Giveaway - Saratoga Payback - Stephen Dobyns

Saratoga Payback is the latest in Stephen Dobyns's critically acclaimed Charlie Bradshaw mystery series. It releases today - and I have a copy to giveaway to one lucky reader.

From the publisher, Blue Rider Press:

"Ever since the cops revoked his private investigator’s license, Charlie Bradshaw has been adjusting to life as a regular senior citizen. But reading, sitting around the house, and making amateur home repairs is a far cry from his past life as Saratoga Springs’ most successful everyman detective.

So when Charlie discovers the sprawled corpse of Saratoga Springs’ biggest nuisance on his sidewalk, the ex-P.I. is torn. Should he risk asking questions of his own, knowing he could easily be prosecuted for doing P.I. work without a license? Or should he avoid the trouble and spend his twilight years in peace? Well, the case was practically delivered to his doorstep…

Saratoga Payback, the latest installment in Stephen Dobyns’s critically praised Charlie Bradshaw Mysteries, follows Charlie as he toes the line between concerned private citizen and practiced private eye. As he begins to look into the murder of the town pest, Charlie also finds himself entangled in problem that is purely Saratogian–a mission to rescue an old acquaintance’s kidnapped horse. Wry, entertaining, and adroitly written, Saratoga Payback is an immensely satisfying addition to Dobyns’s popular mystery series." Read an excerpt of Saratoga Payback.

"Stephen Dobyns is the author of more than thirty-five novels and poetry collections, including The Burn Palace, The Church of Dead Girls, Cold Dog Soup, and Cemetery Nights. His novels have been translated into twenty languages, and his poetry has appeared in the Best American Poetry anthology. Dobyns, who has taught at the University of Iowa, Boston University, Syracuse University, and Sarah Lawrence College, teaches creative writing in the master of fine arts program at Warren Wilson College."

Sound like a series you'd enjoy? Enter to win a copy of Saratoga Payback using the Rafflecopter form below. Open to US and Canada, no PO boxes please. Ends March 25/17.

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Giveaway - K Street - M.A. Lawson

Oh, take note mystery lovers - I have a great giveaway for you today! The third installment in M.A. Lawson's kick*** Kay Hamilton series is K Street - and it releases today.

From Blue Rider Press:

"The latest installment in M.A. Lawson’s thrilling Kay Hamilton series, K Street finds the ex-DEA agent working solo to uncover the motivations behind a gruesome shooting at a covert intelligence agency in Washington, D.C.

It’s been almost a year since Kay Hamilton was fired from the DEA for going rogue. Since then, she’s been employed by the Callahan Group, a covert intelligence agency based in Washington, D.C. Her job description is as dubious as the people she works for, and the undercover mission that nearly killed her in Viking Bay has Hamilton questioning the legitimacy of her employers.

When Hamilton arrives at the Callahan Group’s K Street office to tender her resignation, she unwittingly interrupts a deadly heist during which the robbers have stolen the company safe and left her boss gravely injured. She knows that Thomas Callahan doesn’t keep much cash in the safe—the men must have been after something other than money. But before Callahan slips into a coma, he whispers a name that will lead Kay to an organization even more secretive than the Callahan Group: the NSA.

Gripping, cinematic, and endlessly entertaining, K Street is the third installment of M.A. Lawson’s Kay Hamilton series, which follows our tough, gun-toting, and fearless heroine as she sets out to find answers and exact revenge."

Uh, huh - sounds like a great read doesn't it! Enter for the chance at a copy using the Rafflecopter form below. Open to US and Canada, no PO boxes please. Ends Jan. 28/17.

"M.A. Lawson is the pen name for award-winning novelist Mike Lawson, a former senior civilian executive for the U.S. Navy, and creator of the nine novels in the Joe DeMarco series, including House Odds, House Divided, and The Second Perimeter, as well as the Kay Hamilton novels Rosarito Beach, Viking Bay, and K Street." You can follow M.A. Lawson on Twitter and like him on Facebook.

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The Big Tiny - Dee Williams

I first heard about the whole 'Tiny House' movement/community a few years ago. Since then, I've been following blogs and sites, reading and day dreaming of a cosy little house of my own. Dreaming -  as I think I would have a hard time downsizing.

At forty one, Dee Williams had a life altering health scare. She stopped and took inventory of her life. And made choices. She did downsize - radically. Gone were the possessions and the 'big' house she had redone.  Instead, Williams now lives in an 84 sq.ft. home she built herself. What she gained is priceless.

The Big Tiny is Williams' memoir. I was caught up from the opening pages, eager to vicariously share her adventure and hear about her life. (And stop to dream a little bit myself.) We know that Williams is happy with where she landed, but she allows us to share her feelings and thoughts as she divests herself of a life's worth of stuff. ("It took me a long time to sort through the bookshelves.") Her writing is thoughtful, introspective and honest. She articulates what many of us have perhaps thought. How much is enough? We're with Williams as she builds and moves into her new home and changes her life, from ups and downs. I stopped many times to reread certain passages. Williams voices some excellent food for thought.

"If more people understood how nice it is to have a sense of home that extends past our locked doors, past our neighbor's padlocks, to the local food co-op and library, the sidewalks busted up by old trees - if we all held home with longer arms - we'd live in a very different place."

Dee Williams just seems like someone I would love to sit and talk to. Her sense of adventure, joy and 'why the heck not' attitude radiates from the pages of The Big Tiny.

"I stumbled into a new sort of 'happiness", one that didn't hinge on always getting what I want but rather, on wanting what I have. It's the kind of happiness that isn't tied so tightly to being comfortable(or having money and property), but instead is linked to a deeper sense of satisfaction - to a sense of humility and gratitude, and a better understanding of who I am in my heart. I found a certain bigness in my little house - a sense of largeness, freedom, and happiness that comes when you see there's no place else you'd rather be."

The Big Tiny was just an excellent read - check out an excerpt.

And me? I'm going to keep dreaming and poring over floor plans. You never know.....

"Dee Williams is a teacher, designer, woodworker, and sustainability advocate. She is the owner of two business, Portland Alternative Dwellings (PAD) and Boxcar Woodcraft, where she designs and builds tiny houses. She conducts green-building workshops across the country with Tumbleweed Tiny House Company, and is the author of Go House Go, a manual for building small homes. Williams lives in Olympia, Washington."

Deep Winter - Samuel W. Gailey

Deep Winter is Samuel W. Gailey's debut novel.

Gentle giant Danny has lived in Wyalusing, a small town in Northern Pennsylvania, for his entire life.  An accident has left Danny with brain injuries, but he has made a small place for himself. And he tries to lead a small life as he is the target of taunts and bullying and has few friends.  But Mindy, the waitress who serves him breakfast every morning, is an exception. She has only treated him with kindness. Danny walks to her trailer on her birthday to deliver a gift - only to find the local sheriff's deputy, Sokowski, already there. And Mindy is dead.

The reader knows early on who has killed Mindy. But the race is on - will the killer be caught? Or will Danny take the fall?

There are few likable characters in the book. Sokowski is one of the nastiest antagonists I've read in a while. Many of the 'good' characters are flawed in some way as well. Gailey's characters were quite vivid I quickly turned pages. The reader cannot help but react to each one.

Indeed the whole town seems dismal, dreary and defeated. "Gailey was raised in a small town in northeast Pennsylvania (population 379), which serves as the setting for his debut novel."  The setting definitely had a ring of authenticity. The blizzard that envelopes the town serves to further isolate the town and the drama playing out.

 Deep Winter is told from multiple points of view - the killer, Mindy, Danny and more. I found this highly effective as it only heightened the tension. The reader is aware of what's going to happen next - or think we are. Gailey knows just when to end a chapter - ensuring I had to read just one more and then another before turning off the light for the evening.

 Gailey has worked as a screenwriter and Deep Winter read like a movie for me. (Quentin Tarantino sprang to mind.) It's grim and gritty and not recommended for gentle readers. But it was a page turner for me. There's been a new genre label bandied about - "grit lit" or "rural noir". Deep Winter is a great example of this style. Read an excerpt of Deep Winter.

You can find Samuel W. Gailey on Facebook and on Twitter.