Black Wings of Cthulhu 5 edited by S. T. Joshi / Review by Todd Stailey

BLACK WINGS OF CTHULHU 5
Edited by S. T. Joshi

Titan Books
$14.95
ISBN 978-1785656910
Publication Date:  January 16, 2018

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First of all, a big thank you to Clay Stafford and Katharine Carroll from Titan books for giving me the opportunity to review this book.Where shall I begin?...For starters, I will most definitely order the previous books in this series. This book was fabulous. I knew Black Wings of Cthulhu was going to be good when I saw that S.T. Joshi was the editor. He is the leading authority on all things Lovecraftian today. This tome contains a wonderful collection of stories that test one's sanity. Tales of otherworldly beings and cosmic horror that would have made Howard Phillips Lovecraft proud. It might have even made him smile. If you know Lovecraft, you'll get that. Wink, wink. These authors have proven that the Old Ones, the Elder Gods are alive and well.

One of my favorite stories from this book is by W. H. Pugmire titled "In Blackness Etched, My Name". It is only four and a half pages and they just ooze with Lovecraft's influence on his writing. Another great story is by Jason C. Eckhardt titled "The Walker in the Night". It's about a restaurant owner that becomes friends with Lovecraft. Very well done. Other wonderfully done tales included in this book are "The Black Abbess" by John Reppion, "The Organ of Chaos" by Donald Tyson, "Casting Fractals" by Sam Gafford, "The Red Witch of Chorazin" by Darrell Schweitzer and a poem titled "Lore" by Wade German. If you are a Lovecraft fan, this book is a must-have for your collection. I can't wait to get the first four volumes in my hands."I am Providence" H.P. Lovecraft Book 6 in the series is due to be released in October 2018, so you have a few months to get caught up!

Awkward Squad by Sophie Hénaff / Review by Grace Miller

AWKWARD SQUAD
By Sofie Hēnaff

Quercus
$24.95
ISBN 978-0857055767
Publication Date:  April 3, 2018

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The perfect beach read for any Francophile has arrived! Sophie Hénaff’s The Awkward Squad (MacLehose Press) is the story of Anne Capestan whose once shining star in the Paris police force has dimmed after she fires one too many questionable shots. Instead of getting booted from the force, however, Capestan finds herself in charge of a new department: composed entirely of castoffs and rejects—including the detective who investigated her after her most recent incident—who are expected to babysit the city’s unsolvable cold cases. Capestan’s former mentor doesn’t even pretend the new division has any hope of solving a case; the detectives are expected to twiddle their thumbs, collect a paycheck, and, most importantly, stay out of trouble.

The Awkward Squad is a lighthearted police procedural that’s easy and fun to read. The clever banter and the story’s humor keep this novel upbeat, a nice alternative to gritty crime novels that focus and highlight the heinous details of a crime. Though there are a lot of French names to keep up with, the ensemble of characters is well drawn, each person (and one pampered pup) interesting and quirky in their own ways, making it easy for readers to remember who is who. In fact, the characters are my favorite part of the story. Hénaff has a grand ability to draw unique characters with humorous flaws that stop just short of being too hyperbolic. If you’re looking for something fun to read on the beach, this is it! Plus, the fact that the novel is originally French provides a nice change of pace from American police procedurals.

The Awkward Squad is the shelf—or, more specifically, the drafty apartment—where careers go to die, but underneath Capestan’s tarnished reputation, she’s still the hard-working bulldog who refuses to let a criminal go free and, soon, she and the few of her detectives who actually show up are investigating cases and transforming from misfits that don’t belong into a unified team, albeit a strange one.

But when the squad arrests the son of an important politician for dealing drugs, Capestan begins to suspect why the squad was created at all.  The first arrest suggests that not all of the cases they’ve been given are as hopeless as they’ve been led to believe. Then, when the team discovers connections between two murders separated by almost a decade, Capestan and her team of misfits have to wonder if they’re being manipulated by the powers that be. Whatever the reason behind their banishment, the detectives in the new division won’t go quietly into obscurity after all.

Punishment by Scott J. Holliday / Review by E.J. Boyd

PUNISHMENT
By Scott J. Holliday

Thomas & Mercer
$24.95
ISBN 978-1503949058
Publication Date:  February 1, 2018

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Let the punishment BE the crime...

Punishment is the first in a new detective series by Scott J. Holliday featuring Detective John Barnes.  In this techno-thriller, there is a machine that can transpose the memories of one person to another - including the memories of the dead. The memories are not just what the person saw–they don't play like a movie–they are complete memories, including all the senses and what the person felt (fear, excitement, pleasure, pain, etc.).  This is not a passive experience but one that seriously affects the person that has taken them on, they do not wear off.  Like a real experience, they remain within the person's psyche.  There is a commercial side to this new technology. Celebrities and prostitutes can sell their experiences and this has created "munkey's", the new addicts that cannot get enough. There is the practical side, where law enforcement can use the memories of victims (including the dead) to find the perpetrators of the crimes.  And finally, there is the punitive side, where the machine is used as the punishment for a criminal.  What could be worse than to actually experience the pain, suffering, panic, that you inflicted on someone else?  

This is the third novel by Holliday, but the first one I have read.  I think he is a very creative writer with a good character development and sense of story arc.  There were a few instances where the story seemed to veer off course a bit, but all-in-all I very much enjoyed this novel. It was a quick but satisfying read.  It is available for purchase, of course, but if you have a Kindle Unlimited membership you can give it a try for free!  The second book in the series, Machine City is due to be published in October of this year.  

"Styx & Stone" by James W. Ziskin / Reviewed by Clay Stafford

Styx & Stone by James W. Ziskin

Today’s Killer Nashville Featured Books take me around the world, but they all have two things in common: non-stop suspense and brains.

And now our tour comes back to New York in the 1960s to a mystery debut and the start of a new series.  Sexism is common in the 1960s and author James W. Ziskin uses this as his backdrop in Book One, “Styx & Stone.”  His main character Ellie Stone wants to be a reporter in a time when this was an all-boy’s club.  However, when her father’s life is threatened, she begins to exert herself to find out why.  It becomes obvious when another of her father’s contemporaries is murdered and she starts learning all she can from her father’s university colleagues only to discover not everything one hears or reads in college can be considered the truth especially when dealing with some manuscripts that seem to be worth their weight in blood.  Look for the surprise ending that really brings this 1960s murder mystery alive.

This should give you something to read for the next few days. Until next time, read like someone is burning the books!

Clay Stafford

– Clay Stafford is an Author / filmmaker (www.ClayStafford.com), business owner (www.AmericanBlackguard.com), and founder of Killer Nashville (www.KillerNashville.com) with over 1.5 million copies of his own books in print in over 14 languages.  Stafford’s latest projects are the feature documentary “One of the Miracles” (www.OneOfTheMiracles.com) and the music CD “XO” (www.JefferyDeaverXOMusic.com). Publishers Weekly has named Stafford one of the top 10 Nashville literary leaders playing “an essential role in defining which books become bestsellers” not only in middle-Tennessee, but also extending “beyond the city limits and into the nation’s book culture.”  (PW 6/10/13)

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Buy the book from the Killer Nashville Bookstore and help support a new generation of writers and readers.

Visit our bookstore for other similar books.

If you want to make your own comments on this selection, we would love to hear from you. Join our Facebook Killer Nashville group page or our blog and join in the discussion.

Remember that these books are listed at a discount through Amazon. You also don’t have to purchase the version that is featured here. Many of these books are available in multiple formats: e–book, hardcover, softcover, and audio. Enjoy!

"Cassie Scot: ParaNormal Detective" by Christine Amsden / Wednesday, May 15, 2013 / Reviewed by Clay Stafford

Nothing delights me more than a new discovery and what delights me even more is that I found it from an independent publisher here in my own backyard, Twilight Times Books in Kingsport, Tennessee?

“Cassie Scot: ParaNormal Detective” by Christine Amsden is a promising debut of a new, everyday girl detective in a not-so-everyday world.

We can’t all be superstars.  That’s the case with dully normal Cassie Scot, the most untalented and unmagical of her magical family.  Life gives us lemons and some, like Cassie, make lemonade.  She decides to set up a detective agency in her hometown of Eagle Rock, Missouri, a real place it seems in unincorporated Barry County, population 1,200.  After reading about all the bizarre things that go on there in this book, it is definitely a place I think I would like to visit.

Six months after opening her agency, Cassie still doesn’t have a client.  Here’s where things get energized: she is hired in her first job to deliver a subpoena to a local witch.  Easy enough.  Her family has put her in those circles.  But along the way, she finds a dead body.  Then she becomes the target of vampires.  Add a sorcerer and you have a grand collection of delightfully normal (and abnormal) characters.  Like Carl Kolchak of my own youth, Cassie – because she has none of her family’s magical powers – is forced to fight the legerdemain of the underworld with the same set of skills we plain mortals have: courage, practical common sense, and sometimes unexpected good fortune.  That’s what makes her so identifiable.  She brings to the book nothing more than what we might, as well.

Like “Harry Potter,” this story and the younger characters who populate it appeal to a wide demographic and give us that world within a world full of delightful story possibilities.  This book is not just for adults.  I’ll be recommending this to my son.  It’s a fun story with a fun character.  I look forward to the next book in the series.

– Clay Stafford is an author / filmmaker and founder of Killer Nashville. Stafford’s latest projects are the documentary “One of the Miracles” and the music CD “XO”.

Buy the book from the Killer Nashville Bookstore and help support a new generation of writers and readers.

Visit our bookstore for other similar books.

If you want to make your own comments on this selection, we would love to hear from you. Join our Facebook Killer Nashville group page or our blog and join in the discussion.

Remember that these books are listed at a discount through Amazon. You also don’t have to purchase the version that is featured here. Many of these books are available in multiple formats: e–book, hardcover, softcover, and audio. Enjoy!