Smorgasbord Bookshelf – Summer Book Fair 2022 – First in Series – #Mystery James J. Cudney, #NorthernIreland #Thriller Jane Buckley

Over the course of the next three months I will be sharing the authors who feature in the Smorgasbord Bookshelf with the books that I have reviewed and can personally recommend.

Time to catch up with books that are the first in a series along with one of their five star reviews. I hope that this will encourage you to enjoy the series in full. I will feature every author on the shelves by the end of the summer. I hope you will enjoy.

The first author today has created a series that combine family and mystery located in a college town that you begin to think of as home. James J. Cudney also has written some compelling family sagas and I have enjoyed his books in both genres. Braxton Campus Mysteries, Academic Curveball by James J. Cudney

About Academic Curveball

When Kellan Ayrwick returns home for his father’s retirement from Braxton College, he finds a dead body in Diamond Hall’s stairwell.

Unfortunately, Kellan has a connection to the victim, and so do several members of his family. Could one of them be guilty of murder? Soon after, the college’s athletic program receives mysterious donations, a nasty blog denounces his father and someone attempts to change students’ grades.

Someone is playing games on campus, but none of the facts add up. With the help of his eccentric and trouble-making nana, Kellan tries to stay out of the sheriff’s way. And if that wasn’t enough already, his own past comes spiraling back to change his life forever.

In the debut novel in the Braxton Campus Mysteries Series, you’ll discover a cozy, secluded Pennsylvania village full of quirky, sarcastic and nosy residents.

One of the over 380 reviews for Academic Curveball

Pete Springer 4.0 out of 5 stars A Murder Mystery with Plenty of Likely Suspects  Reviewed in the United States on January 9, 2022

Kellan Ayrwick has a complicated relationship with his father, a university professor who is about to retire. While Kellan is there to join in his father’s retirement, he also makes arrangements to meet Abby Monroe to get some information for the crime television show that Kellan works on. Before he can interview her and get her notes, Abby is found dead. After Chief Montague determines that it was murder, Kellan gets more involved in helping to try and solve the mystery.

It seems everywhere Kellan turns, there are possible suspects. There are love interests, jealousy, plenty of motives, and a host of fascinating characters to draw his attention. One of the underlying controversies at Braxton has to do with the number of dollars that the sports programs are getting. Two of the star athletes on the baseball team and the coach seem to be involved in some conflict/scandal to try and receive a contract from a baseball scout. Before that mystery is solved, a second person is found dead.

Having read two of James Cudney’s other books, I was looking forward to this read. What I liked the most were the interesting storylines that made so many characters possible suspects. If anything, there were almost too many people to keep track of, but I was engaged the entire time. The ending leads one to believe another book is sure to follow.  

Read the reviews and buy the book: Amazon US – And: Amazon UK

A selection of books by James J. Cudney

Read the reviews and buy the books: Amazon US – and: Amazon UK – Website/Blog: This is my truth now – Goodreads: James J. Cudney – Twitter: @Jamescudney4

About James J. Cudney

James is my given name; most call me Jay. I grew up on Long Island and currently live in New York City, but I’ve traveled all across the US (and various parts of the world). After college, I began working in technology and business operations in the sports, entertainment, media, retail, and hospitality industries. Although I enjoy my job, I also want to re-focus on my passions: telling stories and connecting people through literature.

In 2017, I published my debut novel, Watching Glass Shatter, a contemporary fiction family drama with elements of mystery, suspense, humor, and romance. The sequel, Hiding Cracked Glass, released exactly three years later in 2020. I’ve also written another family drama novel, Father Figure, and created the Braxton Campus Mysteries, a light investigation series about a humorous thirty-something guy dealing with murders and the drama of a small town. I am currently co-authoring a book with a surprise writer and finalizing the next Braxton Campus Mystery, both released in mid 2021.

The next author today is Jane Buckley who writes thrillers set in the ‘Troubles’ in Northern Ireland, sharing the challenges and dangers facing families and those on all sides of the conflict. Here is the first book in a four part series.. Stones Corner: Turmoil

About the book

Be warned! Stones Corner Turmoil is a gruelling read. It’s harsh but importantly truthful and objective. If you love a terrific thriller with individual stories that form a cataclysmic ending then this book is for you! At the same time, learn what everyday life was REALLY like in Derry during those dark, harsh times.

Caitlin McLaughlin is just like any other teenage girl: during the week she works at the Rocola shirt factory in Stones Corner, Creggan where she has become secretary to her boss’s dishy nephew James. At the weekend she likes music and trips into the city with her best friend, but this is Derry 1972. A simple trip to the shops can lead to life-changing injuries or death and staying at home can be just as dangerous when the British Troops raid house to house .

Robert Sallis is a private with the Royal Fusiliers recently posted to the city. He’s repelled by the way some of his fellow soldiers behave; wary too of civilian feelings running high against the occupying army. Accidentally separated from his patrol in Creggan, he’s discovered by Caitlin hiding in her family’s garden. He expects the worse but having seen enough violence too close to home, she doesn’t give him away. Instead she prefers to daydream about her charming boss who has made his feelings for her plain. A Catholic girl from the Bogside and the Protestant heir to a big local employer….

In her youthful innocence, Caitlin believes their love can overcome the triple obstacles of politics, class and faith. Meanwhile Robert, newly recruited to British undercover forces, is closing in on a terrorist strike in the heart of the city centre.

My review for the book 28th December 2021

The author gives a warning in the blurb about what a reader can expect in her debut novel set in Derry, Northern Ireland during one of the darkest years in the province’s history. The book delivers the reasons for that warning with chilling effect, bringing home the reality that this was a part of the United Kingdom, experiencing civil war within the last 50 years. The ripples of this violent outcome to the separation of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland and its issues of belief and inequality, spread devastatingly outwards from the province; at times devastatingly.

When extremism on both sides of the divide are intent on winning, those innocents caught up in the turmoil are at the greatest risk, and when an outside force such as the British army are brought in, it adds fuel to the fire. The author creates that atmosphere of everyday fear and loss with great skill.

At the heart of this turmoil are young men and women who are vulnerable to manipulation by the fanatics, and imprisoned by age old segregation between religions and class.

Inhumane treatment of individuals, bombings resulting in mass casualties of innocents, illicit love affairs, revenge, espionage and poverty all combine to break the spirit of those who can see no end to the deprivation and conflict.

The author has created characters that will haunt you and some who inspire. Despite the environment, good people try to find comfort in their lives, falling in love across the divide and working to bring peace and stability.  As the story moves forward they all come together centred on an event which will impact all of them and the future of the city.

This intiguing thriller delivers a great deal in terms of the writing, characters, storyline and expectations and I highly recommend the book. I am looking forward to reading the next book in the series soon.

Read the reviews and buy the book: Amazon UK – And: Amazon US – Paperback: Jane Buckley Writes

Also by Jane Buckley

Connect to Jane Buckley: Jane Buckley Writes – Author Page: Amazon UK – And: Amazon US – Follow Jane:Goodreads – Facebook:Jane Buckley Writes – Twitter:@janebuckley_sc  

About Jane Buckley

Jane Buckley has been an avid reader all her life and if the opportunity had existed when she was younger would have loved to become a journalist. She began writing her first novel in 2017 but put the manuscript away in a drawer for a couple of years.

Jane used the lockdown period to finish the book – now ‘Stones Corner: Turmoil’ – and describes the writing experience as her ‘salvation’ during the pandemic.

Jane lives just outside Derry, Northern Ireland. She is married to John and has two daughters Cassie who lives in Oxford and Maggie who lives in Auckland NZ with grandchildren Charlie and Alba.

Thanks for dropping in today and I hope you will be leaving with some books.