Bookshelf, Fall 2026

cplesley

6 days ago

3 min read

Now that summer has edged its way into fall, it’s time to take a new look at the many books on my virtual bookshelf. Some I’ve finished, some I’ve yet to start, and although most are fiction, at least one representative of the many nonfiction historical works on my Kindle made it on to this quarter’s list. Read on to find out more.

Drawing of a woman in bright blue Edwardian dress, seen from behind, looking at a suspension bridge, with buildings on both sides and a pattern including wine bottles, magnifying glasses, and a safe against a red backdrop; cover of Jack Anderson's The Mark of Moriarty

Jack Anderson, The Mark of Moriarty

(Crooked Lane Books, November 2026)

If there’s one detective novelist whose dominant creation has received more spinoffs than any other, that person must be Arthur Conan Doyle. Sherlock Holmes has changed genders, married, had children (mostly daughters, it seems), and investigated numerous additional cases at various times of his life. Even his (fictional) cat has an entire series of adventures with the Great Detective.

Jack Anderson, to his credit, has found a different approach to the Holmes multiverse. In his Moriarty Mysteries, of which this is book 2, Professor Moriarty survives the famous confrontation at Reichenbach Falls, but Sherlock Holmes does not. Moriarty connects with a young medical student, Clara Mendel, and the two of them set off to solve mysteries of their own. To find out more, look for a blog Q&A here in early or mid-November.

A photograph of a carved piece of wood featuring an image of a guitar, as well as some playing cards and a design of birds and animals off to one side; cover of Christopher Page's The Guitar in Tudor England

Christopher Page, The Guitar in Tudor England: A Social and Musical History (Cambridge University Press, 2015)

Although I read a great many books pitched to me by publishers and authors, as must be obvious to anyone who reads these surveys of what’s on my bookshelf at any given time, I do also read books for pleasure and—especially at the moment, as I try to fill in the huge gaps in my knowledge of Elizabethan England—as research to fill in the historical background of and generate ideas for my novels. Look at my Amazon emails and entry pages at any given time, and you will see as many Tudor history books as you will novels of all times and places.

This study of the guitar (gittern, cittern) in the Tudor court is one such book, and I hope to read it soon. Indeed, I have to read it soon, because the hero of Catch a Falling Star has demonstrated an unexpected facility with the dombira, a Central Asian relative of the guitar, which just may get him off the steppe and over to London before the heroine gives up all hope of his return.

A blue-green door with an elaborately framed keyhole, through which can be seen shelves of books; cover of Katherine Reay's The Undercover Bookshop

Katherine Reay, The Undercover Bookshop

(Harper Muse, October 2026)

This delicious spy-chasing novel, based on a true story and set in rural England in the years right after World War II, features a young woman who loves mysteries and her “mentor,” whom the heroine comes to suspect may not be quite as dedicated a wife and mother as she wants people to believe. I hope to conduct a New Books Network interview with the author in November 2026.

A drawing of the Topkapi Palace, scarlet against a black and white background with black birds flying over shapes that resemble water and shores; cover of Christina Stahle's Before He Was Red

Christina Ståhle, Before He Was Red

(Pebble Press, 2025)

A dive into the late nineteenth-century Ottoman Empire through the perspectives of one potential heir to the throne, here known mostly as Hamid or Prince Hamid, and a young Belgian woman, Flora Cordier, who makes gloves and sells them in a shop near the marketplace in Istanbul.

Based on a true story, the novel delves into issues ranging from harem politics and international tensions to Turkish/Armenian hostilities and shady characters—many historical but some fictional—giving a richly complex depiction of this little-known (at least in the United States) place and time. I’ll be discussing the many complexities of the story on the New Books Network in October.

A woman in a brimmed hat and long coat is picture against a background of damaged buildings while planes and spotlights fly across a dark-blue sky; cover of Nicola Upson's The Voices of the Dead

Nicola Upson, Voices of the Dead

(Crooked Lane Books, 2026)

In addition to Sherlock Holmes, the modern publishing world loves mystery novels featuring Agatha Christie, the Dorothy Sayers characters Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane, and of course both Jane Austen and her fictional creations, all in the role of detectives. The novelist Josephine Tey also has her fans in the role, and Nicola Upson has now produced twelve novels featuring Tey, with this one as the most recent. So far, I’ve read only the first book in the series, An Expert in Murder, which I enjoyed very much. I’m looking forward to reading this one in preparation for a Q&A here on the blog in early or mid-November.

C. P. Lesley, Novelist

Bookshelf, Fall 2026

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