Archives de catégorie : Fiction

THE QUANTUM CURATORS SERIES d’Eva St. John

Anyone can track down a priceless artefact that’s been lost for hundreds of years. Finding one that’s been hidden on a parallel Earth… now that’s a neat trick! Indiana Jones meets the Men in Black and all hell breaks out.

THE QUANTUM CURATORS SERIES
by Eva St. John
Self-published, 2020 – 2023
(via the Zeno Agency)

Embark on an exhilarating journey with the best-selling Quantum Curators Series by Eva St. John. Experience the thrill of interdimensional treasure hunts in five riveting novels, with protagonists Neith Salah and Julius Strathclyde. From unearthing the enigmatic ‘Fabergé Egg’ to decoding cosmic conundrums, every tale is a unique blend of high-stakes adventure and compelling science fiction. But as they step between two Earths, they must also outwit the rogue curators from within, intent on seizing these treasures for dark purposes. The Quantum Curators series is a potent mix of action, intrigue, and quantum mysteries that’s sure to captivate sci-fi enthusiasts.

Book 1: THE QUANTUM CURATORS AND THE FABERGÉ EGG (May 2020)

When Neith Salah – a quantum curator charged with traveling to our parallel Earth to rescue precious artefacts – is ordered to save a priceless Fabergé Egg, she figures it’s just another job. The only problem: she’s not sure what the egg looks like. Or where it is. Or when it is.

Enter Julius Strathclyde, a mild-mannered Cambridge professor whose closest brush with death-defying treasure hunts is finding lost coins down the back of the sofa. Not the usual “save the world” type, but when Julius’ best friend is murdered while searching for the egg, Neith realizes that this mild-mannered professor is the only person who can help her solve the riddles that will lead her to the egg.

She just has to keep him alive long enough to do it.

He’s got the fountain pens. She’s got the guns. They’ll just have to hope that’s enough to keep them ahead of the Russian Mafia, unknown assassins, and perhaps even other quantum curators who want the egg for their own dark purposes… and may not be picky about who they have to kill to get it.

Number one bestselling author Eva St. John invites you to join Neith and Julius on a fast-paced adventure that will take you from Russia and Poland to London and Cambridge, from our world to theirs, and beyond. If you love adventure, humour, and puzzles – with just a pinch of time-traveling thrills mixed in for luck – you’ll love The Quantum Curators and the Fabergé Egg.

Eva St. John was born in Norwich before being whisked away to Ireland and then back to the UK. After realizing that a degree might actually require some form of employment, she jumped into the work of a librarian and fell in love with books. A joy that had begun with her mother’s travelling library. From Wales, Eva moved to Cornwall and opened a bookshop. Always chasing the books, she eventually decided to start writing them. She also writes romance under another name.

IT’S HARD TO BE AN ANIMAL de Robert Isaacs

A hilarious and clever upmarket love story and cozy mystery with a strong thread of magical realism, for readers of Carl Hiaasen’s Squeeze Me looking for a bit more tenderness, or of Shelby Van Pelt’s Remarkably Bright Creatures.

IT’S HARD TO BE AN ANIMAL
by Robert Isaacs
Grand Central, summer 2026
(via Frances Goldin Literary Agency)

Henry Parsons is walking through Central Park on a date with Molly Bent, the quirky, sweet, and endlessly interesting woman that his colleague set him up with. After a long spell of loneliness, he is feeling hopeful for the first time in years when a sweet little warbler tells him to f*** off.

A gentle soul already troubled by the rancor and insensitivity of humans in the city, Henry tries to brush it off as a hallucination. But suddenly he can hear the voices everywhere: dogs mocking their owners, sparrows fat-shaming each other, snakes pontificating about misogyny and gender politics, police horses profiling attendees of a street fair: the man who never speaks up for himself is suddenly surrounded by animals who do.

It’s all fun and games until he overhears three rats discussing a corpse in the New York subway. Unsure what to do, he lets it slip to Molly. She’s keen to investigate, and Henry is desperate for another date. Together they descend into an abandoned tunnel under the West Fourth Street station where they find a body… and the murderers find them.

For the first time in Henry’s careful life there’s no way to duck confrontation: he’s being hunted, and must find the courage to face the Scottish gangsters stalking him across the city. Of course, that same assertiveness might transform his chances with Molly too. Inspiration arrives, unexpectedly, from his roommate’s pair of feuding beta fish on an enemies-to-lovers arc, and the neighbor’s yapping Pomeranian whose wisdom changes Henry forever.

Robert Isaacs’ writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, Salon.com, Hindsight and The First Line.  He earned his MFA in Creative Writing at Columbia University with a dual thesis in fiction and nonfiction. In his checkered past he’s also worked as a musician (Grammy nominated singer, conducted at Carnegie Hall, Royal Albert Hall, etc.) and street-performer (juggling, unicycling, plate-spinning, and so on.).  

THE WHARTON PLOT de Mariah Fredericks

Mariah Fredericks’ mesmerizing novel follows renowned novelist Edith Wharton in the twilight years of the Gilded Age in New York as she tracks a killer.

THE WHARTON PLOT
by Mariah Fredericks
Minotaur Books, January 2024
(via Levine Greenberg Rostan)

New York City, 1911. Edith Wharton, almost equally famed for her novels and her sharp tongue, is bone-tired of Manhattan. Finding herself at a crossroads with both her marriage and her writing, she makes the decision to leave America, her publisher, and her loveless marriage.

And then, dashing novelist David Graham Phillips―a writer with often notorious ideas about society and women’s place in it―is shot to death outside the Princeton Club. Edith herself met the man only once, when the two formed a mutual distaste over tea in the Palm Court of the Belmont hotel. When Phillips is killed, Edith’s life takes another turn. His sister is convinced Graham was killed by someone determined to stop the publication of his next book, which promised to uncover secrets that powerful people would rather stayed hidden. Though unconvinced, Edith is curious. What kind of book could push someone to kill?

Inspired by a true story, THE WHARTON PLOT follows Edith Wharton through the fading years of the Gilded Age in a city she once loved so well, telling a taut tale of fame, love, and murder, as she becomes obsessed with solving a crime.

“Superb . . . Thanks to a literary plot laced with arch wit and precise put-downs, appearances by Wharton’s famous friends (including Henry James and the Vanderbilts), and an eclectic assortment of the upper crust in the waning days of a varnished era, Fredericks hits this one out of the park.”―Library Journal (Starred Review)

“THE WHARTON PLOT a vivid, fascinating, entertaining mystery. Readers looking for a bit of history with their suspense will be gripped.”―Publishers Weekly

« Fredericks’ elegantly written narrative gives a lively look at an author way ahead of her time. »―Kirkus Reviews

« Written with grace and wit, THE WHARTON PLOT is a pleasure to read. »―Wall Street Journal

« Based on the real murder of Phillips, Fredericks’ latest will especially appeal to bibliophiles, who will enjoy reading tidbits about the real-life authors who appear. »―Booklist

Mariah Fredericks was born, raised, and still lives in New York City. She graduated from Vassar College with a degree in history. She is the author of the Jane Prescott mystery series, which has twice been nominated for the Mary Higgins Clark Award, as well as several YA novels.

THE OTHER SIDE OF NOW de Paige Harbison

For fans of Rebecca Serle and Taylor Jenkins Reid, this is a hilarious and heartfelt novel about past dreams, “what-ifs,” and how loves and lives are never truly lost.

THE OTHER SIDE OF NOW
by Paige Harbison
St. Martin’s Press, June 2025

Lana Lord has everything she ever wanted: a leading role on a hit TV show, a gorgeous house in L.A., and a relationship with Hollywood’s latest heartthrob. But not everything is as it seems: her perfect relationship is maybe (definitely) a PR stunt, and underneath the layers of makeup and hairspray, her happiness is as fake as her stage name—her real name is Meg Bryan, but obviously she couldn’t use that in auditions. Following a breakdown at her thirtieth birthday party, she books an impromptu trip where she knows the grass is greener: Ireland. Specifically, the quaint little village where she and her best friend Aimee always dreamt of moving—a dream that fell apart when an accident claimed Aimee’s life a decade ago.

When Meg arrives, the cozy Irish cottage she Airbnb’d couldn’t be more perfect if she decorated it herself. And the people in town are so nice, treating her not as a stranger, but a friend. Except for the (extremely handsome) bartender giving her the cold shoulder. Meg writes it all off as déjà vu until she looks in the mirror. Her hair is no longer bleached within an inch of its life, her skin has a few natural fine lines, and her nose looks like… well, her old nose. Her real nose.

As Meg scrambles to figure out whether she’s dreaming or losing it completely, her phone reveals hundreds of pictures of her life in this little town: with an adorable dog she doesn’t know; with the bartender who might be her (ex?) boyfriend; and at a retail job unrelated to acting. Piecing together this life that is clearly hers but completely unfamiliar, Meg’s best guess is that she somehow made a quantum slide into an alternate version of her life. But the most shocking realization of all? In this life, her best friend Aimee is alive, well, and living nearby…but wants nothing to do with Meg.

Despite her bewilderment, Meg is clear-eyed about one thing: this is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to reconnect with her friend and repair what she broke, and she finagles an opportunity to act in the play Aimee is writing and directing. The script has uncanny parallels to the life they shared as pure-hearted theater kids with big dreams. As the project unfolds, Meg realizes that events as she remembers them may not be the only truth, and that an impossible choice looms before her.

With a great commercial hook, themes of friendship, grief, and deciding what you really want out of life, THE OTHER SIDE OF NOW will have a wide appeal.

Paige Harbison is the author of three YA novels, the first of which was published in 2011 when she was just nineteen years old. More recently, she’s worked on several celebrity projects as ghostwriter. THE OTHER SIDE OF NOW is her adult debut. A woman of many talents, she’s also a beautiful artist (check out the pet portraits on her website) and has a very funny, clever social media presence (a few of her TikToks have gone viral). She lives in L.A. with her boyfriend and their dog Tarot.

ALL THE SINNERS BLEED de S.A. Cosby remporte le Grand prix des lectrices de Elle 2024

 

S.A. Cosby a remporté hier soir le Grand prix des lectrices de Elle dans la catégorie policier pour ALL THE SINNERS BLEED, paru chez Sonatine en janvier 2024 sous le titre LE SANG DES INNOCENTS (traduction de Pierre Szczeciner).

Le Grand prix des lectrices de Elle a été créé en 1970 par Hélène Lazareff en opposition aux jurys littéraires traditionnellement composés de professionnels (écrivains, journalistes ou éditeurs). En effet, les vainqueurs du prix Elle sont désignés par un jury de lectrices amateurs indépendantes. La création des catégories « Prix Elle du meilleur roman » et « Prix Elle du meilleur document » remonte à 1977, et fut étendue au meilleur roman policier à partir de 2002. Chaque année, 120 lectrices sont sélectionnées parmi les candidates ayant présenté leurs lectures et une chronique de livre. Elles sont organisées autour de 8 jury tournants mensuels de quinze lectrices et seront chargées de lire l´ensemble de la sélection faite par le magazine Elle qui exclut d´office les titres déjà reconnus par les grands prix littéraires. En 2024, 56 livres étaient sélectionnés toutes catégories confondues.

 

(Source : Babelio)