Review: For Boys Who Struggle With Darkness

 

Richard Schwindt has a knack for creating unique characters.

I’ve read all of his fiction. His works are the epitome of Bradbury’s Dictum: Create your characters, let them do their thing, and there’s your story.

Story flows from the characters. And Richard’s characters are full of story.

In his most recent book, For Boys Who Struggle With Darkness, the 28th book in the Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles series, he gives us a powerful psychologically driven murder mystery. One in which Dr. Mike Kurelek, professor and psychotherapist at Burnet College, struggles with his anger and desire for justice. Anger that wants to see justice accomplished, but is thwarted by the police and the legal system’s bureaucracy.

Bureaucracy’s operate on correct procedure. And sometimes, and perhaps more than sometimes, that mandate to follow correct procedure gets in the way of achieving justice.

Mike struggles with doing what is “right” and doing what is right. In the end, he makes a choice that is consistent with who he is in order to see that justice is done.

Richard Schwindt follows the standard murder mystery format: a world the is functioning normally, which is then turned on its head by murder, and then restored to order by the sleuth solving the crime.

As Raymond Chandler observed, what differentiates one murder mystery from another is style.

And this is where Richard shines. His characters are cut from the fabric of life. In many ways they are much like us. But their world gets turned upside down by murder.

Richard, who is a social worker and psychotherapist himself, shows us the inner workings of what goes through people’s minds when their world is suddenly shattered through no fault of their own. And what they are willing to do to restore order to their lives.

I am an ardent admirer of Richard Schwindt’s fiction. It has everything to create the most satisfying movies of the mind.

In Dr. Mike Kurelek, he has created a most memorable character. One of the best in the Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles series.

Pick up your copy of For Boys Who Struggle With Darkness today on Amazon.

Comments are always welcome and until next time happy reading!

CW Hawes is a playwright; award-winning poet; and a fictioneer, with three bestselling novels. He’s also an armchair philosopher, political theorist, social commentator, and traveler. He loves a good cup of tea and agrees that everything’s better with pizza.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider buying me a cup of tea. Thanks! PayPal.me/CWHawes 

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Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles on Amazon!

Review: Catch a Tiger by the Toe

 

I make no bones about it: I’m a Joe Congel fan.

I like reading stories and he writes good stories I want to read.

Catch a Tiger by the Toe is his latest offering.

It’s a suspense-filled murder mystery that satisfies on all levels.

Retired  NYC cop Brandon Turner wants a quiet life. A life filled with the joy of his dog, his lady-love, mentoring her son, and maybe a little fishing.

However, he once again finds himself entangled in a murder investigation where it seems he’s the only one with the skill set necessary to catch the killer. A nasty person bent on killing children in a catch-me-if-you-can game with the police.

For me, characters are the story. After all, life is about people. People and what they do or don’t do. And fiction is nothing more or less than a stylized look at people and their lives.

Congel gives us real people. Its as though a giant scooped up a great big handful of the world and put it under a dome for us to observe. That’s what it’s like reading one of his books.

One indicator I go by to tell me if the writer is sensitive to his surroundings and conveys them realistically is dialogue.

Does the writer get dialogue right? Does he have an ear for how people actually speak?

If the answer is yes, then the book will be enjoyable. If the answer is no, well, I don’t go on reading. The writer isn’t listening to the world. And if he isn’t listening does he have anything for me? Probably not.

Congel listens. He hears the world around him. His characters’s dialogue tells me so. They interact with real life and so what he has to tell me by means of his story will be real too.

If you already know Joe Congel, you know what I’m talking about.

If you don’t know his voice, then you are in for a wonderful treat. And Catch a Tiger by the Toe (Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles, Book 26) is an excellent place to begin.

Only on Amazon, and only 99¢ for a very short time. Get your copy today!

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading!

CW Hawes is a playwright; award-winning poet; and a fictioneer, with three bestselling novels. He’s also an armchair philosopher, political theorist, social commentator, and traveler. He loves a good cup of tea and agrees that everything’s better with pizza.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider buying me a cup of tea. Thanks! PayPal.me/CWHawes 

Justinia Wright Private Investigator Mysteries on Amazon!

Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles on Amazon!

Book Review: Best Served Cold

First there was a high profile up and coming NASCAR driver. Shot and killed at close range.

Now the victim is an up and coming high profile pro basketball star. 

Private detective Tony Razzolito (a.k.a. The Razzman) isn’t concerned about the latest death until his friend, Captain Rita O’Connor of homicide, asks him to help on the case. 

The only problem for Tony is he has to work with his nemesis Detective John Cahill.

Once again, Joe Congel delivers a well wrought whodunit that kept me guessing all the way to the surprise ending. 

I’ve read all of the Tony Razzolito mysteries. And they just keep getting better and better. A good thing getting better is a very good thing.

What I like best about Congel’s stories are his characters. They have personality. They are three dimensional. They pop off the page because they are real people.

Characters make fiction sing. We remember memorable characters. Rarely do we remember a plot. 

As Ray Bradbury advised writers: create your characters, let them do their thing, and there’s your story.

And Joe Congel lets his characters do their thing. In doing so, a story is created that carries us along from beginning to end. We are right there living the story along with the characters. That’s the work of a master storyteller. And Congel is a master.

While Best Served Cold is laced with loads of humor, the story itself is dark. It is a vengeance tale reminiscent of Jacobean theater. Bloody and unrelenting. It’s a good thing the humor is there – it relieves the darkness of the mystery. 

Best Served Cold is the fourth book in The Razzman Mystery Crime files. I’m already waiting for number five.

Pick up your copy of Best Served Cold on Amazon. 

And if you haven’t read the other Razzman mysteries, you can find them on Amazon, too.

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading!

CW Hawes is a playwright; award-winning poet; and a fictioneer, with a bestselling novel. He’s also an armchair philosopher, political theorist, social commentator, and traveler. He loves a good cup of tea and agrees that everything’s better with pizza.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider buying me a cup of tea. Thanks! PayPal.me/CWHawes 

Justinia Wright Private Investigator Mysteries on Amazon!

Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles on Amazon!