Asides

I’m delighted to welcome Jennifer Wizbowski and her book, Poinsettia Girl, to the blog #PoinsettiaGirl #HistoricalFiction #RenaissanceFiction #TheCoffeePotBookClub #BlogTour

I’m delighted to welcome Jennifer Wizbowski and her book, Poinsettia Girl, to the blog with an excerpt.

Excerpt

Margarita closed the door to her bedroom and entered the hall with some of her spunk back in her step. She needed those afternoon naps more than she had in all her years in the Pietà. Every day, when early afternoon came, she’d feel her shoulders slumping and her patience waning, ready to shut out the worries around her and blow her bedside candle out.

She would never admit that to anyone. It would make her sound old, and then there would be all their fussing. While her schedule no longer consisted of classes, private lessons, or choral rehearsals, it was as full as the girls in new lace collars. She still had hers, that lacy shawl, a little more cream than stark white- one could never stop the cycle of aging. She would wear it when special occasions called for it: a full choir for a dignified guest or a celebration, but mostly, it hung in her closet, a trophy of her femininity, not the public image of virginal and ethereal but the honest image: persevering, unruffled and wise.

The Pietà took careful measures in recording the names, titles, entrances, and exits of every woman who spent any time behind its protective walls. Some listings were short, poor, sick babes that only lasted a night or diseased women who spent their final days cared for with the dignity society did not give them—others, like herself, whose decades were sub- marked by all her different roles in the Pietà. The path was different for everyone. Some women did not possess the musical predisposition to train for the Coro, which is why they tested every foundling’s aptitude by the age of eight.

The less musically inclined girls trained in textile arts or medicine, with the potential of working in the Pietà’s ground-floor ventures in their later years. The hospital administered vaccines and cared for the unwanted, while the textiles area had a successful laundering and hat-making business.

In her current assignment, she was listed as Discrete, a nice way of inferring: a retiree with no more obligations to the Coro—and as Margarita internally joked, whom they decided to keep around a bit longer instead of shipping off to a convent. Indeed, she was worth more than the average old woman slippering around.

Here’s the Blurb

Poinsettia Girl is based on the story of Agata de la Pieta, an orphan musician of the Ospedale de la Pieta.

Ten-year-old Agata’s world is shaken at the sudden death of her mother. Left only with her egregious father, a working musician in Venice, her ailing grandmother sends her to the well-known orphanage, hidden from everything she’s ever known.

Agata auditions for the conservatory style music school where music is both salvation and spectacle. Hidden behind ornate metal grates, adorned with poinsettias in their hair, the singers are veiled in mystery, their ethereal music drawing noble audiences, including gilded young men who see them as treasures-not only for their sound but as coveted marriage prizes.

Just as she reaches the height of her musical journey, a marriage proposal from someone outside the audience tempts her with the promise of a new life-a return to the old neighborhood she’s longed for and a home she barely remembers. 

Torn between the music that has defined her and the hope of belonging to a family, Agata must confront the most profound question of her life: is her purpose rooted in the music that shaped her, or in the love that might free her?

Buy Link

Universal Link

Meet the Author

Jennifer Wizbowski spent her childhood days lost among the spines of her favorite books. Inspired by the daffodil fields of Wordsworth and the babbling brooks of Shakespeare, she earned her bachelor’s in English literature, a minor in music, and a secondary teaching credential, then wrote freelance for local business journals, taught in classrooms, and authored a Teen and Tween column for a parent magazine—all while raising her family.

As those years ended, she knew it was the right time to pursue her lifelong aspiration of bringing her own books to life. She now devotes herself to illuminating everyday women’s stories often lost in the shadows of history, revealing how they became heroines of their own time and place.

Portrait by Valentina Photography at Macardi Images

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I’m reviewing The Bookseller of Inverness by SG MacLean #historicalfiction #bookreview #highlyrecommended

Here’s the blurb

A GRIPPING HISTORICAL THRILLER SET IN INVERNESS IN THE WAKE OF THE 1746 BATTLE OF CULLODEN.

‘This slice of historical fiction takes you on a wild ride’ THE TIMES

After Culloden, Iain MacGillivray was left for dead on Drummossie Moor. Wounded, his face brutally slashed, he survived only by pretending to be dead as the Redcoats patrolled the corpses of his Jacobite comrades.

Six years later, with the clan chiefs routed and the Highlands subsumed into the British state, Iain lives a quiet life, working as a bookseller in Inverness. One day, after helping several of his regular customers, he notices a stranger lurking in the upper gallery of his shop, poring over his collection. But the man refuses to say what he’s searching for and only leaves when Iain closes for the night.

The next morning Iain opens up shop and finds the stranger dead, his throat cut, and the murder weapon laid out in front of him – a sword with a white cockade on its hilt, the emblem of the Jacobites. With no sign of the killer, Iain wonders whether the stranger discovered what he was looking for – and whether he paid for it with his life. He soon finds himself embroiled in a web of deceit and a series of old scores to be settled in the ashes of war.

Purchase Link

https://amzn.to/49hChUR

My Review

The Bookseller of Inverness is an enthralling mystery set during the years after the events of the Battle of Culloden in 1745. It portrays the uneasy accord in Inverness at the time, with the Jacobites (well, those who survived the repercussions and the battle itself of 1746) and Hanoverians living in an uneasy discord that threatens to crack at the slightest provocation.

We have multiple characters from both sides of the divide, but our main character is Iain, a wounded Jacobite survivor of the battle, who is content with his bookshop until events draw him back into the conspiracies and the Jacobites’ ongoing desire to put their king back on the throne.

It is deeply enmeshed in the politics of the era, but in the way they affected men and women on a day-to-day basis. Inverness seems small and inconsequential, but it’s a microcosm of what’s happening on an almost worldwide basis, with the Jacobites sent to the Americas as indentured slaves, while those endeavouring to bring their king back to the throne move through the European courts. It is a fabulous novel, especially when the mystery of the dead man in Iain’s bookshop begins to unravel.

I’ve been to Culloden on numerous occasions, and a local once stopped me there, walking his dogs, and regaled me with the story of the battle. It was fascinating to stand there and have someone who could bring the battle to life before my eyes, explain everything. It also helps that I’ve visited the locations, and I could envisage much of the environment and how it must have been then. The novel certainly evoked the atmosphere of the location fabulously.

The many characters are also engaging. Donald Mor was perhaps a favourite, along with Tomorod, although it is Iain who carries the narrative.

I loved this book. I’d had it for ages, but then sat down to read it and couldn’t stop. I mean, it involved a bookshop and then a mystery!

I’m off to find some more of SG MacLean’s novels.

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I’m sharing my review for The Ruffler’s Child, the first book in John Pilkington’s Elizabethan mysteries featuring Thomas Finbow #histfic #historicalmystery #bookreview #blogtour

I’m sharing my review for Death of a Stranger, the first book in John Pilkington’s Elizabethan mysteries featuring Matthew Cutler #histfic #historicalmystery #bookreview #blogtour #TheRufflersChild #boldwoodbloggers @BoldwoodBooks @rararesources @theboldbookclub

Here’s the blurb

BE YE HUNTER OR PREY?

Introducing Thomas Finbow – falconer to Sir Robert Vicary and Lady Margaret of Petbury, Berkshire. He keeps his mind sharp and his body primed as he goes about his duties with the diligent confidence of one who once served Queen and country.

When Nathaniel Pickering, Lady Margaret’s older brother is found murdered, Thomas takes her away to London, in search of gryfalcons. Lady Margaret being a keen lover of the sport of falconry herself, Thomas hopes it will help distract his mistress from her grief, however once they reach the city it becomes apparent that much bigger things are at play – and the murder of Master Pickering was just the beginning…

Thomas’s astute mind is unable to ignore the clues, and in uncovering some dark secrets, he places himself – and his mistress – in grave danger. Now a target himself, Thomas must face some of London’s most notorious criminals, in a battle of both brain and brawn.

Purchase Link

https://mybook.to/TheRufflersChild

My Review

The Ruffler’s Child is an atmospheric Elizabethan mystery, set around the time of Mary Queen of Scots’ trial and subsequent execution. It is a time of unrest, and Thomas finds himself, a good country lad, thrust into the murk of a busy London. There are many unsavoury characters, and the mystery itself is quite complex, and not without peril for him.

I do love a good historical mystery and this one really intrigued me. Thomas and Lady Margaret have an unusual relationship, and he does seem to be trusted with a great deal of familiarity with the lords and gentry he comes into contact with, while also being just about able to hold his own in London’s Elizabethan underworld of crime, trugging houses and petty theft.

I really didn’t guess the resolution for this one, and very much enjoyed journeying along with Thomas as the elements of the mystery slowly clicked into place. The start of the series, I’m looking forward to reading my way through the books featuring Thomas the Falconer.

Check out my review for Death of a Stranger.

Meet the author

A writer for over forty years, John Pilkington was born in Lancashire and worked at many jobs including laboratory assistant, farm worker, weaver, shipping clerk, picture frame-maker and cabaret musician before taking a degree in Drama and English and finding his true 2 vocation. He has since written plays for radio and theatre, television scripts for a BBC soap, a short-lived children’s series and numerous works of historical fiction, concentrating now on the Tudor and Stuart eras. He also ventured into speculative fiction with his biography of Shakespeare’s famous jester, Yorick.

He now lives in a village on a tidal estuary in Devon with his long-term partner Elisabeth; they have a son who is a psychologist and musician. When not at the desk he walks, swims, listens to music and tinkers with d.i.y. projects, and is enjoying being a grandfather.

Connect with the author

Bookbub profile: @jpscript

Newsletter Sign Up: bit.ly/JohnPilkingtonNews

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I’m welcoming Max Eastern and his new historical thriller, Red Snow in Winter, to the blog #RedSnowInWinter #HistoricalThriller #SpyThriller #HistoricalFiction #BlogTour #BookBlast #TheCoffeePotBookClub

Here’s the blurb

Haunted by the memory of a secret love affair in Nazi-occupied Prague, American intelligence officer Julius Orlinsky is caught in a deadly web of espionage when a routine assignment in Washington, D.C., disintegrates into murder, attempted murder, and blackmail.

Determined to uncover the truth, Orlinsky’s quest takes him from the halls of the Pentagon to a prisoner-of-war camp in Maryland, and, finally, to the city of Budapest under siege. It’s a shadow world where a lifetime of loyalty can be undone by one secret revealed. Orlinsky soon learns the personal stakes couldn’t be higher. His investigation threatens to expose a betrayal by the woman he believed was the love of his life.

But Orlinsky has no choice. Charged with an assignment critical to ensuring America’s safety, he must confront the ghosts of his past as he navigates a terrain of double agents, war-hardened German and Russian soldiers, and fanatics who will stop at nothing to silence him. 

I'm welcoming Max Eastern and his new historical thriller, Red Snow in Winter, to the blog #RedSnowInWinter #HistoricalThriller #SpyThriller #HistoricalFiction #BlogTour #BookBlast #TheCoffeePotBookClub @MaxeasternNYC @cathiedunn @maxeastern @thecoffeepotbookclub

Praise for Red Snow in Winter:

“Red Snow in Winter is a gripping, ingenious cat-and-mouse political thriller. A young U.S. Army Intelligence officer finds himself caught up in a deadly espionage battle involving Americans, Nazis, and Russians that he can only survive by finding out who to trust–and also by finally uncovering the truth about long-buried secrets from his own shadowy intelligence past. Smart writing, a high stakes plot, and fascinating historical background. Author Max Eastern really delivers the goods in this must-read page-turner of a novel.“

— R.G. Belsky, author of the Clare Carlson mystery series

“I found a great new-to-me author in Max Eastern. I love how he brought his characters to life and made the situations in this novel seem as though they were happening in front of me.”

— Terrie Farley Moran, national bestselling co-author of the Jessica Fletcher Murder She Wrote mystery series

“Red Snow is a well-paced thriller capturing the paranoia and moral complexity of WWII’s twilight hours. This is spy fiction that respects its readers’ intelligence, offering a nuanced exploration of loyalty, betrayal, and a little romance.“

–Emilya Naymark, author of Behind the Lie

“A masterclass in espionage and moral ambiguity, it’s an atmospheric ride of a thriller with plot twists worthy of Hitchcock.“

–Mally Becker, author of The Turncoat’s Widow

“This is a fast-moving, page-turning espionage thriller set just after the war. Highly recommended for anyone who wants to be kept up at night!“

–Deborah Swift, author of The Shadow Network

“Max Eastern attacks his story with dry aplomb and a stripped-down journalistic surety, yet it’s got more switchbacks than San Francisco’s Lombard Street, and every curve is taken with his foot on the gas.“

— Timothy Miller, author of The Strange Case of the Pharaoh’s Heart

Buy Link

https://books2read.com/u/3J1BXv

This title is available to read on #KindleUnlimited.

Meet the author

The stories his father told him about his time as an intelligence officer in World War II inspired Max Eastern to write Red Snow in Winter. He has written about history for several magazines and online publications, with subjects ranging from Ulysses Grant and Benedict Arnold to Attila the Hun.

His modern noir novel The Gods Who Walk Among Us won the Kindle Scout competition and was published by Kindle Press in 2017.

A lawyer specializing in publishing, he resides in New York State. To learn more, go to maxeastern.wordpress.com.

https://maxeastern.wordpress.com

Author Max Eastern
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It’s the third week of the MJ Porter Advent Calendar (Kindle edition)

Every day a different deal, from price reductions to free books. Check out this week’s deals and remember, each deal is only for 24 hours (Kindle Countdown deals are on Amazon UK/US but FREE deals are in every territory). Click the images for a link to the books:)

Check back next Sunday for the last few deals.

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I’m welcoming The Diva’s Daughter by Heather Walrath to the blog HistoricalFiction #RomanticFiction #TheCoffeePotBookClub #BlogTour 

I’m welcoming The Diva’s Daughter by Heather Walrath to the blog HistoricalFiction #RomanticFiction #TheCoffeePotBookClub #BlogTour @HeatherWalrath
@heatherwalrathwrites

Here’s the blurb

Munich & Vienna, 1932.

Aspiring opera singer Angelika Eder thought she had it all — a cultured life in Vienna, along with the guidance of her glamorous mother, a world-famous soprano. But when tragedy strikes and her mother dies amidst a swirling family scandal, eighteen-year-old Angelika finds herself uprooted to Munich, where civil unrest is rife and leaders of the increasingly powerful Nazi Party seek to use her voice as propaganda.

When a figure from her mother’s past offers Angelika the chance to study and sing at an elite Viennese university, she decides to fight for her dream while evading the vile Nazis she despises. But the Nazis aren’t relenting in their demand that Angelika support their party and sing for Hitler himself. Can Angelika find her voice and stand against evil, even if it means risking not only her dreams of fame, but also the safety of herself and everyone she loves?

Any Triggers: Mentions of off-page death by suicide; grief; violence surrounding the rise of the Nazis during the 1930s; open-door love scenes 

Purchase Link https://heatherwalrath.com/books

Meet the author

Heather Walrath is an author crafting new stories while celebrating the release of her debut historical novel, The Diva’s Daughter. Whether they are standing against evil in fractious 1930s Europe or solving a sticky bootlegging mystery in Prohibition-era America, Heather’s relatable heroines make the past accessible and engaging for modern readers.

She holds a master’s degree in publishing and a bachelor’s degree in journalism.

Author Heather Walrath

Connect with the author

Website: www.heatherwalrath.com

Twitter / X: https://x.com/HeatherWalrath

Instagram: www.instagram.com/heatherwalrathwrites

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/heatherwalrath.bsky.social

Book Bub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/heather-walrath  

Amazon Author Page: www.amazon.co.uk/stores/Heather-Walrath/author/B0FH83GNY1

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/59302442.Heather_Walrath

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I’m sharing my review for No Oil Painting by Genevieve Marenghi #blogtour #bookreview #newrelease #giveaway

I’m sharing my review for No Oil Painting by Genevieve Marenghi #blogtour #bookreview #newrelease #giveaway

Here’s the blurb

A respectable septuagenarian steals a valuable painting and later tries to return it, with a little help from her friends.

Bored National Trust volunteer, Maureen, steals an obscure still life as a giant up-yours to all those who’ve discounted her. The novice fine art thief is rumbled by some fellow room guides, but snitches get stitches, camaraderie wins out and instead of grassing her up, they decide to help.

Often written off as an insipid old fart, Maureen has a darker side, challenging ingrained ideas of how senior citizens should behave. Her new set of friends make her feel alive again. No longer quite so invisible, can this unlikely pensioner gang return the now infamous painting without being caught by the Feds?

I wrote this after hearing a radio interview in which an art detective revealed how a stolen Titian was dumped at a bus stop outside Richmond station. In a red, white and blue plastic bag! I just couldn’t shake such a compelling image. I volunteered at Ham House for many years, and my passion for this Jacobean gem, together with the volunteers’ indomitable spirit, gave birth to my unlikely anti-hero.

With over five million members, the National Trust is a huge British institution. Yet, next to nothing has been written about it in terms of contemporary fiction. Until now.

While No Oil Painting explores themes of insignificance and loneliness in older age, particularly for women, it is mainly intended to entertain and offer a small haven in dark, uncertain times.

Purchase Links

UK Kindle: https://www.amazon.co.uk/No-Oil-Painting-Genevieve-Marenghi-ebook/dp/B0FNLWTCBS/

UK Paperback: https://www.amazon.co.uk/No-Oil-Painting-Genevieve-Marenghi/dp/1917224125/

US Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/No-Oil-Painting-Genevieve-Marenghi-ebook/dp/B0FNLWTCBS/

US Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/No-Oil-Painting-Genevieve-Marenghi/dp/1917224125/

My Review

No Oil Painting follows Maureen, a National Trust volunteer, who decides to combat her boredom by plotting the theft of her favourite painting from Ham House, rather than see it go to Scotland on loan to another stately home. Only, once the painting is in her possession does Maureen then realise it must be returned by fair means or foul to prevent her crime being discovered, or someone she knows, being implicated for the theft.

I did find the story a little slow to get going, and there is a lot of backstory for Maureen, which I found a little too in-depth. I was keen to get on with her predicament of first stealing the painting and then returning it. I did enjoy the elements of bickering and general discord between the group of very different individuals, all volunteering at Ham House, and their interactions with the paid staff members.

This wasn’t quite the fun, light-hearted read I expected, as there are darker elements in Maureen’s backstory and the theft of the painting and it’s return, while driving the narrative, are simply the means by which the found friendships are created. An engaging read, all the same. It’s sure to appeal to readers of deeper narratives, with a slower pace.

Meet the author

With a BA in English and Philosophy, Genevieve worked for eleven years at the Weekend FT, where she helped create and launch How To Spend It magazine.

She volunteered for years as a National Trust guide at Ham House. This became the setting for her debut art heist novel, No Oil Painting, which was listed for the inaugural Women’s Prize Trust and Curtis Brown Discoveries, and was published by Burton Mayers Books on 10th October 2025.

Her writing uses dark humour to probe the difference between our perception of people and their true selves. The gulf between what is said and what is meant. She considers people watching an essential skill for any writer; overheard snippets of conversation or a bonkers exchange at a bus stop are like gold nuggets. She’s been known to follow people to catch the end of a juicy conversation or argument. Women aged over fifty are essentially invisible anyhow and she views this as a kind of superpower.

Unlike her protagonist Maureen, she hasn’t used this to commit art theft. Yet.

Author Genevieve Marenghi

Giveaway to Win National Trust chocolate, and a Ham House towel and fridge magnet (Open to UK Only)

Win National Trust chocolate, and a Ham House towel and fridge magnet (Open to UK Only)

https://gleam.io/8q3jO/win-national-trust-chocolate-and-a-ham-house-towel-and-fridge-magnet-open-to-uk-only

*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.

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I’m delighted to welcome Apple Gidley and her new book, Annie’s Day, to the blog #WomensFiction #HistoricalFiction #LiteraryFiction #ArmyNurses #BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookClub

I’m delighted to welcome Apple Gidley and her new book, Annie’s Day, to the blog with a guest post.

Guest Post

Keeping Out of the Rabbit Warrens

If, like me, you are fascinated by the minutia of past times and lives, then you too are in danger of getting lost in the gar hole of research. It is that interest that draws me to historical fiction as both a reader and a writer. To make a historical novel come alive even the smallest details are important. Or that’s what I tell myself after I have spent the better part of an afternoon tracing a snippet that might not even make it into the first draft.

The internet has without doubt made the writer’s life easier, but with ease come potholes filled with blind faith. AI can be a starting point, but it is up to the novelist to always dig deeper and wider.

After the publication of my first book way back in 2012, my husband gave me the coolest desk imaginable. Styled after a huge old steamer trunk, it is covered in studded leather and, even more appealing, has lots of drawers. Some are filled with maps, some with files full of random bits of information, such as yellowed and curling bus and train timetables from obscure places that might one day be useful—as are site visits.

The downside of writing historical fiction is that sometimes it is difficult to justify those site visits, as places do tend to change! It was fortunate that for Annie’s Day, I already knew the countries about which I would write, having been educated in Australia, lived in Singapore as a child and an adult, then in Papua New Guinea, and had visited Berlin before the wall came down. Towns might have grown and changed, but a visit still provides a sense of place—the smells, the sounds of the voices in the market, if not the sights.

Gleaned from my mother’s Australian Army Nursing Service records, courtesy of the Australian War Memorial Archives, Annie’s Day follows the timeline but not the story of Mum’s war years. I know she also spent time as a nanny in Berlin during the Blockade, but apart from the odd comment she did not speak about those years and I, to my regret, never pushed.

With some of the writing barely legible on Mum’s army records, I began Annie’s roadmap around those basic facts, and made up the rest, with the addition of actual people—Matron Drummond of the AANS; Captain Selwyn Capon of the Empire Star; Lieutenant Gail Halvorsen of the US Air Force, aka ‘the candy bomber’, who brought moments of joy to the starving children in Berlin by dropping chocolates from his plane window as he flew in to deliver desperately needed supplies. Real people who added depth to the fiction.

Even before becoming a writer, I loved maps, and maps underpin any book written about the war, particularly when the area in question might be off the usual travel path. In a pub quiz, with a little head scratching, most can come up with the five Normandy beaches in Operation Overlord, but names like Lae, or Scarlet Beach, where the Australians landed in the fight to retake the Huon Peninsula in New Guinea, are not so easy to place. And maps are vital in not just locating a spot, but showing the terrain—the rivers to be forded, the mountains climbed, the beaches waded onto. So, maps surround me not just in the research phase but when I’m writing.

One lovely surprise when Annie’s Day began to really bubble was an idle online search for Mum. Writing had been a slow churn—some days are like that—and so I typed in Ida Arundel Morse and up she popped. A number of times. Photos that were not in her papers or albums but that were, again, in the Australian War Memorial Archives. It sent me into a spin, and the rest of the day was lost in tears as I mulled over the mother whose early life I had known so little about. (Mum is #2).

The Imperial War Museum at RAF Duxford is just down the road from where I live and I spent many happy hours wandering around, and sometimes clambering into Lancasters, Dakotas, York Avros, all planes used during the Berlin Airlift.

And books. Lots of books. A few included Giles Milton’s Checkmate in Berlin which tells history in a wonderfully relatable way. Singapore Burning by Colin Smith put me on the island in 1942. For the Pacific theatre, Philip Bradley’s D-Day in New Guinea was invaluable. Patsy Adam-Smith, and Rupert Goodman have both written fascinating books about Australian women at war, the latter focusing on nurses. Peter Ryan’s Fear Drive My Feet is the classic memoir of an Australian operative behind enemy lines in the New Guinea mountains.

Unless you are fortunate enough to find letters in your research, it is impossible to get first-hand data for earlier historical fiction, but for background and general information, I have found that people are incredibly willing to answer questions. One of the characters in Annie’s Day is a former RAF padre. After asking our local vicar interminable theological questions, she put me onto a memoir, Life and Death in the Battle of Britain, written by Guy Mayfield who had been a padre at RAF Duxford during the war. It was a goldmine, and I shamelessly stole one of his anecdotes and gave it to my fictional character, naturally with an acknowledgement in the book.

Another character, Samira, is a Hindu woman destined for an arranged marriage. My friend, Pooja Vacchani, endured countless questions about Hindu culture—she too is thanked!

It truly takes a global village to research, write, then get the final draft into the publisher’s hands, where another village takes over. The author? Well, she moves onto to the next deep dive into research!

Here’s the Blurb

War took everything. Love never had a chance. Until now.

As an Australian Army nurse, Annie endures the brutalities of World War II in Singapore and New Guinea. Later, seeking a change, she accepts a job with a British diplomatic family in Berlin, only to find herself caught up in the upheaval of the Blockade. Through it all, and despite the support of friends, the death of a man she barely knew leaves a wound that refuses to heal, threatening her to a life without love.

Years later, Annie is still haunted by what she’d lost—and what might have been. Her days are quiet, but her memories are loud. When a dying man’s fear forces her to confront her own doubts, she forms an unexpected friendship that rekindles something she thought she’d lost: hope.Annie’s Day is a powerful story of love, war, and the quiet courage to start again—even when it seems far too late.

Buy Link

Universal Link:

Vine Leaves Press Paperback Buy Link:

Meet the Author

Anglo-Australian, Apple Gidley’s nomadic life has helped imbue her writing with rich, diverse cultures and experiences. Annie’s Day is her seventh book.

Gidley currently lives in Cambridgeshire, England with her husband, and rescue cat, Bella, aka assistant editor.

Connect with the Author

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I’m sharing my review for Death of a Billionaire by Tucker May #mystery #blogtour #bookreview

I’m sharing my review for Death of a Billionaire by Tucker May #mystery #blogtour #bookreview @tuckermaymysteries @rararesources @rachelsrandomresources

Here’s the blurb

Ever dream of killing your boss? Alan Benning knows how you feel. 

The problem: his billionaire boss actually winds up murdered. And the whole world thinks he did it.

When globetrotting tech billionaire Barron Fisk is found dead on the floor of his swanky Silicon Valley office, all evidence points to Alan. 

Alan must venture into the glitzy, treacherous world of tech billionaires to clear his name by sorting through a long list of suspects with motive aplenty. If he can’t find the real culprit, Alan’s going down. The clock is ticking.

Who killed Barron Fisk? The truth will shock— and change— the entire world.

Fans of Richard Osman’s The Thursday Murder Club series, Carl Hiaasen’s tales of high-stakes hijinx, or Ruth Ware’s page-turning mysteries will love Death of a Billionaire.

Purchase Links

https://www.amazon.com/Death-Billionaire-Murder-Mystery-Novel-ebook/dp/B0FRYHLBBZ

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Death-Billionaire-Murder-Mystery-Novel-ebook/dp/B0FRYHLBBZ

My Review

Death of a Billionaire is indeed a fun mystery, with a varied cast of characters, some of them not very nice, as they live their uber-rich lifestyles. It is a story told with irreverence and an eye to what’s currently happening in the world of tech. It is a very enjoyable, fast-paced mystery that you will power your way through.

I was drawn to the title by the mention of Carl Hiaasen, and while it’s been far too long since I read a Carl Hiaasen book that I can’t definitely make comparisons, the humour certainly reminded me of one of Carl’s books.

For a debut novel, Death of a Billionaire is very accomplished, and I do recommend it to fellow readers who love a good contemporary mystery (well, actually, it’s slightly futuristic) and like to have a little giggle along the way.

Meet the author

Tucker May was raised in southern Missouri. He attended Northwestern University where he was trained in acting and playwriting. He now lives in Pasadena, California with his wife Barbara and their cat Principal Spittle. He is an avid reader and longtime fan of the Los Angeles Rams and Geelong Cats. Death of a Billionaire is his debut novel.

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It’s the first week of the MJ Porter Advent Calendar (Kindle edition)

Every day a different deal, from price reductions to free books. Check out this week’s deals and remember, each deal is only for 24 hours (Kindle Countdown deals are on Amazon UK/US but FREE deals are in every territory).

Check back for next week’s deals.

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