Tears on Stone, Book 2 Falcon’s Bend Series Hard Shell Word Factory

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Authors: Karen Wiesner and Christine Spindler
Publisher: Hard Shell Word Factory

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Pete Shasta and Danny Vincent are back for another thrilling mystery in TEARS ON STONE. This time we get to know more about Pete and Danny and their wives. We get to know Pete’s brother, Jordan.

Jordan is Pete’s younger brother. He’s divorced and has a daughter, Nicole, who lives with him. He’s handsome, healthy, and one heck of a nice guy. Jordan happens to live in a house that once housed a friend of his, MaryEmma Gold. During adolescence, they shared joys and secrets until one day, MaryEmma’s mother picked up and left.

Jordan’s got new neighbors. Three women and a young girl moved into the house next door. When he finds out that one of the women is MaryEmma, he can’t believe it! She’s always had a place in his heart and now she’s back. MaryEmma avoids all of his questions and attempts to get her to talk about her life after having moved away.

He succeeds to make the connection by encouraging MaryEmma to rebuild the once beautiful garden in Jordan’s back yard. MaryEmma has two green thumbs. Everything she touches grows! In no time, with the help of Jordan and Nicole, she’s got the garden back in beautiful shape. But she still is very hesitant to warm up to Jordan.

This is the first hint that MaryEmma has a dark secret. The two other women, Shelley, MaryEmma’s sister, Shelley’s daughter, Ariel, and Pam, their legal tutor, are also very cold towards any attempts at being neighborly.

Why did MaryEmma, Shelley and Pam come to Falcon’s Bend? Pam is a leader of a women’s help group called SOS. She’s starting a branch in Falcon’s Bend to support and counsel abused women and children. The authors compassionately draw us into the suffering of the abused women and children treated by the SOS organization.

Shelley’s husband has recently died, and she is in a deep depression. She ignores her daughter, Ariel, and hangs out in bars picking up strange men. Shelley gets hooked up with Pugh Braun, a local good-for-nothing. After several bar fights, the jealous Braun is found dead in an out-of-town park. This leads Pete Shasta and Danny Vincent into twists and turns of possible motives for this crime and, soon, for others.

A bottle of champagne is merited by this book. It is a good mixture of a love story and a murder mystery wrapped up in a nicely coherent package. The sequel to a successful first book is often a disappointment. But TEARS ON STONE shows just how talented Karen Wiesner and Christine Spindler are. This reviewer awaits the following book in the Falcon’s Bend Series.

Degrees of Separation: Book 1: Falcon’s Bend series Hard Shell Word Factory

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Authors: Karen Wiesner and Christine Spindler
Publisher: Hard Shell Word Factory

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“She’d made the detour through the entrance of the park and toward the nearest bench overlooking the pond when she felt something come down hard on her neck. For a long moment, she didn’t have a clue what was happening to her. Then she realized she couldn’t breathe. Something cold cinched her throat. Before she could more than grapple for the constrictor, a knee slammed into her back and a weight came down on her. She was falling, clawing for air.”

In Falcon’s Bend, homicides are practically unknown. The only murders happen in bar brawls, drunk-driving accidents, or domestic violence. Lieutenants Pete Shasta and Danny Vincent find themselves faced with a startling and frustrating homicide case.

Falcon’s Bend is a fly-spot on the map of Wisconsin. Pete Shasta and Danny Vincent grew up together, playing cops and robbers. Danny left and went to New York to become an artist, winding up, like his friend Pete, becoming a policeman. Pete had joined up at the Falcon’s Bend Police Department right after school. Since Danny has come back from the NYPD, he and Pete have been partners at the 16-person Falcon’s Bend police department.

As the investigation begins, Shasta and Vincent meet a group of strange characters; all working for a smooth, manipulating ladies man, André Trewlaney, at the exotic club “Danse de Minuit”. Out-of-towners are rare in Falcon’s Bend and these folks are all “outsiders”. It was one of their own who was murdered, and now, all of the rest are suspect.

Slowly, in Degrees of Separation the story of each character is unveiled; some tortured, others unloved – many deeply troubled. What hold does André have over his women and his chief of security, Roy?
Teresa, the dark temptress; Vanessa, her eating disorder ruining her life; Sugar, naïve, who loves anything sweet; Cherry, the blond bombshell with dead eyes; Dee, who can’t keep her mouth shut when she’s got gossip to spread; Lacey, the tough bitch with a chip on her shoulder, and Melody, Andre’s wife, a sweet southern belle surrounded in a shroud of mystery.
Each person has their own demons that they are running away from. But which person’s demons have driven them to murder?

“I’ve done the right thing, Stephan Kelley told himself. Just yesterday, seventeen-year-old Tyaa Savic had given birth to twin daughters. Considering the young girl’s many dangerous addictions, it had been a miracle in itself that Tyaa had managed to carry them for seven months.

Throughout a sleepless night, Stephan had wrestled with the knowledge that finding parents who would take two newborns was difficult at any time. This time, it had been impossible. Only weeks ago, he’s located two couples, each of whom wanted a single child, and the paperwork and interviews had been completed in record time.

How do I choose? Stephan had agonized in the darkness of his living room, his hands clenched into tight fists. How do I decide which girl goes where? How can I make a decision like that when the worlds are so severely different?”

“I had no choice, he told himself over and over until he convinced himself.
And Stephan Kelley washed his hands of it, never once believing it was a decision that would haunt him for the rest of his life.”

Shasta and Vincent can’t get straight answers from any of the group. They play cat and mouse with the manipulator, André. He seems to hold all the cards and no one can call his bluff. Both detectives’ instincts tell them that Trewlaney is their man, but can they be sure without so much as a shred of evidence?

As the investigation progresses, more homicides are committed. While Shasta and Vincent discover details about each of the suspects and victims; they still don’t have any solid leads to finding the assassin. With each twist and turn, they wade through lies and half-truths from the characters; all meant to protect themselves and each other.

Pressure and stress causes leaks in the fragile bubble of the group’s secrecy. One might try to run, another might fall apart, and others may commit errors in judgment. Bit by bit, pieces start to come together which lead Shasta and Vincent towards their murderer.

Bit by bit, we come to know and appreciate both Pete Shasta and Danny Vincent for the excellent detectives and also the fine men that they are. Their stories are as much of interest as the mystery itself. The book would be seriously lacking without Shasta and Vincent’s strong presence.

In a finely crafted mystery, we are jettisoned against the docks along with the tide of the story. Character development is very well done, but never gives away too much information about the actors too soon. Wiesner and Spindler are able to work together to create a tight, seamless plot that leaves us guessing until the very end.

Degrees of Separation merits a bottle of Champagne plus a flute as a standing ovation to the authors. This reviewer waits impatiently to read the second in the Falcon’s Bend series.

Academy of the Dead Hard Shell Word Factory

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Author: Christopher Wright
Publisher: Hard Shell Word Factory

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Habgood Securities is contracted to do a banal photo-surveillance of an adulterous wife and her boyfriend by her spouse, Edward Blake, the director of the Helios Music Academy in England. Of course, Matt Rider finds himself in charge of the job. His boss, Ken Habgood, would never take on such a “hands-on” affair.

However, the lieu is not exactly conveniently placed for taking pictures. Matt gazed down at the distant Helios Music Academy in the valley… He pulled the straps tightly around his shoulders. He’d been lucky to borrow this para-glider from of his more adventurous mates at short notice.

After his daring fly-over; Matt is taking his wife, Zoé, to dinner to celebrate an upcoming happy occasion. On leaving the restaurant, Zoé is accosted by a street-person who shakes her up quite a bit. This person lives at a shelter called the Homeless Anchor Trust, run by Father Alban. Father Alban played a role in the first Matt Rider detective novel “The Hands of the Traitor”. He has since moved to England to direct the shelter.

The next day, Habgood and Matt are confronted by Shelley Carpenter, the adulterous wife. She teaches at the Helios Academy. Ms. Carpenter makes some surprising revelations about Blake, Smith and herself as well as the Academy.

As Rider has been dealing with Blake, he decides to find out exactly what is going on. Blake starts to reveal the true motivation behind his actions and hires Rider to do a special investigation for him.

Cleverly counter-balanced is a story of the original Helios Music Academy in Prague, the Czech Republic; and in particular, one of the pupils who attended in 1942, Hana Eisler.
“I’m …” Blake paused and frowned. “Prague was occupied by the Nazis in 1941. I’m sure you’ve heard of looted gold and art treasures. The treasure I am trying to track down has nothing to do with gold. To me…, the treasure I am seeking is beyond price.”

Matt is extremely sceptical, especially seeing that Blake isn’t very sure that this treasure exists or what it is exactly. The only thing that Blake seems to know is that Hana Eisler was the last person known to be in possession of it in 1942 in Prague. Wright has done an excellent job of tying in the ancestors of Hana Eisler with the missing treasure and the original Helios Music Academy. His elaboration of Czech families, their immigration, and events is fascinating.

Matt finds out that Zoé knows “the boyfriend”; Martin Smith is a teacher at the Helios Academy, too, and also is the conductor of Zoé’s amateur music group. While Blake is trying to convince Rider to accept the investigation; Ken Habgood is in a pickle. He is face-to-face with a furious Smith, demanding an explanation and an apology for losing his job at the Academy.

Rider is hesitant to take on Blake’s offer, although he can use the extra money. He’s not sure how to proceed with so little concrete information, and on top of it, even if he found something, he doesn’t know the Czech language. Blake nodded sympathetically. “I am prepared to buy the airline tickets and advance the money for a basic hotel when you go to Prague.”
“I have to go to Prague?”

Matt Rider finds himself in Prague, where he recruits the help of an off-duty Czech tour guide. He can rely on him for translations with his investigation, although the man may not prove totally reliable with everything. His discoveries take him to the last known place Hana Eisler was seen. There he finds that Blake and he are not the only ones hunting for the treasure.

Meanwhile, back in London, Zoé has continued being bothered by the homeless person, who accosted her outside the restaurant. She is also being solicited to help Shelley Carpenter. Shelley has in her possession another treasure that someone is trying to steal from her. Zoé doesn’t really want to help Shelley but can’t bring herself to say no. Although, the excitement of the hunt gets Zoé’s blood tingling. During this time, both Matt and Ken Habgood try in vain to reach Zoé; leading them to imagine the worst.

After much confusion, and misunderstandings with the Czech police; Matt manages to get back to the airport in Prague and back home to London. He starts to hunt for Zoé. She is being led into dangerous circumstances by Shelley. But fate is looking out for Zoé and Matt. Helps comes from unexpected people when needed.

The denouement is creative and the reader doesn’t see it coming. Wright has cleverly thrown us a twist in the plot to throw us off guard just when we think we have figured out the mystery.

The Academy of the Dead rates ONE BOTTLE of CHAMPAGNE for its cleverness, its creative plot and two fine, intertwined stories. Christopher Wright has followed up his first two Matt Rider mysteries by an excellent third opus. I hope that we have not seen the end of Matt Rider.

The Shroud of the Healer Hard Shell Word Factory

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Author: Christopher Wright
Publisher: Hard Shell Word Factory

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Matt Rider is back, delving into a complex plot of embezzlement, fraud, and a nun’s saintly visions.

Christopher Wright pulls us into the second Matt Rider novel with a short, mysterious prologue – leaving the reader panting for answers.

The story opens with Matt and Zoé Champanelle, his French lady friend, on a bucolic vacation trip to the south of France. They have gone to Avignon where nearby is the small village of Tourvillon. Tourvillon is know for its centuries-old convent, The Little Sisters of Tourvillon, and more so, for a world-renowned medical clinic treating only the worthiest of patients. The medical clinic was built following the visions of one of the Tourvillon sisters, Sister Angela, who saw that there would be a great center of healing–among other things.

Matt and Zoé choose Avignon to renew their relationship and to spend some time away from Matt’s dangerous private investigation duties; Zoé believes that Matt works too hard for too little money. Her opinion of Matt’s boss, Ken Habgood, is that he takes advantage of Matt at every turn. She drags him away, making him promise to relax, enjoy himself, and forget about investigating for a while.

But wouldn’t you know it! No peace for Rider. In a small bistro in Avignon, they run into Leanne, an American nurse who worked with Zoé at a hospital in Lyon several years ago. She is now a nurse at the Tourvillon Clinic, and has noticed disturbing events taking place. Leanne swears that there are unethical medical practices going on and that she’s seen some evidence that will prove it. Zoé wants to help her friend, but Matt is reluctant. He’s on holiday. Zoé seems more intrigued with this investigation than Matt and finally coddles him into “to having a look.”

Zoé extorts Matt:

“You must, I think, do the work you enjoy. But you said you would bug the clinic.” “What is this, a test?” “Believe it or not, I am interested. So, tell me how would you do it?” Matt shook his head. “I thought we were on holiday.”

Meanwhile, the clinic director, Dr. Jim Kappa, is preparing for a very prestigious patient who is gravely ill. At the same time, he is worried that the investigation by the Vatican on secret fraternal societies will disturb the necessary calm of the clinic at this critical time. Kappa is suspected by the Vatican Security Service to be one of the leaders of the Knights of the Holy Succession (K7), and feels particularly targeted by the Holy Investigative Committee.

Archbishop Valdieri heads up the Security Services for the Vatican. He’s decided to go to the Little Sisters of Tourvillon Clinic, not to look for the K7 Fraternity, but to talk to Sister Angela and establish if her visions were indeed of a miraculous nature.

“Idly he wondered about the third prediction. According to the account, the Lady in the Garden talked about three messages… Third predictions in cases like this customarily took the form of a warning of a horrifying event about to overtake the faithful.”

What does fraudulent medical practices, international art theft, a gravely ill patient, and miraculous visions by a simple nun have to do with Matt and Zoé? The progression of the story brings these elements together in a most unexpected way. Matt and Zoé are drawn into one of the most dangerous situations Matt has ever encountered.

The second in the series of Matt Rider novels is a tightly knit adventure. Zoé provides much comic relief and her character is smoothly integrated into Matt’s life. Matt and Zoé are a great team, and readers will find out what a team they make! I found this story complex and believable enough to hold my interest. It was fast-paced with many plot twists.

I give The Shroud of the Healer a bottle of Champagne for being both a very worthy follow-up to the first Matt Rider novel, “The Hands of the Traitor”; but even more so, I found that this novel could stand on it’s own without having read the first Matt Rider novel.

The Hands of the Traitor Hard Shell Word Factory

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Author: Christopher Wright
Publisher: Hard Shell Word Factory

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The Hands of the Traitor is the first in a series of novels which feature Matt Rider. Rider is a private investigator in a small, down-at-the-heels London firm. He’s in this line of work after having been a police officer. Some say he was ousted, he says he left on good terms. It’s a sore point with Matt, whatever the real story.

This novel starts with Matt’s grandfather, Alec Rider, a WWII veteran and hero, who’s mentally unbalanced due to his wartime experiences. The elder Rider is obsessed by one particular incident that happened in Normandy in 1944. It has something to do with the large gold ring he’s worn since that time.

He stared into the dim shadows. The man in the other bed. Was he Heinman, the American with a signet ring on each hand - strange rings engraved with letters and a green eye - a man with a case of gold for the Nazis?

Alec Rider becomes particularly agitated and violent over these memories; so much so that he is confined to a secure care home. Matt has heard his granddad’s war stories hundreds of times and has never thought much about them. A violent incident in France, near Calais, draws Rider’s attention to the astonishing coincidence between this recent crime and his grandfather’s stories. Matt’s PIs instincts shoot into action. He decides to find out as much as possible about the connection between the two stories and the two rings.

While doing research on his grandfather’s mental problems, Rider meets the beautiful French woman, Zoé Champanelle. She’s a nurse living and working in the United Kingdom. In a lucky turn, for Matt, Zoé offers to meet his grandfather and see about his mental state and physical health. What Matt doesn’t foresee is just how much his grandfather is at risk of assassination because of what he knows.

The crime in Calais has drawn the interest and concern of someone else, as well. Frank Becker Heinman is the recently retired President of Domestic Chemicals International. He immediately recognizes the rings in the news as the ones his father was wearing when killed in Normandy in 1944. Heinman must act fast to cover up the connection of the violence in Calais with his company, and the probable accusations of Nazi collaboration that this would stir up.

The chase is on! Rider and Zoé hunt for people who might remember Alec Rider and the true story of the incident in 1944. While Heinman and his son, Jason, current President of DCI, and their henchmen hunt down Rider.

The characters race through the French countryside, getting closer and closer to the ugly truth. Heinman is forced to tell the whole story to his son - a good-for-nothing opportunist, who thinks only of how he can make money and lots of it! He is tangled up with an arms smuggler and owes him a great deal of money. Jason sees an opportunity to provide him with the ultimate weapon; just as soon as he can get his hands on his grandfather’s invention.

A key figure in the puzzle is Sophie Boissant, née Bernay, an elderly French woman. She was a young woman in the Resistance and played both sides for her benefit during the war. Sophie was present when Alec Rider confronted the Heinmans in Normandy. This gutsy, spry old lady is a real charm! Wright got Sophie’s character exactly right. Many elderly French women who lived through the WWII are quite devilish and adore adventure. Sophie is game to help Matt and Zoé get the good on the Heinmans and bring them to justice; all for the sake of her dear “Tommy” (an English soldier).

“Madame Boissant, I have come to see you about my grandfather… Madame my grandfather is dead.” Sophie put her hand to her small mouth, “Oh, poor Tommy.” “Alec,” corrected Matt. “His name was Alec.” “Tommy. Alec. He was Tommy to me.” Her voice became interspersed with little sobs. “Often I have though about my Tommy… and now… now I am never to see him again.”

Sophie nodded. “I dragged Tommy into the reeds. The Germans found the body of the old man and took him away with the dead soldiers, and the young American was driven off in a staff car with Colonel Röhm… All that night I nursed your grandfather… He was bleeding badly. When we hid in the reeds I washed him. We kissed and I got covered in the blood of Tommy, but I did not mind his blood on me. Of course, we did not make love together, but he was like a lover to me. I cannot explain how I felt. One day I wanted to say sorry to Tommy,” said Sophie, in tears at the memories that had been revived.

Wright also knows a great deal about law enforcement and the struggle for jurisdiction between the Police Nationale (civilian) and the Gendarmerie (military). The mud-slinging and back-stabbing that goes on regularly between these two groups is good fun, especially for those of us who are “in” on the joke.

After the Heinmans are found out, they try to make their way to Geneva where DCI has its European headquarters. Waiting there is their lawyer, Simon Urquet, whom they trust to get them out of Europe and back to the immunity of the United States. Rider, Zoé and Sophie race to beat them to Geneva in order to stop them from returning to the U.S. But every step of the way brings death and danger.

I found the first book in the series of Matt Rider detective novels well written and fast-paced. It held my interest throughout. The plot was credible and inventive. Following Matt Rider on his next investigations will be a pleasure.

The Hands of the Traitor wins 5 flutes of champagne for its coherence, character development, and fast action, and for being a darn good read!

A Shout in the Dark Hard Shell Word Factory

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Author: Christopher Wright
Publisher: Hard Shell Word Factory

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It was with great relief and satisfaction that I found “A Shout in the Dark”, by Christopher Wright, a realistic, convincing tale of a young priest caught up in a neo-Nazi hunt for an ancient Vatican relic. This book was absolutely impossible to put down. The suspense was driving. The realism of the characters, and their conflicts with good and evil are believable. They draw us into their lives; we care about their fate.

Since the publication of “The DaVinci Code” by Dan Brown, readers have been assaulted by books about Vatican conspiracies and Catholic cover ups. With this onslaught, we could wonder if the Vatican is responsible for all the evil throughout history. Wright gives us a fresh vision of the genre of the Vatican thriller.

Marco Sartini lives through a terrible tragedy and feels the rage of a man willing to commit murder. “Bastards!” Marco shouted. “Bastards like you deserve to die,” he yelled into the blackness.

Six years later, Sartini is a newly ordained priest, hoping to find solace and peace of mind in a closer relationship with God. Sartini has to confront the first of many crises of conscious; to know that real evil does exist in the world. He has just been ordained and already he feels that he’s failed in an essential task as a priest, to listen to and forgive someone in need. “Tell me, Father Marco, do you believe in the Devil?” “You’re right, Savio, there were many devils in the war.” “But do you believe in the Devil, Father?”

As he assists in an unavoidable accident, he wonders if he in only hiding behind the priesthood. Perhaps his jeans and casual clothes were an attempt to conceal his new role in life. Why else had he used it as a disguise for his clerical collar? Until this moment he’d not realized just how much grief and anger there was still inside.

By chance or by design, he meets Father Josef Reinhardt, a meeting that will change Marco Sartini’s life forever. Father Reinhardt heads up the Vatican Security Services. He sees the anger and naiveté in Marco and decides to use him to find a lost church relic, a bronze head of Jesus Christ, which could become the keystone of a “fascist Shrine of Evil.”

As Reinhardt writes, “I believe that there is a plan for revenge that will ensnare the innocent as well as the guilty. A darkened web of evil. I beg you, Holiness, pray for the innocent.” By using a naïve priest to confront a neo-Nazi plot to unite the power of Christ with the “power” of Hitler, Reinhardt may be sacrificing Marco Sartini to the wolves.

Untold millions throughout the world know deep down that there is an intriguing and compelling personality behind the face of Adolf Hitler. Germans and non-Germans alike have been won over by the greatness that shines out from this man. – Josef Goebbels, Reichsminister for Propaganda, 1936.

Sartini teams up with Laura and two other Italian journalists to find the statue. Laura is the illegitimate daughter of a priest who had been in possession of the relic and assassinated to take it by fascists during World War II. Laura and he try to find the statue and keep it out of the hands of the neo-Nazi group, the ADR movement (Achtzehn Deutschland Reinigung). The ADR are out to regain the statue and will to go to any length to get it. “Just think of it, Karl,” Kessel said breathlessly. “The two great Saviors of the world – Adolf Hitler and Jesus Christ. If that bronze head is the likeness of Jesus Christ, then we can put an end to false teaching of his Jewish ancestry. A pure God for a pure people. Again the Fatherland has an opportunity to cleanse Europe.”

In a fast-paced chase throughout Italy, Germany and France, Marco and Laura find, lose and find again, the bronze head. The ADR fanatics, Karl and Kessel, are always close on their heels. There is collateral damage, and growing intimacy between Marco and Laura; which causes Marco to test his faith over and over again. Wright leads us into tucked-away corners of Rome and Paris. It’s clear that Wright knows these cities well and allows us to experience the atmosphere fully. Living in France, I was struck by the intimate (and very accurate) knowledge of Paris that Wright possesses.

Wright has a way of creating ambivalent motivations in the good and evil characters. Many are not necessarily who they seem. We are never sure what the characters’ true interests in finding this relic are; revenge, faith, greed, ambition. We doubt, as much as Marco Sartini, the nature of those around him. However, Sartini grows into a redoubtable foil to the neo-Nazis, as well as the Vatican’s internal factions. Sartini is not so naïve as Reinhardt thought. He becomes an asset to Father Reinhardt’s security service. Marco Sartini becomes secure in his faith and vows to the Church.

This is the start of a possible series of Marco Sartini and the Vatican Security Services books. We hope that this will not be our last encounter with Sartini and Reinhardt.

This book was “unputdownable!” I give it an entire bottle of champagne, plus a glass for good measure. I’d like to give it a Magnum, a Jeroboam, or a Balthazar, if bigger bottles were available to the reviewers!

Bravo, Christopher Wright and “Cheers!”