U.S. Marshal Gideon Miles is in Overton, Nebraska ostensibly on vacation. It should be a peaceful time as he is in town to visit family who has finally come back from Ontario, Canada. Fifteen plus years after the Civil War his aunt and her husband are finally back where he can visit. Miles intends to do just that and nothing else.

The problem is that soon Way Gunn and Kit Kale, a couple of hard guys up from Kansas, and looking to cause trouble arrive in town. Thanks to their latest criminal efforts, they wind up in the local jail. Unfortunately, one way or another, they got a local lad with troubles of his own, involved in their breakout scheme. Gunn and Kale make good their escape and have the young boy with them as either a hostage or a witting accomplice.

Either way, the local law needs his help and before long Miles is on their trail. He seems himself in the boy and hopes to help him while taking Gunn and Kale back into custody.  Miles isn’t the only one on the trail. Everyone involved is being tracked by a man who is leaving bodies in his wake.

This tale by the late Ron Scheer is a good one. Filled with plenty of action it holds true to the western canon set for this series long ago. The ending is a bit open making it clear that a potential sequel was in mind and unfortunately not completed.

Also included in the book is the short tale, “Origin of White Deer” written by Edward A. Grainger and Chuck Tyrell. This tale explains the backstory of Cash Laramie. It can also be found in the short story collection Adventures of Cash Laramie and Gideon Miles: Volume II.

Billed as the eleventh entry in the series, Miles To Lost Dog Creek is a very good western novella. The story features all the elements that make the Cash Laramie and Gideon Miles series so very good. It also proves once again that, though the authors many change from time to time, the essence of spirit of the series flows seamlessly from one book to the next. This series is a very good one and well worth your time.

Miles To Lost Dog Creek (Cash Laramie and Gideon Miles Book 11)
Ron Scheer
http://www.buddiesinthesaddle.blogspot.com
Beat To A Pulp
http://www.beattoapulp.com
September  2015
ASIN# B015RQ42LO
E-Book (also available in print)
86 Pages
$1.49

Material to read and review was obtained via funds in my Amazon Associate account.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2015

Crime consultant Scott Drayco is in Cape Unity this Monday morning in mid-march to meet a client at the old Opera House. A building that has not been used in years and one that Scott Drayco now owns. It wasn’t something he expected, but he inherited it thanks to the fact that the recently deceased Horatio Rockingham assigned it to him by way of his will.

Sine he had to come look at the place anyway he had arranged with his potential client, Oakley Keys, to meet him at the Opera House at 7 in the morning. Keyes never got into specifics, but he definitely had wanted to meet and hire Drayco. That meeting isn’t going to happen as the man is very much dead on the stage in the old opera house. While the bullet to the head probably killed him the meaning of the carving on the chest of Oakley Key is far harder to determine.  He has been dead for hours and probably was already dead when Drayco climbed into his Oldsmobile Starfire and headed out of Washington, DC.

The plan had been for a quick sale of the Opera House followed by a much needed vacation. Not only is Drayco haunted by the nightmare of his last case, he suffers daily from Chromesthesia. He hears sounds and his brain translates that to colors, shapes, and textures. While it does not debilitate him, that ability along with his deep love of music, allows him to see investigations in a different way than most. Fortunately, the local sheriff is willing to indulge him and welcomes his assistance in a case where there are almost as many motives as suspects.

First in the Scott Drayco mystery series, Played To Death by BV Lawson is very good. Filled with complex characters, multiple motives and agendas, and a lot of small details that build the atmosphere, this cozy style story works the suspense angle while Drayco tries to figure out what happened. That isn’t easy and the problem does not get simpler when the body of a second victim is found. Plenty of twists and turns as the case goes along makes figuring out who did it as well as why in Played To Death quite the challenge.

Played To Death: A Scott Drayco Mystery
BV Lawson
http://www.bvlawson.com/
Crimetime Press
http://www.crimetimepress.com/
July 2014
ISBN-13: 978-0990458227
E-book (also available in hardcover and paperback)
312 Pages
$3.99 (Free at this time)

Material supplied by the author in exchange for my objective review.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2015

The latest in the Carter Ross Mystery series finds investigative reporter Carter Ross nervously awaiting the birth of his first child. Thirty-three years old he is the investigative reporter for The Newark Eagle- Examiner. With more than a decade on the journalism beat, Carter Ross is all too aware that the newspaper industry is in crisis.

So too is the city of Newark, New Jersey, in some ways. Carjacking has always been a problem primarily because of the ease of access to the nearby port where a vehicle could easily disappear into a cargo container on an ocean bound ship. Such a common occurrence that the locals know not to stop for a red light in the middle of the night.  A white bank executive, Kevin Tieymeyer, seems to have forgotten that while driving his Jaguar. He is now dead as a result of the latest carjacking. Local media is all over the story and his paper has to cover it as well while also giving readers something different than what they are seeing on television or hearing on the radio.

His editor, Tina Thompson, (also the mother of his child to be) wants him to cover the story as well as expand the reporting.  Kevin Tiemeyer isn’t the only one to recently lose his life in a carjacking. Being rich and while does not mean his story is more important than the story of another victim and his grieving family. Carter Ross has a recent carjacking murder victim in mind and intends to develop backgrounds on the people involved in both cases and illustrate how economics and race does not play a role in being a victim.

That is if he can get the families and friends of the recently deceased to cooperate and he is allowed to focus on the story. That is if he isn’t sent off to do a feel good piece on a local charity. That is if Tina will keep him fully updated as to how the baby and her are doing by actually sharing information and not walling him off as is her tendency. Tina and Carter have a complicated relationship and have had for several books. Having a baby is not going to uncomplicated it.

What began with the award winning Faces of the Gone is still powerfully good four more books later. Complicated mysteries coupled with Carter Ross’ occasional cynical humor and observations on life as well as his life’s work make this series well worth the reading. While one could easily start here with The Fraud a lot of the nuance and side joke humor would be lost. Instead, work your way up from the beginning and get here when you can. It will be worth it.

The Fraud: A Carter Ross Mystery
Brad Parks
http://www.bradparksbooks.com/
Thomas Dunne Books (Minotaur Books)
http://thomasdunnebooks.com/
2015
ISBN# 978-1-250-06440-0
Hardback
352 Pages
$25.99

Material provided by the good folks of the Plano, Texas Public Library System.

Kevin R. Tipple © 2015

As editor Carolyn Haines notes in the forward to Delta Blues, “Writing short fiction is some of the hardest work around, and many of these contributors took time out from writing novels to do a story for Delta Blues. Their take on crime and the blues fills a wide road, but each twist and turn is executed with skill.” (Page 14) Variety in styles is very obvious here with nineteen contributors all generating stories involving the Mississippi Delta region and the blues. This is not one of those cookie cutter anthologies where all the stories read the same and only the names and places change. This is an anthology with real depth and meat to it.

With nineteen authors and 400 pages of text (including ten pages of author and editor biographies) it isn’t possible to go into detail on each and every story. Therefore, what follows below are my personal favorites from this outstanding anthology. Your personal choices may, and in all likelihood will, vary tremendously. 

James Lee Burke is one of my all-time favorite authors both as a writer and a reader. His ability to create powerful imagery is something I aspire to do as a writer. “Big Midnight Special” is his contribution here and touches on themes familiar to his readers. A long term convict, Arlen, is serving prison time and about to get crosswise with a powerful con by the name of Jody. Principal is a powerful motivator and it cuts both ways.

Not everything that walks in the night is of animal or human origin. In “Crossroads Bargain” by Charlaine Harris, blues guitarist Ernest Washington has trouble on many fronts. Saved from white men looking to have some fun and maybe even kill him, Ernest is at crossroads literally and metaphorically with everything in his life at stake. 

Changing directions in life is also a key part of “Run Don’t Run” written by Mary Saums. After barely surviving being shot in Chicago, Crosby takes stock of what is, and more importantly is not, in his life. Ultimately, he decides to go back home to Mississippi and go to work for the local Sheriff’s department. Crosby is not the only one that decides to go to Mississippi as somebody he occasionally arrested in Chicago has also come down. He’s bringing a bag of trouble with him and things are not going to be easy.

Author of the very good John Deal series set in Miami and Key West, Les Standiford contributes the tale titled “Life and Casualty.” A late night drive, fog, and a hitchhiker are just some of the elements that mark the beginning of a very strange night for Del. 

At 400 pages of intros, stories and extensively detailed author biographies, this is a read that features real depth and broadness to the work. Much like the Mississippi Delta itself, time has little meaning with this book as this rich anthology slowly moves forward. This is not a light hearted work. Instead, the overall tone is somber, powerful and deep with the pain of financial insecurity, racism, and isolationism along with the steady sway of the blues told by characters that feel it for every second of life as the generations before them have. The stories will touch readers in many ways.

Delta Blues
Edited by Carolyn Haines
http://www.carolynhaines.com
Tyrus Books
http://www.tyrusbooks.com
2010
ISBN#978-1-935562-07-8
Hardback  (also available in print and e-book)
400 Pages
$27.95

As noted on the back cover of the book, a dollar from each sale will be donated to the Rock River Foundation to aid in their efforts supporting the arts and literary in the Delta. For more information of the group and their work go to http://www.rrfoundation.org

ARC supplied by Tyrus Books in exchange for my objective review. Material quoted has been verified in the hardback publication.

Kevin R. Tipple © 2010, 2015