Mystery stories are a special type of writing. Fast paced and complex, they are a problem solving person's idea of a great read. Good mysteries keep a reader wondering while solving the crime. Great mysteries keep a reader in the dark until the very end.

Though you can have almost any combination of genre in one, there are certain rules you must follow for the tale to be considered a mystery.

1. Plot - Mysteries are plot-driven tales. They go beyond the standard victim is killed - detective searches for clues - killer is caught plotlines. Good mysteries have all that. Great mysteries have twists, turns and enough red herrings to keep the reader guessing until the moment the killer is revealed. A mystery story's plot must be plausible or the story will fall flat on its covers.

2. Crime - The crime should be introduced as early as possible, preferable in the firs chapter. Not many readers will be willing to read hundreds of pages without a victim. Most would not be willing to read past the first chapter. The crime should be believable, something the reader can see happening.

3. Main Characters - Introduce your detective and villain early on. Your detective is the hero of the story and your reader wants to see him in action from the get go. Your villain can be shown early, but if you want to keep your reader guessing, then keep your villain in the shadows until his unmasking.

4. Take your time - Keep your villain a secret until the last possible moment. If you show the reader who he is too soon, they might lose interest in the rest of the story. Be sure you reveal the clues as your detective uncovers them so your reader has a chance to solve the crime first.

5. Research - Make sure you read up on the type of crime, police procedures, and forensic information to make your story come to life. Also, make sure you know your story's setting inside and out. Nothing ruins a story faster than a writer who doesn't understand their own setting and makes errors the reader can see.

Mystery stories tend to follow more standard rules than other genres. Following those rules will help you write the kind of mystery your readers are looking for, and create the kind of suspenseful storyline that will have your readers turning the page until the very ending.

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About Face is the newest offering of Donna Leon, and the eighteenth novel in her Commissario Guido Brunettie series. The mystery novel has captivated a number of fans and a wide range of positive reviews because of her style of writing.

About Face offers one of Donna Leon's signature subjects, the environment. In the books, there is an ensuing environmental crisis in Italy. Naples and Venice have been the subjects of these environmental crises, with dangerous amounts of garbage piles, air pollutants and incinerators overpower the cities.

Police Commissioner and protagonist in About Face, Guido Brunetti works within or around his home of Venice. Donna Leon's novels are always revealing something about the corruption or the urban underbelly of Italy. And Guido's world, with his wife and family, always contrasts the negativity of his career.

In the cases he has worked on, Commissioner Guido Brunetti always finds himself cynical about the situations, nevertheless still trying and trying to solve the cases. The novel is filled with mystery and excitement, and the signature Donna Leon twist.

Her novel About Face is due to be released in April this year, and is expected to join the success of her previous novels. Fans across the world will experience again Donna Leon's exemplary writing.

Donna Leon's novels have been critically acclaimed worldwide, and has been translated already in different languages. However, due to her request, and oddly enough, the novels have not been translated into Italian.

If you want to read more about Donna Leon's novel About Face, you can just follow the link.

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A genre which I recently discovered and have been more or less in love with ever since doing so, is the detective, noir, mystery genre. Of course those are all subgenres of the same basic idea, but they each come up a little different, and of course in my reading experience very different, because I'm not one to stick to the basics, but rather look for something extraordinary and experimental to stretch the brain a bit. Here are a few of the most interesting titles I've scrounged up in recent years that I think you should read. I think in part, it's because some of my favorite writers are equally in love with the genre, making it an incredibly easy process of jumping out of genre to enjoy a new book from someone I respect so much.

Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night - By Mark Haddon. An autistic boy seeks out to uncover the mystery of his neighbor's dead dog. Of course, all along he uncovers much more, about the world in which he lives and the relationships his family leads. An amazing book, which takes fully liberty with the genre and does wonders.

Kiss Me, Judas -By Will Christopher Baer. A dark, disturbing, horribly good hardboiled adventure. This is the kind of book that the nihilists of the genre salivate over. Phineas Poe is a washed up ex-detective with Internal Affairs who wakes up in a bathtub full of ice, his kidney removed by a prostitute. The book is unforgiving, and Baer is surely the Edgar Allen Poe or Albert Camus of the detective story genre.

Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World - By Haruki Murakami. Murakam is probably my favorite author. Period. He's a genius of the written word, and I'm reading in translation. Beginning with his first book Pinball, 1973, he has always had a strong interest in the detective genre, but this is his finest. An ode to Hammett and Borges all in the same piece. Genius.

The Intuitionist - by Colson Whitehead. The 21st century's answer to Richard Wright, Whitehead writes a brilliant racial allegory wrapped in a detective story that can truly bend the mind. I read this in a class and thoroughly enjoyed the attention to genre and disregard to constraints. His characters are odd, and his methods odder, but the prose is literary in ever regard, all the while throwing back to the best of 40s noir.

Chocolate Hollow Bunnies of the Apocalypse - By Robert Rankin. This is hilarious. Kid gets lost in toyland. Kid meets stuffed bear detective. Kid must solve mystery of famous denizens being murdered...i.e. humpty dumpty, etc. A classic from a writer that still doesn't see the light of American publication. Imported from the UK.

Gun, With Occasional Music - By Jonathan Lethem. Lethem is my second favorite writer and a brilliant twister of genre. He's done science fiction, coming of age, detective, and in some cases all three wrapped into one. This is one of those. A detective in the not so distant future must battle musical guns, and trench coat wielding kangaroos.

The Long Goodbye - By Raymond Chandler. A classic. Chandler was one of the inventors, and thus this is a must. I read it on a whim when I realized how interested I was in the mechanics, and then read it again. For anyone who's read any other book on this list, or any comic book by Frank Miller, or seen a movie with even partial black and white or a broke detective, you have to read Chandler.

The Eyre Affair - By Jasper Fforde. Not really a detective novel...but then again, not really not a detective novel. Fforde blends it all together in this highly literate, supreme farce. His Thursday Next novels are always a little weirder with each new entry, and that much more endearing to the whole genre bending façade he's created.

The Maltese Falcon - By Dashiel Hammett. The quintessential book for me. I've written two short stories based on this one and seen the Bogart film a dozen times at least. I love this novel and will continue to love it as long as Hammett remains the kind of all things Noir.

With a couple of classics and a slew of new and interesting books by some of the best writers around, the detective noir genre has become something of a pet project of mine. I not only read it and try to find the best entries new and old, but I write it and like any good detective writer, I try to figure out how to take it apart. And isn't that the key to all things detective related, taking something apart.

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Meticulously articulated, Carla Lee Suson tells a tale of horrific terror, personal revenge, and future politics in her masterpiece novel, Independence Day Plague. Incorporating an insider's view into the government's military sanctioned secret biological weapons industry, the story takes place in the not-too-distant future, 2026 - the 250th Anniversary of America.

Police need to unravel the trail of a "lone wolf," a self-made domestic terrorist; set against the backdrop of the nation's 4th of July gala celebration being planned in the Metro-DC area. With sub-plots of international tensions posturing the USA against China over a satellite incident and military actions, all hell is about to break loose if this cat-and-mouse hunt isn't solved in time. The clock's ticking, and millions of lives depend on it.

Carla Lee Suson's authenticity to detail is extraordinary. Well researched and having lived in the worlds she wrote about, her book transported me into the tributaries of the government's secret programs with, at times, an eerie attention to detail. The future events imagined and portrayed in her book all have their roots in reality. She created a high level of credibility to her story by keeping within the bounds of believability of future events as well as her characters' motivations. Thus she authored a book I was immersed within while reading, and found to be as enjoyable as a blockbuster feature movie.

Picked up by Fireside Publications, Independence Day Plague is an unforgettable 249 page literary experience. Clad with cover art of an ominously penetrating stare of a woman wearing a gas mask, with the clear blue sky behind the iconic Washington Monument, the cover suggests a threat not seen nor sensed. I consider myself fortunate to have read this so early in the book's release, as I can only anticipate the frenzy of followers yet to echo my praise. A book, I can honestly say, "I was holding my breath until the end!"

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The Thirteenth Tale -- If you read just one mystery novel this year, make it this wonderful debut by Diane Setterfield. The story is carefullly and subtly crafted and it's Gothic-style plot grabs the reader early on and doesn't let go. As as added plus, Ms. Setterfield's expert use of language is impressive and refreshing.

Lisey's Story -- The latest from master storyteller Stephen King. Though I have never been an ardent King fan, this novel has a maturity and depth that many of his earlier works lack. Although it does continue the required horror tale, it is first and foremost a love story and in the end tells us as much about King as it does his characters.

The Mission Song -- I've enjoyed John le Carre's novels since the mid-1970s. His Little Drummer Girl was the first hardcover that I bought away from the remainder table -- a sure sign to me at the time that I'd really made it. I've tracked his work from the demise of the Cold War (the set of his first novels) to the many other arenas of conflict throughout the world.

Le Carre's latest, The Mission Song, brings back much of the intrigue of those Cold War novels. His hero is intriguing, mostly for his being less than perfect, and the levels of deception are chilling and believable.

Mephisto Club -- This year's release for up-and-coming mystery writer, Tess Gerritsen, Mephisto Club is a sophisticated tale of murder and characters who are different than they seem. This fast-paced novel left me eager for her next offering.

Break No Bones -- The most recent in a series of novels by Kathy Reichs, Break No Bones, is a fast-paced and exciting read. This group of mystery books, which feature forensic anthropologist Temperence Brennan, are the basis for the popular television series, "Bones," but the action is far from predictable.

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Original Sin is another of the Adam Dalgliesh mysteries, written by P.D. James in 1998. The first death that occurs is a suicide at Innocent House, home of The Peverell Press, Britain's oldest book publisher. The death that sets the mighty wheels of the British constabulary in motion is the murder of the newly ensconced publisher, Gerard Etienne. He is murdered about 150 pages into the book-the point of those pages seems to be to show what a terrible place to work the Peverell Press was and how many people had good reason to want Etienne dead. There are other murders in the story, too. Adam Dalgliesh may figure things out, but he never actually seems to stop anything bad from happening.

It's a peculiar book. It was a New York Times Bestseller in its time, so somebody-a lot of somebodies-must actually like it. I just cannot understand why.

To be fair, there are passages in Original Sin that are lush and beautiful, and much of the prose would be pleasing if there were only some point to it. Some of the characters are interesting. As in all the other P.D. James books I've read, not one character is actually attractive or has a fulfilling or developed life, and nobody is happy or vibrant, but some of the characters are actually passionate about some things. And some of those things are important or interesting, which made a nice change.

Strangely, this is untrue of the detective force.

One hopes that James has misrepresented Scotland Yard. The three main detectives are portrayed as relentlessly self-absorbed. Adam Dalgliesh is or was a poet in his spare time, likes to walk around in churches or on sea shores, says a few things that are insightful and kind, and drives his Jaguar "competently." He worries a lot about his own, and other people's privacy, and he notes the irony of his occupation as inspector, where he is forced to pry into other people's privacy, several times. Considering that this is "an Adam Dalgliesh mystery," one might expect a more developed character.

The other detectives seem to be still trying, without much success, to figure out how to talk to their mothers or boyfriends. They do a lot of grunt work, whine a lot about the justice system, worry about their apartments and their careers, and discuss many pointless leads. The real mystery in this series of detective stories is how they ever figure anything out at all. They do, sometimes, but it is almost never clear how they manage.

The book reads with some pace, and the plot is interesting, for the latter half of the book. The identity of the killer mostly becomes clear to the reader because of James' tendency to shift personae and to relate, on occasion, the thoughts of the dying victims. They never go so far as to name the killer in their thoughts, but there are clues. It seems like a clumsy rhetorical device to allow the reader to uncover the mystery using clues unavailable to the detectives, but that was the only way it was going to happen. The detectives themselves are utterly clueless until the final pages.

I found this book unsatisfying for the most part despite its occasional charms. My dissatisfaction with the ending of the book goes further than that, though. Inspector Daniel Aaron is Jewish. He makes a few comments that reflect some identification with the Jewish people, and he has some "issues" with his "Jewish mother" (his term, not mine). In the final scenes of the book, however, the murders turn out to have their roots in the Nazi extermination of Jews-the murderer is avenging some particular deaths. Suddenly Aaron is overtaken by sympathy to vengeance and his Jewish identity, and he moves to protect the killer. Even though the killer was not targeting the perpetrator himself, but his children.

I do not say it could not happen, although I believe that it is extremely unlikely for a policeman to shirk his duties so spectacularly and with so little reflection. I have also never heard of any Jewish people attempting to avenge the deaths of their loved ones on the family of the Nazi perpetrators, and in this case the "original sin" was committed not even by a Nazi or even a collaborator, but by a part of the French underground resistance. One might be able to see the personal motive for vengeance, but the connection to any rational Jewish vengeance is tenuous at best. P.D. James certainly does not explain it to my satisfaction, anyway, and I found the whole portrayal of Aaron and his family relations offensive, his dereliction from duty shocking, grotesque, and inexplicable. Aaron's reasoning, such as it is, is so flippant and juvenile that it raises the question of whether James is antisemitic.

Inspector Dalgliesh has figured out the murders-it's not clear how-just in time to fly a helicopter to the place of the final showdown. After it has occurred. All Dalgliesh does is briefly note Aaron's failure to arrest the criminal or to prevent his escape and then get back on the helicopter and fly away. They all assume, without even attempting to verify, that the murderer has succeeded in killing himself. The reader is left to speculate on the consequences to Inspector Daniel, but it seems unlikely that he will reappear in another book as an inspector. Again, one can only hope that P.D. James' version of Scotland Yard is off the mark.

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Hannibal Lecter. Hardly anybody on the planet would not have heard of this name. Even the mention of it sends chills down your spine. Hannibal, of course, is the creation of author extraordinaire, Thomas Harris. Don't worry, I'm not going to give too much away. Hmm, let's just say that you are in for a feast. I mean... a treat. And that is such a lovely cologne you are wearing... th-th-th-th-th...

Pardon my exhuberance.

I have followed this character through the series right from "Red Dragon" through to the massively popular "The Silence of the Lambs" then the book simply titled "Hannibal." Now Harris has released "Hannibal Rising" (ISBN: 9780434014088).

Before I commence my review of this, the latest, Hannibal the Cannibal novel I have three admissions to make:

First, I have not read the first book that Harris wrote, that being "Black Sunday."

Second, the book following "The Silence of the Lambs," simply titled "Hannibal," thoroughly disgusted me because I thought it was just gore for gore's sake. I considered it to be Harris simply cashing in on the character like so many other serial writers have done.

Third, I haven't finished the last few chapters. I have done this deliberately as I don't want to inadvertently give anything away and become a spoiler of the novel.

So... "Hannibal Rising" - hold onto your hats folks - and anything else you can get hold of. This book is seriously creepy and disturbing. It certainly is NOT for the queasy or faint-hearted. Don't give this book to your grandmother to read!

It tells the story of young Hannibal and what happened to him and his family during World War II. At this point of chronology young Hannibal is 13. Europe is being ravaged by war. Atrocities are being committed everywhere. The description of what happened to Hannibal's little sister "Mischa" is haunting. In the book Hannibal plays it over and over again in his mind. You just know that he is going to explode into action. But you don't know quite when. Harris skillfully leads his readers to the precipice many times.

This "back story" of the Lecters explains precisely why Hannibal becomes the psychotic killer that we are so fearful of in the earlier books. Unlike the novel "Hannibal" this latest novel is more skillfully and sensibly written. We also get an insight into Hannibal's so-called "memory palace."

There are five guys in this book that commit heinous crimes against the Lecters. You won't have to guess too hard about what Hannibal commences to do when he is old enough. Let me say I would NOT want to be ANY of them.

There are times when Hannibal shows his sensitive side but they are few and far between - just enough to allow us to know that the beast is not entirely in control. For most of the book, let me just say that Hannibal is predictably unpredictable - and that makes him chillingly frightening.

I read hundreds of books - fiction and non-fiction. They give me the inspiration and motivation to write my own material. I can't put this book down! It is interfering with my normal routines.

Harris, in my opinion, has written a very worthy novel. I hope it gets turned into a movie. It will explain a great deal about the good Doctor Lecter. Did I say good?

Now for a score... Well, I still have about one-eighth of the novel to go but I have to give credit where it is due. So - 10/10. Like I said, I read hundreds of books. This magnificently crafted novel is right up there with the very best of them.

Whew! I think I'll finish off "Hannibal Rising" and then, perhaps, have a little chianti with my dinner.

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No Stone Unturned
By: Jeanette A. Fratto
Published By: Outskirts Press
ISBN: 978-1-4327-4553-0

Part love story, part a novel of starting over, and part a compelling, page-turning tale of mystery and suspense, No Stone Unturned, the debut novel by Jeanette A. Fratto, is one you won't want to put down. It's told from the perspective of the first-person narrator, Linda Davenport, who leaves behind her old boring life and her old job as an English teacher in Michigan when she's offered a new job in California as a copy editor of children's books for Grenville Publishing. She meets a woman on the plane trip, Carol Alder, who is very friendly, and is a probation officer in California. They hit it off, and later, after they meet and go shopping together and eat at an Italian restaurant in Brentwood, Carole suggests that Linda would make a good probation officer, herself.

"Orange County is heading for a real hiring frenzy in the next few months. They need good people. People with backgrounds like yours."

Linda's career seems to headed in a different direction, though. She has moved into a huge house that she shares with its owner, a very nice older woman named Edith, and Edith's cook and maid, Charlotte. Edith's told her that if she wants, she can even eat meals with herself and Charlotte, because she always buys too many groceries and often there's too much to eat and a lot of it gets thrown away. Also, Linda's new job is within easy walking distance, so she doesn't have to think about getting a car anytime soon.

Everything is going fine for Linda, but she sometimes reminisces about her days in college, and her boyfriend then, David Wyndham, how much they loved each other, and what caused their eventual breakup. Their split was due to the demands David's controlling parents put on him, and to their displeasure that their son wasn't interested in a young woman from a higher social class. David's father told him that after graduation, when he joined the same law firm as his father, he'd have to work long hours. Then, when his father suffered from a heart attack, David had to work that much harder, and time seemed to get away from him and he and Linda lost contact with each other. His promises to write her were empty ones.

When Carol's car plummets off of a treacherous curvy road, the Ortega Highway, and Carol dies in the crash, it's devastating to Linda. Carol's brother, Gregory, contacts Linda and tells her that he thinks the car wreck wasn't an accident, and he asks to meet with Linda and talk about it. Linda is dubious at first, but comes to believe that Carol's death might have had something to do with a Grand Jury hearing going on, and missing adult case files of criminals involved dealing drugs.

The subsidiary Linda is supposed to begin working for as a copy editor gets bought up by a larger company, and there is no longer a job opening for her at Grenville. Linda decides to try to go through the lengthy and arduous process and testing required to become a Probation Officer, seeing it as both a new and interesting career path since her copy editing job fell through, and also as a way to investigate further into Carol's death and help Gregory find out who, if anybody, was responsible for his sister's car crash.

No Stone Unturned involves Linda Davenport's efforts to leave no stone unturned in her quest to discover who was behind her friend Carol's death. Her investigation takes her to the houses of dangerous probation violators, and eventually she begins to put together more and more pieces of the puzzle. She reunites with her old boyfriend, David, who is overseeing a local drug program funded largely with the Wyndham's money. But, will she be able to complete the puzzle, or will she become the next target of whomever was behind Carol's death? Check out No Stone Unturned, Jeanette Fratto's brilliant novel full of rekindled romance and plot twists and turns today to find out more!

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After reading Jean Sheldon's most recent book, "The Woman In the Wing" I told Jean I liked her easy to read story and I would some day like to read her earlier books. Jean sent me those first three books and after reading the first one I can see that this series is going to be the same easy-to-read story but with a police heroine as the principal actor. The Chicago Police Department's twenty-third district has a very distinct character working in their detective division. Kerry Grant and her partner, Mike Sullivan work as a team to attempt to solve some of the big city crimes, of which there are many.

Jennifer Kincaid was a court reporter that lived in an old, but decent apartment building. Also in that building lived an older woman, Veronica Cooke with whom Jennifer became friends sharing time and conversation together. Kerry was a computer whiz and became acquainted with Veronica when she had to investigate the payoff of a big insurance policy on Veronica-but-Veronica wasn't dead! Kerry worked the case and taught Veronica many facets of the Internet, how to discover fraud and scams, and when to be suspicious. Eventually Veronica learned enough to start teaching other older people about the pitfalls one could fall into through the Internet. Kerry was selected to lead computer training for the Chicago Police Department since she was clearly the expert in this field.

Kerry was planted as a con artist to help a group running scams of various types on the Internet, being very successful with her infiltration. She worked with and through another plant in the group. This worked out fine until some suspicions showed up and things had to come to a head. Eventually Kerry, Jennifer, and Veronica became great friends and worked together. One day Jennifer was a hostage in her courtroom. This took the story off in another area but soon the connection became apparent.

Jean Sheldon writes in a way that any reader can understand. Her storylines are easy to follow but they are not so simple to become ridiculous. I thoroughly enjoyed "Identity Murder" with its characters and I look forward to reading the other two books in this series. Thanks Jean Sheldon.

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Poison Pen: A
Forensic Handwriting Mystery
By Sheila Lowe
Obsidian
300 Pages

Are you a "forensic" fan like I am? Well, then you definitely will enjoy the debut of Sheila Lowe's new forensic handwriting mystery series, starting with Poison Pen.

Through a bit of serendipity, I had the opportunity to read both Poison Pen and the follow-up book, Written in Blood this past weekend--what an enjoyable opportunity!

Claudia Rose, our forensic expert, was pulled into action when her former college friend was found dead in her hot tub, seemingly as a suicide. Only her alleged note,

IT WAS FUN WHILE IT LASTED

did not match the personality of Lindsey Alexander. Indeed, most people who knew her would not be surprised if she were murdered--their surprise was that she had supposedly committed suicide!

There was only one man who seemed to mourn Lindsey's death--Ivan, her business associate, friend and executor of her will. From the personal side, Ivan was sure that Lindsey had not committed suicide; from a business side, the insurance company refused to pay on a suicide. There was no choice; Ivan had to convince Claudia that she must help him prove whether the suicide note was authentic.

Claudia, as well Kelly, her best friend, had been "burned" once too often by Lindsey and couldn't even pretend to know why they had attended her funeral. But with Ivan's pleas, Claudia forced her memories back to college days when she and Lindsey were still friends and agreed. The one thing she required, however, was hard to find--she needed samples of Lindsey's handwriting in block printing, as the suicide note had been created.

Ivan pointed out that this was a very important reason to assume that the note had been faked--Lindsey always wrote in cursive; in fact, trying to find similar documents forced further and further involvement as Claudia worked with Ivan to find needed evidence. That is, until Ivan was murdered!

And when Kelly admitted that she was afraid she "might" have killed Lindsey, while she has also discovered that another good friend, Zeb, had written Lindsey a threatening letter, Claudia is pulled in well beyond her original task of authenticating writing. On the other hand, working with Detective Joel Jovanic and finding a mutual attraction developing between them, placed her in a difficult spot where loyalty to her two friends forced her to make difficult choices. Especially when Claudia finds she could very well be the next victim!

This is a whodunit that will wrap you tight--into trying to solve the mystery along with Claudia. Even though I was narrowing down my own suspects, I wasn't quite sure what had happened until the very end--after all, among many others, there was the senator who had been blackmailed by Lindsey, or her brother who had once been Lindsey's partner in her schemes!

Poison Pen is a page-turner that will keep you reading! Enjoy!

And, now...I'm on to reading Written in Blood!

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Lessons in Character, Citizenship, and Patriotism

In her book "The Secret of Yahweh" LeFerna Arnold-Walch combines mystery, a look at times past, core values, virtues, and patriotism. This is a wonderfully crafted children's novel.

Mary, Petey, and Jimmy, are the good kids. Con, Bitsy and their clique of friends are the mean kids. The story begins on the first day of a new school year in Mss Sawyer's fourth grade classroom. A brief announcement broadcast over the loudspeaker stated that pledge of allegiance would no longer include the words "under God" in the pledge of allegiance to the flag.

This announcement raised questions among the students of Miss Sawyer's fourth graders. In response to these questions Miss Sawyer gave the class members new insights into American traditions, the constitution, and individual freedoms.

During lunch Mary was bullied by Bitsy and a group of the mean girls. They helped themselves to her lunch, yanked her pigtails, and told her she was fat. Soon the disturbance was noticed and Mary was sent to the principal's office for the remainder of the lunch hour. That evening Mary had a visitor, J. C. Lamb, a special messenger (un-secret agent 777) from God on a mission.

The story includes lessons on supporting American troops, lessons in Christian history, and the stories which give insight into the traditions of gratefulness for being "one nation under God."

The book is also filled with lessons on the value of person hood, the power of prayer, and the need for love. These lessons are being taught in the classroom, the lunchroom, on the school bus, playing with friends, in the home, and through Mystery Sunday at church.

LeFerna explains the presence of good and evil in the world. She goes on to discuss Yahweh (God) as the master of the universe, the trinity, and the message of the gospel. She gives details about the fall of man, the plan of salvation, miracles, and the role of the Holy Spirit. She explains how we got our Bible, the various translations, and importance of a lifetime of Bible study.

The message of Jesus is presented through by "preacher", the youth leader, and Miss Sawyer in language easily understood by children 7 - 12.

The clever illustrations included add another dimension to the story and help to maintain interest and reinforce the message of the narrative. The book is Biblically sound, easily understood and can be enjoyed by readers of all ages. The author has created a unique program for passing the book along to others becomes an evangelistic tool for the reader and challenges the seeker to find the "Secret of Yahweh."

Mary's Lamb Publishing, 978-0980179484

As Reviewed for Midwest Book Review

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Have you ever read the book entitled Amapola which is written by Alan Heywood? This novel actually reminds me on the movie of James Bond who is always lucky all the time. This novel is about one character that apparently so fortunate and lucky. This story is inspiring though sometimes impossible but still this story is interesting.

I am interested in the comedy and humor that Alan played at the novel and liked the physically powerful feminine characters. This novel definitely has a serious tilt towards the significance of companionships and a pro-Canada idea that I liked. A retired Major named George Magee could not stop thinking about Sakai. She is a Costa-Rican woman that regardless of many years which divided them simply attracted him. He considered that he decided the correct decision by leaving the youthful beauty however the suffering in his love was not relieved by the times.

After retired, George Magee spends his life with the business of import-export that makes him to go back to Mexico occasionally to meet his clients. His touching emptiness is filled by his sister because he does not have someone else. Miserably, affiliates of a drug cartel callously kill his young niece and brother-in-law and he is filled by furious annoyance and anger.

George is asked by the Canadian government to help the war on the drugs of Mexican by means of using his dealing as a cover, George considers the opportunity to cross out in vengeance. He is powered by his fury and his expectation of having relationship with Sakai again. He is taken on a exciting adventure and journey out and in of the drug operation.

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How to Find Your Editor

To land a great literary agent you MUST stand out from the pack and not give the agent, or her assistant, any reason to automatically toss your pages into the rejection pile.
 
Some writers need editorial help to get there; some don't. If you decide to hire an independent editor to help you prepare your manuscript for submission, follow these handy guidelines for finding the editor who is right for you - and for your manuscript.

DO:
 
1. Put up an ad. There are lots of websites where you can place an ad for an editor. Some will charge you fees; some won't. You can try getafreelancer.com, guru.com, or elance.com to name a few, but I honestly recommend you take the easy route: craigslist.org. It's free for you and your editor, and TONS of quality freelancers regularly use craigslist listings to connect with potential clients. Beware of a few things if you do place an ad:

You'll get some spam. Easy to delete.
You will get LOTS of responses. Use some of the tips in Part III of this series of posts for sorting through the e-mails and picking the best of the batch.
You'll likely be contacted by scam publishers and predatory fake agents. More on this later, but for now, just hit delete on any e-mail response to a craigslist ad from anyone who claims to be a publisher or agent. The end.

2. Ask your writer's group (and if you don't belong to one yet, join one!). Other writers will be some of your best sources for finding a quality freelance editor. Ask around. If you don't belong to a group yet, Yahoo! has some great groups you can join. (My personal favorites include the Writing and Publishing group and the Fiction that Sells group.)

3. Google. I hesitate to recommend this one to anyone but the most committed of researchers. Searching for a good manuscript editor online takes some perseverance - most of the top results for any given search will be the large services I warn about below. That said, I recently surveyed all of the clients I've worked with in the last five years, and, to my surprise, found that more than a few said they'd found me through a google search. Now, the highest I can find my site without actually typing in "Murdock Editing" is about the 13th page in, so...grain of salt.

DON'T:

1. Pick the first ad that pops up. Finding the right editor takes research - trust me, it's worth your time.

2. Use a big faceless service. I'm not going to name names, but you can find some of the offenders yourself by taking a scroll through the Preditors and Editors database. Many of these larger, corporate-looking editorial services - the ones that have no actual editor name and face behind them - farm out your work to people with very little to no experience in publishing who are working for next-to-nothing and have no real investment in your success. Some hire quality editors - but it's a crap shoot - you'll have no way of knowing whether your editor is a publishing pro or a college student trying to earn a little extra beer money (not that there's anything wrong with that!).

3. Choose a "literary agent" who also charges fees for editorial work. There are many out there with a mission to educate writers about this scam - start at Preditors and Editors or Writer Beware. Basically it comes down to this - no legitimate literary agent will ever charge you for anything upfront (except maybe incidentals like printing and mailing supplies - but that's at smaller agencies and fairly rare). If an "agent" is offering to edit your work for a fee, run. 

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Do you scratch your head and wonder what you can do to increase the visibility of your book? Do you wonder how you can get your name and site in the search engines on a regular basis? Well, virtual book tours can help in that area.

I recently did a Google search for "virtual book tours" and it came up with over 17,000,000 results. So, it's obvious that millions of people are using this means as a method of creating visibility. And, why not, it is a valid means of promotion - it not only creates visibility, it is also a useful tool to draw traffic back to your site. But, it's important to remember that it's only one strategy in a marketing plan.

Just how do you get involved in a virtual tour? Well, with most virtual book tours, you ask a blogger to host you. There are many bloggers who are looking for content for their blogs and hosting an author is great content. You may even be asked by a blogger to visit their site as a guest. There are also some organized tours in which you make the rounds (usually for a week of other specified amount of time) as a guest on several blogger sites in a circuit tour. These types of tours may be initiated by a publisher, promoter, or the authors themselves. While these circuit tours do produce a wider range of visibility, it is for a specific amount of time.

While these tours are a useful strategy to help bring you and your book into the limelight, they are limited. It can become a little burdensome to continually need to look for opportunities to be a guest on bloggers' sites. Depending on how large your network is, this can become quite challenging. In addition to this, I'm sure your goal is to sell your book for as long as you can - this means ONGOING promotion.

One group that takes it up a notch is VBT - Writers on the Move. Imagine having the ability to be a guest on other authors' sites on a regular basis - having guaranteed exposure every month, without the burden of finding bloggers who are willing to host you. In addition to this you won't have to find host sites that have good reputations and have a decent amount of traffic. This group is one of the only groups I know of that offers this type of exposure.

VBT - Writers on the Move is a group of 30 authors (so far). Included in the group are: author and President of 4RV Publishing, Vivian Zabel; award winning author and editor, Lea Schizas; and award winning author Carolyn Howard-Johnson, recipient of many writing and achievement awards. What's great about this group is that it covers a wide range of fiction and nonfiction writing genres, such as children's books, romance, suspense, and poetry. This allows the books to be visible to a much larger audience than if they were promoted within one genre.

Along with the ongoing virtual tours, VBT - Writers on the Move offers a number of other marketing tools to help promote its members and their work. It has a Link Exchange, Book Reviews (for those members who are interested), a Library strategy, a monthly Mystery Site Giveaway, a Viewpoint/Hot Topics monthly segment, and it has its own blogsite. But it doesn't stop there, the manager and members are constantly moving forward and looking for new tools and strategies to create visibility and increase sales.

One of the goals of VBT - Writers on the Move is to broaden its horizons by increasing membership. Since the name of the game is promotion through visibility, the more members the more visibility. This means more readers get a chance to learn about the members and their books - this encourages sales.

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Children of Men [Blu-ray] Review

In many ways, "Children of Men" is a very typical futuristic thriller. It of course extrapolates the current worries of our time into a dystopian nightmare of tomorrow. World ravaged by terrorism, anti-terrorism, and global warming? Check. Shadowy, sem-fascist government? Check. Soulless capitalism relentlessly shilled in ubiquitous advertising? Check. Population stripped of dignity and basic compassion? Check. There is more than one reference to the war in Iraq, which will undoubtedly date this film in just a few years.

However, "Children of Men" manages to rise above this genre's cliches in several important ways. First, the most pressing problem is not one specifically related to the troubles of today: the world is dying because for some unknown reason, women can no longer have children. The film opens with the news that the youngest person on earth (18 years old) has died in a brawl.

Second, the film is only set about twenty years into the future, so while the there have been some technical advancements, the landscape looks largely the same. It's just different enough to be disquieting. The double decker buses of London are still there. It's just that now, those buses pass billboards that read, "Avoiding Fertility Tests is a Crime."

Most importantly, while this film does not break any ground in its genre, what it does, it does well. Other reviewers have complained that the film does not not make a tremendous amount of sense, and this is true. However, the film's main thrust is not a commentary on today's social moores. It is first and foremost a thriller, and we get just enough sense of what's going on to make us care, without getting bogged down in massive expositions on the hows and whys. We are told that the world is in a bad place, and we are drawn in with compelling cinematography, a fast-moving plot, and good acting.

I also found some of the final scenes involving Kee, the pregnant woman, quite moving, even more so because the film ends on a decidedly ambivalent note. Early on in the film, the hero says that even if scientists discovered the cure for infertility, it wouldn't help: the world's already gone to pot. And in fact, the movie does not even get that far. It's about saving ONE woman who is pregnant. Whether this will save the world is an open question. The film also does a good job of fleshing Kee out as a person, with an actual personality. I originally passed on this movie because I assumed that she would be treated as a precious, but essentially non-sentient vessel that holds The Antidote to the World's Troubles. While some characters in the film do see her as such, the viewers are allowed to experience her as a unique individual.

Final analysis: a very strong example of its genre. Not as imaginative as BladeRunner, not as satiric as Brazil, but 100x better than, say, Running Man. Definitely worth watching.

Children of Men [Blu-ray] Overview

Children of Men [Blu-ray] Specifications

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Father Brown of the Church of Rome: Selected Mystery Stories Review

G.K. Chesterton's writings are often compared to those of John Henry Newman in their beauty and eloquence; Chesterton's "Edwardian" prose is particularly amazing and tends to focus more on Divine mirth than on Divine sorrow (as does J.H. Newman in his wonderfully Victorian way). "Father Brown and the Church of Rome" is a perfect example of Chesterton's love of Divine joy, and is a wonderful playground of the imagination. His various stories of the exploits of Fr. Brown are beautifully written, and his prose is unbeatable. Children should read (or be read) this and other volumes on Fr. Brown, for Chesterton writes as an artist paints, and will greatly influence their use of the imagination. A definite winner!

Father Brown of the Church of Rome: Selected Mystery Stories Overview

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Mystery books come in all different types of categories. Among these mystery book subgenres are: police procedurals, hard boiled, humorous, "cozies" (à la Agatha Christie), and graphic.

Many established authors are adding paranormal cozy mystery books to their repertoires. The last few years has had a rather large increase of paranormal happenings in the Cozy Mystery book world.

Some of the Cozy mystery book paranormal categories are: ghosts, psychics, vampires, witches, and even werewolves! This paper will list several authors who write cozy mysteries with the paranormal vein, with the focus on the ghost sub-category. The paper will also name the cozy mystery book series which the author writes, and give a very brief description of the series.

Authors Who Feature Ghosts in Their Cozy Mystery Books

Nancy Atherton

Nancy Atherton writes the Aunt Dimity Mystery Series. After a young woman inherits a Cotswold cottage, she finds that her deceased Aunt Dimity is intent on staying in the cottage.

Mignon F. Ballard

The Augusta Goodnight Series is written by Mignon F. Ballard. Augusta is no ordinary ghost. She is a guardian angel who helps her wards solve mysteries.

Annette Blair

Annette Blair writes the Vintage Magic Mystery Series which features a woman who returns to her hometown to open a vintage clothing shop and gets more company than she expects. She finds that there are ghosts who are intent on helping her in her sleuthing capacity.

Helen Chappell

Helen Chappell's Sam & Hollis Mystery Series involves a husband who helps his wife solve crimes. The husband, however, is deceased!

Casey Daniels

The Pepper Martin Mystery Series is written by Casey Daniels and involves a tour guide at cemeteries who also does a lot of sleuthing. Her partner in crime (solving) is a dead mob boss.

Elizabeth Eagen-Cox

Elizabeth Eagen-Cox writes the San Diego based Shannon Delaney Mystery Series. The sleuth in this series is an author who gets ghostly help to solve mysteries.

Carolyn Haines

The Sarah Booth Delaney Mystery Series revolves around a sleuth who gets help solving mysteries. Her help comes from one of the main character's deceased ancestors.

Carolyn Hart

Carolyn Hart writes the Bailey Ruth Mystery Series. This paranormal mystery series features a sleuthing ghost who has joined Heaven's Department of Good Intentions.

Cleo Coyle (aka Alice Kimberly)

Cleo Coyle writes the Haunted Bookshop Mystery Series which features the owner of a bookstore. This bookstore owner sleuths with the help of an inhabitant of her shop.

Victoria Laurie

Victoria Laurie pens the Ghost Hunter Series. This paranormal mystery series features a sleuth who hunts ghosts.

Mary Stanton (aka Claudia Bishop)

Mary Stanton writes the Beaufort & Company Series which features a niece who inherits a law firm from her uncle. The main sleuth encounters "previously living" clients.

There are other Cozy mystery authors who write mystery book series which feature paranormal themes, with the emphasis on ghosts. This paper should provide a good starting point for people who are interested in this particular theme.

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While many first authors find themselves turning to the print on demand publishing option, others cite making such a choice committing literary suicide. The last thing you want to hear after you have spend the last several years compiling what you believe to be the next great novel is that by choosing print on demand means you are killing your literary career before it really got off the ground. While that may be true in some cases, or many cases, it doesn't necessarily have to be yours.

Have you received rejection notices from top named publishers? If you haven't taken the time to submit your story to various publishing agencies, then you may want to attempt that route first.

Keep in mind though, even if you do get a publishing contract, success is not guaranteed. Furthermore be aware that it might take you years before you are offered a publishing deal.

While the success stories of print on demand publishing may be few and far between, they are out there, and the only way to ever know is to try and to find a way to stand out from the crowd.

There are always pros and cons, you need to weigh your options and examine your project. For example print on demand might work great for a niche non-fiction writer who may find a hard job selling to commercial or academic publisher, but may gain the upper hand with print on demand, finding their own way of reaching to their targeted audience.

Other people who may find success in print on demand are workshop lecturers and business owners who are able to have access to their own pool of customers. Ultimately, it's important to be confident and believe in what you are doing. If you don't believe in yourself or your book, then rest assured, no one else will either. If you haven't received the response you've hoped from publishers, and you really believe in your book, take the print on demand option.

Take the book "Still Alice" written by Lisa Genova for example. After being ignored and rejected by publishing companies, Lisa eventually decided to use the print on demand services and publish her own book, complete with an ISBN number that would allow her to sell on places like Amazon. After getting several great reviews, a major publishing company picked up her book, which eventually landed her in the New York Times Best Seller List.

Success stories are out there, and yours could be the next one. The important thing is to know your facts and assess your project options, and if you believe that print on demand is the route you should take, then by all means, go for it.

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Consider the prose of Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer series, together with more versions of the female body than you'll have seen in a very long time, and you'll begin to have an idea of the great thriller you'll experience when you listen to, or read, Dennis Manuel's Blood From A Stone: The Venus de Milo Murders! Personally, I loved the whole package! Highly recommended for mystery and suspense lovers!

Tommy Fallon, Tifa and Nicole are the good guys on this side of the ocean, together with Gilles, a French policeman. Most of the other characters are bad guys, even the cops! For in the art world, where few can tell the difference between fakes and real works, you can never assume that any transaction will be legal or ethical...

Tommy, a former cop and now owner of a security system company is called in to investigate when a murdered woman is found in the sculpture garden of Jack Danner, a billionaire art dealer. Why? Because in order for the body to have been found within his grounds, either the security system failed or was compromised! With a promise of blackmail that would ruin Tommy's business, as well as a promised $2 million, Mr. Danner forces Tommy to investigate who and why the body was placed on his property. Tommy is sent to France to begin his investigation. Although Mr. Danner does not explain why or what he is to find, he does give him the name of the French artist with whom he normally transacted business.

Tifa, his assistant/partner in business is set to work in America, to try to learn more about Mr. Danner's reputation in the art world and who might want to harm him. Nicole, his lover, a cop, and also partner with Detective Lubrani, the cop who caused Tommy to leave the force years ago, agreed to share as much information as was possible.

For the woman who had been found in the sculpture garden was not just murdered, she had been butchered-her body cut to match the famous Venus de Milo sculpture! But, this wasn't the first time this had been done! In fact, it was the earlier murders years ago by the Venus di Milo serial killer, and the inability to find him that had caused Tommy to leave the police force.

The story leads back into the time when Nazis were capturing not only cities but also all of the wealth through the theft of art! As more murders occur in America, Tommy faces his own dangers as he works to discover what Danner had done in his past to bring about the hatred needed to rekindle the Venus de Milo murders. Is it the same serial killer? Is it a copycat? How and why is Danner being targeted to receive the bodies, and possibly the blame for their deaths?

Remember that you can "experience" this book via audio with characters who will dramatize and act out the book for you or you can read the book as text. I did both and recommend you listen to the story "live" as the narrator sets the stage for the exciting parts with his voice!

This story is sexy, sophisticated and especially suspenseful in audio format! Either way you are going to be caught up in a strange and gruesome mystery. I know one thing I couldn't have done-I couldn't have waited to have this story chapter by chapter-it is a page-turner that will entrance and excite! Thoroughly enjoyable madness and mayhem!

Blood From A Stone:
The Venus de Milo Murders
By Dennis Manuel
Audio iSoap Drama
New Fiction.Com

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When bartender Billy Wiles finds the note tucked under his windshield wiper asserting that the choice to act or not to act will lead to someone's death, he figures it for a prank. His friend, an off-duty police officer, agrees. But six hours later, someone has been brutally murdered. So begins Dean Koontz's novel Velocity, and Billy's search for a diabolical killer.

Once again, Koontz has written a fast-paced novel that keeps the reader glued to the pages. At first, Billy must choose whether to involve the police, for which he has a guarded mistrust, or not. In doing so, he determines the category of the next victim, for as one note states, a "young mother of two" will die if the police are involved. If Billy avoids the cops, however, the killer will target a "single, middle-aged man no one will miss much." As the murders progress, however, Billy becomes more and more involved. Ultimately, he learns that evidence linking him to each murder exists, and he winds up covering up for the killer to keep himself out of the hotseat.

At the same time, Billy seeks to protect his comatose fiancée from the insanity around him. Surprisingly, the murderer reveals details to him about his loved one that Billy had missed, opening up her world to him and making him more determined to hang on to her. Although he had been out of touch with the world around him, although he had no friends but only acquaintances, Billy learns to let others into his life. By the close of the novel, he has reattached himself to the world he had previously dismissed.

As the novel progresses, we learn more information about Billy and why he is so determined to keep out of the police radar. The killer - or "freak", as Billy terms him - plays sick games, even calling the cops from Billy's house, keeping the bartender on edge. Ultimately, the two confront each other in a standoff before the grisly remains of previous victims, and wind up chatting amiably. Koontz will always surprise his readers.

Koontz keeps the reader gripped to the novel in a ferocious page-turner that hooks from the beginning. His witty, off-beat sense of humor and ability to create tension draw you in and keep you reading. The characters are realistically created, if not somewhat scary to behold, and the details are vivid in intensity. Velocity is yet another Koontz must-read.

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Blank Black Book: Pentagram Design Review

Blank Black Book: Pentagram Design Feature

• Blank Pages
• 192 Page Hardcover
• Embossed Cover
• Very Durable

Blank Black Book: Pentagram Design Overview

Available at Amazon Check Price Now!

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When I first heard of the Beast of Bray Road I wondered what the heck this thing could be that people were seeing around Walworth, Jefferson and Racine Counties in Wisconsin. In the early to mid 1990's people reported sighting a strange man-like creature with the head of a wolf in the vicinity of Bray Road, near Elkhorn.

These sightings mingled with reports of Bigfoot too, making it possible that they could be misidentifications of the more legendary beast. But witnesses were convinced of what they had seen (a creature with a longer snout and dog-like head) so the mystery remains: does a wolf-man inhabit the wilderness and fields of rural Wisconsin? Or does another, more popular, unknown creature lurk in the woods with a more baboon-like head than your average Sasquatch?

If you're interested in learning about the beast and how the whole story started, the perfect place to begin is "The Beast of Bray Road" by Linda S. Godfrey, who has penned other titles about her home state, and is a journalist for a small Wisconsin newspaper. A follow-up book, which will include more details and newer sighting reports, is in the works.

Godfrey begins with the earliest reports, detailing how the story came to her and how she wrote the first piece for her newspaper. She soon became the spotlight reporter for the Beast of Bray Road and was the "go to" person for anyone seeking information on the mystery.

She writes with humor, but maintains all due respect for the witnesses and an open mind to the subject matter as well. A very open mind is what is required for the study of lycanthropy as it applies to the potential existence of a real life werewolf. The idea of a werewolf prowling the countryside seems rather far fetched, but Godfrey explores this angle through the legends and lore of various cultures including the shape-shifting tales of early Native Americans.

Throughout her book she touches on many possible explanations for the Beast of Bray Road, keeping the reader in the "what if" frame of mind the whole way, no matter how fantastic the suggestion may be. As I mentioned earlier, this is the book to read if you'd like a primer on the Beast of Bray Road and a clue to what's going on in Wisconsin. Looking forward to the next one.

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Blank Black Book: Pentagram Design Review

Blank Black Book: Pentagram Design Feature

• Blank Pages
• 192 Page Hardcover
• Embossed Cover
• Very Durable

Blank Black Book: Pentagram Design Overview

Available at Amazon Check Price Now!

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