Boundary Magic Series by Melissa F. Olson

Boundary Magic series

Boundary Crossed by Melissa F. Olson is an urban fantasy full of action and suspense, witches, werewolves, and vampires.  Did I like it?  

Well enough to gobble the next three books in a matter of days.  Is it for everyone?  Probably not, but I enjoy urban fantasy and all of the concomitant creatures that are usually found in the genre.

Opening line:  "The third time I died was early on a Monday morning, a week after Labor Day."

Allison "Lex" Luther, an army veteran, feels compelled to protect her niece after Lex's twin sister is murdered.  The story opens with a bang when Lex realizes her niece has been kidnapped and in her attempts to stop the kidnappers, she is killed.  When she come to, she realizes she has miraculously survived (again), and she discovers that the reason she survived is because she is a boundary witch; learns there is an Old World of witches, vampires, and werewolves; makes a deal with the cardinal vampire; and takes lessons in witch magic.

This first book does a lot of world building and character introduction, but it engaged me immediately.  

Urban Fantasy.  May 2015.  Print length:  322 pages.

Boundary Lines, book 2 in the Boundary Magic series, has Lex trying to adjust to her new understanding of the Old World and her recently acknowledged witch powers.

Magic goes haywire, two vampires disappear, a magical snake-like creature is eating folks, and Lex and Quinn are assigned by Maven to investigate.  Lex interviews the ghost of a boundary witch (who owned a brothel in another century) to get more information about ley lines.

Although the local clan of witches are not very accepting of Lex (understatement), her friendship with Simon and Lily continues to grow.  There comes a point that means the three Old World creatures must unite to overcome the present danger.

Another fun adventure that has humor, suspense, and action-packed scenes.

Urban Fantasy.  Oct. 2015.  Print length:  304 pages.

Oops--Lex's father shows up, and he's...nope not going there, it would be a spoiler, but we do learn more about Lex's background.  

Vampires are being poisoned by a deadly Belladonna strain.  Who is the real target?

I like the way the characters work together; there are friendships that Lex can count on and even the different races often have to put aside grievances at times.

Urban Fantasy.  July 2016.  Print length: 290 pages.

"The times they are a-changin' " in two ways in Boundary Broken.  One--the book begins two years after the previous installment, and Two--changes are in the forecast for the way the Old World and the three races relate to each other.

A figure from a previous book reappears (this was not unexpected), and an insurgency is in the making.  

Actually, several characters from previous books make an appearance, and the hint of a new, unknown enemy left me happy to expect another book in the series. 

Urban Fantasy.  March 2019.  Print length:  347 pages.




If you enjoy Urban Fantasy, this may be a series you would enjoy.  I certainly have been glued to the "pages" of all four books.  I do recommend beginning with the first in the series with the caution that it could be addictive.  

The Lost History of Dreams and Perfect Crime

The Lost History of Dreams by Kris Waldherr has a Gothic ambiance.  

from description:  A post-mortem photographer unearths dark secrets of the past that may hold the key to his future, in this captivating debut novel in the gothic tradition of Wuthering Heights and The Thirteenth Tale.


The book has elements from some of the best Gothic tales and a vibe of Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher.

Waldherr skillfully develops a wonderfully creepy atmosphere.   The author is certainly familiar with the plots and styles of the best known Gothic novels, but the characters don't feel as authentic.  

Read in January; blog review scheduled for 3/27/19.

NetGalley/Atria Books
Historical Fiction/Gothic.  April 9, 2019.  Print length:  320 pages.



Perfect Crime by Helen Fields is #5 in the DI Luc Callenach series.  I'd read the first two before reading this one, but not books 3 and 4, so there have been advances that I wasn't aware of concerning DCI Ava Turner and Luc's relationship.

When a young man is talked out of suicide, but a week later is body is found and the initial reaction is that he finally succeeded Ava has some questions.  As other strange (and grotesque) deaths occur, the connection between them appears to be that at some point they considered or attempted suicide.

There is also a storyline connected to Luc's past.  

What I like:  the characters--Ava is my favorite.  I also like the development of secondary characters throughout the series and the original premises and investigative process in the books I've read.

Dislike:  I'm not really fond of the bizarre and/or freakish murders, but I will still try to catch up with books 3 and 4.

Read in January; blog review scheduled 3/27/19.

NetGalley/Avon Books
Detective Fiction.  April 18, 2019.  Print length: 400 pages.

A Death in Chelsea and At Dark of the Moon

A Death in Chelsea by Lynn Brittney, the second in the Mayfair 100 Murder Mystery series, named for the telephone number 100 Mayfair for the crime-fighting group based in Mayfair in 1915. 

I read Murder in Belgravia, the first in the series last year and enjoyed it.  Chief Inspector Peter Beech has assembled an unusual team that (gasp!) includes women. 

A society gossip columnist has been found hanged in her room.  The death isn't a suicide, as first suspected, and the fact that Adeline Treborne's defamatory and scandalous column has maligned some wealthy and powerful people means that the suspects are plentiful.

This book has the same strengths and weaknesses as the first book:  an interesting plot and well-researched details...and characters who are a bit too good to be true.  

 Nevertheless, it was entertaining, and I would read the next in the series.

NetGalley/Mirror Books
Historical Mystery.  March 14, 2019.  Print length:  326 pages.

Written in 1977 and set in 1804, At Dark of the Moon has a little espionage and a little romance.  

from description:  It had changed her life overnight. From her drab, unpromising post as governess, lovely Emma Harcourt was catapulted into a daring scheme of espionage. Suddenly she was an actress posing as the wife of Rupert Wynford, a perfect stranger.

I'm a bit of a sucker for governess novels, and this was a light, quick read.  On the other hand, it does feel old-fashioned and formulaic, not nearly as interesting as the blurb made it sound.

NetGalley/Sapere Books
Historical Fiction.  March 10, 2019.  Print length:  352 pages.

Midnight at the Tuscany Hotel by James Markert and Murder Served Cold by Eric Brown

Beautiful cover, strange book.

description: For years, guests of the Tuscany Hotel could leave their pasts behind and live among fellow artists. Now guests of a different sort fill the rooms, searching for their memories—no matter the cost.

A lot of Greek mythology in this one, something I usually love.  However, although crucial to the story, I found the mythology a bit over the top.  The book fits the magical realism genre, mixing miracles and muses and myth.  Some books are really hard to review, I'm going for Lark's haiku review style:


Lost your memory?
Visit Tuscany Hotel
Remember the past.

Didn't love it, but...

Read in December; blog post scheduled for March 22, 2019.

NetGalley/Thomas Nelson
Fantasy/Magical Realism.  April 9, 2019.  Print length:  352 pages.

Murder Served Cold is part of a series by Eric Brown that takes advantage of the popularity of more traditional mysteries like those of the 1920's and 30's.  Brown sets the story in the post-war British countryside of the 1950's.  

The novel borrows much from the Golden Age of Detective Fiction style, but has the slightly more modern (if still historical) setting of post-war Britain.  

A country house converted to a sort of boarding house as a result of huge estate taxes, an odd-lot of permanent guests, a missing painting, and of course, a murder.  The series features Donald Langham and Ralph Ryland as private investigators, who are hired to find the stolen painting. They solve that conundrum fairly quickly by finding the painting, but not who took it.  Add a little blackmail and murder and a couple of cocktail hours.

I liked Langham and Ryland and thought they felt genuine for the time period.   Brown did a good job with the 50's setting and the "vintage" writing  style.

In addition to this series, Eric Brown also writes science fiction (for which he has won several awards) and children's books.

Read in December; blog post scheduled for March 22, 2019

NetGalley/Severn House
Mystery.  April 1, 2019.  Print length:  208 pages.

This and That

In 2016, I read The Six: The Lives of the Mitford Sisters by Laura Thompson.  Six sisters whose lives continue to fascinate the public.  An interesting recent article about Nancy and Diana:  Nobody Betrays You Like Your Sister provides more provocative details.

--------
  I've been reading Dreyer's English in between reading my fictional escapes, and I'm finding it both informative and entertaining. :)

from description:  "As Random House’s copy chief, Dreyer has upheld the standards of the legendary publisher for more than two decades. He is beloved by authors and editors alike—not to mention his followers on social media—for deconstructing the English language with playful erudition."

I love that he upholds the Oxford (or series) comma!
--------
April is National Letter Writing Month and the Write_On campaign, and I've been making a supply of envelopes and postcards to send.  Yes, the crafty part of me loves making envelopes and postcards and decorating them.  I also love writing letters, and of course, receiving them!  

Letters of Note by Sean Usher has wonderful letters from famous and ordinary people that cover the range of human emotions.
--------------
These book covers are so gorgeous!  Follow the link for more examples.

A Merciful Silence by Kendra Elliot

The series can work as a series of stand-alones because each book contains a completed plot--nevertheless, I recommend beginning with the first book (A Merciful Death) to get the background on Mercy Kirkpatrick and the prepper philosophy that she can't quite escape.

After a torrential rain, the skeletal remains of five people are revealed.  An echo of the murders of two families twenty years previously calls into question whether the right person was arrested at the time.  The similarities are too apparent to dismiss.  Was the wrong man convicted all those years ago or is this a copycat?

Mercy must connect with the only person who survived the earlier murders--a young woman who, as a child, was left for dead and who can't remember the night her family was murdered.

Kendra Elliot has landed on the Wall Street Journal bestseller list multiple times and is the award-winning author of the Bone Secrets and Callahan & McLane series, as well as the Mercy Kilpatrick novels: A Merciful Death, A Merciful Truth, and A Merciful Secret. Kendra is a three-time winner of the Daphne du Maurier Award, an International Thriller Writers finalist, and an RT Award finalist. She has always been a voracious reader, cutting her teeth on classic female heroines such as Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden, and Laura Ingalls. She was born, raised, and still lives in the rainy Pacific Northwest with her husband and three daughters, but she looks forward to the day she can live in flip-flops. Visit her at www.kendraelliot.com.

I continue to find this series suspenseful and engrossing, and I look forward to more.

Defund Libraries?  NO!

Who Slays the Wicked (Sebastian St. Cyr) by C.S. Harris

C.S. Harris' Sebastian St. Cyr makes another appearance in Who Slays the Wicked.  I've been following this series forever, and in addition to the mysteries, I usually learn something about the time period as well.

When Lord Ashworth is found viciously murdered, there is little sympathy to be found.  The handsome, debauched young man had earned a reputation for debased behavior, and the only one who appears to mourn his death is his father.

Sebastian, however, understands that what is generally known about the young man's behavior is only the tip of the iceberg.  Although he was never able to connect him to the crimes in a previous case, he has no doubt that Ashworth was involved.  

Evidence from the bloody crime scene suggests that the killer was a woman, and Sebastian fears that perhaps his niece, who is married to Ashworth, may be the culprit.  

But Stephanie is only one possibility.  Sebastian and Bowstreet magistrate Sir Henry Lovejoy have a number of suspects; after all, Ashworth had plenty of enemies.  Then Ashworth's valet is found stabbed to death in an alley, a street crossing boy disappears, a young prostitute is murdered, and Ashworth's long-time friend murdered.  As despicable as Ashworth was, Sebastian needs to find his killer, if only to prevent an innocent person from being held to account.

Hero, Sebastian's wife, plays only a small role, but it is Hero who reveals most of the historic details from the period.  Hero is a social activist and is writing an article about the pure finders, rag and bone men, and night soil collectors. 

Rag and Bone Men -- These bone-grubbers, as they were sometimes known, would typically spend nine or ten hours searching the streets of London for anything of value, before returning to their lodgings to sort whatever they had found.^[5] (source: Wikipedia)

2. PURE FINDER
Despite the clean-sounding name, this job actually involved collecting dog feces from the streets of London to sell to tanners, who used it in the leather-making process. Dog poop was known as "pure" because it was used to purify the leather and make it more flexible [PDF].  (source: Ten worst jobs in Victorian Era)

18th-century London nightman's calling card
Night soil is a historically used euphemism for human excreta collected from cesspools, privies, pail closets, pit latrines, privy middens, septic tanks, etc. This material was removed from the immediate area, usually at night, by workers employed in this trade. Sometimes it could be transported out of towns and sold on as a fertilizer. (source:  Wikipedia)

Hero's interviews with those who survive by performing these jobs gives a much more human touch than simply reading the factual accounts of what the jobs entailed.

Once again, I've enjoyed the characters and the plot of a Sebastian St. Cyr novel and gained a more personal view of Regency England.   

Read in December; blog review scheduled for March 13, 2019.

NetGalley/Berkley Publishing

Historical Mystery.  April 2, 2019.  Print length:  352 pages.  

Descendant of the Crane by Joan He

Descendant of the Crane is as fascinating as the cover.  A fantasy set in a fictional Asian world with a complex plot and characters that captivate with their flaws and their strengths.  

The world-building has both a historical and modern perspective with complicated political contrivances.  The relationships among the characters are particularly interesting with secrets and agendas that are not always shared.  

When Princess Hesina's father dies, she is elevated from princess to queen of a large kingdom with plenty of problems.  Hesina also has questions about her father's death.  She is certain he was murdered, but by whom?  

In desperation, Hesina visits a soothsayer, a treasonous act, but one that may give her the means of having her father's death investigated.  

I thoroughly enjoyed Descendant of the Crane and found the characters complex and sometimes surprising and the writing vivid, weaving the threads of family, tradition, myth, and politics a little at a time so that the reader sees the intricate pattern gradually.  

Listed as YA, the book is certainly appropriate for that age group, but as with all good stories Descendant of the Crane appeals to anyone who wants a well-written tale about intriguing characters in perplexing situations.  Hesina's determination will reveal truths she doesn't like, and she is forced to take side-steps and to make concessions, but nothing will prevent her in her ultimate goal.

Read in December, blog review scheduled for March 12, 2019.

NetGalley/Albert Whitman & Co

Fantasy/YA.  April 2, 2019.  Print length:  400 pages.

Bookish Stuff

Why Reading Aloud Is a Vital Bridge to Literacy

The Oldest American Picture Book Still in Print:  Millions of Cats by Wanda Gag

The Who's Peter Townsend writes a novel.

Royal Mail celebrates World Book Day

Winterman by Alex Walters

Although I've never read anything by Alex Walters before, I enjoyed Winterman, the first in a proposed new series.

The opening sequence, set in 1940, establishes a bit of the backstory. The novel then moves to the period shortly after the war.

In 1947, having offended some of his superiors, DI Ivan Winterman is sent to the Fen District in East Anglia.  In postwar Britain, there is a shortage of everything:  manpower, food, fuel for transportation, coal for heating.

 Effectively exiled , Winterman finds himself in an understaffed police station in a small village.  The area has previously been known for mostly small time offenses, and Winterman expects little involvement with serious crime. 

Shortly before Winterman's arrival, however, the body of a child, dead for years and preserved by burial in the Fens, is discovered.  There is no record of a child having gone missing in any of the neighboring villages and the body is unidentified.  The situation is curious, but does not seem urgent...

Until the body of a second child in similar condition shows up.  As a blizzard sets in, bringing the coldest winter conditions on record, the body of a third child appears.  Someone has unearthed the bodies and displayed them.

If the bodies of the three children were not enough in this  remote area in the midst of a blizzard, two grown men are murdered and a constable disappears.  In short order, Winterman finds himself dealing with a truly freakish situation--three old murders, two recent murders, a shortage of backup, weather that is further isolating, characters who may or may not be trustworthy, and secrets that someone wants exposed.  Who were the children and why is there no record of them anywhere?  

The setting is visual and cold!  The isolation of the villages and the austerity of postwar Britain make the weather conditions a crucial part of the narrative.    

NetGalley/Bloodhound Books
Crime/Mystery/Historical.  Feb. 26, 2019.  Print length:  470 pages.

The Last Woman in the Forest

The Last Woman in the Forest  by Diane Les Becquets.

Marian Engstrom works with a group that uses rescue dogs to detect scat that indicates species abundance and distribution.  The process allows for monitoring threatened or endangered species around the world.  

On an assignment to northern Alberta, Marian falls in love with Tate.  When they are on separate assignments, word arrives of Tate's death.  Marian is devastated, but as she becomes aware of inconsistencies in Tate's life, she finds herself with questions concerning the unsolved murders of several women.

Needing to have her questions answered and put to rest, she contacts a retired forensic profiler to clear her unwanted suspicions.  The pov shifts between Marian and Nick Sheppard, the profiler hired to resolve Marian's doubts.

The information about training and working with dogs used for conservation purposes is fascinating.  Marian's innate connection with dogs and Nick's deep relationship with his wife add to the depictions of the two main characters.  The suspense is a slow burn, and although you may suspect some of the twists, the novel is compelling.

This is the second novel I've read recently concerning dogs trained to detect scat for conservation purposes.  Christine Carbo's A Sharp Solitude also has a scat detection dog as an important plot element.

Crime Novels about Working Dogs  I haven't read any of these books, but will be keeping them in mind.  The list doesn't include The Last Woman in the Forest, A Sharp Solitude, or Margaret Mizushima's series featuring Robo, but does offer some interesting possibilities featuring working dogs.  

I also intend to look for Les Becsuets first novel Breaking Wild.

Read in September, 2018; review scheduled for February 25, 2019.  

NetGalley/Berkeley Pub.

Suspense.  March 5, 2019.  Print length:  352 pages.  

Her Father's Secret by Sara Blaedel

I read The Undertaker's Daughter by Sara Blaedel last year and liked it.  

Unlike her Louise Ricks series, Blaedel has set her Ilka Jensen series in Racine, Wisconsin instead of Denmark .  When Ilka was about seven, her father abandoned his family in Denmark and moved to the U.S. where he started a new family.  Ilka never came to terms with the desertion of her beloved father.

When he died, Paul Jensen left his funeral home to Ilka, and she flew to Racine to finalize the estate and maybe find out more about her father.  The first book details her meeting with her father's new family (who reject her) and the problems concerning the sale of the funeral home. Oh, and a disappearing corpse and a decade old murder.

In Her Father's Secret, Ilka  continues to face difficulties involving selling the funeral home.  Worse, there is so little money available that even getting through pre-paid funerals is a challenge.  Ilka has found blackmail letters to her father from a woman named Maggie; someone is following Ilka; a feud between two wealthy and influential men becomes more threatening; Ilka's half-sister is seriously injured and her horses stolen; a woman is killed in a home invasion; and a boatload of uncomfortable and dangerous family secrets make this book much more suspenseful than the first book.  

A couple of unexpected twists at the end make me eager to read the next book.

NetGalley/Grand Central Publishing
Mystery/Suspense.  Mar. 5, 2019.  Print version: 320 pages.

The Boys Who Woke Up Early by A.D. Hopkins

In the little Virginia mountain town of Early in 1959, high school juniors Stony Shelor and Jack Newsome get involved in adventures sometimes humorous and some times very serious.  

from description:  Jack draws Stony into his fantasy of being a private detective, and the two boys start hanging around the county sheriff’s office. Accepted as sources of amusement and free labor, the aspiring gumshoes land their first case after the district attorney’s house is burglarized. Later, the boys hatch an ingenious scheme to help the deputies raid an illegal speakeasy and brothel. All the intrigue feels like fun and games to Jack and Stony until a gunfight with a hillbilly boy almost gets them killed. The stakes rise even higher when the boys find themselves facing off against the Ku Klux Klan.

 I really liked this one:  the writing, the characters, and the plot.  Stony and Jack are friends with completely different personalities, but who complement each other in this story of growing up in the late 1950's in the small town of Early.  There are many episodes that illustrate the different time frame yet evoke timeless situations and there is a current of suspense that works with the overall theme.  

Reading like a memoir, The Boys Who Woke Up Early is an engaging novel that captivated my interest early and held it throughout.

Read in January; review scheduled for Feb. 19.

NetGalley/Imbriflex Books
Coming of Age.  March 3, 2019.  Print length:  256 pages.

The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths

What if you discovered that someone had been writing in your diary, adding comments connected to your own entries?  What if one of your friends had been recently murdered when you discovered the strange entries?

English teacher Claire Cassidy has been researching the life and works of R.M. Holland, the reclusive Victorian writer,  and teaches at the school located on Holland's estate.  When her friend and colleague Ella is murdered, a note with a line from Holland's most well-known work is discovered at the scene.  

If this were not disturbing enough, the notes that begin to appear in Claire's diary are in the same handwriting.

From the beginning, this eerie novel with Gothic overtones and allusions creates a feeling of unease and uncertainty.  

Without revealing anything, I will note that there was one situation that I found bothered me, but aside from that, the novel kept me glued to the pages, doubting one character after another, and it was not until the author wanted the reader to figure things out that the villain of the piece was clear.

The Stranger Diaries was surprising in several ways, and I loved the Gothic ambiance, the three narrative voices, the connection to the fictional R.M. Holland, and the fact that I didn't solve the puzzle until Griffith's was ready.

The sinister and spooky ambiance was both unsettling and fun--in keeping with a modern Gothic.

The book is a stand-alone, but I'd like to see Elly Griffiths continue this Gothic mystery style or at least give DS Harbinder Kaur another case.

Read in November; blog review scheduled for Feb. 18, 2019

NetGalley/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Mystery/Gothic.  March 5, 2018.  Print length:  416 pages.

A Merciful Secret by Kendra Elliot and Other Stuff

 This is the third in the Mercy Kirkpatrick series by Kendra Elliot, and I'm still enjoying the series.   Returning late at night from her secret hideaway cabin (Mercy's prepper instincts are too strong to resist), Mercy  almost hits a frightened girl who needs help for her grandmother.   

Following the girl to a cabin deep in the woods, Mercy discovers the grandmother has been brutally attacked and is dying from her wounds. 

How does the murder of the old woman connect to the murder of a well-known judge in Portland?

The "secret" in A Merciful Secret makes an interesting twist to the story.      

------------

The Guardian's Best Recent Crime and Thrillers Review-Roundup    I haven't read any of them although two are on my list. 

A book hostel in Japan where you can sleep in the shelves?   

  Book and Bed Tokyo
------------
I've been doing some more on the white embroidery piece while watching shows on Netflix and/or Amazon Prime.  

Although this is a month of letter writing challenges, I have not been participating in either InCoWriMo (International Correspondence Writers Month) or LetterMo (Month of Letters).  In fact, I'm behind in answering the letters I've recently received, but since my husband is going to be out of town this weekend, I plan to get busy and answer my mail. 

Today will be a pajama day which means reading books, writing letters, maybe some binge-watching and embroidery, and plenty of snacks.  I'm prepared for self-indulgence.  :)

The Killer Collective by Barry Eisler

Seattle detective Livia Lone is tracking down a pedophile ring with the assistance of an FBI hacker.  When startling links to a government agency turn up, Livia is warned off and the investigation closed down.

Outraged, Livia can't decide what to do--until she is targeted by two assassins in what seems to be coincidentally close to the timing of the investigation that was just closed down.

As it turns out, the hit on Livia was first offered to John Rain.  Rain, retired from black ops with a specialty in "natural causes," refused the job. 

I have not read the John Rain series by Eisler and was surprised at how he could bring in so many characters from the series and make it work, but he does.  Even though this is the 10th book in the John Rain series, it functions as a standalone.

Fast-paced and suspenseful, the novel makes the best of a large cast of characters.  

About the author: Barry Mark Eisler is a best-selling American novelist. He is the author of two thriller series, the first featuring anti-hero John Rain, a half-Japanese, half-American former soldier turned freelance assassin, and a second featuring black ops soldier Ben Treven. Wikipedia

And there is also a third series featuring Livia Lone.  The Killer Collective combines the characters from all three series.  It may sound complicated, but it isn't.  The book read quickly, and I couldn't put it down.

Also, of genuine interest to me, was a section of Notes at the end.  For each chapter there are links to articles that provided the inspiration for events in the story.  

Livia's sting was based partly on "The Takeover:  How Police Ended Up Running a Paedophile Site."

Remarks about Pentagon spending:  "Only the Pentagon Could Spend $640 on a Toilet Seat."

Other links on cognitive dissonance, the "hurtcore" subculture, Secret Service scandals (oh, yes, we've read about some of those), a link to Gavin de Becker's The Gift of Fear:  Survival Signals that Protect Us from Violence (a good idea to follow your gut to avoid dangerous situations), Erik Prince's Plan to Privatize the War in Afghanistan which provided the basis for the OGE group, and on and on.  

The links give relevance to the plot, but they are also pretty damn scary because they show the dark side of a lot of things, and I've only listed a few.  

“The fun of Eisler’s super thriller is in the excitement, the chase, and the survival. The Killer Collective binds it together into a blazing adventure of espionage escape fiction, perfect to start the new year.” —New York Journal of Books


Kindle Unlimited.
Thriller/Suspense.  

Ann Cleeves New Series; The Dead Witch on the Bridge and The Familiars

I've enjoyed Ann Cleeves' Shetland series with Jimmy Perez (which she recently concluded) and her Vera Stanhope series (long may it continue), but she also has a new series in the works!  

I've recently finished two witchy books.

Gretchen Galway's Dead Witch on a Bridge is the first in a series (Sonoma Witches #1), a kind of cozy witch mystery.  Alma Bellrose failed as a demon hunter for the Protectorate and now lives in the quiet and isolated community of Silverpool in the redwood forest.  

When her former boyfriend is murdered, Alma finds herself in an awkward situation that could (and does) turn dangerous.  Various characters are introduced that will no doubt be further developed in future books, but my favorite is Random, the dog that appears on the morning after the murder and becomes quite attached to and protective of Alma.

The first in this series was fun and has interesting possibilities. :)

NetGalley/ Kobo books
Paranormal/Mystery.  Jan. 15, 2019.  Print length:  340 pages.


The Familiars by Stacey Halls is a much more serious book that takes a fictional look at the Pendle Witch Trials of 1612.  

Most of the characters were real people, and Stacey Halls creates a rich and frightening narrative with the character of Fleetwood Shuttleworth.  Fleetwood, a genuine historical figure (as imagined by Halls) is a fascinating young woman whose character grows and develops throughout the novel.

Having suffered three miscarriages, seventeen-year-old Fleetwood is suffering through her fourth pregnancy, ill and frightened that she will once again loses the baby.  After finding a letter written to her husband by a doctor who examined her, Fleetwood realizes that she may not survive this pregnancy, and her fear and distress is heightened.

 When Fleetwood meets Alice Grey, she discovers that the young woman is a midwife.  In her desperation, she insists on hiring Alice to care for her and to deliver her child, bucking the advice of others who believe a more experienced midwife should be engaged.  

In the meantime, Alizon Device is arrested and accused of murder by witchcraft.  Much like in the Salem witch trials, the frenzy of accusations increased and spread.  

As she loses trust in almost everyone else, Fleetwood comes to trust Alice Grey,  and when Alice is also caught up in the accusations and imprisoned, Fleetwood is determined to save her.

What resonates so strongly in the book is the role of women--obedient wives, powerless over their own wealth; the importance of producing an heir and the dangers of childbirth; women whose opinions are ignored, and who are easily blamed for things that have natural causes.   

Initially, I was distressed and worried by Fleetwood's vulnerability, but the book moved
 into a compelling story as Fleetwood and Alice work together to insure Fleetwood's health and a successful childbirth.   Then Fleetwood does her best to prevent Alice from facing the gallows after her arrest. 

There is also an understated, but intriguing element of the supernatural that gives some ambiguity to the story.  I liked the way this was hinted at, rather than emphasized.

Interesting tidbit:  Sharon Bolton's The Craftsman is a suspenseful modern take on Pendle Hill and the witches.

NetGalley 
Historical Fiction.  Feb. 19, 2019.  Print length:  352 pages.

The Vanishing Season; The House of Secrets

The Vanishing Season by Joanna Schaffhausen is a debut novel that introduces Abby Hathaway, who now goes by the name of Ellery to keep her privacy in tact.  As a child, Abby was kidnapped and tortured before being rescued by a young FBI agent.  She is the only victim of a serial killer who survived.

As an adult, Ellery changes her name, moves to Massachusetts, and joins a police force in a small town.  Keeping her life as private as possible shields her from an onslaught of journalists who might want to revisit her kidnapping and rescue.

But as birthday cards begin showing up with cryptic messages, Ellery becomes increasingly uneasy.  And near the time of each birthday card, a local disappearance occurs.  Unable to get the local police chief interested without giving herself away, Ellery contacts the FBI agent who rescued her with her concerns that a new disappearance will be occurring soon.

I suspected the villain, and I didn't find him especially believable, but an interesting first novel from Joanna Schaffhausen.

The cover of this one bothers me.  Does anyone else think the cover is a little weird--under the word season?

ARC in the mail.
Crime/ Mystery.  2017.  274 pages.

Originally published in 2016 as Weeping in the Wings, the book is being republished under the new title of The House of Secrets.  

From description:  Sarah Bennett has two secrets: she sees ghosts, and she is in love with a spy.

When Sarah takes a job with occult expert Dr Matthew Geisler, he promises to help her understand the sorrowful spirit that seems to have attached itself to her.

I can't resist a ghost story and this one had several interesting features as the setting is during WWII at a home converted into a psychiatric hospital.  However, a lot of the more interesting possibilities were overlooked and the characters felt one-dimensional.  There was too much going on:  ghostly presence, espionage angle, psychiatric facility and mental illness, family dysfunction, a runaway bride, gas-lighting, romance, etc., etc.  

If only one or two of these aspects had received more attention and some of the others eliminated, I would have enjoyed it more.  Another problem for me is that this is the second book in the series, and there are many references to events in the first book which I have not read.  I felt really left out of background material.

NetGalley
Paranormal/Mystery.  2016; April 2019.  Print length:  252 pages.

--------
Just for fun:  Mr. Bean in the Art Gallery

 Check the above link for more silliness.