Daily Archives: July 21, 2022

Spotlight on Murder in the Neighborhood by Ellen J Green @EJGreenBooks @pumpupyourbook

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MY REVIEW

As soon as I saw the tagline, ‘The true story of America’s first recorded mass shooting,’ I had to read it.

September 6, 1949.

Non fiction. Historical fiction. Camden, New Jersey. Twelve minutes. Thirteen dead. A missing gate.

Howard Unruh. He had been bullied his entire life. He was a war veteran.

Ellen J Green used all the available tools of research that were available, putting them into an easy to read and follow story. I like the way it was written.

Murder in the Neighborhood shows has far reaching a tragedy like this is and the fallout for those left standing.

Mass shootings seems to me to be a uniquely American phenomenon. There is no blanket solution to the problem, no easy way to predict who will do what when, but judging by current events…

I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Murder In The Neighborhood by Ellen J Green.

Animated Animals. Pictures, Images and Photos
4 Stars

Murder in the Neighborhood—the story of the first mass shooting in the US
Ellen J. Green

Genre: True Crime
Publisher: Thread Books, Hachette UK
Date of Publication: 4/28/2022
ISBN13: 9781909770706
Number of pages: 324
Word Count: 85k
Cover Artist: Thread books

Book Description: 

On 6 September 1949, twenty-eight-year-old Howard Barton Unruh shot thirteen people in less than twelve minutes on his block in East Camden, New Jersey. The shocking true story of the first recorded mass shooting in America has never been told, until now.

The sky was cloudless that morning when twelve-year-old Raymond Havens left his home on River Road. His grandmother had sent him to get a haircut at the barbershop across the street—where he was about to witness his neighbor and friend Howard open fire on the customers inside.

Told through the eyes of young Raymond, who had visited Howard regularly to listen to his war stories, and the mother trying to piece together the disturbing inner workings of her son’s mind, Murder in the Neighborhood uncovers the chilling true story of Howard Unruh, the quiet loner who meticulously plotted his revenge on the neighbors who shunned him and became one of America’s first mass killers.

Amazon     Audible     AppleBooks


Excerpt:

That September morning started much like any other. Camden, New Jersey, the sparkling little sister of Philadelphia, connected by the high arches of the Delaware River Bridge, was waking up to heat nearing the mid-seventies—by nine o’clock the humidity was sitting high above the city, waiting to descend.

Cramer Hill, a small section of Camden, bound by the Delaware River to the west, the Pavonia Train Yard to the east, State Street to the south and 36th Street to the north—a grid of streets twenty-four blocks long, and about five or six blocks wide contained within—was about to draw the focus of the world but nobody knew it, not that morning at nine o’clock.

River Road cut a swath through Cramer Hill where open-bay trucks rumbled through all day long, overloaded with tomatoes headed for the Campbell’s soup factory a few miles away. The clearly visible cargo was only held in place by wire mesh caging along the sides. The loud engine sounds called to children to get out of the street, to stand and watch, waiting for a tomato to break loose and fall into their small hands. They were often rewarded when a bump in the road threw a few of the greenish-red fruits into the street.

The smells of the river wafting in, the sounds of the boats, the hint of tomatoes cooking at Campbell’s, the smoke from the stacks of Eavenson and Sons soap factory a mile away—it was all there. But mostly it was the shoemaker’s pungent aroma of tannery oils, the lingering, savory fragrance from Latela’s Italian luncheonette on the corner, the endless din of Engel’s bar across the street, and the music that poured out of its doors after the sun went down that filled every home.

Five businesses shared one side of the small block—a cacophonic mix of a pharmacy, a barbershop, a cobbler, a tailor and a café. The other side only had two: a grocery and a bar. Most of the owners lived there, nestled in their small apartments above their establishments. They all knew each other well enough on that small stretch of River Road. Enough to pull a chair out onto the sidewalk on summer nights for a chat. Enough to get a drink at Engel’s now and again. Enough to keep an eye on things and on each other. But not one of them saw it coming. Not the Pilarchiks, the Hoovers, the Hamiltons, the Zegrinos or the Cohens. They’d safely shared that space together for years, but not one of them was spared. 

About the Author:

Ellen J. Green is the Amazon Charts bestselling author of the Ava Saunders novels (Absolution and Twist of Faith) and The Book of James. She attended Temple University in Philadelphia, where she earned her degrees in psychology, and has worked in the psychiatric ward of a maximum-security correctional facility for fifteen years. She also holds an MFA degree in creative writing from Fairleigh Dickinson University. Born and raised in Upstate New York, Ms. Green now lives in southern New Jersey with her two children.

Website https://ellenjgreen.com/

Twitter https://twitter.com/ejgreenbooks

Amazon Page https://amzn.to/3Hnikh2

Newsletter Sign Up https://ellenjgreen.com/newsletter/  






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    • Giveaway – Gilded Butterfly by Leslie O’Sullivan @XpressoTours

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    Gilded Butterfly
    Leslie O’Sullivan
    (Rockin’ Fairy Tales, #2)
    Publication date: July 30th 2022
    Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Romance

    Gilded Butterfly is the second book in the Rockin’ Fairy Tales adult romantasy series by Leslie O’Sullivan. King Midas and the Golden Touch meets King Lear in a slow-burn, friends to lovers, romance set against the backdrop of a fictional Hollywood music scene.

    Chorda Lear is a mega-hot pop artist, Internet influencer, and Irish witch who’s poised to inherit a magical family legacy, the Golden Guitar. She’s the fan favorite on a wildly popular reality television show, “Kickin’ It With Midas,” a trendy chronicle of three Hollywood influencer sisters and their aging rock star father, Midas Lear.

    Adair Holliday, a Hollywood producer wunderkind, is slated to step up as showrunner of the Lear’s lucrative TV franchise. He must constantly temper his skepticism over best friend, Chorda’s, practice of magic, but his biggest challenge is denying romantic feelings for her.

    When Chorda goes disastrously off-script during the live broadcast of the season finale, Lear banishes her from the show and his life. Adair follows his friend into exile with a plan to reconcile father and daughter. Away from the pressures of Hollywood, a steamy encounter under a waxing moon, deepens friendship into romance. Now, the two must reverse Midas’ edict to save both their professional futures and new-found love.

    Goodreads / Amazon

    —

    EXCERPT:

    This book is in the world of Rockin’ Fairy Tales with some character carryover from Pink Guitars and Falling Stars, Book 1, but it does work as a standalone.

    Windshields are a dark destiny for butterflies. As I wind up the drive to Midas Lear’s Waterfall Palace in the Hollywood Hills, my windshield becomes one such destiny for a vibrant blue butterfly. The poor critter traveled to Hollywood in search of fame and fortune with plans to name its cover band Wing Spread.

    The driver’s side glass of my deep blue, Tesla model 3 had other plans. In a single fatal moment, the band, Wing Spread became Smush, which sounds more like a pop-up night club than a cover band. In Hollywood, it’s all about the name.

    I pull as far off the road in front of the mansion as the narrow drive allows. There are those who would mock me for bemoaning the death of a bug. In my humble opinion, sadness should be mandated when something lovely is destroyed. I, Adair Holliday, am to blame for a drop of beauty gone from the world.

    I retrieve an index card from the leather messenger bag my half-brother, Desmond, gave me last month on my thirtieth birthday with the directive: “Time to upgrade from your folksy backpack look, Adair.”

    Across the road, I pick my way down a steep bank landscaped as a butterfly garden to the shore of a narrow stream fed by cascading water features of the mansion. It’s ironic the intentional flora attracts winged beauties only to threaten death via windshields and waterfalls.

    Before me, the final brushstrokes of a California sunset reflect off Midas Lear’s Waterfall Palace, three stories of glass framed with stacked stone walls. The president of Golden Pipes Records runs his music empire from this Frank Lloyd Wright’s Falling Water House meets Irish castle.

    Spray from the waterfall spilling from the cantilevered stone shelf at the mansion’s base dots the butterfly’s wings. I crouch at the water’s edge to release the creature and its paper ship into the current, a Viking funeral in miniature. The card flips, sending broken blue wings beneath the surface.

    A bend in the stream disappears into shadows underneath the peppy blossoms of overhanging purple and pink crepe myrtles. Were I slightly metaphoric, I’d define the waterway as a parallel to the new turn my life is about to take. Maybe the fact I’m figuratively pondering means I possess a drizzle of the poet in my soul. A good showrunner needs such drizzle in the ole creative toolbox.

    I’ll leave poetic musings to Midas Lear and his three red-headed daughters. Rubata, Glissanda, and Chorda Lear will be my trio of responsibilities when I step into the executive producer spot on their reality TV show, Kickin’ It With Midas, after we shoot tonight’s season finale. I’m primed to step up my creative splash on the Golden Pipes Network.

    I emerge from clusters of crimson columbine and lilac to the roar of an approaching engine. Desmond’s vintage red Ferrari 360 Modena zips around the corner, screeching to a stop inches from my toes.

    “Shit, Adair. You nearly ended up on my windshield.”

    The timeliness of his comment is not lost on me. I decline to share deets of my Viking butterfly funeral. “Cooling my jets for a sec by the water.”

    Des shakes his head. “Cooling your jets? My little brother, crowned prince of outdated idioms and clichés.”

    I celebrate and perpetuate the resurrection of sayings I’ve absorbed from the classic and not so classic movies and television programs I adore. More than one person has accused me of time traveling to the present from a black and white 1960s sitcom.

    I tap a finger to my chin. “Are colorful phrases ever outdated?”

    Rubata, the middle Lear sister, springs through the open pop top of the car. Her dyed cherry-red hair clashes with the Ferrari’s paint. She raises her phone to grab a selfie with a green, white, and red striped bag. “Gelato. I gotta gelata,” she sings and waves a handle bag stamped with the Gelato Buono logo.

    I dive to catch the phone she tosses to me.

    “Adair, get a shot of me with the gotta gelata and the car.” Rubata holds the bag next to her cheek and puckers her lips. As I snap pictures, she flips her hair and kisses the bag. “Did you get the shot? Wait, switch to video of me singing gotta gelata, gotta gelata.” Through the window, I catch her gold painted toenails dancing across Desmond’s shoulder. “Oooo, Desi, feed me gelata. That’ll look sexxxxy.”

    Author Bio:

    Leslie O’Sullivan is the author of Rockin’ Fairy Tales, an adult romance series of Shakespeare/fairy tale mash ups set against the backdrop of Hollywood’s music scene. Coming soon is her Behind the Scenes contemporary romance series that peeks into the off-camera secrets of a wildly popular television drama. She’s a UCLA Bruin with a BA and MFA from their Department of Theater where she also taught for years on the design faculty. Her tenure in the world of television was as the assistant art director on “It’s Garry Shandling’s Show.” Leslie loves to indulge her fangirl side each year at San Diego Comic Con.

    Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram / Newsletter


    GIVEAWAY!


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    Giveaway – The Seraphim’s Song by Barbara Casey @iReadBookTours

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    Join us for this tour from July 5 to July 25, 2022!

    Series Details:

    Book Title:  THE SERAPHIM’S SONG – Book 5, The F.I.G. Mysteries by Barbara Casey
    Category:  YA Fiction (Ages 13-17), 213 pages
    Genre:  Mystery, Fantasy
    Publisher:  Gauthier Publications (Hungry Goat Press)
    Release date:   April 2022
    Content Rating:  G. THE SERAPHIM’S SONG is suitable for all readers – adult and young adult.
     
    Book Description:

    Many changes have taken place at Wood Rose Orphanage and Academy for Young Women while Carolina and Larry were on their honeymoon in Frascati, Italy, on the Granchelli farm. The newlyweds have been given a larger bungalow; Ms. Alcott, niece of the founder of Wood Rose, and Mrs. Ball, assistant to the headmaster, have moved into a bungalow together; and Jimmy Bob, caretaker and night watchman at Wood Rose has moved from his family home down the road a bit into a small bungalow on the orphanage property with his hound dog Tick, as well as his new cat and her litter of kittens.

    Summer is coming to an end and the F.I.G.s will soon return to the universities to complete their special projects. They are starting to feel anxious, and the coping mechanisms they have used their entire lives are starting to work overtime. Dara’s thoughts turn to an unknown language, possibly from another world; Mackenzie focuses on the relationship of math to music; and Jennifer keeps hearing the note of B flat minor and is drawing dark swirls on her canvas board.

    Buy the Book:
    Amazon
    B&N ~ Books-A-Million
    and local bookstores everywhere
    Add to Goodreads

     

    Meet the Author:


    Barbara Casey is the author of several award-winning novels and book-length works of nonfiction for both adults and young adults, and numerous articles, poems, and short stories. Several of her books have been optioned for major films and television series.

    In addition to her own writing, Barbara is an editorial consultant and president of the Barbara Casey Agency. Established in 1995, she represents authors throughout the United States, Great Britain, Canada, and Japan.

    In 2018 Barbara received the prestigious Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award and Top Professional Award for her extensive experience and notable accomplishments in the field of publishing and other areas.

    Barbara lives on a mountain in Georgia with three cats who adopted her: Homer, a Southern coon cat; Reese, a black cat; and Earl Gray, a gray cat and Reese’s best friend.

    Connect with the author:  Barbara Casey Author ~ Barbara Casey Agency ~ Goodreads
    Tour Schedule:

    July 5 –     Rockin” Book Reviews – book review / guest post / giveaway
    July 5 – Cover Lover Book Review – book spotlight / giveaway
    July 6 – Kam’s Place – book review
    July 7 – The Momma Spot – book review / giveaway
    July 8 – Lisa’s Reading – book spotlight / giveaway
    July 11 –Splashes of Joy – book review / giveaway
    July 12 – Bound 4 Escape – book review / giveaway
    July 13 – Pick a Good Book – book spotlight / author interview / giveaway
    July 14 – Locks, Hooks and Books – book review / giveaway
    July 15 – Books for Books – book review
    July 18 – Laura McHale Holland, Author, Dreamer, Storyteller – book review
    July 19 – Mystery Review Crew – book spotlight / guest post / giveaway
    July 20 – Sadie’s Spotlight – book spotlight / author interview / giveaway
    July 20 –     Book Corner News and Reviews – book review / giveaway
    July 21 – fundinmental – book spotlight / giveaway
    July 22 – Literary Flits – book spotlight / giveaway
    July 25 – Jazzy Book Reviews – book spotlight / guest post / giveaway

    Enter the Giveaway:


     


     
    • You can see my Giveaways HERE.
    • You can see my Reviews HERE.
    • If you like what you see, why don’t you follow me?
    • Look on the right sidebar and let’ talk.
    • Leave your link in the comments and I will drop by to see what’s shakin’.
    • I am an Amazon affiliate/product images are linked.
    • Thanks for visiting fundinmental!