Mailbox Monday time again! And January’s host is Lori’s Reading Corner.
Got some goodies this week 🙂
From NetGalley:
Susanna Calkins’s atmospheric debut novel, a chambermaid must uncover a murderer in seventeenth-century plague-ridden London
For Lucy Campion, a seventeenth-century English chambermaid serving in the household of the local magistrate, life is an endless repetition of polishing pewter, emptying chamber pots, and dealing with other household chores until a fellow servant is ruthlessly killed, and Lucy’s brother is wrongly arrested for the crime. In a time where the accused are presumed guilty until proven innocent, lawyers aren’t permitted to defend their clients, and—if the plague doesn’t kill them first—public executions draw a large crowd of spectators, Lucy knows she may never see her brother alive again. Unless, that is, she can identify the true murderer.
Determined to do just that, Lucy finds herself venturing out of her expected station and into raucous printers’ shops, secretive gypsy camps, the foul streets of London, and even the bowels of Newgate prison on a trail that might lead her straight into the arms of the killer.
In her debut novel, Susanna Calkins seamlessly blends historical detail, romance, and mystery into a moving and highly entertaining tale.
From Edelweiss:
Laura Andersen brings us the first book in an enthralling trilogy set in the dramatic, turbulent, world-altering years of Tudor England. What if Anne did not miscarry her son in January 1536, but instead gave birth to a healthy royal boy? Perfect for fans of Philipa Gregory and Allison Weir.
Henry IX, known as William, is a 17-year-old king struggling at the restraints of the regency and anxious to prove himself. With the French threatening battle and the Catholics plotting at home, Will trusts only three people: his older sister, Elizabeth; his best friend and loyal counselor, Dominic; and Minuette, a young orphan raised as a royal ward by Anne Boleyn. Against an undercurrent of secret documents, conflicting intelligence operations, and private murder, William fights a foreign war and domestic rebellion with equal resolve. But when he and Dominic both fall in love with Minuette, romantic obsession menaces a new generation of Tudors. Battlefields and council chambers, trials and executions, the blindness of first love and the betrayal of true friendship…How far will William go to get what he wants? Who will pay the price for a king’s revenge? And what twists of fate will set Elizabeth on the path to her destiny as England’s queen?
From the author for a Pump Up Your Book blog tour (My stop is scheduled for 2/26!):
I knew it. I knew it, he repeated to himself. A conspiracy. But who had planned the murder? Was Lee Harvey Oswald even involved? If only one could go back in time and solve the mystery. I have to pursue this, he told himself. Someone has to find out the truth once and for all.
On November 22, 2063 a new film finally proves a conspiracy was involved in the assassination of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Sean Zumwalt dares to go back in time to alter the course of world history and save JFK. But he soon finds that the truth is much more complicated than he ever could have imagined.
Based on actual events and forty years of research, The Man From 2063 will take you through the folds of time and historical conspiracies, leaving you wondering ‘What if?’
From LibraryThing’s Early Reviewer program:
How do you catch a banshee? But more importantly, if you succeed, how can you hope to survive the ordeal? The consequences of such dark magic are high, and if you try to let go once you’ve got that tiger by the tail, it may cost your very soul!
Atlanta is a cosmopolitan, theater-going city that supports its fair share of the arts. But when a small theatrical company takes on the production of Christopher Marlowe’s famous play, Dr. Faustus, in the century-old Janus Theater, things don’t go as planned. Unexplained stage effects appear as cast members disappear, accidents seem more than coincidence, and an earthquake splits a busy downtown thoroughfare. Oh, and did we mention the rumored ghost in the basement?
Paramedic Claire Porter thinks her volunteer prompter’s job with the company will give her some relief from her stressful day job, and it is fun, at first. But as they say, the Devil is in the details.