Category Archives: Historical Fiction

The Quicksilver Pool

Posted on 30 July 2022 by Barbara Howe

This was a pleasant surprise. The blurb on my copy of The Quicksilver Pool by Phyllis Whitney paints it as a somewhat cliché gothic novel. When I paid a couple of dollars for this vintage (1955) novel at a used … Continue reading →

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Flashback

Posted on 23 April 2022 by Barbara Howe

Anna Pigeon is enjoying her temporary assignment as Acting Supervisory Ranger of the Dry Tortugas National Park. The Dry Tortugas, seventy miles further into the Gulf of Mexico than Key West, is one of the U.S. National Park System’s least … Continue reading →

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Death and Taxes

Posted on 1 April 2022 by Barbara Howe

Death and taxes: the only things certain in this world, and they’ve taken a toll on us over the last few weeks. Between a funeral (of a friend and former neighbour, not a family member) and some complications in our … Continue reading →

Posted in A Writer's Life, Historical Mysteries, Mysteries, On Reading | 2 Comments

The Relentless Moon

Posted on 6 November 2021 by Barbara Howe

In my last post, I wrote about The Calculating Stars, the first book in the Lady Astronaut series by Mary Robinette Kowal. That book had its good points, but I had some reservations about it. I liked The Relentless Moon, … Continue reading →

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The Calculating Stars

Posted on 23 October 2021 by Barbara Howe

3 March 1952. A large meteorite hits Washington, D.C., wipes out most of the East Coast of the United States, and deals massive economic and emotional shocks to the entire world. The amount of ejecta in the atmosphere also triggers … Continue reading →

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The Bookman’s Tale

Posted on 13 June 2021 by Barbara Howe

When grieving widower Peter Byerly pulls an old book off a shelf in a secondhand bookstore, he discovers a loose sheet of paper, four inches square, tucked into its pages. He turns the paper over, and nearly collapses in the … Continue reading →

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A Few Short Reviews

Posted on 14 May 2021 by Barbara Howe

The Stone Wētā by Octavia Cade is a timely and rather chilling take on the repression of scientific data by climate deniers and corporate/political interests. It reads a bit like a World War II spy story, with the scientists acting … Continue reading →

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Time and Again

Posted on 16 April 2021 by Barbara Howe

One January night in 1970, illustrator Simon (Si) Morley walks out of a New York City apartment and into the night of 21 January 1882. Si is a participant in a secret government project attempting time travel, but he hasn’t … Continue reading →

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Night Sky

Posted on 19 March 2021 by Barbara Howe

On a dark night in Brittany in March 1943, Julie Lescaux, and her 7-year-old son Peter shelter from the wind and rain in a cleft in the cliffs at the water’s edge. They watch in horror as German occupiers converge … Continue reading →

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The Black God’s Drums

Posted on 24 October 2020 by Barbara Howe

Creeper—who doesn’t want to be called by her real name, Jacqueline—is s 13-year-old living on the streets in New Orleans. She’s an orphan, but she’s not alone; wherever she goes, Oya, the goddess of winds and storms, is with her, … Continue reading →

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