Book Reviews

I’m going to write a few book reviews from now on.  Wildflowers with butterfly

NIGHT CHILL by Jeff Gunhus.

When seven-year-old Sarah Tremont is taken by a killing cult for their ritual sacrifice, her father stops at nothing to get her back. Even though his wife and everyone else in town think he’s kidnapped Sarah himself.

Night Chill is a riveting child-in-peril thriller. And a harrowing supernatural horror story. A well-written, fast-paced read you can’t put down. Vivid imagery. Suspenseful from the very beginning. A real page-turner.

Can you tell I liked it?

 

 

TRANSFER OF POWER by Vince Flynn.

There aren’t too many books that keep me up reading all night. This was one. Once you get past the middle, you don’t want to stop.

A very detailed, Chuck Norris movie-type “save the White House” patriotic thriller. If you enjoy this type of military action-adventure (and if even if you like any type of action-adventure), you’ll love Transfer of Power.

ranch

 

 

 

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK:  Night Chill by Jeff Gunhus.Transfer of Power by Vince Flynn.

 

Curious about my books. Visit  http://rixcafetexican.com. Photos by Roxanne Rix

 

The Talking To The Dead Guys tour of Lockhart (we had a fun time of it)

TALKING TO THE DEAD GUYS is a humorous mystery set in the small Texas town of Lockhart, featuring our dog Boo Radley. Most of the settings are real. But this is a real courthouse.

And believe me, I made up all of the characters (except for our dog), even though local readers josh me from time to time about how they recognize so-and-so in certain scenes.

Boo Radley

Boo Radley

If you live in Lockhart and have read the book, then it’s pretty easy to scout out the real places. But for readers from outside the area, (we had the opportunity last week showing a nice couple from Seguin around) we came up with the TALKING TO THE DEAD GUYS Lockhart tour.

We started at the City Park (where the novel begins), drove past the site where the first dead body was found down by the creek bed (in the book, guys. it’s all made up). Then down into the historical cemetery right next door. One of the inspirations for TALKING TO THE DEAD GUYS was the yearly Speaking of the Dead nighttime cemetery tour the historical society holds out here. The last year we walked it, when I couldn’t keep up and came close to tripping over grave borders, I started laughing, picturing our dog Boo Radley dragging me through the dark and onto something scary. Angel

After the cemetery we drove to look at the mansions along Main Street, one of which served as Grady William Pearce’s fictional abode. Then to the Caldwell County Historical Society Museum, which is commonly known as the old jail. It looks like a castle on the outside, and up on the second and third floors it’s definitely a 19th century rusted-out jail. We still think it would be a great place to have an overnight ghost story party.Lockhart

 

 

We were there too early in the morning to tour.

From there we passed Grace Lutheran Church, then to Maple Street and the house standing in for the Gruene House in my book. Then to the Maple Street walking and biking trail. The year I wrote the book, the fields alongside it were planted with cotton. Every other year, it’s corn. Here’s a photo of the corn. Walking Boo Radley past the corn or cotton fields day by day and dealing with her quirky personality was the other inspiration for TALKING TO THE DEAD GUYS. I really did make part of it up walking the dog (getting dragged by the dog is more accurate).Corn

 

From there we drove all the way up to the field alongside the junior high school where the fictional Barkie Bark and Sophia got into so much trouble. Then back down to the park where the fictional FBI agent got into so much trouble.

Ended it with a short look inside the Dr. Eugene Clark Library (where the third installment of my Boo Done It series will see a murder done). And then we really ended it with a great BBQ meal at Blacks BBQ.

The couple we took on this tour wanted photographs to send along with TALKING TO THE DEAD GUYS to make it more special for the recipient. We volunteered to drive them around because it sounded like a fun thing to do, especially since they liked our mystery novel.

Clark Library

 

The friendliest BBQ place in town. Good BBQ, too.

 

I doubt we’ll ever get any more Boo Done It fans visiting Lockhart just to see the places I’ve written about, but if we do, we might be up to showing them around. Front yard flowers

 

 

 

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK:  Watch Me Die by Lee Goldberg.

Check out our website http://rixcafetexican.com.

The Talking To The Dead Guys Tour

LockhartWe’re doing a Talking To The Dead Guys Tour of Lockhart this weekend.

Taking a couple of readers around town to shoot photographs of the actual sites I used in my murder mystery novel Talking To The Dead Guys.

http://rixcafetexican.com

There are a lot more of them than I remembered. And I’m not even counting the ones from the sequel Tea With A Dead Gal.

A Boo Done It Mystery

A Boo Done It Mystery

The high school gymnasium. The police department. The Maple Street walking/biking trail. Black’s BBQ.

The Maple Street walking/biking trail and my experiences on it with our dog Boo Radley actually inspired the book.

The old jail house. Maple Street Park. The Main Street mansions.

The old jail house gave me a really neat idea for the end of the mystery.

City Park. City Cemetery. The Caldwell County Courthouse.

The Speaking of the Dead graveyard tour held in Lockhart’s City Cemetery every October inspired the murder and mystery I made up for Talking To The Dead Guys.

The green house (Gruene) where much of the action takes place.

One look at the real house this was based on and you’ll understand why I populated my fictional setting with all those newspapers, photographs, and ….to say anything more would spoil the surprise.

The friendliest BBQ place in town. Good BBQ, too.

The friendliest BBQ place in town. Good BBQ, too.

Our tour should be fun.

I hope we get to do it again.

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK: The Peyti Crisis by Kristine Kathryn Rusch.

Photos by Roxanne Rix

Boo Radley

Boo Radley

Caldwell County courthouse