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Henry Wright #1
For Sale in Palm Springs
Retired police chief Henry Wright is now living in Palm Springs and is asked by his friend Wayne Johnson, a detective in the Palm Springs Police department to help solve a crime. Henry has been living as somewhat of a recluse since his wife passed away, but tracking down this killer brings him back to life. Follow his adventures as he travels around the state to solve this mystery.Fourth edition released February 2013 adds a TOC at the request of readers
156 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 30, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 77 reviews
August 24, 2011
This book is the first in the Henry Wright series by this author. The Kindle format is free.
First, the good. I downloaded this book because I have a friend in Palm Springs (PS). I enjoy spending time with her and I like PS, so I was interested in a mystery series set in Palm Springs. It's always fun to read a book (or watch a TV show) that takes place in a familiar setting. My interest doubled when this was about a real estate agent, because my friend has lived in Palm Springs for over 30 years and I keep telling her she should have become a real estate agent. I think she can best any real estate agent in PS, real or imagined, when it comes to mid-century homes and local architecture. If not for her, half the real estate references in this book would've gone over my head. If you've been to Palm Springs, you'll really enjoy the familiarity of this book's setting and the lifestyle that typifies Palm Springs.
This is an enjoyable read, especially for a free book. The subsequent books in the series are only $0.99 and this one was good enough that I'd consider getting them. I liked the characters and the story, although I could see the end coming from a mile away.
Now, for the bad. This author really really needs a good editor. This story (and I'm guessing the subsequent stories by this author) would go from being an enjoyable read for a free book to a great read for a free book and to a really good read for a $0.99 or even $2.99 book if it was professionally edited. It suffers greatly from spelling and grammar errors. The run-on sentences and punctuation require the reader to read and then re-read (sometimes a couple of times) before finally understanding what the author is trying to convey. A good editor would also punch it up a couple of notches; the author's writing style reflects his origins as a technical writer. Even so, it's still better than 95% of the self-published books I've read.
If you can overlook the bad, I do recommend this book.
First, the good. I downloaded this book because I have a friend in Palm Springs (PS). I enjoy spending time with her and I like PS, so I was interested in a mystery series set in Palm Springs. It's always fun to read a book (or watch a TV show) that takes place in a familiar setting. My interest doubled when this was about a real estate agent, because my friend has lived in Palm Springs for over 30 years and I keep telling her she should have become a real estate agent. I think she can best any real estate agent in PS, real or imagined, when it comes to mid-century homes and local architecture. If not for her, half the real estate references in this book would've gone over my head. If you've been to Palm Springs, you'll really enjoy the familiarity of this book's setting and the lifestyle that typifies Palm Springs.
This is an enjoyable read, especially for a free book. The subsequent books in the series are only $0.99 and this one was good enough that I'd consider getting them. I liked the characters and the story, although I could see the end coming from a mile away.
Now, for the bad. This author really really needs a good editor. This story (and I'm guessing the subsequent stories by this author) would go from being an enjoyable read for a free book to a great read for a free book and to a really good read for a $0.99 or even $2.99 book if it was professionally edited. It suffers greatly from spelling and grammar errors. The run-on sentences and punctuation require the reader to read and then re-read (sometimes a couple of times) before finally understanding what the author is trying to convey. A good editor would also punch it up a couple of notches; the author's writing style reflects his origins as a technical writer. Even so, it's still better than 95% of the self-published books I've read.
If you can overlook the bad, I do recommend this book.
August 11, 2013
This book was ok purely because it was a free kindle download. Having said that, I'm no English teacher but the grammar was very poor! I also felt that the ending was a little rushed although I knew who'd done it before I was half way through the book. To conclude, it was ok for a freebie!
October 22, 2011
c2009. My heart sank when I realised that this book had been published by Smashwords as I do not seem to have much luck with their publications. This book did have a good premise set in an interesting part of the world. I think the use of a good editor may have been the trick as I really did not like the style of detailing all the minutae of the protagonist etc "but Sherman's had great lox and he enjoyed eating something he would never have thought of ordering in Eagle River". This kind of sentence added nothing to the story, the pace, or the character. We already have been told ad infinitum that he has relocated from Wisconsin etc. But, on second thoughts - if a good editor had got their hands on this book, it would probably have been a short story. The mystery is not a mystery and because of the lack of additional meaningful characters, it was as clear as day as to who the murderer is going to be. Even then, the reasoning for the killing is a little bizarre and not well thought out. I could go on but I never think it is fair when someone has spent a lot of time and effort on something to only pick out the negatives. The author has achieved something that many people have not -and that is to get a book published and read by an audience! I do, however, have an issue with the synopsis issued by the publisher as it is so far off base that I think the Consumer Protection people would be able to successfully prosecute. Describing the victim as a "real estate mogul" shows that the meaning of the word mogul is not really understood - he's an agent for Heaven's sake! "celebrity scam" - No, no, no, no. "secret society" - this turns out to be an effort to throw in a red herring but could a group of paedophiles really be considered to be a secret society? FWFTB: murdered, unsatisfied, scam, thriller, detective.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 6, 2011
Overall score: 2.75
Disclosure: I added half a star back on when I discovered that the author is not a native English speaker. This would certainly explain some of the awkward construction and grammar gaffes, so I was inclined to be forgiving. All the same, this book would have been far better if professionally edited. Lots of run-on sentences, awkward phrasing and so on could have been corrected.
This could have been a really outstanding murder mystery. Our protagonist, Henry, is a retired police officer from Wisconsin. He's moved to Palm Springs for the improved weather (one presumes). He's been widowed for a while, as we learn over the course of the tale.
The book does start off with a literal bang; a somewhat shady Palm Springs realtor is bumped off in one of the properties he's trying to sell. The local sheriff asks Henry's help in investigating the matter, as Henry is apparently a freelance profiler for the FBI. Never mind that Henry doesn't seem to know things that a profiler would (e.g., the difference between a pedophile and an ephebephile), and that he seems to do an awful lot of blabbing about this investigation to people who are not involved. Never mind that the local sheriff talks about destroying evidence in an ongoing case ("It's been cataloged and is on its way for destruction" is a direct quote) and other improbabilities.
Throw in that it was unfortunately easy to figure out whodunnit and you'll get my overall disappointment. I will hand it to Mr. Simon; he definitely knows his Coachella Valley geography, although he falls a little flat in terms of other places like Palo Alto and Los Altos ("there's not much there" came as a surprise to me, having been to Los Altos on many occasions).
So, yes ... there was a great framework here that could have resulted in an outstanding tale. It just fell very flat for me.
Disclosure: I added half a star back on when I discovered that the author is not a native English speaker. This would certainly explain some of the awkward construction and grammar gaffes, so I was inclined to be forgiving. All the same, this book would have been far better if professionally edited. Lots of run-on sentences, awkward phrasing and so on could have been corrected.
This could have been a really outstanding murder mystery. Our protagonist, Henry, is a retired police officer from Wisconsin. He's moved to Palm Springs for the improved weather (one presumes). He's been widowed for a while, as we learn over the course of the tale.
The book does start off with a literal bang; a somewhat shady Palm Springs realtor is bumped off in one of the properties he's trying to sell. The local sheriff asks Henry's help in investigating the matter, as Henry is apparently a freelance profiler for the FBI. Never mind that Henry doesn't seem to know things that a profiler would (e.g., the difference between a pedophile and an ephebephile), and that he seems to do an awful lot of blabbing about this investigation to people who are not involved. Never mind that the local sheriff talks about destroying evidence in an ongoing case ("It's been cataloged and is on its way for destruction" is a direct quote) and other improbabilities.
Throw in that it was unfortunately easy to figure out whodunnit and you'll get my overall disappointment. I will hand it to Mr. Simon; he definitely knows his Coachella Valley geography, although he falls a little flat in terms of other places like Palo Alto and Los Altos ("there's not much there" came as a surprise to me, having been to Los Altos on many occasions).
So, yes ... there was a great framework here that could have resulted in an outstanding tale. It just fell very flat for me.
June 11, 2011
I tend to like indie authors out of principle and I think that's one reason I sampled Albert Simon's Henry Wright murder series. The first book, For Sale in Palm Springs, is available free at kobobooks, smashwords, and at a very reasonable 99¢ from Amazon. The series concerns Henry Wright, a retired police chief from Eagle River, Wisconsin who is also recently widowed. He's relocated to Palm Springs where bodies continually turn up in his path.
A real estate agent, Rex Thornbird, is murdered in the opening pages, left in a bloody mess in the kitchen of a 1950s home he has listed. Given this is Palm Springs, celebrities and gay themes recur: Henry's housemate, Charles, is a retired school teacher; Henry's love interest, the office manager who worked for Rex, assumes Henry is gay; and an "underworld" of gay activities provides further background spice. But this isn't a gay novel: it's an old fashioned whodunit that's set in Palm Springs.
The drawbacks are stylistic: Simon does not write graciously -- he writes technically. By this I mean, the story is told as if perched on Henry's shoulder and everything he does is described: Henry did this, then that, then that, then this. Little of these actions move the story along and character development is limited. I did find myself impatient for the story be over; this is not what I'd call "a good read" -- something that drags you in and keeps the fires burning to the end.
Still, it's got its moments and if you live in or have visited Palm Springs, it's probably more atmospheric since you'll be able to pinpoint every location thanks to Simon's technical approach. Perhaps Simon's style has grown richer as his experience grew with the series?
A real estate agent, Rex Thornbird, is murdered in the opening pages, left in a bloody mess in the kitchen of a 1950s home he has listed. Given this is Palm Springs, celebrities and gay themes recur: Henry's housemate, Charles, is a retired school teacher; Henry's love interest, the office manager who worked for Rex, assumes Henry is gay; and an "underworld" of gay activities provides further background spice. But this isn't a gay novel: it's an old fashioned whodunit that's set in Palm Springs.
The drawbacks are stylistic: Simon does not write graciously -- he writes technically. By this I mean, the story is told as if perched on Henry's shoulder and everything he does is described: Henry did this, then that, then that, then this. Little of these actions move the story along and character development is limited. I did find myself impatient for the story be over; this is not what I'd call "a good read" -- something that drags you in and keeps the fires burning to the end.
Still, it's got its moments and if you live in or have visited Palm Springs, it's probably more atmospheric since you'll be able to pinpoint every location thanks to Simon's technical approach. Perhaps Simon's style has grown richer as his experience grew with the series?
November 30, 2012
I got the impression that this was part of a series, but not sure where it is in that series. The main character, Henry, is a retired police chief from Eagle River, WI. He is now living in Palm Springs and helps out the police when they seem to be at a dead end. Henry also does some profiling for the FBI. I felt a connection to this story because I am from Wisconsin, and enjoyed reading a book where the main character is from there.
Henry is called in to do some investigating when a prominent realtor is found dead in a property that he was planning on showing. Rex is found dead and the clues lead the police nowhere. Rex was not a very scrupulous person, he didn't mind embellishing the truth about who owned a property. And most of his clients didn't mind the embellishment as long as they were able to get the home they wanted. Henry seems to reaching a dead end, although he doesn't mind because he met a nice women he is becoming interested in.
I figured out who the killer was in the one, it wasn't blatantly obvious, but I did have an inkling early on in the story. I felt the plot line about the potential romance was far fetched because Henry didn't seem to be the type that would go that quickly. He seemed a bit more old-fashioned to me.
There are other stories by this author, but they don't appear to be available in my area. This one I got for free. Although I liked the story, I wasn't super impressed.
Henry is called in to do some investigating when a prominent realtor is found dead in a property that he was planning on showing. Rex is found dead and the clues lead the police nowhere. Rex was not a very scrupulous person, he didn't mind embellishing the truth about who owned a property. And most of his clients didn't mind the embellishment as long as they were able to get the home they wanted. Henry seems to reaching a dead end, although he doesn't mind because he met a nice women he is becoming interested in.
I figured out who the killer was in the one, it wasn't blatantly obvious, but I did have an inkling early on in the story. I felt the plot line about the potential romance was far fetched because Henry didn't seem to be the type that would go that quickly. He seemed a bit more old-fashioned to me.
There are other stories by this author, but they don't appear to be available in my area. This one I got for free. Although I liked the story, I wasn't super impressed.
August 11, 2016
As a new Kindle owner, I have been working through the "free/cheap" Kindle listings and this was the first book I've read by this author. I was very pleasantly surprised with the book and will continue with the series.
This is a 'cozy' series without being too sweet or trying to be too 'cute' and a main character I definitely relate to. Having been involved in law enforcement myself, I appreciate a retired police officer who moves through his life with a minimum of angst, no addictions and no major character flaws. I've known more than one retired cop very much like this.
The author is very competent at crafting a reasonable plot line and developing a quiet, sensible main character with a believable background and skill set as well as good supporting characters.
This is a 'cozy' series without being too sweet or trying to be too 'cute' and a main character I definitely relate to. Having been involved in law enforcement myself, I appreciate a retired police officer who moves through his life with a minimum of angst, no addictions and no major character flaws. I've known more than one retired cop very much like this.
The author is very competent at crafting a reasonable plot line and developing a quiet, sensible main character with a believable background and skill set as well as good supporting characters.
April 30, 2012
I highly recommend this book. This is the first book that I have not wasted my time looking back to figure out things. It is clearly written and is a true page turner. Henry is a likeable lead character not like some hard tack retired policemen.
The leads and dead ends are so interesting that you almost want to help him. Of course he really has enough, the clients of Thornbirds, Wayne, Rosie and last but not least Charles. I am so glad this is a series because it was really hard for the ending.
Unlike some of the people that have left reviews I really like this style of writing and am looking forward to more of this authors books! Thank you for a very enjoyable read, I could almost feel the sun on my face.
The leads and dead ends are so interesting that you almost want to help him. Of course he really has enough, the clients of Thornbirds, Wayne, Rosie and last but not least Charles. I am so glad this is a series because it was really hard for the ending.
Unlike some of the people that have left reviews I really like this style of writing and am looking forward to more of this authors books! Thank you for a very enjoyable read, I could almost feel the sun on my face.
June 3, 2011
There are a few errors with the writing in terms of grammar and composition. I don't normally notice such things but some of them just seem to stand out for me. There was one part where the things Henry and Tim said seemed to be mixed up. Certain phrases are used repeatedly.
For the story, it feels a bit far fetch as everybody is so willing to tell Henry everything and except for one person, everybody tells the truth. It feels like the whole story is made up of conversations between Henry and other people. There are several mentions of Henry being good at profiling people but I don't see any profiling being done on either the victim or the suspects.
For the story, it feels a bit far fetch as everybody is so willing to tell Henry everything and except for one person, everybody tells the truth. It feels like the whole story is made up of conversations between Henry and other people. There are several mentions of Henry being good at profiling people but I don't see any profiling being done on either the victim or the suspects.
September 30, 2024
the opening story captivating. The detail awesome.
But, as the story progress, some of the details seems unnecessary, like the shave cream part.
And even the story go the other way,
I don't understand how he could even think to destroy evidence of Rex 'other' activities. His friend is a cop, they should do something about it. Find persons engage in this little hobbies of Rex maybe? That persons could be a suspect.
And to think that evidence not connected to the murder doesn't make any sense. He's a retired police officer. At least investigate it first?
But, as the story progress, some of the details seems unnecessary, like the shave cream part.
And even the story go the other way,
I don't understand how he could even think to destroy evidence of Rex 'other' activities. His friend is a cop, they should do something about it. Find persons engage in this little hobbies of Rex maybe? That persons could be a suspect.
And to think that evidence not connected to the murder doesn't make any sense. He's a retired police officer. At least investigate it first?
March 20, 2013
Although I figured out who the murderer was well before the end of the book, I really enjoyed this book. I liked Henry, the main character, who is a retired policeman who has moved from Wisconsin to Palm Springs. There were plenty of other good characters in the story and the investigation moved along well.
August 13, 2016
This book is a very quick read. I had a lot of problems with the editing forcing me out of the story because I needed to reread sentences to make sense of them. This book definitely needed an editor to check the punctuation. Also, the story wasn't that great and the characters didn't really grab me. I don't plan to read anything else by this author.
June 8, 2012
A real estate agent, who is extremely successful selling homes that he claimed once belonged to celebrities, is found dead in one of his listed properties. A retired policeman discovers who murdered him.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 17, 2012
I wasn't sure I'd enjoy this book when I first began reading it as I was able to put it down far too easily for my usual likening. However I did finish and actual enjoyed the book from the mid-point.
July 28, 2012
This was definitely one of the 'better' free downloads from kindle I have read. So much so, I may have to read others in the Henry Wright series! It was a quickish read, but I found myself warming to the main character.
January 8, 2013
Free Nook book.
Not sure I liked it. It was okay. The grammar wasn't correct which was annoying. (There were no open quotes but there were closed quotes, the paragraphs ended in the wrong spots, etc.) The story itself was ok... Nothing exciting.
Not sure I liked it. It was okay. The grammar wasn't correct which was annoying. (There were no open quotes but there were closed quotes, the paragraphs ended in the wrong spots, etc.) The story itself was ok... Nothing exciting.
January 7, 2013
Although the plot in this murder mystery was good, I found the writing didn't flow well. The sentences seemed choppy to me and there were many details better left out since they really didn't add to the story and it just seemed like page filler.
January 16, 2013
This a okay mystery I liked the main character a retired, widowed police chief who moved to Palm Springs, and find himself in the middle of a murder case.
The realtor that was showing him the house was killed, not because of a bad sales, but his night life.
Nice short mystery.
The realtor that was showing him the house was killed, not because of a bad sales, but his night life.
Nice short mystery.
December 7, 2013
Ay, ay, ay............call a proof reader, stat! Reads like a first draft that hasn't been edited and there is way too much superfluous detail. Plot line is interesting enough but the multitude of grammatical errors, choppy dialogue, and unnecessary information make this a painful read.
January 4, 2016
A fast read and a good plot. I did get an inkling who the culprit is fairly early in the investigation. She was just too forward too fast for not to feel off. Good dialog and I like the main characters.
February 19, 2016
I miss reading 'stories'. I've been reading many 'novels'. This is a 'story', slow going and relaxed as is Palm Springs. One can easily imagine the space, the people and their movement. The ending WAS predictable, yet, I enjoyed the pace and details.
May 31, 2011
Murder mystery - who killed the estate agent ? A competent story with a retired police officer as the hero.
July 16, 2016
Very poor prose. Couldn't finish and it's a short book.
July 12, 2011
i really liked the characters. You want to cheer Henry on as he rediscovers himself after losing his wife. The story was well written and kept you on your toes.
May 25, 2011
Interesting short murder mystery story.
July 5, 2011
A quick and easy no-brainer read. Nothing extraordinary but nothing awful.
July 31, 2011
Liked the story and the fact that it was set in Palm Springs, having grown up in the desert. The writing was horrible though!
August 15, 2011
Good story idea but writing was not very good. Dialogue was not done well at all, very stilted and unnatural.
October 24, 2011
This was a good mystery and it kept you guessing until the end and thats what a mystery is suppose to do.
November 29, 2011
I liked the story, the characters, and especially the references to mid-century modern architecture.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 77 reviews