WELCOME Alan Brenham

Alan Brenham

Alan Behr served as a law enforcement officer and criminal investigator for seventeen years before earning a law degree from Baylor University. After obtaining his law license, he worked as a prosecutor and criminal defense attorney for twenty-two years. His personal and official travels took him to several European and Middle Eastern countries, Alaska and almost every island in the Caribbean. He has lived in Berlin, Germany while working with US military forces. After retiring from government service, he has authored two crime novels – Price of Justice and Cornered – under the pen name of Alan Brenham. He is presently working on two more novels. Alan and his wife, Lillian, currently live in the Austin, Texas area.

Connect with Alan Brenham:

Q&A with Alan Brenham

Writing and Reading:

Do you draw from personal experiences and/or current events?

I actually draw from both. Plot ideas are derived from current events and cases worked as a police officer. Use of current events such as human trafficking in my novel Cornered, or crimes against children and parental revenge as in my other novel Price of Justice, makes the plot more believable to readers. Hopefully, this raises questions for the reader to ponder, such as, what would I do if that happened to me or a member of my family.

Do you start with the conclusion and plot in reverse or start from the beginning and see where the story line brings you?

When I first began writing fiction, my starting point was always the beginning. In life, everything starts at the beginning. How it all ends will be a surprise. Why should a fictional story be any different? But for me, the result ended up being a quagmire or nightmare of disconnected scenes and character story lines. In short, it lacked a smooth flow.
But time and experience plus a lot of reading of other author’s novels, made me realize my style needed a drastic change. Now, it’s conclusion first but I don’t then do the plot in reverse. Once I’m satisfied with where and how the story will finish, I’ll frame the beginning – usually right in the middle of some major event. With a likeable beginning and ending in place – a framework, the story with its subtle clues and foreshadowing is easier to write.

Your routine when writing? Any idiosyncrasies?

I work from a home office. Armed with cups of coffee, I’ll start the day by re-reading the last scene written the day before so as to refresh my recollection. Then the typing begins. While I type, I love to listen to German polka music or instrumentals of my favorite tunes from days gone by. It also masks distracting sounds from the lawn care crew.

Is writing your full time job? If not, may I ask what you do by day?

It is. Having retired from government service, I spend my time either writing the next novel or reading/studying how other authors did it. Occasionally I have to pause and submit/answer emails or phone calls from other attorneys or police associates about various topics – some related to my writing and some not.

Who are some of your favorite authors?

This is a difficult question. A year or so ago, I’d have said it was Michael Connelly, John Sandford, and J.A. Jance. Now, having expanded my reading list to include many more authors, I’d list three – Michael McGarrity with his vivid descriptions of settings in New Mexico for his protagonist, Kevin Kearney; James Hayman with his “can’t put it down” stories about his co-protagonists McCabe and Savage; and Meg Gardiner, not only because she’s from Austin but for her full 3-dimensional descriptions of her novels’ characters.

What are you reading now?

I deviated from my favorites to read the next two books in my Nook’s queue – Class Dismissed by Mark Petry, and The Psalmist by James Lilliefors. I selected them because Mark’s a fellow author with the same publisher as me – it’s a way of supporting him plus he writes an interesting novel. Lilliefors is an author I know little about. I read the blurb about this book while searching for a crime novel to read/study.

Are you working on your next novel? Can you tell us a little about it?

Right now, I’m in the middle of finishing the third revision of Rampage, the sequel to Price of Justice. It follows Detective Scarsdale and his new partner, Tatum Harper, as they try to identify and catch a killer. The book uses themes of temptation, trust, and redemption.

In the wings, with an outline and the first two chapters written, is a stand-alone mystery-thriller about an assistant district attorney who finds the dark side just as enticing as the law.

Fun questions:

Your novel will be a movie. Who would you cast?

Believe it or not, when I start a new novel, I cast the characters so I can visualize them while I’m writing about them. That said, for my novel Cornered, Christian Bale would be my choice for the role of Detective Matt Brady; Sarah Jones is the perfect actress for the role of Dr. Tracy Rogers; Cassidy Freeman possesses the same snarky smile as Brady’s ex-girlfriend, Cassandra. The bad guys, Weaver and Chiles, would be played by Michael Rooker and Michael Mando, respectively.

Manuscript/Notes: handwritten or keyboard?

My manuscript is always, always done by keyboard. If I (a hunt and peck typist) had to write it by hand or on a conventional typewriter, it’d take me forever to get it done. But my notes and those 3AM epiphanies are all scribblings put on notepads my wife leaves in strategic spots around the house.

Favorite leisure activity/hobby?

My favorite activity is dating my wife. She’s a beautiful woman whose patience with me obviously knows no limits. My next favorite activity is watching pro and college football games. Aside from football, I have several favorite TV shows – The Originals, The Last Ship, Under the Dome, Motive, Murder in the First, and Bitten.

Favorite meal?

My wife says I’m an easy mark for a homemade chocolate chip cookie. Like a dog doing tricks for a dog biscuit.

ABOUT Cornered

He’s haunted by the memory of a kidnapping case gone wrong…

Not wanting history to repeat itself, Detective Matt Brady struggles to solve the disappearances of seven young women, but he quickly finds himself pitted against a criminal organization that knows as much about police procedure as he does—an organization that will do whatever it takes to stay one step ahead of him. His troubles are compounded when a young veterinarian injects herself into the investigation and is targeted to become victim number eight. When he tries to protect her, he finds himself in the crosshairs of a professional cop killer. Can Brady solve the case in time to save his new love, or will this investigation be the death of both of them?

BOOK DETAILS:

Number of Pages: 320
Genre: Mystery/Thriller
Publisher: Black Opal Books
Publication Date: July 19, 2014
ISBN-13: 9781626941380/9781626941373

PURCHASE LINKS:

Little Mercies by Heather Gudenkauf
Published by Harlequin MIRA
Publication Date: June 24, 2014
ISBN-10: 0778316335
ISBN-13: 978-0778316336
Pages: 320
Review copy from: Harlequin
Edition: TPB
My Rating: 5

Necessary Lies by Diane Chamberlain
Published by St., Martin’s Press
Publication Date:
ISBN-10: 1250010691
ISBN13: 9781250010698
Pages: 368
Review copy from: Personal purchase
Edition: Kindle
My Rating: 5

Synopsis (via GR):
Bestselling author Diane Chamberlain delivers a breakout book about a small southern town fifty years ago, and the darkest—and most hopeful—places in the human heart

After losing her parents, fifteen-year-old Ivy Hart is left to care for her grandmother, older sister and nephew as tenants on a small tobacco farm. As she struggles with her grandmother’s aging, her sister’s mental illness and her own epilepsy, she realizes they might need more than she can give.

When Jane Forrester takes a position as Grace County’s newest social worker, she doesn’t realize just how much her help is needed. She quickly becomes emotionally invested in her clients’ lives, causing tension with her boss and her new husband. But as Jane is drawn in by the Hart women, she begins to discover the secrets of the small farm—secrets much darker than she would have guessed. Soon, she must decide whether to take drastic action to help them, or risk losing the battle against everything she believes is wrong.

Set in rural Grace County, North Carolina in a time of state-mandated sterilizations and racial tension, Necessary Lies tells the story of these two young women, seemingly worlds apart, but both haunted by tragedy. Jane and Ivy are thrown together and must ask themselves: how can you know what you believe is right, when everyone is telling you it’s wrong?

My Thoughts and Opinion:

I have been a huge fan of Diane Chamberlain since 2010 when I first read one of her books, The Lies We Told and then subsequent books, The Midwife’s Confession and The Good Father. My husband and I visit our favorite vacation destination, Aruba, every year and it is a tradition that one of my beach reads is a Diane Chamberlain novel. We didn’t go this year, because of my recent surgery, but I still had to read her newest book, Necessary Lies.

It is 1960, as the synopsis states, in the tobacco fields of Raleigh, North Carolina. We are introduced to the Hart girls, the Jordan family and the Gardiners, owners of the plantation. We also meet Jane Forrester, a newly graduated social worker who has a huge heart, believes in principal, and truth, and with her first job, it may become her last. One thing she wasn’t familiar with was the Eugenics Program, one that the state could decide on sterilizations for those that tested with a low IQ, had epilepsy, or mental illness without consent of said candidate. Could Jane make that hard decision?

The cast of characters were believable. The setting was described brilliantly so that I could visualize something that I have never seen. Weaving within the story, a horrific true part of American history. This was the first I knew of this program, and can honestly say, was appalled.

Ms. Chamberlain, once again, intertwines a cultural situation with life like characters that had this reader, once again, turning the pages of a phenomenal book. I will be pre ordering her next novel, The Silent Sister, publication date, Oct. 7th 2014. I suggest you order your’s too!!

Highly recommend, not only this read, but any of Ms. Chamberlain’s works!!

Eyes Closed Tight by Peter Leonard
Published by The Story Plant
Publication Date: March 4, 2014
ISBN-10: 1611881145
ISBN-13: 978-1611881141
Pages: 276
Review Copy from: The Story Plant
Edition: TPB
My Rating: 5

Synopsis (via Amazon):
O’Clair is a former Detroit homicide investigator who now owns a motel in Pompano Beach, Florida in his retirement. He runs the place with his much younger girlfriend, Virginia, who’s a knockout and can fix anything. One morning, he’s cleaning up after the previous night’s partiers when he sees a lovely young woman stretched out asleep on a lounge chair. He shakes her gently. Then he touches her neck and feels for a pulse. There isn’t one. Her skin is cold, body starting to stiffen, definitely in the early stages of rigor.

When a second girl is murdered, O’Clair knows someone is trying to send him a message. The way the girls are killed reminds O’Clair of a case he investigated years earlier. Now convinced the Pompano murders are related, O’Clair returns to Detroit Police Homicide to review the murder file and try to figure out what he might have missed.

And when Virginia is kidnapped by the killer, the stakes grow exponentially higher.

The most powerful work to date by one of the most thrilling suspense novelists of our time, EYES CLOSED TIGHT is relentless, surprising, and deeply satisfying.

My Thoughts and Opinion:

An author once told me that a reader had to be “hooked” by page 5 but Peter Leonard has the brilliant ability to grab the reader within the first few paragraphs and never lets go.  The suspense was constant and the action nonstop the entire book.  The author takes the reader on an incredible heart pounding roller coaster ride.  The number of twists and turns were extraordinary.

DISCLAIMER
I received a copy of this book, at no charge to me, in exchange for my honest review.
No items that I receive are ever sold…they are kept by me, or given to family and/or friends.

What It Was Like by Peter Seth
Published by The Story Plant
Publication Date: September 2, 2014
ISBN-10: 1611881900
ISBN-13: 978-1611881905
Pages: 464
Review Copy from: The Story Plant
Edition: TPB
My Rating: 5+

Synopsis( via Amazon):
“It’s really a very simple story. What happened was this: I met this girl and did a very stupid thing. I fell in love. Hard. I know that to some people that makes me an idiot and a loser. What can I say? They’re right. I did some extremely foolish things; I’m the first to say it. And they’ve left me in jail and alone.”

So begins one of the most compelling, emotionally charged, and affecting novels you are likely to read this year.

It is the summer of 1968 and a young man takes a job at a camp in upstate New York before starting his first semester at Columbia University. There, he meets Rachel Price, a fellow counselor who is as beautiful as she is haunted. Their romance will burn with a passion neither of them has ever known before…a passion with the power to destroy.

In the tradition of Endless Love and Gone Girl, What it was Like is an intimate, raw, and revealing journey through the landscape of all-consuming love. It announces the debut of a remarkable storyteller.

My Thoughts and Opinion:

WOW!! WOW!! WOW!!!

It has been a few days since I read the last word and closed the back cover, before putting my thoughts in writing, because it took me some time to process and reflect on what I had just finished reading.

From reading the back cover/synopsis and previous reviews, I knew that somewhere in these pages, an outcome was going to be tragic. And a love story was to be told.

But before I go any further, I received a copy of this book from the publisher, I am a member of The Story Plant’s Spread the Word Initiative, with a little tease “It’s both romantic and suspenseful, but it’s not romantic suspense.” However, please know, I was asked, in return for this copy, I would provide an honest review, which I will.

Did I say WOW??!! I still don’t know where to start with this review because my head is still reeling.

It is a story of, to name a few elements, a first love, obsession, manipulation, parental love, friendships, boundaries, unconditional love and one life changing decision. Characters and settings will touch every reader and will evoke memories and emotions as one turns the pages. Gripping!! A page turner!!

I could not put this book down, reading into the early hours. Riveting!! And when I read the last word I was astounded. Is what I just read a fictional novel? Or was it based on truth? Was it an autobiography? Or is this debut author a masterful, first-rate storyteller that has my head reeling still? Outstanding!!

My prediction…in the coming days, weeks, months, this book will become a bestseller!!! And Peter Seth will be a familiar name in the literary world!! An extraordinary read!!! Bravo Mr. Seth!! And kudos to publisher, Lou Aronica, for discovering this brilliant author!!

I am definitely spreading the word on this book, and I’m sure, once you read it, you will be doing the same!!!

The Insanity Plea by Larry D. Thompson
Published by Story Merchant
Publication Date: May 4, 2014
ISBN-10: 0989715477
ISBN-13: 978-0989715478
Pages: 378
Review Copy from: Author/PICT
Edition: ARC
My Rating: 5

Synopsis:
A young nurse is savagely killed during a pre-dawn run on Galveston’s seawall. The murderer slices her running shorts from her body as his trophy and tosses the body over the wall to the rocks below. As dawn breaks, a bedraggled street person, wearing four layers of old, tattered clothes, emerges from the end of the jetty, waving his arms and talking to people only he hears. He trips over the body, checks for a pulse and, instead, finds a diamond bracelet which he puts in his pocket. He hurries across the street, heading for breakfast at the Salvation Army two blocks away, leaving his footprints in blood as he goes.

Wayne Little, former Galveston prosecutor and now Houston trial lawyer, learns that his older brother has been charged with capital murder for the killing. At first he refuses to be dragged back into his brother’s life. Once a brilliant lawyer, Dan’s paranoid schizophrenia had captured his mind, estranging everyone including Wayne. Finally giving in to pleas from his mother, Wayne enlists the help of his best friend, Duke Romack, former NBA star turned criminal lawyer. When Wayne and Duke review the evidence, they conclude that Dan’s chances are slim. They either find the killer or win a plea of insanity since the prosecution’s case is air tight. The former may be a mission impossible since the killer is the most brilliant, devious and cruel fictional murderer since Hannibal Lecter. The chances of winning an insanity plea are equally grim.

It will take the combined skills of the two lawyers along with those of Duke’s girlfriend, Claudia, a brilliant appellate lawyer, and Rita Contreras, Wayne’s next door neighbor and computer hacker extraordinaire, to attempt to unravel the mystery of the serial killer before the clock clicks down to a guilty verdict for Dan.

Heaven Is For Real by Todd Burpo with Lynn Vincent
Published by Thomas Nelson; Original edition
Publication Date: November 2, 2010
ISBN-10: 0849946158
ISBN-13: 978-0849946158
Pages: 163
Review Copy from: Borrowed
Edition: TPB
My Rating: 4

Synopsis:
A young boy emerges from life-saving surgery with remarkable stories of his visit to heaven.

Heaven Is for Real is the true story of the four-year old son of a small town Nebraska pastor who during emergency surgery slips from consciousness and enters heaven. He survives and begins talking about being able to look down and see the doctor operating and his dad praying in the waiting room. The family didn’t know what to believe but soon the evidence was clear.

Colton said he met his miscarried sister, whom no one had told him about, and his great grandfather who died 30 years before Colton was born, then shared impossible-to-know details about each. He describes the horse that only Jesus could ride, about how “reaaally big” God and his chair are, and how the Holy Spirit “shoots down power” from heaven to help us.

Told by the father, but often in Colton’s own words, the disarmingly simple message is heaven is a real place, Jesus really loves children, and be ready, there is a coming last battle.

My Thoughts and Opinion:
I have wanted to read this book for quite awhile and finally had the chance to. I also wanted to read it with an open mind, not having my own beliefs interfere. Was I able to? Did I find comfort? Or did I find controversy? Was it believable?

A friend called me after watching the movie, telling me I had to see it. However, I would much rather read a book first then watch the movie, which I explained this to her. The next thing, she is at my door with the book. Perfect! I read the book in 2 sittings.

As the synopsis states, the story is about a little boy who is on the brink of death and brought into surgery. The parents, which the father is a Pastor, pray, make deals with God, ask for a prayer chain from his congregation and sit and wait for the doctor to come out of surgery with the news. Their prayers are answered. However, a few months later, they will be learning more about their faith and beliefs from their young son. How can this 4 year old know about the things he starts to talk about?

Colton starts describing what Heaven looks like, what Jesus looks like, meeting relatives that he has never met but was with while in Heaven, even how long he was there.

I am Catholic and have always believed, and witnessed, many, many things that were mentioned in this story. Like Colton’s dad, I received, which was witnessed, a “shoots down power” from the Holy Spirit.

Another thing that Colton told his parents was that he “met his sister”

pg 94 I have two sisters. You had a baby die in your tummy, didn’t you?

For me, this brought great comfort. I lost a baby 32 years ago, and to this day, wonder if it was a son or a daughter.

I not only enjoyed reading this book, but it emphasized what I have always believed. There is a God and there is a Heaven. If you are Spiritual person, I highly recommend this book because you will experience, through Colton, that we are never alone.

Devil In The Hole by Charles Salzberg
Published by Five Star
Publication Date: August 7, 2013
ISBN-10: 1432826964
ISBN-13: 978-1432826963
Pages: 252
Review Copy from: Author
Edition: HC
My Rating: 4

Synopsis:
In the ballroom of a sparsely furnished Connecticut mansion, police find a shocking sight: four bodies lined up next to each other, three teenagers and a middle-aged woman, each lying on a blanket, each shot once in the head. In an upstairs bedroom: an elderly woman and the family dog, both of them shot as well. The only person missing is the husband, father, son, and prime suspect, John Hartman, who’s got a three-week jump on the police.

Through the eyes of almost two dozen characters, including the neighbor who reports the crime, Hartman’s mistress, a dogged state investigator, the family minister, and some of the characters Hartman meets on his escape route, we piece together not only what happened and how these shocking murders affect the community, but how John Hartman evades capture, where he’s headed, and maybe even why he committed this gruesome crime in the first place.

Based on the notorious John List murders and already compared to works by Norman Mailer and Russell Banks, Devil in the Hole is gripping, literate, and haunting.

My Thoughts and Opinion:
This book was riveting and intriguing right from the start. As the synopsis states, it is based on a horrific true crime murder that went cold for many years. The chapters are short and each one is narrated by a different person as their “take” on the murder.

At first I thought that the amount of more than 20 characters would make this read confusing but after a few chapters I knew that wouldn’t be the case. I was so engrossed in the story that it truly felt that each cast member was talking directly to me with their opinion of this story. So compelling that I had to keep reminding myself that these characters were fictional. So captivating, that by the middle of the book, I had to research the actual murder.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, which had me turning the pages, to see what the next voice would reveal. A highly recommended read!!!