[Review & Giveaway] "Murder Mezzo Forte" (Lamplighter Mysteries) by Donn Taylor

My thoughts: Somehow I've missed out on opportunities to read former books by Donn Taylor and much to my disappointment. He writes with a high level of intelligent sarcasm, great wit, and skill that one rarely encounters. His talent at wordsmithing is excellent. With a PhD in Literature, University teaching experience, and utilizing his varied life experiences, he has penned a delightful read.

The main protagonist, Preston Barclay, is a professor of history at Overton College, now Overton University. The world of academia is unsettled by the newly discovered death of a professor. And who discovers the body? Professor Preston Barclay and his side-kick, Professor Mara Thorn, of course. They who in the previous book had locked minds to find another killer on Overton's campus.

The story is a lot of fun to read and the characters well developed. The mystery's solution was kept pretty much under wraps until the last bit of the book. And then it all fell in place.

I think the biggest hit of the book, for me, was the sense of humor Preston Barclay has and how he is twisting words and rattling off puns right and left. Of course, it is all due to the wonderful talent the author, Donn Taylor has as he unleashes his bright mind and shapes the 26 letters of the alphabet into a smattering of words that delight the reader.

About the book: He is a reclusive history professor with musical hallucinations, she a headstrong professor of religion, a converted Wiccan. Earlier, they solved a campus murder, but now police say they formed two-thirds of an illicit love triangle with a newly-murdered female colleague and they're probably guilty of her murder. A leak of the alleged scandal to the college administration threatens their jobs. Their desperate attempt to prove themselves innocent of the triangle and the murder plunges them into a tangle of unsavory corporate relationships among college trustees. And it puts their lives in danger from a mysterious criminal organization that seems to have tentacles everywhere.

Can this ill-matched pair's stumbling efforts succeed against the entrenched forces of the police, the college's incompetent administration, and that powerful but unseen criminal organization? If not, they may end up unemployed, in prison, or suffering a fate much worse . . . . . 

GIVEAWAY

Begins July 1

Ends July 14 @ 12:01 a.m. EDT

Open to USA addresses only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Read more about the book, more reviews, etc. - Click Here
Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas

Meet the author: Donn Taylor is a novelist and poet of varied career. He led an Infantry rifle platoon in the Korean War, served with Army aviation in Vietnam, and worked with air reconnaissance in Europe and Asia. Afterwards, he earned a PhD in English literature (Renaissance) and for eighteen years taught literature at two liberal arts colleges. His fiction includes a light-hearted mystery, Rhapsody in Red, a historical, Lightning on a Quiet Night (a finalist for the Selah Awards), and two suspense novels, Deadly Addictive and The Lazarus File. He has also published a book of poetry, Dust and Diamond: Poems of Earth and Beyond. He is a frequent speaker at writers' groups and conferences. He lives near Houston, TX, where he continues to write fiction and poetry, as well as essays on writing, ethical issues, and U.S. foreign policy.