Editorial Content for The Golden Spoon
Book
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
Knives Out meets “The Great British Bake Off” in Jessa Maxwell’s stylish, suspenseful and methodically plotted THE GOLDEN SPOON. Read More
Teaser
Every summer for the past 10 years, six awestruck bakers have descended on the grounds of Grafton, the leafy and imposing Vermont estate that is not only the filming site for “Bake Week” but also the childhood home of the show’s famous host, celebrated baker Betsy Martin. The author of numerous bestselling cookbooks and hailed as “America’s Grandmother,” Betsy Martin isn’t as warm off-screen as on, though no one needs to know that but her. She has always demanded perfection and gotten it with a smile, but this year something is off. As the baking competition commences, things begin to go awry. At first, it’s merely sabotage --- sugar replaced with salt, a burner turned to high --- but when a body is discovered, everyone is a suspect.
Promo
Every summer for the past 10 years, six awestruck bakers have descended on the grounds of Grafton, the leafy and imposing Vermont estate that is not only the filming site for “Bake Week” but also the childhood home of the show’s famous host, celebrated baker Betsy Martin. The author of numerous bestselling cookbooks and hailed as “America’s Grandmother,” Betsy Martin isn’t as warm off-screen as on, though no one needs to know that but her. She has always demanded perfection and gotten it with a smile, but this year something is off. As the baking competition commences, things begin to go awry. At first, it’s merely sabotage --- sugar replaced with salt, a burner turned to high --- but when a body is discovered, everyone is a suspect.
About the Book
"Only Murders in the Building" meets THE MAID in this “deliciously entertaining whodunit” (Sarah Penner, New York Times bestselling author) where someone turns up dead on the set of TV’s hottest baking competition --- perfect for fans of Nita Prose, Richard Osman and Anthony Horowitz.
Every summer for the past 10 years, six awestruck bakers have descended on the grounds of Grafton, the leafy and imposing Vermont estate that is not only the filming site for “Bake Week” but also the childhood home of the show’s famous host, celebrated baker Betsy Martin.
The author of numerous bestselling cookbooks and hailed as “America’s Grandmother,” Betsy Martin isn’t as warm off-screen as on, though no one needs to know that but her. She has always demanded perfection and gotten it with a smile, but this year something is off. As the baking competition commences, things begin to go awry. At first, it’s merely sabotage --- sugar replaced with salt, a burner turned to high --- but when a body is discovered, everyone is a suspect.
A sharp and suspenseful thriller for mystery buffs and avid bakers alike, THE GOLDEN SPOON is “as addictive as bingeing your favorite culinary competition and as satisfying as a piece of your favorite cake” (Kellye Garrett, author of LIKE A SISTER).
Audiobook available; read by Andrea Emmes, Andy Garcia-Ruse, Graham Halstead, Kitty Hendrix, Kamran Khan, Jackie Sanders, André Santana and Emily Tremaine
Editorial Content for Once Upon a Tome: The Misadventures of a Rare Bookseller
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
The word “charming” doesn’t do justice to this amusing, absorbing and at times poignant book about antiquarian booksellers.
As Oliver Darkshire demonstrates over the 200+ pages of ONCE UPON A TOME, “Our imagined status as mysterious guardians of all knowledge leads people to treat booksellers as terrestrial genies, spiriting up the answer to any problem from the bottom of our fusty old pockets.” Read More
Teaser
Some years ago, Oliver Darkshire stepped into the hushed interior of Henry Sotheran Ltd to apply for a job. Allured by the smell of old books and the temptation of a management-approved afternoon nap, Darkshire was soon unteetering stacks of first editions and placating the store’s resident ghost (the late Mr. Sotheran, hit by a tram). A novice in this ancient, potentially haunted establishment, Darkshire describes Sotheran’s brushes with history (Dickens, the Titanic), its joyous disorganization, and the unspoken rules of its gleefully old-fashioned staff. As Darkshire gains confidence and experience, he shares trivia about ancient editions and explores the strange space that books occupy in our lives --- where old books often have strong sentimental value, but rarely a commercial one.
Promo
Some years ago, Oliver Darkshire stepped into the hushed interior of Henry Sotheran Ltd to apply for a job. Allured by the smell of old books and the temptation of a management-approved afternoon nap, Darkshire was soon unteetering stacks of first editions and placating the store’s resident ghost (the late Mr. Sotheran, hit by a tram). A novice in this ancient, potentially haunted establishment, Darkshire describes Sotheran’s brushes with history (Dickens, the Titanic), its joyous disorganization, and the unspoken rules of its gleefully old-fashioned staff. As Darkshire gains confidence and experience, he shares trivia about ancient editions and explores the strange space that books occupy in our lives --- where old books often have strong sentimental value, but rarely a commercial one.
About the Book
Welcome to Sotheran’s, one of the oldest bookshops in the world, with its weird and wonderful clientele, suspicious cupboards, unlabeled keys, poisoned books and some things that aren’t even books, presided over by one deeply eccentric apprentice.
Some years ago, Oliver Darkshire stepped into the hushed interior of Henry Sotheran Ltd (est. 1761) to apply for a job. Allured by the smell of old books and the temptation of a management-approved afternoon nap, Darkshire was soon unteetering stacks of first editions and placating the store’s resident ghost (the late Mr. Sotheran, hit by a tram).
A novice in this ancient, potentially haunted establishment, Darkshire describes Sotheran’s brushes with history (Dickens, the Titanic), its joyous disorganization, and the unspoken rules of its gleefully old-fashioned staff, whose mere glance may cause the computer to burst into flames. As Darkshire gains confidence and experience, he shares trivia about ancient editions and explores the strange space that books occupy in our lives --- where old books often have strong sentimental value, but rarely a commercial one.
By turns unhinged and earnest, ONCE UPON A TOME is the colorful story of life in one of the world’s oldest bookshops and a love letter to the benign, unruly world of antiquarian bookselling, where to be uncommon or strange is the best possible compliment.
Editorial Content for The Foxglove King
Book
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
In THE FOXGLOVE KING, Hannah Whitten has crafted an elaborate world where readers are given the perfect escape, quickly immersed in magic, religion, betrayal and court politics. The plot twists that follow are all-consuming and make for an incredibly enjoyable first installment of Whitten’s epic fantasy trilogy, The Nightshade Crown. Read More
Teaser
When Lore was 13, she escaped a cult in the catacombs beneath the city of Dellaire. And in the 10 years since, she’s lived by one rule: don’t let them find you. Easier said than done, when her death magic ties her to the city. Mortem, the magic born from death, is a high-priced and illicit commodity in Dellaire, and Lore’s job running poisons keeps her in food, shelter and relative security. But when a run goes wrong and Lore’s power is revealed, she’s taken by the Presque Mort, a group of warrior-monks sanctioned to use Mortem working for the Sainted King. Entire villages on the outskirts of the country have been dying overnight, seemingly at random. Lore can either use her magic to find out what’s happening and who in the King’s court is responsible, or die.
Promo
When Lore was 13, she escaped a cult in the catacombs beneath the city of Dellaire. And in the 10 years since, she’s lived by one rule: don’t let them find you. Easier said than done, when her death magic ties her to the city. Mortem, the magic born from death, is a high-priced and illicit commodity in Dellaire, and Lore’s job running poisons keeps her in food, shelter and relative security. But when a run goes wrong and Lore’s power is revealed, she’s taken by the Presque Mort, a group of warrior-monks sanctioned to use Mortem working for the Sainted King. Entire villages on the outskirts of the country have been dying overnight, seemingly at random. Lore can either use her magic to find out what’s happening and who in the King’s court is responsible, or die.
About the Book
In this lush, romantic epic fantasy series from a New York Times bestselling author, a young woman’s secret power to raise the dead plunges her into the dangerous and glamorous world of the Sainted King’s royal court.
When Lore was 13, she escaped a cult in the catacombs beneath the city of Dellaire. And in the 10 years since, she’s lived by one rule: don’t let them find you. Easier said than done, when her death magic ties her to the city.
Mortem, the magic born from death, is a high-priced and illicit commodity in Dellaire, and Lore’s job running poisons keeps her in food, shelter and relative security. But when a run goes wrong and Lore’s power is revealed, she’s taken by the Presque Mort, a group of warrior-monks sanctioned to use Mortem working for the Sainted King. Lore fully expects a pyre, but King August has a different plan. Entire villages on the outskirts of the country have been dying overnight, seemingly at random. Lore can either use her magic to find out what’s happening and who in the King’s court is responsible, or die.
Lore is thrust into the Sainted King’s glittering court, where no one can be believed and even fewer can be trusted. Guarded by Gabriel, a duke-turned-monk, and continually running up against Bastian, August’s ne'er-do-well heir, Lore tangles in politics, religion and forbidden romance as she attempts to navigate a debauched and opulent society.
But the life she left behind in the catacombs is catching up with her. And even as Lore makes her way through the Sainted court above, they might be drawing closer than she thinks.
Audiobook available, read by Emily Ellet
Editorial Content for Sea Castle
Book
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
Andrew Mayne has worked as a magician/illusionist and even had a cable series, “Don’t Trust Andrew Mayne.” If readers of his clever novels take that recommendation to heart, it will make for less sleepless nights as his stories have become famous for their literary sleight of hand. Read More
Teaser
When a young woman washes ashore on a Fort Lauderdale beach, Sloan McPherson of the Underwater Investigation Unit is called in to consult. For answers she reaches out to Gwen Wylder. The Miami homicide detective is notorious for being manipulative, bitter, a tyrant to her peers and wicked smart. And she demands something in return from Sloan: fresh insight into seemingly unrelated cold-case murders and disappearances --- and a possible serial killer trolling the Florida coast. As loose ends of the old files begin to come together, another woman disappears. Sloan and Gwen are certain she’s the newest link in a deadly chain. They are determined to track her down before she dies, but they soon find themselves in uncharted waters.
Promo
When a young woman washes ashore on a Fort Lauderdale beach, Sloan McPherson of the Underwater Investigation Unit is called in to consult. For answers she reaches out to Gwen Wylder. The Miami homicide detective is notorious for being manipulative, bitter, a tyrant to her peers and wicked smart. And she demands something in return from Sloan: fresh insight into seemingly unrelated cold-case murders and disappearances --- and a possible serial killer trolling the Florida coast. As loose ends of the old files begin to come together, another woman disappears. Sloan and Gwen are certain she’s the newest link in a deadly chain. They are determined to track her down before she dies, but they soon find themselves in uncharted waters.
About the Book
A Wall Street Journal bestselling series. A deep diving investigator is pulled into the depths of a string of unsolved serial murders in a riveting thriller by the Amazon Charts bestselling author of SEA STORM.
When a young woman washes ashore on a Fort Lauderdale beach, Sloan McPherson of the Underwater Investigation Unit is called in to consult. Sloan’s instinct says murder, but even then, there are too many questions.
For answers she reaches out to Gwen Wylder. The Miami homicide detective is notorious for being manipulative, bitter, a tyrant to her peers and wicked smart. And she demands something in return from Sloan: fresh insight into seemingly unrelated cold-case murders and disappearances --- and a possible serial killer trolling the Florida coast.
As loose ends of the old files begin to come together, another woman disappears. Sloan and Gwen are certain she’s the newest link in a deadly chain. They are determined to track her down before she dies, but they soon find themselves in uncharted waters. And the deeper Sloan and Gwen go, the stranger the case gets.
Audiobook available, read by Susannah Jones
Editorial Content for Love and Other Flight Delays
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
Denise Williams, the author of HOW TO FAIL AT FLIRTING and DO YOU TAKE THIS MAN, returns with LOVE AND OTHER FLIGHT DELAYS, featuring three love stories set at perhaps the least romantic place imaginable: an airport. Read More
Teaser
Love takes flight in a collection of sexy, fun novellas all set at the airport. The Love Connection: An airport pet groomer meets her frequent-flier crush and finds herself in a fake-dating situation with a professional risk assessor who moonlights as a romance author. The Missed Connection: Two strangers share a romantic night only to discover months later that they're professional rivals about to embark on an extended business trip together in this grumpy-meets-sunshine romance. The Sweetest Connection: Two best friends have one week to return a lost love letter found in a candy store at the airport --- and work up the courage to confess the deep feelings between them --- before one of them leaves the country.
Promo
Love takes flight in a collection of sexy, fun novellas all set at the airport. The Love Connection: An airport pet groomer meets her frequent-flier crush and finds herself in a fake-dating situation with a professional risk assessor who moonlights as a romance author. The Missed Connection: Two strangers share a romantic night only to discover months later that they're professional rivals about to embark on an extended business trip together in this grumpy-meets-sunshine romance. The Sweetest Connection: Two best friends have one week to return a lost love letter found in a candy store at the airport --- and work up the courage to confess the deep feelings between them --- before one of them leaves the country.
About the Book
Love takes flight in a collection of sexy, fun novellas all set at the airport from the acclaimed author of THE FASTEST WAY TO FALL.
The Love Connection
An airport pet groomer meets her frequent-flier crush and finds herself in a fake-dating situation with a professional risk assessor who moonlights as a romance author.
The Missed Connection
Two strangers share a romantic night only to discover months later that they're professional rivals about to embark on an extended business trip together in this grumpy-meets-sunshine romance.
The Sweetest Connection
Two best friends have one week to return a lost love letter found in a candy store at the airport --- and work up the courage to confess the deep feelings between them --- before one of them leaves the country.
Editorial Content for The Last Beekeeper
Book
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
Set in a post-apocalyptic future where all honey bees and other pollinating insects are extinct, Julie Carrick Dalton’s THE LAST BEEKEEPER is for those who have wondered what the world would look like if Bee Movie didn’t have a happy ending. After 10 years of worldwide hunger from the pollinators’ “Great Collapse,” the world welcomes a precarious and unevenly distributed sense of stability. Read More
Teaser
It’s been more than a decade since the world has come undone, and Sasha Severn has returned to her childhood home to find the mythic research that her father, the infamous Last Beekeeper, hid before he was incarcerated. There, Sasha is confronted with a group of squatters who have claimed the quiet, idyllic farm as a way to escape the horrific conditions of state housing. While she feels threatened by their presence at first, the friends soon become her newfound family. But just as she settles into her new life, Sasha witnesses the impossible. She sees a honeybee, presumed extinct. People who claim to see bees are ridiculed and silenced for reasons Sasha doesn't understand, but she can't shake the feeling that this impossible bee is connected to her father's missing research.
Promo
It’s been more than a decade since the world has come undone, and Sasha Severn has returned to her childhood home to find the mythic research that her father, the infamous Last Beekeeper, hid before he was incarcerated. There, Sasha is confronted with a group of squatters who have claimed the quiet, idyllic farm as a way to escape the horrific conditions of state housing. While she feels threatened by their presence at first, the friends soon become her newfound family. But just as she settles into her new life, Sasha witnesses the impossible. She sees a honeybee, presumed extinct. People who claim to see bees are ridiculed and silenced for reasons Sasha doesn't understand, but she can't shake the feeling that this impossible bee is connected to her father's missing research.
About the Book
Julie Carrick Dalton's THE LAST BEEKEEPER is a celebration of found family, an exploration of truth versus power, and the triumph of hope in the face of despair.
It’s been more than a decade since the world has come undone, and Sasha Severn has returned to her childhood home with one goal in mind --- find the mythic research her father, the infamous Last Beekeeper, hid before he was incarcerated. There, Sasha is confronted with a group of squatters who have claimed the quiet, idyllic farm as their own. While she initially feels threatened, the group soon becomes her newfound family, offering what she hasn't felt since her father was imprisoned: security and hope. Maybe it's time to forget the family secrets buried on the farm and focus on her future.
But just as she settles into her new life, Sasha witnesses the impossible. She sees a honey bee, presumed extinct. People who claim to see bees are ridiculed and silenced for reasons Sasha doesn't understand, but she can't shake the feeling that this impossible bee is connected to her father's missing research. Fighting to uncover the truth could shatter Sasha's fragile security and threaten the lives of her newfound family --- or it could save them all.
Julie Carrick Dalton's THE LAST BEEKEEPER is a celebration of found family, an exploration of truth versus power, and the triumph of hope in the face of despair. It is a meditation on forgiveness and redemption and a reminder to cherish the beauty that still exists in this fragile world.
Audiobook available, read by Dylan Moore
Editorial Content for Bones Under the Ice: A Jhonni Laurent Mystery
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
“Why in the hell can’t people die when it’s warm and sunny? Winter in Indiana sucks.”
Mary Ann Miller’s series launch is set in February 2019. Jhonni Laurent had been deputy sheriff for 15 years. Elected sheriff by a narrow margin four years earlier, she faces a reelection battle with miffed deputy Mike Greene.
"Halfway through, this spectacular police procedural becomes more of a whydunit than a whodunit.... More than an excellent mystery, BONES UNDER THE ICE is a tale of one person’s perseverance."
Teaser
Two days after a blizzard hits Field’s Crossing, Indiana, Sheriff Jhonni Laurent discovers the frozen body of a high school senior under a 15-foot pile of snow and ice. Just as the investigation gets underway, Jhonni’s opponent for sheriff from four years ago wages a bitter reelection battle to oust her. Then Jhonni finds another body, and further complications arise when a century-old feud between two families reaches its breaking point. Soon, a slew of newspaper articles causes the Indiana State Election Board to doubt her credibility. Jhonni must fight to maintain her reputation, keep the small farming community together, and find the murderer at large --- all while demons from her own past threaten to crush her.
Promo
Two days after a blizzard hits Field’s Crossing, Indiana, Sheriff Jhonni Laurent discovers the frozen body of a high school senior under a 15-foot pile of snow and ice. Just as the investigation gets underway, Jhonni’s opponent for sheriff from four years ago wages a bitter reelection battle to oust her. Then Jhonni finds another body, and further complications arise when a century-old feud between two families reaches its breaking point. Soon, a slew of newspaper articles causes the Indiana State Election Board to doubt her credibility. Jhonni must fight to maintain her reputation, keep the small farming community together, and find the murderer at large --- all while demons from her own past threaten to crush her.
About the Book
Jhonni Laurent is the first female sheriff of Field’s Crossing, Indiana --- and now she has her first murder case.
Two days after a blizzard hits Field’s Crossing, Indiana, Sheriff Jhonni Laurent discovers the frozen body of a high school senior under a 15-foot pile of snow and ice. Murder is rare in farm country, and this death marks the beginning of Jhonni’s first homicide case.
Just as the investigation gets underway, Jhonni’s opponent for sheriff from four years ago wages a bitter reelection battle to oust her. Then, Jhonni finds another body, and further complications arise when a century-old feud between two families reaches its breaking point.
Soon, a slew of newspaper articles causes the Indiana State Election Board to doubt her credibility. Jhonni must fight to maintain her reputation, keep the small farming community together and find the murderer at large --- all while demons from her own past threaten to crush her. Can she find the killer and mend her battered spirit before it’s too late?
Audiobook available, read by Christine Bernhardt
March 24, 2023
Last week, I was doing a quick errand and decided not to carry my pocketbook. Instead I tossed my driver’s license in a small leather wallet that I have and headed out the door. I came back, and the last time we saw the wallet was on the counter in the kitchen. I am 99% sure that I picked it off from there to bring it upstairs, but I have yet to find it. I literally took all of the books off my “to be read” bookshelves wondering if I carried it upstairs when I was moving books and it got caught between some. Tom even combed through the garbage, earning him yet another “Husband of the Year” award. I am sure that it’s some place crazy, like on a shelf in the freezer. I ordered a duplicate license. As soon as it comes in the mail, I am sure I will find the wallet. That is the way life works!