Teller

by Frederick Weisel

"The thing about hitting bottom is that, in the middle of it, sometimes you don't know if you're really hitting bottom or just bouncing off ledges on your way further down."

Charlie Teller is a ghostwriter of best-selling celebrity autobiographies, until an affair and a fraud destroy his marriage and career. He's given a rare chance to start over, but just as he begins, Charlie finds himself the only witness to a friend's murder and is drawn into the investigation.

Now someone has Charlie in his sights, and Charlie doesn't know if it's Eddie Mahler, a wise-guy police detective, or Vincent, a laconic ex-Special Forces soldier, or Kenny McDonald, a once famous pop singer turned deranged coke dealer.

And, as he uncovers the truth of his friend's life, Charlie is brought face to face with his own past, remembered through his association with the subjects of his an aging novelist, a rock musician, a film star . . .

Set in the towns and back roads of Northern California wine country, Teller is a mystery and a surprising novel about the meaning of memoir and the stories we tell ourselves about who we are.

292 pages, Paperback

First published October 24, 2011

About the author

Frederick Weisel has been a writer and editor for more than 30 years. He graduated from Antioch College and has an MA in Victorian Literature and History from the University of Leicester in England. His short stories were awarded an Artists Fellowship from the Massachusetts Arts and Humanities Foundation, and his articles have appeared in the Boston Globe, Washington Post, and Christian Science Monitor.

The Silenced Women is his debut novel and the first in the Violent Crime Investigations Team Mystery series. The second novel, The Day He Left, will be published in February 2022. He is currently at work on the third novel in the VCI series. He lives with his wife in Santa Rosa, California, and shares a birthday with his favorite author, Raymond Chandler.

You can read his essay “Behind the Book: The Silenced Women” in Crimespree Magazine:
https://crimespreemag.com/behind-the-...

You can read his essay “Detective Fiction and Dementia: A Biopsy” in CrimeReads Magazine: https://crimereads.com/detective-fict...

You can read his essay “Five Things: Last Sentences in Five Novels” in Crimespree Magazine: https://crimespreemag.com/five-things...

Reviews

[Gary Baker · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I'm not normally a first person POV type, this book had me on the edge of my seat the whole way through. At first it began as a simple "sure, I'll read this" and quickly morphed into "hold on, guys, one more chapter." The way that Weisel chooses to place his characters in such dramatic situations and scenarios shows just how well this author knows his craft, choosing not to go the path of the 'routine mystery' but the trails least used, resulting in an unforgettable tale.

What made it even greater (for me at least), was the fact that I live in the general area of this author's story. Seeing streets and venues that I know and love so frequently in the tale and thus brought me as much into this story as if it were a real-life narrative where I was reading what must only be the inner monologue and thoughts of one man's life. At times it even made me hope and believe that I could reach out in some way to tell Weisel's characters what my thoughts on their predicament were, and how I thought they might do things better.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this book as a Goodreads Give Away. Thank you for giving me this book to read.

I enjoyed this book. It was written in a format that went into the past to explain some of the present. The book was a bit slow although a lot of major things happened in the book. I just found it went from one thing to another without much of a build up or excitement. Perhaps there were just too many characters to allow the author to really let us know them well. I found I didn't really care much for any of them, I guess I just found them flat.

The premise of the book was great, it just left me wanting more.

[Katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this whole book except the last few lines....weak!!

[Marie]

I was intrigued by the description of Teller so I entered the first-reads giveaway and to my surprise I was a winner! Looking forward to reading this book.