Chet Williamson

Livy is the proprietor of Better Days, a nostalgia shop. On her days off, she visits her mother at a seniors' home and brings old 78s to entertain the residents. Recently, there have been two deaths of residents close together. Everyone seems convinced the deaths were natural - after all, both were very old - but Livy isn't so sure because they both had seemed in good health just days before. Later, while going through her deceased father's papers, Livy discovers a photo from 70 years ago of show more a hanged man, a crowd gathered around. Livy becomes obsessed with both cases. Was the first natural and the second suicide or were they both murder? As she delves deeper and as she learns more about the people in the photo, she begins to suspect the two cases are linked somehow.

Murder Old and New: A Better Days Mystery is a cozy mystery by Laurie and Chet Williamson. On the negative side, it did, at times, stretch my suspension of disbelief almost to the breaking as Livy made some rather huge leaps of faith in her investigation but, let's face it, that's kind of a thing with cozies.

Still, on the plus side, Livy was a likable character and the plot was entertaining. There were enough twists and turns and red herrings to keep my attention and it ended on a satisfying note. In the end, I would say, if I didn't love this book, I did enjoy it and, really, sometimes that's all one asks from a a story.

Thanks to Netgalley and Crossroads press for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review show less

******Spoiler alert **********

Hmm kinda hard to rate this one......I wouldn't consider this a horror novel. In the town of Merridale, the mysterious blue transparent figures of dead citizens suddenly appear. Ghosts?? No one knows and the book never explains. They do not appear to have any meaning, and end up being just backdrops, to both the town and the novel itself.

The story focuses on a the town as a whole , but mostly a few key characters. There's some psychological stuff going on here, show more and alot of delving into the past of characters. The synopsis suggest that "all hell will break loose".....I kept waiting for this, or at least something, to happen. The one character that you think may end up playing a part in the climax and explanation of events.....Eddie, a man whom has always sworn to see and hear the dead residents of Merridale......is later implied to be a fraud.

The writing isn't bad....the story isn't bad....its just not what I expected. I think going in with the correct expectations may have changed my overall opinion of the book. show less

Dreamthorp is a pleasant little village in Pennsylvania that is the paradigm of tranquility and peacefulness. However, when a retired couple go treasure hunting with metal detectors, they stumble upon an ancient Native American quartz carving, things start to go south. People begin to die in mysterious ways, and the circumstances keep getting weirder with each passing member in the tight-knit community.

The plot may seem a bit campy, but I was surprisingly enthralled with this book. I was show more expecting the worst, maybe because I'm being prejudice by linking bad horror movies from the 80's with the horror in literature, so I wasn't expecting such a well-written book, with so many likable characters. People dying in a horror novel rarely will rarely a strong emotional response in me, it's kind of expected, but Chet Williamson definitely emphasized the tragic nature of death, while still maintaining a dark and creepy atmosphere. Something other horror writers should take note of.

The book does feel a little dated at times, such as when a character struggles to come to grips with their sexuality, however the author's take on equality hit all the right buttons for me. The book offers a wide variety of characters and viewpoints and it was nice to see the full spectrum represented. What a nice change from the typical one-sided chauvinistic slants you find in most stories. show less

A story with a haunted theater as the premise! How could a horror lover go wrong?

I received this book as part of a Humble Bundle that I won from Brian Hodge. (Thanks, Brian!) A fellow horror reader in one of my horror groups chose it for a group read and I was excited, because the premise sounded so great. I was not disappointed.

There are some cliched themes here, but I loved the way Mr. Williamson made them his own. Not only were there the expected spirits, but there was an entirely new show more entity and a dangerous one he proved to be. A new type of doppelganger, once realized, nearly unstoppable. And no one was safe. Of course the denouement, would have to take place at the theater-what will happen during the performance? Will the main character win the role-the role of his life, so to speak? You will have to read this to find out.

This book was well written and the story well told. I think it could have been trimmed a bit as sometimes the main character's inner monologue was redundant. Even though a couple of the characters were cliches, I thought most of them came through as real people, capable of all the feelings and changes that go along with that.

This book definitely made me a fan of Chet Williamson and I'm looking forward to seeing if he has more work for me to discover. For now, I will say goodbye to the Venetian Theatre and all of its scary, wonderful history.

Highly recommended for fans of haunting stories! show less