Wednesday, February 12, 2025
Beneath the Stains of Time: The Case of the Phantom Fingerprints (1945) by Kendell Foster Crossen
Bitter Tea and Mystery: Short Story Wednesday: Fishy Business, ed. by Linda Rodriguez
George Kelly: WEDNESDAY’S SHORT STORIES #212: MURDER MOST ROMANTIC: PASSIONATE TALES OF LIFE AND DEATH Edited by Martin H. Greenberg & Denise Little
Jerry's House of Everything WEDNESDAY: WHITE-MAN-DEVIL
Short Story Wednesday Review: Eleven Numbers: A Short Story by Lee Child
Eleven Numbers: A Short Story
by Lee Child is something far different than one would expect from the author
of the legendary Jack Reacher series. Instead, this quick read is all about
math and mathematician Nathan Tyler. But, as the publisher synopsis makes
clear, spy stuff is also at work here.
Despite the advice from the airline, the State
Department, and his boss, Nathan Tyler is headed to Russia for a mathematics conference. Tyler is sure that the Russians value and respect
math. He is sure that the conference will an island of calm in a sea of chaos
and noise. Besides, he is a man on a mission and operating on a need-to-know
basis and other folks do not need to know everything that is in his head.
Of course, things go sideways. The questions are twofold.
How did they go sideways? Is he going to get home, alive and in one piece?
Recommended.
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3Q78zIZ
My reading copy came by way of a digital ARC, made available by the publisher, Amazon Original Stories, through NetGalley, after the publication date earlier this month.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2025
Tuesday, February 11, 2025
SleuthSayers: Broke, Drunk, and Horny
Review: Passions in Death: In Death Series by J. D. Robb
The 59th book in the series, Passions in Death,
takes readers back to the Down and Dirty club where three years earlier, Dallas
and friends spent a wild night. What was supposed to be a pre wedding party for
Dallas was interrupted with a killer trying to kill Dallas the night before the
wedding. The fact that she survived the violent encounter is already on her
mind as her and Roarke walk into the club.
It is three years and a little more later since that
night and on this August 2061 night another bridal wedding party has been
interrupted. This time, Erin Albright, has been murdered just before her
wedding to Shauna Hunnicut. She was murdered in the same back room where Dallas
fought for her life. Erin Albright was killed by a garrote around her neck.
This isn’t the first time the past has haunted
Dallas. It certainly does so here, as Lieutenant Dallas of the NYPSD, Detective
Peabody, and others work the case with occasional valuable assistance from
Roarke. The club, and the people that own it, make things personal for all
involved. As if they need that extra motivation.
Another fast and enjoyable read in the long running
series.
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/422v6xQ
My LARGE PRINT reading copy came from the Arcadia
Park Branch of the Dallas Public Library System.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2025
Monday, February 10, 2025
Little Big Crimes: The Guardianship of Willie Musselburgh, by Kevin Egan
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Gone Away by Hazel Holt
Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: Someone to Blame by J. J. Green
J.J. Green is
an Irish writer from Donegal and lives in Derry. She’s always been a writer and
has honed her creative writing skills throughout her adult life. As a social
and environmental activist, she also writes political essays for ZNetwork that
mainly focus on economic and environmental injustice. Unfortunately there is an
Australian sci-fi writer of the same name so their books can be mixed up on
Goodreads and similar sites.
Someone to
Blame
(Book Guild Publishing, 2024) provides a modern twist on the time-honored
poison pen plot, one of my favorite mystery tropes. Shay Dunne lives in the
Irish village of Kilcross, where everyone knows everyone else and knows their
business too. She has had a hard life, raising her son alone because his father
was forbidden by his family to marry her. But fate keeps delivering blows, and
this last one is just more than she can take. She is angry and she is upset and
she is determined to make someone pay for the wrongs she has suffered.
She selects
the two people she most believes at fault and she writes a carefully vague but
threatening anonymous letter to each of them. Printing it on plain white paper
that she handles with gloves and using the same laser printer to address the
envelopes, she is faultlessly careful to not leave anything traceable to her.
She mails them, not in the claustrophobic small village where they all live,
but in the closest town and sits back to wait. As might be expected, events
unfold unpredictably while rumors and accusations fly in all directions.
It's hard to
say much about this book without giving some of the key plot elements away.
Green writes very well and she has created a sympathetic character in Shay
Dunne. Even when her judgment is most flawed, it’s hard not to root for her
anyway. Deeply sad in some places, plot twists keep the action moving and I was
enthralled all the way through the satisfying ending. Recommended!
·
Publisher: Book Guild Publishing (October
18, 2024)
·
Language: English
·
Paperback: 328 pages
·
ISBN-10: 183574060X
·
ISBN-13: 978-1835740606
Amazon
Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/41425kj
Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2025
Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.
Sunday, February 09, 2025
Beneath the Stains of Time: Murder Reeks: "John Archer's Nose" (1935) by Rudolph Fisher
Joan Leotta Reviews: Killing Time: An Agatha Raisin Mystery (Agatha Raisin Mysteries)
Please
welcome author Joan Leotta back to the blog today…
Killing
Time: An Agatha Raisin Mystery (Agatha Raisin Mysteries) Hardcover –
October 8, 2024
by M. C. Beaton (Author), R.W. Green (Author)
Review
By Joan Leotta
Yes,
M.C. Beaton, aka Marion Chesney, did leave this world for the next in 2019.
However, she wanted her two series protagonists, Agatha Raisin, and Hamish
MacBeth to continue to have adventures and
solve mysteries even after she would no longer be able to wield a pen.
To that end, late in her life, she invited R.W. Green to become the author of these
mystery series. She put Green through rigorous training in the ways and whiles of
her characters and her various plot techniques..
This
fourth Agatha Raisin installment by Green—Killing Time—shows he
has indeed mastered
the
elements readers expect while also developing the characters in directions true
to their Beaton-given nature, but with a bit of his own experience to further
enrich our entertainment and their arc.
Raisin is an especially difficult character to write because she requires a delicate balance of feisty, hard-nosed, irascible, yet with enough vulnerability to elicit enough empathy from readers to make them care about what happens to her and even cheer her on in her adventures.
This entry into the canon takes Agatha temporarily out of the Cotswolds to Pollonsea in Mallorca, for her to meet with her newest love interest, a retired cop turned cruise line dance instructor, John Clarke. Never fear, Killing Time is stepped in Cotswold lore and the hiatus at the sea is not a diversion, but also proves to be another important strand in the unraveling of the mystery.
The novel begins with an ordinary investigation into robberies in the area. Then, ever susceptible to flattery, Agatha, in spite of a full schedule, is talked into managing an area-wide festival for charity in support of an old friend’s winery venture. After deciding that a charity auction would attract large spenders, Agatha approaches a local antique dealer who takes Agatha to an auction. At the auction Agatha falls in love—with a clock. After a viscous bidding war, she purchases a gaudy antique clock, paying far more than it’s evaluated worth. Learning that the clock does not work, the dealer offers to take it to his shop for her to have his brother, a clock savant of sorts to examine it for her.
The situation takes an urgent turn and the pace of the novel ramps up when that same antique dealer is murdered, and her clock is the only thing missing from his shop. In the usual wonderful way of these novels, Agatha, with the help of the ever-lovely Toni and others from her Detective agency staff, finds connections between various people, the clock, and other events in the area. In the midst of the action, wanting to take a break from all the stress, Agatha decamps for a brief jaunt to Mallorca to meet John, her new love interest when his ship docks and he will have a few days off from his dance instruction duties. However, upon landing there, her hopes for a continuing and true romance with ex-cop John are shattered and she decamps to the lovely Pollonsea in another part of the Island until it is time for her to return home.
The plot process and action along with some occasional petulance on Agatha’s part are a delight as always. I reveled in the descriptions of this new place in Mallorca as well as the usual entanglements and hijinks and was totally captivated by the ending. And yes, the antique timepiece at the center of the mystery becomes a character in itself—well done, Mr. Green!
All of these threads are skillfully embroidered into the fabric of the tale with a solution that covers all of the crimes, and the issues Agatha had with John. As always, Agatha’s sharp mind is the needle that works out the solution from these seemingly disparate threads.
Is there a happy conclusion? Well, I will leave that for you to discover but I will say this--future tension with her old beau Charles this time leaves promising himself to try to win Agatha back instead of the more often seen reverse situation.
In short, this is fast -paced and fun read. I finished this installment on one dismal afternoon and put it down with a smile. If you crave a mystery with a side of smiles, seek out the Raisin Mysteries. Agatha plows ahead with all her usual intelligence, cupidity, and bluster even after her creator’s demise. Although I always enjoy a series in order, this book works as a single read so pick up Killing Time if you have some time on your hands. Note well: if you possess a gaudy antique clock, you might want to start researching its history.
Five stars
Amazon
Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/416SiKb
Joan
Leotta ©2025
Joan Leotta plays with words on page and stage. Her poetry, essays, cnf, short stories, and articles are widely published. Mysteries are favorite things to read.. short and long.. and to write.
Saturday, February 08, 2025
Review News 2/2 to 2/8/2025
This past week on the blog review wise….
Today, Scott reviewed FANTASTIC
FOUR BY RYAN NORTH VOL. 4: FORTUNE FAVORS THE FANTASTIC by Ryan North
(Author), Carlos Gomez (Illustrator), Ivan Fiorelli (Illustrator), and Alex
Ross (Cover Art).
https://kevintipplescorner.blogspot.com/2025/02/scotts-take-fantastic-four-by-ryan.html
Thursday, I reviewed Random
in Death: An Eve Dallas Novel by J.D. Robb.
https://kevintipplescorner.blogspot.com/2025/02/review-random-in-death-eve-dallas-novel.html
Wednesday, Scott reminded
you of the novella, The Builders by Daniel Polansky/
https://kevintipplescorner.blogspot.com/2025/02/short-story-wednesday-review-builders.html
Tuesday, I reviewed Robert
B. Parker’s Buried Secrets: A Jesse Stone Novel by Christopher
Farnsworth
https://kevintipplescorner.blogspot.com/2025/02/publication-day-review-robert-b-parkers.html
Monday brought the latest
review by Aubrey Nye Hamilton as she reviewed, An Excellent Thing in a
Woman by Allison Montclair.
https://kevintipplescorner.blogspot.com/2025/02/aubrey-nye-hamilton-reviews-excellent.html
Last Sunday, Don Crouch returned to the blog with his review of Karma Doll by Jonathan
Ames.
https://kevintipplescorner.blogspot.com/2025/02/don-crouch-reviews-karma-doll-by.html
Stay up to date by following the blog and get reviews,
news, and other posts as they go live, by subscribing by way of the Follow-It
app over on the left side of this blog.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2025
KRL Update 2/8/2025
We have a lot of Valentine's fun up this week! Up on KRL this week we have a review and giveaway of "Chocolate Can Be Deadly" by Kim Davis, along with a recipe from Kim perfect for your Valentine's Day celebration! https://kingsriverlife.com/02/08/chocolate-can-be-deadly-by-kim-davis/
Mystery Fanfare: SUPER BOWL CRIME FICTION AND OTHER FOOTBALL MYSTERIES: Super Bowl Sunday!
Bitter Tea and Mystery: Two Reviews: Japanese Literature Challenge
Scott's Take: FANTASTIC FOUR BY RYAN NORTH VOL. 4: FORTUNE FAVORS THE FANTASTIC by Ryan North (Author), Carlos Gomez (Illustrator), Ivan Fiorelli (Illustrator), and Alex Ross (Cover Art)
FANTASTIC FOUR BY RYAN NORTH VOL. 4: FORTUNE FAVORS THE FANTASTIC by Ryan North (Author), Carlos Gomez (Illustrator), Ivan Fiorelli (Illustrator), and Alex Ross (Cover Art) is the fourth volume in the Ryan North Fantastic Four run, but could be read as the first. Most of the tales in this run are pretty stand alone. In this book, Franklin Richards’ secret is uncovered, the heroes are put in a noir style Elseworld, The Thing and the Human Torch compete against each other to be the best grocery store employee, and then in the last two issues, the Fantastic Four faces vampires in a Blood Hunt tie in. This volume collects issues 18-22. Each tale is very different except for the last two vampire ones.
The art is great and very fitting for each tale. I read each issue in Marvel Unlimitied. Franklin Richards’ issue is a disaster movie. Franklin Richards (is the reality warping son of Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman) and, allegedly, has no powers now. The noir episode is fun if you like that stuff. The grocery issue is a comedy. The Fantastic Four vampire issues are action packed and full of bloody violence. Each issue for the most part has its own feel except for the last two. Ryan North still maintains a great understanding of each character and so far I think his run is the best for beginners new to the Fantastic Four.
Blood Hunt for those who have read it know that the ending has major implications for the future of this series. FANTASTIC FOUR VOL. 5: ALIENS, GHOSTS AND ALTERNATE EARTHS by Ryan North (Author), Carlos Gomez (Illustrator), Ivan Fiorelli (Illustrator), Marvel Various (Illustrator), and Alex Ross (Cover Art), is the next volume and will come out on April 15th and collects issues 23-27. I am currently on issue 26 through Marvel Unlimited. So far, each issue is very scifi heavy as the team deals with some of the aftermath of Blood Hunt.
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/40mgrLp
This material was read by way of the Marvel Unlimited App.
Scott A. Tipple ©2025
Friday, February 07, 2025
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: The Bog Wife by Kay Chronister
Jerry's House of Everything: FORGOTTEN BOOK: DIRTY MONEY
Thursday, February 06, 2025
Review: Random in Death: An Eve Dallas Novel by J.D. Robb
Growing up, my
parents always cautioned against us kids about going to clubs or concerts. They
were convinced they were places where bad things happened. Probably why I have
never been to a rock concert and did not club much. If they were alive to read Random
in Death: An Eve Dallas Novel by J.D. Robb, they would say it proves
their point.
Jenna Harbough
and her friends were having a blast hearing the rock band, Avenue A. at their
concert at Club Rock It. Jenna is 16, a budding musician and singer, and she is
having the greatest night of her life. Jake Kincade, leader of the band, saw
her and smiled directly at her. She has a demo disc in her purse and hopes to
get it to him that night. She knows she is good and the band started at her age
too.
She’s talking
to her friends, LeeLee and Chelsea, when something stings her arm. In pain and
holding her arm, she turns and sees some guy grin at her as he flips her off.
Before she can say anything, he disappears into the crowd. Within seconds, she
feels off. She feels like she is overheated and will throw up. She soon is dead
in the alley as Jake Kincade holds her in her last moments. The same Jake
Kincade that is dating Nadine Hurst, a huge television news star in New York
City.
The same Nadine
Hurst who is friends with the Lieutenant Eve Dallas, Homicide, of the New York
Police and Security Division. Nadine sees the mark on the girl’s arm and is
sure that this dead girl is not a junkie. She knows they need help and they
need the best. She contacts. of Dallas.
It was Saturday
evening and that mean a vid, popcorn, and sex with her husband Roarke. It may
or may not have been in that order. The fact that on this summer 2061 Saturday
night that Summerset, Roarke’s major-domo and serious annoyance, is out of the
house, the possibilities were huge. It is almost 11 and Roarke and Dallas were
starting a bout of intimacy when Nadine calls.
Dallas starts
the process of having cops and others respond to the scene. Soon, Roarke and
Dallas are also there. He probably would have gone with her anyway, but he owns
the building, and has some knowledge of the club and the folks that run it. He can
also drive while she starts running things from the car.
While designed
to look like am overdose, Dallas is not so sure. Besides, she has a personal
interest as Nadine and Jake are involved. It also does not take long to
conclude it was murder.
It also is not
the first.
As the hours
tick by Dallas, Roarke, Peabody, and the whole gang are in a race to stop a
killer or killers who are targeting young people in crowded musical venues. It
is summer and concerts galore. That means plenty of targets that are going to be
potential victims in Random in Death: An Eve Dallas Novel by J.D.
Robb.
While all the
usual writing quirks still happen in this installment of the long running
series, they also soon fall away in the rush of the story. A story that twists
and turns and is not as predictable as one might have thought in the beginning.
A solidly good read to escape the constant stings of a real world that has
seemingly gone mad in so many ways.
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3Ynb3Ib
My reading copy came by way of the OverDrive/Libby App and the Dallas Public Library System.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2025
Wednesday, February 05, 2025
The Short Mystery Fiction Society Blog: January News from the Short Mystery Fiction Society
Lesa's Book Critiques: Kills Well with Others by Deanna Raybourn
SleuthSayers: Stay Out of my Head
Beneath the Stains of Time: The Riddle of the Ravens (2024) by J.S. Savage
Jerry's House of Everything: SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: THE HAUNTED ORGANIST OF HURLY BURLY
Patricia Abbott: Short Story Wednesday: From THE NEW YORKER, "My Friend, Pinnochio" David Rabe
Patricia Abbott: Short Story Wednesday: From THE NEW YORKER, "My Friend, Pinnochio" David Rabe
Short Story Wednesday Review: The Builders by Daniel Polansky
From the massive archive….
The Builders
by Daniel Polansky is a novella about a group of mercenary animals on a mission
of revenge. Led by a mouse, they are going after the ones who betrayed them
years ago, which led them to lose the country they were fighting for and
defending.
This rather dark and violent fantasy tale is very
good. My biggest problem with it is that I wished there was more. One gets a
good sense of the characters, but I wanted a longer read to really flesh out
the characters. Each character is very diverse and reflective of the type of
animal they are. Their fighting styles and personality are heavily based on
what animal they are.
The Captain, depicted on the cover as a scarred
mouse, uses his ability to predict behavior of others to keep the group alive.
As he is naturally prey for some predators, he is very good at anticipating the
actions of the predators in this novella. The rest of the group includes a
stoat, a mole, an owl, a lizard, and more, are very different from each other
and each has his or her own unique and helpful skill. This grim tale was very
enjoyable for this reader despite the short length, but the ending is incredibly
depressing.
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/40LdUdA
My copy came from the Central or Downtown Branch of
the Dallas Public Library System.
Scott A. Tipple ©2021, 2025
Tuesday, February 04, 2025
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: New Books in February!
SleuthSayers: Good news!
Publication Day Review: Robert B. Parker’s Buried Secrets: A Jesse Stone Novel by Christopher Farnsworth
Robert B. Parker’s Buried Secrets: A
Jesse Stone Novel by Christopher Farnsworth is a breath of
fresh air. This book in the long running Jesse Stone series reads like a Jesse
Stone novel. One forgets that this is not done by Robert B. Parker and
that is a very good thing.
The Paradise Police Department is very short handed.
The normal situation has been made worse by the fact that three officers are
out with Covid. Things are so bad that Molly Crane is working dispatch and
Chief Jesse Stone has been doing patrols. After a long day, Jesse is looking
forward to going home. Instead, after some back and forth with Molly, Jesse
heads to an address for a welfare check.
On arrival, he finds a young man by the name of
Matthew Peebles. He is a bit agitated and explains that the man inside the
aging house is a friend of his parents. His mane is Phil Burton. Mr. Peebles
says he and Phil Burton talk by phone on a semi regular basis and that he comes
out from the city (New York City) now and then to visit and check on him as he
is elderly. He says that he has not heard from him in awhile and is worried.
Jesse manages to eventually get inside the house through
the back as a sliding glass door is partially open. It is very clear as he
steps inside that Mr. Burton is a very serious hoarder. At least, he was. He clearly
been dead on his couch for quite some time.
Jesse makes his way back out of the house with the
intention of breaking the news to Mr. Peebles and alerting the coroner, having
the house cleared out, and more. Once he gets to the front of the house, he
realizes that Mr. Peebles is long gone.
Soon Luther “Suitcase” Simpson arrives and he and
Jesse go back into the house. Everything in the massive piles of stuff in the
house is very unstable. Simpson accidentally brushes a tower of carboard boxes
and the tower collapses and falls spilling some of the boxes open. Other stuff
slides around them making walking very difficult. When Simpson regains his
footing, Jesse spots a polaroid picture on the floor.
It, and many more that can now be seen, showcase
what appears to be dead people at various locations and conditions. Whatever
Phil Burton was involved with, it was bad.
As that investigation gets underway, Jesse also
welcomes the newest officer, Derek Tate, to the force. This was a hire forced
on him by the Mayor, Gary Armistead, and Jesse isn’t totally comfortable with him.
Due to the workload in recent days, Jesse has not been able to do a deep dive
into him as much as he would with any new officer. On paper he looks good. But,
there was an incident when he worked in Philadelphia.
Tate owned up to it, expressed some remorse, and
claims to want a fresh start in Paradise, Massachusetts. Paradise certainly was
a fresh start for Jesse many years ago and it could be for Tate as well. So, he
brings him onboard and puts him out on patrol unsupervised as Tate has experience.
It does not take a rocket scientist to know that things are not going to go
well.
What follows is a fast moving read as Jesse deals
with the Burton investigation, Tate and his version of police work, and other
personal and professional issues. The author does a masterful job of pulling
the reader along at a fast clip in the Jesse Stone world. It has been some time
since an author could make the characters in the series come alive in the right
voice and Mr. Farnsworth definitely pulls that off in Robert B. Parker’s
Buried Secrets: A Jesse Stone Novel.
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/42WtvtV
My reading copy came from the publisher, G.P. Putnam's Sons, by way of NetGalley with no expectation of a review.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2025
Monday, February 03, 2025
The Practicing Writer: Markets and Jobs for Writers 2/3/2025
Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: An Excellent Thing in a Woman by Allison Montclair
Alan Gordon
is turning out one fine book after another in his historical mystery series
about two women at loose ends after the end of World War II. Gordon is a retired
lawyer, author, lyricist, and librettist, who is no stranger to the demands of
writing a convincing historical mystery series. Between 1999 and 2010 he wrote
eight well-reviewed books in the Fool’s Guild mysteries, set in early 13th century Europe.
Under the
name Allison Montclair, Gordon chose a completely different time and place for his current
series. He created two compelling characters: Miss Iris Sparks, formerly of Cambridge
and an intelligence unit, and Mrs. Gwendolyn Bainbridge, widow of an Air Force
pilot from an aristocrat family. Both of them are looking for a fresh start
when they meet and decide to form an agency to facilitate marriage among the
lonely and unattached members of the London populace, a group to which they
belong. The series earns consistent acclaim from critics and readers alike.
In the seventh title An Excellent
Thing in a Woman (Severn House, 2025) Sally (Salvatore) Danielli, Iris’s
long-time friend, has found work with the BBC and the new medium of television.
He sends one of his new coworkers to Iris and Gwen for matrimonial assistance. Unfortunately
both of them come under suspicion when a dancer from Paris is found strangled
in a BBC props storage room.
The plot reaches deep into the past
of several characters, including Iris, and their wartime service, reminding the
reader that the war for many was not far away. As usual, Iris and Gwen swing
into action to rescue their friends and clients. Their growing confidence in
each other’s support is one of the deeply attractive aspects of the running
story line, as is their amusing chatter. I found the details about the budding television
industry of the late 1940s of especial interest. Gwen purchased a
state-of-the-art model for her home with an impressive 12-inch screen. The
installation of the rooftop antenna fascinated the neighborhood.
With this title, publication of this
series transfers to Severn House. I am sorry that Minotaur did not see the
value of retaining this popular and historically accurate series. I hope that
Gordon and his agent find a way to keep it in print for years to come.
·
Publisher: Severn House; Main edition
(February 4, 2025)
·
Language: English
·
Hardcover: 224 pages
·
ISBN-10: 144831237X
·
ISBN-13: 978-1448312375
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3CJtqyG
Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2025
Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.
Sunday, February 02, 2025
Little Big Crimes: Shadow of the Badger, by Steve Hockensmith
Don Crouch Reviews: Karma Doll by Jonathan Ames
Please welcome back Don Crouch to the blog…
The Happy Doll series
by Jonathan Ames is the best PI series that you aren’t reading.
Trust me on this.
Karma Doll
finds poor Happy Doll in Mexico, attempting to recover from the explosive
events of the previous book, The
Wheel of Doll.
In short order, he is required to once again violate
the Buddhist principles he amusingly tries to live by, within his own
semi-addictive limits…he’s trying to not kill people, see…let’s just say he
fails miserably.
Ames, who also created the classic HBO series, BORED
TO DEATH, is in solid form, as Happy careens through the steps necessary to
keep breathing and maybe re-establish his life in LA.
The book is, by turns, thrilling, funny and
contemplative.
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4jDGG8G
Don Crouch ©2025