Reviews for Phillip McGuire Mystery/Suspense Series are Many and Wonderfully Positive

Reviews for the two books in my Phillip McGuire series, published by Curiosity Quills, have been wonderfully positive.

McGuire is a burnt-out, foreign correspondent who was kidnapped by the Hezbollah in Beirut before they destroyed the Marine base, killing 299. Phil, under torture that mutilated his hand, gives up all the details of the compound he visited. Released after the explosion, he is taken to Wiesbaden for surgery. After that, he renounces journalism to return to his university town, Lawrence, where he buys a bar and runs it. Adventures come his way. His past comes back his way, too.

First in the series is Tortured Truths, which introduces Phil.

Review excerpts:

The plot thickens and excitement ascends to a shrieking climax with every word in this thriller. Gruesome and colorful text flows into a string of scenes that coalesce inside the reader's mind with each turn of the page. Character's are vividly displayed through dialogue and narrative giving the reader a sense of being in the thick of the action.

*

Tortured Truths keeps you turning the pages, but the very interesting thoughts have you highlighting and underlining passages to come back to. This is a great stand-alone mystery story, but it also an intriguing thought-provoker when the main character reflects on the whys and wherefores.

*

Randy Attwood has crafted an intoxicating tale of circumstance and choice....Atmospheric and philosophical, Tortured Truths is a skillfully written journey into a wounded mind searching for peace.

*

Philip is a good character to follow around. His mind is interesting and since he’s been a journalist for years he’s knowledgeable. The torture itself is not on page. The story begins right after and how he deals with his mutilated hand, the surgeries and rehab. Then his quest to open a bar and the renovations are all interesting. Then s*** gets real with killings in his new/old town. When someone he knows is killed he can’t help but dig into the reason why. Along the way he finds a lovely brash lady, meets old and new friends, builds a business and, most importantly, faces his past. The story is not a fast-paced thriller, but is a slow build, one brick at a time, providing a solid story with a solid character. I would definitely read more about Philip and all of his friends.

Second in the series is Heart Chants.

Review excerpts:

In Heart Chants, Randy Attwood reintroduces us to Phil McGuire shortly after the events of the first novel in this series - Tortured Truths. Phil is laid up at home after trouble, in the guise of a woman, finds him again.

Two young Navajo students from the local university have disappeared and the local authorities think they've wandered off on their own. With no one believing claims of foul play, Phil lets another Navajo girl stay at his place to keep her safe. Both of the other missing girls were the daughters of tribal singers, a coincidence too significant to ignore. Before long, the efforts of the trickster draw him into the world of Navajo mysticism and traditions as old as the world.

*

Heart Chants draws upon the Navajo creation tale, bringing the reader into a rich and detailed canon depicted with masterful and immersive storytelling. While no expert, I found the depictions of rites and cultural lore to be deep and engaging. This was an excellent read, and it kept the pages (electronic as they may be) turning. By the time the action reached its peak, I was reading too fast, and had to back up and reread several pages―I wanted to know what was going to happen.

*

Heart Chants is an enticing novel rich in Native American lore and steeped in mystery. ..From beginning to end Heart Chants is an exciting novel that is in my opinion arguably one of the best releases of the New Year.

*

...a riveting mystery with a nice dose of romance. His research into the Navajo culture is impeccable while remaining respectful and sensitive. I highly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in Native American culture and appreciation of a good story. Well written and researched, Attwood has done a gutsy thing. He has gone up against the legacy of Tony Hillerman in the second novel of his Philip McGuire crime series. Even better he wins the bet, not because his crime novel is better than any of Hillerman’s, although it might be and probably is, but because he has the good sense to play off Hillerman in a novel that delves more deeply into Navajo cosmology than any Hillerman novel I’m familiar with ever went.

*

Attwood pulls the various story lines and conceptual elements together in a most satisfying and compelling conclusion. If you like hard-boiled mysteries or Hillerman or novels with multi-ethnic subplots, this is a book for you.

*

If you live in New Mexico, you've been exposed to Hillerman's novels about Navajo life. Except that they don't really tell you much about Navajo life and beliefs. I found Heart Chants much more satisfying in this regard than the Hillerman novels I've read. And there's an interesting plot, as well!

*

Very intriguing story with a fascinating story line, and interesting subject matter as well, with the Navajo culture and mysticism factoring in to the plot. Heart wrenching history of the Navajo people revealed in the story. Suspenseful, fast paced, unique.

Doing One Of Those Book Signing Things

My books have now been placed in several independent bookstores in the KC area and March 7 I'll be doing a book signing at one of them, Prospero's Parkside in Blue Springs, MO. It's just east of Kansas City. The store owner, Eve Brackenbury, a poetess, pulled images from my Facebook page and did a really cool image to advertise the signing and used that image as the store's current facebook cover.

Here's the image. I'm looking forward to this evening. She also serves wine! So if you know anyone in the area, please alert them. I may bring a few liquid reinforcements myself because, to tell the truth, I'm scare as hell about the whole thing.

And I've been invited to Lawrence, KS to be interviewed on an internet radio program. Details to follow...

Nice recent reviews:

For Crazy About You

I found this story so captivating that I couldn't stop reading once I started, I happen to work at the state hospital depicted in this story and it is incredible fact or fiction, the detail that was written I could see everything he wrote so I was able to follow it with such ease and enjoyed it very much. A very believable story that seemed so familiar. I have recommended this to everyone that I know. I only found one issue with the story and that was, that it wasn't longer......Thanks Randy for such an absolutely amazing read!!!

For Heart Chants

Very intriguing story with a fascinating story line, and interesting subject matter as well, with the Navajo culture and mysticism factoring in to the plot. Heart wrenching history of the Navajo people revealed in the story. Suspenseful, fast paced, unique. Loved it, highly recommended.

For Rabbletown: Life in These United Christian States of Holy America

Once I got past the first few pages, I couldn't put this book down. It's actually a short novel but the story held my interest. The story is of an America where the government and society have been restructured along dogmatic lines that suggest christian dominionism, a nightmare christian theocracy at its height during the late 21st century. By the end of the book, I was disappointed that there was not a second book that picks up where the first leaves off. Can we hope for a Book II, Mr. Attwood?

For Tortured Truths

Tortured Truths by Randy Attwood is a suspense thriller starring Phillip McGuire a journalist who has recently escaped the claws of his middle eastern torturers. In bad shape both physically and mentally he pursues a simpler life and leaves his journalism background behind although not completely. He returns to his hometown in an effort to heal and live a simpler life, getting back in touch with old friends and opening a bar. He soon finds a mystery that needs resolving as people begin turning up dead.

The plot thickens and excitement ascends to a shreaking climax with every word in this thriller. Gruesome and colorful text flows into a string of scenes that coalesce inside the reader's mind with each turn of the page.Character's are vividly displayed through dialogue and narrative giving the reader a sense of being in the thick of the action.

A well written and most definitely stinging suspense thriller that is a must read!

Two Novels Accepted by Curiosity Quills, But...

I am pumped that Curiosity Quills, the small press in the DC area that published the very dark/suspense work Blow Up the Roses has now accepted two more novels. But.

These two mystery/suspense novels feature the same protagonist: Philip McGuire. He is burnt-out foreign correspondent who had his hand mangled in torture by the Hezbollah and quits journalism to return to his college town to buy and run a bar. Adventures come his way.

The two works (may be more; I don't know) was a kind of homage to the Travis McGee series by John D. MacDonald. I read that series not so much for the story, but because it meant I got to spend more time with Travis. His reflections on life, his mini editorials, his romances were wonderfully created by the master. I was hoping readers would want to spend time with Philip.

The first novel, Heal My Heart So I May Cry establishes his background and gives him a situation where he ends up encountering the torturer who mangled his hand when he was kidnapped in Beirut and gave up all the details he knew of the Marine compound that was later blown up with the loss of 237 soldiers.

In this novel, he has a bittersweet romance with a university journalism student that has an O. Henry ending (boy, does that date me).

Here's a taste from the beginning:

The car stopped. The hood was taken off my head. My good hand was untied from the interior car door handle. The bright sun of Beirut blinded me. My pupils squeezed tight. My eyes adjusted a little by the time they had the back door open and were pulling me out of the car so I could look again at the face of that son-of-a-bitch, the one they called Mohammed, who had taken so much joy looking into my eyes while the cutter had done his work on my hand, the hand now wrapped in the dirty napkin as I held it high against my heart. I looked at that motherfucker's face and felt the hope that hate gives. The hope that I'd see that face again and have a fair chance to get even. Fuck that. Have an unfair chance. Have any chance to get even. You and me someday, Mohammed. Give me that, God, I prayed. But God hadn't answered any of my prayers lately. Maybe I'd be due someday.

  

In the second novel, a half-Navajo and half-white character who believes he is a witch plays a major role. He calls himself "Koyoteh" (coyote). Both novels are set in Lawrence, KS, which is home to Haskell, a college for American Indians. Two Navajo girls have come up missing. Researching the Navajo culture led me to their creation story, which is as complicated and fascinating as Greek mythology. I think, and hope, I have created a full retelling of that story that is better than any that exists in any fiction work. I titled this work "A Heart to Understand." To make this novel even more complicated, the romance in this novel involves an illegal Chinese immigrant trying to sneak out of the US to go back to China and with an ulterior motive for contacting Philip.

Here's a taste of that work:

"Another Indian girl's missing, Phil."

"That's two now, isn't it."

"In two months. No bodies found. Yet. Officially, it's another missing person's case. The police still take the attitude that Indian students from Haskell run off all the time. But Navajo aren't solo runaways. Being in a group is too important to them, especially girls."

"Navajo?"

"Both have been Navajo. Could just be the odds. Highest percentage of students at Haskell are Navajo. Both had friends, left behind too many personal possessions to be runaways. Got to be kidnappings. When I was in law school I did a summer internship in a law office in Gallup. Did a lot of reading into Navajo culture and Native American sovereignty rights. Word gets around. I began to represent Native Americans around here. Some of them came to me asking if I could help them make the police investigate more. But, hell, there's not much they can do unless a body turns up. Shitty thing, isn't it, hoping a body will turn up? They're all upset and angry. Not a good combination. The Navajo believe in this cause and effect deal. They don't like having these ugly effects without understanding or knowing the cause. I'm afraid it could be a serial killer with a thing for Indian girls. And one of my clients has a daughter whose Navajo girlfriend is really spooked. I've talked to her and I've got a favor to ask."

"What's that?"

"I'd like to hide her out here."

"Out here?"

"Sure. The kidnapper must be prowling the Haskell area. He wouldn't be prowling around here. And she's really shaken. Something going on she won't tell me about. And you could use the help now that you're laid up. How about it?"

"Well, sure. If that's what you want," I said as I watched him walk to the window on the other side of the room that looked out over the drive up to the house.

"Phil?"

"Yeah."

"That Chinese girl. You said she had really long hair?"

"Down to her butt. And we're talking a tall girl here."

"Really beautiful?"

"Stunning. Even features. Sexy mouth. Full lips. High brow. Why?"

"She's walking up to your front door."

Okay, here's that but.

Editor doesn't like the titles and urges me to change them to something more consistent with the genre of mystery/suspense. I have to admit my titles, Heal My Heart So I May Cry and A Heart to Understand sound more like romance novels. I have lived with these titles so long it has become very hard for me to brainstorm within myself for new ones. But I have also learned that a writer should heed an editor's suggestion.

Friends: any ideas?

Happy to share manuscripts with anyone really interested in all of this. Guess if you're reached the end of this long blog, you may well be!