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by Frank Delaney - Fiction, Historical Fiction

The national mood in Ireland is downtrodden, and although Ben wants no part of the insurrection along the northern border, he unknowingly falls in with an IRA sympathizer. Yet all he can think about is finding his former wife and true love, actress Venetia Kelly.

Editorial content for The Last Storyteller: A Novel of Ireland

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Kate Ayers

When I finished THE MATCHMAKER OF KENMARE, which picked up where VENETIA KELLY’S TRAVELING SHOW left off, I expressed the hope that Frank Delaney would have more to say about Ben MacCarthy, gatherer of stories for the Irish Folklore Commission. The good news is that he did. The bad news is that THE LAST STORYTELLER is the final book of the trilogy. Read More

Teaser

 

The national mood in Ireland is downtrodden, and although Ben wants no part of the insurrection along the northern border, he unknowingly falls in with an IRA sympathizer. Yet all he can think about is finding his former wife and true love, actress Venetia Kelly.

Promo

The national mood in Ireland is downtrodden, and although Ben wants no part of the insurrection along the northern border, he unknowingly falls in with an IRA sympathizer. Yet all he can think about is finding his former wife and true love, actress Venetia Kelly.

About the Book

“Every legend and all mythologies exist to teach us how to run our days. In kind fashion. A loving way. But there’s no story, no matter how ancient, as important as one’s own. So if we’re to live good lives, we have to tell ourselves our own story. In a good way.” So says James Clare, Ben MacCarthy’s beloved mentor, and it is this fateful advice that will guide Ben through the tumultuous events of Ireland in 1956.
 
The national mood is downtrodden; poverty, corruption, and a fledgling armed rebellion rattle the countryside, and although Ben wants no part of the upstart insurrection along the northern border, he unknowingly falls in with an IRA sympathizer and is compromised into running guns. Yet despite his perilous circumstances, all he can think about is finding his former wife and true love, the actress Venetia Kelly.
 
Parted forcibly from Ben years ago, Venetia has returned to Ireland with her new husband, a brutal man and coarse but popular stage performer by the name of Gentleman Jack. Determined not to lose Venetia again, Ben calls upon every bit of his love, courage, and newfound gun-running connections to get her back. And as Ben fights to recapture his halcyon days with Venetia, he must finally reconcile his violent and flawed past with his hopes for a bright and loving future.
 
Brimming with fascinating Irish history, daring intrigue, and the drama of legendary love, THE LAST STORYTELLER is an unforgettable novel as richly textured and inspiring as Ireland itself.

by Parker Bilal - Fiction, Mystery, Suspense, Thriller

Makana, a former Sudanese police inspector forced to flee to Cairo, is now struggling to make ends meet as a private detective. In need of money, he takes a case from the notoriously corrupt mogul Saad Hanafi, owner of a Cairo soccer team, whose star player, Adil Romario, has gone missing.

Editorial Content for The Golden Scales

Reviewer (text)

Joe Hartlaub

I have just read a most remarkable novel called THE GOLDEN SCALES. And as the cover hastens to tell you, it’s “A Makana Mystery” (more on that in a minute) by Parker Bilal. The Parker Bilal of the credits is a pseudonym for Jamal Mahjoub, a critically acclaimed author of several works of fiction who brings his considerable literary chops to bear upon the thriller genre without missing a beat. Read More

Teaser

 

Makana, a former Sudanese police inspector forced to flee to Cairo, is now struggling to make ends meet as a private detective. In need of money, he takes a case from the notoriously corrupt mogul Saad Hanafi, owner of a Cairo soccer team, whose star player, Adil Romario, has gone missing.

Promo

Makana, a former Sudanese police inspector forced to flee to Cairo, is now struggling to make ends meet as a private detective. In need of money, he takes a case from the notoriously corrupt mogul Saad Hanafi, owner of a Cairo soccer team, whose star player, Adil Romario, has gone missing.

About the Book

A new detective series with modern-day Cairo as a backdrop, from one of the Arab world's most acclaimed novelists.

The ancient city of Cairo is a feverish tangle of the old and the new, of the superrich and the desperately poor, with inequality and corruption everywhere. It's a place where grudges and long-buried secrets can fester, and where people can disappear in the blink of an eye.

Makana, a former Sudanese police inspector forced to flee to Cairo, is now struggling to make ends meet as a private detective. In need of money, he takes a case from the notoriously corrupt mogul Saad Hanafi, owner of a Cairo soccer team, whose star player, Adil Romario, has gone missing. Soon, Makana is caught up in a mystery that takes him into the treacherous underbelly of his adopted city, encountering Muslim extremists, Russian gangsters, vengeful women, and a desperate mother hunting for her missing daughter-a trail that leads him back into his own story, stirring up painful personal memories and bringing him face-to-face with an old enemy from his past.

Published on the anniversary of the revolution in Egypt, THE GOLDEN SCALES is an elegantly written, thrilling story set in a city of upheaval, chaos, and corruption.

by Rachel Hore - Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical Mystery, Mystery

Auction house appraiser Jude leaves London for her dream job at a countryside, evaluting the manuscripts and instruments of an 18th-century astronomer. Though Jude is far from her life in London, her arrival at Starbrough Hall brings a host of childhood memories.

Editorial Content for A Place of Secrets

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Kate Ayers

For the past three years, Jude Gower has thrown herself into her work. Since the death of her husband, she has immersed herself in appraising for Beecham’s auction house. For a while now, Jude has tried to build a relationship with a man named Kaspar, but her enthusiasm seems to be wavering. So when she takes a call from Starbrough Hall concerning a large family library of heirloom books, she warms to the task instantly. In addition to being a welcome diversion from the daily grind in London, a trip to the countryside might give her a chance to clear her head. Read More

Teaser

 
Auction house appraiser Jude leaves London for her dream job at a countryside, evaluting the manuscripts and instruments of an 18th-century astronomer. Though Jude is far from her life in London, her arrival at Starbrough Hall brings a host of childhood memories.

Promo

Auction house appraiser Jude leaves London for her dream job at a countryside, evaluting the manuscripts and instruments of an 18th-century astronomer. Though Jude is far from her life in London, her arrival at Starbrough Hall brings a host of childhood memories.

About the Book

Auction house appraiser Jude leaves London for her dream job at Starbrough Hall, an estate in the countryside, examining and pricing the manuscripts and instruments of an 18th-century astronomer. She is welcomed by Chantal Wickham and Jude feels close to the old woman at once: they have both lost their husbands. Hard times have forced the Wickham family to sell the astronomer's work, their land and with it, the timeworn tower that lies nearby. The tower was built as an observatory for astronomer Anthony Wickham and his daughter Esther, and it served as the setting for their most incredible discoveries.

Though Jude is far away from her life in London, her arrival at Starbrough Hall brings a host of childhood memories. She meets Euan, a famed writer and naturalist who lives in the gamekeeper's cottage at the foot of the tower, where Jude's grandfather once lived. And a nightmare begins to haunt her six-year-old niece, the same nightmare Jude herself had years ago. Is it possible that the dreams are passed down from one generation to the next? What secrets does the tower hold? And will Jude unearth them before it's too late?

Interview: Nicole Baart, author of Far From Here

Feb 9, 2012

In Nicole Baart’s new novel, FAR FROM HERE, Danica Greene embarks on a journey from Iowa to Alaska in search of her pilot husband, whose plane has gone missing. But her world is shattered when she discovers that he wasn’t flying alone, and a young woman is missing too. In this interview, conducted by Bookreporter.com’s Bronwyn Miller, Baart explains how she developed the idea for the book over many years. She also shares how her devastating experiences trying to have children inspired Danica’s emotional pain, talks about the nonprofit organization that she co-founded, and gives us a preview of her next novel.

Author Talk: Alex George, author of A Good American

Feb 9, 2012

Alex George’s debut novel, A GOOD AMERICAN, tells the story of Frederick and Jette, a young German couple in 1904 who must flee Jette’s disapproving mother. They decide to go to New York, but end up in Beatrice, Missouri with a whole new life in store for them. In this interview, conducted by Eleanor Brown, the bestselling author of THE WEIRD SISTERS, George talks about his own immigration experience, which inspired the book. He also discusses the process of developing a family of characters across generations, describes his writing routine, and shares his favorite authors.