Tag: Penguin Random House

We Kept Her in the Cellar – W. R. Gorman

I love a good retelling. I rewatched Ever After (yet again!) while I was reading this book and I adored it even more than I did when I first saw it, oh, about 25 years ago. This is not that retelling.

This Cinderella is the family secret for entirely different reasons.

Cinderella, when she comes, will show no mercy.

Cinderella is 12 years old when she arrives at the manor and meets her new stepsisters, Eunice (11) and Hortense (5). Told from the perspective of one of Cinderella’s wicked stepsisters, you’ll quickly learn why this Cinderella comes with her own set of rules.

“To see her, as she truly is – it would undo you.”

You see, this Cinderella story has teeth. She’s actually kinda bitey so you might want to maintain a safe distance. Beware of loopholes and be especially careful after midnight.

Kept underground, this Cinderella is more often than not out of sight. She is rarely out of mind.

With copious amounts of vomit splashing across the pages, this is not going to be everyone’s happily ever after. The body horror was everything I hoped it would be and I had so much fun racing through this book.

Hortense, my favourite character, brought the attitude and bugs. She also managed to snag the best lines.

Favourite no context quote:

“Stop, you’re getting tears in my hair!” protested Hortense. “If you’re going to be throwing your bodily fluids around, you could at least have the decency to put them in a glass jar, so I can look at them more closely later.”

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books, an imprint of The Quick Brown Fox & Company, for the opportunity to read this book.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Eunice lives her life by three simple rules: One, always refer to Cinderella as family. Two, never let Cinderella gain access to rats or mice. Three, never look upon Cinderella between the hours of twelve and three a.m. 

Cinderella has dark and terrifying powers. As her stepsister, Eunice is expected to care for her and keep the family’s secret. For years, Eunice has faithfully done so. Her childhood flew by in a blur of nightmares, tears, and near-misses with the monster living in the cellar. But when she befriends the handsome Prince Credence and secures an invitation to the ball, Eunice is determined to break free. 

When her younger sister, Hortense, steps up to care for Cinderella, Eunice grabs her chance to dance the night away — until Cinderella escapes. With her eldritch powers, Cinderella attends the ball and sweeps Prince Credence off his feet, leaving behind a trail of carnage and destruction as well as a single green glass slipper.   

With Cinderella unleashed, Eunice must determine how much of herself she is willing to sacrifice in order to stop Cinderella. Unsettling and macabre at every turn, this page-turning horror will bewitch horror fans and leave its readers anxiously checking the locks on their cellar doors.

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The Ballerina of Auschwitz – Edith Eger, with Esmé Schwal

Editor – Jordan Engle

If I survive today, tomorrow I’ll be free.

I finished reading this book a few days before Edie celebrated her 97th birthday. Revisiting her story at this time, it struck me again how close she came to not surviving to adulthood. If not for a loaf of bread…

After everything she experienced at Auschwitz, Edie could have chosen to retreat from the world, consumed by bitterness and resentment. Instead, she has used her pain to create a life where she offers hope, wisdom and a heart that clearly still dances to others. Her family. Her clients. Her students. A lifetime of connections across the world.

I was first introduced to Edie’s story in 2020. I’ve read The Choice and The Gift, and participated the first time her masterclass, Unlocking Your Potential, was offered. I feel like I know Edie’s story quite well at this point.

This book, adapted from The Choice but with about 30 percent new content, tells Edie’s story without interruption. It explores her life before, during and a short time after Auschwitz from the perspective of the teenager she was at the time.

You’ll be introduced to her first love, witness some of the horrors beyond the gate that bears the words Arbeit macht frei and learn how Edie began to pick up the pieces of her life after she survived against all odds.

I was longing to share with you the tools that helped me survive the unthinkable, longing for you to know that a story of humans’ capacity for evil is also a story of our inexorable capacity for hope.

Edie’s story is one I will never forget. No matter how many times I read or hear it, it never loses the impact of the first telling. Her courage, time and time again, when one wrong decision would have resulted in her death, baffles me.

“Just remember, no one can take away from you what you’ve put in your mind.”

Her resilience in the aftermath of experiences that render trauma too small a word inspires me. The choices she has made to turn unimaginable evil into a life that is a beacon of light gives me hope. If Edie can do it, we can too.

We can’t ever change what’s happened to us. We can’t alter the past or control what’s coming around the next corner. But we can choose how we live now. We can choose whom and how to love.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Rider, an imprint of Ebury Press, Penguin Random House UK, for the opportunity to read this book.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

In 1944, sixteen year old ballerina Edith was sent to Auschwitz and endured unimaginable experiences. When the camp was finally liberated, she was pulled from a pile of bodies, barely alive.

Celebrated therapist and Holocaust survivor Edith Eger captivated millions with her incredible tale of survival and strength in her bestselling book The Choice.

Now, in The Ballerina of Auschwitz, Edith revisits her wartime experiences in a deeply personal retelling, through the eyes and emotions of her teenage self. Through this reworking of her poignant narrative, Edith brings readers of all ages into the heart of her experiences, offering a compelling message of hope and resilience that will ensure her story is never forgotten.

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The Bright Sword – Lev Grossman

Cover image of The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman

I’ve been keen to read a Lev Grossman book for years but, for one reason or another, the stars never aligned. When I saw this book, which promised a bunch of oddballs, I was sure it was for me.

I conveniently ignored the fact that I’ve never been that interested in the legend of King Arthur. Sure, I watched The Sword in the Stone when I was a kid but that doesn’t count.

Initially I was hooked. I really liked Collum, who’s on his way to Camelot.

“Oh, you’re too late for that.”

Unbeknownst to Collum, King Arthur is dead and all that’s left of the Round Table are the leftovers, the ones that didn’t die.

While I enjoyed the chapters that focused on the characters’ backstories, I found it difficult to get into the actual quest at hand and by a third of the way into it, it started to drag for me.

The writing really engaged me in the beginning so I don’t think it has anything to do with the author’s style. I’m actually more keen than ever to read The Magicians trilogy, which is one of my favourite TV series.

I don’t think this is a case of this not being the book for me. I think it’s the right book at the wrong time. Once I read The Magicians trilogy, I don’t think you’ll be able to keep me away from it.

“The sword’s in the sea, and the last ship has sailed.”

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Del Rey, an imprint of Penguin Random House, for the opportunity to read this book.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

When gifted young knight Collum arrives at Camelot to compete for a place on the Round Table, he quickly discovers that he’s too late: The king died two weeks ago at the Battle of Camlann, and only a handful of the knights of the Round Table are left.

And the survivors aren’t the heroes of legend either, like Lancelot or Gawain. They’re the oddballs of the Round Table, like Sir Palomides, the Saracen Knight, and Sir Dagonet, Arthur’s fool, who was knighted as a joke. They’re joined by Nimue, who was Merlin’s apprentice until she turned on him and buried him under a hill.

But it’s up to them to rebuild Camelot in a world that has lost its balance, even as God abandons Britain and the fairies and old gods are returning, led by Morgan le Fay. They must reclaim Excalibur and make this ruined world whole again.

But first they’ll have to solve the mystery of why the lonely, brilliant King Arthur fell.

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Sleepy Sheepy – Lucy Ruth Cummins

Illustrations – Pete Oswald

Ma and Pa Sheepy are sleepy. Sleepy Sheepy is not. Of course he’s not!

Don’t Ma and Pa realise that bedtime is the best time to do all of the last minute things, like checking the springiness of the lounge chair, preparing for your next concert and practicing your lasso skills?

Oh, wait. Was that a yawn?

Never mind. It’s time for Sleepy Sheepy’s second wind.

This bedtime story is so relatable. I probably would have viewed this as an instruction manual on the various ways I hadn’t thought of avoiding sleep yet but hopefully your little lamb is more inclined to be ready to count sheep when you tell them it’s time to go to bed.

The illustrations are cute and adult me was as delighted as kid me would have been to discover the sheet of stickers in the back of the book!

Sleep Sheepy sticker sheet

I would have loved to have seen the looks on Ma and Pa’s faces when Sleepy Sheepy finally yawned.

Thank you so much to Walker Books for the opportunity to read this picture book.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Despite his name, Sleepy Sheepy is NOT sleepy. He’d much rather build with blocks … or knit socks than go to sleep. Will Ma and Pa Sheepy ever get their sheepy to go to sleepy?

From New York Times bestselling illustrator Pete Oswald and critically acclaimed author Lucy Ruth Cummins comes a hilarious bedtime read-aloud that will be loved by little lambs everywhere for generations to come.

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Friday Barnes #12: Collision Course – R.A. Spratt

Friday Barnes is the social skills champion of her immediate family. We already knew this, although if you haven’t seen Friday interact with any of her family before (other than Uncle Bernie), you may find this hard to believe. Now we get more Barnes family conversations than I think I’ve ever been a part of as we spend time with a couple of her siblings and her mother.

‘Just when you thought this family couldn’t get any odder.’

But first we have to escape Paris and lose Ian. Oh, and witness Friday being tortured by makeover. Torture has never been so much fun!

But eventually we make it to Switzerland, where Friday participates in … a team sport? Wait. That can’t be right. There’s even cardio in this book and now I’m questioning whether this is a Friday Barnes book at all.

Okay, Melanie has just woken up from a nap and explained it all to me. Melanie is in fine form this book, staying awake for entire scenes at a time and reminding us she’s a human lie detector. Every time she calls someone out for lying, she makes me think of Saga’s Lying Cat.

Friday and Melanie’s friendship is just perfect, and is perfectly summed up for us here:

They had formed a symbiotic relationship. They were like algae and fungus combining to make lichen. They thrived together, but it was hard for either one of them to cope alone.

I had intended on acting with restraint where this book was concerned. I was going to wait for my library reservation to come in and it was going to be okay because I’d beaten all of the kids to it so I was the first one in the queue.

Then the book was released and my plan two months in the making fell apart. I caved and bought my own copy. You’re welcome, next person in the library queue.

‘Do you still play girl detective?’

Why, yes she does. For starters, there’s the Mystery of the Missing Manuscript, the Problem with the Passport, the Cleaning Conundrum, a Blackboard Brainteaser and some Toothbrush Trouble. We also learn about the benefits of babysitting and the joy of jail, and generate zeal for zip ties.

‘When did our lives get so complicated?’ asked Friday.
‘For me, it was the day I met you,’ said Melanie.

I am so ready for the complications of the next book. I have been (im)patiently waiting for my invitation to Binky’s wedding. I’m not sure if I’m going to need to get all dressed up for the next book or not but the end of this one tells me I’m going to be on the lookout for him at the very least. I can’t wait! I adore Binky!

Have fun dressing up as Friday Barnes in disguise this Book Week, kids!

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Friday’s Mum, the Nobel Prize winning physicist, has been accused of espionage. The police think she’s been selling secrets about the CERN Hadron Super Collider.

Friday knows her mother isn’t capable of such a thing – this is a woman who can’t even operate a dishwasher. She’s got to smuggle herself into Switzerland to clear her Mum’s name. Fortunately, Melanie is a master of disguise.

After an extremely extreme make-over, Friday arrives at CERN and finds axolotls in the water coolers, graffiti in the great hall and most baffling of all – her sister has fallen in love with an engineer! Can Friday solve these mysteries? Can she keep her family out of prison? And can she recognise Ian if he shaves his head?

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Hamlet is Not OK- R.A. Spratt

Selby lives in an apartment above her parents’ bookstore. It sounds to me like she’s living the dream. Not so much, though. Selby’s not like the rest of her family. She doesn’t do well in school and she’s not a fan of books.

She’s pretty well caught up on all of the soap operas she binges but that doesn’t count as an accomplishment to her parents. And she may have forgotten to do her homework for the past six months.

Now her binge watching days are over and she has a hobbit for a tutor. Okay, maybe not literally but she has trouble seeing Dan, one of her older brother’s friends, as anything else.

A good author can make words come alive but not usually to this extent. Before they know what’s happening, Selby and Dan are in the story.

‘There are stranger things in heaven and earth than in our imaginations, Selby.’

In spending time in the pages of Hamlet, themes of grief, loss and mental health are explored.

‘It’ll be fun. You might even learn something.’

Speaking of, you may stumble across some accidental learning.

I’m not quite sure where this book fits. It reads like a middle grade book but the main character is 16 and my library categorised it as YA. If this had been published when I was a kid, I probably would have read it when I was 10 or 11. I usually liked reading about kids who were older than I was but the Shakespeare would have tripped me up.

If you’ve somehow made it this far without reading Hamlet or at least picking up on the basics of the story by osmosis, you’re in for some major spoilers.

This book is a reader’s dream come true, playing with the magic of bringing a book to life. If I had the ability to transport myself into a fictional world, I probably wouldn’t be choosing one with such a high body count, but Selby didn’t get to choose her English homework.

‘I told you if you saw the play performed live it would make more sense to you.’

I couldn’t read a book like this without thinking about the stories I’d choose to spend a few chapters in if I had the chance. The chocoholic in me wants to hide out in Wonka’s factory for a while. Kid me would have wanted to live inside The Neverending Story, after the whole Nothing business was fixed. Ultimately, though, I think I’d want to spend with my kindred spirit, Anne Shirley Cuthbert.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Independent Publishers Group and Penguin Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House Australia, for the opportunity to read this book.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Selby hates homework. 

She would rather watch TV – anything to escape the tedium of school, her parents’ bookshop and small-town busybodies. 

So Selby didn’t plan to read Hamlet. She certainly never planned to meet him. 

This novel transports Selby, and the reader, into the cold and crime-ridden play itself. Here she meets Hamlet: heavy with grief, the young prince is overthinking and over everything. Selby can relate. But unlike Hamlet, Selby isn’t afraid of making decisions. In her world, Selby is used to feeling overlooked. But in the bloody, backstabbing world of Shakespeare, Selby’s good conscience and quiet courage might just save some lives … hopefully before Hamlet stabs one of her classmates.

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The Book of Doors – Gareth Brown

‘Don’t let the world pass you by.’

The first thing you learn about Cassie is that she works in a bookstore. So, basically, she’s a kindred spirit.

It’s just beginning to snow as she’s getting ready to close Kellner Books for the night. Mr Webber, a regular, is mid coffee. He’s reading The Count of Monte Cristo again. Mr Webber loves the classics.

‘A good story is just as good the second time around.’

This is the night that Mr Webber gives Cassie a book. All books are special but this one is life-changing. I mean, more than other life-changing books. Cassie gets a glimpse of just how much when she gets home that night. You see, Venice isn’t usually in her bedroom.

This is the Book of Doors and the possibilities are endless. It’s one of the most coveted books in the world and many who seek it have nefarious agendas.

Hold it in your hand, and any door is every door.

The heart of this book for me was Mr Webber. He was an absolute sweetheart. He could have been on every page and I still would have wanted to spend more time with him.

I wasn’t a fan of the way two characters spoke at times. One of the baddies was misogynistic, racist and made light of domestic violence at one point. You can be the biggest Bad without resorting to any of this and, other than making me despise them more, it added nothing to the story. Neither did Izzy body shaming herself.

I’ve decided I should never live above a cheesecake shop. I am, however, ready to move in to the Shadow House.

This book contains a lot of magic. My favourite magic, though, was the ice cream that didn’t go off in ten years. Not that ice cream will ever have a chance of expiring in my home but I liked the idea that, if you were so inclined, you could go back and finish off that ice cream you started eating a decade ago. Although, now that I think about it, if you’re the sort of person who could leave ice cream unfinished for years, I’m not sure I trust you. This type of magic may be wasted on you.

I don’t know if you can read this book without thinking about how you would use the Book of Doors. I’d be walking through my maternal grandparents’ front door in the 90’s. They were my favourite people and there are so many things I want to tell them about: what’s happening in my life, stories they’d laugh at, movies and books I know they’d love. I’d want to hear more stories about their lives and have the opportunity to have random conversations with them about whatever.

I also thought about which book other than the Book of Doors I’d like to have in my possession. There are so many that wield enormous power, that could be used to change the world, for better or worse. I think the Book of Joy is the one for me, though. The possibilities alone make me smile.

‘It’s always about the books, isn’t it?’

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Bantam Press, an imprint of Transworld Publishers, Penguin Random House UK, for the opportunity to read this book.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Because some doors should never be opened.

New York bookseller Cassie Andrews is not sure what she’s doing with her life. She lives quietly, sharing an apartment with her best friend, Izzy. Then a favourite customer gives her an old book. Full of strange writing and mysterious drawings, at the very front there is a handwritten message:

This is the Book of Doors. Hold it in your hand, and any door is every door.

Cassie is about to discover that the Book of Doors is a special book – a magic book. A book that bestows extraordinary abilities on whoever possesses it. And she is about to learn that there are other magic books out there that can also do wondrous – or dreadful and terrifying – things.

Because where there is magic there is power and there are those who will stop at nothing to possess it. 

Suddenly Cassie and Izzy are confronted by violence and danger, and the only person who can help them is Drummond Fox who has a secret library of magical books hidden in the shadows for safekeeping, a man fleeing his own demons. Because there is a nameless evil out there that is hunting them all…

Because this book is worth killing for.

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The Stranger Times #4: Relight My Fire – C.K. McDonnell

It’s The Stranger Times: Celebrity Edition. They’re all here. Well, the ones that meet a specific criteria are. Regardless, you’re bound to come across a few familiar faces.

It’s the lead up to Halloween so, if you know this series even a little bit, you know you’re in for a treat! And maybe a couple of tricks…

I’ve been wanting more Stella and more Stella is exactly what I got. She may have preferred a smaller role in this book, though, as she didn’t appear to particularly enjoy having a guy fall for her. From the sky. Splattered all over the pavement.

‘You’ve got dead guy all over you, love.’

And that’s only the beginning of the ‘weirdy bollocks’ in this book.

Hannah meets her celebrity crush. Banecroft is given a deadline. Manny’s ability to remember to wear pants is improving. Sometimes.

These days, not only was anything possible, but almost everything was far too believable.

There’s more time spent in a graveyard than your average book and people seem to have a whole new appreciation for Laurence of Arabia. This is the book with the tone deaf roadie and a rage problem which, believe it or not, is not Banecroft’s. Or not only Banecroft’s.

And you’ll be introduced to Brian.

‘Nothing is weirder than Brian.’

With everything that’s going on for the team, I’m surprised they find time to print a newspaper at all.

‘News does not sleep.’

This series has action, humour, strangeness (obviously) and a weird little found family that I absolutely adore. The more I get to know them, the more time I want to spend with them. I will be reading The Stranger Times for as long as new editions keep getting published.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Bantam Press, an imprint of Transworld Publishers, Penguin Random House UK, for the opportunity to read this book.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Some comebacks can be murder…

Stella is enjoying life as an almost student, or at least she is until a man falls from the sky right in front of her, leaving a big old hole in the pavement for Manchester Council to fill. The obvious question of how he ended up in the sky in the first place has no obvious answers, which is where The Stranger Times come in.

But this isn’t just the hunt for another story. Dark powers think Stella might have been involved and the only way she and the team can prove her innocence is to find out what the hell is really going on. And what have dodgy gear, disturbed graves and a decommissioned rock star got to do with all this?

Vincent Banecroft has problems of his own in the form of a tall, dark but-definitely-not-handsome man dressed like a funeral who has been sent to make the paper’s editor atone for his sins. Once he finds out exactly what that entails, Banecroft is not keen. Being banished to a Hellscape for all eternity looks like being no fun at all, not least because he has that pale Irish skin that burns really easily…

All that plus territorial ghouls, homicidal felines, eternal (and seemingly unstoppable) gnomes and a celebrity Who’s Who that’d put a royal wedding to shame, and you’re looking at a wild few days for The Stranger Times.

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The Stranger Times #3: Love Will Tear Us Apart – C.K. McDonnell

‘I don’t want you to panic, but things are about to get a bit … weird.’

It’s been almost two years since I wandered into The Stranger Times office, which is an absurd amount of time between visits. To be completely honest, I hadn’t read this book earlier because of the potential for all things lovey dovey. Hannah reconciling with her no good, dirty rotten scoundrel ex and Banecroft reconciling with his deceased wife made the deepest recesses of my brain shout “Ptooey!”, a word I’ve never uttered in my life and likely still don’t know how to pronounce.

You have to help me. I’m in so much trouble.

My triumphant return has taught me a valuable lesson: if I enjoy a series as much as this one, I need to trust the author. I actively avoided this book because the ‘love’ in the title appeared to be referencing the romantic kind and I don’t do romance. If I’d given two seconds of thought to the content of the previous books in the series I would have devoured this one sooner. This is love Stranger Times style, which even a romantiphobe can get on board with.

‘Trust the process.’

My time away also renewed my appreciation for the series. It seems that no matter how much time has passed, I will feel like I never left before I finish the first chapter. Which brings me to the staff of The Stranger Times. These are my people!

And you know what? Curmudgeon Banecroft has a heart after all. It turns out it was mangled and squished under the weight of his grief. I won’t tell you that at one point he made me a little teary eyed because that would imply I also am in possession of a heart.

Be on the lookout for an unidentified frying object, cherubs up to no good and a suitcase that gives Mary Poppins’ carpet bag a run for its money. Make sure to join us for Loon Day, a spot of grave robbing and the hope that we get to spend much more time with Stella in the next book.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Love can be a truly terrible thing.

Marriages are tricky at the best of times, especially when one of you is dead.

Vincent Banecroft, the irascible editor of The Stranger Times, has never believed his wife died despite emphatic evidence to the contrary. Now, against all odds, it seems he may actually be proved right; but what lengths will he go to in an attempt to rescue her?

With Banecroft distracted, the shock resignation of assistant editor, Hannah Willis, couldn’t have come at a worse time. It speaks volumes that her decision to reconcile with her philandering ex-husband is only marginally less surprising than Banecroft and his wife getting back together. In this time of crisis, is her decision to swan off to a fancy new-age retreat run by a celebrity cult really the best thing for anyone?

As if that wasn’t enough, one of the paper’s ex-columnists has disappeared, a particularly impressive trick seeing as he never existed in the first place.

Floating statues, hijacked ghosts, homicidal cherubs, irate starlings, Reliant Robins and quite possibly several deeply sinister conspiracies; all-in-all, a typical week for the staff of The Stranger Times.

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The Martini Club #1: The Spy Coast – Tess Gerritsen

We are all pretending to be something we are not, and some of us are better at it than others.

Jane and Maura’s friendship has been a constant in my life for well over a decade. I’ve read every Rizzoli & Isles book and watched the series more times than I should probably admit. Starting a brand new Tess Gerritsen series was part ‘I want Jane and Maura!’ and part ‘I can’t wait!’

We’re introduced to Maggie. She’s 60 and has lived in Purity, Maine for two years. Retired sixteen years, this former import analyst is now a small-town chicken farmer. She likes her chickens, she likes her neighbours and she really likes her quiet life.

Maggie’s quiet life is about to become much more dramatic, though, starting with the dead body in her driveway. See, Maggie has a past and it’s rudely intruding on her present.

Something evil has followed me here from my old life, something that threatens to poison our sanctuary.

On the case is acting police chief, Jo Thibodeau. Complicating Jo’s life are Maggie’s book club. Like book club in Good Girls didn’t exactly mean book club, there’s more to the Martini Club than they’d have you believe. It turns out that Purity, Maine is home to a group of retired spies.

Old age confers anonymity, which makes it the most effective disguise of all.

I love that retirees are the main characters in this series. Western society in particular tends to render people over a certain age invisible. We miss out on so much when we do this, including the wisdom that comes with experience and the opportunity to get to know some pretty amazing human beings who still have plenty to offer, if only we give them the opportunity.

I’m intrigued to see where Tess takes this series. Does Maggie stay in the limelight or do each of the Martini Club members get starring roles in future books? Are skeletons from everyone’s spy days going to come back to haunt them or is this group’s unique skill set going to help the police solve crimes that don’t directly relate to their previous jobs?

I wouldn’t take a bullet for any of the characters yet but it took time for Jane and Maura to become bookish family too. I want to know more about Maggie and Jo but am currently most interested in learning more about Ingrid, the cipher-cracking genius of the bunch.

I’m really looking forward to the next book.

“Why do you sound like you’re enjoying this?”

“Frankly, retirement hasn’t been much fun for any of us. This gives us a chance to see if we’ve still got what it takes. It’s good to feel useful again. Back in the game, so to speak.”

“I am the game this time.”

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Former spy Maggie Bird came to the seaside village of Purity, Maine, eager to put the past behind her after a mission went tragically wrong. These days, she’s living quietly on her chicken farm, still wary of blowback from the events that forced her early retirement.

But when a body turns up in Maggie’s driveway, she knows it’s a message from former foes who haven’t forgotten her. Maggie turns to her local circle of old friends ― all retirees from the CIA ― to help uncover the truth about who is trying to kill her, and why. This “Martini Club” of former spies may be retired, but they still have a few useful skills that they’re eager to use again, if only to spice up their rather sedate new lives.

Complicating their efforts is Purity’s acting police chief, Jo Thibodeau. More accustomed to dealing with rowdy tourists than homicide, Jo is puzzled by Maggie’s reluctance to share information ― and by her odd circle of friends, who seem to be a step ahead of her at every turn.

As Jo’s investigation collides with the Martini Club’s manoeuvres, Maggie’s hunt for answers will force her to revisit a clandestine career that spanned the globe, from Bangkok to Istanbul, from London to Malta. The ghosts of her past have returned, but with the help of her friends ― and the reluctant Jo Thibodeau ― Maggie might just be able to save the life she’s built.

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