KN Magazine: Reviews

7/23/13 7/23/13

"Surrendered Love" by Laura V. Hilton / Reviewed by Clay Stafford

This is a love affair. Yes, we do have an occasional trist at Killer Nashville. In fact, several couples and one marriage have been the result of meetings that have taken place at Killer Nashville so, even though the murderous spirit prevails, there is a softer side to most of our attendees. And some of you enjoy reading about love.

I’ve always had an interest in the Amish since many years ago seeing the movie “Witness” starring Harrison Ford. “Surrendered Love” by Laura V. Hilton does not have the bathroom murder, but it does have mystery and the outside cop (though he originally came from Amish Land), the wayward child, and the reluctant, developing relationship between the two main characters. I find this to be more than a love story, though. Hilton has great characterizations and character arcs going for her and she’s obviously done her research. It’s an examination of the old and the new, of stagnancy and growth. There is also that undercurrent theme of “forgiveness,” which always gets me right in the gut.

– 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.

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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!

7/23/13 7/23/13

"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.

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7/23/13 7/23/13

"Graveland" by Alan Glynn / Reviewed by Clay Stafford

With his previous works, author Alan Glynn has already proven himself to be a great writer. With “Graveland,” he seals the headstone.

It’s not safe to be a powerful executive in New York. In a world of crooked deals and underhanded companies, “Graveland” is a credible, fast-driven, plot-twisting story of multiple characters who eventually come together in one spell-binding plot. It is a complicated story, which is what I like.

It’s hard to write too much without giving away the plot. That must have been what the publisher was thinking. When I read the publisher’s synopsis on the book itself, I can’t say that I was as impressed as I might have been, but going on that knee-jerk reaction would have been a mistake. Now I see why the synopsis was so general because I’m finding myself in the same boat. You don’t want to give anything away and, yet, having you skip this because of a less-than-informative synopsis would also be a mistake.

Here’s what I can offer: It is the story of crooked deals, unscrupulous companies, pitiless drive, conspiracy theories, and unrelated murders. Maybe. The story is credible in this world of Haves and Have-Nots. Author Alan Glynn is Irish and I have to wonder at his take on New York and America. Kind of makes me ponder in the mindset of Robert Burns: “O wad some Power the giftie gie us To see oursels as ithers see us.” This book definitely weighs in the balance the conflict between the welfare of many and the greed of a few. Highly recommended.

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7/23/13 7/23/13

"Lifetime" by Liza Marklund / Reviewed by Clay Stafford

Author Liza Marklund has been called the “Queen of Scandinavian crime fiction” and once you read “Lifetime,” her latest book, you’ll see why. Marklund has over 9 million copies of her books in print in over 30 languages along with a major movie deal. Liza Marklund’s writing pops like a Super Aegis 2 machine gun.

Following the theme that people are not always what they appear to be, former tabloid journalist Marklund starts the story with a police officer finding one of their own naked in his bed riddled with bullets with his spaced-out wife rocking on the floor near him. There is also the main character, newspaper reporter Annika Bengtzon, running with her children away from a house that is burning down. Both of these set-ups are certainly strong enough to get your attention. As the novel progresses, the wife of the police detective appears to be guilty of his murder and the disappearance of their only child, but reporter Bengtzon doesn’t believe it to be true and sets off on a one-woman, tenancious mission to prove the wife’s innocence.

Newspaper woman Bengtzon’s life is falling apart. The new case seems to give her life meaning when all other meaning seems to be leaving it. She is a strong-willed woman – not always likeable – and, because she is strong, much is piled upon her. And she can take it. All this creates an intriguing depth of character as author Marklund juggles personal and professional crisis. The mystery plot closes nicely, but the personal tribulations will make you long for the release of the next novel. And plot-twist endings are always nice.

Unsung hero Neil Smith does a great job translating.

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7/19/13 7/19/13

"Candlemoth" by R.J. Ellory / Reviewed by Clay Stafford

“Candlemoth” was R.J. Ellory’s first novel, published in 2003 in the U.K. This is its first release in the United States. Since originally publishing “Candlemoth,” Ellory has gone on to become an international bestseller.

“Candlemoth” is set in the American South, which is an interesting choice for a debut novel from an Englishman. Ellory did his research weaving the story of death-row convict Daniel Ford with the events that have taken place over the past 50 turbulent years in the U.S. From reading the book, I’d say Ellory probably knows more about American history than most Americans.

History, though, is not what the story is about. It’s about Ford’s death-row conviction related to the death of Ford’s best friend, Nathan. With the execution date only 30 days away, Ford begins to relive how he got to where he was. It is a story of friendship, betrayal, prejudice, and coming of age. It is a story of murder and the meaning of justice. The central question I had running throughout, of course, was more personal: did Ford really brutally behead his best friend Nathan or was something going to twist in the end? You’ll have to wait until the very end for that answer.

What I loved best about “Candlemoth” is how everything ties together. Historical references are made for which there seems to be no relation to the story, conspiracy theories are introduced that, while interesting, don’t seem to have anything to do with anything. And then, it all blends together and makes sense in a story that is tight, suspenseful, and – most importantly – human. This book is a great start for what has already become a brilliant career.

– 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.

7/19/13 7/19/13

"Writing a Killer Thriller" by Jodie Renner / Reviewed by Clay Stafford

It’s quick, pithy checklist of great advice for writers of any genre (including thrillers). A great how-to and reference book for writers.

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7/19/13 7/19/13

"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.

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7/19/13 7/19/13

"Low Pressure" by Sandra Brown / Reviewed by Clay Stafford

While a child, a woman’s sister is murdered. When she writes about it as an adult, she attracts a stalker. I’ve been a Sandra Brown fan for years and this one does not disappoint. Filled with danger and tension, it is one of those that will keep you on the edge of your seat. A great study for writers on plotting.

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7/19/13 7/19/13

"The Woman He Loved Before" by Dorothy Koomson / Reviewed by Clay Stafford

I love it when I don’t know who is telling the truth. A dead former wife and a much-loved new one. Maybe. It starts out as a perfect love story and goes from there. Should you be terrified of the “perfect man”? Read on.

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7/17/13 7/17/13

"Fighting For Common Ground: How We Can Fix the Stalemate in Congress" by Olympia Snowe / Reviewed by Clay Stafford

Why Washington Political Thrillers Aren't Real to Me and Why I Want to Write One / Author/filmmaker & Killer Nashville founder Clay Stafford

I’ve reviewed numerous Washington political and legal thrillers and mysteries over the past twenty years. After reading Fighting for Common Ground: How We Can Fix the Stalemate in Congress by Olympia Snowe, I came away feeling that many of the fiction authors I’m reading haven’t done their research or – perhaps even more disappointing – they have chosen to avoid genuine conflict in favor of commercially “safe” but superficial stories. It is good advice not to discuss politics or religion, as our own Killer Nashville Executive Director Beth Terrell reminded me, but a writer of political thriller set in the United States must cross the line on at least one of these. Unfortunately, in terms of setting, most political writers are not creating a realistic world, which is vital to any work of serious fiction. One can still have a plot, but it has to be set somewhere. Why not make it real? Very few in America are elected without Political Party support, that massive machine that every government itself has failed to regulate. Yet with all that power, how can writers fail to include the monster behind the machine?

Two disclaimers: 1) I have no Political Party affiliate, and 2) What I am writing below comes from the possibilities I see for setting from reading the above mentioned book. Olympia Snowe is a longstanding and respected Republican Senator. She has to walk the fine line between telling the complete truth as she knows it while at the same time not being offensive, but – as we know – a good fiction writer is not worried about being offensive. What I write below is what I got between the lines and, if you are a political fiction writer, what I’m about to give you is a truckload of conflict for your next book. On a positive note because I don’t want to give the impression that doom is irrevocably upon us as Americans, Snowe also writes about how to take America back. Though common ground doesn’t always work in the best interest of a fiction writer, fighting for this sort of unity would also make for a great story goal and would be adorned with its own conflicts towards completion (think about one of my favorite Jimmy Stewart man-against-the-machine movies Mr. Smith Goes to Washington).

First of all, let’s talk about Snowe and why she’s the expert to go to. A self-professed “skunk at the lawn party,” she’s a die-hard out-of-place Republican and has been an energetic participant in world-changing events from 1978 to present. Her political platform is based upon limited government, lower taxes, individual freedoms and responsibilities, and a strong national defense, which – frankly – I’ve heard from politicians on both sides of the spectrum. Only difference is that, unlike the Political Parties and most politicians of both parties currently in office, she actually does believe in them. She’s been an advocate for women business owners and mothers, minorities, and has – herself – had a tremendous uphill battle as a female Republican in what has traditionally been a male-dominated profession. Still another great source for story conflict.

Now, here is the situation and where writers can begin to see the possibilities (if you haven’t already) of including an actual political setting in their political thrillers. According to a recent poll cited by Snowe, sixty-six percent of Americans think their representatives don’t have a good understanding of the issues. Politicians have the lowest approval rating, below lawyers and bankers. Most Americans seem to think that public service has left politics, and maybe it has. But is it the politicians or the Political Parties? Like in the days in Germany before WWII, to play in the system, regardless of your personal opinions, you had to publicly become a Party man. Writers who want to write political thrillers set on any continent would be well advised to include the “machine” either in a positive or negative force.

Read these facts from Snowe’s book and tell me what you think. Common sense bills are bashed because unrelated agenda is attached, as in the failure of the Violence Against Women Act. Both Parties have a voting record of being unwilling to support the Balanced Budget Amendment, though in their press releases they spout the opposite. What about the GOP’s opposition to the Equal Rights Amendment? Or Senators and Congressman of both Parties being on record for opposing laws benefiting women and blacks in general. Or why is it that approval of scientific research has been geared towards men only (voted on by predominately male representatives)? How can issues such as abortion (through misinformation miles removed from reality coming from non-medical personnel) become more important to Political Parties than the living and real welfare of the citizens both Parties give voice to protecting. (Hot issue in our home state because we have a formally-married representative who is anti-abortion who is on court record as telling his marital affair girlfriends who became pregnant by him that they should have an abortion, but the Political Party supporting him won’t do anything about his conduct because he is an active supporter of the Party. Great conflict? You bet! It’s a soap opera.) Two-faced? Liars? Idiots? Far from it. They are brilliant snakes in the grass. How about this one? Theoretically intelligent apes acting as Senators come up with non-scientific theories of “legitimate rape” and if a woman gets pregnant during rape, “it was something God intended.” What if this were to happen to a character’s daughter? Or an actual representative from Tennessee? Is this the true meaning of “American Taliban”? Are these the unscientific-minded people who should really – based upon Party platforms – be overseeing and approving the content of our children’s schoolbooks? We are, after all in Tennessee, the home of the Scopes Monkey Trail. Not my kids. My preferred source for scientific information is a scientist, but these political characters do come with their own baggage, conflicts, and entertainment value. If there is anything I’ve learned from watching WWE with my son, it is that great villains make for great stories.

Here’s what I got from reading Snowe’s book (not what she explicitly wrote): 1) Political Parties are historically more interested in their Parties than in America, 2) Political Parties have historically more interest in their own preservation than in the U.S. Constitution, and 3) governing now is based upon reelection, not the best interests of America. All three could make daring undercurrents in a political story.

You see, it is not so much the politicians; it is the Parties themselves, which don’t seem to appear in ANY of the books I have reviewed. They are the missing character. I don’t even have to have the Parties identified by name, but their oppressive presence has to be there. Behind almost every snafu in American politics or integrity, hasn’t it been traced back by Senate, court, or journalistic investigation to decisions made, not by a politician, but by decisions on an unelected Party level? Experts on political history will back me up. If the politicians don’t follow Nazi-like to the Party line, in the next election, the Party will eat its own. By their own demands, centrist moderate politicians (such as Snowe) cannot be so IF they wish to be supported by their Political Party, the machines. Just recently we saw it in the fiasco of the development of the national health laws when even the House and Senate are separated from the president and from their own Parties per Snowe. You see this in watching Political Parties implode from within, politicians jumping ship, politicians being attacked by their own Parties at reelections. It is not so much that politicians no longer listen to those they represent, but in order to stay the course and maybe do some good, even the best politicians walk in fear of being one-term servants from the wrath of their own Party. How’s that for a conflict-riddled subplot? Reading Snowe’s book, you see why so much money is spent on attack ads: because the Parties and the hand-tied candidates themselves either want the attention off themselves or have nothing of merit to promote. All this makes me salivate thinking of the storylines that could come from all of this. When the tax code alone is 72,000 pages long and the U.S. borrows 40-cents for every $1 it spends while people here in the U.S. are starving, freezing, out-of-work, unable to afford an education or medicine, and the politicians are bickering in pettiness and accomplishing nothing or sending millions of dollars overseas that could be spent on Americans, I see conflict galore, I see Jimmy Stewart, I see characters with motives for good or ill, for greed and altruism. However, this reality and setting is not what I read about in the setting-barren American political thrillers and mysteries I review. Robert Penn Warren’s novel “All the King’s Men” is the closest one I’ve read to touch on the Machine behind the candidate. Incidentally, it won the 1947 Pulitzer Prize. That should tell you something. Political Parties are not what the story is about, but their presence is there, even in character reference.

Snowe takes sidebars that are just as interesting as her main points, which are all story ideas themselves, such as how divorced from real people Congress has become, how someone gets into politics, how government and Political Parties really work without the spin, how to impeach a president, how the U.S. Senate and House has lost its independence and has become the equivalent of the Party-controlled (puppet-controlled?) British parliament, how Tea Parties have ruined rather than helped America, and much, much more.

Before reading this book, I knew politics were in major dysfunction, but I never knew how badly nor what a great field this would be for storylines. If you are writing stories set in national politics today, this book is vital for your research. You walk away with the feeling of how a moderate centrist willing to work in a bipartisan capacity toward a solution that would benefit the majority of Americans has no place in either Party. There’s your underdog. Obviously, the wheel is broken. That’s a grand thing for a fiction writer. Writing about conflicts in context helps people see them more clearly. It is the responsibility of writers to include something in their work that elevates it to make people think, to make people lobby for changes, and to portray it accurately, not slant it like the conservative or liberal media organizations we are bombarded by and brainwashed to trust like a bunch of Pavlov dogs or, even worse, to make it so watered down like so many books I read so that it just becomes another mystery or thriller set in Washington. A writer who can get the facts straight before he or she writes a Washington political or legal thriller might find, with the pen being mightier than the sword, that he or she actually changes the way government works and has readers and critics cheering on his or her behalf. What better kudo than to say, “I wrote a bestselling book AND I also saved America.” The Cold War is over. Now, it seems, the enemy is within. That being said, this all makes me want to go write my own political thriller.

– 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.

5/30/13 5/30/13

"You Cannoli Die Once" by Shelley Costa / Thursday, May 30, 2013 / Reviewed by Clay Stafford

Edgar Award-nominated author Shelley Costa has put the fine touches on the start of a new cozy series centered around a restaurant owned by four generations of Italians and a killer with an ax to grind. “You Cannoli Die Once” looks to be the first in what may be a long line of wonderful books in this series.

Packed with flavorful humor as well as mystery, the story is set in Quaker Hills on the outskirts of Philadelphia. The death of the 76-year-old matriarch’s boyfriend has the family questioning the innocence of the feisty grandmother. When the police are convinced that the grandmother is guilty, they lock her up thinking the case is closed. The family, then, takes it as a personal mission to find the truth. This setup is one of the rare cases in which, in this day and time, that cozies actually become plausible: when there is no one else to turn to and the police have given up the search, you end up having to find justice on your own.

There were so many characters – so many relatives – that it was a delight to get to know them all and I look forward to how they are going to be incorporated into the future volumes in the series. With the array given, the possibilities for plotlines are limitless. From the Italian families I’ve known, the portrayal hits straight on. You can’t help but love the – albeit stereotypical – portrayal and animation of the immediate family, relatives, and well-meaning outsiders. For those chocolate lovers, there’s even a recipe for Rebel Cannoli in the back of the book.

Next from Costa in January 2014? “The Ziti That Never Sleeps.” Looking forward to it and wishing Shelley Costa well in kicking this series off.

– 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.

5/28/13 5/28/13

"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.

5/18/13 5/18/13

"Green Light For Murder" by Heywood Gould / Saturday, May 18, 2013 / Reviewed by Clay Stafford

I’ve heard it said that the only good producer is a dead producer. In “Green Light for Murder”, Heywood Gould takes that literally. This is a true insider’s look at the nuts of Hollywood and the City of Angels. Here’s a police procedural that will make you laugh out loud.

The story revolves around a crazed and underappreciated (in his mind) filmmaker who plays out a schizophrenic drama in his head with an imaginary film crew while committing murders he wrote in scripts whose bits were stolen from him by less-than-talented filmmakers who are now on the filmmaker’s hit list. Running parallel with that is the story of a pot-smoking and poetry-writing Los Angeles detective who is also trying to keep his own head and life in check. “Green Light for Murder” is a bird’s eye view of the chess game between them. There are numerous support characters and everyone in the novel seems to have an issue with everyone else, which makes for great conflict. As always, Gould – writer for such memorable books (and films) as Fort Apache, the Bronx, Glitter Burn, Double Bang, Cocktail, and more – creates incredibly memorable and distinctive characters. And, it goes without saying if you’re familiar with Gould’s work, there is all the sex and innuendo we expect in a Heywood Gould novel.

It’s being touted by the publisher as “A Detective Tommy Veasy Mystery.” You need to know upfront that it is not really a mystery (in my definition) because we already know the who-done-it right from the start, but it does have a detective and a serial killer. That’s not a bad thing, it’s just when I pick up a “mystery,” I think I’m going to be given clues to solve the crime. Like Michael Connelly’s great “mystery” book “The Poet,” which uses the same device but in a completely different crime-writing style, you already know who the killer is from the start. This is more of a police procedural on how the dude is caught.

Heywood has a great style. There’s not much set-up in any of his scenes. He jumps right in after the action has started and, because it is not the normal writer writing about a character examining his navel and telling you why before the action begins, you actually have to think a little bit about where you just came from to follow it. What you get, though, with that interplay is a truly visual novel with numerous layers. There’s not a word in the book that hasn’t been sweated over to make sure it is exactly the right thing to say. To my knowledge, I’ve read every book Gould has ever written. All read like you’re watching a movie, which is probably why his works are so easily transferred to the big screen. “Green Light for Murder” is no exception. Even written in first person, you get the feeling that you are watching it take place rather than reading about something that took place in the past.

Gould and I worked for the same film company at the same time in Hollywood and I recognize immediately, and laugh with memory, at his take on certain film community situations. If you really want to know the nut side of the creative and non-creative people in Hollywood (including a few of the guys in the LAPD), this is a great parody, though it is more real than fictitious. Filled with humor, great one-liners, and more than one running gag, it is a funny read, so be in the mood for it. Some might call the portrayal of some of the characters absurd; I call it – from personal experience – another day in Hollywood.

Heywood is one of the smartest guys I know and an incredible observer. He brings those skills to this book, but you have to be smart with him to get it. It’s a good start for a great series. I’m looking forward to the next thing that comes out of this man’s mind.

– 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.

5/17/13 5/17/13

"Dead Insider" by Victoria Houston / Friday, May 17, 2013 / Reviewed by Clay Stafford

There is so much to like about Victoria Houston’s new novel, “Dead Insider,” I almost don’t know where to begin.

Plot-wise, it is what I might call a suspenseful cozy, or maybe a rural mystery, or a light mystery: It takes place in a remote area where the ones who solve the case are the locals with some non-law enforcement personnel recruited to handle certain duties (all overseen by a chief of police, however). No serious violence is written about directly, all found second-hand, though the crimes are a bit grisly even if second-hand. The main characters are not in that much danger, though we are constantly wondering what will happen next. And there are, of course, suspects you hope are not, but have every reason to believe are red-handed guilty.

Here’s where the novel jumps its competition: It’s one of the most well-plotted and character-nuanced rural mysteries I have ever read. In fact, its one of the best mysteries I’ve ever read, period. I was blown away. Everything about it is plausible and the plot develops so subtlety you don’t realize Houston is only reeling you in. Those who usually don’t like cozies or non-law enforcement populated mysteries should stop immediately and read the first 10 pages of “Dead Insider.” That’s all it will take. Ten pages. Like a fish on the line, they will be hooked.

The plot involves the death of a prominent local woman running in her father’s footsteps for the U.S. Senate. She is brutally murdered. Jurisdiction falls under the local police department, which – because it is a remote fishing area – is understaffed. A local dentist routinely fills in when the coroner is unavailable, which he isn’t at the time of the crime. Friends and family associated with the Loon Lake Chief of Police are brought in to fill certain duties. In effect, the police do the police work, but they rely on a small group of seasonal help (for lack of a better word) when crimes do occur in an area where crimes rarely, if ever, occur. These few hold down the fort until other authorities – if need be – have a chance to get there. Having spent much time in rural areas such as this, all of this is as plausible as it can get.

It is the interconnection of all the characters in this small fishing community in Wisconsin that makes it work. Author Houston has assembled the perfect cast for solving just about any crime that could be committed in this village. The Loon Lake Fishing Mystery Series rivals anything I’ve seen come out of Cabot Cove. I love the portrayal of the autumn relationship of Osborne and Ferris and the sensitively handled comparison between their relationship and Osborne’s past marriage. Being a Southerner, I could also not help but be attracted at the dichotomy between the political elite and the folks they are supposed to represent.

“Dead Insider” is the only book I’ve read in the Loon Lake Fishing Mystery Series and I’m a fan. For 206 pages, I missed Wisconsin. I’m hoping sometime if Victoria Houston is as good a fly-fisherman as she is an author should the Killer Nashville gang ever make it to the proverbial Loon Lake that she’ll loan us a pair of waders and take us up one of those beautiful rivers she writes about. Just reading “Dead Insider,” I heard the loons calling and found myself perusing Travelocity.

– 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.

5/15/13 5/15/13

"Cassie Scot: ParaNormal Detective" by Christine Amsden / Wednesday, May 15, 2013 / Reviewed by Clay Stafford

Nothing delights me more than a new discovery and what delights me even more is that I found it from an independent publisher here in my own backyard, Twilight Times Books in Kingsport, Tennessee?

“Cassie Scot: ParaNormal Detective” by Christine Amsden is a promising debut of a new, everyday girl detective in a not-so-everyday world.

We can’t all be superstars. That’s the case with dully normal Cassie Scot, the most untalented and unmagical of her magical family. Life gives us lemons and some, like Cassie, make lemonade. She decides to set up a detective agency in her hometown of Eagle Rock, Missouri, a real place it seems in unincorporated Barry County, population 1,200. After reading about all the bizarre things that go on there in this book, it is definitely a place I think I would like to visit.

Six months after opening her agency, Cassie still doesn’t have a client. Here’s where things get energized: she is hired in her first job to deliver a subpoena to a local witch. Easy enough. Her family has put her in those circles. But along the way, she finds a dead body. Then she becomes the target of vampires. Add a sorcerer and you have a grand collection of delightfully normal (and abnormal) characters. Like Carl Kolchak of my own youth, Cassie – because she has none of her family’s magical powers – is forced to fight the legerdemain of the underworld with the same set of skills we plain mortals have: courage, practical common sense, and sometimes unexpected good fortune. That’s what makes her so identifiable. She brings to the book nothing more than what we might, as well.

Like “Harry Potter,” this story and the younger characters who populate it appeal to a wide demographic and give us that world within a world full of delightful story possibilities. This book is not just for adults. I’ll be recommending this to my son. It’s a fun story with a fun character. I look forward to the next book in the series.

– 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.

5/14/13 5/14/13

"Another Sun" by Timothy Williams / Tuesday, May 14, 2013 / Reviewed by Clay Stafford

I love taking trips to places I’ve never been and I think this is the first novel I’ve read set in Guadeloupe. It is an underdog tale with a twist.

“Another Son” by Timothy Williams is a gripping story of a judge who takes it upon herself to prove a man innocent whom everyone else thinks is guilty. The twist is that the accused has no interest in helping his counsel because she is a woman and he is a man. This is a story of an area flavored by old politics, gender bias, and racial prejudices against a backdrop of French colonialism. The story is set in Guadeloupe in 1980 and Timothy Williams says that he has been working on this novel for 30 years meaning, I guess, that he started it back around the time that the story is set.

In the novel, the elderly Hegesippe Bray has been charged with the murder of a white landowner who was running him off his property. The landowner had few friends and most were glad to see him die. Still, justice must be done. The French view the case as open-and-shut, but not French judge Anne Marie Laveaud. The big question is whether or not the accused is guilty. The larger theme, though, is the political and historical structure of this little island within which Laveaud must navigate. Bray is a grouchy curmudgeon whom one has to eventually like. Laveaud grows on the reader as she pursues justice in her own objective way; you admire her tenacity. The feel of the novel is gritty like sand, which – I guess – is how crime novels should probably feel, especially when set on an island.

The UK Observer calls Timothy Williams one of the “Ten Best European Crime Writers.” The title is well-deserved. If you would like to spend a little time on an island this spring seeing if you can out-sleuth Williams, this book is up to the challenge. Few, I think, will predict the outcome before they get there.

– 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.

5/13/13 5/13/13

"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.

5/10/13 5/10/13

"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.

5/9/13 5/9/13

"Don't Go" by Lisa Scottoline / Thursday, May 9, 2013 / Reviewed by Clay Stafford

Most of the books I read from Lisa Scottoline are series related. Here’s a standalone you won’t want to miss. Scottoline is one of the best writers I’ve ever read. This one goes straight to the heart.

This is the first book I’ve read from Scottoline that is told from the point-of-view of a man. Normally she writes of ball-bashing women. That makes this an intricate treat, especially when you see how she handles the subject.

Dr. Mike Scanlon decides to serve his country in Afghanistan. He leaves his wife and newborn baby. While gone to serve his country, his wife dies in what appears to be a freak home accident. As always with Scottoline, things are not as they appear.

This book will have you riveted and emotionally involved from the start. Heroes come from the most unlikely of places. Dr. Mike Scanlon is about to learn how to become one.

– 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”.

Here is a link for a clip of the audiobook from Macmillan Audio: http://soundcloud.com/macaudio-2/dont-go-audiobook-chapter-one

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.

5/8/13 5/8/13

"No Way Back" by Andrew Gross / Wednesday, May 8, 2013 / Reviewed by Clay Stafford

In Andrew Gross’s “No Way Back,” a woman has an affair and, while in the illicit situation, her lover is murdered. In self-defense, she kills the killer, whom she IDs as a Homeland Security Agent. Her agonizing choice is to turn herself in and plead self-defense for a crime that looks like a double murder and admit to her family what she has done, or she can run. When the dead agent’s partner shows up to silence her, she easily makes the choice to hide. That’s when this roller-coaster ride kicks into an even higher gear. Author Andrew Gross has coauthored five books with James Patterson and is a New York Times and international bestselling author on his own. This is a wonderful book from a man who obviously knows how to tell a story without brakes.

– 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.

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KN Magazine: Reviews

"Surrendered Love" by Laura V. Hilton / Reviewed by Clay Stafford

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

"Graveland" by Alan Glynn / Reviewed by Clay Stafford

"Lifetime" by Liza Marklund / Reviewed by Clay Stafford

"Candlemoth" by R.J. Ellory / Reviewed by Clay Stafford

"Writing a Killer Thriller" by Jodie Renner / Reviewed by Clay Stafford

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

"Low Pressure" by Sandra Brown / Reviewed by Clay Stafford

"The Woman He Loved Before" by Dorothy Koomson / Reviewed by Clay Stafford

"Fighting For Common Ground: How We Can Fix the Stalemate in Congress" by Olympia Snowe / Reviewed by Clay Stafford

Why Washington Political Thrillers Aren't Real to Me and Why I Want to Write One / Author/filmmaker & Killer Nashville founder Clay Stafford

"You Cannoli Die Once" by Shelley Costa / Thursday, May 30, 2013 / Reviewed by Clay Stafford

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

"Green Light For Murder" by Heywood Gould / Saturday, May 18, 2013 / Reviewed by Clay Stafford

"Dead Insider" by Victoria Houston / Friday, May 17, 2013 / Reviewed by Clay Stafford

"Cassie Scot: ParaNormal Detective" by Christine Amsden / Wednesday, May 15, 2013 / Reviewed by Clay Stafford

"Another Sun" by Timothy Williams / Tuesday, May 14, 2013 / Reviewed by Clay Stafford

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

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

"Don't Go" by Lisa Scottoline / Thursday, May 9, 2013 / Reviewed by Clay Stafford

"No Way Back" by Andrew Gross / Wednesday, May 8, 2013 / Reviewed by Clay Stafford

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