Today is my turn to share my Feature Post and Book Review for OPERATION LIGHTNING BOLT by Hilary Green on this Books ‘n’ All Promotions Blog Tour.
Below you will find a book description, my book review and the author’s bio and social media links. Enjoy!
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Book Description
A British secret agent must face her greatest nightmare to unravel a dangerous mystery — if she is to save her country from its worst enemies.
Hampshire, 1943.
Katherine Isobel ‘Kim’ Maxwell has been languishing in the ‘cooler’ up in Scotland in what she sees as punishment for getting caught — and tortured — by the Nazis, before being freed by Resistance fighters and smuggled back into England. Now she is sent for by the head of SOE. This is her chance to prove herself.
A fellow agent has been found murdered. The victim had a very special function in their training plan for secret agents, at the SOE finishing school, Palace House in Beaulieu. Her last ‘student’ was a nervous trainee called Lucien who was sent to France as a radio operator — and almost immediately captured by the Nazis.
Kim is ordered to run an internal investigation into Lilian’s murder. She soon discovers that there is every indication that Lilian heard something she shouldn’t have and that her murder was a warning: her ears were plugged with hot sealing wax before she died. Kim also spots a strange zigzag pattern on the wall above the bed where Lilian was found, which Lilian drew using her own blood as she lay dying.
Aided by Roland, aka the Red Fox, a new recruit with a shady past of his own, she begins to uncover a plot that extends far beyond the secretive world of SOE.
But in order to expose this dangerous web of deceit, Kim must go back into the heart of occupied France — and into the hands of the enemy . . .
OPERATION LIGHTNING BOLT OPERATION KINGFISHER TWICE ROYAL LADY APHRODITE’S ISLAND
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My Book Review
RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars
OPERATION LIGHTNING BOLT by Hilary Green is a WWII historical mystery set in both France and England featuring a dogged young female spy in a race to uncover a plot on English soil that could change the outcome of the war. This is a standalone mystery full of intrigue and mystery.
Lieutenant Katherine “Kim” Maxwell is a member of the SOE. She has been recuperating in Scotland since her retrieval by the French Resistance from her Nazis captors. When a friend and fellow agent is found murdered, Kim is sent by Brigadier Colin “M” Gubbins to investigate in the guise of a teacher at her old spy school.
Kim is aided by one of her students, Roland “Foxy” and they uncover a shadow group of Nazi sympathizers who are ready to attempt a change in the English government at the very top and the English position in the war.
This historical mystery has fully drawn main characters that were interesting, and I was sorry to see their storyline end. Kim is a smart and spirited main character who was just as able as any male spy in this book which I enjoyed. She did not wait for a rescue from her romantic interest. The mystery plot itself is well paced and has some twists, but it was also easy to anticipate many of the pivotal plot points. That said, it was a well-researched historical novel and a very enjoyable read with engaging characters that I am sorry to say goodbye to.
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Author Bio
Hilary trained for the stage at the Rose Bruford college but then decided to go into teaching. She spent many years teaching drama and theatre studies in a variety of schools, from a girl’s boarding school in Kent to Comprehensives in London and on the Wirral. It was there that she had the great pleasure of guiding Daniel Craig’s first steps towards stardom.
She also founded and ran a Youth Theatre Company in Epsom, Surrey. She has a B.Ed (First Class) from Liverpool University and an MA Writing from Liverpool John Moores. Since retiring from teaching to concentrate on writing she has published twenty historical novels and her first non-fiction book will be out next spring. She also writes under the name of Holly Green.
Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for THE GIRL FROM GUERNICA by Karen Robards on this HTP Books Fall 2022 Historical Fiction Blog Tour. This historical fiction story is an emotional and suspenseful rollercoaster ride from beginning to end.
Below you will find a book summary, my book review, an excerpt from the book and the author’s bio and social media links. Enjoy!
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Book Summary
New York Times bestselling author Karen Robards returns with a riveting story of intrigue, deception and bravery in the face of war, inspired by Picasso’s great masterpiece Guernica:
On an April day in 1937, the sky opens and fire rains down upon the small Spanish town of Guernica. Seventeen-year-old Sibi and her family are caught up in the horror. Griff, an American military attaché, pulls Sibi from the wreckage, and it’s only the first time he saves her life in a span of hours. When Germany claims no involvement in the attack, insisting the Spanish Republic was responsible, Griff guides Sibi to lie to Nazi officials. If she or her sisters reveal that they saw planes bearing swastikas, the gestapo will silence them—by any means necessary.
As war begins to rage across Europe, Sibi joins the underground resistance, secretly exchanging information with Griff. But as the scope of Germany’s ambitions becomes clear, maintaining the facade of a Nazi sympathizer becomes ever more difficult. And as Sibi is drawn deeper into a web of secrets, she must find a way to outwit an enemy that threatens to decimate her family once and for all.
Masterfully rendered and vividly capturing one of the most notorious episodes in history, The Girl from Guernica is an unforgettable testament to the bonds of family and the courage of women in wartime.
THE GIRL FROM GUERNICA by Karen Robards is an emotional and suspenseful historical fiction with romantic elements story from beginning to end. This standalone novel follows a young female protagonist and her family from the first unprovoked aerial bombing of civilians at Guernica which shocked the world in 1937 through the end of WWII.
Sibil “Sibi” Helenger, her mother and three younger sisters are in the Basque city of Guernica. They were taking care of their grandmother in her last days while their father, a German rocket scientist remained in Germany. With the Spanish Revolution raging around them, Sibi wants to return to Germany, but her mother wants to stay. On a normal day in April, Guernica was suddenly attacked from the air with bombs dropping and machine gun aerial strafing from German planes.
Griff, an American military attaché pulls Sibi and her youngest sister from the wreckage. As Sibi attempts to get a hold of her father, she learns that her knowledge that the planes were German and not Spanish revolutionaries, puts her and her sister’s lives all in danger from the Nazi regime. Their father finds them and takes them back to Germany, but Sibi is still in danger, not only as she lies for the Nazi’s, but also because she continues to give Griff secret information to use against them.
As the war rages on, Sibi, known as “The Girl from Guernica” is committed to outwitting the Nazi’s who threaten her family while she does everything in her power to assist the allies in defeating them.
This is my favorite historical fiction book so far this year! It is riveting and I was unable to put it down. Ms. Robards does an amazing job of researching an often-forgotten war crime in the years leading up to WWII. Sibi’s resilience and strength while still being so young herself makes her an unforgettable character that I became invested with from page one. There are times when the story brought me to tears and others when I felt such happiness for Sibi, her family, and the mysterious Griff. All the characters and the historical references and locations are realistically written and believable.
I highly recommend this historical fiction read!
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Excerpt
April 25, 1937
To laugh and dance and live in the teeth of whatever tragedies an uncaring fate threw in your path was the Basque way.
The stories Sibi’s mother told, stories handed down through generations of indomitable women, painted those defiant sufferers as heroes.
Sibi feared she was not the stuff of which such heroes were made.
She was hungry. Her feet hurt. And she was afraid. Of those things, afraid was the worst by far. She was so tired of being afraid.
A knot in her stomach. A tightness in her throat. A prickle of unease sliding over her skin. Familiar sensations all, which did not make their sudden onset feel any less dreadful. Sixteen-year-old Sibi—Sibil Francesca Helinger—pushed back a wayward strand of coffee-brown hair that had escaped from the heavy bun coiled at her nape and frowned out into the misty darkness enshrouding the Calle Fernando el Católico.
Her pulse thrummed as she clung to the desperate hope that she was not seeing what she thought she was. Since the fighting had moved close enough so that the residents of this ancient village high in the western Pyrenees could actually hear gunfire in the surrounding hills, fear had become her all-too-frequent visitor. But this—this was different. This was because of something that was happening now, right before her eyes, in the wide, tree-lined street just beyond where she stood watching the regular weekly celebration on the night before market day.
Have we left it too late? The thought made her mouth go dry.
“I want a sweet.” Five-year-old Margrit’s restless movement beside her reclaimed her attention. Gripping the child’s hand tighter, Sibi cast an impatient glance down.
“There’s no money for a sweet.” Or anything else, Sibi could have added, but didn’t.
“But I want one.” Round blue eyes in a cherubic face surrounded by gold ringlets stared longingly at the squares of honey and almond turrón being hawked to the crowd by a woman bearing a tray of them. The yeasty aroma of the pastry made Sibi’s stomach growl. For the last few weeks, she and her mother had been rationing their diminishing resources by skipping the evening meal so that the younger ones could eat.
“Ask Mama to buy you one later.”
Margrit’s warm little fingers—which Sibi kept a secure hold on because, as angelic as the youngest of the four Helinger sisters looked, she wasn’t—twitched in hers. “She won’t. You know she won’t. She’ll say she doesn’t have any money, either.”
That was undoubtedly true. In fact, Sibi had only said it in hopes of placating her little sister until their mother returned. Thinking fast—Margrit had mostly outgrown tantrums, but not entirely—Sibi was just about to come out with an alternate suggestion when thirteen-year-old Luiza jumped in.
“You know we’re poor now, so stop being such a baby.” Cross because she hadn’t been permitted to go to the cinema with a group of her friends, Luiza spoke sharply. The thick, straight, butterscotch blond hair she’d chopped to chin length herself the night before—”Nobody has long hair anymore!” she’d wailed in the face of their mother’s horror—had already lost its grip on the rag curls she’d forced into it. She looked like she was wearing a thatch of broom straw on her head, but Sibi was far too good a sister, and far too preoccupied at the moment, to point that out.
“I don’t like being poor.” Margrit’s lower lip quivered.
“None of us do.”
“I specially don’t like—”
Luiza cut her off. “You’re whining. You know what Mama said about whining.”
“I am not…”
A match flared in the street. Tuning her sisters out, Sibi focused on what the brief incandescence revealed as it rose to light a cigarette—red tip glowing brightly—before arcing like a tiny shooting star to the ground. Sibi looked beyond the cigarette to the dark shape behind it. The dark shapes behind it. She wasn’t mistaken. Soldiers—their soldiers, the loyalist Republicans, their uniforms unmistakable—poured into the street from seemingly everywhere. And the numbers were increasing…
Her heartbeat quickened. Does no one else see?
Biting down on her lower lip, she glanced around. The crowd clapped and swayed to the rollicking music of the highly prized town band and ate and danced and played games and— She concluded that no one else did. The village leaders who were present appeared unaware: Father Esteban talked to the woman behind the refreshment table as she ladled out a bowl of spicy fish soup for him; His Honor the mayor played mus, the popular card game, with three friends; the Count of Arana, the town’s most prominent citizen, stood with his arms crossed and a stern gaze fixed on his fifteen-year-old daughter, Teresa, as she walked away from him with her hand tucked into the arm of… Emilio Aguire.
Sibi’s stomach gave an odd little flutter.
Watching them reminded her of just how much of an outsider she was here in this quaint small town with its red-roofed white houses and narrow cobbled streets. Emilio was her age, he was the handsomest boy in school and he had been kind to her. She had hoped… But no. To hope for anything where he was concerned was foolishness. She and her mother and sisters were only temporary residents. She worked as a part-time waitress and her mother had worked in a dress shop before being fired three weeks ago, when the shop owner’s husband had displayed too much interest in her. And that, of course, had immediately become a topic for much discussion among the town gossips whose gleeful suspicions that the former Marina Diaitz, now Helinger, who had come home with her children but without her husband, was a floozy were thus seemingly confirmed. All those factors combined to put them near the bottom of the social ladder in this place where the wealthy local aristocracy had been comfortably in place for generations, and they, with their German father, would have been outsiders, anyway. And Teresa was beautiful and rich and— Well, there it was, foolishness.
She had no time for foolishness.
Glancing at those in her own party—Luiza and Margrit, and their other sister Johanna, all bunched close around her, and their mother, Marina, dancing merrily with the baker Antonio Batzar beneath the colored lights strung above the makeshift dance floor in hopes of securing a scarce loaf of tomorrow morning’s fresh bread—Sibi felt her heartbeat quicken.
Intent on their own concerns, they appeared oblivious to anything else. As usual it was up to her, notorious as the family worrier, to think about what might happen, to catch and make sense of what the rest of them missed.
Tonight, it was that their soldiers, their last line of defense against the surging rebel Nationalists, appeared to be coming together en masse to slink like starving cats past the Sunday night festivities.
These were the same war-weary, battle-scarred troops that had been camped out in the forested peaks surrounding the town since they had fallen back after the savage attack on the neighboring village of Durango that had brought the nine-month-old civil war as close as its ancient churches and rambling streets. In the days since, thousands of panicking refugees had flooded the town. The warships of Generalissimo Francisco Franco, commander in chief of the rebel forces, had blockaded the Basque ports. Food had become scarce: along with bread, milk and meat were almost impossible to obtain. People were hungry, frightened. The war that had been safely on the other side of the country had changed direction so fast that the residents of these sleepy villages high above the Bay of Biscay had been caught unprepared. But unprepared or not, in a new and terrifying offensive the newspapers were calling the War of the North, the fighting was now rushing like a wave toward their front door.
The soldiers were all that stood between them and the enemy forces determined to destroy them. And the soldiers were leaving.
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Author Bio
Karen Robards is the New York Times, USA TODAY and Publishers Weekly bestselling author of fifty novels and one novella. She is the winner of six Silver Pen awards and numerous other awards.
Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for WRONG LINE, RIGHT CONNECTION by Karina Bartow on the author’s personal blog tour.
Below you will find my author interview, a book description, my book review, and the author’s bio and social media links. Enjoy!
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Author Interview
Avonna Kershey:How did you get the idea for your story? And why a novella instead of a full length romance?
Karina Bartow: My mom cleaned for a family friend, Mabel, for thirty years, and she became a grandmother to my sister and me. Because of her clever wit and the deep impact she made on my life, I used to tease her that I’d write a book about her one day. She passed away when I was fifteen, but I kept my promise by putting her as a secondary character in the first book I ever wrote, Forgetting My Way Back to You. My writing coach liked her so much, though, that she worked on me for years to write a stand-alone story about her. Eventually, I conceded and used several true aspects of her life—like her career with the telephone company and her real love letters from her husband—to sculpt Wrong Line, Right Connection.
As for the length of it, I didn’t really have a plan for how long it would be. Like with my other books, I try to base it on the feel of where the plot’s going. I’d rather have a reader wishing for more rather than wishing for it to end!
AK: Was there a reason you chose the 1960’s time period and the Kentucky setting?
KB: Yes, I obviously needed a time period when the switchboard was still in service. In truth, the real Mabel worked as an operator around the 1930’s, but not being a history buff, I wasn’t too comfortable with that era. Plus, her character in Forgetting My Way Back to You was ninety when the story was set in 2013, so I had to be true to that.
Louisville was Mabel’s real-life hometown and something she was very proud of, so it was my only choice.
AK: How would you describe Mabel?
KB: In the book and in real life, she’s incredibly witty and a force of nature. She’s her own person and doesn’t compromise who she is for anyone. I gave the fictional version a bit more hesitancy to trust people because she has endured so much. Still, she loves life.
AK:Why did you give Mabel two previous relationships?
KB: Again, that was a true fact about the real Mabel. She was married twice before she met Roy, with her first husband being good but dying young and the second being…well, like No Good Ned in the book.
AK:How would you describe Roy?
KB: He’s very gentle and charming. In some ways, he’s the opposite of Mabel, having a quiet, laid-back demeanor, but he can still surprise you with his wry humor.
AK:The HEA has a mini cliff-hanger until you turn the page to the epilogue. Why did you choose that way of ending your story?
KB: I’ve done that on a few of my books now but in various ways. I don’t want it to become predictable, but I like having suspense up to the very end. Endings always intimidate me, as you want to please the reader without it being anti-climactic, so I enjoy throwing in a twist.
AK: What is your next project?
KB: While I’ve dipped my toes into love stories a bit, I primarily write mysteries. Earlier this year, my second installment of The Unde(a)feted Detective Series, Brother of Interest, came out, so I’ve been working on the follow-up to that. In the meantime, I’m writing a short story that’s a bridge between the two, which will be featured in a podcast sometime in 2023.
My 2018 novel, Forgetting My Way Back to You, which also features Mabel, will be available for $.99 on Kindle September 5-10.
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Book Description
Could a mortifying day on the job end up netting you true love?
When switchboard operator Mabel Jennings reports to work on a Monday in the summer of 1964, she doesn’t have any interest in finding love again. A visitor from Coatesville, Pennsylvania changes that. On a business trip, Roy Stentz calls her station, and his deep yet kind voice intrigues her. She tries to remain professional, but in her smitten state, she connects him to the wrong line…twice, in fact. Finally, Roy invites her out to dinner, saying he wants to see if she’s a better date than an operator.
The haphazard introduction sets an unexpected romance into motion. Going out every night while he’s in town, their bond deepens as they share the tragedies they’ve endured and observe each other’s beautiful qualities. Mabel’s past travails with love, however, hold her back from committing to anything permanent. Will she overcome her reluctance and open her heart to the love calling out to her? Or will she hang up on her chance for happiness?
WRONG LINE, RIGHT CONNECTION by Karina Bartow is a heartfelt, enjoyable historical romance novella set in 1964 featuring a switchboard operator who has given up on love.
Mabel Jennings is back at the telephone company as a switchboard operator after once again having to earn her own living. She is sharing a house with a close friend and more than happy to be on her own again. She is done with love after losing the first love of her life and then being in an abusive second relationship.
One day on the switchboard, Mabel receives a call for connection from a man with a deep and kind voice. She is so frazzled by her reaction to this man, she accidently transfers him to the wrong line, not once, but twice. Roy Stentz is not put off but intrigued by this operator and asks her out. Roy and Mabel quickly find their relationship is more than either expected, but Mabel’s past relationships may not allow her to believe in love once more.
I really enjoyed this romance. Even though this was a novella, it is packed with interesting characters, plenty of emotion and the HEA in the epilogue. Mabel has lived with several tragedies in her life which made her guarded and yet Roy was able to get her to open up and attempt dating again even as she kept comparing him to the previous two men in her life. The author also did a good job of immersing the reader in the 1960’s time period with the descriptions of the switchboard operators, the types of dates Mabel and Roy went on and the fact that Mabel felt her divorce would stop any man from being interested in her. The secondary characters are all fully drawn and add to the story. The only slight problem I had with this novella was Mabel’s flashbacks to her previous relationships which were necessary to understand her reluctance for another relationship, but they sometimes pulled me out of the flow of the story.
Overall, this is a fast, entertaining romance novella with a memorable heroine.
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Author Bio
Karina Bartow grew up and still lives in Northern Ohio. Though born with Cerebral Palsy, she’s never allowed her disability to define her. Rather, she’s used her experiences to breathe life into characters who have physical limitations, but like her, are determined not to let them stand in the way of the life they want. Her works include Husband in Hiding, Forgetting My Way Back to You, and Brother of Interest. She may only be able to type with one hand, but she writes with her whole heart!
K-9 COLD CASE (K-9 Alaska Book #3, Unsolved Mystery Book #3) by Elizabeth Heiter is another fast-paced, exciting romantic suspense in the Harlequin Intrigue K-9 Alaska series. This book is set in small-town Alaska featuring the chief of police and an FBI Victim Specialist and his therapy dog chasing an unsub who has left the same image at all his crime scenes over the last eight years. This book is part of two series but is easily read as a standalone crime mystery.
Chief of Police Keara Hernandez moved to Desparre, Alaska after the murder investigation of her detective husband in Houston became a cold case six years ago to try and heal. When a bomb goes of in the neighboring town of Luna, Keara offers to assist the FBI agents called in to lead the investigation.
Jax Diallo is an FBI Victim Specialist who travels with his therapy dog, Patches to work with the crime victims as other FBI special agents investigate the crime. As Jax and Keara do their jobs, a second bomb is exploded in Desparre’s public park. Both times a symbol is left behind that Keara recognizes from the pictures of her husband’s cold case. But what do a bomber and a murderer have in common? Also, as they work together, they try to fight the growing attraction they feel for each other.
Jax and Keara try to discover what ties all the cold cases and recent bombings together, but the bomber has Keara in his sights, and he has plans to make Keara a cold case like her dead husband.
I love both Keara and Jax in this book. They are well written and believable with both the pacing of their investigation and their attraction. The crime/suspense plot was well paced with twists that made it exciting and I just kept turning the pages. Of course, I also love the canine companion in each book in this series. This is a gripping romantic suspense with more suspense than romance, but it works in this story.
I highly recommend this addition to the series and I am looking forward to many more by this author!
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About the Author
Publishers Weekly bestselling author ELIZABETH HEITER likes her suspense to feature strong heroines, chilling villains, psychological twists, and a little bit of romance. Her research has taken her into the minds of serial killers, through murder investigations, and onto the FBI Academy’s shooting range. Her novels have been published in more than a dozen countries and eight languages; they’ve also been shortlisted for the HOLT Medallion, National Readers’ Choice, Daphne Du Maurier and Booksellers’ Best awards and won the RT Reviewers’ Choice award.
Elizabeth graduated from the University of Michigan with a degree in English Literature. She’s a member of International Thriller Writers, Mystery Writers of America and Romance Writers of America.
Today is my turn to share my Feature Post and Book Review for DEATH AT THE MANOR (A Lily Adler Mystery Book #3) by Katharine Schellman 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. Good luck and enjoy!
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Book Description
The tortured spirits of the dead haunt a Regency-era English manor—but the true danger lies in the land of the living in the third installment in the Lily Adler mysteries, perfect for fans of Deanna Raybourn.
Regency widow Lily Adler is looking forward to spending the autumn away from the social whirl of London. When she arrives in Hampshire with her friends, the Carroways, she doesn’t expect much more than a quiet country visit and the chance to spend time with her charming new acquaintance, Matthew Spencer.
But something odd is afoot in the small country village. A ghost has taken up residence in the Belleford manor, a lady in grey who wanders the halls at night, weeping and wailing. Half the servants have left in terror, but the family seems delighted with the notoriety that their ghost provides. Intrigued by this spectral guest, Lily and her party immediately make plans to visit Belleford.
They arrive at the manor the next morning ready to be entertained—only to find that tragedy has struck. The matriarch of the family has just been found killed in her bed.
The dead woman’s family is convinced that the ghost is responsible. Lily is determined to learn the truth before another victim turns up—but could she be next in line for the Great Beyond?
Genre: Historical Mystery Published by: Crooked Lane Books Publication Date: August 9th 2022 Number of Pages: 352 ISBN: 1639100784 (ISBN13: 9781639100781) Series: Lily Adler Mystery #3
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My Book Review
RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars
DEATH AT THE MANOR (A Lily Adler Mystery Book #3) is another entertaining historical cozy mystery in this series featuring Regency widow, Lily Adler and her close group of friends. This book is easily read as a standalone mystery but some of Lily’s close friends are carried over from the previous books in the series.
After dealing with two murder mysteries in the bustling swirl of London society, Lily Adler is happy to be retreating to the country home of her aunt and friend. Lord and Lady Carroway accompany her before they are to continue on to their country home. On their first night, they are invited to dinner by Matthew Spenser who made Lily’s acquaintance in London, and they learn of a tale of a ghost haunting the inhabitants of Belleford manor.
They are invited for a tour of the manor and are told the story of the “lady in gray” who wanders the halls weeping and wailing the halls at night. As they are being given the tour by the son of the manor, there is a scream from his sister who finds the matriarch of the manor dead in her bed. There seems to be no way to enter the room after she locks her door from in inside each night, so her death is blamed on the ghost.
Lily and her friends do not believe in ghosts, and she is determined to learn the truth of this death.
I enjoy this series and all the characters, especially Lily. I am always guessing what Lily will choose to do with her love life while she states she is not ready to move on from the death of her husband and yet she has two gentlemen very interested in her. I enjoy a locked room mystery and this addition to the series was well written one with plenty of suspects and red herrings and a surprise twist at the end. I did feel though there were a few places in this story that lagged a bit compared to the other mysteries in the series. All the secondary characters are well drawn especially Ophelia Carroway. The dress, customs, and activities are well researched and suitable to the time period.
I am always happy to read a Lily Adler historical cozy mystery.
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Excerpt
As they walked, Mr. Wright fell in step next to Ofelia. “Have you ever seen a ghost before, Lady Carroway?”
“I have not,” she replied, as polite as ever in spite of the hint of skepticism in her voice. “Pray, what does it look like?”
“Like a lady in white and gray,” he said, and Lily was surprised to see how serious his expression was. His frivolous, unctuous manner had dropped away, and he shivered a little as he gestured toward the windows. “No one has seen her face. The first time I saw her she was standing right there, bathed in moonlight, when I was returning from a late night in the village. And my sister saw her in the early morning only two days ago. Some nights, we have heard her wails echoing through the halls, even when she is nowhere to be seen.”
Lily exchanged a look with her aunt, who seemed surprised by the detail in Thomas Wright’s story and the quaver in his voice. Either he believed wholeheartedly in his ghost, or he was putting on a very convincing performance for his audience.
“And what does she do?” Ofelia asked, sounding a little more somber now, as they drew
to a halt in front of the windows. The small party looked around the corner of the hall. It was unremarkable enough, with several large paintings, and a tall, handsome curio cabinet standing in an alcove. An old-fashioned tapestry hung across one wall, though it was worn and faded enough that it was hard to tell exactly what picture it had originally presented.
“Nothing, so far,” Mr. Wright said, a sort of forced theatricality in his voice that left Lily puzzled.
She had expected, based on what Mr. Spencer had said the night before, to find an eager showman in Thomas Wright, ready to bask in the attention of curious neighbors, not a true believer in the supernatural. Glancing at Mr. Spencer out of the corner of her eye, she thought he looked equally puzzled.
“She stands and weeps, or floats around the hall and wails. Usually, if someone tries to draw close, she vanishes. But last month—” Mr. Wright’s voice dropped a little. He still glanced
uneasily toward the other end of the hall, as if momentarily distracted or looking for someone, before quickly returning his attention to his audience. “Last month she became angry when one of our housemaids came upon her unexpectedly. The lady in gray pursued her down the hall, wailing. Poor Etta was so scared that she fell down the stairs in her haste to get away. That
was when our servants started leaving.”
“I trust the housemaid has recovered?” Mr. Spencer asked, sounding genuinely concerned.
“She has,” Mr. Wright replied. “But no one has tried to approach the lady in gray again. We think she wishes to be left alone.”
“Well,” Lily said, attempting a return to lightness, “as far as ghosts go, that sounds reasonable enough. I confess I feel that way often enough myself, especially after too many busy nights in a row.”
Ofelia, who had been looking a little wide-eyed, giggled, and Mr. Spencer quickly covered a cough that might have been a chuckle.
Mr. Wright scowled, his expression halfway between unease and displeasure. “I take it you are not a woman who believes in ghosts, Mrs. Adler?”
“I have never had the opportunity to find out whether or not I am,” Lily replied. “The homes I have lived in have all been stubbornly unhaunted.”
“For your sake, madam, I hope they remain that way,” Mr. Wright said. There was an unexpected note of resignation in his voice as he added, “It is not a comfortable thing to live with.”
“I would have thought you to be fond of yours, sir,” Lily said. “If you dislike her so, why go to the trouble of showing visitors around and telling them the story?”
Mr. Wright smiled, some of the showman creeping back into his manner. “Because you are here, dear ladies. And how could I resist such a beautiful audience?”
“Tell me, has your family any idea who this lady in gray might be?” Lily’s aunt asked politely.
He nodded, his voice dropping even further, and they all reflexively drew closer to hear what he was saying. “We each have our own theory, of course,” he said. “I believe it is my father’s great-aunt, Tabitha, whose bedroom was just this way. If you would care to see the spot?” He held out his arm to Ofelia, who took it. Mr. Wright, engrossed in his story once more, turned to lead them down the closest passage. “Tabitha died there some fifty years ago, of a broken heart, they say, after news arrived of the death of her betrothed in the colonies—”
His story was suddenly cut off by screaming. Not a single shriek of surprise or dismay, but a cry that seemed to go on without ceasing. Thomas Wright froze, the genial smile dropping from his face in shock. “Selina?” he called.
The screaming continued, growing more hysterical. Dropping Ofelia’s arm, he ran toward the sound, which was coming from the far hallway, past the stairs. The others, stunned into stillness, stared at each other, unsure what to do.
“I think it’s Miss Wright,” Mr. Spencer said, all traces of merriment gone from his face. “Wait here—I shall see if they need any assistance.” He made to go after, but Thomas Wright was already returning, rushing down the hall next to another man, who was carrying the screaming woman.
“The parlor, just next to you, Spencer!” Mr. Wright called. “Open the door!”
Mr. Spencer, the closest to the door, flung it open, and the hysterical woman was carried in. She was laid on a chaise longue in the middle of the dim little room, Mr. Spencer stepping forward to help settle her as the man who had carried her stepped back. Lily, glancing
around as she and the other ladies crowded through the door, thought it looked like a space reserved for the family’s private use, which made sense on an upper floor. Thomas Wright knelt next to the hysterical woman for a moment, clasping her hands.
“Selina?” he said loudly. But she kept screaming, her eyes wide and darting about the room without seeing anything. Judging by the round cheeks and dark hair they both shared, Lily thought she must be his sister. Whether they had other features in common was hard to tell when Selina Wright was in the middle of hysterics.
“Miss Wright?” Matthew Spencer tried giving her shoulders a shake. “You must stop this at once!”
But she clearly could not hear either of them. Thomas Wright took a deep breath and looked grim as, with a surprising degree of practicality, he slapped her across the face.
The screams stopped abruptly, her blank expression resolving into one of terror before her eyes latched on her brother. Her face crumpled in misery. “Oh, Thomas!” she sobbed, gasping for breath.
He gave her shoulders a little shake. “Selina, stop this—you must tell me what happened.” But she only shook her head, clutching at his coat with desperate fists and dropping her head against his shoulder, her weeping shaking them both. Mr. Wright turned to the servant who had carried his sister. “Isaiah, what happened to her?”
Isaiah was a young Black man with very short, curly hair and broad shoulders. His plain, dark clothing marked him clearly as a servant, though it was nothing so formal as the livery that
would have been worn in a great house. His wide stance spoke of confidence, and the easy way that Thomas Wright addressed him indicated long service and familiarity.
But there was no confidence on the manservant’s face as he hesitated, gulping visibly and shaking his head. His eyes were wide, and he stumbled over his words as he tried to answer, either unsure how to respond or not wanting to. “It’s . . . it’s Mrs. Wright, sir. She didn’t open her door when we knocked, and Miss Wright . . . she asked me to open it, since no one has the key . . . and she was there, sir—Mrs. Wright. She was there but she wasn’t moving. There was nothing we could do, but there was no one else there what could have done it. She’s dead, sir,” he finished in a rush. “Mrs. Wright is dead. She was killed in the night.”
Beside her, Lily heard Ofelia gasp, though she didn’t turn to look at her friend. Mr. Spencer looked up, his dark eyes wide as he met Lily’s from across the room. She stared back at him, frozen in shock, unable to believe what she had just heard.
“Killed?” Thomas Wright demanded, his voice rising with his own disbelief and his arms tightening around his sister.
“It killed her, Thomas,” Selina Wright said, raising her head at last. Now that her hysterics had faded, her cheeks had gone ashen with fear. “There was no one else who could have entered that room. The lady in gray killed our mother.”
***
Author Bio
Katharine Schellman is a former actor, one-time political consultant, and now the author of the Lily Adler Mysteries and the Nightingale Mysteries. Her debut novel, The Body in the Garden, was one of Suspense Magazine’s Best Books of 2020 and led to her being named one of BookPage’s 16 Women to Watch in 2020. Her second novel, Silence in the Library, was praised as “worthy of Agatha Christie or Rex Stout.” (Library Journal, starred review) Katharine lives and writes in the mountains of Virginia in the company of her husband, children, and the many houseplants she keeps accidentally murdering.
FLIRTING AT FIFTY (Modern Love Book #1) by Jane Porter is a women’s fiction/contemporary mature romance mash-up featuring two college professors who are reunited thirty years after a one-night stand in Paris.
Paige Newsom is close to her fiftieth birthday and finally satisfied with her life. A respected mathematics professor in Southern California with three adult daughters which she still has good relationships with even though they are all on their own around the country. She divorced her alcoholic husband eight years previously and has no wish to date ever again.
The head of her department calls her in to his office to tell he she will be dual teaching a class in the fall with a visiting professor due to another teacher’s medical leave. What Paige is not expecting is that her fellow professor is the famous epidemiologist and biologist Jack King. The same Jack King she had a one-night stand in Paris when she was twenty. Memorable for all the wrong reasons. Paige finds the mature Jack just as intriguing and alluring as ever, but she is happy with her life and does not want to open her heart to a man again. Jack wants more of Paige than she may be willing to give.
I am always excited when I can find a story with a mature romance. I found Jack to be wonderful and his reasons for not being married believable due to his professional life. I had a little more difficulty understanding Paige. Her life and tribulations as a mother of grown daughters and her longtime friendship with Elizabeth all rang true for me and I understood why she would be happy single after her terrible marriage, but I found her insecurities overblown especially with her career accomplishments. Her reasons for putting Jack off were the same for much of the story and then very quickly at the ending everything was fine. Other than that, I enjoyed all the secondary characters and the descriptions of the trip to Tanzania. I am looking forward to reading more in this series and discovering who will be featured in the next book.
This is an entertaining women’s fiction/contemporary mature romance read.
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About the Author
Born in Visalia, California, I’m a small town girl at heart. I love central California’s golden foothills, oak trees, and the miles of farmland. In my mind, there’s nothing sweeter in the world than the heady fragrance of orange blossoms on a sultry summer night.
As a little girl I spent hours on my bed, staring out the window, dreaming of far off places, fearless knights, and happy-ever-after endings. In my imagination I was never the geeky bookworm with the thick coke-bottle glasses, but a princess, a magical fairy, a Joan-of-Arc crusader.
My parents fed my imagination by taking our family to Europe for a year when I was thirteen. The year away changed me (I wasn’t a geek for once!) and overseas I discovered a huge and wonderful world with different cultures and customs. I loved everything about Europe, but felt especially passionate about Italy and those gorgeous Italian men (no wonder my first very Presents hero was Italian).
I confess, after that incredible year in Europe, the travel bug bit, and bit hard. I spent much of my high school and college years abroad, studying in South Africa, Japan and Ireland. South Africa remains a country of my heart, the people, the land and politics complex and heart-wrenching.
After my years of traveling and studying I had to settle down and earn a living. With my Bachelors degree from UCLA in American Studies, a program that combines American literature and American history, I’ve worked in sales and marketing, as well as a director of a non-profit foundation. Later I earned my Masters in Writing from the University of San Francisco and taught jr. high and high school English.
I now live in Seattle and Hawaii with my three sons. I never mind a rainy day, either, because that’s when I sit at my desk and write stories about far-away places, fascinating people, and most importantly of all, love. I like a story with a happy ending. We all do.
