Book Tour: Floral Depravity by Beverly Allen :

Floral Depravity: A Bridal Bouquet Shop Mystery by Beverly Allen, published October 6, 2015; Berkley
Florist Audrey Bloom provides period-accurate blooms for the daughter of a local historian getting married in a medieval-themed, hand-fasting ceremony. But shortly after the vows are exchanged, the father of the groom suddenly drops dead, from monkshood poisoning, and it’s a clear-cut case of murder. Faced with a suspect list that rivals the guest list, Audrey needs to root out the toxic killer.  (book description)

Page 48, excerpt:

"Aconite comes from plants," I said, as the ladies gathered their wraps. "Specifically monkshood."

"And you think someone brought one of these plants in?" Amber Lee said. "Please tell me there wasn't any in our flower arrangements."  

I really enjoy mystery novels with a flower or gardening theme, and this series certainly has it. Murder by plant poisoning is not new in crime novels, but the characters and the contemporary setting in Floral Depravity make a difference. The book cover too is gorgeous, and the colors are right for the fall season.

Thanks to the publisher for a review/feature copy of this book. 

Tails from the Booth, photographs by Lynn Terry: First Chapter

First Chapter, First Paragraph is hosted weekly by Bibliophile by the Sea. Share the first paragraph of your current read. Also visit Teaser Tuesdays meme hosted by Jenn.

Tails from the Booth by Lynn Terry, to be released October 20, 2015; Gallery Books
Genre: nonfiction, picture book
No. of pages: 128

If dogs could take selfies, it might look something like Tails from the Booth. For this collection of photographs, Lynn Terry draws on more than twenty years of professional photography experience to capture endearing moments between canine companions. (publisher)

First chapter,  first paragraph:

My Tale of the Booth 

One would surmise, by viewing my other photography or visiting my home, that I have an interest in history and pretty much anything dating from before 1950; I live in a 104-year-old home. I collect antiques, I enjoy shooting pinup-style photography and have an entire wardrobe and props from that era. Old photographs of all my earliest ancestors are framed on my walls, among a collection of antique photos of dogs and humans together, peppered with a collection of anthropomorphic animal art. 

In 2005, inspired by my obsession with vintage photos, I began a photo booth series of dogs for a local pit bull rescue group....

Would you open this book of almost 128 pages of pictures of dogs in a picture booth? 

Sunday Salon: Mysteries and a Cookbook

Welcome to the Sunday Salon where bloggers share their reading each week. Visit The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also visit Stacking the Shelves

Featuring several mystery novels, plus a cookbook by Amanda Freitag, whom I watch often on the TV Food Channel program, Chopped.

The Chef Next Door by Amanda Frietag, William Morrow
Depraved Heart (Kay Scarpetta #23) by Patricia Cornwell, William Morrow
The Candy Cane Cupcake Killer by Livia J. Washburn, NAL
The Chocolate Falcon Fraud  by JoAnna Carl, NAL
A Likely Story by Jenn McKinlay, NAL
Murder on St. Nicholas Avenue by Victoria Thompson; Berkley
Trimmed with Murder by Sally Goldenbaum, NAL

Currently reading:

A library book I was lucky to find, the third in the Ibis Trilogy, by Amitav Ghosh. Historical fiction about India and China, the Opium War, and the British in India during the nineteenth century. 

What are you reading at the moment? 

The Deadly Sisterhood by Leonie Frieda: Book Beginning

The Friday 56: *Grab a 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 Beginning at Rose City Reader.

The Deadly Sisterhood: A Story of Women, Power, and Intrigue in the Italian Renaissance 1427-1527 by Leonie Frieda, published April 2, 2013; HarperCollins.
Genre: non-fiction, history

Book beginning, first paragraph

Even after the passage of more than five hundred years, fifteenth-century Italy, that dangerous and exhilarating place, still glitters. Its power to dazzle remains undimmed. At the time, Italy provided little more than a geographical expression for the boot-shaped peninsula divided into 250 disparate and individual states, each with their own language or dialect, laws, currency customs and idiosyncrasies. They varied greatly, not least in size. The Duchy of Milan and the Republic of Venice, both at the northern end of the peninsula, were among the largest, though, territorially, neither could rival the Kingdom of Naples, usually referred to simply as 'the Kingdom'. These lands of the Aragonese kings stretched along the entire length of the country south of Rome, down to the tip of Italy. 

Page 56:

A noted theologian of humble origins, della Rovere had impressed the College of Cardinals, who hoped for a religious man rather than an aristocrat for Peter's throne. 

Book description: A Renaissance epic, as Christendom emerged from the calamitous 14th century. The tale involves inspired and corrupt monarchs, the finest thinkers, the most brilliant artists, and the greatest beauties in Christendom. 
The story of eight of its remarkable women, all joined by birth, marriage and friendship and who ruled for a time in place of their men-
folk: 
Lucrezia Turnabuoni (Queen Mother of Florence, the power behind the Medici throne), 
Clarice Orsini (Roman princess, feudal wife), 
Beatrice d'Este (Golden Girl of the Renaissance), 
Caterina Sforza (Lioness of the Romagna), 
Isabella d'Este (the Acquisitive Marchesa), 
Giulia Farnese ('la bella', the family asset), 
Isabella d'Aragona (the Weeping Duchess) and 
Lucrezia Borgia (the Virtuous Fury). 
The men play a secondary role in this grand saga; whenever possible the action is seen through the eyes our eight heroines. (publisher)

This is on my TBR shelf. What's on your reading list this weekend? 

Depraved Heart by Patricia Cornwell :Waiting on Wednesday

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

Depraved Heart (Kay Scarpetta #23) by Patricia Cornwell
Publication date: October 27, 2015 by William Morrow
Genre: thriller

Chief medical examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta is working a suspicious death scene in Cambridge, Massachusetts when a video link lands in her text messages and seems to be from her computer genius niece Lucy. But how can it be? It’s clearly a surveillance film of Lucy taken almost twenty years ago...
The diabolical presence behind what unfolds seems obvious - but strangely, not to the FBI. Certainly that’s the message they send when they raid Lucy’s estate and begin building a case that could send her to prison for the rest of her life. (publisher)

What new book are you waiting for to be published? 

Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter:

First Chapter, First Paragraph is hosted weekly by Bibliophile by the Sea. Share the first paragraph of your current read. Also visit Teaser Tuesdays meme hosted by Jenn.

Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter, printed September 29, 2015 by William Morrow
Genre: thriller, mystery
With a missing girl in the news, Claire Scott can’t help but be reminded of her sister, who disappeared twenty years ago in a mystery that was never solved. 
But when Claire begins to learn the truth about her sister, nothing will ever be the same.

First paragraph, first chapter:

When you first disappeared, your mother warned me that finding out exactly what had happened to you would be worse than never knowing. We argued about this constantly because arguing was the only thing that held us together at the time. 

Teaser, page 69:

"No," she'd told him, because by then, the desire had been stifled by a tall stack of waffles. "I feel like I want to dig up Paul's body and kill him all over again."

My comments: I enjoyed the book, though I wished it had been less violent. 

Sunday Salon: Nonfiction Reads

Welcome to the Sunday Salon where bloggers share their reading each week. Visit The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer.

I have been reading nonfiction, thanks to ARCs received recently. Enjoying them too. I must blame it on the cooler weather that I have become interested in these more serious reads.

The Evolution of Everything: How New Ideas Emerge by Matt Ridley, to be released October 27, 2015 by Harper.
The New York Times bestselling author of The Rational Optimist and Genome returns with a brilliant argument for evolution that definitively dispels a dangerous, widespread myth: that we can command and control our world.

Hubris by Alistair Horne, to be released November 17, 2015 by Harper
The legendary historian and author of A Savage War of Peace and The Price of Glory distills a lifetime’s study to reflect on six critical battles that changed the course of the twentieth century.

And some new fiction on the shelf:

Hunters in the Dark: A Novel by Lawrence Osborne, to be released January 20, 2015 by Hogarth
Adrift in Cambodia, Robert Grieve – pushing thirty and eager to side-step a life of quiet desperation as a small-town teacher – decides to go AWOL. As he crosses the border from Thailand, he tests the threshold of a new future. 

The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto by Mitch Albom, to be published November 10, 2015 by Harper
Mitch Albom creates a magical world through his love of music in this remarkable new novel about the power of talent to change our lives

This is the epic story of Frankie Presto—the greatest guitar player who ever lived—and the six lives he changed with his six magical blue strings

I am also reading a library book, a Danish mystery novel about scientists and research on vaccines and immunology.

The Arc of the Swallow by S.J. Gazan,  published April 7, 2015 by Quercus. 
In The Arc of the Swallow, maverick police detective Søren Marhauge returns in an perilous investigation that reveals a profit-motivated conspiracy involving the upper reaches of Big Pharma, government and academia.

That's all for this week. I have other library books and only hope I'll have the time!