A Deadly Promise (A Dr. Margaret Demery Book) by Paula Harmon; Brilliant Protagonist Outshines Convoluted Plot

 

A Deadly Promise (A Dr. Margaret Demery Book) by Paula Harmon; Brilliant Protagonist Outshines Convoluted Plot

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: Sometimes the plot is the best part of a mystery. Sometimes it's the murder victim, the suspect, or even the murderer. Other times, such as in the case with A Deadly Promise, a volume in Paula Harmon’s Dr. Margaret Demery series, it's the lead protagonist. In fact, the protagonist in this book is such a memorable character that she is easily the best part of an at times confusing and convoluted mystery.

In 1914, Amos Chalkley, a young man, dies shortly after pathologist Dr. Margaret Demery gives him directions to the War Office. It seems to be a robbery gone wrong, but Margaret doesn't think so especially after another man, Luther Byrd, dies close by in a similar manner. They both have similar symptoms of some unknown contagion. Margaret and her husband, intelligence operative, Inspector Fox Foxcroft investigate while there is talk of rebellion in Ireland and predictions of a great world war especially after Astro-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie are assassinated.

Let's start with the good stuff. Dr. Margaret Demery is the type of independent strong willed female detective that occurs often in Historical Mysteries and with good reason. Not only are they often excellent detectives with adept observation skills, empathetic understanding of the people involved, and plucky persistent spirits that pursue justice to the end, but Readers get to see what life was like for women of that era.

 In many times, women were suppressed, marginalized, either treated as fragile objects or constant workhorses, and raised to be wives and mothers and that's it. These protagonists often counter these assumptions. Some have careers of their own or are independently wealthy. Even if they take traditional paths and don't earn a living as investigators, they are able to use those skills as amateurs. The approach that these authors take are often intentionally subversive, even Feminist, in how their protagonists are written.

That is especially noticeable with Dr. Margaret Demery. She is a respected pathologist in a time period when female doctors existed but were still held under intense scrutiny and suspicion. Pathology was not looked upon as a suitable field for women as it was believed that women were too fragile and vulnerable to look at and investigate a dead body but Margaret shows that she has the stomach for it. She also works with living patients as well and uses her studies in respiratory illnesses to deduce short and long term complications.

The book explores the rampant misogyny and sexism that is not only personally experienced by Margaret herself but by other women. One of the most intense chapters involves a suffrage march which quickly becomes violent. Even before the violence occurs, the marchers are insulted and mocked by men in the crowd. Some women say that they sneaked out or had to get their husband's permission to march. Even though Margaret is happily married to a man who is empathetic to their cause, her husband, Fox reads her the riot act for being involved in a potentially dangerous situation. His concern is duly noted but he can't resist infantilizing his wife and chastising her like a child incapable of her own agency.

A very important lead that occurs in the book is the institutionalization of Iris Byrd, the wife of Luther one of the murder victims. She was institutionalized by her husband before his death after a domestic dispute. It shows that many people in that time period could have someone committed to a mental hospital for the flimsiest reasons including arguing with family members. Some men, like Luther, and we later learn another character, did this to wives and female relatives as a display of dominance if they felt that they stepped out of line or defied authority. This is the kind of world which Margaret has to navigate through to learn the killer’s identity.

When the book focuses on Margaret's individual investigation in the central murders, the book succeeds. However, it falters when combining it with the larger international picture. There are various characters and situations thrown in that represent different topics of the time such as the Irish Rebellion and WWI, some of which only have a peripheral involvement in the actual murders. There is the reappearance of a former enemy of Fox’s whose involvement with this plot only makes things more confusing. Then there are the obligatory red herrings, false leads, and betrayals which only hinder the investigation and it becomes hard to remember who is who, what their motives were, and what they had to do with the central mystery. 

It seems as though Harmon had too many ideas for this volume. Instead of focusing on one specific plot angle, she threw them all in. The results are an overwhelming Mystery which contains far too many subjects to create a streamlined focused mystery. 

Sometimes that's a good approach to focus on both the political and personal struggles particularly in an important historical time period like the days before WWI, but they need to be evenly balanced instead of thrown together. It needs to deliver a case where this point and that point lead to a specific conclusion rather than create a situation where it is hard to remember who is who. 

A Deadly Promise is not a terrible historical mystery so much as one with great potential especially with its lead character. Margaret is definitely the brightest spot in this book that needs more focus.

Keep On Glowing Your Guide to Graceful Empowerment and Unstoppable Glow by Robin Emtage; The Belgian Girls by Kathryn Atwood; Mission: Red Scythe by C.W. James

Keep On Glowing Your Guide to Graceful Empowerment and Unstoppable Glow by Robin Emtage; The Belgian Girls by Kathryn Atwood; Mission: Red Scythe by C.W. James

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

Keep On Glowing: Your Guide to Graceful Empowerment and Unstoppable Glow by Robin Emtage 

 Every woman has a fire, power source, inside that is forged by resilience, wisdom, and unstoppable feminine force. Some call this fire a glow. All women have it but not all are aware of it or use it to its fullest potential. Sometimes it fades over time or is buried under years, sometimes decades, of conditioning. It can dim and fade away into nothingness if not nurtured and cared for. Robin Emtage, beauty stylist, holistic glow expert, and founder of Silktage Tropical Inspired Beauty Products, wrote Keep On Glowing: Your Guide to Graceful Empowerment and Unstoppable Glow to help inspire women to discover and retain that glow throughout their lives.

Emtage’s Keep on Glowing Method consists of five pillars: Radiant Mindset, Sacred Self Care, Glow Rituals, Protective Boundaries, and Unapologetic Expression. Emtage describes this method as one that is designed to help readers return to themselves with grace, confidence, and an unstoppable glow.

Each chapter focuses on different concepts like creating a bold mindset for lasting radiance, practicing self-compassion for inner glow, gaining confidence and beauty that blossoms with age, reclaiming inner power, protecting glow in relationships, giving permission to shine, glowing forward and inspire, aging with intention and conscious glowing, using age-defying rituals, crafting a glow that lasts, building momentum through small deadly wins,practicing the art of saying no and creating boundaries, reimagining radiance and recognizing beauty beyond the mirror, building the life that you deserve, designing a life that radiates inside and out, and glowing forward. 

The book features advice and wisdom that is clearly explained with encouraging words. For example “Chapter 2: Be Your Own Best Friend: Self-Compassion for Inner Glow,” has words about “The Foundation of Self-Compassion, “The Glow Killing Inner Critic,” and “The Glow Boosting Power of Self-Talk.” “The Power of Self-Talk” section suggests ways of verbally turning negative self-criticism into positive and encouraging affirmations. For example, instead of saying, “I’m bad at this,” Emtage suggests changing the limiting sentence to “I’m learning and every step makes me better.”

Activities inspire readers to list their concerns, ways that can be improved, and identifying positive attributes. For example “Chapter 3: Embrace Your Radiance: Confidence and Beauty That Blossoms With Age”, includes various rituals, writing exercises, and actions that help guide the inner glow to shine. For example “Radiate Gratitude: Unleashing the Glow of Appreciation”, suggests that readers write down one thing that they like about themselves to remind them that they are worthy of admiration and respect especially from themselves. 

The chapters also include Glow Actions and Affirmations as final takeaways to preserve the inner glow. “Chapter 4: Reclaim Your Feminine Power: Unlocking Your True Glow” includes a Glow Action of writing a letter to oneself declaring a commitment to living fully in their power. They are encouraged to reveal what they will no longer tolerate, what they will say yes to, and to read the letter whenever they feel their light dimming. The Glow Affirmation for this chapter is “I reclaim my glow with every choice, every boundary, and every act of self-love.” 

The Belgian Girls by Kathryn J. Atwood

This is a summary of the review. The full reviews can be found on LitPick.

The Belgian Girls tells two stories. It combines the adventures of two women, a real life figure and a fictional character from the two different World Wars, to tell an intergenerational story of courage, sacrifice, freedom, heroism, and rebellion against oppression. 

The first chronological one is the true story of Gabrielle “Gaby” Petit, a barmaid in pre-WWI Belgium. Infuriated by the presence of German soldiers in her country, she organizes a spy network to pass information and defeat her country’s enemies. The second story, the fictionalized account, is that of Julienne Gobert, newly arrived in Brussels with her widowed father. She hears the story of Gaby Petit and is inspired to also become a spy and Resistance fighter against the Nazis as they devour the country around her. 

The stories perfectly merge together with characters, plot threads, and situations that link the two together. For example both protagonists were recently hit with trauma even before their involvement with the war efforts.The traumas leave these young women feeling unprotected in a changing world that is becoming more complicated but also tests their resilience, independence, and willingness to challenge their surroundings. 

The dual narration of the book shows how important it is to look to the past and learn how to live during tough times. Those tough times bring out the best in both women. Gabrielle, who lived a hard existence, learns to empathize with others and fight for her country. Julienne is pulled from her previous mousy timid nature and is moved by Gaby’s story. She becomes bolder and more courageous during times of danger. Both women are willing to fight and die if they have to.

The stories of Gabrielle Petit and Julienne Gobert remind us that one of the best ways to survive tough times of war, violence, tyranny, death, oppression, and poverty is to look to the past and how others lived during them, adapted to their surroundings, fought against them, and became heroes. Perhaps in doing so they can become heroes in the present.

Mission: Red Scythe (A James Vagus Thriller) by C.W. James

This is a summary of the review. The full review is on LitPick.

This book combines the flashy colorful adventures of a Ian Fleming James Bond novel with the duplicitous realistic tension of a John LeCarre novel.

In 1965, orphaned James Vagus is given an interesting offer. John Smith represents MIS-X the mysterious benefactor of James’ education. Smith notes James’ youth, good looks, amiable but reserved personality, and affinity for languages. MIS-X is looking for young recruits to go to places where the youth hang out like concerts, colleges, and class trips and gather information unobtrusively. In other words they are looking for teen spies. James is the perfect potential spy. He accepts the proposal, is given a partner Dakota Walker, and receives his first major assignment. He is to trail Otto Stradt, a corrupt businessman with ties to Eastern Europe. This assignment leads James and Dakota straight to a conspiracy involving scientists studying the potential of killer biology and the governments who will pay top dollar for such research. 

 James and Dakota are spies with all of the gorgeous locations, beautiful people, and cool toys and gadgets but also have an awareness that the governments that one works for can’t always be trusted, that agents can be quickly betrayed, and murder is never far away.

There is a seedy underside to this seemingly glamorous world, a seedy underside that young adults in their late teens and whose brains haven’t been fully developed are being thrown into. 

There is a constant awareness of death and betrayal that surrounds the characters. Even the characters that are on each other’s side may not be completely trustworthy as these young characters are encouraged to do everything they can lie, steal, have affairs, break laws, and murder to please their country and allies. There are moments that if the characters don’t expect betrayal from the presumed good guys, the reader might.

The only real true honest bond is that between James and Dakota. There are moments when one is captured, the other is willing to go through extremes to rescue them even if they risk blowing their cover. In this world of dishonesty, corruption, secrets, and murder the most honest moment is when the two partners acknowledge not only their friendship but also their brotherhood.

The Shard of Lafayette: A Tale of Magic in The Great War (The Drops of Glass Book 1) by Kenneth A Baldwin; Magic Combines With Historical Warfare

 Drops of Glass: A Tale of Magic in The Great War (The Shards of Lafayette Book 1)  by Kenneth A Baldwin; Magic Combines With Historical Warfare 

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

This book can be obtained through Voracious Readers Only.

Spoilers: Kenneth A. Baldwin’s  novel, Shards of Lafayette: Drops of Glass mixes 20th Century History with Fantasy by creating an Alternate Universe in which the deciding factors in World War I are not stronger weapons, aerial battles, mustard gas, the breakdown of relations between countries, or even a global pandemic. Instead it is magic, yes magical forces that attack indiscriminately with no allegiance to any flag or country and gain an upper hand towards their human mortal adversaries. 

Marcus Dewar is an American pilot with a less than stellar kill count, In fact he hasn’t killed anyone in the air or anywhere else. Instead, he sheepishly returns to get his plane fixed by his mechanic/girlfriend, Jane Turner and face derision and bullying from his fellow pilots. His most recent air battle was odd to say the least. His gun jammed as he tried to fight a mysterious blue aircraft. He and Jane are called into a secret meeting with various pilots, captains, and mechanics from Britain, France, the U.S., and Germany. This attack that Marcus witnessed was not the first of its kind. Many pilots had the same story: They faced unmarked blue planes that came from nowhere and after shooting the pilot seemed to disappear into nowhere. The pilots’ guns jammed, the plane crashed, and the pilots died. As said before, these mysterious planes attack anyone in the air and appear not to belong to any specific government. They also attack pilots of different levels of experience. In fact, one of the pilots that was shot down by these mysterious pilots was Manfred Von Richtoven, AKA The Red Baron. Even more sinister, certain objects left behind by the pilots are infused by a powerful magical psychic energy that defies all explanation. This secret mission relies on Marcus, who was an eyewitness to the events, and Jane, who comes from a magical family, to investigate into dangerous circumstances to find what this aircraft is and where it comes from. 

Shard of Lafayette is a brilliant piece that captures the history of WWI and the fantastic elements of a magical power that is untapped and misunderstood by those who bear witness to it. The book is full of wartime imagery and soldier mentality. These once beautiful countrysides and the skies above are filled with trenches, landmines, smoke, gas, and the numerous corpses. It takes a long time for these countries to recover and, as we know from history, some never do, leading to future problems that will be reignited about 20 years down the line. 

Marcus and Jane go on a dangerous mission into Belgium to locate the Blue Planes and to learn more information. They are unable to tell whether the people that they talk to are friend or enemy until proper code phrases and signals are recognized. One thing is clear: the villagers are on their guard, frightened, tense, and under a great deal of stress because of the war that is literally at their front door and they have had to adapt to survive. 

Even Marcus and Jane are transformed by their proximity to the war, Marcus is under the impression that because he hasn’t killed anyone, that he is a failure. Jane however knows the truth: Marcus hasn’t killed anyone because he doesn’t want to. He talks a good game about the glory of war and patriotism, but when it comes down to it he is too moral and ethical to be up there. However what Jane sees as honor, Marcus sees as a coward. Even though she is against killing,and mostly signed up because of the opportunity that she as a woman would get and to keep Marcus safe, Jane also understands Marcus’ desire to be a hero. In his mind, a hero has to shed blood.

Marcus and Jane’s mindsets are substantially altered throughout the course of the book when Marcus is in the pilot seat and Jane has to act as a gunner. For the first time, she understands the soldier mentality of kill or be killed. When Marcus sees what his strong willed once peaceful girlfriend was forced to become, he looks at that propaganda and heroification in a less positive light. The war doesn’t make soldiers heroes. It just makes them killers. 

The human element of Shard of Lafayette is powerful, but just as powerful is the presence of magic, particularly the Blue Planes and their enigmatic Pilots.

They come on like a force of nature that can’t be controlled or contained. In a world that is made up of dividing loyalties and borders, the fact that these beings kill anyone is alien to those who experience it. Their flight strategies are all over the place and purposely mirror the human pilots  almost mocking them with their own tactics. If they can’t be defined or identified, then they can’t be understood or stopped. 

What is particularly sinister is that throughout the course of this book, the Blue Pilots are a mystery. No one, even the Reader, fully learns who or what they are. Theories are presented but just as quickly dismissed. A Blue Pilot is apprehended but purposely leaves little solid information about its identity or even its species. They come in, attack, and leave without any corroborating clues. The few clues they do leave like a pair of goggles and a scarf with magical energy leave more riddles than answers. 

In fact, the means of attack and the warfare setting suggests that something even more sinister is afoot, something that the Reader is all too familiar with even if the characters are not. The Blue Planes and their Pilots are treated almost like highly intelligent evolved species that cause great damage to various armies, and aren’t above harming civilians or whole villages to pursue their goals: whatever those goals are. It sounds almost like weapons from more recent wars than WWI doesn’t it? Like nuclear bombs, drone airstrikes, massive military vehicles, or smart bombs, maybe even AI that is programmed specifically to fight? 

The Blue Planes could be a metaphor for weapons, warfare, and energy that humans don’t understand yet want to possess. They produce a power that can control, dominate, and destroy. It wouldn’t surprise me if in later volumes that the enemy armies get over their fear of these Blue Planes and try to recruit and control them to strike against their enemies. The Blue Planes and Pilots could be a metaphor for war itself by killing indiscriminately and

does not care who is on whose side. Everyone eventually ends up dead. 

Shard of Lafayette is an Action/Adventure that delivers excitement and suspense, a Fantasy that brings interesting possibilities, but also presents a meditation on the real meaning of war,  violence, power, and death and what can be gained and especially lost by them.

Lit List Short Reviews: Fractured Tears: A Struggle for Justice by Amy Shannon; Ghost of the Rio Grande The Reluctant Tejano Hero Stands Up To Conspiracy, Murder and Injustice Along The Border or The War and Punitive Expedition By The U.S. Into Mexico 1916-1917 by Don A Holbrook Story by Gilberto Beto Garcia Jr.

 Lit List Short Reviews: Fractured Tears: A Struggle for Justice by Amy Shannon; Ghost of the Rio Grande The Reluctant Tejano Hero Stands Up To Conspiracy, Murder and Injustice Along The Border or The War and Punitive Expedition By The U.S. Into Mexico 1916-1917 by Don A Holbrook Story by Gilberto Beto Garcia Jr.

Fractured Tears: A Struggle for Justice by Amy Shannon

Fractured Tears: A Struggle for Justice is an emotional, strong, and inspirational fictionalized account of author Amy Shannon's fight against her abusive husband to obtain justice and live with the short and long term after effects from years of domestic violence.

The fictionalized version of Shannon is called Anna Coleman. She has woken up in the hospital after her husband, Ted beat her. Instead of crying and blaming herself for the abuse, Anna is understandably angry. She has had enough of trying to make a faltering abusive marriage work. Even though their son died and the two have been in mourning, it doesn’t excuse his drug use, his angry fists, his belittling of her, his ever changing moods, and her frequent hospitalizations thanks to his beatings of her. After an intense fight in which she manages to escape to a nearby police station and is taken to the hospital, Anna decides to file for divorce.

Anna is a very strong character dealing with her divorce and the physical and psychological aftereffects of the abuse. While dealing with a stressful court case, Anna has migraines that developed because of the constant beatings and falling down. She also has to cope with betrayal when some of her and her husband’s friends side with Ted. Through it all, Anna has a determination and inner strength to break free from her marriage, assert her independence, and live her own life.

What is particularly admirable about Anna’s story is how much it mirrors her author’s. According to her epilogue, Shannon used her own real life troubled marriage and subsequent divorce as inspiration for her book. There were some major differences between fictional and real life (Shannon actually has children during the divorce but opted to keep them out of the fictional version to keep them free from any publicity. She also did not begin a tentative romance with an attorney as Anna does in the book). However much of Shannon’s real life pain and triumph is echoed in her book. For example, the fight which led to Shannon’s escape to a police station and hospitalization is true to life. Also Anna’s badass speech in court in which she revealed exactly what Ted did to her and that she can’t forgive him for his abuse and betrayal is almost word for word a speech in which Shannon said to her own ex.

It cannot be stressed enough how graphic and realistic the violence is, of course it would be. It can be triggering for some Readers. (Shannon warns of this herself in the opening). But it is truthful about a woman who struggled in a difficult situation and courageously and heroically found her way out in fiction and most importantly in reality.

Don A. Holbrook and Gilberto Beto Garcia Jr tell a suspenseful and exciting Western and Espionage Thriller, Ghost of The Rio Grande The Reluctant Tejano Hero Stands Up to Conspiracy, Murder, and Injustice Along The Border or The War and Punitive Expedition by the U.S. Into Mexico, 1916-1917. 

Fabriciano Garcia is in a huge mess of trouble. He shot a Texas Ranger in self-defense after they tried to evict him and his family from his father-in-law’s ranch. Fabriciano goes on the run and becomes an outlaw with the name of El Fantomas or The Ghost. He caught the attention of Francois LaBorde, an eccentric hotelier. Francois gets Fabriciano involved in more international intrigue involving people with names like Mata Hari and an international war against the Germans and will soon involve the entire world. 

Ghost of the Rio Grande is an interesting mixture of Meso-American Western and International Espionage Thriller. It captures the time when the United States, long believed to hold onto an isolationist largely nationalistic policy, was thrust into a larger international spotlight. One of the key moments in the book is the discovery of the Zimmerman Telegram, a telegram intercepted by British intelligence, which proposed a military alliance between Germany and Mexico if the United States got involved in the war. The book shows how this revelation affected all of the countries involved by showing what the ramifications meant for Germany, The United States, and Mexico. 

The book also takes a hard look at the policies that the United States had with Mexico which led to many decades, even centuries, of fractured relations between the two countries and racist policies towards Central and South American immigrants. This is seen through Fabriciano’s journey from being one of many immigrants trying to make their way in a country that doesn’t always want them there. Racism drives Fabriciano away from his family and restrictive policies drive him to take on a life of crime. Ironically, the international situation allows Fabriciano to aid the country that once turned him away and branded him a criminal.

Fabriciano is an excellent protagonist to understand and root for. Even when he commits illegal acts, he always does it with the best of intentions and for the assistance of others. While on the run, he longs to be back with his wife, Manuela and their children. He becomes close friends with various characters during his time on the run. One in particular is so close to Fabriciano that when he is killed, Fabriciano who faced countless dangers in spying missions, is ready to go on another mission to kill this character’s assassin. He is willing to put his identity on the line for justice for his late friend. Fabriciano is a character of deep convictions and loyalty. This book shows that.

Ghost of the Rio Grande is a fascinating look at a history that is only mildly explored in American history books and brings it to life with interesting characters that take a fresh perspective to that history.

New Book Alert: Shadow of the Mole by Bob Van Laerhoven; Dark Psychological Mystery About Amnesia, Obsession, and The Cost of Searching for Ones True Identity and Self

 

New Book Alert: Shadow of the Mole by Bob Van Laerhoven; Dark Psychological Mystery About Amnesia, Obsession, and The Cost of Searching for Ones True Identity and Self

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: Ignoring all of the soap opera and rom com cliches about the condition, but amnesia can be a terrifying experience. There can be huge gaps in a person's memory, even their whole past, and no real way of filling it, especially if they are alone and without identification. That person remains a blank slate for anyone to fill and they may be filled with whatever the other person wants. The amnesiac may have no control over what new identity is fashioned around them. The people observing the amnesiac may be so obsessed with putting together that puzzle that their identity is caught up with the one who has amnesia. They may put the amnesiac into an identity that they create and has nothing to do with the reality of who that person really was. The amnesiac may never get their real identity and memory back and are left with what they are told, leaving them a complete stranger to themselves.

That concept is explored in Bob Van Laerhoven's Shadow of the Mole, an absorbing dark psychological mystery about a World War I era patient with amnesia and the obsessive nature of his doctor to find out who he really is.

In 1916, Dr. Michel Denis is fascinated by a patient known only as "The Mole" (so called because of his rodential facial features.) At first The Mole remains silent and non responsive so no one knows anything about him. Is he a soldier, if so which side? Is he a deserter? Some of the attendants are frightened of him. Is there something supernatural about him? When he is active, he asks provocative questions and gives no verbal clues to his identity. He also scribbles furiously a book that he claims must be chronicled. Denis treats The Mole and sees him through his nightmares. He also thinks about his strange request to chronicle the story. Denis compares him to someone  like Samuel Taylor Coleridge's Ancient Mariner, cursed to tell his story before he dies.

As Denis reads The Mole's writing, he is consumed by the story itself. The Mole writes of a man, Alain Mangin who lived a life surrounded by dark magic, the supernatural and a curse laid upon him seemingly by a Romany drummer who appears periodically, with his dancer sister, throughout Alain's life. As Denis reads the story, he is obsessed with finding answers about the Mole's identity and his connection to the words on the pages. Is he Alain? Is he the Drummer? Is this story true and autobiographical or is it a complete fabrication meant to make himself more enchanting and mysterious than he really is? Why is The Mole so obsessed with putting it down? Why does he remember every detail of this story but doesn't know his identity enough to say it or is he revealing his identity through the pages? Is he a victim of a curse or atoning for causing the curse? Also what does Denis need from this man? Is he projecting his own doubts and insecurities about the world through The Mole's past? Is he finding answers towards his own? Is he seeking answers for The Mole or for himself?

Like in many books that feature a story within a story, it is the past story, in this case Alain's, that is is the most interesting, grippig, and unforgettable. What is rather interesting about The Mole's writings  is the intentional literariness of it. He is allegedly telling his story which should be an autobiography, but it takes some huge lapses in narrative literary techniques into a fictional account (or more fictional than the actual novel that Shadow of the Mole starts out being).

Some of these literary techniques like the constant reappearance of the Romany dancer and drummer, border on dark fantasy or supernatural horror. I mean we know that characters don't constantly reappear in someone's life, unless they are related, friends, or workmates. They don't just drop in and out at random odd times in different locations, over the years, seemingly for no reason at all. They don't at least in the real world, but they do in  fiction. They follow the whims of the author who uses their characters however they choose. The constant reappearance of the Romany siblings in Alain's life could be a clue that the Mole's writings could be just a work of fiction. A novel that he constructed from his mind to overcome the bland ordinariness of the real world.

Alain begins the narrative as a bright imaginative boy who because of his reading of Jules Verne's From the Earth to the Moon wants to one day visit the celestial object in the sky.  He wants to become famous, perhaps as a soldier or a statesman but he wants to be famous. Later he becomes a spy and gets involved in plots that in the 19th century lead to ramifications that later echo into the beginning of the First World War. The story seems to be that of a man who wants to believe that he shaped history in his own way.  It seems that The Mole's writings are giving Alain the fame that he craved so badly.

The other possibility is that the Romany siblings are metaphors for a mind that is about to snap.

Perhaps since the Mole has amnesia, the  Romanys exist because he hallucinated them or they reflected the gaps in his memory. They may be more than a plot device. They may just be the parts that the Mole doesn't remember or doesn't want to remember. They may represent the darker forgotten parts of the Mole's mind that he chooses to suppress. Every time he forgets something, he throws in the Drummer and the Dancer to cover up or hide from what really happened.

Reading this story actually works its way into Denis' mind as well. He is living in a world torn apart by War. Discovering The Mole's identity and getting to the truth of Alain's story becomes more important to him than anything or anyone else. He develops a relationship with a woman that fizzles because of his obsession. He makes questionable decisions that puts his career in jeopardy. He wants to find sense in a world that is losing its grip on reality and sends young men around the world to fight other young men. 

Following the clues to the mystery almost soothes the doctor's mind. After all, a mystery needs to be solved. Finding the solution to a mystery gives the investigator some power and control to the narrative. In a world spiraling out of control. Denis needs to find that solution. Unfortunately, his investigation becomes an obsession when he tries to shape the Mole into the idea that he fashions for him. 

As the Mole controls Denis with providing his narrative, Denis controls The Mole by his trying to discover the answer. Their relationship veers into dual obsession in which neither can escape.

New Book Alert: Emma's Tapestry by Isobel Blackthorn; Suspense and Mystery Writer Shows Gifts in Writing Historical Fiction Based On Her Own Family

 

New Book Alert: Emma's Tapestry by Isobel Blackthorn; Suspense and Mystery Writer Shows Gifts in Writing Historical Fiction Based On Her Own Family

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: We have seen Isobel Blackthorn write excellent mystery and suspense novels. With A Prison in the Sun and The Ghost of Villa Winter, she was able to capture unsolved murders and hate crimes in the beautiful vacation setting of the Canary Islands.

With The Cabin Sessions, Blackthorn captured the dark secrets and inner turmoil of a small group of people huddled inside a dismal bar/nightclub on Christmas Eve.

So how well does this Mistress of Dark Fiction write a book that is not dark or mysterious? How does she write something like, say, Historical Fiction? Well judging by her book, Emma's Tapestry, pretty well actually.

The book is about Emma Harms, who in the late 19-teens leaves her Mennonite German-American family behind to marry Ernest Taylor, a social climbing Englishman. The two move to Singapore and then Japan so Ernest can ascend in the Export business. Emma meanwhile tries to maintain a career as a nurse, give birth and raise two daughters, and try to salvage her faltering marriage.

This story of Emma's troubled marriage is also combined with her subsequent life as a single mother to her now adult daughters in 1940. She also works as a nurse for seniors, like Adela Schuster who when she was younger ran in literary circles and befriended Oscar Wilde during his arrest and disgrace for homosexuality.

Blackthorn writes a strong sense of character in this book. There is a darn good reason for that besides that she is an incredibly gifted author. Emma's Tapestry is based on a true story. It covers Blackthorn's own family history.

According to her Epilogue, Emma and Ernest were based on her great-grandparents. They had a very fractured marriage that ended with Ernest abandoning his family and the severe repercussions were felt by Blackthorn's grandmother even years later. This book is Blackthorn's way of coming to terms with her family's loss and how the end of Emma and Ernest's marriage affected them and their children.

Even though, it's a nonfiction family history, Blackthorn writes Emma's Tapestry like a novel. This approach is similar to how Alex Haley wrote Roots or John Berendt wrote Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. She uses narrative techniques like interior thoughts, point of view, and dialogue to fill in the blanks of a painful family history with her imagination and speculation over what may have happened.

Blackthorn's narrative approach makes Emma memorable as a fully formed character as well as a real person. The Reader feels sympathy when she feels out of place in Japan and Ernest is more interested in climbing the corporate ladder than he is in helping his wife through her loneliness. Things become incredibly tense when war and revolution puts Emma's family in danger. She has to deal with giving birth and raising her young girls and surviving a stressful time with an increasingly insensitive and philandering husband.

Things get worse when Emma and her daughters emigrate to the United States. Despite being American, Emma is vilified because of her German heritage. In her new home town of Brush, Colorado, she receives suspicious looks and barely hidden remarks about her family and accusations of being an enemy spy. A woman who befriends her just as quickly throws her under the bus when the KKK stop by.

This section shows how during war time, propaganda and fear of an enemy can turn people against each other. They instantly hate someone because of their appearance or their last name.

This painful reality has echoed even modern times when 9/11 caused Islamophobia. Many Americans have attacked Latin Americans during days of increased immigration at the Southern borders.

The after effects of Covid saw an increase in hate crimes towards Chinese people. Most recently Russians have been held under suspicion and attacked because of the cruelty of their Premiere Vladimir Putin.

Emma's Tapestry reveals an early example of hate crimes that develop when people are taught to hate and fear an enemy and by extension see anyone from that space as a potential enemy simply because they are from somewhere else.

In contrast to Emma's painful past, her time in 1940 is a much lighter time. While there is some suspense because of living in Britain during the Blitz, Emma seems to be in a much better position. She is still overcoming her abandonment from Ernest but is still trying to form a family with her girls. She is closer to her daughters and is looking forward to becoming a grandmother.

She also continues to pursue her faith. In the past, she had been a member of Mennonite and Lutheran churches. Later she discovers a new interest in Spiritualism. This belief allows her to communicate with the dead and gives her hope that there is an afterlife after losing members of her immediate family, while also making her more active and involved in the present material world.

Emma has a good career as a nurse and through that is able to become close to Adela. While Adela at first seems to be a bit of a daffy name dropper, she shows a lot of wisdom in her stories of the past leading Emma by example. Also Adela's loyalty to the derided and disgraced Oscar Wilde is touching especially when he is alone in Paris with few friends, family, and lovers by his side. With this loyalty and wisdom, Emma takes stock in her own life and reevaluates some of her choices.

Blackthorn's family clearly had a painful past but she was able to capture it with detail, understanding, empathy and above all love.

Weekly Reader: Betrayal at Ravenswick: A Fiona Figg Mystery by Kelly Oliver; Engaging Historical Mystery Combines Murder Mystery and Espionage Thriller

 

Weekly Reader: Betrayal at Ravenswick: A Fiona Figg Mystery by Kelly Oliver; Engaging Historical Mystery Combines Murder Mystery and Espionage Thriller

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: This year, we have become acquainted with Mona Moon, 1930's cartographer turned entrepreneur and amateur detective and Ginger Gold, 1920's fashionista flapper turned amateur detective. Our latest historical mystery featuring an alliterative independent woman is The Fiona Figg Mysteries, starring a WWI era woman who gets involved murder mysteries and espionage among fighting nations.

Fiona needs something to block her hurt emotions after she caught her husband, Andrew in bed with his mistress whom he not only impregnated but wants to marry. Fiona throws herself into her job as head filing clerk at the War Office's top secret Room 40. At this job, she helps decode and send telegrams. She has career success when she decodes the Zimmermann telegram which pushes the United States into the war. 

Fiona's reputation spreads through Room 40 enough that her colleagues have faith in her when she volunteers to trail a potential German spy known as the Great White Hunter. Fiona impersonates a male doctor to enter Ravenswick Abbey, the home of Lady Mary Elliot and where the Hunter has contacts. Things take a disastrous turn when Countess Edith Elliot is murdered. Fiona finds herself in a house full of suspects, one of whom may also be an enemy spy.

Betrayal at Ravenswick cleverly combines the drawing room cozy mystery with an espionage political thriller. Fiona finds herself in the fancy home with many suspects who have reasons to do away with the deceased. There's the much younger fortune hunter whom the adult children don't like, the orphaned relative from an illegitimate background taken in by the charity of their elders, the jealous and angry staff who may have a literal axe to grind, and of course the houseguests who have a secret or two or three that they don't want people to know about. It's all obvious, almost too obvious.

What Oliver does is cleverly play and mock the drawing room mystery genre while keeping the international intrigue at the forefront. One of the smartest moves is when a pompous character does the "call everyone into the room to announce the murderer" bit. The clever subversion in this moment is that it happens off stage with another character retelling it to Fiona, both of whom realize that the so-called master detective is wrong and is simply a bombastic twit. Fiona is less impressed by this massive display of not so brilliant deduction and wants the eyewitness to get to the point over what happened.

Fiona is aware that there are bigger stakes involved than the murder of one person in a rich estate and that this isn't a personal grudge from someone in a jealous love triangle or who can't wait to get their hands on Mama's money. The conflicts involve a world at war making these classy murder mysteries tempests in sweltering teapots ready to explode.

Along with that personal troubles being cast aside for the bigger picture of international conflict, there is the slight focus on Fiona's love life. While she is naturally incensed by Andrew's cheating and inwardly hopes that he ends up with syphilis, she is able to pull herself together to get the job done. While some female detectives use their private pain to pull them into the mystery solving game, Fiona does what many male detectives do. She uses the job to disguise her pain and works to get beyond it.

 It's no coincidence that her first assignment involves her assuming a male identity. There are many who feel that Fiona doesn't fit in the woman's world of the late 19teens. She is an outspoken and independent career woman whose marriage ended. Instead Fiona has to fit in the man's world of war and espionage. Whereas Mona Moon and Ginger Gold emphasized their femininity on their cases, Fiona almost relinquishes it to become one of the boys. 

Fiona is as good a detective as her historical mystery sisters like Ginger and Mona, but what sets her apart is her professionalism. Investigation and espionage is her business. Ginger and Mona are amateurs who stumble upon mysteries. While they are observant and dedicated, their flirtatious natures,  spunky personalities, and connections to law enforcement are the only things that allow them to cross lines that they shouldn't. Fiona is already in the business and she doesn't need to cross barriers because they don't exist for her. Sometimes her gender proves to be a detriment, but her ability to disguise herself, even as a man, takes care of that. She has the training of learning codes, going undercover, and subduing enemy agents that women like Mona and Ginger have to learn while on the case. Theirs is a constantly learning experience. Fiona has already learned it. She just needs to put it into practice and she does.

Betrayal at Ravenswick is a brilliant first book that stars an excellent independent protagonist. It is a fine marriage of cozy mystery and espionage that creates a winning combination.

New Book Alert: Canvas of Time by Amelie Pimont; Haunting and Beautiful Romance About Reincarnation and Love Lasting Over Time

 

New Book Alert: Canvas of Time by Amelie Pimont; Haunting and Beautiful Romance About Reincarnation and Love Lasting Over Time

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas is one of the best thought provoking novels about reincarnation. In it, six separate stories from different genres are brought together by the idea that the six protagonists are the same person reincarnated over the centuries. The character changes genders, ethnicities, skin color, and sexualities but inside they are the same person having the same thoughts, similar goals, and motives revealing that the body is just the cover for the eternal soul underneath. It is a transformative novel that stays with the Reader long after the book is closed.

Amelie Pimont's novel Canvas of Time is a similar work. It is not as complex or invites deep thought the way Cloud Atlas does, but it is a haunting love story which involves a pair of lovers who get acquainted, fall in love, are separated by cruel circumstances, only to meet again the next life. It's much simpler than Cloud Atlas but is every bit as beautiful and unforgettable.

The two lovers that we meet are Eli and Sarah (same names every time) and we encounter them in Ancient Egypt, 20th century France between the World Wars, modern 21st century  California, and a futuristic spaceship. The landscapes are almost dream-like yet precise in their details. 

The fairy tale aspects of the princess and the commoner trope are explored beautifully in the Egyptian segments as spoiled Princess Sarah flirts with slave Eli, then he defends her against an avenging army. It is a strange attraction of opposites as the two see each other beyond the wide economic gulf that separates them. Then just when you think it will turn out well for them, it turns into a Shakespearean tragedy.

While the Egyptian section captures the romantic fairy tale aspects of "long ago and far away," the French section captures the minutiae of everyday life along with the stress and sacrifice of living during war time. Unlike the Egyptian segments, the events are rooted in actual history. Eli and Sarah are born into two separate farming families that are close friends and live in an almost communal existence. Through Eli and Sarah's youth, we see the children study the facets of agriculture like milking cows, building efficient machinery to help with the farming, selling their wares to the market and so on. Then every night, the two families gather together for storytelling. It's a pleasant nostalgic atmosphere. 

When World War I begins, it is an explosion that destroys the peaceful existence that occurred previously. In some very traumatic chapters, German soldiers use their family farm as a base and force the families to work for them. The constant abuse, sexual assault, malnutrition from rationing, and physical and emotional stress takes its toll on both families to the point that Eli and Sarah lose family members. The losses bring them closer together. The years between the wars are a welcome normalcy as Eli and Sarah explore their fire forged romantic feelings into a marriage and parenthood before reality slaps them in the face again with another World War.

The segment set in modern America takes on the themes of magical realism by featuring dreams, psychic connections, automatic art, and fantastic coincidences suggesting that Eli and Sarah live a fated existence that propels them to their destiny. In this reality, Sarah is a photographer who is on assignment to take pictures of orphaned and abandoned children. She even develops a maternal bond with one of the young girls that she photographs. Meanwhile, Eli is an artist who paints pictures of a woman whom he has only seen in his dreams and scenes of his past lives.

There are some magical scenes in this segment such as when Sarah has visions of Eli in this study painting and the two have a telepathic conversation and get to know each other before they meet face to face. The book plays out as though their previous lives were building up to this moment when they finally meet in the present.

By far the best part is the science fiction story because it not only develops our lovers but the situation that they are in and why they fight so hard to be together. In this version, Sarah is one of the few survivors of a planet that has been destroyed by an environmental disaster. The residents of the ship want to take them to their home planet but first  they are given rigorous physical training, a list of rules that must be obeyed, and are made the test subjects of  some strange experiments in the med bay. Before they arrive on their planet, they pick up Eli who has been stranded and has learned to adapt on his planet. Of course, Sarah and Eli fall in love once more.

Eli and Sarah's romance is augmented by the science fiction setting in which a conspiracy is revealed causing them to question the others around them, even one another. We also see the results of making a personal sacrifice for those you care about and how it leaves its mark on generations to come.

Cloud Atlas is more of a thinking person's reincarnation novel. Mitchell does some tricks with the narrative like splitting the stories in half and having characters ask questions in one lifetime that are answered in another. Some things are inferred like whether other characters around the protagonists also shared past lives with them but nothing is ever outright stated leading the Reader to figure things out.

Canvas of Time on the other hand is more straightforward, the feeling person's reincarnation novel. The stories are split in a specific order with beginning, middle, and end. There are call backs and call forwards to former and future lives. In one lifetime, Eli gets violently stabbed, so in another he develops a fear of knives. In the present, Sarah visits the farm in France where she and Eli lived in that time period and recognizes it. 

Even characters reappear and play similar roles throughout the lovers' many lives. A female friend of Sarah exists as a fellow refuge, a slave, a village girl, and her sister in separate lives. A little girl attaches herself to the lovers in various lives sometimes as a sister,  daughter, or a young girl whom Eli or Sarah bonds with. A severe villainous character switches uniforms, ranks, careers, and even gender once but can't hide their true cruel despotic nature underneath. These echoes carry throughout Sarah and Eli's journey as a cycle that exists through time.

Canvas of Time is not only a remarkable fantastic love story but it is one that reminds us that love can exist throughout time and sometimes death is just another journey to a new life, adventure,and love.

Weekly Reader: Other Kingdoms by Richard Matheson; A Brilliant But Slightly Flawed Fantasy About Witches, Fairies, and WWI.

Weekly Reader: Other Kingdoms by Richard Matheson; A Brilliant But Slightly Flawed Fantasy About Witches, Fairies, and WWI.

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews




Spoilers: Richard Matheson's Other Kingdoms could go down in that legendary file marked “Modern Fairy Tale” in which characters encounter fairies, magic, and other situations in the 20th and 21st century. Luckily, he does so in a book that is clever and brilliant but with some flaws that keep it from being a perfect retelling.

Much of the cleverness lies in its protagonist. Alex White AKA Arthur Black, a popular author in his 80’s, retells his past of when he was an 18-year-old WWI vet. Many times he comments on his past actions with a self-aware wryness and wit such as when he calls his younger self an idiot for doing certain things. Alex also is found of complimenting his own writing by referring to a particularly poetic quote as “worthy of Arthur Black.”

One particular moment that displays Alex (and Matheson's) clever narrative is that he at first refuses to go into too many gory details about trench warfare by saying “it's too horrifying” and that he “will tell (The Reader) later.” When later comes and he graphically describes the death of a fellow soldier, Harold Lightfoot complete with intestines blown out of his body and rats scurrying from the approaching bombs, Alex then adds “I told you it would be horrifying.”

The self-awareness of the genre also continues when Alex moves to Gatford, England, Lightfoot's childhood home. (Alex, an American, has nothing to go back to except an abusive widowed father whom he dubs “Capt. Arthur Bradford White USN” or sometimes “You Know Who.”) At first he is confused by the superstitious locals who warn him of fairies which he mocks. It is only when he encounters the fairies for the first time that he realizes that they have reasons to be superstitious.


Far from being a stereotypical Fairy Tale, Matheson turns the genre on its head by making the Fairy Tale stock characters more relatable and interesting than most of the human characters except Alex. He is warned at first away from “The Witch in the Woods” but when he encounters, Magda Variel, he sees a kind beautiful woman who is in mourning for her late husband and son. She also explains that she is a Wiccan telling him about the nature based religion (earning this Wiccan's gratitude). Finding her to be beautiful yet troubled and her magical practice to be fascinating and not scary, the much younger Alex engages in an affair with the middle-aged Magda. (Leaving the older Alex to be both proud of his younger self for getting lucky with an older woman and appalled because he knows what is to come.)

Matheson is also brilliant in reconstructing the Fairies making them very developed and somehow...human. Alex encounters Ruthanna, a lovely Fairy and falls in love with her. He is warned by everyone including Magda that the fairies are shape shifters and mischief makers who will use any trick to lure a human because it amuses them. So when he encounters Ruthanna, he and the Reader, are on guard for any mischief.

Instead Ruthanna reveals herself to be a complex misunderstood being who genuinely falls in love with Alex at first sight. She and the others of her kind explain that many of their tricks such as shape shifting are survival instincts to avoid the human race that have been known to hunt the Fair Folk down to potential extinction.

Matheson's complex writing is particularly noticeable when Magda and Ruthanna both confront Alex. They both say they can be trusted and the other is lying. Alex (and the Reader) are not sure who to trust. All of thee stereotypes surrounding them have been challenged so who is right and who is wrong? It becomes a well-written dilemma as Alex is uncertain so Magda makes the decision for him.

Unfortunately, Magda's decision leads to the book's huge glaring flaw. Once it is made, Alex joins Ruthanna in her Fairy World. There are many beautiful moments as the two explore the world together and Alex learns about Fairy culture from her Uncle Garal. (He also learns the late Harold Lightfoot was her brother who died fighting for a human country in which he felt a deep connection). Their romance would be complete if not for Magda.

Once Alex gets involved with Ruthanna, Magda just kind of disappears. In her final confrontation with Alex, she reveals some graphic secrets that the Reader never learns if they were true or just a blatant attempt to push Alex away because she is angry with him. The book never tells us and she fades into the background becoming an afterthought. For a character to begin so brilliantly realized to have such an anticlimactic resolution is wrong somehow.

However Alex and Ruthanna's romance is solid and is movingly felt even long afterwords when Alex becomes exiled from the Fairy World after a confrontation with Ruthanna's bad tempered kinsman.

Despite the lack of resolution with Magda, the book is an excellent modern fairy tale that gives compelling characters, plenty of magic, and an ending that may not be happily ever after but for Alex White and Ruthanna might be as close as they are going to get.

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