Liquid Smoke by Jeff Shelby. A Noah Braddock Mystery. Tyrus Books Hardcover, September 2011.
This superior crime novel, relatively short and perfectly paced, has a storyline that is simple in its scope, yet there is nothing simple in how it unfolds. One cannot help but wonder, though, given how everything plays out, will there be a fourth mystery in the series?
Read the full text of our review at Mysterious Reviews: Liquid Smoke by Jeff Shelby.
Strange thing about prefaces: some people love them, some hate them. Currently, it seems that the tide among most writers and instructors of writing (if there's much of a difference) is that they should be avoided or blended into the first chapter. But nothing can be handier in terms of setting up a novel.
ReplyDeleteWithout taking anything away from this book, which will be on our best of 2011 list, the preface was completely unnecessary. Yes, it set the tone for the book, but when all is said and done it works best as an afterward. Indeed, though the ARC reviewed didn't quite make it clear — the formatting was obviously not finalized — it actually seems like it might have been intended as an afterward … in addition to it serving as a preface.
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