Blog Archives
A Good Angle for a Story
Mystery at the Hidden River follows a retired engineer as his professional expertise draws him into investigating the suspicious death of a fellow engineer on the Northern California coast. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
The suspicious death of a colleague is the setup for the revealing of a dangerous landslide on the Hidden River. I learned of a similar landslide in my disaster-related work many years ago, and thought that such a threat would be a good angle for a story. Of course, Hidden River was completed months before the terrible Nepal flash flood, which showed in reality the sort of threat posed by a landslide that could temporarily block a river.
What kind of emotional experience did you want readers to have between moments of suspense?
To be carried along in Jace Carter’s life as he deals with things on a daily basis. Mr. Carter is in many ways an ‘everyman,’ in that he does ordinary things as anyone does, but is drawn into these extraordinary situations. By walking with Jace as he seeks to solve the ordinary problems of living, the reader shares his emotions and confusion as he faces the puzzling and sometimes frightening aspects of his investigation.
How does the landscape become part of the mystery?
The fictional Hidden River is an interesting draw into the story. In the storyline, early European explorers noticed that fresh water could be found in a certain place out at sea, but there was no visible source at the shore. There is a real parallel in history with the Amazon River that way, though with the Amazon the fresh water was available many miles from visible land. In this case, the fictional Hidden River is ‘cloaked’ by the many cliffs around and behind the river mouth that all look the same from the ocean.
The landslide threat is also looming in the story and is not discovered by Jace Carter and the law until the dead engineer’s office is searched. The drug dealer’s den is also discovered at the same time, and the difficult terrain in the Coastal Mountains makes such a secretive location believable.
If you could ask Jace Carter one question, what would it be?
When will your life become normal?
Author Links: GoodReads | Amazon
Mystery at the Hidden River
J. Clifford Barnes’s Mystery at the Hidden River is a warm, engaging mystery built around an unusual kind of amateur detective. Jace Carter is a retired civil engineer in his mid-60s who’d be perfectly content tending his garden, drinking good coffee, and enjoying a quiet life on the Northern California coast. Instead, the suspicious death of fellow engineer Dustin Macky draws him into an investigation where his professional knowledge becomes every bit as valuable as traditional police work. Hydrology calculations, engineering files, building permits, geological hazards, and development plans all become clues, giving the story a personality that feels grounded in the way real people actually solve complicated problems.
Jace is the heart of the book. He’s practical, observant, good-humored, and refreshingly comfortable with who he is. His narration makes room for sandwiches, fishing trips, gardening, coffee, storm preparation, and the everyday inconveniences of retirement alongside murder and criminal conspiracy. Those details give Inglesee, Seacrest, and the Hidden River area the comfortable familiarity of places the reader can picture living in. They also make the danger more effective when it arrives. An enormous atmospheric river, a threatened harbor, an escaped suspect, a firebombing, and a corporate scheme all become more immediate because they’re happening to someone who’d really rather be repairing a planter box or reading in his easy chair.
The mystery itself grows naturally from Dustin Macky’s engineering work. What begins with a dead man and a disordered stack of hydrologic calculations expands into the threat posed by the Buck Starr Landslide, an illegal growing operation, a powerful development company with designs on Hidden River Harbor, and a suspicious harbor board member with connections that run deeper than anyone first realizes. Barnes keeps these threads moving through Jace’s particular way of thinking. He notices inconsistencies, understands what technical information means in practical terms, and often finds solutions because he knows how government agencies, contractors, engineers, and local institutions actually function. That gives the investigation an appealing nuts-and-bolts quality while still leaving room for danger, misdirection, and a satisfying escalation toward the solution.
What makes Mystery at the Hidden River especially enjoyable is the combination of small-town mystery, procedural problem-solving, coastal atmosphere, and an older protagonist who discovers that retirement hasn’t made him any less useful. Jace doesn’t become a different person in order to solve the case. His experience, patience, curiosity, and accumulated knowledge are exactly what make him effective. By the end, the investigation has pushed him into serious danger, exposed a much larger criminal operation, and even forced him to rethink how he can keep helping law enforcement without making himself an easy target. His resulting notion of becoming an “undercover volunteer sleuth” feels like both a satisfying conclusion and an inviting promise of more adventures ahead. Mystery at the Hidden River turns the practical wisdom of a retired engineer into the secret weapon of a smart, personable mystery you’ll want to follow wherever Jace Carter goes next.
Pages: 88 | ASIN : B0HBT7SK9Y
FARMERVILLE EPISODE 1: Till Those Cows Come Home
Set against the backdrop of Halloween’s festive yet eerie atmosphere, Farmerville Episode 1: Till Those Cows Come Home by Marty Martin is a unique blend of absurdity and suspense. The story unfolds in a seemingly tranquil rural town, where Deputy Ron Farmer’s routine duty takes a horrifying turn. He intends to rescue a family from two convicts, only to uncover the true menace: the family itself. The Holcombs, with their sinister torture barn and a penchant for murder, thrust Ron into a vortex of unexpected challenges.
Martin skillfully shifts the narrative from the initial portrayal of an idyllic town to revealing the murky underbelly of Farmerville and its inhabitants. The novel’s brisk pace aligns with its shorter length, swiftly unveiling surprising antagonists and the grisly pastimes of the Holcomb family. Despite the grim subject matter, the portrayal of the Holcombs’ unhinged nature injects a peculiar lightness into the narrative. Sensitive themes are tactfully prefaced with a disclaimer, addressing the array of potentially triggering content within. The plot escalates as the convicts stumble upon the wrong targets, intertwining their fate with Ron’s, who harbors his own hidden history. Laura, Ron’s daughter, emerges as an unexpectedly strong character, though less entangled in the town’s mysteries than her father. The novel crescendos into an intense culmination of violence and suspense, befitting a cinematic Halloween thriller, leaving an open-ended suggestion of further mysteries and conflicts. The ending leaves readers pondering Ron’s ominous future.
Martin’s narrative is engaging and enjoyable, capturing the reader’s imagination with the promise of more secrets to uncover in Farmerville. The concept of each series installment focusing on different town elements is intriguing, promising an expansive and detailed exploration of Farmerville’s enigmatic character. Martin’s storytelling assures that future episodes will be equally compelling, making Farmerville Episode 1: Till Those Cows Come Home a captivating start to what promises to be an absorbing series.
Pages: 86 | ASIN : B0CFD39DQ8
