Review: The Virgin of the Wind Rose by Glen Craney

While investigating the murder of an American missionary in Ethiopia, rookie State Department lawyer Jaqueline Quartermane becomes obsessed with a magical word square found inside an underground church guarding the tomb of the biblical Adam. Drawn into a web of esoteric intrigue, she and a roguish antiquities thief named Elymas must race an elusive and taunting mastermind to find the one relic needed to resurrect Solomon's Temple. A trail of cabalistic clues leads them to the catacombs of Rome, the crypt below Chartres Cathedral, a Masonic shaft in Nova Scotia, a Portuguese shipwreck off Sumatra, and the caverns under the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Intertwined with this modern mystery-thriller, a parallel duel is waged: The year is 1452. One of the most secretive societies in history, Portugal's Order of Christ, is led by a reclusive visionary, Prince Henry the Navigator. He and his medieval version of NASA merged with the CIA scheme to foil their archenemies, the Inquisitor Torquemada and Queen Isabella of Castile, who plan to bring back Christ for the Last Judgment by ridding the world of Jews, heretics, and unbelievers. Separated by half a millennium, two conspiracies to usher in the Tribulations promised by the Book of Revelation dovetail in this fast-paced thriller to expose the world's most explosive secret: The true identity of Christopher Columbus and the explorer's connection to those now trying to spark the End of Days.

Copy provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.

Well, it's been a while since I've read that big book. Seriously, it took me three weeks to finish it. But, believe me, it was worth. I enjoyed it, and would recommend it to anyone who loves old-school mysteries.

Let me tell you something about the plot. One story runs in the present , one goes back in time when the year is 1452. The story in the present, follows Jaqueline Quartermane, Jaq to her friends, who works for the State Department. She is engaged to Paul who works in Ethiopia and dies on a mission. But when Jaq goes to pick up his body as his fiance, she finds very strange things going on. The investigation of his death takes her on a journey that no one can ever imagine, something that can shake the whole world as we know it. And some people might not like it. The origin of Christianity, the discovery of America, do we know the real story behind the facts that are written in history books? Can we trust the bible itself?

Blog Tour: The Irish Inheritance by M.J.Lee-Book Review

June 8, 1921. Ireland. A British Officer is shot dead on a remote hillside south of Dublin. November 22, 2015. United Kingdom. Former police detective, Jayne Sinclair, now working as a genealogical investigator, receives a phone call from an adopted American billionaire asking her to discover the identity of his real father. How are the two events linked? Jayne Sinclair has only three clues to help her: a photocopied birth certificate, a stolen book and an old photograph. And it soon becomes apparent somebody else is on the trail of the mystery. A killer who will stop at nothing to prevent Jayne discovering the secret hidden in the past The Irish Inheritance takes us through the Easter Rising of 1916 and the Irish War of Independence, combining a search for the truth of the past with all the tension of a modern-day thriller. It is the first in a series of novels featuring Jayne Sinclair, genealogical detective.

Copy provided by Neverland Blog Tours in exchange for an honest review.

Hi, guys.

Today is my stop of the blog tour for M.J.Lee's new book. This is my third book from this author and quite different from the other two. It has mystery, it has a history in it, but also genealogy, a search for one man's ancestors. Perfect read for history lovers.

The Body on the Doorstep by A.J. Mackenzie Blog Tour + Guest Post

Kent, 1796. Shocked to discover a dying man on his doorstep - and lucky to avoid a bullet himself - Reverend Hardcastle finds himself entrusted with the victim's cryptic last words. With smuggling rife on England's south-east coast, the obvious conclusion is that this was a falling out among thieves. But why is the leader of the local Customs service so reluctant to investigate? Ably assisted by the ingenious Mrs. Chaytor, Hardcastle sets out to solve the mystery for himself. But smugglers are not the only ones to lurk off the Kent coast, and the more he discovers, the more he realises he might have bitten off more than he can chew.

The Body on the Doorstep by A. J. MacKenzie 
Series: Romney Marsh Mystery #1 
Published by Zaffre 
Published on 21.4.2016 
Genre: historical fiction 
Pages: 272 
You can buy the book on amazon.co.uk or  amazon.com 
Goodreads 

Detection without DNA

Some of our friends and fellow authors who write police procedurals are frankly envious of our working in the eighteenth century. So is Marilyn’s sister, a crown prosecutor in Canada. ‘You don’t have to worry about DNA or any of the technical stuff’, she complained. ‘You’ve got it easy.’

On one level we do, and we are full of admiration for our friends who write police procedurals and other modern crime drama. To make these books believable requires a lot of technical knowledge and – even more important – the ability to make that knowledge interesting to a non-technical reader and integrate it into the story. Very impressive, you guys. Don’t know how you do it (but love the results).

Our technical problems are few and simple. If we need to know whether it is possible for someone to be murdered in a particular way, we tend to act it out ourselves. This will get us in trouble one day, as our windows face onto the village street and we sometimes forget to close the curtains. To any members of Devon and Cornwall Police who may be reading this: we really are writers, what you saw as you drove past just now was just research. Honest.

Book Review: Last Prophecy of Rome by Iain King

An ancient empire. A terrifying threat to the World’s Superpower. Only one man can stop it. ROME: Maverick military historian Myles Munro is on holiday with girlfriend and journalist Helen Bridle. He’s convinced a bomb is about to be detonated at the American Embassy. NEW YORK: A delivery van hurtling through Wall Street, blows up, showering the sky with a chilling message: America is about to be brought down just like the Roman Empire. Juma, an African warlord, set free by the Arab Spring, plans to make it happen. When a US Senator is taken a hostage, a chilling chain of events begins, and Myles finds himself caught in a race against time to stop Juma. But, he’s not prepared for the shocking truth that the woman he once loved, Juma’s wife, Placidia, has now become a terrorist.

* Copy provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. *

"Whoever wishes to foresee the future must consult the past; for human events ever resemble those of preceding times. This arises from the fact that they are produced by men who ever have been, and ever shall be, animated by the same passions, and thus they necessarily have the same results."
Machiavelli

Facing with the modern day terrorism and so many refugees waiting at the border of my country, it was easy for me to connect with this book and the story in it. The plot is heartbreaking and I feel sorry for all those people who lost their homes and are seeking for better future. I feel mad and angry at all those smugglers who want to earn money out of people's misery and all those who put them in that misery at the first place. I hate all those people like Juma, who under the wing of „helping“ uses other people for his own satisfaction, and the others who use people like Juma to cause fear and death just for financial benefit.

For Myles and Helen, it all starts as a romantic vacation in Rome. Soon it turns out into a nightmare.

Blog Tour: The Strangler Vine by M. J. Carter (Book Review)

This was a rather interesting read and definitely not my usual one, but I enjoyed it greatly nevertheless. It’s an interesting story set in 19 century India, in a time when India is ruled by the East India Company. Xavier Mounstuart, famous author, goes missing and William Avery and Jeremiah Blake are called in to find him. William and Jeremiah can’t be any different. William is not fascinated with India and dreams of the day when he’ll be back home. Only thing he does seem to enjoy is the friendship of his Scottish friend and the British girls who’ve been brought to India to find a husband. This all can be very funny to most of us, but arranged marriages are totally acceptable even now in some part of the world, so it was rather interesting reading about this. Jeremiah seems to have blended in, retiring from the company and enjoying India and the way natives live, and of course he’s not very interested in going on this quest to find Xavier Mountstuart.

Is there a point to this quest? Could the famous writer be alive or has fallen in the trap of the Thugs, the murderous sect of Kali-worshippers?

Book Review: The Collector of Dying Breaths by M.J.Rose

*Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

In 1500-s there was a monk who was exploring an interesting theory. The last dying breath of a person contains the soul, and if that breath is inhaled in another person, the soul continues to live in another body. After his death, his apprentice Rene le Florentine took over the job and soon became the personal perfumer of Catherine de Medici. He made perfumes, creams and poisons for the queen. But he was always working on his teacher's theory in order to bring back in life the two people who he loved the most and lost them, his teacher and his bride-to-be.

In modern time, another perfumer is working on the very same theory. After his sudden death, his grieving sister will do anything to bring him back, he is the only family she has. So she connects with two people to finish his job. But these two have other plans. Jac wants her brother back, but Melinoe and Serge want eternal life. Melinoe owns the twelve bottles with twelve collected dying breaths that many centuries ago Rene collected. Jac is the one who has to find the way to inhale the dying breath in a living person. Was her brother Robbie right? Is human soul eternal? Can we live forever?