Sunday, January 23, 2011

Tide Water Talisman


Glynn Marsh Alam's current addition to the Luanne Fogarty series is Tide Water Talisman.
A rag-taggle group of survivors from Hurricane Katrina have settled in an abandoned motel near the coast of North Florida. They eek out a substance existence the best way they can to survive while they put their lives back together.
Dorian Pasquin inveigles Mama of Mama's Table and Luanne to visit the site where one woman is busy cleaning to open a cafe offering Cajun and coastal foods for fisherman. Pasquin wants his ladies to help the woman and her family get established.
After a trip down the river, when they land on shore Pasquin must identify the body of his old friend, Jimpson who was found lying in his store. His death was not an accident and other boatmen disappear to turn up underwater as Luanne and her lover, Vernon search the depths of the river for clues as to what happened to the dead and why.
The huddle of hurricane survivors was never a community, but the fine threads that bind them together begin to unravel as no one can connect the living with the dead. Death has been their constant companion since the winds and water destroyed their lives.
Glynn Marsh Alam devises a mystery of originality and suspense with the honed craftsmanship of one who has lived with both the rivers and the swamps of Northern Florida. The characters she has develped through eight novels come alive before your eyes and they have no peer in crime fiction. The ambiance she concocts is complete down to the sweat and the mosquitoes of the Gulf Coast.
Visit award winning Glynn Marsh Alam at http://www.glynnmarshalam.com. Her books are available in Florida at independent book stores and on Amazon.com.
Nash Black, author of the forthcoming Sandprints of Death.

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Full Mortality


I literally read Sasscer Hill's Full Mortality from the first page to the end in one sitting. I could not put down this well pace mystery and go to bed.
Nikki Latrelle is a jockey who rides full out through every page of this deftly plotted mystery. Nikki is building a career against the odds in a sport dominated by men. An injury to another rider gives her the ride that can push her into the big leagues. A major case of nerves leads her to the stables in the middle of the night to check that all is well with Gilded Cage. A man coming out of the mare's stall knocks Nikki down, she runs to her horse and discovers 'Gildy' has been murdered.
Days later she is battered on the rail by jockey Dennis O'Brian, her horse stumbles, she is thrown, and her mount Flame Thrower is put-down.
Nikki, recognizing the potential of a rogue mare, Helen's Dream, bound for an auction which will consign the mare to the knackers, grabs all of her savings and rescues the mare. When she checks on the mare, which she has renamed Hellish, she discovers Dennis O'Brian and another horse have been murdered.
The connection of Nikki to the deaths of three horses and the murder of a rival jockey is too much for the racing community to endure. The rumors fly when Nikki is questioned, her reputation is destroyed, her 'friends' abandon her, and she is driven off the track.
Unable to find a job and a home for Hellish, Nikki accepts the invitation of an old drunk to the worst of stables. She begins to fight back to regain her reputation, find who is behind the deaths of the horses, and bring a killer to justice to clear her name.
From starting gate to finish line Full Mortality is non-stop action of the very best kind with vivid, believable characters from the world of championship horse racing.
Visit Sasscer Hill at sasscerhill.blogspot.com and on Facebook.
Full Mortality is available on Amazon.com and other locations.
Nash Black, author of Sins of the Fathers.

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Eascape from the Alamo


Dac Crossley's Escape from the Alamo takes the reader on a journey from boyhood to manhood during the early days of the Texas Republic. Everyone knows the story of the heroic Texans who were murdered by Santa Anna after the fall of the Alamo.
The burden of being a 'dead hero' falls to a young man from Tennessee who followed his mentor, Davy Crockett to the final stand.
George "Possum" Hanks awakens during the aftermath of the Battle of San Jacinto with an old wound in his side, his face in the sand, and a vague memory of a rough wagon ride in Mrs. Dickerson's wagon. He didn't died, but in reality he can't admit to history that he survived the slaughter.
Possum discovers he can not go home and adopts a new name of Red because of his beard and begins his journey back to the Alamo to find Davy Crockett. His faith in the strong man will not let him accepted that is Davy dead. One man suspects Red's secret and uses the knowledge to both badger and blackmail him.
Dac Crossley unique western is right in the details of the fledgling republic, the complex relationships between the new settlers and the old who hold this vast land. Red must learn the way of the west to stand on his own two-feet and be true to his own values because there is no one there to guide him.
A good read for anyone who loves authentic color, the Texas country, and a plain good yarn.
Visit with Dac for an interview at http://www.celiayeary.blogspot.com/ and on his blog at http://www.daccrossley.typepad.com/. His blog is one of the most interesting on the Internet with something new and different each week.
All of Dac's books are available on Amazon.com or for an autographed copy write him at soilmite@earthlink.net.
Nash Black, author of Sins of the Fathers.