BOOK REVIEW: The Baffled Beatlemaniac Caper by Sally Carpenter

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SYNOPSIS

In the 1970s, teen idol Sandy Fairfax recorded 10 gold records and starred in the hit TV show Buddy Brave, Boy Sleuth. Now he’s a 38-year-old recovering alcoholic with dead bodies getting in the way of his comeback! An easy gig as the guest celebrity at a Midwest Beatles fan convention turns deadly when a member of the tribute band is murdered. When the police finger Sandy as the prime suspect, the boy sleuth is back in action to interpret the “Beatle-ly” clues and find the killer.

GoodReads * Amazon * Barnes & Noble

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REVIEW

While I may be a little on the young side (only just) to have been a Beatlemaniac or have been a screaming fan for a 70's teen idol, I can so relate to those feelings and the special childhood afforded by the 1960's and 1970's.  Flash forward a couple of ... decades ... and we have Sandy Fairfax, more than a little tarnished 38 year old 'fair-haired boy'.  

The first thing that struck me about "Baffled Beatlemaniac" was the fact that it felt very 'real'.  I could definitely see something like this happening to me or someone close to me.  Former (child) stars keep chasing that elusive dream of fame, hoping the squeeze the last little drop of celebrity out of the game called life.

I loved the multiple layers of this book as well.  You have a small Beatles fanvention, with a name star from relatively the same era for a headliner.  Mix in a little alcohol, some big (and all-to-fragile) egos, fans believing the stories they have made up in their mind about their idols, rabid memorabilia collectors and you can see how a supposedly quiet weekend in a Midwestern town could turn into a huge indoor concert where you are standing right in front of speakers that are bigger than you are.

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AUTHOR INFORMATION

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Sally Carpenter is native Hoosier now living in Moorpark, Calif.

She has a master’s degree in theater from Indiana State University. While in school her plays “Star Collector” and “Common Ground” were finalists in the American College Theater Festival One-Act Playwrighting Competition. “Common Ground” also earned a college creative writing award and “Star Collector” was produced in New York City.

Carpenter also has a master’s degree in theology and a black belt in tae kwon do.

She’s worked as an actress, college writing instructor, theater critic, jail chaplain and tour guide/page for Paramount Pictures. She’s now employed at a community newspaper.

“The Baffled Beatlemaniac Caper,” was a 2012 Eureka! Award finalist for best first mystery novel.

“The Sinister Sitcom Caper,” the second in the Sandy Fairfax Teen Idol series, is published by Cozy Cat Press. The third book, “The Cunning Cruise Ship Caper,” is due in 2015.

Her short story, “Dark Nights at the Deluxe Drive-in,” appears in the 2013 anthology “Last Exit to Murder.”

“Faster Than a Speeding Bullet” was published in the “Plan B: Vol. 2” e-book anthology.

Her short story “The Pie-eyed Spy” appeared in the Nov. 23, 2013, issue of Kings River Life ezine.

She’s a member of Sisters in Crime/Los Angeles and “mom” to two black cats.

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EXCERPT

"Did the victim do or say anything that might identify the murderer?

“Yes, sir.”

Braxton waited, his pen poised over his notebook page. “Well? What was it?”

I licked my dry lips. I felt terribly thirsty. I knew Braxton would hate my answer.

“He said, ‘Rocky Raccoon.’”

Sure enough, he frowned at me. “Is that a joke?”

“No, sir. That’s exactly what he said.”“Is that the name of the murderer? An animal? What’s a Rocky Raccoon?”

“It’s a song.” Bunny stepped up beside us as she closed the zipper on the pouch that hung from her waist. “By John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Paul sings lead. It’s on disc one, side two, track five of The Beatles’ 1968 double record, ‘White Album,’ which isn’t the name, but everyone calls it that because it was issued in a plain white cover with no artwork. I have a 1978 French import reissue with the records in white vinyl.”Braxton stared at her, too stunned to take notes, but I took it in stride. Fans possess encyclopedia knowledge of the minutest trivia.

GUEST POST: Literary Revolution by D.M. Annechino

I am honored to have D. M. Annechino, the author of "Hypocrisy" here on the porch today for a guest post on how publishing has changed over the years!  Let's hear (well, ok, see in this case) what he has to say!

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Literary Revolution 

Over the years, I've attended both the San Diego State University Writer’s Conference and the southern California Writers Conference. Like most conferences and conventions, the theme is very specific. These two focus on the world of literature and publishing. It’s a great opportunity for an aspiring writer to hobnob with fellow authors, agents, editors, and publishers. These conferences also offer workshops that cover a wide array of literary­ related topics. 

One of the events I most enjoyed was the “Read & Critique Workshops”. Picture a group of writers—all high strung and uptight, desperately wanting to be discovered—huddled in a crowded room. Each author has the opportunity to read passages from his or her’s latest effort and the other authors offer constructive feedback. Well, you might think that this is a great idea, but remember that you’re dealing with writers who are very passionate about their books and don’t always accept criticism in the spirit in which it was intended. Tempers do flare and some people storm out the door. 

The one thing that always struck me about these Read & Critique Workshops was the number of highly talented writers who were yet unpublished. I used to think to myself, “If these writers can’t find an agent or a publisher, then I’m totally screwed.” 

Back then, an author had two ways to get published: 

#1  Find a literary agent willing to represent you (trust me, it’s easier to win the Lottery), and hope and pray that he or she can make a deal with a publisher. 

#2  Self publish through what were once called “Vanity Presses” (a very expensive proposition), fill your trunk with over­priced books, and try to peddle them to independent bookstores. 

Those days—thank God— are gone. 

The literary landscape today is a completely different world. It has gone through an amazing evolution over the last few years. With the launch of Amazon Publishing, currently releasing books under five or six different imprints, and the growing opportunities for self-­publishing and print-­on­-demand, not to mention the emergent world of e­books, the literary marketplace has experienced some major changes—all for the good. These changes have opened the door for many authors who in the past never got a chance to showcase their work. Many previously undiscovered authors are now in the limelight. This is a long ­overdue literary revolution. 

I am one of those writers who stumbled upon an amazing opportunity to publish through Amazon Encore.  Like so many other writers, for years I was an author trying to get published with no success. But now, Hypocrisy, my fourth novel, was released on March 15, 2014. It took twenty hard years of writing novel after novel, and dealing with a daily dose of rejection to finally get a break. The message here is simple: If writing is your passion, don’t give up the fight. Never forget that rejection is a prerequisite of success. 

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I was fortunate to receive a copy of Hypocrisy for review via iRead Book Tours.  See why "Hypocrisy" should be on your TBR lists here!

BOOK REVIEW: The Kill Call by Stephen Booth

SYNOPSIS

On a rain-swept hillside, hounds from the local foxhunt discover the body of a well-dressed man. At that exact moment, an anonymous caller reports the same body . . . lying half a mile away.

It's only the first in a series of baffling clues as Ben Cooper and Diane Fry - partners and rivals on the detective force - plunge into a case involving horses, spectacular wealth, and a mysterious "plague village" where a centuries-old outbreak of Black Death has been transformed into a modern tourist attraction.

As the spring rain falls and the body count rises, Cooper and Fry's investigation twists back to the recent past. A killer lurks in the shadows there-a killer now hiding in plain sight . . .

 Atmospheric and ingenious, packed with suspense and secrets, The Kill Call is an unforgettable thriller from an unforgettable writer.

GoodReads * Amazon * Barnes & Noble

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REVIEW

The first few chapters of "The Kill Call" reminded me of the movie "Pulp Fiction".  Points of view jumped through decades of time and various narrators.  That, coupled with the fact that the book is set in England, with the different terms for things than we have in the US, made the read start a teensy bit slow for me.  Then I remembered to turn my Anglophile switch to the 'on' position, and I felt like Dorothy when she landed in Oz...the colors turned on!

But, imagine if you will, dipping your toe in to test the waters instead of diving right in.  It takes a little while to get your whole body in, but once you do, the water is quite enjoyable.

For me, the most enjoyable thing about the book was Mr. Booth's use of, and obvious skill with, descriptive language.  When he talks of underground bunkers, and the damp, dank atmosphere, all my senses were engaged.  I could see, hear, feel, smell and taste the setting.

Another of Booth's strengths is the ability to bring seemingly unrelated strands of many stories and weave them together into a coherent whole.

The worst thing about the book is that it is part of a series of novels involving the same detectives, Cooper and Fry, and that by crossing "The Kill Call" off my TBR (to be read) list, I now have to add the other 11 books of the series, because I want to read them all.  We should all have such bad luck, right?

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AUTHOR INFORMATION

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Stephen Booth is an award winning British crime writer, the creator of two young Derbyshire police detectives, DC Ben Cooper and DS Diane Fry, who have appeared in twelve novels set in England’s beautiful and atmospheric Peak District. Stephen has been a Gold Dagger finalist, an Anthony Award nominee, twice winner of a Barry Award for Best British Crime Novel, and twice shortlisted for the Theakston’s Crime Novel of the Year. Ben Cooper was a finalist for the Sherlock Award for the best detective created by a British author, and in 2003 the Crime Writers’ Association presented Stephen with the Dagger in the Library Award for “the author whose books have given readers the most pleasure”. The Cooper & Fry series is published all around the world, and has been translated into 15 languages. The latest title is DEAD AND BURIED, with a new book, ALREADY DEAD, published in June 2013.

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Disclaimer:  I received an e-copy of "The Kill Call" from the author and publisher via Partners in Crime Virtual Book Tours in exchange for my honest review.  No other compensation was offered, requested or received.

Also, to those looking for the review on Monday of this week, I offer my sincere apology.  A scheduling error on my part led to this oversight.  This, also, did not affect the content or wording of my review above

Blogathon Bash June 2014 Goals

LIST OF POSSIBLE ACTIVITIES FOR DA BASH:

1.  Catch up on book reviews.

2.  Print blog planner pages.

3.  Use blog planner pages.

4.  Set a blog post writing schedule.

5.  Set a blog business (non-writing) schedule.

6.  Enter at least one challenge.

7.  Participate in at least one chat session.

8.  Set up three incoming guest posts.

9.  Set up three outgoing guest posts.

10.  Start setting up sponsors to attend a blog conference in 2015.

Also sharing with my friends at:

Five Things That Make Me Happy Right Now

Today's prompt:  What are the 5 things that make you most happy right now?

1.  My faith

One week after my last pregnancy test came back positive, I started bleeding at work.  The ER doctor refused to believe I was pregnant, even though I had had a confirmation from my ob/gyn the day before.  So while they were doing a blood test, I lay there thinking, "What am I supposed to hope for?"  That I wasn't pregnant after all?  That I was and may be having a miscarriage?  What happens if they baby has problems?  I had used the 23rd Psalm countless times in the dentist's chair to calm myself and tried it again for this situation.  Then I prayed.  I made the decision to accept whatever happened, knowing that I could get through it with God's help.  The moment that thought passed, I felt the sweetest peace I have ever known in my life.

2.  My husband.

We originally met online in a role-playing game.  He was a shaman; I was a vampire.  We decided he would come out to Salt Lake City to visit for a week.  He never really left. :O)  We've had our ups and downs, but I believe we were made for each other.  

3.  My older son.

Even though he crawled across the phone (which was on the floor) at 7 months of age and somehow dialed 911; even though he deleted Windows from our computer when he was 1-1/2 years old ... yes, he's my evil genius.  He's smart as a whip and has never really given us serious grief about doing his share around the house.  He even goes up on his Papaw's roof to keep the gutters clean.  And he will still hug his old Mom in public.  He is 17 years old.  When his sister was born, he got mad at the NICU nurses because they wouldn't let him take her home so he could take care of her.

4.  My younger son.

Also very intelligent, he processes things differently from most people.  He never showed much interest in reading until his Grammy got him a Kindle for Christmas one year.  Now we can hardly get him to stop!  And he has one of the biggest hearts I've ever known in a human.  He makes sure everyone gets a fair share, even if it means giving up some of what is his.  And I wish I could speed up my hearing because he could give the world's fastest talker a run for his money.  If someone in the family is having a rough time, he'll come and tell his father or me, saying that he is worried.  And he just turned 16 so, "WOOHOO!  We have four drivers now when we make the trip to Texas every year!"

5.  My daughter.

She is my miracle baby...my "HARBOR CHICK"!  (The term is taken from Ghostbusters II when they are walking through NYC inside the Statue of Liberty.  Egon is worried that the stress will cause the statue to crack and Bill Murray's character says, "Don't worry.  She's tough.  She's a HARBOR CHICK!")  DD came into the world 2 months early.  They told us to expect her to be in the NICU for 2 months (or her original due date).  We had two gentlemen from our church come into the NICU when she was 2-3 days old and give her a blessing.  She wound up getting to come home when she was 22 days old (just over 3 weeks), and she was still slightly under 4 pounds.  The doctors said she was "just too healthy and they needed the space".  I was thrilled because having to go home from the hospital and leave her there has been, BAR NONE, the hardest thing I've ever had to do.

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Also sharing at:  

     

BE Society Day 4 and IWSG

Today's prompt:  List 10 things you would tell your 16 year-old self if you could.


1.  If you ever drive after drinking, or get into a vehicle where the driver is not sober, I will come back through time and slap you upside the head.

2.  Brush your teeth.

3.  Spend more time with your Dad.  He's not going to be around much longer.

4.  Your mother knows more than you think she does.

5.  You are better at acting on stage than you think you are.

6.  Don't be in a rush on tile floors when you've just come in from the rain.  Your tailbone with thank you.

7.  Don't walk down hills in flip flops.  Take the stairs that are 10 feet away.

8.  You are a daughter of God and He only makes the best.

9.  The family you and I have without changes to the timeline are a pretty cool bunch.

10.  Take more time to pray.

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I think a lot of my issues here come down to time management.

The blog is coming along nicely.  I had plenty of book reviews/tours last month to keep things hopping.  Maybe a few too many.  I put time and effort into the reviews and too much of a good thing...is not a good thing.  It is also not doing the author/tour companies any favors if I am overbooked.  And last, but definitely not least, I don't want to wear my readers out!

I'm involved in the BE  Society June Challenge, where a prompt has been provided for each day.  Thank goodness for the prompts.  I'm also doing Writing 101 from Blogging University.  In my first post, "The Good, The Bad and the Ugly", I confused the term free-writing with stream-of-consciousness writing.  (I don't think I used (any or many) swear words in it, but be warned, it is not my usual 'style'.)

In May, I stated my intention to turn my 2014 A to Z posts (about Proverbs 31) into an e-book.  I was using the "Weekend Writing Warriors" for some accountability, but totally spaced last week.  Now I'm wondering if I have been adding all these challenges and activities with the blog to crowd out having to face the e-book issue.  What am I afraid of? *sigh*

Well, at least I seem to have the insecurity part down pat! *lol*

BOOK REVIEW: Lemonade Revealed by Will Chluho

SYNOPSIS

FICTION: A boy on a voyage to find his true father regained consciousness on an unknown island to the curious stares of three old men: a warrior, a trader, and a priest. The lost boy would later discover through a mysterious man–a skinhead with an eye tattoo on his neck–that one among the trio could be the father he’d been looking for….

NONFICTION: This “little yellow book” is a good place to reclaim such good old-fashioned gems as “faith” and “hope” under the demythologized light of human reason. It is a phenomenological examination on the possibility and probability of a divine existent vis-à-vis a real world of human frailties and frictions. Lemonade Revealed is a timely discourse in a timeless (and engaging) story.

REVIEW

"Lemonade Revealed" is a complex book.  Woven into the boy's story is a nice bit of social commentary, right and wrong, greed vs. sacrifice, and the like.

I spent part of the book wondering what the boy's name was, as he himself did not know.  When he gets a crush on the daughter of one of his benefactors, he blurts out what he wants to drink in response to the girl's question of what is his name.  "Lemonade," he declares!  Hence the title.

As he becomes more accustomed to his new life, he gradually begins to find out about who he was before.  He was named after a star, Iota Draconis, and the ship on which he was sailing with his mother (in search of his father) was wrecked.

I was a bit confused because the book started with the boy awakening after the accident, without his memory, and in the presence of three of the king's advisors (business, military and spiritual).  Then about 2/3 the way through the book, the same scene takes place again.  I was not clear on whether it was Iota's memory of the scene, or another group altogether.

"Lemonade Revealed" is an engaging story (what would you do if you awoke on an island with no memory).  Chluho does a wonderful job of making the philosophical discussions part of the story and not something that is thrown in there for political correctness' sake.  The Island of Ahio will not give up her secrets without effort on the part of the reader.  I personally feel the story, while complete, is not 'over'.

This is a book you can read and re-read, and get something new (detail, insight, etc) each time.

GoodReads * Amazon

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AUTHOR INFORMATION

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As an urban pragmatist, Will Chluho was a creative director who’d served on world-renowned brands such as BlackBerry, Mercedes-Benz, and Singapore Airlines. As a spiritual “romanticist” of sorts who sought solace, he’d lived four years as a Franciscan friar, a major in philosophy and theology. He’s 44, married, and advancing his philosophical studies with the University of London.

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(Disclaimer:  I received a print copy of Lemonade Revealed from the author and publisher, via TLC Book Tours in exchange for my honest review.  No other compensation was offered, requested or received.  The opinions expressed in the review are my own.)