Month: April 2024

Bookouture Blog Tour for Death in the Crypt by Fliss Chester

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I love this historical cozy mystery series so I was excited to receive the latest installment! In this one, Cressida and her sweet pug Ruby are solving a murder/theft mystery at an old church. It was pretty tricky to figure out and also fun along the way. Even those this is part of a series, I think you can read each title as a stand-alone.

Thank you for my copy and for making me part of the tour!

Here’s the scoop:

The Honourable Cressida Fawcett is expecting the cathedral crypt to be full of dry old bones. But when she finds a body murdered just moments before, she’ll need divine inspiration to solve her most mysterious case yet…

Winchester, 1925. When heiress and amateur sleuth Cressida Fawcett is invited to her aunt’s mansion on Cloister Close, she is looking forward to a quiet stay in the historic town. The views of the cathedral are heavenly – and her aunt’s maid, Nancy, makes devilishly good ginger biscuits! But it seems Cressy and her pug Ruby won’t be allowed to rest in peace… On a tour of the crypt, they are shocked to stumble across the body of Anthony, the gentle, devoted verger. And a wild-eyed Nancy is standing over him, bloodied candlestick in hand…

Since Nancy was caught red-handed and the only other suspect is the Silent Friar, the legendary local ghost, Detective Andrewsof Scotland Yard thinks the case is closed. But Nancy swears she would never have killed Anthony; they were in love. And while Cressy may not believe in ghosts, she does believe Nancy. So, whose soul is full of murder most foul? And will they strike again?

As she digs through parishioner gossip, Cressy discovers that for a man of the cloth, the verger had a surprising number of enemies. Was a local antiques dealer driven to murder over an illegal trade in holy relics? Would the head bellringer kill to achieve his musical ambitions? Or is the saintly Dean, whose black-cloaked figure resembles the Silent Friar and whose wife recently drowned, hiding a deadly sin?

The cathedral conceals many secrets, and it seems Cressy will need a miracle to uncover the truth. But then Cressy finds a hidden passageway to the crypt. Is this how the murderer escaped? The sceptical police lack faith in her theories, but can she catch the killer and save Nancy from the hangman’s noose? Or will she be too late to prevent another funeral march?

A totally gripping and deliciously witty historical murder mystery with a gasp-out-loud reveal, perfect for fans of Agatha Christie, T.E. Kinsey and Lee Strauss.

Author Bio:

Fliss Chester lives in Surrey with her husband and writes historical cozy crime. When she is not killing people off in her 1940s whodunnits, she helps her husband, who is a wine merchant, run their business. Never far from a decent glass of something, Fliss also loves cooking (and writing up her favourite recipes on her blog), enjoying the beautiful Surrey and West Sussex countryside and having a good natter.

https://www.instagram.com/flisschester

Sign up to be the first to hear about new releases from Fliss Chester here: https://www.bookouture.com/fliss-chester

Buy Link: NOT affiliated with BBNB

Amazon: https://geni.us/B0CNTRG61Xsocial

For My Ears: She’s Not Sorry by Mary Kubica, narrated by Andi Arndt

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If you follow me, you know I read all of Mary Kubica’s novels. They are twisty and suspenseful. I love a good thriller while I’m doing my boring commute!

This one isn’t going to be one of my favorite Kubica titles, but it was good. I just did not like the main character (which is rare for me).

Full of twists and suspense, don’t miss Mary Kubica’s latest! I loved the narration by Andi Arndt – always key for a good audiobook!

Here’s the overview:

Everyone has secrets, but not everyone has remorse…

A terrible accident.

Meghan Michaels is trying to find balance between being a single mom and working full time as an ICU nurse, when a patient named Caitlin arrives in her ward with a traumatic brain injury. They say she jumped from a bridge and plunged over twenty feet to the train tracks below.

A shocking revelation.

When a witness comes forward with new details about Caitlin’s fall, it calls everything they know into question. Was Caitlin actually pushed and if so, by whom and why?

No one is safe.

Meghan lets herself get close to Caitlin until she’s deeply entangled in the mystery surrounding her. Only when it’s too late, does she realize that she and her daughter could be the next victims…

“A tense, compelling thriller with completely gasp-worthy twists.” —Nita Prose, #1 bestselling author of The Maid

Look for these other pulse-pounding thrillers by New York Times bestselling author Mary Kubica:

  • The Good Girl
  • The Other Mrs.
  • Local Woman Missing
  • Just the Nicest Couple

I got mine with my monthly Audible credit.

Finding Flora by Elinor Florence

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Elinor Florence is one of my favorite Canadian authors. Her books are generally historical fiction and feature strong, female protagonists. I’ve gotten to “know” Elinor through social media and she seems like a truly nice person who loves her heritage and her family.

I was very excited for her to send me her new novel Finding Flora, which publishes at the end of April. This novel centered on a young woman who was a sole, female homesteader in the Canadian West in the early 1900s. It was an interesting story, and I learned several new things about homesteading in Canada.

Here’s the scoop:

Description

A rollicking historical novel set in turn-of-the-century Alberta about a young woman on the run from her abusive husband who uses a legal loophole to claim a homestead in the Wild West—perfect for fans of Outlawed and The Giver of Stars.

Scottish newcomer Flora Craigie jumps from a moving train in 1905 to escape her abusive husband. Desperate to disappear, she claims a homestead on the beautiful but wild Alberta prairie, determined to create a new life for herself. She is astonished to find that her nearest neighbours are also female: a Welsh widow with three children; two American women raising chickens; and a Métis woman who supports herself by training wild horses.

While battling both the brutal environment and the local cynicism toward female farmers, the five women with their very different backgrounds struggle to find common ground. But when their homes are threatened with expropriation by a hostile government, they join forces to “fire the heather,” a Scottish term meaning to raise a ruckus. To complicate matters, there are signs that Flora’s violent husband is still hunting for her. And as the competition for free land along the new Canadian Pacific Railway line heats up, an unscrupulous land agent threatens not only Flora’s livelihood, but her very existence.

Not only Flora, but her female homesteader friends were all interesting characters and I was cheering them on during this story. I was so glad to have a chance to read this novel and I can say with certainty that I do NOT have what it takes to be a strong female on the prairies like the women featured in this book!

Thank you, Elinor, for sharing your work with me – and for teaching this American a bit about Canadian history!

Harper-Collins Blog Tour for THE BOOK OF THORNS by Hester Fox

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I am thrilled to be here today to write about Hester Fox’s newest historical novel: The Book of Thorns. I love Ms. Fox’s writing and this story was so interesting and compelling I could not put it down. I loved the historical setting but I also loved learning about different flowers and herbs. And what a beautiful cover!! I have added a photo of Hester Fox and I am always so impressed with authors that are SO amazing and are probably young enough that I could be their mother. Whether this is your first novel by this author or your latest, I think you will enjoy it!

Thank you for my copy through Net Galley and for making me part of the tour!

The Book of Thorns

Author: Hester Fox

Publication Date: April 2, 2024

ISBN: 9781525812019

Publisher: Graydon House, Trade paperback original

Price (US) $18.99

Buy Links: Not affiliated with BBNB

HarperCollins: https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-book-of-thorns-hester-fox?variant=41079517413410 

BookShop.org: https://bookshop.org/p/books/in-the-season-of-violets-original-hester-fox/20070119?ean=9781525812019 

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-book-of-thorns-hester-fox/1143567257 

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Book-Thorns-Novel-Hester-Fox/dp/1525812017/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= 

Social Links:

Author site: https://hesterfox.com/ 

GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17440931.Hester_Fox 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/hesterbfox?lang=en 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hesterbfox/ 

Book Summary: 

An enchanting tale of secrets, betrayal, and magic…

Penniless and stranded in France after a bid to escape her cruel uncle goes awry, Cornelia Shaw is far from the Parisian life of leisure she imagined. Desperate and lacking options, she allows herself to be recruited to Napoleon’s Grande Armée. As a naturalist, her near-magical ability to heal any wound with herbal mixtures invites awe amongst the soldiers…and suspicion. For behind Cornelia’s vast knowledge of the natural world is a secret she keeps hidden—the flowers speak to her through a mysterious connection she has felt since childhood. One that her mother taught her to heed, before she disappeared.

Then, as Napoleon’s army descends on Waterloo, the flowers sing to her of a startling revelation: a girl who bears a striking resemblance to Cornelia. A girl she almost remembers—her sister, lost long ago, who seems to share the same gifts. Determined to reunite with Lijsbeth despite being on opposite sides of the war, Cornelia is drawn into a whirlwind of betrayal, secrets, and lies. Brought together by fate and magic at the peak of the war, the sisters try to uncover the key to the source of the power that connects them as accusations of witchcraft swirl and threaten to destroy the very lives they’ve fought for.

“The Book of Thorns is a gentle, magical tale of hope and healing in the midst of war. Fox does not hide from the fact that for all the romance surrounding Bonaparte’s exploits, nobody who fought at Waterloo came out unscathed, whether they were breathing by battle’s end or not. But Fox also reminds us that, even in fields tilled by cavalry charges and fertilized with gunpowder, flowers can grow.” –BOOKPAGE

Author Bio:

Hester Fox is a full-time writer and mother, with a background in museum work and historical archaeology. She is the author of such novels as The Witch of Willow Hall, A Lullaby for Witches, and The Last Heir to Blackwood Library. When not writing, Hester can be found exploring old cemeteries, enjoying a pastry and seasonal latte at a café, or  scouring antique shops for old photographs to add to her collection. She lives in a small mill town in Massachusetts with her husband and their two children.