Author Interview: Sam Thomas

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267667_251594441524816_3284565_nSam Thomas is the author of now three mysteries featuring Bridget Hodgson in 1640’s York.  An historian and teacher, he brings expertise to his novels, but he’s also a wonderful storyteller and his latest book, The Witch Hunter’s Tale, is also his strongest.  He was nice enough to answer a few questions.

Q: Have you come to your historical series as an historian, or as someone who wanted primarily to be a storyteller?

A: In truth, I don’t see a significant difference between the two. Whether I’m writing history or fiction, I have the same goal: I want to talk about the past in a way that readers will find engaging and informative. read more

Kate Rhodes: The Winter Foundlings

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winter-foundlingsPsychologist Alice Quentin had a rough time in Rhodes’ last novel, A Killing of Angels. A consultant for the police, she got caught up in a serial killer case that almost ended her own life. So, in this book, for a relaxing change of pace, Alice decides to spend some time at a hospital for the criminally insane, doing research. Ahhh, how refreshing!

Rhodes is devoted to a Victorian love of coincidence and it actually serves her quite well, especially in this novel, where the central crime is connected to the very Victorian Foundling Home. Really, the entire set up could not be more Victorian – the hospital where Alice is doing her research is an old, somewhat renovated throw back out in the country, and Alice has rented a picturesque, if freezing, cottage in the middle of the woods, the kind you might think belongs in a fairy tale. It’s probably the one belonging to the witch in Hansel and Gretel. read more

Judith Flanders: A Murder of Magpies

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murder-of-magpiesJudith Flanders is a well known expert on Victorian manners and history, whose most recent book The Invention of Murder sits on our history mystery table. This is her first foray into fiction, and it’s delightful, causing me to both laugh aloud and copiously dog ear pages as Ms. Flanders is exquisitely quotable.

I loved her premise and setting. Her main character, Sam Clair, is a senior book editor at a major British publisher, and she’s in her forties. Flanders makes full use of Sam’s age, experience and gender, sliding in blindingly astute vignettes illustrating how women of a certain age tend to be ignored. As this book proves, ignoring a middle aged woman comes with its own perils. read more

Author Interview: Tim O’Mara

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Tim O’Mara is a favorite new voice of both Jamie’s and mine—we love his Ray Donne, a teacher/private eye. O’Mara’s vigorous storytelling, great characters and setting make this series a real stand-out.

Tim O'MaraQ: First of all, why a P.I. novel? Are those the kind of books you always liked to read? If so, who are your favorites?

A: I’ve always been interested in crime fiction, from Encyclopedia Brown to Michael Connelly. My faves now include Don Winslow, Marcus Sakey, George Pelecanos, Lyndsay Faye. I’ve also just discovered some British writers and the couple who make up Nicci French really know what they’re doing. read more

Mike Lawson: The Inside Ring

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The Inside RingIt’s always been a puzzle to me why the talented Mike Lawson isn’t a superstar, and his first book, The Inside Ring, is so good it really begs the question. I’m always in the mood for a thriller this time of year, and went to the Lawson part of the alphabet and grabbed this one on Christmas Eve. I’ve read others in the series but never the first, and it joins my ongoing mental list of terrific first novels that hit every mark out of the gate.

Lawson’s series character, Joe DeMarco, is a “fixer” for the Speaker of the House and works very much under the radar. His office is even in the basement of the House of Representatives alongside the janitorial staff. Whenever the speaker – long-time pol Mahoney – needs a task done that can’t see the light of day, it’s DeMarco he puts into motion. This gives DeMarco a lot of power and not quite enough as his official title and credentials are slightly nebulous. Because of DeMarco’s family background – his father was in the mob – he doesn’t carry a gun and tries to avoid violence. It often finds him anyway, though. read more

Tim O’Mara: Dead Red

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Dead RedThe Private Eye novel is a purely American invention, and was long the backbone of U.S. mystery writing. The form waxes and wanes – at the moment pure private eyes are almost being co-opted by the reluctant private eye or the private eye who is also something else, like Tim O’Mara’s guy, who is a teacher.

Ray Donne is a teacher who used to be a cop, with an uncle very high up in the police force who makes it more likely that Ray will not only sometimes get inside information but also a bit of a pass. He dates a reporter, which is an occasional conflict with what Ray knows but can’t tell, but all in all Ray is a genuinely good guy who often finds himself at the heart of a problem. read more

M.R.C. Kasasian: The Mangle Street Murders

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The Mangle Street MurdersThis is an old fashioned novel in the nicest sense of the word. It’s a Sherlock Holmes style tale set in 1882 London, featuring the nasty, rude, very smart and insensitive Sidney Grice. As the book opens, young March Middleton has moved into his home. She’s his goddaughter and she’s been orphaned. She arrives just as Grice welcomes into his parlor one Grace Dillinger, whose daughter has been brutally murdered and whose son in law is in prison, accused of the crime. Mrs. Dillinger is sure he is innocent. read more

Best Of 2014

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As is often the case, we couldn’t actually keep this to 10 titles, instead offering 12 with one of the titles, Chevy Stevens’ That Night, being a favorite of both of ours (and our son’s). Lots of vivid, beautiful storytelling and great reading this year; I was going for an all female list but darn it if Michael Koryta and Jeff Cohen didn’t write such great books they had to be included. There are some new authors to the list – Malla Nunn, Jeff Cohen, Jenny Milchman, Chevy Stevens, and Lauren Willig – as well as the return of some favorites. Enjoy your reading journey wherever your taste may take you. As always these titles are 15% off for the month of December. read more

A Short Tribute to Mrs. Pollifax

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unexpectedmrspollifaxI have been feverishly re-reading Dorothy Gilman’s Mrs. Pollifax books – it’s been long enough that I don’t remember the particulars, but I do remember how much I enjoyed Mrs. P, though in my memory she was a bit softer than she actually is on the page. Gilman’s portrayal of her in the very first book, The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax (1966), is one of the best first mysteries ever. The set-up is clever – an older woman, unsatisfied by life, goes to the CIA to volunteer her services. When the CIA’s Carstairs sees her in the waiting room he thinks she would be the perfect innocent abroad. And through 13 books, she was. Gilman lays down her adventure story format leavened with Mrs. Pollifax’s generous yet knowledgable heart in the very first book and the formula holds. Gilman often provides the reader with surprisingly penetrating insights into human behavior, courtesy of Mrs. P; one of my favorite moments involves a Whirling Dervish (Mrs. Pollifax and the Whirling Dervish, 1990). Re-discover her for yourself. read more

David Bell: The Forgotten Girl & J. Sheridan Le Fanu: Wylder’s Hand

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WyldersHandI generally read one book at home and a different one at work. Recently the home book was an old one, Wylder’s Hand, the 1864 “sensation novel” by J. Sheridan Le Fanu, and the store book was brand new, David Bell’s The Forgotten Girl. Strangely enough, I didn’t get very far in either of them before I realized that despite a span of 150 years, they had the same basic plot. I call it “the mysterious disappearance,” and even though it’s an ancient story, going back at least as far as Persephone, perhaps the original Gone Girl, it’s very much in the air these days, especially since we’re all about to ask where the heck the warm weather went to. read more