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Housetrap Chronicles
Murder on the Disorientated Express
A reluctant Private Eyeball, Randy Aloysius, agrees to accompany an elderly elf and her attractive niece on a relaxing train trip across the continent to the Wet coast. They seem harmless enough, so what could go wrong?
Well, there’s the obvious murder of a bent politician, plus a card-playing vampire, a brownie public relations hack, and a grieving widow murder suspect, not to mention other assorted suspicious characters...and someone out of Randy’s past.
Then there is the train itself, which may be in serious need of life support. After all, it does have to cross a prairie filled with woolly mammoths and surmount treacherous mountains passes where nasty things might lurk.
Well, there’s the obvious murder of a bent politician, plus a card-playing vampire, a brownie public relations hack, and a grieving widow murder suspect, not to mention other assorted suspicious characters...and someone out of Randy’s past.
Then there is the train itself, which may be in serious need of life support. After all, it does have to cross a prairie filled with woolly mammoths and surmount treacherous mountains passes where nasty things might lurk.
ebook
Published January 1, 2017
About the author
R.J. Hore
37 books50 followersAs of August 2024 I have twenty books in print format and all are also available as ebooks. I have thirteen novellas that are available as separate ebooks, twelve gathered into the four print collections, The Housetrap Omnibus Chronicles, Volumes One, Two, Three, and Four.
All are available through the publishers, Fossil Cove Publishing of Winnipeg, or Champagne Books of Oregon, as well as Amazon, Kobo, and the usual outlets.
After thirty years of owning a sailboat and spending my summers on the water finally had to give that up..
Finally finished the Housetrap Chronicles fantasy detective series with novella number twelve which came out in collection #4 in 2022.
This year (2024) decided not to attend a major Comic Con but still arranged to book myself into several appearances at smaller events and markets including KeyCon in Winnipeg.
Two new books came out in 2014 so far, Summer in Paradise, a paranormal thriller, and Dark Candle, an 18+ tale of sex, murder and hypnotic regression. Still have two more books contracted and due out in the next twelve months. Tentative titles are: "The Perils of Paul," a modern fantasy, and "Flight of Fancy," a sci fi romance.
No problem keeping busy!
All are available through the publishers, Fossil Cove Publishing of Winnipeg, or Champagne Books of Oregon, as well as Amazon, Kobo, and the usual outlets.
After thirty years of owning a sailboat and spending my summers on the water finally had to give that up..
Finally finished the Housetrap Chronicles fantasy detective series with novella number twelve which came out in collection #4 in 2022.
This year (2024) decided not to attend a major Comic Con but still arranged to book myself into several appearances at smaller events and markets including KeyCon in Winnipeg.
Two new books came out in 2014 so far, Summer in Paradise, a paranormal thriller, and Dark Candle, an 18+ tale of sex, murder and hypnotic regression. Still have two more books contracted and due out in the next twelve months. Tentative titles are: "The Perils of Paul," a modern fantasy, and "Flight of Fancy," a sci fi romance.
No problem keeping busy!
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
October 7, 2018
A quick, fun read and a little more down to earth than the last two entries in the series.
Randy is hired to escort two Lady Elves across the country by train. The older lady claims to despise air travel, so Randy thinks he's got a standard escort job that pays well that turns into a murder mystery that branches out to be quite different then what he expected.
I can't recall what volume this is in the series, but it's nice to see the world around Randy fleshed out. We spend most of the time, as you guess it, on a train, and we start to see other organizations at work with their own nefarious backgrounds. Randy prides himself on being a mongrel and generally dislikes associating with elves, as their 'pure' status they like to keep to themselves and look down on the other more mundane races. Because traveling via rail is treated as somewhat archaic, Randy's rubbing elbows with people from all walks of life and it's nice to see a wide array of characters.
The scope of this one didn't seem as epic as the previous stories, but overall I thought the writing was some of the author's best and I wouldn't really call it a twist ending, as given the tone of the novella you expect shenanigans. And as stated previously, I'm not sure what entry this is in the series, but you can pretty much pick up this one as your first if you're so inclined, as unlike other entries nothing besides Bertha forcibly making herself partner has changed from the earlier stories.
Randy is hired to escort two Lady Elves across the country by train. The older lady claims to despise air travel, so Randy thinks he's got a standard escort job that pays well that turns into a murder mystery that branches out to be quite different then what he expected.
I can't recall what volume this is in the series, but it's nice to see the world around Randy fleshed out. We spend most of the time, as you guess it, on a train, and we start to see other organizations at work with their own nefarious backgrounds. Randy prides himself on being a mongrel and generally dislikes associating with elves, as their 'pure' status they like to keep to themselves and look down on the other more mundane races. Because traveling via rail is treated as somewhat archaic, Randy's rubbing elbows with people from all walks of life and it's nice to see a wide array of characters.
The scope of this one didn't seem as epic as the previous stories, but overall I thought the writing was some of the author's best and I wouldn't really call it a twist ending, as given the tone of the novella you expect shenanigans. And as stated previously, I'm not sure what entry this is in the series, but you can pretty much pick up this one as your first if you're so inclined, as unlike other entries nothing besides Bertha forcibly making herself partner has changed from the earlier stories.
Displaying 1 of 1 review