read: All We Buried (4 stars)

All We Buried: A Sheriff Bet Rivers Mystery by Elena Taylor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It's common knowledge that everyone knows everybody and everything that happens in small town. There are no secrets. But interim Sherrif Elizabeth 'Bet' Rivers discovers that the cliché isn't true. Bet has returned to her home town of Collier, Washington to fill in for her late father. Feeling undecided about staying or returning to the LAPD, her immediate plans are determined when an unidentified body appears in the bottomless lake near town.

The first half of the book is a slow burn. Well-rounded characters are introduced. Solid-sounding police procedures are followed. Questions are raised. Town history and mysteries are hinted at. A break in the case finally pushes the plot into motion. Yet the mystery of the murder victim will not reveal its secrets easily. The plot and twists are well crafted and keep the reader guessing right up to the end.

Disclosure: Thank you to Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for providing a free copy of this book in return for my honest review.


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read: Becoming Superman: My Journey from Poverty to Hollywood (5 of 5 stars)

Becoming Superman: My Journey from Poverty to Hollywood by J. Michael Straczynski
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Straczynski has used his considerable storytelling skills to tell his story. It is personal, unflinching and deeply moving, telling a rags-to-riches, hard-work-pays-off Hollywood story without being cloying, sensational  or scandalous. If you're a fan of Babylon 5, Superman, Spiderman, or comic books in general, this is required reading. If you're a writer struggling for inspiration, you'll find it here. If you're just looking for an engrossing story of endurance and overcoming circumstances, this is what you want.

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read; Retirement Homes Are Murder (2 stars)

Retirement Homes Are Murder by Mike Befeler
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Loved the premise. Didn't like the implementation. I don't like posting two-star reviews. But here it is.
Paul Jacobson wakes up in a strange place with no memory of where he is or the previous day. He's gruff with the nurse that comes to give him his daily medications and eventually finds his way to breakfast in the retirement home dining room with his table companions from the day before, who fill him in on some of the who, where and what of his new situation. Then he discovers a dead body and winds up the main suspect in the murder.
That's a cool set up. And it could have been the foundation of a both an interesting mystery and an interesting examination of geezer-life. Except... The prose and dialog are as wooden as can be and riddled with ancient cliches and comebacks instead of any attempt at reality. In this reality, a patient that clearly belongs in memory care is living independently, nobody has empathy, and garbage chutes have locks (?!). Most attempts at humor were also passe and trite. Several chapters in, I hoped it would get better and kept grinding through, hitting more and more reality breaks and improbable behavior. Finally, I simply started skimming to get the main points and make it to the revelation of the killer and their motive. Unfortunately, even that is disappointing and barely makes it to the level of a mediocre detective show from the sixties.
Obviously, that's what this is. A mediocre detective story from a time gone by. Except this was written in the 21st Century and misses the mark of modern story-telling.

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read: Elements of Fiction (3 stars)

Elements of Fiction by Walter Mosley
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A short, quirky meditation on the role of character in fiction. There are no tools for the beginning writer here. Just some encouragement to think deeper thoughts about how character can drive story, if that's the type of story you are writing. Glad I got it from the library.

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