Only days left to win books and more from KRL!

Don't forget to check out this article about "Christmas Heartwarmers &
Holiday Smiles" an ebook mystery boxed set where the proceeds from the
sales goes to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital-so I encourage everyone
to check out the article and buy a copy! Some of the authors included are Kathi
Daley, Anna Celeste Burke, and Kim Hornsby
http://kingsriverlife.com/12/15/authors-give-back-to-st-jude-childrens-research-hospital/

Only days left to check out our review of "Wreath Between the Lines" by Daryl
Wood Gerber aka Avery Aames and enter to win a Cookbook Mystery of your
choice. Daryl has also shared with us a fun Christmas recipe!
http://kingsriverlife.com/12/15/wreath-between-the-lines-by-daryl-wood-gerber/

Only days left to enter to win a fun gift basket when you check out our
review of "Yule Be Dead" by Lorraine Bartlett and Gayle Leeson
http://kingsriverlife.com/12/15/yule-be-dead-by-lorraine-bartlett-with-gayle-leeson/

Only days left to win a copy of "Reason to Doubt" by Nancy Cole Silverman
http://kingsriverlife.com/12/15/reason-to-doubt-by-nancy-cole-silverman/

And to win a copy of "Hunting the Saturday Night Strangler" by CM Wendelboe
https://www.krlnews.com/2018/12/hunting-saturday-night-strangler-by-cm-wendelboe.html

Also to win a copy of "Cemetery Wine" by Sharon L. Dean
https://www.krlnews.com/2018/12/cemetery-wine-by-sharon-l-dean.html

And to win an ebook copy of "Fatal Bond" by Gemma Halliday and Jennifer
Fischetto
https://www.krlnews.com/2018/12/fatal-bond-by-gemma-halliday-jennifer-fischetto.html

Don't forget to enter to win a copy of "Naughty on Ice" by Maia Chance
http://kingsriverlife.com/12/15/naughty-on-ice-by-maia-chance/

You have until December 29 to enter to win a copy of "A Midwinter's Tail",
A Petsitting Mystery by Bethany Blake, but enter now so you don't forget!
And while there you can check out a fun interview with Bethany
http://kingsriverlife.com/12/15/a-midwinters-tail-by-bethany-blake/

Also watch for more Christmas short stories to go up this week!

Happy holidays!
Lorie

MAKE MINE MYSTERY: Mary Sue and You - How Much of Ourselves Do We Put...

MAKE MINE MYSTERY: Mary Sue and You - How Much of Ourselves Do We Put...: by Janis Patterson One of the more peculiar kinds of book is known somewhat disparagingly as the Mary Sue. Although i...

Beneath the Stains of Time: Asteroid Blues: "Time Wants a Skeleton" (1941) by ...

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Lesa's Book Critiques: Post Facto by Darryl Wimberley

Lesa's Book Critiques: Post Facto by Darryl Wimberley

MysteryPeople: TOP FIVE DEBUTS OF 2018

MysteryPeople: TOP FIVE DEBUTS OF 2018

Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers: #CHRISTMAS MEMORIES WITH AUTHOR JANIS PATERSON

Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers: #CHRISTMAS MEMORIES WITH AUTHOR JANIS PATERSON: Janis Susan May/Janis Patterson is a 7th-generation Texan and a 3rd-generation wordsmith who writes in mystery, romance, and horror. Lear...

Guest Post: Jeanne and Airport Books

In honor of the season, Jeanne of the BPL, has dumped her treadmill and is thinking about airports and reading. It is the holiday season, after all. Please welcome back Jeanne today.

Airport Books by Jeanne

As I may have mentioned, I’m one of those people who feels obligated to finish a book once started.  This occasionally bogs down my reading when I’m in a book I’m not particularly enjoying but I can’t start another until I finish the first.  I’m working on that and hope to be able to abandon books soon. Well, some books, anyways.

In an airport I will read almost anything—I add the qualifier only because someday I might find something I wouldn’t read, but haven’t so far—so I tend to put “maybe” books in my travel bag, certain that I’ll read them no matter what.

This time around I had Peggy Ehrhart’s Died in the Wool, the second in the Knit and Nibble series.  I had read the first one, Murder, She Knit and thought it had promise.  The setup is that a group of folks get together once a week for knitting sessions and a snack, giving the author a chance to offer tips and recipes.  The main character is Pamela, a widow with a college student daughter who works as an editor for a fiber arts magazine. The knitting group is mostly female, although there is a grumpy male lawyer who has taken up knitting on the advice of his doctor as a way to handle stress.  This time around the knitters have knitted aardvarks to sell as a fundraiser for the local high school sports program.  Things are going quite well until a dead body turns up, with one of the knitted aardvarks on his chest.  As per usual, the victim had any number of people wishing him ill so there’s a good pool of suspects.  Pamela and the other knitters are drawn in because of the knitted aardvark and must solve the mystery to clear their names.

 

Scheduled Pub Date --April 30, 2019

I had actually picked this one up before the trip, read a bit, put it down, and repeated.  I like Pamela very much:  she’s generally calm and collected, a steadying influence for the group.   Catrina the cat is appropriately adorable, and there is a whiff of romance in the air with the distinguishably handsome man next door, even if Pamela denies it.  I enjoyed the bits about the fiber arts articles she was working on for the magazine. However, for me the pacing was off: after I put the book down, there was no compelling reason to pick it back up again. Much time was spent preparing meals, for example, with no progress in any of the plot threads.  I also had trouble believing that the whole town would turn against the knitters because of the aardvark toy found with the body.  It served as an excuse for Pamela and best friend Bettina to investigate, but for me that reaching and an unneeded distraction.

The writing itself is enjoyable and as indicated, I like many of the characters.  I just needed for a little more to be going on to entice me to read “just one more chapter.”

There are two more books in the series coming out in 2019. I’ll certainly pick up Knit One, Die Two and see how it goes from there.

Stephen Mack Jones: LIVES LAID AWAY (Hardcover on sale January 8, 2019)

August Snow was an incredible book and I tried to explain that in my review. LIVES LAID AWAY is book two in the series and you can read the synopsis here.

Lesa's Book Critiques: Have You Heard?...Charlaine Harris' All Together Dead

Lesa's Book Critiques: Have You Heard?...Charlaine Harris' All Together Dead

Cats and Crime: PSA: eBookMall Has Gone From eBook Retailer to Phi...

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Crime Time : THE DEATH OF MR. LOMAS – Francis Vivian

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The Rap Sheet: Crider to Be Honored in Dallas

Personal Note..... I have spoken before more than once about how Bill Crider played a huge roll in my life as well as Sandi's in recent years. I won't bore you with that again. I always hoped Bill and I  would be able to meet up somewhere. That was not meant to be. What the Bouchercon folks are doing here is a wonderful thing. 

The Rap Sheet: Crider to Be Honored in Dallas

Lesa Holstine Reviews: Have You Heard...Donna Andrews' Owls Well That Ends Well

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A Writer's Life....Caroline Clemmons: WRITING THE OLD WEST

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Bookblog of the Bristol Library: A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (read by Jim ...

Bookblog of the Bristol Library: A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (read by Jim ...: Reviewed by Christy             In 2007, the tv show Pushing Daisies premiered on ABC. It was a whimsical take on the popular...

RTE Update: End Of Year Issue

The December 15th issue of RTE is out and includes new reviews as well as an interview from the archive:

http://www.reviewingtheevidence.com

A repeat of a previous interview with Reginald Hill in the 'Sixty Seconds with . . .' interview hot seat:

http://www.reviewingtheevidence.com/interviews.html?id=263

This is our last issue for 2018, so we wish everyone a very happy holiday and a splendid New Year.



REVIEWS THIS WEEK:

THE WAY OF ALL FLESH Ambrose Parry Reviewed by Yvonne Klein

THOUGH THE HEAVENS FALL Anne Emery Reviewed by Jim Napier

THE FERAL DETECTIVE Jonathan Lethem Reviewed by Yvonne Klein

THE BIG EMPTY Stan Jones and Patricia Watts Reviewed by Barbara Fister

LIES COME EASY Steven F. Havill Reviewed Anne Corey

ROBERT B. PARKER'S BLOOD FEUD Mike Lupica Reviewed by Ruth Castleberry

WATCHING YOU Lisa Jewell Reviewed by Keshena Hanson

THE CLINCHER Lisa Preston Reviewed by PJ Coldren

FRACTURED TRUTH Susan Furlong Reviewed by PJ Coldren

STORM RISING Sara Driscoll Reviewed by Diana Borse
NOT OF THIS FOLD Mette Ivie Harrison Reviewed by Keshena Hanson

THE CHRISTMAS CARD CRIME
and other stories Martin Edwards, ed. Reviewed by Rik Shepherd

We post more than 900 new reviews a year -- all of them are archived on 
the site -- as well as a new interview with a top author every issue.

Yvonne Klein
Editor: ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com

In Reference To Murder: Media Murder for Monday 12/17/18

In Reference To Murder: Media Murder for Monday 12/17/18

MysteryPeople: GOOD ANTHOLOGIES, GOOD CAUSES

MysteryPeople: GOOD ANTHOLOGIES, GOOD CAUSES

CrimeReads: THE 10 BEST CRIME ANTHOLOGIES OF 2018

CrimeReads: THE 10 BEST CRIME ANTHOLOGIES OF 2018

Gravetapping: SHADOW GAMES by Ed Gorman

Gravetapping: SHADOW GAMES by Ed Gorman: I have a particular fondness for Shadow Games . It is not only a terrific novel, but it was my introduction to the work of Ed Gorman. Th...

Monday Markets and Jobs for Writers for 12/17/18

Monday Markets and Jobs for Writer for 12/17/18

TEXAS BOOK LOVER: Monday Roundup: Texas Literary Calendar Dec 17-23,...

TEXAS BOOK LOVER: Monday Roundup: Texas Literary Calendar Dec 17-23,...: Bookish goings-on in Texas for the week of December 17-23, 2018:  Ongoing Exhibits: Finding Sophie Blackall Exhibition , Abilene, ...

Aubrey Hamilton Reviews: The Tipster by Gerald Verner

Gerald Verner (1897-1980) was born John Robert Stuart Pringle. He also wrote under the names Donald Stuart, Nigel Vane, Derwent Steele, and Thane Leslie. His literary output was prodigious: More than 120 books, many of which were adapted for films, radio, and stage plays as well as short stories for mystery fiction magazines.

The Tipster (Wright & Brown, 1949) is book 10 in Verner’s series featuring Superintendent Robert Budd of Scotland Yard, Verner’s longest running series character. Budd finds himself searching for a serial murderer who announced via an anonymous phone call his intent to kill five people, starting with Lord Latimer, the Senior Steward of the Jockey Club. (Like Dick Francis, Verner set many of the Budd books in the world of horse racing.) The recipient of the phone call, the editor of the Daily Clarion, believes the call to be a hoax until Lord Latimer is found dead a short time after the call. Even with the killer’s phone call before each successive attack, Budd is unable to prevent more deaths.

Budd is reunited with journalist Gordon Cross and his wife Vicky, who figured in earlier adventures with Budd. Cross is determined to identify the murderer in order to ingratiate himself with the editor of the Daily Clarion to gain a plum job. His headlong pursuit of someone who has already shown he’s willing to take a human life places both Vicky and himself in jeopardy more than once.

In classic Golden Age style Budd and Cross have a nice assortment of suspects to work with. A likely blackmailer lurks on the edges of the case, providing motivation for suspicious activity by some of the characters. The first victim’s adopted daughter had a brother who emigrated to Canada and then disappeared and now can’t be located. The plot hinges on a turning point that would not hold up under current forensic techniques, one of the reasons these 1940s stories are such entertaining reads. Review based on the Endeavour Media ebook.

·         File Size: 2843 KB

·         Print Length: 189 pages

·         Publisher: Endeavour Media (November 1, 2018)

·         Publication Date: November 1, 2018

·         ASIN: B07K49N61K

Aubrey Hamilton ©2018

Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.

Eating Plants Responsibly

Bryan Gruley Interview on YouTube

Bryan Gruley Interview on YouTube

Mystery Fanfare: MYSTERY BYTES: Quirky and Interesting Mystery-Rela...

Mystery Fanfare: MYSTERY BYTES: Quirky and Interesting Mystery-Rela...: Here's a Round-Up of interesting and quirky mystery-related links on the Internet . Just wanted to share in case you missed these ...

History Explained

Ernie...

Do Some Damage: Sea of Greed by Clive Cussler and Graham Brown

Do Some Damage: Sea of Greed by Clive Cussler and Graham Brown: by Scott D. Parker SEA OF GREED by Clive Cussler and Graham Brown is the latest entry in the NUMA Files series. Spearheaded by hero Ku...

Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Murder for Christmas by Francis Duncan

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SleuthSayers Blog: Fleshing Out The Past by by Lawrence Maddox

SleuthSayers: Fleshing Out The Past: Ladies and gents, we are delighted to introduce our newest SleuthSayer.  Lawrence Maddox will be appearing every third Friday, and we are ...

TEXAS BOOK LOVER: Review: HURRICANE HEROES IN TEXAS by Mary Pope Osb...

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Buried Under Books Book Review: Sulfur Springs by William Kent Krueger

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KRL This Week Update for 12/15/17

Up in KRL this morning an article about "Christmas Heartwarmers & Holiday Smiles" an ebook mystery boxed set where the proceeds from the sales goes to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital-so I encourage everyone to check out the article and buy a copy! Some of the authors included are Kathi Daley, Anna Celeste Burke, and Kim Hornsby

http://kingsriverlife.com/12/15/authors-give-back-to-st-jude-childrens-research-hospital/

And a review of "Wreath Between the Lines" by Daryl Wood Gerber aka Avery Aames and a chance to win a Cookbook Mystery of your choice. Daryl has also shared with us a fun Christmas recipe!

http://kingsriverlife.com/12/15/wreath-between-the-lines-by-daryl-wood-gerber/

We also have a review and giveaway of "A Midwinter's Tail", A Petsitting Mystery by Bethany Blake and a fun interview with Bethany

http://kingsriverlife.com/12/15/a-midwinters-tail-by-bethany-blake/

And a review and giveaway of "Reason to Doubt" by Nancy Cole Silverman http://kingsriverlife.com/12/15/reason-to-doubt-by-nancy-cole-silverman/

And a review and giveaway of "Naughty on Ice" by Maia Chance http://kingsriverlife.com/12/15/naughty-on-ice-by-maia-chance/

And a Christmas mystery short story by Elaine Faber http://kingsriverlife.com/12/15/the-engagement-ring-miracle-a-christmas-mystery-short-story/

And a review of "The Rookie" starring Nathan Fillion

http://kingsriverlife.com/12/15/the-rookie-tv-review/

And we also have a review of "Yule Be Dead" by Lorraine Bartlett and Gayle Leeson and a giveaway of a fun gift basket

http://kingsriverlife.com/12/15/yule-be-dead-by-lorraine-bartlett-with-gayle-leeson/

Up on KRL News and Reviews this week we have a review and giveaway of "Hunting the Saturday Night Strangler" by CM Wendelboe

https://www.krlnews.com/2018/12/hunting-saturday-night-strangler-by-cm-wendelboe.html

And a review and giveaway of "Cemetery Wine" by Sharon L. Dean

https://www.krlnews.com/2018/12/cemetery-wine-by-sharon-l-dean.html

And a review and giveaway of "Fatal Bond" by Gemma Halliday and Jennifer Fischetto https://www.krlnews.com/2018/12/fatal-bond-by-gemma-halliday-jennifer-fischetto.html

Happy holidays!

Lorie

Lesa's Book Critiques: Have You Heard...We'll Always Have Parrots by Donna Andrews

Lesa's Book Critiques: Have You Heard...We'll Always Have Parrots by Donna Andrews

Writer Beware: AMELIA PUBLISHING AND AMELIA BOOK COMPANY: SONS OF LITFIRE PUBLISHING

Writer Beware: AMELIA PUBLISHING AND AMELIA BOOK COMPANY: SONS OF LITFIRE PUBLISHING

Lesa's Book Critiques: A Spell of Murder by Clea Simon

Lesa's Book Critiques:  A Spell of Murder by Clea Simon

In Reference To Murder: Mystery Melange for 12/13/18

In Reference To Murder: Mystery Melange for 12/13/18

FFB Review: THE MALTED FALCON (2003) by Bruce Hale Reviewed by Barry Ergang

Friday means Friday’s Forgotten Books hosted by Patti Abbott. Make sure you check out the full list over at Todd Mason's blog.

THE MALTED FALCON (2003) by Bruce Hale

Reviewed by Barry Ergang

No ordinary fourth-grader at Emerson Hicky Elementary, Chet Gecko, along with his mockingbird partner Natalie Attired, is a private detective. In this, his seventh case, he’s hired by a female frog whose “eyes shone large and luminous” who says her name is Dot Maytricks. She claims her sister is in love with a roughneck fifth-grader, Bert Umber, to whom she sent a valentine. Dot wants Chet to retrieve the card to prevent her sister’s reputation from being sullied.

Chet has hardly begun when Principal Zero and Vice Principal Shrewer haul Bert away for setting off a fire drill, and Natalie identifies “Dot” as a classmate by her real name that I won’t reveal here. But when Chet and Natalie look for her, they discover that “(S)he was as hard to find as a bully’s conscience.”

Not long after, a prairie dog named Freddie Nostrils wants to hire Chet to recover the winning ticket for the Malted Falcon, a giant dessert a local candy shop will serve the winner once a week for an entire year. Nostrils says a friend of his lost the ticket. When Chet says he already has a case, Nostrils says he’ll double the fee. Chet can’t resist. His investigation puts him up against a hostile tuatara named Little Gino, a pair of muskrats who are the henchmen of the mysterious Mr. Big, Mr. Big himself, and trouble in the form of “dames” from whom Chet fears he might contract cooties.

Despite the title of this particular entry in the series, Chet Gecko is stylistically far more akin to Philip Marlowe than to Sam Spade. He has irreverent wisecracks for every occasion. The book is loaded with Chandlerian similes—e.g., “He staggered under the impact like a soap opera queen at cancellation time.” “Freddie’s skinny body twitched like a silkworm in a light socket.” “My mind was racing like a cheetah on espresso.”

The series is obviously targeted at a  young audience. I’ve seen one site that claims it’s aimed at 7-10 year olds, another that says 9-12. It’s unlikely that anyone in the former group will have any sense of the kind of adult fiction the series is spoofing. It’s remotely possible that some precocious mystery readers in the latter group might. Regardless, this is a great and very entertaining series by which parents can introduce their children to fun reads, and have fun themselves if so inclined.

I recently discovered this series by accident, stumbling upon mention of it while looking up on the Internet something entirely unrelated. With titles (fifteen, as of this writing) like Farewell, My Lunchbag, The Hamster of the Baskervilles, and Hiss Me Deadly, I had to check out one of them. I’m glad I did and, despite having no kids of my own, the kid in me thoroughly enjoyed meeting Chet Gecko. One of these days I might read some of his other cases because they’re clever and comical, and I imagine many other adult private eye-fiction fans will get a kick out of them as well.

Definitely recommended.

For additional information see http://brucehale.com/series/chet-gecko-series/

© Barry Ergang 2018

Derringer Award-winner Barry Ergang’s “The Mall Tea’s Fall Kin” is among the stories in PUN-ishing Tales: The Stuff That Groans Are Made On, which is available at Amazon and Smashwords.

True West: Best of the West 2019: Western Books

True West: Best of the West 2019: Western Books

Mystery Fanfare: CHRISTMAS MYSTERY SHORT STORY ANTHOLOGIES & NOVELL...

Mystery Fanfare: CHRISTMAS MYSTERY SHORT STORY ANTHOLOGIES & NOVELL...: This year I've separated Christmas Mystery Short Stories and Novellas from the Christmas Mystery Novel lists . Since this is the fir...

Unlawful Acts: 101 by Tom Pitts

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Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Nevermore: Bookshop of Yesterdays, Fourth Monkey,...

Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Nevermore: Bookshop of Yesterdays, Fourth Monkey,...: Reported by Kristin With a group full of book lovers, it’s no surprise that the first title mentioned was The Bookshop of Yesterd...

Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 15 Publishers Accepting Memoirs - No agent needed

Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 15 Publishers Accepting Memoirs - No agent needed: Pixabay I have often said that memoir is the highest form of fiction. By that, I'm not encouraging memoirists to make things up. I a...

In Reference To Murder: Media Murder for Monday 12/10/18

In Reference To Murder: Media Murder for Monday 12/10/18

Chess, Comics, Crosswords, Books, Music, Cinema: Partners: Rogue Lawyer by John Grisham

Chess, Comics, Crosswords, Books, Music, Cinema: Partners: Rogue Lawyer by John Grisham: “I’m not sure I want to get involved in this one,” Sebastian mumbled. © Doubleday Partners: Rogue Lawyer (2016) is a 60-page prequel...

NFL Fun Fact

In the wake of the news this morning that the Eagles starting QB has been benched for this week due to a back injury, I share this NFL fun fact lifted from Facebook.

Do Some Damage: Literary Stoner Noir

Do Some Damage: Literary Stoner Noir: A couple of weeks back, I wrote a piece here on Thomas Pynchon's The Crying of Lot 49 , his 1966 novel.  I discussed how it is what you...

Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Taste of Home Annual Recipes 2019

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Lesa's Book Critiques: Books & Mortar by Gibbs M. Smith

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Crimespree Magazine Book Review: BOISE LONGPIG HUNTING CLUB

Crimespree Magazine Book Review: BOISE LONGPIG HUNTING CLUB

MysteryPeople: FLIGHT OF THE FALCON: INTERVIEW WITH KEN BRUEN

MysteryPeople: FLIGHT OF THE FALCON: INTERVIEW WITH KEN BRUEN

Victoria Weisfeld: *****101 by Tom Pitts

Victoria Weisfeld: *****101 by Tom Pitts

Lesa's Book Critiques: A Gruesome Discovery by Cora Harrison

Lesa's Book Critiques: A Gruesome Discovery by Cora Harrison

Mystery Fanfare: CHRISTMAS MYSTERIES: AUTHORS M-Z

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Criminal Minds: Books, Books and more....by Terry Shames

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Crime Watch: Review: IN A HOUSE OF LIES

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Guest Post: Writing The Storm Over Paris by William Ian Grubman

Please welcome author William Ian Grubman to the blog today. His historical thriller, The Storm Over Paris is set in 1942 and involves the war, Nazis, stolen art, and more.

Writing The Storm Over Paris

Because I am a first-time novelist, I was faced with the task of figuring out how a book is even written. Although I am an avid reader, I was treading on soft soil trying to keep balance.

I have been a student of art and art history most of my life, as well as a collector. That would prove immensely useful with the type of story I was going to create.

When I first began to type (with no clear story line in sight), I was aware that art theft and art forgery were topics that interested me, but I wasn’t quite sure how to bring the story to life. I spent a great deal of time in front of a blank computer screen.

A writer friend of mine suggested that I just begin to type. She said the story would come as I worked. She was right. I resolved my book would take place in New York City, current day. After writing what I felt was a solid prologue, I discovered my story really didn’t take place in New York, and it wasn’t current day. I needed to go back. I needed to have the story take place in Paris during World War II. This is where the research began.

To formulate the tale, I began taking notes and creating time lines but wasn’t familiar with several visuals that would require in depth research. I headed to Paris. Although I’m familiar with the City of Lights, I needed to see details: parks, buildings, places of interest and historical monuments. I filled my camera with pictures and took copious notes as well as highlighting specific points of interest on a map.

I tried to write for at least two to three hours every day, but that schedule adjusted itself according to my creative juices. My characters were coming to life in great detail, while at the same time I was researching World War II Paris.

I met with a master forger who I tracked to Orange County, California, and he gave me the necessary processes of producing paintings, aging canvas, etc. Now I had to create a way for my characters to follow his steps. Additionally, my characters would have to face the day to day encounters of Nazi occupied Paris and some of the historical events of the time.

The story began to unfold. At some point in time I needed a creative hiding place for stolen artwork. I’m not sure how or even why, but I began to research the parks of Paris. That’s when I discovered the follies in Parc Monceau. Voila! I had my hiding place. Of course, that find created a new problem. How would I get the paintings to the park? The task would have to be creative, posing obstacles along the way, yet not appear contrived.

My goal was to keep my readers on the edge of their seats. That meant some sort of danger every other page or so. Not an easy task - - - and in the beginning I thought some of the adventure seemed odd.

Enter RE-WRITE.

The story had great bones, but the delivery was rough and burdened with adjectives. Descriptions seemed overly detailed. In my effort to describe each scene, I was overloading my reader with too much information. Once again, I needed to cut and cut and cut.

Research was my daily routine. I wanted my audience to absolutely feel they were in Paris. I wanted them to know the ins and outs of war time survival as well as the anguish the Germans created for the French. So, I walked a fine line between description and boredom.

When I finally had a finished product, I began the search for an editor. I knew that I needed to find someone who would pull my book apart bit by bit. After the first edit, I reviewed the manuscript and commenced with re-writing my novel. I went through this process four times, each time producing less and less commentary. The fourth edit came back virtually clean but for a few tweaks, which I repaired in less than a few hours. I returned the book to the fourth editor for review and received two thumbs up.

Start to finish, it took me three and a half years to complete The Storm over Paris.

William Ian Grubman ©2018

William Ian Grubman is a retired businessman, philanthropist, artist, author, art collector, and performing artist from Los Angeles, California. In every sense of the word, he is a renaissance man. His website is https://www.williamgrubman.com/ 

The Rap Sheet: Revue of Reviewers for 12/9/18

The Rap Sheet: Revue of Reviewers for 12/9/18

Monday Markets and Jobs for Writers for 12/10/18

Monday Markets and Jobs for Writers for 12/10/18

Unlawful Acts: Incident Report No. 67

Unlawful Acts: Incident Report No. 67

TEXAS BOOK LOVER: Monday Roundup: Texas Literary Calendar Dec 10-16,...

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Aubrey Hamilton Reviews: Force of Nature by Jane Harper

Force of Nature by Jane Harper (Flatiron Books, 2018) is the second mystery featuring Australian Federal Agent Aaron Falk. Falk is still recovering from his injuries incurred in his debut adventure (The Dry, 2017) when he’s notified that a potential witness in an extensive corporate money-laundering investigation he’s been conducting has disappeared. Alice Russell was on a corporate-mandated team-building exercise in the Australian wilderness with some of the company executives Falk expected her to implicate and disappeared on the second day.

Five women from different parts of the company and at different levels of responsibility enter the dense forest with a map, compass, flashlight, and other supplies. Only four of them emerge days later, all with injuries of some kind and all telling slightly different stories. They do agree that Alice was a disagreeable companion and not at all helpful when the group realized they took a wrong turn while trying to reach the second night’s campsite.

The employees on the team-building trek include a senior vice-president and a clerk from the filing department and mid-level managers, so all have completely different perspectives on the organization and different reasons for obscuring their individual contributions to the disappearance. The character of each woman is sketched carefully and credibly, which is one of the features of this novel that makes it so readable. The plot reminds me strongly of Picnic at Hanging Rock, an early film from Peter Weir in which students on a school picnic disappear.

While Falk is trying to elicit meaningful information from them to figure out what happened to his witness, his bosses are still leaning on him to produce contracts and other records that document the money-laundering trail through the company. He does manage to meet their expectations, just not in the way he thought he would. Falk is a thoughtful, sympathetic character and one that I will be happy to continue to read about. A complex, layered story with strong characterization and an overwhelming sense of place.

·         Hardcover: 336 pages

·         Publisher: Flatiron Books; First Edition (February 6, 2018)

·         Language: English

·         ISBN-10: 1250105633

·         ISBN-13: 978-1250105639

Aubrey Hamilton ©2018

Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.

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