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California Bookwatch
Table of Contents
Reviewer's Choice
Mom: Your Life Your Story to Write
Karen Hall
Independently Published
9798999116307, $19.99 Hardcover/$10.00 Paperback
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Mom-Mothers-Guided-Journal-Keepsake/dp/B0FSF1HK7Y
Mom: Your Life Your Story to Write is a journal that encourages mothers to write a book about their lives and experiences. From this one might expect a journal's usual blank pages with invitations to fill them, but Karen Hall creates an opportunity far more inviting in a series of prompts that require more than just setting memories to paper. Conversations are encouraged through checkboxes, prompts that support reflection as much as memory, and notes that can serve as the building blocks for further detail.
Take the section on childhood habits and writing in a diary, for example. Checkboxes for the topic "If you had a diary, what did you write about?" include 'crushes,' 'future plans,' 'anger and confusion,' and more. Through these responses, a writer can build deeper reflections that go beyond merely chronicling a favorite memory or meaningful scene. Additional pages for writing personal notes to loved ones and stories rounds out the opportunities for memories and connections to loved ones.
In addition to the checkboxes, the journal questions themselves offer food for thought, representing an invitation to self-analyze and discover, then set down the results for self and perhaps others: "If you could change one thing in the world today for your children's future, what would it be?" The result goes far beyond the usual journal format, encouraging mothers to reflect on deeper meanings and experiences, sharing on levels which are more interactive and reflective of life values and experiences. While a journal format's blank pages is not appropriate for library lending, Mom: Your Life Your Story to Write is the perfect gift for mothers, and should ideally be shared between mothers and children for maximum impact and connection. Its potential for both chronicling and sharing is truly boundless.
The Business Shelf
Five Simple Truths of Leadership
Dean Crisp
Torchflame Books
www.torchflamebooks.com
9781611536911, $24.95 hardcover; $12.99 ebook; $30.00 pbk
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Simple-Truths-Leadership-significant-organization/dp/161153691X
Five Simple Truths of Leadership: How to Be a Significant Leader in Your Business, Organization, and Life comes from a veteran law enforcement officer and business leader. It synthesizes his life and professional experiences into a survey rich with insights on how to build a strong team and individual leadership skills. So many titles cover leadership that one might wonder at the need for yet another, but Dean Crisp's approach pairs insights with case study examples and real-world game plans for success, adopting a plan that involves not just leading a business, but accepting the potential pitfalls to the learning process: "Leadership is not about getting it right every time; it's about showing up and growing through the process."
What seems like a shortcoming often proves an educational opportunity for growth that then can translate into clear expectations, setting standards, tackling problems more effectively, and changing one's mindset to produce superior results, from altered approaches to influencing others. Crisp tackles many subjects that other leadership guides omit. Of special note is the section about intentionality:
"In the end, intentionality is about legacy. The question isn't just "What am I achieving today?" but "What am I building for tomorrow?" The leaders we remember - the ones who change industries, nations, or lives - were not the busiest leaders. They were the ones who acted on purpose, with purpose, for a purpose."
Discussions also define the difference between good leaders and great ones, exploring various approaches to guiding others which result in creating action from thoughts. Libraries interested in business books that stand out from the crowd for their blend of history, case studies, personal experience, and philosophical and practical applications will find Five Simple Truths of Leadership not only a top choice for business collections, but highly recommendable to business book clubs and reading groups discussing how leadership qualities are built. Easily accessed and astute in its game plan for success, Five Simple Truths of Leadership should be at the top of the reading list for anyone who would better listen to their hearts, hone their goals, and guide others around them.
The Health/Medicine Shelf
Get Your Back Back
Alistair McKenzie
Izzard Ink Publishing
www.izzardink.com
9781642281309, $32.95 Paperback/$9.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Get-Your-Back-Alistair-McKenzie-ebook/dp/B0FR2Q6HMK
Those suffering from back pain well know how debilitating a back condition can be - and how tricky it is to resolve. Massage therapist Alistair McKenzie has worked on backs for over twenty-five years, blending physical with mental therapies to achieve the best results. Get Your Back Back is the result of decades of successful practice, and is directed to self-help readers and back pain sufferers who would add to their toolbox of solutions. McKenzie identifies elevated stress levels as one source of back pain, offering specific approaches and information to help readers better understand the often-hidden causes of their pain: "Aching shoulders are a symptom of active pressure points on the front of the neck, brought on by dysfunctional breathing techniques. These dull, throbbing aches are easily misdiagnosed as rotator cuff injuries. Back pains and sciatica are usually stress-related."
His techniques promote healing through a better understanding of where pain actually begins. This requires that self-help readers be prepared to not only adopt changes to their routines, but new mindsets in order to effect whole-body healing. Case history examples present information about pressure points, going beyond descriptions of those in pain to address how and why treatments work: "This rusty gate hinge could be restored to near-perfect operation with a little TLC. When Mary first presented, her thoracic skeleton was stuck, just like this hinge. If you gave the gate attached to this hinge a kick to get it open, either the hinge would snap or the screws would pull out. But a wee wiggle and a bit of CRC lubricant and it would begin to move. Keep gently wiggling and lubricating and the gate would eventually swing freely."
Readers might think the source and solution will be complicated, but McKenzie encourages understanding through analogies and examples that make sense: "The solution for all muscles compacted by this buildup of nervous energy is the same: release! They are not damaged, only trapped. There are two very effective techniques to self-treat these problem areas: the pin and stretch, and the trap and wiggle."
The result is a back pain management book that addresses more than the back alone, offering insights into lifestyle changes that both add to and supplement some of the self-help routines a back sufferer may be using. Libraries will thus want to add Get Your Back Back to health collections as an important survey promising a different, often more effective, approach to back pain management. Its ability to go beyond a single method to embrace holistic approaches to whole-body health sets it apart from many, making for a specific, useful set of insights that back pain sufferers can employ for better results.
The Biography/Memoir Shelf
Green Glitter Girl
Connie C. Jones, MA, LPC with Melanie Davis-Jones
Torchflame Books
www.torchflamebooks.com
9781611536102, $18.99 paperback; $8.99 ebook; $28.00 large print
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Green-Glitter-Girl-Journey-Recovery/dp/1611536103
Green Glitter Girl: A Journey of Hope and Trauma Recovery is a memoir that testifies to the human ability to endure, hope, and heal. It's a striking story of unresolved trauma's impact and the process involved in mitigating its effects that follows the paths taken by author Connie C. Jones to confront and heal from her own childhood traumas. This subject could prove triggering to sensitive readers tackling their own traumas, but in fact Green Glitter Girl does more than relive the past and explore the lasting impact of depression and mental illness. It promotes a positive, uplifting outlook for the future by representing one woman's journey towards love and connection, drawing important connections between life choices and the early childhood lessons that often surrounded, however subconsciously, these inclinations:
"Of course, this tendency fits perfectly with my chosen career because people come to me and tell me their problems. But rarely do I go to somebody when I'm in distress, even now. I found that my grip on joyful things in my life was extremely fragile and easily disrupted."
From how her sister's death resulted in an underlying feeling that her dreams could never come true to the disconnect between memory and bodily memory reactions which often result in unpredictable or unfathomable behaviors in adulthood, Jones explores the nuances and direction of her life with an eye to revealing how patterns are established, logic formulated from trauma, and (most importantly) how negative messages and responses can be broken. Included in the recovery process is mindfulness - but Jones goes beyond most books which promote mindfulness by chronicling exactly how mindful practices result in better reactions to life:
"My brain remembered all the training I had done to learn to calm my body and mind. I relaxed my body. Then I did my mindfulness practice to quiet the fear thoughts that were screaming in my head. My body started to calm, but then there was the terribly scary moment when I could actually feel my heart go into the V-tach. But I could also feel the ability I had developed to go into an observing and compassionate part of me..."
The result is more than another memoir of trauma and recovery, but a series of applied lessons on adaptation and change which reach out to readers who may have felt similarly trapped by their past early influences and their desire to create a better future by changing their reactions and subconscious patterns. Libraries seeking memoirs that also act as a self-help guide will want to add Green Glitter Girl to their collections, while book clubs and psychology reading groups will find much food for thought, discussion, and debate within these important pages.
My Joy Journey with Amy
Mark D. Youngquist
Independently Published
9798992639902, $29.95 Hardcover/$21.95 Paperback/$8.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/My-Joy-Journey-Amy-Through/dp/B0FHV59H8K
My Joy Journey with Amy: A Love Story Through Life, Loss, Grief and Healing is a surprising memoir about cancer - surprising because the loss, grief, and struggles with medical treatment and failing health is more than tempered by a sense of life and joy not typically found in cancer memoirs. Most people struggle with the specter of dying after a cancer diagnosis. Mark D. Youngquist's wife Amy was determined to continue to find joy in her life and living even as she faced indomitable medical procedures and challenges. It is this quest for ongoing joy in the face of poor health that gives My Joy Journey with Amy a special power of attraction, making it a standout in the literature of cancer memoirs.
Color photos throughout capture life, from nature scenes to people, while vignettes of reflection not just by Youngquist but those who knew Amy and the couple inject different viewpoints about Amy and her attitude towards life, friendship, and experience. One example comes from friend Jackie: "There were two kinds of people in Amy's world: family and friends. If you weren't the former, you were the latter. But only for ten minutes. You could be a neighbor-friend, a work-friend, or a new friend from the next table over. Give Amy ten minutes, and you would feel like family."
Readers won't expect descriptions of life-affirming family and friend gatherings, pranks, hikes in the outdoors, and other events to permeate a cancer account. But all these facets work together as memories cover Youngquist's journey through grief and his life of joy with his love. The contrasts between his life with and without Amy are candidly stark and revealing: "I am not sure what lies ahead for me in this new life I have been forced to architect. I imagine I am going to need to continue to rely on my friends and family as I walk this journey. But I know Amy would want me to embrace the joy of this challenge and soak in the beauty of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument."
The result is both a celebration and a survivor's guide that blends joy, grief, and adaptation into a memoir as vivid and full of life as the woman Youngquist loves. Librarians interested in memoirs about cancer, survivors and spouses, and how the joy and happiness one couple experiences continues to spread into life-affirming choices after death will find My Joy Journey with Amy appealing and intimate. It goes beyond the usual account of medical challenges and grief to tackle the bigger-picture question of life impact, choice, and how joy can be disseminated among one's circle even under the direst of conditions - a lesson much needed in today's world.
The General Fiction Shelf
ROCKSTAR: Echoes
Zach Taylor
Hump Creek Publishing
9798999679703, $16.99 Paperback/$5.99 Ebook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0G23CJHW2
In ROCKSTAR: Echoes, music journalist Clara Cowley has seen music rise, fall, be declared dead, and resurrect with a vengeance. The rock group Aberdeen seems no different, facing demise when their leader dies, but their music contracts demand they keep playing even though death has rocked their sound. Someone needs to step up... someone with an amazing voice and creative spark, who can reinvigorate the band. That someone is Kline Thomas, whose stunning performance brings him to their attention.
Music documenter Clara has some thirty years of observational and critical writing experience behind her, but even this doesn't prepare her for what takes place as Kline integrates with Aberdeen and reaches for the stars, taking them with him on a wild ride. Zach Taylor crafts a powerful story of the rock music business, how stars are born and die, and the differences between male and female musicians as he introduces Rayne Harlow, a single mother and leader of the all-female band The Painted Queens. These revelations will also rock readers who enter this world to receive insights about the music industry's profession, prejudices, and processes. Taylor's lyrical descriptions power these personalities and times:
"As he drove away from the store, two cases of beer in hand and only one meant for him, the radio sang out. It didn't matter what band sang about cold black clouds and heaven's door. He didn't know why, but he felt it. He belted it. He nailed it. That's what he could do. Cigarette between his lips, beer in the console, and windows down. Nobody heard him. Nobody ever would. Still, Kline did the only thing he knew to express himself. He kept singing."
From issues of royalties, music quality, songwriter aspirations, and fallen heroes to how Kline, Aberdeen, and Rayne work the stage and their individual lives, ROCKSTAR: Echoes brings to vivid life the personalities which dovetail on and off stage in the name of creating music. Readers who are themselves rock musicians (or, just who aspire to be stars) will find much to not just like, but love about this story.
Steeped in real music industry conundrums, creative artist motivations and challenges, and interpersonal complexities, ROCKSTAR: Echoes creates a vivid story that transmits a "you are here" feel to its audience. This is why libraries, musicians, and book clubs will want to place ROCKSTAR: Echoes at the top of their lists of high-quality books that inspire, shock and awe, and capture the milieu of a generation's musical dreams. Replete with musical insights that harmonize with emotional connections, this story is vivid, personal, and will draw readers from many audiences with its powerful, life-savvy reflections on music, connections, and attraction: "She'd wanted love. He'd needed escape, seclusion, comfort and none of that needed love."
Doors
Eugene A. Kelly
Marshwinds Press
www.uniquereads.com
9781734117080, $29.95
Doors opens with gleeful anticipation on the part of protagonist David J. Hopkins-Wilson, who is looking forward to news of his promotion, a six-figure bonus, and acclaim that will lead him straight into the world of high-level executives. The day turns out to be unlike anything he'd anticipated, changing his life in response to a single mistake he's made with an elderly client's investments. Suddenly he's not on the fast track, but a slow tumble into failure. And David J. Hopkins-Wilson is unused to anything but upward momentum.
From the opening lines of Doors, Eugene A. Kelly creates a memorable assessment of the cutthroat world of investment companies and the kinds of events that can turn failure into success overnight (and visa versa): "He was being sacrificed to the regulators on the altar of it's-not-our-fault. He never thought he would be the fresh meat thrown to the regulatory lions to save senior management. It wasn't fair, but it happened every day." He is a survivor - or so he believes.
As moves are made to eject him from the business world he thinks he knows well, David considers opening the door to a new future. Before he can cross that threshold, however, he must grapple with a crumbling marriage and accept new relationships that further buffet his trajectory. These include an affair with upward-bound Maureen "Musee" O'Hara, whose presence rekindles an ambition for success that never quite died under impossible circumstances. A variety of characters open new doors for David as an odd long-distance relationship develops between two driven individuals who both work six days a week and live miles apart. Business concerns intersect with these new opportunities and revised perceptions to give both characters depth and dimension as they tackle the unexpected with new insights into their experiences, ambitions, and motivations: "Her spirits sagged with confirmation of what she suspected, while her anger rose as she thought about all the years she'd given to the store, and now this injustice is the result. Fairness was nonexistent."
As Musee and David merge their business and personal lives, new doors continue to open which offer each of them enlightenment about the connections between business opportunities, ambitious thinking, and real-world conundrums. Kelly creates a powerful novel that resonates with action, reaction, and two similar personalities who each tackle life and business challenges in assertive, diverse ways. As family finds a place among discussions of profit margins and potential business expansions, the novel spins interesting avenues of business and psychological reflection which will especially attract and delight business novel readers. The sense of growth and discovery between these two and other characters is well-developed, adding to the tension and revelations that move from agricultural to retail business developments with unexpected connections and results.
Libraries seeking novels that blend business with relationship pursuits will welcome the opportunity to acquire and recommend Doors to a wide audience beyond business fiction readers. Its survey of two individuals whose moral, ethical, and business interests drive their individual pursuits and the world around them makes for engaging, intriguing reading that's hard to put down and easy to recommend.
Anatomy of a Shark
M.G. Akins
Pisgah Press
www.pisgahpress.com/mark-akins
9781942016991, $24.95
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Anatomy-Shark-M-G-Akins-ebook/dp/B0FZY7KV55
Readers of novels about crime families have plenty to choose from, but Anatomy of a Shark stands out in combining a New York mob family with a young boy's adoption, growing up with uncommon encounters, and eventual involvement in crime - albeit, of a different kind than he's known all his life. From the start, it's evident that the first-person narrator of these experiences harbors a wry sense of ironic humor about his circumstances and an astute assessment of not just the improbability of life, but its oddities:
"Me, formerly innocent me, may have smiled at a fortuitous moment when I was six weeks old, all but sealing my adoption. Perhaps some poor kid next to me soiled his diaper mere seconds earlier and was thus doomed to adolescent life in an orphanage. Well... any plausible scenario represents circumstances that I simply cannot account for, seemingly trivial matters, which, in a hard world, can make or break a life. Piddling stuff. Take names for instance - blue eyes and blond hair and my name is Vinnie. It's not that I was named in bad taste, but my name is illusory."
M.G. Akins cultivates a unique voice that captures, more so than most mob crime stories, a sense of place, purpose, and street life that leads readers to live alongside protagonist Vinnie as he cultivates a different form in crime. This involves participating in a 2-man opportunistic shakedown, confronting corrupt cops and becoming a new adult, and dealing with the politics of manipulation and corruption on both sides of the crime picture. Vinnie's wry, sassy voice permeates all interactions, emphasizing how the good he achieves in his embroiled life emerges from disparate circumstances that wouldn't seem to portend a life that incorporates good intentions into its bigger picture:
"With a flourish, I swept an outstretched hand above the dash, proclaiming, "Your new home." Getting under way, I concentrated on driving as the teens were going fractionally apeshit, saying, "What! Where!" heads swinging left and right and in danger of flying off their stems. Fluttering a wave to some indeterminate point behind us, I said, "Back there," driving them to needless frustration, fun as hell."
The humorous thread, replete throughout Vinnie's interactions with his world, nicely supplements the very serious conundrums posed by being caught between mob and cop interests on the streets of New York, with the issue of abused kids and teens injecting further thought-provoking reflections into the story. Readers enchanted by the personal touch of Vinnie's streetwise life and decisions to enter into the crime world in entirely different ways than he's observed and been taught will find action, tension, confrontation, and delightful inspections of values and relationships wound into the bigger story of how one boy finds his path by forming new posse relationships. How does a kid raised to be one thing come full circle to create a different form of meaning in his life?
"This, this was my life. As much as I appreciated the fine start, this was my time. This talk around this table was not about selfishness. It was about being in control. I wanted to do things my way."
The revelations are nonstop, the comic interludes outstanding and nicely paced, and Vinnie - well, readers will find themselves forming an unexpected relationship with this likeable character despite some of his decisions. Libraries and readers seeking a very different kind of crime family story that simmers with social issues, ironic fun, and captivating interactions will appreciate, relish, and come to love Vinnie Renaldi in Anatomy of a Shark, a top recommendation because its character's unique 'voice' stands heads and shoulders above other fictional mob stories.
The Literary Fiction Shelf
Later Days
Chip Jacobs
Rare Bird Books
https://rarebirdlit.com
9781644284926, $28.00 Hardcover/$14.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Later-Days-Chip-Jacobs/dp/1644284928
Later Days is a novel about Luke Burnett and Denny Drummond, two Stone Canyon prep school boys from troubled homes who take turns rescuing one another from their past influences and present-day dilemmas when they are in their senior year of high school, then, twenty years later, find themselves navigating career and health issues in a final effort to reinforce their bond and past connections. As Chip Jacobs moves his story from a coming-of-age saga in early years to a mid-life coming-of-age encounter, readers receive a satisfying juxtaposition of times, places, and shifting relationship undercurrents that combines intrigue and revelation with growth.
At first, it's not easy to peg this story. Readers looking for a coming-of-age friendship saga will find it replete with all of these elements that place it in the category of a satisfying story of youth and redemption, but may be surprised (ultimately, pleasantly) at the courses this friendship takes in adulthood. Those anticipating a story of changing lives facing near-death experiences and challenges at different points of life will find Later Days replete with intriguing first-person observations that capture the milieu of evolving relationship quandaries:
"Much as I worried my system couldn't absorb anymore, I knew I couldn't be another of Denny's missing persons. Under a dark, foggy sky flirting with mist, I schlepped behind him for the second time tonight, bundled in my corduroy jacket. Side gate into the backyard, past his mother's color-coordinated patio set, around the corner outside his father's study: Denny had brought me here to meet his dad's alter ego."
Pasadena, California culture forms the backdrop of these evolving relationships and decades as the two main characters spin their lives, connections, and choices against changing times and mortality issues. Because Jacobs evolves this story over a period of time, the long-term connections between the friends also grows from introductory relationship to a rich baseline of experience that is deftly portrayed as events unfold:
"Though we only get together sporadically, our love language of insults has wondrously endured. It's a target-rich environment, too, with us approaching the interval between the last vestiges of youth and the commencement of the old people we might become. Male-pattern balding where there'd been walls of hair; love handles; corporate, casual-wear, double chins."
As "old ghosts instructed me what to do," the characters move through time and place to absorb the long-term results of trauma, experience, and a lifetime of connections. Librarians and readers seeking a growth-oriented novel about shifting relationships and times will welcome how Later Days builds its scenarios and connections from adolescence to middle days. The escapades grow even as the characters develop, making for a powerful portrait of life in the 1980s that simmers with maturity, life expectations and dreams, and satisfyingly unexpected evolution.
The Mystery/Suspense Shelf
Tokyo Juku
Michael Pronko
www.michaelpronko.com
Raked Gravel Press
9781942410386, $6.99 eBook
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/Tokyo-Juku-Detective-Hiroshi-Book-ebook/dp/B0FLW78XTZ
Tokyo Juku is the seventh book in the Detective Hiroshi series, and adopts yet a different perspective (one of the strengths of the series as a whole, and why it's a long-running success) as it tells of eighteen-year-old Mana, who attends a juku, a private Japanese cram school that specializes in helping students pass the once-a-year exams. She's on track for success - until one morning she finds her teacher murdered. This opens the door to an investigation that immerses Mana and her peers in issues of crime, achievement, status, and an institution offering an ambitious range of educational services in a competitive, lucrative field that someone would die to get their hands on - literally.
One advantage to these Japan-based mysteries is that each is delivered steeped in the culture and feel of Japanese society, leading readers to absorb interesting facets of daily life in Japan even if they hold no prior familiarity with or even special interest in this milieu: "When he got out in Shinjuku, though, the billboard on the platform read: "Ganbare, jukensei, Good Luck Exam-takers" in Japanese and English. The heartfelt message was from Kokusai Kyoiku, with the name written in prominent letters. He could follow their trail of ads all the way to their office."
Readers see through Detective Hiroshi's eyes as well as, here, student Mana, who holds her own ambition, desperation, and a vested interest in finding out what happened at her juku. These diverse inspections create juxtapositions of insights and attitudes reflective not just of Japanese place, but changing times as the young Mana approaches life differently than the sage investigator Hiroshi and introduces shame into her family for her involvement, which receives damning publicity from the press: "She drank it as she unfolded the paper and read about... herself. The newspaper was the most liberal in the country, but Terui's murder was framed as a symbol of the decline of Japanese education."
As Detective Hiroshi, forensic accountant turned chief investigator on the case, and Mana, aspiring student with a newfound cause, approach the case from different angles, mystery readers will find the confluence of their processes to be intriguing and revealing. Usually a long-running series needs prior familiarity for newcomers - but not this one. Detective Hiroshi's latest case is a winner for prior fans and newcomers alike, standing alone while supporting the rest of the series with new characters, dilemmas, and insights about Japan. Given the story's overall involving intrigue paired with a steady, solid infusion of Japanese cultural insights, readers are in for a treat. Libraries interested in multifaceted mysteries with added bonuses will want to highly recommend this latest foray into Japanese society to a wide audience.
The Bolden Cylinder
Norman Woolworth
Level Best Books
www.LevelBestBooks.us
9798898200350, $16.95 Paperback/$5.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Bolden-Cylinder-Bruneau-Abellard-Novel-ebook/dp/B0FMKNHG8B
The Bolden Cylinder is a historical mystery that swirls around arson, a 50-year-old missing person case that has never been resolved, and New Orleans antiques dealer Bruneau Abellard, who becomes involved in an investigation conducted by childhood friend and detective Bo Duplessi. The probe leads the two to join forces as they enter the musical milieu of 1960s New Orleans. From record collectors and night club singers to jazz notes, mob actions, voodoo influences, and insane asylum inmates, The Bolden Cylinder crafts a powerful blend of force and discovery to keep readers on their toes and wondering about outcomes and connections. Norman Woolworth brings this world to life via a first-person viewpoint that proves immersive.
A host of characters contribute different perspectives and experiences of New Orleans culture, with a rare cylinder recording involving each of them in novel ways that are delightfully unexpected as connections and situations evolve. Facts about musical collectibles and establishing legitimacy emerge in the course of realistic conversations, enlightening readers while adding authentic notes of culture and slang to the plot:
"There's science and there's art. Nico, he's got people to help with the science, run down provenance, that kind of thing. Could this performer have been in this place at that time, with that band, eh? Me, I help with the art. Me and Nico, we listen together. Does this sound like it could be Fats or Ernie or Fess? Is it just another take or is there something special about it?"
The interviews, investigations, motives, and mystery will intrigue and delight historical mystery readers - especially those with a prior interest in New Orleans. Libraries and readers seeking atmospheric, engrossing stories of discovery and suspense will find all these components and more in the musical world of The Bolden Cylinder. Its ability to appeal with a combination of musical insights, antique savvy, and the impact of a young musician whose efforts change New Orleans forever makes for an inviting story that is thoroughly engrossing and nicely steeped in the culture of Louisiana's musical heritage.
Hot Tango in Argentina
Nancy Nau Sullivan
Torchflame Books
www.torchflamebooks.com
9781611536157, $19.99 paperback; $6.99 ebook; $30.00 large print
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Tango-Argentina-Blanche-Murninghan-Mystery-ebook/dp/B0F4YLTBPM
Hot Tango in Argentina is a Blanche Murningham mystery that opens in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1978. Part-time sleuth Blanche and romantic partner Emilio Del Sierra are enjoying a well-deserved respite from detective work when Emilio's family crisis draw them into a dangerous situation. Posing as tourists to root out the truth, Blanche and Emilio investigate a plot threatening his family, only to discover that the perps are World War II war criminals hiding out in Argentina. Their efforts to evade justice are drawing innocent Argentineans into their dangerous secret.
Hot Tango in Argentina opens with a literal bang: "The four of them got out of the car, as if on cue, and pounded up the walk to the house. They hammered on the door, and the maid opened it slowly. A hot wind swept through, moving the filmy white curtains, bringing ill fortune. The boy crouched near the entry, hardly able to breathe. He'd heard about these visits, and now they had come."
Nancy Nau Sullivan delivers a special blend of fast-paced action and personal insights that set the stage for events that evolve in 2005. She ties past to present-day circumstances with a cast of characters that have been featured in previous books, but which require no prior reader familiarity in order to prove easily accessible and understandable. As Blanche encounters a variety of local characters in her disguise as a tourist, these personalities also come to life to add cultural flavors and insights to the plot. Lusita, who works for Frau Schemmer, and family members interact on an evolving stage of unpredictable danger. Especially notable is how the tension built into the story leads to powerful moments of confrontation and discovery to keep readers guessing:
"The man walked toward her. Her spine straightened. She would not cower. Do not show fear. Instead, she'd turn these tremulous doubts inside out like she'd done so many times before. An instinct for survival was strong, and so was her ability to think on her feet."
The "you are here" feel is potent and thoroughly absorbing as the culture and politics of Argentina plays out against a backdrop of history and special interests. Blanche and Emilio's characters shine as they interview people, draw together loose threads, and inject their own personalities into the evolving situation:
"You know about Tomas? Already? And obviously you know Margarita." Blanche leaned forward, rather eagerly. Emilio put his hand on Blanche's arm and murmured, "Baquita." She held his hand, but he couldn't calm her eagerness."
Libraries seeking mysteries steeped in Latin culture and family and social interactions will relish how Sullivan delivers a series of revelations that embrace surprise and superb tension. The investigative component is more than a mystery - it's a story of dealing with tyrants and surviving a tangled web of malevolence that has a long history of impacting everyone involved. Readers seeking an attractive tango between disparate forces will relish how Hot Tango in Argentina evolves unexpected connections and intrigue.
Whispers on the Mountain
Amanda Lamb
Torchflame Books
www.torchflamebooks.com
9781611536072, $18.99 paperback; $6.99 ebook; $30.00 large print
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Whispers-Mountain-Amanda-Lamb-ebook/dp/B0FNW8J59Q
Whispers on the Mountain is set in the mountains of North Carolina and follows the investigations of Celia Finch, who becomes involved in the mystery of missing woman Pamela Stevens and the presence of too many possible perps. A lost hiker in the mountains shouldn't be an impossible situation to resolve, but Celia unravels a host of emotional connections and incongruities which bring her full circle into childhood memories better forgotten. Celia has a history of going down dark holes of emotional revelation, especially with the prior Billy Barnes case she became so emotionally entangled with. Thus, her approach to this latest case forces her to face similar challenges which impacted her so heavily in the past.
Also intriguing and revealing is how Amanda Lamb addresses a sleuth's challenges both individually and with other investigators, creating a compelling saga with insights into different approaches to detective work: "Sometimes, Cindy drove me nuts with her super-sleuthing. Granted, often she was right on the money and saw things that I didn't. But other times, she was parroting verbiage directly from a true crime documentary or from one of those mystery novels that she loved to read, which had zero to do with solving actual, real-life crimes."
How can real justice be achieved when a woman vanishes? And how can Celia nail down everyone involved when so many have a stake in the case? Lamb creates a moving story of not just a vanished woman and efforts to find her, but Celia's personal quest to navigate her past and her abilities. As she considers the result of her obsessive pursuits and the personal impact of her involvement, readers will be especially intrigued by how the case dovetails adventure with personal discovery. This is why libraries and readers seeking emotionally charged stories of pursuit, discovery, and personal involvement will want to add Whispers on the Mountain to their reading lists and collections. More than just a whodunit, Whispers on the Mountain tackles the bigger-picture thinking of personal motivation, attitude, and investigative skills to create a winning story of mystery, suspense, and discovery which operates on more than one level.
Parisian Detective Tales Part Three: The Mother
Marcel Marquie
Independently Published
9798317802974, $13.99 Paperback/$2.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Parisian-Detective-Tales-Trilogy-Mother/dp/B0FD31M6V7
Parisian Detective Tales Part Three: The Mother is the third book in a trilogy, building upon characters and events that took place in Two Sisters and The Child, each set in 1947. This concluding novel opens a year later, following the siblings' investigation into the fate of their missing mother when she left her family for America. P.I. Toni Bonnet and Sandrine's sister Claudine find themselves in a strange foreign country ferreting out the truth of what happened in the past (the case of the missing child and its tragic outcome), its impact on their lives, and events from the past year which continue to reverberate in unexpected ways:
"Toni had a distinct impression of deja vu: same place, same time of year, same meal, and a similar request to find a missing person. But that would have to be broached when coffee was served. There would be no business talk while the rabbit was being savored. What was different, though, was Sandrine's absence, and that absence was deeply troubling."
Marcel Marquie brings Paris to life, which serves as the backdrop for an investigative foray into different worlds battered by World War II and family choices. Of special interest is the way in which Toni's P.I. skills are challenged by his efforts in America to arrive at the truth, prompting him to assume other personas to disguise his real intentions:
"Introducing himself as a private detective in a country where he did not have a license was inappropriate, not to say illegal, so he would be either a French professor or a heartbroken man who had lost his betrothed in a tragic accident and was intent on finding her mother. That was close enough to the truth anyway."
The intellectual and artistic atmosphere of 1920s and 30s Paris comes to life as Toni makes inroads towards the truth, attempts to solve the disappearance of Minne, and navigates the special interests of art gallery owners and the intentions of a murderer. From Claudine's drive to reconnect with her mother at all costs to an unfaithful husband's real intentions, Toni faces a host of professional and personal challenges that mark his interactions between war-torn Europe and America. Though enough references are made to the previous novels supporting Parisian Detective Tales Part Three: The Mother to make it accessible to newcomers, prior series fans will find this unifying book especially thought-provoking. This audience will relish how the threads of character connection created in the previous books come together in The Mother, offering a range of new challenges to Toni's evolving struggles here.
Libraries seeking a P.I. detective story that nicely enhances its prior series books while offering new directions that explain matters of the heart and political aspirations alike will relish how The Mother conjoins a variety of characters from previous books in new ways. The Mother is a top pick for fiction readers interested in stories that build cross-cultural settings to provide unexpected connections, enlightenment, and revelations.
Oaks from Acorns Grow
Richard Opper
www.RichardOpper.com
Konstellation Press
9798990818163, $14.99 paperback, $3.99 ebook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Oaks-Acorns-Grow-Richard-Opper-ebook/dp/B0FZD8YZ7J
Oaks from Acorns Grow, the last volume in the Mona Oakhart trilogy, follows the businesswoman into further situations of intrigue. Richard Opper grows the story with the same attention to plot twists and the unexpected that drove his previous Oakhart tales. The first chapter comes not from Mona's point of view, but that of ex-boyfriend/ex-cop Gary Reines, who is returning from Guam licking the wounds of her sudden rejection. He muses: "My girlfriend tossed me, and I had to fly thousands of miles, through foreign countries, to be told it." He's given up his job to be with her and now has nothing left but the wealth he tends to freely spend as a panacea for pain.
As Mona's perspective emerges to juxtapose with Gary's, readers come to realize that much more is involved in this unexpected rejection. Decisions are influenced by Mona's X-rated movies, her magnetic attraction to Paulette, refugee children, Tong mob involvements, and a host of other themes which emerge in the course of a shifting plot as personal relationships and health are buffeted by forces that dictate each character's life. As in the previous books, Opper creates an excellent sense of tension and drive, blending unexpected opportunities and challenges into the overall process of battles, healing, and new beginnings. He cultivates a fine tone of investigation and discovery which, at times, also blends in wry humor that appears from various character perspectives.
One example is Henrietta Diaz, whose only daughter Tina is Mona's biggest X-rated movie star: "He didn't have to know I wasn't with DPS. I had a weapon and a badge, and I was feeling mighty fine!" As characters such as Mama P, who has long cultivated a double life that comes back to bite her, and Gary's Flower, born in the same year his father was killed, move into the 1980s, the action settles somewhere between family life and vivid past experience, bringing the sense of discovery and change to satisfying conclusions.
The epilogue by killer Freddie (a.k.a. "Princess") opens with a shuddering insight into a pathological mindset that has only one regret - that one of the lives he took was that of Mona's daughter. His strange desire to atone for one death when he's killed so many is just one of the rich flavors in this story which will draw readers from the start, whether they're already familiar with Mona's previous exploits or are newcomers to her world.
Librarians seeking a fast-paced read that holds the solid characterization of a literary novel, the action component of a thriller, and the attraction of a series of seemingly disparate lives and special interests that dovetail in scenarios of confrontation and change will want to highly recommend the concluding Oakhart volume Oaks from Acorns Grow. While it can be enjoyed as a stand-alone story, ideally Oaks from Acorns Grow will be pursued as part of the wider trilogy which brings these individuals to life, flushing out their adventures with growth which is traceable between books and satisfyingly complex and thought-provoking.
The Fantasy/SciFi Shelf
Fantasy Tales Short & Sweet
C.T. Fitzgerald
https://ctfitzgerald.com
RCT & Associates, LLC
9798218808624, $14.00 Paperback; $5.95 E-book
Author's Website
https://ctfitzgerald.com/product/fantasy-tales-ebook
Fantasy Tales Short & Sweet are not your usual sword-and-sorcery fantasy-style works, but represent philosophical, social, and psychological inspections of life with an overlay of magical realism and thought-provoking attraction. Take the opening story, "Carry Out." John "Jack" Hamilton is pushing seventy-five and has seen the best years of his life. When he visits his favorite diner, he decides to order takeout instead of his usual eating in, a new thing for the diner and for Jack, and while he dozes and waits for his food, his life changes dramatically as his past returns to confront him in unexpected ways. As for his waitress Nora, who had forgotten Jack's carry-out order and let things come to pass, she receives an unexpected gift in the midst of anguish which gives her great pause for reflection.
Contrast this with "Pete's Miracle Mile," in which ex-railroad man Peter ("Peety"), also a diabetic, who has finally succumbed to his condition at age fifty-nine, receives a life review that contrasts with Jack's world, yet holds similar elements (military men, cops, firemen, dock workers), good and bad decisions that lead to loneliness, and a bar that provides the place for an alternate wake with alternate rules. Peety's shadow-wake reveals a mischievous undercurrent of change sparked by his passing that takes a macabre turn when booze-laden mourners come up with a final escapade that Peety would not have appreciated. The caper is exposed at just the right (or wrong, depending on perspective) moment when, in a morbid twist of humor, Fr. O'Meara discovers newfound purpose in the funeral event: "He saw his great chance for fame and, as a bonus, he had just found meaning in his life."
In this moment, religion unexpectedly delivers a miracle at the most unlikely time to equally undeserving recipients, dead or alive. Each story offers a twist of perspective concerning life. While the definition of 'fantasy' is loose, a bit of science fiction and certainly more than a touch of magical realism elevates these life-changing perspectives into something more indefinable and compelling, which, in the case of this small book, is a good thing.
It would take too long to mention the ironies and fantastic results of each of these pieces (which are truly short and sweet vignettes, consisting of only about thirty pages each), but "Oaths" is yet another inspection of battles, life wounds, and "walking ghosts" in which two men - a knight and a Viet Nam vet - realize the futility of their choices, their participation in war and the oaths they swore to uphold: "The inescapable, corollary was that his way of life, the way of the knight, would soon disappear. This idea angered Timothy. All of the work, all of the skills, the sacrifice, the courage, the requirements of his knightly oath and the society that oath guarded-all would disappear in the name of machine progress."
The struggles that evolve from this epiphany juxtaposes past and present as realizations emerge that are just as life-changing today as they were long ago. Pointed life inspections, considerations of purpose and meaning, and the injection of a fantasy overlay that impacts and changes life make for short works that are compelling and especially recommended for book clubs looking for discussion material.
The stories in Fantasy Tales: Short and Sweet make us look into the carnival mirror of life and, just like the characters in the stories whose lives are changed and, perhaps, distorted, perhaps those of the reader will be, also. Libraries and readers interested in works which are loosely defined as fantasies but which hold powerful inspections of life's meaning will relish how each story develops unique characters whose choices impact and change not just their world, but the world of those around them.
Baen Books
www.baen.com
Two new arrivals from Baen are highly recommended for libraries seeking exceptional sci-fi writers and action-packed plots.
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Ringer-Sadous-Rings-Joelle-Presby-ebook/dp/B0FBNRND1T
Joelle Presby's Ringer (9781668072974, $18.00) reveals the life of pre-teen Calypso Sadou, whose family heads into space on a new exploration missing, leaving her on a Saturn station with her grandparents. There she faces an uncertain future with political struggles impacting her life and her elderly grandparents proving vulnerable rather than adequate protectors. Calypso is forced to grow up quickly, as a result, and her action-packed adventures are filled with missions and good intentions that face unusual forces in this compelling story.
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Perditions-Storm-Black-Tide-Rising-ebook/dp/B0FBN918WM
Brian Trent's Perdition's Storm (9781668072967, $18.00) tells of Silvio Cipriano, a contract-killer for the Italian Mafia before the virus came to Italy and introduced zombies into the picture. Newly charged with organizing and saving the survivors of humanity, Silvio faces new invaders of the planet who pose even greater challenges as he struggles with military engagements, survival tactics, and relentless enemies from within and outside. Both are thoroughly engrossing, original plots.
James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief
Midwest Book Review
278 Orchard Drive, Oregon, WI 53575-1129
phone: 1-608-835-7937
e-mail: mbr@execpc.com
e-mail: mwbookrevw@aol.com
www.midwestbookreview.com
Diane C. Donovan, Editor & Senior Reviewer
12424 Mill Street, Petaluma, CA 94952
phone: 1-707-795-4629
e-mail: donovan@sonic.net
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