Martin J. Smith

Situated somewhere between feature-story journalism and popular history, this book provides exactly what its subtitle promises: Twenty case studies of things – career moves, inventions, marketing strategies – that seemed like good ideas in theory, but went horribly wrong in practice. The authors are journalists, and their dedication to getting the facts and presenting them clearly shows on every page. The case studies are models of clarity, organization, and the open acknowledgement – show more both in the text and in the bibliography – of sources. The ones dealing with the Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapse and the window-shedding John Hancock Building in Boston are the best short, non-technical introductions to those subjects I’ve ever read.

The quality of the research and the writing extends to the more offbeat case studies that could, in less careful hands, have descended into smirk and snark. Many books recount how Thomas Edison staged the public electrocution of an elephant. Smith and Kiger provide the context you never knew was missing: the history of other elephant executions. Many music fans of a certain age know that, for a brief time in 1967, rising guitar god Jimi Hendrix opened for the pre-fab pop group The Monkees. Smith and Kiger tell the other 99% of the story, providing a serious and plausible answer to the inevitable question: “What were they thinking?” Marketing debacles now remembered (if at all) only as punch lines – the 1955 Dodge LaFemme, the paper dress, Smell-o-Vision – get the same full and careful treatment.

If the book has a flaw, it’s that the authors’ scrupulous research and crisp writing clash with their (or their publisher’s) determination to make the book “wacky” and light-hearted. The intentional “misprinting” of the cover image and the small, boxed inset at the end of each chapter distilling the case study into a literal “recipe” for disaster are artifacts of that determination – and they fall as flat as Richard Nixon’s 1968 attempt connect with young voters by appearing on Laugh In. If you’re interested enough in the subject matter to be reading this review, you’ll find the book fascinating. Just be aware that you’re in for a very strange read. show less

Set against the backdrop of a developing wildfire in a fictional small Californian town, detective Ron Starke has to find the murderer of Paul Dwyer, a local property developer, whose tortured body is discovered weeks after he was reported missing by his wife Shelby. Shared history between Starke and the widow, and a strained working relationship with his new boss, Donna Kerrigan, don't make life any easier for Starke as the list of suspects in the murder investigation keeps growing.
This was show more quite a quick read, but nevertheless provided solid character development and intricate plotting as the writing was to the point without any unnecessary padding. Additionally, the very short chapters kept persuading me to read 'just one more'. Starke's relationship with his father who has early-onset Alzheimer's and his dealings with a young computer expert who helps him along in the investigation made Ron Starke a very likable character who I would love to see in future books. The plot was really intriguing as the reader was led down various paths for potential explanations why anybody would want a seemingly charitable businessman, husband, and father dead. A very enjoyable read which was fast-paced and with a few nice twists. I would definitely read more books by this author who was new to me.
The publisher, Diversion Books, invited me to read this book and provided a free copy. This is my unbiased and honest review. show less

The Disappeared Girl by Martin J. Smith is a 2014 Diversion Books publication. I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Melissa, a young woman that was adopted at the age of five and now finds herself pregnant and she is told she should attempt to discover her family history for the sake of her unborn child. When Melissa begins asking questions as well as remembering some odd things from before the age of five ,her father, Jim show more Christensen, goes to Melissa's Uncle Michael for answers. Michael had arranged the adoption for his brother and sister in law when they discovered they would not be able to have children. He went through a lot of trouble and while everything looked like it was on the up and up, the truth was Jim and his wife just didn't probe for details. They were just thankful to have Melissa.
Michael is a man with a conservative public persona. He is a talk show host on the cusp of going from the local market to the national market. An airplane that has been discovered in the Monongahela River could dredge up a plethora of trouble for Michael. To make matters worse, his neice has begun to remember bits and pieces of her ordeal as a child and both she and Jim are pressuring him hard to give up some answers. When Michael remains a vague as possible, Jim and Melissa decide to try and track down her birth parents on their own. What they discover will stun them and their entire family and will change the comfortable lives they have been living forever.
This was an incredible story that had me interested from the first chapter and my attention never wavered. Melissa is an interesting girl that has always had some emotional problems. She has a hard time coming to terms with her current situation at first, but begins to channel all her emotions and energy on finding out her family medical history. Having been adopted as a small child instead of at birth could be part of her troubles. Now that early memories are surfacing the irony lies in the fact that her adoptive father is a well known memory expert.
The story will take us back in time to Argentina during a complicated period of time within the country. Michael had managed to save a child that had fallen prey to the country's "Dirty War" where an incredible amount of people had disappeared. As a result, the situation was ripe for shady adoptions to occur.
When Michael finally returns to the states, he picks his life back up and becomes successful with his talk show, leaving all the incidences of the past in the murky waters of the the Monongahela River. But, now the time has come to pay the piper and Michael is trying to maintain his professional life and protect himself and others from the sins and tragedies of the past. If any of the information from the adoption and how it was all arranged were to come to the surface, Michael's promising career would go up in smoke and he could be facing criminal charges, but not only that, there are others involved and their very lives depend on him keeping their secrets.
The tension is incredible as we try to figure out what happened in Argentina, how Michael was involved, if Jim had any idea what strings Michael had pulled to get the adoption passed , and if Melissa is in danger, and as we watch Michael really start to sweat , knowing deep down that after all these years, his darkest secrets are about to be exposed. The plot was perfectly paced and gave the reader just the right amount of information, at just the right time to keep those pages turning. The story is gut wrenching as I began to piece together the puzzle , I couldn't beleive what I was reading. Wow, just wow. The emotional journey for Melissa is a bittersweet ride. There is much hope and much love and much support for this young woman and we know she will still have a lot of issues to work through, but she will be stronger and more at peace now. I'm going to pull out the 5 star rating on this one. A+ show less

I guess it’s some kind of progress to see the growth in the number of crime novels and television series that give hardworking male police detectives a woman boss. And, perhaps it reflects even more progress that these female supervisors are allowed to have flaws, unlike the ever-understanding “Ma’am” in the Inspector Lewis shows.
In Martin J. Smith’s new police procedural, Detective Ron Starke works for the police department in the city of Los Colmas, in giant San Bernardino show more County, California’s Inland Empire. His new chief—grabbing a job he expected would be his—is Donna Kerrigan, recently divorced from a rich husband and an inveterate micromanager, who Starke thinks has “the people skills of a rattlesnake.”
Starke is a likeable detective, diligently trying to unravel what befell wealthy property developer Paul Dwyer. Dwyer’s body was found at the bottom of a rapidly evaporating pond adjacent to his most recent upscale housing development. He had a bullet in his brain and evidence suggested he’d been tortured. Starke has a history with the widowed Mrs. Dwyer, the magnate’s second wife, that goes back to high school and a brief romance.
When he interviews Shelby Dwyer and her daughter Chloe in their magnificent home, it’s quite a contrast to his down-market residence above the Suds-Your-Duds laundromat. Any number of people turn up as serviceable murder suspects. In fact, there may be too large a stack of possibilities, because the motives of them all can’t be developed to the extent that would make them truly credible.
There’s even a whiff of DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) concern about money-laundering for the Sinaloa drug cartel. This possibility prompted a couple of authorial essays about how the cartels work—interesting stuff that you might want to know about, but not necessary to the plot of this book, especially since that line of inquiry soon evaporates like the water in Dwyer’s containment pond.
Because this is a multiple point-of-view novel, you know things Starke does not. You know Shelby has sought relief from her unhappy marriage online, establishing a chatroom relationship with someone who calls himself LoveSick—ever supportive, ever kind, ever romantic. But who is he, really? Shelby has every urgent 21st century reason for wanting to know. I especially enjoyed Smith’s descriptions of the computer geeks Starke eventually deals with, as he tracks down Shelby’s missing hard drive. Those guys were entertainingly totally on their own wavelength—broadband, of course.
The blind forces of nature help bring matters to a head. A massive wildfire, driven by the Santa Ana winds, is bearing down on Los Colmas and the Dwyer development. In the middle of that fiery maelstrom, Smith’s protagonists face their ultimate challenges.
The fire proves unequivocally that, no matter how “in control” you think you are, some things are beyond you. I wish the author hadn’t overstuffed the narrative with tantalizing suspects and a couple of brief, early scenes with Starke’s ailing father, in care because of early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. He was an interesting character and that was a relationship worth developing. Sequels? show less