Five Star Expressions - Returning To Taos [Hardcover]

Lois Gilbert (Author)

Book Description

Series: Five Star Expressions | Publication Date: February 2, 2006

When Elena Waters discovers her estranged son, Johnny, has been murdered in Taos, she returns to New Mexico after a ten-year absence, determined to find his killer in spite of opposition from her family and friends. Before he was murdered, Johnny's career as a singer was taking off, thanks to the efforts of Elena's childhood friends, Jack and Maggie Dalton, a rich and powerful couple who run a production company in Taos. Elena's search for the truth about her son's death brings her into the luxurious world of the Daltons' compound, where she uncovers a web of lies that casts suspicion on the people closest to her. Everyone is a suspect, and everything Elena thinks she knows about her friends, her family and herself becomes uncertain as she explores her son's hidden life. Returning to Taos delivers a taut, contemporary novel of suspense about the unraveling secrets and lies that bind two families together.

Lois Gilbert resides in New Mexico.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

After losing her estranged son Johnny to a bullet, and after spending time in a hospital after overdosing upon hearing the news, Elena Waters returns to Taos, New Mexico, where she and her ex--husband raised Johnny, and where he died. Elena has a driving need to find out who killed Johnny and why. The police believe it was a random event, but Elena knows better. No one she talks to is forthcoming. She even has beyond-the-grave conversations with Johnny, who urges her to drop her pursuit of the truth. But Elena doesn't give up, and danger follows as she delves deeper into the mystery. People come to question her sanity, and as Gilbert's tautly written story progresses, the reader, too, begins to have doubts about Elena's mental state. When the truth is finally exposed in this highly suspenseful, emotional tale, it is far more shocking than Elena, or the reader, could have imagined. Maria Hatton
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Hardcover: 254 pages
• Publisher: Five Star; 1 edition (February 2, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1594144370
• ISBN-13: 978-1594144370
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,835,985 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I spent the first half of my professional life as an artist and gradually shifted into the realm of writing over the past two decades. After years of trial and error, my novel "River of Summer" (a romance) was published by Penguin-Putnam in 1999. Eleven months later my novel "Without Mercy" (a mystery) was published by NAL Dutton in 2000. All right! I thought to myself. I am HOT! I am ON FIRE! Two book contracts in one year, and a movie deal in the works.

Then I wrote a book that didn't sell. I wrote another book that didn't sell. It took several years -- and oh, maybe a hundred rejections -- for me to find my bearings again as a storyteller. "Returning to Taos" was published by Five Star in 2006, and "Lost in the Gila" (an archaeological thriller) was published by Five Star in February 2009.

My travails in learning how to write all over again and then finding a publisher for my work led me to start "You Can Get Published," a web-based developmental editorial service at www.loisgilbert.com.

My novels have been translated into several languages, and I've lectured on creative writing around the world for Norwegian Cruise Line. I've evaluated manuscripts for University of New Mexico Press, and was a featured speaker for the 2009 New Mexico Women Author's Book Festival. My motto? Life is good. It's never too late to learn, and it's never too late to re-invent yourself.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Deeply Satisfying Read, April 10, 2006

By 

John Thorndike "Author: The Last of His Mind:... (Athens, OH United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Five Star Expressions - Returning To Taos (Hardcover)

I've read all of Lois Gilbert's books, and this is my favorite. It doesn't hurt that the book is set in the dramatic and gorgeous Southwest, because that's what we get here: a dramatic plot and gorgeous writing. Ms. Gilbert keeps getting better, and this story really hums. I couldn't see the ending coming, but when it did it was just right. And after all the drama and pyrotechnics are over, there's an understated, delicate Epilogue that makes you doubly glad you read this book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A real page turner, July 26, 2006

By 

Nicholas Klepper (Edinburgh, Scotland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Five Star Expressions - Returning To Taos (Hardcover)

I have fond memories of Taos, and the title induced me to buy the book.
I expected it to be a pleasant, descriptive story of someone longing for Taos and returning there after many years.
Instead, I found myself immersed in a gripping, page turning novel which has all the elements of a best-seller: romance, passion, yearning, mystery, suspense and crime.
Nick Klepper

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars haunting amateur sleuth, April 14, 2006

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Five Star Expressions - Returning To Taos (Hardcover)

Ten years ago Elena Water left her husband Tom in Taos, New Mexico taking her son Johnny with her. A few years later, Johnny left her to study music and live in Taos under the tutelage of family friends Jack and Maggie Dalton, who run a musical production company. As Johnny is becoming a success, someone shoots and kills him. Elena, who had not spoken to her son in months or seen him in five years, is stunned by her loss.

As the cops fail to break the case, Elena arrives in Taos vowing to bring justice to her son's murderer. Tom and Maggie are worried about her mental state as she insists she is talking with Johnny who is giving her some clues to his homicide though her findings are uncannily accurate. Because Johnny refuses to tell her who killed him, she assumes he is protecting someone, perhaps a loved one, but who had the motive to commit homicide?

RETURNING TO TAOS is a haunting amateur sleuth tale in which the audience wonders whether Elena is losing her mind though she seems to easily converse with Johnny. Thus, fans will ponder paranormal or psychological; either way the audience gets a deep look inside the grieving mother who finds no closure perhaps because she was somewhat estranged from her son who she cherished, but failed to let him know that when he was alive (underlying message: don't wait - tell your loved ones while they live). Regardless of Elena's state of mind, RETURNING TO TAOS is a powerful mystery with a terrific twist that grips readers from the first "mother-son conversation" inside her head until their last.

Harriet Klausner