new books – Page 6 – Everything Is Better With Dragons

Review: ‘An Unquiet Ghost’, by Linda Stratmann

An Unquiet Ghost

Publication Date: 1st March 2018

Price: 99p

Blurb

Brighton, 1871

Mina Scarletti, writer of horror stories but supernatural sceptic at heart, is becoming well known for unmasking those who fraudulently claim to be able to communicate with the dead. So it is no surprise to her when a young couple write to her seeking her advice.

They are George Fernwood and Mary Clifton, betrothed distant cousins with a family secret that is preventing them from getting married. Twenty years ago their alcoholic grandfather died in his bed. Though the official verdict was accidental poisoning rumours have been circulating that someone in the family murdered him.

If the murderer is one of their relations George and Mary are afraid they might pass on the ‘corrupted’ gene to their children. Desperate to find out the truth, they have decided to seek out a medium to communicate with their dead relation on their behalf, and they want Mina to help them find one who is genuine.

Though she is not a believer in ghosts, Mina is intrigued by the family mystery and decides to help them in any way she can. Could one of the new mediums advertising in Brighton really be genuine? Will they help George and Mary find the answers they are looking for?

Soon Mina finds herself caught up in a web of deception and intrigue that leads to one of her most fascinating discoveries yet …

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Tales From Erce -Updates

The first of the three planned Tales From Erce, Bridas’ Justice will be available from next week.

With help from my sisters, it is now complete, has been edited and re-read, and is now ready to go to publication. I’m just getting the set up done on CreateSpace.

Bridas’ Justice is a short story of approximately 6500 words and will be available as a Kindle or paperback. The paperback will be the same dimensions as the FIRE books, so they’ll all sit nicely together on the bookshelf. The Tales From Erce covers are blue, a nice contrast to the orange-red of the FIRE books. It wasn’t meant to be the first to be published, but Charley’s War is taking longer than expected.

Review: ‘The Mother’s Secret’, by Clare Swatman

36554818

Published By: Macmillan

Publication Date: 22nd February 2018

Format: Paperback

I.S.B.N.: 97815098248

Price: £7.99

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Review: ‘Veronica’s Bird’, by Veronica Bird & Richard Newman

Veronicas Bird Cover

Published By: Clink Street publishing

Publication Date: 23rd January 2018

I.S.B.N.: 9781912262618

Format: Paperback

Price: £8.99

Blurb

Veronica’s Bird: Thirty-five years inside as a female prison officer

Veronica Bird was one of nine children living in a tiny house in Barnsley with a brutal coal miner for a father. Life was a despairing time in the 1950s, as Veronica sought desperately to keep away from his cruelty. Astonishingly, to her and her mother, she won a scholarship to Ackworth Boarding School where she began to shine above her class-mates. A champion in all sports, Veronica at last found some happiness until her brother-in-law came into her life. It was as if she had stepped from the frying pan into the re: he took over control of her life removing her from the school she adored, two terms before she was due to take her GCEs, so he could put her to work as a cheap option on his market stall. Abused for many years by these two men, Veronica eventually ran away and applied to the Prison Service, knowing it was the only safe place she could trust. This is the astonishing, and true story of Veronica Bird who rose to become a Governor of Armley prison. Given a ‘basket case’ in another prison, contrary to all expectations, she turned it around within a year, to become an example for others to match. During her life inside, her ‘bird’, she met many Home Secretaries, was honoured by the Queen and was asked to help improve conditions in Russian Prisons. A deeply poignant story of eventual triumph against a staggeringly high series of setbacks, her story is lled with humour and compassion for those inside.

Amazon UK – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Veronicas-Bird-Thirty-five-inside-officer-ebook/dp/B077NXT42X

About the authors: After thirty-five years working for the Prison Service, Veronica Bird is now retired and living in Harrogate, North Yorkshire. She is still an active proponent of the justice system and continues to lecture across the country and is a supporter of Butler Trust, which acknowledges excellence within the prison system.

A qualified architect and Swiss-trained hotelier, Richard Newman enjoyed a forty-year career designing and managing hotels worldwide before retiring in 2001. Since then he has gone on to publish a number of novels: The Crown of Martyrdom, The Horse that Screamed, The Potato Eaters, The Green Hill, Brief Encounters and most recently The Sunday Times bestseller, A Nun’s Story. He is currently working on a new novel about retirement and an autobiography of his time in the Middle East. He lives happily with his wife in Wetherby, West Yorkshire where he enjoys being close to his family.

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Bonus Review #3: ‘The Darkness’, by Ragnar Jonasson

Published by: Penguin UK

Publication Date: 15th March 2018

I.S.B.N.: 9780718187248

Price: £12.99

Blurb

Before Detective Inspector Hulda Hermannsdóttir of the Reykjavik Police is forced into early retirement she is told to investigate a cold case of her choice, and she knows just the one. A young woman found dead on remote seaweed-covered rocks. A woman who was looking for asylum and found only a watery grave. Her death is ruled a suicide after a cursory investigation. But Hulda soon realizes that there was something far darker to this case.

This was not the only young woman to disappear around that time. And no one is telling the whole story. When her own force tries to put the brakes on the investigation Hulda has just days to discover the truth. Even if it means risking her own life . . . Spanning the icy streets of Reykjavik, the Icelandic highlands and cold, isolated fjords, The Darkness is an atmospheric thriller from one of the most exciting names in Nordic Noir.

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Bonus Review #5: ‘Shadow Man’, by, Alan Drew

9781786493316

Published by: Corvus

Publication Date: 4th January 2018

ISBN: 9781786493316

Format: Paperback

Price: £12.99

Blurb

Southern California, 1986. Detective Ben Wade has returned to his hometown in search of a quieter life and to try to save his marriage. Suddenly the community, with its peaceful streets and neighbourly concerns, finds itself at the mercy of a serial killer who slips through windows and screen doors at night, shattering illusions of safety.

As Ben and forensic specialist Natasha Betencourt struggle to stay one step ahead of the killer – and deal with painful episodes in the past – Ben’s own world is rocked again by violence. He must decide how far he is willing to go, and Natasha how much she is willing to risk, to rescue the town from a psychotic murderer and a long-buried secret.

With eerie, chilling prose, Alan Drew brings us into the treacherous underbelly of a suburban California town in this brilliant novel of suspense; the story of a man, and a community, confronted with the heart of human darkness.

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Bonus Review #4. Also, Merry Christmas, and all that.

Women and the Gallows 1797 – 1837: Unfortunate Wretches

By Naomi Clifford

Published by: Pen and Sword History

Publication Date: 2nd November 2017

I.S.B.N.: 9781473863347

Price: £15.99

Format: Hardback

Blurb

131 women were hanged in England and Wales between 1797 and 1837, executed for crimes including murder, baby-killing, theft, arson, sheep-stealing and passing forged bank notes. Most of them were extremely poor and living in desperate situations. Some were mentally ill. A few were innocent. And almost all are now forgotten, their voices unheard for generations.

Mary Morgan – a teenager hanged as an example to others.
Eliza Fenning – accused of adding arsenic to the dumplings.
Mary Bateman – a ‘witch’ who duped her neighbours out of their savings.
Harriet Skelton – hanged for passing counterfeit pound notes in spite of efforts by Elizabeth Fry and the Duke of Gloucester to save her.

Naomi Clifford has unearthed the events that brought these ‘unfortunates’ to the gallows and has used contemporary newspaper accounts and documents to tell their stories.

Continue reading “Bonus Review #4. Also, Merry Christmas, and all that.”

Substitute Review #1

I had planned to review Snow by Mikayla Elliot, but I had a couple of mental health days and couldn’t cope with anything much beyond crochet. I’ve also injured my hand with excessive cross-stitch on Sunday. My writing and typing, never exceptionally tidy, is currently an absolute mess, and it hurts to type. You’ll have to excuse any messy spelling. However, I have scheduled a book review today, so a book review you shall have. In the last bundle of books Pen & Sword I received Queens Of Georgian Britain by Catherine Curzon,

Queens of Georgian Britain

Published By: Pen & Sword History

Publication Date: 9th October 2017

I.S.B.N.: 9781473858527

Format: Hardback

Price: £15.99

Blurb

Once upon a time there were four kings called George who, thanks to a quirk of fate, ruled Great Britain for over a century. Hailing from Germany, these occasionally mad, bad and infamous sovereigns presided over a land in turmoil. Yet what of the remarkable women who were crowned alongside them?

From the forgotten princess locked in a tower to an illustrious regent, a devoted consort and a notorious party girl, the queens of Georgian Britain lived lives of scandal, romance and turbulent drama. Whether dipping into politics or carousing on the shores of Italy, Caroline of Ansbach, Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and Caroline of Brunswick refused to fade into the background.

Queens of Georgian Britain offers a chance to step back in time and meet the women who ruled alongside the Georgian monarchs, not forgetting Sophia Dorothea of Celle, the passionate princess who never made it as far as the throne. From lonely childhoods to glittering palaces, via family feuds, smallpox, strapping soldiers and plenty of scheming, these are the queens who shaped an era.

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Review: ‘White Bodies’, by Jane Robins

Published By: HQ

Publication Date: 28th December 2017

I.S.B.N.: 9780008217549

Format: Hardback

Price: £12.99

Blurb

Felix and Tilda seem like the perfect couple: young and in love, a financier and a beautiful up-and-coming starlet. But behind their flawless façade, not everything is as it seems.

Callie, Tilda’s unassuming twin, has watched her sister visibly shrink under Felix’s domineering love. She has looked on silently as Tilda stopped working, nearly stopped eating, and turned into a neat freak, with mugs wrapped in clingfilm and suspicious syringes hidden in the bathroom rubbish. She knows about Felix’s uncontrollable rages, and has seen the bruises on the white skin of her sister’s arms.

Worried about the psychological hold that Felix seems to have over Tilda, Callie joins an internet support group for victims of abuse and their friends. However, things spiral out of control and she starts to doubt her own judgement when one of her new acquaintances is killed by an abusive man. And then suddenly Felix dies—or was he murdered?

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Bonus review number two

Published By: Pen & Sword History

Publication Date: 3rd October 2017

ISBN: 9781526712264

Format: Hardback

Price: £15.99

Blurb

Dickens and Christmas is an exploration of the 19th-century phenomenon that became the Christmas we know and love today – and of the writer who changed, forever, the ways in which it is celebrated. Charles Dickens was born in an age of great social change. He survived childhood poverty to become the most adored and influential man of his time. Throughout his life, he campaigned tirelessly for better social conditions, including by his most famous work, A Christmas Carol. He wrote this novella specifically to “strike a sledgehammer blow on behalf of the poor man’s child”, and it began the Victorians’ obsession with Christmas.

This new book, written by one of his direct descendants, explores not only Dickens’s most famous work, but also his all-too-often overlooked other Christmas novellas. It takes the readers through the seasonal short stories he wrote, for both adults and children, includes much-loved festive excerpts from his novels, uses contemporary newspaper clippings, and looks at Christmas writings by Dickens’ contemporaries. To give an even more personal insight, readers can discover how the Dickens family itself celebrated Christmas, through the eyes of Dickens’s unfinished autobiography, family letters, and his children’s memoirs.

In Victorian Britain, the celebration of Christmas lasted for 12 days, ending on 6 January, or Twelfth Night. Through Dickens and Christmas, readers will come to know what it would have been like to celebrate Christmas in 1812, the year in which Dickens was born. They will journey through the Christmases Dickens enjoyed as a child and a young adult, through to the ways in which he and his family celebrated the festive season at the height of his fame. It also explores the ways in which his works have gone on to influence how the festive season is celebrated around the globe.

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