Tag: Book Tour

The Murders at Astaire Castle (Audiobook) by Lauren Carr, Dan Lawson

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On October 6, 2016

In Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

Now for the last post on The Murders at Astaire Castle (Audiobook) book tour.
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The Murders at Astaire Castle (Audiobook)

by Lauren Carr,Dan Lawson(Narrator)

Series: The Mac Faraday Mysteries, #5

Unabridged Audiobook, 8 hrs, 9 min.
Acorn Book Services, 2014

Read: September 7 – 9, 2016

So Mac Faraday stumbles onto a haunted castle where one of his favorite authors was murdered — as were many others — that he just happens to own. Shortly after him finding it, more people are murdered. Just what this retired (and seemingly bored) detective needs: a complicated mystery to sink his teeth into.

The investigation brings up a lot of memories for the locals — most particularly, his half-brother, the Police Chief. The two of them dive into investigating the murder cases both cold and red-hot. There’s some good banter, some shamefully wasted cognac, a lot of antics from Mac’s German Shepherd, and more twists and turns than your typical small-town murder brings along.

With murders that are this old, a lot of old memories are dredged up, so for the locals, this is a pretty messy case. Old scars, old enemies, old heart-breaks are brought back to the surface and examined.

The killer is pretty clever — a little hard to believe, but since when aren’t they? The solution was as obvious as it was outlandish — but the trick is in the telling of the story, not in how reality-based it was. On that score, Carr did a capable job.

There were infodumps galore in the opening chapters — mostly thinly disguised as dialogue. It’s like one of the squints from Bones or the non-Beckett detectives from Castle dropped in. The recall the hotel manager, security chief, etc. had for the murders that happened over a decade ago was pretty clear and accurate. It’s also surprising how little Mac knew about the murder of an author he seemed to be so into (seriously, if Steven King was murdered in a horrible fashion — who wouldn’t know something about that?)

Lawson gave us a competent narration, with odd inflections from time to time, like a NaturallySpeaking voice. The way he pronounced it made me very unclear what Mac’s girlfriend’s name was until I could get online and look it up.

I’m not doing a great job selling this thing — because it’s hard not to spoil anything while talking about this book’s strengths — they are there. The characters are likeable, the puzzle is good (and Carr doesn’t cheat with the clues). It wasn’t the best thing I ever read, but it was entertaining enough to stay with it — an enjoyable book to keep your mind occupied while working out, doing data entry, etc. And then somewhere around the 7:45 minute mark, things fells apart for me. That last chapter just about ruined the whole thing for me. Then, the epilogue answered a big remaining question, but it was one that I’d figured out in Chapter 2 or 3 — and I think most readers would’ve, too. Getting it “revealed” like that just annoyed me. Still, it seems like this one was enough of a divergent from Carr’s typical mystery — if so, the things that were the weakest parts of this book would probably not be around in the others, which would lead me to think they’d be worth a shot. Mystery fans should take a chance on this series — even this installment.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of the audiobook in exchange for my honest opinion and participation in this tour.

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3 Stars

A Few Quick Questions With…Lauren Carr

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On October 6, 2016

In A Few Quick Questions With..., Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

So, for the second post on The Murders at Astaire Castle (Audiobook) book tour, we got a few questions with the author, Lauren Carr. This has the distinction of featuring the most poorly-worded question I’ve asked here — I’m pretty embarassed by that. But, “Always Forward,” right? As usual, I kept it short and sweet, because I’d rather she work on her next book than take too much time with me.

So, I realize The Murders at Astaire Castle is written to be accessible to new readers, but what would be useful to new readers to know before picking it up?
The Murders at Astaire Castle is a murder mystery with a touch of paranormal. It is not a paranormal book with a murder mystery. The mystery is at the forefront of plot.
There’s a hint of the supernatural running through this book — is this typical for your work/this series? If not, what led you to the choice?
For The Murders at Astaire Castle, I wanted to do a Halloween mystery. What better than a haunted house—or better yet a castle? Of course, you needed a murder mystery. Then, I asked, who would be the victim? Who else but a paranormal author.

Halloween has always been a fun time. It’s the time to break out and be someone else. As a child, I would pretend to be one of the Bobbsey Twins searching for clues to lead me to a secret treasure. If I was lucky, it was made up of chocolate. As a teenager, I was Nancy Drew. Always, when October rolled around, I craved mysteries with something extra added—something beyond the normal—something supernatural.

But I wasn’t looking to do a paranormal book. I am a murder mystery writer and I love murder mysteries. So, it had to be a murder mystery with a supernatural touch.

The Murders at Astaire Castle has a touch of everything. We have the dark and spooky castle with rumors of a curse. We have hidden passage ways. Things happening that defy a logical explanation. We even have a wolf man! And it’s not Gnarly.
What’s the one (or two) book/movie/show in the last 5 years that made you say, “I wish I’d written that.”?
Now You See Me. The twists and turns in this movie left me breathless. I saw none of it coming.
Is there a genre that you particularly enjoy reading, but could never write? Or are you primarily a mystery/suspense/thriller reader?
I am primarily a murder mystery writer and reader. I always have been and I love murder mysteries. When I was a child reading the Bobbsey Twins, I would turn the mystery of the missing sea shell into a kidnapping story.
This many books into a series, is it easier or more difficult to keep going? What challenges are you finding doing this that you didn’t expect?
So far, the difficulty is in keeping up with the directions that the characters themselves want to go. I am always one book ahead in my mind. So, while writing a book, I have a very good idea what direction that I will be taking my characters further down the road.

For example, right now I am writing A Fine Year for Murder, the next Thorny Rose Mystery. Mac Faraday and the Spencer gang make an appearance in this mystery. Keeping in mind my plot for the next Mac Faraday Mystery, I am able to plant seeds for Bonding with Murder and even the Mac Faraday mystery that will be following that. These dropping aren’t necessary clues—rather, they are Easter eggs that will make faithful readers go, “Ahh, I remember Mac saying something about that back in A Fine Year for Murder.”

The biggest challenge, I have found is characters. I fight to keep my characters interesting and even diverse. There are characters in my books who everyone loves. But then, sometimes I will introduce a new character who I find unique and different who some readers object to. This happened with Cameron Gates in the Lovers in Crime mysteries. Some readers loved her. Others didn’t. The same thing is happening now with Dallas Walker in the Mac Faraday mysteries. She appears to be a love her or hate her character with nothing in between.

Which goes to prove the fact of life—you can’t make everyone love you.
Thanks for your time and the opportunity to read (well, listen to) this book.

The Quest for Merlin: Magimakía by Rafael Lovato

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On June 29, 2016

In Fiction, YA/MG/Children's Books

The Quest for MerlinThe Quest for Merlin

by Rafael Lovato
Series: Magimakía, Book 1

Kindle Edition, 286 pg.
Howling Wolf, 2016

Read: June 20 – 22, 2016

I guess this is life. Maybe, strange things happen without much meaning.

The number of strange things happening around Oliver is pretty large.

So, hundreds of years ago, Merlin put himself in a suspended animation of sorts, and hid his body behind some clever little puzzle — like a video game. Wizards have made a few attempts to find him, but they haven’t worked out (obviously). The last attempt ended in death, destruction and betrayal.

More than a decade later, it’s time for another shot — one last shot. Merlin’s last male descendant, Oliver (although I’m not really sure about the math on that — sure, he’s a dork and awkward with females, but there’s no reason to think that Oliver couldn’t have kids). Oliver has no clue that he’s a Wizard (I guess the owl from Hogwarts got lost), his mother’s memory has been magically wiped, so she has no clue, either.

Oliver’s kidnapped (for his own good) and whisked away to begin to learn about his heritage while being introduced to a world of elves, witches, trolls, goblins, demons, seraphs and more. Most of whom are on the verge of war with each other, and only Merlin can stop it.

Oliver, a mind-reading goblin, a couple of attractive adolescent witches (he’s a 15-year-old nerd, of course that’s how he categorizes them), and an old friend of his father are the key to bringing back Merlin and saving the world. This isn’t your typical Merlin — or your typical anything — beyond the very typical socially awkward teenage male protagonist.

The plot, on the whole, was so-so. It got the job done, but never really grabbed me. The characters were . . . all right. Nothing special, nothing we haven’t seen before, but nothing eye-roll inducing or annoying. The world-building was very detailed, intriguing, and impressive — although sometime it wasn’t explained clearly. Still, if anything would bring me back for a second novel, it’d be the world-building. I don’t think the chapters of Goblins speaking to Goblins were anywhere near as funny as Lovato seemed to think they were, but I admire the fact that he stuck with them for as long as he did.

There were a few quirks that caught my eye — each race’s magic is characterized by a color, and Lovato spends a lot of time talking about them — so much so that I wondered if Hal Jordan and the Guardians of Oa were going to show up. I’m not sure I remember reading anything where the hero gets knocked out so often — it’s worse than Daredevil, Season 1. It’s not a huge thing, but there’s a difference between someone being a novice/rookie and someone being pathetically helpless. Reduce the knock-outs by 20% and I probably wouldn’t say anything.

My main complaint was the language — a few idiomatic phrases were off, the dialogue was frequently stilted, a lot of the word choices were not wrong, but certainly not right. About halfway through the book, I skipped ahead and read about the author — the fact that he’s a non-native English speaker explained just about every problem I had with the mechanics of the writing and I was able to ignore them. That’s precisely how it reads, and if I’d known that going in, I’d probably have enjoyed the whole experience a little more. Still, far too often Lovato uses three words when one would do.

Not a great book, but an entertaining read — and at the end of the day, that’s enough. For a little atypical YA fantasy, this would be well worth a look.

Disclaimer: I received this book from the author in exchange for this post, the honest thoughts contained above, and participation in the Book Tour.

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3 Stars


Let There Be Linda Excerpt: Detective Gary Shuler

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On June 28, 2016

In Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

Detective Gary Shuler

Early on, when he was six, seven, and eight years old, when he was hurt and confused because he was the one and only child who was addressed by his full name plus a name that wasn’t his name, his parents had pacified him with tall cold glasses of milk and stacks of Oreo cookies. The cookies became physically, emotionally, and intellectually synonymous with safety and comfort. He ate them constantly throughout his life. He couldn’t stop eating them. At the same time that they were feeding him Oreos, his parents also recognized there was nothing they could do to stem the Gary Shuler Vista tide, so they taught their son to ride those waves with laughter, to be in on the joke instead of being the joke.

Oreos and comedy became the subconscious pillars upon which his life was built. He became the class clown in every class and carried an Oreo four-pack everywhere he went. He was popular and smart and a good athlete. But he was also a bit of offline, not your normal everyday kid. He saw the world at odd angles. He was an odd angle himself. “He’s a good guy, Gary Shuler Vista,” people would say, “but he’s a strange bird.” 

A Few Quick Questions With…Michael Landweber

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On May 24, 2016

In A Few Quick Questions With..., General Fiction/Literature, Writing


For our third post on this Blog Tour stop, the author of Thursday, 1:17 PM, Michael Landweber was gracious enough to A some of my Q’s. As is typical, I kept it short and sweet, because this dude is busy and he doesn’t need to take up too much time with lil’ ol’ me. There are two questions here about the book we’re focusing on, and then we move on to more general questions. Hope you enjoy.

Michael LandweberMichael Landweber lives and writes in Washington, DC. His short stories have appeared in literary magazines such as Gargoyle, Fourteen Hills, Fugue, Barrelhouse and American Literary Review. He is an Associate Editor at Potomac Review and a contributor to Washington Independent Review of Books. Michael has a soft spot for movies about talking animals and does not believe he would survive the zombie apocalypse. His first novel We was published in 2013.

There are so many questions that I’d like to ask about some of the details of this book, but I’m going to have to settle for something about the process: did you have the rules for the Frozen World set up before beginning the book, or was that something you felt out along the way?
The rules were pretty simple and set from the beginning. Nothing moved unless it was affected by Duck. He would be the only force in the universe capable of changing anything. Otherwise, everything remained in exactly the state it was in when the world froze. Simple, right? Making up the rules was easy; following them was hard. There were many times while I writing when I would decide to do something and realize it didn’t fit in with this world. For example, in an early draft, I thought about shooting someone with a gun. But in order to fire, a gun required more than just Duck power. Similarly, I found myself realizing that he couldn’t cook anything; he could only eat food that was edible at the time the world froze. He couldn’t start a car, but he could ride a bike. So it was never a question of changing the rules. It was a constant struggle forcing myself to not cheat. Hopefully, I policed myself reasonably well. One of the reasons that I had Duck write a guidebook was because it was a great way to share everything about the frozen world I had spent so much time figuring out. That’s why you’ve got multiple pages about how to flush a toilet (and of course because I find details like that amusing).
How hard was it to get into the headspace of an almost 18 year-old (even one of above-average intelligence/thoughtfulness)? Once there — was it as much fun as it seemed?
It is always a challenge to get into a new character’s head. Or maybe the challenge is getting out of your own head. With a teenager, I did have the advantage that I was once 17 years old. However, it is true that when you become an adult, you forgot how desperate everything feels at that age. As adults, we learn to repress some emotions. It’s a survival skill. So, to write Duck, I tried to remember what it felt like when every emotion was on the surface and raw. I think that immediacy is what we lose as adults. Once I got in that mindset, it was fun to write Duck. Anytime I started to think that Duck shouldn’t be doing something, I usually put it in the book, figuring if I thought it was a bad idea then a teenager probably wouldn’t.
What’s the one (or two) book/movie/show in the last 5 years that made you say, “I wish I’d written that.”?
There are so many books and TV shows that I enjoy. I’d love to have written any of them. Of course, the flip side of that is that if I had written them, then I wouldn’t get to experience them the same way. I do surprise myself sometimes when I’m writing, but that’s not the same as the visceral thrill that you can get from watching or reading someone else’s work when the unexpected hits you with a perfectly timed twist. That said, there are two very different works that I wish I could have written. First, The Martian by Andy Weir. I would love to have written something that was so meticulously researched and incredibly readable at the same time. You get to the end of the book thoroughly entertained while somehow convincing yourself that you could now survive on Mars if you had to. Second would be Breaking Bad. The entire series. I admire how strictly it stuck to its vision from the beginning. The writers didn’t seem to care how popular it got. They weren’t trying to make anyone happy. It was unflinching to the very end.
Is there a genre that you particularly enjoy reading or watching, but could never write?
I could never write a good mystery. I don’t watch or read a lot of them, but I do enjoy them when they are well done. As a reader, I never know who committed the crime. Ever. I’ll always think that it is someone who was innocent. I admire the writers who are able to put that puzzle together and keep me guessing to the last piece. But as a writer, my mysteries would probably be more like a pre-schooler’s giant floor puzzle with only four pieces and no irregular edges.
I’ve often heard that writers, or artists in general, will forget hundreds of positive reviews but always remember the negative — what’s the worst thing that someone’s said about one of your books, and has it altered your approach to future books?
There was one reader review posted on a website about my first novel that stuck with me. He said that after reading it he had to bleach his brain and encouraged everyone to keep the book away from children. Actually, now that I think about it, maybe that was one of my good reviews. Seriously though, there are always going to be readers who don’t like certain things I write. So far, it hasn’t changed what I decide to write next.

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