2026 Book Reviews

Rules of the Heart by Janice Hadlow

     This historical novel based on the tortured liaison between Harriet, Countess of Bessborough and her longtime lover Lord Granville Leweson-Gore could more accurately be titled Ruled by the Heart. The younger daughter of Lord and Lady Spencer (Princess Diana’s ancestors), she appropriately married another aristocrat—at that time possessing the title Viscount Duncannon but prematurely referred to as Lord Bessborough. As his wife she endured a rocky relationship that included his excessive gambling and increasing indebtedness, temper tantrums, insults, and accusations of infidelity. In her unhappiness, Harriet was susceptible to her admirer Richard Sheridan and others. Eventually, after her recovery from severe illness, she and her husband enter into a calmer period, but one devoid of the passionate, reciprocal love that Harriet longs to experience. During a stay in Naples to restore her health, she meets the handsome and attentive and much younger Lord Granville, ambitious and impecunious. Attracted to her, he makes no secret of his intentions, which she rebuffs in Italy, and after their return to England. The effect of his good looks and his blue eyes and the intensity of his passion overcomes her reluctance and her dread of more scandal. She enters into a long and harrowing affair destined to cause as much—if not more—agony than happiness.

     The first-person narrative effectively reveals Harriet’s deep emotions, her guilt, her commitment to a man whose demands of her are so destructive. Hadlow is especially skilled in depicting the period: aristocratic society, political maneuvers, the subterfuges required of unfaithful wives, and the secret arrangements made for the care of their illegitimate offspring. While Harriet’s predicaments are clearly delineated and understandable, she is so often a depressed and despairing heroine sympathy for her does suffer at times. But fans of historical biography will find much to like in this sweeping and well-written novel.  (Henry Holt & Co., hardcover/paperback/ebook/audio, 480 pp., January 2026)

Divine Ruin by Margot Douaihy

     This third installment of the Sister Holiday mysteries is as gritty and gripping as its predecessors, Scorched Grace and Blessed Water. The queer but celibate nicotine-addicted protagonist is preparing to take her the permanent vows that will seal her future within the New Orleans convent where she teaches guitar pupils, performs menial tasks, and strives to sublimate her attraction to science teacher Rosemary Flynn. When popular student Fleur dies from a fentanyl overdose, Holiday returns to her sleuthing vocation in partnership with intense, wisecracking, and similarly traumatized private investigator Magnolia Riveaux, and a deep dive into the drug underworld reveals more clearly the destructive habits she abandoned to don the habit of a religious. Her stalwart soul is warmed by affection for her brother and connection to her priest but is tortured by lack of sleep, bitter jealousy, routine drudgery, and the recognition of her own failings. Despite all, she clings to her faith and her calling, and her determination to ensure justice for the dead and endangered and her commitment to her quirky spirituality do not waver. 

     The sights, sounds, and smells of the city, its culture and its lore, pervade the novel and combine with the claustrophobic nature of institutions—religious and academic. The dark, highly-charged atmosphere compounds the conflicts as Holiday powers through unexpected travails and searing losses to solve the layers of mysteries that impede her journey towards her final vows and her veiling. Douaihy excels in placing the reader into the story, ratcheting tension to extremes, and presenting the admirable tenacity of a severely flawed yet self-aware heroine. (Gillian Flynn Books, hardcover/ebook/audio, 366 pp., January 2026)

Feisty Deeds II: Historical Tales of Batches and Brews

Something new and different and exciting!

I'm delighted to be a contributor to a newly released anthology, Feisty Deeds II: Historical Tales of Batches and Brews,  featuring twenty-five short stories. Mine, "The Manx Charmer," takes place on the Isle of Man in 1777, and features Calybrid Teare, a character from my historical romance trilogy The Islanders Series. These tales cover a range of eras, settings, and styles, and all royalties go to the Scholarship Fund of the Women Fiction Writers Association.

Description: 

Concoctions, treats, brews, and potions from another batch of feisty characters Whether cooking for solace, scrounging for food, concocting medicine, or brewing poisons, the feisty women in these stories will keep you thirsting for more. Twenty-five tales will transport you far afield in time and place: third century Ireland, medieval Europe, twentieth-century Australia. Read your way from a hippie commune to a WW II internment camp in the Philippines; from a Renaissance palace to a Polish village wracked by war, the hills of Appalachia, and a sleepy Ontario town. Mixtures to soothe, heal, and thrall are prepared in these pages, where lovers take revenge, mothers protect their children, and feisty women make choices in a challenging world.

My Story

Purchase here: 

Kindle

Paperback

Barnes & Noble ebook

Apple Books

Kobo ebook

More information and background to the story to come! 

2025 Book Reviews

Only 2 reviews this year--too many of my own book deadlines!

 

Seeds of the Pomegranate by Suzanne Uttaro Samuels

     At the start of this remarkable debut novel, protagonist Mimi Inglese is forced by tuberculosis to curtail her training and promising future as a painter. Devoting her artistic talents to sketching, she creates images suitable for printing, and with encouragement from her godfather Zio, becomes an engraver herself, unaware of the consequences of his patronage and its impact on her and her extended family. When financial straits force the Inglese family to leave Sicily for New York, the shipboard life and Ellis Island arrival—and the overriding necessity of concealing Mimi’s disease—is extremely well depicted. She and her parents, intensely devout sister, and aging grandmother settle into a life not exactly as Zio had described. Her father’s shop is front for circulating counterfeit paper currency, forcing Mimi into collaboration with harsh criminal gangs who either work for or compete with Zio’s enterprise, and rely on her engraving and printing skills. Throughout the novel, her complex choices and bold actions are credible as she struggles to protect her relatives while planning an entirely separate and more fulfilling future for herself—possibly with the one person she feels able to trust.

     The diverse company of characters, with all their fears and foibles, are brilliantly rendered. Samuels has created a thoroughly engrossing historical novel from aspects of her own family heritage, weaving complications and danger into the narrative with admirable skill and effective writing. A gripping story, from the first page to the last, and very highly recommended. (Sybilline Press, paperback/ebook, 381 pp., March 2025)

Behind the Red Velvet Curtain: An American Ballerina in Russia by Joy Womack

      The American dancer’s experiences studying ballet in Moscow and performing in Russian ballet companies have been presented in a documentary and a feature film (Joika). Now delivered as a memoir, as told to journalist Elizabeth Shockman over a twelve-year period, the ballerina candidly shares struggles and strife as she sought to perfect her art and obtain a position in one of the world’s most historic and influential theatres. Raised in a large, eccentric, and devoutly Christian family, Joy was motivated, ambitious, and success-driven. Her dance training began at three years old, and ten years later she left her Austin home to study in Washington, D.C. at the Kirov Academy of Ballet. Steeped in Russian technique, she was inspired to apply to the Moscow State Academy of Choreography, the feeder school of the Bolshoi Ballet. The good fortune of acceptance was accompanied by the curse of a painfully cracked foot—something she was resolved to conceal from instructors and staff. Plunged into an academic program carried out in the Russian language, which she had to learn, she endured stringent ballet training, while simultaneously assimilating into a very foreign culture.

     In pursuing her dream of eventually dancing at the Bolshoi, Womack confronted numerous challenges—foot surgery and recovery, an eating disorder and its adverse effects (fractured wrist), a Russian marriage of convenience that enabled her employment at the theatres of her dreams. But her pride in becoming the first American woman to perform with the Bolshoi—in the corps de ballet—and obtaining Russian citizenship was marred by a public relations disaster that resulted from speaking openly about offstage corruption. A transfer to the Kremlin ballet company offered temporary satisfaction, and the covid pandemic ended her fraught period at Boston Ballet. She returned to Russia with an American second husband as prima ballerina in lesser, more compatible ballet company. But Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine forced the surrender of her desire to remain in Russia.

     Womack’s stark honesty and self-revelation is enhanced Shockman’s narrative and descriptive skills, and the benefit of having tracked the dancer’s progress and setbacks over many years. The insider account of the Bolshoi in particular, Russian ballet in general, and the politics of the times make this a worthwhile and engaging read. (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, hardcover/ebook, 379 pp., March 2025)

England

In May I made my annual return to England, a trip that--as usual--combined time with family and friends, touring places familiar and new, visiting museums and galleries, other cultural activities, and researching the next novel. 

Dividing my countryside time between Somerset and Gloucestershire, I revisited some of the locations for A Change of Location and Sequins and Starlight. Mostly I was seeing special people and spending time in various villages and parish churches connected to my family history. Each one deserves a blog post of its own. 

One of my family's Somerset churches 

The Avebury standing stones, unchanged from my last visit

The roses everywhere were magnificent, at peak bloom. I spent a great deal of time in National Trust gardens and those at other historic locations.

The Queens' Garden, Sudeley Castle, Gloucestershire

I found plenty of roses in London as well...

Hyde Park Rose Garden

One of the most delightful experiences was taking another Behind the Scenes Tour at the Royal Ballet. Every one is slightly different, which is why I repeat them, and so enlightening, and even affirming of the dance profession as depicted in Sequins and Starlight. That evening, I attended a performance of Onegin, one of my favourite narrative ballets--which of course explains why it's so important to Ellie in Sequins and Starlight!

Home of the Royal Ballet and Royal Opera

The auditorium before the performance

Fumi Kaneko danced Tatiana, Vadim Muntagirov was Onegin

Afterwards, I waited at the Stage Door to congratulate Gary Avis, who performed Prince Gremin

With Gary, at the Stage Door in Floral Street

There were many trip highlights, especially in London. We made a point of celebrating the release of Sequins and Starlight at the Ritz Hotel. The Rivoli Bar features in the story, it's where Ellie and Dan meet the first time, and return later. The bar also appears in A Change of Location.

In the Rivoli Bar

Rivoli Bar entrance

There's so much more I'd like to share, time permitted. The rest of this month will be extremely busy, I'm presenting at two writers' conferences, one regional (the 603 Conference an easy drive away) and one international (Historical Novel Society, Caesar's Palace, Las Vegas.) My travel schedule has been extremely hectic since March: Chicago, Atlanta, England...) So after HNS, I'm storing my luggage for as long as I can! 

And writing. A lot.

Announcing the Historical Hollywood Giveaway!

Like me, you're probably astonished that it's now September!  

Hollywood tales rank high among my fave fiction genres, as reader and writer, and within that subgenre I prefer biographical novels. I'm delighted to participate in this bestselling, award-winning multi-author giveaway of real-like stories about movie personalities of the past. Karen Essex, Heather Webb, and I are giving away these FOUR novels of Hollywood's Golden Age--the silver screen icons, scandals, and stardom--in one big prize pack.

I invite you to ENTER HERE.

These are the books included in the giveaway:

Run, Darling by Karen Essex. Three Sisters. One War. A Harrowing Escape. For decades, the gorgeous trio of Zsa Zsa, Eva, and Magda, with their Auntie Mame mother, dominated gossip columns, TV and movie screens, talk shows, and tabloids with their talent, clever quips, branded beauty products—and utter disregard for society’s rules. Run, Darling is that untold story.

Strangers in the Night by Heather Webb. In the golden age of Hollywood, two of the brightest stars would define—and defy—an era… As Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner ride the rollercoaster of success and failure, passion and anger, they both wonder if the next turn will be the end of their careers, and most devastating of all—the end of all they’ve shared.

Beautiful Invention: A Novel of Hedy Lamarr by Margaret Porter. Hollywood Beauty. Brilliant inventor. The incredible story of a remarkable and misunderstood woman. In Hollywood, Louis B. Mayer transforms an Austrian refugee into Hedy Lamarr, an icon of exotic glamour. Professional success clashes with Hedy’s personal life as marriage and motherhood compete with the demands of studio and stardom.

The Limits of Limelight by Margaret Porter. Hollywood turned Ginger Rogers into a star. What will it do for her cousin? A pretty teenager leaves Oklahoma for California at the invitation of her relatives, to try her luck in motion pictures. As Phyllis Fraser, she lands a contract with RKO and swiftly discovers that Depression-era Hollywood’s surface glamor and glitter obscure the ceaseless struggle of the hopeful starlet.

Best of luck to all who enter! 

Publication Day: Sequins and Starlight

This is my seventeenth publication day, and the excitement never ebbs. I'm delighted to announce the release of Sequins and Starlight, my second contemporary novel and the follow up to A Change of Location.

This story isn't autobiographical, but there are many elements that reflect my own past and present, places that are special to me, and my non-writing careers and interests and activities. 

From the back cover:

In London’s West End, where theatre lights blaze with promise, desire and ambition put two wary hearts to the ultimate test.

Ellie Lowery, former ballet prodigy turned international burlesque sensation, craves change and a professional challenge. By reinventing herself as a stage actress, she’ll not only escape the grind of constant touring—she can fulfill her late husband’s final wish. Her breakthrough role in a debut play provides the perfect fresh start, yet she’s reluctant to permanently retire her pointe shoes.

Corporate executive Dan Wheeler is instantly captivated by the alluring American who gained worldwide fame sashaying in cabarets. And, he soon discovers, there’s much more to appreciate than her beauty and charm and talent. But a visit to his ancestral home in the countryside reveals a significant obstacle to their future happiness. Dan assures Ellie that his father’s disapproval will eventually fade. But because she was married to someone whose parents never accepted her, she’s fully aware of the difficulties they will face.

An unexpected threat emerges from her past, with the potential to lower the curtain on her already troubled romance. Desperate to restore balance after a staggering betrayal, Ellie must decide whether ballet will once again serve as her sanctuary and solace.

An absorbing tale of artistic resilience, family loyalty, and the courage to defy expectations.

PRAISE FOR SEQUINS AND STARLIGHT

“Porter writes in a clear and appealing manner that makes the complicated world of dance accessible and attractive .… The complex relationships are engaging throughout, always keeping the reader hooked. A page-turning romance for those who adore the worlds of theater and dance.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Porter’s juxtapositions of personalities and worlds are nothing short of exquisite . . . A compelling story . . . Immersive descriptions, strong characterization, and challenges.” —Midwest Book Review

“Another standing ovation for Margaret Porter! Anglophiles, theatre kids, and balletomanes everywhere will devour her delicious and delightful Sequins and Starlight.”  —Leslie Carroll, author of Temporary Insanity

“Made me fall headlong into the luscious story set in England, with ballet, burlesque, and theater, as well as love bruised by family expectations. Romance readers will adore Sequins and Starlight.” —Literary Redhead 

Here are some of the novel's locations:

London

Gloucestershire

A New England lakeside cottage (maybe just like my own!)

The Rivoli Bar in London's Ritz Hotel

To order the paperback: Bookshop.org (Indiebound), Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books a Million, Walmart, Waterstone's (UK), Blackwell's (UK), Saxo

To order the ebook: Kindle, Apple, Nook, Kobo 

Among the scheduled promotions: bookstore events, conference appearances and book signings, photo shoots, television and podcast interviews--in the US and UK. It's going to be a very busy time--but always lots of fun!

Goodreads Giveaway: Sequins and Starlight

THE CONTEST HAS CONCLUDED.

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE 10 WINNERS--THEIR BOOKS HAVE BEEN SHIPPED.

Sequins and Starlight, my second contemporary novel and the follow-up to A Change of Location, will be released on May 6, 2025.

Readers in the USA can enter the Goodreads Giveaway to win 1 of 10 Advance Reader Copies. 

Best of luck to all participants!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Sequins and Starlight

by Margaret Porter

Giveaway ends April 10, 2025.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

If you'd like to know more, here's the book trailer:

"Porter writes in a clear and appealing manner that makes the complicated world of dance accessible and attractive . . . The complex relationships are engaging throughout, always keeping the reader hooked. A page-turning romance for those who adore the worlds of theater and dance." Kirkus Reviews

"Porter's juxtapositions of personalities and worlds are nothing short of exquisite . . . A compelling story . . . Immersive descriptions, strong characterization, and challenges." Midwest Book Review

"Another standing ovation for Margaret Porter! Anglophiles, theatre kids, and balletomanes everywhere will devour her delicious and delightful Sequins and Starlight." Leslie Carroll, author of Temporary Insanity

 Available as paperback and ebook. Pre-Order links.

 

2024 Book Reviews

Tangles by Kay Smith-Blum

 This enthralling dual-timeline, dual-viewpoint debut thrusts the reader into twin eras of environmental danger and governmental, corporate, and institutional deception affecting individuals in the vicinity of the notorious Hanford plant. A fact-based and effective combination of tragedy, suspense, and heartbreak, the novel explores the horrifying impacts on health and nature during the early eras of atomic and nuclear experimentation and production. Protagonists Mary and Luke, flawed and driven, are united in their separate missions to expose multiple threats to their family members and the broader community, either directly employed by Hanford or otherwise dependent upon its potentially deadly operations. From the opening pages, they boldly disregard the peril their pursuit of the truth poses to them and their loved ones, and their efforts to expose corruption and malfeasance instill the story with a pervading sense of doom and dread. Through her exquisitely evocative writing and skillful plotting, Smith-Blum achieves a triumph in storytelling that magnificently serves the high purpose her characters fight so hard and so desperately to achieve. (Black Rose Writing, 286 pp., paperback/ebook, December 2024) 

Pointe of Pride by Chloe Angyal

 In her follow up to Pas de Don’t, her romcom debut, former dancer Chloe Angyal provides an engaging enemies-to-lovers tale set in her native Sydney, Australia. Sparky New York corps de ballet dancer Carly Montgomery puts friendship over prospects for promotion by serving as maid of honor for her bestie, prima ballerina Heather Hays. On her arrival she has an unpleasant encounter with a handsome jerk, whose luggage gets mixed up with hers, and who naturally turns out to be the groom’s best man, Nick Jacobs. His dancing days are long past, his career as professional photographer hasn’t taken off. Carly, committed to her profession, also suffers internal injury that requires extensive physical therapy prohibits penetrative sex

The bickering couple agree to make nice throughout preparation for the nuptials, all the while sparring out of their friends’ presence. Carly taking advantage of Nick’s supposed fame as photographer, enlists him to take dramatic pictures of her in scenic locations in the Sydney environs, with the intention of boosting her Instagram profile. A multitude of followers and enhance popularity, she’s sure, will result in her longed-for rise in the ballet company back home. When carefully concealed secrets are fully revealed, the romance as well as workplace prospects are imperiled.

The pace of the story never flags, Nick and Carly are pleasingly flawed and equally captivating, and the ballet content is well-presented. The result: another winning story from Angyal.

(Amberjack Publishing, 378 pp., paperback/ebook, May 2024)

The Painter’s Daughters by Emily Howes

The painter is famed British portraitist Thomas Gainsborough, and the daughters are keen observer Peggy and her mentally unstable sister Molly, his favorite subjects from their innocence childhood to their maturity. When he moves the family from rural Suffolk to the fashionable spa city of Bath, Peggy grows ever more protective of Molly, striving to keep parents and others from discovering the seriousness of her malady. She also recognizes her parents’ foibles and faults—an unfaithful father and a stern, social-climbing mother constantly aware that the family fortunes depend upon flattering and pleasing the rising artist’s wealthy and aristocratic patrons.

 This is also a dual timeline story, set in an earlier period, as Meg, a desperate country girl, seduces and is impregnated by a German prince, the heir to England’s throne. Her history is woven throughout the novel, as she attempts to trace her royal lover in London and secure the support  she believes and her child are owed. Before the conclusion of the Gainsborough girls’ story, her connection to them is clarified.

 Howes paints with words as she reveals Peggy’s inner life, her love for and callous betrayal by a musician, and her constant struggle to cover her sister’s mental lapses and save her from the horrors of a madhouse. Molly, chafing at the severe attempts to control her, is determined to prove that she’s destined for a life of her own choosing, but her temporary escape from the family only plunges her deeper into distress.

 The author depicts the Georgian era, domestically and socially, with painstaking and evocative detail, and the few lapses in accuracy cannot detract from the power of the writing and the characters, drawn with the same precision as a Gainsborough painting. A tale of devotion taken to extremes, with life-altering consequences, it is sure to please historical fiction fans. (Simon & Schuster, 352 pp., hardcover/ebook/audio, February 2024)

The Fortune Seller by Rachel Kapelke-Dale

Competing on an equestrian team with the daughters of millionaires and billionaires is difficult enough for a girl who isn’t born rich. Add the pressures of Ivy League schooling and uncertainty about what professional path to follow after graduation, and it’s no wonder Yale senior Rosie Macalister is muddled. Her situation worsens when she arrives in the rented Victorian house that she and her upper-crust teammates share and discovers she’s stuck in a double room with a complete stranger. Not only has the lovely and mysterious Annelise apparently stolen the affections of Cressida Tate, Rosie’s best friend, she’s also an enviably skilled rider. But Rosie unexpectedly bonds with the West Coast newcomer, attracted by her warmth and intrigued by her tarot readings. She becomes her roommate’s pupil, friend—and defender, when mistrust severs longstanding friendships.

Reeling from tragedy and loss, Rosie settles for a post-graduation job in finance that is at odds with her longstanding desire to follow her parents’ profession and become a vet. Torn between her desire to achieve wealth and her longing to care for animals, she tries to navigate her way through betrayals, revelations, and a budding romance doomed by her circumstances and conflicts. A twisty plot, the interweaving of tarot cards and lore, the unpredictability of highly strung horses, characters of privilege and of wasted promise, laced with mystery and suspense lead to an impressively satisfying yet bittersweet conclusion. (St. Martin’s Press, 320 pp., hardcover/ebook/audio, February, 2024)

The Still Point by Tammy Greenwood

Movingly told from multiple viewpoints, Greenwood’s novel is a realistic deep dive into the challenging and intensely competitive world of young ballet students and their mothers, who confront the same insecurities and inner agonies as their talented daughters. The catalyst for conflict at Costa del Luna Conservatory of Ballet is rogue French dance star Etienne Bernay, visiting ballet master, who arrives at the academy with a documentary crew. He will direct the annual production of The Nutcracker and will also choose one student to receive a scholarship to the Ballet de Paris Académie. Cue the rivalries.

Ever Henderson, widowed mother of two, has high hopes for her daughter Bea, who spent the summer studying dance in New York. And indeed, Bea is singled out for attention—more so than Savvy Jacobs, the school’s star. Whose ambitious mother Josie, divorced and divorcing again, believes she’s gained an advantage by securing Etienne as tenant of her guest house. Realtor Lindsay Chase, mother of Bea’s best friend Olive, is troubled by her faltering marriage, worried that her husband is cheating, and is dismayed by her daughter’s sudden transfer of loyalties to privileged, unlikable Savvy.

Bea is tortured by memories of her behavior at a late-night party, which resulted in ostracism by her peers. The preferential treatment and starring role given by Etienne, her prominence in the documentary, and a developing romance with a male classmate can’t compensate for the knowledge that she’s responsible for Savvy’s cruelty and her abandonment by Olive. Just as the mothers must face the realities of their own choices and mistakes, the daughters will each pay a price for theirs. Meanwhile, the enigmatic, charismatic disrupter Etienne choreographs a holiday spectacle that will determine the fates of his dancers and their parents. An intimate, brutally honest yet touching depiction of the demands of the art form and the dedication it demands from all involved, those who study and perform as well as the family members who struggle, sacrifice, and support along the way. (Kensington, 304 pp., paperback/ebook, February, 2024) 

Travelogue: May in England

 My annual return to Great Britain took place in May. It was, as usual, a multi-purpose trip, a combination of personal (family, friends) and professional (book promotion, research) activities.

At London's Ritz Hotel, setting for scenes in A Change of Location

My base for the first week was a farm in a West Sussex village where an ancestor of mine had lived. It was perfectly situated for revisiting favourite gardens and country houses and castles. 

Sussex farmhouse

View from the terrace

A church where many of my ancestors were baptised, married & buried

Petworth House, a baroque masterpiece

Arundel Castle gardens

A Sussex pheasant, posing for me

Mural at Wakehurst Place

The fine weather followed me to London, where my schedule was considerably more packed, and the flowers were just as beautiful.

Lobby arrangement at the Langham Hotel

The Hyde Park Rose Garden

Queen Mary's Rose Garden, Regent's Park

I spent a lot of time in art galleries. 

The new portrait of King Charles by Jonathan Yeo

Angelica Kauffman exhibit at the Royal Academy

I spent a morning at Westminster Abbey, touring the Jubilee Galleries and paying respects at the grave of characters in my next historical biographical novel.

In Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey

Spending time with friends was a highlight of my time in London. I met an author friend for lunch at the Royal Academy. Dined at the historic, beautifully renovated home of another author friend. And enjoyed an evening of delicious French food and conversation at Brasserie Zédel.

Brasserie Zédel

Chanteuse and musicians

The Ritz Hotel and its Rivoli Bar will appear in the next contemporary novel, as in A Change of Location.

The Long Gallery, Ritz Hotel

The Palm Court, Ritz Hotel

Entrance to the Rivoli Bar, Ritz Hotel

As it was last year, the wisteria was blooming everywhere ... making possible this juxtaposition of my book's cover and the lovely purple fronds.

Now it's June, and the roses and perennials in my own garden are bursting forth. I'll be revising the completed follow-up novel to A Change of Location and incorporating recent research into the next historical manuscript.

I hope everyone has a wonderful summer!