Travel to Lesotho, Africa, In L. A. Forbes Tales of Deceit...

By 7:00 the next morning, the seven thousand foot valley was already flooded in sunlight, everything freshened from yesterday's downpour. Before leaving for school, Lucy checked up on her older brother Thabo, who was recuperating in another rondavel on their compound. She smelled dagga. His sudden appearance back in Malikeng last year was traumatic for Lucy and her sister, Grace. Barely recognizable, Thabo stubbornly resisted going to the medical clinic until the local sangoma said there was nothing more she could do. Now he had the equivalent of a small pharmacy of meds to take, and smoking dagga made it easier to cope.
Raised garden beds of carrots, beans, chard, mustard, tomatoes and squash, plus ripening peach trees, filled the fenced-in property. Lucy's prized spiral aloe, transplanted long ago to her rondavel garden, just finished its long bloom, signalling a new year.
Lucy came back to Malikeng, her natal village, three years ago after completing university and student teaching in Maseru, the capital of Lesotho. She thought city kids were disrespectful and unruly, and Maseru was hectic and noisy. Her students in Malikeng came from four local villages in the remote Lesotho mountain valley. For the most part, they were polite and well behaved.
~~~

Spiral Aloe: 

 Deceit in Lesotho

 Africa's Mountain Kingdom

By L. A. Forbes

Sarah had come to Africa as a volunteer in the Peace Corps, but it had been mainly because she had become restless after a breakup with her boyfriend as well as weary of her her public health work... She had never heard of Lesotho as, I am sure, many of us had not.

The young women grabbed their notebooks and
 chalk and went to their classrooms.
The public school was a four room,
one-story, concrete-block building on a hectare
 of land. There was no electricity, just lots
of north-facing windows. Gravity-fed,
piped-in mountain water was more than enough
 for the students, kitchen, orchard and vegetable
 gardens. It was a dramatic setting. The surrounding
 Drakensberg mountains, which extended through Lesotho
 and South Africa, reached ten thousand feet around
 the valley and were emerald green in summer.
Upper slopes were covered with reeds, ericas (heathers),
 proteas, succulents and wild flowers. The valley floor
was loosely divided into four villages, surrounded by
 intensely farmed fields of maize, beans and millet.
Some fields extended up the mountain slopes. Land
 ownership was privately held and passed down
 through families, rarely changing hands.
Their school went through grade nine.
~~~

As you can see from the pictures, it is a beautiful country, although with few conveniences. She had left her Albuquerque home because it was getting too big--quite a change though, wasn't it?

She would be helping {in a small fictional town much like those there} with an AIDS education program, but had little experience in preparing for such an activity...But the people she met were all very friendly, especially Lucy and others teachers with whom she would be working.

I found it interesting that the secrecy and unwillingness to face AIDS was just as prominent there as it was in the U.S. For me, my thoughts was that because it was so prominent in the world that everybody should be anxious to learn what to do... Because it was so closely aligned with sexuality, however, part of the issue was racially concerned, thinking that any help would require abstinence and thus fewer births, a desire of white people...

Sarah spent much time just getting to know the people in her location and then began to travel to other villages, so that soon she was known and recognized and somewhat accepted.

She had taken the time when she first got there to have a local woman teach her the language beyond what she had already learned through the Corps' program. Lucy had chosen a well-known woman who also made the joala, a local beer, for the small bar that they had built next to their home...

Sarah found that the children were very anxious to interaction with her, especially when they visited her in her home, a rondavel that had been provided by the leader of the tribe where she was staying...

They were amazed that she would have the place for just herself, so many immediately volunteers to live with her, which she had to nicely refuse...but she soon had to be involved with them in all aspects of living within the village and she delighted to getting to know everybody...

I want to stop here and point out that the author did live and work in the area and still lives in the country. To me, this was an important part of reading and absorbing the story line. In my opinion, you see, the tales of deceit are hidden within the story which is written almost like a folk tale that is past down through the generations. It is about the lives of the people living in the area and there was, for me, an underlying attitude picked up by the author, somewhat like it would have been presented to her as she was settling in to work...

You see, the deceit is not what we in the United States might think of as we consider the word...

It is about doing what you have to do to keep on living!

Death and dying are accepted as a natural part of that living. Those who had been involved sexually with others did not normally think about using a condom to prevent AIDS. If the woman didn't mind whether she got pregnant, then requiring a condom seemed an interference in their lovemaking... There are two young men in the book--one was a player, one was just a guy who was away from home and lonely, with little to do... Readers get to know both very well. Thabo has been diagnosed, but he came home and with help has been on medication and is doing better. Thabo after talking with Sarah and his family, decided to help with the prevention program, being willing to honestly share with them about what he had and was now going through.

Growing and selling daga was done by many of those who had the land. Regular planting would occur, but then, the dagga, marijuana, which grew well in the area, was planted in between the other rows. There were mining jobs in other parts of the country, but this required that the men be far away from home and their families for long periods of time. Allowing daga to be planted on their property and getting a portion of the profits was a small deceit, I am sure, for many who needed to be home and were willing to take the risk...

Toby was the main man dealing with those who purchased the dagga. But he was also a player, going after as many females as he wanted, even getting at least one pregnant and merely telling her to have it aborted. That she didn't then became only her problem. He thought about helping her financially, but never got around to it. He was a busy man who had recently bought a hot vehicle and was routinely offering to help people, using it for delivering supplies to the schools for instance. The teachers were grateful since their previous loads never came or were never completely filled...due to the taxi drivers... They were not making as much now since these special jobs had "paid better..."

Many of the town's men spent much time and money at the local bar but nobody but the one who made this brew knew it was a "special" recipe, which helped bring the men back! On the other hand, it was the same woman who collected herbs and other materials used in place of medicines, such as the Spiral Aloe, hidden now, to allow growth, because the men had sold off most of what was found in the hills...

        Aloe Polyphylla, or Spiral Aloe, grows in the wild above 2000 meters (6600 feet) in the mountains of Lesotho in southern Africa. Spiral arrangements of leaves can be counter- or clockwise. It's often covered in snow in winter. Considered endangered. This gem, which thrives in harsh mountainous terrain, is a perfect metaphor for the hardy Basotho, the people of Lesotho. 

Many of us routinely deceive in small or large ways. Toby, for instance, had not been willing to be tested, so that when his girlfriend got pregnant and they found her to be infected, he was caught--even then he hadn't gone...

So when this book suddenly closed, it made perfect sense to me... A man had died in an accident; neighbors were happy that it hadn't been one of the buses or taxis with many people... When disease and death arrives from something as vital to life as our own sexuality, it forces many to make choices--some of them are deceitful... What would you do? There are "real" examples within this short story. What would you do if you needed money to buy food or educate your children?

L. A. Forbes gives readers much to consider. Some people in America have similar situations...Do you try to help or call the law on those who cannot make enough for food for their children?

Thanks to the author for sharing about the lives of those living in Lesotho and other similar villages in Africa...Individuals interested in travel, world events, or personal life drama should consider this one!




GABixlerReviews

About this author

I've had a peripatetic existence, by choice. I grew up in Montana, graduated from UW, Seattle in archeology and worked in The Philippines with Asian ceramics dating from the 10th to 19th centuries. From there I traveled independently to Tibet, China, Burma and Vietnam, often seeing places just opened to foreigners.

Next chapter was in southern Utah starting and running a successful business in Moab for seven years. I still love the Colorado Plateau area. From the southwest my husband and I moved to Lesotho, southern Africa and taught small business and HIV/AIDS prevention for two years. We've travelled into Zambia, Mozambique, Botswana, Namibia and all over South Africa.

I've resided in South Africa since 2004. I teach ESL (Cambridge CELTA certificate) and maths, working mostly with rural schools. The intense politics and disparities, coupled with stunning people, make RSA an amazing place to live.

I self-published "Spiral Aloe: Deceit in Lesotho, Africa's Mountain Kingdom", a work of fiction about that beautiful country.

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The Point by William E. Jefferson: Is It A Place, A Reality, Or Just The Word...

Tiptoe

Introducing Tiptoe from The Point! 

Tiptoe lives in the barnyard on the Isle of Estillyen.

 The mother of several litters, Tiptoe is

 known for her stealth like mouse catching skills.

Tiptoe’s début is Chapter 11, titled – 

‘Speaker’s House and Destiny’. 

You might be surprised to discover Tiptoe looks

 after a frightened little pig named Spook. 

There is, I must say, a certain resemblance

with Grizabella from the musical CATS.
~~~

The Point:

The Redemption of 

  Oban Ironbout

By William E. Jefferson

Pictures to Complement Review

From 

The Isle of Estillyen

And, of course, Tiptoe had to be first...

I spent well over a week reading The Point. It was suggested...

But The Word Demanded It...While The Third Gently Whispered...

Sometimes the Blurb of a book does not even hint at the magnitude of impact that a book may make to readers. With a subtitle of The Redemption of Oban Ironbout, I was prepared to be told a story about a man...

Well, actually, I was--but it wasn't about Ironbout so much...

This book is about Jesus...You may know Him as the Son of God...

Those on the Isle of Estillyen have taken the time to know Him very well! In fact, you will be seeing the miraculous in relation to this man...Take, for instance, Mr. Kind...

"On Estillyen, the whole idea is about stilling, contemplation, reflection.
Those message makers are very much a mind of mission, they are> They
see words from ancient paths as pillars for the present, like you were saying
about your grandfather. Likely, your grandfather got the idea at Estillyen.
"What most folks don't know is that those message makers come onto the
mainland every six months and spend an entire week just listening and
observing. They discover what messages are floating around, filling the
atmosphere.
"Strange in one way, but not in another. Lots of people are strange, I suppose.
I'm strange, I suppose. The monks spend an entire week on a kind of
message retreat, exchanging what they see and hear..."
~~~

He met Hollie and Goodwin as they reached and started in to Estillyen... You know, even now, after I've spent time on Estillyen, with the Monks, Hollie, Goodwin and all the others, I'm still not sure whether it's real...

History does record an Order of Monks as early as 1637 and I've seen photos of buildings talked about in the book...

But is there possibly--really--a place like Estillyen on this earth and in this time? I don't know, but I know I visited there during the last week...

And, the time that Mr. Ironbout had his accident, I became so agitated because when I turned the page, the story was continuing on! Well, yes, life does go on in the real life, but by that time, I was ready to have Goodwin right up there at The Point...or I figured that Trip might be brave enough to go down to the town and bring somebody back...

"They have a knack for sticking words together in ways
they don't normally run, to help you see things you
don't normally see. They make their words thought
wrappers. Yeah, I believe that's how they say it.
Thoughts are invisible. They need visibility to be
transferred. They need apparel. They have to be wrapped
in words..."

But it was impossible to consider that Oban Otto would have to spend the night under that old "appendage..." Even now, tears come to my eyes in worry...

But I'm getting ahead of myself, forgive me... Needless to say, William E. Jefferson has a gift in creating characters that become so real that you are caught in their lives immediately!

What is fascinating about the book though, is The Word--or the Words that talk, explore and meander about The Word...

Confusing? Plan on being extremely confused if you don't pay attention in Estillyen! There, I can see I'm going to have to show you, so, along with a picture or two, I'll spotlight some of my favorite of those poetic words!

First though, let me highlight that most of the book is about attending "Readings." Think of it as something like a play in which both the actors and audience will participate.

Now, I was really thrown when the Devil was included in these readings. Hey, ever since I was a little girl, I refused to even acknowledge that guy by name! Remember that old children's song, I'm Going to Let It Shine? Wellll, I would never sing the third verse! You see, that name that I will not name is a name that I refused to say so that that name would never become a person to me--it was a name, just a word, a word not a name, because a word can't be a name if the word doesn't mean the name... And it can't be a name if you refuse to name that word... Why, I almost refused to share a quote from that which is not to be named... Hmmmm, I think a couple of the monks have got me talking like them! Fun, isn't it?!

"What Word sneezed on his disciples in private, they are to cough from the rooftops. The Third even came streaming down and set fire on the heads of a whole group of fleshies. The third is supposed to help the Word's core band to remember everything the Word taught 'em."

"This is the deal. Listen! This is Lucifer speaking. The Word is the center of this whole trumped-up enterprise. He's the one who is supposed to be remembered. It's the Word's words the Third is to bring to remembrance. It all revolved around the Word. Anyone who is for the Word is against us.

"So, what do we do! We do anything and everything that is possible to undermine the Word's words. With me, the impossible does not exist. I've never seen it; I don't know it.

~~~

"Hi, my name is Epic. or Narrative, or Story...or any other word that relates to telling a message..."

"The present is history's living patch, abiding between the future and the past. The present has paths to both, but is owned by neither. The present daily reaches, stretching for the future, yet with each passing hour it surrenders and slips into the past. Each forward grasp is matched by what must be released. The past, with a force unstoppable, gobbles at the present, pulling in those words no longer to be heard.

"There are, however, words of exception. Though swept into the past's vast repository of was, they do not sink. Instead, they float like buoyant byoys, calling, reminding, warning. Words of exception they are, ringing out with meaning, beauty, and provocation. Such words have a knack, a way of reemerging in the present sphere. Although into the past they've truly swept, they can't be held or smothered away. They keep casting lines that draw them back into present time.

"History records notable figures who have managed this remarkable feat of casting lines that speak out in time. There is one figure, however, whose words and lines are so incredible that the present daily plies them to chart its future course. Like ocean waves, His words wash upon the shores, filtering eternal truths through present's sandy beaches..."

~~~

The basic story line is that Goodwin and Hollie have come here for personal time to ponder, to think, especially about Hollie's recent health diagnosis. Goodwin's grandfather had talked so much about the place and the man, Mr. Ironbout, that Goodwin had drawn a picture of his home. Years have past and still the house has haunted Goodwin with a need to see it himself. But Mr. Ironbout has since lost his family, all of his sheep and has turned against the outside world, having only dogs for company. The nuns and Monks and other neighbors have attempted to bring him back into the community but have been turned away, even with things thrown at them to get them to leave!

His home, however, is on The Point, a place so beautiful that there has been a hope to allow the property to be used by those that come to Estillyen for retreats. Nobody has gotten through...except Goodwin...and then Hollie. This in itself is a beautiful story. Is it the centerpiece of the book? Perhaps, Perhaps not. It depends upon how you read the remainder, the majority of the book...

There is something about Estillyen that is like coming home--sitting in a chair that has "the chips and nicks of your life" or perhaps even from when your grandparents or great-grandparents lived. There is a feeling of welcome, love, and closeness...perhaps you felt it a long time ago, when you first heard The Word. But it has slipped into your past life, forgotten, or been purposefully neglected...

As you start to read, perhaps you felt that you were at the beginning of a long walk. Yes, that's how I felt, and so I did take the time to read and get involved with each reading, that begins right at the beginning when the guy who will remain nameless for me, first started to talk to Adam and Eve...Then to Jesus in the wilderness, to Moses... there is much discussed and the last reading is just for you to read...

The sun has set at Estillyen, but all the characters, including One the one-legged duck and other animals, the Monks, the Nuns and all the town people. Mr. Kind even showed up at the end and sent his cane to Mr. Ironbout...I told you he had an accident and really needed it...but I don't want to go through that horrible time again. Trip did help, by the way, because he cleaned out the wound and helped it heal much more rapidly...

Myself, I would love to travel to Estillyen, again and again. Where is it? Well, I leave it up to The Third to remind me daily... Sometimes it's In the Garden, or On a Hill Far Away where An old Rugged Cross Stood...

I never know where The Third will take me...today it was to Estillyen... Are you coming?

GABixlerReviews

William Jefferson, founder of Port Estillyen Productions and author of the breakthrough new novel, The Point - The Redemption of Oban Ironbout, has spent his professional career advancing Scripture mission programs through diverse forms of media. After 25 years of strategic leadership on behalf of well-known Bible societies and evangelizing organizations, Jefferson is uniquely positioned to present Scripture's ancient truths, in a modern context of media and culture.

Prior to authoring 'The Point', Jefferson helped to structure and implement global initiatives and programs for prominent organizations such as the American Bible Society, United Bible Societies, the International Bible Society (Biblica), and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. He holds an M.Th. in Theology and Media from the University of Edinburgh and an M.A. in Communications from Wheaton Graduate School.

With his novel, The Point - The Redemption of Oban Ironbout, Jefferson shares much of the wisdom that he has gleaned during his career: that words matter, that every human being has innate worth, and that Christ alone is the perfect union of Medium and Message.

William Jefferson's preferred title is simply "Message Maker." He writes from his rural home in the Ozarks, where he lives with his wife, Lois, and Border collie, Archie.Related articles

• Review of The Point: The Redemption of Oban Ironbout by William E. Jefferson
• Some of You Will Love This Book

Outstanding Epic Black History Novel By Lyndsay Faye Tells of Free Blacks Kidnapped Into Slavery, New NYC Police's Beginning, Irish Potato Famine

"Men may write fictions portraying lowly life as it is, or as if is not--may expatiate with owlish gravity upon the bliss of ignorance--discourse flippantly from armchairs of the pleasures of slave life; but let them toil with him in the field--sleep with him in the cabin--feed with him on husks; let them behold him scourged, hunted, trampled on, and they will come back with another story in their mouths.
--Solomon Northup, Twelve Years a Slave, 1853
~~~

Seven For A Secret
To be Published in September; quotes from ARC

By Lyndsay Faye

"New Yorkers enjoy being told what to do about as much as we
enjoy a plummeting stock market. And thanks to the Fugitive
Slave Act of 1793, we're required to hand runaways over to
Southern slave agents as if we're returning a spooked
thoroughbred. In 1840, a shockingly moral Albany law granted
alleged fugitives in New York State the right to a jury trial.
And in 1842, Prigg v. Pennsylvania nationally revoked the
right of any colored fugitive to a jury trial. Thus, in 1846, up is
down and straight is crooked and black is blacker than black
has ever been. Right and wrong are left suffocating, beached
fish in a barren legislative no-man's-land.
"It's all so illogical that every man does pretty much as he
pleases. And that was my plan, as Lucy Adams rapped carefully
in three sets of two upon her lightly snow-banked front door
before turning her key in the lock.
"To do as I pleased..."
"Three men rose to greet us. All of them black and one of
them known to me.
"You've found him, then," my friend Julius Carpenter said to
Mrs. Adams, shaking my hand. "How are you, Timothy?"
..."If it was a shock to see him, at least it was a
pleasurable one..."
~~~

I am constantly amazed but, more, chagrined when I read the atrocities of whites onto blacks...especially when well documented, yet unknown, by the majority of Americans! Sure, this novel takes place exactly 100 years before the year I was born, but somehow the reality of the depths of cruelty never filters into "common knowledge..."

Like it is today...in news form everywhere! While I must agree with Solomon Northup, in his quote above, I do think that fiction writers today are more accurately portraying what happened historically. Kudos to the author for her series on "heroes..." which features one of the first "copper star" detectives under the newly appointed Chief of Police George Washington Matsell in New York City...

I need to mention also the beautiful literary writing of the author, which includes quotes such as above, at the beginning of each chapter. Additionally, insofar as possible, she has used actual names which certainly helps to allow the novel to be placed, in my opinion, in the Black History libraries across America, even while it stands as an outstanding, extraordinary mystery novel which will captivate you from the beginning to the "Historical Afterword" included at the end. There also is a small glossary at the beginning of "Flash Terminology" from The Secret Language of Crime by G. W. Matsell, 1859, which is used throughout the book, showing the slang used at that time.

"The tin cup fell to the floor with a light clatter
as she covered her face with her hands. Her
shoulders trembled in concert with her breathing,
ripples over the crests of shallow waves.
"Have you searched--" Mr. Piest began.
"I need you, Mr. Wilde," she said, looking up at
me fiercely.
"My showing at comprehension was already landing
at about nil, but I'll admit that staggered me.
"Why do you say so?"
"I know who you are and I know what you've done.
You must help me."
"My lips parted to say Of course I will. But they
were a fair distance from my cartwheeling brain.
I hadn't the slightest idea of what she was talking
about.
"They steal people." Tears filled her eyes, a
tincture of misery and rage..."
~~~

"Timothy Wilde, copper star badge number 107  and defender of whomever I damn well pleased," was a good cop. Some of the characters are, I am sure, from the first in the series, which I want to read, since Timothy has undoubtedly been changed somewhat by the past. He is stubborn, persistent, almost obsessive-compulsive, if that diagnosis had been known back then. But he makes promises that he sometimes can't keep...

Like it was with Lucy Adams...

He had told her, "Just tell it to me like a story, and I'll fix this..."

She had come to report a theft...of her family... Specifically, her sister and son had been taken. She knew who had taken them, of course, since she had also been taken in her past!

Timothy is also "that rarest of deviants" in the City "who feels about politics the way most men feel about scraping pig dung off their boots. I'm going to allow readers the pleasure (or pain) of discovering how politics plays in this story...Let me just say that it was not any different than it is now, I am sure...

Timothy had not even realized that Lucy was black--what he did know was that she was beautiful. But her race would not have mattered anyway--like I said he's a good cop. And he's also a good man... That's important because when you meet his brother, who is a captain in the police, you'll immediately worry whether Timothy is going to be able to be effective with Valentine as his brother! I loved the interplay between the two, especially regarding politics since Val was completely involved with his party and placed its needs in decisions he made related to his job. Of course, especially at that time, they had to, since the formal police structure had just been formed and could just as easily be eliminated--by politicians...

http://www.understandingrace.org/history/society/famine_irish_race.html

At this same time, well over 1M Irish were coming to America due to the potato famine. Two things affected this story: The criminally minded from Ireland came too... The politicians were quick to realize that these were potential voters and they began a systematic financial support for them--not a bad thing for the Irish, but...

I found that a NY Madam made an interesting character, especially since she was involved politically as both a contributor and a power player. Needless to say, I hated her as a woman...LOL

"No grand inquest has for years
had the courage or virtue to find
a bill of indictment against a
kidnapper, however plain and
undeniable the proof of his guilt.
--James G. Birney, 1842http://www.primaryresearch.org/

Timothy and Val had found the sister and son who had been taken by slave agents and given them refuge only to find Lucy dead in Val's bed and her sister and son gone again. The complexity of this whodunit is marvelously explored as Timothy takes each event and molds it into possible scenarios. He becomes involved with the Committee for Vigilance, which included a long-time friend with whom Timothy worked for many years. They were most involved in the prevention of Free Black citizens from being kidnapped and accused of being runaway slaves! But some were also involved with activities of the Underground Railroad.

The complexity of this novel is what keeps readers' attention! Just when we mystery lovers are on the scent, we are confronted with an entirely new political or criminal issue with the normal police actions taking place. Timothy is so engrossed in fulfilling his promise that he disrupts court proceedings, is involved with the murder of another Copper Star, as well as being forced to attend a political function, dressed up in clothes bought for the occasion by his brother...and then being kidnapped himself and taken, beaten, and sentenced to death by a small group of politicos!

Only a female author, it seems to me, would take the time to include romantic (not sexual issues which are there!) involvement by Timothy and to close out the novel bringing us lightly back into a happier frame of mind from the depths of anguish this novel generates! Thank you, Lyndsay Faye, for allowing us to become so intimately involved with Timothy...he was, indeed, a good man...

History lovers - A must read for you! Mystery lovers--the same! People who care--you got it, the Same!


GABixlerReviews

Lyndsay Faye is the author of critically acclaimed Dust and Shadow and The Gods of Gotham, which was nominated by the Edgars for Best Novel—if you were to ask her, she would say she writes hero stories. Faye, a true New Yorker in the sense she was born elsewhere, lives in Manhattan with her husband, Gabriel.




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Helen Fanick Moon Mystery Series Takes Cozy Lovers to West Virginia!

We went to the lobby, where Ivy was talking on the phone. On the east side of the lobby, a brick fireplace stands against the wall. Facing the front of the hotel, two newly-upholstered chairs flank the fireplace. Opposite them, a couch covered in the same dark green fabric stands. A round coffee table sits between. A tall man who was dressed in jeans and a tweed jacket was seated on one of the chairs, and he looked up as we came in. It was impossible not to notice that, even though he looked to be in his sixties, he was incredibly attractive. He had green eyes like Stefan’s and dark hair with just enough unruly curl to give him a roguish appearance. We approached the couch to wait for Ivy to finish on the phone, and he gave us a smile that indicated he was delighted to meet not just one, but two women. “Ladies,” he said, as he got up with a little nod and shook hands with both of us. “We’re Maggie’s aunts,” Andrea said. “I’m Andrea Flynn, and this is my sister, Kathleen Williamson.” “I’m Laszlo Novacek, Stefan’s uncle.”

~

“Certainly. You can ride with me. I have a rental car. Stefan and Maggie can go with Franz and Erika.” I wasn’t so sure I wanted to ride with the suave Laszlo Novacek. In spite of his good looks, or maybe because of them, he was a mite too suave for me. I didn’t want to rock the boat, however, so I didn’t say anything."

~~~

"Leaders Den in WV Filling in for Fictional Alpenhof Hotel

"Grandma Flynn believed in living life according to the signs of the moon, and she taught my sister Andrea and me everything she knew. Andrea, being a natural skeptic, never believed a word of Grandma Flynn’s wisdom, but I’ve always been sure she was right. The dark of the moon is a time of trouble. The waning half moon means turmoil and disaster, and the waxing half moon means change, but sometimes a positive change can occur in that phase. The twenty-four hours surrounding the full moon are when good luck flourishes; we experience harmony, peace, and good fortune. That’s why it’s so hard to understand what happened on the night of the full moon, that last Saturday in June, the night of the wedding. 
"Ivy McGee and I talked my niece Maggie into getting married that particular Saturday evening rather than some other date in June. Ivy works at the Alpenhof Hotel in West Virginia’s Canaan Valley, and Maggie works there, too. In addition to that, Maggie’s engaged to the owner of the hotel, Stefan Novacek. Ivy believes in living by the signs of the moon, just as I do, so when Maggie told us in January that she and Stefan were getting married the following June, we immediately checked the calendar and found there was a full moon on the last Saturday of that month. It seemed like the perfect time for a wedding. 

Moonlight Mayhem:

A Moon Mystery Novel

By Helen Haught Fanick

Living in or near neighboring state West Virginia for all my life, I thoroughly enjoyed visiting some of the attractions via Moonlight Mayhem, the second book in this cozy mystery series. Although the main site necessarily had to be fictional, many of the vacation spots in the southern part of the state were visited by the characters during their stay!

For the wedding! 

The book's narrator is Kathleen, an aunt of the bride. She and her sister Andrea are the last two relatives of Maggie so they are close. Stefan's family, though, all come from Europe but his parents, his uncle Lazlo and another uncle and his family all have come! Other guests are mostly friends of the couple, but Uncle Lazlo had a friend join him there and neighbors and employees of the Hotel, including an old admirer of Stefan's resulted in the wedding group taking over the entire Hotel! Some even slept on cots in an unfinished attic, but everybody was happy, excited for the two in love, plus planning to have a short vacation.

The wedding went beautifully and the happy couple soon left for their honeymoon...

Soon after, the first murder occurred...

Andrea is the super sleuth, while Kathleen follows behind and adds ideas once something is planned. Of course, the local police are involved, but a gabby young officer who has known the two sisters enjoys sharing...seems he has grown to trust them...

Besides being onsite plus having the keys allows the sisters to start searching for clues...

Especially since Uncle Lazlo had been murdered in his bed and there had been evidence a companion was with him. Immediately, all the females were suspect!

But as is always the case, family secrets and disagreements come out at a time like this, so the sisters considered everybody, except the three staff members, as suspects! And then Lazlo's partner came when he'd heard about his death...only to be shot soon thereafter! Wow!

 Of course, readers will know that when you attend a wedding set in wooded areas, you are going to be doing a lot of eating, hiking, touring and that's exactly why you'll be visiting, for instance, Blackwater Falls, Canaan Valley Resort and more...

If you haven't visited West Virginia, my second home when I worked for the University, and traveled much across the State, let me assure you that it is a beautiful state where you can go, relax, and enjoy being out where the trees grow...Can't beat it, except maybe for my cabin hiding in 13 acres of forest! Why not plan to visit there sometime...If you want something a little ritzy try the Greenbrier! Myself, I enjoy going out where the scenes include natural water displays like the Falls. I've also enjoyed visiting at the Canaan Valley Resort and can recommend it as well...

Plan on taking Moonlight Mayhem with you! BTW, I don't know anything about this moon "stuff" that Kathleen and Ivy goes by...I'll just point out that the wedding did go well, even though there was murder that brought the newly wedded back home after only a week...but they seemed happy and went right back to being hospitable like the other people you'll find at WV attractions.

This novel was light on character development of suspects, especially,  with too many eating breaks, little challenge for mystery buffs. On the other hand, I did enjoy the two sisters--they reminded me of my sister, Dee, and me... except that the characteristics included were all jumbled up! I'll let you figure out which of Andrea and of Kathleen I would claim...you can choose at least one of them...and probably two! LOL

Cozy readers--check this one out and visit WV through this book, or better yet, in Wild Wonderful West Virginia!

GABixlerReviews

About this author

Helen Fanick’s short stories have appeared in Women’s Household, Midnight Zoo, Vermont Ink, and in various anthologies. Ten of her short stories are available in Spring Decision. Her articles and photos have been published in Texas Observer, Stepping Stones, and other periodicals. Her poem, Leaf Fall, was published in Nature’s Gifts, an anthology to benefit The Nature Conservancy. She has won several local and state awards, and two national awards in the Writer’s Digest Competition. Helen is a graduate of The University of Texas at San Antonio with a degree in English and lives in San Antonio with her husband. 

Her traditional mysteries in the Moon Mystery Series, Moon Signs and Moonlight Mayhem, are available on Amazon. Three short stories featuring the characters in the Moon Mystery Series are available as Bad Moon Rising. Her suspense novels, Saving Susie and City Life, were published earlier this year. 

Lorne Oliver's Debut Graphically Violent But Wonderfully Suspenseful...

Drip, drip.
I can hear something somewhere ahead.   Drip.   I walk down an old road.   The last time a truck may have come down here was last autumn.   It‘s spring now and the snow is gone.   Below my feet is last year’s grass folded down from the pressure of the snow like a spongy carpet.   My shoes are wet.   A chill crawls up my legs inside my pants until it reaches my groin, passes to my spine and makes me shiver. Drip, drip. I can’t hear anything else but that one noise.
  Drip.
There are no birds in the trees.   Grey trees, still bare from the winter with boney fingers reaching up and out, line both sides of the road.   The branches move in the wind, but I can’t hear them scraping against each other.   The dead leaves, still in the high branches, don’t rustle.   Every time my feet touch the ground there is a soft swish, more like a remembered sound, and then nothing.   All I can feel is the cold dancing on my skin and what is inside me, fear.   The wind does not touch my cheek.   The cold is inside me.   With that is fear.   The fear makes me want to look behind myself.   My head won’t turn.
Drip. I see the sound before I hear it.   A red drop of blood hits a small pool in the grass erupting minute drops of red in every direction.   Drip.
I stop walking.   I can’t breathe anymore.   My lungs feel like someone is squeezing them closed.   My eyes move up.   Two feet off the ground, a red drop of blood stops on the end of a blue polished toenail.   It engorges itself, grows pregnant, and then drops.
Drip. One foot is over the other like hands praying.
Rivulets of red run down her legs switching direction off hairs and stubble.   How could this happen to you?   Chloe.
Why you Chloe? Drip, drip. The wind makes her twist.
My eyes slowly travel the red streams up her legs, first over her firm calf muscles and then around the boney knee and onto her thigh.
What happened to you Chloe?
“Reid, wake up.   The phone is for you.”
!!!

Red Island

By Lorne Oliver

Beware! Graphically Violent...  But a truly remarkable suspense mystery... 

I've given warning, so don't buy this book and give it a low rating because it is violent.  Readers who buy it will quickly forget (I mean it!) about the violence because the suspense will be killing you....

The novel starts with the main character, Sgt Reid of the Royal Mounted Canadian Police having a dream...

About Chloe...

Another man is obsessed with Chloe! Throughout the novel, both men continuously think about Chloe. I wasn't sure they weren't the same man...

Instead of looking at the guide, Hillary pulses her thumb on the channel button stopping for a few seconds on each show to see what it is and if it’ll pique her interest for a few minutes.   You’re supposed to love the little habits people have.   According to the movies and books those little quirks are supposed to be what endear you to your partner.   This one pisses me off.   She usually pauses long enough on a show for me to start getting into it then moves on to whatever’s next.   She quickly passes over the shows I would watch like Crime Scene Investigation, Law & Order, and Criminal Minds.   She likes the infomercials, talk shows, and reality shows.   She finally stops on an episode of Sex and the City.   She turns the volume up a little and rolls onto her side.   After I leave she’ll probably fall asleep with the TV on. 
“You’re dreaming about crimes now?   I thought we moved to Prince Edward Island to get away from things like murder and death.   Aren’t we here so that Leigh’s daddy doesn’t get late night calls where he has to leave and comes home crying or drunk?   Or God forbid we get one of those calls that says, Daddy isn’t coming home.”  
 I can feel her brown eyes burning into my back. “Don’t start, Hillary.”
 “I’m going to start.   You said you wouldn’t get these late night calls.” “It’s one call.   I’ve had three calls in four months.   You know it is part of my job.   You’re getting mad over nothing.”
~~~

Reid and his family had moved to Prince Edward Island after a major case during which Sgt. Reid had killed a serial killer of children. He had no choice, but since they'd not had enough evidence, nobody was really sure, except Reid, that he killed the right man...even though the murders stopped.

Of course, procedure required that Reid spend time with a psychiatrist, but his wife Hillary was still not sure that he should have continued in RMCP, so Reid had let her believe that he would be more involved with administration in his new job, not on the streets. Which wasn't true...

But when the first body was found near Bloomington Beach, his boss called Reid immediately and assigned him as lead officer. He really didn't have much choice--there was nobody on the Island that had experience! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r18s_INRYzw

Reid really did not think he would have to be seeing multiple murders on what was now coined to be Red Island--with the Red Island Killer name for the murderer-- because the killer had contacted a newspaper reporter and said he wasn't stopping until the entire island was covered with blood...and he's be looking for more beautiful women soon, out on the beaches and other places where he could see their tattoos...

Then taking them to empty cabins or other housing used by those who came only during the summer...For his...work...

The Killer was very smart and knowledgeable about committing crimes and leaving no evidence. He'd been doing it since he was young and had killed raccoons and other predators on his grandfather's farm, not with a trap, but with a knife and his bare hands...Unfortunately that early positive feedback led him to believe there was no problem with his solving problems with death...especially when he got to school and he began to be physically attacked by bullies...and his mother would say only that he had to learn to stand up for himself....

Readers will move back and forth between the Killer's life and that of Reid, as he gets pulled back into the life of a serial killer who soon knows his name--and that of his family! This is the first in a series...so right now we don't know whether that bit of paranormal dreaming will continue; however, in this novel, the writer uses words from Reid's dream for both men...and it heightens the suspense and spookiness! Yikes!

I think this is a great debut...Reid is a man I'm looking forward to learning more about. I was not impressed with his wife; but am willing to give her a chance to see if she can learn to live with Reid as he is...if not, Reid will go looking even more. I hope she changes! Oliver does an outstanding job of creating the newspaper reporter who eggs on anybody and everybody to allow her to use their words against them! Highly recommended if you can deal with the violence...

GABixlerReviews

About the Author

Lorne Oliver was born and raised in the rural area outside of Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada.  It was the perfect place for him to grow up because his favorite thing to do was go hiking through the woods as often as he could with his dog Bullet at his side and a notebook in his backpack.  He first made the conscious decision to be a writer when he was ten and the school librarian asked if anyone knew any Canadian authors.  He put his hand up and the librarian said to come back when he was published.  Years later that same librarian came to the book launch of the first published anthology he was in.  It was not until June of 2012 that he published his first solo novel, Red Island.

Throughout his life the need and want to write was always there.  It was his saving grace.  It was not until the age of thirty that he settled on a career path and went for school to learn to cook.  Graduation was coming and his future wife asked, "where do you want to go?"  He decided on the east coast and Prince Edward Island.  Two days after graduation he was on a plane, two months later his wife and two children followed.  It was there in PEI that Lorne found the inspiration for Red Island.  His wife was interning with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police giving him access and opportunity to interview officers and see how they did things.

His writing style and focus changed many times throughout the years, but he always went back to the mystery genre.  He wants to show a sense of reality in his fiction whether it is through dialogue or true to life violence and circumstance.

When he's not writing or marketing his work he is usually watching something that has to do with the

mystery/suspense/thriller genres.  The rest of the time is spent with his family and four dogs having as much fun as they can.  His favorite thing to do is have new experiences.  "Every new experience from being involved in a car chase, standing up to a killer, climbing into a septic tank, or getting lost in the Rockies are all experiences that I can write about and give that sense of realism to the reader."