Harriet White is no stranger to odd correspondence. Ensconced in the basement of the Baker Street building society, her job is to reply to the mail they receive on behalf of Sherlock Holmes.
But while letters to the fictional sleuth may be plentiful, telegrams are rare, and so when she receives one describing the grave situation of celebrated author Philip St John, her interest is piqued. The writer describes St John as being consumed by terror, seeing ghostly apparitions on the fens, and only at ease in the company of his loyal wolfhound.
Before long, Harry finds herself in Cambridgeshire under the guise of being Holmes’ assistant. The residents of Thurmwell Manor believe their master is cursed. Harry is sure there must be a logical explanation, but inside the echoey halls of the grand gothic house, her confidence in science and reason begin to crumble…
Can Harry solve the mystery before the fens claim their next victim?
Join Harriet White in 1930’s London for another glorious Sherlock Holmes-inspired mystery, for fans of Nita Prose and Janice Hallett.
The Cursed Writer is the second book in the Baker Street Mysteries. I’ve read book 1. Check out the review for The Missing Maid.
Events start immediately after the end of book 1, with our detective Harry returning to her poky office after the thrilling ending to her first mystery. She could be forgiven for being a little glum when she finds herself typing the same reply to every message she receives, but never fear—an urgent telegram soon lifts her from her melancholy. It has her adopting her detecting hat once more.
This time, we’re taken to the Fens in Cambridgeshire to investigate a strange mystery surrounding the sudden change in author Philip St John’s demeanour. His nephew desperately seeks the aid of celebrated detective Sherlock Holmes at 221B Baker Street. So desperately, he’s prepared to spend the money to send a telegram and not just a letter. And not just one, but two! While Harry tries to determine how she can uncover more about the telegram without revealing that Holmes is, of course, a fictional character, she is also embroiled in a few other little mysteries, which, for some time, appear irrelevant but offer excellent continuity from book one until they become increasingly relevant.
Harry’s two trips to the Fens are very Holmesesque, providing us with an eerie atmosphere in the depths of winter, and it felt very true to form.
The mystery elements themselves are very well strung together, and while I might have guessed part of the solution, the eventual conclusion was even better than I could have hoped.
This was a thrilling continuation of the Baker Street Mysteries. I was entirely hooked and devoured the story in a few sittings.
Meet the author
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.
Planning a wedding with the man you’re secretly in love with… what could go wrong?
Liv Holland has a secret: she’s been crushing on Arran Adebayo, her brother’s best friend, for years. They’re ‘just friends’ but she can’t help the butterflies in her stomach whenever she’s around him.
When they’re asked to help plan festivities for Liv’s brother’s wedding, Liv and Arran can no longer deny the sparks between them. But with both having their own chequered romantic history, risking everything for love could mean losing each other forever…
As the wedding bells ring, will Liv and Arran finally find their own happy ever after?
Zoe Allison lives in Scotland with her husband and two children, having been brought up in a mixed-race family in Yorkshire.
Growing up, Zoe enjoyed stories about falling in love. But rather than daydreaming of being rescued by a knight in shining armour, she imagined herself fighting dragons alongside him, battling supervillains as heroic allies, or teaming up to dive into perilous waters and save the day.
As an adult, Zoe became a doctor. However as time passed, she craved a creative outlet to counter the soul-sapping burnout that her career inflicted upon her, and also to achieve the happy endings that were so often lacking in the real world. She wanted to create heroines who represent her and her values, as well as heroes who truly love women—men who find their true loves inspiring, want to connect with them as soulmates, and fully open themselves to their partners on an emotional level. And so, Zoe began to write romance.
Alisha Jones, or Princess Christmas as she is affectionately known, is joint heir to her Grandpa Frost’s family fortune, but being third behind an older sister and brother means she has to work three times as hard to prove herself.
Marsha Underwood, her grandpa’s PA and ever-present thorn in her side, is determined to undermine her at every turn and Alisha finds herself powerless to prevent this.
An encounter with a fortune teller at the Frost Christmas Ball leads to a bewildering dream of the future; and the added complication of Tom Walker, the son of Frost’s new business partner leads to a tumultuous year.
With her friends by her side, will she be able to turn things around? And what exactly does the strange dream mean?
A story of family, friendship and love at first sight with a sprinkle of Christmas magic
I’m delighted to welcome Linnea Tanner and her book, Amulet’s Rapture from the Curse Of Clansmen and Kings series, to the blog with a trailer.
Trailer
Blurb
“Amulet’s Rapture by Linnea Tanner is the story of the survival and transformation of Catrin. The plot is packed with action, politics, corruption, ambition, prophecies, and ancient magic. With a gripping plot, mindblowing storytelling, and unpredictable twists, Amulet’s Rapture by Linnea Tanner is going to be among my top three favorites of this year.” — Ankita Shukla for Readers’ Favorite
Blood stains her Celtic home and kingdom. The warrior Druid princess will do anything to retake her kingdom.
Although Catrin is the rightful heir to the Celtic throne in Britannia, she is lucky to be alive. After witnessing the slaughter of her family at the hands of her half-brother, who was aided by the Romans, she is enslaved by a Roman commander. He disguises her as a boy in the Roman Legion with the belief that she is an oracle of Apollo and can foretell his future. The sole bright spot in her miserable new life is her forbidden lover Marcellus, the great-grandson of the famed Roman General Mark Antony.
But Marcellus has been wounded and his memories of Catrin and their secret marriage were erased by a dark Druidess. Though Marcellus reunites with Catrin in Gaul and becomes her ally as she struggles to survive the brutality of her Roman master, he questions the legitimacy of their marriage and hesitates to help her escape and retake her kingdom. If their forbidden love and alliance are discovered, her dreams of returning to her Celtic home with Marcellus will be shattered.
Award-winning author, Linnea Tanner, weaves Celtic tales of love, magical adventure, and political intrigue in Ancient Rome and Britannia. Since childhood, she has passionately read about ancient civilizations and mythology. She is particularly interested in the enigmatic Celts, who were reputed as fierce warriors and mystical Druids.
Linnea has extensively researched ancient and medieval history, mythology, and archaeology and has traveled to sites described within each of her books in the Curse of Clansmen and Kings series. Books released in her series include Apollo’s Raven (Book 1), Dagger’s Destiny (Book 2), Amulet’s Rapture (Book 3), and Skull’s Vengeance (Book 4). She has also released the historical fiction short story Two Faces of Janus.
A Colorado native, Linnea attended the University of Colorado and earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in chemistry. She lives in Fort Collins with her husband and has two children and six grandchildren.
I’m delighted to welcome Jude Berman and her new book, The Vow, to the blog.
NEWS FROM SHE WRITES PRESS
BERKELEY, CA, October 15, 2024: She Writes Press will release The Vow, a historical fiction novel by Berkeley artist and author Jude Berman.
In a stunning work of feminist historical fiction for readers who loved Dawn Tripp’s Georgia and Whitney Scharer’s The Age of Light, Jude Berman brings painter Angelica Kauffman to life.
Accused of dressing as a boy to study in the prestigious galleries of eighteenth-century Italy, child prodigy Angelica Kauffman has set high goals for herself. She is determined to become a history painter, a career off-limits to women. To ensure her success, she has vowed never to marry.
Shattering the glass ceiling of her times, Kauffman paints royalty, mingles with illustrious artists, and becomes one of the only female founders of the Royal Academy of Arts in London. But her path is fraught with challenges and eventually she questions if a vow of a different sort is necessary if she is to answer the deepest call of her heart.
**Finalist for Historical Fiction at the 2024 American Fiction Awards**
“Jude Berman has created a spirited, engaging glimpse into the life of one of the most important artists of the eighteenth century. Kauffman was a true free spirit, dedicated to her art, and that is captured beautifully in this novel.”—Susanne Dunlap, author of The Portraitist: A Novel of Adélaïde Labille-Guiard
“With skillful prose and classical descriptions, Berman paints a vivid portrait of a woman defying the constraints of her time, making this novel an unforgettable masterpiece in its own right.” —Joanne Howard, author of Sleeping in the Sun
Blurb
In a stunning work of feminist historical fiction for readers who loved Dawn Tripp’s Georgia and Whitney Scharer’s The Age of Light, Jude Berman brings painter Angelica Kauffman to life.
Jude Berman has a BA in art from Smith College and an EdD in cross-cultural communication from UMass Amherst. After a career in academic research, she built a freelance writing and editing business and ran two small Indie presses. She lives in Berkeley, CA, where she continues to work with authors and write fiction.
In her free time, she volunteers for progressive causes, paints with acrylic watercolors, gardens, and meditates. The Die, metaphysical speculative fiction about saving democracy, was published in 2024.
I’m delighted to welcome Dirk Stasser and his new book, Conquist, to the blog with where does history end and fiction begin?
Where does history end and fiction begin?
Dirk Strasser
The following timeline of the period in which my historical fantasy Conquist is set has three historical facts and one historical fiction:
1536—Manco Inca gathers an army of 200,000 Inca warriors and lays siege to Spanish-occupied Cusco.
1537—Diego de Almagro regains Cuzco, but Manco Inca escapes and founds the new Inca capital Vilcabamba which becomes the last stand of the Inca Empire.
1538—Cristóbal de Varga and a 600 strong army searches for Vilcabamba in a remote region of the Andes.
1539—Gonzalo Pizarro finds the location of Vilcabamba in the Amazon region of Peru and invades the city, but Manco Inca once again escapes.
My aim with Conquist was to create a fantastical story that could have happened according to the known historical facts. I chose 1538 because it was the only year in which the fictitious events of the novel could have occurred. From his hidden city in that year Manco Inca established the last stand of the Inca Empire against Spanish conquest, while the Pizarro brothers and others where desperately searching for Vilcabamba. A year later the location was found by Gonzalo Pizarro in the Amazon region of Peru. I squeezed all the action of Conquist into that time frame because history required it. The novel action can only exist in the gap between Manco founding the new Inca capital and Gonzalo Pizarro finding its hidden location. That’s how I see historical fiction working. It seeks the gaps that can be filled by the imagination of the author.
Manco Inca existed, Diego de Almagro existed, Gonzalo Pizarro existed, Vilcabamba existed, but I made up Cristóbal de Varga. His name, like all the names in his conquistador army, was constructed to sound authentic by my scouring of the historical records and taking the first name of one real-life conquistador and matching it with the surname of a different real-life conquistador.
The search for Vilcabamba drives the action of Conquist. Historically, the location of the city was lost again after it was destroyed by Pizarro. In 1911 the American explorer Hiram Bingham mistakenly identified the abandoned ruin of Machu Picchu as Vilcabamba. He also visited a ruin called Espiritu Pampa near the Chontabamba River, which in 1964 was identified as the legendary Vilcabamba by another American explorer Gene Savoy (who interestingly claimed to have discovered over 40 lost cities in Peru). How do I know this? It was one of the research paths I went down which didn’t make in into the book. An earlier version of Conquist had a second timeline involving the discovery of Cristóbal de Varga’s diary last century.
American explorer Hiram Bingham and guide at the ruins of the last Incan capital Vilcabamba 1911
So, how much do you stick to the facts in historical fiction? Should historic fiction be loyal to the actual events? How do you decide where history ends and fiction begins?
Obviously, authors should be free to write the story they want to write. I think the important question is how the work is labelled. The question about how closely you should stick to historic facts is analogous to the “Based on true events” tag that often accompanies books and movies. Saying a work is based on true events is a powerful marketing tool. Books with that label are enticing to readers. They sell more. The reality of the work gives it more consequence. The events are more important. The tag predisposes you to care more about what happens to the characters because you see them as real people.
It’s psychological manipulation.
You can justify the tag if it’s true. But is it? More often than not I’ve seen it used when the tag really should have been “Inspired by true events”, which gives you much greater licence to play with facts.
So is labelling a book “historical fiction” the equivalent to saying, “Based on true events” or “Inspired by true events”? I see historical fiction as a wide umbrella term that includes both types. Most historical fiction awards now include historical fantasy as well as other sub-genres in their definition of historical fiction, so I don’t feel the term “historical fiction” necessarily indicates a rigid stick-to-the-facts approach.
Conquist is clearly historical fantasy. The history of the conquest of the New World is littered with expeditions looking for a city of gold (or some other fabled place like the fountain of youth). Conquist is the tale of such an expedition, and Cristóbal’s story mirrors Francisco Pizarro’s conquest of the Incan Empire.
In writing Conquist, I spent considerable time researching everyday life of both the Spanish conquistadors and the Inca, the weapons and warfare of the time, and the beliefs of both peoples. The rafting techniques of the Inca, for example, was a rabbit hole I needed to go down for a crucial part of the novel. Lieutenant Héctor Valiente is loosely based on the black conquistador Juan Valiente, a slave who convinced his owner to allow him to become a conquistador for four years as long as he kept a record of his earnings and returned them to his master. Incidental details are also important. For example, I described the conquistadors staunching the wounds of injured soldiers and horses with the fat of fallen enemies because I had read it in an actual conquistador diary. While the research was time-consuming, I also spent at least as much time deciding what not to include in the interests of the storyline.
Despite all this research, the only label attached to Conquist are the words “A Novel” on the front cover. The publisher Roundfire Books decided to include this. It’s boldly saying that, despite the historical setting, the diary entries, and the conceit that the story was based on the discovery of that diary in the archives of a Peruvian museum, this book is fictitious. And as with any other work of fiction, the depth of the reading experience is tied to the willing suspension of disbelief.
Capitán Cristóbal de Varga’s drive for glory and gold in 1538 Peru leads him and his army of conquistadors into a New World that refuses to be conquered. He is a man torn by life-long obsessions and knows this is his last campaign.
What he doesn’t know is that his Incan allies led by the princess Sarpay have their own furtive plans to make sure he never finds the golden city of Vilcabamba. He also doesn’t know that Héctor Valiente, the freed African slave he appointed as his lieutenant, has found a portal that will lead them all into a world that will challenge his deepest beliefs. And what he can’t possibly know is that this world will trap him in a war between two eternal enemies, leading him to question everything he has devoted his life to – his command, his Incan princess, his honor, his God.
In the end, he faces the ultimate dilemma: how is it possible to battle your own obsessions . . . to conquer yourself?
Dirk Strasser’s epic fantasy trilogy The Books of Ascension—Zenith, Equinox and Eclipse—was published in German and English, and his short stories have been translated into several European languages. “The Doppelgänger Effect” appeared in the World Fantasy Award-winning anthology Dreaming Down Under. He is the co-editor of Australia’s premier science-fiction and fantasy magazine, Aurealis.
Dirk was born in Germany but has lived most of his life in Australia. He has written a series of best-selling school textbooks, trekked the Inca trail to Machu Picchu and studied Renaissance history. “Conquist” was first published as a short story in the anthology Dreaming Again (HarperCollins). The serialized version of Conquist was a finalist in the Aurealis Awards Best Fantasy Novel category. Dirk’s screenplay version of Conquist won the Wildsound Fantasy/Sci-Fi Festival Best Scene Reading Award and was a featured finalist in the Cinequest Film & Creativity Festival and the Creative World Awards.
In a charming seaside town, secrets don’t stay buried for long…
Body of Chef Found in Wall Three Years After He ‘Left to go to Australia’
Human remains found inside the wall of a disused building have now been identified as those of Victor Blackwell. He was the head chef at Windstanton’s The Seaside Lounge until just over three years ago, when, according his friends, he left for a job in Australia. Detective Inspector Albert Finch from Fenshire’s Cold Case Unit has asked for anyone who has information about the chef’s movements three years ago to come forward.
We have no choice! With only three weeks until the Grand Opening, the last thing Bea and Perry need is the grim discovery of a skeleton in the wall of Simon and Ryan’s soon-to-open restaurant, SaltAir. But when it’s designated a crime scene, and the policeman in charge of the investigation into Vic’s murder refuses to let them have access to continue the refurbishment, they have no other option than to investigate the murder themselves or risk letting Simon and Ryan down.
But in a town where everyone harbours secrets, can they uncover the truth in time or will SaltAir’s opening be a damp squib?
A Death of Fresh Air is the new book in the Right Royal Cozy Mystery series. I’ve read all the previous books and love the series and characters. It’s always a treat to have a new one to devour.
The new book begins with the chance discovery of a man believed to have left the country three years before. What follows is typical of Bea and Perry’s determination to solve the mystery of how the body ended up in the new restaurant, who put it there, and why the poor man had to die. Never to be put off by looming deadlines, our intrepid duo, ably assisted by some of our series regulars, get to work. And the story that unfolds is as complex and satisfying as other books in the series. I enjoy these stories because the solutions never feel contrived while remaining complex. The solution is never easy.
While all this is happening, both Bea and Perry are contending with challenges in their personal lives as well, which moves the series on but never overwhelms the mystery. I think it’s a tough balancing act, and Helen Golden manages it perfectly.
Thoroughly enjoyable and highly recommended.
Check out my reviews for the other books in this fabulous series.
Hello. I’m Helen Golden. I write British contemporary cozy whodunnits with a hint of humour. I live in small village in Lincolnshire in the UK with my husband, my step-daughter, her two cats, our two dogs, sometimes my step-son, and our tortoise.
I used to work in senior management, but after my recent job came to a natural end I had the opportunity to follow my dreams and start writing. It’s very early in my life as an author, but so far I’m loving it.
It’s crazy busy at our house, so when I’m writing I retreat to our caravan (an impulsive lockdown purchase) which is mostly parked on our drive. When I really need total peace and quiet, I take it to a lovely site about 15 minutes away and hide there until my family runs out of food or clean clothes
I’m delighted to welcome Julia Ibbotson and her book, The Dragon Tree, book 2 in the Dr DuLac series (but can be read as a standalone), to the blog.
Blurb
A haunting medieval time-slip (#2 in the Dr DuLac series, sequel to A Shape on the Air, but can be read as a stand-alone)
Echoes of the past resonate through time and disturb medievalist Dr Viv DuLac as she struggles with misfortune in the present. She and Rev Rory have escaped to the island of Madeira on a secondment from their posts, yet they are not to find peace – until they can solve the mystery of the shard of azulejo and the ancient ammonite. Viv’s search brings her into contact with two troubled women: a noblewoman shipwrecked on the island in the 14th century and a rebellious nun at the island convent in the 16th century. As Viv reaches out across the centuries, their lives become intertwined, and she must uncover the secrets of the ominous Dragon Tree in order to locate lost artefacts that can shape the future.
For fans of Barbara Erskine, Pamela Hartshorne, Susanna Kearsley, Christina Courtenay.
“The idea of being able to ‘feel’ what happened in the past is enticing … The sense of the island is really wonderful … Julia brings it to life evocatively.” ~ Joanna Barnden
“Julia does an incredible job of setting up the idea of time-shift so that it’s believable and makes sense.” ~ book tour reviewer
“… an engaging and original time-slip novel that keeps the reader turning the pages…the characters are authentic and the mystery is neatly woven between the centuries … seamless time transitions …” ~ Melissa Morgan
This title is available to read on #KindleUnlimited
Meet the Author
Julia Ibbotson is fascinated by the medieval world and the concept of time. She is the author of historical mysteries with a frisson of romance. Her books are evocative of time and place, well-researched and uplifting page-turners. Her current series focuses on early medieval time-slip/dual-time 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 published five 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 work in progress is a new series of Anglo-Saxon mystery romances, beginning with Daughter of Mercia, 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: ‘Julia’s books captured my imagination’, ‘beautiful storytelling’, ‘evocative and well-paced storylines’, ‘brilliant and fascinating’ and ‘I just couldn’t put it down’.
I’m delighted to welcome Amy Maroney and her new book, The Pirate’s Physician, a thrilling companion novella to the Sea and Stone Chronicles, to the blog.
Blurb
When her world shatters, she dares to trust a pirate. Will she survive what comes next?
The Pirate’s Physician is the story of Giuliana Rinaldi, a student at Salerno’s famed medieval medical school, whose lifelong dream of becoming a physician crumbles when her uncle and mentor dies suddenly.
Faced with an unwanted marriage to a ruthless merchant, Giuliana enlists the help of a Basque pirate and flees home for the dangers of the open sea.
Will she make it to Genoa, where her only remaining relative awaits? Or will this impulsive decision seal her own doom?
A delightful seafaring adventure packed with romance and intrigue, The Pirate’s Physician is a companion novella to the award-winning Sea and Stone Chronicles series of historical novels by Amy Maroney: Island of Gold, Sea of Shadows, and The Queen’s Scribe.
Amy Maroney lives in the Pacific Northwest with her family, and spent many years as a writer and editor of nonfiction before turning her hand to historical fiction.
Amy is the author of the Miramonde Series, a trilogy about a Renaissance-era female artist and the modern-day scholar on her trail. Amy’s new series, Sea and Stone Chronicles, features strong, talented women seeking their fortunes in the medieval Mediterranean.
To receive a free prequel novella to the Miramonde Series, join Amy Maroney’s readers’ group at http://www.amymaroney.com.
A young duke declared mad. His nurse masquerading as a lady. One social season in which to marry him off. What could possibly go wrong? When foundling Maggie takes a job caring for Edward, she knows him only as a young man declared mad and kept privately under the care of a physician to avoid any scandal for his family. But Edward is the heir to the Duke of Buckingham and when his father dies his family determine to marry him off to secure the title and the estate. Edward insists that Maggie stay by his side, so she must be passed off as a lady for one social season, during which time a marriage can be arranged. When a midnight carriage comes for Maggie, is she ready for the makeover of a lifetime? Can she remember all the rules, keep the secrets of Atherton Park… and above all, avoid falling in love? A delightful Regency romance, full of historical detail and emotional choices, as two downtrodden characters come to know their true worth and what they mean to each other. The Season has begun, the ton is gathered… and the clock is ticking for Maggie and Edward.
Lady for a Season is a thrilling Regency romance, well-written and with two really intriguing main characters, who allow us to view the period through new eyes; the jaundiced ones of Edward and the wide-eyed ones of Maggie, who should not only not be a part of the whole Ton, but who is able to see the restrictive Regency convenctions for what they are. It is a heady combination, and I can see why the series is called The Regency Outsiders.
Maggie is very much our main POV, and she is a most sympathetic character, able also to offer us an outsiders view of the ‘treatments’ poor Edward is forced to endure as part of his status as a ‘lunatic’ (which are horrifying and based on period-relevant research). Once Edward is recalled to his duties as a highly valuable marriage asset, Maggie is the one to highlight the societal differences and how rigid many of the conventions were. She wins Edward’s regard and those of others who occupy the liminal space between master and servant. It is a fabulous way to teach readers about the period – all told with warmth. The reader is certainly rooting for Maggie as she learns about the many requirements of dressing correctly and conducting herself in the ‘acceptable’ way. As pretty as the dresses might well be, I don’t think any of us would welcome being forced to endure all the contrived elements.
Edward, born to the lifestyle but also a very different individual from what might have been expected of a high-born member of the nobility, has also seen what Maggie has—that there is a very different way of living. He is tested by convention and driven by a real fear that he truly is a lunatic.
Lady for a Season is a most enjoyable tale. Even if we do suspect the eventual ending, as I’ve said before, that is the joy of the genre—how our conflicted characters also reconcile themselves to it. I will certainly be reading more of the series.
Meet the author
Melissa grew up and was home educated on an Italian hill farm. She now lives in London with her husband, two children and a black and white cat called Holly who enjoys the editing process as there is so much scrap paper involved. She mainly writes historical fiction, inspired by what she calls ‘the footnotes of history’: forgotten stories or part-legends about interesting people and places. She has a PhD in Creative Writing, and enjoys moving from one historical era to another, finding stories to share, like a travelling minstrel. So far she’s been to Ancient Rome, medieval Morocco and 18th century China. Lady for a Season is her first Regency romance, although her books have always had a romantic streak to them. Join her on her travels: browse her books.
Check out my review for From The Ashes, Melissa Addey’s Roman-era historical fiction set around the events of Vesuvius and the building of the Colosseum.
MJ Porter
Author of Saxon historical fiction, 20th-century historical mysteries, and Saxon historical non-fiction. Book reviewer and blog host.
MJ Porter 