Tour ~ A Turtle Roars in Texas

*Book source ~ A review copy was provided in exchange for an honest review

Title ~ A Turtle Roars in Texas

Series ~ Al Quinn, #2

Author ~ Russ Hall

Publisher ~ Red Adept Publishing

Published ~ 13 November 2015

Genre ~ Mystery

Pages ~ 230

Amazon | B&N | Google

My Rating ~ 4 bites and a nibble

Al Quinn, former Detective, current retiree just wants to enjoy his days, fishing, feeding the deer and trying to get used to having people living in his home after years of being single. When the Sheriff calls and asks for a favor he can’t say no. Mentoring a young detective wasn’t in his plans, but he’ll do what he can and then go back to his semi-quiet days. However, the case Wayon Gallard is working doesn’t make sense to Al and Al doesn’t like when things don’t make sense. Will Al’s insatiable curiosity finally be the death of him?

Motorcycle gangs, drug cartels and turf wars, oh my! Al is one of my more recent favorite character acquisitions. Even though he’s retired, when it comes to the people he cares about he never stops until he has things figured out and the bad guys taken care of. He does whatever it takes to make this happen. Plus, he’s still pretty spry and hot for an older dude. And he feeds the deer. D’awwwww! What’s not to love about him?

The plot is convoluted enough to sustain interest and yet not so much as to frustrate. It seems as if there’s a lot of different things going on, but the more I read the more it all came together. I love that I wasn’t able to figure it out until near the end. Though I have to admit to feeling disappointed at the bad guy reveal. Also, while I’m not a big fan of Al’s brother Maury, I have to say he stepped up in this book and I’m proud of him. I’d high five him if I could and I was sure he wouldn’t use the opportunity to miss and grope my breasts. Because then I’d have to hurt him. But then again, he isn’t real, so…

As a final note, I have to mention that a Marine is a Marine and not a marine. I’ve been told many times that editing manuals don’t specify that a United States Marine should be capitalized, but you know what? I don’t give a shit. A Marine earns the title and it should be capitalized. Always. As a wife and mom to Marines, I know for a fact they find it insulting when it’s not. This book has only one mention of a Marine, but my eyes zeroed in on it the instant I turned the page. Everybody has that one thing that pisses them off in books. This is mine.

About the Author

Russ Hall is author of fifteen published fiction books, most in hardback and subsequently  published in mass market paperback by Harlequin's Worldwide Mystery imprint and Leisure Books. He has also co-authored numerous non-fiction books, most recently

Do You Matter: How Great Design Will Make People Love Your Company (Financial Times Press, 2009) with Richard Brunner, former head of design at Apple, Now You’re Thinking (Financial Times Press, 2011), and Identity (Financial Times Press, 2012) with Stedman Graham, Oprah’s companion.

His graduate degree is in creative writing. He has been a nonfiction editor for major publishing companies, ranging from HarperCollins (then Harper & Row), Simon & Schuster, to Pearson. He has lived in Columbus, OH, New Haven, CT, Boca Raton, FL, Chapel Hill, NC, and New York City. Moving to the Austin area from New York City in 1983.

He is a long-time member of the Mystery Writers of America, Western Writers of America, and Sisters in Crime. He is a frequent judge for writing organizations. In 2011, he was awarded the Sage Award, by The Barbara Burnett Smith Mentoring Authors Foundation — a Texas award for the mentoring author who demonstrates an outstanding spirit of service in mentoring, sharing and leading others in the mystery writing community. In 1996, he won the Nancy Pickard Mystery Fiction Award for short fiction. 

Sage's Blog Tours