Thursday, February 29, 2024
Bitter Tea and Mystery: Joining the Bookish Books Reading Challenge 2024
Wednesday, February 28, 2024
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Nevermore: Disc Golf, Speckled Beauty, Just One Damned Thing After Another, March Forward Girl
SleuthSayers: Getting More Than You Bargained For
Jerry's House of Everything: SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: HOT WATER
Short Story Wednesday Review: Mystery Magazine: February 2024
Mystery Magazine:
February 2024 begins with the cover story “Slow News Day” by Robert Lopresti.
The DEA supplied the lead, but the execution of the raid in Maryland was done
by the Vanaca County Sheriff’s Department. Specifically, their SWAT unit.
Things did not go as planned. The tale was inspired, per the author, on a real
life incident.
He came home to
find himself locked out and his suitcase on the porch. That was just the nudge
to leave in “Better Than A Dating App” by V.S. Kemanis. The plan is to take his
skills to New York where the money will come to him. The location is different,
but the game still exists. It is all about the execution.
Felix and Elenor
are on a train and Eleanor is wondering why the handsome young man they met
yesterday has not been seen today. Once Eleanor has something in her mind, she
isn’t the type to let it go. In “The Three Thieves: A Canadian Flyer Mystery”
by Dan Crosby, a missing man, a legendary book, and history all combine to create
a very enjoyable locked room style mystery on wheels.
Frank is
enjoying his retirement in “You Get What You Get” by Jullien Grant Shoichet.
Other folks are not enjoying his retirement as much. This is one those tales,
the less said by the reviewer, the better for the reader.
Charlotte Boru
has gone missing from the small village of Tiperon. It is the 50s, Ireland, and
policemen Michael O’ Shay, will have his hands full finding her. In “Michael
O’Shay And the Missing Wife” by William J. Demorascki, Constable O’Shay is a
good man and the sole police representative in the village. The hunt is on and
the husband is irate.
Magnolia
Culpepper is going through life faking being a southern Belle. Her inner side,
“Maggie” as it were, is independent and does not give a whit what society
expects in “A Chicken-Fried Mistake” by John H. Dromey. She wants to get out of
town. She knows she needs money. She
also has a friend, Amanda, who is also looking to get out of town. She has
access to a car. Now they just need a good plan.
Herb Campuss has
a voice for radio and his own syndicated show that is heard in this country and
northern Mexico. Marteens is a private investigator and can speak Spanish.
Campuss wants him to go across the border at El Paso and find a certain woman.
Whether taking the job was a good idea or not becomes clear in “Mexican Radio”
by Pete Barnstrom.
Mrs. Mallory is
on a mission in “The Writing Room” by Kathleen Ford. She wants what she wants
and is not going to go away quietly. Folks are going to understand her
position.
John M. Floyd
offers the “You-Solve-It” story titled, “A New Leaf.” Fran Valentine’s
daughter, Lucy, is the County Sheriff. She needs some advice from her retired
school teacher mom. Not just advice, as wants her to come look at a possible
crime scene.
The issue closes
with the solution to the January story, “Orange Cones and Alibis” by Kate
Fellowes.
As one expects
from this publication, the latest issue is an entertaining mix of mystery
stories. Some are historical, some are contemporary, and all of them are good
ones. The latest issue is another good one and well worth your time.
Amazon Associate
Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/42Si5Fc
For quite some time now I have been gifted a subscription by the publisher with no expectation at all of a review.
Kevin R. Tipple
©2024
Tuesday, February 27, 2024
Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 86 Calls for Submissions in March 2024 - Paying markets
Bitter Tea and Mystery: A Darkness Absolute: Kelley Armstrong
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston
Beneath the Stains of Time: Six Were to Die (1932) by James Ronald
Review: Three-Inch Teeth: A Joe Pickett Novel by C. J. Box
It is a beautiful Wyoming mid-October day
as Three-Inch Teeth: A Joe Pickett Novel by C.J. Box by begins.
It had been beautiful, until it was marred by tragedy. Clay Hutmacher JR., who
had planned to ask Sheridan Pickett to marry him that night, was violently
killed by a grizzly bear. It came after him in the river he was fishing in and
attacked him without provocation. Not only was the attack savage, there are not
supposed to be grizzly bears in this part of Wyoming. It will take 24 hours
before his dad finds what is left of his body in the waters and bank of the
Twelve Sleep River as it cuts through the Double Diamond Ranch.
In response to a devastated phone call
from the dad, Wyoming Game Warden Joe Pickett comes to Clay Hutmacher out at
the ranch and sees the same horrible scene. No father should ever have found
his son the way he did. It is also clear to Joe that a grizzly is responsible.
Even though there are not supposed to be any grizzlies in the Bighorn Mountains
of North Central Wyoming.
Joe Pickett starts calling in folks and
activating resources. That includes “The Predator Attack Team.” Even though Joe
is an auxiliary member, he is onsite, so he will be fully involved. This is a designated
team of game wardens that have specialized training to deal with large
carnivore attacks. Their mission will be to hunt down the bear and kill it.
First it has to be found. That proves to
me far harder than it would be in a normal situation.
What follows is a complicated and fast-moving
tale as a succession of what seems to be random bear attacks occur locally as
well as across the region. Is it really a grizzly bear? Or, is it something
else and far worse? Could it be both?
That is up to readers to discover in Three-Inch Teeth: A Joe Pickett Novel by C. J. Box. Not only is the latest installment of the series a good one, politics are minimized in this read. Unlike the last novel, Storm Watch, the read here returns to the roots that made this series so good from the first book. The focus in Three-Inch Teeth: A Joe Pickett Novel is on apex predators and staying alive in a read that only partially ties everything up. It is a good one and well worth your time.
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3HXGe3M
My reading copy came from the publisher,
G.P. Putnam's Sons (Penguin Putnam Group), through NetGalley with no expectation
of a review.
Kevin R. Tipple © 2024
Monday, February 26, 2024
Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 75 Writing Contests in March 2024 - No entry fees
Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: The Silent House of Sleep by Allan Gaw
Allan
Gaw is a Scottish physician turned writer. Most of his career has been in
academic medicine as a pathologist and clinical researcher. He worked for the
National Institute for Health Research at the University of Leeds and was
Professor & Director of the Clinical Research Facility at Queen’s
University Belfast. He previously worked at Glasgow University and the
University of Texas Southwestern in Dallas as well as the NHS. In addition
to his twenty-five non-fiction books, he has published over two hundred
articles. He now focuses on poetry and fiction. The
Silent House of Sleep (SA Press, 2023) is his debut novel and is the
first in a new historical medical mystery series.
Told through dual timelines in the early days of
World War I and in the late 1920s, this first book about Dr. John Archibald
Cuthbert, senior pathologist at St. Thomas’s Hospital and senior police surgeon
with the Metropolitan Police, shows his path to becoming the pre-eminent pathologist
of his day and his work on a particularly puzzling homicide case.
Cuthbert’s brutal experiences in the trenches and
the hospital tents of France are realistically and graphically related, along
with the resultant PTSD that afflicts Cuthbert in the present. Cuthbert’s
hard-won knowledge informed his later work as a pathologist and a police
surgeon. Gaw’s notes show he used a number of primary sources in writing these
chapters, framing them with the immediacy, the terror, and the misery of the battlefield.
In this first investigation Freddie Dawson had been
missing for three months by the time his body was found. His parents had given
up on seeing him alive again and the police had stopped looking for him. The
post-mortem showed his remains were interred with those of another corpse. The
description of the painstaking autopsy is clinical in its detail.
Parallel to the forensic analysis, Detective
Inspector Franklin interviewed again everyone who might have seen Dawson before
he disappeared and combed the missing person records to identify the other
corpse. Franklin’s thorough police work and Cuthbert’s scientific research meld
into a complicated explanation for the two deaths, a particularly vicious one that
will make some readers queasy.
Gaw has created an original character in Cuthbert
and has given him some fine support in his Belgian housekeeper and his eager
assistant with the airhead fiancé. Both of these individuals offer potential
for intriguing subplots in future books. Well-written and structured, the dual
timeline was handled skillfully. I skipped some of the medical detail as it was
TMI; Gaw never lets the reader forget that he is a doctor. Fans of Kathy Reich
and Charles Todd will be especially interested in this series.
·
Publisher: SA Press (November 30,
2023)
·
Language: English
·
Paperback: 298 pages
·
ISBN-10: 0956324266
·
ISBN-13: 978-0956324269
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3uBElGX
Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2024
Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.
Sunday, February 25, 2024
Little Big Crimes: Mall Cop Christmas Parade, by Joslyn Chase
SleuthSayers: The Bar
Saturday, February 24, 2024
Scott's Take: The Malevolent Seven by Sebastien De Castell
The Malevolent Seven
by Sebastien De Castell is a complicated book just like all his works. The book
jacket copy describes the read in one way and the actual book tells another. In
the book description, Cade is a mercenary wizard who, after the end of his last
job, pissed off a lot of people. He has now joined his friend Corrigan on a
suicide mission to kill 7 deadly wizards who want to change the world for the
better. Of course, things are a lot more complicated than that.
This book has action, horror, drama, humor, and
lots of dark fantasy elements. This is a world where there are not really any
just rock-solid good guys or good girls. Everybody in the read, just like real
life, are characters that are shades of grey.
As one expects in a book by Sebastien De Castell,
there are plenty of twists, turns and manipulations. My one complaint is that for
a book that supposed to be from the bad guy perspective, the so called “bad
guys” are not as bad as one would expect. They are pretty tame. I was expecting
evil mercenaries, instead I read about people who are troubled and need a good
therapist.
While the book is supposed to be about fighting
the powerful wizards, a good portion of the book is spent on the journey to get
to where the other wizards are gathering. There is also a good portion of the
book spent detailing Cade’s last job before he went on this suicide mission.
While a really good book, The Malevolent Seven by Sebastien De
Castell is not the book I was expecting based on the book jacket copy.
The book offers a route for a possible sequel
should the author choose to do it. I hope that happens.
Amazon Associate deal is not showing correctly so go here to pick it up.
My reading copy from the Downtown, or Central Branch,
of the Dallas Public Library System.
Scott A. Tipple © 2024
Friday, February 23, 2024
A Writer's Life....Caroline Clemmons: PREORDER KEITH AND THE MAIL ORDER BRIDE
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Murderabilia: A History of Crime in 100 Objects by Harold Schechter
Beneath the Stains of Time: Stories of Crime & Detection, vol. 1: The Dr. Britling Stories (2023) by James Ronald
FFB Review: Concealed in Death: In Death Series by J.D. Robb
Long ago the neighborhood
that holds the aging and neglected building was named “Hell’s Kitchen.” In the here and now of 2060, the decrepit
structure is a recent purchase of Roarke’s. He plans to gut the building, rebuild
it, and restore it to its former glory. Roarke has a vision for the old place
and isn’t willing to level it. As has long been established, Roarke has the
money to accomplish anything.
Along with a
crew of workers, the job boss, Pete Staski, and head architect, Nina Whitt,
Roarke is on site. It would be cheaper to tear it all down and start over, but
Roarke is having none of that. Pete suggests that Roarke should take the first
couple of whacks as it is good luck when the boss takes the first demolition
strikes. Roarke agrees and goes to work with two hard blows of the
sledgehammer.
The group
quickly realizes that behind the first wall that was not up to code, was an
inner space to the actual real wall. In that inner space between the two walls
sits two bundles wrapped in plastic. There are literally bodies in the walls.
Roarke alerts
his wife and before long she, Peabody, and others are at the decrepit three-story
building and going to work. While Roarke now owns the building, he has not had
it long, so unlike other cases where he owned the location holding a crime
scene and or knew folks involved, this time his connection is straightforward
and nearly non-existent. He is still going to be very involved.
Roarke’s involvement
will help as the building has been derelict for years since the previous
owners, Nashville Jones, and his sister, Philadelphia Jones, moved out in
September of 2045. They were using the place for a shelter for kids, runaways,
and others, before moving to a new place. The building has been sitting vacant
as a target for squatters, vandals, and thieves that took everything they
possibly could.
It also
served as a graveyard. In addition to the two bodies Roarke found, police
investigators have found ten more skeletons. All twelve are clearly female and
of a young age. Most likely early to mid-teens. The gender and age range that the
place known as “The Sanctuary” took in from May of 2041 to September 2045.
It is up to Lieutenant
Eve Dallas, Peabody, and the team to not only identify the 12 victims in a case
that goes back at least 15 years, but identify the killer or killers. They
could be alive, having escaped for all this time, or the person(s) responsible
could be dead. Nobody knows. What is clear is that the list of unidentified victims
is long and this case is going to take quite some time. Identifying the dead
and notifying the next of kin of each person is step one in what will be a
massive case.
What follows is a complicated police procedural. Having somebody around with massive resources is a huge help, though as always, painstakingly slow and detailed work by the police and others is what actually solves cases. As one always knows in this series, Dallas is going to get answers and some form of justice. The question is how. That certainty that some sort of justice will win out in the end is what makes these reads fun and an escape from the real world.
My Amazon Associate Link: https://amzn.to/3vFT4R5
My reading copy came by way of the Libby/OverDrive App and the Dallas Public Library System.
Kevin R.
Tipple ©2024
Thursday, February 22, 2024
Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 30 Marvelous Writing Conferences and Workshops in March 2024
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Nevermore: Nettle & Bone, Absolution, The Rhine, Lessons in Chemistry
Wednesday, February 21, 2024
MAKE MINE MYSTERY: Time, Fate and Choices
SleuthSayers: Stealing From The Best
Jerry's House of Everything: SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: OH, VALINDA!
Short Story Wednesday Review: Dark Yonder: Issue 2, Spring 2023
After brief
intros by Editors Katy Munger and Eryk Prutt followed by a drink recipe, it is
onto the stories. Noted author S.A. Cosby powerfully kick things off with “A
Song For The Shattered Hearts” Terry has had a really bad week. The kind of
week that country and western songs are written about. At least he still has
fishing and is doing so in a neglected spot on an inlet of the Chesapeake Bay.
As a reader, you know he will catch something. The question is what will it be
and what will the catch lead to.
Sticking around
the club for the free after work drink was a bad idea in “Big Bob’s Donuts At 3
A.M.” by Megan Lucas. She met Teddy, felt a tingle, and felt seen and heard. Meeting
Teddy created a new set of problems in an already hard life.
Jason has a plan
for the old Florida motel in “Chicken Fly Christ” by Joseph Hirsch. Those plans
are going to have to wait as a guest by the name of Craig Sakowitz is being a
difficult check in. He isn’t the only one with problems in the motel.
Eli Tate and
Norris Mapp are twelve years and riding mountain bikes adjacent to a lake. In “Wheelies”
by Recita L. Clemons, they find an injured woman. While she is injured in some
way, they can see blood, she also might be trouble.
He works for
Roy’s Taxi and, over the years, has seen quite a lot more than a thing or two.
He sees more stuff in “I’m Coming To Get You” by Kevin Brown. The good, bad,
and the ugly past flow through this short story.
Tony is an
artist and is dating Kenzie. Things are progressing along their relationship so
he has invited her to his home for the first time in “Bear Hunt” by Warren
Moore. Art and art appreciation drive
the romantic interest in their relationship. But, they may not see art and the
artist the same way.
A child is
missing in “Trayden’s 2!” by Alice Archer. That missing child is just one point
in lot of stuff going on in this complicated story.
Jackson isn’t
having much fun on vacation with his family in “Beach House” by Joe Labriola. This
Memorial Day weekend getaway is a bust, all things considered. At least he
found a hidden spot in a small gully just down from his rented beach house. At
least he could go there and relax if he could just get five minutes to himself.
She likes to
spend intimate time with men who have recently become widowers. She loves their
grief as it makes her feel alive and powerful. In “Grief” by Preston Lang,
Annabel and her obsession with broken men is the final short story.
Each of the
tales presented in Dark Yonder: Issue 2, Spring 2023, is a good one. Noir
is the universal theme and each tale is a dark one. While the setup parameters
might occasionally be familiar to readers, the execution of the premise and how
that is accomplished is what makes these reads work.
As is a first issue, Dark Yonder: Issue 2, Spring 2023, is well worth your time.
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/42NFnMk
My digital reading
copy was a gift from a friend. Yes, Virginia, I do have friends.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2024
Tuesday, February 20, 2024
Jerry's House of Everything: THE CASES OF EDDIE DRAKE: THE MAN WITH THE STOMACH ACHE (1949)
SleuthSayers: Murder, Messy
Monday, February 19, 2024
Little Big Crimes: Mexican Radio, by Pete Barnstrom
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Twilight in Hazard: An Appalachian Reckoning by Alan Maimon
Beneath the Stains of Time: The Meiji Guillotine Murders (1979) by Futaro Yamada
Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: Sleepless City: A Nick Ryan Novel by Reed Farrel Coleman
Reed Farrel Coleman is the New York
Times-bestselling author of 31 novels, short stories, poetry, and essays. He is
a four-time Edgar Award nominee in three different categories: Best Novel, Best
Paperback Original, and Best Short Story. He is a four-time recipient of the
Shamus Award for Best PI Novel of the Year. He has also won the Audie,
Macavity, Barry, and Anthony Awards.
Gus Murphy, one of his private
investigators, is among my favorite contemporary PIs. With only two books so
far, I am holding out hope that we will see more of him. In the meantime
Coleman introduces a new character, Nick Ryan, in Sleepless City
(Blackstone, 2023). Ryan is a New York police detective known for his ability
to think on his feet and to stay calm under pressure. These traits are the
reason he’s been chosen by an unnamed group to deal with apparently unsolvable
problems within the police force.
His first assignment is to find a way
to defuse an accidental shooting that will otherwise set a match to the powder
keg of racial tensions in the city. While his fast thinking smoothed over the
situation, an enthusiastic but inexperienced reporter could tell the full story
had not been told and she focused on Ryan as the answer to her questions. She
began to follow him and became enmeshed with his behind-the-scenes activity, to
everyone’s dismay.
Another fine book from a skilled storyteller.
Inventive plot, even pacing, original characters. I especially liked a couple
of the secondary characters: The bartender on the run from the fallout of his
participation in the Irish Troubles and the Pulitzer-winning journalist who is
now running his own weekly newspaper. I am looking forward to the next in the
series!
·
Publisher: Blackstone Publishing,
Inc. (July 11, 2023)
·
Language: English
·
Hardcover: 321 pages
·
ISBN-10: 1982627476
· ISBN-13: 978-1982627478
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3OMWXL0
Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2024
Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works
on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.
Sunday, February 18, 2024
Bitter Tea and Mystery: Tokyo Express: Seicho Matsumoto
Sample Sunday: Excerpt from "Visions of Reality" in Crimeucopia-Say It Again
Back a month ago, Mysterious Ink Press
released the anthology, Crimeucopia-Say It Again. The book includes my
short story, Visions of Reality. The story is based on an idea I came up with
while working at Bookstop back in the late 80s. I thought I would give you a
small sample of the tale today. If you like what you read, and I hope you do, you
can get the book from Mysterious
Press Ink, Amazon, and other vendors.
VISIONS OF REALITY
“Look,
John, I just want you to shelve the product.” Mr. Phillpots, the store manager,
pointed with his black pen, jabbing the air for emphasis as he added, “A book
is a book. Nothing more. No deep meanings. Just get them out there. Got
it?"
“Books
aren’t a product like a sack of potatoes, Mr. Phillpots. They mean much more.
All books aren’t equal. Some of that stuff is just trash.”
This
was a losing proposition because the man had no soul. How do you explain such a
concept to a non-book lover? It was
hopeless, and instead of being a good and loyal yes man, I had tilted at the
windmill again.
In
annoyance, Phillpots tossed the pen down on the desk and rocked back in his
expensive orthopedic chair. A chair that
he wouldn't need if he actually did something useful and worked the sales floor
like the rest of us. The money saved could have been used to fix the aging air
conditioning system that was losing the ongoing war with the brutal Texas
summer heat. After staring at me for what seemed forever, he started shaking
his head like I was a bad dog that had made a mess on the carpet.
“Listen,
I know you’ve been having,” his pudgy fingers made the obligatory quotation
marks, “some emotional problems lately.” He paused for a moment, his beady
little eyes gauging my reaction. My face burned in embarrassment and I shifted
slightly in the chair. Phillpots lowered his voice in an attempt to be
comforting and supportive; reminding me of how my calls to the employee hotline
had been handled. “It’s okay, really. I’ve thought for a long time you needed
help. I’m very glad you’re getting it. So, let’s make this simple.” He paused
and then did that stupid little nod he always did right before he issued one of
his edicts. “While you’re here at work, I just want you to do what you’re told.
Just put the product on the shelf. Don’t think about it. The books aren't alive
or anything. They are just product. They can’t hurt you at all. All you have to
do is put the books on the shelf. Just do it.”
The
room spun and then steadied shakily as I realized he knew about me seeing the
doctor. He probably knew all about the dreams and everything else. My life was
not my own or private.
When
the dreams started I tried to ignore them. That just made everything worse.
They got more and more vivid, so real that it was as if I was living them. Then
something happened and I started seeing things when I was awake—or, at least,
when I thought I was awake. I wasn't sure anymore when I was awake and when I
was asleep. Everyone else swore they didn’t see what I did.
Finally,
my primary doctor had insurance approval and sent me to a therapist. I didn’t
get better. I just quit talking to people about what I saw. They all thought I
was crazy. Why give them proof?
Everything
was supposed to be covered by patient/doctor confidentiality. If Phillpots
knew, who else did? It would have been
cheaper to advertise my mental state in the paper.
“Well?”
he asked.
Oh,
great. Not only was I classified as a nut job in his mind and no doubt by now
in the employee records, but now he also knew I hadn’t been listening. Playing
for time, I shrugged.
“Well,
okay then.”
Phillpots
shifted through his papers, picked up his pen, and went back to work. After about half a minute or so, he stopped
and stared at me. He blinked twice as if he thought his beady little eyes were
lying to him. He pulled off his glasses and leaned forward, being sure to make
eye contact just like the employee manual said on page nine. His voice was
angry calm but one could hear the traces of New England in it which always came
through when he was stressed.
Moving
to Texas had been a culture shock in more ways than one for him. I wasn't sure
if it was because Texas wasn't as it was portrayed in the media, or that those
of us who were native Texans saw the world differently than a transplanted
Yankee. Sometimes I felt a little sorry for him. Those moments were fleeting
and far between, as I had been called into his office way too often since he
took over seven weeks ago. The man certainly did like to hear himself talk.
“So,
John, go out there and shelve Romance and Horror. Alphabetize them while you’re
at it. You’re one of the few people I’ve got who can read and knows the
alphabet. Such a rarity here. Remember to police and face out any title that
has four copies or more. Not three. Four.” He tried for a half-smile that once
again reminded me of a constipated rat with a load of cheese. “Make it look
good out there.”
I
stiffened in my seat and swallowed hard. He knew how I felt about those books.
There was something wrong with them. They had a power over me. I gulped for air
and tried to speak, but he wasn’t going to give me the chance.
“Do it
or quit,” boomed Phillpots. "Get out of here and decide while you work."
Quitting
wasn’t an option. I nodded and got
myself together enough to rise from the chair and stumble out of his office,
pulling the door shut behind me. Kathy was waiting outside in the short
hallway. She smirked at me while I moved by her. I wondered how much she had
overheard and then realized it really didn’t matter because she did all the
records for him.
Horror
and Romance—the twin seducers—and I had to shelve them. It was as if those
books spoke to me, pulling me in. The therapist said there was a simple
explanation. I was disassociating from the real world or some such nonsense.
The answer was, of course, medication. Take the little happy pill and all would
be fine. I hadn’t noticed any difference. Maybe I needed the large-sized happy
pill.
Kevin
R. Tipple ©2024
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