Synopsis: The story of the Gilded Age Chicago heiress who revolutionized forensic death investigation. As the mother of forensic science, Frances Glessner Lee is the reason why homicide detectives are a thing. She is responsible for the popularity of forensic science in television shows and pop culture. Long overlooked in the history books, this extremely detailed and thoroughly researched biography will at long last tell the story of the life and contributions of this pioneering woman.
Synopsis: This is not an historical novel in the ordinary sense. It is something new: the life of an actual royal family, whose story is so rich and varied that it falls naturally into the form of a modern novel. The heroine is that `Minette`, princess of England, Duchess of Orleans, who linked to dramatically the fate of her brother, Charles II, with that of her cousin, Louis XIV.
Henrietta was instrumental in negotiating the Secret Treaty of Dover between England and France which her brother Charles had been attempting since 1663. But tragedy was to strike all too soon; and that same month she met an unexpected death. Rumours of poison abounded and the finger of suspicion pointed to Philippe and his entourage. Fate would deal Henrietta's eldest daughter a similar hand - she too would die in circumstances similar to her mother nearly twenty years later.
Though the fact remains that I did not like the book or the style of writing, I must return now and give the author - Margaret Irwin - her due credit. Her books were written nearly a century ago - access to historical details would have been mostly through academic resources, local histories, or books written earlier than the author's own. The research would have been painstakingly slow - something that I myself was familiar with when writing long before the internet existed.
Synopsis: Former LA County Deputy Bruno Johnson is now a bailiff in the courts having stepped down from his role on the Violent Crimes Team to spend more time with his daughter, Olivia. Bruno fears his job decision may have come too late when he gets a frantic call to extricate Olivia from a gunpoint situation in a LA gang-infested neighborhood. His desperation escalates when he realizes Louis Barkow, a stone-cold killer awaiting trial, had orchestrated that deadly tableau. When Barkow and three other criminals break out of jail and hit the streets, Bruno is plunged back into violent crime mode. Now, the agenda is personal—Olivia has become a pawn in the desperate chase of this sinister murderer. The walls are caving in on Bruno as violence escalates in his hunt for Barkow and his heart strings are stretched to the breaking point as he struggles to protect his daughter not only from the criminal violence swirling around them, but from Olivia’s own impetuous life choices.
Synopsis: Set in an England beset by power wrangling and warfare at the end of the 15th century, The King’s Dogge (the first of a two book series) tells of Francis Lovell’s meteoric rise from humble squire to closest ally of King Richard III.
Synopsis: England's Tower of London was the terrifying last stop for generations of English political prisoners. A Dangerous Inheritance weaves together the lives and fates of four of its youngest and most blameless: Lady Katherine Grey, Lady Jane's younger sister; Kate Plantagenet, an English princess who lived nearly a century before her; and Edward and Richard, the boy princes imprisoned by their ruthless uncle, Richard III, never to be heard from again. Across the years, these four young royals shared the same small rooms in their dark prison, as all four shared the unfortunate role of being perceived as threats to the reigning monarch.
I will start with Kate Plantagenet, illegitimate daughter of Richard III, and of whom very little by way of fact is known, especially of her childhood. Could she have known John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln, with whom she was said to have had a relationship with in the novel? It is possible that she knew him if she was living in the household of her uncle as following the death of Richard's own son Edward, first Edward of Warwick then John de la Pole became his nominated heir. As both Edward and John were nephews of Richard, would he have counternounced a relationship between his own daughter (illegitimate or not) and his nephew and heir?. 
Now to Katherine Grey - one of the famous Grey sisters, the others being Jane and Mary; all granddaughters of Henry VIII"s sister, Mary. Katherine was initially wed to Henry, Lord Herbert, the son of the Earl of Pembroke (1553) - however when the plot to put Jane on the throne failed, this marriage was annulled and she was returned to her family (1554). She and her sister Mary were, at one stage, considered as potential heirs to their cousin, Elizabeth I of England. However, Katherine incurred the wrath of Elizabeth by secretly marrying (1560) Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford (it was forbidden to marry without the Queen's consent - it was considered treason to do so). Arrested (c.1561) after the Queen was informed of their clandestine marriage, Katherine was confined to a life in captivity until her death (1568), having borne two sons in the Tower of London.
Did either of women embark on a search for the truth behind the "princes in the tower" mystery? Highly unlikely as I think both would have been more focused on their own survival in what were periods of great uncertainty. Her handling of the paranormal component was not done well - she could easily have left Kate Plantagenet out of it altogether, the story may have flowed a bit better. And I question whether Katherine Grey would have even considered that Richard was innocent of the crimes landed at his doorstep, if indeed she gave any thought to this at all.![The Drowning Guard: A Novel of the Ottoman Empire by [Lafferty, Linda]](https://images-fe.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51pUxHQywIL.jpg)
Synopsis: Each morning in the hour before dawn, a silent boat launches on the Bosphorous, moving swiftly into the deepest part of the waters halfway between Europe and Asia, where a man will die... |
| Esma Sultan |
Due to her husband's position at court, and the influence over and the esteem in which she was held by both her brothers, Esma became prominent herself and acquired a great deal of property, land, buildings and revenues which enabled her to enjoy her life to the fullest. She had a large retinue, traveled freely and extensively, and was an accomplished poet and musician.
Mahmud II was the half-brother of Esma Sultna, his mother Nakşidil Sultan, being one of the wives / consorts of Abdulhamid I. As we have seen above, Mahmud came to the throne aged 23 after a revolt by the Janissaries and the deposition and execution of his brother Mustafa IV (1808).
Ottoman military reform efforts begin with Selim III (1789–1807) who made the first major attempts to modernize the army along European lines. These efforts, however, were hampered by reactionary movements primarily from the Janissary corps, who had become anarchic and ineffectual. Jealous of their privileges and firmly opposed to change, they created a Janissary revolt (1807). Selim's efforts cost him his throne and his life, but were resolved in spectacular and bloody fashion by his successor, the dynamic Mahmud II. Most of the 135,000 Janissaries revolted against Mahmud II, and after the rebellion was suppressed, its leaders were killed, and many of its members exiled or imprisoned. The Janissary corp was effectively eliminated on 15 June 1826. Opening events in the novel take place less than one month prior (ie: May 1926). This revolt became known as the Auspicious Incident.
Synopsis: England, 1483: Unloved and publicly disgraced, an adulteress walks the streets of London to Ludgate prison. Her feet are bare; in her hands she carries a penitential candle. Her name is Jane Shore.
