After their father’s funeral they buried him near dear Momma’s grave. Maria,Savannah and Holly expected to inherit the ranch in Montana. What they did not expect was the video Andrew Slade left for the three of them. In it, the trio learned that not only were the parents they had known not their actual parents,but they had never officially been adopted and that they were not sisters either!
What they just learned was made clearer by the diary their father kept for each of them detailing the reasons each child had been left with him and who their real parents had been. He had been a travelling preacher in a past life and accumulated the girls from parents who, for some reason or another, had fallen upon such difficult times that is was wiser to separate themselves from their child than to put that child’s life in danger.
Maria’s mother had been a hooker who was murdered when the little girl was only four. The child witnessed the killing, but had been removed from the scene of the crime by do-gooder neighbors and blocked out all memory of that awful day. Now with her father’s death she took off to find out more about her mother only to discover that the murder had never been solved. After arriving in Tulsa, OK she began ferreting into her mother’s past and that past caught up with her sooner than she expected.
When her life is threatened and she ends up in hospital after a bomb planted under her car by a thug-for-hire explodes, the Tulsa police department takes what appeared to be an unsolved cold-case a little more seriously. What Maria did not count on was falling in love with Bodie Scott, the handsome cowboy homicide detective.
Sala treats us to romantic mystery al a Nora Roberts style as a challenge to be the headliner in her genre. “Blood Stains” evoked the right number of chuckles, tears and edge of your seat thrills to make this a major hit.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Fatal Error - a review
Computer dating takes a new twist, in Jance’s “Fatal Error”. Richard Lowensdale is a despicable man who preys on vulnerable women in an online dating scam. Using fake names he has several fiancés around the country until he becomes bored with their particular neurosis and cuts loose, usually dropping them right after he has had them pick out their engagement rings. When he is murdered and several of his girl friends suddenly show up at the same time to check on him, there are suspects aplenty.
The protagonist, wealthy widow, former Los Angeles TV news anchor and aspiring cop, Ali Reynolds finds herself smack in the middle of the investigation when a former colleague, now down-on-her-luck recovering alcoholic, Brenda Riley goes missing. Brenda had been the target of Lowensdale’s particular cyber-sociopathic behavior and was in the process of writing an exposé to blow the lid off his cover. Using her boyfriend’s security company to gather behind-the-scenes information, Reynolds teams up with over-worked homicide detective Gil Morris to ferret out the truth behind her friend’s disappearance and the death of Lowensdale.
“Fatal Error” takes us beyond just cyber-stalking to the warped mind of a victim of the Bosnian wars who applies her own sociopathic skills to gain untold wealth by dealing with cartel criminals in the drug-smuggling wars of the Mexican borders. As Reynolds and Morris discover the depths of depravity, it all boils over as they find themselves stumbling into the middle of an FBI sting in San Diego. Can they rescue Riley before she gives the ultimate sacrifice in reporting a news story, in which she has become the unwitting pawn?
The protagonist, wealthy widow, former Los Angeles TV news anchor and aspiring cop, Ali Reynolds finds herself smack in the middle of the investigation when a former colleague, now down-on-her-luck recovering alcoholic, Brenda Riley goes missing. Brenda had been the target of Lowensdale’s particular cyber-sociopathic behavior and was in the process of writing an exposé to blow the lid off his cover. Using her boyfriend’s security company to gather behind-the-scenes information, Reynolds teams up with over-worked homicide detective Gil Morris to ferret out the truth behind her friend’s disappearance and the death of Lowensdale.
“Fatal Error” takes us beyond just cyber-stalking to the warped mind of a victim of the Bosnian wars who applies her own sociopathic skills to gain untold wealth by dealing with cartel criminals in the drug-smuggling wars of the Mexican borders. As Reynolds and Morris discover the depths of depravity, it all boils over as they find themselves stumbling into the middle of an FBI sting in San Diego. Can they rescue Riley before she gives the ultimate sacrifice in reporting a news story, in which she has become the unwitting pawn?
Kissing Arizona - a review
Gunn ratchets it up a notch in this third novel in her series regarding her Tucson based police detective Sarah Burke as she takes on the nefarious world of people smuggling. “Kissing Arizona” is two stories blended together by Gunn’s immaculate style of writing. In a timely message for Tucson, she examines the world of the illegal,Mexican immigrants and brilliantly diagrams the problems from both sides of the border, delving into how pick-ups are made once the illegal alien reaches Arizona and discusses the underlying issues of the underworld of stowing these undocumented, migrant workers.
Young Vicky lived in Tucson as a small child coming over the border as an infant. When her father leaves and her mother gets busted and deported, Vicky is torn from her baby sister who was born in the States and so is a citizen. The younger child stays with an aunt while Vicky and her mother are sent home to Mexico. Vicky is not satisfied with her lot in life and uses her teenage wiles to get a boyfriend to aide her return to Tucson and tells him America is so grand she cannot wait to kiss the ground once she gets back to Arizona.
Meanwhile, Detective Sarah Burke has found a collection of human bones: a broken body deposited in concrete and has to hunt for the head. She and her crew of police detectives are also investigating the bloody deaths of a long-time business owner and his wife, their bodies arranged in what could be a murder-suicide until the forensic's report comes back. With two murderers to track down, Burke attempts to juggle her career, as well as the lives of her displaced niece and mother, both who reside with her, until they decide to pool resources and with help from her police officer boyfriend, all move in together. Of course, they will need the assistance of a local cleaning firm, one that Vicky’s aunt owns and so the taut story twists in the shimmering, summer heat of Arizona.
Young Vicky lived in Tucson as a small child coming over the border as an infant. When her father leaves and her mother gets busted and deported, Vicky is torn from her baby sister who was born in the States and so is a citizen. The younger child stays with an aunt while Vicky and her mother are sent home to Mexico. Vicky is not satisfied with her lot in life and uses her teenage wiles to get a boyfriend to aide her return to Tucson and tells him America is so grand she cannot wait to kiss the ground once she gets back to Arizona.
Meanwhile, Detective Sarah Burke has found a collection of human bones: a broken body deposited in concrete and has to hunt for the head. She and her crew of police detectives are also investigating the bloody deaths of a long-time business owner and his wife, their bodies arranged in what could be a murder-suicide until the forensic's report comes back. With two murderers to track down, Burke attempts to juggle her career, as well as the lives of her displaced niece and mother, both who reside with her, until they decide to pool resources and with help from her police officer boyfriend, all move in together. Of course, they will need the assistance of a local cleaning firm, one that Vicky’s aunt owns and so the taut story twists in the shimmering, summer heat of Arizona.
Agent X - a review
Boyd brings us the second installment in the Steve Vail suspense catalog and I sense there are many more to come. Vail, a former FBI agent keeps being pulled back into his past occupation because he appears to be the only man for the job. Having left the special agent business behind because of problems with the management wanting him to do it their way, he seems to be intrinsically linked to any case touched by Kate Bannon.
Having left the employ of the FBI, Vail has made his living as a bricklayer, and sometime sculptor in Chicago, he finds his background in counterintelligence, coupled with a master’s degree in Soviet history, invaluable to the Bureau in their latest case, brought to them by a man known as Calculus. The offer is to turn over a list of the current spies working with the ranks of government and defense contractors in the States.
Once Calculus’ cover appears blown and the spies all seem to be getting killed ahead of the FBI getting to them, Bannon and Vail have to put their on and off again relationship on hold to discover who is behind the spy threat.
When Bannon herself is framed as a spy and jailed, it is up to Vail and a fellow agent Steve Bursaw to fi nd a way to prove her innocence.
In Boyd’s introduction to this bricklayer agent, we found him to be a sole operator and to provide him with a partner in Bursaw felt off the mark just a little. It did not take away from the urgency the story told, but perhaps humanized Vail a little more than I would have liked. If Boyd really wants Vail to be serious competition with the likes of the Jack Reachers of the novel world, he should stick with his original plan.
“Agent X” advances the reputation of Boyd as an excellent spy master and this thrill-a-minute story pulls out all stops, just as Vail does.
Having left the employ of the FBI, Vail has made his living as a bricklayer, and sometime sculptor in Chicago, he finds his background in counterintelligence, coupled with a master’s degree in Soviet history, invaluable to the Bureau in their latest case, brought to them by a man known as Calculus. The offer is to turn over a list of the current spies working with the ranks of government and defense contractors in the States.
Once Calculus’ cover appears blown and the spies all seem to be getting killed ahead of the FBI getting to them, Bannon and Vail have to put their on and off again relationship on hold to discover who is behind the spy threat.
When Bannon herself is framed as a spy and jailed, it is up to Vail and a fellow agent Steve Bursaw to fi nd a way to prove her innocence.
In Boyd’s introduction to this bricklayer agent, we found him to be a sole operator and to provide him with a partner in Bursaw felt off the mark just a little. It did not take away from the urgency the story told, but perhaps humanized Vail a little more than I would have liked. If Boyd really wants Vail to be serious competition with the likes of the Jack Reachers of the novel world, he should stick with his original plan.
“Agent X” advances the reputation of Boyd as an excellent spy master and this thrill-a-minute story pulls out all stops, just as Vail does.
Past Tense - a review
In the quiet, English countryside an old lady dies in her bed at the local nursing home. Janet Wakefield receives notification—her husband Bill, who is stationed in South America by his company, is the next of kin—which is a surprise because neither of them even knew Josephine Short existed.
Sent to make the funeral arrangements, Janet discovers that all the particulars have been laid out by the decedent. The church, the hotel and “bun wrestle”, as the reception is described, and the ‘no flowers’ request are already in place. She shows up for the funeral service to find several of the local villagers: a friendly, old man who claims to have known Ms. Short, a beautiful, young lady with auburn hair and in the pew behind her, the nursing home matron as well as the attorney handling the estate. As the service starts, a tall, dark-haired, young man sits next to her on the pew reserved for family. Joe Short, the grandson.
Making the acquaintance of another family member previously unknown to them helps the Wakefields discover who Josephine Short is and where she fits into all their lives. The discovery that she is well off and has a large estate is even more confusing. When the auburn beauty’s body is found in the river under suspicious circumstances, the heirs are forced to reveal their alibis, which brings down suspicion on both of them, as well as a local thug whose mother was working at the nursing home.
When using material that Aird senses her reader may not have a complete understanding about, such as subject matter, she will have her characters ask questions to show their ignorance of the subject, which in turn edifies both the character and reader at the same time.
Aird weaves the red herrings and suspicions throughout the story, making you look back into the past pages for clues missed, words uttered that might have been a clue, a hint of foreshadowing glossed over until the pieces all fall together, making perfect sense of the tale.
Sent to make the funeral arrangements, Janet discovers that all the particulars have been laid out by the decedent. The church, the hotel and “bun wrestle”, as the reception is described, and the ‘no flowers’ request are already in place. She shows up for the funeral service to find several of the local villagers: a friendly, old man who claims to have known Ms. Short, a beautiful, young lady with auburn hair and in the pew behind her, the nursing home matron as well as the attorney handling the estate. As the service starts, a tall, dark-haired, young man sits next to her on the pew reserved for family. Joe Short, the grandson.
Making the acquaintance of another family member previously unknown to them helps the Wakefields discover who Josephine Short is and where she fits into all their lives. The discovery that she is well off and has a large estate is even more confusing. When the auburn beauty’s body is found in the river under suspicious circumstances, the heirs are forced to reveal their alibis, which brings down suspicion on both of them, as well as a local thug whose mother was working at the nursing home.
When using material that Aird senses her reader may not have a complete understanding about, such as subject matter, she will have her characters ask questions to show their ignorance of the subject, which in turn edifies both the character and reader at the same time.
Aird weaves the red herrings and suspicions throughout the story, making you look back into the past pages for clues missed, words uttered that might have been a clue, a hint of foreshadowing glossed over until the pieces all fall together, making perfect sense of the tale.
Separate from the World - a review
If you switched Agatha Christie over a century and placed her in the middle of Amish country you would have “Separate from the World”, it is that type of a cozy.
Here you have Professor Michael Branden, teacher at a small town college and a native of the area, who has been best friends with the local sheriff, Bruce Robertson, since grade school. Along with another grade school buddy, Caleb Troyer, the local pastor, the trio becomes this group of investigators in a series of books that Gaus gives us, solving mysteries that involve the complexity of the Amish.
In “Separate from the World”, we meet the Erb family, and it’s descendants, that through apparent cross breeding with the families, has developed an unusual number of dwarf’s in the gene pool. The study of the genetics, blood studies and inbreeding becomes a study subject for a number of the students at neighboring at Millersburg College, and surprisingly the Erb family provides them with family history until the split in the Amish way of life is discovered and the elder forbids any further discussion with the students.
At the same time an apparent suicide of a female student opens an investigation into improprieties from another professor which opens the lead for Gaus to link her death with the controversial genetics study into the Erb family. He leads us a circuitous route, unraveling clues until the very last moment, leading to a very satisfying ending.
Here you have Professor Michael Branden, teacher at a small town college and a native of the area, who has been best friends with the local sheriff, Bruce Robertson, since grade school. Along with another grade school buddy, Caleb Troyer, the local pastor, the trio becomes this group of investigators in a series of books that Gaus gives us, solving mysteries that involve the complexity of the Amish.
In “Separate from the World”, we meet the Erb family, and it’s descendants, that through apparent cross breeding with the families, has developed an unusual number of dwarf’s in the gene pool. The study of the genetics, blood studies and inbreeding becomes a study subject for a number of the students at neighboring at Millersburg College, and surprisingly the Erb family provides them with family history until the split in the Amish way of life is discovered and the elder forbids any further discussion with the students.
At the same time an apparent suicide of a female student opens an investigation into improprieties from another professor which opens the lead for Gaus to link her death with the controversial genetics study into the Erb family. He leads us a circuitous route, unraveling clues until the very last moment, leading to a very satisfying ending.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Snare - a review
At an electrifying pace from tribal ritual drums and flutes to the beat of the modern pop music scene Native American pop singer, Karina Salvo prepares to emerge from her reclusive cocoon to her first concert on a national stage.
Having written and performed her songs as a recording artist Salvo’s agent Petra Sullivan has prepared the singer to meet her adoring public for the first time in the heart of Appalachia, a small theatre in Bryson City, North Carolina. The concert is sold out and the local Sheriff appoints Deputy Steven Hawk to handle all security issues. Hawk’s preparation for the concert reveals that Salvo’s delayed introduction to the public has been because of her reluctance to have her private life peered into by journalists and paparazzi as she has a secret. Her father is in jail for killing her mother when Salvo was barely eight years old, and he has been released from jail the week of the concert and is considered to be behind the death threats that the young singer has been receiving in the form of hate mail for several months.
Salvo had been raised on the reservation by her mother’s people on the Taos Pueblo along the plains of New Mexico and is the first of her tribe to be recognized for her musical talent. It is to her aunt’s house that Salvo runs, needing a place to hide after the attempt on her life at the concert that has left her petrified and estranged from her manager, and has left Deputy Hawk injured in his attempt to protect her from a malicious Native American presence at the concert, the appearance of her uncle, Taima. Was he there in spirit or in person? Witnesses at the reservation swear he was on their land at the time of the attack but neither Salvo nor Hawk are convinced and as they heal, her spiritually and he physically, they conduct their own investigation from the confines of her aunt’s home.
Is it her revengeful father, the ghostly appearances of her uncle or the tribal drum beat itself that sound the death knell for Salvo and will Hawk, in Ledford’s second in a trilogy featuring the young African American deputy from North Carolina, be up to the task to protect Salvo from the snare he has inadvertently placed her in by bring her home to the Taos Pueblo?
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