I’m sorry you were disappointed by my rating. We obviously do not consider the rating numbers the same. 

If I rate a book a “5,” that means it is EXQUISITE. I reserve fives for those books that when I’ve finished reading them, I want to turn back to the beginning and read them all over again. That happens rarely.

A “4″ read to me is EXCEPTIONAL, full of surprises. 

A “3″ is ENJOYABLE, entertaining, delightful, worth the time. 

A “2″ is ALL RIGHT, better than most.

A “1″ is FAIR, but a reader might do better to look elsewhere.

The books that I don’t like, I don’t read beyond the first three chapters and do not write reviews. If I can’t say something nice, I don’t comment.

My own books draw a range of rating numbers. The rank, like beauty, is in the eyes of the beholder. 

I like (his title). It made me want to read more of your books, and I will. If you prefer I not write reviews, I won’t. Maybe I should define my ratings for Amazon, so potential readers will understand. Recently, I read a book I thought rated a five. I just finished one I will rate a four. They are unusual. 

Again, I apologize for being on a different wave link. And, thanks for such an enjoyable read

Jancy Dewhurst, nosy newspaper reporter and amateur sleuth through THE RIBBON MURDERS, continues her meddling in this one––MURDER ABOARD THE CHOCTAW GAMBLER––the second in the three-book Jancy Dewhurst series.

This time Jancy leads us into the heart of the Mullendore Murder, a true crime that took place in Osage County, Oklahoma in 1969.  A little romance adds sizzle to the plot.

The actual murder case remains “unsolved,” although, in GAMBLER, Jancy and her professional investigator cohorts find the truth that satisfied law enforcement people, but which they could never prove to a jury. When juries hung, the case, like the victim, got buried. But in GAMBLER readers will know the truth.

Happy Reading!

(Cover by Ronda Talley)

AFTERMATH

from Deadly Niche Press

In AFTERMATH, Anna Fulenweider, 24, survives fifty-three hours  with a male assailant she cannot identify, in an unknown location. Survival is enough for her.

Normally an upbeat, even brazen news reporter, Anna is changed by her ordeal. Cowed, she sleeps at night with all the lights on, is repulsed by any physical contact,  and succumbs to occasional shaking fits.  She sees no reason to continue spewing her harrowing experience; therefore, she staunchly refuses to discuss it with family, friends, or even the psychiatrist provided by her employer newspaper.

Wesley Sims, a friend of both Anna and Joe Marsh, the engineer who developed the device credited with saving her life, urges Marsh to travel from Colorado to Oklahoma to help. Anna feels obligated to Marsh, whom she has met only in telephone interviews. She knows he used his ingenious tracking instrument to guide searchers, forcing the assailant to free her.

As an inventor, Marsh doesn’t believe in failure. Although he and Anna get off to a rocky start, Marsh persists…and persists…and persists, finally piercing her defenses, then widening the breach, until Anna is strong enough to confront her inner fears and even the man who created them.

AFTERMATH can be purchased for  $2.99 on Kindle at:

http://www.amazon.com/AftermathSharonErvin/dp/0937660116/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1313511382&sr=1-6

Now, here’s Pat:

Like half the people in the world I grew up planning to write The Great American Novel. Didn’t happen. Didn’t matter. I found plenty of other outlets for my scribbling habit. In the 1960s I put out newsletters for every club I belonged to and I belonged to a LOT of clubs.

Now

But my real writing came with small newspapers in California’s Central San Joaquin Valley. I always started out at the bottom, as a correspondent or “stringer.” I wrote fill-in-the-blanks stuff like weddings until I felt experienced enough to do interviews and people-features on my own initiative. I began getting assignments and bylines and never looked back.

I’ve always had a foot in two worlds – Oklahoma, where I grew up, and California, where I spent most of my life. Along with the other artsy-fartsy things I dabbled in during the 1960s I began typing up memories of growing up in Oklahoma. Some things you just don’t forget. Occasionally, in the middle of the night, I entertained thoughts of writing a book.

Time and fate led me to Dorothy Baker, who was beyond famous when I met her in late l962. In Paris she had met and married Howard Baker, a poet, critic and novelist who became a citrus rancher in the rural Fresno area. The Bakers taught and wrote, together and separately, but it was Dorothy Baker’s 1938 novel, YOUNG MAN WITH A HORN, that really made a splash. Loosely based on the life of jazz musician Bix Beiderbecke, YOUNG MAN WITH A HORN became one of 1950’s hit movies, starring Kirk Douglas, Lauren Bacall and Doris Day.

Dorothy Baker was back on the citrus ranch when she wrote her fourth novel, CASSANDRA AT THE WEDDING, the story of a young woman who tries to sabotage her twin sister’s wedding. CASSANDRA AT THE WEDDING appeared more than 20 years after YOUNG MAN WITH A HORN. Reviews were mixed, ranging from “a perfect novel” (London Observer) to “a crushing disappointment” (Time magazine.)

Dorothy Baker

To me the book was a revelation. Cassandra, the narrator, drove home from Berkeley on the same roads, past the same fields, that I now drove to reach Baker’s house. Suddenly here was a piece of work from a famous writer that mirrored the here-and-now of my own life.

As a new stringer for The Fresno Bee I showed up at Baker’s door expecting to be awestruck, even intimidated. Instead, I found her company to be as comfortable as an old shoe — no airs, no archness, no visible trace of vanity. She talked about famous people she had met, good books she had read, her writing technique, how she sometimes sat for hours before typing a single line.

Toward the end of our chat I confessed that I had written a brief memoir, hoping to turn it into a novel, but I was stuck. She dismissed it with a wave of her hand. “Don’t worry. If you have something to say, you’ll say it.”

Life takes its own sweet time. It would be almost 40 years before I finally had something to say and time to say it. FULL CIRCLE, my first mystery, was set in a fictional version of a small Central San Joaquin Valley town. It was a fictional version of the here-and-now of my life, as many first novels are, and I self-published it in 2001.

In 2008, Krill Press, a small start-up press, picked it up and republished it, after some revisions and a new cover, as ABSINTHE OF MALICE. Best of all, the publisher put an e-book edition on Amazon’s Kindle, where it has sold almost 5,000 copies in the past six months. That’s impressive when you consider that it sold maybe 300 copies in the first 10 years of its life.

My clipping of the Dorothy Baker interview is brown with age but still readable. I also have the photo I took of Ms. Baker at her wonderful old typewriter. Who knows why the clipping and photo survived and turned up in time for this guest blog? Apparently the Keeper of The Master Calendar looked down the years, saw Sharon’s blog coming up in the year 2011, and penciled me in. The Universe takes care of such things.

The best quote from Dorothy Baker: “A writer should have a thorough understanding of what the Greeks call the ‘recognition scene,’ that moment when a character has a revelation, an insight that will change the course of his life and the course of the story. It’s a basic technique.” 

I used that “recognition scene” in Chapter 15 of my work in progress. I won’t tell you about it here. You’ll have to wait until I finish writing the book, which will be any day now. That’s the deadline I set for myself – Any Day Now.

While you’re waiting you really should read ABSINTHE OF MALICE. There are extensive excerpts at Google Books,

http://tinyurl.com/23pojdm .

Pat Browning

http://patbrowning.weebly.com (under construction)

http://authorsden.com/patbrowning

http://pbrowning.blogspot.com/

Sharon, thank you so much for this chance to talk about myself and my writing. I hope your readers enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

First, Beth, tell us a little about RAVEN

Raven Morressey is living the good life. Nice home, husband, three healthy children, and it’s finally summertime, when life is again lovely in Valdez, Alaska. All this explodes one morning when builders, digging up her back yard, uncover a recently murdered headless, handless female body covered with scarification—hundreds of colored designs cut into the skin to resemble tattoos. As if this isn’t enough, where the corpse’s head should have been is a large rock with a face painted on that resembles an Alaska Native mask.

Raven’s eight year old son, Timmy, is the first one to see the body and is suddenly unable to walk or respond in any way. On that same day, Raven hears the voice of her long dead Athabascan father coming from Timmy, who is unaware of the ancient hunting chants he sings in his sleep and the words he suddenly speaks in Raven’s native tongue—a language he does not know.

Jack O’Banion, Valdez’s Chief of Police for the past few years, faced with his first murder case in Valdez, begins his official investigation. Everywhere he goes he finds nothing but deception. The town seems to have closed into itself and nobody will tell him anything that might help him solve this case. Then one murder quickly morphs into two, then three, and the Alaska State Troopers are hot on his back to find the killer now.

Between Raven’s voices and the visions she develops, and Jack, whose career as well as his contented life in Valdez are on the line, they both feel they have to find the killer and restore some sanity to the town—not to mention their own lives, which are quickly unraveling out of control.

What inspired the unusual setting for this one?

My first day in Valdez, Alaska, where this book is set, was foggy.  In Valdez, the fog rolls down the mountains, it doesn’t lift, like you’d expect.  I had come to Valdez to work for one of the oil companies for three months, so I wasn’t expecting to have any time to even think  about writing a book.  In fact, that was the last thing on my mind.  But as I stood there watching that beautiful, haunting sight, I heard a voice inside my head speaking the first lines in what eventually became the first page in this book, right before the main story.  If you read the first page, I think you’ll all understand why I was enchanted enough to write this book with Raven as the lead character, because this is a look into her soul:

The Fog

The spirits of my ancestors live in the towering Chugach Mountains that surround my world in Valdez. I know they are there. I can see them most mornings, great cottony masses of gray fog rolling down the mountains, sinister characters in a black and white movie, shivering and mourning their inevitable disintegration above the marina before they disappear over Prince William Sound.

They call to me through that fog, whispering my name. I hear them, soft, desolate sounds you can only hear if you’re really a part of this beautiful land.

My people will tell my story to future generations of Athabascans, and tourists from the lower forty-eight who come to walk through our villages and see for themselves how little is left of what we were. We have no written ancient history. Everything known about our past has evolved only because of stories told in the dark of night before our children go to sleep, when wind screams over the mountaintops and roars down through the passes, bringing the icy chill of our glaciers spiraling into our homes in spite of insulation invented by modern man. The wind is still bitter and we know it.

Even so, we lead a lovely, slow-paced life in this part of Alaska, where all the flowers burst with fragrant beauty everywhere in the summertime, and deep undercurrents of love and laughter seem to hover beneath the surface of our daily lives.

At least to me it had always been that way, until the Saturday morning in early June, when my world of gentle laughter disappeared and violent death entered the soft space I had occupied all my adult life.

Now let’s learn a bit about Beth Anderson, the author herself:

Beth Anderson is a multi-published, award winning author in several genres including romance and mainstream crime fiction. A full time author, she lives in a Chicago, Illinois suburb. She has appeared on Chicago’s WGN Morning Show, The ABC Evening News, as well as numerous other radio and cable television shows. She has guest lectured at Purdue University and many libraries and writers’ conferences. She loves music, particularly jazz. Her website and blog are both at http://www.bethanderson-hotclue.com

Links to Beth’s author pages on Amazon and Barnes & Noble:

http://www.amazon.com/Beth-Anderson/e/B000APMRR4

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Raven-Talks-Back/Beth-Anderson/e/2940012515407/?itm=1&USRI=beth+anderson
Website and blog: http://www.bethanderson-hotclue.com

Publisher’s Website: Krill Press http://www.krillpress.com/books.html

RAVEN TALKS BACK ISBN #: 9780982144398

Thank you, Sharon, for inviting me onto your blog today.  I enjoyed it, and I hope your readers do, too!

(Sharon is scheduled to guest later this week for author Mary Martinez at http://marysbooksblogger.blogspot.com)

Anne K. Albert is my guest this week on the Mystery We Write Blog Tour, Week 10, to share her expertise, an excerpt from her latest book, and some personal information. While Anne is here, my blog will appear on http://blog.marjamcgraw.com. We love comments, so fire away!

                  FRANK, INCENSE AND MURIEL

by Anne K. Albert

FRANK, INCENSE AND MURIEL is set the week before Christmas when the stress of the holidays is enough to frazzle anyone’s nerves. Tensions increase when a close friend begs Muriel to team up with a sexy private investigator to find a missing woman. Forced to deal with an embezzler, kidnapper, and femme fatale is bad enough, but add Muriel’s zany yet loveable family to the mix and their desire to win the D-DAY (Death Defying Act of the Year) Award, and the situation can only get worse.

FRANK, INCENSE AND MURIEL received a 5-star review and Reviewer Top Pick from Night Owl Reviews. Reviewer Diana Coyle said, “Ms. Albert has a way of telling a story that pulls you in from the very first sentence and holds your attention to the very last line. Her voice is melodic and her writing style is refreshing. This author knows how to entertain readers and keeps them wanting to turn the page to see what happens next. If you’re looking for a story with a little bit of humor, a whole lot of suspense and plenty of insanity, then you’ve found the perfect story.” 

About ANNE K. ALBERT

Anne K. Albert has taught high school art, sold display advertising for a small town weekly newspaper, and worked for a national brand water company, but now writes full time.

A member of the Romance Writers of America, Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and married to her high school sweetheart for more than a quarter of a century, it’s a given she’d write mystery and romantic suspense.

When not in her home office, she enjoys traveling, visiting friends and family, knitting, crocheting, and of course, reading.

An Excerpt from FRANK, INCENSE, AND MURIEL:

“Why are you here, Frankie?”

“My client wants you to help with the investigation.”

“Who’s your client?”

He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. “I’d rather not say until after you make up your mind.”

“Ah. Client confidentiality. I get it. So tell me about Rachel.”

“She didn’t show up for work this morning and my client hopes you’ll be able to shed some light on what happened to her.”

“Me?”

“You knew her.”

So did most of the football team, but I kept that to myself. “Forget Rachel. I’m curious why you’d agree to let me–someone you haven’t seen in fifteen years, as well as a complete novice–work on one of your investigations?”

He fixed me with a level stare but before he could reply, the outside door, that led from the kitchen to the backyard, swung open.

“You-hoo, Muriel.”

“It’s my Aunt Val,” I explained. “We’re supposed to go to the mall after we drop off her dog at–”

Loud, frantic yowls drowned out the remainder of my sentence. The massive, furry creature galloped toward us. Long legs a blur, its claws scraped the ceramic tile like fingernails on a blackboard. Thick blobs of drool splattered in all directions. I braced myself for the inevitable gooey assault, but the animal bypassed me completely.

Frankie bolted to his feet. “What the–?”

The dog pinned him against the kitchen counter. Prancing on hind legs with uncontrollable delight, it plastered his snout against Frankie’s crotch. A damp spot spread out from the zipper of his trousers and slowly stretched across his groin.

Oblivious to the confrontation between man and beast, my aunt ambled inside the kitchen, and handed me a round cookie tin. A rosy-cheeked Santa smiled up at me.

I gave the tin a gentle shake and asked, “Day two?”

The dog made yelping sounds. At least I think it was the dog. It was hard to tell with his muzzle embedded beneath Frankie’s thighs.

“You bet,” Val said, referring to her gift. “I made a dozen mincemeat tarts. Each decorated with two of the cutest little ceramic turtledoves you’ve ever seen.” She shrugged off her coat and gloves, and then spun in a circle as she patted her hair. “What do you think?”

I wasn’t certain if neon red curls coated with multiple layers of hairspray until each strand glistened like polished brass suited a short, plump Caucasian woman nearing her sixty-fifth birthday, but I decided to throw caution to the wind. “I like it.”

“Me, too.” With that, she turned her attention to Frankie. “He doesn’t bite, you know.”

“That’s reassuring.” Placing his hand between his fly and the calico-colored dog, he nudged the animal away. It refused to take the hint, and wedged its nose deeper. The yelping sounds continued.

Yeah. It was the dog. I was sure of it now.

I watched the process repeated three more times. Nudge, nudge. Sniff. Sniff. Yelp. The damp spot on Frankie’s slacks now stretched all the way to his knees. A thick layer of mucous coated his hands. I might have laughed out loud, but I’d been on the receiving end of that goop more times than I cared to recall.

Val strolled over to Frankie. “Hey, Big Boy.”

He grinned. I rolled my eyes.

“That’s the name of the dog,” I told him.

Contact Information:  http://www.AnneKAlbert.com/ or main blog http://anne-k-albert.blogspot.com.

Buy Links:  Amazon, http://www.amazon.com/Frank-Incense-and-Muriel-ebook/dp/B004CLYDRO/  Barnes and Noble, http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Frank-Incense-and-Muriel/Anne-K-Albert/e/2940011142123/ Smashwords, http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/30192 or from Vanilla Heart Publishing. http://www.vanillaheartbooksandauthors.com

Featuring VIVIAN ZABEL

Publisher – Editor – Author

The impulse to write is born in peculiar places. A struggling author is sometimes advised to write her nightmares. Writing is therapeutic in mitigating anger, grief, all sorts of emotional upheavals. Vivian Zabel combined a real-life nightmare, fear, anger, and grief to write STOLEN.

Vivian recalls: “At times, research for a novel comes through personal experience, as happened with STOLEN. I did do some extra research to add a section at the back of the story itself, but all the rest came from personal experience.

“Over 14 years ago, two of my grandchildren were taken by their father. We had no contact with  them, didn’t know where they were, didn’t know if they were alive or not. The pain nearly destroyed us…me. We loved them so much, and they were such major parts of our lives, my husband and I felt as if a chunk of our hearts had been ripped out. I can only imagine the agony their mother, our daughter, felt.”

To purge some of the pain and despair, Vivian used therapy with which she was familiar:  writing. STOLEN told the story and allowed Vivian to express the rage and terror, hopes raised and dashed. It grew into a full-fledged novel.

Eventually, she also employed the wide-ranging reach of the internet.

“Every year for 12 years, around the time they were last seen by anyone in the family,” Vivian says, “I blogged a letter to them, giving my contact information. A friend asked if he could spread my latest blog, November 2007, through the blogs of his friends around the world. Of course I agreed.

“Early in 2008, I received an e-mail that said, ‘I think you’re my grandmother.’

“Finally, the novel, STOLEN, is out and a sequel will be possible,” Vivian says. “Research for the sequel is completed. Hopefully in less than the ten years required for STOLEN, BETRAYED will be released.”

Memories of the years lost with her grandchildren and the days of pain live again in STOLEN, so vividly in the proofs, that the author says she cannot read the final result.

About Vivian Zabel: An editor for over thirty-five years, an English and writing teacher for nearly thirty years; an author with poetry, articles, short stories, and novels published over a span of forty-two years––with more than her share of rejections along the way––and the director of a small publishing company for over three years, Vivian has experienced both sides of the submission process. Diagnosed with  Lupus and Rheumatoid arthritis years ago, Vivian remains determined to do the things she loves. That determination prompted her to create 4RV, a publishing house to fill the gap between self-publishing and vanity presses and major publishers primarily interested in established authors.

Vivian has six books to her credit, two co-authored. Her latest books are PRAIRIE DOG COWBOY, written under the name V. Gilbert Zabel; MIDNIGHT HOURS,  written under the name Vivian Gilbert Zabel, and STOLEN, released in November 2010.

Buy Links are:

Vivian’s blog: http://vivianzabel.blogspot.com

Vivian’s website: http://VivianZabel.com

4RV Publishing   http://4rvpublishingllc.com

Stolen  http://Stolen.yolasite.com

Orders (other than from bookstores, online suppliers)  http://4rvpublishingcatalog.yolasite.com