The latest installment in Darci Hannah’s delicious Beacon Bakeshop Mystery series set in small-town Beacon Harbor, Michigan, featuring a baker heroine who lives in the local lighthouse with her beloved Newfoundland dog, Wellington.
Lindsey prefers to keep her bakeshop’s Halloween decor light and autumnal, rather than gruesome and ghoulish. But everyone knows her lighthouse home is haunted. Some intrepid teens have even tried to break in to witness the resident ghost themselves. Dreading Halloween night, Lindsey reluctantly allows her influencer and podcaster best friend, Kennedy, to host a live ghost hunting investigation in the lighthouse, conducted by a professional team. Protective of her ghost, Lyndsey is understandably nervous about what they might uncover . . .
The segment is uneventful—until things take a terrifying turn. The team freaks out. As Kennedy joins the mad dash outside, she bumps into what looks like the prankster teens’ creepy clown costume hanging from a tree. But when Lindsey’s dog, Wellington, begins to whine, they make a grim discovery: the clown is no dummy. It’s a corpse.
Now Lindsey and company will need to keep their cool if they want a ghost of a chance to solve the murder—and see another Halloween . . .
***
Elise’s Thoughts
Murder at the Pumpkin Pageant by Darci Hannah is a good book for the Halloween season since many are already decorating their houses. This Halloween atmosphere has ghosts, goblins, pranksters, costumes, pirates, clowns, and dogs in costume along with professional ghost hunters.
The plot has the main character, Lindsey, renovating an old lighthouse, for her home and bakery. In the story the Halloween festivities include Lindsey having in her bakery a lot of pumpkin-flavored treats. Lindsey has also reluctantly agreed to let her best friend, Kennedy, do her live podcast from the lighthouse with professional ghost hunters. But things go sideways after they all stumble upon a fresh corpse in Lindsey’s yard. First, they thought it was teens doing a prank, a clown as a dummy, but it’s a corpse. With the help of her friends and her resident ghost they strive to find the murderer.
The mystery has many tricks and treats that include twists and turns. The action leaps from the pages. One of the treats the author gives her readers is the delicious seasonal recipes included at the back of the book.
***
Author Interview
Elise Cooper: How did you get the idea for the series?
Darci Hannah: This is the fourth book I have written in the series. I have the setting in Michigan. I love to bake, and my youngest brother bought a bakery, so I incorporated a bakery and lighthouse into the series. I wanted to be a paranormal writer, so I slip some of this into my writing. When I started this series, I thought of a haunted lighthouse tale within a cozy mystery. I always visit a lot of lighthouses. I came to realize a lot of lighthouses have a history and a story about lingering lightkeepers. In this series the lighthouse has a history and a ghost story. Lindsey, the protagonist lives in the haunted lighthouse and has developed a working relationship with this lighthouse ghost.
EC: Was any of this real?
DH: A lot of the techniques of the ghosts I use are from real lighthouses here in Michigan. People see eerie green lights which I incorporated in this story. There are a lot of shipwrecks here. Because I did dive on shipwrecks, I included it in the story.
EC: What is the role of Halloween?
DH: It was great fun to write a Halloween theme. The idea came from my publisher. There are pirates, the Wizard of Oz comes into it with the costume of a straw headed person. The “Pumpkin Pageant” had people dressed in costume along with their pets. Everyone in the bakery owned by the protagonist dressed in a theme costume. There is also a pumpkin carving contest.
EC: Was Wellington, Lindsey’s dog based on a real dog?
DH: Yes, I love dogs so there are a lot of dogs in my story. Wellington is Lindsey’s dog. He is a Newfoundland because I had a dog of that breed. He is the perfect dog for a lighthouse because they are big water dogs. He has freedom and space now. He also loves to fish.
EC: How would you describe Lindsey?
DH: She has a financial background. She is practical, wants to make people happy, is pretty, and caring. She is from New York City and has moved to a Michigan small town. She has her mother’s looks and her father’s brain. She is not a social media person, more private.
EC: How would you describe her boyfriend, Rory?
DH: He is an ex-Navy SEAL who is a conglomerate of some of my friends. He is a woodsy outdoorsman. The whole state shuts down in November during deer season. I wanted to put this cultural piece of Michigan into Rory’s character. He is very protective, kind, funny, intense, and a good diver. Together they are an item and are attracted to each other. She sees him as intriguing. They respect each other a lot.
EC: The next book?
DH: The next book in the series continues the holiday theme. It is titled Murder at the Blarney Bash, a St. Patrick’s Day book, but coming out in January. The plot has a new Irish import store being opened by Rory’s uncle and cousin. There will be a Leprechaun in the story.
THANK YOU!!
***
BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.
High-powered businesswoman Lana Rubicon has a lot to be proud of:her keen intelligence, impeccable taste, and the L.A. real estate empire she’s built. But when she finds herself trapped 300 miles north of the city, convalescing in a sleepycoastal town with her adult daughter Beth and teenage granddaughter Jack, Lana is stuck counting otters instead of square footage—and hoping that boredom won’t kill her before the cancer does.
Then Jack—tiny in stature but fiercely independent—happens upon a dead body while kayaking. She quickly becomes a suspect in the homicide investigation, and the Rubicon women are thrown into chaos. Beth thinks Lana should focus on recovery, but Lana has a better idea. She’ll pull on her wig, find the true murderer, protect her family, and prove she still has power.
With Jack and Beth’s help, Lana uncovers a web of lies, family vendettas, and land disputes lurking beneath the surface of a community populated by folksy conservationists and wealthy ranchers. But as their amateur snooping advances into ever-more dangerous territory, the headstrong Rubicon women must learn to do the one thing they’ve always resisted: depend on each other.
MOTHER-DAUGHTER MURDER NIGHT by Nina Simon is both murder mystery and multi-generational family drama combined into one heartfelt and intriguing read. Grandmother, mother, and daughter are reunited by a devastating medical diagnosis and while working through their dysfunctional dynamics they also work together to solve a murder. This is a standalone mystery that could easily become a series if the author wished.
High-powered L.A. real estate mogul, Lana Rubicon is seriously ill and now needs the assistance of her daughter, Beth who lives 300 miles north with her daughter, fifteen-year-old Jacqueline “Jack”. It is a difficult adjustment for everyone.
While Jack is leading a kayak tour of the slough, a dead body is discovered. When Jack becomes a suspect, Beth begs Lana to hire a criminal lawyer, but the bored Lana decides this is the perfect opportunity to focus on anything but her disease and protect her granddaughter by finding the real murderer. As the women discover a web of family lies, hidden agendas, and land disputes the danger escalates, and they learn that to find the truth they must do something they have never done, depend on one another.
This is a genre mash-up that delivers on both the dysfunctional family drama with humor, tough love, and learning to understand another’s view and an amateur cozy murder mystery that has plenty of twists and red herrings that kept me guessing until the end. The first third of the book leans more towards the family dynamics and discovery of the body and then the investigation plotline of the murder becomes intertwined, and the pace of the amateur investigation increases to the climax. The characters are entertaining and unique, but the family dynamics and interactions make them come to life.
I enjoyed and recommend this unique genre mash-up.
***
About the Author
I write crime stories about strong women. My first novel, MOTHER-DAUGHTER MURDER NIGHT, about a grandma, single mom, and teenage girl who come together to solve a murder mystery, is out now.
Writing is my joy. In college, I was an electrical engineering student by day and a slam poet by night. After a brief stint at NASA, I started designing interactive exhibits and eventually became a museum director. I wrote two books of nonfiction about participatory, relevant cultural institutions. I thought of nonprofits as my “real” job and writing on the side.
Then, my mom got sick. I quit my job to help care for her, and I found myself turning to fiction–crime stories especially–as a way to escape during a hard time. My mom and I both always loved mysteries, and I decided to try to write one myself, with a detective/hero based on her. Now, my mom is doing better, and I’m gratefully spending my days writing, reading, and dreaming up new stories.
I live off-the-grid in the Santa Cruz mountains with my family.
Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for DEADLY DEPTHS by John F. Dobbyn on this Partners In Crime Virtual Book Tour.
Below you will find a book description, my book review, an excerpt from the book, the author’s bio and social media links, and a Kingsumo giveaway. Enjoy!
***
Book Description
The death by bizarre means of his mentor, Professor Barrington Holmes, draws Mathew Shane into the quest of five archeologists, known to each other as “The Monkey’s Paws”, for an obscure object of unprecedented historic and financial value. The suspected murders of others of the Monkey’s Paws follow their pursuit of five clues found in a packet of five ancient parchments. Shane’s commitment to disprove the police theory of suicide by Professor Holmes carries him to the steamy bayous of New Orleans, the backstreets of Montreal, the sunken wreck of a pirate vessel off Barbados, and the city of Maroon descendants of escaped slaves in Jamaica.
By weaving a thread from the sacrificial rites of the Aztec kingdom before the Spanish conquest of Mexico through the African beliefs of Jamaican Maroons and finally to the ventures of Captain Henry Morgan during the Golden Era of Piracy in his conquest and sacking of Spanish cities on the Spanish Main, Shane reaches a conclusion he could never have anticipated.
Genre: Mystery, Crime Thriller Published by: Oceanview Publishing Publication Date: August 2023 Number of Pages: 320 ISBN: 9781608095483 (ISBN10: 1608095487)
***
My Book Review
RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars
DEADLY DEPTHS by John F. Dobbyn is an edge-of-your-seat treasure hunt thriller and intricate crime mystery mash-up novel that kept me turning the pages well into the night. This is a standalone novel that is a great mystery/thriller read and while the author is new to me, he does have other published books I will be checking out in the future.
Law professor Matthew Shane also has a love of archeology from his mentor, well known archeologist, Professor Barrington Holmes. Holmes is found dead at his office desk, and it is determined a suicide, but Matthew knows his mentor would never commit suicide.
His search for the truth leads him to a group of five archeologists, including the deceased Barrington, that call themselves “The Monkey’s Paw”. They were entangled in a mysterious expedition and since their return, they are being killed one by one.
Joining forces with the remaining members of “The Monkey’s Paw” and the help of an enigmatic Turkish antiquities dealer in France, Matthew is on a worldwide chase that may cost him his life, too.
I really loved this story. It is full of surprise twists, red herrings, and treachery. Matthew is determined to discover the truth, no matter the peril. He is an honorable, adventurous, and strong protagonist that is easy to cheer for throughout the hunt. The history of the Aztec artifact everyone wants, and the history of the Maroons of Jamaica were both interesting and well positioned throughout the plot to never interfere with the pace. The plot is well paced, fast and seldom lets up even when the plot goes back in time to the diary of a Welsh privateer. The climax was intense, and it leads to a very satisfying conclusion to both the mystery and the treasure hunt.
I highly recommend this high intensity action-adventure mystery/thriller!
***
Excerpt
We arrived at an area of private docks in a town called Oistins. The driver stopped at the base of a wharf that anchored power boats of every size, speed, and description. One power yacht stood out as the choice of the fleet. The Sun Catcher. My guide hustled us both directly to the carpeted gangplank that led on board a vessel that could pass for a floating Ritz Carlton.
The engines were already revving. I was escorted to a padded deck-lounge with maximum view on the foredeck. I had scarcely settled in, when we were slicing through late-afternoon sea-swells that barely caused a rise and fall.
My guide, still in suit and tie, brought me, without either of us asking, a tall, cool, planter’s punch with an ample kick of Mount Gay Rum. For the first moment since Mick O’Flynn told me that someone was asking for me, I made a fully-considered decision. This entire fantasy could easily turn into a disaster that could outstrip New Orleans and Montreal together, but to hell with it. It was just too elating not to accept it at face value – at least for the moment.
My mind was just settling into a comfortable neutral, when I heard footsteps from behind that had more heft than I imagined my guide could produce. I made a move to swing out of the padded deck-chair, when I felt the touch of a hand with authoritative strength on my shoulder. The voice that went with it had the same commanding undertone.
“Stay where you are, Michael. I’ll join you.”
A matching deck-chair was set beside me. I found myself looking up at a shadow against the setting sun that appeared double my bulk and yet compact as an Olympic hammer-thrower. The voice came again. “You’re an interesting study, Michael. I may call you ‘Michael’, right? I should. I probably know more about you than anyone you know. You might have guessed that by now.”
An open hand reached down out of the shadow. I took it. The handshake fit the shaker. It took some seconds for the feeling to come back into mine.
Before I could answer, the voice was coming from the deck-lounge beside me. “No need for coy name games. You know that I’m Wayne Barnes. And you know that I’m one of the, shall we say, associates in that little clique we call the Monkey’s Paws. In fact, your escort here, Emile, tells me it was the mention of my name that swung your decision to get on that plane.”
He nodded to my nearly empty Planter’s Punch. “Another?”
Before I could answer, he gave a slight nod to someone behind us. Before I could say “Yes”, or possibly, but less likely, “No”, a native Bajan in a server’s uniform was at my left taking my empty and handing me a full glass.
I was three good sips into the second glass before I said my first word since coming aboard. I looked over at Wayne. I seemed to have his full focus. His engaging smile seemed to carry a full message of relaxed hospitality, and none of the threatening undercurrents I was scanning for. “You have an interesting way of delivering an invitation, Mr. Barnes”
He raised a hand. “Wayne.”
“’Wayne’ it is. You must have an interesting social life.”
“I do. Do you find it offensive?”
I looked over the bow, past the deepening blue crystal water to the reddening horizon. I felt the soothing caress of the slightly salted ocean breeze. I took one more sip of the most perfectly balanced planters punch of a lifetime, and looked back at Wayne. “Not in the slightest. Yet.”
“Ah yes, ‘yet’.”
“Right. I’m sure this won’t impress you, Wayne, and it’s not a complaint, but I’ve had a week full of enough tragedy to fill a lifetime. Hence the ‘yet’.”
His smile and focused attention remained. “I know more about your week, perhaps, than even you do. But go on.”
The second planter’s punch was having a definitely mollifying effect. “I have no idea what you mean by that last statement, Wayne, so I’ll just pass on. Given that week, and the abrupt transport from hell on earth to . . . paradise on earth, I’d have to be Mrs. Shane’s backward child not to listen for a second shoe to drop.”
The smile expanded. Still no alarms. “Or perhaps you’ve come into a sea-change of good luck, Michael. Why not go with that?”
“Why not indeed? For the moment. Just one question. ”
“Alright. One question. For now. Make it a good one.”
“Oh it is. It’s a beaut. Ecstatic as I am with all this, why the hell am I here?”
That brought a bursting laugh. “I think I’m going to enjoy having you around for a couple of days, Michael. You have an instinct for the jugular. No chipping around the edges. We won’t waste each other’s time.”
“Thank you. But that’s not an answer.”
“No it isn’t.” He looked out to the diminishing sunset. “The only answer I can give you at the moment that would do justice to the question is this. And you’ll just have to live with it for now. You’re here for a quick but depthful education. I think you’ll find it well worth two days of your life. Are you in?”
“Do I have a choice?”
We both looked back at the rapidly diminishing shore-line behind us. “None that comes to mind. Now are you in?”
That brought a smile from me, another healthy sip of the planter’s punch, and a deep breath of the ocean-fresh breeze. “I’m in.”
We chatted through the sunset on far-ranging subjects that had no association whatever with Monkeys Paws, Maroons, murder-suicides – in fact nothing that gave a clue as to why my gracious host had chosen my company over the undoubtedly vast range of his acquaintances. By then, the moon had risen.
At some point, I was aware that the engines had stopped. The splash of two anchors could be heard on either side. The sun had set. The shift from twilight to a darkness, penetrated only by a quarter moon went unnoticed.
I was slowly sipping away at my third or possibly fourth Planter’s Punch, when I became aware of a bobbing light approaching from the port side. Without interrupting the flow of conversation, I noticed that Wayne was following its approach with more than the occasional glance until it reached the side of the yacht.
Within a few minutes, my original guide, still in suit and tie, approached Wayne’s side with an inaudible whisper. I sensed that a bit of steel crept into Wayne’s otherwise conversational tone. “I’ll see him.”
I began to get up to provide privacy. Wayne held my arm in position. “Stay, Michael. Let your education begin.” My guide nodded to someone behind us and lit his path with a small flashlight.
I settled back, as a fiftyish man with narrow, cautious eyes and thinning grey hair that might have last been combed by his mother came up along Wayne’s right side. The loose wrinkles in his ageless cotton suit indicated that he might have been close to six feet, but for a constant stoop as if to pass under an unseen beam. The stoop caused his head to bob and gave him the look of one asking for royal permission to approach.
Wayne’s eyes turned to him. I noticed the stoop of the back became more noticeable. Wayne’s voice was calm and soft, but it commanded his visitor’s full attention. “Do you have it? I assume you wouldn’t be here without it, yes, Yusuf?”
The thin mouth cracked into a smile that conveyed no humor. “Of course. Of course. But perhaps our business . . .”
Wayne nodded toward me. “No fear. Mr. Shayne is here for an education. We shouldn’t deprive him of that, should we?”
The smile on the man’s lips did not match the apprehension in the tiny eyes, but he nodded. “As you say.”
“Then what are you waiting for?”
The man gave a slight glance to either side as if it were the habit of a lifetime. He reached into some deep pocket inside his suitcoat. I noticed a slight but tell-tale hesitation before he slipped out what appeared to be a hard, flat, roundish object, about seven inches across. It was wrapped in several layers of ragged cloth.
He held it until Wayne extended a hand and took it onto his lap. He laid it on the small tray on his stomach. He looked back at the man, who simply forced a smile .
“I assume it all went well?”
“Oh yes, Mr. Barnes. No problems,”
Wayne smiled back. “How I do love to hear those words.”
My eyes were glued to Wayne’s hands as he carefully peeled back one layer of cloth after another. When he turned over the last layer, the object in the shape of a disc sent out instant glints of reflections of the rising moonlight.
I could see Wayne running the tips of his fingers over the entire jagged surface of the disc. He took a flip cigarette lighter out of his pocket, opened it, and lit the flame. When he held it close to the object, I could make out the resemblance of a human face, coarsely pieced together from chips of green stone.
Wayne held it up toward me and ran the flame in front of it.
“Do you recognize it Michael?”
“I’m afraid not.”
He nodded. “Most wouldn’t. Your friend, Professor Holmes, would spot it immediately. The Mayans made death masks to protect their important rulers in their journey to the afterlife. They go back to around 700 A.D.”
“What stones are these? They look like jade.”
“Good spotting. The eyes were made of rare seashells.”
“And I assume valuable?”
He laughed again. “Right to the crux of the issue. Right, Michael.”
He turned the object over and ran his fingers over the back side of it. “One that apparently goes back as far as this, and belonged to the ruler we have in mind, the right collector will pay half a million. Isn’t that right, Yusuf?”
Yusuf’s grin was beginning to become genuine. “Oh yes. Oh yes. And more, as you would know, Mr. Barnes.”
Wayne swung his legs over the deck-lounge toward me. He sat up and very carefully replaced the wrapping that had covered the mask. He stood up and walked toward the man. “And the key to its value is that it is absolutely authentic.”
Wayne looked down at the grinning eyes of Yusuf for several seconds. I think I let out a yell that came from the pit of my stomach when Wayne hurled the wrapped object over side of the yacht, into the pitch blackness that absorbed it with barely a splash.
I thought that the man would crumble to the deck. He barely held his balance. In the blackness of the night, I couldn’t make out his features, but I know to a certainty that every drop of blood left his face.
Wayne called a uniformed attendant.
Before the man moved, Wayne took hold of his arm. I was almost as frozen to the spot as the man. I think we were both certain that he would be following the object into the blackness below.
Wayne held him close enough to speak directly into his ear, but spoke loudly enough, I’m sure, so that I could hear.
“It’s a fake, Yusuf. I’m sure you know that. But you’ll live to do me a service. You’re a delivery boy. Nothing more. I want you to take a message back to Istanbul. I want you to say just this. ‘You had my trust. I give it sparingly, and not twice. Rest assured, we’ll speak of this again.’ Do you have that Yusuf?”
The man had all he could do to nod.
Wayne signaled his attendant. “Take him back.”
The man was escorted, practically carried toward the back of the vessel. In a few minutes, I could see running lights heading away from the yacht.
Wayne sat back down. “What do you think, Michael? One more Planter’s Punch before dinner?”
I could only smile at the abrupt change of tone and subject.
“No? Then shall we go in to dinner. The chef should be prepared by now.”
When he stood up, I saw that he took something from under his deck-lounge. My mouth sprung open when a glint of light from an opening door of the yacht cabin lit up the death mask. I could see amusement in the smile of my host.
“What on earth did you throw overboard?”
“Oh that. I substituted my lap tray in the wrapping for the desk mask. I’ll keep the mask.”
“But if it’s a fake.”
“It is, but a fake by a well-respected forger of these antiquities. It has enough value for that reason alone to pay the expenses I’ve already incurred in acquiring it. Shall we go to dinner?”
***
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Author Bio
Following graduation from Boston Latin School and Harvard College with a major in Latin and Linguistics, three years on active duty as fighter intercept director in the United States Air Force, graduation from Boston College Law School, three years of practice in civil and criminal trial work, and graduation from Harvard Law School with a Master of Laws degree, I began a career as a Professor of Law at Villanova Law School. Twenty-five years ago I began writing mystery/thriller fiction. I have so far had twenty-five short stories published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine and Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery magazine, and six mystery thriller novels, the Michael Knight/Lex Devlin series, published by Oceanview Publishing. The second novel, Frame Up, was selected as Foreword Review’s Book of the Year.
Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for NONE WITHOUT SIN by Michael Bradley on this Black Tide Book Tour.
Below you will find a book description, my book review, an excerpt, an about the author section and the author’s social media links. Enjoy!
***
Book Description
When a Delaware real estate mogul is murdered, newspaper journalist Brian Wilder wants the scoop on the killing, including the meaning behind the mysterious loaf of bread left with the corpse. Reverend Candice Miller, called to minister to the grieving family, quickly realizes that the killer has adopted the symbolism of sin eating, a Victorian-era religious ritual, as a calling card. Is it the work of a religious fanatic set to punish people for their missteps, or something even more sinister?
As more victims fall, Brian and Candice follow a trail of deceit and blackmail, hoping to discover the identity of the killer―and praying that their own sins won’t catch the killer’s attention.
NONE WITHOUT SIN by Michael Bradley is an intriguing amateur sleuth mystery/serial killer crime thriller with an interesting historical religious hook, secrets, lies and murder. There are several murders in this standalone, but they are not overly graphic.
Pastor Candice Miller is an Episcopalian minister who is called to help with a woman and her daughter from her church when the husband is found dead when they return home from a show. The locally known real estate agent is found with a knife stabbed into his chest through a loaf of round bread.
Brian Wilder is an award-winning journalist who has started over by opening his own small town local newspaper. He meets his detective friend, at the scene of the murder and learns of the bread and the fact that a word was scrawled on the dead man’s sleeve.
As more murders occur Brian and Candice are at each scene and begin to trade information and discover the ritual meaning of the bread left on each victim goes back to the tradition of sin-eaters from the 18th and early 19th centuries. They also discover all the victims have a sin they are hiding and so do Candice and Brian. Could they become victims, too?
This is an easy-to-read interesting character driven mystery. So many secrets and lies among the entire cast of characters and yet they are believable secrets and lies. While Candice and Brian are the dual POV characters throughout the story, I developed a real empathy for Brian, and I can see the author being able to bring him back for follow-up stories. The historical information was woven into the story without slowing the pace of the investigation. The pace of the plot was steady throughout until the fast-paced climax, with plenty of twists and red herrings. While the climax was not a surprise to me, it was still well written.
Michael Bradley was born and raised in New Jersey, a fact he hopes no one will hold against him. He spent eight years as a radio DJ “on the air” before realizing he needed a real job and turned to IT. Never one to waste an experience, he uses his familiarity with life on the radio for many of his suspense novels, among them his first, the supernatural thriller Sirens in the Night (2015), a “smart, terrifying, heartbreaking” and “compelling read,” and his third, the thriller Dead Air (2020), a “phenomenal read” that will “make you look over your shoulder the moment night falls.”
Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for THE WHISPERINGWOMEN (Delafield & Mallory Investigations Book #1) by Trish MacEnulty on this Black Coffee Book Tour.
Below you will find a book description, my book review, an about the author section and the author’s social media links. Enjoy!
***
Book Description
Born into a once-wealthy Manhattan family, Louisa Delafield survives by doing the one thing she’s suited for: writing a society column. But in January 1913, the death of a police matron in a bombed brownstone convinces Louisa to write about darker subjects. “Muckraking” goes against her upbringing, but once her blinders are off, she can’t continue to protect the privileged.
Ellen Malloy came to America to escape the priests who told her she would go to hell for loving women. However, her job as a debutante’s personal maid affords her no opportunity for a life, much less for finding love. After witnessing the death of a fellow servant during an illegal abortion, she flees her comfortable position in fear for her life.
When the two women are brought together by New York’s top bomb squad cop, Louisa and Ellen dive into a dangerous world of gangsters, bordellos, and back-alley abortions to find the connection between Ellen’s friend and the dead police matron. Their investigation makes them the target of powerful forces who will stop at nothing, even murder, to bury the truth.
This book is a timely reminder of an era when the legal system and social norms prevented women from enjoying the freedom to control their own destinies.
THE WHISPERING WOMEN (A Delafield & Mallory Investigation Book #1) by Trish MacEnulty is the first book in an exciting historical mystery series featuring two very different young women in early 20th century New York who come together to fight against injustice. This is a story set over a hundred years ago and is yet eerily relevant to the present.
Louisa Delafield was born into a Manhattan society family. Due to her father’s murder and her family’s financial downfall, she now earns her living and is supporting her mother by writing a society column for The Ledger. Ellen Mallory came to America from Ireland and is a lady’s maid to a young debutante. When Ellen witnesses the death of a fellow servant during an illegal abortion, she finds she must flee her position in fear of her life.
Louisa and Ellen stories converge as Louisa looks to discover why a police matron was blown up while investigating an abortionist and Ellen is running from those Louisa is investigating and wants to seek revenge for her friend. The two must learn to navigate the social class system to discover a way to combine their strengths and find the power to bring powerful evil into the light.
I loved this story and both Louisa and Ellen are great protagonists. Louisa and Ellen are well developed, and their differences make them a good pair that you want to succeed. You can tell the research into early 1900’s New York life and society is extensive and the descriptions pull you right into the story. The plot is well paced, and the investigation is believable. So many of the topics in this plot, such as illegal abortion, women’s rights, and LGBTQ issues are as discussion worthy then as they are today.
I highly recommend this wonderful start to a new series with memorable strong main characters, and I am looking forward to seeing where this author takes them next.
***
About the Author
The Whispering Women is Trish MacEnulty’s debut as a historical fiction novelist. She has previously published four novels, a short story collection, and a memoir. A former Professor of English at Johnson & Wales University in Charlotte, NC, she currently lives in Florida with her husband, two dogs, and one cat and teaches journalism.
More goes wrong than could be imagined when Iris Sparks and Gwendolyn Bainbridge of The Right Sort Marriage Bureau are unexpectedly engaged to dig into the past of a suitor of a royal princess in Allison Montclair’s delightful second novel, A Royal Affair.
In London 1946, The Right Sort Marriage Bureau is just beginning to take off and the proprietors, Miss Iris Sparks and Mrs. Gwendolyn Bainbridge, are in need of a bigger office and a secretary to handle the growing demand. Unfortunately, they don’t yet have the necessary means. So when a woman arrives—a cousin of Gwen’s—with an interesting and quite remunerative proposition, they two of them are all ears.
The cousin, one Lady Matheson, works for the Queen in “some capacity” and is in need of some discreet investigation. It seems that the Princess Elizabeth has developed feelings for a dashing Greek prince and a blackmail note has arrived, alluding to some potentially damaging information about said prince. Wanting to keep this out of the palace gossip circles, but also needing to find out what skeletons might lurk in the prince’s closet, the palace has quietly turned to Gwen and Iris. Without causing a stir, the two of them must now find out what secrets lurk in the prince’s past, before his engagement to the future Queen of England is announced. And there’s more at stake than the future of the Empire —there is their potential new office that lies in the balance.
A ROYAL AFFAIR (A Sparks and Bainbridge Mystery Book #2) by Allison Montclair is an exciting historical mystery addition to the Sparks and Bainbridge Mystery series featuring the owners of The Right SortMarriage Bureau in post WWII London. Miss Iris Sparks and Mrs. Gwendolyn Bainbridge are two women with very diverse backgrounds who work perfectly together as co-owners of their new marriage match business and as unlikely best friends. These first two books can be read as standalones, but the main characters continue to evolve and I suggest you read them in order.
With The Right Sort Marriage Bureau becoming more successful, Iris and Gwen are looking forward to being able to move to larger offices down the hall in their current office building. When Gwen’s cousin, Lady Matheson, who works for the Queen arrives with a profitable proposition, they are more than happy to take on the job.
Lady Matheson has intercepted a black mail note addressed to the Princess Elizabeth concerning her choice for her prince. Wanting to avoid palace gossip, Lady Matheson hires Iris and Gwen to discreetly investigate if the information in some private family letters is true which could be damaging to the Greek prince and Elizabeth’s choice for husband.
What Iris and Gwen don’t realize is that they are not the only party looking for the letters. A dead body, British intelligence, Russian spies, and Greek government officials are all tangled together in this intriguing investigation. Iris and Gwen ready to assist the Crown and Princess and get their new office, too.
This is a great addition to this series, and I enjoy reuniting with Iris and Gwen. These two characters just jump off the page with their friendship, witty dialogue, and unique to their station and background skills. I quickly fall into the story of both their business and personal lives and feel as if I am a fly on the wall. Iris and Gwen feel like friends. The plot for this mystery is very intriguing and twisted. The use of historic figures with a “what if” scenario which could be very plausible kept me completely invested in the story. The secondary characters are fully drawn and quite believable. This has become a must-read series for me, and I am looking forward to following Iris and Gwen on their next adventure, because you know they just cannot stay out of trouble.
I highly recommend this historical amateur sleuth mystery!
***
About the Author
ALLISON MONTCLAIR grew up devouring hand-me-down Agatha Christie paperbacks and James Bond movies. As a result of this deplorable upbringing, Montclair became addicted to tales of crime, intrigue, and espionage. She now spends her spare time poking through the corners, nooks, and crannies of history, searching for the odd mysterious bits and transforming them into novels of her own. The Right Sort of Man is her debut novel.
