Tag: historical fiction

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: A Mirror Murder – Helen Hollick

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The first in a series of quick-read, cosy mysteries set during the 1970s in North East London and North Devon, featuring the characters of Jan Christopher, her Aunt Madge, her uncle, DCI Toby Christopher and romantic interest DC Lawrence Walker – plus several other endearing, regular characters.

The background of Jan’s career as a library assistant is based on the author’s own library years during the 1970s, using many borrowed (often hilarious!) anecdotes, her life in suburban north east London on the edge of Epping Forest, and her present life in rural North Devon…

July 1971
Eighteen-year-old library assistant Jan Christopher’s life is to change on a rainy evening, when her legal guardian and uncle, DCI Toby Christopher, gives her a lift home after work. Driving the car, is her
uncle’s new Detective Constable, Lawrence Walker – and it is love at first sight for the young couple.

But romance is soon to take a back seat when a baby boy is taken from his pram, a naked man is scaring young ladies in nearby Epping Forest, and an elderly lady is found, brutally murdered… Are the events related? How will they affect the staff and public of the local library where Jan works – will romance survive and blossom between library assistant Jan Christopher and DC Walker? Or will a
brutal murder intervene?

“I sank into this gentle cosy mystery story with the same enthusiasm and relish as I approach a hot bubble bath, (in fact this would be a great book to relax in the bath with!), and really enjoyed getting
to know the central character…” Debbie Young bestselling cozy mystery author

“Jan is a charming heroine. You feel you get to know her and her love of books and her interest in the people in the library where she works. She’s also funny, and her Aunt Madge bursts with character – the sort of aunt I would love to have had. I remember the 70s very well and Ms Hollick certainly gives a good flavour of the period.” Denise Barnes (bestselling romance author Molly Green)

“A delightful read about an unexpected murder in North East London. Told from the viewpoint of a young library assistant, the author draws on her own experience to weave an intriguing tale” Richard
Ashen (South Chingford Community Library)

“Lots of nostalgic, well-researched, detail about life in the 1970s, which readers of a certain age will lap up; plus some wonderful, and occasionally hilarious, ‘behind the counter’ scenes of working in a
public library, which any previous or present-day library assistant will recognise!” Reader’s Review

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Episode 2: A MYSTERY OF MURDER

Set in rural Devon, Christmas 1971

Library Assistant Jan Christopher is to spend Christmas in Devon with her boyfriend, DS Laurie Walker and his family, but when a murder is discovered, followed by a not very accidental accident, the traditional Christmas spirit is somewhat marred…What happened to Laurie’s ex-girlfriend? Where is
the vicar’s wife? Who took those old photographs? And will the farmer up the lane ever mend those broken fences?

“There are lots of things to enjoy in the second in the Jan Christopher cosy mystery series” Best-selling cozy mystery author Debbie Young

“A laid back sort of novel, the kind that you can relax while reading, and simply let the story happen. This author has a particularly unique style of writing… this book wasn’t simply a story, but an
experience. You almost have the feeling that the author is reading the book to you, and is adding in her own little quips every now and again. I loved every second… The whole mystery is well thought out… utterly amazing!” Review: I Got Lost In A Book Blog

“The pace is gently cosy, despite the murder… Jan is a wonderful character; young, naïve, but also savvy when needed. And Laurie is a gem. All the characters and their foibles and actions stay true to the era… a lovely, warm story.” Review: Ruins & Reading

More in the series:

Episode 3 A MISTAKE OF MURDER
Was murder deliberate – or a tragic mistake?

Episode 4 A MEADOW MURDER
Make hay while the sun shines? But what happens when a murder is discovered, and country life is disrupted?

Episode 5 A MEMORY OF MURDER
A missing girl, annoying decorators, circus performers and a wanna-be rock star to deal with. But who remembers the brutal, cold case murder of a policeman?

Episode 6 A MISCHIEF OF MURDER
The village Flower and Veg Show should be a fun annual event – but who added mischief and murder
to the traditional schedule?
*

A Mirror Murder Amazon Universal Link
Amazon Author Page Universal Link

Known for her captivating storytelling and rich attention to historical detail, Helen’s historical fiction, nautical adventure series, cosy mysteries – and her short stories – skilfully invite readers to step into
worlds where the boundaries between fact and fiction blend together.

Helen started writing as a teenager, but after discovering a passion for history, was initially published in 1993 in the UK with her Arthurian Pendragon’s Banner Trilogy and two Anglo-Saxon novels about the events that led to the 1066 Battle of Hastings, one of which, The Forever Queen (USA title – A Hollow Crown in the UK) became a USA Today best-seller. Her Sea Witch Voyages are nautical-based adventures inspired by the Golden Age of Piracy. She also writes the Jan Christopher cosy mystery series set during the 1970s, and based around her, sometimes hilarious, years of working as a North London library assistant. Her 2025 release is Ghost Encounters, a book about the ghosts of North Devon – even if you don’t believe in ghosts you might enjoy the snippets of interesting history and the many location photographs.

Helen and her family moved from London to Devon after a Lottery win on the opening night of the London Olympics, 2012. She spends her time glowering at the overgrown garden, fending off the geese,
chasing the peacocks away from her roses, helping with the horses and wishing the friendly, resident ghosts would occasionally help with the housework…

Website Facebook
Twitter/X: @HelenHollick
Blog: supporting authors & their books
Bluesky: @helenhollick.bsky.social
Monthly ‘newsletter’ blog:
Thoughts from a Devonshire Farmhouse.

Had to include Sherlock Bear! So cute!

My thoughts: I really enjoyed this 1970s set crime novel, while I wasn’t around in the 70s (I’m an 80s baby) my mum always tells me about then, as she was training to be a nurse and met my dad during the decade, but I have worked in a library or two, so I could relate to Jan’s job, libraries attract some interesting people.

Her uncle, DCI Christopher is an interesting person, he’s obviously very intelligent and capable, and he trusts her to help him at times. His new DC, and Jan’s love interest, Laurie Walker, is new in town and between him and Jan have already stumbled on a murder and stopped a naked man in the forest! Goodness knows what else they’ll find.

I thought this was a very enjoyable, entertaining and clever book. The case was more involved than it first appeared, and there were other, smaller crimes to resolve along the way. Eventually Laurie and Jan might even get to go out for a nice dinner, somewhere other than her aunt and uncle’s house. 

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Appointment in Paris – Jane Thynne

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APPOINTMENT IN PARIS, the sequel to Jane Thynne’s acclaimed Midnight in Vienna, which received stunning reviews on its HB outing last year including from The Times (‘evocative, gripping and highly enjoyable’), Observer (‘gripping and surprising’), Financial Times (‘sharply drawn and very enjoyable’) and the Irish Independent (‘beautifully crafted historical thriller’). A finished copy is on its way to you.

APPOINTMENT IN PARIS reunites us with former MI5 watcher Harry Fox and his associate Stella Fry against the backdrop of a 1940s Britain on the brink of a German invasion. Jane takes inspiration from real life Trent Park – the Bletchley Park nobody knows about. Previously a stately home and used during the war as a prison to house high level German POW with it’s true purpose as a way for secret listeners to covertly gather intelligence from prisoners. When the body of a Luftwaffe captain is found in the grounds the day before a listener goes missing, Fox and Fry are called on to investigate before the highly confidential operation is blown wide open.

My thoughts: This was really good, conspiracies abound during the war, and spies could be anywhere. I was fascinated to learn about Trent Park – I am going to get hold of a copy of the book the author recommends on it’s history.

I really liked Stella and Harry – they’re both smart and think on their feet, especially Harry. Stella isn’t an expert investigator but she still finds her man in Paris, and carries out her mission despite the encroaching Nazi army.

I was hooked from the beginning, the writing is compelling and the story is so interesting. The murder of a Luftwaffe captain is taken very seriously – he might be the enemy but his death was never intended, in fact the prisoners are treated very well. Harry is hunting for his killer amongst the ex-pat community in London, where artists, communists, Jews and others who have fled Hitler gather and worry about what will happen to them.

A pretty face distracts him from his case and he makes mistakes. There’s also the issue of his feelings for Stella – it’s apparent to everyone except them it seems. This humanised him a lot for me, he might be a brilliant PI but he’s also a flawed human being.

I haven’t read the previous book to this – but I am going to now. And I hope there’s more for Fox and Fry as I really enjoyed this book.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Death at the School of Translators – Esther Knight

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A Rebecca DeToledo Medieval Mystery

Ivanhoe meets Phryne Fisher in this medieval adventure of a woman sleuth.

Toledo, 1193: A city of scholars, secrets, and simmering tensions.

When Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine’s Jewish spy is found dead, whispers of treachery reach all the way to England.

Rebecca DeToledo, a gifted healer and wealthy Jewish heiress, arrives under royal orders to investigate at the School of Translators. Her mission quickly turns perilous as she faces threats to her life and a sudden battle over her inheritance.

Assigned to guard her is Sir John of Hampstead, a disillusioned crusader burdened with knowledge that could threaten King Richard’s release from captivity. Forced into this partnership, he must protect Rebecca while grappling with his own prejudices.

As they navigate Toledo’s complex alliances, where Christians, Jews, and Muslims coexist in fragile peace, they uncover a web of secrets reaching deep into the cathedral. Can Rebecca and John unearth the truth before they become the next targets?

For fans of historical sleuths, slow-burn tension, and secret missions cloaked in royal intrigue.

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Author Bio – Esther Knight writes historical mysteries featuring a bold heroine who challenges the norms of her time.
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My thoughts: I really enjoyed this book, I liked Rebecca a lot, she was an interesting character, a trained medic in a time when most were men and bloodletting for medical reasons was a favoured treatment, that more often than not, did nothing beneficial. She’s trusted by Eleanor of Aquitaine – Queen of France, then of England, probably one of the most powerful women in history.

Tasked with looking into the death of the Queen’s man in Toledo, Rebecca and John of Hampstead (a somewhat disgraced knight) find themselves in the bustling Spanish city where Christians, Jews and Muslims live and work alongside each other, slightly uneasily.

The School of Translators was a real place, and there scholars worked at translating ancient manuscripts into Castilian (a dialect of French mixed with Spanish) and Latin from Hebrew and Arabic. It must have been a fascinating place.

But it’s also a place where competition thrives and the various scholars jostle for position. The dead man was known to be boastful, unpopular and a creep. His landlady’s son had kicked him out after he made unwelcome advances to his sister, his colleagues disliked him and he was just generally quite unpleasant.

Rebecca also has to deal with a family issue, her aunt and cousin have been living in her father’s house and running the family business. Her father’s will left everything to her, which doesn’t go down well with her relatives who choose to contest it. This is a complication she doesn’t need and distracts from the investigation.

But as she has decided to stay in Toledo and set up a clinic, she must contend with the traditions and gossip of her community. She doesn’t want to marry but that won’t stop the matchmaking at the synagogue.

I’m looking forward to more of Rebecca’s adventures in Toledo with Sir John as her ever-present shadow, causing gossip of its own, as they work for the Queen.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.

*Terms and Conditions –Worldwide entries welcome. Please enter using the Gleam box. The winner will be selected at random via Gleam from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over. Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random Resources will delete the
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Blog Tour: The Great Deception – Syd Moore

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May 1940. As the Nazis overrun Denmark, Britain counters by invading Iceland. Secret agent Daphne Devine is dropped into occupied territory to assess a clairvoyant in Reykjavik, who may be passing information to the enemy. Alone, Daphne must navigate her way through this strange, frozen landscape, where the Allies aren’t always welcomed with open arms.

When a new lead takes her North into Strandir, the land of sorcerers, she encounters fresh peril and discovers that now she, the hunter, has become the hunted. Daphne must use all her Secret Service training to outwit the enemy agents in her midst.

Twice shortlisted for a CWA Dagger, Syd Moore returns with a thrilling new series, exploring Britain’s secret wartime history.

SYD MOORE has been a Royal Literary Fund fellow and is currently working with them to pioneer ‘Reading Round’ courses in hospices. Her novel The Witching Hour was a Top Twenty bestselling horror title of 2024. She was the first Author in Residence for Essex Libraries and is best known for her Essex Witch Museum Mysteries, which was shortlisted for the Good Reader Holmes and Watson Award in 2018 and 2019. She has been shortlisted twice for a CWA dagger for her short stories. Syd founded the Essex Girls’ Liberation Front and successfully removed the term ‘Essex girl’ from the Oxford dictionary in 2020. She lives in Essex.

My thoughts: This was really interesting, I don’t remember learning about the occupation of Iceland during WW2, yet another thing school forgot to tell us!

Daphne has been sent north in the guise of a journalist for The Times, to write about the occupation and also about a medium who is making claims to be able to communicate with the dead – but might actually be communicating with the Nazis. He’s Icelandic and putting on performances in Reykjavik, making it easy for Daphne to observe him. Conveniently everyone speaks English, or she’d be in real trouble (a large percentage of the Icelandic population does speak some English) as none of her training covered learning the language.

She’s paired up with local journalist Anna as her guide and helper, although Anna doesn’t know everything. There’s also a grumpy British major who can’t really be bothered with Daphne and Septimus, who is supposed to be helping her too – but seems to be disinclined to listen.

Eventually she and Anna, and Anna’s police officer cousin, find themselves heading into the more remote north of the country on the trail of a book that Hitler wants. Out amid the falling snow, danger waits.

This was a really gripping, fascinating read. Daphne hasn’t really been prepared very well, she can’t speak or read Icelandic, her clothes aren’t really warm enough and at times she’s forced to improvise, even recruiting Anna and her cousin Rafn isn’t really something she should have done, but the men she’s reporting to don’t seem to be listening.

But her intelligence is good, she and Anna spot the secret messages the medium is passing on to someone in the audience, they analyse everything he says and does on stage, much more closely than most, and following an order from London, take a big risk with a big reward if they survive the weather and whoever is following them.

It’s a really clever, interesting and enjoyable book, I was hooked from the get go. You will be too.  

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.

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Blog Tour: An Heir is Misplaced – Helen Golden

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A missing heir. An out of sorts duchess. A Season in High Society that just became far more interesting…

London, 1891. With the gossip broadsheet The Society Page speculating that her husband is getting far too cosy with their female neighbour back at his country estate, Alice, Duchess of Stortford, is
fed-up. And it’s raining!

But when a flustered nobleman appears at her door, knowing of her reputation for managing discreet enquires, he begs her for help. His nephew, who is about to inherit an Earldom, has gone missing.

But the deeper Alice digs, the murkier things become. Why are the late Earl’s wife and his stepson so evasive? What really happened at The Carlton Hotel the night the heir was last seen? And who’s set
to gain the Earldom if the heir ends up dead?

Aided by her loyal maid Maud, her quick-thinking footman George, and the ever-resourceful private investigator Ben Beaumont—not to mention a certain well-known detective with a pipe—Alice must untangle a web of secrets to find the missing heir before it’s too late.

The clock is ticking, the gossip is swirling—and only Alice can set things right.

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Helen Golden spins mysteries that are charmingly British, delightfully deadly, and served with a twist of humour.

With quirky characters, clever red herrings, and plots that keep the pages turning, she’s the author of the much-loved A Right Royal Cozy Investigation series, following Lady Beatrice and her friends—
including one clever little dog—as they uncover secrets hidden in country houses and royal palaces.

Her new historical mystery series, The Duchess of Stortford Mysteries, is set in Victorian England and introduces an equally curious sleuth from Lady Beatrice’s own family tree—where murders are solved over cups of tea, whispered gossip, and overheard conversations in drawing rooms and grand estates.

Helen lives in a quintessential English village in Lincolnshire with her husband, stepdaughter, and a menagerie of pets—including a dog, several cats, a tortoise, and far too many fish.

If you love clever puzzles, charming settings, and sleuths with spark, her books are waiting for you.

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My thoughts: This was lots of fun and suitably fiendish. Alice might be a Duchess, but she’s happiest when reading the crime pages in the papers or solving cases of her own. Her acquaintance with private detective Ben Beaumont and his infamous friend doesn’t hurt either. 

She’s asked to locate an heir, newly arrived in London from South Africa, where his family emigrated when he was a child. Only something isn’t quite right. 

As Alice and Ben, and her very discreet footman, make enquiries, it soon transpires that things are not as they seem, and Alice was very right to be suspicious. Throw in a jewellery smuggling ring, and Alice’s marital woes are completely forgotten as she’s hot on the trail of an heir…or is he? 

If you like the Lady Bea books by the same author (as I certainly do), then you’ll very much enjoy these, or any of the historical crime solving lady sleuths that are around, Alice, Duchess of Stortford should be on your tbr!

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: The Players Act 1: All The World’s a Stage – Amy Sparkes

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How far would you go to save what you truly love?

England, 1715.
When society doesn’t understand you, and your family is out of the picture, a strolling theatre company could be your perfect home…

Ambitious lead actor Thomas is determined to reach Drury Lane and prove to his father that he is not a failure.
Fierce Caroline has a traumatic past and is determined to protect the company which saved her.
Kind-hearted Annie just wants to look after her found family.

So, when their heartbroken manager Robert is injured and decides to fold the struggling company, the players are resolved to change his mind, whatever the cost. Unfortunately for them, the odds are
stacked against them. They’ve lost their stage, they still haven’t got a skull for Hamlet, and flamboyant ex-member Piero is hunting them down, with a spot of revenge on his mind…

Is it time for the final bow?

The Players Act 1: All The World’s A Stage gives voice to the forgotten strolling players of the 18th century in this fun, uplifting, and page-turning read.

WHAT TO EXPECT:
 Energetic, accessible historical fiction
 Working-class characters
 Found family
 Comedy and tragedy
 Shakespeare
 LGBTQ+
 Neurodiversity
 Mental health issues
 Multiple POV
 Heart and hope

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Amy was born in Eastbourne, England, where the sea and South Downs encouraged her love of the outdoors and nurtured her wildness. Her childhood was filled with folk music, caravans and imagination, and she was always dreaming up stories and characters – usually when she was meant to be doing something else.

She enjoys stories that explore both comedy and tragedy. She is a New York Times bestselling author and her work includes THE HOUSE AT THE EDGE OF MAGIC series, and the picture books for
BBC’s THE REPAIR SHOP. THE PLAYERS is her debut novel for adults.

Amy now lives in Devon with her husband and six children. When she isn’t writing, Amy enjoys drinking tea, climbing trees and playing the piano, although disappointingly she is yet to master
doing all three at once.

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My thoughts:  I love theatrical history so this was right up my theatre nerd/history nerd street. Travelling companies like the rather unfortunate Ticehurst Players that comprises Robert, Caroline, Annie and new boy Tom.

They need a new patron, and for things to go their way for a change. After being threatened with the Vagrancy Act, Tom suddenly remembers his father is a landlord of an inn and they could go there. Unfortunately, he neglects to mention his father hates actors and isn’t very happy with his errant son.

They head there anyway, and chaos ensues. Former troupe member Piero is hot on their heels and plotting revenge, his new company aren’t very happy being dragged all over the place and getting a bit fed up with him.

It all comes to a head in Tom’s home town, and the Fair, where a new patron could be found and fortunes reversed, if they could all stop trying to sabotage each other for long enough and stay out of the local constable’s cells.

Clever, funny and highly enjoyable, I’m looking forward to the next act.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Daughter of Mercia – Julia Ibbotson

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Echoes of the past resonate across the centuries as Dr Anna Petersen, a medievalist and runologist, is struggling with past trauma and allowing herself to trust again.

When archaeologist Professor Matt Beacham unearths a 6th century seax with a mysterious runic inscription, and approaches Anna for help, a chain of events bring the past firmly back into her
present. And why does the burial site also contain two sets of bones, one 6th century and the other modern?

As the past and present intermingle alarmingly, Anna and Matt need to solve the mystery of the seax runes and the seemingly impossible burial, and to discover the truth about the past.

But how is 6th century Lady Mildryth of Mercia connected to Anna? Can they both be the Daughter of Mercia?

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Dr Julia Ibbotson is fascinated by the medieval world and the concept of resonances across time. She sees her author brand as a historical fiction writer of romantic mysteries that are
character-driven, well-paced, evocative of time and place, well-researched and uplifting page-turners.

Her current series focuses on early medieval dual-time/time-slip mysteries.
Julia read English at Keele University, England, specialising in medieval language/ literature/history, and has a PhD in socio-linguistics. After a turbulent time in Ghana, West Africa, she became a school teacher, then a university academic and researcher.

Her break as an author came soon after she joined the RNA’s New Writers’ Scheme in 2015, with a three-book deal from Lume Books for a trilogy (Drumbeats) set in Ghana in the 1960s.

She has also indie-published three other books, including A Shape on the Air, an Anglo-Saxon timeslip mystery, and its two sequels The Dragon Tree and The Rune Stone. Her latest, Daughter of Mercia, is the first of a new series of Anglo-Saxon dual time mystery/romances where echoes of the past resonate across the centuries.

Her books will appeal to fans of Barbara Erskine, Pamela Hartshorne, Susanna Kearsley, and Christina Courtenay. Her readers say: ‘compelling character-driven novels’, ‘a skilled story-teller’, ‘evocative and well-paced storylines’, ‘incredible writing style’, ‘intricately written’,
‘absorbing and captivating’, and ‘an absolute gem of a trilogy’

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My thoughts: I enjoyed the previous books Julia wrote and I knew I would like this one. Mercia is one of the kingdoms England was once split into, ruled by Saxons, roughly where the Midlands are today.

Archaeologists do indeed sometimes find amazing Saxon items buried in the ground, and sometimes farmers turn up things too! This time it’s the professionals but the grave makes little sense. There’s a seax (a knife or short sword) with an inscription that suggests an important woman is buried there, but no other grave goods, and there’s also the skeleton of a man, but further examination shows he’s from the modern day. This makes no sense at all as he seems to have buried as long as the female remains. 

As Dr Anna Petersen and Professor Matt Beacham investigate the remains and the inscription on the seax, they uncover more of the mystery, could the modern bones belong to their missing, but not much missed, colleague? Has he somehow travelled back in time to the sixth century? Doubting anyone will believe their theory, they keep it to themselves, focusing on the female bones.

Meanwhile for us, a secondary plot unfolds back in the sixth century settlement ruled by the Lady Mildryth, whose father is the king of Mercia. She tries to govern the way she believes her father would want her to, but a newcomer to the village turns her head and causes her to take foolish risks. Who is the man she names Theowulf, and where did he come from?

As both stories start to provide more answers than questions, we can fill in the gaps and solve the mysteries that haunt the characters. And as Anna and Matt grow closer, finding plenty to bond over, could he be the one to mend Anna’s broken heart?

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own

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Blog Tour: The Fastest Girl on Earth – Lisa Brace

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1922, London. Evelyn Bloom lies dying in her Mayfair flat.

A decade earlier, she had the world at her feet – a dazzling celebrity who socialised with royalty, ignited scandalous love affairs, and filled headlines with her daring exploits.

Now, surrounded by the faded mementoes of a brilliant life cut short, Evelyn is left to
wonder: How did it all go so wrong?
And why, when she had everything, has she been left to die alone?

A breath-taking and unputdownable WWI historical novel, perfect for fans of Kate Quinn, Natasha Lester, and Mandy Robotham.

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Lisa Brace is an award-winning writer, who combines penning novels with running her own business in the beautiful surroundings of West Sussex.

Her third novel The Fastest Girl on Earth, is out now.
Her second book, SWIM, a historical fiction novel was finalist in Best Historical Fiction and Best General Fiction in the New Generation Indie Book Awards 2025 and runner up as Historical Novel of the Year 2024 (Eyelands Book Awards).
Her debut novel, The Fame Trap, a dark women’s fiction novel was published in March 2024.

Lisa runs writing retreats and workshops in West Sussex with fellow author and friend, Daisy White. In between running her PR company and thinking up ideas for historical novels she can be found wandering in the woods with her dog and baking elaborate cakes (though not at the
same time)

My thoughts: I thought this was great, inspired by the exploits of a couple of real life daredevil female drivers and pilots, the story of Evelyn Bloom, the fastest girl in the world, breaking records and winning races on land and sea, who takes up flying, becomes a spy during the First World War, and somehow loses everyone she loves, is smart, funny, surprising and bittersweet.

Evelyn thinks she’s been hired as a secretary, but instead becomes a race car driver, showing off the cars and boats her employer makes, before deciding to learn how to fly. Her terrible contract means she doesn’t get to keep the prize money, and her affair with the boss breaks her heart.

She’s co-opted into the spy trade by the man she eventually marries, and runs some risky missions, including flying into occupied France and having to escape from enemy soldiers. Her husband is reported missing and she spends the rest of her days (and money) trying to find him. Leaving her penniless and alone at forty.

Her exploits are a delight, she’s a darling of the pre-war years, but even her closest friends fall away. A bittersweet ending to an eventful, adventurous life.

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*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.

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Cover Reveal: The Paris Spy – Sarah Sigal

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A world on the brink of war. One woman whose courage could change everything.

Paris, 1938. As the world teeters on the edge of war, Lady Pamela More knows her latest assignment is her deadliest yet.
Her days as a London society columnist are merely a cover. She must infiltrate the decadent Parisian circles of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor as they openly cavort with fascists and voice dangerous Nazi sympathies.

The nation’s security could be compromised — and Lady Pamela must uncover what, or whom, they might betray.
In the glittering salons of Paris, amidst the clink of champagne glasses and careless gossip, dark allegiances fester. The Windsors are charming — and cunning — and Pamela walks a delicate line between loyalty and deception.

But as she steps back into a life of shadows, old temptations resurface, including charismatic American Sid White, whose presence reawakens more than just memories.

Surrounded by spies, traitors and the ghosts of her past, Lady Pamela must decide: how far is she willing to go to protect a country that may never thank her before the city falls to the Nazis?

Originally from Chicago, Sarah Sigal works across theatre, film and fiction. She has a BA in Theatre Arts and English Literature from Gettysburg College and an MA in Writing for Performance and a PhD in Theatre and Performance, both from Goldsmiths College University of London. She teaches at a number of universities across the UK and is the author of WRITING IN COLLABORATIVE THEATRE-MAKING (Bloomsbury, 2016), as well as numerous plays and 2 short films. THE SOCIALITE SPY (Lume Books, 2023) is her first novel, the first in a series about the lead character, the socialite spy herself–Lady Pamela More.
She lives in London.

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Blog Tour: The Manuscript – Steven L. Wright

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A newly married couple from Harrogate purchased a manuscript from an antiquarian bookseller titled, The Universal Language Isn’t Love or Music but Loneliness. Completed in 1940 by unknown author, William Travers, it was one of several items offered at the estate
auction of a local family. Reading and discussing the work changed their lives … and their marriage.

Waking in hospital Lieutenant William Travers learns the war’s over. The Armistice has been signed.
Physically wounded and emotionally crippled, Travers shuns convention and, armed with an alto saxophone, turns his back on America to remain in Paris. He’s a jazzman at heart, so a jazzman he’ll remain. Throughout the Roaring ‘20s and Lean ‘30s, he encounters a bevy of
characters: the artists of Montparnasse; the ladies at the Paris brothel; the curator at the Musee du Luxembourg; fellow band members in Paris; the stiff-collared Edwardians and the Bright Young Things who dance at London’s Savoy Hotel; the fiery Yorkshire sheep farmer who is half-American; the hard-bitten landlady in London; and, the owner of a Soho night club – the epicentre of everything considered illegal. On the eve of the Blitz in September 1940, he decided to perform one more gig.

A parallel narrative where the three protagonists, although separated by eighty years, confront the existential meaning of life.

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Steve earned a BA and MA in history from the University of Cincinnati. After serving five years as a captain/attack helicopter pilot in the US Army’s 9th Infantry Division (1980-1985), he worked as a professional archivist and historian for twenty-five years. He has published several articles in peer-reviewed history journals in addition to three works of scholarly non-fiction including, Britain’s Battle to Go Modern: Confronting Architectural Modernisms, 1900-1925 published in 2018.

After relocating from London to the Yorkshire Dales National Park in 2014, he set himself a challenge: to write a work of fiction. His first attempt, Grey, Red, Blue … Gone was published in 2021. Steve enjoyed the process so he set his sights on a work of historical fiction hoping to incorporate his passion for history. The Manuscript is the culmination of years of research and
writing concerning the period in Paris and London known as the Jazz Age. An era when syncopated music nursed by cocktails comforted the bored and disillusioned and propelled the Bright Young Things toward an uninhibited lifestyle unknown to earlier generations.

Since his early days in secondary school, Steve has been interested in the lives and published works of several notable writers of the 1920s to the early 1940s, from F. Scott Fitzgerald and Richard Aldington to Ernest Hemingway and W. Somerset Maugham. He believes their work helped define those unique and troubling decades.

He still lives in the Yorkshire Dales National Park with his wife, Suzanne, a studio potter, whom he met twenty years ago at a Chicago jazz club, and a three-year-old rescue cat named Vesper.

My thoughts: The framing device of couple Fiona and Peter who have bought this mysterious manuscript allows the reader to feel as though they too are embarking on uncovering the mysteries about the document that forms the main body of this book.

Starting in the years after the First World War, the Manuscript is a memoir and philosophical meditation on life, love and loss. It’s author, William Travers, is the only survivor of his cohort of American airmen. Injured and alone, he has nothing to return to his hometown of Cincinnati for. Finding himself in Paris with his alto sax in hand, he sets himself up as a jazzman for hire.

Finding a small flat, a few paying gigs and eventually a lover, Veronique, he makes himself at home amongst the Roaring Twenties, the artists, musicians and other characters of the Left Bank. These are happy years, he joins a jazz band of fellow American ex-pats, serenades the ladies of a high class brothel, and befriends a British bartender who supplies him with free whisky.

When tragedy hits, he abandons this life for the Savoy in London and the turbulent years of the 1930s. The Bright Young Things, disaffected and outrageous, the Edwardians (my own great-grandparents are products of that time, my Grandad was born in 1930).

William meets the delightful Helena, only remaining child of her family’s sprawling farm in the Yorkshire Dales. She farms the sheep and contends with her broken hearted mother. Their romance brings a sparkle back to his life, but sadly it doesn’t last and here he starts to develop the philosophy that will rule the rest of his life and provide his memoir it’s title – The Universal Language isn’t Love or Music – it’s Loneliness. But then in 1940 as the Blitz begins, William disappears.

Peter becomes obsessed with finding out what became of William and how his memoir ended up in an estate sale in Harrogate. It begins to affect his marriage, as obsession can, and while he will find some answers, he might just lose his wife.

I found William’s story both moving and compelling, the interwar years are complicated and unlike any other time before or since. Huge loss of life brackets those years, and many of the people who lived then were profoundly affected by the social, political and financial shifts that took place. I studied the period in both Britain and German history, contrasting the two countries as they recovered from one devastating war and into the next.

William’s wartime experiences are never far from his mind, he struggles with survivors’ guilt and probably has PTSD, as well as his physical injury from being shot down in his plane. It colours everything he does and experiences, his relationships with women and friendships with other men. There were actually a couple of moments so gut-wrenchingly sad I actually teared up.

The writing is compelling and gripping, you are right there with William as he sees the newly built Cenotaph and rages at the loss of life, the pointless futility of war. It reminded me so much of the poetry of Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon, furious at the way so many were betrayed into giving their lives, and for what?

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.