PTSD Blues


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Rust Belt Review #4


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Dreux Club Blues


Book Description

David McAllister is a police officer working in New Orleans in the 1980s. Hes also a regular at the Dreux Club, located in the Gentilly Terrace area of the city. All types of neighbors and friends showed up there, where they could relax over a couple of drinks and complain their ways to happiness. Dave finds himself among a unique group of characters populating the club, and over the course of a decade, he faces unusual encounters that transport him to a world he could never have imagined. As the friends of the Dreux do their best to weather the era, their stories depict an unforgettable journey, uncompromisingly direct at times, hilarious and memorable at others. Through ups and downs, their lives form a tapestry woven with threads of adventure, criminal undertakings, and the unmistakable personality of New Orleans. In this novel, a police officer experiences the 1980s with the eclectic group of friends and neighbors who populate the local club.




Becoming the Blues


Book Description

In a charming seaside town, a little boy with a flair for adventure and a talent for earning accolades believed success was his birthright. After all, he had pulled the biggest fish out of the lake at age five and skated to acclaim in ice hockey soon after. An intense and charismatic youth, Joshua Adonis Barber brought complete passion to everything he did. When he traded in hockey pucks for guitar picks, another field of dreams opened before him. His gifts for writing lyrics, meeting blues legends, and performing scorching sets brought him distinction throughout Rhode Island. When Josh was in his late twenties, however, a perfect storm of disappointment, social media, and despair plunged Josh and his family into nightmarish cycles of mental health treatments and recoveries. In Becoming the Blues, Joshs parents and sister follow him through both heartbreaking and heartwarming times. They share their true story with simple and forthright honesty with the goal of bringing hope and healing to others.




Burlesque Blues


Book Description

Memphis, Tennessee is a city with a dark past -- a dwelling place for ghosts and a center for the cotton industry and slavery. Known for police corruption and racism, Memphis is where Martin Luther King, Jr. was murdered, where Elvis overdosed, and where the Dixie mafia centered their drug-smuggling operations in the '70s. Set in the present day, Burlesque Blues tells the story of an Army veteran and chef from New Orleans, Franco Chevalier, who travels to Memphis to solve the mysterious death of his father in a Beale Street club during a burlesque performance. Was his father looking into the ghosts that seem to haunt the old family estate in Memphis? Or was he on the trail to find the crown jewels of France, which his family supposedly helped to hide before the revolution? The burlesque dancers, lawyers, and professors that Franco comes in contact with seem to have their own agendas, covered with lies, and hidden by smoke. To find the answers, he must find the strength to steer away from temptation and overcome his own anxieties from the war. But will that be enough?




Roadhouse Blues


Book Description

“Enjoyable entertainment . . . a mystery/suspense novel with links to classic rock history and mythology” featuring recovering detective Mike Travis (Foreword). After twenty years at the LAPD Homicide Bureau, Mike Travis is finally retiring and starting over on Santa Catalina Island. In the small town of Avalon, he lives and works on his yacht, sailing and chartering scuba diving trips. There, among tourists and quirky locals, he tries to banish the residual darkness from his mind. It’s not that easy, especially when the one case he never solved comes back to haunt him . . . A murdered woman on Venice Beach bears all the signs of the serial killer Travis had been tracking before he retired: a single stab wound to the heart, a series of deep cuts on the left hand, and a cryptic message—this time, a grisly computer-generated image of a lizard. To finally finish what the killer has started, all Travis must do is get as far into the madman’s head as he can before the next victim is targeted—and then hope he can crawl back out again . . . “Well crafted and entirely satisfying, a complete success. Another Mike Travis mystery would be most welcome.” —Booklist “Birtcher deserves praise and accolades for what he’s produced here. If you love a good mystery, this is it.” —Today’s Librarian







Companion to Literature


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Praise for the previous edition:Booklist/RBB "Twenty Best Bets for Student Researchers"RUSA/ALA "Outstanding Reference Source"" ... useful ... Recommended for public libraries and undergraduates."




The Cambridge Handbook of American Literature


Book Description

The Cambridge Handbook of American Literature offers a compact and accessible guide to the major landmarks of American literature.