Wednesday, November 30, 2022
Jerry's House of Everything: SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: THE CASE OF THE MURDERER'S BRIDE
Short Story Wednesday Review: Cleveland In My Dreams by Lawrence Block
From the magnificently massive archive…
Hackett has a serious problem and his
therapist by the name of Loebner is not helping at all. Hackett has told him again and again that his
dream every night is always the same. Hackett dreams that a mysterious caller
rings him up and tells him he has to drive to Cleveland. In his dream he gets
dressed and goes out to his car where a briefcase is waiting for him on the
passenger seat. He drives the briefcase to Cleveland and then drives back.
Since the very real drive takes four hours to get there and four hours to get
back it is exhausting.
Hackett needs help and Loebrer isn’t
doing much to help him. Telling his dream over and over again isn’t doing any
good. Something has to change.
This is one of those short stories where
one thinks it is going to go one way and instead it goes in a far different
direction. Once that is accomplished author Lawrence Block ups the ante by
throwing in a couple of more twists. Cleveland in My Dreams is a
fast and ultimately very funny read.
This short story e-book also includes
Chapter One of the new book, The Burglar Who Counted Spoons.
Material was picked up during the author’s recent free read promotion for my use in an objective review.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2013, 2022
Tuesday, November 29, 2022
Beneath the Stains of Time: Exit Sir John (1947) by Brian Flynn
Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 15 Literary Magazines Open NOW - SFF, Horror, Essays, Poetry, Genre Fiction, and more - Paying Markets
Don Crouch Reviews: Racing The Light by Robert Crais
Please welcome Don Crouch to the blog
today with his first of what I hope will be many more reviews.
Racing The Light by Robert Crais
Ladies and Gentlemen, Robert Crais is
BACK!
Now, you can take this a couple of ways,
and they’d both be accurate. Our last encounter with both Crais and his
fictional counterparts Elvis Cole and Joe Pike, was 2019’s A Dangerous Man..
And there are folks out there who would claim that the last few Cole/Pike
entries were perhaps showing some creakiness.
To both, one empirical, one subjective, I
say, THE DUDE IS BACK.
Racing The Light is fast paced with high
stakes and the razor-sharp plot and dialogue you expect from someone who is, at
this point in the game, just plain better than almost anybody at the art of
Crime Fiction storytelling.
Elvis is hired by Adele Schumacher to find
her son, semi-notorious podcaster Josh Shoe. Seems Josh is out a bit over his
skis on a story, and Mom is worried for his safety.
Motherly instincts matter, folks.
Elvis starts to dig, and soon enough is
finding a matrix of Chinese spies, porn people, corrupt political weasels…and
maybe aliens!
But wait, there’s more! Racing The Light
also features the return of Lucy Chenier! She is visiting with her son Ben, who
we know, as he checks out a film program at UCLA. Their conversations are deep
in the heart of this story, with BIG stakes for the future, and it’s great to
have them both back in the mix. Soon enough, however, fists, and more than a
few bullets start flying, and we’re plunged into a consequential adventure that
talks about what really is truth in this new communication model we live in.
Crais wants us to get re-acquainted with Elvis here, so Pike is, along with Jon Scott, on board for support and assistance. This REALLY is an Elvis Cole novel, and it’s one of the reasons Racing The Light hits so hard. It’s in the upper tier of Crais’ entire oeuvre, and is one of the best crime books of 2022!
Don Crouch ©2022
Monday, November 28, 2022
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Adult Assembly Required by Abbi Waxman
Bitter Tea and Mystery: The Maid: Nita Prose
Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 102 Calls for Submissions in December 2022 - Paying Markets
Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: Worst Enemies by Dana King
Worst Enemies (Down &
Out Books, 2016), the first of seven books about Penns River, an economically
fading suburb of Pittsburgh, starts with what looks like a residential break-in
complicated by murder. A second homicide takes place a week later. Detective
Ben Dougherty has nothing but unanswered questions while the town council and
the local media become increasingly critical about the sudden spurt of major
crime in their backwater community and local law enforcement’s failure to deal
with it.
The
Pittsburgh mob boss, who lives in Penns River, becomes involved, as do a local
drug dealer and a couple of abandoned kids who have escaped their foster home.
An ex-spook turned PI who is not above a spot of blackmail turns up. The
politics of the small town and the police department are at issue, as the
deputy police chief maneuvers with the city council for promotion. The
encroachment of big city crime on rural areas is an underlying theme, as in the
Quinn Colson series by Ace Atkins. And Dougherty’s mother wants to know if he’s
dating anyone nice. Multiple story lines and lots of fully realized characters make
the narrative complex, yet highly readable.
King didn’t have to look far to find a model for his fictional town; industry loss in western Pennsylvania created many communities just like Penns River. And can he plot! The various threads are spun with detail and then carefully gathered by the end into a cohesive whole. A police procedural and social commentary rolled into a fine piece of crime fiction that will also be of interest to fans of regional mysteries and of small-town detective stories. Recommended.
·
Publisher: Down & Out Books (October 15,
2016)
·
Language: English
·
Paperback: 400 pages
·
ISBN-10: 1943402426
·
ISBN-13: 978-1943402427
Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2022
Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.
Sunday, November 27, 2022
Saturday, November 26, 2022
Beneath the Stains of Time: So Great a Distance: "The Riddle of the Whirling Lights" (1935) by Stuart Palmer
KRL: Kings River Life Magazine Update for 11/26/2022
We have a mini KRL issue this weekend due to the holiday. Up on KRL this morning reviews and giveaways of 3 Christmas Mysteries perfect for your holiday reading-"Bones of Holly": A Sarah Booth Delaney Mystery by Carolyn Haines, "A Dark and Snowy Night": A Seaside Knitters Society Mystery by Sally Goldenbaum, and "Blackmail and Bibingka": A Tita Rosie’s Kitchen Mystery by Mia P. Manansala https://kingsriverlife.com/11/26/christmas-mysteries-for-your-holiday-tbr/
And the latest mystery Coming Attractions column from Sunny Frazier https://kingsriverlife.com/11/26/december-coming-attractions-homicide-for-the-holidays/
We also have the November video game news column from Jayce Ham, just in time to provide some ideas for your Christmas shopping list for the video gamer in your life (or yourself) https://kingsriverlife.com/11/26/jays-video-game-news-november-2022/
Up during the week we posted another special midweek guest post, this one by mystery author Linda Lovely about mixing real-world and fictional settings and about her latest book "Neighbors to Die For"https://kingsriverlife.com/11/22/why-novels-mix-real-world-and-fictional-settings/
And another special midweek guest post, this one by mystery author Brenda Stanley about writing what you know and about her latest book "The Still Small Voice" published by Untreed Reads (watch for KRL's review of this book) https://kingsriverlife.com/11/22/when-your-story-takes-you-back-home/
Up on KRL News and Reviews this week a review and giveaway of "Trapped on Cedar Trails" by KL Abrahamson https://www.krlnews.com/2022/11/trapped-on-cedar-trails-by-kl.html
And a review and ebook giveaway of "A Doggone Death" by SA Kazlo, published by Gemma Halliday https://www.krlnews.com/2022/11/a-doggone-death-by-sa-kazlo.html
Happy holidays,
Lorie
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