The stranger in town has quite the effect on people. While the men see him as trouble, that same quality is a serious attraction for the fairer sex. That is especially for Rosemary, a fifteen year old looking for a way out of her small town life. Whether or not Campbell Reed is the answer to her dreams is the question in “A Nice Set Of Wheels” by Kathy Waller.

Running moonshine has gone on for decades in the bottom lands of northeast Texas. In “Family Business” by Reavis Z. Wortham illegal liquor has paid the bills as well as caused a lot of problems and heartache. It is the business of the Caissen family and comes with a cost.

Fourteen year old stowaway Tim Brooks thought he would hide on the merchant ship until it arrived in port in Charleston. He picked the vessel Rota Fortunae to hide aboard and that was a serious mistake in this tale of the same name by V. P. Chandler. There is a secret in her hold and one that can’t be explained easily. Out of all the tales in the book this one of adventure, and the mystical was my personal favorite.

It is just after World War II in Hollywood as “Mome Rath, My Sweet” by Gale Albright begins. Private Investigator Grimm has a major problem as Joey Dormouse is dead and Grimm is being blamed.  He should have known the woman billing herself as “Miss Wonderland” who claimed she wanted nothing more than her sister found would be nothing but trouble. After all, Mome Rath is the biggest gangster on the west coast and more famous in all the wrong ways than Al Capone.

The route from Knoxville to D. C. is usually simple enough. The bus is one of those jumbo buses that have two levels. People take the ride, look at the scenery, and have fun. A difficult passenger can change things in “The Wheels On The Bus Go Round And Round” by Kaye George.

As the rest of the family has repeatedly pointed out, Mary should have never married her Italian husband, Marco. Her family is Irish and there are cultural issues. Then there is his behavior and his insistence on joining the family business in “Buon Viaggio” by Laura Oles.

Faye and her husband, Fred, are at opposite sides in their marriage. He loves riding his bicycles and is all about fitness. He now even wants to go vegan. Faye understands they have grown older and would prefer they stay home together and be cool and comfortable in their house. In “Aporkalypse Now” by Gale Albright the situation is definitely not a bicycle built for two.

Family stress also takes a major role in “Have A Nice Trip” also by Kaye George. Prissy has a difficult, to say the least, mother-in-law named Abigail. While Prissy’s husband, Trey, is aware and agrees they should go on their long delayed honey moon, one wonders if he truly understands Prissy’s needs.

There is an old adage about how one should write what one knows. Early Staggs knows all about driving school buses. One hopes he does not truly know about dead men on school buses. In his story “Dead Man On A School Bus” being Police Chief in the suburb of Southlake was supposed to an easy gig after thirty years of hard work on the police force over in Fort Worth. The chief has seen a lot of dead bodies, but the one found early this morning on a school bus is a new experience.

It is not a good thing when one walks into the kitchen and finds elderly Mom stirring in ground glass in the lemon meringue pie filling. Something has to be done to make sure Mom does not get thrown into prison in “Hell On Wheels” by Kathy Walker. The family has to have a plan and that means they have to work together.

Billy Ray Bryant always has one thing going wrong or another and needs a favor from Red Clark. Such is the case in “Red’s White F-150 Blues” by Scott Montgomery. Billy needs to hide his truck in Red’s garage to keep it away from the local repo man, Jerry Coonts. Red has been married long enough to know that the coming argument with his wife Britney over hiding the truck will be shorter if the dead is already done before she gets home.

A two page biography of each author brings the book to a close.

Slipping back and forth in time and set in various locations in Texas and elsewhere the eleven tales in this book are all good ones. Some are more adventure orientated than straight mystery and at least a couple are very noir like in their situations. Murder On Wheels: Eleven Tales Of Crime On The Move is a solidly good anthology from eight talented authors and one that is well worth your time.

Murder On Wheels: Eleven Tales Of Crime On The Move
Editor Ramona DeFelice Long
Wildside Press LLC
http://www.wildsidebooks.com
April 2015
ISBN# 978-1-4794-0554-1
Paperback (also available in eBook format)
152 Pages
$12.99

Material supplied by the publisher some time ago in exchange for my objective review.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2016

In the signature story of this second volume of the series one Continuity Inc. technician by the name of Paul Dirac has gone rouge. His ongoing obsession with Pre-Apocalypse North America and vintage cars was thought to be a quirk one expected from a genius. The company shrink had perceived his obsessive interest as nothing to be concerned about and cleared him to work. Proving the shrink wrong, Dirac has gone rogue and jumped back in time to “Old Vegas” in the year 2035. He took a lot of supplies with him which means he is not coming back. What he plans to do there is unknown, but he can’t be allowed to do more damage than he has already done simply by going back then. Kyler and Damo have to go after him as fast as possible and bring him back alive. Easier said than done.

“Babylon Heist” comes next where Kyler Knightly is sent back approximately 3000 years to prevent a theft. Continuity Inc. got a tip that another time traveler had been sent back to collect a priceless artifact for a collector in the 23^rd century. Kyler knows what they are after, but has no idea of the identity of the time traveler. So, he is working undercover in the Babylonian underworld trying to make contacts and gather information. 770 B.C. is a dangerous place and he has no idea whom he can trust.

Billed as a “Bonus Story” the final tale “Strontium Dreams” has nothing to do with Kyler and Damon or Continuity Inc. for that matter. Time travel may or may not be involved. What is clear is that it is a future world and one so decimated that survival means doing anything you have to survive.  Having the stamp of “genetic undesirable” on your forehead helps keep you away from the collectors looking to salvage organs for the wealthy and keeps the rest of you out of the taco meat sold by vendors in the Jetsam Flats. One does not want to become taco meat.

Like the past, the future is not always pretty and certainly not here in these short stories written by Garnett Elliot. Whether it is Red Venus or Dragon By The Bay, Scorched Noir, or his efforts in the Drifter Detective Series, or the aforementioned Carnosaur Weekend, a hint of hard edged noir prevails no matter the setting. It doesn’t matter if one is vicariously on Venus fighting humans and alien life, running from dinosaurs, or shooting it out to bring back the rogue employee, that dark nourish edge of crime fiction is always there in the works of Garnett Elliot. One could easily make the argument that these are primarily crime fiction tales in a science fiction setting Those works are also very good reads that tell complex tales with plenty of action and adventure.

Apocalypse Soon is yet another example of Mr. Elliott’s steadily increasing body of work. If you have not read him yet you really should. The only question is where and when you wish to start.

Apocalypse Soon (Kyler Knightly and Damon Cole Volume 2)
Garnett Elliot
Beat To A Pulp
http://www.beattoapulp.com
February 2016
ISBN# 978-1943035144
Paperback (also available in eBook format)
104 Pages
$5.95

Material was supplied in paperback format by the publisher three months ago in exchange for my objective review.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2016

Sarah Good was hung for her alleged crimes on July 19, 1962. The only way Sarah and Sally Good would be related would be by marriage as Sarah Good was a distant relative of Sally’s late husband. The man passed away eight years ago so it is not possible to have him come forward and speak on the matter or provide love and support to Sally Good. The fact that Dr. Sally Good was never a blood relative of Sarah’s is one of those facts that some people choose to ignore because it kills their argument or claim.

Beyond the whole ancestor relation deal, there is the matter of the notion of witchcraft itself. The fact that anyone would believe such stupidity, even well educated men who should know better such as her boss, President Fieldstone, of Hughes Community College is annoying. Fieldstone is all about image and what people might think regarding the small college in deep Southeast Texas. This news coupled with recent events and an upcoming bond election for the school has him greatly concerned.

He ought to be more worried about the fact that someone else linked to the college has once again been murdered. Harold Curtin, decisively nicknamed by many, “The Garden Gnome” used to teach at HCC. He’d been there for years, was a lousy teacher, and finally the new department chair, Sally Good, recommended his dismissal. Of course, throwing a stapler at a student had something to do with his dismissal.

Gone for several years and off doing other things including being part of the anti-bond movement, Curtain has now gone and gotten himself dead. From what is coming out of the rumor mill it definitely sounds like a murder. Rumor has it that he choked to death on his own blood. Reminiscent of the curse that allegedly Sarah Good put on her enemies three hundred years ago that allegedly caused deaths then. Despite the fact that Sarah and Sally would only be related by marriage some have leaped to the conclusion that Dr. Sally Good is a modern day witch capable of murdering her enemies. If true, one would have to ask why it took so long for her to start as one can easily think of a few targets in earlier books.

Published in 2004 by Thomas Dunne Books (Minotaur Books), this tale by Bill Crider is another occasionally funny and always twisting ride into the dark waters of academia. Along with having to deal with students and bureaucracy, Dr. Sally Good is forced to look for answers to the identity of her e-mail accuser as well as the identity of the killer. Both threads gradually come together in a complex case that puts her in real life danger far beyond being forced to hear Seepy Benton sing.

Like the earlier ones in this series A Bond with Death: A Professor Sally Good Mystery understates the violence while occasionally inserting some laugh out loud moments. Those readers that enjoy the current trend of there must be a murder in the first three pages of the work and in the first paragraph if at all will be disappointed as the murder occurs a few pages later. In addition to plenty of clues and complexity, the family atmosphere where one quickly feels like old familiar friends with the characters is present here as it is in just about any book by Bill Crider. A solid and enjoyable tale the final book in the series is another good one.

This is a series that should be read in order starting with Murder Is An Art followed by A Knife In The Back.

A Bond with Death: A Professor Sally Good Mystery
Bill Crider
http://billcrider.blogspot.com/
Thomas Dunne Books (Minotaur Books)
http://www.minotaurbooks.com
2004
ISBN# 0-312-32296-8
Hardback (eBook version available)
218 Pages
$22.95

Material supplied by the good folks of the Plano Public Library System who do not care whether my review is objective or even if I review it. They just want me to bring it back undamaged and to always wear pants.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2016

Winona Blake, or Nonie, is legendary in Jarrett Creek, Texas and nearby areas. It has been twenty years since she left town and eventually wound up in a mental institution far to the north up near Dallas. When she was 14 all those years ago she tried to kill her younger sister. It wasn’t horseplay as she meant for her sister to hang until dead. If it hadn’t been for the quick action of her brother Charlotte Blake would have died that day.

Instead, it is Charlotte Blake, who calls Chief of Police Samuel Craddock to report the latest family tragedy. Her sister drowned in the stock pond behind their house.  The home of the reclusive Blake family located a few miles down a gravel road out past the cemetery on the north side of town is about to be a very active crime scene. When Craddock gets out there it is very evident to him that the main cause of Nonie’s death is certainly not drowning.  She took a significant blow to the head that also crushed her cheek and broke her jaw. The force that was used far exceeds what she could have generated by a simple fall against a tree or the ground before sliding into the water. This was not an accidental drowning by any means. Figuring out who did it and why are the primary points of an investigation that leads Samuel Craddock on a trail of secrets going back decades.

While that is the main plot there are secondary plots building off previous events and ongoing characters/situations in this highly entertaining series. Along with that, author Terry Shames had added a new character in the form of a female deputy, Marie Trevino, sent in by the state to assist as Samuel Craddock sees fit. She has her own way of doing things and that attitude is going to push Craddock to up his game.

The Necessary Murder Of Nonie Blake features yet another engrossing and complicated mystery in this long running cozy style mystery series. Macavity Award Winner for Best First Mystery author Terry Shames continues to deliver in each successive installment of the series much like what Texas author Bill Crider (prominently mentioned on the book cover) has done in his Sheriff Dan Rhodes Series, Terry Shames has created a sense of family with these characters. It doesn’t take a reader long to feel like he has known Samuel, Lorretta, and numerous others for years once one starts reading the books.

A Killing At Cotton Hill started everything off. Five books later, The Necessary Murder of Nonie Blake keeps a great series rolling forward at a great pace.

The Necessary Murder Of Nonie Blake: A Samuel Craddock Mystery
Terry Shames
http://www.Terryshames.com
Seventh Street Books
http://www.seventhstreetbooks.com
2016
ISBN# 978-1-63388-120-4
Paperback (also available in eBook format)
258 Pages
$15.95

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

Kevin R. Tipple ©2016

Waking up with a hangover is always a negative. It is made worse this afternoon for Selena as she is naked and in the bed of some guy. She has no idea what his name would be or even were she is at. Based on what she feels on her thigh the latest attempt at safe sex failed. Selena gets dressed and before she leaves she swipes his cash and his cigarette lighter. She also swipes a music CD.

That was her big time mistake. Swiping the cash and the cigarette lighter might have been ignored. Taking the CD was a huge mistake as what is on it is certainly not music. There are very dangerous people who will want it back. They will track down the 98 pound twenty something stripper and unleash their fury on her. Their mistake will be in letting her live.

Graphic in terms of actions, descriptions, violence, and every other way possible, Selena by Greg Barth is pulpy crime fiction from start to finish. One could easily dismiss it as a violence filled revenge tale, but it is far more complicated than that. On the surface massive amounts of drugs and alcohol are consumed, sex is had, and many people are killed or if lucky just maimed a bit. At a deeper level, Selena is on a journey of self-discovery and is being molded by people and events throughout the course of the book.

Carnage frequently rules the read as Selena rolls through often leaving bodies in her wake. In many cases, she is left with very few options and is in a kill or be killed situation. Selena by Greg Barth is certainly not for everyone. If you don’t like graphic violence, graphic language, etc., this is not the read for you. If you prefer cozy cats and books where the most action happens when the detective runs for a bus or chases somebody down the street before losing them, this read is not for you. However, if you ever watched Charles Bronson in the Death Wish movies and thought he did not blast enough bad guys, or that John Wick got to a good start though he talked too much to the bad guys and should have just killed everyone in sight, Selena by Greg Barth is definitely the read for you.

Review copy provided by Mike Monson of All Due Respect Books quite some time ago in exchange for my objective review. Mr. Monson has also supplied review copies of Diesel Therapy: Selena Book Two as well as the upcoming third book in the series, Suicide Lounge.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2016

He moves from place to place on his mare, Redemption, as he follows the trail of those responsible. He is currently pursuing a man known far and wide as “Big Jim Kimbrough.” The trail seems to be leading him to the decrypt town of Sundown where every building seems to lean a different way as if the entire town was created by drunks. At least he can find a place for his horse and roof for the night. The Westward Railroad might be coming there to build not only the rail line and their headquarters, but for now the place is clearly in a bad way.

So is the man dragged in on a rope behind a horse early the next morning. The Lawyer had planned to move on until the unfolding spectacle put his plans on hold. According to a Mr. Buchanan who dragged the unfortunate man by way of a rope tied to his horse he is to be lynched. The black man’s crime was that was that he ate a piece of cherry pie Buchanan’s wife made right out of the pan and using Buchanan’s own silverware. Not that dragging the hogtied man on the ground behind the horse the entire way from the ranch to town wasn’t enough Buchanan intends to hang him as fast as possible.

The lawyer hates bullies and won’t stand for them. He also believes in the rule of law and wants to know the full details of the situation. Not only is what the man did not a hanging offense in this period after the Civil War, Buchanan’s attitude seems to be illustrative of a town attitude that needs to change.  The hunt for Big Jim Kimbrough will have to wait as the lawyer is going to prevent a hanging in Six Guns At Sundown.

Picking up the mantle laid down by Wayne D. Dundee in The Lawyer: Stay Of Execution followed by The Lawyer: The Retributioners author Eric Beetner has crafted a very good western tale. The Lawyer: Six Guns At Sundown is a western tale of mystery and racism that resonates strongly with events of today. The read does not preach as the storyline moves over a couple days period in the Old West. The result is another excellent tale in the series and yet another very good read from Beat to a Pulp.

I picked this up by way of funds in my Amazon Associate account  to read and review back in late February.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2016

Reviews, Market News, Free Book Alerts, And More:
http://kevintipplescorner.blogspot.com/

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Tiff Tate also has a reputation around MLB. She is what is known as a “stylist.” When having a certain look can make a player rich by celebrity endorsements, she designs a persona to fit the player on the field and off. She gets paid well. Very well in fact as she is reputed to earn mid six figures for each makeover she can well afford her private jet and other luxuries. She also can suddenly resurrect a struggling player’s career with a few tweaks. More than any other sport, superstition rules baseball and when her player makeover magic works it adds to her allure and mystique.

But, the stylist to the players has a problem she can’t solve on her own. It’s June and the Colorado Rockies rookie outfielder, Yonel Ruiz, is tearing-up the league. He can do it all from being on a record pace homer wise and driving in runs to throwing out base runners on the paths. He is also a media sensation because of his perilous journey out of Cuba.

What the public does not know is that Ruiz is being blackmailed by the Venezuelans who smuggled him out of Cuba. Tate has been told by Ruiz that his family is being held hostage in Havana. They want him to set up a deal where his salary of 50 million dollars paid over six years goes into an account the kidnappers’ control. He will be given an allowance so he can keep up appearances. Should he fail to agree to do this in the next two weeks. They will start killing his family including his daughter, wife, parents, siblings, etc.

Ruiz’s only contact is with staff of the Colorado Rockies and Tiff Tate, his stylist. The kidnappers won’t allow him to meet with others and most likely have operators in the area watching him. So, with the Bay Dogs soon headed to Denver to play the Rockies, Tate wants Adcock to try and find out who these Venezuelans are. Once he identifies them then Tate will try to work directly with them to resolve the problem. If MLB gets involved they will do what is best for the sport and not the player. She will resort to involving MLB if she has to, but intended to give Adcock a week to work the case.

While Adcock is well aware that he can’t do much, he agrees to do what he can. Ruiz isn’t the only one being threatened as Adcock quickly finds out.  It is a far reaching mess that could have a huge impact on baseball in the future. It does not help that those at the upper reaches of MLB very much want Adcock to get out of the private investigator business and that is way before the bodies start dropping.

Double Switch builds on the events of The Setup Man in a strong way. Adcock is a year closer to the end of pitching in the majors and he very well knows it. A future beyond baseball is on his mind, but he isn’t about for one second to give up on what he loves which is playing baseball.

In addition to the complicated mystery, T. T. Monday brings readers well familiar with baseball or not at all right along for a ride through the clubhouses and the underworld of how Latin American players make it into the show. He has a rare gift of making baseball accessible to the novice as well as the experienced fan as part of the overall mystery.  As he did with the first book, T. T. Monday shines a light into the less glamorous aspects of a sport he clearly loves.

Double Switch could be read as a stand-alone, but it really should be read after one reads The Setup Man. The sacrifices of family continue to play a role in Adcock’s life as do other elements carried over from the first book. Double Switch is a good read and an excellent sequel.

Material supplied by the good folks of the Plano Public Library System.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2016

The late 20 something private investigator is on the hunt for a teenage runaway named Susan Worthman.  According to her father who has been coming down from Maine to look for her and threw some money around, she is now going by the name of “Susie Sparkles” and is in the company of a couple speed freaks. Malloy wants a friend of his, Stoney Sundown, to also look around for her by way of the people he knows via drug dealing and a few other things. It should be easy to find her and Mallory figures the whole deal will be wrapped up in a couple of days. He doesn’t expect to make much money on the gig and hopes that he doesn’t get evicted.

Malloy starts by talking to his cousin, Billy Skinner, who also works for the Cambridge Police Department. The cops are overwhelmed by the number of runaways and other issues they are dealing with and were of no help to the dad. Because of the familial connection Malloy gets a little consideration and assistance, but not much. He also starts talking to the homeless young people in the square as well as his other contracts. The case might have stopped there with zero real leads if some members of the “Devil’s Demons Motorcycle Club” had not decided to try to scare him off using physical brute force and threats. They aren’t the only ones who give that a shot. Before long private investigator Michael Malloy is in a world of trouble in The Combat Zone.

Filled with plenty of action, a difficult case, and a private investigator walking the edge is a number of ways this read is a very good one. Malloy is doing the best he can to find the runaway and save himself while at the same time heavily indulging in his darker vices. Part anti-hero and part good guy, this is a complex character that lives in a world rich in detail. The Combat Zone by Jed Power is part mystery, part crime fiction, and in all aspects a very good read.

The author sent me a pdf of the book to read and review after hearing about me from author Bill Crider who reviewed the book last August.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2016

The entire world knows she fired the gun that killed three people in a house on Woodbridge Avenue. She has no memory of actually going into the home and shooting Mary Beth and Richard Kuhldreyer as well as their neighbor, Patricia Munk. While her only explanation other than sheer madness for the crime would be satanic intervention, Ehrengraf has a much more down to earth explanation. Not only does he know how he can help her with the case, he has a few other ideas to help her and her future.

Along with a touch here and there of subtle humor, The Ehrengraf Fandango by Lawrence Block is a complicated multiple case mystery. The Plumley case is just part of a much larger tale in this work. Martian H. Ehrengraf is a lawyer who bends the law to suit himself and enjoys the fruit of his labors in the process. He only defends innocent clients and he never loses a case. If you need his services it is always best to pay his free promptly and without delay.

Also present at the end of the book is the original introduction to the first story, The Ehrengraf Defense, written by Edward D. Hoch for the 1978 initial appearance in Ellery Queen’s mystery magazine. That is followed by two different afterwards from the author, first in 1994 and then 2014. Those pieces by Hoch and author Lawrence Block provide intriguing details about the dapper lawyer, the other eleven tales in the series, as well as publishing in general.

Material was picked up to read and review when the author made it free back in January.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2016

Reviews, Market News, Free Book Alerts, And More
http://kevintipplescorner.blogspot.com/

Amazon Author Page
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That would be just as well as for all involved as some folks are no doubt coming to town to settle a score with Kendrick. Today’s attempt at killing him traces back to an event earlier in the series and the far flung family members, of which there are quite a few, seem to be of no mind to let things go. Kendrick also has work to do near Pine Ridge, Nebraska and would like to get out of northern Colorado before the winter snows set in. That is going to be a way easier said than done in Gunfire Ridge.

Gunfire Ridge: Bodie Kendrick Bounty Hunter Book 4 is another good one.  Starting with Hard Trail To Socorro, Rio Matanza, Diamond In The Rough and now Gunfire Ridge, the very good reads in this series are well worth your time. Kendrick is a man’s man— he loves hard, he drinks hard, and he works hard. When killing needs to be done he does it as that is the cards he was dealt. A very good western series where there is plenty of action and adventure with a hint of romance and mystery thrown in the mix. Award winning author Wayne D. Dundee simply can’t write a bad story. This is another good one.

According to Amazon I picked this up in early April 2015. I have no idea now if it was a free read or I used funds in my Amazon Associate account. I suspect the latter.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2016