December's Book Reviews & Previews

Welcome to the December edition of Book Reviews and Previews.  This month, I reviewed some historical fiction, an alternate history novel, and a steampunk novella.  There is also a preview of a book that will be released on February 12.

Happy New Year,
Bruce

Sister Witch: The Life of Moll Dyer (Legends of the Family Dyer Book 1) by David W. Thompson

Excellent Historical Fiction with Some Paranormal Spice

Sister Witch is the story of perhaps Maryland’s most famous witch, Moll Dyer.  The novel portrays her as a courageous and determined woman with opinions and beliefs far ahead of her time.  I found myself cheering when she took an unpopular, progressive stand, but also cringing when she took another step toward what I knew to be her fate.  Certainly, she had some unusual beliefs, such as in her ability to create love potions or protection spells.  But they were harmless … at least until other people discovered she held those views.  And when that happened, the woman became the target of suspicion and then, hatred.  Over the course of the story, she was held accountable for everything from still births to season-long droughts.  See the complete review or get more information on Amazon:  https://amzn.to/2PsdFxn

Boston Metaphysical Society: A Storm of Secrets by Madeleine Holly-Rosing

A Disturbing Alternative History … With a Tension-Filled Story to Match

Boston Metaphysical Society: A Storm of Secrets offers us a stark look at a disturbing, alternative history.  Set in 1890s Boston, the world is run by ‘Great Houses’, families devoted to wealth and power at all costs.  The gap between the haves and the have-nots, a concern in our world, has become enormous, with the poorest – the Irish on the south side of Boston – living in appalling poverty.  A rigid, class system, right down to the ‘uniforms’ people wear, defines life.  Free speech has become “… a quaint notion and rarely applied to anyone except those in power.”  And justice?  When a number of these poor disappear, the police simply look the other way.  After all, it’s only the Irish.  See the complete review or get more information on Amazon:  https://amzn.to/2S2GP8t

The Steampunk-Electric Puppy (for curious adults only) by PanOrpheus

A novella for which the phrase ‘needless to say’ is never appropriate.

“Cady Miller was 10 years old and in the 4th grade! Needless to say, it was the 25th Century and she lived on the Earth.”

So begins the novella, The Steampunk-Electric Puppy, a story for which the phrase ‘needless to say’ is never appropriate.  That’s because if there is one thing to expect from this book, it’s to be ready for the unexpected.  Sure, as steampunk, its futuristic technology is implemented in equipment reminiscent of nineteenth-century, steam-powered machinery.  And its fashion is the mix of top-hats and tails accessorized with goggles and gears that you might anticipate.  But other than those mainstays of the genre, you never know when the science, technology, and politics of the past will be superimposed on the future … or vice versa.  The result is a complex mix of fact and fiction that feels familiar even when its fantasy and strange even when it’s part of our past.  See the complete review or get more information on Amazon:  https://amzn.to/2SnjX3e

The Psychology of Time Travel by Kate Mascarenhas (to be released February 12)

A Locked-Door Murder Mystery in a Poorly Conceived Alternate History

The Psychology of Time Travel provides the reader with an alternate history in which four women scientists develop time-travel technology in 1967.  Fifty years later, a fifth woman discovers an unidentified body inside a locked room and becomes obsessed with solving the case, while a sixth woman worries that the dead woman is her grandmother and launches her own investigation.  While this seems considerable grist for a tense, suspenseful mystery, the book falls somewhat short of that goal.  Part of the reason is suggested in the two-sentence summary above – there are a lot of characters (more than just these six).  Additionally, the chapters are short, moving among these individuals and across time periods in an unpredictable sequence of flash forwards and backs, making the story feel choppy.  And finally, the mystery isn’t maintained.  By the midpoint of the book, the victim is known and at three-fourths, the perpetrator.  The rest is tying up loose ends, which is rather dry.  This book is available for pre-order on Amazon:  https://amzn.to/2RdIWJs.  My complete review can be found on Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2635122489

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Killer in the Retroscape:  A Near-Future Mystery
By Bruce M. Perrin
Sci-Fi, Mystery
Usual Price: 3.99  Sale: 0.99

When Doug Michaels finds his friend dead in 2068, he builds a mental landscape, a retroscape, to find the killer.  But as the suspects appear, they disappear almost as quickly.  It's not the aftereffects of an illness sensationalized in the media as the “zombie pandemic”.  It's not an evil artificial intelligence intent on taking over the world.  It's not his friend's machine intelligence wife, Julia, even if she can't even remember his final days.  But when his retroscape is complete, Doug finds the killer ... in one of the most unlikely of places.

“A compelling mystery set in a superbly-constructed future world.”
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Double-Sided Magic (Legacy Series Book 1)
By McKenzie Hunter
Fantasy
Usual Price: 3.99  Sale: 0.99

I have to hide in plain sight and pretend to be just human. I’m pretty good at it. I live a simple and somewhat normal life, and I work in antique acquisitions. Everything’s going fine until a dangerous and enchanted dagger that was once in my possession is stolen. I didn’t think things could get any worse until I woke up next to a dead shifter, fae, and mage, without any memory of the past twenty-four hours.  Considered guilty of murder by most of the magical community and humans, I must work with Gareth, the sexy and dangerous leader of the Supernatural Guild. If he’s as good as rumored, it’s only a matter of time until he discovers the truth about me—then being found guilty of murder is the least of my worries.

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Slave to Fortune
By DJ Munro
Historical Fiction (Young Adult)
Usual Price: 2.99  Sale: 0.99

Tom Cheke’s world is turned upside-down when he is kidnapped from his home by Barbary corsairs during an audacious night raid. Sold into slavery in seventeenth-century Algiers, Tom carves out a promising, new life only to have it shattered once more. Another twist of fate throws him into the hands of a Scottish knight of the Order of St John and into a turbulent world of ciphers, spies and assassinations. 

This is a remarkable account of how a young man comes of age, grasping life from the setbacks of fortune. It is a tale of friendship and reconciliation, of intrigue and deceit, in which trust is betrayed and deep-rooted beliefs and values are cast into doubt.

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The Bigfoot Blunder (A Charlie Rhodes Cozy Mystery Book 1)
By Amanda M. Lee
Supernatural Suspense
Usual Price: 3.99  Sale: 0.99

The truth is out there … maybe.
Charlie Rhodes has a lot going on. The recent college graduate just landed her dream job. That’s right. She’s a bona fide monster hunter. No, you read that right. Charlie has joined the Legacy Foundation, and her actual job is to find something new, wonderful and scientifically unique.  Her first job as the junior member of the team involves a biggie. It seems Bigfoot – no, the one and only Sasquatch extraordinaire itself – may have killed a woman in Hemlock Cove, Michigan. Within hours of landing at her new job Charlie finds herself traveling to an odd little town in the middle of nowhere to discover if Bigfoot is real.

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The Lover's Portrait: An Art Mystery (Adventures of Zelda Richardson Book 2)
By Jennifer S. Alderson
Historical Fiction (European)
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Missing masterpieces, Nazi blackmailers and a pesky amateur sleuth.

When a Dutch art dealer hides the stock from his gallery – rather than turn it over to his Nazi blackmailer – he pays with his life, leaving a treasure trove of modern masterpieces buried somewhere in Amsterdam, presumably lost forever. That is, until American art history student Zelda Richardson sticks her nose in.  When two women claim the same portrait of a young girl entitled Irises, Zelda is tasked with investigating the painting’s history and soon finds evidence that one of the two women must be lying about her past. Before she can figure out which one and why, Zelda learns about the Dutch art dealer’s concealed collection. And that Irises is the key to finding it.

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The Stories She Tells: A psychological page-turner with a shocking and heartbreaking family secret
By LK Chapman
Psychological Thriller
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When Michael decides to track down ex-girlfriend Rae who disappeared ten years ago while pregnant with his baby, he knows it could change his life forever. His search for her takes unexpected turns as he unearths multiple changes of identity and a childhood she tried to pretend never happened, but nothing could prepare him for what awaits when he finally finds her. 

Appearing to be happily married with a brand new baby daughter, Rae is cagey about what happened to Michael's child and starts to say alarming things- that her husband is trying to force her to give up her new baby for adoption, that he's attempting to undermine the bond between her and her child, and deliberately making her doubt her own sanity.

Amazon


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The Knight Advocate: A Colt Valentine Arcane Justice Novel
By Jason Rose
Paranormal Suspense
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As a San Francisco Public Defender, Colt Valentine thinks he’s seen it all, heard it all, and knows it all. So, when a well-dressed man claiming to be a sixteen-hundred-year-old Vampire suddenly appears, offering Colt a job at a private law firm and claiming things that go bump in the night like Vampires, Witches and Weres, are not only living among us, but live under their own legal system, Colt is skeptical. That is, until he sees a video of a human family being savagely murdered by something Colt never imagined existed, not even in his darkest nightmares.

Amazon

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In the Space of an Atom

By Bruce M. Perrin

Thriller
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Captive

By Colleen French

Historical Romance
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Escape into an unforgettable love story from bestselling author Colleen French about a young English lady and the Native American warrior who captures her ... a woman and a man from different worlds who find passion in a divided land ... two bold hearts bound by one thrilling destiny.

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Quantum Space

By Douglas Phillips

Science Fiction
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High above the windswept plains of Kazakhstan, three astronauts on board a Russian Soyuz capsule begin their reentry. A strange shimmer in the atmosphere, a blinding flash of light, and the capsule vanishes in a blink as though it never existed.

On the ground, evidence points to a catastrophic failure, but a communications facility halfway around the world picks up a transmission that could be one of the astronauts. Tragedy averted, or merely delayed? A classified government project on the cutting edge of particle physics holds the clues, and with lives on the line, there is little time to waste.

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When the Jaguar Sleeps

By J.A. Kalis

Action/Adventure
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A plane crash in the Amazon jungle...
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An unexpected discovery.
A dream holiday turns into a nightmare when two young men are stranded in the Amazon rainforest after their plane crashes. Desperate to survive, they decide to set off on a daring journey through the 'green hell'. Despite the harsh environment sucking their strength away, they push on until they enter a territory inhabited by isolated Indian tribes hostile to outsiders and where probably the fabulous treasures destined for the last Inca emperor Atahualpa's ransom, are hidden. Soon, unexpected dangers arise.

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Kelly's Koffee Shop

By Dianne Harman

Cozy Mystery
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A diary. A secret. A murder. A goddaughter who led a double life.

The residents of Cedar Bay come to Kelly’s Koffee Shop for breakfast, lunch, and lots of gossip.  Kelly serves it all up as she works to solve the murder of the high school Homecoming Queen, her goddaughter. The townspeople can’t believe what’s happened in their sleepy little Oregon seaside town. Kelly identifies five prime suspects, but which one did it?

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