Review & #Giveaway – Eulogy in Black and White by Caleb Pirtle #lonestarlit #lsbbt #mystery #TexasAuthor #TexasBook #TheUndergroundAuthors
MAGNOLIA BLUFF
CRIME CHRONICLES
Seasons 1 & 2
by
The Underground Authors
Scroll down for a giveaway!
Each stand-alone book in this multi-author crime novel series is set in the fictitious, beautiful little Texas Hill Country town of Magnolia Bluff. Each author writes in their preferred sub-genre to allow readers to experience humor, dark dilemmas, suspense, romance, thrills, and spills — told through good storytelling that will keep readers awake past their bedtime, trying to find out whodunit.
Season three of The Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles begins in January 2024. Stay tuned.
Purchase the Books
Death Stalks a Small Town.
Magnolia Bluff waits.
With apprehension.
With dread.
With terror.
May twenty-third is coming.
Somebody always dies on May twenty-third.
Why?
No one knows.
A killer walks in the shadows.
The killer is ready to strike again.
Amazon
This mystery is a little different from other books that I have read. The protagonist, Graham Huston, is a man of few words, and it is evident from his writings and his speech. He doesn’t believe in using flowery language to describe anything. He writes in short, concise sentences, yet he gets his message across. Scattershot journalism is how they refer to it in the book. It is almost like reading poetry with short sentences. However, at the same time, the story feels jerky, at least until you get used to the author’s writing style. I have seen some refer to it as bullet prose; they wouldn’t be wrong.
Graham is a man with a troubled past. It takes us some time to learn why he has come to Magnolia Bluff. Once we do learn these facts, we can feel the weight on his shoulders and the burden he has been carrying. He didn’t plan to stay in town, but a job cleaning in the newspaper office led to his investigation into the May Twenty Third killings. Who is killing these people? What is the connection? And, of course, who is doing the killing? The answer will surprise you.
I enjoyed trying to decipher the clues along with Graham. There aren’t many until he stumbles across the final clue to close the case. Once I gleaned enough information, I started to suspect one person. Of course, I was wrong, but for another reason. However, the clues didn’t end there, and while I suspected what that last clue might be, I wasn’t 100% sure it was the right answer.
I found the characters engaging. They were all typical of a small town, but that isn’t a bad thing. Everyone knows everyone else’s business, so watch what you do, or you will end up in the paper!
At the end of the day, there was justice and peace for those who needed it.
I have wanted to read this series for some time. This is the second book in the series, but you don’t need to read them in order, but it might help. I’ll let you know once I work my way through the rest. We give this book 4 paws up.
Caleb Pirtle III was the author of more than eighty books. Pirtle was a graduate of The University of Texas in Austin and became the first student at the university to win the National William Randolph Hearst Award for feature writing. Several of his books and his magazine writing have received national and regional awards.
Pirtle was a newspaper reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and served ten years as the travel editor for Southern Living Magazine. He was editorial director for a Dallas custom publisher for more than twenty-five years. Pirtle passed away in August, 2023.
GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY!
THREE WINNERS:
1st: $25 Amazon gift card
2nd & 3rd: eBook bundles of first 18 books in the series
(US only; ends midnight, CST, 12/8/23)
Visit the Lone Star Literary Life Tour Page
For direct links to each post on this tour, updated daily,
or visit the blogs directly:
| 11/27/23 | Boys’ Mom Reads | 10 Million Ways to Die | Review |
| 11/27/23 | Reading by Moonlight | Death Wears a Crimson Hat | Review |
| 11/27/23 | Hall Ways | Series Spotlight | |
| 11/28/23 | The Plain-Spoken Pen | Death in the Absence of Rain | Review |
| 11/28/23 | StoreyBook Reviews | Eulogy in Black and White | Review |
| 11/28/23 | LSBBT Blog | Series Spotlight | |
| 11/29/23 | Forgotten Winds | The Great Peanut Butter Conspiracy | Review |
| 11/29/23 | Carpe Diem Chronicles | Only the Good Die Young | Spotlight |
| 11/29/23 | It’s Not All Gravy | When Bad Things Happen to Good Mice | Review |
| 11/30/23 | Rox Burkey Blog | You Won’t Know How. . .or When | Review |
| 12/01/23 | StoreyBook Reviews | The Flower Enigma | Review |
| 12/01/23 | Writing and Music | The Killer Enigma | Review |
| 12/02/23 | Reading by Moonlight | Men Lying Dead in a Field | Spotlight |
| 12/02/23 | The Clueless Gent | The Shine from a Girl in the Lake | Review |
| 12/03/23 | Jennie Reads | The Dewey Decimal Dilemma | Review |
| 12/03/23 | Forgotten Winds | The Dog Gone Diamond Dilemma | Review |
| 12/04/23 | Chapter Break Blog | Justice | Spotlight |
| 12/04/23 | The Plain-Spoken Pen | Bye Baby Bye | Review |
| 12/05/23 | Shelf Life Blog | Texas Summers are Murder | Sneak Peek |
| 12/05/23 | The Book’s Delight | Born and Bred Texan | Review |
| 12/06/23 | It’s Not All Gravy | Who Killed Lilly Paine? | Review |
| 12/07/23 | Hall Ways | Second Chances | Review |
| 12/08/23 | The Page Unbound | A Chance of a Ghost | Sneak Peek |
blog tour services provided by
Full Series Book Blog Tour & Giveaway: Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles featuring Ten Million Ways to Die by CW Hawes | Boys' Mom Reads!
[…] StoreyBook Reviews […]
CW Hawes
A fine review of an awesome book. This is a book that could only be written by someone who has experienced the fullness of life. Eulogy in Black and White is a mystery tour de force. A powerful and exciting read.
April
Another must-read by Caleb Pirtle. If you haven’t read his books, I highly recommend this one and his many others.
Rox Burkey
I’ve always been a fan of Caleb’s use of words. Not one wasted but perfected added to create the mood of the story. Thank you for hosting Caleb’s first contribution to the Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles.
Richard Schwindt
The second book in the magnificent Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles made it clear that something special was being created by the Underground Authors. That the second book was written by gifted storyteller, the late Caleb Pirtle, didn’t hurt at all. His lyrical and moving vision of Magnolia Bluff is something you really need to read for yourself to truly comprehend. Highly recommended.
Jan Sikes
I love it when I cannot guess the culprit in these types of stories. Sounds like Caleb did a great job keeping the identity under wraps!
Charles Breakfield
Caleb’s stories (this one and Death in the Absence of Rain) are riveting and fast reads. His use of simple word choices let’s him deliver complex situations and emotions. Excellent reads.
Joe Congel
I enjoyed reading your wonderful review! Caleb Pirtle III was truly a gifted writer. His unique style and take on Magnolia Bluff captured the essence of some of the folks who could really live in any small southern town with shadows hanging over it. This book is definitely one of the darker stories in the series. It exposes a side of Magnolia Bluff that I found fascinating. With eighty plus books to his credit, Caleb Pirtle III was a master storyteller and Eulogy in Black and White proves just that.
Kristine Anne Hall
It takes a talented author to write succinctly and still be evocative. This sounds like a great story and a unique writing style worth exploring. Thanks for sharing your review.
Cindy Davis
This book by Caleb Pirtle certainly exemplifies his talent as an author. His ability to develop characters you can actually envision, and his talent for outstandings plots, makes each of his stories one-of-a-kind. Get book 2 of the Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles. You won’t be disappointed.