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A Rose By Any Other Name

6/14/2014

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I downloaded a free copy of The Poisoned Rose (Book One of the Gin Palace Trilogy), from Amazon. In exchange, I offer this, my fair and honest review.

Declan MacManus, known as Mac, seems a haunted soul to me. He lives alone in an upstairs apartment, stopping from time to time to visit at the bar below with the barkeeper, George, in exchange for free drinks. When the manipulating Frank Gannon hires him to assist Augie Hartsell with the odd “investigative” job in exchange for some easy and much-needed cash, Mac does so. But he soon discovers the seedy side of the work and gives it up. Unfortunately he does n ot do so before he makes enemies—at least one of which operates with legal force—the Chief of Police. When Augie ends up in dire straights, Mac cares for his teenage daughter, which causes rumor to run rampant. All the while, a young woman seeks Mac’s assistance, though he is unaware of her real name and his past connection to her. Unfortunately for Mac, he discovers the pertinent facts when it is too late.

For me, the best part of this read was Daniel Judson’s “voice.” Here are just a few examples of things that caught my attention:

“I could feel waves of intoxicants moving like thickly clustered schools of tiny fish in my blood.”
“The Hansom House bar was his court, but what the poor guy didn’t know was that he was, to those who came to it, more jester than king.”
“He was a giant to my gargoyle, blacksmith to my scarecrow.”
“She reminded me of a bird that had stunned itself by flying into a window.”
“He stood just inside my living room, the shut door behind him. It was as if someone had planted a tree there—he was that large and that firmly set.”

Find out more about Daniel Judson on his Goodreads author page here and on his website here.

Posted on Amazon, GoodReads and BookLikes, added to my Facebook page and two Google+ review groups, tweeted and cover pinned.

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Seeing Double?

6/14/2014

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I downloaded a free copy of What She Saw (Forensic Handwriting Mysteries #5), from Amazon. In exchange, I offer this, my fair and honest review.

Imagine waking on a train, rain disrupting your view of the landscape, without any knowledge of who or where you are. So begins What She Saw, by Sheila Lowe. I was immediately drawn to the young woman who I later learned was Jenna Marcott. Or was she Jessica Mack? Why did she have not one, but two, identification cards? Why two addresses? Why did the police frighten her? Where was she going and from whence had she come? These and other questions were presented and fortunately for this reader, were ultimately answered—and not in a wholly anticipated manner.

I quite enjoyed What She Saw. I thought the characters were well drawn. I could identify with the protagonists and found the villains were not always obvious—which added to the suspense of the tale. Lowe artfully added twists and turns satisfying to this reader. Indeed, if there was one downside to me, it was with regard to the technology the villains used. It seemed a bit far-fetched for me—but then, technology does continue to surprise us all, does it not?

Find out more about Sheila Lowe on her Goodreads author page here and on her website here.

Also posted on Amazon, GoodReads and BookLikes, added to my Facebook page and two Google+ review groups, tweeted and cover pinned.

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Courtroom Drama

6/14/2014

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I downloaded a free copy of Hostile Witness: A Josie Bates Thriller, from Amazon. In exchange, I offer this, my fair and honest review.

My first and foremost interest of study, I think it would be fair to say, has always been criminal law. It was the reason I went to law school—though due to a number of reasons, I have never actually practiced in the area. Even so, as I remain fascinated by the criminal mind and by the pursuit for justice, it was no mistake that I grabbed up a copy of Hostile Witness. I am glad I did. This was an engaging read, with fully drawn characters, and a mystery to solve.

Josie Baylor-Bates is a defense attorney seeking to hide from her past—a past in which her efforts helped to free someone who it later became known, was responsible for a horrendous crime. Josie knows she did her job, but she is guilt-ridden. Enter Linda Sheraton, mother to Hannah, a troubled teenager accused of murdering Linda’s father-in-law. Hannah is a truly tragic character and her mother a truly despicable woman. When mother and daughter’s interests cannot both be met, Josie makes the only choice open to her: she chooses to help Hannah.

I quite enjoyed this read. I did, however, find one thing that did not quite settle right. That is, that Josie asks a question at trial—a question to which she did not have the answer and therefore, her asking it was in error. I understand how that could happen. What I found odd was that Josie did not go on to ask the obvious follow-up question. The witness’s own testimony put that witness at the crime scene and that witness was interested in placing the blame on Hannah. Pointing the finger in the witness’s direction may have created the reasonable doubt the jury would have needed. Notwithstanding this one issue, I enjoyed this journey immensely and recommend it to others!

Find out more about Rebecca Forster on her Goodreads author page here and on her website here.

Also posted on Amazon, GoodReads and BookLikes, added to my Facebook page and two Google+ review groups, tweeted and cover pinned.

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Visiting the 1940s

6/14/2014

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I downloaded a free copy of The Dagger Before Me from Amazon. In exchange, I offer this, my fair and honest review.

The Dagger Before Me is one of stories in The Persephone Cole Vintage Mystery Series. (Note the terrific covers. I mean really, who doesn’t love a great fedora!) In it, Heather Haven introduces us to Persephone Cole, known as Percy. Percy is trying to find her way the “man’s world” of the 1940s. Living with her parents and son, she seeks to take over the family investigation business, while keeping it a secret from her Pop.

I found Percy engaging. I liked her moxie. Not exactly feminine, people “often remarked that between her wild hair, thin body, and daffy personality, she reminded them of a Dandelion caught in a windstorm.” (I like that word-picture.) Percy does things like: “she popped a nut into her mouth and separated the meat from the shell with her teeth.” Haven offers delightful and “punny” prose: “What color the interior was supposed to be was difficult to say. I’m going with drab.” Or how about this one—when Percy looks up at a man, we read: “It was novel, looking up to someone not standing on a stepladder.”

Most notable, Haven seems to have caught the real-life feel of the 1940s with things such as the manner in which people react to Percy, a reference to someone having a “Dick Tracy jaw,” and with Percy’s introspections (“Percy had seen something like t hat worn by Fred Astaire in a movie once.”). All in all, these features rang true and made for a fun—and different—read.

Find out more about Heather Haven on her GoodReads author page here and on her website here.

Posted on Amazon, GoodReads and BookLikes, added to my Facebook page and two Google+ review groups, tweeted and cover pinned.

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Crime and . . . more crime

6/14/2014

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Reviewed for Readers' Favorite.

In Sanctimonious Serial Killers, by Michael Segedy, readers will find what essentially amounts to two mysteries. The first is the mystery of a serial killer that Rick Clark and his colleague and love-interest, Marty Robin, track. The two of them have a particular interest in the case, as the Bedsheet Serial Killer is believed responsible for the death of Chloe Sisley, a young woman who is like a daughter to the dynamic law-enforcement duo. But, the facts don’t add up. Chloe had tried to contact Rick shortly before her death, clearly concerned about something, and then her boyfriend, Aaron Mast, went missing. So is presented the second mystery, one that leads Rick to Peru. There he discovers another kind of serial killer: a government that sanctions the murder of innocents in a purported claim to save others.

Michael Segedy offers a tragic character in Rick Clark. It seems that a night of alcohol in his young days ended in tragedy. He doesn’t drink again until Chloe’s death. His rounds with the demon-spirit make him real and a bit frustrating at times. For her part, Marty is so headstrong as to attempt to meet evil face on—and solo. Finally, when Aaron Mast tries to disappear for safety, he makes himself vulnerable to those willing to go to the deepest reaches to keep their secrets safe. Throughout, Michael Segedy offers some standard information about sociopathic serial killers while proposing there is another type as well: the type that acts with government-sanctioned power.

Also posted on GoodReads and BookLikes, to my Facebook page and to two Google+ review groups, tweeted and cover pinned.

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I Guess I'm Just "Old School"

6/2/2014

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The author provided me with a copy of The Sound of Sirens in exchange for my fair and honest review.

I must say that I had some difficulty in determining how to “rate” this read in terms of stars. The story moves along and was well thought through, but I had one issue with it that I just couldn’t let go. Specifically, that was the author’s common use of incomplete sentences, which made the reading a bit difficult for me.

There seems to be a current trend, a fad almost, to write in a style I find somewhat akin to (for lack of a better description) “stream of consciousness.” I know the traditional description of this form means that the writing itself is often just a stream of words, likely even lacking punctuation—which is not the case here. But, I find the author’s style similar in that the work draws the reader to follow the narrator’s “thoughts.” This style does work—particularly for a story told from a single perspective and in first person. It gets the reader right into the action, allowing him (or her) to follow along with the character’s internal musings. It can even set a mood, which I must admit, it did do in the opening scene of The Sound of Sirens. Even so, I find the style a bit . . . frustrating, as I long for the complete sentence. Further, this style, on occasion, shifted the scene in The Sound of Sirens rather suddenly from one viewpoint to another.

All that said, I did not find myself floundering around, trying to determine what was happening, as is often the case when things are written in cryptic little spasms. (Consider: “Moonless night, dry too, a hint of June balminess in the air.” “Pulled back into the shop doorway, took a drag on the fag.” “Didn’t speak.” “Took out the handgun.” “Gleamed in the moonlight.” These are just a few examples and they all come from the first page/scene of this read.) As I said, I always knew what was happening. I just found my reading halted at every semi-sentence. It is as though there is a little signal in my head somewhere that flashes “Error! Error!” whenever I read things in this style. I guess I’m old school . . . (longing, as I said, for the complete sentence). Having said that, I repeat: the author never left me wondering what was happening.

The Sound of Sirens is a story that includes a vast array of well drawn characters, including Walter Darritreau, the lead investigator; Luke Flowers, a contract killer; Gerry Swaythling, a wealthy man whose son had been Luke Flowers’s intended hit; Langley Wells, a loan shark; and many more. The cast included both heroes and villains, all of which were well drawn. The characters were varied and interesting. I also appreciated the manner in which Carter spoke of a murder that some might dub an “honor killing.”

I did find Inspector Walter Darritreau’s resolution of the case a bit odd in that he used information theretofore unknown to the reader—or at least to this reader. (Did I miss something?). Had some of the details been scattered about throughout the story at earlier times, Darritreau’s summation would have been even more fulfilling for me, as I would either have surmised some of the details myself, or I would have chastised myself for having missed them! Thus, in some ways, the summation seemed a bit too convenient.

All in all, The Sound of Sirens engaged me. I rooted for the good guys and was rightfully irritated by the bad guys. For me, one good way to determine how to “rate” a work is to consider whether I would read more by this author. When considering the story in that light, I would have to say that I most definitely would read more from David Carter. Thus, I have attached to this read, a four-star rating.

Also posted on GoodReads, BookLikes and Amazon.com, added to two review groups on Google+ and to my Facebook page, tweeted and cover pinned.

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Patricia Reding

Posted here are a number of Patricia's reviews of the works of others.

Those reviews posted here that Patricia did for Readers Favorite are identified as such. No review of less than 4-stars for any Readers' Favorite review is posted here or elsewhere.

Those works reviewed for NetGalley are identified accordingly.

A Rose By Any Other Name

Seeing Double?

Courtroom Drama

Visiting the 1940s

Crime and . . . more crime

I Guess I'm Just "Old School"

Patricia Reding

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