January 2024 Additions to My Digital Security Blanket

 

I exercised a bit more restraint in January... at least with digital books. (I did birthday-splurge with an order from The Poisoned Pen Bookstore, but that's a tale I won't tell here.) 

This is one of those weeks when time is running short, so I'll cut right to the chase and share the books I couldn't resist adding to my Kindle last month. I've grouped them by genre, and if you click on the link in the book titles, you'll be taken to Amazon US where you can learn more if you are so inclined.

=== Historical Mystery ===

The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon. Set in 18th-century Maine.

Synopsis: "Maine, 1789: When the Kennebec River freezes, entombing a man in the ice, Martha Ballard is summoned to examine the body and determine cause of death. As a midwife and healer, she is privy to much of what goes on behind closed doors in Hallowell. Her diary is a record of every birth and death, crime and debacle that unfolds in the close-knit community. Months earlier, Martha documented the details of an alleged rape committed by two of the town’s most respected gentlemen—one of whom has now been found dead in the ice. But when a local physician undermines her conclusion, declaring the death to be an accident, Martha is forced to investigate the shocking murder on her own.

Over the course of one winter, as the trial nears, and whispers and prejudices mount, Martha doggedly pursues the truth. Her diary soon lands at the center of the scandal, implicating those she loves, and compelling Martha to decide where her own loyalties lie.

Clever, layered, and subversive, Ariel Lawhon’s newest offering introduces an unsung heroine who refused to accept anything less than justice at a time when women were considered best seen and not heard. The Frozen River is a thrilling, tense, and tender story about a remarkable woman who left an unparalleled legacy yet remains nearly forgotten to this day."

 

▲ I'd run across this book several times, and the premise always interested me, but it was the author event at The Poisoned Pen that pushed me over the edge to actually buy it. I think most authors would love to know that these events do make a difference.

=== Police Procedural ===

A Long Time Dead by J.M. Dalgliesh. Set in Scotland.

Synopsis: "A group of high school students gather on the Isle of Skye’s remote Coral Beach for a hedonistic night of partying to celebrate the passing of their final exams. The new millennium is on the horizon and the future beckons, promising new hope and a fresh wind of optimism. In the coming days, many will leave the island for work or to study on the mainland, whereas others will remain on Skye and forge a more traditional path much as their families have done for centuries before them.

That is… all but one…

D.I. Duncan McAdam is dispatched home to the Misty Isle. A body has been found buried in a remote location on the Waternish peninsula. Well preserved in the peat, Isla Matheson – missing for the better part of two decades – is revealed to a shocked island community. A teenage runaway is dead… and no one is talking…

Joining a small team of detectives, Duncan is tasked with revisiting those who knew Isla, those who cared for her… and those with the potential to kill her… In a remote community well used to settling scores among themselves, will they trust one of their own when he asks questions or will they persevere with the façade of ignorance?"

▲ I make no secret of the fact that I love Scotland, and when I came across this series of mysteries set on the Isle of Skye, I knew I had to give the first book a try. I've spent a few weeks on the Isle of Skye, and I'm hoping the stories are as good as my memories of the setting.

 

 

=== Non-Fiction ===

 

 

Lost to Time: Unforgettable Stories That History Forgot by Martin W. Sandler.

 

Synopsis: "“The only thing new in the world,” said Harry S. Truman, “is the history you don’t know.” In this fresh and fascinating collection of historical vignettes, National Book Award–winning author Martin W. Sandler restores to memory important events, people, and developments that have been lost to time. 

Though barely known today, these are major historical stories, from Ziryab, an eighth-century black slave whose influence on music, cuisine, fashion, and manners still reverberates, to Cahokia, a twelfth-century city north of the Rio Grande, which at its zenith contained a population estimated to have been as high as 40,000 (more than any contemporary European city), to the worst peacetime maritime disaster ever, the explosion and sinking of the Sultana on the Mississippi in 1865.

These tales are far from trivia; they illuminate little-known American and foreign achievements, ingenuity, heroics, blunders, and tragedies that changed the course of history and resonate today." 

▲ Just the sort of thing I like to read about, and the price made it irresistible.

 

There you have it, the three eBooks I couldn't resist adding to my digital security blanket. Have you read any of them? Or... did I tempt you to get your own hands on a copy or two? Inquiring minds would love to know!