Now You Tell Me

though I never did put baby on the clock.....

 

Parker

Got to see this movie last night as it is now out on disc. Really enjoyed it. I don't do movie reviews as I am just not good enough to pull them off. But, Patrick Ohl wrote an extensive review of it over at his blog, At The Scene Of The Crime. You can read his Parker review here.

Earl's Short Story Book

Earl posted the below about his book earlier today and since Earl is in my local writing group and the book is very good I thought I would pass along his message.....

 

You might consider a collection titled SHORT STORIES OF EARL STAGGS. Published in 2011, it contains 16 stories, ranging from humorous to softboiled to hardboiled. One of them brought home a Derringer Award from the Short Mystery Fiction Society as Best Short Story of the Year.

But don't take my word for it. I'm biased. Here are some comments from people you can trust:


Kaye Barley: "I think he is a terrific writer, and one of the best when it comes to short
stories.......this is wonderfully done collection."

Rob Walker:  "a terrrific collection of stories in the mystery category. I think everyone on DL needs read Earl Staggs' stories."

Larry D. Marshall:  "These stories reflect a mastery of the mystery form that few have accomplished. . .I laughed at my Kindle while being somewhat awestruck at his storytelling."

Jan Christensen: "Earl is a meticulous writer. He actually crafts his stories to make them stand out from others who do not pay as much attention to craft and detail."

This collection is available in print from Amazon and as an ebook for Kindle and any other reader.

More details at:  http://earlwstaggs.wordpress.com/short-story-collection-5/


Earl Staggs 

The Latest "All Mystery" is Out

according to Rebecca who posted the below...

This week's issue of the Top 10 features Mystery/humor/a dog sleuth, suspense in China, Mystery in Baja, and 3 NEW releases, one of which is a new historical mystery series: 

Cartmell, Wendy Steps to Heaven  
De Silva, Bruce Ciff Walk  
Freeburn, Christina Cropped to Death 
Hopkins, J.E.  The Scarlet Crane 
Houston, Richard A View to Die For 
Moats, Bob Classmate Murders 
Musgrave, Jim  Forevermore New Release!
Nortman, Karen Musser The Blue Coyote New Release!
Preston, Mar Rip-Off 
Schwartz, Jinx Boxed Set-Hetta Coffey  New Release!

Get all the reviews new book info for this week: http://allmysteryenewsletter.com

Review: "Robert B. Parker’s Wonderland: A Spenser Novel" by Ace Atkins

Henry Cimoli has known Hawk and Spenser for years. He has never once asked for a favor and certainly wouldn't now if he wasn't being squeezed. He might have even tolerated being squeezed a little bit, but, when three thugs showed up at his fourth floor condo things got serious. The thugs threatened to throw him out his own window if he didn’t shut up about not wanting to move. Somebody wants to buy the condo building for a project and hired thugs are now visiting the mostly elderly holdouts and making threats.

Even if Spenser didn't owe Henry whatever he asked he would look into things just because this sort of deal ticks him off. His initial goal is to stop the threats and to find out who the buyer is that wants the property. Once that is done, maybe some common sense will prevail, and then a fair price for all can be found. With Hawk out of town, Spenser enlists the aid of his protégé in training, Zebulon Sixkill, who also figures he owes Henry.

Before long things in the case start going sideways in Robert B. Parker's Wonderland: A Spenser Novel by Ace Atkins. Not just in the case, but in the book itself. Unfortunately, while all the familiar names and locations are present in this series and doing all the usual things one expects, the books no longer read like Spenser novels. As always the scenic descriptions and narration are very limited, the chapters are as short as ever, the witty (or not depending on your perspective) dialogue between Spenser and everyone else still exists--in fact every single character engages in witty repartee with every other character.  All the usual elements are firmly in place and the tagline A Spenser Novel is still on the cover.

But, where it truly matters, in the hard to pin down and define it style of voice, the distinctive Spenser voice is now gone. It is not just because Sixkill plays a prominent role, or that Hawk never makes an appearance, or that Susan has been regulated to a cupboard above the stove (she doesn't even get a back burner role here to the ecstatic joy of many according to reviews seen elsewhere. This is a different and often harder edged Spenser in terms of thought and action.

On its own a harder edged Spenser is not necessarily a bad thing. But, that harder edge Spenser doesn’t go far enough when it happens and often flips back to a far weaker Spenser. Clearly author Ace Atkins had a nearly insurmountable task in taking over for the late Robert B. Parker to keep the series going. Every now and then one gets the sense that if he could take the hobbles off he would shove Spenser hard and fast in a new direction that could easily lose those who insist on Spenser never changing. At the same time, he is losing readers like me who recognize he is sitting on the fence with his version of Spenser.

For more on how Joan dealt with the situation regarding the death of her husband, Robert B. Parker and continuing the various series, see the recent interesting article in the Boston Globe on the matter online here.

Robert B. Parker’s Wonderland: A Spenser Novel

Ace Atkins

http://www.aceatkins.com

G.P. Putnam’s Sons (Penguin Group)

http://www.penguin.com

May 2013

ISBN# 978-0-399-16157-5

Hardback (also available as e-book and audio book)

$26.95

306 Pages

Material supplied by the good folks of the Plano, Texas Public Library System. If you are in the area and would like more information about Plano libraries go here.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2013

Birthday--Plus Twelve (The Good News Edition)

The good news of yesterday has now been confirmed and we now officially have a trend. The numbers of yesterday have gone up more. Several things they look at more than quadrupled in 24 hours. Not just that, but, Sandi actually now has a white blood count. This means that her modified stem cells have fully grafted with her body and her immune system is definitely starting up. How strong it will ultimately get we won't know for months as she will have to do the entire childhood immunization schedule at the normal intervals to support her immune system as well as take a number of precautions that most folks don't have to do to avoid a routine illness that could easily kill her.

But, we do now know that everything immune system related has activated and is producing all the various markers at different levels. The doctors involved at Mayo as well as the nurses working with Sandi are absolutely ecstatic. A number of them have been doing this for many, many years and Sandi says that they have never seen a patient doing what she is doing. They are simply amazed. Once again, she is not a normal case at all. This time not being a normal case is a very good thing.

It will be months before we know if this will succeed in holding this particular cancer at bay. But, we do know that things have triggered and a system reboot of her immune system is slowly powering up. All in all, this is the best possible news we could have gotten at this point.

FFB Review: "They Love Not Poison" by Sara Woods--Reviewed by Patrcik Ohl

This is Friday and that means Friday’s Forgotten Books. After far too long an absence, Patrick Ohl returns today with his review of They Love Not Poison by Sara Woods. Suggestions for more great books to read can be found over at Patti’s blog. You should check it out after you read Patrick’s review below….

I was bewitched—nay, downright seduced—by the blurb on the back of Sara Woods’ They Love Not Poison. I was promised a book that would serve as a sort of unofficial sequel to John Dickson Carr’s The Burning Court: a mysterious death via poison takes place and the culprit seems to be the reincarnation of a 300-year old witch! With such an awesome idea, how can you possibly go wrong?

Unfortunately, and it breaks my heart to say this, Sara Woods finds a way to mess it up. The book’s story seems like it couldn’t possibly fail: set in post-WWII England, it involves Woods’ series character Antony Maitland. While staying at a friend’s place in a small farming community, Maitland gets involved in serious matters when a neighbour’s wife dies. Although she’s been ill for a while, the doctor finds the death suspicious and refuses to sign a death certificate. The rumours say that a young girl in the household is the reincarnation of a 300-year old witch, and somehow is the person responsible for the murder. And into all this we get some stuff about a lost treasure…

All jolly ingredients for a fun story, aren’t they? But Sara Woods just can’t handle them. She makes terrible decisions in plot construction. Some are apparently quite small— for instance, it’s never explained why the doctor found the death suspicious in the first place. But more important than the minor plot nitpicks: the pacing is absolutely terrible. Strands of plot are forgotten for large chunks of the book, only to be summoned again at random when the author remembers: “Oh yeah, there’s supposed to be a witch in here!”

Is there any atmosphere of the supernatural? No, never, and if there were any attempts to do so they failed miserably. There is no sense of dread or uncertainty. It’s a lifeless book with faceless characters talking about how awful it is that someone should die but let’s waste our time instead talking about some fictional local history.

But for me, the absolute cruncher came at the ending, when right out of nowhere, a group of suspicious people shows up to play our last-minute red herring. Despite the fact that they are absolutely nasty people, Antony Maitland believes they didn’t kill the second victim of this story. How comfortably decent of these thugs… but it instantly ruins any effect of menace Woods tried to instill! Not only that, even though they are innocent their existence turns out to be vital for the real culprit, and again, these revelations all seem to be wild, unsubstantiated guesses. And to make matters worse, the ending scene is one of those moronic ones where somebody is tricked into giving the murderer away.

But what could I care by this point? I was bored… and I hated to admit it to myself. I had such high hopes and they were mercilessly dashed. The writing is sloppy, the characters are bland, there’s no atmosphere to speak of, no cleverness in plot construction, the whole thing ends on a cop-out, the pacing is terrible, and the book’s most interesting ideas lie forgotten for most of the book! They Love Not Poison is a terrible miscalculation, one of the biggest missed opportunities I’ve come across in recent memory. I only hope that Woods’ other books are better…

Anyone interested in the general plot idea should find John Dickson Carr’s The Burning Court and read (or re-read) it instead of this one.

Patrick Ohl ©2013

The nineteen-year-old Patrick Ohl continues to plot to take over the world when he isn’t writing reviews of books he reads on his blog, At the Scene of the Crime. In his spare time he conducts genetic experiments in his top-secret laboratory, hoping to create a creature as terrifying as the Giant Rat of Sumatra in a bid to take over the world. His hobbies include drinking tea and going outside to do a barbecue in -10°C weather.

Birthday--Plus Eleven

As horrible as things are here with my back and leg today and our horrific money situation with rent due in a week, I do have a little good news to report tonight. Sandi has felt a little better today. The ear has stopped hurting and the throat pain has subsided greatly. She got through most of the day with very few body aches and pains. Most importantly, Sandi's blood work shows a slight improvement.

Based on the blood work late last night and earlier today, Sandi is now officially off of zero.

This means her new immune system has triggered and has started doing what it needs to do to come back to life. At this point it has activated and she is as defenseless as a newborn baby. But, it came on. This had to happen for her to have any chance at all. The fact that it has now activated shows that the stem cells implanted themselves and have started doing something. While it will still be weeks, if not months, before we know if the stem cell transplant has worked and if she has more time with us all, the fact that things have started and she has come up off zero is a huge milestone.

What they will look for and work towards now is to get her numbers to climb. There is a risk that she could fall back to zero and crater again, but the belief is that will not happen. At this point, as I understand it, there are no symptoms they would expect to see that would indicate the possibility of that happening. So, at this point, they expect her numbers to start slowly trending upward.

One hopes.....

Event: Author Taylor Stevens in Frisco on June 4

Received the below via one of my groups yesterday ...... 

Book Event- Frisco, TX

Join us for an event with
New York Times Best-selling Author
Taylor Stevens
Tuesday, June 4th at 7pm
Barnes & Noble at Stonebriar Centre
Frisco, TX


Against the odds, after being raised in communes across the globe and being denied an education past sixth grade, Taylor Stevens broke free of the Children of God and became the New York Times Best-selling author of The Informationist. The author of three Vanessa “Michael” Munroe novels (The Informationist, The Innocent, and her latest book: The Doll)- they are the perfect thriller/mystery books for fans of Jason Bourne and Jack Reacher.

Stevens began writing the series without any formal training, with no writing background and is now published in over 20 languages and has a film deal with James Cameron to boot.

This event is perfect for fans of thrillers, but also for aspiring writers of any experience level. Taylor is an entertaining speaker who will answer all questions about both her novels and the business of writing and getting published.


This event is free and open to the public.


Nicole Caliro
Community Relations Manager
Barnes & Noble at Stonebriar Centre
Frisco, TX
Crm2060@bn.com

Just Because It Is Cool...

and I need a little cool in my life.....

The recently opened Margaret L. Hunt Bridge in Dallas with downtown off in the distance.

Birthday--Plus Ten

I can report that Sandi feels slightly better tonight. Throat hurts though not as much. Her left ear is bothering her some and the thinking is she has some fluid in there that nobody can see. The body aches and pains seem to have eased a little bit today. The belief remains this is all normal and should pass in a couple of days.

Hopefully she is turning the corner on this....

7 Years And Counting!

For the fantastic blog known as The Rap Sheet. J. Kingston Pierce is celebrating and for damn good reason. He also is hosting a contest to celebrate. You can read all about here.

This Explains It

and would have made geography class way easier.......

Design a logo....

and win money. You could get $50 from the Texas Gulf Coast Writers. Details on the contest that ends in two weeks can be found here.

Sandi's Day Nine

Day nine was not any better for her today. Her throat continues to massively hurt and she continues to have a hard time swallowing. The body aches and pain remain pretty bad and she is not a happy patient on any level. Today was also hard as they had to give her 2 more units of platelets.

She continues to feel lousy and is more than ready this "normal" stuff to end.

The fact she has been denied by Texas Medicaid without any explanation did not help matters.

Libraries

There seems to be a wave of anti library sentiment these days. Libraries remain wonderful places to me. One of the better responses to some of the anti library sentiment out there can be found here.

Dan Brown is Back...

and has been making the media rounds promoting his latest book. I'm not one of the Dan Brown haters Brian Lindenmuth commented about over at Do Some Damage. I tried a book or two of his and quickly figured out he wasn't for me. I give Dan Brown tremendous credit as the man clearly found a huge audience. When you generate a huge audience you will be loved and hated---Often for the exact same reasons.

I did come across "Dan Brown's Inferno: a tall writer offers his historic review" over at the Guardian and thought it was flat out funny. You can read it here.

Birthday--Plus Eight

Today marks the 8th day since Sandi had her stem cell transplant and the last 48 hours have not been kind to her. Early yesterday morning they suddenly had to give her a blood transfusion of 2 units of blood as well as 2 units of platelets. They started all this before she even had breakfast yesterday morning so the premeds on an empty stomach made her sleep and then she was nauseated when she woke up while they were putting the blood into her. She felt pretty lousy all day and thought she would feel better this morning.

Instead, today was much worse. She woke up before dawn with a raging sore throat that made it nearly impossible to swallow and body aches all over. She describes it as the throat is worse than any strep throat she ever had and is coupled with feeling like the worst case of flu ever. Her right arm is extremely painful to her and is interfering with her crocheting or being online very much. Everyone in the Bone Marrow Transplant Unit seems to be thrilled with her feeling so bad as they have been waiting for this to happen. This is supposed to be normal and more proof that, so far, things are working like they are supposed to do at this point.

How long this will last is unknown at this point as this could last just a couple of days or go a week or more. Obviously, she would prefer the former and wants to feel like she did early last week when for a few blessed days she felt like she did when she was well pre--cancer from before I got sick.

Hopefully, tomorrow evening I will have better news.....

Review: "Scratchgravel Road: A Mystery" by Tricia Fields

“Given the right set of circumstances I think we're all capable of doing bad.” (Page 289)

The right set of circumstances has come together in this second novel from author Tricia Fields following last year's powerful debut The Territory. In fact, “the right set of circumstances” happens over and over again in a variety of ways resulting in numerous life and death situations as well as plenty of good old fashioned luck. In fact, it happens so often at precisely the right time, there is a strong hint of deus ex machina at work throughout the book.

“The right set of circumstances” happens from early on when Police Chief Josie Gray leaves home at noon in the June heat to begin her shift. On her way to the station, she decides to stop for a few minutes at the nearby watch tower. She climbs the tower at random times so she can evaluate the local area of the Chihuahuan Desert and keep eyes on Piedra Labrada, the staging point for recent cartel violence that crossed the border and rocked the small southwest Texas border town of Artemis. Things have calmed down for now, but memories are very fresh, and the 33 year old police chief expects the violence to flare again at any time.

As she drove toward the watch tower, Chief Gray didn't expect to find the car of former jail employer Cassidy Harper parked nearby on Scratchgravel Road. Cassidy is a decent enough person, but, she has made a few bad decisions and that includes the man in her life. She seems to have made another as she left her car and apparently walked off into the desert under a blistering noonday sun. Chief Gray heads off road and into the desert with her jeep and soon finds an unconscious Cassidy. She also finds her lying next to a man who clearly has been dead for days.

That discovery, a runaway teenage daughter of a fellow office, and the start of a monsoon season that breaks 100 year flood records are just some of the many factors at work in this complicated second novel of the series. While the heavy rains depicted in this novel may strike native Texans such as myself as way over the top as they simply do not happen the way they are depicted, the rest of the novel featuring multiple storylines works well. Josie remains a strong and interesting character and a number of secondary characters are allowed to bring forth their own rich and varied perspectives in Scratchgravel Road. That character development further brings to life the small town while also adding depth and complexity to those involved. While not nearly as good as The Territory the novel does work fairly well and keeps the reader entertained.

Scratchgravel Road: A Mystery

Tricia Fields

http://www.TriciaFields.com

Minotaur Books (A Thomas Dunne Book)

http://www.minotaurbooks.com

March 2013

ISBN# 978-1-250-02136-6

Hardback (also available as e-book and audio)

310 Pages

$24.99

Material supplied by the good folks of the Plano Texas Library System.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2013

Lucky Dog Books-- 2 DAY FLASH SALE

Please go see these folks as their store is not only great, they were amazingly supportive of Jenny Milchman, Shalanna Collins and Earl Staggs and everyone in their efforts to help us by way of the recent book signing. They truly do deserve your business and are simply wonderful people....


The sale message from Lucky Dog Books posted to Facebook yesterday.....

2 DAY FLASH SALE - 25% off any of our recycled hardbacks, paperbacks, DVD's, CD's, comics, audio books, etc. at all 3 stores today & tomorrow only. Mention this post when checking out to get 25% off the cash portion of your purchases.

You can still use your store credit from trade-ins to pay for up to the usual 50% before we deduct this discount from the remaining balance.

We almost never do this. In 40 years maybe once or twice before if that. So put us on your itinerary this weekend and tell your friends.

Our approach to sales has been that most of our patrons prefer being able to get 50% off every day by bringing things to trade-in rather than an occasional sale for a lesser amount a couple of times a year.

But Joe Wells suggested one when we asked about things to do for our 1st Anniversary at the Oak Cliff. So we are going to experiment and try an event such as this that does both for a change.