mysteries

Book Blast for Fran Lewis’ SILENT VOICES

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Today I’m blasting it up as part of the PICTour for Silent Voices:
 Synopsis:
Driving down a rocky road I saw the overgrown grass, weeds, and poison ivy overtaking the outer perimeter of the bushes. The smell of mildew permeated the air, along with the stench of animals killed by cars coming up from the ground along this dirt road. I could see the sadness on the faces in the cars behind me; I could feel the pain and sorrow. As I looked inside the cars and saw the faces of the drivers, I began to wonder what they were thinking, their thoughts and feelings as they traveled down life’s highway, maybe for the very last time.What stories lay behind the faces behind the wheel of each oncoming car?What stories were hidden?Whose voices are now silenced? 
Reviews:
“Unique, haunting, terrifying, incredibly moving: Fran Lewis’ SILENT VOICES is all that and more as people tell spell-binding stories of their lives – and their deaths – from beyond the grave. You won’t forget this one!” – R.G. Belsky, award-winning author of the Clare Carlson mystery series.
“Silent Voices is a shrewd, sensitive and scintillating collection of short stories that make us feel and think.
Noted talk show host Fran Lewis proves herself to be as skilled a storyteller as she is a listener, adept at both tugging on our heart strings and exposing the raw emotion between the lines. Her tales reach beyond the grave in fashioning rich tapestries drawn on a sprawling landscape at once both rich in color and gray-toned. A can’t miss effort certain to live with you far beyond the turn of the final page.” -Jon Land, USA Today bestselling author“
Once again, Fran Lewis knocks it out of the park with the latest in the Silent Voices series. At once chilling, but also inspirational, these stories do not fail to entertain. They will also raise the goosebumps on your skin. Prepare to be thrilled.” Vincent Zandri, New Your Times bestselling Thriller Award winning author of The Remains and The Caretaker’s Wife
Book Details:Genre: Horror, Suspense 
Published by: Southern Owl Publications, LLC
Publication Date: June 10th 2019
Number of Pages: 51
ASIN: B07S75JPQW
Series: Silent Voices
Purchase Links: Amazon | Goodreads
Author Bio:Fran Lewis taught for 36 years as a staff developer in reading and writing and a dean. She is the author of the Bertha and Tillie series and the author of the Faces behind the stones series as well as her books for caregivers on Alzheimer’s and mj magazine and mj network.Catch Up With Fran Lewis On:
tillie49.wordpress.com, Goodreads, BookBub, Twitter, & Facebook! 

Dishing on Cozy Mysteries and One of my Faves: THE MAGGIE HOPE SERIES by Susan Elia MacNeal

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Today I was ask to do a guest post for BOOK BLOGGERS INTERNATIONAL, so I’m thrilled to be here to write about one of my very favorite genres: cozy mysteries!

I’m a huge fan of cozy mysteries — those fun reads that catch you and draw you in, but are never too scary or violent or cruel. I’m also a big fan of mysteries that take place long ago. The MAGGIE HOPE series by Susan Elia MacNeal is a wonderful series of novels, following the adventures of Maggie Hope, a WWII code breaker and British government worker. Maggie has all sorts of interesting things happen to her, all the while dealing with blossoming (and withering) romances, friends and relationships with interesting people, a unique family situation that could call for a flow chart while reading, and her own beloved cat.

The first book in the series is called MR. CHURCHILL’S SECRETARY. Here’s the overview from Penguin Books:

There are currently six Maggie Hope books – with THE QUEEN’S ACCOMPLICE being the latest one (all reviewed on my blog: http://www.drbethnolan.wordpress.com).
9780804178723

DESCRIPTION: Spy and code-breaker extraordinaire Maggie Hope returns to war-weary London, where she is thrust into the dangerous hunt for a monster, as the New York Times bestselling mystery series for fans of Jacqueline Winspear, Charles Todd, and Anne Perry continues.

England, 1942. The Nazis’ relentless Blitz may have paused, but London’s nightly blackouts continue. Now, under the cover of darkness, a madman is brutally killing and mutilating young women in eerie and exact re-creations of Jack the Ripper’s crimes. What’s more, he’s targeting women who are reporting for duty to be Winston Churchill’s spies and saboteurs abroad. The officers at MI-5 quickly realize they need the help of special agent Maggie Hope to find the killer dubbed “the Blackout Beast.” A trap is set. But once the murderer has his sights on Maggie, not even Buckingham Palace can protect the resourceful spy from her fate.
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I never grow tired of Maggie adventures and I find Susan’s research to be startlingly in depth and on target.
I recently had the opportunity to ask Susan MacNeal a few questions. I am friends with her on Facebook and enjoy her posts (we actually have sons the same age with similar interests as well). Susan was gracious enough to send me some insider info that I can share with you readers about how she came to write about Maggie Hopeand her adventures.

1) How did you come up with the idea for Maggie Hope and the series?

Actually, I can thank the Muppets for the Maggie Hope series! Let me explain—my husband is a puppeteer for Sesame Street and the Jim Henson company, and he starred as Bear in the Disney Channel show Bear in the Big Blue House. Well, it was huge in London, so we got to travel there.
Our first night, we met a friend at a pub and he very kindly brought a copy of Time Out London and flipped it open to an ad for the Churchill War Rooms, saying, “Despite what you Yanks might think, World War II didn’t start with Pearl Harbor. Maybe you should go and take a look.”
Considering myself challenged, I set out the next day, through a horrible snow storm (I’m from Buffalo, so it didn’t slow me down).
The museum, set in the underground, concrete-ceiling-protected bunker from which Winston Churchill and his staff ran World War II, looked much as it did during the war. Walking the same hallways that the Prime Minister himself trof was awe-inspiring. And it was a catalist for writing the book. I knew I had to write about the people of the War Rooms, a woman working in the War Rooms—and specifically a young woman, working as a secretary, in the War Rooms.
2) How did you research each novel (as they are meticulously researched!)?
Well, I love to travel to the places in question and do as much first-hand research as I can. I also love to talk to people who lived through World War II. I was privledged to correspond with Mrs. Elizabeth Layton Nel, who was one of Churchill’s wartime secretaries. And one of my friends and editors is a woman who lived through the Blitz in London as a child. Then there are books, of course (first person accounts are best), documentaries, and newspapers and magazines from the time. I love to research!

3) How many books do you plan to have in the series?

Well, THE QUEEN’S ACCOMPLICE (Maggie Hope #6) is just out and made the USA Today- and Publishers Weekly-bestseller lists, as well as a finalist in Goodreads Best Books of 2016 best mystery/thriller catagory. I’m just now finishing up THE PARIS SPY, the next book in the series, slated for publication in summer ’17. And I’m under contract for books #8 and #9 with Penguin Random House. Love writing these books and have lots and lots of stories to tell!
 THANK YOU, Susan, for answering my questions!
The Maggie Hope titles are:
Mr. Churchill’s Secretary
Princess Elizabeth’s Spy (my favorite!)
His Majesty’s Hope
The Prime Minister’s Secret Agent
Mrs. Roosevelt’s Confidante
The Queen’s Accomplice
All available from Penguin Random House Books!
Thank you for letting me guest post today at Book Bloggers International. Please stop by my blog at Beth’s Book-Nook Blog: http://www.drbethnolan.wordpress.com or find me on Twitter at @BethsBookBlog and on Litsy at BethsBookBlog!

Re-release of Jane Langton’s Homer Kelly mysteries…

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Have you read Jane Langton’s books? I’ve loved Ms. Langton’s books since I was a little girl, especially  her Hall Family children’s books. Jane’s “Homer Kelly” cozy mysteries follow the exploits of a mild-mannered Harvard professor who stumbles upon and solves mysteries, often in the New England countryside. While I was in Hawaii I received an email from an editor at Open Road Media to say that Ms. Langton’s mysteries were being re-released with new e-book covers. You can check out this link with video for more info; it focuses on how Ms. Langton does her own illustrations. Check it out!

http://www.openroadmedia.com/authors/jane-langton.aspx

Thanks, Open Road Media, for letting me know and having me pass the word along! And if you have never read Ms. Langton, and you enjoy mysteries and New England, you are in for a real treat. 🙂

Quick Review: Sidney Chambers and the Shadow of Death by James Runcie

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Coming out this week, I received this book, the first of the “Grantchester Mysteries” from Net Galley. I just loved the character of Sidney Chambers, a man of the cloth who lives simply yet solves murder and mysteries in his small English town in the 1950’s. These are cozy-type mysteries, similar to Agatha Christie tales, but they are short and there are several different vignettes in this book. I really enjoyed reading them and loved the character of Sidney: attractive and young, yet a bit set in his bachelor ways. There is certainly a lot of directions that this series could take, and I look forward to reading more of it!

Thank you Net Galley and Bloomsbury USA for my copy!