It's All Smoke & Mirrors (Chronicles of Shawn Donnelly) [Paperback]

Therese Szymanski (Author)

Book Description

Series: Chronicles of Shawn Donnelly | Publication Date: October 22, 2007

When Shawn Donnelly gets into trouble, she does it well. She can't even go on a little weekend getaway with her old college chums without running into a corpse or two. And to top things off, her new co-worker seems to have a very unnatural interest in the serial killer that's running rampant in the Detroit metro area. It's no wonder why Shawn decides to take up a nice, safe hobby like theatre.

No matter what Shawn does--from falling in love with a woman who might be a murderer, to breaking into a co-worker's home in search of dead bodies--she does it with her own flair.

Join Therese Szymanski as she takes a walk on the sillier side of the gritty crime scene detective novel and introduces readers to her newest alternate personality--Shawn Donnelly.

Product Details

• Paperback: 319 pages
• Publisher: Bella Books (October 22, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1594931178
• ISBN-13: 978-1594931178
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,107,771 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Therese (Reese) Szymanski (www.BigBadButch.com) is an award-winning playwright who has been short-listed for a few Lammies, a few Goldies and a Spectrum, and made the Publishing Triangle's list of Notable Lesbian Books in 2004 and was chosen for an Alice B. Reader's Appreciation Award for 2008.

She's written eight Brett Higgins Motor City Thrillers (When the Dancing Stops, When the Dead Speak, When Some Body Disappears, When Evil Changes Face, When the Corpse Lies, When First We Practice and When It's All Relative); one Shawn Donnelly book, It's All Smoke & Mirrors: The First Chronicles of Shawn Donnelly; and edited the erotic anthologies Back to Basics, Call of the Dark, Wild Nights, Fantasy and A Perfect Valentine. She has novellas in Once Upon a Dyke; Stake through the Heart; Bell, Book and Dyke and Tall in the Saddle and has a few dozen published short stories and essays.

She's a seasoned writer with two decades' experience writing for nonprofit, advertising, marketing and journalistic purposes. A second-generation American, she comes from Detroit, lives in D.C., and hopes to move in with her girlfriend, Stacia, soon.

She occasionally teaches classes, though it's been quite a while since they've been at the college level. She's much more likely these days to be found at festivals and book signings. Well, and online.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A fun read, February 16, 2008

By 

Sage320 (Newport News, VA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: It's All Smoke & Mirrors (Chronicles of Shawn Donnelly) (Paperback)

In Greek mythology Cassandra was given the gift of prophecy by Apollo and then cursed by him when he made sure that no one would believe her. Shawn Donelly must carry some of Cassandra's genetic material in her blood, with a slight twist. Shawn has inherited a sixth sense from her Irish grandmothers. The problem is that Shawn is the queen of misdirection. She usually figures out "what" is wrong, but she invariably is confused about "who" created the problem. Shawn bumbles her way through three mysteries, sometimes helped by old friends from college, but often hindered by them also. In the first she comes to suspect all of her friends when they are isolated in a mountain cabin and one of them is murdered. The second has Shawn convinced the grizzly serial killer who is terrorizing men in the city is working in the cubicle near hers. In the final story, the interactive murder theater that Shawn and her friends are performing for an audience becomes more realistic than what they rehearsed. As Shawn stumbles around trying to solve the mysteries, she will have the reader wondering, if she was your friend, would you laugh with her or have her committed to an institution?

These stories are fresh and go in directions the reader will not anticipate. At times it's not certain whether a character should be liked or slapped, but they're definitely fun to read about. This book is definitely worth spending a few hours with.

6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, April 2, 2008

By 

CJ "avid reader" (Atlanta) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: It's All Smoke & Mirrors (Chronicles of Shawn Donnelly) (Paperback)

I was really looking forward to reading this book, but it was agonizing to get through. The story was disjointed and hard to follow, the main characters Irish dialect would have been charming had it not been overused and distracting. I was extremely disappointed in this book, and this character.
Better luck, and writing, next time, I hope.

6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A roller coaster ride of unexpected twists and turns, January 17, 2008

By 

E. Jean Alston "I only review items I would s... (Richardson, tx United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: It's All Smoke & Mirrors (Chronicles of Shawn Donnelly) (Paperback)

It all started out simple enough, with a weekend get-a-way among old college friends. I suspected it was going to go the way a lot of mysteries do - someone finds a body, people try to figure out who did it and why. But, it really wasn't all that simple.

I was reading along when suddenly the rug was pulled out from under my feet. Managing to follow along again, things got back on track. All was going well right up till....what? I think "gobsmacked" would be the correct word. Never saw that coming.

Then, we get back down to the business of murder. In my mind, there is a very limited number of suspects. Which means at this point, I don't really trust anyone except Shawn. Who's a friend and who's not a friend? There are the usual stake-outs and searches along with a budding romance. And, well this is Therese Szymanski we're talking about, so of course there is good, hot sex.

I reached a point where I thought the story ended, but I still had a good third of the book yet to read. Having already learned not to trust, I cautiously continued along to see what could possibly be left to happen. Yes, more does happen.

It is very rare for a writer to leave a trail of clues and still surprise me. Therese did exactly that in this story - not once, not twice, but three times. I know that has never happened to me before.

Since the title has the words: 'First Chronicles' I am going to assume there are more to follow. If so, all I can say is she has set the bar very high. I don't know how she can create another story that is as twisted and involved as this one. But I'm looking forward to finding out.