2019 Most Anticipated - Spectacle

The next book in my 2019 Most Anticipated event is one that focuses on a young newspaper reporter whose job is to summarize the new arrivals at the local morgue and discovers a potential serial killer in the process. Amazing right?

The book is set in Paris in the 1800s which adds another intriguing element. The book is Spectacle by Jodie Lynn Zdrok! It's a 2019 debut that I think will pique a lot of interest.

The Goodreads synopsis for this novel sets the expectation for lots of danger, excitement, creepy Parisian Catacombs and much more.

A YA murder mystery in which a young reporter must use her supernatural visions to help track down a killer targeting the young women of Paris.

Paris, 1887.

Sixteen-year-old Nathalie Baudin writes the daily morgue column for Le Petit Journal. Her job is to summarize each day's new arrivals, a task she finds both fascinating and routine. That is, until the day she has a vision of the newest body, a young woman, being murdered--from the perspective of the murderer himself.

When the body of another woman is retrieved from the Seine days later, Paris begins to buzz with rumors that this victim may not be the last. Nathalie's search for answers sends her down a long, twisty road involving her mentally ill aunt, a brilliant but deluded scientist, and eventually into the Parisian Catacombs. As the killer continues to haunt the streets of Paris, it becomes clear that Nathalie's strange new ability may make her the only one who can discover the killer's identity--and she'll have to do it before she becomes a target herself. 

Any YA reader with an interest in mysteries, crime novels, or atmospheric reads will  immediately want to add it to their 'to be read' pile.

Jodie took the time to answer a few questions about her book and let us know where she would travel to with a time machine.

1 Describe Spectacle in three words  

Dark, atmospheric, intriguing

2 If someone were to make a signature cocktail in honour of your book, what might be included? 

Chartreuse (for Paris) and vodka (for my Polish heritage), and a splash of lemon to cut it a bit. And maybe absinthe (for the era) and a Chambord sinker (symbolic of blood--did I just gross everyone out with that?) as a nightcap. 

3 Spectacle is a historically set novel. What sort of research did you do in order to capture the time period accurately? 

I have a BA and two MAs in History, and European History was my particular area of interest. I read a lot of books and articles about cultural history in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as a student, so I had a fair amount of baseline knowledge. Internet research was useful for tracking down obscure details at times, but recreating a time and place with so little visual documentation was a challenge. I also tried to write with words that would have been in use at the time, which meant very, very frequent etymology and usage checks; you'd be surprised how many everyday phrases we say today didn't exist back then. Lastly, I've been to Paris twice, so I had a good sense of the geography of Paris and some of the sites in the novel (some, such as the morgue, aren't in existence anymore). And given the name of this blog, I'd like to give a shout out to the red wine I had while I was there (also the macarons, which are unrelated to my novel or this blog but get a nod anyway. My sweet tooth is incurable).

4 Name a song you listed to for inspiration while writing this novel ?

I'm one of those rare authors who doesn't make playlists or listen to music (except classical, because Mozart...

5 If you could travel to anywhere, in any time period, when and where would you want travel?

I'd fill up my time machine passport in a heartbeat! I'd like to visit Rome under Augustus, Berlin and NYC in the 1920s, and 1940s Hollywood (and maybe end up as an extra in a now-classic movie). I also wouldn't mind swinging by the Paris Morgue in the late 19th century, just to see how well I captured it. 

6 What 2019 release are you most anticipating?

I've had the privilege of reading a few YA and MG by my fellow 19s, and I have quite a few more on my TBR pile (let's hear it for ARC tours!). THE BONE GARDEN by Heather Kassner and DESCENDANT OF THE CRANE by Joan He were superb. I'm looking forward to reading THE STORM CROW by Kalyn Josephson, THE LAST WORD by Samantha Hastings, and INK IN THE BLOOD by Kim Smejkal. 

7 If not too spoilery, can you share the first line of Spectacle  

Nathalie used to think that if she wrote of death, she’d only need two words. 

I am very encouraged by the level of research that seems to have gone into this. I cannot wait to see what Jodie's Paris is like and what type of character Nathalie is. I love that she is a writer for a newspaper.

Spectacle releases February 12, 2019 but you can pre-order it right now from any retailer (or snag it with those holiday gift cards).

Chapters // Amazon // Barnes and Noble // BAM

You can find out more about Jodie by following her on Twitter, and by visiting her her website. You can also find out more about her books on the publisher website.

Are you a fan of mysteries? What about historical set novels? Let me know in the comments!

Be sure to stop by tomorrow to for the next book on my 2019 most anticipated list.