Leslie Keller Books

This is my second review for Leslie's blog.  I appreciate her giving me a chance to speak for myself, or rather to at least say a few words about one of my favorite subjects - food! To do this review I actually visited Amaro Italiano Ristorante not once but twice. One time on a Saturday and once on a Monday. I expected the Saturday to be busy and the Monday to be dead. That was partially true because the restaurant was almost empty both nights but the bar did a decent business on Monday.  I think it was a work group coming out for happy hour. The menu promises a lovely dinner but judging by the lack of patrons I wondered what they would deliver. As a  restaurant worker myself, there are some telltale signs as soon as you walk in an establishment.  In this case, the hostess was untrained, then the bar staff was untrained and finally the waitstaff was untrained. If the food had been fabulous it would be been worth it but I'm sorry to say that I've had much better. My file

I can't blog about leading men without at least mentioning a few of the most sexy. Obviously, I can't list them all but I couldn't resist including a few pictures of some of the hottest. Imagine any one of them playing the lead in the next book you read. Okay so Lenny isn't known for his acting but, hey, he is so gorgeous all he has to do is stand on a street corner. Joe Manganiello Robert Downey Jr Lenny Kravitz Happy trails, Leslie

This book is women's fiction so doesn't fit in with my usual mystery book review. Since I read the book I thought I would include a post on it anyway. Always with You tells the story of Cathy who owns a health food cafe in northern California. She tries to convince herself she's happy with her life but when an old school friend comes to stay with her husband and daughter, Cathy begins to realize what she is missing. Her friend Pam isn't a likeable character - by design I would guess in order to make it easier for the reader to accept Cathy and Jamie's attraction. As the two start to fall for each other, we like Pam less and less and the reader is led to believe she really doesn't deserve her happy family. I try not to give away the plot but I think this one is somewhat predictable. I would liken the work to Nicholas Sparks but the writing is not at that level.  The other problem I have with the story in general is that Cathy doesn't seem to work the re

If you enjoy Facebook then you've probably seen at least one person who has posted a "flashback" picture from his/her youth on a Friday. A look back at years gone by and a reminder of happy memories or really bad hair days, depending on the photo. I've had enough of those bad hair days and bad hair color days that I won't be digging in my archives for those pictures! As fun or crazy as that type of flashback may be, in this post I'm discussing the use of flashback in writing. This is a tool which may be used in any genre but too much flashback can be dreary for the reader. It's difficult to go from current action and then be thrown back into what happened at some point prior. If the novel is action based, flashback can slow the action down dramatically. Imagine your hero is in the middle of a fight for his life with a villain. Suddenly he flashes back to when he was a child and was bullied. He thinks about his nine year old self and how he managed to o

Here is one potential cover under consideration for the new book, Menu for Murder. Please feel free to post your opinion. Does it show you that the story is set in a restaurant? Does the cowboy hat give you a taste of the town of Cave Creek in Arizona, where the novel is set? What does the bloody knife represent? Happy Trails,  Leslie

Let me first say that this is not a cozy or a mystery of any kind. I read this book because my mother told me at least five times to read it. I'm a fan of Anita Shreve, so it really didn't take that much coaxing for me to read it. This is the story of a fifteen year old girl, Olympia, on the summer that she moves from girl to young woman while at her family's summer home in Fortune's Rocks. The reader is transported to a small cape town near Boston in the early 1900's. A time when women were expected to behave in a certain proper manner - not lift up their skirts to splash in the cold Atlantic waves and certainly not to become involved with a much older married man. I admit, I was uncomfortable with the relationship which developed between Olympia and John Haskell. A man of forty should be able to resist a girl her age, regardless of the attraction. Since their love affair comprised a large part of the book, it was a negative for me. Without giving away everyt

I don't read romance novels. I really don't. No, I'm pretty sure I don't read them. Okay, so maybe every once in a while I might read something like a romance. I don't mean the shades of some color type of "romance" or the busty barmaid rescued by the prince. I mean the real kind. What is a real romance? For me, it must take place in the last ten years, have people who I might run into at the grocery store and involve independent women. That might not work for everyone who reads romance but I can't imagine falling in love with a story that is too far fetched. Recently I mentioned Nicholas Sparks and one of his romance novels. I'm not his agent but I feel that he writes romance as well as anyone can. Who didn't cry at The Notebook? Back to my original question - where has the romance gone? If we didn't read romance novels, would we have any romance in our daily lives? I know I'm a busy person. To be honest, that doesn't eve

What makes a really good leading man? Is it someone who has the physical characteristics or someone who has the right personality traits? Is it the hero type or the sweet sensitive guy? Or is it the bad guy that you want to save from himself? And is there a difference between a movie leading man and a book leading man? I admit that one of my favorite leading men is Harrison Ford. I fell in love with his character in the movie Witness, then again in Working Girl (who could forget that line by Melanie Griffth, - I've got a mind for business and  bod for sin!) and also in Sabrina. He personified the strong sensitive leading man who would always come through in a pinch. But what would he be like on the page? If you are looking for a leading man along the lines of the Fifty Shades of Gray type then that is a very different type of leading man. He is someone who the protagonist is definitely trying to rescue from his demons. I couldn't bring myself to finish all three books becau

First let me say that normally I would not consider Lisa Gardner to be a cozy mystery writer.  There is no element of humor in this book, however, there is also no graphic violence.  I've read other books by this author and had forgotten how much I love her writing. The book starts with a prologue. In the rules of writing which every aspiring author learns, prologues are the death of a book. I've heard more times than I care to remember to never start a book with a prologue.  In my opinion this book's prologue was really basically chapter one but the author used the term in order to give a flashback scene. The chapter was exceptional and really grabbed my interest so ultimately who cares what you call it. The book is centered around two characters - Charlene Rosalind Carter Grant and detective D.D. Warren.  Told in first person in some chapters as Charlie and in third person when the chapter is devoted to D.D.  The two meet when Charlie seeks D.D.'s help to solve