Book Review: Murder Buys a T-Shirt by Christy Fifield

Title: Murder Buys a T-Shirt: A Haunted Souvenir Shop Mystery
Author: Christy Fifield
Paperback published March 6, 2012 by Berkley
Source: contest win

Comments: A cute cozy, first in a new series, with an ever popular haunted theme. In this series, Glory's Southern Treasures shop in the Florida Keys is haunted by her deceased Uncle Louis, who gives her clues and cryptic comments through his parrot, Bluebeard. A clever scenario and set up for the cozy. I couldn't guess the culprit in the murder of the local high school football hero, and the plot was carefully crafted. My only gripe with this and with many recent cozies - there is not enough action and suspense. Instead there is padding that makes it easy for the reader to flip through the book and still get the meat of the mystery.

Publisher's description:

Glory Martine has inherited her uncle's Florida souvenir shop, one stuffed with collectibles, mementos of times gone by--and ghosts--who, like her customers, refuse to let go of the past. But things take an even more unexpected turn when a local football hero dies far too suddenly and suspiciously. Now, Glory has to uncover the truth before someone makes her history...

My rating: 3.5/5. I am looking forward to the next in the series. I liked Bluebeard's antics and his @!!& language.

The Girl Next Door by Brad Parks

Title: The Girl Next Door by Brad Parks
Published March 13, 2012 by Minotaur Books
Source: ARC for review
Genre: mystery

Book description: "When a delivery person for the Eagle-Examiner ends up in the paper's obituaries, investigative reporter Carter Ross decides to write a human interest piece on her. But at the funeral, he learns that this kind-hearted victim of a hit-and-run may have had a few enemies - including the publisher of their own paper. Suddenly Carter's little story is big news. And the deeper he digs, the deadlier it gets..."

Comments: As a former newsroom employee, I was amused and just a bit delighted that this mystery was set in a newspaper, with managers, editors, reporters, newspaper deliverers, union employees, and of course, a publisher. It described a familiar environment. I was even more amused when the publisher and possibly an editor of the paper became the main suspects in this murder mystery. Toward the last quarter of the book, I guessed who the hit-and-run culprit was, although I didn't guess the motives.

A delightful read for me, especially the first half of the book, set in the newsroom, with its own code of behavior, rules, and modus operandi. I recommend this book for those who also love a good mystery and are curious about the inner workings of a newspaper.

Brad Parks is the first author to win both the Shamus Award and the Nero Award for Best American Mystery for his debut novel, Faces of the Gone. A former reporter for The Washington Post and The [Newark] Star-Ledger, he lives in Virginia, and this is his third novel in the mystery series.

Book Review: From the Ashes by Jeremy Burns

Title: From the Ashes: A Jonathan Rickner Thriller by Jeremy Burns
Paperback: 394 pages; Fiction Std (January 17, 2012)
Genre: thriller
Rating: 4.5/5

"Jon, I...I think I've stumbled onto something big. When I say 'hot topic,' I mean 'Earth shattering.' 'History rewriting.' 'Instant career making.'"(ch. 2)

Comments: A political not a religious thriller, From the Ashes reminded me nevertheless of The DaVinci Code, in its message of old conspiracies, deadly secrets carried into the present, and lots of codes as clues. In this case, a graduate student Michael is killed when he discovers a political cover up from the days preceding and during WWII. His older brother Jon and his fiancee Mara find Michael's notebook with maps and notes and try to discover the secrets that led to Michael's death.

In the novel, the late billionaire philanthropist John D. Rockefeller Jr. and the Hoover administration made decisions in the early 1930s regarding Germany, the Communist movement, and the emerging Nazi party. A secret arm of the CIA is hell bent on keeping these a secret and finding Rockefeller's revealing Dossiers, hidden among the buildings and monuments Rockefeller funded and built in the middle of Manhattan. Rather than the Vatican City as in the DaVinci Code, the setting the two protagonists rush through is Manhattan, where they discover clues that lead to other clues to the hidden Dossiers, which the Division and its assassins are dedicated to find and either hide or destroy.

Lots of action, with very bad guys hunting Jon and Mara as they try to work their way in and out of this political and historical maze. A very enjoyable plot- centered read. How much of the history, if any, might be truth or fiction is left by the author for the reader to decide.

About the author: Jeremy Burns is a former educator and journalist. He taught literature, political science, creative writing, and philosophy at an international school in Dubai, and has traveled to countries across four continents. He lives in Florida, at work on his next novel.


Thanks to Partners in Crime Virtual Book Tours for a review copy of this book. Click on their link for more tour hosts and reviews of From the Ashes.

The Practicing Mind by Thomas M. Sterner

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme hosted by MizB and asks you to choose sentences at random from your current read. Identify the author and title for readers.

As we attempt to understand ourselves and our struggles with life's endeavors, we may find peace in the observation of a flower. Ask yourself, At what point in a flower's life, from seed to full bloom, does it reach perfection? (ch. 3, It's How You Look at It)
Nonjudgement is the pathway to a quiet mind. (ch. 7)
Habits are learned, Choose them wisely.( ch. 4, Creating the Habits We Desire)

Title: The Practicing Mind: Developing Focus and Discipline in Your Life- Master Any Skill or Challenge by Learning to Love the Process
Author: Thomas M. Sterner; Paperback: 168 pages
Published April 10, 2012, New World Library

Publisher's description: "Present moment awareness is an essential to experience authentic peace and contentment. It has been acknowledged as the cornerstone of spiritual awakening in Eastern thought. The Practicing Mind deals with helping the individual understand exactly what present moment awareness is, and how we change our mindset to make this a part of our daily living. This book is accessible to readers of all philosophical backgrounds.

The Practicing Mind is full of insights, stories, and advice for mastering new skills with less frustration and more pleasure by learning to love the process. Sterner explains that rediscovering this state of mind is a skill in and of itself that comes down to a few simple rules:

• Keep yourself process-oriented.

• Stay in the present.

• Make the process the goal and use the overall goal as a rudder to steer your efforts.

• Be deliberate, have an intention about what you want to accomplish, and remain aware of that intention."

About the Author: Thomas M. Sterner spent over 25 years as a concert piano technician and rebuilder. He witnessed the level of art afforded those with a disciplined mind. His career also provided a strong impetus toward inner awareness. Sterner lives in Delaware, composing music, writing inspirational books, and publishing audio books through his company, Mountain Sage Publishing.

I received a complimentary review copy of this book.

Sunday Salon: Spring Reading

Welcome to the Sunday Salon.

A robin has been building a nest for weeks outside my window.
April winds shake the small tree, her bits of twigs and grass blow away.
Has she lost her ability to make a nest? It keeps falling, bits and pieces.
Perhaps she will triumph today, before the new winds blow.

On my spring reading list:
The Ghost of Lily Painter by Caitlin Davis, a haunted house thriller.

Ashes to Dust by Yrsa Sigurdardottir, Scandinavian thriller

The Wild Wood Enquiry by Ann Purser, cozy mystery

Murder Buys a T-Shirt , thanks to Kaye, Pudgy Penquin Perusal

The Concubine Saga by Lloyd Lofthouse, historical fiction

An Unexpected Guest by Anne Korkeakivi, re a British diplomat's wife in Paris

The Lost Ones by Ace Atkins, thriller

Under Oath by Margaret McLean, legal thriller

The Fear Artist by Timothy Hallinan, thriller set in Thailand

I'm reading these two memoirs for TLC book tours this month and next:

Lucky Child by Loung Ung, a Daughter of Cambodia Reunites with the Sister She Left Behind, memoir

Lulu in the Sky by Loung Ung, a Daughter of Cambodia Finds Love, Healing, and Double Happiness, memoir

And for lighter reading, I have two library books: Sophie Kinsella's Twenties Girl and Remember Me?

Whew! Would you believe I'm also doing some writing of my own? What have you been up to and what are you reading?

Book Review: The Big Kitty by Claire Donally

"You don't seem too familiar with cats, if you don't mind my saying so. What'd he do, adopt you?"
"I - I guess so," Sunny admitted. (ch.14)

Title: The Big Kitty: A Sunny and Shadows Mystery
Author: Claire Donally
Paperback: 304 pages; Berkley; May 1, 2012

I had just gotten this book and couldn't resist reading it right away. The big kitty on the cover drew me in, but as I opened the book, I hoped I wasn't going to be meeting a talking cat. Luckily for me, Shadow doesn't talk to humans, but we find out what he's thinking through our omniscient narrator, the author, who tell us all.

Shadow was an independent cat, who came and went as he pleased, fed and housed by a Cat Lady who owned dozens of other cats. When the cat lady Ada is found dead at the bottom of her basement stairs, a new person comes into his life - Sunny, a young woman whom he follows home and who takes him in, in spite of her elderly father who tries many times to get rid of him.

Nevertheless, Shadow becomes a big help to Sunny, a part-time reporter, and helps in her investigation of the cat lady Ada, whose death is ruled a homicide. Ada had let everyone know that she had misplaced a winning lottery ticket worth six million dollars and was searching for it. Several people in the small Maine town had good reason to want that ticket.

The big kitty saves Sunny's life at least once during her investigation, and so becomes one of a team of two - amateur sleuths in this first in the new cozy series. It's a cute twosome and a clever play of words in the name -Sunny and Shadow.

Sunny's personality and Shadow's silent but intriguing point of view make the cozy worthwhile, though I found this story lagged in the second half.  I am looking forward to the next in the series!

I received a complimentary review copy of The Big Kitty.

Guest Post by Amy Lignor author of The Angel Chronicles

Title: Until Next Time: The Angel Chronicles by Amy Lignor
Publisher: Tribute Books (January 24, 2012) ; eBook

"A True Inspiration" by AMY LIGNOR

I was thrilled when I was asked to be a part of this blog and tell readers how Emily and Matt - the angel/warrior team - came into being. According to Webster, inspiration is a stimulation for the human mind to do creative work. But where does the stimulation come from? Not to sound hokey, but mine came from finding a best friend at a time when I really needed one.

Thirteen is the age where the whole world looks like a real mess. (It’s not until later in life that we come to KNOW the world is a real mess. But losing someone I loved at that age was devastating to me because he was my best friend. Up until that moment I’d been writing stories about history and mythology. My mom was a research librarian and she passed along the love of old legends, but when my grandfather left my life, things changed. I actually began to wonder about angels, such as: if they were real, why on earth would they come to this messed-up place?

I wanted to know where Grandpa was and if he was doing okay, and my dreams turned away from Mount Olympus and ended up in a very grand library. I loved that place - it had every book known to mankind; groups of eager looking students walking around; a few adults who seemed to be ‘watching’ carefully; and a young boy named Matt.

Matt was my age and was hysterical. He would sit and talk to me in that library and I always thought we’d get kicked out for being too loud. But he ‘showed me around’ and spoke a great deal about his training and what he was waiting for - the chance to come ‘down’ and have a life. He was all excited about adventure, and when I would speak about how awful it was, he would just smile and say that he wanted a chance at a life - a chance to fight, defend…maybe even fall in love. That’s how Matt became a reality for me - a spark of imagination that helped lead me through the troubled time of losing my grandfather.

Years later when I lost my father, Matt returned, and I finally knew that the world should meet him and his partner. They should see their journeys through life - the people they had to defend, save…even the people they had to take. I wanted readers to know about what I saw and how different everything was from what is ‘in print,’ and how there was fun, laughter, lighthearted sarcasm at times - and the real difference between their lot in life and ours.

I’ve worked on The Angel Chronicles for a while now, and over time I’ve gone back to edit, change, add - a writer never stops, as all writers out there will tell you. There’s always something that can be ‘tweaked’ as time goes on. But I was absolutely thrilled when the YA world began accepting the ‘winged ones.’ The ‘fanged ones’ had been all the rage for so long that it was nice to see an angel take charge once in a while (LOL).

Emily and Matt will never ‘fall’ into the ‘fallen’ category. They are a team that come from a place where things make sense, and enter into a world where they could be torn apart by the emotions - good and evil - that they find surrounding them all of a sudden. But the one thing they will always have is another chance. And, to me, that has to be one of the greatest gifts anyone could possibly ever receive. Until Next Time, as well as the others in this series, are a true inspiration to me, and I hope readers will find them to be their new ‘best friends’ when they head out on the adventures that this angel/warrior team take!

Thank you for giving them a spot on your site, and in your lives!

Until Next Time, Everybody.
Amy


*****

Until Next Time: The Angel Chronicles, Book 1 Summary

How does a girl choose between the one who steals her heart and the one who owns her soul?

Matt and Emily were created for a specific job. Raised and trained as the ultimate angel/warrior team, they are sent down to save, defend, judge and forgive, depending on the 'life' they've been assigned. What they don't realize is that the power of human emotions, such as love, anger, passion and fear can take over even the best of souls, causing them to make mistakes and follow paths that lead to confusion and heartache.

When the reason for their training is finally revealed, the angel/warrior team find themselves thrust into a world they know nothing about. Matt takes over the life of Daniel, a young man with a great deal of baggage. Emily becomes Liz, a girl living in a remote village who relies on nothing more than her own strength to survive. A violent storm erupts one night, and framed in the window of Liz's establishment is a frightening face. Let in by the soul of a Good Samaritan, the two visitors bring with them a past full of secrets that could literally change an angel's path and a warrior's plans.

From murder to redemption, this angel/warrior team must find a way to keep the faith they have in each other in a world that's ripping them apart.

Author Bio:

Amy Lignor, who lives in New Mexico, began her career at Grey House Publishing in Connecticut where she was the Editor-in-Chief of educational and business directories. She also owns The Write Companion, which offers writers a full range of editorial services. She has published several works of fiction.

The guest post and book tour are hosted by Tribute Books Blog Tours.
For more interviews, guest posts, and reviews of the book, visit http://the-angel-chronicles.blogspot.com/