Robbery, Murder, the Past, and Blurred Lines describe this interesting journey into historic Galveston
590593
This is the tale of a mother who kept her secret from her family and the light that shines on that past Indignity. One of her sons has a half brother who resembles him so strongly that this is a tale of a conniving villain who uses his brother's identity to cover up his crimes. I could tell you more but this is too good a book to give you a spoiler.
4680410
Our story begins 500 years ago as a monk makes his way up the Norwegian coast on a mission to find a beard cutter, someone he is obviously already acquainted with...an expert with knives! Jump to the Edgar Allan Poe Museum in modern day Richmond, Virginia, where a somewhat macabre curator meets a rather grisly death. Still in the present, back to Trondheim, Norway, tucked up in the fjords away from the hustle and bustle, where a wealthy book collector from long ago has donated some very valuable, and unusual, manuscripts to the Gunnerus Library. The books are locked away in a specially conditioned room, accessible only by a protected code process that requires 2 people. All the more mysterious when a second body turns up in the locked space, killed in the same gruesome manner as the one in Richmond.
In Norway the prime suspect is Jon Vatten, the head of security at the Gunnerus Library, an eccentric but ultimately likeable character, who has his own demons to contend with, including the disappearance years ago of his wife and only child. In Richmond, they have no clues. Is there a serial killer operating in two countries halfway across the world? Are these murders in any way connected to a bookbinder from five centuries ago? It is all up to Odd Singsaker, a Norwegian policeman recovering from brain surgery, and Felicia Stone, a Richmond police officer with a troubled past, to come together and try to solve this incredible puzzle.
The book, at 353 pages, reads easily. Chapters are short and the action moves around the town so you quickly get a feel for the city of Trondheim and its surroundings. The tie-in with Richmond makes things even more interesting, as do the flash backs to the 16th. century. The historical background sometimes feels like a deliberate change of pace but it is well researched and full of interesting facts which keeps it from being too intrusive. The murders are gory enough to make you cringe without being outrageously silly. The plot twists reveal themselves often enough to keep the reader turning the pages. The characters are colorful and individual enough to be able to be able to tell them apart, although only three are actually given a back story of any depth. For some reason the women seem more stylized than the men, which other reviewers have also commented on. This is particularly true in the sex scenes (of which there are a fair number) which often seem gratuitous and I think the novel would have been stronger without them.
This is a first novel from Jorgen Brekke, and doubtless, there will be more. Odd Singsaker, the Norwegian policeman,  would certainly make a great series cop. He's a little past his prime and his memory isn't quite what it used to be thanks to the brain surgery, although the shot or two of aquavit he likes to start his day with may in fact help to get his mind in gear. He has trouble with his boss (a woman). He's not exactly a bloodhound on the trail and sometimes fails to prepare himself for all eventualities...but when courage is needed he's got what it takes.
463397
Yarbrough's description of a small, west-Texas town and its citizens brings back memories of the few visits I made to that part of the country.  Although his story entertains, it is his description of the characters that holds your interest.  If you have never visited rural Texas, this novel will take you there.
1065992
This book is packed with many photos and delightful stories of touring a number of neighborhoods in pretty little Galveston, Texas. Walking tours (with a little driving included) are given step-by-step through this historical city along with notes on architects, builders and owners, past and present,  of particular buildings and homes in this city of rich architecturally significant structures. The author Jan Johnson has certainly done her homework and presents a delightful read!
4781448
Suzanne Staton's writing drew me right in. The characters were well-drawn and interesting, and the historic setting was vividly described. I found the story very involving and a real page-turner. The depiction of the climactic hurricane was riveting and dramatic, and I loved the brief history lesson at the end with the startling facts of the Galveston hurricane of 1900. As a regular reader of historical fiction/romance, this was right up my alley and I had trouble putting it down. It's an easy read, but not a fluffy one--a story with twists and turns even before the storm hits the island. I recommend this book!
3917241
I am also a fiction writer (Murder at Whalehead, Murder at Hatteras, Murder on the Outer Banks, The Old Man and the Marathon), and I appreciate and study good mystery/thriller writing. After seeing TRUE DECTECTIVE, I had to read one of Nic Pizzolatto's earlier books. Galveston clearly gives a glimmering of what was to come--one of the best screen writing efforts in recent memory. I look forward to reading more of Pizzolatto's work in the future.
3106226
Carolyn Mello's Murder Once Removed accurately portrays 1973 southeast Texas through description and dialog.  For example, Celeste married a redneck control freak driven by testosterone-crazed behavior.  Fresh characters' agendas made the novel a well-written new piece.  I identified with Celeste D'Angelo in her struggles and loved to hate Sam Anderson, yet pitied him.  The psychologically provocative drama has substance and shows not tells the action.  The descriptions pulled my senses into the story.  Solidly developed characters made it possible for me to hear, see, smell, and feel what they experienced.  I felt their pain, physically and emotionally.  The dialog successfully moved the storyline making it easy to follow characters' contrary motivations. The secondary characters added comic relief.  It's a quintessential southeast Texas romp.  I didn't want to put down.  The plot kept this amateur detective busy.  Murder Once Removed provides a look into the lives of folks from that time and place in Texas.  The book is well worth the read for the Southern flavor and mystery suspense.  I didn't want the intriguing journey to end.
2856626
I picked up News of the World at the Booksellers Row Lit Fest after attending a panel discussion featuring the author Paulette Jiles. The discussion topic was historical fiction, and I suppose that is what brought me to the session in the first place. But thats not the only thing I loved about the book.
True, its an interesting time and place setting: Texas in the 1870s, a post-Civil War climate of lawlessness and ruin. But this Texas isn't exactly a fantasy of a John Ford Western. Its a harsh, rainy, miserable place -- for travelers, anyway. Jiles is able to vividly describe every mudflat, every scrub oak, every patch of bear grass along the trail, having personally ridden the scene on horseback.
But most compelling are the characters and their place on the historic timeline.  Captain Jefferson Kidd is a 71-year old veteran of earlier wars who has found his purpose in the world by spreading the news. He began in his youth as a military courier, and eventually settled down to marry and to run a successful printing business in San Antonio. Now, widowed, ruined by the war, his presses destroyed, he is reduced to giving public readings of the news from Eastern and foreign papers to paying audiences of rowdy and ignorant frontiersmen.
In Wichita Falls, Captain Kidd is offered a fifty-dollar gold piece to deliver back to relatives a ten-year old girl recently ransomed from captivity with the Kiowa. The freckled and blue-eyed Johanna Leonberger was taken at the age of six in a raid by Kiowa that brutally murdered her parents and sister. She remembers not a word of the English language nor any of the ways of white society, throwing away her shoes and considering herself thoroughly Kiowa. Now for the second time in her short life she finds herself torn from her loved ones and forced into an alien world. It falls upon this old grandfather to transport her on a long and dangerous passage to San Antonio, 400 miles threatened by Indians, thieves, and killers.
The relationship that develops between the old man and the child is heartwarming and gratifying, even as we, like Kidd, dread the final outcome, when Johanna is returned to her harsh and unsympathetic German relatives.  All of this is told with a calm, understated, but beautiful prose equal to the Captains demeanor, the same sort of straightforward, laconic Western style I recently enjoyed in the Border Trilogy of Cormack McCarthy. Jiles gives us a richness of period detail, too, the time and place coming alive with authenticity. But the author is just as confident in her exploration of the characters  Kidds strength and compassion, Johannas spirited response to the ordeals that they must face. I highly recommend News of the World.
4058795
In this illustrated account of a little-known place and the effect upon it of various owners and eras, author John Cuevas has through his careful research and underlying themes produced a title that transcends the strictly regional-family genre to which it might at first glance appear to belong.

In an age when many U.S. families have little sense of their history and when the country itself appears to be headed toward regional homogenization, CAT ISLAND is interesting on several levels. Most obviously, Cuevas explores in well-documented detail how a particular family legend about the ownership of Cat Island developed and how well it held up when subjected to a stringent reality check. Of perhaps equal interest to the general reader is the glimpse of how eighteenth- and nineteenth-century settlers supported themselves in a part of the world now seen primarily as a tourist destination. Those with a legal bent will enjoy Cuevas's tracing of the island's complicated (and sometimes unsuspected) chain of ownership.

The author's style is straighforward and readable . . .if you like history and what family legend turns it into, you'll almost certainly enjoy this book. [This is an extract from a longer review on Library Thing.]
3385619
A very interesting historical novel about Galveston TX in the early 1900s. The story develops around the relationships of the rich young adults, the cousin who arrives for the summer, and the daughter who is forced to assist a preacher in the slums. Throughout the summer the adults realize the there is more to the world than their rich enclave. A good lesson for today as well.
4247912
Finished this book in two settings. it is a quick read full of history and mystery that surrounds a terrifying shipwreck/castaway situation with an informative build-up laced with relevant details, and coverage of the salvage attempts since the sinking. This latter section of the text reflects the effects that gold has on a mans soul; what he is willing to risk and go up against in order to find the wreck site and its legendary cargo. if your after a more hearty tale of survival that focuses on the people and the place rather than treasure, i recommend reading Island of the Lost by Joan Druett. same island, same time period, different shipwrecks, well written.
1310609
Michael Llewellyn has created a very interesting mystery story, while revealing a seldom shown side of the mission padres' treatment
of the Native American indians who had put their trust in the churches in California.  I had never heard of many of the incidents, and found the history riveting.  Pair this with a most likable main character Sam Crockett, who becomes determined to solve  recent deaths in the area, and you have a fascinating read!  I certainly hope Mr. Llewellyn will keep the travel writer and his photographer partner alive for more illuminating adventures!  I will never look at the Missions in quite the same way again!
4893238
Vinland shares many elements with Dan Browns adventure stories about symbologist Robert Langdon, including a mystery of historical significance, ancient maps, scholarly disagreements about historical events, Freemasons, Knights Templar, archeological discoveries, ancient artifacts, sinister cabals, religious fanatics, conspiracies, murders (ritualistic and otherwise), corrupt officials and one college professor turned adventurer. The story is quite a bit sexier, with several seductive femmes fatales. The author presents fascinating bits of historical information without bogging down the story and weaves historical events into a contemporary mystery.

story also presents a bit of a travelogue on Cape Cod, with particular emphasis on the food, entertainment venues and historical landmarks. The characters are complex and often duplicitous, adding elements of intrigue. Protagonist Dan Burdett is a man who wears several hats. A disgraced and possibly burned-out prosecuting attorney and former lifeguard, he now divides his time between a struggling private law practice, teaching medieval history at a community college and renovating a beach home. His understanding of medieval history and contacts in academia prove most valuable in this adventure, involving an ancient map that may cast light on a mystery that has puzzled academics and archaeologists but that fanatics will kill to keep hidden and a fabulous treasure that others will kill to plunder.

Vinland is an enthralling read that will keep the reader guessing. Like the Dan Brown novels, it is imbued with intriguing and fascinating historical tidbits.
4584967
Geoff Nelder brings to life the 16th century abduction of an entire people with a love and knowledge of Gozo that swept me away. I felt the authors sense of outrage and although I enjoyed the epic sweep of the blockbusting story, what will stay with me are the ghosts who still inhabit the landscape today. I feel I know every blood-stained stone on this little island, although Ive never been there.
From the grey-orange grit of the desert to the horse who loves the smell of lavender, time and place are created in loving, accurate detail  both the 16th century and the present. The authors breadth of knowledge and of research allows us to visit all his locations with never a false note. I know Lyon well and enjoyed revisiting it en route to Gozo.
At times, I felt the author was reliving his own past life, so convincing were his description of slavery, from manning the oars as a slave on a galley to trudging the potentially fatal route to market. He was equally at ease describing the world of female slaves chosen as concubines.
The novel is more than an exciting tale of supernatural justice working its way out after 500 years, through descendants of the key people involved but it is indeed an exciting story. I found some of the earlier scenes in the present day less convincing, with Zita and the love affair portrayed in a clichd manner but once we get Zitas point of view the narrative flows and I was lost in the mystery.
4941306
"The Pirate Devlin" is an adventure novel that uses both fictional characters and historical details to recount a treasure hunt adventure.

The main character is a man named Devlin who happens to encounter a dying Frenchman on an isolated beach. The dying man is the last sailor on a ship that transported a fortune in gold to the Caribbean. In his boot he had secreted a map that held the key the finding the treasure. His dying declaration is to tell Devlin of the map and begin the adventure.

While the author uses plenty of historical and technical details, I stumbled over his style at points. For example, at one point the author describes grass as both wet and crunching. I'm not familiar with grass that is wet and brittle enough to crunch.

If you are looking for some light adventure reading, this novel is for you. If you are looking for detailed historical fiction, this may not be what you are looking for.
1044820
Being a native Galvestonian and raising my family in Clear Lake City, Texas, I truly enjoyed every aspect of this book.  Steve Lew's characters came alive and the setting so accurately protrayed in the real world.  The remarkable research brings us closer to our history and descriptions are so very relevant.  He builds suspense throughout.  Very well written, and a book we will be discussing for some time.  One of those stories you just keep pondering.
1241626
Armed with heavy research (most of the names of the major characters are actually historic personages) and a career as a Marine judge advocate, Drescher has given us a pirate story that won;t soon be forgotten. Many of the scenes are gruesome in detail, and the story goes on for too long, but it's a page turner, and things, for Harry Glasby, turn out well, if not a little improbable, in the end. It's not Treasure Island, but there is buried treasure, and the hero gets a chance at finding it. The reality of this book is admirable, but I prefer my piracy with Jim Hawkins and Long John Silver.