The Water Lord

By Clueless Gent

THE WATER LORD

MATT MINOR

Genre: Political Suspense
Publisher: Dead Tree Publishing
Publication Date: April 2, 2018
Number of Pages: 249

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A town has gone dry, and the general manager of a water district is found dead, presumably a suicide. His crazed widow is in denial and recklessly loose-lipped. Texas House District 100 is again in turmoil, and the interests of the landed class against urban sprawl are at odds.

Enter John David Dothan (The Representative). The world’s hippest legislator is back, but he is a changed man. Post-stroke Dothan dons an eccentric cane and is married to his former chief of staff, Tryphena Taylor. The two lovers reside peacefully tucked away in a country cottage with their rescued cat. But they are swimming against the tide.

Caught between the past and the future, the rural and the urban, the representative is trapped in a no-win situation both politically and emotionally. When a constituent brings to his attention a mysterious ‘retention pond’ things grow increasingly murky. The waters turn completely dark when Dothan learns his forbidden first love, former State Senator Rachael Logan has been hospitalized.

Armed with only his cane and sidekick, Mason Dixon (The District Manager), who serves as his new Chief of Staff, Dothan sets aside the ambiguities of politics and love in search of clarity and righteousness. But the cost of doing the right thing might not just be his young marriage…but Tryphena’s life.

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Covey Jencks

By Clueless Gent

COVEY JENCKS

SHELTON L. WILLIAMS

Narrated by Kathy James

Genre: Mystery / Social Thriller
Publisher: Southern Owl Publications, LLC
Date of Publication: February 10, 2018

Number of Pages: 229

Audio Book Length: 6 hours, 38 minutes

Gratitude: The Art of Being Thankful Cover

Covey Jencks is a murder mystery with a social conscience. Set in West Texas with a cast of colorful and humorous characters, it follows a young lawyer from Washington, DC back to his hometown of Odessa, Texas. He wants and needs to solve a murder case from 1979 in 1993. The problem is that the Odessa Police Department has already found its man, and no one wants to re-visit the case of a black prostitute whose life was seemingly of no consequence to anyone. But Freddie Mae Johnson’s death matters to Covey, and eventually he discovers an old flame, JayJay Qualls, who also knew and loved Freddie. Together they undertake an investigation that uncovers not only the truth about Freddie but also the secrets of Odessa’s south side, Mexican gangs, a Boston mobster, and the fallacy of unexamined assumptions. Finding out who killed Freddie is one thing, but preventing their own demise is quite another!

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The Whole Damn Cheese

By Clueless Gent

THE WHOLE
DAMN CHEESE

MAGGIE SMITH BORDER LEGEND

BILL WRIGHT

Genre: Biography / Texana
Publisher: Texas Christian University Press
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Number of Pages: 160 pages with B&W photos

Anecdotes about Maggie Smith abound, but Bill Wright’s The Whole Damn Cheese is the first book devoted entirely to the woman whose life in Big Bend country has become the stuff of legend. For more than twenty years, Maggie Smith served folks on both sides of the border as doctor, lawyer, midwife, herbalist, banker, self-appointed justice of the peace, and coroner. As she put it, she was “the whole damn cheese” in Hot Springs, Texas. A beloved figure serving the needs of scores of people in Big Bend country, she was also an accomplished smuggler with a touch of romance as well as larceny in her heart. Maggie’s family history is a history of the Texas frontier, and her story outlines the beginnings and early development of Big Bend National Park. Her travels between Boquillas, San Vincente, Alpine, and Hot Springs define Maggie’s career and illustrate her unique relationships with the people of the border. Vividly capturing the rough individualism and warm character of Maggie Smith, author Bill Wright demonstrates why this remarkable frontier woman has become an indelible figure in the history of Texas.

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Old Buildings in North Texas

By Clueless Gent

OLD BUILDINGS
IN NORTH TEXAS

JEN WALDO

Sub-genre: Literary Fiction / Dramedy
Publisher: Arcadia Books
Date of Publication: April 1, 2018

Number of Pages: 213

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After rehab, Olivia, a 32-year-old cocaine addict, is required to move back in with her mother and pregnant sister. Having left a promising career in journalism in New York, she’s now working as a sales assistant for a family friend in her home town in North Texas.

Under pressure from her court-mandated counselor – an old high school friend – to take up a hobby, Olivia decides on “urbexing.” Soon she’s breaking into derelict homes, ex-prisons, and old drive-ins across North Texas, and it’s not long before she’s looting state property and making money off the possessions, fixtures, and fittings that have been left behind.

Old Buildings in North Texas is about a modern woman’s search for personal equilibrium and wild adventure — the attempt to find stability in existence without losing sight of what makes life worth living. Jen Waldo’s style modulates effortlessly from domestic nuance to taut adventure, tackling social and moral transgressions with incisive observation and vivid humor.

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The Big Inch

By Clueless Gent

Title: The Big Inch
Series: Misfits and Millionaires
Author: Kimberly Fish
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Release Date: January 22, 2017
Format: Kindle Edition
Pages: 344
Date Read: June 22, 2018

Lane Mercer, sent to Longview, Texas in July, 1942 is part of a select group of women working undercover for the fledging federal agency, the Office of Strategic Services. Assigned to protect the man carrying out President Roosevelt's initiative to build the nation's first overland pipeline to hurry East Texas crude to the troops, she discovers there's more to Longview than the dossiers implied. There's intrigue, mayhem, and danger. Shamed from a botched OSS mission in France, Lane struggles to fulfill her mission and keep from drowning in guilt. Getting involved in local life is out of the question. Between family, do-gooders, and Nazi threats, she's knitted into a series of events that unravel all of her carefully constructed plans, revealing that sometimes the life one has to save, is one's own.

Clueless Gent’s Review

Clueless Gent’s Rating

Kimberly Fish certainly knows how to spin a great tale! Her mastery of the craft of storytelling is embedded in The Big Inch from cover to cover. Set in the early days of World War II, the stakes are high as the U.S. scrambles to build an above-ground crude oil pipeline from Longview, Texas, to the east coast, where it will be loaded onto tankers bound for our fighting men in Europe. Similar to the way they built the railroad in the nineteenth century, one team is responsible for getting the pipeline from the east coast to Illinois, and the other team must build it from the oilfields near Longview to Illinois. This story follows the Longview team.

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Crude Blessings

By Clueless Gent

June is Alzheimer’s and Brain Awareness Month. If you need to help a loved one who is in denial about an Alzheimer’s diagnosis or need to know where to start with the caregiving process, you need to read this book!

CRUDE BLESSINGS

T.M. “Roe” Patterson

Genre: Biography & History
Date of Publication: April 15, 2018

Number of Pages: 196

Synopsis

Crude Blessings Cover Much more than one son’s homage to his dad, Crude Blessings is a compelling narrative about a family patriarch who embodied the best qualities of the Greatest Generation, which inspired and powered the success of America. Timely because of the increasing polarization in our country, Glenn Patterson’s story and values were noted in the Christian ethos of decency, integrity, faith, and trust throughout his life in his business and family. His mantra, “Always do the right thing” turned out to be an enviable formula for success in a highly volatile industry. His son Roe’s firsthand account of Glenn’s life is a memorable story about surviving adversity through positive, thoughtful leadership and determination. It is a great tutorial for how to achieve the American dream and how to treat others.

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The El Paso Red Flame Gas Station

By Clueless Gent

THE EL PASO RED FLAME GAS STATION

AND OTHER STORIES

J. REEDER ARCHULETA

Genre: Fiction /Short Stories / Coming of Age
Publisher: Dog Ear Publishing, LLC
Date of Publication: December 8, 2017

Number of Pages: 132

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These short stories are about coming of age in rural far West Texas. The stories are about the people who have come to stay in a remote part of Texas with a climate that can be harsh and unpredictable and that is demanding and unforgiving. The stories are told through the eyes of Josh, a young boy, who finds himself alone in a small farm and ranch community and who realizes that he will have to make his own way in this place. Along the way he meets a group of characters with different takes on life. Some try to help shield him from the chaos of the world, some try to add more chaos. But all of them, in their own distinct way, through jobs, advice, or actions, play a part in his life.

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Covey Jencks

By Clueless Gent

COVEY JENCKS

Shelton L. Williams

Genre: Mystery / Social Thriller
Publisher: Southern Owl Publications, LLC
Publication Date: February 10, 2018

Number of Pages: 229 pages

Covey Jencks is a murder mystery with a social conscience. Set in West Texas with a cast of colorful and humorous characters, it follows a young lawyer from Washington, DC back to his hometown of Odessa, Texas. He wants and needs to solve a murder case from 1979 in 1993. The problem is that the Odessa Police Department has already found its man, and no one wants to re-visit the case of a black prostitute whose life was seemingly of no consequence to anyone. But Freddie Mae Johnson’s death matters to Covey and eventually he discovers an old flame, JayJay Qualls, who also knew and loved Freddie. Together they undertake an investigation that uncovers not only the truth about Freddie but also the secrets of Odessa’s south side, Mexican gangs, a Boston mobster, and the fallacy of unexamined assumptions. Finding out who killed Freddie is one thing, but preventing their own demise is quite another!

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Aransas Morning

By Clueless Gent

ARANSAS MORNING

JEFF HAMPTON

Genre: Literary Fiction / Family Life

Date of Publication: September 22, 2017

Number of Pages: 304

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When Sam Barnes’ high-flying life in Dallas falls apart, he flees to the coastal town of Port Aransas, Texas and fades into the life of a reclusive beach bum. But things start to change when he meets Dave, a young widower working through his own loss; Shelly, owner of the Dream Bean coffee shop; Bo, a crusty old shrimper; and Allie, Bo’s free-spirited daughter. Together they are tested and forced to confront their own issues. In doing so they discover family and community.

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Anahuac

By Clueless Gent

ANAHUAC

A Texas Story (Volume 2)

WILLIAM D. DARLING

Genre: Historical Fiction / Thriller

Publisher: Canned Peas Productions

Date of Publication: October 3, 2017

Number of Pages: 244

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The Anahuac of 1972 is more than just an isolated outpost on Texas’s Trinity Bay – it’s a place where greed and justice uncomfortably intermingle, where the evangelical fervor of charismatic preachers resonate, where blacks and whites navigate a fragile co-existence, and where a murder leads to even darker mysteries than murder.

Jim Ward, introduced in Morgan’s Point as a young, idealistic Houston prosecutor, returns in Anahuac as an older, more conflicted, more complicated man, coming to Anahuac to defend a man who appears guilty of a horrible crime. His discoveries lead to entanglements in the very nature of good and evil, in a town that is at once of its time and timeless, steeped in a history that is unexpectedly but definitively drawing Ward in its narrative web.

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