Tag: Historic Fiction

Book Critic, Book Review, Books, Literary Criticism, Reading

Review: The Saffron Crocus by Alison McMahan

by The Lit Bitch2 Comments on Review: The Saffron Crocus by Alison McMahan

In 1643 Venice, singing teacher Margherita introduces the young Isabella to the world of opera.

Isabella has wanted to sing in Monteverdi’s Choir but it’s only for boys.

But opera opens up all kinds of new doors for Isabella instead…..all thanks to Margherita.

Just when things are going well for Isabella, she finds Margherita murdered.

Isabella sets out to discover why…..but soon secrets start surfacing about Margherita’s past and her handsome son, Rafaele, might be the murderer’s next target.

Isabella and Rafaele team up and try to solve the murder before it’s too late! But when an attempt is made on Rafaele’s life, she suddenly finds himself arrested for a crime he didn’t commit.

Isabella must solve the mystery before Rafaele is wrongfully executed!

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Book Critic, Book Review, Books, Literary Criticism, Reading

Review: Alaina Claiborne (British Agent #1) by M.K. McClintock

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As a young girl, Alaina Claiborne witnesses a the murder of her parents…..an event that she doesn’t fully understand.

At ten years old, Alaina remains in her parents estate with her guardians, her aunt Charlotte and her uncle Sebastiaan.

As she grows older, she only minutely remembers the murders and she only finds comfort when riding her horses.

One afternoon she is out for a ride, she stops at her favorite spot on the lake by her property.

There she runs into her new neighbor, Tristan Sheffield. She is frustrated that this man has intruded on her favorite spot but yet she is oddly intrigued by him.

He is handsome to be sure, and arrogant but friendly enough. Suddenly he starts turning up at at her house and spending a great deal of time with her. What Alaina doesn’t know is her life is in serious danger.

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Books, Reading

Spotlight: AURELIA (Roma Nova #4) by Alison Morton

by The Lit Bitch1 Comment on Spotlight: AURELIA (Roma Nova #4) by Alison Morton

02_Aurelia_CoverPublication Date: May 5, 2015
SilverWood Books
Series: Roma Nova, Book Four
Genre: Alternative Historical Fiction
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Late 1960s Roma Nova, the last Roman colony that has survived into the 21st century. Aurelia Mitela is alone – her partner gone, her child sickly and her mother dead. Forced in her mid-twenties to give up her beloved career as a Praetorian officer, she is struggling to manage an extended family tribe, businesses and senatorial political life.

But her country needs her unique skills. Somebody is smuggling silver – Roma Nova’s lifeblood – on an industrial scale. Sent to Berlin to investigate, she encounters the mysterious and attractive Miklós, a suspected smuggler, and Caius Tellus, a Roma Novan she has despised, and feared, since childhood.

Aurelia suspects that the silver smuggling hides a deeper conspiracy and follows a lead into the Berlin criminal underworld. Barely escaping a trap set by a gang boss intent on terminating her, she realises that her old enemy is at the heart of all her troubles and pursues him back home to Roma Nova…

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Special Feature/Excerpt: RUINS OF WAR by John A Connell

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A chilling novel of murder and madness in post-World War II Germany…

Berkley Publishing Group is thrilled to announce the publication of John A. Connell’s RUINS OF WAR (Berkley Hardcover; May 5, 2015; 978-0-425-27895-6; $26.95).

An exciting debut thriller featuring a fascinating new character in Chief Warrant Officer Mason Collins—former Chicago homicide detective, U.S. soldier, prisoner of war, and now U.S. Army criminal investigator in the American Zone of Occupation in Munich. At a time when the worst horrors of the war are coming to light, there is another horror that is running rampant in the street.

In the winter of 1945, seven months after the Nazi defeat, Munich is in ruins. The winter is brutal, the citizens are starving, and end of the war does not mean the end of the chaos in the city. Quite the contrary. It’s Mason’s job to enforce the law in a place where order has been obliterated. It’s a dangerous job, though it is a job he requested. And his job just became much more dangerous:  a killer is stalking the devastated city. However, these are more than just murders; they are horrifying brutalities that begin to wreak terror on the already beleaguered citizens of Munich. This killer has knowledge of human anatomy, enacts mysterious rituals with his prey, and seems to pick victims at random.

Relying on his wits and instincts while trying to work around the military-political blockades and hard-nosed commander, and trying to keep the memory of his past where it needs to stay, Mason must venture places where his own life is put at risk. From interrogation rooms with unrepentant Nazi war criminals to penetrating the U.S. Army’s own black market and working with an overeager American journalist, Mason must solve this heinous case before the killer strikes again.

Excerpt from Ruins of War by John A. Connell

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Review: The Fatal Flame (Timothy Wilde Mysteries #3) by Lyndsay Faye

by The Lit Bitch2 Comments on Review: The Fatal Flame (Timothy Wilde Mysteries #3) by Lyndsay Faye

Wow, completely different than what I was expecting! This book is a very uniquely written mystery and I loved it.

I have never read anything by Faye before, but what a treat it was! Her writing style is so different and raw.

It’s almost had a film noir feel to it….gritty, dark, and real but at the same time oddly addicting.

In New York City, an arsonist threatens Alderman Robert Symmes, a corrupt and powerful leader high in the Tammany Hall gang ranks.

Copper Star detective, Timothy Wilde is investigating the arson situation when the love of his life, Mercy Underhill, suddenly shows up on his door step and takes in an orphan girl who is starving on the streets. But the orphan girl doesn’t quite have a grasp of reality.

It soon becomes clear that this girl holds the key to unraveling the mysterious arson attacks but her cryptic descriptions are anything but helpful.

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