Friday, July 26, 2024
Beneath the Stains of Time: They Can't Hang Me (1938) by James Ronald
Beneath the Stains of Time: They Can't Hang Me (1938) by James Ronald: In 2023, Moonstone Press published Stories of Crime & Detection, vol. 1: The Dr. Britling Stories (2023), collecting three novelettes,...
FFB Review: Leverage in Death: In Death Series by J.D. Robb
What could
motivate an executive known as a good man to walk into a room and detonate the
bomb vest he wore? That is the question that Eve Dallas and her team must
answer in Leverage in Death by J.D. Robb.
There is no
question that Paul Rogan did it. He walked into a room where the executives of Quantum
Air and EconoLift were meeting to sign the paperwork for the merger of the two
companies. He walked up to Derrick Pearson, The President and CEO of Quantum
Air, said something to him that sounded like an apology according to survivors,
and detonated.
When Lieutenant
Dallas arrives, Lieutenant Lisbeth Salazer, head of the Explosives and Bombs Unit,
informs her nine people in the conference room survived. Eleven are dead,
including the bomber. Fortunately for folks in the hallway and nearby offices,
the suicide vest had limited range. Otherwise, things would have been far
worse.
Married with an
eight-year-old daughter, and known to all as a good guy, there seems to be no
explanation for Paul Rogan’s actions. Upon learning the news that neither his
wife or daughter showed up at school, Dallas sends officers to their house.
Soon the officers find the wife and child in the home and in considerable distress.
All evidence in
the first hour or so points to the family being taken hostage, terrorized
physically and emotionally, and Paul Rogan forced to make a horrible choice.
The choice was do either walk in and do what he did or watch his family go
through far worse than they had already suffered and then be killed. Who forced him to do what he did and why are
the two primary questions Dallas, Peabody, and the team must answer. Especially
since the folks who did this show no signs of stopping.
What follows is
another good read in this series that blends police procedural and romance. It
may be set nearly twenty years in the future, but what happens in Leverage in
Death by J. D. Robb, could be happening now, or happened last week. It is that
relevant.
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4deJwNB
My large print
reading copy came from the Dallas Public Library System.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2024
Thursday, July 25, 2024
Bitter Tea and Mystery: A Cast of Falcons: Steve Burrows
Bitter Tea and Mystery: A Cast of Falcons: Steve Burrows: A Cast of Falcons is the third book in the Birder Murder Mystery series by Steve Burrows. The author is Canadian and this is the first book...
Wednesday, July 24, 2024
Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 37 Writing Contests in August 2024 - No entry fees
Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 37 Writing Contests in August 2024 - No entry fees: This August there are more than three dozen free writing contests for short fiction, novels, poetry, CNF, nonfiction, and plays. Prizes this...
Jerry's House of Everything: SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: THE ROMANCE OF ROSY RIDGE
Jerry's House of Everything: SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: THE ROMANCE OF ROSY RIDGE: "The Romance of Rosy Ridge" by MacKinley Kantor (first published in The Saturday Evening Post , June 5, 1937; published in book f...
Earl Staggs Reviews: From Hay To Eternity: Ten Devilish Tales of Crime and Deception by Sandra Murphy
From the archive comes this review by
the one and only Earl Staggs when he considered this short story
collection, From Hay To Eternity: Ten Devilish Tales of Crime and Deception by
Sandra Murphy.
In the ten stories in this collection,
Sandra Murphy exhibits her deliciously inventive imagination to create stories
and memorable characters which will involve you and entertain you from
beginning to end.
Here's a sampling.
In “Superstition,” a woman
ponders them all: stepping on a crack, walking under a ladder, a
black cat crossing your path, three black birds on your roof mean
death, and more. What is real and what is foolish imagination and
silliness? Once she figures it out, she knows what she must
do.
“The Chicken Pot Pie Fiasco,” concerns a large quirky family
in the process of preparing their own traditional Thanksgiving meal. In this
family, it's a huge chicken pot pie. Our narrator, who manages too
observe it all without getting involved due to his “stealth,” explains,
“There’s one big pie, and if there’s some of the inside stuff left over, there
are little pies for later. I like that part.” Everyone adds
their own favorite ingredients, but a surprise ingredient somehow gets added
which no one expected.
For “The Space Heater vs. the
Window Fan,” we meet a woman who only needs to get dressed and
prettied up for her sister's wedding. Unfortunately, every necessary machine,
from her computer to the local laundromat's equipment, refuses to cooperate and
do its part, culminating in a major struggle with one particularly stubborn
appliance.
The title story, “From Hay to
Eternity,” takes on a darker turn and gives us a murder
mystery. It begins with the driver announcing, “Welcome to the
hayride. Listen up! Find a seat on the bench or one of the hay bales and hold
on. Our horse, Sam, sometimes rocks the wagon when he starts, but it will be a
smooth ride after that.”
Riders on the haywagon include a cross
section of local parents and children, along with a pair of feuding brothers
and an attention-grabbing teenage girl wearing tiny cut-off jeans and a tight
top designed to “show what your momma gave you.” Her goal
is to turn the hayride into a photo op which will make her the next
supermodel. She has no idea that one photo will turn the
hayride into something other than a smooth ride.
There are six more stories in this
collection and each one is a delightful gem. Sandra Murphy is an author to
watch. Her stories will not disappoint.
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3LzKzMb
Earl Staggs © 2017
Texas author Earl Staggs earned all Five Star reviews for his novels MEMORY OF A MURDER and JUSTIFIED ACTION and has twice received a Derringer Award for Best Short Story of the Year. He served as Managing Editor of Futures Mystery Magazine, as President of the Short Mystery Fiction Society, and is a frequent speaker at conferences and seminars. http://earlwstaggs.wordpress.com
Tuesday, July 23, 2024
Little Big Crimes: Her Dangerously Clever Hands, by Karen Odden
Little Big Crimes: Her Dangerously Clever Hands, by Karen Odden: "Her Dangerously Clever Hands," by Karen Odden, in Crimeucopia: Through the Past Darkly , Murderous Ink Press, 2024. The publis...
Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 24 Awesome Writing Conferences and Workshops in August 2024
Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 24 Awesome Writing Conferences and Workshops in Au...: This August there are two dozen writing conferences and workshops. Some conferences and workshops will be held online, but most will be held...
Review: Shades of Mercy: A Porter Beck Mystery by Bruce Borgos
Shades of Mercy: A Porter Beck Mystery by Bruce Borgos is the second in the series that began with The Bitter Past: A Novel. This one might be better than the first.
Among other things, massive wildfires are ripping through the Nevada countryside and adding to the long
list of Sherriff Porter Beck’s worries. The government helicopter arriving to
land near his house means even more trouble.
Aboard the helicopter is Special Agent Ed Maddox of
the Office of Special Investigations. OSI is the equivalent of the Army’s
Criminal Investigation Department. He wants Beck’s help in locating a piece
that came off an aircraft last night. He has a general idea of where it went
down and wants Beck to ride in the small unmarked chopper to go look.
Once onboard the helicopter, Maddox reveals the
impact site is out at the Double J Ranch. Owned by a childhood friend who has
moved back home, Beck coming along should help smooth the way. It might have if
they were still close. They aren’t and a lot has changed at the ranch that has
existed for decades.
It is also clear that the impact was not a piece of
the aircraft. Maddox claim a fuel tank did it. There is no way. Beck is ex-military
and knows missile debris when he sees it.
Maddox finally admits that they lost control of a Remotely Piloted Aircraft the night before. It was hijacked and flown way off
course. It ultimately fired a missile at the prize bull at the ranch. Somebody
targeted the bull of the owner who just happens to be a guy Beck grew up with a
long time ago. Who would want Jesse Roy’s prize-winning bull exploded into
pieces? What are they planning to do next? And the biggest question of all –
how did they take control of the RPA?
Those three big questions and many others are
answered in the incredibly entertaining, Shades of Mercy: A Porter Beck
Mystery. This review only carefully scratches the surface as much is in
play here and I am not going to spoil any of it for readers.
Additional character development, multiple complex story
lines, and plenty of action make this second in the series a very good book.
For a more in-depth look at the very good read, make sure you read Lesa Holstine’s review.
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3SFeNS7
My digital ARC reading copy came by way of the
publisher, Minotaur Books, through NetGalley.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2024
Monday, July 22, 2024
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: LOL Mysteries
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: LOL Mysteries: Love Janet Evanovich but you’ve finished Dirty Thirty and can’t wait until November’s Now or Never comes out? Here are some other author...
Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: The Blind Devotion of Imogene: The Misadventures of Imogene Taylor
David Putnam,
former California law enforcement officer, put his name on the crime fiction
map with 11 well-regarded books about ex-cop and paroled ex-con Bruno Johnson. Putnam
has been branching out a bit recently with sheriff’s deputy Will Donnelly and
homicide detective Dave Beckett but still staying within the construct of
policework. With his newest book he travels further afield, to the life of a
paroled chain-smoking elderly lady who spent 10 years in jail for murder.
The Blind
Devotion of Imogene: The Misadventures of Imogene Taylor (Level Best
Books, July 2024), released July 9, is an alternately entertaining and somber
look at the life of a parolee who had few resources before spending time behind
bars and even less now that she is a convicted felon. The only job Imogene
Taylor can find is in a rundown scratch and dent store in a low-rent strip
mall. Her parole officer relentlessly looks for ways to demonstrate Imogene has
violated the terms of her probation, leaving Imogene in a constant state of
fear. At the age of 73 she knows she won’t survive prison to be released a
second time.
Her neighbor
thoughtfully maintained her house while she was gone so Imogene does have a
roof over her head. She also has her neighbor Suze to confide in. Suze’s father
dies as the book opens and Imogene is busy trying to support the bereft only
child. Suze’s mother left years ago when Suze was small so Suze is the only person
left to handle everything. In clearing out the junk-filled garage, they find
the body of a long-dead woman. They both assume it’s Suze’s mother. Suze is
horrified, believing her father killed her mother, and Imogene is terrified
that her parole officer will twist this discovery around to blame Imogene for a
second death. They agree to hide the body a second time.
Then a thug
visits the stores in the strip mall and tells them what will happen if they
don’t start paying him protection money. And Imogene gets a visit from Eugene,
her assigned Secret Service agent. While she was in prison, she wrote a series
of threatening letters to the president of the United States. Her letters were
convincing enough for her to become an object of interest to the Secret Service
and whenever the president is in the vicinity, Eugene stops by to check on
Imogene. The book that she wrote while she was incarcerated is another thread.
Imogene is a woman of many parts.
This is an
offbeat story full of eccentric but relatable characters. It seems overlong in
places but the rambling narration reflects the stream of conscious inner dialog
of Imogene’s mind. Putnam has planned another two books about Imogene; it will
be interesting to see what she’s up to in the next volume. For fans of unusual
character-driven crime fiction.
· Publisher: Level Best
Books (July 9, 2024)
· Language: English
· Paperback: 246 pages
· ISBN-10: 1685126170
· ISBN-13: 978-1685126179
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3A23Zqk
Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2024
Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.
Sunday, July 21, 2024
Beneath the Stains of Time: Bunraku Noir (2023) by K.O. Enigma
Beneath the Stains of Time: Bunraku Noir (2023) by K.O. Enigma: Earlier this month, I reviewed Aosaki Yugo's short story " Tokuma shoten " ("Knockin' On Locked," 2014), introdu...
Guest Post: A Study in Contrasts by Paul A. Barra
Please welcome back author Paul A
Barra to the blog today…
A Study in Contrasts by Paul A. Barra
I admire contrast
when authors have two important characters vying for prominence in a mystery novel.
Otherwise, why have two? The contrast can vary from the natural complementarity
between a man and a woman, working together as protagonists, to a good
protagonist opposing an evil antagonist. Whether the contrast is inherently
occurring or forced by circumstances, it is important to a story because it
adds conflict—and conflict drives the plot, creating tension, the lifeblood of
the genre.
Many of us write,
and read, crime fiction precisely because a certain tension or suspense is a
built-in part of the fictive type, pitting criminal activity against
investigative efforts designed to end that activity. A person or persons
unknown commits a crime, usually murder, early in the book and a good person or
persons tries to identify the killer(s) and prevent more of his or her or their
evil work. I need hardly mention here that “good” is a relative term when
describing our protagonists. Victims are innocents (also speaking relatively),
so there is also the satisfying result of justice served. Usually. No matter
how intricate a writer’s plot or how well-crafted his characters, introducing a
pair of contrasting good guys trying to solve the same mystery adds tension,
and so adds interest.
When I was working
to add such interest to my new thriller, SGT. FORD’S WIDOW, I
searched for an opposite to my protagonist. Gil Ford is a rangy native of wild
Wyoming who can ride a horse as well as he can drive a pickup. I wanted him to
be a veteran of the Vietnam War because I think the Modern-Historical Mystery
is the wave of the future in the genre as readers tire of the ubiquitous cell
phone playing the role of an electronic version of deus ex machina, or
forcing the writer to invent unlikely reasons for a character to be unable to
use his or her cell. I say unlikely because we know most people today would
rather leave home without their shirts than without their phones. A charged
cell is as important to a detective as a loaded sidearm. Cell phone towers have
proliferated today to such an extent that Statista, a statistical research
company, estimates that there are 16 billion (that’s sixteen thousand million
or 16 x 109) mobile phones in the world today—a world of just less
than 8 billion human inhabitants. A garbage picker in Bangladesh can now call
after work to see if his wife needs anything from Walmart on his way home.
Well, maybe not Walmart.
What I needed was a person to work with Ford who was small, had never known winter, had never seen a horse or a cow, and who spoke no English. Enter Tran Thi Linh, the wife of a Viet Cong guerilla who died trying to infiltrate Ford’s army base. Ford was an MP then, and he rescued Linh from incensed GIs taking out their anger on her for the damage done by her late husband. As she recovers after in an army field hospital, she realizes Ford saved her very life and she decides she must dedicate the rest of that life to repaying him for his kindness. For his part, Ford realizes Linh will not survive on her own in the war-torn Mekong delta. She is broken, scarred and ostracized by the villagers who hate the grief her husband’s actions brought to them. Ford must get her to his home in Wyoming. It’s 1967. The trouble is, home is 8,000 miles away and American officials, not happy by then with how the war is going, will not transport the family of a VC to the World, as American conscripts referred to the USA. Ford works out an ingenious deal with an officer on a South Vietnamese gunboat, and Linh gets to Guam. And then to California on a plane with other wounded people.
The main part of
the book takes place in eastern Wyoming, where Linh is convinced that no living
thing can survive outside in January, and where Ford returns to work as a P.I.
She accommodates to the weather, and to the large, hairy people, the amounts of
protein they consume regularly, and the primitive language they speak. Women in
Wyoming shoot guns and smoke cigarettes, she discovers to her horror. But she
overcomes all the divergences from her former life and helps Ford solve the
theft of six pigeon-blood-red rubies and subsequent murders. Linh eventually
becomes locally famous as a crime-buster. She bows to her neighbors, and they
bow back. Ford bows to no one. They are the perfect pair—if you like contrast
between protagonists—except that Linh can no longer tolerate any sexual
contact. That produces yet another contrast to chew over as you read.
Paul A. Barra’s
new mystery-thriller, SGT. FORD’S WIDOW, will be released by the venerable
publishing house The Permanent Press on Oct. 1, 2024. He invites you to kindly
check out his website for more information (www.paulbarra.com).
Paul A. Barra ©2024
Saturday, July 20, 2024
SleuthSayers: Transparent, Proactive, and Incentivized
SleuthSayers: Transparent, Proactive, and Incentivized: Let me begin with a confession. This post is of very little literary value, and required no research and no knowledge. It's just a ve...
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Third Shift Society by Meredith Moriarty
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Third Shift Society by Meredith Moriarty: Reviewed by Jeanne Ellie is not having a good day. Bills are due, well, okay PAST due, the landlady wants the rent, and when she goes ...
Scott's Take: Duke Volume 1: Knowing is Half the Battle by Joshua Williamson
Duke Volume 1:
Knowing is Half the Battle by Joshua Williamson with Tom Reilly (illustrator)
and Jordie Bellaire (colorist) is a miniseries despite being titled Volume 1.
There is no Volume 2 and there will not be. This is a miniseries set in the
Energon Universe. A recently started line of books based on the idea--- what if
the Transformers and the G.I. Joe lived in the same universe? This miniseries
is designed to start setting up the G.I. Joe part of the Energon Universe.
Duke barely
survived an encounter with the Decepticon known as Starscream, but his friend
was not so lucky. The United States military is covering it up and telling the
highly decorated soldier that he is just wrong. So, Duke goes rogue and finds
out that the rot in the institutions he has served his whole life in is deeper
that he knows.
The art is
pretty good even if the colors are a little dull. I don’t know if this was a
deliberate choice, but Duke spends a good portion of this tale looking like
Captain America from Infinity War. This is a mature and well thought out tale
that raises a number of questions about what does a man who believes in the
system do when the system fails him? We don’t get to explore this version of
Duke too in much depth as this is more of a thriller than a character
development read.
I really liked
this read until the ending. Major spoilers, but a lot of the questions raised
in this tale are brushed aside in order to have Duke help form the G.I. Joes.
The newly formed
G.I. Joe group is assigned to kill Optimus Prime. They don’t know he is a good
guy or, I guess, a good robot. Started here, this mission will be followed up
in one of the new books in the universe. At the time of this review, I do not
know which one.
The next
announced book in the series, Cobra Commander, focuses on the
Cobra Commander forming his group to take over the world.
Additionally, a
full G.I. Joe series will start sometime this fall. That series will have Duke and
other members of the G. I. Joe group.
Overall, while
they are building up the G.I. Joe part of the universe with miniseries, they
are currently giving the Transformers universe an actual series.
There is also
something called Void Rivals set in space. I read it, and quite
frankly, I still have no idea how it’s supposed to tie in yet. Which is why I
have not reviewed it. I did not much care for it either.
Amazon Associate
Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3zEWshf
My reading copy
was a Hoopla digital eBook via the Dallas Public Library System.
Scott A. Tipple ©2024
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