First off, a round of applause to Alaina Urquhart for her debut novel, The Butcher and the Wren. I am suitably impressed. I loved the title, but once I saw the cover, I had to have it. And the fact that there is something dark lurking in a Louisiana bayou, oh yeah. Just keeps getting better. I love when authors draw on their experiences to pen their work. It helps create a sense of reality, filled with accurate details, enriching my reading experience.
I love that Detective Leroux, who Wren works with to solve serial killer cases, is a bit different from the usual police officer, and you will need to find that out for yourself.
I love the way Alaina Urquhart wrote The Butcher and the Wren, because when I found out what really happened to Emily in the beginning of the book, I was about sixty percent and it hit me hard. I think I see what’s coming and it would have been too easy to see if she hadn’t written this the way she did.
Books like this is why I keep my ‘heavy’ drapes closed.
I would love for part of the book to be fleshed out more, more detail, more evil. I missed the cringing, spinetingling menace that oozes off a five star read, for me.
I must warn you, though. It isn’t a fingertip dangling cliffhanger, but you will need the next book to know the ending. I wish authors and publishers would make that known from the getgo. I look forward to seeing how Alaina Urquhart’s writing career develops and what the outcome will be for Wren and her fellow characters.
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of The Butcher and the Wren by Alaina Urquhart.
3 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
From the co-host of chart-topping true crime podcast Morbid, a thrilling debut novel told from the dueling perspectives of a notorious serial killer and the medical examiner following where his trail of victims leads
Something dark is lurking in the Louisiana bayou: a methodical killer with a penchant for medical experimentation is hard at work completing his most harrowing crime yet, taunting the authorities who desperately try to catch up.
But forensic pathologist Dr. Wren Muller is the best there is. Armed with an encyclopedic knowledge of historical crimes, and years of experience working in the Medical Examiner’s office, she’s never encountered a case she couldn’t solve. Until now. Case after case is piling up on Wren’s examination table, and soon she is sucked into an all-consuming cat-and-mouse chase with a brutal murderer getting more brazen by the day.
An addictive read with straight-from-the-morgue details only an autopsy technician could provide, The Butcher and the Wren promises to ensnare all who enter.
ABOUT ALAINA URQUHART (From Amazon)
Alaina Urquhart is the science-loving co-host of the chart-topping show Morbid: A True Crime Podcast. As an autopsy technician by trade, she offers a unique perspective from deep inside the morgue. Alaina hails from Boston, where she lives with her wonderful husband, John, their three amazing daughters, and a ghost puggle named Bailey. She is about 75 percent coffee, and truly believes she and Agent Clarice Starling could be friends.
Before writing her first psychological horror novel, she received degrees in criminal justice, psychology, and biology. When she isn’t hosting Morbid, she hosts the Parcast original show Crime Countdown, and a horror movie podcast called Scream! Her days are usually spent either recording or eviscerating. The way she sees it, when she hangs up her microphone for the day, it’s time to let the dead speak.
Cutter Kauai Sea Adventures (Series)Dagger Quest, Book 1 by Edward Hochsmann
GENRE: Action/Adventure, Contemporary
BLURB
Dagger
Quest
An
aging Coast Guard patrol boat is all that stands between the world and nuclear
annihilation!
The
world is on the brink of war, with NATO mobilizing to counter a Russian threat
to Poland and Lithuania and leaders openly discussing war options. In the midst
of the crisis, a Russian bomber collides with a U.S. fighter off Florida
causing the accidental launch of a nuclear-tipped hypersonic missile.
A
Coast Guard cutter on a routine patrol finds a drug-laden sailboat smashed and
adrift north of the Florida Keys. The boat’s damage is from a near miss by the
Russian missile which has not harmlessly flown deep into the Gulf of Mexico as
initially thought, but crashed somewhere in the Keys.
The
Coast Guard crew is in a race against a vicious and powerful international
crime syndicate to find and recover the Russian nuke before its discovery can
trigger a nuclear war.
Exploring
the friendship and teamwork of a typical ship’s crew, in the face of unexpected
and hazardous challenges, Dagger Quest provides a fast-paced, taut story – excellent
fare for both sea adventure and military thriller fans.
EXCERPT
Ben’s
first encounter with the 252 Syndicate ends in a high-speed chase through Key
West, Florida:
Ben
slowed and veered right onto Flagler with a screaming of tires and modest
fishtailing as he straightened on the new path. Their pursuers also swung in
behind them from Roosevelt a few seconds later.
“Floor
it! We’ll be hanging a right on Tenth in
ten blocks, same tactic. Keep hitting that horn!”
Ben
stayed on the horn, dodging through traffic at speeds approaching fifty miles
per hour.
“Counting
down,” Simmons said, “Fourteenth, Thirteenth, twelfth, Eleventh, slow down and
prepare to hang a right, NOW!”
Ben
executed another tire-squealing turn and straightened out, heading north on
Tenth, gunning the engine and leaning on the horn.
“Stand
by to hit the brakes!” Simmons shouted. “Steady, steady, NOW, hit the brakes!”
Ben
stood on the brake pedal, tires shrieked, and the anti-lock braking chattered.
After skidding to a stop in the middle of the street next to a large lagoon,
Simmons shouted, “Get down!” He opened both doors on his side of the car, using
the rear door for cover.
Ben
dropped behind the seat as their pursuer began screeching to a stop. Suddenly,
there was a tremendous crash with the sound of tearing metal and followed by a
large splash. Simmons shut the doors and said in a normal tone, “OK, let’s
roll. Back to the base, nice and easy.”
Ben
shot up and saw several figures in combat gear with guns drawn running forward
from an SUV stopped in the middle of Tenth Street. The car chasing them was
coming to rest upside down in the lagoon. “WHAT—THE—HELL!” he shouted at
Simmons.
“Come
on, friend, we need to move it. It’s handled. We’re clear now, so stay
law-abiding all the way, please.”
Ben
stared at him for a few seconds, then pressed the accelerator. The engine raced
briefly, and then, with shaking hands, Ben shifted into Drive.
“See,
you’re a natural,” Simmons said with a smile. “You didn’t even realize you
shifted into Park.”
Mission:
Five days to destroy the enemy in the Caribbean before a catastrophic weapon is
unleashed—but all he can think about is the woman he left behind…
The
deadliest nerve gas ever made has fallen into the hands of a murderous
Caribbean drug cult. The criminal 252 Syndicate has the gas in a secret lab on
an oil rig servicing ship, but the ship has been taken for ransom by the
Salinas Cartel in a violent drug war. The U.S. can’t use airstrikes and calls
on Coast Guard Officer Ben Wyporek to lead his crew through a risky covert raid
on the Salinas cult’s fortified island base. He accepts the assignment, but
remembers a previous lethal encounter with the 252s and struggles to say
goodbye to the love of his life, Victoria Carpenter.
Ben
and his crew aboard the stealth-equipped Cutter Kauai must sneak into the
harbor and tow the ship away. But if Kauai is detected and defeated, death by
gas or at the hands of vicious adversaries will follow. Now, every decision Ben
makes will determine the fate of his entire crew—and the chances of reuniting
with Victoria.
This
second book of the series builds on the friendships and teamwork of Kauai’s
crew, this time in the face of several challenging missions and one potentially
lethal encounter. It is a worthy sequel to Dagger Quest that sea adventure and
military thriller fans will enjoy.
EXCERPT
Pan-Commonwealth
Airways Flight 403 with 126 passengers and crew has dual engine failure in a
thunderstorm and is headed for a forced landing in the Atlantic over a hundred
miles north of the Bahamas:
Taylor
grabbed the intercom handset and pressed the call button. Burgess answered
immediately, “Cabin, here.”
“We’re
going in, Chief. Get them ready for it. We’re going to try for the Hudson River
scenario, so keep the aft doors closed.”
“Understood,
Captain. I have two burly beauties from the RN on guard in the last row. You
worry about bringing us in safe. We’ll be alright back here.”
Taylor
smiled slightly. I might have known. God bless you, Richard! “Well done! I’ll
ring the bell five seconds before contact. Get them moving as we come to a
stop.”
“WILCO.
Godspeed, Captain. Out.”
The
scenario Taylor referred to involved the ditching of a similar Airbus in New
York’s Hudson River when bird ingestion knocked out both its engines shortly
after takeoff from La Guardia airport. The flight crew executed a masterpiece
of judgment and skill, saving everyone on board. Not so easy this time. They
landed in the sheltered water of a river—we’ll have waves and swells to deal
with.
“Peregrine
Four-Zero-Three, Miami Center, Nassau is losing radar contact. Observe you
heading two one five magnetic, over.” Surveillance radar was limited to line of
sight, and at this distance, the aircraft dropped below the radar’s horizon at
around thirteen thousand feet. The controller would use the aircraft’s last
heading, descent rate, and speed to estimate the impact point to be passed to
rescue forces.
“Center,
Four-Zero-Three, roger, estimate six miles to contact, over.”
Four-Zero-Three,
Center, copy. Best of luck, Captain. Out.”
“No
joy, Captain,” Patel said as he took his hand off the starter.
“Right,
leave it. Give me flaps four at one thousand.” Taylor had held off the flaps
until the last possible moment. They would reduce the aircraft’s touchdown
speed dramatically, but also added significant drag. “Ring the cabin bell once
you position the handle.”
A
New Captain’s First Patrol Turns into a Fight for Their Lives
Young
Coast Guard Lieutenant Haley Reardon has not even gotten her feet on the ground
on her new patrol boat command when she finds herself and her crew supporting a
dangerous covert mission. They must insert and retrieve a Defense Intelligence
Agency operations team trying to seize a transnational criminal syndicate boss
from a small Caribbean island controlled by a front company of the Chinese
government and protected by a superior military force.
A
honeymoon period would be lovely, but, as always, the world gets a vote.
Can
Haley avoid leaving the DIA team to their fate, when attempting to rescue them
could destroy her crew and boat and lead to war?
This
third installment of the series conveys the humor, friendships, and teamwork of
Kauai’s crew from the previous books, with a new series of exciting actions
from search and rescue to combat. The crew and their new skipper must come
together for the toughest mission they have ever faced.
EXCERPT
Phillip
Murray, his wife and two daughters have been retrieved from their stricken
sailboat in the middle of Hurricane Jacob and are now en route to Kauai aboard
the cutter’s small rigid hull inflatable boat (RHIB):
The
big crewman placed his hand on a grab handle and shouted, “Hold this, stay
down, and keep your arms inside the boat!” Once Murray had a firm grip, the
crewman pulled a strap across his lap, fastened it to a ring fitting on the
deck, and cinched it. The small orange boat pitched up as it climbed another
high wave, and the strap across Murray’s lap bit into him as they seemed to
come near to vertical. Then the bow suddenly pitched down for yet another
sickening drop to a tremendous splash.
That’s
it! We’re done for! Murray thought as wind and water tugged at his body. But
the boat came up again, the deck cleared, and from what he could see with his
spray-fogged eyes, everyone was still there. He looked toward Gemma, sitting
beside him with her free arm stretched across Jamie’s and Lydia’s chests, and
placed his free hand over hers on the grab handle. They rode out two more
monstrous wave events before reaching the cutter, which provided little shelter
from the gale for the tossing boat.
Murray
had turned to look at the nearby cutter when a gunshot rang out, followed by
the thump of a line on the bow. Murray surmised the winds were too high for a
standard heaving line, so the coastguardsman used a rifle to pass a line to the
boat. The big boat crewman was hauling in a thin line that Murray knew was
attached to the hook they would connect to the boat to crane it aboard. This
was the time of maximum risk—with the cutter and boat writhing in the wind and
seas, attaching the hook would be a nightmare. He leaned over to cover Gemma’s
head with his body and closed his eyes.
And
then he prayed.
AUTHOR Bio and Links
Edward
Hochsmann is the pen name of a retired U. S. Coast Guard search and rescue and
law enforcement professional. The veteran mariner, aviator, college professor,
and defense analyst has added “author” to his list of experiences. Ed likes
reading, police procedurals, contemporary music on the road, and classical
music in the office. After a career traveling from Australia in the west to
Italy and Germany in the east, Ed has settled into a quiet life in the Florida
Panhandle to focus on writing (and not shoveling snow!)
Ed has two
novels published right now (plus one launching in August 2022) in the Cutter
Kauai Sea Adventures series about a Coast Guard patrol boat assigned to
“special” missions. Dagger Quest takes place in the Florida Keys and
involves an aging Coast Guard patrol boat dragooned into a search for a lost
Russian nuclear weapon in a time of international crisis. The second, Caribbean
Counterstrike, features the same patrol boat and crew, now with equipment and
training upgrades, sent to recover a deadly nerve gas from a murderous
Caribbean drug cartel. Bravely and Faithfully has Kauai, under a new captain
supporting a covert raid on a Caribbean island held by the Chinese.
Ed’s second
series, C6S: Patrol Force deals with a combined defense establishment and
constabulary for a galactic economic empire called the Confederation of the Six
Systems (C6S). Ed has published two novellas and a novel-length collection late
last year.
Join us for this tour from Sep 13 to Oct 11, 2022!
Book Details:
Book Title: The Prickly Problem: Dr. Pete the Porcupine by Cheryl DaVeiga Category: Children’s Fiction (Ages 3-7), 44 pages Genre: Children’s Picture Book Publisher: Waterhole Productions LLC Release date: January, 2021 Content Rating: G. This children’s book is for everyone.
Book Description:
Quirky, magic-potion-making Dr. Pete the Porcupine finds himself in a sticky situation, perplexed by a terribly tricky case. Beloved by his desert neighbors for always fixing their prickliest problems, has Dr. Pete finally found a prickly problem he can’t solve? Follow Dr. Pete through this heartwarming tale as he and his desert friends learn the power of compassion, kindness, and friendship.
