No Mistaking Death by Shelley Costa – #BookReview – #TuesdayBookBlog

A Marian Warner Mystery–Book 1

Book Blurb:

When an old Jesuit Mission House in Carthage, Ohio, is nominated for National Landmark status, the committee sends a private investigator to get to the bottom of the hostile letters they’ve received. Arriving in Carthage is Marian Warner, a New York PI whose life was dented by the bombing death—years ago—of her radical boyfriend. The only man with any staying power in her life is Charlie Levitan, the editor of the Carthage newspaper, whose relationship with her includes a long personal history. The day before Marian arrives, an older man nobody in town recognizes turns up dead in the Mission House.

Soon Marian discovers that the identity of the murdered man implicates every key player in the fight over the fate of the Mission House. But for her it gets personal when Charlie’s lover, a local jazz singer, is found murdered on the property of a powerful landmark preservationist, Jack Girard. What connects the two deaths? Why is a key witness avoiding her? How can she discover the truth in a town where hostilities go public, but secrets are so closely guarded? When Marian finally unmasks a cunning killer, it’s at the expense of the defenses it’s taken her years to erect.

My Review:

Well, you can’t say this one wasn’t different! Marian Warner is a NY PI—been there, done that now for fifteen years, so she has no problem taking on an investigation into reasons for hostile letters against the nomination for the Jesuit Mission House in Carthage, Ohio for National Landmark status. And yeah, the place is a mostly unremarkable mess.

It’s no coincidence then that the only man still of close acquaintance is Charlie Levitan, the editor of the local Carthage newspaper. Unfortunately, the body of a man is found in the Mission House just before she arrives. It’s also no coincidence that the murdered man is linked to those associated with the Mission House. Further complications ensue when a second body turns up, Charlie’s lover.

The author definitely has some interesting prose and turns of phrase to keep the storyline interesting.

“…leaving Marian five minutes to throw on the brown velvet tank top and wheat silk trousers—the theory being, if it’s pleated, it’s dressy.”

Embroiled in the proof of deciding whether or not the first Jesuit mission in the Northwest Territories has historic significance necessarily includes the identity of the man and the later victim as well.

The plot goes rather convoluted and lost me a few times, not sure where it would pop up next. The narrative is intriguing, but baffling in trying to figure out the author’s dip into rambling. Not exactly a page turner, but still inexplicable enough to hold interest. And it is difficult to become engaged in the main character.

You can’t tune out but even tuned in can get you lost. She sprinkles in the twists and turns. There are compelling reasons to finish the book which has to be down to the author’s deft writing style, but you may be scratching your head at the conclusion.

I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the author and publisher through @NetGalley that in no way influenced this review. These are my own opinions and honest thoughts.

Rosepoint Rating: Three point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Private Investigator Mysteries, Amateur Sleuths
Publisher: Level Best Books
ASIN: B0C86N9TGR
Print Length: 311 pages
Publication Date: July 11, 2023
Source: Publisher and NetGalley

Title Link(s):

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

The Author: A 2004 Edgar nominee for Best Short Story, Shelley Costa is the author of You Cannoli Die Once (Agatha nominee for Best First Novel) and Basil Instinct. Practical Sins for Cold Climates (Henery Press, January 2016), is the first book in her exciting new mystery series featuring New York editor Val Cameron, who is sent to the Canadian Northwoods to sign a reclusive best-selling thriller writer. Murder ensues. Shelley’s stories have appeared in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, Blood on Their Hands,The World’s Finest Mystery and Crime Stories, and Crimewave (UK). Although she reads across the mystery genre, in her own work she especially likes writing an amateur sleuth with a lot of heart who investigates a murder – it’s so utterly outside the comfort zone. Shelley Costa is on the faculty of the Cleveland Institute of Art, where she teaches fiction writing. http://www.shelleycosta.com.

#TuesdayBookBlog

Memory Man by David Baldacci – #BookReview – #AudiobookReview

nominee for Best Mystery & Thriller (2015)

Book Blurb:

Amos Decker’s life changed forever – twice.

The first time was on the gridiron. A big, towering athlete, he was the only person from his hometown of Burlington ever to go pro. But his career ended before it had a chance to begin. On his very first play, a violent helmet-to-helmet collision knocked him off the field for good and left him with an improbable side effect – he can never forget anything.

The second time was at home nearly two decades later. Now a police detective, Decker returned from a stakeout one evening and entered a nightmare – his wife, young daughter, and brother-in-law had been murdered.

His family destroyed, their killer’s identity as mysterious as the motive behind the crime, and unable to forget a single detail from that horrible night, Decker finds his world collapsing around him. He leaves the police force, loses his home, and winds up on the street, taking piecemeal jobs as a private investigator when he can.

But over a year later, a man turns himself in to the police and confesses to the murders. At the same time a horrific event nearly brings Burlington to its knees, and Decker is called back in to help with this investigation. Decker also seizes his chance to learn what really happened to his family that night. To uncover the stunning truth, he must use his remarkable gifts and confront the burdens that go along with them. He must endure the memories he would much rather forget. And he may have to make the ultimate sacrifice.

My Review:

Not content to wallow in a Baldacci book last year, guess I thought if I tried a first in the series, it would work better for me. Or maybe not.

Amos Decker was a football player in Burlington; something I was careful not to promote with my own son (now 6’2”) when he was in school. This fella, however, was good. Apparently as good as he was big (really big) and went pro. His first play is so violent it was also his last. He could have, should have died—would have were he anyone else. But he survived and his world was never the same.

So, okay, fast forward, he is married and a police detective. Unfortunately, he discovers his family murdered upon his return late from a stakeout. The perp is never caught, he leaves the force, and loses most of anything else that matters. Eventually, he becomes a private investigator. In the meantime, he’s let himself go. Big time.

The main character is unappealing in…pretty much every way. This is a guy you don’t want to imagine and descriptions of him only make it worse. His claim to fame now is his side effect from his pro days—hyperthymesia. He remembers everything.

Every stinking detail.

When a guy turns himself in and confesses to the murders of his family, he is thrown for a loop but that event is overshadowed by the horrific slaying of kids and adults at his old school. When they call him back to help with the school investigation, he sees his opportunity to also find out more about the man who confessed to the murder of his family—but clearly can’t remember ever seeing or knowing him. Oops!

Now I remember part of my problem with a Baldacci narrative—he repeats salient plot points ad nauseum, possibly adding a tiny bit of nuance each time (or not), a new clue, direction, person he can glean yet another repeat and clue. I guess that’s one way to get a prescribed number of words, but gosh darn, I do get tired of hearing it again. There are lots of books with better pacing.

Can we just get on with it?

You can’t say he doesn’t add the twists and turns, borders on TMI, but the info on football is one I’ve long been acquainted with in pro sports—the games are physically and mentally punishing on the players. Excruciatingly so. Old at thirty and washed out.

Finally, the plot goes way beyond convoluted, so complicated as to seriously lose the motive. Does it add up or make sense? Guess these things don’t have to.

I ran into somewhat the same when I read Dream Town and yet, here we go again.

I received a copy of this audiobook from my handy dandy library that in no way influenced this review. These are my honest thoughts. It bothers me sometimes that the male/female narrators give me the impression that one is recording on the west coast and the other the east. They just don’t flow as they should in normal conversation.

Rosepoint Rating: Three Stars

Book Details:

Genre: International Mystery & Crime, Action Thriller & Suspense Fiction, Mystery Action & Adventure
Publisher: Hachette Audio
Narrators: Ron McLarty, Orlagh Cassidy
ASIN: B00V6FUY0E
Listening Length: 13 hrs 16 mins
Publication Date: April 21, 2015
Source: Local Library

Title Link(s):

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

The Author: David Baldacci has been writing since childhood, when his mother gave him a lined notebook in which to write down his stories. (Much later, when David thanked her for being the spark that ignited his writing career, she revealed that she’d given him the notebook to keep him quiet, “because every mom needs a break now and then.”)

David published his first novel, ABSOLUTE POWER, in 1996. A feature film followed, with Clint Eastwood as its director and star. In total, David has published 44 novels for adults; all have been national and international bestsellers and several have been adapted for film and television. His novels have been translated into over 45 languages and sold in more than 80 countries, with 150 million copies sold worldwide. David has also published seven novels for younger readers.

David is also the cofounder, along with his wife, of the Wish You Well Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting literacy efforts across the United States.

K, luv u, bye

Devil Makes Three by Ben Fountain – #BookReview – #politicalfiction

Book Blurb:

From the award-winning, bestselling author of Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk comes a brilliant and propulsive new novel about greed, power, and American complicity set in Haiti

Haiti, 1991. When a violent coup d’état leads to the fall of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, American expat Matt Amaker is forced to abandon his idyllic, beachfront scuba business. With the rise of a brutal military dictatorship and an international embargo threatening to destroy even the country’s most powerful players, some are looking to gain an advantage in the chaos–and others are just looking to make it through another day.

Desperate for money―and survival―Matt teams up with his best friend and business partner Alix Variel, the adventurous only son of a socially prominent Haitian family. They set their sights on legendary shipwrecks that have been rumored to contain priceless treasures off a remote section of Haiti’s southern coast. Their ambition and exploration of these disastrous wrecks come with a cascade of ill-fated incidents―one that involves Misha, Alix’s erudite sister, who stumbles onto an arms-trafficking ring masquerading as a U.S. government humanitarian aid office, and rookie CIA case officer Audrey O’Donnell, who finds herself doing clandestine work on an assignment that proves to be more difficult and dubious than she could have possibly imagined.

Devil Makes Three’s depiction of blood politics, the machinations of power, and a country in the midst of upheaval is urgently and insistently resonant. This new novel is sure to cement Ben Fountain’s reputation as one of the twenty-first century’s boldest and most perceptive writers.

His Review:

Matt runs a dive shop and takes swimmers to the remote and gorgeous diving area called the Zombie Hole. He loves his job and the people that he introduces to snorkeling. A new government has taken over Haiti, however, and he is no longer welcome at his business or on the island. The criminal element has complete control of the island and people are dying in the streets.

Going into town for supplies is so dangerous he is taking his life in his hands. This story describes the frightening life of the common individual in Haiti. While reading the book, I became more distressed about the people and situation on this island.

Ben Fountain has a wonderful writing style but I found the book so disturbing that I could not continue to read. My heart goes out to the people of Haiti! 3 stars – CE Williams

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book.

Rosepoint Publishing: Three stars

Book Details:

Genre: Political Fiction, Historical Fiction
Publisher: Flatiron Books
ISBN-10: ‎ 1250776511
ISBN-13: ‎ 978-1250776518
ASIN: B0BPQS5X9P
Print Length: 544 pages
Publication Date: September 26, 2023
Source: Publisher and NetGalley
Title Link(s):

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

The Author: Ben Fountain‘s novel BILLY LYNN’S LONG HALFTIME WALK received the National Book Critics’ Circle Award, the Los Angeles Times Book Award, the Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Award, the PEN/New England Cerulli Award for Excellence in Sports Writing, and the Jesse Jones Award for fiction from the Texas Institute of Letters, and was a finalist for the National Book Award in both the US and the UK (international authors division). The film adaptation of BILLY LYNN, directed by three-time Oscar winner Ang Lee, was released in 2016 by Sony Pictures. Fountain’s short story collection BRIEF ENCOUNTERS WITH CHE GUEVARA received the PEN/Hemingway Award, the Barnes & Noble Discover Award for Fiction, and a Whiting Writers Award. Fountain’s short fiction has appeared in Harper’s, Zoetrope: All-Story, the Paris Review, Esquire, the Sewanee Review, DALLAS NOIR, and HAITI NOIR II, among other publications. His nonfiction has appeared in the New York Times, the New York Times Magazine, the Guardian, the Wall Street Journal, Le Monde, Texas Monthly, and elsewhere, and his reportage on post-earthquake Haiti was broadcast on the radio show This American Life. Fountain grew up in the tobacco country of eastern North Carolina, and is a graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill and Duke University Law School. A former attorney in private practice, he has lived in Dallas, Texas for over thirty years. In September, 2018, Ecco/HarperCollins will publish Fountain’s nonfiction book BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY BURN AGAIN, which is based on his reportage for the Guardian of the US presidential campaign of 2016.

happy thursday!

For All The World by Jean Grainger – #BookReview – #TuesdayBookBlog

Rosepoint Rating: Five Stars

Cullen’s Celtic Cabaret – Book 1

Book Blurb:

Dublin, Ireland and Valencia, Spain 1917.

Peter Cullen has no money and no prospects, but he has talent and the will to succeed. All he needs now is luck.

May Gallagher is determined to make her own way in life, even if it means defying her parents’ plans for her.

Nick Gerrity is ready to turn his back on his past and start anew, but his secrets might just catch up with him.

And Aida Gonzales, destitute and alone, discovers an unexpected lifeline in the midst of the carnage of World War I.

Together, as the war to end all wars wipes out an entire generation, these four young people will take a chance to break free of society’s shackles and forge a new future of glamour, glitter, and greasepaint.

My Review:

One thing you know you will get from a Jean Grainger book is disparate characters. But even for Ms Grainger, this is quite the departure from her Irish family dramas which have been captivating and compulsive.

These charismatic characters begin in late WWI with the story of Peter—coveting a role in the theater and grabbing the first one available—but that’s a female role–he’ll dress up. It’s a transgression and embarrassment to his volatile father that results in his ejection from the family. No big loss—his Dublin neighborhood is one of poverty and misery.

Well, fine! He’ll enlist in the military!

Next we are introduced to Nick who is one of several sons in a well-to-do family with an unfortunate stutter. He discovers, however, that with his education he can speak in a foreign language or sing a ballad sweet enough to cause tears without the stutter. But his family? Nope.

Fine! He’ll sneak off and enlist in the military!

Peter is easy going, happy go lucky and doesn’t worry about Nick’s stutter when they discover each other in the trenches of France. Then begins the introduction of additional characters from widely different parts of the world including Enzo—an Italian from London, talented Ramon from Spain and later his dance partner Aida, and Two Soups, a Scotsman and comedian.

As serendipity will happen, they manage to meet up in the ugly circumstances of the final stages of war and discover each other’s talents. An impromptu opportunity to perform is just the beginning. They later go on to entertain their own troops and later the wounded in military hospitals.

It was Peter’s girlfriend May who encouraged Peter to pursue his theatrical goals. She has designs on Peter that he isn’t quite her equally enamored. There are other possible romantic liaisons brewing which we’ll have to wait and read about in the next installment of the new series which is showing a strong start.

I love it when the author takes off in a new direction with a strong series promise. These characters are engaging and the theatre background immersive. I’m anxious to see where this is going with that teaser Epilogue included at the end.

I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the author that in no way influenced this review. These are my honest thoughts. As always, I’m thoroughly intrigued!

Book Details:

Genre: Historical Irish Fiction, Historical British & Irish Literature, Women’s Historical Fiction
ISBN: ‎ 1914958950
ASIN: B0C94MD3H5
Print Length: 284 pages
Publication Date: August 17, 2023
Source: Author
Title Link(s): For All the World [Amazon-US]
Amazon UK

The Author: JEAN GRAINGER – USA TODAY BESTSELLING AUTHOR

SELECTED BY BOOKBUB READERS IN TOP 19 OF HISTORICAL FICTION BOOKS.

WINNER OF THE 2016 AUTHOR’S CIRCLE HISTORICAL NOVEL OF EXCELLENCE

Hello and thanks for taking time out to check out my page. If you’re wondering what you’re getting with my books then think of the late great Maeve Binchy but sometimes with a historical twist. I was born in Cork, Ireland in 1971 and I come from a large family of storytellers, so much so that we had to have ‘The Talking Spoon’, only the person holding the spoon could talk!

I have worked as a history lecturer at University, a teacher of English, History and Drama in secondary school, a playwright, and a tour guide of my beloved Ireland. I am married to the lovely Diarmuid and we have four children. We live in a 200 year old stone cottage in Mid-Cork with my family and the world’s smallest dogs, called Scrappy and Scoobi..

My experiences leading groups, mainly from the United States, led me to write my first novel, ‘The Tour’. My observances of the often funny, sometimes sad but always interesting events on tours fascinated me. People really did confide the most extraordinary things, the safety of strangers I suppose. It’s a fictional story set on a tour bus but many of the characters are based on people I met over the years.

[truncated—please see her full bio on her Amazon author page]

Many of the people who have reviewed my books have said that you get to know the characters and really become attached to them, that’s wonderful for me to hear because that’s how I feel about them too. I grew up on Maeve Binchy and Deirdre Purcell and I aspired to being like them. If you buy one of my books I’m very grateful and I really hope you enjoy it. If you do, or even if you don’t, please take the time to post a review. Writing is a source of constant contentment to me and I am so fortunate to have the time and the inclination to do it, but to read a review written by a reader really does make my day.

Rosepoint recommended

The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah – #AudiobookReview – #FamilyLifeFiction

Winner for Best Historical Fiction (2018)

Book Blurb:

The number one New York Times best seller

The newest audiobook sensation from Kristin Hannah, best-selling author of The Nightingale.

This program is read by acclaimed narrator Julia Whelan, whose enchanting voice brought Gone Girl and Fates and Furies to life. Kristin Hannah reads the acknowledgements.

Alaska, 1974. Unpredictable. Unforgiving. Untamed.

For a family in crisis, the ultimate test of survival.

Ernt Allbright, a former POW, comes home from the Vietnam war a changed and volatile man. When he loses yet another job, he makes an impulsive decision: He will move his family north, to Alaska, where they will live off the grid in America’s last true frontier. Thirteen-year-old Leni, a girl coming of age in a tumultuous time, caught in the riptide of her parents’ passionate, stormy relationship, dares to hope that a new land will lead to a better future for her family. She is desperate for a place to belong. Her mother, Cora, will do anything and go anywhere for the man she loves, even if means following him into the unknown.

At first, Alaska seems to be the answer to their prayers. In a wild, remote corner of the state, they find a fiercely independent community of strong men and even stronger women. The long, sunlit days and the generosity of the locals make up for the Allbrights’ lack of preparation and dwindling resources. But as winter approaches and darkness descends on Alaska, Ernt’s fragile mental state deteriorates and the family begins to fracture. Soon the perils outside pale in comparison to threats from within. In their small cabin, covered in snow, blanketed in 18 hours of night, Leni and her mother learn the terrible truth: They are on their own. In the wild, there is no one to save them but themselves.

In this unforgettable portrait of human frailty and resilience, Kristin Hannah reveals the indomitable character of the modern American pioneer and the spirit of a vanishing Alaska – a place of incomparable beauty and danger.

The Great Alone is a daring, beautiful, stay-up-all-night audiobook about love and loss, the fight for survival, and the wildness that lives in both man and nature.

My Review:

Leni Allbright is only 13 when her parents, Ernt and Cora, decide they should move to Alaska to claim a piece of land and cabin left to him by one of his former Viet Nam buddies. Ernt and Cora have been part of the landscape group of tune in, turn on, and drop out fringe of the seventies protest scene.

Lovers as teenagers, Cora defied her parents to marry and disappear with Ernt. They lived fairly free until Ernt was sent to ‘Nam. He wasn’t the same when he returned, and their marriage born of passion is still one that Cora defends when Ernt becomes abusive. Now, after years of lost jobs, opportunities, erratic moods and alcohol, they’ve come to the end of the road. Surely, in Alaska, living off the grid, off the land, and free, everything will be better.

Arriving almost literally at land’s end, they realize they are woefully unprepared and still don’t know the half of it. No electricity, no running water, and an outhouse. This is spring but winter is coming and that’s a whole nother kind of hell. Spring and summer must be an intensive prep for winter.

Thank heaven for the kind neighbors, the inhabitants who must support each other to survive. I love these characters, though there are always those not so lovely, the drinkers and the anti-government and these feed into Ernt heavily. Ernt believes he must teach his daughter survival skills.

So many great characters, one of my favorite being Large Marge, the backbone of the area, extremely knowledgeable, strong, and independent—fully capable of taking on Ernt. Leni longing to become a part of the community finally meets a boy and over the ensuing years falls in love.

The descriptions of the area, the state, the sweeping, majestic wilderness provides a visual strong enough to smell the pine, the wind-swept sea, and hear the snarl of the beasts. The pace is constant, painting a picture of the lives of the struggle of the inhabitants and their determination to conquer the conditions and enjoy the benefits. You might have to look hard, but there are benefits.

Leni matures into a strong, capable young woman, but fiercely loyal to her mother, and as much as she’d previously loved her father, came to view him as destructive and violent. As many scenarios as I devised, pushing the storyline in the direction I thought would go, found the author had her own ideas. Never a dull moment.

The narrative takes on epic proportions, possibly stretching some plot points a bit longer than was necessary.

Hannah explores the relationship between Cora and Ernt, Leni and her mother, Leni and Michael, Ernt with toxic buddies. A harsh return to the times and the dysfunction of the individuals. I was disappointed with the direction that Michael’s story went, amazed at Leni’s return to the area and of the legal repercussions—the only way it should have gone—the easy acceptance of the Walker family. Then came the longish wrapping up.

Still, you can’t deny Hannah’s books are immensely entertaining; plot heavy and diverse characters looking at the full spectrum of abuse, PTSD, poverty, murder, loss, love, and survival.

I’ve read a number of books by this author, the last of which was The Four Winds (which I loved) and found each riveting, page-turning, and usually earning a robust 4.5 or 5 stars from me. If you’ve read her books you no doubt have your favorites as well. How did this one work for you?

I downloaded a copy of this beautifully narrated audiobook from my local well-stocked library. These are my honest thoughts.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Family Life Fiction
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
ASIN: B07225XB9D
Listening Length: 15 hrs 3 mins
Narrator: Julia Whelan
Publication Date: February 6, 2018
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Link: The Great Alone [Amazon]

The Author: Kristin Hannah is the award-winning and bestselling author of more than 20 novels. Her newest novel, The Women, about the nurses who served in the Vietnam war, will be released on February 6, 2024.

The Four Winds was published in February of 2021 and immediately hit #1 on the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Indie bookstore’s bestseller lists. Additionally, it was selected as a book club pick by the both Today Show and The Book Of the Month club, which named it the best book of 2021.

In 2018, The Great Alone became an instant New York Times #1 bestseller and was named the Best Historical Novel of the Year by Goodreads.

In 2015, The Nightingale became an international blockbuster and was Goodreads Best Historical fiction novel for 2015 and won the coveted People’s Choice award for best fiction in the same year. It was named a Best Book of the Year by Amazon, iTunes, Buzzfeed, the Wall Street Journal, Paste, and The Week.

The Nightingale is currently in pre-production at Tri Star. Firefly Lane, her beloved novel about two best friends, was the #1 Netflix series around the world, in the week it came out. The popular tv show stars Katherine Heigl and Sarah Chalke.

A former attorney, Kristin lives in the Pacific Northwest.

http://www.kristinhannah.com

Have a Great Sunday

Sanctuary Motel by Alan Orloff – #BookReview – #domesticthriller

A Mess Hopkins Novel

Book Blurb:

Mess Hopkins, proprietor of the seen-better-days Fairfax Manor Inn, never met a person in need who couldn’t use a helping hand—his helping hand. So he’s thrown open the doors of the motel to the homeless, victims of abuse, or anyone else who could benefit from a comfy bed with clean sheets and a roof overhead. This rankles his parents and uncle, who technically still own the place and are more concerned with profits than philanthropy.

When a mother and her teenage boy seek refuge from an abusive husband, Mess takes them in until they can get back on their feet. Shortly after arriving, the mom goes missing and some very bad people come sniffing around, searching for some money they claim belongs to them. Mess tries to pump the boy for helpful information, but he’s in full uncooperative teen mode—grunts, shrugs, and monosyllabic answers. From what he does learn, Mess can tell he’s not getting the straight scoop. It’s not long before the boy vanishes too. Abducted? Run away? Something worse? And who took the missing money? Mess, along with his friend Vell Jackson and local news reporter Lia Katsaros, take to the streets to locate the missing mother and son—and the elusive, abusive husband—before the kneecapping loansharks find them first.

His Review:

Mess has been charged with running the motel while his parents are seeing the world. Problem is, Mess has a heart of gold and no business sense. His benefactor realized this was the case and left a manager at the motel to keep Mess in line.

Mess hates to see abused women and is always trying to give them a place to stay to avoid abusive relationships. The abusers are not happy with his benevolence. Escaping the beatings and abuse is not easy for the victims and Mess is risking his own life at times to aid these unfortunates.

The Fairfax Motor Inn is not exactly the pride of Fairfax and a refuge for the desperate. His current charges are a battered woman and her son. The son, Kevin, is not happy with the situation and causes many problems but Mess decides that he will protect the mother and save her son.

The rub is that the mother does not want to be saved either. There are those who seem to feel that the two might be hiding a bag of cash and now both mother and son have disappeared. Things could get messy indeed.

C E Williams This book is a fun read about a do-gooder and a fifteen-year-old dropout. Anyone tasked with raising a fifteen-year-old never-do-well will identify! Enjoy! 4.5 stars – CE Williams

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book. These are my unbiased opinions and mine alone.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Domestic Thrillers, Noir Crime
Publisher: Level Best Books
ASIN: B0C8BPCN5N
Print Length: 301 pages
Publication Date: October 24, 2023
Source: Publisher and NetGalley

Title Link(s):

Amazon | Barnes & Noble

The Author: Before Alan stepped off the corporate merry-go-round, he had an eclectic (some might say disjointed) career. As an engineer, he worked on nuclear submarines, supervised assembly workers in factories, facilitated technology transfer from the Star Wars program, and learned to stack washing machines three high in a warehouse with a forklift. He even started his own recycling and waste reduction newsletter business. Now he writes fiction.

Alan Orloff’s debut mystery, DIAMONDS FOR THE DEAD (Midnight Ink), was a 2010 Agatha Award Finalist for Best First Novel. He’s written two books in the Last Laff mystery series, KILLER ROUTINE and DEADLY CAMPAIGN (also from Midnight Ink), and writing as his darker half Zak Allen, he’s published three books: THE TASTE, FIRST TIME KILLER, and RIDE-ALONG. His novel, RUNNING FROM THE PAST, was one of the initial Kindle Scout selections.

His novel, PRAY FOR THE INNOCENT, won the 2019 ITW Thriller Award for Best E-Book Original.

His novel, I KNOW WHERE YOU SLEEP, was a Shamus Award Finalist for Best First PI Novel.

HIs YA thriller, I PLAY ONE ON TV, won both the Agatha Award and Anthony Award for Best Children’s/YA Mystery.

His short fiction has appeared in numerous publications, including JEWISH NOIR, Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, CHESAPEAKE CRIMES: STORM WARNING, Mystery Magazine, Black Cat Mystery Magazine, WINDWARD, SNOWBOUND, LANDFALL, SEASCAPE, and MASTHEAD (BEST NEW ENGLAND CRIME STORIES 2016 – 2020), THE NIGHT OF THE FLOOD, MYSTERY MOST GEOGRAPHICAL, GUNS + TACOS, and MICKEY FINN: 21st Century Noir, Volumes 1 and 3.

His flash fiction story, “Happy Birthday,” was nominated for a 2018 Derringer Award, and his story, “Dying in Dokesville,” won a 2019 Derringer Award.

His story, “Rent Due,” won the 2021 ITW Thriller Award for Best Short Story, and “Rule Number One” (SNOWBOUND, Level Best Books) was selected for the 2018 edition of THE BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY STORIES anthology, edited by Louise Penny.

He loves arugula and cake, but not together. Never together.

Alan can be followed/stalked on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/alanorloff) and Twitter (@alanorloff). For more info, visit http://www.alanorloff.com

Split by Alida Bremer – #BookReview – #TuesdayBookBlog

Book Blurb:

Nazis, spies, romance, and murder collide in prewar eastern Europe in a mesmerizing historical novel by the award-winning author of Oliva’s Garden.

It’s 1936. The seaside-resort village of Split on the Adriatic coast bustles. The tourist spots are booming, passenger steamers dot the harbor, and Jewish émigrés have found tenuous refuge from persecution. But as war in Europe looms, Split is also a nest of spies, fascists, and smugglers—and now, a locale suspiciously scouted by a German Reich film crew. Then one summer morning it becomes the scene of a murder investigation when a corpse is found entangled in fishing nets in the port.

With so many suspects from all walks of life and with a myriad of motives at a time when tensions are boiling over, crime superintendent Mario Bulat has only rumors to follow. Political archrivals will take advantage of the crime. Local lovers will become embroiled in it. And a propagandist filmmaker will find himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. War is coming, and for some in Split, it’s already here.

My Review:

When we took our exchange student home to Split the first time, we were shocked at the still obvious ravages of war in Croatia. He wasn’t with us two months after arriving for his senior year in an American high school before he asked to stay. His initial response to our home at the time was to pat the walls and inform us that they would not stop a grenade. No, they wouldn’t have. That was back in 1995 before the Bosnian War ended. Of course, we couldn’t say no.

So the title of this book naturally caught my eye. I checked it out, and sure enough, it was a book set in Split, right where we stayed with his parents seven years after the end of that conflict. The city so full of old world charm and the sea so green and clear, it was difficult to conceive of the conflict those walls had seen over the centuries.

Set in 1936 in Split on the Adriatic, a tourist mecca, the mood is one of caution. War is looming in Europe and there is an obvious underground of spies. There are widely spread rumors of fascists afoot and now there is a German Reich film crew scouting the town. The political climate is tenuous, opposing factions at odds. And in the middle of it, a body is found in the port.

Superintendent Mario Bulat begins an investigation with marginal characters on each side dueling against an influx of refugees fleeing the obvious hostile advances. His investigation repeatedly takes second chair to the increasing tensions within the Yugoslavian community, introducing a cadre of old boys arguing the propagandist purpose of the German film production and the division of the political atmosphere.

I enjoyed the references to the local sites, remembered many of the words, stumbled over names, and heard in my mind’s ear the animated, often heated and spirited discussions we heard while there. It was like a visit back to his country and our immersion into his culture. The characters are varied and colorful.

Not so much of a murder investigation as a biting comment of the people, the time, and the place facing yet another conflict so quickly after the shaky resolution of the last. Interesting, probably more so for those who have had a more personal introduction to the people and the history—and it could be rather slow—the mystery getting lost in the political upheaval.

I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the author and publisher through @NetGalley that in no way influenced this review. These are my honest thoughts.

Rosepoint Rating: Four Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Historical World War II Fiction, Historical European Fiction, World War Historical Fiction
Publisher: Amazon Crossing
ISBN: ‎ 1662507046
ASIN: B0BGT8885P
Print Length: 262 pages
Publication Date: January 1, 2024
Source: Publisher and NetGalley

Title Link(s):

Amazon | Barnes & Noble

The Author: Alida Bremer, born 1959 in Split/Croatia, lives in Münster/Germany. She received her PhD with a thesis on the postmodern detective novel (Kriminalistische Dekonstruktion. On the Poetics of Postmodern Crime Novels, Königshausen und Neumann 1998). In the novel Olivas Garten (Eichborn 2013, TB Ullstein 2017), she wrote about her Dalmatian family participating in the resistance during World War II; her manuscript of the novel Träume und Kulissen was nominated for the 2017 Alfred Döblin Prize (Jung und Jung 2021). Her poems, stories, essays, and novels have been translated into several languages. Together with Michael Krüger, she edited the anthology Glückliche Wirkungen (Ullstein 2017); together with Ulla Hahn and Andrea Grewe, she edits the poetry calendar Fliegende Wörter (Daedalus Verlag).

She has translated from Croatian into German among others Ivana Sajko, Edo Popović, Marko Pogačar, Delimir Rešicki, Zvonko Maković, Predrag Matvejević, Renato Baretić, Asja Bakić, Damir Karakaš and from Serbian Bora Ćosić, Dragan Velikić, Iva Brdar. She has received numerous scholarships and awards, most recently the Barthold Heinrich Brockes Scholarship of the German Translator Fund (2020); in 2018 she was awarded the International Literature Prize of the House of World Cultures as a translator together with Ivana Sajko, the German Youth Theater Prize together with Dino Pešut, and the Brücke Berlin Theater Prize together with Iva Brdar.

Frank’s Shadow by Doug McIntyre – #BookReview – #ContemporaryAmericanFiction

Amazon Bestseller

Book Blurb:

We leave shadows, not footprints.

Newlywed Danny McKenna’s honeymoon ends abruptly when he learns his father has died, uncannily, on the same day as his hero, Frank Sinatra. Returning home to his knotty Irish American family, Danny is confronted with a painful truth—while he knows everything about the famous singer, his own father is a mystery. Tasked with giving a eulogy for a man he hardly knows, Danny sets out to uncover his dad’s past—an immigrant’s tale of mid-twentieth-century America and the harsh realities of WWII lived in stark contrast to Frank Sinatra’s famously extravagant life.

Along the way, Danny’s own demons nearly destroy him as he struggles to accept his father’s deepest secret—a journey that takes him into the heart of darkness before he learns to live in the light.

Fame, family, and forgiveness are among the many themes in Doug McIntyre’s debut novel, a story full of vibrant scenery, gripping characters, humor, and profound moments of self-realization. Frank’s Shadow is a deeply (sometimes darkly) human story wrapped in the trappings of a delightfully gritty love letter to New York City’s less glamorous neighborhoods.

His Review:

Growing up as the youngest son of four brothers after WW II was not easy. Francis Mc Kenna was the perfect age for induction into the US Army. He was married with children but would not abandon his country in its time of need and went to serve his country in Europe.

Frank could have had a deferment but there was no way this Irish immigrant was going to let someone else fight for him. Of course, he weathered some prejudice from others because he was the offspring of Irish immigrants. They were not gladly absorbed into the growing melting pot that was the United States of America.

He participated in the Allied landing at Normandy and he and his fellow soldiers fought to save bridges necessary for the onslaught of the German homeland. He started on the shores of Normandy and fought his way into Nazi Germany. The U.S. military utilizes a “buddy system” which endears people to each other during the war. His buddy committed a very egregious act. Frank ended his buddy’s career and then walked away from the war.

The military has no patience for someone who loses the will to fight after experiencing so many physical atrocities. Frank laying down his weapon and walking away from the battlefield is a drastic error. He is brought up on charges of desertion and put into a military stockade. He doesn’t care; he refuses to pick up a gun and fire it at anyone. Never Again!

This is a very interesting and unique narrative of one soldier’s experience during the Second World War. 4.5 stars – CE Williams

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book. These are my own opinions given freely.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Contemporary American Fiction, City Life Fiction
Publisher: Greenleaf Book Group Press
ASIN: B0C8PVB5DW

Print Length: 317 pages
Publication Date: July 18, 2023
Source: Publisher and NetGalley

Title Link(s):

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

The Author: Doug McIntyre is the long-time columnist for the Southern California News Group which includes the Los Angeles Daily News and Orange County Register, as well as the creator of Red Eye Radio heard nationally on hundreds of radio stations. He also hosted a successful show on WABC in New York City and the long-running “McIntyre in the Morning” on KABC in Los Angeles. A television and film writer/producer, McIntyre has written for all the major networks, including the hit series, Married… With Children, WKRP in Cincinnati, Full House, Mike Hammer and the award-winning PBS series, Liberty’s Kids. As an emcee, Doug has hosted evenings with Steve Martin, Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda, President George W. Bush, Betty White, Misty Copeland, John Cleese, John Glenn, Ken Burns, Malala Yousafzai, Colin Powell, Robert Redford and many others. Doug and his wife, actress/writer Penny Peyser, wrote/directed and produced the award-winning documentary, Trying to Get Good: The Jazz Odyssey of Jack Sheldon. New York born and raised, Doug and Penny live in Los Angeles.