Death on a Winter Stroll by Francine Mathews

Thank you for joining me on my blog today as I feature an excerpt from Francine Mathew’s newest novel, Death on a Winter Stroll, on tour with Austen Prose Tours!

About the Book

Title: Death on a Winter Stroll: A Merry Folger Christmas Mystery
Series: A Merry Folger Nantucket Mystery (Book 7)
Author: Francine Mathews
Genre: Traditional Detective Mystery, Holiday Reading
Publisher: ‎Soho Crime (November 1, 2022)
Length: 288 pages
Format: Hardcover, eBook, & audiobook
ISBN: 978-1641292740
Tour Dates: November 14 – December 19, 2022

Book Description

No-nonsense Nantucket detective Merry Folger grapples with the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and two murders as the island is overtaken by Hollywood stars and DC suits.

Nantucket Police Chief Meredith Folger is acutely conscious of the stress COVID-19 has placed on the community she loves. Although the island has proved a refuge for many during the pandemic, the cost to Nantucket has been high. Merry hopes that the Christmas Stroll, one of Nantucket’s favorite traditions, in which Main Street is transformed into a winter wonderland, will lift the island’s spirits. But the arrival of a large-scale TV production, and the Secretary of State and her family, complicates matters significantly.

The TV shoot is plagued with problems from within, as a shady, power-hungry producer clashes with strong-willed actors. Across Nantucket, the Secretary’s troubled stepson keeps shaking off his security detail to visit a dilapidated house near conservation land, where an intriguing recluse guards secrets of her own. With all parties overly conscious of spending too much time in the public eye and secrets swirling around both camps, it is difficult to parse what behavior is suspicious or not—until the bodies turn up.

Now, it’s up to Merry and Detective Howie Seitz to find a connection between two seemingly unconnected murders and catch the killer. But when everyone has a motive, and half of the suspects are politicians and actors, how can Merry and Howie tell fact from fiction?

This latest installment in critically acclaimed author Francine Mathews’ Merry Folger series is an immersive escape to festive Nantucket, a poignant exploration of grief as a result of parental absence, and a delicious new mystery to keep you guessing.

About the Author

Francine Mathews was born in Binghamton, New York, the last of six girls. She attended Princeton and Stanford Universities, where she studied history, before going on to work as an intelligence analyst at the CIA. She wrote her first book in 1992 and left the Agency a year later. Since then, she has written thirty books, including six previous novels in the Merry Folger series (Death in the Off-Season, Death in Rough Water, Death in a Mood Indigo, Death in a Cold Hard Light, Death on Nantucket, and Death on Tuckernuck) as well as the nationally bestselling Being a Jane Austen mystery series, which she writes under the pen name Stephanie Barron. She lives and works in Denver, Colorado.

Purchase Links

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Exclusive Excerpt

One of the perks of being police chief was the ringside seat Merry Folger commanded for certain critical moments. For instance, this Saturday morning—the first weekend in December, with the sun high in the sky and a brisk, cold wind driving whitecaps across the water as a Coast Guard cutter sailed toward Straight Wharf.

Her white SUV with the distinctive navy and gray police markings was parked where no cars were allowed, within the Christmas Market barricades that blocked the wharf’s access to town. She and Peter were lounging against the bumper in their most festive winter gear. Merry’s father, John, was inside the car staying warm. They were waiting for Santa Claus to dock.

Nearby was the Town Crier and some of the town’s Select- persons who would escort the Man in Red to his island sleigh, a vintage firetruck owned by the Nantucket Hotel. Santa would stand in the back, waving, while the Town Crier walked ahead, ringing his bell, announcing the glad tidings of great joy.

“Look at that guy,” Peter muttered in her ear as a man roughly their age walked by, natty in sunglasses, a suit, and a knotted Stroll scarf. Nothing abnormal about that, except that the suit had red and green stripes with white death’s-heads and fists stamped all over it.

“Kind of like North-Pole-meets-Venice-Beach-tattoo-parlor,” Merry suggested. “You prefer the blonde, I take it?”

The blonde wore a minidress covered in hot pink sequins and thigh-high boots made of fake mink. She had a jingle bell on each boob.

Every third person in the crowd—and there were about ten thousand people in town, jockeying for the best viewing spots— was dressed in ways bizarre or wonderful. The color and noise and exuberance were thrilling after the cheerless quarantine holidays, and Merry was grinning helplessly. She glanced over her shoulder and gave her dad a thumbs-up. John was drinking coffee laced with peppermint schnapps in his passenger seat. He saluted her with his mug.

The sight of him sitting alone jolted her suddenly, as it did whenever she looked for her grandfather, Ralph Waldo Folger, and remembered he’s gone now. The freshness of loss stunned her each time like a blow to the face.

Merry had known her eighty-nine-year-old grandfather was vulnerable in the pandemic. She and John had talked by phone daily about ways to keep Ralph safe. As a frontline worker exposed for the duration to a germ-laden public, Merry had stayed scrupulously away from her childhood home on Tattle Court throughout the first waves of sickness. Peter arranged for grocery deliveries twice a week and dropped supplies from Marine Home at John’s front door. And Ralph was healthy for nearly a year: social distancing on his daily walks, wearing a mask when he ventured into town. He contracted Covid nine days before he was scheduled for his first vaccine.

Nantucket Cottage Hospital had five ventilators; Ralph never made it to one of them. Sickening on a Friday, he was delirious by Sunday and medevacked to Boston in the wee hours of Monday. Intubated, he lingered in a medically induced coma for four days.

What dropped Merry to the floor when they got the news, sobbing and hugging her knees as though she’d been sucker punched, was the fact that her careful distance hadn’t mattered a darn. Ralph was alone when he died. And she hadn’t seen or touched him for a year before that. Of all the pandemic’s cruelties, this was the coldest.

Her father thrust open the car door and stepped out to the paving beside her. “Boat’s in,” he said.

She linked her arm through his as the cutter drew along- side. A couple of ensigns jumped off with sheets in their hands and moored the steel-gray vessel to the wharf’s stanchions. The Town Crier hailed the boat, Santa waved, horns blared, the drum corps drummed. Merry and Peter and John whooped along with everyone else. Despite the logistics and the responsibilities, she was nominally handling, despite her underlying grief, joy shot through Merry as she fell into step behind the Selectpersons and jauntered after Santa’s firetruck. For the length of Main Street at least, she was uncomplicatedly happy.

It felt like the whole island celebrated with her.

Thanks for stopping by!

November 17, 2022November 17, 2022

Under a Veiled Moon by Karen Odden

Thank you for joining me on my blog today as I feature an excerpt from Karen Odden’s newest novel, Under a Veiled Moon, on tour with Austen Prose Tours!

About the Book

Title: Under a Veiled Moon
Series: An Inspector Corravan Mystery (Book 2)
Author: Karen Odden
Genre: Historical Mystery, Detective Mystery, Victorian Mystery
Publisher: ‎Crooked Lane Books (October 11, 2022)
Length: 336 pages
Format: Hardcover, eBook, & audiobook
ISBN: 978-1639101191
Tour Dates: November 14 – December 19, 2022

Book Description

In the tradition of C. S. Harris and Anne Perry, a fatal disaster on the Thames and a roiling political conflict set the stage for Karen Odden’s second Inspector Corravan historical mystery.

September 1878. One night, as the pleasure boat the Princess Alice makes her daily trip up the Thames, she collides with the Bywell Castle, a huge iron-hulled collier. The Princess Alice shears apart, throwing all 600 passengers into the river; only 130 survive. It is the worst maritime disaster London has ever seen, and early clues point to sabotage by the Irish Republican Brotherhood, who believe violence is the path to restoring Irish Home Rule.

For Scotland Yard Inspector Michael Corravan, born in Ireland and adopted by the Irish Doyle family, the case presents a challenge. Accused by the Home Office of willfully disregarding the obvious conclusion and berated by his Irish friends for bowing to prejudice, Corravan doggedly pursues the truth, knowing that if the Princess Alice disaster is pinned on the IRB, hopes for Home Rule could be dashed forever.

Corrovan’s dilemma is compounded by Colin, the youngest Doyle, who has joined James McCabe’s Irish gang. As violence in Whitechapel rises, Corravan strikes a deal with McCabe to get Colin out of harm’s way. But unbeknownst to Corravan, Colin bears longstanding resentments against his adopted brother and scorns his help.

As the newspapers link the IRB to further accidents, London threatens to devolve into terror and chaos. With the help of his young colleague, the loyal Mr. Stiles, and his friend Belinda Gale, Corravan uncovers the harrowing truth—one that will shake his faith in his countrymen, the law, and himself.

About the Author

Karen Odden earned her Ph.D. in English from New York University and subsequently taught literature at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She has contributed essays to numerous books and journals, written introductions for Victorian novels in the Barnes & Noble classics series and edited for the journal Victorian Literature and Culture (Cambridge UP). Her previous novels, also set in 1870s London, have won awards for historical fiction and mystery. A member of Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime and the recipient of a grant from the Arizona Commission on the Arts, Karen lives in Arizona with her family and her rescue beagle Rosy.

Purchase Links

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Exclusive Excerpt

Having finished writing my daily report, I left Wapping, walking past the London Docks to Sloane Street, where the Goose and Gander stood at the corner of Hackford.

The sight of it brought back the afternoons Pat Doyle and I would come here, our spirits buoyed by the shillings in our pockets from working on the docks. We steered clear of most public houses—like the English Pearl, a few doors down, or the Drum and Thistle—but we two Irish stevedores found a welcome here, in this low-ceilinged room with a pair of rusted swords and a Celtic Cross over the mantle. Joining in on the bawdy choruses after a few pints made Pat and me feel like men—Irish men—and, for a while, as if we belonged. I’m not proud to admit it, but I liked it when someone who wasn’t Irish was scowled out of the place.

Life was hard on the docks. The dockmaster, named Smithson, always hired Pat and me as a pair because he knew that together we could accomplish four times what any other single man could. It didn’t keep Smithson from treating us the worst, though. If there was a swan-necked cart with a wheel that wasn’t working properly, that would be ours for the day. If we took time to fix the wheel, our wages would be docked. Sometimes we didn’t get a cart at all and had to haul the goods on our backs. If a bag of tea burst because it was roughly handled or at the bottom of a heavy pile, we’d be blamed. Pat and I kept to ourselves, mostly, though after a time we banded with a few older Irishmen who were hired regularly. We did our work, held our heads down, stayed out of people’s way. Still, most days Smithson would shout at us for being feckin’ Irish eejits, which worried me because Pat was quick to throw down whatever bag he was toting in order to free up his fists, and I’d have to remind him that we needed the money more than we wanted Smithson to pay for his spite. I hated it too. But we had no choice but to stay and take it.

It was the docks that taught me what being Irish meant because growing up in my part of the Chapel, Irish was all I knew. Like hundreds of others during the famine years, my parents sailed from Dublin to Liverpool, making portions of that city along the Mersey River more Irish than English. My father was a silversmith, and a skilled one, but there wasn’t enough work for all the silversmiths who had landed in Liverpool, so he and my mum came down to the Irish part of Whitechapel. With anti-Irish feeling running high, shops elsewhere in London wouldn’t hire a man with black hair and blue eyes named Corravan, with an accent straight out of County Armagh. My mum never told me so, but my father did what many Irishmen had to do—plied their trade sideways. He became a counterfeiter, making two-bit coins in a cellar somewhere, with fumes that clung to him when he came through our door at night. He died when I was three years old, too young to remember him well, but old enough that the odor of suet and oil and the bitter tang of cyanide had rooted itself in my brain. During one of my earliest cases in Lambeth, I walked into a house and recognized the smell straightaway, like I knew the smell of tea or hops or onions. That’s when I realized how my father had put bread on our table.

The rancor against the Irish grates at me sometimes. Not to say we don’t deserve some of it. Four years ago, two Irishmen in Lambeth threw firebombs into one of Barnardo’s English orphanages, to protest that Parliament had just prohibited the Irish from setting up orphanages for our own. The next morning, the corpses of twenty-six children were laid out on the street and on the front page of every newspaper in London. For weeks after, shame hacked at my insides. I could barely meet anyone’s eye.

But we Irish don’t all deserve to be tarred with the same brush, and it’s hard to bear the ugly opinions printed in the papers. Nowadays, I stop reading if I catch a hint of hatred in the first lines, but there was a time when I would read the articles and letters from “concerned citizens” and “true Englishmen” because I wanted to know the worst that could be said of us. That was before I realized that words could be infinitely malicious. There was no worst; there was only more. I still remember the conclusion of one letter because it seemed so preposterous: “The Irish are the dregs in the barrel, the lowest of the low. They kill their fathers, rape their sisters, and eat their children, stuffing their maws with blood and potatoes indifferently, like wild beasts.”

Well, that wasn’t true of any of the Irish I knew. Indeed, as I laid my hand on the doorknob of the Goose and Gander, I was reasonably certain that inside I’d find Irish folks sitting, eating normal food, and playing cards.

I pushed open the wooden door, greeted the barmaid, and asked if O’Hagan had been in. She shook her head. “Not yet. He usually comes around eight.”

Thanks for stopping by!

May 21, 2022May 21, 2022

Bloomsbury Girls by Natalie Jenner

Thank you for stopping by the blog tour for Bloomsbury Girls by Natalie Jenner, on tour with Austen Prose Tours!

Quick Facts

Title: Bloomsbury Girls: A Novel
Author: Natalie Jenner
Genre: Historical Fiction, Women’s Fiction
Publisher: ‎St. Martin’s Press (May 17, 2022)
Length: 368 pages
Format: Hardcover, eBook, & audiobook
ISBN: 978-1250276698
Tour Dates: May 2-29, 2022

About the Book

Natalie Jenner, the internationally bestselling author of The Jane Austen Society, returns with a compelling and heartwarming story of post-war London, a century-old bookstore, and three women determined to find their way in a fast-changing world in Bloomsbury Girls.

Bloomsbury Books is an old-fashioned new and rare bookstore that has persisted and resisted change for a hundred years, run by men and guided by the general manager’s unbreakable fifty-one rules. But in 1950, the world is changing, especially the world of books and publishing, and at Bloomsbury Books, the girls in the shop have plans:

Vivien Lowry: Single since her aristocratic fiancé was killed in action during World War II, the brilliant and stylish Vivien has a long list of grievances–most of them well justified and the biggest of which is Alec McDonough, the Head of Fiction.

Grace Perkins: Married with two sons, she’s been working to support the family following her husband’s breakdown in the aftermath of the war. Torn between duty to her family and dreams of her own.

Evie Stone: In the first class of female students from Cambridge permitted to earn a degree, Evie was denied an academic position in favor of her less accomplished male rival. Now she’s working at Bloomsbury Books while she plans to remake her own future.

As they interact with various literary figures of the time–Daphne Du Maurier, Ellen Doubleday, Sonia Blair (widow of George Orwell), Samuel Beckett, Peggy Guggenheim, and others–these three women with their complex web of relationships, goals and dreams are all working to plot out a future that is richer and more rewarding than anything society will allow.

About the Author

Natalie Jenner is the author of the instant international bestseller The Jane Austen Society and Bloomsbury Girls. A Goodreads Choice Award runner-up for historical fiction and finalist for best debut novel, The Jane Austen Society was a USA Today and #1 national bestseller and has been sold for translation in twenty countries. Born in England and raised in Canada, Natalie has been a corporate lawyer, career coach and, most recently, an independent bookstore owner in Oakville, Ontario, where she lives with her family and two rescue dogs. Visit her website to learn more.

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A special message from Natalie: Dear readers, I am immensely grateful for the outpouring of affection that so many of you have expressed for my debut novel The Jane Austen Society and its eight main characters. When I wrote its epilogue (in one go and without ever changing a word), I wanted to give each of Adam, Mimi, Dr. Gray, Adeline, Yardley, Frances, Evie and Andrew the happy Austenesque ending they each deserved. But I could not let go of servant girl Evie Stone, the youngest and only character inspired by real life (my mother, who had to leave school at age fourteen, and my daughter, who does eighteenth-century research for a university professor and his team). Bloomsbury Girls continues Evie’s adventures into a 1950s London bookshop where there is a battle of the sexes raging between the male managers and the female staff, who decide to pull together their smarts, connections, and limited resources to take over the shop and make it their own. There are dozens of new characters in Bloomsbury Girls from several different countries, and audiobook narration was going to require a female voice of the highest training and caliber. When I learned that British stage and screen actress Juliet Stevenson, CBE, had agreed to narrate, I knew that my story could not be in better hands, and I so hope you enjoy reading or listening to it. Warmest regards, Natalie

Purchase Links

PRINT & DIGITAL BOOK

AUDIOBOOK

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My Thoughts

This is the perfect novel to enjoy sipping a cup of tea and cozied up in your favorite chair! There is just something charming about a bookstore, but beyond the charming setting of this novel comes three strong-willed, vibrant, determined, resourceful women who each use their intelligence to make the bookstore hum. The characters are engaging and believable; I think Evie is my personal favorite! I would say the strong women take center stage in this novel and the history is definitely not detailed, but I think enjoying this novel as women’s fiction allows readers to dig deep into fascinating characters and admire the three women. I liked the tie in of the rules at the beginning of each chapter and found that very creative! I think you can get more background information by reading The Jane Austen Society first, but this novel stands well on its own. I am eager to read more by this author and recommend this latest release!

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author. Opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

Advance Praise

“Jenner follows The Jane Austen Society (2020) with another top-notch reading experience, using the same deft hand at creating complex, emotionally engaging characters [against] a backdrop chock-full of factual historical information… Fans of Christina Baker Kline, Kate Quinn and Pam Jenoff [will] appreciate this gem.” —Booklist (starred review)

“An illuminating yarn… Fans of emotional historical fiction will be charmed.” —Publishers Weekly

“Bloomsbury Girls is an immersive tale of three women determined to forge their own paths in 1950s London. Jenner has proven to be a master at spinning charming, earnest characters and paints a vivid picture of postwar England. I wanted to stay lost in her world forever!” —Stephanie Wrobel, internationally bestselling author of Darling Rose Gold

“Bloomsbury Girls is a book lover’s dream, one of those rare reads that elicits a sense of book-ish wistfulness and nostalgia. Jenner has created a colorful cast of characters in a story about friendship, perseverance, and the ways that determined women can band together in a man’s world. You’re in for a treat.” —Sarah Penner, New York Times bestselling author of The Lost Apothecary

“In a London still reeling from the ravages of World War II and the changes war has brought to English society, three young women take their futures into their own hands. With Bloomsbury Girls, Natalie Jenner has penned a timely and beautiful ode to ambition, friendship, bookshops, and the written word.” —Janet Skeslien Charles, New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Library“In post-war London, Bloomsbury Books survived The Blitz until Vivien Lowry, Grace Perkins, and Evie Stone set off their own bomb on the stuffy all-male management. What ensues is the most delightful, witty, and endearing story you will read this year. Natalie Jenner, bestselling author of The Jane Austen Society, proves that she was not a one hit wonder. Like Austen, her second book is even better than the first.” —Laurel Ann Nattress, editor of Jane Austen Made Me Do It

Thanks for stopping by!

December 14, 2021December 14, 2021

Shadows of Swanford Abbey by Julie Klassen

Thank you for joining me on the Austen Prose tour with Laurel Ann Nattress for Julie Klassen’s newest release, Shadows of Swanford Abbey!

What a stunning cover!

Quick Facts

Title: Shadows of Swanford Abbey
Author: Julie Klassen
Genre: Regency Romance, Historical Suspense, Inspirational Fiction
Publisher: Bethany House Publishers
Publication Date: December 7, 2021
Length: 416 pages
Format: Hardcover, trade paperback, eBook, & audiobook
Tour Dates: December 6-17, 2021

About the Book

Agatha Christie meets Jane Austen in this atmospheric Regency tale brimming with mystery, intrigue, and romance.

When Miss Rebecca Lane returns to her home village after a few years away, her brother begs for a favor: go to nearby Swanford Abbey and deliver his manuscript to an author staying there who could help him get published. Feeling responsible for her brother’s desperate state, she reluctantly agrees.

The medieval monastery turned grand hotel is rumored to be haunted. Once there, Rebecca begins noticing strange things, including a figure in a hooded black gown gliding silently through the abbey’s cloisters. For all its renovations and veneer of luxury, the ancient foundations seem to echo with whispers of the past–including her own. For there she encounters Sir Frederick—magistrate, widower, and former neighbor—who long ago broke her heart.

When the famous author is found murdered in the abbey, Sir Frederick begins questioning staff and guests and quickly discovers that several people held grudges against the man, including Miss Lane and her brother. Haunted by a painful betrayal in his past, Sir Frederick searches for answers but is torn between his growing feelings for Rebecca and his pursuit of the truth. For Miss Lane is clearly hiding something…

About the Author

Julie Klassen loves all things Jane—Jane Eyre and Jane Austen. Her books have sold over a million copies, and she is a three-time recipient of the Christy Award for Historical Romance. The Secret of Pembrooke Park was honored with the Minnesota Book Award for Genre Fiction. Julie has also won the Midwest Book Award and Christian Retailing’s BEST Award and has been a finalist in the RITA and Carol Awards. A graduate of the University of Illinois, Julie worked in publishing for sixteen years and now writes full time. She and her husband have two sons and live in a suburb of St. Paul, Minnesota. Visit her online at:

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More from Julie

Author Julie Klassen shares her inspiration for Shadows of Swanford Abbey

Purchase Links

My Thoughts

Julie Klassen is one of my favorite authors because she can write novels with great historical detail, fantastic character development, multiple surprising twists, and amazingly complex plots! This novel is true to her style with intrigue and romance galore! This book has even more of a mystery with a “who done it” theme than some of her past novels and I found myself reading late into the night to discover the villain and the conclusion. The romance is well integrated (although not front and center like the mystery is) and I loved the development of the relationship of the two long time friends. There are fun characters with wit to lighten the plot as well and I found myself chuckling a time or two at Lady Fitzhowards. I truly did not want this novel to end and found myself savoring the rich descriptions and historical setting. This is not a novel to miss! I most highly recommend it!

I received a complimentary copy of this book from an Austen Prose tour with Laurel Ann Nattress. Opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

Advance Praise

“A brilliant Agatha Christie-esque whodunit by reader favorite Julie Klassen. Set in the creepy atmosphere of an old abbey, Shadows of Swanford Abbey will keep you guessing until the very end. There’s plenty of danger, intrigue, and—yes—romance to delight Regency-era lovers of all ages. Truly a don’t-miss read!”—Michelle Griep, Christy Award-winning author of Once Upon a Dickens Christmas

“If you enjoy historical fiction with equal blends MYSTERY (suspense) and ROMANCE, then I recommend Shadows of Swanford Abbey with you wholeheartedly without any reservations. This may just be my FAVORITE Klassen novel yet.”—Becky Laney, Becky’s Book Reviews“Once again Julie Klassen has delivered an intriguing book with all kinds of mystery and a few ghosts added in made it all worth the midnight oil I burned because I didn’t want to put it down!”—Lori Parrish, Red Headed Book Lady

Thanks for stopping by!

November 11, 2021November 11, 2021

Every Word Unsaid by Kimberly Duffy

Thank you for joining me in supporting Kimberly Duffy on her new release, Every Word Unsaid, on tour with Austen Prose tours from Laurel Ann Nattress!

Isn’t this cover simply stunning?!

Book Details

Title: Every Word Unsaid: A Novel
Author: Kimberly Duffy
Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery & Suspense, Inspirational Fiction
Publisher: Bethany House
Publication Date: November 2, 2021
Length: 368 pages
Format: Trade Paperback, eBook, & Audiobook
Tour Dates: November 1-14, 2021

About the Book

Augusta “Gussie” Travers is used to being controversial—traveling the country with her Kodak camera and writing stories for her popular column. However, soon she finds herself involved in a scandal, causing her to escape to India to spend time with childhood friends Catherine and Gabriel. But India is not quite what Gussie expects, with plagues, conflicts, and changes that she does not anticipate. Circumstances begin to force Gussie to reevaluate her past, present, and future, and to determine what is most important in her life.

About the Author

Kimberly Duffy is Long Island native currently living in Southwest Ohio, via six months in India. When she’s not homeschooling her four kids, she writes historical fiction that takes her readers back in time and across oceans. She loves trips that require a passport, recipe books, and practicing kissing scenes with her husband of twenty years. He doesn’t mind. Connect with her on her website, facebook, pinterest, instagram, and goodreads.

Purchase Links

My Thoughts

Kimberly Duffy has a true gift for storytelling! Her beautiful prose draws you into the story from the very first page and makes you fall in love with the characters by the end of the first chapter. And her ability to develop characters throughout the novel is truly a remarkable talent. I loved Gussie. She has gumption, courage, and tenacity, and she’s willing to stand up for what she believes is right, almost to a fault. I also love how she changes and grows in the story as she faces new obstacles and fears. Additionally, Kimberly Duffy once again transports us to exotic India, with vivid descriptions that cause you to be lost in the sights, smells, and sounds of both the beauty and tragedy of this beautiful country. I have never traveled to India, but I almost feel like I have a better understanding of its culture just from reading her novels! My favorite part of this story, however, is the expert way the author weaves deep spiritual truths into the novel that have you, as the reader, pausing to reflect on your own spiritual journey as you realize your true worth comes not from others but from our great God. This book is everything that is fantastic and wonderful and I cannot recommend it enough. An absolutely incredible read!

I received a complimentary copy of this book from an Austen Prose tour with Laurel Ann Nattress. Opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

Advance Praise

“Duffy shines in elegant, flowing prose and delicate precision that underscores the nineteenth-century setting.”— Booklist, starred review

“An author to watch.”— Library Journal

“Duffy’s writing is beautiful, deep, and contemplative.”— Jocelyn Green, Christy Award-winning author of Shadows of the White City

Thank you for stopping by!

August 26, 2021August 28, 2021

Cover Reveal! Bloomsbury Girls by Natalie Jenner

I am so thrilled to participate in the cover reveal for Bloomsbury Girls by Natalie Jenner!

Quick Facts

Title: Bloomsbury Girls: A Novel

Author: Natalie Jenner

Genre: Historical Fiction

Publisher: St Martin’s Press

Release Date: May 17, 2022

Length: 304 pages

ISBN: 978-1250276698 (Hardcover) and 978-1250852311 (Audiobook)

eBook ASIN: B09CNDV5GJ

About the Book

“One bookshop. Fifty-one rules. Three women who break them all.”

The Internationally Bestselling author of The Jane Austen Society returns with a compelling and heartwarming story of post-war London, a century-old bookstore, and three women determined to find their way in a fast-changing world.

Bloomsbury Books is an old-fashioned new and rare bookstore that has persisted and resisted change for a hundred years, run by men and guided by the general manager’s unbreakable fifty-one rules. But in 1950, the world is changing, especially the world of books and publishing, and at Bloomsbury Books, the girls in the shop have plans:

Vivien Lowry: Single since her aristocratic fiancé was killed in action during World War II, the brilliant and stylish Vivien has a long list of grievances – most of them well justified and the biggest of which is Alec McDonough, the Head of Fiction.

Grace Perkins: Married with two sons, she’s been working to support the family following her husband’s breakdown in the aftermath of the war. Torn between duty to her family and dreams of her own.

Evie Stone: In the first class of female students from Cambridge permitted to earn a degree, Evie was denied an academic position in favor of her less accomplished male rival. Now she’s working at Bloomsbury Books while she plans to remake her own future.As they interact with various literary figures of the time – Daphne Du Maurier, Ellen Doubleday, Sonia Blair (widow of George Orwell), Samuel Beckett, Peggy Guggenheim, and others – these three women with their complex web of relationships, goals and dreams are all working to plot out a future that is richer and more rewarding than anything society will allow.

About the Author

Natalie Jenner is the author of two books, the instant international bestseller THE JANE AUSTEN SOCIETY and BLOOMSBURY GIRLS. A Goodreads Choice Award finalist for best debut novel and historical fiction, THE JANE AUSTEN SOCIETY was a USA Today and #1 national bestseller and has been sold for translation in twenty countries. Born in England and raised in Canada, Natalie has been a corporate lawyer, a career coach and, most recently, an independent bookstore owner in Oakville, Ontario, where she lives with her family and two rescue dogs.

WEBSITE | TWITTER | FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | GOODREADS

More from Natalie

“I never intended for Evie Stone to be a major character in my debut novel, let alone inspire my second one, Bloomsbury Girls. But as time went on, I found I could not leave her behind in Chawton with the other society members. And then one day I rewatched a favourite movie, 84 Charing Cross Road, and I remember thinking, there’s a whole other story in here still to be told, of an upstairs-downstairs motley crew of booksellers, and right away the figures came to life.”

“As with The Jane Austen Society, Bloomsbury Girls features multiple characters and storylines revolving around one very charming location: this time, the quintessential Dickensian-type bookshop.”

“If The Jane Austen Society was the book I wrote when I was coming out of sadness, Bloomsbury Girls was written when I was very happy, and I hope it provides a little cheer to readers during this difficult time.”

Purchase Links

And now… here is the cover!!

Isn’t it gorgeous?! Be sure to preorder so this beauty will be at your doorstep/on your device as soon as it releases!

If you want to read more about Natalie’s first book, check out my blog post here!

August 3, 2021July 29, 2021

The Barrister and the Letter of Marque by Todd M. Johnson

Thank you for joining me in supporting Todd M. Johnson on his new release, The Barrister and the Letter of Marque, on tour with Austen Prose tours from Laurel Ann Nattress! Connect with the virtual book tour from August 2nd to 15th. Over twenty-five popular online influencers specializing in historical mystery, suspense, and inspirational fiction will post in the celebration of its release with interviews, spotlights, exclusive excerpts, and reviews of this new Regency-era novel set in London, England.

Book Details

Title: The Barrister and the Letter of Marque: A Novel
Author: Todd M. Johnson
Genre: Historical Mystery, Suspense, Inspirational Fiction
Publisher: Bethany House Publishers (August 3, 2021)
Length: 416 pages
ISBN: 978-0764239137 (hardcover) and 978-0764212369 (trade paperback)
ASIN: B08LG91Y95 (ebook) and B0983VZ6XZ (audiobook)

About the Book

As a barrister in 1818 London, William Snopes has witnessed firsthand the danger of only the wealthy having their voices heard, and he’s a strong advocate who defends the poorer classes against the powerful. That changes the day a struggling heiress, Lady Madeleine Jameson, arrives at his door. In a last-ditch effort to save her faltering estate, Lady Jameson invested in a merchant brig, the Padget. The ship was granted a rare privilege by the king’s regent: a Letter of Marque authorizing the captain to seize the cargo of French traders operating illegally in the Indian Sea. Yet when the Padget returns to London, her crew is met by soldiers ready to take possession of their goods and arrest the captain for piracy. And the Letter—-the sole proof his actions were legal—has mysteriously vanished. Moved by the lady’s distress, intrigued by the Letter, and goaded by an opposing solicitor, Snopes takes the case. But as he delves deeper into the mystery, he learns that the forces arrayed against Lady Jameson, and now himself, are even more perilous than he’d imagined.

About the Author

Todd M. Johnson is the author of three legal thrillers: The Deposit Slip (2012),
Critical Reaction (2013), and Fatal Trust (2017). The Barrister and the Letter
of Marque (2021) is his first foray into historical mystery. He has been a practicing
attorney for over 30 years, specializing as a trial lawyer. A graduate of Princeton
University and the University of Minnesota Law School, he also taught for two
years as adjunct professor of International Law and served as a US diplomat in
Hong Kong. He lives outside Minneapolis, Minnesota, with his wife and daughter. You can find him at https://authortoddmjohnson.com.

Purchase Links

Christian Book Distributors

My Thoughts

Gripping from the very beginning, this novel takes interesting twists and turns that held my attention during the entire novel. This is my first book by this author, but I found that I greatly enjoyed his writing and his ability to create a complex plot with lots of components that tied together well. I liked that there were multiple voices (or point of views) in the novel, which allowed for a more complete overall picture of this very fascinating story. I thought the plot developed well and took the reader on quite a journey. The book shines with its focus on mystery. There are only hints of romance in the story. The history is interesting and I could tell the author researched how courtrooms and law worked during Regency London. I liked this book a lot and will definitely read more by this author!

I received a complimentary copy of this book from an Austen Prose tour with Laurel Ann Nattress. Opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

Advance Praise

“Johnson debuts with a tense story of powerful interests teaming up to thwart a legal challenge in Georgian-era England…Johnson steeps his story in legal maneuvering, layers of intrigue, midnight chases, and even a hint of romance. While faith elements are subtle, this enthralling novel will appeal to fans of both legal thrillers and historical inspirationals.”— Publishers Weekly

“… a mystery worthy of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. This richly historical and lively paced story has all the makings of a modern classic.”— Jocelyn Green, Christy Award-winning author of Shadows of the White City

“At once atmospheric and gripping, Johnson’s latest is a luminous and refreshing new offering in inspirational historical fiction.”— Rachel McMillan, bestselling author of The London Restoration and The Mozart Code

“A fascinating glimpse into a Regency London readers seldom see.”— Roseanna M. White, bestselling author of Edwardian fiction