Under a Veiled Moon by Karen Odden (Austenprose PR Book Tour)

 

Have you ever taken a cruise?   If so, where have you gone?  I have never been on an ocean cruise, and with a husband that gets seasick, I don’t think it’s in my future.  I have been across Lake Michigan many times on the SS Badger and that is a fun cruise.

Under a Veiled Moon by Karen Odden is a historical mystery novel set in 1878.  The wooden pleasure craft Princess Alice has collided with an iron-hulled collier, the Bywell Castle, on the River Thames.  This disaster killed hundreds of people and was the worst maritime disaster in London history. Was this truly an accident or was it a sabotage by the Irish Republican Brotherhood?  Scotland Yard Inspector, Michael Corravan in on the case.  His investigation is made more difficult by the fact that he is Irish born himself and the newspapers have whipped up a frenzy of anti-Irish sentiment.

I greatly enjoyed this historical mystery.  I thought Michael Corravan was an intriguing character and I loved learning more about him and his world.  The novel does a great job of world building in Victorian London, giving the reader a sense of walking through the streets and seeing the City as it once was.  It also gave a good description of politics and prejudices at the time.  I found the mystery to be intriguing and read through this relatively quickly as I wanted to know what would happen next. The writing was very compelling. 

Under a Veiled Moon is the second novel in the Inspector Corravan Mystery series with the first novel being Down at a Dark River.  I read this as a stand alone novel and it worked. I do want to go back now and read Down at a Dark River.

The ending was good and left me intrigued to find out more about Inspector Corravan’s past.  The author also had a great note explaining the real history of the events in the novel.  There are also great questions for a book club to use.

Long time readers of my blog will know that I am always looking for wastewater or water treatment in books I read as I am an environmental engineer and I focus on wastewater compliance with my job.  I was interested in this novel that they referenced Erith as London’s sewage treatment plant and the Crossness Pumping Station.  I took a look on Wikipedia and found a beautiful picture of this pumping station.  It is much more architecturally beautiful than the wastewater plants I usually visit.  Edward, the Prince of Wales, opened this pumping station.  Why did it stink so much in the novel when they pass by in the river in 1878?  Pumping stations were used by big cities at the time to pump wastewater out in the waterways away from the city.  Positive, it’s out of the city, but negative, it’s now in your river, lake, estuary, or ocean.  This was the start of wastewater treatment, but many advancements would take place of the next fifty years including at this particular pumping station.  I was intrigued to see it’s now a museum so I’m adding to my list of things I want to see in London.  My wastewater sidebar is now over . . .

Favorite Quotes:

“We all carry pieces of our past with us.  Sometimes they’re shiny and worthy as new half crowns in our pockets.  Sometimes they’re bits of lint or scraps of paper shredded beyond use.  Plenty of my memories carry a stab of regret or a burn of shame with them, and honestly, there are times when I wonder how we all bloody well live with the fool things we’ve done.” – Great opening paragraph.

“I hadn’t meant that.  But there was no point in speaking.  I’d felt loss like his before, a loss that shredded all reason, a loss that tore language from its meaning, so that nothing anyone said made a whit of difference.”

Overall, Under a Veiled Moon by Karen Odden is one of the best historical mysteries I’ve read this year and I am eager to read more by this author.

Review Copy from author Karen Odden as part of the Austenprose PR Book Tour.  Thank-you! I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

QUICK FACTS

·       Title: Under a Veiled Moon

·       Series:  An Inspector Corravan Mystery (Book 2)

·       Author: Karen Odden

·       Genre: Historical Mystery, Detective Mystery, Victorian Mystery

·       Publisher: ‎Crooked Lane Books (October 11, 2022)

·       Length: (336) pages

·       Format: Hardcover, eBook, & audiobook 

·       ISBN: 978-1639101191

·       Tour Dates: November 14 – December 19, 2022

 

BOOK DESCRIPTION

In the tradition of C. S. Harris and Anne Perry, a fatal disaster on the Thames and a roiling political conflict set the stage for Karen Odden’s second Inspector Corravan historical mystery.

September 1878. One night, as the pleasure boat the Princess Alice makes her daily trip up the Thames, she collides with the Bywell Castle, a huge iron-hulled collier. The Princess Alice shears apart, throwing all 600 passengers into the river; only 130 survive. It is the worst maritime disaster London has ever seen, and early clues point to sabotage by the Irish Republican Brotherhood, who believe violence is the path to restoring Irish Home Rule. 
 
For Scotland Yard Inspector Michael Corravan, born in Ireland and adopted by the Irish Doyle family, the case presents a challenge. Accused by the Home Office of willfully disregarding the obvious conclusion and berated by his Irish friends for bowing to prejudice, Corravan doggedly pursues the truth, knowing that if the Princess Alice disaster is pinned on the IRB, hopes for Home Rule could be dashed forever.

Corrovan’s dilemma is compounded by Colin, the youngest Doyle, who has joined James McCabe’s Irish gang. As violence in Whitechapel rises, Corravan strikes a deal with McCabe to get Colin out of harm’s way. But unbeknownst to Corravan, Colin bears longstanding resentments against his adopted brother and scorns his help.
 
As the newspapers link the IRB to further accidents, London threatens to devolve into terror and chaos. With the help of his young colleague, the loyal Mr. Stiles, and his friend Belinda Gale, Corravan uncovers the harrowing truth—one that will shake his faith in his countrymen, the law, and himself.

 

ADVANCE PRAISE

• “[An] exceptional sequel . . . Fans of Lyndsay Faye’s Gods of Gotham trilogy will be enthralled.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review
• “Victorian skulduggery with a heaping side of Irish troubles.” —Kirkus Reviews
• “Charismatic police superintendent Michael Corravan is back in a gripping sequel about the mysterious sinking of the Princess Alice. Odden deftly weaves together English and Irish history, along with her detective's own story, in a way that will keep readers flipping pages long into the night.” —Susan Elia MacNeal, New York Times bestselling author of Mother Daughter Traitor Spy and the Maggie Hope series.

 

AUTHOR INTERVIEW

• Read an exclusive interview with author Karen Odden

 

PURCHASE LINKS

AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE | BOOK DEPOSITORY | BOOKSHOP | GOODREADS

 

AUTHOR BIO

Karen Odden

earned her Ph.D. in English from New York University and subsequently taught literature at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She has contributed essays to numerous books and journals, written introductions for Victorian novels in the Barnes & Noble classics series and edited for the journal Victorian Literature and Culture (Cambridge UP). Her previous novels, also set in 1870s London, have won awards for historical fiction and mystery. A member of Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime and the recipient of a grant from the Arizona Commission on the Arts, Karen lives in Arizona with her family and her rescue beagle Rosy.

WEBSITE | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM | FACEBOOK | BOOKBUB | GOODREADS

Chasing Lakes by Katey Walter Anthony (TLC Book Tours)

 

What is your passion?  While you can definitely guess that books and reading is my passion, water resources and engineering is my professional passion. Even better is when I can combine both my love of water and reading. Chasing Lakes is the perfect book for this situation.

Katey Walter Anthony grew up loving science and the great outdoors.  Her research on methane brought her to Siberia where she had adventures trying to figure out how to capture methane for her research.  Her adventures continued in Alaska, but as she grew older, she started to realize there was a piece still missing in her life, which was faith.  She also discovered love along the way with Peter, a Minnesota farmer.

I enjoyed everything about this memoir, the great outdoors, the adventure, the science, and the introspective look on life and love.  It was a coming-of-age novel as well as an exploration of faith.  I geeked out on the science talk.  I also got into my field because I love water.  It did a good job of talking about how the natural world and human made world blend together and about climate change.  It’s hard to really define this book by any one genre, but it was a personal story of a woman exploring science, but also finding her faith.

Overall, Chasing Lakes is a personal journey of one woman through science and faith that brought her to a better understanding of the world.

Book Source:  A Review Copy from Harper One as part of the TLC Book Tour.  Thank-you! I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Into the Forest: The Secret Language of Trees by Susan Tyler Hitchcock (TLC Book Tours)

 

Happy Earth Day!

What are your favorite memories involving trees?  I grew up next to a pine woods and loved spending my time in the woods climbing trees.  I also had a favorite old tree in my yard that I loved to sit in and read books well into my teenage years.  Sadly my tree grew into electric wires and was chopped down.  My love for trees and the outdoors became my profession as I became an environmental engineer.

Into the Forest is a beautiful coffee table book that focuses on trees, how they function, and how they are important for humanity.  As one would expect for a National Geographic book, the photography in this book is gorgeous.  I love looking at the pictures.  The foreword to the book is by Suzanne Simard, a Professor Forest Ecology at the University of British Columbia.  She gives a good discussion of why forests are important for humanity.  The following chapters were in the book, and they were very informative and interesting:

Chapter 1 – Tree: To understand the forest, let us first get to know the tree

Chapter 2 – Earth:  Trees emerge from the soil underneath, intertwining with the life it cradles.

Chapter 3 – Water: Rain falls, sap rises:  Trees play a part in the grand water cycle.

Chapter 4 – Air:  Trees breath in, breathe out, enhancing the air with subtle fragrance.

Chapter 5 – Fire:  Forest fires rage and destroy; new life rises phenix-like from the ashes.

Chapter 6 – Forest:  Come into the forest:  refreshed, enriched, at peace with the world that surrounds you

I thought this book was fascinating.  I wish I would have had it when I was teaching environmental science to be able to share the beautiful photos and the interesting vignettes with my students.  Each chapter was filled with interesting essays about different aspects of trees. I loved Chapter 6 as it has some really interesting information about forests in the cities and old forests.  I would love to visit a really old forest and I think trying to get more green space in cities is a good thing.

Book Source:  A Review Copy Hachette Book Group as part of the TLC Book Tour.  Thank-you! I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

A Blizzard of Polar Bears by Alice Henderson

 

Have you read any good thrillers lately?  Do you like books with non-stop action or books with slower thrills?

 A Blizzard of Polar Bears is a follow up to last year’s novel, A Solitude of Wolverines and starts right where the last book ended.  That being said, A Blizzard of Polar Bears also works as a standalone novel.  I would recommend reading A Solitude of Wolverines first if you can.

 Alex Carter is a wildlife biologist just finishing up a wolverine study in Montana.  She is hired for an exciting new polar bear study in Manitoba Canada.   She starts work and is excited to be making a difference studying the effects of climate change on polar bears in the artic.  After the first few days of great work, things start to go wrong with the study. Someone breaks into the lab, takes all of their data, and steals their samples.  Their helicopter pilot is hired by someone else.  Then the group realizes that they themselves have become the hunted.  Who is after them?  There is a lot of suspicious activity happening in this small town.

 I really enjoyed the wildlife biology and climate change aspects of this novel.  I find them intriguing and interesting; I am an environmental engineer for my career.  I work in the water field and not with wildlife so it’s interesting to see the science and how research is performed.  Just like with a Solitude of Wolverines, A Blizzard of Polar Bears has nonstop action as the plot progresses.  It’s kind of like an environmental action thriller.  It would be a big blockbuster movie with lots of explosions.  I find it highly entertaining, and I read this book in one day.

 One item I really loved was that the mysterious man that seems to be following Alex around in A Solitude of Wolverines, actually meets with Alex and works with her in A Blizzard of Polar Bears.  What is his back story?  Why is he following Alex around?  Will Alex be able to warm him back up when he falls into freezing cold water in the wilderness?  Ha!!!!  I feel like every snow set movie or book has a warming up scene in it.  Do you have a favorite movie or book with this type of lifesaving scene?

 Overall, A Blizzard of Polar Bears is a very entertaining wildlife ecology thriller.  I can’t wait for the next book in this series.

 Book Source:  A Review Copy from William Morrow.  Thank-you! I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Pipe Dreams: The Urgent Global Quest to Transform the Toilet by Chelsea Wald

 

Title:  Pipe Dreams:  The Urgent Global Quest to Transform the Toilet

Author: Chelsea Wald

Read by:  Lisa Flanagan

Publisher: Simon & Shuster Audio

Length: Approximately 8 hours and 8 minutes

Source: Review Copy from Simon & Shuster Audio.  Thank-you! 

 If there ever was a book written just for me, Pipe Dreams is it.  Pipe Dreams:  The Urgent Global Quest to Transform the Toilet is a fascinating look into sanitation.  It covers all aspects from how toilets work around the world, to how sanitary sewers and wastewater treatment plants are designed, to current problems and new ideas on how to deal with them.  I am an environmental engineer and work in the wastewater industry.  This was the perfect book for me to listen to while I drove around to wastewater treatment plant inspections.  This book was very interesting and was correct on the technical information.  If you’ve ever wondered what happens after you flush the toilet, author Chelsea Wald does a great job explaining everything in this book.  She is factual, but also full of humor which made it so fun.

 I enjoyed that the policies and psychology of toilet use were also discussed.  It’s interesting how different parts of the world differ on how a toilet is used (squat versus sit) and whether to use toilet paper versus water.  She also talks about testing of the wastewater.  The single most interesting fact to me was the doing testing around the United States for drugs, it’s  been found that drug use is consistent among all socioeconomic levels and within different races/ethnicities.  The rush for toilet paper during COVID was discussed as well as newer items in the wastewater field such as PFAS chemicals.

 Items near and dear to my heart were also discussed including the American Society of Civil Engineers Report Card and the sad state of infrastructure in the United States and world.  I worked on the wastewater section for the state of Wisconsin.  She took me out of my hard infrastructure bubble and got me thinking about other solutions for sanitation around the world.  Wald visits wastewater plants worldwide, which I thought was fascinating besides being a life goal of my own.  She also mentions the Milwaukee wastewater treatment plant and their inventive reuse of biosolids with their milorganite fertilizer product.

 Wald does an excellent job of explaining a lot of information in a fun way.  This type of information is often overlooked as no one likes to think about what happens after you flush the toilet.  It’s important to know for health reasons and for making prudent political choices to update infrastructure.  I could wax on about my great love for this audiobook for eternity, but I’ll stop now. Listen to this book and be prepared to learn and laugh. Lisa Flanagan is a great narrator.

 Overall, Pipe Dreams:  The Urgent Global Quest to Transform the Toilet is a fascinating and humorous look into toilets and sanitation.

A Solitude of Wolverines by Alice Henderson

What is the last book you read that kept you up too late?

Alex Carter is a wildlife biologist.  After a shooting at a wildlife dedication, Alex decides it is time to go back out to the wilderness.  She takes a job studying wolverines at the Land Trust for Wildlife Conservation in Montana.  Once she arrives onsite, she discovers she is staying in a remote, abandoned ski chalet that has a dark history of its own.  Alex finds the elusive wolverines, but she also uncovers another mystery.  Will Alex be able to solve who is engaging in the illegal activity on the conservation, and even more importantly, will she be able to survive as she becomes the hunted?

I could not put a Solitude of Wolverines down.  Much to my husband’s dismay, I couldn’t stop reading this book, giving a gasp, and then updating him on the action that was taking place.  This suspense novel had a unique premise and plot and I enjoyed it.  I really liked the description of the wildlife and Alex’s work.  I also enjoyed that the plot kept moving and was very intriguing.  Alex does become more of a movie action hero at the end, but I enjoyed it.  There was an overall mystery that was hinted at and not tied up.  I hope this is the first in a new series as I can’t wait to read the next one!

As an environmental engineer, I really liked a side story in the novel about ethics.  Alex had to do an environmental impact survey and her boss wanted her to violate her ethics and hide the fact that she had found threatened snowy plovers.   Of course, Alex stuck with her ethics, but she lost her job and boyfriend.  This was a great, unfortunately, real world situation.

Favorite Quote:

“The wetlands dedication ceremony was a resounding success until the gunman showed up.” – This was quite the opener for this book and immediately drew me in.

Overall, A Solitude of Wolverines is a great new thriller set in the wilderness.  I loved it and highly recommend it.

Book Source:  Review Copy from William Morrow.  Thank-you!

Hoot by Carl Hiaasen

Roy has just moved to another new town and school in Coconut Grove, Florida.  He is experiencing bullying on the school bus when he notices a strange barefoot boy running alongside the bus.  He starts to investigate who the boy is and discovers that he is protecting owls that are living on a future construction site.  Will they be able to save the owls?  Will Roy make new friends and learn to love Florida?

Another main part of the story is Officer Delinko.  He is trying to figure out who is vandalizing the construction site with much humor.

My nine-year-old son Daniel and twelve-year-old son Kile read this book for the Kewaunee Library Youth Book Club.  Daniel really enjoyed it and in fact we kept reading it at night instead of his actual book he was supposed to read for school I learned later.    We still “flip flop” read with Daniel reading two pages and then me reading two pages.  Kile reads on his own.  Kile said the book was “meh” although he read it awful fast.  He is more into fantasy and sci-fi books.

Daniel liked the light swearing that was in the novel, much to my dismay.  He really enjoyed the story and had a hard time stopping the reading at night.  Sometimes he would read me to sleep!

I enjoyed that it was a unique story.  I liked that it was a good look at what it means to construct a new facility without looking at the land and what naturally resides at that location – it was a good environmental lesson.  Besides an environmental take, it was a good story of how Roy learned to enjoy his new home in Florida after moving from Montana and to enjoy the natural environment and all its glory.   

Overall, it was an enjoyable story with light humor.  We watched the movie last weekend and Daniel was very irked that the changed the ending so much but enjoyed it as well.

Book Source:  Kewaunee Public Library