BLOOD, ASH & BONE - a Carl Brookins Review

Blood, Ash & Bone

by Tina Whittle

ISBN: 978-1-4642-0093-9
A 2013 HC release
from Poisoned Pen Press.
285 pages

 

Tai Randolph is an unusual character. She’s a southern gun-shop owner with her own set of tattoos and a questionable background. She also sports intimate contacts in her past with some seriously evil people, people like KKK members, like gun and booze runners. She’s also one of the go-to merchandisers of authentic costuming and equipment for Civil War re-enactors. This novel is Randolph’s third adventure.

There are big re-enactment doings coming up and Randolph has to pack up merchandise to set up at the Southeast Civil War Expo in Savannah. The first problem is her history. Savannah is her home town, seat of her family and scene of some of Tai’s most notorious escapades.

Complications arise almost immediately when her ex-lover a scallywag biker-cum-independent entrepreneur enlists her aid in retrieving a long-sought Bible, once thought to have been in the possession of both President Lincoln and General Sherman. Is it real or just a Maguffin? If it’s real, it’s worth a ton of money. According to John, Tai’s ex-boyfriend, the bible has been purloined by Tai’s ex-roommate, Hope. Hope and John were a heavy item some time ago but that relationship seems to have cooled.

Enter Tai’s current main squeeze, a seriously hot but damaged ex-cop, now a security expert for an upscale security firm in Atlanta. He obviously is highly suspicious of anything Tai’s ex boyfriend touches, especially Tai. Now add some layers of interesting active honest and criminally inclined citizens, some with too much money at hand and you have as rich a gumbo as any reader could ask for.

The story is fast-paced, clean and highly evocative of the place. Whether you’ve been to Savannah or not readers will revel in the city scenes and waterfront activity. Whittle knows her characters, her setting and how to tell a fine story. This one is an excellent novel.

A copy of the novel was supplied free of charge by the publisher.

 

 

Carl Brookins www.carlbrookins.com  http://agora2.blogspot.com,
Case of the Great Train Robbery, Reunion, Red Sky

ORDINARY GRACE - a Carl Brookins Review

Ordinary Grace

By William Kent Krueger
ISBN: 1-978-4516-4582-8
A March 2013 Atria release in
HC and as an e-book.

To maintain complete transparency, Mr. Krueger and I are long-time friends, we frequently travel together as the Minnesota Crime Wave, and I received a pre-release copy of this book at no cost to me.

 

 

“Ordinary Grace” is a standalone novel, a project the author has long desired to write. The book is considerably different from his multiple-award-winning Cork O’Connor series. It benefits from everything the author has learned over the years writing that series. It is directly and powerfully written, wasting no words, yet always moving the characters and the story ahead at appropriate pace, depending on the actions of the characters and the plot.

Set in a small community in southern Minnesota in 1961, this is how the story begins: “All the dying that summer began with the death of a child, a boy with golden hair and thick glasses, killed on the railroad tracks outside New Bremen, Minnesota.” The narrator is an adult white male, son of the Methodist minister in town. Frank is recalling the momentous events of that bygone summer when he was but thirteen years old, a teen-ager on the cusp of young maturity. The death of that child sets in motion events and revelations of suppressed attitudes that alter the lives and futures of many people in the town. Some of the people affected are important and wealthy, others, as plain and ordinary as one could imagine. Yet everyone in the novel is required to come to terms to greater or lesser degree, with who they are and how they must relate to family, friends, members of their faith, and how they function in the wider yet limited community. What Frank learns that summer, and equally importantly, how he sees and interprets the evil and the grace of that time, will affect him for his entire life. It’s an important lesson.

Krueger’s writing, as always, is smooth and strong and the logic of the plot is easy to follow. While the story has many layers, there are no convoluted or tricky passages readers will have to struggle to interpret. That’s part of the book’s charm and its strength.

The novel explores faith, mysticism, and rationality in thoughtful, even-handed and open ways that lend itself to recollection and continuing reflection, regardless of readers’ experiences in those areas of life. The characters, and there are many, are carefully and consistently well-drawn. This is a novel of discovery and exploration, for the author and for readers. Well done.

 

 

Carl Brookins Reunion, Red Sky, Case of the Great Train Robbery www.carlbrookins.com carlbrookins@comcast.net

 

E. T. Phone Istanbul

Here is the second in the oddball museums from around the world. From the Associated Press and Rense.com. Also an announcement about the United States Area 51 in Roswell, N.M..

THE INTERNATIONAL UFO MUSEUM

Istanbul, Turkey

  

Located in the historical city of Istanbul, the International UFO Museum displays artifacts suggesting extraterrestrial life. Founded by Sirius UFO Space Sciences Research Center, the museum offers bits of UFO history, such as a display about the 1947 Roswell, N.M., incident, a worldwide sighting map, soldier and pilot reports, animations of archaeological ruins and statues. This museum is the perfect go-to for those suspecting life beyond our atmosphere.

 

MUSEUM AND EXHIBITION SECTION

 

In this section, hundreds of UFO incidents and a wide range of information about the UFO's and E.T's are exhibited in separate divisions, by means of photographs, pictures, illustrations and written documents-texts both in Turkish and English. These include:

 

The UFO Chronicle of the world and worldwide sighting map, information and animations on the archaeological ruins and traces and epigraphs/inscriptions/ tablets, ancient cultures and their connections to E.T's, Crop Circles, Area 51 and other secret bases, Abductions, Animal Mutulations, top secret official documents, NASA cover-ups, MARS, research and analysis reports of important institutions and universities, types of aliens and UFO's, Roswell, Aztec,Varginha ..etc incidents, national and international newspaper-magazine articles and periodical archieves, worldwide UFO reports and related issues.....etc.

 

Moreover, there are six separate divisions in the Museum, in which various UFO incidents are represented by models and statues and explained both in Turkish and in English. These representations include:

 

* The models of archaelogical ruins / traces / marks which reveal the UFO phenomenon

* Representation of Roswell incident by models, replicas and statues.

* Representation of autopsy done on Roswell aliens

* Representation of an experiment done by aliens on an abductee

* Statues of various types of Aliens, based on the information of observation reports

* Models of various types of UFOs based on the information of observation reports.

 

 

LIBRARY

 

People willing to get information and do research about UFOs, Extraterrestrial Life and the Universe, have the opportunity to benefit from our library, in which there are over 1,000 books and magazines, both in English and Turkish. Reading tables are also available.

 

 

VIDEO-VCD-DVD VIEWING ROOM AND MEETING ROOM

 

Visitors have the opportunity to watch various related documentaries and films both in English and Turkish ...

 

Moreover, there will be periodical conferences and seminars about UFO's and related issues, given by our national and international guest speakers..

 

 

ALSO, WE ARE ASKING YOUR KIND SUPPORT!

 

Our International UFO Museum is seeking evidence, literature, proof of alien visitations of Earth, photos, videos, DVD's, books, texts, any kind of related materials that are written, audio and visual formats for our permanent public exhibits..

 

So, we kindly ask your cooperation and support and are expecting to receive your donations to this highly important International Project. If you have anything related to UFOs, ETs, Area 51, Abductions, Crop Circles, Animal Mutulations,....etc and wish to donate them, please send them to our address below.. Any contributions of information or research materials and artifacts that can be made available to our Museum are greatly appreciated by all especially the public we serve.

 

People who are going to make donations will be honoured by an "Appreciation Certificate" and their names will be announced on the "Appreciation Board " in the entrance of the Museum.

 

Through this important Project ,which will be the first of its kind in Eastern- Europe, Balkans and Midle-East, the UFO & E.T phenomenon will become widely known by not only the Turkish citizens and the citizens of this broad region, as well as by millions of people coming to Istanbul from all over the world.

 

By taking your stance as a citizen of this Planet and by standing together, the whole Truth will be known!

 

 

 

 

Meanwhile in the United States the famous Roswell site will be unveiled, according to The Smithsonian-affiliated National Atomic Testing Museum in Las Vegas. It will be the first-ever Area 51 exhibit, and it will be loaded with UFO and possible extraterrestrial-related items.

 

 

 

 

A Museum that Sucks

Mustard? Cockroaches? Lunchboxes? German sausages? These aren't your typical museums. And yet these wacky attractions not only capture the imagination but make for a very unique day out. ABC News has compiled a list of the top 18 that are worth a visit.

First in the list:

The Vacuum Museum

Nottinghamshire, England 

This former coal mining town will no longer be known for its dust and grime. Britain's first vacuum museum has opened in Nottinghamshire and is cleaning the air for visitors. James Brown, vacuum enthusiast and curator of the museum, owns 130 vacuums and has 65 of those on display. His collection covers the span of domestic cleaning favorites such as Hoovers, Electroluxes, Kirbys and Dysons. Situated inside Mr. Vacuum Cleaner, Brown's sales and repair shop, the museum is free of charge and shows the historical timeline of pre-war domestic hygiene to modern-day cleaning.

Nottinghamshire is the birthplace of David Herbert Lawrence. Wonder what he would have to say about a museum founded -- as claimed by Mister Brown -- on Britain's failure to acknowledge that the vacuum cleaner promoted hygiene.

Better die than live mechanically a life that is a repetition of repetitions. - D. H. Lawrence

or

I like to write when I feel spiteful.. It is like having a good sneeze. - D. H. Lawrence.

Gerrie Ferris Finger
THE END GAME
THE LAST TEMPTATION
THE DEVIL LAUGHED - August 2013
 

A FAIR TO DIE FOR - a Carl Brookins Review

A Fair To Die For

by Radine Trees Nehring
ISBN: 9781610091220
A 2012 release from Oak Tree Press
238 pages (without recipes)

In spite of continual bumps in their road of life, Carrie McCrite and her second husband, Henry, forge onward. They both have healthy, positive attitudes. That’s mildly surprising for Henry. He’s retired from a career as a cop in Kansas City. They expected to live a quiet, typical retiree life in the Ozarks. Fate intervenes, in the form of a long-forgotten cousin named Edith Embler. Edith blows into town looking for family history and bringing behind her a variety of really bad dudes who seem to hang around craft fairs with evil intent.

The story rests in a really clever idea, and the author handles the plot necessities carefully and responsibly. Her skill as a writer puts this novel very much in a positive cozy sort of grouping. Like a lot of traditional American mysteries, this story has a harder edge than is typically found in the classical, traditional, stories from the UK.

Carrie’s experience and generosity of spirit in wanting to help Edith in every possible way play out nicely against her husband’s more suspicious and cautious nature. The novel is interestingly peopled with several unusual characters who add to the richness of the scene. I’ve been reading this author over a number of years and am pleased to recommend this novel. It is in the end a satisfying mystery involving nice people who are truly competent. In the end, one might view with a certain hesitation, if not suspicion, the abrupt arrival of long-lost relatives.

--
Carl Brookins www.carlbrookins.com http://agora2.blogspot.com, Case of the Great Train Robbery, Reunion, Red Sky

MURDER UNSCRIPTED - a Carl Brookins Review

Murder Unscripted

by Clive Rosengren

ISBN: 9781935797197

a 2012 release from

Perfect Crime Books

111 pages, Trade Paper

Eddie Collins is a sometime Hollywood actor and a part-time investigator. He’s cast in the old style; a loner, divorced, he views the world through plain, cracked lenses. Nothing rose-colored here. He’s an authentic character, one you’d be likely to encounter on Sunset Boulevard. If you made the connection and bought him a drink, Eddie might tell you a story. Like this one.

When the scene opens, Eddie Collins is costumed as a cowboy, perched on a fake rock, chewing on yet another piece of chicken. He’s doing a TV commercial for an enterprise called Chubby’s Chicken. A telephone call to his office sends him, on behalf of his client, a bonding company, to the set of a murder. It turns out the deceased actress is Eddie’s former wife.

The novel benefits hugely from the author’s background. He’s a former theater, film and television actor who has appeared in numerous theatrical films and television dramas. Rosengren uses his considerable experience to infuse the novel with authenticity, but he never slides into the bitterness or the whining of too many journey-actors who made a living but never reached starring level. Eddie Collins has come to terms with his career and that’s why he’s become more of an investigator than an actor.

“Murder Unscripted,” is a short, fast, read, well-plotted and intrinsically solid. The characters are enjoyable to follow and the final emotional twists are logical and just right for the character and the tone of the story. I hope to see much more of Eddie Collins in the near future.

--
Carl Brookins www.carlbrookins.com http://agora2.blogspot.com, Case of the Great Train Robbery, Reunion, Red Sky

BAD MOON RISING - a Gerrie Ferris Finger Review

Bad Moon Rising
Frances di Plino, Author
Crooked Cat Publishing
Released March 2012
Gerrie Ferris Finger, Reviewer

Detective Inspector Paolo Storey and his irritating partner Dave Johnson investigate the attempted rape of a prostitute by his boyhood classmate who has an alibi. Lisa Boxer, the prostitute goes missing at the same time Paolo and Dave get a call.


The second murder victim of a sexual deviate has been found by boys chasing a ball into an alley. This prostitute is the second victim in a string perpetrated by a cassock wearing killer who films himself murdering whores. He leaves a part of himself on the bodies. Does he honestly believe he won't be caught because he doesn't exist? Why did this madman come to be addicted to the pain of the lash?


Di Plino's characters are well-developed with complications readers will identify with. Paola has an ex-wife who calls him toxic and a daughter who attends convent school but doesn't believe in the religion. She asserts before classmates that priests are pedophiles. Father Gregory warns Paolo that she must change her philosophy or be expelled from the school. Further complicating his life is his infatuation with Barbara Boyston, a forensic pathologist. Does the prickly doctor she share his infatuation?


It's not a spoiler to say that the second body found was that of Lisa Boxer, thus stepping up the investigation into his old school mate. The deeper the investigation takes him, the more exposed Paolo becomes, endangering everyone he loves. This tight thriller takes many twists and turns before tragically Paolo unmasks the sick killer.

DiPlino’s writing is as solid as her credentials. She is a deputy editor of Words with JAM, writes fiction for the women’s magazine market, features and photo-features for monthly glossy magazines, and is a writing competition judge for Writers’ Forum. Winner of a Petra Kenney International Poetry Award, she has been placed in numerous creative writing and poetry competitions.
Highly Recommended.



Gerrie Ferris Finger
http://www.gerrieferrisfinger.blogspot.com
http://amzn.to/zSseC1 WHISPERING
http://amzn.to/r3imp5 THE GHOST SHIP
http://amzn.to/zSseC1 MERCILESS