Tag: #bookreview

Kudos for The Color Red

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Kudos are coming in for The Color Red (Release Date: March 20, 2023). The Color Red brings the twisted Balkans to Boston and Cape Cod.

What critics and advance readers are saying:

“A smart, fast-paced mystery by a master craftsman of the genre who weaves complex ideas into a riveting storyline. Detective Bourque is one unique officer of the law, willing to ‘dance with the devil’ when need be.” ~ Lesley Choyce, author of The Unlikely Redemption of John Alexander MacNeil

“Potter is writing at the top of his form with the launch of his new detective series set in Cape Cod. Ancient Balkan grudges collide with no-nonsense Yankee detectives in this exceptionally well-written mystery.” ~ Caroline Woodward, author of Alaska Highway Two-Step

“The Color Red is a captivating eddy of old world and new, east and west, masculine and feminine, fed on a healthy menu of well-cooked dishes of revenge. Potter’s language is accurate and elegant, and his characters are on point. A superb read.” ~ S.M. Collins, author of To Be Human Again

“The Color Red opens with Detective Ivy Bourque encountering mysteries within a mystery. Is the case a double murder or murder suicide? What is the significance of the two dark neckties from which the victims are hanging? A maze of personal relationships complicates the investigation. But Bourque’s unquenchable curiosity helps her discover exactly what happened and the reasons behind it.” ~ Jim Poling Sr., author of Tecumseh: Shooting Star, Crouching Panther

“A winning read with fascinating suspects. Detective Bourque is wry, intelligent, and sympatico. What a great main character for a series.” ~ P. W. Tilley, Former RCMP Detective

“The Color Red stands out as a gripping, intelligent, and well-written detective story. An excellent start to what promises to be a must-read series.” ~ Jane Bwye, author of Breath of Africa

“A. M. Potter confirms his mastery of page-turner crime fiction. Detective Lieutenant Ivy Bourque arrives on a baffling Cape Cod scene that would ‘scare the scales off a salmon.’ Was it murder? Suicide? Both? Through multiple interlocking scenarios Bourque deploys her skills in connecting life in coastal and urban settings, complex individual and professional personalities, history, and culture to expose the perpetrators of the grim scene. The Color Red foretells a captivating new series.” ~ Bertrum MacDonald, Information Management Professor, Dalhousie University.

NB: Full reviews will be posted in the Kudos & Press section in late March 2023.

Purchase The Color Red: Click here for information.

Publishers Weekly Review of The Color Red

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The Color Red, Stark House. ISBN 979-8-88601-021-3

Review Text: Early in this impressive series launch from Potter, Ivy Bourque, of the Massachusetts State Police’s Cape & Islands Detective Unit, is called to the mansion of businessman Rollo Novak, originally from Slovenia. Novak, who made his billions funding startups, became a celebrity from his appearance on the popular reality show Angels or Devils; in the program, affluent entrepreneurs assess new ventures and decide whether to support them or take them over. His major-domo, a fellow Slav, called 911 after finding the naked bodies of Novak and his wife, Katrina Hayden, a former Miss USA, hanging from a stair rail by their swimming pool. The complex investigation includes many possible suspects, from disgruntled Angels or Devils contestants to someone connected to the Balkans’ bloody past. Potter makes Bourque, who gave up a career in organic chemistry to hunt killers, a credible lead readers will root for. Fans of intelligent procedurals will hope for a long series run.

Purchase The Color Red: Click here for information.

Around England with a Dog by Lesley Choyce

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Book Review

Around England with a Dog by Lesley Choyce, 2022. Rocky Mountain Books.

Early into reading Around England with a Dog by Lesley Choyce, I started chuckling. I kept chuckling. Choyce’s humour is understated yet effervescent. He and his wife Linda travelled around England (as you may guess), but also Scotland and Wales, with a Highland terrier named Kelty.

While the intrepid trio hiked, toured, meandered, and imbibed various local beers — the latter with Kelty’s approval, of course — I drank in literary history and astute observations. What also enticed me? Choyce’s words. To relate one of many examples, he depicts Claude Monet as a man with an “ambitious beard.” Ambitious describes Monet to a t. Around England with a Dog is a captivating travelogue underscored by the author’s candour and self-deprecation.

Advance Kudos for The Color Red

A.M. Potter8 Comments

Kudos are coming in for The Color Red (Release Date: March 20, 2023). The Color Red brings the twisted Balkans to Boston and Cape Cod.

What critics and advance readers are saying:

“Impressive series launch …. Fans of intelligent procedurals will hope for a long series run.” ~ Publishers Weekly

“Potter keeps us guessing until the final chapter in this well-plotted clever mystery with a smart, savvy protagonist.” ~ Ken Haigh, Author of On Foot to Canterbury, shortlisted for the Hilary Weston Prize

“Potter has done it again with his new novel, The Color Red, a nail-biting murder mystery. Thriller fans and lovers of New England, and the Cape Cod region in particular, will be captivated by The Color Red. I loved every page.” ~ James W. White, Author of Giants and Cisco

“Great story! Well delivered and really well written. Five shining ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.” ~ Vicky Coughlan, Instagram and Goodreads Reviewer

“An exhilarating murder mystery, The Color Red plunges the reader into rapid intrigue with clever insight and innovative twists. Creative and thoroughly entertaining.” ~ Bill Arnott, bestselling author of the Gone Viking travelogues

“A superb police murder mystery. The writing is crisp and the story compelling until the very end. I was hooked at Page One and couldn’t put it down.” ~ David Hoath, Police Psychologist (Retired)

NB: Full reviews will be posted in the Kudos & Press section in late March 2023.

Purchase The Color Red: Click here for information.

Broken Man on a Halifax Pier: A Personal Review

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Broken Man on a Halifax Pier by Lesley Choyce, 2019. Dundurn.

Book reviews are supposed to be objective and largely impersonal. Caveat: This one is personal. Tune out if you wish.

Broken Man on a Halifax Pier swirls around Stewart Harbour, Nova Scotia, a fictionalized fishing post close to the real Sheet Harbour on the Eastern Shore, where I grew up. Although I left the shore at 17, I still feel it in my bones.

Some followers of this blog have been asking me to broaden my introduction. At the risk of boring others, here we go. [You can skip ahead to the review. See the last paragraph.] Shortly after leaving the shore, I headed to OZ, taking in the whole Red Continent, after which I kept goin’ down the road. Over a 20-year span, I “paused” to work many times – in Australia again and again, central and western Canada, the USA, England, and New Zealand – to fill my pockets and keep travelling, which I managed to do, seeing every continent except Antarctica. I only stopped because my pack was worn out. Just kidding.

But enough of my wanderlust. Back to the Halifax pier.

It could be that I’m prewired to like this book. Broken man on a Halifax pier happens to be a lyric from one of my favourite Stan Rogers songs: ‘Barrett’s Privateers.’

Now, the book review. To me, Broken Man on a Halifax Pier is an honest feelgood novel, not soppy but uplifting. I won’t recap the plot (I rarely do). Suffice to say, it’s a story of redemption and love. True love often comes across as unbelievable; I felt occasionally at sea as I read, but I didn’t mind. A beguiling woman (smart, sexy, and rich) falls for a completely down-and-out man. I fell for them and the setting. Choyce knows and loves the Eastern Shore. He brings it to life like no author has. For that, I am eternally grateful.