A Curse of Silence

A Curse of Silence: A Mystery of Ancient Egypt by Lauren Haney

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
The ruler has sent her cousin Amonked to inspect the
fortresses along the Belly of Stones with the purpose
of closing them and removing the army. Everyone
from the Commander Thuty down to the lowest
peasant is horrified by the thought. When Amonked
arrives with ships laden with unbelievable finery he
seems just another bureaucrat whose mind is
already made up, unimpressed by what he sees and
unwilling to listen to reason. Against advice, he plans
to haul all the luxuries, including his beautiful
concubine, along with him across the desert. Despite
rumors of the return of a desert bandit, Amonked
refuses Commander Thuty’s offer of guards, claiming
that his own troops are enough, despite the fact that
they have neither faced combat or the desert. But as
the caravan leaves Buhen, the body of a local prince
is discovered and it appears that someone in
Amonked’s party killed him. Thuty uses the murder as
an excuse to send Bak and Nebwa with 20 bowmen
along. Thuty’s confidence that Bak will find the killer
seems misplaced as the long hot days pass and he is
no closer to uncovering the killer. But he and Nebwa
face graver concerns as it becomes clear that the
threat of the desert bandit is not just a rumor, but fact.
He plans to attack and they are vastly outnumbered.

I like Bak was kept in the dark as to who the killer
was, partially because like he, I came to like all the
characters as they face the challenges of the desert
and the threat of attack. In many ways it was the story
of the wagon train harassed by the hostile Indians, an
exciting adventure. The best so far in the series, I
think.

Reviewed by Linda Suzane March 26, 2009
www.midnightblood.com



View all my reviews.

The Q Awards

The Q Awards

The Starred Q means that this independent published book is of the quality expected of a New York publisher.

The Q means this book meets the minimum standards. It may have some writing defects, a few copy editing problems, but is worth reading.

The Red Typo warns readers that book doesn't meet the minimum quality standards. Poor writing or poor editing.

I hope this helps.

Reviewers are welcome to employ this rating system.

Finding Your Way Around

I have added an Authors list to help you find the reviews you are interested it. It also helped that I learned a lot more about using Blogger and WordPress to create blogs and websites. Eventually I will upgrade www.midnightblood.com to a WordPress site, when I have time, but by make certain changes here, I should be able to incorporate my Blogger site easily into the new site and save myself time and trouble.

For now listings include:

Authors (alphabetically) with the title of the book reviewed.Click on the author will take you to the review.

I also have categorized the articles by subject and genre. Click on the topic will bring a list of all articles related to that subject.

news - Updates about me and the blog.
articles - not reviews.
Q Awards - books that are published independently (eBook and print) that are ratedd by quality.
Wings Press - books published by my publisher, Wings ePress, Inc.

Genre (this list will grow) It is also somewhat limited to what I like to read.Again click on subject will bring up all reviews.
Fantasy
Urban Fantasy - These include paranormal series like Anita Blake and Harry Dresden. .
Paranormal romance - Romance with supernatural or paranormal elements.
Mystery
Mystery Cozy
Paranormal mystery - Mystery with supernatural or paranormal elements.
Romantic Mystery
Mystery Native American / South West
Historical Mystery Egyptian
Historical Mystery 19th Century

Try Just Once More

By Kate Henry Doran

“Maggie McQuire didn’t have time to die. With only two days left before the opening ceremonies of Saranac Lake’s winter carnival, there were too many things left undone.”

So begins this fast pace book, with one of the best first lines I have ever read in a long time. Maggie and her three grown children, Tom, Devon, and Lauren, are finally putting their lives back together after the horror that was her husband / their father’s death and the media circus and accusations of possible murder that followed. Tom has become a police officer, riding mounted patrol, Devon is a world famous artist, and Lauren beginning a promising career as a dancer. Everything is going well for Maggie and her children, except that Devon was mugged and later involved in a drive-by shooting, and Lauren stalked, and then Tom is critically injured when his horse goes down during a riot.

Oh yes, Maggie’s brakes failed and she barely avoids ending up at the bottom of a ravine along with her car, thanks to a Good Samaritan. She is very attracted to the Good Samaritan, his deep, soothing voice and good looks until she learns he is the one thing she detests more than reporters, a cop, the Chief of Police and Tom’s boss. And Michael learns she is another nurse, just like his detestable ex-wife. Sparks fly, lots of misunderstandings, lots of romantic ups and downs. And lots of humor. That was one of the best things about TRY JUST ONCE MORE, the sense of humor. Maggie faces her days with humor, laughing at herself and life, but she has a sharp witty tongue that is often unleashed on Michael.

After awhile, Michael begins to suspect that there might be something more sinister behind the accidents than just bad luck. But why would anyone want to kill Maggie and her kids? The answer is surprising and shocking.

Not only is this book full of humor and witticism, it is also vividly real. Maggie is a member of AA and she must struggle every day. I cried with her when Tom almost died, I grieved as Michael relived his own son’s death, and when Maggie finally unlocked her heart to share her past with Michael.

My only complaint is that this book needed to be more, possibly four books. There was so much going on, so much that happened in the past, hinted at, but never fully explained, that it felt like it should be one of those romance series where the author writes a romance for each character. I would have loved to know how Rachel became scarred, about Devon and Nessa’s relationship, and more about Kit. But it was enough to get to know Maggie and Michael, to find that romance can happen to those over 40. TRY JUST ONCE MORE is a great romance, shadowed by a great dark evil.

Reviewed by Linda Suzane

Try Just Once More
by Kate Henry Doran
Wings Press
Paperback: 332 pages
Publisher: Wings ePress (2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1597058386
ISBN-13: 978-1597058384

Visit Kat's website www.KatHenry.com

Awards

Sometime ago, I reviewed a novel. This book had been accepted for publication; in fact, was in the final stages of editing and shortly going to be published. The author was someone with a long impressive list of books published by various Internet publishers. I was truly surprised by what I read. It was what I consider a second draft in need of considerable work. The story had problems like not clearly setting the scene and changing the nature of characters half way through the story. There were lots of typographical and spelling errors, including correctly-spelled-wrong-words. I was amazed that the publisher had accepted it for publication. Certainly the basic story had strong potential, but in my opinion, the version I read was nowhere near ready for publication.

That’s the problem today. It’s far too easy to publish books. At least with “mainstream print publishers,” there was a level of professionalism. Now, my 9-year-old-grandson can turn out a beautifully printed, even illustrated book, with all of his mis-spellings and poor grammar. I’m not saying that all books published by the mainstream publishers are worth reading or that all Internet published books are poorly written. Not at all. Internet publishers have opened the doors to many talented writers who found New York doors closed and in doing so have expanded the boundaries for writers and readers alike. I am saying though, just the fact that a book has been published is no longer a guarantee of quality.

I struggled to write a review that reflected the situation honestly and afterward considered what to do about the problem. We reviewers have a even more important role than we had before. Before we wrote about whether we liked a book or not. Now, we also need to let the readers know the quality of the published work. “Self-published” scares people away because we have visions of poorly spelled, poorly written, unedited books, that no publisher wants. That may not be the case. Even when there is an actual publisher and the work is edited, quality standards vary among the Independent Publishers.

I decided we need a new rating system that rates the professionalism, the quality of the book, that can promote those books, whether self-published or published by Internet publishers or small press print publishers, that live up to a standard of quality, and can warn readers of those who don’t.

The Q Awards

The Starred Q means that this independent published book is of the quality expected of a New York publisher.

The Q means this book meets the minimum standards. It may have some writing defects, a few copy editing problems, but is worth reading.

The Red Typo warns readers that book doesn't meet the minimum quality standards. Poor writing or poor editing.

I hope this helps.

Reviewers are welcome to employ this rating system.