It's a pleasure to take part in the BlogTour Death of a Young Lieutenant by B.R. Stateham.
B.R. Stateham is a fourteen-year-old boy trapped in a seventy-year-old body. But his enthusiasm and boyish delight in anything mysterious and/or unknown continue.
Writing novels, especially detectives, is just the avenue of escape which keeps the author’s mind sharp and inquisitive. He’s published a ton of short stories in online magazines like Crooked, Darkest Before the Dawn, Abandoned Towers, Pulp Metal Magazine, Suspense Magazine, Spinetingler Magazine, Near to The Knuckle, A Twist of Noir, Angie’s Diary, Power Burn Flash, and Eastern Standard Crime. He writes both detective/mysteries, as well as science-fiction and fantasy.
In 2008 the first book in the series featuring homicide detectives Turner Hahn and Frank Morales came out, called Murderous Passions. Also, in 2008 he self-published a fantasy novel entitled, Roland of the High Crags: Evil Arises. In 2009 he created a character named Smitty. So far twenty-eight short stories and two novellas have been written about this dark eyed, unusually complex hit man. In 2012 Untreed Reads published book two of the Turner Hahn/Frank Morales series A Taste of Old Revenge.
In 2015 NumberThirteen Press published a Smitty novella entitled, A Killing Kiss. In 2017 a British indie publisher, Endeavour Media, re-issued A Taste of Old Revenge, and soon followed by a second Turner Hahn/Frank Morales novel entitled, There Are No Innocents. In 2018 Endeavour Media published a third novel of mine, the first in a 1st Century Roman detective series, entitled While the Emperor Slept. Also in 2018, NumberThirteen Press merged with another famous British indie, Fahrenheit Press. Soon afterwards, Fahrenheit Press re-issued an old novel of mine entitled, Death of a Young Lieutenant.
Now, after all of this apparent success, you would think Fame and Fortune would have sailed into my harbor, making me the delight of the hard-core genre world. Ah but contraire, mon ami! Fame and Fortune are two devious little wraths who pick and chooses the poor souls they wish to bedevil. I remain in complete anonymity and am just as bereft of fortune as I have always been. And apparently will continue to be for a long time to come.
B.R. Stateham has a blog called, In the Dark Mind of B.R. Stateham - noirtaketurner-frank.blogspot.com/
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About the book
Meet Captain Jake Reynolds – pilot, adventurer, art thief, spy.
In the opening weeks of World War One, and as a member of the newly formed British Royal Flying Corps, Captain Jake Reynolds is shipped off to Belgium. Roped in by his squadron commander to prove the innocence of a young lieutenant accused of murder, Jake also wants to steal a 14th Century Jan van Eck painting.
The problem is both the evidence and the painting are behind enemy lines. How do you prove a man's innocence and steal a masterpiece while an entire German army is breathing down your neck?
Jake Reynolds has the kind of roguish charm that makes him the type of person people find it hard to say no to, and even if they do he finds a way to achieve his goals. He is so much more than a man serving his country - he is a man serving his own agenda. An agenda that includes accumulating irreplaceable works of art. A bit of forgery, here and there, never hurt anyone right?
His goal of acquiring a valuable piece of art behind enemy lines takes a second seat to an odd incident, which takes place nearby and he is asked to look into. What appears to be a violent argument, that ends with one man dead and the other badly wounded, soon distracts him from his more profitable endeavours. Did the young soldier commit a murder or was it an accident?
It's a murder mystery set in the midst of the conflict of WWI. Stateham gives his readers a real sense of the mischievous and carefree attitude that surrounds Jake throughout the story, despite the tragic conflict taking place around him.
At times some moments seem frivolous and perhaps not in keeping with the setting of the Great War, however I think it's important to remember those moments are what kept the men going and perhaps even sane. Given the ending I think the author had exactly that in mind. The futility of the war, in the majority of cases the inevitability of death, and the attempt to keep morale high in such difficult circumstances. It's an interesting parallel path to draw, especially whilst simultaneously giving readers an entertaining murder mystery at the same time.
Buy Death of a Young Lieutenant at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Fahrenheit Press, pub date 19 Jun. 2019. Buy at Amazon com.
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