Kirkus Gives WHEN GODS DIE a Starred Review

This week Kirkus reviewed my new book—When Gods Die—which is due to be released November 7. Kirkus is known for being snarky and tough, so even a ho-hum review is enough to make authors sigh with relief. I made up my mind a long time ago not to pay attention to good reviews, because if I believe the good ones, that means I have to believe the bad ones, which I don’t want to do. Still, good reviews are nice because they make publishers happy, and my publisher is very happy this week because Kirkus gave my new book a STARRED review (a star, as they say, is “assigned to books of unusual merit”).

Here’s an abridged version of the review:

“It’s a bad day for royalty when the Prince Regent is found in the Royal Pavilion clutching the dead body of the Marchioness of Anglessey.

“Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, is willing to investigate only when Lord Jarvis, the power behind the throne, shows him an unusual necklace found around Guinevere Anglessey’s neck. Sebastian’s mother was wearing the necklace when she was lost in a boating accident years earlier.…With the help of his lover, an Irish actress and French spy who refuses to marry him; his young horse handler, a former thief; and his own contacts, Sebastian … realizes he has stumbled on a Stuart plot to overthrow the profligate, unpopular Regent. After several dangerous adventures, he solves the crime, thwarts the plot and discovers the truth about his mother’s disappearance.

“Like Georgette Heyer, Harris delves deep into the mores of Regency England, but hers is a darker, more dangerous place. St. Cyr is a charismatic hero whose future exploits are eagerly awaited.”

Pretty neat, huh?

What I’m listening to… FREAKONOMICS: A ROGUE ECONOMIST EXPLORES THE HIDDEN SIDE OF EVERYTHING, by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner. It’s a kick to listen to, full of all kinds of interesting little kernels of information. I’ve decided I prefer listening to nonfiction. When I listen to fiction, the pace is too slow and my mind has time to start analyzing—never a good thing when it comes to fiction. Instead of being swept up in the story, I find myself poking holes in the plot, analyzing the characters, and getting annoyed by clichés and redundancies. I’ve enjoyed every nonfiction book I listened to and hated every novel (with the exception of one, which was abridged). Which is too bad, because it would be a good way to catch up on my “reading.”