The Senator and the Sin Eater

The Senator and the Sin Eater Review

Seneca Falls, West Virginia, is a picturesque town. Tucked between the foothills of the Blue Ridge and Allegheny Mountains, it lives in the shadow of the Dunning and Munroe families, mining moguls who have competed for coal in the region for generations. It is a place Joshua Chacón would rather forget. The scorned biracial stepson of the Dunning dynasty, Chacón has acquired a national reputation and a Pulitzer Prize for his books revealing political skullduggery. Drawn back to the hometown he abandoned by news of the mysterious murder of his half brother, Senator Stewart Dunning, Josh soon becomes entangled in a murder plot thick with the power politics of the ruling families of West Virginia's mining country.

"Any time you pick up a book with Bill Buchanan's name on the cover, there is one thing of which you can be certain: Colonel Buchanan always deals with his characters kindly and gently. The Senator and the Sin Eater, his last book before his death, provides a perfect example of this. . . . [It] is much more than a murder mystery. It is an examination of what sometimes goes wrong in a small, friendly town."--Tony Hillerman, from the Foreword

THE DEMISE OF SENATOR DUFF (The Shrine Mysteries)

THE DEMISE OF SENATOR DUFF (The Shrine Mysteries) Review

Moran Duff's rise to Senator has left a trail of broken lives and women. He and his clever wife, Niamh, stay one step ahead of suspicion and rumor but his enemies increase daily.

Lea, a homeopath, has treated a number of his victims and called in her American niece, Amy, an investigative journalist and her Texan friend, Clay, a private eye, to find a way to expose him.

"The Demise of Senator Duff" is a gripping story with echoes of Dangerous Liaisons, the dominant populist work behind the French Revolution.

Against a backdrop of a crumbling economy and political corruption, the story twists and turns to a surprising end.

The Late Senator Devereaux

The Late Senator Devereaux Review

When Cole A. Devereaux, the senior United States Senator from South Carolina and a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, dies in an airplane crash in the northeastern part of the state in June, 1997, his wife, Elinor, is appointed to fill out the remainder of his term. Once embarked upon her new responsibilities, she becomes aware that her husband had had a far closer relationship with the Chinese government than she had appreciated heretofore, and, indeed, comes to suspect that he may have been blackmailed into doing their bidding, perhaps even placing one of their agents on the committee's staff. While not wanting to sully her husband's memory or jeopardize her chances of running for his seat in her own right at the next election, she concludes she has no alternative but to report her suspicions to the committee. The Late Senator Devereaux is a novel that uniquely combines life in the Senate with a spy story. It is also about how things that come to light about people after their death can affect the perceptions and feelings of the family and friends they leave behind.

EGYPT AND THE TURNCOAT SENATOR (The Egypt Rosen Chronicles)

EGYPT AND THE TURNCOAT SENATOR (The Egypt Rosen Chronicles) Review

"Like sitting in a seedy Venice, CA, beach dive, listening to Egypt tell her story." "...the author expertly catches the Southern California culture."

"Egypt is so funny...and her sisters and mother are hilarious."

"By the time I finished the blind-date episode, I had tears running down my face from laughing so hard....This book has everything."

"Caught my attention from the first sentence."

Egypt Rosen is confronted with the biggest mystery of her career.

Why did someone whack U.S. Senator Zachary Taylor Martin over the head with the bronze gavel presented to him by the opposition party for giving the keynote address at their convention?

Was it political revenge, or did the senator’s sexual proclivities and womanizing lead to his death?

Was his wife involved? Did her own illicit affairs play a part in her husband’s murder? His tolerance for sexual misbehavior was endless when it came to himself, but severely limited when applied to his wife.

Egypt’s optimistic Jewish father named her for a Muslim country because she was born on the first day of the Begin/Sadat talks at Camp David, Maryland. She has a sister named Persia and a sister named China, an ex-husband with a trophy wife, and a Vietnamese pal who runs the Orange Julius bar beneath her office. She’s tenacious, playful, and dedicated to her job and to her personal code.

"...And the chicken recipe. Can't wait to try that recipe myself."

"I came to care for Egypt and missed her when the story was over."

Senator Dennis DeConcini: From the Center of the Aisle

Senator Dennis DeConcini: From the Center of the Aisle Review

Dennis DeConcini, a contemporary of Arizona greats like Sandra Day O’Connor, Barry Goldwater, and Rose Mofford, is an Arizona icon in his own right. Starting his public career as the Pima County Attorney, DeConcini orchestrated an unprecedented rise to a seat in the U.S. Senate, which he held for eighteen years. His political memoir, co-authored with historian Jack L. August Jr., reaches beyond typical reflections to provide the reader with penetrating and revealing insights into the inner workings and colorful characters of Arizona politics and the United States Senate. A vigilant centrist, who got results by building coalitions on both sides of the aisle, Senator DeConcini’s approach was not bound to strict party alliances but was deeply rooted in the independent political environment of Arizona. During his career, he sponsored legislation limiting the sale of assault weapons, which provoked the National Rifle Association. He confounded Democratic Party regulars by supporting Clarence Thomas during the controversial confirmation hearings and again split with his party in his support for William Rehnquist’s nomination to Chief Justice. In 1980 he voted for Ronald Reagan, but in 1993 he cast the swing vote for President Bill Clinton’s tax bill, which was strongly opposed by Republicans in Arizona. This political memoir will be of interest to anyone concerned with the inner workings of the U.S. Senate or Arizona politics and offers relevant insights into today’s political climate.

Edward Kennedy; The Late Senator from Massachusetts

Edward Kennedy; The Late Senator from Massachusetts Review

EDWARD M. KENNEDY was the third longest serving Member
of the U.S. Senate in American history. Voters of Massachusetts
elected him to the Senate nine times—a record
matched by only one other Senator. The scholar Thomas
Mann said his time in the Senate was ‘‘an amazing and endurable
presence. You want to go back to the 19th century
to find parallels, but you won’t find parallels.’’ President
Obama has described his breathtaking span of accomplishment:
‘‘For five decades, virtually every major piece of legislation
to advance the civil rights, health, and economic well-
being of the American people bore his name and resulted
from his efforts.’’

This is a Memorial Tribute to him.

The Wrecking Crew of '33: The Washington Senators' Last Pennant

The Wrecking Crew of '33: The Washington Senators' Last Pennant Review

In the spring of 1933, with a new president in office and a banking crisis narrowly averted, there was optimism in Washington, D.C., even among the baseball fans. The hard-luck Senators, who topped 90 wins in each of the previous three seasons only to finish well in back of the pennant winner, seemed full of promise. They secured a "new deal" of their own with 26-year-old Joe Cronin, their peppery shortstop, who had emerged as one of the best players in the American League. Newly signed as the youngest manager in the majors, Cronin was determined to lead the Senators to the pennant, though Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and the world champion New York Yankees stood in the way.