Book Spotlight of Double Barrel Bluff by Lou Berney

I want to welcome Lou Berney to Books R Us. Lou is the author of Double Barrel Bluff. Book three in the Shake Bouchon series. To be published Nov 5th. Thanks for stopping by.

About the Book:

During his years as a wheelman for the Armenian mob in Las Vegas, Shake Bouchon didn’t think of himself as the settling-down type. But now he’s happily married to Gina, the love of his life—and former adversary—in Indiana, of all places.

The great thing about Bloomington, for two people with exceptionally checkered pasts, is that everyone is nice and no one knows them. Until the day a brutal Armenian thug who has always hated Shake shows up in his backyard. He demands that Shake help him find the missing mob boss, the pakhan—the dangerous and beautiful Alexandra “Lexy” Ilandryan, who also happens to be Shake’s ex-girlfriend.

Shake’s got a lot of history with Lexy, so he reluctantly agrees to travel to Siem Reap, Cambodia, where she was last seen. Once there, he finds himself in a predatory underworld of Cambodian gangsters, mob politics, and opportunistic expats, where the stakes aren’t clear and everyone is looking to gain. With only the help of a clairvoyant hippie and the Armenian thug, Shake becomes involved in a high-stakes negotiation for Lexy that might cost him his own life. But perhaps most threatening of all is Gina’s wrath when she arrives in Cambodia intent on saving Shake from himself—and from all the people trying to kill him.

 

About the Author:

Lou Berney is the author of the novels Dark Ride, November Road, The Long and Faraway Gone, Whiplash River, and Gutshot Straight. His books have won the Edgar, Hammett, Steel Dagger, Barry, Macavity, Lefty, and Anthony awards, and he has been a finalist twice for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. His short fiction has appeared in publications such as The New Yorker, Ploughshares, and the Pushcart Prize anthology. He teaches in the MFA program at Oklahoma City University.

 

Connect with the Author: 

Website:

Goodreads

Amazon: 

Twitter:

Facebook:

Barnes and Noble: 

 

 

 

 

Review of the Book The Man in Black and Other Stories by Elly Griffiths (#review)

I want to welcome Elly Griffiths to Books R Us. Elly is the author of numerous novels that include The Ruth Galloway Mysteries, The Brighton Mysteries and other works. She recently published a collection of short stories called "The Man in Black." The Book will be available on October 15th. 

 

About the Book:

 

Elly Griffiths has always written short stories to experiment with different voices and genres as well as to explore what some of her fictional creations such as Ruth Galloway, Harbinder Kaur, and Max Mephisto might have done outside of the novels. The Man in Black gathers these bite-sized tales all together in one splendid volume.

In the title story, Ruth Galloway crosses paths with a mysterious man in a bookstore, setting in motion a rescue mission that hinges on the legends and lore of Norfolk.

Looking into the past, a young magician in 1920s Leeds wonders just what happened to his missing landlady in “Max Mephisto and the Disappearing Act.”

In “Justice Jones and the Etherphone,” a witty girl detective investigates the dire prediction of a fortune teller in dreary postwar London.

A flashback in time reveals Harbinder Kaur as a Detective Sergeant surviving her first day on the job at Shoreham DCI.

To celebrate the holidays, Ruth gets her very first Christmas tree, and her beloved cat narrates his own seasonal story in “Flint’s Fireside Tale.”

And readers can armchair travel with stories set on the Amalfi Coast, in Capri, and in Egypt as Ruth and DCI Nelson experience their very own version of Death on the Nile.

The Man in Black illustrates the breadth and variety of Elly Griffiths’s talent for blood-chilling, page-turning stories all with her trademark humor and heart.

My Thoughts:

I recently had the opportunity to review "The Man in Black," a collection of stories by an author whose other works I haven't read. The book features a mix of themes, including mystery, magic, ghost stories, Christmas traditions, and tales of love and loss. While I didn't enjoy every story, one highlight for me was "Flint's Fireside Tale," which offered a unique perspective by being told from the point of view of Ruth Galloway's cat. This story made me smile and wonder what my cats might think when I interact with them. However, I felt that I would have better understood the characters' backgrounds if I had read some of the author's other novels.

Thanks for stopping by.

 

 

Disclaimer:

The publisher gave me a copy of the book for my honest review, and I was not compensated for my review.

REVIEW OF THE TRIP BY PHOEBE MORGAN (A THRILLER)

I want to welcome Phoebe Morgan to Books R US. Phoebe has written a new thriller called The Trip to be published on Oct 8th. Thanks for stopping by.

 

About the Book:

A new heart-stopping thriller from the author of The Wild Girls in which two couples go on vacation and murder ensues.

How well do you know your friends?

Four friends are on the vacation of a lifetime in Thailand. Until a vicious murder shatters their paradise.

Four friends who would do anything for each other—until now.

Only one of them committed a crime.

But all four know how to keep a secret.

And they’re all guilty of something…

About the Author:

Phoebe Morgan is an author and editor. She studied English at Leeds University after growing up in the Suffolk countryside. She has previously worked as a journalist and now edits crime and women’s fiction for a publishing house during the day, and writes her own books in the evenings. She lives in London and you can follow her on Twitter @Phoebe_A_Morgan. The Doll House is her debut novel. It became a bestseller, topping the IBooks charts at #1 and the Amazon charts at #35.

 

My Thoughts:

I enjoyed the book. Four friends, Saskia, Theo, Holly, and Lucas, traveled to Thailand on an epic adventure, and trouble followed them the entire trip.  The author wrote each chapter in the character's POV and tied it together to create a good thriller. Each character has a little secret that is developed in the story. Saskia had committed a crime in her past and is followed by her accomplice Caleb, who was looking to ruin her life. I thought I had predicted the ending but was wrong; twists and turns led to the ending. If you like adventure, mystery, thrillers, and new destinations, this book is for you.

Buy the Book:

Amazon

Harper Collins:

Disclaimer: I was given a free copy of the ARC by the publisher via Netgalley and I was not compensated for my review