A really great anthology made up of four historical mysteries, all linked by the curse of a gold watch. It might help if you’re familiar with the series of each author, but it isn’t necessary to appreciate the stories.

I absolutely loved this book! Each story, though set in a different place and time with different characters, feels connected and seamless. The first three stories were written using characters from each of the author's signature series. The last story, written by C.S. Harris was entirely unique. Initially I was disappointed because I was hoping to read about Sebastian St. Cyr (from Harris's regency series), but almost instantly, I was pulled into that one as well.

Weapon Of Choice by Susanna Kearsley was remarkable. Within the first few minutes I was hooked and couldn't stop reading until I was done. I looked up the author's other books and plan to read them all. Kearsley sets the tone, mood, and setting with such skill, I felt like I was right there. The way she reveals her characters' personality, with so few words is sublime. I fell in love with Hugh and Mary AND Edmund and Anna. I want to know them better.

In a Fevered Hour by Anna Lee Huber was the second story and featured characters from A Lady Darby Mystery. This is a series I have meant to read for a long time, so I was pleasantly surprised to meet Keira and Gage. I liked Huber's writing style and the setting, and the way the curse played out within actual historic events.

A Pocketful of Death by Christine Trent, the third story was entertaining, but I didn't think the murders (and murderer) at all plausible, and I didn't think Violet was a realistic character. (What undertaker goes to visit her clients on a daily basis? Especially after she has completed her commission.)

Siren’s Call by C.S Harris was a beautiful story about the hardships people faced during WWII. The main characters had an inner goodness that shined through the pages. They both witnessed and endured terrible things, but they remained committed to living honorable lives. Some of the dialogue spoken by Rachel and Jude could have been written for our own times. The plot held my interest to the very end, and I thought it was brilliant the way the story came full circle when Rachel read Mary's journal from the first story.

I loved the way these authors weaved actual historical events into their writing. It was fascinating to stop and research the events they included. JUST BRILLIANT! #TheDeadlyHours #NetGalley

The Deadly Hours is a compilation of novellas by four different authors with the theme that follows a cursed pocket watch, La Sirene, through the centuries. The first novella, Weapon of Choice by Susanna Kearsley opens in 1733 Italy and the Jacobites. But even at this early time, the watch has already had decades of death and curses left in it's wake. But this is where we also learn the origin of the watch and it's curse. Kearsley uses her established couple of Hugh and Mary from a previous book to tell us this story.

In the second novella In A Fevered Hour, Anna Lee Huber uses Kiera and Sebastian Gage from her Lady Darby series to further the tale of the watch in 1830s Edinburgh. Many of the favorites are back for this tale, but the city is rocked with a plague as well. Is it possible it is the watches fault?

A Pocket Full of Death by Christine Trent is the third installment. And she uses Violet the Undertaker from her Lady of Ashes series to tell the watches tale in 1870 London. Where mysterious deaths are happening in an affluent part of town, and each victim is coshed over the head within the hour that the watch stops.

C.S. Harris sets Siren's Call in Kent in the midst of WWII, June 1944 to be exact. Are the deaths from La Sirene or from a German spy? It's the job of the newly formed MI5 to figure it out.

I really loved this book and the way it flowed. Each author taking a few details and making the story of La Sirene their own, in their own time. They followed the theme “Je suis le seul maître de mon temps”; “I am the only master of my time”. Thank you #NetGalley for allowing me to read and review #TheDeadlyHours.

If you love historical novel and mystery then this is the perfect book for you to read.


Off the 4 authors I was only familiar with Susanna Kearsley, but after reading this book have put the other authors on my to read list. I had a feeling some of the characters came from previous books but I was able to follow the story without ayu problems.


these are 4 wonderful stories about a cursed pocket watch spanning from 1730 to WWII with different characters with one thing in common. The woman were strong and smart which was great to read. It was full of humor, mystery and excitement.


I recommend this book

I have to admit I had a hard time w/this particular collection of stories. I love the idea and the premise of how each story weaves around the main object and it's really very smartly done, but I would have preferred back story in all of the cases and I'm more of a novel reader - it's hard for me to reset myself so quickly and more than once in a book. All of the Authors have distinct and great voices... it was just hard for me to resolve them all in one book. I would read more for all of them and intend to. Thank you for the opportunity to preview this book.

An intriguing book which is and anthology of many parts all piggybacking on the story that started in 1773 about a cursed and watch. We travel through the ages, and characters, as the curse works its worst, and comes to rest at the end of the 2nd World war.
An fascinating book with lots of history, romance and mystery and of coarse a curse.

This book was great! It was so easy to lose yourself in the story, and kept you turning pages to see what happened next! Will definitely be recommending!

I read this book because I really enjoy Anna Lee Huber's books and I thought this would be a good introduction to three authors that I haven't read before. This book is technically an anthology but with a unique twist. There are four stories, written by sour different authors, set in four different time period from the late 1700s through the 1940s. The stories trace the turmoil surrounding am allegedly cursed watch.
It was a great read, I read it in a day! A must read for fans of these authors and historical fiction aficionados!

I was intrigued by the premise of this book. I have read books by three of the four authors and enjoy them immensely. I was curious to see how they were able to weave the stories together to make the anthology. I was not disappointed. Each story stands on its own but together its brilliant. Three of the authors used characters from their series which I enjoyed because I was familiar with them. C.S. Harris did not which I found slightly disappointing. I was expecting Sebastian St. Cyr to make an appearance. Overall, the book was extremely enjoyable. I would highly recommend.

The Deadly Hours was a great read! There was a lot of mystery involved which is right up my alley. 

A bunch of murders are happening all over town and gold watch is found at the first death. This watch is later thought to be evil or bad luck. The theory is that everytime the watch stops a murder occurs at that time. I was way more hooked to the story after this point. Sorry no spoilers! 

There are a lot of characters involved which did get a bit hard to keep straight, but it was very well-written and the descriptions were great! This was a fairly quick read for me and would recommend it to those who like a good mystery mixed with historical fiction. 

3.8 Stars! 

Thank you to Net Galley, Poisoned Pen Press, and the authors for providing me this eARC in exchange for my honest reivew.

Release Date: September 1, 2020
Poisoned Pen Press  
Historical Fiction | Mystery

Let me just say: I am a huge fan of Susanna Kearsley and The Deadly Hours did NOT disappoint. Each story is unique and beautiful but they all blend together seamlessly. This is an ultimately very satisfying read for historical mystery fiction fans.

Every once in awhile I try to read short stories and I chose this because they sound so interesting. They were very good and I’m sure they will be enjoyed by short story readers. They left me wanting more story.

I have been waiting for this book for a couple of years, ever since it was first announced by the authors. I follow Anna Lee Huber, Susanna Kearsley, and C.S. Harris on social media, and knowing they were working on something together, especially something as fun as a cursed pocket watch, made me incredibly eager to read the finished product. I have read books by Huber, Kearsley, and Harris, as well as Christine Trent, and the novellas in The Deadly Hours showcase their talents well, making it a treat for any fan of historical fiction.

In all honesty, I loved all of the stories, and found it hard to put the book down, although I forced myself to make it last longer and so I could take the stories in further.

In Kearsley’s story, I loved seeing Hugh and Mary again, especially once they had settled in to their relationship a bit more, and the supporting cast of characters was just as interesting and colorful. It was a great introduction to La Sirene. In Huber’s story, again so delightful to spend time with loved characters Keira and Gage, and see Bonnie Brock in a different light. Trent’s story was more new to me in a sense, as I haven’t (yet) read any of her Lady of Ashes mysteries, the protagonist of which was the focus of her novella. However, it was still greatly enjoyable, and made me put her other series on my TBR list. Harris’s story was fun too, and I liked that she did something more modern than her Sebastian St. Cyr mysteries, and that it dealt with perhaps more darker themes than the other authors.

Something I really enjoyed about this collection was the fact that each story built upon the others, and that they were connected not just by La Sirene but also by different characters within the stories as well. It really made The Deadly Hours cohesive, and showed the sheer talent of the authors involved. So often with anthologies the stories aren’t all that connected at all, sharing a theme and little else, but that is not the case here. Despite the death and blood and tragedy surrounding La Sirene, and the mysteries each story’s protagonists had to wade through, there was always an ending with a hopeful note, and positive changes made as a result of coming into contact with the watch, showing that La Sirene can wreak blessings as well as curses.

SPOILER
I will say that I do have little bones to pick with two stories in particular. In Huber’s story, she mentions that a man who possessed the watch died at Culloden fields, but when it is first mentioned, it is not clear who she is speaking of, and I thought Huber had killed off Hugh, one of Kearsley’s protagonists. It is later clarified by other characters that it was Douglas, Kearsley’s antagonist, that had died at Culloden, but I still thought the introduction to this particular plot point could have been clearer. And in Harris’s story, there is an Austrian character named Reinhardt that is tortured by MI5 agents and before the resolution of the mystery, one of the MI5 agents says he is going to pick up Reinhardt again and make him talk, leaving the scene to presumably go bring the Austrian in. This is never revisited and mentioned again, leaving the reader wondering what happened and whether Reinhardt is safe, or if he had been hurt further by MI5; I wish we had been told, and that seems pretty unresolved. However, I still have great love for this collection, and can’t wait to read it again when my Kindle preorder shows up.

I asked to preview this book because I really like Susanna Kearsley, and I wasn't disappointed. Her novella was fantastic, mostly because it was like visiting old friends. I really do think it's something that fans of Kearsley will appreciate, but newcomers to her work might find it less interesting, as they won't know the backstories of all the characters.

I couldn't read Anna Lee Huber's piece.. I have tried to read her books but I couldn't finish any - I just find her prose too wooden and her characters too flat and insipid. I tried the first pages of this novella and had a similar reaction.

I think these novellas will really appeal to people who are already fans of these authors, and for some, I'm sure it'll be a great introduction to authors who are new to them.

This caught my attention because I love Susanna Kearsley’s work. I have to say, the concept is very interesting and was new to me and they pulled it off! I was worried that four different authors trying to tie a storyline together over four novellas would be cumbersome and tiring, but brava to all four! It was an amazing trip through time and I couldn’t wait to see where we landed next!

The Deadly Hours follows a cursed pocket watch through 200 years and across an ocean, destroying lives and wrecking havoc on all who come into contact with it. Some believe the curse, some do not, yet over the centuries, the legend of La Sirene carries on and men will stop at nothing to own it. The authors move us through time and space as we follow the watch and witness the destruction it leaves behind.

Naturally, I thought Ms. Kearsley’s would be my favorite novella, but then the next one took its place, then the next and finally the last one....I can’t chose! But I have discovered three new writers that I’m excited to add to my rotation.

Amazing job by the authors. Loved every page turning moment! Couldn’t wait to see where the watch ended up next.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publishers and the authors for the opportunity to review an ARC for a fair and honest review.

I am a great fan of anthologies. They are the perfect length when you do not have a lot of time to commit to a story. They introduce you to new and established authors that you may not of read before and of course, they give you quick shots of your favorite author's stories between a series release. Most anthologies are stories written around a central theme. Each story is distinctly different but has the same theme at the base. This book is different in that each story is set in a different time and place but the central theme is a cursed watch that brings misfortune to whomever owns it. It was interesting and entertaining to see the writer's hand off the story to the next one in line just as the watch moved from owner to owner. Overall a really great anthology that set this reader on the quest for more by each of these authors.

I was able to review an eARC of this novel from Netgalley. I was initially drawn to this anthology because I'm a huge Susanna Kearsley fan--and her novella within did not disappoint! It's told from Hugh's perspective (from A Desperate Fortune) with many appearances from other characters from different novels (especially Anna and Edmund from The Firebird). I hadn't read the other authors in the anthology, but this was a great introduction as all the stories built upon a shared theme. If you're a fan of any of these authors, I'd check this anthology out. :)

This is a collection of four novellas by different authors all continuing the story of La Sirène, a cursed pocket watch that causes death and misfortune to anyone who carries it. I love how each novella carries the pocket watch further ahead through time, each with a different twist and style of writing by a new author.
I received a complimentary copy of this book through Netgalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Each story in this collection has a unique mystery and voice thanks to each writer. The stories play well together as readers follow a cursed pocket watch through time from 1733 to the second world war.

Weapon of Choice follows Highlander Hugh MacPherson as he learns about a watch made of gold with a legendary curse surrounding it as he works to stop an assassin. In a Fevered Hour explores a mysterious illness that may be related to the watch as Lady Darby searches for the cause. In A Pocketful of Death Violet Harper is moving the Ashenhurt family’s dead relatives to the family cemetery when she finds a watch she gives to the family believing it to be an heirloom. A series of murders follows by whispers of the watch’s curse being at fault. In the final story, Siren’s Call Scotland Yard investigates a possible German spy. When the aircraft spotter gets murder, they discover his watch is missing, setting off the last leg of the watch's story.

I enjoyed the way each story played together in regards to the link to the watch. While this book stands alone, the stories include characters from other books, like Lady Darby from the Lady Darby Mystery series. Since I hadn't read those books. I felt like I was stepping into the middle of the character's stories, getting a quick excerpt of their travels or work that I would have better understood if I'd read their other books. So while this is an intriguing read for historical mystery fans, I think readers who have read the other books characters have been in will get the most out of this collection.

I received a free e-ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

“I am the only master of my time…”

When I found out Anna Lee Huber was a part of this stellar author line up I knew I wanted to get my hands on a copy. Little did I know that I’d be introduced to these new-to-me authors like Susanna Kearsley, C.S. Harris and Christine Trent! The seamless flow from story to story offers mystery with an almost supernatural tone and dashes of romance mixed between the pages. From 1733 to 1944, these four novellas are woven together with expert storytelling as we follow a cursed watch through time.

Just so you know, I’m here if ever there’s another collaboration - in the meantime I’m going to investigate what else I can read by these fabulous writers.

A big thank you to Poisoned Pen Press for providing a digital copy in exchange for my honest review.

#NetGalley #TheDeadlyHours #Goodreads