#bookseries – Page 46 – Rosepoint Publishing

Look Twice (Ingrid Skyberg Book 8) by Eva Hudson – #BookReview – Women’s Detective Fiction

Book Blurb:

A double agent. A double cross. This time, Ingrid is in double trouble.

When Special Agent Ingrid Skyberg discovers an undeveloped roll of film left behind by her predecessor in the FBI, she isn’t sure what to make of the strange photos he took. A map of Scotland, an out-of-print book, a rare bird, a cluster of Post-It notes, an office party… do these images have something to do with crimes he committed as a Russian double agent known as ‘Skylark’?

Ingrid starts digging and becomes convinced that – far from being a traitor – her predecessor was just another victim of the mysterious Skylark who has killed many times to protect his identity. When a case file she has been using is suddenly deleted from the system, Ingrid knows that Skylark is now watching her… and the race is on to find him before she becomes his next victim.

Look Twice is a high-octane spy thriller that will have you on the edge of your seat, flipping the pages to find out if Ingrid can survive her most ruthless opponent yet.

His Review:

Running for your life with a friend is brutal. Outrunning you best friend is survival. Ingrid had only been a teenager when she and her best friend were running from a killer. She had outrun her friend Megan and now Megan is dead. Guilt still lingers after twenty years. She had only seen a face in the dark and couldn’t identify the killer.

Andy Scott is on trial for killing a number of young women. Could he be the killer? Her mother, Svetlana, is convinced she should know the killer’s face, even after twenty years! He was the potential candidate for Prime Minister and now is on trial for twelve murders. Svetlana calls at the most inopportune times during investigations. An ignored call is a personal affront from a bad daughter.

Being a successful and efficient FBI agent requires a strong support team. The team goes up and down from your position. Ingrid is very well organized but keeps having her effective assistants transferred from her. Administering her position requires her to keep a constant eye on her support staff. Zeke, her newest assistant, is enduring yet another epileptic seizure. Triggers for epileptic seizure can be something as simple as a faulty electrical connection.

An envelope of old photographs found in the ceiling is a clue to the killer. They refer to a person named Skylark! Who is this unidentified Skylark? The hunt for the identity of Skylark takes many twists and turns. Meanwhile, Svetlana gets more irritated by her daughter’s lack of attention to her phone calls. Can the case against Andy Scott be fully investigated in spite of Ingrid’s distractions?

An entertaining novel that will keep you guessing at every turn. 4.5 stars – CE Williams

We received a complimentary review copy of this book from the author and publisher through NetGalley that in no way influenced this review. These are his honest opinions.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Women’s Detective Fiction, International Mystery & Crime, Espionage Thrillers
ASIN: B099NXP3NQ
Print Length: 375 pages
Publication Date: September 6, 2021
Source: Publisher and NetGalley
Title Link: Look Twice [Amazon]

The Author: Eva Hudson was born and grew up on a south London council estate. Before she started writing full time, she worked as a local government officer, singer, dotcom entrepreneur, portrait artist, project manager, graphic designer, web designer and content editor.

In 2011, her first novel – The Loyal Servant – won the inaugural Lucy Cavendish fiction prize from Cambridge University. She published the first of her chart-topping Ingrid Skyberg Thrillers in 2013 and never looked back.

ABOUT INGRID SKYBERG

One of the toughest Special Agents ever to come out of Quantico Ingrid Skyberg is tenacious, resourceful, virtually indestructible and just a tiny bit out of control. Assigned to the US embassy in London, Ingrid is on the case when an American citizen gets into trouble… or winds up dead… or is accused of a crime they didn’t commit. Whether she needs to wear combat fatigues or a cocktail dress, Ingrid Skyberg always gets the job done.

She’s a strong female protagonist, perfect for fans of action-packed thrillers with a twist.

[NOTE: Eva Hudson died in 2015 of cancer. Her books, this protagonist, this series is being continued by Jo Monroe. Please see her sweet, emotional testimonial at EVA HUDSON.]

Gamblers, Fools, and Fate On the Road to Key West by Michael Reisig – a #BookReview – #traveladventures – #TuesdayBookBlog

Rosepoint Rating: Five stars

Book Blurb:

Once again, The Hole In The Coral Wall Gang is up to their eyeballs in wild misadventure and incredible circumstance!

The hundred-year-old Coiba Penal Colony off the coast of Panama is an island swarming with convicts, inside and outside the prison walls, and yet, by the strangest of fates, this extraordinary tropical isle possesses an ancient, incredibly valuable secret that could change the world.

Kansas and Will along with their team, find themselves challenging this strange island while trying to dodge wild desperadatos, prison soldiers, and a crazed island commandant.

If that weren’t enough, there’s the South Florida mafia, who also want what the team has discovered. Then there are the two hired crazies from the bizarre “Last Resort” chasing Will and Kansas because they failed to die in a timely fashion, and didn’t pay their bill.

Startling! Clever! And very funny in places.

THIS IS ALSO A GREAT STAND ALONE READ

My Review:

I love it when author Michael Reisig comes out with another novel in his On the Road to Key West series! I know I’ll always get an exciting journey along with the Hole in the Coral Wall Gang to some exotic location for an unusual treasure, this time involving terraformation. And who doesn’t enjoy treasure hunting?

All the favorites are included beside Will and Kansas, the main characters. Crazy Eddie, Cody and Travis are back (I love these guys). Their offspring Tax and Jing along with Jing’s amazing hawk Cielo is included. In this narrative we are introduced to Diego Tarras and the singularly torturous Coiba Island Penitentiary off the western coast of Panama. (And btw, this was a real facility, built in 1919.)

“It was like de Garden of Eden run by the devil.”

Then the wild and fertile imagination of the author takes over and another richly drawn tale is borne of tangible components, the island prison, and the flora and fauna.

“Diego stared at him. ‘Because this is Central America, amigo, not Texas. I would be dead two days after they confirmed what I have.’”

Of course the Gang is going to want to be part of this adventure and together they plan an…extraction. In your heart, however, you know there will be the bad guys and these guys are not just bad, they are heinous bad. Atrociously bad—and seems they will stop at nothing. Sheesh!

It may be the “magic juice” that’ll keeps you reading, the amazing characters, or the outrageously descriptive jungle, but I’ve always found Reisig’s writing style to be immensely poignant, his sense of humor lively, and his obvious love of man and animals endearing.

I’ve read most of Reisig’s novels and enjoyed each and every one, including the last Gods, Guns, and Money and thought each was better than the former. The characters are richly drawn, infused with charm and wit while the dialogue is fresh and natural in the wild adventures you’ve come to expect in a Reisig novel.

As always, a delightful escapade, one that fills my head with sights and sounds, heart-pounding exploits, the intelligence of animals, and the themes of love and life. Thoroughly enjoyed and recommended. Just Released, get your copy and escape into adventure!

Book Details:

Genre: Historical Caribbean & Latin American Fiction, Sea Adventures Fiction, Travel Adventure Fiction
Publisher: Clear Creek Press

ASIN : B09FN8L8ZD

Print Length: 235 pages
Publication Date: September 8, 2021
Source: Author’s ARC
Title Link: Amazon

The Author: Michael Reisig has been writing professionally for 20 years. He is a former Caribbean adventurer turned newspaper editor, award-winning columnist, and best-selling novelist.

After high school and college in Florida, he relocated to the Florida Keys. He established a commercial diving business, got his pilot’s license, and traveled extensively throughout the southern hemisphere, diving, treasure hunting, and adventuring.

Reisig claims he has been thrown out of more countries in the Caribbean Basin that most people ever visit, and he admits that a great many of the situations and the characters in his novels are authentic – but nothing makes a great read like experience…

He now lives in the mountains of Arkansas, where he hunts and fishes, and writes, but he still escapes to the Caribbean for an occasional adventure.

Traveller Probo: Traveller Book 2 (Traveller Series) by Rob Shackleford–#BookReview – #TimeTravelScienceFiction

Are you one of those who enjoy getting into an especially good, long book (because so much is going on); it’s gripping and you don’t want it to end?

Back in 2017, I was introduced to Traveller Inceptio. A novel about time travel to 1000 years ago into early medieval Saxon England. It was immersive and almost as good as being permitted the privilege of the time travel myself. (There are several popular examples of time travel lately on TV. One of my favorites is Outlander, although it occurs from the 1940s to the middle 1700s. (Few actually skip one thousand years.)

What would it be like?

Could you survive?

So many questions: Would you stay? Would you find life intolerable? No cars, electricity, modern medicine, readily available safe water, sanitation. What would you miss most? Your cell phone? Would you go if you could?

Traveller Probo is Book 2 of the Traveller series and a lot has happened. Please join me as I read and review this master journey in bytes, first installment today.

Book Blurb:

Would you survive if sent one-thousand years into the past?
Development of the Transporter saw highly trained researchers, called Travellers, successfully sent one-thousand years back in time to early medieval Saxon England.
Traveller Missions now mean enormous national prestige and the recovery of priceless lost artefacts and knowledge, so nations vie for the use of the Transporter and more daring Traveller missions are planned. Politics and power soon come into play.
To study lost peoples and civilisations, Special Forces researchers have to be even better trained, equipped and prepared to put their lives on the line.
While Michael Hunter continues to build a life in Saxon England, the tragically injured Tony Osborne finds his resurgence in a mission to ancient Byzantine Turkey, a mission Professor Adrian Taylor joins to better outmanoeuvre his calculating academic colleagues.
From the misty shores of New Zealand to the shining splendour of the ancient Byzantine Empire, it is proved how sending modern researchers into the past carries enormous rewards and tragedies.

Book 1 Redux

The Transporter was developed accidentally from Zak’s error. Initially, the students are funded by a global security company, Helguard Security. The mistake is quickly decided to be a massively important tool into historical research. The resultant Special Forces candidates were specially trained and called ‘Saxon Traveller.’ They were taught to integrate into 11^th Century Saxon Aengland and Michael Hunter soon discovers himself back in Saxon England. He’s disorientated but intelligent and well trained. He is taken in by villagers, the people and the monks. He meets Tatae who possesses special qualities. The village, however, is not safe from the invading Vikings. Let’s just say it’s a superb completely immersive fiction tale. (And Michael, btw, decides he’ll stay.)

Book 2 – Part 1

New Zealand won the rights to receive the second team but are quickly discovered by the local Maori natives and events go side-ways. Ruhi is a fierce and deadly warrior and the team realizes they must rescue the remaining members. But Ruhi has not finished engaging his opponent when the two are returned. Oops!

The resulting deadly clash and loss of life makes for front line news that soon sparks further debate on intruding into human habitat considered cannibals that will result in modern technology to save their team. (This was to be observation only!) Was it a matter of the Area of Convergence? Inadequate training? They are still wrangling over the grievously injured members of the Saxon Travellers team that resulted in litigation.

As the narrative shifts from New Zealand to the US and UK, main characters begin immerging into the storyline. There is ample discussion and debate on who would get the next mission and stringent new rules as well as media manipulation to avoid the catastrophic and deadly failed New Zealand mission. So many ethical questions to resolve!

From the movie Jurassic Park, Jeff Goldblums’ character offers “you spent so much time seeing if you could, you never considered if you should.”

After the Saxon mission, the public became avid voyeurs of historical life through the reality TV show (“Hunter in Saxon England”) that included Michael in Giolgrave (now known as Youlgreave). That spun off an entire industry including licensed merchandise (clothing, toy lines, men’s fashion) and any newly rediscovered herbal lore, the latter of which became immensely popular sparked by Michael’s native wife, Tatae.

One of the biggest problems the world over of the Transporter was the failure to duplicate the machine owing to their inability to examine the fused ganglia in the master controller. The race was on—who would develop the second—the back-up? Just in case. So much subterfuge going on in the background. Who would succeed and reap the benefits?

In the meantime, the decision is made that the team of researchers should next go to the Byzantine Empire where it was possible to discover art and architecture, music, and food. They are to proceed with the Byzantium Traveller mission (where Greek was spoken).

I can see this as an intelligent TV series grappling with moral dilemma (more debates here than at a PTA meeting!), strapping young Special Forces teams and skilled, pretty maidens both a millennia ago as well as contemporary. I would suggest your starting with Book 1, but if this grabs you (and it should), it could actually work as an immersive standalone.

Tune in to Part 2 on Thursday, Sept 16 as I journey back to the Byzantine Empire with the Travellers.

I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the author and these are my honest opinions. There is more to come.

Book Details:

Genre: Time Travel Science Fiction, Time Travel Fiction, Science Fiction Adventure
ASIN: B0938K6MKP
Print Length: 506 pages
Publication Date: April 22, 2021
Source: Author request

Title Link(s):

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

The Author: An English-born Australian, Rob Shackleford has lived in New Zealand and Papua New Guinea, with a varied career that has included Customs Officer, Scuba Instructor, College Teacher and management roles in too many places.

With degrees in the Arts and Business, he is mad keen on travel, Scuba diving, Family History, martial arts, astronomy, and playing Djembe and Congas. Despite that, he is actually not that boring.

Rob is father of two and has made his green escape with his lovely lady into Australia’s Gold Coast hinterland.

Hemlock for the Holidays (A Fine Art Mystery Book 3) by Paula Darnell –#BookReview – #cozycrafts

Book Blurb:

As Lonesome Valley kicks off the holiday season with its annual parade, artist Amanda Trent embraces the Christmas spirit, happy that her family will be coming to town to celebrate the season with her and her loyal pets, Laddie, a friendly golden retriever, and Mona Lisa, an independent calico cat.

Amanda has just one nagging concern: her art sales have stalled, so her checking account is starting to look a bit puny. Her financial woes pale, though, in comparison to her concern when several people eat carrot bars laced with hemlock at the high school’s arts and crafts fair, resulting in one unlucky man’s death. Was the poisoning an accident, or did someone with evil intent deliberately spike the sweet baked goods?

Leads the police follow don’t pan out until Amanda puts the puzzle together. But, sometimes, knowledge can be a dangerous thing. . .

My Review:

Amanda Treat is getting ready for the Christmas season in Lonesome Valley. She is a fairly new resident, divorcée, and starving artist. She is expecting both her parents and her children for the holidays and looking forward to a high school arts and crafts fair, in which she participates with her co-op Roadrunner Gallery. A slump in her sales, she is sweating having enough income to get through the next couple of months.

Amanda has a golden retriever named Laddie and a “mercurial” calico cat named Mona Lisa and interaction with her animals, their feeding, playing, and pet sitting is featured in the narrative as well as the struggles for sales of both her landscapes and pet portraits, with the mystery the other third of the novel. I’m thinking that was part of my problem with this one, the third in the series. My first.

Several high school students are poisoned at the art fair and a few days later there is a death, which becomes her focus when not dealing with the other two. I could not relate well to Amanda and felt few of the support characters stood out. Dialogue was awkward at times, but worse (for me) was the excessive description of minutia.

While the novel was well-plotted, I found the pace slow and had difficulty retaining interest. I just couldn’t get immersed sufficient to care which character was dog-sitting and I’m not a person looking for recipes at the end. Not a cozy for me, but I’m sure there are many who will enjoy.

I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher and NetGalley and these are my honest thoughts.

Rosepoint Rating: Three point Five Stars

3 1/2 stars

Book Details:

Genre: Cozy Crafts & Hobbies Mystery, Cozy Craft & Hobby Mysteries, Cozy Animal Mystery
Publisher: Campbell and Rogers Press
ASIN: B09645DYV5
Print Length: 192 pages
Publication Date: August 5, 2021
Source: Publisher and NetGalley

Title Link(s):

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

The Author: An instructor at five colleges over the years, Paula Darnell most often taught the dreaded first-year English composition classes, but she’s also been happy to teach some fun classes, such as fashion design, sewing, and jewelry making. Paula has a Bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Iowa, Iowa City, and a Master’s degree in English from the University of Nevada, Reno.

Like Laurel, the main character in Death by Association, Paula enjoys all kinds of arts and crafts. Some of her memorable projects include making a hat and a cape to wear to Royal Ascot, sewing wedding gowns for both her daughters, exhibiting her textile and mixed-media artwork in juried art shows, and having one of her jewelry projects accepted for inclusion in Leather Jewelry, published by Lark Books. She sells some of her jewelry and hair accessories in her Etsy shop.

Paula’s interest in DIY craft projects and fashion led to her writing hundreds of articles for print and online national publications.

She is the author of the cozy mystery series, DIY Diva Mysteries, and a historical mystery, The Six-Week Solution. Her new cozy mystery series, Fine Art Mysteries, is in the works for 2021.

Paula lives in Las Vegas, Nevada, with her husband Gary and their 110-pound dog Rocky, whose favorite pastime is lurking in the kitchen, hoping for a handout.

The Harp and the Rose: The Queenstown Series Book 3 by Jean Grainger – #BookReview – #historicalfiction

Rosepoint Rating: Five Stars

Historical British Fiction

Book Blurb:

Queenstown, County Cork. 1920

For twenty-year-old Harp Devereaux, life should be idyllic. At university, she feels for the first time in her life that she belongs, her mother Rose is running the Cliff House as a successful business, and her childhood sweetheart JohnJoe is by her side, but the storm clouds of war grow ever darker.For eight hundred years Ireland has made numerous bids for her freedom but now, at last, liberation from British rule is tantalisingly close, if the men and women of the revolution can just hold on.
Harp, her family, and her friends find themselves in the thick of the fight, but the Crown Forces are not the only enemy. A sinister force from the past is lurking and will stop at nothing to exact his revenge.

My Review:

The third in the Queenstown series and it is a hard-hitting, high impact narrative that relates Ireland’s long struggle for freedom from the British in an entertaining novel that tells the continuing story of Harp Devereaux.

Harp and her mother Rose have turned the Cliff House mansion where her mother worked into a thriving B&B. Now at twenty, she has a special beau in JJ, along with characters from the previous entries to the series. She is currently home from university and working undercover with the Devlin sisters in aid of the freedom movement.

Harp has recently met Marianne, a young bride given to British General Beckett most recently from Shimla, India to help stamp out the IRA organization currently causing havoc across Ireland. Marianne was given to the much older Beckett by her family and she feels lost and alone and quickly forms a friendship with Harp.

Amazing how the author develops characters sure to mirror those of the time, fleshing them out, making them real, sympathetic. The stories are heart-felt, she is passionate about her Irish history and the love of her home in Cork shines through the prose. The novel is compelling, strongly engaging and hard to put down as the pace never waivers.

The climax developed into a most satisfying conclusion and certainly as this reader hoped, but there is an epilogue that sets up an unsettling scenario with Henry’s brother, Ralph, that is obviously to be a story for another time. ARGH! Ralph is a miserable person, a despot! This can’t be good!

I have read many books written by this prolific author, some as standalones, as well as other series: Robinswood, The Tour, and the Conor O’Shea series. The Star and the Shamrock, Return to Robinswood, Trials and Tribulations, and The Homecoming of Bubbles O’Leary. The latter was particularly poignant. Her characters are always engaging and relatable, the stories entertaining, and most unique in their plots and pacing.

I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher and NetGalley and these are my honest thoughts.

Book Details:

Genre: British & Irish Literary Fiction, Historical British Fiction, Historical Irish Fiction
ASIN: B096M8FXLV
Print Length: 217 pages
Publication Date: Just released August 23, 2021
Source: Author
Title Link: The Harp and the Rose [Amazon]

The Author: JEAN GRAINGER

USA TODAY BESTSELLING AUTHOR

SELECTED BY BOOKBUB READERS IN TOP 19 OF HISTORICAL FICTION BOOKS.

WINNER OF THE 2016 AUTHOR’S CIRCLE HISTORICAL NOVEL OF EXCELLENCE

Hello and thanks for taking time out to check out my page. If you’re wondering what you’re getting with my books then think of the late great Maeve Binchy but sometimes with a historical twist. I was born in Cork, Ireland in 1971 and I come from a large family of storytellers, so much so that we had to have ‘The Talking Spoon’, only the person holding the spoon could talk!

I have worked as a history lecturer at University, a teacher of English, History and Drama in secondary school, a playwright, and a tour guide of my beloved Ireland. I am married to the lovely Diarmuid and we have four children. We live in a 200 year old stone cottage in Mid-Cork with my family and the world’s smallest dogs, called Scrappy and Scoobi..

My experiences leading groups, mainly from the United States, led me to write my first novel, ‘The Tour’. My observances of the often funny, sometimes sad but always interesting events on tours fascinated me. People really did confide the most extraordinary things, the safety of strangers I suppose. It’s a fictional story set on a tour bus but many of the characters are based on people I met over the years.

[Truncated]…

My current series, The Queenstown Series, centres on twelve year old Harp Devereaux and her mother Rose and the first book opens on the day Titanic sails from Queenstown, Co Cork on her last fateful journey. It is a bestselling series and people really seem to connect to the precocious Harp and her hard-working mother as they battle to survive in a society where conforming and playing by the rules was paramount. It is so far a three book series, The West’s Awake, and The Harp and the Rose being the next two books but I’m currently writing book four.

Many of the people who have reviewed my books have said that you get to know the characters and really become attached to them, that’s wonderful for me to hear because that’s how I feel about them too. I grew up on Maeve Binchy and Deirdre Purcell and I aspired to being like them. If you buy one of my books I’m very grateful and I really hope you enjoy it. If you do, or even if you don’t, please take the time to post a review. Writing is a source of constant contentment to me and I am so fortunate to have the time and the inclination to do it, but to read a review written by a reader really does make my day.

The Sea Bandits (Bold Women of the 17th Century Series Book 2) by Amanda Hughes–#BookReview – #TuesdayBookBlog

Rosepoint Rating: Five Stars

“Boo hags are creatures that feed off the breath of human beings.”

Book Blurb:

For readers who like history with a bit of a love story.

The West Indies 1680-it is a world of violence, greed, and anarchy. Swept into this whirlwind of treachery are two disparate characters: Mercedes Zamora, a former Spanish aristocrat, and Abraxas Kaphiri, a ruthless Egyptian pirate. She is clever and seductive. He is dangerous and powerful. Together they hatch a plan to terrorize the high seas seeking vengeance and plunder. Their enemies call them The Sea Bandits, and they reign supreme as the most hated and feared corsairs in the West Indies and the Barbary Coast. But everything changes when they clash with a malicious nobleman who knows too much. His relentless pursuit threatens to destroy not only their operation but everything they love.
Join Amanda Hughes as she sweeps you back to the days when buccaneers and adventurers ruled the waves, and larger-than-life legends were born.

My Review:

There is a reason Amanda Hughes is one of my favorite authors, she consistently delivers a delicious tale laced with adventure, well-researched tidbits, and a touch of romance.

This novel begins in the year 1677 in Cusco, Peru and develops protagonist Mercedes Zamora as the spoiled offspring of landed aristocrats. She is expected to marry well and a wedding is arranged between she and Felipe Ortiz y Gasset. Felipe, however, is a spoiled monied son with few boundaries and quickly loses his ardour when she becomes pregnant.

The wedding dowry arrangement between families chill considerably when badly managed finances fail resulting in the loss of their home. Felipe (and his family) determines he will move the family to San Juan Bautista and Mercedes finds herself in a new land, new home, no husband, and no way to provide for herself and her twin boys.

Mercedes hasn’t been totally out of the business loop, however. She is smart and has gained sufficient insight to proceed into a shipping business. She has a small, efficient, and loyal team. Then she meets Abraxas Kaphiri, widely known as a Egyptian pirate. Abraxas, much like Jack Sparrow, isn’t all bad, however. In fact, hmm, he actually has some admirable qualities (and he’s easy on the eyes).

I loved the dance between Mercedes and Abraxas that eventually leads to banding together against a common enemy.

The storyline never falters or slows in this well-paced and plotted novel. It’s swash-buckling adventure coupled with Barbary Coast tales of treasures, cargo, rum, and the daily struggle of life in the late 1690’s.

This is Book 2 of the 17th Century series. I also read Book 1, The Firefly Witch. No problem where you come in to each series, whether 17^th, 18^th, 19^th, or 20^th Centuries, each is a standalone and can be read in any order. I’ve read at least two books in each century, including the most recent, Vagabond Wind, The House of Five Fortunes, Beneath a Blazing Sky, and The Image Seeker. If you like strong, trail-blazing womens stories, you’ll greatly enjoy these gripping novels, all different and unique. These are all highly recommended. The Sea Bandits just released and is available now. (Loved it.)

His Review:

The cross-breeding between the Inca and Spanish resulted in beautiful copper skinned offspring. Mercedes Zamora y Huaman de Ortiz was just such a woman. Marriages were often arranged in the 1600’s and the participants often had very little choice in the matter. Class hierarchies were common and inter-marriages between the social stratus were uncommon.

At fourteen, Mercedes is married to Felipe, an eighteen-year-old. The early months were amorous until pregnancy occurred. Then Felipe left for greener pastures and Mercedes was to raise their twin boys. Her position as an aristocrat in Cusco, Peru left few opportunities for the young mother. Once pregnant her husband had no interest in staying around or visiting her bed. (It was against Catholic doctrine to have sex while pregnant.)

Senora Mercedes Ortiz had to avoid relations with Felipe after the birth of their children. He was also a very poor businessman and had lost a large portion of their lands. As a result, he was moving the family to San Juan Bautista. Mercedes was leaving her home and everything she knew and suddenly Felipe Ortiz was nowhere to be found.

Mercedes is tasked with managing the household and plantation and it becomes a full-time job. She begins running a shipping warehouse and import-export business but additional lands are taken away by a conniving relative.

Mercedes starts Zamora Enterprises and begins a new stage in her life. She sends her sons to Spain for a more formal education and meets Abraxas Kaphiri. This reputed pirate leads her life in a whole new direction.

Amanda Hughes has created a delightful tale of intrigue and danger in a love story between a pirate and a “she-merchant”. You will find it hard to put down. 5 stars – CE Williams

We received a complimentary review copy of this book from the author and these are our honest thoughts.

Book Details:

Genre: Historical Caribbean and Latin American Fiction, Sea Stories, US Historical Fiction
Publisher: Lillis and Jaymes
ASIN: B09BKHCNLF
Print Length: 253 pages
Publication Date: Just Released! August 19, 2021
Source: Author contact
Title Link: The Sea Bandits

The Author: Bestselling and award-winning author, Amanda Hughes is a “Walter Mitty”, spending more time in heroic daydreams than the real world. At last, she found an outlet writing adventures about bold women through the centuries. Well known for her genre-busting books, she is the winner of the Gems National Medal for Writing, featured in USA Today and is nominated for the 2017 Minnesota Book Award. Amanda is a graduate of the University of Minnesota, and when she isn’t off tilting windmills, she lives and writes in Minnesota. Don’t miss these page-turning novels for readers who like historical fiction with a just bit of a love story. All of her books are stand-alone and can be read in any order.

The Bold Women of the 17th Century: The Firefly Witch Book 1

The Bold Women Series of the 18th Century: Beyond the Cliffs of Kerry Book 1 The Pride of the King Book 2 The Sword of the Banshee Book 3

The Bold Women Series of the 19th Century: The Grand Masquerade Book 1 Vagabond Wind Book 2 The House of Five Fortunes Book 3

The Bold Women Series of the 20th Century: The Looking Glass Goddess Book 1

Interested in her new books or a free novelette? Go to http://www.amandahughesauthor.com

Two Kinds of Truth: Harry Bosch Book 20 by Michael Connelly – #Audiobook Review – #TBT

Best Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Book Blurb:

Harry Bosch searches for the truth in the new thriller from NYT best-selling author Michael Connelly.

Harry Bosch is back as a volunteer working cold cases for the San Fernando Police Department and is called out to a local drugstore where a young pharmacist has been murdered. Bosch and the town’s three-person detective squad sift through the clues, which lead into the dangerous, big business world of pill mills and prescription drug abuse.

Meanwhile, an old case from Bosch’s LAPD days comes back to haunt him when a long-imprisoned killer claims Harry framed him and seems to have new evidence to prove it. Bosch left the LAPD on bad terms, so his former colleagues aren’t keen to protect his reputation. He must fend for himself in clearing his name and keeping a clever killer in prison.

The two unrelated cases wind around each other like strands of barbed wire. Along the way Bosch discovers that there are two kinds of truth: the kind that sets you free and the kind that leaves you buried in darkness.

My Review:

OMG, I continue to bumble through review-land with well-known authors of major talent and superior best-selling series. Such as, for instance…the Bosch series. (The who?) Coming out from under a rock last year, I tripped over The Law of Innocence. That particular novel was from The Lincoln Lawyer series where the protagonist is Mickey Haller, LA attorney of fame and fortune. Uh, I get it! He is the half-brother of Harry Bosch of the Bosch series and comes with a considerable team behind him. My first, albeit arms-length intro to the Bosch series.

THIS one is a Bosch of the San Fernando Police Department, now working cold cases. The cold case is one that occurred during his stint with the LAPD and is looking to get ugly, accusing him of framing his convicted perp. Get’m off the streets, say I! And it looks like that was his intention as well.

The novel opens with the cold-blooded execution of a pharmacist and his recently graduated son, made to look like a robbery. Not. But it does lead to the nasty world of pill-poppers and their suppliers.

Bosch has a new partner here in Bella Lourdes, an old LAPD partner Lucia Soto, as well as his daughter Maddie, the latter of whom apparently often plays a rather prominent part in his stories. These are strong female figures, not thrown in for pretty, or vacuous parts. They wield some power. Nice.

Bosch goes undercover into the underbelly of the drug world to solve the latter murder and manages to survive, although there were certainly some hairy moments. In the former scenario, he employs Mickey to defend him and here is where Mickey shines—those courtroom shenanigans. Playing the judge, playing the opposition, even playing his defendent. But is he good? Oh yeah…that’s why he gets the big bucks!

So, have I begun to come to the dark side? Grudgingly, yeah. Let’s not declare convert quite yet, but I’ve become fascinated enough that looking at it closer realized it is an Amazon Prime series. Are you kidding me?

And I must say, apparently good enough this is the seventh season. BUT. (Isn’t there always?) It will change. And Harry will no longer be a cop. Then what you say? You’ll have to discover for yourself. Are you a Bosch fan? Do you watch the Prime series? I haven’t. But I will be looking for more audiobooks in this series. Oh, and yes, I also started his new series using a female protagonist, Renee Ballard as a new LA detective, The Late Show. Did you read, listen to that one?

Book Details:

Genre: Police Procedural, Crime Fiction, Suspense
Publisher: Hachette Audio
ASIN: B071FJF4S4
Listening Length: 9 hrs 55 mins
Narrator: Titus Welliver
Publication Date: October 31, 2017
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Link: Two Kinds of Truth [Amazon]

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five of Five Stars

The Author: Michael Connelly is the bestselling author of over thirty novels and one work of nonfiction. With over eighty million copies of his books sold worldwide and translated into forty-five foreign languages, he is one of the most successful writers working today. A former newspaper reporter who worked the crime beat at the Los Angeles Times and the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, Connelly has won numerous awards for his journalism and his fiction. His very first novel, The Black Echo, won the prestigious Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award for Best First Novel in 1992. In 2002, Clint Eastwood directed and starred in the movie adaptation of Connelly’s 1998 novel, Blood Work. In March 2011, the movie adaptation of his #1 bestselling novel, The Lincoln Lawyer, hit theaters worldwide starring Matthew McConaughey as Mickey Haller. His most recent New York Times bestsellers include The Law Of Innocence, Fair Warning, The Night Fire, Dark Sacred Night, Two Kinds Of Truth, and The Late Show. Michael is the executive producer of Bosch, an Amazon Studios original drama series based on his bestselling character Harry Bosch, starring Titus Welliver and streaming on Amazon Prime. He is also the executive producer of the documentary films, “Sound Of Redemption: The Frank Morgan Story’ and ‘Tales Of the American.’ He spends his time in California and Florida.

Titus Welliver-actor-narrator — Titus Welliver–Compliments of Wikipedia–thank you!

The Narrator: Titus B. Welliver is an American actor. He is best known for his portrayals of the Man in Black in Lost, Silas Adams in Deadwood, Jimmy O’Phelan in Sons of Anarchy, and the title role in the television series Bosch. Wikipedia Born: March 12, 1962 (age 59 years), New Haven, CT.

The Secret Staircase: A Mystery (Victorian Village Mysteries Book 3) by Sheila Connolly – #BookReview – #TuesdayBookBlog

Rosepoint Publishing: Five Stars

Book Blurb:

From New York Times bestselling author Sheila Connolly, The Secret Staircase is the third Victorian Village Mystery, which finds Kate Hamilton discovering a long-dead body in a hidden staircase.

Kate Hamilton is feeling good about her plans to recreate Asheboro, Maryland as the Victorian village it once was. The town is finally on her side, and the finances are coming together.

Kate’s first goal is to renovate the Barton Mansion on the outskirts of town. Luckily, it’s been well maintained in the century since the wealthy Henry Barton lived and died there. The only substantial change she’s planning is to update the original kitchen so that it can be used to cater events in the building. But when the contractor gets started, he discovers a hidden staircase that had been walled in years earlier. And as Kate’s luck would have it, in the stairwell is a body.

After her initial shock wears off, Kate is relieved when the autopsy reveals that the man had died around 1880. Unfortunately, it also reveals that his was not a natural death—he was murdered. And serious questions remain: who was he and what was he doing there?

Kate begins a hunt to identify the man and figure out what he was doing at the Barton Mansion. But when a second body is found—this time from the present day—Kate realizes that real dangers lie in digging up the past…

His Review:

A forgotten estate on a large parcel of land has been designated a historical landmark. Kate Hamilton is a city girl who has come back to her home town of Asheboro to make a tourist attraction of the Henry and Mary Barton mansion and grounds. Local donors and the Mid-Atlantic Power Company have provided funds for the renovation and refurbishing. Overall, the “bones” of the property are sound.

The property was last lived in over 110 years ago and was basically locked and abandoned. Henry Barton had left an endowment to maintain the property and the grounds. One of the town mayors absconded with the money and the property has fallen on hard times. Kate loves her hometown of Asheboro and sets out to recreate the properties grandeur and opulence. She will work on the physical property and her good friend Carroll Peterson will research the history of the property and the family that lived there.

Henry and Mary Barton were the only couple to occupy the mansion. There is little record of them in the community although Henry was a captain of industry in the town, helping to employ most of its’ residents. First a shovel company and then a lighting factory soon gave the community a robust economy. Mary and Henry were reclusive and not much is known about them. Kate and Carroll set out to change that and develop a tourist attraction to help revitalize the community.

Sheila Connolly develops her characters well and attaches mystery and drama to the story. A hidden staircase is found behind a false wall in the kitchen and the drama blossoms. A hundred plus year old mummified corpse is found inside the staircase and the mystery begins to unfold. CE Williams

This story takes you on a rollercoaster ride of historical secrets. How did the body get there and who was the victim? Can the answers be found and the mansion turned into a city attraction? Read the story and see if you are satisfied by the outcome. 5 stars – CE Williams

We received a complimentary review copy of this book from the author and publisher through NetGalley that in no way influenced this review. These are his honest opinions. The book is set to release next Tuesday. [Note: I’ve read two other novels by this author, each in a different series: Digging Up History, and The Lost Traveller but wasn’t quite as thrilled as was the CE with this one.]

Book Details:

Genre: Amateur Sleuth Mysteries, Amateur Sleuths, Cozy Mystery
Publisher: Minotaur Books
ISBN: ‎ 1250135907
ASIN: B0818PKLL1
Print Length: 299 pages
Publication Date: August 24, 2021Source: Publisher and NetGalley
Title Link: The Secret Staircase [Amazon]
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Sheila Connolly - author — Sheila Connolly

The Author: After collecting too many degrees and exploring careers ranging from art historian to investment banker to professional genealogist, Sheila Connolly began writing in 2001, and has now published over thirty traditional mysteries, including several New York Times bestsellers.

Her series include the Orchard Mysteries (Berkley Prime Crime), the Museum Mysteries (Berkley Prime Crime), The County Cork Mysteries (Crooked Lane Books), the Relatively Dead Mysteries (Beyond the Page Press), and beginning in 2018, The Victorian Village Mysteries from St. Martin’s Press.

Her first full-length, standalone ebook, Once She Knew, was published in October 2012.

Connolly has also published a variety of short stories: “Size Matters” appeared in the 2010 Level Best Anthology, Thin Ice; “Called Home,” a short prequel to the Orchard series, was published by Beyond the Page in 2011; and “Dead Letters,” an e-story featuring the main characters from the Museum series, will be published by Berkley Prime Crime in February 2012. Beyond the Page also published “The Rising of the Moon,” and another Level Best anthology includes “Kept in the Dark,” which was nominated for both an Agatha award and an Anthony award for 2013.

She is passionate about genealogy, both American and Irish, and is a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Society of Mayflower Descendants. She is also an Irish citizen and owns a cottage in West Cork.

She lives in a too-big Victorian in southeastern Massachusetts with her husband and three cats. Find out more about her at her website, http://www.sheilaconnolly.com