The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont

 Does The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont, refer to the actual affair Agatha Christie’s husband Archibald had with Nancy Neele, fictionalized as Nan O’Dea in the book, or does it refer to the 11-day disappearance of the crime novelist that she was never able to explain? Whichever, the book reimagines that famous vanishing from the point of view of the mistress.

Nancy/Nan wormed her way into the Christies’ lives by befriending both the wife and the husband, much like Pauline Pfeiffer did with Hadley and Ernest Hemingway...and in the same year, 1925. Both women became the mistress before being able to assert Mrs. before the famous last names. Agatha and Nancy met while working on a committee to design and organize a children's section of the 1925 British Empire Exhibition in Wembley.

The distress caused by Nancy/Nan’s luring away Agatha’s husband is thought to be the impetus for Agatha to disappear for 11 days, which was a mystery that fascinated readers of her work. Her husband was even a suspect in the possible murder of “the lady novelist,” who had not yet reached a high level of fame. On the other hand, Agatha spent little time on this episode of her life in her autobiography other than to call it a case of temporary amnesia.

While at times de Gramont seems to borrow from the movies and other stories about this time in Agatha’s life, the author takes the plot to where it has never gone before, hinted at in the opening line, “A long time ago in another country, I nearly killed a woman.” Not only is this work of historical fiction a look at what happened to Agatha during the time she seemed to have evaporated from her life, it is also a murder mystery with a subplot about poor pregnant unmarried girls in Ireland, what happened to their babies, and the thirst for revenge and resolution for these women.

Nina de Gramont is an associate professor of creative writing at the University of North Carolina Wilmington.  The author of a collection of short stories, Of Cats and Men, she has written three adult novels as well as several YA novels under the pen name Marina Gessner.  She lives in coastal North Carolina with her daughter and her husband, the Pushcart Prize-winning writer David Gessner.

My review will be posted on Goodreads starting November 28, 2021.

I’d like to thank St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in return for an objective review.

The Good Son by Jacquelyn Mitchard

 “I was picking my son up at the prison gates when I spotted the mother of the girl he murdered.”

So begins The Good Son by Jacquelyn Mitchard. Thea Demetriou, a college professor, must help her son Stefan reintegrate into society after he served his time in prison for the manslaughter of Belinda McCormack, the girl he loved, while finding her own way to love and forgive him after such a heinous action. Stefan had never even had so much as a speeding ticket, had never been a rebellious teen, so how can she reconcile that with a young man who could murder his girlfriend?

One thing that softens the blow for his family is that Stefan was out of his mind on drugs that night he bashed in Belinda’s head. He does not remember one thing about this episode, but he was the only one with her, and the murder weapon is covered in his fingerprints. He took full responsibility for the murder, pleading guilty. After his release from prison where he was a model prisoner, he struggles with how to go on with his life, deal with his guilt, redeem his reputation, and find a way forward when so many doors will now be closed to him, a convicted felon.

Jill, Belinda’s mother, has found her next steps by forming an activist group against domestic abuse in their town, intimating that Belinda’s relationship with Stefan was abusive. Thea knows only a loving relationship between Stefan and Belinda who met when they were five-years-old and had been best friends ever since, which makes the murder even more puzzling. Jill has campaigned steadily the past three years against Stefan and could be the force behind some of the things happening to the family, including daily protestors, a stalker, and an ugly word painted on their garage door.

While Stefan struggles with his demons, Thea and her husband Jep must deal with the fallout. People are up in arms that this young man murdered his girlfriend and is home after time served in a five-year sentence. Thea and Jep have lived through some ugly episodes while Stefan was in prison, and now they must protect him as best they can as the situation heats up with his release.

Thea is still dealing with a worrisome caller who tells her she knows what happened the night in question as she was there. Thea tries to shrug her off as just another nutcase harassing the family, but this girl is persistent. Could she really have been there at Belinda’s when this terrible incident happened? What knowledge could she have that might help or hurt Stefan? What starts off as a story of love and redemption turns into a thriller as Thea is determined to find out what happened that night.

Jacquelyn Mitchard’s first novel, The Deep End of the Ocean, was made into a feature film produced by and starring Michelle Pfeiffer. Mitchard writes for both adult and young adult readers. The author, who grew up in Chicago, now lives in Wisconsin.

My review will be posted on Goodreads starting November 24, 2021.

I’d like to thank MIRA/Harper Collins and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in return for an objective review.

Christmas in Peachtree Bluff by Kristy Woodson Harvey

 

Christmas in Peachtree Bluff, fourth in the series,  by Kristy Woodson Harvey continues the story of the three Murphy daughters – Caroline, Sloane, and Emerson -- and their families along with their mother Ansley’s. All have gathered for Thanksgiving in the home Ansley shares with her second husband Jack in Peachtree Bluff, Georgia. Ansley and Jack are preparing to leave on a vacation to Australia, while the other families are going to Caroline’s place in New York.

But what if Caroline’s daughter Vivi – who is going through the terrible teens made worse by the divorce of her parents – went to Australia with her grandparents? Would that give Vivi a chance to reset her anger and get a better perspective about the divorce caused by her father’s womanizing? It sure would give Caroline a break from a disrespectful, troubled daughter for a while.

Ansley and Jack are agreeable to the plan, and Vivi is delighted…right up to the moment she has a conversation with Jack that causes her to run away, just hours before they should head for Atlanta to depart for Australia. Time is of the essence as a predicted Hurricane Pearl is headed toward Peachtree Bluff, although Ansley insists it is not likely to do anything but head out to sea. However, Grandma plans and Moms Nature laughs as they must evacuate within the next couple of hours or be confined to the island.

Where could Vivi be as most everything has been boarded up on the island? How can they find her in time to evacuate Peachtree Bluff? If they cannot leave the island, how will they shelter without having provisioned for a hurricane? How will Caroline take the news that her only daughter is missing?

Readers of the series will enjoy this next episode of this strong, loving family as they pull together to resolve these complications so they can have Christmas in Peachtree Bluff.

Kristy Woodson Harvey is a North Carolina writer of contemporary fiction. She lives with her family in Beaufort. Besides this series, she writes standalone novels, and her next one, The Wedding Veil, comes out in March, 2022.

My review will be posted on Goodreads starting November 22, 2021.

I’d like to thank Gallery Books and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in return for an objective review.

Mercy by David Baldacci

 

Mercy by David Baldacci is the long-awaited conclusion to the four-book search for FBI agent Atlee Pine’s twin sister who was kidnapped when the pair was six years old from their home in Andersonville, Georgia. Atlee does not know that her sister Mercy has survived kidnapping and torture, creating a new life for herself as Eloise Cain because she cannot recall anything but fragments of her life before the abduction 30 years ago.

On the bookshelves November 16, 2021, this thriller leads Atlee to Asheville, North Carolina, where she is on the trail of psychopath Desiree Atkins, who gave Mercy the name Rebecca and held her captive for 10 years, making her a slave in the household and abusing her with cigarette burns, knife carvings, and pin stabs before Rebecca escaped the shack in which she was imprisoned.

Atlee caught a break in her search for Mercy in Book 3 when she learned the identity of Mercy’s kidnapper, and she is on leave from her job and following that lead with her assistant Carol Blum. Meanwhile, Eloise has been surviving by her wits and brawn as she has been moving around the country taking any job she can get from truck-lift operator to security guard to a mixed martial arts challenger.

When Mercy-turned-Rebecca-turned Eloise hears on the radio that Rebecca Atkins is an FBI person of interest, Eloise begins to double down on her efforts to disappear because she fears that she will be arrested for the murder of Atkins’ husband who she knocked out while escaping her chamber of horrors. Little does Eloise know that along the way she has made another enemy who puts a plan into action to take her out because she killed his brother while defending a woman during a domestic dispute.

Those who have followed this long road to Mercy with Atlee through the three previous novels will not be able to put this volume down until they learn the outcome of Atlee’s quest to find out what happened to her sister.

David Baldacci’s debut novel, Absolute Power in 1996, became a popular movie starring Clint Eastwood. A former lawyer, Baldacci has published more than 40 novels for grownups over the last 25 years.

My review will be posted on Goodreads starting November 4, 2021.

I would like to thank Hatchette Book Group, Grand Central Publishing. and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in return for an objective review.

 

The Magnolia Palace by Fiona Davis

 

Fiona Davis, “biographer” of famous buildings in New York City, has done it again with her latest historical fiction, The Magnolia Palace, which will be published on January 25, 2022. This time, the Frick House is front and center of the novel about the mansion that was destined to house an art museum and the mysteries that occurred there.

The storyline follows two characters on two timelines, typical of Davis’ work. Lillian Carter, a character based on a real and much sought-after model of the early 1900s who was the muse for many New York landmarks, turned to the job of the private secretary for the daughter of Henry Clay Frick, an industrialist and art patron who had the Frick House constructed and furnished with artworks with the intent of the home becoming an art museum upon his death.

Lillian became a key player in a love triangle, a missing diamond, and a possible murder before she mysteriously disappeared in 1919. Nearly 50 years later, British model Veronica Weber is on assignment in New York when she becomes trapped in the Frick House during a snowstorm that has knocked out the power.

Working with Joshua Lawrence, an archival intern who was also trapped that night, Veronica uncovers clues to a treasure hunt that leads them to one answer to the mysteries of the Frick House. An improbable encounter with the elderly Ruth Clay Frick in the museum sends the three – Ruth Veronica, and Joshua -- on the trail to solving a decades old murder and finding out what happened to Lillian.

Fiona Davis is a Canadian-born author who has developed a specialty in writing historical fiction set in famous buildings in New York City. She began her career in NYC as an actress. Upon earning a master’s at Columbia Journalism School, her writing career has embraced both journalism and fiction.

My review will be posted on Goodreads starting November 2, 2021.

I would like to thank Dutton, an imprint of Penguin Random House, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in return for an objective review.