Book Description:
The Indian Queen would risk torture and worse to keep her secrets from these barbarians in suits of metal and their search for cities of gold. They never found the gold. Empires rose; empires fell, the centuries passed. Legend became fireside myths, but no treasure was ever found. Yet, among the grey-green drapes of wisteria and wild jasmine along the misty shrouded lowlands of bayous and marshes of the Westo River, the folktales persist.
In the lazed creep of a near-tropical dawn lit the pungent Turkish coffee permeates Moccasin Hollow. Beyond the kitchen door Lucky, Craige Ingram’s German shepherd gnaws a favorite bone. Looted burial mounds seem a world away until plundered mounds on Moccasin Hollow land brings amateur archaeologist PI Craige Ingram into the cross-hairs of kidnapping. Stealthy hideaways are concealed in old colonial brick-lined river grottoes beneath the big house of Ardochy plantation. Sex-tape underage blackmail and thrill killings on federal land spur a medical examiner’s preliminary postmortem to more than a hired cleaner’s quickie cover-up passed off as drug deals gone sour. Greed tangles a witch’s pigswill of illicit affairs and murder-to-hide-murder. Shady investigators and shadier politics stir an unexpected concoction that threatens the lives of those at Moccasin Hollow in a spiteful plot against ex-SEAL Craige Ingram and the woman he loves.
My review:
Westobou Gold is the 2nd book in the Moccasin Hollow Mystery series. I read the first book and loved it. So when I was invited to read the 2nd book I could not say no. I love how Hawk writes using the southern slang I was raised with. I was raised in Kentucky and Georgia so the slang he uses is a lot like the way I talk. Which actually makes this book series more enjoyable for me.
The book is full of mystery, murder, some sex, and a good bit of colorful words. It starts out with a Native American Queen hiding her tribes gold from the white settlers back in the day. Then flies right into present day in Chapter one. It doesn't take long for the sex, drugs and murder to begin, as well as the mystery.
We are then reintroduced to our main character Craig Ingram. He is an ex Navy Seal who is now an amateur archaeologist and private investigator. He finds himself thrown into all the murder, mystery, underage sex tapes, and everything else going on in the book as well as trying to protect the treasures buried in the ground from that long ago time both on his land and off.
I am not going to give much of the story since each person and part are actually a key piece to the story. And I would hate to ruin the plot for anyone. I am now waiting for book. Can't wait to see what Hawk comes up with next to add to this great series.
Westobou Gold is the 2nd book in the Moccasin Hollow Mystery series. I read the first book and loved it. So when I was invited to read the 2nd book I could not say no. I love how Hawk writes using the southern slang I was raised with. I was raised in Kentucky and Georgia so the slang he uses is a lot like the way I talk. Which actually makes this book series more enjoyable for me.
The book is full of mystery, murder, some sex, and a good bit of colorful words. It starts out with a Native American Queen hiding her tribes gold from the white settlers back in the day. Then flies right into present day in Chapter one. It doesn't take long for the sex, drugs and murder to begin, as well as the mystery.
We are then reintroduced to our main character Craig Ingram. He is an ex Navy Seal who is now an amateur archaeologist and private investigator. He finds himself thrown into all the murder, mystery, underage sex tapes, and everything else going on in the book as well as trying to protect the treasures buried in the ground from that long ago time both on his land and off.
I am not going to give much of the story since each person and part are actually a key piece to the story. And I would hate to ruin the plot for anyone. I am now waiting for book. Can't wait to see what Hawk comes up with next to add to this great series.
Author's Bio:
Internationally acclaimed author and public speaker, Hawk MacKinney began writing mysteries for his school newspapers. He served in the US Navy Reserve for over 20 years, and was a tenured faculty member at several state medical facilities, teaching postgraduate courses in both the United States and Jerusalem, Israel. Since retiring Hawk has authored several novels that have received national and international recognition. Moccasin Trace, a historical novel, was nominated for the prestigious Michael Shaara Award for Excellence in Civil War Fiction and the Writers Notes Book Award. The Cairns of Sainctuarie, his science fiction series, includes The Bleikovat Event and The Missing Planets, with a third book in the works. Hawk’s latest project focuses on The Moccasin Hollow Mystery Series. Book 1 in the series, Hidden Chamber of Death, was released early 2016.
Connect with the author: Website
Author interview Hawk MacKinney
Where do you write, and do you write every day with a specific ritualistic thing/schedule you do during your writing time?
Not a set-in-stone agenda …around 4:30-5a with a USMCorps thick-kick raw cup of coffee that’s kissin’ cousin to toffee. A break about 9:30-10a for a lunch—30min exercise or walk. Back at it about 2p with a break about 5p, then 7-930p and computer shut down. I keep a notepad readily handy for murder and mayhem solutions or new twists in the slurry of mystery or sci-fi…truly the same genre.
If you’re a mom writer, how do you balance your time?
Mom or dad doesn’t matter. It’s not a gender thing…if it were, raccoons, possums and squirrels could do it. Time must be balanced…patching roofs, gardening, grocery shopping, preparing meals, etc, etc. You can’t buy more. You can only squeeze and stretch it (i.e., Space-Time). Tudor Queen Elizabeth alluded to it very well, “All my possessions…for a moment of time.”
Tell us about your main character.
Serial protagonist Craige Ingram in Westobou Gold, Book 2 of The Moccasin Hollow Mystery Series, is a wealthy landowner. Formerly an active duty SEAL, Craige has strong family connections in the founding of his bloodline in the historical romance Moccasin Hollow. Loyal to his former SEAL buddies; he loves his home, Moccasin Hollow, and the land surrounding it that his Grannie left him. When his parents were killed, it was Grannie who reared him; and the one person who most influenced the man he is today.
Do you have another profession besides writing?
Yes—mostly associated with retired professions. To put it mildly, writing scientific papers, monographs and laboratory/clinical manuals was something that at best made for B-O-R-I-N-G reading, but it was a place to start and a great home plate to restructure, move away from stuffy technical vocab, and develop a creative style that pulls in the reader. The learning curve took time, and I am still learning…but it’s fun.
Do you ever get writer’s block? What helps you overcome it?
I can’t say I have ever had writer’s block, but there are times when I need to give my brain/fantasy/imagination and the manuscript a rest. When this happens, I put the working draft of whatever manuscript I am working on away on the dust-covered shelf and work on something else WITH a notepad handy. By stuffing my imagination with the characters and plot of another work I am puzzling together, I am soon ready to go back to the original manuscript with a fresh view of it.
What are you working on next, and what genre(s) do you write and why?
I have two manuscripts in editing…the next title in the Moccasin Hollow Mystery Series and Volume III in the Cairns of Sainctuarie sci-fi series. The choice as to which edited and polished manuscript gets submitted to the publisher and when is left to an outstanding team, including my literary agent, editors and graphic designers.
The Moccasin Hollow Mystery Series
The Cairns of Sainctuarie Series - sci-fi
Moccasin Trace - historical romance
These titles appear to be three genres. They ain’t. All three involve characters that different readers identify with, be it sci-fi, mystery or romance. In all three romance, or character interaction, motivates plot and setting. Genre doesn’t exist. It’s a literature gimmick taken from categories established in ancient Greek literature. Romance, historical or contemporary, is so ancient it’s modern; and tied and tangled among all genres. It’s where my fantasies take the tales with their twists and turns, and when stirred with the astounding revelations/discoveries tumbling at us daily, it becomes science fiction.
Why?
To take my readers’ imaginations/fantasies on the great gallop wherever sci-fi, mystery and romance root them with characters that are in my thoughts and theirs, and more than paper-doll cutouts.
In your book you make a reference to ghosts and Ardochy; how did you come up with this idea?
History was lingering. For Westobou Gold the settings and tales were there to be jiggled together in the curl and kink of nonfiction and murderous thrillers, waiting for the gnarled killers to get their just desserts. Ardochy is a real place BUT it’s not in North America. Moccasin Hollow is a real place from revolutionary colonial times. Most of the characters are based on real people…specially the murder victims that get their unpaid comeuppance.
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Wow! Excellent post! I really enjoyed reading the interview and your review! This book sounds like such an interesting and intriguing read! Looking forward to checking out this book!
ReplyDeleteAlly SWANSON – “Wow!”…I couldn’t agree with U more. It IS an excellent post, review & Interview. Westobou Gold & the other titles in the Moccasin Hollow Mystery Series have been fun and “intriguing” to write…along with detailed outlines that during the write(s) are edited as much as the manuscript. Glad U enjoyed T’s layout of the site…it is well done & easy to navigate—along with my WOW following yours. Thanx for stopping by, & leaving your very appreciated comments from this writer AND for this host of T’s Stuff. Hope U enjoy the read as much as I did the write.
ReplyDeleteHawk MacKinney
T’s Stuff – A very special “thank you” for the outstanding review & interview along with your layout/presentation of Westobou Gold, Book 2 in the Moccasin Hollow Mystery Series. It is pleasurable to find a reader who has grown up in the mountains of Kaintuck alongside creek-cousin bloodlines of our Southron slang in West Virginia, the uplands of Carolina & Georgia & our flatland kith & kin. Southron tongues with inflections & nuances must be growed-up-with; their imports cannot be imitated. The King’s English, properly spoken, is an elegant tongue BUT Southron sounds are comforting to the ears...nuances from our blood-tied, Southron regions we kinder to. Dialects speak volumes without being wordy. Book 3 in the mystery series as well as the next sci-fi title, is in edit. An earlier title, Moccasin Trace, a prequel historical romance establishes the bloodline(s) of serial protagonists Craige Ingram in the Moccasin Hollow Mystery Series. From down-the-road-a-ways, a sincere mountain-holler ‘thank U’…
ReplyDeleteHawk MacKinney
https://www.hawkmackinney.net
AWE Hawk your comment made me smile. And I understood every word of it. My husband who is from Philly laughs at me a lot when I get to ratchet jawing. Some words will just never change in vocabulary as well as the accents put on my words. Can't wait to see what you come up with in book 3 and those that follow, I will be looking for Moccasin Trace. I would love to listen to this series on a audio book!!!! You would need a true mountain person to read it though some city slicker just wouldn't be able to handle it.
DeleteTeresa NOEL – Yep. Onliest us’n mountain fo’k with a mo’betta good ear for hearin’ kinfolk from all over jawin’ Southron twixt one ‘nother all at the same time, softening the rackety hardness off consonants until they only be sof’ter. Sech is often lost in the tagged dialogues of characters on a page. We slice the whole string of consonants into extended vowels…unless we’re being definite about an issue. Most outsiders know little of the language histories or why to our ears accents are definitively regional—Virginia through down yonder in Ne’Ole’ns, west through Kaintuck and further west in the twangs of Oklahoma, Arkansas & the stand-alone Alamo & The Republic of Tejas—geography, birthin’ & growin’-up tells. Thanx for stopping by & jawin’…
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Oh, Teresa, what a lovely post! I would love to hear the accent! I'm English with a Welsh Mum and have lived all over Ireland for years so generally have a good ear but quite honestly when we first moved from Wicklow to County Wexford, even though it's only 'down the road', I couldn't understand it at all! They talk so fast down here!
ReplyDeleteI am living in Florida now, there is no accent here. I miss listening to the southern twang I was raised with and the mountain language. If you weren't used to language you would be lost trying to figure out what was being said. Most of my mountain family are dead and gone and the rest of the family do not use the language much any more. Tick 'em off and watch 'em go though.
DeleteKate SARSFIELD – Our welsh kith & kin…even way back yonder twixt Mother England, Scotland, Hibernian Erin & Wales’ red dragon=draig. We/Us’uns Southrons may jaw a bit slower but we’uns jaw our tales ALL the time...how small our world. Half my bloodlines are Welsh Hereford = Henfford & those abundant consonants… chartered from Richard I, 1189 for Hereford in Wales. Early at birth our ears lock razor-keen to a mother’s voice, & are never again quite so open to other tongues, i.e. er we tune in to other speaks from down yonder way a bit. The study of language tells so much about a peoples, & for the most part more entertaining than throwaway TV. Yes, Teresa’s post was most definitely a lovely post. Thanx for stopping by & jawin’ a tad…
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https://www.hawkmackinney.net
Teresa NOEL/1Feb17 – Florida is a good example of our population gemisch. We North Americans travel. Even Canadian accents are mellowing. The Southron mountain twang is not so prevalent in the piedmont South or New Orleans. I’ve kith & kin in the Plaquemine delta & Atchafalaya Basin south of the Big Easy…a whole ‘nother world with its Cajun tongue, its dugout & flat bottom push-punted pirogue & bayous & crawdads & gators & all manner of diversions in the food chain. Many of my mountain blood have stayed back in the hills. Rough, hard working, most are honest to the core.Their numbers are thinnin’, but the soft lilt of their accent/dialects have stayed clear. Really clear when they’re ticked, & communicate with definite clarity.
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