greenwich Village folk music scene of 1963, the Queen of Kenosha, Wisconsin, realizes that standing on the cusp of stardom gets her little respect and barely a cup of coffee in New York City. It finally comes, but in a way she could have never imagined. A chance encounter with the mysterious Nick Ladd at a late-night gig spins her life in a different direction―one that becomes a daily balance between life and death, right and wrong. Nick recruits Nina to join him and a team of ex-FBI operatives in a clandestine agency to stop the establishment of the Fourth Reich by undercover Nazis in post-War America. It’s a cause Nina believes in … until she’s forced to compromise the very principles of fairness and patriotism she holds dear. As she and Nick grow closer as partners, she forces him to question his own intentions. But as the body count mounts in pursuit of the Nazi ringleader, the evasive Alex, the stakes grow even higher for Nick and Nina."

I think more small towns in Wisconsin need to be represented in books! Congrats Kenosha!

My Squirrel Days by Ellie Kemper
Published by: Scribner
Publication Date: October 9th, 2018
Format: Hardcover, 256 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Comedian and star of The Office and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt Ellie Kemper delivers a hilarious and uplifting collection of essays about one pale woman’s journey from Midwestern naïf to Hollywood semi-celebrity to outrageously reasonable New Yorker.

There comes a time in every sitcom actress’s life when she is faced with the prospect of writing a book. When Ellie Kemper’s number was up, she was ready. Contagiously cheerful, predictably wholesome, and mostly inspiring except for one essay about her husband’s feet, My Squirrel Days is a funny, free-wheeling tour of Ellie’s life - from growing up in suburban St. Louis with a vivid imagination and a crush on David Letterman to moving to Los Angeles and accidentally falling on Doris Kearns Goodwin.

But those are not the only famous names dropped in this synopsis. Ellie will also share stories of inadvertently insulting Ricky Gervais at the Emmy Awards, telling Tina Fey that she has “great hair - really strong and thick,” and offering a maxi pad to Steve Carell. She will take you back to her childhood as a nature lover determined to commune with squirrels, to her college career as a benchwarming field hockey player with no assigned position, and to her young professional days writing radio commercials for McDonald’s but never getting paid. Ellie will guide you along her journey through adulthood, from unorganized bride to impatient wife to anxious mother who - as recently observed by a sassy hairstylist - “dresses like a mom.” Well, sassy hairstylist, Ellie Kemper is a mom. And she has been dressing like it since she was four.

Ellie has written for GQ, Esquire, The New York Times, McSweeney’s, and The Onion. Her voice is the perfect antidote to the chaos of modern life. In short, she will tell you nothing you need to know about making it in show business, and everything you need to know about discreetly changing a diaper at a Cibo Express."

I mean firstly, it's a book with Ellie Kemper and a squirrel on the cover, and buy that no matter the contents. But secondly, PLEASE tell me she's going on a book tour!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Christmas, Cindy Anstey, Ellie Kemper, Ghost of Christmas Past, Jane Willan, Kate Morton, Lore, My Squirrel Days, Neil Gaiman, Queen of Kenosha, Tana French, The Clockmaker's Daughter, Wales, Wisconsin