Teatime and Books Historical Reads: Historical Mysteries

Saturday, March 5, 2022

Release Blitz & Giveaway ~ A Kind and Savage Place by Richard Helms

Historical Mystery

Date Published: 03-01-2022

Publisher: New Arc Books / Level Best Books

It's 1954. The place is Prosperity, North Carolina, a small farming community in Bliss County. Three teenagers, the 1953 championship-winning offensive backfield for Prosperity High, are unwilling participants in a horrific event that results in a young man’s death.

One of the friends harbors a tragic secret that could have prevented the crime. Divulging it would ruin his life, so he stays quiet, fully aware he will carry a stain of guilt for the rest of his life.

The three buddies go their separate ways for almost a decade, before another tragedy brings them back to Prosperity in 1968. Now in their thirties, it is a time of civil and racial unrest in America.

They discover the man who committed murder back in ’54 is now the mayor, and rules the town with an autocratic iron fist. He’s backed by his own private force of sheriff's deputies and forcibly intimidates and silences any malcontents.

Worse, now he's set his sights on Congress.

A Kind and Savage Place spans half a century from 1942 to 1989 and examines the dramatic racial and societal turmoil of that period through the microcosmic lens of a flyspeck North Carolina agricultural community.

About the Author

Richard Helms is a retired college professor and forensic psychologist. He has been nominated eight times for the SMFS Derringer Award, winning it twice; seven times for the Private Eye Writers of America Shamus Award, with a win in 2021; twice for the ITW Thriller Award, with one win; four times for the Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award with one win: and once for the Mystery Readers International Macavity Award. He is a frequent contributor to Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, along with other periodicals and short story anthologies. His story “See Humble and Die” was included in Houghton-Mifflin-Harcourt’s Best American Mystery Stories 2020. A Kind and Savage Place is his twenty-second novel. Mr. Helms is a former member of the Board of Directors of Mystery Writers of America, and the former president of the Southeast Regional Chapter of MWA. When not writing, Mr. Helms enjoys travel, gourmet cooking, simracing, rooting for his beloved Carolina Tar Heels and Carolina Panthers, and playing with his grandsons. Richard Helms and his wife Elaine live in Charlotte, North Carolina.

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Tuesday, September 21, 2021

Book Blitz ~ Murder on the Golden Arrow - The Kitty Worthington Mysteries by Magda Alexander

The Kitty Worthington Mysteries, Book 1

Historical Mystery, Cozy Historical Mystery

Date Published: September 21, 2021

What’s a bright young woman to do when her brother becomes the main suspect in a murder? Why, solve the case of course.

England. 1923. After a year away at finishing school where she learned etiquette, deportment, and the difference between a salad fork and a fish one, Kitty Worthington is eager to return home. But minutes after she and her brother Ned board the Golden Arrow, the unthinkable happens. A woman with a mysterious connection to her brother is poisoned, and the murderer can only be someone aboard the train.

When Scotland Yard hones in on Ned as the main suspect, Kitty sets out to investigate. Not an easy thing to do while juggling the demands of her debut season and a mother intent on finding a suitable, aristocratic husband for her.

With the aid of her maid, two noble beaus, and a flatulent Basset Hound named Sir Winston, Kitty treads a fearless path through the glamorous world of high society and London’s dark underbelly alike to find the murderer. For if she fails, the insufferable Inspector Crawford will most surely hang a noose around her brother’s neck.

A frolicking historical cozy mystery filled with dodgy suspects, a dastardly villain, and an intrepid heroine sure to win your heart, Murder on the Golden Arrow is the first book in The Kitty Worthington Mysteries. For lovers of Agatha Christie and Downton Abbey alike.

Other Books in the The Kitty Worthington Mysteries Series

Murder at Westminster

The Kitty Worthington Mysteries, Book 2

Publisher: Hearts Afire Publishing

Release Date: June 3, 2022

Amateur sleuth Kitty Worthington once more jumps into the fray to catch the wily murderer of a high-ranking member of the nobility.

London. 1923. Much to her consternation, Kitty Worthington's debut season is a resounding success, prompting marriage proposals from rogues, scoundrels, and ne'er do wells. Even as she dodges them, a new intrigue arises, and at Westminster, no less. A high-ranking member of the nobility is murdered, and her sister's beau has been framed to take the fall.

With her beloved sister's happiness at stake, Kitty once more sets out to investigate, ably aided by her faithful maid, two noble lords, a titled lady, and Sir Winston, her still flatulent Basset Hound. As they dash about London from pillar to post, from tenements to glittering ballrooms in search of the wily killer, can she convince the maddening, yet ever so handsome, Inspector Crawford to join the hunt? For if she fails, her sister’s beau may very well hang from the wrong end of a rope.

Murder at Westminster, the second book in The Kitty Worthington Mysteries, is another frolicking, historical cozy mystery filled with dodgy suspects, a wily villain, and an intrepid heroine sure to win your heart.

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About The Author

Magda Alexander is the USA Today bestselling author of several books, including the popular STORM DAMAGES series. She's equally at home writing historical mysteries and sexy contemporary romances. When she's not glued to her laptop writing her next book, Magda loves to bake delicious goodies and try out new recipes in her Instant Pot. A lifelong learner, Magda earned her degree from the University of Maryland and now resides in a city whose history dates back to colonial times.

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