PoisonedBlogger

I’m thankful this week that Dianne Freeman agreed to write a post for us. What books helped her through the pandemic?

Dianne Freeman is the acclaimed author of the Countess of Harleigh Mystery series. She is an Agatha Award and Lefty Award winner, as well as a finalist for the prestigious Mary Higgins Clark Award and the Sue Feder Historical Mystery Award. After thirty years of working in corporate accounting and finance, she now writes full-time. Born and raised in Michigan, she and her husband split their time between Michigan and Arizona. Visit her at www.DiFreeman.com.

Thank you, Dianne!

Don’t forget to look for these books, and Dianne’s, in the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

My taste in reading went through some changes over the last few years. I’ve always loved crime fiction. I started with thrillers and slowly transitioned to suspense. During the pandemic, I really couldn’t focus on either of those sub-genres. They were just too dark for me. I needed something different, and the following mysteries filled the bill. They aren’t all lighthearted, but something about them, the character, the setting, or the era, managed to put a smile on my face. Certain elements; the earnest naiveite of a young woman, competitive would-be sleuths, the warmth of the British Homefront, and the innocence of a 10-year-old made all these books so much more than just a good read.

A Socialite’s Guide to Murder by S.K. Golden

In the late 1950s, Evelyn Elizabeth Grace Murphy’s young life has revolved around the glamorous Pinnacle Hotel in New York City. Her mother was murdered years ago, her father is rarely around, and Evelyn is agoraphobic. The hotel staff provide for her every need, so over time, it has become her safe space—until someone is murdered there.

Evelyn takes this defilement of her father’s hotel personally and is determined to unmask the killer. Despite her idiosyncrasies—she’s naïve, wants to be Marilyn Monroe, takes her little Pomeranian with her everywhere, is unfailingly kind, and completely blind to the fact that many of the staff and guests think she’s cracked, (she is a bit), and don’t forget the agoraphobia—she manages to pull it off and make me like her. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and can’t wait for more.

A Trace of Poison by Colleen Cambridge

A complete opposite to Evelyn is Cambridge’s protagonist, the no-nonsense Phyllida Bright, housekeeper to the famed author, Agatha Christie. This is the second book in the series and takes place at a mystery writers conference in the local village. Everyone in attendance is either a published mystery author, including the likes of G K Chesterton, Dorothy Sayers, and of course Agatha Christie, or an amateur vying for a chance at publication to be awarded at the end of the conference. When one of the amateur writers is murdered right in front of them, it takes the calm perseverance of Phyllida Bright to flush out the culprit.

The style is reminiscent of the Golden Age of mystery, and Phyllida, with her very proper and prickly manner is a delightful sleuth.

A Courage Undimmed by Stephanie Graves

Graves’ Olive Bright mysteries take place in the British Homefront of WWII. The protagonist, Olive, trains carrier pigeons for the war effort and hopes to become an agent, but at the moment, she’s playing escort to a visiting officer—Lieutenant Commander Ian Flemming. While at a séance held by a newcomer to the village, the medium is murdered and everyone in the village expects Olive to solve the crime.

These books are always rich with historical details I’d previously known nothing about, like the work of Station XVII, Operation Anthropoid, and even the carrier pigeons Olive trains. But what really pulls me in is Graves’ depiction of English village life which has all the feels of All Creatures Great and Small, but with a mystery.

A Lovely Girl by Deborah Holt Larkin

This is the true story of Olga Dunkin’s abduction and murder in 1958 California, and the trial of her killers. It’s also the tender memoir of a 10-year-old girl obsessed with Olga’s disappearance, and her father, a reporter who covered the story and the trial. Debby is an innocent child in what we generally consider a more innocent time, coming to terms with a crime that is so monstrous, it’s almost unbelievable. The story is artfully told, with details of the investigation woven into nostalgic scenes of growing up in the 50s. That, and the young narrator’s simple faith that you can’t hurt someone and get away with it, made this book an extraordinary read for me.

I asked each of the authors to discuss their own book. Dianne Freeman’s latest is A Bride’s Guide to Marriage and Murder.

A Bride’s Guide to Marriage and Murder

Writing my own books and spending my days in late Victorian London definitely helped me hang onto my sanity over the past two years. Frances has a bright outlook that always picks me up. She has every reason for optimism in this book, she and George Hazelton are getting married. She’s been hosting family for a bit too long and can’t wait until she and George escape on their wedding trip. Unfortunately, before they can leave, Inspector Delaney arrives at the reception with bad news. Mr. Connor, who lives next door, has been murdered, and Frances’ brother was found at the scene holding the murder weapon.

Did you miss Elly Griffiths recent virtual appearance for The Poisoned Pen? Barbara Peters, owner of the bookstore, talked with her about her books, their covers, and the differences in covers from country to country. There are signed copies of the British edition of Bleeding Heart Yard available in the Web Store, along with copies of the American edition. Here’s the link to the page with both versions. https://bit.ly/3EG8wi9

Here’s the description of Bleeding Heart Yard.

A murderer strikes at a school reunion—but the students are no strangers to death— in this propulsive, twisty thriller from the internationally bestselling author of the Ruth Galloway Mysteries 

Is it possible to forget that you’ve committed a murder?

When Cassie Fitzgerald was at school in the late 90s, she and her friends killed a fellow student. Almost twenty years later, Cassie is a happily married mother who loves her job—as a police officer. She closely guards the secret she has all but erased from her memory.

One day her husband finally persuades her to go to a school reunion. Cassie catches up with her high-achieving old friends from the Manor Park School—among them two politicians, a rock star, and a famous actress. But then, shockingly, one of them, Garfield Rice, is found dead in the school bathroom, supposedly from a drug overdose. As Garfield was an eminent—and controversial—MP and the investigation is high profile, it’s headed by Cassie’s new boss, DI Harbinder Kaur, freshly promoted and newly arrived in London. The trouble is, Cassie can’t shake the feeling that one of them has killed again.

Is Cassie right, or was Garfield murdered by one of his political cronies? It’s in Cassie’s interest to skew the investigation so that it looks like it has nothing to do with Manor Park and she seems to be succeeding.

Until someone else from the reunion is found dead in Bleeding Heart Yard…

---

ELLY GRIFFITHS is the author of the Ruth Galloway and Brighton mystery series, as well as the standalone novels The Stranger Diaries, winner of the Edgar Award for Best Novel, and The Postscript Murders. She is the recipient of the CWA Dagger in the Library Award and the Mary Higgins Clark Award. She lives in Brighton, England.

---

Enjoy this lively conversation with Elly Griffiths.

Jeffrey Siger put an entirely different spin on my request for COVID reading. This one’s fun. It does feel funny posting his photo, though. There should be a second one here.

JEFFREY SIGER is an American living on the Aegean Greek island of Mykonos. A Pittsburgh native and former Wall Street lawyer, he gave up his career to write mystery thrillers that tell more than just a fast-paced story. His novels are aimed at exploring societal issues confronting modern day Greece. Visit him at https://jeffreysiger.com/

Look for Jeff’s Andreas Kaldis books, along with book suggestions, in the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

---

I’m flattered Lesa asked for my take on books I’ve read since Covid shut the world down in 2020.  But I thought a more interesting post might be to cover the choices made by the person who shared two-plus years of isolation with me at our farm in the wilds of Northwest New Jersey.

My wife, Barbara, has spent a dozen years accompanying me to mystery conventions, conferences, and signings.  Having subjected her to all of that for so long, I figured she’d earned an opportunity to offer her opinion on what she’d read during the Great Shut-In.

Barbara began her journey in the UK, by reading six Jane Austen novels.  She finds them humorous and loved escaping our early 21^st Century for Jane’s early 19^th.

Next, she was off on an Ann Cleeves marathon that had her devouring eight of Ann’s deeply atmospheric Shetland Series, featuring Detective Inspector Jimmy Perez.  Dark-skinned DI Perez is of Spanish origins, possessed of a good, kind, intelligent, and thoughtful nature, but can be as moody and unpredictable as the rough, isolated, and stormy Shetlands themselves. Then she fell in love with Ann’s Detective Inspector Vera Stanhope TV series, titled “Vera,” read the first book in the series, “The Crow Trap,” and is halfway through the second.

Barbara’s Covid reading also took her outside the UK (and not just to my Greece-based manuscripts), most notably to Elena Ferrante’s four Neapolitan Novels, beginning with My Brilliant Friend.  Even though they’re not in the mystery genre—except in so far as to the well-hidden identity of its author”“Barbara particularly enjoyed the first two. Her ardor cooled over the final two, but she’d soldiered on to finished them just to see “how things ultimately would turn out”—a luxury afforded by the vast amount of open time afforded by nothing much more to do over two years than read.

I, on the other hand, immersed myself in writing several books, two of which were part of my Greece-based Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis series (#11 A Deadly Twist (2020) set on Naxos island, and #12 One Last Chance (2022) set on Ikaria island), my Murder is Everywhere weekly blog, and a monthly column during the heart of the pandemic for Athens Insider Magazine, entitled the “Corona Chronicles.” I’m pleased to say both Kaldis books received stellar reviews and were chosen by Reader’s Digest for inclusion in its bi-monthly Select Editions publication.

Just to show I wasn’t totally consumed by my own work, there is a mystery novel that stood out among what I read, A Deadly Covenant by Michael Stanley. It’s an irresistible page turner and powerful contribution to Michael Sears and Stanley Trollip’s award-winning Botswana-based Detective David “Kubu” Bengu series.

Here’s hoping that someday soon we’ll all get to hang out together again in person…as opposed to separately. Stay safe and all the best.

–Jeff Siger

The Serpent in Heaven is the fourth in Charlaine Harris’ Gunnie Rose series. She recently appeared for The Poisoned Pen, talking with Patrick King about her new book. You can find signed copies of The Serpent in Heaven available through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/3EzWyqv

Here’s the summary of The Serpent in Heaven.

#1 New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Charlaine Harris returns to her alternate history of the United States where magic is an acknowledged but despised power in this fourth installment of the Gunnie Rose series.

Felicia, Lizbeth Rose’s half-sister and a student at the Grigori Rasputin school in San Diego—capital of the Holy Russian Empire—is caught between her own secrets and powerful family struggles. As a granddaughter of Rasputin, she provides an essential service to the hemophiliac Tsar Alexei, providing him the blood transfusions that keep him alive. Felicia is treated like a nonentity at the bedside of the tsar, and at the school she’s seen as a charity case with no magical ability. But when Felicia is snatched outside the school, the facts of her heritage begin to surface. Felicia turns out to be far more than the Russian-Mexican Lizbeth rescued. As Felicia’s history unravels and her true abilities become known, she becomes under attack from all directions. Only her courage will keep her alive.

---

Charlaine Harris is a New York Times bestselling author who has been writing for over thirty years. She was born and raised in the Mississippi River Delta area. She has written four series, and two stand-alone novels, in addition to numerous short stories, novellas, and graphic novels (cowritten with Christopher Golden). Her Sookie Stackhouse books have appeared in twenty-five different languages and on many bestseller lists. They’re also the basis of the HBO series True Blood. Harris now lives in Texas, and when she is not writing her own books, she reads omnivorously. Her house is full of rescue dogs.

---

It’s always interesting to hear Charlaine Harris’ conversation.

Dawnlands is the third book in Philippa Gregory’s Fairmile series, a series that covers 1640-1689 so far. Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen Bookstore, recently welcomed Gregory for a virtual event, along with guest host and author Gareth Russell. There are copies of Dawnlands available through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/3TBxh3h

Here’s the description of Dawnlands.

Palace intrigue, defiant heroism, and a long-awaited love fulfilled from New York Times bestselling author Philippa Gregory in her Fairmile series.

It is 1685 and England is on the brink of a renewed civil war. King Charles II has died without an heir and his brother James is to take the throne. But the people are bitterly divided, and many do not welcome the new king or his young queen. Ned Ferryman cannot persuade his sister, Alinor, that he is right to return from America with his Pokanoket servant, Rowan, to join the rebel army. Instead, Alinor and her daughter Alys, have been coaxed by the manipulative Livia to save the queen from the coming siege. The rewards are life-changing: the family could return to their beloved Tidelands, and Alinor could rule where she was once lower than a servant.

Alinor’s son is determined to stay clear of the war, but, in order to keep his own secrets in the past, Livia traps him in a plan to create an imposter Prince of Wales—a surrogate baby to the queen.

From the last battle in the desolate Somerset Levels to the hidden caves on the slave island of Barbados, this third volume of an epic story follows a family from one end of the empire to another, to find a new dawn in a world which is opening up before them with greater rewards and dangers than ever before.

---

Philippa Gregory is the author of many New York Times bestselling novels, including The Other Boleyn Girl, and is a recognized authority on women’s history. Many of her works have been adapted for the screen including The Other Boleyn Girl. She graduated from the University of Sussex and received a PhD from the University of Edinburgh, where she is a Regent. She holds honorary degrees from Teesside University and the University of Sussex. She is a fellow of the Universities of Sussex and Cardiff and was awarded the 2016 Harrogate Festival Award for Contribution to Historical Fiction. She is an honorary research fellow at Birkbeck, University of London. She was awarded a CBE title for services to literature and charity in 2022. She welcomes visitors to her website PhilippaGregory.com.

---

If you’re a fan of British history or family sagas, you’ll want to listen to this conversation.

This really started out as a Thanksgiving request, but I changed it in the process. I was going to ask a few authors to tell me about books they were grateful for. Instead, since COVID-19 still hangs over everything, I asked them to tell me about books they’re grateful they read in the last several years. I also said they could mention their own books. I’m grateful so many responded! Ellen Byron was the first. Check for Ellen’s book suggestions in the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

Ellen Byron is the Agatha Award”“winning and USA Today bestselling author of the Cajun Country Mysteries. As Maria DiRico, she also writes the Catering Hall Mysteries. Her website is https://www.ellenbyron.com/

---

When Covid locked down the world, I comforted myself by doing two things in excess: reading and drinking wine. (I’ve since cut back on the latter, although my husband said he’s never made more money returning bottles to our recycling center.)

I read so many books I couldn’t keep track of them — Note to self: keep a list of what you read! — but a few stand out as particularly memorable for a range of reasons:

Death of a Showman, by Mariah Fredericks. My favorite genre is historical mysteries. I could fill a page listing all the series I read and love. But I have a particular fondness for Fredericks’ Jane Prescott Mysteries. I’m a native New Yorker and grew up fascinated by the city’s Gilded Age past. Death of a Showman is set in 1914, so it straddles that particular time period while foreshadowing another historical event I’m obsessed with, World War I. Fredericks’ series features a smart, compassionate female protagonist, which always appeals to me. And as a playwright who spent a lot of her formative years in the New York theatre scene, I loved the book’s plot was set against the backdrop of Broadway.

Good Girl: A Memoir of Overcoming Rape, Breast Cancer & Fundamentalism, Laura Jensen Walker. When I’m not reading mysteries, I read non-fiction and this memoir was the best I’ve read in a long time. Despite the traumatic subject matter, the tone of the book is so conversational that it’s easy to forget Laura isn’t in the room with you. She not only brings readers to tears, she also inspires them and even provides laughs on occasion. It’s a super impressive hat trick.

A Death in Jerusalem, by Jonathan Dunsky. My introduction to this series was literally prompted by the lockdown. I arrived at my local gym to discover it was closed due to Covid. (Sadly, it never reopened.) Heading back to the parking lot, I ran into another gym regular, who said, “I was hoping to see you today. I know you write mysteries and I wanted to give you this book.” She handed me a copy of the first Adam Lipid Mystery, and soon I was hooked on the series. It’s set during Israel’s nascent days as a country. (Told you I loved historical mysteries!) Adam Lipid, once a Hungarian detective, is now a P.I. and Holocaust survivor haunted by the loss of his family in the concentration camps. The plot of A Death in Jerusalem revolves around the 1952 storming of Israeli parliament, offering an eerie and topical parallel to the January 6^th storming of our own nation’s capital.

(Note from Lesa – Sadly, this book is hard to find.)

Galatoire’s: Biography of a Bistro, by Marda Barton and Kenneth Holditch. I have such a personal connection to this book. I picked it up as research for my new series, the Vintage Cookbook Mysteries, which is set in the New Orleans mansion-turned-museum of a late restauranteur. I mentioned the book purchase to my friend Jan Gilbert, a NOLA native, and she said, “There’s a chapter in it about my mom and aunt.” I responded, “Get out!” and ran to read it. Indeed, the chapter titled “Alice O’Shaughnessy & Helen Gilbert, The Two Sisters: Birds of a Feather,” is all about how the two sisters held court at Galatoire’s every Friday lunch hour. There’s even a quote from Jan. It was like a sign from the writing heavens that I was on the right track with my new series.

Speaking of which…

I launched not one but two new series during lockdown, the aforementioned Vintage Cookbook Mysteries and the Catering Hall Mysteries (as Maria DiRico). I’m thrilled to share they’re both available for preorder right here at Poisoned Pen.

Wined and Died in New Orleans, Vintage Cookbook Mystery #2, release date February 7, 2023. No, this book wasn’t inspired by my own copious wine consumption during lockdown. The plot comes from a story I read on the Internet about how a couple remodeling their country home discovered a vast amount of whiskey dating back to the 1920s hidden in the crawl space. I substituted 150-year-old Madeira wine for whiskey in my book and added the threat of a hurricane, based on several bouts of threats and actual storms I experienced myself.

Four Parties and a Funeral, Catering Hall Mystery #4, release date March 28, 2023. Remember how I mentioned I’m a native New Yorker? I channeled my own experience of growing up in Queens with cousins who ran two catering halls into this series. I even use my late nonna’s maiden name, Maria DiRico, as my pen name and my protagonist Mia Carina actually lives in Nonna’s real-life two-family house in Astoria. InFour Parties and a Funeral,  the filming of a ridiculous reality series, The Dons of Ditmars Boulevard, sparks both humor and murder. This series has received a seal of approval from various DiRico, DiNardo, DiVirgilio, Tenaglia, Testa, and Caniglia family members.

A toast —whiskey or wine, your call —to the indefatigable bookshop owners who soldiered on through the pandemic and improvised creative ways to provide us with the literary escape we so desperately needed. Now that the world has opened up again, I hope you’ll visit your local independent bookstore to thank them and shop with them in person.