Six-Gun Serenade by Mason Macrae

He's come home to his ranch after being away for a year.  What he finds is trouble.  There's a new guy in town buying up land and he's trying to take it legally or by force.  Jim's claim is legal and he's not going to give up his ground.  The other guy is not beyond playing dirty and things heat up quickly.

Pioneering Press gave me a copy of this book to read for review (thank you).  It's available now on Amazon.

One thing that really puts Jim in a bind is that the girl he's the guardian of has decided she's in love with him.  He considers himself her big brother and won't consider her otherwise.  She gets mad, then she gets even.  She's going to sell her part of the property.

With fighting for his ranch and his life, he doesn't have much time to worry about her.  He's even willing to let her sell the land and go off to a new life, he just wishes she hadn't chosen the man she did for a husband.

Greed has been around for a long time and that's what's driving the other man in his attempt to buy the whole area around this dry lake.  When Jim figures out his angle, he tries to get the other ranchers to take a stand.  They're scared and are hesitant.

The thing that tickled me about this story was that as time goes on and Sheila realizes just what a con man her "fiance" is, she grows up a bit.  It's a long hard road home and a good fight before things get resolved.  You had to be tough in the old west...

One Week In The Library By: W. Maxwell Prince, Art By: John Amor

Have you ever felt like the library is alive?  Like maybe if you go quickly around the corner, you might catch a character out of their book?  Even if you haven't, this book will take you there...

Image Comics shared this book with me for review (thank you).  This book has been published and you can grab a copy now.

The illustrations are otherworldly.  You feel like you're in the future and you're not sure what's going to happen.  When things happen you're not sure just what it was.  There are stories within a story here.

The books move themselves on the shelf.  Other worlds and characters pop into a room.  There are natural disasters and odd creatures about.  But that's normal for this library.  There is one man as the librarian and he mostly reads, but he often gets caught up in the adventures.  And he searches for a door out...

He finally finds a door and when it opens, he finds himself in an office.  The library was strange; this office is just plain weird and there's an interesting touch at the end of the story.  This isn't a traditional story; give it a try and see what you think.

The War Trail by Gordon Landsborough

Four men are crawling across the desert with a desperate need for water.  They tangled with the Shoshone Indians and lost their horses.  The Indians aren't after them anymore but they will die soon with no water.  The worst part is the monster after them.  They carry a secret and he's determined to have it...

Pioneering Press shared a copy of this book with me for review (thank you).  It's available now for purchase.

The four men each have a quarter of a gold piece that tells them with the four words where the inheritance is buried.  Someone is picking them off and then gathering those quarters.  He colors himself blue and wears a witch doctor's mask.  He's ruthless and deadly.

When a young cowboy hits town on foot, all he's looking for is a new horse.  Someone played a trick on him and it broke his horse's leg.  He's not in a good humor and he gets worse when he hears what they are saying about him.  Without any intention of doing it, he finds himself in a ring for a fight.  He took out the champion with one hit so now he has to do the fight.  He manages to survive and convinces the saloon owner to give him a horse.  Before he gets out of town, he meets a grieving girl and hears of her father's death.  He got to town but didn't last much longer.  She's clueless about where his inheritance may be, but she knows he had one to share with her.  Dave decides to ride the War Trail for her and get it back.

With that man made monster on the loose and Indians around, it's not a safe trip.  There's gunplay, murder, and an all out Indian attack before the issue is settled.  The best part is that he gets the girl in the end.  Dave was a big man with a good punch and he needed that strength to survive.

Pink Panther Volume 1: The Cool Cat is Back by S.A. Check (Author), Adrian Ropp (Author, Illustrator), Bill Galvan (Illustrator), Bob Smith (Illustrator)

Just seeing the cover of this book took me back in time.  When I was fifteen, I got to go to afternoon matinees with my girlfriend who could drive.  We went to anything just to be free and have the time to ourselves.  They showed cartoons before the movie and the Pink Panther ones were special.  I had to grab this one to read because of my memories of the past and I found it just as much fun as it was at fifteen (many, many, many moons ago).

Diamond Books and Edelweiss let me read this book for review (thank you).  It will be published December 13th.

Cartoons in this era were just plain fun.  Sometimes silly, sometimes fantastic and far out, but all fun to read.  A good example of what I mean is the one where the Pink Panther is creating animal balloons at a birthday party.  The spoiled brat the party is for wants a specific kind of balloon toy, but the Pink Panther can't understand him.  You should see all the various balloon types he tries to shut the kid up.

Then there's the time he was going to a costume party and ran into Frankenstein on the way.  They pick up their invites and go on but he's now going to a scary party, which he wasn't expecting.  He survives through quick thinking.  And then he runs into Frankenstein again and ends up going home with the best costume prize while Frankenstein gets the scariest prize just like the originally exchanged invitations.

This was like visiting with an old friend and I really enjoyed reading it.  If you've seen his cartoons before, you'll want to get this one.  If you haven't met him yet and you like comics, you should give this one a look.  Nobody else is like the Pink Panther... 

The Adventures of Henry Whiskers by Gigi Priebe, Daniel Duncan

Henry Whiskers is the oldest child in his family and he takes his duties seriously.  He has to watch his little sister carefully; she's an explorer.  The mouse city is under the floorboards and no one except Titus (the cat) knows they live there.  Part of Henry's job is to keep the dollhouse on display clean and well kept, just like his father did.  He does a good job at that but he also finds himself reading in the comfortable library chair and sometimes he falls asleep.  He's almost been caught so he tries not to do that.

Aladdin and Edelweiss gave me the opportunity to read this book for review (thank you).  It will be published January 3rd.

This is a wonderful tale for a middle grader.  Isabel gets in trouble and Harry has to save her.  He gets his friend to help him, they almost get caught by the cat and by rats, they steal a car to get Isabel back home and they have adventures that almost make you hold your breath!  Can you imagine being wrapped up in a carpet?

There's much excitement, lots of challenges and fast action through out the story.  The illustrations are luscious and full of whimsy.  I found it a real joy to read and wouldn't mind meeting Henry in another adventure.  He's good at them! 

Crimson Snow: A British Library Crime Classic by Martin Edwards

I'm a big fan of classic mystery stories and short stories, so I was glad to see this book.  I was not disappointed and you won't be either.  Got your cup of coffee or tea and ready to start?

Poisoned Pen Press and Net Galley allowed me to read this book for review (thank you).  It will be published January 3rd.

Typical English short stories can be a bit dry and drab to me.  I think that's a difference in cultures.  Only a couple fit in that category in this collection.  The rest were all busy and interesting and had good mysteries.

I have noted three that I enjoyed the most.  If you're a mystery reader, I can almost guarantee you that you will enjoy them, too.

The Man with the Sack by Margery Allington has Mr. Campion in action and her stories are always good.

Death in December by Victor Gunn was also very good.  I don't recall reading his work before but I really liked this one.

The last one is the one I liked best in the whole book:  The Carol Singers by Josephine Bell.  Ms. Bell always writes very good mysteries and this one is no exception.  When the old woman is found dead in her home, there's no witness to the tragedy.  But what she did on the spur of the moment is what identifies her killers.  It's a twisted road to the answer but sometimes life is like that.

These all have a Christmas theme in some way or the other.  Death is not what one normally asks for at Christmas time, but death comes at any time of the year...

The Secret Ingredient of Wishes by Susan Bishop Crispell

This is an interesting look at wishes.  If you could grant wishes, would you?  How careful would you have to be when you made them?  What if you really didn't mean to do what you wished?  How do you recover from making your little brother disappear?

Thomas Dunne Books sent me a copy of this book to read for review (thank you).  It has been published and is available now.

This story was just bit beyond believable for me.  The story line is good, I enjoyed the characters and I especially liked the small town she found when she decided to leave her past behind.  Rachel is not the strongest young woman.  She has guilt over losing her brother, her father leaving her mother and her mother's suicide.  She's been surviving but she keeps living with that guilt.  In an attempt to leave that behind and move on with her life, she packs up and heads out with no particular destination in mind.  She's heading towards the beach and will try to pick up the pieces there.  Unfortunately, she runs out of gas in a small town and can't go on with her journey right away.  It's the best thing that ever happened to her.

She ends up staying with an old woman who makes pies for the whole town.  It's named Nowhere and that's an appropriate name.  It doesn't take long until Rachel notices people visit Catch at the back door and request certain pies.  Those pies have a magical ingredient baked in them that helps them keep secrets, fall in love, and more.  Rachel's still too scared to tell Catch about her own magic.  She does help her bake pies and deliver them though.  And the male neighbor next door is fascinating.

There's trauma, drama, gossip and more in this story.  There's the knowledge that once you've wished something, you can't change it.  It's like that old adage:  Be careful what you wish for; you might get it.

This was a pleasant read and has a positive ending.  It was a bit far-fetched to me but it was enjoyable.  See what you think!