The Evolution of My Remembrance

Natter and Review
Tuesday, November 12th, 2019

The Evolution of My Remembrance

Today, I natter…

When I recall the Remembrance Days of my childhood, my most vivid memories are of my mother with a hanky in her hand, and her eyes filled with tears. Remembrance Day was way too painful for her. She told me that eight of her uncles had died during the First and Second World Wars. Some were pilots over Italy where they had been shot down. It pretty much decimated her family.

My dad’s side of the family was most prominently highlighted with tales of my grandfather and his adventures in the British Army. He had joined the cavalry at the age of seventeen and had seen action in the Boer War, Sri Lanka, WWI and many other places where the British Army had been. He was injured from mustard gas in the trenches in WWI. He rejoined the Canadian Armed Forces as a Private during WWII. He had been a Lieutenant Colonel when he left England. After WWII, he became a prison guard at Kingston Penitentiary until the mustard gas finally caught up with him. He died in the late 1940s.

My father joined the tank corps in Oshawa during WWII and was kept in the area because of his job. My mother worked in a factory that had been converted to make ammunition. So, they all did their part. My dad’s cousin Sid was wounded overseas and ended up in a British hospital, where he met his wife, his nurse. He stayed in England, they married and had a couple of children. Who’s to say what would have happened without the war and his being wounded?

I didn’t really think about Remembrance Day when I was young. I guess when we are teenagers or just inexperienced, we don’t dwell on war and death and destruction until we are either faced with those things directly, or we start to get older and realize how important life and peace really are. As I have aged, I’ve had so many things happen, like the loss of my parents and other close family members, the death of dear friends, and health issues which brought me right up close and personal with my own fate. Those things change you.

When I was fresh out of high school, I studied Law Enforcement at college, expecting to go into Police work. I knew everyone and they were hoping I would become the second female officer in our town. Back in those days, you couldn’t wear glasses and unfortunately, I had an issue with contact lenses. The only kind you could get were Boston Lenses, these rock-like pieces of glass. There was no way I could wear them. So my dreams fell apart. Shortly after leaving school, though, I met some questionable characters and found myself in a situation where I ended up working non-professionally with the police to take several of those folks off the street. It was a scary job and my life was threatened more than once. When it was all over, about three years later, every time I heard a sound outside, I started to shake. I didn’t feel secure or safe for years.

It took a long time to get over my fears and conquer my stress, so I can imagine what it would be like to be in territories far away from home, where you don’t know who your enemies are, who might desire to kill both you and themselves, without hesitation, and the fear of roadside bombs just waiting for you to drive by. That would make my stress look like a walk in the park.

I guess because of the military background of various family members, and the stories I heard when growing up, soldiering was tucked away, just beneath the surface, in the back of my mind. So when I woke up from a particularly devastating and very disfiguring surgery, to find myself in agonizing pain, my first thoughts went to soldiers wounded on a battlefield, with no one there to help them or relieve their pain. I laid there in recovery and all I could think about was wounded soldiers. I forgot what I was going through and just fixated on them. The thoughts wouldn’t go away. They still haunt me, and are never far from my mind.

As a result of my early time working with the police, and then the surgeries and and all the extras that went along with that, I have suffered from PTSD for several years. Every time the phone rings and a doctor calls, my blood pressure can go up and I’ll have a full blown panic attack.

For a long time I kept my fears to myself, but after my blood pressure checks kept going up every time I had to see a doctor or go anywhere new, where I felt I was not safe, or just out of my comfort zone, I finally spilled my guts and told my husband. Now when a doctor’s visit is involved, he takes my blood pressure daily for a few days before the event and just gives the doctor the results. (The hubby was a paramedic.) It has saved me a lot of stress. And stopped the doctors from thinking I’m dying from high blood pressure. And I’m getting better. It’s been a slow process. But it’s progress.

Now when Remembrance Day comes up, my heart goes out to all the soldiers serving and all those veterans wounded and suffering with their wounds, both physical, mental and emotional, as well as the spiritual sides. It’s been common practise for only physical wounds to have been acknowledged as important. Recognition of the other levels of injury are slowly evolving. PTSD is not an easy thing. Telling someone to “get over it” or “suck it up” doesn’t help. It only makes things worse and adds a level of frustration, and sometimes anger, which can be compounded with depression.

So Remembrance Day has evolved for me. Now I find myself with a hanky in my hand and tears in my eyes, thinking about the eight great-uncles who never had a chance to grow old, a grandfather I never got to meet, and all the families who have lost loved ones because of war. I cry when I see the pictures of old. I can rattle off “In Flanders Fields” as if it was yesterday that we had to memorize it in public school. It’s always there.

We as a nation, must never forget our wounded warriors, nor can we ever forget those who currently serve. It is our duty to support them no matter where they are.

Please encourage your politicians and our present government to increase veteran support and keep the wages of active soldiers high enough that they never have to struggle monetarily. They should have free medical coverage for the rest of their lives and be able to get discounted mortgages when they desire to get a home. They should be able to get jobs and any psychological help they desire. And none of them, should ever be homeless. That is a travesty. Please support them and the charities that assist them.

Here are several links to charities, government sites and others. Please check them out and do what you can.

Thank you.
Lynne

 

https://vtncanada.org/

https://www.canadahelps.org/en/explore/charities/category/social-services/sub-category/military-veterans/

https://woundedwarriors.ca/

https://vetscanada.org/

https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/services/contact-us/write-troops.html

https://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/get-involved/postcard-for-peace/teachers-guide

https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-websites-where-you-can-find-and-write-to-soldiers/

Book Review: The Pearl That Broke Its Shell by Nadia Hashimi

Book Review: The Pearl That Broke Its Shell by Nadia Hashimi

Wow, what an amazing book. I have been intrigued by stories about women and their lives in Afghanistan and the Middle East for years. This one was a mix of an incredible story, or shall I say two stories of parallel lives a century apart, and the nightmare which is the life of many women in that nation. When I read these stories, I am incredibly grateful that I was born into the nation of Canada where women are treated as equals and have the same rights as men.

Can you imagine a life where you are completely under the rule of the male of the household? Can you imagine a life where you are not allowed to go out even to shop for food without a male companion? And what do you do if there are no men in your life? Well, you can starve to death. Can you imagine a life where if you violate laws you will be executed, stoned to death? Take a moment and imagine yourself in that situation. They are throwing rocks at you, hitting you and inflicting incredible pain upon your body, over and over until you are finally knocked out and killed. Good grief! What kind of world is that?

This story has all of it in it. The stoning, the fears, the loss of freedom, the beatings, the hopes and desires for something better. All mixed in together and covering more than just one woman’s life. The year is 2007 and the place is Kabul under the Taliban. Rahima is a young girl whose family is ruled by a drug-addicted father. The girls of the family rarely get to go out or to school. So they resort to an age-old tradition which personally, I had no idea existed. They dress Rahima up as a boy and send her out into the world as a male member of the family. The tradition is called bacha posh. But because Rahima learns all about the freedoms of men, she is almost ruined when she goes through puberty and suddenly finds herself married to a much older rebel fighter, a warrior who has successfully defeated Taliban. Her life descends into a living hell.

This is one of the best books I have ever read, especially one which outlines the day-to-day life of the average Afghanistan woman and their cultures and thought processes. It’s almost an ethnological study of their world. If you want to know what’s really going on in Afghanistan from a guts level, this is the book for you.

And, bottom line, this was extremely well written. Nice job for a first time author. Well written, well developed. Nice timing and flow. As an editor and crazed literary reader, I give it a five star rating. I couldn’t give it any less. ***** This isn’t just a story, it’s the kind of book which should be studied in school. I remember those kind. They were often life changing. This is one of those books. I plan to read her others.

Amazon.com Blurb:

“Afghan-American Nadia Hashimi’s literary debut novel is a searing tale of powerlessness, fate, and the freedom to control one’s own fate that combines the cultural flavour and emotional resonance of the works of Khaled Hosseini, Jhumpa Lahiri, and Lisa See.
In Kabul, 2007, with a drug-addicted father and no brothers, Rahima and her sisters can only sporadically attend school, and can rarely leave the house. Their only hope lies in the ancient custom of bacha posh, which allows young Rahima to dress and be treated as a boy until she is of marriageable age. As a son, she can attend school, go to the market, and chaperone her older sisters.
But Rahima is not the first in her family to adopt this unusual custom. A century earlier, her great-great grandmother, Shekiba, left orphaned by an epidemic, saved herself and built a new life the same way.

Crisscrossing in time, The Pearl the Broke Its Shell interweaves the tales of these two women separated by a century who share similar destinies. But what will happen once Rahima is of marriageable age? Will Shekiba always live as a man? And if Rahima cannot adapt to life as a bride, how will she survive?”

I hope you will seek out a copy and read this. You won’t be sorry.
Lynne

 

Book Review: Magic Hour by Kristin Hannah

Book Review: Magic Hour by Kristin Hannah

This is one of those books that you can’t put down. I think it took me two days to read it and I only came up for air a couple of times. Thankfully the hubby fed the critters as I was just able to mumble incoherently every once in a while.

There are three plots within the book: 1) The nightmare of Doctor Julia Cates, a psychiatrist going through a lawsuit because of a patient’s behaviour which has cost the lives of several young people. 2)A wild child, a lost little girl, who finds her way into a small town seeking food and survival, and is taken into protective custody by the local sheriff, who just happens to be the psychiatrist’s sister. She must find her way forward through the nightmare of her past into a world she barely remembers. 3) Two broken women, sisters, face all the things which have kept them apart and kept them from fulfilling their lives through loving relationships.

It’s a mitt-full, but done so very well. I love the study of the human mind. Every since my Law Enforcement studies days when we got to dig into cases and study the psychology of the abnormal mind, I have been totally addicted.

What makes us tick? What causes us to arrive where we end up? What makes one human do inhumane things to anyone and anything? I think that’s the reason I am a writer, as well. It’s a chance to do what actors do, to live another life. But this time you get to experiment and search another’s soul to find out what motivates them.

It is not apparent at first, what has made this wild child wild, or even where she came from. It takes a while to delve into her consciousness, because first, she must learn to communicate. I’m an animal lover. My dog grew up wild, with no human contact except for gunfire and cruelty during his first year of life. As a result, when he came to us, he didn’t understand human language. Now, I’d had three other dogs but because they grew up with people they all understood English. So I had to communicate with him as a mother dog would with growls and barks, shaking of his withers and affection. I would wash his face with a washcloth mimicking his dog-mother’s tongue. That can still put him to sleep. Gradually he understood what I meant but it was a challenge at times.

So what do you do when the creature is a human with no communication skills? In some ways the book reminded me of the Helen Keller story. There were a lot of similarities in the methods used to reach the child and teach her to understand. Every success felt like it deserved an Oscar.

The other story within the story, the two sisters learning who they each were and why and what had been the good and bad dynamics of their relationship is just as important to this whole thing. Their history has brought them to the place where they can do something for this child and they are willing to sacrifice almost everything to keep her safe.

It’s a heartwarming story of perseverance, love, self-discovery and success. But it’s also one heckuva mystery which had to be solved. In the solving, the nightmare could be put to rest or begun again.

A worthy read. Be prepared with hankies and food. You won’t want to put it down.
Five stars all the way. *****

Description
“Deep in the Pacific Northwest lies the Olympic National Forest—nearly one million acres of impenetrable darkness and impossible beauty. Even in this modern age, much of it remains undiscovered and uncharted. From the heart of this old forest, a six-year-old girl appears. Speechless and alone, she can give no clue as to her identity, no hint of her past…
Until recently, Dr. Julia Cates was one of the preeminent child psychiatrists in the country, but a scandal shattered her confidence, ruined her career, and made her a media target. When she gets a desperate call from her estranged sister, Ellie, a police chief in their small western Washington hometown, she jumps at the chance to escape.
In Rain Valley, nothing much ever happens—until a girl emerges from the deep woods and walks into town. She is a victim unlike any Julia has ever seen: a child locked in a world of unimaginable fear and isolation.
When word spreads of the “wild child” and the infamous doctor who is treating her, the media descend on Julia and once again her competence is challenged. State and federal authorities want to lock the girl away in an institution until an identification can be made.
But to Julia, who has come to doubt her own ability, nothing is more important than saving the girl she now calls Alice. To heal this child, Julia will have to understand that she cannot work alone and must look to others—the people in the town she left long ago, the sister she barely knows, and Dr. Max Cerrasin, a handsome, private man with secrets of his own.
Then a shocking revelation forces Julia to risk everything to discover the truth about Alice. The ordeal that follows will test the limits of Julia’s faith, forgiveness, and love, as she struggles to ascertain where Alice ultimately belongs.
In her most ambitious novel to date, Kristin Hannah delivers an incandescent story about the resilience of the human spirit, the triumph of hope, and the mysterious places in the heart where love lies waiting.”
From: https://kristinhannah.com/books/magic-hour/

 

Enjoy!

Lynne

 

Book Review: Come Hell or High Water by Nancy M. Bell

Book Review: Come Hell or High Water by Nancy M. Bell

Come Hell or High Water is book 2 in the “Longview Romance Series” from author Nancy M. Bell. It’s published by Books We Love, out of Calgary, Alberta.

This is a super interesting story with lots of excitement and thrills and spills. The action scenes in the chuckwagon races alone make it worth reading. You get the feeling, reading this series, that Ms. Bell knows something about farms and horses and such. And you would be correct.

She started out in Ontario and not only rode and competed in horse competitions but also taught riding. She continued most of her horse related activities when she moved to Alberta many years ago and still has lots of critters around her on the little farm which she and her hubby occupy. These days, besides writing, she does animal rescue work with various groups in the greater Calgary area.

Come Hell or High Water continues the romance between Michelle Wilson and new-to-the-area vet, Cale Benjamin, whom she is now living with. Michelle rescued Storm the dog in the first book of the series and now has her and her pup. There’s lots of dissension in the air between her ex, her brother and his new girlfriend, and Michelle. She’s a bit ornery at times and hot headed. She’s also big on rodeos, and so if you are a fan, this is the book for you.

As I said at the beginning, the chuckwagon race scenes are riveting and incredibly well described. I was on the edge of my seat and it was just like being at the movies. Pretty exciting. And, just when you think the thrills are over, Ms. Bell throws in snowstorms, truck and trailer accidents and then a flood.

The only thing bothering me in the book was the misprints and slips. I think it needed one more read through by the editor.

Here’s the description from Amazon:

Michelle Wilson has the world by the tail. Cale loves her and she loves him. Storm is happy and healthy. To top it off, Michelle has qualified for the Calgary Stampede. She can’t wait to barrel race for a chance at $100,000 on Showdown Sunday. All her dreams are coming true; nothing could possibly spoil her happiness. Could it? Shelly, her brother’s new girlfriend seems a tad too interested in her old friend Cale Benjamin. And what’s with Michelle’s ex-fiancé Rob who keeps popping up in the most unexpected places. Why can’t his brand new wife Kayla keep a tighter rein on that cowboy?

Here’s an excerpt:

“Toad quivered under her, twitching at the huge pieces of flotsam that rushed past just a few feet away. Once the other horse was far enough ahead, Michelle gave Toad his head. Her stomach clenched and flipped as his hind end dropped out from under her. The bank they were standing on collapsed into the river. The buckskin threw himself forward and clawed back onto semi-solid ground. Between the pain in her head and with the use of only one hand, Michelle slid out of the saddle. The rain blurred her vision and her head spun. There was no way she was going to get back on the horse. Stacey was a quarter of the way up the coulee, obviously unaware Michelle was in danger. Another old cottonwood uprooted by the river bobbed by, its branches scraping along the ragged bank.

Toad nudged her with his nose, eyes showing white around the edges. He wouldn’t leave her until she gave him permission. She looped the dragging reins around the horn and swatted him on the ass. “Go on git!” Tears of frustration mingled with the rain on her face. “

Okay, I’m stopping there. Just go buy the book! You can get a physical copy at most Chapters stores in Canada. Or you can order it online from anywhere that sells books.

Here’s the amazon.ca link!

And the link to Nancy’s website. http://www.nancymbell.ca

Happy reading!
Lynne

 

Book Review: The Moai Murders by Lyn Hamilton

Book Review: The Moai Murders by Lyn Hamilton

Anyone who knows me, knows I am seriously addicted to library book sales. They are for me an opiate addiction. Very deadly. So it’s not surprising that at one of those things held somewhere in the Lower Mainland, I picked up a copy of The Moai Murders by the late, Canadian author, Lyn Hamilton. FYI Moai is pronounced Moe-Eye.

This is the first book I’ve ever read by Ms. Hamilton, but I can tell you, it certainly won’t be the last. I’m glad she wrote several before her untimely death. It had all of my favourite story contents in it: humour, action, adventure, history, mystery, a great plot and a well written storyline.

Hamilton had a nice, dry sense of humour which was sprinkled liberally throughout the story. The editing was pretty good, though there were a few typos missed. And you know I’m a stickler for typos. It kept me stumped right to the very end. And that, is a rarity where I am concerned. I love to profile books, TV shows and movies. I honestly couldn’t figure this one out, but then neither could the heroine, so I don’t feel so bad. Lol!

The only slow part of the story happened at the very beginning. The forward, titled Veri Amo—presumably named after a relatively famous woman from Easter Island who lived from 1830 to 1936, according to Stephen R. Fischer’s work Rongorongo: The Easter Island Script: History, Traditions,Texts—got me thinking and I had to read it twice. When Chapter One jumped into the present, I had to go through it twice as well to get the ball rolling. Once the characters started on their adventure, it was a great read. There were a lot of characters, but each was important to the plot. If you get momentarily lost, go back and check it again until you are caught up. It’s worth it.

Here’s a brief outline of the story from Amazon.
From Booklist:
“Antiques dealer Lara McClintoch and her friend Moira Meller head to Rapa Nui (Easter Island) to celebrate Moira’s return to health. When they reach their hotel, they find it’s the site of the Rapa Nui Moai Congress–an academic conference to exchange information on the moai, giant stone carvings that populate the island. After the two join the conference, planning to attend the lectures and field trips, one of the attendees is found dead, thought by police to have been trampled by wild horses. Lara disagrees with the verdict and begins her own investigation as further participants die. Fascinating details about the island’s history and the moai enhance this ninth adventure in the archaeologically rich series.” Sue O’Brien of the American Library Association.
Here’s a couple of links to interviews with her.
http://poesdeadlydaughters.blogspot.ca/2008/02/canada-calling-lyn-hamilton.html
http://typem4murder.blogspot.ca/2009/01/sundays-guest-blogger-lyn-hamilton.html

http://www.writerswrite.com/journal/oct03/a-conversation-with-lyn-hamilton-10036
I thought it was important to include some of Lyn’s obituary in this. If you read it, you will see she was an amazing woman who made a huge impact on a lot of people. We should all be so lucky.

“LYN ELIZABETH HAMILTON August 6, 1944 – September 10, 2009 Smart, funny, creative, strong, loyal and brave – Lyn was all these and more. Beloved daughter of John (deceased) and Gwen Hamilton and cherished sister and sister-in-law of Cheryl Hamilton and Michael Cushing. She is also fondly remembered by the Collins family, her uncle Harris (aunt Elizabeth is deceased) Collins and cousins Peter, Kelly and Nicki. Lyn had many friends. A group of the closest helped her celebrate her 65th birthday last month with a party filled with laughter and love. Lyn kept her battle with cancer private, but the few friends who knew provided wonderful support during her illness. She had a great career, moving back and forth between public service and the private sector, working in public affairs, communications and program management. Then at the age of 50, she decided to add a writing career, using her lifelong interest in archeology to create a mystery series. The first of 11 novels, The Xibalba Murders, was published in 1997 and was nominated for an Arthur Ellis Award for best first crime novel in Canada. The eighth, The Magyar Venus, was nominated for an Ellis for best crime novel. These books feature feisty heroine Lara McClintoch, who owns an antiques store in Lyn’s hometown of Toronto and travels the world for her business, solving murders along the way. Lyn managed to write and promote most of her novels during vacations, unpaid leaves and weekends. The books reflect her passion for heritage and culture, her sense of humour and her love of travel. She was Director of Public Affairs for the Canadian Opera Company, where she worked with many others to bring a new opera house to reality, an accomplishment that gave her much joy. Before that, she was Director of the Cultural Programs Branch in the Ontario government. In her earlier days in the government, she worked on women’s issues and was particularly proud of a ground-breaking public awareness campaign on domestic violence. She was involved in education and mentoring of new writers. Over the years, she worked with over 100 authors on their manuscripts. She was writer-in-residence for the public libraries in North York and Kitchener. She taught a mystery and suspense writing course at the School for Continuing Studies at her alma mater, University of Toronto.”

This is a five star *****read. Purchase or borrow it with confidence.
Have a great day!
Lynne

Book Review: The Hardy Boys Book 3, The Secret of the Old Mill by Franklin W. Dixon et al

Book Review: The Hardy Boys Book 3, The Secret of the Old Mill by Franklin W. Dixon et al

A Trip Down Memory Lane

When I was young, just about every kid I knew was reading either a Hardy Boys Mystery or a Nancy Drew Mystery. I used to get one for every birthday and Christmas. If I was really good, there was the occasional one in between. By the time I was grown up, I had almost the complete set. When I moved away from Ontario, I gave the set along with all my encyclopedias to a family of five little girls. Sometimes I think about that action and mourn slightly, but, of course, it was the best thing to do at the time. You can only have so many books. I have enough for three lifetimes or a small village library.

Since the day I gave up my Nancy Drew set, I have been slowly buying them back again ( yeah, so I missed them. Don’t judge me.), plus the occasional Hardy Boys Mystery. The other day, it was lousy outside; rain, snow, darkness, you know a typical British Columbia winter day. I looked at the bookshelves where my short and sweet books are and lo and behold, there sat The Secret of the Old Mill by Franklin W. Dixon. A Hardy Boys Mystery!

So who was this Franklin W. Dixon fellow? I decided to check online and see what came up.

http://www.answers.com/Q/Who_wrote_the_Hardy_Boys_book_series)

According to missy7  on answers.com  a heckuva lot of ghost writers were Mr. Dixon, either that or the guy had the worse case of multiple personalities known to man. There were so many that I couldn’t bother to be as thorough as Miss missy7 was.  Wow! We are talking a whole pile. The series was the brainchild of the Stratemeyer Syndicate ( no we are not talking organized crime here) later bought out by Simon and Schuster in the 1980’s. So nowadays, Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys are being pumped out by the ghost writers of Simon and Schuster. So there you have it—Franklin W. Dixon in a nutshell! Quite a guy.

This particular book is number three in the series, but already it had labelled the brothers as young detectives, and they were just taking after their Pa, a real life (or fake life….or well, just a fictional real life…) private eye. Yup, daddy was a detective too. So they were just taking after the old man.

During this story they drive around in their buddy Chet’s ( real name Chester Morton, wow, which today would just mean a whole load of misery, and a kid in his thirties who ends up completely covered with tattoos and on death row) bright yellow, souped-up jalopy named Queen. Oh wow, those were the days. I remember naming my first car. They were always French names and male. My current Dodge Caravan (be nice) is named Anton; not quite Antonio as in Banderas, but in my mind he looks almost the same as we whisk along the highway, with our hair blowing in the breeze from the passenger windows open slightly at a safe level and the only rear window which works, open to get a little counter breeze.
I have, in my youth, driven in a few jalopies, which were fun and required no doors to open. You simply hopped in! Over the existing, seemingly always shut, door. Back then, I hopped. Today, it only happens in the kitchen when I step on something. Or in the bathroom when Mr. Lloyd Kitty has been particularly flamboyant with his cat litter.

Back to the story…Chet is described as plump and constantly eating junk food, a description today which would have led to cyber bullying indeed. His buddies tease him in a good-humoured way because back then we just teased people out loud and to their face, not online—since there was no online. (Well, that’s not exactly true. I loaded the line every other day with the wash and my mother regularly asked, “What’s on the line? Did you bring everything in?” So yes there was “on line” but not the online we mean today. Whew!) Back to Chet. Chet is a constant homey in the Hardy Boys’ crib. He and Tony, their other buddy, show up here and there throughout the story and near the end help them jump a bunch of guys and get in a fight. Not quite your sweet little angels now, eh?! Heh heh heh.

Eighteen-year-old Frank and his one-year-younger brother, Joe, who is described as “blond and impetuous” (in other words, some little punk kid who probably gave his mother all the grey hair on her head) get involved with a boy on a bicycle who nearly gets hit by a car. One thing leads to another and the next thing you know they are involved with counterfeiters and Mill Wheels, and tracking paper at the local stationary story ( can you imagine walking into Staples and saying, “Can you tell me who bought this piece of paper?” ) wandering through tunnels, getting trapped in trucks, and having their dad get sort-of blown up and stuff like that. All the things which would put hair on the chest of a young lad in the 1950s!

Throughout it all, they interact peacefully with the local sheriff who has no trouble telling them everything that’s going on in the rich underbelly of crime in their little berg. Today, if the cops know you by name when you walk into the station, it’s not because they respect your dad and want to give you an award or have you help them solve a crime. Nope, no way. We will leave that one there.

So of course, they solve the mystery and their last words are nice and corny and no one ever swears, not even the bad guys. It was a nice time back then. Post WWII when the world was shiny and bright and mom was at home all day (not working like Rosie the Riveter in the munitions factory anymore and sitting out back smoking cigarettes, chewing gum and drinking beer with her buddies after work)

cause the war was over, and dad smoked a pipe constantly (not worrying about his future lung cancer or emphysema) and sat in an easy chair and was home to listen to your troubles and give you good advice which rivalled the advice God gave Moses in the Bible.

Man, I love the Hardy Boys. I think I’ll check the second hand store and see if they have anymore of the old ones. I don’t want to read the new ones in case Chet’s car is now a Jaguar XK XKR-S GT convertible which does zero to sixty in 4.9 seconds, and instead of having twenty bucks in his hand, he thinks nothing of popping a hundred in the tank every other day.

And Mr. Hardy is smoking pot in the garage and rhyming off clever little gems that sound more like a Cheech and Chong rerun.

Mrs. Hardy has just returned from drug rehab and had a couple of fentanyl scares. And Frank has piercings everywhere which occasionally get painfully ripped out in a fight or while he’s crawling through a tunnel underground somewhere chasing Columbian Drug Lords. And Joe, dear little Joe, has green and pink hair; no sweet little blond-headed moppet is he anymore, no he’s got muscles like the Rock,

and mimics Vin Diesel on a good day.

No, give me the old Hardy Boys. I like those guys. I’ll just sit in my rocker and daydream.

You can buy the Hardy Boys mysteries all over the place and especially at second hand book stores. Enjoy!

Have a nice day!

Lynne

 

Book Review: A Christmas Secret by Anne Perry

 

Book Review: A Christmas Secret by Anne Perry

First of all, Merry Christmas, or as my British friends would probably say, Happy Christmas!
I hope everyone has had a jolly time so far this holiday season.
Yes, there have been a few things happen which are so sad, from the death of George Michael to the plane crash which killed sixty-four members of the Alexandrov Ensemble a.k.a. Russian Army Choir (formerly the Red Army Choir). As a longtime fan, I am stunned. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandrov_Ensemble

Our prayers go out to the families and to the country of Russia, as a whole, on the loss of so many members of this iconic ensemble. A true tragedy.
And to the friends and family, and the many fans of George Michael, I offer my deepest condolences.

But life goes on. Sometimes, it doesn’t feel like it can, but miraculously the sun comes up the next day even if we don’t want it to.
We’ve had our shares of ups and downs this year and over the last few, but our lives are going on.. And I am diving into reading again. I found I was spending so much time working on editing other people’s books, not only wasn’t I writing, but I also wasn’t reading. So that has changed. It’s my biggest New Year’s resolution. Read for fun!!!

So I grabbed one of Anne Perry’s Christmas Mystery books off the shelf where it had been sitting for a couple of years, and thought, I should read THIS!!!
I love Anne’s writing. It satisfies all my needs to my core. Nice historical settings. The ones that resonate with me—the late 1800’s and the early 1900’s. I think that must have been the time period of my most recent past life. I have never really felt totally comfortable in this era. I’ve met Anne at the Surrey International Writers Conference ( http://www.siwc.ca ) in years past. I’ve even sat with her for lunch. And, of course, there are the inevitable meetings in the bathroom, during the conference. We are all the same.

During lunch, we chatted and her concerns were just like the rest of us, dietary. I have to order special meals because of serious allergies. We seemed to be a table of food concerns that day.
I missed seeing her this year. I hope she shows up in 2017. She is one of the figureheads of the conference—along with our beloved Jack Whyte ( http://www.jackwhyte.com )and Diana Gabaldon ( http://www.dianagabaldon.com )—and such a lovely person.

Of course, I started with the second one in the collection, A Christmas Secret, which is number four in The Christmas Stories. A Random House publication, it was published on November 7, 2006.

Here’s a brief description off Amazon.com.

“Dominic Corde is thrilled to “fill the robe” as substitute vicar in the village of Cottisham, while the Reverend Wynter is away on a three-week Christmas holiday. Glad to escape his dreary London flat and a less-than-satisfying job as church curate, Dominic and his beloved wife, Clarice, set off for what they hope will be a lovely winter getaway.

Upon arrival, in the midst of a frigid, exceptionally snowy season, Dominic and Clarice are welcomed by warm, hospitable neighbors and enchanted by the cozy, inviting vicarage. Everything seems almost too perfect. Dominic’s only concern is how he will be received by the congregation, who hold the Reverend Wynter in such high regard. But as Clarice soon discovers, she and Dominic have much more dire matters to worry about. It turns out that the Reverend Wynter isn’t on holiday at all–and that something very sinister has transpired.
As a blizzard leaves Cottisham treacherously snowbound and the isolated village swirls with unsavory secrets, Dominic and Clarice suddenly find themselves in deadly danger.”

I love Anne’s descriptive style. You can almost taste her verbal pictures of the weather and landscape. Here’s an excerpt.

“Dominic remained another fifteen minutes, and then took his leave out into a fading afternoon, now even more bitterly cold. Some of the clouds had cleared away, and it had stopped snowing. The light was pale, with the amber of the fading sun low on the horizon. Shadows were growing longer. The edge of the wind cut like a blade, making his skin hurt and his eyes water.
His feet slipped a little as he trudged down the icy drive. Other than the thud of the mounded snow on the evergreens overbalancing onto the ground below, there was silence in the gathering gloom.
Beyond the trees, the village lights shone yellow, making little golden smudges sparkling against the blue-gray of twilight. Someone opened a door onto a world of brilliance. A dog scampered out then back in again, and the light vanished.
Dominic’s hands and feet were numb. Hunching his shoulders from the cold, he stopped for a moment to retire his scarf.
That was when he heard the footsteps behind him. He swung around, his breath catching in his throat from the icy air in his lungs. The figure was there, crossing the village green only a few yards away. She was bent, shivering, and very small. She stopped also, motionless, as if uncertain whether to try running away.” Page 309 of the two book collection.

As a Canadian, who grew up in Ontario, and was born in one of the worst snowstorms in January of 1952, I can tell you this winter description is dead on the money. I can taste the cold. I got pneumonia, one year, from running to school, breathing through my mouth, without a scarf over my face. I know what icy cold feels like in your lungs. I know the wind of winter can take your breath literally away and make you think you are suffocating.

I can see the skies, and feel the air when I read her stories. Plus she knows how to pace a mystery, slowly and carefully, making you have to turn the pages and just finish the bloody book or you will never sleep. So I don’t pick up one of her books unless I know I have a few hours to read, because I’m just going to stay up through the night till it’s done. Thankfully, I’m a fast reader.

Anyway, I have now read three of her Christmas Stories, and will share bits from each over the next couple of weeks as I continue to read as many as I downloaded on my kindle. It was too ‘wintery’ outside to go to the bookstore, so I just bought the e copies. But know I am the kind of reader who likes the feel and smell of the hard copy in my hot little hands! I will never allow the tech device to replace the real thing completely. (Though I do like the ability to enlarge the print on these new fangled devices.) And I will probably pick up hard copies as I find them so I can wear them out for real. 😁
So, if you’re looking for a nice winter Mystery, here is a good one.
I give it five stars! Or six, if there was such a thing. *****(*)+

It’ll keep you in the Christmas mood!
Here’s a bunch of links:

http://www.anneperry.co.uk

https://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Secret-Novel-Stories-Book-ebook/dp/B000MAH7V8/ref=sr_1_9?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1482781308&sr=1-9&keywords=anne+perry+christmas+series

https://www.amazon.com/Anne-Perrys-Christmas-Mysteries-Holiday-ebook/dp/B001IZC3MY/ref=sr_1_16?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1482781366&sr=1-16&keywords=anne+perry+christmas+series.

Forgive the long links, I’m feeling very lazy today. 😳😒

And here’s a little something extra.

All the best, and Merry Christmas!

Lynne

 

Book Review: Queen of the Night by J. A. Jance

Book Review: Queen of the Night by J. A. Jance

First of all, I have to state without hesitation, I love J. A. Jance’s books. I’ve read almost all of the Joanna Brady series, and some, more than once.

That being said, I have mixed feelings about this particular offering from the author.
I got lost almost immediately in the profusion of characters and opening scenes, each of which sounded like the start of a different novel. It took me awhile to determine what was going on and sort everyone out. I had to start the book a couple of times and go back and reread. Maybe it was just brain fog on my part, but even at the very end, I was momentarily confused, trying to remember who one of the characters was.

There are a lot of people in this book. Some are pretty amazing, and I can definitely see how they all fit together, but I kept praying someone would get killed off so I had fewer names to recall. Thankfully, murder mysteries usually satisfy that goal.
I also felt there were almost too many plot lines. But, they were all necessary—I think. At least everything wound up connected, somehow, in the end.

It was an interesting, suspenseful read, that’s for sure. And yes, very reminiscent of Tony Hillerman, whom the book was dedicated to. But, there were things as an editor which I would have liked to have seen changed. Too many “thats” for a fiction work, and way too much past perfect tense, plus too many characters, and plots, and openings.
Would I recommend it? You betcha. But be alert and keep your memory working. You might want to take notes or you could lose track.

I would say it’s a three star based on the confusion and editing points, and a four star based on thrill factor.

Here’s a link to Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/hfp82bd

And Kobo: http://tinyurl.com/jogxn45

Have a great day!
Lynne

What’s Been Happening?

Hi Everyone!

Wow, I’ve been absent for a bit. I need to apologize to my readers. Had a little run-in with the big C and required surgery and various and sundry treatments.

So far—so good!

In the meantime, I have been very lax in getting any blogging or writing done.

Some of my authors have been hard at work and so I’ve managed to get some stuff edited. That kept my brain working and filled my time.

Donna Jean McDunn has completed the third book in her Nightmares Series. Premonitions will be coming out soon from MuseItUp Publishing. Also The Rose Stalker came out recently. Now there’s a super story! A slow paced little number that will keep you turning the pages as it gets scarier and scarier. Donna did a nice job on that one.

Rosemary Morris and I just finished the edits on Monday’s Child, a sequel to her wonderful Regency Romance, Sunday’s Child. It is well done and the last few chapters were just great. It is set during the Napoleonic wars and her writing about those events, the soldiers involved in the fighting, the wounded, well, you feel like you’re right there.

One thing about Rosemary, she is not one of those historical writers who set a 20^th century character in the middle of another time. Her characters are genuine and part of the era. Her settings are well researched. The descriptions of the clothes, amazing. Just so well done!

Have a new author I’m just finishing working with named William J. Dezell.

We did It’s The Little Things You Miss. Oh, what a nice story. A mystery, but I loved the flavour of the book. A detective story with a fellow who should have been born in the Sam Spade era. Great lines. Super descriptions. Lots of wit. I’ll keep you updated on its progress. Bill’s other work:

 

My author, J. Troy Seate, has moved on to another House. I just loved working with Troy and hope he does well wherever he goes.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01CFXNBLE/ref=cm_sw_su_dp

I have a couple of editing projects on my desk right now in the private field. One is a Historical Romance and the other is a Historical Word War Two Paranormal Action Adventure. Can’t wait to get my teeth into them! In the mean time, I have a couple of other projects to keep me busy.

 

I finished and published a book of Prayers which you can check out on my Exploring the Divine blog, www.exploringthedivine.wordpress.com  or my website, www.vlmurray.ca

I have other things along those lines in the works right now. Plus my short story Huntin’,

a paranormal thriller set in northern Canada, with a Medicine Wheel theme, was published in 2014. It’s a creepy little one. Lots of fun to write. Check out the book trailer on my website, and this site, as well.

 

I sure wish I had more time to sit down and work on my own things, but I’m gradually getting back into the swing of things.

So for now, I hope all is well with you. Take care, and enjoy the Spring!

Cheers,

Lynne

 

 

Book Trailer: Huntin’ short story by V. L. Murray

My latest creation, a book trailer for my short story Huntin’