"Roots: The Saga of an American Family" by Alex Haley / Reviewed by Clay Stafford

Like most of Americans in the 1970s, I was riveted to the mini-series “Roots.”  Also probably like most Americans, I had never read the book even though “Roots” by Alex Haley had won the Pulitzer Prize.  That changed last night.

I finished “Roots,” all 688 pages in my hardcover version, though some editions go over 899.  I was blown away.  Comparing my memories of the mini-series (of which, frankly, there have never been any better unless it was arguably “The Thornbirds” or “Winds of War”), the filmed version (which had 37 Emmy Award nominations – winning nine – among others) does little justice to the novel itself.  Translated:  the book is better.  That should tell you how good the book is.

Getting the controversy aside:  There were charges and settlements of plagiarism along with accusations of sloppy and untraceable research against Haley following publication.  I’m including this not as a muckraker, but – if I don’t – someone will post this background in the comments section for me as if the rest of us didn’t know and the questionable accusations unto themselves could be accepted as fact.  Long story short, it may have been a research assistant’s error without proper attribution (who knows).  Such things have happened with no knowledge of the writer.  This matter was settled out of court, which means someone made a deal and we’re not really sure what that deal was.  I take plagiarism and false claims seriously – as do most – which is why most people now consider this book to be a book of fiction versus a biography or nonfiction.  I think it an unfortunate black eye.

After reading “Roots,” there were sections I would like to have had more of.  I would like to have known what happened to certain characters (black and white) after the narrative moved beyond them.  As I read (and this was before I knew of the legal controversies), I wondered that if this information was taken from census polls and public records, why didn’t Haley include what happened to certain individuals after the narrative left them?  For the whites, those records would continue to show where they had lived.  For the blacks, it would continue to show who owned them or where they were after their freedom.  I would have even been happy with the “oh, by the ways” at the end of the book in a wrap-up section if Haley felt that including what happened to these characters in the narrative was disruptive.  Didn’t Haley want to know what eventually happened to Kunta Kinte?  Last I read of him, he was running after a wagon.  What happened to these individuals up to their deaths would be just as easy to discover as what was included about them in their lives.  After noting the controversy, it made me wonder – as did others – about the validity of the research.  That being the case, we have to look at this (unfortunately like many biographies of today) as a work of fiction.

Let’s make this Elephant-in-the-Living-Room other point over genealogy, as well, and the reason that most of us who aren’t members of the Whatever Whatevers of Some Revolution find those people who view ancestry research as a given fact rather amusing:  Not every child is who their mothers say their fathers are.  I personally take birth certificates with a grain of salt.  Give me blood tests and now DNA, of which you saw little in the 1800 and 1700’s. Nothing to do with genealogy could be anything more than speculative to begin with.  ‘Nough said.

So, looking at “Roots” by Alex Haley as a work of fiction…

This book was incredible.  It completely opened my eyes on these savage blacks that Europeans rescued from the forests of Africa to bring out of the jungles and try to civilize (isn’t that the misconception).  Frankly, I knew of slaves, but never really thought about slaves.  Or examined slavery in my own heart or compared it to something in my own experience.  I imagine most don’t, including those who say they really do.  There is nothing in my life to compare it to.  What this book showed me and made me empathize with was a proud and religious people who were taken (as was custom in that part of the world, not just by Europeans, but by other black African tribes and nations, as well) from their homes and families and transported cold-heartedly (in the case of European history) to an unknown world where their pasts, traditions, and sense of who they were was completely denied and suppressed.  It showed me a representative story of representative characters who sought nothing more than to just have the choice to walk across a street if they wanted to without having to have a written pass from the massa in order to do it.  It showed me the dignity of a previously proud and moral character forced to live in squalor and filth because those who owned him (not putting it in italics because at the time they did own him, just as they might have owned a horse or chicken) viewed him as something less than human.  I read “Roots.”  I was engrossed in “Roots.”  I went to sleep thinking about “Roots.”  It is easy to say one is against slavery – which I and most are – but it is another to feel the vileness of it, the indignity of it, the shame of it.  I lost sleep over it.  Frankly, the treatment of these people made me sick.

To my knowledge, none of my ancestors owned slaves.  As far as I know, we were the po’ white crackers the slaves made fun of in the book.  But it made me wonder.  What is back there in my past?  Though I know the skeptic in me will always view my family tree as a work of fiction, it might be worth the contemplation.  As abhorrent as I have always viewed slavery, this book actually made me feel it.  What else is back there that may shake me to the core?

Until next time, read like someone is burning the books!

Clay Stafford

– Clay Stafford is a husband, father, author / filmmaker (www.ClayStafford.com), business owner (www.AmericanBlackguard.com), and founder of Killer Nashville (www.KillerNashville.com) with over 1.5 million copies of his own books in print in over 14 languages.  Stafford’s latest projects are the feature documentary “One of the Miracles” (www.OneOfTheMiracles.com) and the music CD “XO” (www.JefferyDeaverXOMusic.com). Publishers Weekly has named Stafford one of the top 10 Nashville literary leaders playing “an essential role in defining which books become bestsellers” not only in middle-Tennessee, but also extending “beyond the city limits and into the nation’s book culture.”  (PW 6/10/13)

---

Buy the book from the Killer Nashville Bookstore and help support a new generation of writers and readers.

Visit our bookstore for other similar books.

If you want to make your own comments on this selection, we would love to hear from you. Join our Facebook Killer Nashville group page or our blog and join in the discussion.

Remember that these books are listed at a discount through Amazon. You also don’t have to purchase the version that is featured here. Many of these books are available in multiple formats: e–book, hardcover, softcover, and audio. Enjoy!

"Until She Comes Home" by Lori Roy / Reviewed by Clay Stafford

A murder and disappearance destroy the essence of a once-respectable neighborhood in "Until She Comes Home" by Lori Roy.

Until She Comes Home by Lori Roy

Winning an Edgar for your first novel is a hard setup for your second one.  It better be good.  Lori Roy, author of her Edgar Award-winning debut novel, Bent Road, does not disappoint.  This is a spellbinding suspense novel in which a pair of seemingly unrelated murders crumbles the façade of a once respectable Detroit neighborhood.

This is a community that lives for family, church, and work.  But – like all of America in 1958 – their world is changing.  A black woman is murdered.  A white woman disappears.  Their neighborhood is falling apart.

The characters in this story are incredibly layered with special attention focused on the characters of a longsuffering pregnant wife, a social butterfly, and a woman who wishes to hide her pain behind humor.  As the characters are revealed following the murder and disappearance, jolting elements of their lives will be exposed as their individual façades also come crashing down.

The writing is well-conceived and poetic.  As the characters race to find the truth regarding the woman who has disappeared, readers will be second-guessing just like the neighbors all the way to the very end.  However, there is no end.  Even after you stop reading, the story and the theme of lives forever altered by events will stay with you.  You’ll be reflecting on it for days.

Until next time, read like someone is burning the books!

Clay Stafford

– Clay Stafford is a husband, father, author / filmmaker (www.ClayStafford.com), business owner (www.AmericanBlackguard.com), and founder of Killer Nashville (www.KillerNashville.com) with over 1.5 million copies of his own books in print in over 14 languages.  Stafford’s latest projects are the feature documentary “One of the Miracles” (www.OneOfTheMiracles.com) and the music CD “XO” (www.JefferyDeaverXOMusic.com). Publishers Weekly has named Stafford one of the top 10 Nashville literary leaders playing “an essential role in defining which books become bestsellers” not only in middle-Tennessee, but also extending “beyond the city limits and into the nation’s book culture.”  (PW 6/10/13)

---

Buy the book from the Killer Nashville Bookstore and help support a new generation of writers and readers.

Visit our bookstore for other similar books.

If you want to make your own comments on this selection, we would love to hear from you. Join our Facebook Killer Nashville group page or our blog and join in the discussion.

Remember that these books are listed at a discount through Amazon. You also don’t have to purchase the version that is featured here. Many of these books are available in multiple formats: e–book, hardcover, softcover, and audio. Enjoy!

"Love Water Memory" by Jennie Shortridge / Reviewed by Clay Stafford

From the melting watercolors alone on the cover of “Love Water Memory” by Jennie Shortridge, I was pulled in.  The writing carried me on downstream.

“Love Water Memory” (all without commas) is a wonderful character study.  It was emotional, full of complex relationships, and powerful.  From the first page, we know the main character is standing in the San Francisco Bay with no clue as to who she is.  From that point forward, we walk with her as she rediscovers her old self and we share with her our opinions of who that self is.  Predictably, the old self is not that delightful.  The question then becomes: Will she go back to her old ways or will she swim against the current and make different choices.  As the book nears the end, the reader will be called upon to make that judgment call.  As we go along, though, it is a wonderfully engrossing read as we explore the psychological mystery of who this woman is as well as numerous questions such as: Are we our childhood, or can we rise above it?  What is it that attracts one person to the next?  Can a relationship and a career choice make you want to forget who you are?  How much can one suppress before the heart can finally forget?  Can you trust others?  More importantly, can you ever learn to trust yourself?

I particularly admired the development of the main character of Lucie.  I’ve read and viewed this similar set-up before, but Shortridge does a fabulous job elevating her story above other amnesia/discovery launchpads.  She’s definitely a storyteller to watch.

Clay Stafford

– Clay Stafford is an author / filmmaker (www.ClayStafford.com) and founder of Killer Nashville (www.killernashville.com). He reviews books daily for Killer Nashville’s Book of the Day. Publishers Weekly has named Stafford and Killer Nashville as one of the top 10 Nashville literary leaders playing “an essential role in defining which books become bestsellers” not only in middle-Tennessee, but also extending “beyond the city limits and into the nation’s book culture.”  (PW 6/10/13)  Having over 1.5 million copies of his own books in print, Stafford’s latest projects are the feature documentary “One of the Miracles” (www.oneofthemiracles.com) and the music CD “XO” (www.jefferdeaverxomusic.com).

---

Buy the book from the Killer Nashville Bookstore and help support a new generation of writers and readers.

Visit our bookstore for other similar books.

If you want to make your own comments on this selection, we would love to hear from you. Join our Facebook Killer Nashville group page or our blog and join in the discussion.

Remember that these books are listed at a discount through Amazon. You also don’t have to purchase the version that is featured here. Many of these books are available in multiple formats: e–book, hardcover, softcover, and audio. Enjoy!

"The Cutting Season" by Attica Locke / Reviewed by Clay Stafford

I enjoy surprise endings and how the murder mystery element is used to bring us into a larger world. It is an African American perspective of Southern history over the last 100 years beginning with a gruesome murder in Louisiana from an author (Locke) attracting the extremely deserved literary spotlight.

Clay Stafford

– Clay Stafford is an author / filmmaker (www.ClayStafford.com) and founder of Killer Nashville (www.killernashville.com). He reviews books daily for Killer Nashville’s Book of the Day. Publishers Weekly has named Stafford and Killer Nashville as one of the top 10 Nashville literary leaders playing “an essential role in defining which books become bestsellers” not only in middle-Tennessee, but also extending “beyond the city limits and into the nation’s book culture.”  (PW 6/10/13)  Having over 1.5 million copies of his own books in print, Stafford’s latest projects are the feature documentary “One of the Miracles” (www.oneofthemiracles.com) and the music CD “XO” (www.jefferdeaverxomusic.com).

---

Buy the book from the Killer Nashville Bookstore and help support a new generation of writers and readers.

Visit our bookstore for other similar books.

If you want to make your own comments on this selection, we would love to hear from you. Join our Facebook Killer Nashville group page or our blog and join in the discussion.

Remember that these books are listed at a discount through Amazon. You also don’t have to purchase the version that is featured here. Many of these books are available in multiple formats: e–book, hardcover, softcover, and audio. Enjoy!

"Rapscallion" by James McGee / Tuesday, May 28, 2013 / Reviewed by Clay Stafford

It’s the early 1800s and espionage is alive and well in jolly old England.

“Rapscallion” by James McGee is the third adventure for Bow Street Runner Matthew Hawkwood and in this installment, without giving too much away, he is to go undercover as a prisoner of war to discover how prisoners are escaping from a floating penitentiary. Posing as an American mercenary fighting for the French, Hawkwood soon learns his assignment is a fate worse than death as he finds himself on a former man-o-war converted into a prison ship. Set first in the hull of the nasty ship where prisoners seem to make their own laws and later in the English backcountry where order and laws do not seem to matter, Hawkwood tries to get to the bottom of a human smuggling operation while continuing the ruse and his life.

I love the dark English portrayal of the Napoleonic time period.  The novel reads true.  I don’t know that I’ve personally ever read anything quite like it, though the war profiteering scheme does ring familiar in our own time.  As Rhett Butler observed, there is more money to be made in the fall of a civilization than in the building of it.

This is definitely a page-turner, especially as we reach the climax; my only problem was I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough. If you’re in the mood for a dark historical, this is definitely one to get. It will make you thankful for the simple things, such as a shower or bath.

– Clay Stafford is an author / filmmaker and founder of Killer Nashville. Stafford’s latest projects are the documentary “One of the Miracles” and the music CD “XO”.

Buy the book from the Killer Nashville Bookstore and help support a new generation of writers and readers.

Visit our bookstore for other similar books.

If you want to make your own comments on this selection, we would love to hear from you. Join our Facebook Killer Nashville group page or our blog and join in the discussion.

Remember that these books are listed at a discount through Amazon. You also don’t have to purchase the version that is featured here. Many of these books are available in multiple formats: e–book, hardcover, softcover, and audio. Enjoy!

"The House of Special Purpose" by John Boyne / Monday, May 13, 2013 / Reviewed by Clay Stafford

If you are looking for a page-turning mixture of suspense and betrayal within a well-executed part love story, part historical epic, and part-tragedy, then “The House of Special Purpose” is a book you must not miss.

New York Times bestselling Irish author John Boyne’s new book “The House of Special Purpose” is one of those alternative history books where I already know the ending, I know where the author is going to go with it, but the storytelling is so good that I want to stay with him through each word to see how he gets there.  I could not stop reading and I was not disappointed.

“The House of Special Purpose” concerns itself with Georgy and Zoya and is told through the point-of-view of Georgy, an 82 year-old-man looking back on his life to the central point of the final days of czarist Russia and the reign of the Romanovs.  Georgy starts his life as a farmer, becomes a servant and bodyguard in the house of Tsarevich Alexei, son of Tsar Nicholas II, and – after the rise of Marx, Stalin, and Lenin – flees to Paris and then to post-war London.  Why he flees is the subject of the book.

“The House of Special Purpose” is immediately riveting, mysterious, and tense with suspense.  It is filled with heartlessness and insensitivity, but – at the same time – great love; it has pain, but incredible joy.  The humanity of it will leave you crying at the end of the very first chapter.

The main characters of Georgy and Zoya stay under constant threat of discovery for something that they did.  Throughout the story, the reader will keep asking, “Why?”  This is the spine.  Within the pages are secrets that refuse to die highlighted in the struggle for power and self-preservation, which takes form in multiple ways.  Particularly real and touching is the portrayal of Zoya and her desire to come to the end of her life.  Narrator Georgy is full of flaws and selfishness.  The reader will understand his humanity, but at times, his choices are hard to swallow.  We like him as we like family.  He has a good heart, but sometimes his decisions and actions are less than admirable.  People write about authors creating flawed characters; well, here you go:  John Boyne has the nerve to actually do it, flawed Georgy certainly is.

I loved the storytelling device of starting at both extremes of Georgy’s life (1981 and 1899, if my calculations are correct) and alternatively working forwards and backwards through the epic chapters until the two timelines meet.  Following this structure, we see the parallel stories of Georgy’s life as a young man compared against the wisdom and frailties of old age.

On a side note, I’ve found a new publisher in Other Press.  I was blown away by, not only “The House of Special Purpose,” but the titles and the quality of their other works.  I encourage you to check out their house at www.otherpress.com.

– Clay Stafford is an author / filmmaker and founder of Killer Nashville. Stafford’s latest projects are the documentary “One of the Miracles” and the music CD “XO”.

Buy the book from the Killer Nashville Bookstore and help support a new generation of writers and readers.

Visit our bookstore for other similar books.

If you want to make your own comments on this selection, we would love to hear from you. Join our Facebook Killer Nashville group page or our blog and join in the discussion.

Remember that these books are listed at a discount through Amazon. You also don’t have to purchase the version that is featured here. Many of these books are available in multiple formats: e–book, hardcover, softcover, and audio. Enjoy!

"The Mothers" by Jennifer Gilmore / Friday, May 10, 2013 / Reviewed by Clay Stafford

It is amazing how, when one can’t have children, that one sees children and pregnant women everywhere, hears women getting pregnant who didn’t want to be, hears innocent remarks made by family members that makes the person not able to have a child feel nothing less than a failure for the most basic biological act.

“The Mothers” by author Jennifer Gilmore is an emotional, unfair, and aching look at pain of the most basic kind: a woman wants to have a baby and can’t.

After years of trying on their own, Jesse and Ramon decide to try adoption.  Haven’t we all heard of babies who are waiting for a good home?  What they find is not a happy, fast resolution.  Instead, it is a warped view of insensitivity and people involved for all the wrong reasons: scams, bureaucratic idiocy, cruel thoughtlessness even from those whom one would expect to be supportive.  And all because they simply wanted to have a child.

The characters in this book live through hell.  In adoption, you think of children wondering if someone will want them.  In this setting – same situation, but different perspective – you find parents-to-be wondering if birth parents will want them.  It makes you want to throw up your hands and yell, “What is everyone thinking?  Isn’t this supposed to be about the child?”  This book is at odds with those who say there are too many babies and not enough adoptive homes.  From people I know who have tried to go through the adoption process, I’d have to agree with the perspective and agony of Jennifer Gilmore (who has based this novel loosely on her own personal experience of fighting to become a parent).

At times, this book is painful to read, but even more painful – I am sure – to live.  For many, this is not fiction, but the new 21st Century way to start a family.  Needless to say, this story pulls out the emotion in the reader.

To give a child a home should not be this difficult.  But it is.  The only way to know it is to live through it, or read a book like this.  These people are your neighbors and – though you may not know it – even someone in your family.  For those who want emotion in their novels, you can’t get more basic than this.

Happy Mother’s Day to all who have successfully navigated the journey.  Have a great weekend!

– Clay Stafford is an author / filmmaker and founder of Killer Nashville. Stafford’s latest projects are the documentary “One of the Miracles” and the music CD “XO”.

Buy the book from the Killer Nashville Bookstore and help support a new generation of writers and readers.

Visit our bookstore for other similar books.

If you want to make your own comments on this selection, we would love to hear from you. Join our Facebook Killer Nashville group page or our blog and join in the discussion.

Remember that these books are listed at a discount through Amazon. You also don’t have to purchase the version that is featured here. Many of these books are available in multiple formats: e–book, hardcover, softcover, and audio. Enjoy!

"Submergence" by J.M. Ledgard / Monday, April 29, 2013 / Reviewed by Clay Stafford

J. M. Ledgard’s “Submergence” has figuratively grabbed me by the…neck.  Every few months I read a book like this and it just blows me away.  This novel hit me in the gut.

The story is from the points-of-view of two characters: James More, a spy, and Danielle Flinders, a biomathematician.  These are two lovers – still in a long-distance relationship – who look back on their liaison while in the throws of their present lives with no knowledge of the turns the life of the other has taken.  She is diving into the depths of the ocean never seen by man.  He is in the depths of captivity as a hostage of al-Qaeda in Somalia.  Both are of different worlds: she entitled, him divided, both obsessed.

This is a beautiful and heart-rending story, full of images, feelings, facts, and history highlighting circumstances and religious politics at odds with the human spirit (and even common sense).  It is how nations with their masters of politics and religions easily flip away the lives and freedoms of their citizens for their own gain, these same citizens who give their love and service freely only to find their life to their country is worth nothing, not even sometimes acknowledgement.

At first you think this is written in a stream-of-consciousness reflection of the characters’ nonlinear thoughts, but what you find by the end is a beautifully assembled plot that has taken you down your own stream without your knowledge of how you ravishingly got there.  J. M. Ledgard’s choices are perfect for conflict – both subtle and grand.

Some are calling this a love story.  It is not.  It is a tragic, dramatic, on-the-edge of your seat story of two people who look back on their relationship in order to sustain their mentality in the incongruity of their present.  There are no stereotypes or formulas here, no pure evil, no pure good.  It is educational.  The intrinsic history of Somalia is interwoven dramatically into the story.  You leave the book learning much about Somalia, other worlds, terrorists, and what the future holds, how sometimes maybe we should look down instead of always looking up.

Muslim Islamic terrorists play a large role here as the captors, and why not?  This is a book about the underworld and things that feed on death.  I’ve read other reviewers and they dance around the al-Qaeda obvious.  Ledgard plays them fairly, striving to help us understand their mentality, but as for this American reader, I found myself not feeling sympathy for these violent individuals dreaming of taking over the world while sitting in their own dung under the Mangrove trees hiding from the U.S.  It made me want to get up from reading and go pee on Osama bin Laden’s watery and justified grave.  It is a British book that will make you proud to be an American, remember why you are an American, and make you wish for the same American vehemence worldwide as in Somalia in 2006.  You will bristle at the vile and ill-conceived mentality of the jihad Muslims (it is not stupidity, but desperation).  You’ll learn about Somalia – what was a beautiful country – now nasty with nasty desperate men, subjected women, and a warped nasty view of religion, an outdated and unchanged Middle East pre-Christ replica where the value of women, children, and – in this case – non-Muslims means nothing.  You are also left – shame on us – with insight into why jihad fighters are so successful when they should not by logic be.

But there is an upside.  For every negative J. M. Ledgard observes, for every diatribe he inspires, he also enchantingly balances it with a positive so you are left, not depressed, not seeing only the bad, but seeing the unsatisfactory as a stepping stone to the good.  It is a book not about what is wrong with this world, but what is right.  It is our thinking that is wrong.  This is a wonderful book for remembering how something as simple as water can unite people, how precious the peaceful moments of our lives are and how we don’t value them usually until they are gone, and how – sometimes – when things are at their worst, maybe it is because we are looking at the wrong things.

This is a wonderful thriller with a message.  It is not preachy.  It is acted out by the characters flawlessly.  You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into, but you will be changed after reading this book.  You will not be able to forget it after you read it, even if you want to.  It’s that haunting.

– Clay Stafford is an author / filmmaker and founder of Killer Nashville. Stafford’s latest projects are the documentary “One of the Miracles” and the music CD “XO”.

Buy the book from the Killer Nashville Bookstore and help support a new generation of writers and readers.

Visit our bookstore for other similar books.

If you want to make your own comments on this selection, we would love to hear from you. Join our Facebook Killer Nashville group page or our blog and join in the discussion.

Remember that these books are listed at a discount through Amazon. You also don’t have to purchase the version that is featured here. Many of these books are available in multiple formats: e–book, hardcover, softcover, and audio. Enjoy!

"Ordinary Grace" by William Kent Krueger / Friday, April 5, 2013 / Reviewed by Clay Stafford

William Ken Krueger’s new deeply human grief-ridden novel “Ordinary Grace” is as much a literary novel as it is a mystery.

Told from the point-of-view of a 13-year-old boy, Frank, an about-to-be juvenile delinquent preacher’s son (according to the town), and featuring a brother who stutters, a sister with a harelip who sneaks out at night, a preacher father, a mother who hates his father’s calling as a minister, a drunk friend, less-than-stellar police, a renegade Indian, a town full of characters that would make any Southern writer happy (though this takes place in New Bremen, Minnesota), and numerous dead bodies.  The mystery, delightfully, is solved by Frank, the 13-year-old boy.

With his father being a preacher and his father’s friend being an undertaker, death is an occupational natural to Frank’s household, though in this story one unnatural death seems to follow another.

This is a coming of age story primarily with the backdrop of murders, which become increasingly more personal as the story progresses.  Nothing makes one grow up more than death.

“There’s something, it seems to me, that depends more on God and circumstances than our own efforts.”

Krueger does an enviable and plausible job of letting Frank be the one who solves the crimes without making law enforcement in the story appear incompetent.  Kids love to spy and they can fit into small places.  Krueger plays it well.

The novel reads like an autobiography, not a novel, which is a compliment to Krueger.  The voice is pure; the characters are real.

Thematically, it is a story of weakness, timidity, and how not taking a stand not only destroys sunny afternoons and Sunday mornings, but also – and eventually – lives.  It is about prejudice, judgment, dark secrets, and how history leaves us, not with facts, but with the biased interpretations and sneers of survivors.  History, like faith, both in time, become personal and jaded.  It is a sad lesson for children: The dead are only one breath away from us.  Though the children make a vow with each other that they will never die, as Frank realizes, when we breathe that last breath, we cross the near veil, which was always closer than we thought.

This is not a formulaic police procedural.  This is a story to remind us that we are human and that the important thing is not the big stuff.  The story will stick with you long after you put it down.
– Clay Stafford, author, filmmaker, and founder of Killer Nashville

Buy the book from the Killer Nashville Bookstore and help support a new generation of writers and readers.

Visit our bookstore for other similar books.

If you want to make your own comments on this selection, we would love to hear from you. Join our Facebook Killer Nashville group page or our blog and join in the discussion.

Remember that these books are listed at a discount through Amazon. You also don’t have to purchase the version that is featured here. Many of these books are available in multiple formats: e–book, hardcover, softcover, and audio. Enjoy!

"Hunting Daylight" by Piper Maitland / Thursday, March 21, 2013 / Reviewed by Clay Stafford

I’ve discovered a new series!  Today’s Book of the Day is two-for-one.  Fellow Tennessee writer Michael Lee West has duplicated herself into writing alter ego Piper Maitland.  Berkley sent “Hunting Daylight” by Piper Maitland for review.  Along with it, they sent the first book in the series, “Acquainted with the Night.”  I started reading the series and fell in love with both of them.  If you read the cover of “Hunting Daylight,” the books come across as a paranormal romance.  That shortchanges both and is far from truth.  These are books about vampires for smart readers.  Romance is the least of it.  There’s action, strong characters, fast, easy writing, science, humor, suspense, murder, thrills, romance, smart concept, delightful plotting, and even the author commitment to not always write outcomes in the way that readers might want.  It’s a ballsy ride.  In a literary genre full of vampires jumping page-to-page confusing action with plot, this is a novel for the thinking reader.  To enjoy the story to the fullest, start with the first one and read forward.  I started with the second, stopped, went to the first, and was glad I did.  Both books are over 500 pages and you’ll read them with the ease of 200.
– Clay Stafford, author and founder of Killer Nashville

Buy the book from the Killer Nashville Bookstore and help support a new generation of writers and readers.

Visit our bookstore for other similar books.

If you want to make your own comments on this selection, we would love to hear from you. Join our Facebook Killer Nashville group page or our blog and join in the discussion.

Remember that these books are listed at a discount through Amazon. You also don’t have to purchase the version that is featured here. Many of these books are available in multiple formats: e–book, hardcover, softcover, and audio. Enjoy!

"Good Prose: The Art of Nonfiction" by Tracy Kidder & Richard Todd / Wednesday, March 20, 2013 / Reviewed by Clay Stafford

Good Prose: The Art of Nonfiction” by Tracy Kidder and Richard Todd provide a rare treat for nonfiction writers.  Here is the chronicle of two men who have spent the last forty years of their lives trying to get the words right.  As they say, these are stories and advice from a lifetime of writing and editing.  It is not enough to write the facts, but to write them in an interesting, fair, and honest way in which someone might want to read them.  From their own experiences, Todd and Kidder address three major forms: narratives, essays, and memoirs, all applicable to our Killer Nashville family.  Their discussion for narratives includes notes on story, points of view, characters, and structure – things most authors reserve only for the fiction craft.  They explore ways to present engaging facts without exaggeration, to write with a style that grips readers, to know when to break the rules.  They discuss making a living as a nonfiction writer from their own experiences and those of their colleagues.  They tour the all-important relationship between the writer and the mentoring editor.  They write of successes and failures through their own experiences, sharing their veteran advice with a new generation of writers seeking guidance. The resumes of both men are impeccable.  Richard Todd has been an editor, author, graduate writing professor, and mentor to young writers most of his life.  Tracy Kidder is the winner of the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award, and more.  Both have walked the walk and are more than qualified to talk the talk.  If there is a biography in you, an article, or a true crime story you wish to tell, I encourage you to explore this book before you write the first word.  It will open your eyes to the possibilities of your own exploration and temper you as you tell your own honest and captivating story.
– Clay Stafford, author and founder of Killer Nashville

Buy the book from the Killer Nashville Bookstore and help support a new generation of writers and readers.

Visit our bookstore for other similar books.

If you want to make your own comments on this selection, we would love to hear from you. Join our Facebook Killer Nashville group page or our blog and join in the discussion.

Remember that these books are listed at a discount through Amazon. You also don’t have to purchase the version that is featured here. Many of these books are available in multiple formats: e–book, hardcover, softcover, and audio. Enjoy!

"Heart of Ice" by P.J. Parrish / Tuesday, March 19, 2013 / Reviewed by Clay Stafford

I save books from P.J. Parrish for when I know I won’t be interrupted. For “Heart of Ice” even sleep had to wait. I can’t say enough superlatives about this writing dynamic duo. P.J. Parrish is the brainchild of two sisters, Kristy Montee and Kelly Nichols. In all their books, plot and character reign supreme, but where they excel is their wonderful use of location. In every book, including “Heart of Ice,” which takes place on Mackinac Island, location itself becomes a character. I loved this book. Excellent incorporation of past and present on many fronts, all organic to the story. Every story they write … simply … flows. They write stories to get lost in: Realistic. On the edge. Dramatic. Thrilling. Powerful. Unfolding. I’ve seen it written by other reviewers that P.J. Parrish gets better with every book. Not true. P.J. Parrish has been at the top of their game since their very first novel. I salivate when I hear a new Louis Kincaid novel is about to go to press and “Heart of Ice” just tripped me over the top. I’ve read it once; I’m reading it again. Readers: This is a book (and a series) you don’t want to miss. Writers: Studying P.J. Parrish is equivalent to an M.F.A. in creative writing. They are two of the best writers on the planet today.
– Clay Stafford, author and founder of Killer Nashville

Buy the book from the Killer Nashville Bookstore and help support a new generation of writers and readers.

Visit our bookstore for other similar books.

If you want to make your own comments on this selection, we would love to hear from you. Join our Facebook Killer Nashville group page or our blog and join in the discussion.

Remember that these books are listed at a discount through Amazon. You also don’t have to purchase the version that is featured here. Many of these books are available in multiple formats: e–book, hardcover, softcover, and audio. Enjoy!

"Bonded Labor: Tackling the System of Slavery in South Asia" by Siddharth Kara / Friday, March 1, 2013 / Reviewed by Clay Stafford

“Brings new meaning to owing your soul to the company store. A study of debt bondage and violent enslavement of men, women, and children in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal. Eighteen million bonded laborers owe their souls to the “man” generating over $17.6 billion in profits every year. Their life is not their own, but the products they make are ones that we purchase everyday: hand-woven carpets, tea, rice, frozen shrimp, more. For individuals, this is a study of the commerce chain and a questioning of who really made this product? What was the true human cost for my convenience? For writers setting anything in South Asia, this is a great resource for the human plotline. It will make you feel angry, sad, and helpless from page 1. Read it to be enlightened.”
– Clay Stafford, author and founder of Killer Nashville

Buy the book from the Killer Nashville Bookstore and help support a new generation of writers and readers.

If you want to make your own comments on this selection, we would love to hear from you. Join our Facebook Killer Nashville group page or our blog and join in the discussion.

Remember that these books are listed at a discount through Amazon. You also don’t have to purchase the version that is featured here. Many of these books are available in multiple formats: e–book, hardcover, softcover, and audio. Enjoy!

"The Incense Game" by Laura Joh Rowland / Tuesday, February 26, 2013 / Reviewed by Clay Stafford

“Here’s my numerical review: 16-15-1. It’s a lottery number you’ll win by. Sixteenth Century mystery. Treacherous politics. History. Culture. An earthquake bringing the city down upon them. Number 15 in Rowland’s Sano Ichiro mystery franchise. One of the best and most realistic historical mystery novels I’ve ever read, educating me in a world I knew nothing about. If you’ve never read a historical mystery, this is the one you should read.”
– Clay Stafford, author and founder of Killer Nashville

Buy the book from the Killer Nashville Bookstore and help support a new generation of writers and readers.

If you want to make your own comments on this selection, we would love to hear from you. Join our Facebook Killer Nashville group page or our blog and join in the discussion.

Remember that these books are listed at a discount through Amazon. You also don’t have to purchase the version that is featured here. Many of these books are available in multiple formats: e–book, hardcover, softcover, and audio. Enjoy!

"All the King's Men" by Robert Penn Warren / Tuesday, February 19, 2013 / Reviewed by Clay Stafford

“A classic. Pulitzer Prize winner. Modern Library’s 36th greatest novel of the 20th Century. The fictional rise of governor Willie Stark and the self-discovery of Jack Burden. Written in the classic voice of a true Southern writer. Prose reads like poetry.”
– Clay Stafford, author and founder of Killer Nashville

Buy the book from the Killer Nashville Bookstore and help support a new generation of writers and readers.

If you want to make your own comments on this selection, we would love to hear from you. Join our Facebook Killer Nashville group page or our blog and join in the discussion.

Remember that these books are listed at a discount through Amazon. You also don’t have to purchase the version that is featured here. Many of these books are available in multiple formats: e–book, hardcover, softcover, and audio. Enjoy!

“The Facility” by Simon Lelic / Tuesday, December 11, 2012 / Reviewed by Clay Stafford

Today’s featured book is The Facility by Simon Lelic.

A novel that will leave you questioning everything.

Why Clay Stafford chose this book:

About the first page of the first chapter, I thought, “What the…” Yet, I was riveted.

The story takes place in a growing English police state more concerned with napping terrorists – and innocents that they think are terrorists – than they are in protecting the innocent.

“My husband is not a terrorist, Mr. Clarke. Whatever he’s into, I can assure you it’s not terrorism. He’s a dentist.” That’s no deterrent. All it takes is someone to point the finger.

I found the novel so real, it was frightening. I feel myself in Arthur Priestley’s shoes, a man with no rights and finally no name (just a number) and being at the mercy of the whims of guards and officials who no longer have to even supply a charge. “Who are you? Are you the police? This isn’t legal, you know. You can’t hold me like this.” National Security covers all actions. “We cannot afford to take risks.”

Interestingly enough, the central character (Arthur Priestly) is not a stand-out character. In fact, he’s rather dull. Opposite to what you might think, this makes it even more harrowing. He’s a boring person who happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Somewhere as you read, you realize: This guy could be me. Don’t get me wrong. The characters are great, but the story is about what could happen, not about the characters. It is the situation itself that is all wrong.

The novel is full of government pawns and by the time you get to the end of the book, you see them in real time in real life all around you. “No one opposes the act any more because no one can see how it’s being used.” I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but think Guantanamo. This is Guantanamo U.K. “They arrested him under anti-terrorism legislation. How could you possibly have considered that routine?” “But that’s my point! These days it is routine. Or it can be, at least in terms of how information is fed to the press.” And that’s the lynchpin. We trust the press. The press gets information from the government and then makes the case to the people. Can anyone say Nazi? “They leak information because they want us to have it.” And they want what the press gets to be very specific. Think of the wonderful sounding Freedom of Information Act, the product of an open government. Request something sometime. You’ll get a piece of paper, but it will be covered with crossed-out black lines “for National Security.”

Looking at it outside this book and in the last ten years in the U.S., using anti-terrorist, national security laws, the government can arrest anyone at any time. Technically. Not that they do, but technically. Can a health issue become a matter of national security? Maybe. If you need to protect the population. And, if so, then it falls under (in the U.S.) Homeland Security. So, in effect, something that has nothing to do with terrorism (the basis for Homeland Security) now becomes a concern and is able to be off the grid because it now falls under the U.S. Dept of Homeland Security. Then you realize that it doesn’t have to be a health issue. It can be anything! Label it a security issue and no one can ask a single question. “How I can tell how a law is being used when the whole point of that law is to prevent me finding out?” As long as it falls under anti-terrorist, national security laws, the government is not required to make a charge. If you make a charge, you might lose. Solution, use the laws and don’t make a charge. When that happens, “‘There is every chance you will remain here until – ‘” You die.” At the very least, you bide your time. “The usual rules, at this facility, do not apply. There is no board, no oversight committee. There is just me and the rules I set. So you will behave, please, as I instruct you to behave or you will suffer the punishment I choose.”

There is a strong cast of characters, each one supplying a vital function and thematic consciousness. Thankfully, there are those in the press who can’t be bought. When you’re up against the big machine, “What else do you think you can do?” “Keep digging.” There is a Josef Mengele mad doctor who views patients as lab rats rather than humans. And a more homophobic group (intentionally written that way) you’ve never read. (By the way, I love the improvised baby monitor. I don’t know that I would have the nerve to try it, but it is a clever idea.)

As you read, you wonder who, if any, will do the right thing? The thriller then is not about the lives in jeopardy, but of moral backbone, something that can’t be legislated. Who will do the right thing? Who will stand up and object? “They’re locking up innocent people using laws they said would protect us.” This is Orwellian, if I’ve ever read Orwellian. What makes this scary, though, is that this is not the future as the publisher’s publicity department states on the back of the book; this is what could be happening now, maybe not with disease, but with anything else a government would decide would be threatening. It’s terrifying. In Hollywood, we would call this “high concept.” The plot is so simple, yet overpowering.

“That’s one lesson this government has learnt. They’ve learnt that if they show it, they can’t spin it. If they can’t spin it, they can’t control it. And if they can’t control it, the truth will eventually come out: about what they’re doing; about why they’re doing it in the first place.” The only way, then, is to make it appear that it never happened or use the press to spin it.

This is blow your mind away powerful.

From the publisher:

“In a near-future dystopian Britain, democracy has been undermined. Emboldened by new anti-terrorism laws, police start to “disappear” people from the streets for unspecified crimes. But when unassuming dentist Arthur Priestley is snatched and held prisoner at a top-secret facility, his estranged wife, Julia, and a brave but naive journalist named Tom Clarke embark on a harrowing quest for the truth. Following a trail that leads to the very top of government, they soon find themselves fighting for their lives. Well-crafted, fast-paced, and totally compelling, “The Facility” is a brilliant thriller that resonates eerily with the timbre of our times.”

If you want to make your own comments on this selection, we would love to hear from you. Join our Facebook Killer Nashville group page or our blog and join in the discussion.

Remember that these books are listed at a discount through Amazon. You also don’t have to purchase the version that is featured here. Many of these books are available in multiple formats: e–book, hardcover, softcover, and audio. Enjoy!

– Clay Stafford, Founder of Killer Nashville

“Last to Die” by Tess Gerritsen / Friday, December 7, 2012 / Reviewed by Clay Stafford

Today’s featured book is Last to Die by Tess Gerritsen.

Save the kids.

Why Clay Stafford chose this book:

Let’s hope there is no “three’s the charm” in this book. Twice in a row, Teddy Clock has survived a massacre of his family: first his real family and then his foster family. Was this coincidence or was something amuck? Come to find out, it was not only Teddy’s two families that were being stalked. Other children have lost their families. Finally, we learn, it is not the families being stalked, but the kids and not only Teddy. This is a story with more twists and turns than a carnival fun house.

Detective Jane Rizzoli, Medical Examiner Maura Isles, and some smart fellow orphans work together to keep the orphaned children safe. But they must find the killer before something happens that no one can take back. Readers of Gerritsen will happily note some reappearances of characters from previous novels and Rizzoli and Isles, of course, from their own TNT breakout television series. (Oddly, these two characters have almost grown more famous than their creator.)

Because kids were involved, this was a fast page-turner for me. I couldn’t wait to get to the end of the story, not because I wanted it to end, but because I wanted to know how it turned out. I’m not going to tell you the ending, but it did come and I did have to stop.

Here’s my only gripe.

For years, I’ve been a fan of Tess Gerritsen. Nobody writes a thriller better. I’m like a kid when I finish her books. I want to sit down on the floor and start screaming until she gives me more. In this case, I was screaming while I was reading because she was torturing me with suspense. And then, of course, I screamed when I had to close the book because there was no other place to go.

What better gripe can you have than that?

Beginning with her first novel that went straight to the bestseller list, Tess Gerritsen has only given the best. For many reviews, I note that someone’s last book is their crowning glory. In Tess Gerritsen’s case, they’ve all been out of the park. “Last to Die” is no exception and continues her exceptional norm. If you like suspense, this is a book you need to read.

From the publisher:

“For the second time in his short life, Teddy Clock has survived a massacre. Two years ago, he barely escaped when his entire family was slaughtered. Now, at fourteen, in a hideous echo of the past, Teddy is the lone survivor of his foster family’s mass murder. Orphaned once more, the traumatized teenager has nowhere to turn – until the Boston PD puts detective Jane Rizzoli on the case. Determined to protect this young man, Jane discovers that what seemed like a coincidence is instead just one horrifying part of a relentless killer’s merciless mission.

Joining forces with her trusted partner, medical examiner Maura Isles, Jane is determined to keep these orphans safe from harm. But an unspeakable secret dooms the children’s fate – unless Jane and Maura can finally put an end to an obsessed killer’s twisted quest.”

If you want to make your own comments on this selection, we would love to hear from you. Join our Facebook Killer Nashville group page or our blog and join in the discussion.

Remember that these books are listed at a discount through Amazon. You also don’t have to purchase the version that is featured here. Many of these books are available in multiple formats: e–book, hardcover, softcover, and audio. Enjoy!

– Clay Stafford, Founder of Killer Nashville

“12.21″ by Dustin Thomason / Friday, November 30, 2012 / Reviewed by Clay Stafford

Today’s featured book is 12.21 by Dustin Thomason.

Read this novel before 12/21/12. After that, it may not be available.

Why Clay Stafford chose this book:

Conspiracy theories and doomsday predictions do nothing for me in real life, but they are great springboards of fiction. The doomsday prediction in the Maya calendar that the world will end on December 21, 2012 is a case-in-point and the backdrop for the exciting pseudo-science thriller from Dustin Thomason, “12.21″ It didn’t help me that my office manager had a sneezing cold and my family had rare steak on the very night I sat down to read a book about the end of the world via prion disease.

Reminds me of a cross between Michael Crichton and Dan Brown. I do enjoy puzzle novels so this was easy for me to get into. Painstakingly historically researched – even more probably historically than medically – if you will allow yourself to suspend disbelief (which you have to in some spots) and ignore coincidences and just going along for the ride, you’ll find it suspenseful and difficult to put down, if not educational regarding the culture of the Maya. It’s a fast ride with the ultimate stakes: the end of civilization.

I’m drawn to books that have unrelated stories (this has two) that come together tidily in the end. You have to give Thomason credit for attempting to intellectually tackle two big subjects intertwined within the same educated, smart book. If you read it, I’m confident you will enjoy it.

Something I did find interesting about this, which has nothing to do with the book, is that the hardcover is $15.09 with free shipping on Amazon and the Kindle Edition is $13.99. For you math geeks, that’s only $1.10 difference. I don’t recall seeing such a small spread before. Not making a judgement either way, is this the start of a new trend in eBook pricing? As a writer, you hope so. As a reader, it gives you pause.

From Amazon:

“From the co-author of the two-million copy mega-bestseller The Rule of Four comes a riveting thriller with a brilliant premise based on the 2012 apocalypse phenomenon – perfect for readers of Steve Berry, Preston and Child, and Dan Brown.

For decades, December 21, 2012, has been a touchstone for doomsayers worldwide. It is the date, they claim, when the ancient Maya calendar predicts the world will end.

In Los Angeles, two weeks before, all is calm. Dr. Gabriel Stanton takes his usual morning bike ride, drops off the dog with his ex-wife, and heads to the lab where he studies incurable prion diseases for the CDC. His first phone call is from a hospital resident who has an urgent case she thinks he needs to see. Meanwhile, Chel Manu, a Guatemalan American researcher at the Getty Museum, is interrupted by a desperate, unwelcome visitor from the black market antiquities trade who thrusts a duffel bag into her hands.

By the end of the day, Stanton, the foremost expert on some of the rarest infections in the world, is grappling with a patient whose every symptom confounds and terrifies him. And Chel, the brightest young star in the field of Maya studies, has possession of an illegal artifact that has miraculously survived the centuries intact: a priceless codex from a lost city of her ancestors. This extraordinary record, written in secret by a royal scribe, seems to hold the answer to her life’s work and to one of history’s great riddles: why the Maya kingdoms vanished overnight. Suddenly it seems that our own civilization might suffer this same fate.

With only days remaining until December 21, 2012, Stanton and Chel must join forces before time runs out.

Advance praise for 12.21

Dustin Thomason, M.D., will invariably be compared to Michael Crichton, M.D., and 12.21 will be favorably compared to The Andromeda Strain. Both authors have written first-rate medical thrillers, the kind of fact-based fiction that is very scary but also very entertaining. Thomason knows his stuff, and it shows on every page. I truly could not put this book down. – Nelson DeMille”

If you want to make your own comments on this selection, we would love to hear from you. Join our Facebook Killer Nashville group page or our blog and join in the discussion.

Remember that these books are listed at a discount through Amazon. You also don’t have to purchase the version that is featured here. Many of these books are available in multiple formats: e–book, hardcover, softcover, and audio. Enjoy!

– Clay Stafford, Founder of Killer Nashville

“Run to Ground” by D.P. Lyle / Wednesday, November 28, 2012 / Reviewed by Clay Stafford

Today’s featured book is Run To Ground by D.P. Lyle.

What would you do if someone brutally murdered your child?

Why Clay Stafford chose this book:

The thriller “Run to Ground” is D.P. Lyle’s best work of fiction. I served for four years on the national board of Mystery Writers of America with Doug Lyle. I know him as an incredibly knowledgeable reference for forensic science, one of the most delightful guys I’ve ever been around, winner or nominee of awards to make your head spin, and last, but certainly not least, an incredible writer. He has always reminded me of a bag of potato chips (you can’t read just one). He tops himself here.

The story takes place in Alabama, from whence Doug originally hails. Subject is hard on, focusing on the nightmare of every parent: some sicko kills your child. Just the subject matter alone brings out the emotions, not to mention the subject matter handled deftly as it is here. There are at least two major twists that will flip you around and it’s worth a read just to analyze the plotting.

It’s not all morose, though. There is good laughing banter between the characters and, as with anything Doug does, it is educational as well as entertaining. Needless to say, the bestselling author of “Forensics for Dummies” handles the forensic aspects deftly. This is an incredible book from an incredible writer and an even more incredible man. You’ll do yourself a favor by putting this book on your “next to read” list and, if your interest is forensics, check out his blog (http://writersforensicsblog.wordpress.com/). Every click or page turn will make you – “just one more” – stick your hand into the bag.

From Amazon:

“What would you do if someone brutally murdered your only child, served only months in jail because of a technicality, and continually taunted, even threatened, you from behind bars? Could you hide your growing rage from family and friends? Could you gun the killer down as he left prison? Could you change your ID and leave behind your entire life – family, friends, jobs, house – and just disappear? Could Tim and Martha Foster do this?

Forensic evidence and criminal behavior expert Dub Walker, along with best friend and homicide investigator T-Tommy Tortelli and ex-wife and TV reporter Claire McBride, employ all their skills to track down the Fosters.

But the murder of Walter Whitiker is not as simple as it seems. Tim and Martha are not the only ones who want Walt dead. Someone has twisted the evidence to keep the hot light of suspicion on the Fosters.

Will the real killer please step forward? Sorry, Dub, you’re going to have to work hard to solve this one.”

If you want to make your own comments on this selection, we would love to hear from you. Join our Facebook Killer Nashville group page or our blog and join in the discussion.

Remember that these books are listed at a discount through Amazon. You also don’t have to purchase the version that is featured here. Many of these books are available in multiple formats: e–book, hardcover, softcover, and audio. Enjoy!

– Clay Stafford, Founder of Killer Nashville

“Death of a Schoolgirl” by Joanna Campbell Slan / Tuesday, November 27, 2012 / Reviewed by Clay Stafford

Today’s featured book is Death of a Schoolgirl by Joanna Campbell Slan.

Who would have thought Jane Eyre was such an excellent detective?

Why Clay Stafford chose this book:

Joanna Campbell Slan’s new historical series stars Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre.

“Death of a Schoolgirl,” the first in this historical cozy series, picks up where the classic leaves off. I’m not big on coming-of-age stories (which the original was) and found this definitely more interesting. However, it does pick up where the original story stops, so fans of Jane Eyre will happily devour this, especially since Slan has captured the original voice of Bronte. From the first page, this story quickly pulls you in and Slan wastes no time getting into the meat. I never thought I would read about Jane Eyre getting beaten by thugs, but it does happen. (Beats her fainting on the doorstep of the River’s in the original.)

Jane’s former pupil Adele Varens sends a plea to Jane to come and help. What is at first believed to be a natural death becomes a murder investigation. Slan, best known for her Kiki Lowenstein books, plays fair, dropping clues throughout the novel as to the identity of the killer, but is successful in concealing them until the very end. She’s done an incredible job with the plotting within, what I would consider, to be a character driven novel. One book, the best of both worlds, led by a strong proactive heroine.

It’s always tough to take on an established literary figure. There is always going to be fall-out from devotees. However, I think Slan has done a great job in not only capturing Bronte’s voice, but “Death of a Schoolgirl” is also an excellent example of how to effectively and successfully take on a beloved literary figure.

Whether you’ve read the original or not (whether you like the original or not), if you like historical cozies and light murder, you will enjoy this book. This is a great new series in the making and an incredibly fresh story.

From Amazon:

“In her classic tale, Charlotte Bronte introduced readers to the strong-willed and intelligent Jane Eyre. Picking up where Bronte left off, Jane’s life has settled into a comfortable pattern: She and her beloved Edward Rochester are married and have an infant son. But Jane soon finds herself in the midst of new challenges and threats to those she loves…

Jane can’t help but fret when a letter arrives from Adele Varens – Rochester’s ward, currently at boarding school – warning that the girl’s life is in jeopardy. Although it means leaving her young son and invalid husband, and despite never having been to a city of any size, Jane feels strongly compelled to go to London to ensure Adele’s safety.

But almost from the beginning, Jane’s travels don’t go as planned – she is knocked about and robbed, and no one believes that the plain, unassuming Jane could indeed be the wife of a gentleman; even the school superintendent takes her for an errant new teacher. But most shocking to Jane is the discovery that Adele’s schoolmate has recently passed away under very suspicious circumstances, yet no one appears overly concerned. Taking advantage of the situation, Jane decides to pose as the missing instructor – and soon uncovers several unsavory secrets, which may very well make her the killer’s next target…”

If you want to make your own comments on this selection, we would love to hear from you. Join our Facebook Killer Nashville group page or our blog and join in the discussion.

Remember that these books are listed at a discount through Amazon. You also don’t have to purchase the version that is featured here. Many of these books are available in multiple formats: e–book, hardcover, softcover, and audio. Enjoy!

– Clay Stafford, Founder of Killer Nashville