What draws you to a historical fiction book cover? 

During 2018, I have had the pleasure of hosting this cover competition and choosing my ‘Pam’s Pick’. I hope you have found some new books and authors who are now on your ‘must read’ list. In this last instalment, I feature the last three entrants to the 2018 competition. Hopefully, you will be intrigued enough to look beyond the covers I feature and find your next favourite author. If a cover interests you just click on the link to learn more about the book.

My December winner is:

The Blood of Princes by Derek Birks

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At first glance this cover looks simple enough but the longer you look at it you realise how clever it is. The bloodied crown tell you all you need to know. Between the covers of this book lies a tale of intrigue, betrayal and murder. Congrats Derek!

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A savage tale of love, treason and betrayal. A bloody struggle for power at the heart of the royal court.

In April 1483, the sudden death of King Edward IV brings his 12 year old son to the throne. Restless young lord and ex-mercenary John Elder is newly-appointed to the service of Edward, Prince of Wales, and charged with the boy’s safety. His first task, escorting the new king to London for his coronation, seems a simple one but the accession of a boy king raises concerns among the leading noblemen of the land.

As old jealousies and feuds are rekindled, the new king’s uncle, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, seizes control and plunges the kingdom into crisis. But is Gloucester young Edward’s enemy, or saviour?

While John, outlawed and trapped, must wait to see how events unfold, other members of the battle-scarred Elder family are drawn, one by one, into his conspiracy. Soon they are mired so deep in the murky underbelly of London society, that there seems no hope of escape from the tangle of intrigue and murder.

In the end, all lives will hang upon the outcome of a daring incursion into the Tower of London itself.

To find out more, please click here

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As always, it was difficult to choose. Here are some other wonderful covers to tempt you!

It is France in 1940. Delphi, Rainier and their daughter Flora must flee the Nazi advance. They go to the vineyard of Flora’s step-cousin, Luca, in the Vichy Zone Libre.

Despite Luca’s resentment of Flora she is attracted to him, but there is a traitor among them and, mysteriously, he is absent much of the time.

Then there is her employer, Andre, mayor, sponsored by the Nazis, but he is lonely after the death of his wife and young daughter. Should she spy on his activities, betraying his trust and friendship and putting herself and her family in danger?

Resistance fighter or collaborator; petulance or passion; divided loyalties and discovered love. This is a love story and a mild thriller set during turbulent times in France.

To find out more, please click here

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British-trained Norwegian intelligence agent Tore Haugland has enough worries when he is sent to a tiny fishing hamlet on the west coast of Norway to set up a line to receive arms and agents from England via the “Shetland Bus.” Posing as a deaf fisherman, his mission is complicated when he falls in love with Anna Fromme, the German widow of an old family friend. Accused of betraying her husband, she has a small daughter and secrets of her own. Though the Allies have liberated France and the Netherlands, the most zealous of the Nazis hang on in Norway, sending out agents to disembowel local resistance groups. If Haugland fails it could not only cost him his life, but those of the fishermen who have joined him. When Haugland is betrayed and left for dead, he will not only have to find the one who betrayed him and destroyed his network, but also prove that the one he loved was not the informer.

To find out more, please click here