A Few of My Favorite Paranormal Novels

Edited with New additions to my paranormal favorites (2023)

The Shapeshifter's Guide to Time Travel by  Mark Budman

Rose, an 18-year-old American time traveler, comes to the totalitarian Temnota as an exchange student. Many people in this country are Talents—the shape-shifters. Rose finds out that a captured rebel leader is locked up in a high-security prison, awaiting execution. Without their leader, the rebels will be annihilated. Rose can travel in time without any machine, and she can transport people with her. She takes her classmate and friend Gavrilo, the prince of the good Talents, back to the past to find a way to free the prisoner. The Senior Major of the country’s Secret Service, the king of all evil Talents, stands in their way. Rose and Gavrilo fall in love while fighting him, and now their resolve and commitment are tested in battle.

First up is friend and crit partner's release Remembrance by Rita Woods. It is a fantasy take on the underground railroad. You can read my interview with her here: https://bloodredpencil.blogspot.com/2021/02/the-path-to-publication-with-rita-woods.html

Remembrance…It’s a rumor, a whisper passed in the fields and veiled behind sheets of laundry. A hidden stop on the underground road to freedom, a safe haven protected by more than secrecy…if you can make it there. Ohio, present day. An elderly woman who is more than she seems warns against rising racism as a young nurse grapples with her life. Haiti, 1791, on the brink of revolution. When the slave Abigail is forced from her children to take her mistress to safety, she discovers New Orleans has its own powers. 1857 New Orleans—a city of unrest: Following tragedy, house girl Margot is sold just before her promised freedom. Desperate, she escapes and chases a whisper.... Remembrance. 

I am looking forward to her new release in 2022, The Last Dreamwalker. Loved, loved, loved the early drafts. Rita has one of the most amazing narrative voices I have ever read. This book has been released and it is just as good as I hoped. Layla Hurley returns to the Gullah islands where she must face off with a crazed ancestor in a fight in each other's dreams. Five stars.

Follow Rita Woods on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Rita-Woods/e/B07ZXLWBRV/r

I am not usually one for zombie stories or civil war tales, but I love Justina Ireland's narrative voice and adored her main character, Jane, in Dread Nation and its sequel Deathless Divide. 

Jane McKeene was born two days before the dead began to walk the battlefields of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania—derailing the War Between the States and changing the nation forever. In this new America, safety for all depends on the work of a few, and laws like the Native and Negro Education Act require certain children attend combat schools to learn to put down the dead. But there are also opportunities—and Jane is studying to become an Attendant, trained in both weaponry and etiquette to protect the well-to-do. It's a chance for a better life for Negro girls like Jane. After all, not even being the daughter of a wealthy white Southern woman could save her from society’s expectations. But that’s not a life Jane wants. Almost finished with her education at Miss Preston's School of Combat in Baltimore, Jane is set on returning to her Kentucky home and doesn’t pay much mind to the politics of the eastern cities, with their talk of returning America to the glory of its days before the dead rose. I have not read her backlist, but there are quite a few to choose from including tales from the Star Wars franchise. I look forward to more fiction from her pen.

Follow Justina Ireland on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Justina-Ireland/e/B009BXOJ1S

Natasha Mostert's Season of the Witch is one of my favorite witch tales of all time.  

A computer hacker, Gabriel Blackstone is also a remote viewer who can read other people's minds. Asked to find a friend's son, he enters the orbit of the mysterious Monk sisters. But he uses his gift only reluctantly, until he is contacted by an ex-lover who begs him to find her stepson, last seen months earlier in a mysterious house in Chelsea. Gabriel becomes increasingly bewitched by the house, and by its owners, the beautiful and mysterious Monk sisters. Morrighan and Minnaloushe are direct descendants of Elizabethan occultist John Dee. Gabriel knows one is a killer, but which one?

In The Midnight Side, Isa de Witt receives a phone call from her cousin Alette, only to fins she has been dead for two days. She travels to London to solve her cousin's murder and get revenge.

In Windwalker, Justine Calloway moves into a deserted English mansion and becomes obsessed with the family who lived there and they with her. 

In Dark Prayer, Jennilee suffers from dissociative memory disorder after witnessing the dramatic murder of her mother at the age of five. Her mother, Julianne, together with four friends, were working on strange scientific experiments involving the manipulation of memory molecules. Jennilee’s fugue state manifests another entity named Eloise. Can she learn to control the voices in her head and unlock the secrets from her past?

I highly recommend them all. Follow Natasha Mostert on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Natasha-Mostert/e/B000APMG9I?

I am a bit late to the game, but I finally got around to reading the books in Alice Hoffman's Practical Magic series.  I had watched the star-studded movie, but the books are much richer and span several generations of Owens women. For more than two hundred years, the Owens women have been blamed for everything that has gone wrong in their Massachusetts town. Gillian and Sally have endured that fate as well: as children, the sisters were forever outsiders, taunted, talked about, pointed at. Their elderly aunts almost seemed to encourage the whispers of witchery, with their musty house and their exotic concoctions and their crowd of black cats. But all Gillian and Sally wanted was to escape. One will do so by marrying, the other by running away. But the bonds they share will bring them back—almost as if by magic.

The second book in the series is The Rules of Magic. For the Owens family, love is a curse that began in 1620, when Maria Owens was charged with witchery for loving the wrong man. Hundreds of years later, in New York City at the cusp of the sixties, when the whole world is about to change, Susanna Owens knows that her three children are dangerously unique. Difficult Franny, with skin as pale as milk and blood red hair, shy and beautiful Jet, who can read other people’s thoughts, and charismatic Vincent, who began looking for trouble on the day he could walk. From the start Susanna sets down rules for her children: No walking in the moonlight, no red shoes, no wearing black, no cats, no crows, no candles, no books about magic. And most importantly, never, ever, fall in love. But when her children visit their Aunt Isabelle, in the small Massachusetts town where the Owens family has been blamed for everything that has ever gone wrong, they uncover family secrets and begin to understand the truth of who they are. Yet, the children cannot escape love even if they try, just as they cannot escape the pains of the human heart. The two beautiful sisters will grow up to be the memorable aunts in Practical Magic, while Vincent, their beloved brother, will leave an unexpected legacy.

The third book in the series is Magic Lessons which traces the centuries-old curse to its source, Maria Owens, who was accused of witchcraft in Salem, and matriarch of a line of the amazing Owens women. In the 1600s, Maria is abandoned in a snowy field in rural England as a baby. Under the care of Hannah Owens, Maria learns about the “Nameless Arts.” Hannah recognizes that Maria has a gift and she teaches the girl all she knows. It is here that she learns her first important lesson: Always love someone who will love you back. When Maria is abandoned by the man who has declared his love for her, she follows him to Salem, Massachusetts. Here she invokes the curse that will haunt her family. And it’s here that she learns the rules of magic and the lesson that she will carry with her for the rest of her life. Love is the only thing that matters.

The fourth book in the series, The Book of Magic was released this year. You can read my review of it here: 

https://bloodredpencil.blogspot.com/2021/04/magic-lessons-by-alice-hoffman.html

The Owens family has been cursed in matters of love for over three-hundred years but all of that is about to change. The novel begins in a library, the best place for a story to be conjured, when beloved aunt Jet Owens hears the deathwatch beetle and knows she has only seven days to live. Jet is not the only one in danger—the curse is already at work. A frantic attempt to save a young man’s life spurs three generations of the Owens women, and one long-lost brother, to use their unusual gifts to break the curse as they travel from Paris to London to the English countryside where their ancestor Maria Owens first practiced the Unnamed Art. The younger generation discovers secrets that have been hidden from them in matters of both magic and love by Sally, their fiercely protective mother. As Kylie Owens uncovers the truth about who she is and what her own dark powers are, her aunt Franny comes to understand that she is ready to sacrifice everything for her family, and Sally Owens realizes that she is willing to give up everything for love.

Hoffman has an extensive back list. I have not read all of them yet, but am working on it. 

Follow Alice Hoffman on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Alice-Hoffman/e/B000AQ05CC

 

Brenna Yovanoff was one of my serendipitous finds. Her books are quirky and captivating and include: 

The Replacement  Mackie Doyle is The Replacement - left in the crib of a human baby sixteen years ago. He has been raised among us. But he is not one of us. Now, he must face the dark creatures of the slag heaps from which he came and find his rightful place - in our world or theirs.

The Space Between  Everything burns in Pandemonium, a city in Hell made of chrome and steel, where there is no future and life is an expanse of frozen time. That's where Daphne--the daughter of Lilith and Lucifer--waits, wondering what lies in store for her. Will she become a soulless demon like her sisters? Or follow in the footsteps of her brother Obie, whose life is devoted to saving lost souls on Earth? But when Obie saves a troubled boy named Truman from the brink of death and then goes missing, Daphne is catapulted on a mission to Earth, with Truman as her guide. As Daphne and Truman search for Obie, they discover what it means to love and be human in a world where human is the hardest thing to be.

Paper Valentine For Hannah, the summer is a complicated one.  Her best friend Lillian died six months ago, and Hannah just wants her life to go back to normal. But how can things be normal when Lillian’s ghost is haunting her bedroom, pushing her to investigate the mysterious string of murders?  Hannah’s just trying to understand why her friend self-destructed, and where she fits now that Lillian isn’t there to save her a place among the social elite. And she must stop thinking about Finny Boone, the big, enigmatic delinquent whose main hobbies seem to include petty larceny and surprising acts of kindness. With the entire city in a panic, Hannah soon finds herself drawn into a world of ghost girls and horrifying secrets.  She realizes that only by confronting the Valentine Killer will she be able move on with her life—and it’s up to her to put together the pieces before he strikes again.

Fiendish When Clementine was a child, dangerous and inexplicable things started happening in New South Bend. The townsfolk blamed the fiendish people out in the Willows and burned their homes to the ground. But magic kept Clementine alive, walled up in the cellar for ten years, until a boy named Fisher sets her free. Back in the world, Clementine sets out to discover what happened all those years ago. But the truth gets muddled in her dangerous attraction to Fisher, the politics of New South Bend, and the Hollow, a fickle and terrifying place that seems increasingly temperamental ever since Clementine reemerged.

Her stories are modern-day fables reminiscent of the Brothers Grimm. The plots are slight, but her glorious use of language and description makes up for that. Paper Valentine was my least favorite. The other three I could not put down.

She has written a prequel for the Max character from the Netflix Stranger Things television series titled Stranger Things: Runaway Max. This must-read novel, explores Max's past, the good and the bad, as well as how she came to find her newfound sense of home in Hawkins, Indiana

Follow Brenna Yovanoff on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Brenna-Yovanoff/e/B003VKZBT6/

Now that the Christmas gifts have been opened and it's time to begin a new year of reading, hopefully you received gift money to get a head start on your TBR pile.  

Join in me 2022 for more educational articles on the craft of writing and books to add to your reading list.

Check out my Story Building Blocks series and website for the writer in your life at www.dianahurwitz.com. There are many free tools, articles, and forms to get you started on your writing journey or dig you out of a hole if you become stuck.

And though it lacks magic, practical or otherwise, pick up the Mythikas Island series for the adventure

lover. Diana, Persephone, Aphrodite, and Athena undergo a survival exercise on a deserted island to earn a seat on the ruling council of Mt. Olympus.

Follow me on Amazon for more books on the craft of writing: https://www.amazon.com/Diana-Hurwitz/e/B002BOC3HQ 

 

 

A Few of My Favorite Science Fiction Novels

The most delightful Science Fiction category winner is hands down Susan Kaye Quinn. I love every book of hers I have read: the bollypunk Three Sisters, The Debt Collector, Mind Jack, and Singularity series.

In the Mindjack series, in a world where everyone can read minds, Kira believes herself a zero, someone who can neither read nor be read. But she has the greatest power of all, she can mindjack: enter other people's minds and manipulate them.

In Singularity, most humans have become augmented with AI. Seventeen-year-old painter Elijah Brighton is on the verge of "ascending," but what he learns will change everything as a battle wages between the ascended and humankind.

In the luscious Royals of Dharia series, Aniri is the third daughter without much responsibility. When a barbarian prince proposes, Aniri is forced to accept to avoid war. But Aniri finds the prince has secrets that she can use to her advantage in this Bollywood-meets-steampunk adventure.

In the Debt Collector SciFi thriller series, Lirium and Wraith are debt collectors in a world where your time on earth is a commodity to be  taken, bartered, and sold. A dark, sexy, gritty ride in a wonderfully visualized futureworld.

The latest is her four book hopepunk series, Nothing is Promised. 
They're about our future, how society will shift and flex like a solar lily in the storms of our own making, and how breaks in the social fabric have to be expected, tended to, and healed. Because we’re in this together, now more than ever before. I have downloaded this to my Kindle. 

Follow Susan Kaye Quinn on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Susan-Kaye-Quinn/e/B003TTJRXU

In which I compare dystopian novels: http://dianahurwitz.blogspot.com/2019/11/a-tale-of-two-dystopias.html

I loved Alexandra Bracken's world building in the The Darkest Minds dystopian series

Protagonist Ruby is sent to a brutal government "rehabilitation camp" when a mysterious disease kills most of America's children. Ruby attempts to hide the truth about her magical abilities, but when they are discovered, she barely escapes Thurmond with her life. She joins a group of other kids on the run: Zu, a young girl haunted by her past; Chubs, a standoffish brainiac; and Liam, their fearless leader. They search for answers as well as a safe haven.

Follow Alexandra Bracken on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Alexandra-Bracken/e/B002JVAEM2

In Insignia, the first book of the fast-paced SciFi trilogy, the planet's natural resources are almost gone, and war is being fought to control the assets of the solar system. The enemy is winning. The salvation may be Tom Raines. Tom doesn't seem like a hero. He's a short fourteen-year-old with bad skin. But he has the virtual-reality gaming skills that make him a phenom behind the controls of the battle drones.

As a new member of the Intrasolar Forces, Tom's life completely changes. Suddenly, he's someone important. He has new opportunities, friends, and a shot at having a girlfriend. But there's a price to pay.

Follow SJ Kincaid on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/S.-J.-Kincaid/e/B006X7SD5S

The time traveling series, The Last Magician, takes place in modern-day New York where magic is all but extinct. The remaining few who have an affinity for magic—the Mageus—live in the shadows, hiding who they are. Any Mageus who enters Manhattan becomes trapped by the Brink, a dark energy barrier that confines them to the island. Crossing it means losing their power—and often their lives.  Esta is a talented thief, and she's been raised to steal magical artifacts from the sinister Order that created the Brink. With her innate ability to manipulate time, Esta can pilfer from the past, collecting these artifacts before the Order even realizes she’s there. And all of Esta’s training has been for one final job: traveling back to 1902 to steal an ancient book containing the secrets of the Order—and the Brink—before the Magician can destroy it and doom the Mageus to a hopeless future.  But Old New York is a dangerous world ruled by ruthless gangs and secret societies, a world where the very air crackles with magic. Nothing is as it seems, including the Magician himself. And for Esta to save her future, she may have to betray everyone in the past.

Follow Lisa Maxwell on Amazon:
 https://www.amazon.com/Lisa-Maxwell/e/B00MZXXN54

Stay tuned for more book recommendations. 

A Few of My Favorite Fantasy Novels

Fantasy vies with mystery for my favorite genre. I love the unique worldbuilding and characters. 

In which I marvel at A. R. Kahler's Immortal Circus series. I have since enjoyed his Ravenborn and Pale Queen Rising series. He has a new series out which I just added to my TBR pile Runebinder. 

http://dianahurwitz.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-magic-of-voice-and-r-kahler.html

In The Immortal Circus, Vivienne finds herself part of Queen Mab's immortal circus and along with the intriguing Kingston, a stage magician with real magic, and new friend Melody, she must find the culprit behind a series of deaths that should be impossible. However, the answer she seeks might reveal more about her own bloody past—and future—than she bargains for.

In Ravenborn, Keira goes to a boarding school for magical students deep in the woods of Michigan to hide. But when students start dying, she is the only one who can stop the killer.

In Pale Queen Rising, royal assassin Claire is sent to the Immortal Circus, one of the many places where “Dream” is harvested from the imaginings of mortals. There she must find the culprit who is causing Dream to mysteriously disappear before the Winter Kingdom’s supply is depleted enough to threaten its very survival.

In Runebinder,

Tenn is a Hunter in a dystopian world filled with Howls and the powerful Kin who make him their pawn in a war of magic versus humankind where the stakes are his friends, his life, and the entire world.

Follow A. R. Kahler on Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/A-R-Kahler/e/B006N8JB12

In which I praise Sarah J.Maas's Throne of Glass series:

http://dianahurwitz.blogspot.com/2019/08/review-of-throne-of-glass-by-sarah-j.html

Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince Dorian and offered her freedom so long as she acts as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she'll serve the kingdom for three years and then be granted her freedom. Her trainer, Westfall is a harsh taskmaster and sparks fly.

The Court of Thorns and Roses was equally enjoyable. 

Feyre lives in the human world but always wonders what life is like on the other side of the wall where magic resides. She kills a wolf in the woods and is taken to a palace where shifter faery Tamlin rules.  She becomes his captive and is at first captivated. When taken prisoner by Faerie Queen, she meets the villainous Rhysand. But enemy becomes ally and Feyre becomes the most powerful weapon in the war between worlds. 

Follow Sara J Maas on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Sarah-J-Maas/e/B0070291GK

In the Shattered Realms series  by Cinda Williams Chima, Adrian sul’Han, known as Ash, is a trained healer with a powerful gift of magicand a thirst for revenge. Ash is forced into hiding after a series of murders throws the queendom into chaos. Now he’s closer than ever to killing the man responsible, the cruel king of Arden. With time running out, Ash faces an excruciating choice: Can he use his powers not to save a life but to take it? Abandoned at birth, Jenna Bandelow was told that the magemark on the back of her neck would make her a target. But when the King’s Guard launches a relentless search for a girl with a mark like hers, Jenna assumes that it has more to do with her role as a saboteur than any birth-based curse. Though Jenna doesn’t know why she’s being hunted, she knows that she can’t get caught. Eventually, Ash’s and Jenna’s paths collide in Arden. Thrown together by chance and joined by their hatred of the ruthless king, they will come to rescue each other in ways they cannot yet imagine.

In the Seven Realms series, Adrian sul’Han, known as Ash, is a trained healer with a powerful gift of magic—and a thirst for revenge. Ash is forced into hiding after a series of murders throws the queendom into chaos. Now he’s closer than ever to killing the man responsible, the cruel king of Arden. With time running out, Ash faces an excruciating choice: Can he use his powers not to save a life but to take it?  Abandoned at birth, Jenna Bandelow was told that the magemark on the back of her neck would make her a target. But when the King’s Guard launches a relentless search for a girl with a mark like hers, Jenna assumes that it has more to do with her role as a saboteur than any birth-based curse. Though Jenna doesn’t know why she’s being hunted, she knows that she can’t get caught.

Eventually, Ash’s and Jenna’s paths will collide in Arden. Thrown together by chance and joined by their hatred of the ruthless king, they will come to rescue each other in ways they cannot yet imagine.

Follow Cinda Williams Chima on Amazon: 

https://www.amazon.com/Cinda-Williams-Chima/e/B001JS6VP0

In the Blood and Ash series by Jennifer Armentrout, Poppy is kept in seclusion as the next "maiden." Waiting for the day of her Ascension, she would rather be with the guards, fighting back the evil that took her family, than preparing to be found worthy by the gods. But the choice has never been hers. When Ahen Hawke, a golden-eyed guard honor bound to ensure her Ascension, enters her life, destiny and duty become tangled with desire and need. He incites her anger, makes her question everything she believes in, and tempts her with the forbidden.

I have not yet worked my way through the rest of her list of series, but I will. 

Follow Jennifer Armentrout on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Jennifer-L.-Armentrout/e/B004E5J5N0

In Leigh Bardugo' Grishaverse series, starting with Shadow and Bone, the capital has fallen. The Darkling rules Ravka from his shadow throne. Now the nation's fate rests with a broken Sun Summoner, a disgraced tracker, and the shattered remnants of a once-great magical army. Deep in an ancient network of tunnels and caverns, a weakened Alina must submit to the dubious protection of the Apparat and the zealots who worship her as a Saint. Yet her plans lie elsewhere, with the hunt for the elusive firebird and the hope that an outlaw prince still survives.  Alina will have to forge new alliances and put aside old rivalries as she and Mal race to find the last of Morozova's amplifiers. But as she begins to unravel the Darkling's secrets, she reveals a past that will forever alter her understanding of the bond they share and the power she wields. The firebird is the one thing that stands between Ravka and destruction—and claiming it could cost Alina the very future she's fighting for. The first book of this trilogy has been made into a television series as a mash up with Six of Crows.

In Six of Crows, in my opinion the best part of the Grishaverse, Ketterdam is a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price—and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can't pull it off alone. Like any good Con/Heist story he has a magnificent crew: six dangerous outcasts. One impossible heist. Kaz's crew is the only thing that might stand between the world and destruction—if they don't kill each other first.

The Grishaverse continues with the duology King of Scars which follows Nikolai Lantsov who was attacked during the battle between the darkling and Alina and now has a secret and a goal: to rebuild his shattered kingdom. Nikolai must find a way to refill Ravka’s coffers, forge new alliances, and stop a rising threat to the once-great Grisha Army. Yet with every day a dark magic within him grows stronger, threatening to destroy all he has built. With the help of a young monk and a legendary Grisha general, Nikolai will journey to the places in Ravka where the deepest magic survives to vanquish the terrible legacy inside him. He will risk everything to save his country and himself. But some secrets aren’t meant to stay buried—and some wounds aren’t meant to heal.

I have her new book Ninth House on my Kindle.

Follow Leigh Bardugo on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Leigh-Bardugo/e/B005ZZ8XQS

A new discovery well worth your time, Jack Castle's Stranger World series, a fantastic SciFi/Fantasy series. I describe it as if  Alice in Wonderland and Westworld had a baby. George Stapleton is killed in Afghanistan in 2012, but wakes up and finds himself in a Strange World dystopian theme park and must save his daughter and find his wife in this six book series.  One of the most engaging fantasy worlds I have read. Quick paced and fun for all ages. I devoured all six books in a wonderful book binge week. 

Follow Jack Castle on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Jack-Castle/e/B01068ZUPA

Stay tuned for Science Fiction recommendations next week. 

A Few of My Favorite Mysteries 2

 This week, I introduce a few more of my favorite mystery writers.

Scotland Yard investigators Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James (19 books and counting) police procedural mysteries are set in London.In the first book, A Share in Death, Kincaid heads to Yorkshire for a brief vacation but a murder leads him to bring in his new assistant Sergeant Gemma James. I love the characters and how their relationship and family build. The cases are well plotted and the setting makes you fall in love with England (if you weren't already). 

Here is my post on Crombie's utilization of multiple POVs. 

http://dianahurwitz.blogspot.com/2019/12/a-mystery-with-multiple-povs.html

Follow Deborah Crombie on Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/Deborah-Crombie/e/B000APGQCQ/

I inhaled the entire Miss Fisher book series as well as the television series. There were a few changes and the television series continued beyond the books. You can read more about that here: 

https://bloodredpencil.blogspot.com/2021/01/the-irresistible-miss-phryne-fisher.html

The first book in the series is Cocaine Blues. We are introduced to the audacious Phrynne Fisher. After the first World War, Phrynne leaves London for 1920s Melbourne, Australia. She gathers strays such as her lady's maid Dot Williams, Mr. Butler (and in the books his wife, the housekeeper), and cabbies Bert Johnson and Cec Yates.She adopts two girls along the way. Phryne has many lovers in both the books and television series. In the books, she works with Detective Inspector John "Jack" Robinson, a happily married man who enjoys gardening. In the television version, he is a potential love interest. I recommend the books, the television series, and the television sequel the Modern Miss Fisher in which Phrynne's niece Peregrine inherit's her aunt's house and penchant for meddling in murders. 

Follow Kerry Greenwood on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Kerry-Greenwood/e/B004MLDPYQ

Anne Perry's  Charlotte and Thomas Pitt series spans over twenty books. I found them at the latter end and read them all and would read them again. Thomas Pitt is brought in to investigate the murder of a serial killer when Charlotte Ellison's maid is strangled. Sparks fly and they make a completely socially unacceptable match. I love the way they build a relationship and life together. The first novel in the series, The Cater Street Hangman was made into a movie. 

Recently, Perry has created a series with Thomas and Charlotte's barrister son Daniel Pitt which is equally enjoyable. The first book in his series is Twenty-One Days.

Perry has other sleuth series as well that I have not yet read.

Follow Anne Perry on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Anne-Perry/e/B000APAS2A/

Ariana Franklin's Mistress of the Art of Death series follows  Adelia, a 12th century female pathologist, fighting medieval crime and speaking for victims who otherwise would have been forgotten. Alas, the beloved author, aka Diana Norman, has passed from this realm, so the series is at an end. But the author left many other works for us to enjoy.

I love Tana French's writing style and voice. Hands down, one of the best mystery wordsmiths in mystery. Her Dublin Murder Squad series follows related but different protagonists in each novel. In the first book, In the Woods,  Detective Rob Ryan and Detective Cassie Maddox investigate a case chillingly similar to a previous unsolved mystery from Rob's childhood. He faces long-buried memories and ghosts from the past. In the second book, The Likeness, Cassie and team find the body of a girl who looks just like her and is using one of her former undercover identities. Cassie assumes the girl's identity to find the killer. In the third book Frank Mackay is a detective in the Dublin Murder Squad. When the body of a girl Frank thought stood him up back when he was a teenager is found, he must unravel the mystery of who killed her. The first two books were combined for a short run television series.

Follow Tana French on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Tana-French/e/B001H6IGWU/

Stay tuned for my recommendations in the Fantasy genre.

A Few of My Favorite Cozy Mysteries

Books make great gifts.

This week, I am over on the Blood Red Pencil discussing my favorite new find of 2021: Andrea Penrose and her cozy historical mysteries: the Wrexford & Sloane series and the Lady Arianna Hadley series. Both are at the top of my cozy favorites list which includes Deanna Raybourn, Anna Lee Huber, and Tasha Alexander. 

https://bloodredpencil.blogspot.com/2021/11/andrea-penrose-and-art-of-cozy-mystery.html

I love the English settings, creative casts, original sleuths, and satisfying plots with just a small dash of Romance, just the way I like it.

In the Wrexford & Sloane series, The Earl of Wrexford and lampoonist Charlotte Sloane tackle cases involving the threat of Napoleon to the security of England. They have a wonderful raggle taggle posse which includes two street rats and a couple of well trained domestic servants.

The swashbuckling Lady Arianna is a master of disguise with a talent for mathematics and a love of chocolate. She returns to England to get revenge disguised as a cook. Her love of chocolate makes her a suspect in poisoning the Prince Regent which brings her into contact with a chocolate expert, the Earl of Saybrook, which sends them off together to save Prince and country.

Follow Andrea Penrose on  Amazon: 

https://www.amazon.com/Andrea-Penrose/e/B00E5SKHB0

In which I praise Tasha Alexander, Anna Lee Huber, Deanna Raybourn, and Jacqueline Lapore. If anyone knows what happened with Ms. Lapore I would love to know. Her books are amazing but there are only two in the series. I would love to find more books by her.

http://dianahurwitz.blogspot.com/2014/12/a-few-of-my-favorite-things-too.html

Veronica Speedwell is a world traveler with a love of scientific inquiry and butterflies. She partners with Stoker, a reclusive and bad-tempered natural historian with a passion for taxidermy, to solve mysteries together.

Lady Julia Grey is suspected of killing her husband and is investigated by Nicholas Brisbane, private inquiry agent. Together they solve the mystery of her husband's demise and partner up for future investigations of the romantic and murder kind.

Follow Deanna Raybourn on Amazon: 

https://www.amazon.com/Deanna-Raybourn/e/B001H6IPEY

World War I widow and secret service agent, Verity Kent is determined to prove that her husband was not a traitor. Spoiler alert: she learns Sidney is in fact alive and they are thrown into multiple cases involving veterans and state secrets.

In The Anatomist's Wife series, Lady Darby, forced to illustrate the grisly works of her her abusive anatomist husband, flees to Scotland after he dies. But when a murder is committed Kiera is dragged in to the investigation along with inquiry agent Sebastian Gage. Thus begins their mystery solving adventures.

Follow Anna Lee Huber on Amazon: 

https://www.amazon.com/Anna-Lee-Huber/e/B007G2ODGM

Newly widowed Lady Emily, lover of languages and antiquities, must solve the mystery of her husband's demise with the enigmatic  investigator Sebastian Gage. The two of them traverse the globe in this fifteen book series solving murders.

Follow Tasha Alexander on Amazon:

 https://www.amazon.com/Tasha-Alexander/e/B001H9XR12/

In Descent into Dust and Immortal with a Kiss, a Gothic thriller series, Emma Andrews is a vampire slayer who travels to a girl's school to confront her nemesis Dracula.

Follow Jacqueline Lepore on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Jacqueline-Lepore/e/B002IYV6XQ

I give all of these books five stars and recommend pairing them with a hot beverage of your choice be it coffee, tea, or cocoa.

Books look very nice wrapped and under a Christmas tree or as a stocking stuffer added to one's reading device via gift card.

Stay tuned for more of my book recommendations for the holiday season.

Securing Your Facebook Account

Fending off spammers and hackers feels like an endless game of Whack-A-Mole these days. When it comes to Facebook, there are a few tools you can utilize before you get hacked. 1. Add trusted contacts You can set up people to be contacted to help you regain access. Go to security settings and choose three to five Facebook friends to contact if you get locked out. Your trusted contacts can send a code and URL from Facebook to help you log back in. https://www.facebook.com/help/119897751441086

2. Turn on two-factor authentication

You can turn on two factor authentication, this means receiving a text to your phone to sign in each time. A hassle, but better than stolen.

https://www.facebook.com/help/909243165853369 3. Don't sign in to other sites with Facebook

Facebook encourages this. Everyone from your bank to your doctor offers a chance to sign in with Facebook instead of an email and password. Google offers the same. Don't fall for it. They want total control over and access to your data. It isn't in your best interest. When you connect accounts (especially with your doctors etc.) Facebook has access to that information and so will the hackers.

4. Don't store credit card data

If you have a credit card associated with your account, the hackers can utilize it. If you have PayPal, they can send themselves money. (Always follow the money). Don't let social media sites have access to your banking data. It's just another breach in your firewall. If you prefer or need to have a credit card associated with social media, use a re-loadable gift card instead of your actual bank and credit cards.
How to change card data: https://www.facebook.com/help/242462812536016/

5. Set up your legacy contact When you pass on to the next great adventure, someone needs to take control of your digital life. Select one individual (they only allow one) to be the person who decides what happens to your Facebook profile. Otherwise, it is ripe for hacking. https://www.facebook.com/help/1070665206293088 6. Report fake profiles when you get friend requests, then block them. Anyone can screen grab your images on social media and set up a fake profile with them. That doesn't mean they have access to your profile, just your photos. Often they set up an account with a name that looks really close to yours. Nothing can prevent that from happening. I recommend watermarking all of the photos you upload. Make the watermark broad enough, and they won't be able to Photoshop the watermark out without ruining the image. They usually set about contacting everyone on your friends list. I take the extra step of notifying the Facebook friend their image is being used. What is interesting is that Facebook claims to allow one profile per person. According to their rule book, they can kick you off if you attempt to have more than one. So I don't know how hackers get past this, but they obviously do. Facebook swears they are working hard to prevent fake profiles, yet they proliferate daily.
"It's against the Facebook Community Standards to maintain more than one personal account."

https://www.facebook.com/help/975828035803295 More reading:

Grave Matters It is a good idea to have a master list of all of your online IDs and passwords for the person left cleaning up your digital footprint.

Master List of Mini-Courses

I have arranged links to my posts on specific topics into master lists so they would be easier to find and share. I add information to the master lists as it becomes available. To top off the year, here is a master list of the "Mastering" mini-courses.

Mastering Genre

Mastering Fantasy

Mastering Horror

Mastering Mystery

Mastering Romance

Mastering Story Structure

Mastering Scenes

Mastering Setting

Mastering Conflict in Scenes

Mastering Character Development

Mastering Worldbuilding

Mastering Grammar and Prose

Mastering Revision

Mastering Book Design

Mastering Book Description

Mastering Dialogue

Additional posts:

The Bare Bones Draft

Learning from Story Analyses

Structuring a Series: The Trilogy

Structuring a Series: The Serial

Structuring a Series: The Relay

Serializing Short Stories and Novellas

Master Classes

Great Courses

Online College Writing Courses

Stay tuned for the master list of Conferences and Writing Events for 2022. 

You can follow Story Building Blocks on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/storybuildingblocks/

I love helping other writers succeed and am always available to answer questions. If there is a topic you wish to see covered, drop a line in the comments section. You can also message me with questions.You can also visit www.dianahurwitz.com for free forms and information.

16 Heroes & Villains: River

 

In Story Building Blocks II: Crafting Believable Conflict and the Build A Cast Workbook, I introduce sixteen character mannequins or prototypes based on personality types. I track them from cradle to grave and talk about their strengths and weaknesses and how to warp them.  I use male or female pronouns based on the percentage of the population that fell in that category, but all mannequins can be anything you make them. The traits discussed are starting points. You can alter their temperaments depending on the purpose they serve. Their traits give them strengths to build on and weaknesses to exploit. 

RIVER

As a hero, River is the one with the vision or paranormal ability to save the world. She toils against dark forces to restore the light.

As a villain, River works against anyone she deems a threat to what she considers “good.” What she deems “good” might be pretty insane. She is the most mystical and could be a charismatic leader or guru.

River's empathy and insight can solve the overall story problem. She is a deep thinker and understands how the past, present, and future interconnect. She is eerily perceptive, perhaps psychic. She intuits motive. She genuinely enjoys helping other people. She is spiritual and highly empathetic. She is aware of and absorbs other people's distress. She believes in good versus evil and thinks most people are good. River is not easily fooled and uses powers of intuition to get back at someone evil. She has a talent for problem solving and anticipating needs. She hears what people don’t say. She is tuned into emotions and body language. She is highly moral in her way and sways people to her side.

On the dark side, she is naturally suspicious and sees the world as a cruel place. She can become detached and disillusioned. If stressed, she seeks immediate gratification. She yearns to live spontaneously but rarely does and is susceptible to depression. Her belief system is fixed and may not be rational. Her mystic bent is either reinforced by religion or runs alongside it. If the authority is deemed unfit, she'd work against it.

River can't handle criticism and withdraws. Anxiety makes her critical and self-absorbed. She avoids conflict and represses anger then explodes viciously when she reaches a breaking point. She risks everything to prove she is right.

She is a gifted communicator in person and on paper. She naturally picks up on nonverbal communication and microexpressions. She seeks to understand herself and others. She values integrity and high ideals. She is not interested in fame, she just wants to save everyone. She can be highly self-critical and is not motivated by praise. She is a good listener. She loves to help people but her advice is not objective. She champions the oppressed.

River understands complex issues and complex people.  She has deep concentration and laser focus. She keeps information to herself. She understands the emotional cost of complete honesty. She has a vivid imagination, excellent recall, and comes up with creative solutions. She modifies information to fit her bias. Her strong feelings annoy thinking types.

River relies on her gut instinct, but her hunches can be wrong. She ignores evidence in favor of intuition and can rely on faulty data. She struggles when there is no win-win solution. She is more focused on the future than the present. She sees the big picture but is fuzzy on details. She makes personal, highly emotional decisions based on how they impact people she cares about. She is softhearted and easily swayed by emotional appeals. She isn't comfortable with snap decisions. She can't ignore a problem once she is aware of it. She sticks with a decision and won't reconsider. She isn't interested in power or glory. She upholds the rules she agrees with and she evaluates rules based on whether they are good or bad for the people involved.

River thinks long and hard before she acts. She is a diligent worker and service oriented. She exerts subtle influence behind the scenes and does not like to go out in the world. She'd have to be dragged there by highly personal stakes. She works quietly to change things that don't work. She makes plans and respects deadlines. She likes a backup plan. She has no trouble coming up with a plan and seeing it through to completion but needs it to have a benevolent outcome. She struggles with responsibility for fear she will make a mistake. She finds it hard to trust people. She resists improvising. She just wants the challenge over with. Changing plans and shifting priorities make her anxious. She takes the path of least harm. When an argument arises, she rehashes feelings instead of fixing the problem. She blames other people. 

River's natural allies are Wynn, Cam, Taylor, and Shelby. Her nemesis is Kelly. River is not a joiner. She does not enjoy large parties of strangers. She relies on her small faithful inner circle. She loves to give and receive. She cares deeply for those she forms attachments to. Those who admire her intuitive, almost otherworldly, demeanor are protective of her. She spends most of her free time with her family if she has one, her inner circle if she doesn’t. She is highly involved in her religious or spiritual community. 

Friends admire her dedication to humanity and her high personal standards. She isn’t interested in being famous and doesn’t care what other people think of her. She wants to be known and to know others on a deep level. River puts her family and spiritual needs above those of friendship. She drops anyone she considers dishonest or corrupt. She isn’t interested in flighty, slightly dangerous extroverts. She cuts off anyone who offends or disappoints her. She may end up isolated.

As a hero, River is the earth mother, goddess, and healing light. She is the purest in motive and deed. She wants to save the world, though she will have to be dragged from her sanctuary to do so.

As a villain, River is the coven mother, the evil around whom acolytes rally. She has a keen understanding of people and their motivations. She will know the best way to strike at the enemy's core but prefers her minions to do the work.

This concludes the sixteen heroes and villains. You can learn more about character building from the Mastering Character Development post.

You can download free character information sheets:

Character Worksheet

Mannequins Under Pressure

Sixteen Lovers