Beneath a Buried House by Bob Avey

Detective Kenny Elliot had just been handed his first murder case. A dead reporter had been found and was linked to a local prostitute with unusual religious ties. As Kenny searches for the prostitute he finds the same pagan symbols bringing forth the possibility of cult involvement. When the prostitute ends up dead and a second suspect disappears it seems that his trail has dried up but nothing could be further from the truth. Ignoring the orders of his Chief and following a well groomed sense of intuition Kenny follows each nearly imperceptible hint until he ends up in a dead end town that is dominated by an enormous church. Despite the detective’s dogged persistence this backwoods religious order with its own privately owned compound is determined to keep its secrets deeply buried.

Beneath a Buried House is part of the detective Elliot series and holds a lot of promise. Kenny Elliot is a likable character partly for his flaws and partly for his moral certainty. He is a small city, green thumb Colombo with a jock background, an open heart, old fashion values and good instincts. You get the sense throughout that he is easy to manipulate but eventually catches on to the ruse. Overall not a bad main character, however, his visual description was left vague at best.

The plot is a slow to start tale of religious extremism in small town America. Once the engine is revved up the reader starts to take second notice of the importance of suddenly suspicious characters. A couple of scenes involving the effects of religious doctrine caught my attention most fervently. One involved a definition of Unitarian Universalism which was right on the money. As a practicing Unitarian I was happy to see that the author took the time to do his research. The other was a discussion of deprogramming a former parishioner of an organized cult. Both scenes rose above the plotline adding another level of significance to the story.

Author Bob Avey sets forth a clean though sometimes slow presentation of people and places. While the action sequences are nerve racking and unexpected, the love scenes lacked nuance and patience. Whenever Kenny was faced with a pretty lady he sounded like Humphrey Bogart from Casablanca. All things considered it was an enjoyable read and worthy of the modern mystery genre. Beneath a Buried House will be released in June 2008.

Hoi Polloi Edited by Robert McNulty

Hoi Polloi: A Literary Journal for the Rest of Us is the first book presented by non-profit publisher Dog Day Press. All proceeds from this collaborative anthology benefit the Sowing Seeds Organization of Marshfield, Massachusetts. The title Hoi Polloi in the original Greek literally means "The Many" and the writing in this collection fits the bill. Contained within is a smattering of short stories, poems, author profiles and interviews from a variety of writers. The result is a modest compilation exhibiting a wide range of voices and talents.

Within these pages are works from first-time authors and self-published writers as well as those with established bylines. Chet Raymo is a Professor Emeritus at Stonehill College where as Marilyn Johnson wrote obituaries for Life magazine. The most notable name is Claire Cook, the author of the book Must Love Dogs, which became a major motion picture starring John Cusack.

The writing overall is less than spectacular, but there are some praiseworthy exceptions. "A Sailors Tale" by Walter C. Frye, jr. is a rhythmic poem about a young man trapped in a sinking boat. Mr. Frye does not waste one syllable in casting his protagonist in an unmanageable peril while goosing the reader with the faintest hope of rescue. "Pull Down the Shades" by Harriet Emerson is a story about a girl growing up amidst the background of the Cold War and the threat of nuclear holocaust. The image of a little girl drawing bomb shelters for fun is bound to stick with even the most finicky critic.

The real value of Hoi Polloi comes not from its bite-size musings but instead from its author profiles and interviews. Using what appeared to be a standard question form, Editor Robert McNulty asked today’s writers both great and small about their experiences in this ever-changing publishing environment. The answers reveal a shift from traditional methods of reaching the public, towards Internet-driven campaigns designed to focus on niche audiences. This change allows a product to reach the market faster and to connect more specifically to the needs and desires of select readers.

The value of understanding this paradigm shift is a necessary boon to all writers and will provide benefits galore for anyone who loves to read. By this measure Hoi Polloi is a great success.

Hoi Polloi: A literary journal for the rest of us, Robert McNulty, Publisher: Dog Day Press. (2007), ISBN: 0615177601, 292pgs, $17.95

Unholy Grail by D.L. Wilson

Successful books set the standard for entire genres. In religious fiction, the bar was raised when Dan Brown's novel The DaVinci Code broke sales records, eventually becoming one of the most talked about and most widely read books in modern publishing. Its popularity grew further with the release of a major motion picture of the same name starring Tom Hanks. The DaVinci Code accomplished many things, one of which was that it established religious fiction as a moneymaking genre, allowing others to follow. However, the authors of those books would have to raise their game in order to pass into acceptance from what is fast becoming a theologically educated fan base of readers.

In the novel Unholy Grail, Father Romano, a Jesuit priest, finds himself intimately connected to a series of murders conducted in a style that suggests that a psychotic religious fanatic is on the loose. During this string of murders, Romano crosses paths with Brittney Hamar, a college teacher of religion who is writing a groundbreaking book called The Jesus Fraud. The two become bound by their mutually passionate desire to discover the truth about a bloodline that might be traced all the way back to Jesus Christ and the organization that has been keeping it a secret.

Parallels to The DaVinci Code cannot be avoided; Unholy Grail carries with it the same central theme. It has two roving characters, one academic, the other investigative, and of course the looming threat of a deadly agent determined to stop them from learning what should not be known. The differences are not in the favor of Unholy Grail. The characters are less interesting and less believable, and the storyline moves with a choppy pace that lacks action, giving the reader picture scenes of where something had once happened, but scenery doesn't trump action.

In the publishing world, timing is important. Had the book come out five years earlier it may have made an impact. Clearly, the story was meant to teach certain lessons concerning faith and skepticism, but anyone who is steadily reading books in this genre will not learn much here that hasn't already been written elsewhere.