With a newborn and two children, Molly Murphy Sullivan is tackling motherhood. Her husband, Daniel, is off to work in Washington as Easter break begins in New York. Her dear friend and writer, Ryan O’Hara, is shooting a movie, one of the first to involve a real plot and actors. He invites Molly and the children to visit the set and watch the excitement. When one of the actresses is fired, Molly’s adopted daughter, Bridie, is called to replace her in the scene. Turns out she’s a natural and is asked to star in the rest of the film. Molly is skeptical about leaving Bridie alone on set, but her great friends, Sid and Gus, offer to chaperone her.
The movie industry is still experimenting with ways to get the best shot, like pretending to tie Bridie to real train tracks. But soon, their special effects start to malfunction. After a few mishaps where no one is hurt, the special effects turn deadly. With rumors of a feud between studios, Molly believes these malfunctions are sabotage. She is invited to go undercover on set to investigate the burgeoning film war. Once again, Rhys Bowen and Clare Broyles deliver an engaging mystery full of vibrant historical details and thrilling escapades featuring one of mystery’s most beloved sleuths.
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Elise’s Thoughts
Silent as the Grave by Rhys Bowen and Clare Broyles is a suspenseful historical novel. The book opens with a bang where the prologue immediately draws readers in.
Molly is contending with raising her young son, a 5-month-old infant, and her 14-year-old adopted daughter, Bridie. Her good friend Ryan O’Hara invites Molly and the children to watch the film he is making. After one of the actresses is fired, Molly’s adopted daughter, Bridie, is called to replace her in the scene. Turns out she’s a natural and is asked to star in the rest of the film. Molly is skeptical about leaving Bridie alone on set, but her great friends, Sid and Gus, offer to chaperone her.
There are mishaps on the set, including a fire in the editing room and Bridie’s near escape with death while filming a difficult stunt. Molly believes that the mishaps are not just coincidences, but sabotage. She accepts the invitation to find out what happened, especially since Bridie almost died.
This is an engaging mystery with a bonus that readers learn more about the budding movie industry.
***
Author Interview
Elise Cooper: The idea for Hollywood like filmmaking?
Rhys Bowen: This is a non-Hollywood movie because all the movies were made in New York in the beginning. The character Molly lives just off 6th Avenue and Greenwich Avenue, close to the Biograph Studios.
Clare Broyles: I had read some articles that the actual father of film disappeared suspiciously when he got on a train and never got off. He had been in an argument with Edison before that happened. There was an interesting intersection between the family of the father of film and Edison that included lawsuits and studio ownership.
EC: Do you agree Edison was not the nicest of people?
RB: He was a bully who used thugs, blackmail, and intimidation against his rivals.
CB: He did steal inventions from other people. He was good in getting patents in his own name. There is proof that there was another movie, a film made of children, before Edison supposedly invented a movie camera. This makes more of the backdrop for an interesting mystery.
EC: Was the scene with the body on the train tracks real?
RB: Clare is the brilliant researcher. In the early movies there were no stunt doubles, and the actors took enormous risks to get the perfect shot. When the Keystone Cops went around the bend in the moving truck as it swings around the corner, it was real. The train operator was never told there was a body on the tracks. People really did die.
EC: Why did you have Mary Pickford and DW Griffith in the story?
CB: She started in vaudeville, which is how we would locate the time frame. We started in April 1909 when she came to Biograph Studios, because that is when she started out in pictures. It also fit because of the practicality picture. Molly was a sleuth with a baby, and we wanted the baby to be old enough to be left with a nanny, at 5 months of age.
EC: How would you describe the differences between the Biograph Studio owners, Arthur and Harry Martin?
CB: They are based on real brothers where one brother was the studio head and the other had a junior position. The character brothers were purely fictional, that they were twins, dressed alike, and looked alike. Arthur is more volatile while Harry is more of a ladies’ man and controls the power. There was a jostling of power.
RB: It came about because of something that happened in my youth. I was staying in this Italian hotel where the owners had a charming son. The next day he was incredibly rude. Turns out they were twins. We thought it would be fun to be put in the book.
EC: Can you speak of the character Alice Mann?
RB: She is based on a real person, a French woman, Alice Guy. She is listed as a secretary or assistant, but she is the one who came up with a lot of the innovations for cinematography. She invented the fade in/fade out by putting a cigar box over the lens of the camera and slowly opening it and closing it. Women did not get the accolades. Even today, how many female directors are there, not many? Look at the current Oscars regarding editing, directing, and producing it was all men.
EC: Did you intentionally want to make the mystery surrounding all the “accidents?”
CB: There was a lamp falling, a fire, and the train scene. We had to figure out a way to get Molly involved in the mystery when she has a five-month-old baby. The accidents are a way to get her fully invested because someone has threatened her adopted daughter, Bridie’s life. The accidents happened to pull Molly in to solve the murder mystery.
RB: We did the prologue intentionally to grab the readers. We needed to have a lot of set up before something dramatic. It is a signal that said danger is coming.
EC: Next book(s)?
CB: In the next Molly book, we are moving closer to her achieving her goal of opening her own detective agency. The arc of the series has gone from her having a detective agency not in her own name, pretending to be a man, to stepping out in her own right for a Molly Murphy Detective Agency.
RB: The next Molly book has a working title, Vanished in the Crowd, coming out this time next year. It will be about women suffrage and scientists. She will be hired to find a woman, a scientist, who has vanished and what happened to her. Daniel, her husband, is coming around to more and more appreciates her skills.
RB: My historical novel comes out in August, titled Mrs. Endicott’s Splendid Adventure. It is about a middle-aged woman in England, the perfect wife, until at the age of fifty, her husband decides to get a divorce. She steals his Bentley and with three other women drives to the South of France. They forge a new female bond. I will also talk about how WWII is coming to France. She becomes part of a group helping Jewish men escape.
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.
Detective John Bowie is one misstep away from being fired from the Auclair Police Department in coastal Louisiana. Recently divorced and slightly heavy-handed with his liquor, Bowie does all that he can to cope with the actions taken (or not taken) during the investigation of Crissy Mellin, a teenage girl who disappeared more than three years prior. But now, Crisis Point, a long-running true crime television series, is soon to air an episode documenting the unsolved Mellin case. Bowie has been instructed by his unscrupulous boss to keep to his grievances and criticisms over the mishandling of the investigation to himself.
Beth Collins, a senior producer on Crisis Point, knows what classifies as a great story and when there’s something more to be told. After working on the show for seven years, Collins is convinced that Crissy Mellin’s disappearance was not an isolated incident. A string of disappearances of teenage girls in nearby areas have only one thing in common: They took place on the night of a blood moon. In a last-ditch effort to find out the truth, Beth enlists Detective Bowie to help her figure out what happened to Crissy and find the true culprit before he acts on the next blood moon—in four days’ time.
With their jobs and their lives at risk, Bowie and Collins band together to identify and capture a perpetrator, while fighting an irresistible spark between them that threatens to upend everything.
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Elise’s Thoughts
Blood Moon by Sandra Brown has her usual style. The plot is intense, dark, and raw, intertwined with a love story that includes sexual scenes, where the chemistry between the hero and heroine starts from the first page.
Readers will get to know John Bowie, an angry detective haunted by his failure not to solve the cold case disappearance of Crissy Mellin; Beth Collins, the producer of a true crime show, and Tom Barker, the corrupt boss of John.
Crisis Point, the true crime TV series, is going to air an episode documenting Crissy Mellin’s unsolved disappearance. Collins is convinced that Mellin’s disappearance was not an isolated incident. A string of disappearances of teenage girls in nearby areas have only one thing in common: they took place on the night of a blood moon. Detective John Bowie has been instructed by his boss not to talk to Beth or anyone else about the crime he has determined solved and closed. Not listening, he meets Beth and listens to her theories, because he has never felt comfortable with the outcome of the case and didn’t agree with the resolution. They decide to work together realizing that in four days there will be another blood moon, which can mean another girl disappearing or being murdered. They race against the clock to find the antagonist and possibly save another girl, but in working together they also realize there is an attraction between them that cannot be denied.
This novel is intense, intriguing, and has a thrilling twist.
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Author Interview
Elise Cooper: Did the plot or title come first?
Sandra Brown: I first came up with the title. Then I thought, what is a blood moon? The next one comes out March 13th. They only occur every 3 and a half years. It is a strange phenomenon. My editor and I wanted a spring book, so this was perfect.
EC: How did you come up with a story centering on the title?
SB: I watched true crime shows and thought what a cool job it is to be a producer on one of these shows. This is the profession I gave to my heroine, Beth. I then came up with my hero, a reluctant police officer, John, who is haunted by a cold case.
EC: What is a blood moon since it plays such an intricate role in the story?
SB: It is an astrological anomaly every 3 and a half years. To understand, hold both your hands up. The sun is in your left hand. The moon is in your right hand. Right in the middle of them, in perfect alliance, is earth. The sun reflects light onto the moon. But the earth forms a perfect shadow on a full moon, totally covering the moon. The reason it turns an orangish red is that the sunlight is being filtered through the earth’s atmosphere. The bad guys wanted to make sacrifices to the moon goddess, Luna.
EC: What is numerology?
SB: It goes hand in hand with the blood moon regarding the cases concerning the disappearance of the girls. A person has a core number that guides a person’s decision making. Like an astrology sign. There are religious and cultural connotations.
EC: How would you describe John Bowie?
SB: He was a dedicated police officer and is haunted by the cold case. I wanted to write about his relationship with his teenage daughter and his brotherly-like friendship with Mitch. He is arrogant in a sarcastic and cynical way, intense, outspoken, sarcastic, edgy, stubborn, and cynical.
EC: What is the difference between John and Mitch?
SB: They could not be more different. John is very serious and contemplative. Mitch always cracks jokes. He is arrogant, humorous, a smart-aleck, loyal, and caring.
EC: How would you describe Beth?
SB: Determined, loyal, savvy, gutsy, ambitious, confident in her abilities, but feeling tenuous toward her career.
EC: How would you describe the relationship between Beth and John?
SB: They met their match in each other. They both got under each other’s skin and are frustrated with each other. The have chemistry from chapter one. He puts her totally out of her element. They both were obsessed with this case.
EC: What is the role of the Crissy Mellin case?
SB: Her disappearance messed up Detective John Bowie’s life. He became remorseful and regretful. He knew there was more to it but was forced to give in to his boss. This has eaten at him. He desired to get to the bottom of it and find answers. Beth is frustrated and impatient. She is not getting answers from John because he is not filling in the blanks.
EC: How would you describe the boss Lt. Thomas Barker?
SB: Incompetent, sadistic, arrogant, egotistical, and obnoxious. He knows John has his number and is superior to him.
EC: Next book?
SB: The next book will feature Mitch, the DEA officer who decides to change jobs and work with John. They are best friends. John and Beth will be in the next book as secondary characters. This story takes place two years after the end of Blood Moon and will be published spring of 2026.
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.
As Lady Phoebe and her betrothed say their vows of holy matrimony, a killer has vowed unholy vengeance on the town’s chief inspector . . .
June 1922: The blessed day has finally arrived. Phoebe Renshaw and Owen Seabright are to be wed, and lady’s maid Eva Huntford could not be more delighted for her lady’s happiness. But she is disturbed by one notable absence from the ceremony—her beau, Police Constable Miles Brannock. When Miles finally does appear, breathlessly running into the reception at Foxwood Hall, he brings grim news: he’s found Chief Inspector Isaac Perkins murdered, shot in his home in his favorite parlor chair with his own gun.
A policeman naturally makes enemies, especially those of questionable character. In charge of finding his former boss’s killer, Miles reviews the details of the crime scene. The murder weapon has been wiped clean and left on the table next to the remnants of the chief inspector’s breakfast: sausage pasty and coffee reeking of a bit of whiskey. No sign of forced entry. A seemingly peaceful scene—other than the bullet hole in the victim.
Before Miles can make much progress in his investigation, a Scotland Yard detective arrives in Little Barlow to take over the case—and promptly focuses his suspicions on the constable himself, who he reasons had motive and opportunity. Coming to their maid’s defense, Phoebe and Owen postpone their honeymoon to join Eva in clearing her beau’s good name and unmasking the identity of the true killer.
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Elise’s Thoughts
Two Weddings and A Murder by Alyssa Maxwell is a great historical cozy mystery. Readers will be sad to learn this is the last book in the series.
The book opens with the wedding of Phoebe Renshaw and Owen Seabright. Her lady’s maid, Eva Huntford, is distraught and worried that her boyfriend, Police Constable Miles Brannock, is not in attendance. After he finally appears, he brings the bad news that Chief Inspector Isaac Perkins has been murdered, shot in his home in his favorite parlor chair with his own gun. Because of the conflict of interest, an outside detective has been brought in to investigate. A Scotland Yard detective, Mick Burridge, arrives in Little Barlow to take over the case. He promptly focuses his suspicions on the constable himself, who he reasons had motive and opportunity. Phoebe and Owen postpone their honeymoon to join Eva in clearing her beau’s good name and unmasking the identity of the true killer
This series goes out with a bang. Readers will be riveted to their seats as they turn the pages but will also be disappointed when coming to the last page knowing this will be the last book in the series.
***
Author Interview
Elise Cooper: Is there a difference between your two series?
Alyssa Maxwell: Yes! The period and settings are different. The “Newport Series” takes place in the Gilded Age in the United States, specifically Rhode Island, while this book takes place right after WWI in England. There is a whole different social dynamic going on.
EC: How did you get the idea for this series?
AM:Downton Abbey influenced me. My editor came up with the basic idea of Downton Abbey with a mystery twist. I loved the idea of being out in the country.
EC: What historical events do you emphasize?
AM: After WWI, class lines started to change a bit, and women started in the work force. Some of the old ways of the landlord and the servant, the very strict class boundary was changing.
EC: Why did you start out with a wedding and end with a wedding in this story?
AM: In the prior book, A Fashionable Fatality, Phoebe the main character was engaged. Because this is the last book in the series, I wanted to tie up her life and the other main character, Eva. A happy ending for the series and a happy beginning into the readers’ imagination.
EC: How did you get the idea for this story’s murder?
AM: Chief Inspector Perkins has been a thorn in Phoebe and Eva’s life throughout the series. He does not do his job well and does not appreciate their interference to solve the murders. I thought this would make a good victim and who better to be accused than his partner, the person who potentially will take his over his job, Constable Miles Brannock. It also raised the stakes for Phoebe and Eva to solve it because he is Eva’s future fiancé.
EC: How would you describe Phoebe?
AM: She is a modern young woman for that period. She is forward thinking, independent, but not devoid of tradition. She believes people should be valued by how they live their lives and not what they were born into. Phoebe is caring, impulsive, and analytical. She lost her mother at an early age and Eva has filled that gap.
EC: How would you describe Eva?
AM: She is more traditional than Phoebe. She is set in her ways but realizes she can aspire to more. Eva is an older woman. She is honorable, loyal, faithful, and dutiful. She sees Phoebe as more of a daughter.
EC: How would you describe Miles?
AM: He is fiercely loyal, steady, and dependable. He can look at different sides of the same issue.
EC: How would you describe Owen?
AM: He is very honorable. He is cavalier because he has been raised with wealth and privilege. He is adventurous. He is completely devoted to Phoebe and accepts her forward thinking ideas.
EC: What role did Detective Burridge play in the story?
AM: Burridge comes from Scotland Yard. He has tunnel vision, focused on getting a suspect, bringing him in, and proving he did it to close the case.
EC: What did the gypsies in the story represent?
AM: The social changes happening and people set outside of their comfort zones. They had to be adaptable and willing to change to survive. They were not respected, and they followed their own traditions. They were seen as wild, uncivilized, and unscrupulous. I did envision that they felt trapped behind walls, rules, and closed in. They did not want to be regimented.
EC: Can you explain the quote referring to motive, opportunity, and means?
AM: These make up a mystery. Opportunity would be when someone could catch the victim off guard. Means is how the victim is killed.
EC: Next book(s)?
AM: There will be another Newport mystery titled Murder at Arleigh coming out in August. It is based on the real couple Harry and Elizabeth Lehr. Everybody thought they were a love match, and they are not at all. Elizabeth thinks her husband is trying to kill her.
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.
Haunted by a half-forgotten past, former army photographer Remi Grant is working at an isolated storm-watching lodge on the rocky Washington coast when she receives a mysterious puzzle piece. The piece may be the catalyst to unlock a disturbing incident she struggles to remember–the event that sent her into hiding. But with heavy storms rolling in, she must focus on the present, not get caught up in the past.
When a mysterious man at the lodge saves her life–more than once–Remi becomes suspicious and confronts him. After a catastrophic event in his own life, former military pilot Hawk Beckett is trying to get some perspective at the suggestion of his former commanding officer. Faced with the fiercest storm to hit the coast in a decade, Remi and Hawk are forced into survival mode.
But they’re not alone at the lodge. Someone doesn’t want Remi to remember what happened–and they will stop at nothing to see her dead.
Elise’s Thoughts
Storm Warning by Elizabeth Goddard has non-stop action and mysterious circumstances with unexpected twists that will keep people totally engaged. There is international espionage, betrayal, and dangerous secrets.
The female lead, Remi Grant, is a former army photographer who has no memory of a tragic day in her past. She has moved to Cedar Trails Lodge, getting a job as the manager. Trying to work through her memory problems, it appears someone is trying to help her remember by sending her packages containing puzzle pieces and notes. Her quiet solitude is disturbed by a series of events that threaten her life. First there was the shredding of a rope ladder she needed to climb to get safely out of the ferocious ocean tides. Had it not been for the strong hand of a total stranger, Hawk Beckett, who pulled her to safety, she would have fallen to her death. He is at the Lodge to try to recover from the hurt and pain from a mission gone bad when an army helicopter pilot, loss of his job in law enforcement, and a fruitless search for his brother who he believes to be an assassin.
It seems that someone is trying to silence Remi permanently and Hawk always seems to be in the right place at the right time to help save her. They decide to team up and watch each other’s backs.
To add to the tension is the environment with the whipping winds, cold rain, and the dangerous Washington coast.
This gripping tale will take readers on a wild and crazy ride from the beginning chapter to the end with twists that will shock them. The story if full of shocking suspense.
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Author Interview
Elise Cooper: The idea for the story?
Elizabeth Goddard: I wanted to set a story off\\\\ the Washington coast for a very long time. There are people who come to watch the storms during the winter. I had in my mind to write a former military photographer. I put it all together to write a mystery surrounding a storm watching lodge.
EC: Does nature play a role?
EG: Yes, with its beauty and brutality that makes for a great suspenseful story. Hidden Bay is fictional but based on several bays in the Olympic Peninsula that are close to the ocean, rugged, with a rocky coast and a wilderness area. It has a rain forest with winds, cold, and rain.
EC: What role does the lodge play?
EG: It houses certain individuals that want to stay hidden from the outside world. It seems invisible to the world. It is based on a real lodge that overlooks the ocean. There is very limited cell service.
EC: How would you describe the female lead, Remi?
EG: She has amnesia. Someone who is wary, vulnerable, impulsive, secretive, built walls yet is determined, mysterious, and tough. She has brain trauma, which I relied heavily on research I had done regarding my own son who has a brain injury from ten years ago.
EC: How would you describe the male lead, Hawk?
EG: Charming, former Army as a Night Stalker, competitive, compassionate, and protective. He is very heroic who was a former Army helicopter pilot that delivered special ops teams anywhere in the world.
EC: What about the relationship?
EG: I have a book quote, “She came to the lodge to remember, he came to the lodge to forget.” She is originally distrustful of him. They are kindred spirits running from demons who are damaged.
EC: What about Cole, Hawk’s brother?
EG: They are two competitive brothers whose father pitted them against each other. They had a sibling rivalry. He is a hired gun, someone who is rogue, ghost-like. He has contempt for what he believes Hawk has become.
EC: Next book?
EG: It is Jo’s story, a forensic artist and a handy person on the run who was introduced in this book. She teams up with someone who was in book one to find out who wants to kill her. The title is Perilous Tides coming out in July of this year.
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.
In these three novels WWII plays an intricate role. Each delves with a different setting and emphasizes a different part of the war. The Umbrella Maker’s Son by Tod Lending shows the devastation brought upon to the Jewish community in Krakow after the Nazis invaded Poland. Midnight on the Scottish Shore by Sarah Sundin takes reader on a journey with an emphasis on the MI5’s Double Cross Program that had German spies becoming double agents. The Librarians of Lisbon by Suzanne Nelson takes place in neutral Portugal having the allied spies trying to gain the upper hand on their German counterparts.
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Book Description
Born to a secure, middle-class Polish Jewish family, seventeen-year-old Reuven works alongside his father, an artisan businessman whose shop creates the finest handmade umbrellas in Poland. But the family’s peaceful life shatters when the Nazis invade their homeland, igniting World War II. With terrifying brutality, the Nazis confiscate their business, evict them from their home, and strip away their rights, threatening the lives of the city’s Jewish population, including Reuven and Zelda, the girl he loves.
Shortly after the Nazi occupation, Zelda and her family disappear, and Reuven and his father are forced into backbreaking physical labor that nearly kills them. For the young man and his family, the only chance to survive is escape—and some of them will die trying.
Fleeing a Nazi ambush through the surrounding forest, shot and wounded, Reuven is found by a local farmer who has never met a Jew—and agrees to help because he needs the boy to work the farm with him. The farmer’s wife, however, is not as kind. Her betrayal forces a desperate Reuven to escape. He embarks on a perilous journey through the Polish countryside, determined to reach the Kraków ghetto where he hopes to reunite with Zelda, whose life has also been forever changed by the horrors of occupation and war.
Elise’s Thoughts
The Umbrella Maker’s Son by Tod Lending has Reuven Berkovitz at the center of the story. Through his eyes, readers can see the brutality of the Nazis, as well as a local Polish farmer who has never met a Jew yet agrees to hide him because he needs help to work the farm. Unfortunately, the farmer’s wife is not as kind. Eventually Reuven must leave, embarking on a perilous journey through the Polish countryside, determined to reach the Kraków ghetto where he hopes to reunite with Zelda, whose life has also been forever changed by the horrors of the Nazi occupation and war.
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Book Description
In a time of war, danger lurks beneath the water–and in the depths of the human heart
As the German war machine devours the Netherlands, the only way Cilla van der Zee can survive the occupation is to do the unthinkable–train to become a spy for the Nazis. Once dispatched to Britain, she plans to abandon her mission and instead aid the Allies. But her scheme is thwarted when naval officer Lt. Lachlan Mackenzie finds her along the Scottish shore and turns her in to be executed.
Yet perhaps she is more useful alive than dead. British intelligence employs her to radio misleading messages to Germany from the lighthouse at Dunnet Head in Scotland–messages filled with naval intelligence Lachlan must provide. If the war is to be won, Lachlan and Cilla must work together. But how can he trust a woman who arrived on his shores as a tool of the enemy–a woman certain to betray both him and the Allied cause?
Elise’s Thoughts
Midnight on the Scottish Shore by Sarah Sundin has a plot as a member of the Dutch resistance who infiltrates the local Nazi Party to gather intel. Because it is becoming more dangerous for her, she decides to escape the country by coming up with a plan. She agrees to be trained as a Nazi spy and sent to the U.K. Once dispatched to Britain, she plans to abandon her mission and instead aid the Allies. But her scheme is thwarted when naval officer Lt. Lachlan Mackenzie finds her along the Scottish shore and turns her in to be executed except that British intelligence decides she is more valuable as a double agent.
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Book Description
Lisbon 1943. As two American librarians are drawn into a city of dangerous subterfuge and unexpected love affairs, they are forced to choose between their missions and the men they love. Inspired by real historical figures, award-winning author Suzanne Nelson pens a captivating story of two remarkable women, their bravery and heartache, and a friendship that withstands the ravages of war.
WWII rages Europe. Lisbon stands alone as a glamorous city on the brink of chaos, harboring spies trading double-edged secrets. Among them are Selene Delmont and Beatrice Sullivan, Boston librarians turned Allied operatives. Officially enlisted to collect banned books, both women are undercover agents tasked with infiltrating the Axis spy network.
Victory is not guaranteed.
Soon, they’re caught up in games of deception with two of Lisbon’s most notorious men—the outcast Portuguese baron, Luca Caldeira, and the lethal spy, code name Gable. As Selene charms her way through lavish ballrooms with Luca, the more bookish Bea is plunged into Gable’s shadowy world of informants. But when a betrayal unravels a carefully spun web of lies, everything they’ve fought for is thrown into jeopardy. As Selene and Bea are pushed to their breaking points can their friendship, and their hearts, survive the cost of war?
Elise’s Thoughts
The Librarians of Lisbon by Suzanne Nelson is a fast-paced roller-coaster ride of deceit, espionage, and danger inspired by real historical figures. The setting of Lisbon plays a significant role because Portugal was a neutral country filled with espionage, romance, and friendship. The main characters are two Boston librarians, Selene Delmont and Beatrice Sullivan, who are trained by the U.S. Office of Strategic Services (precursor to CIA) and assigned to work in Lisbon. Their day jobs are librarians, but they are also assigned missions for which they are sworn to secrecy, unable to reveal even to each other.
***
Tod Lending
Author Interviews
Elise Cooper: Does the setting play a role in the story?
Sarah Sundin: My husband and I are part Scottish. He has been bugging me to write a book set here for years. As I explored it more, I found things that fascinated me. Then my youngest son, a mythology buff, gave me some suggestions, the Scottish legends, especially the story of the Selkie. It has a woman who lives as a seal at sea, but as soon as she comes to shore, she sheds her seal skin, turning into a beautiful woman. I started to imagine a German female spy landing in Scotland and being captured by this Scottish man who traps her on land by hiding her seal skin. In this case the skin was her rubber raft.
Tod Lending: there were numerous ghettos all over Poland, not just in Warsaw. In this book the setting was in Krakow. I talked about how the Germans cut off the Jews’ beards and took over ownership of Jewish businesses and belongings. They beat them, abused them, humiliated them, and hunted them as animals. What happened is beyond horrific and is unimaginable. I did do a lot of research. What Reuven and the other characters had gone through really happened. I did take a little writers’ poetic license with Reuven’s emotional and psychological reactions. I also had a Jewish historian review the book facts.
Suzanne Nelson: Lisbon Portugal had bothAllied and Axis spies operating in the city simultaneously, plus, the city was a huge refuge for people fleeing occupied Europe. Unfortunately, they were stalled for weeks, months, and sometimes years because they did not have the correct exit papers. The refugees included exiled Royals who fled Europe, and famous writers and artists, including the Jewish co-authors Margaret and H. A. Rey, of the “Curious George series.” It was a surreal environment where refugees were gambling side by side with the Gestapo. Many times, no one knew who a friend or foe was. There was a real sense of loneliness, desperation, and danger among a lot of people.
Elise: Did you explore some historical significance in the book?
Tod: Reuven ponders the question of why some Jews survived. This thought came from the last documentary I made about two Holocaust survivors. They answered this question 1000 times and they always answered, ‘it was a miracle.’ I asked them was it luck, smarts, and willpower? One story after another was told how if they had crossed the street at a different moment, they would have been dead. There is a quote by Reuven, ‘Without rhyme or reason, chance had saved me once again.’
Sarah: The Double Cross Program was established in September 1940. The German military intelligence sent out spies to the United Kingdom. MI5, Britian’s intelligence group, caught every single one of the German agents. Germany never had an effective agent during the war. Of the Abwehr (German) Agents caught, sixteen were executed, but about three dozen were turned into double agents. Some were extremely effective including one agent that convinced the Germans that the D-day invasion was not going to Normandy but Pas de Calais. Regarding Cilla, I knew there were Dutch women agents who landed in Scotland, so I created my own character. She is much milder than the real spies.
Suzanne: In the book I explain about wolfram. It is a mineral that contains a metal, Tungsten. It is used in artillery manufacturing, creating impenetrable armor. Salazar, the Portuguese Prime Minister, allowed the trade to be with both the Axis and Allied countries until a few months prior to D-Day and suspended the trade for both. There was black marketing dealings and smuggling going on with the Portugal PM looking the other way. In the story Bea and Gable must discover who was selling large amounts of wolfram to the Nazis.
Elise: How would describe your main character(s)?
Suzanne: Selene ischarming, a thrill seeker, enthusiastic, brazen, estranged from her family, impatient, affluent upbringing, determined, and impetuous. She is also a reluctant seductress because she does not want to be known as a spy who only uses her looks and beauty to get information, but someone who can use her mind. Bea is reserved, quiet, has lost her parents, has a photographic memory, wants to be challenged, good instincts, and motivated. They were good friends, loyal, and Bea was Selene’s lifeline. Selene wanted adventure, to take the world by storm, and dragged Bea along for the ride. But at the end of the book Bea was the one who has found her bravery, while Selene went home wounded.
Sarah:Cilla is the double agent. She is fun loving, free spirited, and wants her freedom. She is confident, kind, respectful, lonely, isolated, determined, courageous, loyal, witty, and headstrong. She is trustworthy but no one sees her that way, so she needs to prove herself to them. Lachlan is the British naval officer who captures Cilla. He is determined, frustrated, honorable, ingenious, passionate, honest, vulnerable, dedicated, and protective. They are opposites that attract. At first, he only saw her as a German spy. They are forced to work together and the more they spend time together they see each other’s true character, willing to trust each other.
Tod:Reuven is a young Jewish man who persevered. Resilient with a spirit that carried on. He had an inner drive to live. He was protective, grief-stricken, terrified, fearful, lonely, felt hopeless and guilty. But he also was brave. At the beginning of the book, he was well adjusted and was trying to fulfill his dreams. As things fell apart as the Nazis took over, he became shameful and humiliated. Feelings like fear, grief, guilt, and insecurity began to emerge as a reaction to the traumas he suffered. There were times he was fearful, but also times where he was fearless, times he felt completely numb, and for a moment he felt suicidal. Zelda is the girl he wanted to marry and whom he searched for throughout the book. When he is reunited with her, he realizes she has built a wall and tried to avoid him even though she was lonely. She is very traumatized having feared her brothers dead and she was sexually abused. Zelda felt she was not worthy because of her shame. She crawls into her shell to protect herself. But as time goes by, she does show him how much she cares for him, yet he sees her as quiet, withdrawn, and distant.
Elise: Is there a secondary character(s) that is important to the story?
Tod: Kaja, the Polish farmer’s wife. At first, he was shocked and scared of her because she was profoundly antisemitic. What they both shared is loneliness. She did not want to be on the farm and fantasized in living in the city. She controlled him with Reuven terrified of her and feeling overpowered by her, while at the same time there were tender gentle moments because of the loneliness. He saw her as suspicious, unpredictable, angry, moody, distant, and seductive. The Polish farmer, Stanislaw saw Reuven as a son to him, while at other times he treated him like one of the farm animals. He was illiterate but had farm knowledge. They respected and trusted each other including giving Reuven a sense of pride. At times Stanislaw could be determined and reckless. Reuven saw him as a model of manhood because of his strength.
Sarah:Neil, Lachlan’s brother. Their backstory emphasizes a house divided with a long history of betrayal. Neil has hurt Lachlan deeply and Neil was hurt by Lachlan even though he did his duty. They hate each other. Neil was rude, unkind, treacherous, angry, and resentful. Lachlan is fighting for the allies while Neil has fallen in with a group of Scottish separatists. The real separatists were a fringe group before the war that continued during the early years of the war. They did not want to be a part of the allied war effort because they saw it as the “English War.” Neil was involved with this group and was imprisoned because he refused to register for conscription. He feels that Lachlan has portrayed Scotland by wearing an English uniform. I put in this book quote, ‘The Germans love to divide. That is how they conquer.’ If they saw a separatist group, they supported it.
Suzanne: Agent Gable was loosely based on Agent Garbo, a famous double agent with MI5 who had operated in Lisbon for about a year. I wanted to include a version of him in the story. He appears to be a narcissist. He is charming, a charlatan, double agent, has a temper, volatile, and blunt, with a lot of confidence. He is attracted to Bea but wants to control his feelings and wants to be the one in control. She enjoys putting him in his place. Luca was inspired by a historical figure, Aristides de Sousa Mendes. His nickname was the Oskar Schindler of Portugal. He was the consul general who worked in France and signed 1000s of visas to allow people into Portugal even though the Portuguese PM, Salazar, forbid it. He ignored the rule and disobeyed the orders. He was blacklisted in Portugal with a tragic ending. I wrote Luca with a conscience, someone vulnerable, has built walls, moody, determined, bitter, wounded, heroic, an outcast, and gruff. Selene gave him hope, redemption, and love.
THANK YOU!!
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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.
Hostage Security is a suspenseful romance that involves a child being kidnapped. Five years ago, Josh Stafford ended his engagement to Natalie Croft after he pleaded guilty to a crime he did not commit to protect his loved ones. As he was leaving for prison, he told Natalie that he did not love her, which devasted Natalie. She does not want anything to do with Josh, so she never tells him she was pregnant with his child, Henry. Fast forward to the present where Josh is out of prison and working as a security specialist for the Payne Protection Agency as a guard at Natalie’s’ family jewelry store. Now the son he never met is kidnapped. Natalie, Josh, and the rest of those at the Agency must find Henry before it is too late.
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Bachelor Cowboys – Book #8
Elise’s Description and Thoughts
A Match for the Sheriff has single mom Sarah Reynolds raising her 6-year-old son, Mikey, and taking care of the elderly ranch owner, the father of the Cassidy family. She is worried that her son may have started the fire at the ranch they were living in, but he refuses to talk to her. Marsh, the sheriff of the town, wants to get to the bottom of who started the fire or whether it was an accident. After he starts to suspect that his dad’s nurse or her son knew something about the fire, he begins to spend time with them to get answers. But the longer he is with them the more he starts to care for them. Readers will enjoy finding out what will happen between Marsh and Sarah as well as how the fire mystery will be solved.
Both books are entertaining and will keep readers turning the pages.
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Author Interview
Elise Cooper: Is Hostage Security the first book in a new series?
Lisa Childs: Yes. It is a continuation of my “Bachelor Bodyguard Series,” which has been going for many years. This is the first book in the “Payne Protection Agency Series,” somewhat of a spin-off. I think there will be five books total. The two brothers heading this Agency, are connected to Penny Payne, the matriarch of the Payne family. These brothers are a bad-boy characters that were also suspects in the first couple of books. They are Polish and I am half-Polish myself.
EC: How would you describe the female lead, Natalie?
LC: She feels helpless and does not feel like she is in control. She is scared. I think she is straight-forward, honest, angry, frustrated, and bitter. She is brave because she will do whatever it takes to get her child back.
EC: How would you describe Josh?
LC: Resentful, selfless, has made sacrifices, and he is scared for his son. He knows with hostages they must act quickly to get them back.
EC: What about the relationship?
LC: When he went to jail, she was devasted. Her trust in him and herself was shaken. She is resentful and mistrustful. They both have lies and secrets that they have kept from each other.
EC: Did you do any research?
LC: I looked up police procedures and spent a lot of time on the FBI website.
EC: What is the role of Henry?
LC: Natalie did not want Henry, her and Josh’s son, to visit him in prison. As he was going to prison, he said he did not want anything to do with her, which she assumed meant nothing to do with her and her child. Henry is the something good coming from something bad.
EC: In your other book, A Match for The Sheriff does the fire plays a big role?
LC: It is an ongoing theme since no one knows how it started. Everybody was worried that Cash Cassidy, one of the brothers, started it after his lighter was found. I was an insurance agent for over twenty years and wrote how the insurance company was dragging out the payment, where the adjuster is notorious for pushing arson charges so that he could deny claims.
EC: Is this a new series?
LC: No. This is the eighth book in the “Bachelor Cowboy Series.” I am writing four more books coming out in this series.
EC: Do the cowboy hats the Cassidy brothers wear reflect their differences?
LC: Yes, they are very different. Readers can tell their different personalities by the different colors they wear with the hats. Cash wears brown, enjoying being in nature and taking care of animals. Marsh wears white, the lawman and is the peace maker. Colton wears black, he is the fireman that must handle ashes. Collin does not wear one.
EC: How would you describe the hero, Marsh?
LC: Has a sense of humor, calm, and very observant. He felt a loss when his brother Cash went away for all those years.
EC: How would you describe Sarah?
LC: Strong, resilient, vulnerable, compassionate, anxious, protective, and distrusting.
EC: What was the role of Sarah’s son Mikey?
LC: He was bullied and had a rough time in school because his dad was a criminal. Sarah is very protective of him. She is a mama-bear. He is sensitive, quiet, shy, skittish, impressionable, and loves animals.
EC: What about the relationship between Sarah and Marsh?
LC: She feels intimidated by him. They are both uneasy about their feelings. Marsh can read her. Sarah is very nervous as to why he takes a sudden interest in her. She also cares about Marsh and does not want him to lose the election because he associates with her. In a way she is protective of him.
EC: Next books?
LC: There will be books about the Lemmon brothers. The first book has one of them finding a baby on the ranch. It is titled The Cowboy’s Baby Surprise out in July.
Personal Security is the title of the next book coming out in May. It will be Ivan’s story where he is assigned to protect an art gallery. It was once a front for money laundering. The heroine is trying to open the gallery to honor her late dad, but someone is sabotaging her efforts.
