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I had been awaiting this latest Ashmole Foxe mystery since the author told me it was on its way. I am an unrepentant fan of this mystery series, and I bought a copy for review. Ashmole Foxe Ashmole Foxe is a bookseller in Norwich, England, during the Georgian era. He is well-to-do from the sales of his bookstore and also his ability to find and sell rare books for significant profit. All of this he finds mundane, and over the years he has acquired a solid reputation for solving murders, which has become his raison d’etre. The story: Ashmole Foxe is tasked by the City Alderman to locate the mayor of Norwich, Robert Belton, who seems to have disappeared. Belton is well limned by the author as a middle aged man who became mayor by luck rather than talent, since the title and the task is awarded traditionally by seniority. The unexpected deaths of several more senior alderman moved Belton to the top of the list.  It is clear even to Belton that he is not worthy of the job, being regarded as a lightweight by the other Alderman, and furthermore, not having the wealth required by a Mayor to pay for the traditional mayoral social duties. His wife thoroughly dislikes him, and he has taken a prosperous business handed to him at his father’s death and run it into the ground with poor management, theft, and disinterest. His attempts as mayor to make changes in Norwich are met with resistance from his fellow Aldermen, and he does what he usually does – drops whatever he is fixed on and moves on to something equally unlikely to succeed. This is the man Foxe is to find, even though it is clear that his wife doesn’t want him found and the Aldermen are only asking because of the difficulty in not having a mayor to lead the city. The job comes at a perfect time for Foxe, who has been listless and bored for several months, all of the women in his life – none of them truly serious relationships – having moved on. In the course of receiving this task from Alderman Halloran, a close friend, Foxe is reacquainted with the younger of the two nieces who live with Halloran, Miss Lucy Halloran. Both nieces have recently returned from an extended stay in Paris, and Lucy has morphed from a “dear, awkward, wayward, unconventional and bright” girl to a desirable and beautiful woman in Foxe’s eyes.  Foxe is instantly smitten and rendered speechless. Lucy displays some of her youth in berating Foxe for not having corresponded with her in Paris, souring their initial meeting. The two story lines become intertwined as Foxe soon discovers a complex tangle of events with no real leads. He makes little progress, reaching one dead end after another, until Lucy helps him find the right threads. As usual, he uses the street children of Norwich, Mrs. Crombie, the manager of his bookstore, and Mistress Tabby, an herbalist and Wise Woman, to help him track down clues and news. The descent into darkness is both Foxe’s own, as he despairs of ever winning Lucy’s affection, but also that of Robert Belton, as the reader learns. My take on this book: There were several lovely aspects of this book, in addition to the colorful characters populating Foxe’s world, ones I have grown to enjoy. First is an exquisite description of Norwich through Foxe’s eyes, as he takes his roundabout walk to his favorite coffee house each morning. The author’s historical knowledge of Georgian times and Norwich, in particular, is prodigious and his characters are memorable. The second is the total frustration that grows in the reader when every step taken by Foxe is a false one. And third is the character of Belton himself, whose point of view opens the book.  I think his point of view is a necessary prequel to what follows. And finally, there is a lot of physical action at the end of the book. For a Georgian mystery, which moves at the pace of the time, this is a sea change. The only unsettling aspect, to my mind, is the relationship between Foxe and Lucy. She begins with a childlike temper tantrum, and yet Foxe falls immediately in love with this seventeen-year-old. Foxe is in his early thirties, by my reckoning, and is a man of the world! Even though the age of consent at the time was twelve for girls, I found the age difference and the speed with which Foxe was consumed by physical thoughts of Lucy a little disconcerting. But this is probably my own view through modern eyes. I might add, having read the other books, that is past time for Mr. Foxe to have a serious, reciprocated relationship, so bravo to the author. All in all, I highly recommend this book as a worthy addition to this mystery series, and anyone who has read the previous books will heartily enjoy this one. It is dark, but also surprising. To those who haven’t yet met Ashmole Foxe, you can start here without any problem since the author brings the reader up to date. 4.5 stars About the author: William Savage grew up in Hereford, on the border with Wales and took his degree at Cambridge. After a working life largely spent teaching and coaching managers and leaders in Britain, Europe, and the USA, he retired to Norfolk, where he volunteers at a National Trust property and started to write fiction as a way of keeping his mind active in retirement. He had read and enjoyed hundreds of detective stories and mystery novels and another of his loves was history, so it seemed natural to put the two together and try his hand at producing a historical mystery. To date, he has focused on two series of murder-mystery books, both set in Norfolk between 1760 and around 1800. Norfolk is not only an inherently interesting county, but it

I was provided a copy of this book by the author for a fair and honest review. The Drowning Land is prehistorical fiction, set in northern Europe a little over eight thousand years ago. It combines adventure, a romance, and disaster against the setting of a land that literally is sinking beneath the sea. It is based on an event that UK archeology teams described in 2009, where a huge underwater slide created a sudden and catastrophic tsunami that engulfed Doggerland. Doggerland connected Great Britain to the European continent and was a rich habitat for the Mesolithic populations. It is now submerged beneath the southern North Sea. When the author heard this description, his mental image of peoples looking up at the onrushing wave triggered his desire to write a story about it. The author describes all this at the end of the book, and I wish it had come as a prologue. My lack of knowledge led to some confusion in my reading of the story. The story: Edan, one of the two main characters, is the member of a Mesolithic tribe, dark-skinned, blue-eyed, short and wiry. For millennia, the tribe has migrated with the seasons between the coastal ‘Summer Lands’ (Doggerland) and the highlands in the winter, following the rigid rule of tribal tradition and despite the fact that the Summer Lands are gradually being poisoned by rising salt water. Edan rescues a ‘troll’ named Tara from another predatory tribal group with wolves as their totem, led by a war-chieftain named Phelan. Tara is at least partially Neanderthal, based on her description. She has foreseen the drowning of their lands and is on a quest at the direction of her tribes’ elders to discover if the spirit world can be aroused at a sacred place – a site about which Tara has only minimal information. In rescuing her, Edan accidently kills one of Phelan’s followers, and he and Tara become separated from his tribe as they flee from Phelan’s people and the rising seas everywhere, while trying to find the place Tara seeks. Their odyssey through increasingly drowning lands is one of growth and change, and, not surprisingly, of love, and will determine their fate and that of the Summer Lands. The author has done considerable research in making his historical fiction plausible – the living spaces, the food, the implements used and the weapons. The humans that populate this world are also very believable. Edan and Tara are compelling characters with weaknesses and strengths, and after the first few chapters, which are slowly paced, I became completely engaged in their saga. His descriptions of the different lives of various tribes – hunters, gatherers, fishermen – ring true, as well as the zeitgeist of this prehistorical time, a tribute to the author’s ability to imagine himself living eight thousand years ago. It reminds me a great deal of a favorite of mine, The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean Auel. Issues for me: The author describes the history of Doggerland and the peoples who populated it at the end of the book. I wish it had been placed at the beginning, since my lack of knowledge led to some confusion. The map at the beginning shows the land described by the author with the names of landmarks in the story, but I had no clue what I was looking at and where it was located relative to the larger picture of the land at that time. I badly needed a compass on that map! There were some slower parts to the book, which might have been eliminated with some judicious editing. Despite the issues, I was hooked once I got into this story. I loved the characters and the alternating points of view between Edan and Tara worked for me, allowing me to get into their heads. The author has brought the landscape and history of Doggerland to brilliant life. I strongly recommend The Drowning Land as an informative and entertaining read, a definite must for historical fiction buffs. And I think the cover art is fabulous. About the author: David M. Donachie is an artist, author, and games designer. He has written short stories of countless types since he was old enough to hold a pencil — many appear in his self-published anthology, The Night Alphabet, and in numerous anthologies. He lives in a garret (really a top-floor flat, but a garret sounds a lot more romantic) in Edinburgh with his wife Victoria, two cats, and more reptiles than mammals. Yes, this is the only picture I could find and I don’t think he has those ears! You can find the author On his website: https://www.teuton.org/~stranger/ and https://twitter.com/bayushi_hituro On Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/DavidMDonachieAuthor/photos And, although rarely, on Twitter: (@DavidMDonachieAuthor You can find The Drowning Land on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Drowning-Land-David-M-Donachie-ebook/dp/B08SQZ2133/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2TXT2L6MODEYT&dchild=1&keywords=the+drowning+land&qid=1620072936&s=books&sprefix=the+Drowning+Land%2Caps%2C158&sr=1-1 0 0

I was given a copy of this book for a fair and honest review for Rosie’s Book Review Team. This is the fifth book in the James Burke series by this author. I haven’t read the previous four but I had no problems – the book is fine as a standalone. In the late eighteenth century, with England seemingly beset on all sides, the War Office needs agents to spy for them and James Burke isn’t given a choice. It’s no business for a gentleman, but Burke is half-gentleman, half soldier, and well suited to the job of spying. The four prior books haven’t been written in chronological order but when Burke is posted to Argentina, he is introduced to the world of espionage.  He has also been to the Iberian Peninsula, to Egypt, and to Paris, after Napoleon is exiled to Elba. Burke in Ireland is Burke’s first real introduction to the practice of espionage, and the author admits that this is a dark book compared to the previous four, which have Burke on the side of the angels and the villain getting his just desserts in the end. England needs spies everywhere, and Burke is a chameleon. So he is sent in 1793 to Ireland, which is a hotbed of Irish Nationalists. Burke must discover which of these men are plotting with the French to bring down English rule and/or planning for an uprising. Burke fits right into Dublin society, operating smoothly between different strata, and discovers it’s easy to identify the Nationalists. Getting to those who do more than just talk about Irish independence is another matter, and Burke manages to ingratiate himself with a member of the Irish elite who provides him with an ‘in’ to those he is seeking. Along the way, he turns in the names of a number of minor spies, who are sent to jail, tried, and hung, if their offenses are serious enough. Burke struggles with his moral ambiguity, since the English were treating the Irish badly at that time – trials are rigged, Catholics tortured. Nevertheless, he finally decides that the safety of England trumps all, despite the ongoing tension that he will be discovered and possibly killed. His “in’ is Patrick Geraghty, a well-to-do Dubliner who, after some time accepts Burke as a true Nationalist with Jacobin leanings. Geraghty is a huge man with an air of menace who drinks prodigiously and lets things slip while in an inebriated state. His beautiful daughter, named Siobhan, captures Burke’s attention and the couple become affectionate. Geraghty approves of this relationship, but his wife does not, despite the fact her husband beats her regularly. Thus Geraghty becomes the real villain, and the plot he arranges to spirit a true Nationalist out of the country, with the encouragement of Burke, becomes a dangerous and tortuous journey for everyone involved, not the least of which is Burke himself. James Burke was a real person, but his story is entirely fictitious. But many of the characters in incidents cited in this book are historically accurate. The Alien Office which sent Burke to Ireland was real and became Britain’s first semi-official intelligence operation, a forerunner to MI5 and MI6. Wolfe Tone, Willam Drennan, Whitley Stokes, and Joseph Pollock were all true Irish Nationalists. Two men (Jackson and Cockayne) were spies for France and England, respectively. Archibold Rowan, a main character, was imprisoned in Newgate for sedition and libel but made an escape to France, his account of which is wrapped into Burke’s story. In short, I found this book full of tension and historically fascinating, especially given my knowledge of Ireland’s “troubles” many years later and my experiences in that country (which I love). The descriptions of life in Dublin, especially the pub scenes, Newgate prison, and general society were vivid. The characters were very finely described and can be visualized by the reader. The web of spies in Dublin at the time is both brilliantly presented and nearly overwhelming in its detail. Clearly, the author did a lot of research for this book, and I loved being educated. Burke in Ireland is not a light book to read, and to a reader looking for high tension and colorful conflicts on every page, it might seem dry. But it does what the author intended. I recommend it strongly to aficionados of historical novels and of Ireland’s history in particular. About the Author (from Amazon) Tom Williams used to write books for business. Now he writes novels set in the 19th century that are generally described as fiction but which are often more honest than the business books. (He writes contemporary fantasy as well, but that’s a dark part of his life, so you’ll have to explore that on your own – ideally with a friend and a protective amulet.) His stories about James Burke are exciting tales of high adventure and low cunning set around the Napoleonic Wars. The stories have given him the excuse to travel to Argentina, Egypt, and Spain and call it research. Tom lives in London. His main interest is avoiding doing any honest work and this leaves him with time to ski, skate, and dance tango, all of which (before covid) he thought he did quite well. In between, he reads old books and spends far too much time looking at ancient weaponry. You can find Tom Williams On twitter @TomCW99 On his website: https://tomwilliamsauthor.co.uk Or on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorTomWilliams 0 0

The author sent me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review from a member of Rosie’s Book Review Team. Stalking Gideon Cain is by all accounts a thriller. It involves an all-knowing enemy seeking revenge for a perceived slight decades earlier and the subject of his enmity is a well-known mystery writer whose protagonists are fantastical female vigilantes. After reading the first two chapters and thinking I had somehow descended into the world of Roger Rabbit, I had to investigate the author. Kerry Alan Denney, as I discovered, is an award-winning author who combines suspense, thriller, horror, scifi, fantasy, supernatural, and paranormal in his books, according to his author profile. This appears to be his first thriller. Since I’d never encountered his books before, knowing this was a help. Gideon Cain, the protagonist in this latest book, thinks he is losing his mind. The femme fatales in the books from which he makes a good living – think Jessica Rabbit on steroids – are cartoonish in their sensuality and over-the-top appearance and begin to show up in Cain’s life, live and in person. The first encounter is intriguing and puzzling, but the second of these in-living-flesh characters tries to poison him on a flight home from a book-signing tour. He soon figures out that this is a cruel joke played by an implacable enemy who toys with, and not in a nice way, everyone to whom Cain turns for help. With the exception of one policeman investigating Cain’s poisoning, his parents – talented and intellectually remote, and the couple who are his best friends – the people who help him are women – very much like the women in Gideon Cain’s books – gorgeous, talented, strong, and resourceful. A rather interesting twist. The author also included a ghost, that of Cain’s wife who appears from time to time. He was deeply in love with her, but she abruptly left him without explanation when she was several months pregnant with his first child and suffering from cancer. He had searched for her but only knew of her death when her body is returned by her twin sister for her funeral.  What happened to the child? How will Cain manage to find and stop the madman who is stalking him and his friends and family, when his enemy is always two steps ahead and has created a substance that can kill at the touch of a button? And where is his child? When I sat down to write this review, I faced a conundrum akin to Schrödinger’s cat. The premise is brilliant and intriguing and there was good tension. The book had enough twists and turns to keep me reading, and the death concoction that allowed the stalker to blow his victims up from the inside was evilly lovely. Many of the action scenes had me on the seat of my chair, and the author has a good handle on description. I could always envision the scene in detail. On the other hand, there were some rather long sections that made me want to say “get on with it, already!” If your life and the lives of those around you are at stake, you don’t spend a lot of time rehashing the past and your feelings. There was one chapter written from Gideon Cain’s dog’s point of view which really threw me. Who knows what a dog thinks? The several women helping Cain seek and eliminate the stalker also became a little tiresome in their perfect appearance, physical skills, and intellectual superiority. A great idea but too much of a good thing. I’m also not entranced by clichéd dialogue and there was a lot. But again, if this a Roger Rabbit redux, the clichés fit. I have a feeling this book may appeal to men more than women. So how to rate this strange (to me) book based on a rather brilliant concept? I think it will appeal to Denney’s fans and should definitely make some new ones. About the author (from Amazon): Kerry Alan Denney, who is also known as the “The Reality Bender” is the award-winning author of seven published novels and numerous short stories. Denney blends elements of suspense, thriller, horror, sci-fi, fantasy, supernatural, paranormal, and various ways in his work: speculative fiction at its wildest and craziest. With glee and a touch of madness, he writes reality-bending thrillers … even when the voices don’t make him do it. His protagonists are his children, and he loves them as dearly as he despises his antagonists–even when he has to kill them. Denney lives in Stone Mountain, Georgia with Gypsy Dancer, his remarkably exuberant dog. He is currently training Gypsy to be a therapy dog and writing his next thriller … and deciding who to kill in it. You can find Kerry Alan Denney On Twitter: @KerryDenney On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kerry.a.denney And on his book site: http://www.kerrydenney.com/ You can find Stalking Gideon Cain on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Stalking-Gideon-Cain-Kerry-Denney-ebook/dp/B08ZJZVCM2/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=stalking+gideon+cain&qid=1617289428&sr=8-1 0 0

I can see from the writings of various bloggers that the pandemic did, despite its horrific death toll, do a few good things: families getting to know each other again (maybe too much?), learning to relax and enjoy quiet time (if you don’t have five children), reconnecting with nature, learning to bake/cook or just doing more of it, finding out what your children are really learning at school (and having to relearn it to teach them). I’ve been baking Hubs and I are retired with my daughter and her husband living nearby, but my son is in Utah. We haven’t seen him in nearly two years now. Bummer. We were blessed with our first grandchild, Eli, just before the state shut down, and he kept us happy for the past year. What the pandemic did for us is force us allow us to clean out our home of 35 years to get it ready for sale, which we had planned for 2020. My husband was at our local landfill so much they offered him a job. I think there is a whole section with our name on it. Mind you, we would have donated much of it, but nothing was open to which we could donate. While we were doing this, workmen were in and out of the house doing a million reasonable number of repairs: they repainted inside of the house in a nauseating attractive neutral beige, replaced the HVAC system, and dug holes in our lawn to check the septic system. We had thirty-two open houses until we arrived at an awfully low attractive price which generated an offer. Then my daughter and family moved in with us for a month. We packed during the day, they packed during the night when their working from home jobs were done for the day. And we got to babysit Eli. Somehow, through all this, and taking reasonable precautions (masks and gloves for all visitors), no one got sick. In the middle of all this, I edited and published my book The Last Pilgrim to the sound of silence great applause. Where in heck can you market when everything is closed? Luckily some of my blogger friends took up the cause! Garfield, who had resisted all attempts to be put into a carrier for three years, amazingly went right in on the day of our move-out. And off to the vets for a week. He kept me awake all night when we picked him up, nuzzling and kneading and chirping his happiness to be home, even if it was a new home. When we moved out, we had to move into a hotel for a short indeterminate about of time until our new house was ready, a time of acute depression wonderful downtime and many phone calls pleading and begging both the construction company to finish and our moving company to keep all our belongings for a few more days – including running electricity to our freezer which was still full of food. We ate take-out, cleaned our own hotel room and made the beds. But…we made it. The movers were carrying the furniture into our new house while we signed the mortgage papers. We lived without online service for three weeks, but we rigged up two digital hotspots for our computers and TV (one of which we burned out!) with help from our son-in-law. And it rained and rained. Our backyard was a muddy river, and we thought about getting out our kayack, but the bad weather forced allowed us to get unpacked. And in time to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas. So this is my saga of 2020. We are blessed by good health, two vaccine shots, and time with our growing and incredibly cute grandson. I miss my pool…but more of that later, as we try to accommodate work around our many HOA rules (72 printed pages of them). 0 0

Charles Yallowitz has a new book coming out in his War of Nytefall series: Savagery. FIRST, ENJOY THIS SNIPPET OF THE BOOK! For the first time in over a century, Clyde will know what it means to feel powerless and weak. Headless bodies appearing across Windemere is only the beginning as Clyde faces the terrifying vampire hunter, Alastyre.  Able to match the Dawn Fang leader in power and ferocity, this new menace shows no signs of weakness or mercy.  With both friends and enemies getting dragged into the battle, Clyde will have to find a way to become stronger.  For that, he will have to accept an ancient challenge and pray that those he cares about and trusts can hold Alastyre at bay. Which monster of Windemere will claim the top of the food chain? Alastyre disappears for a moment before reappearing in front of Clyde and grinning at how the Dawn Fang does not react. “I have waited many years for this day. You probably don’t remember me since it has been so long. The temptation to tell Mab the truth when she was my captive was so strong that I knew I needed more time to mature. I should only feel happy and excited when we are about to clash. By the way, your enemies put up an entertaining fight. It lasted no more than a couple of minutes, but I enjoyed it. My hope is that your reputation is true and I will get to use my full power for once. The thought of ripping your head off and adding it to my collection is one of the few dreams that gives my life meaning. Is this where we’re going to fight? I see that there is a lot of sand and giant boulders scattered about. Do you use this courtyard as a large rock garden in order to relax? You are a more amusing monster than I expected.” “I don’t like you,” Mab growls before she is grabbed by the face. “A drug-addicted worm should watch-” “Put . . . my . . . partner . . . down,” Clyde growls from behind the hunter. The illusionary vampire fades away as the real one materializes, his gauntlet sword already pressed against the man’s meaty neck. “You say we’ve met before and you’ve been training to fight me. Looks more like you’ve altered yourself to become a freak. The smell of your blood reeks of corruptive magic and demon influence. There’s a hint of Dawn Fang and dragon in there too. You’re nothing more than a glorified golem. Bunch of parts and auras cobbled together to turn a weak mortal into a monster. I’m not impressed, Alan Stryker. Still trying to strike fear into the rotting hearts of my kind? At least your name isn’t as stupid as it was before.” “Wait, do you mean that guy who attacked you outside of Lord Shallis’s castle?” Titus asks with a chuckle. He grunts when his sister is thrown into him, the force sending the siblings crashing against the patio’s railing. “I told you that keeping him alive was a mistake, but I didn’t think it would turn into this. You must be angry that nobody believed your story about vampires that are immune to the sun. Is that what this is about?” With a casual flick of his finger, Alastyre sends Clyde’s sword and arm flying across the courtyard. “No because it was another hunter who survived and told that tale. Your leader was so distracted with Mab biting him that he failed to notice a second mortal that he failed to kill. I focused on recovery and getting stronger because I refused to follow such a ridiculous plan. The fewer people who knew about the Dawn Fangs, the better my chances were at being the one to succeed. Please know that I only want to destroy your leadership. Originally, I wished to wipe all of you out of existence, but that could prove to be impossible. You monsters are more talented at hiding than anything else I have hunted, so I could never be sure of your extinction. The next best thing is to take over Nyetfall and use it as a jail for your kind. All Dawn Fangs will be contained on this island once they no longer have their precious rulers. Don’t you agree that this is much better than extermination, Clyde?” “I have no opinion because it’s never going to happen.” “Do you accept my challenge?” “You never officially made one.” “I demand that you fight me to the death.” “Thank you for being straightforward and not making me hunt you down.” “We fight in an hour then.” “Why not now?” Alastyre points while mentioning, “You are still missing an arm. I want to face you at full strength.” “Don’t say I didn’t give you a chance,” the Dawn Fang says as he continues healing the injury. ****** Get a copy of this vampire action adventure for 99 cents on Amazon! Help spread the word by adding it on Goodreads! ***** Want to catch up on War of Nytefall?Grab the volumes 1-5 for 99 cents each ($5 total)! ****** A word from Charles in response to my question of how he got into writing and how he goes about it:  ”I started writing in high school and then I finally figured out what I was doing in college.  Not enough to get stellar grades, but I passed and developed my own writing voice.  I’m a really big planner too.  Before I write my books, I design the characters, outline the whole series, and list the set pieces (monsters, locations, etc.) that I need.  I would say I have 85% of my story ready by the time I reach the first draft.  Of course, this plummets to 40% once I begin and realize how much I planned wasn’t going to work.  That’s the fun of fiction writing.  It’s definitely been tough to get to my

Our beloved blogging friend, Sue Vincent, died yesterday after a brave struggle with cancer. I write this with tears in my eyes because we had been e-mailing back and forth for months. We chatted about our food, our books, our families and things that had happened to us in the past, and daily things that gave us pleasure. During her last months, I think she wrote and posted some of her most lyrical, wonderful and beautifully expressed thoughts on life. I miss her sorely but am glad that her travail is over. To Stuart France, her sons and granddaughters, and, of course to her beloved dog, Ani, my deepest sympathy. Our loss cannot compare to yours. Sue has her wings, but she has left us with the gift of herself in her writings. The landscape of the heart is an infinitely wide place to run free and play with those we love. Sue Vincent 0 0

One of our dearest blogging friends and mentors, Sue Vincent, has just released her last post. She suffers from metastasized lung cancer and has faced her mortality with spirit, grace and profound insight. I will miss her terribly. Here is her last post. Sue, we love you and we will carry your spirit and memory forward in our hearts. The Last Post? February 28, 2021 | Sue Vincent This may be the final post that I get chance to write for the Silent Eye… that decision has been taken out of my hands. I spent much of last week in hospital, having, as many of you know, been diagnosed with incurable small cell lung cancer last September. It has been an interesting and informative journey on so many levels as familiar things have been stripped away and a gift of love left in its place… rather like the tooth fairy leaving something of real value in place of a discarded incisor. Go to: https://thesilenteye.co.uk/2021/02/28/the-last-post-2 to read the rest of her message. 0 0

From time to time I like to recognize my new followers. They are amazing, and here are a few:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           Farshana at https://rainnbooks.com  She reviews books and is a huge reader of fiction. Sonam Tsering at https://sonsnow.home.blog/ Mr. Tsering was born in Tibet, raised in India and studied under the 14th Dalai Lama. He now serves as the General Secretary of the Tibetan Youth Congress, the largest Tibetan NGO, and blogs about the push for democracy in Tibet. Libby Sommer at https://libbysommer.wordpress.com/ She is Australian, worked for ABC for a while, started her own public relations company, and then took time to travel, beginning to write when she returned. She is a prodigious, published, short story writer Wallace Peach at https://mythsofthemirror.com Many of my followers already know Diana, the author of wonderful, magical books with unusual characters. Her powers of description are legend. Frank Joseph at https://notesandsilence.com He is the author of blog posts on zen, meditation and poetry. For all of my followers who are poets, his poetry is very evocative. He is French, but posts in English. Luckily I can follow everything else! Maj and Sher at https://roadtirement.com. They are from Indiana, where Sher managed a photography studio and raised five children and Maj was a cattle rancher, professional public speaker, and owned an engineering consulting company. Now they are on the road in their RV much of the time. They blog about their lives and what they see on their travels! Darnell Cureton at https://darnellcureton.com Darnell is from New Jersey and is the proud father of an independent son! He works security and on multi-function- print devices. He is a prolific short story writer who is now the sole caretaker of his 90-year-old father. He could use some good wishes and new followers. Michajlo Carlos Garbett at https://caradesance.wordpress.com/ He is the writer of short stories about the world of Caradesance, “which circles the orange star, life is ‘almost’ that which you would find on the blue and green jewel which orbits Sol… the humans of this world know nothing of cars or planes. They know nothing of what resides past their own system and they are also not the only race that calls Caradesance home.. “ Fascinating! Shira Destinie Jones Booth Hall Porter Faxio Mayo Manzilla WestDest @https://shiradest.wordpress.com  She is the author of the Community and 4 Freedoms blog, is a published author and an aspiring Historical Fantasy novelist. She has also been a community organizer and educator, working to build a strong Public Domain social Infrastructure. Jesper and Susan at https://biveros.se/jesper-and-susann/ They live in Sweden and are inveterate travelers, now with their young daughter along as well. Jesper is the photographer and Susan writes. If you want to take a spectacular tour of Sweden, visit this blog! Roswitha Geilser at https://roswithageisler.wordpress.com Rosie is an artist who lives in Germany. She writes, “There are sketches, everyday stuff, drafts, portraits, notes, doodles, big question marks and ideas. Impressions, associations, reflections, poems, scenes and feelings. It is possible that some of it will eventually become a picture or possibly a story.” Her sketches are amazing! 0 0

A member of Rosie’s Book Review Team, I purchased this book for review. Coming of age, teenage love, adolescence in a Jewish community, the social upheavals of the 1960s, murder mystery – all of these themes are woven together in The Boy and the Lake and set against a luminously described backdrop of life on a lake. Sixteen-year-old Benjamin Baum is fishing from a dock on his beloved New Jersey lake, feet dangling in the water and the sounds of people having fun echoing across the water, when the bloated body of his next door neighbor Helen floats to the surface. Her loss shakes his world and he stubbornly refuses to believe she died by accident, searching for clues to her death in the insular Jewish middle class community that lives around the lake. His mother, Lillian, is a narcissistic and emotionally unpredictable woman with a punishing attitude toward both Ben and his long-patient father, Abe. Ben is detached from his mother but clearly understands what makes her tick. He loves his father, who is hardworking and caring physician, practicing in Newark, and an enabler of Lillian’s behavior. These three have all been affected differently by the early death of Ben’s younger sister. They normally come to the lake only in the summer, but with the increasing tension and fear from the Newark riots in 1967, the family decides move to there. Ben continues to infuriate both family and friends, especially one exceptional friend and budding love named Missy, with his unwelcome search to discover how Helen died. As time passes, fractures and truths appear in the people populating Ben’s world, and he comes to realize that the prosperity and contentment he associates with the lake community is not what is seems to be. The complexity and depth of these relationships, drawn by the author in a compelling way, keeps the reader turning the pages, following as Ben grows in maturity and understanding while maneuvering through a variety of social situations that challenge the gawky teenager. The author is a wonderful story teller. Ben comes across as a typical teenager for that time (one which I remember), with his mother alternating between a practical housekeeper and unlikeable shrew. I felt deep sorrow for the long-suffering Abe but also the love Ben’s grandparents have for him and which he reciprocates.  Even the lake develops a personality. He has created in exquisite detail the ambiance of a lake in summer that brought back some memories of my own, the push and pull and occasional pain of Ben’s family, and the darker undercurrents that Ben discovers in the surrounding community. The historical detail is spot on. The reader becomes emotionally invested in Ben, his plans for the future, and his awkward interactions with, and his growing admiration and affection for, Missy. The twists and turns kept me reading quickly. I will warn potential readers, though, this book is more character-drive than a murder mystery – there are large sections where Helen’s death is not in play – even though a death opens the book and a tragedy ends it. I recommend this book for what it is and will definitely read more by this author. About the author (Amazon): Adam Pelzman was born in Seattle, raised in northern New Jersey, and has spent most of his life in New York City. He studied Russian literature at the University of Pennsylvania and received a law degree from UCLA. His first novel, Troika, was published by Penguin (Amy Einhorn Books). He is also the author of The Papaya King, which Kirkus Reviews described as “entrancing” and “deeply memorable.” The Boy and the Lake, set in New Jersey during the late 1960s, is his third novel. You can find Adam Pelzman at His home page: https://www.adampelzman.com/ And on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/apelzman/ The Boy and The Lake can be purchased on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Boy-Lake-Adam-Pelzman-ebook/dp/B08FRNB8X2/ref=sr_1_1?crid=U4FZQJ0MZGEP&dchild=1&keywords=the+boy+and+the+lake+by+adam+pelzman&qid=1611681212&sprefix=The+boy+and+the+lake%2Caps%2C167&sr=8-1 0 0