P.D. Workman's Blog, page 92
October 11, 2018
Domestic Violence Awareness
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October is Domestic Violence Awareness month in the USA. Apparently in Canada, it is in November. Go figure. Nothing wrong with having two months of awareness.
Reading
I have done several reading lists that highlight domestic violence:
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She was Dying Anyway
[image error]The book I am releasing next week, She was Dying Anyway, also highlights domestic abuse issues.
Private Investigator Zachary Goldman took on the case as a favor to his ex-wife, Bridget. It should have been cut and dried. But the deeper he looks into the death of cancer patient Robin Salter, the more convinced Zachary becomes that Bridget’s suspicions were correct. Bridget is determined to discover what happened to her friend… and what was thought to be death by natural causes becomes an active police investigation.
No one else wants Zachary involved in the investigation, not the police, Robin Salter’s family, or her boyfriend. No one but Bridget. What does it really matter, when Robin was dying anyway? Facing a wall of silence, Zachary digs into Robin’s past, determined to find the truth.
Zachary instantly went into full-blown panic. Her anger and criticism he was used to dealing with. Even her blame. But her tears were something he didn’t know how to handle. Bridget never cried. Even when she had told him about her diagnosis, it had been with dry eyes and a flat, stoic voice.
Read sample
Preorder Kindle
$4.99
Take Action
What can you and I do about domestic violence? I took a look around, and I really like the No More pledge.
October 10, 2018
Crime Fighter: Detective David Sweet
After attending a local writer’s conference this year, I was inspired to start a new blog series for some of the writers that I was privileged to learn from at the conference, and which may be expanded to other participants in the future. This series is “Crime Fighters, Crime Writers” and will feature real life policemen/emergency services workers who are also authors.
I had such a great time at the conference playing with emergency equipment, handling weapons, and hearing stories of their service, I had to share them with you too!
This post is the first in the Crime Fighters, Crime Writers series. More to come!
Crime Fighter: Detective David Sweet
[image error]DAVID SWEET is an active-duty Homicide Detective with the Calgary Police Service with twenty years on the job. He has worked in the Drug Unit and the Organized Crime Section, and he teaches new recruits and presents at law enforcement conferences and various community groups.
[image error]SARAH KADES GRAHAM spent a decade as an archaeologist before becoming a cultural translator for Indigenous communities and oil companies eight years ago. She sits on the board of directors of When Words Collide, an Auroa-award winning reader and writer festival, and writes action adventure romantic fiction under the pseudonym Sarah Kades.
Crime Writer: Skeletons in My Closet
[image error]Skeletons in My Closet is an unorthodox police memoir taking readers on a ride-along like no other, revealing poignant truths about life and death, and how we can all work and live together. Danger and grit pair with humour and compassion in this gripping, fresh read. Dave Sweet, a conservative, veteran homicide detective has teamed up with Sarah Graham, a liberal, optimistic author to write this universal life-lessons book.
Excerpt
More than a year ago, I was sitting around a pool in Palm Springs, California, watching my kids play while I stretched out on my lounger, cold drink in hand. I had just finished an investigation where a young mother had been murdered, her half-naked body dumped in a drainage ditch, not to be found for months. Her little boy was left to be raised by strangers, the father had been sentenced to life and now sat in a jail cell for the senseless crime.
This case was no more horrific than others. It was the culmination of them that had me reflecting on my own mortality, my family, my career. We get good at handling the darker sides of human behaviour. Sometimes cases float (or catapult) into our awareness long after the reports are filed and verdicts in. This career has given opportunities for me to reflect both on my own success and family, and to realize how lucky I am. So many go through tragedy, strife, and unfortunate circumstances.
My kids live in a world where they are provided the things they need and a lot of the things they want. As I watched them play with such carefree happiness, I wished to share with them an understanding of what others go through, and the lessons many of these situations have taught me. I wanted to write a book that talked about these things, lessons from Dad that they could turn to as they grew older. My father, from whom I learned so much, passed away during this project. Everything hit home even harder.
I began outlining ideas:
‘staying out of dark places keeps you safe’,
‘just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should’,
‘not everyone lives behind white picket fences’,
‘always leave people in a better place than you found them’.
Det. David Sweet, Skeletons in my Closet
Where can I get it?
Want to get your hands on Det. Sweet’s book? Of course you do!
Free prequel
Preorder Now
October 9, 2018
Excerpt from Occam’s Razor
I am writing this on the evening of Canadian Thanksgiving. We have had a good weekend and I am thankful for many things in my life.
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme. Read the rules and more teasers at The Purple Booker. Anyone can play along.
I have read a few interesting books lately. Right now, I am on Occam’s Razor, (Joe Gunther Mysteries Book 10), by Archer Mayor. (Occam’s Razor, in case you are wondering, has sometimes been summarized as “When you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras.”) It is a good solid police procedural, and I am enjoying it so far!
I placed the cup on the corner of his desk. “He might be a suicide. He might also have been tossed from a flying saucer and his blood replaced with food dye. But as suicides go, it’s a little unusual. He had nothing in his pockets—and I mean nothing at all—and while his clothes were filthy, his underpants were snowy white.”
Archer Mayor, Occam’s Razor
The body was positioned so that the train neatly obliterated its head and hands. Dressed in a homeless man’s clothes with empty pockets, it might easily be passed-off as an unfortunate John Doe. And yet… Joe Gunther has a knack for knowing when things don’t quite add up, and the math in this case is all kinds of wrong. Add a toxic waste dumping scheme, a stabbing, and a whole lot of state politics… if Occam’s razor were applied to Gunther’s caseload, how many incisions would it make?
October 4, 2018
Freebies for Canadian Thanksgiving!
His Hands were Quiet is free at the Kindle store from Friday through Monday!
I am thankful for all of my readers. Those of your who wait for my next installment, post reviews, and send me emails really make my day! I look forward to hearing more from you. As a reward, here are some free books.
About His Hands Were Quiet
[image error]He’s better off dead anyway.
Hired to investigate the death of an autistic boy in a treatment facility, PI Zachary Goldman is concerned about the therapies he sees there. While he is assured that the children there are not actually being hurt, his investigation leads to the discovery of even deeper institutional abuses.
Battling the ghosts of his own past, Zachary fights to uncover the facility’s dark secrets and to get as many children as he can out of harm’s way.
Read sample
Buy on Kindle
$4.99
Free Oct 5-8!
Other Freebies
Here are some more books to be thankful for! I have gathered a stack of other Kindle freebies for this weekend. Fill up your ereader with some of these great reads!
The Ghosts of Mystic Springs, by Mona Marple
The Ghosts of Mystic Springs
Free Fri-Sat
Welcome to Mystic Springs, where things definitely go bump in the night.
As the town’s medium, Connie Winters is the only person who can see the ghosts who call Mystic Springs home.
When young temptress Lola is killed, the dead Mayor and the dead Sheriff are determined to investigate, and since they’ve never been replaced, they’d better get on with it. But they need Connie’s help. And if Connie’s helping, her sister Sage is going to get involved too – she’s beautiful, slim, and twenty years dead.
It may be the first time in history that a murder-solving squad is a mixture of real live people and real dead ghosts. Connie, and the residents of Mystic Springs, will be forced to question everything they thought they knew.
A Dangerous Road, by Kris Nelscott
A Dangerous Road
Private Investigator Smokey Dalton works for Memphis, Tennessee’s black community. He has almost no interaction with the white hierarchy, even though they exist only blocks away. So he’s surprised the day a white woman walks into his Beale Street office. Laura Hathaway has sought him out because he’s a beneficiary in her mother’s will, and Laura wants to know why.
So does Smokey. He’s never heard of the Hathaways, but his search will take him on a journey that will change everything he’s ever known.
The Mockingbird Drive, by A.C. Fuller
The Mockingbird Drive
Alex Vane was once a top investigative journalist. Now he peddles celebrity gossip and clickbait listicles, watching from a distance as his wife moves on with her life – without him. But Alex’s past catches up to him when he learns that an old source, James Stacy, has been killed in a random mass shooting.
James left Alex one last scoop: a 50-year-old hard drive that may contain a secret worth killing for…and the name of the one person who can help him access the data. That person is Quinn Rivers, a paranoid and reclusive computer expert who believes the CIA is tracking her every move. And she may be right.
When Alex shows up at her door with the hard drive, armed operatives are right behind him. Now Alex and Quinn are on the run. There is no one to trust, nowhere to hide, and nothing but the hard drive to prove that James Stacy’s death wasn’t random at all.
Blue Murder
Blue Murder
A sinewy anthology containing one each from FOUR top-rated cop series by best-selling authors Julie Smith, Rob Swigart, Shelley Singer, and Adrienne Barbeau.
Hickory Dickory Dead, by Cheryl Bradshaw
Hickory Dickory Dead
After a late-night tryst, seventy-year-old Maisie Fezziwig wakes to a harrowing scream outside. Curious, she walks outside to investigate. The sleepy street is still and calm at first, until Maisie stumbles on a grisly murder that changes her life forever.
If you love fast-paced books with a twist you won’t see coming, you’ll love Hickory Dickory Dead.
Snapped, by C.M. Sutter
Snapped
Murder happens in Houston, but when the most recent murders take on disturbing similarities, local law enforcement officers fear a serial killer is roaming their streets.
Former sheriff’s department sergeant Jade Monroe has just graduated from the FBI’s serial crimes unit in homicide and is called to Houston with her partner, J.T. Harper, to take on her first assignment—apprehending the person responsible for these gruesome crimes.
With victims piling up and the clock ticking, Jade and J.T. need to intensify their search because there’s no sign the killer is slowing down.
Malevolent, by E.H. Reinhard
Malevolent
Tampa homicide lieutenant Carl Kane has a tough job. His day-to-day consists of decomposing dead bodies and removing murderers from the general public. But when two women’s bodies are found under similar circumstances, it quickly turns into more than your average case. The killer is clearly looking to make a name for himself, and his plans for these women go far beyond death.
When the media runs with the story, the killer’s moment in the spotlight arrives.
It’s up to Lieutenant Kane to bring the man the press has dubbed the Psycho Surgeon to justice. However, being the lead on the case has its drawbacks—like becoming the focus of the killer yourself.
Death by Chocolate, by Sally Berneathy
Death by Chocolate
Lindsay loves chocolate. It tastes good, it makes her feel good, it never cheats on her like her almost-ex-husband. It’s her best friend. But someone wants her dead and uses her weak spot—chocolate—to try to murder her.
Lindsay’s only secret is the recipe for her chocolate chip cookies, but she is surrounded by neighbors with deadly secrets. Suddenly she finds herself battling poisoned chocolate, a psycho stalker, and a dead man who seems awfully active for a corpse.
Her best friend and co-worker, Paula, dyes her blond hair brown, hides from everybody and insists on always having an emergency exit from any room. Secrets from Paula’s past have come back to put lives in jeopardy.
Played to Death, by B.V. Lawson
Played to Death
Still suffering nightmares from a case that ended tragically, brilliant freelance crime consultant Scott Drayco considers retiring from crime solving altogether. When a former client bequeaths Drayco a rundown Opera House in a Virginia seaside town, he figures he’ll arrange for a quick sale of the place while nursing his battered soul in a peaceful setting near the shore.
What he doesn’t count on is finding a dead body on the Opera House stage with a mysterious “G” carved into the man’s chest. With hopes for a quick sale dashed and himself a suspect in the murder, Drayco digs into very old and very dangerous secrets to solve the crime and clear his name. Along the way, Drayco must dodge a wary sheriff, hostility over coastal development, and the seductive wife of a town councilman – before the tensions explode into more violence and he becomes the next victim.
Eleven, by Carolyn Arnold
Eleven
When Brandon Fisher joined the FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit, he knew he’d come up against psychopaths, sociopaths, pathological liars, and more. But when his first case takes him and the team to Salt Lick, Kentucky, to hunt down a ritualistic serial killer, he learns what nightmares are truly made of.
Beneath a residential property, local law enforcement discovered an underground bunker with circular graves that house the remains of ten victims. But that’s not all: there’s an empty eleventh grave, just waiting for a corpse. The killing clearly hasn’t come to an end yet, and with the property owner already behind bars, Brandon is certain there’s an apprentice who roams free.
October 2, 2018
Excerpt from The Weekenders
[image error]Be sure to take a look at last week’s Feed Your Book Monster post if you are looking for some new books to add to your virtual ebook pile. And be sure to check back this weekend for a round-up of new freebies.
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme. Read the rules and more teasers at The Purple Booker. Anyone can play along.
This week I am reading on of Mary Kay Andrews’ books, The Weekenders. I am just getting into it, but enjoying the characters and the beautiful island setting. The protagonist was, unfortunately, just about to divorce her husband, who she didn’t know had been both cheating on her and hiding their dire financial situation, when he is murdered. This puts her in a somewhat awkward decision when the police start looking for suspects!
But lately, Wendell’s promises meant nothing. Just talk. Hollow words meant to placate or stall. Nothing more. what was it her grandfather used to say?
“All hat, no cattle.”
Mary Kay Andrews, The Weekenders
Some people stay all summer long on the idyllic island of Belle Isle, North Carolina. Others come only for the weekends-and the mix between the regulars and “the weekenders” can sometimes make the sparks fly. Riley Griggs has a season of good times with friends and family ahead of her on Belle Isle when things take an unexpected turn. While waiting for her husband to arrive on the ferry one Friday afternoon, Riley is confronted by a process server who thrusts papers into her hand. And her husband is nowhere to be found.
So she turns to her island friends for help and support, but it turns out that each of them has their own secrets, and the clock is ticking as the mystery deepens…in a murderous way. Cocktail parties aside, Riley must find a way to investigate the secrets of Belle Island, the husband she might not really know, and the summer that could change everything.
September 27, 2018
Feed your book monster
Next month is Halloween, and the book monsters are already coming out, looking for stacks of new books to read. They will not be satisfied with just one or two. So head on over to these multi-book giveaways to soothe the book beasts…
September 25, 2018
Excerpt from Every Fifteen Minutes
[image error]His Hands were Quiet, book #2 in the Zachary Goldman Mysteries is now out! Check out my round-up of new releases for more!
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme. Read the rules and more teasers at The Purple Booker. Anyone can play along.
I am currently reading one of James Patterson’s Women’s Murder Club mysteries, which I always enjoy, but another book made such an impression on me last week, I had to present another book here! Every Fifteen Minutes, by Lisa Scottoline managed to get me going in the wrong direction not just once, but twice. A great psychological thriller that will keep you guessing to the end!
I’m a sociopath. I look normal, but I’m not. I’m smarter, better, and freer, because I’m not bound by rules, law, emotion, or regard for you.
Lisa Scottoline, Every Fifteen Minutes
Dr. Eric Parrish is the Chief of the Psychiatric Unit at Havemeyer General Hospital outside of Philadelphia. Recently separated from his wife Alice, he is doing his best as a single Dad to his seven-year-old daughter Hannah. His work seems to be going better than his home life, however. His unit at the hospital has just been named number two in the country, and Eric has a devoted staff of doctors and nurses who are as caring as Eric is.
But when he takes on a new patient, Eric’s entire world begins to crumble. Seventeen-year-old Max has a terminally ill grandmother and is having trouble handling it. That, plus his OCD and violent thoughts about a girl he likes makes Max a high risk patient. Max can’t turn off the mental rituals he needs to perform every fifteen minutes that keep him calm. With the pressure mounting, Max just might reach the breaking point.
When the girl is found murdered, Max is nowhere to be found. Worried about Max, Eric goes looking for him and puts himself in danger of being seen as a “person of interest” himself. Next, one of his own staff turns on him in a trumped up charge of sexual harassment. Is this chaos all random? Or is someone systematically trying to destroy Eric’s life?
September 20, 2018
His Hands were Quiet and a round-up of new releases
[image error]Book #2 of Zachary Goldman Mysteries, His Hands were Quiet, is out today! If you read my blog Monday on The International Day of the Stim, you already have a little inside information about what “quiet hands” refers to. If you didn’t read it, you might want to pop by!
He’s better off dead anyway.
Hired to investigate the death of an autistic boy in a treatment facility, PI Zachary Goldman is concerned about the therapies he sees there. While he is assured that the children there are not actually being hurt, his investigation leads to the discovery of even deeper institutional abuses.
Battling the ghosts of his own past, Zachary fights to uncover the facilities’ dark secrets and to get as many children as he can out of harm’s way.
Read sample
Buy on Kindle
$4.99
Other new releases
What else is new this fall? Have a look at my round-up of new releases below!
Lethal White, by Robert Galbraith
Lethal White
When Billy, a troubled young man, comes to private eye Cormoran Strike’s office to ask for his help investigating a crime he thinks he witnessed as a child, Strike is left deeply unsettled. While Billy is obviously mentally distressed, and cannot remember many concrete details, there is something sincere about him and his story. But before Strike can question him further, Billy bolts from his office in a panic.
Trying to get to the bottom of Billy’s story, Strike and Robin Ellacott-once his assistant, now a partner in the agency-set off on a twisting trail that leads them through the backstreets of London, into a secretive inner sanctum within Parliament, and to a beautiful but sinister manor house deep in the countryside.
And during this labyrinthine investigation, Strike’s own life is far from straightforward: his newfound fame as a private eye means he can no longer operate behind the scenes as he once did. Plus, his relationship with his former assistant is more fraught than it ever has been-Robin is now invaluable to Strike in the business, but their personal relationship is much, much trickier than that.
Cookies and Chaos, by C.A. Phipps
Cookies and Chaos
Someone has a chip on their shoulder and it isn’t made of chocolate.
Madeline Flynn, her posse of girlfriends and Gran, as well as Big Red, her faithful Maine Coon, are whisked up an investigation that will take all their sleuthing skills to solve as they wade through clues as thick as cookie batter, hoping that the timer won’t go off on another murder.
With the handsome Sheriff’s protection, can Maddie and her team solve this Maple Falls crime or have they taken on more than they can chew?
I Will Never Leave You, by S.M. Thayer
I Will Never Leave You
Banking heiress Trish and her husband, James, seem to have it all, from a lavish lifestyle to a historic mansion in the nation’s capital. All that’s missing from their privileged life is a baby.
So when Trish sees Anne Elise for the first time, it’s no surprise that she falls deeply in love. There’s just one problem: Trish isn’t the mother. The baby belongs to Laurel, James’s young mistress. And James and Laurel want the wife out of the picture.
When Trish becomes perversely obsessed with making Laurel’s baby her own, the lovers come up with a wicked plan to end James’s marriage that quickly goes awry. As the love triangle becomes more and more dangerous, how far is each of them willing to go to get what they want?
The Unforgiving Wife, by Kenna Shaw Reed
The Unforgiving Wife
Each morning, Roland left her a new note. Different words but the same theme.
Each night and without fail, he now came home to share the dinner she now ate alone in her room.
It didn’t matter that the affair was over before she found out.
For twenty years she had been the loyal corporate wife, loving mother and best friend. Now, Juliette longed for the hippy child inside to reclaim the woman she had become. And she might have found just the man to set her soul and body free.
The Man Who Came Uptown, by George Pelecanos
The Man Who Came Uptown
Michael Hudson spends the long days in prison devouring books given to him by the prison’s librarian, a young woman named Anna who develops a soft spot for her best student. Anna keeps passing Michael books until one day he disappears, suddenly released after a private detective manipulated a witness in Michael’s trial.
Outside, Michael encounters a Washington, D.C. that has changed a lot during his time locked up. Once shady storefronts are now trendy beer gardens and flower shops. But what hasn’t changed is the hard choice between the temptation of crime and doing what’s right. Trying to balance his new job, his love of reading, and the debt he owes to the man who got him released, Michael struggles to figure out his place in this new world before he loses control.
Amanda Cadabra and the Hidey-Hole Truth, by Holley Bell
Amanda Cadabra
Can you handle the hidey-hole truth? How about hidden tunnels and ghostly chills? Covert witch Amanda and her ever-grumpy cat Tempest take on Sunken Madley Manor.
Just one more page before you turn out the light? The first in this English village cozy mystery series will test your resolve.
When Justice Calls, by James McFarlane
When Justice Calls
Army Ranger Henry “Biggs” Biggston just can’t seem to fit in. The recently discharged vet desperately wants to put his specialized skills to good use. And when a security gig reveals a stray CCTV clip of shocking sex-trafficking footage, Biggs’ desire to nail the bad guys kicks into action.
Teaming up with a no-nonsense school friend turned cop, the burly ex-Ranger discovers he’s up against a seriously organized crime syndicate. It doesn’t take long for the mobsters to put a price on his head, and the first life Biggs will have to save is his own. Can the ranger save the innocent girls from sexual slavery or will a murderous cartel cut his retirement short?
This Time, by Azaaa Davis
This Time
Not even death can stop her.
Fearsome demon hunter Nadira has been torn from her next life and resurrected in present-day New York. The demons she once battled have made peace with humans. Or, so they claim. But brawls between demons and humans are becoming more frequent, and human leaders are disappearing.
Tasked by the shadowy organization that trained her, she must battle her own personal trauma and once again fight for the souls of mankind. Will Nadira remain a beacon of light to those fighting for humankind? Or will she lose her humanity to the darkness within?
A Picture of Murder, by T.E. Kinsey
A Picture of Murder
Lady Hardcastle and her trusted lady’s maid, Florence, find themselves hosting a colourful cast of actors whose spooky moving picture, The Witch’s Downfall, is being shown to mark Halloween. But things take a macabre turn when the first night’s screening ends with a mysterious murder, and the second night with another…One by one the actors turn up dead in ways that eerily echo their film.
With the police left scratching their heads, Lady Hardcastle calls upon her amateur sleuthing skills to launch an investigation, with Flo’s able assistance. Surrounded by suspects both human and supernatural, Lady Hardcastle must use a little trickery of her own to unmask the murderer.
The Mystery of Ruby’s Stiletto, by Rose Donovan
The Mystery of Ruby’s Stiletto
Ruby and Fina find themselves in a world of glamour once again, this time on a private island owned by a famous Italian shoe designer.
A riotous guest list of artists, flowing wine, passion and political intrigue guarantee a thrilling time for all.
But it could be a little too thrilling unless Ruby and Fina find the murderer.
Soon.
Lilac Mist Murder, by Mary Maxwell
Lilac Mist Murder
Meet Mia Weston. Former officer with the Los Angeles Police Department, certified dog lover and the lone employee of Sierra Bay Investigations. During the morning, Mia works in her sister’s flower and gift shop, Petals & Pearls. When Aunt Vivian arrives for the afternoon shift behind the cash register, Mia climbs the stairs to a small office in the same building to work on cases, drink endless cups of coffee and confer with a trustworthy Golden Retriever named Lulu.
For Mia, returning to her charming seaside hometown after more than a decade is a fresh start in every way. She’s living in the cozy guest cottage behind her mother’s house. She’s having a great time reconnecting with childhood friends. And she lands her first client before the paint is dry on her office walls.
But when the seemingly simple job becomes a homicide case, Mia agrees to work alongside Detective Luke Stewart from the Sierra Bay Police Department. The case propels Mia and Luke into an intricate whodunit involving a diamond evil eye pendant, local gossip and family scandals, anonymous threats delivered by email, a stolen flash drive filled with secrets, a blood-stained steak knife and a commemorative bottle of Lilac Mist, the signature fragrance from the grand opening of Petals & Pearls.
The Letter, by Mary Crawford
The Letter
As a paramedic, Rocco Pierce is no stranger to making life-and-death decisions and delivering devastating news.
But he has never faced a situation quite like this.
What exactly do you do with a letter informing you that your wife is dying of breast cancer when you’ve never been married?
Is it a bureaucratic failure or divine intervention?
Crime reporter Mallory Yoshida is used to getting odd fan mail, so
why should she pay attention to this guy who wants to talk to her about a mysterious letter?
After all, it’s not like it’s a matter of life and death.
Stolen Honor, by Trevor Scott
Stolen Honor
When Max Kane gets word that a retired Navy SEAL friend of his has been picked up for suspicion of murder, he rounds up his sister and they drive to NAS Corpus Christi, Texas to discover the truth. NCIS has decided Chief Petty Officer Clive Garrett is guilty of killing his ex-wife. And why not? Since the chief retired six months ago, he had turned heavily to the bottle for comfort, and the ink on his divorce was barely dry before his ex-wife married a Navy pilot.
But Max quickly finds out that not all murders are as clear-cut as they seem. Max must fight JAG lawyers who don’t seem interested in alternative theories, as well as an old friend who might have been too drunk to know if he killed his former wife. As everything seems to be stacked against this highly-decorated SEAL, Max relentlessly fights for the truth. Can he return his friend’s stolen honor and find the killer?
The Secrets of Mystic Springs, by Mona Marple
The Secrets of Mystic Springs
Connie Winters imagines that allowing all of the residents of Mystic Springs to see the spirits who live amongst them will let her live a quiet life.
She couldn’t be more wrong.
When a gypsy woman discovers a historic journal, the woman will pay the ultimate price for her treasure.
Everyone knows that Mystic Springs was discovered, and founded, by a group of women. Or, at least, that’s what they’ve been told. This journal tells another story. A story that nobody wants to believe.
But who would want the journal badly enough to kill for it?
The Mystery of Three Quarters, by Sophie Hannah
The Mystery of Three Quarters
Hercule Poirot returns home after an agreeable luncheon to find an angry woman waiting to berate him outside his front door. Her name is Sylvia Rule, and she demands to know why Poirot has accused her of the murder of Barnabas Pandy, a man she has neither heard of nor ever met. She is furious to be so accused, and deeply shocked. Poirot is equally shocked, because he too has never heard of any Barnabas Pandy, and he certainly did not send the letter in question. He cannot convince Sylvia Rule of his innocence, however, and she marches away in a rage.
Shaken, Poirot goes inside, only to find that he has a visitor waiting for him — a man called John McCrodden who also claims also to have received a letter from Poirot that morning, accusing him of the murder of Barnabas Pandy…
Margin of Safety, by Geoffrey Lyon
Margin of Safety
Ray Jacobs hasn’t dealt with the trauma of his last mission more than a decade ago. Now, separated from his family and still haunted by the demons of his past, he is struggling to survive.
When his eleven-year-old daughter, Hannah, is kidnapped without demand for ransom, Ray’s purpose immediately comes into sharp focus. He gets crystal clear on his new mission. He must find and rescue Hannah. Failure is not an option this time. Even as a deadly virus ravages the nation, racking up fatalities within days of exposure, Ray must do whatever it takes to protect Hannah and hunt down her assailants.
Rebus: Long Shadows, by Ian Rankin
Rebus: Long Shadows
John Rebus is not as young as he was, but his detective instincts have never left him. And after the daughter of a murder victim turns up outside his flat, he’s going to need them at their sharpest.
Enlisting the help of his old friend DI Siobhan Clarke, Rebus is determined to solve this cold case once and for all. But Clarke has problems of her own, problems that will put her at odds with her long-time mentor and push him into seeking help from his age-old adversary: ‘Big Ger’ Cafferty.
This haunting story takes Rebus to places he has never been before, sets him and his long-time foe on a collision course and takes us deeper into one of the most satisfying conflicts in modern fiction.
Whispers in the Shadows, by Jason Lavelle
Whispers in the Shadows
When a family tragedy rips a young woman from her quiet existence, only two things give Delia any solace: steely determination, and the butcher’s son. Well, that and the ominous whispers that warned her of impending danger throughout her childhood.
Years later, violent conflicts and machinations of war shape the headstrong young woman and her far-flung soldier into people they don’t even recognize anymore. Though Delia finally finds her true self in the arms of an unconventional lover, danger is closer than ever before.
The whispers in the shadows have never been more urgent. Soon, the ties of her violent past will collide with everything she holds dear.
September 18, 2018
Excerpt from The Lost Symbol
[image error]If you didn’t see my post yesterday celebrating The International Day of the Stim, pop on over for a look! I had a great post by Maxfield Sparrow.
His Hands were Quiet comes out this weekend, so I’ll have a round-up of new releases for you. If you want His Hands were Quiet in your Kindle App as soon as it’s released, you can preorder it now.
Hired to investigate the death of an autistic boy in a treatment facility, PI Zachary Goldman is concerned about the therapies he sees there. While he is assured that the children there are not actually being hurt, his investigation leads to the discovery of even deeper institutional abuses.
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme. Read the rules and more teasers at The Purple Booker. Anyone can play along.
I’m reading one of Dan Brown’s Robert Langdon books at the moment. The Lost Symbol is all that you would expect from Dan Brown; brain teasers, plot twists, and edge of the seat suspense. I have run into one plot point that doesn’t quite make sense, but I will overlook it for the sake of the rest of the story…
It was a proven fact that human intuition was a more accurate detector of danger than all the electronic gear in the world—the gift of fear, as one of their security reference books termed it.
Dan Brown, The Lost Symbol
Famed Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon answers an unexpected summons to appear at the U.S. Capitol Building. His plans are interrupted when a disturbing object—artfully encoded with five symbols—is discovered in the building. Langdon recognizes in the find an ancient invitation into a lost world of esoteric, potentially dangerous wisdom.
When his mentor Peter Solomon—a long-standing Mason and beloved philanthropist—is kidnapped, Langdon realizes that the only way to save Solomon is to accept the mystical invitation and plunge headlong into a clandestine world of Masonic secrets, hidden history, and one inconceivable truth … all under the watchful eye of Dan Brown’s most terrifying villain to date. Set within the hidden chambers, tunnels, and temples of Washington, D.C., The Lost Symbol is an intelligent, lightning-paced story with surprises at every turn—one of Brown’s most riveting novels.
September 17, 2018
The International Day of the Stim
September 17 is The International Day of the Stim, a day celebrating stimmies, loud hands and right to bodily autonomy.
His Hands were Quiet
[image error]When I was brainstorming titles for His Hands were Quiet (being released this weekend, available on preorder now), I went through a lot of different ideas. I kept returning to the idea of “quiet hands” to represent the goal of therapists to eliminate austistic behaviors such as stimming (repetitive, sensory-stimulating actions) to make them appear to be as neurotypical as possible. Their goal is for autistics to be able to pass as non-autistic, but this practice can be harmful and damaging to autistics.
In His Hands were Quiet, Zachary Goldman is investigating the death of autistic teen Quentin Thatcher, so of course, Quentin’s hands being quiet has a very different secondary meaning as well.
Guest blogger Maxfield Sparrow
I asked autistic author Maxfield Sparrow to guest on my blog today to talk to us about the importance of bodily autonomy and the right of autistics to stim and behave in autistic ways. Sparrow has published two important books on autism while Sparrow Rose Jones. They are included in my list of autism-positive books below.
Take it away, Max!
The Importance of Stimming
By Maxfield Sparrow
We humans tend to universally admire the way other creatures move: the spread and shiver of a peacock’s tail, the elongated arch of a waking cat, even the comical gamboling of dairy cows let out to pasture for the first time after a long winter. When it comes to regarding our own species, too often that generous spirit falls away.
We all grow up learning that there are right ways to move and wrong ways. Yes, even those of us who move in ‘the wrong ways’ know we’re ‘wrong’. We will be ‘fixed’ when we sound right, move right, look right. Others can’t see our thoughts or our feelings so our parents and teachers and therapists work on what they can see.
Imagine a program to teach a cat to spread his tail wider than his body and shiver it to attract a mate.
You see, autistic human beings are different from non-autistic people in significant ways because there are structural and functional differences in autistic brains and nervous systems compared to those who aren’t autistic. Some people refer to it as running a different operating system.
Autism is a developmental disability because our neurological development is different and on a different timetable from the majority — the neuromajority — and that is disabling in a world not well designed for the patterns of strengths and weaknesses autistic people tend to have.
One way our nervous systems make sense of and communicate with the world is through movement. The ways we need to move, crave to move, love to move are called stimming. Stimming is a soul-deep trait. It soothes us and stimulates us, it helps us think and helps us slow our thoughts. Stimming is part meditation, part celebration, part pressure valve.
Taking away stimming is an amputation of a human being’s spirit. It is ironic that there are therapies out there that believe getting a person to stop stimming is part of fixing them, because stripping away something as intimately needed as autistic stimming is on the road toward breaking them.
Can’t you see how much all society can benefit from extending our circle of acceptance and compassion to include the beautiful ways autistic people move? While I speak of autism as a neurodivergence from the neuromajority, we aren’t at all the only neurominority. We humans have so much diversity, including neurodiversity.
Opening society to autistic people in our natural, unforced beauty opens the way toward more and more acceptance and a greater desire to let ALL humans feel more welcomed and wanted. And wouldn’t you, no matter who you are or where you’re coming from, enjoy feeling more welcomed and wanted in the world, too?
Autism-positive books
Thank you so much Max. Your words are beautiful and empowering.
Below, I have gathered an assortment of books that are autism-positive. They may be fiction or non-fiction, and are positive toward neurodiversity rather than focusing on making autistics act and appear neurotypical. I have not read them all, so in some cases I am relying on others’ opinions that they promote neurodiversity. If you are aware of issues with any of them, please let me know in the comments.
I would also like to hear any of your suggestions of other autism-positive books in the comments.
Some of these books are written by autistic authors and some are not.
No You Don’t, Essays from an Unstrange Mind, by Sparrow Rose Jones
No You Don’t
This collection of raw, honest, emotional essays describe the pitfalls and joys of an autistic life. The author is a popular autistic blogger and his title essay, No You Don’t, won him a loyal readership who admired his courage to share some of the darkest, most difficult times in his life.
This collection includes that essay and one other popular essay that was published on his blog, Unstrange Mind, but all the rest of the writing in this book is new and has never been seen in print before — on his blog or elsewhere. While this book contains reflections on some of the harsher aspects of living an autistic life, the overall tone is upbeat and hopeful.
This book is not an exposé; the author describes it as a love song to the world. He expresses that his hope in writing is to help bridge the social gap between autistic people and non-autistic people and to help parents by showing them his story in hopes that a glimpse of one autistic life, viewed across the life span from childhood to middle age, will help validate and support parents in making wise choices in the confusing and difficult journey of mentoring their own children into becoming the strong and happy adults they are meant to be.
The ABCs of Autism Acceptance, by Sparrow Rose Jones
The ABCs of Autism Acceptance
Sparrow Rose Jones is probably best known for his blog, Unstrange Mind: Remapping My World, and his previous book, No You Don’t: Essays from an Unstrange Mind, both of which deftly narrate his examination of himself, his identity as an Autistic person, and the changing state of access and civil rights for Autistic people. His essays have covered everything from famous civil rights and criminal cases in the media to sexuality and relationships, life skills, coping mechanisms, and personal introspection.
In The ABCs of Autism Acceptance, Sparrow takes us through a guided tour of the topics most central to changing the way that autism is perceived, to remove systemic barriers to access that have traditionally been barriers to Autistic participation in some sectors of society. He also takes us through the basics of Autistic culture, discussing many of its major features and recent developments with a sense of history and making the current state of the conversation around this form of neurodivergence clear to those who are new to it, whether they are Autistic themselves or a friend/family member looking for resources to help themselves support the Autistic people in their lives more fully.
While it is impossible to capture the full scope and diversity of Autistic communities—and there are many of them out there—this book does serve as an important conversation starter, a primer, and a humble guide to the world. In these 26 short essays, you will find most of the topics most often blogged about by Actually Autistic authors, including footnotes, resources, and references to other writers whose works continue the conversations that start here.
Loud Hands, Autistic People, Speaking
Loud Hands
Loud Hands: Autistic People, Speaking is a collection of essays written by and for Autistic people. Spanning from the dawn of the Neurodiversity movement to the blog posts of today, Loud Hands: Autistic People, Speaking catalogues the experiences and ethos of the Autistic community and preserves both diverse personal experiences and the community’s foundational documents together side by side.
Hour Glass, by Michelle Rene
Hour Glass
Set in the lawless town of Deadwood, South Dakota, Hour Glass shares an intimate look at the woman behind the legend of Calamity Jane told through the eyes of twelve-year-old Jimmy Glass.
After their pa falls deathly ill with smallpox, Jimmy and his sister, Hour, travel into Deadwood to seek help. While their pa is in quarantine, the two form unbreakable bonds with the surrogate family that emerges from the tragedy of loss.
In a place where life is fragile and families are ripped apart by disease, death, and desperation, a surprising collection of Deadwood’s inhabitants surround Jimmy, Hour, and Jane. There, in the most unexpected of places, they find a family protecting them from the uncertainty and chaos that surrounds them all.
Darius Hates Vegetables, by Darius Brown
Darius Hates Vegetables
Darius Hates Vegetables is a book about a young boy who’d rather eat cookies than vegetables. The adults in his life made several attempts to get him to eat them. In the end, his grandfather coaxed him into doing so. The lesson in this story is to try vegetables…you might just end up liking them.
Darius Hates Vegetables was written by a ten-year old autistic boy.
Aspeans the Beginning, by Roy Dias
Aspeans the Beginning
James spent his whole life just trying to be normal, to be accepted, to fit in, and now he finds out that he and his family are freaks. Just having Asperger’s syndrome had been bad enough, but according to what his father told him, he, his brother David, and James himself were all alien hybrids.
His father had managed to escape from a military base with this unwelcome information. People with Asperger’s descended from an alien species, so the government wanted to track down, monitor, and sterilize every individual with Asperger’s, keeping them under control. But for this very ambitious plan to work, the government had to guarantee total secrecy, and that had been lost with his father’s escape.
Being Seen, by Anlor Davin
Being Seen
Being Seen is a memoir about a woman with autism struggling not only to be seen, but to be understood and respected.
Anlor Davin grew up in a small town on the Western coast of France. From earliest childhood she was beset by overwhelming sensory chaos and had trouble navigating the social world. Only many years later did she learn that she was autistic. Throughout childhood, Anlor struggled to hold her world together and in many ways succeeded: she became an accomplished young tennis player, competing even at the level of the French Open. However, in addition to her autism a dark history hung over her family—a history that she did not fully understand for years to come.
Without yet having a name for her world-shattering condition, Anlor headed to a new life in America. But she now had to contend with the raw basics of survival in a new culture, speaking a new language, and without support from her family. Through incredible effort, Anlor was able to parlay her knowledge of the French language into a job teaching in the notorious South Side neighborhood of Chicago, one of America’s most violent. Anlor married, had a child, and even dreamed that she might be able to pass as a neurotypical person.
The grim toll of daily compensating for her autism and “pretending to be normal” proved too great a challenge and Anlor’s life imploded. She spiraled downward into a kind of hell, losing her marriage and her beloved son. Desperate, Anlor moved west to California, where she found a mysterious and ancient tradition of spiritual practice from the Far East—zen. Through this profound meditation and community she was able to slowly rebuild her life, this time with honest acceptance of the challenge she faced. The path took her through extreme emotional and physical duress but—at last—led to proper medical diagnosis and treatment of her autism. Today, Anlor works to help people understand her way of being, and the value of basic meditative practice in living and thriving with autism.
It’s an Autism Thing… I’ll Help You Understand It, by Emma Dalmayne
It’s an Autism Thing
It’s an Autism thing… I’ll help you understand is a valuable teaching and learning resource. It is a written from Emma’s perspective. Both Emma and her children are on the autism spectrum.
Relevant topics are explored through sections: ‘My Experiences’, ‘Information’ and ‘Advice’. The book offers insights into some of the potential trials and challenges of daily life for an autistic person and everyday strategies and support that can all the difference.
The book offers insights into some of the potential trials and challenges of daily life for an autistic person.
The Life we Bury, by Allen Eskens
The Life we Bury
College student Joe Talbert has the modest goal of completing a writing assignment for an English class. His task is to interview a stranger and write a brief biography of the person. With deadlines looming, Joe heads to a nearby nursing home to find a willing subject. There he meets Carl Iverson, and soon nothing in Joe’s life is ever the same.
Carl is a dying Vietnam veteran–and a convicted murderer. With only a few months to live, he has been medically paroled to a nursing home, after spending thirty years in prison for the crimes of rape and murder.
As Joe writes about Carl’s life, especially Carl’s valor in Vietnam, he cannot reconcile the heroism of the soldier with the despicable acts of the convict. Joe, along with his skeptical female neighbor, throws himself into uncovering the truth, but he is hamstrung in his efforts by having to deal with his dangerously dysfunctional mother, the guilt of leaving his autistic brother vulnerable, and a haunting childhood memory.
NeuroTribes, by Steve Silberman
NeuroTribes
What is autism? A lifelong disability, or a naturally occurring form of cognitive difference akin to certain forms of genius? In truth, it is all of these things and more—and the future of our society depends on our understanding it. Wired reporter Steve Silberman unearths the secret history of autism, long suppressed by the same clinicians who became famous for discovering it, and finds surprising answers to the crucial question of why the number of diagnoses has soared in recent years.
Going back to the earliest days of autism research, Silberman offers a gripping narrative of Leo Kanner and Hans Asperger, the research pioneers who defined the scope of autism in profoundly different ways; he then goes on to explore the game-changing concept of neurodiversity.
NeuroTribes considers the idea that neurological differences such as autism, dyslexia, and ADHD are not errors of nature or products of the toxic modern world, but the result of natural variations in the human genome. This groundbreaking book will reshape our understanding of the history, meaning, function, and implications of neurodiversity in our world.
The Gauguin Connection, by Estelle Ryan
The Gauguin Connection
World renowned expert in nonverbal communication, Doctor Genevieve Lenard investigates insurance claims. Not murder. So when her boss asks her to help his acerbic friend look into the death of a young artist, her autistic mind rebels against the change.
A straightforward murder investigation quickly turns into a quagmire of stolen Eurocorps weapons, a money-laundering charity, forged art and high-ranking EU officials abusing their power. As if this isn’t enough, she reluctantly teams up with an international thief whose knowledge of the art world proves invaluable.
Forced out of her predictable routines, safe environment and limited social interaction, Genevieve is thrown into being part of a team in a race to stop a ruthless killer from targeting more artists.
On the Edge of Gone, by Corinne Duyvis
On the Edge of Gone
January 29, 2035. That’s the day the comet is scheduled to hit—the big one. Denise and her mother and sister, Iris, have been assigned to a temporary shelter outside their hometown of Amsterdam to wait out the blast, but Iris is nowhere to be found, and at the rate Denise’s drug-addicted mother is going, they’ll never reach the shelter in time.
A last-minute meeting leads them to something better than a temporary shelter—a generation ship, scheduled to leave Earth behind to colonize new worlds after the comet hits. But everyone on the ship has been chosen because of their usefulness.
Denise is autistic and fears that she’ll never be allowed to stay. Can she obtain a spot before the ship takes flight? What about her mother and sister? When the future of the human race is at stake, whose lives matter most?
A Freshman Survival Guide for College Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders, by Haley Moss
A Freshman Survival Guide for ASD
How do you know which college is right for you? What happens if you don’t get on with your roommate? And what on earth is the Greek system all about? As a university student with High-Functioning Autism, Haley Moss offers essential tips and advice in this insider’s guide to surviving the Freshman year of college.
Chatty, honest and full of really useful information, Haley’s first-hand account of the college experience covers everything students with Autism Spectrum Disorders need to know. She talks through getting ready for college, dorm life and living away from parents, what to expect from classes, professors and exams, and how to cope in new social situations and make friends.
Son-Rise, by Barry Neil Kaufman
Son-Rise
Note that this book was published in the 80s and probably has a lot of Albeist language and concepts in it that I don’t remember, but it was one of the first books that I ever read about autism as a teenager, and what I remember most about it is Raun’s parents getting down on the floor and joining him in his stimming, and as a result making a very powerful connection with him that they were not able to make any other way. So I recommend it with caution, knowing it has been 30 years since I read it and I might have forgotten (or not understood at the time) any negative language and concepts that it contains.
