The Mitford Affair by Marie Benedict

 Marie Benedict seems to be gathering some of the strongest women who ever lived to inform readers about their stories. The Mitford Affair is her January offering, a book of historical fiction that tells about the six aristocratic Mitford sisters of England.

In their time, the 1930s onward, the sisters made their mark in England in the literary, social, and political arenas. The Mitfords could trace their origins in Northumberland, a county in Northern England that borders Scotland, back to the Norman Conquest (the 11^th century). The Times journalist Ben Macintyre dubbed the sisters as “Diana the Fascist, Jessica the Communist, Unity the Hitler-lover; Nancy the Novelist; Deborah the Duchess, and Pamela the unobtrusive poultry connoisseur.”

The novel is mostly devoted to three of the sisters--Nancy, Diana, and Unity--with the others playing smaller roles. Diana falls out of favor with her family when she divorces her husband Bryan Guinness of the Guinness family brewing fortune to marry a fascist British leader Oswald Mosley. Her sister Unity becomes fascinated by fascism and Adolph Hitler, working her way into his personal and public life, moving to Germany to cheer him on in his endeavor to unite former lands with  Germany.

The chapters written with the points of view of Diana and Unity are unique in showing a softer side of Hitler that most readers could hardly imagine: “Sometimes it’s hard for her [Diana] to believe that this kind gentleman with the most impeccable manners is the same person who so boldly and unexpectedly violated the Munich Agreement…”

In her own way, Nancy the Novelist, tries to persuade her sisters in this explosive political climate leading up to World War II to realize that they are being used by Hitler to further his plans for bringing Great Britain into the fold. Nancy feels forced to choose between her family or her country as September 1, 1939, draws near.

Marie Benedict’s subjects do not always interest me, but her writing draws me in each time. Tiring of the glut of  world war books, I found a different perspective of the war from those who lived through it. Benedict is a lawyer with more than 10 years of experience as a commercial litigator. She lives with her family in Pittsburgh.

While New York City lawyer, Marie dreamed of unearthing the hidden historical stories about strong women. The women featured in her novels include the physicist wife of Albert Einstein in The Other Einstein, Clara Kelley, the woman who encouraged Andrew Carnegie to become a philanthropist, in Carnegie’s Maid, and Agatha Christie, mystery writer supreme, in The Mystery of Mrs. Christie. Her other books include The Only Woman in the Room about Hedy Lamarr and her invention, Lady Clementine about Winston Churchill’s wife who also happened to be related to the Mitford family, and The Personal Librarian about Belle da Costa Greene, the personal librarian to J.P. Morgan.

Hang the Moon by Jeannette Walls

 Author Jeannette Walls wrote her first book, The Glass Castle, a memoir, that seems to echo in her novels Half-Broke Horses, The Silver Star, and now Hang the Moon, due out in March. Walls knows kids, hard times, survival, unstable conditions, and chaos. She was the strong girl in The Glass Castle who challenged the injustices of the adult world, the same kind of character she creates in each of her books.

Walls borrowed from her Grandmother Lily’s life for Half Broke Horses, while this time around she finds material in her father Rex’s experience with running bootleg liquor in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Sallie Kincaid is the daughter of Duke Kincaid, a difficult man who runs the fictional town of Caywood. Although Sallie as a youngster thinks he hung the moon, she learns terrible truths about her father when she comes of age.

Forced to move to the mountains on the other side of the county when her stepmother declares Sallie is harmful to her young half-brother, Sallie lives with Aunt Faye, a woman she loves even when she’s old enough to hear that her aunt is considered a fallen woman. Once her stepmother dies nine years later, Sallie is no longer banished to the hills but is brought back home to take care of young Eddie.

Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2023 by LitHub, Hang the Moon takes place in Virginia during Prohibition (1920-1933). While she knows she’s part of a wealthy family, it is after her father is out of the picture that Sallie comes to understand how his business always thrived: bootleg whisky. One by one, tragedy strikes, and only Sallie is left standing to take over Duke’s home and business, providing for other family members who emerge from the shadows.

Sallie faces numerous secrets and scandals among her family members, and in the business world, she is forced to deal with conflict and mayhem, fighting both the government that has prohibited liquor and also the feuding Bonds, a whisky-running family in a neighboring county. As in Walls’ other books, the protagonist – Sallie in this case – shows great courage and wisdom as she emerges as a leader in her town.

Jeannette Walls is a writer and journalist. She became a book author in 2005 with the release of her bestselling memoir, The Glass Castle. The book was adapted into a film and released in 2017. She lives in Virginia on a large farm with her husband.

Don't Open the Door by Allison Brennan

A tangled web of murder and mystery can be found in Don't Open the Door by Allison  Brennan, the second book in her Regan Merritt series coming out January 24. Regan’s 10-year-old son Chase Warwick was murdered in his home while playing a video game. US Marshall Regan was devastated and resigned as her focus on the job was no longer clear, and she could put other lives in danger. Her ex-husband placed the blame for Chase’s death on Regan because of her dangerous job, but could it actually stem from something Grant Warwick was involved with?

Regan left Virginia and moved back to Flagstaff, Arizona, to live with her father, a retired law enforcement officer. The murder of her former colleague Tom Granger brought her back to Virginia to find answers as she knew that Tom was really close to solving this now 10-month-old case. Tom was about to share his findings with the US Marshall’s office  when he was shot as he stepped out of his door to head to work. The shooter took Tom’s phone and a briefcase that authorities were guessing contained all his important documentation as well as  his laptop.

Clues Regan found at Tom’s house pointed her toward her ex, Grant, as Tom’s calendar showed he had a recent meeting with Grant. Confronting Grant at his law office, she saw that he was clearly panicking. He blew off meeting with Regan, not once but twice, and when she went to his girlfriend’s condo to confront him, she found the woman on the floor in a pond of blood. She called the local law enforcement, cleared herself of the crime, and the police slid Grant’s name to the top of the possible suspects’ list. But where was Grant? He was not at his home, he was not at his girlfriend’s place, and he repeatedly skipped meeting with Regan.

Regan put it all on the line when she endeavored to find Grant before the police did so she can get the answers she needed from him. Complicating all of this is the FBI that is investigating the death of US Marshall Granger, yet agents are getting in the way of Regan’s personal probing. Worse, US Marshalls believed  a mole in the FBI office had leaked information to whoever was behind all that is going on. Who is feeding intelligence to the bad guys? Who has broken into Tom’s house where Regan was sleeping? Can she defend herself against three sets of footsteps? The situation is definitely spiraling out of control. If she can stay alive long enough to find Grant, she can put the final piece of the puzzle together to understand how her young son happened to be murdered.

Allison Brennan began writing  three books a year while raising five children. She won Daphne du Maurier Awards for Best Mainstream Mystery/Suspense with Fear No Evil and Compulsion. She lives in Arizona with her family where they enjoy baseball's spring training and exploring the Grand Canyon.

My review will be posted on Goodreads starting January 16, 2023.

I would like to thank Harlequin Trade Publishing, MIRA, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in return for an objective review.

The Block Party by Jamie Day

 The Block Party is held every year on Memorial Day for the residents on Alton Road in Meadowbrook, Massachusetts, in this novel by Jamie Day coming out in July. While the party is exclusive to the Alton Road dwellers, the community Facebook page is buzzing with news as the followers talk about all the sirens they are hearing and the firetrucks they are seeing, only to learn a murder has happened for the first time in 40 years.

Alex Fox, her husband Nick, and their daughter Lettie have stepped up to organize the party this year even though it’s not their turn. However, the Adair family – Ken and Emily and their son Dylan – the Thompson family – Evan and Willow and their daughter Riley – and the Kumar family – Samir and Mandy -- along with widow Brooke Bailey have too much going on in their personal lives to pull off the party. In every house there are painful secrets that may lead to the undoing of each family.

Alex has a drinking problem, Ken has a roving eye, Evan and Willow are divorcing, Samir seems to be controlling his wife, and Brooke is under suspicion by the neighbors regarding her husband who went overboard on a cruise. If that’s not enough, Dylan and Riley have been a teen couple for some time until an older man steps into the picture drawing Riley away from Dylan.

As the day-long fling is drawing to a close, two of the husbands will end up in a confrontation, each with a gun. To complicate the delicate situation, two wives walk into the room, putting themselves at risk. One of the family’s daughters is approaching the volatile situation, and two shots are heard. What is at the core of the situation between the two men? Who will survive the altercation? Readers will be kept guessing until the last few pages of this thriller.

This is a debut novel for Jamie Day who lives in a New England town. In addition to writing, she enjoys reading, yoga, the ocean, cooking, and long walks on the beach with her children and dog.

My review will be posted on Goodreads starting January 10, 2023.

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

Woman of the Year by Darcey Bell

 

The Woman of the Year has a deadly enemy in the latest twisted novel by Darcey Bell due out in March. Lorelei Green and Holly Snopes became good friends in a college psychology seminar until a man, a professor no less, entered into Lorelei’s love life. Lorelei believes Holly carried out a scheme to win the professor for herself and gaslighted Lorelei in the process.

In the end, Holly turns against the professor and exposes his dalliances with students, costing him his career. Not only does she do the professor in, but she also causes the animal experimental lab at the college to fall in disfavor and be closed.

Whatever she did back then, 20 years later Holly is now rich and famous thanks to some profitable marriages, while Lorelei barely scrapes by living alone except for her cat. When Lorelei learns Holly is to be named Woman of the Year, she attends the gala and executes a perfect plan that embarrasses Holly.

While Lorelei’s plot is gloriously successful, she is questioned the next day by two police officers who tell her Holly is dead. Lorelei never wanted to kill Holly, she just wanted to get back at her for what Holly did to her in college. Fearing she is a suspect in the killing, Lorelei cooperates with the police who clear her conscience when they tell her how Holly was murdered.

The befallen professor has been dead for some time so Lorelei cannot imagine who else has a vendetta against Holly. Is Holly not worthy of the honor bestowed on her? Since someone else had it out for Holly, could Lorelei be next? Who is that man at the door?

Darcey Bell, a preschool teacher in Chicago, writes some wickedly warped novels. Her debut novel A Simple Favor was produced as a film starring Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick.

My review will be posted on Goodreads starting January 6, 2023.

I would like to thank Atria Books and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in return for an objective review.

Earth’s the Right Place for Love by Elizabeth Berg

Once again, Elizabeth Berg has reached into the well of fictional Mason, Missouri, which she once said was a refuge from the crazy world we live in, for the prequel to the Arthur Trulov books, called Earth’s the Right Place for Love, coming out March 21. The title is taken from the famous Robert Frost poem “Birches.”

Readers meet Arthur Moses, a shy young man, in his formative years in the late 1940s. He aches for the popular Nola McCollum, who had given him her phone number but only to pass on to his brother Frank. However, Frank has his own love interest, one that is inappropriate, and will further a deteriorating relationship with their father, an argumentative alcoholic.

When the Moses family suffers a tragic loss, all must struggle with their grief, which is especially overwhelming for Arthur as he finishes up his schooling and looks to the future. His two friends, Nola and Harvey, support him during this time. Unfortunately for him, Nola plans to get out of Mason upon graduation, putting any hope for her affection out of reach. Arthur, on the other hand, knows he will always stay in the small town he so loves.

For those who have read the Trulov books, they know how this story ends, and for those have haven’t read them, they are in for a treat where they will meet memorable characters in stories told only the way Berg tells them: with warmth, humor, and insight into people.

Elizabeth Berg is the prolific author of many bestselling novels including all of the Trulov books. Three of her books have been made into movies --  Range of Motion (2000), Open House (2003), and A Very Married Christmas (2004). She teaches writing workshops and is a popular speaker at venues around the country. She lives in Illinois.