"Chet and Bernie Mystery Series"--Pet lovers will delight in best selling author Spencer Quinn's delightful series about Chet the dog and his human partner PI Bernie Little, solving crimes as part of the Little Detective Agency.

  

It's a Wonderful Woof

Spencer Quinn's It's a Wonderful Woof presents a holiday adventure for Chet the dog, "the most lovable narrator in crime fiction" (Boston Globe), and his human partner, PI Bernie Little.

Holiday time in the Valley, and in the holiday spirit--despite the dismal shape of the finances at the Little Detective Agency--Bernie refers a potential client to Victor Klovsky, a fellow private eye. It's also true that the case--promising lots of online research but little action--doesn't appeal to Bernie, while it seems perfect for Victor, who is not cut out for rough stuff. But Victor disappears in a rough-stuff way, and when he doesn't show up at his mom's to light the Hanukkah candles, she hires Chet and Bernie to find him.

They soon discover that Victor's client has also vanished. The trail leads to the ruins of a mission called uestra Señora de los Saguaros, dating back to the earliest Spanish explorers. Some very dangerous people are interested in the old mission. Does some dusty archive hold the secret of a previously unknown art treasure, possibly buried for centuries? What does the Flight into Egypt--when Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus fled Herod--have to do with saguaros, the Sonoran desert cactus?

No one is better than Chet at nosing out buried secrets, but before he can, he and Bernie are forced to take flight themselves, chased through a Christmas Eve blizzard by a murderous foe who loves art all too much.

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Meet Chet, the wise and lovable canine narrator of the Chet & Bernie Mystery Series, who works alongside Bernie, a down-on-his-luck private investigator. Chet might have flunked out of police school (“I’d been the best leaper in K-9 class, which had led to all the trouble in a way I couldn’t remember exactly, although blood was involved”), but he’s a detective through and through. Readers will be instantly captivated by Chet’s doggy ways and his endearingly hard-boiled voice. Full of heart and occasionally prone to mischief, he is intensely loyal to Bernie, who, though distracted by issues that Chet has difficulty understanding—like divorce, cash flow, and child custody—is enormously likeable himself, in his flawed, all-too-human way. There’s genuine suspense and intrigue, combined with humor and deep insight into the bond between dog and man. From a dog’s-eye perspective, crime has never been so much fun 

Book 0.1

A Cat Was Involved

 

Book 0.3

Tail of Vengeance

 

Book 1

Dog on It

 

Book 2

Thereby Hangs a Tail

 

Book 3

To Fetch a Thief

 

Book 3.1

Santa 365

 

Book 4

The Dog Who Knew Too Much

 

Book 5

A Fistful of Collars

 

Book 5.1

The Iggy Chronicles, Volume One

 

Book 6

The Sound and the Furry

 

Book 7

Paw and Order

 

Book 8

Scents and Sensibility

 

Book 9

Heart of Barkness

 

Book 10

Of Mutts and Men

 

Book 11

Tender Is the Bite 

 

Spencer Quinn

 

 

 

Spencer Quinn lives on Cape Cod with his dog Audrey, and is hard at work on the next Chet and Bernie adventure.

Spencer Quinn is a pseudonym of author Peter Abrahams.

http://www.chetthedog.com 

"A Calling for Charlie Barnes"--by Joshua Ferris--from a National Book Award Finalist comes a novel about a modern American family and a man on a secret mission to uncover the world's hidden truths—until his two lives come crashing together

  

A Calling for Charlie Barnes

Someone is telling the story of the life of Charlie Barnes, and it doesn't appear to be going well. Too often divorced, discontent with life's compromises and in a house he hates, this lifelong schemer and eternal romantic would like out of his present circumstances and into the American dream. But when the twin calamities of the Great Recession and a cancer scare come along to compound his troubles, his dreams dwindle further, and an infinite past full of forking paths quickly tapers to a black dot.

Then, against all odds, something goes right for a change: Charlie is granted a second act. With help from his storyteller son, he surveys the facts of his life and finds his true calling where he least expects it—in a sacrifice that redounds with selflessness and love—at last becoming the man his son always knew he could be.

A Calling for Charlie Barnes is a profound and tender portrait of a man whose desperate need to be loved is his downfall, and a brutally funny account of how that love is ultimately earned.

 
 

Reviews

 

"A deeply funny, very moving book about that most pivotal and permanent of destinations: death. Ferris's hijinks are serious; his play is profound. There is magic in these pages."―Ayad Akhtar, author of Homeland Elegies

“With meticulous, wry prose and a dash of self-effacing metafiction, Joshua Ferris delves deeply into the simultaneously extraordinary and ordinary life of Charlie Barnes, a man with as much failure in him as found in our bankrupted country. This novel, about dentures and toupees and all the ways we disguise ourselves from our intimates, is at its large heart a moving portrait of a father and son to rival the best of Roth.”―Teddy Wayne, author of Apartment

"Joshua Ferris is one of our best writers, and A Calling for Charlie Barnes is wonderful: fast and deep, urgent and brilliant.  Ingeniously written, it had me up reading late into the night.   A hilarious, intimate, and scathing takedown of so many American vanities."―Dana Spiotta, author of Innocents and Others

“Dazzling. Mind-blowing. About as much fun as you can have without risking arrest.”―Richard Russo, author of Empire Falls and Chances Are…

"If Augie March was a “Columbus of the near-at-hand,” Charlie Barnes is a whole America: a dreaming, scheming paterfamilias forever “expanding out to the coasts” and outstripping whatever inconvenient facts or exuberant fictions might hope to contain him. Is he for real? Are any of us? This much is certain: Funny, moving, and formally a work of genius, A Calling for Charlie Barnes is quite literally the book Joshua Ferris was born to write."―Garth Risk Hallberg, author of City on Fire

Previous Praise for Joshua Ferris

"Ferris's prose is brash, extravagant, and chillingly beautiful."―The New Yorker

"Arresting, ground-shifting, beautiful and tragic. This is the book a new generation of writers will answer to. No one in America writes like this."―Gary Shteyngart, author of Lake Success

"Utterly compelling. . . . Ferris brilliantly channels the suburban angst of Yates and Cheever for the new millenium."―Booklist

"As he's demonstrated in each of his novels, Joshua Ferris is a writer who's keenly attuned to the unsettled quality of our times."―Bookreporter.com

"Plenty of novels, memoirs and cultural studies have explored the end of men or the failings of masculinity. But Ferris, a darkly comic writer who feels like the novelist equivalent of the filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen, has managed to write a series of stories on the subject that feels fresh. His male characters mess up, in small and spectacular fashion, but their misdeeds often prompt our sympathy, thanks to Ferris's insightful narration."―Ian Shapira, Washington Post

 

 

Joshua Ferris

 

Joshua Ferris is the author of novels Then We Came to the End, The Unnamed and To Rise Again at a Decent Hour as well as a story collection, The Dinner Party. He has been a finalist for the National Book Award, winner of the Barnes and Noble Discover Award and the PEN/Hemingway Award, short-listed for the Man Booker Prize, and winner of the International Dylan Thomas Prize. He was named one of The New Yorker's "20 Under 40" writers in 2010. He lives in Hudson, New York with his wife and son. 

http://www.joshuaferris.com

"An Amish Flower Farm: An uplifting romance from Hallmark Publishing"--by Mindy Steele--she grows flowers--he raises bees for honey--they help each other out, because that’s what neighbors do--can friendship bloom into love (see my review)

 

An Amish Flower Farm

She grows flowers.
He raises bees for honey.
They help each other out,
because that’s what neighbors do…

Belinda Graber loves growing flowers for her family to sell at the Amish marketplace. Venturing beyond the farm to sell them in town, though, is out of the question. People would stare at the birthmark on her cheek, and she’s dealt with enough teasing in her life.

As a beekeeper, Adam Fisher knows how blessed he is to live next door to the Grabers’ greenhouses and fields. But when his father is injured, Adam has to take a job at the local mill. How will he manage the honey harvest?

Adam and Belinda make a deal: if she tends his hives, he’ll sell her flowers in town.

Belinda’s sure that her growing feelings for Adam could never be returned. Meanwhile, Adam can’t help but notice how his shy neighbor charms the bees…or is he the one being charmed? Because his last courtship ended badly, Adam tells himself this arrangement is strictly business, even if Belinda is sweet as honey.

This uplifting Amish romance includes a free Hallmark original recipe "Bee Sting Cake for Two"

MY REVIEW:  An "An Amish Flower Farm" is a truly delightful contemporary Amish romance from author Mindy Steele and Hallmark Publishing. The characters are so well-developed, and the story line flows at such a pleasing pace--you feel a sense of immediacy of time and place. You are drawn to the characters and become involved in their lives. You will keep the pages turning to see how their life situations will be resolved. The Grabers and the Hostetlers have neighboring farms in Havenlee, Indiana. The Grabers earn their living through their greenhouses filled with beautiful flowers and delicious produce. Belinda, the youngest of the three Graber siblings, had always been painfully shy. She was very self-conscious of the port wine birthmark on her cheek. She preferred to let her sister Tabitha and her brother Mica take the lead in dealing with people. Belinda was happiest tending her flowers. Adam Hostetler was a couple of years older than Belinda, and he had long admired her from afar. He thought she was lovely, and he paid little attention to her birthmark. Her shyness was a definite barrier, however, and Adam finally began to court another girl. That relationship didn't last long, and it left Adam with a somewhat bitter outlook. He would tend to his bees, sell his honey, work occasional odd jobs, and help his family. Life changes drastically for both families when Adam's father is seriously injured working at the lumber mill, and Belinda' parents are called away to Kentucky to help with her ailing grandfather. Belinda and her siblings must manage the farm and the produce business, and Adam will start working at the mill and manage his own family's farm. But how will he tend his bees as needed? The unexpected answer lies close at hand: Belinda will tend his bees, and he will take her flowers to market when he goes to town. As the two of them work together, they learn about each other as well as themselves. As they grow as individuals, they grow closer to one another. Can Belinda and Adam trust their hearts with each other just as they have with their businesses? "An Amish Flower Farm" is a beautifully-written, heartfelt love story that will be greatly enjoyed by fans of sweet contemporary romance. 

Book Copy Gratis Hallmark Publishing

 

Mindy Steele

 

Mindy Steele writes sweet Amish fiction as well as romantic suspense. Author of the Miller's Creek Amish series, as well as, Christmas Grace, Christmas in Cranberry, His Amish Wife's Hidden past, and An Amish Flower Farm. She enjoys coffee indulgences, weekend road trips, and all things peanut butter. To learn more about Mindy, go to https://mindysteeleauthor.wordpress.com

"Twenty Years Later"--by Charlie Donlea--in this gripping, fast-paced new standalone thriller, a TV news host sets out to uncover the truth behind a gruesome tale of sex, betrayal, and murder twenty years after the investigation was abandoned in the wake of 9/11

 

Twenty Years Later

TWENTY YEARS LATER, to understand the present, you need to listen to the past...

Avery Mason, host of American Events, knows the subjects that grab a TV audience's attention. Her latest story--a murder mystery laced with kinky sex, tragedy, and betrayal--is guaranteed to be ratings gold. New DNA technology has allowed the New York medical examiner's office to make its first successful identification of a 9/11 victim in years. The twist: the victim, Victoria Ford, had been accused of the gruesome murder of her married lover. In a chilling last phone call to her sister, Victoria begged her to prove her innocence.

Emma Kind has waited twenty years to put her sister to rest, but closure won't be complete until she can clear Victoria's name. Alone she's had no luck, but she's convinced that Avery's connections and fame will help. Avery, hoping to negotiate a more lucrative network contract, goes into investigative overdrive. Victoria had been having an affair with a successful novelist, found hanging from the balcony of his Catskills mansion. The rope, the bedroom, and the entire crime scene was covered in Victoria's DNA.

But the twisted puzzle of Victoria's private life belies a much darker mystery. And what Avery doesn't realize is that there are other players in the game who are interested in Avery's own secret past--one she has kept hidden from both the network executives and her television audience. A secret she thought was dead and buried...

Accused of a brutal murder, Victoria Ford made a final chilling call from the North Tower on the morning of 9/11. Twenty years ago, no one listened. Today, you will... 

 

PRAISE FOR THE NOVELS OF CHARLIE DONLEA
 
SOME CHOOSE DARKNESS
 
“In Donlea’s skillful hands, this story of obsession, murder, and the search for truth is both a compassionate character study and a compelling thriller.”—Kirkus Reviews
 
“Engrossing. . . . Donlea smoothly mixes red herrings and genuine clues. Readers who relish a good puzzle will be rewarded.”—Publishers Weekly
 
“Part 1970s serial-killer thriller and part contemporary Chicago crime novel, this deceptively quick read has something for everyone.”—Booklist
 
“Suspense builds, clues mount and dangers lurks seemingly everywhere as the story nimbly toggles between then and now in Donlea’s twisty-turny mystery.”—Bookpage
 
DON’T BELIEVE IT
 
“You can’t blame Charlie Donlea if the ending of his novel makes your jaw drop. The title alone is fair warning that his characters are no more to be trusted than our initial impressions of them.”—The New York Times Book Review
 
THE GIRL WHO WAS TAKEN
 
“A fast-moving page-turner. . . . Donlea skillfully maximizes suspense by juggling narrators and time all the way to the shocking final twists.”—Publishers Weekly
 
SUMMIT LAKE
 
 “Donlea keeps readers guessing throughout. The whodunit plot is clever and compelling . . . for fans of nonstop mysteries with a twist.”—Library Journal 

 

Charlie Donlea

 

Charlie Donlea is the USA TODAY and #1 Internationally bestselling author of SUMMIT LAKE, THE GIRL WHO WAS TAKEN, DON'T BELIEVE IT, SOME CHOOSE DARKNESS, and THE SUICIDE HOUSE. He resides in Chicago with his wife and two young children.

He spends a part of each year fishing with his father in the far reaches of Canada, where the roads end and lakes are accessible only by floatplane. These majestic trips to “God’s Country” inspired the setting for his first novel, Summit Lake.  

http://www.charliedonlea.com 

"Lightning Down: A World War II Story of Survival"--from author Tom Clavin--a WWII American fighter pilot doomed to die in Buchenwald, a Nazi concentration camp, but determined to survive--an unforgettble, true-life, suspense thriller--told in a soldier's voice

 

Lightning Down: A World War II Story of Survival

An American fighter pilot doomed to die in Buchenwald but determined to survive.

On August 13, 1944, Joe Moser set off on his forty-fourth combat mission over occupied France. Soon, he would join almost 170 other Allied airmen as prisoners in Buchenwald, one of the most notorious and deadly of Nazi concentration camps. Tom Clavin's Lightning Down tells this largely untold and riveting true story.

Moser was just twenty-two years old, a farm boy from Washington State who fell in love with flying. During the War he realized his dream of piloting a P-38 Lightning, one of the most effective weapons the Army Air Corps had against the powerful German Luftwaffe. But on that hot August morning he had to bail out of his damaged, burning plane. Captured immediately, Moser’s journey into hell began.

Moser and his courageous comrades from England, Canada, New Zealand, and elsewhere endured the most horrific conditions during their imprisonment... until the day the orders were issued by Hitler himself to execute them. Only a most desperate plan would save them.

The page-turning momentum of Lightning Down is like that of a thriller, but the stories of imprisoned and brutalized airmen are true and told in unforgettable detail, led by the distinctly American voice of Joe Moser, who prays every day to be reunited with his family.

Lightning Down is a can’t-put-it-down inspiring saga of brave men confronting great evil and great odds against survival.

Reviews

"Lightning Down is a wonderful testament to the human spirit, an incredible story of courage and resilience, of one man's heroism both in a cockpit in the skies above Nazi-occupied Europe and in Buchenwald, the dark heart of the Third Reich. Don't miss this nail-biter from a true master, Tom Clavin." ―Alex Kershaw, New York Times bestselling author of The First Wave and The Liberator

"When a quiet American farm boy named Joe fell in love with the Lockheed P-38 Lightning, he had no idea that his dream of becoming a fighter pilot would catapult him into one of the most harrowing stories of World War II. Tom Clavin's Lightning Down whisked me from the rural peace of the Pacific Northwest to aviation heroics on D-Day, from a nightmare prison train to a Nazi concentration camp, from a brutal frozen death march to a German POW camp that pushed thousands of men to the outer edge of human endurance―and beyond. This shocking true tale of a small band of American flyers imprisoned by the Third Reich is at turns horrifying and triumphant, revealing the galvanizing power of battlefield brotherhood and the extraordinary resilience of the human spirit. I began rooting for Joe on Page 1!" ―Lynn Vincent, New York Times bestselling coauthor of Indianapolis: The True Story of the Worst Sea Disaster in U.S. Naval History and the Fifty-Year Fight to Exonerate an Innocent Man

"Buchenwald was the place no allied airman was supposed to wind up―but they did. In this priceless eyewitness history, one of WWII’s most incredible stories has finally found its teller. Lightning Down is a riveting read that will leave you with a cold shiver." ―Adam Makos, author of the NY Times bestseller A Higher Call

 

TOM CLAVIN

 

TOM CLAVIN was born in the Bronx and grew up on Long Island. After studies at Suffolk County Community College, University of Southern California, SUNY Albany, and SUNY Stony Brook, he finally earned Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in English and Literature.

In the newspaper business, Tom was a reporter for The New York Times, served as managing editor at The East Hampton Star, was the editor-in-chief of The Independent group of weekly newspapers, and was a columnist and contributing writer at the Express News Group on Long Island. He wrote for several prominent magazines on a variety of topics, including Men’s Journal, Smithsonian, Parade, Reader’s Digest, Golf, Cosmopolitan, and Manhattan. He has received awards from the Society of Professional Journalists, Marine Corps Heritage Foundation, and National Newspaper Association.

Four of his books have been New York Times best sellers: Dodge City, The Heart of Everything That Is, Halsey’s Typhoon, and The Last Stand of Fox Company. Other recent titles that have received popular and critical acclaim include Wild Bill, All Blood Runs Red, Valley Forge, The DiMaggios, Lucky 666, Last Men Out, Gil Hodges, Roger Maris, Being Ted Williams, and Reckless. The trade paperback edition of acclaimed Tombstone was released in January 2021, and it completes the "Frontier Lawmen" trilogy. His next book with Bob Drury, Blood and Treasure: Daniel Boone and the Fight for America's First Frontier, will be published by St. Martin's Press in April 2021.

By the way, The Heart of Everything That Is, Dodge City, The Last Stand of Fox Company, and All Blood Runs Red are being developed as screen projects. Also in development is an original limited series project, Crazy Horse and Custer, about the famous Sioux warrior and the "boy general."

A new venture is being a national weekly columnist. To keep up with -- and possibly subscribe to -- "The Overlook," go to tomclavin.substack.com.

Tom is a full-time resident of Sag Harbor

 https://www.tomclavin.com/