Medieval Mysteries and Magic Tuesday, Aug 11 2015 

great read and historical saga and new series , , , Auntie M Writes Crime 12:22 am

Here are great books for those readers who enjoy theirs set in far away times with the hint of mysterious fairy tale adventures–enjoy!

I-LOVED-A-ROGUE
Katherine Ashe’s third in her Prince Catchers series, I Loved a Rogue, has garnered enthusiastic reviews.

A soothsayer has foretold the future for one of three orphaned sisters: one will marry a prince. It’s the stuff of fairy tales for certain, as they await the mystery of their past to be revealed. Only the last sister can fulfill the prophecy, but it comes at a price: resisting the advances of a seductive rogue.

Eleanor Caulfield appears to be the perfect vicar’s daughter, yet she’s been in love with a gypsy, Taliesin, who broke her heart years ago. The only unmarried sister, Eleanor is fast approaching spinster hood. With the marriage of her father, she determines she must unravel the mystery of her parentage. Having almost died as a child, Eleanor’s sisters demand she have an experienced traveler be her guide.

With Taliesin appearing for her father’s wedding, the sisters suggest he accompany her, and Eleanor sets off with mixed feelings.
As they travel the countryside in search of clues to her parent’s identity, flashbacks show the duo’s history: the mixture of awe and devotion Taliesin feels for Eleanor; her fear and infatuation, under the impending doom of society’s disapproval.

Their challenging of each other is what strengthened Eleanor after her sickness and now galvanizes her on the quest for her parents. No spoiler alert here, but definitely an interesting ending to the series by a talented writer.

Auntie M had the pleasure of meeting Katherine Ashe at the Pamlico Writers Conference this year. She’s as charming as the heroines she writes about.
LampBlack
Paula Brackston’s novels of witches and spirits have a commanding following. She’s back with her fifth, Lamp Black, Wolf Grey, set in Wales, and this time one of her characters is none other than Merlin himself.

Dual stories in different times both feature the legendary Merlin. Laura, a painter, has moved to the Welsh countryside with her husband to make a fresh start after years of infertility. They are looking to trade the noise and busy London lifestyle for the quiet, quaint wilds of the Welsh countryside, and choose an ancient home named Penlan.

Instead of solace and inspiration, Laura finds herself experiencing emotional longings and mysterious unexplained occurrences. Living in a centuries-old house in a remote area rich in lore and mystery, she feels echoes from the past. Her imagination runs wild with tales of Merlin the Magician having lived nearby in his pre Arthur days, and she tells herself it’s her imagination or else she’s losing her mind.

Interspersed throughout Laura and Dan’s story is that of Megan, a servant in the house of a wicked lord, and of her romance with the magician Merlin. This duality fleshes out the story in a nice mix that’s hallmark Brackston. Laura is a complex and likable heroine, with very relatable weaknesses. The mythical Merlin remains more enigmatic and mysterious. The historical parts are well done, yet readers will enjoy the the compelling contemporary plot line.

Dragon Handale
Cassandra Clark’s fifth Abbess of Hildegard mystery takes readers to 14th century England in The Dragon of Handale. Clark introduces the characters and their backgrounds so readers who have not read the previous novels can plunge right in.

Hildegard of York is a former nun, something of a sleuth, used to being in a position of authority, a woman who’s become ambivalent about whether she should re-enter a convent or continue on in secular life. Her former prioress suggests that she stay at the remote Handale Priory while she ponders her decision.

Yet once she’s settled at Handale, Hildegard begins to wonder if there was a hidden agenda involved in sending her there. Handale is a place for penitents – but in practice, it appears more a kind of prison for sinning nuns. Life there is harsh and unforgiving.

Everywhere she looks, Hildegard’s sharp and inquiring mind sees suspicious activity. There’s a strange rumor of a vicious ‘dragon’ outside the priory walls. Then a mason, one of a group hired to do work for the abbey, is brutally murdered. The woman in charge seems deliberately cruel. Young novices are desperate to escape. And what is a wealthy merchant doing within the walls?

Hildegard realizes that these strange incidents make it her job to get to the bottom of what’s really going on at Handale. Her investigation will range from small and personal injustices right up to high affairs of state and the politics of the realm. Intriguing to see a mystery and amateur sleuth in this kind of setting.

RedRose

Joanna Hicson’s Red Rose, White Rose takes readers to fifteenth century England in the time of the War of the Roses. This well-researched historical fiction is based on Cecily Neville, the wife of Richard Plantagenet of York and mother of Edward IV and Richard III. Cecily Neville is the youngest daughter of Ralph Neville, Earl of Westmorland, and her advantageous marriage with Richard, Duke of York, combines two of the most powerful families in the land.

But Cecily soon learns that being married to one of the richest men in the country is not without danger, and as she discovers that life so close to English royalty is fraught with both treachery and peril.

Beautifully researched, the story combines the best of both fact and fiction. Throughout the novel, readers learn Cecily’s perspective about her life; we see her maturing from a young and idealistic teenager to a mature woman with her own children and responsibilities for vast estates.

She’s a compelling protagonist, opinionated and controlling at times, but ultimately loyal to those she loves and respects. The co-narrator is Cuthbert, who is described as Cecily’s illegitimate half brother. This fictitious figure provides a much needed male perspective on what it was like to serve the Neville family. And as he gets tangled up in the politics and manoeuvrings of the scheming Plantagenets, we gain insight into the intrigue and deceptions that were so much a part of this deadly game of thrones.

Siege Winter
Ariana Franklin’s death in 2011 left readers clamoring for her unfinished manuscript, and her daughter Samantha Norman has done a grand job of stepping in to finish her mother’s final manuscript, leading many to feel she can more than inherit her mother’s legacy in The Siege Winter.

Research on everyday medieval life brings real authenticity to the novel. During this era, England’s civil war between supporters of Stephen (grandson of William the Conqueror), and his cousin, the Empress Matilda, for the throne of England forced occupants of cathedrals as well as castles to take sides.

The fictional Kenniford Castle is a pivotal site because it is on a key Thames crossing. The castle’s mistress is 16-year-old Maud, a ward of King Stephen, forced to marry the much older, crass and barbaric John of Tewing, who arrived at the castle for the wedding with both his son and his mistress.

In alternate chapters, readers follow the fate of a young girl who had gone out to gather fuel with her family and was caught by a group of men, led by a sadistic rapist and killer monk with a penchant for red-headed children. Emma was left for dead but was found by Gwilherm de Vannes, a mercenary who had his horse stolen by the very men who ravaged Em.

Gwil nurses the girl back to health and she remembers nothing of the trauma that almost killed her, nor of her life before it. Gwil calls her Penda after a Pagan warlord. He cuts her hair to disguise her as a boy, and he teaches her to defend herself with a bow. The two travel through the countryside earning money by giving archery exhibitions. What Gwil doesn’t share with Penda is his determination to track down and destroy the monk who brutalized her. In addition, he suspects the monk may not be done yet with Penda, because when Gwil found her, she was clutching a valuable parchment that the monk needs to recover.

Events take a turn when Mathilda and two protectors, Alan and Christopher, stumble upon Gwil and Penda during a snowstorm, and take shelter with them. They beseech Gwil and Penda to help them get Mathilda to safety, and the five of them end up at Kenniford castle. Before long, the castle is besieged by the much larger and better armed forces of Stephen, and must survive a brutal winter while avoiding death and destruction.

A fascinating look at medieval times with a mystery within the rages of war.
Bitter-Greens-Thomas-Dunne-Books

Kate Forsyth is quickly becoming a name in historical fiction as she explores fairy tales. Her debut, Bitter Greens, won the Best Historical Fiction prize from the American Library Association.

It’s the time of the Sun King, Louis XIV, and novelist Charlotte-Rose de la Force has been banished from the Court of Versailles for behaving like a man in terms of her love life.

Running alongside Charlotte’s story is the thread of the fairy tale of Rapunzel, told to Charlotte by an old nun, which gives the story it’s interesting structure. The two story lines share themes as the female characters struggle for independence and the right to decide their own destinies.

This also echoes the life story of the witch who confined Rapunzel. For the first time we see her backstory and her fight for the freedom to make her own choices. This has her become a more sympathetic character than fairy tale readers recall, even though she remains a dark element in the Rapunzel story. The witch’s fears are common ones with which most people contend: the fear of aging and death. With its echoes of feminism, the themes apply to modern times and keep all the woman deeply human.

wildgirl_forsyth
With The Wild Girl, another exploration of fairy tales, Kate Forsyth deals with the Brothers Grimm. This is a richly imagined tale of the woman who gave the Grimm brothers some of their best stories. History is very much part of the foreground, as the Napoleonic wars rage around the small kingdom of Hessen-Kassel. The book deals with how the lives of ordinary people, especially the poor or the marginalised, experience history as a material impact on their bodies and minds, and their everyday lives.

The romance between Wilhelm Grimm and Dortchen Wild unfolds slowly and deeply over many years. Dortchen is wild by nature, headstrong and curious. At the hands of her cruel and domineering father, she moves from innocence to experience, and the novel takes a hard turn. Its darkness is relieved by the meetings between the lovers, as she tells Wilhelm tales and they fall deeply into a forbidden love. There is real despair here, not a cliched romance, as the lovers are helpless in the face of circumstance.

Yet the romance becomes almost secondary to the sophisticated and thoughtful power of the stories. “Stories help make sense of things,” Dortchen tells Wilhelm. It’s long been known that many nursery rhymes and fairy tales were commentaries on the politics of their time. And in this novel we see the additional importance of stories in preserving a culture, in remembering history, and in connecting people in time as all good fairy tales do.

Kate Forsyth is a deft writer, her prose elegant and spare, almost Germanic in its precision and placement in this novel in contrast to the different language she uses in the French tale Bitter Greens, which has an almost baroque feel to her chosen words. So besides weaving talented tales and doing complex research of each time, this author manages to tailor her language to each novel’s setting. And the covers are gorgeous~

 

The Book of You: Claire Kendal Sunday, Aug 9 2015 

debut and great read and mystery to die for , , , Auntie M Writes Crime 12:14 am

Book of You

If you read and enjoyed Elizabeth Haynes Into the Darkest Corner then you will definitely want to read Claire Kendal’s The Book of You.

University administrator Clarissa, getting used to a painful split from her partner, can’t wait for her jury duty to begin. She’s thrilled when she’s assigned to a case where she will have to be off work for at least seven weeks. Every day in the protected courtroom means a day out of sight of the man whose stalking is ruining her life and haunting her dreams on the rare nights she’s able to sleep.

Rafe is the academic who turned one night’s encounter with her into his obsession. An expert on fairy tales, especially those of a dark nature, Rafe uses these to add chilling texture to the terror that has become Clarissa’s life. She’s unable to walk home from the train station or leave her home without seeing his shadow. Even a walk in a nearby park becomes the stuff of nightmares until a stranger walking his dog interrupts what she increasingly fears could have been her murder, after researching Rafe’s personal history and learning that a young woman he’d stalked previously has disappeared.

He is ever present in her life, showing up at her house with gifts she must save as evidence of his stalking and harassment to go to the police with enough incidents that they will take her seriously. A talented sewer, Clarissa uses her this sideline to keep hold of her sanity, as her physical health deteriorates and she must detail the conversations and presence of this sick man in her life in a small black book she calls the Book of You.

Now as she takes solace in the jury room, making a few friends, attracted to a fireman in particular, Clarissa can’t help but notice the case they are trying of a young woman raped and brutalized mirrors her worst fears if Rafe should ever get in close contact with her again. The defendant’s grueling days on the witness stand point out that Rafe will try to twist her story around to his benefit, and Clarissa must have enough proof before going to the police of the seriousness of his intent.

The power of the book comes from illustrating how much psychological damage an obsessive like Rafe can incur simply by his continued and annoying presence. And when his threats escalate, so does the horror that Clarissa feels and what she ultimately faces.

This well-written thriller will have readers hearts beating as hard and fast as Clarissa’s does on a regular basis. A harrowing story of the ability to enact cruelty on another human being with Kendal’s knack bringing the reader right into Clarissa’s churning anxiety.

 

Summer Thrillers X 4: Meltzer, Hamilton, Kovacs, Freedland Friday, Aug 7 2015 

debut and historical saga and new series , , , , , , , , , , Auntie M Writes Crime 12:26 am

Here are four great summer thrillers for readers out right now, whether you’re at the beach or reading before bed. And if you missed Steve Berry’s The Lincoln Myth when it first came out, that one is now in paperback and ebook formats.

Meltzer_ThePresidentsShadow(HC)
Brad Meltzer’s Culper Ring Triology has captivated readers, who are waiting for this third installment. The President’s Shadow shows his love of the National Archives and his relationship with former US President George H. W. Bush and First Ladies Barbara and Laura Bush, who helped to inform the book, adding to the sense of reality that pervades the read.

The book opens with a wallop and never lets up, with First Lady Shona Wallace keeping her secret: she’s stolen a small section of the White House Rose Garden for her own flower garden. As she digs in the dirt early one morning, a persistent root finally gives way–and proves to have fingers attached to it.

That severed arm is only the start of trouble for Beecher White, erstwhile employee of the Nation Archives, who’s been visiting his mentor, Tot Westman, every day. Tot lies in a coma after brain surgery on the bullet wound in his frontal lobe.

The discovery of the arm immediately raises questions about security, the victim and the culprit. Beecher is called to a secret meeting of the Culper Ring, where President Wallace tells him that an item discovered with the arm links back to Beecher’s dead father.

That mystery surrounding what happened to his father has consumed Beecher, and this discovery might finally bring some answers. His membership in the secret organization that dates back to before George Washington became President holds the key, especially since the clue left was meant for Beecher alone.

Meltzer blends history with his fascinating story, mixed with that insider knowledge that lends authenticity to the conspiracy that is unveiled. This is great storytelling in an interesting and absorbing trilogy that blends fact with fiction in a compelling manner.

Past Crimes
Switching to a debut, Glen Erik Hamilton and Past Crimes introduces Army Ranger Van Shaw, who has returned to his Seattle home after receiving a terse message from his grandfather after a decade apart. With flashbacks showing readers Van’s unusual childhood, the reason he joined the Rangers, Van Shaw promises to be an entertaining protagonist in this accomplished book.

Van finds his grandfather, Dono Shaw, bleeding from a gunshot wound to the head. With their complicated past and Dono Shaw’s shady life, Van knows he will be the prime suspect in the shooting and must clear his name. But the only way to do that is to plunge himself into the life he thought he’d left behind when he joined the Rangers.

There will be an enormous diamond theft to handle as Van hunts for the shooter, using the skills he’s learned in his Ranger training, combined with his sharp wit to find the assailant as he works with the team Dono put together for his big jobs and realizes he can trust no one.

Filled with action sequences, the book’s visuality and sharp dialogue will lend itself well to being filmed and Auntie M has no doubt this will be picked up by Hollywood if it hasn’t been already.

RussianBride
Best known for his Cliff St. James crime novels, author Ed Kovacs is debuting a new series in The Russian Bride.

His protagonist is an elite agent in military intelligence, working undercover in Moscow to find moles in the US Embassy. Major Kit Bennings suddenly finds himself and his family the targets of a former KGB general-turned-Mafia don in a complicated coercion scheme when mobster Viktor Popov has Kit’s mother killed in California.

Popov threatens to do the same to Kit’s sister, Staci, whom he has already kidnapped. To free his sister, Kit must agree to marry a Russian woman, Popov’s niece, Yulana Petkova, and take her to the U.S.

Desperate to save his sister, Kit reluctantly agrees to the marriage but soon learns what Popov really wants: Kit’s help in stealing an electromagnetic-pulse device that could disable the economic and intelligence infrastructure of a large percentage of the U.S. and open the door to massive cyber-theft opportunities.

Now Kit finds himself hunted by killers on both sides of the ocean and saddled with a new wife,\ as he tries to rescue Staci and stop Popov’s plans from coming to fruition. He will call on all of his talented action-oriented friends for help and there’s plenty of specialists who rise to the occasion. There’s so much going on at times readers will feel breathless at the fast pace.

3rd Woman
Jonathan Freedland’s unusual premise makes The 3rd Woman an intriguing read.

Picture an alternate world where US has borrowed more money from China than it can repay–not too hard to imagine–and is forced to allow them a permanent military presence on American soil. It’s the stuff of nightmares.

But to journalist Madison Webb, it’s her reality to live in this America of crisis in every quarter: economic, political and social.

Then the unthinkable happens: her own sister is murdered, and Madison refuses to accept the official line that Abigail’s death was an isolated crime. There are local political elections in process, with Maddy’s ex-boyfriend working for a candidate, and Abi’s murder soon becomes a hot political issue.

After Maddy uncovers evidence that points to Abi as actually being the third victim in a series of killings, she realizes the deaths are being hushed up as part of a major conspiracy. In the new US climate, there are shades of truth and reality.

Maddy will be forced to use all of her connections to get to the truth. The use of social media adds a nice touch as her own life comes into the line of fire.

This is a clever, fast-paced political thriller. Maddy is a strong and capable female lead with a realistic edge who readers will want to see in action again.

 

Summer Humor at its BEST~ Wednesday, Aug 5 2015 

great read and mystery to die for and Series not to be missed Auntie M Writes Crime 12:14 am

Auntie M decided to do a huge review of the best books she’s read this year for summer reading that all contain humor. Whether wry or ironic dialogue, funny situations or downright laugh-out-loud absurd situations, these all contain elements guaranteed to put a smile on your face!

Ghostly Undertaking
Tonya Kappes has a wild series in her ‘Ghostly Southern Mysteries,” starting with A Ghostly Undertaking. She introduces Emma Lee Raines in the paranormal series, an undertaker who can suddenly see and talk to dead people after being bopped in the head by a falling plastic Santa–“funeral trauma.”

In the first outing, Emma Lee’s own grandmother’s nemesis, Ruthie Sue Payne, keeps insisting that the fall down stairs that killed her wasn’t an accident–she was pushed. And she can’t find her eternal rest until she knows who wanted her dead.

Enter Sheriff Jack Henry Ross–(everyone her Kappes’ books has three names!), Emma Lee’s high-school crush who vows to figure out how foul the play has been. It doesn’t help his case with Emma Lee that her grandmother, the widow of Ruthie Sue’s ex-husband, is the prime suspect.

There are enough laughs to wake up the dead, and Kappes keeps them coming in the sequel, A Ghostly Grave. Ghostly Grave
With Granny Raines running for Mayor of the town and big festival on the horizon, Emma Lee knows digging up a four year-old grave is more than just bad for business. Yet she can’t quiet Chicken Teater, who insists she figure out who killed him.

Sheriff Jack Henry works on forensic details, while Emma Lee takes a good hard look at the prime suspects, notably Chicken’s wife, a former Miss Kentucky who just may have had her fill of sharing his affections with his favorite hen, Lady Cluckington. Yup, that’s her name.

The covers alone on this series are enough to make you smile.

red shoelace
Susan Sundwall’s The Red Shoelace Killer brings readers to armchair sleuth Minnie Markwood. Working with the lovely Rashawna Jones for Chapel Marketing, the ladies newest gig is working at an Albany Mall doing market surveys.

But Minnie’s attention is drawn to the unsolved two year-old case of the Red Shoelace Killer. The victim’s mother has just died, not knowing the identity of her daughter’s killer. With the crime unsolved, police warned women with long, dark hair to be especially aware of their surroundings. Jennifer Landis’ body had been found with a red shoelace tied around her ankle–the same shoelace that had been used to strangle the young woman before her body was found in the woods near a local high school.

It’s a kind of boring day at the mall until a young man appears in Minnie’s cubicle and starts to confess that he thinks he knows who the shoelace killer is–but before Minnie can get his name or any details, he’s bounded away. It turns out that he’s Rashawna’s newest boyfriend, Joel, who works at the Dollar Tree, a potential source of those red shoelaces. As soon as work is over, that’s exactly where Minnie heads. But not before Rashawna is pushed into the trunk of Minnie’s car, and Minnie has a gun held to her head.

Caught up in reading Christie’s The Mirror Crack’d, Minnie swings into action to hunt for the killer with often disastrous results as Detective Dan Horowitz gets involved and her sidekicks are often more of a hindrance than a help.

Shark Skin Suite
Tim Dorsey’s Shark Skin Suite is an over-the-top farce of the best kind. Bringing back his highly unusual protagonist, Serge Storms dispenses Florida information like a twisted tour guide as he tries to practice law with bothering with the usual education or degrees, after a binge of legal movies set in Florida convince him he can do it.

With his former girlfriend an attorney, the courtroom action provide some of the more hilarious scenes.
Brook Campanella’s big case revolves around a class action suit against a mortgage company. No one is exempt from skewering, from lawyers to jury consultants, and the subjects don’t stop there. Internet security companies, those huge multiplex movie complexes, even Florida’s mosquitoes come under the gun.

With its climactic scene taking place at the courthouse in Key West during the height of its Fantasy Fest street carnival, the dialogue snaps and sizzles and readers will be grinning from ear to ear.

Deadly Desires
Hannah Dennison introduced Kat Standford and her mother, Iris, in last year’s Murder at Honeychurch Hall. She’s back with a sequel in Deadly Desires at Honeychurch Hall, bringing much of the “Upstairs, Downstairs” humor again within this cozy mystery in its lovely Devon setting.

There may a plan afoot to run a high-speed train line through the grounds at Honeychurch Hall. it stalls when the body of the transport minister is found on the grounds, just as Kat is looking for an environmental effort to counteract this scheme, while still collecting antiques for her shop.

Trudy Wynne is Kat’s deepest enemy and a tabloid journalist who embodies everything bad readers think of when they hear her job. Being the ex-wife of Kat’s former lover adds to her plot for revenge as Wynne sets out to humiliate Kat and expose her mother as the bestselling romance author Krystalle Storm. And she’s not above using friends to infiltrate Kat’s circle.

With his father-in-law finally dying, David makes a bid for Kat’s affections again. But will she bite?
With all of this going on, it doesn’t help that the husband of a prize-winner of Krystalle Storm’s story contest had begun selling off his dead wife’s things, along with auctioning off her prize trip. There will be Uncle Alfred and a little dog named Mr. Chips. And a body in the mire. Delightful fun.

Bone to be Wild

Carolyn Haines southern series features Sarah Booth Delaney and her spirit friend Jitty, and last year’s Booty Bones is now in paperback if you missed it. The newest entry is Bone to be Wild, with a distraught Sarah Booth trying to get over the defection to Hollywood of her fiancé Graf Milieu. What’s a heartbroken girl to do?

Sarah heads to lick her wounds, where old friends are hosting a Black and Orange Halloween Ball. The band is even going to be that of an old flame, Scott Hampton’s blues band. Sarah’s friends are named Tinkle and Nandy, and there are others who are far from friends who think the devil lives at that club.

When Scott gets a message that clearly threatens his life and those of his band members, Sarah is ready to swing into action to investigate. Then the bartender from Scott’s club is gunned down in a drive-by shooting and Sarah finds herself racing alongside Sheriff Coleman Peters to find a killing cult as the club nearly goes up in flames, leaving Sarah with an interesting new look.

Despite the humorous dialogue, the book ends with a sense of jeopardy for Sarah Booth that will likely propel the action in the next installment.

Body Birches

Katherine Hall Page’s newest Faith Fairchild mystery is The Body in the Birches., and yes, you’ll find her great recipes at the back. Auntie M is making her Summer Corn Chowder with Bacon for her Grands when they visit in a few weeks.

One of the nice things about this series is the inclusion of Faith’s children as they’ve grown and the issues they face. Ben’s job as a dishwasher has its own problems, and daughter Amy is tied up with her friend, Daisy, whose mother may have a shot at inheriting The Birches, a lovely cottage whose disposal is to be revealed at the 4th of July festivities on the small island of Little Sanpere, Maine.

The charming location is another of Page’s niceties, and she gets her descriptions of the Maine area just right. This Fourth is hotter than Faith can remember on Sanpere Island, and with Faith and Tom having a large family room addition added to their house, they will stay at The Pines temporarily. Tom’s out fishing when Faith takes a call from her father-in-law that Tom’s mother had had a heart attack. While stable and expected to survive, she’s in ICU and his frazzled father needs his chaplain son at his side.

So Tom heads to Massachusetts and Faith stays with the teens for the moment. The fireworks are over and Faith takes a call from Tom, then heads for a brief walk in the woods, and finds Sophie Maxwell has just discovered a body in the woods. It’s Bev, the housekeeper for The Birches, wearing her regular shoes but clothes in her nightgown and robe. But why would someone need the housekeeper to die?

That’s the first incongruity that sets Faith’s detecting antenna stirring. With the family gathered at The Birches awaiting the disposition of the property, each of the potential members to inherit come under scrutiny. And then suspicious things start happening to some family members, which would certainly make the pool of possible inheritors dwindle–until another death occurs and this time it’s clearly murder.

You won’t be disappointed in this staple from Page in her long-running series. A classic.

Murder of Magpies

We head across the pond for two more for your reading pleasure:

Celebrated non-fiction author Judith Flanders brings her past experience as an editor for publishing houses to the forefront in her hilarious and smart mystery A Murder of Magpies, exposing and describing the industry as only an insider can manage, while maintaing a darn good mystery.

Londoner Samantha Clair is doing the routine jobs her editing job at Timmons and Ross requires while trying to figure out how best to explain to her star client that her new novel is basically unpublishable. She has lunch to look forward to with a favorite author, Kit Lowell, whose gossipy new book skewers the fashion industry and its recent scandal of the murder of a prominent Spanish designer. Sam insists their legal team go over the book for libel but believes Kit has done his homework and thoroughly researched the case he’s written about.

Sam’s surprised when her morning is interrupted by a visit from DI Jacob Field, whose first question is to ask Sam if she’s failed to receive any expected parcels. He explains he’s investigating a car accident, a rather unusual hit-and-run. Unusual because the victim was a courier, and his parcels and list of stops has vanished with the car that hit him.

And we’re off and running, as Sam unwittingly finds herself involved in Field’s investigation. Someone really doesn’t want Kit Lowell’s manuscript to be published, and is willing to kill to prevent it.

Along the way there will be colleagues Sam must tolerate, like Oxford-lad Ben, who suffers from “major-league Big Dick Syndrome.” And we meet Sam’s neighbors who live above her ground-floor Camden flat– and who describe the workmen they had to let into her flat. Only Sam hadn’t scheduled any workmen. When she speaks with Kit, he tells her he knows someone has been in his flat, too.

Absorbed in questions of liberal hovering around Kit’s book, and unable to reach him when he doesn’t turn up for their lunch, Sam turns to DI Field and finds her company’s computer system has been hacked. And then her flat is broken into and strange men knock her down the stairs …

A delightful tale, with Sam’s voice a grand character to star in this wickedly funny yet absorbing mystery.

Slated Death

Elizabeth Duncan’s Penny Brannigan series brings readers to North Wales in Slated for Death.

A concert is planned for St. David’s Day down in the Llyn Du–“Black Lake”– mine and everyone is involved in some way. There will be a special guest singer with ties to the area and an after party, too. Most of the residents have either had relatives who worked the mine or know people who did.

Glenda Roberts with her imperious air is heading the committee to set things up and shows up at Penny’s spa with music for spa owner Victoria, who will be accompanying the singers at the concert o her harp, along with other musicians. When a group of regular tourists to the mine discover Glenda’s body a few hours later, Penny and DCI Gareth Davies join forces to figure out who would have wanted the woman dead.

Penny is certain the murder has ties to the past, instead of the supposed suspect the police favor. It’s not the only thing Penny and Gareth disagree about, as his attraction to her has not gone unnoticed but she doesn’t feel she can reciprocate his interest.

With the idea that she can unearth the real murderer, it will be up to Penny Brannigan to get to the bottom of the secrets that would cause Glenda’s murder.

Duncan’s research into the mines and her descriptions add texture to the feeling of being deep under the earth, and bring to life the horrid conditions that the men who used to work there faced on a daily basis. An intriguing setting to an mystery that has humor while not overlooking the emotional side.

Auntie M hopes you’ll check out some of these when you’re in the mood for a mystery with a hint–or sometimes more than a hint– of humor!

 

Ellis Vidler: Prime Target and one writer’s process Sunday, Aug 2 2015 

great read and mystery to die for and Series not to be missed , , , Auntie M Writes Crime 12:44 am

One thing Auntie M has learned is that there’s no one way to write. Each writer has to learn what works for him or her, and it’s as individual as snowflakes.

Please welcome fellow Sister in Crime, Ellis Vidler, who shares her writing process with readers.

The Way We Write

The writers I know work in all sorts of ways. Some outline in great detail, others just turn on the computer, start typing, and the story comes to them. Only one person of my acquaintance gets out his yellow legal pad and sharpens his pencil, but it works for him.

Me? I have to think about the characters for a good while, get to know them in my head first. Scenes come to me, and bits of the plot, such as a night fire (arson, of course), and then I wonder if anyone dies in it. If I let the story percolate in its own time, it will eventually take shape.

I do a LOT of reworking, which might be avoided with more planning, but so far that hasn’t worked. The eternal questions why and why not keep coming up. Why would she do that? Why wouldn’t she do that?

Maybe that’s plotting in a way, but the scenes are random, only connected through the characters. My characters are why I write. I love them. I have to or nothing else comes to me. I can imagine them in all kinds of situations, bad and good, as long as I care about them. My most recent characters, Madeleine Schier and Charlie Dance, are two of my favorites. I spent many nights dreaming about them.

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I spend hours online searching for pictures of their faces, their homes, settings for scenes, anything that catches my eye. Most of my “finds” are never used, but I keep them for a long time, just in case.

Now that Pinterest has come to my attention, I have a great place to store the pictures, and they’re easier to see on a board than in my photo files. I keep these boards secret until the book is finished. Then I delete the things I don’t want, add excerpts from the book to some, and make the board public.

For my current book, another McGuire Women Psychics, I started out to write Shallow Grave. I have the character, Niamh, bits of the story, and even the cover. But much of it is based on Niamh’s past. Finally I decided I had to write her mother’s story first, or this one would be all backstory. So this story belongs to Aurelia, most powerful of the McGuire psychics.

It’s set in the North Carolina mountains in 1981 when she’s nineteen. I’ve been thinking about her for a couple of months. As usual, this won’t fit neatly into any genre. It’s about vengeance and murder, justice and injustice, and love. I think it will be suspenseful. I don’t know how long it will be—as long as it takes to tell the story, whatever that is.
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What I do know is that I’m wrapped up in it, and it’s hard to come out for everyday life. The main male character is Finn Youngblood, a member of a rough, clannish family. Finn plays a mean guitar, and I’m working on a scene in a blues bar, so I’ve been listening to the old blues greats—Muddy Waters, Jimmy Reed, John Lee Hooker—while I imagine the scene. The music helps me find the mood and the atmosphere. This was when cigarettes were in, so I see swirls of smoke wafting through the blue light highlighting the band, breathe in the thick air, smell the sweat and perfume and beer. The crowd is caught up in the music. Aurelia, at table in a dark corner, feels it too, until she senses intense rage. She turns, searching for the source, . . .

I’m still in the euphoric stage, the first third or so where I’m filled with ideas and images and in love with all of it. It’s the middle third that’s a killer. I get depressed, doubt the story’s worth, and don’t know where to go next or what works. But for now, I’ll enjoy the high and keep writing. This is how my writing goes.

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Ellis lives and writes in the South Carolina Piedmont with her husband and two wonderful dogs. All her stories have some degree of romance and a lot of suspense. Her first two books were traditionally published but now she self-publishes. Haunting Refrain and Time of Death are the two McGuire Women Psychic novels, and Cold Comfort and Prime Target are linked through Maleantes & More, a security firm. She co-wrote The Peeper, a police procedural/suspense novel, with Jim Christopher. Her collection of three short Southern stories, Tea in the Afternoon, is available on Kindle. There’s more about Ellis and her books at http://www.ellisvidler.com

 

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