Stacking The Shelves - June 27, 2015

Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books I added to my shelves this week. They may it be physical or virtual. I include books I buy in a physical store or online, books I borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!  Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga at Tynga's Reviews.  Follow the link to see what others have on their shelves. 

Purchased:

Betting on Hope (A Four of Hearts Ranch Romance) by Debra Clopton

Mirror Image by K.G. Stutts

The Deepest Poison: A Clockwork Dagger Story by Beth Cato

Heart Fire by Robin D. Owens

A Man’s Word (The King’s Hounds) by Martin Jensen

Abracadaver by Laura Resnick

For Review:

Protecting the Colton Bride by Elle James

Ether & Elephants by Cindy Spencer Pape

Final Protocol by J.C. Daniels

Oathbreaker (Kong Knud #2 or in English King Cnut #2) by Martin Jensen – Tara Chace (Translation)

Historical Mystery

From Goodreads:

Halfdan and his master, Winston the Illuminator, are guests in a monastery when they’re awakened in the middle of the night and asked to solve a crime. A monk praying in the church has been brutally murdered, and his severed hand offers the first clue of a motive. As they investigate who could have committed such a heinous atrocity—and why—Halfdan and Winston must negotiate bitter rivalries within the monastery’s hierarchy, a sensitive class structure, and the tension between the new laws King Cnut has sworn to uphold and the codes of honor that precede them. With peace in England on shaky ground and the king’s favor of paramount importance, Halfdan and Winston follow a precarious path toward answers that no one is sure they want.

Martin Jenson has chosen a time period I knew little about as the setting for his historical mystery series.  Oathbreaker is a translation from the Danish and Jenson uses 1018, a time when the Danes ruled England, as the setting for his mystery.  I do not know much about this time so as well as being a great mystery story it is also a history lesson. 

The story is based on an actual incident Jensen found when on a research trip to England.  From there he uses several historical sites.  Once again Halfdan and Winston are on a mission for King Cnut.  He needs to know if one of his men is really loyal.  On the journey they have to solve the murder of one of the monks in the church where they are staying.  That murder leads back to a broken oath, thus the title.

Oathbreaker has some interesting new characters that add to the spice in the story.  Once again Halfdan is at the center of everything and Winston helps guide the investigation. 

I really like this series.  Tara Chance did a great job with the translation and the story moves very smoothly.  I loved how actual history and places are shown.  It gives a very real feeling to both the characters and the setting. 

Amazon Crossing published Oathbreaker by Martin Jensen in 2014.

Teaser Tuesday November 19, 2013

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:"
• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers.

My Teaser is from a book I received from Amazon Vine.  The King's Hounds by Martin Jensen is the first in a mystery series set in 1018 and deals with an era I knew little about.  Martin Jensen is a Danish novelist and this book is the first to be translated into English.

Here is my teaser:

"Where better?" Alfilda said, suddenly looking sober, as though troubled by a bad memory.  "Everyone knows Cnut hates Oxford even more than London.  London because the city opposed him.  Us because of Saint Brice's day."  page 47

Since I had never heard of Cnut I looked him up in Wikipedia and this is what I found:

Cnut the Great^[2] (Old Norse: Knútr inn ríki;^[3] c. 985 or 995 – 12 November 1035), more commonly known as Canute, was a king of Denmark, England, Norway, and parts of Sweden, together often referred to as the Anglo-Scandinavian or North Sea Empire. After the death of his heirs within a decade of his own and the Norman conquest of England in 1066, his legacy was largely lost to history. Historian Norman Cantor has made the statement that he was "the most effective king in Anglo-Saxon history", despite his not being Anglo-Saxon.