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This review was written for Rosie’s book review team and it was purchased by this reviewer. A Clerical Error is a cozy, the third in the Yellow Cottage Vintage Mystery series. I read the second in the series, The Curse of Arundel Hall, so I am familiar with the setting, and I was looking forward to this next adventure. What appeals to me about these books is the historical setting, the paranormal aspects of the stories, and the fact they are cozies. The Yellow Cottage series is set in the 1930s, and the author is developing her characters and the back story with each further adventure. Following the death of her husband, Ella Bridges moves to Linhay Island, spurred by a strong suggestion from her husband’s boss, the British Home Secretary, that she move away and forget her husband. She takes up residence in a refurbished cottage that was once a part of the Arundel Hall estate – a cottage inhabited by ghosts. In this volume, only Phantom, a cat ghost and companion to Ella, remains. Ella develops a reputation as something of a local sleuth, following her solution of a murder in the previous book. In A Clerical Error, Ella takes a bike ride around the island and meets two ladies involved in raising funds for their church. Despite their somewhat off-putting interaction, they persuade Ella to run a stall to make money for the church at the May Day Fete. The action begins with the sudden death of the vicar, Father Michael, at the Fete. The vicar had only recently returned from a sabbatical and while liked, was not well known by his [parishioners. Characters previously introduced reappear, cleverly woven into the story: Sergeant Baxter, a policeman Ella had worked with before; her ever supportive Aunt Margaret; her housekeeper Mrs. Shaw, and her Uncle Albert, the Police Commissioner at Scotland Yard. Confounding the threads of the investigation and shocking Ella is the discovery that her husband is still alive and the fact Mrs. Shaw is not who she claims to be. The descriptive narrative is very well done, if at times not completely necessary. I particularly liked the walled garden – I could almost smell the flowers and hear the bees. I also enjoyed learning more about the island and Ella’s cottage, both of which are characters themselves. The author does a good job of creating well-rounded and sympathetic people to populate her books, and she keeps the reader in the 1930s. Best of all she provided enough plot turns to engross the reader in finding out who done it.  While Phantom appears from time to time in the story, I would have liked to see more of Ella’s paranormal skills, and the story of her husband’s reappearance and the sequalae was somewhat of a stretch. All in all, though, a satisfying read and one which keeps me interested in reading the next book in the series. This is a book to cuddle up with on a rainy day, and the ending does leave you hanging! About the author J. New has been a voracious reader and writer all her life. She took her first foray into publishing in 2013 with An Accidental Murder, the first in her Yellow Cottage Vintage Mystery series. Originally from a small picturesque town in Yorkshire, she relocated in 2007 and currently resides with her partner and an ever-expanding family of rescue animals. She particularly loves murder mysteries set in past times, where steam trains, house staff and afternoon tea abound, and surmises she was born in the wrong era. She also has an impossible bucket list: to travel on the Orient Express with Hercule Poirot, shop in Diagon Alley with Sirius Black, laze around The Shire with Bilbo and Gandalf, explore Pico Mundo with Odd Thomas and have Tea at the Ritz with Miss Marple. A Clerical Error can be found on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Clerical-Yellow-Cottage-Vintage-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B078WYK7K1/ref=la_B00SLHW83G_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1523911352&sr=1-1 J New can be found at https://www.jnewwrites.com and on her blog https://www.jnewwrites.com/Blog.php 0 0

This review is for Rosie’s Book Review Team. The book was purchased by the reviewer. Bad Blood Will Out is the fourth in the Ashmole Fox series of mysteries set in Georgian England. The protagonist is the owner of a bookstore and is also the purveyor of rare books in central Norwich. He was introduced in the first book in this series, The Fabric of Murder, as somewhat of a fop, who frequents ladies of the night, the theater, and fine dining establishments. Over the series, he has grown into a much more established figure, well-know to the leaders of Norwich as a successful investigator of more serious crimes. His bookstore is now run by a widow with clever business skills: the proper, reliable and clever widow Mrs. Crombie. He also has an apprentice, Charlie Dillon, who was rescued by Fox from a life in the streets. Charlie has retained his connections to the street urchins, which proves of inestimable value in Fox’s investigations. Fox is one of the few elite of Norwich with a genuine understanding of, and care for, these children. Bad Blood Will Out is probably my favorite in this series, and I have read and reviewed them all. It works well as a stand-alone mystery, which should tickle the reader to take a look at the first three. Before I go into my reasons for this, here’s the story line. Fox has the bad luck to be presented with two murders at much the same time: one of a wealthy chandler (a dealer in supplies for boats and ships) and the other an alcoholic, over-the-hill actor at a local, run-down theater, the White Swan. Fox tries to avoid being involved in investigating the second murder because he loathes the manager of the White Swan. At the same time, he is forced by his inconsiderate brother, a moralistic preacher in the countryside, to entertain his nephew Nicholas, who is trying to find a profession for himself. Fox begins to unravel the chandler’s stabbing, which occurred while he was hosting a masquerade ball and was surrounded by guests., But Fox finds his mind wandering to the theater murder, which he finally decides to tackle by using the network of street children to gather evidence. What does the death of a popular actress twenty years ago have to do with the theater murder? In this Fox adventure, we meet some interesting new characters, among them the local Cunning Woman – the Georgian term for a folk healer and herbalist – who in this case has some clairvoyant qualities. She has some past history with Fox and sends him a cryptic message about his necessity to solve both murders. As usual, William Savage has woven his story into the historical tapestry of Georgian England, with wonderful details of life at that time, its customs and mores, and the nature of theater in places apart from London. His mystery, as always, is complex – lies and deceit abound. His characters are wonderfully drawn and three-dimensional, and there is a subtle but lovely sense of humor in the dialog and interactions between his people. The reason I particularly liked this latest Ashmore Fox adventure was a compelling first chapter – really a prologue – and the evolving maturity of Fox. Although we are introduced to his sins of the flesh, I got the distinct feeling he might eventually consider marriage. It seems a likely direction, but I leave that to the author! A great addition to the Ashmole Fox series, I highly recommend it! About the author: William Savage grew up in Hereford, on the border with Wales and took his degree at Cambridge. After a career in various managerial and executive roles, he retired to Norfolk, where he volunteers at a National Trust property. His life-long interest has been history, which led to research and writing about the eighteenth century.  But his is not just a superficial interest in history, but a real desire to understand and transmit the daily experience of living in turbulent times. All his books are set between 1760 and 1800, a period of great turmoil in Britain, with constant wars, the revolutions in America and France, and the titanic twenty-two years struggle with Napoleon and France. You can find Bad Blood Will Out on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Bad-Blood-Will-Out-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B079RCVQ4X along with this author’s other Georgian mystery books. William Savage’s blog is Pen and Pension:  http://penandpension.com/author/bluebrdz1946/ And at www.williamsavageauthor.com 0 0

I’ve been very busy lately, entertaining my two leggeds. They do enjoy my running up and down the hall, skidding on the floor into the family room and leaping on to the top shelf of my cat tree. They must like me because I’ve heard them call me a lot of names: thunder paws and fuzzy butt and crazy clown cat. It’s true I do have long pantaloons, and therefore I have to be brushed pretty much every day, or I have dingle berries. I love being brushed but it’s annoying when I’m not allowed to bite the brush. I’ve become very curious about what’s outside where I live. Occasionally my main two legged will hold me up to an open window so I can see out. I love those things that fly through the air and I make hunting noises when I see them on their food container. Usually I sleep in the corner of the loft where my two-legs works in the morning, but occasionally I just fall asleep wherever. I love snarfing wet food, and I am sure to tell them most emphatically around noon that it’s time to have it in my bowl. The dry food tides me over, but I like to fish it out of the bowl and eat it on the floor.  I have two new toys: a mouse that runs across the floor (it’s lost its tail) and a feather thing that runs around under a cover. I like to wait until it gets close to me and then jump on it. But mostly I play with just about anything I find interesting – pieces of paper, leaves, dead wasps, whatever.  I’m good at asking for belly rubs – just roll over and look pleadingly. Is that a can opener I hear? Yum! Gotta go! It’s time for lunch. 0 0

I believe few of my readers know of Busby Berkeley. I discovered him watching old black and white musicals when I was in my twenties. It was good they were in black and white because we didn’t have a color TV then! I was fascinated by how he created the overhead visuals of the dancers, especially those done in the water (!) Busby Berkeley was an American film director and musical choreographer. His elaborate musical production numbers often involved complex geometric patterns, almost kaleidoscopic, using large numbers of showgirls and props as fantasy elements. His musical numbers were among the largest and best-regimented on Broadway. And yes, this first picture is of dancers! Berkeley was the son of two actors, so his introduction to the Broadway stage and Hollywood came early. His earliest film work was in Eddie Cantor’s musicals for the producer Samuel Goldwin, where he began developing such techniques as a “parade of faces” (individualizing each chorus girl with a loving close-up), and moving his dancers all over the stage  in as many kaleidoscopic patterns as possible, using a top shot technique from overhead. During the Depression, Berkeley’s popularity with an entertainment-hungry audience was secured when he choreographed four musicals back-to-back for Warner Brothers; 42nd Street, Footlight Parade, Gold Diggers of 1933, and Dames. Berkeley said his main professional goals were to constantly top himself and to never repeat his past accomplishments. As the outsized musicals which he had made popular became passé, he turned to straight directing. One of actor John Garfield’s best films, They Made Me a Criminal, was directed by Berkeley. Berkeley had several well-publicized run-ins with MGM stars such as Judy Garland and was actually removed as the director of her film Girl Crazy because of them. The lavish musical number “I Got Rythm,” which he had choreographed and directed, remained as part of the movie, however. In the late 1960s, the camp craze made Berkeley’s musicals popular again. He toured the college lecture circuit and even directed a 1930s-style cold medication commercial, complete with a top shot of a dancing clock. In his 75th year, Berkeley returned to Broadway to direct a successful revival of No No Nanette, staring his old Warner Brothers colleague and star of the original 42nd Street, Ruby Keeler. I was privileged to see a production of No No Nannette in Los Angeles in the ‘70s, with the incredible dancing feet of Ms. Keeler, who was then in her early sixties. Now there was a hoofer. 0 0

I love, love Bruno Mars. His music makes me want to get up and dance! I also love all the old movies with the great hoofers: Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Rita Hayworth, Gene Kelly, Cyd Charise, etc. (my Dad once danced with Ginger Rogers!), So for your midweek entertainment, here is a You tube video of some great dancers hoofing it up to Bruno Mars and Uptown Funk. 0 0

If you have been reading this blog, you know I posted previously on how the covers were made for my first three books in the Rh Brewster Mystery Series. Mostly, it involved my husband doing the photography, my daughter being the body, foot or arm, and I doing the direction, according to my vision for the cover. The idea for Death in a Mudflat came from a wedding Hubs and I had attended on Cape Cod. We were on a beachside pavilion where wine and dancing preceded dinner. We gradually became aware of a crowd of people out on the deck, watching a car trapped in a mudflat off the beach. This became the basis of the first chapter of my book – no, there wasn’t an arm in the mud – but I promise all y’all a sample of that first chapter soon. For Death in a Mudflat, we had to do something different to create the cover image. First of all, my daughter, bless her soul, refused to get into a mudflat just to have her arm emerge from the mud. Logistically, she was right. What would I do? Give her a snorkel for breathing under the mud? Provide a heated mudflat? The water in Maine is cold. I know because I’ve swum in it. So I ordered a rubber arm from a theatrical prop company. It was delivered here in Chapel Hill, but upon further thought, realized TSA might prevent a woman with an extra, realistic arm from getting on a plane to Boston. To get around this, I sent it to a high school friend of mine, with the idea that we would spend a morning in her backyard painting the arm  to look decayed. Here are some pictures of that adventure. I must admit we were not completely successful, although we had a lot of fun.  The next adventure was to photograph the arm in an actual mudflat. We were very lucky because the condo we rented in Maine that summer had its own mudflat out front twice a day.  We walked out into the mud, which sucked my swim shoes off in three of four steps. Then the shards of shell hidden in the mud cut my feet. Hubs, being very smart, figured out if you put seaweed down, you would not sink so much. He kept his shoes on. I rammed the arm down into the mud and Hubs shot a bunch of pictures. He didn’t like the light, so we got out and he waited for the sun to set, then waded out again, shot more pictures and struggled back to shore with the arm, but not before having some ghoulish fun. That’s my hand. This is what you look like after an encounter with a mudflat. Now the only thing was how to get the arm home, TSA still being on the alert. We drove around Boothbay Harbor until we located the partially hidden FedEX office, then had to explain to the clerk WHY we were mailing an arm. In the end, to complete my vision for the cover, I had to employ the services of a talented artist at 99 Designs. There was simply no way I could include water and a distant gazebo with wedding guests. Maybe I could, but I might still be driving up and down the Maine coast searching for the right scene, then have to hire a wedding party. I think in the end it worked out. At least the comments you left me seemed to indicate the image in my head made it successfully to the cover! 0 0

Well, it’s Monday again. I had to listen to the Mamas and Papas to lift my mood. My lord, don’t they look young and innocent? Like me at that time! I am struggling to teach myself how to use Scrivener. I think I’ll just have to jump in. The instructions were dense and I’m resorting to videos, but I really need some help with my historical novel. I have piles of downloaded material on sheets of paper which I have to search through, and the thought of making a ton of files either in Word or paper files is daunting. Not that I haven’t done it before when I was an academic. My crazy clown of a cat is sleeping in the corner of my loft, with his head resting on his favorite mouse. At least he’s a happy camper! Wish me luck…. 0 0

Stephen Hawking, the groundbreaking theoretical physicist, passed away peacefully at his home in Cambridge early Wednesday at the age of 76. Although I suspect many of our children know him only through the TV show “Big Bang Theory,” he was truly one of the great minds of our time. Hawking had a rare early-onset slow-progressing form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or Lou Gehrig’s that gradually paralyzed him over the decades, but he fought every day to stay alive and working. Even after the loss of his speech, he was still able to communicate through a speech-generating device, initially through use of a hand-held switch, and eventually by using a single cheek muscle. His grit and tenacity inspired people all over the world, and as the European Space Agency wrote, he “showed us there are no limits to achieving our dreams” One of his greatest impacts was bringing his complex theories to the general public through his bestselling book, “A Brief History of Time.” His contributions to his field were enormous: the existence of singularities and the theory that the universe might have started as a singularity, the second law of black hole dynamic, new ideas in quantum gravity and quantum mechanics, and the concept that the universe had no boundary in space-time – before the Big Bang, time did not exist and the concept of the beginning of the universe was meaningless. You physicists out there will understand this better than I. Someone said that with his death, a star on earth blinked out. I would like to think another one blinked in, out there, in our heavens. I hope Hawking is finding the answers to his questions. 0 0

The author of The Trial was an Advocate in the Supreme Courts of Scotland, and he made good use of his knowledge of the Scottish legal system in this, his first book in the Parliament House Series. Glaswegian Brogan McLane is a member of the Faculty of Advocates in Parliament House after being called to the Bar of the Scottish Supreme Court. He is an outsider, having spent years of university education and legal training to reach his position, rather than being handed his judicial office from his father. The other members of the Faculty of Advocates come from a rich and entitled tight-knit community, having grown up in each other’s company from an early age. Brogan, by contrast, comes from a murky background. So who better to frame for the death of High Court Judge Lord Aldounhill, found dead after a transvestite party in his sumptuous home.  Brogan is the perfect scapegoat to set up to take the fall, hiding the real killer. The author takes us skillfully through the trumped-up charges, the holes in the rigged investigation, and the trial, which with a bad outcome can send Brogan away for life. The investigation is continually thwarted by corruption and evil within the Supreme Court.  It is not enough that the police officer leading the investigation, Commander Imrie, and Jimmy Robertson, the oldest Queen’s court officer in Parliament House and the provider of inside information, both believe Brogan is innocent. It is up to Brogan’s friends, who live largely on the other side of the law, to provide him with the help he needs to face the power of the nefarious forces within the Court. I had a great time reading The Trial. It offered a unique setting for a crime novel, and the author provided plenty of twists and turns to keep me turning pages. The treacherous connivance of the members of ‘the system’ set my blood to boil in this good vs evil tale. The characters were enjoyable – even the vilest of the characters were limned in three-dimensions. The steaminess of the crime was presented tastefully as was the (limited) sex. I particularly enjoyed being educated on the Scottish legal system, although I had to refer frequently to the Glossary of Terms and am still not sure I understand the court organization.  I also had to read the Scottish dialect carefully – it added to the richness of the story, but not being familiar with it, I found some of it confusing. None of this detracted from a darned good ride. Great story, excellent plot – I recommend The Trial. About the author (from Amazon) John Mayer was born in Glasgow, Scotland at a time of post-WW2 austerity. But in 1963, when he heard The Beatles on Radio Caroline, his life path was set. Aged 14 he walked out of school because, in his opinion, he wasn’t being well taught. Every day for the next year, in all weathers, he cycled 9 miles to and 9 miles from the Mitchell Library in central Glasgow where he devoured books of all kinds. He became an apprentice engineer and was soon teaching men two and three times his age. In the 1970s he changed careers, setting out to become a Record Producer. He built his own record company trading in 14 countries. After a disheartening court battle with global giants, he went to the University of Edinburgh and became an Advocate in the Supreme Courts of Scotland. There he represented the downtrodden and desperate as well as Greenpeace International. His specialty was in fighting international child abduction. As an author, Mayer has written non-fiction, legal texts and articles; broadcasting to tens of millions of people on US and UK radio, TV and print media. The Trial is the first novel in his Parliament House Books series. Set in Edinburgh, it’s an homage to Franz Kafka’s book of the same title. You can find John Mayer At his website:  https://parliamenthousebooks.weebly.com/ On Twitter: @johnmayerauthor On Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/John-Mayer/e/B00T1IEGW0 0 0

A sweeping tale of compassion and cruelty, treachery and sacrifice, set against the backdrop of a religious war, feuding clans and the Great Scottish Witch Hunt of 1597 – What’s not to like about A House Divided? I couldn’t wait to read it and savored it for as long as I could. This is the second book in series about the Munro family and their enemy, the arch-villain of their story, William Cunninghame. Although I have not read the first in the series, The Turn of the Tide, A House Divided can be read as a stand-alone novel with no problem…except that I now feel compelled to treat myself to that first book. The Munro family has been forced into hiding to escape their enemies, the wealthy Cunninghames. While Adam Munro fights in France with the Scots Garde, which is supporting Henri IV, Kate Munro takes shelter with her children at the Montgomerie stronghold of Braistane. There she takes the surname Grant to hide her and the children’s identity. The Cunninghame son, thinking all the Munros are dead from their persecution, takes possession of the Munro’s home at Broomelaw and is rebuilding the estate for himself. Kate supports herself by working as a ‘wise woman,’ the term used for an herbalist and a midwife. These woman are often accused of being witches, and Kate courts danger during a period when witchcraft trials and burnings are common in Scotland. Kate is partially identified when she attends the wife of a Cunninghame supporter, and her daughter, who is training with her mother to be a wise woman, also becomes visible in the countryside when she answers some of the calls for Kate to provide medical help. When Kate’s growing reputation results in her being asked to attend Queen Anne, the wife of James VI, the chances she will be seen by the Cunninghame family at court increase exponentially. Although the story focuses on Kate, Adam is not forgotten as the reader is treated to the vicissitudes of the war in France, King Henri’s increasing reliance on him, and Adam’s attempts to find a way home to see his family, from whom he has been separated for several years. I found these interludes to be less compelling than Kate’s story, but necessary to the direction of the overall plot. This is an exceptional book, combining the tensions of several story lines with exquisite detail of life in Scotland in the 16th century. I loved the descriptions of herbal remedies and as the wife of an obstetrician, I found the midwifery fascinating. The characters are exceptionally well wrought, pulling you into each scene. Skea is a master of description, from the lovely countryside to the details of siege warfare, the trials of witches, and the daily, mundane chores of everyday family life. Set against this rich tapestry is the rising and falling tension that Kate and/or Adam will be discovered, which did not play well with my blood pressure! Skea also weaves into her story broader issues of morality, science vs superstition, loyalty and justice. This is a must read for all lovers of historical fiction, and I think Skea’s writing  is comparable to that of Phillipa Gregory and Diana Gabaldon.  I’m hooked and looking forward to reading the next in the series. About the author (from Amazon) Margaret Skea grew up in Ulster at the height of the ‘Troubles’, but now lives with her husband in the Scottish Borders. Awarded the Beryl Bainbridge Award for Best First Time Author 2014 and Historical Fiction Winner in the Harper Collins / Alan Titchmarsh People’s Novelist Competition for her debut novel Turn of the Tide, the sequel A House Divided was longlisted for the Historical Novel Society New Novel Award 2016. The third book in the series will be published in autumn 2017. She is passionate about well-researched, authentic historical fiction and providing a ‘you are there’ experience for the reader. You can find Margaret Skea on Twitter: @margaretskea1 at the Scottish Book Trust: http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/profile-author/105036 on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/margaret.skea and you can find all her books on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Margaret-Skea/e/B009B9HCUC 0 0