MARTIN Category:  Mystery/Suspense Publisher: VanGoachBooks ISBN-10:  1894618181 Type: Fiction Pages: 270 Copyright: Jul 15 2000 Price: $3.50 (eBook) eBOOK from author The Agent: Murder By Accident, amateur cozy, is the first in a series ISBN 1-894618-18-1 Van Goach Publisher Widowed Nolly Penderson and computer expert 'kid' Kevin Wilson did not know one another in their native Nebraska. Arlington, Virginia the new home for each finds them teaming up to solve a puzzling set of murders. The Agent: Murder By Accident agent: ISBN 1-894618-18-1 Computer whiz Kevin Wilson has become convinced that he is jinxed and has somehow hexed a series of murders into happening. It is only by the help and intervention of literary agent Nolly Penderson that Kevin comes to realize that the murderer is a flesh and blood person and not any hex. Nolly and Kevin use Kevin's computer skills to track the Arlington Virginia woman they are sure is creating havoc among a group of people who have nothing in common other than a thrown away carton of children's book manuscripts written by a retired Missouri school teacher. Only quick thinking will save Nolly from the desperate murderer who finally throws caution to the wind and meets Nolly in face to face confrontation.   Excerpt She was just certain there would be no slip-ups this time. Of course the last damn fiasco was supposed to be fool proof. And just look how that turned out. She paused. Well, to be honest, the first performance was supposedly faultless as well. Right. Sure. What could possibly go wrong? Set a perfectly good fire, burn the confounded building right down to the ground and what happens? Well, for starters, someone is dead for sure. Two someones died in fact, but the one she had been trying to kill. Why, of course not. The louse is alive and well and not hurt in the least. Damn. So what to do then? Why, doctor up a nice batch of damned expensive cookies with a commonly found and absolutely deadly substance that positively no one would look for that is what do. It’s perfect, foolproof and cannot fail. Fix them up, take them out to the movie filming site and leave the things where they are certain to be encountered and consumed and then simply wait for those desired results. Foolproof all right, not a thing can go wrong and what happens? I’ll tell you what happens. Some fool comes along and eats the damn things and gets himself killed. And the one she intended to die? Alive and well and not hurt in the least. She just could not believe her awful run of bad luck. It just wasn’t fair.

page after page of intensity
The Agent: Murder By Accident
by m j hollingshead

Review by:Jeremy Chanley: Dallas, Texas

The Review:
Holy Smokes! This was one great read, page after page of intensity; characters so real you are sure you have met them; and a story that will keep you entertained for years to come. Buy this book today.


These people could be you or me
The Review
First there's a fire, then an unexplained "natural" death on a movie set - ... sure enough something was beginning to stink. The fire and then the death out on Howard's movie set seemed like a little too much coincidence to suit her. The police can just go right on calling the fire the work of a lunatic arsonist if they want to, and they can dismiss the young cameraman's death to "natural causes." Nolly Penderson was having no part of it.

Kevin Wilson is a down on his luck, unemployed dot-commer. " I go out and scrounge around and find that carton full of manuscripts. I'm friends with the Parkers, and the cameraman is one of the crew shooting a movie using papers from the carton I found. Plain and simple, I'm the axis for the whole thing. Ain't I? Sure looks that way to me. Man Alive, if it has nothing to do with my finding those manuscripts then how else do you explain two big gawdawful catastrophes and now three people are laying dead. Sure sounds like some kind of a hoodoo jinx to me."

Add a motley crew of other stereotypical characters, several other murders and, surprisingly, you have a plot which at least makes you want to know "who dunnit."

mj hollingshead’s strong suit are characters you care about + a realistic plot.

Read the character traits closely. These people could be you or me, and isn't that how a good writer connects with her audience.

A. Renee West, Reviewer


Highly recommended
Reviewed By: Robin Barker www.writingcorner.com/ReadingCorner/ReadingCorner.htm

The Review

The Agent: Murder by Accident is wonderfully written mystery that keeps you on the edge of your seat.

Self-consumed character Toby Alberts’ act of throwing manuscripts in a dumpster begins an avalanche of coincidence and good fortune for many, and untimely and accidental deaths for others.

One person’s trash becomes another’s treasure, literally. Kevin Wilson, and out of work computer geek stumbles upon the box of manuscripts outside Alberts apartment building and tries to return them to her. He had been digging for things to recycle, to pay for his next meal. Alberts refuses the box and sends Wilson on his way.

This young man searches for another agent to hand over the manuscripts. Into the picture comes Nolly Penderson, a former resident of Nebraska and now successful Literary Agent in Arlington, Virginia. Nolly Penderson is the opposite of Toby Alberts. She has an out going, sincere down home personality. She never meets a person she doesn’t know. She accepts the manuscripts from Kevin Wilson and the career of unknown Missouri Author, Texie Powell is born

mj hollingshead weaves a tight story linking characters and unlikely events into a very well told story. Several twists and turns keep you wondering if the person you suspect is actually the murder. Once the word that Texie Powell’s manuscripts are being published and a movie is being made by a legendary Hollywood Director, mysterious deaths begin to happen.

The police do not suspect that they deaths are linked in any manner. They all appear to be purely accidental. Wilson notices a pattern and believes he is a jinx. He discusses the possibility that the accidents are not what they seem with Nolly Penderson.

mj hollingshead characters use some unusual methods to commit crimes and solve them. This is not a typical formulated mystery. It is quite enjoyable to read and moves fairly smooth between scenes and characters. I would highly recommend you read it and would caution you to be careful about what you throw in the trash and what you eat!