The Rich are Different

Chris Orcutt's The Rich Are Different just hit Amazon.  This author is the real deal.  That became evident just a few pages in for readers of his first Dakota Stevens Mystery, the best selling A Real Piece of Work, which came out in November.  The wait for this one has seemed interminably long.  FINALLY, the wait is over.

Here's the book summary:

THE PI SENSATION Dakota Stevens is Back in this Highly Anticipated Sequel to A Real Piece of Work!

The Rich Are Different, the 2nd novel in the Dakota Stevens Mystery Series by Chris Orcutt, explores the rarefied world of a Long Island heiress and her murdered brother who owned an Old West resort in Montana. To hunt down the man’s killer, Dakota and his associate Svetlana Krüsh must go undercover as actors in a make-believe mining town straight out of 1885.

This much-anticipated sequel to A Real Piece of Work picks up a few months after that difficult case. Dakota Stevens is depressed. He’s lost his detecting mojo and hasn’t taken a case since A Real Piece of Work. Can he get his mojo back and find the killer?

Like bullets from a Gatling gun, the suspects come fast and furious: eccentric heiresses, greedy CEOs, catty thespians, sexy henchwomen, angry Native Americans, mysterious mobsters, menacing mercenaries, kinky housewives and contract killers.

It’s a classic case of East meets West as Dakota and Svetlana follow a trail of clues that takes the reader from the sophisticated setting of The Great Gatsby to the forbidding land of Pale Rider.

Click below to hitch a ride to Amazon:   

The forward lines

I’ve been providing reports from the front on the war against stress in the day-to-day world. Here’s a shot from the forward lines in this mortal combat. This is the view from the screened porch of Bead Cottage, one of the jewels in the treasury called Tybee Cottages where Jim Heflin turns island retreats into magic. Just beyond that corner is the pool, which you can see in the second picture. We refer to that sacred realm of relaxation as the Outer Bead. When we’re not out and about, it is where we spend 80% of our time ... Kindling, Scrabbling, blogging, and writing Tit for Tat: A Novel of Retribution.  Part of that other 20% is spent in the pool, also known as the Sea of Bead.

Just outside of the southwest corner of the pool shot, there is an outdoor shower behind a half wall with saloon doors and a shower curtain. We’ve enjoyed three one-week stays in the cottage now, and I’ve only taken a shower inside twice … once due to not knowing better and once due to a scattered shower. Outside showering is very liberating.  We have stayed at three other homes on Tybee, but none of them offered cleanliness quite as next to Godliness.

The cottage was built in 1938 and was renovated by renowned preservationist Jane Coslick in 2004. Since it fell into the loving hands of a new owner a few years back, we discover new and desirable refinements each time we return. At 812 Second Avenue, it is right on the bike path that runs the three-mile length of the island and is only five minutes from a dune bridge that eases you into the best beach peddling that can be found anywhere.

You just can’t ever tell who you might see here in the suburbs of heaven. Several years ago, we were three or four addresses away from John Mellancamp’s Officers' Row home. Two years after that we were only a few doors down Bay Street from Sandra Bullock’s manse on the north end of the island at a place where you can see both the Cockspur and Tybee lighthouses. Four doors down from Bead you can find Breeze Inn, the island home of the famous author, Mary Kay Andrews. Just last night we imbibed with the Tybee Pirate. And, of course, everyone knows that Second Hand Rose can be found on Second Avenue. If you want to find Suzie and Dick, just look in the Outer Bead or on a Fat Tire Bike on the sands of Tybee.

Whoever came up with that Disney catch phrase about the happiest place on earth has obviously not been to Tybee Island. Try it, you’ll like it. This is where we go when we have a need for Bead. Oh, about that mortal combat … Tybee trumps stress every damn time.

It always helps in life to have a good grip on who and what your are.  Part of what I know about myself is that I'm a Kansan by residence, a Missourian by employment, a Louisianan by birth, Southern by the grace of God, and a Tybee Islander at heart.  Soon I'll quit hanging out in a bank in Missouri on weekdays and spend more time writing and sneak over here to the suburbs of heaven more often and for longer stretches ... much longer.

  

More news from the front ...

I looked over the online menu for Olde Pink House before we headed into Savannah from Tybee and had decided that my appetizer would be Blue Crab Beignets, Creamy Old Bay & Lemon Dipping Sauce. As it turned out, that was not on the menu in the restaurant, so I had to pick another. The one that crossed my lips turned out to be a good choice … Fried Green Tomato with Applewood Bacon Sweet Corn Cream.

My entrée choice was subject to a John Sebastian moment. You know. Did you ever have to make up your mind? Pick up on one and leave the other behind. The choices:

Bourbon Molasses Grilled Pork Tenderloin, Sweet Potato with Pecan Vanilla Butter and Collards

versus

Pecan Crusted Chicken Breast, Blackberry Bourbon Glaze, Sweet Potato with Pecan Vanilla Butter and Collards

That decision turned out to be easy. I ended up pickin’ the chicken.

I topped it off with a cup of coffee. They serve Royal Cup from Alabama, and I must say it was excellent. I had never heard of them, so I looked them up on the web after we got back to the island. It looked like it costs over $8.00 per pound to order it online. Though the Bama brew was quite good, I think I’ll keep ordering my Community Coffee from Baton Rouge. Ordering in quantity and waiting for free shipping offers, I stay in the $6.00 to $7.00 range. Still it was good to have a good bold cup after the wonderful meal I enjoyed.

Claiming she was stuffed from all of the good meals we’ve already had on this vacation, Suzie steered clear of the entrées opting for a salad (Mixed Greens with Caramelized Apple, Pecan, Goat Cheese Fritter with Champagne Citrus Vinaigrette) and an appetizer (Pan Seared Jumbo Sea Scallops with Savory Sautéed Spinach). She was smiling after her plates were cleaned.

She will think it is over the top to write about a meal. As a Yankee girl from Illinois, that’s understandable. Being brought up in the Louisiana food culture, if you ain’t eating a good meal, you’re talking about one or thinking about one or remembering one you’ve already had. It is the nature of the food beasts of my homeland.

As I’ve mentioned before, I try to expose her to things Southern and foods Cajun and Creole. Why I’ve already taken her to Graceland once so she can get a grip on what we Southerners are all about. Bless her heart, she is a quick study and has mastered many Louisiana dishes, and I think she does the best fried okra I’ve ever had.

I know some of my Louisiana friends will be alarmed to see me write this, but one of the reasons Savannah and Tybee are so appealing to us is that the food is similar and comparable, yes comparable, to that found in the banana republic of my birth.  One of the main differences is that they use grits in a lot of cases where we might use rice.

I’ll have more to report from the front tomorrow. We’re having lunch tomorrow at Sundae Café with Jim Heflin of Tybee Cottages, our annual host here in heaven’s suburb. The have a mayor and city council and people responsible for tourism here, but they have no better ambassador for the delights of this Mecca of relaxation than Jim. As a purple-and-gold bleedin’ Tiger fan from Baton Rouge, I even cut him slack for being an Ole Miss Rebel. I know that lots of my Southern friends will be impressed to learn that Mr. Heflin was a high school bud of Lewis Grizzard, the late and great columnist and humorist.

Stay tuned, I still have to tell you more about Sundae Café, and then there's Breakfast Club.  Mmm.

A Report from the Front

We're sittin' on the porch of Bead Cottage here on Tybee Island hearing the pool gurgle in the background while listening to Little Richard soulfully oozing out the strains of Hank's Lovesick Blues. Our wake-up call was an island shower dancing on the tin roof, and by the time we carried our breakfast out here, Mr. Sunshine had opened his arms to welcome us to another beautiful Georgia day.

We'll be mounting our Fat Tire bikes for the first of two rides today on the Atlantic bordered sands ... it's like people watching on steroids. Since the Sundae Cafe doesn't do Sundays, we have reservations there tonight to eke out one more Mother's Day enjoyment for Suzie. No matter where you are, the food there will justify your commute.

Our nightcap will be a Chocolate Thunder at Wet Willie’s. We first discovered the frozen-concoction establishment of highest eschelon on Savannah’s cobblestone River Street and have visited them in Charleston. That they opened their new Tybee Island location the evening before our arrival struck us as hospitable in the Southern tradition.

We are proud to be here soldiering in the war to promote absolute enjoyment of relaxed and entertaining life. Watch this page for more reports from the front.

They do this, but they wrote that.

Since I became a Kindler, one who reads e-books and listens to audio books by means of a Kindle e-reader, my reading habits have changed immensely. My reading queue will always have room for the latest offerings from favorite authors like Pat Conroy, Michael Connelly, Greg Iles, and John Grisham. Anything Stephen King does outside of the horror genre is generally a must-do, as I think he is the best storyteller alive. Since Amazon makes it so easy to shop for and research books, I can hunt for books from new authors and writers from Louisiana, Kansas, Missouri, and other states to which I have connections. Authors I’ve met during my journey through the world of publishing and self-publishing get nods.

Another group of authors whose work piques my curiosity consists of folks who are known for something other than writing. Lots of people write non-fiction books about whatever it is outside of writing that has given them a claim to fame or credibility. Instead of them, I’m talking about talking heads or actors or politicians or political spouses or political offsprint or political operatives or spies or burglars who suddenly hatch into a novelist.

The first such writer who found her way to my radar screen was a rebellious former First Daughter. She actually preceded my Kindling days, as I read her erotic novel Bondage by Patti Davisway back in the mid-Nineties.

These are examples of such reads since I started Kindling:

The Cajuns by Gus WeillGus has written a number of books and plays over the years, but he earned his spurs as one of the most astute Louisiana politicos of his day. The taught Jim Carville everything he knows about politics. The protégé coaxed the mentor to write this novel. Being a Louisiana boy, I really enjoyed it, even though I believe Weill employed a smidge of caricature and hyperbole in his depiction of the Cajun culture.

Those Who Trespass: A Novel of Television and Murder by Bill O'ReillyThe popular anchor of Fox News’ The O'Reilly Factor has written lots of books of political commentary and has had huge success with his recent historical Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever, but this novel was new territory for him. His insider knowledge of television, especially politically charged television, enabled him to spin a gripping yarn set on familiar turf.

House Dick by E. Howard HuntHere’s what the book’s Amazon page has to say about him: “Before he became one of the most controversial figures in modern American history, going to prison for his involvement in the Watergate conspiracy, E. Howard Hunt was an award-winning novelist, and the author of numerous popular political thrillers and crime stories. Hunt once worked as a CIA spy, inspiring the “Ethan Hunt” character played by Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible." As was the custom of the day of the 1961 original copyright, it came to a short 209 pages in print. Reading it was like watching a b-movie detective story of that period.
 
Hand of Fate by Lis Wiehl and April HenryWiehl, the comely talking head from Fox News, is a Harvard lawyer and law professor who was principal deputy chief minority investigative counsel for the House Judiciary Committee in the late 1990s, including during the Clinton impeachment proceedings. This novel is part of the Triple Threat Club series that has similarities to James Patterson’s Women’s Murder Club franchise. It is a serviceable read.
 
The Overton Window by Glenn BeckI have an audio version of this one. I started it once and didn’t get captured. It has been set aside for a later try in a different frame of mind.
 
The Campaign by Marilyn Tucker Quayle and Nancy Tucker NorthcottI am currently doing this one as an audio book. The story was a tad slow getting started. There are multiple readers involved. The former Second Lady of the land and her sister eventually hooked me. So far the story is giving me an interesting and pleasurable ride.
 
Have you encountered any pleasant surprises or shocking disappointments from novelists hatched from well known people of other stripes?

A Real Piece of Work by Chris Orcutt is Buzzing

My friend, Chris Orcutt, did a two-day free promotion of his novel, A Real Piece of Work on Wednesday and Thursday and got to #4 overall in the Best Sellers in Kindle eBooks Top 100 Free list.  After returning it to the $4.99 list price on Friday and Saturday, he is just about to break into the Kindle eBooks Top 100 Paid list ... currently at #120 overall.  His ranks in more specific categories are:

#10 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Literary

#10 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Literary Fiction

#16 in Books > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Mystery

Here's how I recently reviewed it at Amazon:

5.0 out of 5 stars

Move over Spenser and make room for Dakota Stevens, February 6, 2012

Review by Dick Peterson "Red Stick Writer" (Fairway, KS USA)

This review is from: A Real Piece of Work (The Dakota Stevens Mysteries) (Kindle Edition)

Orcutt's characters have height, breadth, AND depth. Their personality, interesting quirks, and attitudes leap from the page. You'll like them so much you'll want to buy the action figures. (Personally, I'll be ordering the Svetlana doll.) New York's metropolitan and upstate backdrops are vividly included as characters, as well. Beyond the relationships and geography, the story has grab, tempo, sophistication, and well-researched intricacies of the art world. As soon as he released A Real Piece of Work, the author announced a second Dakota Stevens mystery was in the can, so to speak. I'm hoping other readers will join me in pressuring him to uncan it sooner rather than later, as well as to chronicle more adventures of my new favorite PI. He solves the case by hook or by crook and sometimes by the book, but he solves it.

Do yourself a favor and buy the Kindle Edition of this exciting mystery novel, the first of the Dakota Stevens Mystery series.  That way you'll be all caught up when the second book in the series comes out soon.  Click on the link below to get to the A Real Piece of Work page at Amazon.




You'll be coming back here to thank me for tipping you Orcutt's direction.  When you're done reading, also go back to Amazon to post a review.