Virtual Book Tour & Giveaway: Last Dance Before Dawn by Katharine Schellman

LAST DANCE BEFORE DAWN

by Katharine Schellman

May 25 - June 19, 2026 Virtual Book Tour

Synopsis:

The Nightingale Mysteries

 

Vivian Kelly has finally created a home and a family at the glamorous speakeasy known as The Nightingale, where no one cares who you are in the daytime. After all, in the underground world of 1920s New York City, everyone has a secret to keep, and they’re on the Nightingale's dance floor to leave those secrets behind. But sometimes it takes more than a dance to escape your past.

When a stranger from Chicago shows up at The Nightingale looking to settle old scores, Vivian and the Nightingale's owner, the mysterious and alluring Honor Huxley, send him packing. They soon discover, though, that the stranger was just a warning. Slowly, the people who have made The Nightingale their home realize that someone is following them. Hunting them. And that someone won’t stop until they unravel a mystery that’s been cold for years: a missing girl, a boy out for revenge, and a truck full of cash that disappeared in a job gone horribly wrong.

Vivian just wants to protect the people she loves, and she's willing to dig into the dirt of the past to make it happen. But some questions are safer left unanswered, and now that Vivian has built a family for herself, she has more to lose than ever before.

Now experience this Edgar Award–nominated historical mystery in paperback!

Praise for Last Dance Before Dawn:

"A lively, sprawling crime story that captures the vibrancy of the Roaring ’20s."
~ Kirkus Reviews

Book Details:

Genre: Historical Mystery
Published by: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: May 26, 2026 | Paperback
Number of Pages: 350
ISBN: 978-1250325822
Series: The Nightingale Mysteries, Book 4 || Amazon, Goodreads, Macmillan Publishers
Book Links: Amazon | Kindle | Barnes & Noble | BookShop.org | Goodreads | BookBub | Macmillan Publishers

Read an excerpt:

Manhattan, 1925

Everyone came to the Nightingale looking for something.

They didn’t have much else in common, the folks who snuck down the alley toward a single electric light that flickered like it had been forgotten for years and could burn out at any moment. You never knew who would whisper the password at the door under the light, who would make their way through the midnight velvet curtains that muffled loud laughter and louder jazz.

Maybe your family could have bought half of Fifth Avenue, or maybe you couldn’t even buy new shoes. More likely, you lived somewhere in between, with work that paid your bills and the hope, one day, of something a little more. At the Nightingale, it didn’t matter who you were in the daytime. If you could hold your booze and let loose on the dance floor and keep a secret for a stranger, you were in.

They came looking for excitement, for the thrill of breaking a law that no one liked anyway. They came to dance and drink and maybe find a new friend, the sort of friend who—¬ after a glass or three of champagne—¬ would meet them in a quiet corner to get a little bit friendlier.

They came because they loved the music, the way it curled through the air and carried them across the floor, the way the singer’s voice filled the room and made their hearts ache.

They came for the party. They came to escape.

If they were lucky, they could pretend that whatever waited for them back at home didn’t exist. They could lose themselves in the music and the arms of someone new. They could feel free, even if it would never last, because in that moment nothing mattered but the next dance, the next drink, the next hour.

If they were lucky, they found what they were looking for, and they left before trouble could find them.

But not everyone was lucky.

***

Vivian recognized the sound of danger before she even realized what she was hearing.

Twilight had settled on the city, humid and heavy and speckled with the glow of streetlamps. She and Beatrice Henry—¬ Beatrice Bluebird, as she was known at the Nightingale, where she sang six nights a week—¬ moved through it with the practiced carefulness of two women who were used to navigating New York’s streets alone. Their steps were quick, but their eyes were quicker, always on the lookout for a man who might be trouble or a cop who might be trailing them.

The Nightingale paid off the police weekly, like any other dance hall or juice joint. But everyone who worked there knew to be wary just the same.

It was that wariness that sent a prickle of warning down Vivian’s back when they were two blocks from the Nightingale’s back entrance.

“Bea—¬ ” Vivian tossed out a hand to stop her friend in the middle of the sidewalk. A few steps ahead of them, a cat yowled as it ran out of a narrow alley. “You hear that?”

For a moment, the only sound out of the ordinary was the distant grumble of thunder. Then Vivian heard it again.

“Look a little closer, pal.” The voice was low and menacing, snaking out of the shadows and clearly not meant to be overheard. “I want to make sure you and me is on the same page.”

“Viv—¬ ” Bea hissed, but Vivian couldn’t help herself; she took a step forward, just enough to peek down the alley.

Halfway down the narrow stretch of filthy brick walls, two men were just visible in the fast-¬ fading light. One had his back against a wall. He was the taller of the two, but he still shrank back from the menacing bulk of the second figure. That one loomed toward him, his wide shoulders cutting off any escape as he shoved some kind of paper toward the nervous man’s face.

“—told you, when I have something, I’ll let you—”

The menacing man shoved him against the wall, the gesture nearly careless enough to hide the violence of it. The voice broke off with a grunt of pain, but it had been enough. Usually, Vivian would have stayed far away from anything that sounded like a beating and wasn’t her business. But she recognized that voice.

“Don’t interrupt,” the menacing man snarled. “My boss don’t take kindly to rude fu—”

“It’s Spence,” Vivian hissed.

Bea tried to pull her away. “It’s not our business. We can tell Silence or Benny,” she whispered, naming two of the bruisers who worked at the Nightingale keeping customers—¬ and anyone else who needed it—¬ in line. “They’ll come handle it.”

“That’ll take too long.” Vivian shook her head, pulling away from Bea’s cautious hand and running down the alley toward trouble. “Hey! Leave him alone!”

The bruiser barely glanced over his shoulder at her, just cocked his fist back and drove it, almost casually, into the nervous man’s stomach. He doubled over, heaving and gasping for air, as his assailant tipped his hat mockingly. “We’ll be seeing you soon, boyo. You can count on it.”

He was gone before Vivian could reach them. She stood, panting and staring at the gap between buildings where he had disappeared. A drizzling rain began to fall, plastering her hair against her cheeks. She wasn’t dumb enough to go after him.

“You okay, Spence?” she asked instead, turning toward the remaining man as he braced his hands on his knees.

“Swell,” croaked the Nightingale’s second bartender, a lanky, mouthy, handsome grump. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“Apparently chasing off the fella who was about to beat you to a pulp,” she said, stung. Spence had been working at the Nightingale all summer and still hadn’t managed to endear himself to any of the other staff. But Vivian had expected at least some gratitude. Instead, he scowled at her like she was the one who had just punched him in the stomach, not the one who had run the attacker off. “But no need to say thanks or anything.”

He hauled himself upright, wincing. “I had it handled, you know,” he said, still sounding resentful. “I didn’t need a rescue.”

“Sure you did, pal,” Bea said, joining them at last. “That was a stupid thing to do, by the way,” she added, glancing at Vivian as she opened her umbrella and held it over both their heads. “Be glad he didn’t have a friend waiting to beat the stuffing out of you too.”

“My stuffing’s doing just fine,” Spence groused, pushing his wet hair off his forehead and straightening his jacket and tie.

“What was that about?” Vivian asked, laying a hand on his arm. “Spence? Are you in trouble?”

***

Excerpt from LAST DANCE BEFORE DAWN by Katharine Schellman. Copyright 2025 by Katharine Schellman. Reproduced with permission from Katharine Schellman. All rights reserved.

 

 

Author Bio:

Katharine Schellman is an award-winning author of historical crime fiction, including the Nightingale Mysteries and the Lily Adler Mysteries, whose work has been called “worthy of Rex Stout or Agatha Christie” (Library Journal). Her books have been nominated for an Edgar and a Silver Falchion, and she has won a Zibby Media National Book Award for "Best Book for the History Lover." A former actor, onetime political consultant, and graduate of William & Mary, Katharine lives and writes in the mountains of Virginia.

Catch Up With Katharine Schellman:

www.katharineschellman.com
Amazon Author Profile
Goodreads - @katharineschellman
BookBub - @katharineschellman
Instagram - @katharinewrites
Facebook - @katharineschellman

 

Tour Participants:

Click through the other tour stops for can’t-miss reviews, insider interviews, exclusive guest posts, and more chances to win!

Click here to view the Tour Schedule

 

 

Step Onto The Nightingale’s Shadowy Stage of Rewards

This giveaway is hosted by Partners in Crime Tours for Katharine Schellman. See the widget for entry terms and conditions. Void where prohibited.

LAST DANCE BEFORE DAWN by Katharine Schellman | Gift Card

Can't see the giveaway? Click Here!

Get More Great Reads at Partners In Crime Tours

Book Review: Death Avenue (Eddie, Rum, #1) by J.I. Jung

DEATH AVENUE by J.I. Jung
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Fantastic noirish crime fiction tale set in 1919, pre-Prohibition New York City/Chinatown, and the threat of the Chinese Exclusion Act loomed.

Death Avenue is the first novel in author J.I. Jung’s noirish crime fiction series featuring Eddie Rum, a young half-Chinese, half-Caucasian man just returned to the city after his service in war-torn France. Trying to get on his feet, Eddie Rum works at odd jobs for the local Democratic Party precinct boss as well as cleaning up for the Central Railroad, whose tracks that run through the city get blocked by debris, goods, or the bodies of people who failed to move out of the way of an oncoming train. It is one such failure that draws Eddie into the machinations of powerful local crime bosses, including his estranged father and twin brother, who run the Pell Street House tong in Chinatown. As Eddie wants to know who was responsible for the death of Ah Fay, a theatrical performer and comedian, he approaches them after years of no contact for information. His father, Fuunwong, is unexpectedly intent on gaining possession of a small notebook and the betting slips it contained that Ah Fay had on his body when Eddie found him, and he isn’t the only one who’ll apparently go to great lengths to get their hands on it.

What a fantastic book! Eddie is a conflicted young man, damaged by his childhood and his experiences in the war, yet still compassionate and determined to do the right thing, as he tries to figure out his life and future. While his brother, Clock, physically resembled their father, Eddie took after their white mother, and he was deeply affected by his father’s decision to send him to live with his mother’s people as a child, as the danger of the Chinese Exclusion Act gained steam. Eddie’s yearning to be an equal son to his father and Clock’s belief that their father favored his white son over him were heartbreaking to watch, especially as Fuunwong is portrayed as manipulative and untrustworthy, using both sons only as a means to money and power. Eddie also suffers from occasional olfactory flashbacks to the war; however, these instances often herald the presence of imminent danger.

The setting is vivid and moody, with precise descriptions, historic locations and events, authentic-sounding dialogue, and character names such as Nails, Specs, or Ninth Street Mike that clearly build a vibrant picture of New York City just after World War I. While I often felt like I was watching this story unfold in living black and white, I also felt I was right in the scene, at times.

As the first book in a series, the author accomplishes much of the heavy lifting in establishing the world in which his stories will unfold and in populating it with a mix of historical and fictional characters. There are a lot of characters to keep straight and a couple of storylines to juggle. But the writing is clear, easy to read, and immersive, and the clever, complex plot comes together very nicely as the disparate storylines gradually converge. The imaginative character names certainly helped keep the story local, grounded, and free of confusion. The resolution of the storylines is great, and I didn’t figure out who was responsible for Ah Fay’s murder until it was revealed.

I recommend DEATH AVENUE to readers of historical mysteries, thrillers, and crime fiction, especially fans of a noirish style.

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advance Review Copy from Reedsy Discovery.


View all my reviews

Book Review: The Wrong Liza by Jazz Voss

The Wrong Liza by Jazz Voss
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Clever psychological thriller about identity with twists you won’t see coming!

The Wrong Liza by Jazz Voss is a short, suspense-filled psychological thriller about identity and the ultimate example of identity theft. While the initial setup was somewhat confusing and, perhaps, compounded by a staccato stream-of-consciousness narrative style, the plot soon coalesced into a riveting tale of deception and frightening manipulation —one I couldn’t put down.

Set in present-day Manhattan on the Tuesday after Labor Day, Liza Connors prepares for work at her corporate job like any other normal business day, when she discovers a notice affixed to the door of her apartment building displaying her picture on it, along with the sentiment “In Loving Memory – Liza Connors,” with the eyes ‘X’ ed out with black marker. Was it a sick joke? A heart-stoppingly tragic error? Or, if possible, was it something even more alarming, like a truthful indication of her actual condition? Neither Liza nor the reader knows for certain at this point, but it is absolutely attention-grabbing.

Continuing to her office, the situation gets odder as her access badge is no longer functioning, and security confirms it had been deactivated the previous Friday. Kara, a coworker, arrives just as Liza is on the verge of collapse and escorts her to Janet Thompson in the HR Department for their firm to figure out what’s going on. Unsurprisingly, HR is no help except to add to the mystery. Janet claims Liza resigned by email early Friday morning, and there is both digital and video evidence to corroborate her statement. Unfortunately, the company has a policy of no “take-backs.”

Accompanied out of their offices, things are about to take a turn for the worse as Liza begins to receive reports from friends and family about interactions with her that she has no memory of whatsoever. From that point, it is a non-stop barrage of gaslighting and taunting indications that someone is literally taking over Liza’s life as she watches helplessly from the sidelines. With Kara still by her side, Liza no longer knows who she can trust or who could possibly be behind the unrelenting takeover.

Time after time, just when I thought I knew where Liza’s story was headed, a new twist in the action was introduced. By the final page, the story resembled nothing I could have possibly imagined it could have evolved into. I was compelled to return to the beginning and read the whole story again to see how it ended up where it did. I recommend THE WRONG LIZA to readers of psychological thrillers, mysteries, and suspense.

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advance Review Copy from Reedsy Discovery.

View all my reviews

Book Review: Mrs. Christie at the Mystery Guild Library (Mrs. Christie, #1) by Amanda Chapman

Mrs. Christie at the Mystery Guild Library by Amanda Chapman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Fun and unique new cozy mystery featuring the “Queen of Crime” returning from the beyond to solve a murder.

Mrs. Christie at the Mystery Guild Library by Amanda Chapman is the first book in a fun and unique new cozy murder mystery series featuring the “Queen of Crime” herself, apparently on something of a holiday from the Pearly Gates. As Mrs. Christie, book restoration specialist Tory Van Dyne, and Tory’s cousin and Broadway ingenue Nicola search for answers, Mrs. Christie’s formidable powers of observation and reasoning pave the way to the final resolution.

The book unfolds in the first-person perspective of Tory Van Dyne, and her narrative is both spirited and liberally laced with humor and numerous references to Agatha Christie and other mystery authors. For me, it was the perfect blending of character quotes from the many Christie novels and Tory’s thought-filled identification that I most enjoyed and had me mentally making a list of Christie titles to revisit in the future. I loved the New York City / Greenwich Village setting and the thought of a recreated Christie library in a private home and look forward to more stories there in the future.

I recommend MRS. CHRISTIE AT THE MYSTERY GUILD LIBRARY to cozy mystery fans, especially those with a soft spot for the work of the “Queen of Crime” herself.

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advance Review Copy from the author through Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours.

View all my reviews

Book Review: Murder on Oak Street (South Side Mystery, #1) by I.M. Foster

Murder on Oak Street by I.M. Foster
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

At a possibly intimidating 500 pages in length, Murder on Oak Street proves to be an absorbing and entertaining historical mystery story that is not to be overlooked.

Murder on Oak Street is the first book in author I.M. Foster’s historical South Side Mystery series, and despite its healthy length of a smidge over 500 pages, it was an intriguing, entertaining, and absorbing reading experience. After being left at the altar, Dr. Daniel O’Halleran, one of New York City’s busy coroner’s physicians, decides a change of scenery is in order and takes a job in the small Long Island community of Patchogue, assisting the local coroner. Rather than peace and quiet, Danny is thrust back into investigating a cold case murder – the very case with which he started his career in NYC two years earlier and felt never received the attention it deserved.

Danny is a charming, engaging character with a hidden childhood secret. Adopted by the wealthy Adams family, he grew up in comfort and luxury but with a burning desire to get justice for the victims he investigates.

The plot progresses steadily as O’Halleran settles into his first job in New York City, eventually making the move to Patchogue on Long Island. The author’s writing and storytelling abilities drew me into the story immediately with vivid characterizations and descriptions of the early 1900s time period and I was hooked until the final page. There were a lot of twists and turns and plenty of suspects to rule out on the way to the story’s conclusion, keeping me on my toes and definitely on the edge of my seat for the duration.

I recommend MURDER ON OAK STREET to historical mystery readers.

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advanced Review Copy from the author through Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours.

View all my reviews

Virtual Book Tour & Giveaway: The Socialite's Guide to Sleuthing and Secrets (Pinnacle Hotel Mystery, #3) by S.K. Golden

 

The Socialite's Guide to Sleuthing and Secrets

A Pinnacle Hotel Mystery

by

S. K. Golden

Historical Cozy Mystery
3rd in Series
Setting - 1958 New York City
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books (March 11, 2025)
Hardcover: 288 pages
ISBN-13: 979-8892420266 / Digital ASIN: B0D6V3Q3JL

SCROLL DOWN FOR GIVEAWAY!

About The Socialite's Guide to Sleuthing and Secrets

Hotel heiress Evelyn Murphy is on the hunt for a cunning killer and a mysterious thief in the third Pinnacle Hotel mystery, perfect for fans of Rhys Bowen and Ashley Weaver.

New York, 1958. When Evelyn’s mail is delivered during a luncheon in the Gold Room, she’s surprised to find she has received a diamond tiara, which catches the attention of a costume jewelry sales team lunching nearby. Their leader, Lois Mitchel, is especially interested, but by the end of the lunch, Lois has choked and fallen into Evelyn’s lap—and by the end of the day, she’s dead.

The papers report on the death the next day, while also spreading news of a Gentleman Thief who’s been leaving behind a red pocket square after robbing the city’s wealthiest. Determined to figure out what happened to Lois, Evelyn devotes herself to the investigation.

The truth is as rare as a diamond and just as hard to crack, and Evelyn swiftly discovers that this particular mystery is multifaceted, too. From costume jewelry hawkers to wannabe Robin Hoods and a detective in residence at the Pinnacle, nothing is simple. But neither is Evelyn—and this case is hers to solve.

CLICK TO PURCHASE!

| Amazon | Apple Books | BAM! |

| Barnes & Noble | Bookshop.org | Google Play |

| Indigo | Kobo | Penguin RandomHouse |

| Target | Walmart | 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: 

 

S.K. Golden writes cozy mysteries and crime capers. Born and raised in the Florida Keys, she married a commercial fisherman. The two of them still live on the islands with their five kids (one boy, four girls — including identical twins!), two cats, and a corgi named Goku. Sarah graduated from Saint Leo University with a bachelor’s degree in Human Services and Administration and has put it to good use approximately zero times. She’s worked as a bank teller, a pharmacy technician, and an executive assistant at her father’s church. Sarah is delighted to be doing none of those things now.

| Website | Amazon | BlueSky | Facebook | Goodreads | Instagram | Threads | TikTok |

REVIEW:

5 stars!

Ready for another stay at the Pinnacle Hotel? 

The Socialite’s Guide to Sleuthing and Secrets is the third novel in author S.K. Golden’s nostalgic, fun, and frothy Pinnacle Hotel Mysteries and is an excellent addition to the series. Engaging characters, a suspected murder, and a jewel thief, all combine for a comfortable and entertaining story. 

The main character is Evelyn Murphy, the daughter of the wealthy owner of the Pinnacle Hotel, who lives onsite and fulfills the role of party planner for the company. With two successful investigations under her belt, Evelyn is more than ready to take on this latest case of murder mistaken as an accidental death. With each book, this sweet amateur detective grows a little bit more as she learns to cope with her ongoing agoraphobia, finding her place and expanding her life beyond the mental and physical confines of the hotel. In this story, Evelyn also deals with the absence of her former boyfriend and sleuthing sidekick, Mac. However, she is joined by a great group of secondary characters, including her new personal assistant, Poppy, her good friend and Hollywood star, Henry Fox, and the former city police detective, Hodgson, who now works for the hotel as well. 

The mystery kicks off early with the sudden demise of a lunch guest in the first couple of pages, and the action never lets up as Evelyn finds evidence that the death was no accident. As always, the 1950s timeframe is fun and nostalgic, and the posh hotel is a glorious setting. In addition to the murder, a notorious jewel thief is targeting the Pinnacle’s guests. The author provides suspects and clues for the sharp-eyed and sharp-witted armchair detective to note on their way to the climactic resolution. 

While this is the third book in the Pinnacle Hotel saga, it stands well enough on its own to entertain readers new to the series. I recommend THE SOCIALITE’S GUIDE TO SLEUTHING AND SECRETS to readers who enjoy cozy historical mysteries.

TOUR PARTICIPANTS:

March 5 – Jody's Bookish Haven – SPOTLIGHT

March 5 – Elizabeth McKenna - Author – SPOTLIGHT

March 6 – Sarah Can't Stop Reading Books – REVIEW

March 6 – Diary of a Bookworm – SPOTLIGHT

March 7 – Books, Ramblings, and Tea – SPOTLIGHT

March 7 – Maureen's Musings – SPOTLIGHT

March 8 – Guatemala Paula Loves to Read – REVIEW

March 8 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – AUTHOR INTERVIEW

March 9 – Cozy Up With Kathy – REVIEW

March 9 – CelticLady’s Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

March 10 – Novels Alive - REVIEW

March 11 – Ascroft, eh? – AUTHOR GUEST POST

March 11 – Sapphyria's Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

March 12 – Christy's Cozy Corners – AUTHOR INTERVIEW

GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Have you signed up to be a Tour Host?

Click Here to Find Details and Sign Up Today!

Want to Book a Tour?

Click Here

Book Review: The Doll from Dunedin (Genealogy Mystery, #2) by M.L. Condike

The Doll from Dunedin by ML Condike
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A fantastic new adventure in this fascinating genealogical mystery series.

The Doll from Dunedin is the second book in M.L. Condike’s wonderful Genealogy Mystery series featuring forensic genealogist RaeJean Hunter and the search for the missing heir of a wealthy New York woman she’s met while working on a previous assignment. Jill Harriet Hamilton had died earlier in the year. Per her will and the trust guiding her fortune, her attorneys had one year to locate her sole blood relation, purportedly living in New Zealand, before her considerable assets were bequeathed to Columbia University. With six months gone and no closer to locating the man, the firm turns to RaeJean for answers.

RaeJean is back, and this puzzling new case has a startling personal connection for her; she met the deceased client shortly before her death and subsequently rescued her beloved corgi, Eli, from an uncertain future. I love that her corgis have such a fun place in this series. Sam and RaeJean are anxious to start a family, and the timing of the case is a deciding factor on whether or not she even takes it on, especially considering the dangers she encountered on her last one.

The plot is intriguing, with secrecy and litigation-prone members of the deceased extended (and adoptive family) making RaeJean’s work tougher. Still, the high-risk case does offer an incredible payday should she find success. Besides the search into the adopted woman’s bloodline, another cold case from the distant past is wound throughout, and the questions about her runaway father are a recurring factor in the series. As in the series debut, an unusual antique with a mysterious effect on RaeJean embellishes the story.

I recommend THE DOLL FROM DUNEDIN to readers of historical mysteries, especially those with an interest in genealogical research and enjoy a touch of the paranormal in their stories.

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advanced Review Copy from the author through a Lone Star Literary Life Book Campaign.

View all my reviews

Book Review - On The Block: Stories of Home, edited by Ellen Oh

On the Block: Stories of Home by Ellen Oh
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Welcome to The Entrada! You’ve come home.

On The Block: Stories of Home is an anthology of twelve connected vignettes, edited by author Ellen Oh, that portray the diverse families in residence at the New York apartment building known as The Entrada. Each chapter, appropriately titled by the apartment number of each new middle-grade-aged narrator, is a lovely gem and tells of the young resident’s life in the days leading up to the building’s first community potluck.

The stories explore the cultures and concerns of the new young immigrant, and while their origins are global, their hopes and fears are universal and relatable to all readers. I loved that the connections among the families while beginning with a common address, became personal through the friendships of the building’s child population. I enjoyed the concurrent points of view of events or encounters among the children, two or more people observing the same event but “seeing” or interpreting something from it that was entirely different. And I’m not talking about the paranormal activity threaded through some of the tales, though there is that!

Food is a common thread running through the collected tales. There are numerous scenes of family meals, and some of their favorite dishes may be unfamiliar to many readers. However, they are tempting just the same because of the authors’ tantalizing descriptions. The story culminates in the building’s big community potluck on a wonderful summer Saturday evening.

At the end of the book are the contributing authors’ biographies, including the titles of their previous works. That information alone is gold and could provide additional stories for the targeted age group to enjoy.

I recommend ONE THE BLOCK to readers of middle-grade fiction, especially those interested in getting a peek into a different culture.

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advanced Review Copy through TBR and Beyond Book Tours.


View all my reviews

Blurb Blitz Tour & Giveaway: Dying for Monet (Art History Mystery, #5) by Claudia Riess

 

DYING FOR MONET

An Art History Mystery, Book Five

by

Claudia Riess

Mystery

Publisher: Level Best Books

Publication Date: June 11, 2024

Page count: 346 pages

SCROLL DOWN FOR GIVEAWAY!

SYNOPSIS:

Dying for Monet, book 5 of Riess’s art history mystery series, opens on a gala evening auction at Laszlo’s, an upstart auction house in New York City. After a much sought-after Impressionist still life painting is without notice withdrawn from the auction block, its broker is found dead at the foot of an imposing statue in Laszlo’s courtyard. Amateur sleuths Erika Shawn and Harrison Wheatley are once again drawn into an investigation involving an art-related homicide, this time with one sharing an unnerving coincidence with violent crimes occurring abroad.

CLICK TO PURCHASE!

| Amazon | Apple Books | BAM! | Barnes & Noble |

| Bookshop.org | Kobo | Walmart |

ENJOY AN EXCERPT:

“I knew it,” Erika said tonelessly, shoving her phone back into her evening bag; saw the look of horror Greg directed at her, as if she were some devilish prophet; half believed it herself. She gazed back at him, and her numbness suddenly dissolved into tears. 

Still, neither of them openly acknowledging whose body lay before them, the blood at the man’s head curling away with the rainwater; Botero’s mighty woman and child, their backs to him, underlying the omission. The figures were dark brown, almost black patinated bronze, and the dead man, in his black suit, seemed part of their tableau, or its discard. One of his arms was jammed against the base of the statue, the other flung to the side, the hand gracefully cupped like a ballet dancer’s—the hand with the ring that had pressed into Erika’s flesh. Looking down at Ivan’s hand, she felt its phantom grip on her wrist; the ring’s forceful dig. Impossible for that hand to have been doomed into stillness. 

“I felt for a pulse,” she said, anticipating Greg’s question. “He’s gone.” 

She looked away and saw a few people standing behind the glass door at Laszlo’s entrance, waiting to be picked up or for the rain to stop. What must they make of this rain-sodden group, and what did it matter? “The way he reacted to that text or email,” she directed to Greg, down on his knees, checking for a pulse; not taking her word for it; she, grateful to him for sharing the burden of proof. “I could see he was alarmed by the message. I thought he would be coming back after he was done talking or texting, but he never did. I thought it was odd. After all, his client’s lot was coming up for sale.” 

Greg rose to his feet, a subtle headshake verifying her medical diagnosis. “And then the lot was removed.” 

She nodded. “It was then that I thought the two events—the message on his cell phone and the painting’s unexpected withdrawal—were related. And just now, when I looked out the car window and saw...” 

“You had a sense of foreboding—of what you would find. I wish we could cover him, I mean from the rain and all.” 

“We can’t disturb the scene.” 

“I know. From what I can see, he was shot in the head...” Tentative, as if declaring the words would set them in stone. 

“Yes.” 

They were silent, standing in the rain that was finally abating, and in that moment the sun completed its descent and darkness fell, a delayed reaction in what seemed an act of respect—or mimicry—of life’s end.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Claudia Riess has worked in the editorial departments of The New Yorker and Holt, Rinehart and Winston, and has edited several art history monographs. Stolen Light, the first book in her art history mystery series, was chosen by Vassar’s Latin American history professor for distribution to the college’s people-to-people trips to Cuba. To Kingdom Come, the fourth, will be added to the syllabus of a survey course on West and Central African Art at a prominent Midwestern university. Claudia has written a number of articles for Mystery Readers Journal, Women’s National Book Association, the Sisters in Crime Bloodletter, and Mystery Scene magazine. To read more about Claudia and her work, visit the author's website.

| Website | Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest | X (Twitter) |

 

GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY!

The author will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Review: The Queen of Ocean Parkway by Sarvenaz Tash

The Queen of Ocean Parkway by Sarvenaz Tash
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A magical mystery for middle-grade readers!

The Queen of Ocean Parkway is a new, fantastical mystery story for middle-grade readers from the creative mind of author Sarvenaz Tash. Young Roya Alborzi and her precocious new friend and neighbor, Amin Lahiri, travel through time to try and break a curse that makes the women of the Petrov family disappear, never to be seen again.

The main character, Roya Alborzi, is the only daughter of their Brooklyn apartment building’s super, and while only 11 years old, she is carrying an emotional load that adults would have trouble managing. Though her parents are divorced, her father is desperately ill with cancer, and she does all she can to assist her mother in her job to free her up to care for him. Then, one of her favorite tenants, Katya Petrov, suddenly disappears without a trace. She joins forces with Amin, the son of the new family in the building, to find her and break the chain of disappearances that have plagued the Petrov family for the past four generations.

The Brooklyn setting is well-developed, feeling familiar and comfortable. Roya’s descriptions and tales of the other neighbors for her fledgling podcast are entertaining and made me laugh about some of her observations.

The plot thickens as soon as the characters are introduced, and some surprising twists make the story even more suspenseful and intriguing. As time travel is involved, the author must re-describe the Coney Island setting each time Roya and Amin land in the past. The gorgeous cover, rich with jewel tones, attracts the eye and had my imagination working before I even read the first page. I liked how the author populated the apartment building with an array of different configurations of families and enjoyed meeting each one as the mystery of the disappearing Petrovs unfolded.

I recommend THE QUEEN OF OCEAN PARKWAY to upper elementary and middle-grade readers or for reading aloud in the classroom, in afterschool programs, or at home.

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advanced Review Copy through TBR and Beyond Book Tours.

View all my reviews

Virtual Book Tour & Giveaway: Fast Times, Big City by Shelly Frome

 

Fast Times, Big City

by

Shelly Frome

Crime fiction/ Mystery / Suspense / Thriller

Publisher: BQB Publishing
Publication Date: February 27, 2024
Paperback: 284 pages
ISBN-13: 979-8886330267 / Digital ASIN: B0C92RW97K

SCROLL DOWN FOR GIVEAWAY!

SYNOPSIS:

 

Like most people, Bud Palmer felt this was just another day. Though the era was drawing to a close, he assumed his life as a sports columnist in the subtropics, in keeping with the benign fifties itself, would go on as predictable as ever. But that particular autumn morning he was thrust into a caper that was totally beyond him, forced him to leave Miami and take the train to Manhattan, and suddenly found everything in this restless "Big Apple" was up for grabs, on the brink, at a dicey turning point.

CLICK TO PURCHASE!

| Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Bookshop.org | Indigo | Kobo |

 

 

READ AN EXCERPT:

The looming billboards were so massive, in contrast the Times Square sign jutting out of the lamppost was totally eclipsed. As if it might have been a relic from a long-ago era before everything had given way. Here, high above the rooftops to Bud’s right, was a massive Pepsi bottle doing its best to block out the sky, not to be outdone by an equally outsized bottle top on its side. Further ahead as the Square verged into a tip of a triangle, other billboards joined the fray, starting with a domineering Admiral Television and Appliances sign, topped by a Canadian Club whiskey sign, topped by a Chevrolet sign. All but eclipsed, a lesser billboard around the corner advertised the musical West Side Story—the very same black-and-white logo with the girl ecstatically racing by the tenements pulling her boyfriend along. Other logos and marquees took part by marking the street entrances to buildings so that the Statler Hotel sign didn’t stand a chance.

At the same time, fighting off the prospect of becoming overwhelmed, Bud couldn’t help wondering if Amy had been among the rushing pedestrians who had gotten off the buses and trains. Had they too gotten wind of small town dreams—that legendary call of the lady carnival barker promising never-ending opportunities?

REVIEW:

4 stars!

It's a real-world quest worthy of an epic fantasy.

Fast Times, Big City by Shelly Frome is a historical suspense novel set in the late 1950s, whose action stretches the eastern seaboard from Miami to Manhattan. With its congenial main character and a plot worthy of an epic fantasy, all I had to do was kick back and allow myself to be drawn into the story and transported back in time. 

Bud Palmer is a very likable main character living life on his own in Miami and working as a sportswriter for the local Miami paper. He's a good guy and not anxious, at first, to get involved in helping his mom's brother, Rick, out of a jam with a Chicago gambler with connections. However, much like the book's readers will be, even Bud can't resist the story of the runaway girlfriend and a missing briefcase. 

While the plot is a pipe dream of locating a needle in a haystack (an aspiring actress in NYC), I was absolutely sucked into the story, rooting for Bud's success all the way. The narrative is full of vivid descriptions of the city, and I was delighted by the mention of historical figures, the pop culture of the era, and recognizable locations. The story is a bit nostalgic on top of suspenseful and, ultimately, one entertaining evening's read. 

I recommend FAST TIMES, BIG CITY to mystery and suspense readers who enjoy a historical time period and well-known setting.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Shelly Frome is a member of Mystery Writers of America, a professor of dramatic arts emeritus at UConn, a former professional actor, and a writer of crime novels and books on theater and film. He also is a features writer for Gannett Publications. His fiction includes Sun Dance for Andy Horn, Lilac Moon, Twilight of the Drifter, Tinseltown Riff, Murder Run, Moon Games, The Secluded Village Murders, Miranda and the D-Day Caper and Shadow of the Gypsy. Among his works of non-fiction are The Actors Studio: A History, a guide to playwriting and one on screenwriting. Fast Times, Big City is his latest foray into the world of crime and the amateur sleuth. He lives in Black Mountain, North Carolina.

| Website | Facebook | Twitter (X) |

| LinkedIn | Goodreads |

TOUR PARTICIPANTS:

March 25 – Christy's Cozy Corners – AUTHOR INTERVIEW

March 26 – Jody's Bookish Haven – SPOTLIGHT

March 28 – Maureen's Musings – SPOTLIGHT

March 30 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – SPOTLIGHT

March 31 - Sapphyria's Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

April 1 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT

April 3 – Ruff Drafts - SPOTLIGHT

April 4 – Celticlady's Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

April 5 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – AUTHOR INTERVIEW

April 6 – Guatemala Paula Loves to Read – REVIEW

April 7 – Teatime and Books – SPOTLIGHT

TURN THIS WHO-DUN-IT

INTO

YOU-WON-IT!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Have you signed up to be a Tour Host?
Click Here to Find Details and Sign Up Today!
Want to Book a Tour?
Click Here

Virtual Book Tour & Giveaway: Broadcast Blues (Clare Carlson Mystery, #6) by R.G. Belsky

BROADCAST BLUES

by R.G. Belsky

January 1-26, 2024 Virtual Book Tour

Synopsis:

Wendy Kyle took secrets to her grave— now, Clare Carlson is digging them up

New York City has no shortage of crime, making for a busy schedule for TV newswoman Clare Carlson. But not all crimes are created equal, and when an explosive planted in a car detonates and kills a woman, Clare knows it’ll be a huge story for her.

But it’s not only about the story—Clare also wants justice for the victim, Wendy Kyle. Wendy had sparked controversy as an NYPD officer, ultimately getting kicked off the force after making sexual harassment allegations and getting into a physical altercation with her boss. Then, she started a private investigations business, catering to women who suspected their husbands of cheating. Undoubtedly, Wendy had angered many people with her work, so the list of her suspected murderers is seemingly endless.

Despite the daunting investigation, Clare dives in headfirst. As she digs deeper, she attracts the attention of many rich and powerful people who will stop at nothing to keep her from breaking the truth about the death of Wendy Kyle—and exposing their personal secrets that Wendy took to her grave.

Praise for Broadcast Blues:

"Broadcast Blues is a page-turning, meticulously plotted crime novel enriched by a terrific New York sense of place, Dick Belsky’s wicked sense of humor, and his insider’s view of the Machiavellian world that is broadcast news."
~ Jonathan Kellerman, New York Times best-selling author

Book Details:

Genre: Mystery
Published by: Oceanview Publishing
Publication Date: January 2, 2024
Number of Pages: 320
ISBN: 9781608095315 (ISBN10: 1608095312)
Series: Clare Carlson Mystery Series, 6 | All of the novels in the Clare Carlson Mystery Series stand on their own and can be read in any order
Book Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | BookShop.org | Goodreads | Oceanview Publishing

Read an excerpt:

PROLOGUE

From the Diary of Wendy Kyle….

If you’re reading this, I’m already dead.

How’s that for an attention-grabbing opening line?

I know, I know...it’s a bit melodramatic. And I’m not normally the melodramatic type. Really. No, Wendy Kyle is the kind of woman who deals in facts for a living, the kind of woman who doesn’t let emotion cloud her judgment and - maybe most importantly of all - the kind of woman who never blindly puts her trust in anyone.

Especially a man.

Hey, I’m not some man-hating bitch or anything like that, no matter what you may have heard or think about me. I like men. I love men, or at least I’ve loved a few men in my life. It’s just that I don’t trust them anymore.

So wouldn’t it be ironic - or maybe a little bit fitting, to look at it completely objectively - if trusting a man this one time was what wound up costing me my own life in the end.

Here’s the bottom line for me: If I don’t succeed in what I’m about to do in the Ronald Bannister case, well...then it is important someone knows the truth about what happened to me.

And that it was the lies - all of the damn lies men have told - that were the death of me.

----- The contents of this document were among evidence

seized by homicide detectives from the office of

Wendy Kyle Heartbreaker Investigations

218 West 42nd Street

New York City

This entry is listed as: POLICE EXHIBIT A

Opening Credits

THE RULES, ACCORDING TO CLARE

Nora O’Donnell is 50 years old. Samantha Guthrie 51. Hoda Kotb 58, Robin Roberts 62 and Gayle King 68.

The point I’m trying to make here is that TV newscasters - specifically women TV newscasters - don’t have to be cute, perky young talking heads to succeed in the media world where I work.

We’ve come a long way since the days when a respected newswoman like Jane Pauley was replaced by the younger Deborah Norville on the Today show because some network executive (a middle-aged man, of course!) decided Pauley was getting too old to appeal to a television audience.

Or when an anchorwoman named Christine Craft lost her job at a station in Kansas City after a focus group determined she was “too old, too unattractive and not deferential to men.” She was 37.

Well, 50 is the new 40 now.

Or maybe even the new 30.

And let’s get something straight right up front here. I’m not one of those women who normally gets stressed out over every birthday that passes by or every wrinkle on my face or every gray hair or two I spot in the mirror. That is not me. No way. I’m not hung up about age at all.

But I am about to turn 50 this year.

The big 5-0.

The half-century mark.

And the truth is I’m having a bit of trouble dealing with that…

My name is Clare Carlson, and I’m the news director of Channel 10 News in New York City. I’m also an on-air reporter for our Channel 10 news show, and I’ve broken some pretty big exclusives in recent years that have gotten me a lot of attention and made me kind of a media star.

But this whole business of turning 50 still seems odd to me.

When I was in my 20s, I was a star reporter at a newspaper and won a Pulitzer Prize. In my 30s, after the newspaper went out of business, I switched to TV news at Channel 10. And in my 40s, I’ve been juggling two jobs: TV executive as the station’s news director and also as an on-air personality breaking big stories.

Turning 30 and then 40 never really seemed like that big a deal for me. It was more fun than tragic. Look at me: I’m 40! But 50? I’m not so sure about that one. 50 is something completely different, at least the way I see it at the moment. I’m not sure where I go with my life after 50.

It couldn’t be happening at a worse time for me either.

Channel 10, the TV station where I work, is being sold to a new owner - and this has left everyone in our newsroom worried about what might happen next. My latest boss and I don’t get along, and I’m afraid she might be looking for a reason to fire me. My personal life situation is even worse. I’ve been married three times (all of them ending in divorce), and right now I’m not in any kind of a relationship. I have a daughter, but she didn’t even know I was her mother for the first 25 years or so of her life - so we don’t exactly have a traditional mother/daughter relationship.

The only constant in my life - the one thing that I always turn to for comfort when my life is in turmoil - is the news.

This newsroom at Channel 10 where I work is my true home.

My sanctuary.

And so each day I wrap it - along with all the people in it and the stories we cover - around me like a security blanket to protect myself from everything else that is going on around me.

All I needed now was a big story to chase.

The bigger the better.

That’s what I was looking for right now.

But as the old saying goes: Be careful what you wish for – because you just might get it.

And that’s what happened to me with the Wendy Kyle murder…

 

Part I

THE HONEY TRAP

CHAPTER 1

Susan Endicott, the executive producer of Channel 10 News, walked into my office and sat down on a chair in front of my desk.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“Talking to you.”

“I mean about tonight’s newscast.”

“Oh, that.”

“Don’t be impertinent with me, Carlson.”

What I was actually doing at the moment was putting together one of those old David Letterman style Top 10 lists. I like to do that sometimes. My topic today was: TOP 10 THINGS AN ASPIRING WOMAN TV NEWSCASTER SHOULD NOT SAY DURING A JOB INTERVIEW. My list went like this.

10. What’s that red light on the camera for?
9. Yes, Mr. Lauer, I’d love to be your intern.
8. I sweat a lot on air.
7. I can name all the Presidents back to Obama.
6. If it helps, I’m willing to get pregnant as a cheap on-air ratings ploy.
5. Katie Couric? Who’s Katie Couric?
4. No makeup, please. I want to let my real beauty shine through.
3. My IQ is almost in three numbers.
2. Can I watch TikTok video during commercial breaks?
And the Number One thing an aspiring woman TV newscaster should not say during a job interview…
1. I have a personal recommendation from Harvey Weinstein!

I wondered if I should ask Susan Endicott if she had any suggestions for my Top 10 list. Probably not. She might call me impertinent again.

“Do you have a lead story yet for the 6 p.m. show?” she asked now.

“Well, yes and no.”

“What does that mean?”

“The lead story is about a controller’s audit raising new questions about the viability of the city’s budget goals.”

“That’s not a lead story for us.”

“Hence, my yes and no reply to your question.”

“Do you have a plan for getting us a good story?”

“I do.”

“What is it?”

“Hope some big news happens before we go on the air at 6.”

“That’s your plan?”

“Uh, huh. The news gods will give us something before deadline. They always do.”

“The news gods?”

“You have to always believe in the news gods, Endicott.”

Looking out the window of my office, I could see people walking through the midtown streets of Manhattan below on a beautiful spring day. Many of them were coatless or in short sleeves. Spring was finally here in New York City after what seemed like an endless winter of snow and cold and bundling up every time you went out. But now it was spring. Yep, spring - time for hope and new beginnings. The sun shining brightly. Flowers blooming. Birds chirping. All that good stuff.

In a few weeks New Yorkers would start streaming out of the city on their way to Long Island or the Jersey Shore or maybe Cape Cod. I thought about how nice it would be to be in a place like that right now. Or maybe on a boat sailing up the New England coast. Anywhere but sitting here at Channel 10 News with this woman. Except I knew that even if I did that, I’d probably wind up sooner or later sitting in another newsroom wherever I went talking about lead stories with some other person like Susan Endicott.

Endicott and I had been at war ever since she came to Channel 10. That was after the firing – or, if you prefer, the forced resignation – of Jack Faron, the previous executive producer who had first hired me as a TV journalist from my newspaper career and had been my boss for most of my time here.

Jack was a top-notch journalist, a good friend and a truly decent human being. Susan Endicott was none of those things. She was an ambitious career climber who had stepped over a lot of people in her efforts to score big ratings at the stations where she worked before. That’s what had landed her the Channel 10 job here in New York, and she was determined to keep her star rising no matter what it took for her to do that. She had no friends that I was aware of, no hobbies or interests, no outside life of any kind. She was completely focused on the job and on her career advancement.

For whatever its worth, I didn’t like the way she looked either. She wasn’t fat or skinny, she wasn’t pretty or unattractive, she was just…well, plain. Like she didn’t care about her appearance. She wore drab clothes, hardy any jewelry, no makeup that I could see. It was like her appearance simply didn’t matter to her.

Oh, and she wore her glasses pushed back on top of her head when she wasn’t using them. I disliked people who did that. I know it sounds crazy, but that’s the way I feel. It was the perfect final trait of Susan Endicott though. I detested everything about her. And, as you can see, she wasn’t too fond of me either.

There were two things that had prevented her from getting rid of me so far.

I’ve broken some exclusive stories that got us big ratings. She did like the fact that I was an on-air media star, even if she didn’t like me. So all I had to do was keep finding exclusives.

Also, the owner of Channel 10, media mogul Brendan Kaiser, had backed me in any showdown with Endicott since she arrived here. Always good having the big boss on your side when you’re at odds with your immediate boss. But Kaiser was in the process of selling the station. We weren’t sure yet who the new owner would be. Maybe it would be some great journalist or wonderful human being that would care about more than profits. But people like that don’t generally buy big media properties like a TV station. So I was prepared for the worst once the new owner was in place.

That meant I needed to keep on breaking big stories.

And I hadn’t done that in a while.

I needed to find a big story in a damn hurry.

“You better come up with a good lead before we go on the air at 6 tonight,” Endicott said as she stood up and said over her shoulder as she started to leave my office.

“Or?” I asked.

“Or what?”

“That sort of sounds like you were giving me an ultimatum. As in ‘or you’re suspended. Or you’re fired. Or your cafeteria privileges are suspended. Or you need to get a permission slip to go to the bathroom. Or…”

Endicott turned around.

She glared at me.

Then she pushed her eyeglasses – which she’d been wearing – back on top of her head again.

A nice touch.

Perfect for the moment.

“Keep digging that hole for yourself, Carlson,” she said to me. “It will make it so much easier when the time comes to get rid of you.”

“You have a nice day too,” I said.

As things turned out, it didn’t take very long to find a news lead for the show.

After Endicott left, Maggie Lang – the assignment editor and my top assistant – burst in to tell me we had a big murder that had just happened.

“Someone blew up a woman’s car!” she said excitedly. “On a busy street in Times Square. The victim’s name is Wendy Kyle, and she’s a former New York City cop and a controversial private investigator who’s been involved in a lot of high-profile divorce cases recently. Involving rich people, important people and catching them in sex scandals. Sounds like someone was out for revenge against her. Sex, money, power. This story has everything, Clare!”

Yep, the news gods had saved us again.

***

Excerpt from BROADCAST BLUES by R.G. Belsky. Copyright 2023 by R.G. Belsky. Reproduced with permission from R.G. Belsky. All rights reserved.

 

 

Author Bio:

R.G. Belsky is an award-winning author of crime fiction and a journalist in New York City. His newest mystery, BROADCAST BLUES, was published on January 2 by Oceanview. It is the sixth in a series featuring Clare Carlson, the news director for a New York City TV station. The first book, Yesterday’s News, was named Best Mystery of 2018 at Deadly Ink. The second, Below the Fold, won the Foreward INDIES award for Best Mystery of 2019. Belsky has published 20 novels—all set in the New York city media world where he has had a long career as a top editor at the New York Post, New York Daily News, Star magazine and NBC News. He also writes thrillers under the name Dana Perry. And he is a contributing writer for The Big Thrill magazine and BookTrib.

Catch Up With RG Belsky:
www.rgbelsky.com
Goodreads
BookBub - @dickbelsky
Instagram - @dickbelsky
Twitter/X - @DickBel
Facebook - @RGBelsky

 

 

Tour Participants:

Visit these other great hosts on this tour for more great reviews, interviews, guest posts, and opportunities to WIN in the giveaway!

 

 

JOIN IN ON THE GIVEAWAY

This is a giveaway hosted by Partners in Crime Tours for R.G. Belsky. See the widget for entry terms and conditions. Void where prohibited.

 

 

Get More Great Reads at Partners In Crime Tours