Upcoming Release! The Dark Enquiry by Deanna Raybourn

I'm so very thrilled that a new Lady Julia Grey novel will be released this summer... and it's quite possible that I'm just as excited about the gorgeous cover!

Publish Date: June 21st 2011

Format: Paperback 400pp

Synopsis (What I have found to be available so far. I will keep you updated if/when there are any changes): 

"Partners now in marriage and in trade, Lady Julia and Nicholas Brisbane have finally returned from abroad to set up housekeeping in London. But merging their respective collections of gadgets, pets and servants leaves little room for the harried newlyweds themselves, let alone Brisbane's private enquiry business.Among the more unlikely clients: Julia's very proper brother, Lord Bellmont, who swears Brisbane to secrecy about his case. Not about to be left out of anything concerning her beloved-if eccentric-family, spirited Julia soon picks up the trail of the investigation.It leads to the exclusive Ghost Club, where the alluring Madame Séraphine holds evening séances...and not a few powerful gentlemen in thrall. From this eerie enclave unfolds a lurid tangle of dark deeds, whose tendrils crush reputations and throttle trust.Shocked to find their investigation spun into salacious newspaper headlines, bristling at the tension it causes between them, the Brisbanes find they must unite or fall. For Bellmont's sake-and more-they'll face myriad dangers born of dark secrets: the kind men kill to keep..."

Book Review: India Black by Carol K. Carr

Publish Date: January 4th 2011

Format: Paperback 304pp

Synopsis (From the Publisher):

"When Sir Archibald Latham of the War Office dies from a heart attack while visiting her brothel, Madam India Black is unexpectedly thrust into a deadly game between Russian and British agents who are seeking the military secrets Latham carried.

Blackmailed into recovering the missing documents by the British spy known as French, India finds herself dodging Russian agents-and the attraction she starts to feel for the handsome conspirator."

My Review:

India Black, the madam of Lotus House and shrewd business woman, knows how to keep her tarts in line and her customers well cared for. For India it is just another Sunday; an afternoon of bookkeeping and preparing the establishment for another nights business... that is until one of her regular customers mysteriously dies while with one of her employees. Knowing that the reputation of Lotus House will suffer greatly if it becomes known that a death has occurred on the premise, India quickly devises a way to dispose of the body. But when a stranger catches India in the midst the disposal, and offers to help without requesting anything in return, she is immediately wary, for she has learned nothing comes without a price. 

Despite India's best efforts to return to the normal duties of Lotus House, she finds that it is impossible to do so when spies, assassins, and the British government all want something from you. Thrown into a deadly game of espionage, India must team up with the spy known as French in attempt to thwart the ruthless foreign agents mission and save England from an inconceivable fate.

When I first began reading India Black, I was disappointed with the novels pace and plot depth. The first hundred and fifty pages were thick with conversations that did not amount to much, and I found myself wanting to look ahead in order to see when something intriguing might happen. While the plot remained thin, the pace began to pick up speed half-way through the novel. I was extremely pleased when the last hundred pages flew by; the intensity building every time I turned the page. It was during this time that India and French began working together, which complimented the novels newfound pace quite well. Their partnership was a delight and I often found myself smiling at their banter and blunders.

Despite the slow beginning and thin plot, India Black was an enjoyable read. The author has shown a talent for creating suspenseful scenarios that grow with great intensity. If she can capture the readers attention with this talent right from the beginning, fans of India Black will be in for some excellent reading adventures. 

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Intrigued by India Black? Check out my interview with the author, Carol K. Carr: India Black, author interview.

New Release: The Arrow Chest by Robert Parry

Publish Date: January 4th 2011

Format: Paperback 342pp

Synopsis (From the Publisher):

“London, 1876. The painter Amos Roselli is in love with his life-long friend and model, the beautiful Daphne – and she with him – until one day she is discovered by another man, a powerful and wealthy industrialist. What will happen when Daphne realises she has sacrificed her happiness to a loveless marriage? What will happen when the artist realises he has lost his most cherished source of inspiration? And how will they negotiate the ever-increasing frequency of strange and bizarre events that seem to be driving them inexorably towards self-destruction. Here, amid the extravagant Neo-Gothic culture of Victorian England, the iconic poem ‘The Lady of Shalott’ blends with mysterious and ghostly glimpses of Tudor history. Romantic, atmospheric and deeply dark.”

Video trailer for The Arrow Chest

To learn more about Robert Parry's works, visit him at: http://robertparry.wordpress.com/

Book Review: Dark Road to Darjeeling by Deanna Raybourn

Publish Date: October 2010

Format: Paperback 388pp

Synopsis (From the Publisher):

"After eight idyllic months in the Mediterranean, Lady Julia Grey and her detective husband are ready to put their investigative talents to work once more. At the urging of Julia's eccentric family, they hurry to India to aid an old friend, the newly widowed Jane Cavendish. Living on the Cavendish tea plantation with the remnants of her husband's family, Jane is consumed with the impending birth of her child—and with discovering the truth about her husband's death. Was he murdered for his estate? And if he was, could Jane and her unborn child be next?

Amid the lush foothills of the Himalayas, dark deeds are buried and malicious thoughts flourish. The Brisbanes uncover secrets and scandal, illicit affairs and twisted legacies. In this remote and exotic place, exploration is perilous and discovery, deadly. The danger is palpable and, if they are not careful, Julia and Nicholas will not live to celebrate their first anniversary."

My Review:

Towards the end of an extended honeymoon, Lady Julia and her husband Brisbaine have the unexpected displeasure of being tracked down by two of Julia's siblings. Persuaded by her sister Portia, Julia and Brisbaine embark upon a journey to the Himalayas in hopes of supporting the newly widowed and family friend, Jane Cavendish. Although Portia's described motive's might seem earnest, Julia soon derives the true purpose of their journey: to investigate the possible murder of Jane's husband and therefore possibly saving Jane from the same untimely end. 

Julia, always having been one prone to seek out adventure and prove her detective potential to Brisbaine, sets out against Brisbaine's wishes in order to solve this mystery. Confident in her skills, Julia has no hesitation in pursuing the murderer, but just as she begins to piece together the mystery it all begins to unravel at an alarming rate. Julia must decipher the chaos that surrounds her quickly, for in a place where secrets are dark and the villains enchanting, she just might easily be the next victim. 

I have always enjoyed the Julia Grey series, and this one is no exception! The story starts out at a moderate pace and gradually gains momentum as the story unfolds, allowing the reader enough time to process the clues and solve the mystery. Of course, as soon as you begin to unravel the mystery, the plot takes off at an unbelievable rate with the plot twisting and turning, much to the readers delight. I read the last half of this book in one sitting, and was shocked by some of the plot twist revelations. If you are looking for a Victorian Era mystery that will have you engaged and guessing the whole time, I highly recommend this book. I am definitely looking forward to Deanna Raybourn's next installment in this series!

FTC: I received this book from the publisher. As always, these are my own honest opinions. 

Friday Finds at the Bookstore: A Dangerous Affair by Caro Peacock

Publish Date: January 2009

Format: Paperback 320pp

Synopsis (From the Publisher):

"In Victoria s England, there are perilous intrigues a proper young lady would do well to avoid 

Liberty Lane, still in her early twenties, is doing her best to make a new life for herself in London after being bruised by loss and treachery. But there s no chance for her to settle down as a conventional young lady. First, a disturbingly attractive young politican, Benjamin Disraeli, wants her to use her contacts in the theatre world to find out more about a prima ballerina with a notorious love life called Columbine. He hints that some important interests may be at stake. Then Columbine is murdered in her dressing room, after an on-stage brawl with a younger and less successful dancer, who becomes prime suspect. Liberty is at the center of the investigation because one of her dearest friends, Daniel Suter, is convinced of the girl s innocence and will put his own neck in danger to save her. Liberty s determination to save them from the gallows leads her from the upper reaches of the aristocracy to some of London s lowlife haunts, posing the question: how far would you go to save a friend?

Caro Peacock, the acclaimed author of A Foreign Affair, once again ingeniously blends history, suspense, and adventure, and returns an endearing and exceptional heroine to the fictional fold."

Book Review: Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin

 

Synopsis: (From the Publisher)

Few works of literature are as universally beloved as Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Now, in this spellbinding historical novel, we meet the young girl whose bright spirit sent her on an unforgettable trip down the rabbit hole–and the grown woman whose story is no less enthralling.

But oh my dear, I am tired of being Alice in Wonderland. Does it sound ungrateful?

Alice Liddell Hargreaves’s life has been a richly woven tapestry: As a young woman, wife, mother, and widow, she’s experienced intense passion, great privilege, and greater tragedy. But as she nears her eighty-first birthday, she knows that, to the world around her, she is and will always be only “Alice.” Her life was permanently dog-eared at one fateful moment in her tenth year–the golden summer day she urged a grown-up friend to write down one of his fanciful stories.

That story, a wild tale of rabbits, queens, and a precocious young child, becomes a sensation the world over. Its author, a shy, stuttering Oxford professor, does more than immortalize Alice–he changes her life forever. But even he cannot stop time, as much as he might like to. And as Alice’s childhood slips away, a peacetime of glittering balls and royal romances gives way to the urgent tide of war. 

For Alice, the stakes could not be higher, for she is the mother of three grown sons, soldiers all. Yet even as she stands to lose everything she treasures, one part of her will always be the determined, undaunted Alice of the story, who discovered that life beyond the rabbit hole was an astonishing journey.

A love story and a literary mystery, Alice I Have Been brilliantly blends fact and fiction to capture the passionate spirit of a woman who was truly worthy of her fictional alter ego, in a world as captivating as the Wonderland only she could inspire.  

My Review:

"But oh my dear, I am tired of being Alice in Wonderland. Does it sound ungrateful?"... So begins the tale of Alice Liddell, the girl behind the beloved classic Alice's Adventures in Wonderland; but what caused her to want to escape Wonderland and why, when every other girl dreams of being Alice from Wonderland, did she have no desire to be that Alice? In Melanie Benjamin's captivating novel, Alice I Have Been, we hear a side of the story never told; a side that takes you beyond Wonderland and into the real world of a girl longing for love and desperate to live every moment to the fullest.

Seven year old Alice Liddell was a spirited and remarkable child; a child who never wanted to grow up. As a child Alice had a unique friendship with a much older Mr. Charles Dodgson. Alice feels that he is the only one who truly understands her and she takes pride in the fact that he bestows upon her his most ardent attention. On one "golden afternoon" Mr Dodgson tells Alice and her sisters a marvelous story about a little girl named Alice and her adventures in Wonderland. Alice begs him to write the tale down so she can be immortalized as a child forever, but little does she know that her world of Wonderland might not always be so wonderful...
 
That "golden afternoon" is soon clouded over, and Alice finds herself in a world where she is more confused then ever. She is now a young lady full of hopes, desires, and madly in love. Unfortunately, her role in the making of Wonderland and the scandal that occurred after that "golden afternoon" threatens to destroy any chance of finding happiness...


Melanie Benjamin has weaved an engaging and haunting tale with her novel Alice I Have Been. Before reading this novel, I had never known that there was a real Alice that inspired Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. This novel has brought Alice's story to life in a whole new way. Throughout the book, there are many phrases used from Alice's adventures in Wonderland, which made the book even more enchanting. It was also brilliant how the author gave characters certain personality traits which easily tied them to the classic story. This was a fast paced and very well written book. The last chapter of the book was one of surprise intensity and answering any questions that might have been lurking in the back of the readers mind, resulting in complete and perfect closure. Alice I Have Been is a wonderful book that will leave you with a whole new view of the beloved classic Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.


A Little Extra:

Alice Liddell at age seven photo by Charles Dodgson aka Lewis Caroll

Alice Liddell at age eighteen photo by Charles Dodgson aka Lewis Caroll

Alice Liddell Hargreaves at age eighty in 1932, two years before her death.