Category: Historical Fiction

  • Victorian England as you’ve never seen it

    If you’re looking for a fictional change of pace, and want a heroine who’s definitely not like the girl next door, Carol K. Carr’s debut novel may be just your cup of tea – or perhaps, more aptly, your glass of whiskey. By Linda C. Brinson INDIA BLACK: A Novel of Espionage Mystery. By Carol…

  • Charles Todd – Two authors, two series

    Charles Todd – Two authors, two series

    Those who have access to the Greensboro News & Record can find my review of Charles Todd’s latest Inspector Rutledge mystery, A Lonely Death there today. And they also can read my interview with Charles Todd. Fans of Charles Todd will know that Charles Todd is the pen name for two people, a mother and…

  • The Queen’s true love

    Anne Barnhill may have mixed emotions when she reads historical novels. If they are well written, she enjoys them, as she did the one she reviews here. But, since Anne is also hard at work on her own first historical novel, she is likely also analyzing why she enjoys the books she reads – which,…

  • A Christmas Odyssey

    Anne Perry’s Christmas novels have become as much a part of the holiday tradition for me as cutting down and decorating the tree or hanging the stockings by the wood stove. Here’s a look at this year’s. By Linda Brinson A CHRISTMAS ODYSSEY. By Anne Perry. Ballantine Books. 193 pages. $18.  In Victorian England, it…

  • Elizabeth’s Women

    A North Carolina writer, Anne Clinard Barnhill, offers her first review for Briar Patch Books. Anne lives in Garner. Her first novel, At the Mercy of the Queen, is forthcoming from St. Martin’s Press.  Her previous books include At Home in the Land of Oz: Autism, My Sister and Me (memoir, Jessica Kingsley Publisher) and…