Greg Messel

The sixties… swinging sixties… Vietnam… Kennedy… Were the disillusioned young adults of the sixties so different from those of today? Greg Messel’s novel, Dreams that never were, tells the first person story of a reporter following the rise of Robert Kennedy, just as that rise came to an end. It’s a story that feels intensely personal and real, told with a thoroughly convincing voice. And it combines an authentic sense for time and place with heart-searching timeless questions, romance and excitement. By the end of the story, the reader is just as deeply invested in a man whose future is just beginning, as in another whose dreams are tragically done.

Just maybe, the reader might also feel some small investment in today’s fallen dreams.

Dreams for America’s future (now our past) thread through this tale, with chapters hauntingly prefaced by words from the late Senator. Meanwhile America’s nightmare plays in the background—Vietnam and war all too real. A sense of government failing to listen, influencers too easily influenced, and secrets weighed down by fear, feels as relevant today as it was then. And fear is as poor a guide as dreaming.

Authentic, well-chosen details are told with a thoroughly convincing voice in this novel. Well-timed backstory fleshes out the characters’ motivations. Honest feelings and questions draw the reader in. And the final conclusion, “tears for Bobby, … but also for us,” is absolutely right, and absolutely sad.

But it’s not just a sad novel. The author weaves true love into the pain, and hope into despair. Dreams that never were just might inspire new dreams in a new generation, and it’s highly recommended.

Disclosure: I was given a copy and I offer my honest review.… (plus d'informations)

As 1958 nears its end, San Francisco is being terrorized by a man who calls himself the Fog City Strangler. Each victim is a pretty, young blonde woman between the ages of twenty and thirty-five, and the strangler claims credit for each murder by sending a note and a piece of the victim's clothing to the local newspapers. The police have almost no leads to go on, and appear to be absolutely baffled by a suspect who has proven that he's capable of just about anything.

Private eye Sam Slater is just as anxious as everyone else that this murderer is caught soon. He is convinced that his beautiful blonde wife, TWA stewardess Amelia Ryan, will become the Strangler's next victim. His anxiety is further fueled when TWA launches an advertising campaign with Amelia's picture on a series of billboards plastered all over the city. Sam fears the billboards may attract too much attention - the wrong kind of attention.

Meanwhile, Sam and Amelia are hired to try and find the missing daughter of a wealthy dowager who fears she has lost her only child. The missing woman went for a walk with her dog on Stinson Beach, near San Francisco, and seemingly vanished into thin air. The woman's husband arrived at the couple's beach house and found the dog running loose but there was no trace of his wife. After two months, the police are stumped in their investigation.

As Sam and Amelia continue to investigate the disappearance of the woman on the beach, they discover that this particular case is more convoluted than it seemed from first glance. Especially when - on a stormy night - a shadowy figure sets fire to the beach house where the couple is staying - hoping to stop their investigation...permanently.

I truly enjoyed this mystery. This was the first book by Greg Messel that I've ever read, and this was a standalone mystery - despite it being the fourth book in the Sam Slater Mysteries. The mystery - or should I say, mysteries - captured my attention right from the beginning. The characters were very well drawn - very true to the era in regards to attitude and speech - and I just had to find out how the story ended.

I must say that I found myself employing my various 'armchair detection' skills to solve each mystery. I had several of my own theories as regards to possible suspects, as well as ideas about what their potential motives might be. I wanted to keep reading to find out if my assumptions were correct.

I give Fog City Strangler by Greg Messel a definite A! I look forward to reading more from this author in the future, and will certainly keep an eye open for the three previous books in the Sam Slater Mysteries Series - Last of the Seals, Deadly Plunge and San Francisco Secrets.

I actually was hoping I may be able to put up this review on Wednesday, but as I finished reading this book rather late last night - some time after midnight, I think - I opted for posting the review a little later today. Oh well, good things come to those who wait, I suppose. :)… (plus d'informations)

This book is the continuation of the Sam and Amelia Slater Mystery series. Sam is doing some errands and decided to take a cable car when a young woman has fallen or was she pushed. That is the mystery that Sam and Amelia have to figure out. Why would someone want to harm this young lady? Then the young lady goes missing.

The incident is captured and put in the newspaper and they launch a campaign to find the missing woman. Amelia is worried about her neighbor, an elderly gentleman who suddenly disappears and his house is occupied by some unsavory characters. So between these two mysteries, Sam and Amelia are very busy and of course Amelia gets herself caught up in the whole thing and puts herself in danger once again.

Reading one of Mr.Messel's stories is always a pleasure. He writes a very well researched story about San Francisco, even includes pictures in the books of historic landmarks or other areas of importance. I like that about the books. He tells a story that takes place without computers or cell phones which is refreshing. These two PI's use their own skills to solve the murders they come across in their business. They do have the help of a police detective but no other means then their own ways of getting to the truth.

I have said this before, but this series justs gets better and better. Each book better than the one before. Always a pleasure to read.… (plus d'informations)

I was given this book in return for an honest review two years ago and I've finally had time to see what Sam was up to in the next book! Sam Slater recently retired from the Seals baseball organization when the dreaded New York Giants came to town. Sam agreed to go into the private investigator business with his best friend. Weeks later, Jimmy was murdered, and Sam only has Amelia to weather the sadness, but Amelia, a TWA Airline stewardess stands by her man and helps him during his cases as she loves the intrigue. Amelia and Sam take over the case when Jimmy died and discovers Dr. John O'Dell, a prominent doctor is being blackmailed by someone that knows a dark secret that the doctor rather not be known. The blackmailer has killed before and he will kill again unless his demands are met and he is determined to take Sam and Amelia out if they get in his way!… (plus d'informations)