Book Campaign & Giveaway: A Hush at Midnight by Marlene M. Bell

 

A Hush at Midnight

by

Marlene M. Bell

Cozy Mystery / Small-town Mystery

Publisher: Ewephoric

Publication Date: September 5, 2024

Page count: 368 pages

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SYNOPSIS:

A manipulator.

A fatal plan for revenge.

Award-winning author of the Annalisse series, Marlene M. Bell, brings distant friends together in the rural South only to have one of them become the victim of a brutal crime of passion.

Once celebrated for her show-stopping pastries and irresistible desserts, former celebrity chef Laura Harris is now making headlines for a far darker reason.

Laura has been accused of murder.

How could this petite chef have brutally smothered the beloved small-town matriarch, World War II ferry pilot veteran, Hattie Stenburg? Hattie wasn't just a pillar of the community; she was Laura's confidant and mentor. The shocking twist? Hattie’s will contained recent changes, bypassing next-of kin and leaving her entire fortune and historic estate to Laura.

As Laura scrambles to clear her name, she uncovers sinister secrets lurking beneath the town’s idyllic surface. The real murderer is always one step ahead, leaving taunting clues and threatening Laura to leave Texas—or face deadly consequences. With time not a luxury, Laura must untangle the web of deceit before the killer makes her the next victim.

In A Hush at Midnight, Marlene M. Bell twists an amateur sleuth crime mystery into a race against the clock to solve her mentor's murder.

 

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Marlene M. Bell is an award-winning author of the Annalisse romantic suspense series. She’s also an acclaimed artist and photographer using her pictures for descriptive prose that eventually lands in her mysteries. Marlene lives with her husband of 42 years on their East Texas ranch with numerous sheep. When she’s not writing, drawing or painting, she is shepherdess to their Katahdin hair sheep and ranch kitties. 

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Book Review: Draw A Hard Line (E.J. Kane Mystery, #2) by Micheal E. Jimerson

Draw a Hard Line by Micheal E. Jimerson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Legendary former Texas Ranger E.J. Kane returns in this exciting tale of revenge and betrayal.

Draw a Hard Line is the second exciting book in author Micheal E. Jimerson’s immersive, action-filled E.J. Kane Mystery series, which launched in 2022 with its stellar debut, White Gold. All its memorable characters return as E.J. and his ex-wife, attorney Rebecca Johnson, confront an old adversary when new evidence threatens to overturn the conviction of the murderous head of a dangerous white supremacist paramilitary group.

A little time has passed since the events of book one, and E.J. and Rebecca have both struggled with their efforts to help their daughter overcome her drug habit. Sharla has played her parents one against the other for years, and she now leans into her past successes with all the cunning of the addict she is. Readers learn so much more about the family: the death of the oldest child, son Konnor, in Afghanistan and its life-altering impact on E.J., Rebecca, and Sharla. While Rebecca blames E.J. for their son’s death, E.J. goes one further, blaming himself and God. He struggles with the erosion of his relationship with the Lord, obviously hurting and wanting to re-establish his former faith, just as he tries to understand and repair the uneasy and awkward relationship with Rebecca, whom he still loves.

The author introduces a truly evil villain in the character of G.H. Burton, the incarcerated-for-life (they thought) former leader of the Aryan Triangle. Through the storyline’s court proceedings, I was surprised to learn that DNA is not the be-all or end-all that television, films, and crime fiction portray. Complicating the case is the shadow of E.J.’s tarnished reputation and the vitriol of his former Texas Rangers supervisor, Lt. Col Craig Fenton, and the machinations of treacherous Sheriff Benjamin Berryhill. B.B.’s storyline caused mixed emotions for E.J. and me. The man is a heinous individual, but his son and wife are wonderful people, and he holds the keys E.J. needs to reset his life.

The plot moves quickly, and the author deftly manages many moving parts. Not only are there E.J.’s personal family struggles and the Burton debacle and sideshow, but E.J.’s old friend, Rex Ashe, is slowly succumbing to the ravages of Alzheimer’s. In addition, E.J. is experiencing his own health worries. I could almost feel every misstep and jolt to his knee as he physically tried to do what needed doing. E.J.’s and Cooper’s terrifying flight through the Big Thicket and the eleventh-hour confrontation with Conrad Beams were as edge-of-your-seat as they come.

I enjoyed the East Texas setting established in book one, especially the Big Thicket action sequences where you could almost feel the humidity, marshy mud, and mosquitoes. However, the story isn’t as location-specific as before, and readers new to the series may only get a general sense that the action is occurring somewhere in rural Texas. Admittedly, this is just a 'me' issue; the setting descriptions are absolutely vivid.

I recommend DRAW A HARD LINE to mystery readers who enjoy character-driven stories, courtroom drama, and heart-pounding thrills.

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advanced Review Copy from Reedsy Discovery.

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Book Review - Bound in Silence: An Unsolved Murder in a Small Texas Town by Christena Stephens

Bound in Silence: An Unsolved Murder in a Small Texas Town by Christena Stephens
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Intriguing true crime cold case!

Bound in Silence is a deep-dive true crime book by Christena Stephens about an unsolved murder of a dynamic young couple in Littlefield, Texas, in the 1940s. Eighty years later, the events are just as shocking and bizarre as when they occurred.

Dr. Roy Hunt and his wife, Mae, were brutally murdered in their bedroom, just down the hall from where their two young daughters slept. The killer even gained entry to the house through a window in the nursery and crept past the two sleeping children to get to their parents. The eldest of the girls, five-year-old Jo Ann, woke up during the attack, interrupting the killer, who shoved her into a closet with a chloroform-soaked rag, which knocked her out. When the little girl came to, she got her little sister out of her crib and fled to the home of a neighbor who returned to the Hunt house and discovered the horrendous crime scene. The murders have never been solved.

Working from historical documents, police reports, court transcripts, newspaper coverage from the time, and one-on-one interviews with Jo Ann Hunt, the author pieces together the bizarre events leading up to that night, the murders, and the subsequent investigations and trials.

The book covers several years, including the historical background of the town and the individuals involved. The author presents a story that is mesmerizing, chilling, and very difficult to forget. Supplementing the narrative are many excellent photographs of the persons involved and relevant locations, including photos of the actual crime scene with the victims still in situ. Throughout, I was struck by how much has changed in the field of criminalistics and amazed by the leaps law enforcement took in identifying their main suspect. At times, the story got slightly confusing as events were told out of order or repeated. Reading further or re-reading these places usually cleared things up. I did have an issue with the final ebook product, which had typos, errors in grammar, and repetitive passages that an editor should have caught and corrected.

I recommend BOUND IN SILENCE: AN UNSOLVED MURDER IN A SMALL TEXAS TOWN to true crime readers, especially those interested in cases set in Texas.

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One-Day Book Blitz & Giveaway: Just A Hat by Shanah Khubiar

 

JUST A HAT

By SHANAH KHUBIAR

Young Adult / Coming of Age / Jewish Fiction / Small-Town Texas / 1970s

Publisher: Blackstone Publishing

Page Count: 254

Publication Date: July 18, 2023

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Action-packed, humorous, and bittersweet, this 1970s-era coming-of-age novel is more relevant than ever--exploring how a second-generation immigrant kid in a new hometown must navigate bullying, unexpected friendships, and the struggle of keeping both feet firmly planted in two very different cultures.

It's 1979, and thirteen-year-old Joseph Nissan can't help but notice that small-town Texas has something in common with Revolution-era Iran: an absence of fellow Jews. And in such a small town it seems obvious that a brown kid like him was bound to make friends with Latinos--which is a plus, since his new buds, the Ybarra twins, have his back. But when the Iran hostage crisis, two neighborhood bullies, and the local reverend's beautiful daughter put him in all sorts of danger, Joseph must find new ways to cope at home and at school.

As he struggles to trust others and stay true to himself, a fiercely guarded family secret keeps his father at a distance, and even his piano teacher, Miss Eleanor--who is like a grandmother to him--can't always protect him. But Joseph is not alone, and with a little help from his friends, he finds the courage to confront his fears and discovers he can inspire others to find their courage, too.

Just a Hat is an authentically one-of-a-kind YA debut that fuses the humor of Firoozeh Dumas's Funny in Farsi with the poignancy of Daniel Nayeri's Everything Sad Is Untrue.

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Shanah Khubiar is a retired law enforcement officer, and she is now self-employed as a subject matter specialist. She holds a BS and MEd in education from East Texas State University and a PhD in philosophy. A student of her Persian ancestry, she incorporates (Mizrachi) Middle Eastern Jewry into her fiction, examining the historical challenges and triumphs of a different culture and narrative than what usually appears in literature. Khubiar is a sometime resident and always fan of most things Texas.

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Signed hardback copy of JUST A HAT

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