Thursday, November 21, 2019
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Nevermore: This Tender Land, Simon Bolivar, White ...
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Nevermore: This Tender Land, Simon Bolivar, White ...: Reported by Laura Nevermore had good attendance and good spirits this week as they read a wide range of books and enjoyed...
SleuthSayers: Cold Ads, Cold Cases by Eve Fisher
SleuthSayers: Cold Ads, Cold Cases: by Eve Fisher Unfreakin' believable: This is South Dakota's latest ad about the drug wars: "Meth: We're On It" ...
Beneath the Stains of Time: The Frozen Teacher: "The Touch of Kolyada" (1989) ...
Beneath the Stains of Time: The Frozen Teacher: "The Touch of Kolyada" (1989) ...: December is nearly upon us and, if you're an incurable mystery addict, you probably have some of festive detective novels, short stor...
Bitter Tea and Mystery Review: Wicked Uncle: Patricia Wentworth
Bitter Tea and Mystery: Wicked Uncle: Patricia Wentworth: I started reading Miss Silver mysteries again, after a long hiatus, in November 2017. This is only the third I have read, but I have noticed...
Review: Making It Rain In Texas: An Al Quinn Novel (Book 5) Russ Hall
As
Making
It Rain In Texas: An Al Quinn novel opens, the summer heat is on in the
hill country of Texas and the seared brush just needs one spark to turn the
woods around Lake Travis into a blazing inferno. Al is adjusting to having yet
another person in his house as Maury and Bonnie’s new baby is making his
presence known in more ways than one from time to time. With his brother Maury
there, Bonnie, and the baby, as well as Fergie, Al’s girlfriend, and Tanner,
the dog, there is a lot more activity at home than Al ever expected during his
retirement years. Even going fishing to get some alone time is problematic.
This
summer morning, instead of being able to sleep in, Al and Fergie are very much
awake and Bonnie is very upset. The baby is fine. She is upset because somebody
stole the donated funds for her charity group. They have been raising money funds
to fight cancer. The plan was to donate the monies to a local hospital where
Bonnie and Maury work. The charity hired somebody that seemed to be good at
raising funds for charities. Cynthia Standerblum came highly recommended. Now 270K
is gone and she has vanished.
Because
Bonnie and Maury were involved, it means that not only does the hospital not
get the donated funds, they will probably be fired. Bonnie has begged for their
jobs and has told the hospital that Al and Fergie will look into it now so they
don’t have to wait for the office of the attorney general to get involved.
Local law enforcement is overwhelmed with other cases and the attorney general
is going to take months to do anything if they ever do. Bonnie and Maury need
Al and Fergie on the case now to have any chance to get the fraudster caught
and recover the money.
Bonnie
isn’t the only one asking Al for a favor. Al’s old boss, Sheriff Clayton, calls
with a problem and asks for a favor as his on staff detectives have a half
dozen or more higher priority cases. The problem should be relatively easy to
solve. Not only is that a good thing, what needs to be checked out is over in
Al’s area. On the downside, favors for Sheriff Clayton often turn into damn
near lethal encounters for Al and anyone nearby. But, on the face of it, this
one sounds simple enough and should be easy to deal with quickly. It goes
without saying that Al is going to do it though it is not on his priority list
as the scamster is a bigger issue
Those
twin storylines have their own ramifications and things get complicated and
escalate quickly in Making It Rain In Texas: An Al Quinn Novel by Russ Hall. This
is the fifth book in a highly enjoyable and well established mystery series.
The hallmarks of humor, mystery, and plenty of mystery are all present here
making this another good one in the series. As this book builds on the previous
books in the series as well as the book of short stories, readers are reminded
once again it is best to read these in order.
Making
It Rain In Texas: An Al Quinn Novel (Book 5)
Russ
Hall
Red
Adept Publishing
August
2019
ASIN: B07TN8Q77Y
eBook
(paperback available)
207
Pages
Picked
this up in digital format to read and review using funds in my Amazon Associate
account at the far lower prepublication price.
Kevin
R. Tipple ©2019
Wednesday, November 20, 2019
Thank You
As you may have seen on FB, today is my birthday. Days like today are obviously way harder now. But, I want to say thank you to everyone in public and in private who took the time to send birthday wishes. It was and is most appreciated.
MAKE MINE MYSTERY: The Perils of Having a Writing Wife by Janis Patterson
MAKE MINE MYSTERY: The Perils of Having a Writing Wife: by Janis Patterson I married late, well after my writing career was started, so The Husband knew exactly what he was g...
Jeanne Reviews: In Want of a Knife by Elizabeth Kane Buzzelli
Please
welcome back Jeanne of the BPL…
Dear,
I’m sure it’s not you. It’s me.
I’d never read any of the Little Library Mystery series when I picked you up, but I like
libraries and librarians and Jane Austen so I thought this one would be a slam
dunk. The jacket copy indicated that
Jenny Weston “amateur sleuth and little librarian” is drawn into a new mystery
after the body of a young girl is found near a highway and then another girl
disappears.
The book started off well enough, with the discovery
of said body, first thought to be the victim of a hit and run. She is identified as a girl who had been
reported missing several days earlier, but oddly enough she is dressed in an
old fashioned long white dress. The disappearance of another girl sets Jenny on
the trail. . . sort of. Actually, it’s
Zoe Zora, a local author famous for her incisive and witty commentary on noted
women authors, who takes center stage as far as I’m concerned while Jenny seems
to spend a lot of time moping about some broken relationship and trying to
avoid Tony who is obviously interested in her.
With the introduction of Fitzwilliam Dillon, rich
man who has just bought a house in the neighborhood, and his friends Charles
Bingman and Nathan and Delia Wickley, I was sure I’d be in for some Austen
fun. However, it turns out that Zora
finds Austen’s women characters to be spineless creatures only focused on finding
husbands. This was discouraging, but I
pressed onward. There’s some mirroring in a mother who is throwing her daughter
at the wealthy Darcy, er, Dillon—but he is only intrigued by the infuriating
Elizabeth, er, Zoe who is a little person like himself.
The mystery plot is well done, and the reader
quickly realizes that there are dark and deadly intentions here. Part of the story is narrated by Cammy, the
second kidnapped girl, who is trapped and cold, waiting for her unnamed
captor. This ratchets up the tension
nicely and gave me a break from morose Jenny and the townspeople bickering over
how to spend a proposed $2 million dollar gift that Dillon has promised the
town. I probably would have appreciated the plotting more if I hadn’t been
distracted by the Jane Austen trappings.
As I said, dear In Want of a Knife, it’s me
not you. I wanted a book that
appreciated Jane Austen while playing
fondly with the characters and I didn’t really find that here. There was a tongue in cheek comment at the
end when the women congratulated themselves on not being like Austen’s women
even as some of their more unpleasant behaviors indicate otherwise. That’s how
it seemed to me, anyway. But it’s not your fault that my expectations didn’t
align with what you are. Every book is
not for every reader.
Part of the problem might have been that I hadn’t
read any others in the series to be properly introduced to your
characters. I do seem to be gifted with
the ability to pick up exactly the wrong book in a series when I don’t read in
order (I sniffed at Nero Wolfe’s claim that he never left his brownstone when
in the first two books I read he was travelling; but I persevered and became
quite the fan) so perhaps that was it. I
just picked the wrong book in the series to start.
I will go back and read an earlier one but if you
are no kinder to dear Emily Dickinson than you were to Jane, I will conclude
you are not my cup of tea. And that’s
okay. Books I love have been met with
indifference from folks to whom I heartily recommended them and I haven’t been
enchanted with books recommended to me.
That’s the way it is, and the way it should be.
Sincerely,
Jeanne
Other books in the Little Library Mystery Series by Elizabeth Kane Buzzelli
Most Curious Murder
She Stopped for Death
In Want of a Knife
And Then They Were Doomed
Tuesday, November 19, 2019
FROM DUNDEE'S DESK: Noteworthy Reads: CARBON by Andew Vachss
FROM DUNDEE'S DESK: Noteworthy Reads: CARBON by Andew Vachss: In the beginning, when Andrew Vachss first jarred readers' sensibilities by opening their eyes to the “true horror” of sharks cir...
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: The Favorite Daughter by Patti Callahan Henry
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: The Favorite Daughter by Patti Callahan Henry: Reviewed by Kristin Lena Donohue left Watersend, a small town on the South Carolina coast a decade ago when her wedding day went...
Review: Backtrack by Paul Doiron
When
Charley Stevens gets the call, he is a 28 year old Maine Game Warden. Dr.
Phillip Stoddard, one of four men staying at a hunting cabin has been missing
for a few hours. A major snow storm is on the way. Soon Charley Steven is with
the remaining hunters at their cabin and working to get the details such as Dr.
Stoddard’s mental state, what supplies he has with him, and determining who saw
him last and where. All of that is important as those details will help him
find the missing hunter.
That
search and the results are the main thrust of the short story, Backtrack
by Paul Doiron. While it is being marked by Minotaur books on Amazon as A
Mike Bowditch Short Mystery, the only truth is it is a short story and is
not much of a mystery. I knew why he was missing in all likelihood before it
became very clear that I was right. With my personal history, the reason why he
is missing in the short story was not really something I wanted to read either.
I can’t say more without flat blowing the read, but if you know what I have
very publicly been through the last few years, you will understand why I am so
sick and tired of seeing that used as a story element in books and television
shows. God knows, I lived it and I get it. I read to escape my reality each day
and I don’t need the fiction vehicles I use to escape to slap me in the face
with that stuff.
More
annoying is the fact that despite the fact that it is being marketed on Amazon
that it is from the series, Mike Bowditch never once makes an appearance nor is
he even mentioned. The fact that is was marked as a “Mike Bowditch” tale, was
the sole reason I purchased to read and review. It was only later after I had
finished it, I realized that the cover art made no mention or claim that this
read was, in fact, from his series.
The
marketing folks at Minotaur should be ashamed. They are blatantly lying to the
reading public. In this day of “alternative facts” I guess that I should not be
surprised that a publishing house does this sort of nonsense, but I am not
pleased.
Ignoring
the false marketing as well as my personal reaction to a story telling element
in it, Backtrack by Paul Doiron is a solidly good story as written.
Charley’s hunt for the missing Dr. Stoddard is very atmospheric and intense. If
you know going in to the read that it is being falsely marketed by Minotaur/Amazon
and know that it has nothing about Mike Bowditch as it is set decades earlier, it
is a good read and well worth your time.
Backtrack
Paul
Doiron
Minotaur
Books
June
2019
ASIN: B07SVTDKBP
21
Pages
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/42z2nPK
Back
in September when the publisher made this a free read, I picked it up to read
and review.
Kevin
R. Tipple ©2019
Monday, November 18, 2019
Beneath the Stains of Time: Invisible Death (1929) by Brian Flynn
Beneath the Stains of Time: Invisible Death (1929) by Brian Flynn: Invisible Death (1929) is the sixth novel about Brian Flynn 's Holmesian gentleman detective, Anthony Bathurst, which has the distin...
TEXAS BOOK LOVER: Monday Roundup: Texas Literary Calendar Nov 18-24,...
TEXAS BOOK LOVER: Monday Roundup: Texas Literary Calendar Nov 18-24,...: Bookish goings-on in Texas for the week of November 18-24, 2019 compiled exclusively for Lone Star Literary Life by Texas Book Lover. ...
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