MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW: "MURDER IN HAND" - PROBATE, PUCCINI & DEAD LAWYERS IN ITALIAN CRIME ROMP

Thank you, Midwest Book Review, for featuring this review!

"I can't leave you alone for a few hours without 

somebody else being murdered."—Murder in Hand

REVIEW 

Title: Murder in Hand

Author: Celia Conrad

Published 2012 by Barcham Books    

ISBN 13: 978-0954623340

ASIN: B00A1O1YQE (Kindle)

Available on Amazon U.K. and Amazon U.S.

Author Website: Alicia Allen Investigates Web Site

Author Blog: Celia Conrad Blog

 Lawyers aren't the most popular people, Miss Allen..."

—Murder in Hand

In her cerebral legal mystery, Murder in Hand, Celia Conrad pulls her feisty London Probate/Estate lawyer heroine, Alicia Allen, deeper into the quagmire world of unscrupulous attorneys, the unfortunates who work with them and their unsuspecting innocent victims. In this third book of the Alicia Allen Investigates Trilogy (AAI), Conrad hits her stride as a bona fide puzzle master in the tradition of Agatha Christie. The easy-to-follow plot line keeps readers guessing and the pages turning, while great pleasures lie in Conrad's refusal--or perhaps inability--to write for the lowest common denominator of brain power. Instead she aims for the highest.

If you want to roll with Alicia Allen...better bring your A-Game (and some knowledge of the Classics wouldn't hurt).

Murder in Hand could be enjoyed as a stand-alone book if readers don't mind not knowing the history between the justice-loving attorney Alicia Allen and her adoring cohort Alex Waterford; her investigator friends, Jo and Will; or her cultured elderly neighbor Dorothy. 

The story takes off when Alicia's Italian American client Fabio confides that he believes someone is trying to kill him. Fabio's family ties span New York, England and Italy/Sicily; and when his sister is killed in the midst of doing some family estate research in Italy, Alicia embarks on a quest to find the killer.

"I can't leave you alone for a few hours without 

somebody else being murdered."—Murder in Hand

As in Books 1 and 2 (A Model Murder and Wilful Murder), Alicia leaps where proverbial angels fear to tread, resisting Alex's concerns for her safety. and soon he is helping her sort the puzzle pieces as the body count goes up (with the neat twist that as they hone in, it is lawyers or their assistants who are now dropping dead). Their relationship has matured into an easy partnership built on love, trust and the potato chip that rhymes with "Tingles." It provides a soothing stability that contrasts with the dark, random world of mayhem they are navigating together.  

"I generally advise my clients to make both 

a British and an Italian Will."—Murder in Hand

All the AAI books turn on classical theater or operatic references or clues. Murder in Hand pays homage to Gianni Schicchi (which Puccini based on Danté's Divine Comedy), a comic opera about a dead man's Will gone wrong, schemers and estate swindlers. And it won't be spoiling too much to divulge that key action takes place in the Italian town that hosts an annual Puccini festival.

The book's title is a double entendre. British police refer to an investigation in progress as "in hand." And as for the other meaning...well, you'll just have to read the book, won't you?

(Hint: Bone up on your Puccini!) 

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This review first appeared on Marlan Warren's blog: Dancinhg in the Experience Lane   

REVIEW: "WILFUL MURDER:: UNTANGLING BLOODY FAMILY TREES IN THE LAND DOWN UNDER

Title: Wilful Murder
Author: Celia Conrad
Published 2011 by Barcham Books
ISBN-13: 978-0954623333       ISBN-10: 0954623339
Amazon Kindle - ASIN: B00A1NCNRO

Author Website | http://www.aliciaalleninvestigates.com/
Author Blog | http://celiaconrad.blogspot.com/ 
Available at  Amazon U.K. and Amazon U.S.

REVIEW

Look to the past to see what the future holds. —Wilful Murder 

Who doesn't enjoy a ripping good tale of a Will, murdered relatives and love's labor rewarded? For Wilful Murder, the second book in the Alicia Allen Investigates trilogy, British author Celia Conrad has concocted a pastiche composed of the basic elements we expect in a murder mystery that spins on disgruntled relatives, and reinvented it as part-Travelogue, part-Greek Tragedy, part-Shakespeare and part-Love Story.

MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW & AUTHOR INTERVIEW: "A MODEL MURDER" - CELIA CONRAD

Thank you, Midwest Book Review, for publishing my review of A Model Murder:      "Wow book review of Wow crime novel"

In law firms, nobody can hear you scream...

Title: A Model Murder (Book 1)              
Author: Celia Conrad
Series: Alicia Allen Investigates Trilogy
Published 2011 by Barcham Books
ISBN-13: 978-0954623326                      
ISBN-10: 0954623320
Author Web Site: Alicia Allen Investigates Web Site
Author Blog: http//celiaconrad.blogspot.com
Available on Amazon:
U.S. Amazon: A Model Murder   /   U.K. Amazon: A Model Murder

REVIEW 

He told me he was used to getting what he wanted...

--A Model Murder, Celia Conrad

What do law firms and men’s “hostess” clubs have in common? If your first thought is “alpha males,” you’re already on board with A Model Murder. Conrad draws disturbing, often painfully entertaining, parallels between these two worlds where Neanderthals still roam the Earth, and a resistant female might get a bop on the head or worse.

A Model Murder is a fast-paced suspense mystery, full of twists and turns, following in the tradition of Nicci French and Sue Grafton.

Alicia Allen is a London-based Anglo-Italian lawyer on the verge of her 30^th birthday whose experience of Death has been limited to sorting estate issues...until her beautiful Australian neighbor and wannabe model, Tammy, turns up raped and murdered before she can collect her first paycheck from the job she wants to quit in a sleazy men’s club.

British author Conrad has painted a loving portrait of the multi-cultural melting pot that is London and her down-to-earth heroine who has no superpowers of intuition and deduction, but is quite simply a good neighbor who will stop at nothing until a wrong is made right.

REVIEW: THE SPOON FROM MINKOWITZ - What's not to Love?

REVIEW

How to crack the mystery of who we are, why we love, 
and where we came from can be the greatest mystery of all.

What's not to love?

In her newest memoir, THE SPOON FROM MANKOWITZ: A Bittersweet Roots Journey, award-winning international travel writer Judith Fein dives beneath the surface of her Russian Jewish American heritage--pushing past all obstacles--to find the truth behind the shrouded story of where she came from, what the Old World was like, and what remains of the places so many of our ancestors left behind when they came to America.

We cannot help but want to accompany this passionate woman who will not take "No" for an answer as she treks through graveyards, has a private audience with the Gypsy Baron of Moldova, meets the last Jew standing, communes with the dead, quaffs cognac with Russians, wanders among ruins, and hears the call of the ancestors, driving her on. Ultimately, it is our story too, as we experience the legacy of what was handed down to us in our families, relationships, beliefs, fears and longings.

Suddenly, I felt as though there were people behind me, following me. I turned around, but no one was there. I continued walking. Again, I felt the presence of a lot of people in my wake. I spun around and was greeted by a chorus of voices. Although I didn’t see anybody, I heard the Eastern European ancestors of many people like me calling out. “Remember us. Don’t forget us. Our story needs to be heard. Write our story. Write your story."--The Spoon from Minkowitz

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Originally published in Marlan Warren's L.A. Now and Then Blog
Author bio and more details, including Discussion Guide, can be found on the Author's Web Site or at http://bookpublicitybymarlan.blogspot.com

MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW: Be who you want to be. ("CHANGING SPACES" by Nancy King)-

“How is it possible that one minute I’m a wife

and the next I’m a discard?”

—Changing Spaces, Nancy King

MY MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW

Not since Marilyn French's 70s novel, THE WOMEN'S ROOM, has there been such a groundbreaking feminist novel. Nancy King tackles 180-degree life flips, divorce, women’s friendship and the healing power of New Mexico in her novel CHANGING SPACES. Just as in THE WOMEN'S ROOM, the central character (Laura) gets an "anvil" dropped on her head when her husband suddenly wants a divorce after a longtime marriage in which Laura has been deeply in love. That King has the couple coupling a few hours before this shocking news is testimony to how skillfully she lets readers know (a) older women can still have sex with their husbands and enjoy it and (b) men are dogs.

Okay, maybe not that last one.

In CHANGING SPACES, men are not so much "dogs" as they are "dogged" in their pursuits. Laura's husband has doggedly pursued a younger woman, thus resulting in his asking for the divorce. And after Laura disappears off the face of Oberlin, Ohio where they have lived their comfortable lives, The Cad regrets his error and tries desperately to learn where she is.

Where Laura "is" determines the trajectory of this story and beats like a heart liberated from its rib cage. CHANGING SPACES is about lost and found identity--specifically the identity of married women who identify so much as wives (even if they have careers such as Laura does) that they eventually lose sight of what they really want until they get the rude "stick in the eye" of their spouse announcing divorce plans.

REVIEW: ALL STORMS PASS: THE ANTI-MEDITATIONS ("Keeps Recovery Real")

Title:                           ALL STORMS PASS: The Anti-Meditations
Author:                     Luke Benoit

Date published:     2012 by CreateSpace

ISBN-10:                    0615520138
ISBN-13:                    978-0615520131

Author’s Web Site:  All Storms Pass

Available on Amazon: Amazon: All Storms Pass

 "If anyone ever told you that you were less than wonderful...
They lied."

--All Storms Pass: The Anti-Meditations by Luke Benoit

I love this book. It fell into my life during a rocky time of self-doubt, anxiety and regrets, and I started dog-earing pages five minutes into my first reading. The title "All Storms Pass" is fitting since the book's brief passages (written in non-rhyming poetry format) focus on the transitory nature of life. At a whopping 635 pages, an alternate title might have been "The Big Book of Self-Esteem."

Benoit urges readers to share these "anti-meditations" with others to stimulate dialogue and promote healing. They function as the jumping off place for discussion rather than the end of it. "They beg for personal interpretation," says Benoit on the back cover, while acknowledging that "All of them require introspective rumination."

This is such a personal book and at the same most of us can relate to the struggle to gain peace and balance in our lives. Life Coach/Therapist Benoit has obviously suffered and continues to wage war against internal forces that threaten his peace of mind. This honest approach makes the book riveting.

Reading this book is like reading someone's life-journal, and as you gather the bits of wisdom, you realize you're looking in a mirror. What Luke Benoit has suffered and transcended one day at a time, each of his readers can suffer and transcend one page at a time, right along with him.

It is a brave masterpiece.

MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW: "JITTERBUG LIFT"- Food not bombs rebuild Berlin in this taut thriller

Her whole person had a fire, a hunger.  It never crossed his mind 

that it was for anything but him.
                                                                                                                      --JITTERBUG LIFT by Oliver Flynn

Title: Jitterbug Lift

Author: Oliver Flynn

Published 2013 by CreateSpace

ISBN-13: 978-1479259137

Author's Website: Oliver Flynn Web Site
Available on Amazon: Amazon: Jitterbug Lift

MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW:

Reading “Jitterbug Lift” was like watching a great movie in Smell-A-Vision on a roller coaster while trying to balance a bucket of popcorn on my knees.  It had me at page 1.  

A riveting page-turner, its themes of forgiveness and solidarity resonate in our 21^st Century as ever more lines in the sand are drawn politically, globally, sexually, and racially.   These days when someone can lose their life for wearing a “hoodie” or a turban, it’s important to remember the Berlin Airlift—when the same pilots who dropped bombs over Berlin volunteered to save Berliners from starving at the hands of the occupying Soviets three years later. 

Jesus advised us to turn the other cheek.  But just how challenging is that really? The answer fuels “Jitterbug Lift.”

As a baby boomer, I knew about the Cold War, but not what started it.  Despite my Southern teachers’ insistence that Communism was a “Red Menace,” I was not sure if that was entirely true. I don’t know why I remained ignorant of the sadistic “Berlin Blockade” engineered by the Soviets to force post-war Berliners into submission through deprivation. 

Oliver Flynn (actually 3 authors) has crafted a masterpiece that boldly tackles an aspect of Western Allies’ involvement in the Cold War that goes beyond spy vs. spy.  Not only is “Jitterbug Lift” historically accurate, it offers a fun read with delicious writing.  

Some of my favorite lines include: