Stacking the Shelves #42

 

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Reading Reality. It's a place to showcase any books I have purchased, borrowed, or been lucky enough to have been given an advance copy of. Hope you find something that looks interesting to you or that makes you remember a favorite book you need to finish. Enjoy your reading this week!

Borrowed from Libby (there is a wait though!)

This story takes place during the time of Queen Esther. I have not read anything by this author but it was on sale this week and looked interesting. I don't read a lot of Christian fiction but Queen Esther has always fascinated me and this author seems to have several good biblical historical fiction books that are best sellers. This story revolves around two fictional characters in Queen Esther's court who are swept up in the politics of the time concerning the Jewish people. 

Bought on Kindle for $2.50 with my credits

I like this author because she writes historical fiction about Scotland and people I generally know very little about. I wish I had time to get through every book I'm interested in because I forget about her books sometimes and need to get back to them! This is the first in her series about William the Bold. He was a Scottish nobleman and soldier during the 13th century in the service of Sir John Stewart. I am always wanting to know more about the Scots and the French because they factor so much into English history. Her books are a great place to go for the lesser known Scots. 

Free with Kindle Unlimited Subscription

The latest in Benedict Brown's Lord Edgington Investigates cozy mystery series. It is a stand alone in that I can read it for Christmas but not be subject to spoilers for the previous books I haven't read. I like that. All his Christmas books follow this pattern. I am currently reading the first book in the series and don't want to know anything to give away the mysteries. So far I am enjoying this series a lot with its unique main characters and settings. 

Stacking the Shelves #41

 

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Reading Reality. It's a place to showcase any books I have purchased, borrowed, or been lucky enough to have been given an advance copy of. Hope you find something that looks interesting to you or that makes you remember a favorite book you need to finish. Enjoy your reading this week!

On sale this week for Kindle: $1.99 (I spent zero with my digital points)

I have three books now by this author. The are hard to get for a good price in the States so when they go on sale I buy them. Apparently I need to get started reading them! This book is set in 1485 just as Richard III takes the throne. It follows the story of Grace Plantagenet, illegitimate daughter of Edward IV and therefore a half sister of the Princes in the Tower. She is caught up in the sordid events of the time along with the Perkin Warbeck scandal, the boy claiming to be one of her half brothers. It looks interesting and these covers are beautiful!

Borrowed from Libby: Free (with membership each year of $50)

I had no idea this author had written mysteries, much less a Christmas one. It looks like a crime fiction, Agatha Christie type story and I know Heyer is a wonderful writer so it should be good. I'm hoping to read it before Christmas but my TBR pile is enormous right now. If you've read it let me know if you liked it!

Amazon Kindle Purchase:  (Free with digital points)

I have several books by this author and this is book one in his Marius Quinn mystery series. There are so many cozy mysteries set during the 1920's with female leads and these books have a male one. So I want to read them for a change. He has at least two sets of series that I know of and it's just unusual for a male author with a male lead for these types of books. Getting book one on sale is always a plus too. 

Stacking the Shelves #40

 

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Reading Reality. It's a place to showcase any books I have purchased, borrowed, or been lucky enough to have been given an advance copy of. Hope you find something that looks interesting to you or that makes you remember a favorite book you need to finish. Enjoy your reading this week!

On sale this week for Kindle: $3.99 ($0 with my Kindle digital points)

My daily Book Bub newsletter had these listed for a steal and then when I went to my Amazon page I saw I'd get them for free due to Kindle points. They looked interesting enough and for zero dollars I just couldn't say no! I read up on the author and he has been writing these for awhile. They look a little like Anne Perry style books and I love all of hers. Inspector Ravenscroft is a failed detective who has been dismissed by his colleagues and while on a leave of sorts finds himself once again working a murder case. Each book is a different mystery and just reading the first few pages of book one I was hooked. He reminds me a bit of Perry's William Monk. 

On sale this week for Kindle: Free with my Kindle digital points.

This was in my Early Bird Books newsletter. I think the title caught my eye because I've not seen a cozy series set in Boston before. Most take place in England or New York. It's part of a series called Massachusetts Cozy Mysteries. Each book is set in a different historic area of Massachusetts and I'm always up for learning about new places while solving a mystery. This one looks fun and I'm excited to have book one! It's also a new to me author that I've not read before. 

On sale this week for Kindle: Sample (Very expensive for Kindle so I'm going to try the sample first)

I really want to read this book. And all of this author's books. She was featuring this one on my favorite podcast, Gone Medieval, with author Matt Lewis on their October 3rd episode. (numer 357 if you want to listen to it). I have promoted  books on my blog about Richard II and Henry IV before and I think they are interesting to me because there aren't a whole lot of them. Especially in historical fiction, which I like to read these days more than straight history. This is a history book but is written in a narrative style that makes the facts flow smoothly. 

It is unfortunate that a lot of new books written by UK authors are hard to get here in the U.S. for good prices or at the library. I might have to read the sample and wait a bit for this one.

Stacking the Shelves #39

 

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Reading Reality. It's a place to showcase any books I have purchased, borrowed, or been lucky enough to have been given an advance copy of. Hope you find something that looks interesting to you or that makes you remember a favorite book you need to finish. Enjoy your reading this week!

On sale this week for Kindle: $1.99 

Vail has written numerous historical fiction books, especially mysteries and a few epic novels too. I had never heard of him. This book came across as a suggestion on my Kindle store and was on sale for $1.99. Fantastic Fiction's website listed his works and they take place mostly during the 1100's and 1200's with historical and fictional characters thrown together. The reigns of Henry II and Henry III as well as some of Edward I are part of the backdrop. This book has sixteen sequel mysteries. It is part of the Stephen Attebrook Mysteries. I am thrilled to have discovered these as I love mysteries set during this time period. 

Sample: Trying it out first to see if I want to buy it:  Free Sample

This book was another suggested one for me on Amazon and it takes place in Bombay, India beginning on New Year's Eve 1949. It features a fictional female police inspector who has to solve the murder of an English diplomat with little to no support from her male dominated department. She teams up with a Scotland Yard detective which should make it even more interesting. I am hoping it will have some good history and suspense along with a unique setting and time period. It has won or been listed for more than one book award and is part of the Malabar House mystery series with a new book coming out in November. I just downloaded the sample first to check it out.

On sale for Kindle: $1.99

I have been slowly collecting Chadwick's books as they go on sale. They are expensive even on Kindle and sometimes hard to get in the states. This is book two of her first series, The Wild Hunt, and although it might not be the first one I'd read, I know how much her books are valued and so when I see them on sale I buy them! This book takes place during the reign of Henry I and features the daughter of a Welsh marcher baron. I love books featuring Welsh characters so it looks interesting. I have book three and just need the first one to complete my collection. 

Stacking the Shelves #38

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Reading Reality. It's a place to showcase any books I have purchased, borrowed, or been lucky enough to have been given an advance copy of. Hope you find something that looks interesting to you or that makes you remember a favorite book you need to finish. Enjoy your reading this week!

On sale this week for Kindle: $1.99 

I ran across this in my Early Bird Books daily email I get listing on sale books I might like. The premise looked unique and it won the Edgar Award in 1965. A Rabbi from Boston is the actual author so he will definitely know his background for this story. The main character lives in a small New England town and although he wants nothing more than to lay low and minister to his flock, he is often involved in helping with the typical cozy mystery small town murders that seem to just pop up everywhere in these books! It says it's a lot like Father Brown, one of my favorites. 

Kindle price: $2.99

I have already started this novella and am loving it! I started to read Death Below Stairs by this author, the first mystery novel in the Below Stairs Mysteries. Then I discovered this book is the prequel to the series so I bought it and decided to stop and read it first. It definitely was the right choice....much more is making sense in Book 1 of the actual series. I am loving this author's historical knowledge of the time period. It is set in a Downton Abbey type house and the characters are well drawn. Looking forward to more from these books. 

Kindle audiobook:  Waiting on it to arrive in Libby (second in line!)

This is the October Read Christie book. I put it in for audiobook on Libby over a month ago and am still waiting. I have found I really enjoy listening to the Christie books in the car. It is so relaxing to do this on my way to work. But I may have to cave and actually get this book somewhere because apparently it is very popular right now! I'm hoping to get it this week and be able to finish in October right on time. And it's Miss Marple, I have grown fond of her :) 

Stacking the Shelves #37

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Reading Reality. It's a place to showcase any books I have purchased, borrowed, or been lucky enough to have been given an advance copy of. Hope you find something that looks interesting to you or that makes you remember a favorite book you need to finish. Enjoy your reading this week!

Kindle sample I'm going to buy with upcoming points: $1.99 

I have this sample and am going to start reading it soon. I really need to get more of O'Brien's books. This one is about Alice Perrers who was the mistress of Edward III. She lived a colorful life at court trying to walk a fine line between the King and Queen and all those who wished her downfall. I know little about her except that she had an interesting window into the time period and O'Brien is a highly respected historical fiction author. It should be a good one!

Kindle sale:  $1.99

This is the story of Queen Victoria's granddaughter, Duchess Victoria Melita "Ducky" and her marriage to Russian Grand Duke Kyrill. She is caught up in the Russian revolution and all the danger that it brings to her family. Laurie Graham, the author has written several historical fiction novels about a range of topics in different eras. It is hard to pin down one "type" of novel from her website. I know a lot about Victoria's daughters and some of ther grandchildren but not much about Ducky so I'm looking forward to it.

Kindle sale:  $3.99 (free with my points!)

I must be on a queen/royalty kick again this week. My Mom says I'm always in one and always have been, lol. Facts. This book is also about relatively obscure sisters....Joanna and Maria of Naples. As sisters and heirs to the throne of Naples, they must work hard to maintain their rule over their 14th century kingdom dominated by ambitious male relatives who feel they should be King. I know nothing about them or this story and Amazon states the author is an award winning historical novelist of other figures. I'm always happy when I find new authors. 

Stacking the Shelves #36

 

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Reading Reality. It's a place to showcase any books I have purchased, borrowed, or been lucky enough to have been given an advance copy of. Hope you find something that looks interesting to you or that makes you remember a favorite book you need to finish. Enjoy your reading this week!

Kindle purchase with digital points: $1.99

This is the first in the Lady Darby mystery series. I just reviewed the latest book by Anna Lee Huber, The Cold Light of Day, and want to try out her series set in a time and place I find a bit more interesting.....19th century Scotland. So this is the first one for this set. It is a very unique premise. Lady Darby will use her knowledge of human anatomy to help in a murder case. Should be a good read as I found Huber's other book very well written and complicated. This was because I'd started at the end. But it was a good book still so I'm hoping this one will be even better!

Library Borrow:

I really enjoy non-fiction books that are structured like this one. When they take several people in history that relate to a topic and give a short synopsis of each one. I can see a snapshot of a timeline or historical persons and then if one really appeals to me I can get a biography of just that person or time period. But I don't have to wade through lots and lots details I might not be interested in. This one includes Kings from Charlemagne to Robert the Bruce and are personalities that don't necessarily get a lot of attention. I will probably read it slowly and even skip around to the ones that are most appealing. 

Kindle Purchase with digital points: $1.99

I honestly was drawn to this book for its unique cover and title. I also love these reissued British Mystery Classics. This is a new to me author which is always good and I love trying out new mysteries anytime. The Amazon synopsis says it is an "exploration of morality, justice, and human nature." I like that added layer of depth and the classic authors really know how to write about those topics well. Hoping it's a good one!

Stacking the Shelves #35

 

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Reading Reality. It's a place to showcase any books I have purchased, borrowed, or been lucky enough to have been given an advance copy of. Hope you find something that looks interesting to you or that makes you remember a favorite book you need to finish. Enjoy your reading this week!

This is book one in a five book series on the Plantagenets but starting with Richard II, not Henry and Eleanor. I have book one and it ends with Henry V and Agincourt in book five. This author has a wonderful website, MercedesRochelle.com, which links to her books and to two other sites where she explores medieval history. I plan to surf it this week as the articles are interesting. I'm hoping to learn more through her books as I can't find many that focus on the late 1300's or early 1400's like these do.

On sale for Kindle this week for 99 cents....that's right! For a dollar you can get this one. I was so excited. I have not read her books but am always hearing they are great. She's another I feel I have to devote time to and also there are so many great looking books to choose from I don't know where to start. The covers are just gorgeous and the characters are fascinating historical subjects. If you haven't snagged your copy do it tonight.

Holland is another new to me author that I have been intending to try out because she has written such a wide, eclectic series of books with all kinds of historical subjects and settings. I'm always fascinated with Egypt, tombs, and pyramids. I love cozy mysteries set in the 1920's in Egypt and this is the novel version of the real life team of Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon who discovered King Tut's tomb. It is only $2.99 on Kindle so I bought it. I'm on Chapter 4 and can't put it down. I will definitely continue with her books after this one!

Stacking the Shelves #34

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Reading Reality. It's a place to showcase any books I have purchased, borrowed, or been lucky enough to have been given an advance copy of. Hope you find something that looks interesting to you or that makes you remember a favorite book you need to finish. Enjoy your reading this week!

This book caught my eye for two reasons: It is first in a series and has a foreword endorsement written by one of my favorite authors, Sharon Kay Penman. Set in 1270 during the reign of Henry III, it involves the murder of a monk and reminds me a bit of the Cadfael Chronicles. It is free to read in Kindle Unlimited and with my credits I was able to buy it for $0. Hopefully it is a good series!

This author has been featured on my favorite history podcast, Gone Medieval, several times. He is very knowledgeable about the time periods he covers and his latest book, Son of Prophecy, is about Henry VII and his origins in Wales, specifically how his Wales heritage is often minimized or overlooked altogether. Amin delves into how Henry and his family became the hoped for savior of the Welsh people and the son of prophecy foretold to rule England, Wales, and beyond. I like the idea of focusing on his Welsh background for a change. It is so hard to get these books on Kindle here in the U.S. so I confess I only have the sample right now. I hope to buy or borrow it somehow soon!

This mystery looked so different and interesting and it is written by a famous author of her time, Pearl S. Buck. I'd not read her other books and wasn't aware she wrote mysteries. This book was written in 1965. Aristocrats Sir Richard and Lady Mary are broke and need to sell their 1,000 year old castle. A man wants to buy it and transport it to America and there is also possible hidden treasure under it. The synopsis also mentions spirits haunting the castle and a cast of colorful, neurotic characters. It has that Agatha Christie vibe and I think it seems very unique. 

Stacking the Shelves #33

 

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Reading Reality. It's a place to showcase any books I have purchased, borrowed, or been lucky enough to have been given an advance copy of. Hope you find something that looks interesting to you or that makes you remember a favorite book you need to finish. Enjoy your reading this week!

Set in India in 1947, Britain is about to withdraw from the country and people are fearful of the coming challenges after this happens. A family that is staying to try and build a life there get involved in a past mystery between two Englishwomen living there in 1857. Through letters the story unfolds and secrets are revealed. The description for the book states that the time and era are well researched and the feeling of Bombay at the time is "lavish with detail and imagery." Sounds like a unique and interesting story. I have so many Kindle credits from all the shopping I've been doing I got it for only $5.

I had no idea that Gwen Bristow had written Golden Age Mysteries. I loved her Plantation Trilogy and had to look this information up to make sure it was the same Gwen Bristow. In this story a piece of the famous Gutenberg Bible has been stolen and a district attorney must find out the who and the why behind it. Murders start to occur related to the case and the stakes are raised. Set in New Orleans in the 1930's it is a great location for a crime mystery. I look forward to reading it and seeing how she handles a different genre. I see there is a co-writer too so that should add to her style and make it a bit different. She has written more like this one as well. I will be reading it on Hoopla.

This book is a two part series about Edith, Princess of Scotland, and Eleanor of Castile. This first book about Edith is set in 1093 in Scotland and England and covers her life as she goes from child to queen. It might be a little more of a romance but it was on sale and is about a subject that is rarely covered in historical fiction novels. I think her story is very interesting and I look forward to reading it. The second book about Eleanor of Castile is one I'd like to get as well. The author is new to me but she has written many series of books on forgotten women of history. This two book series is called Ladies of Valor.