strange and random happenstance

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

Moon Over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch
Published by: Gollancz
Publication Date: March 1st, 2011
Format: Paperback, 375 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)

A body is just a body unless something uncanny happened to it. Cyrus Wilkinson apparently dropped dead of a heart attack while playing with his jazz quartet. He wasn't the first and he won't be the last jazz musician to die in such a fashion. But his body is different. As PC Peter Grant examines the body he sees why he was brought in. Or should that be hears why. Because he hears the strains to the song "Body and Soul." Despite outward appearances, this man died by magic. And the song is the key. Which means instead of turning to his boss, DCI Thomas Nightingale, he's turning to his dad. "Lord" Grant was a legend in his time. That's when he was able to play and not crippled by his addiction. It has always broken his father's heart that Peter just doesn't like jazz, but he is more than happy to spend time with Peter looking for the exact version of "Body and Soul" that Cyrus Wilkinson's body was emitting. This version has a little swing, a little something special, and it was played by one Ken "Snakehips" Johnson who died in the Blitz when a bomb hit the Café de Paris in Soho. Which leads Peter into the heart of Soho. He's sure that Cyrus Wilkinson's death wasn't the first and won't be the last. Someone is draining the life force out these talented musicians like some sort of jazz vampire, and yes, he realizes that he should have probably thought of a better name, but it's too late to change it now. With Nightingale recuperating from his recent gunshot wound and Lesley on medical leave in Brightlingsea, Peter is on this case by himself, until he picks up the remaining members of Cyrus Wilkinson's quartet as his own Irregulars who view him as a descendant of royalty. But really, the "Lord" is just a moniker gifted to his father by Ray Charles. But then there's also Simone. Simone was living with Cyrus Wilkinson before his death and she just keeps showing up wherever Peter turns. Sure Soho is small, but it can't be a coincidence. Soon she is all he is concerned with. His obsession leaves his police work by the wayside. Peter needs to remember there are jazz vampires and something far worse walking the streets of Soho and he's at the center of it.

As it so happens with the randomness of the universe I read two books set in Soho back to back. One perfectly captured Soho, and let's say, it wasn't the one written by a heavily lauded author known for her historical fiction, it was the one written by a former writer of Doctor Who novelizations which happened to include jazz vampires. While repeatedly saying jazz vampires might make you think that this book which perfectly blends the paranormal with the procedural might be a bit absurd and silly, I would counter that there's more snark and the humor is perfectly dark so the jazz vampires really do make sense even if Peter will forever feel a bit silly about giving them that name. There's also this storied history about Soho, we see the layers of time and the shifting of taste and music. I kept thinking it was the supernatural equivalent of Last Night in Soho. These two different forms of art captured a time and a place better than the previously alluded to historical fiction award winner. Then adding the procedural element on top and, oh my, I started to get Endeavour vibes. That seediness, that world where the line between cops and criminals was so narrow as to hardly exist. Clubs with smoke clinging to the wallpaper and the ever present threat of danger. And don't even get me started on the Strip Club of Doctor Moreau. Again, sounds funny, but really terrifying. Like the most horrific mashup of the London nightclub scene with "human" trafficking. I devoured this book over two days in which I literally did nothing else that wasn't necessary to keep myself alive. I enjoyed the first book, I worship this one. But what has given Peter a permanent place in my heart is his opinion on jazz. Peter's inner monologue when his Dad "played a couple of bars of 'Body and Soul', stating the melody before vamping and then taking the line in a direction that I've never been able to follow or appreciate. He looked disappointed at my reaction - he keeps hoping that I'll grow into it one day." Made my heart sing. I can't stand jazz, I can't stand the vamping. I NEED a melody that doesn't spiral off into wankery for thirty minute impromptu solos of experimentation. The music will never take me, or Peter, like that, and I am forever grateful to find a kindred soul.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Ben Aaronovitch, Doctor Who, Endeavour, Jazz, Jazz Vampires, Kate Atkinson, Last Night in Soho, London Calling, Lord Grant, Moon Over Soho, Nightingale, Peter Grant, Rivers of London, Soho, The Island of Dr. Moreau

Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch
Published by: Gollancz
Publication Date: January 10th, 2011
Format: Paperback, 392 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
To Buy (different edition than on reviewed)

PC Peter Grant feels his police career slipping through his fingers. He's had his career progression meeting with Inspector Neblett and has been told they think he'd make a good fit with the Case Progression Unit. He'd be "performing a valuable role" by doing paperwork that no one else wants to do. He's too easily distracted is the kindest way his partner Lesley can think of to put it. And technically it is a valuable role. This vision of his future spurs Peter into doing something desperate. The day before he and Lesley were both guarding an important crime scene. A man literally had his head knocked off in the middle of Covent Garden. When Lesley was off getting them coffees Peter happened to find a witness. A witness that has been dead for over a hundred years. Peter's a sensible man, he doesn't believe in ghosts, but if that ghost could give him valuable information leading to the killer, who is he to complain? And then goodbye Case Progression Unit, hello murder team. Of course when he's off secretly ghost hunting he runs into a senior officer, Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale. And in that moment all possible futures collapse into a singularity. He knew he was bound for the Case Progression Unit. Until Neblett informs him that he has been seconded by Nightingale, who he is to meet in a Japanese restaurant. Nightingale informs Peter that ghosts do in fact exist, as do ghouls, faeries, demons, witches, warlocks, elves, goblins, but no aliens, as yet. As for the current investigation, they are on the lookout for the uncanny, a flash of laughter and violence. Nightingale is offering Peter something beyond the ordinary, an apprenticeship to a wizard. He'd be a part of the Special Assessment Unit based out of the Folly instead of pushing paperwork with the Case Progression Unit. Peter's rather quick to swear his fealty, which is something they still do apparently, because he wants to make a real difference. Only maybe he should have paid attention to the fine print. This is a dangerous job and as more people die in oddly theatrical manners with killers whose faces reshape itself into a mask he realizes he'll be lucky to survive his first case.

Rivers of London is a supernatural police procedural that fills a very specific niche that I don't think many people realized they were missing in their lives. Aaronovitch has created a world were we have a protagonist who has grown up in a mundane world with a scientific background and is thrust into a world of magic. And while that world of magic has drawn comparisons to Gaiman and American Gods in particular due to the personification of rivers, though you could make an argument for Neverwhere too, this book does for me what American Gods was never able to do, make me enjoy the ride. I apologize to all those American Gods fans out there, but sometimes Gaiman's execution doesn't live up to the concept. And I'm by no means saying that Rivers of London is a perfect book, it fumbles the explanation of exactly who the villain is in the end, but would I read this book again? You bet. Because I just love this tension of magic and science. Peter Grant is unwilling to accept that magic can't be explained by the scientific method. So he tests magic. He notices that if he does magic it will fry his phone, so perhaps the magic is draining the energy from the battery, thus proving that the energy magic needs doesn't come out of thin air and also answering the lifelong question of anyone who reads magical books, why don't electronics work in conjunction with magic. Plus he does it with calculators. It's way cooler than I make it sound. But in the end it's the theatricality that sold me on this book. The spirit of riot and rebellion that brings together the bizarre history of Punch and Judy with a V for Vendetta bent. I challenge you to actually find a more dramatic, in all senses of the word, climax than the one at the Royal Opera House. It's scary, funny, and totally over the top. And now I will end with a random aside, I think Ben Aaronovitch has had bowel issues. All the gastroenterology jokes combined with referring to the Punch "possession" as a sequestration, when acid sequestration is a way to rebalance the biome of the gut, it just tracks as it were... Also you DO NOT want to know why I know so much about this.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: American Gods, Ben Aaronovitch, London Calling, Magic, Mr. Punch, Neil Gaiman, Nightingale, Peter Grant, Procedural, Punch and Judy, Rivers of London, Royal Opera House, Sequestration, Theatrical, V for Vendetta

A Good House for Children by Kate Collins
Published by: Mariner Books
Publication Date: July 4th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The dazzling debut novel from Kate Collins - a feminist Gothic mystery spanning decades, in the vein of Mexican Gothic and The Essex Serpent.

Once upon a time Orla was: a woman, a painter, a lover. Now she is a mother and a wife, and when her husband Nick suggests that their city apartment has grown too small for their lives, she agrees, in part because she does agree, and in part because she is too tired to think about what she really does want. She agrees again when Nick announces with pride that he has found an antiquated Georgian house on the Dorset cliffs - a good house for children, he says, tons of space and gorgeous grounds. But as the family settles into the mansion - Nick absent all week, commuting to the city for work - Orla finds herself unsettled. She hears voices when no one is around; doors open and close on their own; and her son Sam, who has not spoken in six months, seems to have made an imaginary friend whose motives Orla does not trust.

Four decades earlier, Lydia moves into the same house as a live-in nanny to a grieving family. Lydia, too, becomes aware of intangible presences in the large house, and she, like Orla four decades later, becomes increasingly fearful for the safety of the children in her care. But no one in either woman's life believes her: the stories seem fanciful, the stuff of magic and mayhem, sprung from the imaginations of hysterical women who spend too much time in the company of children.

Are both families careening towards tragedy? Are Orla and Lydia seeing things that aren't there? What secrets is the house hiding? A feminist Gothic tale perfectly suited for the current moment, A Good House for Children combines an atmospheric mystery with resonant themes of motherhood, madness, and the value of a woman's work."

Sometimes people forget that the Gothic is all about the woman's POV.

The House Keepers by Alex Hay
Published by: Graydon House
Publication Date: July 4th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The night of London's grandest ball, a bold group of women downstairs launch a daring revenge heist against Mayfair society in this dazzling historical novel about power, gender, and class

Mrs. King is no ordinary housekeeper. Born into a world of con artists and thieves, she's made herself respectable, running the grandest home in Mayfair. The place is packed with treasures, a glittering symbol of wealth and power, but dark secrets lurk in the shadows.

When Mrs. King is suddenly dismissed from her position, she recruits an eclectic group of women to join her in revenge: A black market queen out to settle her scores. An actress desperate for a magnificent part. A seamstress dreaming of a better life. And Mrs. King's predecessor, with her own desire for vengeance.

Their plan? On the night of the house's highly anticipated costume ball - set to be the most illustrious of the year - they will rob it of its every possession, right under the noses of the distinguished guests and their elusive heiress host. But there's one thing Mrs. King wants even more than money: the truth. And she'll run any risk to get it...

After all, one should never underestimate the women downstairs."

Downton Abbey meets Ocean's Eight!

The Devil's Flute Murders by Seishi Yokomizo
Published by: Pushkin Vertigo
Publication Date: July 4th, 2023
Format: Paperback, 256 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"An ingenious classic locked-room murder mystery about the feuding family of a composer that's perfect for fans of Lucy Foley, Ruth Ware, and Anthony Horowitz.

Featuring the scruffy sleuth Kosuke Kindaichi - the most famous Japanese detective - created by one of Japan's greatest crime writers: Seishi Yokomizo, the "Japanese Agatha Christie"

Locked room mysteries are hot again, and this classic from the golden age of crime presents a mind-bending Japanese mystery from the great Seishi Yokomizo, whose fictional detective Kosuke Kindaichi is a pop culture phenomenon akin to Sherlock Holmes.

This time the beloved scruffy sleuth Kosuke Kindaichi investigates a series of gruesome murders within the feuding family of a brooding, troubled composer, whose most famous work chills the blood of all who hear it. Readers will be totally engrossed by one of Yokomizo's most clever guessing games, in which everyone has something to hide..."

Have locked room mysteries ever not been hot? Asking because I seriously always love them.

Into the Pines by Ryan Lill-Washington
Published by: Ryan Lill-Washington
Publication Date: July 4th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 208 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Up-and-coming podcast host Eyvette has spent the last few years of her life trying to put her rural Southern upbringing behind her. And she's just about managed it - she's got a snazzy Los Angeles apartment, a talented actress girlfriend, and a growing online following of her own.

Then, Eyvette's comfortable new world comes crashing down around her. She learns that her childhood friend and first love, Charlene, has been named the second woman to go missing in the woods surrounding her tiny hometown. Eyvette can't help herself - she packs her things and heads back home to the foothills of South Carolina in search of answers.

It's not long before Eyvette realizes she may have bitten off more than she can chew. There are no leads into Charlene's disappearance, and the once-familiar woods now seem wild and menacing. As she ventures farther and farther into the pines in search of answers, Eyvette begins to realize that she's not alone in the woods - and she may be running out of time to find her friend before someone, or something finds her first.

What lies within the pines that surround Traveler's Rest? Where do all the missing girls go? Who can you trust in the woods? Do people truly disappear without a trace?"

Oh, where do all the missing girls go!

Wolfsong by T.J. Klune
Published by: Tor Books
Publication Date: July 4th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 528 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The Bennett family has a secret:
They're not just a family, they're a pack.
Wolfsong is Ox Matheson's story.

Oxnard Matheson was twelve when his father taught him a lesson: Ox wasn't worth anything and people would never understand him. Then his father left.

Ox was sixteen when the energetic Bennett family moved in next door, harboring a secret that would change him forever. The Bennetts are shapeshifters. They can transform into wolves at will. Drawn to their magic, loyalty, and enduring friendships, Ox feels a gulf between this extraordinary new world and the quiet life he's known, but he finds an ally in Joe, the youngest Bennett boy.

Ox was twenty-three when murder came to town and tore a hole in his heart. Violence flared, tragedy split the pack, and Joe left town, leaving Ox behind. Three years later, the boy is back. Except now he's a man - charming, handsome, but haunted - and Ox can no longer ignore the song that howls between them.

The beloved fantasy romance sensation by New York Times bestselling author TJ Klune, about love, loyalty, betrayal, and family."

And shapeshifters, don't forget the shapeshifters!

Business or Pleasure by Rachel Lynn Solomon
Published by: Berkley Books
Publication Date: July 4th, 2023
Format: Paperback, 384 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A ghostwriter and a struggling actor help each other on the page and in the bedroom in this steamy romantic comedy from the New York Times bestselling author of The Ex Talk.

Chandler Cohen has never felt more like the ghost in "ghostwriter" until she attends a signing for a book she wrote - and the author doesn't even recognize her. The evening turns more promising when she meets a charming man at the bar and immediately connects with him. But when all their sexual tension culminates in a spectacularly awkward hookup, she decides this is one night better off forgotten.

Unfortunately, that's easier said than done. Her next project is ghostwriting a memoir for Finn Walsh, a C-list actor best known for playing a lovable nerd on a cult classic werewolf show who now makes a living appearing at fan conventions across the country. Chandler knows him better from their one-night stand of hilarious mishaps.

Chandler's determined to keep their partnership as professional as possible, but when she admits to Finn their night together wasn't as mind-blowing as he thought it was, he's distraught. He intrigues her enough that they strike a deal: when they're not working on his book, Chandler will school Finn in the art of satisfaction. As they grow closer both in and out of the bedroom, they must figure out which is more important, business or pleasure - or if there's a way for them to have both."

I am really drawn to this because of the whole culture of C-list actors at conventions who have so much bravado and the fact that one would be bad in the sack is hilarious. At least he's willing to learn...

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Alex Hay, Conventions, Downton Abbey, Ghostwriting, Gothic, Kate Collins, Locked Room, Ocean's Eleven, Podcast, Rachel Lynn Solomon, Ryan Lill-Washington, Seishi Yokomizo, Shapeshifter, T.J. Klune

If there's two things that get my geeky blood pumping it's London and urban fantasy. I read a lot of books that fall into either one category or the other but rarely both. But last year when the third Checquy book by Daniel O'Malley was released and I was deep into reading the Lockwood and Co. series by Jonathan Stroud I started to think, hang on, these are both urban fantasy with a paranormal bent all set in London, there's something here, I am living my dream. And of course I take any chance I can to read more books of a similar bent once I find something I love and I picked up the Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch and the Kate Kane series by Alexis Hall on the recommendation of a friend, and I was like, this isn't just a theme month, this is an epic summer-long journey! This is going to be legendary. I hope you'll join me. Though it is mandatory to sing The Clash on a loop in your head... So get ready for London Calling! And get ready for that song to be stuck in your head for months and months..."London calling to the faraway towns. Now war is declared and battle come down. London calling to the underworld. Come out of the cupboard, you boys and girls...."

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Alexis Hall, Ben Aaronovitch, Daniel O'Malley, Jonathan Stroud, Kate Kane, Lockwood & Co., London, London Calling, Paranormal, Rivers of London, Supernatural, The Checquy, The Clash, Theme Month, Urban Fantasy