A Dark Steel Death -DI Tom Harker #10 by Chris Nickson ~ DarkSteelDeath #NetGalley~ PreOrder NOW!

Thanks to Chris Nickson, Severn House and NetGalley for this incredibly exciting 10th Book in the DI Tom Harper series. It was almost impossible to put down, but of course life does go on!

"Leeds. December, 1916. Deputy Chief Constable Tom Harper is called out in the middle of the night.." Well that sounds a bit familiar, but this ends up being a months long stretch of terror for law enforcement and citizens alike. There is a terrorist, with a possible accomplice, wreaking havoc just as his team is depleted due to the ongoing war and manpower losses.

Harper's back is to the wall as this streak of terror keeps on and he has his own personal woes continue. His daughter Mary is recently widowed, but is out on the streets with the war effort and his wife Annabelle has her own battle within her mind.

Thanks to Chris Nickson for the Afterword, where he assured readers like myself how much it means to him that we will be coming along with Tom, Annabelle and Mary. Which, of course, means they are not done with their story yet! So glad to hear that! 

Circle of Influence- A Zoe Chambers Mystery- Annette Dashofy- Finalist 2014 Agatha Award for Best First Novel !!

My first Zoe Chambers book and it won't be the last! I have already downloaded "Lost Legacy" as well as book #11 "Til Death". The author has created a very workable set of characters, and situated them appropriately in a depressed economic area.

"Zoe Chambers, paramedic and deputy coroner in rural Pennsylvania’s tight-knit Vance Township, has been privy to a number of local secrets over the years, some of them her own. But secrets become explosive when a dead body is found in the Township Board President’s abandoned car. As a January blizzard rages, Zoe and Police Chief Pete Adams launch a desperate search for the killer, even if it means uncovering secrets that could not only destroy Zoe and Pete, but also those closest to them"

I can see the 'handwriting on the wall' that tells me most of the series will be a positive unfolding of Zoe and Chief Pete's story. Especially the fact that I'm definitely in for this series!

"USA Today bestselling author Annette Dashofy has spent her entire life in rural Pennsylvania surrounded by cattle and horses. After high school, she spent five years as an EMT on the local ambulance service"

 

#WheretheSkyBegins #NetGalley-Thanks to Lake Union and Rhys Bowen for this fine WWII novel! 5 Stars! PreOrder Yours Now!

 #WheretheSkyBegins #NetGalley-Thanks to Lake Union and Rhys Bowen for this fine WWII novel!

Rhys Bowen is a favorite author of mine, her recent non-series includes many WWII era stories which are written so very well! "Where the Sky Begins" is especially poignant as it illustrates how all classes of people, both in and out of England have been impacted.

Josie grows up in London's East End, helped raise six siblings, was employed and then married. Her
overbearing husband Stan is drafted and she finds a job in a nearby tearoom that she loves. Sadly both the tearoom, and Josie's home, are bombed. She is left injured and eventually is evacuated to the countryside with nothing of her own in the company of mostly children.

Josie begins to try to find common ground with the reluctant elderly wealthy lady, in whose mansion she is placed and is successful. She makes friends in the community, and eventually meets an RAF officer who she becomes good friends with. Stan, meanwhile, who has not contacted her in a year comes there on leave and takes her back to London.

When she returns to Miss Harcourt and the community she has grown to love, Stan is badly injured and she has to go back and care for him. He gets well enough to go out to a pub with his sister which is bombed to rubble and Josie returns to the countryside.

A fairly quick succession of events happens, including Josie being offered a scholarship to university for her mathematical skills. The book ends on a happy conclusion, one that I enjoyed reading

The Locked Room - Dr. Ruth Galloway Mysteries- Elly Griffiths~ Best Mystery, Thriller & Suspense~ Multiple Award Winner -

 "Ruth is in London clearing out her mother's belongings when she makes a surprising discovery: a photograph of her Norfolk cottage taken before Ruth lived there. Her mother always hated the cottage, so why does she have a picture of the place? As she died three years ago, Ruth can't exactly ask her, and her father denies all knowledge of the picture. The only clue is written on the back of the photo: Dawn, 1969."

The Ruth Galloway series is a great favorite of mine and this one was no exception. It seems to both illustrate the UK's "lockdown" from Covid and hopefully point towards Book # 15. The ending took me by surprise and I went back 2 chapters and reread. Will Nelson and Ruth get together in the next outing?

After all  "Nelson vows to take Ruth and Kate to live with him. But they, and Dawn, have vanished." So of course I was expecting that!

As always there were multifaceted background stories going on, probably Nelson and Cathbad will discuss their mutual "dream", which brought Cthabad back from the brink. The two of them have quite a bond which they share with Ruth and Kate.

So enjoyable! Cannot wait for the next outing.

The Rising Tide - Ann Cleeves ~ A Vera Stanhope Novel - Book 10~ An Engrossing Read with a Surprise Ending! Pre-Order Now for August~

"Ann is the author of the books behind ITV's VERA, now in it's third series, and the BBC's SHETLAND, which will be aired in December 2012. Ann's DI Vera Stanhope series of books is set in Northumberland and features the well loved detective along with her partner Joe Ashworth. Ann's Shetland series bring us DI Jimmy Perez, investigating in the mysterious, dark, and beautiful Shetland Islands..." 

  Ann Cleeves is winner of  the Diamond Dagger Award 2017, Gold Dagger 2006, The Long Call,2019 so for sure they are great reading! She is the multi-million copy bestselling author behind two hit television series--Shetland, starring Douglas Henshall, and Vera, starring Academy Award Nominee Brenda Blethyn--both of which are watched and loved in the United States. " 

In this one, DI Vera Stanhope has been pondering her age and health  and wondering who she should "give the nod to"  if,when she retires. The two youngest of her assistants both have qualities she admires (They don't really know this because she seldom compliments anyone" She has lived in this same area her whole life, in a  remote cabin she inherited from her father in Northumberland close to the coast.

Synopsis below about a group of friends and former classmates  meeting on Holy Island for 50 years. They meet in a rented house next to the Holy Island chapel and stay for the week-end. One of them ( a minor celebrity) does not live until the second day and is found hanging in the bedroom he always chose because it was not shared.

As Vera and her large crew stay over the weekend to try to solve this crime (hint..how did he die?) more deaths within their groups of friends are lost.  The surprise ending really surprised ME! Get your copy now for Labor Day reading.

"Thanks to St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books and especially author Ann Cleeves for book #10 on the Vera Stanhope series. 

"For fifty years a group of friends have been meeting regularly for reunions on Holy Island, celebrating the school trip where they met, and the friend that they lost to the rising causeway tide five years later. Now, when one of them is found hanged, Vera is called in. Learning that the dead man had recently been fired after misconduct allegations, Vera knows she must discover what the friends are hiding, and whether the events of many years before could have led to murder then, and now . . ."

5 Stars! Cora Harrison's Mother Superior Series #MurderintheCathedral #NetGalley. Loved this one! Get your PreOrder in now for August!

 The Reverend Mother mystery series is always a favorite and this year I really knew, as I had three review books,(all favorite authors) at one time but read this one until it was done.

What a story and truly a great ending, although I was thinking and hoping, that Eileen and Det.Inspector Patrick Cashman would be getting closer together. It does look close- hoping for at least one more book!  

The background story is that Reverend Mother Aquinas ( Dotty to her close cousin who was raised with her) had become a nun and had run St.Mary's of the Isle School in wartorn Cork for many years. 

Eileen Macswiney, in law school, and Detective Inspector Patrick Cashman, who both grew up without a father and poor on Barrack street were a large part of solving this double murder. They were the Reverend Mother's pride and joy, when at 4 years old and 7 were her students. They were almost surrogate children to her and they both helped to solve this one, Church of Ireland prelate and a poor 7 year old. 

I've said this before but:"my great Uncle Patrick Faunt and family lived in that part of Cork at that exact time..well Uncle Patrick died in 1907, his son in 1913 and his wife and daughter in 1921 but his granddaughters were still living at Little Cross Street in Cork" ..close to all this action and IRA activity.

Dark Enough to see the Stars in a Jamestown Sky- Based on the True Story of the Women and Children at Jamestown - Connie Lapallo- Author, Descendant and Historian

 

“Do not forget us.” Haunted by a woman’s voice whispering these words from the dusty records, Connie Lapallo sought to discover why her grandmother Joan brought a daughter and joined the few women and children settling Jamestown in 1609. Inspired by their courage, Connie tells their stories with compassion and historical accuracy." 

I'm glad that this was a book club read and I intend to order the two sequels " The Sun Is But A Morning Star" and "When the Moon Has No More Silver: The Continuing Story of the Women & Children of Jamestown"  

From the author Connie Lapallo “Do not forget us.” Haunted by a woman’s voice whispering these words from the dusty records, Connie Lapallo sought to discover why her grandmother Joan brought a daughter and joined the few women and children settling Jamestown in 1609. Inspired by their courage, Connie tells their stories with compassion and historical accuracy." 

Prosperity in Virginia sounded promising. Then Joan learned she would have to leave a daughter behind in England. Even that she could bear. But a hurricane at sea, the Starving Time, Indian wars—life at Jamestown in 1609 was nothing like she imagined.

Wanting to understand her (many times great )grandmother would lead the author to Joan’s native England and the writing of the very book, and the two more to follow. Her book is combined with historic facts."From the very first page of 'Jamestown Sky,' the reader is aware of Lapallo's personal investment in making the story historically accurate and beautiful...She said that researching Cecily and Joan, she heard their voices saying, 'Do not forget us.' 

I myself won't forget them and since I, myself, have many intrepid early ancestors, but none quite this early ( 1641 to Accomac County ) but my records don't show who he/they married. I would love to get back that far .

I recommend the book to those who value reading to acquire knowledge of a time now past. The last 10% of the book documented historical facts some known and some acquired since "Jamestown Sky" was published.