First Chapter: Enter Pale Death by Barbara Cleverly

First Chapter, First Paragraph is hosted weekly by Bibliophile by the Sea. Share the first paragraph of your current read.

My current read is a book from the library by an historical mystery novelist whose books I've enjoyed before.This one doesn't disappoint either.

Published December 2, 2014 by Soho Crime.

First paragraph:

Prologue

England, April 1933 

"Gingerbread? You're sure it was gingerbread she asked for, Gracie?" 

The odd request was the very last thing a housekeeper wanted to hear at this moment. Mrs. Bolton stood in the center of the heaving kitchen overseeing her troops with a discipline firm enough to have impressed the Duke of Wellington himself. But, ever alert, the Iron Duke would, like her, have had his attention snagged by an unexpected detail. 

Book description: One morning before dawn in the stables of her country estate, Lady Truelove meets a violent death in an encounter with a dangerous horse. Classified as “death by misadventure,” this appears a gruesome accident. But Scotland Yard Detective Joe Sandilands suspects foul play

Would you continue reading?

Sunday Salon: The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

Welcome to the Sunday Salon where bloggers share their reading each week. Visit The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also visit It's Monday: What Are You Reading hosted by Book Journey.

Got a new book for review, thanks to St. Martin's Press!


The Nightingale

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah seems to be an historical novel of WWII and is described as " an epic love story and family drama set at the dawn of World War II....the stories of two sisters, separated by years and experience, by ideals, passion and circumstance, each embarking on her own dangerous path toward survival, love, and freedom in German-occupied, war-torn France."

What's new on your bookshelf?

Cozy Mystery Books for Winter

On a cold winter weekend, what better than some cozy mystery reads. Here is what I've read and am reading so far...

Arsenic and Old Books

To be released January 27, 2015; thanks to Berkley for a review copy. This is the first in the Cat in the Stacks mystery series that I've read and I hope to read others now that I've been introduced to the Maine Coon cat Diesel and his owner, librarian Charlie Harris. Diesel doesn't solve mysteries but he keeps his owner company while his owner, Charlie, does.

A Bite of Death

Read this as an e-book in the Dog Lovers Mystery series. I loved this one, the third in the series, as I did all the others I've read. Made me want to own a Malamute, in spite of the fact I probably am not alpha enough.

Now I'm reading

Darned If You Do

a Needlecraft Mystery, to be released officially on February 3, 2015. I enjoy that all these mystery novels are stand-alone reads, and can be read out of order.
 

New Cozy Mystery Series

I am always curious about new cozy mystery books and amazed at how prolific mystery writers are to come up with new settings and characters for a new series. Here are a few new ones.

By Hook or By Crook: A Lighthouse Library Mystery by Eva Gates is a new series that is due out on February 3, 2015. Set in a lighthouse library on Bodie Island on the Outer Banks, a librarian gets involved in the loss of a rare first edition Jane Austen and the murder of the chair of the library board. The setting grabs me.

Well Read, Then Dead: A Read 'Em and Eat Mystery by Terrie Farley Moran was published August 5, 2014. Set in a bookstore cafe on Fort Meyers Beach, the cozy has the two cafe owners solving a crime.

Death Is Like a Box of Chocolates: A Chocolate Covered Mystery by Kathy Aarons is the first in a new series that was published September 2, 2014. A photographer is poisoned by truffles in a bookstore and chocolate shop in Maryland, and the owners become amateur sleuths.

Any of these new books grab you?

Book Review: A Groovy Kind of Love by Karen Wojcik Berner

First Chapter, First Paragraph is hosted weekly by Bibliophile by the Sea. Share the first paragraph of your current read. Also visit Teaser Tuesday hosted by MIzB to share favorite sentences from your read. 

A Groovy Kind of Love

Title: A Groovy Kind of Love (The Bibliophiles #3) by Karen Wojcik Berner
Published January 12, 2015 by Karen Berner Books
Genre: women's fiction, contemporary fiction
Objective rating: 5/5

First chapter:

We all have a first memory, one dug deepest in that part of the brain that commemorates the dawn of our cognizance. For some, maybe it's their first plush toy. Others might recall bouncing on their fathers' knees. Thaddeus had none of these. His awakening began the first day his mother brought him to the library. (from galley; final copy may differ)

Book teaser:

"....Can I ask you something? You and this Thaddeus guy. Is it serious?" He searched her eyes for a response. (ch. 23, final copy may differ).

My comments: This novel took me right back to memories of the 1960s and the hippie generation - the lighter memories of flower paper dresses (in my case) and antiwar protests. It's also a novel for book lovers and romance lovers, as the main setting is a classics book club in the picturesque village of Naperville, Illinois, where two very different people meet, their major similarities being their love of reading.

Spring is a flower child, a product of her hippie generation parents. Thaddeus comes from a traditional family with more reserved parents. How they meet and complement each other is the heart of this story. And how they face tragedy while expecting a normal life is also part of this exquisite romance and contemporary novel. 

I heartily recommend it for those who love books, the British classics, and those who want to reminisce or learn more about the history of the 1960s in the U.S.

Book description: Uptight British lit lover meets a free spirit at a book club, and his world is turned upside down! 

After placating to his father’s demands that he play Little League baseball and major in computer programming in college rather than his beloved English literature, Thaddeus assumed that several years into his career, he would finally get some peace and quiet. 

Then he met Spring Pearson, the younger, free-spirited daughter of Hippie parents, at a book club meeting. Instantly smitten, Thaddeus finally worked up the courage to ask Spring out. But will an old college pinkie-swear promise Spring made fifteen years ago get in the way of this bibliophilic romance? 

 "A Groovy Kind of Love" is the third and final installment of Karen Wojcik Berner’s Bibliophiles series. Written as stand-alone novels, each book focuses on one or two members of a fictional suburban classics book club, revealing their personal stories while the group explores tales spun by the masters.

About this author

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Karen Wojcik Berner writes contemporary women’s fiction, including the Bibliophiles series. An award-winning journalist, her work has appeared in several magazines, newspapers, and blogs, such as The Chicago Tribune, Writer Unboxed, Women's Fiction Writers, and Fresh Fiction. She is a member of the Chicago Writers’ Association.

When not writing, she can be found on the sidelines of her youngest’s football or lacrosse games, discussing the Celts with the oldest, or snuggling into a favorite reading chair with a good book and some tea.

Visit her on facebook or at her webpage

Thanks to the author for a review galley of this novel.

Sunday Salon: Library Reads

Welcome to the Sunday Salon where bloggers share their reading each week. Visit The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also visit It's Monday: What Are You Reading hosted by Book Journey.

It's  way too cold for the mailman to lug packages here, I guess, LOL, so I had no books arriving last week! But I have some library books I'm getting through and some on hold too.

I'm reading about teens involved in a murder at a posh boarding school in Ireland. The Secret Place by Tana French is intriguing and a very good read, as were her other books. 

The Secret Place

The Narrow Road to the Deep North

The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan deals with war, with more themes of life and love. Did you know that the Japanese poet Basho's poems are collected in a book also titled The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Other Travel Sketches ? Basho is one of my favorite haiku writers.

There are two books on hold at the library for me that I hope to pick up today. A Cat Sitter cozy, the latest in the series, and one other book. Libraries rule!

What are you reading this frigid January? We are envious of those of you living in warm Florida and California!

Book Review: The Oracles of Delphi by Marie Savage

The Friday 56: *Grab a book, any book. *Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader  *Find any sentence, (or few, just don't spoil it) that grabs you. *Post it. *Add your (url) post in Linky at Freda's Voice. Also visit Book Beginnings at Rose City Reader.

Title: Oracles of Delphi: A Novel of Suspense by Marie Savage
Published October 15, 2014; Blank Slate Press
Genre: historical mystery

Book beginning:

Nikos's heart pounded against his rib cage like a siege engine. He pressed his back into the stone wall, closed his eyes and tried to calm his breathing. He couldn't believe he had been such a fool. "Next time I'll surrender the prize," Charis had always promised. Next time he would claim it, he always hoped. But instead ....

page 56:

"I don't know No one familiar with the cult's traditions would suspect such a thing. They would never sacrifice one of their own."

Where and when: Delphi 350 BCE, Greece 

The plot: Right off the bat, you find out who is killed and who is responsible for the death. Charis, a handmaiden of the head priestess of Gaia, is killed accidentally while trying to blackmail Nikos, son of a priestess. Nikos hides her body on the altar of Appolon to make it look like a sacrifice. "...the priests of Apollon are not on good terms with the priestesses of Gaia." A conflict emerges between these two cults. Who murdered Charis, and why? 

Recommendation: A good mystery plot that is enhanced by the setting and time - ancient Greece with the ancient religions vying for prominence. The characters seem very modern in their desires, strengths, weaknesses, their romances and love interests, even in much of their speech. But the location and time makes this mystery unique. 

I have always wanted to visit Delphi and the place of Apollo's oracle. Hopefully, someday I will! In the meantime, I have read this book for its setting and historical background. I do wish though that the details of Charis's death/murder had been left in the dark till further in the novel, to enhance the suspense. Give it a try, mystery lovers!

Marie Savage is the pen name of Kristina Marie Blank Makansi, co-founder and publisher of Blank Slate Press, an award-winning small press in St. Louis, and founder of Treehouse Author Services. Books she has published and/or edited have received several awards. She is on the board of the Missouri Center for the Book and the Missouri Writers Guild. She has co-authored The Sowing and The Reaping (Oct. 2014), the of a young adult, science fiction trilogy. Visit Kristina Makansi’s website and the Blank Slate Press website. You can also follow Krisina Makansi and Blank Slate Press on Twitter.

Blog Tour Schedule

Monday, December 8
Review at The Mad Reviewer
Review & Giveaway at Luxury Reading

Tuesday, December 9
Review at Oh, For the Hook of a Book

Wednesday, December 10
Spotlight & Giveaway at Passages to the Past

Thursday, December 11
Interview at The Maiden’s Court
Spotlight & Giveaway at Teddy Rose Book Reviews Plus More

Monday, December 15
Review at Book Nerd

Tuesday, December 16
Interview at Oh, For the Hook of a Book

Thursday, December 18
Guest Post at Just One More Chapter

Monday, December 22
Review at Book Lovers Paradise

Tuesday, December 23
Review at Book Babe

Monday, December 29
Review at 100 Pages a Day – Stephanie’s Book Reviews
Spotlight at Historical Fiction Connection

Tuesday, December 30
Guest Post & Giveaway at The Book Binder’s Daughter

Thursday, January 1
Review at With Her Nose Stuck in a Book

Friday, January 2
Review at Svetlana’s Reads and Views

Monday, January 5
Review at A Bookish Affair

Tuesday, January 6
Review at Book Drunkard

Wednesday, January 7
Review at bookramblings
Review & Giveaway at Brooke Blogs
Spotlight at CelticLady’s Reviews

Friday, January 9
Review at Book Dilettante

Thanks to Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours and the author for a review copy of this book.