Multiple worlds collide head-on in The Night Tiger, an exploration of Malaysian mythology as seen through the lens of its pre-World War II workaday world. In 1931 Malaya, accident-prone eleven-year-old orphaned houseboy Ren is watching the death of his mentor, Doctor John MacFarlane. On his deathbed, MacFarlane tasks Ren with reuniting him with the two…
London, 1615. The young, spirited Frances Howard-Carr and her husband (And James I’s long time favorite), the self-made social climber Robert Carr, 1st Earl of Somerset, stand accused of poisoning Sir Thomas Overbury, Robert’s friend and advisor, who knew a dreadfully personal secret about the true nature of Robert’s relationship with James. Frances and Robert…
A few months back I picked up Maggie MacKeever’s The Tyburn Waltz for a prompt in the TBR Challenge, and enjoyed it enough to want to read the other books in the Tyburn Trilogy. At that point, only the second book – The Purloined Heart – was available, but I was pleased to learn the…
Laura Purcell is the author of two excellent pieces of historical fiction set in Georgian England, one, Queen of Bedlam, about Queen Charlotte, wife of King George III, and the other, Mistress of the Court, a fictionalised account of the life of Henrietta Howard, who became the mistress of Prince George (later King George II)….
The English Wife is a tale of smoke and mirrors. It is a fable of wealth and power set during the 1890s swan song of the Gilded Age. It’s a mystery, a romance, a coming of age story and easily one of the best books you’ll read this year. Annabelle and Bayard Van Duyvil have…
Nancy Campbell Allen’s The Secret of the India Orchid appealed to me for a couple of reasons. Firstly, much as I enjoy historical romances set in Europe, I’m always happy to see ones sent in more far-flung locations; and secondly, the premise of a dashing spy forced to conceal his true nature and purpose beneath…
The Lost Order is an engrossing, gripping contemporary mystery about the confederate Knights of the Golden Cross from the time of the U.S. Civil War and about the vast horde of gold and silver they amassed and hid. It is also about the intriguing past and devious machinations of the Smithsonian Institution, Museums, and Libraries. I’m…
K.J. Charles announced a while back that her new Sins of the Cities series of historical romances would feature stories in the mould of Victorian Sensation Fiction: “… channelling my love for Wilkie Collins, Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Dickens in his wilder moods, and the other glorious writers of complicated plots with scandals, secrets and shenanigans…
Narrated by Alex Wyndham We first meet Alec Halsey in Deadly Engagement, where he investigates the death of a friend, and then again in Deadly Affair, with another murder and a mystery. Now, Alec is dealing with something completely different – his diplomatic past and the imprisonment and torture of his good friend Sir Cosmo…
Narrated by Alex Wyndham In Deadly Affair, the second book in Lucinda Brant’s series of Alec Halsey Mysteries, listeners are again immersed in the world of Georgian London so skilfully evoked by the author, whose love for and detailed research into the period shine through at every turn. Her descriptions of the sights, sounds –…