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TRIAL AND ERROR
A Solomon vs. Lord Novel
Paul Levine
ISBN 978-0-440-24276-5
Bantam Books
Mystery
267 pages
4 ½ dolphins

Steve Solomon and Victoria Lord are partners in a legal firm as well as lovers. She has recently moved in with Steve who is raising his nephew, Bobby. Bobby has had some problems in his young life, but has settled in with his uncle and spends a lot of time at a nearby attraction that features dolphins. Bobby even swims with them and can communicate with them. One evening while Bobby is visiting the dolphins, people try to steal or free the dolphins, depending on whose side you are on. Uncle Steve comes to the rescue and Steve does sort of capture one of the bad guys. Another man is killed by the attraction owner. Now comes the problem. Steve takes on the case of defending the man he helped capture, while Victoria is told she is to prosecute him, and is given temporary prosecutor status. How can this come to a harmonic conclusion, you ask? Well, you'll have to read the book to see.

TRIAL AND ERROR by Paul Levine proves that a mystery can also be a fun romp of a read. If it weren't for some nasty language, I'd even say that teenagers would enjoy this book, but I wouldn't let a teenager read it, though I know this type of wording is probably on their own lips. At any rate, Mr. Levine combines mirth and mystery as well as some romance and he does a good job of doing it. His well-drawn characters use some clever patter, and his Steve/Victoria romance show that opposites do indeed attract. For a fun mystery read, pick up a copy of TRIAL AND ERROR and/or another of Paul Levine's Solomon versus Lord books.

c Jeannine D. Van Eperen, reviewer for Gotta Write Network

July 14, 2008

LOVE, SUBURBAN STYLE
By Wendy Markham
ISBN-13: 978-0-446-61843-4
Warner Books
Contemporary romance
367 pages
4 ½ soccer balls

Meg Addams lived most of her life after high school as Astor Hudson, a Tony-winning Broadway actress. When she doesn't get a part she feels she was made for, she decides she has had enough of the Great White Way, Meg impulsively buys a run-down, possibly haunted-house in her old home town. Her fifteen-year-old daughter, Cosette, isn't crazy about the idea, but since her father had left before she was born, she has no choice but to go with her mother. Meg's ex, a Hollywood actor, has always provided alimony and child support. Meg and Cosette can live on that money, but Meg also plans to teach voice. Her new "old" house happens to be located next door to her teenage crush, Sam Rooney, who moved back to his parents' house after the death of his wife. Sam has a son, Ben, who is also fifteen and a pre-teen daughter, Katie. Meg finds that her home town has changed, but her infatuation of Sam has not. Sam now teaches physics at the high school and he is a soccer couch for Glenhaven. Neither Meg nor Sam are looking for a long-term relationship, but sometimes one's plans have a way of taking a detour.

Wendy Markham has written a lively reading romp that ought to appeal to contemporary romance readers. She combines wit and common sense in her premise, and the engaging characters are a plus. My one comment is that the book is written in the present tense and it takes me a while to adjust to that format. Is this a new trend, I wonder, since not too long ago I ran into another of this ilk? Still, the reader will root for Meg and Sam to become a couple and snarl at some of the Soccer Moms Meg encounters in for move to suburbia. Love, Suburban Style is a good book to take to the beach or poolside this summer. Just don't get so involved that you'll get sun burnt.

Jeannine D. Van Eperen, Reviewer, Gotta Write Network

June 13, 2008

Love, Lies and a Double Shot of Deception
By Lois Winston
Lovespell
Contemporary Romance
321 pages
5 Fibs

Emma was a poor little rich girl who as an adult endured an abusive marriage. When she returns home one evening after delivering her sons to their boarding school, she finds her husband dead. She's glad he is dead. But she feels guilty for feeling happiness at another's death.

When Emma meets dashing Logan Crawford, she can't believe that he is actually interested in her. He is a Trump-type character - a wealthy entrepreneur, extremely handsome and dynamic.

Logan is surprised to find himself so attracted to Emma. When Emma is accused of the death of her husband and other odious things, can the blossoming romance survive? Or will Logan, too, prove to be another cad?

Love, Lies and a Double Shot of Deception by Lois Winston is a fast-paced romantic suspense story of the very best kind. Lois Winston has written a heart-rending but also witty story of love against great odds. Ms. Winston is certain to become one of our notable romance writers. Fortunately for me, I took this book with me on a long plane trip to South America, and it sure made being packed in like a sardine in an oily can more pleasant. I could escape into the world Ms. Winston created and not miss sleeping.

c Reviewed by Jeannine Van Eperen, reviewer gottawritenetwork.com

March 25, 2008

THE CON ARTIST OF CATALINA ISLAND
Jennifer Colt
ISBN-13: 978-1-60461-267-7
Tessera Books
Mystery/Christmas Novel
271 pages
5 P.I.s

Twins Kerry and Terry McAfee are identical twins--on the outside alike but very different in other ways. They are Private Investigators. Their Aunt Reba invites them to accompany her and her son, Robert, on a Christmas trip to Catalina Island. Never having taken the twenty-two mile trip across the Pacific from their Los Angeles home, they accept. Reba and Robert are the only family they have. The day after they arrive in Catalina, the woman who drove the van that picked them up and took them to the hotel is found dead. Who discovers this you ask? The McAfee twins, of course, while on a glass-bottom boat seeing the sights around the island. A man, whose wife left him on his wedding night, rushes to the sight thinking the corpse might be his missing wife. He is relieved to find the dead woman is not his wife, but in finding out that the twins are P.I.s he hires them to track down his bride. Add to this, Robert discovers his deceased dad is not his biological father, and Robert decides to find the man who sired him. His mother is little help in the matter as she had a very short fling aboard an airliner on the way to France. Kerry and Terry have their hands full, trying to keep their aunt and cousin in line as well as look for the missing bride and the person who killed the van-driver they had liked.

What a jewel of a book! I haven't met such quirky characters since Janet Evanovich's One for the Money. Death is not funny, but THE CON ARTIST OF CATALINA ISLAND certainly is. By the way, this book doesn't have to be read at Christmastime. It's a pleaser any time of the year. Jennifer Colt has created a whirlwind of havoc, set in picturesque Catalina. If you want a fun read, this is the book for you.

Jeannine D. Van Eperen, reviewer for gottawritenetwork.com
Author of A Matter of Blood and No Escape from Love
April 5, 2008

THE MARATHON MURDERS
A Greg McKenzie Mystery
By Chester D. Campbell
ISBN 978-0-9799167-1-7
Night Shadows Press
Mystery
224 pages
4 antique autos

Greg McKenzie's old army friend comes to Nashville and asks the McKenzie firm to help clear up an old mystery. McKenzie's old pal's friend Kelli Kane wants to clear her great-grandfather's name. In 1914 her great-grandfather worked for Marathon Motors and was accused of running away with company funds. He was later found dead, but his name was not cleared and the money not found. A man doing construction at the old Marathon Building found some papers that might exonerate Kelli's great-grandfather, but he is murdered before he had a chance to turn the papers over to Greg McKenzie or to Kelli. In addition, Kelli's grandfather is in a nursing home recovering from an illness. She hopes clearing the name of his father will brighten the last days, months or years of her grandfather's life. Greg and his wife, Jill, work with the police and on their own to try to solve the murders that keep piling up as well as the old cold case from 1914. They believe the new murders are all tied together with the death and missing funds from 1914 and are going the extra mile to prove that Kelli's great-grandfather was innocent of theft and was murdered, not a suicide as the police in that long ago time believed. If they can just find the missing papers they are certain all will fall into place.

Chester D. Campbell has written a detailed account of the lives of P.I.s Greg and Jill McKenzie as well as the cast of other characters assembled in this book. Despite the murders, this is more of a cozy mystery than the gory CSI type popular today. The Marathon Murders isn't an exciting book but it is good for an unhurried read with likeable main characters, as well as several other well-drawn minor characters, both likeable and unlikeable as suits their part in this drama.

Jeannine Van Eperen, Reviewer, Gotta Write Network
May 14, 2008

BETWEEN THE SHEETS
By Robin Wells
ISBN-13: 978-0-446-61841-0
Forever, Grand Central Publishing
Romance
382 pages
5 Doubles

Emma Jamison happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time, and because of this she was lionized in the press, television and Internet. No one believed her innocent, and she had no way to prove she was an innocent bystander. Hoping to somehow live down her notoriety and start her live anew, she takes a job as head housekeeper in an assisted living facility. This is nice in a way as her grandmother lives there; however grandma is fine, just a bit of forgetfulness. Emma's grandmother deeded her home to Emma and Emma hopes the people of this small Louisiana town will eventually come around and see her for herself, not the sexpot depicted who was with the president-elect when he had a fatal heart attack. Max Duval's grandfather has dementia and has an apartment in the Alzheimer's wing of the facility assisted living home. He and grandpa had been estranged but Max is doing his duty to the old man as best he can. When Max and Emma meet, there is chemistry but a romance with her would be fatal to his career. Max is the acting D. A. and is up for election. As nice as Emma may seem, she was having sex with the president-elect, wasn't she?

BETWEEN THE SHEETS is a delightful, romantic romp, filled with interesting people, clever, witty dialogue and an intriguing plot. The book's title turned me off, but there again, don�t judge a book by its cover and in this case for me, title. I fell in love with all the characters and could emphasize deeply with Emma's predicament. Max was all a hero should be though he was flung into a difficult situation, he weathered the storm. The grandparents of the pair gave the reader an insightful picture of growing old, and having failing mental capacities. Their story was told with tenderness as well as humor, and this is a humorous book. I loved it!

Jeannine D. Van Eperen, Reviewer, gottawritenetwork.com
July 1, 2008

FACETS
Barbara Delinsky
ISBN-13: 978-0-446-35945-0
Grand Central Publishing
535 pages
Reissued Mass Market July 2008
3 ½ grudges

Hillary Cox has been in love with John St. George since she was seventeen. She is a writer now in her forties and has been sleeping with John off and on for most of those years. Watching 20/20 to see an interview with John, she is shocked when he announces he's engaged. He had recently been in her bed and they had made love. Never did he so much as hint he was about to marry another woman. It is almost at that instant that Hillary decides to write a biography of the man who has hurt her terribly. When she confronts John, he is surprised that she is upset and tells her nothing has changed between them in their relationship. His cavalier attitude stuns her. Hillary knows a lot about John St. George and she uncovers more. John's sister, Pam, a successful jewelry designer, has her own agenda against her half-brother, as does Pam's lover, Cutter Reid, a boy from the wrong side of the tracks who has made good. Add to that mix Patricia, Pam's mother. But the person and catalyst who affected the people involved is Eugene St. George, father to both John and Pam, a miner who began the St. George dynasty. Eugene was admired and loved by some but hated, with reason, by his son and heir John. Eugene's death gave John power and John made the most of it but what are the consequences? And will Hillary unearth enough dirt to ruin John St. George and does she truly want to do so?

Barbara Delinsky has written another page turner, but in my opinion not as good as some of her other books. She paints John as a villain, but the real villain, again in my opinion, ought to be Eugene St. George for the way he treated John and John's mother. He divorced John's mother and married a girl, Patricia, just a few years older than John, after he had gotten her pregnant. According to Delinsky, Patricia was naturally interested in a powerful, rich man thirty years her senior. Eugene callously threw his wife aside, as well as his son. Eugene showered love on the daughter produced by his second marriage, but ignored and otherwise was very hard on his young son. Eugene's first wife dies several months after Eugene's divorce and re-marriage. Eugene does nothing to help his son through this period and the important changes in the boy's life. When Eugene a few years later befriends and helps another boy, close to his son's age, Cutter Reid, John resents it. Barbara Delinsky wrote this book not delving more into these relationships, but merely sketches these things. She focuses on the later deeds (dastardly or not) of John. Delinsky concentrates on love affairs and sexual activities and there are a lot of them. I think in doing this she missed the boat on making this a really interesting book. Ms. Delinsky seems to be making a case for adultery. Pam and Cutter love each other so it's okay for them to find pleasure in one another to say nothing of Pam's husband raising a child of Pam and Cutter as his own. Because Pam and Cutter have been in love for years, according to Ms. Delinsky, it is all right to hoodwink Pam's noble husband. No matter that she married to spite Cutter. Then when they met again, they quickly resumed their love affair that produced a child. The only character Delinsky thinks is unforgivable is John. I'm not sure she is right. Patricia seduced John, her stepson. She was older married to his father. Who's the villain here? If you usually enjoy Barbara Delinsky, you'll probably enjoy this book, too. As I said earlier, it is a page-turner. I just think with her talent, she could have created a better story.

Jeannine D. Van Eperen, Reviewer, Gotta Write Network

author of FAR-award winner:Memory and Desire
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