I’m offering you a vacation. To beautiful Magnolia Bluff, Texas. In the heart of the Texas Hill Country. Beautiful scenery. Wineries. A quaint little town. With murder and ghosts.
My fellow Underground Authors, Rob and Joan Carter, have their book, A Chance of a Ghost, on pre-order for only 99¢.
It’s Book 23 in the Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles series and it’s a spooktacularly thrilling mystery.
I just finished reading an ARC. And it didn’t disappoint. What’s especially fun about A Chance of a Ghost is that we get to see how ghost “busters” actually work.
Rob and Joan are members of the Tampa Bay Spirits, a group that investigates paranormal activity. And they bring their experience to the newest murder mystery in the Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles.
Mike and Maureen Donovan, (fictional) members of Tampa Bay Spirits, depart Tampa and find themselves in Magnolia Bluff to help Mike’s cousins rid their newly renovated home of whatever it is that is making doors slam and things move.
But they no sooner arrive than Mike has a premonition that someone in town is going to die. And that’s something they hadn’t counted on.
Mike and Maureen meet Harry Thurgood, the owner of the Really Good Wood-Fired Coffee and Ice Cream Emporium (known as the Really Good to the locals), and Mike begins to suspect that Harry is the man who is to be murdered: burned to death in his own coffee shop. And probably not while roasting coffee beans.
Then the Donovans meet Bertram and George, the ghosts who have been causing all the ruckus trying to get someone’s attention to help Bertram solve a century old mystery.
The Carters take us on a twisty-turny rollercoaster of a ride as Mike and Maureen try to help the ghosts move on and prevent Harry from becoming living barbecue.
In addition, we learn how paranormal investigators actually work. How they try to contact the dead and discover what they need in order to stop haunting a house. We also discover that not all spirits are friendly Caspers.
There is plenty of suspense, action, and thrills in A Chance of a Ghost. It’s an entertaining page turner that I found regretting having to put down. You know, like to eat or sleep.
So grab your copy today! It’s on pre-order for only 99¢ on Amazon.
Then put on your deerstalker and get your infrared cameras ready.
Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading!
CW Hawes is a playwright; award-winning poet; and a fictioneer, with two bestselling novels. 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!
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
Note: The tour is over, but you can still read the reviews and check out the books. Lots of good reading in the Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles. Reading you don’t want to miss.
We’re in the final days of the Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles Lone Star Blog Tour.
Take a visit of the Lone Star Literary Life Tour page for links to all of the reviews and to enter the giveaway. That’s free stuff, folks. And who doesn’t like free stuff? Especially when it’s good free stuff.
Ruthie Jones wrote a great review of Death Wears a Crimson Hat. Read it on her blog, Reading by Moonlight.
Karen Siddall wrote a marvelous review of Ten Million Ways to Die. Read it on her blog, Boys’ Mom Reads!
It’s so very satisfying when readers pick up my book and get lost in the story and fall in love with the characters.
To bring someone happiness and pleasure is a very great joy.
So head on over to the blog tour page, read the reviews of all the books, enter the giveaway, and most of all — read the books!
The Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles series features some absolutely amazing writing. So get moving to Magnolia Bluff today.
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!
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.
***
4
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!
On Monday, October 23rd, Ten Million Ways to Die, the 18th book in the Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles goes live.
The book is my second contribution to this ongoing multi-author crime fiction series. And I am very proud of it. I think it is a bang up mystery, and my beta readers agree. Which is always a good thing when your beta readers think you’ve produced a dynamite book.
To whet your appetite, I’m giving you a snippet. Last week, I gave a link to the Meet the Author podcast where I read a section from Chapter 2. If you didn’t catch that, you can do so here: https://youtu.be/kIpDKf2VkwE
Today, Chapter 3 comes your way. In this section, we see some behind the scenes machinations on the part of Scarlett Hayden, who is in love with Harry Thurgood, to break up Harry and Ember.
There is a scene with Mary Lou Fight and her ongoing attempt to run both Harry and Ember out of town.
And a scene with Ember questioning Harry’s secret life.
Secrets. Deadly secrets. Secrets to die for. Enjoy the snippet!
***
3
Tuesday, 10 October
10:33 am
In a palatial spread on Sandalwood Drive, the enclave where the monied folk in Magnolia Bluff live to avoid mingling with the Great Unwashed, Mary Lou Fight was looking at photographs in her living room, which was larger than Harry Thurgood’s coffee shop by quite a stretch.
Across from her sat a nondescript man. A little taller than average. A little bit broader built than average. Dishwater blond hair, what was left of it. Facial features no one would probably bother to remember.
His suit came off a department store rack quite sometime ago and hadn’t been altered. Nor had it ever seen the inside of a dry cleaners.
Mary Lou looked up from the photographs. “Hunter, I’m surprised. These are worthless. They don’t tell me anything I don’t already know. Everyone knows he sits in his coffee shop and talks to the little strumpet. And this one…” She held up the color glossy print. “Who cares if he ran a red light? This is not like you at all. What else have you found? And don’t tell me nothing.”
“He’s very good, Mrs. Fight. Honest. I can’t even find anything to prove his name isn’t Harry Thurgood.”
“If you’re trying to get more money…”
“No, it’s not like that, Mrs. Fight. Honest. I don’t know who he knows, but whoever it is they are good. Very good.”
“And who do you think he knows?”
“Well, if my theory is correct and he paid for a new identity, then we are talking, for an ID this good, someone who works with organized crime.”
“You mean like on that nasty TV show?”
“Yeah, something like that.”
“I see. So he is a criminal.”
“Maybe. Maybe not. But he probably has connections.”
“Keep digging. If you need money to loosen tongues, let me know. I want him to pay.”
“I will, Mrs. Fight. I’ll keep digging. Everyone has a dirty diaper. I’ll find his.”
“Good. Because I want him gone. I want him in jail so he can never come back. So he can never have his precious little harlot. I want him locked away with a lot of mean and nasty criminals who will humiliate and emasculate him. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Mrs. Fight.”
“Good. Now, go.”
“Hunter left, and Mary Lou, using her walker, slowly made her way to the floor-to-ceiling picture window. The window that looked out onto her world. And it was her world. Everything she saw, and much of what she didn’t see. Her husband, Gunter, owned the bank, and in owning the bank, he controlled the lives of many of the good folk of Magnolia Bluff. And Mary Lou controlled Gunter. Together, they controlled almost everyone in Magnolia Bluff. Everyone except for Harry Thurgood. And that made her angry.
He had thwarted her attempt to get rid of that little minx, Ember Cole, who had the audacity to stand in the pulpit of her church. A church she couldn’t even go to anymore because of Harry Thurgood. He had threatened her and thwarted her. Humiliated her in her own town, and that made her blood boil.
She clenched her fists, and in a voice barely above a whisper, but filled with a venom that would make a rattlesnake hide under a rock, she said, “No one humiliates me, Harry Thurgood. No one.”
***
Across Burnet Reservoir, in a very large Prairie-style home on the northwest shore, nestled among the trees, Scarlett Hayden stood at her picture window and looked out on her world. The resort that made a rich widow even richer.
She’d been standing there a long time. Long enough for her martini to have lost its icy coldness.
Even though the resort was full, something not uncommon for October, a last hurrah for the tourists, the day was starting out quiet. The Smiths, her very efficient caretakers, had handled everything this morning, leaving her with little to do and a lot of time on her hands.
Scarlett hated the quiet days. Hated them because she always found herself thinking of Harry Thurgood. Daydreaming about what life would be like waking up with him beside her in bed. She wanted him more than anything. But he was only interested in that skinny Ember Cole.
The couple of times he’d visited had convinced her he’d enjoyed her company. And he would’ve stayed the night. But it was always Ember on his mind.
Her martini was thoroughly warm now. She walked to the kitchen sink and poured the gin and vermouth down the drain. She watched the liquid and her dream flow away.
“Maybe I need to get reacquainted with the football team,” she said out loud. “Maybe the high school team as well as the college team.”
She barked a harsh laugh and shook her head. “No. If I want the star quarterback, then I’m going to get the star quarterback. I deserve the best and I’m going to get the best. I’ve had my fill of the milk. I want, no, I deserve the cream.”
That decision made, she fixed herself a fresh martini. Drink in hand, she walked to the sofa and stretched out on it.
Scarlett took a sip of the ice cold liquid. “I just have to figure out how to get him away from Ember.” The glass returned to her lips and she took another sip of gin, scented with a trace of vermouth. “But how?”
She stared at her genuine Tiffany lamp. The monochromatic yellow-green hues of the glass and the arachnid-like raised veins coming down from the clawed top she found to be soothing.
After some time, she took a swallow of her drink, and said, “There’s always Mary Lou and her goddamn groupies. She knows everything. Maybe I need to get back into her good graces. After all, Mary Lou wants Ember gone as badly as I do.”
Scarlett took another swallow of the martini. “And then there’s Daphne. Women always tell their hairdresser everything. Getting close with her would definitely give me an additional information highway to drive down.”
The rest of the martini disappeared in one long gulp.“Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. If I were good friends with Ember…” She shrugged. “Why not? If I can poison her opinion of the coffee man and get her to dump him…”
She pursed her lips at the thought, and a big smile spread across her face.
***
Ember Cole stood up and stretched.
Scattered across her desk top were sheets of paper, her Bible, the New Testament in Greek, and several commentaries.
Her eyes came to rest on the statue in the far corner of her office that Harry had given to her at Christmas.
“Why give me a statue of Mary and Jesus?” she’d asked him. “You do remember I’m not Catholic?”
He’d chuckled. “I remember,” he’d answered, and added, “It’s religious art and you’re religious, aren’t you?”
“I am.”
“So there you have it. And don’t throw it out, or give it away.”
“What makes…”
He’d held his hand up. “It’s valuable. Like very valuable. And incredibly old.”
“Really? How old?”
“Let’s say that it might have been used by the Druids.”
“The Druids? They weren’t Christian.”
“No, they weren’t.”
“And?”
“As I said, it is incredibly old.”
“I see. You aren’t going to tell me. Okay. So why give it to me? And how did you get it in the first place?”
She remembered he’d smiled at her and said, “I want you to have it because I love you. As for how I got it, let’s just say it’s a family heirloom.”
She didn’t believe him, but knew she wasn’t going to get anymore out of him. So she’d put the thing on a table in the corner of her office, even though she thought it was one of the ugliest works of art she’d ever seen.
“Dull, crusty black metal. Skinny, ugly figures that don’t even look like real people.”
Harry had laughed at her description.
The statue was wood, and the wood was overlayed with a black metal. It stood a little over two feet in height from the base to the top of Mary’s crown.
The Mary figure was tall and skinny and seated on a backless chair. The baby Jesus was seated on her lap, and he was wearing a crown as well, just like his mother.
The statue reminded her of pictures she’d seen of Medieval depictions of Jesus and Mary. Highly stylized. Not at all realistic.
The statue wasn’t the only gift Harry’d given her, which made it easier for her to accept the ugly thing.
She walked over to it, squatted before it, and said, not for the first time, “I wonder what makes you so special other than you being old?” She stood. “Sure wish Harry would tell me what’s up with you. Maybe Father Lee would know something.”
Ember walked back to her desk and sat. Not Father Lee, she thought. Harry. He needs to tell me about his past.
Then she shook her head. “No. If he tells me his dark secret, then I’ll have to tell him mine. And I’m not ready to do that. Not yet. Maybe never.”
Her eyes darted to the statue. Mystery man. Mystery art. So many secrets. So very many secrets.
***
I hope that has you salivating for more. Stay tuned and you may get your wish.
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!
In 20 days, on October 23rd, my newest book and the latest edition in the Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles, goes live. Ten Million Ways to Die.
I love the cover. And without me realizing it, the cover artist, Crispian Thurlborn of Wyldwood Books, told me I’d chosen the cover that had the same color palette as my first book in the series, Death Wears a Crimson Hat. Who knows? Might become a trademark.
I’m excited about this book. It’s a great story and a puzzling and exciting mystery. It’s also one of the longest books I’ve written: clocking in at around 73,000 words.
Harry Thurgood and Reverend Ember Cole are still dancing the two-step around their feelings for each other.
Mary Lou Fight is still bent on getting Ember out of the pulpit of her church. And wants Harry to pay for wrongs Mary Lou thinks he’s done to her.
Reece Sovern, Magnolia Bluff PD Investigator, thinks Harry is at the bottom of all that is going wrong in the little town.
But when Brother John’s Traveling Salvation and Holiness Extravaganza, featuring the divine voices of the Reston Family Singers, comes to town — then the fireworks truly begin.
The other week I had the privilege of being on the Meet the Author vodcast/podcast with my fellow Underground Authors Breakfield & Burkey and Joe Congel.
We had a great time. The link to the video is below. The show was great fun.
Ten Million Ways to Die launches Monday, 23 October. Mark your calendars. It will be 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
Justinia Wright Private Investigator Mysteries on Amazon!
In a week, book 17 in the Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles goes live. Second Chances by Joe Congel.
Joe is new to the world of Magnolia Bluff, but he is not new to crime fiction. He writes a bang-up crime series of his own: The Razzman Mystery Crime Files.
I love private detective novels, and Joe’s Razzman series fires on all cylinders. Great characters. Large dollops of humor. Intriguing, suspense-filled storylines. And accomplished writing. It’s better than TV. What more can you ask for?
In Second Chances, Joe ventures into the world of the amateur sleuth. But we aren’t talking about a male version of Miss Marple.
Brandon Turner is a former New York City cop who’s looking to get away from the big city and find a quiet, peaceful place to enjoy his early retirement.
Too bad he picked Magnolia Bluff.
Right now, Second Chances is on pre-order for just 99¢. The book goes live to your ereader on Monday, September 18.
I’ve read an extended snippet and I am champing at the bit to get my eyes on the entire book. This is going to be a good one. And I wouldn’t expect anything less from Joe Congel.
So get your name on the list today and clear your calendar, because when this one drops — you will be sucked into the world of Magnolia Bluff body and soul.
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!
CW Hawes cleverly opens old wounds and reveals dark secrets as his story sets Magnolia Bluff on fire, and we watch it smolder and burn.
Reece Sovern is the chief detective in Magnolia Bluff.
His is not a difficult job.
Magnolia Bluff is usually quiet and peaceful, an eccentric little town near the shores of Burnet Reservoir.
He investigates the usual fare of crimes and misdemeanors.
A few thefts.
Burglaries.
Carjackings.
Nothing serious.
Of course, there’s the string of deaths that occur every May 23.
Been going on for several years.
Never solved.
Probably never will be.
Sovern only hopes the last one has died.
But in Death Wears A Crimson Hat, Book 1 of the Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles, he has another real crime to investigate.
One murder.
A hit and run.
He has lots of suspects.
He has hardly any evidence at all.
***
Enjoy an excerpt from Death Wears a Crimson Hat, available on Amazon.
Back in his office, Detective Reece Sovern pushed his glasses up and looked over his notes. Three people had seen the hit and run. No one had been able to catch the license plate number, and the three didn’t agree on make or model of the vehicle. They did agree that the car was a dark color. But whether it was black, navy blue, brown, or gray, not one of the three could say.
The vehicle seemed to come out of nowhere, hit Mary Lou as she began walking away from her car, and kept on going. Which told Sovern that the hit was probably intentional, rather than accidental.
He would have loved to talk to her, but at this point Mary Lou was in a coma and not talking to anybody.
“That’s the second Crimson Hat Society member in as many days,” he muttered. “Which is just a bit too coincidental for my liking.”
Aside from Mary Lou’s group, what did the two women have in common?
The cigar rolled from one corner of his mouth to the other. “From the looks of it, that’s all they had in common,” he said to his desk.
He looked at the ceiling and frowned. There was all the gossip flying around town concerning Mary Lou and Reverend Cole, which gave Ember Cole a motive.
After all, Mary Lou was threatening to get her canned from the church. At least that is what Ray Holden said, and he should know. He was after all the chairman of the pastor-parish relations committee.
Plenty of motive to kill someone who was threatening to destroy your career. And, sad to say, ministers weren’t exempt from the baser human passions.
With the reverend’s car at the garage and the forensics people crawling all over it, he’d know soon enough if her car was the one that had done in the Middlebrook woman.
His gaze shifted back to his notes. Unless Cole had gotten a car from someplace else or borrowed one from someone, she was off the hook for Mary Lou Fight. Unless she’d paid someone to do it. And that was a distinct possibility. In fact, it made a whole heck of a lot of sense to Sovern.
Then there was Harry Thurgood. “Now that’s a guy with a past if I ever saw one,” he muttered. “And he seems to be pretty thick with the Reverend. The gossips can’t miss an unmarried man and a single woman spending time together. Which means they might be in it together. Maybe I should take a look at Thurgood’s car. Although he seems too shrewd to use his own vehicle for something like this.”
Sovern took the cigar out of his mouth, looked at the soggy end, pitched it towards the wastebasket, missed, and took a fresh stogie from his desk drawer to replace it.
He leaned back in his desk chair, cigar jutting out of his mouth, hands behind his head, and said to the ceiling, “Don’t see sufficient motive to pin this on the Reverend or Thurgood. Maybe in time, but not right now.” He sat up. “But somebody had sufficient motive, and if it isn’t Cole or Thurgood, who is it? Then there’s that nutty hat group. Other than the society, what connects Fight and Middlebrook? Or is that it?”
He shook his head and stood. He had more people to interview, and that wasn’t going to happen sitting at his desk.
***
And there’s more of Reece Sovern in the upcoming Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicle release: Second Chances by Joe Congel.
I’ve had a sneak peak of Second Chances and it’s going to be a fabulously good addition to the series. The book’s on pre-order at Amazon.
In the meantime, you can read the other books in the Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles series, if you haven’t already. Find them on Amazon.
And if you’ve read all the books in the series, while you’re waiting for Second Chances, you can read Joe’s Tony Razzolito PI mysteries. Find them on Amazon.
And you can read my own Justinia Wright PI mysteries, also on Amazon. Mysteries that are gently paced until the whizz-bang endings.
Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading!
CW Hawes is the author of the bestselling Death Wears a Crimson Hat; he’s also a playwright, screenwriter, fictioneer, and an award-winning poet. When not writing, he’s 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
Readers of this blog know I think very highly of Caleb Pirtle’s ability to tell a thought–provoking and heart–moving story.
It doesn’t matter if the story is a historical narrative, a biography, a gripping thriller, or a puzzling mystery. Caleb delivers the goods as few writers can.
He is one of the most successful writers who is not a household name. (You can read about him in my previous post.)
This month he released his latest book: Death in the Absence of Rain. It is the 15th book in the Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles series, and it is a winner.
There’s a dead man walking the streets of Magnolia Bluff.
A blazing hot sun is drinking up all the water for miles around. The drought is causing Burnet Reservoir to dry up.
And out of the receding waters rises a town drowned 50 years ago. A dead town with living secrets.
Then there’s a murder. Followed by a second murder.
Law enforcement is baffled. And so is Graham Huston, editor of the town newspaper. But Graham has an advantage law enforcement doesn’t. The dead man talks to him.
And Graham listens. But what is the dead man trying to tell him?
A trip out to the ghost town that’s rising back out of the lake reveals yet another murder. One that’s 50 years old.
Graham’s dogged pursuit of the truth brings an old, old secret to light. It also puts him on the receiving end of a shotgun blast late at night.
Caleb Pirtle tells us a suspense-filled tale and while doing so weaves in observations about life and death and living that only a person with a lot of years under his belt can give us.
Death in the Absence of Rain is a mystery only Caleb Pirtle could write, and one you won’t easily forget.
It is still only 99¢ on Amazon. If you’re a Kindle Unlimited subscriber, you’ve already paid to read it. So go ahead!
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!
First there was a high profile up and coming NASCAR driver. Shot and killed at close range.
Now the victim is an up and coming high profile pro basketball star.
Private detective Tony Razzolito (a.k.a. The Razzman) isn’t concerned about the latest death until his friend, Captain Rita O’Connor of homicide, asks him to help on the case.
The only problem for Tony is he has to work with his nemesis Detective John Cahill.
Once again, Joe Congel delivers a well wrought whodunit that kept me guessing all the way to the surprise ending.
I’ve read all of the Tony Razzolito mysteries. And they just keep getting better and better. A good thing getting better is a very good thing.
What I like best about Congel’s stories are his characters. They have personality. They are three dimensional. They pop off the page because they are real people.
Characters make fiction sing. We remember memorable characters. Rarely do we remember a plot.
As Ray Bradbury advised writers: create your characters, let them do their thing, and there’s your story.
And Joe Congel lets his characters do their thing. In doing so, a story is created that carries us along from beginning to end. We are right there living the story along with the characters. That’s the work of a master storyteller. And Congel is a master.
While Best Served Cold is laced with loads of humor, the story itself is dark. It is a vengeance tale reminiscent of Jacobean theater. Bloody and unrelenting. It’s a good thing the humor is there – it relieves the darkness of the mystery.
Best Served Cold is the fourth book in The Razzman Mystery Crime files. I’m already waiting for number five.
And if you haven’t read the other Razzman mysteries, you can find them on Amazon, too.
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!
CW Hawes is a playwright; award-winning poet; and a fictioneer, with two bestselling novels. 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.
