Obituary Column

by Sandra Farris, Dan Farris

Tracy Chapman owns and manages an antique shop, but her true passion is locating missing families of the deceased. Mystery and murder surrounds her latest assignment from the coroner's office: the death of a ninety-six year-old Jewish gentleman, Samuel Levine. But his death poses more difficulties than just locating his family. What secrets did Samuel keep that led to murder and kidnapping? What did Samuel own that was so valuable someone was willing to kill to obtain it? Did Samuel still have family in Germany, or would Tracy locate them in America? Tracy hopes all answers will be revealed in the journal she finds hidden in a secret drawer in Samuel's desk. When Tracy involves her friend, private investigator T. Nicholas Greger, she inadvertently puts his life at risk along with her own in Obituary Column.

160 pages, Paperback

First published August 26, 2009

About the author

Born in Texas, Sandra Farris lived for a while in Los Angeles before finally settling in southeast Arizona. She attended a local community college where she continued her education and honed her writing skills.
Currently working on her fifth and sixth books, she is also a member and serves on the board of the Arizona Mystery Writers.

My book trailer for Can You Hear the Music? won best book trailer on Books In Sync. 2012 http://www.booksinsync.com/booktraile...

A review of my book trailer for Can You Hear the Music? from Preview the Book.:
http://www.youtube.com/standquietAndL...
“This trailer features a robust cinematic style, with costumes, sets and props that take you into the past. Take note of the wonderful acting of all involved, from the innocence of the young lead, to the dower sterness of the Aunt. Everything in this trailer works together to offer a window into this young girl’s journey of discovery.”

Check out my author page on Amazon: amazon.com/author/sandrafarris

A couple of comments for my audio book, Can You Hear the Music?.
5.0 out of 5 stars
"What a beautiful journey."

5.0 out of 5 stars
"Heartwarming story which evoked my deepest emotions"

http://www.amazon.com/Can-You-Hear-th...

Reviews

[Kathleen (Kat) Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tracy Chapman has a very unusual job. It arrives with the morning paper and involves reading the obituary column. She isn't interested in treasure hunting but helping those out that appear to have no family to speak of in the obituary. She has become a self appointed detective trying to make sure people don't die without someone knowing about them. She has taken on the task after her brother went missing for 5 years without a trace. Then she tracked down a clue that lead her to her brother being labeled a John Doe that had been murdered in Florida. Since none of the missing person descriptions matched him, he was buried as a unknown and she vows to make sure that it doesn't happen to any other families.

Tracy is also the owner of an antique story, Another Tyme and along with her partner Amy, they offer to buy furniture and other items at auctions from family estate sales. Only this time when investigating the death of Mr. Samuel Levine, she finds out that there are others out there who have been looking for Mr. Levine for quite some time. As she digs deeper into the contents of Mr. Levine's small apartment, she comes across a journal from his time in Germany during the Holocaust written in German and hopes she can find out if Mr. Levine had any family she can contact.

On her way back home one evening, she is almost forced off the road and killed in a game of cat and mouse with the driver of an unknown vehicle. Thinking nothing of the event and the connection between the two, she begins to unravel a story that she hopes will unite Mr. Levine with the family he left behind and was never able to contact during all his travels in America. However someone else from Mr. Levine's past is out to make sure that never happens and will do whatever it takes to find what he's been searching for all these years.

In the novel, Obituary Column by Sandra and Dan Farris, Tracy Chapman works with a team of close friends and detectives to try and piece the past of an old man's life together to reunite a family separated by war while trying to work time in to compete in a kickboxing tournament and settle a long-distance relationship with a cattle rancher named Michael. This is a great story line for a murder-mystery crime novel and one that is short enough to feel like a full length one. It keeps the reader engaged and on the path to help solve this mystery.

I received Obituary Column compliments of Sandra Farris for my honest review and have to say I really enjoyed this one. The premise was entertaining and different from your typical murder/mystery novels and is subsequently being made into a movie, called the Treasure Within. I guess it's every author's dream to have their books made into a movie and I know you'll love the story you'll find within the covers of this one, and or that reason, I rate this one a 4 out of 5 stars.

[Darbaby · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was completely drawn into this book. Ms. Farris' writing is so descriptive, I felt like I was there. The story was so interesting and very well written. I enjoyed the adventure!