Monolith
Michael Stimmel’s Monolith follows investigative journalist Catherine “Cat” Davis as her reporting on financial corruption draws her into the world of John Allman, a wealthy entrepreneur with an ambitious vision for humanity. His technology company brings artificial intelligence, satellite systems, and economic reform into the same conversation, and Cat wants to understand how the pieces fit together. It’s an expansive story that combines political suspense, speculative science fiction, romance, and questions about faith. What caught my attention was the connection between progress and power. Every promising invention comes with someone’s idea of how people should live, and the book gives you plenty of reasons to think about who gets to make those decisions.
Cat gives that sprawling subject matter a personal center. She’s curious, outspoken, protective of her brother, and susceptible to the charm of people she’s trying to understand. Her professional instincts and emotional attachments create friction that makes her an engaging guide through Allman’s world. I especially enjoyed her exchanges with Hege, the formidable bodyguard whose blunt humor and physical confidence make her a strong presence. Their conversations bring an earthy, sometimes mischievous energy to scenes filled with serious concerns. Hank, an autonomous jeep with a conversational personality, is another memorable addition. His interactions with Cat make the possibility of caring about an artificial intelligence feel surprisingly familiar. Music and dancing also give the characters ways to express themselves that feel immediate and personal.
Stimmel likes to explain his ideas, and that preference shapes the rhythm of Monolith. Threats and confrontations move briskly, while interviews, speeches, and podcasts spend substantial time discussing inequality, employment, ethics, and the future of technology. Those longer passages give the novel the feel of an ongoing public debate. They also slow the momentum, and some characters’ voices become similar when they’re laying out an argument. I occasionally wanted the dialogue to leave more room for uncertainty and individual quirks. The questions themselves held my interest, especially the tension between a commitment to truth and the temptation to justify questionable choices through a promised benefit to society. The economic appendix reinforces how seriously Stimmel takes his proposals and gives interested readers more material to consider.
The mixture of technical explanation and escalating danger reminded me of Michael Crichton’s thrillers. Both writers find suspense in powerful innovations and in the confidence of the people developing them. Stimmel gives that approach a strong philosophical and spiritual emphasis, connecting technological possibility to compassion, belief, and humanity’s capacity to change. His enthusiasm is evident throughout, and the scale of his imagined future is a large part of the book’s appeal. Readers who enjoy discussing a novel’s arguments will have plenty to work with here, particularly around whether good intentions provide a sound basis for concentrated power. I found Monolith most engaging when its sweeping ambitions met the messier business of loyalty, desire, and trust. Those encounters give its speculative ideas an emotional weight.
Pages: 472 | ASIN : B0HH84D2XC
A Memento to Uncle Eddie
Even Angels Wear Leather Jackets and Ride Motorcycles follows a man who learns his uncle is dying and reflects on cherished memories as he travels from Philadelphia to New Jersey to be with him. What inspired this story?
Inspired over a few years after I graduated college, this fictional autobiography, “Even Angels Wear Leather Jackets and Ride Motorcycles,” shares special moments experienced with my Uncle Eddie, our friendship, leading to his final days before unexpectedly passing. When I received the phone call working in Philadelphia – from start to finish is exactly how this moment transpired. Overall: the wild trips, the shared wisdom, the meaningful inspiring conversations took place, along with the dramatic inner family conflicts play crucial roles within the telling of this story.
A few of the moments read within this novel, for entertainment purposes, are jazzed up a bit but roughly ninety percent of the novel is accurate down to the dialogue exchanges, feelings portrayed, and shared moments. I took very close notes in a set of diaries I wrote throughout my life, next to many notebooks of poetry and prose, to serve as reference material. This novel is a memento to my uncle, who I loved and adored as a father figure, and a dedication to the concept so many don’t comprehend: when you’re standing up for what’s right, majority of the time, you will be standing alone. This concept comes from never letting anyone burn out your flame and to always keep the candle lit – whether: pursuing creative ambitions and endeavors, finding love, or discovering friendship.
Also, this novel serves as a testament to follow your dreams and never stop trying, even if only one person believes in the path you’re trailblazing – that is enough; sometimes, you won’t even be lucky to have one person and this novel serves as an awareness – if you’re lucky enough in this lifetime to find love, absolutely no one, should ever judge what it looks like.
Eddie is portrayed as a motorcycle-riding rebel, loving family member, mentor, and source of wisdom. How did you develop such a memorable and layered character?
When I set out to write the novel, “Even Angels Wear Leather Jackets and Ride Motorcycles,” I didn’t want the character Uncle Eddie on his deathbed to serve as a catalyst for the story to be told, I wanted him to be the heart of the story and every shared moment are the beats leading up to his final poem. While writing, the focus would be primarily the affects Uncle Eddie had on Peter with each shared moment; however, the interactions with family members at different events, the discussions with trials and heartbreaks Peter was experiencing throughout the novel, and the contributed fun moments during holidays – all of these attributes would develop Uncle Eddie’s beloved character arc – and after reading the journey, admiration will be felt when the final page is turned.
This novel was penned in his honor for the good, strong, wise man he was and what he meant to me during impressionable and challenging points traversing life at the time. Originally intended, the flashback moments were meant to serve as memories but when I realized I wanted to open up more vulnerability for Peter, internally, I dug emotionally deeper for sincere, honest, difficult, and transparent moments. Readers will realize Uncle Eddie and Peter are just like any other person sharing similar conversations and the actions surrounding conflicts within the story are relatable too.
When I realized Uncle Eddie as the heart of the novel he truthfully became the entire theme which is why I titled the narrative after him because Angels don’t just wear gowns or plated armor and have wings; they too, can wear leather jackets and ride motorcycles.
Eddie encourages Peter to follow his creative ambitions even when others may not understand them. Why was that message important to include?
The message following creative ambitions, whether others understand them or not, is extremely important – not from a point of seeking wealth with creative endeavors but to have a creative outlet even if just for yourself.
Many people don’t have creative ambitions or even talent and skills necessary to create original ideas in whatever form of art they would choose to explore. This being said, many people are jealous and envious and will discourage others not to follow their paths of self-expression or unjustly berate and shame an individual to quit. Unfortunately, this works for certain people and they put down their pen, paint brush, instrument, camera, sheet music, etc. – this is the most devastating and unforgivable act in my opinion – those unfortunate people, striving to better themselves and find a creative outlet literally didn’t affect anyone’s lives negatively with creating but now stopped from unnecessary bullying.
Personally, I’ve experienced this for twenty plus years between, “family,” “select friends,” “lovers,” “teachers,” “guidance counselors,” and the list could continue for an extremely long time. My journey included my Uncle Eddie, being the first person to start believing in me for most of the beginning of my artistic journey – I was lucky to have one person in my corner, most have none. It didn’t make it any easier struggling and learning to disconnect emotionally myself from so many people because of the shaming and insults I had to put up with but my uncle’s inspiring words and belief in me helped me continue to push forward one little step at a time.
It’s like one of my best friend’s, Joseph Fuoco, reminds me quite often – an old Japanese expression: When society tries to hammer you down, be the standing nail and never let them complete the drive. I’m grateful to my Uncle Eddie for believing in me and being supportive especially during my impressionable formative years which were extremely important while I was learning who I was to become, the journey I was trailblazing, and discovering my voice.
Are there other characters from the novel whose stories you would like to explore?
This novel has many redeeming characters I could explore or to serve the purpose, in the end we’re all imperfect human beings, and that’s enough for me to understand each character’s symbolism within the narrative. Many of these characters would be revisited again throughout other books, especially within my diaries I will be publishing in the future.
The story’s various characters: positive and negative impacts, as I chose the path of becoming an artist – this would be a very personal exploration into their character arcs and themes. These themes and characters are meant for inspirational purposes and to help people who are artists continue their path even when the challenges seem too taxing. More importantly, these themes are meant to stand within the concept of love: if you’re lucky enough in this life to find love, who is anyone to tell you what it should look like. I stand behind this statement with my entire soul – coming from many struggling experiences with love – romances and friendships because it didn’t fit into other’s narratives and it took a long time for me to come to the realization, someday, everyone will be dead and gone and myself included – always, I want to make the best decisions for myself first, no one else and their opinions. These select themes are to help others when reading know: even if they feel it, they’re not alone. With Love and Admiration, as my beloved Uncle Eddie believed in me – I believe in you. Thank you for taking the time and energy to read “Even Angels Wear Leather Jackets and Ride Motorcycles” and this interview
The Government Has Strayed
Rebellion to Tyrants Is Obedience to God argues that concentrating AI development within powerful corporations and centralized institutions could threaten individual liberty, local economies, human creativity, and community self-government. What developments in artificial intelligence most concern you?
The deployment of corporate AI, by 10 private AI companies, is seen within the economic context of the U. S. transition to a global trading system, beginning around 1992.
In that transition, the prior local income and employment networks that promoted regional technology innovation in 390 metro regions were replaced by global networks, which feature internal corporate value chains which limited the distribution of income and wealth to the top 20% of the American population that was connected to the global markets.
Those prior tacit knowledge networks among scientists, entrepreneurs and civic leaders were replaced by internal corporate knowledge networks that restricted the flows of knowledge and income to the other 80% of the population.
Artificial intelligence, within that global corporate trading system, further erodes the ability of citizens in metro regions to collaborate and cooperate among themselves to generate new technology innovation.
The U. S. concentration of wealth, income and unearned advantage becomes worse with the deployment of corporate AI.
Our solution of the global economic issues, in Rebellion to Tyrants, is that metro regions must create new technologies, industry supply chains, new ventures, and skilled workers faster than AI can control and erase native regional economic advantages.
We argue that metro regional leaders must begin thinking of themselves as a technology innovation growth business, whose business mission is high rates of capital investment in new technology ventures that stimulate regional economic growth.
Why do you see AI governance as fundamentally connected to questions of individual liberty and self-government?
We trace the 3000 year Western Civilization ethical framework of individual trust and fair dealing among citizens to the principles of liberty and self-government of George Mason and Thomas Jefferson.
The Western Civilization ethical basis of self-government, in a representative republic, is to treat other citizens as you would wish to be treated.
The strength of the individualist ethical framework is that it provides a pathway out of the current American political morass, and dangers of corporate self-volition AI, by re-creating the founding principles of trust and honest dealing among citizens, at the most local level of community.
We argue that the technology of AI is an amoral agent because it cannot choose between good and evil, but that the technology, under the control of immoral agents is dangerous to liberty.
What is the New American Covenant of Liberty, and what commitments would participating citizens make to one another?
We describe 3 different covenants among citizens to treat each other honestly and fairly.
The first covenant is an economic covenant among citizens in each metro region to agree to cooperate and collaborate in creating regional economic growth that cannot be disrupted by corporate AI.
Like many other Western Civilization historical covenants, this economic covenant aims at creating beneficial social order for the citizens who live in the region.
The second covenant is more theological in its mission of directing citizens to use their Divine Spark to create God’s Kingdom on Earth, in their fair treatment of other citizens.
The third covenant is a political promise among citizens to use the democratic institutions of government to protect the freedoms and liberties of other citizens.
If communities began adopting your decentralized economic model, what changes would you expect to see over the long term?
In our Chapter 10 (How Red State Citizens Build An Entrepreneurial Capitalist Economy in Their Community), we describe a new regional economic development business model that civic leaders and economic development professionals can use to direct economic benefits to the citizens who live in the region.
Over the long term, we expect to see greater rates of capital investment in new small technology ventures that have the potential to grow into large corporations.
The corporate model we have in mind is SAS Institute, in Cary, N. C., which started out as 4 N. C. State students and staff who created, what is now, the largest private corporation in the world.
Author Links: X | Website | Rumble | YouTube | Substack | Gettr
In the most recent historical era, beginning after World War II, the concept of citizen self-government, in a state-sovereignty/federalist framework, changed into a powerful centralized government, increasingly disconnected from the will of the citizens.
Our book is about the single greatest threat, in history, to the concept of individual natural rights resulting from the fusion of private corporate artificial intelligence with the unelected, illegitimate agencies of government, commonly called the Deep State.
This fusion of power is more dangerous to citizens than earlier trends in technology automation because the new tool has the potential to mimic human behavior and then write its own algorithms, free from human control.
We have anticipated the corporate AI defense arguments:
We are safety-conscious corporations and have implemented formal safety protocols to avoid AI escape from human control.
AI is a jobs creating and abundance distribution story, not a totalitarian surveillance story.
If we don’t build it, China will build it and then they will use the tool to conquer American society.
Regulation of AI should be a federal/international, co-operative project, based upon the existing rules-based global trade framework.
We answer these false claims, and offer red-state citizens a better path:
Decentralizing political power away from Washington, and
Building an entrepreneurial capitalist economy that spreads the benefits of beneficial economic growth across 390 metro regions nationwide.
We explain that a more honest and truthful analysis is that AI is an amoral technology because AI cannot choose between good and evil. The technology can only optimize existing systems.
On the other hand, the executives at the AI companies, and the agents of the Deep State, are immoral because they know, in advance, that what they are deploying will harm innocent citizens, and their motive is to use the tool to direct global income and wealth to themselves.
Our book offers a decentralized AI regulatory solution that places AI under the yoke of local citizen control, and describes how red state citizens can build an entrepreneurial capitalist economy that continuously outruns the tyranny of corporate self-volition AI.
A Love of Nature
Leo’s First Field Trip follows a young boy on his first field trip to a national park, where he spends the day learning about wildlife, history, and what it means to respect the land, leading to him earning his Junior Ranger badge.
Was Leo inspired by a particular child or experience, and how did you develop his enthusiastic and curious personality?
I wrote this book for my second grandson, Leo. Since I was a volunteer park ranger (I’m Pam in the book), I wanted to dedicate it to him, help him love what I do, and inspire him to see national parks.
Why was respecting the land such an important theme for the book, and how can small choices, like leaving a feather where it was found, help children understand environmental stewardship?
I have always loved nature and learning about the Indigenous tribes. Everything was sacred to them. I wanted to share that with all children. For example, a leaf might be an animal’s food, so leave it there.
Is this the first book in the series? If so, when is the next book coming out, and what can young readers expect in the next story?
No, I have not planned another, although, as I wrote a book for his older brother, I may include them in a new adventure together in the future. I also need to submit my first children’s book.
Author Links: YouTube | Instagram | Website
It’s Leo’s first school field trip, and he is excited!
Come along with him to a National Park.
Together you’ll learn about nature and how to respect the land, see a sacred monument, and hear stories of the people who once lived there.
Want to be an honorary Park Ranger? Take the oath with Leo and his class.
Grab your seat on the imaginary bus and let’s go exploring!
Drives Me Nuts At Times
Keep Moving or Die follows your unconventional journey through childhood upheaval, worldwide adventures, police photography, fatherhood, illness, and filmmaking. Where did the title Keep Moving or Die come from, and how well does it describe your approach to life?
Trying to find a title for a memoir that doesn’t sound corny or lame and yet reflect your life is difficult. Much harder than I expected to be honest, so I had no title until I was halfway through writing about my time photographing crime scenes for the Met Police. I’m a conversational writer, letting the reader into my life and suddenly into my mind. I found myself not chatting, but ranting, trying to explain to myself what has always pushed me. That inner drive to keep moving: pushing, creating, building, against an imaginary clock. Most people in the world seem to move very slowly compared to me. Maybe it’s a survival thing from growing up in care and wanting to make a better world for myself. Whatever it is, it’s a blessing and a curse. It gives me the grit and determination to finish a project, especially writing, but it also drives me nuts at times. I realised that I have this inner feeling, that I have to keep moving – and if I don’t, I’ll just grow old and die. Very dramatic, or should it be melodramatic? Whatever it is, it also sounded very Bond-like and therefore a good title. Hopefully it’ll be the name of the next Bond film when they get round to making it.
Has reinventing yourself throughout your life been deliberate, or have you simply been willing to follow opportunities when they appeared?
I never felt I was reinventing myself, more a case that I was taking opportunities when they arrived. I left school with no qualifications and no parents to fall back on, but I was blessed with a desire to be a creative photographer. By starting as a photographer’s assistant, to Colour printing manager to Cruise ships photographer, My identity was very much, PHOTOGRAPHER! Even when I joined the Met, I was still a photographer, just that I had to sell my artistic soul to keep a steady, well paid job. Re-inventing myself was only after leaving the Met and finally having to give up that identity. Now I’m a writer, author or work in film. It still sounds good (much more glamorous than it really is tbh) but it was difficult to leave the photographer identity behind. I still do headshots and still think in a very visual way, which helps my writing, so he’s still living in my mind somewhere.
When did photography become more than an interest and begin shaping the direction of your life, and what has spending so much of your life behind a camera taught you about observing people?
I only got into photography because I had a friend at school who was into it. He convinced me to go to the photography classes once a week in our lunchtimes. I just loved it straight away. I think it annoyed my friend in the en, that I liked it and pushed forward with photography further than he ever did. Thank God I did find it though, as it was my only direction. It really did make me look at the world and push me to work abroad on cruise ships. As for observing people, it helped with writing my first book, The Many Lives of Adam Capello, as I could see that at heart, we all want to the same things. To love and be loved, to not have to worry about money, to see the world and experience the different art, architecture, customs, food and culture that makes everything so interesting. Religions, cults, politics and cultures, are all part of our social programming, the nurture that programs our nature.
What have you learned about balancing your restless desire for new experiences with your responsibility to the people you loved?
Family is the ultimate sacrifice. When we have children, we have to put all our dreams and desires aside – put them on hold for a good 20 years, when they are older and enjoying having them as wonderful young adults. But even now, it’s hard for me to think of moving away from them to live in a much bigger, nicer home in the countryside in a cheaper part of the country, or indeed, in a different country. So my experiences have moved from epic travels, to new challenges such as film work, running quizzes, pushing and writing the books. I’m still looking for anything new that takes my fancy. I’m still moving… but I’m trying to pace myself.
Author Links: GoodReads | Facebook | Website | Youtube
And so begins the story of my life.
Crime scene work
Life on cruise ships
A royal post mortem
Glamour photography
Life in a children’s home
Archaeology in Honduras
Unusual travels around the world
Life as a child Scientologist… and leaving it behind
And now life working in film making, including doubling for Daniel Craig as James Bond
It’s been quite an adventure…
Can We Look Directly at It, Just for a Second?
Rain Corbyn’s Can We Look Directly at It, Just for a Second? is a queer horror novella with an unusually personal view of the apocalypse. Its narrator retreats to the Catskills, convinced the world’s final day has arrived, carrying a lifetime of resentment, desire, shame, and unfinished business. Climate fiction and body horror meet in a landscape where the ocean has swallowed familiar boundaries and the natural world keeps finding strange ways to grow. There’s a wonderfully uncomfortable intimacy to the setup: planetary catastrophe shares space with awkward social encounters and private grievances. Corbyn makes that collision funny, ugly, and emotionally convincing. Even with the world collapsing, being a person remains an exhausting job.
The narrator’s voice gives the book much of its force. They’re caustic, horny, frightened, perceptive, and capable of turning almost any interaction into a prosecution of themselves or somebody else. You can laugh at a petty complaint and then recognize the hurt beneath it a sentence later. Corbyn is especially sharp about the ways therapeutic language, political righteousness, and online habits can shape relationships, including how the vocabulary of care becomes useful to people seeking control. The narrator participates in these habits, too, and their awareness of that keeps the satire interesting. Gender dysphoria, neurodivergence, and the wish to be desired are woven into the narration’s smallest decisions. Who’s looking? What do they see? How much explanation will make being seen feel safe?
As ecological horror, the novella gets under your skin through texture. Algae, insects, fungus, salt water, and damaged flesh make its world feel damp, hungry, and alarmingly alive. The body horror is graphic and sexually explicit, with disgust, attraction, and tenderness often occupying the same image. Corbyn’s comparisons come quickly, drawing on horror movies, internet slang, childhood memories, and ordinary consumer junk. That density can be tiring, particularly when several images compete for attention in a single passage. It also suits a narrator who compulsively translates experience into language, then worries about how that language will be received. The prose’s excess becomes part of the character’s struggle. Fans of weird fiction will find plenty to chew on in the book’s unstable relationship between human bodies and the ecosystems they inhabit.
I appreciated the book’s attention to the hunger for permission: permission to change, to want things, to feel anger, to stop performing goodness for an imagined audience. Its literary horror grows out of that hunger as much as it does from its grotesque imagery. Beneath the jokes and fury is a bruised longing for affection that doesn’t require a flawless explanation of the self. Corbyn keeps that longing complicated, giving the narrator enough vanity and spite to make their vulnerability feel earned. If you enjoy queer horror and experimental climate fiction with a fiercely opinionated voice, this novella offers a concentrated, demanding read. It’s at its best when a revolting image and a painfully familiar feeling arrive together, making you wince for two reasons at once.
Pages: 120 | ISBN : 9781590217900
The Disciplined Executive: The Athlete’s Approach to Leadership — How to Lead with Clarity, Courage, and Competitive Edge
Jani Hirvonen’s The Disciplined Executive presents leadership as a craft developed through deliberate practice, honest reflection, and consistent responsibility. Drawing on his experience in elite Taekwondo, endurance sports, corporate leadership, and nonprofit service, Hirvonen gives athletic preparation a clear application to professional life. Meetings, decisions, and difficult conversations become opportunities to train judgment and strengthen relationships. His central principle is concise: “Leadership is a muscle. It grows with practice.” The comparison gives the book a coherent identity, connecting individual habits with the conditions that help teams perform. It’s a useful perspective for readers who want to approach their development with greater intention and a realistic sense of the work involved.
The book’s strongest contribution is its connection between demanding standards and attentive, supportive leadership. Hirvonen treats listening, emotional intelligence, recognition, and trust as essential parts of effective execution. His statement, “The leader exists to serve the team,” captures the responsibility that runs through these discussions. Delegation becomes an investment in someone’s judgment; feedback becomes a continuing exchange that requires visible follow-through. These ideas give the book a humane understanding of performance, grounded in the daily experience of working with others. The attention to volunteer leadership is especially valuable, since it brings motivation, shared purpose, and earned commitment into sharper focus. Across these settings, Hirvonen makes a persuasive case that a leader’s influence grows through the capability and confidence of other people.
Its twenty-five chapters follow a dependable pattern of personal reflection, examples, frameworks, and actions organized around weekly, monthly, and ongoing practice. That structure makes the material easy to revisit when a particular responsibility needs attention. Exercises involving commitments, meeting participation, priorities, and career conversations provide concrete starting points, while the frameworks give readers language for discussing their habits with colleagues. Hirvonen also draws on established leadership and behavioral literature, bringing familiar concepts into his approach to training. The repeated emphasis on consistency, humility, and accountability creates some overlap between chapters, and the prose occasionally explains a principle several times before moving forward. That repetition suits the book’s emphasis on rehearsal, though readers may find it most productive to work through selected exercises gradually and return to the relevant chapters as their responsibilities change.
Hirvonen’s personal voice gives the guidance much of its credibility. He writes openly about the effort required to listen well, manage ego, and maintain composure, presenting development as a continuing obligation throughout a career. His treatment of recovery and pacing also adds substance to the athletic comparison: sustainable performance depends on protecting attention and energy alongside building strength. The Disciplined Executive will be especially useful to emerging managers, experienced leaders reviewing their routines, and people responsible for developing future leaders. Its value lies in the connection it builds between principles and observable behavior. Readers willing to apply its exercises will find a structured basis for evaluating how they lead, how their teams experience that leadership, and which daily practices deserve more care.
Pages: 397 | ASIN: B0HJFMV12B
Murdered by the Books
Murdered by the Books by Jodi Casstevens-Short brings a new children’s bookstore, a busy family, and a budding romance into the same small-town murder mystery. Jillian Edwards has spent years working toward opening Whimsy & Wonder in Willow Springs, and her excitement gives the opening chapters an appealing sense of purpose. When a friend’s death interrupts the celebrations, Jillian’s concern pulls her into an investigation that soon competes with the demands of running her shop. I liked how much she cares about both responsibilities. She wants answers because someone she loved has been harmed, and she wants her bookstore to succeed because she believes children deserve a place where reading feels welcoming. Those commitments give the story a personal stake from the beginning.
I found the collection of people around Jillian to be very interesting. Her sisters, Cate and Amanda, and her best friend, Becca, express affection through teasing, unsolicited advice, and a steady supply of food. Their conversations capture the familiarity of people who know exactly which buttons to push. Aunt Grace adds her own brand of disruption with bold outfits, tea-leaf readings, and absolute confidence in her predictions. The family’s faith and Grace’s spiritual interpretations give their concern for Jillian a distinctive flavor. Then there are Abbey and Hayley, Jillian’s schnauzers, whose personalities and routines receive plenty of attention. If you love dogs, you’ll appreciate how fully they belong to her life. I also enjoyed the bookstore details, especially its lending library for children who can’t afford books. That feature makes Jillian’s enthusiasm feel practical and generous.
Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple stories came to mind as I read, particularly in the way a neighborhood becomes a source of information. Casual conversations, watchful residents, and everyday encounters all matter to the investigation. Jillian’s ability to put people at ease helps her hear things they’re hesitant to share with the police, and her teaching experience gives her an amusingly firm way of managing difficult personalities. Casstevens-Short gives this familiar style of amateur detection a strong romantic emphasis through Jillian’s growing connection with firefighter Travis Stevens. Their attraction gets considerable attention, including the awkwardness of early conversations and the anxiety of deciding whether to trust someone new. The firefighting scenes also give Travis a working life beyond his role as a romantic interest. Readers who enjoy courtship woven closely into a mystery will find plenty to follow here.
The book’s affection for its characters comes through, and Jillian’s concern for her friend gives weight to the investigation amid all the social activity. I’d recommend Murdered by the Books to readers who enjoy mysteries with extensive family interaction, enthusiastic pet ownership, and a substantial romance. I had fun with this book, and I think its most appealing quality is the care Jillian puts into the people, animals, and books around her.
Pages: 384 | ASIN : B0D1SZ25TP
