Fiction

Title: The Sobs of Autumn's Violins
Author: A. R. Homer
Genre: Fiction, Thriller
Reviewer: Bill McDonald

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 1595264825

A Secret So Colossal It Will Decide Who Wins the War...

May, 1944: The world holds its breath as the Allies prepare to launch their all-important invasion of Europe. The invasion plan is a secret that must be kept at all costs, but the secret is beset from all sides: a sleeper spy in England, a disaster during an invasion rehearsal, a double-dealing French Resistance leader, a ruthlessly-obsessed Gestapo head. And, for an American intelligence officer, it is a race against time to save both the secret and the woman he loves.

And now the secret's safety hangs upon two things: Operation First Violin, the brainchild of the chief English spymaster, and a French orphan girl seeking to find escape from a world that has dealt her terrible blows.

Played out in England and Normandy over two weeks that will decide the course of history, The Sobs of Autumn's Violins is a tale of suspense, courage, and love that builds to a stunning double climax.

Title: Every Shape, Every Shadow: A Novel of Guadalcanal
Author: Roger L. Conlee
Genre: Fiction, Historical
Reviewer: Bill McDonald

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 0971036292

It is 1942 and the Japanese have overrun Southeast Asia and most of the Pacific islands. They have to be stopped somewhere or Australia could fall. That somewhere is a place called Guadalcanal. Every Shape, Every Shadow is Roger L. Conlee's fictionalized account of one of the epic battles in American history. Guadalcanal was where the Japanese were finally stopped and the Americans could start on the road to Tokyo and victory.

The story is told mostly through the eyes of a frightened, lonely young Marine.

Title: The L.P.
Author: David Walks-as-Bear
Genre: Fiction, Historical
Reviewer: Bill McDonald

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 1413722342

A story about the 2003 invasion of Iraq. At the war’s beginning, near the outskirts of Baghdad — an undermanned infantry squad and two young women are caught with legions of the Iraqi Republican Guard all around them. Death could come swiftly for the American soldiers assigned to the listening post. Do they fight, hide or surrender? Sgt. Parker is the man in charge and he can’t let any of those things happen. Because the L.P. has heard something sinister and no matter what the cost...it must be told.

Title: The Ninth Commandment: Thou Shall Not Bear False Witness
Author: Joe "Tuffy" Tofuri
Genre:
Reviewer: Bill McDonald

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 1591296463

Joe Tofuri is a licensed Massachusetts private detective. He embarks on a bevy of intertwining cases during the Christmas season of 1995. First, he is retained by a wealthy businessman to find and retrieve his young son who was kidnapped by a drug dealer. The “search for the truth” comes to bear in two other cases involving domestic abuse, assault & battery, and the horrible vehicular homicide of a young boy. In the midst of these investigations, Joe takes on another case involving the search for a stolen mysterious briefcase taken by a "Biker" gang. Entering the dark and dangerous biker world, he uncovers an unlikely clue that leads him to a potential eyewitness in the vehicular homicide case. And through it all, Joe must fight the most dangerous entities of them all... his own inner demons.

Title: Moving Is Murder: A Mom Zone Mystery (Ellie Avery Mysteries)
Author: Sara Rosett
Genre: Fiction, Mystery
Reviewer: Bill McDonald

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): B005GNMEIC

Moving four times in five years has honed Ellie's considerable skills. But unpacking with a newborn daughter, record-breaking heat wave, and the realization that their dream neighborhood is known as Base Housing East is enough to make her turn to chocolate for comfort. She and her husband, Mitch, moved off-base for privacy and peace of mind. Now half of their neighbors are with the 52nd Air Refueling Squadron. Forget privacy. Forget peace of mind, too. Driving home from her first squadron barbecue, Ellie finds neighborhood environmental activist Cass Vincent dead on the side of the road. The police call it an accident - Cass, fatally allergic, was stung by wasps - but Ellie's not so sure. Cass' husband said she always had an EpiPen in the car. Unfortunately, all Ellie found was a cup with sugary gunk and bits of bees at the bottom. She saw Cass argue violently at the barbecue with Mitch's buddy Jeff about something mysterious...and it just so happens Jeff knows a lot about bee-keeping. Hoping to clear Drew before the police get around to suspecting him, Ellie starts snooping in earnest. What she finds shocks her - alcoholism, blackmail, betrayal, secret debt...even illicit medical treatment the Air Force would never tolerate. But what's the connection to Cass? When suspicious "accidents" start happening in her own backyard, Ellie realizes she's getting closer to the killer...maybe too close!