Afterlife, by Marcus Sakey

I enjoyed this book. Author Marcus Sakey has a wonderful ability to create new worlds within worlds. A sniper has killed 17 innocent, unconnected people in Chicago. FBI agent Will Brody has the sniper’s DNA, but little else, and is tracking him using skills honed in his military service in Afghanistan. Sent by his boss, and lover, Claire McCoy, to investigate an anonymous tip about an abandoned church, Brody dies when an improvised explosive device blows up. Despite his gruesome death, he awakens in a grey Chicago with no life and no warmth. He is in an afterlife called the Echo because it mirrors life, but like an echo, it fades over time.

Joined by a large group of new friends who have fought for years against seductive evil tendencies in the Echo, Brody uncovers dangerous dark secrets that mankind has not even guessed at. Forced to fight this evil while protecting Claire McCoy, Brody must travel through darker and darker worlds, worlds that echo the despair of Dante’s Inferno.

Although most of the novel is well written with richly developed characters and plot lines, several parts of the book seemed to be hastily put together. Notwithstanding, this is a superb book and I highly recommend it.

* Print Length: 320 pages
* Publisher: Thomas & Mercer (July 18, 2017)
* Publication Date: July 18, 2017
* Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC

Happy Birthday Harold Pinter

When I was 20 years old, I worked for a season as an assistant director at the Soho Poly Theatre in London (now called the Soho Theatre). For its time, it was a cutting edge fringe theatre, made even more vivid and relevant by Verity Bargate, one of its founders. Nobel Prize winner, Harold Pinter was one of the playwrights who, at Verity’s invitation, tried out his new material in her little stuffy but charming basement theatre.

I assisted directors, primarily the magnificent Donald Sumpter (yes, Maester Luwin in the Game of Thrones). I also, on occasion, served Verity’s liver pate in the tiny cafe, and I helped with props and sound effects. (My mother remembers visiting me at the theatre on the day I had to cry like a baby off stage.) I proudly earned enough money to pay the weekly rent for my room.

I remember Harold Pinter as a blur of energy with large eyeglasses, and as someone who never spoke unimportant words. Unfortunately, he passed away in 2008. I wish I had known him better, but I doubt he would have wanted to know me better. I was a very naive 20 year old. I am honored, however, to have worked with this great playwright so, so many years ago.

Happy Birthday Mr. Pinter!



Come Sundown, by Nora Roberts

For grittiness, Nora Roberts gives Patricia Cornwell a run for her money in this novel. The brutal kidnapping of a young woman in 1991, and the horrible abuse she was subjected to for 25 years, are the book’s undercurrents. Juxtaposed to the wealth and love her estranged family enjoys during these years, her life seems even more brutal. The characters of family, victims, and victimizers, leap to life, as they do in every Roberts’ story. I could not put this book down.

Print Length: 477 pages
Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1250123070
Publisher: St. Martin's Press (May 30, 2017)
Publication Date: May 30, 2017
Sold by: Macmillan

The White Feather Murders (Herringford and Watts Mysteries Book 3), By Rachel McMillan

If you love historical fiction, and mysteries where you cannot guess the murderer, you will enjoy Rachel McMillan's Herringford and Watts Mystery series. In this third novel in the series, it is 1914 and Toronto is anxiously waiting to hear whether the British Empire is going to war with Germany. In this tense environment, which gets more tense after war is declared, female detectives Merinda Herringford and Jemima Watts (Mrs. DeLucca) must find out who is terrorizing German immigrants and leaving white feathers at the murder scenes of seemingly unconnected individuals.

Neither of McMillan's detectives fits the mold of an early 20th century female. Jemima, married with a baby son, agonizes over her duties to her family, and her commitment to her detective agency and to her friend Miranda. Miranda furiously rejects marriage because she does not want to lose her independence. At the same time, however, she is strongly conflicted on the subject. In many ways, these conflicts are reminiscent of the roiling internal battles fought by Dorothy Sayers' 1930s' character Harriet Vane in her relationship with Lord Peter Wimsey. McMillan makes the battles just as believable.

McMillan does an excellent job of bringing 1914 Toronto to life as a multilayered budding metropolis, home to wealthy elites, a growing middle class, and a refuge for immigrants fleeing the tyranny and poverty of the old world. My only concern with the novel is its sense of finality. I hope it is not the last book in the Herringford and Watts Mystery series because I want to know what happens to McMillan's well-crafted protagonists as the trenches and fires of World War I change everything.

* Print Length: 236 pages
* Publisher: Harvest House Publishers (April 25, 2017)
* Publication Date: April 11, 2017
* Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC

Fire and Ashes (Death Investigator Angela Richman Book 2), by Elaine Viets

Elaine Viets' s new "Death Investigator" series is a world apart from her "Dead-End Job" and " Mystery Shopper" mysteries. While the protagonists in those novels lead problematic lives (including hiding from court orders by staying off the grid), Viets's new Angela Richman novels are interestingly darker. In both the first book in the series, "Brain Storm," and this second novel, Viets successfully depicts a physically and emotionally flawed stroke survivor who investigates often gruesome deaths while grieving for a recently deceased husband. In addition, although not as stark as "Brain Storm," "Fire and Ashes" pulls no punches when describing the white privilege demanded by the wealthy residents in Angela Richman's town of Chouteau Forest, Missouri.

Richman, back to investigating deaths after recovering from six strokes and a coma, is tasked with investigating the deaths of a wealthy, but grubby sexist-70 year old, and a seventeen year old heroin user. In both cases, in order to find the truth, Richman must push back against assumptions of guilt made by the police, prosecutor, and leaders of society, based on bigotry concerning local Mexican-Americans.

Viets's mastery of criminal forensic science is impressive, as is her skillful ability to give voice to the characters depicted. Several years ago, her narrative concerning overt law enforcement and prosecutorial bigotry probably would have been viewed as unrealistic and over the top. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said today.

Without a doubt, this book should be at the top of summer reading lists.

(In return for an honest review, I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.)

* Print Length: 288 pages
* Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1477848800
* Publisher: Thomas & Mercer (July 25, 2017)
* Publication Date: July 25, 2017
* Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC

The Grumpface, by B.C.R. Fegan, (author); Daniela Frongia, (illustrator)

This is a book about a clever, but clumsy, inventor, Dafty Dan, who secretly loves the girl selling flowers in his village. While searching the nearby forest for a rose to give to her (since roses will not grow in her garden), he is trapped by a very grumpy, green creature with warts on his nose, called "Grumpface." Grumpface will not let Dan go free until he performs three difficult tasks. As Dan sets out to solve the tasks by inventing, he somehow never manages to invent what he intended, and so the story unfolds.

B.R. Fegan's artful, rhyming prose is reminiscent of children's fairytales from earlier times. Together with Daniela Frongia's glorious whimsical illustrations, this book will capture the attention and imagination of both parents and children.

(I received a review copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.)

* Print Length: 34 pages
* Publisher: TaleBlade (May 1, 2017)
* Publication Date: May 1, 2017
* Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC

Murder on the Serpentine: A Charlotte and Thomas Pitt Novel, by Anne Perry

Since 1979, Anne Perry has provided readers with a window into the affairs of the British upper class, and the lower classes' fight for survival, during the Victorian era. In her first novel, Thomas Pitt, a policeman who has fought his way from destitution to middle class, meets his wife Charlotte while investigating the murder of her sister. Now, 20 years later, it is 1899, and Pitt is Commander Thomas Pitt, the head of Special Branch.

Queen Victoria is tired and in poor health. She has mourned her beloved Prince Albert for over 38 years, and the burden of her grief, combined with the stress of ruling an empire alone since she was 18 years old, has taken its toll. Nonetheless, the Queen has never shirked her duties and when she hears a rumor that her son, the Prince of Wales and future king of England, has been led astray by one of his circle, she asked an old friend to investigate. When that friend suffers an accidental death on the day he was to report his findings to her, the Queen calls on Commander Pitt to investigate the death and determine what he had uncovered.

As he investigates, Pitt must unravel a treasonous conspiracy against Great Britain while protecting the Royal family, and his own family from the fallout. Anne Perry skillfully, and with historical accuracy, brings each character to life against a backdrop of the last years of the Victorian era and the beginning of the 20th century.

(In return for an honest review, I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.)

* Print Length: 288 pages
* Publisher: Ballantine Books (March 21, 2017)
* Publication Date: March 21, 2017
* Sold by: Random House LLC
* Language: English

Take It to the Grave, Part 1 of 6: A tense and addictive psychological thriller, by Zoe Carter

Zoe Carter tantalizes us with the first part of her six part thriller series. Sarah is living every woman's alleged fantasy life with a gorgeous, wealthy husband, a healthy, beautiful baby boy, and a house in East Hampton, Long Island. Except it's not. The growing stench of backstabbing neighbors, marital infidelity, a demanding, cruel mother-in-law, and eating disorders permeate Sarah's life. Pushed by her mother-in-law to invite her family to her son's christening, Sarah reluctantly contacts her estranged sister, Maisey, thereby adding buried dark family secrets to her already troubled life.

Carter knows how to write and how to keep her readers glued to the page. Indeed, Part 1 of "Take it to the Grave" is such an exhilarating, roller coaster of a ride, it's hard to imagine a reader not grabbing the next installment in the series.

(In return for an honest review, I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.)

* Print Length: 64 pages
* Publisher: Harlequin Special Releases (June 1, 2017)
* Publication Date: June 15, 2017
* Sold by: Harlequin Digital Sales Corp

Argyle Fox, by Marie Letourneau

This is a big, beautiful book (12" by 9.1") that young children will love to own, look at illustrations, and read or have read to them. Ms. Letourneau wrote the text and created the illustrations. The protagonist is Argyle Fox, a young fox who always wears argyle scarfs or sweaters, which are knitted for him by his loving, elegant mother. Argyle loves to play in the forest with his friends: squirrel, beaver, ground hog and badger, but the wind interrupts their play. So Argyle sets out to create a toy designed to be used in the wind.

The book opens to an easy to read illustrated map of Argyle Fox's forest and surrounding area. There's beaver's pond, pirate ship, groundhog burrow, Argyle's four story house within a tree, and in the distance there is a knight's castle. The book's clever, large illustrations are its best feature, with the text appearing in a relatively small area at the bottom of each page. Young children will be delighted with this lovely, well-designed book with gorgeous illustrations. Its large size will encourage small children to spend hours pouring over it.

(In return for an honest review, I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.)
* Age Range: 3 - 7 years
* Grade Level: Preschool - 2
* Hardcover: 32 pages
* Publisher: Tanglewood (March 14, 2017)

To Dream, Anatomy of a Humachine (Book 1), by Louis K. Lowy

Louis K. Lowy does a stellar job unveiling a complicated plot with many moving parts in the first novel of his new series: "To Dream, Anatomy of a Humachine." His protagonist, Dr. Niyati Bopari, is a brilliant roboticist and bio-physicist who mourns her beloved son, Jay, a young man killed in a car crash on his high school graduation day. Dr. Bopari was driving the car, and her guilt, despair and love for her son is so intense that, unbeknownst to her employer, Ameri-Inc., in 2030, as she builds their first highly advanced human-machine hybrid (humachine), she infuses it with his DNA, and names it, "J-1." Subsequently exiled by Amer-Inc., to a manufacturing facility on the planet Truatta for almost two hundred years, J-1, for various reasons, begins to evolve. As he does so, he must deal with the corrupt underbelly of Ameri-Inc., its attacks on the human population of both Truatta and Earth, and his growing awareness of his own human roots.

Despite a storyline that goes back and forth between two centuries, with detailed descriptions of different technologies and different cultures and characters, Mr. Lowy manages to keep his writing crisp, focused and understandable. The emotional impact of this novel surprised me. In a science fiction novel covering two centuries and several planets, where one of the main protagonists is a hybrid between robot and human, I did not expect to be so moved by his plight. This is a novel worth reading.

* Print Length: 305 pages
* Publisher: IFWG Publishing (January 2, 2017)
* Publication Date: January 2, 2017
* Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC

Interview with Louis K. Lowy

I asked Louis Lowy what inspired him to write this novel. He graciously provided the following answer:

L. Lowy: "'To Dream: Anatomy of a Humachine' was inspired by a three page short story that I had written over a decade ago and had completely forgotten about. Rummaging through my virtual files, I stumbled upon it. Reading it, I thought it had the basic elements for a longer (in this case, much longer) story. The basic elements were there. The protagonist was an A.1. named J-17, which became J-1 in my novel. He was working on another planet, which I utilized, and he was mining Genimetrothiasine -- another thing I incorporated.

From there it became a lot of 'what ifs' and 'how do I explain how the what ifs came about.' I had to answer nine key elements of the 'how the what ifs came about' before I started on the novel. That took me a couple of months, but once I had the answers, I began writing and eventually the book reached fruition. Of course, there were twists and turns that I hadn't seen coming, but that's one of the joys of storytelling."

For more information about Louis K. Lowy, go to:
http://www.louisklowy.com

Vicious Circle (A Joe Pickett Novel),by C.J. Box

In "Vicious Circle," C.J. Box's master storytelling allows the reader to smell the cold, fresh scent of Wyoming's pine tree forests, and see the hard whiteness of the stars and moon over the dark blue of the Teton Mountains.

Picking up from the 16th novel, Box weaves a tight multilayered plot involving a few very bad and very corrupt characters. Dallas Cates, the rodeo star who abandoned Pickett's daughter by the side of the road, is out of prison. Together with two ex-cons, he intends to avenge himself and his family by killing Pickett and his whole family. As Pickett desperately tries to keep his family safe, he is confronted with seemingly honest individuals conspiring to destroy his reputation, and the riddle as to where Cates is getting the money to buy them off. "Vicious Circle" is a page turner that I literally could not put down.

(In return for an honest review, I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.)

* Print Length: 377 pages
* Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons (March 21, 2017)
* Publication Date: March 21, 2017
* Sold by: Penguin Group (USA) LLC

The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2016, by Rich Horton

Rich Horton packs this anthology to the brim with bite size stories with unexpected plot twists and surprise endings. Artificial Intelligence (AI) plays a lead role in many of the stories. There are AIs that love humanity, such as the android in "I am Paul, Martin," by L. Shoemaker, where a future android provides medical and sweet empathetic care to Mildred, an elderly woman with Alzheimers disease. And in "Cat Pictures Please," by Naomi Kritzer, there is a caring AI who wants only to help you since it knows everything about you, and wants cat pictures in return.

In some stories, time travel happens in unique, surprising ways. For example, in "Time Bomb Time," by C.C. Finlay, the author cleverly poses the implied question, what if you read a story about time travel and find yourself reading the same conversation twice? Is it a typo? An heuristic device? Or have you traveled back a few minutes in time?

A science fiction and fantasy anthology would be incomplete without a few dystopian futures, and Mr. Horton does not disappoint. In Ray Nayler's, "In Mutability," two strangers, Sophia and Sebastian, reside in a future world where death apparently is no longer inevitable, but neither stranger has many memories. One day, at the cafe in which Sebastian spends his days, an unknown woman, Sophia, befriends him and shows him a photo of the two of them, centuries old. Neither remember each other or the photo, but why not?

In "Folding Beijing," by Hao Jingfang, (translated by Ken Liu), a future Beijing has become so crowded the population is divided into three spaces where First Space contains the rich and well educated, and Third Space contains the poor and lower classes. As each class awakens, another space rotates and folds up. Lao Dao, a Third Space waste processor, wants to enroll his daughter in a music and dance kindergarten. To do so, he must get more money by illegally carrying messages and goods to and from First Space. Author Hao Jingfang's story, however, is more than a glimpse at a possible dystopian future based on class and privilege. Rather, it is an Aesopian tale about love and friendship, and where true contentment lies.

Most of the writers in this anthology are exceptionally talented, and a few will take your breath away. In "The Karen Joy Fowler Book Club," by Nike Sulway, an older female, who loves her solitude and her library room, walks alone in a Serengeti-type outdoors and fears that her type will be extinct because the daughters do not see the need for procreation. In this beautifully told tale, are the women human?

Another author who captivates is Will Ludwigsen, whose channeling of a 1940s pulp science fiction writer and his writing for a 1960s, "Twight Zone"-type of television show, "Acres of Perhaps," is sheer genius. As the writer grieves for his lost love who has died of cancer after 50 years together, he remembers the 60s and the two other writers for the show, one of whom believed he was living in an alternate universe. The story is a loving homage to rural America, 1960's science fiction and two great romances. Ludwigsen is an award wining author and this story demonstrates why.

(In return for an honest review, I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.)

* Print Length: 576 pages
* Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
* Publisher: Prime Books (June 10, 2016)
* Publication Date: June 10, 2016
* Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC

Downward Dog: Very Serious Haiku from a Very Serious Dog, by Samm Hodges and Phinheas Hodges, Illustrated by Idil Gozde

Martin is a dog who stars in a forthcoming ABC television show called, "Downward Dog." He has written "Downward Dog: Very Serious Haiku from a Very Serious Dog," a poetic homage to his life, his poop, his food, and to his beloved human, Nan. Of course, since Martin has not yet learned to write (I think), Samm Hodges and Phinheas Hodges, transcribe his thoughts for him, with Idil Gozde doing the illustrations.

Martin's funny, bitter sweet poetry reflects the innocence and soul of a "good dog." He thanks his "Mom and Dad, whoever you are," and his Nan, his human, "my moon and my stars for ever and ever. I love you so much I can never tell you, I will always love you, I love you, I love you, I can’t believe how much I love you. Also, please never leave again for the whole weekend; it was so, so horrible."

If you have ever loved a dog, you will recognize the truth in Martin's Haiku, and you will read it over and over again to catch every nuance and thought that Martin wants you to know.

Paperback: 52 pages
Publisher: Animal Media Group LLC (June 20, 2017)
Language: English
(In return for an honest review, I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.)

The Other Daughter: A Novel, by Lauren Willig

There is a mistaken belief that the Jazz Age of the 1920s was a romantic time of flappers and long necklaces. Instead, there was little romance in this decade where the remnants of the generation that had not been killed in the slaughter of World War I, threw off Edwardian constraints, raised hemlines, bobbed their hair, partied all night, and obsessed over cocktails. In "The Other Daughter," Lauren Willig skillfully captures the crazy hysteria of the English upper classes during this time. She makes clear that it was a backlash against the overwhelming grief and despair that had drowned veterans, and families of the war dead during and after the war.

Rachel Woodley, an English governess to the children of a wealthy, cold French family, finds herself catapulted into this mess when her beloved mother dies of influenza. Raised in a quiet English village as the daughter of a proper, widow who gave piano lessons, Rachel returns to England only to learn that her father is not dead and he has become Lord Standish with another family, including another daughter. Crushed that her beloved father had abandoned her, and her life had been a lie, Rachel wants revenge. Accordingly, she sets out to infiltrate what she believes is the happy, modern set. As she befriends her half-sister, and others, the fragile veneer peels away, and the ugly truth of the so called "Roaring Twenties" is laid bare.

* Print Length: 305 pages
* Publisher: St. Martin's Press (July 21, 2015)
* Publication Date: July 21, 2015
* Sold by: Macmillan

The Sound of Rain, by Gregg Olsen

When a slot machine hits a jackpot at the Snoqualmie Casino, in Washington State, it makes the sound of rain. The poetry of the title and the musical sound of the jackpot on her favorite slot machine, frames Detective Nicole Foster's life. A compulsive gambler, Foster must fight the dark side of a gambling addiction, which constantly sinks its claws into her every waking moment

When three year old, Kelsey Chase, is kidnapped from a car outside of a Target store, while her mother and five year old brother are shopping, Foster and her partner, Detective Danny Ford, are assigned to find the little girl. When Kelsey turns up murdered, Foster must battle her addiction and wade into a deep muck of deception and psychotic betrayal that engulfs the murder, and her professional and personal life at every level.

Gregg Olsen skillfully creates a complex, absorbing plot while giving believable voices to both his male and female characters, a talent many authors lack. "The Sound of Rain" captures you emotionally and intellectually, and does not let you go until you finish the book. Five stars.

(In return for an honest review, I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.)

* Print Length: 350 pages
* Publisher: Thomas & Mercer (December 13, 2016)
* Publication Date: December 13, 2016
* Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC

The White House Wedding: A Solve-the-Mystery Blog Tour by Radha Vatsal

Radha Vatsal, the author of The Front Page Affair and Murder Between the Lines, has a mystery for you to solve involving the wedding of President Woodrow Wilson and Mrs. Edith Bolling. The following six book bloggers, including me, have published sequential clues to the mystery:

CLue 1: http://katherineschronicle.wordpress.com
Clue 2: http://janereads2.blogspot.com/
Clue 3: https://benjaminlclark.com
Clue 4: jroslynsbooks.blogspot.com
Clue 5: http://mymerriway.com
Clue 6: https://bookishjottings.wordpress.com/

If you would like to solve the mystery, read the clue provided by Radha Vatsal below and visit the blogs above. Good luck!

From Radha Vatsal:

The White House Wedding: A Solve-the-Mystery Blog Tour by Radha Vatsal
At 8:30 PM on Saturday, December 18, 1915, President Woodrow Wilson married Mrs. Edith Bolling. The new Mrs. Wilson would go on to become one of the 20th Century’s most powerful first ladies and shepherd the United States through turbulent times. In the course of this blog tour, I describe four different aspects of their wedding plan: The Location on Jane Reads, Guest List and Attendants on Benjamin Clark, Ceremony and Officiants on J. Roslyn's Books, and Dress and Flowers on My Merri Way. The wedding went off as arranged, except for one significant last-minute change. Your mission is to guess what changed and why. The answer will be revealed in the final blog post. For more on the president and Edith Bolling/Wilson’s relationship, see the Introduction on Katherine’s Chronicle, http://katherineschronicle.wordpress.com.

BLOG POST #4: THE CEREMONY AND OFFICIANTS
The president was Presbyterian, Mrs. Galt was Episcopalian, so they decided that both faiths ought to be represented. They would follow the complete Episcopalian service, which would be performed by an Episcopalian Bishop with the Rev. James H. Taylor, pastor of President Wilson’s Presbyterian church assisting. Rev. Taylor delivered the benediction as the close. When the question: “Who giveth this woman to be married to this man?” was asked, Mrs. Bolling, Edith’s mother, stepped forward and put her daughter’s hand into that of the president’s.

Did any of this change? The number or type of officiants, perhaps? Or the precedence given to one type of service over another? At the last minute, did Edith Galt, as a woman who ran her own business and had been previously married, ask her mother to stand back and in a gesture of independence “give herself” to Mr. Wilson?

Next Up: Dress and Flowers on My Merri Way

The new First Lady and Woodrow Wilson make a dramatic appearance in Murder Between the Lines, the second novel in the Kitty Weeks Mystery series, which features the adventures of bold newswoman Capability “Kitty” Weeks in World War I era New York. For more historical surprises, sign up for the Kitty Weeks newsletter: radhavatsalauthor@gmail.com

BLOG TOUR:* GUEST POST, By Radha Vatsal

Radha Vatsal is the author of two highly rated historical novels set in New York City during the years leading up to America entering World War I: "The Front Page, Affair," and, "Murder Between the Lines. We have reviewed both books in our prior post.

We asked Ms. Vatsal why she chose the years of World War, and she graciously provided us with the following guest column.


"World War I isn’t usually considered to be America’s war. The US joined the fighting late – the war began in the fall of 1914 and America joined the fray in 1917. By and large, stories about the war tend to focus on the experience “over there”—in English or French country homes, or in the battlefields of Europe. To me, it seems that we know more about World War II, in part because of that war’s atrocities and in part because it had clear good guys, Roosevelt and Churchill, and bad guys, Hitler and Stalin. World War I is more complicated. It was started by Kaiser Wilhelm--first cousin to King George of England--but was the result of military buildup that had been going on in Europe during the so-called “Belle Epoque,” a seemingly tranquil period of peace and prosperity—and the setting of many beloved period series and films. But tensions were mounting behind the scenes and when they exploded, the world changed. Empires that had ruled great swathes of the world for centuries fell: the Hapsburgs of Austria-Hungary, the Romanovs of Russia, the Ottomans of Turkey, and the seeds were set for the modern world of nation-states that we inhabit and for political strife that haunts us to this day.



Across the Atlantic, the US didn’t remain untouched by all this upheaval. It faced what we would now call domestic terrorism on its shores (the subject of A Front Page Affair) and rapidly went from being a second-tier country to a global superpower. Along the way, President Wilson had to convince the public that America could no longer remain “a provincial nation”—part of a speech he gave at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City. The speech forms the climax of Murder Between the Lines and a crucial part of American history. The American economy prospered, thanks in no small part to the ramping up of the military—Kitty Weeks delves into this as she investigates the Edison company’s work on new submarine batteries.



I chose to set the Kitty Weeks Mystery series during the WWI-era because so much happened during this period, and there so many colorful stories that have remained under-explored and under-reported. In addition to the world history aspect, the late 1910s also saw a seismic shift for women: women won the right to vote after WWI in 1920. In the course of her adventures and investigations, Kitty Weeks meets and interviews (as is only fitting for a reporter at the New York Sentinel’s Ladies’ Page!) influential women of her day. In A Front Page Affair, it’s Anne Morgan, the philanthropist sister of banker J.P. Morgan. Anne Morgan championed the cause of working women, was active in war relief efforts in France, and was one of the founders of the first women’s-only club with its own building, the Colony Club in Manhattan, which still exists today. In Murder Between the Lines, Kitty interviews the divorcee and widow Alva Belmont. Belmont had originally been married to W.K. Vanderbilt, whom she divorced—much to society’s dismay—and then married financier, O.H.P. Belmont. After Belmont died, she devoted her energies and fortune to promoting the cause of woman suffrage, even producing a “suffragist operetta,” Melinda and Her Sisters—Kitty observes the rehearsals in Murder. Kitty grows, learns and is inspired by these women, many of whom are forgotten today.

"

-Radha Vatsal is the author of the Kitty Weeks mystery series. Her latest book, Murder between the Lines (Sourcebooks), was published on May 2, 2017.

BLOG TOUR:* Murder Between the Lines and The Front Page Affair, By Radha Vatsal

MURDER BETWEEN THE LINES, By Radha Vatsal

In her second Kitty Weeks novel, Radha Vatsal again takes us back to the 1910s, a tumultuous time in U.S. history, where women are demanding the long promised right to vote, and, as World War I bloodies Europe, the American government and defense industries are quietly preparing for war.

Set in 1915, New York City, "Murder Between the Lines," depicts an America that, on the surface, appears to be as it has been for decades. Kitty Weeks, the daughter of a wealthy man who simultaneously tries to protect her as he encourages her to be independent, knows that war is coming. The signs are not hidden well. Her best friend returns from nursing soldiers on the battlefields of Europe a broken woman. She has seen the horror of trench warfare first hand. At the same time, former President Theodore Roosevelt has "called for a navy that would be second in size and efficiency only to that of Great Britain," and government money is pouring in to test Edison's batteries for use in submarines.

A writer for the ladies' page of "The Sentinel" newspaper, Kitty has pushed hard against covering tea parties and has successfully convinced her editor to allow her to cover suffragettes and Woodrow Wilson's visit to New York City. When Elspeth Bright, a young, vibrant woman, connected to the Edison battery-research, is found frozen to death in Central Park, Kitty is driven to use her journalist skills to try to bring her justice.

Vatsal's meticulous historical research broadens Kitty's world to include the famous suffragette, Alva Belmont (also known as Alva Vanderbilt), and the actress Marie Dressler, known later for, among other things, her brilliant performance in "Dinner at Eight." We also attend the "first annual dinner of the Motion Picture Board of Trade of America" at the newish Waldorf-Astoria. Here, President Woodrow Wilson prophetically states: “America will always seek to the last point at which her honor is involved to avoid the things which disturb the peace of the world, ...there will come that day when the world will say, ‘This America that we thought was full of a multitude of contrary counsels now speaks with the great volume of the heart’s accord, and that great heart of America has behind it the supreme moral force of righteousness and hope and the liberty of mankind!'”

Radha Vatsal is an exceptional writer and gifted historian. In the first Kitty Weeks novel, "The Front Page Affair," and again in this second novel, Vatsal has successfully recreated the mood, the sights, smells and controversies of New York City in the years leading up to the deployment of American soldiers to fight in the Great War. As the United States enters into the centennial anniversary of America's involvement in that war, Vatsal's books allow us to reflect on the small fires that led to the conflagration, and they allow us to recognize that the fight for female equality is not a recent endeavor.

"Murder Between the Lines" deserves more than five stars. Read it and you will agree.

Print Length: 320 pages
Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark (May 2, 2017)
Publication Date: May 2, 2017
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC

*A virtual blog tour is underway where six book bloggers, including me, post clues provided by Radha Vatsal to a mystery involving President Wilson's 1915, wedding. Click here to read clue number four, and to find links to other five clues.*

THE FRONT PAGE AFFAIR, By Vadha Vatsal

Although World War I raged in Europe starting in 1914, the United States did not declare war on Germany until April 6, 1917. As we enter into the centennial anniversary of America's involvement in that war, historical novels, such as Radha Vatsal's excellent, debut novel, "The Front Page Affair," provide clear and insightful glimpses into the tension-filled and fearful miasmas that permeated New York City in the years preceding 1917.

Specifically, Ms. Vatsal recreates the 1915, New York City world of Kitty Weeks, a wealthy young woman who has traveled the world with her cosmopolitan father. Although she is considered from the "wrong side of town," (at least, according to Kitty's debutante friend), Weeks is a well educated, modern woman.

Constrained by the social mores of the time, Kitty is prohibited from covering news stories, and instead she is forced to write for the Ladies' Page of one of the many New York City newspapers. Born abroad, raised in Europe and educated in Switzerland, Kitty struggles to find her niche. After stumbling upon a murder while covering her first society event, she finds herself enmeshed in what may be an espionage scandal that has major implications for America's continued neutrality concerning the war with Germany.

It is very rare to find a debut novel so well written and so engrossing. "The Front Page Affair" is on a par with the Maisie Dobbs novels of Jacqueline Winspear. More than that, Ms. Vatsal clearly understands the importance of creating an historical novel that transforms 1915 from a dusty, ancient year in America's past, to a vibrant and dangerous time not unlike our own.

* Print Length: 338 pages
* Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark (May 3, 2016)
* Publication Date: May 3, 2016
* Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC

Radha Vatsal is the author of two highly rated historical novels set in New York City during the years leading up to America entering World War I: "The Front Page, Affair," and, "Murder Between the Lines." We have reviewed both books, above.

We asked Ms. Vatsal why she chose the years of World War I as the setting for her Kitty Weeks novels, and she graciously provided us with a guest post, found here.

*A virtual blog tour is underway where six book bloggers, including me, post clues provided by Radha Vatsal to a mystery involving President Wilson's 1915, wedding. Click here to read clue number four, and to find links to the other five clues.

Lilli de Jong: A Novel, by Janet Benton

Author Janet Benton writes that "in the long days and nights of nursing and nurturing" her own baby, as she held her in her "arms and listened to the ticking of a clock, a voice came now and then" into her mind. "It was the voice of an unwed mother from long ago." The voice clearly inspired this novel about an unwed mother and the hypocrisy and corruption of late Victorian, Philadelphia society that preferred the death of illegitimate children over exercising a duty of care for them and their mothers.

Protagonist, Lilli de Jong, is a teacher at a Quaker school. Her family has deep roots and is well respected in her community. Like other members of her religion, they have eschewed luxury and live plainly without the modern comforts of gas lighting or water pipes. Lilli's mother has recently died, and Lilli, her brother, and her father have become rudderless. After her father has an adulterous affair with a mean-spirited "spinster cousin," the family is exiled from their Quaker Friends community. Her brother and her suitor leave their jobs in the family's furniture business to seek their fortunes in the steel mills of Pittsburgh. Isolated, and pregnant by her suitor, Lilli is ordered out of her home by her father's lover-turned wife. Forced to give birth in a charitable institution, Lilli defies convention and refuses to abandon her child to abusive adopters or foundling homes.

Her journey, as an unwed mother, is told through her diary entries. Through her eyes, we see the horrors that society of that time heaped on the most vulnerable: the poor, the elderly, the disabled Civil War veterans, orphans, and, at the bottom of the unwanted pile, unwed mothers and their babies. Benton writes of one scene these unwanted people faced living on the streets: "Early-rising laborers pass, mostly hidden by umbrellas, and sodden rats and dogs run along the bricks, sniffing for tidbits dropped by the street cleaners."

Benton's intelligent prose and meticulous, extensive research sets this novel apart from popular, romantic versions of similar stories. The people, the streets and the buildings of 1883, Philadelphia are described in such detail, reading about them is akin to time travel. This book definitely is a must-read.

(In return for an honest review, I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.)
Print Length: 352 pages
Publisher: Nan A. Talese (May 16, 2017)
Publication Date: May 16, 2017
Sold by: Random House LLC

Papaya Sunset, by Robert E. Schiller

Robert E. Schiller knows basketball, and in "Papaya Sunset," he manages to draw the reader into the excitement of a close game, a last minute basket, and the intricate moves of the players. As skillfully and colorfully as he describes a basketball game, he tells the story of Stewart Anderson (Sam) Mackenzie, an extremely successful Chicago lawyer who married into a wealthy society family in his early 20s, became a partner in his father-in-law's law firm, and whose life goes bottom up after his extra-marital affair is discovered.

On a "sabbatical," a euphemism for being tossed out of his family and his law firm, Sam lands in Key West, aboard his sail boat, the "Jump Shot." The crisis of his forced sabbatical coincides with his middle aged crisis. Together they are a five alarm fire. We learn that Sam was a star, All American, basketball player who destroyed his leg while making a game winning shot. With pro-basketball an impossibility, he allowed his girlfriend's well-connected family to take control of his life: marriage, law school, partnership, and summers on Mackinaw Island.

After sleepwalking through his life, Sam lands in Key West (the "Conch Republic"), apparently as far from a button down, white shoe law firm as he could get. If you have visited Key West, you will appreciate Schiller's wonderful description of its people, its food, its bars and restaurants, and the beauty of its sunsets. Schiller also skillfully introduces us to the colorful people who befriend Sam, including Freddy, the extroverted Cuban fishing boat captain who loves women from the cruise ships because they get back on the ship and leave after a passionate night. They also include Moira and Felicia, a beautiful Cuban refugee and her small daughter. Schiller clearly has a talent for bringing his characters to life. Although a tad didactic, each character has a chance to tell his/her story and each has a different, recognizable voice. This is the hallmark of a good writer.

Papaya Sunset is a good read. I know little about basketball, but Schiller kept me involved in the game. Similarly, Schiller skillfully framed Sam's middle aged crisis without resorting to tired cliches. This is definitely a five star book.

* Print Length: 409 pages
* Publisher: Robert E. Schiller (January 27, 2016)
* Publication Date: January 27, 2016
* Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC