amateur sleuth | CW Hawes

Snippet Time 2: Ten Million Ways to Die

Last week I gave you a snippet of Ten Million Ways to Die, the 18th book in the Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles. Chapter 3 to be exact.

This week, I’m giving you another snippet to further whet your appetite. In this one, Harry decides to talk to the phone scroller man to see if he can determine if there is a threat to his secret life. One that would make it not so secret. Enjoy!

And here again is the link to my reading of a portion of Chapter 2: https://youtu.be/kIpDKf2VkwE. I think you’ll enjoy it.

Just remember on Monday, October 23rd, Ten Million Ways to Die, the 18th book in the Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles goes live.

Now, without further ado, here is another snippet for your reading pleasure.

***

Tuesday, 10 October
1:11 pm

The lunch crowd was thinning out. Only three remained of the eleven who’d come through the doors of the Really Good. And one of those three was the man who constantly scrolled through his phone.

Harry was sitting at his corner table observing the stranger. The man didn’t look like a Fed. So perhaps he was private. Then again, perhaps he was a tourist.

But if he was a tourist, he doubted the man would have sat at a table drinking coffee for four or five hours.

“Even if the coffee was really good.” Harry smiled at his joke.

No, this guy wasn’t a tourist, or even someone just passing through. He was working for somebody. The question was, who?

Harry stood and crossed the floor to the man’s table.

When he reached it, he said, “Hello. I hope you’re enjoying the coffee.”

The man looked up from his phone. “It’s good.” His attention returned to the device in his hand.

Was that a touch of humor in his eyes? Harry asked himself, before saying, “I’m Harry Thurgood. The owner. Today’s lunch specials are roast beef au jus and cassoulet made with goose, salt pork, and kielbasa. Or I can serve you up a mean chili or a cheeseburger made with local beef. What do you say?”

The man looked up from his phone, looked out the window at the gray sky and misty drizzle, then turned back to Harry.

“Now that you mention it,” he said, “chili would hit the spot.”

“Texas-style with no beans? Or Yankee-style with beans?”

“This is Texas, right?”

“Yes, sir, it is.”

“I’ll take it Texas-style.”

“One bowl coming right up. Beans on the side?”

The man thought for a moment and shook his head.

Harry walked around the end of the counter and up to the window, looking into the kitchen. He gave Miguel the order and turned around to observe the man.

The guy was back, looking at his phone.

Near as Harry could tell, his mystery customer wasn’t carrying a gun. At least not in a shoulder holster. Nor did it appear, from what Harry observed, the guy was taking pictures.

His accent had a trace of the east coast.

So what was he doing sitting in the Really Good scrolling through his phone hour after hour?

Who do I know from the east coast who could have traced me to Magnolia Bluff?

“Order up, Mr. Thurgood,” Miguel announced.

Harry took the bowl of chili and plate of cornbread sticks, butter, and honey over to the man. He set it down, walked back to the counter, got himself a doughnut and coffee, and made his way back to the man’s table, and sat down.

The man looked at him over a spoon of chili, and said, “I’m not looking for company.”

Harry took a bite of his doughnut, chewed, swallowed, and said, “I’m not either. What do you want?”

The man put the spoon of chili in his mouth and slowly chewed. After he swallowed, he nodded and said, “This is good. And I don’t want anything. Just enjoying your coffee and passing the time. No law against that, is there?”

He’s a cool one. Matter-of-fact tone to his voice. “No, there isn’t. Glad you like the chili. It’s an original Texas recipe that one of the women in town gave a friend of mine before she passed away. The woman, that is. Not my friend.”

The man nodded, and spooned chili into his mouth.

Harry continued. “Glad you like the coffee. It’s from Sumatra. But as for you just passing the time drinking coffee and scrolling the hell out of your phone, I don’t think I believe you.”

The man shrugged.

Harry went on. “Your accent isn’t local, and no one has ever sat in my shop for five hours scrolling through their phone.”

“First time for everything.” The stranger put butter and honey on cornbread and took a bite. He nodded his satisfaction.

When he swallowed, he said, “Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to eat in peace.”

Finally. Now he’s getting annoyed. He’s not completely unflappable. Harry stood. “Sure thing. And the chili’s on the house.”

“Thanks,” the man said, and turned his attention back to his phone.

Harry took his doughnut and coffee and walked back to his table. He sat and pondered what this guy’s presence meant. Wondered if it was the beginning of trouble.

***

I hope that has you salivating for more. The book goes live on Monday, October 23.

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

Justinia Wright Private Investigator Mysteries on Amazon!

Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles on Amazon!

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Born and Bred Texan Review

2022 closes with the publication of the 9th book in the Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles series: Born and Bred Texan by Jinx Schwartz.

Ms Schwartz poses the question: can we ever truly return home? And she answers the question by giving us the delightful story of Blue Bonet.

Blue returns home to Magnolia Bluff, after an absence of many years, to take possession of the home and land left to her by her grandmother.

A widow, who’s not sure what she wants to do with her life now that she’s single and back home, Blue sets out to first modernize the old house and rejuvenate the surrounding land.

One day, while out exploring the back forty, she discovers a body in an old shack. Then it’s determined the man was murdered. And after that, bones begin popping out of the ground due to a freeze.

All of the above is going on while Blue is attempting to make a new life for herself in Magnolia Bluff, and getting re-acquainted with old friends.

Ms Schwartz’s style is as easygoing as small town life and is laced with plenty of humor and a bit of suspense.

If you’re a fan of happy endings, then Born and Bred Texan is definitely for you.

The book is available from Amazon. As is the entire Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles series.

Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles at 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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Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles 2022

Nine authors. Nine books. One town. Magnolia Bluff, Texas.

What an amazing year this has been for the Underground Authors. There were times when I didn’t think we’d do it. Working with 9 creatives is a challenge. But we did it, and that makes me feel very good. We successfully published this multi-author crime fiction series over the course of 9 consecutive months.

And now Book 9 is live! Born and Bred Texan by Jinx Schwartz.

I’m a bit behind on my reading, but a review will be up soon. In the meantime, here is the blurb to wet your whistle:

Blue Bonet, widowed and in mourning, returns to Magnolia Bluff in her home state of Texas. Her grandmother had bequeathed an old lake house to her, and she cherishes childhood memories there. She arrives at the lake and finds the house she remembers as being grand, is now in disrepair.

She tackles the repairs, and is determined to make a new life for herself. It seems like an uphill battle.

A rollercoaster of ups and down conspire to destroy her dream, and she begins to wonder if you really can’t go home again.

That is a good question: can you ever truly go home? I’ve pondered that question myself, and am looking forward to finding out what Blue has to say about it.

Pick up your copy on Amazon!

Here are the first 8 books in the series. They are available on Amazon.

Death Wears a Crimson Hat by CW Hawes
Secrets, gossip, and a murder that could reveal all.

Eulogy in Black and White by Caleb Pirtle III
Death stalks Magnolia Bluff every May 23rd. When will it end?

The Great Peanut Butter Conspiracy by Cindy Davis
Can lyrics from Jimmy Buffet songs help a ghost find justice?

You Won’t Know How… Or When by James R. Callan
Will the confessional give a killer license to kill?

The Flower Enigma by Breakfield & Burkey
What happens when death interrupts the ideal vacation?

The Shine from a Girl in the Lake by Richard Schwindt
A serial killer’s at work. But can a clinical psychologist stop him?

The Dewey Decimal Dilemma by Linda Pirtle
How are poodles, ghosts, drugs, and Ponzi schemes connected with a serial killer — and can he be stopped?

Justice by Kelly Marshall
Is justice possible for one dead Mexican child, a victim of sex trafficking?

Nine marvelous books. Enjoy them today!

Get them from Amazon!

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

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

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A Dewey Decimal Dilemma

Linda Pirtle began writing mystery novels on a dare. And it’s a good thing for mystery readers that she took that dare.

And it’s a good thing she’s part of the Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles series.

A Dewey Decimal Dilemma is Book 7 in the series — and it’s another winner. It’s on pre-order at Amazon.

I don’t know what it is about this series, but each of the authors has given us a book that is at the top of his or her game.

Don’t get me wrong: all of the writers in the series are top drawer. But there is something about the dynamic in this project that has brought out the best of the best. The synergy of working together has produced stellar results.

And A Dewey Decimal Dilemma is no exception.

I’m putting this down on the table: I don’t care overly much for the current-day cozy mystery. Generally speaking, there’s too much ChickLit in the books for my liking. And I find the world of ChickLit about as inviting as being stranded at the South Pole without boots or parka.

But in A Dewey Decimal Dilemma Linda Pirtle has given us a cozy mystery that is contemporary, yet harkens back to the Golden Age of the murder mystery.

To my mind, Mrs. Pirtle has given us an amateur sleuth mystery that is as enjoyable for men as it is for women, even though the sleuth is female — and that is quite an accomplishment.

The main character, our sleuth, is Caroline McCluskey. A widow, she’s the head librarian of Magnolia Bluff’s library. There’s a bit of romance in the story, but it isn’t cloying. Nor is there an unnecessary preoccupation with her job.

Instead, we see Caroline as a person who gets tangled up in a murder investigation. She is someone not unlike ourselves.

The storyline focuses on the murder and it does so in classic fashion. Giving us a twisting, turning viper of a story.

The writing itself is taut. Nothing frilly, flowery, or extraneous; yet, we also get a picture of Magnolia Bluff and the people who live there that is both colorful and that reveals new dimensions about some of them. What I like to call value-added writing.

A Dewey Decimal Dilemma sits squarely in the tradition of the mystery genre’s Golden Age. Yet, it is a contemporary story with a modern woman as the sleuth. And all the while Mrs. Pirtle avoids the billowing methane vapors of ChickLit, so a guy can enjoy the story.

A Dewey Decimal Dilemma launches October 20th. Don’t miss this one. It’s a winner. And you can pre-order it on Amazon.

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

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

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The High Sheriff of Magnolia Bluff

There are always people who stand out in a crowd. Or a small town for that matter.

And in Magnolia Bluff, we have quite a few who stand out. One of them is Sheriff Buck Blanton, who we first meet in Eulogy in Black and White.

Once again, I’ve borrowed Caleb Pirtle’s excellent post (with his permission, of course). You can find the original here.

Buck has one facial expression. He grins when he sees you. He grins if he is about to hit you with the hickory club that hangs from his belt.

Every small town has a law officer who’s tough, who takes no nonsense off of anybody.

But he has a good heart.

Probably not a pure soul.

But a good heart.

He’ll go out of his way to help you.

But only God can help you if you break the law.

In the Texas Hill Country town of Magnolia Bluff, that lawman is the high sheriff, Buck Blanton. Here is the scene when you meet him for the first time in Eulogy in Black and White.

Buck Blanton makes a sudden U-turn, its headlights splintered by the rain. I pull my denim jacket collar tighter around my throat and watch him ease slowly to the curb beside me and stop. The only sounds Magnolia Bluff can manage at four minutes past eight on a soggy morning are distant rumbles of thunder and Buck’s windshield wipers slapping back and forth in a lackadaisical effort to shove the spatter of raindrops aside.

The sheriff rolls down his window and pushes his blue-tinted Shady Rays sunglasses up above his thickening gray eyebrows. Buck fits the job description of a country sheriff perfectly. Sunglasses, rain or shine. A thick neck. Broad shoulders. Barrel chest. Sagging jowls. Broad nose, probably broken more than once. Hands big enough to grab a grown man by the throat, jerk him off the floor, and shake him into submission. A gray felt Stetson hat lies in the seat beside him. I can’t see his feet, but I know he’s wearing his full quill Justin cowboy boots as black as his skin. Wouldn’t be caught dead without them. Says he was born in them. Says he will die in them. I don’t doubt it for a minute.

“On your way up to see Freddy?” He asks, glancing at the flowers in my hand. The rain has beaten them up pretty good. His voice is deep and mellow, a full octave lower than the thunder.

I nod.

Buck has one facial expression. He grins when he sees you. He grins if he is about to hit you with the hickory club that hangs from his belt. He grins if he’s praying over your lost soul at the First Baptist Church. He’s grinning when he throws you in jail. He’s grinning if he has to shoot you first. I suspect he grins in his sleep.

“Need a lift?”

I shake my head.

“It’s a bad day for walking,” he says. “You still got a mile or so to go before you reach Freddy.”

I shrug. “It’s fine,” I say. “I’m already wet.”

Buck opens the car door. “Get in before I arrest your sorry ass,” he says.

I look closely.

His grin has reached his eyes.

I climb into the front passenger seat. “Hate to mess up your upholstery,” I tell him.

“Don’t matter.” The sheriff wheels back down an empty street. “I’ll have a couple of drunks in here before the day’s out, and they’ll be a damn sight wetter than you are.” He leans forward and studies the rolling black clouds closing in from the west end of Burnet Reservoir. “That’s the trouble with the weather,” Buck says. “It rains on the just and the unjust alike.”

“Sound like a preacher,” I say.

“Tried it once.” Buck shrugs. “Didn’t like it. Found it’s easier to drag the bad guys to jail than drag them to the altar.”

You can find Eulogy in Black and White on Amazon. And you’ll be glad you did.

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

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

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Peanut Butter and a Heartbreaker

The Great Peanut Butter Conspiracy

Yesterday Cindy Davis’s The Great Peanut Butter Conspiracy dropped. It’s Book 3 in the Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles series, and it’s a winner. Pick up your copy today on Amazon.

The People of Magnolia Bluff

Magnolia Bluff, like any town, is filled with people; each one involved in his or her own drama, which may or may not touch the larger drama of the town itself.

Today, with the kind permission of Caleb Pirtle III, we’re going to look at the heartbreaker of Magnolia Bluff.

Rebecca’s one of my favorite characters. You can read Caleb’s original post here.

Meet the Heartbreaker of Magnolia Bluff

I’m not sure my heart made the trip back from Afghanistan when I did. I’d at least appreciate Rebecca looking for it. —Graham Huston

The writer sees the story vividly in his or her own mind. It plays like a movie. Maybe it’s more like an old-fashioned newsreel.

The writer sees it so clearly. That’s not enough. Now the writer has to transform the story and the characters into the heads of readers.

The writer becomes the camera.

That is always my personal concern.

Can I make sure the readers see my characters as clearly as I do? If not, all I have given them are stick figures.

And that’s the death knell of any book.

In my newest mystery, Eulogy in Black and White, my hero, Graham Huston, is stricken by the lovely Rebecca Wilson. I describe her this way:

She’s tall. She’s a brunette. She could have walked in from the cover of some magazine, wearing a deep blue dress that looks like silk or satin. Rebecca was probably a cheerleader and quite possibly the Homecoming Queen a few years back. She was definitely a heartbreaker but stayed around while most of her classmates left town for college or better-paying jobs, and then she looked up one morning and realized there were no hearts left in Magnolia Bluff to break. I’d be willing to let her break mine, but I’m not sure my heart made the trip back from Afghanistan when I did. I’d at least appreciate Rebecca looking for it, but what would either one of us do if she found it? She wouldn’t want it, and I’d just throw it away again.

Rebecca is the receptionist, the society editor, and the head of advertising sales. Want your daughter’s wedding picture on the front page? Buy an ad. Want a photograph of your grandchild’s graduation tucked prominently in the newspaper and above the fold? Buy an ad. Want Rebecca to throw away the cell phone shots of you dancing naked at a biker’s bar in Austin? Buy an ad. Rebecca Wilson is a top-of-the-line saleslady. She makes more money than the publisher and deserves every cent she can stuff into the bank. She knows who’s having a shotgun wedding, who’s getting divorced, who’s involved in which extracurricular activity at the high school, which preacher has given up booze for smack, who’s pregnant, and who the real father is.

Rebecca winks, and her smile can light up a dismal room. She’s not flirting. It’s her way of saying hello without breaking the cold, deadly, morning silence of a newspaper office that has all the personality of a funeral parlor.

She’s broken more than one heart.

Will Graham Huston’s heart be next?

Pick up a copy of Eulogy in Black and White on Amazon to find out.

You’ll be glad you did.

Now you’ve met Rebecca. You can meet more fascinating people who call Magnolia Bluff home, right here.

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

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

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Indie April Reading Suggestions – Part 2

Richard Schwindt

Welcome again to Indie April!

This month I’m promoting the work of 13 authors who have impressed me over the years with writing that lingers in my memory. Lingers in a good way, that is.

Last Friday, I presented to you Crispian Thurlborn. Today, Richard Schwindt, who is no stranger to this blog. He is an accomplished writer, who produces non-fiction, fiction, and humor. In this post, I’m focusing on his fiction.

My first foray into his oeuvre, was the book Herkimer’s Nose. And I immediately fell in love with the book. It remains among my favorites.

Herkimer’s Nose has everything: well-drawn characters, an imaginative and creative story, sea monsters, ghosts, spies, monster hunters, and, of course, humor. What’s not to like?

I read first and foremost for the characters. And Richard is a master craftsman when it comes to creating characters that come across as real people. And even if they are somewhat over the top, they are believably so.

Humor is another thing I enjoy in a good book, and Richard Schwindt doesn’t let you down in the humor department. He’s a funny guy and will tickle your funny bone with his dialogue, character interactions, and sometimes the scene itself. He’s given me plenty of hearty laughs, and who doesn’t need that?

Aside from his extensive output of therapy and self-help books, Richard writes mysteries, occult detective, humor, horror, fantasy, and literary fiction. All are excellent reads that do not disappoint.

The Death in Sioux Lookout Trilogy

Chris Allard is a worthy addition to the ranks of the amateur detective. He’s a disgraced social worker, who finally finds work in the remote town of Sioux Lookout. He also finds murder.

The three short novels that make up the trilogy are

Death in Sioux Lookout

Minnitaki Lake Mystery

The Vermilion River Murder

Filled with richly drawn characters. These books are not only murder mysteries, they are a look into what it means to live, and also to die.

They are mysteries done right. There’s also a one volume edition.

Tony Price: Confidential

I love the occult detective genre, and Tony Price is a super occult detective. The three novellas that comprise this trilogy are just the right length to tell the story and maintain the creepiness factor.

Tony Price is a burnt-out social worker who sees monsters. In fact, he might even be a monster magnet. He also knows how to deal with monsters, as any occult detective worth his salt does.

Get the anthology volume – Tony Price: Confidential – because you will want to read these back to back. They’re that good. There’s also a prequel novella: Ottawa: Confidential. And you don’t want to miss Tony’s first monster hunt, so get this one, too.

Dreams and Sioux Nights

There’s one other book I’d like to highlight. Not only because it shows a more serious side of Richard Schwindt, but because it is just doggone good.

That book is: Dreams and Sioux Nights.

The book is a collection of short stories. But don’t be put off by that. Because the 5 stories comprising the collection are amongst the best you will ever read. Yes, they are that good. I kid you not. This is top drawer literary fiction.

Dreams and Sioux Nights concerns people and people are what Schwindt does best. Within the pages of Dreams, you will encounter people who are very real. With issues that you yourself may have had to deal with. They are moving, touching, thought-provoking. This book may just be Richard Schwindt at his best.

Richard Schwindt has something for everybody. He’s one of the foremost indie writers today. His writing is of such a high caliber that he truly deserves to be a bestseller. That he’s not reflects on the state of the marketplace and not his quality as a writer.

Take a look at his Amazon page, and treat yourself. You’ll be glad you did.

Richard’s Amazon pages

Canada

Australia

Germany

And here is a recent interview with Richard by Rox Burkey, who is one-half of the team that writes The Enigma TechnoThriller series: https://roxburkey.com/the-real-richard-schwindt/

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

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