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Even Climate Change Can’t Stop Love and Murder

Author: A.E.S. O’Neill

As Ginger and Alby cross the United States to relocate to their new witness protection home in Arizona, their search for love is marred by violent interludes with insurrectionists, white supremacists, and jihadists. But those are not enough antagonists for this author! The setting is an antagonist as well with the fury of climate chaos — storms beyond measure that bring about death and destruction.

Similar to the first book in this series, A.E.S. O’Neill writes an action-packed novel that takes place in a short time span, allowing a lot to happen in a single day.

Chapter 1, the hook for the novel, is written from the perspective of Ginger. The reader reads her thoughts on running away, on the Handlers managing Alby’s witness protection, and on Alby – as Ginger continues to analyze him out of the corner of her eye. This is particularly notable for a male author to successfully write from a female perspective, and to do so in the novel’s hook.

Written in the third person, this book seamlessly jumps to various characters. Jagger, the man hunting down Alby but currently too injured to complete the job, reminisces on his horrible upbringing. Ginger frequently thinks about what she is running away from, an overbearing mother who controls her acting career as well as much of her life. Alby has minimal thoughts about the present. He thinks about Ginger’s quirks and his need for a drink, but he does not think much about the past or the future – a characteristic emphasizing that Alby has been worn down by the past and doesn’t see himself as having much of a future.

Even Climate Change Can’t Stop Love and Murder, Volume 2: Paying the Price is the second novel of this romance thriller series and offers a uniquely American vision of love and murder, trauma and healing. However, this book could easily be read as a standalone novel. O’Neill provides the necessary information about the relationship between Ginger and Alby, for example, to make it so, including that Ginger is running away with a man she hardly knows who is on the run.

Traveling with Alby, Ginger shares information about her life with him, but not the dark secrets of her childhood, which explain so much of her strong, determined character. All the threads of the old life and new culminate at Tuzigoot National Monument, where Ginger and Alby once again face death.

Volume 1 opens in a high-action scene, whereas volume 2 opens with character development of Ginger and her relationship with Alby. While the high-impact scenes could have been filled with more emotion and intensity, the author clearly develops scenes and characters, and his overall story telling is outstanding. This is an excellent read, and one we greatly recommend.

To Kingdom Come

Author: Claudia Riess

Amateur sleuths, Erika Shawn-Wheatley and Harrison Wheatley, are at it again! Erika, an art magazine editor, and Harrison, an art history professor, are in a Zoom meeting of individuals whose goal is to return African art looted during the colonial era. Olivia Chatham, a math instructor at London University, is speaking about a journal penned by her great-granduncle, Andrew Barrett, an active member of the Royal Army Medical Service during England’s 1897 “punitive expedition” launched against the Kingdom of Benin.

Olivia is about to disclose the task she hopes the sleuthing duo will accept when the proceedings are disrupted by unusual movement. Frozen disbelief erupts into a frenzy of calls for help as the group watches the murder of Timothy Thorpe, assistant curator of the British Museum, — witnesses to the brutal murder who can do nothing because they are on the other end of a worldwide conversation.

The opening pages are well written, with the scenes moving along vividly. The Zoom call was described with great detail, and the conversation among the guests flowed well. Then, the murder. It happened so quickly and within the same seamlessness without any buildup, leading to that paragraph needing to be read again.

While this is book fourth in the series, it is not necessary to have read the other books first. (The previous books in the series reveal how the couple grows and develops in their relationship.) Erika and Harrison are now married with an infant son. The interactions between the couple can be felt — they still act like newlyweds. The love scenes are vivid enough to show their love for one another without being too graphic. And in the scenes with their infant son, Erika’s love changes to that of motherly love. The author does an excellent job at describing both types of love.

Even as the couple begins to study the Barrett journal, the reader can feel the couple’s interest in going on another adventure. To bring some lightheartedness into the scene, Jake, Harrison and Erika’s chocolate Lab, requests a belly rub before resigning himself to the desk’s knee hole.

The author does well introducing more about Andrew Barrett through three journal entries, and separating the entries with conversations and note-taking by Erika and Harrison. The prologue was a scene from 1897 with Andrew Barrett discovering his first Benin treasure, and the first journal entry shows him having a handful of the treasures. Claudia Riess did an excellent job of intertwining the prologue with the information in the journal entries so that the reader can get to know Andrew Barrett better, as the second journal entry shows Andrew being infatuated with the barrister’s daughter.

This book is extremely well written, with scenes being created vividly and interactions occurring effortlessly. This author is gifted in storytelling. It was difficult to put this book down.

In the cool air of autumn, the big, small town of Albuquerque is heating up! Bodies are piling up at the zoo — both inside and outside of the lion enclosure. Murder mystery lover in her spare time, and full-time zoo veterinarian, Miranda Scott finds herself in the middle of this deepening mystery. With a mobster for a godfather, and a father who has lots of secrets and gangster friends, Miranda begins to wonder if she might be the next victim. Can the voices in her head — Agatha, Raymond, and Sherlock — the handsome detective who’s smitten by her, or her mobster uncles help her solve the mystery before the animals she loves devour her?

If you love murder mysteries and animals, you’ll be captivated by Marcia Rosen’s latest book, Murder at the Zoo. Get ready to stay up late — brew a pot of coffee or open a bottle of wine — because you won’t be able to put this one down!

Elizabeth Belasco, PhD

Murder Mystery Lover, Animal Lover, aka the DogEaredGhostwriter!