Auburn Ride

Author: David Stever

Narrator: Bill Lord

Length: 7 hours 20 minutes

Series: The Delarosa Series, Book 1

Publisher: Cinder Path Press, LLC

Released: Oct. 24, 2019

Genre: Modern Detective

MY REVIEW...

First thing that catches your interest about this story is the character, Johnny Delarosa. He’s a neat ex-cop, Private Investigator, that has his office in the back of a bar and a condo on the floor above. This is just the kind of P.I. I like. Tough and growly now and then, with a heart way too soft for his own good.  

This is almost a noir mystery. Reminds me of Humphrey Bogart films. Delarosa accidently saves a young woman. Sort of being in the right place at the right time and plenty brave enough to help. Katie soon shows up determined to work for him. He argues and argues but Katie just doesn’t seem to budge. Owning a bar with his retired partner and holding his interviews at a back booth really  sets the scene. Just perfect. Excellent characters, good mystery with twists and turns.

I think the author’s descriptive writing and good dialog handling put these scenes in my mind, but I felt the narrator helped with this too. Being able to see, to picture in my mind, makes a big difference in my enjoyment of reading. I think David Stever is definitely a writer who can create these scenes in our head but I also think this narrator made those pictures even more vivid.  

This is Book 1 of a series titled “The Delarosa series”. 

I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Bill Lord. All opinions are definitely my own.

Welcome to Port City!

Private investigator Johnny Delarosa has seen it all. First as a cop, and now as a private eye. Cheating spouses, embezzlements, and insurance scams are routine. But he meets his match when the alluring, auburn-haired Claire Dixon walks into his bar/office and drops a $20,000 retainer in his lap. She wants the hard-drinking Johnny to find $2 million that was stolen from her mobster family 30 years earlier. But $2 million can be motivating. Old mobsters come out of witness protection to claim their share, and when bodies begin to pile up, and his sexy, enigmatic client disappears, Johnny is taken on the ride of his life; an Auburn Ride. With a wink and a nod to the hard-boiled private eyes of the pulp noir past, the gritty streets of Port City set the stage for author David Stever's first thriller in the Delarosa series.

David Stever is a novelist, screenwriter, and film producer. He writes the Johnny Delarosa mystery-thriller series, debuting with, AUBURN RIDE, paying homage to the great detective fiction of the past. The series has been called "noir for the 21st Century." Fans of hard-boiled, crime thriller books, complete with sexy femme fatales, will love the Delarosa series.

He is a member of the Private Eye Writers of America, the International Thriller Writers, and the Maryland Writers Association. Originally from Tyrone, Pennsylvania, he lives in Columbia, Maryland with his wife and family. Please visit www.davidstever.com and be sure to sign the mailing list for news and updates!

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Bill Lord has been an entertainer since 1983 when he began a nearly 20-year career as a professional wiseguy on rock and pop radio. After radio, his love of storytelling drew him into the world of acting and audiobook narration. It was a transition that began his exploration of connecting with an author's truth on a deeply emotional level, while bringing each of their character's reality to life with an authentic voice.

When Bill narrates a story, he transforms the written word into a multidimensional aural experience that makes you lose all sense of time and what is going on around you. He transports the listener to faraway realms or perhaps across the galaxy, until the world around you is supplanted by the flickering movie screen of your own imagination.

In addition to reading books for major publishers, and indie authors and publishers, Bill is a former coach of Edge Studio's Investigate Voiceover classes in Washington, D.C., and an occasional cast member with The Lake of the Woods Players. When he’s not on stage or in the booth narrating, you can find cruising the lake on his pontoon boat (in Orange County, VA) while enjoying a Manhattan with his beautiful wife, Joya.

Bill Lord is an Audible Approved Producer. Visit Nothing Rhymes with Orange Studio’s website for more information.

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Q&A with Author David Stever

• Was a possible audiobook recording something you were conscious of while writing?
  
  • No it wasn’t. I concentrated on the story I wanted to tell. However, I am also a screenwriter and that background comes out in my writing. I think the book is very visual which also helps with audiobook narration.
• How did you select your narrator?
  
  • I used the audition process within ACX. I first posted a chapter and narrators responded with their auditions. I did not choose any from the first round of auditions. I then listened to audition tapes on ACX, and invited about five authors to audition. I chose Bill Lord from that round of auditions and got very lucky because he is a perfect fit for the story and he does a great job!
• How do you manage to avoid burn-out? What do you do to maintain your enthusiasm for writing?
  
  • Maybe I am fortunate, but I do not suffer from any burn-out. I can’t wait to get back to the story to see what is going to happen!
• If you had the power to time travel, would you use it? If yes, when and where would you go?
  
  • Yes, I would use it and I would go back to the late 40s or early 50s when a lot of great writers were cranking out pulp novels. Plus it was the beginning of the film noir period in Hollywood. I love the noir genre and my books have been called noir for the 21st century.

• What bits of advice would you give to aspiring authors?
  
  • To keep writing. Even if you think what you’ve written is bad, just keep going. Try to write every day if you can. Like anything else, you only get better by writing as much as you can. And finish - once you have a completed manuscript, or screenplay, you then have a completed product you can market. Even though may still need to edit and rewrite, you have accomplished what you started and that feels good!
• Do you have any tips for authors going through the process of turning their books into audiobooks?
  
  • Be patient, take your time and audition as many narrators that you need until you find the one you want. Also, listen to their work to help you make a decision.
• What’s next for you?
  
  • I am writing the third book in the Johnny Delarosa series and I also just completed a screenplay for a production company who is going to pitch it to Hallmark. So I might have a Hallmark movie in my future!

Author David Stever's Casting Picks

• Johnny Delarosa: Tom Hanks
• Katie: Sally Field (as Gidget)
• Mike McNally: Tom Selleck
• Special Agent Ortiz: Rosie Perez
• Special Agent Quade: Thomas Gibson (Aaron Hotchner from Criminal Minds)
• George Ainsley: Wallace Shawn
• Eric Eichenberg: Keanu Reeves (in the Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure days)
• Leah Love: Halle Berry
• Mary Anne Bellamy: Jennifer Lawrence
• Brynne Middleton: Gwyneth Paltrow

View the full 14-day schedule here!

Plugging you into the audio community since 2016.

Sign up as a tour host here.

Standing our Ground

Monastery Valley, Book 4

Murder Mystery

Date Published: January 2020

Publisher: Black Rose Writing

A cold-blooded murder. The victim: A fourteen-year-old boy. The shooter waits patiently for the cops and calmly explains his right to kill the boy. “I was defending my property.” Can Deputy Andi Pelton find the evidence to break through the killer’s stand-your-ground defense? Suddenly, Sheriff Ben Stewart almost dies and cannot campaign for re-election. Andi knows she must take his place—her nemesis, Deputy Brad Ordrew, runs unopposed and he’s promised to fire her when he’s sheriff. Can she stand her own ground to stay in Monastery Valley while she tries to solve the murder and defends herself against scurrilous political ads paid for by a mysterious stranger?

Other books in the Monastery Valley Mystery Series:

 Climbing the Coliseum

Monastery Valley, Book 1

It’s the rugged Monastery Valley of Montana. High on the cliff called the Coliseum stands a man, deciding whether to live or die. In the valley below, Grace Ellonson, fourteen, will be abandoned by her mother. Where has Grace’s mother gone, and why has she left her daughter behind? A rancher will be seduced into a racist and anti-government conspiracy—who’s leading the conspiracy and what are his plans? Depressed psychologist Ed Northrup and Monastery Valley newcomer deputy sheriff Andi Pelton struggle to unravel these mysteries before they explode in a violent collision. And amid the chaos, Ed, Andi, and Grace must face the most formidable decision of their lives.

Amazon

 Nobody's Safe Here

Monastery Valley, Book 2

When cattle baron Magnus Anderssen collapses mentally, psychologist Ed Northrup struggles to find the cause - a terrible event buried in Magnus's past leaving him veering between suicide and murder. Meanwhile, Deputies Andi Pelton and Brad Ordrew clash as they investigate Jared Hansen, a boy caught with rifles and a paranoid plan to kill his schoolmates. Their problem? Jared, a great kid, a school leader, has no previous problems. Ordrew’s convinced Jared’s a mass shooter-in-waiting, but Andi’s not. Ed joins their search for whatever caused his radical transformation from great kid to psychotic killer. It’s a race against time: Magnus grows more irrational and homicidal, Jared's insanity may not be controlled before it’s too late, and Ed’s risky plan to save the boy may destroy his relationship with Andi. Nobody’s Safe Here, a psychological thriller, tells the story of a community of ordinary, decent people facing terrifying mysteries.

Amazon

The Bishop Burned the Lady

Monastery Valley, Book 3

A mysterious fire in a remote forest clearing; a woman's charred bones; unexplained tracks in the rutted road—the only clues Deputy Andi Pelton has to what happened. Then she meets an old man living alone in a forest compound that obviously houses many people. Sex trafficking in the Montana wilderness? As Andi and psychologist Ed Northrup struggle to solve the brutal and fiery murder, Andi faces a fear she didn’t know she had. The horrors they unearth lead them deep into the appalling reality of prison gangs and a cult led by a malign Bishop—and threaten to overwhelm Andi and Ed’s romance and her growing bond with her “step-girlfriend,” Ed’s adopted daughter, Grace. Will that center hold when Andi finds the killer holding a knife against her throat? And if it does and she succeeds, will she be able to face her greater fear?

Amazon

About the Author

Bill Percy, an award-winning novelist, draws on his experiences as a psychotherapist to write vivid, engaging tales of people confronting painful and challenging mysteries. His previous novels in the Monastery Valley series, Climbing the Coliseum, Nobody’s Safe Here, and The Bishop Burned the Lady, were finalists or distinguished favorites in multiple book award competitions. Bill lives with his wife, Michele, in Hope, Idaho, above the shore of idyllic Lake Pend Oreille in the shadow of the rugged Cabinet Mountains.

Contact Links

Website

Twitter

Facebook

Promo Link

Purchase Links

Amazon

B&N

Publisher

IndieBound

The Sweet Pepper Cajun

Cookbook

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. J. A. Jackson will be awarding a $15 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour and a Kindle ebook copy of her cookbook to 8 randomly selected winners. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Treat yourself to an exceptional value! Kindle Price just $2.49! Great New recipes from that Southern Soulful Magnolia Table. Recipes for all your festive occasions! The Holidays are almost here! It’s time for Great Food, Fantastic Family Gatherings with our Best Friends!


Enjoy Southern Cornbread Dressing with your turkey, ham roast, beef, roast beef or vegan New Year’s Good Luck Long Noodle Cajun Pasta this year! Those recipes and more are here! Grab your copy today!

*************

From soups, sandwiches, salads, and of course the main course, to cakes, made famous by Mamma and her friends, with recipes Mamma got from Grandmamma.

Here you’ll find recipes for welcoming family and friends into your home whether they cornered you by just dropping by or they were invited. Make all their visits more pleasurable with recipes from the heart. Here you’ll find not just recipes for lunch, brunch, and Feasts from Thanksgiving to New Year’s, but quick easy make-ahead sides and appetizers. It’s that time of the season to cook from the heart with love. Inside you’ll find breakfast favorites, and complete dinner menus, plus taste-tempting decadent desserts that aim to please.

Book is $2.49 on Kindle

Read an Excerpt


It’s Time For Family & Friends!

♥

Come join us, grab a seat, fill a bowl, and take a taste of our scrumptious food. We believe food is our common ground and in flavor do we trust!

Any Season!

♥

There’s an old saying… “Good friends are so very hard to find, and I’m am so grateful that you are mine.” This is for you… All of my friends. Thank you.


*************

Soft Sweet Molasses Cookies!

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Ingredients:


•1 1/2 cups butter, softened

•1 cup granulated sugar

•1 cup brown sugar

•1/2 cup molasses

•2 eggs

•4 cups all-purpose flour

•4 tsp. baking soda

•2 tsp. ground cinnamon

•1 tsp. ground cloves

•1 tsp. ground ginger

•1 1/2 tsp. Sea salt


Direction:


1. The most important thing to remember is to be sure to mix the wet Ingredients separately. Best practice to do is to mix the wet Ingredients together in a separate bowl and then the dry Ingredients together in a separate bowl. Combining them together later.

2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

3. Whisk together flour, soda, cinnamon, cloves, ginger and salt. Set aside. (These are your dry Ingredients.)

4. In a stand mixer (or with a handheld mixer), in a separate bowl, beat together butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 1-2 minutes. (These are your wet Ingredients.)

5. Add in the eggs and molasses into the “WET” ingredients and beat on medium-low speed until combined.

6. Add in the dry Ingredients and beat together until combined.

7. Roll the dough into 1” diameter balls.

8. Pour 1/4 cup of granulated sugar onto a shallow dish, and roll cookie balls in sugar to completely coat.

9. Place on cookie sheet at least 1 inch apart and bake for about 8-10 minutes.

10. Cookies will crack at the top, and the centers will still be a bit gooey.

11. Remove from oven and let cool for 2 minutes to firm slightly (if you move them too quickly off the baking sheet, they will fall apart), and then let cool completely or serve warm.

12. Cookies last up to one week in an airtight container (however in my home they never make it that long. (LOL).


About the Author:

J.A. Jackson is the pseudonym for an author, who loves to write deliciously sultry adult romantic, suspenseful, entertaining novels with a unique twist. She lives in an enchanted little house she calls home in the Northern California foothills.

She spent over ten years working in the non-profit sector where she wrote grants, press releases and contributed many stories to their newsletter. She was their Newsletter editor for over ten years. She loves growing roses, a good pot of hot tea, chocolate, magical stories, suspense stories, ghost stories, and reading Jane Austen again and again in her past time.


Please write her at P.O. Box 1494, Clovis, CA 93613


Email Address: jerreecejackson@gmail.com or jerreecejackson@yahoo.com


Social Media:
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/jerreece

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jerreece-Ann-Jackson/204377496289139

• Blog: http://jerreeceannjackson.blogspot.com

• Author Central: https://www.amazon.com/author/jajackson

• Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/jerreece1/boards/



Buy Link: https://www.amazon.com/Sweet-Pepper-Cajun-Soulful-Cookbook-ebook/dp/B0813YJ9S1/



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Jay Got Married

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. James Robinson Jr. will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

See below to sign up for the GIVEAWAY.

Jay Got Married consists of 9 humorous and, at times, poignant essays chronicling the ironies of everyday life in word and picture. Take for example the lead essay, aptly titled, "Jay got Married," where I find myself mired in a horrendous dream.

In the fantasy, my aging father--dressed in his favorite Champion t-shirt with stains covering the front--marries my wife and I like he did 42 years ago but, this time around, the my 92-year-old ex-clergy dad forgets his lines causing me to coach him through the event with hints like: "ask for the rings, ask for the rings." All the while, my best man sings Sonny and Cher's, "I Got You Babe."

Finally married, my wife and I end the ceremony with a kiss. But as I turn to exit, my eyes catch a glimpse of the bridesmaid who is no longer my wife's best friend but now Gal Gadot from Dell Comics and Wonder Woman Fame. She is dressed in full Wonder Women regalia and looks totally shocked by the whole affair.

My mother turns to my father (now in the audience) with a quizzical look and says, “Dad, look at that bridesmaid. Isn’t that Superman?” She doesn't get out much.

As we exit the church, and the bubbles fill the air--no one uses rice anymore—my wife ignores the limo and takes off on a sleek motorcycle, leaving me in the lurch—hence the cover. 

Sure, it's sounds crazy. But, in truth, isn't the world of marriage crazy these days? In my case, what would one do when faced with the prospect of losing their beloved wife after 42 years? At age 67, would they remarry? Would they even want to remarry? These and other marital tidbits are discussed with humor and as much reverence as I could muster.

P.S. The author pairs up with Wonder Woman again in a final bit of photo wizardry Why? How? How are tricky copyright infringement laws avoided? Read Jay Got Married and find out.

Read an excerpt...

I had a frightful dream. I was standing at the altar with my wife and 400 guests in attendance. It seemed to be a repeat of our wedding in 1976. My now 95-year-old father performed the ceremony for my wife and me the first time around, and that’s how old he appeared to be in this vision. He kept forgetting the lines and was forever looking at me for support. At one point, I was whispering, “The rings, the rings.” I kept reaching for them, but they were disappearing before I could grab them.

Albie, my cousin and best man from my first wedding, was singing Sonny and Cher’s, I Got You Babe. Normally, he can’t sing for shit, but in this scenario, he had his hand on his chest and his head back, sounding like Luciano Pavarotti. What was this all about?

My father, the minister, wearing his trademark Champion sweatshirt, with coffee stains on the chest portions, pronounced us man and wife. I turned to kiss my new bride and caught a glimpse of her bridesmaid. But instead of her best friend who was her attendant back in the day, it was Gal Godot from DC Comics and the movies.

She was wearing her Wonder Woman garb, but she didn’t seem primed for a wedding. In fact, she appeared to be totally shocked by the whole affair. What kind of dream was this?

My wife and I ended the ceremony with a kiss. My mother turned to my father (who was then in attendance in the audience) with a quizzical look and said, “Dad, look at that bridesmaid. Isn’t that Superman?”

She was close. She doesn’t get out much.

About the Author
Obviously he has a sense of humor. Read on...

1. Does this book have a special meaning to you? i.e. where you found the idea, it’s symbolism, it’s meaning, who you dedicated it to, what made you want to write it?

I think that this book will go down as my best book (at least my best non-fiction book) because I improved upon my style, humor, and preparation.

2. Where do you get your storyline from?

As a writer of essays, I come up with a germ of idea and the story takes off from there, one idea leading to another. But I sit down with a pencil and legal pad first and brainstorm before I go to the computer and begin to flesh it out. The clipart and pictures of the handsome author that I add to accentuate the points are the fun part. Consider this one:

3. Was this book easier or more difficult to write than others?

This book was actually easier to write than others because of the experience that I have gained from writing three books of nonfiction and because I have good editors who I have learned to trust their input.

4. Do you only write in one genre?

No, I have written three fiction and three non-fiction books. I only started writing fiction about 3 years ago. But I enjoy nonfiction the most because I can use my experiences.

5. Give us a picture of where you write, where you compose these words…is it Starbucks, a den. A garden…we want to know your inner sanctum?

People write in a garden? I write in a messy 10x10 office which was designed

as a bedroom. I write at a huge oak desk which is too big for the room but has too

much charm to get rid of. An oak file cabinet sits next to it and holds files and the

printer. A bin full of my winter clothes sits in the corner on top of a bin full of guns and

ammo that I’m holding for my son-in-law (don’t ask), and a keyboard sits behind me.

When company comes, all the clutter sitting around the second floor is put in my

office “just for now” which clutters it further. I just announce to my wife, “yeah, let’s just

put it in Jay’s room.” But she just ignores me. But you don’t have to guess what it

looks like; here’s a picture from the book:

Draw your own conclusions. Read the book and find out why I took this picture. (Yes,

it’s a selfie.)

6. And finally, of course…was there any specific event or circumstance that made

you want to be a writer?

I would love to say that I sat in on a reading by Maya Angelou and ran out and

bought a notebook but it really wasn’t that dramatic. I recall starting to enjoy English as

a senior in high school and then becoming an English Major in college. I planned on

finding an occupation that centered around writing and writing on the side. I got married,

had three kids and got into writing when I was 45. Just as I planned it.

James Robinson, Jr. is an award-wining author who has written 6 books in both the fiction and non-fiction genres. His first book Fighting the Effects of Gravity: A Bittersweet Journey Into Middle Life, was an Indie Award winner for nonfiction. His first foray into fiction, Book of Samuel, was a Readers’ Favorite Award Winner. His latest book—Jay Got Married—is a collection of 9 humorous, sometimes poignant essays.

             

Mr. Robinson resides in Pittsburgh, PA with his wife of 43 years. He is the father of three daughters ages 37, 38, and 40 and has six grandchildren

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/James-Robinson-Jr./e/B0074O0QLI%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JamesJRobinsonJr/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/jamesrobinsonj1

The book is on sale for $0.99.

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No Easy Catch

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Jaqueline Snowe will be awarding a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

A jock and a party girl teaming up—makes total sense, right? Actually, maybe…

Ambar Hernandez is a senior communications major who has no idea what she wants to do in life. She spends most of her time working on her blog after gaining a lot of readers with a story she wrote junior year and…never followed up on. The last thing she expects is an angry jock accusing her of involvement in a scam that could shake the college to its foundations.

Jeff Maddow should be focused on his senior season of baseball and not the suspicious activity happening on the team. It’s his time to shine and get drafted, but after seeing incriminating evidence, he can’t not investigate. And his first lead is the campus blogger…who’s related to a name in the document he saw.


Ambar’s been coasting, writing about campus fashion and hook-ups rather than politics and economics, but when Jeff shows up at her place spouting wild accusations, she agrees to help him just to prove the stubborn athlete wrong.

Long nights, impassioned arguments, close quarters…both Jeff and Ambar find opposites more than attract when things heat up.

Read an Excerpt



He rolled over and slowly opened his sleepy eyes. His voice was all husky and gruff when he asked, “You watching me sleep?”



Busted. “Maybe?”



“Join me.” He moved to the back of the bed and painted a perfect image with his messy hair, clear gray eyes and playful smirk. The smile was new and I shut the laptop to move into his inviting arms. His body heat comforted me when he wrapped his large arms around me, snuggling his nose into my neck. “Mm, you smell good.”



“Thank you,” I said, hating how the longer the lie went on, the more it physically affected my insides. “I didn’t wake you, did I? You were sleeping so peacefully.”



“You didn’t, but I wouldn’t have minded you waking me up.” He began kissing along my neck and bit down on my earlobe. Goosebumps broke out all over my arms and he giggled, all low and deep. “I love your body’s reaction to me.”



“She betrays any resolve I have.” I squirmed when he moved his hands up my shirt and caressed my bare skin. It felt so damn good. “Are-are you sure you shouldn’t be sleeping?”



“Ambar,” he said in a very serious tone. “You’re about the only thing in my life right now that is good. I want to enjoy you and forget about the shitstorm we started.”



Pain began in the back of my throat at the tender way he looked at me. He meant those words and I forced myself to close my eyes to prevent tears leaking out. I’m protecting him. That’s why I’m not telling him. His lips parted and he looked like he was about to say something and I couldn’t handle hearing anything else. I gripped the back of his neck and brought his face down to mine, capturing his lips in the most passionate kiss I could. It was hard to try and apologize and show him I would do anything to protect him without words, but I gave it my all.



About the Author:

Jaqueline Snowe lives in Arizona where the "dry heat" really isn't that bad. She identifies as a full-blown Gryffindor and prefers drinking coffee all hours of the day. She is the mother to two fur-babies who don’t realize they aren’t humans and a new mom to her adorable son. Her life revolves around balancing her day job in education and her incessant need to write and explore the world with her wonderful baseball-loving husband.




Blog: http://www.jaquelinesnowe.com/blog

Website: http://www.jaquelinesnowe.com/

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/jaquelinesnowe

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/jaquelinesnowe

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/jaquelinesnowe



Buy links: https://books2read.com/u/bw2JMO

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/No-Easy-Catch-Romance-Chasers-ebook/dp/B08231BHSD/

Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/no-easy-catch-jaqueline-snowe/1135212198





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You Kill Me

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Holly LeRoy will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

See below to sign up for the GIVEAWAY.

LIEUTENANT EVE SHARPE should have seen the avalanche of trouble headed her way but events had dulled her edge and crumbled her foundation of toughness. With the press and politicians all coming for her, Eve begins to question whether she is really a cold blooded murderer or simply losing her mind. Was it an officer involved shooting gone wrong? An honest mistake? Or, something much, much worse?

There's one thing for sure, it has turned the Chicago Police Department upside down, and Lieutenant Eve Sharpe's life along with it.

my review...

Sometimes things happen and there is no question in your mind you are doing the right thing. Then people can be so against you that you begin to question yourself. Such is the dilemma of Eve Sharpe.

I enjoyed this book. It is called a mystery/thriller genre. I felt it should almost be categorized as crime fiction because of its descriptive writing of police procedures and investigations. Another reason I liked reading this good cop/bad cop book was that while it does have those moments of making you gasp, it isn’t a thriller in the sense of having to read all of the grisly details over and over.

I liked LeRoy’s characters. Eve was of course my favorite. It seemed to me there were a lot of characters involved which can sometimes make for confusing reading, but the author seemed to keep them clear and well-defined.

This is an easy, fast read and I want to read more about Eve (Sharpe that is). 

read an excerpt...

It was well known that police officers, even those with seniority could, for disciplinary reasons, be temporarily assigned to other units. Usually someplace working with non-sworn civilians like personnel or records. Or, if you really screwed up, they’d stick you on stakeout. That’s what really bothered me. Sure, I’d always been a pain-in-the-ass, but lately, I’d been a good girl, not screwing up at all in the past couple of months. Well, maybe a month. Yet here I was, heading to a blisteringly cold stakeout at a South Side crack house instead of doing data entry at a nice warm records desk.

Poor Walt. Guilt by association probably did him in. He actually got the worst end of the deal. He’d be at the crack house until after three.

Every ten minutes, the all-news station, Magic 66, cheerfully announced what I had to look forward to:

‘Subzero temperatures have moved into the Chicago area and are expected to stay for the remainder of the week. Lake effect snow continues to hammer the south and east of the city and plows are trying to . . .’

Shit. I flicked off the radio and hunched over the steering wheel trying to see the road ahead. The smells of antifreeze and water steaming on the exhaust and burned oil coming up through the floorboards all served to remind me that a few months earlier, I’d wrecked my Buick in a snowstorm just like this one.

Insurance had repaired it instead of totaling the damn thing, so now it was more of a rolling wreck than ever. My ex-partner Clark kept telling me that since the accident it went down the road like a fiddler crab. Kind of sideways.

Crazies kept passing me and throwing salted slush over my windshield, and I finally chickened out and moved over to the slow lane behind a Safeway big rig. I found myself staring up at a huge T-bone steak, sun-faded to a light purple.

The off ramp was slick with black ice, and I took it at a crawl, easing into the neighborhood shown on Isaacson’s map. I slowed down even more, threading my way through the narrow streets. It was a ghost neighborhood where half the houses had been torn down and only half of what remained seemed to be occupied. Built after World War II, these were the homes our GI’s came home to in 1945. Now, they were homes for crack whores and junkies ready to die, teenagers ready to screw, and apparently, if Isaacson were correct, our drug lord. The target was a small single-story house, one of the few that didn’t have its windows boarded up.

I sat in my cramped little Buick, staring at it through a pair of binoculars. After an hour, I stuck a Santana cassette into the radio and poured a cup of squad room coffee. When my teeth began to chatter, I began to run the car fifteen minutes on and fifteen minutes off. Even at that, the car’s heater struggled against the cold, my breath fogged over the windows, and a plume of steam from the exhaust filled the air behind. After mopping at the windshield with a handful of napkins from Walt’s last trip to Mr. Moo’s Burger Shack, I sat watching the strings of red taillights headed south on the I-55.

About the Author

Death in the Family

Crime Thriller

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Donny Lentini is a talented young man hungry for his mother's love. To please her, he becomes guardian angel to his mob-wannabe father. When the father is murdered and found with his hands hacked off, Donny is dealt a set of cards in a game called vengeance. The pot is stacked high with chips; the ante, his soul and the lives of loved-ones. With the help of friends—ex-con, defrocked Jesuit Bill Conlon along with former high-school nemesis, Antwyne Claxton—he digs for whether the murder had anything to do with the mob's lust for a real estate parcel owned by the family of Donny's lover. He's new at this game. He doesn't cheat, but plays his cards well. And he gets what he wants.

read an excerpt...

There is a purity to poker, moments of truth free of the ambiguity of motive or morals, moments philosophers never examine—clean moments—as when a Great White draws back its lips to embrace somebody’s neck with its four-inch serrated teeth—moments German Kruger never understood and might put his head at risk .

One by one I looked them in the eye. They all dropped except German, who raised and called. I flipped my hole cards. “Three cowboys.”

I raked in the seven hundred dollar pot. Any day I stuck a pencil in German’s eye was a good day. “What is it with you?” he said.  “You win four, five pots every Friday.”

Dad kicked my shin under There is a purity to poker, moments of truth free of the ambiguity of motive or morals, moments philosophers never examine—clean moments—as when a Great White draws back its lips to embrace somebody’s neck with its four-inch serrated teeth—moments German Kruger never understood and might put his head at risk .

One by one I looked them in the eye. They all dropped except German, who raised and called. I flipped my hole cards. “Three cowboys.”

I raked in the seven hundred dollar pot. Any day I stuck a pencil in German’s eye was a good day. “What  is it with you?” he said.  “You win four, five pots every Friday.”

Dad kicked my shin under the table. 

About Lanny Larcinese...

Does this book have a special meaning to you? i.e. where you found the idea, its symbolism, its meaning, who you dedicated it to, what made you want to write it?

I have a dear friend whose baby was adopted out many decades ago. As an adult, the child sought her out in order to reconnect. We did, and do, talk about it a lot. The provenance of Death in the Family began with a specific image of a talented young man involved in a high school ruckus, but taking a cue from my friend’s experience, I imbued my character with the burden of unrequited parental love and its effects on his thoughts, feelings, and actions as he seeks to fulfill it. Because I am a crime writer of the noir persuasion, I felt such a circumstance provided an overlay of motivation beyond the usual vengeance common to crime and cop stories (although, there is that.) Noir writing, perhaps all crime writing, is not in my opinion a device deployed to write a particular book, but is more like blues music—a constant state of mind and view of the world and how it works. So being of that mentality, coupled with my friend’s experience, my character Donny Lentini of Death in the Family brings those elements into convergence.

Where do you get your storylines from?

Unlike many authors who conceive a circumstance then create characters in service of it, I do the opposite. I first conceive a main character with a deficit, a need of some kind which may also imply a theme, then create plot events designed to explicate and dramatize those features. I hesitate to say my work is character driven (though it is) because that phrase usually attaches to “literary” writing, which means not much happens but there’s a lot going on. I am a genre writer, a crime writer, so of course I will have homicides, ghastly events, organized and other crime, femmes fatales, and many not-nice features of human beings. But theme is also important to me. My work is layered: of course a superficial plot in which things happen, but also relationship sub-plots and finally a theme usually dealing with notions of justice, morality, or perhaps fate. All of this is a constant infrastructure in my head, and it only takes a specific thought or image or circumstance to trigger a story.

Was this book easier or more difficult to write than others?  Why?

In one sense, this book was more difficult since it was the first novel I wrote after winning prizes for my short work. As a new novelist, I had much to learn, and the novel you see today has only the barest of bones from the one I initially wrote. But none are easy and if we are creative, our work should evolve—vs. writing the same story over and over. So in that latter sense, each book is as hard as the last in that we are trying new things. For example, Death in the Family sat in the drawer as I wrote other stories. Then, I wrote a memoir which revealed to me the charm of writing in the first person. When I revisited Death in the Family, I changed the entire book from third to first person. It’s published predecessor, I Detest All My Sins, is third person. I have since written shorter work using both fist and third in different passages.

Do you only write one genre?

My fiction tends to be crime-related, though not all equally in a hard-boiled voice. I have also written memoir and non-fiction.

Give us a picture of where you write, where you compose these words…is it Starbucks, a den, a garden…we want to know your inner sanctum?

I have a very nice home, one of those big 100 year old Arts & Crafts numbers very near the University of Pennsylvania. It is typical of places from that period that the first two floors are nicely constructed and appointed, while the two above are, well, “basic.” That’s where I write. My office is like Dan Hedaya’s chaotic desk in The Usual Suspects, when he remarked, “You should see my garage!” My organization is loose, meaning piles of papers (not stacked neatly but piles) on desks, in boxes, bins and on the floor.  I can live this way; I don’t have a wife. When I’m writing (even now) I need my total concentration and frankly don’t give a damn how things look as long as I can find the right adjective.

And finally, of course…was there any specific event or circumstance that made you want to be a writer?

Hey pal, I’m Italian, I have to write because nobody is around to watch me flail my arms and practically convulse trying to express myself. We invented opera. It’s a high bar.

Lanny Larcinese – Author

Death in the Family

I Detest All My Sins

Women: One Man’s Journey

Lanny Larcinese ‘s short work has appeared in magazines and has won a handful of local

prizes. He lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He’s a native mid-westerner transplanted to the City of Brotherly Love where he has been writing fiction for seven years. When not writing, he lets his daughter, Amanda, charm him out of his socks, and works at impressing Jackie, his long-time companion who keeps him honest and laughing—in addition to being his first-line writing critic. He also spends more time than he should on Facebook but feels suitably guilty for it.

https://www.facebook.com/lanny.larcinese

https://www.amazon.com/Death-Family-Lanny-Larcinese-ebook/dp/B07XSLCCL1/

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