Saturday, July 18, 2015

A Love Letter to Independent Booksellers Presented in a Mystery


Blurb:


Thomas Shawver, author of The Dirty Book Murder and Left Turn at Paradise, returns to the surprisingly lethal world of rare books with a third enthralling novel featuring a most unlikely hero -- antiquarian bookseller Michael Bevan.


 A furious man from nearby Independence, Kansas demands that Michael Bevan return a rare first edition of the Book of Mormon, claiming that it was mistakenly sold by a disgruntled descendant of A.J. Stout. Contained on the frontispiece are a list of Ford names dating from 1845 to the present. Beside each name, save the last two, is a check mark - but what could the checks signify? With this discovery, Michael Bevan stumbles onto a trail of hatred and murder stretching back to 1844.




Review:

A Mormon Vendetta, A Rare Mormon Book, and Murder

A murder in 1844 is the basis for a vendetta. The Mormon Prophet, Joseph Smith, and several of his followers died at the hands of a mob in Carthage, Illinois. Several of the men who escaped the massacre vowed to kill everyone involved down to the last living descendant. 

Michael Bevan, a rare books dealer, has never heard of the Mormon vendetta, but Natalie Phelan, his friend and director of the Celtic Heritage Center, has fallen in love with Emery, one of the descents of the original Mormon vigilantes. He claims to love her and wants to marry her, but they need money. He has an original copy of one of the early Mormon books, which he gives to Michael to authenticate. For Bevan this is an opportunity to get a book good enough to allow him entry to the AABA, Antiquarian Book Association of America, but nothing is simple. 

This is a fun mystery with an interesting plot that revolves around an historical incident. It's a quick read. The characters are interesting. Michael Bevan is a mix of scholarship and physical ability. The small town he lives in is like having a vacation from the real world. The other characters Natalie, and particularly, Michael's lover Josie, and sympathetic and well drawn. 

If you enjoy mysteries with little violence and an interesting historical plot, you may enjoy this book. 


Interview:

How did you Get the idea for your hero?

I decided to write about a trade I know with a protagonist who somewhat resembles me.  Then I made stuff up.

Josie Majansik plays a small role in the present book.  However, she and Michael Bevan have now married.  Do you see this changing the series?

Good question.  I’m going to give Michael and Josie a rest for the time being while I write a different series featuring a Frenchman who solves crimes in a Missouri river town.  With them married it does present challenges.  Obviously, Mike can’t get away from flirting (or whatever you want to call it) with other women.  But Josie is an independent gal who might just take off on her own someday.  We’ll see.

Would you like to share anything else about the series?

The series is really a love letter to the independent book trade that is rapidly disappearing, to my wonderful neighborhood, and to the customers from whom I mined so many characteristics for my stories—except for the evil parts.


Author Bio:

Thomas Shawver is a former marine officer, lawyer, and journalist with American City Business Journals. An avid rugby player and international traveler, Shawver owned Bloomsday Books, an antiquarian bookstore in Kansas Cit
Goodreads: Goodreads







Friday, July 3, 2015

Discover a Great Mystery -- Fixed in Blood




Blurb:

Seattle Chief of Detectives Mort Grant is still reeling from losing his daughter -- again. Now, Mort investigates the gruesome murder of a beautiful young woman whose death was captured in a snuff film. When a second victim--and film--are discovered, Mort knows he's not dealing with an ordinary criminal. Mort hunts a twisted menace from a chain of sleazy loan shops to the dark underworld of the sex trade. But he's not the only one. Once again, The Fixer is on the hunt--and she's desperate to make things right.








Review:

Lydia and Mort Team Up to Solve the Murders of Young Prostitutes
Lydia, alias the Fixer, and Mort. Seattle's chief of detectives, have been estranged since, Allie, Mort's wayward daughter, left Lydia's care to go away with Vadim Tokarev, a Russian drug lord. Mort is living on a houseboat and continuing his work as chief of detectives. Lydia is a practicing psychologist. She misses Mort's friendship and feels that she was unfairly accused of letting Allie escape. 

In Mort's latest case, a young woman's body is found, and it's evident that she was tortured before being killed. Then another young woman is found also tortured before being killed. Both are prostitutes and were involved with an unscrupulous loan shark who charged exorbitant interest rates designed to lead the women into prostitution. When Lydia's patient, another young woman, disappears, Mort and Lydia decide it's time to work together again. 

This is another fast paced Fixer novel. The characters of Mort and Lydia are more developed than in the previous books. He's devastated by his daughter's actions. Lydia is trying to leave behind her life as the Fixer. This book gives us insight into their struggles and their need for each other's friendship. 

The plot is fast moving and the author does a good job of misdirection. It's hard to tell until the very end who is responsible. Although the idea of young women being tortured and killed is horrendous, the violence is handled tastefully with a minimum of gory details. 

I recommend this book if you're a fan of the Fixer series, or if you enjoy a good mystery. 


Author Interview:

How did you decide on the character of Lydia?
I’ve long been interested in the word “justice”. Is there any such thing, really? Can a wrong truly be atoned? Let’s take even the smallest infraction. Let’s say we’re at a dinner party, chatting. You say something incredibly funny to me and in my laughter I lean forward and clumsily spill my red wine on your beautiful white wool skirt. A minor sin, to be sure. But what could truly serve as justice for my crime? I could apologize. But there’s still that matter of that ugly red blotch on that soft white fabric. I could pay for dry-cleaning. But you might always have the perception of the skirt being “less than” whenever you took it out to wear. Perhaps you’d always be looking for a faint hint of stain the cleaners missed. I could even buy you a new skirt. But it wouldn’t be the one you fell in love with at Nordstrom’s, would it? It could never be the skirt you bought after a long search with your best friend on that fun Saturday afternoon when you stopped for coffee at that cute little place on Elm Street and those two good-looking men in running gear flirted you both.
Could I ever really make you whole again?
Take that same concept and apply it to major crimes…especially murder. Is there any way a murder can be truly and wholly avenged? I mean, even if you kill a killer, the person the killer killed is still dead, right? Those are the kinds of musings that led me to create a series dealing with the notion of justice. And once I decided to write the series I, of course, needed a main character. The Writing 101 tattoo is write what you know. I know how to be a psychologist. Bingo, my main character became a psychologist. My profession has given me entry to the lives of many who have been battered, abused, and abandoned. Presto, my psychologist main character is a woman who continues to struggle with her own history of abuse and abandonment. I’ve long been interested in the notion of justice. Voila, justice becomes the driving force of my abused and suffering clinical psychologist.
I write what I know.
Now, lest you think I am secretly a vigilante assassin with hands so bloody a gallon of Clorox wouldn’t dent the stain, well…you’ll just have to take my word for it that writing what you know can turn the corner and become the foundation for writing what you make up.
The series seems to be progressing from the violence of the first book toa much more psychological approach. What do you envision for the restof the series?
Oh, there’s gonna be a whole lot of violence coming. The next book in
the series, Fixed In Fear, comes out in October, 2015 and opens with a mass murder that is, as they say, not for the faint of heart. But you’re right, as the characters develop, we do get more of an insight into their motivations and musings. As relates to the rest of the series, I envision Lydia and Allie growing closer to an inevitable showdown. Will Mort have to choose between the two of them? And if so, where will his allegiance come down? Will he stand by his sociopathic daughter out of dedication to family? Or will he turn toward Lydia, the woman struggling so hard to live within the rules of society? As relates to Lydia’s destiny with the series, I see her continuing to wrestle the demons inside her. Most times she’ll be successful. But I’m sure there’ll be times when, despite how much she’s trying to keep her Fixer tendencies chained and bound, she’ll give in and apply her special brand of repair to those who have escaped justice.
We’ve still got plenty to learn about the other characters in the series as well. Will Jimmy ever be able to step away from the humor and cynical world-weary posture that has served to protect him from his grief? What’s with Micki? Why is a young, smart, successful, beautiful woman like her alone in life? And speaking of alone, what will happen as relates to Oliver Bane and Paul Bauer? What’s next for Larry?
There’s plenty of plot lines and character arcs knocking around in my head. I can’t wait to get them down in readable form…and I certainly can’t wait to hear what readers think.
Would you like to share anything else with my readers?
I’d like to share so much with them! Readers have made my long-standing dream of being a writer come true. I’d like to share more stories with them. And I’d like to hear theirs. I’d like to share how much I appreciate the support and kindness they’ve shown this series. And I’d like to give them more. I’d like to share a cup of coffee with them. Wouldn’t that be a hoot? To actually be able to have a leisurely conversation with someone I don’t know, but who has read my books? I’m sure most authors would love to stumble across someone reading their book, sit down next to them, and, without the reader knowing they’re speaking to the author, ask them what they think of what they’re reading. No filters. Just a straight-up, person-to-person report.
If any of your readers are interested in having a conversation with me, please contact me on Facebook (T.E.Woods) or on Twitter (@tewoodswrites) or on my website tewoodswrites.com. I’d love to hear from them.
Author Bio:
T.E. Woods is a clinical psychologist in
private practice in Madison, Wisconsin. Her scientific writings are well represented in peer-reviewed journals and academic texts. Her literary works earned her first place for Fiction at the University of Wisconsin Writers’ Institute. Dr. Woods enjoys kayaking, hiking, biking, and hanging around the house while her two dogs help her make sense of the world. Her habit of relaxing by conjuring up any manner of diabolical murder methods and plots often finds her friends urging her to take up knitting.