I am excited to have Rohn Federbush visiting fundinmental today. When I saw the setting for Hastings’ Dead, Michigan, I felt I had to share, seeing Michigan is my home state.
So…let’s get to it.
Amazon
Genre: Mystery / Romantic Suspense
Release Date: November 10, 2015
Length: 136 Pages
MY REVIEW
Hastings’ Dead by Rohn Federbush takes place in Michigan and the main characters attend the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor…GO BLUE. I hail from Michigan and root for the Wolverines during football season, so I was happy to spend some time in the small town of Hastings.
The villain is exposed from the very beginning, and boy is he messed up. I can almost feel sorry for him.
David wanted to stay in Hastings and Diane wanted to stretch her wings and fly. Well…
Arancia, nicknamed Range, and Ben, her boyfriend, attend the University of Michigan, but head to Hastings, Arancia’s home, for the Christmas holidays. She missed her small home town and planned to return there after college to teach. Ben wanted the big city life, where a lawyer can make a name for himself.
Problems arise immediately, but Range refuses to acknowledge them. I had a problem with Range. She ignores what her instincts are telling her. Is she just naive? Or is there more to the story?
Her brother, Coco is quite the character and I love his feisty personality. He could understand Ben better than Range, because he felt the same way. Until…
Hastings’ Dead reads like a cozy mystery. If anyone is the hero, it will be Range, but the peripheral characters supply a large part of the entertainment and contribute their problem solving to the story.
There was even a laugh or two and I loved when the brides to be made their grand entrance for the wedding. Very nice touch and it still puts a smile on my face as I write this.
I had some trouble with the writing, especially when dealing with Range. I didn’t like her very much and could not figure out what she was thinking. Was everything tainted by her need to live in Hastings? Well…the end was not what I thought and that is always a good thing and I enjoyed it. I really wanted more depth to the story, but Rohn Federbush threw in a twist or two to keep the story lively. If you like a quick read, murders to solve, and some romance, Hastings’ Dead could be for you.
“Since when is love a bad thing.”
“When demands snuff out freedom.”
I received a copy of Hastings’ Dead by Rohn Federbush in return for an honest review.
3 STARS
SYNOPSIS
What’s a guy to do when people don’t see things his way?
“Hastings’ Dead” is set in a small Michigan town, where a University of Michigan student, Range Goloso, has promised her father she’ll return to teach grade school.
In college Range falls in love with Ben Adler, a New York based law student who can’t very well start a lucrative practice without a substantial client base. She defends a local artist accused of pushing his girlfriend off the church bell tower when she wanted to leave town. Actually Range is upholding her town’s reputation and realizes her dreams of settling down in Hastings might be dead.
Prologue
Hastings, Michigan – Summer
St. Rose of Lima’s Bell Tower
David Dahlton encouraged his best girl to follow him up the narrow staircase. “Diane, you’ll love the view.”
Diane Pettergill shook her head. How many times must she wear herself out following him up creaking staircases to capture yet another view of their hometown? “Who’s going to look at your pictures?’
David sat down on the top step, realizing he had a problem. Photography would rescue him from farming drudgery without leaving the secure confines of Hastings. “Maybe I’ll publish a book someday.”
She smiled at him. “That’ll be the day.”
“Don’t you want to see our town become famous?” He noticed he hadn’t thoroughly cleaned the mud from his shoes. Maybe Diane was reacting to the smell of recycled pig food.
“I’m more interested in our future than this stupid town’s.”
“You don’t want to live here after we marry?” David’s mind spun out of control. He thought she loved him, wanted to have his babies and see them grow up in town. “Wouldn’t you miss your parents and your sister?”
“Betty said you wouldn’t listen.” Diane tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. “We could visit, you know.”
Their life wouldn’t be the same. “We’d be strangers to everyone—even to our own folks if we stayed away too long.”
“You are a stick in the mud.” Diane turned her back on him.
He listened as she slammed the side door to the tower. David climbed up to the landing under the bell. Hanging over the side nearest the front door, he called to her. “Come back. I don’t want to lose you.”
Diane stopped her retreat down St. Rose’s front walk. She stood with her back to him. Then shaded her eyes as she looked up. “I’m not ready to say goodbye either.”
“Wait for me.” He wanted to ring the bell for the celebration in his heart. Instead he took several hurried photographs in each direction. He’d need to come back to get more shots. They’d known each other since childhood. Out on Route 43, only a corn field separated their farm houses. Both their families were among the first settlers of Hastings.
Once he reached her, Diane apologized, offering her hand. “I’m sorry. I know you love to take pictures. But, don’t you want to photograph the entire world?”
“It’s been done.” David dropped her hand. “I want the world to love our town as much as we do.”
“What makes you think I’d be happy in this dinky burgh?”
“Dingy?”
“Small. I said dinky.” Diane stretched her arms out. “I want to unfold my wings. Do something important before I die.”
That’s when David got the idea he couldn’t share. “Okay,” he lied. “I promise this will be the last time you ever need to climb a flight of stairs for me to click my camera in all four directions.”
“I knew I could convince you.” Diane smiled. “College will be more fun, together.”
David followed her up the stairs again. However as soon as they had both reached the landing, David lunged at her. He knocked her down against the west ledge, away from the view of any onlookers in town. For a second he wanted to turn her around to get a good look at her fear, but he decided she might survive and ruin his life.
“Let’s see how far you can fly with those important wings of yours.”
David watched her all the way down. In the struggling three-story fall, her body flipped over.
Diane stared right into his eyes until she hit the very hard pavement in the parking lot.
Rohn Federbush retired as an administrator from the University of Michigan in 1999. She received a Masters of Arts in Creative Writing in 1995 from Eastern Michigan University. Frederick Busch of Colgate granted a 1997 summer stipend for her ghost-story collection. Michael Joyce of Vassar encouraged earlier writing at Jackson Community College, Jackson, Michigan in 1981.
Rohn has completed fourteen novels, with an additional mystery nearly finished, 120 short stories and 150 poems to date.
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so of the book you are reading along with you initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires.
Glenn Shepard’s first novel, Surge, was written while he was still a surgical resident at Vanderbilt. In the following years he wrote The Hart Virus, a one-thousand-page epic about the AIDS crisis, as well as three other novels. In 2012, he created “Dr. Scott James,” his Fugitive-like action-hero, and began publishing a series. The first volume of the Dr. Scott James series was The Missile Game, followed shortly afterward by The Zombie Game. The third of the series, The Ebola Game, is due out in December, 2015. Though the books contain many of the same characters, they don’t have to be read in order. Each can be read as a stand-alone.
