Author: Editor

News and events at BearhounD7

Book signing at Fallon’s Bar and Grill 9200 Olive Blvd. 63132

Save the date. Saturday, June 24, 2023. from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm.

We are having a book signing to launch Deidra’s Last Dance, our sixth novel in the Nick Caldwell private investigator series by Wm. Sharpe. You can purchase books at the signing or in advance from Amazon.com.

Meet the author. Q & A. Drawings for gift certificates and prizes. Fun.

When Sinclair Stewart calls his PI friend Nick Caldwell with a questionable lead on his daughter’s murder thirty years earlier, Nick is doubtful but agrees to help. He moves his team from Chicago to New Orleans in an undercover operation to investigate the Barbeau Dance Studio where nineteen young women were students when they were murdered or disappeared. Pretending to study old buildings for paranormal activity, they set to work. But there are more questions than answers. Has it been too long? Will the Dance Studio staff help? Are the confidential informants they find dependable? Will the local police want outsiders coming in to do their work? Is this a case that is too cold even for Nick Caldwell? This book is a “must read” for fans of Nick Caldwell and murder mysteries.

The recently published Nick Caldwell novels, Dead Crowe and A Christmas Project, by Wm. Sharpe, provide some interesting connections and tie-ins with Deidra’s Last Dance. If you haven’t read these two novels, you can do so now and be an insider for some exciting reading. If you’re looking for a great gift idea for a friend who really likes to read, these three books make a great package.

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Our first book of stories about the Ancient Order of Celtic BearhounDs is developing well. Titled BearhounD TaleS, it is designed so parents can read it to younger children, and older children and adults can enjoy it on their own. As an exciting new feature, it will have available separately a coloring book featuring all the bearhounds included in BearhounD TaleS.

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We also want to recommend books by one of our favorite St. Louis writers M. Catherine Bunton. Her works include Rest & Re-creation, Book of Sweets, and Yours Truly for adults and her many books in juvenile literature. Readers will enjoy the Star Girl series and books highlighting people and places that make up St. Louis and its history. Recent books include Back Seat Buddies, a collection of short stories for young readers, as told by some of her most endearing characters, and Not Your Grandmother’s Handbook, a unique approach in a handbook for students in college or college-bound in high school.

Barbara Neuhaus. We recently introduced White Roses and Iron, the Gothic Adventures of Lily Schreiff, a first novel by Barbara Neuhaus, a local Saint Louis writer. As the story was set in 19th century England, we published it first in serial format like novels of the period. She has added some additional material and has now published it in book format, available through amazon.com and other book sellers..

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Be sure to follow us on our podcasts, Uncommon Sense Radio 4.0 and Novel Approach. Jim’s recent guests on Novel Approach include the following:

Elva Maxine Beach, local Saint Louis writer and English department chair at Saint Louis Community College–Florissant Valley: Episodes 7 and 8.

M. Catherine Bunton, also a local Saint Louis writer, for Episodes 9, 10, and 11.

Katherine H. Gordon, local Saint Louis writer and professor of English: Episodes 12 and 13.

Linda Stewart, local Saint Louis writer, professor, and storyteller: Episode 14.

And we think our long-awaited podcast, hosted by BearhounDs Baron and Ruby, may be coming soon. These two, who are regulars in the Nick Caldwell novels, should have a lot of interesting things to share with us. Word is that their friend Argo may be their guest, or even a regular, on some of their podcasts. Subscribe to the podcasts so you don’t miss out on story telling at BearhounD7 ProductionS.

Did I Do That?

By Lara Sodon

So I did something on Saturday afternoon…maybe I should start at the beginning. My paternal grandmother moved to Table Rock Lake when I was a baby. My granddad and my grandma bought a plot of land from friends who had moved down there and built a house and resort. My grandparents planned to build their house right next door. Picture a STEEP Ozark mountain. There was a family owned campground at the top of the mountain, a gravel road that led to the two houses and the resort below that. My grandparents’ house had nothing but trees between their house and the lake…maybe 100 yards.

If my memory serves me, the story I was told was that my grandparents sold their house in St Louis and moved to the lake. My granddad laid the concrete foundation and got the framing done (side note: my granddad built most of the houses that he and my grandma lived in. There are at least 3 houses in St. Louis that I could take you to right now that he built, and they are still standing, and people live in them). Anyway, Dec 1972, my granddad died suddenly, and no the house was not complete!

The situation was assessed. and it was determined that my grandma was not in a position to walk away so my dad helped complete the house! My grandma lived in that house until 1998. Most of my memories of my grandma are in that house. We moved her to St Louis in 1998 for a variety of reasons. She had some health issues that were not helped by living on an Ozark mountainside; her friends/neighbors/original owners of the land/resort were either moving or getting ready to move to warmer weather and the family owned campground was being sold or had been to a corporation. Just wasn’t a good idea for my grandma to be there by herself.

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Origin of the BearhounD Stories

Bill Sharpe explains why he wrote the BearhounD stories

Author’s Note:

This was the first BearhounD story I wrote down. It was not the first BearhounD story that I told my four-year old daughter and her four-year old friends. The whole BearhounD story started one summer afternoon when I was working in the yard. Sondra had two friends over and they decided that they would “help” me.

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Starbuck, the family dog, was never very far from Sondra and if she wasn’t available, he would settle for me. For the record Starbuck was not named after the premium priced coffee company in Seattle. Starbuck was named for a fictional character from the play and film The Rainmaker; the film starred Burt Lancaster. Starbuck was named in 1986, a good six years before you could get a latte from the coffee company in Seattle.

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Mystery novels and trench coats – professor debuts first detective book

Viktoria Muench | Editor-in-Chief March 17, 2016; 1:45 p.m.

Professor Sharpe on his way to class in the Spellmann Center.  Photo by Kelby Lorenz

He storms into the classroom of Mass Communication Theory with a large cup of coffee in his hand and his briefcase dangling from his shoulder. Instead of saying “Good morning,” Bill Sharpe simply grunts.

His students smirk, because they know they are about to hear another story about his life and daily encounters, told with a form of grumpy sarcasm that is unique to the communications professor.

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