Pam Lecky's Blog

I am delighted to welcome back to my blog, one of my favourite authors, Catherine Kullmann, to celebrate her latest release, Lord Frederick’s Return. Catherine’s Regency romances have been compared to Georgette Heyer’s novels many times. So if you love romance and meticulous attention to period detail, check out Catherine’s novels. You won’t be disappointed.

You can follow the full tour here: https://thecoffeepotbookclub.blogspot.com/2025/08/blog-tour-lord-fredericks-return-by-catherine-kullmann.html

Lord Frederick’s Return by Catherine Kullmann

Blurb:

An older hero, an enigmatic heroine and a delightfully outspoken four-year-old. Throw scandal into the mix for a gripping and tender Regency love story

August 1816. Lord Frederick Danlow returns to England after spending 18 years in India. He plans to make a home for himself and his motherless, four-year-old daughter, Ruperta. Unsure where to start, he accepts an invitation to stay at Ponsonby Place, home of Colonel Jack Ponsonby who made his fortune in India, and his daughter Susannah, the mistress of the household.

Soon Frederick finds himself in need of a governess—and a wife? The more time he spends with Susannah, the more his admiration of her deepens. Is she the woman with whom he will share his life?

He is resolved to court her, but then his younger brother Henry engulfs his family in an appalling scandal that could prevent any lady from agreeing to a connection with it. Now Frederick must support his family during this ordeal.

But what of Susannah? What will she say when she hears of the scandal? Should he, dare he offer her his heart and his hand?

Buy Link:

Universal Buy Link: https://mybook.to/Frederick

Author Bio:

Catherine Kullmann was born and educated in Dublin. Following a three-year courtship conducted mostly by letter, she moved to Germany where she lived for twenty-five years before returning to Ireland. She has worked in the Irish and New Zealand public services and in the private sector. Widowed, she has three adult sons and two grandchildren.

She has always been interested in the extended Regency period, a time when the foundations of our modern world were laid. She loves writing and is particularly interested in what happens after the first happy end—how life goes on for the protagonists and sometimes catches up with them. Her books are set against a background of the offstage, Napoleonic wars and consider in particular the situation of women trapped in a patriarchal society.

She is the author of The Murmur of Masks, Perception & Illusion, A Suggestion of Scandal, The Duke’s Regret, The Potential for Love , A Comfortable Alliance , Lady Loring’s Dilemma and The Husband Criteria.

She also blogs about historical facts and trivia related to this era. You can find out more about Catherine’s books and read the blog (My Scrap Album) at her website where you can also subscribe to her newsletter.

Author Links:

Website: http://www.catherinekullmann.com/

Twitter / X: https://twitter.com/CKullmannAuthor

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/catherinekullmannauthor

Book Bub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/catherine-kullmann

Amazon Author Page: viewauthor.at/ckullmannamazonpage

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15549457.Catherine_Kullmann

It’s publication day for Tonya Mitchell’s latest Gothic novel, Needle and Bone! Prepare to be swept into a dark, atmospheric world that grips you from the first page and doesn’t let go. Known for her wonderful prose and meticulous historical detail, Tonya once again transports us through time—with unforgettable characters, haunting suspense, and just the right dose of danger.

Congratulations to Tonya on the release of what promises to be another spellbinding read! #NeedleAndBone #GothicFiction #HistoricalThriller

Needle and Bone by Tonya Mitchell

She saw a murder. Now the ghost won’t let her forget—and the killer won’t let her live.

Philadelphia, 1841. Seventeen-year-old Annis Hargrave is running from a nightmare. She and her brother have fled New York, burdened by secrets, grief, and the cursed blue pearl that may have brought death in its wake. But the past refuses to stay buried.

Offered work as a medical illustrator by the enigmatic Dr. Thomas Mütter, Annis enters a world of surgical marvels and grotesque beauty. There, amid bottled organs and broken bodies, she begins to rebuild her shattered life—until the ghost of the girl she couldn’t save begins to appear. And the man who killed her isn’t far behind.

As bodies begin to fall and her brother is taken, Annis must descend into the eerie depths of Mütter’s surgical amphitheater—The Pit—for a final confrontation with the monster who haunts her…

Darkly atmospheric and emotionally gripping, Needle and Bone is a gothic tale of guilt, vengeance, and a girl’s fight to reclaim her soul from the shadows.

Universal Buy Link: https://geni.us/NeedleAndBone

Today, I’m delighted to host Sandro Martini for the blog tour for Ciao, Amore, Ciao, book one in the Alex Lago Series. Sandro has kindly provided an excerpt for you to enjoy (see below).

You can follow the full tour here:

https://thecoffeepotbookclub.blogspot.com/2025/07/blog-tour-ciao-amore-ciao-by-sandro-martini.html

Ciao, Amore, Ciao by Sandro Martini

Blurb:

An enthralling dual-timeline WWII family mystery, based on the heartbreaking true story of the massacre in a small town in Italy in July of 1945, from award-winning, bestselling novelist Sandro Martini.

“A gripping saga that roots excruciating betrayals in a nation’s tragic history.” –Kirkus Reviews

In the winter of 1942, an Italian army of young men vanishes in the icefields of the Eastern Front. In the summer of 1945, a massacre in Schio, northeastern Italy, where families grieve the dead, makes international headlines.

In present-day Veneto, an ordinary man is about to stumble onto a horrifying secret.

Alex Lago is a jaded journalist whose career is fading as fast as his marriage. When he discovers an aged World War II photo in his dying father’s home, and innocently posts it to a Facebook group, he gets an urgent message: Take it down. NOW.

Alex finds himself digging into a past that needs to stay hidden. What he’s about to uncover is a secret that can topple a political dynasty buried under seventy years of rubble. Suddenly entangled in a deadly legacy, he encounters the one person who can offer him redemption, for an unimaginable price.

Told from three alternating points of view, Martini’s World War II tale of intrigue, war, and heartbreak pulls the Iron Curtain back to reveal a country nursing its wounds after horrific defeat, an army of boys forever frozen at the gates of Stalingrad, British spies scheming to reshape Italy’s future, and the stinging unsolved murder of a partisan hero.

Ciao, Amore, Ciao is a gripping story of the most heroic, untold battle of the Second World War, and a brilliantly woven novel that brings the deceits of the past and the reckoning of the present together.

“Balances action, suspense, and emotional depth to deliver a truly immersive, thought-provoking read with an unflinching look at the sins of the past and the lengths to which the powerful will go to keep them buried.” ~ Sublime Book Review

Buy Link:

Universal Buy Link: https://books2read.com/u/4A6R10

This title is available to read on #KindleUnlimited.

Excerpt from Ciao, Amore, Ciao

On the wall above the bed hangs a crucifix. A relic of childhood. Mine.

I was in a hospital, in my oxygen tent, and my mom had called for a priest. Who knows where she’d found him because she always hated priests, but he’d come and stood over my bed like a vulture and said his prayers and left the crucifix behind, a talisman, I suppose, and I guess it worked because I didn’t die. But then these are my half-memories, and my mom, who would remember it all, is gone. And with her my childhood, my life before my own recollections, and maybe it’s best that it’s all gone, this yellow-tinged resin of memory of my mom taking me to a specialist and me asking to be carried in her arms, and I remember the world up there, safe in her arms, up there where the grown-ups spoke and rationalised, up there where the magic that kept me alive happened, the two vials she kept in the refrigerator now in her denim shoulder bag for the specialist to inject into my blood. Tetracycline.

And then we’d get the bus back home, me lying with my head on her lap feeling the grumble of the bus beneath the hot, clinging plastic seat, and the abstracted stroke of her fingers through my hair as the purple jacaranda trees pulsed-on by. Shadow-and-light, shadow-and-light, down into Yeoville and the promise of another afternoon without the taste of honey-wet phlegm closing down my lungs, and a radio play on Springbok Radio floating in the light of my room with those voices from far-away lands as beautiful as the fancy of a sick boy in Africa who had nothing much left but his dreams. She died and took my history with her, my mom who’d come to Africa, pregnant with my brother on that flight from Rome, a twenty-two-hour ordeal down the spine of Africa where kids would come onto the plane at each stop baring exotic foods secreted in flies before finally meeting my dad in Joburg carrying, she once told me, seven red carnations, not a word of English between them, and somehow she’d given birth to a child three months later in a hospital where the only common word between her and the doctor and the nurse was spaghetti.

“I just looked at the doctor’s face,” my mom would say. “Words don’t matter that much in the end.”

My brother. Focus, I think, licking the tears on my lips, focus on the task.

I’d removed my mom’s stuff after she died, stored them downstairs in suitcases in the garage while my dad sat on the couch in the lounge. A lifetime of work and sacrifice and all that remains now is my father’s stuff. Not much of that, either. The old shed possessions like they do dreams.

I step to the drawer and find an old shoebox from a department store in Joburg that’d gone bust back in the late-’80s. Inside are all his personal papers. Well organised. There’s a plastic pouch with all his work papers from Brazil in the ’50s, Paris and Zürich and Torino, and his original papers from Mozambique, Zambia, Rhodesia, and South Africa, where he’d arrived in the winter of 1960. Another pouch contains the rest of his papers. Bank statements, all tidily marked, and the document my brother is asking for.

I slide it out of the pouch.

Last Will & Testament.

Something slips out from the pouch and floats to the floor like tickertape. A photograph. I scoop it up. Monochrome. My father is of that generation who marked up photos on the back, but the handwriting here isn’t his.

July 1943. I leave this with you. You’ll know what to do if the time comes. And what not to do. Yours in friendship—JC.

Author Bio:

Sandro Martini has worked as a word monkey on three continents. He’s the author of Tracks: Racing the Sun, an award-winning historical novel.

Sandro grew up in Africa to immigrant parents, studied law in Italy, chased literary dreams in London, hustled American dollars in New York City, and is now hiding out in Switzerland, where he moonlights as a Comms guy and tries hard not to speak German.

You can find him either uber-driving his daughter, chasing faster cars on the autobahn, or swimming in Lake Zurich with a cockapoo named Tintin.

His latest historical suspense novel, Ciao, Amore, Ciao, is now available.

Author Links:

Website: https://www.sandro-martini-writes.com/

Twitter / X: https://x.com/MartiniAlex

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SandroMartiniWrites/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lxmartini/

Book Bub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/sandro-martini  

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/SANDRO-MARTINI/author/B00JOBZR2C

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/55190776.Sandro_Martini

Today, I’m thrilled to host my good friend, Judith Arnopp, on the blog tour for her latest release, Marguerite: Hell Hath No Fury! If you love Tudor era fiction, this book is one to look out for. Judith has very kindly provided an excerpt for you to enjoy (see below).

You can follow the full tour here:

https://thecoffeepotbookclub.blogspot.com/2025/06/blog-tour-marguerite-by-judith-arnopp.html

Marguerite: Hell Hath No Fury! by Judith Arnopp

Blurb:

Marguerite: Queen of England

From the moment Henry VI’s new queen, Marguerite of Anjou, sets foot on English soil she is despised by the English as a foreigner, and blamed for the failures of the hundred years war in France.

Her enemies impede her role as the king’s consort and when Henry sinks into apparent madness, her bid to become regent is rejected. Marguerite must fight, not only for her own position but to maintain Henry’s possession of the crown. 

The ambitious Duke, Richard of York, seizes control of the country, thrusting Marguerite aside and inflating the mutual hatred between the houses of York and Lancaster. But the queen refuses to relinquish power and fights determinedly for the rights of her son, Edward of Lancaster.

The long and bitter civil conflict, that has come to be known as the War of the Roses, commences.

Buy Link:

Universal Buy Link: https://mybook.to/mhhnf

This title is available to read on #KindleUnlimited.

Excerpt:

1443 – Having produced an heir for England, Marguerite returns to court, hoping for a warm welcome.

After an uneasy Christmas season, the new year sees the divisions at court widening and deepening. I am convinced the great fissure has grown so wide that it will never now be healed. The uneasy friendship that once existed has inflated into the blackest enmity. York is like a great chained beast that, once unleashed, will tear me to pieces. I am the Frenchwoman, the whore, and he has even begun a rumour that Prince Edward is not the king’s son. It is an easy lie to believe; one look at Henry is enough to convince any man the king is not capable of begetting a child, let alone a son.

As the day of the council meeting approaches, I prepare myself. I stand at my window and watch as the dawn slowly reveals a white sky; cold, yet showing no threat of rain or worse. I have them dress me in my finest, most regal robes, and enter the meeting to discover proceedings have already begun without me. A gentleman speaking halts mid-sentence when I enter, and all heads turn toward me. Heedless of my interruption, I take a seat hastily vacated by Warwick at the head of the table.

“Gentlemen. My apologies for my late arrival. I see my absence hasn’t delayed you.”

They bow and wait for my permission to be seated. I keep them standing for as long as I can before reluctantly indicating they may sit.

“Gentlemen,” I repeat, endowing them with a brittle smile. “My advisor and I have prepared a list of five articles for the immediate future. The king is still not completely well, his illness is lasting longer than we had hoped, but the royal physicians assure me he is showing great signs of improvement. Therefore, for a short time, the governing of the country can be safely undertaken by myself and the gentlemen listed in this document.”

York stands up, opens his mouth to interrupt, but I continue to speak, raising my voice a little, determined to make my point. In truth, several of my former supporters are uneasy; not at my ability to rule in Henry’s stead, but at the obvious effect such a move will have on the atmosphere at court, where enmities increase daily, forcing men to take sides. No man should be required to choose between the Queen and the Duke of York, whose lust for power knows no bounds. But it is York who should withdraw, not I.

In more civilised countries, the solution would be obvious. There is nobody better suited to protect the well-being of my husband and son than myself, the queen. York, however, does not agree. As soon as he can make himself heard, he snarls his dissention.

“That is ludicrous. No man in England will feel safe under the rule of a woman. As the king’s heir, it is clearly my duty…”

“But you are no longer his heir,” I interject coolly. “My son, the Prince Edward, is now heir, and I am perfectly equipped for the role of regent. My own mother ran my father’s affairs for many years …”

“The affairs of a duchy! This is England, we do things properly here. There is not a man present who will agree to such a thing.”

I swallow my fear that he might be right. He will know that my allies, given the opportunity, will completely oust him from power. I school my expression to one of supreme confidence.

“You have not even glanced at the document, my lord. Perhaps you should do so and then we can continue with the day’s business.”

He snatches the parchment from the table and scowls at it, smacks it with the back of his fingers.

“This is preposterous nonsense. She demands the rule of the country, the right to appoint all officers of the realm, including the bishoprics! As you can imagine, that would leave many of us kicking our heels in the country while she turns England into another territory of France.”

I lean forward with my brows lowered.

“I would do no such thing. I am the Queen of England; the realm, the king and his heir are of supreme importance to me. I have no loyalty to France.”

He tosses the carefully drawn paper onto the table.

“I don’t know why you took the time and trouble to have such nonsense set to parchment. There are few here who will vote in your favour. Your role as queen I will grant you, but that role requires nothing more than the production of heirs. I suggest you see if you can rouse the king enough to give you one, if indeed it was he who sired your son.”

A gasp runs around the gathering. Even I am taken aback. Buckingham stands up.

“You speak treason, York, and defame your king! I demand an apology.”

I turn my head slowly toward Buckingham; it has not escaped my notice that he speaks out in defence of the king’s virility, but fails to defend my virtue. But York, knowing he has overstepped the mark, backs down.

“Forgive me, Gentlemen, I was too hot. I beg pardon.”

Again, I do not miss that he has omitted me from his apology.

“I suppose we must take a vote on it though,” he says. He reads slowly through the list of articles, his bored voice making no secret of how he expects his adherents to vote. “Those who are for, raise your hands.”

A few hands wave in the air; those I expected to cast in my favour.

“Those against?”

A bristling of fingers, as aggressive as spears, puts an end to my aspirations as Protector. Sickness washes over me, hatred and frustration that lies in my belly as bitter as poison. Without speaking, I stand up and quit the company and, as I hurry away, the sound of their derision follows me, the cruel masculine ridicule for a woman who has attempted to step from her allotted place.

God damn them all.

Author Bio:

A lifelong history enthusiast and avid reader, Judith holds a BA in English / Creative Writing and a Masters in Medieval Studies. She lives on the coast of West Wales where she writes both fiction and non-fiction. She is best known for her novels set in the Medieval and Tudor period, focussing on the perspective of historical women but recently she has written a trilogy from the perspective of Henry VIII himself.

Judith is also a founder member of a re-enactment group called The Fyne Companye of Cambria which is when and why she began to experiment with sewing historical garments. She now makes clothes and accessories both for the group and others. She is not a professionally trained sewer but through trial, error and determination has learned how to make authentic looking, if not strictly historically accurate clothing. A non-fiction book about Tudor clothing, How to Dress like a Tudor, was published in 2023 by Pen and Sword.

She runs a small seaside holiday let in Aberporth and when she has time for fun, likes to garden and restore antique doll’s houses. You can find her on most social media platforms.

Her novels include:

A Song of Sixpence: the story of Elizabeth of York

The Beaufort Chronicle: the life of Lady Margaret Beaufort (three book series)

The Henrician Chronicle: comprising of:

A Matter of Conscience: Henry VIII, the Aragon Years (Book One of The Henrician Chronicle)

A Matter of Faith: Henry VIII, the Days of the Phoenix (Book Two of The Henrician Chronicle)

A Matter of Time: Henry VIII, the Dying of the Light (Book Three of The Henrician Chronicle)

The Kiss of the Concubine: a story of Anne Boleyn

The Winchester Goose: at the court of Henry VIII

Intractable Heart: the story of Katheryn Parr

Sisters of Arden: on the Pilgrimage of Grace

The Heretic Wind: the life of Mary Tudor, Queen of England

Peaceweaver

The Forest Dwellers

The Song of Heledd

The Book of Thornhold

A Daughter of Warwick: the story of Anne Neville, Queen of Richard III

Marguerite: Hell Hath no Fury!

Author Links:

Website: http://www.judithmarnopp.com/

Blog: http://www.juditharnoppnovelist.blogspot.co.uk/

Twitter / X: https://twitter.com/JudithArnopp

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thetudorworldofjuditharnopp

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tudor_juditharnopp/

Threads: https://www.threads.net/@tudor_juditharnopp

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/jarnopp.bsky.social

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/jarnopp/

Book Bub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/judith-arnopp

Amazon Author Page: http://author.to/juditharnoppbooks

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4088659.Judith_Arnopp

Today, I am delighted to host Allie Cresswell for the spotlight tour for her new release, The Standing Stone on the Moor.

You can follow the full tour here:

https://thecoffeepotbookclub.blogspot.com/2025/05/blog-tour-the-standing-stone-on-moor-by-allie-cresswell.html

The Standing Stone on the Moor by Allie CresswellYorkshire, 1845.

Folklore whispers that they used to burn witches at the standing stone on the moor. When the wind is easterly, it wails a strange lament. History declares it was placed as a marker, visible for miles—a signpost for the lost, directing them towards home.

Forced from their homeland by the potato famine, a group of itinerant Irish refugees sets up camp by the stone. They are met with suspicion by the locals, branded as ‘thieves and ne’er-do-wells.’ Only Beth Harlish takes pity on them, and finds herself instantly attracted to Ruairi, their charismatic leader.

Beth is the steward of nearby manor Tall Chimneys—a thankless task as the owners never visit. An educated young woman, Beth feels restless, like she doesn’t belong. But somehow ‘home’—the old house, the moor and the standing stone—exerts an uncanny magnetism. Thus Ruairi’s great sacrifice—deserting his beloved Irish homestead to save his family—resonates strongly with her.

Could she leave her home to be with him? Will he even ask her to?

As she struggles with her feelings, things take a sinister turn. The peaceable village is threatened by shrouded men crossing the moor at night, smuggling contraband from the coast. Worse, the exotic dancing of a sultry-eyed Irishwoman has local men in a feverish grip. Their womenfolk begin to mutter about spells and witchcraft. And burning.

The Irish refugees must move on, and quickly. Will Beth choose an itinerant life with Ruairi? Or will the power of ‘home’ be too strong?

Buy Links:

Universal Buy Link: https://books2read.com/u/b5P5pG

Author’s Website: www.allie-Cresswell.com

Author Bio:

Allie has been writing fiction since she could hold a pencil. She has a BA and an MA in English Literature, specialising in the classics of the nineteenth century.

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She has been a print-buyer, a pub landlady, a bookkeeper and the owner of a group of boutique holiday cottage but nowadays she writes full time.

She has two grown up children, five grandchildren and two cockapoos but just one husband, Tim. They live in the remote northwest of the UK.

The Standing Stone on the Moor is her sixteenth novel.

Author Links:

Website: https://www.allie-cresswell.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alliecresswell

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/allienovelist/

Threads: https://www.threads.com/@allienovelist

Book Bub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/allie-cresswell

Amazon Author Page: https://amzn.to/3GAaPXw

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6457033.Allie_Cresswell

Today, I’m delighted to host Julie McDonald Zander for the Coffee Pot Book Club Spotlight Tour for her novel, Shattered Peace: A Century of Silence.

You can follow the full tour here:

https://thecoffeepotbookclub.blogspot.com/2025/06/blog-tour-shattered-peace-by-julie-mcdonald-zander.html

Book Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nlh5nXX9bv8

Shattered Peace: A Century of Silence by Julie McDonald Zander

Blurb:

A forgotten diary. A century-old secret. A town still haunted by its past.

When former Navy Seabee Colleen Holmes inherits an old house in Centralia, Washington, she sees it as a chance to escape her own ghosts and start anew. But as she peels back layers of history within the home’s walls, she unearths long-buried secrets tied to a dark chapter in the town’s history.

Hidden behind crumbling plaster, a faded diary and a bundle of love letters unveil the struggles of a soldier trapped in the trenches of France and the heartbreak of those left waiting at home. Yet the diary’s brittle pages hold more than just longing—they bear witness to the explosive events of November 11, 1919, when a parade meant to celebrate peace erupted into violence and bloodshed.

As Colleen pieces together the tragic choices that shattered lives and fractured a town, she realizes history is never truly buried. The wounds of yesterday still shape today, and the past is not done with her yet.

Inspired by true events, Shattered Peace is a gripping time-slip novel of love, loss, and the echoes of history that refuse to fade. Perfect for fans of The Alice Network and The Girl You Left Behind, this haunting tale of resilience, redemption, and the pursuit of truth will linger long after the final page.

Buy Link:

Universal Buy Link: https://books2read.com/u/4AyWBp

Author Bio:

Julie McDonald Zander, an award-winning journalist, earned a bachelor’s degree in communications and political science from the University of Washington before working two decades as a newspaper reporter and editor. Through her personal history company, Chapters of Life, she has published more than 75 individual, family, and community histories.

Her debut novel, The Reluctant Pioneer, won a Will Rogers Medallion and was a finalist for the Western Writers of America’s Spur Award for Best Historical Novel.

She and her husband live in the Pacific Northwest, where they raised their two children. 

Author Links:

Website:  https://maczander.com/ which takes you to https://mczander2024.ag-sites.net/index.htm

Twitter / X:  https://x.com/MacZanderAuthor and    https://x.com/ChaptersofLife

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61563140294856

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/juliemcdonaldzander/?hl=en

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/mczander.bsky.social

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/maczanderauthor/

Book Bub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/julie-mcdonald-zander

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@maczanderauthor?lang=en

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Julie-McDonald-Zander/author/B001K8VG86

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5856830.Julie_McDonald_Zander

Today, I am delighted to host the spotlight tour for FATE: Tales of History, Mystery and Magic. The anthology features stories by some fabulous historical fiction authors, namely: Annie Whitehead, Jean Gill, Marian L Thorpe, Helen Hollick, Alison Morton, Elizabeth St.John, R. Marsden, Anna Belfrage, J. P Reedman, and Debbie Young.

With an introduction by Cathie Dunn and endword by Helen Hollick

You can follow the full tour here:

https://thecoffeepotbookclub.blogspot.com/2025/05/blog-tour-fate-tales-of-history-mystery-and-magic.html

If you had a crystal ball to predict what lay ahead, would you be tempted to use it? Or would you leave the future to the turn of Fate?

Tales of Variety. Tales of History, Mystery and Magic – some comprising just one of these popular fiction genres, others, a mild mixture of all three. Perhaps you prefer historical fiction rather than a story about magic or fantasy? Maybe you enjoy exploring new themes or prefer sticking to the familiar? Historical fiction can often inform, imparting knowledge of the past, of its events and its people. Stories of mystery exercise the ‘little grey cells’ as Poirot would say, while fantasy and magic create new worlds and awed wonder.

Whatever result, this is where anthologies come into their own, and where short stories are often appreciated as enjoyable, entertaining, quick or easy reads shown through the eyes of a variety of extraordinary characters and situations. In this instance: an Anglo-Saxon woman facing the consequence of conquest, the pursuit of alchemy, the concern of a mother for her daughter, the shifting of time, the necessity of hidden identity, souls who will linger as ghosts, a warning from the supernatural, the necessity for (justifiable?) revenge. All mingled with the rekindling of romance through a mutual quest, and the preparations for a Cotswold village celebration. (Along with a good tip if illicitly snaffling cakes.)

The binding theme? Destiny… Kismet… FATE!

Book Trailer:

Buy Link:

Universal Buy Link: https://mybook.to/FateAnthology

This title is available to read on #KindleUnlimited.

Author Bios:

BRAMBLE CREEP BY ANNIE WHITEHEAD

When the Normans arrive at a peaceful Anglo-Saxon village, do the women, children and old men submit… or fight?

ABOUT ANNIE:

Annie Whitehead is a prize-winning writer, historian, and Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, and has written four award-winning novels set in ‘Anglo-Saxon’ Mercia. She has contributed to fiction and nonfiction anthologies and written for various magazines. She has twice been a prize winner in the Mail on Sunday Novel Writing Competition, and won First Prize in the 2012 New Writer Magazine’s Prose and Poetry Competition. She has been a finalist in the Tom Howard Prize for nonfiction and was shortlisted for the Exeter Story Prize and Trisha Ashley Award 2021. She was the winner of the inaugural Historical Writers’ Association (HWA)/Dorothy Dunnett Prize 2017 and was subsequently a judge for that same competition. She has also been a judge for the HNS (Historical Novel Society) Short Story Competition, and was a 2024 judge for the HWA Crown Nonfiction Award.

Her nonfiction books are Mercia: The Rise and Fall of a Kingdom and Women of Power in Anglo-Saxon England. In 2023 she contributed to a new history of English monarchs, published by Hodder & Stoughton, and in February 2025 Murder in Anglo-Saxon England was published by Amberley Books.

Website: https://anniewhiteheadauthor.co.uk/

Amazon Author Page: http://viewauthor.at/Annie-Whitehead

SIX POMEGRANATE SEEDS BY JEAN GILL

A daughter’s dream can be a mother’s nightmare.

ABOUT JEAN:

Jean Gill is an award-winning Welsh writer and photographer living in the south of France with a scruffy dog, a beehive named ‘Endeavour’, a Nikon D750 and a man. First published in 1988, her twenty-six books are varied in genre, including novels, memoir, military history, dog books, poetry, and a cookery book on goat cheese. With Scottish parents, an English birthplace and French residence, she can usually support the winning team on most sporting occasions. She taught English for many years and was the first woman to be a comprehensive school headteacher in Dyfed, Wales. Life has been hectic as she is also mother or stepmother to five children.

Website: www.jeangill.com

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/author/jeangill

ONE BLACK DOG BY MARIAN L THORPE

A warning of Fate, or simply too much beer and a tale well told?

ABOUT MARIAN:

A dual Canadian/British citizen who divides her year between Ontario, Canada, and Norfolk, UK, Marian published the first of her eight-book Empire’s Legacy series, historically-inspired speculative fiction, in 2015. The series is set in a world ‘on the edge of history’: reminiscent of Britain, Northern Europe, and Rome in the latter centuries of the first millennium, but a world where society evolved differently after the Eastern Empire left; a world where one young fisherwoman answers her leader’s call to defend her country, beginning a journey into uncharted territory.

Amazon Author Page: https://relinks.me/MarianLThorpe

IN THE SHADOW OF GHOSTS BY HELEN HOLLICK

Does the fate of those who survive linger forever?

ABOUT HELEN:

Known for her captivating storytelling and rich attention to historical detail, Helen’s historical fiction, nautical adventure series, cosy mysteries – and her short stories – skilfully invite readers to step into worlds where the boundaries between fact and  fiction blend together. Helen started writing as a teenager, but after discovering a passion for history, was initially published in 1993 in the UK with her Arthurian Pendragon’s Banner Trilogy and two Anglo-Saxon novels about the events that led to the 1066 Battle of Hastings, one of which, The Forever Queen (USA title – A Hollow Crown in the UK) became a USA Today best-seller. Her Sea Witch Voyages are nautical-based adventures inspired by the Golden Age of Piracy. She also writes the Jan Christopher cosy mystery series set during the 1970s, and based around her, sometimes hilarious, years of working as a North London library assistant. Her 2025 release is Ghost Encounters, a book about the ghosts of North Devon.

Helen and her family moved from London to Devon after a Lottery win on the opening night of the London Olympics, 2012. She spends her time glowering at the overgrown garden, fending off the geese, helping with the horses and wishing the friendly, resident ghosts would occasionally help with the housework…

Website: https://helenhollick.net/

Amazon Author Page: https://viewauthor.at/HelenHollick

A FATEFUL ENCOUNTER BY ALISON MORTON

When time turns in the wrong direction, fate will always step in…

ABOUT ALISON:

Alison Morton writes award-winning thrillers featuring tough but compassionate heroines. Her eleven-book Roma Nova thriller series is set in an imaginary European country where a remnant of the ancient Roman Empire has survived into the 21st century and is ruled by women who face conspiracy, revolution and heartache but with a sharp line in dialogue.

Six years’ military service, a fascination with ancient Rome and a life of reading crime, historical and thriller fiction have inspired her writing. On the way, she collected a BA in modern languages and an MA in history. She lives in Poitou in France, the home of Mélisende, the heroine of her latest three contemporary thrillers, Double Identity, Double Pursuit, and Double Stakes.

Website: https://www.alison-morton.com

Amazon Author Page: https://Author.to/AlisonMortonAmazon

FOLLOWING FATE BY ELIZABETH ST.JOHN

A Lost Portrait, a Hidden Conspiracy, and a Second Chance at Love

ABOUT ELIZABETH:

Elizabeth St.John’s acclaimed historical fiction brings to life her ancestors – remarkable women linked to England’s royalty – offering unique insights into Medieval, Tudor, and Stuart times. Inspired by family archives and historic sites like Lydiard Park and the Tower of London, her novels include The Lydiard Chronicles, The Godmother’s Secret, and The King’s Intelligencer, exploring the English Civil War and the mystery of the Princes in the Tower.

Website: www.elizabethjstjohn.com

Amazon Author Page: https://geni.us/AmazonElizabethStJohn

THE BLACK ONYX BOX BY R. MARSDEN

The Bluffer’s Guide to Becoming a Famous Alchemist

ABOUT R. MARSDEN:

R. Marsden is an author and musician, passionate about the Middle Ages. He plays the gittern, a beautiful medieval stringed instrument, ancestor of the guitar; and a thirteenth century recorder, a replica of one which was excavated from medieval ruins in modern-day Poland. He also plays the piano, and there’s nothing medieval about that!

Tales of Castle Rory are Medieval Fantasy Adventures, in which the demesne of Lord Rory of Hambrig is brought to life. Set in the latter part of the thirteenth century, these stories have adventure, mystery and magic at their heart. You’ll also find relationships, romance, friendship and the forging and breaking of ties between people and nations. Running through the Tales are themes of family, loyalty, trust and resilience, together with the other sides of those coins: abandonment, betrayal, loss and disempowerment.

Website: https://talesofcastlerory.co.uk/

Amazon Author Page: https://mybook.to/TalesOfCastleRory

BEWARE THE CROWS BY ANNA BELFRAGE

Beware the consequences of hatred. Revenge can take many forms…

ABOUT ANNA:

Had Anna been allowed to choose, she’d have become a time-traveller. As this was impossible, she became a financial professional with three absorbing interests: history, romance and writing. Anna has authored the acclaimed time travelling series The Graham Saga, set in 17th century Scotland and Maryland, as well as the equally acclaimed medieval series The King’s Greatest Enemy which is set in 14th century England, and The Castilian Saga, which is set against the medieval conquest of Wales. She has also published a time travel romance, The Whirlpools of Time, and its sequel Times of Turmoil,  and is now considering just how to wiggle out of setting the next book in that series in Peter the Great’s Russia, as her characters are demanding. . .

All of Anna’s books have been awarded the IndieBRAG Medallion, she has several Historical Novel Society Editor’s Choices, and one of her books won the HNS Indie Award in 2015. She is also the proud recipient of various Reader’s Favourite medals as well as having won various Gold, Silver and Bronze Coffee Pot Book Club awards.

Website: www.annabelfrage.com 

Amazon Author Page: http://Author.to/ABG

DAME FORTUNE’S WHEEL BY J.P. REEDMAN

Fate can be in the hands of others – or held within your own…

ABOUT J.P. REEDMAN:

J.P. Reedman lives in Wiltshire near to Stonehenge. Born in Canada, she has had a lifelong interest in ancient and medieval history, and is often found lurking around prehistoric sites, ruined castles and abbeys, and interesting churches with camera in hand. She became a full-time writer in 2018. Series include  I, Richard Plantagenet, five books chronicling Richard’s life from childhood to Bosworth, and Medieval Babes, a set of standalone novels about lesser-known medieval queens and noblewomen.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IRichardPlantagenet/

Amazon Author Page:  author.to/REEDMANHISTFIC

SAINTS ALIVE BY DEBBIE YOUNG

When children are not quite the saints we’d like them to be!

ABOUT DEBBIE YOUNG:

Debbie Young is the author of three series of cosy mystery novels set in the Cotswolds. The Sophie Sayers series starts with Best Murder in Show; the Gemma Lamb series begins with Dastardly Deeds at St Bride’s; and the Cotswold Curiosity Shop series kicks off with Death at the Old Curiosity Shop. She sometimes sends characters from one series to visit those in another. She also writes short fiction, not all of it crime-related, set in the same world, eg Christmas with Sophie Sayers. Her novels are published by Boldwood Books in English, by DP Verlag in German, and by Antonio Vallardi in Italian. She has recently written her first murder mystery play for performance by her village amateur dramatic group. She is a frequent speaker at events for writers and readers, a course tutor for Jericho Writers, and the founder and director of the Hawkesbury Upton Literature Festival. She lives in a Victorian cottage with her Scottish husband, her student daughter, and three cats, and she writes in a little hut at the bottom of her garden.

Website: www.authordebbieyoung.com

Links to buy Debbie’s books: https://authordebbieyoung.com/books-2/

To celebrate her 5 year book anniversary, I’m delighted to host Samantha Wilcoxson for the spotlight tour for Luminous, the fascinating story of the radium girl.

You can follow the full tour here:

https://thecoffeepotbookclub.blogspot.com/2025/05/blog-tour-luminous-by-samantha-wilcoxson.html

Luminous: The Story of a Radium Girl by Samantha Wilcoxson

Audio narration by Joanne Joyce

Blurb:

Tragic true story of a radium girl

Catherine’s life is set on an unexpected course when she accepts a job at Radium Dial. The dial painters forge friendships and enjoy their work but soon discover that an evil secret lurks in the magical glow-in-the-dark paint. When she and her friends start falling ill, Catherine Donohoe takes on the might of a big corporation and becomes an early pioneer of social justice in the era between world wars.

Emotive and inspiring – this book will touch you like no other as you witness the devastating impact of radium poisoning on young women’s lives.

It’s too late for me, but maybe it will help some of the others.

~ Catherine Wolfe Donohue

Buy Link:

Universal Buy Link: https://mybook.to/luminous

This title is available to read on #KindleUnlimited.

Author Bio:

Writer, history enthusiast, and sufferer of wanderlust, Samantha enjoys exploring the lives of historical figures through research and travel. She strives to reveal the deep emotions and motivations of historical figures, enabling readers to connect with them in a unique way. Samantha is an American writer with British roots and proud mother of three amazing young adults. She can frequently be found lakeside with a book in one hand and glass of wine in the other.

Samantha’s most recent release is a biography of James Alexander Hamilton published by Pen & Sword History. She is currently writing a trilogy set during the Wars of the Roses for Sapere Books.

Author Links:

Website: www.samanthawilcoxson.com

Twitter / X: https://twitter.com/carpe_librum

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PlantagenetEmbers/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/samantha_wilcoxson

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/samantha_wilcoxson/

Book Bub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/samantha-wilcoxson

Amazon Author Page: https://amazon.com/author/samanthawilcoxson

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/samanthajw

Many congratulations to my fellow Irish historical fiction author, Susie, on her new release – A Class Liberated, book seven in her fabulous Irish historical saga series.

A Class Liberated Blurb

Freedom may be within their grasp…

As the devastation of the potato blight continues, Cormac and Bridget grapple with their dual roles at Bewley Hall in England and Oakleigh Manor in Ireland. In their quest to alleviate the suffering of the Irish people, their charitable endeavours face both success and violence.

Meanwhile, tensions mount within their own family when Cormac’s nephew, Patrick, struggles with a shocking revelation. In the midst of his anguish, he lashes out, setting off a chain of events that will have far-reaching consequences.

As the family navigate personal and collective challenges, can Cormac and Bridget guide them through the turmoil? And will they finally secure the freedom they’ve longed for?

A Class Liberated is the seventh book in Susie Murphy’s historical fiction series A Matter of Class. The story will continue in the eighth book, A Class Divided.

Susie Murphy Author Bio

Susie Murphy is an Irish historical fiction author. She loves historical fiction so much that she often wishes she had been born two hundred years ago. Still, she remains grateful for many aspects of the modern age, including women’s suffrage, electric showers and pizza. Susie has published seven novels in her A Matter of Class series, a sweeping romance saga which begins in Ireland in 1828.

To find out more, visit www.susiemurphywrites.com where you can join the Susie Murphy Readers’ Club and receive a collection of six free short stories which tie in with A Matter of Class.

Purchase links

Susie’s website: www.susiemurphywrites.com/shop (currently available)Amazon: https://mybook.to/aclassliberated (available from 31st May)

I am delighted today to host fellow Irish historical fiction author, Susan Lanigan, for the book blog tour for her novel, White Feathers. Susan has kindly provided an excerpt for your enjoyment (please see below).

You can follow the full tour here:

https://thecoffeepotbookclub.blogspot.com/2025/04/blog-tour-white-feathers-by-susan-lanigan.html

White Feathers by Susan Lanigan

Blurb:

“Anti-war and anti-patriarchy without ever saying so – a bravura performance of effortless elegance” – Irish Echo in Australia

SHORTLISTED FOR THE ROMANTIC NOVEL OF THE YEAR AWARD 2015

In 1913, Irish emigrée Eva Downey receives a bequest from an elderly suffragette to attend a finishing school. There she finds friendship and, eventually, love. But when war looms and he refuses to enlist, Eva is under family and social pressure to give the man she loves a white feather of cowardice. The decision she eventually makes will have lasting consequences for her and everyone around her.

Journey with Eva as she battles through a hostile social order and endeavours to resist it at every turn.

Buy Link:

Universal Buy Link: https://books2read.com/u/4APnB0

Excerpt: The Pigeon Van Scene

Late July, 1916. Eva’s friend Sybil Faugharne and her companion Roma Feilding are on a mission to drive a van full of pigeons northwards to Belgium. They encounter the front line.

‘You wanted to see what it was like,’ Roma said. ‘Well, here it is.’

‘Heavens,’ Sybil said, shocked, ‘there’s not even a blade of grass.’

She was right: no grass, nor any leaves on the trees, which were barely trees at all, merely stumps. No life, not even the song of a bird. Swathes of land churned, dead, bleak, like the surface of the moon seen through a telescope, full of craters and holes. Barbed wire on sticks, stretching on for miles and miles. The light hitting colourless land, and the tormented, broken ground absorbing it all.

They were approaching the front line.

‘Shall I close the window?’ Roma said. She was sitting on the right-hand passenger seat.

‘Oh, do!’ said Sybil heartily. ‘It stinks.’

Roma only shuddered in reply and wound up the window. The overlying odours were cordite, cresol, ammonia, sewage. But the underlying odour was death, on a mass scale. It hit their nostrils and nearly burned them out it was so rank. Even with the windows closed, Sybil couldn’t stop coughing.

‘Can you keep quiet, please?’ snapped Major Arnold Stephens from behind the wheel. ‘I’m trying to drive a van full of ruddy pigeons here.’ As if to corroborate his irritation, some of the birds set to squawking. Stephens had been charged with conveying an assignment of messenger pigeons from Lieutenant Colonel Osman in the Home Office to the front line at Nieuwpoort. Osman was a notorious pigeon-fancier, and his idée fixe about employing pigeons in the war effort had begun to pay off, with officers noting approvingly that the little buggers appeared impervious to mustard gas and were not hampered in carrying messages by the shelling of communication trenches.

Although Sybil and Roma rarely went on driving missions, and most of these involved the transportation of the sick and wounded from various requisitioned chateaux around the area to safety at Dunkirk and beyond, they had been roped in to help with unloading the cages. Their vehicle was a supply truck, painted in camouflage, to which was attached a van the size of a wagon, and on top of that again the cages of pigeons. The whole thing looked like a top-heavy, triple-decker bus.

Apart from the pleasant diversion of having Roma’s leg smack bang next to hers (Sybil was no longer under any illusion as to what drove her to follow this girl wherever she went), the journey was a little frightening, and very tedious. The van moved at an excruciatingly slow speed and had already stopped several times. The major insisted that neither Sybil nor Roma be involved in fixing any of the mechanical problems – that was men’s work. ‘Men’s work’ had got them the fifteen miles from Dunkirk to the Belgian border – in just over three hours.

Further, Major Stephens’ conversation was as constant as it was dull. He shared details of his occupation as an artillery observer that nobody had requested. It was all to do with calculations and indirect fire and something called an azimuth, which sounded to Sybil like nothing more than an angel of Satan. As he droned on, Roma nudged her, and Sybil looked down at the seemingly disorganised cluster of notes on her lap. She had written: ‘His MO appears to be a Battery of Boredom: from it, he will fire six-inch howitzer shells of Pure Monotony, followed by a rapid machine-gun fire of Interminable Facts until the Germans will scream for mercy – anything, anything but to have to listen to this man for a moment longer!’

Sybil had to stuff her knuckles in her mouth not to laugh out loud; she ended up snorting the laugh through her nose and sounding like a pig, which made Roma laugh too.

‘I don’t know what they’re doing, letting giggling society girls out on a dangerous mission like this,’ said Stephens primly.

As if in agreement, the sky in the distance lit up with a shell. Stephens braked violently, and half the cages lurched to the right. Behind the partition, the pigeons squawked with distress.

There’ll be enough white feathers in there, Sybil thought to herself, to shame a whole army. That reminded her: she had not managed to answer Eva’s letter yet, because it had arrived at the same time as a far less welcome communication from Clive. Viscount Faugharne had written to tell Sybil that he wanted a divorce. Her licentious behaviour, abuse of his finances and refusal to perform the services ‘befitting a viscount’s wife’, whatever that meant, had decided him.

‘Since you have effectively deserted me for a bit of wartime spills and thrills,’ he wrote, ‘I cannot serve you papers. It would be too dangerous for my lawyers to chase after you. But I have instructed my man Markham to have our London property cleared of all your things.’

It was a poorly written screed, blots of ink everywhere. Clive liked writing even less than she did, that was for sure. But divorce was very hard for a woman to shake off. And ‘licentious behaviour’? Was Clive talking about Roma’s motorbike? Because she hadn’t been keeping that sort of company with anyone else.

‘No great loss,’ she murmured aloud, just as the vehicle came to yet another shuddering halt.

‘What now?’ Roma asked Stephens, not hiding her irritation.

‘“What now” is that I have to point Percy at the porcelain,’ he said, closing the van door and disappearing around the side.

‘Vulgar fellow,’ Sybil muttered.

‘Sybil,’ Roma said, her eyes suddenly beseeching, ‘do you think—?’

They were interrupted by a WHEEEEE! then a dull thud and a sudden uprising of light on the road ahead. Carts, vans and horses scattered, people dashed about like ants.

Instinctively, Sybil grabbed Roma and flattened them both against the van seat, Roma grunting as her tailbone hit the gearbox.

After a few seconds, Sybil cautiously lifted her head.

‘Another one!’ cried Roma beneath her as a high note tore through the sky, descending in pitch… and then another, right next to them. An explosion sucking all the air and sound, abrupt as a full stop.

‘Where the hell is Stephens?’ Sybil wondered. ‘I hope that last one didn’t get him.’ She sighed and pulled herself up until she was kneeling on the seat. ‘I’d better go see he’s all right. Old Fritz seems to have taken a break for the moment.’

She did not see immediately, and then she did.

He … Major Arnold Stephens … was lying flat on his back several yards away from the van, his chest blown open by the shell, ragged ends of ribcage sticking up. A black space where his internal organs had been blown out, half the intestines remaining, half in a bloody mess around him. The entirety of his innards, from neck to groin, open to public view. His face just about left intact, though part of his left jawbone had gone.

Sybil had never before seen the kind of injuries from which there could definitely be no recovery. She struggled not to be sick. Her teeth were chattering in her head. ‘I’m not a society girl,’ she addressed the mangled corpse, somewhat hysterically. ‘I’m going to be divorced. So now you know.’

Author Bio:

Susan Lanigan’s first novel White Feathers, a tale of passion, betrayal and war, was selected as one of the final ten in the Irish Writers Centre Novel Fair 2013, and published in 2014 by Brandon Books. The book won critical acclaim and was shortlisted for the UK Romantic Novel of the Year Award in 2015. This edition is a reissue with a new cover and foreword.

Her second novel, Lucia’s War, also concerning WWI as well as race, music and motherhood, was published in June 2020 and has been named as the Coffee Pot Book Club Honourable Mention in the Modern Historical Book of the Year Award.

Susan lives by the sea near Cork, Ireland, with her family.

Author Links:

Website: https://susanlanigan.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100028262426042

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/susanlanigan_books/

Threads: https://www.threads.net/@susan_lanigan

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/susanlanigan.bsky.social

Book Bub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/susan-lanigan

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/author/B00MTKLNLO

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4181196.Susan_Lanigan