A Dead Red Gamble - R.P. Dahlke

    2018; 163 pages.  Book 6 (out of 7) in the “Dead Red Mystery” series.  New Author? : No.  Genres : Women Sleuths; Crime Mystery; Arizona.  Overall Rating : 6½*/10.

 

    Order in the court now, somebody shot young Judge Gavin Borrega!  In the courthouse!  In broad daylight!

 

    Where’s the security video?  Where were the court guards?  Heck, rumor has it the judge had even hired some private guards for added security.  Where were they?

 

    Maybe it was politically motivated.  It’s been said that Judge Borrega was being groomed for a run for the governor’s office.  Maybe it was some jilted lover.  Gavin was indeed a handsome fellow.  Maybe it was our hero, Private Investigator Lalla Bains.  She had a meeting scheduled with the judge at the same time as the murder took place.

 

    Hmmm.  Or maybe it had to do with those dozens of fluttering, squawking chickens which somebody dumped into the courthouse just before the shooting took place!  That couldn’t have been just a coincidence!

 

What’s To Like...

    A Dead Red Gamble is the sixth, and penultimate book in R.P. Dahlke’s Dead Red Mystery series.  It is set in Cochise County in southern Arizona, in the fictional town of Wishbone.

 

    The story's structure is the usual for this series.  Lalla and her PI partner (and cousin) Pearlie get drawn into investigating Borrega’s murder, albeit in an unofficial capacity.  Lalla’s husband, Caleb, is the police chief, and would rather his wife sit this case out.  That’s reasonable.  Her father, Noah Bains, is critically ill, which leads to the problem of who’s going watch Noah’s two foster children, Rocky and Jimmy.

 

    Naturally, the initial murder case rapidly gets more complex, with other killings, both past and present, coming into play.  There are other personal and professional issues as well.  Pearlie and her beau, Harley, are no longer on speaking terms, and neither will say why.  Lalla and Pearlie’s move into a new office, only to find it’s …erm… broomed.  And the cash-strapped Bains-&-Bains Detective Agency can receive a healthy bonus check if they can provide proof that an insurance client is faking an injury.  Hmm.  How do you go about proving that?

 

    That’s a lot of plot threads to deal with in ja novella-length book, but R.P. Dahlke manages to get them all tied up.  The story is told in the first-person POV (Lalla’s), and the chapters are relatively short (8½ pages average), with 19 of them covering the 163 pages.  A Dead Red Gamble is both a standalone tale and part of a series.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon: 4.5*/5, based on 326 ratings and 60 reviews.

    Goodreads: 4.38*/5, based on 208 ratings and 30 reviews.

 

Excerpts...

    I felt sorry for Allison.  I heard her smarts had landed her a co-anchor job on Channel Five.  Unfortunately, the station was following the growing Fox News practice of requiring female anchors to wear tight dresses and enough makeup to look like they were nightclubbing instead of reciting yesterday’s city council fights and today’s traffic jams.  Today, someone had decided that she could do without her glasses and things weren’t going too well for the poor girl.  (loc. 727)

 

    Since I promised to do Pearlie’s process serves while she went to Phoenix to get information on Judge Borrega’s stepfather, the senator, I got out her list and checked off the ones for which I’d need special props.

    What sounds really simple, hand a person a summons to court, write up a report and turn it into the court or the law firm, doesn’t always go well.  At least not for me.  Pearlie, with her big blue eyes, dimples and full-figured curves is a natural.  Women appreciate her gutsy attitude for the job, and men, well they usually drool, so process serving is easy for Pearlie.  (loc. 1423)

 

Kindle Details…

    At the moment, A Dead Red Gamble sells for $4.99 at Amazon.  The other six books in the series are all in the $3.99-$4.99 price range.  The author has three other e-books available, each priced at $4.99.

 

“You can’t hire a guy with Prosopagnosia.”  (loc. 1543)

    There’s only a small amount of profanity.  I noted just 6 instances in the first 25% of the book, five “hells” and one “damn”.  I don’t recall any “adult situations” in the story.

 

    The editing is good, and is mostly confined to punctuation issues: a missing comma here, a misplaced apostrophe there, etc.  There were a couple instances of hyphens inserted into compound words (example: news-people/newspeople), but I have a feeling those crept in during the conversion-to-digital stage.

 

    My biggest issue was with the ending,.  It felt rushed to me.  For most of the book Lalla noses around, coming up with a variety of possible suspects and motives.  That was good.  But instead of things building to an exciting climax, or Lalla using Sherlockian reasoning to peg the suspect, one of the characters simply reveals to her (and the reader) who killed who and why.  I found it disappointing.  I don’t recall the earlier books in the series having endings like this.

 

    Bottom line: if you primarily read cozy mysteries for the “cozy” human activities and not the “mystery” elements, you’ll enjoy A Dead Red Gamble, despite its brevity  However, the Mystery angle always takes precedence for me.

 

    6½ Stars.  Acronym Alert!!  The term “BOLO” popped up in the story, and without a translation.  My geezer brain tried various combinations, most of them involving “Buy One, L-Something, One”, none of which worked.  It turns out to be police-speak for “Be On the Lookout”.  Now you know.

The Anvil of the World - Kage Baker

   2003; 350 pages.  New Author? : No.  Book 1 (out of 3) in the “Anvil of the World” trilogy.  Genres: Fantasy; Steampunk Fiction; Novellas.  Overall Rating : 6½*/10.

 

    Well, Smith, it’s time we found you a job.

 

    How’s about we try you out as a caravan master?  There’s one leaving from Troon shortly and going to Salesh.  Yeah, I know, you have no experience as a caravan master and the road to Salesh is known to be full to robbers and demons, but maybe you’ll do okay.

 

    If you’re still alive when the caravan reaches Salesh, and don’t think that job’s for you, there’s an opening for a proprietor at the Hotel Grandview.  It’s a boring job, but all you have to do is make sure no one dies while they’re staying there.  You think you can handle that?

 

    If that doesn't work out, all that’s left is to send you on a quest for something called the "Key to Unmaking".  That job is idiot-proof because we’re pretty sure the Key doesn’t exist.  All you’ll be doing is confirming that it’s a hoax.

 

    Good luck, Smith.  Try not to get yourself killed.

 

What’s To Like...

    Neither the Amazon blurb nor the hype on the paperback cover hints at it, but The Anvil of the World is actually three novellas scrunched together to make a novel-length book.  The stories all follow the same main characters, Smith and Ermenwyr, and do appear to be presented in chronological order, but each is an independent storyline.

 

    The first novella, the “caravan” tale, seems primarily aimed at presenting the book’s tone, the world-building, and the various races and creatures that dwell therein.  Kage Baker does a marvelous job of this.  There are three races: humans (the “Children of the Sun”), demons (who try their best to be evil, but don’t always succeed), and Yendri (who are into New Agey things like meditation and vegetarianism).

 

    The tone is delicately lighthearted, which was a pleasant surprise.  The action is set in a sword-&-sorcery world, but might usually trumps magic, as alluded to in the second excerpt, below.  I loved the way Kage Baker chose names for the various characters.  For example, Lord Ermenwyr’s bodyguards are dubbed Cutt, Crish, Stabb, Strangel, Clubb, and Smosh, and other surnames include Greenbriar, Crossbrace, Coppercut, and Beatbrass.

 

    There’s a bunch of wit and humor running throughout the book, such as the deadly “Fatally Verbal Abuse” duel in the second story.  I was also thrilled to see Chemistry play a part as well, in the form of a caustic drain cleaner, dubbed “Scourbrass’s Foaming Wonder”.  The novellas have no titles and there are no chapter divisions, but there are paragraph breaks aplenty, which means you can always find a convenient place to stop.

 

    Each novella has its own ending, with the most significant one coming, appropriately enough, at the close of the third one.  Amazon and Wikipedia indicate there are two other books in this series, one of which, The House of the Stag, is a prequel that was published five years after The Anvil of the World.  It doesn’t appear that either of the other two novels are available in e-book format.

 

Kewlest New Word ...

Princox (n.) : a self-confident young fellow.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon:  4.3/5 based on 122 ratings and 45 reviews.

    Goodreads: 3.89/5 based on 2,030 ratings and 195 reviews.

 

Things That Sound Dirty, But Aren’t…

“Mr. Hummyhum is ready to play now.” (pg. 180)

 

Excerpts...

    “Hear, mortal, the lamentable tragedy of my house,” Lord Ermenwyr intoned gloomily.  “For it came to pass that the dread Master of the Mountain, in all his inky and infernal glory, did capture a celestial Saint to be his bride, under the foolish impression he was insulting Heaven thereby.  But, lo!  Scarce had he clasped her in his big evil arms when waves of radiant benignity and divine something-or-other suffused his demonic nastiness, permanently reforming him; for, as he was later to discover to his dismay, the Compassionate One had actually let him capture her with that very goal in mind.  But that’s the power of Love, isn’t it?  It never plays fair.”  (pg. 155)

 

    “Could you summon us up a catapult that’s bigger than theirs, then?” Smith inquired.

    “Don’t be silly,” said Lord Ermenwyr severely.  “Sorcery doesn’t work like that.  It works on living energies.  Things that can be persuaded.  I could probably convince tiny particles of air to change themselves into wood and steel, but I’d have to cut a deal with every one of them on a case-by-case basis, and do you have any idea how long it would take?  Assuming I even know how to build a catapult—"  (pg. 247)

 

“Hey nonny no! (. . .) Light the hubblebubble, Nursie dearest.”  (pg. 111)

    There’s a fair amount of cussing in The Anvil of the World.  I counted 17 instances in the first 20%, but they were all mild ones of the eschatological ilk.  Later on, the phrase “What in Nine Hells” was used a number of times, which I don’t really think counts as profanity.

 

    There are also quite a few allusions to “adult situations”, and the partaking of drugs, in particular “opiates”, is a common vice.  And some bars have edgy names, one of which was “The Winking Tit”.

 

    Alas, The Anvil of the World wasn’t a page-turner for me.  The stories are too short for any depth to be developed, and the reader has to start fathoming a completely new plotline at the start of each new novella.  I think this is unavoidable though; it’s just the inherent property of three novellas posing as a single novel.

 

    I’ll keep my eyes peeled when I’m roaming the used-book stores for the other two books in this series.  If they too are a combination of novellas, I’ll probably give them a pass.  But if they are written as actual novels, this is a series worth reading more about.

 

    6½ Stars.  One last thing.  Every human’s surname is simply “Smith”.  A few have first names, but most humans just have a modifying adjective added for clarity’s sake.  Examples: “Old Smith”, “Young Smith”, “Mrs. Smith”.  Surprisingly, the inhabitants of Kage Baker's world don't find it confusing at all.

Something The Cat Dragged In - Charlotte MacLeod

   1983; 232 pages.  Book 4 (out of 10) in the “Peter Shandy Mystery” series.  New Author? : Yes.  Genre : Amateur Sleuths; Murder Mystery.  Overall Rating : 6½*/10.

 

    Betsy Lomax’s cat, Edmund, has once again brought something dead into the house.  Something red.  Something furry.  Probably a chipmunk or squirrel that he caught.

 

    Hey, that red stuff looks like human hair, not fur!  Jeez, did Edmund scalp somebody?

 

    Ah, fortunately, it’s not real hair, it’s a toupee.  Betsy even recognizes it; it belongs to one of her tenants, Professor Herbert Ungley.  But that’s odd, he’s very vain about wearing it.  He wouldn’t be caught dead without it.  Betsy had better go check on him.  Maybe something’s happened to Ungley.

 

    Maybe Edmund caught the professor, “dead with it”.

 

What’s To Like...

    Something The Cat Dragged In is set in the fictional town of Balaclava Junction, located somewhere close to Boston.  It is home to a small university, Balaclava Agricultural College, where Peter Shandy, our protagonist, is a professor.  In his spare time he solves murder-mysteries.

 

    As the above introduction indicates, the sleuthing starts immediately, when Betsy Lomax’s cat deposits Professor Ungley’s hairpiece on the floor.  Ungley’s body is found behind the meetinghouse of a fraternal group called the Balaclavian Society, which is where he was known to have given a speech earlier in the evening.  Sheriff Fred Ottermole and Peter Shandy are summoned and an investigation begins.

 

    The main question at the start is whether Ungley’s demise was an accident or due to foul play.  For the possibility of it being a murder, the storyline provides us with lots of suspects and lots of motives.  It was fun to watch our pair of sleuths make do with the skimpy resources a small town offers, and being a chemist by trade, I was happy to see the college’s chemistry professor, Professor Joad, contribute to the solving of the case via vital lab results. 

 

    Charlotte MacLeod infuses a lot of wit into the text, courtesy of a number of quirky-but-quaint characters.  She also manages to slip in a few more serious bits of insight, particularly those involving populist and pro-agriculture topics.  Plowing up farmland to make way for more housing developments is a sore subject for her.  Something The Cat Dragged In is also a wordsmith’s delight: if you enjoy being introduced to new words, you’ll love this book.  Some samples of new words (at least for me) are given below.

 

    The ending is okay, although not exactly packed with action.  Shandy comes up with a dubious scenario, then skirts a few legalities to determine whether it’s the real motive.  Once that’s confirmed, it’s just a matter of coaxing Sheriff Ottermole into assisting with the round-up of miscreants.  Things wrap up cozily.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon:  4.3/5 based on 515 ratings and 46 reviews.

    Goodreads: 3.92/5 based on 1,067 ratings and 69reviews.

 

Kewlest New Word ...

Shemozzle (n.): a state of chaos and confusion; a muddle (Yiddish).

Others: Redd (v.); Welter (n.) Swivet (n.); Interlarded (v.) Nobbling (v.); Josser (n.) Braw (adj.).

 

Excerpts...

    Professor Daniel Stott of the Animal Husbandry Department, a man not easily aroused to wrath, had waxed hot in defense of the genus Sus when somebody had been so injudicious as to call Claude a swine.  In Stott’s considered opinion, the district would have been far better advised to elect a sensible, well-disposed, right-thinking sow or boar to the seat Claude now occupied.  The local Plowmen’s Political Action Committee was said to be taking Stott’s recommendation under advisement.  (loc. 781)

 

    “Who are you?”

    “My name is Shandy.”

    “Well, well!”  This must be the deposed soap king in person.  “The great Professor Shandy, as I live and breathe, deigning to grace my humble abode.  Edna Jean, you damn fool, why didn’t you have brains enough to slam the door in his face?”  (loc. 2494)

 

Kindle Details…

    Something The Cat Dragged In presently sells for $9.99 at Amazon.  The other nine books in the series range in price from $1.99 to $11.99, which is quite a wide range.  Charlotte MacLeod several other series, including the 5-book Grub-&-Stakers series and the 12-book Sarah Kelling & Max Bittersohn set.

 

“For your future enlightenment, young lady, there’s only one ‘s’ in bastard.”  (loc. 1528)

    There are a couple things to quibble about.  Goodreads labels Something The Cat Dragged In a cozy mystery, and certainly has that “feel” to it, except that there’s way too much profanity.  I counted 22 instances in the first 25% of the book.  To be fair though, most of the cussing is courtesy of just one character, and there were no f-bombs.

 

    There are quite a few characters to meet and greet, many of whom are introduced with absolutely no backstory.  I suspect this means they’re recurring characters from the earlier three books in the series.  There are also references to earlier happenings, such as something involving “Silo Supporters”, but no details about the incident are given.  My recommendation therefore is to read this series in order.

 

    There were only a couple of typos, such as staffs/staff’s and entree/entry, so I was impressed with the editing.  But the one instance of verbal Hispanic condescension, “Steppo asideo, sister”, seemed dated.

 

    All in all, this was an okay tale, but it didn’t blow me away.  The reader makes the sleuthing rounds with Peter, meets lots of interesting suspects, but if you’re trying to solve the case before he does, forget about it.  It’s beginning to dawn on me that this may be a standard approach for cozy mysteries.  I reminded me of “Murder She Wrote”.

 

    6½ Stars.  One last thing.  Late in the investigation, Peter contemplates possible reasons for some odd actions by a few of the suspects.  His first thought is that they’d been “blind drunk”, but he then wonders if they “smoked peyote” or were “growing hallucinogenic mushrooms” in some dusty corners of the meetinghouse.  It made me wonder what kind of research Peter, and the author, did to entertain this possibility.

Darklandia - T.S. Welti

   2012; 183 pages.  Full Title: Darklandia – Suffering Is Optional.  New Author? : Yes.  Genres: Dystopian Fiction.  Overall Rating: 6½*/10.

 

    Welcome to New York City, 2147 CE.  For you old-timers’ information, it is now in the fine nation of Atraxia.  The country called the United States is no more.

 

    The biggest problem in Atraxians right now is an extreme shortage of water due to drastic climate changes over the past century.  All water is now strictly rationed by the powers that be, but both its quality and quantity is poor.

 

    Drinking water is essential for good health of course, and the government helpfully enriches it with Potassium, Sodium and other nutrients, even though those additives give it a salty, sweet, and metallic taste.

 

    17-year-old Sera Fisk has been having digestion issues with her water rations for several years.  The authorities have adjusted her ration dosage, but the new strength causes her to vomit it back up.  It also has begun to make her see everything differently.  That’s not a good thing in Atraxia, where freedom of thought is frowned upon.

 

    Sera might have to turn herself in to the Department of Felicity to be “purified”.

 

What’s To Like...

    Darklandia starts off with Sera leading a comfortably numb life.  She’s proud to be part of her 114-yer-old grandmother’s “rapturing ceremony”, at least until granny whispers a enigmatic and disturbing bit of news into Sera’s ear: "It's in the water rations."  From that revelation onward, Sera's mind starts to open up to what is really going on in Atraxia.

 

    I liked the concept engendered by the book’s title.  Darklandia is a virtual reality site where all Atraxians are required to go daily to do, well, whatever they choose to work out any inner urges that run contrary to the government-mandated "proper" thinking.  Enforcement of attending Darklandia is handled by the Department of Felicity, and monitored by the ever-present Guardian Angels.  You don’t want to run afoul of those thugs.

 

    Daily life in Atraxia is subject to near-constant surveillance, including security bands (“sec-bands”) worn on the wrists.  It is easy to go wrong.  Crying is forbidden; it indicates unhappiness.  Girls older than five years must keep their hair between 12-to-18 inches long, and must not wear clothing with “warm” colors such as red, purple, or orange.  Failure to conform might stir up unwarranted passions.  And you can’t use certain “filter words”, such as “terrible” or “mistake” when talking; they promote negativity.

 

    The book is written in the first-person POV, Sera’s, of course.  I liked this, it enables the reader to “see” Atraxia through Sera’s eyes, and watch as her perception of it evolves.  At just 183 pages long, Darklandia is a quick yet thoughtful read, and is divided into 20 chapters, which means you can always find a convenient place to stop for the night.  I only noted two typos and recall just one cussword, a single damn.  I was impressed by the text's cleanliness.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon:  3.8/5 based on 85 ratings and 71 reviews.

    Goodreads: 3.52/5 based on 246 ratings and 62 reviews

 

Things That Sound Dirty, But Aren’t…

    This was the second time someone had nearly walked in on me with my hands down my pants. (loc. 1802)

 

Excerpts...

    “Sera, what would you say if I told you there’s a whole world outside Manhattan?  A different world.  A place where cherry soda runs like water from fountains and people are so happy that sometimes they cry.”

    “They c—?”  I stopped myself from repeating his last word.  Now I glanced around at the angels wondering if they were listening.

    “Real tears,” my father continued.  “How does that make you feel?”

    “Feel?”

    Crying wasn’t allowed.  Just thinking about it, the red eyes and nose, the frown, the tears burning tracks down cheeks… it was hideous.  Of course, I was frightened.  But saying the word aloud…  (loc. 161)

 

    “Darklandia is not a way for you to ‘exorcise your darkest thoughts’ as they would have you believe.  Darklandia is the hand of the government reaching inside your brain and rearranging your thoughts to suit their reality.  Why do you think you’re forbidden from speaking about what happens inside Darklandia?  Do you think it’s a coincidence that you see your father every single time you serve your hours, except today?”  (loc. 1127)

 

Kindle Details…

    ANAICT, Darklandia is currently unavailable at Amazon in e-book format.  Two options are shown: Audiobook and Paperback, but the latter is also listed as “Currently Unavailable”.

 

“Excuse me, Ms. Locke, but you’re stepping on my slippers.  Could you please hand me that elephant ear?”  (loc. 1626)

    The ratings for Darklandia at both Amazon and Goodreads are not very lofty.  Judging from the reviews, the main cause for this is the ending, which resulted in a number of 2-star ratings at both sites, and even a 1-star rating at Goodreads.

 

    I have to agree with those low assessments by disappointed readers.  The ending is bizarre and illogical, and it feels like the author simply got tired of writing this tale, wanted to be done with it, and couldn’t come up with a satisfying way to do so.  A team of beta readers should’ve pointed this out.  If they weren't used, some should be found.  If they were used, replacements should be found.  The question for a reviewer is: when a book’s ending is weak, but the rest of the storyline is engaging and well-written, what should be done?

    I’d recommend a rewrite of the last chapter.  This wouldn’t entail many pages; and could even merely point to a yet-to-be-written sequel.  The excellent world-building done by T.S. Welti, plus the existence of a couple other unfinished plot threads (the murder of the mayor is one) begs for at least a second book, or even better, a series.  Indeed, most of the negative reviews expressed a keen interest in that.

 

    This assumes, of course, that the author has any desire to write more episodes of the adventures of Sera in Atraxia.  Alas, T.S. Welti’s most recent offerings at Amazon date back to 2013, so perhaps she's no longer living the dream of being an indie author.

 

    If so, more's the pity since, if one ignores the ending, Darklandia is a wonderful book by a talented author.

 

    6½ Stars, subject to an upgrade if the ending is rewritten  And BTW, the Amazon generic blurb for the “audible audiobook” (isn’t that tautological?) for Darklandia lists the age recommendation as “1-3 years”.  Wow!  I would love to hear any feedback given by a 1-year-old after reading this.

The Tapestry of Death - Howard of Warwick

   2013; 321 pages.  Book 3 (out of 30) in the “Chronicles of Brother Hermitage” series.  New Author? : No.  Genre : Cozy Murder-Mystery; Humorous Crime; British Humor.  Overall Rating : 6½*/10.

 

   Briston the Weaver has been murdered!  Executed, to be exact, and it was carried out by a group called the “the Guild of Weavers”.  The King’s Investigator, Brother Hermitage, knows all this thanks to one of his cohorts, Wat, who is also a weaver.

 

    There’s something about the strange way in which Briston’s corpse has been found: a “body suit” of sorts has been woven around him, very intricately and expertly done.  There’s a tuft of Briston’s hair sticking out the top of the weaving, and his two feet sticking out the bottom.  The rest of him is swathed in yarn.

 

    According to Wat, the Guild of Weavers even has a name for this type of shroud.

 

    It’s called the Tapestry of Death.

 

What’s To Like...

    The Tapestry of Death (Book 3) is the second book I’ve read from this series; the first one, Hermitage, Wat and Some Nuns (Book 6), is reviewed here.  Both are set just a couple years after the Norman William The Conqueror invaded England, and clobbered the Saxon Harold at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 CE.

 

    The art of tapestry-weaving is spotlighted in this story.  Wat and Briston knew each other well, and both were members of the guild of weavers.  The reader is introduced to Cwen, a young, female apprentice weaver under Briston and who becomes a part of Brother Hermitage’s team from here on.  This is a good career move for Cwen, since teaching the secrets of the weaving trade to a girl is a capital crime.

 

    The action starts immediately.  The book opens with Hermitage and Wat examining the “cocooned” body in Briston’s tent.  Unsurprisingly, their investigation rapidly becomes more complicated.  Who is the Hoofhorn?  What did Briston do to bring the wrath of the guild down upon him?  What kind of monster or monsters lurk outside Stott’s manor?  And if he's not too busy, can Hermitage also find a Norman commander’s daughter and solve another murder?

 

    I liked the “feel” of the Historical Fiction aspect of The Tapestry of Death.  The scenes of 11^th-century England seemed real to me, not overdone and not like they’d been lifted from a Wikipedia article.  That’s important whenever I’m reading a novel set in the past.

 

    The book is written in English, not American, but it wasn’t distracting, and I enjoyed the alternate spellings of words like judgement, offence, realise, favour, sceptical, fraternize, et al.  There’s even a smidgen of Latin in the text, the easy-to-decipher: “Deus salvabit nos.”

 

    The ending is so-so.  The “whodunit” aspect of the main murder gets resolved not by Hermitage’s sleuthing but by the killer simply revealing that he did it.  The “Hoofhorn” sidelight has a rather forced denouement.  Yet all the plotlines are wrapped up by the book’s end, and that's the important thing.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon:  4.4/5 based on 741 ratings and 100 reviews.

    Goodreads: 4.25/5 based on 340 ratings and 22 reviews.

 

Excerpts...

    “He always was a chancer.”

    “A chancer?”  Hermitage hadn’t heard the word before.”

      “One who took chances, risks.  Always on the look out for the big fortune.  Perhaps taking some money for something he hadn’t done.  Passing off work as your own when it might not be.  That sort of thing.”

    “Ah.  Dishonesty.  But not you.”  Hermitage stated a fact.

    “Cautious and steady, me.  Always have a fall back.”  Wat was reassuring, but he hadn’t actually denied dishonesty. (loc. 144)

 

    “The ritual doesn’t allow the tapestry to be opened again.

If opened be

The tapestry

Of death once it is woven.

Great evil will

The world up fill

Unless it is recoven.”

    “Recoven?”  Hermitage was aghast at this nonsense.  And the appalling use of the language.

    “Don’t know,” Wat shrugged, “I think it’s a sort of mix of recovered and re-woven.  Most of the guild ritual is in awful rhyme.”  (loc. 2356)

 

Kindle Details…

    The Tapestry of Death presently sells for $3.99 at Amazon.  The other 29 books in the series range in price from $2.99 to $4.99, with the most recent books generally a bit more expensive.

 

“The missing tapestry could be the chop that choked the dog.” (…) “Eh?”  (loc. 678)

    The Tapestry of Death is almost cussword-free.  I counted just four of them in the first 25% of the book, and those were of the milder, eschatological sort.  I am always impressed when authors use their good writing skills to heighten the tone of the text, rather than resorting to the overuse of cussing.

 

    There are a few passing references to events in the first two books in the series, neither of which I’ve read, but I didn’t find that to be a hindrance.  None of them were critical to the storyline here, and I could more or less figure them all out, except for whatever happened at Leamington.

 

    The main issue with The Tapestry of Death lies with its horrendous misuse of commas.  Particularly vexing was the complete absence of commas in direct dialogue.  One example: “I know Hermitage” instead of the different, and intended connotation: “I know, Hermitage”.  There were lots of other comma errors as well, but this was the most persistent one.  To be fair, this appears to have been corrected by Book 6, so I’m thinking I may not be the first reviewer to have pointed this out.

 

    If you can ignore the preponderance of punctuation gaffes, you will find a fast-paced and interesting storyline in The Tapestry of Death.  Wit and humor abound, and there are enough plot twists sprinkled along the way to keep you turning the pages.   Howard of Warwick has been churning these Brother Hermitage books out for ten years now, at an average rate of three-per-year, and I’m curious to see whether his storytelling and writing skills get refined over that timespan.

 

    6½ Stars.  One last plug for this book.  We won’t go into details but “tapestry porn” is a major feature in the story.  That may sound racy, yet I’d label The Tapestry of Death a cozy murder-mystery.  How Howard of Warwick has managed to smoothly combine porn and cozy astounds me.

Under A Colder Sun - Greg James

   2014; 204 pages.  Full Title: Under A Colder Sun: A Grim Dark Fantasy Adventure.  Book 1 (out of 3) in the “Khale the Wanderer” series.  New Author? : No.  Genres: Grimdark Fantasy; Action-Adventure.  Overall Rating : 6½*/10.

 

    By all reports, Khale the Wanderer is a nasty guy.  A brigand.  A killer.  A rogue.  A sorcerer.  A mercenary.  And some say, an immortal.

 

    Leste, a member of the City Watch of Colm, is aware of all that.  But orders are orders, and King Alosse has sent her on a mission to locate Khale, establish contact with him, and arrange a meeting between the brigand and the King.  Alosse has an errand for Khale.

 

    The King understands mercenaries, of course.  He is willing to pay Khale for his time.  One thousand golden-eyes.  That should get Khale’s attention.

 

    It does.  Khale laughs at the offer.  He’ll accept nothing less than twenty thousand golden-eyes.  It is, after all, a royal errand.

 

What’s To Like...

    The subtitle says it all.  The tone of Under A Colder Sun is grim and dark, with plenty of bloodshed, a lot of which falls into the category of “senseless”.  Khale’s task seems like an easy one: deliver King Alosse’s daughter, Milanda, to the Autarch, the despotic ruler of a neighboring city, Neprokhadymh.  Yeah, try saying that six times real fast.

     Milanda is to be wedded to the Autarch.  To get there, she and Khale will have to cross dangerous territory.  It is filled with lawless men and creatures, and two other neighboring kingdoms, Barneth and Farness, might think it in their best interests to put a stop to the marriage.

 

    Greg James is a British author, which means the book is written in English, not American.  For American readers, this entails encountering strange spellings such as humour, centre, knick-knacks, draught, foetus, and haemorrhaged.  Personally, I think it adds a touch of classiness to the narrative.

 

    The world-building is great, albeit mostly limited to the two cities, Colm and Neprokhadymh, plus the wilderness in between.  I liked the otherworldly creatures that beset Khale and Milanda, including the blood-banshees and the ultra-deadly mirror-beasts.  It was fun trying to figure out the character-alignment for Khale.  It’s quickly apparent he has both good and evil traits, but is he mostly "dark" or mostly "light"?

 

    The saga stops at a logical point, more like a pause than an ending.  It included a couple of neat plot twists, and the main plotline was wrapped up, albeit not happily.  I got the feeling the main purpose of Under A Colder Sun was to introduce the reader to the main characters in the series and set the stage for the main storyline in the sequels.  That might sound negative, but hey, it’s also the way I felt about Book One in The Lord of The Rings.

 

    My Kindle version came with two bonus short stories at the end, Timestone and Each Dawn, I Die.  They are both worth your reading time, and Timestone in particular gives you some background to the foreboding world the story is set in, although the main story also gives some hints about earlier kingdoms.

 

Kewlest New Word ...

Ordure (n.) : something regarded as vile or abhorrent.

Others: Canopic (adj.).

 

Ratings…
    Amazon: 3.9*/5, based on 63 ratings and 50 reviews.

    Goodreads: 3.25*/5, based on 146 ratings and 22 reviews.

 

Excerpts...

    “Hospitality?  Is that what you call it when your men ride down my own, run them through, and toss their bodies in the marshes to rot?”

    Leste spoke before she could check herself.  “They are brigands.  They steal and kill.  They get what they deserve.”

    Khale turned on her and his face was tight with rugged lines.  “You seem very sure of dealing in life and death, girl.”

    “Those who kill without honour deserve the same fate.”

    “Ah, deserve.  There’s another word you don’t understand.”  (loc. 250)

 

    “Aye, we rode together before things in the world got this rotten.  We hunted, we pillaged, and we stole.  Don’t believe your father, the good King Alosse, could be a thief, do you?  Well, he was.  All kings are thieves; it’s how they get to where they are.  People, land, ideals: you’ve got to steal these things yourself before you can convince someone else to believe in them and fight for them on your behalf.”  (loc. 852)

 

Kindle Details…

    Under A Colder Sun sells for $0.99 at Amazon right now.  The other two books in the series, Lost is the Night, and Hordes of Chaos, cost $2.99 apiece.  Greg James has two other series and several standalone books available on Amazon, ranging in price from free to $2.99.

 

Yes, she thought, for an idiot I’m very lucky.  (loc. 1018)

    As shown above, Under A Colder Sun has garnered some less-than-stellar ratings, particularly at Goodreads.

 

    Several Goodreads reviewers were turned off by the dark tone of the storyline.  Lots of characters die, including some I didn’t expect to, and there are references to rape and sexual assault.  I wouldn’t recommend this book to a 5-year-old, but for adults, well, the subtitle does warn you to expect a story grim and dark.  OTOH, the cussing is surprisingly sparse.  I counted just 11 instances in the whole book, although that included a pair of f-bombs.

 

    Other reviewers mentioned the frequency of typos, although I only noted one, a breath/breathe miscue.  Either the book has undergone another round of editing subsequent to its initial release, or else some readers might have been mistaking British grammar and spelling for outright errors.

 

    For me, the biggest drawback was the storytelling, which I (and others) found to be a bit weak.  Our protagonists go on a quest—to deliver Milanda to the Autarch—things go awry, and that’s about it.  The plotline as a whole is rather “un-epical”.

 

    Still, the story held my interest enough to continue reading this series.  I'm anticipating Khale's character undergoing some significant changes before this story runs its course.

 

    It will be fun to see.

 

    6½ Stars.  There really is a literary subgenre called Grimdark.  Wikipedia has a page about it.  You can read about it here.