This week, Susie Black’s Saturday Author Spotlight shines on prolific historical fiction author Diane Scott Lewis.
About the Author: Diane Parkinson (who writes as Diane Scott Lewis) grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, joined the Navy at nineteen, and has written and edited freelance since high school. She married in Greece and raised two sons in Puerto Rico, California, Guam, and Virginia. She wrote book reviews for the Historical Novels Review and has worked as an online book editor. Diane served as president of the Riverside Writers in 2007-2008. She has over twelve published novels. One is part of the Canadian Historical Brides series, set in 18th-century New Brunswick. She has a novel set during the American Revolution and the Potomac Oyster Wars. Her most recent is a WWII romantic suspense, and a young adult novel written with her granddaughter.
History hound Susie has had the pleasure of reading several of Diane’s books. Her favorite is To Entice a Spy. Here is a blurb to whet your appetite:
Widowed Countess Eseld Trehearne seeks revenge for the brutal death of her female companion during a Paris riot. On her return to England, Eseld delves into espionage to defeat the French rebels. Baron Robert Penhale, Eseld’s childhood love, rejoins the Secret Services after his wife’s death. He’s determined to protect England from the revolution terrorizing France. A ruthless French spy fights for the common man while disguised as an English aristocrat. He’s intent on revenge against those who oppose him. With the spy stalking them and Robert in fear for Eseld’s life, the couple’s fate verges on disaster.
Here is Susie’s Review:
Set in the time of the French Revolution, To Entice a Spy is cleverly written from the English point of view. The tightly written plot follows the exploits of the headstrong, resourceful English widowed Countess Eseld Trehearne and her childhood love Baron Robert Penhale, as they both work separately and unbeknownst to one another to root out a French spy disguised as an English aristocrat, intent on financially supporting the revolution in France by using ill-gotten British funds. Experienced historical fiction author Diane Scott Lewis did her homework, and it shows. She embeds readers in the story from the first page on with her remarkably in-depth descriptions of the times. Readers are swept into the story and become a part of it by experiencing the architecture, fashions, foods, drinks, smells, sights, social mores, and sounds of England in the 1790s. Lewis has penned a deftly plotted tale that weaves ribbons of mystery and romance into a historical event and makes it come alive. The tautly written story is driven by love, loss, trust, betrayal, family ties, and the inner strength one must summon to face adversity created by both human fallibility and fate. The story moves at a comfortable pace with flawed, but believable characters who drive the plot. Readers find themselves rooting for the protagonists from the beginning to the end of the tale. The characters evoke strong emotions in readers right from page one. This reader found herself wanting to hug Eseld and Robert on one page and throttle them on the next. Lewis creates a huge conflict with a backstory to keep readers turning the pages to see how it all turns out. Part romance, part mystery, part thriller, and a part second-chance at love, To Entice a Spy will capture the imagination of readers who enjoy a passionate love story fueled by human frailty, intrigue, and suspense. This terrific book has more than earned the five-star rating this reader has given it.
https://www.amazon.com/Entice-Spy-Diane-Scott-Lewis/dp/1509238255/ref=sr
Great review!