Author of Saxon historical fiction and non-fiction, 20th-century historical mysteries, and Norse-inspired historical romantasy. Book reviewer and blog host.
I’m delighted to share my review for A Treatise on Martian Chiropractic Manipulation and Other Satirical Tales by Lisa Fox #blogtour #bookreview #fantasy #shortstories
Here’s the blurb
Human beings are flawed creatures, and humor is the perfect means to exploit the endless fodder of our shortcomings. This multi-genre collection of twenty-one short satirical stories will leave you smirking, chuckling, scratching your head, and maybe even muttering to yourself “WTF is this?”
From the award-winning author of the acclaimed short story collections “Core Truths” and “Passageways: Short Speculative Fiction” comes something a little bit irreverent and a whole lot of weird.
Ketchup-covered chiropractors on Mars. Wealthy vigilante housewives battling coffee-addicted aliens. Cheerleaders protesting unrestricted access to cupcakes. Canine doulas. Hallucinating marine biologists. No one is immune from the absurdity.
This is an intriguing and often fun collection of short stories by Lisa Fox. Some of them are very short, and some are much longer, but they all offer something a little different. Readers will enjoy learning about Martian Chiropractic techniques as well as following the loyalty card storyline, which will have us all thinking about just how much information these companies do hold about us (hint, it’s a lot). If you love short story collections, do check this one out. It’s varied, thought-provoking and sometimes, just plain fun.
Meet the author
Lisa Fox loves to ask questions. By day, she’s a pharmaceutical market researcher. By night, she channels that same inquisitive spirit into writing short fiction, building worlds and characters that explore the meaning of life, the universe, and everything in between. She survives, and sometimes thrives, in the chaos of suburban New Jersey with her husband, two sons, and quirky Double-Doodle dog. Lisa is an award-winning author of two short story collections: Core Truths and Passageways: Short Speculative Fiction. Website: lisafoxiswriting.com Twitter/X: @iamlisafox10800 Facebook: lisafoxiswriting
I’m welcoming Jill Bray, and her historical mystery, A Brotherly Devotion, to the blog with an extract #blogtour #historicalmystery @rararesources @JillBray67
This extract is taken from the start of Chapter 18 after Lord Fitzwarren has been found to be the killer of Brother Clement.
Katherine found it difficult to believe that, in a short space of time, her whole world had changed once again. She had known the facts and the evidence that was put against Lord Fitzwarren, but she hadn’t given much thought as to how it would end. It was only yesterday that she had started to suspect him, and then earlier today, when she had journeyed with her father to speak with Edward; she had known for certain that he was the one who had so viciously murdered Brother Clement.
The banquet in the hall now felt quite surreal. She looked around at the rest of the guests, who had gone back to feasting and drinking at their tables, as though nothing had just happened. Yet, for her, everything had changed once more. Just a couple of days ago, she had been expecting to run away with Alexander in order to avoid marrying Lord Fitzwarren; and, up until yesterday, she had intended to keep to that plan. She had come to terms with having to give up everything; to lose contact with her sister and to disobey her father, in order to be with the man she loved. After sitting back down at the table next to her sister, she felt quite light-headed and reached out to pour herself a goblet of wine. She needed to consider, just what she was going to do next.
“Well, that wasn’t what I expected!” Angharad exclaimed, leaning over to her sister. “You knew, didn’t you?” She questioned Katherine.
“Not everything, and not finally until earlier today,” she admitted. “But even then, I couldn’t tell you. I hope you understand. Father needed to keep everything quiet, so that Lord Fitzwarren wouldn’t get to know.”
“This explains why you have been so distant. I still can’t believe that the man you were due to marry was a murderer. That’s quite a revelation.” Angharad leaned back in her chair. “So, why did it happen here tonight, at the banquet?”
“We went to Lord Fitzwarren’s manor earlier today to get Edward to safety and for father to arrest Lord Fitzwarren; but he wasn’t there,” Katherine told her. “Father didn’t want to raise any suspicion. And, as he knew Lord Fitzwarren would be here tonight, he agreed with Sir Robert that this evening would be a good opportunity to present the case against him.”
“Did father know before then, that Lord Fitzwarren had killed the monk?”
Katherine thought about it carefully. “He had spoken with Peter Beaumont and found out about Lord Fitzwarren’s sister, so I think he had his suspicions. But he had no proof, and that was the main thing.” Katherine took a drink of wine and relaxed back into her chair with a sigh of relief. “None of us were certain, until yesterday when I met Edward, and he showed me the dagger. Up until then, it was just a story father had been told by Peter Beaumont, who was a close friend of Hughs. One about how William’s devotion to his sister had been so consuming; and how she had taken her own life rather than live without the man she loved. That man was Hugh de Glanville, who became Brother Clement when he took Holy Orders. In Lord Williams eyes, the church took away his adored sister and then denied her a burial in consecrated ground. His grief and anger must have festered away inside him ever since her death and become sort of twisted. Then last week, and quite by chance; he came upon the man who had been the cause of all his sadness.” She took another sip of wine before continuing. “It was an accidental encounter as, from what father has told me, I don’t believe Brother Clement left the walls of the Abbey much. Lord Fitzwarren must have thought it was divine intervention, and he was being given a chance to mete out his own kind of justice.”
“So, he killed him?” Angharad stared at her.
“Yes, in order to avenge his sister.” Then, Katherine added more thoughtfully. “Such was his devotion to her.”
“And to think you were so nearly his wife.”
Here’s the blurb
YORK 1224: On a hot July night, Brother Clement is savagely murdered when returning from administering to Lady Maud de Mowbray.
Simon de Hale, Sheriff of Yorkshire, is in his office when Abbot Robert visits to inform him of the murder, and request that he take responsibility for investigating the killing.
Simon is unsure whether the murder is a crime against the Abbey, or if it is a more personal matter against the monk.
Commencing their investigation, Simon and his deputy, Adam, ride out to see Lady Maud de Mowbray at Overton – the last person to see Brother Clement alive. When they encounter her son, Roger de Mowbray, they both take an instant dislike to him.
Lady Mowbray reveals to Simon that she intends to leave her money to the Abbey, and Simon can see this being a motive for the monk’s murder, if her son was aware of this.
The investigation gathers pace and a murder weapon is found.
A banquet is held at the castle to honour the Royal Justice – during which, one of the guests is exposed as the murderer and apprehended. But that will not be the end of the story for Simon and his family.
Jill lives on the Island of Guernsey now, but is originally from Yorkshire. She has a love of early medieval history which led her to study the subject at Huddersfield College in the 1980’s. Working in Leeds at the time, meant that she had access to the Yorkshire Archaeological Society on their late night opening and following research, she wondered what the lives of the people she read about were actually like. This started a love of writing historical fiction, but her initial stories were never sent to a publisher. Life and work then intervened and writing was put to one side. It was only following a workshop held by the Guernsey Literary Festival in 2024 on writing historical fiction, that her love of writing was reignited. Her first novel ‘A Brotherly Devotion’ was published in July 2025.
I’m excited to share an excerpt from RJ Verity’s new historical fiction novel, Poole of Light #blogtour #historicalfiction
INTRO In this scene, ten-year-old Jem Poole glimpses a world far beyond Spennymoor for the very first time. The newly built Grand Electric Hall has not yet opened to the public, but Jem and his friend Daisy slip inside, drawn by curiosity and the muffled sound of music. What Jem witnesses there – moving pictures – ushers in a moment of wonder that will quietly shape the rest of his life. This extract captures that first spark: the awe, the innocence, and the sense that something extraordinary has just entered his world.
EXTRACT
As they turn into Cheapside, an old rusty lorry rumbles to a stop outside a new brick building, where a group of workmen are fixing enormous block capitals above a clock. Daisy tilts her head to read, eyes squinting as if the letters might tell her something important. Jem watches on, but says nothing.
‘What does ARCA mean?’ she asks.
‘I don’t think it means anything.’
‘Oh.’
Below the clock, white lettering proudly displays the words “GRAND ELECTRIC HALL”.
‘What’s a grand electric hall?’
He sighs, keeping his eyes on the workmen. He’d overheard Pa talking to his colliery mates about a new theatre opening in town – something with moving photos, he’d said. Of course, Jem knows what a photo is – like the one of Ma on the mantelpiece – but how she could suddenly come to life is beyond him. He can’t picture her like that, not walking and talking like Pa or Daisy.
‘Come on,’ he says.
They slip past the workmen and into the foyer of the new building. Jem’s steps are deliberate and measured – he’s determined to take everything in. Daisy skips beside him, light on her feet.
Crates, half-unpacked, litter the space – paper and straw spilling in all directions. The warm smell of fresh wood hits first, then something sharper, chemical, that scratches the back of his throat. Wall sconces flicker with a quiet expectancy, casting lively patterns across the floor. Music drifts from somewhere beyond – muffled, unfamiliar, pulling at Jem’s chest like a thread. He follows the sound toward the back of the building and beckons for Daisy to come.
She stands looking at him, eyes wide, as if to say: This isn’t a good idea.
‘You don’t have to … if you don’t want to,’ he tells her.
She pouts but trails after him anyway.
As they draw closer, the music grows clearer – a dramatic piano tune with heavy bass and a scatter of quick, racing notes. Jem glances to his right and sees a bright shaft of light dancing across the passageway. He creeps forward, heart thumping, until his face and jacket are lit up. It feels like sunlight through the church window on a Sunday morning – only sharper, more vivid.
His shoulder brushes against a soft curtain, but his eyes stay fixed ahead, his breath deeper. For there, on a stage, is a beautiful young woman. Her face is white – like the colour of Pa’s eyeballs after a shift down the pit – only clean, and somehow otherworldly. Big curls of hair, piled high, fall to her shoulders. She’s wearing the fanciest frock he’s ever seen. A man walks beside her, and they cross the road together. Behind them, tall buildings rise, taller than any furnace chimney in all of County Durham. Jem’s heart beats faster as the music quickens. Then a passenger train rushes into view and vanishes just as quickly.
Jem doesn’t move. He hardly blinks. How can a train be on a road? How can buildings scrape the sky? How can people float across a screen like that?
Most of all – how can everything be black and white and still feel more alive than the world he knows?
‘Moving photos.’ He can’t help but say the words out loud.
Daisy tugs at his arm. ‘Jem!’ she cries.
But before he can turn, he feels a sudden blow to his temple.
‘What have we here?’ booms a voice behind him.
Jem stumbles sideways, hand to his pounding head. He’s looking down at a pair of black polished boots … dark overalls … then a round sweaty face, breathing loud, and steaming with anger.
‘Sorry, sir,’ says Jem, trying to steady himself. ‘We don’t mean no bother.’
‘No bother?’ the man sneers.
‘No, sir. We just want to see moving photos.’
The man gives a snort. ‘Moving pictures, boy. They’re called moving pictures.’ He crouches down, his small black eyes level with Jem’s. ‘And have you got thruppence between the two of you?’
Jem glances at Daisy, then back at the sweaty round face. ‘No, sir.’
‘Then you’ll have to go without, won’t you? Go awn.’ He stamps his foot. ‘Gan! Afore I call police!’
The children bolt down the passageway, back into the foyer, and past the workmen hauling a giant letter ‘D’ above their heads.
Outside, the street is already black with night.
‘The park!’ Jem shouts as they run.
They turn the corner onto Dundas Street, where lamplight is scarce, and shadows swallow the pavement. His feet slide on icy sludge as he dodges night soil boxes piled up like traps. Daisy’s steps are fainter now – she must be slowing down. He tries to stop, but it’s too late – too fast – and his footing falters. His chest jerks forward. Arms fling out for balance, too wide, too desperate, and his whole body launches through the air. In the half-second before Jem crashes down, he sees the jagged boxes, the filth inside them, and he twists every muscle to avoid them. His body slams into the ground, splinters flying and muck exploding in all directions.
Here’s the blurb
A coal-mining town. A flicker of light. A boy who dreams of more.
Spennymoor, 1913. When ten-year-old Jem Poole sees a moving picture for the first time, it ignites a spark. Raised in a northern coal-mining town marked by grief and hardship, he begins to dream of more than soot and survival. He dreams of light.
Through war, reinvention, and the golden age of British cinema, Jem rises to national success, building a legacy of silver screens and stories that define a generation. But when a figure from his past reappears, long-buried memories resurface, and he must confront the truth of the life he has built – and the memories that never let go.
Set against the backdrop of twentieth-century Britain, Poole of Light is a richly layered historical debut about ambition, identity, and the stories that shape us.
Perfect for readers who enjoy:
Character-driven historical fiction with emotional depth
Coming-of-age novels set in 20th-century England
Themes of legacy, reinvention, and quiet redemption
Authors like Jo Baker, Kristin Hannah, Amor Towles and Anthony Doerr
Book One in The Poole Legacy — a literary historical trilogy exploring ambition, identity, and legacy across generations.
Also available as an eBook: Bright Light, a companion short story set during the events of this novel.
RJ Verity grew up in Yorkshire and studied at King’s College London before spending more than twenty years in financial services across Asia. She now lives in Guernsey with her endlessly patient husband and their spirited ten-year-old Labradinger. When she’s not writing or reading, she can often be found exploring the island’s rugged coastline.
She is currently working on The Poole Legacy, her debut trilogy of historical novels. The first book in the series, Poole of Light, is out now.
*Terms and Conditions –UK entries welcome. Please enter using the Gleam box below. 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 data. I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.
The Retired Assassin’s Guide to Orchid Hunting is a fabulous, extremely entertaining mystery, with a wealth of engaging, funny, and quite quirky main characters. This is the second book in the series. I have since gone back and read book one, where we first meet the characters. It is also very good, but I do think the characters are much more fully formed in this second book (which makes a lot of sense). That said, I would probably still advise you to start with book one, because if you read book two first, you’re going to know a lot about the first mystery they solve.
Dante, our retired assassin, is often unintentionally funny as he endeavours to live his life as ‘normal’ i.e. not as assassin’s do. I laughed out loud a few times. He is joined by Charlie, our gardener who also sees and can talk to ghosts (so the paranormal bit) and Eleanor a retired art thief, I think, she’s very mysterious.
And then on top of that we have our crime to be solved, all while the delightfully quirky orchid convention is taking place in the local town.
This mystery is a lot of fun, and very engaging. The storyline manages to do a great deal with our characters, with the beautiful New Zealand countryside, with quirky local town inhabitants, and all without ever feeling ‘overdone.’ If you love a quirky, funny mystery book, this is for you. If you love a small town mystery, this is for you. If you love a hint of the paranormal, then this is for you as well. I highly recommend it, but do yourself a favour, and read the first book first. It’s not quite as brilliant as this second offering, but it will certainly get you hooked on Dante, his cat, and his two friends, in this New Zealand setting.
Meet the author
Naomi is a writer living in New Zealand. When not busy writing or raising her twin son and daughter, she spends her free time (ha!) surfing, kitesurfing, and retrieving her shoes from Max the dog.
I’m welcoming The Falconer’s Lost Baron by Susanne Dunlap to the blog #blogtour #RegencyRomance #bookreview
Here’s the blurb
A sweeping Regency tale of identity, devotion, and unexpected romance.
Lady Antonella thought she knew who she was—until a shattering family secret strips her of her name, her place in society, and her future. Cast adrift in Cornwall, she finds an injured goshawk in a poacher’s net and begins to nurse it back to health. But the hawk belongs to the war-scarred Lord Atherleigh—a man haunted by loss, determined to dismantle his mews, and certainly not expecting a spirited young woman to upend his solitude.
In London, her twin sister Belinda—radiant, poised, and newly on the marriage market—has only one goal: to find a worthy match… for Antonella. But when Hector Gainesworth, a charming rogue with laughter in his eyes and secrets of his own, turns his attention to Belinda instead, her heart begins to spin in an altogether unexpected direction.
As the sisters navigate betrayal, desire, and the demands of their hearts, two men must decide whether to risk everything for love. And Antonella’s goshawk may be the wild, winged thread that binds their fates.
The Falconer’s Lost Baron is the third of Susanna Dunlap’s Regency romances I’ve read, and I’ve enjoyed all of them (see my reviews below for the previous two books). Every book offers something a little different, while still delivering on what we all expect from a Regency romance.
This new title will delight fans of the genre (there is no need to have read the previous two titles, although you will be missing a treat.)
Susanne Dunlap is the award-winning author of over a dozen historical novels, as well as an Author Accelerator Certified Book Coach in fiction, nonfiction, and memoir. Her love of history began in academia with a PhD in music history from Yale. Her novel THE PORTRAITIST won first prize in its category in the 2022 Eric Hoffer Book Awards, and was a finalist in the CIBA Goethe Awards and the Foreword Indies Awards. THE ADORED ONE: A NOVEL OF LILLIAN LORRAINE AND FLORENZ ZIEGFELD, won first place in its category in the 2023 CIBA Goethe Awards for Late Historical Fiction. Today, she lives, coaches, and writes in beautiful Biddeford, Maine.
