Authors Book Beat

07/24/2023

Check out this incredible review on Betty Vaughn's Bear Tracks.

Dear Betty,
I completed reading BEAR TRACKS this past week and thought it would be fun to let you know why/how!

First of all, your plot dynamics are so well thought out that it is a joy to observe how smoothly (and threateningly!) the plot moves from one crisis to another, but never in a grim, gray manner; in one case, as the leadership team of POTUS, Dianna, and their attendants needs to move from the White House out to their transportation to Wilmington, NC, for some necessary R & R, they dress in outlandish disguises, entertaining the reader as well as the tourists visiting the President’s home—and escaping scot-free! So, in that turn of the plot, you bring in staging, costuming, and humor on a grand scale—something totally NEW to camouflage the dangers on every side! Plot is a key skill of yours, and the reader admires it wherever it takes him/her! Brava!

Yet your writing also appears to smoothly guide us to intermittent scenes of love and kind repartee between the married couple in the story, Quint and Lila, lowering the stress & natural anxiety that “enters in” at intervals of threat and possible loss of life among those the married partners are asked to protect. Thus, unlike many, many other novels, the scenes relieved by talk and affection between a married couple serve to relieve the gathered tensions of threats on every hand, and what a fine relief it is, too—just in time, often! So Betty, hooray to you for your rare ability to know when to change the dynamics of the story with a “soft and thoughtful” scene between the two principals, then ramp up tension, secrecy, and anxiety again just when the reader is rested and ready for some fighting to the death!

Keep writing, now! Exercise your gifts and abilities again to entertain with refreshing plots in humor, sheer danger, and moments of repartee—and many thanks for sharing your lively BEAR TRACKS with this ready reader!
With best regards and many thanks,
Linda Hobson
Dr. Linda Hobson is an emeritus professor of Literature from UNC

Bear Tracks (Quint Cord Novel)

02/17/2023

Check out A. Hardy Roper's book on Amazon, Girl Lost. A detective story centering around Galveston, Texas.

Best friends, Akemi and Maria do everything together including lunch at school and Friday night sleepovers at each other’s home. But when they disappear following a school volleyball game, their world and everyone’s close to them, turns upside down. Retired army intel officer, Parke...

02/03/2023

Check out this whimsical book by Lonnie Budro about a bee who goes on a trip to visit friends.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BTRPGVZS

07/28/2022

Check out this great reading by Maureen Keller-Kirby.

https://www.tiktok.com//video/7125428275115052334?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1

The Leprechaun Who Was Not A Mouse

07/27/2022

Check out this TikTok video and more on MouseGate
https://www.tiktok.com/@7117299515905066026/video/7119896597630094635?browserMode=1

The Vampire Who Had No Fangs

07/26/2022

Check out this book by Molly O'Connor. Your kids will LOVE it!
https://www.tiktok.com//video/7119877918225927466?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1

Morty the Morton Street bus

07/22/2022

Check out the Mouse Gate Press TikTok page and find your next favorite book!
https://www.tiktok.com/

1 Followers, 0 Following, 17 Likes - Watch awesome short videos created by MouseGatePress

04/13/2022

Author Carl Trepagnier survived the 1947 Texas City Explosion 75 years ago.
Join us on April 14, 2022 at the Helen Hall Library in League City, TX and listen as Mr. Trepagnier reviews his historical novel, Rise Up.
But if you can’t make it, please Zoom in at https://bit.ly/3rjhTNH
His book is available on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Rise-Novel-About-Texas-Explosion/dp/1648831540/ref=sr_1_1?crid=11SJF8CX9Z2IP&keywords=rise+up+carl+trepagnier&qid=1649859950&sprefix=rise+up+Carl%2Caps%2C332&sr=8-1

Rise Up A Novel About The 1947 Texas City Explosion

03/31/2022

This Jim West mystery/thriller, the sixth in the series, finds Jim traveling to the Texas Hill Country to attend the grand opening of a friend’s winery and vineyard. Upon arriving in Fredericksburg, Jim witnesses a brutal kidnapping at a local coffee shop. The next morning while driving down an unpaved country road to the grand opening, he comes across an active crime scene barely a quarter mile from his friend’s winery. A Fredericksburg policeman who talked to Jim the day before at the kidnapping scene recognizes Jim and asks him to identify the body of a dead young woman as the woman who was kidnapped. Jim does, and as a result of this unwelcome relationship with the police is asked the next morning to identify the body of another murdered person as the man who had kidnapped the young woman. A third murder throws Jim’s vacation into complete disarray and draws Jim and a female friend into the sights of one of the killers.
https://www.amazon.com/Caffeine-Can-Kill-West-Novel-ebook/dp/B00W2DICWQ/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3MUXFPWK4DY3N&keywords=caffeine+can+kill+bob+doerr&qid=1648734335&sprefix=caffeine+can+kill+bob+doerr%2Caps%2C169&sr=8-1

03/30/2022

Check out this review for The Enchanted Coin by Bob Doerr.
https://blogmumjd.wordpress.com/2022/03/22/the-enchanted-coin-by-bob-doerr-book-review/

Disclosure. This post is a review of an e-book I was sent for free.. All opinions are my own. I received a free e-copy of the book The Enchanted Coin by Bob Doerr to review. It is the first title i…

03/30/2022

In No One Else To Kill, Jim West travels to a small, remote hunting lodge in the Pecos Wilderness area in New Mexico to rendezvous with an old friend and do some hiking. His friend stands him up, and Jim is about to return home when a murder occurs in the lodge. Law enforcement jumps in, and Jim’s early departure plans are scrubbed. When a second murder occurs less than twenty four hours later, things really start to get dicey. Both crimes were intricately planned to mislead the authorities, no one appears to have a motive for the killings, and everyone has an alibi. Up against a wall with time running out, the deputy-in-charge asks West to be their man on the inside, but West is adamant that this is not his case to solve. Since his retirement from the Air Force, however, Fate has had her own plans for West. Why should this be any different?

03/25/2022

ANOTHER COLORADO KILL is the fourth book in the Jim West mystery/thriller series. In this fast paced story, Jim and friend Edward “Perry” Mason are in route to Colorado Springs to play some golf when they discover a dead body, an apparent murder victim, at a rest stop along the interstate highway. Perry’s stress levels hit the max during the subsequent police interview. He has a heart attack and the golf outing falls apart.
When the police find two more murder victims the next day, both killed with the same weapon that killed the victim whom West had discovered the day before, and the female victim has his name written on a notepad in her purse, their focus on West intensifies. West explains that by chance both the female victim and he had eaten at the same restaurant, but at separate tables, the night before. She had been with two men at the restaurant and had left before he had a chance to talk to her. They had met a few times in the past, but weren’t close.
A Sheriff’s deputy, Lieutenant Michelle Prado befriends West, and the two work together in an effort to find the real murderer. As their relationship develops, West finds himself physically attracted to her, but does she feel the same way?
Soon an attempt is made on Jim’s life and he realizes that for some reason the killer, like the police, believes that West knows more about the killings than he has admitted. Jim finds himself playing “cat and mouse” with the killer while trying to convince the police that their focus on him is a waste of time and resources.
When the FBI moves in to help out, the pressure to solve the case mounts. West and Lieutenant Prado discover the local murders may be connected to a larger, nationwide FBI investigation into organized crime and political corruption.
West finally has permission to go home to Clovis and is about to leave when the killer shoots Ollie, a young female Deputy whom had become friends with West. The killer leaves her to die on a dirt road. The killer had gone too far. As Michelle leaves with Ollie’s crumpled body in her back seat, West picks up Ollie’s issued 9mm and heads off into the woods to track the killer. The time had come to stop the killings. If he can catch up with the killer, only one of them will return alive.

https://www.amazon.com/Another-Colorado-Kill-Jim-West-ebook/dp/B005GNIC1K/ref=sr_1_1?crid=148QAWSJW5HAF&keywords=another+colorado+kill+bob+doerr&qid=1648222059&sprefix=another+colorado+kill+bob+doer%2Caps%2C148&sr=8-1

03/21/2022

LOOSE ENDS KILL is a fast paced mystery/thriller that takes place in the historic city of San Antonio, Texas, and throws Jim West into the middle of a police investigation of the murder of an old friend’s wife. The police already believe they have the killer in custody – West’s friend.

West is drawn into this mystery by a call from the old friend who requests his assistance. West agrees to help his friend and digs deep to try to find another suspect. In the process he soon discovers that he is being followed and targeted for harassment, but by whom?

West quickly discovers that he didn’t know his old friend’s wife as well as he thought. To his surprise, he learns that she has had a number of affairs dating back for more than a decade. In fact, while investigating the murder, he realizes that his friend and he may be the only two people unaware of her philandering behavior.

Theorizing that one of her lovers could have had just as much motive as her husband, West starts turning over the rocks identifying one lover after another. In doing so, West unintentionally ignites an outbreak of more death and mayhem. The police and his friend’s lawyers want West to go back home. The police even threaten to arrest him.

Soon, West believes the real killer wants him gone or dead. Deciding the only way to resolve the case before the outside pressures force him to leave, he sets a trap for the killer using himself as bait. However, he soon learns he may have only outsmarted himself.

03/08/2022

COLD WINTER’S KILL is a fast paced thriller that takes place in the scenic mountains of Lincoln County, New Mexico and throws Jim West into a race against time to find and save the daughter of an old friend from the clutches of a determined killer.
Check out this book by Bob Doerr, available on Amazon.

02/22/2022

DEAD MEN CAN KILL
Jim West never dreams his demonstration of forensic hypnosis on a university student would stir up memories of an 18-year old mystery....
When former Air Force Special Agent with the office of Special Investigations, Jim West moves back to New Mexico his goal is to start an easy going second career as a part time professional lecturer on investigative techniques to colleges and civic organizations. He never envisioned that a practical demonstration on forensic hypnosis with a student at a state university would stir up memories of an eighteen year old murder. When the student himself is murdered three days later, West finds himself ensnared in a web of intrigue that pits West and the small town’s authorities against a ruthless, psychotic killer.
An aggressive reporter for the town’s newspaper seeks out West to help her with the story but after the murder of one of her co-workers her efforts quickly align with West and the Sheriff. As West works closely with the reporter, he wonders if this could be the first real relationship for him since his devastating divorce a few years earlier.
The killer, though, has other plans for her as he believes she has become a threat to his anonymity. The story twists back and forth, leading up to the inevitable confrontation.

02/11/2022

This is the story of Bo, a young boy who boldly redefines what it means to be a pirate. He takes every opportunity to show kindness and to help his fellow pirates. This infuriates his uncle and his teachers who are trying to fit him into the pirate mold they believe right. The book moves through Bo's life in Pirate Training School and his growth as a person to a final act that confirms his beliefs.

01/20/2022

Check out White Glove Fiction's First book, Jack Rabbit. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tyii8QBQ2Q

Jack Rabbit lives in the west Texas desert. One sunny morning he saves the life of a Apache medicine man. The Shaman has the power of the Great Spirit. For s...

01/20/2022

Check out Mina Mauerstein Bail's newest childrens book on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTSB6yiNeew

Follow Max and Sig on their adventure to the Arctic where they learn about different animals. While they are there, they find out how to help the Earth to st...

11/19/2021

The Leprechaun Who Was Not A Mouse by Maureen Kellar-Kirby is a whimsical story about a boy and his leprechaun.

11/04/2021

Imagine being a fourteen year old again and finding a coin that seems to give off a light of its own. The coin has your name on it, and instructs you to toss it into a fountain next to the Tree of Life. That's what happens in The Enchanted Coin, and what starts my protagonist off on a magical adventure that many young boys and girls would love to have. This book is "G" rated. Check out this book and others by Bob Doerr.

10/28/2021

Grace DeRosa, a gifted research chemist, stumbles upon a hidden, secret spring in the woods near Salem, Massachusetts. She discovers that the water from the spring imparts unique and fearful powers that lead to the ability to read minds, to create terrifying mental pictures and force the user's will on others. Then, Grace injects her teenaged daughter Crissy with the water.
Crissy joins with two other people work to destroy the malignant cult that possesses the secret of the coveted spring.

10/27/2021

Sometimes a simple prank can go badly wrong, and hard lessons must be learned. When Michael, Raymond, and Mrs. Pringle's son Gregory spend a weekend together, the weekend sleepover becomes one they will never forget!

The School Mice and the Halloween Prank by Nancy Higham follows mice families and their teacher, Mrs. Pringle in these heartwarming stories with special messages. Just in time for Halloween!

10/27/2021

In time for Halloween, check out this book about the Ghost of White Island.

A young woman’s spirit walks in the moonlight, intent on preserving the lost treasures of a nation. Four young people make their way to the forbidding islands, trying to find and to put right an ancient secret and to liberate the soul of Martha Herring, forced into a marriage with a pirate as a young girl. Their quest, however, is being closely monitored by a team of terrorist fighter, believing that they can finance their evil with the lost pirate treasure.

10/21/2021

Georgie Tombstone is a normal vampire...well, almost. Though his blood is cold and face is pale, he has no fangs! With a school Scare Contest creeping up, fangless Georgie will have to come up with something extra scary if he wants to win.

Check out this Spook-tacular book by Chris Campeau just in time for Halloween!