-
142 Wellington Place
Price range: $3.99 through $10.99The suspense in this engaging crime narrative is riveting and keeps building up until it reaches a most unexpected climax filled with excitement and pathos.
Fourteen years after the end of World War II, former RAF fighter pilot Ben Benison gets a frantic phone call from Celia, the wife of his best friend, Don. It seems Don has been unfaithful, and the proof stands in the hallway of the couple’s home: Ada Hamilton, a young, fragile, pregnant girl who clutches love letters written in Don’s hand. Unfortunately, Don is in London, and Celia wants Ben to fi nd out if her husband truly is a liar and a cheat.
Ben heads up to London to confront his old friend and then returns to Celia’s house to deliver the sad news that Don has admitted to the affair. But then things take a strange and sudden turn. Two police inspectors arrive minutes later and reveal that Don’s body has been found in his rooming house at 142 Wellington Place. Whether his death was by suicide or murder, they can’t–or, more accurately, won’t–say.
The authorities open up an inquest into Don’s death, and Ben accompanies the police back to London, where they interview witnesses and gather evidence. Tracking down Don’s mistress complicates things and there is a great twist when a second ‘Miss Hamilton’ turns up. Something is certainly rotten at 142 Wellington Place.
-
A Diamond Bomb Threat
Price range: $3.99 through $10.99Three future centuries from now, John Luck decides to enter a pool tournament instead of joining his father’s law firm. He is unaware of a proposed diamond bomb threat from an ex-employer of a space program that purchases diamond batteries. Further potential is that carbon atoms uniquely bond with themselves to be fertilizer, bombs, diamonds or whatever, and that solar energy along with atomic nuclear waste from power plants are being used. John further becomes intertwined with Nelly Nelson, who is there attempting to rescue her father.
-
A Haunted Symphony
Price range: $12.99 through $22.29A stolen priceless Stradivarius violin, a poisoned dart, a haunted music library, and a jilted lover present a captivating mystery for the Palms Symphony Orchestra. Who has the motive and opportunity?
Join the Conductor to save the orchestra from thieves, ghosts, and recover the valuable instrument.
THE MOVING WORDS REVIEW
BOOK INFORMATION:
Title: A Haunted Symphony
Author: Michele Wallace Campanelli
Publisher: Author Reputation Press, LLC Publication
Date: November 16, 2023
Review date: November 24, 2023
Genre: Mystery, Supernatural Fiction, Drama
BOOK REVIEW:
Our story begins with Maria, a passionate and dedicated orchestra volunteer, who starts a new role filled with unexpected twists and turns. The symphony, a place of harmony and artistry, soon becomes the background for occurrences that hint at a supernatural presence. The other members and volunteers, each with unique personalities and stories, find themselves involved in secrets and past connections that slowly unravel as the story progresses.
Maria and her colleagues discover that their beloved symphony hall is haunted by more than just the echoes of music past. Strange sounds, unexplained events, and ghostly apparitions begin to stir, bringing to light old legends and tales long thought to be mere folklore. Amidst this, the characters deal with their personal challenges and relationships, adding breadth to the story.
What are the hidden secrets of the symphony’s past, and how are they connected to the mysterious occurrences within its walls? This was the start of a book that promises to keep one fascinated until the very end.
Set against the backdrop of an orchestra, the story peeks into the lives of its characters, including their relationships, secrets, and past events. Michele Wallace Campanelli truly shines in her storytelling in A Haunted Symphony. She created a vivid and attention-grabbing world. For example, the descriptions of the symphony, its music, and the characters’ interactions with their tools and environment are so detailed that readers can almost hear the music and feel the emotions (e.g., Donnie losing a limb).
Campanelli’s characters are well-developed-each with their individual backstory and motivations. How she intertwines their lives and reveals their connections and secrets as the story advances is satisfying. As the pages flip, readers can appreciate the seamless integration of supernatural elements into the tale-the ghostly aspects are handled with a deft touch, ensuring that they enhance rather than overpower the plot.
Overall, A Haunted Symphony is well-paced, balancing moments of tension and mystery. Building suspense is one of its strongest suits, keeping readers guessing and on the edge of their seats. The twists and turns of the story are well-executed, with surprising yet believable revelations. It’s a novel that will appeal to fans of mystery and the supernatural, as well as those who appreciate well-crafted, character-driven stories.
-
A Reason for Living
Price range: $3.99 through $14.99It is the mid-1960s in Kingston, Jamaica, and the country is steeped in social, political, and economic inequities. Howard Baxter, the heir to a real estate empire, has no interest in seeking or managing wealth. Painting and deflowering Jamaican maidens are his passions. As he combs the streets looking for greater meaning in his pathetic life, it soon becomes apparent that Howard’s journey will not be easy. Bernaldo Lloyd, a member of the Baxter clan, is a medical student who is sensitive to the hopelessness of the Jamaican masses. Inspired by his close friend and Howard’s cousin, Ras Robin Pone, and their ties with the Rastafari movement that calls for social and economic equity, Bernaldo is determined to overthrow the corrupt government. As Howard, Bernaldo and Robin become influenced by The American Black Power and Civil Rights movements demanding equal rights for African Americans, the women in their lives both love and criticize them. But when revolution breaks out, Howard finally discovers a purpose for his twisted life that leads him in a direction he never anticipated. In this tale of love, passion, and self-discovery, three Jamaican men become caught up in a 1960s revolution that reveals injustices, oppression, and a purpose for one of them.
-
A Roof Over Our Heads and Food on the Table
Price range: $3.99 through $19.99Pat Kavanaugh wanted to major in English at Nutmeg State University. His parents persuaded him to major in accounting because it would be more practical than being a writer. At NSU, he met his roommate named Sean Donnelly. Both Irish-Americans, they became friends despite Sean’s troubling secret. Pat then becomes a cashier at Delacroix’s Grocery Store. After graduation, Pat continued working at Delacroix’s, but the chances of advancement are rather slim.
Pat then began a job search. Along the way, he moved to his own apartment, attended Sunday Masses at All Saints Church, became friends with another parishioner, and met a young woman. He also invested in a business that his parents felt was unethical. In the end, Sean was always there for him. -
A Siren’s Call
Price range: $4.99 through $20.99Tess is a thief of the highest caliber. Years of expertise and the support of her criminal family have led her to the biggest job of their lives. But when her life is shattered by a bullet of betrayal, only revenge will sate her raging bloodlust.
Paige on the other hand, is a romantic, filled with a shy adventurous side that wishes to stay by the man she loves, and care for nothing else in this world. When her facade begins to crack under the pressure though, who will she be in the end?
These two personas clash in the ring of love and bloodlust, with only a winner, and the other who must disappear forever. Through the combat of dodging cameras and living double lives can they decide who will be who in the end.
Tim Wolfe is a growing author from the San Diego area who has been inspired by the concepts of society, and a deep yearning to convey those beliefs through his writings of romance and the adventure that is life. Tim enjoys spending time with his family, learning about history and science, and strives for a peaceful, carefree tomorrow.
-
A Very Powerful Gift
Price range: $3.99 through $14.99About the Book
Stewart the spider is afraid to jump to spin fancy webs like all of the other spiders. His mom gives him a special hat to help him have the faith in himself he needs to spin his webs. When a human waves a broom at the spiders’ webs to destroy them, Stewart must face his fear of jumping-or else!
-
Adam To The Rescue!
Price range: $3.99 through $12.99Eleven year old Adam Elgin is an avid baseball player who has been playing the piano since he was four years old.
An orchestra is to be formed in his small elementary school in order to participate in a Gala for the Year of the Child Project. They have teamed up with another small elementary school to expand the orchestra’s numbers. All interested students must audition for the orchestra. Adam gets the audition music for the piano, from the school’s music teacher and has a short time to prepare for the audition.
Everybody who plays an instrument, wants to be in the orchestra and so they practice, and practice, and practice for their audition. But on the weekend
before Adam’s scheduled audition on Monday morning, he gets ill and misses his audition. Two students are chosen for the piano, one is to be the alternate, and rehearsals begin.
But a lot is going on to prepare for his school’s customary year-end festivities, taking place the last week of school: the winter concert on Tuesday, the play on Wednesday, and the orchestral debut in a dress rehearsal on Thursday, school is closed on Friday, plus the school has started a gigantic fundraiser to help with expenses for the Year of the Child gala. Both teachers and students are “stretched to the limit” in these endeavors.
It is the last day of school before the Christmas vacation, and the first dress rehearsal, but at this first dress rehearsal the two students chosen for the piano, fail to perform their best and the dress rehearsal comes to a screeching halt.
Without a reliable pianist, the gala seems unlikely for these two schools. Can the Principal fi nd a suitable replacement that can play without fear of the crowd and the pressures of performing, someone who can take them to the Gala!
-
Alumni Fund
Price range: $3.99 through $11.99Abington College, very small, antique, once women-only New England college, is venerable and broke, hires a butch Jewish PhD from Brooklyn to salvage what can be in the face of crashing enrollment and desperate need to retain full paid tuition students despite their academic deficiencies. Add to this crisis management, Amanda Hyde (with Jekyll as foreground), English, former au pair girl employed by a New York mafia family, now head of the Abington College Alumni Fund, a picaresque rise from au pair to stripper at the Kit Kat Club in Manhattan and by means of forged documentation to eligibility for her current position, aided in her financial and professional success by a hit man and a plague of fatal accidents among the alumni. All part of the larcenous tale you are about to read if you are lucky enough to get a copy of this book.
-
Any Way Out
Price range: $3.99 through $25.99A teenage Ashley Ames is painfully growing up in a rural area before the technology boom. Her parents are bitterly divorced and caught up in their own lives, too busy to care about what goes on with Ashley. However, she does find support with her stepmother Ruth.
Ashley bounces back and forth between her parents homes, with good reason. Either she moves because it’s gone bad or they throw her out.
Ashley’s behavior is erratic and self-destructive at home and at school. She gets selected to participate in a Scared Straight program, at a prison. It helps for a while.
A young man, Ryan doing a repair job at Ellen’s house, Ashley’s mother, notices Ashley. She has just moved back in with her. As Ashley goes through high school her escapades get her into trouble, while she deals with deep depression leading to a suicide attempt.
She has struggles but eventually finds her way out.
-
Big Foot: Monster of The Ice
Price range: $3.99 through $20.99Frantic about his missing wife, Adam Reese travels to a small island off the coast of Canada with their thirteen-year-old son, Sean. There the two learn that a major new animal discovery was made while Mary was filming a documentary on polar bears for Planet X. Now members of that film crew are disappearing, one by one. Is it because the documentary is now worth millions? Not any amount of money or new animal discovery drives Adam on. Adam won’t give up finding the love of his life, Mary, especially for the sake of their son. Somehow, Adam must rescue Mary from the fanged creature that has snatched her out of the cold, freezing snow. He must save her from the white-haired Bigfoot, the Yeti…the monster of the ice.
-
-
Black Widow
Price range: $3.99 through $20.99Romeo Maroni, incensed that an ancient Egyptian belt disappeared from his museum, vows to capture the beautiful thief, Blackie Widow, a woman rumored by the FBI to be as dangerous as she is seductive. Teaming up with private investigator Martin, Romeo discovers millions of dollars’ worth of diamonds she has stolen, fashioned into a giant spider web. Uncovering her lair, he becomes prey for the gorgeous and poisonous Blackie Widow. Join in
the hunt for stolen treasure and get entangled in Romeo’s unrelenting desire to find his true love caught in a web of trouble.
-
-
Call of The Panther
$3.99A Novel of the Ancient Maya
An aspiring anthropologist journeys to Mexico and becomes entangled in a tale of the Ancient Maya, amidst the Late Classic political upheaval, where foreigners infiltrate cities and social changes break up economies and families. In the midst of this turmoil, a young woman struggles to make her way, haunted by visions and a mysterious summons from a Panther Spirit. Raised to value the old traditions, unable to accede to her husband’s heartless demands to participate in bloody rituals, she flees with her infant son into the unknown, discovering lost kindred and caring helpers, and learning to walk in the Otherworld in search of the key to her family’s destiny. When she faces the ultimate challenge, will the Panther Spirit’s power enable her to overcome it?
-
Chronicles of the Ancient Future
Price range: $3.99 through $19.99I was a successful businessman who was always looking for a new adventure to invest in to make my legacy greater. I should have known my next adventure was going beyond anything previously encountered. Despite my disturbing dream, I was not aware of what was to ensue.
At the onset, this adventure appeared to be quite lucrative. However, as the adventure progresses, in its unfoldment, it led me to some other unsettling paradigms. I found myself in other time zones and even on other planets.
Initially, the pattern of these events seemed obscure. After a few shocking revelations, I realized that there was a purpose to the pattern. The purpose was that of the Ancient Future.
