Chet Williamson

******Spoiler alert **********

Hmm kinda hard to rate this one......I wouldn't consider this a horror novel. In the town of Merridale, the mysterious blue transparent figures of dead citizens suddenly appear. Ghosts?? No one knows and the book never explains. They do not appear to have any meaning, and end up being just backdrops, to both the town and the novel itself.

The story focuses on a the town as a whole , but mostly a few key characters. There's some psychological stuff going on here, and alot of delving into the past of characters. The synopsis suggest that "all hell will break loose".....I kept waiting for this, or at least something, to happen. The one character that you think may end up playing a part in the climax and explanation of events.....Eddie, a man whom has always sworn to see and hear the dead residents of Merridale......is later implied to be a fraud.

The writing isn't bad....the story isn't bad....its just not what I expected. I think going in with the correct expectations may have changed my overall opinion of the book.… (mere)

I absolutely love this book & the film, I am a big fan of Vincent Perez, in my opinion his is a very underrated Actor.
A tragic love story This is one of my favourite books/films, since I am a big fan of Vincent Perez and the crow series of books/graphic novels.
The only problem I had with the book is that the name of the character is Ashe Corven but kept changing to Ashe Craven in the book for some reason. I wish the film adaptation followed the plot of the book a bit more and that the ending was the same.
The ending in the film is different to the ending in the book, which is annoying since I love the film.
Some of my favourite scenes in the book/film are when Ashe Corven goes to the peep-o-rama to kill the first victim Nemo and he says
"do you want me baby?" before he kills Nemo, he gets vengeance for himself & his son Danny since they were in the wrong place at the wrong time and they were both cruelly murdered.
I believe that the person who is resurrected whether it is a man or a woman is a martyr for their cause, since they have suffered greatly at the merciless hands of people that are evil.
They are given a second chance to avenge their deaths/murders, for being wronged, so that they will be at peace and finally be able to join their loved ones in the afterlife.
I wish there were more books about a variety of subjects and more female characters since there was only one female character in a graphic novel or book in the crow series originally.
Hopefully the crow: wicked prayer is about native americans like the film is.
I don't understand why there isn't a book based the film the Crow: Salvation either.… (mere)

Livy is the proprietor of Better Days, a nostalgia shop. On her days off, she visits her mother at a seniors' home and brings old 78s to entertain the residents. Recently, there have been two deaths of residents close together. Everyone seems convinced the deaths were natural - after all, both were very old - but Livy isn't so sure because they both had seemed in good health just days before. Later, while going through her deceased father's papers, Livy discovers a photo from 70 years ago of a hanged man, a crowd gathered around. Livy becomes obsessed with both cases. Was the first natural and the second suicide or were they both murder? As she delves deeper and as she learns more about the people in the photo, she begins to suspect the two cases are linked somehow.

Murder Old and New: A Better Days Mystery is a cozy mystery by Laurie and Chet Williamson. On the negative side, it did, at times, stretch my suspension of disbelief almost to the breaking as Livy made some rather huge leaps of faith in her investigation but, let's face it, that's kind of a thing with cozies.

Still, on the plus side, Livy was a likable character and the plot was entertaining. There were enough twists and turns and red herrings to keep my attention and it ended on a satisfying note. In the end, I would say, if I didn't love this book, I did enjoy it and, really, sometimes that's all one asks from a a story.

Thanks to Netgalley and Crossroads press for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review… (mere)