The Trouble with Tenors

by Lorie Ham

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The Trouble with Tenors Featuring gospel singing amateur sleuth, Alexandra Walters is Lorie Ham's second mystery book with main character, Alexandra Walters. It appears it may become the second book in a series with several sequels.

Synopsis:

The main character, Alexandra Walters, a single mom and a gospel singer finds herself threatened by her tenor singing ex-husband who reappears in her life wanting custody of their young daughter. Although she realizes she is often absent away from her daughter on singing tours, she is convinced that her ex-husband has selfish motives for suddenly expressing interest in his daughter and knows that she is the best choice to raise their daughter. Afterall, she has a wonderful support group of tenants who live in her restored old house and who often double as babysitters when needed. This is not the only problem Alexandra must confront. She may lose her daughter for far more dark and sinister reasons. She is called on to host a gospel music convention that is in town for the weekend and as a result finds herself accused of two murders!! Is it a situation of wrong place at the wrong time? Or could Alexandra be capable of wanting to remove the greatest threat to her happiness with her daughter? Wondering that very question is the new Sergeant of Detectives, William Knight, who is her shadow during the convention as one body after another turns up dead, both with a connection to Alexandra. What about her old best friend, Zack, who suddenly reappears in her life, but is sinister and mysterious? Luckily, Alexandra has her private detective boyfriend, Stephen, on her side. Will he be able to prove her innocence or will Detective Knight build his case against her? Emotions are definitely building up between Detective Knight and Alexandra. Could it be for the wrong reasons? Read the story to find out!

Review:

This is my first encounter with Lorie Ham and I found her book to be fairly enjoyable. The main character is a likable, passionate, realistic type of character with her own quirks. You can tell the author has put a lot of thought into the character development of Alexandra Walters through the revelation of these character quirks and the frequent references to them throughout the story. For example, we know she likes Frank Sinatra, old cars, only drinks Pepsi and judges others by their like or dislike of Pepsi, only drinks chocolate flavoured coffee, and has an intense and often volatile relationship with her parents. I can't help but think the author has emphasized these things to a fault in order to build the character. A little subtlety would go a long way. Some of the peculiarities come across a little "cheesy" at times with the frequent references to them. I can't help but wonder if the main character is modeled after the author and she lets her own flair and charming personality come across. This is what can make the peculiarities more charming than irritating.

I found the plot to be very suspenseful and I kept wanting to turn the next page to find out what was going to happen next. There were many unexpected twists and turns in the plot that were quite clever.

I don't know much about the publisher, AmErica House, but this novel does come across as possibly being "self-published". What I mean by that is it could use more proof reading to appear more polished and professional. The several typos were somewhat annoying at times.

I felt the author paints a grim and sinful picture of life in the gospel singing circle which may be a disappointing reality of what life is like behind the "Christian" tunes. One wonders how much of it is all an act and how much is genuine faith after reading a book like this. I wouldn't want to recommend it as a "hook" book to give to a non-Christian friend or family member. The reasons for this is that I found the picture of the Christian life to be pretty bleak and shallow, although the main character does comment on needing to "love" again and again. While this may be a realistic presentation of a "behind the scenes" look at the professional gospel singing tours, it is a depressing one. It is interesting to note that the author herself is a gospel singer and has some knowledge of this industry. I would like to know how much of the "darker" side she has actually seen and how much is made up for the sake of the story.

I would rate this as a great, all-around charming mystery! Go out and read it yourself and form your own opinions. I am going to donate this to our church library so that others can read it and get to know the name of this up-and-coming author!