Lost letters. A secret Greek love affair. A daughter’s search for the truth.
Crete, 1963. Young artist Greta Ellis arrives at the sun-soaked port of Fáros Limáni, ready to paint and explore the beautiful Greek island. When she meets passionate local Andreas Papadakis, she is swept up in a world of colour, freedom and forbidden love. But when tragedy strikes, Greta is forced to make an impossible choice that will echo for decades.
Wales, 1984. After her mother Greta’s death, silversmith Zoë Carter receives a sealed letter that upends everything she thought she knew. Greta’s dying wish is for her ashes to be scattered in Crete, a place precious to her . . . but somewhere she had never spoken of.
Searching through her mother’s belongings, Zoë uncovers a series of letters. Written in Greek and dated the year before she was born, they reveal a passionate love affair. And a tragedy that tore it apart.
Determined to know the truth, Zoë travels to Crete to follow the trail left behind in her mother’s letters. Through the olive groves and whitewashed villages of Crete, she begins to piece together a story of love, betrayal and loss — and discovers that her family was never what it seemed.
Fascinated by family secrets and ‘skeletons lurking in cupboards’, Jan’s dual narrative, dual timeline novels explore how decisions and actions made by family members from one generation impact on the lives of the next. Her first three novels look at the bond between mothers and daughters as well as forbidden love.
Setting and a sense of place plays an important part in all Jan’s stories and as well as her native mid-Wales, there is always a contrasting location – Greece, Sicily and northern France. Her next books will involve secrets and sibling relationships; the first set in 1943 and 1968 takes the reader back to beautiful Sicily where two sisters work together to prove their father’s innocence of a wrongdoing.
My thoughts: Have the tissues handy! This is a bittersweet story of family, loss and love that takes us from green Wales to sunny Crete and back in time to the 1960s, when young artist Greta found love and heartbreak on the island.
Twenty odd years later, her daughter Zoë follows in her footsteps to honour Greta’s last request and scatter her mother’s ashes on the island. Why? Zoë has no idea. Her mum never spoke of the place.
What Zoë uncovers will change everything she thought she knew about her parentage, her family and her life.
I really enjoyed this book, which tugs on the heartstrings and is truly one of those books where the sad parts and the happy parts co-exist and blend together beautifully.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
Tenochtitlan, 1551. Thirty years after the Spanish Conquest destroyed everything she loved, the last Aztec empress has passed and left behind a pristine yet tenuous legacy for her children. As her last will and testament is read out, her daughter Isabel suspects that another account of her mother’s life may exist, hidden away, chapter by chapter, in the Valley of Mexico. Following each clue, Isabel is determined to find out who her mother really was and to discover the secrets she buried in order to survive.
Joined by her siblings and a handsome young cook named Juan, Isabel embarks on a perilous journey to piece together the past–a journey that will force the party to brave the brutal viceroyal court, face fearsome legends in mystical chinampas, and trek through desert, fire, and snow. As Isabel’s feelings for Juan grow, she confronts everything she thought she knew about her Spanish father, her empress mother, and herself. Facing everything from the tunnels of ancient pyramids to the summit of an active volcano, Isabel will meet every challenge to fulfill an epic quest for the truth.
Sofia Robleda is a Mexican writer and author of Daughter of Fire. She spent her childhood and adolescence in Mexico, Saudi Arabia, and Singapore, and completed her undergraduate and doctorate degrees in psychology at the University of Queensland, Australia. She currently lives in the UK with her husband and son, and splits her time between writing, raising her son, and working as a psychologist, supporting people with brain injuries and neurological conditions. For more information, visit sofiarobleda.com or follow @sofiarobleda on Instagram.
My thoughts: This was a really interesting and enjoyable book. The only things I know about Mexican history have been filtered through a European lens, so to read something written by someone determined to preserve pre-Conquest history and culture was really good.
Plus it’s a terrific story. The daughters of the last Mexica empress, Isabel and Catina, go on an epic quest across the country seeking out the chapters of their late mother’s memoir, revealing the events of the Spanish conquest, of the terrible slaughter, plague and destruction that followed, which killed thousands of innocent natives and allowed the Spanish to seize control of the country.
Although the girls are pledged to become nuns and stay out of men’s hands, they are putting off that destiny to uncover their mother’s story, and their true inheritance. Pursued by their own older, cruel, brothers and facing danger at every turn, they are brave and resourceful.
I genuinely really enjoyed reading this book, I loved Isabel and Catina, the rebellious girl and the gentle girl, who adore each other but still fight as all sisters sometimes do. Their personalities are very different but they need each other to survive. They take along a young cook, Juan, who is himself of noble birth as the viceroy’s illegitimate son, and for a time, their brother. But this is the girls’ story, and that of their mother. Stories that get lost in a world ruled by men.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
Secrets bloom where the roses die – and Mel Greenway is digging up the truth. In post-war Britain, Avonby estate is a crumbling relic hiding deadly secrets.
Lady Melinda ‘Mel’ Greenway, a former army mechanic and the family’s poor relation, seeks solace in its overgrown gardens – until she unearths a body beneath the roses. The discovery drags Mel into a tangled web of lies, resentments, and buried truths, forcing her to clash with Inspector Derrin Bradley, her wartime lover turned investigator.
As Derrin digs into the dark web of secrets entangling Avonby’s privileged residents and its resentful staff, Mel is determined to solve the mystery herself. As sparks fly and old wounds resurface, Mel’s relentless pursuit of the truth puts her at odds with both her family and Derrin, while making her a target for a killer desperate to keep the past buried.
A tale of resilience, forbidden romance, and suspense, A Thorn in the Rose is a richly atmospheric mystery that will keep you guessing until the very last page.
Samantha Lee Howe began her professional writing career in 2007 and has been working as a freelance writer for small, medium and large publishers ever since. She is a multi-award winning screenwriter and a USA Today Bestselling author.
Samantha’s breakaway debut psychological thriller, The Stranger In Our Bed, was released in February 2020 with Harper Collins imprint, One More Chapter. The book rapidly became a USA Today bestseller, and has now been turned into a feature film for USA, Canada, China, the UK, and various countries in Europe. It won Best Thriller at the National Film Awards.
Samantha lives in South Yorkshire with her husband, Historian, Writer and publisher, David J Howe and their cat Skye. She is the proud mother of a lovely daughter called Linzi.
My thoughts: I really liked Mel, the loss of her parents and brother is awful, but she manages to survive the tragedy and become a mechanic in the women’s volunteer corps (as did Elizabeth II). There’s also some things she can’t talk about due to the Official Secrets Act, and the reappearance of Derrin, now a police inspector, brings a lot of things up that she thought she’d buried.
A body in the rose beds brings the police to her home, where she’s stuck somewhere between staff and family. Her cousin is quite nice but his wife is pretty ghastly. If her father or brother had survived, they would have inherited, which makes things complicated.
Mel and Derrin’s history is complicated and as they work together to solve the case, they’re forced to deal with the messy end of their relationship and whether there’s anything still between them.
It’s a really enjoyable read and the characters are well rounded and interesting. I hope there’s more to come from Mel and Derrin.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
Mesopotamia, 1930: When Agatha Christie invites fellow members of the Detection Club to witness the famous excavations at the ruins of Ur, Dorothy L. Sayers, her quick-witted assistant Eliza Baker, and Theo Sharp expect ancient wonders – not fresh corpses.
But when an archaeologist is found dead in the sand, whispers of a deadly curse sweep through the camp. Eliza suspects something far more dangerous than superstition. Amid glittering artifacts and fragile alliances, every guest harbors secrets: the Woolleys, whose marriage is shadowed by tragedy; a journalist hungry for scandal; even academic Max Mallowan, whose loyalties are not what they seem.
As theft, forgery, and coded messages surface, the line between archaeology and espionage blurs.
And when Eliza and Theo find themselves in danger, they must face not only the truth about the murder – but also the truths they’ve long denied about each other. Can they uncover the killer before the desert claims another victim? Or will this dig unearth secrets too dangerous to survive?
Kelly Oliver is the award-winning, bestselling author of three mysteries series: The Jessica James Mysteries, The Pet Detective Mysteries, and the historical cozies The Fiona Figg Mysteries, set in WW1. She is also the Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Vanderbilt University and lives in Nashville, Tennessee.
My thoughts: Agatha Christie is on a dig in the Iraqi desert, with a certain Max Mallowen (who would become her second husband), and has contacted the Detection Club for help. There have been several accidents, thefts and other incidents that have the local employees claiming it’s due to a curse.
Dorothy Sayers, along with her assistant, Eliza and writer Theo, along with Eliza’s beloved beagle Queenie, head out to help Agatha. The dig is being run by Leonard Woolley and his wife, on behalf of the British Museum, which has caused some argument with local archaeologists, who don’t want all their antiquities lost to another country.
But whoever, or whatever has caused all the problems is still at it. And now one of the junior archaeologists has been murdered. Thankfully Eliza and Theo are on the case.
Will they survive their trip to the desert? And will the case bring them closer?
This series is a lot of fun, and Kelly Oliver has used Agatha’s own autobiography about her archaeological adventures, Come Tell Me How You Live, as a resource. I know that the author loved her time on digs and her marriage to Mallowen was happy, much happier than her first one.
There are some moments of real peril for Eliza and Theo, and I really like them as characters (and obviously Queenie). This installment of the Detection Club adventures brings out more of their personalities and builds their relationship to a new level.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
Moscow, 1958. At the height of the Cold War, secretary Lois Vale is on a deep-cover MI6 mission to identify a diplomatic traitor. She can trust only one man: Johann, a German journalist also working covertly for the British secret service. As the trail leads to Vienna and the Black Sea, Lois and Johann begin an affair but as love grows, so does the danger to Lois.
A tense Cold War spy story told from the perspective of a bright, young, working-class woman recruited to MI6 at a time when men were in charge of making history and women were expendable. Authentic details are provided by the 1958 diary kept in Moscow by the author’s own mother, who worked for British intelligence.
Deborah Lawrenson spent her childhood moving around the world with diplomatic service parents, from Kuwait to China, Belgium, Luxembourg and Singapore. She read English at Cambridge University and worked as a journalist in London. She has written ten novels, including two Death in Provence mysteries as Serena Kent, and her writing is praised for its vivid sense of place.
My thoughts:This was utterly gripping and really, really good. I’ve had a bit of a love of Russian history since my A Levels and a very memorable trip to the country (the hotel we stayed in is mentioned in the book!) and it was interesting to read something set during an infamous period of time – when the Cambridge spy ring was being unmasked.
It was also really interesting to have the story from a female perspective, inspired by the author’s mother’s own role as a secretary at the British Embassy and as an MI6 operative. Most spy thrillers are full of gungho action and men who are either very dashing or the extreme opposite (like Jackson Lamb from Mick Herron’s Slough House series), they are very rarely female.
Lois is indeed a secretary, but she’s also under orders from MI6, and her job is a cover. She’s been sent to see if she can work out if anyone on the embassy staff might be passing information to the Russians. She’s been told not to trust anyone but German journalist (and fellow spy) Johann.
At times she feels completely out of her depth, and her very strange flatmate and colleague doesn’t help matters. There are important things to do, possible defectors to locate, Russian tails to shake off, and the very real possibility of romance.
Things do go somewhat awry, and far from anyone she can ask for advice, Lois has to essentially wing it. But can she do the job?
I really liked Lois, I liked her determination, the way she wanted to stay the course, even when things were going wrong all over the place. She’s level headed and practical, willing to improvise to get the job done. A really enjoyable, intelligent thriller.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
Winter’s Season by R.J. Koreto unfolds against a city shaped by wealth, secrecy, and social division. The story follows a man whose work places him at the fault lines of power and danger, where private lives intersect with public consequence and justice is anything but assured.
When a young woman of means is found murdered, the crime sends quiet shockwaves through a society invested in keeping its truths hidden. Captain Winter is drawn into the case not because it is public, but because it is dangerous to ignore. A former soldier hardened by war, Winter now serves as Whitehall’s discreet emissary, navigating influence and violence without the protection of formal law.
His investigation forces him into uneasy alliances. A nobleman from his youth grants access to elite circles, while a brilliant Jewish physician brings insight grounded in careful observation rather than assumption. The case takes a more perilous turn with the return of Barbara Lightwood, a former lover whose intelligence and social reach place her close to information Winter cannot obtain elsewhere. Her refusal to fully share what she knows reopens unresolved history and clouds Winter’s judgment at the moment he can least afford it.
As the truth reaches further than anyone dares admit, Winter must confront both the crime and the personal cost of pursuing justice alone.
R.J. Koreto has been a merchant seaman, book editor, journalist and novelist. He was born and raised in New York City and decided to be a writer after reading “The Naked and the Dead.” He and his wife have two grown daughters and divide their time between Rockland County, N.Y., and Martha’s Vineyard, Mass. Visit R.J. at his website and on Facebook and Instagram.
Excerpt
The captain said goodbye to his colonel and a few other officers, and the butler saw him out. He walked to the nearest stand and engaged a hackney cab to Bow Street Court. A few heads turned as he entered the building, but no one accosted him. A clerk gave him the barest nod but said nothing as he entered a room.
A few minutes later, the captain came out. He was no longer in his regimentals, but in rather shabby outfit, almost rural, with a slouch hat. Down the hall, he entered another room, where a squad of Bow Street Runners awaited—constables, employed by the local court at Bow Street, to keep order and seize felons. Winter suppressed a grimace. They were poorly trained and poorly paid, but it was pretty much all London had for law enforcement. Many still thought the idea of a formal professional constabulary too much government interference—too un-English. So, the Runners would have to do. At least they were willing and obedient.
“We have already gone over where you should be standing,” said the captain. “You know how important it is you aren’t seen.” There was more than instruction in his voice—there was menace.
“Yes, sir,” said the most senior constable present.
“Then take your places. I’ll be along shortly.”
Moving quickly, he left the building and walked along dark streets that became progressively dirtier and more dangerous. He saw men hiding in the shadows, those who preyed on the weak and unaware, but nothing happened to him.
Eventually he came to a building that was well-lit, at least by the neighborhood standards. It was certainly the noisiest venue in the street. The cracked and faded sign marked it as The Three Bells.
The Captain entered—a few were eating off dirty plates, and almost everyone was drinking beer, or something stronger. Slatternly women laughed and tried to slip away from the half-drunk men who loudly pursued them. Some allowed them- selves to be caught, and there was more laughter and then a talk of money. The whole room smelled of smoke and grease, and the floor was sticky from weeks of spilled ale.
Few paid attention to the captain, but a fat man walked up to him surprisingly quickly for someone of his bulk.
“Oh captain, I am so pleased, do you think—”
“Shut up. Where’s Sally? She was suitable last night, and she’ll be suitable tonight.”
“Sally—oh there she is.” He pointed to a tallish girl wearing more makeup than an actress. A large man in worker’s clothes, probably a stevedore, thought the cap- tain, had grabbed her and placed her on his lap. She didn’t seem to mind.
The captain strode over, grabbed the woman by her wrist, and pulled her off the man’s lap.
“Come, my girl, we have an appointment as you well know.”
She yelped with surprise, then gave a shrug and followed. The large man stood up.
“See here—I saw her first,” he said. His accent wasn’t London, which explained everything.
“Good for you,” said the Captain, and pulled the girl across the room. The big man started to follow, but two of his friends grabbed him.
“Now Jake, no need to cause trouble,” said the first, who was clearly local.
“Cause trouble? I’ll flatten him—” “No, you won’t. You don’t know, you’re new here. For God’s sake, that’s the Captain, a soldier, they say he was, and you don’t want to start something with him—I’ve seen what happens to those who do—”
“That’s right,” chimed in the other friend, also a Londoner. “Remember Big Nick—used to be here, no one stood up to him, but he challenged the Captain…” he shuddered.
“And what happened?” asked a skeptical Jake. Both men look their heads.
“We never saw him again. He wasn’t arrested. They didn’t find his body—he was just…gone. So just stop thinking about it. There are plenty of other girls.”
But Jake still felt he had to make a show of standing up for himself. “So, you’re telling me it would be a mistake to call him out?”
“Your last mistake,” said the first man. Then very softly, as if he was afraid of his words, he said, “He’s called Winter. If you’re thinking of staying in this part of London, you would do well to remember that name.”
From the author
“Every generation thinks it invented sex” is a quote attributed to science fiction writer Robert Heinlein. That becomes the fun part of historical fiction! I write mysteries, but I typically have a romantic subplot, and I enjoy imagining what love affairs were like at different times.
In Winter’s Season, my latest book, army veteran Captain Winter investigates crimes in Regency-era London. He’s a ladies man—a type very much around today! But the cultural differences of the time put restrictions on how any romance could proceed. Winter comes from a modest background, but his bravery in the face of an accident elevated him to the gentry. We don’t think about this much anymore: Catherine, Princess of Wales, did not come from royalty or even the aristocracy.
But this is 1817, and Winter’s love life is as unmoored as his social position. His landlady introduces him to her farmgirl niece, Charity. They share a background, and when she shows some shrewd insights into his personality, it looks like this romance is going somewhere. But she knows Winter’s closest friend is an earl, and she is a woman who makes preserves and helps cows give birth. She bursts into tears just imagining if she married Winter: trying to fit in at a dinner presided over by a Regency-era countess.
It doesn’t work well at the other end either: As part of his investigations, Winter wrangles an invitation to the most elegant ball of the London Season. Darkly handsome, he catches the eye of more than one debutante. Lady Mary Salmonberry is entranced by him and can’t stop blushing in his presence. But Winter knows it cannot go further. “Mothers sent their daughters here to find an appropriate husband. And that won’t be someone of my background.”
The world changes, however. I wrote a novel that takes place partly at the end of World War I and into the early 1920s. What separates the classes now?
In this book, we have another earl and another commoner: A military nurse and one of her patients fall in love at an army field hospital. On the wards, there is nothing to indicate that he is an aristocrat and that she is the daughter of a bookkeeper. Those distinctions, I found as I researched, started falling apart under the Kaiser’s guns. They never disappeared entirely—they’re still around—but the lines blurred.
And so, the nurse and the earl marry after the armistice. A friend visits them in the 1920s and the new countess opens the door to admit him, being the first countess to do that herself. No butler? No footman? Of course not: they were all dead on Flanders Field. Unlike Captain Winter’s farmgirl, the nurse fits right into the manor house. She doesn’t have to worry about presiding over elaborate dinner parties and slipping into elaborate dresses; those are all in the past. And no one has to teach the nurse-turned-countess how to open the door herself.
Love has not changed. But the new world makes it a lot easier to manage. And at the end of the day, that’s what I like about writing historical fiction: placing emotions like love, which never changes, into the context of a world that changes radically and frequently.
One final word: love comes in all forms. In an Edwardian-era series I wrote, I introduced two young women. They are close friends—indeed, they love each other. They have independent incomes and are not looking for husbands. At the end of the book, for companionship, they buy a house where they can live together
“Umm…are they lesbians?” asked my editor.
“They love each other, and that’s enough,” I said. Were they lesbians? I don’t know and I’m the author. When it comes to love, even my fictional characters deserve some privacy.
The villagers of Westleham are excited for the first village cricket match since the end of the war. But Martha Miller has more pressing concerns – namely, the sudden reappearance of her husband, Stan, missing for two years and acting as though nothing has happened.
Martha doesn’t know what to feel, especially now that his return threatens her growing fondness for the kind-hearted village vicar, Luke. Yet she’s not the only one unsettled by Stan’s return…
As the match begins and the crowd cheers, Stan suddenly collapses – dead before he hits the ground. And all eyes turn to Martha.
To clear her name, she must uncover the truth about Stan’s missing years and his sudden reappearance. But in a village this small, everyone has something to hide.
Will Martha’s amateur sleuthing find the real killer or will she pay the price for someone else’s deadly deed?
Let the investigation commence!
Find out if Martha and Luke can catch the killer in a brand new Martha Miller mystery from bestselling author Catherine Coles, perfect for fans of Lee Strauss and Beth Byers!
Catherine Coles writes bestselling cosy mysteries set in the English countryside. Her extremely popular Tommy & Evelyn Christie series is based in North Yorkshire in the 1920’s and Catherine herself lives in Hull with her family and two spoiled dogs.
My thoughts: The sudden reappearance of husband Stan sends Martha into a spin, he’s accompanied by two friends and has apparently been happily living in Brighton for the last two years. He swears he’s come to put things right, put her cottage into her name, and is very shocked to discover that the money he sent her through the village solicitor never reached Martha.
And when he suddenly drops dead on the Cricket Green in the village’s first match in several years, everyone looks at Martha. The spouse is always the first suspect after all. But there are plenty of other people who might have felt strongly enough to do away with Stan, and Martha is determined to prove her innocence.
A clever and highly enjoyable slice of historical crime fiction set in the English countryside, where murderers lurk and the police always need a hand solving the case!
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
The page-turning psychological thriller novella about infatuation, revenge and the lengths we will go to for love.
“She pressed her nose gingerly to the glass, peering unblinking through the viscous liquid at her gift.”
Victorian, rural Sussex. When headstrong daughter of a rector, Constance Timothy, receives a flurry of gifts in pretty little boxes from the charming, smouldering student doctor Smith Williams, her whole family anticipates a future betrothal.
Yet beneath the exquisite pastel lids and satin bows lie macabre secrets that entice Constance into a private world of obsession and darkness, where morality becomes blurred, loyalties are tested and unthinkable acts are possible. One secret will shake the genteel world she knows to the core…
The first book of The Carousel of Curiosities series, this haunting novella is perfect for readers of Sarah Waters, Laura Purcell, and Angela Carter.
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Lucy Kaufman is an award-winning author, playwright, audio dramatist and poet. 40 of her plays have been performed professionally around the UK and Australia, to critical acclaim. She has lectured in Playwriting and Screenwriting for Pen to Print and Canterbury Christ Church University and is a mentor at The Writing Coach. Originally from London, she now lives by the sea with her husband, sons, dogs and cats.
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My thoughts: When medical student Smith Williams and vicar’s daughter Constance meet, she is dazzled by his charm, and he begins sending her strange gifts in pretty boxes, she keeps the contents secret from her parents, rightly knowing they won’t understand. She dreams of the day he proposes. Until she hears that he is engaged to someone else.
However someone is looking after Constance, without her knowing, and they take a terrible revenge on her behalf.
Sinister and creepy, this novella is clever and like Constance, slightly intense, as she realises what has been done for her and must take action.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
“And I thought you were my savior in my darkest hour. How very wrong I was.”
1794: Devastated by the violent disappearance of her husband, Charles Sharpe, Eliza struggles to save Pleasant Hall from the hands of crooked creditors and the governor’s greed. In the aftermath of the attack, her husband’s enemies have branded him a traitor and declare him dead.
But an unlikely source carries knowledge that he still lives, and he alone knows who has taken Charles. Eliza’s desperation drives her to form an alliance with the king of the underworld himself: Captain Hiram Bruin, a notorious man who is more pirate than privateer.
Eliza’s death has been ordered by Lord Dunmore, and Bruin himself tasked with the deed. But Hiram Bruin has never been a man to follow orders. He offers her passage on his ship, the Fortuyne, and his personal protection. In her hour of distress, Eliza accepts—for she has no other choice.
Bruin takes Eliza on a wild and dangerous voyage from the island of New Providence to the wild and untamed Saba, and finally to England, where her journey started three years ago.
Eliza endures her new sinister reality, one where death creeps ever closer, and quickly learns that the only monsters at sea are men. Ensnared by the salt air and damning secrets, one thing is startlingly clear: Bruin wants to take everything she holds dear. For the roots of revenge lie deep…
Will Eliza be able to save the life of her husband before it’s too late? What price is she willing to pay for his freedom? And can she escape this unimaginable nightmare, fueled by a man of unspeakable cruelty?
Gina Giordano always had an insatiable curiosity and a penchant for history. Born in New York City, she is a writer, artist, and a conjurer of the past. She holds a BA in history and a master’s degree in historical fiction from New York University, and has traveled to over sixty-five countries across the globe. When she is not climbing ancient ruins or exploring forgotten palaces, she enjoys swimming with sharks in remote pristine waters. Her debut novel, Strange Eden, was longlisted for the 2023 Bath Novel Award.
My thoughts: Eliza and Charles finally found a way to each other, only to be ripped apart by the events on the island. She’s been told that he’s dead, but refuses to believe it. Pirate Hiram Bruin tells her he knows where Charles is, abducts her onto his ship the Fortuyne and they set sail.
Bruin is a terrifying character, and his crew of reprobates isn’t any better. But Bruin has a personal vendetta against Charles which he keeps from Eliza, all the while attempting to convince her to give up her search and marry him.
As they traverse around the Caribbean and then across the Atlantic to England, Eliza must brave events that would destroy a weaker woman. Murder, rape and intense cruelty, are all part of life aboard the ship.
Meanwhile Charles is suffering through his own hell, held prisoner in South America by a dangerous criminal who makes his prisoners fight each other. He knows that he needs to stay alive and make his way to Eliza and Philippe, wherever they are.
This final chapter in Charles and Eliza’s story is probably the most shocking, the crimes of the Bahamas governor, Lord Dunmore, are mounting and he will stop at nothing to get what he wants.
Charles and Eliza are incredibly strong and brave people, they suffer terribly at the hands of their enemies and must overcome all obstacles to find their way to safety and keep their son well.
Gripping, shocking and full of drama, this brings the Strange Eden trilogy to a sensational end, where it began, in an English country garden.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
Join Harriet White in 1930’s London for another glorious Sherlock Holmes-inspired mystery, for fans of Nita Prose and Janice Hallett.
After a very close call on the Norfolk Fens, Harriet White is about ready to hang up her deerstalker and settle back into her normal life, working in a bank on Baker Street. Until she discovers a letter in The Times newspaper challenging Sherlock Holmes to prove his status as the world’s greatest detective, by solving an impossible mystery.
The letter, signed Professor James Moriarty, advises Holmes that the crime will be committed within the following seven days. There will be no further clues – Holmes himself must deduce which crime is the correct one to investigate. Dismissing the letter as a prank, Harry goes about her business until news breaks of the theft of valuable jewel collection from a safe in an apparently locked room in a Mayfair townhouse.
Intrigued in spite of her misgivings, Harry dons a disguise and investigates. But as she begins to unpick the puzzle, a body is found. And now, a stranger, and far more deadly mystery begins to unfold around her…
Holly Hepburn writes escapist, swoonsome fiction that sweeps her readers into idyllic locations, from her native Cornwall to the windswept beauty of Orkney. She has turned her hand to cosy crime inspired by Sherlock Holmes himself. Holly lives in leafy Hertfordshire with her adorable partner in crime, Luna the Labrador.
My thoughts: I was very excited to read this and not remotely disappointed. Harry is an excellent detective and has a nose for crime. With the aid of her lawyer friend Oliver and former housemaid Beth she’s in and out of disguises and solving mysteries.
The theft of an extravagant diamond from the safe, supposedly the best place for it, comes with a bitter twist when the body of a missing girl is found in a secret room. Now it’s a theft and a murder.
Harry’s youngest brother is also in need of help (although he doesn’t know it), he’s got entangled with a nightclub dancer with a dubious history who’s been telling people she’s coming into some money soon. Not if Harry and her older brother Seb can help it. There will be no dashing off to Gretna Green here, no way.
Between her cases, she still has time to write to the other requests for aid as Holmes’ secretary. Unfortunately the great detective has retired to keep bees. Even if Moriarty is back. He’ll just have to make do with Holmes’ assistant. Tremendous fun.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
ramblingmads 