A Book and a Chat with Peter Leonard

Becoming an author whose works are heading for the top shelf of thriller writing is a hard job, even harder when your father is a famous author.

My guest on today’s “A Book and a Chat” Peter Leonard, is the son of Elmore Leonard  who is perhaps best-known for works such as "Get Shorty", "Out of Sight", "Hombre", "Mr Majestyk" and "3:10 to Yuma".

As we learned during the show, it took Peter’s father 25 years to become an overnight success,  and almost as long for Peter himself to get around to writing.

The wait however was well waiting for as hit after hit has flowed from Peter Leonard’s creative juices. His thrillers have earned him wide critical acclaim for their tight plotting and story lines.

Titles such as "Quiver", "Trust Me", "Voices of the Dead", "All He Saw Was the Girl" ,"Back From the Dead", and his latest novel "Eyes Closed Tight”, have put the name Peter Leonard as one of the most thrilling suspense novelists of our time.

About “Eyes Closed Tight”:

O'Clair is a former Detroit homicide investigator who now owns a motel in Pompano Beach, Florida in his retirement. He runs the place with his much younger girlfriend, Virginia, who's a knockout and can fix anything. One morning, he’s cleaning up after the previous night’s partiers when he sees a lovely young woman stretched out asleep on a lounge chair. He shakes her gently. Then he touches her neck and feels for a pulse. There isn't one. Her skin is cold, body starting to stiffen, definitely in the early stages of rigor.

When a second girl is murdered, O'Clair knows someone is trying to send him a message. The way the girls are killed reminds O'Clair of a case he investigated years earlier. Now convinced the Pompano murders are related, O'Clair returns to Detroit Police Homicide to review the murder file and try to figure out what he might have missed.

And when Virginia is kidnapped by the killer, the stakes grow exponentially higher.

So listen now and share an interesting and entertaining show as I chat with my special guest today on A Book and a Chat with Peter Leonard

Barry

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Archived versions of the shows including "A Book and a Chat with Peter Leonard"

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Peter Leonard - Eyes Closeed Tight"

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A Book and a Chat with Carla Neggers

Carla Neggers is a New York Times and US Today best selling author of coming up to 70 novels, which have been translations in 24 languages. However it all started high up in a sugar maple tree which was her escape location from the rest of her large family, and where she first started penning her own stories.

First published when in her early twenties, Carla has gone from producing romance stories, to western, detectives and adventure, along the way selling millions of copies of her work. Her Texas Rangers and U.S Marshall series have been followed by the FBI and Black Falls series.

Over the last few years two fresh series “ Sharpe & Donovan” and “Swift River Valley” have been flowing from this hugely talented author.

Now we have two new books in each of these series.

Cider Brook is book 3 in the Swift River Valley series, released January this year.

About “Cider Brook”:

Being rescued by a good-looking, bad-boy firefighter isn’t how Samantha Bennett expected to start her stay in Knights Bridge, Massachusetts. Now she has everyone’s attention—especially that of Justin Sloan, her rescuer, who wants to know why she was camped out in an abandoned old New England cider mill.

Declan's Cross which is book 3 in the Sharpe & Donovan soon to be followed by book 4 “Harbor Island”

About “Declan’s Cross:

An escape to an idyllic Irish seaside village is about to turn deadly in this riveting new novel by master of romantic suspense Carla Neggers.

For marine biologist Julianne Maroney, two weeks in tiny Declan’s Cross on the south Irish coast is a chance to heal her broken heart. She doesn’t expect to attract the attention of FBI agents Emma Sharpe and Colin Donovan-especially since a Donovan is the reason for her broken heart.

As well as the re-release the Texas Rangers series under the name “The Carriage House” sereis.

About “The Carriage House”:

Neggers delivers a colorful, well-spun story that shines with sincere emotion.” –Publishers Weekly
Fun and a little hard work. That’s all Tess Haviland had in mind when Ike Grantham paid her for her graphic design work with the run-down, 19th-century carriage house on Boston’s North Shore.

So listen now and share an interesting, and entertaining show as I chat with my special guest today on A Book and a Chat with Carla Neggers

Barry

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Carla Neggers - Sharpe & Donovan Series and Swift River Valley Series"

Barry Eva (Storyheart)

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A Book and a Chat with Michael Bigham

Michael Bigham is my guest on today’s “A Book and a Chat”, after several attempts to get him on the show, it was good to finally chat to this debut author.

Raised in the Central Oregon mill town of Prineville beneath deep blue skies and rim rock, Michael worked in a lumber mill and also fought range fires on the Oregon High Desert in his early years before he swung from being budding hippy to cop. He was a police officer with the Port of Portland then after leaving police work, he obtained an MFA degree in Creative Writing from Vermont College.

His debut book is “Harkness” the first in the “High Desert Mystery Series”.

Set in the early 50’s and although it’s a mystery, the book is also about Matthew Harkness’ perilous journey through life, how he reacts to murder in his county and tragedy in his own life.

About “Harkness”:

Harkness isn’t your typical Western sheriff. Cowboy boots make his arches ache, he’s phobic of horses, but he does have a horse of sorts – a `39 Chevy pickup he calls Hoopie, and a sidekick – a neurotic wiener dog named Addison.

Harkness is a man of his times, shaped for both good and bad by his experiences in WWII. He deals with issues like bigotry and sexual suppression in a believable manner. We come to know him as a good man, but never a self-righteous one. The pursuit of justice is his job, and he’s good at it, but he never loses sight of where his next woman, or his next drink, is coming from. Harkness is the keeper of secrets in his little town and to solve the crime, he must decide which secrets to expose. One secret involves Judge Barnes, the county’s most powerful man. But Harkness had a secret of his own: he’s in love with the Judge’s wife. How much is Harkness willing to risk to catch a murderer?

Set on the Oregon High Desert in 1952, life in the small town of Barnesville has been easy-going for Matthew until a star-crossed teen-age couple disappears and he’s forced to deal with some horrific murders, one of which strikes very close to home, before finally confronting the killer man-to-man on the High Desert

The novel has brought forth reviews such as…

“Bigham has done an excellent job with his debut release. He has created a protagonist in Matt Harkness readers will want to visit with again and again.”

With the second in the series already underway I am sure we will hear more of “Harkness” and Michael Bigham.
So listen now and share an interesting, and entertaining show as I chat with my special guest today on A Book and a Chat with Michael Bigham

Barry

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A Book and a Chat with Michael Bigham

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Barry Eva (Storyheart)

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A Book and a Chat with M.D. Kaczkowski

My guest today on “A Book and a Chat” is an author, artist and medical inventor, with many of his technologies in use by hundreds of patients worldwide. MD Kaczkowski is founder of The Center for Alloplastic Facial Reconstruction in Little Rock, Arkansas, where he serves as president and lead practitioner, designing and fitting ocular and facial prosthetic reconstructions.

His debut novel “The Seers” is called a Scilestial novel, a word that comes from the combination of words: “Science” and “Celestial”. It is books perhaps unlike you’ve ever read before a mixture of detective, science fiction, celestial or spirituality. Using technology, it gives us readers a multi-media experience with QR codes, illustrations and video links sprinkled throughout.

M.D. Kaczkowski sheds light on the unseen laws of the universe with a fantastical, page-turning thriller. The Seers introduces a world where good battles evil for the world’s soul. The fate of humanity rests in the hands of the Seers, a handful of humans with the rare ability to see the unseen, who call their Angels into action to do battle with Demons. This captivating, fast-paced story blends two classic genres: part apocalypse and part detective story.

About “The Seers” (taken from Amazon)

Welcome to a new world where science and spirituality are not separate, but coexist on opposite ends of the same spectrum. Creator M. D. Kaczkowski sheds light on the unseen laws of the universe with a fantastical, page-turning thriller. The Seers introduces a world where good battles evil for the world's soul. The fate of humanity rests in the hands of the Seers, a handful of humans with the rare ability to see the unseen, who call their Angels into action to do battle with Demons.

This captivating, fast-paced story blends two classic genres: part apocalypse and part detective story. Through the characters' lives, readers are introduced to the prophets of humanity, known as the Seers. Between chapters, Dr. John Alderson, a well-traveled Seer-physician, shares his inside knowledge and encourages readers to delve deeper by guiding them to sections in The Seers' Handbook, which makes up the final third of the book. Welcome to the universe of The Seers. Your journey has only just begun.

So listen now and share an interesting, and entertaining show as I chat with my special guest today on A Book and a Chat with M.D. Kaczkowski

Barry

Direct link to the show
A Book and a Chat with M.D. Kaczkowski

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"M.D. Kaczkowski "

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"M.D. Kaczkowski - The Seers"

Barry Eva (Storyheart)

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A Book and a Chat with Brandt Dobson

Brandt Dobson, today’s guest on “A Book and a Chat” discovered at grade school that he wanted to write, however it was not for some twenty years later that he finally put pen to paper. 

Sidetracked by work with the FBI, Navy and Podiatric Medicine it took a while for Brandt to follow his true calling, including a wait of twelve years before he finally  got the dreamed of book contract.

His first book “Original Sin” soon had his name and that if his hero “Colton Parker” on the must read for detective/thriller readers. This first book in the Colton Parker Mystery Series” was soon followed by “Seventy Times Seven”, “The Root of All Evil” and “The Lost Sheep”. 

The series has become a popular must read with readers clambering for more of Colton Parker, now though Brandt has put before his readers a new series that looks like being even more popular than Colton Parker.

“The Sons Of Dude” is the first in ”The Sons of Dude Series and introduces us to not one but three characters that readers will be able to follow in future novels in the series.

About “The Sons of Dude”: (taken from Seatlepi blog)

The Sons of Jude is about the challenges cops face and how they often come from within their own ranks. The novel revolves around three central characters: Frank Campello, a twenty-year veteran of the Chicago police department; Andy Polanski, a newly-minted detective who is transferred to Campello's district after ratting on other cops; and Christy Lee, a local reporter with a grudge against the police.

With a mix like that, conflict is inevitable. It was a lot of fun to write.

Judging by the reviews so far it was not just fun to write but is proving to be great fun to read. Comments like “..a very well written suspense, thriller that provided a few twists and a satisfying end.," litter his many reviews.

So listen now and share an interesting, and entertaining show as I chat with my special guest today on "A Book and a Chat with Brandt Dobson"

Barry

Direct link to the show
A Book and a Chat with Brandt Dobson

or you can download the mp3 file of the show from
"Brandt Dobson"

You can find out more about my guest and their books at:
"Lynne Kelly - Chained"

Barry Eva (Storyheart)

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A Book and a Chat with Mar Preston

Today was special “A Book and a Chat" being the 500th show and it was fitting that the guest I had not only kept us laughing but proved yet another interesting and entertaining visitor to the radio show.

Mar Preston has lived a pretty eventful live, when her previous jobs include picking grapes in the Beaujolais fields and daffodils in Eureka, California, where she also sold Fuller Brush door to door, cleaned motel rooms, cracked crab and filleted fish. Her “what if” view on life and imagination developed through short stories until finally after seeing some police monitoring a march she was taking part in the idea for a detective story was born.

Her first book “No Dice” introduces us to melting pot that is Santa Monica as well as Police Detective Dave Mason and Ginger McNair. The knowledge she shows within this real who done it has been remarked about in many rave reviews.

I am totally shocked that this is the author’s FIRST novel! It is such a fast paced who-dun-it, that I would have thought she had 5 or 6 books under her belt! Guess being a creative writing teacher really DOES give you the writing chops! You will be hooked from the first chapter of the tight story.

Her characters are lively, true to life and you can’t beat real life for giving you an excellent backdrop to base a story on! The story has lots of twists and turns to keep you guessing. Even if you guess who the murder suspect is before the end, you’ll be flipping the pages quickly to see how they get caught! You’ll also be hoping there will be another book to follow- and there will be… If you’re looking for a new voice in the police procedural genre, check it out...

The success of this first book leads to “Rip Off” and more of Detective Dave Mason.

About Rip-Off

High-tech burglary and murder are bad for business in the upscale, tourist-destination beach city of Santa Monica with its leftist politics, rich homeowners, and huge homeless population.
Bad for Detective Dave Mason of the Santa Monica Police Department.

A deadbeat burglar has been found in the upscale Santa Monica beach condo of a playboy studio exec. The dead body must link up with a string of high-tech burglaries, and the Chechens Mason keeps meeting must link up with each other somehow, but how?

The investigation leads him down mean streets into the dark world of embezzlement and an explosion that almost kills him. The stakes rise as the investigation send Mason to the Hollywood Russian community where he is warned off by the FBI and Homeland Security. A bungled take down results in two murders of key informants. Fingers are pointed. Mason is outranked and the Department blamed.

While Mason brings an international whodunit to an end, restoring his own and the Department’s reputation, he finds his relationship with his community activist girlfriend teetering on the edge.

As Mar shared with us a third Dave Mason book is on the way ash she herself wants to know what happens next to Dave and Ginger.

Meanwhile there is a new “standalone” novel “Payback” soon to hit the shelves.

A California mountain village explodes with the news of the beheading of a popular mayor. But we’re all such nice people here in our little paradise, aren’t we, people ask?

It’s up to Sheriff’s Homicide Detective Dex Stafford to discover who of all these nice people has a dark motive. The village’s Patrol Officer, Holly Seabright, turns out to be a helpful, and attractive, ally in the dangerous unraveling of this fast-paced story.

As a reviewer said…

“Her in-depth research into police work, how the police think and function; the story itself which kept me spellbound to the surprising end. Love her character development. A must for all lovers of mystery. “

I for one agree with that and I could not be more pleased to have Mar Preston as a guest on this 500th show.

So listen now and share an interesting, and entertaining show as I chat with my special guest today on A Book and a Chat with Mar Preston

Barry

Direct link to the show
"A Book and a Chat with Mar Preston"

or you can download the mp3 file of the show from
"Mar Preston"

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"Mar Preston - Rip Off"

Barry Eva (Storyheart)

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A Book and a Chat with Bruce A Sarte

Musician and author Bruce A Sarte makes a welcome return to “A Book and a Chat” today. Previously Bruce was on talking about his vampire thriller “Sands of Time”, and paranormal murder mystery series “Towering Pines Volume One: Room 509”. Now he is back with a new string to his bow, one that looks like it’s going bring him even more success, judging by the reviews so far.

Already votes Night Owl Book Reviews TOP PICK for 2012 “The Philadelphia Story” the first book in his new detective series has been described as “like 1946's The Big Sleep was meeting up with a more modern version of Detective Phillip Marlow"

The book introduces us to private detective Lance Carter, and the series is planned to be standalone reading with a cast that you’ll know, as Bruce compared, a bit like the Sherlock Holmes stories.


About The Philadelphia Story: (Taken from Amazon)

When private detective Lance Carter sipped his cup of coffee while admiring Independence Hall he had no idea where the day’s event would take him. With each sip of the blazingly hot brew his past comes closer and closer pulling him back to one moment in time that he thought was a closed case.

Together with his partner, Linc Diesel, Carter’s well-meaning conscience keeps digging holes that the two of them can’t fill.Who knew that a ten year old girl could bring the full force of Philadelphia’s Asian Mafia down on top of them?

Follow Lance as he roars through the city streets of Philadelphia while he battles the pain of lost love, missed opportunity, good deeds gone wrong and the ultimate battle with the seedy underbelly of Philadelphia!

Author Bruce A. Sarte’s third novel brings fast paced action and thrills! Look for Bruce’s other novels, Sands of Time, Towering Pines Volume One: Room 509 and The Star of Christmas.

This book is I am sure the start of a great run of successes and the reviews are already flooding in.

Readers Favorite stated…

"grabs you from the start and doesn't let you go"..."very well developed characters: both good and bad"...recommended to any lover of detective fiction"!

Following in the shoes of great detectives Lance Carter is I am sure going to prove a huge success.

As one reviewer put it…

I highly recommend Philadelphia Story to those interested in a good detective story, as well as those looking for something to stimulate the imagination. Whether you are new to the genre, or seasoned all the way back to the 1940's and 50's old school detective stories, this one is a must read.

A statement I totally agree with.

So listen now and share an interesting, and entertaining show as I chat with my special guest today on A Book and a Chat with Bruce A Sarte

Barry

Direct link to the show
A Book and a Chat with Bruce A Sarte

or you can download the mp3 file of the show from
"Bruce A Sarte"

You can find out more about my guest and their books at:
"Bruce A Sarte - Philadelphia Story"

Barry Eva (Storyheart)

STARTING JUNE 4th I AM ON MY VIRTUAL BOOK TOUR.
PLEASE STOP BY AND FIND OUT MORE ABOUT ME AND MY NEW BOOK



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A Book and a Chat with Lauren Carr

My guest on today’s “A Book and a Chat” fell Lauren Carr fell in love with mysteries when her mother read Perry Mason to her at bedtime. As she shared with us, her mother thought that no book was worth reading unless there was a body or two in the plot.

She worked as an editor with the federal government, and while there read a book from the library on how to write a screenplay. Using the instructions in this book, she wrote a screenplay and sent it to a literary agent listed in the back of the book. This was the early 1990’s before Internet. Well, a couple of weeks later, she had an agent. Less than a month after that, my screenplay was at Universal Studios with an actor (who I will not name since he dumped her) and a producer who want to make my screenplay into a pilot for a television series.

“That was easy”… or so she thought.

The actor dropped the project for a better offer elsewhere; and the promised pilot collapsed. her agent shopped the screenplay elsewhere and said everyone loved the script, but no one wanted to take a chance on an unknown.

So Lauren dropped the agent and began writing.

Her first two mystery books were the start of the Joshua Thornton Mystery series, “A Small Case of Murder” and “A Reunion to Die For”.

"Joshua Thornton is a hero most sublime, and his five children provide the perfect backdrop for a man searching for the next plateau. Chester, West Virginia is every town, and its inhabitants are fun and pivotal to the plot. “

These have now been followed by a two books in the Mac Faraday Mystery series firstly “It’s Murder, My Son” and now her second book in the series ”Old Loves Die Hard”.

What does a homicide detective do with all his spare time when he comes into a multi-million dollar inheritance and a luxurious estate on Deep Creek Lake? If you’re Mac Faraday, you pursue the lifestyle of a millionaire playboy between solving mysteries.

In Old Loves Die Hard, Lauren Carr continues the rags-to-riches story of Mac Faraday, an underpaid homicide detective who inherits two-hundred-and-seventy million dollars and an estate on Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, from his birth mother on the day his divorce becomes final.

Carr placed the Mac Faraday mysteries on Deep Creek Lake, where she and her family often vacation, because the resort area struck her as the perfect location for a detective. “Deep Creek has everything I love to find in a mystery,” Carr says. “From a diversity of characters to locations either up on the mountain or down on the lake. Deep Creek has it all.”

After years of working as an editor in Washington, Carr gave up life in the big city to return to small town life and her native West Virginia. “I love a good mystery,” said author Lauren Carr. “Growing up in a small community, an argument at the corner store can become a murder by dinner. Making the story a reality on paper is a real thrill.”

In Old Loves Die Hard, Carr picks up where she left off in It’s Murder, My Son. Mac Faraday is settling nicely into his new life at Spencer Manor when his ex-wife Christine shows up—and she wants him back! Before Mac can send her packing, Christine and her estranged lover are murdered in Mac’s private penthouse suite at the Spencer Inn, the five-star resort built by his ancestors.

The investigation leads to the discovery of cases files for some of Mac’s murder cases in the room of the man responsible for destroying his marriage. Why would his ex-wife’s lover come to Spencer to dig into Mac’s old cases?

With the help of his new friends on Deep Creek Lake, Mac must use all of his detective skills to clear his name and the Spencer Inn’s reputation, before its five-stars—and more bodies—start dropping.

With more books on the way, the name Lauren Carr will soon by now mystery to detective story readers.

So listen now and share an interesting, and entertaining show as I chat with my special guest today on A Book and a Chat with Lauren Carr

Barry

Direct link to the show
A Book and a Chat with Lauren Carr

or you can download the mp3 file of the show from
"Lauren Carr"

You can find out more about my guest and their books at:
"Lauren Carr - Old Loves Die Hard"

Barry Eva (Storyheart)

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A Book and a Chat with Stephen Brayton

Stephen Brayton in an interview described himself as “This time traveling guy who flits around the universe in a British police call box. Usually he has a beautiful companion…” knowing he meant the one and only Dr Who, how could I not want an interview this author.

Stephen describes himself as a reader; a writer; an instructor; a graphic designer; a lover of books, movies, wine, women, music, fine food, good humor, sunny summer days spent hiking or fishing; and I'm a catnip drug dealer to my thirteen pound cat, Thomas. He is also a Fifth Degree Black Belt instructor in the American Taekwondo Association, which happens to be one belt higher than Mallory Petersen the hero of his book “Beta”.

Mallory Petersen, a Fourth Degree Black Belt and private investigator, who divides her time between instructing martial arts and taking on clients and cases that are…a little odd.

It's not that she wants bad things to happen to people, but it makes life more interesting when they do.

In “Beta”, Mallory accepts a case to find Cheryl McGee’s kidnapped eight year old daughter, she is pulled into the dark underworld of child pornography. The trail soon leads to the Quad Cities, where Mallory partners with an officer from the Special Case Squad.

As the investigation deepens, Mallory discovers there’s more to the girl's disappearance than her client let on.

This is actually the second book in the Mallory Preston series, the first book being “Alpha”, which is currently under re-write.

Along with the detective series, Stephen has also produced “Night Shadows”

About Night Shadows:

Des Moines Homicide detective Harry Reznik and F.B.I. agent, Lori Campisi, have their hands more than a little full when they team up to investigate a series of gruesome murders.

With life throwing them one obstacle after another, the unlikely pair has no choice but to put their personal issues aside as they battle malevolent creatures from another dimension. With everything to lose, they have no one but each other to count on in a wicked game of survival.

With further Mallory Peterson books, a sequel to Night Shadows, a thriller with a woman who uses Army Ranger skills to survive in the woods after being attacked by four men, and possibly a romance novel, I am sure we’ll hear plenty more about “Stephen Brayton.

So listen now and share an interesting and entertaining show as I spend thirty minutes sharing "A Book and a Chat with Stephen Brayton

Barry

Direct link to the show
A Book and a Chat with Stephen Brayton

or you can download the mp3 file of the show from
"Stephen Brayton"

You can find out more about my guest and their books at:
"Stephen Brayton"

Barry Eva (Storyheart)

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A Book and a Chat with Wayne Zurl

My guest today Wayne Zurl was born in New York and grew up on Long Island. During the Vietnam War he served on active duty with the Army and later in the reserves, after which he worked for twenty years for the Suffolk County, New York Police Department. While writing his debut novel “A New Prospect” his hero Sam Jenkins has been appearing in several short “travel time” audio books, in some ways creating a following before the book or is it the book adding to the audio following? Whichever it was a great pleasure to have Wayne on the show today.

Sam Jenkins the hero of Wayne’s writings has much perhaps to do with Wayne himself as much as some of the characters he’s met through is many years in the police force, though is not all Wayne has been involved with on the creative side. Indeed as he shared with us during the show he was asked to help out with the TV show TOUR OF DUTY in the 1980s, though he did not make it to the filming which was being done in Hawaii.

About “A New Prospect”

Sam Jenkins never thought about being a fish out of water during the twenty years he spent solving crimes in New York. But things change, and after retiring to Tennessee, he gets that feeling. Jenkins becomes a cop again and is thrown headlong into a murder investigation and a steaming kettle of fish, down-home style.

The victim, Cecil Lovejoy, couldn’t have deserved it more. His death was the inexorable result of years misspent and appears to be no great loss, except the prime suspect is Sam’s personal friend.

Jenkins’ abilities are attacked when Lovejoy’s influential widow urges politicians to reassign the case to state investigators.

Feeling like “a pork chop at a bar mitzvah” in his new workplace, Sam suspects something isn’t kosher when the family tries to force him out of the picture.

In true Jenkins style, Sam turns common police practice on its ear to insure an innocent man doesn’t falls prey to an imperfect system and the guilty party receives appropriate justice.

It is a book that will take the reader through all the twists and turns of a great murder mystery, with some laugh out loud moments at times. With the second novel already completed plus the several short stories already there with a growing following I’m sure the names of Sam Jenkins and Wayne Zurl will be around for some time.

So listen to an interesting and hugely entertaining show as I spend thirty minutes sharing "A Book and a Chat with Wayne Zurl"

Barry

Direct link to the show
"A Book and a Chat with Wayne Zurl".

or you can download the mp3 file of the show from
"Wayne Zurl"

You can find out more about my guest and their books at:
"Wayne Zurl - A New Prospect"

Barry Eva (Storyheart)

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Book Information and Things UK - Across the Pond

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A Book and a Chat with William Link

Two Emmys, two Golden Globes, Lifetime Achievement Awards the list goes on and on for my guest today, the one and only William Link. From his only days drawing stories, producing his own comic books and creating his own super heroes, William went on to produce with his boyhood friend Richard Levinson fourteen on-the-air TV series. Columbo the short unkempt, shapeless raincoat, cigar smoking unassuming plainclothes detective was one of these. “Murder She Wrote, Mannix, McCloud, Ellery Queen, The Bold Ones and the Broadway musical “Merlin” the list just goes on and on.


The short and skinny Mr. Link met the tall and skinny Mr. Levinson—both of whom also liked doing magic tricks—on their first day of junior high school. Almost at once, they formed a team and began pulling fictional rabbits out of hats. They sold their first story to Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine while still in college; they wrote theatrical shows at the University of Pennsylvania; and, after a spell at the Wharton School of Business, they partnered to become TV writers

After Dick Levinson’s death in 1987, at 52, Bill continued writing in the short-story form he and his late partner had started with in their high school days. And in a lot of his tales, he cast Columbo as the hero. As Bill says... “He’s the most popular character we ever created; so why not?’”

Whereas most of the TV detective stories come from books, in this case the book is being produced after the TV show, as William launches his book “The Columbo Collection” a brilliant book of twelve new stories in which villains literary try to get away with murder only to find themselves up against the rumpled, crumpled but unflappable Columbo.

It should come as no surprise, perhaps, that the good lieutenant, after all these years, seems right at home between bound covers. Once again, the “Just one more question” statement reactivates those golden days of detective stories in this wonderful series of new stories.

From anecdotes to characters, from what he is writing now to how there was a school on investigation based on the Columbo way of getting to the murderer, the show was full of entertainment and enjoyment.

So sit back and enjoy an entertaining thirty minutes of a "Book and a Chat with William Link".

Barry

Direct link to the show
"A Book and a Chat with William Link"

or you can download the mp3 file of the show from
"William Link"

You can find out more about my guest and their books at:
"William Link - The Columbo Collection"


Next Saturday, October 23rd I will be a panelist at...www.writeanglesconference.org http://writeanglesblog.wordpress.com

Don't Forget November is MALE YA MONTH



Barry Eva (Storyheart)

My Blogs:

Book Information and Things UK - Across the Pond

Book and a Chat Radio Show Guests - A Book and a Chat

Funny, Weird Or Just Interesting News From Around the World - Laugh I Thought My Trousers Would Never dry

A Book and a Chat with Sam Hilliard

One of the things about my guest on today’s “A Book and a Chat” was that he was baptized on five different occasions—once in the back of a speeding Dodge Satellite—before reaching the age of six months. The family it seems had taken matters into their own hands had worried his father’s procrastination and daredevil driving would prevent the ceremony from ever happening.

Perhaps because of this my chat with today’s guest “Sam Hilliard” started with a phone call that sounded like it was coming from underwater, I did wonder if it was yet another baptism.

However eventually we got sorted and went on to discuss both Sam, and his book “The Last Track” which is the first but by no means the last of the “Mike Brody” series.

So who is “Mike Brody”?

Mike Brody is the man you want, when the one you love is missing. He’s able to tap into the memories and emotional charges left behind by the missing in their tracks and visualize the events that led to their disappearance. The series will follow the adventures of Mike, his ex-wife Jessica and a cast of recurring characters, as he moves from case to case, searching for that mission that will finally heal his childhood wounds.

In this first book The Last Track, Mike is pulled in by the police to help find an asthmatic boy lost in the dense woods surrounding a dude ranch in Montana. An unwitting murder witness, the boy burrows ever deeper into the rugged terrain, fearful of being found. As Mike and a local officer search for the boy, the killer follows them.
While the investigation expands, Mike’s ex-wife, a well-connected journalist, uses her contacts to unravel the truth behind the murder. Her discoveries threaten to snare them all in a treacherous conspiracy.
During the show Sam discussed his journey to publication as well as his plans for possibly another seven books in the series.

So listen and enjoy this entertaining author, on todays "A Book and a Chat with Sam Hilliard""

Barry

Direct link to the show
"A Book and a Chat with Sam Hilliard"

or you can download the mp3 file of the show from
"Sam Hilliard"

You can find out more about my guest and their book at:
"Sam Hilliard - The Last Track"

Barry Eva (Storyheart)

My Blogs:

Book Information and Things UK - Across the Pond

Book and a Chat Radio Show Guests - A Book and a Chat

Funny, Weird Or Just Interesting News From Around the World - Laugh I Thought My Trousers Would Never dry

A Book and a Chat with "James Hayman"

Someone is stealing the hearts of beautiful young woman... Find out more about his as I chat with James Hayman a tremendous new voice in crime fiction. About him and and fantastic debut novel "The Cutting"

Listen to James as he tells us all about his writing experience that lead him to write this great new novel, how he links with his hero Mike McCabe, not counting the support of the New york Giants.

You will learn about both James and his hero, how the writing of the story developed and how James got an agent via a cocktail party and his book took off from there.

James also shares with us news about his second book as well.

So why not sit back and listen to this interesting and entertaining chat

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/across-the-pond/2009/11/17/a-book-and-a-chat-james-hayman

or you can download the mp3 file of the show from

James Hayman Show


You can find out more about James and his new book at

James Hayman - The Cutting


Barry



BARRY EVA (Storyheart)

Author of Young Adult Romance/Fiction book
"Across the Pond"