Book Tour/Feature Post and Book Review: Margaret Truman’s Murder at the CDC by Jon Land

Murder at the CDC

by Jon Land

February 14 – March 11, 2022 Virtual Book Tour

Hi, everyone!

Today is my turn on the Partners In Crime Virtual Book Tour and I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for Margaret Truman’s MURDER AT THE CDC (A Capital Crimes Novel Book #32) by Jon Land.

Below you will find a book description, my book review an excerpt from the book, the author’s bio and social media links and a Rafflecopter giveaway. Enjoy!

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Book Description

2017: A military transport on a secret run to dispose of its deadly contents vanishes without a trace.

The present: A mass shooting on the steps of the Capitol nearly claims the life of Robert Brixton’s grandson.

No stranger to high-stakes investigations, Brixton embarks on a trail to uncover the motive behind the shooting. On the way he finds himself probing the attempted murder of the daughter his best friend, who works at the Washington offices of the CDC. The connection between the mass shooting and Alexandra’s poisoning lies in that long-lost military transport that has been recovered by forces determined to change America forever. Those forces are led by radical separatist leader Deacon Frank Wilhyte, whose goal is nothing short of bringing on a second Civil War.

Brixton joins forces with Kelly Lofton, a former Baltimore homicide detective. She has her own reasons for wanting to find the truth behind the shooting on the Capitol steps, and is the only person with the direct knowledge Brixton needs. But chasing the truth places them in the cross-hairs of both Wilhyte’s legions and his Washington enablers.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57693174-murder-at-the-cdc?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=65KXT5tqqv&rank=1

Murder at the CDC

Genre: Political Thriller
Published by: Forge
Publication Date: February 15, 2022
Number of Pages: 304
ISBN: 978-1250238894
Series: Margaret Truman’s Capital Crimes, #32 | Each is a stand alone work.

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My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

MURDER AT THE CDC (A Capital Crimes Novel Book #32) by Jon Land is the latest political/crime thriller in this long running series started by Margaret Truman. This is the second book in the series that Jon Land has written, and he does a great job of giving the reader continuity with the previous books. It is an exciting crime/political thriller filled with “what-ifs” extrapolated from today’s headlines. These books can all be easily read as standalone novels.

Robert Brixton comes close once again to losing a loved one when his grandson in caught up in a mass shooting incident on the Capital’s steps. As he begins to investigate the motive for the shooting, he is also asked by his long-time friend to meet with his daughter who works for the CDC in their Washington office who he believes is in trouble. She ends up in the hospital fighting for her life from an unknown poison.

Brixton joins forces with Kelly Lofton who works for the Capital police and the two discover a scheme to change America forever with a bioweapon believed lost on a long-ago military transport.

I love these types of thrillers when they are well written as this one is. They are just plausible enough to be scarily believable and thank goodness there is always someone of principle to stand in the way of all the evil doers. Fast paced, action packed and full of twists, I could not put the book down. All the characters, good and bad, were well drawn. There are a very few times the pace slows down a bit, but the information given at these times is interesting and adds to the escalating consequences of the protagonists not saving the day.

I really enjoy reading Mr. Land’s additions to this series, and I am looking forward to reading many more in the future.

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Excerpt

CHAPTER 1

“The hand of God is upon You! He is my shepherd and I shall not want!”

Those were the last words high school sophomore Ben McDonald heard before the shooting started. He and the other students clustered around him from the Gilman School in Maryland were on a school field trip to the Capitol Building from their Baltimore prep school, the first such trip taken since academic life returned to a degree of normalcy following the endless coronavirus nightmare. Everyone had shown up in their school uniforms, the buses had left on schedule, and the students felt like pioneers, explorers blazing a trail back into the world beyond shutdowns and social distancing.

The reduction in Capitol tour group size was still in force and had necessitated the two bus-loads of students to be divided into five groups of fifteen, give or take, three chaperones allotted to each. Ben and his twin brother Robbie’s group had gone first and they had found themselves lingering on the Capitol steps, taking pictures and chatting away with their local congressman and senator who’d come out to greet and mingle with the students on the steps at the building’s east front.

“Why are you still wearing a mask?” one of them had asked the congressman, but Ben had already forgotten the answer.

He remembered checking the time on his phone just before he heard the first shots. Ben thought they were firecrackers at first, realizing the truth a breath later when the screams began and bodies started flying.

“I am doing the Lord’s work! I am a sacrifice to his word!”

Somehow Ben gleaned those words through the screams and incessant hail of fire. The shots were coming so fast he wasn’t sure if the shooter was firing on semi or full auto. The boy never actually saw him as more than a shape amid the blur before him, enveloping his vision like a dull haze. The thin sheer curtain drawn over his eyes didn’t keep him from recording bodies crumpling, keeling over, tumbling down the steps. The force of a bullet’s momentum slammed a classmate into him, sparing Ben the ensuing fusillade that turned the other boy’s back into a pin cushion.

My brother!

The panic and shock of those initial seconds had stolen thought of Robbie from him. He wheeled about, covered in the blood of boy who had dropped off the scene.

“Robbie!”

Did he cry out his name or only think it? The steps around him looked blanketed in khaki and blue, pants and blazers that made up his Gilman uniform. The sound of gunfire continued to resound in his ears, but he wasn’t sure the shooter was still firing because no more bodies seemed to be falling. People were running in all directions, crying and screaming, Ben remaining frozen out of fear for his brother.

“Robbie!”

He saw his brother’s sandy blond hair draped down from one of the marble steps onto another. Nothing else at first, just the hair. Maybe he had dove atop a friend who’d been wounded to spare that kid more fire—that was Robbie. But there was no one beneath Him, and . . . And . . .

He wasn’t moving, his arms stretched to the sides on angles that looked all wrong. Ben dropped to his knees next to Robbie, his pants sinking into pooling patches of blood which merged and thickened beneath him. He felt something pinching him along right side of his ribcage and saw his blue shirt darkening with a spreading wave of red in the last moment before he collapsed next to his brother.

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Author Bio

JON LAND is the USA Today bestselling author of fifty-eight books, including eleven in the critically acclaimed Texas Ranger Caitlin Strong series, the most recent of which, Strong from the Heart, won the 2020 American Fiction Award for Best Thriller and the 2020 American Book Fest Award for Best Mystery/Suspense Novel. Additionally, he has teamed up with Heather Graham for a science fiction series that began with THE RISING (winner of the 2017 International Book Award for best Sci-fi Novel) and continues with BLOOD MOON, to be published in November of 2022. He has also written six books in the Murder, She Wrote series of mysteries and has more recently taken over Margaret Truman’s Capital Crimes series, with his second effort, MURDER AT THE CDC, to be published in February of 2022. Jon is known as well for writing the film DIRTY DEEDS, a teen comedy starring Milo Ventimiglia and Zoe Saldana, which was released in 2005. A graduate of Brown University, he received the 2019 Rhode Island Authors Legacy Award for his lifetime of literary achievements.

Purchase Links

Amazon  

Barnes & Noble 

Goodreads

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RAFFLECOPTER GIVEAWAY

https://kingsumo.com/g/isv9i5/murder-at-the-cdc-by-jon-land

Feature Post and Book Review: Undercover K-9 Cowboy by Addison Fox

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for Harlequin Romantic Suspense UNDERCOVER K-9 COWBOY by Addison Fox. (My apologies to Harlequin for not quite making the timeline for the Investigators Winter 2022 Blog Tour.)

Below you will find a book description, my book review, an excerpt from the book, an about the author section and the author’s social media links. Enjoy!

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Book Description

A by-the-book Fed…gone rogue for justice

To stop the drug epidemic ravaging Midnight Pass, FBI agent Ryder Durant reluctantly takes matters into his own hands. Poised to set a trap at Reynolds Station, he has to contend with Arden Reynolds—who prefers Ryder’s K-9 to the Fed protecting her family. As Ryder and Arden spar, embers spring into flame. And those flames are as dangerous as the crime ring lurking too close to home…

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58602448-undercover-k-9-cowboy?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=MU10D3NeH1&rank=1

Feel the excitement in these uplifting romances, part of the Midnight Pass, Texas series:

Book 1: The Cowboy’s Deadly Mission
Book 2: Special Ops Cowboy
Book 3: Under the Rancher’s Protection

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My Book Review

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

UNDERCOVER K-9 COWBOY (Midnight Pass, Texas Book #4) by Addison Fox is the final romantic suspense in the Midnight Pass, Texas books and it was a good conclusion to the series. The youngest Reynolds family member meets the FBI agent and his K-9 companion who may finally be able to break down her wall of emotional self-protection while also ridding the Reynolds ranch of the cartel drug runners using their land.

FBI agent Ryder Durant and his canine companion have been working with the police force in Midnight Pass to stop the cartel’s from using the large tracts of land on the major ranches for drug running. To stop the drug epidemic, he wants to set a trap on Reynolds Station. He learns he must first get the cooperation of Arden Reynolds, who is not impressed with the agent, but he is very impressed with her.

Arden Reynolds has watched her three brothers find true love and now a handsome FBI agent wants to put them in danger with an operation on their land. She trusts the agent’s canine companion more than the agent or any other handsome, cocky man having been hurt in the past, but she wants the ranch to be safe for future Reynold generations.

As the sparks fly the danger is closer than they know.

I enjoyed this conclusion to the series. The romance is a little heavier than the suspense in this story, but I still felt the suspense portion of the plot was tied up nicely. Arden is a very strong female character, and the author does a good job of making her past grief believable and a reasonable excuse for her not moving on. Ryder is her perfect foil as he continually tries to get Arden to open up and let him in. He does not give up. I loved Murphy, Ryder’s K-9 companion and always enjoy a dog addition to a story. Even though this is the fourth and final book in the series, it can be read as a standalone.

An enjoyable romantic suspense read and final book in the Midnight Pass series.

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Excerpt

“You want answers?”

“I do.” Arden said.

“Then I want a few of my own first.”

Although she didn’t say anything, anticipation lit her blue eyes. It surprised him how that struck somewhere low in his gut. Like he was enjoying getting a reaction—any reaction—from her.

“You don’t like me very much, and I’d like to know why.”

That small light winked out, fading away as if it had never been. “I have nothing against you.”

“I’d say you do. You have since the first time we met.” Ryder tilted his head toward the wide-open window beside them. “Right out there on Main Street.”

He remembered the moment well. It had been a pretty fall day and he’d tied Murphy up outside the coffee shop to bask in the sun for a few minutes while he ran in to snag a quick cup. The night before, he’d run his first op since coming to Midnight Pass and was pretty much subsisting on fumes. He’d come back out to find Arden, expectantly waiting for him, full of barely veiled insult and clear irritation that he’d left his dog outside.

“I wasn’t aware that Murphy was a working dog that day. I may have been a bit terse.”

“And the other night? At your place?”

“I—” She stopped, clearly considering her words. He was surprised to find that he had the patience to wait for whatever it was she had to say. “I don’t appreciate cocky arrogance.”

“You live on a ranch full of testosterone-fueled cowboys. And in a town full of the same. Surely you come up against a bit of cocky banter now and again?”

“That’s an excuse for it?”

“It’s a fact. I’d have thought you’d be used to it by now.”

“It doesn’t mean I have to like it.” Her tone was prim and her already strong, fit posture stiffened a few more degrees north.

Ryder was good at his job because he knew how to read people. It was also what made him a good K-9 handler. He paid attention and he read situations before reacting. And every instinct he possessed read this one as arising from something that had specifically happened to her.

With someone who had hurt her.

Someone, Ryder suspected, who had been cocky and arrogant and likely unkind to her.

***

About the Author

Addison Fox is a lifelong romance reader, addicted to happy-ever-afters. She loves writing about romance as much as reading it. Addison lives in New York with an apartment full of books, a laptop that’s rarely out of sight and a wily beagle who keeps her running.

Social Media Links

Author’s Website: https://www.addisonfox.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/addisonfoxauthor

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com@addisonfox

Purchase Links

IndieBound: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781335759597 

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Undercover-Cowboy-Midnight-Pass-Texas-ebook/dp/B099ZYXL8K/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=UNDERCOVER+K-9+COWBOY+by+Addison+Fox&qid=1637001968&qsid=133-7575147-1798556&sr=8-1&sres=B099ZYXL8K%2C1335456260&srpt=ABIS_EBOOKS 

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/undercover-k-9-cowboy-addison-fox/1139886440?ean=9781335759597 

Harlequin.com: https://www.harlequin.com/shop/books/9781335759597_undercover-k-9-cowboy.html

Book Tour/Feature Post and Book Review: The Ghosts of Thorwald Place by Helen Power

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review on the Blackthorn Book Tour for THE GHOSTS OF THORWALD PLACE by Helen Power.

Below you will find an about the book section, my book review, an about the author section and the book’s purchase link. Enjoy!

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About the Book

Trust no one. Especially your neighbors.

Rachel Drake is on the run from the man who killed her husband. She never leaves her safe haven in an anonymous doorman building, until one night a phone call sends her running. On her way to the garage, she is murdered in the elevator. But her story doesn’t end there.

She finds herself in the afterlife, tethered to her death spot, her reach tied to the adjacent apartments. As she rides the elevator up and down, the lives of the residents intertwine. Every one of them has a dark secret. An aging trophy wife whose husband strays. A surgeon guarding a locked room. A TV medium who may be a fraud. An ordinary man with a mysterious hobby. Compelled to spend eternity observing her neighbors, she realizes that any one of them could be her killer. And then, her best friend shows up to investigate her murder.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57933772-the-ghosts-of-thorwald-place?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=kz9FTFkkBj&rank=1

The Ghosts of Thorwald Place

  • Genre:  Paranormal thriller
  • Print length: 351 pages
  • Age range: This is an adult book but suitable for mature teens age 16+
  • Trigger warnings: Violent deaths, ghosts, domestic violence, brief reference to severe self harm by a child; pet death.
  • Formats available for the Tour: all standard electronic formats (sorry, no paperbacks)
  • Amazon Rating: 5 stars

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My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

THE GHOSTS OF THORWALD PLACE by Helen Power is a superb paranormal thriller and debut book from this new-to-me author. I could not put it down!

Rachel Drake is her pseudonym as she lives in the security building her policewoman friend found for her as hides from the man she believes killed her husband. She works from home and discourages any neighborly overtures. But one night, she receives a call that sends her running straight into the man who kills her in her apartment building’s elevator.

She is now a ghost, tethered to the elevator she was murdered in. She is able to enter the apartments surrounding the elevator, but only to a point. As she rides the elevator, she begins to discover many of her fellow Thorwald Place residents are hiding terrible secrets and she is not the only ghost on the premises.

Rachel is now drawn to the neighbors she ignored while she was alive and wonders what she needs to do to or who she needs to help so that she can move on and possibly uncover her killer.

This paranormal thriller is perfectly plotted to continually keep the reader on the edge of their seat. The thriller plotline is full of surprising twists and misdirection that just keep coming and the paranormal plotline keeps the creepy factor at its height. I was captivated by all the neighbors lives and secrets and it makes you wonder how many secrets go on behind apartment doors in nonfictional buildings. I do not believe I have read another thriller like this. This is a clever paranormal thriller read with a great cast of fully developed characters and a perfectly paced plot.

I highly recommend this unique read!

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About the Author

Helen Power is an academic librarian living in Saskatoon, Canada. In her spare time, she haunts deserted cemeteries, loses her heart to dashing thieves, and cracks tough cases, all from the comfort of her writing nook. She has several short story publications, including ones in Suspense Magazine, Hinnom Magazine, and Dark Helix Press’s Canada 150 anthology, “Futuristic Canada”. Her stories range from comedy to horror, with just a hint of dystopia in between. The Ghosts of Thorwald Place is her first novel.

Purchase Link

http://mybook.to/Amazon_GhostsThorwald

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: Olive Bright, Pigeoneer and A Valiant Deceit by Stephanie Graves

Elise’s Thoughts

Olive Bright Pigeoneer and A Valiant Deceit by Stephanie Graves are the latest books in her new historical mystery series. It features Olive Bright, a spirited young pigeon fancier who finds herself working for a secret British intelligence agency, while in her spare time solving mysteries. These books are set in England during World War II where the reader gets a close look at life in a small English town.

The first book has twenty-two-year-old Olive Bright helping at her father’s veterinary practice and tending to her beloved racing pigeons. Desperate to do her bit, Olive hopes that the National Pigeon Service will enlist Bright Lofts’ expertise, and use their highly trained birds to deliver critical, coded messages for His Majesty’s Forces. But it was not the National Pigeon Service that recruits her but a secret intelligence organization, Baker Street. Captain Jameson Aldridge and his associate are tied to this covert British intelligence organization. If Olive wants her pigeons to help the war effort, she must do so in complete secrecy, which includes using the cover story of a fake romance with the captain as she prepares her birds to help with covert operations.

To protect the secrecy of their work Olive and Aldridge continue their ruse of being romantically involved, a task made difficult when both realize they have feelings for the other.  Neither will admit their desires. Olive is intelligent, spunky, brave, at times reckless, and energetic. Aldridge is gruff, enigmatic, at times condescending, prickly, and brash.

The second book has Olive continuing her adventures in helping the war effort and solving mysteries.  She is a FANY, First Aid Nursing Yeomanry, hoping she can step up her involvement in the war effort.  Her pigeons are being conscripted to aid the Belgian resistance, and it’s up to Olive to choose the best birds for the mission, even looking for some in her dovecote that have Belgian heritage.

The first book is more of mystery where Olive must solve the killing of a community busybody Miss Husselbee in the small town of Pipley in Hertfordshire Bustles. She resolves to use the skills she’s learned from reading Agatha Christie novels to solve the crime.

The second book is more of a thriller after Lt. Jeremy Beckett, an instructor at Station XVII, the top-secret training school, housed at Brickendonbury Manor, is found dead. Even though the police determine his death to be an accident, Olive feels there are suspicious circumstances considering Beckett was carrying a coded message in his pocket and a map of Germany clutched in one hand. In both books she stops at nothing to find the truth, including risking her own life.  Olive is becoming a very good investigator as she uses the tools of Hercule Poirot, her literary hero.

These books are great reads with the witty dialogue, responses, one-liners, and banter between the two characters. The mystery storyline had plenty of suspects, suspicious behavior, clues, and red herrings. A bonus were the fascinating tidbits about the role of the pigeons during World War II as part of the British spy operations.  These books show why Graves did not have a sophomore jinx.

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Elise’s Author Interview

Elise Cooper:  How did you get the idea for the series?

Stephanie Graves:  A long time ago, when my kids were little, I took them to see “Valiant,” The Disney movie, loosely based on the contributions of pigeons during WWII.  The blurb at the end of the movie captivated me.  After writing romance novels, I decided to try writing historical fiction set in WWII.  It was waiting in the wings at the back of my brain and took off from there.  My research was very interesting and helped me develop the story.

EC:  How would you describe Olive?

SG:  A tomboy, optimistic, determined, impulsive, and helpful.  She wants to do her bit for the war effort.  She always wants to see justice done.  She has a fighting spirit, resourceful, intuitive, at times argumentative.

EC:  The role of the pigeons?

SG:  I hope readers get a glimpse through the facts provided. Olive did name the pigeons after children’s literature characters, including Mary Poppins. They have a significant role in the book considering they are the reason Olive gets involved with the British intelligence organization.  From her perspective the birds are doing the work while she selects them, trains them, and feeds them. The birds are the ones taking all the risks:  getting killed by snipers or eaten by other animals.  In book one it was a letdown for her.  In book two it is a way to do more for the war effort to be in the thick of it all.

EC:  How would you describe Captain Jamie Aldridge?

SG:  A sort of by the book person.  He is a bit resentful because of his injury and must be at a desk job.  He is serious, cautious, at times disagreeable, condescending, and sarcastic. He is uncomfortable around cats.

EC:  How about the relationship?

SG:  At first Aldridge is resentful of Olive and does not appreciate her being so argumentative. He tries to reign her impulsiveness in because he is worried about her safety. They know how to push each other’s buttons. In book one it was very prickly where she did not like him at all, felt he had no need to interact with her, and was very irritated with her.  He was grumpy and she was exasperated with him.  At the end of book two they are coming to understand and respect each other with a connection. There is a subtle affection. He has a soft spot for her but does not want to acknowledge it, while she is frustrated.

EC:  What about the role of WWII and the mystery?

SG:  In the first book the mystery aspect is detached from what is going on in the war. It is more about the killing of a villager. In the second book, that murder is on the war side. I also explain in the second book how the Germans confiscated and killed pigeons, which played a role in the mystery. They were aware of how the Allies used pigeons. They trained Falcons to intercept as the pigeons were flying home across the channel.

EC:  Please explain a FANY?

SG:  FANY stands for First Aid Nursing Yeomanry.  It started before the First World War.  Originally, they were like combat medics working between the field hospitals and the front line. Into WWII they expanded a lot including mechanics, driving ambulances, and nursing.  They really did everything.  Some of them became actual secret agents themselves.  Whatever was necessary the FANY would do it.

EC:  In the first book Olive was acting like Miss Marple but in the second book acted like Poirot?

SG:  Poirot was a character of Christie. Most of her books are Miss Marple or Poirot, Olive’s favorite.  Poirot likes to make lists, asks questions, and feels the murderer must be found at all costs. She wanted to take a page from him.

EC:  Next book?

SG:  The working title is A Courage Undimmed and will be out in a year.  It is another Olive book, still working as a FANY and unofficially training to be an agent. There is also a village mystery with a visit from the actual Ian Fleming.

THANK YOU!!

BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.

Book Tour/Feature Post and Book Review: The Man With the Golden Mind by Tom Vater

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review on the Blackthorn Book Tour for THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN MIND (Detective Maier Mystery Book #2) by Tom Vater.

Below you will find an about the book section, my book review, an about the author section and the author’s social media links. Enjoy!

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About the Book

Detective Maier has a new case. This time it is a cold case: investigating the death of Julia Rendel’s father, an East German culture attaché who was killed near a fabled CIA airbase in central Laos in 1976.

But before the detective can set off, his client is kidnapped right out of his arms. Maier follows Julia’s trail to the Laotian capital Vientiane, where he learns different parties, including his missing client, are searching for a legendary CIA file crammed with Cold War secrets.

The real prize, however, is the file’s author: someone codenamed Weltmeister, a former US and Vietnamese spy and assassin no one has seen for a quarter century. Racing against time, Maier needs to dig deep into the past – including his own – in order to make sense of the present.

The second book in Tom Vater’s Detective Maier Mysteries series, The Man With The Golden Mind is an action-packed thriller with plenty of sex, drugs, assassinations and double-crosses.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18490900-the-man-with-the-golden-mind?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=inYT8WylWK&rank=1

The Man With the Golden Mind

Detective Maier Mystery Book #2

  • Genre: Crime
  • Print length: 239
  • Suitable for young adults? No
  • Trigger warnings: graphic violence
  • Amazon Rating: 4.5 stars

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My Book Review

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN MIND (Detective Maier Mystery Book #2) by Tom Vater is the second noir crime fiction/spy thriller which takes the reader on an intriguing, atmospheric and thrilling trip into Asia with German war correspondent turned private investigator Maier. While his last adventure took him back to Cambodia, this time he is sent to investigate a twenty-five-year-old case in Laos.

Julia Rendel hires Maier to investigate what happened to her East German cultural attaché father who was murdered twenty-five-years-ago in Long Cheng, a CIA run airbase in Laos during the Vietnamese war. Before the two can even begin their journey to Laos, Julia is kidnapped right from under Maier in their hotel room.

Maier arrives in Laos and is immediately dragged along by circumstances rather than following a step-by-step investigation. Maier learns his information is far from complete and he ends up searching not only for his missing client and answers from the past, but also a cache of gold, a legendary CIA file and a spy who does not wish to come in from the cold.

I found the intriguing and unique characters, the vividly drawn atmosphere and locations and the surprising twists and action kept me turning the pages. There are a lot of characters to keep track of, but eventually they sort themselves out and the plot moves along at a fast pace. I was surprised by the return of a character from the first book and with his return comes a very unexpected plot twist. The author steeped me in the atmosphere and culture of Laos, past and present which made it a unique read. While this is not an easy book to read, the characters, location and plot all come together to make it a very special noir crime fiction/spy thriller book to read.

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About the Author

Tom Vater is an Asia-based writer.

He has published some 20 books – four novels, nonfiction, illustrated books and guidebooks, all on Asian subjects.

Tom has written four crime fiction novels. The Devil’s Road to Kathmandu – the third English language edition out with Next Chapter out now – is a travel thriller set on the 70s hippie trail between London and Kathmandu. A Spanish translation is out with ExploraEditorial.

The Detective Maier trilogy – The Cambodian Book of the Dead, The Man with the Golden Mind and the The Monsoon Ghost Image, a Southeast Asia series of novels follows the exploits of a former conflict journalist turned private eye.

Tom has written for The Guardian, The Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Daily Telegraph, the Nikkei Asian Review and many other publications. He co-authored Sacred Skin – Thailand’s Spirit Tattoos (2011), a notable bestseller. He is also co-author of several documentary screenplays, including The Most Secret Place on Earth (2008), a feature on the CIA’s covert war in Laos in the 60s and 70s.

Social Media Links

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: Until Leaves Fall in Paris by Sarah Sundin

Book Description

As the Nazis march toward Paris in 1940, American ballerina Lucie Girard buys her favorite English-language bookstore to allow the Jewish owners to escape. Lucie struggles to run Green Leaf Books due to oppressive German laws and harsh conditions, but she finds a way to aid the resistance by passing secret messages between the pages of her books.

Widower Paul Aubrey wants nothing more than to return to the States with his little girl, but the US Army convinces him to keep his factory running and obtain military information from his German customers. As the war rages on, Paul offers his own resistance by sabotaging his product and hiding British airmen in his factory. After they meet in the bookstore, Paul and Lucie are drawn to each other, but she rejects him when she discovers he sells to the Germans. And for Paul to win her trust would mean betraying his mission.

Master of WWII-era fiction Sarah Sundin invites you onto the streets of occupied Paris to discover whether love or duty will prevail.

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Elise’s Thoughts

Until Leaves Fall in Paris by Sarah Sundin shows why she is the master of writing World War II fiction. This story is filled with intrigue, danger, and romance when two American expatriates living in Paris navigate the “normal” of German occupation in 1940, while secretly working for the resistance.

Lucie Girard has been living in Paris since she was ten years old. She quits her job as a ballerina for the Paris Opera Ballet School to buy her favorite English language bookstore from her good friends to allow the Jewish owners to have money to escape Nazi controlled France. She decides to use the bookstore to help the resistance by having them hide messages in books she delivers to other resistance members.

Widower Paul Aubrey is being shunned by the Americans living in Paris including Lucie. Even though Lucie is attracted to him she rejects him when she discovers he sells to the Germans. Paul is an engineer and owns an automotive factory in France. He is only cooperating with the Nazis because the American military asked him to be a spy. Paul offers his own resistance by sabotaging his product and hiding British airmen in his factory.

This is an excellent historical novel.  Sundin has engaging characters and realistically shows what it would be like for Americans living in Nazi occupied France during the neutrality period of 1940.

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Elise’s Author Interview

Sarah Sundin:  There are three books in this series dealing with Nazi Germany.  I decided to write a story with Americans who remained in France during the occupation.  Through my research I found there were 1000s of Americans who remained in France between the Nazi invasion of 1940 and before December 1941, when America was still neutral.  At that time American citizens there were free to come and go. Some stayed because of having their roots in France, others enjoyed the French culture, and businessmen who stayed for making money.  I wanted to explore these reasons.

Elise Cooper:  Why the ballet?

SS:  I did it growing up for ten years.  Paris is the home of ballet. The ballet is in the main character’s heart.

EC:  How would you describe Lucie?

SS:  Her character was inspired by Sylvia Beach, a single woman, who ran the bookstore “Shakespeare and Company.” It was an English language bookstore in Paris in the 1920s and 1930s up until December 1941. Many of the bohemian expatriate’s literary community hung out there including Hemmingway.  She also published James Joyce’s Ulysses. I gave Lucy a reason to stay, sacrificing her savings to buy a bookstore from her Jewish friends so they can escape. She is dreamy, artistic, and poetic with her feet on the ground.  She can read people. Since she only went through 8th grade, she did not feel smart because of being a daydreamer and not good with numbers.

EC:  How would you describe Paul?

SS: He was easy to write because he is very much like my husband and son. Very left-brain with numbers as their friends.  Paul is good with people in a managerial way and knows what makes them tick. He has no appreciation for the arts.  Typical of people who are like Paul, an engineer. He is also an extrovert, social, and likes to be around people.

EC:  What about the relationship between Paul and Lucie?

SS:  Her intuition told her one thing, while her eyes and ears told her something else. She cannot make heads or tails about Paul. They do have similar personalities.  They are kind, honorable, courageous, and determined.  They challenge each other.  Both came into the relationship guarded and judgmental.

EC:  What role did Josie play?

SS:  She is Paul’s four-year-old daughter.  She is very creative and spirited. She challenges Paul and grows very fond of Lucie who appreciates her stories.  She thinks Lucie is wonderful and is enamored by her.  Josie bonds with Lucie. Paul originally tried to stifle her thoughts but comes around to understanding her through Lucie who brought both together.

EC:  Treatment by the Nazis?

SS:  Early in the war, France was different, than by the end of the war. The Germans wanted to pacify the French, so they delayed being brutal. But everything changed in 1942 where the Nazis took away Jewish businesses.  They censored civil liberties. They took over houses.  German repression was light early on to make sure there was little resistance.  At first, they only did some things like the “Otto Rule,” a ban on books, and burning of books. But by the end of 1941 their horrific behavior spiraled. French police helped with the roundups.

EC:  What was the role of the bookstore?

SS:  I thought about how the resistance found interesting ways to pass messages. I thought that they could do it through the pages of the books. It was like choreographing the resistance code. Lucie would greet resistance members like any other customer.  The store would be a letter box. Books brought in were placed behind the desk. The code question to be asked is, “did you read the author?”

EC: Next book?

SS: No title yet.  It is set in Denmark in 1943.  The hero is a Nobleman and takes on the persona of a shipyard worker.  He meets a nuclear physicist, a brilliant woman. They both work for the resistance and strike up an unlikely friendship.  It delves into the rescue of the Danish Jews. Because of the resistance over 7,000 Jews were taken safely to Sweden. The whole Danish population united to save their fellow citizens from the Holocaust.  It will be out this time next year.

THANK YOU!!

BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.