Solemnly Swear Review

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(More customer reviews)In her author's notes, Nancy Moser quotes a phrase that embodies the recurring theme in this inspirational story: Characters live to be noticed; people with character notice how they live. As the tale unfolds, her characters become people of character who graciously hold up a mirror for us to reflect on our own foibles. Revealing the masks we wear and the roles we play in order to protect ourselves from the judgment of others often keep us from being the real person we were created to be.
Patti McCoy, a naïve resort worker, is on trial, accused of killing her boyfriend, Brett Lerner, an arrogant opportunist who had his share of dark secrets. As Patti proclaims her innocence, a jury is empanelled, and we are introduced to four of them, each with a unique interest in the case and each with a lesson to learn about his or her own character. Each one has flaws that many of us struggle with. Among the demons of Ken Doolittle, a former golf pro, are pride, lust and fear. Deidre Kelly, the wife of a prominent pediatric surgeon, wears the mask of a perfect society wife and mother while living in fear that her past will be discovered. Abigail Buchanan is a lovely actress who, at age 77, still longs for fame and fortune. And Bobby Mann, a father of two who works three jobs to provide for his family, is filled with self-doubt and fear, and refuses to accept the faith that his wife holds out to him.
The author deftly moves among these characters and their stories while providing interaction during the jury deliberations. Each one is clearly defined and easy to follow in short, fast-moving chapters. As the secrets and character flaws of each are revealed, the themes of hope and redemption recur, sometimes offered by friends and relatives, and sometimes by the testimony of wise pastors. The mother-in-law who provides love and stability, the wife whose faith encourages and never waivers, the soft, still voice of God whispering words of hope, the son with AIDS who has been changed by God's love, all hold up the mirror to the characters and to us. Though the Biblical message of salvation is clear, it is never contrived nor does it distract from the story.
It is exciting to discover yet another "Faithful Writer" who is talented, timely and witty without resorting to the more graphic and gritty style of fiction. I am eager to read Nancy Moser's Sister Circle series, three books about a widow who is forced to open her Victorian home to boarders. Sounds like it will be full of possibilities!
--- Reviewed by Maggie Harding

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Share No Secrets Review

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(More customer reviews)Share No Secrets is a fast paced suspense that is centered around the town's hotel, La Belle Riviere. Some of the locals believe that the hotel is haunted but, can that explain all the mysterious events that seem to surround the town's grandest hotel?
After famous model, Julianna Brent's body is found by her best friend Adrienne Reynolds and Adrienne's daughter in the closed down hotel, it seems that danger isn't far behind. Adrienne is still reeling from the horrifying discovery of finding her best friend murdered when she figures out her own life may be in danger and learns that everyone has a secret. But is it too late to protect herself and keep her daughter, Skye, safe.
Carlene Thompson has created an action filled read with plenty of twists and turns that will keep you guessing until the very end! This story is highly detailed with an array of in depth characters that are smart, funny and engaging. I felt that Ms. Thompson truly captured the feel of small town life and made you care about the characters she created.
Share No Secrets is one of the best stories this reader has picked up in a long time and I highly recommend it for anyone who's looking for a book that they can't put down.
By Tammy
Fallen Angel Reviews
www.fallenangelreviews.com

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Along the banks of the Ohio River, the small town of Point Pleasant, West Virginia, has been the home of quiet pleasures and safety for Adrienne Reynolds and her fourteen-year-old daughter Skye since the death of Adrienne's husband four years ago.Their sense of safety is shattered, however, when Adrienne and Skye find the body of one of Adrienne's best friends, Julianna, in a once-elegant, now abandoned hotel named La Belle Riviere.La Belle has a long history of misfortunes, but Julianna's murder is the most gruesome.Evidence indicates Julianna that had a secret lover whom she met regularly in the hotel, and who could have been with her in her final moments.The only person who knows this lover's identity is the hotel caretaker, Claude Duncan.But Claude is quickly silenced-drugged and burned to death in his small cottage on the grounds of La Belle the night after Julianna's death.One by one, people close to Adrienne are brutally murdered, and it looks as though she and Skye are the next targets of a fierce killer with a shocking secret.

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Creepers Review

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(More customer reviews)Frank Balenger claims to be a journalist interested in the urban art of "creepers", people who break-and-enter into old, abandoned buildings to see what they can see. Operating under the same constraints as professional cavers and with much of the same equipment, "creepers" invade an abandoned structure with the intent of taking pictures and leaving only footprints to mark their passage. Only the building Frank and his five new collegues invade is the Paragon Hotel, a luxury experience designed and built by a hemophiliac trapped within his own world that wanted to experience as much of the outside world as he could. Frank's lie about being a journalist is only the first of several that fall apart during the eight hours of hell and horror waiting for the "creepers".
David Morrell is known around the world for creating the character John Rambo. Author of over 30 novels, several of them feature or television movies, Morrell used to be an English professor that turned professional thriller writer. Many claim with his creation of Rambo that he invented the modern male action adventure novel. He writes from experience, from the literary field as well as hands-on training in hostage negotiation, evasive driving, firearms, and combat maneuvers.
The novel is a slam-bang adrenaline rush to the finish line that knocks the reader for a loop every time the plot seems clear. With simple, cutting prose, Morrell introduces readers to the urban art of "creeping", a mysterious millionaire who built a hotel to satisfy his own cravings, and more twists and turns in character relationships than a toboggan ride down an Olympic run. The information comes quickly and sparsely, just sips that go down when needed and never interfere with the ticking clock the author sets up in the first chapter.
Unfortunately, some of the other reviews give too much away. This is simply one of those novels impossible to talk too much about without spoiling so much.
CREEPERS is a white-knuckled adventure of a read. Easily understandable, engrossing, and ennervating, CREEPERS is not written for the reader who simply wants to while away a few minutes there. The plot, the characters, and the breakneck action will nail a reader to a chair until the ride is over and the last surprise is out of the box.

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Murder at The Universe (A Five-Star Mystery) Review

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(More customer reviews)This book was a surprise for me - came as a birthday gift, and I realized it was written by the General Manager of a favorite hotel of mine, the Opus in Vancouver. I'd met Daniel Craig during one of my visits to the Opus - so I was curious to read this.
Mr. Craig writes a compelling tale of murder in a modern New York hotel, full of rich, believeable characters. These people become more and more real, as he spins his multi-layered mystery of murder. I had a hard time putting this book down, and found myself reading way into the night. I was sad to finish the story - it is that good. I believe Agatha Christie would like this novel, very much.

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The Hotel Majestic (Penguin Mysteries) Review

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(More customer reviews)Georges Simenon was the author of over 100 Inspector Maigret mystery stories. They were immensely popular in the 1930s through the 1960s. Inspector Maigret stories also appeared in film and TV version. Simenon also authored dozens of books described as "romans durs", `hard stories' that had a darker tone than his Maigret novels. Simenon seems to have fallen under the radar in recent decades but in recent years he seems to have been rediscovered by a new generation of mystery/detective story fans. Penguin Books has begun to reissue some of those Maigret mysteries and the New York Review of Books Press has reissued some of his `hard stories', dark novels that did not feature Inspector Maigret. Penguin's latest Inspector Maigret Mystery reissue, "The Hotel Majestic" is as good a place to start for anyone wishing to discover (or re-discover) Simenon.
As with most police procedurals, the Hotel Majestic begins with a dead body. Mrs. Clark, a guest traveling with her wealthy American husband, their child and a governess, has been found murdered and stuffed into an empty locker in the basement of the Hotel Majestic. Maigret arrives to begin the investigation. His investigation quickly draws him into two parallel words: the world upstairs of champagne and caviar and the world downstairs filled with hotel employees eking out a living. Maigret's investigation begins with an examination into how and why these two different worlds collided in this brief but deadly incident. From there he proceeds to interview everyone and anyone who might have information about the crime of the victim. Maigret is no Sherlock Holmes. For Maigret, crimes are to be solved by a process of accumulating as much information as possible and then analyzing that information based on his past experience. Maigret plays hunches to be sure but Maigret's chief weapon is perseverance and determination. Consequently, the reader is presented with information about the crime and the protagonists in real time along with Maigret. As I read these stories I find myself absorbing these bits of information and trying to weigh them against the information previously disclosed. This served to keep me engaged throughout the book and caused me to keep turning page after page until the `final curtain'.
Simenon has a keen ear for dialogue and character development. Maigret is not a character that is revealed to the reader immediately. Simenon doesn't set about to provide you with a character map to Maigret's personality in any one book. Rather, he grows on you over time. He has an innate disdain for higher authority that is appealing. Simenon's settings and other characters also add a dash to his Maigret mysteries. These are not parlor room mysteries where the reader has to determine which upper-class member of the gentry (or the butler) committed murder most foul in the library. Simenon's stories have the feel of grit and the demimonde about them that adds a bit of spice to the `formula'. In Hotel Majestic, Simenon's description of the hard-streets and dark bars of Paris and the people that inhabit them all seem quite fully realized to me.
All in all, I find Simenon's Maigret mysteries to be consistently entertaining. They may not be as dark or foreboding as the novels released by New York Review of Books - but it you like well-written, taut, police procedurals you will like Georges Simenon's Hotel Majestic. Recommended. L. Fleisig


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Penguin delivers two more vintage Inspector Maigret novels by the legendary mystery authorIn The Hotel Majestic, Maigret investigates the murder of Mrs. Clark, the wife of a wealthy American industrialist, whose strangled body is found in the basement of an upscale hotel near the Champs-Élysées. Maigret's inquiries take him from the endless corridors of the Hotel Majestic to the countryside of the Bois de Boulogne and sun-drenched Cannes, into a world of prostitution, drug addiction, and blackmail.

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