Bound For the Promise-Land – Review

I purchased the electronic edition of Bound For the Promise-Land after seeing it mentioned several times in a Facebook Western Authors group. The positive comments there were not misplaced.

The story (cobbled from two different Goodreads book pages):

"Freedom is not a place you run to…Freedom is a place in your soul." These words sum up the life long quest of ex-slave Alfred Mann as he pursues the dream of equality in a world not of his making. From fugitive to Medal of Honor winner, Mann carries on to rise above the ignorance and intolerance of those who seek to bring him down; somehow gaining strength from the unimaginable losses he suffers and his own self doubt.
From the shackles of slavery to the smoky battlefields of the Civil War, from Reconstruction South to Northern race riots to fighting Indians on the Western Plains, Alfred proves to the world and to himself that he is a man.

The first-person protagonist of Alfred Mann came through with great believability, both his actions and his emotions; the many battle scenes were portrayed with gut wrenching intensity. They were very well written. This book is deserving of the 2001 SPUR Award it received [paperback edition], and I'm glad it is now available for e-books.

I haven't given this book five stars for personal reasons. Troy D. Smith is an American History scholar, and I consider myself that, too (although I don't have a .PhD). My knowledge of the events Smith wrote about is firmly in place, so I found myself flipping through some of the book thinking, 'Yep. I knew that.' The history was excellently portrayed, but, for me, I often felt I was getting too much history.

But this brings up another "problem"—not with Smith's writing or his characterizations, but with a caveat placed in the front matter by this publisher: "...the events and occurrences were invented in the mind and imagination of the author..." This line is a disservice to readers and to Smith. Many of the events actually did happen; several of the personages were real 19th Century people. Someone not well versed in American History should be made aware of that. Smith's mind and imagination eloquently placed his protagonist, Alfred Mann, in the events and had him interacting with American personalities such as Black Jack Pershing, Benjamin Greirson, Victorio and others. This is not easy to pull off. Bravo, Dr. Smith!

And on this same note, I would have appreciated an Addend with suggested reading, and/or an Author's note that would tell which events and people were from actual history. This is a fairly common practice with authors of historical fiction, myself included. The information would be great for high school students and other "young" readers of American History.

So is this a picky little thing I mention? Dunno. Might be just me. And that's what reviews are all about.
Final comment: excellent book. Read it!

Getting Lucky – Review

From the book page:

When a young reporter is killed in a hit and run accident, freelance writer Robyn Guthrie agrees to finish one of the stories the reporter had been writing for the local newspaper. But nothing is as simple as it seems when she finds out about shady land deals, an old high school nemesis, and Robyn’s aging mother.

I'm not a fan of first person stories, but I must say this one was handled well, with no dips into third/omniscient point of view. I also like authors who have a good command of the English language (and how to write it); DC Brod does that well.

I'm really a fan of well-paced mysteries with intriguing, well-thought-out plots. Alas, Getting Lucky didn't measure up. Slow, with a lot of detail but not much action, it bounced around, with protagonist Robyn Guthrie's comments on everything and everyone. The hit and run death of fellow reporter Clair seemed to set up one type of story, but quickly jerked to another track after way too many pages on the deceased and her family. Too many coincidences, too: mostly that Robyn's boyfriend has useful connections for anything/everything that could be a possible problem. Also a lot of information was given that was never essential in the wrap of the story, such as the price of the land deal vs the price paid. Since Robyn's thought of scamming the bad guys included repurchase of the land. What price was paid? And the congressman--asked to help out with the scam, but it's never shown that his involvement was a help (all it took was one or two sentences.)

The editor of the newspaper is totally lost by the end of the book after being prominent in the beginning. There's a "shady character" who isn't so shady, but the telling of Robyn’s first meeting with him was useless and a waste of pages.

I haven't read other books in the Robyn Guthrie series, but from the book pages, I see the stories are driven by the interaction between Robyn and her mom. This is good and often funny, but what's with Mom being 84? I realize there's a bit of dementia here (which can occur at any age), but Robyn is only in her 40s. No mention is made of Robyn being a late-life child. This hit me, since my kids are in their 40s, and I (who married late for my generation and waited several years to have kids) am not yet 70 (close, but not yet). Maybe this was addressed in earlier books.

These are just a few of the dissatisfactions that had me reading fast, trying to get the book finished—I feel an obligation to read an entire book when I get it free from netgalley. This could have been an interesting mystery if Brod had fine-tuned the story, cut the slag, and sent a polished manuscript to the publisher rather than her first draft of a decent idea. It was probably her pubs. fault—pushing her to get another Guthrie mystery out pronto. Nonetheless, reading this one dampens my enthusiasm for reading the others.

A Grand Murder - Review

I read a bit of this story on Indie Snippets, and decided to buy it.

The story (from the book page):

When a prominent local businessman and friend of the chief of police is murdered on the front steps of his posh Grand Avenue Hill home, Saint Paul homicide detective Catherine O'Brien a pithy, vertically challenged, St. Paul, Minnesota, homicide detective with a monstrous coffee habit and her partner Louise are given two days to find his killer.
They soon discover their victim had a list of people with motives to murder him, including his fashion designer ex-wife, his mistress's husband, and the chief of police. The only evidence they have to go on is a missing cell phone, a stolen book, the victim's letter opener, and an ugly pair of Alpaca wool mittens.

Grand Murder was a fun read with interesting and well presented characters. The book blurb calls the protagonist Catherine O'Brien as pithy. So well put. Told in first person, from Catherine's point of view, author Stacy Verdick Case takes no time in getting the protagonist's personality front an center. There is plenty of action along with good police procedural stuff, and enough twists to keep you guessing.

I liked all the secondary characters, especially her partner, and look forward to future crime-solving adventures from these two.