#BookReview #MurderWearsAHiddenFace by Rosemary Simpson #NetGalley

Publisher: Kensington Press

NetGalley Summary:

A diplomat’s murder draws heiress-turned-lawyer Prudence MacKenzie and former Pinkerton Geoffrey Hunter away from the opulent mansions of Gilded Age New York’s high society and into the dark heart of Chinatown . . .

February 1891: New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art is hosting an exhibition of Chinese art objects, timed to coincide with the arrival of a new Chinese cultural attaché, Lord Peng. Prudence and Geoffrey are invited to attend the opening ceremonies. But among the throng of dignitaries making their way through the galleries is one decidedly unwelcome and unexpected visitor—an assassin who stabs the attaché to death, then flees through Central Park.

As witnesses, Prudence and Geoffrey quickly become immersed in the case and join former New York detective Warren Lowry in investigating the murder. But there are complications. The Peng family will no longer enjoy diplomatic standing and is threatened by deportation and possible disgrace or execution in their homeland. Desperate to remain in the West, they flee into the labyrinth of Chinatown, enlisting the protection of a long-lost uncle, now the leader of one of the city’s most feared Tongs. But that alliance comes with a price; Peng’s son must become his uncle’s apprentice in crime, while his eldest daughter will be forced to marry a Tong leader she has never met.

With a killer still at large, bent on revenge for a long-ago injustice and determined to eliminate every member of the Peng family, Prudence and Geoffrey are plunged into the heart of a culture about which they know very little. Each foray into the narrow streets and alleyways of Chinatown could be their last.

Review by Coffee&Ink

This is the eighth book in the excellent Gilded Age series. As always, a splendid mix of cultures, the high and the low in society. This time, Prudence and Geoffrey race to find out who killed Lord Peng, a culture attaché on a visit to the Met with his family, and why.

What I love about her books is the deep dive into multiple characters’ viewpoints, and this time we are immersed in Chinese culture and the subsequent clash of cultures. Prudence is a great character, one of the first women lawyers in the country, though she is young and makes mistakes. Geoffrey is an ex-Pinkerton, and his eye is always on the security for any given case, and its failures.

A deeply complicated plot, vivid writing, excellent characters. Highly recommended for lovers of all things historical mystery.

Biography:

Rosemary Simpson’s What the Dead Leave Behind is set in Gilded Age New York where the Great Blizzard of 1888 brings both disaster and independence to her wealthy and unconventional heroine. Lies that Comfort and Betray is the second in the Gilded Age Mystery series, to be followed by Let the Dead Keep Their Secrets
Rosemary is also the author of two stand-alone historical novels, The Seven Hills of Paradise and Dreams and Shadows.

She is a member of Sisters in Crime, International Thriller Writers, and the Historical Novel Society. Educated in France and the United States, she now lives near Tucson, Arizona. 

http://www.rosemarysimpsonbooks.com

#BookReview #TheButterflyCircle by Mary Carroll Leoson #BookSirens

Review: The Butterfly Circle by Mary Carroll Leoson

Publisher: Manta Press

Book Sirens Summary:

It’s 1948 and Eliza Kendall’s father has just dropped her off at Prescott House, a home for unwed mothers. Pregnant and alone, Eliza finds comfort in her three roommates, whose friendship gives her hope despite abuse from a bitter headmistress. Caught between adolescence and womanhood, the friends seek refuge in what lies beyond the veil of sleep and dreams, to the hidden passages in the house itself, rumored to be part of the Underground Railroad. While exploring, the girls discover a plot to hide the bodies of other pregnant women. To survive, they must lean on each other and the wisdom of those who have come before them—the butterfly sisters. But is their bond more powerful than the threats they face?

Review by Coffee&Ink

This is an intriguing story about four friends who form a sisterhood to endure the gritty reality of a home for unwed mothers in 1948. The house is filled with secrets and ghosts whisper in the hallways. The four are barely women, caught in the various traps the human heart sets when it wants to express itself.  They preform small acts of rebellion and magic as the past begins to impose on the present, the future coming full circle through the past.

The story is well written, and the characters finely drawn. It would have been too easy to muddle the young women up, but this is not the case here. Each one of them stands out with a remarkable story and voice. The atmosphere is claustrophobic, as it should be, with a creeping feeling of dread around every corner. The cruel headmistress, the secrets the house begins to reveal, and their impending deliveries kept this reader on the edge of her seat.

This is the first of a planned trilogy, and I highly recommend it to readers of YA historical dark fantasy and gothic horror.

Thank you BookSirens for a copy of this book to read and review.

Biography:

A Pushcart Nominee and Member of the Horror Writers Association, Mary Leoson’s writing has been featured in numerous publications. She holds a Doctor of Arts in English Pedagogy & Literature, an MFA in Fiction, an MA in English, and an MS in Psychology. When she’s not writing about ghosts or co-hosting the podcast Exhuming the Bones, Leoson teaches at the college level. She lives on the shores of Lake Erie with her husband and two very spoiled dogs.

WEBSITE

http://www.maryleoson.com

#BookReview #TheBoyInTheRain by Stephanie Cowell #NetGalley

NetGalley Description

Publisher: Regal House Publishing

Publishing Date: June 16, 2023

“The Boy in the Rain transports us to another time and place in this powerful, sensual, and lyrical novel that literally took my breath away—the love is so visceral, the pain so deep, the beauty so real, and the danger so palpable!” ~NYT bestseller, M.J. Rose, author of The Last Tiara

It is 1903 in the English countryside when Robbie, a shy young art student, meets the twenty-nine-year-old Anton who is running from memories of his brutal childhood and failed marriage. Within months, they begin a love affair that will never let them go. Robbie grows into an accomplished portraitist in the vivid London art world with the help of Anton’s enchanting former wife, while Anton turns from his inherited wealth and connections to improve the conditions of the poor. But it is the Edwardian Era, and the law sentences homosexual men to prison with hard labor, following the tragic experience of Oscar Wilde. As Robbie and Anton’s commitment to each other grows, the world about them turns to a more dangerous place.

Review by Coffee&Ink

This is a gorgeously detailed literary historical fiction novel set in the Midlands and London during the early years of the 20^th century. We know the end of the affair before we know how it started. The journey to get there describes the happiness and heartbreak in the relationship between two men, Anton and Robbie. Politics, art, writing, and beloved friends fill the story, the story itself told with honest, unflinching prose. The rural Midlands take on a character of its own, as does the art world in London, reflecting both the torments and the triumph of these two men. Not a romance, no HEA here, but a starkly detailed, complicated journey of finding oneself, coming of age, and maturing.

I loved it, had me in tears in places; it’s the kind of novel that follows you around long after you’ve finished it. I can see the house, the beloved vicar, the art gallery still. Highly recommended for literary historical (especially LGBTQ history) fiction lovers.

Thank you NetGalley for a copy of this book to read and review.

author’s website: https://www.stephaniecowell.com/

#BookReview #TheNubian’sCurse by Barbara Hambly #NetGalley

Publisher: Severn House

Publishing date: January 2, 2024

NetGalley Description

A cursed statue . . . A haunted house . . . A seemingly supernatural death . . . The unexpected arrival of a friend from his past plunges musician, sleuth and free man of color Benjamin January into an old, unsolved case in this historical mystery set in New Orleans

“Outstanding . . . fastidious period detail, and a consistently surprising investigation” Publishers Weekly Starred Review

December 1840. Surgeon turned piano-player Benjamin January is looking forward to a peaceful holiday with his family. But the arrival of an old friend brings unexpected news – and unexpected danger.

Persephone Jondrette has found Arithmus: a Sudanese man with extraordinary mental abilities who January last saw in France, nearly fifteen years ago, during a ghost-hunting expedition to a haunted chateau. January and his friends survived the experience . . . but Arithmus’ benefactor, the British explorer Deverel Wishart, did not. He was discovered dead one morning, his face twisted in horror, and shortly afterwards Arithmus vanished, never to be seen again.

Did Deverel succumb to the chateau’s ghosts – or did Arithmus murder him and run away? January is determined to uncover the truth about the tragic incident from his past, and clear his old friend’s name – but even he isn’t prepared for what happens next . . .

The Nubian’s Curse by NYT-bestselling author Barbara Hambly is the latest installment of the critically acclaimed historical mystery series featuring talented amateur sleuth and free man of color, Benjamin January.

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Advance Praise

“This masterly portrayal of smoldering racial tensions deserves a wide readership”
Publishers Weekly Starred Review of Death and Hard Cider

“The historical backdrop is vivid, and the writing is exquisite. One of the best in a not-to-be-missed series”
Booklist Starred Review of Death and Hard Cider

“One of Hambly’s best mysteries combines historical detail, intense local color, and ugly truths about slavery and politics”
Kirkus Reviews

Review by Coffee&Ink

I’ve been reading Barbara Hambly since the 1980s; I think it was The Dark trilogy. I stopped reading Fantasy for the most part. I was very happy to find the Benjamin January historical mystery series still going strong now after the first was published in 1997: A Free Man Of Color. The Nubian’s Curse is the 20^th novel in the series, and I’ve read most but for the last few years.

Benjamin January is a young Black man in pre-Civil War New Orleans, freed by his mother’s “protector,” and goes to Paris, swearing never to return to America. He becomes a doctor and a musician and an amateur sleuth with the help of some very interesting characters, including an aunt involved in voodoo, an opium-addicted Irish fiddler, and a tobacco spitting “Kentuck” constable.

What I love about these books, and this is also true for The Nubian’s Curse, is the complicated tapestry of memory that informs the current murder mystery and layers it with the past. A death in a haunted and derelict chateau in 1820s France somehow is a part of a disappearance and a murder in the present.

The books are steeped in detail of life and culture in that era. Benjamin is a likable character filled with heart and soul for his fellow humans. If you haven’t read any of these books yet and love historical mysteries series, this is an excellent one, written by a well-seasoned author who’s survived publishing for many decades. Also, Severn House is one of my favorite publishers, and I’m never disappointed in any book of theirs I’ve read.

Thank you NetGalley for a copy of this book to read and review.

author’s website: https://barbarahambly.com/