Friday, February 24, 2023

"Ripples in Time"

Julie McElwain is a national award-winning journalist. Her first novel, A Murder in Time, was one of the top 10 picks by the National Librarian Association for its April 2016 book list, and was selected as the mystery to read in 2016 by OverDrive Inc., a digital distributor serving more than 34,000 libraries around the world. The novel was also a finalist for the 2016 Goodreads' readers choice awards in the Sci-fi category, and made Bustle's list of 9 Most Addictive Mystery series for 2017. Town & Country magazine recently selected A Murder in Time as one of 35 best time travel books.

A Murder in Time has been optioned for television/movie development.

A Twist in Time and Caught in Time — the second and third installments of the In Time series — were released in April 2017 and July 2018, respectively. Both novels were selected by The National Librarian Association for their Must-Read lists. Betrayal in Time earned a starred review from Publishers Weekly.

McElwain applied the Page 69 Test to the new novel in the In Time series, Ripples in Time, and reported the following:
From page 69:
Gritting her teeth, Kendra pushed forward, dodging sharp elbows and fingernails and even more vicious slaps as she began disentangling the ladies. Lady Evelyn’s chest heaved as Kendra shoved her back. The redhead cowered against the wall. She raised her arms to protect her face, sobbing hysterically.

“Stop it!” Kendra blocked Lady Evelyn from launching another attack.

McBride stepped forward to grasp Evelyn’s flailing arms. “Calm yourself, Lady Evelyn!”

“She stole my bracelet!” Lady Evelyn thrashed against his hold, her pale eyes blazing at the cringing woman. “Bran-faced bitch! Light-fingered trollop! You know she is, Mr. McBride!”

“That’s enough, Lady Evelyn!” McBride said sternly. “Will you be still?”

Lady Evelyn clenched her hands into fists. Her chest was rising and falling with quick breaths.

But at last, she nodded. McBride waited a few more seconds, to assure himself that she would obey, then released her to go to the weeping woman, gently helping her to her feet.

Kendra caught a glimpse of the face through the tangles of long red hair. Not a woman—more of a teenage girl, though she could be as old as twenty. Perhaps the same age as Lady Evelyn.

Cinnamon-colored freckles were scattered across a face now streaked with tears. Her body was boyishly thin in the plain beige gown that she wore.

“Come now, Miss Sybil.” McBride patted her awkwardly on the back. “Hush. You’re working yourself into a state.”

“She’s a sneak! A spy!” shouted Lady Evelyn

Kendra positioned herself between Lady Evelyn and the girl named Sybil, prepared to forcibly subdue Lady Evelyn if she had to. The commotion was drawing an audience. Several women wearing the same beige gowns as Sybil crowded the doorway. Two women had their hair hacked off in uneven tufts close to their scalps.

A burly young man pushed himself through the knot of women. “Do ye need help, Mr. McBride?”
Ripples in Time is the 6th installment of my genre-bending Kendra Donovan mystery series, which finds my time-traveling protagonist in a pivotal period. Kendra appears to have accepted her new life in the early 19th century, having recently agreed to marry Alec, the Marquis of Sutcliffe. Yet as her one-year anniversary of being transported to Regency England approaches, the FBI agent begins to believe there’s a chance to return to her own timeline. Even as she deals with this tantalizing possibility, Kendra becomes embroiled in a new mystery when the Earl of Craymore is mortally wounded on the Duke of Aldridge’s estate. The scene on page 69 takes place in the madhouse, where Craymore has had his sister, Lady Evelyn, committed. The asylum itself is a dark reminder of the horror that Kendra harbored when she first arrived in this era, terrified that she was going insane or would be thought insane if she revealed the truth about herself. While this is only one step in the investigation, the scene is more representative of Kendra herself—fierce and fearless as she steps in to take control of a volatile situation.
Visit Julie McElwain's website.

The Page 69 Test: Caught in Time.

The Page 69 Test: Betrayal in Time.

Q&A with Julie McElwain.

The Page 69 Test: Shadows in Time.

Writers Read: Julie McElwain.

--Marshal Zeringue