Honeymoon For Three [Paperback]

Alan Cook (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 22, 2007

Honeymoon for Three has won the Silver Quill award, presented by the American Author's Association for literary excellence, and the Readers Choice award for the best Mountain West book.It is 1964, 10 years after Gary Blanchard's high school adventures in The Hayloft. He and his love, Penny, are going on the trip of their lives, and, oh yes, they're getting married along the way. What they don't know is that they're being stalked by Alfred, a high school classmate of Penny who has a bellybutton fetish. Gary and Penny met through a Los Angeles computer matching service, and they're positive they're meant for each other. Penny is afraid that her previous flip attitude toward marriage may jinx her. Her best friend, Emily, was murdered a year ago, two days before her own wedding-and she was ideal marriage material. Why should Penny be luckier? Alfred has never been successful with girls-he attributes his problems to his outie bellybutton-but he knows that Penny is the girl for him. He intends to get her any way he can, and he is prepared to do whatever is necessary to eliminate Gary. The suspense crackles amid some of the most scenic spots in the western United States, including Lake Tahoe, Reno, Crater Lake, Seattle, and in Glacier, Yellowstone, and Grand Teton National Parks, as well as the redwood trees and rocky cliffs of the northern California coast.

Editorial Reviews

Review

It is a tale well-told, with graphic descriptions of the sites and an exciting conclusion.
--Theodore Feit, Spinetingler Magazine

This is a great story. I really enjoyed Gary and Penny and their adventures while on their honeymoon. The mystery is well written and the scenery is fabulous!
--Dawn Dowdle, Mystery Lovers Corner

Honeymoon For Three, by Alan Cook, is a delightful tale!  Mr. Cook has an amazing talent for creating suspense and tension in his plot.
--Debra Gaynor, Reader Views

From the Author

My mysteries don't usually star crime fighting professionals. The protagonist is everyman--or woman--thrown into a situation new to him or her, involving suspense, and often murder. They must rely on their wits and newfound courage to put their shattered worlds back together. The partial exception to the amateur theme is Run into Trouble, in which Drake and Melody are former undercover operatives.
 

I use both male and female protagonists, and in some cases, a combination. Following is a one-liner about the sex of the protagonist(s) and theme in each of my mysteries:
 

Forget to Remember--female--amnesia mystery. Facing the world as a non-person.
Run into Trouble--couple--the Cold War turns hot on the California coast.
Honeymoon for Three--couple--honeymooners with a stalker.
The Hayloft--male--murder in high school in the fifties.
Hotline to Murder--couple--murder on a crisis hotline.
Aces and Knaves--male--murder in San Francisco.
Catch a Falling Knife--female--sexual harassment and murder in college.
Thirteen Diamonds--female--murder in a retirement community.
 

Series? Gary Blanchard is featured as the protagonist in The Hayloft, and ten years later, in Honeymoon for Three. Lillian Morgan, a retired math professor, is the protagonist in Thirteen Diamonds and Catch a Falling Knife.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 268 pages
• Publisher: AuthorHouse (June 22, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1434309509
• ISBN-13: 978-1434309501
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,069,231 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

After spending more than a quarter of a century as a pioneer in the computer industry, Alan Cook is well into his second career as a writer. Alan has written a number of mysteries, including "Forget to Remember," "Run into Trouble," "Honeymoon for Three,"The Hayloft," "Hotline to Murder," "Catch a Falling Knife" and "Thirteen Diamonds." "Run into Trouble" received a Silver Quill award from the American Authors Association and was named Top Pacific West book by Readers Choice. "Honeymoon for Three" received a Silver Quill award from the American Authors Association and was named Top Mountain West book by Readers Choice. Alan's short story, 'Hot Days, Cold Nights,' appears in the Mystery Writers of America anthology, "A Hot and Sultry Night for Crime," edited by Jeffery Deaver. Alan splits his time between writing and walking, another passion. His inspirational book, "Walking the World: Memories and Adventures," has information and adventure in equal parts. It has been named one of the 'Top 10 Walking Memoirs and Tales of Long Walks' by the walking website, walking.about.com. He is also the author of "Walking to Denver," a light-hearted fictional account of a walk he did. "Freedom's Light: Quotations from History's Champions of Freedom," contains quotations from some of our favorite historical figures about personal freedom. And "The Saga of Bill the Hermit" is a narrative poem about a hermit who decides that the single life isn't all it's cracked up to be. Alan lives with his wife, Bonny, on a hill in Southern California.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Page turning romp through the American west, November 19, 2008

By 

EBC (Pleasant Hill, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Honeymoon For Three (Paperback)

The second of the Gary Blanchard stories, Honeymoon for Three continues the theme of ordinary - and somewhat naive - young people besieged by the unstable phantoms of high school. Previously, Gary was beset by an obsessed relative seeking fortune and revenge. This time, it is his bride, Penny, who must contend with a renewed high school acquaintance and the innuendo of moral compromise. Gary must remember that he, himself, has a less than innocent dating past (though somehow this gets described as the girlfriend's "sin," not his). Filtered through the lense of 1964, this story portrays a more delicately worded, though no less complex, discussion of sexual politics than my generation would have. That the discussion takes place in tents and campers from the California Coast to Yellowstone makes it all the more fun.
The story also raises a modern theme reminiscent of Columbine and the recent novel Nineteen Minutes -- what is the result of kindness to or, conversely, ridicule of a fellow high school student who just doesn't fit in. Despite the chilling circumstances portrayed in this tale, I have to believe that Penny's non-conformist friendliness remains the way to approach the world.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Book., March 23, 2011

By 

Happily Retired "pandagram" (Hortonville, WI USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Honeymoon for Three (Gary Blanchard) (Kindle Edition)

This is the fourth book of Alan Cook's that I have read on my Kindle in the last couple weeks. Just makes me want to read another! This was suspensful and very clever. I especially liked the belly button fetish - very original. If you like mysteries, I think you'll like reading this book.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Unique Mystery Book From Alan Cook!, September 25, 2007

By 

W. H. McDonald Jr. "The American Author Assoc... (Elk Grove, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Honeymoon For Three (Paperback)

The creative mind of author Alan Cook certainly has few rivals--his stories are cleaver, different and always entertaining to the highest degree. His latest novel " Honeymoon For Three" is no exception. This book is full of high-energy suspense with a plot that will capture the reader's attention.

Cook has a creative touch with how he developments each character in his stories. They are not some cardboard cookie cutter mystery genre stereotypes. Each of them come alive and catches your imagination and attention no matter how big they play in the plot. This is the authors' signature strength and separates him from the hordes of other small market writers.

The book takes you on a journey across country with a honeymoon couple and a insane and obsessive stalker. It is a tale that is both unusual and scary and well worth spending your time reading this book. "The American Authors Association" gives this book its highest rating of FIVE STARS!