historical

Interview with Julia Kelly (Evelyne Redfern Mystery series)

Article and Interview by Elise Cooper Julia Kelly’s new series introduces a new heroine, Evelyne Redfern. She is intelligent, logical, and resilient with a love of reading detective stories. Readers are plunged into WWII where Evelyne ends up as a spy. These novels have secrets and friendships. A Traitor in Whitehall introduces Evelyne by going into her backstory. She was known as the Parisian Orphan after her mother died, and her father was in name only. Now many years later, …

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Interview with Catherine Lloyd (Miss Morton and the Missing Heir)

Article and Interview by Elise Cooper Miss Morton and the Missing Heir by Catherine Lloyd is a great read. The author makes the 1840s Regency/ Victorian era come alive within the compelling mystery and characters. Caroline was the daughter of an earl, but her father gambled away everything, leaving her and her sister at the mercy of relatives. A mother and her son Thomas, the Scuttons, show up and says to Caroline that the son is now claiming that he …

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Review Roundup Fall 2025

A roundup of several smaller reviews I wrote in late summer to fall 2025. Beware of spoilers! Title: What Comes After Author: Katie Bayerl Series: n/a Thank you to Katie Bayerl, Penguin, and NetGalley for allowing me to read a free ARC in exchange for an honest review. Sorry it’s overdue. DNF 31%. The afterlife is the same as life, filled with veiled autocracy, big brother, social media, toxicity and strife, and other familiar bullshit. And so many awful puns. …

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Interview with Rhys Bowen (Mrs. Endicott’s Splendid Adventure)

Article and Interview by Elise Cooper Mrs. Endicott’s Splendid Adventure by Rhys Bowen is a gripping novel. No matter what book Bowen writes, readers feel they are taking the journey with the characters and are transported into the setting. The descriptions of the town and its residents are very detailed. Readers meet Ellie Endicott in Surrey, England, during 1938. After raising two grown sons and having devoted her entire married life to catering to her husband’s needs, her husband wants …

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Interview with Alyssa Maxwell (Murder at Arleigh)

Article and Interview by Elise Cooper Murder at Arleigh by Alyssa Maxwell highlights high society drama. This suspenseful plot brings back reporter-sleuth Emma Cross Andrews who must decide if the whispered threats and pranks are not so innocent. The book begins with Emma and Derrick Andrews attending the wedding of her cousin Reggie Vanderbilt and heiress Cathleen Neilson at the Bellevue Mansion, Arleigh. Their hosts are a popular couple, Harry and Elizabeth “Bessie” Lehr. But shortly after the wedding Emma …

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Review Roundup Summer 2025 – Part 2

Another roundup of several smaller reviews I wrote in Summer 2025. Beware of spoilers! Title: The Otherwhere Post Author: Emily J. Taylor Series: n/a Thank you to Emily J. Taylor, Penguin, and NetGalley for allowing me to read a free ARC in exchange for an honest review. Apologies for this review being overdue. Something felt off to me the entire time I listened to this audiobook. I think I didn’t get oriented on the time period or worldbuilding quite right …

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Interview with Amanda Flower (I Died for Beauty and Not They Who Soar)

Article and Interview by Elise Cooper I Died for Beauty by Amanda Flower is the last Emily Dickinson book of the series. Not They Who Soar is the second book of the Katharine Wright series. I Died for Beauty has Emily Dickinson and her maid Willa investigating a fire in Amherst, 1857. As Amherst families attempt to keep their homes warm, fears of fire abound because of one of the worst winters in New England’s history. In the Irish community …

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Review Roundup Spring 2025 – Part 2

A roundup of several more small reviews I wrote in Spring 2025. Beware of spoilers! Title: A Most Extraordinary Pursuit Author: Juliana Gray Series: Emmaline Truelove #1 I liked Emma well enough, but there was a lot going on. 1. She inexplicably sees and converses with dead people; I think the intent is for her to wrestle with her conscience Jiminy Cricket-style, but it comes across more like she’s having full-on hallucinations. Frequently. 2. People are inexplicably moving through time, …

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Interview with Shaina Steinberg (An Unquiet Peace)

Article and Interview by Elise Cooper An Unquiet Peace by Shaina Steinberg brings back the partners Evelyn Bishop and Nick Gallagher, who are now engaged. Not only are readers treated to the cases Evelyn and Nick are working on but also see the role their wedding will play in the story. The first book, Under the Paper Moon, shows how Nick and Evelyn fell in love during the war while working together as OSS partners, only to break up over …

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Bull Moon Rising by Ruby Dixon

Title: Bull Moon Rising Author: Ruby Dixon Series: Royal Artifactual Guild #1 MUCH thanks to Ruby Dixon, Berkley, and NetGalley for allowing me to read a free ARC in exchange for an honest review. I’m a recent Ruby Dixon fan, and I knew I wanted to read this book the moment I first read the premise and saw the pretty cover last year. Life happened and I wasn’t able to read it right away when it came out last fall, …

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