Memorial Day

 Many of us mostly think of Memorial Day as the unofficial beginning of summer. Sometimes it's good to be reminded of what it's really about, so this post is dedicated to Captain Benjamin L. Salomon, Surgeon, serving in the Marianas in the Second World War. The following is the citation from the Congressional Medal of Honor Society:

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Captain Ben L. Salomon was serving at Saipan, in the Marianas Islands on July 7, 1944, as the Surgeon for the 2nd Battalion, 105th Infantry Regiment, 27th Infantry Division. The Regiment's 1st and 2nd Battalions were attacked by an overwhelming force estimated between 3,000 and 5,000 Japanese soldiers. It was one of the largest attacks attempted in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Although both units fought furiously, the enemy soon penetrated the Battalions' combined perimeter and inflicted overwhelming casualties. In the first minutes of the attack, approximately 30 wounded soldiers walked, crawled, or were carried into Captain Salomon's aid station, and the small tent soon filled with wounded men. As the perimeter began to be overrun, it became increasingly difficult for Captain Salomon to work on the wounded. He then saw a Japanese soldier bayoneting one of the wounded soldiers lying near the tent. Firing from a squatting position, Captain Salomon quickly killed the enemy soldier. Then, as he turned his attention back to the wounded, two more Japanese soldiers appeared in the front entrance of the tent. As these enemy soldiers were killed, four more crawled under the the tent walls. Rushing them, Captain Salomon kicked the knife out of the hand of one, shot another, and bayoneted a third. Captain Salomon butted the fourth enemy soldier in the stomach and a wounded comrade then shot and killed the enemy soldier. Realizing the gravity of the situation, Captain Salomon ordered the wounded to make their way as best they could back to the regimental aid station, while he attempted to hold off the enemy until they were clear. Captain Salomon then grabbed a rifle from one of the wounded and rushed out of the tent. After four men were killed while manning a machine gun, Captain Salomon took control of it. When his body was later found, 98 dead enemy soldiers were piled in front of his position. Captain Salomon's extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself his unit and the United States Army. 

The Devil in the Marshalsea by Antonia Hodgson

 

Antonia Hodgson’s novel, The Devil in the Marshalsea, is exactly the kind of historical mystery I enjoy. Most of the story takes place in the Marshalsea debtors’ prison, where a rakehelly parson’s son is imprisoned for a debt of £20. Doesn’t sound like much? At the time, a maidservant might earn only £5 a year. Conditions in the prison are worse than you can imagine. They’re worse than I could imagine in spite of being hardened to some of the less pleasant features of the eighteenth century. Trapped in a prison in which the protagonist, Thomas Hawkins, runs the risk of dying of gaol fever, murder, starvation, or mistreatment, his only chance of freeing himself is by solving the murder of another prisoner.

Good writing, fascinating characters, high stakes, and a denouement I didn’t see coming: these are all the things I hope for in fiction. But for me, the cherry on top is that Ms. Hodgson’s details and background are thoroughly researched and believable, not something I often see in this genre. My books are set a mere dozen years later than The Devil in the Marshalsea, so the period is familiar ground. I believe this is the only historical novel I’ve read in which the characters eat the foods that actually were eaten at the time. Some of you know that this is a pet peeve of mine. Yes, I’m picky.

And if you prefer to read in Chinese or German, it’s available in translation.  

I haven’t yet started the second book, The Last Confession of Thomas Hawkins, but it’s on my Kindle.

A Westminster Wedding Advance Reader Copy available

A Westminster Wedding

The Barding earldom may be doomed. A shocking suggestion might provide another potential heir.

Miles Halliwell, Barding’s man of business, owes everything to the earl. Does loyalty to his employer require him to deal with a known criminal and incite forgery? Unfortunately for Miles’s peace of mind, it may.

 To protect her family's reputation, Julia St. John, daughter of a baron, has given up everything to live in obscurity with an illegitimate son. She has no better future in sight, until Barding's man of business offers a possible solution and a new life…at the cost of a few more lies.

Back in January, I announced that my seventh novel would probably be out in a few months. The release date is June 20, 2022. As with all my historical romances, it's a little bit like some of my favorite authors, including Georgette Heyer and Jane Aiken Hodge, with a scintilla of Jane Austen, and maybe a soupçon of Philippa Lodge (her Châteaux and Shadows series). 

There's no sex. Yes, I know it's a disappointment, but not every novel needs or should have explicit sex scenes. 

But my books are not "sweet". Sometimes there's "language", quite often there is crime and malfeasance and bad manners.     

 The Advance Reader Copy (ARC) is available now (for free!) at https://booksirens.com/book/FJUHJD6/P1H3US6.

This is the first time I’ve offered an ARC. I never even wondered how a book could already have reader reviews on its release date; apparently I’m a slow learner. 

Ashton Hall by Lauren Belfer

Ashton Hall by Lauren Belfer is the perfect read for anyone who loves old books, centuries-old, rambling English houses, or England itself. I’m not going to re-hash the plot. Betrayal of trust, other kinds of loss, the challenge of juggling career and child care, unexpected romance, and a mystery all figure in the story. The characters and situation are interesting and Hannah Larson's stay at Ashton Hall is one most bibliophiles and old house buffs would kill for.                                                                                                         And it's a novel that leaves the reader pondering one's own idea of fulfillment.  

I thoroughly enjoyed the book and did not have to make any notes about grammatical fluffs, awkward word choice, errors of fact or the other things that put me off a book. Clearly, I need to read more of Ms. Belfer’s novels. 

I received an ARC for my unbiased review.

Review of DIE AROUND SUNDOWN by Mark Pryor

 Recently I've found myself writing a lot of book reviews. Probably I should be cleaning the house instead, or trying to grow something—anything without thorns!—in my front yard. The only things that are thriving there are an aggressive prickly pear cactus and a large, bad-tempered sweetbriar rose which clawed me when I tried to prune it a few days ago. 

Somehow, reviewing another book seemed like a good idea. 

Die Around Sundown by Mark Pryor is a thoroughly enjoyable story. Set in Paris soon after the 1940 German invasion, Inspector Henri LeFort is assigned at the invaders’ req—well, no, it’s not a request, it’s a demand—to investigate a murder without being permitted the ability to do so. How he does it and avoids being made the scapegoat for his anticipated failure would make an interesting tale all by itself. But it’s the atmosphere and the cast of fascinating characters that make Die Around Sundown stand out. Henri could be just another chain-smoking, cynical, middle-aged French detective. Instead he has as many layers as an onion and almost as many secrets. If you like twisty mysteries set in other periods, this book will catapult you back to occupied France and keep you reading. It’s due to be released August 16, 2022. I hope this is the beginning of a series.

I received an ARC for my fair review.   

 

Occasionally I review a book for NetGalley. I just re-read a review I wrote last fall, long before its release date (today), and thought I'd mention it here, in case there are other people who don't read the reviews on the bookseller sites.   

Resting Place by Camille Sten is a page-turner. A murder, a manor house deep 
in the Swedish countryside, longstanding family conflicts, and a blizzard provide plenty of atmosphere, questions and chills. Ms. Sten knows how to write an eerily compelling mystery. I read until I absolutely had to go to bed, and then bits of Resting Place intruded on my dreams. The surprising denouement will leave you pondering. I’m looking forward to another book by this author.

Note: I read a lot, and I’m a tough critic. I don’t recall a single typo, wrong word/bad word choice, or clunky bit in this book. This is so rare, I’m amazed.

I received an ARC for my fair review.

And then I thought, why not post a review of one that's not out yet? So here's what I wrote about And By Fire, a dual-time police procedural by Evie Hawtrey, which will come out on May 10, 2022.   

When dual time novels work well, they can be very good indeed. Because I am picky about historical detail, I am frequently not so much disappointed as annoyed. Even the best author may trip when writing about an earlier period through failure to do enough research or to understand just how much he or she does not know. Evie Hawtrey’s dual time police procedural/mystery And By Fire came as a pleasant surprise.

The modern day sections involve the hunt for a serial arsonist in London by a pair of detectives, male and female, who have a prior romantic history. That by itself makes a good story. The parts set in 1666 at the time of London’s Great Fire follow the efforts of a fireworks maker and a lady-in-waiting to solve the murder of a friend committed during that conflagration. The background is well researched and the characters are believable for that period. They are not 21^st century people in costume.

The two sets of characters’ methods and situations differ but some of their dilemmas are the same. Together the stories dovetail and reinforce each other. This was a thoroughly enjoyable read.

I received an ARC in return for my unbiased review of And By Fire.  

Note: Galley proofs come with the advisory that typographical errors will be corrected before publication. As I have seen many, many typos in books put out by major publishing houses, I tend to be cynical. In this case, I do hope the publisher corrected the use of  "alright" which was my only real criticism of this novel. No matter how many times you see “alright” appearing in professionally published books, it’s still not a real word. 

From https://www.grammarly.com/blog/alright-vs-all-right/ “People are often surprised to learn that alright is not an accepted spelling of all right. Although the one-word spelling of alright is seen in informal writing, teachers and editors will always consider it incorrect. To use the expression with impunity, it is best to spell it as two words: all right.”

   

TALES FROM THE HIGHLANDS by Martha Keyes

 

I should have written a glowing review of the first Martha Keyes novel I read, THE WIDOW AND THE HIGHLANDER. Maybe it’s just as well I waited, because now I‘ve finished all four of the TALES FROM THE HIGHLANDS and can praise them all in one review, a great saving of time. 

Here’s what I like about these traditional Georgian historical romances. They’re in the manner of Georgette Heyer, so there are no obligatory sex scenes, but with a Scottish accent. The characters face real, believable problems and dangers.

The setting, story, characters, and detail all feel authentic, which is rarer than one might wish in historical romance. 

The quality of the writing is good,  and the books kept me reading (I can’t guess how many other novels I’ve started, put down, and never picked up again because they just weren’t compelling enough). Now I’m reading Ms. Keyes’s OF LANDS HIGH AND LOW.

If you enjoy historical romance and don’t insist on the characters tearing each other’s clothing off every thirty pages, these are for you.  

The series:

THE WIDOW AND THE HIGHLANDER

THE ENEMY AND MISS INNES

THE INNKEEPER AND THE FUGITIVE

THE GENTLEMAN AND THE MAID