The Hollow House

From the first sentence; “I decided to use the name Geraldine Brunton” this work of fiction snares the reader and drops them into a convoluted, sometimes bizarre, whirl of adventure. 

Who killed Annie the enterprising Irish maid?  Was old Jamie’s ‘accident’ really an accident?  What’s Mrs. Stubbs hiding except her contraband physician’s tonic and arsenic-laced vitamin pills?

Denver, Colorado, in 1919, was a city ‘bustin’ its britches’ to become civilized after an influx of major money from the silver mining hey-day.  The woman calling herself Mrs. Burnton, was reared and educated in the posh, elite society of New York City.  So, why was she applying for the position of lowly companion to a wealthy widow of a hard-scrabble silver-miner?   Could she survive in a household of suspicious characters, poison, greed, and deranged delusions of grandeur? 

The Hollow House is a delightful read filled with larger-than-life characters, puzzling incidents, and an achingly real story behind the story.   Janis Patterson is a gifted writer who knows how to twist and turn a plot until its revelation surprises even the most practiced reader of mysteries.

Cemetery Girl

What cost does a bereaved father pay to learn the truth about his abducted daughter? David Bell's book, Cemetery Girl, explores the depth of emotion and mental anguish a four year absence of a man's only child can wreak on his own stability. 

Where had Caitlin Stuart gone when the twelve year old disappeared from walking the dog near a local cemetery? What had she endured, and why, after mysteriously reappearing four years later did she refuse to tell her father what happened? The intrigue and agonizing suspense of this compelling piece of fiction calls every man, or woman, to explore what's inner most in their minds when it comes to a missing child.  Caitlin wasn't happy about her homecoming. Abby Stuart had erected a monument to her missing daughter, in the very cemetery where she was last seen, ready to begin life without hope. Tom Stuart never gave up.  Did his estranged half-brother have anything to do with Caitlin's disappearance? Ready to do anything to learn the truth Tom Stuart became a haunted man on a mission. . .the ultimate sacrifice he was willing to make will give you pause for thought.

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Under the Dog Star

Do you love dogs? Would you, like Veterinarian Rachel Goddard, risk your own life to save abandoned and stolen pets? Under the Dog Star, fourth in the Rachel Goddard series, by Sandra Parshall, brings to the reader a combination of emotions-outrage, compassion, terror and, at times, hopelessness. A five-star cast of characters move across this book like a well-directed motion picture. Rachel, and the love of her life, Deputy Tom Bridger, are caught up in an all too familiar scenario of feral dogs, former pets that are 'dumped' in the countryside and form a pack for food and protection. Farmers are complaining, townspeople are gathering for mass slaughter. When prominent physician Gordon Hall is killed on his own lawn, by having his throat ripped out, the problems escalate. Was it a fatal attack by the dog pack? Or just one, highly trained, killer canine?

Suspicion of illegal dog fighting comes to the foreground as Rachel and her friends prepare a rescue haven for the dogs from the pack. Soon both she and Tom become targets of a methodical murderer. Gordon Hall's oldest son comes under scrutiny, as does his daughter and her boyfriend. The three adopted Hall children have secrets to tell-especially the beautiful, sad, little girl who Rachel tries to befriend. 

Parshall's journalist background is evident in her novels. Straight forward, fast paced, yet laced with a healthy dose of haunting prose. There is one particularly eerie, and unforgettable, scene of a crashed car in a ravine. Another tense and emotionally riveting portrayal of Rachel's compassion is depicted in a cave, rescuing a frightened, starving dog. 

Complicated plot, great characters, and lots of surprises are in store for the reader of Under the Dog Star.

Seance In Sepia

 Seance In Sepia, by Michelle Black, is an extraordinaire novel. Spanning two worlds it guides the reader from present to past in a deft and enchanting chapter by chapter narrative. 

Flynn Keirnan, a woman helping her father purchase merchandise for his Antiquarian bookshop, discovers a old photograph in one of the volumes. It's not an ordinary sepia picture but a Victorian 'spirit photograph'. A local antique dealer offers Flynn a nice price for the the photo but she decides to try her luck on eBay, little knowing that she is generating a firestorm that will alter her life forever.

Who are those tragic, ghost-like images looking outward from the fading photo? Are they subjects of a bizarre and notorious murder trial held in Chicago in 1857 that the press dubbed 'The Free Love Murders'?  Would Victoria Woodhull, a popular spiritualist of that time, decipher the true answers in a seance? Was it murder, or suicide?  And, how does Flynn cross the boundaries of time to resolve old issues? Seance In Sepia is a mystery and a romance, both old and new.  A fascinating read, peeking into private thoughts found in an old journal, reading the actual trial transcript and pursuing notes of the famous feminist Victoria Woodhull. 

Seance In Sepia has not yet been released but can be reserved on Amazon.

Guest Review - The Black Heart Crypt

What might be unusual for most people is nothing out of the ordinary for Zack Jennings, a sixth grader who has the ability to see ghosts. So when Zipper, his pet dog, chases a demon dog back to Haddham Hill Cemetery, Zack takes it in stride.

In the fourth installment of the A Haunted Mystery Series, by Chris Grabenstein, titled The Black Heart Crypt, Zack’s talent for spotting specters comes in handy when thirteen sinister spirits from the Ickleby family are released on Halloween. These ghostly beings have a long-standing vendetta against the Jennings clan and it is up to Zack to defend the family.

            Luckily for him, his three Great Aunts are there to help, cats in tow (much to the distress of poor Zipper). They have had experience with the Ickleby ghosts since they were the ones who locked them in their crypt in the first place.
          Mayhem abounds as the Ickleby family finds a descendent to possess, giving life once again to Crazy Izzy Ickleby, a bootlegger from the 1930's, and a child- snatching highwayman.

            This book is a delightful read, with colorful characters (both living and dead), and a fun, twisted plot. There is quite a bit of violence in the story, however, with at least two murders and the vengeful highwayman out to kill Zack. If you’re not faint at heart, then this is definitely worth reading.

Anathea Williams

My guest blogger, Anathea Williams, is my granddaughter. She writes for children and is working on a young adult novel. Check out her blog
The View From My Padded Cell

Champagne for Buzzards

Spunky, smart-mouthed, Sherri Travis just blew into town in her Big Red shiny pickup truck with a trail of black, ugly buzzards in hot pursuit. So, who put the dead body in the back of Big Red? Sherri really doesn't want to know since she is focused on giving her boyfriend, Clay Adams, a surprise birthday party at his Riverwood Ranch. Guess what? Sherri winds up right in the middle of another kind of surprise - the unpleasant kind.

Champagne for Buzzards is the fourth book in the Sherri Travis series written by Phyllis Smallman. It's no wonder that Smallman was placed in the top six mystery authors, for summer reads 2010, by Good Morning America. Her 'trailer-trash' character is bigger than life even when she tries to clean up her act and put on a veneer of respectability.

In the company of her father, Tully, Uncle Ziggy and best friend Marley, Sherri takes up temporary residence at Clay's ranch. She encounters a diabolical horse, a seven foot snake and a mongrel dog but that isn't the worst of her troubles. Something strange is going on in the woods that surround the ranch house. Four-wheelers are roaring through the peaceful landscape, loaded rifles laying across their handle bars. Psychotic next door neighbor, Boomer Breslau, has taken a perverted fancy to her. Sherri's mouth and actions inflame his obsession until he vows to not only kill her - but everything on Riverwood. His cousin is the sheriff so when things turn nasty there is no place for Sherri to run.

High tension, wonderful descriptions of the Florida countryside, and a very real, heartbreaking theme of man's inhumanity toward man makes this book a must read.  

No Rest for the Wicked

Are you under the impression that working in a book store is boring? Then you have never visited Thornton's Books in Juniper, Oregon and met Jane Serrano. Forty-three, widowed, the mother of a beautiful daughter, Jane does more than shift dusty tomes from shelf to shelf - she solves murders.

Elizabeth C. Main has created an unorthodox cast of characters in her No Rest for the Wicked.  Jane's daughter, Bianca, the brightest star of the aging group, Alix, a cynical multi-married owner of an upscale wedding boutique, Bible quoting, cake baking, Minnie, young Tyler and his crusty grandfather, shy, retiring Velda and long-suffering love interest Nick; just to name a few. Oh, and lest I should forget, there's Wendell the Wedding Dog.  His services are a bit pricy but he looks great in a tux. He'll do almost anything you ask at your nuptials unless an uninvited porcupine crashes the party.

Main writes a true 'cozy' mystery drawing her story and characters from real life, skillfully putting them on the page for mystery readers to follow with delight. But don't let their playfulness fool you - there's a good mystery here. A charming, womanizing, con-man who targets the elderly is the current corpse. Jane Serrano, from the first book in this series, Murder of the Month, has been established as the amateur sleuth of choice and when the body is discovered she and her crew gear up to go after the murderer, especially since one of their own has been hauled off to jail as prime suspect. Their investigation leads Jane and Minnie straight into a locked cellar with an armed killer on the other side. Taunt and dramatic, funny and warm, Main is an author who entertains.