Novel Anticipation - August 2012

August may be a slight month when it comes to the number of books I anticipate reading, but I'm excited that two of my must-read authors--Laura Frantz and William Kent Krueger--have books releasing. My reading list might be slim, yet quality. I'm also intrigued by a new release from an author I haven't read before, Julie L. Cannon.

LOVE'S RECKONING

Ballantyne Legacy Series #1

by Laura Frantz

Revell

432 pages

To my delight I received my complimentary copy of Love's Reckoning from Revell this past Saturday. In my estimation, Laura Frantz is one of the premier authors of historical fiction in the CBA. She's not a formula writer--which I greatly appreciate--and reading her prose is like hearing a symphony. Add to that, she's a vivid painter of scene so the reader is placed right in the middle of action, and her characters are rich and three-dimensional. I have no doubt that I will enjoy Love's Reckoning just as much as I have her past novels, The Frontiersman's Daughter, Courting Morrow Little, and The Colonel's Lady.

Book Description

    On a bitter December day in 1785, Silas Ballantyne arrives at the door of master blacksmith Liege Lee in York, Pennsylvania. Just months from becoming a master blacksmith himself, Silas is determined to finish his apprenticeship and move west. But Liege soon discovers that Silas is a prodigious worker and craftsman and endeavors to keep him in Lancaster. Silas becomes interested in both of Liege's daughters, the gentle and faith-filled Eden and the clever and high-spirited Elspeth. When he chooses one, will the other's jealousy destroy their love?

For more Spire Reviews' posts regarding Laura Frantz's work click <here>.

TRICKSTER'S POINT

by William Kent Krueger

Atria Books

336 pages

William Kent Krueger is a fellow Minnesotan who sets many of his stories in picturesque northern Minnesota. That alone makes his work intriguing, but its his superb storytelling that keeps luring me back for more. The majority of Krueger's work centers around Cork O'Connor who's part Irish and part Anishinaabe Indian. He's a former Chicago cop, former small-town Sheriff, turned private investigator. His books are not Christian and if you're offended by rough language (which he uses sparingly), then his books may not be for you. But his novels always include a spiritual element, one that favors Christianity as opposed to mocking it. If you haven't read William Kent Krueger before, I highly recommend giving him a try. And if you are the type of reader who needs to start at Book #1 in a series, pick up Iron Lake. You won't be disappointed.  

Book Description

    Cork O'Connor is sitting in the shadow of a towering monolith known as Trickster's Point, deep in the Minnesota wilderness. Beside him is the first Native American governor-elect, Jubal Little, who is slowly dying with an arrow through his heart. Although the men have been bow hunting, this is no accident. The arrow in the governor's heart belongs to Cork.

    When he becomes the primary suspect in the murder, Cork understands full well that he's been set up. As he works to clear his name and track the real killer, he recalls his long, complex relationship with Jubal, the Native kid who aspired to be a populist politician and grew to become a cunning man capable of treachery and murder. As Cork looks deeply into his own past, he comes face to face with the many motives, good and ill, that lead men and women into the difficult, sometimes deadly, political arena.

List of Corcoran (Cork) O'Connor novels, click <here>.

For more Spire Reviews' posts regarding William Kent Krueger's work click <here>.

TWANG

by Julie L. Cannon

Abingdon Press

320 Pages

Author Julie Cannon is new to me, but the concept of Twang has me intrigued. My daughter's dream is to become a performer so any novels that chronicle a music star's life pique my interest. Hopefully, when I'm done reading Twang, I'll have one more author to add to my must-read list.

Book Description

    Twenty-three-year-old Jennifer Clodfelter believes she is destined to be a country music star. When her passion, determination and homemade demo tape were rejected by every music label in Nashville, she refused to give up. In just three years, a combination of guts and raw talent have propelled her on a journey of fame beyond her best dream.

    Now Jennifer has all she ever wanted, only to discover that there is a dark side to the glitz and number one hits. She will have to decide whether to sing her pain to a loving audience or find the courage to face the music in the private studio of her heart.

Novel Anticipation ... August Releases

For readers, there's nothing quite as exciting as having a bedstand full of books begging to be read. It's like eating supper while that piece of French silk pie calls your name from the refrigerator. You're tempted to skip supper altogether.

My bedstand is always full, but there are a handful authors who put out only one book per year, thus testing my patience.

Two of my favorite authors release their books in late August, two very different authors. Regardless of your reading tastes, I recommend both highly.

THE COLONEL'S LADY
by Laura Frantz

Revell, August 2011

In 1779, when genteel Virginia spinster Roxanna Rowan arrives at the Kentucky fort commanded by Colonel Cassius McLinn, she finds that her officer father has died. Penniless and destitute, Roxanna is forced to take her father's place as scrivener. Before long, it's clear that the colonel himself is attracted to her. But she soon realizes the colonel has grave secrets of his own--some of which have to do with her father's sudden death. Can she ever truly love him?

Okay, I'm cheating a bit with this one as I've just finished reading The Colonel's Lady and no longer have to anticipate reading it, but I had to include Laura Frantz on this list. She writes historical romance, a genre I tend to stay away from, but Frantz's delivery is completely different from the majority of hist/rom writers. Her stories are neither cookie-cutter nor predicatable (elements that will often bore me) and her prose is lyrical (which I love). It's clear she spends much time listening to the cadence of her words. She also has a unique way of placing the reader in amidst the action, painting scenes in vivid color. My only disappointment, when it comes to Laura Frantz, is that I have to wait a year for her next work.


 

NORTHWEST ANGLE
by William Kent Krueger

Atria Books, August 2011

During a houseboat vacation on the remote Lake of the Woods, a violent gale sweeps through unexpectedly, stranding Corcoran O'Connor (Cork) and his daughter, Jenny, on a devastated island where the wind has ushered in a force far darker and more deadly than any storm.

Amid the wreckage, Cork and Jenny discover an old trapper’s cabin where they find the body of a teenage girl. She wasn’t killed by the storm, however; she’d been bound and tortured before she died. Whimpering sounds coming from outside the cabin lead them to a tangle of branches toppled by the vicious winds. Underneath the debris, they find a baby boy, hungry and dehydrated, but still very much alive. Powerful forces intent on securing the child pursue them to the isolated Northwest Angle, where it’s impossible to tell who among the residents is in league with the devil. Cork understands that to save his family he must solve the puzzle of this mysterious child whom death follows like a shadow.

For those of you who haven't discovered William Kent Krueger yet, I highly encourage you to pick up one of his Corcoran O'Connor (Cork) books. Cork, part Ojibwe-part Irish, is the former sheriff of a northern Minnesota county. His heritage alone creates conflict. While this probably isn't a book you'd place in your church library, Krueger respects faith issues and often includes faith elements in his novels.

His books stand alone and don't have to be read in order, but if you're like me, you'll want to pick up the first in the Corcoran O'Connor series, Iron Lake. Then you won't want to stop until you reach Northwest Angle.

I'm curious ...

Who are your favorite authors? Which authors do you anticipate reading every year? Do you have a favorite series?

Nick of Time

by Tim Downs

Thomas Nelson, 2011
336 pages

Page Turning Murder Mystery

As fiction readers, many of us know a fictional character or two we love seeing in action on an annual basis. After following their adventures for a few years, you feel you know the character intimately. Some of my personal favorites are Steven James' Patrick Bowers, Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch, William Kent Krueger's Corcoran O'Connor, and Vince Flynn's Mitch Rapp. Each of these characters are highly defined. They have specific and unique traits, and they're all very human, not immune to mistakes, misjudgments, and failures.

One of my all-time favorite characters would be highly insulted if you called him human: Tim Downs' bug man, Nick Polchak. Nick is a forensic entomologist, which means he studies bugs on dead people. He finds bugs far more fascinating--and definitely more reliable--than the human species from which he likes to keep his distance.

But in Downs' latest, Nick of Time, things change. You see, Nick is engaged to be married (to another wonderfully quirky character, Alena) and his wedding is coming up within a week. Yet, even with his impending nuptials, Nick decides to attend an out-of-town meeting leaving Alena behind to finalize wedding plans.

The problem is, when he arrives at the meeting, his good friend, who would never miss the meeting, isn't there. Naturally, Nick has to go look for him. And finds him dead.

Now Nick completely disregards the fact that he's supposed to get married on Saturday and strikes out to find his friend's murderer. Add to that, Alena begins her own investigation as she searches for Nick, and you've got a page-turning mystery.

In Nick of Time, Polchak's sarcastic wit is back in full force. His dialogue is rife with tactless honesty and he says things that many of us probably want to say but are too nice. Even in the middle of a murder mystery I find myself chuckling out loud.

My one complaint about Downs' writing is that the dialogue sounds the same no matter who is speaking and each of his characters seem to have the same sardonic wit. If Downs could make his characters' voices unique and give them a disparate personality, his writing would greatly improve. But, I'm willing to forgive this one flaw since I enjoy Nick Polchak so much.

What I really liked in this book was seeing Nick "evolve" into a human. In a "lightbulb" moment, Nick finally realizes who is is ... and what he is not ...

And what is truly important in life.

The question is, does he realize that in the Nick of Time, or he is too late?

Tim Downs is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Indiana University. After graduation in 1976 he created a comic strip, Downstown, which was syndicated by Universal Press Syndicate until 1986. His cartooning has appeared in more than a hundred major newspapers worldwide.  His first book, a work of non-fiction, was awarded the Gold Medallion Award in 2000, and his third novel, PlagueMaker, was awarded the Christy Award for best CBA suspense novel of 2007. Tim lives in Cary, North Carolina, with his wife Joy.

Learn more about Tim Downs at http://www.timdowns.net/