Friday, September 19, 2014

New Westerns for you to enjoy!

If you are a reader of western literature, you probably know that a good

westerns are hard to find. Well, here are a couple to consider reading!

The first is a real whopper of a read!  It is entitled, "Back Lands,” by Michael Mc Garrity. This is book two of the Kerney Family Trilogy. If you have read the Kevin Kerney crime novels by this author you will be ready to read his newest western. This historical fiction novel is set between the Great Depression and World War II. Kerney has moved back to his roots of the New Mexico back lands.  Emma Kerney has experienced sickness that she thought she’d die from.  Eight year old son, Matthew has been the one to do the chores, buy the groceries and keep things going. Emma hated to put this heavy burden on Matthew, but there was no choice. She had been dealing with two losses in her life: divorced from her husband and the death of her son CJ in WWI. These two circumstances would send any one’s life in a tail spin. Neighbors expected the worst, when one day she awoke and her energy and strength were back. She was not a destitute person; she had three rentals, eighty acres of pasture land near a river. She also owned two vacant commercial lots on Griggs Avenue in town. This is why she could survive through her illness. She is currently setting up a trust for her son. This way if anything ever happened to her, he’d be taken care of. She specifically wants her ex-husband to never get his hands on the trust. The story builds about the west and the young man, Matthew as he grows.  It is a true western. This book is a 503 page novel.  You will enjoy it. It reads easily and the story moves quickly.
The next book is a bit slimmer in the number of pages. It is only half the size of the previous one, at 245 pages. Author, John Nesbitt a Spur Award winning author has once again done a great job writing a novel, entitled “Across the Cheyenne River.”  Russ Archer, a native of Kansas, and Boot Beckett from Pueblo, Colorado are riding to the same place. They both hope to be hired on at the Bar M. They decide to ride together until they get there and then see what the circumstances are. Lidge Mercer of Bar M Ranch is hiring men to help him set up his ranch. He doesn’t just want cow hands, but men able to dig postholes, cutting lumber and anything else the boss thinks needs to be done. Things begin to turn dangerous on the ranch.  Archer thought he was hiring onto a safe, enjoyable ranch, but is not above figuring out the mysteries of the problem.  As all westerns have, a young beauty, Archer meets a young gal. Together they consider a life together in the future. 

Friday, September 5, 2014

Thinking about intrigue, suspense and action packed books!

A recently published novel with a whole lot of suspense is entitled, “Red Room,” by Ridley Pearson. This is book three of the Risk Agent series. The first chapter begins with two individuals, Alpha and Beta gaming a Turkish FedEx delivery man in a safe part of Istanbul.  One trips the FedEx man while the other swiftly but quickly enters the delivery van and switches medicine bound for the Florence Nightingale Hospital.  The undercover scam is successful. Protagonist John Knox enters center stage in the next chapter.  He has been summoned by none other than David Dulwich, who he met in Kuwait a few years back. Dulwich works for the very impressive and very capable Brian Primer, owner and president of Rutherford Risk.  Knox and Dulwich meet in Hong Kong. Knox is taken deep into a room thirty flights down where he enters a very secure room enclosed with steel and insulated concrete walls. It is called the Red Room. Here he is handed an envelope to encourage his cooperation with a job Rutherford Risk expects him to take on. Another acquaintance is in Hong Kong as well, Grace Chu. She is also working for Rutherford Risk. She is their high-tech computer guru who examines financials of others through nefarious avenues of entry.  Each has their assignment. Their paths become dangerously crossed and they must re-examine just what each knows about the other.  Who is it in this world of intrigue that they can trust.  Are they foe or friend?
Another great suspenseful mystery is entitled, “The Dead Will Tell,” by Linda Castillo. This is book six of the Kate Burkholder series.  The book starts out with an intense robbery and murder in an Amish home. Disaster ensues and lives are lost. Then Castillo sends the readers ahead to the present.  Someone is demanding a meeting. They know his past and are out to manipulate him because of it. He has just seen a ghost from his past and cannot believe his eyes. After some circumstances, Police Chief, Kate Burkholder is brought to a murder scene. Find out all the wicked trails this mystery takes.