PUBLISHERS WEEKLY REVIEW “ON HALLOWED GROUND” BY JOHN LANTIGUA 16.95 trade paper (272p) ISBN 978-1-55885-695-0

In Lantigua's gripping fourth novel featuring Miami PI Willie Cuesta (after 2007's The Lady from Buenos Aires), Carmen Vickers de Estrada, who moved to Miami from Medellín, Colombia, to escape the threat of kidnapping, asks Cuesta, who's been serving as security chief for his brother's nightclub, to protect her son, José, and his girlfriend, Catalina Cordero. Two years earlier in Colombia, Carmen's husband was killed resisting abduction, and a year later, José was held captive for seven months even after the ransom was paid. After only a few days on the job, Cuesta witnesses a team of men snatch Catalina from a car blocked on a Key Biscayne road. Cuesta's quest to rescue Catalina, whose relationship with her captors is unclear, takes him to Colombia. The fast-paced action is well matched by concise prose, making this a treat for Elmore Leonard devotees. (Mar.)

BOOKLIST (starred review)

On Hallowed Ground Lantigua, John (Author) May 2011. 272 p. Arte Publico, paperback, $16.95. (9781558856950).

This thoroughly entertaining crime novel flirts with a number of the genre’s central themes— kidnapping for ransom, drug dealing, betrayal, revenge, the silky seductiveness of a whole lot of money—filtering them through the special sensibility of Miami PI Willie Cuesta. He’s an ex-cop making it on his own now, but that’s his only stock ingredient. He’s not bitter, disillusioned, wounded, any of that. And when he’s offered an outlandish fee to protect the son of a wealthy Key Biscayne family, he doesn’t hide his glee at what looks like easy money, or his curiosity about this posh family. When the case goes haywire and the car chases and the gun battles begin, Cuesta can’t help noticing the special color of the duct tape binding him and the great taste of top-line Columbian coffee the reprobates serve. With artfully concealed timing, the author reveals the kidnapers’ hidden agenda: as in Chinatown and some of the Spenser novels, there’s a sense that evil originates in the family. A real find for crime-fiction fans.

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Deal Makers: Negotiating More Effectively Using Timeless Values [Paperback]

Bill McClendon (Author)

Product Description

If you've ever wanted a pay raise, a better quote for that new roof, or your teenager to finally clean up his room, now is the time to step up and make things happen. The easy-to-understand concepts in this groundbreaking guide to effective communication will motivate readers of every discipline to recognize and trust the informed intuition that exists within.

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The road to hell is paved with adverbs.
  – Stephen King

I've been receiving a lot of queries pitching manuscripts that can only be described as massive — 300,000-400,000 words! — from first time novelists, at that.  I think my first novel was somewhere around 140,000 words, too, so I know how tough it can be to trim the fat.  When Faulkner was asked what the hardest thing about writing was, he answered, "Killing all my little darlings"  (or something to that effect — I'm paraphrasing).  I would have to agree with him.  My best articles have all been written to space, where I had to carve, shave and whittle the piece down to the bone.  My advice is to cut, cut cut, as selling a novel over 125,000 words is going to be tough for any new author these days.