Tag: #historicalthriller

Book Tour/Feature Post and Book Review: Winter’s Season by R.J. Koreto

WINTER’S SEASON

by R.J. Koreto



January 26 – February 20, 2026 Virtual Book Tour

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for WINTER’S SEASON by R.J. Koreto 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, the author’s social media links, and a Promoamp giveaway sponsored by Partners In Crime. Enjoy!

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Book Description

In 1817 London, Before the Police, There Was Captain Winter.

London, 1817. A city teeming with life, yet lacking a professional police force. When a wealthy young woman is brutally murdered in an alley frequented by prostitutes, a shadowy government bureau in Whitehall dispatches its “special emissary”―Captain Winter. A veteran of the Napoleonic Wars and a gentleman forged by chance and conflict, Winter is uniquely equipped to navigate the treacherous currents of London society, from aristocratic drawing rooms to the city’s grimmest taverns.

Without an army of officers or the aid of forensic science, Winter must rely on his wits and a network of unconventional allies. His childhood friend, a nobleman, opens doors in high society, while a wise Jewish physician uncovers secrets the dead cannot hide.

But Winter’s most intriguing, and potentially dangerous, asset is Barbara Lightwood. Shrewd, beautiful, and operating as a discreet intermediary among the elite, Barbara shares a past with Winter from the war years. Their rekindled affair is fraught with wariness; she offers intimate information crucial to his investigation, but guards her own secrets fiercely. Like Winter, she is both cunning and capable of danger.

From grand houses to dimly lit streets, death stalks Captain Winter. He must tread carefully to unmask a killer, navigate a web of secrets and lies, and perhaps, in the process, save his own soul.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/235788930-winter-s-season?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=QD0blWBgcc&rank=1

Winter’s Season

Genre: Thriller, Historical, Romance, Political, Crime
Published by: Histria Books
Publication Date: February 17, 2026
Number of Pages: 300
ISBN: 9781592116898 (ISBN10: 1592116892)

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My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

WINTER’S SEASON by R.J. Koreto is a new Regency mystery with an exciting cast of characters from all levels of Regency society, an intriguing murder mystery, and a well-paced investigative procedural led by retired military Captain Edmund Winter who now works for the Home Office. While this is a standalone book at this time, I would love to see it become a series because I did not want it to end.

The Napoleonic war ended two years ago and now in 1817, after his return from a deployment to India, Captain Edmund Winter finds himself working for the Home Office. With the successful capture of a murderer targeting prostitutes, Winter and the Bow Street Runners he is assisting find an unrelated corpse at the scene. It turns out to be a young Society woman who the family assumed had returned to their country home.

Winter must use his wits to navigate Society ballrooms and the shadowy secrets they keep with the help of unconventional friends. His childhood friend, now a nobleman, a Jewish physician from the Army who now performs autopsies, and a secretive woman from Winter’s past who is more than an entrée into society families. While Winter is dangerous to all those who cross him or threaten those he cares for, he must be careful because someone has already tried to kill him before he can unravel the secrets and lies to discover a murderer.

This is one of those books that I just fell into and could not put down. Capt. Winter is a compelling protagonist with so many facets. The main characters are all fascinating and fully developed, and the mystery is well plotted with plenty of twists and surprises, and well-paced to keep me reading. The author’s research is evident from the descriptions of the multiple levels of society, from nobility to servants, and the required or proper access to them and how to talk with them.

I highly recommend this thrilling Regency mystery and hope I get to read more about Capt. Winter’s investigations in the future.

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Excerpt

CHAPTER I

It was the custom of Colonel Sir Joshua Williams to invite his veteran officers to his house each Season to commemorate the Battle of San Stefano. After dinner, the closing ceremony was invariable: First, the ladies rose, the young in their pale blues and pinks and the more matronly in their deeper reds and purples. They smiled and departed, leaving the table surrounded by men in their scarlet coats, adorned with medals glittering by the light of dozens of beeswax candles in their silver holders. The liveried footmen filled the port glasses and left as well, closing the doors behind them.

One former company captain looked around, taking note that he was the youngest battle veteran there—the toast would fall to him. Others had moved on or died. He had himself missed last year’s dinner, spending it on the Afghan border, dressed like a Saracen and getting his skin burned black while trying to uncover the secrets of that land’s sullen and violent inhabitants. Even the task he had to complete after leaving tonight, difficult as it seemed, was nothing compared with that.

The colonel caught his eye, and so the captain stood. Every man stopped talking as the captain raised his glass, and then they stood at attention. He remembered the words easily, and in a strong voice he said, “Did our battle line ever break?”

“No!” shouted the company.

“Why did it not break?”

“We are the hard men,” they replied in unison.

“Gentlemen, to our departed brothers of the First Northumberland Foot,” called the captain. They drained their glasses and slammed them down, then burst into applause. The dinner was over.

The captain—indeed, he suspected, the other officers as well—was reflecting on how this dinner came about in a year of peace. The English and their allies had defeated Napoleon for the final time at Waterloo two years past now in 1815 and life was moving on—the best people were all in London this time of year, with no war to talk about, just fashions and parties and theater and how good it was to be able to import from France the best claret again.

They rejoined the ladies in the drawing room, and the captain sought out Lady Williams, the colonel’s wife.

“My Lady, thank you for your invitation.”

“It is I who should thank you, captain. These dinners mean so much to the colonel as he ages, having all his officers around.”

“And he means so much to us, Lady Williams, the pleasure and honor are ours. I am only glad I am back in London so I can attend.”

“Yes, he mentioned you found a position in the Home Office?” She showed as much surprise and curiosity as a lady of her breeding dared reveal. The captain knew the look—how did a man of his obscure background land what appeared to be a distinguished government position? Despite its simple name, the Home Office had become, since its founding some 25 years before, one of the most powerful and overarching government ministries, with responsibility for security and safety within the British Isles. The Home Secretary was one of the most influential men in England. How Winter had advanced his career in that august body was beyond reckoning.

“Yes, my lady. The work is interesting, but at times onerous, I’m afraid. Indeed, my masters call me even now.”

“At this hour, captain? How tedious for you. But again, I am pleased you could come. Give my warmest regards to the Earl and Countess.” 

The captain said goodbye to his colonel and a few other officers, and the butler saw him out. He walked to the nearest stand and engaged a hackney cab to Bow Street Court. A few heads turned as he entered the building, but no one accosted him. A clerk gave him the barest nod but said nothing as he entered a room. 

A few minutes later, the captain came out. He was no longer in his regimentals, but in rather shabby outfit, almost rural, with a slouch hat. Down the hall, he entered another room, where a squad of Bow Street Runners awaited—constables, employed by the local court at Bow Street, to keep order and seize felons. Winter suppressed a grimace. They were poorly trained and poorly paid, but it was pretty much all London had for law enforcement. Many still thought the idea of a formal professional constabulary too much government interference—too un-English. So, the Runners would have to do. At least they were willing and obedient. 

“We have already gone over where you should be standing,” said the captain. “You know how important it is you aren’t seen.” There was more than instruction in his voice–there was menace.

“Yes, sir,” said the most senior constable present. 

“Then take your places. I’ll be along shortly.”

Moving quickly, he left the building and walked along dark streets that became progressively dirtier and more dangerous. He saw men hiding in the shadows, those who preyed on the weak and unaware, but nothing happened to him.

Eventually he came to a building that was well-lit, at least by the neighborhood standards. It was certainly the noisiest venue in the street. The cracked and faded sign marked it as The Three Bells.

The Captain entered—a few were eating off dirty plates, and almost everyone was drinking beer, or something stronger. Slatternly women laughed and tried to slip away from the half-drunk men who loudly pursued them. Some allowed themselves to be caught, and there was more laughter and then a talk of money. The whole room smelled of smoke and grease, and the floor was sticky from weeks of spilled ale.

Few paid attention to the captain, but a fat man walked up to him surprisingly quickly for someone of his bulk.

“Oh captain, I am so pleased, do you think—”

“Shut up. Where’s Sally? She was suitable last night, and she’ll be suitable tonight.”

“Sally—oh there she is.” He pointed to a tallish girl wearing more makeup than an actress. A large man in worker’s clothes, probably a stevedore, thought the captain, had grabbed her and placed her on his lap. She didn’t seem to mind.

The captain strode over, grabbed the woman by her wrist, and pulled her off the man’s lap. 

“Come, my girl, we have an appointment as you well know.” 

She yelped with surprise, then gave a shrug and followed. The large man stood up.

“See here—I saw her first,” he said. His accent wasn’t London, which explained everything.

“Good for you,” said the Captain, and pulled the girl across the room. The big man started to follow, but two of his friends grabbed him.

“Now Jake, no need to cause trouble,” said the first, who was clearly local.

“Cause trouble? I’ll flatten him—”

“No, you won’t. You don’t know, you’re new here. For God’s sake, that’s the Captain, a soldier, they say he was, and you don’t want to start something with him—I’ve seen what happens to those who do—”

“That’s right,” chimed in the other friend, also a Londoner. “Remember Big Nick—used to be here, no one stood up to him, but he challenged the Captain…” he shuddered.

“And what happened?” asked a skeptical Jake. Both men look their heads.

“We never saw him again. He wasn’t arrested. They didn’t find his body—he was just…gone. So just stop thinking about it. There are plenty of other girls.”

But Jake still felt he had to make a show of standing up for himself. 

“So, you’re telling me it would be a mistake to call him out?”

“Your last mistake,” said the first man. Then very softly, as if he was afraid of his words, he said, “He’s called Winter. If you’re thinking of staying in this part of London, you would do well to remember that name.”

***

Author Bio

R.J. Koreto is the author of the Historic Home mystery series, set in modern New York City; the Lady Frances Ffolkes mystery series, set in Edwardian England; and the Alice Roosevelt mystery series, set in turn-of-the-century New York. His short stories have been published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine and Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, as well as various anthologies.

Most recently, he is the author of “Winter’s Season,” which takes place on the dark streets and glittering ballrooms of Regency-era London.

In his day job, he works as a business and financial journalist. Over the years, he’s been a magazine writer and editor, website manager, PR consultant, book author, and seaman in the U.S. Merchant Marine. Like his heroine, Lady Frances Ffolkes, he’s a graduate of Vassar College.

He and his wife have two grown daughters, and divide their time between Paris and Martha’s Vineyard.

Social Media Links

www.RJKoreto.com
Amazon Author Profile
Goodreads
BookBub
Instagram – @rjkoreto
Facebook – @rjkoreto

Purchase Links

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PROMOAMP GIVEAWAY

https://pictbooks.tours/mTgK1prm

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elsie Cooper: A Jewel in the Crown by David Lewis

Book Description

1940: Weeks after the evacuation of Dunkirk, Germany is poised to invade a near-defenseless Britain. To safeguard the Crown Jewels from the Nazis, Winston Churchill devises a daring gamble to have them shipped overseas. The priceless artifacts will be secretly removed from the Tower of London and driven north to Scotland by two operatives posing as a young married couple, to be taken from there to Canada.

Caitrin Colline—a Welsh coalminer’s daughter and an ardent socialist—will play the wife of Lord Marlton, Hector Neville-Percy. A less likely couple is at first difficult to imagine. Yet Caitrin’s bold, streetwise confidence and sharp wits complement Hector’s social ease and connections, essential to a second part of their mission: uncovering Nazi sympathizers within the highest ranks of Britain’s aristocracy.

Battling enemies within and without, Caitrin wonders if anyone in their circle can be trusted—even her partner. And when unexpected events catapult her into a life-or-death chase across the continent, the morale of a nation and the fate of Europe itself in the balance.

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Elise’s Thoughts

A Jewel in the Crown by David Lewis is a thriller and mystery all in one book, a spy novel set in England during WWII.

In 1940 there is a fear of German infiltrators throughout England.  To safeguard the Crown Jewels from the Nazis, Winston Churchill devises a daring gamble to have them shipped overseas. The priceless artifacts will be secretly removed from the Tower of London and driven north to Scotland by two operatives posing as a young married couple, to be taken from there to Canada.

He recruits Hector, Lord Neville-Percy of Marlton, and police constable Caitrin Colline, a “Welsh firebrand, antiroyalist, and future destroyer of England’s aristocracy,” to act as a squabbling married couple driving a hay wagon where the jewels are hidden. Interestingly they have clashing backgrounds and personalities, since they are from different classes.

The heroine Catrine Colline is working for “512,” an undercover outfit. 512 is fictional, but it bears a strong resemblance to Churchill’s SOE (Special Operations Executive), also an undercover operation. She is a woman no one can mess with. Caitrin’s bold, streetwise, confident, and sharp wits complement Hector’s social ease and connections, essential to a second part of their mission: uncovering Nazi sympathizers within the highest ranks of Britain’s aristocracy, who also happen to be anti-Semitic.

The plot is a good adventure story with likeable characters that readers will root for. 

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: How did you get the idea for the story?

David Lewis: What gave me the idea is how the British hid the jewels 20 feet deep under Windsor Castle and they sent all the Bank of England’s bullion to Canada. I thought if they could transfer the bullion why not the Crown Jewels? This is the first one in the series.

EC:  Was Caitrin based on anyone?

DL: My main character is based on my mother.  She comes from a Welsh coal mining town, one of fourteen children. At the age of fourteen she was sent away to work in a hotel.  I wanted to give my mother a cool and adventurous life.

EC: How would you describe Caitrin?

DL: Caitrin is direct, bold, confident, observant, and a force of nature.  She is also funny, persistent, independent, and determined. She is not so much anti-aristocracy but a socialist who wanted to bring down the landed gentry.  Her goal was to make life more equal for the common man.

EC:  How would you describe Hector?

DL: Hector is from a powerful aristocratic family, but not rich.  He is honest and currently in Special Operations. He is a little bit of a lost soul because of taxes.

EC:  What about their relationship?

DL: He admires her confidence and wishes he had it. They infuriated each other.  Neither one of them can get past their class, stopping the attraction between them. They spark off each other.  They do respect each other.

EC:  Is it true there were German infiltrators?

DL: Churchill was afraid of all the German infiltrators, but MI5 and MI6 were remarkable in sweeping them up. There is this book quote by an English aristocrat, “We English should be building bridges with the Germans. They are our true brothers, not the French or the Poles.” I have always been fascinated by him.  I wanted to make him seen as human, not a legend. Throughout the series he starts to be directly in the adventures. 

EC:  You explore the anti-Semitic sentiment regarding the Jews?

DL: The Aristocracy was also anti-Jew.  All the remarks in the book about the Jews by the aristocracy are true.  For example a book quote, “I lost a fortune to that filthy Jew.  Hitler is right. We should drive the Jews out. They’re nothing but money-grubbing leeches who have latched onto our society.” This is a running theme throughout the whole series.

EC: What about your next book?

DL: The next book, titled Beacon in The Night, is out next year.  It is also based on a true story.  The Germans wanted to drop bombs on historical cities and sites in England. They did it by having an agent on the ground placing a beacon in the buildings where the Germans could bomb with incredible precision. Caitrin and Hector’s job is to find the beacons and the person placing them.

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.

Feature Post and Book Review: The Time Patriot: Episode One – Hail Mary Pass by Kim Megahee

Book Summary

A Hail Mary Pass – that’s what the President of the United States called it.

What are the chances Marc McKnight’s time travel team can convince George Washington to leave his home and travel with them to the year 2037?
Another bloody civil war is imminent in the United States. Political parties are hopelessly divided and fanning the embers of war. Can the war be prevented if George Washington tells modern America what the Founding Fathers were trying to achieve?

A Hail Mary Pass. A long shot. But it’s worth a try.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/65138146-the-time-patriot?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=qt5JUrkOj0&rank=1

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My Book Review

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

THE TIME PATRIOT: EPISODE ONE – HAIL MARY PASS by Kim Megahee is the intriguing first in The Time Patriot series of time travel/sci-fi historical episodic novellas set in 2037. With the U.S on the brink of civil war, a time travel team has been sent by the current U.S. President to bring George Washington forward in time to clarify to the people of 2037 America what the Founding Fathers were trying to achieve with the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

I was impressed with the believability of the worldbuilding in this novella. It sets up the series without bogging down the pace of the plot. The historical research interspersed with futuristic sci-fi imaginings are interwoven seamlessly throughout the novella and lead to an easy suspension of belief and an enjoyable read that ends too soon.

This novella does end on a cliffhanger, but the next episode is available now, so you don’t have to wait, which I didn’t. That said, it is also my only criticism. I know many people enjoy short bursts of stories that they can stop and start, continue or not, but I do not. I would have preferred all these episodic novellas were available in one full length story.

Overall, this is an action-packed, exciting sci-fi historical novella that I read in one sitting and really enjoyed. I did immediately download the next novella in the series, but this type of rolling out a story may not be for everyone.

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About the Author

Kim Megahee is a writer, musician, and retired computer consultant. He has a degree from the University of Georgia in Mathematics Education. His background includes playing in rock bands, teaching high school, and much experience in computer programming, security and consulting.

In his consulting career, Kim worked with large companies on four continents to help increase their software development throughput.

In addition to writing, he enjoys hanging out with his wife, reading, watching scifi movies, boating on Lake Lanier, playing live music, and socializing with friends. Kim lives in Gainesville, Georgia with his soulmate wife Martha and Leo, the brilliant but stubborn red-headed toy poodle.

Social Media Links

Website: https://www.authorkimmegahee.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/author.kmega/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AuthorKmega

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/kim-megahee

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: The Paris Assignment by Rhys Bowen

Book Description

Londoner Madeleine Grant is studying at the Sorbonne in Paris when she marries charismatic French journalist Giles Martin. As they raise their son, Olivier, they hold on to a tenuous promise for the future. Until the thunder of war sets off alarms in France.

Staying behind to join the resistance, Giles sends Madeleine and Olivier to the relative safety of England, where Madeleine secures a job teaching French at a secondary school. Yet nowhere is safe. After a devastating twist of fate resulting in the loss of her son, Madeleine accepts a request from the ministry to aid in the war effort. Seizing the smallest glimmer of hope of finding Giles alive, she returns to France. If Madeleine can stop just one Nazi, it will be the start of a valiant path of revenge.

Though her perseverance, defiance, and heart will be tested beyond imagining, no risk is too great for a brave wife and mother determined to fight and survive against inconceivable odds.

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Elise’s Thoughts

The Paris Assignment by Rhys Bowen is a story of love and war, bitterness and brutality, bravery, and forgiveness. The setting moves from England to France to Australia. 

The heroine Madeline Grant is sent to study overseas at the Sorbonne in Paris.  There she meets charismatic French journalist Giles Martin. After the Christmas holiday, she defies her stepmother and returns to Paris to live with Giles.  After finding out she is pregnant Giles eventually does the right thing and marries her even though his mother has cut him off from any financial assistance.  When Oliver, their child is born, he sends Madeline and Oliver back to England to escape Nazi occupied France, while Giles remains in his homeland to join the Resistance.  After the Nazi bombings of London starts Madeline puts Oliver on a train to find safety in the English countryside.  Unfortunately, the Nazis bombed the train and Oliver is reported dead. 

The harrowing adventure starts for both Oliver and Madeline.  He is thought to be an orphan and is shipped off to Australia while she joins an elite English group of French speaking women who are trained as spies and sent to France. Both she and Oliver must endure abuse and torture.  The redeeming quality is how Giles mother rescues Madeline and helps her to escape back to England.  After the war Madeline is sent undercover to Australia to find and bring to justice the abusive Nazis.  Readers will find her as a courageous mother and resistor who wants to honor her husband’s and son’s memory. She perseveres, is brave, defiant, and a risktaker.

This is an enthralling story of love, survival, sacrifice, and betrayals. Although a rather dark story there is a happy ending which leaves readers hopeful for the future.

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: How did you get the idea for the story?

Rhys Bowen: I have been very conscious of these women during WWII who risked their lives in the war effort with a survival rate of 25%.  I thought what would make someone do it?  These young girls of eighteen, where an incredibly diverse group who were incredibly brave.  Then in 2019 we rented a house in Fontainebleau France and became aware of the history regarding the Nazi occupation. I went back last fall to fill in the little bits of details for the story.

EC:  How would you describe Madeline?

RB:  She grew from a naïve English girl to someone who became a fierce mother tiger.  She was sheltered, practical, and honest. She feels lost because she is not welcome at home. Madeline is looking for love, adventure, and to belong. But as she matures, she has an inner strength.

EC:  How about Giles?

RB:  Readers see him through Madeline’s eyes.  At first self-centered but he steps up to marry her when she is with child.  He becomes very brave and honorable.

EC:  How about the relationship between Madeline and Giles?

RB:  At first, he sweeps her off her feet but then she becomes the complement to him. He is an idealist, believes in equality.  They are perfect for each other when they meet.  At the beginning readers see him as a bad playboy.  As the relationship grows, they become each other’s true love.  At the beginning he was self-centered and domineering as evidenced by the quote, ‘In France people marry for family expectations with a mistress for companionship.’ But after a few years he begins to rely on her strength and stability. The turning point is when he defied his family to marry her.

EC:  How would you describe the child of Madeline and Giles, Oliver?

RB:  Very smart, brave, very observing, and is not outgoing.  While going to school in England, as with most young schoolboys, he was picked on because he sounded different and did not fit in. He is the typical only child that grows up around adults, learning to interact in an adult sort of way. He endured the hardships. People see him as a complex character. Because he changed badges with this other guy his bio says he came from the backstreets of London, yet he appears very well educated. It is war time, so he becomes a small casualty with no one double checking on the discrepancy.

EC: There is a difference between Madeline’s stepmom Eleanor and Giles mom?

RB: I was asked ‘why do I have in each of my books a cold, horrible woman?’  My own mother and grandmother were lovely.  But I went to a strict girl’s schools where all the teachers were nasty and spiteful older women. Eleanor is self-centered, uncaring, and very cold.  She did not marry for love and is jealous of the fact that the father loves Madeline but does not love her. The father is very much like Mr. Bennet from Pride and Prejudice, shuts himself up in the library.  

Giles mother is caught up in the class system, coming from a very important family. She expected her son to behave as she wants.  In the beginning her reputation is more important to her than the relationship with her son. But later in the book, after helping to rescue Madeline she confesses that she has gone to Paris to see them, but then still refused to be a part of the family. Giles mother is brave, proud, and spirited, whereas Eleanor never changes.

EC:  What is true versus false?

RB:  It has a lot of real stuff. The English were anti-French. Also true, every house built a shelter. I was like Oliver having a complete panic attack during the blitzkrieg. My husband told a story how he saw a senseless act of violence when a German pilot machine gunned a bunch of people at a bus stop, so it was not unheard of that they bombed an English civilian train.

Children were moved to Australia, a British colony. They volunteered to take British orphans and children of family members who wanted their own children to be safe. Regarding the Australian nuns I read these first-person accounts of children sent to these farms controlled by the nuns.  They were spiteful and cruel. They sought out a way to make money.  When the children get old enough, they got a finder’s fee from farmers which was like indentured servants.

EC:  Next books?

RB:  The book coming out this time next year has a working title, An Abandoned Place. It is about three little girls during WWII who were put on a train to be evacuated and were never seen again.  Move forward to 1968 where a girl thinks she has been to a village now abandoned.  The protagonist is a journalist who decides to investigate.

March 2024 will be the next Molly Murphy book I write with my daughter.  It is titled In Sunshine or In Shadow.  It takes place in the Catskills where the Jewish bungalows are.

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.

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: When She Dreams by Amanda Quick

Book Description

Maggie Lodge, assistant to the reclusive advice columnist known only as Dear Aunt Cornelia to her readers, hires down-but-not-quite-out private eye Sam Sage to help track down the person who is blackmailing her employer. Maggie and Sam are a mismatched pair. As far as Sam is concerned, Maggie is reckless and in over her head. She is not what he had in mind for a client but he can’t afford to be choosy. Maggie, on the other hand, is convinced that Sam is badly in need of guidance and good advice. She does not hesitate to give him both.

In spite of the verbal fireworks between them, they are fiercely attracted to each other, but each is convinced it would be a mistake to let passion take over. They are, after all, keeping secrets from each other. Sam is haunted by his past, which includes a marriage shattered by betrayal and violence. Maggie is troubled by intense and vivid dreams–dreams that she can sometimes control. There are those who want to run experiments on her and use her for their own purposes, while others think she should be committed to an asylum.

When the pair discovers someone is impersonating Aunt Cornelia at a conference on psychic dreaming and a woman dies at the conference, the door is opened to a dangerous web of blackmail and murder. Secrets from the past are revealed, leaving Maggie and Sam in the path of a ruthless killer who will stop at nothing to exact vengeance.

***

Elise’s Thoughts

When She Dreams by Amanda Quick, is a story with lies, murder, blackmail, and drugs. This series takes place during the 1930’s in the small town of Burning Cove, California with some recurring characters.

The opening scene sets the atmosphere for the rest of the plot.  Maggie Lodge enters the office of Dr. Oxlade for a session about her lucid dreams. Unbeknownst to her, he gives her a drug called the enhancer. He is hoping to control her dreams, actions, and mind. As Maggie is fighting the effects of the drug, she barely escapes from the office.

Lucid dreams become almost a character in the story. People dreaming are aware that they are dreaming. During the dream someone may gain some amount of control over it to try to become aware of their consciousness.

Maggie must also deal with the fact that someone is blackmailing her employer, Dear Aunt Cornelia, an advice columnist. She hires private eye and former policeman Sam Sage to help find the blackmailer.  The investigation leads them to a conference on psychic dreaming where Maggie realizes Dr. Oxlade is also attending. It seems some women who were lucid dreamers are being killed.  As tensions rise and the murders increase, Maggie and Sam realize they are in the path of a ruthless killer who will stop at nothing to exact vengeance. They enlist the help of the series recurring characters Raina Kirk, a private detective and investigator, plus Luther Pell, to find information that will help to connect all the murdered women.

The relationship between Maggie and Sam is a delight. Their snarky, intimate, verbal fireworks conversations are enjoyable. But they also realize there is a passionate chemistry between them. What they must overcome are the secrets kept from each other. Both are haunted by their pasts.

Once again readers will not be disappointed with this 1930s mystery. This intriguing and suspenseful story is full of twists. A bonus is how Quick intertwined the information about lucid dreaming into the story.

***

Author Interview

Elise Cooper: Idea for the story?

Amanda Quick: The story idea comes from the fact that I am personally intrigued with dreaming. One of the most interesting types is lucid dreaming where someone knows they are dreaming.  The goal is to control the dream and solve problems that someone could not solve while awake. For example, rewrite nightmares or sad dreams to find peace. This was a hot topic in the thirties. Now on online there are many people looking it up.  It is like waking up before falling off a cliff or in my case learning to fly.

EC: There are all types of dreams in the book, what are the differences?

AQ: Lucid dreaming is real. Astral projection is junk science, pure fantasy.  It is when someone thinks they can travel in their dreams as their soul moves to another location. Latent psychic senses have someone believing they have a psychic vibe yet are not aware of it. This is also a scam.

EC:  How would you describe Maggie?

AQ:  Maggie is a lucid dreamer who can control her dreams, which allows her to see things in a different light.  She is adventurous, outgoing, and a modern woman. She is very smart, independent, bold, a little reckless, unpredictable, and confident. Maggie wants to do the right thing and wants to find answers.

EC:  Why does she have an aversion to marriage?

AQ: She had a very close call when her fiancé wanted to marry her for her money and then he was going to send her off to an asylum. In those days it was not hard to get a woman committed against her will. This is why she is wary of marriage.

EC:  Sam Sage versus Sam Spade?

AQ: I did not even try to hide it and had fun playing off the character.  I was going for the iconic 1930s hardboiled private eye.  My character Sam Sage is much nicer and a lot more honorable. Sam Spade is from The Maltese Falcon, an American icon.  I put this quote in the book, Sam Spade is “arrogant, egotistical, narcissistic ass, with the moral code of an alley cat…he isn’t interested in justice…and a lousy detective.” His goal is to prove he is the smartest guy in the room. I wanted my character to be in the same occupation but with better personality traits.

EC:  How would you describe Sam Sage?

AQ:  He is really interested in justice and doing the right thing.  Sam is the classic good guy, very protective.  Some people see him as world weary and wise cracking.

EC:  What about the relationship between Maggie and Sam?

AQ:  They play off each other’s strengths and weaknesses.  She is reckless and he is a ‘by the books guy’.  They are very passionate about each other.  Each sees the underlying strength of the other and trusts each other.

EC:  Next books?

AQ:  It will be another Jayne Castle Dust Bunny book, a futuristic romantic suspense novel, titled, Sweet Water and the Witch, coming out September 30th.  The next Amanda Quick book is out a year from now, titled The Bride Wore White.  A woman wakes up in the honeymoon suite with a dead body next to her. Raina Kirk and Luther Pell have become the anchor characters for the series and will be in every book as cameo players.

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.

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: Defending Britta Stein by Ronald H. Balson

Book Description

Defending Britta Stein is a story of bravery, betrayal, and redemption—from Ronald H. Balson, the winner of the National Jewish Book Award

Chicago, 2018: Ole Henryks, a popular restauranteur, is set to be honored by the Danish/American Association for his many civic and charitable contributions. Frequently appearing on local TV, he is well known for his actions in Nazi-occupied Denmark during World War II—most consider him a hero.

Britta Stein, however, does not. The ninety-year-old Chicago woman levels public accusations against Henryks by spray-painting “Coward,” “Traitor,” “Collaborator,” and “War Criminal” on the walls of his restaurant. Mrs. Stein is ultimately taken into custody and charged with criminal defacement of property. She also becomes the target of a bitter lawsuit filed by Henryks and his son, accusing her of defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Attorney Catherine Lockhart, though hesitant at first, agrees to take up Mrs. Stein’s defense. With the help of her investigator husband, Liam Taggart, Lockhart must reach back into wartime Denmark and locate evidence that proves Mrs. Stein’s innocence. Defending Britta Stein is critically-acclaimed author Ronald H. Balson’s thrilling take on a modern day courtroom drama, and a masterful rendition of Denmark’s wartime heroics.

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Elise’s Thoughts

Defending Britta Stein by Ronald H. Balson is a wonderful read. Although the book has some courtroom drama including legal strategy and loopholes, most of the story is Britta Stein’s recounting of the events leading up to and during World War II in Denmark. This is historical fiction at its best with bravery, betrayal, and redemption.

Britta Stein is a 92-year-old Jewish Danish woman who emigrated to America. She is being sued for defamation after being seen and then admitting to spray painting “Coward,” “Traitor,” “Collaborator,” and “War Criminal” on the walls of a restaurant. The owner, 95-year-old Ole Henryks, will be honored by the Danish/American Association for his many civic and charitable contributions. Frequently appearing on local TV, he is well known for his actions of saving Jews in Nazi-occupied Denmark during World War II and is considered a hero.  But not to Britta who claims he was anything but and sent Jews to their deaths including her sister and brother-in-law.

Attorney Catherine Lockhart and Investigator Liam Taggart, husband, and wife, have agreed to defend Britta and have as an assistant counsel her granddaughter Emma. The plot alternates between present day Chicago (2018) and Britta’s oral account of her memories of her homeland of Denmark prior to the presence of the Nazis and during World War II. They are up against “Six o’clock” Sterling Sparks, Henryk’s’ shady attorney, who pushes for a speedy trial and is willing to waive witness lists and pretrial exhibits. Readers anxiously turn the pages hoping Britta will be vindicated since they take a journey with her during the horrific events.

What is very interesting is the way Balson contrasts defamation versus freedom of speech, the consequences of staying versus leaving, and Denmark’s role in protecting its Jewish citizens.

This book will stay with readers well after they finish the book. The author has an incredible way of telling a story with sympathetic heroes and monstrous villains before and during World War II. The story has mystery, intrigue, suspense, and history all intertwined into a riveting novel.

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Elise’s Author Interview

Elise Cooper:  Why Denmark?

Ronald H. Balson:  I wanted to tell the story of what this country did since it was so unique and extraordinary.  They unified and came together as a country, they came together to hide, protect, and ultimately rescue 7,600 of their Jewish brethren from certain death. Other countries did not do it: not Belgium, not France, not Norway, not any other country.

EC:  It was interesting that Hitler made a non-aggression pact with Denmark, The Cooperation Agreement?

RHB:  Denmark got a pass from Hitler who considered the country small and not a military force.  But he needed this country to get into the North Sea.  For whatever reason he decided not to totally occupy Denmark and to peacefully co-exist.  Denmark ran its own internal affairs and was allowed to govern their Jewish population until 1943. 

EC:  The Danish people were incredible?

RHB:  I hoped to get across through the civil jury trial here in America what it was like to be a Dane and Jewish.  As I recounted in the book, there were plenty of non-Jews who put themselves at risk to help save the 7600 Jewish citizens in Denmark.  They were hidden in hospitals, churches, stores, and homes.  Many also helped the Jews get to Sweden. I wanted to show how the Danes had emotional pride and belief in their own country.

EC: You discuss the debate about staying versus leaving?

RHB:  I have this scene in the book between Catherine her lawyer, and Britta.  Catherine says, “I know it’s easy for me to say in hindsight, and it’s not fair, I shouldn’t judge, but the consequences of staying were dire, yet they found some reason to ignore the writing on the wall, which to me defies logic and good sense.”  Britta responds, that if they could see into the future a wiser decision could have been made; yet, they “would have packed up and left everything and everyone… your job, your home, your profession, and headed off blindly in some unknown direction… At that time, in 1943 Hitler owned Europe.”

EC:  You seem to explore this in many of your books?

RHB:  It is a constant theme in a lot of my books.  They all had the same opportunity to leave.  But how does someone leave everything including family and community.  Where would they go? How many countries would have taken in millions of Jews? What the Nazis did continued to escalate, and no one could imagine the concentration camps.  Many thought they could last out the war. 

EC:  How would you describe Britta-I thought of her like Golda Meir?

RHB:  Really interesting.  She was a spunky young woman and now in her 90s she is a spunky older woman.  She is a fighter, passionate, principled, independent, determined, and headstrong.

EC: She was accused of having a Nazi symbol but denied it?

RHB: She said she would never use these symbols because then it becomes a part of her language.

EC:  In the story there is an explanation between freedom of speech and defamation?

RHB: I have a scene in the book where Catherine explains to Britta that freedom of speech is not absolute.  No one can use words to legally defame someone. If someone is accused of criminal conduct, crimes of moral turpitude, and coalescence with the Nazi Party there can be serious consequences. Traitor, Nazi agent, and Nazi collaborator are defamatory on their face.  But couldn’t liar, informer, and betrayer be opinions?

EC:  How would you describe the granddaughter, Emma?

RHB: She is learning a lot about her grandmother who she admires.  She is a brilliant young lawyer who is articulate and dignified.

EC:  What about the lawyer Sterling Sparks?

RHB:  He is called “Six O’clock Sparks” for a reason. I have been practicing law for over 49 years and have met plenty of Sterlings. He knows how to work the media.  Very flashy but not that sharp as a lawyer. Very brash, narcissistic, over-confident, and conceited.

EC:  What do you want readers to get out of your books?

RHB:  I think of historical fiction like cheating.  The backdrop has already been written by history.  My job as a writer is to create characters, a plot, and a setting to weave into the history, making sure a certain point is brought out.  I want my readers to be invested in the fictional characters created.  My goal is for people to learn something.

EC:  What about your next book?

RHB:  It will not have Catherine and Liam although I think I will write another one with them. This next book takes place in 1945 with some espionage.  It will possibly come out in September next 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.