Bookstore Categories

Historical Fiction

A Different Type of Soul

Ml brei a different type of soul
A Different Type of Soul
by ML Brei

Introducing young engineers, Heinrich and Dieter. It is 1981 and revolution is in the air. Engineers around the world are on the brink of ushering in a radical new era — the Age of the Computer. But first, there is top-secret work to be done. Teams of hand-selected men and women are squirreled away in dark recesses to do the work in record time. Who in Silicon Valley will win?

There are complications: a woman who misses her man, a man who is running as fast as he can, a woman hiding from her man; a man who must come out of hiding; a woman in pursuit; and a man who safeguards secrets. And watching it all? A woman in high heels who specializes in intangibles; she keeps close her notebook and pen, connecting the dots.

Available on Amazon

When the South Wind Blows: The Untold Story of the Phantom of the Carolina Coast

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By Ginny Brock
"When the South Wind Blows" is based on an old legend. It begins during the waning days of the Civil War, at the abandonment of Fort Sumter in South Carolina.
An officer in the confederate navy, Ross Stanley, has been marooned there and is trying to get home to his father's plantation on Pawley's Island and the girl he plans to marry - if she still wants him. It is a tale of adventure with his childhood friend Zack, a plantation slave and the son of the root doctor Sadie Jones who wet nursed both him and Ross when Ross's mother was unable to care for him.
The story makes a trail through the dangers of the flooded swamps, heart break, black magic, and a love so strong, it crosses dimensions.

Available at Amazon.

The Writer's Cottage

The writer's cottage
By Ginny Brock

"The Writer's Cottage" is the sequel to "When the South blows." It opens, surprisingly, and mysteriously, in 2019 in Charlotte's International Airport. A military helicopter crashes, Claire Kincaid, a young photojournalist, faces the photo op of a lifetime as she rushes to the helicopter and snaps a shot of the sole survivor, never dreaming that that one snap of her camera will change her life forever.Their eyes meet and a flash of recognition passes between them, opening into a time long ago, sending her down the dark corridors of old family scandals and reigniting a love story that spans centuries. It  travels through the mysterious history of the South Carolina coast, threatening to spill her life and her sanity into a miasma of unreality,  where nothing is as it seems. Murder, intrigue, the sadness of interracial relationships will keep you turning pages, and sharply drawn characters  will stay with you long after the last word is read.

Available at Amazon.

Sweet Tea and Vinegar Pie

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By Denise DeVries

When a retired Baltimore teacher steps off the steamboat in Virginia, she expects a short stay in Hull Crossing while she saves for the journey of her dreams. All she wants is to be left alone. Instead, Myra Jean Evans immediately becomes grist for the gossip mill led by Sarabell Simms, who has her own secrets to hide. Forced to adapt to a completely unfamiliar environment, Myra Jean must confront her own assumptions and make some changes, with repercussions on the lives of everyone around her.

Print books are available directly from the author or on Amazon.

Click here for E-book locations.
 
Prickly pear lemonade

Prickly Pear Lemonade

By Denise DeVries

Disaster threatens Myra Jean's Arizona honeymoon with Walter Cates, at the very least causing them to question some of their choices. Meanwhile, their friends back in Hull Crossing are caught in a power struggle between Sarabell Simms and her younger, meaner rival Lida Grace Loomis. Will Walter and his bride come home to big changes, or will they decide to extend their adventure?

Print books are available directly from the author or on Amazon.

Click here for E-book locations
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Garfield's Train

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By Feather Schwartz Foster

President Garfield dies in Long Branch, NJ in 1881.   Fictional characters interact with the real people.  Good for young adults as well as just plain adults.

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A Knife in the Fog

Knife in the fog cover
By Bradley Harper

Winner of Killer Nashville's 2019 Silver Falchion Award for Mystery and Edgar Finalist for Best First Novel, its audiobook won Audiofile Magazine's Earphone Award for Mystery and Suspense. Recently named as a "Recommended Read" by the Arthur Conan Doyle Estate.

This debut novel is the first in a series starring the real-life author and suffragette Margaret Harkness, continued in Queen's Gambit.

"Ardent feminism and cerebral detection face down the Ripper in the fog-shrouded streets of London: a feast for lovers of historical crime!"

--Laurie R. King, author of The Beekeeper's Apprentice and Island of the Mad

"Arthur Conan Doyle chasing after Jack the Ripper? Bradley Harper makes this irresistible pairing come alive. Ingenious in its premise and plotting, impressive in its unique forensic precision, infectious in its overflowing passion for the subject matter, A Knife in the Fog will be relished by fans of historical fiction, Sherlock Holmes, and Ripper literature. A debut novel worth falling for."

--Matthew Pearl, author of The Dante Chamber

Physician Arthur Conan Doyle takes a break from his practice to assist London police in tracking down Jack the Ripper in this debut novel and series starter. September 1888. A twenty-nine-year-old Arthur Conan Doyle practices medicine by day and writes at night. His first Sherlock Holmes story, A Study in Scarlet, although gaining critical and popular success, has only netted him twenty-five pounds. Embittered by the experience, he vows to never write another "crime story."

A messenger arrives with a mysterious summons from former Prime Minister William Gladstone, offering one month's employment to assist the Metropolitan Police as a "consultant" in their hunt for the serial killer soon to be known as Jack the Ripper. Doyle agrees on the stipulation his old professor of surgery, Professor Joseph Bell--Doyle's inspiration for Sherlock Holmes--agrees to work with him.

 The two are joined by Miss Margaret Harkness, an author residing in the East End who knows how to use a Derringer and serves as their guide and companion. Pursuing leads through the dank alleys and courtyards of Whitechapel, they come upon the body of a savagely murdered fifth victim and it soon becomes clear that the hunters have become the hunted.

 Come join the creator of Sherlock Holmes as he matches wits with the man who wields... a knife in the fog.

Available at:
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Fountain Book Store in Richmond, VA 

Queens Gambit

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By Bradley Harper

Spring, 1897. London.  
Margaret Harkness, now in her early 40s, must leave England for her health but lacks the funds. A letter arrives from her old friend Professor Bell, her old comrade in the hunt for Jack the Ripper and the real-life inspiration for Sherlock Homes. Bell invites her to join him in Germany on a mysterious mission for the German government involving the loss of state secrets to Anarchists. The resolution of this commission leads to her being stalked through the streets of London by a vengeful man armed with a powerful and nearly silent air rifle who has both Margaret and Queen Victoria in his sights. Margaret finds allies in Inspector James Ethington of Scotland Yard and his 15-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, who aspires to follow in Margaret's cross-dressing footsteps. 
The hunt is on, but who is the hunter, and who the hunted as the day approaches for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee when the aged empress will sit in her open carriage at the steps of St Paul's Cathedral? The entire British Empire holds its breath as the assassin, Margaret, and the Queen herself play for the highest of stakes with the Queen's Gambit.

Available at:
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Fountain Book Store in Richmond, VA 

Always Remembering

Kathy kasunich book
By Kathy Kasunich

Helen has only one dream in her life: to marry Mike. What happens when World War II erupts and the new lovers are forced to separate and endure a new normal of uncertainty, loneliness, heartache, and misunderstandings? How do they contend with Helen’s domineering mother who forces her to accept an engagement ring from another man and cancels wedding plans? How can they deal with meddling relatives who question Mike’s intentions? What is the antidote for all the poisons infiltrating their world? Nostalgic memories and unceasing correspondence. They must learn to adapt and remember the person who stole their heart.

From Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to the trails of the 42nd Rainbow Division battlegrounds during World War II, the pangs of separation and the destruction of war resonate deeply. In a story told through both of their perspectives, Mike, an outgoing, confident medic, and Helen, a diffident, humble grocer, take you on their journey as they navigate situations beyond their control.

A genuine, heartfelt tale based on a true romance, Always Remembering depicts the emotional effects and unseen collateral damage of war seen through the eyes of two average individuals. This Capraesque love story is both inspiring and poignant as it portrays the resilience of the human spirit and the power of sentimental memories.

Available at Amazon
and Barnes and Noble 
Jeff schnader the serpent papers

The Serpent Papers

The Serpent Papers
by Jeff Schnader


A finalist in the Blue Moon Novel Competition of 2021, The Serpent Papers is set at Columbia University during the Vietnam War era of the 1970s. The war created a generational rift between those who fought and those who protested which this novel aims to heal with rapprochement.

The story is about two friends, one who enters college and the other who volunteers to fight in Vietnam, as they confront the fear, violence and issues of conscience surrounding the war which remains the defining event of its generation.

Summary: J-Bee, son of a military officer, is raised in a violent milieu during the 1960s. After his brother is persecuted by bullies, J-Bee commits a retaliatory act of brutality which scars him.

When his best friend, Gilly, volunteers to fight in Vietnam, J-Bee—repulsed by his own violence—refuses to follow either his father or Gilly into the military. Instead, he matriculates at Columbia in 1971 in an era of counterculture in order to seek his redemption.

While there, he is introduced to the mysterious Serpent, a coffeehouse sage, and to the politically active Margo who schools him in anti-war politics and the virtues of peace. Although he feels loyalty to his friend fighting overseas, he increasingly sympathizes with Margo’s rationale against the war. Torn between supporting the war or protesting against it, J-Bee’s paradoxical feelings are ignited when Gilly, on furlough from Vietnam, visits him at Columbia.

With ratcheting tensions and bullhorns leading students in protest, pro-war and anti-war factions collide in campus riots, and J-Bee makes the choice that defines his life.

Please see reviews on Amazon and on the author’s website.

Available at: 

Gold and Steel

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By Robert Webb

 
An embattled noble in feudal Japan hires a team of ninja to take his daughter to a place where she will be safe from his enemies.  They are pursued relentlessly by samurai in the service of a rival lord.

Available at:  https://studiobrainstorm.net/shop
Contact Robert:  brainstorm721@gmail.com