The French Executioner by C.C. Humprhreys

The year is 1536, and notorious French executioner Jean Rombaud is brought in by Henry VIII to behead Anne Boleyn, the condemned Queen of England. But on the eve of her execution, Rombaud becomes enchanted with the ill-fated queen and swears a vow to her: to bury her six-fingered hand, a symbol of her rumored witchery, at a sacred crossroads.

Yet in a Europe ravaged by religious war, the hand of this infamous Protestant icon is so powerful a relic that many will kill for it. Bloodthirsty warriors, corrupt church fathers, Vikings, alchemists, and sullied noblemen alike vie for the prize as Rombaud, a man loyal to the grave, struggles to honor his promise.

From sea battles to lusty liaisons, from the hallucinations of St. Anthony’s fire to the fortress of an apocalyptic messiah, The French Executioner sweeps readers into a breathtaking story of courage, the pursuit of power, and loyalty at whatever cost.

C.C. Humphreys

Humphreys has acted all over the world and appeared on stages ranging from London’s West End to Hollywood’s Twentieth Century Fox. He is also an accomplished swordsman and fight choreographer. For more information, visit http://cchumphreys.com/

Gabriel Iglesias

J and I are watching his special tonight.

If you have not seen him... you need to! He is absolutely hysterical. He is a genius at impressions.

Technically...

I am posting today.

Truthfully... I'm going to bed... Good night!

Gracepoint v Broadchurch

I watched the premiere of Gracepoint tonight with a little trepidation.

I am a fan of the British version (although I thought the resolution was a bit predictable) so I was curious to see how this American version measures up.

David Tennant is a genius actor so to see him basically reprise his role as Alec Hardy(albeit named Emmett Carver in this go round) was the high point of the premiere. Have to say, though, his natural Scottish brogue is perfection so to feel comfortable hearing his American accent may take a few episodes.

I watch re-runs all the time (you don't even want to know how many times I've seen every episode of Friends...lol!) so, knowing what's going to happen is not a bad thing. However, I felt this first hour kind of dragged. Not sure exactly why but I don't feel as invested in the new version.

That said... I will watch three more episodes (four episodes total...  just like my four chapter book rule) to decide if I will stick with it.

Thirty one posts in October~~ Can I do it?

I need to get back to blogging!

In the past, I have posted every day in a given month. I hope I can do it again.

And remember...

Fortunate Son by David Marlett~~Review

I have always stuck to my "100 pages or I'm out" rule when reading books... even books I am reviewing. I just will not be on this planet long enough to read books that don't capture my imagination.

That said... if every book I read were as textured and well-written as Fortunate Son by David Marlett, I would need to live a lot longer just to read.

I was enthralled from the first sentence... "Lord Arthur Annesley, the sixth Earl of Anglesea, was slopped.". How could I not want to dive into this book?!? I read it in a week... a very busy week, really, but I made time to read because it was plotted so perfectly!

Because it is based in fact, I purposely did not "google" anything about it. I wanted to read from a fresh perspective and not have someone else's writings shade my perspective. Although, after I turned the last page, I did read more about the facts of the case. I could see where Mr. Marlett took those facts and did what a good author does... use them as the basis for a scene but create tension and drama with his imaginative writing style.

One of the draws of Fortunate Son was the courtroom aspect. I love legal dramas! Although I am not as well-versed as I should be on the Irish legal system... especially the historical one presented in this novel, the author wrote enough to inform me about what was going on without it becoming dry and textbook-like. It gave me the basis to read and understand the trial without being lost or overwhelmed in legal jargon.

Without giving anything away, the conclusion perfection... it ended in a way that excited me for his next book, which, according to his author's note, will be another novel centering on a historical trial. I cannot wait to read it!

Thanks to the author, David Marlett and Aaron at The Story Plant for sending me this book in exchange for my review.

Fortunate Son by David Marlett

Meet James Annesley, son of 18th Century Ireland. Though you may 

have never heard his name before, his story has already touched you in profound ways. Now, for the first time, novelist David Marlett brings that incredible story to life.


Stretching from the dirty streets of Ireland to the endless possibilities of Colonial America, from drama on the high seas with the Royal Navy to a life-and-death race across England and up the Scottish Highlands, from the prospect of a hangman’s noose to a fate decided in the halls of justice, FORTUNATE SON is a powerful, relentless epic. Here 

nobility, duels, love, courage, revenge, honor, and treachery among 

family, friends and ancient enemies abound. And at its center is the 

most momentous trial in Irish history – the trial of Annesley v. 

Anglesea from which our modern “attorney/client privilege” was 

forged, and our concept of a “jury of one's peers” was put to the test. 

Carefully researched, vividly evoked, and lovingly brought to the page, FORTUNATE SON is an unforgettable work of fiction based on fact, one that will resonate deep within you long after you finish it.

David Marlett is an attorney, artist, and self-trained historian who grew 

up in a storytelling Texas family. He attended Texas Tech University where he earned multiple degrees in finance, economics and accounting. Subsequently, he earned his law degree from the University of Texas School of Law. David has created and written stories and screenplays since childhood, and is particularly interested in richly textured history and the drama behind major courtroom battles. 

He is a serial entrepreneur focused primarily on the arts. (He once owned eight bookstores across the United States.) David currently speaks and lectures at conferences and universities on trans- media, 

storytelling, entrepreneurship in the arts, and crowdfunding. He has been a featured contributor to Movie Maker magazine, Digital Book World, and many other publications. He has developed and sold a 

number of film scripts and has directed/ acted in many regional theatrical performances. David is also a photoartist whose work has appeared in several galleries across the United States. He lives outside 

Dallas, Texas, and has four children. His second novel, American Red, another historical courtroom drama, is due to be published in late 2014. 

I will be reviewing this historical courtroom drama on May 4th. Thanks to Aaron at The Story Plant, I received this novel yesterday and cannot wait to start reading it.  

It is available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble as well as other ebook stores. If you read it before my review, feel free to leave a comment...no spoilers, though!

WELCOME 2014!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I cannot say that I'm sad to see 2013 fade to memory. The end of the year saw our family endure two very traumatic medical crises. While everyone is healing and we are adjusting to our new normal,  the phrase "happy and healthy" take on a whole new meaning. 

So, in that spirit, I truly wish you a Happy and Healthy New Year!

Elizabeth Buhmann~ Author of Lay Death at her Door~ Guest Post

 Elizabeth Buhmann is originally from Virginia, where her first novel is set, and like her main character, she lived several years abroad while growing up. She graduated magna cum laude from Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, and has a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Pittsburgh. For twenty years, she worked for the Texas Attorney General as a researcher and writer on criminal justice and crime victim issues. Elizabeth now lives in Austin, Texas, with her husband, dog, and two chickens. She is an avid gardener, loves murder mysteries, and has a black sash in Tai Chi.

She has written this guest post for Bags, Books & Bon Jovi. 

Why do we love murder?

Guest Post by Elizabeth Buhmann, Author of Lay Death at Her Door (Red Adept Publishing, May 2013)

A friend of mine once asked me how I could consider books about murder entertainment. As if murder were fun.

We’d been to a dinner party, and during a long and lively conversation about favorite murder mystery books and authors, he had been uncharacteristically quiet.

“Murder,” he finally said, “is a horrible crime. A person dies. Lives are ruined. Both the victim and the offender—as well as their families—are destroyed.”

True. No sane person enjoys real crime. But the plain fact is, we are entertained not just by books about murder but also by TV shows and movies. Why do we love murder? What about murder is so entertaining?

It’s not so much that we love murder as that we love justice. It’s a rule of the genre that murderers are caught and punished. We live with injustice in the real world, but in the world of fiction we always have the satisfaction of watching the villain go down in flames at the end.

In Lay Death at Her Door, an old crime comes unsolved when new evidence shows that the man who was convicted of it is innocent. The book opens like this:

“In 1986, a man was murdered. I was beaten and raped. The ensuing trial dominated local headlines until my eyewitness testimony sent a man named Jules Jefferson to prison for life.

“I lied.”

The narrator is Kate Cranbrook, victim of assault and witness to murder, who explains in chapter one that she committed perjury twenty years earlier to protect herself. In so doing, she also became an accessory, however unwilling, to murder.

“I knew who murdered Elliott Davis… and why. I lied to protect myself. No use wondering if I could have made a different choice. It’s what I did. It’s what I live with.”

Kate is sitting on an explosive secret, one that would send her to jail along with the real killer, but even following Jefferson’s exoneration, the surface of her life appears undisturbed. This is realistic: eyewitnesses, including victims, are often mistaken, and no one blames them.

Kate knows this. She tells us, “Jefferson had threatened Elliott and me at the Tavern, no doubt about that. If I said I was confused later on, misidentified my attacker, it would be believable enough.” And she’s probably right when she says, “I could have weathered Jefferson’s exoneration if I’d only stayed home and left well enough alone.”

Rest assured, justice prevails, and the truth comes out, ironically, because of who and what Kate is. She tells us that she made terrible mistakes when she was very young, and then compounded them trying to escape the consequences of her own bad decisions.

Twenty years later, she is still the same person. Ruefully, she admits that, “being who I am, I set in motion all the same forces that were my undoing in the first place. What can I say? For everything I did, I had my reasons.”

Lay Death at Her Door is not a detective story. The protagonist is not an agent of justice—hardly! She is the driving force behind an enormous injustice, the imprisonment of an innocent man and the shielding of a murderer.

But while Kate is not a good person, her motives are recognizable human errors and yearnings. To me what is satisfying about her story is the way her own flawed nature is her downfall in the end. 

From the back cover..."Twenty years ago, Kate Cranbrook's eyewitness testimony sent the wrong man to prison for rape and murder. When new evidence exonerates him, Kate says that in the darkness and confusion, she must have mistaken her attacker's identity.

She is lying.                          

Kate would like nothing better than to turn her back on the past, but she is trapped in a stand-off with the real killer. When a body turns up on her doorstep, she resorts to desperate measures to free herself once and for all from a secret that is ruining her life."

Lay Death has gotten great reviews from bloggers so far. The Chaotic Reader said, “Buhmann’s storytelling is in a class with Lolita.” I’m a Voracious Reader said, “The ending was the biggest mind f*** I never saw coming. Totally. Awesome!” Big Al said, “A well written, unpredictable story. You'll love it.” This book appeals to readers who enjoy the dark characters and stories of Gillian Flynn and Tana French, "with a twist... or three!" (Amazon review) But to me, the book most emulates (in my dreams!) the stand-alone mysteries of Ruth Rendell.

Interested? I'm sure you are!
 It is available on  Amazon. 
Go to Goodreads...Elizabeth's website... or Facebook to read more about this debut novel.

I finished this intense mystery this week and was really blown away by this story. I will post my review at a later date.

Steven Gore... New to Me Author

One of the joys of the book blogging world is discovering new and new to me authors! Don't you agree?

So, when I was introduced to Steven Gore, I was very excited to meet Harlan Donnally, an ex SFPD detective. I will post my review of his first two Harlan Donnally mysteries, Act of Deceit and A Criminal Defense at a later date.

Here are his thoughts on writing crime fiction...
"Counterintuitive.

If there is single word that characterizes my encounter with writing crime fiction after decades as a criminal investigator, it’s counterintuitive.

And it’s part of the explanation why true crime makes for lousy crime fiction, why so few career-long law enforcement officers and private investigators succeed in crime writing and why most of those who do have only worked in the field briefly. In truth, much of what readers want from investigator protagonists are characteristics and habits that experienced investigators have to train out of themselves and train out of young investigators in order for them to succeed.

Readers want different things from investigators than do law enforcement agencies and private investigator clients. Readers want to feel increasing tension, while, with the rarest of exceptions, experienced investigators aim to lower it; readers want to watch investigators overcome obstacles, while experienced investigators aim to avoid them; readers want to read about characters who are uniquely qualified, while in the real world there are only investigators who are especially qualified; readers want to watch investigators run up against walls and then force their way through them, while experienced investigators aim how to slip around them; readers want spontaneity and surprise, while experienced investigators plan and plan in order to limit surprises; readers want to see investigators try and try again, while clients want real investigators to get it right the first time; readers are not troubled by brash, aggressive protagonists injecting conflict into a scene, while real investigators don’t inject it, they anticipate potential conflict inherent in a situation and work to mute it.

In the end, in the real world, doing all these things in these ways is both the criteria of competence and the conditions for successful investigations.

There is one kind of law enforcement that matches readers’ expectations: narcotics. But it isn’t at heart a crime solving assignment. Narcotics cases are generally built from leaning on people who’ve already been caught dirty—by patrol officers and street drug task forces and through search warrants and wiretaps--to give up those above them. It’s less about solving crimes and more about discovering crimes already in progress or creating crimes by means of informants or undercover agents. The problem is that since the skills and attitudes that succeed in narcotics enforcement fail in investigations, few narcotics officers become first rate homicide detectives. Observe the contrast between the drug enforcement reality shows and A&E’s The First 48. In The First 48, at least during the first few years of the show and before detectives began to play to the camera, nearly all of the excitement came from the music and the jump cuts. The detectives themselves were generally low key and methodical.

The problem for me was to translate the reality of investigation into fiction. That is to say, there could be no “When in doubt, have a man come through a door with a gun in his hand” of Raymond Chandler or “My way of learning is to heave a wild and unpredictable monkey-wrench into the machinery” of Dashiell Hammett. Rather, plots had to be driven internally and conflict had to be exploited from within, rather than imposed from without and the methods used had to be those that succeeded in real life.

On the domestic front, I’m making this effort in the Harlan Donnally novels of which A Criminal Defense is the latest, and on the international front, in the Graham Gage thrillers of which Power Blind is the latest. In each series, the central problem I faced was investigative competence: the protagonists had to apply real world methods and approaches in a realistic way. That meant applying the techniques of genre fiction to stories whose aim is realism. And the challenge was to make the stories not only informative about the real world of crime and investigation, but exciting for readers. In the end, it’s the readers who will judge whether I have truly bridged the gap between the real and the fictional."

If you find this as intriguing as I do, please check out his series.

Act of Deceit... from the author's website..."The former detective swore he'd never play anyone's postman. But a dying friend's plea takes Donnally bearing a letter alive with tragedy toward a sister long dead—the victim of the bizarre criminality of a counter culture that had lost its way.

Stunned to learn that her killer was never prosecuted, Donnally soon finds himself in battle against a broken 

justice system and on a trail of evil into a dangerous borderland in which the falsely pious and the wealthy abuse the young and the poor. And though each step takes him farther down a perilous path that wrenches him between his inner demons and his mission to redeem a brother's love, he won't stop until he knows the truth.

For Donnally made a promise to a dead man, and he'll keep it—or die trying.

A Criminal Defense...from the author's website...What do you call a criminal defense attorney hanging by his neck? When he's Mark Hamlin, every cop in San Francisco calls it justice.

Over three decades, Hamlin's practice devolved into just another racket: intimidating witnesses, suborning perjury, destroying evidence, laundering money. But is he the victim of murder—or of a dangerous sexual encounter gone wrong? And when law enforcement believes justice has already been done, who can be trusted to find out?

Once again in the city where his career came to a shattering end, former detective Harlan Donnally resolved it wouldn't be him. He had no desire to immerse himself in the deceit that was Hamlin's career . . . nor entangle himself in the corrupted loyalties that turned the dead lawyer's associates into both co-conspirators and suspects . . . nor make himself the proxy for the hatreds and betrayals Hamlin left behind.

But the presiding judge demanded otherwise—and that might cost Donnally his life..

George Alexander Louis

I am beyond excited that he is George Alexander Louis!

George is one of my favorite names! It's after Queen Elizabeth's father... King George VI... Bertie whose struggles were chronicled in the amazing movie...The King's Speech!

Alexander reinforces my thought that Kate would have a girl who would be named Alexandra. I believe they love that name so it's fitting that Alexander be his middle name.

Louis, of course, reminds me of Louis Vuitton handbags and Louis Bullock (my favorite celebrity kid!) and, as I've heard that is how they are pronouncing it... LOO-EE... perfection!! I also love that he was also named after Louis Mounbatten.

I'm Not Even British...

...but this makes me so very happy!

I actually teared up a bit watching all of this! I cannot wait to learn his name... I hope it's George.

First Line Friday

Today is First Line Friday! I began First Line Friday because first lines have always intrigued me since I heard an author say that writing the first sentence is, by far, the most difficult part of writing a novel. The reasoning was that a first sentence can make the reader continue reading or cause the book to be tossed aside. So, go to your To Be Read Pile, choose as many books as you want and share the first line. Be sure to include the title and author so that if your reader also finds it intriguing, they can find the book. Also, share your thoughts about the first line. Does it draw you in? Is it...exciting...thought provoking...scary...funny? Join in, if you enjoy first lines as much as I do! Be sure to use my great First Line Friday graphic and leave me a comment so I can read your blog!

"It's been a while, " thought Charles Paris.

A Decent Interval

Simon Brett

Yes, it has! This novel is the latest in one of my favorite mystery series... the Charles Paris series by Simon Brett. The last one was published in 1998... the same year my daughter was born... and she'll be a Sophomore in high school! 

I love this first line and title of the novel as the author knows exactly what his readers are thinking! As a matter of fact, he does, too. It's been a decent interval since Charles Paris has graced my TBR pile! I was surfing the net when I discovered that this book was to be published. 

I started it last night and have to say that the "decent interval" hasn't lessened my love for Charles Paris. As much as I love discovering new authors, there's nothing more satisfying than returning to an old favorite.

I hope Simon Brett has his Charles paris "mojo" back and I don't have to wait so long for the next  mystery!

Murder as a Fine Art by David Morrell

About the novel... "Thomas De Quincey, infamous for his memoir Confessions of an English Opium-Eater, is the major suspect in a series of ferocious mass murders identical to ones that terrorized London forty-three years earlier.

The blueprint for the killings seems to be De Quincey’s essay “On Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts.” Desperate to clear his name but crippled by opium addiction, De Quincey is aided by his devoted daughter Emily and a pair of determined Scotland Yard detectives.

In Murder as a Fine Art, David Morrell plucks De Quincey, Victorian London, and the Ratcliffe Highway murders from history. Fogbound streets become a battleground between a literary star and a brilliant murderer, whose lives are linked by secrets long buried but never forgotten."

About the author, from his website... "David Morrell is the critically acclaimed author of First Blood, the novel in which Rambo was created. He holds a Ph. D. in American literature from Penn State and was a professor in the English department at the University of Iowa. His numerous New York Times bestsellers include the classic spy trilogy The Brotherhood of the Rose (the basis for the only television mini-series to premier after a Super Bowl), The Fraternity of the Stone, and The League of Night and Fog. An Edgar, Anthony, and Macavity nominee, Morrell is the recipient of three Bram Stoker awards from the Horror Writers Association as well as the prestigious lifetime Thriller Master Award from the International Thriller Writers’ organization. His writing book,The Successful Novelist, discusses what he has learned in his four decades as an author. He lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico."

My favorite genre is mysteries... specifically historical... specifically British... specifically "gaslight" era. Murder as a Fine Art  specifically fits that bill. I loved everything about it. However, the most interesting part was that Thomas DeQuincey was a real person.  

There was a discussion in one of my book clubs about the merit of including historical figures in historical fiction.  I love it! I think it takes a very skilled novelist to realistically include someone who is known to the world. The ease, I believe, of fiction is making it all up. Throw in a "real" person and the author has to walk a fine line between the known and the unknown. Mr. Morrell, in my opinion, has woven Thomas DeQuincey and this mystery so well that the known and the unknown blend seamlessly.

I saw Mr. Morrell speak at The Tattered Cover about Murder as a Fine Art. He told the audience about his academic background and how it made sense for him to be intrigued about Thomas DeQuincey after he was mentioned in a movie he watched. After doing a lot of research, he realized that  DeQuincey would be a perfect character in a mystery novel. Mr. Morrell based the book on a series of  mass murders in gaslight London that, some believe, ushered in "tabloid" journalism... "if it bleeds, it leads".

Because of his research background, specifically having been a college professor,  the writing is literate and  lyrical.  I was drawn into the book  without question.  The characters and the setting are  flawlessly written  but, the mystery is what makes this novel shine.  It is palpable  and jarring. I felt like I could not read this novel quickly enough!  Because I knew it was based on a factual event, I, purposely, did not "google"  anything about it until I had finished the book. I wanted to "live" it just as DeQuincey et al  were. 

As much as I love beginning a novel, I dread turning the final page. I have invested in characters and their quest and to see that end, can be a little disconcerting. With Murder as a Fine Art, though, Mr. Morrell intimated, no... pretty much said outright, that there will be sequel. YAY! While I will entertain myself with other mystery novels until then, I so look forward to reading the next Thomas Dequincey mystery.

~~Although I am reviewing Murder as a Fine Art by David Morrell as part of  his Historical Fiction book Tour,  I purchased this wonderfully written novel with my own funds.~~

Memorial Day 2013

Both my father and father-in-law proudly served our our country and are laid to rest in a beautiful National Cemetery.
Please take a moment and remember what today is really about.