Tag: mystery book reviews

Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles Update, Part 2

In my previous post, I talked about the first 3 books in the Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles series.

In this post, I want to continue from where I left off and present to you Books 4 through 6 in this amazing series. And here they are!

You Won’t Know How… Or When

I love the clerical sleuth genre. There’s something about a man or woman of faith matching wits with a murderer. That combination elevates the moral nature of the detective story.

James Callan’s Father Frank has never been to the Texas Hill Country and hasn’t had a vacation in 4 years. When he decides to visit his friend, Father Lee, in Magnolia Bluff, that’s when the fun begins.

Here’s what one reader thought:

…an exciting, well plotted mystery. Father Frank takes a vacation to Magnolia Bluff and finds himself hearing confessions for his friend. 

Bound not to reveal anything he has learned in the confessional, Father Frank has to find a way to stop the potential killer and save his friend’s life – some vacation! 

I was fascinated, as well as intrigued and engaged, watching Father Frank stay true to his vows while being determined to save both his friend and the potential killer. 

The Flower Enigma

A techno-thriller in Magnolia Bluff? Well, why not? Our favorite town is connected to the internet. And is not immune to other upsets to rural tranquility. Breakfield and Burkey take those two facts and spin us a suspense-filled yarn.

A review from Amazon that captures what this installment in the Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles is all about:

JJ and Jo are finally taking a much-needed vacation and choose a small Texas town to decompress and enjoy stepping back from their fast-paced lives. 

Jo is a celebrated fashion model, and JJ spends his days bringing down cybercriminals. No chance of having to deal with publicity or technology hacks at the quaint bed and breakfast in Magnolia Bluff.

And yet, when they arrive, JJ is immediately sucked into helping a group of ladies who are under a cyber attack meant to prevent their daily podcasts from being streamed. 

From that starting point, the plot thickens and gets more and more complex. The young lovers willingly sacrifice their vacation not only to save the ladies’ podcasts but also to help break up a human trafficking ring.

The mystery surrounding the newest resident of Magnolia Bluff, who erected an eight-foot wall around his ranch, deepens with each page of the book. 

The characters in this story are believable. Lily, the owner of the B&B, became one of my favorites. She caters to her customers but stands her ground when threatened. 

I love the small-town setting where everyone knows everyone. Having lived in a small town for many years, I related to the setting. I enjoyed how the authors added a unique Texas flair to the story through the cuisine and descriptive settings.

The Shine From A Girl In The Lake

Richard Schwindt is one of my favorite authors. In fact, I think he is one of the finest storytellers spinning yarns today.

His books are highly imaginative. Poignant. Often hilariously funny. His prose is imbued with a sense of place. He makes you feel you are there.

And all those elements come together to make The Shine from a Girl in the Lake one heck of a mystery-thriller.

Dr. Michael Kurelek teaches psychology at Burnet College in Magnolia Bluff. He also has his own private practice. He’s a man with a past looking for a new start in the small Texas town. Then one of his patients is found dead. In Burnet Reservoir.

When another patient ends up in the lake, Kurelek is driven to find the real killer before the police decide they are convinced he did it. The game is afoot. And it is a suspense-filled game of hunter and hunted. The ending had me biting my nails. Seriously.

The Shine from a Girl in the Lake is the perfect blending of classic whodunit and serial killer thriller. A fabulous book from the pen of one of the most imaginative writers working today.

There you have it: three more fabulous books set in beautiful Magnolia Bluff. You can get them and the rest of the series on Amazon.

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading!

CW Hawes is a playwright, award-winning poet, and a fictioneer, with a bestselling novel. He’s also an armchair philosopher, political theorist, social commentator, and traveler. He loves a good cup of tea and agrees that everything’s better with pizza.

 

If you enjoyed this post, please consider buying me a cup of tea. Thanks! PayPal.me/CWHawes

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Book Review: Entangled by J. Evan Stuart

What makes for a good mystery? For me, it is having a sleuth who is memorable. Sherlock Holmes, Nero Wolfe, Sam Spade, Phryne Fisher, Kinsey Milhone, Nick and Nora Charles, Mr and Mrs North, Hercule Poirot, Inspector Morse, Inspector Barnaby, Matt Scudder.

I don’t remember the individual cases, the puzzles the detectives solved, I remember the detectives themselves. They are colorful, unique, quirky, and have a splash of panache.

For me, the characters make the story and therefore I tend to be quite forgiving if the puzzle is less than perfect, because I don’t really care about the puzzle anyway. And this holds true for me no matter what genre I read. Give me interesting characters and I am happy, just like that proverbial clam. The story is only there to make the character shine. It is as Ray Bradbury said, create your character, let him do his thing, and there is the story.

In Entangled by J Evan Stuart, Detective Sonya Reisler is just such a sleuth. She’s memorable. She has a strong sense of justice. She wants to prove herself and is willing to take risks to do so. And she has a past.

We love angst-filled detectives, don’t we? Matt Scudder, Jackson Brody, Phryne Fisher, Aimée Leduc, my own Justinia Wright. A past the detective is trying to hold at bay or run from. A haunting past he or she can’t get rid of any more than they can get rid of their brains.

Sonya has a past. A past which forces her to make decisions she might not otherwise make and to trust people no normal police detective would trust. And that’s what makes Entangled such a good read. It is the rollercoaster ride we emotionally share with Sonya as she tries to find the real killer instead of hanging it on the easy and innocent victim which the lazy sheriff wants to do — and at the same time deal with her demons.

Not that Entangled isn’t a good story in its own right, for it is. The storyline kept me on the edge of my seat. A classic howdunit, with a whizz-bang ending. What is significant, in my opinion, is that the story is the perfect stage on which the characters can do their thing and in the process tell us their stories. To me, that is the work of a superb writer.

This debut novel by J Evan Stuart is not only exquisite entertainment, it goes deeper and addresses what touches us as human beings most deeply: namely, relationships; both their significance and importance to us as social creatures. For even the most misanthropic curmudgeon amongst us still responds to a kind word and a gentle touch.

Entangled by J Evan Stuart is very highly recommended. The book is truly a cut above and one not to be missed.

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