Senior News-- April 2013 Column

For some time now I have been writing a monthly book review column for the Senior News newspaper. The Senior News is aimed to the 50 and over crowd with news relevant to seniors regarding various issues, humor pieces, and my review column among other things. The newspaper is a giveaway at doctor offices, stores, etc. and can be received by mail via a paid subscription. There are multiple editions across the state of Texas and therefore there is some fluctuation in content in each edition.

My column every month focuses on books of interest to the Texas audience. Therefore the books selected for the column, fiction or non-fiction, are written by Texas residents, feature Texans in some way, or would have some other connection to the Texas based readership. At least two books are covered each month in the short space I am given.

Below is/was my April 2013 column with the addition here of the relevant book covers……

Caddo Cold: A Bill Travis Mystery

George Wier

Flagstone Books

2012

E-Book

ASIN: B007Z9IVUU

Estimated print length 167 pages

The seventh in the series finds Bill Travis once again trying to help a client who has also become a friend. When Holt Gatlin went off the roof of the defunct theater in Karnack, Texas he hit the ground hard.  Everyone knows he was lucky to not break his neck. He did break his arm, wrist, leg, and several ribs. That does not explain why he is so upset about something that happened at Caddo Lake decades ago so Travis tries to find answers.

Caddo Cold  is the latest in a series that is part mystery, part thriller, and all adventure. Like in Slow Falling there is a definite pulp angle to the tale and a clear appreciation of them by author George Weir. As a result this is a book that is filled with missing bodies, secret scientific research, and secret military experiments. That along with a complicated mystery makes this another very good one in the series. While it certainly could be read as a stand alone, it is much better to read these books in series order starting with The Last Call.

From Hospital to Home Care: A Step by Step Guide to Providing Care to Patients Post Hospitalization

Kathy N. Johnson, James H. Johnson, and Lily Sarafan

Home Care Assistance, Inc. (Home Care Press)

2012

ISBN# 978-1-4675-0180-4

Paperback (also available as e-book)

166 Pages

Published by Home Care Assistance, Inc., From Hospital to Home Care: A Step by Step Guide to Providing Care to Patients Post Hospitalization is designed to provide readers the information they need for a variety of situations when a loved one needs help to stay in his or her home. This book is designed for readers who are totally unfamiliar at any level with the discharge and home health care process so readers with this knowledge will find little in the book to assist them. The book is in sections that relate to those involved in the discharge process, dealing with various diseases, and resources available to you from the company publishing the book.

Written in very general terms From Hospital to Home Care: A Step by Step Guide to Providing Care to Patients Post Hospitalization features chapters that are short and very general in nature thus barely scratching the surface in most cases. Readers who have a need for deeper knowledge, especially in terms of the various chronic disease situations covered in the book, will need to look elsewhere.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2013

Review: "Caddo Cold: A Bill Travis Mystery" by George Wier

The seventh in the series finds Bill Travis once again trying to help a client who has also become a friend. A familiar pattern in these novels and one that played out in the first book The Last Call. That resulted, among other things, in a marriage to Julie, and a number of children. Neither will happen with Travis trying to help Holt Gatlin.

When Holt Gatlin went off the roof of the defunct theater in Karnack, Texas he hit the ground hard.  Everyone knows he was lucky to not break his neck. What hardly anyone besides Bill Travis knows is that Holt is not only lucky he is also two million dollars richer thanks to a recent stock split and some fast stock trades orchestrated by Travis. It helps to have a man handling your bank accounts who knows what he is doing. Travis needs to update Holt and finally tracks him down to a hospital in Marshall where he learns the elderly man has a broken arm, broken wrist, and three cracked ribs, and a severely broken leg.

Holt is busted up pretty good and for good reason. That doesn’t explain the strange comments from Holt about something happening out at Caddo Lake fifty years ago. Something bad happened out there one night in 1960 and clearly it has haunted Holt ever since. Before Travis can find out what happened, Holt starts crying and ends the call by hanging up.

Before long Bill and his college bound daughter Jessica are headed towards Holt’s hospital room in Marshall to find some answers. As Christmas approaches, answers will be hard to come by in a case that moves along the shores and deep into Caddo Lake. It isn’t just the weather causing things to be cold and deadly.

“Caddo Cold” is the latest in a series that is part mystery, part thriller, and all adventure. Like in Slow Falling there is a definite pulp angle to the tale and a clear appreciation of them by author George Weir. As a result this is a book that is filled with missing bodies, secret scientific research, and secret military experiments. That along with a complicated mystery makes this another very good one in the series. While it certainly could be read as a stand alone, it is much better to read these books in series order starting with The Last Call.

Caddo Cold: A Bill Travis Mystery

George Wier

http://www.georgewier.com

Flagstone Books

April 2012

E-Book

(Estimated print length 167 pages)

$3.99

Material provided by the author in exchange for my objective review.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2012

Author of the e-book short story collection Mind Slices available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords in a variety of formats. Contributor to the Carpathian Shadows, Volume II anthology available in print and e-book.