"Legacy of Hephaestus" by Alex Morgan re-released on Amazon!

My fourth Corey Shaw novel Legacy of Hephaestus is now live on Amazon!

Click here to go to Amazon!

Blurb:

Corey Shaw is trying to salvage what's left of his Baltic cruise vacation by sleeping his way across the Netherlands and Norway.  About the time he arrives in Amsterdam, the largest yellow diamond ever discovered, the Lava Diamond, is stolen from a diamond factory.

Corey is glad to leave the case in the hands of Dutch authorities, but when he gets to Oslo, a paramour is murdered.  For once in his lifetime, he is glad to see the end of a vacation. But things get worse when he returns to Boston.  The diamond shows up in an unlikely place and a volcanology professor on sabbatical in Norway has disappeared.

Thinking the stolen diamond case closed, Corey heads back across the Atlantic to help Norwegian police to search for the professor.  Soon he uncovers more than a missing persons’ case.  It is a plot to turn the diamond world on its head. 

Book review - "The Heist" by Daniel Silva

Might contain spoilers.

Silva is never one to give the reader a break.  He starts his novel The Heist with a scene that seems innocent enough (unless you’ve read some of his other works), but within a few paragraphs has you devouring each page while taking you on a wild ride through Europe, the Middle East and all the art museums in between.

The Heist opens with the brutal murder of an art thief, so naturally Israeli spy extraordinaire and master classic art restorer Gabriel Allon is taxed with finding out who killed him.  And where are the paintings he stole?

The title refers to Allon staging a theft of a Van Gogh from the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.  He creates an exact replica of the painting and puts it on the black market to flesh out the murderer.

Of course, Silva doesn’t stick with a mere art thief and a couple of murders.  Soon, Allon and his team uncover huge sums of money generated from the theft, trafficking and selling of priceless pieces of art.  Billions of dollars are hidden in bank accounts all over the globe to keep a tyrannical regime in power, and rolling in the dough while keeping its citizens in poverty and oppressed by the military.

Although a great story, I felt it wasn’t as good as some of his previous works.  The final solution is a little disappointing but I suppose we can’t become complacent.  There is still an element of satisfaction that the little fish didn’t get away, even if the big fish does.

I enjoy Silva’s work even though he violates writers’ rules against adding data dumps, however, interesting and the intrusive narrator.  He keeps his stories fast passed despite these sins(?).

3 ✪✪✪ out of 5

Challenger (STS-61-A) launched 1985, ninth and final flight

Back row (L-R): Steven Nagel, Guy Bluford, Ernst Messerschmid, Wubbo Ockels

Front row (L-R): Reinhard Furrer, Bonnie Dunbar, James Buchli, Henry Hartsfield

Space Shuttle Challenger blasted off October 30, 1985, on what would be its final flight.  It still holds the distinction for having the largest crew (8) on board from launch to landing.  The mission was funded, directed and controlled by West Germany, so the mission is also known as D-1.

Her record-setting crew was: Commander Henry W. Hartsfield, Jr.; Pilot Steven R. Nagel; Mission Specialist 1 Bonnie J. Dunbar; Mission Specialist 2 James F. Buchli; Mission Specialist 3 Guion S. Buford; Payload Specialist 1 Reinhard Furrer; Payload Specialist 2 Ernst Messerschmid; and Payload Specialist Wubbo Ockels (the Netherlands).

Wubbo Ockels, born in Amsterdam, was the first Dutch citizen to go to space.  This was the only mission in space for him and the two German scientists. 

Guy Bluford is the first African-American astronaut to space twice.  He would go into space 2 more times. 

Challenger would be destroyed with her entire crew in January 1986.

Adonises in Amsterdam

At the port of Amsterdam mooring the Prinsendam.

Delivering Heineken.

Our sexy waiter Daniel.

Day 17 (cont.) - Oude Kirk, Amsterdam

The Oude Kirk is a medieval church in the heart of Amsterdam.

Many graves were beneath the floor dating from the sixteenth century. There is a movement to restore the church since the graves are in danger of being erased by centuries of people walking over them.

The grave of Rembrandt's wife Saskia in 1642.

This grave dates back to 1573.

For 6 Euros you could take a tour of the tower of Oude Kirk. This is a door in the tower where the bell ringers were. They could open it to hear the preacher or the organist so they would know when to ring the bells during church.

This bell has been here since 1659. It weighs 3700 kg, a little over 4 tons. The clacker is made of manganese, a soft metal so it won't damage the bell.

The view of Amsterdam from the tower.

The 'music box'. It played a short tune every hour. It's playing here.

Day 17 - Second Day in Amsterdam

It's interesting to see the Erotic Museum in a building where "God is my burgh"

Public outdoor urinals.

Everyone was getting excited about the World Cup Final.

I didn't realize that Amsterdam was on Route 66.

Quite an open society in Amsterdam.

This is the artwork on the outside wall of the hotel we stayed in.

This is a bar on wheels. Everyone pedals while drinking beer and seeing the city sights.