My Review of
Chris Well's new mystery novel:
Nursing a Grudge

Book Cover:
What's a grouchy old man to do when two women drag him from his assisted-living apartment to a clandestine chili party? He almost has fun -- until someone drops dead. But Earl Walker is the only one suspicious of the way the partygoer met his demise. Can he solve the puzzle -- and figure out his relationship with his new lady friend -- before the state shuts down the home and all the suspects move away?

My thoughts:
Oh, my. A wonderful addition to the mystery world. Wells delivered with his usual ability, another book that keeps your attention. Who would have thought a mystery with a nursing home protagonist could be so overwhelmingly good?

When young and blundering Jenny Hutton with her inapt attempt at witnessing, forces her unwanted attention on crabby Earl Walker, sparks fly. She’s determined he should “get out”. He’s just as determined to stay in his rooms and watch any TV sitcom available. Keeping to himself so that he can keep his wife’s memory alive, will serve another purpose too: the less he has to do with others, the less trouble he’ll have to deal with. He didn’t blend with the activities and the other residents when he first came, and he doesn’t want to begin now.

When Jenny and Gloria, with the big red hair and new name for Earl (Blue Eyes), plot together for his good, they unknowingly push him into finding the murderer of the most unliked person at the home: George Kent. The problem is it could be any of the residents for they all have secrets that pertain to Kent. Can he locate that person before the home is closed down, and can he prove it?

Romance blossoms between Gloria and Earl, but is that what he wants? She has an overblown personality, but is attractive and friendly and makes his heart flutter (it’s not a heart attack, is it?). His lack of concern at dressing his best (for what he refuses to acknowledge is a date) is frustrating for poor Jenny. His feeble attempts at conversation with Gloria are touching.

Even danger enters the picture when Earl corners a fellow resident to ask questions. Obviously the murderer doesn’t like it, because Earl is almost killed with a knife.

The whole story takes several twists and turns, including blackmail, with Earl pointing a figurative finger at several residents, but at the last, when all evidence points to the one person that he’d rather it didn’t, he “confesses.” In his frustration at his own lack of ability to save that person, he finally turns to God.

One of the first things that caught my attention was Earl Walker’s personality. Well did a superb job letting that shine through, and I loved it. Yes, he was grouchy, but he was also smart, with a dry wit evidenced by his constant gentle harassment of do-gooder, Jenny Hutton.

A cute tidbit that I liked was how Jenny, so taken up at first, with one of the male employees that got fired, toward the end shrugs her shoulders, and eyes a different man. Coming from the point of view of an elderly person, it was a particularly funny piece of information about the fickleness of young love that added to Well’s book.

And the second part that enraptured me, was his ability to bring out the setting so well. Though there wasn’t an abundance of nursing home employees involved in the book, the whole atmosphere shone through perfectly. From the activities room to the exercise room, from the cafeteria to the disturbingly endless hallways, each part played a small, but integral part in bringing the setting to life.

Chris did an excellent job with this novel. The flow of the whole story, the individualistic development of his characters, the plot, all of it was written with a natural and smooth rhythm. I’d love to read more of his mysteries and look forward to it. He’s just shot to one of the top spots in my mystery writer’s list.



Blessings!

Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!

You've all suffered through it, whether you're  a writer or not. Rejection. The bad word for most humans. The one that hurts unless we have more callouses than than a guitar playing finger.

Tamela Murray Hancock had a great post about writing rejections recently, and I thought it would be appropriate to remind and encourage my writing readers what certain famous writers went through.

I know we've all read and heard, but still. Sometimes it's good to remember, to look at history, to understand that we're not alone.

• Margaret Mitchell garnered 38 rejections with Gone With the Wind.
• Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen, authors of the multi-million dollar Chicken Soup for the Soul series received an astounding 140 rejections. A book that went on to become a 65-title series, has sold more than 80 million copies in 37 languages.

(Me: I imagine those all those editors are still kicking themselves!)

• Emily Dickinson, only 7 poems published during her lifetime read this rejection: "(Your poems) are quite as remarkable for defects as for beauties and are generally devoid of true poetical qualities." (Me: What?)
• Ernest Hemingway, regarding his novel, The Torrents of Spring: "It would be extremely rotten taste, to say nothing of being horribly cruel, should we want to publish it."
• William Faulkner, "I can't publish this!"
• D. H. Lawrence, Lady Chatterley's Lover: “for your own sake do not publish this book.”

• William Golding, Lord of the Flies: "an absurd and uninteresting fantasy which was rubbish and dull.”
• Norman Mailer, The Deer Park: "This will set publishing back 25 years.”
• The Diary of Anne Frank: “The girl doesn’t, it seems to me, have a special perception or feeling which would lift that book above the ‘curiosity’ level.”

• Irving Stone, Lust for Life, rejected 16 times but found a publisher and went on to sell about 25 million copies: “A long, dull novel about an artist.”
• Stephen King, Carrie: “We are not interested in science fiction which deals with negative utopias. They do not sell.” (Me: Someone made a booboo!)
• John le Carré, The Spy who Came in from the Cold: “You’re welcome to le Carré – he hasn’t got any future.”
• George Orwell, Animal Farm: “It is impossible to sell animal stories in the USA.”

• Richard Hooker, M*A*S*H: 21 rejections.
• Dr. Seuss, first book, To Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street: 27 rejections. (Me: love this silly children's book!)
• Jack London: 600 rejections before he sold his first story. (Me: Remember the Call of the Wild?)
• John Creasey, English crime novelist: 753 rejection before publishing 564 books. (Me: Whoa!)
• William Saroya:more than a thousand rejections before he had his first literary piece published.  (Me: Double whoa!)

Encouraged yet?
Blessings.