Book Review for: "Murder in the Buff"

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Book Review for: Murder in the Buff
Written by: Maggie Toussaint
MuseitUp Publishing
ISBN: 978-1-927361-93-1
Avail as: ebook
5 Stars

Toussaint entertains with "Murder in the Buff," a cozy crime-mystery. Molly Darter is having a bad day. She's busted her husband kissing her sister and now she's chasing an obituary at the nudist colony for her day job. When the naturalists suggest that their friend, Barbara Jean, has been murdered, Molly doesn't know what's worse - searching for a murderer or dealing with her dysfunctional family.

Set in the contemporary south, Molly is a reporter for the local paper. Her mother is a modern southern belle, her father is pond scum, her sister is spoiled rotten, and her soon-to-be ex, Hadley, is in the doghouse for kissing her sister. The cherry on top of her day is her assignment to visit the nudists so she can write an obituary on Barbara Jean McAllister, a member of the naturalists who has recently passed away. It's enough to give Molly a monster-sized headache.

Mama Leon, the leader of those in the buff insists Barbara Jean was murdered and asks Molly to find the killer. Molly goes home only to discover that someone has placed compromising photos of Barbara Jean with several prominent men from the community in her paperwork. With suspects galore and her pond scum father on the list, Molly knows determining if Barbara Jean has actually been murdered, then going after the killer, is going to be challenging.

Complicating matters is her family. Her husband has involved her sister in his undercover work looking for drug dealers. After a long night, Hadley is caught kissing Molly's sister. Molly is furious and everyone around her feels her wrath.

Can Molly calm down and get to the heart of the matter involving Barbara Jean's murder and her family's problems or will she shoot herself in the foot?

Toussaint's writing style is crisp and sharp. She engages the reader from the get-go. Her contemporary voice brings a rich authenticity to Molly and her predicament. Just when you think it can't get any wore for the heroine it does. Toussaint keeps the reader on their toes with all the twists and turns in the plot.

The supporting cast is a hoot. From Mama Leon and his free-spirited naturalists who sell organic fruit to Molly's uptight mother, everyone in town has a motive to kill Barbara Jean. Molly's got her hands full whittling down the suspect list and managing her family's drama.

Toussaint waves a hint of romance effortlessly into this murder mystery, leaving the reader to wonder what will happen next. The love scenes are sensual in nature.

"Murder in the Buff" will keep you turning the pages and leave you wanting to know what's next for Molly, Mama Leon, and the good citizens of Marshview.

Reviewed by: S. Burkhart

StephB is an author who likes to read many books and a variety of different genres. StephB is an author at http://www.Writing.Com/ which is a site for Creative Writing.

Genealogy Mystery Writers for Family History Buffs

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I recently found a list of mystery books on the Internet that have a genealogical theme. In order to narrow it down, I picked authors, whose books were written since the year 2000. That's not to say older books are not as compelling. It just means that these newer books will be easier to find if your interest is piqued.

It is always helpful to have a list of authors to draw from that covers a particular subject of interest. Dana Stabenow's series on Alaska was my motivation. Her 2011 book, Though Not Dead, is the second time she has delved into the genealogical background of her characters in an effort to give readers a clearer understanding of Alaskan history. I loved the book, and I highly recommend her Kate Shugak series.

One series of mysteries came out in 1997. The main character is a historian and genealogist for a small town on the Mississippi River in Missouri. She is married with two children. The first book of this series by Rett MacPherson, is Family Skeletons, and it has Victory (Torie) O'Shea looking into a client's WWII ancestors. These books are cozies with a family history theme.

Sarah Stewart Taylor began her Sweeney St. George mysteries in 2003. Her character is a single college professor, who focuses on cemeteries and gravestones and the mysteries that they conjure. In the first book, O' Artful Death, Sweeney finds an intriguing statute at a gravesite and decides to investigate its background. The stories take place in Vermont.

Fiona Mountain began her 2-book series in 2002. Her main character is thirty-year-old Natasha Blake, an ancestor detective and genealogist in England. Her curiosity comes naturally, since she was abandoned soon after her birth and knows little about her own family history. In Pale as the Dead a man, whose lover has disappeared and is somehow linked to an artist/poet of the 1860s, hires Natasha to find her.

Dan Waddell writes more non-fiction than fiction. His book Who Do You Think You Are? should be familiar to anyone who has seen the PBS series of the same name. The show traces the family history of celebrities. However, in his 2008 book The Blood Detective, he introduces Nigel Barnes a genealogist, who helps the police decipher a 100-year-old murder mystery. The present-day killer, who carves an archival index number into the bodies of his victims, leads them to a killer in the past. Nigel's job is to find the link between the past and present killings. Waddell's second book has Nigel delving into the Mormon Church.

For those who cannot get enough, I recommend you research three other authors that may be of interest. Chris Larsgaard wrote just one book back in 2000 called The Heir Hunter. In real life the author's business in San Francisco was to track down the heirs to money held by the State of California. The 10% commission reminded me of John D. McDonald's Travis McGee character. Veteran mystery writer Patricia Sprinkle has a series based in Atlanta, beginning with Death on the Family Tree. And K. J. Erickson has his police characters delve into mysteries related to Gettysburg and the Japanese internment during WWII.

For those of us who are addicted to genealogy, it is nice to sit back and let someone else solve all the mysteries. Who knows, the fictional research just might jump-start you into thinking about new sources for your own family tree.

Copyright 2012 by Linda Murdock. Linda K Murdock is the author of four books, including two cookbooks, a mystery crossword puzzle book and an insider's look at living in Colorado. She has traced her genealogy back ten generations in America and is an avid mystery reader. Learn more about her Mystery Lover's Puzzle Book or read more mystery book reviews at http://bellwetherbooks.com/

First Rate Thriller

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Atticus Gunner was known as the "Hawkman" during WWII. He served under Major Gaperman in Germany in a unit known as the Night Hawks. Gunner's special skills set made him an invaluable addition to the Night Hawks, whose job "was to identify and hunt down escaped Nazis suspected of war atrocities." He was "considered the best hunter in the unit," which earned him his nickname. Since those days, however, Atticus has adopted a more sedate life as a high school administrator, and as the thrilling and page-turning novel The Moonhawker by George A. Fox opens, Gunner lands a plum job assignment in Michigan to be the new assistant principal at Madison West. Things seem to be going well for Atticus, who is divorced and is the father of two daughters-he will be earning a larger salary, and will be able to spend more time with his girls. But then, when he receives a job offer to become the principal of a high school on Washington Island, his career and life takes yet another turn. His past comes back, and it appears that he still might find a need to call upon his considerable skills at hunting down Nazis and bringing them to justice.

When his friend, Principal Bob Thrison, offers Atticus the position as the assistant principal of Madison West High School, Gunner jumps at the offer. Why shouldn't he? He will get the chance to work alongside his friend, he'll be making more money, and have great job security. But, when the attorney who represented Atticus in his divorce proceedings meets with him and out of the blue introduces him to another attorney, William Markup from New York, who presents him with another job offer, it is one that is too tempting to refuse. If he accepts the offer, he will get paid $310,000 and will get, as a further incentive, "a brand-new thirty-two-foot sailing sloop." The name of this $276,000 sloop is-you guessed it-the Moonhawk.. He's given a $5,000 check straight off for expenses. There are a few conditions the attorney attaches to the deal, but it is so tempting to Atticus that he accepts.

Even before Gunner makes it to the island, while sailing the Moonhawk with one of his daughters (Inger), he and his ship are attacked by men who appear in a small boat out of the fog. Atticus manages to chase them off, but they threaten him as they leave, saying: "you better hope we never meet again!" When the men board a nearby ship, the vessel almost rams into the Moonhawk, and Atticus and Inger are fired upon. Is it a simple case of holding a grudge, or do the men have some other motive for wanting to see Atticus dead?

On Washington Island, Atticus and Butch Gorpon (the president of the school board there) join forces to uncover the secrets behind a mysterious series of deaths. What they find is a chilling connection to the Nazis of WWII. From fighting off the men who try to board his ship with an ax handle to getting involved in a barroom brawl with the Cline boys the very first night he's on the island, Atticus proves he can handle himself and that he hasn't lost the edge that earned him his reputation as a top Nazi hunter. There's more than enough action in Fox's novel to satisfy the most discriminating fan of the thriller genre.

Other aspects I really liked about The Moonhawker is the three dimensionality of the characters, and Fox's display of his intimate knowledge of Lake Michigan, Madison, and Washington Island. The characters are vividly described, and Fox's skill as an author makes them come alive for the reader. Michigan, Washington Island, and the Moonhawk become characters in their own right, as well. The relationship Atticus has with his two daughters, Stacie and Inger, is integral to the plot and is interesting in itself. He will do anything he can to protect his daughters and he will stop anyone from harming them.

The Moonhawker by George A. Fox is a page-turning novel filled with twists and turns that will have you on the edge of your seat. It's a very cinematic and sweeping novel that begs to be made into a movie. I can imagine that the panoramic vistas of Lake Michigan and Washington Island would look fantastic on the Silver Screen. I look forward to reading more from this talented author in the coming years, and I highly recommend this stunning debut novel.

Reviewed by Douglas R. Cobb for http://www.bestsellersworld.com/