Fall Book Highlights

Reprinted from auburnpub.com

Fall is a big season for publishers, a time when so many great books can be found in bookstores. This year is no exception, and I have three terrific books, something for all types of readers.

The first book is a mystery written by Team W as they are known- good friends Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, and Karen White- titled The Author’s Guide To Murder. The authors met at a book conference, became friends, and decided to write a book together. 

In this fifth collaboration, three American authors are at a Scottish castle owned by a very famous and successful writer. They are supposed to be there for a writing conference with the famous writer, but they each have other reasons to be there.

When the writer ends up murdered, the women become suspects in the killing. The book alternates between the police interrogation of the women and the lead up to the murder. The police interviews are hilarious as we get to know each of the authors. 

Kat writes erotica and plays her part with innuendo and outrageous flirtatious behavior. Cassie is a mom of six who writes cozy mysteries and has a Mary Poppins bag filled with every item anyone would ever need. Emma writes historical fiction and is what would be called a history buff, always ready with a quick historical fact whether anyone wants to hear it or not.

Readers of Team W’s novels will get immense enjoyment as the authors have played around with own personalities and created characters that mix-and-match their own writing style and lives. I found myself laughing out loud several times.

Although it is humorous, there is a serious undertone as we learn why the women have come together to confront the famous writer. It is billed as “Murder, She Wrote” meets Agatha Christie, an accurate assessment. I highly recommend.

Lynda Cohen Loigman's new novel The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern tells the story of Augusta Stern, an eighty year-old pharmacist who has just (unwillingly) retired to a Florida community her niece found for her. 

On her first day there, she discovers that Irving Rivkin, who worked as delivery boy in her father’s pharmacy back in the 1920’s, also lives in the same retirement community. Irvin hurt her deeply many years ago and Augusta never got over it.

This is also a story told in two different time lines- the 1920’s and 1997. Frequently in two different timeline novels, one story is more interesting, but Cohen had me equally engaged in both stories.

Augusta is a fabulous character, she can be difficult and a tough nut to crack. Although she initially keeps to herself, she eventually makes friends. What she doesn’t understand is why Irvin is pursuing her romantically after he broke her heart years ago with no explanation.

It’s refreshing to see more older female characters in recent novels and Augusta is one of the more intriguing and well-drawn ones. We get the opportunity to see how she became the person she was, and her close attachment to her great aunt Esther, another intriguing older female character. The setting of 1920’s Brooklyn is so vividly created, I could picture Augusta’s father’s pharmacy clearly. I also highly recommend The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern.

There are many memoirs out this fall, and Connie Chung’s Connie is one of the more interesting ones. Chung, the daughter of Chinese immigrants, became one of the most prominent broadcast journalists in the 1970s. 

She was one of the few female television reporters covering the Nixon White House during the tumultuous Watergate years. Chung has to battle not only sexism but also anti-Asian attitudes during her tenure. She believed the best way to do that was to become one of “boys”- she could curse like a sailor, and she gave as good as she got.

Chung worked incredibly hard, and would take any opportunity to show that she was a team player. At one point she anchored a pre-Today Show news hour, reported on stories for the Nightly News, then did live news cut-aways at 9pm and 10pm. She worked nearly around the clock.

She is one of the few people to work on-air for all three broadcast networks- she co-anchored the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather (who undermined her), co-anchored 20/20 on ABC, and was an anchor on the local Los Angeles CBS station for years.

If you know of Chung’s career, you’ll want to read Connie, and if you don’t know her, you’ll want to read what it was like to be a woman in the news business at this time. It’s a fascinating read.

The Author’s Guide To Murder By Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig & Karen White-A

Published by William Morrow

Hardcover, $30, 416 pages

The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern by Lynda Cohen Loigman- A

Published by St. Martin’s Press

Hardcover, $29, 312 pages

Connie by Connie Chung- A

Published by Grand Central

Hardcover, $32.50, 323 pages

The Roaring Days of Zora Lily by Noelle Salazar

The Roaring Days of Zora Lily by Noelle Salazar

Published by MIRA ISBN 9780778305200 

Trade paperback, $18.99, 416 pages

Noelle Salazar's fascinating novel  The Roaring Days of Zora Lily begins in 2023 with a curator at the Smithsonian Museum of American History's discovery while working on an exhibition of iconic movie costumes from 1920's through today. She finds a label underneath another label with the name of Zora Lily on it.

Who is Zora Lily and why was her label hidden underneath the label of a famous costume designer? That takes the story back to the days of Prohibition and the 1920's. Zora Hough was a teenager from a poverty-stricken family in Seattle. Zora helped her mother support her family as seamstresses, repairing clothes for others.

Zora's talents lay in designing and sewing beautiful dresses for wealthy women in Seattle. She spent all her time either in school or working to help her mother. Zora's best friend dances in a club downtown and convinces Zora to join her in some well-deserved fun at the clubs.

Zora is introduced to a whole new world in the dance clubs, and catches the eye of a handsome and wealthy man, a man whom all the other women desire for themselves. The dicotomy of her life at home and her night life in the clubs is striking.

Soon Zora's talents are put to use repairing the costumes for the dancers and when Zora's friends are drawn to the bright lights of Hollywood, Zora accompanies them and gets a job at a studio as a seamstress. 

Although Zora was led to believe that she would be designing clothes for the movies, in fact she spent all her time sewing and repairing other people's designs. She became frustrated and was set to return home for good when an opportunity arose for her to possibly realize her dreams.

Noelle Salazar transports the reader to the 1920's era in The Roaring Days of Zora Lily. You can almost hear the music in the clubs, taste the fizzy drinks, and see the beautiful dancers moving. I also liked the Hollywood setting, meeting people like Greta Garbo. Zora being torn between her loyalty to her family and her own big dreams is something people can relate to as well.

Fans of Karen White's jazz-era Wicked City trio of novels (The Wicked City, The Wicked Redhead, The Wicked Widow) and Adriana Trigiani's All The Stars in the Heavens, (a fictionalized account of actress Loretta Young's life) should put The Roaring Days of Zora Lily on their TBR list. I recommend it.

Thanks to Harlequin Books for putting me on their Fall 2023 Blog Tours.

New in Paperback- All The Ways We Said Goodbye by Team W

All The Ways We Said Goodbye by Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig and Karen White
Published by William Morrow ISBN 9780062931102
Trade paperback, $16.99, 464 pages

All the Ways We Said Goodbye, a triple timeline saga, is the third collaboration by authors Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, and Karen White (collectively known as Team W). 

All The Ways We Said Goodbye opens up in 1964 on an estate in Devonshire, England. Babs is still mourning the recent loss of her beloved husband Kit, who spent time in a prisoner of war camp in Germany during WWII. 

Babs receives a letter from an American lawyer whose father also fought in WWII and is now dying. He asks Babs’ to meet him at the Ritz Hotel in Paris to discuss La Fleur, a famous female French spy whom Kit knew, and who betrayed his father.

Aurelie is a young French woman living with her mother at the Ritz Hotel in Paris in 1914 during WWI. Aurelie’s mother entertains German writers and philosophers in her salon, much to the dismay of Aurelie. 

When Aurelie leaves Paris to go to her father’s ancestral estate in the countryside, the German army is not soon behind, and they confiscate her family’s estate to make it their headquarters during the invasion. The Germans take over the town and force the townspeople into starvation and humiliation. Aurelie does her best to help her friends, even at risk to her own life.

Daisy lives with her American-born grandmother at the Ritz Paris in 1942 during WWII. Daisy’s grandmother is part of the Resistance, and soon Daisy helps the cause by delivering messages hidden in books from the local bookstore.

All these stories collide, and part of the fun is watching these three authors skillfully blend their storylines together to create one taut mystery. Who was La Fleur and what is her connection with all three women?   

The research that goes into all of Team W's books shows up on the pages here. I'd love to see their notes and photos for this one. I also appreciate their strong female characters, they all show great growth as they realize what they are capable of doing.

Fans of Team W’s previous two books- The Forgotten Room (my review here) and The Glass Ocean (my review here) will enjoy the cameo appearances by characters from those two books  (especially the annoying Prunella Schuyler) in this latest one.  And if you liked Kristin Hannah's The Nightingale, Anthony Doerr's All The Light We Couldn't See and Amor Towles' A Gentleman in Moscow you will want to pu

Beatriz Williams and Lauren Willig at Barnes & Noble

Last night I attended a book talk and signing by authors Beatriz Williams and Lauren Willig who, along with missing member Karen White, wrote the wonderful historical novel All The Ways We Said Goodbye (my review here) at the Barnes & Noble store on the Upper East Side. Karen White, a Georgia resident, refuses to go above the Mason-Dixon line until late spring.

Beatriz Williams and Lauren Willig

Williams and Willig launched into the origin story for Team W, as they have dubbed themselves. When Beatriz Williams wrote her first novel, Overseas, which she thought would be a smash hit, sell a million books and be made into a movie, she had the unfortunate timing of being published at the same time a little book called Fifty Shades of Grey was released.

Her new author friends Lauren Willig and Karen White (who all met at an Romance Writers of America event when they were seated alphabetically at the signing tables) tried to cheer her up with lots of cocktails and wine. They came up with the brilliant idea of writing an anthology together set in Scotland called Fifty Shades of Plaid, combining two hot romance trends. (White's editor told them to go back to their rooms, drink some water, take some aspirin, and sleep it off.)

What sounded great after an evening of drinking turned into an actual collaboration and their first Team W novel, The Forgotten Room (my review here). It was set in three different time periods with three different lead women characters, all connected by this forgotten room in a Manhattan townhouse mansion (based on a building once owned by Williams'  husband's family, now a medical facility).

They met at Alice's Tea Cup in New York City and outlined the entire book, something no one had ever done for their individual books. The authors each chose the character they wanted to write, and then wrote her chapter and sent them round robin to the next chapter writer. They had a legendary text chain where they would ask for advice, make changes, and have brilliant strokes of genius. (They joked that they could release a 40-volume set of the text chain, but would have to redact all the many inappropriate ones.)

Karen White's editor bought the book, and the authors laughed because she sounded surprised as she said "it's actually very good". The Forgotten Room hit the NY Times and USA Today bestseller lists, and Team W decided to write a second book.

Their second book, The Glass Ocean, (my review here) also had three female leads and was set mostly on the Lusitania, a cross Atlantic passenger ship that was bombed by a German submarine in 1915 during WWI. Nearly twelve hundred people perished.

Again, it was a success and Team W began plotting their third book, the recently released All The Ways We Said Goodbye, set during WWI, WWII, and 1964 at the Ritz Paris Hotel. Unfortunately, the authors' idea to spend three weeks at the Ritz Paris Hotel to research was shot down by both spouses and the publisher, so the authors had to do their impeccable research online.

Their collaborative novels are seamlessly written, and very few people can tell which writer wrote which character. (The authors keep that secret.) Even their editor can't tell- she has sent the edits to the wrong author on multiple occasions, which makes the authors laugh.

Their next book will be set in Newport, Rhode Island during the Gilded Age, the 1950s and the present day. Here's hoping they all get to go the beautiful mansions there for research on this one.

The capacity crowd on a very cold evening truly enjoyed listening to Beatriz Williams and Lauren Willig. They have their humorous patter down, and you can tell they are truly friends and enjoy working together. If you haven't read anything from Team W, I highly recommend you do. You should also read their individual novels, they are all wonderful writers.

Beatriz Williams' website is here.
Lauren Willig's website is here.
Karen White's website is here.

I saw the fabulous Tavia, cohost of the Book Club Girl podcast, there

All The Ways We Said Goodbye by Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig and Karen White

Parts of this review first appeared on auburnpub.com

All The Ways We Said Goodbye by Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig and Karen White
Published by William Morrow ISBN 9780062931092 
Hardcover, $28.99, 448 pages

All the Ways We Said Goodbye, a triple timeline saga, is the third collaboration by authors Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, and Karen White (collectively known as Team W). 

All The Ways We Said Goodbye opens up in 1964 on an estate in Devonshire, England. Babs is still mourning the recent loss of her beloved husband Kit, who spent time in a prisoner of war camp in Germany during WWII. 

Babs receives a letter from an American lawyer whose father also fought in WWII and is now dying. He asks Babs’ to meet him at the Ritz Hotel in Paris to discuss La Fleur, a famous female French spy whom Kit knew, and who betrayed his father.

Aurelie is a young French woman living with her mother at the Ritz Hotel in Paris in 1914 during WWI. Aurelie’s mother entertains German writers and philosophers in her salon, much to the dismay of Aurelie. 

When Aurelie leaves Paris to go to her father’s ancestral estate in the countryside, the German army is not soon behind, and they confiscate her family’s estate to make it their headquarters during the invasion. The Germans take over the town and force the townspeople into starvation and humiliation. Aurelie does her best to help her friends, even at risk to her own life.

Daisy lives with her American-born grandmother at the Ritz Paris in 1942 during WWII. Daisy’s grandmother is part of the Resistance, and soon Daisy helps the cause by delivering messages hidden in books from the local bookstore.

All these stories collide, and part of the fun is watching these three authors skillfully blend their storylines together to create one taut mystery. Who was La Fleur and what is her connection with all three women?   

The research that goes into all of Team W's books shows up on the pages here. I'd love to see their notes and photos for this one. I also appreciate their strong female characters, they all show great growth as they realize what they are capable of doing.

Fans of Team W’s previous two books- The Forgotten Room (my review here) and The Glass Ocean (my review here) will enjoy the cameo appearances by characters from those two books  (especially the annoying Prunella Schuyler) in this latest one.  And if you liked Kristin Hannah's The Nightingale, Anthony Doerr's All The Light We Couldn't See and Amor Towles' A Gentleman in Moscow you will want to put this one on your to-be-read list. I highly recommend it, it is Team W's best book yet.

New in paperback- The Glass Ocean by Karen White, Beatriz Williams and Lauren Willig

The Glass Ocean by Karen White, Beatriz Williams and Lauren Willig
Published by William Morrow ISBN 9780062642462
Trade paperback, $16.99, 432 pages

Three writers — Karen White, Beatriz Williams and Lauren Willig — teamed up a few years ago to write a terrific novel, The Forgotten Room, and liked the experience so much they got together again to write another. One of the more interesting aspects of that book was how the writers wove familiar characters from their individual series of novels into one story. 

The Glass Ocean features three female protagonists telling their stories. Two of the women are sailing on the Lusitania ship from New York to England in 1915, and one woman in 2013 has gone to England to find out if her great-grandfather who worked on the Lusitania had any connection to its sinking. 

The novel starts out strong in New York City 2013, where author Sarah Blake is on her way to talk with a book club about her successful first novel. It doesn't go well, and we learn about the pirate websites, where unscrupulous people illegally upload books for people to read for free, and how that adversely affects authors. Sarah is broke, and decides to tell her great grandfather's story about being on the Lusitania.

In 1915, Caroline is traveling on the Lusitania with her wealthy husband, who is carrying a valuable piece of historical sheet music by Strauss that he sold to someone in England. Her husband seems very distracted on the boat, which concerns her.

Robert, a man from Caroline’s past, is also on the boat. Robert has very strong feelings for Caroline. She is torn between her love for her husband and her attraction to Robert.

A young woman named Tess is also on board the Lusitania. Tess and her sister have been paid to steal the sheet music and make a copy of it. Tess keeps bumping into Robert on the ship, and they form a bond, one that may endanger Tess’ task at hand.

The tension builds with the ship moving closer to England, as the reader knows that historically the Lusitania will be sunk by the Germans off the coast of Ireland. There are rumors that there are German spies on board the ship who are signaling the Germans with their location in order to sink the ship.

The Glass Ocean is filled with terrific period details, and the trio of writers clearly did a great deal of research to bring the reader right onto the massive ship. The mystery is masterfully plotted as well, and you will find yourself searching for clues to what is really happening on that ship before it is sunk. I highly recommend it.

You can follow Team W on Facebook here. Their third collaboration, All The Ways We Never Said Goodbye, publishes in January and I can't wait.

My review of The Forgotten Room is here.

Thanks to TLC Tours for putting me this tour. The rest of the stops are here:

Instagram Features

Tuesday, September 10th: Instagram: @katelynreadsbooks_

Wednesday, September 11th: Instagram: @downtogetthefictionon

Thursday, September 12th: Instagram: @readingbetweenthe__wines

Friday, September 13th: Instagram: @thats_what_she_read

Saturday, September 14th: Instagram: @jennsbookvibes

Sunday, September 15th: Instagram: @crystals_library

Monday, September 16th: Instagram: @girlwithnoselfie

Tuesday, September 17th: Instagram: @wherethereadergrows

Wednesday, September 18th: Instagram: @theshybooks

Review Stops

Tuesday, September 10th: bookish bliss and beauty

Wednesday, September 11th: Reading Reality

Thursday, September 12th: View from the Birdhouse

Friday, September 13th: A Chick Who Reads

Monday, September 16th: Instagram: @kraysbookclub

Tuesday, September 17th: Literary Quicksand

Wednesday, September 18th: bookchickdi

Friday, September 20th: Instagram: @book.hang.o.ver

Monday, September 23rd: Instagram: @lauralovestoread

Tuesday, September 24th: Write – Read – Life

Wednesday, September 25th: Audio Killed the Bookmark

Wednesday, September 25th: Girl Who Reads

Thursday, September 26th: Always With a Book

Friday, September 27th: Instagram: @somekindofalibrary

Monday, September 30th: Broken Teepee

Tuesday, October 1st: 100 Pages a Day…Stephanie’s Book Reviews

Three Historical Mysteries To Take You Away

Reprinted from the Citizen:

Sometimes when the world today seems too crazy, it’s good to get lost in a story set in the past. And if there is an element of mystery and suspense to it, all the better. This month’s Book Report takes us back in time with three books that will keep you guessing.

Three writers — Karen White, Beatriz Williams and Lauren Willig — teamed up a few years ago to write a terrific novel, The Forgotten Room, and liked the experience so much they got together again to write another.

The Glass Ocean features three female protagonists telling their stories. Two of the women are sailing on the Lusitania ship from New York to England in 1915, and one woman in 2013 has gone to England to find out if her great-grandfather who worked on the Lusitania had any connection to its sinking. 

Caroline is traveling on the Lusitania with her wealthy husband, who is carrying a valuable piece of historical sheet music by Strauss that he sold to someone in England. Her husband seems very distracted on the boat, which concerns her.

Robert, a man from Caroline’s past, is also on the boat. Robert has very strong feelings for Caroline. She is torn between her love for her husband and her attraction to Robert.

A young woman named Tess is also on board the Lusitania. Tess and her sister have been paid to steal the sheet music and make a copy of it. Tess keeps bumping into Robert on the ship, and they form a bond, one that may endanger Tess’ task at hand.

The tension builds with the ship moving closer to England, as the reader knows that historically the Lusitania will be sunk by the Germans off the coast of Ireland. There are rumors that there are German spies on board the ship who are signaling the Germans with their location in order to sink the ship.

The Glass Ocean is filled with terrific period details, and the trio of writers clearly did a great deal of research to bring the reader right onto the massive ship. The mystery is masterfully plotted as well, and you will find yourself searching for clues to what is really happening on that ship before it is sunk. I highly recommend it.

Stephen Giles’ The Boy at the Keyhole is set in 1950s England. Samuel is eight years old, and left in the care of Ruth, the family’s housekeeper, after his mother suddenly leaves their home in the middle of the night. 

His widowed mother has supposedly gone to the United States to secure funding for the family’s factory, which is in a precarious financial state following the death of his father. But why didn’t she say goodbye to him? Why did no one but Ruth know about her leaving?

When Samuel’s friend spins a wild tale of Ruth murdering Samuel’s mother, Samuel starts to suspect Ruth as well. She acts suspiciously, and she won’t allow Samuel to speak with his uncle. He also catches her stealing from his mother’s jewelry box.

The Boy at the Keyhole is a taut psychological mystery, one that keeps the reader guessing all the way to the stunning conclusion that you will not see coming. Buckle up — this is a book you will want to read in one sitting.

Daniela Tully’s Hotel on Shadow Lake is set in two time periods — World War II and current day. The book is set in motion in 1990, when an elderly German woman Martha Weisberg receives a letter from her brother, dated 1944. Shortly after receiving this letter, Martha disappears. 

In 2017, Martha’s granddaughter Maya is told that Martha’s dead body was excavated at a famous mountain resort in the Catskill Mountains, not far from where Maya studied in New York. How did her grandmother get to America? No one knew she had gone there.

Maya goes to the hotel to find out what happened to her grandmother, and gets involved with the family who has owned the resort for many years. Could they hold the answer to the mystery of her grandmother’s death?

We also go back in time to World War II Germany, where Martha is a young woman living with her mother and brother, who is a proud Nazi. Martha becomes part of the resistance and must keep her distance from her brother if she is to survive.

Hotel on Shadow Lake is a crackling good mystery, and both time periods are evenly interesting. Fans of World War II fiction will want to add this to their list.

If you read

BOOK: The Glass Ocean by Beatriz Williams, Karen White and Lauren Willig

GRADE: A

PUBLISHER: William Morrow

COST: Hardcover, $26.99

LENGTH: 416 pages

---

BOOK: The Boy at the Keyhole by Stephen Giles

GRADE: A

PUBLISHER: Hanover Square Press

COST: Hardcover, $25.99

LENGTH: 272 pages

---

BOOK: Hotel on Shadow Lake by Daniela Tully

GRADE: A-

PUBLISHER: Thomas Dunne Books

COST: Hardcover, $26.99

LENGTH: 254 pages

Summer Reading Suggestions

Reprinted from the Citizen:

Another Memorial Day has come and gone and we now turn our thoughts to summer reading. It seems to be a good time to escape from the weather, our jobs, current world events and read a good book (or two or three). 

Dorothea Benton Frank’s annual summer book is set during summers at the beach in the Lowcountry of South Carolina. “Same Beach, Next Year” tells the story of a couple who while vacationing at their usual summer condo discover that the wife of the new couple at the complex is the former high school love of the husband. 

Same Beach, Next Year

The couples become fast friends, vacationing every summer, and their families become close as well. But when the old attraction between high school sweethearts appears rekindled, and their respective spouses also become close, trouble ensues. There’s a real beach-y feel to this book, and part of it is set in beautiful Greece, so you get to travel there as well.

Karen White’s “The Night The Lights Went Out” is a romantic suspense story about Merilee, a woman whose husband leaves her for their daughter’s 4th grade teacher. She relocates her two children to a smaller home with a cranky landlady, a hunky contractor, and a fellow mom who is a little too eager to help. When a man is found dead, Merilee’s past comes back to haunt her.  Fans of Lianne Moriarty’s “Big Little Lies” will enjoy this one, and the landlady is fantastic character. 

The Night The Lights Went Out

Cozy mystery and cruise fans will welcome aboard Ellie Alexander’s latest Bakeshop Mystery, “A Crime of Passion Fruit” . Jules and her mom own a lovely bakery in a small town near Portland, Oregon. When Jules’ estranged husband Carlos, a chef on a cruise ship, asks Jules to come back and work as a pastry chef for a week, she agrees and brings her mom and her mom’s boyfriend, a police detective, along. 

A Crime of Passion Fruit

A murder occurs and Jules and company are on the case to find the killer. You don’t have to have read any of the previous books in this series to enjoy this one, and you get a peek at life below deck on a cruise ship, along with great food descriptions.

Adriana Trigiani’s newest family saga, “Kiss Carlo” brings us from Roseto Valfotore, Italy to Roseto, Pennsylvania as a young man yearns to become an actor in a post-WWII world. The characters here are fantastic, from the big, loving Italian Palazzini family to Calla Borelli, trying to keep her father’s theatre alive, to my favorite, Hortense, the wise and wise-cracking taxi dispatcher. 

Kiss Carlo

It’s a big, beautiful family story, and whether you yearn to be in a big family or are from your own big family, “Kiss Carlo” is for you. (And soap opera fans should keep an eye out for a cameo from superstar producer Gloria Monty.)

Julia Fierro’s “The Gypsy Moth Summer” drops the reader in 1992 Avalon Island, a stand-in for Long Island. The island is home to an aviation factory with long-term military contracts, and a wealthy enclave of people with ties to the factory. 

The Gypsy Moth Summer

When Leslie’s returns to her the large family estate after a years-long estrangement with her parents, she brings her African-American husband, teenage son, toddler daughter, and a determination to right past wrongs. It’s a beautifully written emotional story, and sure to be one of the most discussed books of the summer. Fierro gets the 1992 atmosphere pitch-perfect.

If your taste runs more to nonfiction, Sally Mott Freeman’s “The Jersey Brothers”, about a navel officer missing in WWII and the quest of his two brothers also serving in the military to find him, is a gripping read. All three brothers ended up in the middle of the most important events of the war, and Hillary Clinton recently raved about the book at the annual Book Expo in New York City. 

The Jersey Brothers

David Grann, author of the classic “The Lost City of Z” has a new book out, “Killers of the Flower Moon” about the murders of members of the Osage Indian nation in Oklahoma and how the investigation led to the rise of the FBI.  In the 1920s, the Osage discovered oil on their land and became overnight millionaires, the richest people in the world per capita. 

Killers of the Flower Moon

When some Osage were murdered, new FBI director J. Edgar Hoover sends one of his best men in to unravel what has been happening there. This one is a page-turner.

Enjoy your summer reading!

New in Paperback- The Forgotten Room

The Forgotten Room by Karen White, Beatriz Williams and Lauren Willig

Published by Berkley ISBN 9780451474636

Hardcover, $16, 384 pages

Reprinted from the Citizen:

Writers Karen White (“The Sound of Glass”), Lauren Willig (The “Pink Carnation” series of historical fiction) and Beatriz Williams (“Along the Infinite Sea”) are all successful romance novelists on their own. Recently, they teamed up to write a book together, “The Forgotten Room,” in which the authors each take a different time setting then connect their stories together.

It begins in 1944, where young Dr. Kate Schuyler races to an incoming ambulance to find a seriously injured soldier. Capt. Ravanel was injured in Europe in the war and placed on a boat to set sail for New York City to a hospital there for better care.

The hospital on East 69th Street that Dr. Schuyler works in used to be a family’s mansion during the Gilded Age, when money flowed freely until the Great Depression hit, and the family’s mansion was sold and eventually became a hospital.

Capt. Ravenel is delirious with fever, calling Dr. Schuyler by the name Victorine, and recognizes the ruby necklace that Kate wears around her neck. Kate doesn’t know Capt. Ravenel, although his last name sounds familiar.

In 1892, we meet young Olive Van Alan, who works as a maid in the mansion on East 69th Street for the wealthy Pratt family. While it appears that Olive is just another poor young working class woman, she has ulterior motives.

Olive’s father was the architect who built the Pratt mansion. It was his masterpiece, a showcase that he hoped would make his career and get him many more jobs. But Mr. Pratt was a dishonest man, and he refused to pay Olive’s father for his work, bankrupting him and resulting in her father’s death.

Olive was determined to find vindication for her father in Pratt’s paperwork. She would find proof that her father’s work was not unacceptable and poor, as Pratt claimed. She would get justice for her father.

But Olive didn’t count on falling in love with Pratt’s artistic son Harry. Olive was warned to stay away from the young master of the house, that it would only mean trouble for everyone, but Harry became infatuated with Olive, and a torrid affair began.

In 1920, Lucy Young takes a room in the attic of a mansion on East 69th Street, the former Pratt Mansion. She secures a job at the firm that handles the affairs of the Pratt family. The junior partner in charge of the Pratt account is the stepson of Prunella Pratt, the last remaining member of the famous Pratts, and sister of Harry.

Before long, Lucy is now working closely with Phillip Schuyler, Prunella’s stepson. Lucy can’t believe her luck. She got the job at the firm hoping to get an answer to a very important question: Could Lucy be the illegitimate daughter of Harry Pratt?

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Harry Pratt disappeared a long time ago, and his family had no idea where he went or if he was still alive. Lucy hopes that if she can find Harry Pratt, she can find the answer to her real heritage.

Lucy becomes Phillip Schuyler’s valued assistant, and when he asks her to entertain a client, a Mr. Ravenel from Charleston, we have a connection that will be repeated in 1944, in the Pratt mansion that is now a hospital.

White, Williams and Willig do a masterful job creating three distinct worlds that intersect in the end. Each takes a storyline, and immerses the reader in their time period. We can feel the distinct delineation between the classes in Olive’s story, as the opulence of the Pratt family contrasts with Olive and her widowed mother, who tries to marry Olive off to the nice bakery owner.

Lucy Young is a career woman living in a room in a woman’s boarding house in 1920 under the watchful eye of a woman who deems it her goal in life to keep her boarders' virtue intact. Lucy came from a family who owned a small shop, but she uses her education to make a better life for herself.

And then we get to Dr. Kate Schuyler, a doctor in 1944, an unusual occupation for a woman at that time. Kate has to put up with the sexual harassment of her boss, and back then the only method to handle that was to avoid the man at all costs.

The way the authors seamlessly weave their stories together is beautifully done, and when the resolution to the story comes, it is a satisfying conclusion. “The Forgotten Room” is the perfect book to curl up with on a snowy day and lose yourself in a wonderful story.

Grade- A-