Nostalgia City Mysteries

Mark S. Bacon

Category Archives: New mystery book

7:53 am - February 25, 2017 -

‘Death in Nostalgia City’ a choice for your book group

1

In the category of patting yourself on the back, I submit this recent email.

Dear Mark,
The mystery book club that read your novel has been together 20 years. They range in age from 55-84. Your novel was a big hit! Many have traveled to the area [Arizona] or have friends who have retired out that way. Their #1 accolade was the car chase scene. It surprised them all to find themselves on the edges of their seats. Most mysteries they read do not include car chases. They felt your journalism background made the prose more comfortable for them to read and follow. They cared about the characters and thought the names used were creative without being too cute or too long (making them unwieldy).

All said they would enjoy reading your next book and want me to update them/purchase books for them once you have it published.

My apologies for the tardy report.

Have a splendid weekend.
Carrie
—
Carrie C. Wolfgang
Novel Destination~Used Book Emporium
Jamestown, NY. 14701
noveldestination@windstream.net
FB@ Novel Destination
“Home of your friendly neighborhood book lady”

 

[Editors note: The “next book” in the Nostalgia City mystery series, Desert Kill Switch, will be published by Black Opal Books later this year.]

Categories: book clubs, book groups, New mystery book Tags: , , ,
7:37 am - October 19, 2016 -

Feisty attorney dukes it out with the Mob

2
Identity Crisis
Debbi Mack
Wild Blue Press
4th Edition Aug. 2015
Kindle $5.99  Trade paper $11.99

Attorney Sam McRae has a more than troublesome case.  Her missing client is accused of murder and implicated in a bank scandal.  Sam’s affair with a married prosecutor—who is likely not going to leave his wife—weighs on her often.  And as she tries to locate her missing client, she’s followed by a black Lincoln.  “Something about the design suggested a rolling black casket.”

Driving a beat-up Mustang convertible, Sam chases from Maryland to Pennsylvania to track down her client, shadowed by the Mob and worried that someone connected to the case is trying to steal her identity.  The engaging, fast-moving story readsidentity-crisis-debbi-mack like the PI novel that it is, even though the protagonist is an attorney.  Sam has more instinct, determination and guts than most male investigators, and she manages to stay one step ahead of the cops.

Sam meets a nosy neighbor with alcohol and garlic breath, a private eye who is either stalking her or there to save her, a woman with a scarred face and a “three-pack-a-day voice” and an upper-crust strip club owner with something to hide. Add in Mob figures made from equal parts menace and violence plus eccentric federal agents and you have an entertaining—and upsetting—cast of characters.

Finally, the story is decorated with lively language and descriptions: Continue Reading →

Categories: book review, crime novel, film noir, Mystery novels, New mystery book Tags: , , ,
6:07 am - September 23, 2016 -

Parting the gauzy curtain of misdirection

4

Murder mysteries

What is a mystery novel without a puzzle? Guest writer Daniella Bernett explores some of the elements that make up the puzzle.  Bernett’s second mystery in the Emmeline Kirby-Gregory Longdon series, Deadly Legacy, debuts tomorrow, Sept.24, from Black Opal Books. 

Why is the question that my mind whispers when I dip into a deliciously intriguing mystery. For me, it’s always been about the puzzle. A desire to find out how and why a crime was conceived and executed. To figure out who the murderer is before the sleuth.

deadly-legacy-daniella-beDoes it sound cold-blooded and calculating? Perhaps it is. But I rather like to view it as a diverting challenge. I have to be sharp because the author has deliberately set me off on the wrong path. The only way to uncover the right clues that will reveal the truth is to part the gauzy curtain of misdirection. The author is not completely cruel, though. He or she always leaves a strand or two dangling in the wind. It is the reader’s job to grasp it quickly before it drifts away.

Another thing that helps the reader tremendously on this quest for answers is understanding human nature and all its foibles. In my opinion, Agatha Christie was the master at peeling back the layers of the psyche to reveal greed, jealousy and pure, naked evil. Knowledge is power. With knowledge, the reader can navigate the twists and turns of the tale to see justice prevail, as it always must. Continue Reading →

Categories: craft of writing, Mystery novels, New mystery book, writing techniques Tags: , , ,