Promissory Payback by Laurel Dewey

Promissory Payback. Laurel Dewey. The Story Plant. August 2011. 80 pp. paperback. ISBN #: 9781611880076.

Detective Jane Perry is a no-nonsense, gritty investigator who believes a loaded gun is what keeps you both flexible and safe. However, the victim she is about to witness will make her come close to losing her latest meal. Carolyn Handel is a 62 year-old woman found with the word "karma is a b--ch" across her back and her mouth stuffed with a strip of paper in her mouth with the words "Promissory Note" on it, along with a chair clearly placed to be facing the unfortunate but obviously fearful victim. Not pretty at all!

It seems that Carolyn was in the habit of losing people's money, in the recent past several well-meaning friends who had no idea they were being taken in by a scam. But who could it be among the people Detective Perry begins and continues to interrogate as potential perpetrators of this horrific murder? Usually one can predict "who done it" within a relatively short period of time, but this is not the case at all.

Laurel Dewey has spun a short but potent mystery thriller that gradually reveals startling and unsuspected clues evolving into quite a surprising solution that will amaze readers. The perfect crime rarely exists. Here, however, it comes close only because of the links missed behind the planned end of Ms. Handel but quickly ascertained by the sharp, quick-thinking detective.

Very nicely and cleverly done, Ms. Dewey!!!

Velva Jean Learns to Fly by Jennifer Niven

Velva Jean Learns to Fly. Jennifer Niven. Penguin Group (USA). August 2011. 432 pp. paperback. ISBN #: 9780452297401.

Velva Jean Hart is tired of small town living, including a husband who is part preacher and part moonshiner. She'd been told she had a wonderful voice and a record producer actually made a record of one of her "Yellow Truck..." songs, telling her to look him up if she ever got to Nashville, Tennessee from rural Appalachia in Alluvia, North Carolina. So she sang every song she knew as she left her home all the way to the point in Tennessee where she got a flat tire. But Velva Jean is a spunky gal and managed to conquer this problem, find a place to live, and make a friend who would help until Velva Jean finally found a job. Even after those difficult challenges, in which she bore rejection after rejection, she still managed to find a place where people could enjoy her voice and zesty personality! But a record contract did not loom, especially after she was told she needed years of music experience before she'd be ready for recording. She didn't care - she just kept writing song after song after song!

Life, however, changed dramatically with the breakout of WWII, and Velva Jean's brother, Johny Clay, introduces her to a flying lesson that changes her passion forever. She goes on to become a female pilot and joins a select group of women flyers carrying out secret but no less dangerous missions within America. Here the story mixes her increasing love of flying, desire to do more for the war effort, and the horror she experiences as tragedy after tragedy happen to those she loves and others she doesn't know. Some die by attack but some are killed because of human mistakes; the latter are just as devastating and Velva Jean is responsible for bringing it to the attention of those who should be doing something about it.

There is much more day-by-day description of what an amazing woman Velva Jean and other women flyers like her become. It's a quick, shocking way to grow up but this plot is filled with humor and persistent dedication, the essence of Velva Jean's personality.

This novel has some very slow parts but does evolve into a funny, interesting and wonderful historical fiction piece that elevates the place of women in a time when they were expected to stay home and sew for the war effort. It includes as well the respect these women flyers known as the WAFS or Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron. Jennifer has depicted a slice of life in the war that few Americans know about, and Velva Jean Hart is an unforgettable, spunky gal who stands for the best women contributing to the war effort at that time! Nicely done, Ms. Niven!

The Eden Prescription by Ethan Evers

The Eden Prescription. Ethan Evers. Createspace Publisher. October 2010. pb. 326 pages, ISBN #:9781439276556.

An unanswered question looms large in the minds and hearts of both cancer patients and those without but fearing this killer disease. Dr. Elliot Lindell is a scientist operating outside of the normal medical community. He's spent years coming up with a cocktail of unusual ingredients that include an acceptable cancer drug combined with Vitamin D, ginger, gingko, pomegranate, and other hard-to-access natural products. He's also a computer whiz who has invented a computer model that simulates the growth, division, and destruction of cancer cells upon reception of this new and successful cancer cocktail. Annika Guthrie is his brilliant assistant, a woman highly and idealistically motivated by the possibilities inherent behind a cure for this devastating disease.

This thriller story has drug companies vying for possession of the most effective drug and the formula for the most potent combination to do the job of destroying cancer cells. The money is their motive for obtaining what will finally constitutes a wonder drug for cancer patients. The plot thickens when bits of information leak to the right and wrong parties, and an international hunt ensues that includes attempts at theft and murder, actual murders, and faked murders. It turns out The Eden Project is an international finance group with powers and funding to accomplish anything from wars to blatant collapses of key financial countries, always geared to their own recovery and the surpassing of their own wealth and power wherever they operate.

The reader will be riveted to this tale in which victory begins to seem impossible and a confusing war of individuals and groups clash with increasing intensity to the point where the reader is unsure who is friend and who is foe. However, knowing that the bad guys lose doesn't stop one from furiously reading ahead to the striking end. Somehow in the midst of all the chaos or mayhem, one gently learns a lot about not only drugs and plants but also how cancer cells supposedly operate under varying conditions, what works at destroying parts of the cells, and what might be a more powerful, less destructive cure for those suffering from the actual disease.

Speculation is rife on what could possibly happen to the medical community if a cure for cancer were ever found, of the making and unmaking of fortunes, of those who use science in a faithful, humanitarian, professional way and those who do the severe opposite. The Eden Prescription is a sometimes too repetitive but constantly thrilling read about what perhaps lies ahead in the future for anyone and everyone involved with finding a prescription cure for all, with implications larger than longer life for all.

Avery Flynn Q&A - Interview - Part Two

THE NOT-SO-SECRET LIFE OF AVERY FLYNN…

(apparently all we had to do was ask…)

ABOUT AVERY FLYNN…The name Avery Flynn is a pseudonym for the author who, at least for now, prefers to remain behind the scenes. She believes having Avery for her alter ego is a very good thing because, as she says, “Pen Name Avery is way cooler than me. Her favorite color is hot pink. She drinks single malt scotch on the rocks. She loves the Argentinean tango and stays at Iceland’s Ice Hotel.” She recently celebrated the publication of her first novel, UP A DRY CREEK, the first novel in her Dry Creek series. Having conceived the Dry Creek books as a digital first series, Flynn plans a minimum of three more novels, including A Dry Creek Bed, which she has just completed.

Welcome, Avery!

We already know that you spent part of your childhood in a small town in western Nebraska since you’ve shared that it inspired Dry Creek, Nebraska, the setting for you first novel, Up a Dry Creek. What are some of the other places you’ve lived? How long?

Itchy feet are what we call the urge to move in our family. Growing up we moved nearly every year and not always far away. Example: We lived in five houses on the same street. Crazy, I know, but here’s the big moving breakdown: Born in Washington, moved to Kansas, moved to California, moved to Nebraska, moved to Missouri, moved to Texas, moved to Georgia, moved to Florida and, finally, moved to Virginia. We live in the Washington D.C. Metro area and I love it.

To this day, I get itchy feet after about a year in one spot. Instead of moving houses, now my husband comes home from work every few months to find the living room, kitchen or bedroom furniture rearranged.

What sort of jobs have you held?

Fast food, waitress, cashier, certified nurse’s aide, reporter, magazine editor, communications director, small business owner and writer. Unless it involves major physical coordination (of which I’m sorely lacking) I’ll give it a go.

Any touching or amusing anecdotes from time spent holding various jobs?

I’ve had a ton of jobs in my life. One of the most amusing was working as a cashier in the Walmart in my small hometown. You never realize the beautiful strangeness of people until you see all of the crazy things they buy at Walmart. In college, I worked with mentally handicapped adults. I have an aunt who is mentally challenged and as a child, I was scared of her and avoided her wet kisses like the plague. Taking on that job was a way for me to confront how uncomfortable I felt around those with intellectual disabilities. The residents taught me far more than I was ever able to share with them. After college, I worked as a police reporter for a decade. I’ve interviewed death row inmates, stood outside during hostage standoffs and held hands with a woman who’d just lost her son to a murderer’s bullet. The bravery and strength of those I met have stayed with me. I still feel honored that they were willing to let me help them share their stories with the world.

Motherhood—you have a job plus your writing and you’re raising a family. How do you do it all?

Some days quite badly, but luckily those days are few and far between. I have three rambunctious kids (eight, five and two), two arthritic dogs and an amazing husband. I couldn’t do it without their support. My husband was deployed for a year to Iraq. During that time we bought a house and moved. (I believe I mentioned crazy runs in the family.) My friends thought I’d finally taken on too much, but I’m a firm believer that you do what needs to be done. Don’t whine (well, only to good friends). Don’t hedge. Just do what needs to be done. I look around and see women doing it all the time. Time’s short, money’s tight and patience is thin, but we women always manage to get the job done.

The family you grew up with—brothers, sisters?

I have one older sister, who is an amazing artist, mean rummy player and has a brilliant sense of humor.

Will you tell us a bit about your family background?

I come from a long line of stubborn women toughened by the prairie winds and the constant demands of rural life. Where some may have seen hardship, the women of my family pushed to make their own ways. One grandmother traveled from Kansas to Washington DC during World War II to aide in the war effort. There she fell in love and married a dashing pilot who never came home from the war. Pregnant, the new widow moved home to raise her son. But she never gave up on life. She went on to fall in love again, become the county treasurer and didn’t stop mowing her own lawn until she was nearly ninety. It’s this kind of flinty reserve that defines my family.

Who are some of the authors you most enjoy reading?

All of them. :) No really. I read everything from romance to mystery to science fiction to children’s to non-fiction to cook books (hey, I’m trying). If you got a peek at my book buying records you’d think I was buying for thirty very different people.

Who are some of the authors whose work has influenced your writing style?

I once spoke to an amazing, intelligent man who could easily say he knew everything about everything and had nothing left to learn. Instead, he said he took knowledge from every experience, every encounter and every class he took. I feel the same way when I read. When I think I can’t learn something from nearly every person I read, then it’s time to hang up the keyboard.

What living writer you would most like to meet?

Harper Lee. The woman is a mystery and doesn’t give interviews. How fascinating to be such an amazing writer and to walk away from it knowing you’ve written the book you were meant to write.

What writer from the past you would most like to meet?

Margret Mitchell. I love Scarlett O’Hara—the ultimate anti-heroine who did what needed to be done.

What are you favorite types of books? Historicals? Contemporaries? Biography?

I need passion, humor and adventure in my books, whether that comes dressed in Regency clothing or in alien skin doesn’t matter.

Who are some of your favorite authors?

Oh, can I cheat and say everyone? No? Well, if you look at my bookshelves you'll find lots of Charlene Harris, Lori Foster, Laurell K. Hamilton, Lora Leigh, Tana French and a ton of others. Did I mention I'm doing my best to single-handedly keep Borders in business?

What compels you to write?

A perverse work ethic and being a glutton for punishment? Just kidding. My dad gave me a baby blue Brother typewriter before I could even read. I wrote gibberish stories about my stuffed animals and haven't stopped since. However, I will say my spelling has gotten much better.

When did you first start reading romance?

Way before I probably should have. I remember getting busted in sixth grade with a copy of The Thorn Birds.

What are your favorite sports and teams?

Do you here that sound? It's my husband laughing. I come to my sports affiliations through marriage and am contractually obligated to root for the New Jersey Devils, New York Giants and the Evil Empire AKA the Yankees.

Who are some of the people you most admire?

Those who aren't afraid to try something new be it food, a job, an adventure or a place.

Who are some of the people who have most influenced you?

My mom was and is a huge influence. Also my husband who, despite a tendency to say the most boneheaded things, is my number one supporter.

Which living person would you most like to meet?

Hillary Rodham Clinton. Love her or hate her, you can't deny she is fascinating.

Which person no longer alive would you most like to meet?

My dad died when I was in first grade. I've always wanted to have a grown up conversation with him.

What are some of your favorite charities and causes?

Girl Scouts, my local food pantry, the USO, the Human Rights Campaign

What are some of the national organizations to which you belong?

I belong to RWA, the Washington Romance Writers and RWA's romantic suspense/mystery chapter, Kiss of Death.

Can you give us a look at what is on your professional schedule moving forward?

I’ve just finish the second installment of the Dry Creek series with two more to follow. Also, I have another heroine whispering in my ear for a new series.

Please recommend a few books to put on summer reading lists?

Besides Up a Dry Creek? (Sorry. Just can’t help myself.) There is a ton of great stuff out there. I just finished Lori Foster's latest, When You Dare (totally awesome) and Janet Evanovich has a new book this month that I can’t wait to get my hands on. For a little something different, I'd recommend Anthony Bourdain's Medium Raw and my all time favorite true crime novel, In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. Also give your new e-reader a workout and try someone new from an independent e-publisher like Evernight Publishing.

Up a Dry Creek is available at these online retailers…

1PlaceforRomance

http://1placeforromance.com/

Amazon Kindle

http://www.amazon.com

AllRomanceEbooks

http://www.allromanceebooks.com

Barnes & Noble

http://www.bn.com

BookStrand

http://www.bookstrand.com/

Diesel Books

http://www.diesel-ebooks.com/

Digibook Café

http://www.digibookscafe.com/

iBookstore (Apple)

http://www.apple.com/ipad/built-in-apps/ibooks.html

Kobo

http://www.kobobooks.com

ReaderStore (Sony)

http://ebookstore.sony.com/

… and, of course, at

Evernight Publishing

http://www.evernightpublishing.com/

Heiress by Susan May Warren

Heiress - Book One of Daughters of Fortune Series. Susan May Warren. Summerside Press. August 2011. 380 pp. paperback. ISBN #: 9781609362188.

Who am I? When one has been raised in the wealthy society of the Gilded Age in the late 1800s, one has a book of rules, Godey's Lady's Book, to scrupulously follow if one would be successful as a debutante and respected society female. Esme and Jinx Price have opposite dreams, the former to become a famous journalist and the latter to be the envy of her social class after making a prize marriage with a wealthy gentleman. Indeed, Jinx little by little is falling in love with the man Esme is supposed to marry, Foster Worth, a genuine cad for sure!

Esme, however, has a secret, a butler's son who loves her and wants to marry her; he even nurtures her passion for journalism by having her stories submitted as "Anonymous Writer" to Esme's father's newspaper, The New York Chronicle. Jinx and her mother are responsible for the most outrageous machination, designed to save the family's fortune but that truly seems to bring ruin to all involved.

Esme will lose one love and escape to Silver City, Montana where she will start her own small newspaper, fight for the causes she believes in, and meet a man who will briefly love her in the truest sense of the word but not until she suffers a great deal of poverty and prejudice because she is a woman working in a man's trade. Jinx, on the other hand, gets her man but the relationship turns out to be a dark nightmare, exacerbated by the presence of one family member she shares a very dark secret with, as well as a passionate love!

Heiress is full of dreams, adventures, disappointments, passion, secrets, battles, bloodshed, fistfights, murder, and more that make the pages fly. Words of faith begin to resonate in all of these characters, offering a peace that passes the understanding of most people restlessly pursuing their devastating and chaotic goals, conforming without thinking or feeling about a larger purpose for living.

Susan May Warren's first novel in this Daughters of Fortune series is guaranteed to leave you wanting to read the next book in the series soon. She knows how to spin a multilevel plot with varied characters, together with constant changes that surprise the reader as well as the characters. Heiress is peaceful, frantic, passionate, and inspiring - a superb combination, Ms. Warren!

The Battle Won: A Novel by S. Thomas Russell

A Battle Won: A Novel. S. Thomas Russell. Berkley Trade Paperback: Penguin Group USA Inc. August 2011. 464 pp. ISBN #: 9780425241325.

Charles Hayden is an officer in the English Navy, a man whose father was honored for his naval service but who himself has been misunderstood and scorned because of a mutiny that resulted in the hanging of all who participated. It's as if The Themis is cursed because no one wishes to board let alone serve on it. But Charles Hayden who dreamed of commanding his own ship is appointed Master Commander of The Themis and commanded to serve as a convoy to other ships traveling to a volatile area in Gibraltar. The reputation of the ship is the least of his problems!

In the thrilling tradition of Patrick O'Brian, Bernard Cornwall and other writers depicting the highs and lows of military warfare, S. Thomas Russell joins their eminent world as a well-deserving writer whose hero faces every possible trial one could endure at sea. How is one to deal with a clergyman who challenges Hayden as a traitor because his parents were from both England and France? How does one get respect for a crew boy who is part Jewish, anathema to these Anglican believers? What about the character whose sole intent is not to serve but to incite rebellion and dissension among the crew when total unity is absolutely necessary to survive the storms and battles lying ahead that threaten to wipe out both crew and ship?

Like the men under his command, Hayden earns the reader's respect as he bravely handles every command to survive a storm or an attack from the French and even risks his own life to save every man forced to abandon a fellow, sinking ship. More and more action fills these pages with fear and courage that continuously fluctuates like the swaying ship. Arriving in Gibraltar after influenza has taken its toll on his crew, Hayden is again misunderstood but told to proceed to Corsica, where the Spanish and French are vying for control and revolution!

While many conspire to wreck his career and The Themis, Hayden proves himself to be the noble warrior of integrity and limitless courage who will delight every reader who loves a good military and nautical tale. What a thrilling work that has given this reviewer a desire to read more books like this! Best seller material for sure!

The Undertaker by William F. Brown

The Undertaker. William F. Brown. Published by William F. Brown as e-book. January 2011. ISBN #9781617505119.

Peter Talbott is mourning the death of his wife and hardly beginning to move forward as so many things remind him of the loss of his love and best friend. Imagine his shock when he finds himself facing a mobster, Gino Parini's gun and the hood's insistence that he read his own obituary. So begins the race toward the truth when he decides to find out who has killed him off and why!

Peter's quest takes him first to a small town where he attends what is his own funeral, a sad affair attended by no one other than the town sheriff. More investigation amazes him as not only he and his wife's obituary are there but also other couples and a few individuals. As he enters this weird arena, he discovers a group of select people are behind something shady and even sick. Those people, the sheriff, the owner of a prestigious law firm connected to the government, a mortician, a senator, and others who are trying to stop Peter from finding out the truth and when that doesn't work they will try to kill him.

"Zero Defects" is a strong clue to the machinations of these sleezy characters whom even the Mob want to see disappear. But why? To tell more would be a spoiler, but be assured the nerve-wracking tension of this espionage novel is full of surprises, attacks, revelations, and a feisty, feminine gal unafraid to not only discover the truth but seek justice, no matter what the cost. You'll travel from Ohio to Chicago to Washington and more places all tied together in this sinister world of death after death. No one is innocent - not even the FBI!

No, you won't be able to guess the end of this tale until well toward the end - one that will startle you and leave you wanting more from this writer who knows how to spin a great, action-packed, crime-driven, thrilling story!

Well done, indeed, William F. Brown!!!