Sunday, December 17, 2017
RTE Update for 12/16/17
The December 16 2017 issue of RTE is out and includes fifteen new
reviews as well as a new interview:
http://www.reviewingtheevidence.com
Leslie Karst in the 'Sixty seconds with . . .' interview hot seat:
http://www.reviewingtheevidence.com/interviews.html?id=248
And we'd like to extend our best wishes for the holidays and for the New Year to one and all.
REVIEWS THIS WEEK:
BEAU DEATH Peter Lovesey Reviewed by Yvonne Klein
SIGNAL LOSS Garry Disher Reviewed by Barbara Fister
WILD CHAMBER Christopher Fowler Reviewed by Jim Napier
PROTECTED BY THE SHADOWS Helene Tursten Reviewed by Yvonne Klein
A CHRISTMAS RETURN Anne Perry Reviewed by Lourdes Venard
THE USUAL SANTAS Peter Lovesey, ed. Reviewed by Lourdes Venard
THE GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PAST Rhys Bowen Reviewed by Caryn St Clair
YULETIDE HOMICIDE Jennifer David Hesse Reviewed by PJ Coldren
WAGGING THROUGH THE SNOW Laurien Berenson Reviewed by Diana Borse
SEVEN DEAD J. Jefferson Farjeon Reviewed by Rik Shepherd
COLORADO BOULEVARD Phoef Sutton Reviewed by Susan Hoover
MURDER IN THE
MANUSCRIPT ROOM Con Lehane Reviewed by Cathy Downs
WHITE SAND BLUES Vicki Delany Reviewed by Jim Napier
UNHOLY CITY Carrie Smith Reviewed by Phyllis Onstad
MUCH ADO ABOUT MURDER Elizabeth J. Duncan Reviewed by Caryn St Clair
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
http://www.reviewingtheevidence.com
Leslie Karst in the 'Sixty seconds with . . .' interview hot seat:
http://www.reviewingtheevidence.com/interviews.html?id=248
And we'd like to extend our best wishes for the holidays and for the New Year to one and all.
REVIEWS THIS WEEK:
BEAU DEATH Peter Lovesey Reviewed by Yvonne Klein
SIGNAL LOSS Garry Disher Reviewed by Barbara Fister
WILD CHAMBER Christopher Fowler Reviewed by Jim Napier
PROTECTED BY THE SHADOWS Helene Tursten Reviewed by Yvonne Klein
A CHRISTMAS RETURN Anne Perry Reviewed by Lourdes Venard
THE USUAL SANTAS Peter Lovesey, ed. Reviewed by Lourdes Venard
THE GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PAST Rhys Bowen Reviewed by Caryn St Clair
YULETIDE HOMICIDE Jennifer David Hesse Reviewed by PJ Coldren
WAGGING THROUGH THE SNOW Laurien Berenson Reviewed by Diana Borse
SEVEN DEAD J. Jefferson Farjeon Reviewed by Rik Shepherd
COLORADO BOULEVARD Phoef Sutton Reviewed by Susan Hoover
MURDER IN THE
MANUSCRIPT ROOM Con Lehane Reviewed by Cathy Downs
WHITE SAND BLUES Vicki Delany Reviewed by Jim Napier
UNHOLY CITY Carrie Smith Reviewed by Phyllis Onstad
MUCH ADO ABOUT MURDER Elizabeth J. Duncan Reviewed by Caryn St Clair
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
Jerry's House of Everything: BIG BILL VERSUS THE REPTILE-MEN OF ALVIN
Jerry's House of Everything: BIG BILL VERSUS THE REPTILE-MEN OF ALVIN: i first it was the thin mint melee... The blowsy wom...
A Writer's Life....Caroline Clemmons: CHEER AND HOPE FOR CHRISTMAS
A Writer's Life....Caroline Clemmons: CHEER AND HOPE FOR CHRISTMAS: Please welcome Reina Torres, who is lucky enough to life in Hawaii. Remember to comment to be eligible for Reina’s giveaway and mine. Reina...
New Issue of Crime Review
We feature new 20 reviews in each issue of Crime Review ( www.crimereview.co.uk), together with a top industry interview. This time it’s author George Mann in the Countdown hot seat: http://crimereview.co.uk/page.php/interview/5618 We’re on Twitter at: Crime Review: @CrimeReviewUK Linda Wilson: @CrimeReviewer Sharon Wheeler: @lartonmedia This week’s reviews are: HARRY POTTER: A HISTORY OF MAGIC by The British Library, reviewed by Linda Wilson The companion volume to the British Library exhibition which marks the 20th anniversary of the publication of the first of the Harry Potter books. THE BUTTERFLY TATTOO by Philip Pullman, reviewed by John Barnbrook Chris Marshall has a part-time job working for the Oxford Entertainment Company, in the town where he lives. As a result, while working at a college ball, he encounters and helps a beautiful girl and their lives become interlinked. NEVERMOOR: THE TRIALS OF MORRIGAN CROW by Jessica Townsend, reviewed by Linda Wilson Morrigan Crow has been on the Cursed Children’s register from birth and is fated to die at midnight on her 11th birthday. But she is given a second chance by the enigmatic Jupiter North. AN ENGLISH MURDER by Cyril Hare, reviewed by John Cleal In the cut-off ancestral home of Warbeck Hall, the dying Lord assembles his closest relatives for what will be their last Christmas together. One is murdered and it falls to another guest to find out why. A MAIGRET CHRISTMAS by Georges Simenon, reviewed by Arnold Taylor Three Simenon short stories, set at Christmas. THE DEATHS OF DECEMBER by Susi Holliday, reviewed by Kati Barr-Taylor When an advent calendar arrives at the police station, it’s the beginning of a murderous lead-up to Christmas. PORTRAIT OF A MURDERER by Anne Meredith, reviewed by John Cleal Adrian Gray was an unpleasant man, greedy, capricious, bullying. Each of his six children had reason to want him dead. During their annual Christmas visit to his lonely manor house, one of them acts. PERSONS UNKNOWN by Susie Steiner, reviewed by Kati Barr-Taylor A man dies with one name in his mind – Saskia. But was she his lover or his murderer?
THE ROOSTER BAR by John Grisham, reviewed by Chris Roberts Law students Mark, Todd and Zola are struggling under a mountain of debt. Realising they have been scammed, they start looking for payback. THE BUTCHERS OF BERLIN by Chris Petit, reviewed by Arnold Taylor An old man shoots and kills an apartment block warden and then himself. When it turns out that he was Jewish and when other, apparently linked, murders begin to occur, the Berlin police force comes under pressure. WILD CHAMBER by Christopher Fowler, reviewed by Sylvia Maughan A small boy dies following an incident in a road tunnel. A gardener sees a murder in a London park. Inspectors Bryant & May work against the clock to find out what connects the events. DARK WATER by Parker Bilal, reviewed by Chris Roberts Exiled policeman Mekana is induced to visit Istanbul to help British Intelligence prevent a chemical warfare specialist falling into the hands of a dangerous terrorist. THE SECRET HISTORY OF TWIN PEAKS by Mark Frost, reviewed by Ewa Sherman The co-creator of the landmark TV series Twin Peaks brings more information and mystery from the iconic fictional town. THE LAST BEST FRIEND by George Sims, reviewed by Chris Roberts Literary dealer Ned Balfour gets a telegram from his friend Sammy Weiss imploring for help with a terrible decision. The next thing Ned hears is that Sammy is dead. DEATH MAKES A PROPHET by John Bude, reviewed by John Cleal The cult of Coo, a quasi-Egyptian religion, is riven by jealousies, greed and ambition which lead to murder. ROCCO AND THE NIGHTINGALE by Adrian Magson, reviewed by Linda Wilson Inspector Lucas Rocco has to investigate a murder on his patch, as well as provide protection for someone the Interior Ministry wants kept alive. FREEFALL by Adam Hamdy, reviewed by Jim Beaman The death of a journalist triggers an investigation, but a police detective, an FBI agent and a photographer are soon caught up in a wider conspiracy. TRENT’S LAST CASE by EC Bentley, reviewed by Kate Balfour A wealthy, unpopular American magnate is found dead in the grounds of his English country house. Amateur detective Philip Trent suspects murder, not suicide. FOX HUNTER by Zoe Sharp, reviewed by Linda Wilson Charlie Fox is on the trail of her former lover and ex-boss Sean Meyer who appears to have gone on a murderous rampage, targeting the men who brought Charlie’s army career to a brutal end. BLACK DAHLIA, RED ROSE by Piu Eatwell, reviewed by Kim Fleet America’s infamous murder of a young woman in 1947 comes under the spotlight. Season's greetings. Sharon
SleuthSayers: A Punny Thing Happened on the Way to the Title
SleuthSayers: A Punny Thing Happened on the Way to the Title: by John M. Floyd How important are titles of novels/stories, etc.? According to my publisher and most editors, VERY. As a result, I ...
Saturday, December 16, 2017
SleuthSayers: How Not to Collect and Edit an Anthology
SleuthSayers: How Not to Collect and Edit an Anthology: by Brian Thornton Two weeks ago I related the story of how an anthology which never got off the ground helped launch my fiction writing ca...
Davy Crockett's Almanack of Mystery, Adventure and The Wild West: FFB: A Visual Bibliography of BILL CRIDER's Novels...
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Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Checked Out by Elaine Viets
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Checked Out by Elaine Viets: Reviewed by Jeanne Private investigator Helen Hawthrone has been hired to shelve books at her local library. Actually, that’...
KRL This Week For 12/16/17
Up in KRL this morning we have reviews & giveaways of 2
more Christmas mysteries by Kathi Daley-"Fourth
Victim" and "The Christmas Letter"
http://kingsriverlife.com/12/16/two-more-christmas-mysteries-by-kathi-daley/
And a review & giveaway of another Christmas mystery by Kathi Daley, "Reindeer Roundup", and with this one
we have a fun Christmas guest post and recipe from Kathi
http://kingsriverlife.com/12/16/reindeer-roundup-by-kathi-daley/
We also have a review & giveaway of "Eaves of
Destruction" by Kate Carlisle along with a fun
guest post by Kate about how books make great gifts this Christmas
http://kingsriverlife.com/12/16/eaves-of-destruction-by-kate-carlisle/
And a guest post by Summer Prescott
about a great group of winter mysteries called "Winter Whodunnits"
along with a chance to win a copy of the set
http://kingsriverlife.com/12/16/winter-whodunnits-a-dozen-cozy-mysteries-for-a-chilly-winters-night/
And a review of "Freshly Ground Murder" by Tonya Kappes, along with an offer to get a free ebook copy of
one of her Christmas mysteries, and a guest post by Tonya
http://kingsriverlife.com/12/16/freshly-ground-murder-by-tonya-kappes/
Also a review & giveaway of another Christmas mystery,
"Bel, Book and Scandal" by Maggie McConnon (this one has an earlier
giveaway deadline)
And a Christmas mystery short story by Sylvia
Maultash Warsh
Over on on KRL News & Reviews we have a review &
giveaway of "Bones to Pick" by Linda Lovely http://www.krlnews.com/2017/12/bones-to-pick-by-linda-lovely.html
--
KRL is now selling advertising & we have special discounts for
mystery authors & bookstores! Ask me about it!
Mystery section in Kings River Life http://KingsRiverLife.com
Check out my own blog at http://mysteryratscloset.blogspot.com/
mystery authors & bookstores! Ask me about it!
Mystery section in Kings River Life http://KingsRiverLife.com
A Writer's Life....Caroline Clemmons: EVERYTHING ABOUT CHRISTMAS!
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Davy Crockett's Almanack of Mystery, Adventure and The Wild West: Secrets of BILL CRIDER'S Bookshelf!
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Fire Star Press: A Special Trip by Angela Crider Neary
Fire Star Press: A Special Trip: I wrote this blog article before I found out the news that my father, Bill Crider, was being admitted into hospice care. This post might s...
Friday, December 15, 2017
FFB Double Take Review: The Blacklin County Files by Bill Crider
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| Bill and Judy Crider |
 |
| Bill and a VBK |
Today is supposed to be a celebration
day of his work over on Patti’s blog. I am having a very hard time celebrating
the fact that somebody who I never had the pleasure of meeting is moving on
without me. 2017 has been the worst year
ever and I can’t lose anyone else that I deeply care about. Bill means more
than I can say. I had always thought our paths would cross. I had hoped it
would be at Bourchercon 2019 when the event is held here in Dallas. Apparently,
that is not to be. So, with tears in my eyes, I thank you Bill Crider for your
books, your blog, the VBKs, and everything you have been all these many years.
More importantly than the hours of reading pleasure you gave me and other
readers, I thank you for being a friend.
Today on the blog I run again our double take review of The Blacklin County Files. Below is Barry's take on the book from July
2013 followed by my own from February 2012.
THE BLACKLIN COUNTY FILES (2012) by
Bill Crider
Reviewed by Barry Ergang
As far as I can remember, my first
experience with Bill Crider’s work came when I read his marvelous,
not-to-be-missed “Cranked” in 2007, when it subsequently won the Derringer
Award for the best mid-length short story of 2006. Since then I’ve read a
couple of other short stories under his byline and a western novella, Dead Man’s Revenge, that he wrote using
the pseudonym Colby Jackson. A prolific writer, he’s the author of several
different mystery series as well as horror, western, and young adult novels.
His longest-running mystery series stars Texas Sheriff Dan Rhodes, who is
featured in the six stories in the e-book under consideration here. (NOTE: the
cover says it contains five stories, the title page six. The title page
wins—and so does the reader with the additional story.)
It opens with “Buster,” which is the
name of one of the elderly, idiosyncratic Miss Onie Calder’s forty or fifty
cats. Miss Onie summons Sheriff Rhodes to her home in a once-
fashionable but now rundown section of
the town of Clearview because Buster is dead. She’s certain that her neighbor,
Ralph Ramsdell, whose cat has been set upon by one of hers, is the poisoner.
When he investigates, Rhodes discovers that something much more sinister is
going on.
The Stag BBQ is an annual event in
Blacklin County. "It was a chance for the movers and shakers to get
together and drink a lot of beer, eat some BBQ and homemade ice cream, tell a
few dirty jokes, and do a little gambling....Women weren't allowed. Blacklin
County was becoming more conscious of women's rights by the day, but Blacklin
County was, after all, in Texas, where a great many men still believed that
some activities just weren't appropriate for women." It's probably just as
well, in this case, because even some of the men get sick when they discover
the body of Gabe Tolliver, who has apparently been "Gored." Sheriff
Rhodes doubts the killer was one of George Newberry's Brahma bulls and must
figure out which of the many attendees wanted Tolliver dead.
A recipe for homemade peach ice cream,
Rhodes's favorite, is appended to the story.
Reverend Alf Anderson helps to restore
a community when he turns the stone building atop Obert's Hill into a
nondenominational church and attracts a congregation of more than three hundred
people. One church member, Ron Eller, does nothing to endear himself to his
fellow congregants when he leases his land to Calame's Crusher, Inc., a gravel
company that is mining the limestone on it. Between the the noise and dust from
the rock crusher, and especially the explosions, Obert residents are sorely
unhappy campers: "They claimed that they [the explosions] were destroying
property values, which were already low, and driving the livestock crazy. They
were driving the citizens crazy, too...." Dan Rhodes has to determine who
among them crucified Eller in "The Man on the Cross."
Arrested for armed robbery, Charles
Lathrop is a serious rival of Adrian Monk's when it comes to obsessive
cleanliness. He even cleans his jail cell, doing a better job of it than
Lawton, the jailer, does. The ditched gun Deputy Ruth Grady finds is probably
the weapon Lathrop used to hold up convenience stores and a Texaco station,
though he denies ever having had one, and it's been thoroughly cleaned. But, as
Sheriff Rhodes senses, it's his obsession that will prove his undoing in
"Under the Gun," a story lighter in tone than those that precede it,
and whose solution reminds me of one of the greatest inverted detective stories
I've ever read: Cornell Woolrich's "One Drop of Blood." (I daren't
explain why lest I spoil both of them.)
Co-authored by Bill's wife Judy Crider,
"Chocolate Moose" concerns the strange death of Mack McAnally at the
Round-Up Restaurant. It appears to be a bizarre accident, but when Sheriff
Rhodes gives the scene a careful examination, he realizes he has a murder to
deal with—the murder of a man who might well have been the most hated person in
Blacklin County. "McAnally was, or had been until only a short while
earlier, a bully...He spent his time working in his yard and harassing any
animal that happened to stray onto his property. He had a pellet gun that he
used to shoot at dogs and cats and, rumor had it, even the occasional human.
When he was driving, he would sometimes swerve out of his lane in an attempt to
run over a squirrel or family pet." The list of his hectoring
transgressions is a good deal longer, and many a county resident undoubtedly
has a reason for wanting him dead. It's up to Rhodes to figure out who that
person is.
A recipe for the "World's Best
Chicken-Fried Steak" is appended to the story.
The last and longest story in the
collection, "Who Killed Cock Rogers?" begins with manure and ends
with murder. Janelle Tabor complains to
Sheriff Rhodes when she's splattered with cow manure from one of Ralph
Claymore's cattle trucks. The trucks make their way through Clearview's main
street every week on their way to the auction sale, and have caused problems
for other residents as well as for some of the merchants. There is nothing
Rhodes can really do because the law is on Claymore's side. Thus Mrs. Tabor
decides to talk to Red Rogers about the matter. "Rogers, whose real name
was Larry Redden, was the closest thing Clearview had to a local radio
personality. He did just about everything at KVUE...." One of those things
was to host a daily talk show that "dealt with both national and local
issues." He thrives on controversy. When he invites Mrs. Tabor and two
other locals to present their sides of the argument to Ralph Claymore and one
of his truck drivers on the air, chaos erupts and Rhodes has to hurry to the
station to break up a physical altercation. Two weeks later, Rogers is found
shot to death at one of Ralph Claymore's feed lots, and Rhodes has a mystery to
solve that doesn't lack suspects.
As evidenced by the passages quoted
above, Bill Crider's style is lean and straightforward. It's also leavened with
some wonderfully dry humor. Because of the brevity of every story but the last
in this collection, characterization is very
sketchy. But these are not the kinds of tales in which characterization takes
precedence. They're good old-fashioned short detective stories in which half
the fun is trying to figure out from the clues given who the culprit is—with
the exception of "Under the Gun," in which readers can try to figure
out where the known culprit slips up and so give Rhodes the evidence he needs
to turn the thief over for prosecution.
The
Blacklin County Files,
which I can and do enthusiastically recommend, has me looking forward to
reading the Dan Rhodes novel-length mysteries in which, based on my reading of
the aforementioned "Cranked," I'm sure there's greater character
development.
Barry Ergang ©2013
Derringer Award winner Barry Ergang's own whodunit/howdunit, "The Play of Light and Shadow," along with several of his other works, will be available at a reduced price during Smashwords' year-end sale, which runs from December 25th to January 1st.
Derringer Award winner Barry Ergang's own whodunit/howdunit, "The Play of Light and Shadow," along with several of his other works, will be available at a reduced price during Smashwords' year-end sale, which runs from December 25th to January 1st.
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| Bill Crider Writer Simulation Photo (lol) |
As promised above,
here is my review…
Long familiar to readers via the
Sheriff Dan Rhodes series novels Texas author Bill Crider has assembled a short
collection of previously published stories featuring the good sheriff Dan
Rhodes. The Blacklin County Files: 5 Sheriff Dan Rhodes Stories read
just like the good novels in that the stories feature humor, mystery, and the
extensive cast of folks that populate the town of Clearview and the
surrounding East Texas County of Blacklin.
The small collection opens with the
story titled “Buster.” Miss Onie
Calder is quite elderly and someone has killed one of her many cats. She blames
an angry neighbor and wants him arrested for murder. Things aren’t that simple
but the truth will come out.
Sheriff Rhodes knows things happen in
the county that might be technically against the law. But, Rhodes is not
a hard-nosed law and order guy and is willing to look the other way on certain
things as long as nothing happens. In “Gored” Sheriff Rhodes has to break his long standing policy of
ignoring the Blacklin County Stagg BBQ. The quiet annual event deep in the
woods as a remote cabin usually has no problems and nothing much happens but
this year the addition of a dead man means Rhodes has to investigate. By
the end of the story if you were not already hungry for barbecue and all the
fixings Bill Crider helpfully includes a recipe for homemade Peach Ice Cream.
Ron Eller never did look like Jesus did
in all the pictures Sheriff Rhodes saw as a kid in Sunday school classrooms.
The fact that he did not look like Jesus at all didn’t stop somebody from
killing him and wiring him to a cross. In “The
Man on the Cross” Sheriff Rhodes has to figure who killed Ron Eller and why
in a story that starts the Monday morning after Easter. The suspects are many
in this complex tale of faith, profit, and deceit.
If you live in Blacklin County and you
want real good food--meat and potatoes kind of food that will stick to your
ribs-- you go to the “Round Up Restaurant.” The sign outside the door
makes it clear that they don’t serve chicken¸ fish or anything vegetarian. In “Chocolate Moose” authored by Bill and
Judy Crider, Sheriff Dan Rhodes has to go to the restaurant to investigate a
death. Pretty much everyone in the county hated Mack McAnally and for various
good reasons. Now he is dead in a very strange way in one of the dining
rooms. It could be an accident or something more. A good story that finishes up
with the killer caught and a recipe for the “World’s Best Chicken Fried Steak”
and includes the recipe for gravy. Life doesn’t get much better than
that.
Environmental issues are often a theme
in the series---especially in recent books. An environmental problem and
controversy are present in the “Who
Killed Cock Rogers?” Shipping live cattle can often be a messy
operation with unintended consequences and controversy. But, nobody expected a
murder because of it.
So, get yourself some glass bottled Dr.
Pepper (plastic bottles and cans just aren't the same), some peanut butter and
cheese crackers, and kick back for a spell with the Blacklin County Files. Five
good short stories featuring Sheriff Dan Rhodes, his wife Ivy, Deputy Rudy
Grady, Jail Dispatcher Hack Jensen and numerous other good and no so good local
residents. Plenty of humor¸ twists and turns in the cases, and detail regarding
the residents makes The Blacklin County Files: 5 Sheriff Dan Rhodes Stories
yet another fun comfortable cozy style read from award winning author
Bill Crider. Solidly good, just like his novels, author Bill Crider provides
yet more good reading.
The Blacklin County Files: 5 Sheriff
Dan Rhodes Stories
Bill Crider
January 2012
eBook
ASIN: B006X6QIP6
147 Pages
$2.99
Material supplied by the author in
exchange for my objective review.
Kevin R. Tipple © 2012, 2013, 2017
Thursday, December 14, 2017
Grandson Visit
Yesterday was a very tough day as I had to go to the funeral home and pick up the urn containing Sandi's ashes. When I can do so without instantly crying, I will post a picture of her urn. It is really hard to look at her urn and realize that the woman I love so much is now inside it. Tow weeks later all I have is her urn and the pain.
Things got a little better when Karl and Amy came by for several hours with our grandson Jacob Ryan. Scott took the pictures below.
Things got a little better when Karl and Amy came by for several hours with our grandson Jacob Ryan. Scott took the pictures below.
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