My eighty-second podcast is up on the New Books Network website! In it I interview Scott Kaufman about his new biography of America's 38th president (which I reviewed here). Enjoy!

Take witchcraft and new age healing practices. Add some mythology. Place it in a historic Salem, Massachusetts setting. Throw in an atmospheric country estate. Write in an eclectic group of strong female characters. Stir in a mystery and a dash of a love story. Orchestrate everything through a police chief with a history and a story of his own. The end result is an entertaining tale – The Fifth Petal by Brunonia Barry.

Reviewed for LibraryThings Early Reviewers program.

"A “searing, magnificent” depiction of a gay relationship during the bloody founding of modern America, described by judges as “one of the most wonderful depictions of love in the whole of fiction”, has won the Costa book of the year award." 

A very sad day.

Rest in peace Barry. Yorkshire will miss you.

I like Emma Barry’s contemporary romances a lot–they’re smart and fun, and even though I don’t love Washington politics, they manage to engage me.