First Sentences: The Bone Yard: A Body Farm Novel by Jefferson Bass

"I held the last of the dead man's bones in my left hand. It was his skull, which I cradled upside down in my palm, as comfortably and naturally as an NBA player might hold a basketball. As I searched for a place to hide it, I felt the tip of my index finger absentmindedly tracing the edges of a hole in the right temple. It was a square-cornered opening, about the size of a small postage stamp, and it had been punched by a murder weapon - a weapon I'd tucked into a angle of honeysuckle vines a few moments before." (ch. 1)

The first few sentences from the crime novel, The Bone Yard by Jefferson Bass; Hardcover, 336 pages. Published by William Morrow, March 8, 2011. Genre: thriller. Source: Publisher.

Product description: The onset of summer brings steamy weather to East Tennessee and the Body Farm, Dr. Bill Brockton's human-decomposition research facility at the University of Tennessee. But Brockton's about to get more heat than he's bargained for Angie St. Clair, a forensic analyst with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, asks him to help prove that her sister's death was suicide, but murder.

Brockton's quick consulting trip takes a long, harrowing detour when bones begin turning up amid the pines and live oaks of the Florida panhandle. Two adolescent skulls - ravaged by time and animals, but bearing the telltale signs of lethal fractures - send Brockton, Angie, and special Agent Stu Vickery on a search for the long-lost victims. The quest leads them to the ruins of the North Florida Boys' Reformatory, a notorious juvenile detention facility that met a fiery end more than forty years ago.

About the authors: Jefferson Bass is the writing team of forensic anthropologist Dr. Bill Bass and journalist writer and documentary filmmaker, Jon Jefferson. Visit them at http://www.jeffersonbass.com/

Method Writing - guest post by Kate Lord Brown, author of The Beauty Chorus

Amazon

Beauty Chorus
by Kate Lord Brown
Hardcover: 432 pages
Publisher: Corvus (April 1, 2011)

Welcome, Kate. Thanks for talking to us about your research for your WWII historical novel, The Beauty Chorus.

Kate's post: Method Writing

Doing the research for a new book is in a lot of ways the best part. Rather like Method actors are advised to ‘walk in the shoes’ of their characters, I love immersing myself in the world of the book completely.

After the initial ‘lightbulb moment’ when I read a small obituary about a woman who had flown Spitfires during WW2, I spent months learning all I could about the incredible women of the Air Transport Auxiliary. I scoured archives and museums, read every first hand account I could of what life was like for these brave and beautiful women who came from the US, the UK, from countries all over the world to fly planes to Allied fighter stations in Britain.

I always advise my writing students to engage all their senses when they are writing. If you can let your readers feel what it is like to really be there – what you see, smell, taste, hear, touch – it brings a story to life. Writing ‘The Beauty Chorus’ I immersed myself in the world of a WW2 pilot. I went to aviation displays, walked among people in uniform re-enacting scenes. I researched the perfumes the women might have worn, smelt samples. I experimented with wartime cooking from archived cookbooks, listened to swing music and jazz standards from Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday. I looked at vintage clothing, touched the fabrics, got up close to fighter planes and felt what it was like to handle them.

Hopefully all this will bring my debut novel to life. I’ve woven fact and fiction together – I hope readers will really feel they are part of this world, and that they won’t be able to spot the join between what really happened, and what I have imagined.

Book Description:
"New Year's Eve, 1940: Evie Chase, the beautiful debutante daughter of a rich and adoring RAF commander, listens wistfully to the swing music drifting out from the ballroom, unable to join in the fun. With bombs falling nightly in London, she is determined that the coming year will bring a lot more than dances, picnics and tennis matches. She is determined to make a difference to the war effort. 5th January, 1941: Evie curses her fashionable heels as they skid on the frozen ground of her local airfield. She is here to join the ATA, the civilian pilots who ferry Tiger Moths and Spitfires to bases across war-torn Britain. Two other women wait nervously to join up: Stella Grainger, a forlorn young mother who has returned from Singapore without her baby boy and Megan Jones, an idealistic teenager who has never left her Welsh village. Billeted together in a tiny cottage in a sleepy country village, Evie, Stella and Megan must learn to live and work together. Brave, beautiful and fiercely independent, these women soon move beyond their different backgrounds as they find romance, confront loss, and forge friendships that will last a lifetime."

About the Author: Visit Kate at http://www.katelordbrown.blogspot.com/
Kate studied Philosophy at Durham University, and Art History at the Courtauld Institute of Art. She is currently taking a Masters degree. She worked as an art consultant, curating collections for palaces and embassies in Europe and the Middle East, and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. She was a finalist in UK ITV’s the People’s Author competition in 2009. Her debut novel ‘The Beauty Chorus’ is published by Corvus, Atlantic 1/4/11. 

Her book is available at Amazon.UK

Secret Daughter: A Novel by Shilpi Somaya Gowda

Teaser Tuesdays asks you to choose sentences at random from your current read. Identify the author and title for readers.

Secret Daughter by Shilpi Somaya Gowda
Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: HarperCollins (March 15, 2010)
Genre: fiction, women's fiction
Source: Publisher

Somer looks up at her mother. "Mom, what do you think about adoption?"
Her mother smiles. "I think it's a wonderful idea. Are you considering it?"
"Maybe...there are all these kids over in India who need families, need homes." (ch. 10)

Product description: "On the eve of the monsoons, in a remote Indian village, Kavita gives birth to Asha. But in a culture that favours sons, the only way for Kavita to save her newborn daughter's life is to give her away. It is a decision that will haunt her and her husband for the rest of their lives, even after the arrival of their cherished son. Halfway around the globe, Somer, an American doctor, decides to adopt a child after making the wrenching discovery that she will never have one of her own. When she and her husband Krishnan see a photo of baby Asha from a Mumbai orphanage, they are overwhelmed with emotion for her. Somer knows life will change with the adoption, but is convinced that the love they already feel will overcome all obstacles.

Interweaving the stories of Kavita, Somer, and Asha, "Secret Daughter" poignantly explores issues of culture and belonging. Moving between two worlds and two families, one struggling to survive in the fetid slums of Mumbai, the other grappling to forge a cohesive family despite their diverging cultural identities, this powerful debut novel marks the arrival of a fresh talent poised for great success."

Comments: The topic of international adoptions will  resonate favorably with many families in the U.S. This touching novel that follows a family through 20 years will interest all readers.

GIVEAWAY: HarperCollinsPublishers has offered to give away a copy of Secret Daughter to a reader.
UPDATE: The winner of the giveaway contest, chosen by Randomizer, is JennyQ!

Book Reviews: Deadly Threads; and The Illusion of Murder

Deadly Threads (Josie Prescott Antiques Mysteries)
by Jane K. Cleland
Hardcover, April 12, 2011
Genre: mystery

After reading this enjoyable cozy mystery about antiques, I decided to catalog my books and things, although none of these are valuable! I got into the mood of cataloguing and sorting, and my books certainly need it.

In this mystery novel, an unusual pearl button found at the scene of a crime leads to the murderer of the owner of vintage clothing and furniture. Josie Prescott is the amateur sleuth and owner of an antiques shop who discovers the body and does the solving. I rated this read a 5 in cozy mystery books.

The Illusion of Murder
by Carol McCleary
Hardcover, April 12, 2011
Genre: historical mystery

This novel sent me on an historical adventure to Egypt in the late 19th Century, and a trip all around the world, following news reporter Nelly Bly as she tries to span the globe in less than 80 days, completing her tour in 72 days.

Along the way she witnesses a murder, is involved in its subsequent intrigue, and helps foil a murderous plot of international importance. A good read, with lots of references to well known people and events of the day. The extensive research that went into her book made it all the more enjoyable.  I rated it 4.5 out of 5 for an historical mystery.

Book Review: My Korean Deli by Ben Ryder Howe

From the new memoir, My Korean Deli: Risking It All for a Convenience Store by Ben Ryder Howe, a New York writer:

"Last summer my wife's family and I decided to buy a deli. By fall, with loans from three different relatives, two new credit cards, and a sad kiss good-bye to thirty thousand dollars my wife and I had saved while living in my mother-in-law's Staten Island basement, we had rounded up the money. Now it is November, and we are searching New York City for a place to buy." (ch. 1)

Publisher's description: "It starts with a gift, when Ben Ryder Howe's wife, the daughter of Korean immigrants, decides to repay her parents' self-sacrifice by buying them a store. Howe, an editor at the rarefied Paris Review, agrees to go along. Things soon become a lot more complicated. My Korean Deli follows the store's tumultuous life span, and along the way paints the portrait of an extremely unlikely partnership between characters with shoots across society, from the Brooklyn streets to Seoul to Puritan New England. Owning the deli becomes a transformative experience for everyone involved as they struggle to salvage the original gift—and the family—while sorting out issues of values, work, and identity."

Comments: A cute, amusing memoir about family, culture, and a financial attempt in the diverse city of New York.

About the author: Ben Ryder Howe is a former senior editor of The Paris Review and has written for The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, and Outside. His work has been selected for Best American Travel Writing.  He and his family live on Staten Island.

Book Review: Running on Empty by Sandra Balzo

'You know,' Tucker said slowly. ' I honestly hadn't thought of it, but you and your mother must be suspects. At least, technically speaking.'
AnnaLise gulped.
He said, 'Has the chief talked to you?'
'Well, yes,' said AnnaLise. 'But...'
'You both have alibis?' (ch. 15)

(from an advance uncorrected proof. Final copy may differ)

Running on Empty (Main Street Mysteries)
by Sandra Balzo
Publisher: Severn House Publishers, April 1, 2011
Hardcover: 192 pages
Genre: mystery, cozy
Source: ARC provided by author
Objective rating: 3.75 out of 5

My comments: A cozy mystery with a Southern flavor, both in its setting and its colorful characters. The novel works to give us a taste of the people and ways of small town North Carolina. This emphasis on place only detracts slightly, however, from the mystery plot that gradually unfolds. Cozy readers will like life on Main Street and the new amateur sleuth, AnnaLise Griggs.

Book description: "While life on Sutherton's Main Street had often been inexplicably hazardous, the day Daisy Griggs siphoned nearly three pints from Mrs. Bradenham during the annual blood drive seemed
to set a new standard, even by the unusual measure of this North Carolina resort town. Answering the summons, AnnaLise returns home to find Labor Day preparations in full swing. But this traditional celebration promises to be no picnic. People are dying and unless AnnaLise can figure out why, her mother Daisy may be next."

About the author: Sandra Balzo is known for her Maggy Thorsen coffeehouse mystery series. Her second series, Main Street Mysteries, began in April with RUNNING ON EMPTY. The mysteries are set in the popular vacation destination of North Carolina's High Country.

Book Review: The Civilized World by Susi Wyss

The Civilized World: A Novel in Stories by Susi Wyss, March 29, 2011.

"Does being born on a Monday have any special meaning in your culture?" Janice asked.

"It's just our tradition to name children after the day of the week on which they're born, though many people think a person's qualities can be predicted by their name. Monday-borns are said to be quiet."
(from the story, "Monday Born")

Publisher's description: This stunning literary debut is a novel in stories set in Africa and the United States that follows two Ghanaian and three American women as their lives intersect in unexpected and explosive ways. "

My comments: The stories follow Adjoa who leaves Ghana to open the Precious Brother Salon in the Ivory Coast, about Comfort and her American daughter-in-law Linda, about the American Ophelia, and also about another American, Janice, who moves to Ghana. The stories reflect the author's background working in Africa for almost 20 years. She brings her knowledge of the culture and the women to nine short stories that make up this novel. Highly recommended for those interested in women's fiction and in African cultures.

Paperback: 256 pages. Publisher: Holt Paperbacks (March 29, 2011)
Source: Review copy provided by publisher
Genre: fiction, literary fiction
Objective rating: 4 out of 5