Tag Archives: historical fiction

Giveaway – Death At The Manor by Katharine Schellman @partnersincr1me @katharinewrites

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Death at the Manor by Katharine Schellman Banner

Death at the Manor

by Katharine Schellman

August 8 – September 2nd, 2022 Virtual Book Tour

Death at the Manor (Lily Adler Mystery, #3)

Amazon

Synopsis:

The tortured spirits of the dead haunt a Regency-era English manor—but the true danger lies in the land of the living in the third installment in the Lily Adler mysteries, perfect for fans of Deanna Raybourn.

Regency widow Lily Adler is looking forward to spending the autumn away from the social whirl of London. When she arrives in Hampshire with her friends, the Carroways, she doesn’t expect much more than a quiet country visit and the chance to spend time with her charming new acquaintance, Matthew Spencer.

But something odd is afoot in the small country village. A ghost has taken up residence in the Belleford manor, a lady in grey who wanders the halls at night, weeping and wailing. Half the servants have left in terror, but the family seems delighted with the notoriety that their ghost provides. Intrigued by this spectral guest, Lily and her party immediately make plans to visit Belleford.

They arrive at the manor the next morning ready to be entertained—only to find that tragedy has struck. The matriarch of the family has just been found killed in her bed.

The dead woman’s family is convinced that the ghost is responsible. Lily is determined to learn the truth before another victim turns up—but could she be next in line for the Great Beyond?

Book Details:

Genre: Historical Mystery
Published by: Crooked Lane Books
Publication Date: August 9th 2022
Number of Pages: 352
ISBN: 1639100784 (ISBN13: 9781639100781)
Series: Lily Adler Mystery #3
Book Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads | Bookshop.org

Read an excerpt:

As they walked, Mr. Wright fell in step next to Ofelia. “Have you ever seen a ghost before, Lady Carroway?”

“I have not,” she replied, as polite as ever in spite of the hint of skepticism in her voice. “Pray, what does it look like?”

“Like a lady in white and gray,” he said, and Lily was surprised to see how serious his expression was. His frivolous, unctuous manner had dropped away, and he shivered a little as he gestured toward the windows. “No one has seen her face. The first time I saw her she was standing right there, bathed in moonlight, when I was returning from a late night in the village. And my sister saw her in the early morning only two days ago. Some nights, we have heard her wails echoing through the halls, even when she is nowhere to be seen.”

Lily exchanged a look with her aunt, who seemed surprised by the detail in Thomas Wright’s story and the quaver in his voice. Either he believed wholeheartedly in his ghost, or he was putting on a very convincing performance for his audience.

“And what does she do?” Ofelia asked, sounding a little more somber now, as they drew

to a halt in front of the windows. The small party looked around the corner of the hall. It was unremarkable enough, with several large paintings, and a tall, handsome curio cabinet standing in an alcove. An old-fashioned tapestry hung across one wall, though it was worn and faded enough that it was hard to tell exactly what picture it had originally presented.

“Nothing, so far,” Mr. Wright said, a sort of forced theatricality in his voice that left Lily puzzled.

She had expected, based on what Mr. Spencer had said the night before, to find an eager showman in Thomas Wright, ready to bask in the attention of curious neighbors, not a true believer in the supernatural. Glancing at Mr. Spencer out of the corner of her eye, she thought he looked equally puzzled.

“She stands and weeps, or floats around the hall and wails. Usually, if someone tries to draw close, she vanishes. But last month—” Mr. Wright’s voice dropped a little. He still glanced

uneasily toward the other end of the hall, as if momentarily distracted or looking for someone, before quickly returning his attention to his audience. “Last month she became angry when one of our housemaids came upon her unexpectedly. The lady in gray pursued her down the hall, wailing. Poor Etta was so scared that she fell down the stairs in her haste to get away. That

was when our servants started leaving.”

“I trust the housemaid has recovered?” Mr. Spencer asked, sounding genuinely concerned.

“She has,” Mr. Wright replied. “But no one has tried to approach the lady in gray again. We think she wishes to be left alone.”

“Well,” Lily said, attempting a return to lightness, “as far as ghosts go, that sounds reasonable enough. I confess I feel that way often enough myself, especially after too many busy nights in a row.”

Ofelia, who had been looking a little wide-eyed, giggled, and Mr. Spencer quickly covered a cough that might have been a chuckle.

Mr. Wright scowled, his expression halfway between unease and displeasure. “I take it you are not a woman who believes in ghosts, Mrs. Adler?”

“I have never had the opportunity to find out whether or not I am,” Lily replied. “The homes I have lived in have all been stubbornly unhaunted.”

“For your sake, madam, I hope they remain that way,” Mr. Wright said. There was an unexpected note of resignation in his voice as he added, “It is not a comfortable thing to live with.”

“I would have thought you to be fond of yours, sir,” Lily said. “If you dislike her so, why go to the trouble of showing visitors around and telling them the story?”

Mr. Wright smiled, some of the showman creeping back into his manner. “Because you are here, dear ladies. And how could I resist such a beautiful audience?”

“Tell me, has your family any idea who this lady in gray might be?” Lily’s aunt asked politely.

He nodded, his voice dropping even further, and they all reflexively drew closer to hear what he was saying. “We each have our own theory, of course,” he said. “I believe it is my father’s great-aunt, Tabitha, whose bedroom was just this way. If you would care to see the spot?” He held out his arm to Ofelia, who took it. Mr. Wright, engrossed in his story once more, turned to lead them down the closest passage. “Tabitha died there some fifty years ago, of a broken heart, they say, after news arrived of the death of her betrothed in the colonies—”

His story was suddenly cut off by screaming. Not a single shriek of surprise or dismay, but a cry that seemed to go on without ceasing. Thomas Wright froze, the genial smile dropping from his face in shock. “Selina?” he called.

The screaming continued, growing more hysterical. Dropping Ofelia’s arm, he ran toward the sound, which was coming from the far hallway, past the stairs. The others, stunned into stillness, stared at each other, unsure what to do.

“I think it’s Miss Wright,” Mr. Spencer said, all traces of merriment gone from his face. “Wait here—I shall see if they need any assistance.” He made to go after, but Thomas Wright was already returning, rushing down the hall next to another man, who was carrying the screaming woman.

“The parlor, just next to you, Spencer!” Mr. Wright called. “Open the door!”

Mr. Spencer, the closest to the door, flung it open, and the hysterical woman was carried in. She was laid on a chaise longue in the middle of the dim little room, Mr. Spencer stepping forward to help settle her as the man who had carried her stepped back. Lily, glancing

around as she and the other ladies crowded through the door, thought it looked like a space reserved for the family’s private use, which made sense on an upper floor. Thomas Wright knelt next to the hysterical woman for a moment, clasping her hands.

“Selina?” he said loudly. But she kept screaming, her eyes wide and darting about the room without seeing anything. Judging by the round cheeks and dark hair they both shared, Lily thought she must be his sister. Whether they had other features in common was hard to tell when Selina Wright was in the middle of hysterics.

“Miss Wright?” Matthew Spencer tried giving her shoulders a shake. “You must stop this at once!”

But she clearly could not hear either of them. Thomas Wright took a deep breath and looked grim as, with a surprising degree of practicality, he slapped her across the face.

The screams stopped abruptly, her blank expression resolving into one of terror before her eyes latched on her brother. Her face crumpled in misery. “Oh, Thomas!” she sobbed, gasping for breath.

He gave her shoulders a little shake. “Selina, stop this—you must tell me what happened.” But she only shook her head, clutching at his coat with desperate fists and dropping her head against his shoulder, her weeping shaking them both. Mr. Wright turned to the servant who had carried his sister. “Isaiah, what happened to her?”

Isaiah was a young Black man with very short, curly hair and broad shoulders. His plain, dark clothing marked him clearly as a servant, though it was nothing so formal as the livery that

would have been worn in a great house. His wide stance spoke of confidence, and the easy way that Thomas Wright addressed him indicated long service and familiarity.

But there was no confidence on the manservant’s face as he hesitated, gulping visibly and shaking his head. His eyes were wide, and he stumbled over his words as he tried to answer, either unsure how to respond or not wanting to. “It’s . . . it’s Mrs. Wright, sir. She didn’t open her door when we knocked, and Miss Wright . . . she asked me to open it, since no one has the key . . . and she was there, sir—Mrs. Wright. She was there but she wasn’t moving. There was nothing we could do, but there was no one else there what could have done it. She’s dead, sir,” he finished in a rush. “Mrs. Wright is dead. She was killed in the night.”

Beside her, Lily heard Ofelia gasp, though she didn’t turn to look at her friend. Mr. Spencer looked up, his dark eyes wide as he met Lily’s from across the room. She stared back at him, frozen in shock, unable to believe what she had just heard.

“Killed?” Thomas Wright demanded, his voice rising with his own disbelief and his arms tightening around his sister.

“It killed her, Thomas,” Selina Wright said, raising her head at last. Now that her hysterics had faded, her cheeks had gone ashen with fear. “There was no one else who could have entered that room. The lady in gray killed our mother.”

***

Excerpt from Death at the Manor by Katharine Schellman. Copyright 2022 by Katharine Schellman. Reproduced with permission from Katharine Schellman. All rights reserved.

 

 

Author Bio:

Katharine Schellman

Katharine Schellman is a former actor, one-time political consultant, and now the author of the Lily Adler Mysteries and the Nightingale Mysteries. Her debut novel, The Body in the Garden, was one of Suspense Magazine’s Best Books of 2020 and led to her being named one of BookPage’s 16 Women to Watch in 2020. Her second novel, Silence in the Library, was praised as “worthy of Agatha Christie or Rex Stout.” (Library Journal, starred review) Katharine lives and writes in the mountains of Virginia in the company of her husband, children, and the many houseplants she keeps accidentally murdering.

Catch Up With Katharine Schellman:
KatharineSchellman.com
Goodreads
BookBub – @katharineschellman
Instagram – @katharinewrites
Twitter – @katharinewrites
Facebook – @katharineschellman

 

 

Tour Participants:

Visit these other great hosts on this tour for more great reviews, interviews, guest posts, and giveaways!

 

 

GIVEAWAY:

This is a giveaway hosted by Partners in Crime Tours for Katharine Schellman. See the widget for entry terms and conditions. Void where prohibited.

 

 

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Giveaway – The Final Crossing by Vince Santoro @GoddessFish @vsantoro14

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I love to give authors a podium and the freedom to share whatever they like. I found Vince’s Guest Post to be interesting and it got me thinking….

Guest Blog Post

Which two authors would I have dinner with?

Ernest Hemingway and Taylor Caldwell have been known for their inspiring and exceptional writing. So, what would it be like to have dinner with them?

Let the fantasy begin …

As we waited for our drinks, I leaned over to Ernest. “Put that cigar away,” I whispered, to avoid embarrassment.

“It’s Papa,” he replied in his usual charismatic tone. “I told you many times, call me Papa. And this is no ordinary cigar. It’s a Cuban puro.”

“I know what it is,” I said as my eyes followed the waft of smoke charging towards me like one of the bulls from his book, The Sun Also Rises. I moved my head to the side and added, “This is not El Floridity and it’s not 1952. It’s 2022 in Sotto Sotto, Toronto. You remember Toronto, don’t you?”

“Of course, I do,” Ernest said as he extinguished his cigar. “The Toronto Star. I started there as a freelancer and eventually worked as a foreign correspondent in Europe writing stories about post-WWI conditions.”

I looked over to Taylor. She wasn’t a bit annoyed. The curl of her lip suggested she rather enjoyed the exchange and would have also enjoyed a Cuban cigar.

Our server came with our drinks. “Two daquiris,” he said. Ernest smiled and tapped his finger on a space on the table in front of him. “Martini for you, madam. And Negroni for you, sir.” We toasted to friendship and writing and as the food and drinks came in plenty, so did the conversation.

“Congratulations,” Taylor said, raising her glass to me. “I thoroughly enjoyed reading The Final Crossing. Well done.”

“As did I,” Ernest said. I thanked them, smiled, and took a sip of my Negroni.

Then Taylor turned to Ernest. “Papa, you should have added more religious themes in your books.”

“You mean like your stories?”

“You know very well I have written on a broad range of subjects, not just stories related to real historical events or persons. I do not need to defend my work.”

Ernest smiled and raised his glass in tribute of her accomplishments. It was probably more in his appreciation of a woman who exemplified his own persona – strong-minded, adventurous, and passionate about her craft. The wise fisherman was no match for this marlin, at least not this time.

“And don’t forget,” I said. “While you published The Old Man and The Sea in 1952, for which you later won the Nobel Prize, Taylor had written The Devil’s Advocate, set in a dystopia where North America came under Communist rule.”

Ernest leaned back in his chair and took another sip of his drink. Then he began to talk about his time in Cuba and in Paris and in Spain. Taylor raised her hand. Ernest stopped and remained quiet. She then leaned forward towards him and said, “Don’t let the past steal your present.”

The place fell in deafening silence as if everyone had heard our conversation. I broke the stillness with my own curiosity about their work.

“Papa, did writing come easy for you?” He shifted in his seat and cleared his throat as if ready to respond in an interview with a seasoned journalist.

“Writing is something that you can never do as well as it can be done,” he said. “It is a perpetual challenge, and it is more difficult than anything else that I have ever done—so I do it. And it makes me happy when I do it well.”

Then I turned to Taylor. “You have always been outspoken which is reflected in your intricately plotted, suspenseful stories depicting family tensions. Much of this stemmed from your childhood. Would you agree?”

“To some extent,” she replied. “As you know, I emigrated to the U.S. with my parents and younger brother in 1907. Shortly after my father died and the family struggled. I think I tapped into those experiences and wrote them in my stories.”

“I believe you started to write at the age of eight and wrote your first novel when you were twelve.”

She smiled. Then, as if the memories surfaced, her smile faded. “My ill health prevented me from doing many things, except writing of course. I buried myself in writing and the world knew little about me. Many presumed I or rather the author, was a man. That was my first editor’s doing, giving me a pen name. When my identity was eventually made known there was even some public fuss over it.”

“Did that experience change how you thought about people?”

“The nature of human beings never changes. Political fads come and go; theories rise and fall; the scientific truth of today becomes the discarded error of tomorrow. Man’s ideas change, but not his inherent nature. That remains.”

My eyes darted towards Ernest who sat with his hand on his chin, and I could tell he learned something new about Taylor.

“OK, now please humour me,” I said. I reached into my pocket and pulled out three pens, one for each of us. I then took out a piece of paper, ripped it in three and distributed them. I had obviously planned for this moment.

I continued. “If we were stranded on an island and brought with us only one book, what would it be? Write it down, fold the paper and pass it to me.”

They were pensive at first. But then, in unison, they wrote down their answer and handed it to me. I also wrote mine. I unfolded each one and placed them on the table for us to see which book we would have had brought with us.

Taylor wrote, The Old Man and The Sea. Ernest wrote, The Devil’s Advocate. I wrote, The Final Crossing.

We laughed and laughed. We ate and drank. We savoured the evening until the place had emptied, except for three revelling authors.

And the fantasy ended.

What a fun post. I know I have read The Old Man and The Sea, but the others….I’ll be checking. I loved the post and you made it so enjoyable, Vince. Thank you very much.

The Final Crossing: A Tale of Self-Discovery and Adventure by Vince Santoro

GENRE:   Historical Fiction

BLURB

In this tale of self-discovery and adventure, we are connected with a history we’ve come to know as the cradle of civilization.

Nenshi, an Egyptian house servant, raised in nobility, is well-schooled, a master huntsman and hungers to be free. His master agrees to grant his freedom but while the petition is set to be heard, Nenshi’s indiscretion gets in the way. He is caught in a secret love affair with a woman above his social status.

As punishment, he is exiled to labour in the Nubian gold mines. His life turns upside down as he is thrust into a world for which he had been ill prepared. He escapes from the mines and vows to return to Thebes, but his attempts push him farther and farther away on a journey that redefines him – a journey mired with cruelty, bloodshed, and the discovery of a new deity.

In the end Nenshi learns his freedom has been granted and must decide whether to return to his homeland or start a new life.


“I greatly enjoyed this well written story by Vince Santoro. He takes us across the Ancient World
through the protagonist, Nenshi, an exiled Egyptian servant who struggles with class structure, both around and within himself. Santoro weaves a story of ideas – a sense of belonging, monotheism, and the human soul – told through Nenshi’s rite of passage through to his final crossing. The setting is visually evocative of “spirit of place” as the novelist and travel writer Lawrence Durrell called it. It’s a story worth reading.” – Terry Stanfill
Award winning historical fiction author of The Gift from Fortuny, Realms of Gold, The Blood Remembers and other works.

“Vince Santoro is a gifted storyteller. I found The Final Crossing difficult to put down because it is
well written. As an historian and author of non-fiction books, I am impressed with the amount of research that Santoro has done to prepare this story of adventure and romance set in the ancient Middle East. The customs, the beliefs and even the character names are all authentic to that region and era. With so many plot twists and turns, Santoro will keep you guessing about what might happen next to the protagonist until the very end!” – John Charles Corrigan
Author of The Red Knight and “Love Always”

EXCERPT

Twilight was fast approaching, and they returned to the trail. From a distance they saw an abundance of trees and vegetation that sprung from the hard soil. Moments later, they heard rushing water. A twisting river murmured. It called out and invited them to consume its wealth. Nenshi and Aziza went to explore it.

Aziza stopped and kneeled to examine small flowers in bloom. On the river’s edge Nenshi bent over and splashed water on his face. He cupped his hands and drank its cool refreshing offering. Rocks jutted out from the shallow water. He heard footsteps and threw a glance behind him. Aziza, ran towards him, as free as the wind blew, eager to jump into the river. Nenshi screamed from the top of his lungs to warn her.

“Aziza … Aziza … be careful, the water is shallow! There are rocks!”

Her excitement muffled his warning. Nenshi then stood, flapped his arms to get her attention. She pushed her legs hard against the water to run faster until it was just deep enough to jump in.

“Aziza …. Aziza … stop …” Nenshi cried. Aziza took another step but this time slipped and almost fell. She tried to regain balance and continued moving forward. Nenshi gasped hoping she realized the danger and would stop. But she didn’t and it was too late. She slipped again, fell and hit a rock. Nenshi immediately ran to her, stepping and slipping on rocks that almost caused him to lose balance. Babak who had heard Nenshi’s cries dashed to the river. Nenshi crouched over the wet and motionless body.

“Help me get her out,” Nenshi cried out as he lifted her, propped her head and shoulders in his arms. Blood, washed by the water, dripped from her head.

AUTHOR Bio and Links

Vince is an Italian-born Canadian who grew up in Toronto, Canada, and now lives in Pickering, a suburb of Toronto.

In his youth, education and sports became a priority. A private boys’ school, St. Michael’s College in Toronto, provided the opportunity for both. He graduated from York University, Toronto, with a degree in history and a minor in behavioural science.

Vince was always up for new challenges. After completing his studies, he set his eyes on Europe and played professional basketball in Italy. When he returned home, he shifted gears and worked in the aerospace industry in several capacities. The most rewarding was managing internal communications for a large aircraft manufacturer. It was during this time he decided to hone his writing skills by studying journalism at Ryerson University, Toronto, and he had several articles published.

His career in communications along with studies in history and journalism prepared him to take on his next challenge: to write a book. His debut novel, The Final Crossing, has been a labour of love, one he worked on for many years. It reflects life experiences, woven into a story that inspires and entertains, and perhaps even show the world in a different way.

CONNECT WITH VINCE SANTORO

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New Release – Deadly Keepsakes by Anita Dickason @anita_dickason

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Such a lovely cover, don’t you think?

Deadly Keepsakes: A Tori Winters Mystery

Amazon / Goodreads

MY REVIEW

I have loved all the books I have read by Anita Dickason, but Deadly Keepsakes is my FAVORITE. It all starts with the lovely cover, add in an historic house with hidden secrets, some wonderful characters that stole my heart, and I am hooked.

Alone. A hospice nurse. A mysterious death. A vicious dog. Sure did get me going, from the opening pages and I love when an author hooks me so quickly I am unable to look away.

It was the beginning of her descent into a living hell of fear

She knew the police couldn’t protect her. It was up to her to protect herself. Like her, I had thought danger would be over after the trial, but the story would have been over too soon and Anita Dickason wouldn’t have it. Now I know why. Thrills and chills coming up.

Anita Dickason didn’t take the story where I thought it would go. Well done, Anita. I do love when an author can throw a surprise my way and I should have known better than to leap to conclusions with an author like Anita.

The best thing that ever happened to Tori Winters was meeting MIa…and Cammie, Heidi and Tina. I loved watching Tori grow, along with her friendship with these amazing characters, so well fleshed out I wanted them for my friends too. I laughed and cried with them.

I was swept up in the intrigue that became Tori’s life. Who to trust? What the heck is going on? How much danger is she in? Where is it coming from?

I have to come back to the characters, so richly developed. I love the ladies. The more I read of them, the more I came to love them, their generosity, their desire to help a newcomer to their town, their selflessness, doing something good for someone and expecting nothing in return…but Tori will show them how much she appreciates and loves them.

The suspense is not in your face, fast paced danger and thrills, but an underlying current of menace and intrigue flows through the entire novel. I didn’t want to put the book down, but sleep was calling to me.

I love the historical elements, Benny Binion, Top O’Hill Terrace, Granbury, Texas. I love when an author adds elements that make the book special to me, touching on familiar things and introducing me to new things that make me want more.

WOW! I am blown away and super excited about more to come. I can’t say much more or I may include spoilers that are worth discovering for yourself, but I will repeat myself, WOW. I want more of these characters and I can hardly wait to see what is in store for them next.

I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Deadly Keepsakes by Anita Dickason.

Animated Animals. Pictures, Images and Photos
5 Stars

GOODREADS BLURB

The past becomes a deadly future.

Stalked and nearly killed for her role in a murder trial, Tori Winters isn’t giving the killer a second chance. On the run, she’s desperate to find a place where she can’t be found. A puzzling phone call about a vague inheritance seems to be the answer. After all, who would look for her in a Granbury, a small, quaint Texas town?

Instead, Tori’s life is about to spin into an existence where nothing is as it seems. The historic house she inherits is steeped in secrets from the past. Secrets that could prove deadly. There is the disinherited step-grandson, and the lawyer and his son. What are they hiding?

When a killer strikes again, who can she trust? Tori’s newfound wealth may not be a blessing. It could be her death warrant.

ABOUT ANITA DICKASON

Anita Dickason

Code Name: Trackers: The elite of the elite. FBI agents, each with a secret, an extra edge, that defies reason and logic.

Characters with unexpected skills—that extra edge for overcoming danger and adversity—have always intrigued Anita. Adding an infatuation with ancient myths and legends of Native American Indians, and Scottish and Irish folklore creates the backdrop for her characters.

Anita is a retired Dallas Police Officer. During—what she refers to as an extraordinary career—Anita served as a patrol officer, undercover narcotics officer, advanced accident investigator, and SWAT entry/sniper.

Upon retirement, she became involved in a research project that dealt with the death of a witness to the Kennedy assassination. The research led to her first book, JFK Assassination Eyewitness: Rush to Conspiracy, that details the results of her reconstruction of a 1966 motor vehicle accident that killed Lee Bowers, Jr., a key witness to the assassination.

Once the Bowers book was written, Anita reached the same point many authors ultimately face: I’ve written it, now what do I do? Answering that question has become another career, one she has wholeheartedly embraced. The publishing field is in a constant state of flux, offering unlimited possibilities for an author, but also endless landmines.

Anita started a new company, Mystic Circle Books & Designs LLC, offering cover design and manuscript services. In addition to her works as an author, she enjoys helping other authors see their dream become a reality.

Website / Twitter

MY ANITA DICKASON REVIEWS

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  • If you like what you see, why don’t you follow me?
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Giveaway – When We Return by Eliana Tobias @GoddessFish @TobiasElliana

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When We Return by Eliana Tobias

GENRE:   historical fiction

BLURB

Who should be held responsible for public wrong? By 2008, it finally seems that the Peruvian government is ready to make amends to its citizens after the violent guerilla movement of the last three decades.


Otilia and Salvador, a mother and son torn apart during the conflict and separated for twenty years, are eager to have their pain and suffering acknowledged. But they hit a roadblock when the government denies responsibility in their legal case.


Things begin to look up however when Otilia meets Jerry, a kind man and the son of Jewish parents who escaped the Holocaust. Grappling with his own upbringing and the psychological struggled his parents endured, Jerry is just the person to empathize with Otilia’s feelings. Together, Otilia, Jerry and Salvador must support one another through the turbulent journey that is healing from historical trauma. And through it, find the courage to rebuild their lives and open themselves to love and companionship.


Artfully weaving together different timelines and countries, this novel examines the nuanced topic of grief a community endures after a collective tragedy. In this exploration of the culture of remembrance following displacement and loss, we discover what happens when out past calls us back to what we must do to achieve justice and reconciliation when we return.

EXCERPT

Salvador entered the prison gates, following an orderly line of elderly men carrying multiple plastic bags. When a person in the back started to yell, the advancing lineup came to a stop. Almost immediately a guard raised his baton and struck the unruly man to one side.

At the first security checkpoint, bags were opened for inspection. Since Salvador carried no package, he was told to move on. Next, he spread his legs wide for a pat-down. Up ahead, after showing his identity card, he was given a metal token with a printed number he’d have to return to the guards on his way out to account for his visit. Lastly, while shuffling along, he was asked to contribute a few coins for soft drinks for the guards. He reached into his pockets and found some money for drinks for the guards, which he dropped in a box at the end of the corridor.

In the prison yard, Salvador was keenly aware of the throng of people milling about. These places are jam-packed, he thought as he looked for his uncle in the crowd. Inmates talking to suited lawyers, visitors meeting up with family members, joggers getting exercise, and a group of men shooting hoops. Cooked meals, fruit, drinks, batteries, radios and clothes for sale were set up in stalls against decrepit walls. Long lineups of raucous men waited to use a few public phones that only accepted calling cards. Among the cacophony, supervising guards moved through, keeping an eye on the inmates while yelling into their megaphones.

Salvador noticed Tomas, drawn and frail, walking slowly toward him dragging his feet, his face grim. He seemed shorter than Salvador remembered him. It’d been years since they’d seen each other last, and the man had aged badly.

Tomas let out a deep breath, nodded, and pointed to a bench. Salvador checked out the courtyard, wrinkling his nose at the stench. Before Tomas rolled down his sleeves, Salvador noticed the naked female tattooed on his uncle’s forearm. Tomas pulled two cigarettes out of his stained pants pocket and held out one for Salvador.

“No Thanks, I don’t smoke.”

“So you found me, kid. How about that?” His voice was loud. He lit his cigarette with trembling hands. “How’s life?”

Salvador had no stomach for small talk. It was colder than usual for the end of March, and he wanted to be out of there as soon as he could.

Tomas coughed.”I’m stuck in this fucking place.”

“I’m here for only one reason,” Salvador said, staring him in the eyes.

“Thought you’d be wearing your cop uniform.”

“Cut the crap,” Salvador snapped.

Tomas looked puzzled, his face carved with age.

Salvador removed a pad of paper and pen from the inside pocket of his light jacket.

“What the fuck is that for?” Tomas sneered.

“I need facts.”

“Say that again; I’m hard of hearing,” Tomas said leaning in.

“Since when?” Salvador looked at Tomas doubtfully.

“Be nice. Remember that I took you in when you were an orphan – when your mother and father left you alone. You were just a grimy little beggar. Now it’s your turn to take care of me- get me out of this nightmare.”

AUTHOR Bio and Links

Eliana Tobias was born in Santiago, Chile, to immigrant parents who escaped

the Holocaust. She graduated from the University of Chile then completed

other degrees in early childhood and special education in the United States and

Canada. After working in this field in various capacities, including teaching at

the National University of Trujillo in Peru, she moved to Vancouver, where she

has lived for thirty years and where she discovered her love of writing. Her rich

experience of political turmoil, of listening to stories of the Holocaust when

Jewish communities in Europe were shattered, of losing family in Chile under

military dictatorship, and living in Peru during a time of intense civil conflict,

fueled her passion to write about the ways in which people caught in devastation

rebuild their lives. Eliana Tobias lives in Vancouver, B.C.

Website / Twitter / Goodreads

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Giveaway & Review – The Undine’s Tear by Talena Winters @TalenaWinters @GoddessFish

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I love anything to do with water and I would love to visit Atlantis, so I am eager to read The Undine’s Tear by Talena Winters. The blurb says epic fantasy, mermaids like you have never seen them before…and I HAVE TO KNOW.

Amazon / Goodreads

The Undine’s Tear by Talena Winters

GENRE: Young Adult epic historical fantasy

MY REVIEW

Calandra is the most powerful healer to arise in three thousand years. Her people are counting on her to save them. The cost may be too much and time is running out.

Even though Calandra and Tanni are complete opposites, they became fast friends. Tanni’s dream was to be a guardian of the island and would put down her life for her.

Zale performs with the gypsys using his fishy ability, like a carnival act in a freak show. He spends his day in a tank of water. Abela came to him, telling him he had a sister and only he could save his mother, who had been taken by the Grigori.

Damon comes to Calandra in her dreams. He has become her hidden teacher, but I am leery of him. She has a push/pull attraction to him and I think, deep down, she senses there is more than meets the eye to him.

Women rule the island. There are no male Undines, so human men were brought in and Redeemed. That is a misnomer, because all their will is taken from them, so what’s to redeem? Calandra’s conscience is telling her there is something very wrong about this.

Narcissa is a princess whose mother is Adonia, the queen. Narcissa envies Calandra and will do all she can to bring her down, maybe even be the cause of her death. AND, not all the characters will survive the story. There is one that I really hate Talena Winters took a particular one out, but I also like when an author isn’t afraid to kill them off if it adds to the story.

I know there are people who thrive power. Those that have it often feel justified and entitled in their actions, but it is not necessary to be cruel.

Reverend Berian. I am having a hard time deciding if he is a good guy or if he has his own agenda.

We do have mermaids, Atlantis, other magicals, danger, betrayal, sacrifice…

Even though the mers spent most of their time on two legs, I loved the concept of the story. I am curious about what happened to all the mermen, seeing Zale is the only one of his kind…

Action packed, suspenseful, and I want more.

I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of The Undines Tear by Talena Winter.

Animated Animals. Pictures, Images and Photos
4 Stars

Bonus Review for The Waterboy

The Waterboy by Talena Winters is a novella that tells Zale’s story. It is not necessary to read this before The Undines Tear, but if you are going to read the series, I would recommend adding this to your reading list. The Undines Tear covers the basics, but The Waterboy adds a lot of the details of his life and how he came to be with the gypsys.

Animated Animals. Pictures, Images and Photos
3 Stars

BLURB

She’s destined to save the world . . . if she doesn’t destroy it first.

Calandra’s destiny is also her doom. As the most powerful healer since the woman who sank Atlantis, she’s been raised to restore the Heartstone that protects her island from humans . . . before she goes Mad like her mother and all the powerful undine healers before her. When she learns she needs both male and female magic to succeed, she becomes desperate—there hasn’t been an undine male born for over three thousand years. Instead, she’s being pressured to use the siren mind-bond to enslave her childhood friend, the one man she’s sworn to risk a death sentence to free.

When Calandra discovers a cryptic message that shows her exiled mother was not only sane but pregnant with a boy, she questions everything she’s been taught to believe. But revealing the horrifying truth of the bonds could tear her island apart—and concealing it could unleash the Earth’s oldest, most destructive enemy. With insanity looming, can Calandra find her brother and save the Heartstone, the man she loves, her people, and the world . . . before she loses control and destroys them all?

The Undine’s Tear is the first book in the mind-blowing young adult epic historical fantasy series Rise of the Grigori. Packed with complex characters, lush world-building, gritty action, and impossible odds, this intricately woven tale presents mermaids like you’ve never seen them before. Join Calandra in a search for redemption that will threaten the very fabric of the universe. Dive into the adventure today!

EXCERPT

“You are wondering how to gain control of your powers,” Damon said without preamble.

Calandra thought about ignoring him or denying it, but what was the point? This was nothing more than a dream, and the slippery logic of dreams fuzzed her will to keep her more rebellious thoughts to herself.

“You know, I shouldn’t even be talking to you. An Unredeemed male. I could get in big trouble.”

The corners of his mouth curved under his trim goatee.

“And who will report you?” He indicated the blackness around them. “Certainly not I. I exist only in your mind.”

She crossed her arms and cocked her head, studying him. “Have you ever been Redeemed?”

His expression became stony. “Redemption is for humans.”

“Redemption is for men. To make them safe. It just happens that the only men are human.”

Thinking of Osaze’s dread, she wondered again at the morality of it. Uncrossing her arms, she shifted her gaze from Damon’s face to his bronze chest.

“And one of them is my friend.”

“All humans should be controlled,” he replied nonchalantly, drawing nearer. “They have not the patience nor discipline to control themselves. And I am not human, yet I am male.”

She looked up at him, eyes narrowed. “I can see that. What are you? I’ve never seen an undine with golden eyes.”

He smiled knowingly. “Not human. But I could be your friend.”

That same feeling of security and warmth from their first encounter enveloped her, as though he were projecting it from himself intentionally. She frowned, wanting to accept it and shake off her heavy heart, but not daring to trust him yet.

“What do you want from me?”

“I want to help you.”

Damon came near enough to touch her but didn’t, pausing before her with his arms to the sides in a placating gesture.

She wrapped her arms around herself and glared into the blackness beyond him. “Yeah, well, you can’t. Not unless you can tell me how to control powers that could sink an island and heal the Heartstone without going Mad.”

“Little lark,” he said, amusement dripping from his voice like honey from a spoon, “that is exactly what I intend to do.”

AUTHOR Bio and Links

Talena Winters is addicted to stories, tea, chocolate, yarn, and silver linings. She writes page-turning fiction for teens and adults in multiple genres, coaches other writers, has written several award-winning songs, and designs knitting patterns under her label My Secret Wish. Master of the ironic GIF response. She currently resides on an acreage in the Peace Country of northern Alberta, Canada, with her husband, three surviving boys, two dogs, and an assortment of farm cats. She would love to be a mermaid when she grows up.

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Giveaway – Bridges by Linda Griffin @XpressoTours @LindaGriffinA

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Bridges
Linda Griffin
Published by: The Wild Rose Press
Publication date: April 25th 2022
Genres: Adult, Historical Romance

In 1963, Neil Vincent, a middle-aged World War II veteran and “Christian atheist” is working at Westfield Court as a chauffeur. He spends most of his spare time reading. Mary Claire DeWinter is a young, blind, Catholic college student and reluctant heiress. To secure her inheritance, she has to marry within a year, and her aunt is pressuring her to marry a rich man who teased and bullied her when she was a child. Neil and Mary Claire shouldn’t even be friends, but the gulf between them is bridged by a shared love of books. Can they cross the bridge to more?

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—

EXCERPT:

On the drive to Brierly Station, he didn’t speculate about who Miss DeWinter might be. It wasn’t his job to know who she was, only to meet her train and take her safely back to Westfield Court. She wouldn’t be the last of the friends and relatives who would gather as the old man’s life came to its long-awaited and peaceful end.

Brierly was bustling today, as restless as the St. James household. He was in plenty of time for the train and sat in the car reading. The car was a Bentley Mark VI, as well-maintained and highly polished as it was the day it was purchased. The book he was reading was Thomas Hardy’s The Return of the Native.

When the train rumbled in, he got out of the car. He stood patiently on the platform as the passengers disembarked, holding up a small slate on which he had chalked DEWINTER in large capitals. There weren’t many passengers, but they were briefly delayed while the conductor helped a blind woman navigate the steps. Neil’s gaze fell expectantly on a woman in her thirties, with an awful hat, but she was immediately met by a portly man and a teenage boy. No other likely prospects appeared, and he waited for someone to respond to the sign. No one did.

Finally, only two passengers were left on the platform—a small, homely man and the blind woman. Blind girl, really. She couldn’t be more than twenty. She had a jointed white cane, and her large sunglasses didn’t cover the edges of the scars on her face. She would not have been beautiful even without the scars—too thin, for starters, of average height but with small bones. On the other hand, her face might once have been pretty, and her hair was clean and shining, raven black, and well brushed. She was too pale, and the scars around her eyes were red and ugly. She looked a little lost.

Feeling foolish, he lowered the slate. “Miss DeWinter?” he asked as he approached her.

“Yes,” she said, turning toward his voice with a smile.

“I’m Vincent,” he said. “The St. James chauffeur.”

“Pleased to meet you, Mr. Vincent,” she said. “Thank you for meeting me.” Her voice was soft, her enunciation perfect.

The porter fetched her luggage—a single gray vinyl suitcase with a flower decal—from the depot and turned it over to Neil with a cheerful nod. Jane would be disappointed, especially if the girl’s other clothes were as plain as what she wore, a simple dark dress with long sleeves and an unfashionable, below-the-knees hemline. “Would you take my arm?” he asked, positioning himself so she could place her hand in the crook of his elbow, which she did with easy confidence.

“Do you have a Christian name?” she asked.

“Yes, miss. It’s Neil.”

“That’s a good name,” she said. “Mine is Mary Claire. How is my grandfather, do you know?”

Neil, who hadn’t known the old man had any grandchildren, said, “Hanging on, miss.”

He opened the car door and helped her into the back seat.

“You don’t have to call me ‘miss’ all the time,” she said. “Please call me Mary Claire. Or my friends at school call me Sunny.”

“Yes, miss,” he said automatically and closed the door.

Author Bio:

For more information, visit my website, sign up for my newsletter, and claim a free autographed copy of Stonebridge: https://www.lindagriffinauthor.com/

I was born and raised in San Diego, California and earned a BA in English from San Diego State University and an MLS from UCLA. I began my career as a reference and collection development librarian in the Art and Music Section of the San Diego Public Library and then transferred to the Literature and Languages Section, where I had the pleasure of managing the Central Library’s Fiction collection and initiating fiction order lists for the entire library system. Although I also enjoy reading biography, memoir, and history, fiction remains my first love. In addition to the three R’s—reading, writing, and research—I enjoy Scrabble, movies, and travel.

My earliest ambition was to be a “book maker” and I wrote my first story, “Judy and the Fairies,” with a plot stolen from a comic book, at the age of six. I broke into print in college with a story in the San Diego State University literary journal, The Phoenix, but most of my magazine publications came after I left the library to spend more time on my writing.

My stories have been published in numerous journals, including Eclectica, Thema Literary Journal, The Binnacle, The Nassau Review, Orbis, and Avalon Literary Review, and in the anthologies Short Story America, Vol. 2, The Captive and the Dead, and Australia Burns. Four stories, including one as yet unpublished, received honorable mention in the Short Story America Prize for Short Fiction contests.

Member of RWA, Authors Guild, and Sisters in Crime

Website / Goodreads / Twitter / Instagram


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Giveaway – The Benevolence of New Ideas by Carmela Cattuti @ccattuti @GoddessFish

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The Benevolence of New Ideas by Carmela Cattuti

GENRE: Historical Fiction

BLURB

The satisfying conclusion to Angela Lanza’s story which began in Between the Cracks when she loses her entire family in the earthquake on Sicily following the 1908 eruption of Mt. Etna and continues in The Ascent as she adjusts to life in the United States as a new bride and Italian American immigrant. Now, in the final installment in the trilogy, The Benevolence of New Ideas, thrusts Angela and her family into the heart of the Vietnam War and the turbulent times of the 1970s. As the family matriarch, Angela guides her niece, Marie, through these challenges and the era’s limiting structures of education and organized religion, helping Marie to embrace new ideas and expand her intuition and relationship with the unseen world. Angela’s compassion and wisdom has an exceptional impact on Marie’s life and those around her. A fulfilling ending that celebrates Angela’s wisdom in all things along with her well lived life from tragedy to triumph and from heartbreak to the enduring love of family.

EXCERPT

Angela had cared for Franco during his long illness, and now she was free. The relief she felt made her cringe. How could she so easily feel relief when Franco had suffered? She grieved but was thankful there would be no more concerns about leaving him home alone, or trips to the doctor, or Franco insisting he could perform a task when he couldn’t. He had emigrated from Sicily at age twelve 12 in the early 20th century full of energy and promise. Now, in 1968, Angela looked back and felt he had been successful in fulfilling that promise. Franco had brought Angela, at age eighteen, from the convent orphanage in Palermo, where she had lived since the 1908 earthquake, to a new life in Nelsonville, New York, about forty-five minutes north of Manhattan. It was not the life she thought she would have in America, but what she had created in America she never would have had the opportunity to experience had she stayed in Sicily.

Angela kissed Franco several times on both cheeks and on the lips. The doctors had said it was a matter of time until he would pass away. She could see death hovering and begin to slowly drape his body from his head to his feet as if giving Angela time to say good-bye.

“Adio mio caro,” whispered Angela. “Grazie di tutto.” Tears rolled down her face onto Franco’s cheek and mouth. His eyes were open and fixed, as if peering into the world beyond. She put her hands on the sides of his face and with her thumbs closed his eyes.

AUTHOR Bio and Links

Carmela Cattuti started her writing career as a journalist for the Somerville News in Boston, MA. After she finished her graduate work in English Literature from Boston College she began to write creatively and taught a journal writing course at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education. As fate would have it, she felt compelled to write this homage to her great-aunt, who survived the earthquake and eruption of Mt. Etna and bravely left Sicily to start a new life in America.

Between the Cracks and The Ascent began the story, which now concludes with the final book in the trilogy.

Learn more at: CCattutiCreative.com

  • email: cattutic@gmail.com
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  • Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/@ccattuti
  • Instagram: https://instagram.com/carmelacattuticreative

Purchase Links: The book is on sale for $0.99 during the tour.

Buy Link: Amazon / Henschelhausbook

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Giveaway – Thunder On The Moor by Andrea Matthews @AMatthewsAuthor @GoddessFish

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Thunder on the Moor by Andrea Matthews

GENRE:   historical time travel romance

BLURB

Maggie Armstrong grew up enchanted by her father’s tales of blood feuds and border raids. In fact, she could have easily fallen for the man portrayed in one particular image in his portrait collection. Yet when her father reveals he was himself an infamous Border reiver, she finds it a bit far-fetched—to say the least—especially when he announces his plans to return to his sixteenth century Scottish home with her in tow.

Suspecting it’s just his way of getting her to accompany him on yet another archaeological dig, Maggie agrees to the expedition, only to find herself transported four hundred and fifty years into the past. Though a bit disoriented at first, she discovers her father’s world to be every bit as exciting as his stories, particularly when she’s introduced to Ian Rutherford, the charming son of a neighboring laird. However, when her uncle announces her betrothal to Ian, Maggie’s twentieth-century sensibilities are outraged. She hardly even knows the man. But a refusal of his affections could ignite a blood feud.

Maggie’s worlds are colliding. Though she’s found the family she always wanted, the sixteenth century is a dangerous place. Betrayal, treachery, and a tragic murder have her questioning whether she should remain or try to make her way back to her own time.

To make matters worse, tensions escalate when she stumbles across Bonnie Will Foster, the dashing young man in her father’s portrait collection, only to learn he is a dreaded Englishman. But could he be the hero she’s always dreamed him to be? Or will his need for revenge against Ian shatter more than her heart?

GUEST POST

What’s in a Name: The Border Reiver

To the Border reiver, surname took precedence over all else, including king and country. Oddly enough, it was my surname that introduced me to their tales. I should first note that Matthews is my pen name, not my actual last name – that would be Foster. In fact, I was in the midst of doing some genealogical research when a friend brought the connection to my attention. Foster, it seemed, was a right riding name, the most notable of all being Sir John Forster, warden of the English Middle March in the last half of the sixteenth century. Now, Sir John was a gentleman, but he was no angel, for he was a Forster above all else.

The story intrigued me. Visions of my husband’s ancestors riding across the moors sparked my imagination. I had to know more about these rugged rogues who placed such value on a sense of honor and loyalty to their families, in spite of their nefarious preoccupation with cattle rustling and blackmail, I started formulating a story in my head, a tale of thunder across the moors and forbidden love, for although family came first, national pride was still a consideration, even if it was somewhere down the pecking order after their surname and allegiances they may have formed with other families. The blood feud, however, was a deadly affair, and an affront to any member of your surname or allied family would be an affront to the whole surname.

And so my plot was taking form. These feuds could go on for years and be sparked by anything from a small slight to a full-blown disagreement. I turned back to my research. And as I learned more riding names, I realized how many famous and infamous people carried border names. Men like Lyndon Johnson and Neil Armstrong and Walter Scott. Which of course led me to the latter’s poetry. I admit, he may have romanticized the period a bit, but then I suppose I did as well. Time and distance gives us that luxury. And there was the final piece to my novel —Time.

Alas, I still haven’t traced the family back far enough to make a direct connection to a specific person, but they were from the North of England, and still today have that strong sense of honor and familial loyalty, so I know it’s there. And so, my quest continues. Who knows there may even be a Will Foster back there somewhere?

AUTHOR Bio and Links

Andrea Matthews is the pseudonym for Inez Foster, a historian and librarian who loves to read and write and search around for her roots, genealogical speaking. She has a BA in History and an MLS in Library Science and enjoys the research almost as much as she does writing the story. In fact, many of her ideas come to her while doing casual research or digging into her family history. She is the author of the Thunder on the Moor series set on the 16th century Anglo-Scottish Border, and the Cross of Ciaran series, where a fifteen-hundred-year-old Celt finds himself in the twentieth century. Andrea is a member of the Romance Writers of America, Long Island Romance Writers, and the Historical Novel Society.

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Giveaway – Grace Among Thieves by Kari Bovee @KariBovee @iReadBookTours

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Join us for this tour from Mar 1 to Mar 28, 2022!
Book Details:

Book Title:  Grace Among Thieves (A Grace Michelle Mystery) by Kari Bovee
Category: Adult Fiction (18 +), 315 
Genre: Historical Mystery
Publisher:  Bosque Publishing
Release date:   Feb 15, 2022
Content Rating:  PG. Some Mild Language
 
Book Description:

A priceless heirloom worth its weight in lives. Can she crack the case before she becomes a killer’s trophy?

Hollywood, 1924. Grace Michelle’s professional star has risen. Now a successful costumier for a major studio, the ambitious woman has just about everything she wants. But when the father she thought was dead reaches out to reconnect, the talented designer doesn’t know what to think… especially after his new wife is kidnapped.

Discovering her dad is mixed up with a stolen Russian artifact, Grace puts her sleuthing skills to work to rescue the abducted lady. But with a famous actress murdered in connection with the missing valuable and a man she put away stalking her for revenge, the frazzled amateur detective fears getting to the bottom of this crime will leave her six feet under.

Can she hunt down the treasure before it bankrupts the lives of everyone she loves?

Grace Among Thieves is the nail-biting third book in the Grace Michelle Mystery historical series. If you like bright-but-beset heroines, breathtaking twists and turns, and the glamor of a lost age, then you’ll adore Kari Bovée’s riveting tale. 
 
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Check Out These Other Grace Michelle Mysteries:
 
Book Details:

Book Title:  Grace in the Wings – A Grace Michelle Mystery by Kari Bovee
Category: Adult Fiction (18 +), 340
Genre: Historical Mystery
Publisher:  Bosque Publishing
Release date:   September 19, 2019
Content Rating:  PG + M. Book has mature themes; adultery, murder, bigamy, but there is no bad language.
 
Book Description:

A ghost from her past. Her sister murdered. Can Grace slay her demons and find the killer before she ends up dead?

New York City, 1920. Grace Michelle has everything she wants: a home, a family, and a future career as a costume designer for famed showman Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr.’s Ziegfeld Follies. Pretty good for a girl who once lived on the streets of New York City. But when her sister, Sophia, the star of the show, is murdered, Grace’s safe and protected life is shattered.

Battle-scarred by the war and emotionally scarred by his past, Chet Riker has made it a practice to keep his distance from others; love, after all, leads only to pain. But Chet has a problem—a big one: he’s become indebted to mob-boss Joe Marciano in an attempt to save his estranged mother’s life, and Marciano wants him to pay up or else. Desperate to get the money, he contacts former client Florenz Ziegfeld for work.

Soon, Chet finds himself playing bodyguard fo introverted Grace, who has reluctantly agreed to be Ziegfeld’s new leading lady—on the condition that Ziegfeld promises to find Sophia’s killer. Upon meeting Grace, Chet quickly finds his hardened theory that love equals pain tested. Grace, meanwhile, is swept up in a life she never wanted as the Follies’ star, and as the pawn in a series of publicity stunts during a transcontinental train trip to California that puts her life at risk. Who would want her and Sophia dead? Together, she and Chet must confront publicity-hungry Florenz Ziegfeld, power-driven Joe Marciano, and their own pasts to find Sophia’s killer—and let themselves love once again.
 
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Book Details:

Book Title:  Grace in Hollywood – A Grace Michelle Mystery by Kari Bovee
Category: Adult Fiction (18 +), 336 
Genre: Historical Mystery
Publisher:  Bosque Publishing
Release date:   May 25, 2021
Content Rating:  PG + M. Book has mature themes; adultery, murder, bigamy, but there is no bad language. 
 
Book Description:
 
All that glitters… is sometimes blood. With her golden ticket buried in the ground, can she save a wrongly accused teen from the gallows?

Hollywood, 1924. Promoted to lead costume designer of a star-studded film, Grace Michelle should be on top of the world. But between her husband’s debt, her sister’s recent death, and the troubled teenaged girl she’s fostering, she’s struggling to please everyone and still keep a smile on her face. And when a Tinseltown shindig turns deadly, Grace is horrified to discover her young charge unconscious alongside the director’s grisly corpse.

Determined to prove the girl’s innocence, Grace’s own haunted past fills her sleep with prophetic nightmares. And no sooner has she sought clarity from a medium than a second body lands the scared teenager in the slammer.

Can Grace turn the camera on the real culprit before another victim ends up on the cutting room floor?

Grace in Hollywood is the second book in the riveting A Grace Michelle Mystery historical series. If you like fiercely loyal heroines, thrilling whodunits, and the magic of old cinema, then you’ll love Kari Bovee’s enthralling tale. 
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Meet the Author:

When she’s not on a horse riding along the beautiful cottonwood-laden acequias of Corrales, New Mexico; or basking on white sand beaches under the Big Island Hawaiian sun, Kari Bovée is escaping into the past—scheming murder and mayhem for her characters both real and imagined in her historical mystery novels.

Kari Bovée writes the award-winning Annie Oakley mystery series and the Grace Michelle mystery series. In 2020 she was honored with First Place in category for the Chanticleer International Clue Awards for her book Folly at the Fair. In 2019 she was awarded the NM/AZ Book Awards Hillerman Award for her novel Girl with a Gun. The novel also received First Place in the 2019 NM/AZ Book Awards in the Mystery/Crime category, and won First in Category in the International Chanticleer Murder & Mayhem Awards. It was also a finalist in the 2019 Next Generation Indie Awards. Her novel Grace in the Wings won First in Category for the 2019 International Chanticleer Chatelaine Awards. Peccadillo at the Palace won Grand Prize in the 2019 Goethe Awards, and was a finalist in the 2019 Best Book Awards Historical Fiction category.

Kari Bovée has worked as a technical writer for a Fortune 500 Company, has written non-fiction for magazines and newsletters, and has worked in the education field as a teacher and educational consultant.

Connect with the author:  Website ~ Goodreads ~ Facebook ~ Twitter ~ Instagram
~ Pinterest
Tour Schedule:

Mar 1 – Mystery Review Crew – book series spotlight / giveaway
Mar 1 – Working Mommy Journal – book review of GRACE AMONG THIEVES / giveaway
Mar 1 – Bigreadersite – book review of GRACE IN THE WINGS / giveaway
Mar 2 – Rockin’ Book Reviews – book review of GRACE AMONG THIEVES / giveaway
Mar 2 – Kam’s Place – book review of GRACE IN THE WINGS
Mar 3 – Casia’s Corner – book review of GRACE IN THE WINGS / giveaway
Mar 3 – Bigreadersite – book review of GRACE AMONG THIEVES / giveaway
Mar 4 – Locks, Hooks and Books – book review of GRACE IN THE WINGS / giveaway
Mar 7 –Kam’s Place – book review of GRACE IN HOLLYWOOD
Mar 7 – History from a Woman’s Perspective – book review of GRACE IN THE WINGS / giveaway
Mar 8 – Elizabeth McKenna – Author – book series spotlight / giveaway
Mar 8 – Casia’s Corner – book review of GRACE IN HOLLYWOOD / giveaway
Mar 9 – Pick a Good Book – book series spotlight / giveaway
Mar 9 – Kam’s Place – book review of GRACE AMONG THIEVES
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GRACE AMONG THIEVES (Grace Michelle Mysteries) Tour Giveaway
 

 
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Giveaway – Ashby Jones and The Crossing @ashby_jones @GoddessFish

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The Crossing by Ashby Jones

GENRE: Historical fiction

BLURB:

The Crossing is a powerful and haunting love story of surprising discovery set in Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen during Prohibition. Its mission seeks to reconcile love and guilt, grief and promise. Set apart from other stories, it combines history, fact, surrealism, and reality into an ever-recycling boost of the human spirit.

Irish-born Johnny Flynn, a former British soldier, is banished from his homeland and sent to America on a ship so riddled with disease that he realizes the voyage was meant to murder him. When he survives the trip, the captain forces him to walk the plank into the Hudson River. Miraculously, Johnny is rescued by a rumrunning Irish gang, the Swamp Angels, and given a job running whisky in Hell’s Kitchen just as Prohibition makes liquor a hugely profitable, dangerous business.

Fighting for his life and livelihood amid the denizens of the Manhattan piers, Johnny is plagued by the memory of his lost lover, Nora, whose father, the famed Irish revolutionary, James Connolly, met his death through a firing squad that included a reluctant gunman named Johnny Flynn. Nora’s last words to him, when she learned of his betrayal and left him, “I love you, Johnny Flynn”, echo in his heart, leaving him pulsing with guilt, yearning, and the hope that she might yet forgive him.

Johnny drinks hard. One night, drunk on the floor of Hailey’s speakeasy, he encounters a seeming apparition on stage, the ghostly Esme, an Irish singer who suffered unspeakable horrors at the hands of the British Black and Tans. Johnny is dazzled by her. She is not only a singer but a healer, teaching poor and afflicted children to sing and gather hope at an old theater called The Woebegone. From Esme Johnny learns how to overcome the desire for revenge, only to discover that she, too, clings to her own dark dream of retribution.

Hell’s Kitchen, Johnny discovers, is thronged with people whose damaged hearts ache for revenge, repentance and love. As he grapples with taking responsibility to help others resolve this overwhelming dilemma, he learns that Nora is coming to New York to advocate for Irish independence. As he confronts her and soon thereafter receives a piercing love letter from Esme, the story comes to a turbulent climax.

EXCERPT

Chapter One beginning

Roughly a mile from the Statue of Liberty, Johnny Flynn stood trembling on the bridge of the ship called The Pestilence. His hands were rope-bound at the wrists and a rucksack filled with heavy stones was strapped to his back. His executioner, seaman Bile, named for the Celtic god of Hell by Johnny’s long-gone friend and fellow prisoner, Seamus, had tried in vain to kill Johnny every day on this voyage from Ireland, and now he would have his way. The vessel from which Bile would send Johnny to his death was the recently recovered, ancient famine ship found in the Bay of Kinsale. The ship still contained the skeletons of the three hundred dead who’d tried to escape the Great Famine by taking passage to America but whose journey had been ended by typhus, cholera and tuberculosis. In hopes of hiding their humiliation, the Irish had returned The Pestilence to its parting pier unannounced and mothballed it in what soon became a drying, wooded alcove south of Kinsale, leaving the three hundred bodies to rot in the hold.

The ship was discovered by a group of young Irish campers shortly after the Treaty with the victorious Brits was signed, ending the War of Independence. Soon thereafter, in the fall of 1921, the Rebels filled the arid tributary with fresh water, freeing the ship and setting it on a crossing to America to test its sea-worthiness. The next step in purging their embarrassment for the deaths was to cleanse the ship’s hold of the bones and restore its ability to make money for the Emerald Isle.

AUTHOR Bio and Links

Ashby Jones has been writing historical novels for 50 years. With degrees in Literature and Clinical Psychology; Creative Writing at UCLA under the guidance of Leonardo Bercovici. Jones previously published: The Angel’s Lamp in 2017 which was well received and reviewed by the Irish Times. Jones’s passion is writing literary fiction that attempts to understand mankind’s never-ending battles with irony, tragedy, blatant contradiction, and the anomalies of love. Such is the focus of ‘The Crossing’, a stand-alone sequel to ‘The Angel’s Lamp’, his first novel. He studied under such notables as William Hoffman, a best-selling author, and years later at U.C.L.A. under Leonardo Bercovici, a highly regarded screenwriter.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ashby_jones

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Ashby-Jones/e/B01N2YR769/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_ebooks_1

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14394032.Ashby_Jones

Buy Link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1592110894/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i1

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