As you move around in your ongoing turkey haze, I
hope you and yours had a most excellent Thanksgiving. In addition to all of the
other activities you have planned for this Friday, I hope you check out the
list over at Evan Lewis’
Davey Crockett’s Almanac Blog. If you have read my blog for awhile you know
Douglas Quinn is an excellent author for kids books. He is one of those rare
guys who makes it work for adults too. The book below is a case in point….
If it isn’t obvious by the cover and
the back cover synopsis, Four of a Kind: Four Tales of Mystery and
Suspense is an anthology containing four novellas that revolve around
playing card games. Poker to be exact and the game plays a major role in each
novella. In each case, poker isn’t the only game being played where the stakes
include life and death.
After a brief introduction by author
and editor Douglas Quinn, the book opens with “Papa’s Girl” by J. R.
Lindermuth. It is December 1957 and young soldier Danny Penkovic has made it as
far as Ballyn, Pennsylvania on his quest to get home. A snow storm has shut
down all forms of travel, including his bus, so he plans to spend the night at
the terminal waiting for the first bus in the morning. That is until Tony
Anskis makes him an offer to spend the night at his place and meet his
daughter, Anna.
“Jigsaw” by Carol Culver Rzadkiewicz
follows with her tale of Lester T. Hayes, private detective. Lester Hayes owns Ace Detective Services and
times are not good financially speaking. So, when Samantha Chandler, a wealthy
woman who is also self-proclaimed psychic, throws a lot of money at him to play
in a tournament he agrees. He agrees even though he knows there is something
off about her and the situation.
Douglas Quinn’s character Webb
Sawyer makes an appearance next in “I Lost my Happy Days” where a business, a
boat, and more are at stake. Dave “The Wave” Meekins and Webb served together
long ago. These days they both live on North Carolina’s outer banks where Dave
runs a successful charter business and Webb does what he does. He has skills
and when his skills are needed he makes his money. So, when Dave gambled his
boat “Happy Days” and lost he turned to Webb for help.
“Millie McCall’s Full Moon Poker
Night” by Sara Williams closes the book. The setting is the San Juan Islands
where Jim Halprin is asked to fulfill a commitment made by a friend. Ben Bridges
is injured and needs Jim to attend a poker game in his place. Just a few hours
later Jim is in place and meets the unique Millie McCall. An heiress that rides
a Harley, walks in the surf under a full moon, and does a few other strange
things in this tale.
A game of deceit, poker, binds these
tales together in Four of a Kind: Four Tales of Mystery and Suspense. A book
where deceit is a major player in its own right. As prominent as any character,
deceit is the dealer in each case where hidden agendas abound, money flows, and
treachery runs like a raging river. These four very different and good novellas
contain numerous twists and turns to keep readers guessing long after the last
card.
Four of a Kind: Four Tales of
Mystery and Suspense
Editor Douglas Quinn
White Heron Press (CreateSpace)
October 2012
ISBN# 978-1479397457
Paperback
396 Pages
$15.95
Material supplied by Editor Douglas Quinn for my objective
review.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2013, 2014
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2 comments:
Sounds great, Kevin. Think I'll get a copy. Glad you had a good Thanksgiving.
Thank you and hope you did as well.
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