Nov 8, 2012

Book Review: The Lincoln Conspiracy by Timothy L. O'Brien

Timothy L. Brien tours with the Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours for his historical thriller, The Lincoln Conspiracy, from October 29 - December 7.


Title: The Lincoln Conspiracy: A Novel by Timothy L. O'Brien
Published September 18, 2012; Ballantine Books hardcover
Genre: historical thriller
"Money turns the wheel in America, not votes," Fiona would say whenever they strolled near the Treasury. (ch. 2)
That quote, if I may jump the gun here, is key in the question of why President Lincoln was assassinated, according to this new historical thriller set in 1865, right after Lincoln's death and funeral. Metropolitan Police Detective Temple McFadden becomes embroiled in a shoot out at the train station that kills a man carrying two vital pieces of information, two diaries - one belonging to the president's widow Mary Lincoln and the other to John Wilkes Booth, who had shot the president.

Booth's diary contains letters in code to and about unknown persons - Maestro, Patriot, Tyrant, Conductor, Avenger, Lord War, and more. Temple and his group must decode and interpret these as vital clues to the other people involved in Lincoln's murder.

The Lincoln Conspiracy is a thriller that would appeal to history enthusiasts and those interested in President Lincoln and U.S. Civil War history. The author has woven historical facts and historical people and places into a novel of intrigue.

Publisher's DESCRIPTION: This thriller poses a provocative question: What if the plot to assassinate President Lincoln was wider and more sinister than we ever imagined?

In late spring of 1865, as America mourns the death of its leader, Washington, D.C., police detective Temple McFadden makes a startling discovery. Strapped to the body of a dead man at the B&O Railroad station are two diaries, two documents that together reveal the true depth of the Lincoln conspiracy. Securing the diaries will put Temple’s life in jeopardy—and will endanger the fragile peace of a nation still torn by war.

Temple’s quest to bring the conspirators to justice takes him on a perilous journey through the gaslit streets of the Civil War–era capital. Aided by an underground network of friends—and by his wife, Fiona, a nurse who possesses a formidable arsenal of medicinal potions—Temple must stay one step ahead of Lafayette Baker, head of the Union Army’s spy service. Along the way, he’ll run from or rely on Edwin Stanton, Lincoln’s fearsome secretary of war; the legendary Scottish spymaster Allan Pinkerton; abolitionist Sojourner Truth; the photographer Alexander Gardner; and many others.

The Lincoln Conspiracy offers a riveting new account of what truly motivated the assassination of one of America’s most beloved presidents—and who participated in the plot to derail the train of liberty that Lincoln set in motion.

Timothy L. O’Brien is the Executive Editor of The Huffington Post and was an editor and reporter at the New York Times. He holds master's degrees in U.S. History, Business and Journalism and lives in Montclair, New Jersey. www.timothylobrien.com

For other reviews of The Lincoln Conspiracy, visit Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours

Thanks to Amy Bruno at The Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours and the author/publisher for a review copy of this book.

Nov 6, 2012

Book Teaser: The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by MizB; choose sentences at random from your current read. Identify author and title for readers.

Title: The School of Essential Ingredients: A Novel
Author: Erica Bauermeister
Published January 5, 2010; Berkley Trade Paperback
Genre: women's fiction; Source: publisher

"You can see why it would be tempting to use a mix" - her eyes sparkled - "but then you'd lose out on all the lessons that baking a cake has to teach you." (p. 72)

Book description: A national bestseller about a chef, her students, and the lessons that food teaches about life.

Once a month, eight students gather in Lillian's restaurant for a cooking class. Among them is Claire, a young mother; Tom, a lawyer; Antonia, an Italian kitchen designer; and Carl and Helen, a long-married couple.

The students have come to learn the art behind Lillian's soulful dishes, but each seeks a recipe for something beyond the kitchen. Soon they are transformed by the aromas, flavors, and textures of what they create.

Nov 5, 2012

Book Review: The Bracelet by Roberta Gately

Title: The Bracelet: A Novel by Roberta Gately
Publication date: November 6, 2012; Gallery Books paperback
Genre: fiction set in Pakistan

In Geneva, Switzerland, Abby Monroe is being prepped for her work with the UN in Peshawar, Pakistan as a nurse. During an early morning run, she sees a woman fall to her death from a hotel balcony, and doesn't know if she has witnessed a murder, a suicide, or an accident. She notices an unusual and elaborate bracelet made of precious stones on the dead woman's wrist. When a man shouts at her from the balcony and rushes down to confront her, Abby fearfully hides from him and hurries away.

In Peshawar, Abby once again sees the unusual bracelet. Abby is puzzled by this and feels she is being observed and followed. She tries to see if she can recognize the man from the balcony.

During her work as a UN nurse, Abby also meets New York Times reporter Nick Sinclair, and they both try to discover who is behind a far reaching human trafficking ring that preys on women and girls from the villages. This provides further drama and explosive action in the novel.

My comments: I enjoyed the suspenseful plot surrounding the unusual bracelet. It was a good story and an excellent vehicle for the novel to describe human trafficking of women and girls taken or lured from their villages and then forced to work under demeaning conditions. The descriptions of women shelters and camps are realistic, even more convincing when I learned the author was a nurse and humanitarian aid worker in several war zones, from Afghanistan to Africa.
I recommend this novel on several levels.

Roberta Gately is also the author of Lipstick in Afghanistan.

Thanks to Gallery Books for an ARC of this book.

Nov 3, 2012

Sunday Salon: Humorous Mystery Novels

This post I printed on November 18, 2009 gets a good number of hits from people looking for funny mystery novels. I've updated the Left Award winners for Best Humorous Mystery.

Need a good laugh combined with a good mystery read? Try one of the books below.

Left Coast Crime gives an award called THE LEFTY - for the most humorous mystery published in a particular year. Lefty winners:


2012: The Real Macaw by Donna Andrews
2011: The Pot Thief Who Studied Einstein by J. Michael Orenduff
2010: Getting Old is a Disaster by Rita Lakin
2009: Greasing the Pinata by Tim Maleeny
2008: Murder With Reservations by Elaine Viets
2007: Go to Helena Handbasket by Donna Moore
2006: Cast Adrift by Peter Guttridge

2005: We'll Always Have Parrots by Donna Andrews and Blue Blood by Susan McBride
2004: Mumbo Gumbo by Jerrilyn Farmer
2003: The Hearse Case Scenario by Tim Cockey and Pipsqueak by Brian M. Wiprud

2002: Dim Sum Dead by Jerrilyn Farmer and Fender Benders by Bill Fitzhugh
2000: Murder With Peacocks by Donna Andrews
1999: Four to Score by Janet Evanovich
1998: Three To Get Deadly by Janet Evanovich
1996: The Fat Innkeeper by Alan Russell

I read the 2000 winner, Murder With Peacocks by Donna Andrews, some years back, and it is truly hilarious. I recommend it if you need a good laugh while you wonder who dunnit.


Left Coast Crime 2013 will be held in Colorado Springs, Colorado, March 21-24.

What funny mysteries have you read and would add to the list?

Nov 1, 2012

Book Review: Princess Elizabeth's Spy by Susan Elia Macneal


Title: Princess Elizabeth's Spy: A Maggie Hope Mystery
Author: Susan Elia Macneal
Paperback; Bantam, published October 16, 2012
Genre: historical mystery

About the book: Maggie Hope has been promoted to MI-5 as a secret agent/spy during WWII but because she fails the physical tests, she is assigned to watch and protect the young Princess Elizabeth at Windsor Castle,  under the guise of being her math teacher. The deaths of two young women, one of them a lady in waiting at Windsor Castle, become linked to a master plot that threatens the royal family.

Maggie and her father, a cryptographer working for the government at Bletchley Park, are also involved in cracking enemy codes and rooting out spies against the royal family and the English during the war.

Comments: I learned a lot about England during the war - the relentless bombing of London and other cities, their efforts to find planted spies, decode messages from Hitler's Germany, and block German plans to have King George VI replaced by his older brother Edward, who had abdicated to marry an American divorcee. Fascinating, heady stuff,  though I don't know how much of the details is based on fact and how much is fiction. I would have liked to see a more detailed disclaimer at the end of the book, though there is a list of books the author used for her research.

The plot is purely entertainment, outside of the historical facts. It has the Princess Elizabeth, a young, blue-eyed girl, taking part in an improbable plot of mystery and suspense. The author clearly admires how the British conducted themselves during WWII and has written about the present royal family's history and the princess in a somewhat sentimental way.

Princess Elizabeth's Spy ends with a question regarding Maggie's mother, which will lead this spy/sleuth into the heart of Berlin, in the follow up book. I am looking forward to it.

Susan Elia MacNeal is the author of the Maggie Hope mystery series, including her debut novel, Mr. Churchill’s Secretary, Princess Elizabeth’s Spy, and the upcoming Hitler’s Nightingale. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her family.
Visit her website at SusanEliaMacNeal.com.

For other reviews, visit the book's tour schedule. Thanks to TLC Book Tours and the author for a review ARC of this book.


Oct 31, 2012

Haunted Halloween Reads

Halloween Murder Halloween Murder by Shelley Freydont

I've reprinted a post from October 2009. The books are still good in 2012! A really good mystery book for Halloween!

Here are some other Halloween mysteries to ponder:

A Catered Halloween (Mystery with Recipes) by Isis Crawford
Who Stole Halloween? by Martha Freeman
Witches Bane by Susan Wittig Albert
Hallowe'en Party by Agatha Christie
Cat with an Emerald Eye by Carole Nelson Douglas

Poisoned Tarts by G.A. McEvett
Trick or Treat Murder by Leslie Meier
Wicked Witch Murder by Leslie Meier
Dance of the Scarecrows by Ray Sipherd
All Hallow's Evil by Valerie Wolzien

Click on the titles for book descriptions. What are some of your favorite Halloween books?

I found a Halloween mystery set in Hawaii, Livin' Lahaina Loca by JoAnn Bassett, sitting in my Kindle:



...I whirled around and came nose-to-nose with a plastic mask sporting an impish grin and saucer-sized black ears. Halloween night in Lahaina, Maui. The happiest place on earth for a cartoon mouse looking to cop a feel. 
"You don't wanna go there," I said, grabbing the groper's forearm just above the white four-fingered glove. 
Book description: "It's Halloween in Lahaina Town, Maui and the Mardi Gras of the Pacific is in full swing... But wedding planner Pali Moon isn't in costume--she's on a mission. A bridesmaid has vanished and Pali's canvassing Front Street, hoping to spot a girl with long red hair and a lingerie model's figure. No luck. Back at her car, Pali opens the door and finds the remnants of a bizarre trick or treat stunt. Turns out, Halloween in Lahaina isn't just a night for island high-jinx, it's also a night for vengeance."

I have just discovered Kindle Cloud Reader. I might start reading this one and more of my Kindle books after all.

Oct 27, 2012

What An Animal Reading Challenge: Completed

The challenge, What An Animal Reading Challenge V, began March 1, 2012 and will end on February 28, 2013. I completed my goals this month by reading more than six animal related books!

Visit the challenge website hosted by Yvonne of Socrates Book Review Blog for the complete rules and to sign up with Mr. Linky!

Here are the books I have completed. Click on the titles for details/reviews.


1. Roam by Alan Lazar

2. Fashion Faux Paw: A Dog Walker's Mystery by Judi McCoy - reviewed.

3. To Catch a Leaf: A Flower Shop Mystery by Kate Collins

4. The Big Kitty by Claire Donally

5.The Dog That Talked to God by Jim Kraus

6. Tahoe Trap by Todd Borg

7.  A Fistful of Collars by Spencer Quinn

8. Following Atticus by Tom Ryan

9. Things Your Dog Doesn't Want You to Know by Hy Conrad and Jeff Johnson

Sunday Salon: Letting Go of September by Sandra J. Jackson

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