Author to Watch: LANCE HAWVERMALE
I just finished the mystery, The Tongue Merchant by Lance Hawvermale. Lance’s bio on the internet is a little hard to interpret Okiewise, but I think he is from Cherokee, Oklahoma, or at least went to High School there. I may have found that information on his MySpace page. The cover of this novel was a little offputting for me, I thought it might be techno thriller, with those many pages of what the inside of a submarine looks like or intense descriptions of ballistic weapondry. Fortunately for me that was not the case.
If this novel had been written by a more established author in the mystery genre, the reviewers would have been all abuzz. So I take exception to Harriet Klausner’s review that seems lackluster, on Genre Go Round Reviews. Set in the Caribbean, with a hurricane bearing down to intensifiy the action, Coast Guard Lieutenant Marcella Paraizo investigates the murder of her friend, ‘Bella’. There are many twists and turns to the novel, no bogging down of plot in the middle (as so often happens in mysteries). And Lance can really write the female protagonist character.
There are many characters to follow and sort out as the investigation intensifies. I had to keep reminding myself who was who, but it doesn’t deter from a well established plot, plenty of action, a sympathetic main character and supporting male roles. What does the fact that Bella’s tongue was cut out during her murder, have to do with her death? What about the Adelbert stamp found in her shoe? Is Leo a good guy or a bad one? And Kyle….
From Hawvermale’s website, it appears he has written two other books under the name, Erin O’Rourke. And thanks for putting a link to “Libraries that own your titles” linking to WorldCat. It’s good to find authors who don’t think of us (librarians) as the people keeping others from ‘buying’ your books but as promoters and suppliers.
Ian Rankin, new book, Exit Music
Ian Rankin is absolutely one of my favorite authors. I’ve checked out Exit Music, from the library, so don’t tell me anything until I’ve had time to read it. Rebus is always down and out, in dark crime ridden Edinburgh. I read on the dust jacket that this is the swansong for our Inspector. It looks like it’s true. “Say it ain’t so Joe [Ian].” Its been a long ride from Knots and Crosses to this 17th novel. 
It makes me want to go back and start from the beginning. I’ve never read his Jack Harvey novels, I’ve got to get those. He writes in his newsletter that he will have a new novel out in June 2009 and a graphic novel ‘Dark Entries’, which now has a publication date of September 09. We’ll have to see what Sadie at “Extremely Graphic Blog” has to say when it’s out.
Dean Koontz’s Odd Thomas
I never thought I would read Dean Koontz, I’ve always been a little afraid of “horror books”, even though he is such a great speaker and kind autographer at major library events; like ALA (American Library Association) conference. So I surprised myself by picking up Odd Thomas. What a great choice, now I feel I’ve missed so much from this very talented writer. Mr. Koontz’s avatar speaks to you from his website. As I’ve said before I don’t really care for whirligigs and flash on websites, but I think this one works. It’s just pleasant and strangely welcoming. He has a video on the Barnes & Noble website talking directly to his fans, he seems to actually enjoy fans, answering questions and of course promoting a new book.
Well anyway, Odd Thomas, has all the big social issues, battles of good vs. evil in the insanity of our world, but it also includes very intimate issues of love, companionship, loyalty, and the true nature of family. Koontz has the ability to question or strengthen our ”moral compass”, while turning out a really good tale, complete with unexpected events, good plot, and great characters and best of all making it a series.
Odd Thomas has a facebook page , a myspace page, a graphic novel, and a podcast. There’s definitely an appeal to a younger audience.
However, I think it’s all pretty cool and am now a fan.
The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry
Back to the Lace Reader, Brunonia Barry certainly knows how to evoke setting, Salem comes alive, today and Salem of the witch hunts. Women and needlework, the telling of our stories, lacemaking comes front and center in the lives, secrets and betrayals of this New England family and those whom they touch.
In a library book I picked up, Lace: The Elegant Veil by Janine Montupet and Ghislaine Schoeller, it states the first American lacemaking center was located in Ipswich, Massachusetts, a town founded by colonists in 1634. These colonists came from places in England, where bobbin lace was made and so brought their craft to America. Needlework was the bridge between the past and the new future. The ladies on Yellow Dog Island, use the lace to remake their lives, to forget the past and accept a new future.
The Lace Reader is a wild mix of a story; mystery, historical, fortune-telling by lace, romance, abuse, religious zealots, family secrets and recovery. Narrative changes tense and people with frequency. The end sweeps the reader along like the tide, pulling and pushing the reader with it.
Occasionally its seems too much, like everything has to be included or lost, it does have plenty of surprises along the way but like gazing through the lace some characters lose definition. However I think it’s worth the read, and would recommend picking it up, and I would certainly read the next one, since Barry intends to make this a trilogy.
The Lace Reader, not for laundry day
The Lace Reader is definitely not a laundry day book, now I have a dryer full of wrinkled clothes and the washing machine needs to do another rinse cycle. It is definitely very good. Pick up a copy and when I’m done we can talk. Here’s the website, http://www.lacereader.com/ (I’m not much for book websites with whirligigs and flash players run wild, but the book is worth checking out.)
Oklahoma’s Arthur Conan Doyle, Will Thomas
Some may be surprised we have our own Arthur Conan Doyle, right here in Tulsa, Oklahoma, writing about a very authentic feeling Victorian England, covering the adventures of Cyrus Barker, enquiry agent and his assistant Thomas Llewelyn. While reminiscent of Holmes and our dear Dr. Watson, Will Thomas’ stories are able to stand on their own. I found a great site for reviews of his five novels, Heretical Ideas does a marvelous job of describing all five.
Will Thomas just happened to win the Oklahoma Book Award in the Fiction category in 2005 for Some Danger Involved.
Do they know what they’re doing or what. I think the first one is a must, getting your bearings with the characters, and atmosphere.
What I really like about the series is the handling of historical, ethnic and cultural issues, while serving up a good mystery.
Some Danger Involved, looks at anti-semitism in Victorian England; To Kingdom Come, Irish terrorists; The Limehouse Text, Chinese immigrants and culture in London; The Hellfire Conspiracy, child kidnapping, serial killings, and the Hellfire Club amid socio-economic minefields; and finally the Sicilian mafia, and the introduction of organized crime to the streets and docks of London, in The Black Hand.
This new one is out there now, start reading, but I think you will want to go back and pick up the others. I’m almost finished with my fifth.
Julius House, not Sookie, by Charlaine Harris
Saturday or Sunday is usually laundry day, so I think that calls for a Doing Laundry Books category. Of course it has to be a book you can put down and pick up again, nothing too intense so you can stop and move clothes from the washer into the dryer, nothing too unputdownable so the dryer clothes don’t remain there to become hopelessly wrinkled. This week it was a Charlaine Harris (of Sookie Stackhouse fame) book, The Julius House.
It is book four of her Aurora “Roe” Teagarden series. I know I read Three Bedrooms, One Corpse,
but it’s been awhile, I think that’s where she met her to-be-husband, wedded to him now in Julius House, it’s not entirely marital bliss.
“Well, if you really want to know—she asked me if it was really true that you were marrying a Yankee. I said, ‘Well, Miss Neecy, he is from Ohio.’ And she said, ‘Poor Aida. I know you’re worried. But there are some nice ones. Aurora will be all right, honey.’ ” p.72.
This was written before her southern vampire series, so sex is just alluded to and no gorgeous vampires appear. But it is what I think of as a southern cozy, which works for laundry day.
Chick-lit can also work but that can wait for another day.
I like the introduction of Angel and Shelby Youngblood. The mystery is all about a missing family, and what we know or don’t know about each other in any relationship.
I think Harris was developing her voice in these early titles and they are a bit uneven. She is certainly better now. But hey, it’s Laundry day.
