STRIPPED BARE by Shannon Baker

April 12, 2018

PERSONAL INFORMATION:

Born 1960; Education: Graduated from the University of Nebraska; University of Colorado, Boulder, M.B.A.

CAREER:

Writer. Grand Canyon Trust, Flagstaff, AZ, employee.

Interview with Shannon Baker:

http://www.thebigthrill.org/2016/08/stripped-bare-by-shannon-baker/

Author’s website: http://shannon-baker.com/

Stripped Bare

(First book in series) Kate Fox is living the dream. She’s married to Grand County Sheriff Ted Conner, the heir to her beloved Nebraska Sandhills cattle ranch, where they live with Kate’s orphaned teenage niece, Carly. With the support of the well-connected Fox Clan, which includes Kate’s eight boisterous and interfering siblings, Ted’s reelection as Grand County Sheriff is virtually assured. That leaves Kate to the solitude and satisfaction of Frog Creek, her own slice of heaven. One night Kate answers a shattering phone call from Roxy at the Bar J. Carly’s granddad Eldon, owner of the ranch, is dead and Ted has been shot and may never walk again. Kate vows to find the killer. She soon discovers Ted responded so quickly to the scene because he was already at the Bar J . . . in Roxy’s bed. And to add to her woes, Carly has gone missing.

• Stripped bare (Sep 2016)
• Series: Kate Fox novels, 1
• 
  
• Dark signal: a Kate Fox novel (Oct 2017)
• Series: Kate Fox novels, 2

Nora Abbott mysteries

(First book in series) Things go from bad to worse for Nora Abbott when her husband is murdered, angry protestors occupy her mountain, her overbearing mother visits, an energy tycoon tries a hostile takeover of her ski resort, and the local Hopi tribe says her snow-making is upsetting the natural balance.

• 
  
• Tainted mountain (Mar 2013)
• Series: Nora Abbot Mysteries,1
• 
  
• Broken trust (Mar 2014)
• Series: Nora Abbot Mysteries, 2
• 
  
• Tattered legacy (Mar 2015)

Series: Nora Abbot Mysteries, 3

Read-alikes

Border trilogy by Cormac McCarthy Reason:  These series are Atmospheric, and they share: the genre 'Modern Westerns' and the subject 'Ranches'.

Nebraska setting:

		Money trouble : a Nebraska mystery by William J. Reynolds.   (1988)
		Jury of six by Dave P. Fisher. (2014) Set in 1880 Nebraska
		A title to murder : the Carhenge mystery : a western story by James C. Work. (2004)

Sidney Chambers -- Grantchester Mysteries

Sidney Chambers and the Shadow of Death

By James Runcie ---   March 8, 2018

Born May 7, 1959, in Cambridge, England; son of Lord Robert (Archbishop of Canterbury) and Lady Lindy Runcie E-mail: james@jamesruncie.com.

CAREER:

Writer, academic, and filmmaker. BBC Scotland, radio drama writer and director, 1983-85; Bath Literature Festival, artistic director, 
2009-13; Southbank Centre, London, England, head of literature 
and spoken word, 2013--. Documentary filmmaker; works include 
J.K. Rowling: A Year in the Life;Losing It: Griff Rhys Jones on 
Anger; and My Father, a last interview with Lord Robert Runcie, 
who was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1980-91. Has worked for 
Sadler's Wells, the Royal Shakespeare Company, and the Arts 
Council. Bath Spa University, visiting professor.

Notably, the "Grantchester Mystery" novels have been adapted 
as a television series for ITV. Discussing the filming in a London
Telegraph article, Runcie admitted that Chambers is based on his 
father. "I try to imagine what my father would think of it all," he 
remarked, "and I can almost see him, aged 93, in a wheelchair 
perhaps, with a rug over his lap, watching the filming of that war
scene. I think he would have been bemused--and amused. I can 
imagine him laughing about it afterwards and saying that it wasn't
like that at all. I don't think for a minute that he would ever say 
that he was proud of me, but I hope he would at least be secretly
intrigued." Runcie added: "And this is, of course, is what fiction 
does. It brings the dead back to us. It allows thought,
conversation, an alternative afterlife."

"GRANTCHESTER MYSTERY" SERIES

• Sidney Chambers and the Shadow of Death, 2012.
• Sidney Chambers and the Perils of the Night, 2013.
• Sidney Chambers and the Problem of Evil, 2014.
• Sidney Chambers and the Forgiveness of Sins, 2015.
• Sidney Chambers and the dangers of temptation,  (2016)
• Sidney Chambers and the persistence of love, ( 2017)

NOVELS

• The Discovery of Chocolate, 2001.
• The Colour of Heaven, 2003.
• Canvey Island, 2008.
• East Fortune, 2009.

 Fun web site:    https://jamesruncie.com/home

Read-alikes

Sidney Chambers and the shadow of death

Introduces unconventional clergyman Sidney Chambers, who 
teams up with roguish Inspector Harry Keating to investigate 
a suspicious suicide, a jewelry theft, the unexplained demise
of a jazz promoter, and a shocking art forgery.

	Max Tudor mysteries  by G. M. Malliet Reason:  The Max Tudor and Grantchester mysteries feature  young English vicars as their sleuths. These cozy stories are set  in small English towns with a cast of eccentric characters. The  sleuths use their insight into people to solve the crimes. --  Merle Jacob      Pagan Spring: Reason:  Both are amusing cozy mysteries  with unconventional vicars acting as sleuths in small English villages. Sidney Chambers is set in the 1950s, where a youthful jazz-loving minister is on the case; in Pagan Spring, a  present-day M15 agent turns cleric. -- Kim Burton Father Christmas mysteries by C. C.Benison Reason:  The Father Christmas and Grantchester mysteries are  cozies featuring reluctant clergymen as their sleuths.The men  are intelligent with a keen understanding of people. These gentle reads evoke the charm of English small towns and their varied characters. -- Merle Jacob

Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz

Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz

January 11, 2018

PERSONAL INFORMATION:  Born April 5, 1955, in Stanmore, Middlesex (some sources say North London), England; Education: University of York, B.A. E-mail: ajhorowitz@aol.com.

CAREER:  Creator, screenwriter, and co-producer of television series Foyle's War, 2002-05.

Creator of the television series Midsomer Murders,Author of "The Last Englishman" and "Menace," for the television series Heroes & Villains, has also written television screenplays for Agatha Christie's Poirot, Crime Traveller, and The Saint.

Horowitz has written several series of book for children and for teens, including graphic novels.

British author Anthony Horowitz, 62, has sold 16 million books over a 37-year writing career. He's created memorable original characters while conjuring the prose style, atmosphere, and characterizations of both Arthur Conan Doyle and Ian Fleming. With his latest, Magpie Murders , Horowitz has set himself an even higher bar than simulating the work of legendary authors: reinventing the whodunit, almost a century after the fair-play rules of the genre were established….

Like vital evidence hidden in plain view by the author toward the beginning of a golden age novel, the first clue that Horowitz would grow up to become a successful mystery author may have appeared at his birth on Apr. 5, 1955. He was delivered by Dr. Jack Suchet, the father of David Suchet, the actor who has most faithfully portrayed Agatha Christie's beloved Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot. "I owe my existence in this world to the Suchet family," Horowitz jokes over breakfast at Manhattan's Crosby Street Hotel.

Interview about Magpie Murders on NPR: https://www.npr.org/2017/06/13/532173809/what-makes-a-good-whodunit-magpie-murders-author-spells-it-out

Anthony Horowitz home page: https://www.anthonyhorowitz.com

Magpie murders:

Readers can imagine the frustration of book editor Susan Ryeland: the final chapters are missing from author Alan Conway's latest mystery manuscript starring his Poirot-esque detective! Conway’s sudden, suspicious death means that Susan must piece together the ending by interviewing his friends and family; then she realizes that the novel’s characters are stand-ins for real people and that the book may be related to the author’s death. Containing a novel-within-a-novel, suspense, and plenty of details that Golden Age mystery fans will relish, the cleverly plotted Magpie Murders has something for everyone. -- Description by Dawn Towery.

Read-alikes:

1.	Dear Mr. M  by Herman Koch Reason:  Both involve complex characters  haunted by a work of fiction that is central to the story. Although Magpie  Murders is more of a classic mystery about a book within a book, both  unconventional stories slowly reveal an unexpected twist. -- Andrienne Cruz
2	Miss me when I'm gone  by Emily Arsenault  Reason:  While Magpie Murders presents a mystery novel whose author has died, and Miss Me When I'm Gone  supplies clues to a writer's death through her unfinished manuscript, both  metafictional stories connect actual deaths with supposedly fictional writing . -- Katherine Johnson
3	Noir by Robert Coover   Reason:  Riffing on Agatha Christie-style whodunits (Magpie Murders) and Raymond Chandler-style hardboiled mysteries (Noir),  these intricately plotted metafiction novels fall somewhere between homage  and commentary. Magpie Murders contains puzzles for readers to solve; Noir  stresses inventive language and imagery. -- Mike Nilsson
4	The nobodies album  by Carolyn Parkhurst   Reason:  Either fiction imitates  life, or life imitates fiction, in these compelling murder mysteries that include  novels-within-novels. Magpie Murders contains a mystery novel whose author  has committed suicide; The Nobodies Album portrays a novelist whose books  eerily reflect reality. -- Katherine Johnson

Death in Brittany by Jean-Luc Bannalec -- December 2017

DEATH IN BRITTANY BY JEAN-LUC BANNALEC

December 14, 2017

PERSONAL INFORMATION:

Born 1966, in Bad Godesberg, Germany. Education: Received doctorate from
University of Frankfurt; also studied at University of Bonn. Addresses: Home:
Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

CAREER:

University of Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, Frankfurt poetry
lecturer, 1992-96; freelance writer and editor, 1996-97; S. Fischer Verlag,
Frankfurt, editor, 1997-2002, program manager, 2002-08, manager of
S. Fischer Publishers, 2008-13, managing director and CEO, 2013--.

SIDELIGHTS:

Known more by his pseudonym, Jean-Luc Bannalec, publishing executive
Jörg Bong leads Germany's distinguished S. Fischer Verlag. He also holds an
advanced degree in philosophy, and has written about the thought of Karl
Philipp Moritz, Ludwig Tieck, and Marlene Streeruwitz.

… "What Inspector Maigret did for Paris, and, more recently, what Chief
of Police Bruno does for the Dordogne," said Booklist reviewer
Connie Fletcher, "Commissaire Dupin does for Brittany."

Commissaire Dupin Series:

Death in Brittany (Jun 2015)

After a hotelier is murdered in a small village on the Breton coast,
Commissaire Georges Dupin identifies five possible suspects and uncovers
disturbing secrets behind the village's calm exterior.

Series: Georges Dupin novels, 1

Murder on Brittany shores (Jul 2016)

"Ten miles off the coast of Brittany lie the fabled Glenan Islands.
Boasting sparkling white sands and crystal clear waters, they seem
perfectly idyllic, until one day in May three bodies wash up on shore.
At first glance the deaths appear accidental, but as the identities of the
victims comes to light, cantankerous Commisaire Dupin is pulled back into
action for a case of what seems to be cold-blooded murder. Series:
Georges Dupin novels, 2

The Fleur de Sel Murders (coming in April 2018)

Commissaire Dupin is back in, this Brittany mystery from international
bestselling author Jean-Luc Bannalec.

The old salt farmers have always said that the violet scent of the
Fleur de Sel at harvest time on the salt marshes of the Guérande Peninsula
has been known to cause hallucinations. Commissaire Dupin also starts to
believe this when he’s attacked out of the blue in the salt works.

Georges Dupin novels, 3

Title read alikes

1	The crossing places by Elly Griffiths Reason:  Cranky, zealous sleuths and a well-described setting, in which the history and atmosphere of place play a huge role in the story, makes these mystery puzzlers similarly appealing. Crossing Places is set in England and Death in Brittany in France. -- Jen Baker
2	Strangled in Paris by Claude Izner Reason:  The well-described settings seem like characters in these mysteries set in France. Although Strangled in Paris takes place in the 19th century and Death in Brittany in the present, both books feature cranky, quirky detectives and richly detailed, intricate plots. -- Jen Baker
3	The cruelest month by Louise Penny Reason:  The grumpy, perceptive, and tenacious French-speaking detectives in these novels, set on either side of the Pacific, create a similar rapport with readers. Both books are intricately plotted, highly descriptive and have a leisurely pace that creates taut suspense. -- Jen Baker