Reprise Review: The Mysterious Case of the Golden Egg / Ernie Lindsey

Reviewed by: BigAl with input from The Princess

Genre: Middle Grade/ Young Adult / Mystery

Approximate word count: 60-65,000 words

Availability    

Kindle  US: YES  UK: YES  Nook: YES  Smashwords: NO  Paper: YES

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Author:

An author of primarily mystery and suspense for adults, Ernie Lindsey has at least ten novels and numerous short stories available. His book Sara’s Game was on the USA Today bestseller list and reached #2 on the Kindle Bestseller list. A native of the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia, Lindsey and his family now make their home in Oregon.

For more, visit the author’s website.

Description:

“The sudden and unexpected arrival of a mysterious package interrupts Hat Tintersmoot’s twelfth birthday. Where did it come from? Who left it? Once she discovers that the small cardboard box is a gift from her Grandpa Gordon, the mystery deepens...considering the fact that he passed away three years ago.

The handwritten note reads, “Inside this box is an impossible mystery that only the purest of hearts can ever hope to uncover. Solve it, and you will discover the answer to one of the greatest secrets ever.”

It’s another perfect job for the owner of The Marshmallow Hammer Detective Agency. With the help of a new best friend, and her first official employee, Hat must uncover the truth behind five difficult clues in order to find the answer to the greatest secret ever.”

Appraisal:

Twelve year-old Halcyone Acasia Tintersmoot, known as “Hat” (her initials and the thing you wear on your head). She has this nickname for the obvious reason that her real name is a mouthful. She’s the owner of “The Marshmallow Hammer Detective Agency.” You won’t find it in the phone book, but it is as real as it gets, at least to Hat. Although this is the first book in the series, Hat mentions other cases she’s worked on and sometimes solved.  “The Case of the Disappearing Toothbrush,” is one. You’ve probably worked a case like that one yourself. “The Mysterious Case of the Cute Boy on the School Bus” is an open case that Hat manages to solve while working on the current case.

When I read and review children’s books, I’ll sometimes draft The Princess, my now eleven year-old granddaughter, to assist. Our process is for her to read a book first, then tell me what she thought, with likes, dislikes, and a letter grade, just like a report card. I’ll then read the book so I can add my impressions while watching for the things The Princess has mentioned. I think The Mysterious Case of the Golden Egg received the most accolades of any book we’ve done this with. Her report to me started with “I liked this a lot” and ended with, “I’d give it a grade of A plus, plus, plus …” I finally told her I got the idea so she’d stop with the pluses.

The mystery to be solved was set up by Hat’s grandfather, who died three years earlier. Before he died, which he knew was coming, he’d arranged for Hat to receive the first clue on her twelfth birthday. Grandpa Gordon was a private detective and liked to talk to Hat about his cases, which was Hat’s inspiration to become a detective. One of the comments The Princess made was that the mystery wasn’t like some, where you found out the solution, and felt cheated that the clues weren’t there to solve it while reading. She felt the clues were tough, but also liked that many of them she was able to figure out. The mystery hit the right balance for the age the book is aimed for. The Princess also thought the book would be fun to read aloud to younger kids and although it would be an easy read for an adult, she thought “even a grownup would like it.”

The Princess was right. I was surprised at how much I liked this book. The clues were fun to try and figure out, and not too easy, even for someone several times older than the target reader. As Hat works her way through the clues she meets and helps several of her Grandpa’s friends (an aspect of the book The Princess also thought important enough to mention) and in doing so learns a lot of life lessons that Grandpa knew he wouldn’t be around to teach her in person. The Princess and I both hope the author continues this series. It’s off to a great start.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues.

Rating: ***** Five Stars

The day we all finally had enough / Mark Anderson Smith

Reviewed by: BigAl

Genre: Science Fiction/Short Story

Approximate word count: 5-6,000 words

Availability

Kindle US: YES UK: YES Nook: YES Smashwords: NO Paper: NO

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Author:

“Mark Anderson Smith has no belly button. He finds the tale of how he lost it too harrowing to recount and is sure it is not a false memory planted to hide his origins as a clone. Born and raised (he is quite certain of this) in Scotland, he has cried 'Freedom!' to border guards across Central Asia, but was only arrested twice, both times using his lack of Russian to great advantage.”

Description:

"Everyone knows who started it. Not many people know why. The case of Marjorie Carter was hushed up as fast as the government could manage, though their attempts were utterly futile. Still, they did succeed in quashing most of her history, wiping out her online presence, little as it was. Removing her identity from their databases... Almost able to deny she had ever existed... if it wasn’t for that video of her running naked from 10 Downing Street, July 21st 2020."

“Set in the near future, this science fiction short story imagines what might happen on the day we all have finally had enough.”

Appraisal:

If your opinion of politicians could be described as a love/hate relationship, minus the love, this short story might be your thing. It immediately drew me in and kept me wondering where it was headed until the end. A quick and entertaining read with a little vicarious revenge that you'll never be indicted for.

FYI:

Uses UK spelling conventions.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues.

Rating: **** Four Stars

Reprise Review: Fragmented / George Fong

Reviewed by: Keith Nixon

Genre: Crime / Thriller

Approximate word count: 70-75 ,000 words

Availability    

Kindle  US: YES  UK: YES  Nook: NO  Smashwords: NO  Paper: YES

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Author:

George Fong is a retired FBI agent with 27 years service investigating violent crimes from robberies to murder. He is currently the Director of Security for ESPN. George started writing to find himself again. Fragmented is his debut novel.

You can learn more about the author at his website.

Description:

Five years ago Alvin Cooper murdered his family. No-one knows why, even FBI Special Agent Jack Paris who investigated the original case.

Then Cooper escapes from a minimum security prison. When a young girl goes missing Cooper is the chief suspect and Paris is on the killer’s trail again, trying to find the girl before the past happens all over again…

Appraisal:

I’ll admit to a bias right up front – I struggle with anything, whether it’s film or written word – that has child abuse at its heart. This is not to say that Fragmented is graphic or abusive, it’s not. But the idea of a child being kidnapped and maybe abused sends me cold.

However, putting this to one side as much as possible, Fragmented is a very well written book. It is pacy and peppered with twists and turns throughout. Just as the detectives think they’re getting near their man and the child, he’s gone again in a puff of smoke. Tension is created from pretty much the first page and remains throughout.

Fragmented shines a light on the murky world of abuse. It’s not pretty and the author stops short of a full punch to the gut, but it’s close enough. And I guess that’s where the strength of this story lies. That the author was able to produce this level of reaction within me.

The characters are strong, particularly Jack Paris. After twenty years in the FBI he’s wondering if there’s more to life, with an estranged wife and a job offer on the table he’s on the cusp of change. The author’s own knowledge and experience shines through. Fong also benefitted from the quality editing of Joe Clifford, himself a leading writer.

An excellent debut – it’s clear Fong has a hell of a career ahead of him.

FYI:

Some difficult scenes.

Format/Typo Issues:

Nothing of note.

Rating: ***** Five Stars

I.T. Geek to Farm Girl Freak: Leaving High Tech for Greener Pastures / S.A. Molteni

Reviewed by: BigAl

Genre: Memoir

Approximate word count: 14-15,000 words

Availability

Kindle US: YES UK: YES Nook: NO Smashwords: NO Paper: YES

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Author:

“S.A. Molteni is a retired systems engineer. She is also currently a hobby farmer, avid traveler and an author of several award-winning short stories. She lives on a small homestead with her husband and a menagerie of farm animals.”

For more, visit her blog or like her page on Facebook.

Description:

“Have you ever wanted to ditch the nine-to-five job and move as far away as possible from the rat race?

Have you ever just wanted peace and quiet in a rural setting away from the sprawl of suburbia?

Have you found yourself daydreaming about pasture lands and farm animals on a daily basis?

That's exactly what the author found herself contemplating - more often than not - while working at a high tech job in Seattle.

With her husband 3,000 miles away in Florida and the passing of her father, she knew it was time to make some serious changes in her life. She was ready for an adventure, but little did she know what lay in store for her at the 'fixer upper' farmhouse she and her husband would soon own.

S.A. Molteni has spent over thirty years in the Information Technology field working for various Fortune 500 companies. During those years, she and her husband had always dreamed of living on a farm once they became retired from the rat race.

This collection of essays follows the author in her sometimes humorous transition from I.T. Geek to Farm Girl Freak and depicts the lessons that are learned along the way once farm animals become a large part of her life.”

Appraisal:

When I read a memoir I hope to learn or gain something to help in my own journey through life. That might be coming to a better understanding of a group of people much different than me. It could be getting a different perspective on experiences I share with the author (or even validation if we see comparable experiences in the same way). Sometimes it's inspiration. It could even turn into a bit of a how-to book, if the experiences chronicled are something you'd like to do.

As an I.T. Geek who wouldn't mind escaping the corporate rat race, I'd have loved it if I'd have found the last of these. (Even though a farm would be the absolute last place I'd seek refuge.) That wish was probably too much to hope for. (And to be fair, what is required to make the escape is fairly obvious, albeit, not easy to accomplish.) Instead what I gained from reading this short memoir was more generic and more applicable to the average potential reader as well.

The book is a collection of essays the author wrote about her experiences making the transition from I.T. Geek to Farm Girl Freak with the majority of the stories about adapting to her new life on the farm. At the end of most of these essays or stories the author tells the reader what the “life lesson learned” was for her. For example, one is “You never know what you are capable of until you try.” Really the lessons to be gleaned are two-fold. The generic lesson the author lists is the first, but I found that by combining her stories with my experiences, I could also find additional lessons of my own. Maybe you'll find the same.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues.

Rating: **** Four Stars

Born In A Burial Gown / Mike Craven

Reviewed by: Keith Nixon

Genre: Crime / Thriller / Police Procedural

Approximate word count: 75-80,000 words

Availability

Kindle US: YES UK: YES Nook: YES Smashwords: NO Paper: YES

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Author:

Mike Craven is a native Cumbrian where all his writing is set. His sixteen years in the probation service form a foundation for his work.

You can learn more about the author at his website.

Description:

Detective Inspector Avison Fluke is a man on the edge. He has committed a crime to get back to work, concealed a debilitating illness, and is about to be made homeless. Just as he thinks things can't get any worse, the body of a young woman is found buried on a wet, Cumbrian building site. Shot once in the back of the head, execution style, it is a cold, calculated murder.

When the post-mortem reveals she has gone to significant expense in disguising her appearance, and the only clue to her identity is a strange series of numbers, Fluke knows this is no ordinary murder. With the help of a psychotic ex-Para, a gangland leader, and a woman more interested in maggots than people, Fluke must find out who she was and why she was murdered before he can even think about finding her killer.

As the body count rises and his investigation takes him from poverty stricken estates to picture perfect Lake District villages, he realizes his troubles are only just beginning. Because someone, somewhere has a plan and if Fluke can't figure out what's happening, he may just be next…

Appraisal:

Born In A Burial Gown was longlisted for the CWA Debut Dagger Award and it’s easy to see why. This is a consummate police procedural and for several very good reasons. First is the significant depth of detail into investigative processes rarely seen elsewhere. If you’re into the whys and wherefores, Burial Gown has it, although Craven manages not to bog the reader down in detail.

Second is the characterization, Fluke in particular is great. Suitably damaged, suitably driven he pushes the already fast-paced story along in his own way.

Third is the setting. Cumbria (aka The Lake District) is a beautiful (albeit wet) area in the North West of England more known for its tourist attractions than criminal fraternity. Craven offsets the two beautifully.

Finally there’s the plot itself. The woman’s murder and the mystery that ensues is compelling and Craven reveals just enough to keep pulling the reader through to the very satisfying end.

Simply superb.

FYI:

Nothing major for a crime novel.

Format/Typo Issues:

Nothing worth a mention.

Rating: ***** Five Stars

One Night in the Hill Country / Felipe Adan Lerma

Join me in welcoming our newest Pal, Sam Waite, with his first review for Books and Pals today.

Reviewed by: Sam Waite

Genre: Suspense

Approximate word count: 25-30,000 words

Availability

Kindle US: YES UK: YES Nook: NO Smashwords: NO Paper: NO

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Author:

Felipe Adan Lerma’s works of fiction include, among others, the Samantha (Sam) Lacroix series of suspense novels; Slumming in Paris series of short works, and several books of poems. When not writing fiction, Mr. Lerma spends time with his grandchildren, practices yoga and paints.

For more, visit his website.

Description:

A young Mexican girl wandering the streets of a Texas border town is picked up by an apparently well intentioned woman who steals a kitten from a truck for the girl to hold and to help win her trust. The kitten is later the key to a mystery. The girl is taken to a Hill Country vineyard and held with other children by the woman and her brother, who put a twist on human trafficking. The children are used as bait to lure pedophiles. The siblings were abused as children and left with deeply scared psyches that fuel not only their drive for vengeance, but also latent incestuous feelings.

Appraisal:

The creative story line and early hook of the lone girl picked up on the border promise more than the book delivers. The twisted and scared characters that should chill the reader or evoke admiration and sympathy aren’t satisfyingly developed. Lupita’s parents were killed and she is told to flee or she will die. Why did she go to the U.S. instead of to a family member in Mexico? How did she cross the border? Why did she trust the woman, Tara? What are her fears or ambitions? The psychotic brother Rolf isn’t the dark and scary madman a reader deserves to hate. Tara goes through the motions of kidnapping children to bait bad guys, but we don’t see inside her mind. Have the siblings actually encountered a pedophile? We aren’t told or shown. What did or would they do if they caught one? There’s no hint.

The kitten, which has a distinctive star pattern on its head, is an intriguing plot device, but it is tracked down by a young boy using the Internet. I gave this a go on Google. It’s a stretch, even if one of the kidnappers had used a home computer to post kitten photos.

Many sentences simply made no sense or were jarringly bad writing:

“They lay breathless like a hand without a thumb.”

“Lupita ran her other eye up one side of the door’s light then the other.”

“Only their breaths moved.”

“Tara felt her brother tense…brought him tightly to her, breasts pressed, small vibrating balloons on flat rock.”

Still, the pacing is quick, the writing terse and the plot imaginative.

Format/Typo Issues:

Problems with basic English plague the writing. A camera was robbed, which caused this reader to wonder what items the robber stole from the camera. “Bard wire” was a humorous standout among many typos and misspellings such as over-done, re-confirming, “now” instead of “know.” “Further” is consistently used to indicate distance. The book is written in third person, except for one inexplicable switch to first person. “I knew what he meant, but said, ‘How do you mean.’”

There is curious use of the dash, which sometimes replaces periods, or commas or in this case dropped into what should be a blank space:

“Tara gazed down at the girl - staring at Tara's childhood whelp on her arm.”

Rating: *** Three Stars

Beware The Hawk / A.J. O’Connell

Reviewed by: Pete Barber

Genre: Thriller

Approximate word count: 15-16,000 words

Availability

Kindle US: YES UK: YES Nook: YES Smashwords: YES Paper: YES

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Author:

A.J. O’Connell is an author, journalist and adjunct professor who lives and labors in Connecticut. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Fairfield University. Her work has appeared on the website for National Public Radio, in Citizen Culture Magazine, The Battered Suitcase, The Wheel and various anthologies. She has reported for The Norwalk Hour and the Boston Herald.

Description:
Our main character (we never get her name) is a feisty young woman with serious tattoos. An artist by leaning, she earns a good salary working as a courier for “The Resistance.” She knows little to nothing about her paymasters, but when she’s involved in a collection that goes awry, The Resistance assumes she’s talked to the authorities and she becomes the hunted.

Appraisal:

Firstly, credit where it’s due. Kudos for a great first sentence—“I hurt my ankle as soon as I stepped into Boston.”

This is a novelette that serves as a sampler for a book series. I loved the writing—flippant, slick, noir. The MC was fun—street-wise and never short of a smart-assed comment or thought. The “world” was in the future, but not so far that iPhones had gone out of style. The locations were nicely gritty.

My only qualm was that the story ended in a cliff-hanger. Buy-the-series was clearly the message, but I’d have preferred a more satisfying closure. I felt cheated and knocked off a star.

FYI:

In keeping with the style, quite a few f-bombs.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues.

Rating: **** Four stars

The Fifth Floor / Julie Oleszek

Reviewed by: BigAl

Genre: Contemporary Fiction/Coming of Age

Approximate word count: 90-95,000 words

Availability

Kindle US: YES UK: YES Nook: YES Smashwords: NO  Paper: YES

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Author:

“Julie Oleszek grew up the ninth child of ten surrounded by constant commotion, which is why she loves being an elementary teacher. Julie also loves to travel, especially to the west coast and overseas, and host family parties. The Fifth Floor is her debut novel.”

For more, visit the author's website.

Description:

“Seven-year-old Anna adores the constant commotion of her large family in 1970s suburban Chicago. Anna idolizes her ten-year-old sister Liz. Together they make kites, climb trees, and play acrobatic games on their backyard swing set. One moment the two girls are playing—the next, everything changes, and Anna will never be the same.

In the constant hubbub of life in a huge family Anna’s distress is overlooked, until she completely stops eating at the age of seventeen. Fearing the worst, Anna’s mother takes her to see Dr. Ellison, a cool competent psychiatrist, who immediately hospitalizes Anna on the fifth floor of the local hospital.

Even under the guidance of Dr. Ellison and the caring staff, Anna is defiant. She trusts no one. She guards the past like her life depends on it. Will she ever share the truth so she can heal?”

Appraisal:

It's a bit of a cliché that the protagonist in an author's debut novel often shares a lot of qualities with the author. Here, the protagonist, Anna, and author are both the ninth in a family with ten children. I suspect the author grew up in the Western suburbs of Chicago, probably about the same time as Anna, too. All of this means the details ring true. As the oldest in a family a touch smaller than Anna's, I can say that Oleszek nails the dynamic of a large family, both in how the siblings and parents interact and the differences in the experiences growing up for the younger children compared to the older.

Getting the little things right matters, especially in a story like this where those minor details set up some of the major ones, how Anna reacts to the death of a sibling and how as a younger sibling she is overlooked, eventually resulting in much bigger problems. The majority of the story is how Anna eventually comes to terms with her sister's death in this thought provoking and enjoyable coming-of-age story.

FYI:

A small amount of adult language.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues.

Rating: ***** Five Stars

Larry Potty's Animal Rhymes / Larry Potty

Reviewed by: BigAl with The Princess

Genre: Children's Picture Book

Approximate word count: 16 illustrated pages.

Availability

Kindle US: YES UK: YES Nook: YES Smashwords: NO Paper: NO

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Author:

Larry Potty is the pen name used by Scotsman David J. Mackay who writes humorous children's poetry.

Description:

An illustrated book for children with humorous rhymes about various animals.

Appraisal:

It has been awhile since I've drafted The Princess, my twelve year-old granddaughter, to assist me with a book review. I thought we were overdue, so I grabbed her and asked her to roundup her two younger sisters who are two and six. Then The Princess and I took turns reading to her siblings.

The book description suggests the appropriate age range for this book as between 4 and 7. Based on the reaction of the two year-old (who wouldn't sit still on the couch for even the short amount of time to read this book) as well as the six year-old (who ate up every word, despite also not being the type to sit still), this age range seems right. The six-year old enjoyed the story and hearing about the animals, although she told me one section (Creepy Crawlies) was kind of … well … creepy, as you might expect.

The Princess and I were in agreement that the humor and rhyming along with the illustrations made this a good choice for the target age with the tip-top of the range being capable of reading it themselves. For the younger part of the range, older siblings, parents, and even grandparents will have a fun time reading it to them. We both did.

FYI:

Although the author is from the UK, he made a point of limiting himself to only using words that are spelled the same in both the US and the UK. While there are some word choices and turns of phrase that still would have clued me in that the author was from the UK, I don't think anyone would have difficulty understanding.

Format/Typo Issues:

No issues.

Rating: **** Four Stars

High Maintenance / Lia Fairchild

Reviewed by: ?wazithinkin

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Approximate word count: 20-25,000 words

Availability

Kindle US: YES UK: YES Nook: NO Smashwords: NO Paper: NO

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Author:

"Bestselling author, Lia Fairchild, is both a traditionally published and independent author who writes women's fiction, romance, and chick lit. Fans of her books praise her endearing, real characters who come to life in stories that will touch your heart.

Fairchild is addicted to the warmth of Southern California and holds a bachelor's degree in journalism and a multiple-subject teaching credential. She is a wife and mother of two teenagers."

To see more of her stories visit her website or follow her on Facebook.

Description:

“Lexy’s apartment is a dump, but she refuses to move in with her controlling fiancé. Instead, she takes matters into her own hands, getting down and dirty to fix things. Then Tate, the super’s sexy son, shows up. Lexy and Tate spar over the latest maintenance issues, generating more heat than the record-breaking temperatures that have invaded their city. As her attraction to Tate grows, Lexy becomes more resistant to her fiancé’s demands, putting a wrench in her relationship and her impending marriage.”

Appraisal:

Lexy is a strong-willed, smart, independent, Latino woman who wishes to make her own way in the world. I enjoyed the sexual innuendos at the beginning and throughout the story. The characters are well developed and relatable. I enjoyed Lexy’s best friend, Mimi, and her quirky neighbor, Mrs. Granger. Lexy’s fiancé, Julian, is rich and arrogant, but tries to give Lexy the feeling that he allows her to make her own decisions while still manipulating behind the scenes.

Tate and Lexy’s banter is clever and engaging. While he tries to be respectful of the fact that Lexy is engaged, he sees Julian for the scoundrel he is, Tate is biding his time while becoming friends with Lexy. The twists in the story are well played and believable. I found this an intelligent, fun novella and suspect I will be picking more books from Lia Fairchild in the future.

FYI:

Strong adult language. Sexual situations are not behind closed doors.

Format/Typo Issues:

I noticed no proofing or formatting errors to speak of.

Rating: ***** Five stars