Featured Ebook : Petty Offenses and Crimes of the Heart by Mitchell Waldman

Ebook : PETTY OFFENSES & CRIMES OF THE HEART

Genre : Literary Fiction , Short Stories, Crime

Author : Mitchell Waldman

Author's Website : http://mitchwaldman.homestead.com

Author's Blog : http://mitchwaldman.homesead.com/pettyoffenses.html




Goodreads Author Page :  http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/587343.Mitchell_Waldman

Amazon Stores : Paperback and Kindle
http://www.amazon.com/Petty-Offenses-Crimes-Mitchell-Waldman/dp/1936138360 

ISBN : 978-1936138364 (Print) 

Barnes and Noble : http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/petty-offenses-and-crimes-of-the-heart-mitchell-waldman/1104429226

Reviews : 4.5-5stars 

Blurb : The crimes involved in the stories in PETTY OFFENSES AND CRIMES OF THE HEART may sometimes be petty – a man who leaves a bag of cat droppings on his neighbor’s doorstep after learning about his past – and sometimes involve criminal types (the career criminals in “My Life of Crime” and “Missing Pieces”). But more often the offenses involved are committed by and against ordinary people (the man in “The Nazi Next Door” who learns one evening, over a fence, that his neighbor’s father collaborated with the Nazis during World War II). And there are the mysterious offenders, such as the ambiguous interviewer in “Catching Up with Cartucci,” who unbeknownst to the interviewee, seems to have special knowledge and opinions about the latter.

Some of the “crimes” in these stories run much deeper, are of a much more emotional nature. The offenders and victims in these tales have been much more tortured than by any run of the mill crime. Such as the mother in "Fortunate Son," whose son goes missing in action while on duty in Iraq, and the father in  “The Duke of Broad Street” (nominated for a 2013 Pushcart Prize), who, twenty years after abandoning his daughter, shows up on her doorstep harboring a deep secret. Or the man in “A Ghost in Manhattan” who, during a lunch break, believes he sees his dead girlfriend in a crowd, walking the streets of Manhattan.

Amazon Reviews- View here

Editorial Reviews- view here 
 
These stories startle with sudden, uncompromising insight. They seem ordinary people engaged in ordinary lives until betrayals, accidents and misfortune put the puzzles of their weak choices and unfair chance into stark relief when they are left with a kind of clarity they might have been happier not to have. -- Perry Glasser, author of Dangerous Places

Faulkner said that an author's job is to make the extraordinary seem ordinary and to make the ordinary seem extraordinary, and in Petty Offenses this is what Waldman accomplishes. While reading the stories you may wonder "Is there any place safe to go?," but you will be glad that you spent time in Waldman's world. -- Cybersoleil Journal

The stories in Petty Offenses and Crimes of the Heart leave the reader wondering who is the real criminal. . . .These characters have something to share -- something profound, something personal, and something that reveals a little about ourselves. -- TCM Reviews

Beautifully crafted stories .... "Missing Pieces"...is an example of Waldman's versatility as a writer. . .Each of these stories can be read as self-contained compositions but I would recommend you read them in sequence to experience the themes to unfold as most satisfyingly do. -- Dean Cowan for Bookpleasures.com 
In [his] collection of short fiction...Mitchell Waldman talks on many topics throughout recent history and the struggles to understand an impossible to understand world. With poignancy and wisdom peppered throughout, Petty Offenses & Crimes of the Heart is a read that is well worth considering, highly recommended. -- Midwest Book Review

Featured Ebook : Brett Enters the Square Circle by David D. D'Aguanno

Ebook : BRETT ENTERS THE SQUARE CIRCLE A Brett Cornell Mystery#5
Genre : Comedy-Mystery
Author : David D. D'Aguanno
Author Website : http://www.amazon.com/David-DAguanno/e/B0078L97ZI
Author Blog : http://brettcornell.blogspot.com
Amazon Store: Ebook Link
http://www.amazon.com/Enters-Square-Cornell-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B007Z0XUNM
Print ISBN :  978-1470105242

Amazon Store: Paperback Edition
http://www.amazon.com/Brett-Enters-Square-Circle-Mysteries/dp/1470105241 
Goodreads Reviews : 4.4 - 5 stars

BLURB : Where in the world is Stacey Ashton? 
Stacey herself told her employer that she was leaving for Philadelphia on personal business. But Melanie Foster suspects that the girl has run off to Florida with her husband instead, a suspicion which prompts her to hire someone to determine the young girl's true whereabouts so that she might exact revenge upon her for stealing her husband away from her.

Enter private detective and self-proclaimed unscrupulous bastard Brett Cornell who attempts to locate the girl, only to learn that she may actually have been murdered -- and that the murder took place a lot closer to home.

In this fifth Brett Cornell detective novel set in the late 1980s, Brett finds himself pitted against a group of particularly deceitful and unpredictable characters, not a single one of whom could be trusted to tell the truth about his or her involvement with the missing girl. At the same time, he is about to imperil those stunning Adonis-like features of his when he enters the boxing arena in a major bout that may very well turn out to be a life-changing experience for him, if only because the man he is about to fight has already severely beaten him in the past and has recently threatened to rob him of everything he ever valued -- including his girlfriend!

 Goodreads Reviews (select posted)
BellaReadz review
Jun 05, 2012
I read this book in one sitting and loved it! Brett is so funny, even if he is a total jerk and player :-) It reminded me of “The Naked Gun” movies in a way, and I could totally see this being a TV series or something. Although this book is one that is in the middle of a series (that I can tell), I was never once lost or confused, as the book and all its characters easily stand on their own. The main character Brett faces many challenges in this book “Brett enters the square circle,” and of course he knocks them all down (literally and figuratively) with his unique charm (or lack thereof) and style. 

This book was funny, but also had a few seriously moments as well. The dialogue reminded me of what you might here on a half hour sitcom – not entirely authentic, but not unbelievable, and it totally kept in tone with the book. Some of Brett’s one-liners had me laughing as I read along, and I think people will really get a kick out of this book. I know I did. I’m curious to read the rest of this series and see what capers my new friend Brett gets into next!

Claire's review
May 21, 12
bookshelves: ebook, comedy, detective, male-pov
 
HA! This book was awesome. If it was a movie, I’d totally picture someone like Will Ferrall playing Brett (of course with fabulous blond hair and his thick blond mustache!). I really enjoyed the light tone and witty banter of this novel, but was also sucked into the action (the boxing match), and the mystery (what happened to Stacy Ashton?) At first I was kind of thrown by the narrative, as it seemed to sometimes ramble on without much direction or any sort of filter.

But once I got used to it and realized it was all just a part of Brett’s entertaining ‘stream of consciousness’, it helped me see him better as a whole. Totally funny moments and witty dialogue made this book a really fun and different type of read.

Jesse's review
May 25, 12bookshelves: comedy, detective-mystery


There’s nothing I like more than reading of an MC who is a “legend in his own mind” for a snarky and comedic effect. What I like most about this novel is that while part of you is kind of laughing at Brett for his tawdry, over-the-top behavior and attitude, the other half of you is totally enjoying it and loving watching him get away with it! I literally laughed out loud at so many parts, but my favorite has to be when Bret was fighting with Melanie and he explains how trying to argue with him was like trying to argue with Descartes or Spinoza. That part cracked me up. 

I enjoyed the back-and-forth and fast pace of this book, but sometimes I felt it was weighed down by overly long sentences and paragraphs where much shorter, tighter ones would have done much in the way of streamlining the story’s narrative to better match the pace. All in all a delightful read, one that I think most people would enjoy.