Tour Stop & Interview: Rhys Bowen & Tasha Alexander

Please welcome Rhys Bowen and Tasha Alexander to Book Reviews & More by Kathy.  For today’s stop on their Mystery Blog Tour, they both answered a few “get to know you” questions for us.

Kathy: Do you have a favorite book or author you like to recommend? Do you have a comfort read?

RHYS: Apart from Tasha my favorites are Deborah Crombie, Louise Penny, Jacqueline Winspear. But my comfort read is definitely Agatha Christie. I own them all and grab one from the shelf in times of stress.

TASHA: I have been a huge fan of Rhys from the beginning, and also adore Lauren Willig, Anne Perry, C.W. Gortner, David Mitchell, and Arthur Phillips. For comfort, I turn to two things: Elizabeth Peters’ wonderful Amelia Peabody series and Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House books. Yes, I am oddly eclectic.

Kathy: What is your guilty pleasure?

RHYS: Climbing over the play structures at the park with my grandkids.

TASHA: At the moment, binge-watching Grey’s Anatomy with my husband, whom I have decided to start calling McDreamier.

Kathy: Favorite meal?

RHYS: Any meal with my family. But I love seafood: oysters, lobster, smoked salmon.

TASHA: I don’t know that I could ever choose one, so I will go with what I had last night at one of my favorite restaurants, Riccardo Trattoria in Chicago: Fried Zucchini Blossoms stuffed with mozzarella and smoked speck followed by Bucatini all’ Amatriciana. I would also like to share that lobster with Rhys…

Kathy: If you weren’t a writer, what would you be?

RHYS: When I was young I wanted to be an actor. Looking back I wish I had been a priest or counselor.

TASHA: I always knew I loved you, Rhys! I, too, wanted to be an actor when I was younger, but find that being a writer suits me far better. If I couldn’t be a writer, being a librarian would probably be my best option, as I would still get to be surrounded by books.

Kathy: If you could time travel, what time period would you visit?

RHYS: It would be fun to visit the people I write about, just to check that I’d got everything right. So that means early Twentieth century and also the 1930s. I’d like the Downton Abbey experience.

TASHA: I have spent most of my life feeling as if I had been born in the wrong century, but have never managed to determine what the right century would have been: I would love to visit Cleopatra’s Alexandria, Pericles’ Athens, and Jane Austen’s England to start…

Kathy: Thank you both for chatting with us today! 


edge dreamsTitle: The Edge of Dreams by Rhys Bowen
Molly Murphy Series Book 14
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Genre: Historical, Mystery
Length: 318 pages

Summary:

Molly Murphy Sullivan’s husband Daniel, a captain in the New York City police force, is stumped. He’s chasing a murderer whose victims have nothing in common—nothing except for the taunting notes that are delivered to Daniel after each murder. And when Daniel receives a note immediately after Molly and her young son Liam are in a terrible train crash, Daniel and Molly both begin to fear that maybe Molly herself was the target.

Molly’s detective instincts are humming, but finding the time to dig deeper into this case is a challenge. She’s healing from injuries sustained in the crash and also sidetracked by her friends Sid and Gus’s most recent hobby, dream analysis. And when Molly herself starts suffering from strange dreams, she wonders if they just might hold the key to solving Daniel’s murder case.

Rhys Bowen’s characteristic blend of atmospheric turn-of-the-century history, clever plotting, and sparkling characters will delight readers in The Edge of Dreams, the latest in her bestselling Molly Murphy series.

Read my review of The Edge of Dreams HERE.


Author Bio

Rhys Bowen is a mystery author and winner of both Agatha and Anthony awards for my Molly Murphy mysteries, set in 1902 New York City.

She also write the bestselling Royal Spyness series, about the British royal family in the 1930s. It’s lighter, sexier, funnier, wicked satire. It was voted by readers as best mystery series this year. She is also known for her Constable Evans books, set in North Wales, and for her award-winning short stories.

She was born and raised in England but currently divides her time between California and Arizona where she goes to escape from the harsh California winters.

Author Links: Website * Facebook * Twitter * Goodreads


counterfeit heiressTitle: The Counterfeit Heiress by Tasha Alexander
Lady Emily Mystery Book Nine
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Genre: Historical, Mystery
Length: 305 pages

Summary:

After an odd encounter at a grand masquerade ball, Lady Emily becomes embroiled in the murder investigation of one of the guests, a sometime actress trying to pass herself off as the mysterious heiress and world traveler Estella Lamar. Each small discovery, however, leads to more questions. Was the intended victim Miss Lamar or the imposter? And who would want either of them dead?

As Emily and Colin try to make sense of all this, a larger puzzle begins to emerge: No one has actually seen Estella Lamar in years, since her only contact has been through letters and the occasional blurry news photograph. Is she even alive? Emily and Colin’s investigation of this double mystery takes them from London to Paris, where, along with their friend Cécile, they must scour the darkest corners of the city in search of the truth.

Read my review of The Counterfeit Heiress HERE.


Author Bio

Tasha Alexander is the New York Times bestselling author of the Lady Emily series and the novel ELIZABETH: THE GOLDEN AGE. She attended the University of Notre Dame, where she studied English and Medieval History. Her work has been nominated for numerous awards and has been translated into more than a dozen languages. She and her husband, novelist Andrew Grant, divide their time between Chicago and the UK.

Author Links: Website * Facebook * Twitter * Goodreads

2 Comments

Filed under Blog Tour, Interview

2 Responses to Tour Stop & Interview: Rhys Bowen & Tasha Alexander

  1. Timitra

    I like the sound of these books

  2. Cindy DeGraaff

    Thanks for the blog stop and interviews.