Showing posts with label March 2020. Show all posts
Showing posts with label March 2020. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 31, 2020
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: The Testament of Loki by Joanne M. Harris
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: The Testament of Loki by Joanne M. Harris: Reviewed by Jeanne I have always had a fondness for Norse mythology dating back to my elementary school days which was nevermind...
Review: Less Than a Moment: A Posadas County Mystery by Steven F. Havill
Less Than a Moment: A Posadas County Mystery by Steven F. Havill is
the latest installment in a series that began long ago with Heartshot.
This is a series where characters age, relationships evolve over time, and
always present is the stark beauty of Posadas County, New Mexico. That aspect,
a distinct and deep appreciation of setting, is always raised to a level that
is its own constant presence in the series. The setting is a character in its
own right. Sometimes the desert country is front and center in the tales and
other times it is more of a backdrop to the mystery and the crimes that are
happening.
In this case, the desert country is very much in the forefront of
the read as is the legendary “NightZone” development. Designed to bring
tourists as well as scientists to an astronomy based scientific installation in
the New Mexico desert, it is home to various telescopes aimed at the wonders of
the heavens above. There are frequent detailed references to the events in Come Dark: The Posadas County
Mysteries published in 2016. Readers are encouraged to, at the very least, read
that book before embarking on this read.
Undersheriff Estelle Reyes-Guzman has a lot going on this Friday
morning in late May. That includes a meeting out at Night Zone with Miles Waddell,
owner and financial backer of NightZone. That meeting will also include
Frank Dayan, publisher of the local paper, and Kyle Thompson. Kyle Thompson,
through a development company, has purchased a massive amount of acreage that
abuts the NightZone project and rumors are swirling as to what will be
built on the property. Thompson is not a local and no one knows what his
intentions are which is causing stress among the locals. That includes the many
folks who now rely on the NightZone project for good jobs.
What will be built is very important to Waddell as he has spent
millions and millions of dollars on the project. His entire development is
designed to avoid all outdoor lighting of any type on the mesa it sits on or on
the surrounding land. Everything has been meticulously designed to preserve the
dark night skies. If the rumors of a planned housing development are true, this
would be devastating to NightZone which is now fully embraced by all in
the area.
That meeting is the launching pad for the main mystery of the book
that soon features a murder, several suspects, and a complicated case with several
interesting angles. While family certainly takes a role in the primary
storyline, family is a far more major player in the two secondary storylines.
One of which is the fact the kids are back in town and Undersheriff Estelle
Reyes-Guzman is again having a hard time finding time to spend with them as
various local events and the schedule of the kids work against her. One does
not want to be an obtrusive grandmother, but one does not want to miss out on
everything either and crime stops for no one.
The second of the two secondary storylines involves the no
nonsense Sheriff, Robert Torrez, and his nephew, Quentin Torrez. As anyone who
has read the latest edition of the local newspaper, Posadas Register, already
knows, the young Quentin Torrez was arrested in recent hours for his third DUI.
If that was not bad enough, he soon finds himself the target of an angry Sheriff
who also suspects he might have been the culprit behind some vandalism. Then a
murder happens and soon he is one of several potential suspects as law
enforcement works hard to identify and apprehend a killer.
As always in this series, things are complicated, and they
certainly are in Less Than A Moment: A Posadas County Mystery. Billed
as the 24th in the series, this latest one has all the elements
that have made this entire series so very entertaining. Less Than A
Moment: A Posadas County Mystery by Steven F. Havill is another great
read and is strongly recommended.
Big time thanks go to Lesa Holstine who mentioned late last week
this book was out. Big time thanks go to my son, Scott, who able to figure out
what to do to get the eBook through our closed Dallas Public Library System and
make it all work so that I could happily read the tale on my iPad and escape
reality for a few hours.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2020
Monday, March 30, 2020
TEXAS BOOK LOVER: Monday Roundup: Texas Literary Calendar March 30-April 5, 2020 ...
TEXAS BOOK LOVER: Monday Roundup: Texas Literary Calendar March 30-A...: Bookish goings-on in Texas for the week of March 30-April 5, 2020, compiled exclusively for Lone Star Literary Life by Texas Book Love...
Aubrey Hamilton Reviews: The Elephant of Surprise by Joe R. Lansdale
Joe R. Lansdale is a prolific and diverse writer,
publishing nearly 50 novels and stories in a range of genres including mystery,
suspense, horror, science fiction, Western, and comics. His stories have won an
Edgar Award, a Raymond Chandler Lifetime Achievement Award, ten Bram Stoker
Awards, a British Fantasy Award, a World Horror Convention Grand Master Award,
a Sugarprize, a Grinzane Cavour Prize for Literature, and a Spur Award. His
series about Hap Collins and Leonard Pine, unconventional PIs in eastern Texas,
was adapted for television on the SundanceTV channel and ran for three seasons.
Hap and Leonard’s latest adventure The
Elephant of Surprise (Mulholland Books, 2019) is a rock ‘em-sock ‘em sequence
of skirmishes between our heroes and a group of racketeers intent on ridding
the world of these two PIs who have stumbled into the mobsters’ path. Hap and
Leonard are driving home in a pounding rain storm after a long stake-out, when
Leonard glimpses the figure of a woman staggering across the road. They take
her, drenched to the bone, into the car and learn she’s seriously wounded. They
head to the nearest hospital, only to be confronted on the road by an oversized
thug who wants the victim they’ve rescued and doesn’t mind killing Hap and Leonard
to get her. From that point forward, between the hoodlums and the rain, wind,
and tornadoes, the momentum seems unrelenting. For authors wanting to learn how
to write shootout or fight scenes, this book is a great primer.
I enjoyed this story, more of a thriller than a
mystery, a lot. What little mystery there is to begin with is soon sorted out
when the mobsters’ original victim, the woman on the road, is well enough to
talk. The rest of the suspense lies in watching to see how the bad guys will be
brought to justice, and how Hap and Leonard will manage to save their skins. While
it doesn’t hurt to have read earlier books in the series, enough backstory is
provided along the way to make previous acquaintance with the characters
unnecessary. Crackling action, snappy dialogue. Recommended.
·
Hardcover: 256 pages
·
Publisher: Mulholland
Books; First Edition/First Printing (March 19, 2019)
·
Language: English
·
ISBN-10: 031647987X
·
ISBN-13: 978-0316479875
Aubrey Hamilton ©2020
Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It
projects by day and reads mysteries at night.
Sunday, March 29, 2020
Beneath the Stains of Time: Demons' Moon (1951) by Colin Robertson
Beneath the Stains of Time: Demons' Moon (1951) by Colin Robertson: I promised in my review of Jerry Coleman's Action Comics story, " The Super-Key to Fort Superman " (1958), that I would don...
Saturday, March 28, 2020
Dallas County Covid 19 Zip Code Map for 3/27/2020
The latest COVID 19 zip code map posted moments ago on twitter by County Judge Clay Jenkins based on the two testing sites set up by the City of Dallas. That little white area on the NE side next to LBJ (635) with no official cases is our zip code.
KRL Update: Kings River Life Magazine for 3/28/2020
Up in KRL this morning a
review and giveaway of "Coconut Layer Cake Murder" by Joanne Fluke
We also have reviews and
giveaways of 2 fun mysteries for your Spring reading list-"Murder in an
Irish Cottage": An Irish Village Mystery by Carlene O'Connor and
"Murder Makes Scents": Nantucket Candle Maker Mystery by Christin Brecher
And a review and ebook
giveaway of "The Panda of Death" by Betty Webb along with an
interesting interview with Betty
And we have the latest
mystery Coming Attractions from Sunny Frazier
And a mystery short
story by Gary Hoffman
Up on KRL News and
Reviews this week we have a review and ebook giveaway of "Mint Chip &
Murder" by Erin Huss and published by Gemma Halliday Publishing
And a review and ebook
giveaway of "Proof in the Photo" by Kathi Daley
And a review and
giveaway of "Death with a Dark Red Rose" by Julia Buckley
Happy reading,
Lorie
Bitter Tea and Mystery Review: October Men by Anthony Price
Bitter Tea and Mystery: October Men: Anthony Price: This is the fourth book in the David Audley series, a cold war espionage series set in the UK (and other countries, depending on the book) a...
Scott's Take: Highfire: A Novel by Eoin Colfer
Highfire: A Novel by Eoin Colfer is the latest adult book from the creator of The
Artemis Fowl Series. The Artemis Fowl Series is a great series
that I highly recommend. Highfire: A Novel is an adult spin
on the classic tale of boy meets dragon and they become friends. Vern, the
dragon, is the last dragon on the planet as far as he knows and is bitter and
lonely. He is wasting his life drinking vodka and watching Netflix as he waits
to die in his hideaway somewhere in the swamps of Louisiana. He needs to hire
somebody to act on his behalf as a go between him and society.
After all, a dragon can’t exactly go
into to town and do his own grocery shopping. Thanks to a chance encounter and
in exchange for his life, a young kid by the name of Squib offers to provide
this service. Vern reluctantly agrees to trust the human despite his hatred of
all humans for killing his family and friends. Of course, things do not stay
simple when one is working for the last dragon on the planet. Add in a dirty
cop named Regence Hooke who thinks it is a good idea to go after Squib, despite
the dragon, and the novel becomes quickly complicated.
If you are familiar with Eoin Colfer,
you know his books usually include references to Ireland, a weird sense of
humor, deep characters who are complicated individuals, and a unique way of
telling a story. His writing style is very different than most writers. I like
it for the most part. Sometimes one has to reread a paragraph for it to be
understood fully.
This is a very adult novel and not appropriate
for kids. There are a number of graphic
murders, sex jokes are made, implied rapes, a suicide attempt, lots of cussing,
and other adult orientated content. If you think the idea of a dragon wearing
clothes, hanging out in a Lazy Boy, drinking vodka while watching Netflix, is funny;
this could be the book for you. I enjoyed Highfire: A Novel by Eoin Colfer a
lot, but the writing style and sense of humor is not for everyone. Assuming you
are okay with very mature elements in your reading and you have a sense of
humor, I recommend it.
Scott A. Alexander ©2020
Friday, March 27, 2020
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: The Frangipani Tree Mystery by Ovidia Yu
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: The Frangipani Tree Mystery by Ovidia Yu: Reviewed by Jeanne As The Frangipani Tree Mystery opens, Charity, Irish nanny to the daughter of the Acting Governor of Si...
Writer Beware®: The Blog: Space Kadet: The Twisted Tale of a Sad, Sad Intern...
Writer Beware®: The Blog: Space Kadet: The Twisted Tale of a Sad, Sad Intern...: Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware® A couple of weeks ago, my Twitter warning about an amateur literary agent received a f...
Thursday, March 26, 2020
Beneath the Stains of Time: Death of a Frightened Editor (1959) by E. and M.A....
Beneath the Stains of Time: Death of a Frightened Editor (1959) by E. and M.A....: Earlier this month, Dean Street Press revived three obscure, long out-of-print novels by a forgotten mystery writing couple, Edwin and M...
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Nevermore: Animals & Men, Lord of the Mountain, F...
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Nevermore: Animals & Men, Lord of the Mountain, F...: Reported by Jeanne Animals and Men by art historian and museum director Kenneth Clark captured the attention of one of the Nevermo...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
