Historical

Katarina’s Dark Shadow by MJ Krause-Chivers

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The Only Certainty in war is Uncertainty.

When the Russian civil war erupts in the shadow of the Great War and Ukraine seeks independence, Katarina discovers that faith is more than a badge. During war-time, it requires resilience.

1915-1917: Fifteen-year-old Katarina dreams of a self-determined future. But when she’s injured during a rebel attack, she learns of threats against her German Mennonite people.
Conspiracy theories rise, servants take sides and loyalties questioned. Emigration beckons.
Amidst the confusion of shifting politics and growing lawlessness, Katarina must choose her fate. Growing up has never been more difficult.

1952: Germany. Peter questions his mother, Katarina’s mysterious death in Ukraine during WW2. Was there a cover-up? Will her teenage diaries from the Russian Civil War reveal buried secrets?

Inspired by true stories, Katarina’s Dark Shadow portrays the courageous human struggle inside a distinct faith during violent political times.

Series overview: The past and present converge in this enthralling, serpentine saga of a mother and two sons torn apart by the trauma of war. Set in Ukraine during the Russian civil war, this suspensive coming-of-age mystery carries a poignant lesson about the fragility of freedom.

****** “Russian Mennonite Chronicles is an amazing dystopian-themed novel. The author forges a demandingly engaging storyline that exposes the agony and suffering the Mennonites went through during the Russian Civil War…. What I love most is how the author beautifully incorporates the culture and beliefs of the Mennonites in the narration, highlighting their uniqueness from Russians and other Europeans.” Readers Favorites.

****** “A chillingly realistic, yet fictional account of what happened to ordinary people in Russian [occupied] Ukraine when their world was overthrown by social unrest, war, and then a revolution. I couldn’t put it down.” P.C. James, Author.

****** “An emotional and richly woven telling of a struggle for a life with strength and self-determination. You just can’t read this without feeling changed. AnnaMaria Nau, Author

Targeted Age Group:: 35+

What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
My Mennonite grandparents fled from Ukraine in 1920s during the Russian civil war. After visiting Ukraine in 2014, I decided their story needed to be told. But since I didn't know their entire story, I
decided to create a fictional story based on historical facts.

Storm Clouds Rolling In (#1 in the Bregdan Chronicles Historical Fiction Series) by Ginny Dye

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Storm Clouds Rolling In (#1 in the Bregdan Chronicles Historical Fiction Series) by Ginny Dye

** Amazon Best-Selling Author & Series **

Review: Moses had come to watch his daddy die. I read the first sentence of the first book and knew I would read every word of what Ginny Dye writes. I’ve devoured this remarkable saga, and all 19 that follow! I will read every new one that comes.

Unforgettable characters that will capture your heart. Rich, accurate, historical detail. These are the hallmarks of Ginny Dye’s work. The bestselling Bregdan Chronicles novels have captured the hearts of fans all over the world. This enthralling saga encompassing the Civil War & Reconstruction has eighteen books right now, but many more are coming.

Warning – the Bregdan Chronicles will suck you in and never let you go!

Book Description:

Carrie had always lived a charmed life, but restlessness gnawed at her soul. She dreamed of a different future, but dramatic changes are taking place in the South. Her heart and mind would soon be tested by fire – sweeping away dreamed of freedom as chaos descends.

Carrie Cromwell comes of age as the storm clouds of the Civil War swallow America. Born with a fiery spirit and a strong mind, she finds herself struggling between the common wisdom of the South and the truth she has discovered. The activities of the Underground Railroad and her close friendships with the Cromwell Plantation slaves create difficult choices. But when her decisions put her at odds with her heritage and challenge her dreams, will she be able to give up all that is precious to her?

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This first book of The Bregdan Chronicles historical fiction series will pull you in and never let you go. You’ll experience the Civil War era (and all the years to come) through the eyes of both White and Black, Free & Slave, Southern & Northern – and you’ll fall in love with every character.

Review: I never thought I would find a series to enthrall me like The Bregdan Chronicles has. I was wrong! I am struggling to find appropriate words to describe the awe I am in, and find myself failing miserably. I absolutely could not put these books down. I would finish one, and immediately hop online to go get the next one, sometimes in the wee hours of the morning, when my tail should have been asleep. The writing style of this author brings you right into the story as if you are a part of it. She has amazing talent to capture the imagination, and bring you right into a virtual reality. I have fallen in love with every one of these characters – especially the strong women! – and have become completely entranced with each life represented.

The historical account of this time period was so right on, so very vivid, you almost feel like you’ve walked right into it. These books became so alive, I actually had dreams at night of battle. (I’m not even kidding.) But it goes further. There were conversations in these books that had me reading over them several times. Life lessons. Sage advice. The kind of wisdom that comes from every day life. Moments that were so profound, they pierced my heart with an accuracy that I can’t even begin to explain.

Many times, the lives and hearts of each character were changed and rocked with revelation that came about in a moment, yet, so deeply touching the deepest recesses of the heart, that you can’t go beyond it, without it having changed you as well, as you read it.

Thank you, Ginny Dye, not only for an amazing journey, but for those light bulb moments throughout each book, that reached beyond the pages, and made their home inside the soul. What can I say overall? Well, let me put it like this: these books are like… “Gone with the Wind” meets up with “Eat, Pray, Love”; then whispers some “Secret life of Bees”, forges some “Steel Magnolia’s”, and at times, wraps itself with the “Color Purple.” Sigh. Did I mention how much I loved these books?

Lafitte’s Chance by Michael Roberts

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Lafitte’s Chance by Michael Roberts

Thomas Cain puts it all on the line again in this exhilarating alternative American History time travel adventure novel! Thomas has managed to rescue Aden, but his futuristic gear is still missing while the Pirate King, Jean Lafitte, is breathing down his neck.

In his efforts to track his items down, will Thomas keep his agreement to bring the pirates to Jackson’s aid and achieve America’s first victory as a new country? Or will pride bring them all to defeat?

Aden is safe for the most part, and now Thomas must retrieve his missing weapons and gear. In doing so, he’s made an enemy of the Pirate King, Jean Lafitte, and his associates, and now he must trudge through the marshes of the Mississippi to follow them, find his missing Webley and vest, and make it back in time to meet up with Jackson.

Just when Thomas thinks that he’s managed to find his missing gear, he learns that not only has Lafitte’s wastrel brother Pierre absconded with the gear, but he’s left Jean Lafitte ready to hang.

In a last ditch effort to find Pierre, Thomas must make a deal with the devil himself and bring the villainous, once-reputable now-Pirate Queen Lady Theodosia with him to locate Pierre and his weapons, and make sure the pirates don’t hang for their offenses. Will the enemy of his enemy become his friend?

Another impossible task, or so it seems. But can the Pale Rider rise to the occasion once more, save the lives of hundreds, and keep his own neck out of a noose?

Lafitte’s Chance is the fifth book in the Pale Rider series, an alternate American Historical Military retelling, and is the next book in the trilogy set that focuses on the War of 1812. If you like American historical fiction, time travel, and alternate history, then discover Lafitte’s Chance today! ** it is recommended that the books are read in order! **

Tears of Chios: A Novel (Merchant Tides Series Book 1) by K. Pearson Bradley

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In 1759 on the Greek island of Chios, under the cruel dictates of the Ottoman Empire, Sebastian Krizomatis struggles to find his place amidst the conflict of two competing family legacies.

Sebastian is bound to the land through his mother’s heritage (cultivating the famed Tears of Chios from the skinos trees) but he dreams of following his father, descended from the ancient mariners of Greece, to become a shipbuilder for Sultan Mustafa III’s merchant fleet.

As Greek Christian slaves, Sebastian and the other villagers of Sessera face daily perils on the only island in the world where the valuable mastic tears weep from the gnarled tree branches and are carried by ships for trade across the globe. Pirates, raiders, and thieves will stop at nothing to get their hands on the magical Tears of Chios, and the villagers live in constant fear of danger from invaders. When the sultan’s ruthless cousin, Ahmed, attacks the Krizomatis family without warning, however, a new danger is introduced – one that could change Sebastian’s future and his family forever.

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Featured Book: AN UNFORTUNTE COINCIDENCE: A 1920s Mystery by Michael Sinclair

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The decade of the 1920s is now one hundred years ago. Flappers and speakeasies are hallmarks of that era. Family conflicts, adultery and even murder were prevalent during this period of decadence and free love. AN UNFORTUNATE COINCIDENCE is a mystery set in the stately home of an upper crust family bringing the 1920’s to life—amidst a parade of death!

It is January 1928, New York City. Megan Cary, a young and stylish librarian, lives with her moody but wealthy husband, Adam, on Central Park South. Just as Meg can no longer tolerate her husband’s philandering, Adam mysteriously dies during a weekend trip to his hometown of Albany. Meg finds a suicide note, and the police want to quickly close the case. So does Adam’s mother, Helen Cary, the stern matriarch of the brownstone house she shares with her sister and brother-in-law, as well as her daughter and son-in-law. Skeptical that Adam would kill himself, Meg hires a private detective, Sloane Shepard, whose investigation ultimately unravels family secrets as a series of surprising deaths occur over two cold and snowy weeks in Albany.

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The Barrakee Mystery: The Lure of the Bush (Inspector Bonaparte Mysteries Book 1) by Arthur Upfield

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Why was King Henry, an aboriginal from Western Australia, killed in New South Wales? What was the feud that led to murder after nineteen long years had passed? Who was the woman who saw the murder and kept silent?

This first story of Inspector Bonaparte takes him to the Darling River bush country where he encounters those problems he understands so well – mixed blood and divided loyalties.

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Forever Rumpole: The Best of the Rumpole Stories by John Mortimer

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John Mortimer—novelist, playwright, memoirist, and the author of more than eighty Rumpole short stories—will never be forgotten. While still a practicing barrister, Mortimer took up the pen, and the rest is literary history. His stories featuring the cigar-chomping, cheap-wine-tippling Rumpole and his wife, Hilda (aka “She Who Must Be Obeyed”), have justly earned their place in the pantheon of mystery fiction legends, becoming the basis for the very successful television series Rumpole of the Bailey. Bringing fourteen of Rumpole’s most entertaining adventures (seven of which were collected in The Best of Rumpole) together with a fragment of a new story, Forever Rumpole proves beyond a reasonable doubt that Rumpole is never less than delightful.

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And on the Eighth Day (An Ellery Queen Mystery Ser.)) by Ellery Queen

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Death Valley lives up to its name when a murder draws Ellery Queen into the strange practices of a religious cult.

It’s 1943, the war is raging, and sleuthing scribe Ellery Queen wants to do his bit. After a tortuous cross-country drive, he takes a job writing scripts for a Hollywood propaganda house—twelve hours a day of hack work that quickly turns his mind to jelly. After a few weeks, he is so worn down that he can type nothing but gibberish, and he decides to drive home. The trouble starts as soon as he reaches the desert.

His ancient roadster breaks down on the edge of Death Valley. Wandering in search of help, he is saved by a man known as the Teacher, who takes him to an oasis called Quenan. Here, Queen finds a bizarre, reclusive cult that seems to have come straight out of the ancient past. A murder has been committed in the desert, and the Quenanites plan on delivering some Old Testament justice. Queen is just the detective they’ve been waiting for.

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The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco

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The international best seller! A masterful gothic thriller set against the turbulence of medieval Italy.

The year is 1327. Franciscans in a wealthy Italian abbey are suspected of heresy, and Brother William of Baskerville arrives to investigate. But his delicate mission is suddenly overshadowed by seven bizarre deaths that take place in seven days and nights of apocalyptic terror.

Brother William turns detective, and a uniquely deft one at that. His tools are the logic of Aristotle, the theology of Aquinas, the empirical insights of Roger Bacon – all sharpened to a glistening edge by his wry humor and ferocious curiosity. He collects evidence, deciphers secret symbols and coded manuscripts, and digs into the eerie labyrinth of the abbey where “the most interesting things happen at night”.

As Brother William goes about unraveling the mystery of what happens at the abbey by day and by night, listeners step into a brilliant re-creation of the 14th century, with its dark superstitions and wild prejudices, its hidden passions and sordid intrigues. Virtuoso storyteller Umberto Eco conjures up a gloriously rich portrait of this world with such grace, ease, wit, and love that you will become utterly intoxicated with the place and time.

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Fer-de-Lance (A Nero Wolfe Mystery Book 1) by Rex Stout

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As any herpetologist will tell you, the fer-de-lance is among the most dreaded snakes known to man. When someone makes a present of one to Nero Wolfe, Archie Goodwin knows he’s getting dreadfully close to solving the devilishly clever murders of an immigrant and a college president. As for Wolfe, he’s playing snake charmer in a case with more twists than an anaconda — whistling a seductive tune he hopes will catch a killer who’s still got poison in his heart.

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