Library of Light and Shadow, M.J. Rose

It is 1925 and post war New York is a glamourous place. Gifted young artist Delphine Duplessi, a favourite on the society party circuit is known for her ‘shadow paintings’ portraits that lay bare the subject’s darkest secrets. Delphine herself has a secret; her talent is enhanced by powers passed down through the Duplessi line. When her ‘gift’ leads to tragic consequences, Delphine, along with her twin brother and business manager Sebastian sail back to France. Back home Delphine tries to heal, her mother, legendary witch La Lune tries to help her, whilst Sebastian does his best to lure her back to painting again.

Sebastian springs a commission on her, Emma Calve, former opera singer and now owner of a Chateau that has links to alchemist Nicolas Flamel, wants to hire Delphine to ‘shadow paint’ the building and reveal the secrets that Flamel allegedly hid there in the Library of Light and Shadow.

And Delphine is hiding something, someone else from her family, her ex-lover Mathieu. The daughters of La Lune are cursed by love but her love for this man may destroy them both. 

The Boy Who Saw, Simon Toyne

Second in the Solomon Creed series.

With less than a month until the French elections, the mysterious Solomon Creed arrives in the small town of Cordes-sur-Ciel looking for Josef Engel, the tailor who sewed the label "Made to treasure for Mr. Solomon Creed." into his jacket. If anyone knows more about his identity it will be Engel.

What he finds is Engel's bloody corpse and the police, who found Solomon at the scene, are quick to lock him up as the murderer. During his interrogation Solomon learns that the killer was seeking a list, possibly tied to the survivors of a notorious Nazi prison camp massacre at the end of WWII. Reasoning that Engel's surviving family could still be in danger. Solomon escapes custody, taking Marie-Claude, Engel's grand-daughter and her young son Leo with him. Marie-Claude has been researching her family history (even though Engel expressly forbade her to do so) and she has learned the location of the prison camp in which her grandfather was held, Mulhouse, close to the German/Swiss border. but she cannot suspect the terrible secret hidden at the camp for all these years. A secret wound around someone who looks a lot like Solomon Creed...

Watch Me Disappear, Janelle Brown

It’s been a year since Billie Flanagan went missing, hiking alone in the Desolation Wilderness. They never found her body but her busted up cellphone and single hiking boot tell the story. Billie, the force of nature that swept Jonathan off his feet and into a proposal of marriage just six weeks after meeting her is dead.

Their daughter, Olive has started having ‘visions’ of her mother and her conclusion is that Billie is still alive somewhere, maybe being held against her will. Jonathan, now writing a book of his life with Billie and just about coming to terms with her absence tries to discourage Olive’s attempts to locate her missing mom. And then, a chance comment from one of Billie’s best friends makes him wonder if he really knew his wife at all. If he built a story around her to protect himself and keep their family together and he starts to dig…

Ten Dead Comedians, Fred Van Lente

Ten stand-up comedians, a once-in-a-lifetime collaboration too good to ignore on a luxury private island and a killer, picking them off one-by-one. A sly homage to Agatha Christie's 'And Then There Were None', with monologues.

If We Were Villains, M.L. Rio

This comes under the heading of 'how the hell did I miss this?'

M.L. Rio's debut novel (published in April) landed in my lap last week.

I loved the almost claustrophobic feel of the conservatory, the small group of fourth year students almost felt a little Hogwarts-y to me and the careful unfolding of the story kept me riveted.

Here's the review

Theater, in the right hands can be magical, casting a spell on the audience, the actors performing a personal alchemy to become any character you can imagine. Ten years ago Oliver Marks (our narrator), a student, in his final year at Dellecher Classical Conservatory where the not so simple act of completing four years of Shakespearean training guarantees their graduates a place in any of the best acting companies in the world. The pressure is ramping up on everyone closeted in the 'the tower'. Apart from Oliver, the others are James, Meredith, Richard, Alexander, Fillipa and Wren. The seven speak a kind of pigeon Shakespeare and live and breath the bard. On the opening night of 'Julius Caesar' the wrap party becomes a tragedy all its own and formerly good-natured rivalries spill over into violence.

Child, Fiona Barton

The Daily Post is downsizing, more online content, less staff. Kate Waters needs a good story to cement her 'star reporter' status and finding 'baby Alice' might do it.

'Alice' was taken from her hospital crib back in the 1970's and never found. Now a tiny skeleton has surfaced on an east London building site in Howard Street. Kate, saddled with a cub reporter sets about tracking down the story that she can 'feel' is there. Along with the rest of the public lapping up the growing headlines are three women who are connected to the missing infant; one in ways she could never have imagined. Kate is sure she's got a scoop but a chance encounter with a former Howard Street tenant spins the story into something else entirely and then the DNA test results come back...

N.B This is the second novel featuring journalist Kate Waters.

I'm so excited!

The official launch party for Case of Espionage happens this Tuesday 27th June. The overall positive reaction to the book has blown me away. As many writers will tell you after being alone with the story for so long (even after editing and beta reading) you begin to doubt that it's any good. I've had demands for a sequel (which I'm already working on)

Here's a link to the event details.
http://www.kingsenglish.com/event/paula-longhurst-case-espionage

We'll be live streaming the event on my author page on FaceBook too.
https://www.facebook.com/Paula-Longhurst-Writer-999348343451441/?ref=aymt_homepage_panel




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