A HAUNTING DREAM by Joyce & Jim Levene.

  • 18 April 2013

Paperback, published Berkley Prime Crime,December 2012. 4th in series.

This has been an interesting series to date. I bought the first one, A Timely Vision, when it came out several years ago and after reading it twice, added it to the permanent section of my library. The premise was simple, Dae O’Donnell is a ‘finder’, if someone on the island of Duck in the Outer Banks loses something they go to Dae, who holds their hand while they concentrate on the item, and she sees where it is. Since her family have lived here for generations, no one thinks anything of this, it’s just something Dae, and her grandmother before her, can do. Dae is Mayor, her grandfather was police chief before he retired, and her current boyfriend is a retired FBI agent. Until this book, when his old FBI partner arrives in town after she’s (mostly) recovered from a mental breakdown several years earlier but still in a time warp believing they have remained engaged.

Meanwhile Dae is having visions of a murder, a child’s abduction, and has been landed with an abandoned kitten. That’s a lot to cope with when your relationship is also crumbling, and your position as Mayor is being challenged by an arrogant unpleasant loudmouth who just might succeed in having you impeached on specious grounds. This series is deepening and maturing book by book. It began as rather fluffy and light-hearted, although a lot of fun to read. With the development of Dae’s gift and a more serious crime to investigate, this book, fourth in the series, has moved into rockier territory. It handles it well, although I wasn’t 100% happy about the hook that the authors left lying about in the final few lines. It felt a little too obvious. A sort of ‘please rush out and buy the next book because it’s going to be SO interesting,’ and I dislike the feeling of attempted manipulation. But all in all, this book has deepened and matured within the series and as I really like Dae, I probably will buy the next one, but in spite of the final lines, not because of them.

 

STRANGE LUCKY MYSTERIES 5 Edited by Arthur Sanchez.

  • 13 April 2013

Published by Whortleberry Press USA. Fifth in a series, 16 stories, 1 poem.

Guest Reviewer Steve Johnson

I was really pleased when Lyn emailed to say this was in. She’d promised I could read and review it and as my experiences with this publisher’s anthologies have always been pretty possitive I was keen to get my hands on it. I wasn’t disappointed either. Of the sixteen stories I really enjoyed eight. Of the eight I didn’t like so much this wasn’t any defect of theirs, but personal preference on my part.

And friend or not I have to say this time that I honestly enjoyed Lyn McConchie’s story the most. It’s the tale of two kids, their coldly dominating father, and the puppy the younger boy gets for his birthday. It says a lot about what receiving or having love withheld can do to a child, and how resentments can hang on for years. And yet, in the end the Mystery of Lucky is solved and that leads to a happier outcome. My equal favourite was Marion Powell’s Fluffy Goes Out. A clever tale of a cat, an alien investigator, and how Fluffy has a part in the resolution of the problem that is Earth’s humans. I smiled and enjoyed, and will make a note of this writer. After that I liked Warren Bull’s, Luck of the Irish and Lee Hammerschmidt’s Urgent Care. An excellent duo, with the former covering the nature of luck and what can happen to those who become involved with the wrong person, and the later dealing with greed, jealousy, and a not-unexpected outcome of both. Followed by John Rust’s very good Nick of Time, in which the Bermuda Triangle comes to the rescue of a sailor who can’t seem to get to his job in time. Satisfying and intriguing.

James Hartley’s Lucy Lucky was clever, I was wondering through most of the story where it was going, but the ending was neatly tied off. No disappointment there. Ditto Bruce Markuson’s Speak Easy of Murder, which took a cold case killing and resolved it in a way that made good and gratifying sense. I tend to like short stories better than a full-length book and Whortleberry Press’s anthologies have been a very pleasant addition to my reading list. Somewhere this publisher finds an ever-lengthening list of competent contributors and editors, and I can only hope that her good fortune in this and mine as one of her readers continues.

Bad Season for Chickens

  • 9 April 2013

Chicken seems to be something of a theme this week… But I was counting hens as they arrived for breakfast this morning and realized that I had almost no one producing chicks this year. The geese, most unusually, laid and brooded once and without effective results. While most of the hens didn’t even seem to go broody. Goldneck the bantam did, and produced in a magnificent effort, a single goldnecked pullet – twice her size thanks to my large rooster – and that was it. This may have been due to the drought, since I have also noticed that the wild birds appear to have nested only once this year as opposed to twice most years and occasionally three times over a very long fine summer. But one pullet is still something of a disappointment.

Story sold – and Out.

  • 9 April 2013

Yes, not that it was telescoped to quite the extent it appears from the above, but I was late-ish sending it in, and the anthology seems to have broken the speed record getting here after publication too. So, I can announce both that I sold The Mystery of Lucky to Strange Lucky Mysteries 5, and that my author copy got here this morning. If all goes well, Steve will be doing a review for the anthology to appear in the reviews section over the weekend.

Triviating

  • 9 April 2013

Trivia is what newspapers tend to print when they need a space filler. Some items are information, others are odd items, and others are plain incorrect. There’s a sub-set of these which celebrate the really peculiar laws that have been enacted at some time or another in various countries, states, provinces, or counties. And one of these caught my eye recently. It states that it’s a law that, citizens may not enter Wisconsin with a chicken on their head.

The average person reading that simply snickers and passes on. I’m a writer and we’re noted for our curiosity. We don’t just read something like that and pass it by, it starts us thinking, asking questions and wondering about things. What I wondered first is exactly what event would get legislators to enact that law? Who entered Wisconsin wearing a chilcken on their head and caused so much strife or so many problems, or such huge civil disorder, that lawmakers decided this should never happen again? After all, the average lawmaker is unlikely to wake up one morning, wash, dress, go down to breakfast and over bacon and eggs, coffee and toast, and out of the blue remark to his wife that, “This morning I think I’ll see if I can get a law passed to stop people entering Wisconsin with a chicken on their heads.” No, if you pass a law about it, this has to have been triggered by an event.

Then too, the law as given seems very stark. A Chicken? Not a duck, a goose, a pheasant, or a partridge, just a chicken. And how far will such a law go? If a man is driving into Wisconsin to attend a major Fancy Poultry show, and one of his Buff Orpingtons successfully escapes its cage in the back of his car, flutters forward and lands on his head, does a police offivcer immediately leap from the roadside, turn on his siren and hurtle in pursuit? What lattitide would there be for a claim that while the law was broken in fact, it was not deliberate in intent? Or would the driver be still deemed accountable since he should have adequately secured the cage? And according to the web, Chicken – a domestic fowl kept for eggs and meat. But a duck could be so described too, as could Guinea fowl. Are police officers in Wisconsin given training in this important area so that they can distinguish one domestic fowl from another? And does the law mean an actual common hen or rooster, or is it concerned with the wider area so that entering Wisconsin with a duck or guinea fowl on your head is also illegal? What about wearing a small stuffed chicken on a hat intended as either a costume or for a fashion line-up? Does it count if you’re in a full chicken costume advertising KFC or a similar franchise?

What standard of proof is necessary? If I plead ‘not guilty’ to such a charge, must the police officer bringing it produce a photograph? Are speed camera photographs in Wisconsin also monitored not only for the speed at which the driver is travelling, but also to check whether the driver may be crowned with a domestic fowl at the time of his or her passage past the camera. Then there is the question of why anybody in their right mind would be entering Wisconsin (or any other State) wearing a chicken on their head. Of course, they may not be in their right mind since they may be a) non compos mentis. In which case if the charge is proved they could be remanded for a psychiatric report – the psychiatrist possibly to report in medical terms of a ‘chicken fixation’. Or they could be b) drunk. In which case the charge would have to be expanded to – “entering Wisconsin with a chicken on their head while intoxicated.” Or further, “entering Wisconsin with a chicken on their head and driving while intoxicated.” Or perhaps if on foot and rowdy – “entering Wisconsin with a chicken on their head while intoxicated and causing public disorder.”

The real question is, is this law still on the books and if so, is it enforced? Don’t laugh, because the following US laws were still on the books, and – as I understand it – could be enforced as of 2005 – if the local police chief/sheriff wanted to make a complete prat of himself/herself. So – in LA you may not lick toads. In Boulder, Colorado you may not have a couch on your porch. You may not enter the State of Tenneessee with a skunk. (Leaving aside why anyone would want to, a friend of mine would like to raise the issue of her ex-boyfriend…) In Washington you are required to phone the police and report your intention to commit a crime ahead of time. (And do they add it to the charges if you don’t? Your Honour, my client is charged with assault, robbery, kidnapping, murder, and failing to tell the police in advance that he planned to commit these offences….) In Fairbanks, Alaska, it is illegal to serve alcohol to a moose. And to go full circle, in St. Croix, Wisconsin, women are not allowed to wear anything red in public. (Er, does that count underwear and how would they know?)

And before anyone mutters that the United States has some silly laws, take thought for the UK, which has had a few of those in its time. Such as – It is illegal to die in the Houses of Parliament, (and I’d like to see how they prosecuted that one) It is an act of treason to place a postage stamp bearing the British king or queen’s image upside-down. It is illegal for a woman to be topless in Liverpool except as a clerk in a tropical fish store, (Why, I wonder is it legal there?) If someone knocks on your door in Scotland and requires the use of your toilet, you are required to let them enter. (Without exception? What if he’s carrying a gun and the police are in hot pursuit, would you still be charged if you refused to let him in?) The head of any dead whale found on the British coast automatically becomes the property of the King, and the tail of the Queen. (Still in force, I think.) It is illegal not to tell the tax man anything you do not want him to know, but legal not to tell him information you do not mind him knowing. (Work that one out!) And – It is legal to murder a Scotsman within the ancient city walls of York, but only if he is carrying a bow and arrow. (Toxophilists beware, if you must carry a bow and arrow in York, it might also be safer to wear a T-shirt stating in very large clear letters that you are not a Scotsman.

And the rest of the world where – In Switzerland, a man may not relieve himself standing up after 10pm,( is that an assumption that if he’s drunk after 10pm he’ll probably be prone anyhow?) in Milan, it is a legal requirement to smile at all times, except during funerals or hospital visits. (Boom city for doctors dealing with aching faces, no doubt.) And in France, it is illegal to name a pig Napoleon. (And before anyone in New Zealand laughs too heartily at that one,. I seem to recall a case in our own not so distant past in which an MP took a monkey owner to the court for apparently naming her monkey after him.) So, you may not enter Wisconsin wearing a chicken on your head, and if you do, and are charged with that offence, will you please let me know. I’d love to hear about it.

Short Story Sold

  • 28 March 2013

Hadrosaur Press does a good magazine entitled Tales of the Talisman, and in the past year I’ve been happy to find two stories accepted. The first, a brutal weird Western entitled, I shall Do Nothing, is due out shortly. This second sale is of my fantasy noir story, Realities. TotT seems to prefer my more unpleasant themes.

 

 

 

THE BUZZARD TABLE by Margaret Marron

  • 28 March 2013

hardcover published Grand Central (Hatchette) November 2012.

I discovered Margaret Marron’s Judge Deborah Knott books by being sent an anthology of legal women fiction back around 2001. An American friend was a book reviewer and thought I’d like his copy once he’d reviewed it. I did. I read the Deborah Knott story (amongst the some 20 others) and loved it. Subsequently I managed to find and buy the previous books in the series during trips to America, and then put in a permanent order for them with my Auckland bookshop. The background is said to be based on the author’s own childhood and area of South Carolina, and there is certainly an evocative richness to it that helps make the stories. The author also writes a different series set in New York and featuring a policewoman. I never liked that series so was initially hesitant when I saw that this book’s plot and characters are a crossover with the other series, and had the policewoman, her mother and grandmother involved in some odd events in the Judge’s territory. However it worked.

The grandmother is dying, and her daughter Anne, and granddaughter Sigrid Harald (the New York homicide detective) are visiting Deborah’s Colleton County to spend time with old Mrs. Lattimore. Also in the area is Mrs. Lattimore’s long-lost nephew, Martin Crawford, an ornithologist researching turkey buzzards. And of course, there’s a mysterious disappearance, when a real estate agent vanishes and is later found murdered. Who did it? One of her clients, her husband, a prowling stranger or someone known to Deborah and her husband the sheriff? Then there’s the young man who became carried away at a local protest, the “accidental death” of a CIA agent at a motel by the airport, and Mrs. Lattimore’s daughter Anne, who is convinced that she’d seen her cousin Martin somewhere before but can’t recall where. In this series Margaret Marron has never written a dud and The Buzzard’s table is no exception. It’s a plot interwoven with family events and characters, less so than some of the other books, but still sufficient to satisfy those who like to meet previous characters. And the mysteries main and subsidiary – are good solid work that tie up ends comfortably. I recommend both the series and this book to those who like a good crime tale with an in-depth background.

 

Not so Theoretical Rain

  • 28 March 2013

And subsequent to my last farm report we got real actual rain. Not as much as we’d have liked, but it was sufficient to keep us in the holding pattern of “dry but not impossibly so.” Over two days it dumped 50 mls or two inches on Farside. We’d have liked double or even triple that, but it’s a lot better than the 6 mls we’d had up until then. It looks possible that that may be it for March, which continues to leave us all dry, but it could be worse, a lot worse, and in some areas of the country, it is. I’ll settle for not being them.

Theoretical rain

  • 18 March 2013

At least, according to the weather forecast we’re getting some this afternoon. But I’m not taking any bets on that. The last half a dozen times that’s been said – there’s been nothing, or a miserable half-ml. In fact that was what we had last night. Not a lot for thirsty pastures, frantic farmers, and parched-looking livestock. I’m glad that I don’t as yet have a real problem. There’s hay in the shed, one whole paddock not yet grazed, and at a pinch the two biggest water-users, mine and my mate’s steers, could go to the butcher, as they were due to do before winter anyhow.

Thunder is happy about no rain too. Mind you, he’d like it a little cooler, but not being pelted with the wet stuff pleases him. And it doesn’t seem to be bothering the geese or hens much either. The flock’s complaint about the heat I dealt with by opening a gate so they can spend the hotter parts of a day under the cow-bail roof in the shade. Mildly inconvenient, because that’s where the hens like to eat their wheat, and with the sheep there, the hens have conpetition. Watching sheep hoovering up small grains of wheat is amusing. Watching the hens physically protest that hoovering (it’s OUR wheat!) is a lot more so. And it will rain sooner or later. What I don’t much like is the suggestion that this could be a pattern for the future. One very dry summer I can live with. Twenty more I won’t be so unbothered by.

HAVE YOU OVERLOOKED – John Levitt?

  • 18 March 2013

John Levitt’s first book Dog Days came out from Ace in November of 2007. And yes, usually the books/authors in this Overlooked series come from a lot further back in time. In this case I made an exception because it looks possible that the four books the author had out between 2007 and 2011 could possibly be it. Why, I have no idea because to my mind they stack up as fully equal to any others in this type of sub-genre. Which is, before you ask, paranormal mystery. Mystery I said, not paranormal romance. The sub-genre into which you can also fit The Dresden Files, the Mercy Thompson series, The Nightside, and and C.E.Murphy’s The Walker Papers. In a couple of those series (Mercy Thompson in particular) while there may be romance, the mystery is the important thing, and while the books can sell in both categories, I feel that if you had to say flatly that they were one or the other, I’d plump for mystery. I picked up copies of the second and fourth books in this series almost by accident – actually recommended to me by a bookshop owner – and having read them I went looking for the missing duo, which, happily, I discovered.

The author has led a hugely varied life, which is great because it allows him to use his own life and work as the background. It gives verisimilitude to the books’ milieu because he knows what he’s talking about, and it allows him to drop little esoteric items that he knows from his own experiences and that give this series a real vibe. Mr. Levitt’s main character, Mason, is a part-time enforcer against the misuse of magical abilities in San Francisco – which the author isn’t quite, although he was a Salt Lake City patrol officer and later investigator. Mason is also however, a musician, which the author is. (You can buy CDs of his work with The Procrastinistas on the site www.jlevitt.com ) And Lou, the iffrit sort-of dog that lives with him, is, I suspect, a mix of the real dogs that share Mr. Levitt’s home. The author has worked as a cop, a roadie, worked in a mountain ski lodge, and now is a writer. Can’t say that he’s in a rut. (My own career swerved from stallion groom to bank teller, from government executive to pony-trekking leader to farmer and cafe worker and that too has always been useful.)

So, Dog Days starts with Mason being savagely attacked one night as he leaves the club where he’s been playing jazz guitar. Lou comes to the rescue and it’s all on. And on, and… someone has it in for Mason in a big way and unless he finds out what’s going on and why, he won’t be playing anything ever again the moment he gets careless. The magic system in Levitt’s series is well developed, understandable, and interesting, as are the characters. Mason is a genuine human, a bit inclined to laziness, casual gear, and screwing up relationships, which makes him believable. He’s also a good friend, loves Lou, cares about people not being abused, and tries to do something about it if he walks into that happening. The end of Dog Days was solidly satisfying with the villain vanquished, but Mason’s relationship has gone down the drain, a good friend has been lost, and a number of those who’d been in the villain’s hands won’t recover. This is not one of those books that end in sweetness and light, it’s realistic within the parameters of its background, and damaged or dead people mostly remain damaged or dead, as happens in real life.

The other three books are New Tricks, an Ace paperback out in December 2008, Unleashed, a paperback published by Ace in December 2008, and Play Dead, from Ace in paperback in February 2011. And there the series stopped. As I understand it, either Ace isn’t publishing more of this series, or for some reason, they’re holding off on the next one. Maybe this darn recession is getting to them as I know it is to a lot of other publishers including a couple of mine. Or it may be that without much romance in the series, they are unable to market the books to both sides (as paranormal mystery and paranormal romance) and feel that this makes for a lower reader base. Whatever the reason, I’m sorry that we may not see more of Mason and Lou, and their friends, enemies, musicians, street people, and others who may be most or none of those. I’ve just read the four books for the second time and find that they hold up very well to that, as I expect will continue. Put simply, I thoroughly enjoyed the characters, backgrounds, and plots, and if there are no more I’ll regret that. A lover of this sub-genre could do a lot worse than to buy the four books while they’re still in print. Maybe an upturn in sales will encourage the publisher to accept more in the series. I hope so, because I thought that four books weren’t nearly enough. Recommended to dog-lovers, paranormal mystery lovers, and rock/jazz music-lovers.