FFB Review: Arrowmoon: A Bill Travis Mystery by George Wier

While my friend, George Wier, is no longer physically here with us, he lives on through his many books. For FFB today, I remind you of one of his books in a great series.

The land is truly in the middle of nowhere in deep East Texas. Isolated, with nothing of any significance at all besides an ageing barn on it, nothing has disturbed the land and it secrets for decades. That is until now because a road is coming through to serve the increasingly population in Texas. The isolated and decaying barn and its secrets lay in the path of that road. Secrets that people will kill to keep hidden from all.

 

Bill Travis manages money from his office on the western edge of downtown Austin. He has done a few things and knows quite a few people in all walks of life as the preceding novels in this series that began with The Last Call make clear. But, when all the mysteries are cleared up and he has extricated himself from the latest mess he got into, his main job is managing folks money so they make money no matter the shape of the economy. To do that you have to keep your clients happy.

 

Lief Prescott is a client and right now he is not happy at all. Lief is building highway 119.  The same highway that is eventually going to go right through that isolated barn. Some hot shot lawyer out of Boston has slapped Lief and his company a restraining order banning construction for 14 days.  Lief is incensed as time is money and he can’t have the road building crew sitting around while he is on deadline. He needs help, he needs it now, and he expects Bill Travis to help.

 

That means Bill Travis is going to have to head over towards the College Station vicinity and make his way to the small town of Hearne, Texas to get with Lief and address the situation.  A situation that will ultimately get bigger and far stranger than Bill, Lief, or anyone else expected. What should be a civil business problem clearly isn’t based on the sniper’s bullet. They should have taken the warning as there are those who won’t stop to protect the secrets of the past.

 

Once again, Texas author George Weir spins a wild tale featuring many players along with plenty of mystery and adventure.  History, real or fake, plays a huge role in these books and such is the case here in the eighth book of the series. Also present are the usual observations about Texas and family from Bill Travis who may or may not have had a legendary relative at the Alamo. Like every book in the series, Arrowmoon: A Bill Travis Mystery is a fun, fast paced, complicated mystery read that keeps readers well entertained.

 

 

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

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2012, 2021

Review: Mexico Fever: A Bill Travis Mystery by George Wier

It has been awhile since the events of Desperate Crimes and as Mexico Fever opens it is not long before the peace and quiet of Bill Travis’ world is broken. Walt Cannon is missing somewhere in Mexico. He’s a retired Texas Ranger and saved a few folks over the years including a Governor of Texas, Richard Sawyer, and our family man and reluctant hero, Bill Travis. While Sawyer has been out of his office for the last 4 years, he wants to see Bill Travis at his home down in River Oaks in Houston. When a Governor of Texas asks to see you, you go see him.

Governor Sawyer may be dying and a shadow of his former self, but his mind is still sharp. He knows that their mutual friend, Walt Cannon, is missing down in the state of Yucatan in Mexico. He even knowns exactly where Cannon was conducting business before he vanished. Governor Sawyer should know as he sent Cannon down there to track down and deal with a former religious leader that these days is arming rebels and seeking to overthrow the Mexican government. Some of his followers acting on his behalf executed a family on the Texas side of the border near Eagle Pass and Sawyer wanted Cannon to get him.

It was over two months ago that Cannon went down there chasing the elusive figure known as “Sunlight” and he has not been heard from since. Sawyer wants Travis to go down after Cannon and get him back home where he belongs. The last personal request of a dying man who feels responsible would be difficult to refuse as it is, but Travis also owes Cannon so going is never the question.  A debt has come due.

Explaining it to Julie and leaving her and the kids behind is going to be hard. Dealing with looking for Cannon, the local politics, a guerrilla movement, and more in Mexico Fever is going to be very hard.

Mexico Fever is the twelfth in the Bill Travis Mystery Series that began many years ago in The Last Call. While the family continues to grow and long running characters continue to evolve in the series, the hallmarks of action and adventure are as strong as ever in this read. Also present are the frequent and often humorous observations about Texas, Texans, the weather, and the human race in general.

While the series began with The Last Call and readers that have been onboard since the beginning will get more out of this read, those folks new to the world of Bill Travis could easily start here. There are references to several earlier events as we play catch up with folks we have seen before, but those references would not destroy earlier reads in the series. As always there is a hint of pulp adventure to the read. Events and actions slide dangerously close to the edge and may push the ability to suspend disbelief for some readers.

That same thing could be said about almost of the books in this fun and engrossing series. Those readers who want everything to be totally logical and realistic might find Mexico Fever a bit of a challenge since the author does not play by those rules. This read is another engrossing tale in a long rail of great reads by prolific author George Weir. 

Mexico Fever: A Bill Travis Mystery

George Wier

http://www.billtravismysteries.com

Flagstone Books

May 2016

ASIN: B01FYEU48E

eBook (paperback available)

160 Pages

$4.99

According to Amazon, I picked this up back last August to read and review. I believe I did it by way of the Author’s free read promotion.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2018

Review: "After The Fire" by George Wier

For Bill Travis, financial advisor and sometimes a bit more, everything started with Sol Gunderson’s goats. The man has ten areas of land out of east of Austin, Texas. On the land he raises 40 or 50 Spanish goats. Now one is dead at the base of a hill on his property. It does not take Bill Travis long as he stared at the dead goat to figure out that something really bad and unnatural had happened to that goat.

Sol Gunderson, who lives alone these days having divorced his wife Eloise after 25 years of not so wedded bliss, thinks that there is something radioactive down at the base of the hill. He thinks whatever is down there killed Bebe. Whatever did it two days ago has caused the goat to be nearly mummified with tufts of fur scattering away from the body all around and even as far as to the hogwire fence fifty feet away. Sol Gunderson is a bit odd to say the least, but he is also a millionaire many times over which is why Bill Travis keeps him as a client. Sol is also right that something abnormal killed that goat.

Sol still cares deeply about Eloise, but his ex-wife does not want anything to do with him. She also is not interested in the dead goat or anything else involving her former husband, but does tell Travis there is a cancer cluster over in the subdivision across the creek from where Bebe died. She also tells Travis that it would be best to leave things alone. While she has her reasons and won’t say what they are, she warns him off and tells him that those responsible would not hesitate to remove him as well as his family.

Readers know from earlier books in this series, Travis isn’t going to leave anything alone. Eloise just waved a red flag in front of a bull and while Travis may take some precautions he isn’t about to stop investigating no matter what happens.

After The Fire: A Bill Travis Mystery is the ninth book in the series which started long ago with The Last Call.  Author George Weir has put Travis through quite a lot and the same is true here in a very complicated tale filled with interesting characters, plenty of action, and more than one twist. A series that shows no signs of stopping After The Fire: A Bill Travis Mystery is another solidly good Texas sized mystery. While it could be read as a stand-alone, it would be far better to read this series in order.

After The Fire: A Bill Travis Mystery

George Wier

http://www.billtravismysteries.com

Flagstone Books

http://www.flagstonebooks.com

July 2014

ASIN: B00LKQNJK6

E-Book

130 Pages (estimated)

$2.99

Material was purchased to read and review using funds in my Amazon Associate account.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2015

Review: "Arrowmoon-- A Bill Travis Mystery" by George Wier

The land is truly in the middle of nowhere in deep East Texas. Isolated, with nothing of any significance at all besides an ageing barn on it, nothing has disturbed the land and it secrets for decades. That is until now because a road is coming through to serve the increasingly population in Texas. The isolated and decaying barn and its secrets lay in the path of that road. Secrets that people will kill to keep hidden from all.

Bill Travis manages money from his office on the western edge of downtown Austin. He has done a few things and knows quite a few people in all walks of life as the preceding novels in this series that began with The Last Call make clear. But, when all the mysteries are cleared up and he has extricated himself from the latest mess he got into, his main job is managing folks money so they make money no matter the shape of the economy. To do that you have to keep your clients happy.

Lief Prescott is a client and right now he is not happy at all. Lief is building highway 119.  The same highway that is eventually going to go right through that isolated barn. Some hot shot lawyer out of Boston has slapped Lief and his company a restraining order banning construction for 14 days.  Lief is incensed as time is money and he can’t have the road building crew sitting around while he is on deadline. He needs help, he needs it now, and he expects Bill Travis to help.

That means Bill Travis is going to have to head over towards the College Station vicinity and make his way to the small town of Hearne, Texas to get with Lief and address the situation.  A situation that will ultimately get bigger and far stranger than Bill, Lief, or anyone else expected. What should be a civil business problem clearly isn’t based on the sniper’s bullet. They should have taken the warning as there are those who won’t stop to protect the secrets of the past.

Once again, Texas author George Weir spins a wild tale featuring many players along with plenty of mystery and adventure.  History, real or fake, plays a huge role in these books and such is the case here in the eighth book of the series. Also present are the usual observations about Texas and family from Bill Travis who may or may not have had a legendary relative at the Alamo. Like every book in the series, Arrowmoon: A Bill Travis Mystery is a fun, fast paced, complicated mystery read that keeps readers well entertained.

Arrowmoon: A Bill Travis Mystery

George Wier

http://www.georgewier.com

Flagstone Books

June 2012

E-Book

(Estimated print length 170 pages)

$3.99

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

Kevin R. Tipple ©2012

Review: "Capitol Offense--A Bill Travis Mystery" by George Wier

Norman Howell sits in the Ellis Unit in Huntsville, Texas awaiting his execution date.  About a decade ago he killed the couple that ran a small gas station, took 158 bucks and a case of beer and fled with the whole thing recorded by a hidden VCR. Bill Travis has come to the prison unit with a simple request. All Bill Travis wants, beyond a quick get in and out of the prision, is for Howell to sign some paperwork on a trust account.

Instead, he gets told bits and pieces about Howell’s role in a dark period of Texas history back in the 80’s when somebody blew up Vietnamese fishing boats along the Texas coast. Howell does not go into much detail but he does mention the name Dick Sawyer. The same Dick Sawyer who sits in the governor’s mansion as the duly elected governor of the great state of Texas and who might have paid to have those boats blown up.

That gets Bill Travis a little interested and he starts poking around. Before long, Travis is running for his life across Texas is wanted for murder, and folks are dead in his wake. Throw   in plenty of Texas history, the legendary Marfa Lights, modern day politics involving the succession movement, and lots of other stuff and you have quit a cauldron of mystery and intrigue.

Capitol Offense - A Bill Travis Mystery is the second book of the series and again author George Wier sets yet another breakneck pace across Texas. For a guy who is supposed to be a glorified accountant, Bill Travis manages to get very well known on both sides of the law and have quite the adventures. This second read in the series is another good one and continues to build on the solid foundation evidenced in The Last Call.


Having established the main character of Bill Travis quite well, this book focuses more on the world around him, the odds against him, and how those in power control others. At its core, this book is more adventure than mystery but there are plenty of twist and turns to keep mystery readers and others happy and turning pages. The result is a solid second novel in a series that is mighty good on all levels.

Capitol Offense - A Bill Travis Mystery

George Wier

Flagstone Books

November 26, 2011

E-Book

$0.99

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

Kevin R. Tipple © 2012