book review – Rosepoint Publishing

One Big Happy Family by Jamie Day – #BookReview – #DomesticThriller

Book Blurb:

Could this reunion be the death of them?

The Precipice is a legendary, family-owned hotel on the rocky coast of Maine. With the recent passing of their father, the Bishop sisters–Iris, Vicki, and Faith–have come for the weekend to claim it. But with a hurricane looming and each of the Bishop sisters harboring dangerous secrets, there’s murder in the air– and not everyone who checks into the Precipice will be checking out.

Each sister wants what is rightfully hers, and in the mix is the Precipe’s nineteen-year-old chambermaid Charley Kelley: smart, resilient, older than her years, and in desperate straits.

The arrival of the Bishop sisters could spell disaster for Charley. Will they close the hotel? Fire her? Discover her habit of pilfering from guests? Or even worse, learn that she’s using a guest room to hide a woman on the run.

With razor-sharp wit, heart, thrills, and twists, Jamie Day’s ONE BIG HAPPY FAMILY delivers a unique brand of summertime suspense.

His Review:

The Maine coast can be one of the most dynamic areas in America. Gulls float effortlessly over the water looking for a quick meal. The Precipice is a remote hotel on the coastline with unmatched views. Papa ruled with an iron thumb and each of his children were beyond spoiled and entitled. They grew up working at the hotel with various chores. Father was determined not to allow his offspring to be spoiled.

Sadly, Papa has passed and the family congregates at the hotel for a reading of the will. Faith is recently out of prison and Brea, Vicki and Iris are all thinking of how their lives will change when they sell the relic! The oldest sister, Vicki, has decided that she will take over and run the place and the others will receive a monthly stipend from the rents.

The family is fighting and trying to liquidate the property and Vicki will hear none of it. People start dying or disappearing. A hurricane slams into the Maine coastline and the hotel is on the track of the storm. Are the deaths accidents or is someone trying to eliminate the potential heirs?

This read made me very happy that I was not raised with this family. No love is lost between these siblings and accidents seem to be around every corner. The storm worsens and the property is boarded up to protect from blowing debris. Who will remain after the storm to take over the property? If the property is still there. 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 opinions are my own.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Domestic Thrillers, Murder
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
ASIN: B0CGS1QT8G
Print Length: 384 pages
Publication Date: July 16, 2024
Source: Publisher and NetGalley

Title Link(s):

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

The Author: No bio listed

Trans-Mongolian Express by David L Robbins – #BookReview – #HistoricalRussianFiction

Book Blurb:

In the harrowing aftermath of Chernobyl’s meltdown in 1986, the fate of Eastern Europe hangs by a thread.

From Beijing, American radiation scientist Lara, once a thorn in the Russian mob’s side, is drawn back into the shadows of the Soviet Union on the Trans-Mongolian Express. She isn’t alone. Anton, a Soviet scientist exiled for predicting Chernobyl’s catastrophe, is on a quest to expose the truth. Amidst them, Timur, a Chechen giant fueled by vengeance, plots to destroy the already crumbling Soviet Union.

Suddenly, a murder on the remote tracks of the Gobi thrusts them into a deadly game of cat and mouse. As Chief Sheriff Bat races to solve the murder, their lives are thrown into jeopardy. Lara finds an unexpected ally in Gang, a reluctant assassin sent to end her life, and an illicit romance blooms amidst the chaos. But Gang isn’t the only killer onboard. A hidden menace lurks, threatening to unravel all their plans.

In this electrifying ride across a historical backdrop, suspense and passion collide in an unyielding dance of survival and redemption. Who will survive the Trans-Mongolian Express?

His Review:

The Trans-Mongolian Express travels one of the longest rail tracks in the world. The route is from Vladivostok to Moscow. The train utilizes multiple engines and one can see some of the loneliest and most desolate areas on the planet.

The accident at Chernobyl is being hidden by the Soviet Union. An American Scientist is being sent by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission to identify the problem and offer her expertise in containing the damage caused by the nuclear reactor failure.

The Russians, however, have disavowed the accident and are allowing nobody to get within miles of Chernobyl. Assassins have been placed on the train to make sure she does not make it to Chernobyl. Traveling incognito cannot hide her from the government. (Maybe the Geiger Counter she is carrying is a dead giveaway?)

The Russians want to have their secret of the accident hidden from the world. Large waves of radioactivity are hard to hide, however! The ”Express” stops at many locations across the continent. More than three people are sent to stop her from disclosing the truth to the world and she becomes attracted to one of the killers. He has fallen in love with her as well and will allow no one to get close to her. But can he protect her from the killers and the KGB? Only time will tell. Should she reach Moscow, the KGB has additional operatives to eliminate the threat of her disclosure.

C E Williams This author writes a very interesting and compelling book. The action is multi-dimensional and keeps one’s attention until the end. It reads like a romance novel in the middle of an espionage saga. 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.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Historical Russian Fiction, Historical Mystery Thriller & Suspense Fiction, Military Thrillers
Publisher: Adler Entertainment Trust LLC
ASIN: B0CL9BGQM2
Print Length: 447 pages
Publication Date: January 17, 2024
Source: Publisher and NetGalley
Title Link(s): Trans-Mongolian Express [Amazon]

The Author: David L. Robbins was born in Richmond, Virginia, on March 10, 1954. He grew up in Sandston, a small town east of Richmond out by the airport; his father was among the first to sit behind the new radar scope in the air traffic control tower. Both his parents, Sam and Carol, were veterans of WWII. Sam saw action in the Pacific, especially at Pearl Harbor.

In 1976, David graduated with a B.A. in Theater and Speech from the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. Having little actual theatrical talent, he didn’t know what to do for a living. David decided to attend what he calls the “great catch-basin of unfocused over-achievers”: law school. He received his Juris Doctorate at William and Mary in 1980, then practiced environmental law in Columbia, S.C. for precisely a year (his father demanded back the money for law school if David practiced for less than one year – he quit two weeks before the anniversary but got Sam to agree that the two weeks’ vacation David had accumulated could be included). David decided to attend Psychology school, having an affinity for people’s stories and a fascination with woe. However, while waiting for admisison in 1981, he began a successful freelance writing career. He began writing fiction in 1997, and has since published twelve novels. He’s currently working on the thirteenth, the fourth in his U.S. Air Force Pararescuemen series, as well as several scripts for the stage and screen. He has won awards for his essays and screenplays, and has had three stage plays produced.

David is an accomplished guitarist, studying the works of James Taylor and Latin classical. At six feet six inches tall, he stays active with his sailboat, shooting sporting clays, weightlifting, traveling to research his novels. He is the founder of the James River Writers (Jamesriverwriters.org) a non-profit group in his hometown of Richmond that helps aspiring writers and students work and learn together as a writing community. He also co-founded The Podium Foundation (thepodiumfoundation.org), a non-profit which brings writing and critical reasoning programs to the students of Richmond’s city high schools, as well as support programs for city educators. Most recently, David is the creator of The Mighty Pen Project, an intensive writing program for Virginia’s military veterans and their families, in partnership with the Virginia War Memorial. He also teaches advanced creative writing as a visiting professor at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Honors College. David resides in Richmond, near the James River.

To learn more, or to contact David, please go to authordavidlrobbins.com.

Have a great weekend!

The Spy Coast: A Thriller by Tess Gerritsen – #BookReview – #TuesdayBookBlog

Amazon Charts #14 this week

The Martini Club Book 1

Rosepoint Rating: Five Stars

Book Blurb:

A retired CIA operative in small-town Maine tackles the ghosts of her past in this fresh take on the spy thriller from New York Times bestselling author Tess Gerritsen.

Former spy Maggie Bird came to the seaside village of Purity, Maine, eager to put the past behind her after a mission went tragically wrong. These days, she’s living quietly on her chicken farm, still wary of blowback from the events that forced her early retirement.

But when a body turns up in Maggie’s driveway, she knows it’s a message from former foes who haven’t forgotten her. Maggie turns to her local circle of old friends—all retirees from the CIA—to help uncover the truth about who is trying to kill her, and why. This “Martini Club” of former spies may be retired, but they still have a few useful skills that they’re eager to use again, if only to spice up their rather sedate new lives.

Complicating their efforts is Purity’s acting police chief, Jo Thibodeau. More accustomed to dealing with rowdy tourists than homicide, Jo is puzzled by Maggie’s reluctance to share information—and by her odd circle of friends, who seem to be a step ahead of her at every turn.

As Jo’s investigation collides with the Martini Club’s maneuvers, Maggie’s hunt for answers will force her to revisit a clandestine career that spanned the globe, from Bangkok to Istanbul, from London to Malta. The ghosts of her past have returned, but with the help of her friends—and the reluctant Jo Thibodeau—Maggie might just be able to save the life she’s built.

My Review:

I love it when I discover an author new to me that has me digging into my library for more books, series, that I can plow into. This is one.

Even better, this is the first of a new series that left me anxious for the second. It’s a spy thriller that women, including “mature” women, can get into.

Maggie Bird is sixty and now a chicken farmer. She did a lot of research until she found this one little property—Blackberry Farm—it’s perfect. Even better, she has some likewise retired acquaintances close by with whom she gets together on a regular basis. They call themselves The Martini Club, ostensibly a book club. But is it really?

“Retired does not mean useless.”

Purity, Maine is a small village on the coast that has attracted its share of persons who would prefer not to be found. So when a body is dumped on her driveway, she has a strong feeling she’s been discovered and may have an idea who or why, but really? Sixteen years later?

I love these characters!

Maggie is magnificent. Don’t discount her because of her age. She was good at her former job and many of those instincts are still there. She’s smart, cool under fire, and capable. And she can easily handle Jo Thibodeau, the acting police chief.

The plot storyline goes back and forth with a switch of POVs and timeline and gradually adds colorful backstory that develops most of the main characters. There are support characters just as engaging and well-fleshed and as they become real so do the locations, particularly the isolated Maine winter setting.

It is a complex storyline with exotic location descriptions, despotic or empathetic characters, the business of the CIA and intelligence wrapped in a gripping, thoughtfully developed, and fast-paced novel.

You don’t have to love spy thrillers to love this creatively crafted narrative that is impossible to put down. I ripped through it and found the conclusion satisfying—loved how it was resolved. The action tumbles page by page—you have to know more!

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. I loved this one, start to finish, and I wholeheartedly recommend it.

Book Details:

Genre: Espionage Thrillers, Murder Thrillers
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
ISBN: ‎ 0857505203
ASIN: B0C2F4V6BM
Print Length: 341 pages
Publication Date: November 1, 2023
Source: Publisher and NetGalley

Title Link(s):

Amazon | Amazon-UK | Barnes & Noble

The Author: Internationally bestselling author Tess Gerritsen took an unusual route to a writing career. A graduate of Stanford University, Tess went on to medical school at the University of California, San Francisco, where she was awarded her M.D.

While on maternity leave from her work as a physician, she began to write fiction and in 1987, her first novel, Call After Midnight, was published. It was just the first of 32 suspense novels that she’s written over a 36-year writing career. She also wrote a screenplay, “Adrift,” which aired as a 1993 CBS Movie of the Week starring Kate Jackson.

Tess’s 1996 medical thriller, Harvest, marked her debut on the New York Times bestseller list and her novels have hit bestseller lists around the world ever since. Among her titles are Gravity, The Surgeon, Vanish, Listen to Me, and her upcoming spy thriller, The Spy Coast, which has just been optioned by Amazon Studios for a television series. Her books have been translated into 40 languages, and more than 40 million copies have been sold around the world.

Her series of novels featuring homicide detective Jane Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles inspired the hit TNT television series “Rizzoli & Isles,” starring Angie Harmon and Sasha Alexander.

She lives in Maine.

For more information on Tess Gerritsen and her novels, visit her website: http://www.tessgerritsen.com or
http://www.tessgerritsen.co.uk

#TuesdayBookBlog

Three Wise Men by Lou Bavou – #BookReview – #OccultUFOs

The answers to those profound questions about the Universe, Time, the Origin of Life and are we alone or not?

(Three Wise Book Series-Part 1)

Book Blurb:

Most science books are hard work!
So, this is a fact book with a fictional twist. It sets out to make science and religion more understandable and enjoyable to read, plus hopefully pose a few thought-provoking insights along the way.

It’s a novel way of explaining the science behind those profound questions we ponder on occasionally: What are the origins of the Universe and life? Are we alone in the Universe? When did Time begin? Does God exist? Is there an afterlife?

To make the science, which explores questions, more palatable, the scientific facts are presented as a dialogue between three fictional friends, who give factual commentaries on the above questions with a little humor added into the mix.

The narrative is set mainly in a Manhattan bar where the three friends meet every Friday after work. As a change of scenery, the friends also spend weekends at a hunting lodge.

The diverse social background of the three main characters; an investment banker with a scientific background, a pious Catholic of Irish descent and a down-to-earth Italian plumber, together with the insights given by the female proprietor of the bar, allows for a balance of views and opinions: from academic, religious and pragmatic perspectives on life.

Each chapter covers one of these profound questions, starting with the existence of God which naturally leads on to the reasons why people are religious. Having challenged the rationale behind religion, the book then counterbalances this with chapters on the origin, size and the end of the Universe. This then leads onto discussions on the link between space and time. The natural progression from the Universe and time leads onto a chapter on the origin of life including the possibility of life elsewhere. Finally, there’s a historical perspective on death and burials.

His Review:

Three friends are spending Christmas Eve at the local watering hole. Their conversations turn to the mysteries of the universe. Does God exist; How did the universe even happen; and is there other life in the cosmos? These are questions that mankind has been pondering for ions. Michael, Jess, and Gio bandy about these questions while enjoying various libations.

The author, Lou Bavou, has delved deeply into these questions while being at the least an agnostic. Belief in a God is fundamental to every religion on the planet. But there is no apparent proof that He even exists. Certainly, enlightened populations around the planet have developed theories and speculations about this question but is there tangible evidence?

Are there aliens or some other species living in the vast array of our universe? And are these aliens aware of our presence here on earth? SETI, the search for extra-terrestrial intelligence has pondered this question for over a decade. Maybe our planet’s location in the Milky Way Galaxy is akin to someone in a backwater yet discovered.

Time and distance make the discovery of our planet problematic! Even at the speed of light mankind cannot expect to explore habitable planets outside our solar system. The time is just not available for us as fragile creatures. This entire novel is a serious look at astronomy and philosophy and is a well-written treatise. 4 stars – CE Williams

Many thanks to the author for providing me with the opportunity to read and review his book with no expectation for a review. These opinions are my own.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four stars

Book Details:

Genre: Occult UFOs, UFOs, Astronomy
Publisher: Bavou
ASIN: B0C85CV31L
Print Length: 257 pages
Publication Date: June 14, 2023
Source: Author

Title Link(s):

Amazon-US | Amazon-UK | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

The Author: Lou Bavou is a unique new voice in the world of science books. With a strong education in math, physics and chemistry, he graduated with an honors degree from Birmingham University, UK. He spent a long career as a consultant engineer to the energy industry running his own small consultancy company with extensive travel and work around North America, Europe, Russia and Asia; learning about the local cultures and history. During his travels he has rubbed shoulders with oil rig ‘bears’, negotiated with Arabic oil ministers and been tailed by the Iraqi secret service and still found time to write numerous professional reports, papers and guidelines for the energy industry.

Lou recently decided to change direction and take-up writing full-time.

Nowadays, when he’s not researching his keen interests in astronomy and astrobiology, he spends time running a small holding. He still travels and has wild camped in the Sahara Desert, ice skated on the highest rink in the world in Kazakhstan, sheltered from major cyclones in China and Sri Lanka – and they say lightening never strikes twice, once nearly drowned in the River Thames and survived his wife’s meatballs, but still lives with her on the outskirts of SW London with their children of all ages.

The Dog Stars by Peter Heller – #BookReview – #DystopianFiction

[Amazon] Best Literature & Fiction

Nominee for Best Fiction (2012)

Book Blurb:

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the author of The River: In this “end-of-the-world novel more like a rapturous beginning” (San Francisco Chronicle), Hig somehow survived the flu pandemic that killed everyone he knows. His gripping story is “an ode to friendship between two men…the strong bond between a human and a dog, and a reminder of what is worth living for” (Minneapolis Star-Tribune).

Hig’s wife is gone, his friends are dead, and he lives in the hangar of a small abandoned airport with his dog, Jasper, and a mercurial, gun-toting misanthrope named Bangley.

But when a random transmission beams through the radio of his 1956 Cessna, the voice ignites a hope deep inside him that a better life exists outside their tightly controlled perimeter. Risking everything, he flies past his point of no return and follows its static-broken trail, only to find something that is both better and worse than anything he could ever hope for.

His Review:

The apocalypse has occurred and mankind is mostly obliterated. Whether the cause was a manmade virus or naturally occurring virus doesn’t matter. Most of the cities are destroyed and have become ghost towns. Hig and his best friend Bangley are survivors. Weapons are easy to come by because nobody is left to control them.

Many of the survivors are sick and Hig and Bangley simply kill them rather than become cross infected with other humans. They live in a homemade tower that they have built to protect their home and the plane that Hig loves to fly. He usually flies far too high for bullets to reach the plane. Mankind has resorted to tribalism and raiding to survive.

The discovery of an old man and his daughter living in a desert canyon changes everything for Hig. They decide not to kill him when he lands close to their enclave and a plan to go back to civilization is developed. This story is cruel at times but is very well thought through and hard to put down. Enjoy! 4.5 stars – CE Williams

I previously read The Last Ranger, released July 25, 2023, and greatly enjoyed giving it my five stars. Many thanks to the author for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book. These are my own opinions.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Action & Adventure Literary Fiction, Dystopian Science Fiction, Dystopian Fiction
Publisher: Vintage
ASIN: B007GZELF2
Print Length: 322 pages
Publication Date: August 7, 2012
Source: Author
Title Link(s):

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

The Author: Peter Heller is a longtime contributor to NPR, a contributing editor at Outside Magazine and Men’s Journal, and a frequent contributor to Businessweek. He is an award winning adventure writer and the author of four books of literary nonfiction. He lives in Denver. Heller was born and raised in New York. He attended high school in Vermont and Dartmouth College in New Hampshire where he became an outdoorsman and whitewater kayaker. He traveled the world as an expedition kayaker, writing about challenging descents in the Pamirs, the Tien Shan mountains, the Caucuses, Central America and Peru.At the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where he received an MFA in fiction and poetry, he won a Michener fellowship for his epic poem “The Psalms of Malvine.” He has worked as a dishwasher, construction worker, logger, offshore fisherman, kayak instructor, river guide, and world class pizza deliverer. Some of these stories can be found in Set Free in China, Sojourns on the Edge. In the winter of 2002 he joined, on the ground team, the most ambitious whitewater expedition in history as it made its way through the treacherous Tsangpo Gorge in Eastern Tibet. He chronicled what has been called The Last Great Adventure Prize for Outside, and in his book Hell or High Water: Surviving Tibet’s Tsangpo River.

The gorge — three times deeper than the Grand Canyon — is sacred to Buddhists, and is the inspiration for James Hilton’s Shangri La. It is so deep there are tigers and leopards in the bottom and raging 25,000 foot peaks at the top, and so remote and difficult to traverse that a mythical waterfall, sought by explorers since Victorian times, was documented for the first time in 1998 by a team from National Geographic.

The book won a starred review from Publisher’s Weekly, was number three on Entertainment Weekly’s “Must List” of all pop culture, and a Denver Post review ranked it “up there with any adventure writing ever written.”

In December, 2005, on assignment for National Geographic Adventure, he joined the crew of an eco-pirate ship belonging to the radical environmental group the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society as it sailed to Antarctica to hunt down and disrupt the Japanese whaling fleet.

The ship is all black, sails under a jolly Roger, and two days south of Tasmania the engineers came on deck and welded a big blade called the Can Opener to the bow–a weapon designed to gut the hulls of ships. In The Whale Warriors: The Battle at the Bottom of the World to Save the Planet’s Largest Mammals, Heller recounts fierce gales, forty foot seas, rammings, near-sinkings, and a committed crew’s clear-eyed willingness to die to save a whale. The book was published by Simon and Schuster’s Free Press in September, 2007.

In the fall of 2007 Heller was invited by the team who made the acclaimed film The Cove to accompany them in a clandestine filming mission into the guarded dolphin-killing cove in Taiji, Japan. Heller paddled into the inlet with four other surfers while a pod of pilot whales was being slaughtered. He was outfitted with a helmet cam, and the terrible footage can be seen in the movie. The Cove went on to win an Academy Award. Heller wrote about the experience for Men’s Journal.

Heller’s most recent memoir, about surfing from California down the coast of Mexico, Kook: What Surfing Taught Me about Love, Life, and Catching the Perfect Wave, was published by The Free Press in 2010. Can a man drop everything in the middle of his life, pick up a surfboard and, apprenticing himself to local masters, learn to ride a big, fast wave in six months? Can he learn to finally love and commit to someone else? Can he care for the oceans, which are in crisis? The answers are in. The book won a starred review from Publisher’s Weekly, which called it a “powerful memoir…about love: of a woman, of living, of the sea.” It also won the National Outdoor Book Award for Literature.

Heller’s debut novel, The Dog Stars, is being published by Knopf in August, 2012. It will also be published by Headline Review in Great Britain and Australia, and Actes Sud in France.

Chill--It's Sunday

The Mountains Wild: A Mystery by Sarah Stewart Taylor- #Audiobook Review – #ThrowbackThursday

Best Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Book Blurb:

In a series debut for fans of Tana French and Kate Atkinson, set in Dublin and New York, homicide detective Maggie D’arcy finally tackles the case that changed the course of her life.

Twenty-three years ago, Maggie D’arcy’s family received a call from the Dublin police. Her cousin Erin has been missing for several days. Maggie herself spent weeks in Ireland, trying to track Erin’s movements, working beside the police. But it was to no avail: No trace of her was ever found.

The experience inspired Maggie to become a cop. Now, back on Long Island, more than 20 years have passed. Maggie is a detective and a divorced mother of a teenager. When the Gardaí call to say that Erin’s scarf has been found and another young woman has gone missing, Maggie returns to Ireland, awakening all the complicated feelings from the first trip. The despair and frustration of not knowing what happened to Erin. Her attraction to Erin’s coworker, now a professor, who never fully explained their relationship. And her determination to solve the case, once and for all.

A lyrical, deeply drawn portrait of a woman – and a country – over two decades – The Mountains Wild introduces a compelling new mystery series from a mesmerizing author.

A Macmillan Audio production from Minotaur Books

My Review:

This is a story told in a dual line 23 years apart. The storyline is told by Maggie, who in 2016 travels to Ireland after their call to her uncle regarding new information on the disappearance of her cousin Erin, missing since 1993.

Not like Maggie didn’t do this in 1993 when Erin first went missing, but this time she goes back with her experience as a mature and successful, well-known Long Island police detective. Things have certainly changed in their quaint Irish community and the descriptions of the countryside and people provide a colorful mind video.

Of course, having been to Ireland before, Maggie fondly remembers Connor, with whom she was not at the time destined to complete a romantic affair. This time, she’s left behind a daughter with her ex in the US in the hope of finally getting to the truth.

Turns out, the mystery is a slow burn while Maggie sifts through clues and in the meantime relates lovely little tidbits about the area and the people. Character-driven with obligatory twists. The switching of timelines, however, listening to the audiobook while multi-tasking can be confusing.

The reader/listener does get to know Maggie and really, she didn’t grab me. Nor, for that matter did Connor, and I was a bit appalled at her cavalier attitude toward her ex. Connor’s situation is a great deal more serious with his ex.

She is constantly mistaken for her cousin, which I thought stretched credibility. She is there as a civilian but tends more the detective than the relative. She discovers layers of coverup, backstory no one wanted.

Perhaps, in part, because I was listening, not reading, I missed a few of the loose threads tied in conclusion (although I must say, the narrator did a great job). It, as the rest of the low-key narrative, slipped in explanation for me and the episode ended. Maybe I missed something? I felt like it and wasn’t wholly satisfied.

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

Book Details:

Genre: International Mystery & Crime, Police Procedural Mysteries
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
ASIN: B082VMB63Q
Listening Length: 10 hrs 49 mins
Narrator: Marisa Calin
Publication Date: June 23, 2020
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Link: The Mountains Wild [Amazon]

Rosepoint Publishing: Three point Five Stars

The Author: Sarah Stewart Taylor grew up on Long Island and was educated at Middlebury College and Trinity College, Dublin. She lives with her husband and three children on a farm in Vermont where they raise sheep and grow blueberries.

Sarah is the author of the Sweeney St. George series and the Maggie D’arcy series. The first Maggie D’arcy mystery, THE MOUNTAINS WILD, was nominated for the Dashiell Hammett Prize and was on numerous Best of 2020 lists. The new Maggie D’arcy novel, A STOLEN CHILD, will be out on June 20, 2023. [Bio and photo – Goodreads]

Follow her at http://www.sarahstewarttaylor.com/

The Narrator: Marisa Calin grew up in Bath, England, trained at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York and is an Audie, Odyssey, Audiofile Earphones Award winning and SOVAS nominated audiobook narrator. She’s had an Audible Best Audiobook of the Year, an Apple Books Must-Listen audiobook of the month, starred reviews in Publishers Weekly and School Library Journal, and books on YALSA’s Amazing Audiobooks of the year list. You can listen to extracts of some of those books here.

She wrote, produced and appears in her first feature, A Million Happy Nows, with her company, Perfect Features, which went on to win nineteen awards on the festival circuit, including Best First Feature at Outfest. Find more at amillionhappynows.com.

Her debut Young Adult novel, Between You & Me, published in 2012 by Bloomsbury, was named a Kirkus Reviews’ Best Book of 2012, recieved a Kirkus star for “books of exceptional merit”, was selected for the American Library Associations’ 2013 Rainbow Book List of quality books with authentic LGBT content, and was chosen as a Kobo dazzling debut.

She lives in New York City. [Courtesy Marisa Calin website]

#ThrowbackThursday

Bending the Paw (A Paw Enforcement Novel Book 9) by Diane Kelly – A #BookReview – #cozymystery – #TuesdayBookBlog

Happy Publication Day!

Book Blurb:

A MURDER WITHOUT A BODY IS LIKE A DOG WITHOUT A BONE
A bloodbath is a shocking new challenge for Megan and Brigit when Detective Audrey Jackson calls them to the scene of what could only be a brutal murder. But the one thing the nightmarish scene is missing is a victim. The frantic homeowner’s husband is gone, seemingly without a trace—and so is the money he was holding. Has a vicious killer committed what might just be the perfect crime?

Meanwhile, it’s hailing cats and dogs all over Fort Worth, and roofing contractors have descended on the city in droves. With plenty of damage and continuing storms, work delays are building up like so much runoff, but Megan is suspicious that one roofer may be a scam artist. Determined to leash every lawbreaker she and her K-9 partner find, Megan is building a case for prosecution, all while Brigit has her nose to the ground for a murderer…

His Review:

Can a person live with a loss of over 2 quarts of blood? Diane Kelly has written a very interesting novel around this question. Medical science explains that a person will expire with this amount of blood loss. Megan Luz and her K-9 partner are called to a grizzly scene where there is blood everywhere but no body present! The K-9 partners’ name is Bridgit and she begins to examine the scene to see if she can identify where the victim could possibly be.

Diane Kelly has presented this tale from three and sometimes 4 perspectives, the perpetrator, the detective, the dog and the aspiring detective, Megan Luz. The trail ends near the garage where the body was supposedly loaded into the back of a car for disposal. Switch to the perpetrator and his attempts to hide the body and evidence and the plot thickens.

Very little evidence is available as to what type of weapon was used to slash the victim and cause all of the blood loss. With very little evidence to go on the case stands on the brink of being put into an unsolved cubbyhole. Meanwhile other crimes in the Fort Worth area are happening which keep our beat K-9 duo occupied. Weather related storm damage and the need for repair acts as a magnet for all unscrupulous individuals to harvest money from other peoples misfortune.

Megan responds quickly to the needs of the lead detective, Ms. Jackson, whenever called. Most crimes can be solved with the assistance of a highly trained police dog. Diane Kelly writes from the perspective of the dog and at times it is very enlightening. Working on one case confuses the animal who recognizes a possible scent of the criminal in the other crime. Yes, the answer can be as plain as the nose on your face, particularly if you are a dog!

The conclusion is very entertaining and I did not expect it. Dogged police work (pun intended) helped to solve the case. Again, the actual ending was totally unexpected. I highly recommend this book to those who would like to learn some interesting police procedures while being totally entertained. 5 stars – CE Williams

FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from Sara Beth Haring of St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley. These are my honest thoughts.

Book Details:

Genre: Cozy Animal Mysteries, Police Procedurals
Publisher: St Martin’s Paperbacks

- ISBN-10 : 1250197392
- ISBN-13 : 978-1250197399
- ASIN : B084M1NGYF

Print Length: 320 pages
Publication Date: Happy Release Day! October 27, 2020
Source: Publisher and NetGalley

Title Link: Bending the Paw [Amazon]
Also find the book at these locations:

Barnes and Noble | Kobo

Rosepoint Publishing: Five of Five Stars

The Author: A former tax advisor, Diane Kelly inadvertently worked with white-collar criminals. Not surprisingly, Diane decided self-employment would be a good idea. Her fingers hit the keyboard and thus began her Death and Taxes romantic mystery series. A graduate of her hometown’s Citizen Police Academy, Diane Kelly also writes the hilarious K-9 cop Paw Enforcement series and the new House Flipper cozy mystery series. Look for her moonshine series debut in June 2021!

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