Featuring on Friday: Andrew Stopyra - Scarlet - The Haselwood Mysteries Book 1

I just finished a really good historical mystery. Scarlet is the first book in a new series called The Haselwood Mysteries by Andrew Stopyra.

About:

"It’s 1925.  

Scarlet Haslewood is a con artist.

Besides perfectly baked pastries and strong coffee, she has a fondness for stealing things.  But she knows that stealing the most famous painting in the world would be pointless.  After all, what can you do with it once the world finds out it’s missing?  Hide it in your closet?  She’d rather use that space for her hat collection. 

So instead of stealing the Mona Lisa, Scarlet’s going to sell it. 

But who is Scarlet Haslewood? How did she become a lying thief in the first place?

And can a stranger on a train and a simple twist of fate change the life of a woman who twists the truth for a living?

________________________

More than just a good caper, Scarlet is the origin story that kicks off a new series: The Haslewood Mysteries.

ABOUT THE SERIES: 

Set in 1920’s Europe, The Haslewood Mysteries follows the exploits of con artist Scarlet Haslewood as she employs her wit and charm to sniff out and stop other cons, grifters, and unsavory individuals.  From Paris to the Riviera, London to Istanbul, join her for this fresh take on the historical mystery genre that should appeal to anyone who enjoys vivid descriptions, rich character development, and clever plot twists.  (And the finest French pastries, of course)."

What an interesting and different mystery. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The writing is brilliant - I was impressed how the author was able to lay out such a complicated plot and make it readable, and that I could follow it. The story of Scarlet's life, and how it influenced her "career" is fascinating. It is different in that it is focused on the con not the sleuth, with Scarlet's plotting and planning laid out in from of us, but with enough of a twist to make you wonder what is true.  I was reminded of The Thomas Crown Affair. 

I really recommend it. Book 2 will be out in May 2020.

About the author:

Andrew is originally from the Philadelphia area but spent most of the last 20 years living either in Europe or Middle Eart- I mean, New Zealand. He holds an MA in Assyriology from Cambridge, and a PhD in Classics from the University of Otago (Dunedin, New Zealand). While he typically prefers anything written on papyrus or clay, he appreciates the practicalities of paperbacks and ebooks. He currently lives and writes in his wife's home state of Idaho.

Here is Andrew's really cool website.
https://www.scarletcons.com/

I received a free copy and voluntarily provided this review.

New Hallmark Mysteries and Movies coming up

New mystery movies coming up for spring on Hallmark! They haven't had any for awhile.

First off - Saturday 3/21/20, at 10 p.m. (CST), they will show a preview of the mystery movies coming up. At 10:30 they are having a preview of their other Hallmark movies that are scheduled.

Sunday 3/29/20 8 p.m (CST): Mystery 101 - An Education in Murder

A young writer's research prompts the police to revisit a famous murder case that convicted Amy's colleague at Elmstead, so Travis and Amy get a second chance at clearing the professor's name. Stars Jill Wagner and Kristoffer Polaha.

Sunday 4/5/20 8 p.m. (CST) Ruby Herring Mysteries: Prediction Murder

When crime reporter Ruby Herring receives clues to a murder that happened five years earlier involving a local psychic, she joins forces with Detective Jake Killian to help crack the case. Starring Taylor Cole and Stephen Huszar.

Sunday 4/12/20 8 p.m. (CST) Aurora Teagarden Mysteries: Heist and Seek

When a priceless crown is stolen during a benefit gala held by the Lawrenceton library, Aurora and the Real Murders Club must investigate who would kill to get their hands on it. Starring Candace Cameron Bure, Niall Matter, and Marilu Henner.

They will also be having an Aurora Teagarden Mysteries marathon starting 3/21/20 and a Gourmet Detective Mysteries marathon on 03/22/20.

If you like the Hallmark Christmas movies, they will be showing those on Thursdays.

Currently listening to: The Boy from the Woods by Harlan Coben and reading Scarlet by Andrew Stopyra.

Enjoy!

Checking in - How's everyone doing and a couple of intersting links

How is everyone doing with all the things going on; social distancing, working from home, kids getting bored at home; empty shelves in the stores, etc. etc.

My office is closed, as I think most are. We are all working from home. They even found a way for those with jobs they always said couldn't be done at home, to work at home. There are some people going in for very short periods; mail staff, paper printing etc.

I am old enough to have gone through measles (hard measles), mumps, rubella (German measles, 3 day measles), chicken pox. I had them all and am here to tell about it. I don't know why they were called "hard measles", (more severe) and German or 3 day measles. I remember there were only 8 of 20 kids in my 3rd grade class because of mumps. If you had been out with any of the above, you had to stop in the school nurse office before going back to class. She would check you for a rash and fever and could be sent promptly home if you still had the slightest symptom. I remember begging and begging to go outside and play in the snow with my best friend (3rd grade) who had been home with mumps. I saw she was outside. My mother kept saying no but finally relented, perhaps told me to not get to close. Well, I got the mumps. LOL  All of those "childhood" illnesses were a concern for the adults; rubella was dangerous for the moms who were pregnant, could cause birth defects and death of the baby. Mumps was dangerous for the dads; could cause a male to become sterile. I remember my dad got the new mumps vaccine when I got mumps and how miserable he was. More side effects of vaccines back then.

What about all of this having to stay home business? I don't recall having to take these type of measures in my life time. I do remember the story about my dad having had scarlet fever as a child, probably in the 1930's. Their house was quarantined, a sign on the door, my grandpa could not go to work, groceries had to be delivered to the door by neighbors. My great-grandpa who lived with them at the time, went to stay with his sister, because he wanted to be able to go play pool at night. :)

It started making me a little anxious, so I quit watching the news too much. I am not worried about getting the virus surprisingly. I have been blessed, pretty lucky, good genes, whatever you want to call it, and don't get sick very often, but I started ruminating about groceries, paper products, what if this goes on for a year etc. I have been thru "Hong Kong flu", Swine flu, HIV, Sars and worked as a nurse or ancillary staff through most of those. I do not remember the fear and restrictions during those.

 I did look up a couple of things to compare and it made feel a little better; we have been through this before and will get through it again. Here are a couple of links for you to peruse.

https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2020/03/16/polio-epidemic-covid-19-coronavirus

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/1918-influenza-pandemic-and-covid-19/

"So dire was the situation that many cities including Boston, Richmond, St. Louis and others mandated quarantines and social-distancing measures. In San Francisco and Seattle, laws were passed forcing people to wear masks covering their mouths and noses while in public. The public health commissioner in Chicago, told police to arrest anyone seen sneezing without covering their face in public."

On the plus side, many authors are offering free books. There are so many, I couldn't keep up with the offers I was seeing and post them. I would recommend you check on your favorite authors websites, sign up for their newsletters, if you aren't already, and check their Face Book pages. Most are listed in on those sides.

And...

Featuring on Friday: David Ahern and Madam Tulip and the Serpent's Tree - just in time for St. Patrick's Day

Just in time for St. Patrick's Day, the fourth book in the Madam Tulip series, (set in Ireland by an Irish author), comes out 3/14/20.

About:

"Actress Derry O’Donnell, moonlighting as fortune-teller Madam Tulip, finds herself in a famous pop singer’s entourage. But at the star’s glittering birthday party in the Dublin mountains, Derry finds a band riven by rivalries and feuds. Behind the trouble is a mysterious Russian guru, a shaman hated by everyone but the singer whose life she dominates. When the shaman mysteriously disappears, suspicion threatens to tear the band apart. Was she victim or poisoner? Guilty or innocent? Dead or alive? Two brilliant and beautiful musicians; an ambitious band manager with a shady past; a sax player entranced by Vikings—each has a secret to share and a request for Madam Tulip. Madam Tulip and the Serpent’s Tree is fourth in the Madam Tulip mystery series, in which Derry O’Donnell, her sidekick Bruce and best friend Bella, play the most exciting and perilous roles of their acting lives."

A little background if you haven't read any of the other books in the series. Derry is an American living in Ireland. Derry and her friends are struggling actors, living job to job. Derry moonlights as fortune teller to help pay her bills. After all, she is the daughter of the seventh son of a seventh son, which legend says has the ability to tell the future. Does Derry have this ability? She certainly has good instincts and interpretive skills. 

 "Madam Tulip's clients came because they needed something. Her happy vocation was to help them know what that thing might be."

In this book, Derry, Bella and Bruce have a chance to form their own theatre company with the support of Pat Kelly who manages a well known band. Kelly invites Derry to be part of the entertainment at a party, as Madam Tulip and provide readings for the guests. Derry is to stay the weekend at the estate where the party is held. While preparing for her Madam Tulip slot, she finds a bracelet that is shaped like a snake or serpent, shoved in the back of a drawer in the room she is given. It peaks her interest but puts it away for later. Then one of the members of the group, Mia, gets very sick and appears to have been poisoned, while Derry is meeting with her.

 Kelly takes an interest in her abilities, not just providing "readings", but also her ability to make people feel comfortable, how they confide in her and share their feelings. He makes her a generous offer to be part of his "staff" while the band Maramar is working on their album, help keep things on an even keel with the members of the band who are sometimes at odds with each other. When Mia appears to have been poisoned, Derry's desire to solve mysteries kicks in. She again takes on more than she should and with her keen instincts, finds out some things she would be better off not knowing, resulting in being in a dangerous predicament. Good thing her good friend Bruce was a Navy Seal. Remember the serpent bracelet? The "serpent" makes a few other appearances, in her sleuthing.

Derry's father Jacko, adds a humorous twist with his latest crazy ideas as in the previous books. I foretell a little romance for Derry and another book based, on the ending.

The first three books in the series are:
Madam Tulip
Madam Tulip and the Knave of Hearts
Madam Tulip and the Bones of Chance

I have read them all and really enjoyed them. Good mysteries with plenty of suspense and some humor intertwined through the stories.

About David Ahern: 

"David Ahern grew up in a theatrical family in Ireland. He become a research
psychologist in Scotland and the Netherlands, before inevitably his genes kicked in
and he absconded to work in television. He became a writer, director and producer,
creating international documentary series and winning numerous awards, none of
which got him free into nightclubs. After stints playing in great bands, all doomed to obscurity, and writing equally obscure plays, he took to novel-writing. He now creates the Madam Tulip mysteries,
in part as a tribute to the way actors never give up dreaming, but mostly to make himself laugh and scratch his head. David Ahern loves pretending this is actual work. David lives in the beautiful West of Ireland with his wife, a cat, a tame pheasant, a clan of badgers and a vegetable garden." 

You can learn more about David Ahern and the Madam Tulip mysteries from his
website www.davidahern.info.

Connect with David Ahern on Facebook: www.facebook.com/davidahernauthor and Twitter: www.twitter.com/daveahernwriter

I received an advanced copy and voluntarily provided this review.

The Lost Man by Jane Harper (Thriller, Crime)

Our Mystery Book Club (MBC) read The Lost Man by Jane Harper for this month. We had read The Dry by the same author a couple of years ago and liked it. Most liked this book too.



About:

" Two brothers meet at the border of their vast cattle properties under the unrelenting sun of outback Queensland, in this stunning new standalone novel from New York Times bestseller Jane Harper.

They are at the stockman’s grave, a landmark so old, no one can remember who is buried there. But today, the scant shadow it casts was the last hope for their middle brother, Cameron. The Bright family’s quiet existence is thrown into grief and anguish. Something had been troubling Cameron. Did he lose hDark, suspenseful, and deeply atmospheric, The Lost Man is the highly anticipated next book from the bestselling and award-winning Jane Harper, author of The Dry and Force of Nature.ope and walk to his death? Because if he didn’t, the isolation of the outback leaves few suspects…

Dark, suspenseful, and deeply atmospheric, The Lost Man is the highly anticipated next book from the bestselling and award-Jane Harper."

As in The Dry, this story is set in a desolate part of Australia. Neighbors and towns are miles away. The land and climate are brutal. A person must bewell prepared to take even an hour trip from their home with supplies and let someone know where they are going and when they expect to be back.

The story is about a family and their secrets, and there are plenty of them. The MBC had a really good discussion about the issues in the book and what everyone thought of them. Not everyone agreed on what they thought should have happened, which was interesting. (I don't want to give too much away.)

The author's style is to give you little hints of the solution to the question but is very good at misdirection. Not a fast paced story, but will tease you along to entice you to the end. The ending will give you a lot to think about.

Dark, suspenseful, and deeply atmospheric, The Lost Man is the highly anticipated next book from the bestselling and award-winning Jane Harper, author of The Dry and Force of Nature.Dark, suspenseful, and deeply atmospheric, The Lost Man is the highly anticipated next book from the bestselling and award-winning Jane Harper, author of The Dry and Force of Nature.TwobrothersmeetattheborderoftheirvastcattlepropertiesundertheunrelentingsunofoutbackQueensland,inthisstunningnewstandalonenovelfromNewYorkTimesbestsellerJaneHarper

Theyareatthestockman’sgrave,alandmarksoold,noonecanrememberwhoisburiedthere.Buttoday,thescantshadowitcastswasthelasthopefortheirmiddlebrother,Cameron.TheBrightfamily’squietexistenceisthrownintogriefandanguish.SomethinghadbeentroublingCameron.Didhelosehopeandwalktohisdeath?Becauseifhedidn’t,theisolationoftheoutbackleavesfewsuspects…

Dark,suspenseful,anddeeplyatmospheric,TheLostManisthehighlyanticipatednextbookfromthebestsellingandaward-winningJaneHarper,authorofTheDryandForceofNature.TwobrothersmeetattheborderoftheirvastcattlepropertiesundertheunrelentingsunofoutbackQueensland,inthisstunningnewstandalonenovelfromNewYorkTimesbestsellerJaneHarper

Theyareatthestockman’sgrave,alandmarksoold,noonecanrememberwhoisburiedthere.Buttoday,thescantshadowitcastswasthelasthopefortheirmiddlebrother,Cameron.TheBrightfamily’squietexistenceisthrownintogriefandanguish.SomethinghadbeentroublingCameron.Didhelosehopeandwalktohisdeath?Becauseifhedidn’t,theisolationoftheoutbackleavesfewsuspects…

Dark,suspenseful,anddeeplyatmospheric,TheLostManisthehighlyanticipatednextbookfromthebestsellingandaward-winningJaneHarper,authorofTheDryandForceofNature.