Saturday Shuffle Of Reviews

The weathermen in my area of the world are calling for a sunny, but cool and windy day - perfect for relaxing with a good book. But then, to me any day is a good day to read.

I’d like to share a variety of reviews with y’all. As usual, I’m featuring various genres. Hope you find something that sparks your interest.

A FEELING IN MY BONES by Gervase Shorter

Jake and Sally met at college and fell in love. The Forresters had a happy life of sorts living in England. Sally worked as a book editor and Jake served as a ‘consultant’ working out problems between companies.

Jake takes a job from a recluse billionaire named Kroger. While abroad on an assignment, Jake disappears. Sally’s not sure where he is, possible Africa. A month later Jake surfaces in a mental clinic in Miami, FL. He’s suffered a nervous breakdown.

Events from there drastically change the couple’s lives forever. Kroger has died and just before he did, changed his will leaving everything to Jake and Sally. While they should be enjoying the good life, Jake has changed. He is no longer the warm and loving man Sally married. The more she checks, the more she discovers she should have left things alone.

This is an intriguing thriller that starts with Sally knowing too much. The reader is then drawn in to find out what it is she knows and why it’s so terrifying and life-threatening.

Author Gervase Shorter has a way of painting beautiful settings with his words. While there are several side stories, they serve to give more depth to the characters and their actions.

There are twists and turns throughout to keep you guessing until the end. This is a fast-pace read that will be hard to put down once you begin.

Author Gervase Shorter’s website is www.gervaseshorter.com

A Feeling In My Bones by Gervase Shorter, Amazon, @2011, ASIN: B005UNJDFA, Kindle, 414 KB, 252 Pages 

FTC Full Disclosure - This eBook was sent to me by the author in hopes I would review it. However, receiving the complimentary copy did not influence my review.

 

D.C. DEAD by Stuart Woods

For his latest mystery, author Stuart Woods brings the main characters from three of his series* together for a search for a killer.

CIA Agent Holly Barker contacts Stone Barrington and NYPD Detective Dino Bacchetti on behalf of President Will Lee. A sensitive case needs their discretion and expertise.

Lee will soon be leaving the White House and he and his wife, the CIA Director, want to know for sure if a former member of their cabinet killed his wife and then himself. The investigation leads Stone and Dino through the exclusive world of Washington politics, power and privilege. They soon learn they are treading on the scandalous side where secrets are great motivation for murder.

Meanwhile, a secondary un-related story is going on in the background involving the CIA and Holly.

It was interesting having all these main characters together in one story. The plot, while not action-packed, was intriguing as the layers were peeled away. There was some foul language, but not over used.

As always, Tony Roberts did a wonderful job narrating the story. I can’t image Stone or Dino without hearing Roberts’ interruption. His style and mannerisms add depth to the characters and brings the story to life.

No matter what Stone and Dino are up to, you know murder, mystery, intrigue, and a good stiff drink will be involved. If you’re a Barrington fan, this is another one to add to your collection.

This is a stand alone book even though it involves characters from other stories. *Stone and Dino are from the Stone Barrington series, Holly from the Holly Barker series, and Will from the Will Lee series.

Looking forward to these characters’ next adventure either as a group or individual series.

Author Stuart Woods’ website is www.stuartwoods.com

D.C. Dead by Stuart Woods, A Stone Barrington Novel, Read by Tony Roberts, Penguin Audio, @2011, ISBN: 978-1611760439, Unabridged, 6 Disc, Listening Time 7 Hours, 30 Minutes 

FTC Full Disclosure - This audio book was sent to me by the publisher in hopes I would review it. However, receiving the complimentary copy did not influence my review.

 

THE COUGAR’S PREY by Larry D. Sweazy

It’s early 1875 and Texas Ranger Josiah Wolfe has gone undercover to investigate cattle thefts and raids that have ranchers upset in Corpus Christie.

Even though he was cleared of any wrong doing concerning the death of a fellow Ranger, the town isn’t willing to be as forgiving of Wolfe. So Captain Leaunder McNelly sends Wolfe to Corpus Christie possessing as hide trader Zeb Teter.

The more Wolfe investigates, the more he finds all may not be as it seems. The reasons for his assignment may run deeper than he suspects.

Author Larry D. Sweazy does a wonderful job placing the reader in the territory as he vividly describes the area. He masterfully blends historical events and people with his own characters for a plausible chain of events.

THE COUGAR’S PREY is an intriguing tale of western lore, murder, mystery and deception. It’s a fast-pace read that will lasso readers in and hold them till the end.

Author Larry D. Sweazy’s website is www.larrydsweazy.com

The Cougar’s Prey by Larry D. Sweazy, A Josiah Wolfe Texas Ranger Novel, Berkley, @ 2011, ISBN: 978-0425243947, Paperback, 304 Pages 

FTC Full Disclosure - This book was sent to me by BreakThrough Promotions (http://www.breakthroughpromotions.net/) in hopes I would review it. However, receiving the complimentary copy did not influence my review.

 

Have you read any of these books? Do you enjoy mixing your reading up a bit? Thanks so much for stopping by.

 

Author Gervase Shorter: Writing Books About Books

Meeting authors from around the world through blogdom is fun, but when you connect with one from another continent that has ties near where you live….it’s amazing.

I recently met the wonderful author Gervase Shorter from Rio de Janeiro. Through our correspondence I learned his family has ties in the area where I live in Georgia (USA). Now isn’t it a small world after all?

Please join me in welcoming Gervase as the special guest blogger here today. He is the author of 3 intriguing novels: A FEELING IN MY BONES (a thriller), CRIME FICTION FOR BEGINNERS (a murder story), and PRINCE KORASOFF’S ROAD MAP (a romance) with more on  the way.

Gervase talks about ‘Writing Books About Books’. 

When I was trying to think up a topic for this post, I was suddenly struck by something I hadn’t noticed before: all my novels are either about books or use books as their background. How did I get so involved with books and how did this involvement provide material for me as a writer?

I was raised in an isolated farmhouse in Suffolk, a dull, flat part of Eastern England. It was the beginning of the 1950s, a time when television hardly existed but, in any case, our house didn’t have electricity so we entertained ourselves by reading. I was aged 12 when I read my first serious piece of literature. It was ‘Crime and Punishment’, an odd choice and, looking back, I wonder how much of it I really understood but I must have enjoyed it because I became hooked on Russian literature and since then I’ve read every Russian novel  that has come my way.

An infrequent bus service ran past our farmhouse to the nearest town, which was Ipswich, about 10 miles away. On one of my visits I discovered Silent Street, so called because all its inhabitants had once died of a plague. It was there that I found The College Gateway Bookshop, an establishment of which I became a regular customer. 

On the ground floor there were several rooms full of shelves crammed with old books. Upstairs there were attics and garret rooms filled with piles of books, mostly leather bound eighteenth century editions lying about in dusty heaps. The shop was unheated and freezing in winter, when its proprietor would sit like a character out of Dickens on a high stool wrapped up in an overcoat and woolen scarf, with a beret pulled down over his ears. 

Most of the books were quite cheap but one that I came across had belonged to Voltaire and had his signature on the flyleaf. It was priced at fifty pounds, a fortune in those days and far beyond my means. Instead, I bought sets of leather bound books and read them all. They are now ranged on my shelves here in Brazil, suffering a little from the tropical climate but, so far, (touch wood) undamaged by termites. And from then on I became a voracious and pretty well omnivorous reader and hoarder of books.

Without realizing it - till now - I’ve been drawing on my involvement with books in all of my fiction. In my thriller, A FEELING IN MY BONES, I wanted the narrator Sally to have a really close relationship with her husband Jake at the beginning so that when he reappears after being out of contact it’s the cooling in their relationship that makes her suspect something is terribly wrong. To create a really close relationship I had both Sally and Jake work from home – Sally as a literary agent. Her author-clients are quite an important bit of the story’s background and they play a key part in helping Sally survive when her life goes up in flames. 

Gervase, thanks so much for guest blogging today. I like that writing plays such a part of your own writing. I enjoy characters who spend time reading or dealing with books in stories.

Now let me tell you a bit more about Gervase. He’s an English writer who has traveled and lived in many parts of the world but has made the beautiful city of Rio de Janeiro his home since the 1970s. He lives with his wife Charmian and Zoë, his daughter (a Paris trained pastry chef) in an apartment in central Rio with a view across the lagoon. 

However, whenever it’s too hot in Rio Gervase escapes to the farm they built three thousand feet up in the mountains where it’s cold enough for log fires in the winter. When he’s not enjoying Zoë´s incredible desserts, listening to his collection of classical music or reading any kind of book he can lay hands on, Gervase is writing. 

Gervase, in fact, is enjoying the holidays with his family in the mountains as we read this. He won’t be able to join us today, but if you have any questions for him, just leave them in the comment section with your e-mail and he’ll get back to you after the holidays.

For more on Gervase and his writing, visit his website at www.gervaseshorter.com

Here’s a short synopsis of FEELING IN MY BONES: Jake Forrester disappears while on an assignment for a reclusive billionaire called Cyrus Kroger at his heavily guarded place in the Catskills. Kroger falls ill and dies while Jake reappears some weeks later in a Miami clinic suffering from a nervous breakdown. His wife Sally helps him recover but is unable to discover what Jake was doing. She finds their relationship has lost its old warmth and Jake has become irritable and suspicious but also fabulously rich. Their life changes beyond recognition as they leave their old habits and friends behind. Then, in their luxurious penthouse overlooking Hyde Park, Sally stumbles across something that turns her world upside down. She realizes she is in danger because she knows too much so she runs for her life. 

If you are an author, do you include writing and books in your storylines? As a reader, do you enjoy stories that include the characters’ involvement in reading and/or writing? Sorry I’m still absent from blogdom, but thanks so much for stopping by.