Winter's Season ~ Partners in Crime Tours Cover Reveal & Giveaway!

~ COVER REVEAL! ~

WINTER'S SEASON

by R.J. Koreto

Genre: Historical Mystery
Published by: Histria Books
Planned Publication Date: January 20, 2026
Number of Pages: 300

In 1817 London, before the police, there was Captain Winter.

London, 1817. A city teeming with life, yet lacking a professional police force. When a wealthy young woman is brutally murdered in an alley frequented by prostitutes, a shadowy government bureau in Whitehall dispatches its "special emissary"―Captain Winter. A veteran of the Napoleonic Wars and a gentleman forged by chance and conflict, Winter is uniquely equipped to navigate the treacherous currents of London society, from aristocratic drawing rooms to the city's grimmest taverns.

Without an army of officers or the aid of forensic science, Winter must rely on his wits and a network of unconventional allies. His childhood friend, a nobleman, opens doors in high society, while a wise Jewish physician uncovers secrets the dead cannot hide.

But Winter's most intriguing, and potentially dangerous, asset is Barbara Lightwood. Shrewd, beautiful, and operating as a discreet intermediary among the elite, Barbara shares a past with Winter from the war years. Their rekindled affair is fraught with wariness; she offers intimate information crucial to his investigation, but guards her own secrets fiercely. Like Winter, she is both cunning and capable of danger.

From grand houses to dimly lit streets, death stalks Captain Winter. He must tread carefully to unmask a killer, navigate a web of secrets and lies, and perhaps, in the process, save his own soul.

PRE-ORDER NOW!

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | BookShop.org | Goodreads

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: R.J. Koreto is the author of the Historic Home Mysteries series, set in modern New York City; the Lady Frances Ffolkes Mysteries series, set in Edwardian England; and the Alice Roosevelt Mysteries series, set in turn-of-the-century New York. His short stories have been published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine and Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, as well as various anthologies.

Most recently, he is the author of forthcoming Winter's Season, which takes place on the dark streets and glittering ballrooms of Regency-era London.

In his day job, he works as a business and financial journalist. Over the years, he’s been a magazine writer and editor, website manager, PR consultant, book author, and seaman in the U.S. Merchant Marine. Like his heroine, Lady Frances Ffolkes, he’s a graduate of Vassar College.

He and his wife have two grown daughters, and divide their time between Paris and Martha’s Vineyard. 

Catch up with RJ Koreto:

www.RJKoreto.com  Amazon Author Profile  Goodreads

BookBub  Instagram - @rjkoreto  Threads - @rjkoreto  Facebook - @rjkoreto

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Visit the other great hosts on this tour for book reviews, interviews, guest posts, and opportunities to WIN in the giveaway! Click here to view the Tour Schedule.

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GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY!

ONE WINNER

will receive a $20 Amazon gift card!

(US only; ends noon, EST, 7/14/2025)

This is a giveaway hosted by Partners in Crime Tours for R.J. Koreto. See the widget for entry terms and conditions. Void where prohibited.

WINTER’S SEASON by R.J. Koreto (Gift Card)

Can't see the giveaway? Click Here!

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Dead of Night ~ ~ Audio Book Blog Tour, Review, & Giveaway!

DEAD OF NIGHT

BY WILLIAM TODD

Narrator: Ben Werling

Length: 4 hours

Publisher: William Todd

Released: May 18, 2018

Sub-Genre: Horror

Dead of Night is a compilation of turn-of-the-century-era horror stories with a Victorian flair and traditional horror story plots with unexpected endings. If you like ghosts and ghouls and demons and werewolves, these stories are for you.

HALL WAYS REVIEW: 4.5 STARS. Audio Book Review. It’s always difficult to review a book of short stories, but for Dead of Night, I can categorically say that it was good spooky fun. Of course, I have my favorite of the six stories (which was titled “Jack.” Oooooh, that TWIST!), but every story was thought provoking and creepy in its own disturbing way. DELICIOUS.  I like the Victorian vibe to them all that allowed for significant chills without making me too uncomfortable in the safety of modern times. (I know, what safety? Don’t burst my bubble). Readers will enjoy stories that include a variety of narrators, subtle little hints of things to come, and interesting and unique premises that enrich the stories and set them apart from standard horror.

"I must confess that for someone who is about to die,

writing in my diary is a most odd notion."

From one of the earliest lines in the first story, “Whittaker House,” the reader is drawn in with the dread, doom, and heaviness surrounding the story. Author William Todd masterfully works his words so that the reader is right there with the characters, a fly on the wall that can see something terrible is coming but can’t do a thing about it. The pictures he paints are vivid and range from the most picturesque to the most macabre. Todd’s use of figurative language and non-standard words adds extra impact and raises the writing a literary notch.

"The sky was bathed in blue -- a sea in the heavens that matched any on earth…The serried tops of beech, oak, and elm trees swooned like sozzled sentries between all the properties.

Since I read Dead of Night with my ears, I cannot speak to the quality of the editing, but the sentences flow from narrator Ben Werling’s mouth, and the writing is top-notch. I cannot imagine that someone who writes like William Todd doesn’t take care to make his sentences clean in print. I am likely to buy this book so that I can re-read the stories, so we will see if I’m mistaken.

Speaking of the audio book, I listened at regular speed for a bit, which is best to feel the real gloom of the stories. However, as usual, I am too impatient, so I sped it up to 1.25x, which still worked very well and added anxiety to the mix of feelings listeners experience. There are some sound effects added in, and they were fun but somewhat random. I’m not sure if they added anything, but they didn’t really detract or distract. There is some background noise, a clicking/crackling that starts about seven minutes in and then can be heard sporadically for the rest of the book, but that is really the only technical issue with the audio.

Narrator Ben Werling does a great job in matching the moods of each story and voicing the wide variety of characters and accents. There aren’t many female characters, but those few are important, and Werling (thankfully) doesn’t make much effort to distinguish between the voices of males and females. The result is just right and is never confusing or cringe-worthy (there is nothing worse than all the women sounding Monty-Pythonesque). Werling’s delivery was mostly even, though there are times when the volume of his voice isn’t consistent. His emotion and expressiveness were excellent, and his pacing perfect.  My only complaint were the numerous mispronounced words (particularly in “I’m Still Alive”); those were distracting to me and took me out of the story a time or two.

My nitpicking aside, I highly recommend the audio book of Dead of Night for fans of classic scary stories in the style of Edgar Allen Poe. At just four hours in length, it’s perfect for a short little road trip or to listen during the daily commute. And as I said, I plan on buying it in print so I can get a quick hit of horror any time. Thank you to Audiobookworm Productions and the author for the free audio download in exchange for my honest opinion – the only kind I give.  

I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by William Todd. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.

I have been writing online since the early 2000’s, primarily writing horror stories in the style of Poe and Lovecraft. I was the 2nd most popular author on the website storiesbyemail.com for two years before moving on. I had my first book, a Victorian era horror compilation called Bumps in the Night, published by Mystic Moon Press just a week before they closed their website and never saw my hard work pay off. Afterwards I took publishing into my own hands, became an Indie author and haven’t looked back. My first self-published book was Dead of Night, another compilation of Victorian horror stories, published September 2016 by Createspace and on Kindle by KDP. After its publication I left my comfort zone for mystery and wrote a short story about Sherlock Holmes in the Conan Doyle style. I loved it so much I then did a longer story A Reflection of Evil, both published in 2017 through Createspace and KDP. I have just release Beyond the Gossamer Veil, another compilation of both Victorian and modern supernatural/horror stories and am in the beginning stages of my third Sherlock Holmes installment.  CONNECT WITH THE AUTHOR ON Goodreads.

Ben is an award winning actor and voice over professional, who has performed all across the United States. From Shakespeare to Neil Simon, he has displayed a versatility and diversity in the characters and dialects he has portrayed. Ben received the Joseph Jefferson Award for Leading Actor as abusive talk show host Barry Champlain in Eric Bogosian's TALK RADIO, and was nominated for Best Supporting Actor as Prosecutor Villeforte in Alexander Dumas' THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO, also in Chicago. He has worked with an extensive list of theaters in Chicago over the last three decades: Steppenwolf, Bailiwick, Famous Door, Next, A Red Orchid, Raven Theater, First Folio, Writer's Theater, Buffalo Theater Ensemble, as well as Utah Shakespeare Festival, Illinois Shakespeare Festival, Indiana Repertory, Madison Repertory, and Allenberry Playhouse in Boiling Springs, Pennsylvania. He is an Ensemble member of Shattered Globe Theater in Chicago. For almost a decade he was the voice of the Adler Planetarium, hosting live shows and pointing out the stars, planets and constellations on the big dome. Ben has an eponymous weekly vlog on YouTube, that he films, produces, edits and narrates. He lives in Chicago with his wife Amy, two dogs and three cats.

Dead of Night Giveaway: $25 PayPal Cash

Also available from William Todd

A Reflection of Evil: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery is available for adoption on the Adopt-An-Audiobook page!




Jul. 5th:
Dab of Darkness Audiobook Reviews
Carolyn M. Walker, Author of Thrilling Fiction

Jul. 6th:
T's Stuff
Hall Ways Blog

Jul. 7th:
Book Addict

Jul. 8th:
Notes from 'Round the Bend

Jul. 9th:
Jazzy Book Reviews
What Is That Book About

Jul. 10th:
The Reading Bud
TheHufflepuffNerdette

Jul. 11th:
The Voluptuous Book Diva
The Book Addict's Reviews

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The Captive Boy ~ ~ Lone Star Book Blog Tours Promo & Giveaway!

THE CAPTIVE BOY

by

JULIA ROBB

Genre:  Historical Fiction
Date of Publication: December 20, 2015

Number of Pages: 170

Scroll down for the giveaway!

Colonel Mac McKenna's Fourth Cavalry recaptures white captive August Shiltz from the Comanche, only to find August is determined to return to the Indians. McKenna attempts to civilize August to nineteenth century American standards and becomes the boy's foster father. But when August kills another boy in a fight, McKenna rejects him, and August escapes from Fort Richards (Texas). When war with the Comanche breaks out, McKenna discovers August is a war leader – and his greatest enemy.

PRAISE FOR THE CAPTIVE BOY:

"THE CAPTIVE BOY by Julia Robb is a story told in a unique way – through journal entries by several different characters, and a novel within the novel. Robb is masterful in her depiction of each character, bringing to life an intriguing tale of the Old West."

-- Writer's Digest competition judge

"It will capture you and keep you engaged from the beginning all the way through the end and also give you insights into the difficulties faced by those who fought on both sides of the Indian Wars in Texas after the Civil War. Buy this book. You will not be disappointed​."

-- Steve Mathisen

"Ms. Robb's research is evident on every page. Without becoming bogged down in detail, she employs just enough of it to paint an accurate picture of a dangerous and unforgiving time."

-- Samuel L. Robinson

CLICK TO PURCHASE

CHECK OUT THE TRAILER!

Julia grew up on the lower Great Plains of Texas, eventually became a reporter, and lived in every corner of the Lone Star State, from the Rio Grande to the East Texas swamps. She couldn’t shake images and experiences and began writing them down.

A priest once disappeared on the Mexican border and that inspired parts of Saint of the Burning Heart. She discovered a hypnotic seducer, who she turned into Ray Cortez, the bad guy in Del Norte. Reading about child Comanche captives and their fates made her want to write about a cavalry colonel who attempts to heal a rescued boy, and that turned into The Captive Boy. Finally, what happens to a man who is in love with another man, in a time and place where the only answer is death? That became Scalp Mountain.

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Website ║ Goodreads

║ Amazon Author Page ║

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Two Readers Each Win a Signed Copy

JUNE 19-28, 2018

(U.S. Only) 

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VISIT THE OTHER GREAT BLOGS ON THE TOUR:

6/19/18 Book Trailer The Clueless Gent 6/19/18 BONUS POST Hall Ways Blog 6/20/18 Review Reading by Moonlight 6/21/18 Author Interview Syd Savvy 6/22/18 Guest Post StoreyBook Reviews 6/23/18 Review Max Knight 6/24/18 Excerpt 1 Kelly Well Read 6/25/18 Excerpt 2 Books and Broomsticks 6/26/18 Review That's What She's Reading 6/27/18 Top 8 List The Love of a Bibliophile 6/28/18 Review Forgotten Winds

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