Blog with Sidebar - Reading the West

January 18, 2023 In Fiction

The London Séance Society by Sarah Penner

Seances, spiritualism, murder and Victorian London: how could it get better? Add a young woman who is skeptical of all of this and yet becomes embroiled in sinister paranormal plots with a touch of romance and it all comes together nicely.

January 10, 2023 In Fiction

Murder Your Employer by Rupert Holmes

An academic institution dedicated to the education of sufferers of oppression and cruelty in the arts of “deletion”. Overbearing and vicious employers who make life miserable for their charges are the targets of these erudite schemes to succeed in murder and avoid retribution for the same. Dark fun.

January 3, 2023 In Fiction

Winter Swallows by Maurizio de Giovanni

For lovers of murder mysteries and literary fiction alike, this atmospheric tale, elegantly written and set in 1930s Naples will satisfy the most discerning reader.

December 22, 2022 In Fiction

My Father’s House by Joseph O’Connor

A scheme to smuggle escaped prisoners of war out of wartime Rome by a member of the Vatican clergy, helped by a variety of sympathizers is constantly imperiled by the scrutiny of the Nazi occupiers, the sanctity of the Vatican City’s neutral status notwithstanding. It is a nonstop thrill ride with plenty of Italian flavor, spiced with a touch of the Irish.