Sandra Farris

In Search of Alan Hawk by Sandra Farris

Sandra Farris’s fictional short story, In Search of Alan Hawk, is written in the tradition of the morality fables, which, as everyone knows, must end with at least one character learning a lesson. Written in first person, its main character, Samantha Edwards, comes off, in the beginning, as a somewhat self-absorbed high-maintenance piece of work. She judges others by her own preconceived notions based on hearsay and circumstantial bits and pieces.

The title character, Alan Hawk is to be the object of an article Samantha is writing. The journey experienced within this tale, could easily be construed as a doppelganger for the life’s journey itself. In all cases, the characters are well written, but do not leap from the page with the enthusiasm a bit more description would energize them with.

The plot is written well and is straightforward with simple language. There is no veering from the path laid down, but the tale itself, is an interesting one. It could easily be written into numerous other genres, with only slight changes.

I would very much like to see Farris develop this piece into a full-length novel. It is a good, strong, and interesting tale, but with a bit more time and work, it could be great.… (mere)

Tracy Chapman has a very unusual job. It arrives with the morning paper and involves reading the obituary column. She isn't interested in treasure hunting but helping those out that appear to have no family to speak of in the obituary. She has become a self appointed detective trying to make sure people don't die without someone knowing about them. She has taken on the task after her brother went missing for 5 years without a trace. Then she tracked down a clue that lead her to her brother being labeled a John Doe that had been murdered in Florida. Since none of the missing person descriptions matched him, he was buried as a unknown and she vows to make sure that it doesn't happen to any other families.

Tracy is also the owner of an antique story, Another Tyme and along with her partner Amy, they offer to buy furniture and other items at auctions from family estate sales. Only this time when investigating the death of Mr. Samuel Levine, she finds out that there are others out there who have been looking for Mr. Levine for quite some time. As she digs deeper into the contents of Mr. Levine's small apartment, she comes across a journal from his time in Germany during the Holocaust written in German and hopes she can find out if Mr. Levine had any family she can contact.

On her way back home one evening, she is almost forced off the road and killed in a game of cat and mouse with the driver of an unknown vehicle. Thinking nothing of the event and the connection between the two, she begins to unravel a story that she hopes will unite Mr. Levine with the family he left behind and was never able to contact during all his travels in America. However someone else from Mr. Levine's past is out to make sure that never happens and will do whatever it takes to find what he's been searching for all these years.

In the novel, Obituary Column by Sandra and Dan Farris, Tracy Chapman works with a team of close friends and detectives to try and piece the past of an old man's life together to reunite a family separated by war while trying to work time in to compete in a kickboxing tournament and settle a long-distance relationship with a cattle rancher named Michael. This is a great story line for a murder-mystery crime novel and one that is short enough to feel like a full length one. It keeps the reader engaged and on the path to help solve this mystery.

I received Obituary Column compliments of Sandra Farris for my honest review and have to say I really enjoyed this one. The premise was entertaining and different from your typical murder/mystery novels and is subsequently being made into a movie, called the Treasure Within. I guess it's every author's dream to have their books made into a movie and I know you'll love the story you'll find within the covers of this one, and or that reason, I rate this one a 4 out of 5 stars.… (mere)