All Acts of Pleasure: Book Two of the Miranda Trilogy (Rowan Gant Investigations) [Paperback]

M. R. Sellars (Author)

Book Description

Series: Rowan Gant Investigations | Publication Date: October 2006

PLEASURE CAN BE RELATIVE …

At 1:52 PM, November 18, Rowan Gant’s wife, Felicity O’Brien was arrested and charged with a string of brutal murders.

Due to a number of bizarre and almost inexplicable events leading up to her arrest, even she is unsure of her own innocence, let alone her sanity.

Rowan’s faith in her, however, remains unshaken, and he will stop at nothing to find the real killer. The only problem is, the woman he is looking for has been dead for more than 150 years…

All Acts Of Pleasure is the powerful and revealing sequel to the Rowan Gant Investigations biggest cliffhanger to date, Love Is The Bond.

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

A member of the ITW (International Thriller Writers) and HWA (Horror Writers Association), M. R. Sellars is a relatively unassuming homebody who, in his own words, considers himself just a "guy with a lot of nightmares and a word processing program." He is the author of the Rowan Gant Investigations series, the Special Agent Constance Mandalay series, as well as other works of thriller and suspense fiction.

Product Details

• Paperback: 335 pages
• Publisher: E.M.A. Mysteries (October 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0967822130
• ISBN-13: 978-0967822136
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,150,264 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

A member of the International Thriller Writers (ITW), and of the Horror Writers Association (HWA), M. R. Sellars is a relatively unassuming homebody who, in his own words, considers himself just a "guy with a lot of nightmares and a word processing program." Legend has it he started making up stories to entertain a stuffed bear during his single digit years, then began writing them down sometime around his early teens when the growing catalogue of fiction started causing him to experience migraines. Although he had several short stories and newspaper articles published during his early adult life, it wasn't until 2000 that his first full-length novel, Harm None: A Rowan Gant Investigation, hit bookstore shelves, officially launching the acclaimed paranormal thriller series.

Sellars says that the biggest adjustment he has had to make with his writing career is coping with the time spent away from his family while traveling on promotional tours. Still, he approaches the necessity of public appearances with the same humorously deadpan and satirical wit that he applies to life in general, stating, "As long as I have an RC Cola and a bag of peanuts, I'm all good, Bubba."

All of the current novels in Sellars' continuing Rowan Gant Investigations saga have spent several consecutive weeks on numerous bookstore bestseller lists as well as a consistent showing on the Amazon.com Horror/Occult top 100.

Sellars currently resides in the Midwest with his incomparably amazing wife, equally fantastic daughter, and a feline he describes as, "the competition." At home, when not writing or taking care of the household, he indulges his passions for cooking and hanging out with friends. In order to satisfy his lifelong dream of being a satirical humor columnist for a major metropolitan newspaper, twice each week he removes his glasses, dons blue tights and a red cape, then blogs about the incredibly bizarre world that is his life as a writer, husband, and father. It has been said that his blog articles sometimes blur the line between fiction and reality. To that Sellars responds, "What line?"

M. R. Sellars can be located on the web wherever there is a virtual bar serving virtual single malt Scotch, single barrel bourbon, good Irish whisky, and decent beer. In other words, look for him on the major social networking sites.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Miranda Strikes Again!, October 11, 2006

By 

Boudica (Ohio USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: All Acts of Pleasure: Book Two of the Miranda Trilogy (Rowan Gant Investigations) (Paperback)

This second book in the Miranda Trilogy never slows down and never gives in to being anything but first class mystery.

We are taken, in this book, deeper into the relationships between Rowan, his wife Felicity and the friends they have on the police force. This book has much interplay between the characters, filling in some history, some background and laying the foundation for some real gut wrenching moments.

I want to say something here about "details". If you are a fan of mystery and detective novels like I am, you will notice that there is a good deal of details offered in this book. Once upon a time all you needed was a good main character who could bully his way into solving most crimes. Today, we are challenging modern mystery writing by insisting they offer us more than just a "chair, light and an all night grilling" that used to comprise most of the older mystery novels.

Here Sellars presents us with some intriguing information that he builds his case on, and then educates the reader, giving the reader the background in order to understand what is going on and be amazed by the amount of time Sellars has put into this series. From DNA research, to research on Voudon practices and magic that is NOT hearsay or gossip, to modern day police practices and a sneak peek into the shadowy world of BDS&M, Sellars presents us with facts, carefully researched and presented in an intelligent manner. Sellars does not take the readers to be dummies and entertains us on an intellectual level.

Sellars also ties us emotionally to the main characters in this book. All magics aside, Sellars gives us some very touching and emotionally charged dialogue between the characters, developing them further than most of the other mystery series out there. You become attached to the Gant family, you feel their pain, and I can hear you suck in your breath and see you nod your head each time something happens to them. You love the good cops, and I hear you hissing at the bad cops.

Sellars is going beyond the cheap paperback detective stories, and is presenting us with some very realistic characters who could be you or me. He gets the reader involved with them on many different levels. And that, kids, is entertainment!

Sellars is going for a winner here with this trilogy. I am not happy that I have to wait till next October for the ending, MR, but... you know I will! A great presentation and one I think the readers will appreciate. boudica

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Mr. Sellars grabs you from the word go and it doesn't let go of you., January 13, 2009

By 

Rachel P. Smith "BittenbyBooks.com" (Nashville, TN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: All Acts of Pleasure: Book Two of the Miranda Trilogy (Rowan Gant Investigations) (Paperback)

All Acts of Pleasure is book two in the Miranda trilogy and book seven in the RGI (Rowan Gant Investigator) series. The stage was set for us in Love Is the Bond and events already were spiraling out of control and into a macabre horror filled ride into the mind of a sadistic serial killer. The story starts out with Rowan's wife Felicity being arrested for a string of S/M style ritual killings. This puts a huge strain on Rowan's relationship with Ben as he's the one who came bearing the arrest and search warrants. After having his life literally turned upside down, it is up to Rowan to find out who ore what is driving this killer. The storyline unfolds quickly with him in a rush against the clock to save Felicity from not only being convicted, but from losing her own sanity.

This installment poses questions of whether or not Ben and Rowan be able to mend their relationship enough to save Felicity in time? Is the serial killer being controlled by outside paranormal forces greater than Rowan has experienced before?

Again, this was another book that I devoured in a day. Mr. Sellars grabs you from the word go and it doesn't let go of you. I am just glad I had a copy of The End of Desire here or I would have probably been pulling my hair out! I really enjoy the whole Voodoo ritualistic aspect to the story, even though the killings are a bit over the top for me, I found that as always the other elements really held it together and kept my interest.

Reviewed at Bitten by Books Paranormal Fiction Review Site by Rachel

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Spellbinding Entry into the Rowan Gant Investigation Series, October 10, 2006

By 

Miyako Houou "miyako" (Missouri, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: All Acts of Pleasure: Book Two of the Miranda Trilogy (Rowan Gant Investigations) (Paperback)

Summary:
All Acts of Pleasure is the second entry into the Felicity Trilogy and the Seventh book in the Rowan Gant Investigation series by M. R. Sellars.

Synopsis:
The book begins with the arrest of Felicity O'Brian, wife of title character Rowan Gant, on suspicion of multiple horrific murders. Although her husband remains faithfully convinced of her innocence, Felicity herself begins to doubt both her innocence an her sanity as circumstantial and forensic evidenice piles up against her. Meanwhile, Rowan Gant must contend with the betrayal he feels at having his best friend, Detective Ben Storm, involved in Felicities arrest, and how to deal with his wife's escallating detachment.
The book comes to it's thrilling climax when, soon after Felicity is released after the discovery of mysterious evidence, is once again etherally hijacked by Miranda, the mysterious Lwa at the center of the murders and the mystery.
What follows is a decent into madness as Felicity begins to redouble her doubt in her own sanity, as Rowan tries to offer support to Felicity, patch up faltering friendship with Benjamin Storm, and deal with in-laws who believe Rowan to be a sinister influence leading their daughter into murder and insanity.

Review:
Seven is one of the most magickal numbers, and M. R. Sellars doesn't disappoint his fans with this seventh entry into the Rowan Gant Investigation series. All Acts of Pleasure overflows with the same urgent, real-time flow of the previous books in the series, while also deviating from structure of previous books in the series.
While the supernatural is still an ever-present influence for the St. Louis pagans, The second book in the Felicity Trilogy focuses more mundane (but no less dramatic) aspects of Rowan and Felicity's involvement with the mysterious Serial Killer, Miranda.
This more psychological style is a welcome change from Sellars' previous works, and takes full advantage of knack for writing the characters internal monologue. The nearly caustic realism causes the characters struggles to be reflected in the reader.
This book has a small number of characters relative to many of the previous novels in the series, which allows the author to give more depth to previously one and two dimensional characters.
Potential readers should keep in mind however that this book is the middle part of a trilogy, and as such should not be read alone. Although Sellars has done an excellent job of including just enough back story to keep readers who have not recently read Love is the Bond, the first book of the trilogy, up to date, many aspects of the story will be unintelligable to those who have not read this book. For maximum enjoyment of this book, I recommend reading the entire series in order.
All Acts of Pleasure is a heart-pounding supernatural mystery that shouldn't be missed by any fan of the series.