Review The Bone Chamber by Robin Burcell

April 30, 2012 – 3:55 pm

Winter’s first book, Stitched in Love, will release in March 2013 in a novella collection called Threads of Love by Barbour Publishing. You can join Winter on her Facebook Author Page to get the latest low-down.

 

 

 MY REVIEW:

 

To say I loved this is a bit of an understatement. To say this book is just another typical suspense, is a slight to the author and the book. To say … oh forget it.

 

The Bone Chamber lived up to its backcover hype, literally. Don’t for one moment think you know what’s going on, or suspect you know, because you’ll be proven dead wrong, as some of the characters learned.

 

This is my first Robin Burcell book, considering my library is a bit behind in picking her up. Despite being the 2nd Sydney Fitzpatrick book, I was engrossed with the FBI agent from the get go, and loved the sidetrack into Zack Griffin’s head too. If you love all things Knights Templar this book is a new take on the old order, and the research behind the plot was fabulous.

 

Grab it, read it. Now!

 

ABOUT THE BOOK:

 

Special Agent Sydney Fitzpatrick, forensic artist to the FBI, returns to Quantico to help identify a brutally murdered young woman. But when Sydney’s friend and colleague, the forensic anthropologist who assisted her, is killed in a hit-and-run, a covert government team takes over the investigation, and Sydney is suddenly removed from the case. Certain her friend’s murder is connected to the first case, Sydney investigates. She discovers that the first victim was not only an archeological student, but also the daughter of the ambassador to the Holy See. Just before she was killed, the ambassador’s daughter claimed to have found one of three keys that just might lead to a map of the long lost Templar treasure. Sydney’s search for answers takes her to the streets of Rome, and into the underground crypts and caverns in Naples, one step ahead of a ruthless killer. Time is running out for Sydney as a fellow government agent is kidnapped. And the ransom demanded? The Templar map.

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

 

Robin Burcell, an FBI-trained forensic artist, has worked in law enforcement for over two decades as a police officer, detective and hostage negotiator. She is the author of the Anthony Award winning SFPD Homicide Inspector Kate Gillespie novels: Every Move She Makes, Fatal Truth, Deadly Legacy and Cold Case. Her upcoming novel about a forensic artist for the FBI, Face of a Killer, debuted in November 2008.

 

By Winter | Posted in Book Review, Contemporary, Cop/Detective, History, Mystery, Suspense | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

Back to Basics

April 27, 2012 – 9:30 am

Winter’s first book, Stitched in Love, will release in March 2013 in a novella collection called Threads of Love by Barbour Publishing. You can join Winter on her Facebook Author Page to get the latest low-down.

 

I won’t bore you too much with details, or a thousand and one links. I thought I should give a heads up to something, and see just what kind of a response I generate. (Call me a pessimist, but I don’t think it’ll be a whole lot.)

 

About 3 months ago I got hooked on this website/blog from a Cajun gal who was offering her recipes for her homemade cleaners and the like. And for the past 2 months I’ve been making and using them with great results. Reasons, I can NOT stand the stench of bleach, it burns my nose, lungs and hurts everything, on top of the fact I’ve done harm to my lungs with this nasty chemical in the past. Hate it. Another reason, I hate the stench and feel of chemicals, so why use them? And last reason, I don’t want to put toxins in my kids who are now helping to clean around the house.

 

I love the homemade cleaners and actually enjoy cleaning the house now. I admit, I haven’t gone full bore on certain things, simply because it’s a resetting of your brain process, but I’m getting there.

 

Now I’m on a mission to rid my house and family of other problems–food wise. This will be a harder sell for the hubby, the cleaners were easy simply because it is saving us about $30-$40 a month by not buying laundry detergent every 1-2 weeks and cleaning stuff every 2 weeks. Food, food is trickier, because it means shopping in the organic food aisle at the store and budgeting hard core to afford those things. And it means reading labels like crazy. And it means going back on everything my AG-loving, farm-raised husband has ever known and will teach.

 

 

The bad thing for me, a farm girl, and my FIL and Dad would probably ring my neck once they found this out, is trying to rid my house of any and all soy products. Why? Well, I learned yesterday that a possible cause of the goiter in my thyroid a few years ago could have been contributed to high soy intake. What our farmers grow in the bean fields is also causing some major female issues in women–and I very well likely have suffered from those side effects too. (I have a girl and I don’t want her to have to deal with what I’m dealing with, so I’m starting NOW to help prevent it.) And don’t think the guys are getting off scot-free, it’s harming them too. This will be harder because soy is in almost everything out there. Thus the reason for reading the labels.

 

 

I’d love to cut down on our sugar in-take too, especially since my youngest seems to be a sugar addict and he doesn’t eat much of anything these days (this part is killing me here trying to get him to eat.) But I’m such a hardcore chocoholic this might take some getting used to. And it might sell better to convince the hubby if it means helping to rid ourselves of some unwanted pounds.

 

I get lazy at times when things tend to overwhelm me, and the thought of totally changing our diet and eating habits scars the living you know what outta me. But I’m determined. There’s a lot at stake and I know it. 5 living beings to be exact.

 

Now, if my husband could just land that permanent teaching job, then I could finally start my veggie gardens and get some fruit trees and bushes going. Phew, I better start learning the ins and outs of canning and freezing!

 

Would you be willing to reset your cleaning and eating habits?

By Winter | Posted in About Winter, Food, Mi Familia | Tagged , , , | Comments (6)

CFB The 13th Tribe by Robert Liparulo

April 6, 2012 – 11:11 pm

This week, the

Christian Fiction Blog Alliance

is introducing

The 13th Tribe

Thomas Nelson (April 3, 2012)

by

Robert Liparulo

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Best-selling novelist Robert Liparulo is a former journalist, with over a thousand articles and multiple writing awards to his name. His first three critically acclaimed thrillers—Comes a Horseman, Germ, and Deadfall—were optioned by Hollywood producers, as well as his Dreamhouse Kings series for young adults. Bestselling author Ted Dekker calls The 13th Tribe, released in April 2012, “a phenomenal story.” Liparulo is currently working with director Andrew Davis (The Fugitive, The Guardian) on the novel and screenplay of a political thriller. New York Times best-selling author Steve Berry calls Liparulo’s writing “Inventive, suspenseful, and highly entertaining . . . Robert Liparulo is a storyteller, pure and simple.” Liparulo lives in Colorado with his family.

Visit Robert Liparulo’s Facebook Fan page: http://www.facebook.com/LiparuloFans, or at Twitter @robertliparulo.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Their story didn’t start this year . . . or even this millennium.
It began when Moses was on Mt. Sinai. Tired of waiting on the One True God, the twelve tribes of Israel began worshipping a golden calf through pagan revelry. Many received immediate death for their idolatry, but 40 were handed a far worse punishment-endless life on earth with no chance to see the face of God.

This group of immortals became the 13th Tribe, and they’ve been trying to earn their way into heaven ever since-by killing sinners. Though their logic is twisted, their brilliance is undeniable. Their wrath is unstoppable. And the technology they possess is beyond anything mere humans have ever seen.

Jagger Baird knows nothing about the Tribe when he’s hired as head of security for an archaeological dig on Mt. Sinai. The former Army Ranger is still reeling from an accident that claimed the life of his best friend, his arm, and his faith in God.

If you would like to read the first chapter of The 13th Tribe, go HERE.

By Winter | Posted in CFBA Blog Tour | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

CFBA Cooking the Books by Bonnie S. Calhoun

April 4, 2012 – 9:40 am

Winter’s first book, Stitched in Love, will release in March 2013 in a novella collection called Threads of Love by Barbour Publishing. You can join Winter on her Facebook Author Page to get the latest low-down.

 

This week, the

Christian Fiction Blog Alliance

is introducing

Cooking The Books

Abingdon Press (April 2012)

by

Bonnie S. Calhoun

MY REVIEW:

 As a mystery/suspense lover, I’m always trying to find a new off-the-cuff type of book that deviates from my normal long list of reads. I like variety, and with Bonnie s. Calhoun’s new release of Cooking the Books, I got just that.

 

 

Sloane Templeton has had her fair share of missteps in her life. Now she’s taken on her recently passed mother’s book store and she’s not so sure this is what she really wants. One thing is for sure, she ain’t letting no money-grubbing realty company steal away the place she calls home. And now the dirt has hit the fan.

 

 

Warding off threats to herself, her crazy aunt, and a a few men, Sloane keys up her computer forensic skills and tracks down a killer.

 

 

A great cast of characters, main and secondary. Bonnie’s trademark snark comes through clear, and gives the story the right punch. Chuck-full of twists and action, Bonnie takes the mystery/suspense genre to a new level. Sloane has found a place among the bookshelf of kickin’ heroines.

 

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

 

As the Owner/Director of the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance Bonnie has helped use the 220+ blogs of the Alliance to promote many titles on the Christian bestseller list. She also owns and publishes the Christian Fiction Online magazine which is devoted to readers and writers of Christian fiction. She is the Northeast Zone Director for American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW). At ACFW she was named the ‘Mentor of the Year,’ for 2011, and she is the current President of (CAN) Christian Authors Network. Bonnie is also the Appointment Coordinator for both the Colorado Christian Writers Conference and the Greater Philadelphia Christian Writers Conference.

 

 

In her spare time she is an avid social media junkie, and teaches Facebook, Twitter, Blogging and HTML as recreational occupations. She also has a novel coming out in the Abingdon Quilts of Love series. Her novel Pieces of the Heart will publish August of 2013.

 

 

Bonnie and her husband Bob live in a log cabin on 15 acres in upstate area of Binghamton, New York with a dog and cat who consider the humans as wait-staff.

 

 

 

ABOUT THE BOOK:

 

 

After her mother dies from a heart attack, Sloane Templeton goes from Cyber Crimes Unit to bookstore owner before she can blink. She also “inherits” a half-batty store manager; a strange bunch of little old people from the neighborhood who meet at the store once a week, but never read books, called the Granny Oakleys Book Club; and Aunt Verline, who fancies herself an Iron Chef when in reality you need a cast iron stomach to partake of her culinary disasters. And with a group like this you should never ask, “What else can go wrong?”

 

 

A lot! Sloane begins to receive cyber threats. While Sloane uses her computer forensic skills to uncover the source of the threats, it is discovered someone is out to kill her. Can her life get more crazy?

 

 

If you would like to read the first chapter of Cooking The Books, go HERE.

 

 

Watch the book video:

By Winter | Posted in Book Review, CFBA Blog Tour, Contemporary, Cop/Detective, Mystery, Romance, Suspense | Tagged , , , , | Comments (2)

CFBA Tour: The Chase, by DiAnn Mills

March 27, 2012 – 10:08 am

Winter’s first book, Stitched in Love, will release in March 2013 in a novella collection called Threads of Love by Barbour Publishing. You can join Winter on her Facebook Author Page to get the latest low-down.

 

 

 

This week, the

 

Christian Fiction Blog Alliance

 

is introducing

 

The Chase

 

Zondervan (March 27, 2012)

 

by

 

DiAnn Mills

 

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

 

DiAnn Mills believes her readers should “Expect an Adventure.” She is a fiction writer who combines an adventuresome spirit with unforgettable characters to create action-packed novels. Her books have won many awards through American Christian Fiction Writers, and she is the recipient of the Inspirational Reader’s Choice award for 2005, 2007, and 2010. She was a Christy Award finalist in 2008 and a Christy winner in 2010.

 

 

DiAnn is a founding board member for American Christian Fiction Writers, a member of Inspirational Writers Alive, Advanced Writers and Speakers Association, and is the Craftsman Mentor for the Christian Writer’s Guild. She speaks to various groups and teaches writing workshops.

 

DiAnn and her husband live in Houston, Texas. Visit her website or find her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/diannmills

 

 

ABOUT THE BOOK:

 

To the FBI it’s a cold case. To Kariss Walker it’s a hot idea that could either reshape or ruin her writing career. And it’s a burning mission to revisit an event she can never forget. Five years ago, an unidentified little girl was found starved to death in the woods behind a Houston apartment complex. A TV news anchor at the time, Kariss reported on the terrifying case. Today, as a New York Times bestselling author, Kariss intends to turn the unsolved mystery into a suspense novel.

 

Enlisting the help of FBI Special Agent Tigo Harris, Kariss succeeds in getting the case reopened. But the search for the dead girl’s missing mother yields a discovery that plunges the partners into a witch’s brew of danger. The old crime lives on in more ways than either of them could ever imagine. Will Kariss’s pursuit of her dream as a writer carry a deadly price tag? Drawing from a real-life cold case, bestselling novelist DiAnn Mills presents a taut collage of suspense, faith, and romance in The Chase.

 

 


Watch the book video!

 

 

If you would like to read the first chapter of The Chase, go HERE.

By Winter | Posted in CFBA Blog Tour, Christianity, Contemporary, Cop/Detective, Mystery, Romance, Suspense | Tagged , , , , | Comments (1)

Just Getting Away

March 21, 2012 – 12:00 pm

Winter’s first book, Stitched in Love, will release in March 2013 in a novella collection called Threads of Love by Barbour Publishing. You can join Winter on her Facebook Author Page to get the latest low-down.

 

Sometimes you just need to get away. And for my family it’s heading back to our home state of Iowa. For at least the last three years we’ve been using Spring Break as a mini vacation from our lives in Illinois. And we need it, gives us a chance to see friends we don’t see that often and spend time with family.

 

 

And for me, a break from my normal and do a bit more stuff with my writing and books. It’s a way to reset my mind and say, it’s okay to play. And how often do we forget how to play?

 

So, I’m relishing the beautiful early spring that has arrived in the mid-west and just being my goofy old self. And I hit an added bonus on this trip this year.

 

Spending time with my crazy extended family. My cheeks only hurt this bad from all the smiling and laughing when they’re around. <};^)

 

By Winter | Posted in About Winter, Mi Familia, Writing | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Never a Dull Moment

March 6, 2012 – 9:53 am

Winter’s first book, Stitched in Love, will release in March 2013 in a novella collection called Threads of Love by Barbour Publishing. You can join Winter on her Facebook Author Page to get the latest low-down.

 

The way to your gun-lovin’ husband’s heart.

 

Tell him one of your characters is using this.

 

Yup, mine was drooling. Then he started searching, on how to “improve” my weapon.

 

LOL! Gotta love it.

By Winter | Posted in Mi Familia, Military, Photo story, Suspense, Writing | Tagged , | Comments (0)

In my Suspense-filled World

March 5, 2012 – 1:26 pm

Winter’s first book, Stitched in Love, will release in March 2013 in a novella collection called Threads of Love by Barbour Publishing. You can join Winter on her Facebook Author Page to get the latest low-down.

 

Betcha you wouldn’t want that looking down a scope at ya? Wonder how this pertains to my current writing project? Wait and see.

 

 

By Winter | Posted in Cop/Detective, Photo story, Suspense, Writing | Tagged , | Comments (0)

Review Chop Shop by Tim Downs

February 27, 2012 – 11:22 am

Winter’s first book, Stitched in Love, will release in March 2013 in a novella collection called Threads of Love by Barbour Publishing. You can join Winter on her Facebook Author Page to get the latest low-down.

 

 

MY REVIEW:

 

Who in their right mind sends a forensic entomologist to a grade school classroom? Tim Downs, that’s who!

 

We’re welcomed back into Dr. Nick Polchak’s world with a bang and a new female interest, one who is hiding a secret that could change Nick for good. Dr. Riley McKay smells a rat, and its her supervising pathologist. She’s done all she can to break open the secret, now it’s time to bring in the Bug Man. And what they find goes deeper than a few bungled autopsies. And Nick finds his head so turned around he almost doesn’t see the forest for the trees.

 

Another great read, one I refused to put down until I read the last page. Nick was spot on his usual no-holds-bar flippancy, but there’s a change in him, a slightly softer side towards the other “species” we didn’t see in the first book. And the plot subject could’ve been written for the current times, oh how people learn so little.

 

 Can’t way to read more of the Bug Man Novels!

 

 

ABOUT THE BOOK:

 

Dr. Riley McKay begins a fellowship program in forensic pathology at the renowned Allegheny County Coroner’s Office in Pittsburgh. She soon discovers that her supervising pathologist, Dr. Nathan Lassiter, has an unexplained history of bungled autopsies, concealed evidence, and unreported wounds. Ignored by her senior pathologists and threatened by Dr. Lassiter, she turns to Dr. Nick Polchak, the Bug Man, to help her investigate.


 

 

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Tim Downs is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Indiana University. After graduation in 1976 he created a comic strip, Downstown, which was syndicated by Universal Press Syndicate until 1986. His cartooning has appeared in more than a hundred major newspapers worldwide.  His first book, a work of non-fiction, was awarded the Gold Medallion Award in 2000, and his third novel, PlagueMaker, was awarded the Christy Award for best CBA suspense novel of 2007. Tim lives in Cary, North Carolina, with his wife Joy. Visit his website at http://www.timdowns.net/index.htm

By Winter | Posted in Book Review, Contemporary, Cop/Detective, Mystery, Suspense | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)

Review Shoofly Pie by Tim Downs

February 27, 2012 – 11:04 am

Winter’s first book, Stitched in Love, will release in March 2013 in a novella collection called Threads of Love by Barbour Publishing. You can join Winter on her Facebook Author Page to get the latest low-down.

 

MY REVIEW:

 

I’m way late coming into the Bug Man novels, but I found it’s never too late. Forensic Entomology is a field that not many people know about, only since the beginning of the CSI franchise and the character of Grissom have we been subjected to it. But I’d take Dr. Nick Polchak any day, the man is a hoot!

 

Set in backwoods, backwoods North Carolina, we’re introduced to Kathryn Guilford, a woman with a pathological fear of insects and her “guys”, one which has been found dead in the middle of a field by an apparent self-inflicted wound. But Kathryn can’t and won’t accept the suicide ruling. Off she goes to find Dr. Nick Polchak, aka the Bug Man. her suspicions alert the wrong people and soon she and Nick find themselves chasing more bugs and their tails until the last page.

 

Author Tim Downs has a way with words, and having the privilege to hear him speak, I can say it’s a pleasure to read his books too. Nick is your average above-average intellect who doesn’t give on whit what people think about him, or so he pretends. His flippant way of describing how death and bugs collide is very graphic and hilarious. But, as some of the characters in Shoofly Pie learned, you never underestimate the man. Behind those huge, thick glasses, is a man who’s brain is always hundreds of steps ahead of your own.

 

As a suspense writer, I loved the insight into one more piece of the puzzle of how murders are solved these days. And, having a child in my house who is fascinated with the world of bugs and crime, makes me believe I might have a future forensic entomologist in my house–and he’s about as quick with his wit as Nick!

 

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and the sequel. And I look forward to getting caught up with the rest of the series.

 

 

ABOUT THE BOOK:

 

In a remote county of North Carolina, Kathryn Guilford receives the news that her long-time friend and one-time suitor is dead.  She turns to Dr. Nick Polchak, the Bug Man, to help her learn the truth—and she is introduced to a mysterious world of blood-seeking flies and flesh-eating beetles.  But there’s a problem… Kathryn Guilford has a pathological fear of insects. Now she must confront her darkest fears to unearth a decade-long conspiracy that threatens to turn her entire world upside down. a decade-long conspiracy that threatens to turn her entire world upside down.

 

 


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

 

Tim Downs is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Indiana University. After graduation in 1976 he created a comic strip, Downstown, which was syndicated by Universal Press Syndicate until 1986. His cartooning has appeared in more than a hundred major newspapers worldwide.  His first book, a work of non-fiction, was awarded the Gold Medallion Award in 2000, and his third novel, PlagueMaker, was awarded the Christy Award for best CBA suspense novel of 2007. Tim lives in Cary, North Carolina, with his wife Joy. Visit his website at http://www.timdowns.net/index.htm

By Winter | Posted in Book Review, Contemporary, Cop/Detective, Military, Mystery, Suspense | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (2)