Third Rail is the first in a new mystery series that is at once thrilling and brilliantly written in the tradition of Dennis Lehane and Robert Parker. Eddy Harkness, the protagonist, is sure to become a fan favorite – a deeply flawed but irresistibly charming, quirky character.
To celebrate the book’s release, I have one copy to give away to a reader with a US address.
About the Book
Third Rail
by Rory Flynn
Genre: Thriller
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Publish Date: June 10, 2014
Format: Hardcover | 224 pages
At crime scenes, Eddy Harkness is a human Ouija board, a brilliant young detective with a knack for finding the hidden something—cash, drugs, guns, bodies. But Eddy’s swift rise in an elite narcotics unit is derailed by the death of a Red Sox fan in the chaos of a World Series win, a death that some camera-phone-wielding witnesses believe he could have prevented. Scapegoated, Eddy is exiled to his hometown just outside Boston, where he empties parking meters and struggles to redeem his disgraced family name.
Then Harkness’s police-issue Glock disappears one night. Unable to report the theft, Harkness starts a secret search—just as a string of fatal accidents lead him to uncover a new, dangerous smart drug, Third Rail. With only a plastic disc gun to protect him, Harkness begins a high-stakes investigation that takes him into the darkest corners of the city, where politicians and criminals intertwine to deadly effect.
With a textured sense of place, a nuanced protagonist, and a story that takes off from page one and culminates in a startling finale, Third Rail has all the elements of a breakout mystery success.
About the Author
A powerful new voice in crime fiction. A generally nice guy in Boston.
Rory Flynn is the pen name of acclaimed novelist Stona Fitch, author of five previous novels, including Senseless, now an independent feature film and a graphic novel.
Photo by Sandy Poirier
In 2008, Stona founded the Concord Free Press, a independent publishing house that publishes and distributes original novels, asking only that readers make a voluntary donation to a charity or person in need, then pass their book on. The CFP has inspired generosity throughout the world and created a new approach to publishing that has earned praise from publishing visionaries and readers.
Stona lives with his family in Concord, Massachusetts.
Connect with Rory
Twitter | Goodreads | Webpage
Watch the Trailer
Giveaway Information
Courtesy of the publicist, I have one copy of Third Rail to give away to a reader with a US mailing address. To enter, fill out the form below on or before midnight, June 21st. For an extra entry, tweet or blog about the giveaway. Winners will be contacted by email and have 48 hours to respond.
[Giveaway Has Ended]
Winner: Suko from Suko’s Notebook.
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© 2014 Under My Apple Tree. All rights reserved.
Source: Giveaway provided by Wunderkind PR.
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Almost wordless: I thought I had spotted my first Monarch of the season but a closer look revealed this to be a Viceroy, a Monarch mimic. They are slightly smaller and have a black line running across the veins on the hindwing.
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More Wordless Wednesday. © 2014 Under My Apple Tree. All rights reserved.
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Elizabeth is Missing
by Emma Healey
Genre: Mystery
Publisher: Harper Collins
Publish Date: June 10, 2014
Rating: 5 of 5
Publisher’s Synopsis:
In this darkly riveting debut novel – a sophisticated psychological mystery that is also an heartbreakingly honest meditation on memory, identity, and aging – an elderly woman descending into dementia embarks on a desperate quest to find the best friend she believes has disappeared, and her search for the truth will go back decades and have shattering consequences.
My Thoughts:
Maud is losing her memory and her ability to live on her own. She has a caretaker to help her out, her daughter checks on her everyday plus she writes notes to help her remember things. But she forgets what the notes mean. She writes a note reminding herself not to buy more canned peaches and doesn’t remember why. So she buys them anyway when she already has plenty in her cupboard.
A note Maud has written reminds her that her friend Elizabeth is missing. She must find Elizabeth. She tells others her concern for Elizabeth, but no one takes her seriously. She knows there is something important about Elizabeth’s garden, but what is it? Maud’s thoughts about Elizabeth trigger memories of her sister, Sukey, who mysteriously disappeared more than fifty years ago.
The story is told in the first person, from Maud’s point of view. The narrative moves back and forth between the present and years ago when Maud was a young girl. As the two mysteries unfold, the connection between the past and the present becomes clear.
The author has painted a strikingly accurate and poignant portrait of a woman sinking into dementia. Maud’s memories of the past are detailed and vivid, while in the present, we feel her frustration as she struggles to remember what happened moments ago. As Maud’s account in the present becomes more and more unreliable, we begin to wonder if there is really any mystery at all about Elizabeth’s whereabouts. The reader is left to decide what’s real and what isn’t.
More than just a mystery, this is also a novel about aging, memory loss, and the pain and frustration it causes to all involved. Insightful, often heartbreaking and at times humorous, a great debut from a promising new author.
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Source: Review copy provided by HarperCollins.
© 2014 Under My Apple Tree. All rights reserved.
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Welcome to Mailbox Monday, created by Marcia of To Be Continued, a place where readers share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week.
After several years of being on tour with different blogs as the monthly host, the Mailbox Monday Blog is now the permanent home for the meme.
My copy of China Dolls arrived this week, a book I have been eagerly anticipating. This one is going to the top of the audio pile. That was the only book in my mailbox but I also received an audio download and an ebook from NetGalley.
Some good news from the garden – with all this warm weather my flowers have finally started blooming. My books look much nicer when they get to pose against a backdrop of flowers.
New Arrivals
China Dolls by Lisa See from Random House Audio.
In 1938, Ruby, Helen and Grace, three girls from very different backgrounds, find themselves competing at the same audition for showgirl roles at San Francisco’s exclusive “Oriental” nightclub, the Forbidden City. At times their differences are pronounced, but the girls grow to depend on one another in order to fulfill their individual dreams. Then, everything changes in a heartbeat with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
E-Arrivals
Your Fathers, Where Are They? And the Prophets, Do They Live Forever? by Dave Eggers from Random House Audio.
A tightly controlled, emotionally searching novel. Your Fathers, Where Are They? And the Prophets, Do They Live Forever? is the formally daring, brilliantly executed story of one man struggling to make sense of his country, seeking answers the only way he knows how.
Lock In by John Scalzi from Tor Books and NetGalley.
Fifteen years from now, a new virus sweeps the globe. 95% of those afflicted experience nothing worse than fever and headaches. Four percent suffer acute meningitis, creating the largest medical crisis in history. And one percent find themselvs “locked in”—fully awake and aware, but unable to move or respond to stimulus.
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New Giveaway
The Guide by Milt Mays:
A thriller set in the wilderness of the Rocky Mountains.
Giveaway is an ebook and is open internationally.
Click the image for more info about the author and the book.
To enter, fill out the form.
How was your week?
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© 2014 Under My Apple Tree. All rights reserved.
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To celebrate the release of Milt Mays’ new thriller, The Guide, I have one eBook copy to give away to a reader anywhere in the world. Here’s a little about the book, an adventure set in the wilderness of the Rocky Mountains.
About the Book
The Guide
by Milt Mays
Genre: Thriller
Publish Date: May 15, 2014
Format: eBook | 347 pages
Is your fly fishing guide willing to die for you?
Stony lives for fly fishing in the wilderness. It literally saved his life. After Stony massacred an entire village in Vietnam, addiction and PTSD almost killed him. Alaska, fly fishing, and a woman and her wolves brought him back from the brink. He made a vow to her on her deathbed to always help people, and to never kill another man.
Now he has a new lover, and is finally clean. So when he takes a seemingly ideal client deep into the wilderness of Rocky Mountain National Park, he never dreams that his most sacred vow will be tested to the breaking point. He will have to save his client from a serial killer, a murderer so devious he has managed to become a respected doctor—and his client’s partner.
It’s taken Stony thirty years to disentangle himself from psychological hell. Now, hampered by all the dangers high altitude wilderness can throw at him, Stony must risk sinking into mental hell forever by killing an evil doctor—or risk losing not only his client, but his new soul mate.
About the Author
Much like the protagonist in his book, “The Guide,” author Milt Mays lives for the great outdoors. He grew up in Colorado and spent most of his adult life as a Navy doctor, caring for those at the forefront of many conflicts, including Vietnam.
Milt graduated from the Naval Academy and Creighton Medical School. His medical career included tours with the Marines, a Navy security group in Scotland and now at the Veteran’s Hospital in Cheyenne, Wyo. He has been a fly fishing guide in Rocky Mountain National Park and continues to ply those waters with a long stick and pieces of fur and feather.
His techno-thriller Dan’s War (2011, Telemachus Press) was a finalist at the 2009 Pikes Peak Writers contest. He has also written short stories, including “Thanksgiving with Riley” (Copaiba Press) and “The Dry-Land Farmer” (The Northwind Magazine). He is the author behind “Take the F…ing Fly,” an illustrated poem on the wisdoms and frustrations of fly fishing.
A new edition of his latest book, “The Guide,” comes out June 1, 2014. The book won first place at the 2011 Pikes Peak Writers contest.
Milt is married in Fort Collins, Colorado, with three children and a grandson who will soon be learning the joys of flinging a fly.
Connect with Milt
Twitter | Goodreads | Webpage | Facebook | Amazon
Virtual Book Tour
Giveaway Information
Courtesy of the publicist, I have one digital copy of The Guide to giveaway. The giveaway is open internationally. To enter, fill out the form below on or before midnight, June 14th. For an extra entry, tweet or blog about the giveaway. Winners will be contacted by email and have 48 hours to respond.
[Giveaway has ended]
Winner:Anita
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© 2014 Under My Apple Tree. All rights reserved.
Source: Giveaway provided by JKS Publications.
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I have four nest boxes in my yard and all have entry holes sized for native birds such as House Wrens, Chickadees and House Finches. These holes too small for a House Sparrow to enter.
I also have a roost box to provide shelter during the winter. It is not suitable for nesting. To conserve heat it has an entry hole at the bottom and little ventilation. Inside are six perches that can house about 12 birds. The entry hole is large and, since it is at the bottom, the box is not secure for nestlings to be safe from predators. No birds have ever tried to nest there so I leave the box up year-round.
House Sparrow Nestling
Last week my observant husband informed me that sparrow were going in and out of my roost box and that the box was chirping. Really? Really! As a volunteer bird monitor, one would think I would be aware of what was nesting in my own backyard, and usually I am. But sparrows are sneaky and I completely missed a successful nesting attempt! How embarrassing. In my defense – sort of – the box is behind a huge Spirea Bush.
If that looks like a fairly large baby bird exiting the box, it is. By the time they leave the nest they have grown almost as large as their parents.
Leaving the Nest
I don’t mind House Sparrows visiting my feeders and bird baths, but I try to discourage them from nesting in my yard. Why? Because they are very aggressive and will actively compete with native species for nesting sites. And they don’t need our help. They are a non-native species in North America and have been very successful in adapting. Successful to the point of disrupting native species.
For the past two summers they have driven off the House Wrens that usually nest in my yard. Wrens are not shy and can be very territorial, but they had a difficult time with the sparrows constantly trying to enter their nest boxes.
Fledgling Lands in the Spirea
It is illegal to interfere with nesting native bird species. However, House Sparrows, along with Starlings, are not native and considered invasive and can be removed without a permit. Every year I catch the sparrows trying to build a nest in my awning or gutters, and when I see it I remove the nesting material. But once there are eggs in a nest, I leave them alone.
Exploring Under the Shrub
Four or five little guys popped out of the roost box yesterday. It took most of the day for the parents to get all of them to come out. This morning the parents were feeding them as they chirped and begged from the shrub and the apple tree. Soon they will learn to find their own food and the parents will attempt a second brood. Though this time, not in my roost box.
While the global population of the House Sparrow is in decline, they are still plentiful in the US and are not on the watch list.
UPDATE: The final total was seven nestlings. They spent the next two days in my yard learning to fly and ate every last sunflower seed in both of my feeders. Then they began eating the peanuts I put out for the woodpeckers.
Saturday Snapshot was originated by Alyce at At Home With Books. It is now hosted by Melinda of West Metro Mommy. Visit her blog to see more great photos or add your own.
© 2014 Under My Apple Tree. All rights reserved.
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A Rapid Review
The Intern’s Handbook by Shane Kuhn
Publisher: Simon & Schuster | April 2014
Format: Audio Download | 8 hours | Rating: 4 stars
Audio Listening Level: Easy
At the ripe old age of almost 25, John Lago is already New York City’s most successful hit man. He’s also an intern at a prestigious Manhattan law firm, clocking 80 hours a week getting coffee, answering phones, and doing all the grunt work actual employees are too lazy to do. He was hired to assassinate one of the firm’s heavily guarded partners. His internship provides the perfect cover, enabling him to gather intel and gain access to pull off a clean, untraceable hit.
John Lago works for HR, an agency of contract killers that hides hitmen (or women) in plain sight by placing them as interns, ostensibly because no one notices interns. John needs to complete one last assignment before he can retire at the ripe old age of 25. But this time the job isn’t going as smoothly as he expected. Distractions can be dangerous, especially when they are in the form of Alice, a very attractive lawyer who works at the firm. And then his birth father turns up – another distraction. (HR prefers to recruit orphans and potential sociopaths.)
This is a clever, quirky, satirical read filled with fun, snappy dialog. The book is written in the first person as a handbook for new recruits joining HR, a sort of memoir of John’s experiences and the do’s and don’ts for success on the “job”. At times it reads like an action movie, and while often unbelievable, it’s an entertaining thrill-ride of an adventure.
Audio production:
The narration was performed by Pete Simonelli. Using a cold, emotionless voice, he sounded like the calculating killer I imagined John Lago would be. A fun, easy book to listen to – the eight hours flew by.
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Source: Review copy provided by the publisher.
© 2014 Under My Apple Tree. All rights reserved.
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