Manning Wolfe

Merit Bridges is an attorney in Austin, Texas, and a widowed mother of Ace, a high school student at a school that assists dyslexic students to excel in Houston. Merit has been representing Manuel and Tarantella ‘Tireman’ Estevez, 2 brothers in partnership at Estevez Tire and Auto Shop. Tireman is frustrated with a legal matter that is dragging on without resolution and takes action. He didn’t think it through, and his maverick initiative complicated everything.

I read the first 2 sentences and thought this novel would be immediately abandoned. As an animal lover, I didn’t know if I could proceed. I stopped reading and used a different app briefly before reading a little further to see if I could continue. A billboard was on fire. It was still a tough beginning as I had images in my mind.

The storyline is heavy with legal terminology and references relevant to the lawyer’s cases. In About the Author, she shares that

"Each of her novels springs from a real-life case in her law firm."

Merit is an intelligent and savvy attorney, caring and protective of her law firm family, and a loving mother to Ace. I enjoyed the character development of a strong woman in a sole practitioner's law firm. It was interesting legal fiction but, in this reviewer's opinion, does not have the suspense of a thriller and needed copy edits further negate excitement. I don't plan to continue reading the series.… (plus d'informations)

Lindas Book Obsession Reviews " Only a Pawn in Their Game" "Bullet Speeds Book 7" by Manning Wolfe, and Kay Kendall.

Manning Wolfe and Kay Kendall, authors of "Only a Pawn in Their Game" have written a face-paced, intriguing, intense, captivating and suspenseful story. The timeline for the story is in the present and goes to the past when it pertains to the characters or events. The Genres for this Story are Fiction, Mystery, and Suspense. This short story has espionage, betrayals, loyalty, murder and danger, and plenty of adventure and suspense. The authors describe the characters as complex and complicated.

Sammy is going to Vienna to spend her summer working in the U.S. Embassy. On the plane, she literally bumps into a handsome man, who tells her that he works for the British Embassy. Sammy notices other quirky characters paying attention to their conversation. Sammy certainly hopes that she will see this man again.

Sammy has the feeling she is being followed, and there seem to be strange occurrences. At the U.S. embassy, she is warned of certain behaviors to be on the lookout for. Her hotel room is searched and her travel bag has disappeared. Who can Sammy trust? As people that Sammy knows meet with an untimely death, she knows that she is in great danger.

I really like the idea of this Bullet Book, which is a wonderful way to read a story in a short amount of time.

I would highly recommend this intense and page-turning story for those readers who enjoy escapism through suspense and mystery.… (plus d'informations)

STORY-LINE:

Texas lady lawyer Merit Bridges has her hands full in Music Notes. She volunteers for various organizations to help the needy, supports many groups financially, and has a highly successful practice with many wealthy clients. Not all her clients are wealthy as we see with Liam Nolan. Once an ultra-rich rock singer and songwriter, he hit bottom after too much booze, women, and drugs. Seeking redemption, he contracts our lady lawyer and enters a homeless shelter as he starts putting his life back together.

However, danger is stalking Liam. After he is murdered, Merit finds herself in a fight for her practice, her clients, her integrity, and her life. She is also trying to help Davey Ray Bell who claims he's Liam's long forgotten son. She is hit from all sides as she fights a foe without any moral compass L. A. Barron is determined to have it all from Liam's will probate and royalties from his songs to deals made under the table; he vengefully plans to destroy our fierce lady lawyer and her firm in the process. Nothing is beneath Barron, not even murder. Come along for an "edge of your seat " story of murder and greed in this tale of good versus evil. My suspense mystery book reviews follow.

CHARACTERS, PLOTTING, DEVELOPMENT:

Manning Wolfe crafted a novel I could not put down. Grabbing me from the first paragraph, I raced forward to the action-packed finale. Her characters are fully developed and believable. The antagonist, L. A. Barron, is a vastly unlikable man who allows greed and selfishness to take over his life at an early age. Merit and her team are moral, upstanding, and ethical to a fault. They must face the question of how far are they willing to go to counter this evil; an evil determined to destroy everything they have built.

Adding in bits of humor and a variety of personalities gives this tale a realistic feel. The reader sees the human side of lawyers rather than the "greedy, dishonest lawyer" facade often believed by the public; you will find a legal team you would love to have as friends. By the time I closed my E-reader, I felt I intimately knew each member of the team.

The plotting of this tale is skillful, intriguing, and kept me on the edge of my seat. When I thought L. A. Barron could not fall any further into insane evil, he would find another avenue to torment and harass our heroine. Using the dark web to infiltrate Merit's life is extremely scary and mind-boggling. It is frightening how damaging and believable "fake news" becomes once released on the web. Wolfe's story should teach all of us a lesson in discernment; take nothing on the internet or in print at face value.

MY OPINION:

I found this an intriguing, suspenseful, and action-packed tale with well-developed characters. Along with a well-developed storyline and plotting which is excellent. I like novels which keep me on the edge of my seat gasping and guessing what is coming next; this novel fits the bill to a T. Music Notes is a perfect weekend read; I enjoyed my journey through the music industry, the dark web, and a law firm on the side of good.

MUSIC NOTES RECOMMENDATION: STARS 4

I would not hesitate to buy this novel for myself or a friend.

ALSO PLEASE NOTE

Additionally, I received a copy from the Bookreviews4you and the author. I chose to review the novel with honest book reviews voluntarily. Lastly, reviews of any novel are dependent on the author’s opinion. Consequently, all book reviews online and on my blog, are my opinions.… (plus d'informations)

TEXAS / MYSTERY
Manning Wolfe
Dollar Signs: Texas Lady Lawyer vs Boots King
Starpath Books, LLC
Ebook, 978-1-944225-00-1, 257 pgs., $7.99
February 18, 2016

When Tarantella Estevez set fire to the billboard looming over his tire shop he didn’t consider all of the junked vehicles parked on the lot beneath it. And how could he know that a homeless man was sleeping in one of those cars? So when the billboard buckles and falls flaming onto the vehicles below, and the gasoline in their tanks ignites, a simple charge of vandalism becomes manslaughter and Austin lawyer Merit Bridges, the Estevez brothers’ real estate attorney for a case involving the aforementioned, now incinerated, billboard, is cast into unfamiliar criminal waters. Boots King (“slippery as snail snot”) is an ethically challenged leasing agent employed by the owner of the billboard company to con trusting property owners into outdoor advertising contracts with some highly suspicious language buried in the small print. Boots isn’t averse to getting his hands dirty in a little wet work when called upon by his boss.

Dollar Signs: Texas Lady Lawyer vs Boots King is a legal thriller by Manning Wolfe, the winner of a Writers’ League of Texas manuscript contest, and the first in a planned series. Manning brings her legal education and years of experience practicing law in Austin to bear on this promising debut. She even manages to make the minutiae of contracts and real estate law and procedure interesting (seriously — y’all stop laughing).

Steeped in the sometimes self-conscious weirdness of Austin, Dollar Signs has a distinctly Texas feel. All of the familiar landmarks and a few new ones are here, from Fonda San Miguel to Amy’s Ice Creams. This tale is peopled with a diverse and quirky cast of characters, as befits Austin. Merit Bridges is a Texas original, and Wolf provides her with a complex and interesting backstory. The relationship between Bridges and her dyslexic teenage son provides a sweet respite from all the scheming and darkness of her current case. The only missteps in Dollar Signs involve the aforementioned self-conscious weirdness of Austin. Not everyone in the capital city is auditioning for their own reality show. Wolfe makes you care about her characters, and a lighter touch will keep them out of stereotype territory.

Wolfe grabs our attention with the first sentence as the PETA billboard begins to burn and the “smiling head of Greg Lee Wood burst into flames. Each animal surrounding him caught fire and burned. Two dogs, three cats, a sheep, and two goats all went in a giant ball of fire.” She keeps our attention with an original plot, fast pace, plenty of action, and an exciting conclusion.

Originally published in Lone Star Literary Life.… (plus d'informations)