Changing Leaves and Fall Reads

‘Thorns, Lust and Glory’

The doomed queen, Anne Boleyn, is given another look in Estelle Paranque’s Thorns, Lust and Glory: The Betrayal of Anne Boleyn. This is an excellent biography which goes into great detail on Boleyn’s early years spent at the French court, and the lasting influence that made her a worthy prize/wife for King Henry VIII. Paranque does an admirable job digging into the French court and how Anne was used by her father, betrayed by her husband, and ultimately vilified by her country. 

‘The Close Up’

In The Close Up by Pip Drysdale,Zoe is a struggling young writer working a day job at a florist while she waits for her writing muse to reappear. Delivering flowers one day she runs into Zach, also known as the one that ghosted her years before and broke her heart. Zach is no longer a neophyte actor, but a full-fledged movie star and he wants Zoe back. Zach confesses he’s being stalked and Zoe seizes on an opportunity to turn his plight into her long-overdue next novel. This one is a slow burn that builds to a propulsive climax, blowing hot like the famous Santa Ana winds of Southern California.

‘The Silent Watcher’

Victor Methos writes a gritty murder mystery, with The Silent Watchers set on and off the Vegas strip. Piper Danes is a guardian ad litem for vulnerable youths. Her latest charge is a 15-year-old survivor of a gruesome serial killer. Detective Lazarus Holloway believes the murder of the girl’s family is the work of the “Creeper” who struck years before in a similar fashion. This looks like book #1 in a series pairing Danes and Holloway, and let’s hope so. This book is a “creepy” thrill. 

‘The Hitchcock Hotel’

Film fans will love Stephanie Wrobel’s The Hitchcock Hotel – set in an eerie Hitchcockian inn whose proprietor gives off a whiff of Norman Bates. When he invites his old college tormentors for a weekend of fun, a body is sure to turn up, and when it does it is a jaw dropping surprise. This is a fun, suspenseful read.

‘Blues in Stereo’

I was both blown away and inspired by Blues in Stereo: The early works of Langston Hughes. The book was curated by Danez Smith, who brings thoughtful insights into what formed the Harlem Renaissance poet, novelist and playwright. Hughes “pointed his words at his people,” lovingly celebrating Black lives and struggles at a time when, as Smith writes, “That love was largely rejected.” This is a treasure trove of wisdom for all. 

‘Carson the Magnificent’

He has been off the air for over thirty years and dead for twenty years, and yet the maestro of late-night T.V. is an enigma wrapped in a mystery still. Bill Zehme with Mike Thomas brings a fan’s eye to the ups and downs of a storied career in Carson the Magnificent – and a bygone era we will never see again.

‘The Last One’

In her new “romantasy” novel The Last One, Rachel Howzell Hall writes a strong female protagonist into a fantasy world filled with “unnatural beasts” and a “desolate land of sickness.” Kai wakes up in the woods with no memory of who she is or how she got there. Hall’s kingdom of Vinevridth is richly painted, and not just for the Young Adult reader. 

‘The Peculiar Garden of Harriet Hunt’

Harriet has been abandoned by her abusive father and left in a crumbling Victorian mansion in London in Chelsea Iversen’s The Peculiar Garden of Harriet Hunt. The magical garden surrounding Harriet’s home seems to always be listening and watching, especially after a nosey policeman starts asking questions, implying Harriet is responsible for her father’s disappearance. To protect herself, Harriet rashly agrees to marry a handsome stranger whose change in behavior brings the garden fully to life. This one leans towards the gothic, and I loved it.

‘The Champagne Letters’

A light bubbly read is The Champagne Letters, a historical fiction by Kate MacIntosh. In 1805 the widow Clicquot is learning how to build her empire; despite the threat of Napoleon’s wars and society’s prejudice that a woman cannot run a business. Cut to modern day Natalie Taylor, a divorcee escaping to Paris who finds herself entwined with a charming, mysterious French man and inspired by the letters of Madame Clicquot. A perfect escape read.