I'm currently reading and enjoying immensly her second book, "Deadly Sins, Deadly Secrets." Once again, Sidra Smart is dealing with murder deep in South East Texas. Thanks to being very sick, I have not read as fast as I normally would have and as of tonight, I am still a long way from finishing the book so I can review it. However, though I have not finished it, I can easily safely say this is one of those rare cases where the second book is much better than the first.
Which is not to say the first book was any slouch. It wasn't. Since the current book is the second in the series, I thought I would run my review again now to refresh the memory. So, below is that review.
***************************************************************
Among other authors I had the pleasure of meeting at HHCC last June in Dallas was Sylvia Dickey Smith. I had a pretty good mental image of her from online items and in person she was even better. Then, I read her book. Apparently there are very dark things lurking in her mind and I never had any idea.
Dance On His Grave
By Sylvia Dickey Smith
http://www.sylviadickeysmith.com/
L & L Dreamspell
http://www.dreamspell.com/
2007
ISBN # 978-1-60318-006-1
Large Trade Paperback
250 Pages
After the sudden death of her brother Warren due to a traffic accident, Sidra Smart comes to the small southeast Texas town of Orange to permanently close his private investigator business. Recently divorced after thirty years of a mind numbing marriage, Sidra knows absolutely nothing about private investigations or running her brothers business with the intriguing moniker of “the Third Eye: Intuitive Investigations.” While she isn’t sure what she is going to do with her life she knows that she isn't going to take over and run Warren’s business and she isn’t going back to her old life as a preacher’s wife.
Somewhere during the course of that thirty year marriage that started when she was so very young, she lost her identity. It is something she wants back and just isn’t sure how to get it back. She isn’t alone with that problem as the visibly agitated blonde woman makes clear by showing up while Sidra is paying bills and clearing mail in Warren’s old storefront office. The woman’s name is Jewell Stone and Warren had just barely opened a file for her. With Warren dead, Jewell expects Sidra to take over and help her. Jewell is haunted by nightmares of a naked woman who she thinks might have been killed by her father, Roy Manly back when Jewell was a child. If the memories that come out of Jewel and her emotional pain aren’t disturbing enough, while Jewell cries and talks, Sidra sees a small blue flame appear in the air over Jewell’s head for a few seconds. Despite all the reasons not to get involved, Sidra eventually begins to investigate a sinister world of child abuse and possible murder far different than her experiences of bake sales and back stabbing church politics as a preacher’s wife.
This is an intense read with frequent and very graphic recounts of horrible child abuse and molestation. Such scenes are intense and very disturbing and will no doubt upset a number of readers. Author Sylvia Dickey Smith details the horrific abuse over and over again to various parties throughout the entire novel while occasionally adding a little new information at the various tellings. After awhile, the graphic abuse and molestations become a bit much and could distract readers from a compelling story.
This is a shame because the main story is quite strong and would move the story along very well if allowed to do so instead of being stopped by the detailed abuse materials. The novel revolves around a thirty year old murder case and accompanying arson in the small town of Orange as well as Sidra's efforts to find herself. During the course of investigating the case, we learn quite a lot about Sidra, her relationship with her former Pastor and husband as well as the congregation, a fellow private investigator George Leger, Sidra’s rather eccentric Aunt Annie, and numerous other characters along with a strong slice of life in that shadowy land full of mystique and mystery where Texas and Louisiana meet.
Evil walks in many forms in this intense novel. Full of suspense, interesting characters and a heroine trying to find herself once again, the novel delivers on all levels while disturbing repeatedly with the constant scenes of abuse and molestation. Few readers will find this a relaxing read but all will certainly find it suspenseful, intense, and not easily put down.
Kevin R. Tipple © 2007-2008
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Reviewing: "Now & Then: A Spenser Novel" by Robert B. Parker
I was recently hammered in an online group for referring to Robert B. Parker as "just a mystery author." When the posters involved weren't focused on personal attacks, they were focused on twisting my words to mean other things that I did not and cited other works this author has produced. The other works stuff was true and nowhere near my original simple point which was he is known by the general public for his mystery work and nothing more. Which is proof once again that some folks will find something to go off about no matter what and a good friend and fellow writer was right when he said on more than one occasion that most e-mail is a huge time waster.
Now & Then: A Spenser Novel
Robert B. Parker
http://www.robertbparker.net/
G. p. Putnam's Sons/Penguin Group USA, Inc.
http://www.penguin.com/
2007
ISBN #978-0-399-15441-6
296 Pages
Much like Stuart Woods has most of his novels in the Stone Barrington series open at a certain New York restaurant, Robert B. Parker has his open in the classic and some would argue clichéd way of beginning at Spenser's office in Boston with a client walking in the door. While both series written by their respective authors feature a lack of character development for the most part as well as limited description of the surroundings in favor of a quick read, the books are very different with Robert B. Parker being the master in packing information for the reader in the form of dialogue.
From the second Dennis Doherty walks into his office, Spenser knows something is off and not just the fact that they aren't remotely getting along. Flippant as he always is regardless of whether or not it is a cop, thug, damsel in distress or in this case Dennis Doherty it quickly becomes clear that they won't be friends and Dennis is hiding something. What is obvious is that he is hoping against hope that his wife isn't cheating on him and wants Spenser to investigate.
Jordan Richmond, the woman Dennis Doherty loves deep into his soul, is the wife and it doesn't take long for Spenser to confirm she is cheating and hadn't chosen the best person to risk her marriage. She is into something Spenser isn't sure how to handle. Before long, he has to go full bore with Hawk and several others as backup in a dangerous cat and mouse game that could result in Susan being killed. As he investigates, not only is he working a case with national security angles and Susan in direct danger because of his actions, he is forced to confront their not too distant past and how they ultimately reconciled.
With occasionally slightly more introspection than normal in the series, Spenser does not spend lots of time thinking about the past. What is done is done and they are fine now so everything worked out for the best seems to be his motto. Instead, his focus is on a killer, one known to all including readers from early on in the book and how best to finally stop him. The result is a fast paced read that Spenser fans will love from start to finish.
Kevin R. Tipple © 2008
Now & Then: A Spenser Novel
Robert B. Parker
http://www.robertbparker.net/
G. p. Putnam's Sons/Penguin Group USA, Inc.
http://www.penguin.com/
2007
ISBN #978-0-399-15441-6
296 Pages
Much like Stuart Woods has most of his novels in the Stone Barrington series open at a certain New York restaurant, Robert B. Parker has his open in the classic and some would argue clichéd way of beginning at Spenser's office in Boston with a client walking in the door. While both series written by their respective authors feature a lack of character development for the most part as well as limited description of the surroundings in favor of a quick read, the books are very different with Robert B. Parker being the master in packing information for the reader in the form of dialogue.
From the second Dennis Doherty walks into his office, Spenser knows something is off and not just the fact that they aren't remotely getting along. Flippant as he always is regardless of whether or not it is a cop, thug, damsel in distress or in this case Dennis Doherty it quickly becomes clear that they won't be friends and Dennis is hiding something. What is obvious is that he is hoping against hope that his wife isn't cheating on him and wants Spenser to investigate.
Jordan Richmond, the woman Dennis Doherty loves deep into his soul, is the wife and it doesn't take long for Spenser to confirm she is cheating and hadn't chosen the best person to risk her marriage. She is into something Spenser isn't sure how to handle. Before long, he has to go full bore with Hawk and several others as backup in a dangerous cat and mouse game that could result in Susan being killed. As he investigates, not only is he working a case with national security angles and Susan in direct danger because of his actions, he is forced to confront their not too distant past and how they ultimately reconciled.
With occasionally slightly more introspection than normal in the series, Spenser does not spend lots of time thinking about the past. What is done is done and they are fine now so everything worked out for the best seems to be his motto. Instead, his focus is on a killer, one known to all including readers from early on in the book and how best to finally stop him. The result is a fast paced read that Spenser fans will love from start to finish.
Kevin R. Tipple © 2008
Book Review: "Vegtable Harvest: Vegtables at the Center of the Plate"
This book is both a visual feast for the eyes and a salute to vegetables and the farmers/growers responsible. The book, the latest in a number of cookbooks written by this author, is designed around the premise that vegetables should be center stage on the plate. Instead of creating meals around meats, fish or poultry, the author writes in the introduction she began putting the vegetables first and working everything else around that.
The result is a colorful ode to vegetables that provides many different ways of cooking and using them to shake up the meal and your palate. Moving from appetizers, to salads, to soups, to poultry and meats and ultimately breads and desserts with every stage in between, author Patricia Wells creates meal after delectable meal on paper. Almost every single recipe is illustrated, not with a picture of the dish, but instead with a picture of the vegetable or vegetables for sales in the markets near the author's home in France.
Cooks experienced with various types of cooking equipment and utensils will find these recipes simple while those of us with less experience may find some of the more complex ones intimidating. Still, the instructions are straightforward and understandable and each recipe comes with a small amount of dietary information on calories, fat, carbohydrates, etc. Those on salt sensitive diets may wish to do a little research on items within a recipe before actually making the dish as that information is not provided.
At 324 pages, including an index and a detailed section on various things that each cook, according to the author, should have on hand such as homemade chicken stock, basil-lemon dressing, watercress pesto, etc. this book is aimed primarily at cooks that have the time and skills necessary to go beyond the standard fare. As such, this book is interesting, colorful and inspiring and can be used as tool to increase variety at the table.
Vegetable Harvest: Vegetables at the Center of the Plate
By Patricia Wells
http://www.patriciawells.com/
William Morrow/Harper Collins
http://www.harpercollins.com/
2007
ISBN# 978-0-06-075244-6
Hardback
324 Pages
Kevin R. Tipple © 2008
The result is a colorful ode to vegetables that provides many different ways of cooking and using them to shake up the meal and your palate. Moving from appetizers, to salads, to soups, to poultry and meats and ultimately breads and desserts with every stage in between, author Patricia Wells creates meal after delectable meal on paper. Almost every single recipe is illustrated, not with a picture of the dish, but instead with a picture of the vegetable or vegetables for sales in the markets near the author's home in France.
Cooks experienced with various types of cooking equipment and utensils will find these recipes simple while those of us with less experience may find some of the more complex ones intimidating. Still, the instructions are straightforward and understandable and each recipe comes with a small amount of dietary information on calories, fat, carbohydrates, etc. Those on salt sensitive diets may wish to do a little research on items within a recipe before actually making the dish as that information is not provided.
At 324 pages, including an index and a detailed section on various things that each cook, according to the author, should have on hand such as homemade chicken stock, basil-lemon dressing, watercress pesto, etc. this book is aimed primarily at cooks that have the time and skills necessary to go beyond the standard fare. As such, this book is interesting, colorful and inspiring and can be used as tool to increase variety at the table.
Vegetable Harvest: Vegetables at the Center of the Plate
By Patricia Wells
http://www.patriciawells.com/
William Morrow/Harper Collins
http://www.harpercollins.com/
2007
ISBN# 978-0-06-075244-6
Hardback
324 Pages
Kevin R. Tipple © 2008
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Update
Yes, I am still sick. Yes, I have reviews to be written. Reading? Yep.
Kevin
Currently reading "Deadly Sins, Deadly Secrets" by Sylvia Dickey Smith(Published by L&L Dreamspell)
Kevin
Currently reading "Deadly Sins, Deadly Secrets" by Sylvia Dickey Smith(Published by L&L Dreamspell)
Monday, February 11, 2008
Reviewing: "Empty Ever After" by Reed Farrel Coleman
The past has always been a major theme and driving force of the Moe Prager series by Reed Farrel Coleman. The author is a winner of the Shamus, Barry and Anthony awards and has been nominated for the Edgar, Macavity, and Gumshoe. This latest effort, scheduled to be released in April, continues the first and no doubt will continue the second as this book is powerful, very good, and disturbing all at the same time.
Empty Ever After
By Reed Farrel Coleman
http://www.reedcoleman.com
Bleak House Books
http://www.bleakhousebooks.com
April 2008
ISBN# 978-1-932557-64-0
Paperback ISBN# 978-1-932557-65-7
272 Pages
ARC
The major secret stayed safe for over twenty years and provided the backbone of a story arc that has traveled the first four novels of the series. The shattering aftermath of the revelation provides the springboard of the current novel as Patrick Maloney won’t stay dead and buried. The Maloney family plot has been desecrated and the bones of his ex brother in law, Patrick Maloney are missing. Moses’ ex-wife Katy is distraught as one would expect and it is left to Sarah, their now grown daughter, to somehow bridge the distant gap between the parents. In so doing, she contacts Moe and before long, Moe is standing at graveside in the year 2000 inspecting the scene for himself.
A former NYPD officer who had to leave the force after a knee injury as well as a rather unorthodox P.I. in the few cases he handled over the years, Moe finds himself at a crossroads in his life. Multiple changes in a relatively short period of time have left him feeling adrift and alone. The desecration of the family plot gives him something to do and a focus for his days. From the beginning, the desecration of the plot which wasn’t just limited to the removal of Patrick’s body, has him thinking long and hard about his past, the people in it, and the secrets he has kept over the years as well as the secrets he has learned of others.
Soon, Moe learns of another grave desecration in Dayton, Ohio this time with links to Patrick and himself. Moe realizes someone is targeting what is left of his family and they are using Katy as a means to get at him. It is working as Katy’s mental state worsens due to repeated shocks to her already fragile system. Seeing her dead brother outside of her home and hearing him on the phone pushes her steadily towards the brink of insanity. Moe desperately seeks to find those of the living responsible and to bury the past once and fore all.
This book is incredibly disturbing and at the same time a very disturbing read. There is a certain depressing relentless series of events that leads to a shocking conclusion that comes at a total surprise to the reader and yet when the book is finished, inevitable and obvious. It is a book that could serve as a fitting ending to a series and yet could mark a huge turning point and a new way forward in a series. One doesn’t know quite how to take this very good book as it could easily go either way.
What is very clear is that this book goes into extensive detailed commentary about past events, past cases, and past relationships that have been covered in earlier books in the series. Much of this book goes into such descriptions of past events with the actual event described as well as all the ramifications of the event. Such detailed examination not only allows Moe to consider his past, secrets, and his responsibility but other themes that have been part of the series.
In so doing, Author Reed Farrel Coleman continues his history of evolving the Moe Prager character. Unlike some main characters that seem to remain relatively static novel after novel, Moe has changed from book to book. While his basic core beliefs have remained the same, his application of them and his view of the world has changed. The result is a living, breathing, humanely flawed major character that continues to evolve as does the series and another very good book.
If you are new to this series, I strongly suggest you start with the first book "Walking the Perfect Square." You won't be sorry.
Kevin R. Tipple © 2008
Empty Ever After
By Reed Farrel Coleman
http://www.reedcoleman.com
Bleak House Books
http://www.bleakhousebooks.com
April 2008
ISBN# 978-1-932557-64-0
Paperback ISBN# 978-1-932557-65-7
272 Pages
ARC
The major secret stayed safe for over twenty years and provided the backbone of a story arc that has traveled the first four novels of the series. The shattering aftermath of the revelation provides the springboard of the current novel as Patrick Maloney won’t stay dead and buried. The Maloney family plot has been desecrated and the bones of his ex brother in law, Patrick Maloney are missing. Moses’ ex-wife Katy is distraught as one would expect and it is left to Sarah, their now grown daughter, to somehow bridge the distant gap between the parents. In so doing, she contacts Moe and before long, Moe is standing at graveside in the year 2000 inspecting the scene for himself.
A former NYPD officer who had to leave the force after a knee injury as well as a rather unorthodox P.I. in the few cases he handled over the years, Moe finds himself at a crossroads in his life. Multiple changes in a relatively short period of time have left him feeling adrift and alone. The desecration of the family plot gives him something to do and a focus for his days. From the beginning, the desecration of the plot which wasn’t just limited to the removal of Patrick’s body, has him thinking long and hard about his past, the people in it, and the secrets he has kept over the years as well as the secrets he has learned of others.
Soon, Moe learns of another grave desecration in Dayton, Ohio this time with links to Patrick and himself. Moe realizes someone is targeting what is left of his family and they are using Katy as a means to get at him. It is working as Katy’s mental state worsens due to repeated shocks to her already fragile system. Seeing her dead brother outside of her home and hearing him on the phone pushes her steadily towards the brink of insanity. Moe desperately seeks to find those of the living responsible and to bury the past once and fore all.
This book is incredibly disturbing and at the same time a very disturbing read. There is a certain depressing relentless series of events that leads to a shocking conclusion that comes at a total surprise to the reader and yet when the book is finished, inevitable and obvious. It is a book that could serve as a fitting ending to a series and yet could mark a huge turning point and a new way forward in a series. One doesn’t know quite how to take this very good book as it could easily go either way.
What is very clear is that this book goes into extensive detailed commentary about past events, past cases, and past relationships that have been covered in earlier books in the series. Much of this book goes into such descriptions of past events with the actual event described as well as all the ramifications of the event. Such detailed examination not only allows Moe to consider his past, secrets, and his responsibility but other themes that have been part of the series.
In so doing, Author Reed Farrel Coleman continues his history of evolving the Moe Prager character. Unlike some main characters that seem to remain relatively static novel after novel, Moe has changed from book to book. While his basic core beliefs have remained the same, his application of them and his view of the world has changed. The result is a living, breathing, humanely flawed major character that continues to evolve as does the series and another very good book.
If you are new to this series, I strongly suggest you start with the first book "Walking the Perfect Square." You won't be sorry.
Kevin R. Tipple © 2008
Saturday, February 09, 2008
Reviewing: Abraham Lincoln and the Forest of Little Pigeon Creek
I don’t often get children’s books for review because I am not directly connected to book review sites aimed at children’s books. So, when I joined Blogger News Network http://www.bloggernews.net/ recently, I made a point of not responding too many of the calls in favor of responding to review calls for non-fiction books and children’s books. The result so far has been a good one and through them I was able to get my hands on this book.
Abraham Lincoln and the Forest of Little Pigeon Creek
Written by T. D. Carter
Illustrated By Randy Jennings
AmeriTales Entertainment, L. L. C
http://www.ameritales.com/
2007
ISBN# 978-0-9798739-0-4
32 Pages
Hardback
As a history major in College and a parent, I know history does not have to be drab and boring. One example of a children’s series that works really well is the Magic Tree House series and all of the related spin-offs. There two fictional children via a magic tree house are transported back in time to actual historic events and are able to experience them first hand. In this case, the first book in a planned series, the work is based on a fictional story built around a real historical character.
Set in 1818, Abraham Lincoln is nine and walking through the forest of Little Pigeon Creek with his best friend, Jack, who happens to be a turkey. The young Abraham Lincoln is desperately trying to convince himself that he isn’t afraid despite the fact that the forest smells, has lots of scary noises and bugs, and all the rest of what one would expect in a forest. For Jack, everything is fine and as he chases a bug here and there, he can’t understand why Abraham would be afraid because everything seems to be normal to him.
The only reason Abraham Lincoln is walking deep into the forest is because that is where Old Man Crawford lives in his house. He has a book that Abraham has been itching to read and probably will loan to him for a little while. The journey to his house and back as well as a follow-up journey to return the book provides the adventure and learning moments for the young Abraham Lincoln as well as readers.
The result is a charming children’s book with colorful detailed illustrations and a powerful message regarding reading and the environment. Both are very important, as the book makes clear as it does the secondary theme of overcoming obstacles in life.
While marketed and aimed at four to nine year olds, the text itself may reside above their abilities despite a short glossary of terms used at the back of the book. The illustrations though, know no boundaries, and are sure to delight young and old alike. The overall result is a good children’s book that parents and others can feel comfortable with young children reading and learning from. It starts the series well and one hopes that future planned editions featuring Amelia Earhart, Thomas Edison, Jackie Robinson and Sitting Bull will meet if not exceed this strong standard.
Kevin R. Tipple © 2008
Abraham Lincoln and the Forest of Little Pigeon Creek
Written by T. D. Carter
Illustrated By Randy Jennings
AmeriTales Entertainment, L. L. C
http://www.ameritales.com/
2007
ISBN# 978-0-9798739-0-4
32 Pages
Hardback
As a history major in College and a parent, I know history does not have to be drab and boring. One example of a children’s series that works really well is the Magic Tree House series and all of the related spin-offs. There two fictional children via a magic tree house are transported back in time to actual historic events and are able to experience them first hand. In this case, the first book in a planned series, the work is based on a fictional story built around a real historical character.
Set in 1818, Abraham Lincoln is nine and walking through the forest of Little Pigeon Creek with his best friend, Jack, who happens to be a turkey. The young Abraham Lincoln is desperately trying to convince himself that he isn’t afraid despite the fact that the forest smells, has lots of scary noises and bugs, and all the rest of what one would expect in a forest. For Jack, everything is fine and as he chases a bug here and there, he can’t understand why Abraham would be afraid because everything seems to be normal to him.
The only reason Abraham Lincoln is walking deep into the forest is because that is where Old Man Crawford lives in his house. He has a book that Abraham has been itching to read and probably will loan to him for a little while. The journey to his house and back as well as a follow-up journey to return the book provides the adventure and learning moments for the young Abraham Lincoln as well as readers.
The result is a charming children’s book with colorful detailed illustrations and a powerful message regarding reading and the environment. Both are very important, as the book makes clear as it does the secondary theme of overcoming obstacles in life.
While marketed and aimed at four to nine year olds, the text itself may reside above their abilities despite a short glossary of terms used at the back of the book. The illustrations though, know no boundaries, and are sure to delight young and old alike. The overall result is a good children’s book that parents and others can feel comfortable with young children reading and learning from. It starts the series well and one hopes that future planned editions featuring Amelia Earhart, Thomas Edison, Jackie Robinson and Sitting Bull will meet if not exceed this strong standard.
Kevin R. Tipple © 2008
Friday, February 08, 2008
Acceptance!
Got word earlier this week that my first fiction submission of the year has been accepted. One for one is a good way to start the year fiction wise.
Kevin
Kevin
Monday, February 04, 2008
TBR---A Book At A Time
Tonight, with abnormally warm tempetures (75 at 7 at nite) and yet another massive heald cold, I headed out to my porch to read. I should have been working on my own writing but I feel a lot of guilt over many things including the fact that my TBR pile is so out of control. I know authors , editors, publicists, etc are waiting for me to get things read and reviewed and it seems a bit selfish to be working on my own stuff. Guilt is a powerful motivator for me as well as Moe Prager.
Which might be one of the reasons I like the Moe Prager series so much. As crickets chirped along the creek, I sat with a booklight in hand and started EMPTY EVER AFTER written by Reed Farrel Coleman. The book is scheduled to be released in April by Bleak House and so far at least, it is very good. It is a bit complicated so I won't go into the synopsis now. I will say that I would strongly suggest that if you have not read this series you start and make sure you read them in order. Always a good idea, it is very true with this novel which spends a large amount of time looking back while moving forward. The past is never past with Moe.
So, just a quick update on what I'm reading. I'm killing tissues left and right as well as cough drops and hope that I get over whatever the latest thing is quickly. Way too much to do and no time to be sick.
Kevin
Which might be one of the reasons I like the Moe Prager series so much. As crickets chirped along the creek, I sat with a booklight in hand and started EMPTY EVER AFTER written by Reed Farrel Coleman. The book is scheduled to be released in April by Bleak House and so far at least, it is very good. It is a bit complicated so I won't go into the synopsis now. I will say that I would strongly suggest that if you have not read this series you start and make sure you read them in order. Always a good idea, it is very true with this novel which spends a large amount of time looking back while moving forward. The past is never past with Moe.
So, just a quick update on what I'm reading. I'm killing tissues left and right as well as cough drops and hope that I get over whatever the latest thing is quickly. Way too much to do and no time to be sick.
Kevin
Sunday, February 03, 2008
Reviewing: "Shoot Him If He Runs" by Staurt Woods
Over the years, I have for the most part enjoyed the novels written by Stuart Woods. My only quibble with him is that in recent years as he churned out less complex books, he also included more graphic sexual scenes in his novels. Sexual scenes that were gratuitous and did nothing to advance the plot and seemed to be included because he felt like he had to have such situations for whatever reason. The latest does that again at one point but overall is a tighter more complicated novel despite the shaky and rather unbelievable beginning.
Shoot Him If He Runs
Stuart Woods
http://www.stuartwoods.com/
G. P. Putnam’s Sons (Penguin Group)
http://www.penguin.com/
2007
ISBN # 978-0-399-15444-7
293 Pages
The novel opens at the restaurant Elaine’s, as almost all do, and as always it the time is described as late. Stone, having just returned to New York is pawing through his mail where he finds what appears to be a dinner invitation from the White House. The legitimacy of the invitation is confirmed minutes later when his friend and occasional lover, Holly Barker, calls him. She is doing shadowy things for the CIA these days and tells him to bring his tux for the dinner tomorrow night along with enough warm weather clothing to be gone a week as well as his passport. Holly doesn’t say much more and neither does the President the next evening before leaving so that Lance Cabot, also of the agency can talk to Barrington.
For the current administration there is the potential of a huge public relations disaster should it become reported by the media that a former employee presumed dead is actually very alive. What is wanted and would be denied by President Lee is for Barrington to go with Holly to St. Marks and help her look for the former employee. Barrington has been there before with mixed results and Holly knows what the master of disguise has looked like on at least two occasions. It is suspected, because of circumstantial evidence that the rogue agent could be in St. Marks. They are to go down to St. Marks and see if they can locate him and if so let the Agency deal with him as they see fit.
Before long, Barrington, Holly, Dino and his current girlfriend, Genevieve, are all cavorting on the beaches, having a good time in the bedroom and at the local restaurants and generally playing the role of wealthy tourists on vacation. Barring and Holly have a harder time with that as they are also trying to find the rogue agent while staying out of the current government’s politics. There are many agendas at work at home and in St. Marks, and Barrington and Holly are pawns on several game boards.
The result is a fast paced fairly enjoyable installment in the Stone Barrington series. The tale is a bit complicated and has a couple of twists in it that aren’t glaringly obvious to the reader. Woods also keeps things interesting as he minimizes the allusions to Barrington’s wealth and sexual encounters. Several are implied briefly with only one being very graphic and obtrusive.
Of course, there really isn’t any character development and series readers wouldn’t expect any since these characters have been fully developed long ago. Instead, the focus is on providing a pleasant tale with some mystery and some action with suspense and the occasional funny throw away line. In that regard, the novel easily meets the goal. While it doesn’t measure up to his early work, it does continue the recent improvement in readability and reader enjoyment.
Kevin R. Tipple © 2008
Shoot Him If He Runs
Stuart Woods
http://www.stuartwoods.com/
G. P. Putnam’s Sons (Penguin Group)
http://www.penguin.com/
2007
ISBN # 978-0-399-15444-7
293 Pages
The novel opens at the restaurant Elaine’s, as almost all do, and as always it the time is described as late. Stone, having just returned to New York is pawing through his mail where he finds what appears to be a dinner invitation from the White House. The legitimacy of the invitation is confirmed minutes later when his friend and occasional lover, Holly Barker, calls him. She is doing shadowy things for the CIA these days and tells him to bring his tux for the dinner tomorrow night along with enough warm weather clothing to be gone a week as well as his passport. Holly doesn’t say much more and neither does the President the next evening before leaving so that Lance Cabot, also of the agency can talk to Barrington.
For the current administration there is the potential of a huge public relations disaster should it become reported by the media that a former employee presumed dead is actually very alive. What is wanted and would be denied by President Lee is for Barrington to go with Holly to St. Marks and help her look for the former employee. Barrington has been there before with mixed results and Holly knows what the master of disguise has looked like on at least two occasions. It is suspected, because of circumstantial evidence that the rogue agent could be in St. Marks. They are to go down to St. Marks and see if they can locate him and if so let the Agency deal with him as they see fit.
Before long, Barrington, Holly, Dino and his current girlfriend, Genevieve, are all cavorting on the beaches, having a good time in the bedroom and at the local restaurants and generally playing the role of wealthy tourists on vacation. Barring and Holly have a harder time with that as they are also trying to find the rogue agent while staying out of the current government’s politics. There are many agendas at work at home and in St. Marks, and Barrington and Holly are pawns on several game boards.
The result is a fast paced fairly enjoyable installment in the Stone Barrington series. The tale is a bit complicated and has a couple of twists in it that aren’t glaringly obvious to the reader. Woods also keeps things interesting as he minimizes the allusions to Barrington’s wealth and sexual encounters. Several are implied briefly with only one being very graphic and obtrusive.
Of course, there really isn’t any character development and series readers wouldn’t expect any since these characters have been fully developed long ago. Instead, the focus is on providing a pleasant tale with some mystery and some action with suspense and the occasional funny throw away line. In that regard, the novel easily meets the goal. While it doesn’t measure up to his early work, it does continue the recent improvement in readability and reader enjoyment.
Kevin R. Tipple © 2008
Barry's Reviews: Crippen & Landru Books
Four years ago, Mysterical-E published a brief essay of mine called “Impossible Pleasures,” which deals with my favorite type of traditional detective story, one in which the question is not only who done it, but also how.
Mystery lovers were recently saddened by the passing of Edward D. Hoch, undoubtedly the most prolific exponent of the mystery short story and one of its greatest craftsmen. Mr. Hoch was a master of the impossible crime story.
This brings me to Crippen & Landru, the company that only publishes mystery short story collections in handsome hardcovers and trade paperbacks. C&L is owned and operated by Douglas G. Greene, respected anthologist (The Locked Room Reader, with Robert Adey; Detection by Gaslight; The Detections of Miss Cusack, with Jack Adrian; R. Austin Freeman’s The Dead Hand and Other Uncollected Stories, with Tony Medawar); biographer (John Dickson Carr: The Man Who Explained Miracles), and editor (John Dickson Carr’s The Door to Doom and Merrivale, March, and Murder).
I own five C&L titles, four of which are by Mr. Hoch, the fifth by Joseph Commings, another impossible crime specialist. Before I discuss those, however, let me mention that C&L has a huge list of titles and authors that will please fans of both traditional and hardboiled detective stories.
Now, on to the titles I own and can heartily recommend.
Diagnosis: Impossible and More Things Impossible feature Mr. Hoch’s New England country doctor/sleuth Dr. Sam Hawthorne. Each is related in the first-person as Dr. Sam, after pouring his regular visitor “a small libation,” regales him with the puzzles he solved starting in 1922 when he first came to the town of Northmont. The stories progress forward in time, and each involves a seemingly impossible situation. Among these are how a horse and carriage vanished from inside a covered bridge, how a man was stabbed while alone in a voting booth, how an actor was apparently strangled by a haunted oak tree, and how someone was stabbed in the locked cockpit of a plane in flight.
Mr. Hoch created a multitude of colorful characters, one of whom was master thief Nick Velvet, fourteen of whose adventures are collected in The Velvet Touch.
Nick Velvet is unique in that he only steals for his clients items of no value for a $20,000 fee. Titles like “The Theft of Nothing at All,” “The Theft of the Four of Spades,” “The Theft of the Overdue Library Book,” and “The Theft of the Bald Man’s Comb” will give you an idea of what I mean. Of course, the thefts invariably lead Velvet into deeper mysteries he has to solve.
He also occasionally teams with or competes against the beautiful Sandra Paris, a.k.a. “The White Queen,” a stellar thief herself whose motto is “Impossible Things Before Breakfast.” As the motto implies, Velvet must sometimes solve the “impossible” situations.
The Ripper of Storyville is a collection of fourteen stories about Mr. Hoch’s peripatetic cowboy sleuth Ben Snow. Snow bears a striking resemblance to Billy the Kid, which frequently gets him into trouble. His adventures sometimes lead him into the realm of the impossible--e.g., the steamboat that vanishes in the middle of the river after it leaves Vicksburg, Mississippi, and the locked-room problem in “The Phantom Stallion.” I’m not generally a fan of historical mysteries, but the Ben Snow stories are gems of that sub-genre. I never considered Mr. Hoch a writer of “dark” fiction, but some of these stories surprised me.
Mr. Hoch also collaborated with Joseph Commings on a story titled “Stairway to Nowhere,” featuring Commings’ series sleuth Senator Brooks U. Banner, a gaudy and memorable figure. Until C&L collected this and thirteen other Banner stories as part of their Lost Classics series in the collection Banner Deadlines, only a few had been anthologized. Most originally appeared in pulp magazines.
The Banner stories are tantalizing in their premises. Consider, for instance—and here I’m quoting from the book’s back cover—a “murder at a séance where everyone is strait-jacketed together and linked by touching feet…a killing in a sealed glass case, and a murder by a sword which must have been wielded by a giant. The most extraordinary story of all is ‘The X Street Murders,’ in which the victim is shot in a guarded room and the smoking-gun is delivered, a few seconds later, in a sealed envelope next door.” Although some of Commings’ solutions are a little too mechanical for my taste, I tore through this collection enthusiastically, and I hope there will be another.
Mystery fans owe Douglas Greene an enormous debt of gratitude for the Crippen & Landru titles—past, present, and forthcoming. They can repay him by purchasing some of the books I’ve mentioned as well as others, and nourish themselves by supping on some of the finest stories the genre has produced.
Barry Ergang © 2008
Currently the Managing Editor of Futures Mystery Anthology Magazine and First Senior Editor of Mysterical-E, winner of the Short Mystery Fiction Society’s 2007Derringer Award in the Flash Fiction category, Barry Ergang’s written work has appeared in numerous publications, print and electronic. For links to material available online, see Barry’s webpages.
Mystery lovers were recently saddened by the passing of Edward D. Hoch, undoubtedly the most prolific exponent of the mystery short story and one of its greatest craftsmen. Mr. Hoch was a master of the impossible crime story.
This brings me to Crippen & Landru, the company that only publishes mystery short story collections in handsome hardcovers and trade paperbacks. C&L is owned and operated by Douglas G. Greene, respected anthologist (The Locked Room Reader, with Robert Adey; Detection by Gaslight; The Detections of Miss Cusack, with Jack Adrian; R. Austin Freeman’s The Dead Hand and Other Uncollected Stories, with Tony Medawar); biographer (John Dickson Carr: The Man Who Explained Miracles), and editor (John Dickson Carr’s The Door to Doom and Merrivale, March, and Murder).
I own five C&L titles, four of which are by Mr. Hoch, the fifth by Joseph Commings, another impossible crime specialist. Before I discuss those, however, let me mention that C&L has a huge list of titles and authors that will please fans of both traditional and hardboiled detective stories.
Now, on to the titles I own and can heartily recommend.
Diagnosis: Impossible and More Things Impossible feature Mr. Hoch’s New England country doctor/sleuth Dr. Sam Hawthorne. Each is related in the first-person as Dr. Sam, after pouring his regular visitor “a small libation,” regales him with the puzzles he solved starting in 1922 when he first came to the town of Northmont. The stories progress forward in time, and each involves a seemingly impossible situation. Among these are how a horse and carriage vanished from inside a covered bridge, how a man was stabbed while alone in a voting booth, how an actor was apparently strangled by a haunted oak tree, and how someone was stabbed in the locked cockpit of a plane in flight.
Mr. Hoch created a multitude of colorful characters, one of whom was master thief Nick Velvet, fourteen of whose adventures are collected in The Velvet Touch.
Nick Velvet is unique in that he only steals for his clients items of no value for a $20,000 fee. Titles like “The Theft of Nothing at All,” “The Theft of the Four of Spades,” “The Theft of the Overdue Library Book,” and “The Theft of the Bald Man’s Comb” will give you an idea of what I mean. Of course, the thefts invariably lead Velvet into deeper mysteries he has to solve.
He also occasionally teams with or competes against the beautiful Sandra Paris, a.k.a. “The White Queen,” a stellar thief herself whose motto is “Impossible Things Before Breakfast.” As the motto implies, Velvet must sometimes solve the “impossible” situations.
The Ripper of Storyville is a collection of fourteen stories about Mr. Hoch’s peripatetic cowboy sleuth Ben Snow. Snow bears a striking resemblance to Billy the Kid, which frequently gets him into trouble. His adventures sometimes lead him into the realm of the impossible--e.g., the steamboat that vanishes in the middle of the river after it leaves Vicksburg, Mississippi, and the locked-room problem in “The Phantom Stallion.” I’m not generally a fan of historical mysteries, but the Ben Snow stories are gems of that sub-genre. I never considered Mr. Hoch a writer of “dark” fiction, but some of these stories surprised me.
Mr. Hoch also collaborated with Joseph Commings on a story titled “Stairway to Nowhere,” featuring Commings’ series sleuth Senator Brooks U. Banner, a gaudy and memorable figure. Until C&L collected this and thirteen other Banner stories as part of their Lost Classics series in the collection Banner Deadlines, only a few had been anthologized. Most originally appeared in pulp magazines.
The Banner stories are tantalizing in their premises. Consider, for instance—and here I’m quoting from the book’s back cover—a “murder at a séance where everyone is strait-jacketed together and linked by touching feet…a killing in a sealed glass case, and a murder by a sword which must have been wielded by a giant. The most extraordinary story of all is ‘The X Street Murders,’ in which the victim is shot in a guarded room and the smoking-gun is delivered, a few seconds later, in a sealed envelope next door.” Although some of Commings’ solutions are a little too mechanical for my taste, I tore through this collection enthusiastically, and I hope there will be another.
Mystery fans owe Douglas Greene an enormous debt of gratitude for the Crippen & Landru titles—past, present, and forthcoming. They can repay him by purchasing some of the books I’ve mentioned as well as others, and nourish themselves by supping on some of the finest stories the genre has produced.
Barry Ergang © 2008
Currently the Managing Editor of Futures Mystery Anthology Magazine and First Senior Editor of Mysterical-E, winner of the Short Mystery Fiction Society’s 2007Derringer Award in the Flash Fiction category, Barry Ergang’s written work has appeared in numerous publications, print and electronic. For links to material available online, see Barry’s webpages.
Saturday, February 02, 2008
Groundhog Day
I don't know if what's his name saw his shadow or not today. And I don't know how accurate he is.
I do know that I am seeing trees around here starting to bud out and there are fish moving in our creek again. This has not been a normal winter at all and it would not surprise me if things started heading for spring. It also wouldn't suprise me if we got hammered with an ice storm. I never see true blue northers anymore like when I was a kid, but Texas weather is still freaky.
Kevin
I do know that I am seeing trees around here starting to bud out and there are fish moving in our creek again. This has not been a normal winter at all and it would not surprise me if things started heading for spring. It also wouldn't suprise me if we got hammered with an ice storm. I never see true blue northers anymore like when I was a kid, but Texas weather is still freaky.
Kevin
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Submissions
I'm not a prolific writer by any stretch of the imagination. So, unlike some folks, my first submission of the new year just went out by e-mail an hour ago. Cross your fingers for me!
Kevin
Kevin
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Truly a weekend well spent
When I was a kid, one of the things my parents did was take my brother and I down to Big Bend National Park. I was too young to have very many memories of the place now but I do remember standing inside Santa Elena canyon and thinking how narrow and deep it was and that it was too bad the trail stopped at the water's edge. I wanted to go exploring something Keith Bowden wanted to do when as a young runaway he first saw the river at age sixteen.
I've spent the weekend sitting outside on my porch above the small creek that cuts through the property and reading a fascinating book titled "The Tecate Journals" written by Keith Bowden. Mr. Bowden traveled the Rio Grande from El Paso to the Gulf of Mexico, a stretch of over 1300 miles primarily by canoe. In his book, which I will be reviewing in detail for an upcoming issue of Senior News, he describes life and culture on both sides of the river as well as the history and modern day problems such as the fear of terrorism, the real issue of smuggling, and the seen and unseen environmental damage.
The book chronicles every step of the way with a small part of the nearly 300 page book covering his journey through Big Bend National Park and of course, Santa Elena canyon. Despite the obstacles, during his journey which took nearly three months, this man found the people on both sides of the river had much more in common than many outsiders would admit or consider.
I had to get this book via interlibrary loan and as a result had to stop everything else to read this. It was well worth it and provides a fascinating look at life and history on both sides of the border. This read truly made the weekend one well spent.
Kevin R. Tipple © 2008
I've spent the weekend sitting outside on my porch above the small creek that cuts through the property and reading a fascinating book titled "The Tecate Journals" written by Keith Bowden. Mr. Bowden traveled the Rio Grande from El Paso to the Gulf of Mexico, a stretch of over 1300 miles primarily by canoe. In his book, which I will be reviewing in detail for an upcoming issue of Senior News, he describes life and culture on both sides of the river as well as the history and modern day problems such as the fear of terrorism, the real issue of smuggling, and the seen and unseen environmental damage.
The book chronicles every step of the way with a small part of the nearly 300 page book covering his journey through Big Bend National Park and of course, Santa Elena canyon. Despite the obstacles, during his journey which took nearly three months, this man found the people on both sides of the river had much more in common than many outsiders would admit or consider.
I had to get this book via interlibrary loan and as a result had to stop everything else to read this. It was well worth it and provides a fascinating look at life and history on both sides of the border. This read truly made the weekend one well spent.
Kevin R. Tipple © 2008
Saturday, January 26, 2008
The Edgars Are Coming! The Edgars Are Coming!
It is that time of year again. With a wife that shares her birthday with Edgar Allan Poe, is there any wonder as to my interest? Below is a short list of the nominations and more information, including the rest of the nominees, can be found at the homepage of the Mystery Writers of America located at http://www.mysterywriters.org/
Best Novel Nominees
Christine Falls by Benjamin Black (Henry Holt and Company)
Priest by Ken Bruen (St. Martin's Minotaur)
The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon (HarperCollins)
Soul Patch by Reed Farrel Coleman (Bleak House Books)
Down River by John Hart (St. Martin's Minotaur
Best First Novel By An American Author
Missing Witness by Gordon Campbell (HarperCollins - William Morrow)
In the Woods by Tana French (Penguin Group - Viking)
Snitch Jacket by Christopher Goffard (The Rookery Press)
Head Games by Craig McDonald (Bleak House Books)
Pyres by Derek Nikitas (St. Martin's Minotaur)
Best Paperback Original
Queenpin by Megan Abbott (Simon & Schuster)
Blood of Paradise by David Corbett (Random House - Mortalis)
Cruel Poetry by Vicki Hendricks (Serpent's Tail)
Robbie's Wife by Russell Hill (Hard Case Crime)
Who is Conrad Hirst? by Kevin Wignall (Simon & Schuster)
Best Short Story
"The Catch" - Still Waters by Mark Ammons (Level Best Books)
"Blue Note" - Chicago Blues by Stuart M. Kaminsky (Bleak House Books)
"Hardly Knew Her" - Dead Man's Hand by Laura Lippman (Harcourt Trade Publishers)
"The Golden Gopher" - Los Angeles Noir by Susan Straight (Akashic Books
"Uncle" - A Hell of a Woman by Daniel Woodrell (Busted Flush Press)
Best Young Adult
Rat Life by Tedd Arnold (Penguin - Dial Books for Young Readers)
Diamonds in the Shadow by Caroline B. Cooney (Random House Children's Books - Delacorte Press)
Touching Snow by M. Sindy Felin (Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing - Atheneum Books for Young Readers)
Blood Brothers by S.A. Harazin (Random House Children's Books - Delacorte Press)
Fragments by Jeffry W. Johnston (Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing - Simon Pulse)
Best Juvenile
The Name of This Book is Secret by Pseudonymous Bosch (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
Shadows on Society Hill by Evelyn Coleman (American Girl Publications)
Deep and Dark and Dangerous by Mary Downing Hahn (Clarion Books)
The Night Tourist by Katherine Marsh (Hyperion Books for Young Readers)
Sammy Keyes and the Wild Things by Wendelin Van Draanen (Random House Children's Books - Alfred A. Knopf)
An impressive list and almost all of them I have not heard of and therefore have not read. Considering the fact that I have over two hundred books now in my TBR pile and they keep coming whether I ask or not, it is going to be awhile before I get to these. If you have read them, please let me know what you read and how you felt about it. I'm toying with an idea about this so stay tuned.
Kevin R. Tipple © 2008
Best Novel Nominees
Christine Falls by Benjamin Black (Henry Holt and Company)
Priest by Ken Bruen (St. Martin's Minotaur)
The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon (HarperCollins)
Soul Patch by Reed Farrel Coleman (Bleak House Books)
Down River by John Hart (St. Martin's Minotaur
Best First Novel By An American Author
Missing Witness by Gordon Campbell (HarperCollins - William Morrow)
In the Woods by Tana French (Penguin Group - Viking)
Snitch Jacket by Christopher Goffard (The Rookery Press)
Head Games by Craig McDonald (Bleak House Books)
Pyres by Derek Nikitas (St. Martin's Minotaur)
Best Paperback Original
Queenpin by Megan Abbott (Simon & Schuster)
Blood of Paradise by David Corbett (Random House - Mortalis)
Cruel Poetry by Vicki Hendricks (Serpent's Tail)
Robbie's Wife by Russell Hill (Hard Case Crime)
Who is Conrad Hirst? by Kevin Wignall (Simon & Schuster)
Best Short Story
"The Catch" - Still Waters by Mark Ammons (Level Best Books)
"Blue Note" - Chicago Blues by Stuart M. Kaminsky (Bleak House Books)
"Hardly Knew Her" - Dead Man's Hand by Laura Lippman (Harcourt Trade Publishers)
"The Golden Gopher" - Los Angeles Noir by Susan Straight (Akashic Books
"Uncle" - A Hell of a Woman by Daniel Woodrell (Busted Flush Press)
Best Young Adult
Rat Life by Tedd Arnold (Penguin - Dial Books for Young Readers)
Diamonds in the Shadow by Caroline B. Cooney (Random House Children's Books - Delacorte Press)
Touching Snow by M. Sindy Felin (Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing - Atheneum Books for Young Readers)
Blood Brothers by S.A. Harazin (Random House Children's Books - Delacorte Press)
Fragments by Jeffry W. Johnston (Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing - Simon Pulse)
Best Juvenile
The Name of This Book is Secret by Pseudonymous Bosch (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
Shadows on Society Hill by Evelyn Coleman (American Girl Publications)
Deep and Dark and Dangerous by Mary Downing Hahn (Clarion Books)
The Night Tourist by Katherine Marsh (Hyperion Books for Young Readers)
Sammy Keyes and the Wild Things by Wendelin Van Draanen (Random House Children's Books - Alfred A. Knopf)
An impressive list and almost all of them I have not heard of and therefore have not read. Considering the fact that I have over two hundred books now in my TBR pile and they keep coming whether I ask or not, it is going to be awhile before I get to these. If you have read them, please let me know what you read and how you felt about it. I'm toying with an idea about this so stay tuned.
Kevin R. Tipple © 2008
Friday, January 25, 2008
Moving---But, Not Yet Grooving
Well, it has been a couple of days and the back at this point is a bit better. Very happy about that! No ice arrived so I managed to stay upright which is always a good thing.
Supposed to be in the sixties this weekend in the afternoon and though there is quite a lot to do inside, I plan to hit the porch with a book or two and enjoy the sun. Been too cold and cloudy lately and I have a serious case of back porch withdrawal.
Kevin R. Tipple (c) 2008
Supposed to be in the sixties this weekend in the afternoon and though there is quite a lot to do inside, I plan to hit the porch with a book or two and enjoy the sun. Been too cold and cloudy lately and I have a serious case of back porch withdrawal.
Kevin R. Tipple (c) 2008
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
A Couple Of Things
as I sit in my recliner with my feet up and a heating pad on my back watching Texas Tech and Mizzou play while doing my e-mail on the laptop. I made a spectacular crash landing today during kickball in a gym class and was once again reminded that at age 46 and 300 plus pounds I do need to slow down just a bit. But, I digress.
The Edgars have been announced. Well, the nominations have and I have the post saved upstairs on the PC so I will post it here soon. But, at the first reading, I was surprised at how many I hadn't read and even worse had never heard of. Something that I will have to remedy. I did see Reed Farrell Coleman was listed for "Soul Patch" which I thought was a good one. I would suggest reading his books in order and by the way, he has another out in April. And, yes, thanks to the good folks at Bleak House that book is here. I'm thrilled to have it and can't wait to get to it. As well as a bunch of other titles from them as well.
And I still have to finish "The Sex Club" by L. J Sellers for a review that will be an exclusive in the next edition of the Crime and Suspense zine done by Tony Burton.
I also saw where Texan and author Sylvia Dickey Smith finally signed up with PJ Nunn (another Texan) for publicity purposes. PJ and her hubby, whose name escapes me at the moment, are classy folks and good people. Sylvia and her hubby (whose name I also can't think of at the moment) are as well and hopefully we will all be able to hang out together again at HHCC in Dallas in June. Tony Hillerman is slated to be the keynote speaker. Should be a grand time again.
Well, that is about it. We have a Winter Storm Watch here for tomorrow evening through Friday morning. Considering how I went flying when the base slid in gym class today, I am really not looking forward to ice on the sidewalks or the stairs from my second floor apartment.
Kevin R. Tipple (c) 2008
The Edgars have been announced. Well, the nominations have and I have the post saved upstairs on the PC so I will post it here soon. But, at the first reading, I was surprised at how many I hadn't read and even worse had never heard of. Something that I will have to remedy. I did see Reed Farrell Coleman was listed for "Soul Patch" which I thought was a good one. I would suggest reading his books in order and by the way, he has another out in April. And, yes, thanks to the good folks at Bleak House that book is here. I'm thrilled to have it and can't wait to get to it. As well as a bunch of other titles from them as well.
And I still have to finish "The Sex Club" by L. J Sellers for a review that will be an exclusive in the next edition of the Crime and Suspense zine done by Tony Burton.
I also saw where Texan and author Sylvia Dickey Smith finally signed up with PJ Nunn (another Texan) for publicity purposes. PJ and her hubby, whose name escapes me at the moment, are classy folks and good people. Sylvia and her hubby (whose name I also can't think of at the moment) are as well and hopefully we will all be able to hang out together again at HHCC in Dallas in June. Tony Hillerman is slated to be the keynote speaker. Should be a grand time again.
Well, that is about it. We have a Winter Storm Watch here for tomorrow evening through Friday morning. Considering how I went flying when the base slid in gym class today, I am really not looking forward to ice on the sidewalks or the stairs from my second floor apartment.
Kevin R. Tipple (c) 2008
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Barry's Reviews: "Killers Are My Meat" by Stephen Marlowe
KILLERS ARE MY MEAT (1957) by Stephen Marlowe
reviewed by Barry Ergang
One of the more literate of the hardboiled writers to emerge during the Fifties, the prolific but undervalued Stephen Marlowe created Washington, D.C.-based private detective Chester Drum, most of whose cases take him out of the country.
Killers Are My Meat starts when Drum is asked by the wife of his mentor, a P.I. named Gil Sprayregan, to find her husband. Drum soon learns Sprayregan has plans to blackmail Sumitra Mojindar, the round-heeled wife of a highly placed East Indian official, not realizing that everyone in D.C. knows of her promiscuity and that she herself doesn't care who knows it. Sprayregan is killed in a deliberate hit-and-run, and soon after his wife is shot to death by a smoothly vicious associate of Mrs. Mojindar who cannot be prosecuted because of his diplomatic immunity.
During the course of these events, Priscilla Varley tries to hire Drum to accompany her husband Stewart to Benares, India, where Varley will attend as a Western Observer an Afro-Asian Conference at which Mrs. Mojindar's husband is to be a key speaker. Varley is a man looking "to find himself" in the exotic, "mystical" East. Initially Drum declines the job, but after the Sprayregans are murdered, he agrees.
The plot develops further in Benares when Varley seeks out a sadhu, a holy man, and then goes missing; and Drum encounters an old friend and former lover, reporter Marianne Wilder, who is covering the conference. When Marianne is kidnapped by the same people who want Drum to deliver Varley to them, the action picks up and seldom flags. As things progress, Drum learns what Mrs. Mojindar and company feared Sprayregan had on them, and has to bring things to a satisfactory conclusion without causing an international incident--if he can survive the beatings he sustains along the way.
Imagine Philip Marlowe gone international and you have a sense of Chet Drum--though Drum's a lot more physical, less inclined to wisecracks, and a touch less cynical.
Born Milton Lesser (he legally changed his name), Stephen Marlowe writes in a crisp, literate style that shows definite flashes of Raymond Chandler, including the occasional Chandleresque simile. He has a good sense of character and an excellent sense of place and pace. If you enjoy quick, exciting reads, you owe it to yourself to seek out the Chester Drum novels by an author who was popular in his day but who, regrettably, is all but unknown nowadays except by collectors and nostalgia buffs.
For more on this book as well as the Golden Age of Detection follow the link at:
http://gadetection.pbwiki.com/Killers-Are-My-Meat
Barry Ergang © 2008
2007 Derringer Winner Barry Ergang is Managing Editor of Futures Mystery Anthology Magazine and First Senior Editor for Mysterical-E. You can find information about and links to his work Barry’s webpages.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Predators and Editors Polling
On behalf of Barry, Earl and myself, I just wanted to take a moment to thank each and everyone of of you for voting for this blog in the recent poll. It was and is a honor to ben nominated and I think, based on early results, we did really well. I thank you for your support and I do hope you will keep reading us here, there and across the internet and print media.
Thank You!
Kevin
Thank You!
Kevin
Friday, January 18, 2008
Barry's Reviews: "Lover Man" by Dallas Murphy
LOVER MAN (1987) by Dallas Murphy
reviewed by Barry Ergang
Life is good for Artie Deemer. His favorite pastime is to play jazz through his stereo system, settle back in his Morris chair with his feet propped on the window sill, smoke some pot, and listen while he watches from his window the activity in Riverside Park and on the Hudson River twelve stories below. He doesn’t have to work. He lives off Jellyroll.
Jellyroll is the spokesdog featured in the R-r-ruff Dog Food print and television ads. He sometimes gets acting gigs in movies and TV programs, supplementing his already substantial income.
Both Artie’s idyllic lifestyle and mental state are shattered when a pair of NYPD detectives show up at his door to inform him that his ex-lover Billie Burke, a photographer and Jellyroll’s original owner, has been murdered—drowned in her bathtub, her hands and feet bound. The cops need Artie to formally identify her body, and they have questions for him about his relationship with her, what he knows about her family, her other relationships, etc.
When he is feeling reclusive, Artie will ignore phone calls and messages for days at a time. Thus, when he returns to his apartment from the morgue, he’s startled to find an urgent message on his answering machine from Billie. Recorded the night of her murder, it asks him to meet her at her studio so she can give him something.
His pursuit of the something leads him into an adventure he could happily do without, but he’s determined to find out who killed Billie. His quest leads to encounters with a corpse in a refrigerator, the corpse’s very live and vengeful brother, a World War II flying ace now working for the mob, the ace’s henchmen, a pair of doctors of dubious character, federal investigators, and more visits from the police. The more he digs, the more Artie realizes that Billie wasn’t entirely who she seemed to be, and that the past she claimed wasn’t entirely real.
Although the story has its grim moments, Murphy seamlessly blends levity with gravity in a neatly-paced narrative brimming with colorful characters and wild action that should appeal to fans of semi-hardboiled mysteries. One caveat: the language is occasionally on the raw side, so readers who find that sort of thing offensive may want to avoid this one.
Barry Ergang © 2008
2007 Derringer winner Barry Ergang is Managing Editor of Futures Mystery Anthology Magazine and First Senior Editor for Mysterical-E. You can find information about and links to his work Barry’s webpages.
reviewed by Barry Ergang
Life is good for Artie Deemer. His favorite pastime is to play jazz through his stereo system, settle back in his Morris chair with his feet propped on the window sill, smoke some pot, and listen while he watches from his window the activity in Riverside Park and on the Hudson River twelve stories below. He doesn’t have to work. He lives off Jellyroll.
Jellyroll is the spokesdog featured in the R-r-ruff Dog Food print and television ads. He sometimes gets acting gigs in movies and TV programs, supplementing his already substantial income.
Both Artie’s idyllic lifestyle and mental state are shattered when a pair of NYPD detectives show up at his door to inform him that his ex-lover Billie Burke, a photographer and Jellyroll’s original owner, has been murdered—drowned in her bathtub, her hands and feet bound. The cops need Artie to formally identify her body, and they have questions for him about his relationship with her, what he knows about her family, her other relationships, etc.
When he is feeling reclusive, Artie will ignore phone calls and messages for days at a time. Thus, when he returns to his apartment from the morgue, he’s startled to find an urgent message on his answering machine from Billie. Recorded the night of her murder, it asks him to meet her at her studio so she can give him something.
His pursuit of the something leads him into an adventure he could happily do without, but he’s determined to find out who killed Billie. His quest leads to encounters with a corpse in a refrigerator, the corpse’s very live and vengeful brother, a World War II flying ace now working for the mob, the ace’s henchmen, a pair of doctors of dubious character, federal investigators, and more visits from the police. The more he digs, the more Artie realizes that Billie wasn’t entirely who she seemed to be, and that the past she claimed wasn’t entirely real.
Although the story has its grim moments, Murphy seamlessly blends levity with gravity in a neatly-paced narrative brimming with colorful characters and wild action that should appeal to fans of semi-hardboiled mysteries. One caveat: the language is occasionally on the raw side, so readers who find that sort of thing offensive may want to avoid this one.
Barry Ergang © 2008
2007 Derringer winner Barry Ergang is Managing Editor of Futures Mystery Anthology Magazine and First Senior Editor for Mysterical-E. You can find information about and links to his work Barry’s webpages.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
That Time Of Year
If you are on a lot of lists like I am (yet another way to avoid writing my own stuff) you have noticed that a lot of folks are talking about their favorite books of the past year. On one list, some posters are collecting the information to develop some sort of master ten best list that is supposed to be reflective of the readership.
Well, whatever.
See, I don't put much stock in these sorts of deals like I don't follow with baited breath the latest political polling numbers. I don't believe them. If you are into them then by all means go for it. It just isn't for me. Because I have to admit something.
Reading and reviewing is not a totally objective deal for me and I bet it isn't for anyone else either. What is happening in my life and the mood I am in has some influence on my reading and ultimately the review. It can't be helped. It is what it is and as such, what I could really like at one point in the year may not strike such a responsive cord at another.
So, for me, they are pretty much worthless. But, that is just me. If you like such things then by all means enjoy and have fun.
Kevin R. Tipple © 2008
Well, whatever.
See, I don't put much stock in these sorts of deals like I don't follow with baited breath the latest political polling numbers. I don't believe them. If you are into them then by all means go for it. It just isn't for me. Because I have to admit something.
Reading and reviewing is not a totally objective deal for me and I bet it isn't for anyone else either. What is happening in my life and the mood I am in has some influence on my reading and ultimately the review. It can't be helped. It is what it is and as such, what I could really like at one point in the year may not strike such a responsive cord at another.
So, for me, they are pretty much worthless. But, that is just me. If you like such things then by all means enjoy and have fun.
Kevin R. Tipple © 2008
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
Working Again
and not just at my dayjob. For the first time in months, I wrote some fiction tonight. I'm working on a piece for a deadline at the end of the month. My writers group meets next week so if I can get it out to them by Saturday, my story as well as I, will benefit.
Kevin R. Tipple (c) 2008
Kevin R. Tipple (c) 2008
Saturday, January 05, 2008
Reviewing: "Rebel Island" by Rick Riordan
Rebel Island
By Rick Riordan
http://www.rickriordan.com/
Bantam Books
http://www.bantamdell.com/
September 2007
ISBN# 978-0-553-80423-2
Hardback
339 Pages
$25.00
Tres Navarre returns in this latest novel of the series and this book can easily be summed up as both a coming to grips with the painful past book as well as an opening to a possible future. Roughly six months ago, Tres decided he wasn’t going to be a private investigator anymore. There was a host of factors involved including the fact that Maia was pregnant.
Now, having just married her, Tres takes the eight and a half month pregnant Maia to Rebel Island for their honeymoon. Of course, his brother Garrett, who set it all up for him after learning that Tres hadn’t planned anything, had to come along. Of course, Garret would choose Rebel Island located twenty minutes away from Aransas Pass and a place that Tres had sworn he would never go back to after that fateful summer when he was a child. The old hotel and accompanying lighthouse are owned by, depending on which brother you ask, a childhood friend or a bully. They both still stand and so does the pain of this place deep in Tres’ mind.
Tres ignores his strong and pointed suggestion to take his wife and brother and get back on the ferry and leave while they can. While Tres is there on his honeymoon which will soon be wet as lightening crackles across the Gulf, Langoria believes Tres is there on detective business. Tres has hated the man with a cold rage for over two years now and isn’t about to stop now or heed the fact that the weather is worsening by the minute as it did just recently at his wedding. Langoria gave him good advice and before long Tres will regret not listening to him despite the animosity.
At only a mile long and not very tall, Rebel Island has little on it but a few palmetto trees, the aging hotel and old lighthouse as well as plenty of painful memories. The site was the last land battle of the Civil War and the place is under siege again. Tropical Storm Aidan, which had been falling apart according to forecasters, is actually building back to hurricane status and heading straight north right at them and the surrounding Texas coast. Tres, Maia and Garrett are far from home in San Antonio with nowhere to hide on the island and no way to get off of it. Their only hope is that whatever happens the old hotel can handle the storm. Then they hear a gunshot.
As Tres, a few other guests and small staff discover there has been a murder with one of their number dead by gunshot would to the chest. The murder means that either one of their number is a murderer or there is a killer lurking outside somewhere on the storm sieged island. As the hurricane mounts a full fledged assault on the island, Tres, Maia and Garrett struggle to find out who did it among a cast of characters carrying their own horrific baggage and problems.
Like in any classic clichéd setup of this type, the killing doesn’t stop with one murder despite Tres repeatedly assembling all suspects in one location for safety and interrogation purposes. There are constant reminders of Maia’s high risk pregnancy and pending birth which is pushed so hard that she actually briefly goes into labor at one point due to all of the stress. All the character stereotypes are used in a novel that makes heavy uses of time breaks, pov shifts for everything except the viewpoint of the hurricane, very short chapters and pushed in margins to pad the page count of the book.
Clichéd on every level in terms of story, character development is limited to back story that explains Tres’ childhood pain as well as his anguish over recent events which helps to tie up several loose ends left hanging over the six previous novels of the series. Clearly the weakest of the series by far, this book seems to either be written to satisfy contractual obligations or end what had been to this point a very good series by this Texas author. If this is the end, it is a soggy one and not the pulse pounding ride that readers of the series have long experienced.
Kevin R. Tipple © 2008
By Rick Riordan
http://www.rickriordan.com/
Bantam Books
http://www.bantamdell.com/
September 2007
ISBN# 978-0-553-80423-2
Hardback
339 Pages
$25.00
Tres Navarre returns in this latest novel of the series and this book can easily be summed up as both a coming to grips with the painful past book as well as an opening to a possible future. Roughly six months ago, Tres decided he wasn’t going to be a private investigator anymore. There was a host of factors involved including the fact that Maia was pregnant.
Now, having just married her, Tres takes the eight and a half month pregnant Maia to Rebel Island for their honeymoon. Of course, his brother Garrett, who set it all up for him after learning that Tres hadn’t planned anything, had to come along. Of course, Garret would choose Rebel Island located twenty minutes away from Aransas Pass and a place that Tres had sworn he would never go back to after that fateful summer when he was a child. The old hotel and accompanying lighthouse are owned by, depending on which brother you ask, a childhood friend or a bully. They both still stand and so does the pain of this place deep in Tres’ mind.
Tres ignores his strong and pointed suggestion to take his wife and brother and get back on the ferry and leave while they can. While Tres is there on his honeymoon which will soon be wet as lightening crackles across the Gulf, Langoria believes Tres is there on detective business. Tres has hated the man with a cold rage for over two years now and isn’t about to stop now or heed the fact that the weather is worsening by the minute as it did just recently at his wedding. Langoria gave him good advice and before long Tres will regret not listening to him despite the animosity.
At only a mile long and not very tall, Rebel Island has little on it but a few palmetto trees, the aging hotel and old lighthouse as well as plenty of painful memories. The site was the last land battle of the Civil War and the place is under siege again. Tropical Storm Aidan, which had been falling apart according to forecasters, is actually building back to hurricane status and heading straight north right at them and the surrounding Texas coast. Tres, Maia and Garrett are far from home in San Antonio with nowhere to hide on the island and no way to get off of it. Their only hope is that whatever happens the old hotel can handle the storm. Then they hear a gunshot.
As Tres, a few other guests and small staff discover there has been a murder with one of their number dead by gunshot would to the chest. The murder means that either one of their number is a murderer or there is a killer lurking outside somewhere on the storm sieged island. As the hurricane mounts a full fledged assault on the island, Tres, Maia and Garrett struggle to find out who did it among a cast of characters carrying their own horrific baggage and problems.
Like in any classic clichéd setup of this type, the killing doesn’t stop with one murder despite Tres repeatedly assembling all suspects in one location for safety and interrogation purposes. There are constant reminders of Maia’s high risk pregnancy and pending birth which is pushed so hard that she actually briefly goes into labor at one point due to all of the stress. All the character stereotypes are used in a novel that makes heavy uses of time breaks, pov shifts for everything except the viewpoint of the hurricane, very short chapters and pushed in margins to pad the page count of the book.
Clichéd on every level in terms of story, character development is limited to back story that explains Tres’ childhood pain as well as his anguish over recent events which helps to tie up several loose ends left hanging over the six previous novels of the series. Clearly the weakest of the series by far, this book seems to either be written to satisfy contractual obligations or end what had been to this point a very good series by this Texas author. If this is the end, it is a soggy one and not the pulse pounding ride that readers of the series have long experienced.
Kevin R. Tipple © 2008
Reviewing: "Dump Your Trainer" by Ashley Marriott and Marc L. Paulsen
Those of us who are overweight are constantly told by well meaning doctors and others that we have to burn off more than we take in everyday. We know that! We may be overweight but we aren’t stupid. That advice is repeated here but the authors take things quite a bit further.
Dump Your Trainer
By Ashley Marriott, Certified Personal Trainer and Doctor Marc L. Paulsen
http://www.dumpyourtrainer.com/
BookSurge Publishing
http://www.booksurge.com/
2007
ISBN# 1-4196-8023-4
227 Pages
$20.99
The book opens with an introduction that argues you don’t need a personal trainer because he or she will do nothing to improve your cardiovascular health which is the key to weight loss. All they will do besides looking good while taking your money is giving you a “one size fits all” type of exercise program that will make you hungrier than normal and not burn much of anything off. Because their programs are often built around weight training and other muscle building regimens that they can closely supervise and bill you for as opposed to running on a treadmill (as one example) their plans may actually cause you to gain weight. They point out that celebrity trainers are meaningless for the average person because their exorbitant rates are being paid for by the big studios.
The next chapter is primarily from the perspective of Ashley Marriot and tells readers boldly, despite her professional status, not to hire a trainer. She goes into great detail about the various myths regarding personal trainers. Not only do you not need one, they aren’t worth the money, the certifications may not mean much and neither do the various titles used, etc. Because they use the same program for everyone they won’t really work with you on setting up a program that meets your needs emotionally or physically and the last thing they want you to do is to figure out you don’t need their help or program.
The next chapter is devoted to the current various fad diets pushed by celebrities. If you didn’t already know that stars do some really bizarre things, this chapter will certainly educate you as well as illustrating just how silly and potentially dangerous some of these diets are.
Self reliance is a theme throughout the book and it really takes hold in the next chapter. The chapter kicks off a sequence of chapters on how to lose weight, heart rate charts, height and weight tables for men and women, meal plan suggestions for dieting, exercises, and specific tests one can do to gauge personal fitness among other items of interest. After reading this material and performing the tests, you now know where you are and where your goals are. It is time to choose the main way you are going to develop your cardiovascular health.
This is where one gets down to work with the doctor advocating the treadmill for ease of use and proven track record in weight loss and improvements in cardiovascular health. The trainer prefers her own fitness DVD series titled “Burn ‘N Firm.” The doctor further advocates that seventy to eighty percent of your exercise time should be in the form of aerobic/cardiovascular stuff with the remaining time in strength or weight training. He also advocates a primary exercise period in the morning with a secondary shorter period in the evening. Both argue strongly for stretching and cooling down periods and suggest various activities to accomplish those objectives.
After specific exercise regimen suggestions depending on how much you are overweight as well as the usual standard caution to check with your doctor, they illustrate through small black and white pictures with limited contrast or detail the various exercises the authors suggest. Like other photographs in the book, the pictures are of the authors practicing what they preach. In this case, they depict how to use and perform such exercises as the overhead press, biceps curls, deltoid lifts, pectoral flies, etc. They also illustrate in the same way for those who don’t have access to gyms and equipment. How one can do a lot of the same work with resistance bands, stabilizing balls, as well as exercises without any equipment so that one can lose weight no matter the situation.
This is followed starting on page 106 with a section devoted to the twenty-one day program to change how you look and feel. Through diet suggestions, meal plans, and motivational tips, the authors take the readers through the twenty-one days which should create measurable results that will also be visible to yourself and others.
The next chapter which is a brief one is designed to help readers self asses the progress they have made after twenty-one days. This leads into detailed suggestions on how to keep the momentum going. These are more of a lifestyle change suggestions with various ideas on how to capitalize on the weight loss momentum in a culture driven primarily by fast food. More food and exercise solutions are offered before a brief conclusion, a list of resources and an index are provided.
At 227 pages, this book is a wealth of upbeat information aimed to get the reader up and moving on the way to better health. Despite the poor quality of many of the small black and white photographs of the authors working out, the ideas depicted are discernable. The weakness of the pictures is more than made up for by the large illustrations which are often humorous, detailed charts and figures, and a clear text that is written in everyday language and not with a load of jargon. The text is easy to understand and supportive as are the reasons to get to work. The rest is up to you.
Kevin R. Tipple © 2008
Dump Your Trainer
By Ashley Marriott, Certified Personal Trainer and Doctor Marc L. Paulsen
http://www.dumpyourtrainer.com/
BookSurge Publishing
http://www.booksurge.com/
2007
ISBN# 1-4196-8023-4
227 Pages
$20.99
The book opens with an introduction that argues you don’t need a personal trainer because he or she will do nothing to improve your cardiovascular health which is the key to weight loss. All they will do besides looking good while taking your money is giving you a “one size fits all” type of exercise program that will make you hungrier than normal and not burn much of anything off. Because their programs are often built around weight training and other muscle building regimens that they can closely supervise and bill you for as opposed to running on a treadmill (as one example) their plans may actually cause you to gain weight. They point out that celebrity trainers are meaningless for the average person because their exorbitant rates are being paid for by the big studios.
The next chapter is primarily from the perspective of Ashley Marriot and tells readers boldly, despite her professional status, not to hire a trainer. She goes into great detail about the various myths regarding personal trainers. Not only do you not need one, they aren’t worth the money, the certifications may not mean much and neither do the various titles used, etc. Because they use the same program for everyone they won’t really work with you on setting up a program that meets your needs emotionally or physically and the last thing they want you to do is to figure out you don’t need their help or program.
The next chapter is devoted to the current various fad diets pushed by celebrities. If you didn’t already know that stars do some really bizarre things, this chapter will certainly educate you as well as illustrating just how silly and potentially dangerous some of these diets are.
Self reliance is a theme throughout the book and it really takes hold in the next chapter. The chapter kicks off a sequence of chapters on how to lose weight, heart rate charts, height and weight tables for men and women, meal plan suggestions for dieting, exercises, and specific tests one can do to gauge personal fitness among other items of interest. After reading this material and performing the tests, you now know where you are and where your goals are. It is time to choose the main way you are going to develop your cardiovascular health.
This is where one gets down to work with the doctor advocating the treadmill for ease of use and proven track record in weight loss and improvements in cardiovascular health. The trainer prefers her own fitness DVD series titled “Burn ‘N Firm.” The doctor further advocates that seventy to eighty percent of your exercise time should be in the form of aerobic/cardiovascular stuff with the remaining time in strength or weight training. He also advocates a primary exercise period in the morning with a secondary shorter period in the evening. Both argue strongly for stretching and cooling down periods and suggest various activities to accomplish those objectives.
After specific exercise regimen suggestions depending on how much you are overweight as well as the usual standard caution to check with your doctor, they illustrate through small black and white pictures with limited contrast or detail the various exercises the authors suggest. Like other photographs in the book, the pictures are of the authors practicing what they preach. In this case, they depict how to use and perform such exercises as the overhead press, biceps curls, deltoid lifts, pectoral flies, etc. They also illustrate in the same way for those who don’t have access to gyms and equipment. How one can do a lot of the same work with resistance bands, stabilizing balls, as well as exercises without any equipment so that one can lose weight no matter the situation.
This is followed starting on page 106 with a section devoted to the twenty-one day program to change how you look and feel. Through diet suggestions, meal plans, and motivational tips, the authors take the readers through the twenty-one days which should create measurable results that will also be visible to yourself and others.
The next chapter which is a brief one is designed to help readers self asses the progress they have made after twenty-one days. This leads into detailed suggestions on how to keep the momentum going. These are more of a lifestyle change suggestions with various ideas on how to capitalize on the weight loss momentum in a culture driven primarily by fast food. More food and exercise solutions are offered before a brief conclusion, a list of resources and an index are provided.
At 227 pages, this book is a wealth of upbeat information aimed to get the reader up and moving on the way to better health. Despite the poor quality of many of the small black and white photographs of the authors working out, the ideas depicted are discernable. The weakness of the pictures is more than made up for by the large illustrations which are often humorous, detailed charts and figures, and a clear text that is written in everyday language and not with a load of jargon. The text is easy to understand and supportive as are the reasons to get to work. The rest is up to you.
Kevin R. Tipple © 2008
Barry's Reviews: "MISSION FOR VENGEANCE" by Peter Rabe
MISSION FOR VENGEANCE (1958) by Peter Rabe
reviewed by Barry Ergang
Peter Rabe is one of many writers who began or extended their careers by turning out paperback originals for Fawcett’s line of Gold Medal books. Many of these—including Rabe’s—have become collectibles, and many of the writers—including Rabe—have become cult favorites among fans of hardboiled fiction.
The title Mission For Vengeance perfectly sums up the basic premise of this novel. Eight years prior to the time of the story, five people were involved in a lucrative gun-running operation: Miner, Getterman, Metz, Farret, and a woman named Lena. Each had a specific role in the operation. Eventually they were caught, but they managed to get away—except for Farret.
Miner now owns a ranch and plans to marry Getterman’s daughter Jane. When the novel begins, he’s eagerly waiting for Jane to arrive. He’s been careful to avoid contact with any of his former associates, and so isn’t happy when Getterman shows up with Jane. His future father-in-law tells Miner that Farret is back, seeking revenge because he thinks he was set up by the others to take the fall.
The novel alternates between Miner’s first-person narrative and third-person chapters from Farret’s point of view. As events unfold, Miner knows he must track down Farret before Farret finds him and the others. Farret, whose paranoia increases as the novel steams along, is a step ahead of him, and Miner grows progressively more frantic because he knows the truth of the past and because he knows he has to stop Farret before he wreaks disasters on his former partners and Miner himself.
Gold Medal writers—at least those I’ve read, which have been a fair number—were with a few exceptions more concerned with plot than with characterization. This is not to say that all their characters were one-dimensional, but rather that they were by and large differentiated rather superficially. Rabe is one of the exceptions, and in Mission For Vengeance each of the major players is fleshed out with greater dimensionality than usual, especially Farret, whose consuming madness intensifies with every leg of his journey.
If you’re a fan of hardboiled noir, you won’t be disappointed if you can locate a copy of this suspenseful page-turner.
Barry Ergang © 2007
Currently the Managing Editor of Futures Mystery Anthology Magazine and First Senior Editor of Mysterical-E, winner of the Short Mystery Fiction Society’s 2007 Derringer Award in the Flash Fiction category, Barry Ergang’s written work has appeared in numerous publications, print and electronic. His hardboiled Hanukkah story was recently published in the latest Apollo's Lyre at http://www.apollos-lyre.com/id403html. For links to material available online, see Barry’s webpages.
reviewed by Barry Ergang
Peter Rabe is one of many writers who began or extended their careers by turning out paperback originals for Fawcett’s line of Gold Medal books. Many of these—including Rabe’s—have become collectibles, and many of the writers—including Rabe—have become cult favorites among fans of hardboiled fiction.
The title Mission For Vengeance perfectly sums up the basic premise of this novel. Eight years prior to the time of the story, five people were involved in a lucrative gun-running operation: Miner, Getterman, Metz, Farret, and a woman named Lena. Each had a specific role in the operation. Eventually they were caught, but they managed to get away—except for Farret.
Miner now owns a ranch and plans to marry Getterman’s daughter Jane. When the novel begins, he’s eagerly waiting for Jane to arrive. He’s been careful to avoid contact with any of his former associates, and so isn’t happy when Getterman shows up with Jane. His future father-in-law tells Miner that Farret is back, seeking revenge because he thinks he was set up by the others to take the fall.
The novel alternates between Miner’s first-person narrative and third-person chapters from Farret’s point of view. As events unfold, Miner knows he must track down Farret before Farret finds him and the others. Farret, whose paranoia increases as the novel steams along, is a step ahead of him, and Miner grows progressively more frantic because he knows the truth of the past and because he knows he has to stop Farret before he wreaks disasters on his former partners and Miner himself.
Gold Medal writers—at least those I’ve read, which have been a fair number—were with a few exceptions more concerned with plot than with characterization. This is not to say that all their characters were one-dimensional, but rather that they were by and large differentiated rather superficially. Rabe is one of the exceptions, and in Mission For Vengeance each of the major players is fleshed out with greater dimensionality than usual, especially Farret, whose consuming madness intensifies with every leg of his journey.
If you’re a fan of hardboiled noir, you won’t be disappointed if you can locate a copy of this suspenseful page-turner.
Barry Ergang © 2007
Currently the Managing Editor of Futures Mystery Anthology Magazine and First Senior Editor of Mysterical-E, winner of the Short Mystery Fiction Society’s 2007 Derringer Award in the Flash Fiction category, Barry Ergang’s written work has appeared in numerous publications, print and electronic. His hardboiled Hanukkah story was recently published in the latest Apollo's Lyre at http://www.apollos-lyre.com/id403html. For links to material available online, see Barry’s webpages.
Friday, January 04, 2008
Reviewing: "Bloody Halls" by Carl Brookins
Having read all of Carl Brookins’ novels and some of his short story work, I was thrilled to learn that he had a new book coming out. True, it wasn’t the personally eagerly awaited sequel to “The Case of the Greedy Lawyers” but still it was a Carl Brookins book which meant it would be good. Releasing this month from Echelon Press this is a book you have to get your hands on.
Bloody Halls
By Carl Brookins
http://www.carlbrookins.com/
Echelon Press
http://www.echelonpress.com/
Large Trade Paperback
ISBN# 1-59080-570-4
260 Pages
ARC
As Director of the Office of Student Life at City College of Minneapolis located in a number of buildings scattered across downtown Minneapolis, Jack Marston knows dealing with older adult students is going to be different and a challenge. This isn’t the normal college experience just because it is a campus-less college. The student population demographic is of older students juggling busy lives and careers, family responsibilities, and other issues with a college schedule. Then too there have been serious problems in the recent past with the Office of Student Life and it is Jack Marston’s job to lead the office forward and through his staff provide strong support services.
Along the way he has found time to begin building a relationship with Lori, a young lady in another department. There are issues their as well and they are trying to keep things as quiet as possible. Not because they are doing anything wrong but because people will talk and gossip can kill your career in a heartbeat in the world of academia.
Jack Marston has also found the time to indulge in his desire to act on stage. The College will be presenting Ibsen’s play, “Enemy of the People” and as Ibsen is a personal favorite, Marston is hoping for some minor role after he auditions. Instead, the young bitter director from the University across town selects him for the major role as Dr. Stockman, the enemy of the people. Marston knows he is overmatched and he also knows he has absolutely no way of getting out of it.
The same is true when the President of the College, Arthur Trammel assigns him the role of police liaison after a student is found murdered and dumped in the lobby of the theater. While Jack Marston would have had some contact possibly with the media once the story gets out, President Arthur Trammel expects him to do far more. Tapped for being discreet and with a mandate to assist the police with their investigation any way possible so that they quickly close the case as there is a fund drive and other issues at stake, Marston has no choice and must accept his new role for however long it takes. When not working on his role in the play, Marston plays his other role of investigator and starts with the troubling fact that the entire record of the deceased student has vanished from the computer system. If he can figure out who did it and why that might point him in the direction of who committed the murder as opposed to the Police who seem to going in other directions. As the days turn into weeks and another death rocks the campus, Marston is led down a trail of lies, office politics, perversion and murder, until a violent confrontation in a snowstorm just outside his office puts everything he has worked for at risk.
Featuring some cutting humor about the joys of working at intuitions of higher learning, this cozy style mystery steadily ratchets up the suspense factor. Jack Marston has more than a cynical thought or two about higher education and his role in it and readers familiar with the subject area will find themselves often nodding in agreement.
Couple that with an engaging writing style that quickly pulls readers into a world populated with interesting real life characters, a constantly changing mystery full of expected and unexpected twists, and plenty of action as Jack Marston gets out and gets his hands dirty investigating, this read is a real treat to start off the year. As in his other books and short stories, Author Carl Brookins, a member of the Minnesota Crime Wave, shows a real talent for story telling.
Kevin R. Tipple (c) 2007
Bloody Halls
By Carl Brookins
http://www.carlbrookins.com/
Echelon Press
http://www.echelonpress.com/
Large Trade Paperback
ISBN# 1-59080-570-4
260 Pages
ARC
As Director of the Office of Student Life at City College of Minneapolis located in a number of buildings scattered across downtown Minneapolis, Jack Marston knows dealing with older adult students is going to be different and a challenge. This isn’t the normal college experience just because it is a campus-less college. The student population demographic is of older students juggling busy lives and careers, family responsibilities, and other issues with a college schedule. Then too there have been serious problems in the recent past with the Office of Student Life and it is Jack Marston’s job to lead the office forward and through his staff provide strong support services.
Along the way he has found time to begin building a relationship with Lori, a young lady in another department. There are issues their as well and they are trying to keep things as quiet as possible. Not because they are doing anything wrong but because people will talk and gossip can kill your career in a heartbeat in the world of academia.
Jack Marston has also found the time to indulge in his desire to act on stage. The College will be presenting Ibsen’s play, “Enemy of the People” and as Ibsen is a personal favorite, Marston is hoping for some minor role after he auditions. Instead, the young bitter director from the University across town selects him for the major role as Dr. Stockman, the enemy of the people. Marston knows he is overmatched and he also knows he has absolutely no way of getting out of it.
The same is true when the President of the College, Arthur Trammel assigns him the role of police liaison after a student is found murdered and dumped in the lobby of the theater. While Jack Marston would have had some contact possibly with the media once the story gets out, President Arthur Trammel expects him to do far more. Tapped for being discreet and with a mandate to assist the police with their investigation any way possible so that they quickly close the case as there is a fund drive and other issues at stake, Marston has no choice and must accept his new role for however long it takes. When not working on his role in the play, Marston plays his other role of investigator and starts with the troubling fact that the entire record of the deceased student has vanished from the computer system. If he can figure out who did it and why that might point him in the direction of who committed the murder as opposed to the Police who seem to going in other directions. As the days turn into weeks and another death rocks the campus, Marston is led down a trail of lies, office politics, perversion and murder, until a violent confrontation in a snowstorm just outside his office puts everything he has worked for at risk.
Featuring some cutting humor about the joys of working at intuitions of higher learning, this cozy style mystery steadily ratchets up the suspense factor. Jack Marston has more than a cynical thought or two about higher education and his role in it and readers familiar with the subject area will find themselves often nodding in agreement.
Couple that with an engaging writing style that quickly pulls readers into a world populated with interesting real life characters, a constantly changing mystery full of expected and unexpected twists, and plenty of action as Jack Marston gets out and gets his hands dirty investigating, this read is a real treat to start off the year. As in his other books and short stories, Author Carl Brookins, a member of the Minnesota Crime Wave, shows a real talent for story telling.
Kevin R. Tipple (c) 2007
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
This New Year has already brought a surprise as I was nominated in the reviews category at Predators and Editors. So, if you like what you have read here and elsewhere with my name on it, here is your chance if you would like to show your support and it won't cost you a thing. Just surf over to the Predators and Editors site at http://www.critters.org/predpoll/reviewsite.shtml
Scroll way part of the way down until you see Kevin's Corner and hit the voting button. Remember, only one vote for e-mail address in a category so vote wisely.
And as always, thank you for your support.
Kevin R. Tipple © 2007
Scroll way part of the way down until you see Kevin's Corner and hit the voting button. Remember, only one vote for e-mail address in a category so vote wisely.
And as always, thank you for your support.
Kevin R. Tipple © 2007
Monday, December 31, 2007
Reviewing: "Deadly Beloved" by Max Allan Collins
Hard Case Crime is one of those publishers that consistently releases quality books. Or, at least, books that are very good in my opinion and ones that my local library will often carry. Occasionally, they don’t carry a title such as the one below. In a rare moment of having a little money not already spoken for this one was purchased through their book club.
Deadly Beloved
By Max Allan Collins
Hard Case Crime
http://www.hardcasecrime.com/
December 2007
ISBN# 0-8439-5778-6
Paperback
$6.99
203 Pages (including author afterword)
Billed on the cover as “The First Ever Ms. Tree Novel!” the book opens with Ms Tree describing a dream she has had while reclining on the couch of her psychiatrist, Dr. Cassel. In her dream she is attacked by a figure who is revealed eventually to be her late husband. As her dream goes she is forced to kill him to save her own life. What her dream represents is unclear and something the Dr. would like to pursue. Moreover, since she missed the last two sessions and she is the last patient of the day, the Dr. is willing to stay late and listen as Ms. Tree explains the events of the past week or so.
His willingness to stay is a good thing because in direct contrast to her current state on his couch, Ms. Tree has been on the move and very active on a number of fronts. She is directly involved in a recent murder case that has made tabloid type headlines in the news media. Marcy Addwater, who has a history of mental instability, without question gunned down her husband and a hooker he was with in a motel room. The cops see the incident as twin murders committed by an angry and crazed wife fed up with her husband’s chronic infidelity. Bernie Levine, who also happens to be Ms. Tree’s attorney, sees a defense strategy and wants Ms. Tree’s help. After meeting her, Ms. Tree sees a vulnerable woman at the brink that needs help in every sense of the word and quickly agrees to help.
Over the next 203 pages (including author afterword which goes into extensive detail about the graphic novel history of Ms. Tree) Ms. Tree works the case as well as other issues while trying to keep her husband’s legacy, the detective agency, afloat. Her skills, while considerable and clearly evident, are constantly in question by others in the agency and elsewhere who are supposed to be helping her and not causing problems. Much of her energy is spent dealing with subtle and not so subtle sexism in her world. While set in current times there is a constant undercut of sexism throughout the work as if the novel was written forty or fifty years ago. This could be due to the graphic novel history of the character dating back to 1980, the inspirations for the character which go back considerably further, and the attempt to go back to the beginnings of the character as a sort of setup for the graphic novels. Or, it could be just another stylistic choice by the author seeking to build character development.
Told throughout the novel in the format of her telling the psychiatrist all that has happened the book quickly pulls the reader into her world. When the real world has fallen away in favor living through the character and experiencing the character the author has succeeded at what he or she is trying to do. That certainly is the case here and is done very well through the technique of a patient and her doctor. The choice of story technique is in direct contrast to the action nature of the work. A pace that, at times, is clearly and with reason broken by frequent interruptions for the patient and Dr. to converse on a minor issue. By doing so, the reader is reminded of the setup and point of view while at the same time reinforcing the point that Ms. Tree is working her way verbally to a point in her tale. The questions are where the tale will lead and what the point will be?
The case is complex, the characters real and very interesting, and the action plentiful while like the reader, Ms. Tree is reclining. This is a very good book and another excellent offering from Hard Case Crime.
Kevin R. Tipple © 2007
Deadly Beloved
By Max Allan Collins
Hard Case Crime
http://www.hardcasecrime.com/
December 2007
ISBN# 0-8439-5778-6
Paperback
$6.99
203 Pages (including author afterword)
Billed on the cover as “The First Ever Ms. Tree Novel!” the book opens with Ms Tree describing a dream she has had while reclining on the couch of her psychiatrist, Dr. Cassel. In her dream she is attacked by a figure who is revealed eventually to be her late husband. As her dream goes she is forced to kill him to save her own life. What her dream represents is unclear and something the Dr. would like to pursue. Moreover, since she missed the last two sessions and she is the last patient of the day, the Dr. is willing to stay late and listen as Ms. Tree explains the events of the past week or so.
His willingness to stay is a good thing because in direct contrast to her current state on his couch, Ms. Tree has been on the move and very active on a number of fronts. She is directly involved in a recent murder case that has made tabloid type headlines in the news media. Marcy Addwater, who has a history of mental instability, without question gunned down her husband and a hooker he was with in a motel room. The cops see the incident as twin murders committed by an angry and crazed wife fed up with her husband’s chronic infidelity. Bernie Levine, who also happens to be Ms. Tree’s attorney, sees a defense strategy and wants Ms. Tree’s help. After meeting her, Ms. Tree sees a vulnerable woman at the brink that needs help in every sense of the word and quickly agrees to help.
Over the next 203 pages (including author afterword which goes into extensive detail about the graphic novel history of Ms. Tree) Ms. Tree works the case as well as other issues while trying to keep her husband’s legacy, the detective agency, afloat. Her skills, while considerable and clearly evident, are constantly in question by others in the agency and elsewhere who are supposed to be helping her and not causing problems. Much of her energy is spent dealing with subtle and not so subtle sexism in her world. While set in current times there is a constant undercut of sexism throughout the work as if the novel was written forty or fifty years ago. This could be due to the graphic novel history of the character dating back to 1980, the inspirations for the character which go back considerably further, and the attempt to go back to the beginnings of the character as a sort of setup for the graphic novels. Or, it could be just another stylistic choice by the author seeking to build character development.
Told throughout the novel in the format of her telling the psychiatrist all that has happened the book quickly pulls the reader into her world. When the real world has fallen away in favor living through the character and experiencing the character the author has succeeded at what he or she is trying to do. That certainly is the case here and is done very well through the technique of a patient and her doctor. The choice of story technique is in direct contrast to the action nature of the work. A pace that, at times, is clearly and with reason broken by frequent interruptions for the patient and Dr. to converse on a minor issue. By doing so, the reader is reminded of the setup and point of view while at the same time reinforcing the point that Ms. Tree is working her way verbally to a point in her tale. The questions are where the tale will lead and what the point will be?
The case is complex, the characters real and very interesting, and the action plentiful while like the reader, Ms. Tree is reclining. This is a very good book and another excellent offering from Hard Case Crime.
Kevin R. Tipple © 2007
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Reviewing Children's Books
Despite my asking because I work with a lot of kids with varying abilities, I am just not sent children's books for review. Some publishers blame the fact that I am not affiliated with a children's review site and others state they don't send them out to anyone but certified permanent teachers or school librarians. It is a shame but that is the way it seems to be despite my efforts. Below are two very good ones that just might work for the children in your life.
Cha-Cha & Zee Explore San Antonio
By Indigo Tyler
http://www.chachazee.com/
TK Publishing
http://www.tkpublishing.com/
ISBN# 978-0-9765100-3-1
Hardcover
32 Pages
$16.95
Second in a series from TK Publishing, this book released last April finds the traveling penguins in San Antonio, Texas. They team up with their cousin Frobby and explore various sites across the city including the Alamo. At 32 pages with full color photographs this is a charming children's guidebook for the Alamo city. The penguins look life like in the photos as they travel the city which is captured in beautiful color photos as well as text. The way it is done makes it look like they are really there and really exploring the various landmarks. Advertised as being appropriate for 3-8 year olds; it does appear that the text is beyond the capabilities of most in the younger age range. Despite that, with parental assistance, this can be a wonderful book that serves to educate and encourages natural curiosity.
Don't Eat the Bluebonnets
By Ellen Leventhal and Ellen Rothberg
Bluebonnets, Boots & Books
http://bluebonnetsbootsandbooks.com/
ISBN# 978-0-9645493-3-3
Hardcover
36 Pages
$17.95
Aimed at 3 to 8 year olds, this children's book tells the tale of a strong willed cow, Sue Ellen. She just won't listen when others tell her not to eat the delicious bluebonnets. Each spring, Max, a longhorn steer puts up a sign saying not to eat the Bluebonnets. Despite the sign and being told by Lisa Jean not to eat the bluebonnets, Sue Ellen does anyway. When the following spring arrives, Sue Ellen learns it isn't so easy to bring the bluebonnets back. Filled with charming color illustrations by Bill Megenhardt and a gentle message about following the rules for a reason, this book is due to delight kids of all ages especially in Texas where the book is set.
Kevin R. Tipple © 2007
Cha-Cha & Zee Explore San Antonio
By Indigo Tyler
http://www.chachazee.com/
TK Publishing
http://www.tkpublishing.com/
ISBN# 978-0-9765100-3-1
Hardcover
32 Pages
$16.95
Second in a series from TK Publishing, this book released last April finds the traveling penguins in San Antonio, Texas. They team up with their cousin Frobby and explore various sites across the city including the Alamo. At 32 pages with full color photographs this is a charming children's guidebook for the Alamo city. The penguins look life like in the photos as they travel the city which is captured in beautiful color photos as well as text. The way it is done makes it look like they are really there and really exploring the various landmarks. Advertised as being appropriate for 3-8 year olds; it does appear that the text is beyond the capabilities of most in the younger age range. Despite that, with parental assistance, this can be a wonderful book that serves to educate and encourages natural curiosity.
Don't Eat the Bluebonnets
By Ellen Leventhal and Ellen Rothberg
Bluebonnets, Boots & Books
http://bluebonnetsbootsandbooks.com/
ISBN# 978-0-9645493-3-3
Hardcover
36 Pages
$17.95
Aimed at 3 to 8 year olds, this children's book tells the tale of a strong willed cow, Sue Ellen. She just won't listen when others tell her not to eat the delicious bluebonnets. Each spring, Max, a longhorn steer puts up a sign saying not to eat the Bluebonnets. Despite the sign and being told by Lisa Jean not to eat the bluebonnets, Sue Ellen does anyway. When the following spring arrives, Sue Ellen learns it isn't so easy to bring the bluebonnets back. Filled with charming color illustrations by Bill Megenhardt and a gentle message about following the rules for a reason, this book is due to delight kids of all ages especially in Texas where the book is set.
Kevin R. Tipple © 2007
Friday, December 28, 2007
Barry's Reviews--"Fast One" by Paul Cain
FAST ONE (1933) by Paul Cain
reviewed by Barry Ergang
I can enthusiastically recommend Fast One to any reader who loves the hardboiled school—especially from the pulp era—but don’t ask me for a detailed plot summary. That’s next to impossible. Suffice it to say that a tough character named Gerry Kells, who is visiting L.A. from New York and who seems to know every major racket boss in southern California, is in the first chapter framed for a murder he didn’t commit, and who spends the remainder of the book either dodging or deliberately confronting cops and hoods with words, fists, and firearms. Along the way he considers trying to take over L.A.‘s rackets himself.
It’s an aptly titled book because the story roars along at a hectic pace. The pace is aided in no small measure by Cain's staccato prose style, which almost redefines “lean and mean.” But the pace and the story’s complexity are the book’s undoing because there is no characterization for readers to relate to. Most of the players—including the principal female—are referred to only by their last names. The absence of character definition reduces them to mere names on the page. It’s frequently an effort trying to recall from one chapter to another who's who and who's done what to whom.
Fast One has long been hailed as the ne plus ultra of hardboiled gangster tales by the likes of Bill Pronzini, E.R. Hagemann, and Raymond Chandler. David A. Bowman, in his introductory essay to the 1987 Black Lizard edition I have, writes: “Cain took the hardboiled style as far as anyone would want to. Fast One is the Antarctica of hardboiled writing. There is nowhere else to go.”
Forget about any insights into the human condition or any other sorts of profound meanings. Just buckle up and go along on the wild ride.
For more on this novel or the Golden Age of Detection follow the link to the GA Detection wiki. http://gadetection.pbwiki.com/Fast-One
Barry Ergang © 2007
Currently the Managing Editor of Futures Mystery Anthology Magazine and First Senior Editor of Mysterical-E, winner of the Short Mystery Fiction Society’s 2007Derringer Award in the Flash Fiction category, Barry Ergang’s written work has appeared in numerous publications, print and electronic. His hardboiled Hanukkah story has just been published in the latest Apollo's Lyre at http://www.apollos-lyre.com/id403html For links to material available online, see Barry’s webpages.
reviewed by Barry Ergang
I can enthusiastically recommend Fast One to any reader who loves the hardboiled school—especially from the pulp era—but don’t ask me for a detailed plot summary. That’s next to impossible. Suffice it to say that a tough character named Gerry Kells, who is visiting L.A. from New York and who seems to know every major racket boss in southern California, is in the first chapter framed for a murder he didn’t commit, and who spends the remainder of the book either dodging or deliberately confronting cops and hoods with words, fists, and firearms. Along the way he considers trying to take over L.A.‘s rackets himself.
It’s an aptly titled book because the story roars along at a hectic pace. The pace is aided in no small measure by Cain's staccato prose style, which almost redefines “lean and mean.” But the pace and the story’s complexity are the book’s undoing because there is no characterization for readers to relate to. Most of the players—including the principal female—are referred to only by their last names. The absence of character definition reduces them to mere names on the page. It’s frequently an effort trying to recall from one chapter to another who's who and who's done what to whom.
Fast One has long been hailed as the ne plus ultra of hardboiled gangster tales by the likes of Bill Pronzini, E.R. Hagemann, and Raymond Chandler. David A. Bowman, in his introductory essay to the 1987 Black Lizard edition I have, writes: “Cain took the hardboiled style as far as anyone would want to. Fast One is the Antarctica of hardboiled writing. There is nowhere else to go.”
Forget about any insights into the human condition or any other sorts of profound meanings. Just buckle up and go along on the wild ride.
For more on this novel or the Golden Age of Detection follow the link to the GA Detection wiki. http://gadetection.pbwiki.com/Fast-One
Barry Ergang © 2007
Currently the Managing Editor of Futures Mystery Anthology Magazine and First Senior Editor of Mysterical-E, winner of the Short Mystery Fiction Society’s 2007Derringer Award in the Flash Fiction category, Barry Ergang’s written work has appeared in numerous publications, print and electronic. His hardboiled Hanukkah story has just been published in the latest Apollo's Lyre at http://www.apollos-lyre.com/id403html For links to material available online, see Barry’s webpages.
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Merry Christmas and A Mouth Full Of Bullets
The below is the latest from BJ Bourg on MFOB.......
Howdy folks! I'm pleased to announce that the Winter 2007 Issue of Mouth Full of Bullets is now available at http://www.mouthfullofbullets.com. Between the printissue and the online issue, there are twenty-fourstories and eleven poems for your viewing pleasure.
In addition to the new material in the print magazine andonline, y'all can now access all the original material from the first print issue in the Archive section -- for FREE!That's sixteen stories and five poems from some of thebest new and veteran writers in the business. So, throwyour feet up, pour yourself a hot cup of cocoa, and settlein for some great entertainment.
Here's the lineup for the Winter 2007 Issue:
(Note: all stories and poems preceded by asterisksare currently available in the print magazine only. At the end of the three-month life of the issue, they will be archived in the online 'zine and will then be available to view for free.)
SHORT STORIES
A Thousand the Hard Way by Robert L. Iles
*Blowing Smoke by Stephen D. Rogers
Christmas Comes To Criminal Court by Robert L. Iles
*Hard Light by Michael Morris
*High Anxiety by John M. Floyd
*Highs and Mellows by Clair Dickson
Judge And Jury by Robert Weibezahl
*Killer Personality by Wanda C. Keesey
*The Christmas Heist by Kim Smith
The Cinderella Caper by Herschel Cozine
The Perfect Gift by Suzanne Berube Rorhus
*The Santa Caper by Philip J. Lees
*Whoever Fights Monsters by D. H. Reddall
FLASH STORIES
*A Protocol to Die For by Margaret B. Davidson
*Devil's Night by Kaye George
*Dreaming of a Spite Christmas by BV Lawson
*Gravidational Force by Barry Ergang
*The Last Laugh by Jonette Stabbert
Lord Of His Domain: A Bo Fexler Short Story by Clair Dickson
*Mistaken Identity by Jillian Berg
*Mortimer's Slip by Sophie Bachard
Rotten In The State Of New Jersey by Albert Tucher
*Your New Fan by Keri Clark
SERIAL
Mr. Sparks by SF Johnston - (Installment THREE of FOUR)
POEMS
*A Killer Caught Red Handed by Guy Belleranti
A Wife In The Country by John M. Floyd
*Carl's Bad Kid by Branch Isole
*Do you See Me Then by Danny B. Bourg
IMMORTALITY by John M. Floyd
*Mask by Gerald So
*My Brother of Arms by Danny B. Bourg
*Research, Your Honor by Stephen D. Rogers
*Tables Turned by Guy Belleranti
THE AGGRESSIVE SIDE OF MRS. HYDE by John M. Floyd
*The Assignation by James S. Dorr
REVIEWS (From Kevin R. Tipple)
Fit to Die: A Supper Club Mystery by J. B. Stanley
Heroes Often Fail: A River City Novel by Frank Zafiro
Seasmoke: Crime Stories by New England Writers
A Dirty Business: A Kevin Bailey Novel by Joe Humphrey
Murder New York Style: 21 Stories by Authors Of Greater New York
Carols and Crimes, Gifts and Grifters Edited by Tony Burton
Relative Danger by June Shaw
Small Caliber Reviews
COLUMNS
Target Shooting by Kevin R. Tipple
INTERVIEWS
Featured Author: JT Ellison
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!
BJ Bourg (c) 2007
Howdy folks! I'm pleased to announce that the Winter 2007 Issue of Mouth Full of Bullets is now available at http://www.mouthfullofbullets.com. Between the printissue and the online issue, there are twenty-fourstories and eleven poems for your viewing pleasure.
In addition to the new material in the print magazine andonline, y'all can now access all the original material from the first print issue in the Archive section -- for FREE!That's sixteen stories and five poems from some of thebest new and veteran writers in the business. So, throwyour feet up, pour yourself a hot cup of cocoa, and settlein for some great entertainment.
Here's the lineup for the Winter 2007 Issue:
(Note: all stories and poems preceded by asterisksare currently available in the print magazine only. At the end of the three-month life of the issue, they will be archived in the online 'zine and will then be available to view for free.)
SHORT STORIES
A Thousand the Hard Way by Robert L. Iles
*Blowing Smoke by Stephen D. Rogers
Christmas Comes To Criminal Court by Robert L. Iles
*Hard Light by Michael Morris
*High Anxiety by John M. Floyd
*Highs and Mellows by Clair Dickson
Judge And Jury by Robert Weibezahl
*Killer Personality by Wanda C. Keesey
*The Christmas Heist by Kim Smith
The Cinderella Caper by Herschel Cozine
The Perfect Gift by Suzanne Berube Rorhus
*The Santa Caper by Philip J. Lees
*Whoever Fights Monsters by D. H. Reddall
FLASH STORIES
*A Protocol to Die For by Margaret B. Davidson
*Devil's Night by Kaye George
*Dreaming of a Spite Christmas by BV Lawson
*Gravidational Force by Barry Ergang
*The Last Laugh by Jonette Stabbert
Lord Of His Domain: A Bo Fexler Short Story by Clair Dickson
*Mistaken Identity by Jillian Berg
*Mortimer's Slip by Sophie Bachard
Rotten In The State Of New Jersey by Albert Tucher
*Your New Fan by Keri Clark
SERIAL
Mr. Sparks by SF Johnston - (Installment THREE of FOUR)
POEMS
*A Killer Caught Red Handed by Guy Belleranti
A Wife In The Country by John M. Floyd
*Carl's Bad Kid by Branch Isole
*Do you See Me Then by Danny B. Bourg
IMMORTALITY by John M. Floyd
*Mask by Gerald So
*My Brother of Arms by Danny B. Bourg
*Research, Your Honor by Stephen D. Rogers
*Tables Turned by Guy Belleranti
THE AGGRESSIVE SIDE OF MRS. HYDE by John M. Floyd
*The Assignation by James S. Dorr
REVIEWS (From Kevin R. Tipple)
Fit to Die: A Supper Club Mystery by J. B. Stanley
Heroes Often Fail: A River City Novel by Frank Zafiro
Seasmoke: Crime Stories by New England Writers
A Dirty Business: A Kevin Bailey Novel by Joe Humphrey
Murder New York Style: 21 Stories by Authors Of Greater New York
Carols and Crimes, Gifts and Grifters Edited by Tony Burton
Relative Danger by June Shaw
Small Caliber Reviews
COLUMNS
Target Shooting by Kevin R. Tipple
INTERVIEWS
Featured Author: JT Ellison
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!
BJ Bourg (c) 2007
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Reviewing: "Fire Prayer" by Deborah Turrell Atkinson
Other than Mark Troy’s excellent work, I just don’t often read novels set in Hawaii. Not that I plan or decide to do things that way. It just is the way it happens as opposed to my seeking out books set in the Southwest because that is where I am from and what I know. In this case, I have missed the first two books of the series and can only review this novel and not the series as a whole.
Fire Prayer
By Deborah Turrell Atkinson
http://www.debbyatkinson.com
Poisoned Pen Press
http://wwwpoisonedpenpress.com
2007
Hardback
ISBN# 978-1-59058-402-6
Storm Kayama and Ian Hamlin, who is both her partner and her lover; have made the short island hop to Molokai on behalf of a rich client whose son is missing. He went out on a tour run by a local outfit two weeks ago never to be seen again. The son is twenty six, sits on the board of directors as well as being an officer of the company. The client may have a very well paying negligence suit if something bad has definitely happened. Such suits are more in Ian’s realm and Storm doesn’t want to fool with them or the client connections necessary to work those kinds of cases.
Besides, she has her own agenda that also involves a son. In her case, an old high school classmate, Tanner Williams wants her help. His marriage crashed in flames for a variety of reasons which included his wife’s drinking and his own mental illness. The last thing he wants is for their son, Luke, to have issues especially since he has just been diagnosed as a diabetic. While on Molokai, she can also take care of checking on things for Tanner. Within hours of Storm’s first visit to check on Luke, his ex wife is dead, Tanner is missing, Luke is in the hospital and there are links to a nearly ten year old murder case. Secrets are tough to keep especially on the Islands with the coconut wireless. With Storm and Ian doing their own things, as well as a veritable plethora of other characters, everything is bound to come out eventually.
The result is an interesting read featuring two difficult main cases as well as numerous interesting secondary deals such as the old murder case, the culture of the islands, Storm’s love of horses, etc. As such, each and every plot point is seen through the eyes of nearly every single character. The resulting multiple shifts of pov often taking place in the same chapter slow the novel down too a glacial place. Time seems to nearly stand still in the work as an event is depicted through the eyes of one character, then through another, then through another and often through a couple more before the reader is moved on to a new event where the same pattern is repeated.
The result creates a glacially slow moving read in terms of action while at the same time provides deep understanding of each character major and minor. Along the way the rich cultural history of the islands is discussed and further bolstered by a multi page glossary at the end of the novel. At 282 total pages the novel is not a quick read in terms of length or content and leans more towards the cozy side of the mystery genre as it entertains readers.
Kevin R. Tipple © 2007
Fire Prayer
By Deborah Turrell Atkinson
http://www.debbyatkinson.com
Poisoned Pen Press
http://wwwpoisonedpenpress.com
2007
Hardback
ISBN# 978-1-59058-402-6
Storm Kayama and Ian Hamlin, who is both her partner and her lover; have made the short island hop to Molokai on behalf of a rich client whose son is missing. He went out on a tour run by a local outfit two weeks ago never to be seen again. The son is twenty six, sits on the board of directors as well as being an officer of the company. The client may have a very well paying negligence suit if something bad has definitely happened. Such suits are more in Ian’s realm and Storm doesn’t want to fool with them or the client connections necessary to work those kinds of cases.
Besides, she has her own agenda that also involves a son. In her case, an old high school classmate, Tanner Williams wants her help. His marriage crashed in flames for a variety of reasons which included his wife’s drinking and his own mental illness. The last thing he wants is for their son, Luke, to have issues especially since he has just been diagnosed as a diabetic. While on Molokai, she can also take care of checking on things for Tanner. Within hours of Storm’s first visit to check on Luke, his ex wife is dead, Tanner is missing, Luke is in the hospital and there are links to a nearly ten year old murder case. Secrets are tough to keep especially on the Islands with the coconut wireless. With Storm and Ian doing their own things, as well as a veritable plethora of other characters, everything is bound to come out eventually.
The result is an interesting read featuring two difficult main cases as well as numerous interesting secondary deals such as the old murder case, the culture of the islands, Storm’s love of horses, etc. As such, each and every plot point is seen through the eyes of nearly every single character. The resulting multiple shifts of pov often taking place in the same chapter slow the novel down too a glacial place. Time seems to nearly stand still in the work as an event is depicted through the eyes of one character, then through another, then through another and often through a couple more before the reader is moved on to a new event where the same pattern is repeated.
The result creates a glacially slow moving read in terms of action while at the same time provides deep understanding of each character major and minor. Along the way the rich cultural history of the islands is discussed and further bolstered by a multi page glossary at the end of the novel. At 282 total pages the novel is not a quick read in terms of length or content and leans more towards the cozy side of the mystery genre as it entertains readers.
Kevin R. Tipple © 2007
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Reviewing: "The Marathon Murders" by Chester Campbell
Chester Campbell is one of those authors you never hear much about who constantly produces quality books. Instead of posting everywhere on everything, he just goes about his business and his latest novel is another good one.
The Marathon Murders: A Greg McKenzie Mystery
http://www.chestercampbell.com/
Night Shadows Press
http://www.nightshadowspress.com/
February 2008
Hardback ISBN# 978-0-9790167-0-0
Trade Paper ISBN# 078-0-9799167-1-7
ARC
When Warren Jarvis comes with a case, there isn’t anything Greg and Jill McKenzie won’t do for him. He brings with him a friend who goes by various names due to the nature of her work with the Air Force’s Office of Special Investigations. She has a family link to a ninety year old murder case involving the Marathon Motor Works located near downtown Nashville. Though the plant isn’t operating anymore, a bunch of old records have been found hidden in a wall and they seem to indicate that a former employee suspected of embezzlement was actually innocent. At least, that is what they believe and the family involved would like to see the records themselves but the man who had them is now missing. She wants to hire them to find the missing man and the records.
Greg and Jill agree and begin to work the case by starting at the most obvious point. They start with the construction company and easily find out where the man lives and what he drives. That angle, and working the familial connection, sends them off into a case that eludes nearly ever attempt they make.
While the fourth in a series, this novel could easily be read as an enjoyable stand alone cozy mystery. Greg and Jill do make the occasional reference to earlier events but for the most part are constantly working the current case. Character development is nil as these are characters that series readers have long since become accustomed to and don’t expect major changes. Instead the focus is on the mystery and it is not one easily solved with numerous twist and turns along the way. The result is another excellent cozy style mystery from Chester Campbell and another enjoyable read.
Kevin R. Tipple © 2007
The Marathon Murders: A Greg McKenzie Mystery
http://www.chestercampbell.com/
Night Shadows Press
http://www.nightshadowspress.com/
February 2008
Hardback ISBN# 978-0-9790167-0-0
Trade Paper ISBN# 078-0-9799167-1-7
ARC
When Warren Jarvis comes with a case, there isn’t anything Greg and Jill McKenzie won’t do for him. He brings with him a friend who goes by various names due to the nature of her work with the Air Force’s Office of Special Investigations. She has a family link to a ninety year old murder case involving the Marathon Motor Works located near downtown Nashville. Though the plant isn’t operating anymore, a bunch of old records have been found hidden in a wall and they seem to indicate that a former employee suspected of embezzlement was actually innocent. At least, that is what they believe and the family involved would like to see the records themselves but the man who had them is now missing. She wants to hire them to find the missing man and the records.
Greg and Jill agree and begin to work the case by starting at the most obvious point. They start with the construction company and easily find out where the man lives and what he drives. That angle, and working the familial connection, sends them off into a case that eludes nearly ever attempt they make.
While the fourth in a series, this novel could easily be read as an enjoyable stand alone cozy mystery. Greg and Jill do make the occasional reference to earlier events but for the most part are constantly working the current case. Character development is nil as these are characters that series readers have long since become accustomed to and don’t expect major changes. Instead the focus is on the mystery and it is not one easily solved with numerous twist and turns along the way. The result is another excellent cozy style mystery from Chester Campbell and another enjoyable read.
Kevin R. Tipple © 2007
Talking Politics
The column in Senior News last month was on politic stuff. Something I expect to be doing a lot of in the coming year unless I can get more local (Texas) authors to send me their fiction books. I'm really sick of politics and we still have another year to go. Too bad there does not seem to be another Barbara Jordan in our midst.
Barbara Jordan: Speaking the Truth with Eloquent Thunder
Edited by Max Sherman
University of Texas Press
ISBN # 978-0-292-71637-7
A little over ten years after her death, Editor Max Sherman has collected a number of her pivotal speeches, testimonies before congress, and numerous pictures to showcase Barbara Jordan and her values. At 100 pages with an accompanying DVD that contains some of the same pictures as well as context for each one courtesy of the editor, this is a slim volume and yet reflects her values and beliefs very well. Much like the way she was in life, this book showcases wonderfully in a short capsule just how powerful and moving Barbara Jordan was and the legacy she left behind for others to follow. It is too bad that very few in politics today measure up to her standards and her legacy which was statesmanship and country first and foremost as clearly detailed in this book.
Texas Political Memorabilia: Buttons, Bumper Stickers and Broadsides
By Chuck Bailey with Bill Crawford
University of Texas Press
ISBN# 0-292-71625-7
This work is number 11 in the "Clifton and Shirley Caldwell Texas Heritage Series" and features the memorabilia behind national as well as Texas political campaigns. What began as a hobby for Chuck Bailey according to the foreword written by Paul Burka morphed into an intriguing 218 page book including index. While other kids collected baseball cards, Chuck Bailey collected campaign items. The result is page after colorful page where items are photographed and identified. From Presidential campaigns all the way down the ticket to local races, the book serves to pleasantly chronicle the way campaigns used to be before media sound bites and the internet took over. This book is sure to be a hit for those strongly interested in history and politics.
Kevin R. Tipple (c) 2007
Barbara Jordan: Speaking the Truth with Eloquent Thunder
Edited by Max Sherman
University of Texas Press
ISBN # 978-0-292-71637-7
A little over ten years after her death, Editor Max Sherman has collected a number of her pivotal speeches, testimonies before congress, and numerous pictures to showcase Barbara Jordan and her values. At 100 pages with an accompanying DVD that contains some of the same pictures as well as context for each one courtesy of the editor, this is a slim volume and yet reflects her values and beliefs very well. Much like the way she was in life, this book showcases wonderfully in a short capsule just how powerful and moving Barbara Jordan was and the legacy she left behind for others to follow. It is too bad that very few in politics today measure up to her standards and her legacy which was statesmanship and country first and foremost as clearly detailed in this book.
Texas Political Memorabilia: Buttons, Bumper Stickers and Broadsides
By Chuck Bailey with Bill Crawford
University of Texas Press
ISBN# 0-292-71625-7
This work is number 11 in the "Clifton and Shirley Caldwell Texas Heritage Series" and features the memorabilia behind national as well as Texas political campaigns. What began as a hobby for Chuck Bailey according to the foreword written by Paul Burka morphed into an intriguing 218 page book including index. While other kids collected baseball cards, Chuck Bailey collected campaign items. The result is page after colorful page where items are photographed and identified. From Presidential campaigns all the way down the ticket to local races, the book serves to pleasantly chronicle the way campaigns used to be before media sound bites and the internet took over. This book is sure to be a hit for those strongly interested in history and politics.
Kevin R. Tipple (c) 2007
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Barry's Reviews--"Ellipsis" by Stephen Greenleaf
ELLIPSIS (2000) by Stephen Greenleaf
reviewed by Barry Ergang
Despite being nominated for an Edgar for Strawberry Sunday as the best novel of 1999, Stephen Greenleaf doesn't receive the recognition that's his due as one of the finest exemplars of the hardboiled detective story at work today—and one of the best ever. Robert B. Parker makes the bestseller lists, but he's not nearly the writer Greenleaf is. His Spenser is a pallid Marlowe-wannabe who lacks the depth, complexity, and literate articulation of Greenleaf's John Marshall Tanner.
In Ellipsis, the fourteenth book in the series, Tanner is approached by an attorney to bodyguard the spectacularly successful and popular romantic suspense novelist Chandelier Wells, who has been receiving ominous threats from person or persons unknown. It's not his kind of case and he's on the point of turning it down when he learns he was referred by Millicent Colbert, former client, friend, and unknowing mother of his daughter (see False Conception).
In between accompanying the bitchy Chandelier and her ever-present retinue to TV appearances and to book-signings that attract huge crowds of devoted fans in and around San Francisco to promote the release of her latest blockbuster, Tanner digs into the writer's private life and into the lives of people with present and former connections to her to try to identify the menacer who nearly kills her and who succeeds in killing a couple of others. Along the way, he must contend with the angst-ridden approach of his fiftieth birthday, the problems of an elderly neighbor he likes, the safety of Millicent Colbert and their daughter, his feelings for assistant DA Jill Coppelia, and the aftermath of a year-old case (see Past Tense), the tragic consequences of which still haunt him. The case involved a corrupt group within the SFPD known as the Triad, and Jill is trying to put together a case against them to present to a grand jury. Tanner's amorous relationship with her complicates matters and is a source of tension between the two of them.
Some of the primary mysteries are solved, but other questions linger to tease the reader. Not the least of these is whether Greenleaf plans to continue the series, especially considering the unexpected and potentially life-changing surprise Tanner gets at the book's end.
Ellipsis is a novel that grabbed me from the get-go and which was nearly impossible to put down. Readers who enjoy compelling stories rich in characterization, drama, humor, and pungent observations, and told in intelligent, often lyrical prose, should find it irresistible.
For more on this novel, take a look here http://tinyurl.com/2hkpd4
Barry Ergang © 2007
Currently the Managing Editor of Futures Mystery Anthology Magazine and First Senior Editor of Mysterical-E, winner of the Short Mystery Fiction Society’s 2007Derringer Award in the Flash Fiction category, Barry Ergang’s written work has appeared in numerous publications, print and electronic. For links to material available online, see Barry’s webpages.
reviewed by Barry Ergang
Despite being nominated for an Edgar for Strawberry Sunday as the best novel of 1999, Stephen Greenleaf doesn't receive the recognition that's his due as one of the finest exemplars of the hardboiled detective story at work today—and one of the best ever. Robert B. Parker makes the bestseller lists, but he's not nearly the writer Greenleaf is. His Spenser is a pallid Marlowe-wannabe who lacks the depth, complexity, and literate articulation of Greenleaf's John Marshall Tanner.
In Ellipsis, the fourteenth book in the series, Tanner is approached by an attorney to bodyguard the spectacularly successful and popular romantic suspense novelist Chandelier Wells, who has been receiving ominous threats from person or persons unknown. It's not his kind of case and he's on the point of turning it down when he learns he was referred by Millicent Colbert, former client, friend, and unknowing mother of his daughter (see False Conception).
In between accompanying the bitchy Chandelier and her ever-present retinue to TV appearances and to book-signings that attract huge crowds of devoted fans in and around San Francisco to promote the release of her latest blockbuster, Tanner digs into the writer's private life and into the lives of people with present and former connections to her to try to identify the menacer who nearly kills her and who succeeds in killing a couple of others. Along the way, he must contend with the angst-ridden approach of his fiftieth birthday, the problems of an elderly neighbor he likes, the safety of Millicent Colbert and their daughter, his feelings for assistant DA Jill Coppelia, and the aftermath of a year-old case (see Past Tense), the tragic consequences of which still haunt him. The case involved a corrupt group within the SFPD known as the Triad, and Jill is trying to put together a case against them to present to a grand jury. Tanner's amorous relationship with her complicates matters and is a source of tension between the two of them.
Some of the primary mysteries are solved, but other questions linger to tease the reader. Not the least of these is whether Greenleaf plans to continue the series, especially considering the unexpected and potentially life-changing surprise Tanner gets at the book's end.
Ellipsis is a novel that grabbed me from the get-go and which was nearly impossible to put down. Readers who enjoy compelling stories rich in characterization, drama, humor, and pungent observations, and told in intelligent, often lyrical prose, should find it irresistible.
For more on this novel, take a look here http://tinyurl.com/2hkpd4
Barry Ergang © 2007
Currently the Managing Editor of Futures Mystery Anthology Magazine and First Senior Editor of Mysterical-E, winner of the Short Mystery Fiction Society’s 2007Derringer Award in the Flash Fiction category, Barry Ergang’s written work has appeared in numerous publications, print and electronic. For links to material available online, see Barry’s webpages.
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Helping The Kids
An update from Tony Burton.......
I have just placed a notice on the Crime and Suspense web site where I am auctioning off four copies of the anthology CAROLS AND CRIMES, GIFTS AND GRIFTERS that will have the signatures of all fifteen authors in the front.
The CAROLS AND CRIMES anthology is the second anthology Wolfmont has published to raise money for the Toys for Tots foundation. Last year we were able to present $1,365 to the Toys for Tots. This year, I'd love to make it up to $2,000, but right now we are at about $1,700. So, I'm auctioning off these special limited-edition copies to try to fill the gap a little.
If you want to read more about the anthology, what it's about and who is in it, you can go to http://www.wolfmont.com/ccgg.htm
If you want to bid on one of the four copies to be auctioned off at the Crime and Suspense website, drop by there (http://www.crimeandsuspense.com) and you'll see a link where you can get the details on how to bid.
Either way, may you have the happiest and most joyous of holidays.
Tony Burton
Editor, Crime and Suspense ezine
http://www.crimeandsuspense.com
I have just placed a notice on the Crime and Suspense web site where I am auctioning off four copies of the anthology CAROLS AND CRIMES, GIFTS AND GRIFTERS that will have the signatures of all fifteen authors in the front.
The CAROLS AND CRIMES anthology is the second anthology Wolfmont has published to raise money for the Toys for Tots foundation. Last year we were able to present $1,365 to the Toys for Tots. This year, I'd love to make it up to $2,000, but right now we are at about $1,700. So, I'm auctioning off these special limited-edition copies to try to fill the gap a little.
If you want to read more about the anthology, what it's about and who is in it, you can go to http://www.wolfmont.com/ccgg.htm
If you want to bid on one of the four copies to be auctioned off at the Crime and Suspense website, drop by there (http://www.crimeandsuspense.com) and you'll see a link where you can get the details on how to bid.
Either way, may you have the happiest and most joyous of holidays.
Tony Burton
Editor, Crime and Suspense ezine
http://www.crimeandsuspense.com
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