Author of Historical Fiction and Mysteries
As a new Vermonter, I'm fascinated by local folktales. None are more popular here than those telling of the possible existence of Bigfoot, a hairy, ape-like creature that is said to dwell in the wilderness. J.P. Choquette's Silence In the Woods is the first in the Monsters in the Green Mountains series that centers around... Continue Reading →
I haven't enjoyed a novel like Kate Morton's The Lake House in a long time. What a revelation! A dual time narrative, the novel tells the parallel story of Alice Edavane whose baby brother Theo went missing from the family's Cornish estate in the summer of 1933; and that of Sadie Sparrow, a Met detective... Continue Reading →
The Borgia dynasty of Renaissance Rome continues to fascinate 500 years later. Much has been written about them - fiction and non-fiction alike - but The Borgia Confessions offers a rare perspective - that of a servant to the famous papal family. Maddalena Moretti is a young widow from the rural Romagna region who arrives in Rome in... Continue Reading →
An absorbing and fast-paced western, Whiskey When We're Dry begins in the spring 1885 when seventeen-year-old Jessilyn Harney leaves her homestead and sets out across the mountains in search of her outlaw brother Noah. Alone after her father's death, Jessilyn decides that the only way to keep starvation and rapacious neighbors at bay is to... Continue Reading →
The Power to Deny introduces the reader to one of the forgotten figures of the late colonial and revolutionary America. Elizabeth Graeme was a Philadelphia socialite and a poet in her own right who was friends with, and admired by, many in her day, including some of the men who went on to sign the Declaration... Continue Reading →
Guest post by Wendy Long Stanley Eleven years ago, I moved from Canada to the United States with my husband and our two daughters. That first year, as I was exploring the Philadelphia area, I visited Graeme Park, a local historic site that once belonged to Pennsylvania colonial governor William Keith. Today, Graeme Park features... Continue Reading →
The Witch's Trinity spent a good couple of years on my TBR list, and I am so glad I finally got to it. Transporting the reader into late medieval Germany, it tackles the fascinating and terrifying topic of witch trials and the social, economic and religious structures that made them possible. During the winter of... Continue Reading →
Excerpt from Silent Water, Jagiellon Mystery #1 It was a court tradition to hold sanna—a sleigh ride along the river to the royal hunting lodge in Niepołomice—on the day before New Year’s Eve. It was the unofficial beginning of that celebration, but in the year 1519, it almost did not happen. For days it had... Continue Reading →
Those of you who follow this blog, my Twitter account, or my writing will know that I have long advocated for expanding the scope of European historical fiction beyond the focus on England, France, and Italy. The book that I am going to review today is among the few that does just that. Push Not... Continue Reading →
Excerpt from Midnight Fire, Jagiellon Mystery #2 (upcoming) After some moments, the surprise melted from his face, and his gaze turned inward. Silently, he stroked his chin, where a new reddish-blond beard was growing, and there was a sadness about him I had not seen before. He was revisiting something painful. “My father was a... Continue Reading →
P.K. Adams 