Fiction Review

I very seldom write a book review for this site. It’s not the purpose of The Poisoned Pen’s blog. But, it’s a slow time of year for news from the bookstore. And, Bree Baker’s Seaside Cafe mysteries are published by Sourcebooks/Poisoned Pen Press. Today is release date for the fifth in the series, Closely Harbored Secrets. You can find Bree Baker’s books in the Web Store. https://bit.ly/3nWYEFV

Because the Seaside Cafe mysteries are some of my favorite cozies, I’m sharing my own review of the new book. I hope you enjoy the review, and check out the series.

Some mystery series, even my favorite ones, have their ups and downs. Bree Baker’s Seaside Cafe Mysteries, though, haven’t let me down yet. The fifth one, Closely Harbored Secrets, is excellent, and it’s one of my favorite cozy mysteries of the year.

Everly Swan has only been home to Charm, a small town on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, for two years. In that time, she’s stumbled across four murder victims. The owner of Sun, Sand, and Tea, a seaside cafe and iced tea shop, is beginning to believe that she’s cursed, and it’s not the family curse saying Swan women can’t leave the island, and the men they love are doomed to die young. When she finds a body on the night of the annual ghost walk, her fifth body, she feels guilty. And, someone took a picture of her looming over the victim, holding a bloody candelabra. It’s all over the local blog site before Everly can say, “Not guilty.”

Of course, it doesn’t help that Everly follows her Aunt Clara to the historic mansion that’s the headquarters for The Society for the Preservation and Retelling of Unrecorded History, and looks through the documents in the victim’s office. When that office is ransacked, someone is sure that Everly took a map. Although Detective Grady Hays knows Everly is innocent, he isn’t happy when she’s threatened with a sword stuck in the middle of her porch, and a message, “Return the map.”

Everly, Grady, and Everly’s aunts are worried. Someone is trying to scare her, threatening her to give up a map she never saw, and doesn’t have. She’s just worried that, once again, she’s the target of a psychotic killer, and she didn’t do anything.

Baker skillfully weaves together three storylines in this excellent mystery. Of course, there’s the mystery and its connection to the history of Charm and the Swan family. Everly’s relationship with Grady is a second one. The third one, important to the city of Charm, is the upcoming mayoral election, pitting Everly’s Aunt Fran against Everly’s lifelong nemesis, and a third candidate, Grady’s mother-in-law.

Closely Harbored Secrets is meatier than many cozy mysteries. It’s a well-written series with a cast of characters who have interesting backgrounds. There’s Everly who dropped out of culinary school to chase a rodeo cowboy. There are her great aunts, Clara and Fran, who are beekeepers and run the shop Blessed Bee, selling honey and wax products. Grady is a widower, a former US Marshal who moved to Charm after his wife’s death, to raise his young son in a different environment. Of course, the stories include the history of the Swan women who left Salem at the time of the witchcraft trials, and were some of the founders of Charm. The history and legends of the Swan women are intriguing. No one can ignore the two animals that are Everly’s friends, a seagull she calls Lou and the mysterious white cat, Maggie, who comes and goes as she pleases.

Bree Baker’s Seaside Cafe mysteries are must-reads for me. And, Closely Harbored Secrets is one of the best in the series. Don’t miss it.

Bree Baker’s website is https://www.breebaker.com

Closely Harbored Secrets by Bree Baker. Sourcebooks/Poisoned Pen Press, 2021. ISBN 9781728205755 (paperback), 346p.

Like the rest of The Poisoned Pen staff, I’m taking a break over the Christmas holidays, only I’m starting mine now, and their break starts at 5 Pm tonight. Here are the holiday hours for the bookstore.

10 AM-5 PM December 24
Closed December 25-December 28
Normal hours December 29 and 30
10 AM-5 PM December 31
Closed January 1 and 2
Normal hours resume January 3.

Have a beautiful, safe holiday weekend.

The current Hot Book of the Week at The Poisoned Pen is a little different. The Spoilt Kill by Mary Kelly is a British Crime Classic. You can order it through the Web Store, https://bit.ly/3pgFNGo

Read about The Spoilt Kill here.

Discover the captivating treasures buried in the British Library’s archives. Largely inaccessible to the public until now, these enduring crime classics were written in the golden age of detective fiction.

‘The grey eyes, so apt for tragedy, looked steadily up at me.
“You can’t trust me, can you?” she said.’

Shentall’s, a long-established institution of the Staffordshire Potteries industry is under attack. With its designs leaked to international competition and its prices undercut, private investigator Hedley Nicholson has been tasked with finding the culprit of the suspected sabotage.

But industrial espionage may just be the beginning. Delving further into the churning heart of Shentall’s Pottery, Nicholson’s prying is soon to unearth rumours of bonds cruelly smashed to pieces, grievances irrevocably baked in stone and a very real body, turning and turning in the liquid clay.

First published in 1961, The Spoilt Kill received widespread critical acclaim and praise from contemporary crime writers such as Julian Symons. Widely heralded as a perfect golden age mystery, this piece of British crime fiction marked a shift in the genre towards mysteries characterized by psychological elements. It was awarded the CWA Gold Dagger and remains a finely crafted masterpiece of the crime genre.

Are you ready to kick off 2021 with a thrill or two? Check out the schedule of authors appearing for virtual events in just one week, January 5th to the 12th. Then, check out their books in the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com/ Maybe the delivery system in the U.S. might be back to normal by then.

John Charles of The Poisoned Pen recently hosted an event, “The Intersection of History and Mystery”. Author Dianne Freeman was the moderator of the virtual program featuring Rosemary Simpson and Tessa Arlen. Simpson’s latest Gilded Age mystery is Death, Diamonds, and Deception. Tessa Arlen’s second Women of World War II mystery is Poppy Redfern and the Fatal Flyers. You can order copies of the books through the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

Here is Death, Diamonds, and Deception.

Set amidst the opulent mansions and cobblestone streets of Old New York, this fifth installment in Rosemary Simpson’s acclaimed series brings the Gilded Age to life, as heiress Prudence MacKenzie and ex-Pinkerton Geoffrey Hunter dash down a twisted maze from Fifth Avenue to Five Points in pursuit of stolen diamonds once belonging to Marie Antionette …

Fall 1889: Lady Rotherton has arrived from London intent on chaperoning her niece Prudence through a New York social season to find a suitable husband. It’s certainly not her niece’s devilishly handsome partner in Hunter and MacKenzie Investigative Law. Aunt Gillian’s eye for eligible suitors is surpassed only by her ability to discern genuine gems from nearly flawless fakes. At the Assembly Ball at Delmonico’s, she effortlessly determines that the stones in the spectacular diamond waterfall necklace adorning the neck of the wife of banker William De Vries are fake.

Insisting on absolute discretion to avoid scandal, the banker employs Prudence and Geoffrey to recover the stolen diamonds pried out of their settings–priceless stones acquired by Tiffany, originally purchased for Marie Antoinette. Their search for a possible fence rapidly leads to a dead end: a jeweler brutally killed in his shop during an apparent theft.

The jeweler’s murder is only the first in a string of mysterious deaths, as Prudence and Geoffrey pursue their elusive quarry. But the clues keep leading back to duplicity on the part of the De Vries family, who, it turns out, have a great deal to hide…

*****

Here is the description of Poppy Redfern and the Fatal Flyers.

“You’ll love this character so much, you’ll want her as your best friend.”—Alyssa Maxwell, author of the Gilded Newport Mysteries and a Lady and Lady’s Maid Mysteries

Poppy Redfern is back on the case when two female fighter pilots take a fatal dive in an all-new Woman of World War II Mystery by Tessa Arlen.

It is the late autumn of 1942. Our indomitable heroine Poppy Redfern is thoroughly immersed in her new job as a scriptwriter at the London Crown Film Unit, which produces short films featuring British civilians who perform acts of valor and heroism in wartime. After weeks of typing copy and sharpening pencils, Poppy is thrilled to receive her first solo script project: a fifteen-minute film about the Air Transport Auxiliary, known as Attagirls, a group of female civilians who have been trained to pilot planes from factories to military airfields all over Britain.

Poppy could not be more excited to spend time with these amazing ladies, but she never expects to see one of the best pilots die in what is being labeled an accident. When another Attagirl meets a similar fate, Poppy and her American fighter-pilot boyfriend, Griff, believe foul play may be at work. They soon realize that a murderer with a desire for revenge is dead set on grounding the Attagirls for good. . . .

*****

Enjoy the conversation about history and mystery.

John Charles from The Poisoned Pen recently had the chance to talk with Kristen Ashley about her Dream Team books as well as her background and other subjects. Signed copies of Ashley’s new book, Dream Chaser, will be available through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/3nN1hKk

Here’s the background of Dream Chaser.

n this steamy, addictive contemporary romance spinning off the New York Times bestselling Dream Man and Rock Chick series, Ryn Jansen must put her trust in the one man she wants — and the one man she can’t let herself have.
Ryn Jansen has no interest in taking a risk on Boone Sadler. Thanks to a long list of men who’ve done nothing but let her down, Ryn vows to stay far away from the caring, protective commando. And when Boone confronts Ryn with evidence that her loved ones are conning her, Ryn is less than thrilled — with her family and Boone. But even as Boone proves he’s the kind of guy to meet her every need, she doesn’t trust him to stay when life gets hard . . .
Boone Sadler’s never been one to back down from a challenge. He’s determined to show the funny, sexy Ryn that the irresistible connection between them is worth exploring. But caring for Ryn’s heart and body becomes a matter of life and death when Ryn’s beloved niece and nephew are put in danger and dirty cops begin gunning for Ryn. Soon Boone realizes their romance is in danger of more than heartbreak — and to have any future together, they’ll have to put their trust in each other.

*****

Kristen Ashley is the award-winning and New York Times bestselling author of over sixty romance novels. Her books have been translated in fifteen languages, with nearly three million copies sold.
Born in Gary and raised in Brownsburg, Indiana, Kristen was a fourth generation graduate of Purdue University. Since, she has lived in Denver, the West Country of England, and she now resides in Phoenix. She worked as a charity executive for eighteen years prior to beginning her writing career.

*****

Enjoy the conversation with Kristen Ashley.

Let’s talk a little about Mick Herron’s Slow Horses series from Soho Press. You can find these espionage novels in the Web Store, and you might want to consider pre-ordering Slough House, the seventh in the series. Don’t worry. By the February release date, the Christmas mess in the delivery system should be over. https://bit.ly/3p0a8bZ

Kristin Scott Thomas, Jonathan Pryce, and Olivia Cooke Join Gary Oldman in Apple’s “˜Slow Horses’ With a star-studded Apple TV show filming in London, a new 10th anniversary edition of Slow Horses in stores now, and a new novel, Slough House, releasing in February, there has never been a better moment to discover the smartest, most prescient espionage series being written today.

I’m actually quoting from a recent press release for Slough House.

Mick Herron is the most award-nominated and award-winning espionage writer of the last quarter-century and that’s not hyperbole. Between CWA Daggers and a myriad of other prestigious trophies, Herron has enough hardware to create an Iron Throne of crime fiction awards—and he is just hitting his stride.   Talking to him you would not realize any of this. Charmingly self-deprecating, he is more likely to lament that his series of books about incompetent spies, careerist bureaucrats, and the white power underpinnings of Alt-Right political movements were not instead completely irrelevant. Yet Herron has found himself nearly perfectly describing a global political zeitgeist for the last decade with uncanny prescience. If the books were not so smartly funny and filled with memorable characters, they would almost be unbearably sobering.   Instead, they are a guiltless antidote for our times, somehow providing mirthful respite and politically engaged reading at the same time.

Slough House (Soho Crime | February 9^th, 2021) is the perfect book to begin this necessary series. Eponymously titled after the series itself, it serves as both an excellent introduction and a thrilling series installment. Truly, you can pick up any book in this series and understand what all the fuss is about. If you’re of a more completionist mindset, then you must start at the beginning with Slow Horses, which Soho Crime has conveniently reissued in a 10^th anniversary edition for Fall 2020, including a retrospective introduction by the author and an exclusive short story, “The Last Dead Letter.”

Mick Herron is a British novelist and short story writer who was born in Newcastle and studied English at Oxford. He is the author of the Slough House espionage series, four Oxford mysteries, and several standalone novels. His work has won the CWA Gold Dagger for Best Crime Novel, the Steel Dagger for Best Thriller, and the Ellery Queen Readers Award, and been nominated for the Macavity, Barry, Shamus, and Theakstons Novel of the Year Awards. He currently lives in Oxford and writes full-time.

Have you seen the current Hot Book of the Week at The Poisoned Pen? It’s Jasmine Aimaq’s debut novel, The Opium Prince. You can order a copy through the Web Store. But, please note. Due to the quagmire in the national delivery system at the present time, though, the bookstore is not promising anything will be delivered by Christmas. Please continue to order any books that you want. Just don’t expect them for Christmas. https://bit.ly/2LI7sS2

Here’s The Opium Prince.

Jasmine Aimaq’s stunning debut explores Afghanistan on the eve of a violent revolution and the far-reaching consequences of a young Kochi girl’s tragic death.
Afghanistan, 1970s. Born to an American mother and a late Afghan war hero, Daniel Sajadi has spent his life navigating a complex identity. After years in Los Angeles, he is returning home to Kabul at the helm of a US foreign aid agency dedicated to eradicating the poppy fields that feed the world’s opiate addiction.
   
But on the drive out of Kabul for an anniversary trip with his wife, Daniel accidentally hits and kills a young Kochi girl named Telaya. He is let off with a nominal fine, in part because nomad tribes are ignored in the eyes of the law, but also because a mysterious witness named Taj Maleki intercedes on his behalf. Wracked with guilt and visions of Telaya, Daniel begins to unravel, running from his crumbling marriage and escalating threats from Taj, who turns out to be a powerful opium khan willing to go to extremes to save his poppies.
 
This groundbreaking literary thriller reveals the invisible lines between criminal enterprises and political regimes—and one man’s search for meaning at the heart of a violent revolution.

Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, recently talked with Jane K. Cleland, author of Hidden Treasure, on release date for the latest Josie Prescott mystery. Cleland brings her knowledge of the antiques business to this fascinating series. You can order a signed copy of Hidden Treasure, as well as signed copies of Cleland’s other books, through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/3r0f4zl

Here’s Hidden Treasure.

The discovery of a mysterious antique trunk leads to a disappearance—and murder—in the latest in this beloved cozy series set on the rugged New Hampshire coast, Jane K. Cleland’s Hidden Treasure.

When antiques expert Josie Prescott finds a mysterious trunk, no one thinks it could lead to murder. Josie, the owner of Prescott’s Antiques & Auctions, and her new husband, Ty, have finally found their dream home, a Victorian beauty on the beach known in the town of Rocky Point as the “Gingerbread House.” It was recently vacated by Maudie Wilson, an aging widow, whose concerned nieces have moved her into a nearby assisted living facility. Josie befriends Maudie, who seems surprisingly sharp, considering her family’s doubts about her soundness of mind.

As Josie and Ty joyfully begin renovations on the Gingerbread House, the nieces report that Maudie, in her forgetfulness, may have left behind an old trunk, which she’s desperate to get back. Sure enough, Josie finds the trunk inside a hidden compartment, and within it a jewel-encrusted box holding a sculpture of a cat. Josie can understand the sense of urgency about getting the objects back—they look valuable, and not just in the sentimental sense.

But when Josie goes to return the box to Maudie, the woman has vanished. And on the floor of her empty apartment lies a corpse, a woman bludgeoned to death. Sick with worry for Maudie’s safety, Josie begins to piece together the clues to the murder. Everyone around her seems to want to pitch in, from Maudie’s family, to the receptionist at the facility, to the young couple helping Josie with her renovations, but with the killer so close to home, Josie has to be on her guard.

*****

Here’s the virtual event for the release of Jane K. Cleland’s Hidden Treasure.