Otto Penzler is the owner of one of the best mystery bookshops. It is located in New York City. However, those who live elsewhere can benefit from his curating as this excellent collection demonstrates.
Read stories by those who made the “Golden Age” golden. Some of the authors offering treats to readers in this collection include John Dickson Carr, Ellery Queen and Earl Stanley Gardner. What they have in common is the convention of the ‘locked room.”
I often think of the Golden Age as British. Here though the Americans are at work.
Lovers of classic short stories may want to give this book a look.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Penzler Press for this title. All opinions are my own.
I always love Buzz Books with the generous excerpts and great reading ideas. This time the spotlight is on romance.
Fifteen titles are highlighted here. See each book’s cover. Find out what it’s about and then read part of the story. There is also info on the author and more.
It’s free and worth a look.
Many thanks to NetGalley for this title. All opinions are my own.
Just a quick look at the cover and it is quite clear who is this book’s subject. As Ms. Harding did in her earlier novel, she has taken a member of the British Royal Family and told a part of their story. Here, of course, readers spend time with Diana in the time frame from her engagement and her wedding. It would be easy to just recount a story that many already know but the author has a twist. She has Diana discover a diary that offers some parallels with her own experience.
Those who enjoy stories about the Royals, those who like historical fiction and fans of women’s fiction may well enjoy this story . It may feel especially poignant during this Jubilee Week.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Harper 360-One More Chapter for this title. All opinions are my own.
Righ now, this book just costs 99 cents in its e book version.
This book will certainly be quickly picked up and read by those who love stories about Elizabeth and Phillip, and/or by those who enjoyed the Netflix series, The Crown. This story starts as one of youth; readers observe as Elizabeth and Phillip get to know each other, beginning when the future queen was just a girl. There is an early vivid scene of a Christmas pantomime at the castle during WWII. Elizabeth is an Aladdin who eagerly looks for a certain dashing naval officer in the audience. She is clearly interested in him. But, what does he think of or want from her? Even if you know how history played out, the author manages to create some suspense.
Phillip is portrayed as interested in this young Elizabeth but also as a man who is not fully ready to settle down. The influence of his family history (royalty without a country) and his uncle Mountbatten’s pressure to become the future monarch’s husband are realistically portrayed.
Another section of the book, at the end of the war, shows Elizabeth as the young girl she is. This has been the subject of a movie, A Royal Night Out. and very much comes to life in the novel. It was one time when Elizabeth was able to shed her persona and be part of a crowd in a celebration.
From these beginning chapters, the author crafts a well told accounting of one of the longest and most famous marriages in the Western world, one that Elizabeth’s father did not initially endorse. Readers are swept along as this couple moves toward one another and their eventual wedding. Be there with them on this journey as the pages turn.
I highly recommend this readable and enjoyable historical novel. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this title in exchange for an honest review.
