Summer is a great time to discover new authors. Here are some of the titles by debut authors that hit the shelves in June. For more, please visit our catalog.
“The Optickal Illusion” by Rachel Halliburton
Based on a true story of scandal and betrayal in the art world of 1797s London.
Ann Jemima Provis and her father offer American artist Benjamin West a long coveted secret—the formula for master painter Titian’s famous coloring—which they claim to have uncovered in an ancient manuscript. A beautiful young woman and herself a talented painter, Ann demonstrates the technique for Benjamin, drawing him and the Royal Academy of Arts, of which he is president, deep into scandal and fraud.
“A People’s History of the Vampire Uprising” by Raymond A. Villareal
A disease that solidifies the blood has sparked an epidemic of vampirism that begins in the United States and then sweeps across the world. Those who survive the virus are left with an increased lifespan in exchange for a diet of fresh blood. They are called “Gloamings,” and soon people begin to clamor for rebirth as one of the elite, despite the risk of death if their bodies can’t handle the disease.
What follows is a drastic shift in society and the emergence of a Gloaming Crimes Unit, an anti-Gloaming sect, and the first Gloaming candidate for senator all of which are building up to a bloody vampire revolt.
“A Lady’s Guide to Etiquette and Murder” by Dianne Freeman
At a house party one year ago Frances Wynn, Countess of Harleigh, was told her husband Reggie had died in his mistress’s bed. Hoping to avoid scandal, Frances prevailed upon her best friend’s brother George Hazelton to help her move the body.
Now her period of mourning is ending and Frances is ready to escape from her late husband’s crumbing ancestral home and his family’s continuous demands on her money. She buys a house and moves to London, where she plans to enjoy her newfound independence. But then the police receive an anonymous note accusing Frances of murdering her husband. Wondering if Reggie was truly murdered and if so by whom, Frances is soon swept up into another mystery as she begins investigating a series of society thefts.
“Witchmark” by C. L. Polk
To escape his magical family and their expectations Miles Singer runs away to war in an alternate world that resembles England on the cusp of World War I. When he returns home he reinvents himself as a doctor in a veterans’ hospital where he can hide his magical healing abilities
But when the handsome Tristan Hunter brings a dying man to Miles, they must work together to find the cause of the mysterious death. As the romance between them builds, Miles finds himself pulled back into the dark world of his family and their plans for his magical enslavement.
