Ron Baird's Blog - Posts Tagged "-mystery"
Since my earlier book, Dark Angel, is starting to sell again on the internet (Amazon and others), I thought I'd post the only review I got on Amazon for it. I think it's a good one.
As an interesting aside, the passage quoted below was panned by the first time reviewer and staff member of the local newspaper. But a professional reviewer thought it was good enough to use in the review. Ha!
By Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews
Ron Baird is an award winning writer who has specialized in environmental writing, Gulf War Syndrome, and fly fishing. Hailing from Boulder, Colorado, he makes the mountains his home and they figure fully in his first mystery.
Aaron Hemingway is an interesting mix. He is a former basketball star, Vietnam vet, and Denver cop who got too close to the evil he was trying to wash out as an undercover narcotics agent. He has a daughter, Cassie, whom he hasn't seen in years and a former wife, who sounds like an intense career marm. He is living in Jack Springs and works for the local newspaper, run by a woman who is interested in reporting some actual news.
Jack Springs has a diverse population; anything from old miners to cowboys and old hippies, with a few survivalists thrown in for good measure. When a new mine is proposed by a shady company with a bad track record, Aaron finds himself in the middle of the quarrel. One of the local anti-mine activists is murdered and her body is dumped in front of the newspaper office. Someone appears to be stalking Aaron, just as he is reunited with his daughter:
"'Cassie, what are you doing here?' Tears welled up in my eyes and before she could answer, I reached down, swept her into my arms like holding a baby bird to my chest, its heart beating wildly. Or maybe it was my heart. 'Oh Daddy,' she whimpered. Then the dam burst and she cried-huge, breath-robbing sobs as she held me tighter and tighter."
Dark Angel is an extremely well-written novel with tons of beautiful metaphors and a slap-bang plot. Baird's characters are finely wrought, and the action is non-stop. The backdrop is the gorgeous mountains of Colorado, with its diverse population all conspiring against one another. Baird's passages range from utterly beautiful and simple descriptions of nature to nerve-wracking accounts of Aaron going into battle to save his daughter from the bad guys. He has a highly developed socio-political conscience that forms an integral part of this very timely plot about. This is one heck of a tale, and hopefully Mr. Baird has a follow-up that he is presently writing.
Shelley Glodowski
Reviewer
As an interesting aside, the passage quoted below was panned by the first time reviewer and staff member of the local newspaper. But a professional reviewer thought it was good enough to use in the review. Ha!
By Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews
Ron Baird is an award winning writer who has specialized in environmental writing, Gulf War Syndrome, and fly fishing. Hailing from Boulder, Colorado, he makes the mountains his home and they figure fully in his first mystery.
Aaron Hemingway is an interesting mix. He is a former basketball star, Vietnam vet, and Denver cop who got too close to the evil he was trying to wash out as an undercover narcotics agent. He has a daughter, Cassie, whom he hasn't seen in years and a former wife, who sounds like an intense career marm. He is living in Jack Springs and works for the local newspaper, run by a woman who is interested in reporting some actual news.
Jack Springs has a diverse population; anything from old miners to cowboys and old hippies, with a few survivalists thrown in for good measure. When a new mine is proposed by a shady company with a bad track record, Aaron finds himself in the middle of the quarrel. One of the local anti-mine activists is murdered and her body is dumped in front of the newspaper office. Someone appears to be stalking Aaron, just as he is reunited with his daughter:
"'Cassie, what are you doing here?' Tears welled up in my eyes and before she could answer, I reached down, swept her into my arms like holding a baby bird to my chest, its heart beating wildly. Or maybe it was my heart. 'Oh Daddy,' she whimpered. Then the dam burst and she cried-huge, breath-robbing sobs as she held me tighter and tighter."
Dark Angel is an extremely well-written novel with tons of beautiful metaphors and a slap-bang plot. Baird's characters are finely wrought, and the action is non-stop. The backdrop is the gorgeous mountains of Colorado, with its diverse population all conspiring against one another. Baird's passages range from utterly beautiful and simple descriptions of nature to nerve-wracking accounts of Aaron going into battle to save his daughter from the bad guys. He has a highly developed socio-political conscience that forms an integral part of this very timely plot about. This is one heck of a tale, and hopefully Mr. Baird has a follow-up that he is presently writing.
Shelley Glodowski
Reviewer
Lisa Unger's "Die For You": Chick lit or mystery? Both. Neither. It doesn't matter because it works.
Rated: Four stars.
I'm not a fan of novels about dysfunctional families. But I am a fan of crime fiction. Her earlier novels have different degrees of both. But "Die For You" comes down a little more solid on the crime elements, and the family disfunction elements make it work and helps the book transcend either genre.
Isabel Raine is a successful crime novelist and has been married to a loving husband for five years. One day he disappears and takes the money of both her and her sister's families.
She's emotionally devastated but quickly her ability to write about crime directs her to solve the mystery. Which is good because nobody else seems to care, at least until they realize two families' money is all gone.
The answer seems to be as twisted as a Gordian knot. But as she unwinds the strands of truth and lies, it becomes clear she's threatening something a lot more dangerous than she realizes.
But she can't stop because, more than the money, she has to find out how she could live with and love a man who's actually a total stranger.
One of the things I like most about the book is that Unger doesn't resort to a device that many female mystery writers (Edna Buchanan, Nevada Barr et al.) use of including a scene in which the protagonist does something so utterly lame brained that you just want to reach out and slap her.
I'll be looking for her next book to see if she keeps getting better.
I'm not a fan of novels about dysfunctional families. But I am a fan of crime fiction. Her earlier novels have different degrees of both. But "Die For You" comes down a little more solid on the crime elements, and the family disfunction elements make it work and helps the book transcend either genre.
Isabel Raine is a successful crime novelist and has been married to a loving husband for five years. One day he disappears and takes the money of both her and her sister's families.
She's emotionally devastated but quickly her ability to write about crime directs her to solve the mystery. Which is good because nobody else seems to care, at least until they realize two families' money is all gone.
The answer seems to be as twisted as a Gordian knot. But as she unwinds the strands of truth and lies, it becomes clear she's threatening something a lot more dangerous than she realizes.
But she can't stop because, more than the money, she has to find out how she could live with and love a man who's actually a total stranger.
One of the things I like most about the book is that Unger doesn't resort to a device that many female mystery writers (Edna Buchanan, Nevada Barr et al.) use of including a scene in which the protagonist does something so utterly lame brained that you just want to reach out and slap her.
I'll be looking for her next book to see if she keeps getting better.
