Searching for Gatsby by Niki Danforth Provides Fascinating Literary Mystery

The beat-up sedan brakes quickly on the winding back road, its headlights beaming on a wooden sign, Willowbrook Natural Lands Trust Hiking Trails. A shrill canine yawn lets loose from the back seat as the vehicle turns into the small gravel parking area. It rolls to a stop in the corner farthest from the road. Another yawn squeaks from the back seat, and the old man reaches behind him to scratch the sleepy Jack Russell terrier nestled on a pile of sweaters. “Good girl.” His voice is gruff, but kind. He shakes his head as if getting rid of the cobwebs, blinks several times, and massages his eye lids. “Peach, wait here.” Clicking open the trunk, the wiry man steps out of the old Honda Accord. A car speeds by and he almost ducks down. “Get with it, old man,” he chides himself. “It’s just folks heading home.” He stretches his stiff limbs and rubs his gray-whiskered face while scanning the vegetation surrounding the lot.
Glancing at the road, he assesses whether the brush will block the view of his car to the few vehicles passing by. He slams shut the driver’s door as if deciding that it does. Another car drives by, and this time he ignores it. A slight breeze blows through and the man shivers, reminded that fall is on its way. He peers inside at the disorderly back seat. Several cardboard boxes and paper bags of books surround the sweaters that serve as Peach’s bed. The man reaches for an olive-colored jacket and a felt fedora tossed among the clutter. As he puts them on, the dog’s big dark eyes stare at him adoringly. Then he pushes open the lid of the car’s trunk, removes a small black canvas pack, and drops it on the ground. He searches the bag and pulls out lightweight black gloves and a small beat-up paperback missing its cover. He slips it into the back of his black jeans, the skinny volume peeking out above the top edge of the pocket. 
The man clips a leash to the collar of his terrier. “Okay, girl. You’re my cover.” Peach jumps out of the car, and the old guy bumps the door shut with his hip as he puts the gloves into his jacket pocket. Tossing the light pack over his shoulder, he’s good to go. The little man and the little dog leave the parking area and stroll down the road masquerading as any other neighbor out for an evening walk. 

~~~

Many have heard of either the book or the movie, The Great Gatsby, but Niki Danforth has added an interesting little known fact that creates an intensely unique and long-standing mystery that has yet to be solved as the book begins... Specifically, that a cheap version was published as an Armed Services edition... and it was to the success of that book being sent to those in the service that the book began to win its acclaim... Plus used to create that mystery we'll be reading...

This was my first book for Danforth and I was impressed. Her work is tight, flowing easily and presents the reader with a sit-back-and-relax enjoyment that will be pleasantly inviting for true mystery fans..

On a personal note, I was attracted immediately to the main character, who is in her fifties, having faced an empty home with her children gone and a divorce, she decides to become a private investigator, earns a black belt in Akido, and has her younger PI mentor falling for her... 

It's great to see an older role model for women and Ronnie Lake is a delight as we get to know and admire her. As soon as I finished this book, I went out to pick up Book 1, Stunner!

There's one more central character, Warrior, who needs to be introduced early. He was a war dog who served with Ronnie's son and when he was killed, Ronnie made sure that Warrior was going to have a good home now...and you can be sure that Warrior also helps to protect his new mistress... In this book, he hosts a temporary friend in need of a home after his master was murdered... Peaches and Warrior both add greatly to the enjoyment as well as the basic story line...

While this is a complex story with various subplots that add significantly, the first villain, who is quickly killed, is a lovable older man who was a rare book expert working in a bookstore...he had acted as a thief to get into a home where Ronnie was attending a party... while he picked up an expensive necklace, probably more for cover, his search was in the owner's library. He quickly came across a First Edition of The Great Gatsby, which was very valuable. He sighed, thinking he'd loved to own it, but slid it back into its place, pulling out his part of the Service Edition of the same book and then placing it back into his pocket... He went on searching... He was murdered as he left...

At the same party, the owner's wife was talking to Ronnie about taking a job for her--she needed to know whether he was having an affair...

And that woman was also at the party where she and the owner had public words and the woman left early... Whether the woman was having an affair with the owner, we do know that she is the boss of Casey, the rare book expert who was also a thief...

We have entered into the profit-making side of rare books, the business...and the danger that goes along with the desire by many who are rich to own valuable, known books. But we also find that there are many book lovers who go to far lengths just to get to touch and read the more valuable copy of a book they've read many times...

The result is intriguing as Win her PI mentor and Ronnie are hired, with Ronnie being the lead investigator, to find the now missing First Edition of The Great Gatsby... Yes, the copy that Casey had pulled out and also replaced, was also later stolen!

This mystery is more following the clues than presenting the reader with the need to solve the mystery. That in no way detracts from the pleasure book lovers will have in entering into the perhaps new side, at least for me, of the rare book world... If you love books talking about books--if you aren't you won't know what I mean--well, I think you will love this one just as much as I did! Highly recommended...

GABixlerReviews

To join Niki Danforth's mailing list for updates and specials, visit her website at www.nikidanforth.com to sign up.

Niki Danforth, daughter of a Cold War covert intelligence officer, has the "thriller/adventure" gene in her DNA. After a career as a successful TV/video producer and director in New York, this empty-nester is picking up her first love of suspenseful mystery books and recreating herself as an author in the genre. Danforth lives in the New Jersey countryside with her husband and two drama-queen dogs. She is hard at work writing her next book.

You can also follow Danforth on Facebook at "Niki Danforth Author" where she loves to review her favorite books, movies and TV shows.

The Case of the Frozen Horse: A Sam Cloudstone Novella by Jimmy Martin

I like weird, the unusual, something that is new and allows you to experience more than what you're likely to find in another book. Take for instance, The Case of the Frozen Horse, begins your questioning of what the book is about. Readers will almost surely guess that it is not a real horse, and indeed the author immediately identifies the victim of the murder Sam has been asked to work on... But even then, Martin does not present the usual PI investigation story...you just never know what the storyline from this relatively new author will cover! In fact, solving the case is not the primary goal...rather it is the setting, the characters, and the subplots that become intriguing and pull readers into the book...

Sam and Brew Ha Ha were barreling down Texas Highway 35. This highway parallels the coast, occasionally a fishing town on a bay or on the Gulf coast. Under normal circumstances they would have stopped in Palacios or Port Lavaca or even detoured down to Port O'Connor for some fishing or at least a good seafood lunch. But these weren't normal circumstances.

The drive was scenic, particularly to people partial to Texas coast fishing hamlets. They were soon in the vicinity of Corpus Christi, crossing the John F. Kennedy Memorial Causeway to get to North Padre Island with Snoopy's

Pier. They pulled up to Doc's Seafood and Steaks, went in and headed straight to the bar. They wondered if Horse's lady friend was on the day shift. Luckily, she was.

When she recognized Brew Ha Ha, she ran up to them and asked where Horse was. However, being the intuitive woman that she was, she immediately sensed that something was wrong from the look in Brew Ha Ha's eyes.

Sam broke the silence. "When you get a break we need to talk to you." That was all she needed to hear and she said she could take a break at one thirty, after the lunch rush. Sam and Brew Ha each got a beer and went to a booth to wait for her.

"I didn't expect to choke up! I barely held it together!" Brew Ha admitted. His eyes were unexpectedly misty.

"I know," Sam said. "That's why I jumped in there."

They sat at the booth and discussed what they planned to tell her. A couple of beers later she showed up and sat down with them.

Sam was surprised, and a little amused that she even referred to him as Horse. Brew Ha got up his nerve and finally said, "I have some bad news for you Miss, ah, Dammit! I don't even know your name!"

"It's Gracie, Gracie Lynn Bicchieri. Bicchieri means 'drinking glasses' in Italian. I come from a long line of people who have made their living from handing out glasses filled with beer, wine, and spirits!"

Sam noted that Italian seemed to fit her, although he never thought about it before, of course the only times he had ever seen her was the short periods between arriving at the bar and her and Horse ducking out the back. That was only a handful of times.

Brew Ha continued, "Gracie Lynn, I have bad news. Horse was murdered back in Galveston a few days ago. I don't know of any family that he had and the only person he ever seemed to have any long-term relationship with was you. We came here to tell you because we figured you would want to know. Also, we were hoping you could shed a little light on why anybody would do this. As long as I knew him. I really didn't know that much about his past."

While visibly shaken, Gracie was able to keep somewhat composed. "Do you know what happened?" she asked.

"It's strange. He was shot and we presume that's what killed him. But then he was frozen solid and left in a hotel ice machine on the Seawall in Galveston."

Sam looked at her and noticed that she shuddered at the description. She cleared her throat and begin to fill them both in on the mysterious history of Brew Ha Ha's first mate, Horse.

"His name was
Richard Cappello, Italian, like me. We had a thing for each other from the time we were teenagers. I waned him to marry me long ago, and he even knocked me up once when we were young. I thought I had him then, but I lost our baby." She let out a stifled laugh between tears. "He never would have married me because of what he did for a living..."

~~~

Sam and Brew Ha Ha had come to meet with the only individual who they knew Horse had been involved with for a lengthy time. They discovered Gracie and Horse had been an item since high school days, even that was a surprise, wondering why they had never married. What they learned was shocking and more than they could have imagined...

Horse had been a mob hit man and his last assignment involved a Vietnamese gangster! Horse had decided after that he no longer wanted to continue killing for a living... And somehow, though there was lots of trouble, Horse had succeeded in leaving the mob behind and starting his job with Brew Ha Ha...

So, where do you go to investigate how the previous life of Horse may have led to his death?! At least it did explain to some extent, the strange decision to murder than freeze him... Maybe... Soooo, Sam went out looking for help from Cyber Harry, who among other interesting activities, was obsessed with Vladimir Putin and paranoid about what he was involved with... I had to laugh that one website had explained that Stalin's brain had been saved and when science had figured out how to transfer it, they had given it to Putin... Just goes to show there really is fake conspiracy news out there...right?   right?

One thing you will discover that there is a lot of extraneous humorous storytelling and dialogue in Martin's books...but all are geared toward the storyline and adds a level of depth, but also frivolity rarely seen in PI cases... Or it might be said, that there is really no hurry to solve the case since the guy is already dead and the investigation will take us how ever long it takes...

I enjoyed the activities of Sandra (Sam's ex) and Melissa (Sam's present lover). Sandra works at a small clinic which is very important to the area...but when Sandra must be absent, Melissa is standing in...as long as they have telephone contact to discuss what to do for each case! LOL

Sam and Brew Ha Ha arrived at Harry's office around 9:00. After building Harry up all the way from Corpus Christie, Sam was somewhat worried that he might have gone too far. He was afraid that Harry wouldn't live up to the billing he had made for him. Those fears were quite unfounded.

They knocked on the office door, but let themselves in in spite of the formality. The door was one of those with frosted glass that you would expect to find in an old Sam Spade movie. On the glass window was written the words 'Harry Kohlmyer, Ethical Hacker and Cyber Security Specialist." As they walked into the office they were greeted with Harry's oft worn impudent grin. His demeanor and general appearance gave him a forty something year old Dennis the Menace kind of vibe...

~~~

Meeting Cyber Harry was a fun experience...First Sam and Brew Ha were introduced to various women (pictures on the Internet) from Russia who he was trying to bring over as a mate...but was clogged with the bureaucracy... and frustrated...

Finally they got down to business...all of them felt the police knew more than they were willing to share...and specifically, Harry reported that there had been six separate murders up and down the Gulf Coast using the same M.O. When Sam mentioned the Vietnamese gangster, Harry first admitted that they scared him more than Putin... He then went on to say that a printed card had been left at each murder scene with "Courtesy of Dr. Freeze-Kill!"

Readers are taken back to 1989 when Horse was caught in something that would result in his major life change. Then moving forward into the investigation, soon getting into a place from which they needed to leave...soon! Somehow Sam always solves the case and somehow stays alive, many times due to a little help from his friends...Great Characters!

And, of course, a stop at casinos allows for more drinking and storytelling. This time Sam, with Jimmy Buffett songs playing in the background tells his friends about meeting Buffett when he was doing his "Buffett's Brother" act to gain an image... and how he was caught by Buffett himself! More traveling, drinking and meeting up with friends...and one of those places was the Jazz Preservation Hall, with a group I've enjoyed through the years... and then on to Pat O'Brien's to see the Flaming Fountain!

Sam and and Brew Ha are giving the police detective trouble just by looking at his case...but nothing, not anybody, could have given them more trouble than the...Dragon Lady...! I'm thinking you're really going to enjoy this third novella in the services... Do check out my reviews on the first two books as well...you just may want to start right from the beginning and get in at the first of series of a truly enjoyable and quite extraordinary private investigator by the name of Sam Cloudstone! Enjoy!

GABixlerReviews

I was born in the 50's and therefore was a child of the 70's. Born and raised in Houston, I have lived in or around the Houston area all of my life. Like my main character Sam Cloudstone, I am a graduate Mechanical Engineer from Texas A&M University. Having attended there in the late 70's, I experienced an early adulthood much different than kids do today. We had no technology like what exists today, so we were much more dependent on our own insanity for our entertainment. I made many crazy friends, and I am proud to say that I still keep up with most of them.

I became an avid reader as soon as there wasn't some professor forcing me to read. It has always been a goal of mine to become a writer. My earliest heroes were the likes of Hunter S. Thompson, Douglas Adams, and Tom Clancy, but over the years I have read everything I could get from Hemingway to Kinky Friedman. 

I've always liked adventure novels, but I have always been a sucker for a good joke. Many of the characters in my first book, and hopefully subsequent books to come, are inspired by real friends and acquaintances. 
​

The Case of the Hobo's Son: A Sam Cloudstone Novella by Jimmy Martin

As the last rays of the sun shrunk down below the trees, a white mist seemed to Sam to appear in the corner of the kiva. As he concentrated on the mist, it slowly formed into the visage of an elderly Indian man. It was Grandpa and he'd come to talk with his favorite grandson.
"Hello Yanny-va-oo'ah." This is the name Grandpa had always used for Sam, which meant "laughing child" in Comanche, and it was based on the fact that Sam was the happiest baby Grandpa had ever seen. Sometimes he simple called him Yanny for short.
"Hello Grandpa. As usual I'm very glad to see you!" Sam said. "How are things in the great beyond?"
"Fine. And I'm glad to see you too. But you must stop this, it's not right. Besides, I have told you over and over that you are doing this all wrong. You should eat the Sacred Cactus, not drink a tea made from it. And you are not using enough, you cannot see your spirit animal at such a level. All you are doing in conjuring me."
"My spirit animal is an idiot. He is a magnificent White Wolf, so regal and majestic, but when I ask him questions he always disappoints me" Sam lamented. "Every dialog we have degenerates into a discussion of the Kennedy Assassination! I'm asking questions that to me should lead to the reasons for my very existence, and he keeps going on about the Grassy Knoll and multiple shooters.. Do you understand how disappointing that is to me?"
"Maybe you are to discover something about that. Maybe that is what he is trying to tell you. You ARE an investigator, aren't you?" Grandpa asked him.
"That I am. But mostly, I'm just a wondering spirit, and you are the only one from the other side of the spirit world that ever makes any sense to me. For that matter, you are one of the only ones that ever made any sense on this side of the spirit world too."

~~~

The Case of the Hobo's Son is the second book in the Sam Cloudstone Series by Jimmy Martin. The debut proved to be a fun book so I was happy to move forward with Cloudstone, a quite unique character. I encourage you to check out the first novel to taste the flavor! Sam's a PI by profession, but there is a lot of fun time that takes place, it seems, no matter what particular mystery he is asked to work with...

Sam and Melissa have continued to live together, so in this book, we actually get to participate in two adventures as each plans a trip to gather with friends. Interestingly, Sam's ex, Sandra, has become friends with Melissa and it is a delight to watch what interaction occurs among the threesome. Melissa and Sandra are heading out for a girl's weekend trip that has been a tradition for 8 years...They're heading to a dude ranch!

Sam is headed to Arlington to stay with his friend Richard Serling, with the obvious nickname of Twilight Zone  (or Zone)...but when Sam gets there, Zone has a semi live-in that immediately gets on Sam's nerves... "Don't get me wrong, man, I like her but, damn!" Zone just looked at him with that look that two race car drivers might have across a crowded bar that say "I get you!"


Zone's crazy girlfriend named Luz was there when Sam first got there and hung out with them for a little while. She came from Columbia, and she had the type of personality that reminded people of the comedienne Charo, the famous "cuchi-cuchi girl." She left after about 30 minutes in order to let them catch up on old times. Sam was actually relieved! spending 30 minutes with someone of her ebullient personality tended to wear Sam out. Actually, Luz tended to wear most people out so Sam wasn't in any minority. When she kissed Zone goodbye and went out into the ever present rain, both men looked at each other with a certain relief on their faces.

Kicking back Sam and Zone caught up...and invariably brought out the guitars--Sam remembered when he used to live in a tent and wrote songs for beer.

Somewhere in the middle of their rendition of "Whisky River" Sam decided to give Melissa a call...but after one no answer he got an answer, berating...Sam had played a dirty joke on her and she was fuming! Oh well...we'll be seeing how that works out!

I've always been intrigued by the spiritual relationship with ancestors and spirit guides by Native Americans. Sam had been discouraged by his new partner to use the drugs that sometimes accompanied those connections. Still, Sam was really confused when his spirit guide kept talking about the Kennedy Assassination...But when things later came about that he was being shown to the Dallas Underground, pieces of the puzzle began to come together...
Years ago, I visited old Underground Atlanta Georgia and enjoyed a delightful dinner with a companion, although I would not wish to live there if I had a choice... But it seems from Sam's informant, there were hobos living underground during the 60s and they were going to meet the son of one of those who were there in November, 1963...

OK, it's a story that's has been used many times, but there is sufficient background and character development by Martin to allow readers to enjoy once again playing "what if..." with a fresh, alternative history story for the Kennedy Assassination, like no other! For instance, on continuing the search they discovered a false wall and behind it they found the message: To solve the riddle, and be a good learner, Take a water trip, to the falling castle...Mr. Turner... Who was Mr. Turner, how long had that message been there, and many other questions occurred to Sam as he willingly decided to enjoy a scavenger hunt with history being the theme...

While the hunt begins for Sam and others, Melissa and her group of friends have run into a little trouble... Seems one of the group has a real delight with her Tequila which she takes everywhere she goes... and she had gotten into a hassle with the male friend of a woman who was a member of a Mexican Girl gang who thought nothing of taking out anybody that crossed them...and when she saw the woman that had done her wrong, the whole gang started out after The Coven, which was what Melissa's group went by...Funny yes, but also not so much since the gang member was aiming to rid herself of her perceived enemy!

And all the wild happenings took place in the rains that caused the Great Texas Springtime Floods of 2015!

And if all that is not enough to keep you interested, you'll be visiting a casino for craps, learn some language about playing such as a Little Joe or a Yo, all of which I hadn't a clue how to interpret, LOL, listening to guy stories from the past and sometimes leaning in on some music...

Then I heard the Kinks were coming to town and I decided I needed to go see them! Anyway, like I said I was broke, but I found out through a guy down the hall that there was a little known "Distressed Student Fund" available to students to use in an emergency. Well, like I said I hadn't been laid lately so I figured this qualified. I made up some sob story and got $175 from the school on loan. I then bought two Kinks tickets and then proceeded to try to find some girl to go see them with me."

"Which I have always maintained is a mistake." interjected Sam, "Women in my experience will go with you to a concert, but they will usually just go to be seen there, or just go to get trashed there. Which is fine if you just want to get laid, but if you actually want to enjoy the band I've always found it's better to go with a buddy or at least a girl that truly loves the band!"

!!!

You might think it is a guy book, but it was fun and when Melissa believes Sam is in trouble and rides in to save the day, well, in my opinion, it doesn't get better than that. Enjoy!

GABixlerReviews

Dream State - Book One of The Sleeping Detective Series - by Charles R. Hinckley

August (Gus) Chase dreamed dreams just like we all do, sometimes enjoying dreams of somebody women who meant a lot to him... but something changed about five years ago...

The dreams started about five years ago, around the time I turned thirty. I was walking home early one Sunday morning after a previous evening while chasing a pretty girl named Sarah, playing a flirty cat and mouse game, tring to get her to come home with me. I failed in my attempt, and in the process had way too much to drink. I got sloppy drunk, maybe a bit obnoxious, and she ended the game. With time on my hands and little money for a cab, I began to walk the fifty-something blocks back to my apartment.
It was freezing. Anemic snowflakes fluttered through the air around me. After a while the snow grew heavier, stopped melting, and began a rapid accumulation. The light sputtering transformed into a white curtain and obscured visibility beyond a half block in any direction. The wind began to pick up and swirling blasts hit me in the face, numbing my cheeks and nose. I grabbed a newspaper from a nearby trash bin and held it over my head. I looked down to protect my fact from the biting wind, and watched one foot methodically plod in front of the other.
That was when I saw the blood. There was a large drop of it on my shoe, then another on my knee. Putting a finger to my nose, it returned covered in thin red liquid. I collected snow from the ground and put it on my nose. My legs felt heavy. I was no longer capable of walking properly, and dragged my feet across the sidewalk as I fought the pull of gravity. Wooziness enveloped me, but I trudged on.
After what seemed like hours, I finally made it home. I unlocked the door, staggered into the building and fell to the floor. Fighting to get back to my feet, I grabbed the stair railing and tried to pull myself up, but hadn't the strength. I slumped back down, my dead thumping onto the linoleum floor, and everything went black.
That's when I had the first of many special dreams, the specifics of which are not important now. What I didn't realize at the time is that the snippets of information I was acquiring through this Dream State would later enable me to save lives.
This life-saving dream data came to me in short black and white images, similar to a video clip or micro movie, that I eventually learned I could play back in my head and try to comprehend, but only if I could wake up immediately. If I didn't wake up right after the dream, the information slowly dissolved from memorable pictures into a mist of crumbling gray dots.
I didn't choose for this to happen to me. I didn't believe in ESP, precognition, mind melding, kinetic energy transference, time travel, or anything else you can cram into that mystical category. I was just an ordinary guy.
Pablo Carrillo, the man I'd identified as the driver of the car, didn't realize his life was in danger. Nor did he think the gringo who knocked on his door that afternoon was anyone worth mentioned to his wife, Phyllis. It wasn't until the gringo started hanging around the corner deli near his apartment that he began to take the situation serious...

Dream State:
The Sleeping Detective Series
An August Chase Novel

By Charles R. Hinckley

The Paranormal - If you can think it, it could be true... Gus Chase hadn't a clue why, when he was around 30, he suddenly began to foresee into the future in his dreams... But he dreamed of only one thing--he could see when somebody was going to die...

Gus worked in a packing job...getting things ready to move in or out for his company...a boring job, that had never really been his chosen line of work. On the other hand, even if he now had this "thing" happening to him, how could it be anything but trouble for him? The first dream had been about a man who Gus had seen killed in a car accident. He had tried to warn the man, but Gus was, naturally, seen as some kind of a nut or a con man!

For one, Gus just didn't have the touch of our famous ghost whisperer who quietly explained that the person she was talking to was being haunted... But, of course, Gus was placed in a much more urgent position--he was trying to save somebody's life! Let's just say, he really wasn't good at telling somebody to listen to him to prevent their death... After all, he can't control his visions, nor can he tell when this "death" would be happening... What do you think? Would you listen to Gus if he was telling you that you'd be gone in the near future?

Yes, there is an underlying humor to this book that cannot be denied, even when the emergency is very real! But Gus does get better... I'd say by meeting a new friend in a local bar to whom he begins to share and talk about what his daily life had become... Mill was a genius who'd developed a high-tech company, with a money-hungry wife who was now bleeding him dry in a divorce... Mill seemed to be relieved to have found a friend and little by little began to lend his business acumen to his new friend and planning became part of what was going on...Gus was willing to consider becoming a private investigator, who happened to use his sleeping precognition to help...

His second dream was harder to take as he sees a young woman running into a dark alleyway with somebody chasing her, then brutally killing her... This dream really got to him as he tried to find the girl and prevent her death, only to fail... It was her sister who found out he'd been originally involved and contacted him to see if he could help her discover what happened, since the police were getting no where...

Without realizing an evolution, readers begin to see that Gus's dreams are slowly becoming connected...and it is only through investigation and some underhanded hacking and break-ins that a criminal case begins to be revealed...

The storyline was intriguing, even with the bumbling detective who was learning on the job... And, really, I did not see that a mystery was being solved. Gus is an interesting character and should improve if the series continues. However, one character which, fortunately, was not introduced until later in the book, the cop, was, for want of a better description, overdone... While it led to a climatic ending to the story, I was disappointed that the author chose to create a bad, violent cop... His actions didn't fit the feeling that was being created around Gus, who was trying to save people... The same results could have occurred by a good cop, albeit, less violent... He didn't fit with the other characters, at least in my opinion, and left a bad taste as the book was ending...

I don't think I will recommend this, even though I'd rank it a four for overall storyline, but do check it out further by reading other reviews... The series has potential, but this debut may not be the best one to explore...


GABixlerReviews

Charles R. Hinckley is an author, audiobook producer, playwright and fine artist. His short stories and articles have been published by several online magazines and News America Syndicate. His plays have been produced regionally. As a producer-voice actor, Charles has several titles available through Audible and Amazon.

Silent Echo--A Mystery Surrounded by Main Character Living With AIDS+ Amazingly Revelatory!

content.time.com

"I’m also thinking about last night. I don’t want to, but I do. Numi had broken the “bathroom rule” when he’d insisted that I take a bath with baking soda and Epsom salts— a combination he’d insisted would draw toxins out of my degenerating shell of a body and allow my skin to absorb the important minerals. I did not argue with Numi. I knew better. Anyway, he’d done his best to give me privacy— even holding up a towel so that I could undress with what dignity I had left. Turns out it wasn’t much. I nearly fell over and Numi caught my naked body before I hit the towel rack next to me. The impact surely would have done some serious damage. I didn’t thank him. I yelled at him for distracting me and ordered him out of the bathroom. He said nothing, merely nodding, and waited just on the other side of the door in case I should need him. I’m a dick sometimes. 
"The concoction worked, amazingly. After forty minutes of sitting in the stuff, the water turned a darkish, muddy gray. I felt like shit for chewing out Numi, and so, after I’d showered and had plenty of water to drink, I apologized to my friend. He said no problem, cowboy, and helped me into bed where he tucked me in. I was asleep before I could feel weird about being tucked in by another man. 
"I awake in the middle of the night to find Mary next to me. This doesn’t make sense. I went to bed alone. Surely, I am dreaming. But no… my reaching fingers are rewarded by something very real and warm. Numi must have let her in. My bedroom door is closed and I can hear Numi snoring lightly in the living room. 
"They are both here. Keeping vigil over me. I know this can’t be good. Yes, I am feeling weaker than ever. Yes, I should probably be in the hospital somewhere. Or a hospice. But Numi is my caregiver. And now, so is Mary. And I have made the decision to die at home. It’s my right. It’s anyone’s right.

~~~

Silent Echo

By J. R. Rains

No matter how many books I read, I am constantly amazed to pick up a book by somebody I've never read--and find he is a well-known author with many books out there being sold... But this book amazed me more for the content. I was privileged to work on three different books dealing with AIDS while working with Rainbow's End Publishing. All of them were wonderful, but this one blew me away with its intimacy, sensitivity, and revelation of living with AIDS. In this case, also compounded by cancer, which apparently was dormant and responded unfavorably to the virus...

This is definitely more than a mystery--or should I say this is less of a mystery than the story of a former "mucho" man who never thought he could contract AIDS. However, you can, and he did, contract it from having sex with a woman. I'm spotlighting statistics for the U.S., because I think many have "forgotten" about this dangerous virus in America, even though it remains a major issue across the continents...

Rains has done an outstanding job of bringing this reality to the forefront of America's eyes--to remind us. If you scoff at this threat while reading this book, you are, in my opinion a fool... One more issue I want to mention as foolish... when I searched for pictures, the only one that came up was the above...Please realize that there are many white people and people of other nationalities, other than African and African-Americans that contract this disease...Yet the reality in America is only presented graphically... Note that the graph states that many are unaware of their infection...!

But I'm just spotlighting what Rains has shared, dare I say, so eloquently, so compassionately. The main character was a private investigator, specializing in missing people before he became too ill to work...

"Numi sees this. Numi sees everything. He’s always watching me, studying me, monitoring me. In Numi’s eyes, Eddie is wasting my time and energy, neither of which I have in spades. Although Numi has okayed this meeting for reasons I still do not comprehend, Numi doesn’t like the way things are progressing. I know this, because I know Numi, too. As well as he knows me.
 “What do you need, Eddie?” asks Numi. Eddie looks at him, blinks, and realizes for the first time that when you talk to me, you also talk to Numi. Eddie looks back at me, and seems to size me up again. I can’t imagine what he’s thinking, but it can’t be good.
“Maybe this is a bad idea,” he says. 
“The man is on borrowed time,” says Numi, leaning forward. “Maybe we can waste a little more of it?” 
"Eddie is a smart guy and gets Numi’s drift: Get to the point or get the hell out of here. “Right, sorry. Shit. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t need your help, Jimmy. Wait, that didn’t come out right. I mean, I should have been here anyway. I’m a shitty friend.” He is a shitty friend, but I don’t kick a man when he’s down. I look over at Numi, a very un-shitty friend. Numi is sitting back again, eyes half-closed, looking somewhere beyond the table and into eternity, for all I know. 
“It’s okay,” I say. My friend is acting strange. My friend is generally the picture of cool. Or, at least, that’s what he always projected in the past. Now, not so much. His eyes seem unhinged, moving around in his skull like a compass going apeshit. He’s having trouble focusing on any one thing. He runs his fingers through his greasy hair. I’ve never known Eddie to have greasy hair. The Eddie I remember cared a lot about his looks. Too much, perhaps. His knee is bouncing, too. I figure Eddie is either on something or something’s really wrong. He finally nods to himself, looks down. Then he closes his eyes, which is probably a good idea since he can’t seem to focus on anything longer than a nanosecond. 
"He takes in some air, holds it, and then says, “Olivia’s missing.”

~~~

John Lessor, Artist

Generations

Numilekunoluwa (which means, God Please Deprive My Sorrows), or Numi, is a main character, Nigerian, who is also an artist having his own gallery.  He  was such an intriguing character for me that I've chosen John Lessor, Nigerian Artist, to represent Numi... I can only describe Numi as one of the most loving men ever created by a writer and I truly hope that somewhere there is a Numi that truly would do what this character did--which was to give up his own life, work and act as a caretaker for such a white honky... LOL...

I wouldn't have said that if the two men did not joke with each other about phobias about AIDS, homophobia, race, etc. Numi is a gay man. He may or may not be "In love" with Jim. He knows he's straight--so straight that he can't quite accept that here is a man who is generously helping him, a gay man who is touching him...

But anybody in the position of having AIDS and having been deserted by...almost everybody...soon realizes that help from a gay, even intimately, is necessary and needed... These times between the two men are heartbreaking, at least they were for me, as even now, I cry as Numi withstood the anger and abuse that Jim threw back at him for his help...

Jim and his mother have been estranged for over 10 years. They both blamed Jim for the death of his younger brother, murdered in the park one day...

Now, as Jim begins to investigate the disappearance of Olivia, who was also a good friend, who he'd always hoped to have been more, he cannot help but to remember his brother's murder. And, then, when they find Olivia's body, and she has several telling clues that seem to be similar to his brother's earlier murder, Jim becomes obsessed, thinking he could possibly find out who murdered his brother before he dies...

Jim had been given six months to live by his specialists; that had been eight months ago... Dead man walking--but only with Numi's help!

And then there's Mary... She is Jim's grief counselor until the day that Jim realizes that he's fallen in love with her and proceeds to lightly kiss her rather than allow their normal session to begin...

I tell you I was hooked from the first to last page. Sure, I had a pretty good idea how the criminal mystery would play out...

But the real mystery I watched was how these three and later his mother, fought together to keep Jim alive, one day at a time, until he knew who the murderer was...  and when he did, barely being able to walk, he got his gun out--it was so heavy for him now--and he went after that criminal! Alone...


OMG, check this out!


GABixlerReviews

J.R. Rain is an ex-private investigator who now writes full-time in the Pacific Northwest. He lives in a small house on a small island with his small dog, Sadie, who has more energy than Robin Williams. Please visit him at www.jrrain.com.

Sylvia Dickey Smith Writes About Strong Women--Sid Smart Didn't Even Know She Was One of Them!

"He shoved the girls out the door, anticipation running a foot-race in his chest. The other men were such pussies. Not him. He liked the doing. He wondered if God got turned on when He killed people. The Stud sure had. He boosted the girls into the pickup, and then checked the faded green carpet he and his buddies had rolled up and stashed in the truck bed the night before. Satisfied, he secured the can of gasoline and slid behind the wheel. The beat-up Ford truck rumbled down the dusty road jarring his insides like a damn cement mixer. Just watch, one of these days he was gonna be county commissioner and get these shit-ass roads fixed...

~

"Reaching behind the seat, he pulled out a burlap bag and threw it at the girls. “Here,” he yelled. “Get down under this and stay down!” Then, bounding out, he pulled and tugged on the carpet until, finally, he got it on his shoulder. Staggering under the weight, now carried by one instead of three, he grabbed the side of the truck and held on until he got his balance. Slowly, carefully, he freed one hand, collected the gas can...

~

"Emma stood beside the empty gas can, eyes locked on him, red hair sticking out. “Dammit to hell,” he bellowed, “where’s the other one?” There she was, head poked out the passenger window, staring at him, pigtails waving in the breeze. “Damn kids. I told you to stay down. If you don’t, I’m gonna burn you up, just like I did her!”

~~~

Dance on His Grave

By Sylvia Dickey Smith

Here's another author I had not previously read, with a new character and series you're going to love! Sid Smart...I like the name...Her name fits her...now...but it didn't during the years she was married...to a dominating man who was "head of the house" in all ways...  She finally got Smart and began proceedings for a divorce... And became the gossip of the town...

That wasn't bad enough, though, she had recently lost her brother in a car accident. He had left her his business  which she planned on selling. There was no way she could picture herself as a Private Investigator! Her previous experience as a subordinate preacher's wife sure wouldn't help, she knew that!

But she surprised herself after a young girl, who had recently become a client of her brother, came to see her and wanted "her" to continue the case! She even tried to give the case to another PI in town, who immediately talked her into keeping it and coming to work for him, so that she could ultimately get her license...

Get the idea why we might call her a wimp at that point???

I became a Christian in my teens after having been attending church from birth--my mother had 4 kids and they were all there every time the door opened...Church was a wonderful family place when we were growing up...not so much these days...

So I had to laugh when Sid started talking about her husband and how he treated her. In my teens, I had always thought it would be great to marry a preacher--I'd never have to confront the outside world, which, even then, I wasn't too sure about due to familial child abuse... It was only later that I realized that those who had inappropriately touched me were church members...

When Sid finally woke up, I thought, "I know that I'd have never lasted that long!" She had been married for 30? years

Now here she was talking with a young girl who was remembering from her childhood and was fairly certain that her father had murdered a woman and then burned her in a fire!

Sid had no idea how to even begin to look at something like this...it could turn out to be a huge case!

http://campfirecowboyministries.com/the-promised-
land-parenting-teens-and-a-hooker-popsicle/*

One thing for sure, she certainly wasn’t going back to Kansas. Some Baptist preachers' wives might spend their whole lives totally happy, following along in the tight, narrow shadow of their husbands, but she wasn’t one of them. She’d spent thirty years in the deep, deadening rut of being the perfect, submissive, unambiguous preacher’s wife. Thirty years being pulled, stretched, molded like Play-Dough. Just thinking about it made her ill, literally nauseous. She slumped onto the hearth of a small fireplace and waited for the queasiness to pass, forcing herself to think of something different.
                                                                       ~
But, dear sweet brother, I don’t want to go there, she thought. She’d wither and die in a town like Orange, Texas. Besides, private detective wasn’t a suitable job for an ex-preacher’s wife, at least not one her age. Okay, what should she do? Sell the business? Burn the building to the ground? Or busy your butt learning the detective business! She had no idea where those words came from, but she quickly shoved them out of her brain. That was not an option! 
                                                                      ~
Immobilized, she watched the fire scorch the gilded edges of parchment and dance across the black leather binding. Within seconds, the gold-engraved Mrs. Samuel T. Smart melted into oblivion. Then she laughed. The perfect preacher’s wife who had never made enemies had suddenly joined the ranks of the imperfect, of the wicked. Someone was horribly angry with her. Whoever did this had also destroyed her kitchen, had made the threatening phone call. She headed back inside, collected a pitcher of water and doused the tiny fire.

~~~

I had noticed during my professional career that women have a hard time giving themselves credit...They say they've never had a job, or that they were only a wife... Yet, there are sooooo many skills that women in these roles have! So after Sid Smart accepted she was going to have to work at some thing as a newly divorced woman, she decided that, with the mentoring she had been promised, she'd try to help the two little girls who had seen their father murder a woman. But, she just applied her own logic, her own planning skills from her church activities and immediately began to get results. She was even willing to fly to Trinidad to make sure she interviewed the sister who had also been there that night...

It was funny that the younger girl could remember much more than her older sister. She had been three while her older sister was five when they had ridden with their Dad to burn up a house with a body in it... 

It's really understandable though, at least to me, since the 5-year-old was apparently old enough for her father to start abusing her...and worse... and she had much more trauma to try to live with... Jewell had been the one starting to remember, wanting to learn the truth. Emma had married and fled to Trinidad, afraid to stay in the U.S., where her father was now a town commissioner!

Fortunately the Police Chief and DA were good men and were willing to work with Sid, taking out old files and making contacts when necessary... They were both anxious to solve a cold case, especially when they learned who the girls' father was. They both agreed that they believed he was capable of murder...

But this case got bigger and bigger, and even overlapped into Sid taking on the possible murder of her brother! And she didn't back down with any of them!

Since the name of the book gives away what happens at the end, I hope you don't mind my celebrating with Jewell, Emma, Sid and the others who worked on the case! Too bad he lasted as long as he did!

"If someone today asked Sid what she thought of Roy Manly, she’d have an answer, but until a few months ago she’d never even heard his name. Neither did she know what he’d been doing in the early seventies while she made babies and baked casseroles for potluck dinners at the church. Now, she stood beside his casket. His daughters— Jewell and Emma— stood on either side of her. Rahim and Andrine stood behind them...
"There had been no wake. There had been no viewing. No minister held a Bible or said a prayer or sang a hymn. Sad, Sid thought, then decided the only song appropriate would have been Martina McBride’s “This One’s for the Girls.” [at least the title!] Jewell snatched a clump of the thick wet dirt with one hand, and brushed a tear off her face with the other. Then she stepped forward. Her shoulders shook. The humidity frizzed her naturally curly hair. Her hazel eyes stared straight ahead. Slowly, almost zombie-like, Jewell’s arm rose out over the casket. She held the pose, palm down, for at least thirty seconds. Sid counted. No one moved or said a word. Finally, her fingers opened as if in slow motion, and the clod of dirt plopped heavily on the wooden box. It sounded hollow as it hit. As she stepped back to reform the threesome, Jewell glanced at Sid, then at Emma. Jewell’s lips, turned up at the corners, did not match her empty eyes...
"Sid held her breath. It seemed that the earth waited too. Her eyes burned from too many tears shed in the last few days: tears not for Roy, but for Jewell and Emma, for Nancy and Ethel Elaine, for herself, and for women everywhere who suffered abuse from men. Never again will I be silent. Emma slipped out of her shoes and with Jose Cuervo in hand, crawled and slid her way up to the top of the mounded dirt on the grave. The mud clumped on her feet and squished between her toes. It splashed on her bare legs and the hem of her skirt, but she paid it no mind. Her arms rose out to her sides and her head fell back, skyward. A rhythm must have played deep in her soul because a movement started at her feet. They squished in the mud, faster and faster. Sid saw the clench of her jaw and the tension in her shoulders. For an instant, Sid shut her eyes, and tried to shut out the pain. She felt like an intruder, watching Emma. But not watching made her feel complicit with the demons, so she forced her chin off her chest and dragged her eyelids open. When she did, she saw Emma’s jaw relax as she swayed to music that only Emma could hear. The energy in the air around them shifted. Exhausted, but safe for the first time in her life, Emma tipped the bottle up to her lips and swigged the tequila to the last drop...
~~~

You're going to enjoy this suspense thriller! The bad guy is super bad so it's easy to hate him... The two girls are so sympathetic, but brave as they struggle to bring truth into their lives... And I love Sid Smart who woke up after 30 years and became my kind of female hero! You go girl!

And here's to you as well Sylvia Dickey Smith! Thanks for this wonderful creation of yours! Some of you may think this is a must-read if you care about child sexual abuse. Support this type of writer whenever you can--it's the thing to do to fight the violence in this world...Just my personal opinion, of course!

She's right you know, Sylvia Smith's first novel in this series if fun, sassy, and "damn" good reads...


GABixlerReviews

My name is Sylvia Dickey Smith. I was born in Orange, Texas, and grew up in a colorful Scots-Irish family living in the midst of a Cajun culture. When 34, my curiosity about the world took on a whole new dimension when I moved to the Caribbean island nation of Trinidad & Tobago. Awed by the differences in customs and cultures, particularly as they related to West Indian women, set me on a journey of study and self-discovery.

Back in the U.S. at 40, I started college and didn't stop until I achieved a B.A. in sociology with a concentration in women's studies and a master's in counseling.

An advocate for women, my writing features those who recreate themselves into the people they want to be, strong women who take charge of their lives and get things done. (If you've met Sidra Smart or Bea Meade, you know what I mean.)

The stories dwell on the wondrous twists and turns of human behavior rooted in my background as a counselor before I became a novelist. The tales are fun, sassy, and (according to my fans) darn good reads. I hope you like these kind of books, too! I look forward to adding you as a fan.


Personal Note to "WorsePreacher'sWifeEver...I just had to use your pic for our new Sid...I tried to open/read your blog but couldn't seem to get it cleared to open...But reading the titles, I just knew your wouldn't mind...