Review of Booked for Murder

Booked for Murder

Cee Cee James

Reviewed by Author Roy Murry

When a murder happens in a hotel, chaos takes over via a police investigation. In this case, CeeCee's protagonist is the newbie hotel manager and part-time mystery writer Maisie Swenson.

A convention is a backdrop of the case whose principal founder is floating in the pool lifeless. Maisie, her dog, and mother become secondary investigators, the dog finding evidence, the mother with platitudes, and Maisie with a nose for putting two and two together and getting to an answer.

Sometimes the answer is not right, and you end up with the short end of the stick. Maisie finds the solution and almost ends up in a body bag.

CeeCee does an excellent job developing her characters and plot, keeping you guessing as to whodunit alone with Maisie. The novel is an enjoyable read and recommended for a rainy day which I finished reading while listening to stormy weather.

Good start for the Oceanside Mystery Series.

Purchase at: http://amzn.to/2rSId4g

Review of What You Do To Me

What You Do to Me

BARBARA LONGLEY

Reviewed by Author Roy Murry

A radio program's listener answers a question and Sam the handyman calls into the station to dispute an accusation. The problem is he gives his real name and the name of his company.

Now everyone wants to get some of Sam's handiwork. A controlling mother sets up her daughter to resolve her home improvement disaster and to push her in the right direction, so to speak.

From this point on, the story is cute, sassy, sexy, and lovable. There are many twists and turns between Sam and Haley, the daughter placed in a humiliating position.

She fights back to teach her mother and Sam a lesson. Sam wants to prove himself and contracts Haley into improving her home and her opinion of him. She agrees, and a friendly constructing relationship develops.

Where it goes, you'll have to read the book. This novel is a good lead-in for the series. The characters are heartland ish, strong-willed, and the backbone of America.

What You Do To Me is a delightful romance novel that will have you laughing, crying, and rooting for a happy ending, which may not arrive. 

You’ll have to purchase the book to find out: http://amzn.to/2qysPF0

Review of READY to FUMBLE

READY to FUMBLE

CHRISTY BARRIT

Reviewed by Author Roy Murry

I enjoyed this #1 in a Mystery Series where the main character stumbles along trying to find her missing father, which becomes the subsequent investigation of many. Joey, aka Raven in a TV Detective series suspended, for the time being, is looking for her father in his last stomping grounds and is pushed into another missing person's case.

Because of her TV persona, Joey listens to a woman's plight in finding her lover and reluctantly takes on the case, not for the money but the diversion. She jumps into the adventure which has its twists and turns, meeting two attractive eligible men in the events that lead to murder.

Joey's character is endearing and complicated, but understandably plausible. She uses her TV knowledge and experiences, i.e., she has a PI license and knows how to use a weapon, to help her move forward in reaching her goal.

Detective Joey/Raven's investigation ends in a place that the reader will want to know what comes next. When this happens, you know you have found a unique character and series.

I will come back to Joey's mysteries.

Purchased at http://amzn.to/2qL4pdg

Review of MURDER ME, A Novel

MURDER ME

A Novel

John Meany

Reviewed by Author Roy Murry

This novel is more like a TV novella that has twists, highs, and lows that keep you wanting to turn on to the next episode the following day. As a novel, the characters complement the main character's delusions and conflicts.

A young lady's husband is killed in a freak accident and on top of that she goes through another horrific event, leading into atypical acts unbeknown to her mother who she moved in with after the demise of her true love. Her mom and a friend question her stability which is erratic, but let her find her way on her own.

Ghosts of the past invade her mental state wanting relief and companionship that she finds with mother's covert influence and drugs. Her mother's deception for her good comes to light, and our artistic protagonist flees to find herself with a few tranquilizers.

Her dormant creative abilities blooms and love for her child help her return to reality and the ones she loves. However, the ending will surprise the reader with an unconventional peak.

MURDER ME is my second read of John Meany's works. I'll be looking for his next.

Purchase:    http://amzn.to/2qRIlAg

Review of Deadly Impasse

DEADLY IMPASSE

Seumas Gallacher

Reviewed by Author Roy Murry

International criminals care only about the money and the power they have over people. When things do not go their way, they eliminate those people whom they feel are responsible for any inconvenience in obtaining it.

In Deadly Impasse, Mr. Gallacher gives the reader a thrilling adventure around that theme. A drug trafficking team, ex-Legionnaires, have lost money and are out to eliminate the persons responsible even though those people had no control of the events that led to the loss.

In aggressive counter operations, International Security Partners', an internationally known small group, protects the person at the center of the criminals’ grief. Crossing borders and continents, the action moves from one country to another leading to a surprising conclusion.

Mr. Galacher's characters are well developed and colorful since this is the fifth in his Jack Calder series. However, the book can be read alone because he flawlessly brings them alive without reference to prior books.

I still would read the others in this series as I have; each stands alone and will keep the reader's attention. All are page turners.

Purchase: http://amzn.to/2p9vUzJ

Review of Mamie Garrison

Mamie Garrison

Teresa McRae

Reviewed by

Author Roy Murry

The underground railroad and slavery in the United States of America are stories we Americans know as part of our history, but few are connected personally. The narratives are scant, and not many are brought to light the way Ms. McRae has in Mamie Garrison.

Using a present-day event, a house left to a grandchild becomes the uncovering of the early inhabitants participating in freeing humans from their enslavers. A young lady finds Mamie's journal, who risked her life and that of others to help slaves into the northern USA.

The people who were enslaved and those who helped free them went through are impelling life change. Using Mamie's journal read by her relative, this preamble to the Civil War comes alive.

Going back and forward, the reader tells her story of meeting a man who helps unravels some mysteries related to Mamie, the slave trade, and how the adjacent properties' occupants were involved.

Ms. McRae has done an excellent job of bringing the reader into a tale that lives on through the journal readers' eyes and unique abilities. The writing is clean, engaging, and believable. I'd recommend reading on to Book 2.

Purchase: https://amzn.to/397bgCr

    

Review of The Smuggler's Gambit

The Smuggler's Gambit

Sara Whitford

Reviewed by Author Roy Murry

This first book of the Adam Fletcher Adventures I picked from a list because I like the word Gambit. Those who play chess know the importance of planning one's moves (Gambit) before playing and changing it to your advantages to produce the result desired, that being to win the game.

In Smuggler's Gambit, Adam is a young man full piss and vinegar, seventeen, who gets in trouble with the lawyer defending his mother's honor. Forced into an apprenticeship, he becomes a pawn in a game he is too young to understand, smuggling.

A criminally minded man, who makes the first move, using his popularity posture, leads Adam into a deadly game of life. His ward is a respectable smuggler, considering the historical period before the American Revolution when the King's subjects disliked his taxes in which the story evolves.

Adam's resolves his confusion between the two men and makes an unorthodox move that gives the upper hand to the criminals. Through ingenuity, Adam's near-death experience after a happenstance with those undesirables is his last adventurous move that gives him and his new family a checkmate.  

The game was played well by Adam with little experience in such matters. The Smuggler's Gambit is a must read to start the series.

Purchase: http://amzn.to/2pwZtI3