My #Goodreads Read and Review Challenge Week-47

This week, I have chose three diverse selections. One is a short book loaded with fascinating information about celebrities, the second is a mystery novel with an unusual setting, and the third is a Kindle World novella set on Valley Isle of Maui.

LETTUCE READ WILLS by Una Tiers 

 

This is a short book, but it is packed with fun and interesting information about famous people and the contents of their wills. Attorney Una Tiers also gives sound advice to us lesser, or at least less wealthy, mortals about having a will and updating it in a timely fashion.

I was quite surprised to learn of certain wealthy people who died without a will.

The author also includes excerpts from her mystery novels. 

 

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BREAKING MEASURES by Emma Raveling

 

 

The setting for this mystery is a refreshing change from the streets of overpopulated cities or back alley bars where many murder mystery bad guys can be found on a Saturday night. Raveling gives the reader a front row seat to piano concerts after the grueling practice sessions of Leila Cates in her youth. Then comes center stage spotlight performances in Paris, and on Broadway. Her talent is unparalleled and her star rises ever higher as she leaves audiences awestruck. Or does she?

 

When the lifeless body of a performer is discovered and Leila is considered a person of interest in the police investigation, for good reason, she must confront the lies that led to her heady and headlining career. This coming of age novel, for all its rich musical scores and hard fought fame, lays bare the unavoidable ache of reality in most every life.    

 

 

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DARK DAWN The Lei Crime Series (Kindle World Novella)

by Fiona Manning

 

If you haven't had an opportunity to read any Kindle World novellas yet, why not begin with The Lei Crime Series? I've read several, including Hoaka Moonshine by Laurie Hanan. Now Fiona Manning has submitted a novella that features Lei Texeira's partner Pono and his wife Tiare. What Lei doesn't realize is that wedding planner and eager matchmaker Tiare has Lei in her sights as a future bride. 

 

Tiare is less eager to deal with the schoolyard bullying that her nine-year-old daughter is experiencing. That the school was situated on the slopes of Haleakala on the paradise island of Maui didn't make it any easier to accept. Even worse, now her Auntie Keke is missing. Tiare, prepared to do anything to find the woman who raised her, prays through streaming tears that her favorite auntie isn't dead.

 

 

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Next up: 

BONES NEVER LIE by Kathy Reichs

 

WEAKEST LINK by Fiona Quinn

THE BLESSED EVENT by Frankie Bow

 

 

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JANIS JOPLIN - PIECE OF MY HEART #ResearchingANovel

What is it about the measured notes of

Wynton Marsalis' trumpet,

the vibrancy of Elton John's piano keys,

and the

hip-swaying rhythm of a Hawaiian mele,

that can melt your troubles away?

Music relaxes the mind and calms the nerves.

More eloquently stated during an interview on his Christmas CD, Italy's Andrea Bocelli believes music is "a balm for the soul that should be used sparingly lest its benefits wear out."

As I listen to him sing The Lord's Prayer with The Morman Tabernacle Choir, I feel the soothing, restorative power of music - that "balm for the soul."

In an early scene of my novel, FOR EVERY ACTION, protagonist Pepper Bibeau attends a musical concert. The many hours I spent in audio/visual research of Janis Joplin's life were pleasurable, though most of the research did not survive the final draft. The telling of the concert's events covers only several lines within the novel:

The theater darkened shortly after eight o’clock. Curious whispers rippled through the audience until a single spotlight provided illumination and a male voice came over the loudspeaker system. To the heavy background sounds of tuning instruments, he announced the band, “Four gentlemen and one great girl: Big Brother and The Holding Company.” The audience exploded with applause, cheering through a prolonged set of rock music while the one great girl, Janis Joplin, dominated the vocals.

I've taken authorial license by setting this Chicago concert in August of 1968, when in fact it probably took place earlier that year. The hit song Piece Of My Heart was recorded May 20, 1968 and the record album (see footnote) that features the song was released in August of the same year.

Janis Joplin became known as the first female rock star, or as stated on the Cheap Thrills album, "the first, true female rock superstar", after Cheap Thrills by Big Brother and The Holding Company became a #1 selling album.

For some fans, myself included, the song Piece Of My Heart is synonymous with the name Janis Joplin. Though she didn't compose the lyrics and wasn't even the first artist to take it to the charts, she made it her own and proved that a twenty-four year old Caucasian female from Texas could, indeed, sing the blues.

In 1967, Erma Franklin, the sister of Aretha Franklin, was the first to record Piece Of My Heart, written by Jerry Ragovoy and Bert Berns. Piece Of My Heart has since been remade by several singers, including hit versions by Faith Hill in 1994 and Jaguar Love in 2010.

Record player with revolving table
and metal arm containing a needle

FOOTNOTE: Record album: circular, black-in-color, vinyl disk with sound-embedded grooves; the disk is placed on a revolving table and a metal arm containing a needle is set into the grooves to transfer the sound through attached speakers. No resemblance to an iPod.

Links to learn more about these performers:

Janis Joplin lived the life of a rockstar to the fullest:
http://www.hotshotdigital.com/WellAlwaysRemember.2/JanisJoplin.html

  
Faith Hill (think "Breathe" and Tim McGraw):
http://www.faithhill.com/timeline.php

Erma Franklin (not just Aretha's sister!):
http://alfarchivesmi.tripod.com/

Johnny Whitney and Cody Votolato of Portland, Oregon (who, together, are Jaguar Love):
http://wearejaguarlove.com/

Andrea Bocelli singing The Lord's Prayer with the Morman Tabernacle Choir
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEplqV0scyo

FOR EVERY ACTION There Are Consequences, Book 1 in the Pepper Bibeau mystery series, is available at Amazon.com for $0.99 or free with Kindle Unlimited. 

https://amzn.to/2YENOcS

*****