Tantalizing Tales — December 2024 — Part One

Happy December, readers! This is our only December pre-Christmas book roundup this year, so hopefully you’ll find some amazing reads in this list to gift to your nearest and dearest (which definitely includes yourself!)

First up, we have the latest book from one of my favorite lawyers turned crime writers, Marcia Clark. Her non-fiction tome Trial By Ambush is subtitled Murder, Injustice, And The Truth About The Case Of Barbara Graham.

Unwanted and neglected from birth, Barbara had to overcome the odds just to survive. Her beauty was both a blessing and a curse, offering her too many options of all the wrong kind. Her innate sensitivity left her vulnerable to the harsh realities of the street, where she was left to fend for herself before she even reached double digits. Her record of petty crimes spoke to a life that constantly teetered on the brink of disaster.

In 1953, a catastrophic twist of fate would catapult her out of obscurity and into the headlines. When a robbery spiraled out of control and escalated into a brutal murder, Barbara became the centerpiece of a media circus. Her beauty enraptured the press, who were quick to portray her as a villainous femme fatale despite abundant evidence to the contrary — a fiction that the prosecution eagerly promoted.

The frenzy of public interest and willful distortion paved a treacherous path for her. In this dramatic true account of the power of sensationalized crime, Ms Clark — who knows a thing or two about the subject — investigates the case and exposes the fallacies in the demonizing picture they painted as well as the critical evidence that was never revealed. In the process, she exposes sexism, a flagrant disregard for the truth and ultimately the dangers posed by an unbridled prosecution.

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Our next book is Helen Cooper’s My Darling Boy, about the aftermath of a fictional crime across the pond. In a close-knit English village, Chrissy and Alice were once best friends. So were their sons Leo and Robbie… until the night Leo killed Robbie with a single, devastating punch. Leo went to prison, Chrissy lost her pub, and Alice poured her anger into a twisted project: leading a village committee to take over Chrissy’s “cursed” bar.

When Leo is given early parole, the villagers are incensed and fearful about the prospect of his return. But when Chrissy arrives to collect Leo from prison, he isn’t there. The prison staff tell her he has already been released, but nobody knows where he’s gone.

As the villagers close ranks, Chrissy realizes that her former friends are suspects in her son’s disappearance, not least the still-bitter Alice. Is this about Leo and what happened that terrible night? Or does it go further back, into a dark past that none of them wants to revisit?

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For an even darker mystery, check out Christa Carmen’s chilling Gothic thriller, Beneath The Poet’s House. Based in part on the real-life romance between Sarah Helen Whitman and Edgar Allan Poe — and set in the actual house at which Poe first spotted Whitman tending her rose garden under a midnight moon in 1845 — this compelling novel of suspense sees its protagonist navigate both a personal haunting and the lingering ghosts of much-revered public figures, as well as the ramifications of men who treat women as stepping-stones on their way to artistic greatness.

Unmoored by her husband’s death and suffering from writer’s block, novelist Saoirse White moves to Providence and into the historic home of Sarah Helen Whitman, the nineteenth-century poet and spiritualist once courted by Edgar Allan Poe. Saoirse’s certain she’ll find inspiration in the quiet rooms, as well as in the tucked-away rose garden and forgotten cemetery at the back of the property.

Saoirse is immediately welcomed by an effusive trio of transcendentalists obsessed with Whitman, the house and Whitman’s mystic beliefs. Saoirse, emerging from grief and loneliness, welcomes the idea of new friends taking her mind off the past ― even as they hope to summon it. When she meets Emmit Powell, a charismatic and charming prize-winning author, Saoirse thinks she’s finally turned a corner.

Emboldened by new romance, Saoirse begins to write again and, through her writing, rediscover herself. But as old fears return, she finds that nothing about her new life is what it seems ― and a secret she’s tried so hard to bury may not be the only thing that’s coming back to haunt her.

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If your taste lies more in the fanciful, may I suggest the first two books of the Kindred’s Curse series? The projected four-book romantasy series began last year with Spark Of The Everflame, and continues now with Penn Cole’s Glow Of The Everflame. I was actually sold on this series when I was told that this is what I should read if I’m looking to escape into a world where the fight against oppression is still very much alive, and I totally can’t wait to dive in!

The threat of war has arrived at Diem Bellator’s doorstep, along with a new discovery that could save her people. To use it, she must survive the next thirty days by bargaining with the people she hates the most: the royal family of House Corbois.

But as she dives into the world of the Descended elite, Diem quickly realizes that good and evil aren’t as black and white as they seem. Old prejudices are challenged, and new loyalties blur the line between friend and foe.

With her mother still missing, the secrets she left behind can no longer be ignored — and neither can the Guardians and their demands. Caught between an old flame and a sizzling new spark, Diem must confront the truth about who she is and what she wants before time runs out.

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Finally, we have a seasonally-appropriate title that draws from actual history to explore the truth behind one of the most recognizable figures of Christmas. Rev. Phillip K., a minister, writer and podcaster, invites readers into the world of Nicholas Of Myra, a powerful historical fiction novel about the man who would become known as Santa Claus.

Inspired by the ancient Christian legend of St. Nicholas, this novel follows young Nicholas from the loss of his parents to his rise as Bishop of Myra, enduring intense persecution under Roman rule. Facing imprisonment, torture, and the crucifixion of his first wife, Nicholas’s faith never wavers. He continues to embody and spread the values of love, compassion, and generosity, even in the darkest of times.

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Let me know if you’re able to get to any of these books before I do, dear readers! I’d love to hear your opinions, and see if that will help spur me to push any of them higher up the mountain range that is my To Be Read pile.

And, as always, you can check out the list of my favorite books this year so far in my Bookshop storefront linked below!