{"id":1076,"date":"2018-12-31T15:32:13","date_gmt":"2018-12-31T15:32:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/?p=1076"},"modified":"2018-12-31T15:32:13","modified_gmt":"2018-12-31T15:32:13","slug":"lone-star-reviewsmichelle-newby-nbcc-84","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/?p=1076","title":{"rendered":"Lone Star ReviewsMichelle Newby, NBCC,"},"content":{"rendered":"
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<\/span><\/span>Lone Star Reviews<\/span>Michelle Newby, NBCC,<\/span><\/h1>\n<\/div>\n

Contributing Editor<\/span><\/h1>\n
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HISTORY \/ CURRENT AFFAIRS<\/p>\n

Two Texas racing-racket titles finish in the money<\/h1>\n

Review essay by Carlton Stowers<\/p>\n

Joe Tone<\/span><\/p>\n

Bones: Brothers, Horses, Cartels, and the Borderland Dream<\/span><\/p>\n

One World\/Random House<\/p>\n

Hardcover, 978-0-8129-8960-1 (also available as ebook and audio book); 329 pages, $28.00<\/p>\n

August 8, 2017<\/p>\n

Melissa del Bosque<\/span><\/p>\n

Bloodlines: The True Story of a Drug Cartel, the FBI, and the Battle for a Horse-Racing Dynasty<\/span><\/p>\n

Ecco\/Harper Collins<\/p>\n

Hardcover, 978-0-06-244848-4 (also available as ebook and audio book); 400 pages, $27.99<\/p>\n

September 12, 2017<\/p>\n

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First, the good news: Award-winning journalists Joe Tone, former Dallas Observer editor, and Melissa del Bosque, <\/span>a staff writer for the Austin-based Texas Observer, <\/span>have, in their first efforts at lengthier projects, produced outstanding books on a subject that is fascinating, fast-paced, and frightening. Tone\u2019s Bones: Brothers, Horses, Cartels and the Borderland Dream,<\/span> and del Bosque\u2019s Bloodlines: The True Story of a Drug Cartel, the FBI, and the Battle for a Horse-Racing Dynasty, <\/span>expertly detail the money-laundering invasion of the Mexico-based Los Zetas drug cartel into the high-priced world of Quarter Horse racing. And they deftly chronicle the efforts of those who seek to end it.<\/p>\n

From grotesque turf murders on the streets of Nuevo Laredo to the thrilling twenty-second dash for the million-dollar winner\u2019s prize at Ruidoso\u2019s All-American Futurity, the action is nonstop, so detailed the reader can smell the gunpowder and sweaty tensions that accompany smuggling tons of cocaine and cash into the United States. Then, there is the drama of high-dollar anticipations at racetracks and horse auctions. The authors have crafted engrossing tales that are part true crime, part sports, and wholly fascinating. >>READ MORE<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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<\/span><\/span><\/span>Texas Reads<\/span>Glenn Dromgoole<\/span><\/h1>\n

>> archive<\/a><\/span><\/h1>\n

Two new thrillers from Texas authors<\/h1>\n

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<\/a><\/span><\/span>Blame: Jane Norton and David Hall grew up next door to each other. <\/span>As kids they collaborated to create a graphic superhero called Liv Danger. Their mothers and fathers were best friends, until Jane\u2019s father died suddenly three years ago.<\/p>\n

And then the fatal car accident took David\u2019s life and left Jane, the driver, with no memory of the wreck or anything else from the past three years. As she lay in a coma, rumors spread that Jane may have been trying to kill herself and David was just an innocent victim. Wasn\u2019t there a suicide note?<\/p>\n

Best-selling Austin mystery author Jeff Abbott<\/span> spins a captivating tale in his seventeenth novel, Blame<\/span><\/a><\/span> (Grand Central Publishing, $26 hardcover).<\/p>\n

Two years after the accident, Jane seeks to find the truth, even if it means that she is to blame for the death of her lifelong friend. But finding the truth may mean delving into deeply hidden family secrets. And how does Liv Danger figure into the story, and why do bad things seem to be happening to others connected with the accident?<\/p>\n

Abbott evidently likes one-word titles. His novels include Panic, Fear, Collision, Adrenaline,<\/span> and Downfall<\/span>. Blame<\/span> is a PG-13 type of novel, a thriller that can be recommended to all ages.<\/p>\n

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The Dime:<\/span> Dallas author Kathleen Kent<\/span> has launched a new mystery series with her police thriller, The Dime<\/span><\/a><\/span> (Little, Brown, $26 hardcover).<\/p>\n

This one isn\u2019t for the faint of heart or those who are offended by strong language or grisly violence. I finished it late one evening and didn\u2019t sleep well, it was so intense.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a page-turner, that\u2019s for sure, featuring tall, tough, red-haired Dallas Police narcotics detective Betty Rhyzyk (I have no idea how to pronounce that, but I would guess RYE-zik), who has a girlfriend lover. They\u2019ve just moved to Dallas from Brooklyn, where Rhyzyk has honed her detective skills under the tutelage of her police sergeant uncle. It\u2019s not clear in the book why she decides to move to Dallas; she doesn\u2019t seem to like Texas very much.<\/p>\n

A narcotics bust blows up, and soon bodies (and heads) are stacking up. Rhyzyk and another detective drive to East Texas to investigate a lead, and that\u2019s where things go from bad to worse. Much worse.<\/p>\n

Kent is the author of three other novels, including a western set in Texas, The Outcasts.<\/span> Check her web site, kathleenkent.com<\/span><\/a><\/span>, for more information.<\/p>\n

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Glenn Dromgoole\u2019s<\/span> latest book is West Texas Stories<\/span><\/a><\/span>Contact him at g.dromgoole@suddenlink.net.<\/p>\n

>> <\/span>Check out his previous Texas Reads columns in Lone Star Lit<\/a><\/span>erary Life<\/span><\/h1>\n

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Author Charlaine Harris to headline Granbury Paranormal Expo, Sept. 30\u2013Oct. 1<\/h1>\n

<\/span><\/span>GRANBURY \u2014 The Sixth Annual Granbury Paranormal Expo<\/span> will kick off the Halloween season on\u00a0Sept. 30, 2017,\u00a0from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and\u00a0Oct. 1\u00a0from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. with a street festival in the middle of Granbury\u2019s historic downtown square. This festival is free to the public and will feature ghost hunters, psychics, horror, sci-fi, cosplay, fantasy, and much more.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s celebrity guest will be Charlaine Harris<\/span> (left), author of the novels that inspired HBO\u2019s\u00a0True Blood<\/span>\u00a0and the new hit NBC series,\u00a0Midnight,\u00a0Texas. <\/span> >>READ MORE<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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LONE STAR LISTENS interviews\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>>> archive<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/h1>\n

Author interviews by Kay Ellington<\/span><\/h1>\n

9.24.2017\u00a0\u00a0 Abilene author Bill Neal on journalism, mentors, and \u201cmaking history something someone would want to read”<\/h1>\n

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Texas attorney and author Bill Neal knows the law <\/span>\u2014 and he knows how to spin a tale. He has combined his skill in observation of fact with a keen knowledge of Texas history and an ear for the telling detail, to publish some of the most fascinating accounts of frontier law and life around. When you ask Bill a question, you\u2019d better sit down for the answer, because he\u2019ll take the long way around. But it\u2019ll sure be worth the trip.<\/span><\/p>\n

LONE STAR LITERARY LIFE: Congratulations on the publication of yet another rousing book about Texas justice, Bill. Let\u2019s start by discussing the basics: where were you born, and where did you grow up?<\/span><\/p>\n

BILL NEAL:<\/span> I was born January 31, 1936, in the small West Texas town of Quanah\u2014county seat of Hardeman County. (The town of Quanah, by the way, is named for the Comanche Indian chief Quanah Parker.) That\u2019s located just eight miles south of the Red River\u2014the northern boundary of Texas and southern boundary of Oklahoma and just around the Southeast corner of the Texas Panhandle. I grew up on a ranch owned by my grandfather, Will Neal, and my dad, Overton \u201cBoots\u201d Neal. An only child, I grew up on that remote ranch along the Pease River breaks.<\/p>\n

How do you think that upbringing influenced your writing?<\/p>\n

Growing up in a rural West Texas ranching community, I had no thought of ever becoming an author or a lawyer. Granddad and dad were cowboys, and that\u2019s what I thought I would become. (There were no authors or lawyers in my background on either side of my ancestors.)<\/p>\n

The rural West Texas ranching background did influence my writing later, since all my books are nonfiction describing real people and events in frontier West Texas, western Oklahoma, and eastern New Mexico. Consequently, I knew the land, the pioneers that settled there, and the way they thought, spoke, and acted. >>READ MORE<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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Texas’s only statewide, weekly calendar of book events<\/h1>\n

FESTIVALS AND SPECIAL BOOK EVENTS IN TEXAS THIS WEEK<\/span>\u00a0 BANNED BOOKS WEEK plus San Antonio, Sugarland, Granbury<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n