I was selected to be a tour stop on the “Death Comes to London” virtual book tour through Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours. I requested the first novel in the series to better understand the flow of continuity and the origins of the Kurland St. Mary mysteries series of which Kensington sent me a complimentary copy of “Death Comes to the Village”. I read both novels back to back for the blog tour and was not obligated to post a review for the first novel. I received a complimentary copy of “Death Comes to London” direct from the publisher Kensington Books, in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
Death Comes to the Village
Regency-set historical mystery, first in new series.
A wounded soldier and a rector's daughter discover strange goings-on in the sleepy village of Kurland St. Mary in Catherine Lloyd's charming Regency-set mystery debut.
Major Robert Kurland has returned to the quiet vistas of his village home to recuperate from the horrors of Waterloo. However injured his body may be, his mind is as active as ever. Too active, perhaps. When he glimpses a shadowy figure from his bedroom window struggling with a heavy load, the tranquil façade of the village begins to loom sinister. . .
Unable to forget the incident, Robert confides in his childhood friend, Miss Lucy Harrington. As the dutiful daughter of the widowed rector, following up on the major's suspicions offers a welcome diversion--but soon presents real danger. Someone is intent on stopping their investigation. And in a place where no one locks their doors, a series of thefts and the disappearance of two young serving girls demands explanation. . .
As Robert grapples with his difficult recovery, he and Lucy try to unearth the dark truth lurking within the village shadows, and stop a killer waiting to strike again...
Catherine Lloyd grew up in London, England in the middle of a large family of girls. She quickly decided her imagination was a wonderful thing and was often in trouble for making stuff up. She finally worked out she could make a career out of this when she moved to the USA with her husband and four children and began writing fiction. With a background in historical research and a love of old-fashioned mysteries, she couldn’t resist the opportunity to wonder what a young Regency Miss Marple might be like, and how she would deal with a far from pleasant hero of the Napoleonic wars.
The charm of the cosy within is the cantankerous bloke who warms your heart whilst saying the most wild and unsettling of declarations! He’s at his honest wit’s end, and thereby, all the wildlife in his particular section of the world must be within his field of sight of being ousted out of their natural environment because they are interferring with his tranquility of slumberment! If it weren’t so dire of a picture to envision this war hero walking angst ridden through wood and thistle, it would be laughable because whom would suggest such a crazy thing? Owls surely hoot for good reasons, but on the upturnt it was his nature of voicing his vexations at these natural occurring consternations that endeared me on the upstart of the novel!
My very first impression (of which will not surprise most who know me) of Major Robert Kurland mirrored a direct twin of L.B. Jefferies (Jimmy Stuart’s fated voyeur photographer who catches a murderer red-handed in Rear Window!) The Major has returnt from the front of war with an ill-begotten injured leg, laid up (pent up most likely!), and finding every wince of a vice he can lay his mind upon! He charmed me with his crustacean countenance!
Lucy is a spitfire in her own right, but with less confidence in voicing her confluence of opinions, and relegates her resolve of still being under her father’s roof; thereby his rules of life. A rector’s daughter who replaced her dear Mum who died in childbirth, Lucy’s path in life is laid out like paving stones leading out of a garden. Everything expected of her without a want or will of her own regard, yet a slow burn of freedom knits into her bosom! Her age of youth is on her side, which gives the impression she’s a heap of a step towards endeavouring her own mind and heart like Jo March!
The one character who will irk your ire quite a heap isn’t the Major, for he is by far the best companion detective to Lucy, and thereby brings out the joy in reading this series, no by all accounts it is the rector! Lucy’s father has a tongue of thorns and an indifference of gratitude for his daughter’s selfless and tireless work to maintain a home rather than a house. She took charge of everything yet has gained nothing but discontempt back from the one person you’d have felt would sing her praises. I applaud the differences being rapt apparent between her father and the Major; as the Major appears to be to have become not necessarily a full-on surrogate father but he is in her stead of confidence for an advisor on life’s affairs. She trusts the Major and even that surprises her a bit, but it is the level of honesty between them which I believe has endeared them to each other. Read More
Whilst I was participating on The Spoils of Avalon blog tour on behalf of the Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours, I was meant to post this lovely conversation I had with Ms. Burns on behalf of her series and the genre at large. It sparked a conversational thread as well, which I have included below our main conversation as I had not realised no one was addressing the parallels and the changes within the Mystery & Suspense genre as I have started to observe a Renaissance of a new style emerging out of the gate when there is such an overflow of lighter cosies being marketed in today’s fiction.
I personally applaud the authors, who like Ms. Burns are taking the extra step towards ensuing the legacy of Agatha Christie and others like her; who are not only upheld in voice or style but are carried forward — where they are seeking out new timescapes inside the historical past to carve out their own cosy niche and elevate the cosy to a new level of immersion. I love sophisticated comedies and dramas, but this also parlays into my appreciation for a sophisticate cosy!
Cosy to me, first and foremost references the direct correlation between the crime itself and the level of intensity of the nature of the crime; either through descriptive narrative or through visceral imagery. I may watch certain hard-boiled crime dramas on television (the ones most addictive by far have been NCIS and Castle) but when it comes to curating a list of next reads and favourite cosies in print — alas! This is where I become quite particular in my choices and my penchant for a well-conceived mystery and/or suspense within the pages is put centerpoint. If I can help bridge the gap between where the cosies of the past and the cosies of the modern world are merging and re-defining themselves, then I consider myself blessed to be a book blogger who can showcase the differences.
Secondary to the first declaration on behalf of cosies, for me, are the realism of character, setting, era, and the plausible circumstances stitched around the mystery itself. I even like a light suspension of reality if bits and bobbles of fantasy elements are explored (those based on mythology, lore, or fable); but truly what I am seeking is a well-conceived idea which sparks such a joy to devour the story itself, I lose myself in the pages and never notice fully the dissolvementof time off the clock!
The death of a humble clergyman in 1877 leads amateur sleuths Violet Paget and John Singer Sargent into a medieval world of saints and kings—including the legendary Arthur—as they follow a trail of relics and antiquities lost since the destruction of Glastonbury Abbey in 1539. Written in alternating chapters between the two time periods, The Spoils of Avalon creates a sparkling, magical mystery that bridges the gap between two worlds that could hardly be more different—the industrialized, Darwinian, materialistic Victorian Age and the agricultural, faith-infused life of a medieval abbey on the brink of violent change at the hands of Henry VIII and Thomas Cromwell.
First in a new series of historical mysteries, <em>The Spoils of Avalon</em> introduces two unlikely detectives and life-long friends—beginning as young people on the verge of making their names famous for the next several decades throughout Europe and America: the brilliant and brittle Violet Paget, known as the writer Vernon Lee, and the talented, genial portrait painter John Singer Sargent.
Friends from the age of ten, Paget and Sargent frequently met in the popular European watering places and capitals, frequenting the same salons and drawing rooms in London, Rome, Paris, Florence, Venice, Vienna and Madrid. Both were possessed of keen minds and bohemian tendencies, unorthodox educations and outsized egos (especially Paget). Their instant, natural bonding led them to address each other as “Twin”, and they corresponded frequently when they were apart.
Henry James once described Violet Paget as having “the most formidable mind” of their times, and he was an active fan and patron of John Sargent, introducing him to London society and his own inner circles of literary and artistic genius.
I agree with what you revealed about taking an cosy historical mystery arc of narrative and fusing it directly into the heart of a well-respected historical figure by presenting the person and the era of the series setting in a believable series of circumstances that honour the person. What originally led you to realising you had a golden opportunity to bring forward John Singer Sargent & Violet Paget as crime solving partners?
Burns responds: I am a long-time fan of ‘historical’ amateur detectives (Oscar Wilde, Jane Austen) as well as purely fictional ones (Max Liebermann, Charles DuLuc), and have written some mysteries long ago. However, I had fallen so much in love with both Sargent and Paget while I was writing my “regular” historical Portraits of an Artist that I simply couldn’t let go of them, and I wanted readers to see how fun and interesting they are. I struggled with the challenge that Sargent isn’t all that well-known and that Violet Paget (aka Vernon Lee) is completely obscure these days, so who would want to read about them? But I decided it was worth the risk—I would write them so well that people would love them as I do! It seemed to me that the historical mystery genre was the perfect medium to bring out their mischievous and interesting characters, both serious and humorous at the same time. Read More
(“Space” by Stephan Martiniere, used with the artist’s permission)
THIS is still true: Finding a renewed joy in reading science fiction stories during SFN, and having my hours to enjoy the stories grow a bit limited as November shifted into December, I was most delighted to find: the Sci-Fi Experience! (Review Site of the Experience!) As 2014/5 continues to move forward, science fiction & fantasy will both play a larger role on my blog as I am a member of The Classics Club, whereupon one of my focuses is specifically on: classic science fiction, classic fantasy, and classic/modern Magical Realism. (I tend to include the latter under this umbrella due to the elements which attach the sub-genre to the creativity of the former!)
*note: although I kept the paragraph intact from last year, I updated the links to reflect 2015!
To fully understand why I was so wicked happy last January during my 1st attempt to participate in the Sci Fi Experience, please direct your attention to my participation log from 2014! There is one component that I hadn’t realised was similar between 2014 & 2015’s #SciFiExperience, which is the fact I had the lovely pleasure of tweeting Ms. Elliott just ahead of embarking on my science fiction journey! Last year, I had the direct intention to read her Jaran series but this year, methinks as the boxes in which I have stored her High Fantasy series Crown of Stars is located somewhere out of sight and mind, I’ve decided to see if I can ILL the series which perked my interest originally for it’s uniqueness! I may or may not have mentioned this previously during Sci Fi November 2013 (although I’m sure I must have remembered to include on my essay about “From Seventeen to Seven”), I first picked up King’s Dragon when I was seventeen years old. I remember this quite well as it served as a turning point in my life; not just my reading adventures but my writing adventures. Up until that particular point, for whichever reason I hadn’t yet put the pieces together and realised I was a bonefide sci fi geek and a high fantasy appreciator!
The evidence was quite strong, I had begun writing my science fiction based on science fact novel three years earlier, and my dedicated passion for Star Trek (Gene Roddenberry’s vision of it), Star Wars (George Lucas’s vision of it) and Battlestar Galactica (the original series) were a good indication I had strong roots in the genre. However, reading science fiction & fantasy novels was a slower progression of mine, as I was always keeping my eyes peeled for a new motion picture and/or tv serial which would whet an interest for the fantastical as much as the science-based elemental explorations! I adore Space Opera the most because I love the interconnected elements it provides but truly, I’m still mapping together my wanderings within the Speculative Fiction genres!
This year, during the Sci Fi Experience I am going to keep a running list of books I am reading a few chapters at a time, as I want to see if I can discover new authors and stories to explore as the year progresses forward. I thought for the large batch of what I had borrowed from my local library (my dear librarians are used to me carting off more books than I can carry in a soft grocery bag that has become my ‘library book bag’!) whilst Sci Fi November was in-progress I will be reading 50 pages per novel to see if the style, the voice, and the tone of the writer’s vision sits well with me. Some of the novels were ones I picked up off the shelf based on visits within the book blogosphere either this year or last year during Sci Fi November and/or the in-between months leading up to this year’s events for Sci Fi November & the Sci Fi Experience!Read More
Acquired Book By: Whilst my path crossed originally with Mr. Tag through my participation of his blog tour via Cedar Fort Publishing & Media (on behalf of “How Much Do You Love Me?”), we have continued to stay in touch since the tour ended. What I found most fascinating about his historical fiction debut is how soul stirring the narrative was depicted against the backdrop of war and the timelessness of his approach to etch a story out of our collective emotional hearts. I was very moved by his multi-cultural characters and of a story taken straight out of history and World War II. Thus, when I was approached to receive his Science Thrillers Trilogy in exchange for an honest review, I was most delighted indeed! To be honoured with the chance to read his science fiction based on science fact thrillers would enable me to see a new dimension of his writing style and voice!
I received a complimentary copy of the book direct from the author Paul Mark Tag, in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
Dr. Victor Mark Silverstein is a Jewish African-American whose background is as unusual as his personality. He lives a privileged life as the Naval Research Laboratory's preeminent meteorologist and scientist. But beneath the facade of a self-centered, arrogant personality lies a seething, vulnerable man whose secrets have plagued his sleep since 1982. That's when he discovered the truth about what happened to his girlfriend, Sylvia.
In the year 2007, his nightmares become a reality when weather satellites detect an environmental aberration. Memories from college at Penn State -- and their accompanying heartbreak -- push their way back into Silverstein's life. Only he knows the root cause of the phenomenon and its scientific basis -- and the mastermind behind it all.
This fast-paced thriller spans the globe: from the Suez Canal and Christmas Island to Istanbul, Turkey; to Monterey, California and Washington, DC; and finally to Bermuda. Silverstein and his feisty female assistant, Dr. Linda Kipling, begin a desparate and harrowing pursuit for the truth and for those responsible. With time running out and the environmental catastrophe unfolding, they must survive a terrifying ride through the eyewall of a hurricane. The final showdown pits good against evil and intellect against loyalty. Along the way, Silverstein finds peace and becomes reacquainted with a faith he abandoned long ago.
Paul Mark Tag graduated with degrees in meteorology from Pennsylvania State University and worked for the Naval Research Laboratory as a research scientist for over thirty years before retiring to write fiction. For years prior to retirement, and the following year exclusively, he honed his skills writing short stories. These have been published in StoryBytes, Potpourri, Green’s Magazine, and The Storyteller, as well as The Errant Ricochet: Max Raeburn’s Legacy.
In 2005, Tag published his first thriller, Category 5, which took advantage of his knowledge of meteorology and weather modification. Prophecy and White Thaw: The Helheim Conspiracy followed Category 5, with White Thaw tackling global climate change, a topical subject these days. With his historical novel How Much Do You Love Me? Tag has switched genres. He lives with his wife, Becky, in Monterey, California.
I have oft wondered why there isn’t more talk about modifications and protocols to augment the severity of natural disasters as we have seen played in science fiction modules. Weather modification has been a hearty subject for a long time, but I was always drawn to the natural disaster films which attempted to either clarify the issue in layman’s terms or give a plausible example of what could happen if we start to monk about with natural systems we have no business altering by artificial means. The theory within the novel Category 5 is hugged close to my own thoughts and musings on the topic at large; if you could find a way to interject a change of severity and course of a storm whilst it is already in-progress and growing in strength. It is plausible because anyone who has stood outside during a severe weather occurrence starts to denote a few things in the atmosphere; the least of which is the changing colours of the sky itself, but moreso, the change of ambiance of the time of the occurrence itself.
I have observed there is a stillness when your outside observing weather as it occurs; hurricanes by far have the worst calm within the eye whereas the calm center of a tornado is daunting on a different level completely. Both the eye and the center of both storms do have one particular thing in common: they are fair warning of what is coming next. If we start to use science to control what is naturally occurring and thereby has it’s own cycle of influence on the natural world, are we then able to justify the results if the outcome is less than equal to the projected end results? Sometimes what you beg trouble for is far worse than living through what has already arrived.
Part of me is curious of what is not understood and cannot be explained; climate and meteorology have always held strong influences on me (where I live notwithstanding) and a part of this might stem from my great-grandfather whose fascination with electricity was directly linked to his curiosity about lightning. If only I could travel back in time to speak to him about his own observations and what he gleamed by staring down the bolts of pure electricity as they lit up the evening skies and gave a shuddering start to the extreme weather of his era.
When they started to talk about ocean temperatures I nearly chuckled to myself — I still remember flying over the Gulf for the first time and noticing the differences in both density and colourations of the ocean’s surface. Part of me mused if the variations had anything to do with temperatures as much as the depth of the particular portions I was flying over; as that is one observation you cannot gleam standing on the ground. Flying reveals a lot about our world as the juxtaposition increases the mind to accept the larger view more to scale than when we are looking down rather than sideways or up. The ocean sciences (from oceanography to geophysics to geothermal plate tectonics) were a keen interest of mine whilst growing up. Naturally I would evolve into appreciating every sub-field inter-related to Environmental Science, Climatology, Meteorology and Natural Weather or Disasters such as Snow Science, Vulcanology, and Glaciology. Tag has written a novel a science geek like me is overjoyed to have found existing in science fiction! It is a thread of theory combined with real-life plausible scenarios which have the most direct impact on mass causality and aftermath; a warning of a tale about the temptations of where science can lead man to technology that can offset the balance of order and chaos.
There is a point in the story where Silverstein is mentioned as studying forensic meteorologist – giving me a bit of pause as I was most intrigued at that designation. (the forensic sciences are another thread of interest of mine) I was curious if this is what Paleoclimatology was originally called or if the forensic side of meteorology is a sub-field exploring a completely different branch of data. Considering climate and weather are generally studied separately, I found it quite fascinating to see this inside the novel. Read More
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
Each of us who joyfully blogs about books will find at times, even our best laid plans to host concurrent blog events can sometimes become a bit hard to juggle when our personal lives intercede on the time we had scheduled to devout to the events themselves. I found myself in this particular pickle last Sci Fi November, but this year, I felt I had shifted a few things around to where I had more hours to give and thereby could redeem myself from what I could not put together last year. Suffice to say, a few unexpected issues arose the least of which were a knock-out of my internet connection by a severe lightning storm and a broken toe of which looked far worse than the injury itself yet gave me enough wincing pain to forestall my blogging.
I was able to jump dive into the #RRSciFiMonth chat at the very tail-end of the conversation, whereupon I happily enjoyed speaking with Ms. Czerneda, Asti, Ana, and Rachel Noel (@Silelda & Purple Owl Reviews)! It was during this part of the convo, I expressed my desire to carry forward into December the posts I was unable to contribute during the last fortnight of SFN: 2014! I was happily surprised to find others were in agreement; November for whichever reason had become a bit of a quagmire for a lot of us, and I was not the only one wanting to extend the celebrations!
*I received a bit of a surprise whilst getting the link for Rachel Noel’s blog! (read: 2014 Thanks) I have always appreciated the randomness to my conversations with Rachel Noel on Twitter & I had always meant to expand our connection by visiting her blog. To see my name listed as a part of a note of gratitude of whom gave her the most joy and support in 2014 was simply an unexpected blessing to discover. Our lives touch each other in ways we do not always realise have an impact that gives us all a boost when we need it most. I can attest the same in return!Read More
Death Comes to the Village
Category 5
